This story has been written in collaboration with Greendolphin24 from DeviantArt.
About 5 years had passed since the group of magical girls collectively known as Tokyo Mew Mew had saved the world from an alien menace. It was a cool summer morning when one of said magical girls, the beautiful now-19-years-old Retasu Mirorikawa, looked out through the window of the Yamanote elevated train…
Retasu had noticeably changed in the last five years. Aside from her more developed body that comes naturally with the age, she had let her long hair loose, more clearly showing how it reached down to her waist. This made her look a little more confident than five years ago, but she was still not doing anything flashy or extravagant with her hairstyle other than loosening it, so it wasn't a big increase. And she was still wearing those big thin-framed glasses. Retasu still had a preference for more demure styles of clothing as well, wearing a long green skirt that covered her knees, and a white sleeveless blouse with no cleavage, although with the slight increase in breast size it made the bulge on her chest look more noticeable, especially because the blouse was relatively tight. On her feet she was wearing green flats without socks, popping her left heel out of the shoe while she waited for the train to reach its destination…
Retasu started flashing back to the mission briefing that her boss, 20-years-old Ryou Shirogane, had given her at their base of operations under their cutesy-looking café. That underground base was dark and full of computers and high-tech, a glaring contrast with the pastel-colored yellow-and-pink café…
"You may have probably heard the recent news about the series of murders at the Kanagawa prefecture…" Ryou started. "According to police investigation, the way the victims' bodies were torn apart suggests a non-human killer, but the nature of the wounds doesn't seem to fit any normal animal either"
"Shirogane-san! Do you mean…?" a shocked Retasu asked…
"Yes. I suspect a Chimera Anima might have done it" Ryou answered…
"But… wouldn't Masha have reacted if that had been the case?" Retasu questioned…
"That's what worries me. How did this Chimera Anima pass under the R2000's radar? What makes it different?" Ryou said. "In order to find the answer to those questions, I summoned you here. I need you to investigate the Kanagawa prefecture while I gather the rest of the team"
"Are you sending me to battle a Chimera Anima all alone?" Retasu asked worriedly…
"No. I'd like you to avoid combat until I can send reinforcements. This is a recon mission. We'll gather information on the enemy first before eventually taking it down" Ryou replied…
Retasu woke up from her flashback as she heard the bell indicating that the train had arrived at the station in the Kanagawa prefecture. Despite being an elevated train, this particular station was at ground level. Retasu got off the train and into the large town, which showed very traditional Japanese architecture despite this being the 21st century. She decided to take her time to explore the city and get acquainted with her new surroundings. The first thing that called her attention was a propaganda sign at the station itself with Japanese letters that roughly translated as "January 4th: Never forget"…
"Are you new around here, young lady?" a short old woman asked politely as she approached Retasu…
"Y-Yes!" Retasu replied timidly…
"That poor boy… On that day he got rammed by the Yamanote train at this same intersection" the old lady commented sadly…
"Oh! That's horrible!" Retasu exclaimed, shrinking just imagining the pain that the victim must have felt…
"I'm sorry to have put such an ugly image in your head. I see you're quite the empathic young lady. That's a valuable trait that you should never lose" the little old lady said. "Well, I'd better get going…"
"I can keep you company for a while, if you wish" Retasu offered…
"Aw, how kind of you. Of course you can come with me!" the old lady replied with a smile. Retasu and the old lady then left the station together and shared a nice, leisurely walk, which also served as a nice way to explore more of the city. "I'm glad you decided to tag along with me. It's dangerous to go alone these days, what with all the murders and shoe thefts" the old lady commented…
"Shoe thefts?" Retasu asked confusedly…
"Yes. There's some crazy goof going around stealing pretty young ladies' shoes, right off their feet without them even noticing until it's too late. It's nothing compared to the murders, but I can only imagine how annoyed the girls must be to have to walk back home barefoot" the old lady said. "This is my house" the old lady finally said as she stopped at an old wooden house designed in the style of the ancient Edo period…
At that moment Retasu noticed a girl crying on a nearby bench. Retasu immediately felt sorry for this crying girl. She had reddish-brown hair tied to the right side and wore a yellow t-shirt with a short blue jean skirt…
"Oh… That poor young lady over there lost her boyfriend to one of the murders. Losing your husband due to old age is one thing, but I cannot even imagine how painful it must be to lose your loved one in such a horrible way" the old lady said…
Retasu promptly approached the crying girl. "Um… My sympathies" Retasu said to her…
"Thanks…" the crying girl replied. "It's weird, you know… I'm not one to cry often, and I never thought I would cry for him, of all people… but now he's gone forever…"
"They say one doesn't appreciate what she has until she loses it…" Retasu commented. "I'm Retasu Midorikawa. Pleased to meet you" she introduced herself…
