In the streets of Tokyo, Japan, there is a legend of an Angel roaming the streets at night. This Angel has never been seen clearly, ever. The very lucky few who do see her, however, describe her as so…
A somewhat tall, thin girl with shimmering hair and glowing eyes, who has pure white wings on her back. Wings as white as the cleanest snow.
However, these sightings have never been truly verified. In addition to this, she's only seen crying in the alleys, alone. Some say that her tears sound exactly like silver bells, playing to themselves the saddest melody known to humankind. Every one of the people has wished that they could go and give the Angel a comforting thought, but have fallen to fear of the beautiful creature.
The Angel Rumour has been the topic of every household conversation in the city.
Even more so than Tokyo Mew Mew.
But of course, who's to say that the Angel is real?
I am.
"Get out of here, bum!"
The angry words shook through my head like somebody whacked it with a stick. The man slammed his grimy door shut, creating a breeze in my face that sent my ash-caked hair flying.
"That was rude…" I grumbled to myself, walking away. "Like he couldn't spare one measly bowl of hot soup. It's not like he'd starve without it…"
Yep, that's me. Tokyo city's resident bum.
My name is Zeri Paruningyo, successfully living in the streets without a family, standing shelter or a half-decent cleansing since I was five. I'm 14. So do the math: I've lived like this for nine years. My biggest problem now, however, is the fact that I'm not getting the sympathy I used to get.
Your first impression of me is probably the fact that I'm a grump. Well, you'd be grumpy too if you smelled like this. And you've lived in a house for your entire life, or you probably wouldn't be reading this.
A little bit about what I look like, just to get the general idea. I have long, straight hair (I think it used to be white-blonde), brown eyes, ratty clothes. All of which is extremely dirty, which I'm used to, but hate.
Enough about me, though. On with the story.
It's cold out right now, to say the least. Snowing. And here I am, cowering in an upturned box, covering myself with a blanket-like thing I found in a dumpster. It's pretty fair to say that I am not comfortable. Not at all.
But, as I tend to do, I lifted an edge of the box and crawled out from under it. I peeked out from the alley. And God damn it, it was cold out. I still had the dumpster blanket over my shoulders, realizing at once that it wasn't a blanket but some sort of dead animal. I flung it off, shuddering and now shivering.
"… yeah, it's much more interesting than those Mew Mew girls! It has an air of mystery!"
I struggled to my feet and walked toward the conversation, holding my arms.
"Um… excuse me?" I asked the conversation party, a pair of teenage girls.
"Ew!" One of them squealed, looking at me. I glared at her.
"I have feelings, you know!" I raged. "Sorry. What were you discussing earlier?"
"We're talking about the Angel, of course!" The other explained, smiling.
"You should've heard about her by now. You live in her domain!" The rude one chuckled.
"Shitsureina! That's rude!" the other girl scolded.
"Well, SO-ry! I didn't realize you liked talking to hobos, Sutekina!" Shitsureina shouted. I, of course, not wanting to get into a fight, had already backed into my alley, snatched up my roadkill blanket and put my box back on.
But it was immediately yanked back off.
I turned my gaze upward and saw this tall blonde guy staring down at me. I glared at him.
"Put my box back." I said angrily, making him chuckle.
"You look like you could use a hand, though!"
"I've learned to never trust somebody who says that." I replied, standing up and shivering.
"You could use a bath."
"Don't rub it in."
"Shirogane-san, what are you doing?" a girl's voice echoed in the alleyway. I turned away from the blondie toward the sound. "Who is this?"
A small redheaded girl was standing at the entrance, staring him down. She picked up the thing I was holding between two fingers and tossed it aside.
"That's rather disgusting…" another girl behind her said. This girl had short black hair, worn up in two buns.
"Ichigo, Minto, would you two get back in the Café?" the blondie scolded.
Not that I would know, though.
I was running in the opposite direction.
"Hey!" I heard the people shouting behind me.
Then, I went into freak-out mode. I screamed as loud as I could, then felt suddenly warm. Then a little bit in pain. Then warm again. As I realized that this wasn't what you might say, normal, so I turned around to see that the people pursuing me had stopped.
I recognised what was happening now, the second I felt cold again. Without even thinking about it, I leaped into the air and flew away with my wings.
