Ichigo slammed her locker shut with a tired sort of carelessness. She had finally trudged her way through her first day of school after her spring break. She turned in all of her homework she had been working on over the break, and got another mountain of homework assignments in return. Sighing, she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked to the café, relishing the fresh, spring air and streaks of sun in the partly cloudy sky.
Her date with Masaya over the weekend had been nearly perfect, despite the frightening team meeting from the morning. She and Masaya had enjoyed a full day of exploring the botanical garden, stopping for ice cream afterwards and taking in the joys of Tokyo in the springtime. Their conversation was centered mostly around Masaya's next project at work – a study on some sort of endangered toad only found in the UK. Ichigo had only been half paying attention; her thoughts had been wandering subconsciously back to the chimera battles. She often wished she had a better control over her subconscious thoughts, and felt immensely guilty upon realizing that she couldn't really, truly focus on Masaya's research into how to repopulate the native habitat of an endangered amphibian.
Stepping into the café, Ichigo weaved her way through the busy dining room and through to the back room. She dropped her bag and was about to change before Mint stuck her head in the doorway.
"Hey Ichigo," she chirped, stepping into the back room, "did you hear about the charity event Shirogane is putting on?"
Ichigo blinked. "N-no?"
"We're hosting a charity gala for a local wildlife rescue," said Mint. She was practically beaming, a rare show of excitement for the normally level-headed girl. "The venue the rescue had picked out fell through, and they contacted Shirogane asking to host it here. The gala is just two days from now, this Wednesday."
Mint sighed a wistful sigh, leaning against the doorframe of the back room. She tucked a lock of silky blue hair behind her ear. "It will be my first gala in forever! I can't wait to try on dresses…"
"Two days?" Ichigo repeated, concern in her tone. "That's so soon! How are we going to get everything ready?"
"Everyone's pitching in, naturally," said Mint. She picked at her nails idly. "I'm sure Shirogane and Keiichiro will give you something to do."
"Of course," Ichigo sighed. She was mentally preparing herself for another boatload of work to do – yet another barrier in the way of spending time with her visiting boyfriend. How was she supposed to manage all of her schoolwork, her shifts at the café, and a last-minute party, all while making the most of her time with Masaya? He only had 8 days left in Tokyo.
Sensing Ichigo's melancholy, Mint added, "Oh, and I'm sure you can bring a date! I know Aoyama is an expert on endangered species, so he may want to attend, regardless of him being your boyfriend."
Ichigo perked up. Her mind's eye was a vision of her and Masaya, dancing a romantic waltz in the center of the café while everyone watched. A welcome distraction from the turmoil around the chimeras, and a romantic evening with Masaya? It sounded almost too good to be true. She smiled.
"Yes, that would be perfect," Ichigo told Mint dreamily. She cupped her face in her palm, thinking. Her brow furrowed as she snapped out of her whimsical vision. "Wait, two days though? How the heck am I going to find a dress in time?"
Just then, Pudding bounded into the room. She lit up when she saw that Ichigo had arrived.
"Ichigo! I need your help picking the colors for the party streamers!" she squealed excitedly. Ichigo blinked in surprise, then grinned at the young girl's enthusiasm.
"Ok Pudding, let's see!" said Ichigo. Pudding took hold of Ichigo's wrist, leading her out into the dining area in stride. Ichigo hesitantly followed, fearing the wrath of Ryou if she started work late because of Pudding.
Pudding pointed to the ceiling of the cafe. "Look big sis, which one? Which color?"
Ichigo, confused, looked up and saw that there were already 3 sections of streamer hanging from the high ceilings of the café – red, yellow, and white.
"Wha… how…" Ichigo started, before noticing the precariously-placed ladder up against one of the walls of the café. Tart, visibly annoyed, stood at the base of the ladder. Ichigo made eye contact with him briefly. He rolled his eyes.
