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A drop of sweat skated down Ichigo’s brow as she deposited a tray laden with sweet rolls, tiered mousse cakes, and melon sodas. “Phew.”
That was one table dealt with. And it had only taken her three tries to fulfill the order without spilling or dropping any of the items.
Her Café Mew Mew shift couldn’t end soon enough. So far, she’d mixed up every order and already ruined two sets of fine china. Only Lettuce’s intervention had saved her from delivering a peanut butter parfait to a customer with a deadly nut allergy.
“Why are you so jumpy today?” Mint asked, surveying Ichigo over the rim of her teacup.
A titter of nervous laughter escaped Ichigo. “Who, me? I’m not jumpy!” Why she thought flailing her arms for emphasis was a good idea, Ichigo didn’t know. Her elbow struck one of the flower vases Keiichiro had artfully arranged. The enamel vase toppled and shattered. Conversation quietened, heads craning to pinpoint the source of the noise.
Arching a perfectly sculpted brow, Mint set down her teacup with a delicate clink. “Maybe try switching to decaf.”
With a suppressed sigh, Ichigo retrieved a dustpan to clean the debris. She consoled herself that there was less than an hour until closing. Only another hour of fielding judgemental looks from customers and concern from her fellow mews. She could manage that.
What she couldn’t manage, however, was Ryou Shirogane.
From across the room, his blue eyes drilled into her. “Momomiya-san. A word.”
It was not a request. Wiping her clammy palms on her apron, Ichigo followed him to the back room.
“What’s up, Shirogane-san?” she asked, aiming for nonchalant.
“I think I should be asking you that.”
Ichigo worried the lace edge of her apron. “I’m not sure what you mean.”
Could he tell by looking at her what had happened? Ryou could be annoyingly astute. Was he somehow able to sense what had gone down during their last battle? None of the other mews had seen it happen, but how long could she reasonably expect it to stay secret?
Ryou folded his arms across his chest. “I’ve received four complaints about you.”
“Well, you know how customers can be sometimes.” Anyone who’d worked in the service industry knew there was no truth to the saying, ‘The customer is always right’. Customers were usually wrong. And often impatient and grumpy.
“Momomiya. I received four complaints within the last half hour.”
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“I guess I’m just having an off day.”
Ryou’s eyes narrowed. “You were unaccounted for during your last mission.”
“Only for, like, five minutes when I went after Kisshu.”
He titled his head, assessing her. “Momomiya, you were missing for twenty-three minutes.”
“Oh,” Ichigo said again, for want of a better answer. Had it really been that long? Her fight with Kisshu had been short-lived. And what happened after couldn’t have lasted more than a few minutes.
“Look, I’m not trying to lecture you. I’m just asking if you’re alright. Or if there’s anything you wanted to talk about.”
Guilt festered in her stomach. Maybe getting it off her chest would make her feel better. But Ryou was one of the last people she’d confess something like this to. “I’m perfectly fine. I guess I’m just tired from last night’s mission.”
“In that case, head out early and get some rest.”
Ichigo couldn’t conceal her surprise.
“And for future reference, avoid chasing Kisshu on your own. Given his fixation on you, I don’t like the two of you alone together.”
Ichigo thanked him, but her gratitude sounded unconvincing, even to her own ears.
After changing out of her uniform and mustering a quick goodbye to her fellow mews, Ichigo trudged home, opting for a longer route so she could clear her head.
She couldn’t banish last night’s mission from her mind. She’d already been lectured by her teammates for diverging from the group and essentially abandoning them to contend with the chimera without her.
Instead of staying to fight, she’d chased Kisshu down, latching onto his ankle before he could teleport away.
They’d grappled unarmed before summoning their respective weapons. He’d deflected the attacks from her strawberry bell with his sai, and she’d similarly dodged and parried his lunges.
What happened next was entirely because of the adrenaline rush. Ichigo had been panting and breathless from exertion, her brain receiving too little oxygen to think clearly. It was the only explanation for why she’d allowed Kisshu to pin her against the nearest building and kiss her.
And it was the only explanation for why, in the heat of the moment, she’d made the mistake of kissing him back.
In her defence, Kisshu had caught her off-guard. And his kissing technique was more refined than it had been in the past instances he’d stolen a quick kiss from her. Perhaps he’d been practicing on a pillow, or something.
Instead of clumsily knocking their lips together, he’d cupped her jaw and sucked at her lower lip until it felt tender and sensitized.
He’d held her firmly—desperately—unlike the cautious manner Aoyama touched her. Kisshu didn’t treat her like something fragile and breakable, but as someone strong and equal to him.
Kisshu was a vocal partner, letting out low, obscene moans when he pressed against her. Ichigo, by contrast, had been too breathless to do more than gasp against the insistent press of his mouth.
