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Here's another chapter yo.
Natsumi looked up at the ceiling blankly. It had been only a few days since the bombings had finally stopped, but she knew this was her new life now.
I don't want to live like this, she thought to herself. Dororo was constantly guarding the door to the outside, since Koyuki still hadn't really coped with the fact that she couldn't get out. There was no way to get out of the base and Natsumi knew what the frogs were talking about, about the air being poison and going out being suicide, that it was all real.
I don't want to live out the rest of my life like a caged rat, she thought to herself. She wasn't the type to live underground and safely. She wanted to fight for her world, like a warrior.
After the danger of them dying had waned, coming to terms with the situation was difficult for all four of the humans. They knew it was likely their friends and family were dead, they knew it was likely that they'd live out the rest of their life in the same boring place of the base, and they didn't like it.
Natsumi didn't like it at all. She knew the stress would wane at her sanity eventually. It would get to all of them.
But she knew also a part of her shouldn't complain. She was alive. Her friends were around her. She wasn't lost out there like her mother, Mois and Tamama were.
She should be happy.
But she wasn't. She didn't want this.
It was hard to think positively about them being the last four humans on Earth. It was doubtful that anyone else had the alien technology that they did, so from what she had heard from Kululu they were likely the last four humans.
She wanted to think positively, to take charge, but she was still in shock herself.
There was one person who had remained the same from the very beginning, though, the one person who motivated her to get stronger.
Fuyuki. Fuyuki had continued his sobbing since he learned Momoka and Aki were likely dead. She hadn't seen him smile since their imprisonment.
She had to fix it. To make it better. And if it meant faking a smile or optimism, she would do it. Anything for her brother.
"Come on, Fuyuki. How about we do your occult club here? You can lecture me about some planets I don't know about." Keroro had gotten to Fuyuki first, though, and was right by the side of his best friend. He was constantly watching over him and helping him.
Natsumi appreciated his effort. She really did. But she was slightly angry... Jealous of it, too. How can he smile like that? Keroro had a constant smile on his face, constant optimism.
It infuriated her. He might have been lazy enough to be fine lounging in the base all day, but she sure wasn't!
"Oh, lady Natsumi!" Keroro noticed her. "You want to spend some time with us?"
Fuyuki looked up glumly.
"Sure," Natsumi shrugged. She needed to cheer up her brother. Compared to him, she was lucky. Koyuki was with her, and she now had an extra opportunity to be with her crush, Saburo. He, however, was taking this a lot worse.
She glanced at Keroro as he continued soothingly talking to him, and getting Fuyuki to talk about his occult findings from memory, since a lot of his research was upstairs. She was going to wipe Keroro's smug face in the dirt.
She was going to cheer up Fuyuki more than the stupid frog could! She narrowed her eyes and grinned. She wrapped her arm around Fuyuki.
"Tell me about alien tickling, Fuyuki," Natsumi requested.
"Tickling?" Fuyuki asked. "I... I don't know much about it."
"Well, then my tickles will send you out of this world!" Natsumi jumped on him and started tickling. Fuyuki started laughing and smiling.
"S-sis... Stop!" he laughed, finally pushing her off. He looked a lot happier.
"Well-played, Lady Natsumi." Keroro bowed respectfully. "But as Fuyuki's best friend, I will bring the biggest smiles to his face." Taking a squirt gun out of nowhere, he started squirting Fuyuki. Fuyuki started laughing as Natsumi tried to wrangle the gun out of Keroro's hand.
"You have to play evenly, Lady Natsumi." Keroro tossed Natsumi an extra gun.
"You'll regret this," Natsumi grinned. They started squirting each other and laughing. Fuyuki watched gleefully, eventually getting squirted by both of them.
Soon enough, they were all very wet and on the ground, laughing like children. It was one of the first times since the bombings that Natsumi had laughed.
Fuyuki was laughing so much that he was crying. "Sis... Sarge... You're hilarious!" he cried.
Natsumi smiled at his happiness. Even if the stupid frog had helped, at least their mission had been complete. Fuyuki had a moment of happiness. And that was all that mattered to her.
She kissed Fuyuki on the forehead, and looked at him happily. "I'm glad we're in this together. Don't worry about them, bro... They'll be back. Mom's tougher than a couple of bombs. And Momoka wouldn't let herself be beaten by those things." Natsumi gave him some false optimism. "Just keep researching the occult and get prepared for your club. They'll be happy to see you when they find us."
