Too Good to Be True
This story started out as part of a contest announcement, since FFN requires story content in all published chapters, and I like to follow the site rules. (It's pretty cool; you should try it too if you haven't!) Since it was originally meant as filler for rules purposes, it's a bit rushed and doofy, but I'm preserving it for posterity nonetheless.
Disclaimer: Tokyo Mew Mew belongs to Mia Ikumi, Rei Yoshida, and Kodansha Ltd.
"Doesn't it annoy you how she just waltzed in here and immediately took over?"
Retasu tracked Minto's glare over to where Café Mew Mew's newest waitress was giggling with a table of customers.
"No?" the bespectacled girl ventured. "Berri seems pretty nice, and with these new enemies, we could really use her help. It's not like she's trying to replace Ichigo."
"She is, though!" Minto hissed, a little louder than she'd meant to. "I mean, do you seriously think it's a coincidence that she became the team leader right away, even though she didn't have any experience?"
"Oh." Retasu gave a sympathetic smile. "Is that what this is all about? Look, Minto, I'm sure Ryou wasn't trying to be a jerk when he made Berri the leader instead of you. I know he can be a little abrasive, but he does have our best interests at heart."
Minto snorted, but before she could retort that Retasu's giant, obvious crush made her opinion of Ryou a little hard to take seriously, the green-haired girl was called away to deal with some mess over in Purin's section. Minto could have gotten up too, of course, but that would mean letting her tea get cold. Berri, for her part, continued not to notice the suspicious glare Minto was aiming at the back of her head. I bet she's doing that on purpose just to upset me, Minto thought.
After the café closed that evening, she tailed Berri home, trying to stay just in earshot without alerting the other girl to her presence. Of course Berri wouldn't say anything incriminating in the café; that would ruin her whole little-miss-perfect act. Way too perfect, in Minto's opinion. Retasu was wrong: None of this was about being passed over for team leadership. It was about the fact that Berri was obviously hiding something, and everyone else was being willfully blind just because she acted nice and was suspiciously powerful.
Minto wasn't the only person trailing after Berri, it turned out. When they were nearly to where Berri claimed her house was (Minto had looked up her application in the café's files), someone brushed past her from behind. The bluenette was too focused on her quarry to pay much attention until the person turned around to stare at her.
Or, at least, they were probably staring at her-their face was obscured by a peaked white hood that betrayed none of their features, or even their gender. All around the hooded figure, other people walked on, apparently oblivious to the weirdo on the street with them. The hooded figure held Minto's gaze for an uncomfortably long moment, then hurried after Berri. And thank goodness, too: Minto had almost lost her, but the stranger's tall hood was easy to follow, though she didn't dare get close enough to hear what Berri and the stranger were discussing.
Berri and the stranger breezed right past Berri's alleged house and continued walking until they reached the immaculately groomed grounds of an enormous house, not too far from where Minto herself lived. What the heck is going on here?
Following them through the front door seemed like the sort of plan that would end with her tied up in the basement, Minto decided, so she instead snuck around the side of the mansion, tracking Berri and the stranger's movement through windows. Eventually, they came to a dining room already occupied by three other people: a handsome blond man, a child, and—
Oh, no.
She recognized the third man. How could she not? They'd fought him at Berri's school. Royal Highness, wasn't that his name? And now that that piece of the puzzle had fallen into place, the little kid looked a lot like the child who'd rescued him.
Minto could see a window on the adjacent wall was open, so she crept over to it. Skulking through the bushes like this was awfully undignified, but finding out why the heck Berri was hanging out with the new enemies was way more important than keeping her dress clean.
"How is the infiltration going?" Minto couldn't see who was speaking from this angle-it was either the hooded figure or the blond.
"I think Aizawa is getting suspicious." At the mention of her name, Minto ducked down below the window and sat with her back against the wall, a hand over her mouth. "She'll have to be dealt with."The voice was definitely Berri's.
Minto didn't waste any more time. She practically flew back to Café Mew Mew, through the front room, into the kitchen, and down the stairs to Ryou's lab. Ryou was bent over a table, working on something, but his head snapped up when Minto clattered down the steps.
"What are you doing down-no, wait, what happened to you?" His lip curled with distaste, which was, in Minto's experience, his default expression when someone interrupted his work.
Minto looked down at herself. Her dress was indeed ruined, covered in dirt and tangled with thorns.
"I was—" she paused. It probably wasn't a good idea to admit she'd been following Berri home. "I was doing some recon after work, and I think I found where the new enemies are hiding. It's a house in my neighborhood."
Ryou's dour expression brightened. "That's really excellent work, Minto!"
"There's, um, there's one more thing. Berri was with them."
"Berri? Minto, you can't be serious."
"I am! She was hanging out with Royal Highness and all the rest of them, talking about infiltrating this team!"
Ryou sighed.
"Thank you for telling me this, Minto. I'll look into it. I promise."
Minto made sure to be at the café during Berri's next shift, and lurked at the top of the stairs when Ryou called the new girl into his lab. Keiichiro was out buying baking supplies, so she had the kitchen all to herself. She waited for the sweet sound of the interloper getting her comeuppance, but all she heard was a crash. She raced down the rickety basement stairs, fearing the worst.
And, indeed, when Minto got there, Berri was crouching over Ryou's crumpled body, a long knife in her hand and blood spattered all over her. She smiled when she saw Minto.
"Did you really think telling him would help?" Berri's voice sounded as friendly as ever, but the mocking edge Minto had always heard was at the forefront now. "You've simply accelerated our plans a little." She raised her knife and advanced on Minto, who scrambled back onto the stairs.
"Mew Mew Minto, metamorpho~sis! Mintone Arrow! Reborn, Mint Echo!" In one fluid motion, Minto transformed, summoned her bow, and fired. The arrow pierced right through Berri's left eye, bursting it before continuing its journey through her skull. She fell onto the bare floor.
Breathing heavily, Minto de-transformed and slowly made her way back up the stairs. How could she tell the others Ryou was dead? She couldn't just leave him down there, but she certainly didn't want to go back after everything that just happened.
And then, as she was leaving the kitchen, she bumped into a ghost.
"Oh, Minto. Has Berri come in yet? With Keiichiro out, I had to go deal with some customers. If you see her, tell her I need to talk to her, but try not to be alone with her, just in case."
Minto blanched, and she fled without saying a word.
She ran full-bore through the street, trying to process what she'd just seen. Too distraught to look where she was going, she inevitably crashed into another pedestrian. When she looked up, unreadable eyes were watching her from inside a peaked white hood.
"Y-you!" was all Minto could think to say.
"Thank you for taking care of Berri for me," the hooded figure said warmly. "With her gone, destroying the rest of your little team will be much easier."
"But Berri was working with you! I saw you!" The hooded figure gave a refined little laugh.
"All the Saint Rose have our little gifts. You saw what I wanted you to see. It was so simple, your little mind so filled with gauche jealousies…" She laughed again, and then she was gone.
Minto blinked and headed back toward the café. What was I doing all the way out here, anyway? she thought, but the question faded and her mind wandered. Retasu has been acting awfully susicious lately. Maybe I should investigate.