Chapter Four: Pai/Lettuce in the Library
Reaching up as high as she could on tiptoe, the mild green-haired girl was getting quite annoyed. Why must they stack books on shelves so high that half the library users can't reach them? And never a stool or a stepladder to be found anywhere! To think I once practically worshipped this place!
A large, callused hand reached over Lettuce's head and brought down the book she'd been straining for. There was almost a smile on Pai's face as he handed his girlfriend the novel. "This one, right? Or was it the one next to it?"
"No, you got it right." The delicate flush of Lettuce's pale face went well with her pale-green hair, the purple-haired Ikisatashi noted, even as he wondered why he'd picked up on such a seemingly insignificant detail. Not for the first time, though, Taruto's older brother brushed away the analytical and emotionless—and usually dominant—side of his personality.
"So," the eldest Ikisatashi began thoughtfully, then paused. Thinking better of what he'd been about to say, he asked quickly, "Are any of the other Mew Mews around?"
"No," the porpoise-girl replied calmly. "Ichigo-san is off somewhere with Aoyama-san, Mint-san has ballet practice, Pudding-san is at home with her siblings, and Zakuro-san has some modeling work to do." Her smile was absolutely radiant, full of shy happiness. "So what about us, Pai-san? What are we going to do today?" Despite—or perhaps because of—the girl's growing confidence in this relationship, she was unable to keep her gaze from drifting to the book she'd been trying to get for so long.
"Well," Pai thought aloud, an uncharacteristically mischievous glint in his dark eyes, "we could go out to an amusement park and spend the day screaming as painted machines drop over hills of metal rails, threatening our safety and sanity. Or we could stay in here, the well-known library with the most intensive collection of books I've ever seen, and increase our natural intellects, gaining knowledge and ability."
Lettuce's quiet laughter didn't seem out of place, since the only one who heard it was used to the setting and situation, feeling the little leap his usually-steady heart took. Though the purple-haired scientist didn't much like to show how his feelings, he allowed his facial muscles to relax into a smile. "Library it is, then." Not that there had really been much of a question in the first place.
"Of course," was the simple reply as the green-haired girl flipped the book open with pale slim fingers. As her gaze inevitably dropped to the worn pages, she added, "Don't tell me you expected any different."
The purple-haired alien smiled a little wider as he reached for a book of his own.
"We should probably finish up here," sighed Pai warningly. "It's getting late; quite frankly, I am rather surprised that neither Kisshu nor Taruto has yet launched a Chimera Attack today. As their brother, I am very aware of the fact that they had one planned." He wondered if the two more immature aliens were secretly meeting up with certain Mew Mews. Nothing escaped their scientist brother, and his sensors had often caught the two couples—well, in Kisshu and Ichigo's case, possible couple—together where no one was observing. Well, no one but a certain pink robot, to be exact. (Yeah, Pai's sensors could even pick up Masha's signal.)
Reluctantly Lettuce closed the book, pulling a library card out of her skirt pocket. "Well, the good thing is that this is a library. I can finish these books at home."
Calmly she piled the books on the checkout counter, the action almost automatic after so many repetitions. Beside greeting the librarian with a sweet smile, the green-haired girl never took her eyes from the eldest Ikisatashi. Once the young man had finished checking out Lettuce's books, he handed them over with a rather lecherous smile. His sweaty hand reached for the one she laid atop the books, at a slow speed that he seemed to think sexy and alluring.
A second before the pervert's hand reached the girl's, a larger, callused hand was drawing the books—and Lettuce's hand—off the desk. "Let's go, Lettuce-san," suggested Pai emotionlessly.
As the pair walked off, the dejected librarian heard the girl tease, "You know, you're pretty cute when you're jealous, Pai-kun."
Flapping his little pink wings, Masha didn't even need to think before he deleted the afternoon's footage. Sure, Ryou had ordered him to keep an eye on Lettuce—almost literally; Masha's cameras were focused through his eyes—today; but the fluffy pink robot took orders only from Ichigo.
Besides, he rather liked Lettuce. Not the way the aliens like some of the Mew Mews—but Masha definitely preferred the porpoise-girl to, say, snobby Mint.
Ryou didn't need to know that either, though.