The next day, Giroro had woken up to the sound of an all-too-familiar voice calling for him.

It was almost funny in a weird way that it was her.

Begrudgingly, he got up. Groggily stumbling here and there to open the flap of his tent, just to see what he expected to be the pretty, but mildly displeased face of Natsumi Hinata. Nope. It was her, no doubt about it when he lifted the flap to see her. But, what he saw painted on her features was one of clear concern, which was the first surprise of the day. As his beloved rarely ever shows any sign of care for the wannabe invaders, even himself.

Oh don't get him wrong, he was happy he could be a rare exception today. But, he had to rub his eyes to clear them a bit. You know, just to be sure...

"Do you know what time it is?" She asked, her stern voice not exactly matching her current worried expression. Giroro shrugged, though he expected it to be a little later than what was usual for him, but nothing to lose his mind over... Because while he is commonly the first one to rise and go about his daily routine, he had a bit more trouble sleeping last night...

If the pink petals that were scattered all over his tent, are anything to go by...

She finally put on that trademarked serious face, and crossed her arms.

"It's 2 pm."

He... Was speechless! Sure, he had figured it was a little late but, this late? That was the time Keroro usually got up on the weekends, not HIM! He wouldn't allow himself to be so tardy, and she knew that.

Natsumi continued, as she seemed to have the Corporal's full attention now. "The stupid frog was acting all worried about you, but he was too afraid to actually talk to you." She leaned down a bit, to be at a more eye-level with the red soldier, arms still crossed. "I'm guessing it had something to do with all that yelling I heard from the basement?"

Yeah... He kinda figured he was loud enough for the whole street to hear him…

"S-something like that..." Giroro finally responded, and not just communicated with gestures anymore. he was just worried about another round of that annoying cough coming back while he spoke. And he didn't want something like that starting back up while they talked, not in front of her of all people. Natsumi nodded.

"Yeah, but then he kept asking me if I said something that hurt you in anyway…"

Giroro's body froze. He was swift to piece that new bit of info together, and could only come up with one conclusion. The others knowCrap. Guess he didn't do a could job of hiding those damn petals.

She looked back at him. "I... Didn't, right?" And it was that point Giroro realized that he should probably say something, before she gets it in her head that she actually did do something wrong.

So, he sputtered a bit. "Uh N-no! No, you didn't say anything to upset me at all…"

Hey! he never said it had to be gracefully put. And it served its purpose fine enough, as Natsumi's eyes softened a bit in what he assumed was relief.

"Well that's good!" She said, a small smile gracing her features as she plopped down on one of the cement blocks that circled the fire pit. "Wouldn't do for me to upset the guy who owns a rocket launcher, and makes killer sweet potatoes."

And to that he felt a small blush creep on his face. Though he was swift to face away from her before she could see it clearly, simply nodding his head in agreement.

"So, what was the problem exactly? The toad was oddly enough, was very concerned about you." Giroro just stood there for a bit, thinking. His mind quickly searching to come up with a believable explanation.

Like hell he was gonna tell her the truth! If he knew her well, which he DID... Then that would just result in even more probing questions, that would eventually result in an unwilling confession... And then that would result in a high chance for…

No.

"Uhhhh… I don't know… It's probably nothing…?" He winced, continuing to avoid direct contact with the girl, as if meeting her gaze would give him away.

Really? That's the best he could come up with? After a while, he finally looked back at her. She didn't seem to buy it one bit either. Her eyes narrowing slightly as she frowned. "Really? That's the best you could come up with?"

Well, at least they were in an agreement…

"Look, I know you can be stubborn about admitting your problems. But, there's a difference between tough and cool, and recklessly stupid!" She snapped. And she was right, about both the message and himself. And considering that his life was on the line as well, it was stupid not to talk to her about it… But

No.

He couldn't do it. He couldn't ruin this carefully cultivated friendship he had been working on for years now! Not to mention she probably still liked that annoying, stuck up, pathetic, pretty hipster boy! How could she even…

He couldn't breathe.

No!

'Goddamn it! Not now!' He tried suppressing it, fighting it! This couldn't be happening now! Not in front of her! But he coughed. God, how he coughed.

It grew ragged and terrible, like coughing up large kidney stones! He could practically feel it ripping and tearing out from his throat, desperate to escape. though Giroro did his damnedest to keep his hand firm over his mouth this time! No petals! No nothing!

Natsumi was startled by this sudden violent outburst, but she helped him all the same. Just like Dororo, strongly patting his back to help ease the gags violently erupting from him. He kept faced away from her, refusing to let her catch the few bits of plant that threatened to burst from his mouth.

It had to have been about a minute later before it had finally calmed down. Only becoming small little bouts of air and plant that slightly sputtered from his mouth. He could feel her hazel eyes burning into the back of his head, Prodding for some kind of an actual answer.

'Nothing?'

That was all either of them could think.

"Giroro, I want you to be honest with me this time. What's wrong?"

He remained faced away from her. What was he supposed to say? 'Hey I love you, but now if I don't think you love me back, I could die.'? Yeah, cause that'll work out so well for him… He couldn't be honest with her about it, even if he wanted too. That'd practically be suicide!

Giroro swallowed. If not to clear his now dry throat, then to hide the flower petals that had filled his mouth.

"It's just a bad cough. Maybe got it from all the yelling I did yesterday…" He lied. His hand only an inch away from his face now, so he could speak clearly. Natsumi didn't seem convinced, but she figured he wouldn't tell her no matter what she said or did.

And that scared her.

