Chapter 4:
"Oh, I want to build one like that one when we get back!" Kirere remained perched on Haruki's shoulder as they walked down the rows of bikes. "Wow, they're pretty cheap! Even you could afford one, Haruki!"
"Okay, one, it's in U.S. dollars… That's more than I make in a year, kid," Haruki answered. "That one's more than I make in two years."
"Why're they so much if I've never even heard of them?" Kirere blinked, and Haruki shook his head.
"Because they usually go to private collectors, they're only now starting to mass produce to the public it looks like… Time was owning one of these was like owning a Van Gough with wheels."
"Van who? Does he play baseball?"
"…It means they're really special," Haruki shut his eyes and sighed, and Kirere hopped off of his shoulder and ran over to one, a bright red one. "Kirere, don't tou—Wait!"
But she did. And the whole row went in succession until all of the bikes laid on their sides, a mangled grave of scratched bodies and paint. Kirere was left there, her eyes wide in frozen terror and standing in the same position she had been in when she touched the bike.
Keroro was on the fifteenth verse of his own made-up version of Blue Hawaii when he stopped in front of a large sign. The sergeant's mouth fell open, and he took off running after retaining all of the information.
"Giroro Gochooooooo!" Giroro was tackled yet again, this time by Keroro. The corporal grunted, and Tamama and Dororo looked onward, near tears. Keroro had bounded straight through their sandcastle.
"I have our team building strategy!" Keroro announced happily, and Giroro only answered with a punch that sent Keroro flying.
"All right, I'm listening," Giroro rubbed his sore knuckles and Keroro sat up in the mound that had once been a sandcastle.
"Keroro-kun…" Dororo's voice cracked, but this went unnoticed. Keroro was in full hyper mode.
It wasn't long before Keroro had the platoon, save for Kirere and Romama, gathered around the poster. Kururu had appeared out of somewhere quietly and laughed as Giroro looked on in anger.
"I know that look, Gocho… You're an easy tell," Keroro grinned. "But it's not just a Gunpla, it's an exceedingly rare variant. And there's a cash prize awarded as well, one we can put towards the invasion! If we all work together it'll be a great way to solidify our team and boost our morale!"
"As long as we go about this fairly I am all for a bit of friendly competition, Teicho-dono," Dororo nodded.
"Kukuku, could be interesting…"
"Yeah, we'll kick their asses!" Tamama clenched his fist.
"Heh, pointless…" Giroro turned away from them, but looked up as he saw Natsumi hurrying to the edge of the beach.
"Wow, Mois-chan, look at everyone competing! So cool!"
"Could you say, a game of survival for the fittest?"
Giroro clenched his teeth as he saw Natsumi's far-off look, "Fine, we'll do it."
"Keroko is your name?" the judged repeated, looking up at the green-faced woman critically. "She" only gave a chuckle and smiled innocently. "And you and your four friends are joining…?"
"I hope the boys out here won't be too hard on us… They all look so big and mean, but I think we can take them, gero gero gero!" Keroro grinned, and took his number as the judged handed it to him. "Thank youuuuu~!"
The others then took their numbers, and the judges were left there, stunned. The one sitting next to the one who had passed out the numbers turned to him, "If this were a contest for ugliest tourist we would've had a five-way tie!"
"Let's just see if they can surf…."
"That's a face not even my mom could love, and you've seen my younger brother!"
Kirere sniffed and wiped her eyes, which were still full of tears, and watched as Haruki walked away from a group of salesmen, a neutral expression upon his face and his hands in his pockets. He'd been the closest to the bikes, and it had looked from the way he was positioned to stop Kirere like he had been the one who pushed them.
"I'll work it off, really, I promise! And I'll listen next time, I swear! I'm so sorry!"
"It's okay!" Haruki laughed and bent down, and lifted her up, "Trust me, they were all fine. No more crying, okay? We're on vacation!"
"And you're finally back in Hawaii," she wiped her eyes. "And it didn't take long for me to screw that up at all…"
"…And I might've worked something out with those guys back there…. One of the bikes took some engine damage, there'd be no profit in trying to fix it…. So…"
"Wait, we get to take one?! How did you…?"
"Eh, I've got my ways…. I'm a loser, but I can talk myself into some pretty sweet deals," he shrugged, and now noticed her looking back over his shoulder at one of the other rows of bikes. "…I know what you're thinking, and you're not going to destroy the red bike so we get to keep that one, too."
Kirere gave a moan and sunk back down, "Just be happy with the one we're getting… It's not like you can ride them anyway…. Even as a human you'd be what, eight?"
"Ten!" she snapped defensively.
