Chapter Nine: A Surprise Visit 一次惊异访问
The rest of the week flashed by, the weird occurrences happening even more until Saturday. At least I have a reprieve from school for a little while. Keiichiro said I could start working at the café again, but I wasn't allowed to mop any floors. I did the regular routine at the café: greeting, taking orders, delivering orders. I heard the bell chime and I went to greet two customers, a man and a woman. I got some menus and walked up to them.
"Welcome to Café Mew Mew. My name's Komori and I'll be your waitress--." The woman with red hair stopped me abruptly.
"I'm sorry, but we're actually here to visit some old friends, Keiichiro and Ryou. Are they here?" she asked
"Well, Keiichiro is, but I'm not completely sure of where Ryou is. Do you want to talk to Keiichiro?" I asked.
"Yeah!" the woman said energetically. Keiichiro walked in and started to ask me to get something from the freezer, but he paused when he saw the man and woman. A giant smile spread across his face.
"Ichigo! What are you guys doing here!" he asked happily. Ichigo smiled and gave Keiichiro a hug.
"I thought it would be cool to have a reunion to celebrate the old days!" she said. I was completely confused, but obviously Keiichiro knew them very well.
"Where's Ryou?" the tall black-haired man said.
"Oh, Masaya… I think Ryou's…Well, where he usually is." Keiichiro answered, glancing at me sideways.
"I'll call him." Keiichiro said. He pressed a button on his watch and talked into it.
"Hey, Ryou, you've got a really big surprise waiting at the café." Keiichiro said with a smile.
"Keiichiro, would this involve anything that will electrocute me if I touch it?" Ryou answered nervously.
"You know that was just a harmless prank, Ryou. Anyway, no, it won't electrocute you." Keiichiro said rolling his eyes. A few minutes later Ryou nervously crept into the café. As soon as he saw Ichigo and Masaya gathered before him, he broke out in a wide grin.
"Well, I'll be…" he started. By this time Keiichiro had already shooed me away to care for the customers, so I hadn't been able to catch any more snippets of conversation. They were still talking while I was still wrapping up all the cleaning. Keiichiro looked over at me in the middle of a conversation.
"Remember, Komori, I'll do the mopping, we don't want a repeat of Tuesday." he grinned impishly. I scowled and continued to sweep. Ichigo stood up. "Hey, you haven't properly introduced us to Komori yet!" she said with a scolding tone in her voice and her hands on her hips. Ryou now stood.
"Right. Well, this is Ichigo Momomiya-"
"Um, actually, it's Ichigo Aoyoma, now." she said glancing over to Masaya, her face red. Ryou raised an eyebrow curiously. If I hadn't known any better, I would have said a flicker of jealousy rippled across his face, if only briefly.
"So you finally tied the knot, then…"
"Anyways, this is Masaya Aoyoma." Ryou finished with a bland sigh. I had a hunch that Ryou didn't like Masaya very much. Masaya gave me a kind smile that spread across his entire face. Even his eyes seemed to smile.
"So, how long has it been since you guys have seen each other?" I asked, leaning on the edge of the nearest table. Keiichiro started to count on his hands.
"I think it's been a good two years, actually." Ichigo answered.
"How long have you been working here at the café?" Ichigo asked.
"Since last summer when I first got here." I said.
"Oh? So where are you originally from?" Masaya asked curiously.
"New York. My mom sent me here thinking it would be good for me." I sighed.
"Who do you live with?" Ichigo pried.
"Um, well…" I said glancing over at Ryou.
"She lives with me," Ryou answered, "Komori's my cousin." Ichigo and Masaya stared at him, mouths agape.
"You mean someone actually allowed you to take care of their kid?" Ichigo asked in shocked astonishment.
"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN!" Ryou said turning around angrily.
"Well, before we start hating each other again, who wants some tea?" Keiichiro interrupted.
"I do!" Masaya said, changing the subject along with Keiichiro. We returned to Ryou's chateau for tea, since they didn't want to dirty any of the dishes I had just washed. The group sat in the parlor, sipping tea and talking about the old days when they still all lived in Tokyo. I sat in the kitchen, attempting to think up some lyrics to the song I had already written, but they were all so goddamned noisy, that I angrily stomped back up to my room. I had horded up in my room for the rest of the night until I got a HUGE craving for an apple, and went downstairs to the kitchen. As I was walking down the steps, I heard them still talking, but in a quieter tone. I decided to linger a while to eavesdrop.
"Speaking of Kish and aliens," Ryou continued, "I have some bad news." Ichigo looked up with a look of horror on her face.
"Please don't say that stupid pervert's come back." Ichigo said.
"Heh, not quite. Masha detected alien activity underneath Tokyo. But it's different from seven years ago. We're dealing with a race far more advanced than before." Ryou said. A silence fell over the group.
"So…what can we do?" Masaya asked.
"Hm…Ryou, do you think it would be possible to make new Mews?" Ichigo asked.
"It's impossible. The machine has been turned off for so long now, and even if we did get it to work, the risks would be enormous." Ryou said.
"Well, why don't we go to the lab and see if it's still working?" Ichigo suggested.
"It's worth a try, Ryou. New Mews may be the only way to stop them." Keiichiro said. I wonder if the machine they're talking about is the one that I messed with…What's a 'Mew'? With that, they all hurriedly departed to the café. My head was spinning with the derangement of the conversation I had just heard. Mews? Aliens? What's going on? I scurried back up to my room and waited about an hour and a half before hearing cluttering downstairs and scampered back to my hiding place above the top of the stair's banister. They had returned from the café and Ryou appeared to be in a conniption. I crouched down and watched.
"How did it turn on?" Ryou asked himself incredulously as he paced back and forth.
"Maybe it was on the day that there was a breach in the security system that you told us about." Masaya pondered. Ryou's eyes widened.
"WHAT IF THEY USED THE MACHINE TO TURN THEMSELVES INTO A MEW?" Ryou screamed.
"Shh! You'll wake Komori! Now calm down, Ryou!" Ichigo whispered. He paced faster, running his hand through his shock of blonde hair.
"It all makes sense now! I looked on my desk and the Mariana Fruit Bat DNA was missing!" Ryou rationalized. I think I'm in big trouble…
"Ryou, calm down. We can send Masha out to find whoever turned themselves into a Mew." Keiichiro whispered. Ryou seemed to calm down.
"Right," Ryou sighed, "Here, let's find rooms for everyone. We can settle this later." After it registered in my head that they would be coming upstairs, I jumped from my hiding place and scurried back to my room as silently as I could. I don't know what's going on. But I'm going to find out…
