Chapter 9
"Kukuku!" click. Then another click. Then Giroro woke up, and saw Kururu standing over him. "Adorable, kukukuku!"
"Eh?" Giroro jerked up, and looked down at the stuffed toy cat in his arms. He'd ended up falling asleep on the bed as well, and somehow had managed to grab and keep hold of the nekokoneko while Kirere slept next to him. His face went bright red, and he immediately threw it down; Kirere gave a yelp as it bounced off of her head.
"Kuku, now THIS is a good morning," Kururu laughed as he took a few more shots.
"O-OUT!" Giroro snapped, jumping off of the bed and taking chase after Kururu. "And give me that camera!"
"Oh, Giroro Goucho!" Keroro stopped the red Keronian dead in his tracks and stood in front of Giroro. "You're up late! But no matter, we've got work to do, and little time to do it!"
"W-work?" Giroro's gears completely shifted. "An invasion strategy? What is it, Keroro?"
"Streamers!" Keroro grinned, pushing the paper strips in Giroro's arms and prancing away. "So much to do, so much to do!"
"H-how come the only time you show ANY focus anymore is for something useless like this?" Giroro shouted, but Keroro was already gone. "...What is this?" he pulled out one of the strips and looked it over. "What... What am I supposed to do with these, anyway? K-Keroro! What are these?"
"Kukukuku!" Kururu was still laughing to himself as he looked through the photos on the screen on his camera, and then turned around at the sound of a small shuffling. "I don't need you in here right now. I have something you can work on in the meantime, though."
Kirere rubbed her tired eyes and looked Kururu over, "You still trust me?"
"Ku ku, I just don't see how it could be damaged anymore than it already is, is all," Kururu led her into a hanger, where the blue seacraft from the day before sat, its doors open and air drying. "It's just something to keep you out of my projects. I'd rather have you mess up one large one then most of my smaller ones, ku kuku! And do me a favor and take Giroro Senpai with you if you plan to take this one out for a ride again."
Kirere said nothing to this, and went into curiosity mode once more, jumping on the hood of the craft and pulling open the hatch.
"Gloves are on the seat!" Kururu added as he left her alone with the craft.
"G-Giroro Goucho, are you..."
"I'm fine!" Giroro shouted, ripping through the streamers he had become entangled in. "Just fine! I can do this!"
"Gero... Maybe I should've put you on punch bowl duty," Keroro added flatly at this scene as he set down the plates on the low table. They were decorating the room usually reserved for parties, birthdays, and hasty invasion celebrations. Giroro took a tumble from the ladder he'd been on, and with him went the streamers he had managed to put up.
Tamama moaned as he walked over to Keroro. "Giroro Goucho's going to kill himself."
"Gero," Keroro added flatly in agreement.
"Giroro?" Natsumi walked in, the cake in her hands, and Giroro, still entangled in pink streamers, grew bright red. "What're you doing playing around like that, of all people?"
"I-I'm not!" Giroro managed to wriggle out and sat up.
"Here, let me give you a hand," she sighed and picked up a new roll of pink paper and began to hang it up as high as she could without use of a ladder. "You can't get by with an army of one, right?"
"W-what?" Giroro stuttered, nearly dropping the tacks he had managed to pick up off the floor.
"It's from something I heard on the radio last night... It was a pretty awful poem all around, but that line seemed to stick out... One of those stupid things you get stuck in your head, I guess."
'M-my poem... S-she quoted from my poem!" the words "awful" and "stupid" had been drowned out, and Giroro was too busy floating on a cloud of pure ecstasy. 'She quoted from my poem! N-Natsumi! She...'
"Giroro, are you okay?"
"Y-yes, of course!" Giroro shook his head in a vain attempt to bring himself back down. 'She quoted from my poem! Ha-ahh!'
"Hey! Natsumi-san!"
"S-Saburo Senpai!" Natsumi spun around, the streamer still in her hand, and Giroro, who held the other half, went tumbling down from the ladder he'd been climbing up.
"I hope I didn't come too early," he said with an apologetic laugh.
'I was hoping he wouldn't come, period,' Giroro clenched his fists as he laid eyes on the silver-haired boy.
"So where's the other old man at?" Saburo scratched the back of his head and laughed. "It's hard to believe Kururu out of anyone would have a kid that cute, but weirder things have happened around here, I guess."
"I really haven't been able to think of anything that tops that, and I've been trying since the first chapter," Keroro said to himself as he adjusted the centerpiece. "Perfect!"