Ichigo put her hands on her hips and looked down at Pudding in disbelief. "Pudding, you didn't need to put all of them up there for us to see! This is dangerous!" she scolded. The younger girl simply laughed.
"Listen Ichigo, I am a PRO at acrobatics, and ladders are easy as cake! That's besides the point, though – you didn't tell me which color you like!"
Ichigo sighed in defeat. Pudding was not in the mood to take feedback on her dangerous antics. She looked up at the ceiling again and tapped her chin thoughtfully.
"I actually like all of them!" Ichigo declared truthfully. The various streamers, twisted over each other, gave the pink café an extra burst of color as they swayed lightly in the breeze floating through the dining area.
"All of them?" Pudding exclaimed, eyes wide. She grinned. "Well that's a crazy answer! I love it! We'll do all of the colors!"
"Ok!" Ichigo agreed with a smile. With that decided, Ichigo made her way back to the back room, then the bathroom, changing into her work uniform and starting her shift.
The busy workday went by in a blur. Ichigo was lost in her thoughts between tables, thinking of what she would wear to the charity gala. She also wondered to herself if she would actually be able to take Masaya as a date. Mint was fairly certain she could, but Ichigo wondered if she had been too rude to Ryou lately for him to allow her to take her boyfriend to an important event like this one, especially after her outburst during the team meeting over the weekend. She could only hope that Ryou could find some ounce of pity in his cold, strict heart to let Ichigo take a date to the gala as recompense for her unfortunate situation with the chimeras.
Ichigo had closed out her last tab of the day and was preparing to start wiping down tables when Keiichiro caught her at the register.
"Ah, Momomiya!" he called, standing at the doorway of the kitchen, "I've been so busy baking today I forgot to talk to you about the gala!"
Ichigo perked up, smiling warmly at Keiichiro. "Don't worry Keiichiro, Mint already filled me in. I'm excited!"
"I am as well, though there's lots to do in only two days," Keiichiro said with a laugh. Ichigo remembered, then, her important question about her date to the gala.
"Oh, Keiichiro!" she started, "I actually was wondering if I could ask you something about the gala."
Keiichiro set down the tea towel he was holding and crossed his arms. "Sure Momomiya, what can I help with?"
Ichigo, suddenly feeling shy about asking the favor, picked at a hangnail as she spoke. "Well I was actually wondering…since the gala is for a wildlife rescue and all that...if you and Shirogane would be okay with me bringing Aoyama as a date?"
Keiichiro smiled. "Well of course you can!" he replied. "I don't see why not! I'm sure Aoyama will be the talk of the gala after all of his studies in London."
Ichigo beamed, new excitement bubbling in her chest. Her visions of dancing with Masaya in a ball gown returned to the forefront of her mind with renewed excitement. "Thank you so much!" she sang. "I'll work hard to make sure everything is set and ready to go for the gala!"
Keiichiro opened his mouth to say something, then paused and thought for a moment. "Actually," he started again, "Momomiya, would you be able to finish decorating this batch of lemon lavender tarts? They're finished baking but the pattern is quite complex. I need to rest for the day and help Shirogane downstairs, so I would love your help."
"Sure!" Ichigo agreed immediately. She was immensely thankful for Keiichiro letting her bring Masaya to the gala, so she didn't hesitate to accept the task.
"Wonderful!" Keiichiro exclaimed. "When you're done closing out that check you're working on, I'll show you how to do the piping and design on these tarts."
Ichigo nodded and quickly finished closing the tab at the register, delivering the check to her last table and bidding them a nice evening. Then, she let Zakuro know that she couldn't help with cleaning, and that Keiichiro needed her in the kitchen. She changed out of her café uniform and grabbed an apron from the hook by the kitchen door.
Returning to the kitchen, Ichigo set to work on learning the complicated design of the tart from Keiichiro. It consisted of criss-crossed piping in both purple and yellow royal icing, a sprinkling of candy stars, and a sprig of fresh lavender on each plate. They were pristine, perfect, and not at all in Ichigo's baking wheelhouse.
