Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Today marks day two in what is expected to be one of Tokyo's hottest heatwaves on record. Meteorologists are predicting high temperatures of 38 - 40 degrees celsius well into next week. The evening weather is currently at a low of 34 degrees and is expected to rise again…"

Usagi turned the television off and balanced the cell phone on her shoulder, "Yes, I promise I'm leaving now Rei!"

Usagi could practically hear her friends eyes rolling in disbelief on the other end of the line.

"I'll be out the door in five minutes! I have to make sure the house is locked up since everyone is out of town."

Usagi jumped as Rei's voice could be heard loud and clear on the other end, "YOU JUST SAID YOU WERE LEAVING NOW!"

"See you soon!" Usagi said, quickly hanging up before Rei spiraled into a tirade.

The 19-year-old blonde let out a sigh as she looked around the big empty house. Her younger brother, Shingo, was currently on a two week school trip through the Ryukyu islands and her parents had volunteered to chaperone — leaving Usagi home alone.

The timing of that trip could not have been better, she thought bitterly.

Usagi had been looking forward to having the house to herself while her family would be out of town. Having just graduated from high school — she was excited at the idea of being able to come and go as she pleased, eat what she wanted, sleep when she wanted and do it all under the watchful eye of no one except her cat, Luna.

But, the same day her family left was the day the summer heat skyrocketed. The change in temperature had been so drastic, the public had been advised to stay indoors during the first 24 hours.

Never one to shy away from an excuse to catch up on the latest J-dramas or re-read some of her favorite manga...Usagi hadn't initially been put off by the idea of being holed up in the house by herself. But, after the second day of being stuck inside, her experiment in living as an independent adult had very quickly started to feel like house arrest.

Now that evening had fallen and the temperatures cooled a little, she was desperate to leave the house and have some quality time with her best friends at the Crown Cafe, their favorite place in Tokyo.

Usagi still couldn't believe that after so many years of doing practically everything together, they would all be embarking on their own paths in just six weeks.

Minako, her fellow partner in crime, had been modeling part-time for local magazines throughout high school. But, now was pursuing modeling as a career and would be traveling away from home for weeks on end. Rei, the fierce one in the group, was departing on a four month long meditation retreat in Nepal and had already hinted that she was considering taking two months to travel around Australia after that. Usagi, Makoto and Ami would be the ones who would at least still be in Tokyo full-time. The talented Makoto had landed an apprenticeship to a renowned gourmet pastry chef at his restaurant in Ginza and Ami (to no one's surprise) had been accepted into the prestigious Keio University to study medicine. Meanwhile, Usagi was starting her first semester at Tokyo Polytechnic University to study photography.

Life as they knew it was changing and while Usagi was proud of her friends and excited for their new lives, she was also sad and nostalgic for the life they were leaving behind. In many ways, it was their last summer together and she didn't want to take one single moment for granted.

Usagi moved quickly through the house to check that all the windows and doors were securely locked. As she slipped on her sandals and smoothed out her light yellow summer dress, she started loading up her purse with the essentials.

Wallet – check, phone – check, house keys – check.

Usagi's eyes fell on her brand new Nikon Z6 camera that had been a graduation/birthday present from her parents.

Just take the camera....

Before she could debate the decision further, her phone beeped.

"Tsukino Usagi you better be out the door by now!"

"I'm going! I'm going" she muttered to herself.

She gave one last look into the living room and laughed as she caught sight of Luna stretched out in front of the air conditioner, looking as if she could care less about anything else in the world.

"Bye Luna, don't wait up!"

Then she threw open the door and stepped outside.

The hot humid air quickly permeated every pore. She felt as though she had stepped into a sauna. The sun had already begun to set, making the sky a blend of purple and orange. Usagi could see the lights of Tokyo Tower and hear the faint hum of traffic from the center of Azabu-Juban. It looked like it would be a pleasant evening….except that the heat and humidity was nearly suffocating.

She took a few deep breaths and reminded herself why she was leaving the confines of an air conditioned space to begin with.

"There is a milkshake at the end of this ten minute walk…There is a milkshake at the end of this ten minute walk…"

And with that, she set out.

Tokyo, like most major cities, didn't slow down. Its inhabitants were constantly moving and buzzing around the city. Azabu-Juban was no exception; shops remained lit up and open well into the evening, izakayas were practically overflowing with salary men looking to wind down after a long day, students from nearby Keio could be seen crammed in late night cafes or noodle shops with books propped open, and commuters would steadily pour out of the various exits of the metro.

But, as Usagi approached the main area of her neighborhood this was not what she found. The streets were almost quiet, with only a few people walking on the pavement. Most shops, with the exception of the local Family Mart, were closed. The number of cars on the street was the same, but they weren't moving nearly as fast as usual. In fact, nothing seemed to be moving as fast as usual. The heatwave had brought a slowness to the city and it was no surprise as to why.

She had been walking for maybe eight minutes and she already felt as though she needed a shower and a change of clothes. The heat weighed on her and she felt herself slouch further as she made slow progress towards the one building that was full of light and life. Unlike the rest of the street, the Crown was lit up like a carnival. And like moths to the flame, it attracted all the pedestrians to its doors.

Usagi felt the sweat trickle down her back as she made the last few yards towards the cafe. She walked past people milling outside the entrance eating rapidly melting ice cream out of to-go cups or smoking cigarettes while they chatted with friends.

"Finally!" she sighed, breathing the recycled cold air into her lungs as she stepped through the sliding glass doors.

"Hey, Usagi!" Motoki shouted over his shoulder as he filled what looked to be a very long list of orders.

Usagi waved, still breathing in the delicious cold air.

The Crown was crammed with people. It was mainly a young crowd full of teenagers and twenty-somethings who, like Usagi, had scrambled to the Crown for ice cream, blasting central air and a chance to escape their houses.

She spotted an empty bar stool and quickly made her way over to collapse onto it. Catching her breath, she shouted at the sandy-haired cafe worker, "Hey Motoki, have you seen the girls come in?"

"Huh?! Oh…no I haven't seen them yet but there are so many people coming and going, I might have missed them!"

Usagi turned in the bar stool and tried to survey the room of packed people. It was a relief to be there but at the same time...the place felt a little different. The spacious cafe felt almost claustrophobic with all the bodies milling around and the lighting even appeared a little dimmer than normal. There was an almost heady sort of atmosphere about the place.

People were packed in a lot closer than usual and speaking loudly to be heard over the many other conversations around them. There was an underlying intimacy in the exchanges that wasn't the norm for a crowd at the Crown.

She spotted a couple off to the side of the bar. The girl leaned against the wall, her full attention on the tall guy that was hunched down, whispering something in her ear. A bead of sweat slowly slid down the back of his neck and down into the damp of his shirt, where his sharp shoulder blades were evident. Usagi watched as the guy brought up a hand and began to slowly run his fingers down the girls shoulder to her wrist.

Usagi shivered, as thought though it had been her skin that had been touched.

She quickly turned back around, her skin feeling flush all over. 

It was then that she caught a glimpse of herself in the mirror behind the bar.

Oh god, I'm a mess.

One of her buns was almost completely undone and her dress was damp with sweat, creating the same effect as if she had just stepped out from the rain.

"Did you swim here Odango Atama?" came a low-baritone voice that she would know anywhere.

She looked up into the amused face of her long-time nemesis, Chiba Mamoru. The tall undergraduate student was looking as if he had just effortlessly stepped out of the pages of a magazine to grace her…or rather curse her…with his presence. His ruffled black hair still fell perfectly into his dark blue eyes and he looked comfortable in his blue jeans and grey t-shirt. Not to mention there wasn't a drop of sweat on his ridiculously perfect face. Whereas per usual…she looked not so perfect.

Of course, it's not an embarrassing moment until Mamoru-baka is here to witness it.

She leveled him with a glare as she tried to fix her hair.

The fact was Mamoru had been witness to many, many, many of her embarrassing moments over the last four years. Every bad test score, every time she tripped and fell flat on her face (sometimes bringing people with her) and every time she happened to have the occasional meltdown — Mamoru was present for all of it and always ready with some joke or sarcastic remark. His entire presence only served to make her feel small and childish.

There was the time they had gotten into a huge argument on the metro when Mamoru, of all people, had noticed that Usagi had gotten an actual odango she had been eating for lunch stuck in her hair and not realized it. "Looks like Odango Atama isn't just a clever nickname anymore," was a phrase that still haunted her whenever she felt like eating dango dumplings.

Mamoru loved to get a rise out of her and he knew exactly which buttons to press to do it. Whereas every insult she hurled at him, even when witty, just seemed to slide off him.

However, there were the rare instances when she hit on a sore spot and that was when their real bickering kicked off — sometimes to outlandish proportions. One of these incidents had just been last year when they had run into each other at a nearby Lawson and had gotten into a particularly loud and heated argument because she had told him he had no business owning a motorcycle if he was going to drive it like an 80-year-old man. What had resulted from that one comment was the two of them yelling at each other at top volume in the middle of the check-out line. They were both subsequently banned from the conbini for three months.

Usagi and Mamoru's constant war with each other was news to absolutely no one in Azabu-Juban and in Usagi's mind, it would probably never change. To everyone else, he was known as a polite, reserved and serious student who would likely go far. But to Usagi, he existed to antagonize her.

Usagi finished fixing her hair and noticed Mamoru was still looking in her direction. She followed his eye-line and realized one of her dress straps had fallen down leaving her shoulder bare.

She quickly moved to pull it back up yet the motion didn't break his intent stare at her bare skin. 

But, before she could call him out on it, Motoki walked over to pour her some cold water.

"Are you okay?" Motoki asked his friend.

Mamoru quickly snapped out of his reverie and gave a shrug, "Just watching Odango melt over there."

"And you seem to be enjoying the view," Usagi responded.

Mamoru frowned at her but didn't retort.

1 point to Usagi, 0 to Mamoru-baka!

"Your usual double chocolate milk shake with extra whipped cream, I take it?" Motoki asked.

Usagi smiled, "You know me so well, Motoki."

"If knowing you're addicted to double chocolate milk shakes is all it takes to know you Odango Atama, the entire district is intimately acquainted with you."

"The same standard applies to you then, baka! Who drinks hot coffee in the middle of a heatwave?!" she said, gesturing to the steaming mug in front of him.

