-Chapter 1-
"Hello, Ryou! All the rest..." Ichigo said. "So guess what?"
"Hm?" Lettuce replied.
"I had..."
"Yes?" Even Mint was interested now.
"Another date with Aoyama-kun!"
"Oh! Not this again!" Zakuro sighed.
"I think it's great that you two are getting to know each other better!" happy little Pudding said.
"But..." Ichigo continued.
"Is something wrong, Ichigo?"
"Mm! It's nothing! Nope! Nothing at all! I was just wondering about, uh... Something. Yeah, something... To myself! That's all!"
"Oh, please! You've been with the Mew Project for how long now? We all know you better than that! Tell us, already!" Akasaka-san said.
Ichigo started to stare at Mint.
"What?!" an annoyed Mint said.
But Ichigo didn't take her eyes off her.
Eventually Mint moved away from the torturous stare of Ichigo Momomiya-san and sat somewhere else, still drinking her hot tea. Ichigo still stared and didn't move her eyes for an instant.
Ryou waved his hand in front of her face, but she still didn't budge those eyes of hers. She just stared, blankly, at the wall of Cafe Mew Mew. Surprisingly, no one had figured out that this was the Mew Mew's hideout.
Akasaka went to the kitchen and brought out a fish. This immediately snapped Ichigo out of her trance and she dove in for her reward. Akasaka was left, crushed and crumbled. But he was still alive, that was the good news! His twitches signaled this to everyone.
"What happened, Ichigo? Were you thinking about Aoyama-kun again?"
Her reply was a bit muffled, being as her mouth was full of fish, but Mint could make out what she was trying to say, "Uh... What're you talking about? What'd I do?"
Lettuce answered this for Mint, "You don't remember staring at Mint? Or Ryou waving his hand in your face?"
Ichigo swallowed the fish in one big gulp and said, "Nope. But, hey... I think staring is perfectly normal!"
"That's true... Well, I guess it's nothing to worry about! I mean, you're obviously fine now. Can't say the same for Akasaka-san, but... You're alright!"
"Aw! Thanks, Lettuce-chan! You're the best!"
"Ah-hem! And what about the rest of us? Hm?" Mint said in her usual sassy-natured tone.
"Eh... Heheh... You're all the best!"
"Yeah... That's what I thought! We better all be the best!" Mint angrily replied.
"You are, don't worry!"
Later that day...
Ichigo took a stroll down to a nearby park. Aoyama was supposed to meet her here, but he hadn't shown up yet, so she decided to get some of the excitement out of her system before he came.
When he did come, he found that he was right on time. Ichigo had just come back.
"Momomiya-san!" he called out to her.
Ichigo turned to see her boyfriend and ran up to him. "You're late." she said.
"You're early. We were supposed to go here tomorrow, remember?" he said.
"Oh! That's right! Well, what a coincidence we'd meet here!"
"Yep!"
Ichigo started staring again.
"So, Momomiya-san? Where'd you want to go now? Or do you just want to stay here?"
No reply...
"Momomiya-san?" Aoyama turned to meet her gaze. Another torture stare...
"M-Momomiya-san... This is a little uncomfortable... Maybe you could let up on the stare?"
All his reply was was her breath. No words, no other sounds. No other sounds that resembled words.
"Hello? Earth to Momomiya-san!" he pressed, determined to get her to snap out of it.
She just kept staring.
Aoyama pulled out his cell phone and called Cafe Mew Mew. It was Ryou who answered.
"Hello? This is Cafe Mew Mew. We serve fine deserts and pastries! If you'd like a reservation, please feel free to come on over. We garantee only the finest service!"
"Hello? R-Ryou? Um... This is Masaya Aoyama calling. It's about Ichigo... You see, she's-"
"I'm sorry I can't come to the phone right now... But nonetheless, please leave a message after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as possible!"
Aoyama slammed his phone shut.