"Now get to bed," Giroro pulled the sheets back and set her down on the bed. "You were definitely up past your bedtime."
"I'm glad Garuru didn't make us leave... He's really nice!" Kirere said with a yawn. ...I don't know why everyone was so afraid of him..."
"He has his moments," Giroro muttered.
"And Pururu-san's really cool, too! I-"
"We'll talk more about this later. As of now, it's time to get to bed. For all of us," Giroro pulled the sheets over here and stood. By the time he reached the doorway to switch off her light, she was fast asleep. It was only then Giroro became aware of a half-opened package on her dresser. He walked over, picking up the package; from the wrapping paper, white with orange swirls, it was obviously Kururu's gift. It looked as though she had fallen asleep while opening it at her party earlier.
He took a seat outside her door, and finished pulling off the paper. It was a book, from the looks of it a photo album.
Giroro looked left, and then right. No one in sight. He then opened the first page, and began to skim through the pages. It was photos of everyone in the Platoon, as well as their human allies; from some incidents Giroro didn't even know Kururu had been around to catch on film.
Failed invasion strategies, holidays, trips to the beach... There was one of Giroro doing his Sumomo impression, pink bow on his head and all. He quietly pulled this out of the album and hid it in his belt.
"Kukukuku! Do you like my work?"
"A lot of these photos make me look like an idiot," Giroro looked upward to Kururu, glaring.
"Well, you do put yourself in that situation a lot of times, kukukuku!" Kururu was out of makeup and kimono now, and back to his usual, albeit less creepy out of drag, self.
"This is... Very nice..." Giroro muttered.
"Kuku!" Kururu laughed. "Don't get used to it. I don't do nice."
With that he walked away from Giroro, singing to himself, and allowing Giroro to continue flipping through the pages of the book. When Giroro fell on the last page, he stopped a moment in surprise. It wasn't a very old picture at all. It was one of he and Kirere, both were on the bed, and he was clutching onto the nekokoneko.
Both were fast asleep.
"Heh," was all Giroro said to this, and he shut the book.
"Well, she looks like she's got the most sense out of any of you, which is sad because she's a kid," Natsumi sipped a glass of juice from the bar of the kitchen while Keroro kept at sweeping up the broken dishes. "You better not do something to screw that up, Stupid Frog."
"Gunso, aren't you afraid those guys are going to come back? I mean, is there a chance they'll get out of there?" Fuyuki added.
"Gero, I wouldn't be too sure about that, Fuyuki-dono. And on the off hand chance they were foolish enough to do so we would be ready for them!"
"What's this "we"?" Natsumi snorted. “All you did was get captured, and then nearly killed yourself and Kirere! You're the one who started this in the first place, if you think about it!"
"W-what! How dare you point a finger at me like that! It was just another brush with my as of recent bad luck! I had no part in it!"
"Hrmph... We're just lucky no one was hurt," Natsumi muttered.
"Bad luck?" Fuyuki perked up at this. "What bad luck?"
Keroro stopped, and leaned against his broom as he spoke, "Well, it seems as though whenever I'm around Kirere-chan, that... My luck seems to take a turn for the worst."
"I didn't see anything like that happen while you were around her at the party," Fuyuki said, furrowing his brow in confusion.
"Your luck's always bad, Stupid Frog. So what's the difference if she's around or not?"
"N- Nee-chan's got a point there, Gunso. Things usually don't turn out the way you want to begin with, even before Kirere-chan came along," Fuyuki added, doing his best to not hurt the stunned Sergeant's feelings.
"...Where'd Mois-chan go to?" Natsumi looked about the messy living room and kitchen. "I haven't seen her in a while..."
"Hrm, she said she had to do something for Kururu Soucho," Keroro explained as he resumed pushing along broken ceramic on the floor and into the dustpan. "She promised she'd come and help with this afterward, however."
There was a yawn, and Kirere shuffled out into the living room, "My nekokoneko's missing..."
"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" right through the opened glass door, and straight for the sergeant. Kogoro, carrying a white box over one shoulder, didn't even notice Keroro face-down under one of his feet.
"Excuse us, excuse us!" came the weak-voiced apology, who could only be busy. "We had some difficulties making the trip here, we're very sorry!" she added, all while bowing.
"M-maybe that stupid frog's onto something," Natsumi said in awe as Keroro gave a groan.
Meanwhile, somewhere outside of Pekopon's atmosphere, the Nephroid ship had managed to pull itself out of the crag it had sunk down into, and was making a hasty escape, albeit without their captain and the ship only working at a fourth its capacity.
"We'll come back for the captain," the second-in-command shouted while making his rounds through the control room.
"S-Sir, there seems to be a few problems!" shouted one at the main computer.
"What problems?" the second-in-command shouted, leaning over the underling's shoulder to get a better look at the screen. All began to flash, and then one by one, they switched to white, save for the familiar yellow swirl and "Kululu's Labo" written underneath it.
"Kuuuukukukuku!" began to echo through the speakers, and all looked around, stopping dead at the sound.
"S-sir!"
"What now!"
The Nephroidian said nothing, only pointed to the window. There sat Angol Mois, smiling and holding onto her staff.
"Could you say, my time to shine?" she said with a grin and a giggle.
"Hrm?" Giroro looked up at the sky, and frowned. Another falling star, and visible in the daytime. Curious.
"Giroro-san?"
"Eh? Kirere-chan? You're supposed to be in bed," Giroro stopped polishing his weapon and sat back, and looked over at the young girl, who gave a yawn and rubbed her eyes.
"I know... I woke up and I couldn't sleep," she yawned and took a seat next to him on the cinder block. "Kururu-san was being really loud..."
"That's never good," Giroro muttered, now leaning over to poke at the dying fire. He tensed up as the girl leaned against him, and glanced down at her, noting the serious expression. "We're staying for the time being. Like I said, it's nothing to worry over."
"I know. I'm just tired," she said with another yawn. "But I'm glad. You don't have to leave Natsumi-san."
"And you don't have to leave Dororo," he added absently.
"HEY!" she gasped, and came to attention. "W-what does that mean?"
Giroro gave a small laugh, and continued to poke at the fire, not stopping even after she began to push his shoulder. It was good to be the one not being made fun of for his crush for a change, he thought.
"Don't you tell!" she stood back and fumed as she saw he wasn't going anywhere." If you tell, I, I-"
"I won't, that's a soldier's promise."
"Promise as my dad," she snapped, and folded her arms. Giroro stopped a moment; it was so odd being referred to as someone's "dad".
"...Fine. I promise as your father," he nodded, and she sat next to him, satisfied with this. "...He's a little old for you."
She gave another push at this, but this one more playful, and she smiled as she did so. Giroro only gave a small laugh at this, and patted her on the head.
Chief Mechanic Kirere was there to stay. And that was okay.
End.
Ge-gero!~