"Yikes, sorry… Come on, we'll get you some ice cream…"
"Ugh!" Giroro hadn't expected the waves to be as rough as they were; Dororo was the only one besides him out of the five who was having any sort of luck. The red corporal looked over his shoulder and saw Natsumi standing on the beach, and gritted his teeth. He had to try harder.
Keroro had wiped out almost instantly, and Tamama had crashed into a pile of rocks. Kururu apathetically laid out on his board, giving an indifferent 'meh' to the entire situation.
"Woah, slow down there!" Giroro recognized the voice from anywhere. "You're turning red, man!"
He was a large Pekoponian, tanned skin, and black hair. Large as he was, his size didn't make him any less graceful on the surfboard. He zoomed past Giroro, gliding along the blue ocean, and Giroro's anger only grew.
"Taunt me, will he… He hasn't seen my full potential," Giroro growled to himself, and saw it coming; a huge wave. He was stunned in awe and fear for a few moments, then saw his new opponent headed straight for it. He tilted his head down and took off, struggling to keep balance on the board. It'd stopped being about the prize money long ago. Natsumi was on that beach and so was Kirere, more than likely. He couldn't lose face in front of both of them.
"G-Giroro-kun, wait!" Dororo yelped, stopping short a ways away from the wave. Giroro didn't hear him, however. Before Dororo knew it, his friend and a few other surfers had vanished into the towering wave.
"Wow, they're not usually this good this time of year," muttered one bystander to another on the beach.
"Looks like Mahihi may have a little competition…"
"You mean that one guy with the really bad sunburn? Yeah, he looks serious," muttered the other.
"Mahihi?" Natsumi wondered aloud, and one of the old mean nodded.
"Runs a surf shop… Undefeated since he came here," answered the man. "Nice guy…"
"Hey, Nee-chan… Those other surfers came up, but I don't see Giroro!" Fuyuki said suddenly, and Natsumi snapped her head over. Indeed the rest of the surfers had either resurfaced or headed back to land, including the towering Mahihi.
"Giroro?!" Natsumi called out, rushing to the shore just as Keroro and the rest of his platoon, sans Giroro trudged up on shore, battered and beaten.
"It would appear as though… Mother Nature has taken this round… Eh? Natsumi-dono?" Keroro turned his head as Natsumi stood at the edge of the beach, then tossed aside her shirt and dove into the water.
"Hey, where's that red guy?" Mahihi turned to one of the spectators, who pointed back to the sea.
"Still haven't seem him…" there started a collective mutter throughout the crowd, and Mahihi looked about a bit, and then rushed away from them.
Giroro was falling, falling down into the deep green, and he could do little about it. He had taken a blow to the head from his surfboard, and the foot of his suit was entangled in the cord that kept him connected to the surfboard. His vision was starting to blur when he saw a large dark shape move above him. It wasn't a dolphin, more Keronian shape…. But it was larger than any Keronian he knew…
"One, two, three…" the corporal felt like his diaphragm was being crushed when he finally did come to, and he spat out some of the sea water, coughing it up and then attempting to sit up, dazed.
"Dude, thanks, I was getting tired of giving you mouth-to-mouth," answered a mellow voice. "I'm have trouble explaining you dying to my wife, I'm supposed to be at work. You okay?"
"…Eh?" Giroro's eyes were adjusting; at first he thought the green Keronian was Keroro, but he was much too dark a green, almost a forest color, and the helmet he wore was a lighter shade of green, and more the shape of a swimming cap than a traditional helmet. Before he was able to make out any other details he felt a dual assault. First Natsumi embracing him tightly and then Kirere joining in soon after.
"Can't… Breath…" he choked. "…You're both killing me…!"
"Oh!" Natsumi gasped and broke away, and then pulled a still-clinging Kirere away. He looked past the two and saw Romama standing with the rest of the tired-looking platoon, his arms folded and looking off, toward the new Keronian.
Giroro was now able to make out the rest of the details. He was at least half a head taller than even Kururu, who was the tallest among them, and his eyes were a bright ocean blue, and half lidded. His symbol was a turtle shell shape, and was a sky blue on both his stomach and cap. He wore a yellow Hawaiian shirt with red flowers as well as a shell necklace.
"Wellll guess my cover's pretty much blown," the tall Keronian sighed, and scratched the back of his head. "Name's Mahihi Chui, I was on the same assignment as the Boss over here, and one of the ones that got separated… Ehhhh sorry if I'm not much to look at, I've gotten a little out of shape."
"You're huge," Dororo answered for Romama, and Mahihi only gave a laugh, and slapped Dororo on the back, sending the fragile blue Keronian jerking forward a bit.
"Mahi mahi mahi!... Looks like you haven't changed… But what's with the assassin doing your talking for you?"
"He lost his voice!" Kirere piped up.
