In the end, the Hams afternoon was enjoyable. The others convinced Hamtaro and Bijou not to worry about Boss; He'd have to come around eventually. Sandy and Pashmina had taken Bijou for a lengthy talk, most likely on the subject of boys and boyfriends. Hamtaro had received a fair amount of advice from the boys too. Most of this came from Stan, but Hamtaro didn't really think listening to his advice would be too much of a good idea. He couldn't understand how treating Bijou badly would "keep her keen," as Stan had mentioned, and on top of that he really wasn't sure what she was supposed to be keen about. Oxnard pointed out that he might as well just be himself, since it had obviously worked for him so far.

Sandy spent some of the time blushing herself. Maxwell asked her if she would honour him by allowing him to escort her to the Ball, which she willingly accepted. Pashmina found herself in a rather more difficult position - having both Dexter AND Howdy try to ask her to the Ball, at the same time. Before she could even answer, they broke out into yet another argument. Stan managed to throw another spanner in the works, suggesting a contest to see who wins the honour of taking Pashmina to the Ball, which both agreed to. Stan took position of overseeing the contest, with the nature of the event to be decided the following day.

As the day began to draw to a close, clouds began rolling in again, obscuring the sunlight again. This didn't seem to bother the hams, though, who were once again smiling after the mornings' events. Oxnard had headed home already, saying something about Kana coming home early with some news. Hamtaro didn't totally believe him, but he was grateful for some more time with Bijou. The pair walked along as the sky began to darken, laughing and joking, before reaching Bijou's house. Eventually, after long goodbye, and a promise from Hamtaro to meet Bijou again the following morning, she went inside, and Hamtaro headed home. He was on top of the world, and felt as if nothing from this moment on could possibly go wrong. He wandered on in the slowly gathering dark, and finally turned into his garden. Brandy was fast asleep in his kennel, and the garden was peaceful. Hamtaro smiled, and made his way towards the drainpipe that led back to his cage.

"Hello, Hamtaro." A voice in the darkness made him look round.

"Hello? Who's that?" A dark shape loomed out from under the bushes. "Boss, is that you?" He asked, voice shaking slightly. "Come on, this isn't funny." Boss stepped out from the shadows.

"Funny? I'll tell you what's not funny. Stealing someone else's girl isn't funny." He said in a level tone of voice. "You knew I liked her, Hamtaro. I trusted you with that secret, I came to you for help. I loved her ever since the first day I saw her, and now you move in, and steal her, right from under my nose."

"Boss, look," Hamtaro began, slightly scared of how Boss was behaving. "She was never your girl. You never actually asked her to go out with you. I loved her too, you know, from the first time I saw her at her window. Maybe I didn't know it at the time, but I did love her. I still do." Hamtaro continued, hoping his message was getting through. "I love her, and she loves me. You'll have to just accept it, Boss, I'm sorry."

"SORRY?" Boss suddenly erupted with rage. "You're sorry? I'm the one who's sorry. Sorry I ever met you. Sorry I ever trusted you as a friend. Sorry I didn't see this coming. You betrayed my trust, Hamtaro. How could you?"

"Look, Boss, this is just the way things turned out. I'm sorry…"

"You keep telling me you're sorry, but I just don't believe you, Hamtaro. How can I believe anything you say. I think it's time I MADE you sorry." Boss leapt at Hamtaro, catching him off guard. His large right paw swung round, and he hit Hamtaro right in the eye. Hamtaro fell backwards, clutching at his eye.

"Ow," he cried, "Ow. Boss, stop." He yelled, as Boss stood up to ready another swing. The noise woke Brandy, who stuck his head out of his Kennel and barked. Boss panicked, and ran a short distance back towards the bushes and the lengthening shadows. He glanced round, and Hamtaro saw in his face a mixture of fear and anger, two conflicting emotions. He appeared confused, staring at Hamtaro lying clutching his eye. Brandy barked again. As if awoken from his trance, Boss shot off, under the bushes. Brandy continued barking, and Hamtaro stood up.

"Brandy, knock it off," He began, but then noticed Laura turning into the street. Brandy was clearly trying to warn him. "Thanks, Brandy." He said, forcing a smile, before shooting up the drainpipe and climbing into his cage. He barely had time to get into his nest, before Laura came into the room, a huge smile on her face.

"Oh, Hamtaro, he asked me!" She cried, happily. "Travis asked me to the Dance! And I was starting to worry he wasn't going to get round to it…" She stopped, suddenly noticing Hamtaro's odd behaviour. "Hamtaro, is something wrong?" She asked in a concerned voice. "Come on out of that nest box, what is wrong?" Hamtaro slowly stuck out his head out of the box. Laura gasped.

"Hamtaro! How did you do that? Mum, Dad, come here, I think Hamtaro's hurt himself!"