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"So you really have no idea what happened?"
"It's like, 1000 degrees outside!"
"Can we at least get a free ice cream?"
Quiche drummed his fingers on the back of one of the café guests' chairs as the table of young girls interrogated him, aggressively fanning themselves with the café menus to call further attention to their discomfort. The back of his shirt clung to his skin with sweat. His collar felt suffocating; he tugged at it with his other hand and grinned sheepishly.
"The manager is up on the roof now to try to fix it," Quiche offered. "We'll hopefully have the air conditioning back in no time. In the meantime, I'll see what I can do about that ice cream, hm?"
The girls exchanged glances before nodding enthusiastically. "Yeah!" one of them agreed. She propped her chin up on one hand and tilted her head to one side. "But um, you really have no idea when it'll be fixed?"
"Nah, sorry," Quiche admitted with a light shrug.
One of the guests nudged her friend with her elbow and said with a giggle: "Well, at least you're here to help us!"
The three girls erupted into a chorus of giggle fits. Quiche raised one eyebrow and flashed the practiced, charming grin that never failed to garner him tips.
He was used to this by now. In the short two months he'd been working at Café Mew Mew for free room and board, he'd proven immensely popular with the female guests. Not that he minded — the attention was delightful, and the tips weren't bad either. However, there were many, many more things Quiche would rather be doing than flirting his way out of arguments with guests while trapped in a café that was quickly turning into a hot pink, cylindrical oven. The air conditioning unit had only just stopped working 20 minutes ago. And Quiche still had three more hours left in his shift.
The thought crossed his mind as he finished chatting with the table: he could just quit the stupid gig, and opt to stay on his ship, parked behind some minor satellite orbiting the Earth. He didn't need to work at the café, per se. He could very easily conduct the rest of the team's research on the recent chimera activity from a vessel that sat far, far away from the pink monstrosity of a "café," and leave serving cakes to the rest of Tokyo Mew Mew.
Quiche loosened the collar of his shirt, fidgeting with the tiny buttons as he headed towards the kitchen. He turned a corner — and nearly collided with Ichigo Momomiya.
Ichigo immediately took two steps back and glared up at him like a cat whose tail had been stepped on. Her eyes flicked briefly to his fingers at the buttons of his shirt. "Don't even think about taking your shirt off around here!" she hissed. She wiped her sweaty bangs out of her face with the back of her wrist and stormed off in the other direction.
Ah, right, Quiche remembered as he watched her leave over his shoulder.
He'd stay.
"Are you sure you can't come any earlier than that?"
Quiche looked up the stairway to see Ryou Shirogane stomping down in a defeated huff, his phone to his ear. "No, we can't—" Shirogane started, before gesturing in the air with an open hand. He reached the bottom of the stairs and breezed past Quiche, striding into the kitchen with purpose. "No, it's not — no, we're a business that generates 200 thousand — no, you're not listening, we can't—"
Pudding and Lettuce were chatting in the kitchen and assembling a few orders of ice cream sundaes at the prep station. They watched along with Quiche as Shirogane opened the door to the small toppings freezer and held his face in front of it. Thick, white plumes of icy mist tumbled into the hot air of the kitchen. "Fine! Call me back if you have another opening," Shirogane barked.
He hung up, threw his phone into the freezer, and slammed it shut.
Pudding and Lettuce exchanged worried glances. Pudding tilted her head to one side. "Uhh, I don't think your phone goes—"
"I've called five places now, and everyone is booked out for at least the weekend!" Shirogane interrupted with a groan. He ran his hands through his hair and began to pace. "We'll have to shut down the café until we get a repair tech out, but this is the last weekend before classes start back up again! It's the busiest weekend of the whole summer!"
"Wait, so … no one in Tokyo can do the job?" Lettuce asked. She fidgeted with the plastic wrapper of a candy. "There's got to be a place that has an opening … right?"
"You're welcome to call yourself if you'd like!" Shirogane barked.
Lettuce grimaced and turned her focus back to the row of ice cream sundaes. Shirogane sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, Midorikawa," he groaned, guilt dotting his tone. "Just feeling a bit … unwell in this heat."
"Probably best that you keep calling repair places, then," Quiche remarked, "and stick to yelling at strangers instead."
Shirogane, Lettuce and Pudding all slowly turned to Quiche. Pudding looked to be hiding a giggle. Lettuce looked like she'd just seen a ghost.
Shirogane, however, looked like he was about to strangle him. "Why don't you make yourself useful, if you have the time to just stand around and comment on other people's business?" Shirogane demanded, striding over to where Quiche was leaning on the threshold to the kitchen. "I don't suppose you know how to fix an air conditioning unit, would you? I wouldn't expect you to be able to do something useful for once, besides being an arrogant pain in my side."
