Author: I'll get it out right here and now. I do not own Tokyo Mew Mew (and neither does Ryou.) I'm only saying it once, so remember it, okay?

I sat on my couch, laptop on my knees, typing up my latest work of fan-fiction. Tokyo Mew Mew is, without a doubt, the best anime ever! I thought as I pounded the keys. This particular story was a one-shot about Ichigo and Masaya's relationship after the final battle. I had imposed a few alterations, keeping both Deep Blue and the Blue Knight alive inside of Masaya's body. These entities would express themselves on occasion without switching biological forms as before. The story was basically about Ichigo's frustration with Masaya's "multiple personality syndrome". Of course, it was a comedy.

It was at that moment that I got a text from Joey.

-"Froyo? Meet me Swirlz n 10." –

I rolled my eyes. Joey was always so… Joey; playing it cool and acting like I wouldn't notice that this could be a date. But whether it was a date or not, I didn't really care. I had been there and done that with Joey. He was probably the longest unrequited crush I'd ever had; at around six months. Eventually I got over it, and then he starts wanting to spend time with me. Guys make no sense, especially guys like Joey. Right now, I could care less if he thought it was a date. Let him think what he wants. If it was a date, would I turn it down? Probably not. But it's not like I'm dying for there to be anything between us anymore, so if it isn't a date, that's fine too.

I clicked the 'save' icon on my story and went to find my purse. Swirlz – the local frozen yogurt shop – was five minutes from my house. I had plenty of time to get ready. I found my purse hanging over the footboard of my bed and put my phone inside. I snatched my iPod off of its charger and threw that in too. Stopping at the mirror, I pulled my red hair up into a high ponytail and tied it off with a hair elastic. I sighed at the unsatisfactory appearance. Curse you, teenage acne! Why does summer always make me break out? Oh well. It's not like I was trying to impress him or anything, so I shrugged and walked back down the hall. Passing through the kitchen and the laundry room, I made my way to the garage.

I stood in the garage and debated riding my bike instead of taking the car. The bike would be better for the environment. It's stuff like cars that make the aliens want to kill us. I chuckled at my TMM joke as I thought of Kisshu. I had to correct my train of thought before it wrecked into the gutter, something that always happened when I thought of him. I refocused on the problem at hand. If I take the bike, I'll make Joey have a nice, long wait. I smirked. For some reason, I was feeling spiteful today. But… If he has to wait, he might leave. And I'll get all sweaty in this heat. Plus, I'm not even sure if the trails through the park are open. Ugh. Why did the city have to turn a nice forest trail into a set of baseball diamonds? So, I decided on the car.

I was almost out of the residential area when it happened. A bright, red light flashed all around me. What was going on? One minute I was on the way to meet up with a friend, and the next I was in a ditch on the side of the road. Thankfully, I hadn't lost consciousness. I tried to sit up straighter, which was difficult because the entire vehicle was on an incline. It was then that I saw it.

A gray cat with bright blue eyes sat on the hood of the car. No way. I somehow managed to unfasten my seatbelt and get out of the vehicle, standing in the tall grass as the cat began to emit a strange blue light. No way. And there - sitting right on the hood of my car just like he did in the opening theme - was what I could only describe as a real life version of Ryou Shirogane. "Yo!" he waved casually.

NO WAY! Omg, Kaylee. You have been spending way too much time in the anime world. And now you've gone and- and – lost it!

"Hello? Is anyone home?" Due to my mind rant, I had failed to notice that Ryou had walked over to me until he started waving his hand in front of my face.

"Huh?" I snapped out of the trance and stared up at him. This boy gave Joey a run for his money. Wait – there were two things wrong with that statement. Did you catch them? The first was, Why am I thinking of Joey like that again? And the second… "You're not real." I pointed at Ryou.

He exhaled a sigh of relief. "Good. I was worried that you hadn't seen it. It didn't get as popular as I'd hoped."

I stared at him like he was a ghost. And, he kind of was. Anime people don't visit the real world. That defies some sort of parallel universe law… or something. "You expect me to believe you're real? You're Ryou Shirogane, the son of the guy that invented the Mew Project, the guy that initiated the Mew Project, and the guy that obviously is a pervert because of the outfit that he makes his employees wear?"

Ryou raised an eyebrow at the 'pervert' part, but otherwise he seemed unaffected by my words. He merely shrugged and said, "Yeah. But I'm not a pervert. I can't help it that anime shows dress girls that way."

I just shook my head. "Look. You have a really great cosplay outfit. And I won't deny that the whole cat-transformation thing took some wicked special effects. I'm still trying to figure out how you did it, honestly. But I am a sane and logical person, and you are not going to drag me into the world of crazyville, no matter what you do."

He dug his hands into the pocket of his white jeans and pulled out a tiny figure. Opening his palm, the thing inflated to full-size and hovered there; a tiny robot covered in pink faux fur. "Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you," it chirped cheerily.

"Omk, is that Masha? He's a gillion times cuter in person!" I grabbed the furry robot and started screeching things like, "Kawaii, desu ne!" (It's cute, isn't it?) And Ryou stood there looking embarrassed for my sake.

"Yes, that is R200," Ryou answered. "You don't have to name him Masha if you don't want to."

"Huh? What do you mean? I name Masha?" I released the little powder-puff, and it floated back over to Ryou's right shoulder.

"You're a Mew Mew. You're the first Mew Mew, actually. Mew Strawberry," he replied. "So, you get to name the pink version of R200."