'Why? Why won't you tell me what's wrong? Was it really something I did? What are you deliberately hiding from me?' She pondered. Questions flooding her head that she doubted he'd ever answer.

Finally, after narrowing her eyes to challenging slits, she stood up. Turning to walk away from him to open the slide doors into the house to go back inside. But, not before looking back at him. Letting Giroro see her worried but stern expression, to let him know she was dead serious.

"Look, I care about you. So don't say or do anything stupid, okay?" And just like that, she was gone. Leaving him alone...

The soldier just stared at the door she left through, thinking about what he should do. Giroro mused about just staying in his tent all day, as if that would make his situation magically disappear. Though he figured it'd probably get everyone even more concerned or suspicious if nothing else.

He snapped from his thoughts when he sputtered a bit, tasting something metallic on his tongue.

And that's when he thought of something that made his stomach sink.

Quickly, he looked to the palm he previously coughed into. And while it was hard to see at a glance given his own red skin tone… He could see the blood clear as day.

It was just a few drops! The Corporal reasoned with himself, trying to calm down at least a little. Maybe it was due to all the coughing and not the disease itself! He couldn't be THAT far in... Right...? Giroro groaned in annoyance, he couldn't even fool himself with that excuse…

He found himself glancing back to the slide doors again.

"Five years too late for that, don't you think?" He muttered. Then retreated back into his tent, where he could be alone.


There was that nagging feeling again…

She did her best to ignore it this time. Quietly making her way to the fridge to get something to chew on in a feeble attempt to set her mind to rest. Unfortunately, the fridge was devoid of anything that suited her fancy. Even the freezer was empty…

It pissed her off to say the least…

She quickly made a mental note of beating the stupid frog later, who no doubt had a part in the vacancy of the fridge before she slammed it shut in frustration. Wandering over to the couch, she quickly plopped down to watch some T.V in hopes that it would suffice as a good replacement to quell her thoughts.

Unfortunately, despite the loud and flashy distractions the show she was "watching" offered her; She found her eyes glancing over to the slide-in glass door beside the couch she sat at. Her eyes fixated on the maroon tent that stood quietly just outside the house.

The sounds from the television faded to a mute as Natsumi's mind began running again with questions and theories that all pertained to the red Corporal that lived in that very tent she was now just staring down. Finding that despite her best efforts of just brushing it all off and ignoring the frog entirely for the rest of the day, her mind instead became completely fixated on the Frog.

She liked him.

Far more than her pride was ever willing to admit, but she did.

It was because they grew close, wasn't it? Too close. He was supposed to be her enemy in this! A hostile alien invader who was hellbent on world domination! You know... Like the rest of that stupid circle jerk they called a platoon! Heck, Giroro was even more-so set on that "mission" to conquer and enslave mankind than the rest of them!

But, Nooooooo…. She just had to get attached, didn't she? Had to befriend him overtime, didn't she? Had to feel start feeling something different overtime, didn't she?

Had to fall for his stupid stoic expression. Stupid potatoes. Stupid tough but protective and mature personality. Stupid entertaining and thrilling blood lust and guns. And that STUPID… FUCKING SCAR THAT DEFINED THE REST OF HIS STUPID, ROUND, ADORABLE FACE!

All and all… She felt stupid for it. Ridiculous even...

After coming to that startling realization of hers a while ago, Natsumi found her little crush a bit stupid for a few reasons... One part of it was that Giroro was… Well...

He was an entirely different species from her! Although, she'd have to admit that she had found herself forgetting that for a bit... But, the real problem she believed for her was; While Keronians certainly appeared to have a bunch of similarities with humans, that the only real difference was that they were more amphibious…

She couldn't help but get curious and start thinking… Soon wondering...

How much more... human-like were they exactly…?

...But, as soon as THOSE kinds of thoughts would pop into her head, she'd just as quickly dismiss them. Not at ALL wanting to visualize anything… Perverted like that. It always made her feel… Dirty. And she was better than that, surely!

She just found the whole thing to be stupidly embarrassing for her. Which was why she chose to make sure she kept herself in check. More-so than she ever did with Saburo.

She knew her old crush with that man wasn't the most subtle thing in the world… Heck, her friends back at middle school through high school used to always tease her mercilessly about it… Heck, she wouldn't be all that surprised if they still believed she still had a crush on him...

But, as the years went by and she had grown out of her more hormonal driven stages in life… And while she became and still retains a good friendship with the guy... She just didn't feel that way anymore. He was far too lax, too reserved. Too boring. He wouldn't have been much of a fun challenge at all!

And Natsumi always craved a challenge.

But unfortunately, there was another more important reason she found her crush stupid. Mainly because Giroro just never struck here as the "romantic" type to put it lightly… Seeming to care more for his love of all things war before anything or anyone else, really. Hell, he even seemed to treat a lot of situations or people with a militaristic view!

So it wasn't very hard to imagine him rejecting any kind of affection she had to offer. If he could even grasp the concept of "love" at all, if his outlook on reality was really so skewed with war and violence…

Still… they became friends… and they did indeed grow fairly close, bonding over high-staked battles and by the fire in calm bliss. They were so similar, yet had enough differences to reel each other back on. To keep one from going too far. To keep one from being too reckless. They were a strong duo. Whether on the battlefield or not, she felt she could always win with him.

So… She couldn't help herself. No matter how stupid it was to her.

But, all the same she forced her head away from the tent she had been glaring at for the past 10 minutes to focus back onto the screen before her. Just as she had done yesterday.

He kept her from being reckless… So why would he allow himself to be?