"You see, I don't get that many guests, which is why I was so surprised!" the Keronian, who was indeed Fujuju, continued to talk as he walked about the room, doling out tea to the platoon and rushing back to his kitchen every now and again to check on the dinner he was making.
Fujuju had a wide-eyed expression, and wild, strange green eyes, which were dark green alternating with thin circles of lighter green. He had a Kururu-like smile, and his symbol on his cap and stomach were the Greek E-like symbol sigma. These symbols were both blue, while his cap was dark red, and a style much like Keroro's or Tamama's, save for the shorter sides. He wore a long yellow and red plaid scarf wrapped about his neck, and he moved about quickly and haphazardly.
"So, what might I do for you all?" while he spoke in Japanese, it was with a touch of a British accent. He had finally stopped long enough for someone to speak to him, after rushing about since waking up from his head injury.
"Chunini Gunso told us you knew of Kodada-san's whereabouts," Fujuju's smile fell as Keroro said this, and Fujuju stopped, his back turned to the platoon.
"We've been traveling around with Romama-dono searching for her," Dororo answered. "Eh… Fujuju-dono?"
"Yes… She's in Germany," Fujuju answered, and Romama leaned forward, and his eyes went wide, begging for more information. "You… You don't want to see her though. You're better off going home and knowing that she's moved on."
"Romama-dono says that that isn't an option," said Dororo, and Fujuju hung his head a bit.
"Very well, I'll take you to her in the morning, when it's warmer. I'm not one for going out when the sun's down," he returned to his cheery self and now went to cleaning the pots and pans he had used to cook with.
"When does your Pekoponian get home?" Kirere asked, and Fujuju glanced at her, and then went back to his dishes.
"I'm afraid they don't… I'm on my own here. I haven't had direct contact with Pekoponians for quite some time, actually!" he wiped his hands as he took a break from his dishes and hopped off of his stool. "I get my income by solving math problems for universities via the computer, and I'm able to have everything delivered to me."
"…Fujuju-san, when's the last time you've been outside?" Keroro wondered aloud.
Fujuju thought for a moment, and then chuckled, "My, it's been a good fifteen years!"
"You're a hikkimori, just like on the TV!" Tamama said with amazement.
"Fifteen years, never leaving this?" Giroro asked, and Fujuju rushed over to the other side of the living room in his apartment, and began to wipe clean a chalkboard he had set up. Along with this was a type of chemistry lab, as well as an ancient computer in a corner, which sat nearly buried in stacks of papers. "I'd go mad…." Giroro muttered.
"I know what you're all thinking, but, I do have friends… These," he held up a thick leather-bound book and grinned widely. "I'm starting in on my fourth read of this one… It's very interesting! Shelley, Shakespeare, Burgess, Hess, Bradbury… Yes, they're all my friends."
"Don't you miss sunshine, and people?" Kirere asked, and Fujuju looked up at her from above the book.
"No, I've learned to manage well without it," he set down his book and then walked back over to the platoon. "I'll see if I can get together some blankets, everyone's welcome to stay here tonight!"
"I'm not sure I want to," Keroro muttered, and Romama elbowed Keroro for this. Something was upsetting the young Major greatly.
"Romama-dono?" Dororo asked, sensing this. Romama only shook his head and hopped off of the couch, and walked away from the group, and down the stairs.
"Ah! Back! Well, now, where's Romama Shosa?" Fujuju set down a large stack of blankets and looked about for his former boss.
"He's by himself again, he does that a lot," Kirere answered, yawning and stretching. "I'm sleepy again…"
"The weather will do that to some… You're a young one for the military… Just about as old as Romama Shosa was when he made the rank of Major…. So curious, the sudden burst of intellect he possessed," Fujuju muttered. "I'm getting ahead of myself. You all must be exhausted by your trip. Come on now, let's get the blankets out! I'm sorry I don't have a television, it's on order."
"What're you working on here?" Kururu was over by the blackboard, looking over the few equations that did remain.
"That's classified, I'm afraid," Fujuju answered apologetically. "It's… For a chemical company. I specialized in chemicals and biology when I was on Keron."
"Tch," Kururu gave a grunt and then walked away from the board, and hopped up on the couch next to Kirere, Giroro, and Keroro.
"Do you have to be up here, too?!" Giroro snapped.
"Keep an eye on her," Kururu answered, and turned over to sleep as he took his blanket. His tone shook Giroro.