Quiche cocked his head to one side. "Actually," he said, "I can."
It was a total lie. He had no idea what an air conditioner even was, beyond the kind that cooled engines in vehicles. He figured they couldn't be that much different from the mechanics he'd worked with on his ship.
And he wasn't about to let Shirogane win.
"Is that so?" Shirogane said skeptically. He took a step back and crossed his arms. "Well, if that's the case, get to it then. The AC unit is on the roof of the café. Break anything, and it comes out of your check. Got it?"
"Fine by me," Quiche said with a smirk. He raised his brows and stood up straighter. "I'll go check it out. You can start preparing your 'thank you' speech for me now."
"Do you ever shut up?" Shirogane huffed. He turned and pulled open the door of the mini freezer, retrieving his phone from its depths.
Pudding loaded up her tray and bounced out of the kitchen, calling out, "Hi Pie! Hi Tart!" as she entered the dining room again. Quiche watched both of his brothers-in-arms walk past Pudding to join the small group near the kitchen. Pie narrowed his eyes at Quiche as he approached.
"Yo, Quiche, I didn't know you knew how to fix those things!" Tart said with a grin. He slapped Quiche on the back, then grimaced as he realized how sweaty Quiche was. He wiped his hand on the leg of his pants. "We overheard you all talking! Nice of you to volunteer!"
"Let's go, then," Pie said. "Tart and I will assist you." He raised one judgemental eyebrow at Quiche.
"Great, just make it quick," Shirogane sighed. He retreated back up the stairs, calling over his shoulder as he went, "and make sure to get coverage for your seated tables!"
Lettuce cleared her throat. All three boys straightened their backs and stood out of her way as she walked by with a tray full of ice cream sundaes.
She paused and looked up at Quiche. "You don't actually know how to fix this thing … do you?"
Quiche blinked owlishly. He wasn't expecting Lettuce to confront him. He grinned and shrugged one shoulder. "We're about to find out."
Lettuce turned and shook her head to herself as she re-entered the dining room. Quiche called after her: "Hey fishy, can you cover my tables for a few? Thanks!"
"W-wait, I—"
Quiche teleported out of the hallway before she could reply.
The air on the roof of the café had a slight breeze, but the sun was an unrelenting force. It beat down on Quiche the moment his shoes touched down on the hot concrete of the café roof.
It was time to get to work. But more importantly, it was time to prove Shirogane wrong.
The minutes ticked by at a mercilessly sluggish pace as the three boys began pulling apart pieces of the AC unit and examining the mechanics of the decrepit metal beast. Pie, luckily, had grown quite fond of a human information database called "Google" and was able to locate the instruction manual for the particular model they were working on. Pie dictated instructions to the group from his device. The whole mechanism was, to their surprise, remarkably similar to the cooling mechanism in the engine room of their ship; it wasn't hard for the three of them to quickly form a list of diagnostic tests based on repairs done to their own fleet.
Quiche looked up from the filter he'd been trying to wrestle out of the AC, and saw none other than Shirogane approaching with a stack of glasses and a pitcher of lemonade.
He was about to make a remark when Shirogane cut in — "Keiichiro made me bring this up for you three, so don't get any ideas. I still think you're full of crap."
Quiche snickered to himself and gave the filter one final tug. It came free from the pocket, spraying dust all over his face. Great.
"We're making remarkably good progress," Pie told Shirogane. He referenced the phone on the concrete before taking a switch out from the power box and examining its label. "The cooling unit is remarkably similar to those on our ships. We are nearly finished with the final few tests."
Shirogane set the glasses and pitcher down on the ground. Then, he kneeled and sat down, observing their progress.
"We even figured out how your power sources connect up here!" Tart announced proudly.
"Yeah, it just took us nearly electrocuting ourselves," Quiche muttered.
Shirogane glanced between all three boys. He raised his brows. "Well, you're doing better than I expected, but I didn't expect much."
"Listen, if you're just going to sit there and be annoying, could 'ya at least pass me that 5-centimeter tool thingy with the square opening?" Tart demanded.
"You mean a wrench?" Shirogane asked skeptically. He plucked the small wrench out of the toolbox and tossed it lightly towards Tart.
Tart caught it in one hand. "Listen, I don't know all the Japanese words for weird stuff like this," Tart muttered. He began to tinker with a panel at the base of the unit.
Shirogane went quiet for a few moments while the three of them worked. Quiche shook the dust out the filter he's just yanked out of the unit and replaced it with a satisfying click. He glanced up at Shirogane, and caught him already staring at him.
