The third chapter has appeared and everyone suffers as per the author's wishes! Mwahahaha!
APRIL (2014)
Today, the air was moist and the clouds were gray and clumping together indicating the beginnings of a storm. Surprisingly, three eventless days have passed in the Hinata Household, there were no invasion plans afoot and the new addition of the Hinata siblings' father and Aki's husband had done little to disrupt the comfortable two year status quo built between the resident aliens and humans. It was as if he were always there with how smoothly he was able to integrate himself into everyone's everyday life.
Haru was, for this week, what you would call a stay-at-home dad, watching over the kids while his wife was off at work. He wasn't the sort to sit around, always needing something to do otherwise he'd get twitchy if forced to sit and relax. Any time he caught someone doing chores around the house he would ask if he could do anything to help whether that be cutting vegetables for dinner, cleaning dishes, reaching high places and more which Keroro found pleasantly convenient (he was careful not to let him do too much for him lest he incur Natsumi's wrath). When helping out or talking to his kids wasn't an option, he would divert his attention elsewhere. Like now…
"Geez, that's quite the pile you got there, Mr. Green! One, two, three—must be around thirty taking up space in this corner," Haru laughed as he shuffled through the mail in Keroro's room and placed them in separate neat piles. "Apparently even space invaders have to deal with junk mail and bills; now isn't that fascinating!"
Keroro looked over the Gunpla model he was in the midst of painting at Haru. He sheepishly grinned. "Err, I was planning on looking through those eventually, I just never had the time, sir," What an interesting way to say 'I was too lazy to bother'. Keroro flinched at the accurate call out. "You really don't have to waste your time on those, Master Papa."
"Still calling me Master Papa rather than Haru like I asked, eh? What an overly polite invader you are," Haru mused before shrugging it off. "Well, it's no skin off my back, so don't feel bad about it! Sitting around doing nothing would drive me crazy. I don't start taking clients until next week, and with the kids gone at school and Aki at work I need something to keep me busy."
"Better than him nosing in on our business. Yesterday's 'talk' felt more like an interrogation, desu," Tamama muttered in between bites of his potato chips.
He and his beloved sergeant shared a mutually exhausted glance, recounting the man's incessant questions that started off harmless and flattering before slowly, to their growing horror, becoming Nyororo levels of draining. Were there multiple cultures in Keron like on Earth? Why were they invaders? Why was invading so integral to Keron? Were their biology similar to Earth frogs'? How long were they planning on staying on this planet? Questions questions questions! Questions built upon other questions! Thanks to him they learned that having Natsumi's intensity mixed with Fuyuki's inquisitiveness was an unholy combination. They readily redirected his attention to Giroro, who was unfortunate enough to walk in on the practically one-sided conversation, before slipping away unnoticed.
Mois knelt beside Keroro, sending Haru a shaken smile due to the unending questions he asked about her Angol heritage not too long ago. "He means well, but he could be a very overwhelming person when he wants answers. You could say, burning with curiosity?"
"I don't remember asking you!" Tamama growled, bag crunching and crackling in his death grip.
"Oh hey, this one has a star like the one on your belly, Mr. Green!" Everyone turned to Haru, then to the letter in his hand. "This is written in Keronese or whatever you call it, right? Can't read a word of it, but it's in red so it must be urgent news."
Keroro paled at the description. That was no doubt a message from HQ. "Q-quick! Give it to me!"
Reading through the contents, Keroro began to lose the green on his slippery skin. Rereading the contents to make sure that he read it correctly, all color was lost, leaving behind a white shaking frog. A small part of his soul died that day. Ha! His soul is literally flying out of his mouth and everything! Amazing!
"M-m-m-master Papa, mind telling me what today's date and time is?"
"April 7, 2:45 PM. Why do you ask?"
Everyone leaned in with concern when Keroro suddenly went silent, head bowed to hide his expression.