"Hrm, I think I know what this needs..." Saburo took his sketch pad, which had been at his side, and began to draw away. A few at a time, balloons began to lift from the page, all decorated with white wings on the front. "Not too shabby..." he looked about at his handiwork and gave a nod as the balloons flew straight up to the ceiling and remained there.
"Did you want to help with streamers?" Natsumi asked, trying her best to hide a blush and a shy grin.
"I've got the damn streamers!" Giroro fumed, climbing back up on the ladder once more.
"Natsumi-san!" Koyuki popped out from a loose tile right in front of Giroro, and again the red Keronian went falling to the ground.
"This is getting painful to watch, Gunso-san," Tamama stopped putting up the banner just long enough to watch Giroro twitch on the floor.
"Kukuku!" Kururu gave another laugh and looked at his handiwork, and could barely contain his laughter. He had to finish up, though, the party was going to start soon.
He was much too involved in getting a laugh out of his latest stunt to watch the lone blinking monitor, the one that looked at ocean activity. There were several blinking lights, but Kururu paid them no attention from his place at his worktable.
"Kuku, no one's going to have to worry about finding a super weapon here... Just a normal little Keronian girl," he giggled, adjusting the mirror a bit and tilting his head to a side. "Kukukukukuku!"
"Well, at least they're up," Keroro looked at the oddly placed streamers and gave a sigh.
"Gunso, Momo-chii's here!" Tamama announced happily as he ran in, Momoka following.
"Fuyuki-kun! I brought a small gift with me," Momoka held out the beautifully wrapped box to Fuyuki, who took it and yelped at the surprising weight of the package. 'I could give a crap if there's another one or not, but getting to see Fuyuki-kun twice, and this quick!... It's like a dream!'
"W-what is this, Nishizawa-san?" Fuyuki struggled to the table to drop off the gift, and Natsumi gave a sigh and a shake of the head, and took the package from Fuyuki with ease.
"Just a little something I picked up on the way here from Italy this morning," Momoka answered with an innocent grin. "It's not much, but I still hope she likes it."
"Mama called and said she's running late but to save her some cake," Natsumi returned from setting the package aside and joined the others. "Eh? Someone at the door...?" she heard a ringing from the front, and headed out of the room, Giroro following not too far behind.
"I better go see who it is..." Giroro said in passing as he left as well.
"He looked nervous," Tamama turned to Keroro, who was scratching the back of his head.
"I think that's because he's got a good idea of who it is," Keroro laughed worriedly.
"Hello?" Natsumi opened the door, and looked left, then right, down. There sure enough was Garuru, with Chief Medic Pururu standing beside him. Pururu held a beautifully wrapped package, with a large pink bow on the top, while Garuru carried flowers in one arm and a stuffed Keron doll in the other.
Garuru held the flowers out to Natsumi as she made eye contact with him, "Congratulations."
"Wha... What?" Natsumi looked down at the flowers; Giroro felt his heart actually stop for few moments.
'He... He didn't! He didn't!'
"Um, thanks, I guess...' Natsumi took the flowers, and continued to watch Garuru as he entered the home; there was something comical about a tough soldier such as him carrying such an adorable toy, but Giroro was still too horrified to find anything funny at that moment.
"Pururu-chan!" Keroro exclaimed as he now stood in the doorway. "Where's everyone else?"
"Back on the ship. No one was really interested in attending a little girl's birthday party," Pururu answered with a smile. "So where is she, anyway?"
"Probably down with the party already," Keroro took the box and looked down at it; he shook the contents lightly after everyone else had passed him.
"Let's go," Giroro snapped, turning back to Keroro.
"R-right," the Sergeant smiled apologetically and headed into the room.
"Wow, a lot of tension in here," Saburo placed his hands behind his head as he watched Natsumi walk in with the flowers, followed by the Keronians. "You can almost see it in the air."
"It must be really exciting, Natsumi," Pururu grinned and looked up at the redhead. "I'm still a little young to be thinking about stuff like that myself, but it's got to be fulfilling!"
"W-wait, you think I'm... No, I'm not her..." Natsumi laughed and held out her hands in protest. "Where would you even get an idea like that, ha ha!"
Giroro felt a sharp pain in his heart at this light laughter; a little bit of him died right then.
Garuru looked over to Giroro, "Then... Who..."
"Ah, look at all the people who've shown up, Kirere-chan!" the voice was Kururu, but it was almost too high and happy, much more like his Kururuko voice. From the stunned looks of silence, Giroro didn't want to turn around; he didn't want to see what had made even Garuru bring a pupil into view to get a better look.
"Ehehe, yeah, a lot of people..." Kirere answered with a twitching smile. Giroro turned around at this point, and went completely white.