Ichigo was standing in the middle of the fruit and vegetable aisle, completely frozen. Given the summer temperatures (around thirty degrees), the redhead had forgotten to pack a jacket before leaving the house. What she hadn't anticipated was that Ryou would be sending her shopping with Minto, Berry and Ringo, with a good hundred groceries to buy in order to replenish the Café's stocks. This oversight only served to annoy her, knowing that the day had already started badly enough.
"You know what pisses me off the most? It's that Ryou and Keiichiro didn't even bother to ask our opinion. To think I trusted them! It's a betrayal!"
Both chilled and annoyed, Ichigo waddled around in her light summer dress, arms flung around herself in an attempt to find some warmth. She'd been complaining like this for almost half an hour. The news about her bosses had hurt her deeply. Ichigo knew the reasons were perfectly legitimate, but she couldn't help protesting. The ex-Mew Mew simply wasn't ready to see the Café where she'd spent the last four years disappear.
Just a few steps away, Minto was barely listening to what the red woman was saying. She had stopped listening long ago, tired of hearing her friend's complaints. And she, who usually had her say and was the first to complain, hadn't uttered a single word since they'd left the Café. Now she was deliberately ignoring Ichigo, her nose plunged into Keiichiro's shopping list.
"I can't find the eggplants. Could you help me a little?" the blue asked one in an annoyed tone.
"They're there, right under your nose," Ichigo said, reaching for the vegetable stalls, still hopping on the spot. "Do you realize that we only have four months left before the Café closes? That barely gives us time to prepare, mentally I mean. And then what are we going to do?"
"Why does Keiichiro need so many vegetables?" Minto grumbled, still ignoring Ichigo. "We sell pastries, as far as I know."
"That's because he's decided to bring vegetable juices back into fashion. According to him, it's original, and it sold very well a few years ago... Hey! You could at least pretend to listen to me!"
Exasperated, Minto heaved a deep sigh. The blue woman turned to Ichigo and stared at her for a moment, saying nothing. Ichigo stared at her. Since their last adventures as Mew Mew, two years ago, the former vigilantes had all changed, matured. Minto, for her part, had shed the two buttons on either side of her head that used to make her look like a little girl. Today, her dark-blue hair was usually styled in a perfect bob, barely touching her shoulders. Her face had also mellowed with age, although she still retained her snobbish, scowling air. As Ichigo saw her now, Minto looked more mature, more grown-up than two years earlier.
She took a step towards the red woman, a serious glint shining in her brown eyes.
"Listen," she began, "I think closing the Café hurts Ryou and Keiichiro as much as it hurts your heart, maybe even more. Don't forget that this project somehow links Ryou to his father. But this world is no longer in danger, and there's no point in continuing needlessly... We've had no power for two years, Ichigo. It's over, and you know it. Kei and Ryou aren't stupid. They have good reasons for closing the Café Mew Mew."
Ichigo didn't agree, not at all. How could Minto, who had shared so many good times in the Café with Ichigo, utter such words?
"I..."
Minto didn't even give her time to go any further.
"You know, we all have a life outside Café Mew Mew. Retasu, you and I are sixteen now, so we're going to have to start thinking about our future. Next fall, Berry, Pudding and Ringo will finally be starting middle school. As for Zakuro, she already has to manage her idol career. We have other responsibilities now. There's no point juggling a job as a waitress in a Café that no longer needs us."
As she spoke, Minto's voice grew fainter and fainter. The girl looked away and sighed again. Ichigo realized that, although Minto would probably never admit it, having to leave the Café and her friends weighed heavily on her heart.
"We can't hold on to the past forever," Minto finished under her breath.
Ichigo received this last sentence as if it had been a slap in the face. Minto is right, she thought. We won't stay at the Café all our lives... it's impossible. But the Café was all she had left of her Mew Mew life, and the last link to the friends she'd lost: the alien brothers, Pai, Kisshu and Taruto. And Masaya...
