Happy Vernal Equinox!
Chapter Twenty-One:
"So, uh, how are the riddles going?" Ryou asked, tilting his head to the side some as he studied Pie, who currently was face-down in the middle of a pile of notes spread along the countertop.
Pie made a noise that was somewhere between a groan and a growl.
"Got it, won't ask." Ryou said with a nod.
"I hate to be that person, but you've only got a little over a month, Pie." Rin said, glancing over her shoulder at her twin.
"What do we do if Pie can't solve the riddle? If no one can?" Rōzu asked worriedly.
"How about we do not think about that type of hypothetical situations?" Pie said, raising his head to narrow his eyes at his sister. He sat up and groaned. "It is all a huge mess."
"I speak from personal experience when I say messes can be cleaned so that you never knew they existed." Keiichiro said.
"Yeah, but then you open the Café doors for the day and then there's a bunch of brand new messes." Shinji said as he closed the door behind him.
"He's got a point." Zakuro said, not looking up from her book.
"Pie?" Rōzu said suddenly, frowning as she leaned forward, studying her brother, who had his eyes closed, fingers against his forehead. "Pie, are you okay?"
"Yes." Pie said, probably a little too quickly, but not opening his eyes or moving his hand. "Just…"
He got very quiet, and no one in the room was sure if that was a very good thing or if it was a very bad thing.
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This is bad. Lettuce thought. Very, very bad…
She was boxed in a corner between the wall and a table, the paperback book still clenched in her hands, her knuckles white as she stared at Hiroki as he moved closer to her.
She took a deep, steadying breath.
And dared to move.
She tried to run past him, throwing the book at him as she did so. She didn't know if it hit him or not, but she knew she did not succeed either way, because she was grabbed around the waist and stars danced before her eyes as her back and her head met the floor, arms pinned above her head.
"Get off of me, now." Lettuce said, her voice coming out in gasps, her ribs aching.
"Why don't you make me, Mew Lettuce?" Hiroki asked.
Lettuce sucked in a shaky breath, swallowing.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She said, feeling tears come to her eyes, but if it was because of the pain or fear, she wasn't sure.
"You're lying, Lettuce." Hiroki said, shifting her wrists into one hand so that he could stroke her jawline with the finger of his other hand. "You're always lying nowadays, aren't you? When did that start?"
"I don't know what you're talking about." Lettuce said again, shaking her head.
"We'll see about that…" Hiroki said.
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Jade grinned and ran up to her grandmother as soon as she got off the elevator. Kiui-Sobo smiled and hugged Jade, then greeted Ichigo, Mint, Rirī, Kish, Homare and Masaya.
"Lettuce will be more than happy to see you all." Kiui-Sobo said, tucking her cellphone back into her pocket. "She's starting to get restless."
"Hate to say it, but she'll be a little less happy when she sees all the homework we brought her." Mint said.
"Mmm, maybe not." Ichigo said. "Remember, this is Lettuce we're talking about."
"Follow me," Kiui-Sobo said, gesturing to a hallway away from Lettuce's room.
"I honestly thought they would have released Lettuce by now." Ichigo said.
"The doctor got deterred from clearing her this afternoon." Kiui-Sobo explained. "He'll be by in about two hours, according to—"
Kiui-Sobo cut herself off with a gasp as they approached the wall of glass windows.
Everyone's eyes instantly widened at what they saw inside.
Just for them to see Lettuce lying on the floor, Hiroki over top of her, pinning down the wrist of her unbroken arm.
"Oh no," Homare breathed.
"Lettuce!" Jade cried out in panic.
Kish instantly started tearing at the door, trying to turn the handle.
"It's jammed!" He yelled.
"I'm going to the nurses station!" Mint yelled, turning and running. "Calling up security!"
"They're not going to get here in time," Kish said, immediately pressing his hands against the glass closest to the door, eyes hard and calculating.
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Inside, Lettuce was panicking. Hiroki had a glint in his eyes that terrified her.
Quickly, so quick she couldn't react, Hiroki let go of her wrists and tore the front of her gown, making her whimper and her cheeks heat as she realized her bra was exposed. But he wasn't looking at that.
"So it's true," Hiroki breathed as he placed a finger at the center of her Mew Mark. She shuddered at the touch. "You are a Mew Mew. Mew Lettuce."
That was his mistake, letting go of her wrists, as she swung out her right fist, hitting him in the side of the head. This distracted him long enough for Lettuce to pull away from him and move away. She tried to get to her feet, but Hiroki grabbed her ankle, pulling her down again and closer to him, her back to the floor again.