Fuyuki nodded. When his sister said it, he honestly believed her. He smiled, filled with hope and joy.
Sometimes she butted heads with Keroro over trying to cheer up Fuyuki more, and although she put on a false front of hating him, she was honestly happy to have him there. But he was a lot more happy than she was, although she didn't know why.
She opened a journal that Giroro had given her. He had told her that it helped coping with imprisonment to have a task that you dedicated yourself to everyday. Natsumi had decided to keep the journal.
Day 16, she wrote.
The stupid frog continues to remain optimistic about our situation. I don't know how he can do it. I've even seen Dororo slip up and be a little down in the dumps.
Although I act like I'm fine in front of Fuyuki, I'm really not. I don't want to be imprisoned here for the rest of my life, even if it might be safe.
Does the stupid frog have some sort of plan? Is that how he's able to keep so happy.
Either way, I'm glad he can be the happy one for the both of us. If he weren't here, I don't know what Fuyuki would do. He's giving Fuyuki something to focus on, even if it is his love of aliens. And that thing might be enough. Fuyuki's sobbing throughout the nights has finally stopped, to my knowledge.
I'm glad I guess that the stupid frog is here with me. I guess his idiocy is good for something, even if it is being constantly happy, she finished writing, closing the book.
She needed something to focus on now to pass time, something to focus her mind and body. Just like Fuyuki was using the occult she needed a focus too.
And she knew exactly what it would be.
Saburo. She smiled. Although she didn't like to think of this as being an opportunity to get closer to him, she at least needed something good to come out of this situation. And being able to spend more time with Saburo and perhaps even confess her feelings seemed like a perfect thing.
She went to Saburo, super excited to just spend some time with him.
Saburo mostly seemed bored by the new situation he was placed in. Kululu was busy so he wasn't hanging out with him, but Kululu insisted that at least Saburo was safe.
"Hey, Natsumi." He waved as Natsumi approached him. This was enough to cause Natsumi to blush. Just him saying the words "hey."
"H-hi... Saburo!" she smiled, waving awkwardly. Saburo nodded, confused by her stuttering.
"So... w-want to maybe walk around the base... Just the t-two of us?" Natsumi suggested.
Saburo raised an eyebrow and shook his head. "The base is pretty boring. Thank you, though." He didn't really want to walk around doing nothing.
Natsumi's heart fell, disappointed. "How... How are you faring? Worried about anyone on the outside?"
"That Tamama guy was pretty funny," Saburo murmured. He wasn't really taking this seriously.
"At least we're in this together." Natsumi tried to make light conversation.
"I suppose it's better then being dead." Saburo shrugged. "Anyway I'm going to skateboard down the halls or something. Catch you later." He smiled and waved.
Natsumi bashfully waved and blushed. He said he'd see me later! Oh wait, we're living together now!
She smiled but internally slapped herself at how badly she had interacted with him. Only one person had seen their conversation and how enamored Natsumi was with Saburo - Giroro.
Giroro sighed as he saw Natsumi's smile descend into a frown as Saburo left. He knew she had a giant crush on him, but he had still sort of hoped that he could have bonded a little with Natsumi himself.
Now they were imprisoned together, it was likely that Natsumi would get closer and closer to Saburo.
Giroro hesitantly headed over to Natsumi, careful to hide the flowers he had brought for her. Now wasn't the right time, so he tossed them to the side before she could see them.
He was lucky Dororo and Koyuki were taking care of a garden where he could pick flowers for Natsumi. They both said they had wanted to bring a little bit of Pekopon alive again.
"Hello Giroro." She noticed him stepping over to her.
"Natsumi," he curtly greeted. There was a silence between them for a moment, before Giroro cleared his throat. "I'm sorry."
"For what?" she asked.
"I never wanted this for you... to be imprisoned like this. I know a warrior like you won't like this confined space," he said. "I'm glad you're over the initial shock, though. Although it's just going to get worse from here as things set in."
"I know. But I need to keep strong for Fuyuki," she insisted.
"You know... You don't have to be strong all the time. You can let Koyuki and Saburo handle coping the most for a bit. I mean, they both seem pretty solid about this, since they didn't lose anyone that important to them," Giroro pointed out. "It's all right to care. To be sad."
Natsumi nodded. Giroro's lessons as always were helpful. She smiled at him, letting a tear trickle down her cheek as she thought about her mother. "Thanks."
Giroro nodded, smiling back at her. He was glad he had been able to help.
