Tokyo Mew Mew: Reborn
Chapter One: Mew Ichigo
Ichigo Momomiya sighed.
Today, she'd gone on her very first date, and with the most popular boy in school – Masaya Aoyama. Masaya was 15 years old, the same age as Ichigo, with sleek black hair, warm chocolate eyes, and a nearly constant smile. He was smart and athletic, a star member of the kendo team, and always very polite. On the outside, he looked perfect, and almost every girl in Ichigo's school was madly in love with him.
To Ichigo herself, however… he was boring.
Masaya was a bit of a know-it-all, and despite Ichigo's protests, he'd insisted on coming to an endangered species exhibit for the date. Ichigo had listened as he talked about the Iriomote wildcat, but lost interest when he began to lecture about every single animal in the exhibit. She didn't really care about frogs or bats, and she especially didn't care while on a date. On a date, she would rather have gotten to know Masaya – not every endangered fern across the entire world.
It wasn't that Ichigo didn't care about the animals; she really did, and sincerely felt sad that so many species were in danger of becoming extinct. But in her opinion, there was a time and place for everything, and a first date was just not the time.
Besides that, Masaya's smile was much less constant outside of school. Ichigo suspected that he merely kept up a polite and happy façade to please his fans – almost as soon as she'd met him at the train station, he had begun to complain about the weather. His complaints didn't stop there, however, and he'd even criticized her outfit at one point. Apparently, a short-sleeved yellow shirt didn't go well with Ichigo's denim skirt.
Currently, Masaya was somewhere in the exhibit, listening to a lecture on the aurora trout. Ichigo didn't particularly want to hear an elderly man drone on about fish for an hour, so she'd told Masaya that she would wait for him in the park nearby. Sitting on a bench, she checked her watch.
The lecture should have ended thirty minutes ago.
Hearing footsteps coming towards her, Ichigo looked up, quickly brushing a strand of dark red hair from her eye. She could see Masaya approaching, a white paper bag in his arms.
"I can't believe that in an endangered animal exhibit, the gift shop still uses paper bags," he ranted as he sat down on the bench next to Ichigo.
"You're late," Ichigo informed him, tapping her watch.
"I know," Masaya said, not seeming apologetic in the least. He reached into the bag and pulled out a small stuffed animal. "I bought you this, though." Handing her the plush, he added in, as if she were stupid, "It's an Iriomote cat."
"I can see that," Ichigo grumbled, fighting the urge to snap at the boy. Looking at the stuffed cat, she had to admit that it was pretty cute. Still, it wouldn't be buying her any more dates with Masaya.
"Momomiya-san…"
Ichigo looked at Masaya, wondering what he wanted to say. "Yes, Aoyama-kun?"
"Well…" Masaya looked down, seeming a bit embarrassed… or regretful. "I don't really think we should go out again."
YES! Ichigo thought. Out loud, she innocently inquired, "Why not?"
"Well, um…" Masaya put his arm behind his head, seeming unsure of what to say. "How do I put this…"
Looking directly at Ichigo, their brown eyes interlocking, Masaya suddenly told a blunt and honest truth.
"I think you're kind of… whiny. I mean… 'Aoyama-kun, when is this over?' 'Aoyama-kun, couldn't we do something else?' 'Aoyama-kun, I'm so thirsty!'" Masaya rolled his eyes. "I wanted to scream, Momomiya-san."
Ichigo's mouth fell open, and she could feel her right eye begin to twitch. For what seemed like a century, she stared at Masaya, trying to think of words that could even begin to express what she wanted to say.
Finally, she simply snapped.
"How… how dare you!" she exclaimed, standing up as quickly as she could. "You… I never even want to see you again! And you can keep this!" she added, throwing the cat at his chest with as much force as possible. Without even checking to see if she'd hit her mark, Ichigo turned and ran, tears streaming down her face.
Why did my first date have to be like this?
Ichigo continued to run, not paying attention to where she was going, until finally she tripped, flying forward and hitting her head against a tall sign. "Ouch!" she exclaimed, awkwardly regaining her balance and rubbing her aching forehead. Seeing the sign that had caused her so much pain, she realized that it announced the presence of a large café standing only a few feet away.
"Café Shirobara?" she mused aloud, reading the words from the sign. The café looked almost like a castle, with two tower-shaped stories, heart-shaped windows, and drawbridge-like double doors. Its interior was mostly white, but the doors, windows, and tips of the upper towers were a beautiful golden hue. A lighter gold graced the tips of the lower towers as well as the offensive sign, and the café overall had a very angelic look about it.
"It's beautiful," Ichigo breathed. Despite the unpleasantness of its original discovery, it seemed as if the restaurant was pulling her in, begging her to try its dishes. Have a brownie, Ichigo, and maybe a little tea.
Ichigo took one step towards the café, then stopped, a look of surprise crossing her face. Was it only her imagination, or had the windows begun to glow?
No, it hadn't been her imagination… and it wasn't only the windows. Looking up at the very top of the roof, Ichigo could now see a winged cat statue that appeared to be made of something similar to white gold. Its eyes, bright red and ruby-like, were also glowing with an eerie, pale light. Ichigo stared, unsure of what to do. She wanted to run, but couldn't seem to find the strength to move her legs.