Ichigo lowered her head. She knew it was futile to cling to a memory, that it wouldn't bring back her old friends. But...
"But it's too hard..."
A tear fell at her feet, onto the floor of the fruit and vegetable aisle. Minto looked at her sadly. She, and all the other Mew Mew besides Keiichiro and Ryou, knew what had happened to Masaya. Ichigo didn't want to lose them, either. Tears continued to roll down her cheeks.
"I dreamt of Masaya again last night," the redhead suddenly admitted.
Minto said nothing. The blue felt a lump form in her throat. She knew that her friend was suffering from the loss of Masaya, but unfortunately, there was nothing anyone could have done to prevent it. Minto knew Ichigo too well. The redhead had already lost a loved one, so she would refuse to let her friends go. Ichigo was stubborn: of all the gang, she was the one most opposed to closing the Café. Minto knew she wouldn't give in.
For almost a year, Ichigo had been having the same recurring dream. Over and over again, the same dream, disturbing her nights and waking her up, making her believe that they were still a happy couple, exactly as they had been a year ago.
Minto gently approached the red woman. Hesitant at first, she finally decided to take her hand, and squeezed it in a sign of comfort.
"I miss him, you know," Ichigo continued.
"We're here. The others and I will stay by your side, even if the Café closes."
"Café Mew Mew won't close," Ichigo fiercely declared, drying her tears.
And she's back. Minto rolled her eyes.
"Okay... so hurry up," Minto threw in, returning to her usual self. "Let's go join Berry and Ringo."
"Yeah, let's get this endless racing over with! That way, I can get home and kick Ryou's ass the way it's supposed to be kicked."
Minto rolled her eyes again and, pushing a full shopping cart that must have been at least five times her weight, moved off towards the neighboring aisles. Ichigo hurried after her, eager to leave the coolness of the fruit and vegetable aisle behind.
The four waitresses had split into two groups, Ichigo and Minto on one side, Berry and Ringo on the other, and divided up the products on the shopping list to finish more quickly. The four friends met in the chocolate aisle. As Minto and Ichigo walked through the stalls of various products, Ichigo suddenly had a strange impression. When they arrived, the mall was completely packed. However, Ichigo realized that it had been several minutes since the two girls had seen anyone.
She had no time to share her impressions with Minto. For before her, Ichigo saw two silhouettes emerging from the deserted shelves.
Berry and Ringo rushed towards the two teenagers, accompanied by a shopping cart probably as big as Ichigo and Minto's. They were all red-faced and their breathing was ragged, a sign that they'd undoubtedly just run wild. They were all red and breathing heavily, a sign that they had undoubtedly been running like mad.
"I'll never understand why Kei always sends us shopping," Ringo lamented, clicking her tongue. "Couldn't he do what all shopkeepers do, and have his stock delivered directly to the café?"
"It must have been Ryou's idea, that slaver."
"Have you got everything?" Minto asked, examining the contents of their shopping bags.
"Yes," Berry replied. "Let's hurry up and pay, the others must be starting to worry."
Just as the other three were about to head for the crates, Ichigo suddenly stopped them, her eyebrows furrowed.
"There's something strange going on," dropped the red one. "Haven't you noticed we're alone in the mall?"
"It's true we haven't run into anyone for a while. "I thought it was weird weird," Berry admitted.
"I thought we might have missed closing time?"
"Ringo, it can't be, it's only six... And no one would have closed the mall without checking that no one was there."
"I've got a bad feeling about this," Ichigo interrupted. "This is all too weird. We'd better go..."
Her colleagues' affirmative responses were suddenly drowned out by a loud bang. Something had just exploded in the mall.
The four girls looked at each other, completely bewildered. What the hell was that? As a hundred questions flooded her mind and a dull anxiety knotted her stomach, Ichigo felt the ground tremble beneath her feet. She tried to grab hold of the stalls, but to no avail. Before her horrified eyes, products began to fall one by one, while the stalls began to vibrate louder and louder. The scene had the air of an apocalypse.
