Chapter 9:
"Kururu!"Giroro shouted as he stormed into the lab. "We need you to pull up the tracking device you put on Kirere!"
"Did she run away again? Kuku, how bothersome!"Kururu muttered as he stretched.
"We think she was kidnapped," Tamama added, and Kururu remained there a moment, unmoving.
"That is indeed a problem."
"Get on with it!"Giroro snarled, and Kururu gave another laugh and went to typing.
"Got it. Hrm...Osaka."
"Osaka!?"Giroro repeated.
"How'd she get so far so fast?"Tamama asked, looking to the two higher-ranking soldiers.
"Kukuku, now that's not my job to know...It looks like she's stationary," Kururu explained.
"That's nearly a straight shot northeast from here," Giroro added as he looked over the map.
"All right!"Keroro clenched his fist. "We're off to Osaka, then!"
"...K-Keroro..."Giroro was stunned by this sudden burst of altruism on Keroro's part. The sergeant's true colors were shining.
"Geerrrooo gero ge. Don't worry, Giroro Goucho, we don't leave any man behind!"Keroro folded his arms proudly and gave an equally proud grin.
"That's not always true," Dororo hopped down from one of his hidden spots in the ceiling and now joined his comrades. "Kirere-chan has gone missing?"
"She's in Osaka," Giroro replied.
"Osaka?"Dororo repeated. "We'll leave at once. I'll get Koyuki-chan!"
"Come on, Tamama Nitohei!"Keroro added, and rushed out with Tamama, leaving Giroro alone with Kururu.
Kururu could feel the corporal's stare through his chair, and he gave a chuckle, "Kuku, did you need something else?"
"Aren't you going, too?"
"I'll hold down the fort here, tell you if she moves," Kururu answered. Giroro clenched his fists; Kururu could do that on the go, and both knew it. He then relaxed his fists after a wave of extreme rage washed over him, and he spoke to Kururu in a low, disgusted tone.
"I'd beat the life out of you, but you're not even worth that. You don't care about her at all, do you? You couldn't love anything if you tried... I think you're too much of a coward to," Giroro said, cutting in the silence, and Kururu said nothing. He didn't laugh, the typing on his computer stopped. There was absolute silence between the two.
"Take this," Kururu tossed a watch out to Giroro, one that looked a bit like Kirere's own bracelet. "It'll help you track her."
Giroro strapped this on his wrist, and was gone without a word. Kururu then went to his real work, and began to type wildly on his keyboard while a barrage of pages floated around the screens.
"...Huh?"Fuyuki heard the doorbell go off, and looked to his watch. "Kezanstav Sensei again?"he asked himself, and he was stunned as instead of a refined foreigner there stood a panting, out-of-shape mechanic at the front door.
"...Are...Are you Aki's little brother?"
"How do you know Mama?"
"M-Mama!?"Haruki yelped as he continued to clutch his side; the run from where he had parked his scooter to the front door had nearly done him in. "She's got a kid?!"
"Fuyuki? Who's that?"Natsumi pushed Fuyuki out of the way and stared Haruki down. "Another weirdo?!"
"Don't tell me you're hers, too... W-wait, don't shut the door! ...I know...About your little aliens, and...I just had something weird happen... I think they could be in trouble."
"That's got to be that author, from the sound of him," Natsumi sipped her drink as she now sat in the living room with Fuyuki and the recovering Haruki.
"...Kezanstav Sensei..."Fuyuki couldn't hide his disappointment as he looked down, his features dark.
"Yeah, I think he found out about them somehow...Trust me, it wasn't me! I haven't said anything about Kirere to anyone!"
"Kukuku, well, that would explain why she's in Osaka. That's where that author lives for the most part, right?"
"Kururu?"Natsumi turned around to see the scientist standing there, his remote in his hands. "What's going on?"
"She's been kidnapped this time, it seems. And it sounds like this foreigner's the one who did it, somehow, kuuukukuku!"
"What?!"both Hinata siblings gasped.
"Osaka? T-that's clear across the island!"said Natsumi.
"We can try to make it on my bike," Haruki suggested.
"That'll take hours, be serious!"Natsumi snapped, and Haruki flinched.
"Sorry, ma'am," Haruki was compelled to answer with. Aki's daughter was just as scary when she had her game face on.
"Kukuku! I have something a little bit faster..."Kururu answered with his eerie-as-ever grin.
'...The last thing we did... Was fight...' Giroro was lost in his thoughts for a few moments as the Keroro platoon, minus Kururu and Dororo, headed toward the beeping signal on their hovercrafts. Dororo had mentioned something about alternative transportation. Giroro didn't care as long as they got there before it was too late. Too late for what, he wasn't sure. And that terrified him.
The home they came to was near-equivalent of an ancient Edo palace. It was like the sort of home the Nishizawas would own as a cottage for its quaint ancient charm.
"...It's huge. Like something out of a samurai movie," Keroro muttered as he stared up and up as they stood out at the front gates, hundreds of meters away from the actual front doors and covered in the same heavy brush of the surrounding forest. If they hadn't known any better, they would have dismissed the place as an abandoned relic.
"We have to have a game plan," Giroro broke away from the line of staring Keronians and took a stick, and began to draw in the dirt with it his proposed idea.
"I staked it out already," Dororo hopped down from his perch on one of the stone posts. "It's five stories, with what looks like a basement as well."
"Dororo, when did you get here?"Keroro wondered aloud.
"About twenty minutes ago," Dororo answered. "I..."