"GEEEEEERRRRRROOOOOO!" Tamama, Mois, and Haru all fell back in a comedic fashion. Keroro jumped to his feet, running in circles, repeatedly pressing the red star on his hat. "ASSEMBLE THE TEAM! ASSEMBLE THE TEAM! TEAM ASSEMBLE TO THE DEBRIEFING ROOM RIGHT THIS INSTANT! WE HAVE AN EMERGENCY!"
Mois picked up the letter Keroro dropped during his outburst and began reading it out loud.
To the Keroro Platoon,
After reading the contents of your reports we noticed that with every invasion attempt and events outside it you come out of it harmed in some capacity. While your progress in Pekopon's invasion has yet to reach satisfactory levels, you are still our soldiers therefore we deemed it necessary to give you one of our Medics to watch over you from now on.
Major Medic Niriri has worked in a platoon before, if you heard of the Semimi Platoon then you'd know him as their Private Third Class Medic, so we're sure he will adjust well to working with you all. He will be coming to Pekopon on April 7, 12: 00 AM. Please have all members present for pick up.
Grand Star
"This came three days ago…and we're two hours and forty-five minutes late on a stormy afternoon." Mois said. "You could say, not a good look?"
"Major Medic Niriri?" Tamama's thoughtful expression turned to disgust. "The name and rank sounds familiar…kinda pisses me off for some reason…"
"Does this mean that there's going to be a new Keronian added to your team? And he's a doctor too, I wonder if he would show me his anatomy books if he has any!" Haru balled his hands with intense excitement at the prospect of getting better knowledge of alien biology as Keroro continued having a mental breakdown in the background. "Do you guys need any help getting to the train station? I could drive you there if you want."
Tamama grimaced. Traveling in a car, a small, cramped space with no escape unless he considered jumping out of a moving vehicle, with a talkative man like this? "Ah-ha-ha! As nice as that offer is, we have it covered, Hacchi! We could get there ourselves so you don't have to waste gasoline over this! Uh, I bet Natchi and Fukki will be super hungry when they come home, maybe you should get dinner started. Come on Mr. Sergeant!" He grabbed his hyperventilating sergeant by the hat flap and dragged him to the hyperspace mini-fridge closely followed by Mois who was using the letter to fan his sweat-soaked face.
"Get dinner started? That's a great idea!" Today was Natsumi's turn on the chore chart, but there was no doubt that she'd be too tired to want to cook dinner for everyone. Luckily she had a father at home who could do it for her. Haru rolled up his sleeves. "Yosh! Time to put your cooking skills to good use, Haru!"
While this occurred, a lab coat wearing frog alien at Tokyo Station's Platform 0 had finally lost any semblance of patience he had in him. The pitying looks and whispers he received from other aliens getting picked up and doing the picking up worsened his mood.
"Three hoursh! Makin' me wait on'em fo' three froggin' hoursh, I-I oughta—Hic! Niri…" Niriri stumbled to his dark orange saucer dumping the last of his luggage on top. His cheeks were flushed and dark blue eyes glazed over as he sloppily tied his luggage together and to the vehicle with rope. "FINE! I s-shee how it ish! I'll guh-o—hic—find the Hinata House m'self!" He climbed onto his saucer, movements so uncoordinated that he needed to use his luggage to properly balance himself. "Up, up and away~!"
Author's PSA: Remember kids, never drink and drive.
Thanks to the luggage's added weight, the saucer was moving at a snail's pace. Rain bounced off of him and things with soothingly gentle thunk-thunk-thunk's as the saucer flew further from the station. "Oh geesh, it'sh raining. Only a lil' tho, so not too bad." It was then that thunder rumbled and lightning flashed within the dark gray clouds and the rain grew heavier, drenching the drunk frog. "Me and my big mouth," he groaned, head hanging pathetically.
Author's PSA #2: Remember kids, never tempt the Gods or else bad luck will befall you.
"Yeah, there was a Keronian like you waiting here. He left around fifteen to twenty minutes ago. He looked pretty unhappy, like veins popping and grumbling while pacing around kind of unhappy."
