CLANG.

Garuru grabbed at his head, stumbling a footstep or two away from the iron pole that stood long in front of him. Giroro snatched his older brother's shades from off his brother's face, scowling.

"See, this is why you don't wear sunglasses in the dark!"

Garuru grunted. "I don't usually have these problems as a Keronian."

Giroro rolled his eyes. "Pekoponians don't have good vision, Garuru."

"Clearly." Garuru plucked his sunglasses back from his younger brother and folded them on his chest pocket. He then folded his arms. "Giroro. Truthfully I feel much clumsier in this body as well."

"It's normal." Giroro shook his head. "I figured as much, too. As experienced as you are, bro, I believe it's supposed to take much longer anyway to get walking down."

Garuru shook his head, and then looked up. "Where were you planning on residing, again?"

"This kid's," the blonde man grumbled. "I don't really like him, but it's not like I have much of a choice."

Crickets began chirping. A few hopped out from their hiding places and dove out of the shadows and into the moonlight.

"How did the experiments go?" Giroro prodded, eager to escape the silence.

Garuru frowned in annoyance. "Apparently it didn't go as planned."

Giroro was afraid of this. "What do you mean?"

"The Sergeant Major mentioned that it was more difficult than he had originally expected." The Lieutenant looked down at his hands; long, coarse, strong, unfamiliar. "I'm forced to stay in this form much longer. I would have continued with the experimentation, but this... body." He curled his fingers into his palms. "It's so... weak. It gave out during one of test studies."

"Don't."

"Don't what?"

"Don't push yourself." The Corporal was silent for a moment, but he couldn't help but ask the question he was afraid of the answer to. "...Were... you any closer to what you began with?"

Garuru cringed.

"Don't answer that, then."

Garuru walked Giroro back to Saburo's house and bid him a good night.

The one called Rio stuffed his hands in his pockets to search for the key to the door when he heard a muffled protest and the sharp blast from a gun. The younger sibling spun around and quickly materialized a gun, quietly thankful that he was able to summon them again. "Garuru?" he whispered.

"Are you sure this is the one?"

"Of course I'm sure! It smells just like him!"

"Frog it," Giroro growled, recognizing the slithering voices. He jumped out from behind one of the trees and saw Garuru with his weapon in front of him, his sniper rifle prepared to shoot. "I seriously can't get rid of you, can I?" Wait... There's no body of water, either. "How the flying frog did you guys find me?"

"Wait, is that his voice?" one of the Ningyo perked their heads up. "That's his voice, isn't it?"

"To answer your question," the second fish servant piped, "only love has been able to accomplish the impossible. The queen's heart burns... no, wait, what's a good water symbol that we could use to describe the emotions belonging to the queen?"

"Uhh... her feelings are as shallow as the shores of the sea?"

"That's not a good symbol, you baboon!"

It describes her perfectly, though, Giroro thought dryly.

Garuru grunted, feeling very out of the loop seeing as he hadn't been very much available during the last couple of chapters with the happenings surrounding the second queen arc and stuff.

That's his own fault.

The shot of a gun rung in the air.

"I smell smoke," one Ningyo observed. "I don't think that's a good thing."

"Unfortunately for you," Giroro said, clicking his gun, "I happen to be prepared this time."

Beat.

"Well, shoot," Ningyo #2 turned the opposite direction from his companion. "I didn't see this coming."

"Neither did I."

"Scram!" Giroro snapped.

Garuru watched in mild confusion as the two Ningyo flailed their arms slightly while they ran away. "What was that?"

"Long story. I'm not going to bother clarifying." Giroro sounded tired. It had been a long day. "Should I walk you home, br-... Garuru?"

"I'll be fine." He reached down and picked up a fish scale. "Just as long as you are."

"I am. Don't worry about me, seriously. Just... I guess, try to get yourself back to normal. It's weird seeing you in that condition."

Garuru perked a brow at him. "i suppose I should say the same about you."

"Ha-ha." Giroro jerked his thumb over his own shoulder. "I'll be fine. Just get home safe."

"Will do-"

"Hey, Rio? That you?"

A light shone toward the two brothers. Garuru had to make a small grunt and hold his arm over his face to keep it away from his eyes.

Saburo frowned from behind the flashlight. "Hey. I was worried when you didn't come inside..." He jerked the flashlight toward the Lieutenant. "Who's this?"