"What now, Shirogane?" Quiche muttered.
Shirogane shook his head. "Nothing," he said, casting his gaze to the side. "It's just … with what you just said — I forget sometimes that you're all part of a really different world. I mean, this heat must be unbearable for you, right? Your home climate used to be frigid."
Quiche leaned back on his hands, considering Shirogane for a moment. He was surprised at the sudden turn of the conversation, but decided not to give Shirogane a hard time about his change of tone. "Before the Mew Aqua, yes," Quiche replied. "The surface of our planet was uninhabitable. The sun wasn't a source of warmth. It just burned us when it reflected off the snow."
"It's crazy how different our sun is now!" Tart added. "It's like, crazy warm and stuff! Just like this sun!"
"Your sun is still hotter, though," Quiche said. He wiped the sweat from his brow and squinted up into the sky. "Has it gotten worse since we were last on Earth?"
"Probably," Shirogane muttered.
Quiche sat up straighter and began to work on prying the second filter screen loose. He let the conversation drift into silence again. A thick, palpable unease settled in the air between the group as they all considered Shirogane's response.
Probably. The Earth was probably still heating beyond repair. The machine of dirty, industrial energy was probably still pumping out toxic gas. The greed of the human race was probably still as insatiable as ever.
Probably.
"It's pretty cool how we didn't all overheat when our planet's weather changed after the Mew Aqua worked its magic," Tart said, breaking the awkward silence. "I mean, I thought we'd evolved to be totally used to the cold climate, but everyone seems to be doing okay!"
Shirogane let out a long breath of air through his nose. "Glad to hear it," he said flatly. His stare fixed on the distant horizon up and over the rolling hills of the city park where Café Mew Mew stood. In the distance, city skyscrapers jutted into the horizon like jagged teeth, their glass surfaces glimmering like the surface of a lake in the late afternoon sun.
"Listen," Shirogane finally said with a sigh, "I wish we didn't have to fix this damn air conditioner."
Pie and Tart looked up from their tasks.
"I mean, me too, dude," Tart blurted out. "This kinda sucks, not gonna lie."
"No, I mean…" Shirogane started, pinching the bridge of his nose with one hand. He heaved a long breath and started again: "I mean, I wish we didn't have to fix this stupid thing because I feel like a hypocrite running it in the café. Tokyo Mew Mew is supposed to be all about the protection and preservation of the Earth, and here we are, with this giant industrial air conditioning unit on our roof, emitting who knows how much harmful gasses into our atmosphere. It's just that in our society that values comfort over everything, people expect us to run an AC unit to keep the business open, but talking to you three, I guess it just feels wrong."
Quiche exchanged a look with Pie; Pie nodded subtly to Quiche. A quiet instruction between close friends: you take this one.
Quiche re-crossed his legs and sighed.
"Listen, Shirogane, we get it," he started hesitantly. "I mean, if we were still at war with you, we'd probably say something different, but … I know you're doing everything you can to fix things here on Earth."
"Thanks, but…" Shirogane started half-heartedly, "...I guess sometimes, it just doesn't feel like enough. Especially knowing how angry you all were when you arrived. When you saw how badly we'd destroyed the Earth, that is."
Pie and Quiche exchanged glances again, Quiche inclining one eyebrow ever-so-slightly to indicate he was out of ideas.
Pie cut into the conversation, starting slowly, deliberately: "As allies, I'm hopeful we will be able to assist in driving greater change in the climate here on Earth," he said. "These things take time."
"Pie and Quiche are right," Tart added. "I'm sure we'll be able to work together!"
"You're right," Shirogane said with a sigh. His gaze began to drift into the distance again. "Thank you."
Quiche observed Shirogane's furrowed brow; the way his shoulders were tense up to his ears. Their responses hadn't been enough. He was still troubled.
Normally, Quiche couldn't care less about the feelings of his enemy-turned-tyrant-boss, but something in his gut told him to keep pushing for a resolution to their conversation. Something about Shirogane's tone felt like a breakthrough; like a rare glimpse into his normally guarded, innermost worries. As much as Quiche wanted to accept Shirogane's thanks and end the conversation, he was curious. And a smidge concerned.
Though he'd never admit it.
"You can't carry the weight of your civilization's well-being alone," Quiche said. Shirogane's focus snapped to him — confused, startled. Quiche tilted his head to one side. "I would know. We're more similar than you think, Shirogane."
Shirogane looked like he wanted to argue with Quiche, but he eventually settled on a deflated sigh and frowned.