It all happened so suddenly.
One moment, Ichigo was finally turning to run away, a terrified scream forming in her throat. The next, the cat's eyes glowed completely white, and a huge beam of pure white light shot out, straight towards Ichigo. Ichigo tried to leap out of the way, but it was too late. The light caught her on the right leg and spread out over her body until Ichigo was glowing as brightly as the eyes of the statue. The scream finally escaped her throat at this point, but was cut off as everything around her went black.
Where… am I?
When Ichigo finally began to wake up, it took her a few moments to recollect her thoughts. For a brief second, she had no idea where she was or what she was doing there.
Almost immediately, however, her memories came flooding back – the café, the statue… and the light.
That couldn't have really happened, Ichigo told herself, pulling herself into a sitting position. I must have dreamed it. Looking down at herself, however, she found a few small tears in her clothing, and the ribbon from one of her ponytails was lying on the ground in front of her. Yes, she realized, she could feel the hair on the left side of her head pressing closer to her face than usual.
But what had happened? After she'd come here, after running away from Masaya… how long ago had that been? Looking up at the sky, she could see that it was a pinkish-orange color – sunset.
"Oh, no!" she exclaimed aloud, leaping to her feet. "My parents will be worried sick! I have to get home!" Ichigo started to run in what she thought was the direction of her house, but tripped on her tail and ended up flat on her face.
"Ouch," Ichigo muttered, pulling herself up once again. "My tail got in the way…"
Suddenly, something struck her.
"I… have… a… tail," she stated. Twisting around to look, Ichigo could see what looked like a long, black cat's tail, extending from under her skirt.
Reaching up to feel the top of her head, Ichigo found two pointed, furry structures beneath her hands. Feeling at the sides of her head, she realized that her ears were gone – or at least, the ears she'd used to have were gone.
"And my ears have changed."
A short moment of silence followed.
"I HAVE A TAIL! AND MY EARS HAVE CHANGED!" Ichigo's earsplitting scream pierced the very sky as her mind began to reel with fear and confusion. How had this happened? Did it have something to do with the café and its mysterious light? How would she possibly explain this to her parents?
"Over here!" someone called from only a few yards away.
Masaya.
The sound of running footsteps approached – the footsteps of approximately four people. Masaya wasn't alone.
"I have to run away!" Ichigo whispered frantically, turning to escape. Unfortunately, it was too late, and Masaya burst from the nearby bushes, followed by a police officer. After the officer came Ichigo's mother, Sakura, and her father, Shintaro.
"Ichigo!" Sakura called, seeming undaunted by her daughter's strange appearance. Shintaro, however, nearly burst into tears as soon as he laid eyes on her.
"Ichigo! What… what's happened to you?" he cried, running faster and overtaking the rest of the group. Before Ichigo could make her escape, Shintaro ran up beside her and threw his arms around her, pressing her head against his chest.
"Wait… wait!" Ichigo exclaimed, pushing away from her father. "Dad, how did you know where to find me? Why is a police officer here?"
"When you ran away from me, I followed you," Masaya explained. "I saw you get hit by a light ray from the top of this café, and when you fainted, you grew cat ears and a tail."
"So you went and told the police?" Ichigo yelled in disbelief. "Are you crazy?"
"Well, they thought I was," Masaya testified. "That's the only reason it took me so long to get back to you. They called the school, my parents, my doctor… basically everyone who could confirm that I wasn't completely insane. They finally agreed to investigate, but thought we should call your parents. We had to look up their phone number, and…"
"Okay, I get it!" Ichigo interrupted, tears welling up in her dark brown eyes. "I get it already! But what's happened to me? Why am I like this?"
"That's what we're trying to find out," the police officer replied, speaking for the first time. "My name is Officer Kobayashi, and I'd like to take you back to the police station until we can figure out what to do with you."
"What to do with her?" Sakura gasped. "What are you talking about?"
"Well, we don't know much about what's happened to her. She could be a danger to society," Officer Kobayashi explained. "For the good of all Tokyo, I don't really think we should allow her to live at home."
"What?" Shintaro exclaimed furiously. "How dare you?" Pulling his fist back, he seemed about to strike at the policeman, but Sakura stood in his way.
"Shintaro, if you think that you can change his mind with violence…!" Although Sakura was preventing her husband from attacking Kobayashi, tears had begun to stream down her face, and she clearly did not want to accept what the officer was saying, either.
Laying his hand on Sakura's shoulder, Kobayashi told her in a low voice, "Everything will be alright. We won't let anyone experiment on her, if that's what you're worried about."
"But my daughter!" Shintaro protested.
Ichigo had simply watched on in shock until this point. Finally, she couldn't take it any longer. She had to get away.
As soon as Ichigo tried to run, Kobayashi yelled to Masaya, "Aoyama, grab her!" Masaya did what he was told, and despite her struggling, Ichigo could not escape.
"Ichigo… Sakura, Shintaro… I'm sorry," Kobayashi said. "It's time to go to the station now."