"This?" Giroro glanced at Garuru. "This is my brother."

"Oh. How far do you live from here? Because if you want, you're more than welcome to stay for the night." Saburo looked at his watch. "It's really late."

"I think you should." Giroro turned to his brother and lowered his voice, "In case those things try to ambush you on the way back or something."

Garuru stared at him briefly and then nodded. "Yes." He rose his voice slightly so that Saburo could catch it, "Yes, I will accept the offer."

"Wanna hear something weird, Fuyuki?"

The younger brother gazed up from his laptop to his sister. "Mmm?"

Natsumi took a deep breath and paused for a moment, as if to let his brother brace himself from hearing her theory. "I think that... Rio might be Giroro."

Fuyuki twitched uncomfortably and didn't answer at first. After a still minute of silent deliberation, he replied, slowly, "What makes you think that?"

Natsumi leaned against the doorpost. "Well, Giroro's absence, for one thing."

"Oh, that could mean anything, Natsumi," he said briskly. He turned his attention back to the computer. "A-anyway, why did you come to me?"

"Well..." She nudged the toe of her shoe awkwardly on the wall. "Aren't you like... good at this problem-solving thing?"

"Kinda, I guess... Did you ask Sarge?" Fuyuki asked her, trying to change subject.

Natsumi rolled her eyes. "What do you think? The stupid frog won't tell me anything. Just that Giroro's on his home planet or something stupid. But in the end, it just doesn't make sense. Like, for instance, why do they have the same choker thing? I mean, is it a coincidence that Giroro just started wearing that after I met Rio...? And why is Rio here when Giroro isn't, and Giroro here when Rio isn't? But then there's his brother..." She groaned slightly and felt her head. "I actually came close to confronting him about it, did you know that? And then his brother walked in. Ugh... So many pieces of the puzzle just don't fit."

"They can fit if you force them," Fuyuki added unhelpfully.

She rolled her eyes slightly and pulled the shell bracelet from her pocket, fingering it thoughtfully. "Giroro also rescued me when he wasn't even supposed to be there." She clasped her hand around it. "I mean... I don't know, Fuyuki... I'd like to believe that Giroro is up doing... who knows what up there and that Rio is my boyfriend, but lots of things don't add up..."

"If you had to have only one person," Fuyuki interrupted, refusing to look up from his computer screen, "Who would it be? Giroro, or Rio?"

Natsumi stared at him, startled. "What?"

"Just a thought," her brother laughed weakly, apparently just realizing the seriousness of the question. "I-I mean, if your theory that Rio is Giroro is true... What do you think?"

She looked down. If he was waiting for a response, he wasn't getting any; she simply huffed and stalked off, jamming the bracelet back into her pocket.

"D, it's getting late."

It was so weird; had they really been staring at the moon for so long now? It was as if a spell had frozen time or something. Whatever the case, he definitely enjoyed it. He stood up and nodded, looking down at her. "How's your arm?"

"Hmm? Oh, it's better." Koyuki winced slightly as she touched it.

"I thought it was broken."

"No, I think it's just sprained."

Dororo arched an eyebrow. "You think or you know? Because if you're injured, I really think you should-"

"We're in an anime; the common law of physics doesn't work here!"

"...True."

"Let's go back, D," Koyuki stood up beside him and touched his hand, before zipping off back to their small cottage.

Dororo expelled a breath in slight annoyance. While he had come to terms with how he felt about Koyuki, it didn't mean he felt some sort of guilt over it, or worse- a preexisting fear that she would abandon him after being unable to willing reciprocate these romantic emotions.

It was awful.

But doesn't the guy always get the girl in the anime?

Not all the time. There's Princess Tutu, Hatoful Boyfriend, Corpse Party, most dating simulators...

"You guys aren't helping," Dororo snapped.

Sorry.

The ninja sighed again, tiredly.

"D?" Koyuki had hopped back some, landing on a tree opposite from his. "You coming?"

Dororo gave her a dry smile. "Yes. Yes, I'm coming. I'll be... I'll be right behind you."

Angol Mois had to tell Keroro and Tamama to leave Kururu alone for the night.

While the sole members of the Keroro Platoon weren't too pleased to let Kururu do his own shindig when Garuru was obviously at their throats to get Giroro and himself back to normal, they didn't have the heart to tell her off, so they let it go for the night. They did (gently) suggest that Kururu get his act together by the next morning when the Lieutenant came for his part in the lab.