After the 3rd attempt, her tarts were looking noticeably more like Keiichiro's. He commended her for her efforts with a "Well done!" before glancing at the clock and leaving Ichigo to finish the rest of the 3 sheet pans. 36 tarts in total, she counted – and each one with a 10-step detailed process on how to decorate them.
By Ichigo's 8th tart, she began to fall into a meditative state, following the steps in a comfortable daze as her thoughts drifted elsewhere.
Masaya's work in researching endangered species was sure to be the talk of the gala. But any time she thought about Masaya's studies in London, Ichigo's mind would begin to drift to the idea of moving there with him permanently. Her extended trip to London a year or so ago was a wonderful stay. She loved helping him with his research over those several weeks. However, she struggled with the language barrier in London. Her English was very bad, and she had to rely on Masaya to translate for her wherever they went.
Not to mention Ichigo's own plans for her future. She knew her grades were far from impressive. How would she be able to attend a British university while in London? Would she even qualify for student aid if she got into a university?
Ichigo had only wondered vaguely about her career beyond life as a mew, mostly because she had always pictured her life tied up with Masaya's. She figured that wherever he was, she would go. Now that her time as a high schooler was coming to an end, Ichigo knew she needed to make a decision on what the next stage of her life was. Was it in London? Maybe. But that wouldn't go without complications, and lots of sacrifice on her part.
Her biggest hesitation, however, rested in parting ways with her family and friends. Everyone Ichigo knew lived in Tokyo. Those weeks in London had been incredibly fun with Masaya. But whenever he was away at work or school, she found herself deeply lonely in a foreign country where no one spoke her language. Leaving her family and friends behind for somewhere like London was intimidating at best, and terrifying at worst.
Ichigo sighed, dropping a sprig of lavender on a plate of another completed tart. She picked up the plate and turned to place it on the counter with the other tarts.
Ichigo sucked in a breath as she suddenly locked eyes with Quiche. He was standing in the doorway to the kitchen, arms crossed. Ichigo jumped in surprise and let go of the plate; Quiche ducked towards her and quickly snatched the plate out of the air before it hit the ground.
He rose from his awkward crouch holding the plate and grinning. "Careful, kitten. You know how much Shirogane hates broken plates."
Ichigo scowled, snatching the tart back from Quiche. "How long have you been standing there?" she demanded, dropping the plate off on the counter with a clatter.
"Not long," said Quiche. He leaned against one side of the counter. "I was expecting to find Keiichiro. Why are you here so late?"
Ichigo opened her mouth to reply, but glanced at the clock first. It was nearly 8PM. She clapped her mouth shut and inhaled sharply, surprised at how much time had passed since she started decorating.
"I uh…" she started hesitantly. She glanced down at how many tarts she still had to decorate, "Keiichiro actually asked me to decorate all of these for the gala in a couple days… they're really detailed."
Quiche observed the tarts warily. "That's for sure," he remarked. "You still have about a dozen to go, too."
"Don't remind me," Ichigo sniffed, grabbing a bag of icing. She turned to start piping again and felt her hand cramping. She paused and glanced up at Quiche. He was observing her with apparent amusement, glancing between her and the tarts on the counter that had yet to be finished.
"I…can you help?" Ichigo asked reluctantly. A small voice in the back of her head whispered to her that this could be a really bad idea, but she pushed it away quickly. Her hands were tired, and it was late. Besides, they were at work, and Ryou and Keiichiro were only steps away, just downstairs. What was the harm?
Quiche grinned. "Sure," he accepted, straightening off the counter and coming to stand next to Ichigo. Quiche observed the example tart Ichigo was working from, and the materials around the countertop. He looked perplexed. "Uh…how do you do this?"
Ichigo felt strangely smug about teaching Quiche how to make the tarts, especially after her recent jealousy around how quickly he had learned the ropes of the job at the café.
