Chapter 2: Truth, Poetry and Ichigo
As she had promised, Ichigo arrived right on time with Ringo. As usual, Pudding greeted them with a hearty "ICHIGO-ONEE-CHAN! RINGO-ONEE-CHAN! PUDDING IS GLAD YOU'RE HERE NA NO DA!"
The two older girls were scared half-to-death, and Ichigo's ears and tail popped out, but the two girls soon recovered.
"What is it, Pudding-onee-chan? Ichigo and Ringo came, just like you wanted," Ringo said.
Pudding immediately snapped to business. "Ringo, I need you to help the other girls take inventory in the storerooms. Help them count silverware, na no da." With that, the monkey-girl led the apple-girl downstairs to the storerooms, and ran upstairs to where Ichigo was still waiting.
Pudding pulled out the clipboard and handed it to Ichigo, who read the letter attached and smirked. "Shirogane's...in love...with Lettuce..."
"That's right!" Pudding said. "And your job is to help him express his feelings, na no da!"
A wide smile formed on Ichigo's face. "We all know Ryou can't express his feelings to a fly. This'll be fun!"
But something else was on Pudding's mind right now. "Where's Moe and Miwa?" she asked the cat-girl.
"Uhhh...somewhere...?" Ichigo answered hesitantly. She didn't want to tell the monkey-girl that her two friends had caught the half-price sale at the mall. "But they'll be here in half an hour or so," she added.
"Hmmmm..." Pudding mused thoughtfully. "That'll do. Now go do your job, Ichigo-onee-chan, na no da!" The monkey-girl beamed proudly.
"I'm on it!" Ichigo said cheerfully, and skipped upstairs to Ryou's room, clipboard in hand. She knocked on the blonde boy's door.
"What?" came Ryou's familiar voice.
"It's Ichigo," the strawberry girl replied.
Ryou came to the door and opened it. "What is it?"
"I've come to help you, nya!" the cat-girl meowed.
"Oh no!" Ryou groaned. "Help me with what?"
"This!" Ichigo announced proudly and pulled out the clipboard.
"AAAAAAAUGH! WHERE'D YOU GET THAT!" Ryou screamed and snatched the clipboard right out of Ichigo's hand. The cat-girl yelped in pain and screamed bloody murder until Ryou told her to shut up.
Ichigo quickly recovered and walked into the room. Ryou turned and followed her, locking the door behind them and setting the clipboard on the floor.
The cat-girl stationed herself so that she and Ryou were eye-to-eye with each-other (this means Ichigo had to stand on her tiptoes). Her brown eyes dug into his aquamarine ones. She had a very serious look on her face, which scared Ryou, because he knew that Ichigo never used that face unless something was really bad.
There was a moment of silence. Ichigo broke it after about 15 seconds and said in a very serious voice to the blonde boy: "Is it true?"
"Is what true?" Of course, Ryou knew exactly what she meant, but he decided to play stupid to stall her.
"Do...you...like...Lettuce?" Ichigo bore her eyes deeper into his. She hardened her expression even more.
Ryou turned away. "N-no, of course not," he managed to stutter while trying to hide the blush that was spreading across his face. Of course, he was lying.
Ichigo's expression immediately softened. "Shirogane, you are the worst liar in the history of the world!" the cat-girl said in a very chipper voice. "Next time you wanna lie to me, make sure you make eye contact. And speak clearly if you really mean what you say!"
He was caught! And by a girl too! Ryou slapped his forehead and moaned.
Ichigo made her welcome-to-the-café pose. "Gotcha!" she sang cheerfully. "Now admit it. Do you like her?"
Ryou slammed his head against the wall. "Yes," he mumbled. He couldn't try to deny the truth again.
The cat-girl got out of her pose and put her hands together. "That's so sweet, Shirogane! Even though we all knew your little secret all along, it's great that you're finally going to get out of your shell and tell her how you feel."
Ryou stopped groveling against the wall. "How'd you know?"
Ichigo rolled her eyes sarcastically. "Well, DUH, it's SOOOOOOO obvious. Remember when you had that big party on that cruise ship? Remember the ORANGE JUICE you gave her?"
Of course he remembered. "That was because she was sick," he argued. "I bet Keiichiro would've done the same thing."
