Chapter 1

“Hey, what’s this book?” 18-year old Ichigo Momomiya blew the dust off of the old thing.

“Ichigo? What’s up?” Mint, 18-years old, with shoulder-length, slightly curly hair stepped down Café Mew Mew’s basement steps.

“This old book is written in English…” she sighed, “I can’t read it…”

“This isn’t English, it’s something else…” she squinted her eyes, “Let’s show it to Zakuro onee-sama.”

“All right.”

“Huh? Read it?” 20-year old Zakuro took the book and looked at the pages, “It’s in English, but in some kind of code…” she deducted, “Even though I can SPEAK English, tough maneuvers like this are a little…”

“I wish we had an English person…”

“Yes?” a girl stepped into the café. She had blonde hair and blue eyes, probably a foreigner.

“Excuse me, can you speak English?!” Ichigo jumped up to her.

“Um… Yes… I was born in America and taught myself Japanese, so…”

“Your accent is so good!” 18-year old Lettuce gasped.

“Thank you.” She smiled, “My name is Kari. What do you need?”

“Can you read this?”

“Hm…” Kari sat down, “Well, it’s an English code, so if you just try this and this…” she chose the best tries at code-breaking she could on her laptop.

“Whoa! You’re so smart!” 15-year old Pudding giggled.

“Thank you.” About five minutes passed, and then she clicked the enter key.” All right, here’s the story.” She smiled, done with the quick translation on her laptop, “In a city far away, long ago… There was a prince named Prince Reese, who lived with his assistant boy, 6 years older, Isaac. The prince, in order to entertain his subjects, wanted to hire five beautiful maidens to serve in his court. He decided to hire five best friends who lived in his kingdom. The peppy Callie, the elegant Lorelei, the innocent Phillia, the little Mimi, and the beautiful Gardenia. For quite a while, these girls worked happily in the palace. But soon a rumor came about. It said that the prince was in love with someone in the palace. The innocent Phillia was excited, because she worked with the prince a lot of the time. She thought it might be herself. Callie was in love with a nobleman from another town, Lorelei wasn’t interested in the rumor for some reason, Mimi was loved by a boy from another kingdom, and Gardenia… No one had any idea what she thought. However, that all changed, when one night, Gardenia was the last one left cleaning up the café.

“Good evening, Gardenia.” The Prince entered.

“Prince Reese, what brings you here?” Gardenia lifted her head.

“Nothing…” he swifted his head away, “Is there anything I can do to help?” he lifted a dish, but Gardenia noticed a pot coming down from the shelf.

“Prince, watch out!” she lost her cool attitude and jumped to move him out of the way. He rolled in the air on top of her on accident, and they fell out of the way of the shards of stone.

“Gardenia, are you all right?!” he called to her.

“I’m… fine…” she turned away her head, her face blushing.

“I… Actually came here… To tell you something…”

“Yes?”

“…I love you.”

“What?”

“I really love you…!” He embraced her, “Your every step, every word… I know you can be cold at times, but you also smile and laugh and are kind…!”

“Prince Reese…!”

“Please…” he whispered in her ear, “I hate titles. Reese is fine.”

“Reese… I can’t do this… One of my friends loves you, and…!”

“Does that mean you love me as well?”

“Even if I do, I must not betray her.”

“We’ll work it out… Trust me. Please.” He reached his lips to kiss her, and she accepted. His lips caressed hers, and he hugged her against the wall, stroking her hair. She leaned against the kitchen counter as he kissed her ear, whispering ‘I love you’s at every moment. She hugged him, returning the gestures.

“Gardenia…!” Phillia placed her hands to her mouth in shock. Ignoring their pleas of innocence, Phillia ran off into the courtyard.

“Well, what’s next?” Ichigo peeped.

“Most of this is really tattered…” Kari flipped to the back, “But on the last page, it says…

Callie and Michel

Lorelei and Isaac

Mimi and Tess

Gardenia and Reese

All as one, they died at the hand

Of Phillia, the oh so innocent maid

And her admirer, Vincent, she used as a pawn

Till all of his power was drawn

But she died with many-a-regret

Her hand in Vicent’s she let

And all of the lovers moved from our world to the next

But reincarnated, inside the chosen ones’ chests

“So… Phillia killed all of them…” Ichigo felt depressed.

“Lorelei must have had a forbidden love for Isaac…” Mint sadly whispered.