"You can call me Kasumi" the girl replied…
"I know it's not much, but I'd like to be your friend from now on" Retasu said, and then she rummaged into her bag. "Here, accept this" she said as she gave Kasumi a small green plush dolphin…
"Aw, it's so cute! Thank you, Midorikawa!" Kasumi replied, cuddling the plushy. The old lady smiled at the newly-formed friendship before she got into the house…
Retasu and Kasumi went together to the park to keep chatting with each other, sitting at a bench…
"…And he was such a bonehead sometimes! And so immature, his brain hadn't seemed to have grown past 10 years old! …Oh, but he was so nice to animals! You know you've found yourself a kind boy when he treats animals so nicely" Kasumi told Retasu…
"I know that feeling! I once had a crush on a boy with such a big devotion to protect the planet" Retasu said…
"And what happened? He hurt your heart?" Kasumi asked…
"Oh, no no! He just gently turned me down" Retasu admitted, embarrassed…
"So, he's one of those guys, huh? You know, the type who… Eek!" Kasumi was suddenly interrupted…
"What type? ...Eek!" Retasu suddenly squealed…
Both girls looked down. Retasu's left flat and Kasumi's right sneaker were suddenly missing, and since none of them were wearing socks, their beautiful bare feet were exposed. "It's that guy again!" Kasumi growled…
"Was that the shoe thief?" Retasu squealed…
Hiding in the nearby bushes, a cute harmless-looking 20-year-old young man with short black hair and thin-framed glasses, wearing a black t-shirt with grey pants, black and green sneakers and white socks, was aiming his cell phone camera towards the girls' lovely feet, at such a precise angle to showcase the beauty of two one-shod girls that only a professional artist photographer could get right. "This one is going to my gallery" he thought with a perverted smile, a blush and a slight nosebleed, while holding the shoes he stole from them. However, the lens of the cell phone camera inadvertently caused a gleam in the bushes. Kasumi and Retasu immediately looked the young man's way and spotted him. "Uh-oh…" the poor young man uttered…
"Get back here with my shoe, you creep!" Kasumi screamed furiously. The thief/artist ran away, scared…
"Please give me back my shoe!" Retasu pleaded, as both girls started chasing the shoe thief…
Said thief did nothing to fight back or even try to slow them down. Retasu soon stopped chasing him when she noticed how it hurts to run on one bare foot on the hard pavement of the street, but Kasumi endured it and continued to give chase. Retasu stopped at a random street corner to massage her own sore foot…
Soon Retasu noticed a 19-year-old young man who just stopped by, dressed completely in black casual clothes, more precisely a t-shirt, long pants, and sneakers with socks. He also had short black hair to match. His somewhat thick eyebrows were fixed in a frowning expression, but Retasu noticed he was blushing, and then noticed it was because he was staring at her bare foot. Retasu's face went red from embarrassment as she tried to hide her foot behind her other leg. The young man, seeing Retasu's reaction, looked elsewhere in a half-assed attempt to pretend he wasn't staring at her…
"You're new around here, aren't you?" the young man said, his voice sounding rather harsh. "You chose a bad time to come here" he said, looking at Retasu with the corner of the eye rather sinisterly. "A very bad time… You know how there's a serial killer on the loose in this neighborhood, right?"
Retasu looked at this shady young man with distrust. If there was anyone in this city who looked like a bad guy, it was this person, what with his angry eyes, harsh way of talking and dressed completely in black…
"If I were you, I'd leave this town as soon as possible and by whatever means necessary. It'd be sad if a beautiful Cinderella like you were to get dismembered" he said way too casually for such a morbid topic…
"Um… Excuse me. I'd like to stay and chat, but I really need to get going" Retasu said…
"You're a smart one" the young man in black nodded. "Yes, you need to get going before something bad happens to you" he added before he started walking away from her. By the time the sun was setting, Retasu walked back to the old woman's house…
"Thanks for staying and keeping me company, young lady. Too bad that your shoe got stolen, but I think I still have an unused pair of my granddaughter's" the old lady said, and then she noticed Retasu was reading about the recent murder on the newspaper. "Are you really interested in such a thing?" the old lady asked…
"Well… It's very strange to say the least. The forensic doctors are said to have found jellyfish DNA on the victim's remains… Isn't that weird?" Retasu said…
It was an eerily silent full moon night, not a soul wandering the streets, except for the random beautiful and feminine schoolgirl who ran away frightened while a mysterious shadowy figure with a jellyfish tentacle for an arm walked after her relentlessly. Meanwhile, in a dark alley a few blocks from there…
"A jellyfish killed that guy? In the middle of the city?" the loud, harsh-sounding voice of a young man broke through the silence of the night…
"That's what the forensic doctors said" a more gentle voice of a young man about the same age replied. "Something tells me the police won't be able to catch this one" he added, and then adjusted his thin-framed glasses, which shined white due to the angle of the light. "Think you can handle it, Leon?"