"Get down!" Minto's voice shouted.
At the same moment, the first display crashed violently to the ground, ejecting the products it contained in various directions. Next to Ichigo, Ringo avoided one with a shriek. The impact of the stall on the mall's tiled floor was such that all four girls felt it in their bones, a wave of pain running through them.
They didn't have time to recover, however, as a second stall fell to the ground. This time it was very close to the four friends. Out of the corner of her eye, Ichigo saw Minto and Berry turn and flee in one desperate movement, leaving Keiichiro's groceries behind.
"We're leaving!" Minto cried as he passed them. "Move!"
Without thinking, Ichigo grabbed Ringo's arm, which had remained static, and ran off behind the other two, pulling her cousin by the arm.
The ex-justicians had no precise idea of where they were going. All they knew was that they had to escape this seeming end of the world, and running seemed a good way to do so.
They were still running, the shelves gradually collapsing around them, when a large glass door finally appeared in front of them. With immense relief, the four friends recognized the store's exit. Right next to the double door, a huge shelf swayed from right to left, deprived of its balance. Ichigo, Minto, Berry and Ringo redoubled their efforts. If the shelf fell before the girls could reach the exit, they'd be trapped inside the store. They only had a few meters left, and their lives would be saved.
It was then that the thing appeared.
An intense light suddenly materialized to the left of the four girls. They looked up at the ceiling. Several meters above the ground, a blinding beam of light streaked across the mall at missile speed. Ichigo slowed to a complete stop.
"What the..."
Then Ichigo saw it. Someone, flying through the air at breakneck speed, was trying to escape the strange light chasing them. Clearly, there was nothing natural about these strange phenomena.
Ichigo didn't need to think. The next second, the redhead had turned on her heel and was dashing towards the back of the store, in pursuit of the beam of light.
"Ichigo, don't!"
She ignored Minto's call, just as she tried to ignore the shelf, which hit the floor with a terrible clatter, condemning their only way out. The four friends were now trapped.
Ichigo ran breathlessly, zigzagging between the shelves and leaping over the products that cluttered the path. Overhead, the blinding light gradually caught up with the fugitive. Ichigo had realized that they didn't have long to live, and that running away seemed to weaken them. That's why she decided to come to their aid.
The beam of light drew ever closer, as the fugitive gradually lost altitude, overtaken by exhaustion. They found it increasingly difficult to keep their distance from the light. Ichigo understood what was going to happen a second before the catastrophe.
They are going to crash!
But the fugitive didn't have the time. Completely stunned, Ichigo saw the beam strike them head-on. The impact threw the fugitive against a wall with unprecedented violence. Stunned, the victim slid down the wall, leaving a wide trail of blood behind them. She crumpled to the ground like a disjointed puppet, while Ichigo dared not make the slightest move. The girl was paralyzed. What had possessed her to turn back, not knowing what she was up against?
Ichigo was still hesitating when the incandescent light landed on the ground.
Then the light dimmed, and Ichigo thought she was hallucinating when she realized what she was dealing with. It was in fact a swan, a huge black swan. It was much bigger than a normal swan, almost reaching Ichigo's height. The feathers on its body, black as ink, iridesced with multicolored reflections under the overhead lights. The bird shook its wings again for a moment, then folded them and flew gracefully towards the body on the ground. Ichigo's blood ran cold. Damn it, this monster was going to kill them!
She was looking around for something to help her take on the swan, when she spotted movement behind the overturned shelving. The redhead nearly squealed with delight when she saw Ringo wink at her, while a blond haired woman darted towards the injured man. Her friends had followed her!
Taking advantage of Ringo's diversion, Minto appeared from nowhere to join Berry at the wounded fugitive's side. He remained motionless, even as the two girls tried to move them, each grabbing an arm and putting it around their shoulders.
