Chapter 11

Hope

Lettuce watched the girl standing upon that bridge, the warm evening sun dancing on her red hair. She hadn't seemed to notice Lettuce; she was lost in her thoughts, apparently. The girl leaned against the railing of the bridge and stared off into the distance, toward the south.

Lettuce hesitated. She was afraid. She had faced monsters and aliens and Deep Blue himself. She had walked down alone to face the super chimera, sure that she would die. But this was different. To face this girl - to face her own shame – was almost more than she could do. But she was Lettuce; and she knew she had to do this. So she took a deep breath, swallowed hard, and went forward, one slow, hesitating step at a time.

At first she could not speak. She just came up alongside the girl, on the girl's right side, and leaned against the stone rail as well. The girl looked at her, but she did not meet the girl's eyes. And the girl said, quietly: "Midorikawa-san."

Lettuce still could not look at her. She stared into the distance to the south, and mumbled, "Momomiya-san." It was all so very formal and quiet. No one who watched them would have any clue that the two girls hated each other.

The other girl turned away, and again stared into the south. "Why are you here?" she asked.

Lettuce bit her lip, and then said, quietly, "I need… I need to thank you for… saving my life." She stared at the water below and would not look at the red-haired girl.

The girl took a long time to respond. Then, she said quietly, "You're welcome – I guess." She said no more, letting Lettuce squirm.

And so Lettuce finally had to ask her, "Why? Why did you do it? You… hate me…" Her voice trailed off.

Again Ichigo was silent for a while. Then, staring off to the south, she said, "I had to stop that thing. I had to save Tokyo, save the world. I had no choice."

Lettuce turned her head and looked at her rival. "No. You didn't just destroy that – that thing. When it exploded, you stood there over me, and protected me with your Strawberry Bell. You could have saved yourself, but you stood there, and took the blast head-on, and saved me."

The red-haired girl still would not look at her. "You would have done the same for me, or for any of the girls. We all would have done it – even Minto, I think."

"There's a difference." Lettuce paused, and finally the other girl looked at her. "I have no reason to hate you. Nor does Minto, or any of the rest. But it's different for you. You have every reason to hate me. I ruined your life, took your boyfriend. And then I picked a fight with you, and hurt you so bad I almost killed you."

Anger flashed in the other girl's dark, violet-gray eyes. "Don't you keep rubbing my nose in it!"

But Lettuce shook her head. "I ruined your life, betrayed our friendship, broke your heart. I gloated over you, and then turned and walked away, thinking I had proved I was better, that I was worthy of his love." She reached out and touched the other girl's shoulder. "What a fool I am! I ruined your life, and you saved mine! I stood over you and gloated, and you stood over me and protected me! I walked away and left you beaten on the ground, and you picked me up and carried me out of the fire!" She repeated the same doleful litany she had told to Masaya. "Here I thought I had proven myself better than you, more worthy of him. But I'm… I'm worthless next to you. Next to you, I'm so small, so petty, so vindictive, so…" Her voice choked and trailed off, and tears filled her eyes.

Perhaps Lettuce expected the other girl to deny all of the put-downs she had heaped on herself, but Ichigo did nothing of the kind. She simply stared off into the distance toward the south. The shadows had become very long as the sun moved toward its setting. Then she spoke, quietly, slowly, as if speaking to herself as much anyone. "He… came back to me, you know. Or at least he tried." Then she turned to Lettuce. "He said… you dumped him."

Lettuce nodded. "Yes. I… dumped him."

Ichigo paused for several long seconds before continuing, "Why? Why be such a fool?"

Now it was Lettuce's turn to turn away and stare into the distance. "Because… because I can't stand to be with him. Now he just reminds me of… of what I did to you, and what you did for me, and how I'm so worthless, so unworthy of him. He reminds me of the evil I did, when I hurt you. I feel such… shame when I am near him. His touch makes me feel so filthy…"

Once again anger rose in Ichigo's eyes. "There's… nothing filthy about Aoyama-kun!"

Lettuce closed her eyes. "Of course there isn't! I'm the filthy one! I'm the one who did all of the evil! He just… reminds me of the filth that I am! It reminds me of what I did to you, whenever I so much as see him…." Her voice trailed off again.