"What can I say? Some of us can brave the heat better than others."

Then as if to prove his point, he took a large gulp of hot coffee.

"Oh, don't let him fool you, Usagi." Motoki said, setting down her milkshake. "Mamoru has been here for over an hour and the first thing he ordered was an iced coffee. Not to mention — he's wearing one of my spare t-shirts while his dries off in the back. He was drenched in sweat when he walked in."

Mamoru gave his friend a look of utter betrayal.

"Oh really?!" she said ignoring the way her stomach flipped at the idea of Mamoru sweaty and shirtless. "God forbid Chiba Mamoru suffer the effects of the weather like the rest of us mere mortals."

"Are you saying I'm a god, Odango?"

Usagi rolled her eyes.

"Ugh, speaking of the 'effects of the weather'..." Motoki grumbled as he glared over at the same teenage couple Usagi had spotted earlier, now making out against the back wall.

"Hey! This is a family place, take it somewhere else!"

Usagi giggled into her shake, as the couple in question hurried out the front door, red-faced and heads bowed in embarrassment.

"Geeze Motoki, next you'll be spraying water on them to break them up!"

"I hate being that guy but it's getting ridiculous," Motoki sighed. "Yesterday, I found a couple of college kids tearing each other's clothes off in the bathroom."

Usagi let out another laugh, but quickly turned it into a not-so-convincing cough as Motoki remained stony faced.

"It's the heatwave..." he said, gesturing to no one in particular. "This happens every time we have one, people start getting..."

"horny?" Usagi supplied.

Motoki's ears turned red as he nodded, obviously uncomfortable.

Usagi felt the strap of her dress slide down her shoulder again and as she went to pull it back up, her gaze caught Mamoru's and this time she found no mocking smirk or condescending look.

He quickly looked back down to the book in front of him.

"There does seem to be something a bit...different about the crowd tonight," she hurriedly said, focusing her attention back on Motoki.

The cafe worker shrugged his shoulders in exasperation as he poured Usagi another glass of water.

"Heatwaves always make people do crazy things. Inhibitions get lowered, people take more chances and there is a lot more...hooking up."

"Did somebody say 'hooking up?" A waitress with a high pony-tail and mischievous smile appeared at Motoki's side.

"Unazuki, you're just in time. Your brother was just educating us on the 'effects' the heatwave has been having on the clientele, " Mamoru said, not looking up from his book.

"Yeah, I'll say!" Unazuki laughed. "People have been pairing off left and right over the last two days."

"But, that reminds me..." Unazuki's eyes lit up as she turned towards Usagi. "Did Motoki tell you that Ginga Seijuro, that hot classmate of yours, was in here looking for you?"

Usagi spluttered. "W..What?!"

The waitress just giggled. "Yeah, he came in earlier this week and asked if you were around. It happened last week too, didn't it Toki?"

Motoki shared a look with Mamoru, who was now giving his full attention to the conversation. "Yeah, he's been in here a few times."

"Oh." Usagi was genuinely at a loss for words. Seijuro was a nice guy and really cute. He had always seemed interested when they were in school but it never developed past flirting.

Unazuki pressed on, "So, you think he's going to ask you out?"

Usagi felt her cheeks turn pink as Unazuki and Motoki looked at her expectantly. Mamoru, on the other hand, had returned to his book, but Usagi got the distinct impression he wasn't actually reading it.

"Um..."

"Usagi!"

She turned to find a very irritated looking girl heading her way and actually sighed in relief.

"Hey Rei, how ya been?" Usagi said innocently.

The fiery looking girl wasn't having it. "We've all been here for the last 20 minutes wandering when you were going to show!"

Usagi glanced at her phone and saw sure enough, four missed text messages alerting her that her friends were indeed at the cafe and buried in a back corner behind the crowds of people.

At least she had the decency to look somewhat guilty. "Sorry, the heat was horrible and my mind just became so focused on one thing...milkshakes."

Rei rolled her eyes. "Some things will never change. C'mon, we have booth competition."

Usagi waved good-bye to Motoki and Unazuki over her shoulder as she was led away by her raven-haired friend.

"Booth competition?" Usagi asked, confused.

"You'll see." Rei said pointedly, as they pushed through the crowd to a back corner.

Since the summer had started, the Crown had way more customers outside their regulars. This resulted in there being far more people than seats, meaning that tables and booths became prime real estate. The last few weeks had made finding a place to sit a bit more inconvenient, but most people were polite about the situation and shared the tables communally, when possible.

So, Usagi was fairly surprised when Rei led her to what could only be described as a Mexican stand-off.

Ami, the quiet blue-haired girl of the group, sat upright on the very inside of the booth against the window while Makoto sat next to her but facing the outside, allowing her long legs to sprawl out over the rest of the seat. Then Minako sat on the top of the table cross-legged. All three of them were adamantly staring down a familiar group of girls who were in much the same position across from them in the same booth.

"Of course," Usagi groaned. "The Evil Three."

Natsumi, Anzu and Kanoko were three girls that had been in their graduating class…and had a reputation for being downright evil, hence the title.

While Usagi had never had any run-ins with them, she still vividly remembered the times she found Ami crying in the bathroom after Anzu had spread a vicious rumor about her in revenge for Ami not letting her cheat off her test. Then there was the time Makoto had been called to the principal's office because she had stood up to Kanoko after she had tripped a new student. Kanoko had used Makoto's past record of getting into fights against her and told the principal that she had threatened her with violence.

Then of course there was the time Minako had dared to flirt with a guy that Natsumi had her eyes on. It had resulted in Minako having "slut" spray painted across her locker. Minako, never one to accept defeat, got her revenge. An "anonymous" call about Natsumi supposedly being in possession of drugs on school campus resulted in her locker being searched. But, instead of finding drugs, they found a locker overflowing with robot porn magazines and photos. What was more, the school administrator had timed their search to take place at lunch, when the hallway would be busy with students.

Needless to say, no one was talking about Minako being a slut anymore since everyone was far too preoccupied with Natsumi's fetish for robots. It got the Evil Three off their backs for the remainder of the year.

But, then summer came.

Natsumi, Anzu and Kanoko had unfortunately been coming into the Crown along with the crop of non-regulars. On every one of those days, they would take advantage of some lone person who was saving a table for a group of friends by saying they just wanted to sit there for a moment. Then when the person's friends would show up, they would refuse to leave by claiming there wasn't enough room for everyone and since their entire group was there first, it was only fair. Everyone was too polite to fight about it.

Until now.

"I'm so sorry." Anzu drawled, obviously not in the least apologetic. "But, my friends and I were sitting here first and I think it's fair that we get the booth."

"You were not here first," Makoto said through clenched teeth. "Our friend Rei..." Makoto gestured towards the fiery girl, "was here first and saving the table for the rest of us when you shoved your way in."

Rei looked around a little sheepishly.

Understanding suddenly dawned on Usagi. Rei, who hadn't gone to the same school as the rest of them, didn't realize who these girls were when she likely told them they could sit for a moment until the rest of their group had arrived.

Rei let out a sigh of exasperation.

"This is stupid. It's a booth..."

But, the look Minako, Ami, and Makoto sent Rei made it clear that this was not just about a place to sit.

The Crown was their place. It was where they spent most of their free time year-round. It was their last summer of freedom before they headed off into the abyss of jobs and university and they wanted to spend as much time as they could with each other here. The fact that these self-important psychos decided to show-up and push them out would just not stand.

This was their home turf and these bitches were trying to drive them out.

Natsumi just smiled and looked around the room, a few people were watching the stand-off with some amusement.

Usagi watched Minako carefully. The pretty blonde had stayed perfectly still in her cross-legged position on top of the table as she stared down the Evil Three. She knew her friend well enough to know that Minako was determined to not let these girls win.

Natsumi seemed to be reading Minako's mind and met her glare head on. "We are not leaving this table. So, what are you going to do about it?"

Makoto began to lunge across the table, "I'll show you what I'm going to do about it..." but, Ami held her back.

For the first time since Usagi arrived, the blue haired girl spoke.

"Name your terms," she said, all shyness and sweetness gone from her usual tone.

"Excuse me…" Anzu said, sounding confused.

Ami ignored her and continued to address Natsumi.

"Like you said, you're not leaving the table and neither are we. So, unless you want to waste the rest of your night here waiting us out — I suggest we find another way of resolving this."

Natsumi quirked her eyebrow at Ami and considered her for a moment before speaking, "You obviously have something in mind…."

"I think a simple wager should suffice."

The Evil Three looked at Ami in obvious surprise. After all, she was the shy resident genius that had been easy prey for their vindictive rumors and mocking throughout school. But, Usagi and the rest of the girls also knew that when Ami wanted to be, she could be coldly calculating.

"And whoever wins this little bet, leaves the booth?" Kanoko asked, sounding bored.

Ami eyes flashed.

"I was thinking more that whoever wins, forfeits the Crown as their hang-out for the rest of the summer."

"Ami!" Usagi gasped, "No!"

Six heads turned towards her.

"Oh look, it's Tsukino." Natsumi said eyeing Usagi in a way that made Usagi wary.

Natsumi whispered something to Anzu, who stood up and looked towards the front of the cafe. After a moment, she nodded at Natsumi.

Natsumi leaned back and stared Ami down for a long moment, before speaking.

"We set the terms."

"No." Minako said almost immediately.

Usagi felt anxious as Natsumi gave her a blood curdling grin and continued.

"...or we continue to have this little dance with you for the rest of the summer. Just think, every day of the week, all three of us will personally be here to ensure none of you are having a good time."

She then leaned in so that her face was only two inches away from Minako, "And trust me, it is no waste of my time to make sure your summer is ruined after what you put me through last term."

"Yeah, about that...I've been meaning to ask if the robotic claw game over there is just creating too much excitement for you." Minako retorted.

Now it was Anzu's turn to hold Natsumi back.

Kanoko turned back to Ami, "We set the terms of the bet, take it or leave it."

Ami looked around at her friends and after a moment gave a firm nod.

The Evil Three whispered among themselves for less than a minute before they addressed the five friends.

Kanoko was the one to speak.

"The terms of the bet are; which ever girl can first get Chiba Mamoru to kiss them before the end of the evening, will win the right to the Crown for the rest of the summer."