"Okay, thank you for letting me know, sir."
Keroro bowed at the generic train attendant alien before trudging back to his awaiting platoon. They were dressed in protection against the pouring rain.
He clasped his hands together and forced on a happy grin. "I have good news and bad news! Bad news; it sounds like our new medic left already and was mega pissed. Good news; he's most likely heading to the Hinata Residence since there's nowhere else for him to go so if we fly now we might meet him there! Might give us more time to come up with a better excuse! Lucky, right? Geeero gero ge~!"
The only one laughing was Kururu. "Meaning we went all this way for nothing. Kuku! Marvelous job as always leader."
"Kerorooooo," Giroro seethed, hands outstretched and twitching in a way that suggested he was contemplating strangling his leader and childhood friend. Upon realizing this, Keroro squeaked and shakily stepped back with every step forward Giroro made. "LEARN TO CHECK YOUR MAIL, DAMMIT!" Guns materialized in his hands and he started blasting.
Keroro shrieked, doing a silly hopping dance to avoid getting shot. He quickly hid behind Dororo who let out an unsurprised sigh at being used as a shield.
"It's not my fault this happened! Headquarters should know better than to send a single letter for something important like this! And-and," Keroro pointed upward, "it's the author's fault too! She made me not notice for a laugh! She's an evil sadist just like Kururu!"
"Kuuukukuku!" Heeehehehe!
Giroro growled. "Quit shifting the blame! You're the leader here, start acting like it!"
"I think it best for us to be honest to our new member and apologize for this inconvenience, Honorable Leader. We owe it to him," Dororo said wisely. "It reminds me of the time you promised you were going to wait for me at the station after I came back from vacation with my mother. But when I did you weren't there because you were too busy playing at Giroro's house to remember! Keroro you're so mean, always getting my hopes up just to crush them~!"
"Don't you dare let your Trauma Switch flip now!" Tamama snapped, startling Dororo out of his tears. "There's no way in hell we're lugging your sorry ass in this weather so either buck up or get left behind!" He reverted back to his cuter self, teary-eyed and pouty. "Please, let's go home, Mr. Sergeant! The rain's getting scary and I don't wanna get struck by lightning!"
There were grumbled agreements and the platoon began their journey back to the Hinata Residence.
"Woah-ho-ho! It sure is pouring gallons out here! The news said the rain was going to be light, last time I'll believe a word they say!" Haru yelped as he hurried out the supermarket with a reusable bag, dressed in a yellow raincoat. He wanted to make a Scottish dish called Cullen Skink for dinner but found there weren't any potatoes or haddock at the house which was why he was out here. There was a blinding flash accompanied by a crash that had the man wincing.
Hopefully the kids are able to get home safe.
Haru passed an alleyway. He took a few steps back when he noticed a twitching, smoking figure concealed in the darkness. After glancing around his surroundings, he walked deep into the alleyway, stepping over singed child-sized luggage laid askew, passing a heavily dented orange saucer that resembled the ones ridden by the Keroro Platoon, and then stopped at an unconscious, burnt black Keronian with an afro. He didn't waste time mulling over this. He shoved the injured alien into his raincoat, cradling him like an infant with one arm, while he grabbed the luggage with his free hand and held the saucer under his armpit before sprinting home.
"Look at you, you're so battered. Must've had a nasty fall after getting electrocuted, poor guy," Haru muttered after scrubbing the frog alien clean of ash and drying him with a towel.
He had laid the frog on a couch, removed his destroyed lab coat and afro (once he realized it was removable) and placed them on the coffee table, and washed him. The appearance of this Keronian brought to mind a poison dart frog: his arms and legs were dark blue with black spots of various sizes, and the rest of him was orange with the only spots there were five dark blue ones dotted between his closed eyes like freckles. On his belly was a black peace symbol insignia that matched the smaller blue one on his flap-less black cap.