She wasn’t sure how long the kiss had gone on for, but it had seemed short. Ryou must have exaggerated the length of time she’d been unaccounted for. As soon as she’d regained her senses, she’d shoved Kisshu away. Hadn’t she?
Her stomach twisted. Even if she and Aoyama hadn’t discussed being exclusive, she was confident he wasn’t seeing anyone else. What was she supposed to tell him? Hey, sorry I haven’t responded to any of your texts, but this alien gremlin kissed me and instead of pushing him away, I kissed him back. Also, I haven’t been able to stop thinking about the kiss since it happened. But sure, I’d love to go to the zoo with you this weekend!
…Yeah. No.
Ichigo buried her face in her hands and groaned. Her life was complicated enough already. Why had she kissed back? And why had the kiss—with Kisshu of all people—been so good? The mere memory sent a shiver down her spine.
Lost in thought, Ichigo failed to realize that her aimless walking wasn’t as aimless as she’d thought. She’d wandered to the exact street she and Kisshu had fought. Among other things.
Ichigo's catlike senses sharpened, the hair on the back of her neck standing on end.
“Here for another kiss?”
Ichigo whirled around, her cheeks glowing like a furnace. “No way! What happened was a mistake.”
Kisshu flashed a smile, putting his fangs on display. “Aw, you’re hurting my feelings.”
“We barely even kissed,” she lied.
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, kitten.”
“I mean it. This”—she gestured between them—“isn’t happening.”
Kisshu drifted closer, his tawny-gold eyes full of intent. There was a charge to the air between them, an electric quiver. “Mm, are you sure about that?”
Ichigo’s jaw clamped with tension. Kisshu could get under her skin like no one else. “We’re enemies. And I’m with Aoyama-kun.”
Kisshu’s eyebrows lifted. “You mean you’re not tired of your boy toy yet?”
“He is not—”
“I have a proposition,” Kisshu interrupted. “How about we play a little game?”
“Not interested.”
He pouted. “Come on. You haven’t even heard the terms yet. And I think you’ll like what I have to offer.”
Ichigo stayed silent, waiting for Kisshu to elaborate.
“Let's have a friendly duel. If you win, I’ll owe you a one-time favour. If I win, I get another kiss.”
Ichigo scoffed. “Why would I agree to that?”
“A low-stakes spar will give you the chance to observe my fighting style up close, giving you an edge in the future. And a favour from me is worth more than you think.”
“What kind of favour are we talking?”
“A one-time favour.”
“What are the limits?”
He tilted his head, considering. “It has to be a realistic request. As in, I’m not going to leave earth or permanently sabotage my mission. But I’ll help you out when you ask for it. Give you a heads up on our plans, some pointers on defeating our chimeras. Maybe grant you and your mew mew friends a one-time easy victory.”
Ichigo deliberated silently. This was a monumentally bad idea. The kind of idea that would have Lettuce wringing her hands, Zakuro silently judging her, and Mint bestowing her a, wow, you’re even dumber than I thought kind of look. It was also the kind of idea Pudding would approve of, which was not necessarily a good thing.
“Why would you be willing to owe me a favour?” she asked finally. “I doubt Pie and Tart would be pleased.”
Kisshu’s eyelids lowered. “Because, kitten, there is little I wouldn’t risk for the chance to taste you again.”
Heat rushed to her already flushed cheeks. She was mortified to feel her cat ears spring up, betraying how flustered she felt. “If it’s the strawberry flavour you like, you can borrow my lip gloss.”
“So, do we have a deal? Or are you too much of a scaredy cat?”
No way was she letting that comment slide. “You’re on.”
The air around Kisshu rippled. His pair of sai appeared in his hands. In the span of a heartbeat, he closed the distance between them, spinning his sai forward with a jab. It was a rapid change from stillness to explosive motion.
Ichigo barely dodged in time. “Hey!” she protested. “You didn’t wait for me to transform.”
“What would be the fun in that?” He dived again, both sai poised to strike, his limbs and weapons a blur.
Ichigo leapt out of his path, taking cover behind a tree. “Mew Ichigo Metamorphosis!”
Bright colours swirled around her. Her pink dress and boots materialized, and her tail uncurled in a lazy arc. The transformation honed her senses, improving her senses of smell and hearing.
With a lithe, feline grace, she easily dodged Kisshu’s next attacks, but she was still on the defensive. That would have to change.
Summoning her strawberry bell, she met Kisshu’s strike head-on. The muscles in her arms shook with the strain of holding him at bay. While she could deflect his attacks, she didn’t have the leverage to disarm him.
“Not bad,” Kisshu commented. “But I’m just getting started.”