Ichigo felt nothing but fear as she sat in a chair at the police station, waiting for Kobayashi to finish consulting with his superiors. Masaya had left for his own home not long after arriving at the station, but Ichigo's parents sat on either side of her, their arms wrapped around her understandingly. All of them were silent, looking down with tears in their eyes.
The station door opened suddenly, and someone walked in. "Ichigo!"
Ichigo looked up to see her two best friends, Moe Yanagida and Miwa Honjo. In perfect unison, the two blinked their brown eyes twice, then exclaimed, "It's true!"
"Yeah," Ichigo replied, wiping her tears away and forcing a smile. "It's true."
"How in the world did it happen?" Miwa asked in astonishment. Her short brown hair seemed slightly disheveled, as did Moe's blonde bob, and Ichigo realized for the first time that she could hear the wind howling loudly outside the police station.
"Yeah, Ichigo!" Moe added. "Girls just don't grow cat ears and a tail every day!"
"Well…" Ichigo replied quietly. "I found this café, and I wanted to go in… but then a light came out of a statue on the roof and hit me, and then this happened."
Moe and Miwa looked at each other, seeming slightly disbelieving. "That's… a pretty crazy story," Miwa said.
"Not much stranger than the fact that our best friend is half cat, though," pointed out Moe.
"Speaking of that," replied Miwa, seeming to forget that Ichigo was even there. "I heard that they're going to make her go away from home."
"Will we still be able to call her?" Moe wondered.
"If you guys want, you can wait here and find out," Ichigo pointed out flatly. "We'll be finding out all the details ourselves in a little while."
"Um, ok," Moe agreed, nodding, and she and Miwa sat down in two of the chairs near Sakura.
After what seemed like an eternity, Officer Kobayashi finally reappeared. "Well, I spoke with my superiors, and we decided that it would be best to contact the owners of Café Shirobara," he explained. "We called about ten minutes ago, but the café's not far away, so we expect them to arrive soon."
"Why did you do that?" Moe inquired.
"Well, the café is where Ichigo was… changed," Kobayashi explained. "We think that Shirogane and Akasaka – the two men who work at the café – will probably know what happened."
At exactly that moment, two men appeared in the doorway. One was blonde with bright blue eyes and looked like he could be partly or fully American. He appeared to be about 16 or 17 years old. The other, who seemed to be in his twenties, had long, brown hair pulled back into a ponytail, large brown eyes, and a perpetual smile. While the blonde was dressed casually, in a green and white jacket with purple jeans, the brunette wore an outfit that seemed to match his occupation as a café worker, with a button-up shirt, tie, and black pants held up by suspenders.
"Are you…" Looking down at a sheet of paper held in his hand, Kobayashi read, "Ryou Shirogane and Keiichiro Akasaka?"
"Yes," said the brunette, who continued to smile for unknown reasons. "I'm Keiichiro, and this is Ryou," he added, waving his hand towards the blonde.
"And do you know anything about this?" another officer asked, appearing behind Kobayashi and pointing towards Ichigo.
"This?" Ichigo repeated angrily. What am I, some sort of new germ?
"Actually, yes," Keiichiro admitted. "For reasons much too complicated to explain, we have infused this young girl with the DNA of an Iriomote wildcat."
"You what?" Ichigo gasped. And of course it had to be an Iriomote wildcat! she added to herself.
"We'll tell you all about it later!" Ryou told her, quite rudely.
"So, you are responsible for the transformation of this girl, then," Kobayashi stated, asking for conformation.
Ryou nodded. "We are, as well as the creation of six others."
"Well, we're not exactly happy about that," the other officer informed him. "We don't want… creatures like this running loose in the city!"
"Creatures?" Sakura repeated with shock.
"What he's trying to say is, we don't know what behavioral changes might occur from this infusion," Kobayashi corrected softly. "We do not want this girl to stay at home, where she may hurt others, until we know for sure."
"We'd be more than happy to take her back to our café," Keiichiro offered.
"That works," the second policeman agreed.
"Let's set some guidelines," suggested Kobayashi. "First of all, you'll have to find and house all seven girls in this café until further notice. Therefore, you must close your café for now. You should leave them with a female guardian at night, but they must not be allowed outside without one of you as a chaperone – and at some point, we want you to explain to us exactly why you've preformed these experiments. If you're not careful, it may land you behind bars."
"We understand," Ryou agreed with a nod.
"I'll be the nighttime chaperone, if that's okay," put in Sakura.
"That would be fine," Kobayashi confirmed.
"Wait, wait! This is all happening too fast!" Ichigo exclaimed. "So I'm going to go live in Café Shirobara?"
"That's right," Keiichiro said; Ichigo noticed that he hadn't yet stopped smiling. "Of course, we'll need to know your name."
Tears once again forming in her eyes, Ichigo managed to blurt out, "I… Ichigo… Momomiya."
"Ichigo," the unnamed police officer snorted. "With ears like that, she should be called Mew Ichigo!"
"Are you ready to go, miss?" Keiichiro asked.
Ichigo shook her head, but followed him and Ryou out of the police station anyway after saying her tearful goodbyes. As she struggled to take in the events of the day, a single, clear thought found its way into her head.
Worst. Date. Ever.