"According to this, she's on the top floor," Giroro looked down at the watch-like device, which was blinking, showing her position.
"Are you sure five people'll be enough, Gunso? It's a really, really big place," Tamama muttered as his eyes traveled up to the top of the mansion. The others did the same, jolting in surprise at the sound of a familiar evil cackle.
"Ku-Kururu Soucho?! Natsumi-dono and Fuyuki-dono!? And a grease monkey?"Keroro jumped back at the sight of the new group of people, who now stood with the three Pekoponians outside of the Kezanstav mansion.
"Who're you calling a grease monkey, shorty!?"Haruki returned with a snap.
"This is just Suzuyama-san, Gunso," Fuyuki explained, pointing over his shoulder to Haruki.
"Hrm, I'm familiar with you," Giroro folded his arms and looked up at Haruki. "You're Kirere's Pekoponian. You're here to help her, too?"
"Well, yeah, she's the best mechanic a guy can ask for!"Haruki answered with a tired grin. "Can't promise I'll be all that helpful, but I'll try."
"It's settled, then!"Keroro announced, balling one fist and looking determined as ever. "We're off to the top floor, just like in that Bruce Lee film!"
"You mean Game of Death?"Fuyuki replied. The name itself sent a chill across the group. "
"Gunso, how do we get in?"Tamama asked suddenly, and the sergeant's bravo faltered a bit.
"W-well, I..."
"Dororo!"Koyuki then jumped down, appearing from seemingly nowhere and landing on one of the stone posts outside the gate. "I made a way in!"
"Wonderful, Koyuki-dono!"Dororo answered. "Let's go!"
"Wait... She 'made' a way in?"Haruki fell to the back of the group as they rushed off, and panted heavily as he rushed to keep up with the much younger and/or in-shape group.
"You! Hurry up! You care about her, don't you?!"Giroro fell back and shouted to Haruki. "Step it up!"
"Quit nagging me, you sound like an old woman!"Haruki shouted, but did indeed step up the pace.
"Here!"Koyuki whispered, pushing aside a pile of tree fronds and revealing a large hole dug underneath the fence. "Sorry it's not bigger, I had to work quick."
"Let's go! Yahoo!"Keroro hopped in, followed by Fuyuki and then everyone else until only Giroro and Kururu were left on the other side.
"...You came afterall," Giroro glanced over at Kururu.
"Kuku! It was boring over there without anyone to torment," Kururu answered.
"Heh. You're a terrible liar," Giroro hopped into the hole and joined everyone on the other side, and Kururu did the same, but not before taking a moment to pause and look behind him. There was something off about the whole situation.
"...The door's open," Giroro stopped, seeing the open shoji door and stopping in the middle of the dark, well-kept yard. Nothing moved around them, even the koi in the stagnant pond didn't make splashing noises. He drew a gun and looked about, surveying the situation. It was obviously a trap, but...
"We should send in one group, first," Giroro turned back to the group, and Keroro nodded.
"Giroro Goucho, you, me, Tamama Nitohei, Dororo Heicho, and Koyuki-dono will go,"Keroro replied.
"Not so fast, Stupid Frog! I'm going to go, too!"Natsumi added, gripping onto the sergeant's head and squeezing.
"You stay here and guard the outside," Giroro looked up at her. "Natsumi, if anyone can hold off any forces, it would be you."
"Hey, maybe I should go," Haruki spoke up. "I'll be more use inside than outside...I'm not too bad at picking locks, and—"
"You're more expendable," Giroro added, and glanced at Keroro. "I'm all right with that. We might need a meat shield."
"Let's go!"Dororo hopped in, followed by Koyuki and Keroro.
"Aren't you coming?"Giroro glanced at Haruki, who gulped and shook a bit at the blackness ahead of them.
"Y-yeah...I'm insane...I'm going insane..."he muttered, shaking his head as he slunk into the mansion.
"...Stay safe," Natsumi whispered, and Fuyuki smiled to ease his sister's obvious worry.
"It's all right, Nee-chan! It's Gunso!"
"If that was supposed to make me feel better...It didn't."
"S-sorry..."
"Kukuku!" Kururu gave a laugh, and glanced down at his remote. "They're making good progress. They're already on the second floor!"
"This is like something from a Shiguru Mizuki manga," Keroro looked about as they walked up the creaky stairs. Haruki bumped into Tamama, who gave a yelp.
"Sorry, it doesn't help you're dark-colored!"Haruki sighed. "...Here, I've got a light."
He reached for his lighted, but Giroro quickly grabbed it, "We want to make ourselves as little-known as possible."
"Well, I don't think it helped that we camped out at his front door," Haruki answered as he gripped onto the handrail as they crept up now to the third floor.
No one could make out how exactly the house was decorated, but they could make out small shadows of objects such as wall scrolls, vases, hanging carpets, and more shoji screens. Keroro gave a scream and fell back down a flight of stairs as he mistook a suit of armor for a person.
"Idiot! We're trying not to be heard!"Giroro snarled. As soon as he spoke, though, on switched a lamp that was attached to the nearby wall. After that came another one, and a whole series, leading all the way up to the top floor. The house became even creepier with the dull lights on.
The scrolls had pictures of monsters on them. The vases were from around the world, and bore pictures of demons and other creatures. The carpet and walls were old. Everything looked as though it belonged in a horror movie.
Giroro's fear of such movies and situations was drowned out by pure rage at the small mysterious figure that stood at the top of the stairs...He, she...Whatever it was... Took Kirere. It had to be that thing.