She thought carefully about how to divide up the work. "Well," she started, hands on her hips, "they have the icing part, which is just a bunch of lines, then they have all of those decorations on top. How about you do the criss cross icing, and I can do the decorations?" She looked up at Quiche; he was examining the example tart carefully. He lifted the plate to eye level so he could study the detail.
"Alright," he said finally, setting down the tart. Ichigo handed him the lemon icing bag – it was a little mangled from use, but still full of bright yellow icing. Quiche slipped it out of her hands carefully, curiously – Ichigo was surprised to feel that his hands were strangely cold to the touch.
"Your hands are freezing – were you just outside?" she asked, glancing up from Quiche's hands.
He looked confused, but answered nonchalantly, cocking an eyebrow. "Yeah, why?"
Ichigo opened her mouth to continue prodding with questions, but she shut it again, resolving to focus on the task at hand. "Nevermind," she muttered, breaking eye contact from Quiche's curious look. Taking a deep breath, she continued, "Anyway, so this is the lemon frosting - you use this one first when you do the criss cross, and the purple lavender goes on top of that."
She picked up the second bag of icing and handed it to Quiche. He set the piping bag down on his side of the workstation and examined the example tart again.
"Got it?" asked Ichigo.
"Um, sure," Quiche said lamely. He let out a nervous laugh. "These are going to look like fresh hell."
"Well then just follow the example!" exclaimed Ichigo. "You were the one who wanted to help!" She looked up at Quiche expectantly with her hands on her hips. Blinking, Quiche rolled his shoulders and picked up the yellow icing bag.
They were only three minutes into the decorating process when Ichigo realized that putting Quiche on the icing portion of their assembly line was a total disaster. His first attempt was a mess of globby, uneven lines, and the yellow lines on his second attempt were already looking too thick.
"Wait, hold on," Ichigo interjected as Quiche picked up the purple icing bag. "Your lines are way too big!"
"They're not that bad!" Quiche protested, gesturing to his second tart. "These ones are almost the same size as the example!"
"They're WAY thicker!" Ichigo insisted with a sigh. "Here, let me finish the purple on that one you're working on."
She reached out to grab the purple icing bag out of Quiche's hands, but he jolted it just out of her reach. Grinning playfully, he said, "No way kitten, I just started! Gimme a chance!"
Ichigo furrowed her brow. She leaned across the counter to snatch the bag from Quiche's hand, but he hoisted it high above his head. He smirked down at her with a raised eyebrow.
Scowling, Ichigo jumped and grabbed the bag, but she squeezed it just a little too hard. It burst open with a loud pop. Ichigo gasped as she felt a glob of icing land in her hair, and another one stick to her face. Blinking, she realized that most of the icing had landed on Quiche, who had purple all down the front of his grey long sleeve shirt and spritzes of purple on his face and hair.
Ichigo immediately burst out laughing — Quiche looked absolutely ridiculous. Quiche's shock turned to a grimace as he sheepishly looked down at his shirt.
"Now look what you've done!" he whined, holding out his shirt to survey the damage.
Ichigo, suppressing her giggling, said, "Well this wouldn't be a problem if you had just given me the stupid bag! Now you look like Pie's hair color threw up all over you!"
The comparison elicited a snort of laughter from Quiche. "I was doing fine until you got in my way!"
"You're so annoying!"
"Well you're a shit teacher!"
Ichigo, still grinning, reached behind her into the bowl of candy stars and picked up a handful. She drew back her arm, readying to throw them, but Quiche was faster. He snatched her wrist, and before Ichigo knew what was happening, he was kissing her.
The kiss was urgent, sudden and impulsive – Ichigo was startled as she felt a shockwave travel up through her body, sending a buzz from her toes to the tips of her fingers. Her stomach lept into her throat as Quiche's lips left hers for just a moment before meeting them again. She had forgotten what it felt like to kiss him – it had been years. But somehow she was transported back to when she was 13, and meeting Quiche for the first time. Ichigo could feel the chill of his hand gently tracing her jaw, but in that moment it felt like she was on fire.
