"you guys done being disgustingly lovey dovey?" Kururu asked "I was hoping for some rejection and tears kukuku" he laughed.
The couple blushed, separating as they realised they had embarrassed themselves in front of everyone.
"Way to go corporal" Keroro praised him with a nudge on his shoulder and his face reddened further.
"Aww doesn't it remind you of us Haru? When we were young and in love" Aki mused.
"Oh the times we had, remember disco? I remember disco" he swung her into his arms. "I hated dancing but it was all worth it for that smile on your face" she gave him a teasing smile "that's the one"
Natsumi laughed at the idea of her parents in disco outfits. While Giroro's brother looked on from the sidelines with a soft smile. He stood by what he said before, his brother fought with his heart and while it might not be as effective as fighting with his brain, he knew he wouldn't give up till his last breath. Because this man had a reason to fight, passed the honour, rank and fame, he fought for love. One would expect such a harden solider like himself who took the job seriously enough to reach such a rank of 2nd lieutenant to find such a notation preposterous . But he didn't, he felt even prouder of the man Giroro was.
To be unpersuaded by money and notoriety, that was the makings of a true warrior, one who fought to protect those around him.
"Let's continue on shall we?" Garuru suggested, they still had a long way to go, there was so much history to cover but honestly he had a better idea.
"Wow! This is a beach?!" Fuyuki's eyes sparkled.
"Yep, and unlike Pekopon it's all fresh water!" Keroro exclaimed.
"Wow all fresh? Does Keron have any salt water?" the boss asked interested.
"nope, Keron's water is all fresh, that's why amphibian lifeforms have thrived so well and as we evolved technology improved to the point where we can manipulate the whether with machines. That really showed nature who's boss" Kururu explained.
"wow, full control over the whether that's so cool!"
"is that how you made it snow in the middle of summer?" Natsumi asked accusingly.
"Kukuku of course" the frog with glasses answered slyly.
"I wish we could go for a swim but no one brought swimsuits" Natsumi whined
"That's okay, I was thinking more along the line of food, here treat yourselves" Garuru said pointing out to a small Ice-cream shop and handing them his card, he'd be able to write it off as a business expense.
Pururu ushered them off while Giroro just waited waited sitting on a rock and looked out to the ocean. Today felt unreal, Natsumi actually like him back he could barely believe it.
"How are you holding up?" Garuru asked siting on the rock next to his brother.
"still in disbelief, i'm expecting to jolt from my sleep any minute now"
"I assure you this is reality" his brother teased "It's funny how times have changed it seems like just yesterday you were a little tadpole and I brought you here on my school break. You've grown so much since then. you know mum would be proud of you" he said softly.
They rarely talk about his mother, she was still a fresh wound on everyone's hearts but what little he did know made it seem like she was well loved. "I wish I had the chance to get to know her"
"She wished the same" he replied. When people saw Garuru they always said he was the spitting image of his mother but he could never see it. His brother on the other hand it was as if he carried her spirit, he had no doubt in his mind that their mother would be proud.
The group was coming back to the little rocky cove where they sat, frozen treats in hand.
"The stupid frog said you'd like this flavour" Natsumi said with a smile siting next to him, passing him the confection.
"Keronian fig huh? This takes me back" he said taking off the wrapper.
"Right? The last time we had one would have been on the Keron star" Keroro reminisced.
"It's been awhile since we've had keronian food outside of the occasional Space Okonomiyaki FX Special" Tamama stated .
"It's too expensive to get shipped to Pekopon" the Sargent whined.
"I still can't believe they sell curry flavoured ice-cream here, gross" Tororo cringed downing his soda.
"Of course the brat has no sense of taste kukuku" Kururu sneered messily eating the ice-cream.
The group slowly broke away closer to the oceans gentle waves, each finding interesting ways to entertain themselves, leaving the Keronian and Pekopnian couple alone.
"Keronian fig tastes amazing" Natsumi exclaimed "So sweet!" she thinks she has a favourite flavour here already. She then suddenly remembered something "Oh yeah I forgot to give you this back" she pulled something out of her back pocket and gave it to him.
In his hand rested the cat keycharm from that carnival so many nights ago"Thanks" he blushed slipping it back into his hat.
"You really scared me back there, it was a pretty cruel trick" she said in sombre way.
"I'm sorry, I'm very disappointment over my actions, I just wanted to take the ring away before you had a chance to read it. I feared rejection. It's funny to think but I feared a broken heart more then the heart attack I endured" he explained nervously, even if they were on the same page he still had trouble talking to her.
"You are good at stressing yourself out i'll give you that, even if I didn't return your feelings, I wouldn't of call our friendship over. I'm with you through thick and thin because your my best friend. It just took me a while to figure out how far my feelings went."
"That brings me some comfort at least, I know we are almost married but I feel bad that you've had to miss out on the normal relationship stuff, maybe we could do something tonight?" he asked nervously.
"Your asking me out on a date?" she asked teasingly.
"W-well only if you w-want to" his face was a bright pink.