On the way back to her new room, she saw Koyuki working on her garden with Dororo. Koyuki was dealing with this better, trying to already heal the earth.
"The seeds will take a few weeks to grow, but nothing good comes without being patient," Dororo told her. Koyuki smiled at him.
"I guess this is better than going outside. As long as I have you, Natsumi, and this garden, it isn't so bad," Koyuki smiled. She still thought she could probably fight off radiation, whatever monster that was, but Dororo was insistent that she couldn't.
Natsumi smiled. At least Koyuki was dealing well. She closed the door to her room to think about the frogs.
They were all dealing with things semi-okay. But her mind went back to Keroro, who was still dealing with things the best.
She felt suspicious. If Saburo hadn't told her he had seen the dead bodies, she would have thought it was all a ploy by Keroro to imprison them for the invasion.
But sadly, Saburo had seen the bodies.
So she went to sleep still suspicious about Keroro.
"We have to go out!" Keroro's loud yelling awoke Natsumi and she got out of her bed. Sneaking out, she opened her door and saw down the dark path a light on in the room next door. She could see the frogs' silhouettes. They looked to be arguing.
She tip-toed around the hallway to look into the room. No one else had been woken up by the arguing except her.
She saw Keroro's eyes were red and his face was covered in tears. He looked angry and sad. This was more negative emotion than she had seen him express in the past weeks at all.
"I told you we can't leave!" Giroro shouted. "It would be stupid for us to go out!"
"We can't leave him!" Keroro yelled back. "It's been seventeen days! He's not back yet. We have to go out! I'm not leaving him out there alone, not when I was the one to send him out."
"Keroro..." Dororo tried to be soothing, to put his hand on his friend's shoulder, but Keroro shook him off. He was huffing heavily and started crying.
"We have to go. He's probably lost and alone. I have to save him. We've waited to long already," he told them.
"It's suicide to go outside, Keroro," Giroro reminded him. "We have to put our faith in Tamama that he's found shelter and survived."
"But..." Keroro looked unhappy. "I don't want to leave a man behind."
"Keroro, this is idiocy. I know you don't want to hurt Tamama, I know we should save him, but the rest of us dying won't help anyone." Dororo tried to talk some sense into Keroro.
Keroro just shook his head. He wouldn't hear any of Dororo's words.
"Kululu... please talk some sense into him. You're the one who knows the situation with the atmosphere and the air," Dororo pleaded.
"It probably won't have the same affect on Keronians as it does on Pekoponians. All the research done about their radiation has been about the affects on Pekoponian bodies, so there is a possibility that we would live if we went out there and that Tamama is still alive, especially if he found shelter for a while." Kululu gave Keroro hope instead of talking him out of it. "I agree with the Captain here that we should go out and look for Mois and Tamama."
Keroro beamed. "See? Kululu's smart! He says we should go!"
Giroro and Dororo glared at Kululu for encouraging Keroro's behavior.
"We should go." Kululu agreed with Keroro. "It's wrong to leave them out there."
"They'll be fine!" Giroro insisted.
Keroro glared. "They won't be. They haven't come back yet. If you won't go with me, I'll go out on my own."
Natsumi stepped out of the shadows with that bit of knowledge. "You can't."
"Lady Natsumi?" Keroro looked shocked. "Did you hear all of that?"
Natsumi nodded. She felt like she understood Keroro a little better now. It wasn't that he was being suspicious. He was faking a smile, just like her for Fuyuki. He was worried about his friends, too.
"Fuyuki needs you. You're his friend. If you left, it would break him. Please... I'm begging you, stay. For my brother," she begged.
Keroro looked a bit guilty. He knew Fuyuki needed him. "But the Private needs me, too."
"He'll be fine," Giroro reminded. "Kululu said radiation didn't affect us the same way, remember? He'll be back here eventually." He nodded reassuringly. "So... stay. At least for now, Keroro."
Keroro looked thoughtful, like he was making an extremely hard decision. "Fine. We'll stay. For now. But if the private doesn't come back soon, I'll go out for him. I'll find him," he vowed.
Kululu looked disappointed at Keroro's decision, but he knew there was no changing it. He glared at Natsumi a bit, but Natsumi just looked relieved.
She felt like she understood Keroro a little bit more. They were all struggling. Even Keroro. She related to that.
And she was glad she was with her friends. She didn't need to be strong all the time, she could be sad over the people she lost. Just like Keroro was.
Everyone didn't like it there, and she could understand that.
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