The blankets were given out, and Giroro gave a grumble as he saw Keroro was already asleep. Dororo took his spot on the floor, and Kirere ended up leaning against Giroro as she soon fell asleep. The child was immovable, so Giroro forced himself to sleep, although it was a light one. He had felt a certain uneasiness around Chunini as well, but Fujuju was quite hard to figure out.
After he was sure everyone was asleep, he went back to work at his chalkboard. He only stopped when he heard a yawn some time later, and he turned back to the group and saw Tamama awake on the floor, a flashlight in one hand and one of Fujuju's books on the floor.
"That's a terrific one," Fujuju knelt down across from Tamama and grinned. "You couldn't sleep?"
"Kii-chi and Kururu-san's creepy snoring is keeping me awake. This one isn't too bad once you get past all of the work of reading it," Tamama admitted. "I like the stories about the dragons…"
"Really now? I have a bunch of others," Fujuju lit up, and sprang up. "If you can't sleep, would you like to see some?"
"I guess, if you make more cookies," Tamama yawned and rubbed his eyes.
"Already done! I haven't had anyone appreciate my baking like this in a long time!" Fujuju laid the plate proudly on the kitchen table, and Tamama clasped his hands together.
"This is great! I'm going to ask Gunso if we can trade Kururu-san for you! You're as smart as him, but you're nice, too!" Tamama cried happily as he sat at the kitchen table with Fujuju. They could have sworn there was a grunt emitted from one of the couches where the Keroro Platoon slept.
"Fufufufu!" Fujuju laughed and then scurried away, returning with a few other thinner books. "More fairy tales, since you seem to like them…"
"Hey, this one's got a peach in it!" Tamama declared happily, and then his smiled faded as he held the book.
"What's wrong? If… If you don't like that one, I have a lot of others!"
"No, it just reminded me of Momo-chi," Tamama answered, setting the book back on the table and looking at the old tile on the floor.
"She's… A friend of yours?"
"Yeah, just like how Gunso-san has Fu-kii, and Giroro Gocho has Nat-chii," Tamama answered happily. "Even Kii-chi's got a human friend, although he's just as dorky as she is!"
"I see… That must be… Very nice…"
"Fujuju Socho, why don't you come back with us?" Fujuju's head shot up as Tamama suggested this. "Gunso's been wanting someone from Romama's Platoon to join, because you were all strong! No one's been wanting to come, though…."
"They're all so busy with their own lives, of course," Fujuju took a bite of his cookie, and gave a laugh. "I… I would like that. Are you sure that they'd be all right with me joining?"
"Yeah!" Tamama nodded. "Gunso-san's going to be so happy when he hears this!"
"Well, then!" Fujuju stood from his table and smiled. "I should make something to celebrate!"
While Fujuju went to baking, Romama found himself lulling off to sleep on the stairs, not minding the cold, but only deep in his own thoughts. As his eyes shut, he was back, all those years ago….
The parade had just ended, and he stood in front of the entire group, Kodada the only one looking remotely hopeful. Lupapa glared out with her lone eye, the other having a black patch over it, and Rokiki stood his distance from all of them. Chunini was chuckling away, looking at herself in a small mirror, Fujuju was reading, and Mahihi looked… Pessimistic, at best…
"All right!" Romama shouted out, trying to hide the nervousness in his voice. "We should be ready to move out!"
"I hope your boyfriend knows what he's doing… Because I don't," Chunini mumbled to her sister, and Kodada gave a begging look to Chunini.
"This isn't a picnic, let's go! This is unprofessional enough to cause me a lifetime of embarrassment," Mahihi grumbled, bumping Romama on his way out. Chunini followed, snorting as she glanced at Romama, and Fujuju only kept to his reading.
"…He's going to—" Rokiki began to Lupapa, but she cut him off.
"Don't speak to me, I've already warned you, Rokiki," Lupapa snapped as she too pushed Romama away to walk out to the ship, and Kodada followed, allowing him the lone sympathetic look. When Rokiki went to walk past him, Romama was surprised to find himself pulled off of the ground by the neck, and pushed against the stone wall of the room.
"I hope that if this goes as badly as I know it will, that you're there to sink with me," Rokiki then dropped him, and rushed out. Romama sat there on the ground, and rubbed his throat. He then pulled his knees up and shut his eyes to block out the cheering. He had never felt so alone.
"We'll do fine," he heard in a familiar voice, and opened them to look back at the orange Keronian in the red flight cap and bandanna, and the large, amber eyes. Kodada extended her hand, and Romama took it, and stood back up.
"Yeah," Romama nodded, and smiled.
As they began to walk towards the ship, Kodada gave a chuckle, "Do you think when we get back we could get married, since we'll be gone a while?"