“Why did they have to suffer like that?” Pudding sobbed.

“Don’t cry, it’s just a story.” Zakuro patted her on the head.

“Many magical things happen in this world, and it may be true.” Kari stood up to leave, “Be on your guard. The souls may be wandering, even today.”

“Kari…?” they asked, but she left before she said any more words.

“Let’s be careful.” Ichigo nodded.

“Zakuro-san, it’s your cleaning duty today.” Lettuce smiled as she changed back into her clothes.

“All right.” Zakuro nodded and munched at a cookie left for her. She waited for everyone to leave before she started.

“Man, I’m tired…!” Ryou Shirogane came up from the basement, tired from working on the computer. He then saw, Zakuro, softly singing to herself while working with a gentle smile.

(Don’t cry)

“I never knew you sang.” Ryou told her. She lifted her head.

“…I never knew you were listening.”

“Sorry, sorry. I was just coming up, and I…”

“It’s fine.” She shook her head, “Would you like something to eat?”

“Is that OK?”

“Of course.”

“Thank you.” Zakuro, with utmost grace picked up the pitcher of tea and poured the Darjeeling blend. She handed it to him gently.

“I’ll make you something to eat. Just wait a moment.”

“You can cook?” he asked.

“You didn’t think I could? I’m already twenty.” Zakuro glared sarcasticly, but continued on. She took some scraps of french bread from the cupboard, along with cheese, yogurt, onion and chicken broth.

“What are you making?”

“You’ll see.” She smiled, almost mischievously. She poured some chicken broth into a pot and let it simmer, then put an entire chopped onion, some spices, yogurt, and a few bits of the bread. She then took it out of the pot and into a bowl it went, the steam fogging up her face. She placed the bread in the soup, put the cheese on top, and put it into the oven for a minute or two, and then out it came.

“I’m done.” She brought it to him. He took a bite.

“Onion soup?”

“Yes. FRENCH onion soup.”

“You even baked the cheese on top.” He was surprised, “And the yogurt is a unique touch.”

“Yeah. I made it myself.”

“It’s really good,” he laughed, “You’re a really good cook!” Zakuro blushed.

“Thanks…”

“Zakuro?”

“Yeah?”

“…Are you going out with someone?”

“…Why do you ask?”

“…What if I told you ‘I love you?” he told her bluntly.

“You love me…?”

“…Yeah. I do.”

“It’s only because I’m beautiful, isn’t it? Because I have money, because I’m famous-“

“That’s not it!” he yelled, “I don’t understand it either, OK?! But I can talk to you when I need to, and I can take on your sorrows too! You can be cold, but also so kind and caring!”

“Ryou…!”

“I love you.” He came over to her and whispered in her ear, “Please go out with me.”

“…But my friend, she…”

“Lettuce, right?” he said sadly, “We’ll find a way to break it to her, so please…”

“You fool…” she smirked, “You’re begging me to go out with you when I already love you so much…?” she cried hoarsely. Tears that Zakuro had never shown before.

“Zakuro…” he kissed her on the lips, stroking her hair behind her ear. She stroked her hands down his back, nuzzling her cheek against his neck.

“They’ve betrayed me…!” Lettuce whispered from behind a pillar, seeing everything that was going on. Outside she ran, and she saw two figures by a tree. She peeped around, and saw that it was none other than Keiichiro and Mint. Keiichiro was wearing a white Tshirt and a black polo vest, while Mint had an outfit of a black, fitting sweater short-sleeved shirt, a green and red plaid skirt, black stockings that showed none of the skin on her legs, black loafers, and a silver locket hung around her neck.

“Keiichiro.” Mint smiled.

“Why must we always meet secretly like this?” he hugged her tight, bringing light to Lettuce’s mind.

“If my father knew I was having a realtionship with someone besides my arranged fiancee… It wouldn’t be good.”

“I love you. Isn’t that enough?”

“Keiichiro, I feel the same way.” She snuggled up against his chest, listening to his heart beat, “If I have to, I’ll… run away with you, live at Café Mew Mew.

“He’ll find you too fast.”

“Then let’s go further away.”

“If I have to, I will, but for now…” he looked at her eyes softly, “Let’s have an affair.”

“You’re so daring.” She smiled and they kissed.

Lettuce thought Mint would tell her anything. Hurt again, something suddenly jolted inside of her, and she decided. She would get her vengeance.