Ryou's breath came in short, ragged gasps; he could feel himself faltering as the strain began to take its toll. His blonde hair ruffled in the light breeze, as his feet pounded along the pavement; each step bring him closer to and yet ever further away from his goal. He began to slow, stretching out one hand, reaching towards the ball of glowing white light that had appeared in front of him. Fingertips faltering just inches away from it as darkness slowly took him, the orb floating away into nothing.
Ryou Shirogane, teenage owner of Cafe Mew Mew and current director of the Mew Project, let loose a loud groan as he fell to the floor in a tangle of sheets. It was the fourth time that week that he had experienced, no, been plagued by the same dream. Every single time he got within touching distance of the white light he awoke abruptly, usually on the floor. A voice wafted up from downstairs,
"Ryou, are you alright?" Ryou suppressed a grimace, Keiichiro, the cafe's cook, assistant director of the Mew Project and Ryou's closest friend, was early this morning.
He scrambled to his feet before calling out his reply, "I'm fine, Keii-san. I'll be down in a moment." Shaking his head, groggily, as if to clear his thoughts and to cast off the remnants of his admittedly terrible sleep; he moved through his spartan room in search of clothing. After a few failed attempts, that resulted in the piles of clothing settling into new positions around the room, he managed to find a shirt that didn't reek and threw it on. Giving one last shake of his head, he looked over the room before slamming the door shut and setting off down the stairs.
"Funny dreams again, huh?" Keiichiro questioned Ryou, back still towards him, bent over a tray of fresh cakes and pastries, as he applied the final touches to the detailed icing that was his specialty. Ryou did a double take, his blue eyes twinkling with confusion. He thought that he had managed to keep the fact that he was suffering from recurring nightmares from his oldest friend. Keiichiro watched Ryou's internal struggle, suppressing a laugh, "I'm not completely blind to what's going on you know, also I get here earlier than you might expect." His face was still plastered with confusion so Keiichiro went on, "I've heard you tossing and turning a lot this week, not to mention crying out."
"Yeah I guess so,"
"Care to share any details," Keiichiro pressed on, turning to face Ryou fully as he hung up his apron.
"Not really much to share. It's always the same thing; I'm running towards a white light, then as I reach out to touch it, I wake up." Ryou finished, Keiichiro nodding thoughtfully.
"Interesting, I can't help much. My field is more biology than psychology," He shrugged, and lifted the tray of cakes, "can you grab the door for me?" Ryou obliged, and Keiichiro strode out into the cafe, his yellow-haired friend trailing in his wake. He placed the cakes down on the counter next to the register, before turning back to Ryou, "Well, are you particularly worried about anything?"
Ryou shook his head, "No more than usual, the aliens have surrendered and we are only mopping up the last of the kirema animas."
Keiichiro voice took on a slightly more serious tone, "Are you worried about the end of the Mew Project?" His companion was quick to shake his head to suggest the opposite. Keiichiro just raised an eyebrow, "So you won't miss any of the girls then?"
Ryou looked like he was going to say no, but quickly changed his mind, "Of course, but as you said yourself, the project is finished. All in all it was a resounding success; we managed to combine the D.N.A. of endangered species with human beings to repel an alien invasion. It certainly wasn't some tenth grade science project," Keiichiro nodded his agreement, "But it's time for them to go back to their lives, we've taken enough from them."
Their conversation was interrupted by the entrance of the aforementioned girls. The four of them were all chatting amongst themselves, some more animatedly than others. The first to enter was Pudding, a hyper active, little blonde girl who was happily chewing the ear off of Lettuce, who just nodded silently in agreement, pushing her glasses up every time that the movement caused them to slide down her nose. Bringing up the back was Mint, blue hair buns bobbing up and down, as she murmured quietly to the tall girl with purple hair beside her. Zakuro was nodding contently with whatever she was saying.
Ryou shook off the thoughts of funny dreams and concerns about the end of the Mew Project, to greet his staff. He took in the many and varied appearances of his employees before doing a quick head count and coming up one person short… as usual. He let out a dejected sigh, "Where is Miss Momomiya this time?"
Mint gave her, 'I-don't-give-a-damn' shrug, "How should we know?"
Ryou just sighed, used to her snobbery, "Does anyone else have any idea where she is?" The rest of the girls just shook their heads mutely. He let loose another sigh before continuing, " Well just send her down to the office when she gets here, okay?" This time the girls nodded their affirmation. Ryou turned and headed down to the basement office, rubbing his temple as if plagued by a bad headache. They all now turned their attention to the tall pony-tailed man, Keiichiro, who stood calmly placing cakes into the cabinet.
"What's wrong with him today?" Mint asked, already starting to drift towards her favourite table, in the corner of the store.
Keiichiro appeared to ignore the question, tilting his head to one side, tongue protruding slightly with concentration as he placed the final cake into the delicate arrangement he had set up. Pudding let out a small cheer, all the girls tilting their head as they took in the impressive display, as he straightened up, dusting his hands off. "Thank you," He said to her, giving her a slight, formal bow, before turning his attention to Mint, "Ryou hasn't been sleeping very well of late."
Mint gave a snobbish look, "That's not something to get moody over, now is it?"
Keiichiro tucked the cake tray under his arm, "I think he is worried about something."
"What?" They all turned to face Zakuro, whose usually blank face showed the hint of an unidentifiable emotion. Keiichiro gave a shrug,
"I'm not sure." The girls turned back to chatting amongst themselves, the new topic being their boss's strange mood, as they moved towards the changing rooms and Keiichiro returned to the kitchen. At that moment Ichigo slid through the front door, nearly tripping over herself, red hair tangled around her face. "Sorry I'm late everyone."
The girls all turned to look at her, and Mint once again took on the role of spokesperson for the bunch, "Ryou wants to see you downstairs."
Ichigo's face paled as she contemplated what her boss wanted with her. Her friends watched as she trudged towards the staircase that led down into the depths beneath the cafe
"Wonder what he wants with her?" Pudding asked.
Mint spoke up once more, "I don't know, I'm going to make an assumption that it is probably to do with her chronic lateness to work."
"It is probably something simple like that," Zakuro agreed, absently. With that the four of them vanished into their respective dressing rooms.
Ichigo cautiously exited the stairwell, taking in the general untidiness of the room before spotting the hunched over figure of Ryou, surrounded by a mess of papers and empty coffee cups. From the angle she was standing, he looked old, far older than his teenage years would suggest. Ichigo bit back her fear and slowly walked towards him, tapping him lightly on the shoulder. He jerked awake, apparently having been caught unawares by her approach.
"You want me for something Ryou-kun?" She questioned him hesitantly. It looked like her boss had seen better days; exhaustion marked his face, as if sleep hadn't visited him in some time. Ichigo recoiled slightly at the sight, usually he was impeccably well groomed, so seeing him so exposed like this was more than a little odd for her.
"Oh, yes, Ichigo... what was it I wanted again," Ryou sat up straighter, peeling a sheet of paper from his weary face. Ichigo just stared on in shock, never once, had she seen her boss look so confused.
"I can come back later if you like, when you are more... prepared?" or sane! She shouted in her head; already sidling her way back towards the entrance.
Ryou just shook his head once more, finally taking on his usual half bored, half snooty look with the mildest hint of arrogance, "No, no, no. Please take a seat. I have something rather important to discuss with you."
Swallowing her bundle of nerves, Ichigo sank into the office chair facing Ryou...