Ichigo did not respond to this, but stared off again into the distance. She seemed to have nothing more to say, so Lettuce asked, "Did you take him back?"

Ichigo turned again to her rival and her mouth twisted as she spoke. "I shouldn't. He'll just hurt me again, when he finds some other bimbo that pleases him."

Lettuce cringed at the words "some other bimbo," but Ichigo ignored her distress and went on. "But I can't let go of him. I love him, and I can't seem to stop loving him. And at least he will be honest with me, not like… not like that bastard Kisshu."

"The alien?" Lettuce gasped. "When…?"

"For a week before the battle, he was coming to see me, pretending to comfort me, saying that he was the only one that really loved me. And I believed all of it! But all he really wanted was to… to.. ah, you know, get me, ah…, into, ah… um… bed…, you know…" She turned away from the girl in green and stared again into the distance. "He got me to promise that Saturday night I would let him… you know…"

Lettuce gasped but said nothing. Ichigo ignored the gasp, and continued, "And then he came, after that battle where we all almost died, and tried to force me to… you know…" She looked down, and then shut her eyes, as if in pain. "Can you imagine? After trying to kill us, he thought that I would let him… you know…" Her eyes were closed very tightly, and she gritted her teeth. "We were fighting in my bedroom, and my Mom came up, and he attacked her and threatened her with those daggers of his. I promised he could have me, if he let Mom go, but I lied, just like he did. The fool let Mom go, and I fried him with the Strawberry Surprise."

The she opened her eyes and slowly looked at Lettuce. "If he comes back and any way hurts or threatens my Mom again, I swear, I'll kill him."

Lettuce shook her head. She was thinking of what she would do, if one of the aliens or the monsters they spawned would hurt her family.

Once again Ichigo turned back to the south and stared into the distance. And finally she said, "We're going to fight again, you know. There's just too much hatred between us."

"We could avoid each other…" Lettuce began.

But Ichigo said, "I'm back at the café again. They need me. The aliens were defeated again, but they might be back, and you will need me."

"Then I could leave the cafe," Lettuce said. "We go to different schools. If I leave the café, we never have to see each other again."

But the girl shook her red-maned head. "They'll need you, too, if the aliens come back." She turned and faced the green-haired girl and stared into the eyes behind the big round glasses. "We're bound together in this. We can't escape each other. And sooner or later, we'll fight."

"If we do," Lettuce responded, "I won't transform. Just a fist fight."

"And if I transform?" Ichigo asked.

Lettuce shook her head. "I won't transform. So there won't be any killing, or anything close. Just some hair-pulling, maybe."

Ichigo nodded and turned away again, once again staring away into the south as the evening sky turned red. "Then at least there's some hope…" she muttered; but her voice trailed off, and she said no more.

Lettuce also resumed staring into the distance. Yes, at least there was some hope. Ichigo was so sure that she and Masaya would break up again, and then… and then, could she touch him without guilt, if some other person or reason had broken them up? Lettuce didn't know; but at least, there was hope.

In the space ship, heading back to Lovatron, the green-haired alien lay upon his bed. His race had many healing skills, and though he was still weak, he was quite healed from the injuries that that lying red-haired wench had given him. He would have her; he was sure of that. He could never get her out of his mind; and besides, no girl had ever succeeded in saying no to him. He knew her weakness, now; he knew that he could get at her through her mother. The wench's mother had no magical power and would be easy for him to snatch. And then the little wench would have to yield to him. And once he had had her, he was sure, she would never look back. He smiled to himself, showing one of his fangs.

Her mother! For some reason, that human woman remained in his mind, too. She was old, an old hag, maybe 35 earth years old. But she had that glorious red hair, even redder than the Mew Mew's; and her body was slender, and more shapely than her daughter's. And she was soft, so soft when his arms had seized her. And the fragrance she wore lingered in his mind. Oh, he would have his way with the little wench; he was sure of that. But there was hope that he could do even better for himself. Why settle for the knock-off, he thought, when he could have the real thing?

He lay there, on his back on the bed, a wicked smile upon his face, and hope in his heart. There would be another time. Yes, there would!

The End.