Mois uttered a quiet "Yes, Uncle," before retreating back to Kururu.

While he didn't express any signs of appreciation, disgust, annoyance, or frustration, she still couldn't help but feel the tension in the room as his fingers clacked against the keyboard. Every few hours she would drop a cup of tea and a plate of curry, only to come back to see that he hadn't even touched them.

Every now and then Kururu would give her a direct order- sharp and crisp, immediate and urgent. She would obediently sit on her spot a little ways from him and work the computer, fulfilling the assignment that he had instructed upon her.

His face had grown austere after the first hour, his expression intense as he furiously typed commands onto the computer. He wouldn't stop even for a break.

That's why she was a little bewildered to see that he had passed out over his keyboard, his face hidden in his arms as if he had originally intended just to stop long enough to figure out what to do next.

Mois smiled, sighing in relief that he was having some rest of the sort.

Kururu woke up with a blanket draped over himself.

Giroro grunted in annoyance as the sunlight hit his face. He flailed his arm slightly, as if that would help at all. "Nooo, ten more minutes."

When the sunlight continued to shine on him (as if it had a choice in the first place), the blond-haired man forced himself awake to sit up and paw toward the window. It took a moment to realize that the small bulge on the ground was folded neatly and stacked carefully to the side. He blinked down at it and yawned. "Bro? You awake yet? Br-... Garuru?"

He frowned and pulled his shirt on, scrambling to his feet. "Hey? Hello? You here?" He searched the small house and was startled to see that he was the only one there. A note on the fridge mentioned that Saburo was going to school (Giroro scoffed), and a tiny message in clean handwriting informed him that Garuru was going back to the lab.

Giroro glanced up at the ceiling.

This could only end badly.

He let a few hours pass before he willed himself to send a text message to Natsumi.

Rio, 2:41 pm
do u wanna build a snowman?

Natsumi, 2:49 pm
dont do that

Rio, 2:53 pm
ok

Natsumi, 3:00 pm
so... lunch?

Rio, 3:03 pm
y not

They chose a burger joint not too far away from the Hinata residence. After the initial polite "How are yous" were exchanged, the two lapsed into an awkward silence, not really knowing what else to say.

In a way Giroro already knew what Natsumi was thinking; had it not been for Garuru, his identity would have been gracelessly revealed, and he doubted that she would had lovingly accepted him in his prior form as a love interest. He reached up and ran his fingers through his blond hair, sweeping it away from his face.

"Something wrong?" Natsumi gazed up at Giroro.

"No, just tired," the Corporal muttered. "My brother just kept me up late last night."

She smiled sweetly up at him. "I was glad I got to meet him, you know."

He cringed slightly in envy. "Were you."

"Yes," she affirmed. "He looks a lot like you."

"Funny. I don't hear that too often from other people," Giroro said flatly.

"It's the truth," Natsumi told him, making her stubborn face. The Keronian-Pekoponian had to bite back a grin. "Your face shape, and the way you two hold yourselves."

"But other than that, we're different," Giroro insisted. Garuru was taller, stiffer, while his brown-red eyes held little to no emotion against his dark face. He remembered his own reflection: pale, with expressive blue eyes and pretty boy blond hair. Their ideals were different, their lifestyles were different. They grew up with different morals, not to mention completely different ideas regarding love.

Natsumi let the subject drop. "Fine. So, why the visit?"

"Huh?"

"Why did your brother decide to come and visit, if you don't mind me asking?"

What if I do mind you asking? Giroro held in a groan. "Uh... I guess he just wanted to check on me."

"You guess?"

"The visit was a complete shock to me too. And, uh, I don't think I asked him."

Natsumi frowned and cocked an eyebrow.

Frog. Wrong answer.

"Anyway..." the pink-haired girl continued, casting a (cautious?) glance at Giroro. They entered the cool parlor of the burger joint and headed for the counter. "What'll you be getting?"

"Um. I guess I don't really want anything in particular; just a burger and some fries."

"Cool." Natsumi turned to the woman behind the counter. "I'll have two burgers, two shakes, and two packets of sweet potato fries."

Giroro flinched.

"You don't mind, right... Rio?" the girl asked, looking at him briefly from over her shoulder.

"Actually I, err... I have this-"

Natsumi wouldn't have any of it. She bought the food and then practically shoved him onto a chair in front of herself.