"You must be that new member, the army medic. Kinda ironic that the medic would get hurt on the first day. Err, I don't think you'd find that funny though," Haru said, mostly speaking to himself, pulling on disposable gloves before rubbing ointment on and wrapping gauze around the worst injuries. Alien or not, he wasn't going to touch a possibly toxic creature with his bare hands. "And done!" He stood and beheld his handiwork. He cringed.
It…it looked passable.
"Something's better than nothing, I guess," Haru reassured himself, making his way to the kitchen to get started on dinner.
Minutes later, Niriri's eyes fluttered open, blurry vision slowly adjusting to its new environment as he collected his now very sober thoughts. Head pounding like a hammer to mochi, the last thing he remembered was getting struck by lightning. Was he dead? No, that would be too easy of an escape.
"Getting drunk then struck by lightning, bet HQ would have loved to see that epic fail," Niriri grumbled, rubbing his head as he pushed himself up. He noticed the gauze and bandages decorating his body. Geez, what shoddy work, he thought with a disapproving tut. There was too much ointment and the gauze was wrapped too tight in some areas disrupting blood flow. This was a problem to fix for later, right now assessing his current situation was top priority.
Climbing to the top of the couch with his anti-barrier on, he surveyed his surroundings. He was undoubtedly inside a Pekoponian home, middle-classed based on the decent but none too noteworthy furniture. His personal belongings and saucer were nowhere near him which meant he was in a vulnerable position, open to any attack. He hopped off the couch, head turning to-and-fro as he snuck into the kitchen. Arming himself would be the best course of action. There was a simmering pot emitting a savory smell that made his stomach growl and next to it was a knife with no Pekoponian in sight. Leaving it unguarded with an invader close by and unbound, how irresponsible.
He tried to grab it. He couldn't reach it. He tried again, this time on his tippy-toes. Still couldn't. Cheeks rosy red, this time from deep embarrassment rather than drunkenness, he repeatedly hopped until he managed to grab onto the counter's edge and, small legs kicking, lifted himself up with pitiful grunts of exertion. "Guh! Why do Pekoponians and their homes have to be so frig-froggin tall!" Niriri bemoaned, not bothering to celebrate his accomplishment in crawling onto the counter's warm surface. The sound of a door creaking open behind him jolted him to his feet, knife in his hands and directed to the surprised apron-wearing Pekoponian man stepping out into the living room.
"Oh hey, you're awake!" The Pekoponian man raised his hands in a calming gesture, slowly moving closer with an easygoing smile. His stare was undoubtedly focused on the bewildered Niriri. Was the anti-barrier not working? No, the outlines were there so how could this Pekoponian see him? "There's no need to be scared, I'm not going to hurt you. See? I come in peace. You're Major Medic Niriri, right? I'm Hinata Haru."
Hinata? Now that the so-called Haru Hinata was close, standing behind the kitchen table, he had a striking resemblance to the Pekoponian girl, Natsumi Hinata.
"So I managed to find my way to the Hinata Household. Convenient, yes. Lucky…let's see how this goes," Niriri muttered. "The files never mentioned anything about a father. The only ones I read about were the two children and the mother. You are uncharted territory."
Haru visibly faltered. He rubbed the back of his head, awkwardly laughing. "HQ has been keeping tabs, eh? Yeah, well, I've been traveling for a while now, so it's no surprise you wouldn't know I existed."
"Clearly an update needs to be made." Niriri swiped the knife when he saw Haru move at the corner of his eye. "Stay where you are, Pekoponian. Don't believe for a second that just because the Keroro Platoon has grown soft for your kind that I would be foolish enough to allow you anywhere close to me. I've memorized word for word textbooks on your kind's anatomy, I know which places would be the deadliest to slice open."
Seconds passed as they stared each other down.
"PFFFT!"
Any chance of tension was shattered when Haru covered his twitching lips with a hand.