I hate this! They made me turn into this again! I thought furiously as I beat my wings harder. Below me, I heard a pair of voices shouting. Then there was some lights, and a few muffled words. The next thing I knew, I was in sudden pain.
Wind rushed past me as I plummeted to the ground.
"She's waking up, nano-da!" I heard a child's voice coming from around me. Then I opened my eyes to find I was on a table, and wearing my ratty old tatters. I screeched and tried to run away, but I was grabbed by another two girls.
"LET ME GO, NOW!" I kicked, shouting until I was hoarse.
"SHUT UP, STREET GIRL." That same blondie said. "If you don't calm down, we can't tell you what's going on!"
"HOW CAN I CALM DOWN? YOU HURT ME, MADE ME MORPH AND ALMOST KILLED ME!" I screamed.
"None of that would've happened if you'd cooperated in the first place!" he continued. "Now, sit down and let me explain before I have to knock you out again. I-"
"First, I have a few questions." I said, calming down on the outside. "First, WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, KIDNAPPING ME."
"My name is Shirogane Ryou. And I'm sorry about that."
"You're polite to the hobo, but not to me?" the little redheaded girl squeaked indignantly.
"Ignore her." Ryou dismissed the girl, to her disdain. "You're the fabled Angel of Tokyo, aren't you?"
"I have more questions, Mister Shirogane." I grumped, crossing my arms. "What is this place, and why is it so frilly that I'm afraid for my life?"
"This is Café Mew Mew." A taller girl with long green braids interrupted.
"Okay." I continue, calming down a little at their willingness to answer my questions.
"You're filthy, nano-da!" a little girl with yellow hair piped up.
"I haven't had an opportunity to get clean for a little while." I replied. "Lastly, who are you all?"
"My name is Momomiya Ichigo!" the redhead smiled. "Sorry about that hobo comment."
"I've heard worse, no worries." I smiled back.
"I'm Aizawa Minto." The girl with dark hair smirked.
"Midorikawa Retasu." The green-haired girl smiled kindly.
"I'm Purin Fon!" The little one grinned widely.
"My name is Fujiwara Zakuro." Said a tall girl with violet hair, who I hadn't seen talking yet.
"I'm Paruningyo Zeri." I finished, still unsure of what to do now that they knew my name. It'd been a while since I'd even said my name out loud. "I lied before. This is the last question. Who shot me?"
"That would've been Minto." Ichigo pointed to Minto with a thumb. "You were flying away. And after we saw that, we couldn't very well let you escape."
"My bad." She chuckled.
"You see, we can all transform like you!" Ichigo exclaimed. I noticed, despite how hard they were obviously trying to hide this, that they were all reluctant to touch me.
"Well, why me?" I asked, frowning.
"Shirogane-san was tapping away at his computer downstairs, and he picked up an energy signal at the same time every night. And we heard rumours of this Angel…" Ichigo began, only to be interrupted by Purin.
"It was on the news, nano-da!"
"Yes, yes. It was on the news." Ichigo continued. "Anyway. He sent us to investigate the area. We found you and you know what happened next."
"You need a bath, nano-da!" Purin interrupted again, this time initiating a little catfight between her, Minto, Ichigo and Retasu. Zakuro and I were just watching, until I decided I had to intervene.
"I do." I said, trying to smile. My face practically broke. "Where's the nearest shower?"
"There's one in the changeroom, even though we never use it. Feel free to use it." Ichigo finished, pointing me toward a door, which I walked toward, thanking her.
I really didn't know what to think. I was still confused by Ichigo's saying 'We can all transform, like you!'. I've lived as the Angel of Tokyo part-time for almost a year now. I wondered for a little while how long these girls had been transforming as they said.
Then I wondered about the dead thing I'd been using as a blanket, and my box, the man who refused to give me his soup and the rude girl.
But all was lost when I turned on the water, as it ran down my shoulders. Through my hair, all over me. It was warm.
It'd been weeks since I'd been warm.
Then I realized, over everything else, that I didn't need to be a street girl anymore. As long as I trusted these people.
It was a long shot, especially for me.
But the water was so nice, I decided to ignore myself for the time being and enjoy it.