No One Knows Who We Are

Chapter V: Bu-Ling Fon (Mew Mew Pudding) - The White Lie

Bu-Ling, despite her age and atmosphere, always rose with the sun.

There were a great number of things that filled her daily schedule, all necessary to keep her family's house running and her younger siblings on the right track. She would get up an hour before she had to wake her siblings for school and get a head start on making their lunches, preparing them with ample time to start breakfast and have the table set before they came downstairs, half-asleep and as rambunctious as ever. Once they had finished their food, Bu-Ling had them get dressed and ready to go to primary school. However, today was a special day, so she helped her youngest sibling, Heicha, put on an adorable dress and did her short blonde hair up into two small pigtails (which reminded her of her onee-chan, Ichigo), before making sure her brothers had all brushed their teeth and hair and had not forgotten their homework.

As she was helping Honcha get ready, Bu-Ling had to stifle a massive yawn that threatened to overtake her. Her eyes watered a bit from the force of it, but she ignored it and continued fixing her brother's pant legs. The past week had been long and full of pretty tough fights against a bunch of new Chimera Animas. Quiche seemed a lot more grumpy than his usual playful, annoying self, and Tart barely gave her a second glance during their fights. It made them a lot less fun and much more exhausting than Bu-Ling liked, and left her feeling like she attempted every single trick in her secret arsenal three times over. The girls had all been forced to step up their game, and it was starting to take its toll on the entire team.

She wouldn't admit it to the other Mews, but Bu-Ling really missed having fun with her Taru-taru.

"Bu-Ling onee-chan! Bu-Ling onee-chan!" Lucha and Hanacha called her name in unison from the kitchen, drawing Bu-Ling's attention from Chincha, who was proudly showing her and Heicha how well he could tie his shoes.

She made her way back to them, ushering a rather quiet Honcha towards the entryway where his brother and sister waited patiently. "Yes, what is it?" she asked, smiling tiredly at the boys.

Hanacha pointed at a rather large, pristine white box that sat on the counter. "Can I have a cupcake right now? Pleeeeeeaaase?" He fixated her with the strongest puppy dog eyes he could muster, Lucha joining him at the counter as he too tried to beg her with just one look.

Bu-Ling giggled and shook her head. "Sorry, but these are for Heicha's classmates. I have ours in the pantry for tonight, so just wait a little bit longer, okay?" she said with a wink. Both brothers groaned loudly but were willing to wait until after school for the aforementioned tiny cakes. They scampered off to their siblings at the door, talking excitedly among themselves.

Before it could slip her mind, Bu-Ling picked up the white box, smiling down at the subtle pink Cafe Mew Mew logo decorating the plastic wrap on top that revealed several beautiful golden red cupcakes, each cutely spelling out HAPPY BIRTHDAY HEICHA! in white frosting. Keiichiro had specially made her three dozen of the adorable cupcakes, made with a new sweet Darjeeling black tea recipe he had spent several nights mastering after she had commissioned him a couple of weeks ago. Bu-Ling had wanted to pay him back for his kindness, despite Keiichiro's insistence that she'd already more than paid for them. She tried several times to slip money into his uniform or bag, but it always found its way back in her possession shortly after. In the end, she had all but forced him to let her do the dishes once he was finished baking, much to the man's amusement and eventual allowance.

As soon as everyone was together, Bu-Ling shooed them out of the house and locked the gate behind herself, hiding the key underneath the soft straw Welcome Home! doormat on the top step. With her siblings in tow, she walked them all to school; first, she dropped off her brothers at their primary school, where she would see them off onto the campus with a warm wave goodbye and a promise to return in a few hours to take them home. Heicha went to a special daycare for young kids close by, but at a separate building. Bu-Ling made her way a few streets over until she reached the little girl's daycare, where she always left her youngest sister in the safe hands of her amazing teacher, who was by far the sweetest woman Bu-Ling had ever met. Sensei reminded her strongly of their mother, and she knew she could trust that Sensei would watch over her sister while Bu-Ling continued the rest of her schedule without needing to worry. The thought that her family was in safe hands was one that rarely came to mind for Bu-Ling, but after the last several nights in a row of fighting Chimeras, the young girl was grateful to have someone she could truly trust to offer her a helping hand.