Usagi frowned and saw that her expression was reflected on the faces of her friends.

Whatever they had expected, this had been far from it.

Aside from being her perpetual nemesis, Usagi hated to admit that Mamoru had a sizable fan club. It wasn't simply the fact that he was extremely good looking, smart and polite (to everyone except Usagi). But, his reserved nature and the fact that no one could capture his interest had made him all the more sought after. Ami once said he was the "white whale," whatever that meant, for many of Azabu-Juban's female, and some of the male, population.

So, setting a bet where a girl would have to get him to kiss her was a tough contest.

"Chiba? The guy could very well be asexual! But, you think you can get him to kiss one of you before the end of the night?" Makoto said in disbelief.

Natsumi smiled, "There hasn't been a man yet that has been able to resist me," then glanced at Minako. "Then again, if you don't feel as confident in your chances..."

"I think we can handle it," Minako interrupted her.

Natsumi smiled widely.

"Well, I'm glad to hear you say that, but it's not really about if you can handle it."

"What do you mean?" Rei asked.

"The terms of the bet aren't about which of us can get Chiba to kiss them," Kanoko said. "That would be absolute mayhem. It will be down to just two girls, one from each of our groups. Natsumi will be from ours and..."

Usagi felt a knot begin to form in her stomach as Natsumi looked at her and flashed a jubilant smile.

"Tsukino will be yours."

Chapter Text

"We could kidnap him and force him to kiss Usagi…" Minako said casually.

"That's illegal." Ami countered.

The four girls all stood around the small ladies room, contemplating how they were going to get out of this no-win situation.

Rei's phone beeped.

"Mako suggested we bribe him," Rei said looking up from the text she had just received.

Makoto was the only one to not retreat to the restroom after the terms of the bet had been laid down. Instead she had volunteered to hold down their side of the booth against the Evil Three while the rest of them had dragged a very ashen-faced Usagi to the bathroom to think of a game plan.

Minako shook her head. "Nah, I doubt he needs the cash. Pretty sure the guy is loaded."

"Says who?" Rei asked.

"Says the Omega watch he always wears and the British motorcycle he gets around on. Keep up!"

"And...paying someone to kiss you is technically prostitution," Ami said in the same voice she used when explaining math equations to the middle school students she tutored.

Usagi, the only one of them who was sitting in the corner of the bathroom with her face buried in her hands, shouted a muffled, "We are not paying Chiba Mamoru to kiss me!"

Minako waved her hand as if dismissing the idea. "He obviously doesn't need the money, so that plan wouldn't work anyway."

Usagi shot an irritated look at her clueless friend before letting her head fall against the tiled wall. "Could this be more desperate?!"

"We could blackmail him!" Rei continued on as if Usagi hadn't spoken.

"With what?" Ami deadpanned. "And….that's also illegal!"

No one could come up with any other suggestions.

"The library really isn't that bad — I think it could be a good alternative to the Crown," Ami said earnestly.

Minako, who was in the midst of texting, looked up from her phone with a disgusted look.

"Don't be ridiculous! What are we going to do? Talk in whispers for the rest of the summer?" She pouted as she leaned against the stall door in a dramatic fashion, "Plus there are no hot guys there!"

Almost in response, Minako's phone beeped.

"Mako agrees with me!"

"Why are we even debating this?!" Rei shouted. "Mako was right. Chiba is hardly a ladies man and I doubt Natsumi is going to change that before the night is over."

Minako snorted.

"Natsumi is a horrific human being, but do not underestimate her. She's hot and despite how evil she is, many a boy has fallen under her spell." She then looked thoughtful, "Plus, I know we all think Mamoru is a monk...but the guy is super private and he has had people throwing themselves at him for years. It's entirely possible that he's just really good at keeping his secret life as a man-whore, a secret."

Usagi felt her stomach twist at the direction the conversation had turned.

"Secret life as a man-whore?" Rei repeated skeptically.

Minako began ticking off her fingers, "The guy is better looking than most models, he's got that sexy mysterious lone-wolf thing going on, and he's studying to be a doctor. I rest my case!"

Ami took on the look of what her friends recognized as utter concentration as she contemplated the problem at hand. After a moment she looked over at Usagi.

"Have we considered that maybe Chiba would actually kiss Usagi?"

The three girls would have likely laughed at the suggestion if the circumstances weren't so dire.

Although, Minako was looking at her in a curious way that made Usagi feel a bit exposed...

"Ami, that is probably the craziest thing you have ever said. Get Chiba Mamoru to kiss...me?! Literally every other woman, including Motoki's elderly grandmother, has a better shot at getting Mamoru to kiss them."

The Evil Three knew what they were doing, Usagi thought bitterly.

"These are the same two people who got banned from Lawson for a year because they decided to have a throw down in the middle of the ramen aisle," Rei piped up in agreement.

"It was a three month ban and it was in the check-out line!" Usagi retorted.

"The point remains..." Rei said in a matter-of-fact tone.

"All I wanted was one last summer with you guys!" Usagi whined pitifully against the wall. "And now we're not going to get that because it's too hot to go anywhere else and I can't get double chocolate milkshakes the way Motoki makes them." She knew she was losing it fast and she didn't care. It had been awhile since she had had an epic meltdown and now seemed an appropriate time.

But per usual, Rei wasn't having it.

"Snap out of it!" Rei pulled Usagi up from the floor. "Tsukino Usagi, you are NOT breaking down right now!"

Usagi looked into the violet eyes of her utterly pissed off friend.

When Usagi didn't say anything, Rei shook her until she shouted, "Okay! Okay!"

"Good!" Rei took a breath and let go of Usagi. "Now, remember what they said. Whoever gets Mamoru to kiss them first, wins."

Minako looked at Rei like she was crazy. "Yeah, Rei! We ALL HEARD THAT PART!"

Rei pinched the bridge of her nose as she not so subtly took a few calming breaths in the face of Minako's outburst. "Yes…"

"...so all we have to do is keep Mamoru from kissing Natsumi," Ami said, catching on.

"Can we do that?" Usagi asked

"Technically it would force a stale-mate," confirmed Ami.

Minako slumped to the floor, "But, we would have to keep doing battle with the Evil Three for the rest of the summer!"

"It's better than the alternative!" Rei said with a finality in her voice.

"I think the best course of action is to tell Mamoru about the whole idiotic bet and ask that he just steer clear of Natsumi," Ami said resolutely.

"Yeah….wouldn't put it past her to try and get him drunk and then strip in front of him," Minako mumbled under her breath.

But even though she wasn't trying to be serious, the three others looked at each other worriedly.

"Usagi…" Ami began in a gentle tone. "I think you should talk to Mamoru."

"WHAT?! No way!"

"I know it's not ideal, but think of the Crown!" Rei said.

"Fine! But, why do I have to be the one to tell him?"

Ami looked at her sadly. It was obvious, the girl genius felt guilty about putting them all in this situation.

"I know you don't get along with Mamoru, but the rest of us are barely acquaintances with him," Ami explained. "It's more likely to work if it comes from someone he knows."

"But…this is so unbelievably humiliating! It's not like I don't give him enough ammunition on a regular basis."

Usagi felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to see Minako at her side.

"Well, the alternative is we chance losing the Crown."

Usagi felt trapped looking at three of her closest friends in the world staring at her with wide-eyes.

Usagi sighed, "I'll try."

The four friends slowly made their way through the thick crowds of customers towards the booth feeling somewhat resolved about the situation.

However, as they drew closer, it became clear something wasn't quite right. Makoto gave them a worried look as they approached.

"What's wrong, Mako?" Usagi asked, concerned. Yet, as the words left her mouth, she realized Natsumi was missing.

"Looks like we aren't going to have to wait too long to see who wins this bet, Tsukino," Anzu said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

"What is that supposed to mean?" Rei said, stepping towards Anzu.

Makoto wordlessly gestured towards the front of the cafe.

Usagi had to practically stand on the very tips of her toes to see over the crowds of people. Upon getting a vantage point, she gasped.

Mamoru was still sitting at the bar and he wasn't alone. Natsumi was huddled in close to him, laughing at something he had obviously said.

She didn't have a good view of Mamoru's face to see if he was laughing too. Unfortunately, she could see Natsumi lightly touch his arm in a flirtacious manner and it made her stomach twist in panic.

There was no way Mamoru would go for her. It was like Rei said, so many people had tried to get Mamoru's attention for years and no one had succeeded.

But, as she watched Natsumi inch closer to Mamoru, Motoki's words began to echo in her head.

"Heatwaves always make people do crazy things. Inhibitions get lowered, people take more chances and there is a lot more…hooking up."

Before she knew what she was doing, she began to push her way towards the front of the cafe. All the anxiety and nervous energy that had been building up in her for the last twenty minutes driving her to action. She had no idea what she was going to say. Maybe something like, "Hey Mamoru, that super hot girl who is all over you? Can you please not stick your tongue down her throat? "

Yeah, that would go over well.

Usagi reminded herself to breathe as she slowly pushed through the sea of people, many of whom were all significantly taller than her. She nearly tripped a few times over other people's feet and if she had, she doubt she would have hit the floor given the density of the crowd.

She finally made it to the bar and let out a huge sigh of relief as she spotted Natsumi walking away from Mamoru.

Maybe there was hope. Maybe her summer was saved, because Mamoru really was the white whale or whatever. Yet, just as she started to feel a little lighter over the situation, she caught Natsumi's malicious amber eyes and that was when the figurative 'knock-out' punch was delivered.

"I'll meet you outside, Mamoru! Let me just run to the ladies room and then we can head out!"

Usagi went rigid.

"Looks like it's game, set and match to me, eh, Tsukino?" Natsumi said in a low-voice, as she walked by.

Just like that, it was all over. Mamoru was leaving with Natsumi. Was there even any point in warning him or trying to stop him? It would just be added embarrassment.

"Back for another milkshake already, Odango Atama?"

Usagi looked up at Mamoru who was looking at her with his usual self-satisfying smirk.

"Um…no," she replied, not knowing what she was even doing.

It wasn't going to be summer without this place. Hell, as much as she hated to admit it, it wasn't even going to be summer without running into Mamoru and trading barbs with him.