"it sounds great" Natsumi said with a bright smile on her face their relationship was a little awkward and it had a rocky start but with a little tender loving care who knows what it'd blossom into.
Later that day Giroro met with Keroro alone in the common area of the embassy "I need your help" Giroro said in shame, having to turn to Keroro was never his first option when it came to romance, actually no one was his first option. But desperate times called for desperate measures.
"Gerogerogei, look who came crawling back, what do you need help with this time?" Keroro teased.
Giroro looked around nervously to make sure no one else was near before he whispered his plan in the green ones ear. If he was going to create the perfect date he was ashamed to admit he needed a little help.
Later that night Giroro walked into the room nervously, he was a bit of a mess as he sweat and felt his heart pound hardly in his chest "I- uh I have a surprise" he passed her a long peace of cloth.
"it's um nice?" Natsumi replied holding it and inspecting, it was a weird surprise, it looked like a tie.
"I mean" he realised his mistake "it's to put over your eyes, so I can, can lead you there" he was way to tense.
"Oooh that makes a lot more sense" she giggled, tying the blindfold over her eyes.
"No peaking" he stated, gripping her hand and led the blind woman down the corridor.
"Okay you can look now" and she quickly did, her eyes quickly adjusted back to the light as she gazed out in wonder. A small two seated table sat in the middle of a beautifully decorated room.
"It's just like when I learned about the treaty" she stated in wonder before noticing that Giroro was in his human form again.
"I thought maybe we could do it over, make it a memory you want to remember" he offered. He pulled out her chair for her to sit.
"I'm surprised you could put it all together on such short notice" she said impressed.
"Well I had a little help" he said with a smile looking back at the kitchen. "Champagne?" he offered.
"Please" she held up her glass and tasted the sweetness of the beverage.
Mois walked out and handed them the menu's "Just let me know what you would like, you could say revised menu" she said cheerfully.
"I'm half tempted to go with the curry for old times sake" Natsumi joked. "Why not, I'll take the curry, i'm feeling nostalgic"
"I'll take the curry as well"
"Two curries coming up" Mois said cheerfully. "it's take a few minutes".
"I still can't believe you all put this together" Natsumi mused looking around.
"it wasn't the easiest thing but Keroro was confident we could pull it off."
"At least we didn't wake up in strange clothes in a random room like last time"
Mois walked back with the dishes "the chief says compliments from the curry professor" she beamed placing the plates in front of them.
"It smells so good" Natsumi exclaimed.
"I still can't believe he got an actual PHD in curry" Giroro groaned.
"He does?!" Natsumi exclaimed in disbelief.
"He told me once, it was to make a mockery of the school system, as he was a massive overachiever to the point where the government gave him schooling for free in a degree of his choice and he chose Curry as his major and robotics as his minor"
"Your kidding" there was no way that could be true.
"I honestly don't know, it's impossible to read that guy, I can never tell when he's lying. But I have seen the PHD and it didn't look fake" he explained.
"that is ridiculous" She laughed "He does know his curry though regardless of if he has a PHD"
"Indeed"
"So tell me a little about what it was like growing up on Keron"
"Well it was easier to do things without the size difference for one" he took another bite as he thought of what else to say. "every couple of months Garuru and my dad would take me camping, I was a very outdoorsy kid. When I was younger I remember my dad used to set up traps around the camp to teach us survival skills, so Garuru and I used to set up our own traps and actually caught dad once" he laughed
"he was furious at first it was hilarious until he upped his trap game, I must of gotten caught 20 times that trip and he found it very entertaining"
"That's a cute story, I guess I can blame your father for all those traps you set up in my house"
"yeah, i'm still amazed you could take them out with a vegetable"
"Never underestimate a leak" she laughed before noticing the sound of music and before she could react Giroro was already in front of her hand held out.
"May I have this dance?"
"Of course" and so they waltzed hand in hand to the sweet music a million times better then that cheesy pop song that came on last time.
She leaned her head on his shoulder, how had she been so blind to the gentleman in her backyard for so long. The whole world seemed to fade around them, as if they were all that existed and mattered to one another. As the song drew to a close Natsumi was almost sad they didn't keep going but they still had a dinner to finish.
And sure enough Mois brought out the desert, something a little fancier then the ice-cream they had left in the freezer. It was a sweet potato pie a seemingly perfect end to a perfect dinner until the man next to her arose from his seat.
He bend down on one knee pulling a small box out of his coat pocket "Natsumi, will you marry me?" he was serious about this do over, wanting it to be special. He opened to an empty ring box, as he obviously didn't have the ring that was already on her fingers.
She looked at the clock on the wall. "What's wrong?" he asked as she put a finger on his lips to his confusion.
"give me a minute" she said softly with a smile. And sure enough he started to glow and change form once again, had she been keeping track of the time through out the whole dinner? "There, that's the face I want to remember, the answer is yes, of course i'll marry you Giroro" she hugged him tightly, tears of joy seeped from her eyes.