"Oh, no, don't try and lie to me now," Hiroki said, grabbing hold of her chin. "And he knows, doesn't he? Of course he does. After all, you got in his way all those years ago…"
"What are you talking about, Hiroki?" Lettuce whimpered, inwardly panicking more about what he was saying than her situation. He knew. This time, he really knew she was a Mew Mew. But he didn't get the idea on his own. Then, where?
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"Can we take the hinges off?" Ichigo asked frantically outside the door.
"The door swings inward, we can't get to them," Masaya said, shaking his head. "And it's too thick, I don't even think an axe would get it down quickly, let alone a sword."
"Got a better idea," Kish said as he moved back from the glass.
"You might want to speed up that idea," Rirī said, eyes widening as she looked back into the room. "Because Pie's here. And he's not happy."
"Pie hasn't been in this room before, though." Homare said, turning her wide eyes to Rirī.
"He didn't have to." Rirī said, raising her finger to point at the White Knight, who stood at Lettuce's head, his sword under Hiroki's chin.
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"Heh. Didn't think the White Knight thing was literal." Hiroki said with a smirk.
"Step. Away. From. Her," The White Knight growled, his pearly eyes boring into Hiroki.
"Hiroki, just back off." Lettuce said, voice tight as she felt tears prick her eyes. "He will kill you."
"Then we got him on murder as well as abuse." Hiroki said, sounding victorious. And crazy. Mostly crazy. He then looked down at Lettuce before looking back up at the White Knight. "This was perfect, you know. No one would ever have guessed… But I've got the upper hand here, don't you see? You won't really kill me. At least not while she's watching."
The White Knight had a look that said that he doubted that statement. Lettuce carefully moved her cast-encased arm—ignoring how much it hurt—and grasped hold of the hem of the White Knight's pant-leg. His gaze moved ever so slightly down to her, before going back to Hiroki.
"That is true. I will not kill you." The White Knight said coldly. "But that does not mean that I cannot come very close to doing so."
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"Great, just great." Kish spat as he quickly grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled it over his head, only pausing to undo the buttons at his wrists and a few near the top to do so.
"What are you doing?" Jade demanded as Kish wrapped the shirt around his hand.
Kish didn't respond as he punched through the glass beside the door, shattering the entire pane, but no one inside the room seemed to notice. Once his arm was through, he dropped the shirt and moved so that he could reach the chair that was blocking the door handle.
"Almost… got it…" He grunted as finally he managed to get his fingertips on it, pulling it closer and closer. By now, Mint and several doctors and nurses had arrived, saying that security was coming. Finally, the door was free. Masaya threw the door open and the White Knight quickly sheathed his sword before Kish could restrain Hiroki. Rirī whispered, "go!" and the White Knight gave a look down at Lettuce.
"I will be back," He whispered before disappearing.
Lettuce carefully sat up, instantly grabbing at the front of the ruined gown, trying to keep her decency. She ached everywhere: her ribs, her arm, her head. Before the nurses could come close to help her, though, Jade, Ichigo, Rirī, Homare and her grandmother were beside her.
"Here, raise up your left arm," Homare said gently as she helped Lettuce put on Masaya's shirt, which he had quickly unbuttoned and given to her both to help Lettuce cover herself, but also to hide the Mew Mark, which Jade covered by doing the top buttons first.
The said Mew Mark was something Hiroki was really excited about.
"She's a Mew Mew!" He shouted as Kish dug his claws in to his arms. "She doesn't look like one now, but she's a Mew Mew!"
"That is preposterous!" A doctor sneered at Hiroki.
"The proof is stamped right there, right on her chest!" Hiroki said. "They're covering it up now! But it's there! It's right there!"
In that moment, the Tokyo Defenders weren't the only one who detested Hiroki. The nurses looked appalled and one of the doctors looked like he wanted to strangle Hiroki.
"Come on, dear, let's get you back to your room," One of the nurses said quickly to the shaky Lettuce, helping her to her feet along with Ichigo and Jade.
But Lettuce wasn't ready to leave just yet.
She marched over to Hiroki with long, but dignified strides. Hiroki didn't even notice that Kish had let go of him and moved before Lettuce's fist was in his face, sending him reeling backwards with blood dripping down from his nose.
Lettuce didn't say a word as she returned to Jade, Ichigo and Kiui-Sobo, eyes hard and watery and her lower lip quivering. No one was sure how she managed to stay on her feet.
"I think you should let her boyfriend in now," Homare said softly.
"You moved really fast." Said another doctor to Kish.
