"Hrm? Giroro-kun?"Dororo was confused at the sight of the red infantry specialist by himself in the junkyard that following morning, looking in at the workshop through an old window. Dororo had been jumping along the telephone poles as a means of travel, his ultimate destination the Hinata house, but had seen the bright red Giroro almost instantly. He hopped down to investigate.
"Do-Dororo!"Giroro yelped in surprise as the ninja landed near-silent on an old car. "What are you doing here?"
"I was in the neighborhood. Are you training here?"
"N-not quite," Giroro's eyes fell back to the window, and Dororo peered in, and saw Kirere working now on a motorcycle with Haruki. She was seated on the seat of the vehicle, bent over and working on one of its sides, while Haruki was working on the engine.
"Why, she looks in her natural element!"Dororo said with awe. "I haven't seen her this at-ease with something before! Not even with Kururu-dono!"
"Mm, I know," Giroro stood back and turned his back to the shack, and began to float away. Dororo, curious, followed the infantryman.
"...You're afraid you'll lose her to him," Dororo concluded as he studied Giroro's grim features.
"She loves this planet too much. Dororo, I know how much you love this earth, but you know there'll be a time when we have to return to Pekopon. It's our responsibility. She...Doesn't understand it. She can't yet. And I have the feeling... That she wouldn't be happy anyplace else."
"You love her a lot," Dororo said with a bit of amazement in his voice. "Sometimes solutions are not always easy, but...When the time does come, she will not be the only one having a hard time leaving her attachments."
Giroro was stunned at this, but said nothing. His face only flushed a bit in embarrassment.
"Let her grow, and have her fun," Dororo instructed. "Any decision you make will be the right one, Giroro-kun. You're the parent."
"...Whoever said war was hell never had to do this," Giroro said, bowing his head. "...That fool is having another meeting, are you coming?"
"I...Why not? I'm always there," Dororo answered.
"Oh, I guess I don't always notice...B-but it's not because of that! It's just between keeping her and Tamama from bickering, and Keroro-
"I-it's all right, I understand," Dororo answered, trying to hide how much this had shaken his feelings.
"Hrm? You okay, kid?"Haruki stopped working, and saw Kirere was sitting up, as if listening to something far away.
"Huh? Yeah, I'm great," Kirere returned, jerking her head around to Haruki. "Just...Thought I heard some people talking is all. It was no one."
"Yeah, but I wouldn't be shocked if someone was around here...My guard dog ran off about three months ago, I haven't seen Spike since, so it wouldn't be out of the question that someone's lurking around here," Haruki scratched the back of his head. Kirere flinched, but resumed her work. "Eh, he'll show up. He's like me, kinda a world traveler."
"World traveler?"
"Yeah," Haruki nodded. "I spent a little bit of time in Hawaii at one point, after flunking out of med school."
"You're a flunky, too!"Kirere cried happily. "Like me!"
"Ehehehe...Well, I wouldn't brag about something like that. I just always liked this as a hobby, and it kind of became my career. It's about the only thing I could do well."
"So...Is that why you moved back to Japan?"
"No. But, I'm glad I did," he answered. "I got to meet a real alien! ...That's a lot cooler than even living in Hawaii."
"I'm glad I got to meet you, too," Kirere admitted, sitting up on the motorcycle.
"Hehe. Okay, enough with the mush. I'm not paying you under the table to be sentimental."
"Right!" she nodded, and went right back to work, struggling to push her father's words into the back of her mind as she did so.
"We're closed," Haruki announced as he heard a knock on his shack's door later that night. He had just returned half an hour ago from dropping Kirere off, and as a bonus, had gotten to see Aki right before she was headed back to work. She looked a bit exhausted, but the woman was even attractive when she was looking worn down.
There was another knock, this one more insistent, and Haruki sighed, tossing down the screwdriver he had been using and pulling off the goggles he'd been wearing, "I'm coming, I'm coming! Hold on! Or if you're a bill collector, go away!"
There was another knock, and Haruki swung open the door, meeting eyes with the cold blue pair in front of him, "Can I help you?"
"I'm hoping," came an answer in accented Japanese. "May I come in?"
"Whatever you're selling-
Haruki was then face-to-face with an open suitcase, full of yen bills. He paused, choking on his gum before finally swallowing it.
"I just need a little information from you, is all, Mr. Suzuyama," answered the man. "I need to know if you've seen anything unusual around here."
"Well, you're kinda out of place. I don't get many customers," Haruki answered, scratching the back of his head. "Especially ones that'll pay that well."
"You know exactly what I'm talking about," the man's voice was a bit more agitated now. "I'm a collector of the occult, the bizarre...I'm willing to pay you whatever you want for whatever information you have. Anything will do."
"Mm...Well, now that you mention it, I did see something weird here..."Haruki looked away in thought. "...Been going on for the past couple of days, now."
"Yes?"the foreign man perked up a bit.
"Yeah, I did...Doraemon popped out of one of the drawers in my dresser this morning, and we've been on all sorts of fun adventures since then. We went to the Jurassic era in his time machine, met with a kingdom run totally by dog-people, and saved a baby dinosaur. And that was just before lunch!"
"You really...Have no clue what you're dealing with," hissed the man on the porch step.
"Not really. I'm just a flunkie loser who runs a garage and junkyard," Haruki shrugged. "Now I suggest you get off of my property. It's not much, but it's mine, and I don't appreciate weirdos on it who aren't me."
Without another word, the briefcase of money was shut, and the foreigner stormed back off toward his car. Haruki shut the door, then immediately slapped his forehead with both hands and gave a yell. That had been millions and millions in yen.