Then again, what did she have to lose? If she warned him about the bet and he still kissed Natsumi, she would lose the bet and therefore not be around the Crown for him to lord it over her.

Plus, it would only prove that he really is a selfish, horrible jerk.

Okay. Deep breath. So long, dignity.

"Mamo…"

"Hey, stranger."

Usagi turned at the interruption and found herself face-to-face with none other than Ginga Seijuro.

"Sei...Seijuro. What a surprise!"

The tall boy laughed a little sheepishly.

"Well, I can't lie, I was hoping to run into you here at some point. How are you? How has your summer been?"

Mamoru, who had been preoccupied with trying to flag Motoki down for the bill, was now glaring at her and Seijuro.

"Um...it's been good. Just trying to enjoy as much of it as I can before the start of September."

She peaked around Seijuro and made eye contact with the girls, who were all watching the scene unfold from across the cafe. "Help" she screamed with her eyes and hoped against all hope that for once telepathy worked.

"That's right! I heard you got into Tokyo Poly. Congratulations!"

"Th..Thanks! Yeah….just managed to get in by the skin of my teeth."

Usagi shook her head and tried to refocus on the situation at hand.

"What about you? Any plans before you start at Waseda?" she asked politely.

"Believe it or not, I actually have to write an original composition before the start of term. But, I've been told that's not uncommon, especially in the arts. Do you have any summer projects you have to work on for your program?"

Usagi barely caught Seijuro's question as she tried not to think about how much time she had left until Mamoru and Natsumi left.

"Um yeah….I have a...photo project...I have to put together. Listen, Seijuro it was really great to see you. But, I have to go…"

"Actually, um…" the tall strawberry blonde boy nervously stuffed his hands into the pockets of his chinos, "while I have you, I was hoping to see if you might be interested in…"

"Seijuro! Oh my gosh, it's been ages! How are you?!" Makoto appeared at the handsome teenager's side and wrapped a long arm around Seijuro's bicep, gently turning him away from Usagi.

The attractive brunette girl looked over at Usagi and gave her a wink before continuing with her ogling of Seijuro. "Wow, have you been working out?"

Usagi let out a breath she hadn't realized she had been holding.

But, when she turned back to where Mamoru had been sitting, all she found was an empty stool. Anxiously, she turned towards the entrance and caught sight of his trademark messy black hair as he exited through the sliding glass doors.

Picking up her feet, she quickly made to follow, but once again found herself pushing and angling through the sea of sweaty and hungry cafe goers.

"Ugh, the downfalls of being short!" she angrily muttered under her breath as she tried to weave her way through the crowd as best as she could.

Natsumi would probably be heading out any second and then her and Mamoru would be heading off somewhere…

No! Can't think about that right now.

Usagi finally saw a break in the crowd and managed to push through. She hurried through the exit and immediately was taken aback as the night time humidity hit her like a wall.

Mamoru was walking towards his motorcycle, which was parked in front of the Crown.

Just say something.

"Leaving already?" she called out.

He stopped and, after a beat, slowly turned around.

"I need to get an early night, Odango Atama," he said annoyed. "Not all of us get a summer break, as you will soon learn."

As she closed the distance between them, she found herself unable to look him in the face.

Mamoru had always been a full head taller than she was, even when they had been younger.

She shook her head and tried to concentrate on talking, focusing on his collar bone and the way his adams apple appeared to move nervously as she stood about half a foot away.

"For a guy who is so interested in getting an early night, seems a little counterproductive to be spending it with some girl you just picked up."

Usagi's eyes widened as the words left her mouth.

What the hell was that?!

Even to her own ears, that sounded jealous and spiteful! She was trying to convince the guy to help her out and she still couldn't manage to be nice to him.

"Wow, Odango…'counterproductive'…I had no idea you were capable of using big words."

Usagi let out an exasperated sigh and managed to look up at his face, "Seriously?!"

Standing at his full height, she watched his hand clench and unclench around the strap of his messenger bag on his left shoulder.

"Didn't you literally just get asked out by some guy who's been mooning over you for months?" There was nothing dry or sarcastic about his tone of voice this time. "But, you're coming out here and pestering me about who I'm taking home?!"

She had obviously found a new button to push and rather than feeling her usual sense of triumph, the look in his eyes made her prefer the punched in the gut feeling she had had just had a few moments before, when she thought Natsumi had won.

"Mamoru…I…I'm sorry. That didn't come out right and it's…" she said, stumbling over her own words. "It's none of my business what you do in your personal life…but…but…"

God, this is going to be embarrassing.

Mamoru looked at her impatiently,"But?"

Usagi looked away and started addressing his collarbone again. Yet, that presented a whole other issue.

Far from looking put together now, he was already sweating bullets through Motoki's t-shirt, which was making it easier to see the outline of well formed muscles in his chest. She felt her breath catch a little and her flush, once more. 

Motoki may have had a point about the heat…

Focus, Usagi. You need to get this out.

"But, there is something you should know…" she said, finding her resolve.

Surprisingly, she managed to get through the explanation of the bet with the Evil Three with minimal trouble. However, she knew most of this was down to the fact that she was cowardly telling this story to his upper chest, rather than looking him in the eyes.

She finally finished the tale by saying, "So…could you just please…not kiss Natsumi…even if she somehow manages to work some voodoo seduction on you or get you wasted in a game of strip poker...or something?"

Usagi braced herself for the laughter or the mocking that was sure to follow on how ridiculous and immature this entire situation was. Perhaps even a rapid-fire insult? But, nothing came.

After what felt like a very long moment, Usagi finally forced herself to look up into his face to find him staring at her curiously.

"Just so I understand," he began slowly, "two groups of recently graduated high school girls are fighting over a booth..."

"...actually, the right to hang out at the Crown for the rest of the summer, with the other group forfeiting that right."

"And the way to settle this was to see which one of two girls could get me to kiss them first?"

Mamoru had taken a step closer so that he was a mere few inches away. 

"Before the...end of the night...yeah" Usagi said breathlessly, trying to keep focused on the conversation and not his closer proximity.

"Why not a round at Sailor V? Or darts?" Mamoru asked, pushing his hair from out of his eyes "Or hell, flipping a coin?"

"You did hear the part where I explained they're known as the Evil Three, right?"

"Still, why this…?" He asked in a low voice.

He seemed intent on getting an answer and he was close enough now that Usagi could feel his breath on her forehead.

"More specifically…why me?"

She found herself looking at his mouth as he asked that last question. She was so focused on the curve of his lips and how near they were that she didn't think about the words that easily tripped off her tongue in an automated response.

"Because you're practically a monk who considers sexual interest beneath him."

Mamoru jerked back, as if a bucket of ice water had been thrown in his face.

"Wait…WHAT?!"

Usagi was quickly back peddling. "I mean you have never looked twice at anyone, EVER! But despite that, Natsumi, while horrible, had most of the male population at our school wrapped around her finger…so she probably figured...she would have a better chance... than I would."

Smooth Usagi, that'll win him over.

"You…who thinks I'm a monk?!" Mamoru gestured to Usagi, his voice rising.

"It's not that crazy of a theory!"

It had already been a long night. She didn't want to be having this conversation where she had to convince Chiba Mamoru, of all people, to not kiss another girl.

Now, he was trying to make it seem like she was totally wrong. Like she didn't know anything.

She found herself backing him towards his bike with her finger indignantly pointing at his chest. All the embarrassment and awkwardness she felt over the conversation had disappeared.

"All you do is read books, drink coffee and ignore everyone…except when you're being an ass to me!" He was back up against his bike and couldn't go any further. His eyes were dark and there was something unreadable in them as she spat, "So...SUE ME FOR THINKING THAT YOU'RE A MON…"

She didn't get a chance to finish her rant, because at that moment Mamoru pulled her towards him and captured her lips with his.

Usagi's eyes widened in shock.

The sounds of the people in the cafe and the cars on the street, melted away. Her entire body went rigid, freezing in mid-motion. It was as though someone had pressed pause on the entire scene.

Then her brain registered the feel of his soft mouth moving against hers, gentle but confident. 

Mamoru was kissing her. Chiba Mamoru was kissing her.

A slight breeze blew over them and before she knew it, she had closed her eyes and was leaning into him. All the tension in her muscles loosened.His hair tickled her forehead and she could feel the pad of his thumb running circles on her bare shoulder, causing her to shiver despite the suffocating heat.

"Ah!" 

The soft gasp broke the spell and brought her back to reality.

She and Mamoru snapped apart and looked at each other wide-eyed, then slowly turned to find Natsumi gaping at them in pure fury.

Usagi's head was swimming. She felt as though she couldn't quite process what had just happened. She looked back up at Mamoru, who had already taken a step away from her. He was once again all stoic and unreadable.

"Oh, hey, Natsumi," he began, casually. "I take it you don't need a ride anymore?"

Natsumi, for her part, was cursing fluently under her breath. She turned and went back inside the cafe, not even bothering to acknowledge the question.

Usagi could spot all four of her friends jumping up and down in excitement through one of the windows.

She felt herself blush deeply.

What the hell just happened?

"You...you kissed me," she said, dumbly stating the obvious.

Mamoru opened his mouth to say something, but appeared to rethink his words. Instead, he stepped closer to her once again, and leaned in. Usagi's breath caught in her throat, half expecting him to kiss her again.

But instead, his long fingers grazed down her bare shoulder, where the thin strap of her dress had fallen down, and gently pulled it back into place.

"You owe me one, Odango Atama," he whispered in her ear.

Her eyes widened as she took on the meaning of his words. By the time she even considered a retort, he had already climbed on his bike and started the engine, drowning out all sound around them.

Just before his eyes disappeared under the visor of his helmet, she caught his gaze one last time. He wore that same expression she had seen earlier when she had caught him staring.

The visor flipped down and Mamoru revved the bike into gear. She watched as he went down the road into the night and her brain finally caught up with the rest of her. As she processed everything that had just occurred, that familiar irritation that followed every encounter with Mamoru crept in.

Realization finally dawning on her, she yelled into the night.

"What a jerk!"

Chapter Text

She could hear her heart pounding as he slowly kissed down her neck. His lips were electric against her bare skin, making her tremble. His hands slowly moved down her body, ghosting across her bare arms and barely grazing her breasts until they found her hips and held her firmly in place. She felt completely on edge, as if every bit of her skin was begging for him to touch her more. Slowly he straightened up to his full height, and she found herself looking up into familiar deep blue eyes.