Their awkward lunch date was awkward indeed.

"Why..." He ground his teeth against each other and tried to force himself to stand up. Why does it hurt so much more than yesterday...?

Kururu wasn't in the best of moods when the Lieutenant entered the lab twenty minutes early. What he thought would be a nice little break from hunting down the Destructibug ended up melting into yet another laboring task. He silently watched as Garuru writhed in excruciating pain after the gun had hit him and what was supposed to turn him back instead stung into his DNA and flooded his veins with a fury like burning electricity.

Yet another thing that he had absolutely no control over.

"Tch. It's your fault for coming in too early," Kururu finally said, putting the gun down. He swiveled his chair toward the computer screen and inputted the commands to bring up the equations for the Animal Animalizer ray gun, like he had done billions of times before. Simply reversing the formula didn't work, much to his annoyance, so instead of fixing the problem he had to essentially start from scratch to come up with an invention that turned Pekoponians into Keronians- and not just any Pekoponians, but Pekoponians who had their DNA altered twelve times too many.

Their bodies were building up an immunity. Their blood loved coursing through the veins of a Pekoponian; they rejected their Keronian existence and preferred living on this wretched planet.

Or he could just be thinking bitterly because he was cranky.

Yeah, that was it.

Kururu heard someone walked up from behind him. His eyes never strayed from the keyboard. "I know the Sergeant hasn't been sending you up here, ku."

Mois smiled apologetically. "Yeah, sorry I lied."

Kururu sighed and ignored her.

Or tried to, anyway.

"How's Garuru?"

"If he keeps exposing himself to the effects of the gun, he could be doing more damage than good to himself," Kururu replied dismissively. He had explained this already. He wasn't sure why he was repeating it anyway.

Perhaps to remind himself the urgency of the situation?

"Destructibug can wait."

Kururu saw her friendly face reflected against the screen as soon as it had grown dark.

"Try to like, fix Garuru, okay?"

The scientist leaned against his chair. "...Ku. No promises."

Mois beamed at him. "Thank you, Mister Sinister!" She picked him up from his seat and kissed his cheek.

He hissed and squirmed in horror. "Stop, stop! It burns!"

The Lieutenant didn't question the odd exchange between the two and instead tried to focus on relaxing his sore muscles. Hours of this treatment had melted into one another. The pain didn't cease after each round- in fact, if any, it only grew more painful. Kururu had stopped laughing and was quicker to turn to his work bench to make another minor adjustment that probably wouldn't do any good if it hadn't been touched. It didn't take a genius to realize that the future looked bleak in regards to returning them back to normal.

Though he was Lieutenant Garuru of the Garuru Platoon, decorated, seasoned, and renowned soldier of the Keronian army, even he was beginning to feel the stressing weight of this problematic condition weaken him. He hated to admit it, but he could feel his spirit snapping, his determination waning.

He thought of his brother's face and he closed his eyes tightly.

Giroro couldn't wait to get away from Natsumi.

Her occasional suspicious glances and hints burdened him to the point where he couldn't take it anymore.

He vaguely began to worry if she was doing it on purpose to get him to confess without her confronting him about it. She'd done it before, too, when he accidentally destroyed her science project via crazy-eyed gerbil gun.

It was an amazing weapon. The crazy-eyed gerbils recited every song from 'Hakuna Matata' to 'Let it Go'.

Moving on.

As much as it killed him to do it, he called off the date. "My bro, you know?" was his excuse.

"Oh... sure," Natsumi replied, shrugging a shoulder. "I have homework to do anyway."

"Good luck with that."

"Thanks." She paused, turned to him as if to say something, but then held back. "Um. Yeah. See you later. Text me when you can, alright?"

"I'll try," he said dryly.

As soon as she turned the corner, he set his phone to silent and then trailed back to the park, feeling completely out of character for willingly staying away from the girl of his dreams.

If anything, he only had to blame himself for being so self-aware of this fictional world, lamenting that he couldn't beat the author to a pulp for making everything so hard for him.

...Wait, did I write that?

"...Hey. I was hoping I would catch you."

Giroro jumped slightly in surprise at the light blue eyed ninja frog that cavalierly. "Oh. You changed back."

"Yes, I did," Dororo seemed quite relieved of himself as he looked at the bracelet on his wrist. "While I admit I worried for a while, I am glad that I am back to my former self."