"Snrk! I-I'm sorry! I know I'm supposed to be scared, but you're just so adorable I can't take any threats you make seriously! Hahahaa!"
Niriri squawked in offense at this, this Pekoponian's sheer audacity! "How dare—Adorable!? I threatened to slice open your arteries and you think I'm adorable!? I didn't spend years in medical school, years of dealing with irritating self-sacrificing soldiers for patients, and climbed to the rank of Major just to be called adorable ! Take me seriously, you disrespectful buffoon!" It was then that his despicable stomach growled, reminding him that he hadn't eaten anything all day, too busy with sulking about the humiliation of being forced by his superiors to serve in a failure platoon in a galaxy far from home to care about his dietary needs. His humiliation was never-ending.
Crossing his arms and leaning forward, Haru's cheeky grin widened. "Hungry?" He walked around the table to the pot, expression unchanging despite having the knife's sharp tip hovering inches away from his neck. He removed the lid and grabbed a ladle. He tilted his head to smile at Niriri. "Mind bringing me a bowl, Mr. Orange?"
Niriri narrowed his eyes. "It's Doctor Orange to you!" he grunted, nonetheless, with one hand still gripping the knife, he took a bowl from the dish rack behind him without turning around. "I'm not eating anything you give me unless you taste it first."
Haru raised an unimpressed brow, turning the stove off. "What? Do you think I'd poison you? Bit wasteful if you ask me," he said as he started pouring the soup into the bowl, "If I wanted you dead then I would've just left you lying in that alleyway."
"So you…helped me…" Why a person native to the planet meant to be invaded by the platoon he was joining would knowingly help him rather than abandon him, as would be the wiser course of action, was beyond his comprehension. "…I see. Were you the one who dressed my wounds?"
"Yep."
"Never be a medic. You'd suck at it."
"Ouch. Not a word mincing sort, noted." Haru scooped himself up a spoonful of homemade Cullen Skink. "Mmm, yum!" He passed the steaming bowl and another silver spoon to his third amphibian house guest. "See? Totally not poisonous at all."
Niriri stared at and stirred the bowl's green and pale yellow chunky contents in drawn out contemplation, wondering if he should risk accepting a meal from an enemy. Starvation wasn't a foreign concept to him, he had borne witness to and experienced it, and one day was one day therefore nothing too bad comparatively. He could refuse it and wait until tomorrow to search for alternative meals like takeout or those disgustingly bland Type-G rations, although then he would have to suffer through hunger pains on an already horrendous day. Of course intimately knowing what starving was like made him want the food more. Grim humor colored his thoughts: Whatever, if I die, I die. Good luck to the next poor sap that replaces me . He slowly raised the spoon to his mouth. He took a bite and swallowed. He took another bite then another and then another. The fervor in his eating had Haru laughing. He laughed harder, wiping tears, when Niriri brought the bowl to his cross-crossed lap and did a 180 degree scoot, turning his shiny orange back to him, huffing and grumbling in unbidden disdain for the carefree Pekoponian man.
"We're home~!" Two adolescent voices chorused. Niriri momentarily glanced at the direction of the voices then went back to his decent dinner. Amazing how he was meeting everyone but his new platoon mates. The bitter irony was not lost to him, and was greatly contrasted by the paternal glee bubbling in Haru's chest as he hurried to the door leading to the genkan. He wrenched it open and grinned at his children as they closed their umbrellas and removed their shoes.
"Welcome home kids! I hope you had a safe trip despite the weather's less than stellar mood."
"We did thanks to Nishizawa! She took us straight home from school!" Fuyuki said.
"While the ride was appreciated, the limousine was way too conspicuous for my taste. Everyone was staring," Natsumi groaned, rubbing her face self-consciously.