"Mamoru," she breathed. He smirked at her as he leaned back in and whispered, "You owe me one, Odango Atama."

Usagi bolted awake. Wide-eyed and breathing heavy, she looked around her messy room. Luna was sleeping soundly on the floor, curled-up on top of the dress she had torn off from the previous night. 

It was just a dream.

Yet, even as Usagi reassured her brain of that fact, her body was not getting the memo. She had a whole other reason to be frustrated at Chiba Mamoru and that made her all the angrier, especially as she saw it wasn't even 7 a.m.

"Dammit!" she cursed loudly, causing Luna to stir.

Knowing she wasn't going to get back to sleep, Usagi crawled out of bed and marched towards what she knew was going to be a very cold shower.

After winning the bet against the Evil Three, she had felt too exhausted and angry to go back into the cafe and face what she knew would be a lot of questions. So, she had sent a quick text to her friends telling them she was leaving and then promptly turned off her phone, gone home, and crawled into bed — hoping when she woke, things would be less confusing.

Instead, it was the morning after and she could now add exhaustion and annoying hot dreams about Mamoru-baka to her list of grievances.

After getting out of the shower, which had done little to ease her sexual frustration, she decided there was no point in trying to get back to sleep.

She lazily got dressed, pulling on a pair of shorts and a loose tank top, which she blindly picked out of her drawer. Usagi picked up her phone, took a breath, and held down the power button to turn it on.

As expected, there were no less than 15 text messages and three new voicemails from Minako.

She began typing a group message, when her mind flashed back to the night before.

The feel of his lips moving softly against her own, his firm body barely brushing up against her and the warmth of his hand on her hip holding her in place had been just like in her dream.

"Get a grip!" she exclaimed. "It wasn't that great of a kiss."

Liar.

"I need to get some air."

In less than a minute she had her sandals on, her purse on her shoulder, and was heading out the door.

Usagi slowly made her way into central Azabu-Juban, grateful the heat wasn't unbearable. She couldn't remember the last time she had been out this early on a Saturday.

A small bakery was opening shop for the day, the smell of fresh baked bread wafting through the partially open door. Usagi smiled at a group of old ladies who looked like they were on their way to the local onsen for a morning soak. A few taxi drivers were already out, cleaning the windows on their vehicles before picking up their first fares of the day.

She proceeded down the road, admiring all the colorful murals on the shutters of the bars and restaurants, which wouldn't be open for hours.

It feels so different at this time of the day.

She didn't have a particular direction in mind, but her feet eventually led her towards the Crown, which she knew would still be closed. But, as she began to pass by the main doors, her feet came to an abrupt stop.

Slowly she turned to look inside, blinking twice to make sure she wasn't still half asleep. Usagi looked at the "closed" sign that was still turned and noted that the automatic sliding doors were definitely not opening for her as she peered through the glass.

Yet, there was no mistaking that Makoto was on the other side, walking around the cafe.

She knocked on the glass.

Makoto spotted Usagi almost at the same moment and rushed to unlock the doors.

"Are you okay? Did something happen?!" Makoto asked, concerned

Usagi looked at her friend, totally lost.

"It's 7:30 in the morning. Are you dying?!" Makoto asked again.

Usagi tried to be offended for about a split second, but knew it was fruitless. Makoto was right. There were few things she loved more in the world than sleep, which was only making her grumpier that she was up this early.

"I...couldn't sleep." Usagi said, trying not to remember the dream. "I guess it's the heat."

"What are you doing here?! Isn't this place still closed?"

Right then, Motoki appeared out of the back of the cafe, looking disheveled.

"Usagi is everything okay?"

Okay now she was getting a little offended.

"What are you both doing here?!" Usagi questioned again, sounding more irritated than she intended.

Motoki's cheeks broke out into a bright flush.

"There was a blackout in Hiroo last night and the bakery we use to stock our pastries has no electricity."

Makoto nodded enthusiastically.

"The way everyone is blasting the air-conditioner, it's no surprise the circuits were probably overloaded." Makoto added. "Anyway...Motoki called me at the crack of dawn, begging me to come in and whip up some pastries for the day."

"Yeah! And I really appreciate that you...got up so early to help me out...with this."

Usagi narrowed her eyes at her two friends.

"Um Toki, the bakery down the street is open. Why didn't you just pick up pastries from them? It probably would have been easier."

Motoki's eyes went wide in what Usagi swore was a look of panic.

"You're right, that would have been more...convenient. But, their sweet pastries aren't that...great."

Usagi didn't quite buy that, but it was too early to think too hard on things that weren't a priority — like the fact that Mako had pastries within the vicinity.

"So Mako, you're baking in the back?"

Motoki let out a relieved sounding laugh.

"Pull up a stool."

Makoto retreated to the kitchen while Usagi slumped down into a bar stool and watched Motoki pour himself a large cup of coffee. The baker extraordinaire quickly returned, carrying a tray with three perfect golden brown croissants with butter and jam, and placed them on the counter. Usagi felt her heart swell.

"How did you have time to bake croissants?!"

Makoto laughed. "I made the dough yesterday and left it cooling overnight. So, I figured I would bake them for the Crown. There are also apple turnovers in the oven as well as some melonpan. "

Usagi was only half-listening as she bit into one of the warm pastries. She should have known if there was anything that would make her feel better, it was Mako's croissants — the ultimate comfort food.

It all made her nearly forget about her bad mood, entirely. Everything else was suddenly unimportant.

It was after a long minute of eye-closing, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth, deliciousness that Usagi realized no one was talking. She looked up from her croissant to see both Motoki and Makoto looking at her expectantly.

"So…" Motoki began, a smile already tugging at his mouth.

Now having food in her system, Usagi realized what she had walked into…

"You and Mamoru, huh?"

...a trap.

She felt her eyes bulge at the question. "Mako! You told him?!"

Makoto immediately threw her hands up. "Oh trust me, I didn't need to. Half the cafe witnessed it and word spread pretty quickly."

Crap.

"Now answer the question!" Makoto said, practically jumping down in barely contained excitement. "You never texted me back last night, so spill!"

"Nothing has changed! I didn't even want him to kiss me."

Motoki had obviously been filled in on the details of the bet with the Evil Three as he nodded in understanding.

"So, what happened, outside the obvious?!" Makoto asked as if this was the most shocking thing she had ever heard.

Usagi glared at Makoto before unashamedly taking the brunette's untouched croissant and moving it onto her own plate. If she was going to be interrogated, she needed another croissant.

"He's a huge jerk, that's what!" she said through bites of jam and pastry. "He asked me why we were betting on him. When I told him it was because everyone thinks he's basically celibate and that's why it would be a tough challenge…"

Usagi swallowed down her food.

"He kissed me because in typical Mamoru fashion...he has to prove me wrong. He has to win the argument."

Motoki and Makoto, who had been listening with great interest, shared a look.

"So, this is once again a way for Mamoru to one-up me." Usagi attacked the croissant again with her fork. "He would die trying to prove the sky is green, just because I say it's blue."

"Yeah, but he could have also proven that by kissing Natsumi or taking her home."

Usagi stopped.

Makoto wasn't wrong. If Mamoru just wanted to prove a point, he could have done that in so many other ways, that didn't involve kissing her.

But, then why...

"Maybe he's a nicer guy than you realize and he wanted to help you win the bet?" Makoto suggested, thoughtfully.

"Or maybe it was a good excuse to kiss you?" Motoki mumbled into his coffee.

Makoto giggled.

"Or both."

Usagi looked at them in irritation. "Next you're going to say he's falling victim to the 'effects of the heatwave."

Motoki shrugged his shoulders, "Could be…"

Usagi stared at them disbelievingly.

"You two are being ridiculous! He probably just did it so he can hold it over me for the rest of the year."

Motoki and Makoto looked at her, clearly unconvinced by that argument. "Yes, Usagi we're being ridiculous," Motoki said in obvious sarcasm.

But, Usagi wasn't paying attention.

"...he did say I owe him one."

She sighed and rubbed her tired eyes.

"It really doesn't matter…we won the Crown from the Evil Three and that's what we should be celebrating."

Makoto gave her a warm smile and nodded. "You're right, Usagi. I'll be right back, just need to check on the turn overs."

Motoki gave her a small smile.

"You look as exhausted as I feel."

As if on queue, Usagi gave a big yawn.

"Why don't you let me make you a cup of coffee?"

Usagi shrugged, too tired to argue.

"Sure, why not? Just nothing hot."

She watched as Motoki moved around the counter with well-practiced movements.

Motoki had known her for years. He had seen her at her very worst, whether it was having her heart broken by her first boyfriend, and at her very best, like when she had discovered she could make a career in photography. Usagi had never been a particularly difficult person to read when it came to her moods, but even on the days when she would try and put on a brave face, Motoki could still see through it.

Which she usually loved...

"So, haven't seen you with your camera in awhile."

...except for right now.

"What's going on there? Didn't you tell that Ginga guy you have a project you're supposed to be working on this summer?"

She raised an eyebrow.

"My, grandma, what big ears you have."

The handsome blonde boy rolled his eyes at the implied accusation.

"It's not my fault that sound travels back here really well."

"Which explains why you're such a gossip," she teased.

Motoki moved around behind the counter, grinding espresso beans and loading them into the portafilter.

"I am not a gossip. I just hear and see everything," he said, a little defensive. "And quit changing the subject."

Usagi watched Motoki work, focusing on the thick hot liquid pouring steadily into a shot glass creating three distinct layers.

When she didn't look up, he prodded, "Usagi..."

"I haven't...I haven't taken any photos," Usagi said, aware of how small her voice sounded.

Motoki kept his face neutral, but she could see the question in his eyes. "What about that fancy camera your folks bought you for graduation?"

She felt what had become a familiar sense of guilt as she pictured the unused Nikon that was hanging in the foyer at her house.

Usagi shook her head.

She could feel Motoki's eyes on her, but she refused to look up. Instead she watched as his hands continued to work on her drink. He scooped what looked to be vanilla gelato into a white ceramic mug and poured the shot of espresso over it, before placing it in front of her.

"Try that."

Usagi took a small sip and was struck by the smooth, strong, yet bittersweet flavor.

