Konjiki no Gash!! Chapter 56

**Meru Meru Me~** (メルメルメ～ , *Merumerume~*) is the 56th chapter of Makoto Raiku's Konjiki no Gash!!. This chapter was originally released in Japan as part of volume 6 on July 18, 2002.

## Plot

Kiyomaro and Gash are excited to finally arrive back in Mochinoki City after their recent trip to England. Upon collecting their luggage at the airport, they see a small horse, later nicknamed Umagon, had attached himself to it. Seeing him surprises Gash and Kiyomaro and Kiyomaro himself remembers briefly seeing Gash play with Umagon in England. Umagon leaps towards Gash and begins licking him and Kiyomaro gets the impression that Umagon is friendly. When Kiyomaro reaches his hand toward Umagon to pet him, Umagon unexpectedly bites him several times. When the group returns home, Kiyomaro and Gash argue about whether or not to keep Umagon. Kiyomaro is adamantly against this after Umagon had bit him earlier but Gash doesn’t see why they shouldn’t keep him regardless. Just as they talk about this, Hana tells the two to come downstairs to have tea. Gash decides he’ll ask Hana for permission to keep Umagon and soon leaves the room.

While Gash is downstairs, Kiyomaro begins unpacking his luggage and discovers something unusual packed away in it. When he takes this item out, Kiyomaro discovers that it’s an orange spell book. Kiyomaro then looks back at Umagon and asks if the spell book was his. Umagon nods then takes the spell book from Kiyomaro’s hands to then slips on the rope strings attached to the spell book to show off how it looks behind his back. Umagon then puts his spell book back down and tries to untie the rope knots but has trouble doing so with his hooves. Kiyomaro tries to help Umagon by cutting the rope with a pair of scissors but doing this causes Umagon to cry. Umagon tries to hopelessly put the rope back together again but this of course doesn’t work. He then attempts to wear his spell book as a backpack again but the spell book drops to the ground as the rope wasn't able to hold it anymore. Umagon tries to communicate to Kiyomaro that the rope was important to him because his mother had made it specifically for him but Kiyomaro ends up laughing at this and says that he can’t understand anything that Umagon is saying.

From downstairs, Hana and Gash hear commotion coming from Kiyomaro’s room. At the same time, Kiyomaro’s classmates, Yamanaka, Iwashima, and Suzume had come to visit Kiyomaro. They enter Kiyomaro’s room to greet him but they end up walking in on Kiyomaro being vehemently beaten up by Umagon. Gash pulls back Umagon and asks him what had happened and Umagon gestures towards Kiyomaro. Kiyomaro’s classmates then assume that Kiyomaro had done something to Umagon to make him upset. Changing topics, Suzume tells Kiyomaro she’s glad that Kiyomaro returned safely and both Yamanaka and Iwashima express the same sentiment. The three of them then go on to ask Kiyomaro if he can help them with their summer homework and Kiyomaro agrees to help them. He tells them that he’s going downstairs to bring in an extra table for them to all work on but he warns them to be careful about Umagon as he had bit his hand earlier that day.

When Kiyomaro returns with a table, he’s baffled to see Umagon act so playful and friendly to all of his friends. While setting up, Tio arrives to also spend time with Kiyomaro and Gash as Megumi was busy that day. Just then, Umagon tackles Tio and begins licking her face. Kiyomaro once again sees how friendly Umagon is with yet another person and Kiyomaro wonders why Umagon only acts aggressive towards him only.

## Features

### Characters by Appearance

* Kiyomaro Takamine
* Gash Bell
* Umagon
* Hana Takamine
* Umagon’s Mother
* Hiroshi Yamanaka
* Mamoru Iwashima
* Suzume Mizuno
* Tio

### Locations

* Mochinoki City
	+ Takamine Residence
		- Kiyomaro’s Room