Chapter Text
The last few weeks could be summed up as painful. Ichigo knew it was the right decision, but that didn't make it feel any better.
She had done something she had never seen herself doing. She had dumped Aoyama.
Tokyo was Ichigo's home first and foremost. She had been born and raised here. How could she leave the people she had know since she was born behind?
Not to mention her friends. Especially since her powers had reappeared. There was no way she was leaving the girls to fight if she could too.
The semester spent in London was a wonderful experience and she was glad to have gone. However she had no intentions of living there again, specially when English was still a struggle for her. While living there had helped her expand her language skill a ton — she was sure the advancement in her ability would be incredibly useful in life — none of that meant she wanted to live in the language full time.
She had found the semester harder then any she done before, and couldn't imagine doing college in her second language. Her social life had been difficult too. Maybe with time she would be able to thrive in English, but the uncertainty didn't inspire her to want to stay.
Aoyama on the other hand had felt more at home in London then anywhere else he had lived in his life. He had decided to move there permanently. He had decided while assuming Ichigo would just follow him across the ocean once again.
She had been hurt to say the least.
In the end Ichigo couldn't leave Tokyo again and Aoyama could not stay.
Which was how Ichigo found herself in a haze of depression as her first semester of college started. Facing the world alone for the first time in her young adult life.
Customers had been more annoying lately then they ever had been in the past. Get me this, get me that -- it never ended. One after another in a never ending parade of fake smiles. So many of them had been needlessly grumpy it felt like too. Like every withdrawing coffee addict in Tokyo had decended on Cafè Mew Mew.
This morning Ichigo was just bussing tables and cleaning thankfully. It was mind numbing but at least she didn't have to talk to too many people. The table next to Mint's tea spot had just been vacated of customers so Ichigo collected up their plates to take to the kitchen.
"Maybe what you need is to go on a date with someone else. Like a rebound," suggested Mint out of nowhere as Ichigo walked passed her table.
"W-what!?" Ichigo stammered while nearly dropping the dirty plates she was carrying. She had been deep in her thoughts before Mint cut in with that.
"Careful, you don't need to break any more of the dishes," Mint said while picking up her tea for a sip. She look far too relaxed in Ichigo's opinion.
"I wouldn't break anything if you didn't say random stuff like that! And I haven’t broken anything today," Ichigo grid her teeth before she could snap out something she would regret saying. She didn't need to really piss Mint off while she was clearly in a mood to start with.
"Not the point, you're getting off topic. You've been so depressing since Aoyama left you for England, you need something to get him out of your system," Mint declared from her seat like she was a queen on a throne handing down wisdom to her subject.
"I broke things off with him in case you forgot."
"Only because he refused to compromise on living in England. Which was selfish of him, but there are other people out there who are less selfish which is why you need to start getting out there again and meet someone new."
Mint was one to talk about selfishness, Ichigo thought but held back from saying.
"Mint! I'm not- even if it was any of your business I'm not ready to open my heart to someone new yet," Ichigo said while widening her stance like she was about to fight a chimera animal.
"And that's why you need a rebound, not another lover. Yet," Mint said while smirking up a Ichigo.
Ichigo could feel the hairs on her arms standing on end and the bottom of her stomach drop away. She sputtered and clanked the dishes down on Mint's table. What the hell was Mint thinking?
"Can you two have this conversation when I'm not paying you to work? Preferably not in front of the customers?" Ryou snapped from the door of the kitchen.
Ichigo yelped and nearly felt her ears and tail appear out of surprise and embarrassment. She grabbed the plates again and pushed past Ryou into the kitchen out of sight in case they did decide to pop out.
Kish was on dishwasher. Great. Ichigo stomped her feet as she crossed the kitchen, just what she wanted to deal with right now.
She walked over and dumped the arm load of plates into the first of the three sinks Kish was working at. Careful not to make eye contact in the hope he wouldn't say anything.
"What new bug is up Ryou’s ass today?" He asked soft as butter.
No such luck for Ichigo it would seem. "Mint wanted to have a private conversation in public."
"Hmm her boundaries need some work."
Ichigo snorted, "You're one to talk."
"I'm trying, which is more then can be said about some people," grumbled Kish as he scrubbed the pot in front of him harder.
Ichigo froze for a moment. She hated to admit it -- even to herself -- but Kish had been doing leaps and bounds better then he used to. Some of that simply had to be the fact they weren't enemies who were supposed to be killing each other anymore. Not all of it though, he hadn't even asked her for a kiss once since the day she had told the aliens Aoyama was no longer her boyfriend.
It really did seem Kish was trying to give her the space she needed to work through her break up.
"I should get back out there," said Ichigo eventually.
"Or you could hide in the kitchen with me and take your lunch break," he smirked.
"We are over-staffed today," she mumbled.
"That's the spirit! Minimum wage, minimum effort!" he cheered.
"Who taught you that phrase?" she questioned skeptically.
"Tumblr."
"You're on Tumblr, no one is on Tumblr anymore."
"I had noticed it had gotten quieter since I was last on Earth."
The mental image of Kish taking breaks between trying to destroy all human life on Earth to check up on a blogging website made Ichigo's head spin.
"Yeah I think my blood sugar is getting low," Ichigo said to change the conversation away to anything else.