"It's called an affogato."

Usagi took another sip, this time longer.

"It's delicious!"

Motoki smiled sadly.

"What's going on, Usagi? You're an amazing photographer and you love taking photos. Even the Head of the Photography Department…"

Her whole body felt heavy and she was too emotionally and physically exhausted to deal with the knots of anxiety that would start forming in her stomach if they continued with this conversation. She just couldn't.

"Can we please talk about something else?" she half-whispered.

She could see Toki standing in front of her and heard him let out a big sigh, but she kept focused on the counter.

"What do you want to talk about?"

She felt her body relax a little as she slowly looked up at him and then frowned.

She considered him for a long moment before saying in a serious tone, "Well, we could talk about why you're wearing the same shirt you had on last night."

Crash.

Motoki dropped the ceramic mug he was in the process of refilling with coffee. The cafe worker scrambled to pick up the broken pieces before saying over his shoulder, "I just threw on what I was wearing the night before." Motoki finished throwing the broken glass into the trash and turned back to Usagi.

She noticed he was a bit red in the cheeks again.

"I usually keep a spare shirt or two in the back, but Mamoru borrowed my last one yesterday."

"Ugh, see! He causes issues everywhere!" Usagi whined. "Why don't you just finally tell me how to ultimately defeat him in our endless battle against each other? I know he's your best friend, but this is for the greater good."

Motoki let out a big laugh, that echoed throughout the cafe and lightened the mood.

"Not going to work. I'm Switzerland when it comes to you two and I don't provide either of you with material to use against the other."

She raised an eyebrow, "Since when?"

"Since I started taking Advanced Statistics and Mamoru is probably the only thing standing between me and a failing grade. Plus you know...the whole best friend clause." Motoki rubbed his chin as if considering. "But mainly, it's the Advanced Statistics."

Usagi smiled and finished her affogato.

"I should probably get back while it's not boiling outside," she said, taking some yen out of her wallet. "Tell Mako I said bye and I'll see you guys later tonight."

She barely made it two steps away before Motoki called out to her.

"Usagi, if you want anymore double chocolate milkshakes, you better start bringing that camera with you when you come in."

Her mouth dropped in surprise.

"You...you can't do that."

Motoki looked around him in a dramatic fashion as if to say 'who is going to stop me?'

"You're serious?!"

Motoki shrugged, but it was clear he was drawing a line in the sand.

Usagi gave a reluctant nod of understanding, "I'll see you tonight, Motoki."

She headed out the sliding glass doors and could feel the sun was already a lot higher than it had been when she had set out an hour ago.

It was going to be a long walk home.

"Are we really having this conversation?" Rei asked dryly.

"It's a proven technique!" Minako retorted. "You look someone in the eyes, lean in a little closer, and find an excuse to touch their arm."

"Where did you find this information?" Ami asked skeptically.

"Please, this is just wisdom passed down from wiser women before us!"

"This is Minako's made-up wisdom that may have worked once or twice so now she considers it fool proof," Rei said to Ami, sounding all-knowing.

"How dare you?!" The blonde exclaimed. "Fine! Give me a challenge!"

"Really?"

Minako's features set into a competetive scowl.

"Any guy in the cafe!"

Rei eyed her for a moment, and then sat up a bit higher in the booth to get a good view of the extremely crowded cafe.

Usagi thought she caught a small smirk on her face as she plopped back down in her seat. But, when she looked at Minako, it had disappeared.

"How about the guy over there! The one with shaggy brown hair in the yellow button-up shirt."

Minako smiled at the prospect.

"He's super cute!" she turned to Rei, "Prepare to be proven wrong!"

As Minako marched toward her "target," Makoto asked, "Isn't that Yuichiro's brother she's about to hit on?"

Usagi finally realized why she had seen Rei smirking. "Rei! Yuichiro's gay brother?!"

Rei chuckled.

"She said she wanted a challenge. Who am I to deprive her of that?!"

All four friends watched with horrified laughter as Minako tried to move in closer to the poor guy, who kept trying to move further away. But, it was when Minako's target's boyfriend arrived that made the situation all the more hilarious. Minako stood in front of both men, looking mortified as she realized why her attempts were so fruitless. The blonde, who was always so confident, blushed with embarrassment, and bowed repeatedly in apology before practically running back to the booth.

"I hate you guys," Minako glowered.

Usagi and her friends laughed until it hurt, with Rei saying in triumph, "I thought it was a fool proof technique passed down from wiser women before us."

Minako's only response was a very rude hand gesture.

Eventually they moved back to their usual ritual of people watching the night-time crowd at the Crown. Surrounded by half-drunk milkshakes, partially eaten burgers, and the happy chatter of flirting teenagers, she felt as though the evening was looking up. She had spent a good chunk of the morning answering her friends' text messages about what had transpired between her and Mamoru the night before and that seemed to satisfy their curiosity...for now. Overall, Usagi was grateful that the subject hadn't come up again.

The Crown was just as crowded as it had been the night previously and she had shown up, per Motoki's orders, with her brand new camera in tow. But, aside from fidgeting with the lens settings and taking a few test shots of her friends, she hadn't taken any real photos.

"Hey Usagi, I think that's Seijuro over there," Makoto said excitedly.

Usagi turned to where Makoto had gestured and sure enough, she could see a very familiar head of strawberry blonde hair near the front of the cafe.

"It looks like he's looking for someone…." Rei said, trying to get a better view.

"Gee...I wonder who it could be," Minako said mischievously. "Any guesses, Usa?"

Usagi rolled her eyes. "He could be here looking for friends."

"Have you seen the crowd in here tonight? Everyone here is looking to hook up except the dweebs by the bathroom flipping through the Sailor V manga...and us!" Makoto interjected

"Speak for yourself!" Minako said with a flip of her hair. "I'm always on the look-out, rain or shine."

"Of course you are," Rei said dryly.

"Hey, don't single me out! The sexual energy in this city has been almost as hot as the weather lately," she pointed an accusing finger at all of them. "So don't act like you're all immune…"

"Please do not say 'the effects of the heatwave," Usagi interrupted.

"...to the effects of the heatwave," Minako finished, emphasizing every word.

"Somebody's been spending too much time talking to Toki," Usagi deadpanned.

Makoto coughed breaking the moment. "Anyway...did you have a point, Minako?!"

"Yes Usagi, go talk to the guy! Have a little summer fun with Seijuro!"

Rei smiled, "It's not a terrible idea, Usagi. Plus, you never know, the guy seems to really like you. It could turn into something."

"He has made a lot of effort to talk to talk to you…" Ami added.

Usagi flushed, "Guys…."

"Unless you've decided you would rather hold out for Chiba…" Makoto said with a knowing smile.

Usagi was up and out of her seat in record time.

She made her way to the bar, making sure to carefully guard the camera that was still dangling around her neck. Mako had been right; it felt like everyone at the Crown was looking for someone for the night. The musky smell of sweat and pheromones was almost overwhelming as she moved towards her destination, and she was conscious of a few flirting glances being thrown her way.

This feels like a sexual version of musical chairs, no one wants to be standing on their own.

As she reached the front of the cafe, she was suddenly grateful for her unique hairstyle just because Motoki spotted her instantaneously through the sea of people conversing around the bar.

"Usagi! Glad to see you brought your camera." Motoki smiled down at her, looking much more awake than he had earlier. "Your usual?"

"That would be great. Thanks, Toki."

Usagi looked towards the area she had seen Seijuro standing a few minutes ago. She spotted him at the other end of the bar, texting on his phone.

She considered him for a moment, really looking at him. He was a good looking guy and he struck her as nice and thoughtful.

Maybe the girls are right. There's nothing wrong with a summer romance...and who knows? Maybe…

Her thoughts came to an immediate halt as the crowd around Seijuro thinned and she spotted a familiar head of inky black hair hunched over a massive book.

Usagi froze. All the confusing feelings around the kiss that she had been able to blissfully forget for the last couple of hours slammed into her with the force of a car crash.

She was suddenly very aware that she was in plain view of Mamoru. All he needed to do was look up from his book.

All thoughts of talking to Seijuro went out the window.

She had already begun to turn to make her way back towards the girls but at that exact moment, Seijuro looked up from his phone, "Hey Usagi, over here!"

Usagi couldn't help herself. Her eyes immediately flew to the dark haired man sitting on the other side of Seijuro and she found herself looking directly into a pair of striking blue eyes.

For a second, her and Mamoru just looked at each other and she felt rooted to the spot.

This was unfamiliar territory. How do you act around a guy, who you have so quaintly dubbed "The Biggest Jerk in the Universe," after he kisses you in a way that makes your brain turn to soup?

Mamoru finally broke his gaze and refocused his attention on his book, obviously not experiencing the same internal crises as she was.

That was when Usagi remembered all of her reasons for being angry with him.

Mamoru had kissed her to win a dumb argument because he is the Biggest Jerk in the Universe. So, no matter how incredibly good the kiss may have been he was still the same Mamoru-baka.

"Usagi!" Seijuro called again, breaking her thoughts.

With her frustration at Mamoru firmly back in tact, Usagi made a beeline for Seijuro.

"Hey, Seijuro!" she greeted cheerily.

The handsome boy looked up at her with a wide grin, genuinely seeming thrilled to see her.

"Hey, did you just get here?"

"No, I've been here about an hour. The girls and I grabbed a booth in the back."

Her eyes couldn't help but wander to Mamoru, who was only a foot away.

"I'm sorry I missed you earlier. I'm about to head out to meet some friends in Shinjuku..." Seijuro replied in a disappointed tone.

He glanced down at her midsection.

"Are you getting some shots for your project?" Seijuro asked, gesturing to her camera.

Right then Motoki came by and placed her shake on the counter. The look on his face made it clear he was also very interested in her response to that question.

"Um...no...not yet," she stammered. "I...I haven't really...started."

Usagi could see a frown form on Mamoru's face, even as he stayed committed to 'reading' his book.

"Oh, well you still have time and you take amazing photos! I'm sure whatever you do, it will turn out great!"

Usagi smiled at his sincerity, noting how kind his words were in contrast to the rude looking man next to him.

"Thanks, Seijuro," she said, giving him her widest smile. "That's nice of you to say."

The boy blushed. "Well I better get going..."