"How nice of her!" Haru had heard plenty about her through Fuyuki and Natsumi: heiress to the expansive Nishizawa Corporation, and Fuyuki's friend and member of the Occult Club. One would think she alone would be the most outstanding person in a group, but she was a grain in a sea of out there characters his children managed to befriend in his absence. "Always with the names and never faces to match, you both ought to bring your friends over some time so I can meet them." There was so much lost time that needed mending. "Anyway, you must be hungry after such a long day, fortunately your Papa prepared a delicious filling foreign dinner for the whole family."
Natsumi placed her hands on her hips, glaring at her father. "You didn't have to do that! You're supposed to be relaxing this week!" she chided, tone exasperated.
"Na~tsu~mi~, you know I can't stand relaxing, it would literally kill me~!" He gripped his shoulder and rolled his arm. "I gotta be pulling my weight now that I'm back! Just cuz your old man's getting older doesn't mean he's incapable of doing things around his own home, I wouldn't be a traveler if that were the case. The soup I made is delicious I promise you, Niriri seems to like it."
Natsumi and Fuyuki glanced at each other then back at their father. "Niriri?"
"Heck no! Not another freeloading fridiot!"
After loudly slurping the rest of the soup, Niriri placed the empty bowl down on the counter, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand as he apathetically scrutinized the scowling Pekoponian girl glaring daggers at him. Pinkish-red pigtails, slender yet athletic build, anger and aura meant for the most bloodthirsty of warriors. Ah, the (in)famed Natsumi Hinata in the flesh.
"Your hostility is impressive for your age, I can feel goosebumps forming on my skin under your devilish glare." Niriri turned to Haru, motioning to Natsumi. "See, Father Hinata? This is the proper response to having an invader in your home. Your daughter clearly has more common sense than you do. Take notes."
Haru snickered. "Isn't he a riot?" Such snarkiness wrapped in such a bite-sized package, it was hilarious!
Fuyuki's smile in response to his father's amusement, inappropriate for the situation, was shaky. "Um, sure, riot is one word to describe him."
"Condescending ass fits him better, in my opinion," Natsumi hissed through gritted teeth, a single brow twitching sporadically.
Sensing the unpleasant atmosphere, Niriri figured it was best to keep quiet now before a fight broke out, he shifted his attention to the tightly woven gauze, unwrapping then rewrapping them correctly. He couldn't risk causing any problems with the state he was in. Without his usual sedative needles in storage he was regulated to either using this knife as protection or running, and seeing that these Pekoponians had longer legs than he did he wouldn't get very far. Everyone turned to the sound of the sliding door opening, and tracking in water were the Keroro Platoon who froze in place once they noticed their audience.
Sighing, Niriri hopped off the counter and made his way to the Keroro Platoon, stopping at the jumpy commander who saluted him, movements so sloppy from panic that he nearly smacked himself in the face. Niriri crossed his arms, staring at the sergeant until he started to sweat before lazily saluting back. "Nice to finally meet you, Keroro Platoon. Private Second Class Tamama and Sergeant Major Kururu, it's been quite a while, hasn't it?" He said, turning to the seething Tamama and deviously smirking Kururu. "Saying I'm happy to have you as patients again would be a flat out lie therefore I won't waste my breath. So, our meeting is late. Sergeant Keroro. Mind giving me an explanation for your absence at the train station?"
"Ah! You see—the thing is—ehehe, we hadn't meant to abandon you, a-and for you to get hurt coming here!" Keroro's shoulders drooped and he hung his head in shame. "We—I," he quickly fixed his pronoun usage after being on the receiving end of his platoonmate's glares, "haven't been diligent with the mail so I ended up missing the letter informing us about your arrival. I'm very sorry about that, sir."
"…Okay." Niriri shrugged nonchalantly, shocking the apologetic sergeant. "Mistakes happen so I won't hold this against you. Just don't let it happen again." Although he wasn't saying this out of the goodness of his heart. Scolding someone for their screw up when he was irresponsible for driving his saucer out in this storm intoxicated out of mind wasn't his style. Consider him lucky there weren't any Space Police around to arrest him for this transgression. "Introductions are unnecessary as I already know who you all are name and rank wise, and you all should already know me. From now on, in replacement of Chief Medic Pururu, I will be this platoon's personal medic. While not frequent, she will still be visiting to make sure that I am properly doing my job. Tomorrow I will conduct a health evaluation in case your data is in need of refreshing, I'll comprise a list starting from the lowest rank to the highest and the times I expect to see you in the infirmary. You have one of those, don't you?"