The other silhouette opened his eyes, which glowed red in the dark. "I'm pretty sure I can kick that serial killer's ass" he replied confidently…
Once the old lady fell asleep, Retasu took her Mew Pendant out of her pocket and kissed it. "Mew Mew Lettuce! Metamorphose!" she declared, and her usual transformation sequence took place. Once transformed and ready for action, our heroine jumped out the window and into the dark and empty streets. While heading for the location where she read the initial murder took place, Retasu wondered if the killer would indeed be a Chimera Anima, or maybe a new type of monster entirely. There was no way to tell for sure, but Retasu was convinced that the shady guy in black clothes was a monster in human disguise…
Meanwhile, the schoolgirl was still running through the empty street when one of her loafers came off, causing her to trip and fall, giving her pursuer time to catch up to her. The monster started whipping the poor schoolgirl with the jellyfish tentacle arm, injuring her and causing her to scream, which Retasu heard from a couple blocks away…
"Why are you doing this to me?" the girl cried…
"Why did he have to call you cute and call me ugly?" the killer said, sounding like she was about to cry…
Retasu rushed into the scene and was shocked as she recognized the little green plush dolphin chained on the killer's waist…
"Kasumi-san?" Retasu whispered, horrified. The killer, with her arm still transformed into a light blue tentacle, turned around. It was indeed Kasumi, and she looked heartbroken. "B-But… why? Why are you doing this, Kasumi-san?" Retasu asked sadly…
"Do you know what it feels like to be bullied into thinking you're ugly by your big sisters?" Kasumi said seriously. "All I asked for was someone who would lie to me and tell me I'm beautiful even though I'm not… And when your boyfriend fails to do that…" Kasumi replied as she angrily clenched her teeth and tears appeared in her eyes…
"But, Kasumi-san! You loved him!" Retasu cried…
"Exactly! One has to wonder how a boy can be so nice to animals yet treat his own girlfriend like trash! So what if I'm not feminine enough? That doesn't give him the right to call me ugly!" Kasumi cried as she turned her other arm into another tentacle, as well as her legs, and more started sprouting from her back…
"B-But… going so far as to kill him?" Retasu cried. "And what does that other girl have to do with all this?"
"He called her cute! He had the gall to call me, his girlfriend, ugly, but some complete stranger girl is cute to him!" she screamed as she completed her transformation. The result was a jellyfish-like monster woman with a jellyfish "hat" on top of her head, a red gem on her forehead, Kasumi's face and naked torso with small breasts, and dozens of tentacles for limbs…
With a raging scream Kasumi then attacked the girl she felt jealousy against, trying to whip her with her tentacles. With unbelievable speed and agility, Retasu moved in and acted as a meat shield for the girl, proving able to endure the attack…
"Please run! I got this!" Retasu said to the girl she saved. The girl obeyed and escaped…
"Midorikawa, why? …Why are you defending her? I thought we were friends!" monster Kasumi cried furiously as she attacked Retasu. Our heroine started dodging the relentless barrage of tentacle attacks…
"Is this really a Chimera Anima? I've never heard one say coherent things now that I think about it. Chimera Anima rarely speak, and when they do they usually utter non-sequiturs" Retasu thought as she ran around Kasumi, evading her attacks. "Lettustanets!" she then called her weapons, a pair of oyster-like castanets…
"So, you're going to fight me, Midorikawa?" Kasumi asked angrily…
"I'll do whatever it takes to get you back to normal!" Retasu replied valiantly…
"So be it!" Kasumi screamed as she fired red lasers from the gem on her forehead. Retasu barely dodged…
"Ribbon: Lettuce Rush!" Retasu said as she opened her castanets and fired a blast of high-pressure sea water at Kasumi, scoring a direct hit…
Kasumi screamed even more madly as she attacked with another barrage of tentacles. This time, one of said tentacles tangled around Retasu's right boot. Retasu immediately struggled to get out of Kasumi's grasp, which resulted in her foot slipping out of her boot. "Not again!" Retasu complained…
Kasumi did not give Retasu time to get her boot back and continued to attack her. Retasu would find herself retreating and escaping to the alleys, using her speed and agility to resort to hit-and-run tactics. However, even with her increased endurance as a magical girl, Retasu still felt the cold and hard floor under her one bare foot as she ran around…
As the fight moved away from where it started, the two mysterious silhouettes from earlier arrived and found Retasu's lost boot. The one with the glasses picked it up immediately. "What gorgeous lady could have lost this sexy boot?" he asked. The sounds of the battle were heard nearby…
"Over there!" the one with the glowing red eyes said as he rushed head-first into the action…
Meanwhile Kasumi had taken another two hits from Retasu's water attacks, but she ultimately managed to restrain Retasu's four limbs…
"In the end, you're just like them!" Kasumi cried angrily as she charged up a laser attack to kill Retasu…
With a loud scream, the guy with the eyes that glowed red in the dark suddenly charged in and punched Kasumi hard, with enough strength to knock her over and make her let go of Retasu. When Retasu's view cleared, she saw the shady young man in black from earlier, standing there, his eyes glowing red in the dark…