"Pink version? You mean there are other Mashas? Wait- WHAT DO YOU MEAN I'M A MEW MEW?"

Ryou sighed in frustration. "Have you or haven't you seen Tokyo Mew Mew?"

"Well, yes, I have, but-"

"Then I shouldn't have to explain to you what a Mew Mew is." He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned, his cold blue eyes drilling a hole in me.

This was the last straw. Who was this arrogant cosplaying jerk? "Look, mister! I don't know who you think you are! – Scratch that, I do. You think you're Ryou. – But I don't know who you are or where you get your awesome accessories. And it is not nice to play pranks on innocent TMM fans, okay? For your information, some fan girls wish that that world was real and struggle with their sanity every day, okay? So just drop the act and tell me who you are and what you want, or I really will go all Mew Ichigo on your feline behind!"

Ryou looked at me and raised an eyebrow, and then cracked a smile, and started laughing his butt off! Between laughs, he managed to gasp, "You're funny. You actually don't believe me, do you? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised but…" He finally regained his serious composure. "I'm telling the truth. If you don't believe me then see for yourself. R200?"

"Roger!" Masha peeped. He opened his mouth and spit a golden charm onto the ground.

I scowled and bent to pick it up, but I saw something on my thigh that stopped me. It was a Mew mark, in the exact same place and shape of Ichigo's. I gasped. Oh man, I'm in big trouble if my parents ever see that. I swore to them I'd never get a tattoo, and I'm sure they wouldn't believe this story. Wait- Why am I worried about something that is obviously a dream? That's right. I was in a car wreck. I'm probably passed out with nice, solid concussion that has thrown me into this fantasy land. Yeah, that's it.

I reached for the charm again. As soon as it was in my hand, something I can't explain took over. My hand raised the charm to my lips and I kissed it without thinking about it. Then came the words: "Mew Mew Strawberry, METAMORPHO-SIS!" And then, the really freaky stuff happened. I did this sick, perverted dance while surrounded in colorful light. For a little bit, I was naked! But clothes soon began appearing in all kinds of places, and when the light cleared, I was dressed in the best Mew Ichigo cosplay outfit I had ever seen. All of the online pictures I had seen made her costume out of cotton, but this one was clearly silk. The boots were real leather instead of some scratchy, plastic imitation. And the gloves were – get this! – suede. But the icing on the cake was when I realized that I could hear the construction crews working in the park a mile away as if I was right there next them. And then something soft and furry wrapped around my leg like a snake. I glanced down, and there it was. A bona-fide tail! In my brain, my thoughts were that I wanted it to squeeze tighter, as kind of a test. And it did!

For final conformation, I walked over to my car – which was perfectly fine aside from being stuck in a ditch – and looked into one of the rearview mirrors. Pink eyes, pink hair, fuzzy cat ears. "AAHHH!" I screamed, or tried to. It came out as more of a, "NYYAAA!" I began to run around in circles.

I could hear Ryou's annoyed voice cut through my screams. "Geez! Don't freak out like this! You know what a Mew Mew is, so why should you be surprised?"

I stopped in my tracks and glared at him. "Because Mew Mews are fictional creatures, that's why!"

He looked irritated. "No, they're not." He pushed his hand back through his blond hair. "Geez. I have to explain everything." He raised an eyebrow at me. "Do you want to go somewhere and talk about it?"

I frowned at him. "Where's Keiichiro? He's a lot nicer than you."

Ryou sighed. "Unfortunately, Keiichiro actually is a fictional character. No one is that nice in reality. The screenplay writers thought it would be a good addition to the story, having a pleasant character to offset my 'bluntness'."

By now, I was mega confused. I gripped the charm on my Mew choker and thought about how much I just wanted things to be normal again. My transformation dissolved me back into my original self. Huh. So that's how it works. "Yeah, okay," I told Ryou. "I am going to need a nice, long explanation for what just happened and why it all came out of an anime."

Ryou nodded before inquiring, "Well, where do you want to go?"

I answered, "Swirlz." It was closer than my house at the moment. I walked up into the parking lot of the local mental hospital. (Yeah, I know, ironic.) Ryou followed me as I cut through it and hopped over the curb and down the hill, which led to the back of a strip mall. We walked around to the front of this strip mall and stood on the edge of the parking lot by the street until it was safe to pass, which didn't take long. After crossing the street, we stood in the parking lot of a different strip mall. This one was double-sided, stores lining both the front and back. We walked around to the other side and there was Swirlz, the frozen yogurt shop.

And there was Joey, leaning up against his car, raising his arms and shrugging like, "What took you so long?" I derived a bit of satisfaction from the fact that he had waited for me. I did it again when he saw Ryou and I saw the expression on his face.

"Hey, Joey," I smiled at him. I made the introductions as I gestured with my arm from one guy to the other. "Joey, this is Ryou. Ryou, this is my friend Joey."

Joey blinked at the word 'friend', but then stuck out his arm to shake Ryou's hand anyway. "It's nice to meet you," he mumbled.

Ryou just nodded and grunted in reply. Guy lingo. Will I ever understand how it passes for communication?

"Alright, Ryou. After what just happened, you're paying for mine. I don't care if you have to drive to the airport and exchange yen or whatever. I'll wait," I said sarcastically.

"I have dollars, Kaylee," Ryou said in a rather annoyed tone. I wasn't surprised that he knew my name. He knew Ichigo's name when they first met too.