"Really," Mahihi muttered, and looked back at Romama. "Man, that stinks… So where's everybody else? Lupapa and Kodada and everyone… Heck, I'd even kill to see that flake Fujuju again!"
"Ojisama is currently unaware of the whereabouts of the rest of his platoon, but it really is an honor to meet you, Mahihi Chui!" Keroro grinned brightly, and looked to Giroro, his grin growing wider.
"What?!" Giroro snapped, and Keroro kept up with his shit-eating grin.
"Looks as though... It wasn't a malfunction after all, Giroro Gocho..." Keroro laughed.
"Hehe, come on, let's head back to my place… You can bring your Pekoponians along, too," Mahihi announced. "It's not really safe for us all to be out here like this, anyway."
"…Thanks for the permission," Natsumi muttered as they walked away from the beach and Mahihi led them to a white-painted home with a wide wooden porch and screened-in front door. A white van sat parked outside, and Fuyuki nearly tripped over a toy fire engine that had been left up the gravel path.
"Honey, I'm home!" Mahihi shouted as he opened the screen and stepped into the living room. "And don't kill me but… I brought some tourists with me!"
Natsumi looked about the cluttered home, bending down and picking up what looked to be a poorly scrawled drawing in crayon. She was about to show her find to her brother when a large woman walked in, still holding a pot in hand, and frowned while Mahihi gave an innocent grin and shrug.
"Sorry, my phone got totally trashed saving aka baka here from drowning," he pointed over his shoulder to Giroro, who gave an indignant growl.
"Aka baka?!" Giroro repeated in disbelief.
"Gero gero… I like the company you keep, Ojisama," Keroro smiled in amusement, while Kururu gave a small chuckle of his own. "Eh?" Keroro looked over, and noted Romama was oddly absent.
"Take a seat, don't mind the mess," Mahihi moved over and brushed off more toys from the couches.
"This place makes your home look neat, Haruki!" Kirere said with a well-meaning grin as the mechanic took a seat.
"Cute… I'm sure your room isn't much better," Haruki yelped as he took a seat, and pulled out an Admiral Geroro action figure. "What's this crap?"
"S—Someone's playing with one of those, like it's a toy!?" Keroro went pale with horror.
Mahihi shrugged, "The kids just like it because they say I look like one of the guys on it… I don't see it, personally."
"K-kids?!" Giroro choked, and began to shake. '…Bastard… Has my life!...'
"Yeah… Hey, where are they anyway?" the large dark-haired Polynesian woman had retreated back into the kitchen, and she stuck her head out as she heard Mahihi.
"They should be home soon, they're still down at that surfing competition… There was a party afterward."
"Which I wouldn't know about because I was at the shop the whole time," Mahihi answered, and sure enough, in bounded several dark-haired children, all varying in ages. Tamama and Kirere, who were caught in the crossfire of the stampede, gave looks of panic, and Tamama managed to jump away, pulling Kirere along with him.
"Hey, hey… Good to see you guys, too! Put Daddy down!" Mahihi laughed as the children gathered around him.
Giroro's mouth was gaping open. Keroro only looked silently puzzled, as if he were trying to figure out the logic of this in his mind, but something wasn't quite clicking.
Mahihi gave a laugh as he was finally set down by his oldest, and ruffled the hair of the youngest child, "Go wash up for dinner while Daddy talks to his friends…. Sorry about that—Eh? Oh, you're wondering about-Those're my stepkids. You can't convince them of that, though… Yikes, any of you know how to fix my back now?"
"Yeah, I got you," Haruki stood, and a loud pop came as he put his foot on Mahihi's back and took his two arms, pulling forward. "Three years of medical school, you learn something!"
"Oh, gross…" Natsumi put a hand over her mouth and looked away, and only then became aware of Romama, who sat on the front porch by himself. It was dark now, and a deep blue outside. He was barely visible, aside from his red scarf.
"Hey, I'll be back," Natsumi said quietly to her brother, and Fuyuki nodded, and watched as Natsumi went out the front door. Mahihi stood there a moment, watching this, then turned his attention back to the platoon.
"So, how about we go onto the back porch for a talk? I'm sure you guys have some questions and… The Boss ought to be joining us soon," Mahihi pointed over his shoulder, and Giroro, along with the rest of the platoon, hopped off of the couches. Kirere went to go join, but Giroro stopped her.
"It'll be boring. Stay here with everyone else," he answered, and before she could protest, the little girl was left with the Pekoponians and lone Angol, who was playing with the swarm of children. Tamama made sure to stick out his tongue to her as he left, a gesture which she returned.
"So I wonder if this means Romama-san will actually be joining forces with Gunso now that he's found one of his teammates," Fuyuki wondered aloud.
"I dunno…" Haruki glanced to the front porch. "He looks awfully down for someone who just had a reunion…"