The tall boy stood up, towering over Usagi. "But, would...would you be interested in going out to dinner...sometime?"

Despite the fact that she had come over to talk to Seijuro expressly for this reason, she was still surprised by the question.

Not to mention he was really sweet and it was a good ask-out.

"Yeah, I would like that," she smiled. "Here, I'll give you my number."

Usagi punched her number into Seijuro's phone before handing it back to him with a smile.

Seijuro looked elated, "Great, I'll call you tomorrow." He gave Usagi a small wave and slipped out the nearby sliding glass doors.

Usagi sat in the stool Seijuro had just occupied, feeling surprisingly excited about the prospect of going on a date with the guy. She took a small sip of her milkshake and looked, out of the corner of her eye, at Mamoru who maintained his stoic position.

Motoki, who had been wiping down the counter nearby, looked over at Usagi with a small smile.

"Looks like Ginga finally struck up the nerve."

Usagi raised a suspicious eyebrow at her friend.

"You cannot tell me that you were just innocently going about your business and just happened to overhear that."

"Hey, it's not like I can go anywhere else. The counter needed wiping down."

Before Usagi could remark that he had been wiping that same part of the counter for the last few minutes, a bang made her stop short.

Mamoru had slammed his book closed and was looking at her as if she had gravely insulted him.

"I can't believe you!"

Usagi's eyes went wide as she turned to look at Mamoru.

He wasn't looking at her directly, but she could feel the agitation rolling off of him.

She was confused.

What is his problem?

Then for just a moment... she was hit by the idea that she might have been mistaken.

What if Mako and Toki were right? What if he wanted to kiss me last night?

If that's true, he just witnessed me accept a dinner invitation from another guy less than 24 hours later!

Assuming that he actually feels something...

She felt her stomach do a sort of flip as she looked at the normally poker-faced Mamoru, who was clearly not happy.

"Mamoru..." she started in apology.

"You know, university isn't high school," Mamoru said in a harsh tone. "You can't get away with only turning in half your assignments and sleeping in every morning."

Usagi was dumbstruck.

Then she followed his gaze to the camera resting on her lap and her heart stopped.

"But, I guess some things will never change," Mamoru said, almost sounding bored. "It's just typical...the semester hasn't even started and you're already flaking out on your first assignment."

She felt her mouth drop. The cold sharpness of his words slicing through her in a way that she was unused too.

"Mamoru!" Motoki said in a warning tone.

If Motoki had hoped to temper the conversation, it was in vain. Something snapped inside her.

She didn't realize what she was doing at first. It felt like someone else took over her body, as her arm reached towards her full milkshake, picked it up off the table and threw it in Mamoru's face.

The crowd directly around the bar went quiet.

All eyes turned towards Mamoru, whose head and shoulders were now completely covered with chocolate shake and whipped cream.

"Better hope Motoki has another spare shirt!"

Her words held so much venom and anger, and she could feel herself starting to tremble. Without a second thought, she stormed out of the cafe.

But, she only made it a few steps out the door.

Her hands shook and she breathed the hot stifling air through her nose to try and keep from feeling like she was going to explode.

It hurt. It almost physically hurt as she felt all the things she had tried to keep at bay; the anxiety and the self-doubt she had been carrying around since she had received her acceptance letter, the utter confusion and frustration from the night before that she just couldn't let go of. Then there was the pure anger that bridged them both because, as always, Mamoru had to make it clear to everyone that she was still just the same naive high school kid she had always been.

This was about the time she would be crying her eyes out and calling Minako to come over so they could binge watch bad reality dating shows while consuming their weight in mochi ice cream. But, right now Usagi had too much adrenaline coursing through her.

Instead, she spun on her heel and marched back into the cafe.

Upon seeing Mamoru was no longer at the bar, she immediately headed for the back room. She walked down the long corridor that led towards the rear of the building until she reached a door near the back exit and threw it open.

"I am done with you treating me like a kid….!"

Usagi froze.

Mamoru was standing maybe half a foot away from the door...completely shirtless.

For a moment they just stared at each other, his milk-shake sodden t-shirt in his hand and ice cream still dripping out of his hair.

The surprise and disbelief of the moment doused the raging fire she had walked into the room with.

She hated that her eyes immediately roamed over his naked chest. For a nerd who spent all his time studying — it was obvious by his strong arms and well-defined abs that he definitely found time to work out.

"Considering you just dumped a milkshake all over me, I would say treating you like a kid is warranted!"

He tossed his soaked shirt onto a nearby table.

Usagi breathed in the hot dusty air through her teeth. She had forgotten that this part of the building had no air conditioning, meaning the room was almost as hot and stuffy as it was outside.

She looked up into Mamoru's face, "Big words from a guy who has spent the last four years teasing a teenage girl's hairstyle!"

"Who has hair that's practically down to their knees?!" he scoffed, gently tugging on one of Usagi's pigtails.

She smacked his hand away from her hair.

"Or what about the fact that you will do anything to win an argument?"

"That is not true!"

"Really?! I seem to recall you kissing me last night just to prove that you're not a monk!"

He gaped at her, clearly at a temporary loss for words. His face a mix of agitation and something else she couldn't quite name.

But, it vanished in a moment.

"You were the one who decided to partake in a bet that hinged on me kissing you or Natsumi!" he said, finally recovering.

"You were about to go home with her!"

No no no...do not go there!

That made him pause.

"Wait, you were mad a second ago because you thought I kissed you to prove that I'm...not asexual," he said staring her down. "But at the same time, you also were under the assumption that I was about to spend the night with Natsumi? That doesn't make any sense."

Now Usagi was the one struggling for a response, feeling like a deer caught in headlights.

"Why do you care so much about my sex life, Odango Atama?" Mamoru said leaning in closer.

Usagi felt her blood boil at the way he said, "my sex life." But, she refused to take the bait.

"Please, I could ask you the same thing," Usagi fired back. "Or is there some other reason you were eavesdropping on not one, but two of my conversations with Seijuro?"

Was it her imagination or did he wince when she said Seijuro's name?

"It's not eavesdropping if the person talking has the 'indoor voice' of a megaphone!"

The air was charged with something Usagi couldn't put her finger on. She felt an intoxicating sensation of wanting to keep screaming at him and at the same kiss him senseless. Her mind flashed back to her dream from the night before and she almost had to restrain herself from reaching out and running her hands across his stomach and up his chest.

What the hell is wrong with you, Tsukino?!

"You are so infuriating!"

"Infuriating?!" he yelled. "Like watching you already waste away your opportunities at university because it's easier than actually working to keep them!" Mamoru said, his face inches from hers. "That's infuriating!"

As his words hit home, she felt all the fight drain out of her.

She took a step backwards away from him.

"So that's what you think?" her body suddenly felt heavy. "That I...haven't started on my project because...I'm lazy?"

He opened his mouth to respond, but she didn't give him a chance.

"I'm sure that makes perfect sense since according to you; I'm just a dumb, lazy kid with odangos for brains," she said, trying to keep her voice even. "You're right, Mamoru! I was never a genius academic like you. But, if you didn't have the emotional intelligence of a snail, you might consider there are other possibilities for someone to fail that have nothing to do with being lazy!"

He tried to interject, but there was no stopping her now. The words came out of her in an unstoppable wave, low and hoarse as she fought down angry tears.

"You know what though...there's no point in even trying to explain it to you. You wouldn't get it," she choked. "Because let's face it...you have probably never had to worry about disappointing anyone in your entire life."

She might as well have slapped him. The expression on his face would likely have been the same if she had. His eyes looked pained and yet she could feel that electric pull towards him that felt strange at a moment like this.

Her feet turned to head towards the door. Her hands were shaking and she needed to move before tears started to fall. She needed to just get out the door as fast as possible.

But, her feet stopped just short of walking out. Maybe it was because his lack of response was so perplexing. Maybe it was her pride, but she found herself turning and looking at him one last time.

What she saw was a man she hardly recognized.

For the second time that night, her hands had a mind of their own, as they followed a movement she could have repeated in her sleep.

Her hands gently lifted the camera around her neck, raised it to her eye, and took a straight shot of Mamoru, looking as exposed as she had ever seen him. And it had nothing to do with him being half-naked.

As she pulled the camera away from her face, she felt the tears finally start to fall.

It broke the spell and he seemed to come out of a haze, "Usagi…"

But, she had already walked out the door.

Chapter Text

When the knock came at the door less than an hour later, she didn't even bother checking the peep hole; already knowing who it would be.

Minako stood on the other side of the door with a sympathetic smile and a grocery bag in tow.

"Did you bring mochi ice cream?" Usagi half-sobbed.

"They were all out of mochi ice cream," Minako said smoothly. "But, I brought a good substitute," she said, pulling out a bottle of shochu.

Usagi let her in.

Twenty minutes and two shots of shochu later, Usagi told Minako everything that had transpired — from her seeing Seijuro to when she walked out on a shirtless Mamoru after having their worst fight to date. Minako patiently listened, leaning in close with interest when Usagi got to the details of her and Mamoru yelling at each other in the back room.

"I take it everyone heard us fighting out in the cafe?" she asked, a little embarrassed.

Minako shook her head, "No, at least I don't think anyone did. It was pretty loud up front with all the people."

Usagi frowned in cofusion. She hadn't contacted any of her friends and she had left out the back exit, so no one would have seen her leave.

"Then how did you…?"

"Motoki. He saw you go into the back room and when you didn't come back out, I think he went to check on things. I'm assuming Mamoru must have told him that you guys had a fight and you took off."

Usagi nodded, looking down at her empty shot glass. Her emotions about the entire situation ping ponged from hurt to guilt and everything in between. Over the years she and Mamoru had their share of shouting matches, but those fights had always been over silly things. She kept thinking back to that last moment they had been arguing and the broken look on his face.

There hadn't been anything silly about this. This was different. This felt serious.

"You didn't see him?"

Minako shook her head again.

"He must have left the same way you did."

Usagi took a breath, the alcohol starting to numb her frayed nerves.

"You know that this wasn't really about you not working on some assignment, right?" Minako asked, as if it was an obvious observation.

Usagi gave her a blank look.

"Oh, come on Usagi, this was about you going out with Seijuro."

