Hamtaro slipped out his cage in the usual fashion and slid down the drain pipe. Bouncing off of Brandy's head, deep in thought, he wandered in the direction of the clubhouse. He did not even stop to admire how clear the sky was, or remark on what a nice day it promised to be. He reached the clubhouses' bright door, and perked up a bit. The thought of being able to spend the day with friends, most importantly, Bijou, cheered him up. Opening the door, he wandered in.
"Hamha, guys!" he exclaimed, but got no response. The group were gathered round Stan, who seemed like he was about to deliver some important speech. He was stood on the table, a large roll of paper in one hand.
"Heya, Hamtaro," Oxnard said, as he wandered up to his side. "Stan's apparently got some big news for us."
"Ooh, exciting." Replied Hamtaro. Stan appeared to be waiting for the general hubbub to die down, and waited for silence before beginning.
"Right, so I was down the Ham Swap this morning, to see if they'd had anything interesting come in over the weekend, and it turns out," Stan paused, unrolling the paper in his hand, pausing for a moment before holding it up for all to see. It was a large poster showing a ham-boy and ham-girl dancing. "There's a big Ham-Ball on this weekend in the town, on Sunday!" Proclaimed Stan.
"Ooh, Kana's going to a School Dance that day!" Exclaimed Oxnard.
"I haven't finished yet!" Said Stan irritably, looking over at Oxnard, who looked down sheepishly. "I think we should all go along. Says there'll be live music as well. Jingle's set to perform, and so is Sparkle." There was a slight twinkle in Stan's eye as he said this. The clubhouse broke into a flurry of conversation. The girls broke off into a little group and began talking excitedly among themselves. Howdy and Dexter had started an argument over who was taking Pashmina, who was just within earshot and had begun to blush.
"Aw, would have liked to take Pepper along," Oxnard said to Hamtaro quietly. "Sometimes long-distance relationships can be so hard, don't you think, Hamtaro?"
"Mhmm." Mumbled Hamtaro, not really paying attention, and staring at Bijou as she chatted away. After a few more minutes of excited conversation, Cappy piped up.
"How about we sort out all this Ball stuff tomorrow?" He said, clearly not as interested in going dancing as the other Hams. "It's probably going to rain tomorrow, we might as well make good use of the afternoon, while it's sunny." This idea met with general approval, and off the Hams set to spend some time in the park.
"I'm going to ask Bijou to the Ball then," Thought Hamtaro, as he followed Oxnard out of the clubhouse. "At least then I really will know if she likes me." He smiled to himself. "Ooh, hope Boss doesn't get too mad…" Hamtaro added, as an afterthought, and as he left the clubhouse, his brow wrinkled into a slightly worried frown for a few seconds. Boss, meanwhile, leaning against the far wall of the clubhouse, smiled.
"I'll ask Bijou to the Ball. Ah, it'll the most romantic evening of her life." Thought Boss happily to himself, before following the rest of the Hams out to enjoy the sunshine. Somewhere in the corner of the now empty clubhouse, a loud snore indicated Snoozer was curled up somewhere fast asleep.