Ichigo dropped low to the ground to avoid the energy blast Kisshu launched. She sidestepped his next jab, buying herself a half-metre of distance.
He unleashed a flurry of energy blasts. She dodged all of them, but it was only thanks to her catlike reflexes that she didn’t land on her face.
If she was being honest, it was almost fun sparring with Kisshu. It helped that she knew he wouldn’t really hurt her. But she couldn’t keep going indefinitely.
After a few more minutes of watching her jump around, Kisshu exhausted his energy blasts and returned to attacking with his sai.
Sucking in a quick lungful of air, Ichigo feigned an attack to the left, before lunging to the right. “Ribbon Strawberry Check!”
The glow emanating from her strawberry bell momentarily blinded her. When her vision cleared, the path before her was empty. Kisshu was gone. She hadn’t accidentally vapourized him, had she?
“Kish—”
“Gotcha.” A blade appeared under her chin. Kisshu looped an arm around her waist from behind. He’d teleported, completely avoiding her strongest attack. “Do you yield?”
Ichigo tensed against him. She could feel the hard planes of his chest against her back. “I yield.” Her strawberry bell vanished, but she maintained her transformation just in case he tried something.
“Good. I’ll take that kiss now.”
Ichigo turned to face him. He cocked a hip, drawing attention to his jutting hip bones and lightly defined abdominals. Closing her eyes, she planted a quick, fleeting kiss. His lips parted, but she stepped back before he could deepen the kiss.
Kisshu made a wordless noise of protest.
“The deal was a kiss,” she reminded. “You didn’t specify how long.” She couldn’t let the kiss last. Any longer, and she would’ve lost herself in his arms like she had last night during their impromptu makeout session.
He made a moue of disappointment. “That’s no fair.”
“You should’ve been more specific.”
“Fine. Let’s make a new deal.”
“I’m not duelling you again.”
“Not a duel. I’ll owe you that favour if you kiss me for real. The way I know you want to.”
“I don’t—” Ichigo cut herself off. She wasn’t fooling either of them. “Fine.”
Kisshu looked surprised, as if he’d expected her to argue more. Without wasting a second, Kisshu darted forward to claim her lips. Somehow, it felt even more passionate and intense than their unplanned kiss last night.
Ichigo was struck again by how differently he kissed from Aoyama. The kisses she’d exchanged with Aoyama were sweet and tender and fumbling. Clumsy with inexperience and the eagerness of the newly infatuated.
Kisshu kissed with single-minded intensity. He buried a hand in her hair, his nails dragging over her scalp and scritching behind her cat ears, drawing a shivery pleasure in their wake.
Heat pooled low in Ichigo’s stomach. Kissing him was addictive. She couldn’t help gasping. Her voice came out breathy and strangled. “Kish—”
He froze. “Say it again.”
“Huh?”
“Say my name.”
Ichigo obliged in the same breathless tone. This time, she watched how her voice affected him. He visibly shivered. A sense of awe came over at the effect she had, the power she held over him.
Aoyama made her feel cared for, but no one had ever desired her the way Kisshu did. He craved her touch, was willing to go behind the backs of his teammates to be with her. Not that she was any different. She knew the other mew mews wouldn’t approve—not that she could blame them.
Kisshu’s lips migrated to her jaw before pressing against the hollow of her throat. She gripped his arms for purchase as he sucked at her neck. She’d never realized how sensitive her neck was. With each brush of his lips, pleasure sparked through her.
This was wrong. She knew it was wrong. They were enemies. She was a defender of earth and he was an alien bent on humanity’s destruction. It would never work out between them. But she couldn’t deny the magnetic pull between them, the electric energy his touch incited in her.
Maybe this didn’t have to be a one-time kiss. No one had to know. They could keep this secret.
The whoop of a nearby car alarm sent them jolting apart. In a daze, Ichigo noticed the sky had darkened considerably. It was late. The café would be closed by now. Her parents would expect her home any moment.
“I have to go.”
A lightning-quick flash of disappointment crossed Kisshu’s face, so swift she wondered if she’d imagined it. “Don’t tell me you’re overwhelmed already.”
“I agreed to kiss you, and I did. We’re done.”
Kisshu’s trademark smirk appeared. “For now.”
“Don’t forget you owe me that favour.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t dream of it.” The air around him distorted like a mirage. “Till next time, honey.”
Ichigo stared at the spot Kisshu had previously occupied. If anyone found out, she could frame the kiss as a method of manipulation. She’d exploited Kisshu’s feelings for her and she had leverage now. A favour to be called in. An edge on their enemies.
Touching her fingers to her sensitive, kiss-swollen lips, Ichigo couldn’t help feeling that, between the two of them, Kisshu had the upper hand after all.