The cat-girl folded her arms across her chest. "Akasaka is a ladies-man. But remember, afterwards you told her to believe in herself. You would've NEVER said something like that to me."
Ryou snorted. "Your ego is already as big as your mouth." He decided not to mention anything about whether or not that meant he liked her.
Ichigo did a strange thing and ignored the insult. Instead she said: "Remember when she accidentally dropped a teapot on your foot? You didn't yell at her. You weren't even mad. But you'd NEVER let ME get away with that!"
Ryou put his hands in his pockets. "That's because that was an accident, and it was her first day here. Besides, it's only reasonable that she'd drop that teapot because you girls were bugging her so much."
Ichigo waved her hand around. "Details, details," she said in a business-like manner. "What's important now is that you admit the truth. Now, about that letter..."
Ryou sighed. "What about it?"
Ichigo shook her head and made a tsk-tsking sound. "You're a cheap man, Shirogane."
"What?" The blonde boy was confused.
Ichigo sighed exasperatedly. "You can do better than a LETTER! Even a CARD is better than a LETTER!"
Ryou rolled his eyes. "A card? Who do I look like to you?"
"OK, well, maybe not a card," Ichigo said and twirled a lock of her red hair between her fingers. "I know! How about a poem?"
Ryou crinkled his eyebrows and narrowed his eyes. "A poem!"
"Yeah yeah, a poem," Ichigo mused thoughtfully. "Like...like...Ichigo is pink, Minto is blue, I am blonde, and I love you."
Ryou wasn't impressed. "Did you just make that up off the top of your head?" he asked.
It was Ichigo's turn to narrow her eyes. "So what if I did?" she demanded.
Ryou wasn't intimidated. "Well, it's not much of a poem."
"It sure beats your letter!" Ichigo screamed and popped a vein.
"So what do you want me to do about it?" Ryou asked calmly.
Ichigo immediately forgot her anger and grabbed the nearest writing utensil. Seconds later, she was yelling bloody murder. "EEEWWWWW! WHAT'S WRONG WITH THIS PEN! IT'S BEEN HALF-EATEN BY AN ALIEN!"
Ryou snatched the pen from Ichigo's hand. It was, indeed, the one he had been chewing on earlier. He handed the strawberry-girl another pencil, who took it and grabbed a piece of paper from the printer. She plopped herself down at the computer desk and began her masterpiece.
"The secret is making it look professional," the cat-girl said while drawing a fancy curlicue border on the paper. "Girls think that guys who really like them will bring them something expensive."
Ryou looked at Ichigo's artwork and rolled his eyes. He thought it looked like an 8-year-old's drawing. "Well, THAT sure doesn't look very expensive," he retorted. "What is it anyway?"
"It's designer stationary for you to write a poem on!" Ichigo yelled. "And it's the best I can do, so you'd better appreciate it!" She bent over her paper and went back to drawing.
Ryou tapped his foot and waited for the strawberry-girl to finish up her "designer stationary".
A few minutes later, Ichigo proudly yelled "DONE!" and handed her pencil and stationary to the blonde boy. "Now write a poem!" she commanded him. "If you don't like mine, then write one on your own."
Ryou thought he was probably the least poetic person on the planet. So he decided to stall her, or even better, get her out of his room. "Say, Strawberry," he began, purposefully using a cute nickname: "don't you have something to do with your OWN boyfriend?"
Ichigo looked surprised. "No, he has kendo practice right now. Why?"
Kendo practice! He hadn't thought of that! "Well, isn't it getting a bit late?" he asked instead.
The cat-girl looked at her watch. "No, it's only 10:30 AM." Then her face brightened up. "Wait, Moe and Miwa should be here any minute!" she said happily.
Yes, his plan was working. "Well, shouldn't you go see to them?" he asked slyly.
Being the naïve person that she is, the strawberry-girl had no suspicions at all that the blonde boy was trying to make her go away. "Yes, I think I should!" she said in a chipper voice. "Good luck, Shirogane!" The cat-girl skipped out the door, slamming it noisily behind her.
The blonde boy waited for a few seconds and then sang Hallelujah.
Meanwhile, after discovering that Moe and Miwa were unable to make it to the cafe for a while, Ichigo had run down to the storerooms to tell Minto (and only Minto) what had happened. The cat-girl simply wanted the bird-girl to do something for a change.
A crafty smile formed on Minto's face.