When the bird realized its prey was slipping away, it let out a mighty cry of anger. As he opened it beak, a large globe of light appeared inside, growing larger by the minute.
Hesitating no longer, Ichigo picked up a tin can at random and threw it at the huge bird with all her might. The object landed on the swan's head, and when it turned its broad head towards Ichigo, the red could have sworn the bird looked surprised. The globe of light had disappeared from the monster's beak.
"What are you waiting for?" Ichigo shouted at the big bird. "Come on, let's fight! You brute!"
The bird stared at her for a moment with its inky-black eyes, then turned back to its original prey, completely losing interest in the young girl. Furious, she picked up several objects and continued to throw them at the swan. This finally annoyed the monster, who suddenly turned back towards Ichigo... and metamorphosed.
Horrified, Ichigo saw the swan's silhouette shrink in on itself, transforming, like the monstrous creatures in those horror films the redhead hated so much. She watched the feathers shorten, the bird's elegant stature and slender beak disappear, giving way to shaggy black hair and, above all, a mouth bristling with fangs.
A muffled growl echoed through the mall. A growl of anger and hunger.
"Oh shit," Ichigo swore as the swan - now a wolf, a huge wolf, began to circle around her. "Shit, shit, shit. All right, then. Nice wolf!"
Reflexively, she plunged her hand into her pocket. Instead of reassuring her, the cold contact of the Mew Pendant under her palm felt like an icy shower.
She no longer had any powers, even though she had perhaps never needed them as much as she did now. How was she going to get out of this situation?
The only comfort Ichigo found was that Minto and Berry had disappeared, and the fugitive with them. Perhaps they had managed to get them far enough away from the monster. If at least Ichigo met a tragic end at the hands of this monster, at least her sacrifice would not have been in vain.
"Don't eat me, okay?" Ichigo tried, raising her hands in appeasement. "It's not even worth it. Have you seen how skinny I am? I'm telling you, there's nothing appetizing to eat on me. And I haven't told you how tense I am! It's because of that demon, that psychopathic slaver from Shirogane..."
If she was honest, Ichigo didn't even know what she was talking about. She was doing her best to keep calm, and while her body was currently up to this formidable feat, her brain for its part had gone into autopilot mode, spouting a whole stream of words that Ichigo herself wasn't sure made any sense.
At least this had the advantage of unsettling the wolf, who stopped its terrifying circle around Ichigo to stare at her with a long, puzzled look.
And so did Minto, who appeared at the same moment a few yards away, and looked at her friend with a bewildered expression.
"What the hell are you doing?"
"Excuse me, I'm trying to negotiate for my survival!"
"With all due respect, you're full of shit!"
"BANZAIII!"
"Ringo, no!"
Drowning out Berry's voice, Ringo's battle cry echoed throughout the store as the teenager literally appeared from nowhere... and threw herself straight at the mutant wolf. As if in a slow-motion movie, Ichigo saw her cousin's arms close around the animal's broad neck as she slammed into it head-on. The violence of the impact threw them both to the ground, and they rolled several meters like barrels.
The surprise attack had disturbed the wolf. In the few seconds it took it to regain its senses, Ringo, who had landed a little further away, grabbed the rod of a curtain lying on the floor.
The howls of her friends echoed around her as the wolf reared back and, more enraged than ever, plunged fangs and claws forward towards the youngest Mew... only for its jaw to be blocked by the rod, which Ringo had raised just in time above her head.
Without a second thought, Ichigo threw herself into the fray.
Like her cousin, she wrapped her arms around the wolf's neck and managed to perch on the animal's back. When it began to shake its head in all directions in an attempt to dislodge her from its perch, she howled like one possessed.
"YOU BARBARIAN, I FORBID YOU TO ATTACK MY FRIENDS! YOU BRIGAND! CAVEWOLF! PREHISTORIC CREATURE!"
