"Just make sure that the stupid frog doesn't destroy anything, okay Fuyuki?"

"Sure, Natsumi…but where are you going?"

I'm putting some money and my cell phone in a pink purse. I look up at my younger brother and say, "Just out, Fuyuki. If I'm not back before dinner, feel free to call me, and order some pizza."

Fuyuki nods, and heads upstairs. Probably to do more research on aliens or something. He can be real geeky, but I can still somehow trust leaving him home alone with those stupid frogs…

Oh, speak of the devil.

Keroro's coming in through the back porch, being closely followed by Tamama, Angol Mois, and Dororo. "Come on, let's just get these plans over with so I can make more Gundam models!" he's shouting in excitement.

"Stupid frog…" I growl as I lift him up by the top of the head.

"Ah, Master Natsumi! Good morning!" he says nervously. I know he's hiding something, but I don't care.

"If the house is destroyed when I get back…" I lift up a fist to his face to show him my threat.

"I-I understand, Master Natsumi! N-nothing to fear!"

And with that, the stupid frog, Tamama, Angol Mois, and Dororo are all walking down to the secret base in our basement. I sigh.

"What, you going out today or something?"

Eeps! I barely even heard Giroro walking in! I smile at him. "Yeah, just for a bit."

"Let me guess, you're going somewhere with that Saburo guy?"

I nod, and I feel that the permanent smile on my face now feels fake. I remember now when Saburo first asked me out.

It went something like this:

Saburo came to school (for the first time in quite a while), and all the girls were freaking out—but not me, for some reason. Saburo came up to me at the end of the day, in front of almost every girl in class, and asked me out. I automatically thought that I should say no, just turn the guy down. But I'd liked him for such a long time, and there were so many people around—so I gave in to pressure and said yes. When I got home, I must have been looking sad, because everyone got really worried. Koyuki kept hugging me all the time, and Momoka even offered to get pastries sent over from France to cheer me up! I refused the offer, of course.

End flashback.

Giroro frowns a bit, and I suddenly feel sad. Giroro walks down the stairs to the basement, and I realize that if I don't hurry, I'll be late!

Before going, I look at myself in the mirror. I'm wearing a purple and white sailor top and a denim mini-skirt. I didn't feel like dressing up much for this occasion.

I run out the door and go to the diner that Saburo said he'd meet me at. I walk in, and see that Saburo isn't there—I guess I'll have to wait.

I sit down on a bench outside the diner, and instead of thinking about where Saburo could possibly be, my thoughts go to Giroro. What's he going to do, knowing I'm on a date with Saburo? He's probably balling his eyes out in a corner…or trying to act tough and pretend nothing's happening…or shooting at something.

"Hey! Natsumi!"

I look up to see Saburo running up to me, wearing, of all things, his school outfit. He's also wearing one of the dorkiest hats I've ever seen—a yellow visor with Kururu's symbol on it. Guess he didn't bother dressing up for today, either.

He runs over to greet me, and I stand up. "Hey, how's it going, Natsumi?" he says to me. And something odd occurs to me. Whenever he spoke to me, my face would turn all red and hot…but I feel perfectly normal now.

We walk into the diner, and we sit at a booth. Saburo puts his hands in his pockets and exclaims, "Oh, I forgot my money."

I find myself saying, "Don't worry, I'll pay." I'm now annoyed at him—he asks me out, then makes me pay? This isn't a very good date so far.

The waiter comes around and asks us what we want to drink. I just order water, but Saburo orders a giant mug of soda. So I'm paying, and I'm gonna have to spend all my money on this guy's food? This date is getting worse.

"So Natsumi," Saburo says after taking a sip of his cherry soda mug, "How's everything at your place? Chaotic?"

I laugh. "Chaotic is right," I say. "The stupid frog is always causing all these problems…but Giroro usually keeps him in line."

Hmm…yet again, Giroro pops into my head. Oh well.

Saburo chuckles at what I said. "Giroro seems like that kind of guy, doesn't he?" he says, flashing me a little grin.