"Back to normal, right?"

"..Not exactly."

Giroro knew there was probably a reason that Dororo looked mildly distressed and that he had been disclosed with that information, but truth be told he wasn't really paying attention and had mostly blocked everything out, especially with everything that was going on.

But it didn't mean he couldn't pretend to know what was going on.

"Uh, you okay?"

"Am I okay? I'm feeling great," Dororo said with a weak laugh. Oddly enough, the statement sounded genuine, if not reluctant. "I just found out I'm in love with Koyuki and I've embraced it. I just... don't know what to do now."

Ahhhh, that's right. Koyuki.

"It just feels like I'm keeping a dirty little secret from her," Dororo said, confusion clouding his otherwise clear, pale eyes. "I tell Koyuki everything, and this... it's something huge. How am I supposed to tell her? How is she supposed to even react?"

Giroro kicked a stone from the path and shoved his hands in his pockets. "I don't know."

"This could change everything."

"Koyuki and Natsumi are different girls, you know."

That completely caught Dororo off guard. "What?"

"They may not react the same," Giroro said, struggling to explain.

"You're comparing my situation with yours." Dororo blinked, and at this, he suddenly looked very apologetic. "I didn't even ask how you were-"

"I'm fine," Giroro shrugged it off. "As soon as I get back to normal, Rio will be gone, forever. I'd rather things go back to the way they were than how they are now."

The ninja was silent for a moment before exhaling in exhaustion. "I'm afraid that's not possible for me." He folded his arms uncomfortably and stared out in space, meditating. "I suppose I could just let thing lapse back to normal, and not tell her anything. She wouldn't have to know, right?"

"You get used to it." Dororo didn't bother to question him to confirm it. Even if it was meant to be a small source of comfort, they both knew as much as the other that it was nothing more than a lie.

Dororo left shortly after that conversation.

Giroro sat on one of the benches, alone, until a friendly face padded down the sidewalk.

"Miss Furbottom." The Corporal leaned down and rubbed her head, feeling her familiar satiny fur against the tips of his fingers. She didn't look as hungry as he worried she would be. He gathered that some others may have been kind to her during his absence. "Just be lucky you aren't a black cat," he muttered with a small chuckle. She bounded up onto his lap and he let her curl there, simply appreciative that he had something to take comfort in.

"There you are."

Giroro glanced up.

"Do you want me to swat that creature away?" Garuru frowned, looking down at feline.

"No, it's okay," Giroro held up a protective arm around her. His older brother couldn't resist a smirk.

"Mind if I sit down?"

"You're going to regardless."

The Lieutenant settled into the seat beside him, Miss Furbottom slightly bristling at the unfamiliar man next to them.

"So." Giroro held a breath, almost too afraid to ask the question. "S-so, how did... it go?"

Garuru's mouth fell. After a moment, he reached up and stroked his chin, carefully articulating his words, like the annoying way he always did before.

"The Sergeant Major informed me that he is steadily progressing-"

"It didn't go well, did it."

"...No, it didn't."

"Don't sugarcoat it for me," Giroro growled, annoyed that he had kept his hopes up. "Just tell me like it is." He saw a vein twitch on Garuru's cheek. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine."

"...Garuru?"

"Yes?"

"Is it painful?"

The Lieutenant was silent at first, before his lips broke into a small, reassuring grin. "Don't worry about that. Just focus on your mission."

Just as he had feared. "Garuru. I don't want you getting hurt for my sake-"

"It's for my sake too," his older brother said firmly, his smile vanishing and his eyes growing hard. "Don't forget, I have just as much a stake as you do."

"You didn't have to do this."

"Yes I did." He leaned back and gazed firmly at his younger brother. "There... may be a slight chance that you will not get back to normal."

The Keronian-turned-Pekonian's heart fell. At the same time, however, there was some part of him that said that it was always true. Why wouldn't it be? He had been a Pekoponian for days now. He supposed hearing it from his brother, who was so adamant about him turning back, made the reality of the statement sink in.

It didn't take Garuru long to sense this. "I assure you: I'll make sure that no matter what, you will get your body back."

For some reason, the memory of Garuru coming home injured and bloody came back to mind.

His older brother doing what he could to protect him, even if it meant his own life.

Giroro turned away, a little embarrassed. "...Thank you."

Commercial Break~