"The last guy she hit was teaching her self-defense and she sent him to the ground with a black-eye," Kish said as he gladly handed Hiroki over to the very confused security officers, who were mostly trying to figure out why there were two shirtless teenage boys in the room. "I definitely was not going to be standing directly behind the next guy she hit. Oh, and, food for thought," Kish said as he pulled out his cell-phone out of his pocket. "That guy who was teaching her self-defense? That was her boyfriend. Before they got together."
With that, he hit a number on his phone and brought it to his ear. After a second, someone on the other end answered.
"Hey, Ryou, think you can bring me and Masaya some fresh shirts? It's kind of a long story."
"Oh, I think I know at least half of it…" Ryou said from the other side of the line as he watched as the White Knight slowly shifted back into Pie in the Café kitchen. Then he processed Kisshu's request. "Okay, maybe I know about a fourth of it…"
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Jade rubbed the heel of her hand against her eye with a small sigh before looking across the room at her cousin.
Lettuce sat up straight, eyes hard and not tear-filled. Her left arm was in a sling with her right hand in her lap, fingers clenched into fists.
Jade was impressed, intimidated and scared by Lettuce's stony silence and monotone expression, even after being told that she would be having surgery in the morning to re-align the bones there, that her broken ribs were so close to puncturing her lungs. She hadn't spoken a word since Kisshu had dragged Hiroki off of her.
Jade desperately wanted to know what was going on in Lettuce's mind right now while also being very afraid to find out.
Granted, that also extended to everyone else in the room.
The doctor had just left, leaving the family in stunned silence, angry silence, sad silence.
There was a knock on the door, and Jade watched as her uncle let Uri in.
"I just found out…" Uri said, anger in both voice and expression. He tentatively took a step closer towards Lettuce. "How are you feeling?"
Lettuce gave a small shrug with her right shoulder. Uri still looked hesitant and Lettuce stretched her arm out towards him. He came forward and gave her a gentle hug.
Her father sighed, looking as if he had aged ten years in the past hour. Jade knew she felt like she had.
"Lettuce, do you want anything?" Lettuce's father asked, desperate to hear his daughter's voice.
Uri looked over at his parents, frowning, his hand in Lettuce's.
"You already know what she wants," He said.
Jade bit her lip and glanced over at her grandparents, who were already exchanging a glance.
And just when she had started to hope that all the drama was done for the day…
"Uri, that may not be—" Mrs. Midorikawa started to say.
"After this, you're still going to believe that he might be right?" Uri asked, frowning. "Actions speak louder than words, and yet you can still hear his words now?"
"Maybe this conversation shouldn't happen here…" Kiui-Sobo said.
"It shouldn't be happening at all." Uri said. Jade saw Lettuce squeeze his hand, but if it was encouragement to continue or stop, she couldn't tell. "Let Pie in before he goes crazy out there and Lettuce goes crazy in here."
His mother stood up suddenly, looking very frustrated.
"Fine." She said coolly. "Let him in."
She didn't say another word and left the room.
Kiui-Sobo sighed and rose to her feet.
"I'll go after her," She said.
Jade stood up as Kiui-Sobo left the room.
"I'll go get Pie," She said.
Anything to stop this ridiculous Romeo and Juliet situation we've got…
She stopped at the entrance to the waiting room and paused, brow furrowing once her eyes landed on Pie.
"He's in a rare form," Rirī said in an explanatory manner.
"Not as bad as last night, though." Zakuro said.
"Uri said he was going crazy out here," Jade said, tilting her head, trying to figure out exactly how Pie had managed to fold himself into the small corner that existed between the wall and an end table beside the window. She was actually a little impressed, if not also a bit afraid. "I just… I didn't realize that this is what is defined as Pie's 'crazy'."
"He's is shut-down mode." Tart said. "Please do not unplug device in order for upgrades to download."
"I'm frankly terrified of what 'upgrades' Pie could get." Ichigo said.
"I'm more concerned that this is the third shut down in two days." Rin said.
"Right… Anyways…" Jade said. "Uh, safe to unplug so he can go cuddle his girlfriend? Maybe get her to, just maybe, speak at all?"
She watched as one of Pie's ears twitched.
"That a yes?" Jade asked, raising her voice just a little. Pie gave a small nod.
"You know there's no way you're going to get out of that corner with your dignity intact." Kish said.
"You're one to talk, Mr. I-Have-An-Angst-Corner-In-A-Round-Room." Masaya said.
It seemed that, just to spite Kisshu's remark, Pie teleported out of the corner, moving forward just enough, landing on his feet and moving just fast enough that you would have only noticed him momentarily disappearing and reappearing if you were looking for it.
"Cheater." Kish grumbled.