Romama's face went bright red, and he stumbled a bit. "W-we'll see…."
Kodada said nothing to this, only gave another giggle.
When he woke up, there again were a pair of large eyes, but these were bright blue. Romama gave a startled jump, and Kirere only laughed.
"You fell asleep here, but you looked too comfy to wake up!" Kirere held out a plate to him, piled high with eggs, pancakes, bacon, and fruit. "Fujuju-san made this for everyone! He's going to be part of the team, too!"
After a moment's hesitation, Romama took the plate, and Kirere took a seat next to him, with a plate of her own. Her food was covered in red and brown sauces, and smelt like hot sauce and curry. Romama looked down at her plate in disgust, then dug into his own.
"Mm, it'll be good having a cook around!" Kirere said after taking a big bite of her scrambled eggs. "This is almost as good as Mama's cooking! Did your mom cook a lot?"
Romama thought this over for a moment, and then nodded, and took a small nibble of his food.
"Ah, there you two are! Well, this is adorable!" Fujuju chuckled. Romama looked away, his face a bit red, and Kirere was clearly clueless. The brown Keronian stood on the landing, still wearing an apron and oven mitts. "I just wanted to let you know that there are seconds and thirds if you want them."
"Are you kidding? Save me fourths!" Kirere laughed. "Everyone's gonna get fat off of this cooking… I can see why Mahihi-san's so big, now!"
Romama choked on his food, and Kirere for a moment was alarmed, until she realized he was laughing.
"Ha ha! Maybe when everything's over, we can working on getting your voice back!" she added brightly, and Romama smiled at this, and nodded. Kirere then gave a yawn and her eyes became half-lidded. "All of this rich food's making me sleepy."
Romama noticed now that he, too, began to feel heavy. Kirere set down the plate and gave another yawn, then leant against the wall next to the stairs, "Maybe, I'll… Finish in a minute… I'll just rest my eyes for a minute of two…."
As she began to snore, Romama stood up shakily, and began to trudge up the stairs, forcing himself to do so. Fujuju was standing in his apartment, looking over to the couch, and the sleeping men on it. All had passed out from the food as well.
Romama took another few steps forward, then slid down onto the ground, gripping onto Fujuju's arm as he went down.
"I'm so sorry… I'm sorry…" Fujuju whispered. He then jumped at the sound of footsteps, and looked in the doorway as it was shadowed by several people now.
"Well, well, looks as though it's all of them," came a deep, satisfied laugh. "My new partner's going to be happy with this… Shosa-san's not so tough now. And Chunini… Don't do anything funny with that pink one in your arms, that's the one he's most interested in. I just want this one. We should start loading them up now! I'll get the green and the teal one, you all can carry the others."
"Yes, Rokiki," Fujuju muttered, picking up the sleeping Tamama and allowing the book the black Keronian had been reading to fall to the ground.
While this all went on, Fuyuki stopped in the middle of his searching through the curious flat they'd found in the middle of the rainforest, "Gunso…."
"Eh? Fuyuki, what is it?" Natsumi turned around and stood.
"Nothing, I just… Got a really bad feeling all of a sudden," Fuyuki muttered.
"I think I found something. Is this the bracelet?" Lee walked over to them, and Fuyuki, Natsumi, and Momoka all gathered around her. Lee opened the buckle, and Natsumi blinked.
"A picture of Dororo Heicho?" Fuyuki wondered aloud.
"So that's why she's so protective of it. It makes me wonder what Giroro keeps in his," Natsumi added. "What's it doing here?"
"This was with it," Lee added, handing them a small disk. The writing was unmistakably Keronian.
"We should be able to play it on any computer," said Fuyuki.
"Let's get back to the plane quick, then!" said Momoka, who began to run, but was stopped, recoiling in surprise as a young boy hopped up and tilted his head to one side at the sight of the strangers.
"You must be the people Auntie mentioned!" he gasped. "She said there'd be some human weirdos coming!"
"And people wonder why I find children insufferable," Lee grumbled.
"She said to give you this," he pulled out a small gold band from his pocket, and Fuyuki's eyes went wide after taking hold of it.
"It's Mahihi's wedding band!" Natsumi went cold at the sight of it. "Fuyuki, we've got to find them."
"Right!" Fuyuki nodded.
"I'm coming, too!" Marco added. "My Auntie said I'd have to come along to help protect you!"
"Fine, let's just get going," Natsumi sighed as she hopped onto one of the ropes to climb off of the flat platform. Natsumi's tone worried Fuyuki; she was usually never this worried, especially about the sergeant…