An image of me months ago pops into my head; me blushing madly, steam coming from my ears, my nose bleeding, and finally, my entire self melting. I almost laugh out loud at that image. If I was like that months ago, why aren't I like that now? I barely react to anything Saburo does, and he even starts to get on my nerves a bit.

Our food arrives a bit later. I ordered a garden salad, and Saburo ordered a double cheese burger—I almost screamed when he asked the waiter if he could get it. As I eat, I watch Saburo and realize; he's a pig. He's probably the most sloppy eater I've ever seen in my whole life; melted cheese and burger bits on his face, hamburger juice leaking all over the plate and table, ketchup dripping onto his pants and shirt. I almost want to throw up. When I finish my salad, I look out the window and my stomach growls—sweet potatoes sound really good right now.

"Should we get dessert?" Saburo asks, wiping his face with a paper napkin. By this point, I would enjoy throttling him.

I'm about to tell Saburo that he should shut up when a girl about my age walks up. She has long black hair, gigantic green eyes, and is wearing a neon pink tank top and a black skirt that is hemmed so short that it's practically a belt.

"Hey Saburo," she coos to him, standing only inches next to him. "How are you? And who is this you're with?"

"Ah, Nina," he says to her while smiling flirtatiously, "This is Natsumi." He turns to me. "Natsumi, this is my…ah, friend, Nina."

"Nice to meet you," I say, making sure my voice doesn't leave out all of the annoyance that I'm feeling.

Nina ignores my existence. "Anyways, Saburo," she says, "We haven't seen each other for quite some time. I think we should go out sometime."

"Yeah, that'd be great…"

The rest of their conversation is blocked out of my head. I've liked him all this time, and once he asks me out, I don't care. And then when I accept, he acts like a jerk and a pig. But now he's hitting on some girl while on a date—this guy is not for me.

And suddenly, I'm laughing. Nina and Saburo are looking at me in surprise. But I continue laughing, and everyone in the diner is looking at me. Good. I want lots of attention for the crazy thing I'm about to do.

Still laughing, and breathing hard so I can talk, I stand up. "Check please!" I yell to the waiter.

Saburo looks at me in astonishment. He now knows I am going to leave him alone and broke with the bill. "W-wait, Natsumi…" he says.

I turn to him, with an insane smile on my face. "Go ahead, have fun with Nina," I say to him—I'm not shrieking, but my voice is still strong and loud. "Because now, I don't really care. You are a pig, a slob, a leech, and a jerk"—I count off those points on my fingers to make it more clear to him—"and I don't care about you any more! In fact, I don't think I have for quite some time now!"

I turn to leave the diner, when a question occurs to me: if I don't like Saburo, then who do I like?

The first one that pops into my head is the one I know is right: Giroro.

And this answer has inspired me to do yet another crazy thing.

I turn back to the two shocked people at the table I was once sitting at. "One more thing, Saburo," I say.

Splash

If Saburo looked astonished before, then his expression now was too rich and priceless for words. And why shouldn't it be? I just dumped that entire mug of cherry soda on top of his head, soaking his hair, face, and hideous yellow visor hat.

There is silence in the diner, as everyone looks at me in shock—especially Saburo. Someone then breaks the silence by standing up and applauding. Other people in the diner start to applaud, too—applauding for me. At this point, I leave the impressed people and Nina and Saburo behind, and run home, laughing all the way.

"I…I'm home!" I pant as I take off my shoes in the doorway. No one's here, but I can smell smoke from a fire pit outside; that's where Giroro is.

I walk to the back sliding door and walk outside to where Giroro is, outside of his tent, roasting some sweet potatoes on a blazing fire.

He glances up at me as I walk over and kneel next to him. "Back already?"

"Yep."

"How come?"

"I ditched him."

Giroro looks up at me in surprise, then his expression relaxes and he blushes slightly. "Nice to know…I guess."

I giggle a bit at this comment, and I feel my cheeks turn a bit red. Giroro continues cooking the sweet potatoes, then stabs one and points it at me. "Sweet potato?" he asks.

I look at the steaming sweet potato and smile. "Yeah…"