"Grandma, I did that for you, so you better return the favor and help my karma," Haruki said upwards to the sky. "Ugh! I'm an idiot, an idiot, a big, fat, idiot!"
"All right, all clean!"Kirere announced as she took a seat next to Giroro after returning from her bath. "How'd the meeting go today?"
"Keroro was a fool, as always," Giroro answered, turning over the sweet potatoes he was cooking. "...You should have been there, you said you wouldn't miss any. That Was part of our deal."
"...We should go to a theme park. Tama-chan was telling me about them yesterday. Nishizawa company just bought one, there's rollercoasters and everything!"Kirere explained, and her smile fell as Giroro's expression remained the same. "...What're you upset about?"
"We don't have time to do those things," Giroro answered, looking at her. "We have a job to complete, and it's part of your duty, too. You have more responsibilities than helping some Pekoponian. Everyone here is slacking more than usual, lately. Our annual report is coming up, and as it stands we'll have hell to pay if we don't stop fooling around so much."
"Well, you don't want to rush, either, do you? I mean it—"
"You wouldn't understand everything about it. It's not your job to. It's your job to focus on this invasion, like the rest of us."
"...I wouldn't understand it because I'm too dumb to, right?"
Giroro's eyes shifted away from the fire and over to her, "I didn't say that. It's just-
"It's the second time you've said it today!"Kirere snapped, her voice raising a bit now. "I heard you the first time, talking with Dororo-kun!"
"Stupid Frog, -" Natsumi began, then stopped. Keroro, too, who had been ready with his own rebuttal, stopped, and turned his attention to the glass window, where increasingly loud voices could be heard. Their argument over whose night it was to do dishes was on hold as Giroro and Kirere's escalated.
"Gero?"Keroro stalked quietly to the window, while Natsumi did the same, leaning close to the door but remaining hidden by the partially-closed curtain.
"I wasn't calling you stupid, I'm just saying -"
"Ojisama!"Mois ran out, but was immediately shushed by the two at the window. "Hrm? What's going on?"
"Sounds like they're fighting," Natsumi answered as she continued to listen in.
"...And badly, too," Keroro answered flatly as he held up his own ear to the window. Mois pushed back some of her hair and listened in, bending down in between Keroro and Natsumi.
"What do you want from me!?"
"To show a little more focus than that idiot!"Giroro snapped.
"I'm a kid!"
"What idiot, I wonder..."Keroro asked aloud. Natsumi broke away, and looked down at Keroro.
"...You seriously have no idea," Natsumi muttered flatly.
"I wish Haruki was my dad, not you and Kururu!"all immediately jerked away from the window at this, and watched silently as the door slid open, and Giroro stormed in. He briefly looked up at the three and then continued his stomping away from them in smoldering silence.
"...Kirere-chan?"Keroro poked his head out the sliding glass, and saw Kirere sitting on one of the cinder blocks, her hands over her eyes. Keroro walked over, and placed a hand on her shoulder gently. She only flinched and turned away from him.
"I don't want to talk to anyone," she said quietly.
"All right," Keroro nodded. "When you're ready."
The door closed behind Keroro, and Kirere wiped her eyes, and saw Neko walk up to her and brush against her, her way of comforting the girl. Kirere smiled at this, although it was a sad one, "...That was pretty mean...I...I should go apologize, shouldn't I?"
"Meow," Neko answered in agreement, purring and rubbing her head underneath the girl's chin.
"All right," she stood and sniffed, then gave a nod. "Yeah. I'm gonna go apologize, and then do something nice for him. I got paid again, so...Maybe we could go to the beach together. Yeah. He'd like that. Or maybe we can go to one of those theme parks."
She turned around, and fell back as she saw she and Neko were no longer alone.
The figure in the brown hooded cape wasn't much taller than her...It was about the same height difference as Dororo and she. He outstretched an arm to her as she attempted to wriggle away from him.
Then Neko pounced, clinging onto the back of the hooded-figure's head. She went flying into the tent moments later, collapsing the flimsy structure.
"Hrm, only a few more minutes until it's on," Tamama said to himself as he looked at his watch and then back to concentrating on his driving. He was going to be late for the new Admiral Geroro special (his opportunity to bond with Gunso without that woman!) if he didn't step on it.
He landed in the backyard of Hinata house, and almost immediately noticed something off about the eerie scene. There were signs of a struggle, and Giroro's cat lay on her side, panting heavily, beside a caved-in tent. The fire was dead, the cinder blocks were knocked out of their place, and there were signs of someone digging their heels into the ground, as if they were attempting to hold off being pulled somewhere.
"G-Gunso!"Tamama ran into the control room, Neko in his arms. "Gunso-san! Giroro Goucho!"
"Hrm? Tamama Nitohei?"Keroro turned around and he and Mois ran over to private, Mois taking the cat and examining her for injuries.
"It looks like there was a fight outside!"Tamama continued. "Did Goucho get attacked?!"
"Well, no, he's at the shooting range. He and Kirere-chan had a fight and..."Keroro then stopped, and took off running to the shooting range. In a rare moment, Keroro's synapses connected, and he ran as quickly as he could in search of Giroro.
"Ojisama?"
"Gunso-san?"Tamama went running after the sergeant, who went running full speed into the firing range, knocking over a shocked Giroro and landing atop the soldier.
"What the hell's the meaning of this?! I could have killed you, you fool!"Giroro snarled as he sat up, knocking Keroro off of him.
"You can blow me up later, Giroro Goucho!"Keroro remained in the same position he'd been thrown in, with his chin to the ground and his legs up in the air. He righted himself and dusted himself off. "I think we've got a bigger problem as of now!"