Ichigo's fisted hand relaxed inadvertently, and the candy stars in her hand fell to the ground with a tiny chorus of tapping on the linoleum tile.
The sudden noise startled Ichigo out of the kiss; she broke away from Quiche suddenly and took two steps back, slapping her hand over her mouth in shock. He looked back at her warily – his amber eyes darting between hers, searching for a reaction. Ichigo felt frozen in place; her feet felt like they were made of lead. She could feel the loud thrumming of her heartbeat in her ears. Quiche looked just as surprised as she was – his expression was uncharacteristically serious, and unreadable to Ichigo. Did he feel it too?
A flash of something familiar glinted in his eyes. He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, studying her curiously. The movement broke Ichigo out of her trance; she flinched.
Mind racing, Ichigo abruptly broke eye contact, whipped around and took off towards the back room, hastily grabbing her bag and slamming the back door open. She broke out into a jog into the night air of the park, still wearing an apron, and still with purple icing in her hair. Swallowing the cold air deeply, her mind was still reeling with what had just occurred. She hoped Quiche wouldn't follow her.
Ichigo slowed to a walk, then, tearing off the apron and balling it up hastily. She plucked the thoughts out of the whirling mess in her head and examined them one by one.
Her first thought – the kiss was shockingly, inescapably and undeniably good. Thinking about the electric connection between herself and Quiche sent little buzzing aftershocks down the tips of her fingers.
Her second thought – she shouldn't have that sort of reaction kissing someone who was not her boyfriend. Whether or not she initiated the kiss was irrelevant. The smothering blanket of guilt was weighing heavy on the ball of shock and excitement bouncing around her stomach.
Her third thought – her ears felt...fuzzy. She reached up and felt the velvety tip of a cat ear. Letting out a frustrated sigh, she pulled out an old baseball cap from her bag and shoved her ears into it.
The walk back to her house felt long and arduous as Ichigo's mind rapidly swung from wanting to unpack her interaction with Quiche, to wanting to forget about the whole thing, sleep on it and deal with it in the morning. But there was no way she could just ignore the feeling in her stomach. She felt like she had just been set on fire. But what would Masaya say? How do I tell him? Should I tell him tomorrow?
The thought crossed Ichigo's mind that she could simply not tell him at all. She quickly shook it out of her head – lying by omission was not in her character. She had to tell Masaya. But the timing had to be right. It had taken no small amount of courage to break the news to Masaya a couple years ago that Quiche was, in fact, her first kiss. She always joked with Masaya that it didn't count. But this time, it was different. Masaya would not take lightly to the news that Quiche was ignoring Masaya's stern instructions to back off.
Ichigo suddenly began to worry – what if Masaya thought that she had feelings for Quiche? After all, Ichigo asked Quiche to help her in the kitchen, when she knew they would be alone. Would Masaya think she wanted to be alone with Quiche?
A small voice in the back of her head whispered: Maybe you did want to be alone with him. Ichigo shook it out of her head with a shutter and a sigh.
By the time she opened her front door, Ichigo felt like it had been hours since she left the café.
And so the night continued, Ichigo's thoughts bouncing around her head like a pinball machine even as she climbed into bed. Starting up at the ceiling of her bedroom, she wondered where she was supposed to go from here.
Ichigo closed her eyes and hoped for a deep, dreamless sleep to carry her away.
(A.N/
Told you this chapter would be more exciting. The storyline moves at a quicker pace after this chapter, so if you've been waiting for things to get going a bit more in the story, you're in luck.
Quick note that I have guest reviews turned on – please, please leave a review if you're loving the story so far! I read every review and I love hearing from all of you. Looking at my view stats right now, I seem to have a few hundred of you following along, but only a handful of you are reviewing. I'd love to hear your thoughts, so please drop a review!)