"Yes, we do!" Keroro wrapped a friendly arm around Niriri's shoulders and squeezed. He winced both at the close contact and the jostling of his injuries. "We welcome you to our platoon, friend! Although the start may have been rocky, I assure you that your stay here will be most pleasant!"
Pleasant? Surveying the expressions of the rest of the platoon, yeah, his prospects weren't looking so great; Corporal Giroro was attempting to maintain a professional air but the way that he was eyeing the chipper commander revealed that slightest wrong word or move would end with him hurt. Private Second Class Tamama was grinding his teeth while giving Niriri a stink-eye. Sergeant Major Kururu was cackling in a way that made him shiver. The one frog making an effort in wanting to make him feel welcomed was Lance Corporal Dororo, and Niriri kept forgetting his existence every moment he glanced away from him. Pleasant…right.
"How about a group resonance to commemorate the employment of our seventh member! Ge —"
"I'll pass." Niriri abruptly interrupted, ducking out of Keroro's side embrace. "I'd rather you take me straight to the infirmary so I can set everything up then sleep. Father Hinata, where did you place my belongings?"
Haru pointed to the door leading out the hallway. "I brought them down to Keroro's room and Mois was sweet enough to take them to the secret base. They might be in the infirmary already."
"Good. From now on I will be secluded in the base and come out only when necessary so you Pekoponians can pretend I don't exist." He ignored Natsumi's grumbling of 'That better be true', maintaining eye contact with the grinning Haru. "Your help was misguided. Thanks."
"You're welcome?"
"Oh, Major Medic Niriri~." Niriri flinched and stiffly peered over his shoulder in Kururu's direction. Tilting his head, the platoon's intelligence officer whipped out a device with a single button. "As a welcoming gift I can get you to the infirmary nice and quick. Kukuku~!"
Niriri paled, turning and backing away slowly. "No, no no no. That won't be nece—"
"Clicky-poo!"
"—SSARRRRYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Niriri finished with a shriek as he fell through the hole that opened beneath him looney tunes-style. "KURURU YOU MOTHERFU—" It closed.
"Let's hope he won't hold that against us either," Keroro said dryly. Giroro shook his head, empathizing with the high-ranked medic for being another favorite victim of Kururu's.
Haru's jaw dropped. "Wait, I thought there was just a trap door in the backyard! Are there more? How many trap doors are there?"
Fuyuki placed a hand on his father's shoulder. "Best not to worry about it. At least the house hadn't split open this time." That seemed to have been the wrong thing to say.
"Huh? This time? That happened before!?"
"More times than I care to count," Natsumi huffed, rubbing her temple to ease the growing migraine. "These damn frogs made all sorts of modifications to our house. We don't have to pay for any of it though, which is the one plus that comes out of it." She started to drag her stunned father to the dining table. "Come on, let's eat the soup you made, it actually smells delicious and I'm famished! You can join us for dinner toads but you better appreciate it or else!"
Aki considered it lucky that work ended around the time the thunderstorm did. She was worried that she was going to be stuck in that building until tomorrow, now that would've been a huge pain. Puddles splashed under the spinning wheels of her motorcycle as she made her way back home. Due to it being close to midnight, there was barely a person or car in sight, she was sure that everyone at home was already fast asleep.
Her assumption was proven to not be entirely correct when she parked her motorcycle at the front of her home. She removed her helmet and whipped her head around to fix her disheveled hair. Before she could tie it into its usual ponytail, she noticed her husband sitting at the entrance with his arms draped over his knees as he contemplatively stared at the ground with a lit cigarette hanging out the corner of his grim set mouth. Seeing him look so serious, it reminded her of the old days. Softly chuckling, Aki brushed her black tresses behind her ear as she strolled up to him, cradling her helmet under her arm and to her chest.