"Yay, Ichigo-nee-chan is rodeoing!" Ringo enthused.
"THAT'S IT, ICHIGO TO THE RESCUE!"
"Kami-sama, Ichigo, stop making a spectacle of yourself and get off that wolf's back immediately!"
Ichigo didn't even need to comply.
A jolt more violent than the others made her lose her balance, and she crashed pitifully to the ground.
She was once again regretting her feline agility of her Mew Mew days, when Minto stepped in between her and the wolf. There was a "click" followed by the sound of spraying gas, and the next thing she knew, a column of flame was leaping at the wolf's mouth.
Its howl of pain echoed off the walls of the mall. The animal retreated, and Ichigo had just enough time to see it change shape once again, taking on the appearance of a great black swan.
Then, finally, he runs away.
The three girls watched the bird evaporate into thin air, then dropped their makeshift weapons with a sigh of relief. The lighter and deodorant that Minto had used as an improvised flamethrower fell to the ground, joining Ringo's iron bar. They had defeated the monster!
"This time, I thought it was the end," sighed Ichigo, patting her poor battered heart.
"I can't believe we did it! And without our powers!" nodded Ringo.
Ichigo's heart was beating wildly. In the grip of a tsunami of conflicting emotions, she turned to Minto, a rather silly smile on her lips.
The sinister expression on Minto's face immediately disappointed her.
"Now is not the time to be distracted," the blue woman threw out curtly. "Ichigo, you... you have to come and see this."
Confused, the young girl nevertheless followed her. Something in her friend's tone told her that, despite their victory over the strange creature that had attacked them, the twists and turns were far from over.
With Ringo on her heels, the young girl quickly rejoined Minto, who was now standing beside Berry. She was on her knees, bending over the injured man's lifeless body. Ichigo dropped down beside Berry, noting in the back of her mind that Minto had remained slightly behind, her arms crossed over her chest and her back stiffer than it had been during her dance performances.
"Is he all right?" panicked Ichigo. "Do you think he's going to be all right, or... My god!"
The redhead paused abruptly. She hadn't been paying any attention at all, but now that she was close to them, she was finally noticing the injured fugitive's facial features, as well as that green hair which was far from unfamiliar to her.
Even after four years, she had no trouble recognizing the person standing faintly beside her.
Ichigo widened her eyes and brought her hands to her mouth.
"...Kisshu?"
"Well... it looks like it, yes," Minto said.
Holding her breath, the red woman ran a delicate hand over the alien's cheek. For yes, it was Kisshu. There was no doubt about it. His face had remained unchanged in four years. Suddenly moved, Ichigo placed a hand on her heart as a flood of memories washed over her. This friendly face reminded her of so many things...
"But... how is that possible? What's he doing here?"
"Well, I don't know, Ichigo!" Minto impatiently replied.
Ichigo could see fragments of memory dancing in her dark eyes. After all, they'd been through the same ordeal. And although Minto liked to boast of her excellent self-control, being confronted with a ghost from her past stirred something in her too, something she hadn't felt in a long time.
A heavy silence fell over the small group, disturbed only by the young man's weak, jerky breathing. Berry and Ringo watched in bewilderment and admiration. While the blonde had never seen such a being, Kisshu's large ears and pale skin reminded Ringo of an old enemy, an alien who had set out to capture her and appropriate her Blue Water crystal.
The little brunette took a step forward.
"And now what do we do?" she asked.
Ichigo and Berry turned to her, undecided. The redhead didn't know what to think, couldn't even think straight. The sudden appearance of the alien had shaken her to the core, and she had no idea what to do in such a situation. Ichigo turned to Minto, imploring her friend with her big brown eyes.
"We're getting out of here," the blue one declared simply. Is that okay?"
"What about him?"
"We'll take him too, that seems obvious to me. We can't very well leave him and his big ears here."
As if it were easy to do.
"Okay, but how do we go about it?" Berry insisted.