Jade led Pie back to Lettuce's room, where Uri still stood beside Lettuce, holding her hand. However, he backed away as soon as he saw Pie, who immediately came to take Uri's place beside Lettuce. He got on his knees beside her, gently pressing a kiss to her forehead. Lettuce threw her arm around his back and pulled him in close, burying her face in his shoulder. Within seconds, Jade heard muffled sobbing coming from Lettuce.
"You are safe," Jade heard Pie whisper to her. "I've got you…"
"I know… I was just so scared…" Lettuce said.
"I could not tell," Pie told her. "You were so brave…"
Jade sighed some as she leaned against the wall, watching. She barely even noticed that Uri was beside her until he spoke.
"I can't believe he tried to destroy this."
"Hmm?" Jade said, glancing at Uri. "Are you talking about Hiroki?"
Uri nodded, his face grim.
"I want to hurt him." He said.
Jade gave a small scoff.
"You're going to have to get in line." She said.
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Hiroki wasn't sure what surprised him more: that Lettuce was, in fact, a Mew Mew, or that his father flat out refused to bail him out of the small holding cell that hospital security had, resulting in him currently sitting in the back of a police car while the officers finished signing paperwork.
The door on his other side opened, and the alien girl—Topaz—slid into the car.
"Pretty sure that was locked." Hiroki said.
"Oh, cute, you think that could stop me." Topaz said, leaning back in the seat. Hiroki glanced past her to see that the lock hadn't stopped her, and there was now a tear in the metal. "So. Was I right?"
"You were right," Hiroki said. "Lettuce is a Mew Mew. Mew Lettuce… Gah, how could I have been so stupid, to completely overlook it?"
"Well, you're human, it's not hard to be that stupid." Topaz said, studying her nails.
Suddenly, another thought hit Hiroki, making him feel as stupid as Topaz thought he was.
"She thought I figured it out." He said out-loud. "She thought I figured out she was a Mew Mew, about her boyfriend being an alien…"
"She overestimated your intelligence levels, then." Topaz observed dryly. "Regardless, I'd like to propose an alliance with you."
"A what?" Hiroki repeated.
"An alliance. It's when two people or a group of people—"
"I know what an alliance is," Hiroki growled. "I just want to know what you want, and what I'd get out of it."
"It's simple, really." Topaz said, turning around in the seat. "You help me and my friends take over Earth, you get a guaranteed top position within the new ruling establishment, and you Mew Lettuce—though why I'm not sure—while I get Pie. Everyone's happy. Sounds good to you?"
Hiroki hesitated.
"I suggest you hurry up and make a decision, because those police officers are coming over here and I don't think they're going to give you as nice of an offer." Topaz said.
Hiroki took a deep breath.
Lettuce. Lettuce could be his.
All he had to do was make a small deal with the devil.
"Alright," He said. "Let's form an alliance."
Topaz smirked and grabbed his wrist, teleporting.
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Lettuce watched the rain pour from where she sat in the alcove of her cousin's apartment. Her arm still ached from the surgery two days prior, but her heart and head ached more.
Hiroki had disappeared. No one knew where or how, and the only clue was the locked door to the police car having been wrenched open.
She had a feeling it had been opened from the outside, not the inside.
Someone told Hiroki about her Mew mark and where to find it. She was pretty sure she knew who that person was, and it was the same person who landed her in the hospital to begin with.
For the time being, she was staying with Jade and her older brother, Keisuke. Lettuce's father, at least, agreed with the logic that it was perhaps better for her to stay with her cousins, in case Hiroki returned to the apartment building they shared.
But Lettuce wondered if the physical distance between herself and her parents was a good idea. She knew, despite everything that had happened, they still didn't fully trust Pie again. And she knew that her mother wasn't trusting her.
She contemplated changing her mind, telling them that the mark that Hiroki claimed to be present on her body was, in fact, real. That she was a Mew. Either she told them or Hiroki did.
But would the confession result in a complete clearing of the air or even less trust?
"Hey," Jade said, sitting opposite Lettuce. "You okay?"
"Probably not." Lettuce admitted. "But probably will be. Eventually."
Jade frowned.
"We're going to get this figured out," She said. She bit her lip, then said, "The summer solstice is soon. Whatever is going to happen, it's going to happen soon. That means, it'll all be over soon, right?"
Lettuce looked out the window again, thinking.
"Yes, but it could also potentially be the beginning of something." She whispered.
The two green-haired girls sat in silence after that.
Would this war end with the Tokyo Defenders victorious?
Or would it mark the beginning of Mylo and Deep Blue's reign?