Ichigo sat down on a stool at the table in the middle of the room and put her face in her hands. Social interaction had just been so tiring lately. Normally she had all the energy in the world for her team, but Mint's comments had drained her somehow.
The world just felt too small since Aoyama left for London. Like the sun should be rising later and setting sooner. Every day smaller then the last. She just wanted to nap, not deal with meddling friends.
"Here, eat this," Kish said, pulling Ichigo from her spiraling thoughts. He places a plate with an egg sandwich in front of her. "You've gotta be careful not to go too long without eating."
Ichigo blinked down at the sandwich in surprise. She was more emotionally off balance then hungry, but couldn't help but feel touched.
"Thank you, I appreciate it," she said then dug into her meal.
Kish gave her a soft smile. "Let me know if you need anything more, honey."
Pudding came crashing into the kitchen then to dump more dishes in the sink before rushing off again.
"Well I better get back to it before those pile up anymore, enjoy your meal!"
Ichigo tried to put it out of her head, but what Mint said about finding a "rebound" kept coming back to her.
That night while she was trying to sleep, over breakfast with her parents across the table, while riding the train to school on Monday. It just wouldn't leave her alone. Versions of events kept bubbling up in her brain.
What if she went on a blind date and it was a total disaster? Like the guy was gross and they had nothing in common to talk about. Or if she met some guy and it was actually going well until he discovered she was a mew mew and he outed the entire group to the whole world?
Which brought up other thoughts she had been trying to avoid before this. Dating someone who didn't already know she was a mew mew came with a lot of potential danger. Danger she didn't really want to deal with at this point in her life.
So that meant Ryou and the trio of aliens were her only options if she did what Mint suggested. God the look on Ryou face if she asked him out on a date to try and get over her break up blues, she would never be able to look him in the eye again.
Mint was wrong. It was as simple as that.
It was raining when Ichigo woke up in the morning. The alarm went off and she hit the snooze button. When it went off a second time she hit it again, and again. It just didn't seem worth it dragging herself through her shrinking world. Work was more stressful then fun these days it seemed.
Everything being dark and wet outside certainly didn't help matters. All of Ichigo's instincts -- human and cat -- were screaming at her to stay were it was warm and dry.
Eventually she found the energy to drag herself into sitting up. Anxiety of missing work starting to driver her into action. She threw on her clothes from yesterday. It didn't matter what she wore on the walk over, she would just be changing into her work outfit when she got there.
Ichigo hadn’t left herself enough time for a shower or breakfast. Before she knew it she had to be running out the door.
"I can't keep doing this," Ichigo panted as she ran through the rain, her empty stomach twisting. She hardly knew what to do with herself to break her downward spiral. Since when was she the sort of person to get this down about life?
Seeking a rebound relationship still seemed like a plan waiting to go up in flames. However maybe there was some kernel of truth in what Mint had said. Maybe Ichigo needed something new in her life to make the world seem less small.
Ichigo and Kish were closing up the cafè for the night. It had been another quiet day luckily so there wasn't to much to clean. Ichigo was finishing mopping the floors while Kish put fresh tablecloths out.
Kish was humming a song while he floated around the room working. Ichigo was pretty sure it was a Taylor Swift song. The aliens maybe had been getting a bit too much pop culture education lately.
It was good really that they were having fun though. From everything Ichigo had learned about how they grew up it seemed fun was never something they had much of. Still it was weird hearing Kish talk about celebrity gossip she had never even hear of before.
Finally she couldn't take it anymore. "Is that Taylor Swift?"
"What? No. Ugh Tart's into her and I keep getting the melody stuck in my head," Kish grumbled while he flung sheets over tables with a new viciousness.
"So not a fan then," Ichigo teased.
"What sort of artist needs a private jet anyway?" He snapped.
She snickered at seeing him so irate over a celebrity. Aoyama hadn't liked Taylor Swift either. Her mood started to drop as she thought of him.
The dirty mop water was reflecting her face back at her. She looked tired in a way that was foreign to her memory of herself. Wasn’t she a whole person before him? How did so much of herself seem to leave with him?
"Are you okay, Ichigo?"
Ichigo looked up at Kish's worried face. That's when Mint's words and her own dismissals came back to her again. Date someone to get over her old relationship. Someone who already knew about the mew project. Someone she had things in common with and could carry a conversation with. Someone who would say yes if she asked.
Kish fit the short list of things Ichigo would need to try out Mint's idea.
"Oh umm yes just lost in thought don't worry about it!" Ichigo said, blushing as she realized she had been stairing at him for an uncomfortable amount of time.
"If you're tired I can finish up here. I know you have school tomorrow morning."
"No it's fine, thank you for the offer though."
Ichigo rushed through the rest of the clean up as fast as possible. She wanted to get away from Kish as fast as she could before saying anything embarrassing.
Fuck it, Ichigo thought as she dug her phone out of her pocket on the way home.
She had been thinking without Aoyama there was no future. Just more of the same every day with less and less in it. It wasn’t true though, and she didn't need a five year plan. She could do something fun now and cross whatever bridges the future brought with it when it got here.
"Are you doing anything this Saturday," she typed into a text message, and hit send before she had a chance to over think it.