Minto looked down at Kisshu's motionless body. There was a short silence, then she spoke again.
"We're taking him to the Café. He's in critical condition, but unfortunately we can't risk taking him to hospital. No one must see him, in fact. I don't know if it'll be possible in his condition, but... he'll have to try to teleport us to the Café. Just one of us. We don't even know if he can transport several people under normal circumstances, so in his current state, it's not even worth trying. So, who's willing?"
No one moved.
Ringo was giving the alien a wary look, and Berry had been blinking like a maniac ever since Minto had uttered the word "teleport". As for Ichigo... she was staring at Kisshu in a daze, clearly still in a state of shock.
Minto wanted to scream and slap all three of them. Correction, all four.
"I see..." she gritted between her teeth. "In that case, you'll just have to wait until help arrives."
The three girls stared at Minto in amazement. Sensing her friends' hesitation, the blue girl turned to them and crossed her arms over her chest in a gesture of defiance.
"Any complaints?"
"What if... what if help doesn't come?"
"Impossible. With all the damage inside the mall, help must already be on the way. They'll be here any moment. You'll just have to pretend, I don't know... an earthquake."
The excuse held water. After all, Japan was known for its seismic disasters, so a small-scale earthquake wouldn't arouse the doubts of the emergency services.
Ichigo moved towards Minto. For the moment, she seemed to be the best person to help the alien. Berry and Ringo didn't know Kisshu and didn't seem totally confident, and Ichigo was so confused that she was afraid of doing anything. So...
"Save him," Ichigo said, grabbing Minto's hands. "We'll manage on our own."
Ichigo gave her a big smile, so much so that Minto lost her haughty air. Then, before the blue could add anything, Ichigo gently pushed her friend towards the green-haired alien.
The four girls then realized that Kisshu had partially regained consciousness, and was watching them through half-closed eyelids. The young man seemed to be struggling to keep his eyes open, increasingly lacking in strength.
Minto knelt down beside him.
"Hey, alien," she began, shaking him a little roughly, not quite sure how to go about it. "You've got to get us out of here. Do you hear me?"
Kisshu merely blinked several times in reply, too weak to speak. Then, with a sudden gesture, he grabbed Minto's wrist and looked her straight in the eye.
Please help me.
This was what the blue woman saw in the alien's golden eyes, which seemed to have lost much of their sparkle.
The atmosphere around Minto suddenly changed, but the girl hardly noticed. The look Kisshu gave her suddenly frightened her: what if she couldn't save him?
For their part, Ichigo, Berry and Ringo watched the silhouette of their friend and the alien gradually disappear. Just as they were about to disappear completely, Ichigo took a step in their direction.
"Good luck!"
The two teenagers were no longer visible. Ichigo felt a hand on her shoulder. She turned and found herself facing Berry, who gave her a big smile.
"Don't worry about them, I'm sure everything will be fine. Let's trust Minto."
"Yes, you're right," Ichigo admitted, smiling back.
Of course!" Ringo laughed. Come on, let's wait at the store entrance for help. And on the way, you can tell us who the guy was."
Ichigo's eyes widened. She had forgotten that Kisshu and his brothers had returned to their planet before Berry and Ringo joined the group. Which meant they only knew of their former enemies through the stories of their friends who had fought them, and had never seen them, of course.
"Oh, yes... Kisshu!" Ichigo murmured. "Hey, wait for me!"
The red-haired woman caught up with her two friends, who had already started to walk away, and told them the story from the beginning, this time leaving out every detail.
Outside, as the first emergency sirens sounded, a large black swan alighted on the heights of the mall.
Despite the burns and pain, the swan made one last effort: the black feathers dissipated, giving way to delicate, pale skin and short dark hair.
From their position, the now human figure watched the three girls make their way towards the exit, oblivious to the threat several meters above their heads.
A sinister smile appeared on the figure's face.
Things were shaping up to be more interesting than expected.