"Listen," Quiche started again, "I know it's not the same thing, but I really think there's hope for the Earth. It doesn't mean you have to deal with the café being a million degrees in the summer or never use anything plastic ever again, but there are other things. We all know the Mew Project is one of the greatest scientific efforts of the modern age. If we all put our heads together about how to come up with some way to help repair the atmosphere, too…"
"Or invent more ways we can do stuff like cooling down this stupid café!" Tart exclaimed abruptly. "There's gotta be something better than this crappy machine, and I'm sure you've made progress with your scientists here on Earth already! I mean, we have people on our planet who specialize in stuff like hot and cold temperatures, and people who are really good mechanical engineers. Maybe they can help too."
Quiche felt a knot of panic twist in his gut. Tart was suggesting bringing more people of their race to Earth. His intention had been good, but Quiche didn't know how Shirogane would feel about the potential of more "aliens" showing up on Earth. After all, it hadn't been that long ago that they were all fighting each other in a full-blown war.
How much did Shirogane trust them, after only two months of being back on Earth?
Could they ever fully trust each other as true teammates, the same way Shirogane trusted the girls of Tokyo Mew Mew?
Quiche swallowed the panic rising in his throat and turned to gauge Shirogane's reaction. His expression remained strangely distant for half a minute; Quiche worried they'd scared him after all.
But then, his features relaxed into a calm, comfortable smile.
"Yeah," Shirogane said finally. "I'd like that."
His shoulders slumped, and he looked over at Quiche. "Thank you."
Quiche felt a smile curling at his lips. "No sweat, boss."
Pie cleared his throat, and suddenly, everyone was peering over at Pie as he dusted his hands together.
"Please move away from the unit," Pie instructed. "I'd like to try restarting the power now."
"Wait, you fixed it?" Tart exclaimed.
"We'll see," Pie replied coolly.
Quiche, Tart and Shirogane wasted no time standing up and moving backwards.
"Uhh," Shirogane started, "can I switch the circuit breaker off before you—"
He was interrupted by the split-second flash of an electric shock, and the roaring buzz of the air conditioner coming to life.
"Wait, is it fixed?" Shirogane yelled over the buzzing.
"It wasn't making that sound when we came up here!" Quiche yelled back, grimacing. "Who knows if that's a good thing!"
"It sounds fixed to me!" Tart yelled back.
"Let's find out!"
The four of them clamored down to the stifling upper hallway of the café's upstairs rooms. Quiche could feel the air moving again, and hear the hum of the air conditioner. The four of them were met with cheers from the as they made their way down the back staircase of the café. The air felt cooler with every step down.
"It's back! It's back! It's back!~" Pudding sang, skipping in circles around the dining area.
"Wow, I can't believe you actually fixed it," Ichigo remarked, crossing her arms. Lettuce stood on either side of her, wearing a similar look of shock.
"You'll find that I'm full of surprises, kitten," Quiche quipped, grinning as he stepped into the hall.
Ichigo blinked up at him owlishly, then burst into laughter.
It wasn't the reaction Quiche was expecting. Lettuce, too, began to giggle.
"What?" Quiche asked incredulously.
"You look like a lobster!" Ichigo choked out between laughs. "How are you so sunburnt already?"
Quiche looked over at Tart and Pie, who had just arrived behind him. The tips of Pie's ears looked like chili peppers. Tart's nose was as red as a cherry. The other two boys seemed to realize at the same time what all of the fuss was about, grimacing between the three of them.
Shirogane followed them last, stepping out into the hallway and glancing between the three boys with a look of forced indifference. The corner of his mouth twitched. He was obviously trying to stop himself from laughing.
He seemed back to his normal self again, and Quiche was glad for it.
Maybe this whole partnership-slash-boss thing would work out just fine after all.
"Well, what are you three standing around for?" Shirogane said, his voice wavering slightly, struggling to contain a laugh. "Get back to work."
"...when we look like this?"
"Not fair! My skin hurts!"
"You've gotta be kidding."
Shirogane shrugged, stretching and placing his hands behind his head before sauntering down to the café basement. "Not my problem," he called over his shoulder.
Nevermind.
Quiche glared into Shirogane's back with a look of weary contempt. No sympathy? After all they'd done for him? Did the whole talk about working together as a team mean nothing?
"Welcome to the Shirogane experience," Ichigo muttered. She dumped a full tray of ice cream scoops into Quiche's arms as she breezed by him. It was almost as if she'd heard his thoughts. "He's like that with me, too, so you'd better get used to it!"
Quiche audibly groaned. The door to the café basement slammed shut.
Summer was almost over, but Quiche had a feeling that his troubles with Ryou Shirogane had just begun.