"I thought you quit," she said, snapping him out of his deep thinking. He choked on some smoke, coughing incessantly which then caused the cigarette to fall out his gawking mouth onto his leg burning a hole into his orange pajama pants. He smacked the cigarette off with a pained yelp and blew on his leg to put out the small fire. Watching this unfold, Aki snorted then laughed uproariously behind her hand. This reminded her of the old days too.
"Akiiii," he whined, teary-eyed.
"Fufu~! Forgive me Haru, it just came out. Let me bring the bike in first and while we get that patched up we could talk about what's stressing you out, okay?"
His leg hadn't gotten too burned, fortunately. It was just a minuscule red blemish, nothing a little burn ointment and a bandaid could mend. As she ate the leftover soup Haru warmed up for her, they talked about their day at the dining table. She complained about the indecisiveness of the current mangaka she was helping out, always changing characters and story beats last minute. She blamed self-esteem issues for his second guessing tendencies even so it was making her job harder than it needed to be. How was she supposed to properly edit a story that's frequently changing in different extremes? They shared a laugh over her editor woes and then led the conversation to Haru's day.
"So there's a grumpy medic character added to the mix now? I wonder if I could use that character archetype as inspiration for one of my mangaka?" Aki mused, eyes sparkling and fingers interlaced beneath her chin.
"Heh, well he definitely is a character like the rest of the frogs. Very blunt to a fault, probably sleep-deprived, and I suspect he might be an alcoholic because of how his breath smelled." Haru leaned against his chair, arms crossed. "Overall though, I don't think he's a bad guy."
"Hm? Even though he threatened to kill you?"
"Eh, he was just scared. And he's so small I doubt that he could have done actual damage."
"If he threatened to harm the kids or me would you still think like that?"
"I would've crushed his tiny froggy bones if he did," Haru answered without missing a beat. He blushed with shame after realizing what he said, "I mean, he didn't though, so there's nothing for me to worry about. Worst case scenario averted."
Aki knowingly sighed. "Classic Haru, caring more about others than himself. Is it this new frog that's making you stress smoke or is there something more to this?"
Haru tugged on his pink wristband. "Classic Aki, always capable of reading a person like an open book. These invaders, they have aspects about them that could make them potentially dangerous enemies, but from what I hear about them, what I've seen, the things they have done for this family were positive. They watched over our kids, protected them, gave them new friends, enhanced their lives really. They're like adopted super uncles and cousins. During my travels I missed out, I missed watching this family grow. I guess when I heard there was going to be a new member I got excited and thought 'Maybe there's still a chance for me yet'. In my excitement I forgot about the whole militaristic planet and invasion goals thing about them. Niriri, he's not a bad guy but he's also an unhappy, paranoid guy."
Haru remembered what Niriri told him and weakly smiled. "Funny how he calls me uncharted territory when he's pretty mysterious himself."
"Perhaps what he needs is time to adjust. The relationship between us and the Keronians didn't immediately start as cozy as it is now. It took time for us to become a unit." Aki playfully flicked Haru's nose. "It took a while for us to warm up to each other in the past. Remember?"
Rubbing his nose, Haru blushed harder. "Y-yeah, I remember. How could I forget?"
"Relationships need time, rushing them will only make them crumble in the end," Aki snapped her fingers and winked. "We Hinatas and the Keroro Platoon are a charming bunch, I'm sure Niriri won't be able to resist the temptation of getting involved in our wacky hijinks, I'm sure of it!"
"You know what, I think I'm sure of it too."
As stated in the text, I modeled Niriri's design from a Strawberry/Blue Jeans Poison Dart Frog, very beautiful but also deadly. I decided to make him look like one due to me liking how they look.