"You didn't hear him, Minako — he meant what he said," She let out an impatient sigh. "He called me infuriating and lazy — basically said I was wasting away my future."

Minako gave a huge eye-roll.

"Okay, I'm sure he meant all that and maybe about ten percent of this was over your 'future' or whatever. But, this was mainly about you going out with another guy."

Usagi thought back to earlier in the night when she and Mamoru saw each other for the first time since that kiss and how unaffected he had had been. Even when Seijuro asked her out, Mamoru remained stoney-faced. Then if there was any doubt as to how he viewed her, it was confirmed during their heated confrontation.

Usagi shook her head in irritation.

"I thought you guys believed he was Mamoru the monk or better yet, the 'secret man-whore," she said, throwing Minako's words back at her.

Minako tried to speak, but Usagi continued.

"Plus, we just established that Mamoru still thinks I'm the same annoying, childish Odango Atama. He has NO interest in me."

Minako's changing facial expressions made it clear she was debating whether it was worth arguing the point. Eventually, the fellow blonde relented, clearly deciding it was best to let it go.

"Okay..." Minako said, tapping her fingernails on the kitchen table. "Mamoru has spent years giving you a hard time about school work. But tonight, you threw a milkshake in his face for it," Minako said seriously. "Why? What was so different about this time?"

Usagi became very interested in the box of mint Oreo Crisps she was in the process of opening.

"...did it maybe have something to do with your photo assignment?"

Usagi's eyes went wide. No one knew about her summer project except…

"What else did Toki tell you?"

"Nothing…"

Minako was struggling to keep the guilty look off her face.

Usagi stared her friend down until she cracked.

"Okay! He may have mentioned that Mamoru likely hit on a sore spot, since you haven't taken any photos in like...forever."

Usagi threw the box of Oreo Crisps back on the table.

"I knew it! Toki is such a freaking gossip!"

But if Usagi was going to throw a tantrum, Minako could dish it right back.

"Hey! He did the right thing telling me!"

Usagi reached for the bottle of shochu to pour herself another shot, but Minako pulled it out of her reach.

"Oh no, you're going to listen to this while you're still somewhat sober, Tsukino Usagi!"

Usagi glared up at Minako, now regretting letting her into the house.

"I don't know what is going on with you and this summer project, but you love being a photographer…"

"That's not the..."

"You're the most self-indulgent person I know. If Mako bakes her famous cheesecake, you will happily eat the whole thing in one sitting. Last year, when the new Sailor V game came out, you played it for three hours straight." Usagi glared at Minako, but the girl was on a roll. "Or when you decided you wanted to fool around in the library with that exchange student you were dating, you dragged that guy into the stacks and got to third base, which I was so proud of you for by the way..."

"Minako, what is your point?!"

Minako fixed her with an annoyed look.

"Regardless of some stupid school assignment or university, you have always loved taking photos and until recently, that was all the reason you needed."

Usagi blinked, understanding finally settling in on her.

"We are what we do and we do what we love," Minako said seriously. "It's that simple. If you get school credit for being an amazing photographer, that's an added bonus, but your main reason for taking photos has always been because you love it."

Minako pushed the bottle of shochu back towards her.

"And that shouldn't change."

Usagi stared at her friend, a little bit in awe. It wasn't often that the bubbly, flirty Minako was the one to dole out the harsh reality checks.

"You know, this is usually Rei's department…"

Minako looked away a little uncomfortable.

"Yeah well, she tried to get me to seduce a gay guy earlier," She flipped her hair over her shoulder. "So, I can move in on her territory."

Usagi laughed, feeling some of the stress leave her. But, whether it was the alcohol or the memory of Minako's unsuccessful use of her 'fool-proof' technique, she found she couldn't quite stop. Suddenly they were both buckled over laughing at the table.

"I'll drink to that," Usagi said, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes. Minako nodded, picking up the bottle of shochu and pouring another shot for each of them.

They clinked glasses before throwing them back.

"Now that that's all out of the way, let's cut to the important stuff…" Minako said standing on slightly wobbly feet. "Where is your camera? I have to see this picture of Chiba shirtless and covered in chocolate milkshake!"

Usagi stood, going after her.

"No...Minako!"

"Oh c'mon, we could sell that! Do you know how many people would hang that in their bedrooms?"

Usagi laughed, really starting to feel the alcohol hit her.

"Okay, at least tell me what he looked like! He's like...cut isn't he? Did he have tattoos? Oooh or sexy scars?"

Usagi groaned, remembering Mamoru's utterly perfect physique.

"That good, huh?" Minako said eagerly.

Usagi shook her head.

"Come on, Bachelor Japan is about to start up, grab the snacks," she said and motioned to the Oreo Crisps and the Pocky as she bent over to grab the bottle and shot glasses.

"Fine." Minako threw her a look, "But this discussion is not over!"

They had been arguing again, as usual. Yet, the words they were actually saying fell deaf on her ears. She opened her mouth and threw another insult his way, feeling the need to get the last word.

Instead of retorting, he stepped closer.

Something in his eyes had shifted. She could feel his gaze; hot and angry and something else all together. Before she could take another breath, he had his lips on hers.

He kissed her roughly. She felt his teeth nip at her bottom lip, and, as if released, all the pent-up tension she had carried for him unleashed. Her hands snaked around his tense neck and yanked his head down lower — he responded by pinning her against the wall. The feeling of anger, frustration, and need was overwhelming. It was in the way his teeth pulled and his lips pressed and her own chest burned and it was exactly this moment when she realized they were still arguing, still trying to one-up each other.

She was desperate to win.

At that thought, her legs wrapped around him, pulling him flush against her with a moan into his mouth.

She tore at his shirt and he at hers. Never had she been so anxious to feel someone's skin. The air between them was practically boiling and she could see beads of sweat running down his chest. With a pop, his lips were ripped from hers and his eyes stared, challenging. She knew he was waiting for her to back down first. With slow, intense precision, he put his lips to the shell of her ear and whispered something she couldn't make out. She was too distracted by the feel of his hands running up her thighs and causing her to shiver all over in absolute anticipation…

A pain erupted in her gut, forcing her awake.

She let out a delayed yelp as she saw Luna land gracefully on the floor. There was nothing like being woken by a cat pouncing on your stomach.

"Ugh!" she growled, throwing back the sheets.

Usagi hadn't been back to the Crown or seen Mamoru since their fight over five days ago. But that didn't stop her from dreaming about him almost every night since. It had been yet another bad night of sleep, due to her recurring dreams of a certain despised black-haired undergraduate.

It didn't help that in her state of being half-awake she wasn't sure if she was more angry at the realization that she was still having sex dreams about Mamoru or the fact that she had woken up from one.

Don't be ridiculous. The sleep deprivation is messing with your head.

Rather than go through the motions of a cold shower, which she knew would not be effective this morning, she threw on a romper and grabbed her camera. She needed to get out of the house and get her mind off Mamoru.

Waking up half-aroused and dragging herself exhausted from bed right after sunrise had become a part of her new morning routine recently. Since she could rarely get back to sleep after the cold showers she was forcing herself into on a daily basis, she had started taking her camera and going for walks around the the city.

Usagi let out a yawn as she headed towards Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park. The sun had only risen an hour ago and she figured she should take advantage of the natural light, which was currently at its best, to photograph the empty park and it's many waterfalls, ponds, and ancient footpaths.

Since her chat with Minako, Usagi had gone back to photography with a renewed passion and while she despised her new sleep schedule, she found this time of day incredibly peaceful. This morning was no exception; she hadn't spotted another soul as she walked through the huge park and she found she enjoyed the solitude of it.

Usagi paused as the path opened up to a courtyard with several benches surrounding a small fountain clock at the center. She noticed how the early morning sun reflected off the fountain water in a way that made it look as though there were ribbons of gold just underneath the surface. She raised her camera and took the shot, hearing the sound of the shutter click. She walked around the fountain, getting pictures at various angles and as she snapped her fourth photograph, she heard the sound of running footsteps.

Before she could turn to see where they were coming from, something collided with her.

Her camera, still strapped around her neck, was knocked out of her hands and she felt herself falling face first towards the pavement. In reflex, she put her hands out to try and catch her fall. But, before her or her camera could make impact with the ground, something wrapped around her waist and pulled her back upright, steadying her.

Usagi stood there, feeling the pounding of her heartbeat. She became conscious that the thing around her waist was a strong arm and it was holding her against what felt like a warm body.

"Geeze Odango, you came out of nowhere."

Her breath immediately caught in her throat as she realized whose arm was now firmly holding her in place. Slowly, she turned around and looked up into the face of a slightly out of breath and sweaty Mamoru.

Her exhausted and traitorous mind noted how he resembled dream version Mamoru from the night before and she felt her cheeks flush.

Why does the universe hate me?

He slowly removed his arm and took a step back.

She observed the running shorts and t-shirt he wore. Clearly he was out for a morning jog.

Of course he goes for morning runs, Usagi thought as she remembered his well-toned muscles and flat stomach.

"I...I'm sorry for running into you," he said in a very polite tone that Usagi was unused to. "I was coming down the path and you stepped in front of me, just as I came into the courtyard."

He was acting differently towards her, she realized.

But then again, why wouldn't he?

The last time they had seen each other they had been screaming in each other's faces and it had been a fight with no winner.

The rawness of the argument was still there and she felt that mix of emotions that was starting to become commonplace whenever she thought of him; anger, frustration, desire and something akin to excitement. It all left her feeling a bit disoriented, and the lack of decent sleep wasn't helping.

So, she just silently nodded in acknowledgement of his apology.

Mamoru, for his part, also seemed to be struggling. His hand flew to the back of his neck in a nervous sort of way and was that a look of guilt she saw pass over his face?

"What…what are you doing out here so early?"

Usagi's exhausted brain considered for a moment what he would do if she told him the truth. 'Well, you see...I keep having nightly sex dreams that involve me climbing you like a tree. So, these early morning walks are my way of coping with the fact that I apparently want to have really really hot hate sex with my worst enemy.'

Instead she just gestured to her camera and said, "Getting some photos."

That didn't really answer his question, but he didn't press.

"What about you? You're out early too."

Usagi was trying to ignore how odd and a little uncomfortable this all felt.

He must have felt it as well, because he quickly looked away and ran a hand through his messy hair.

"I haven't been sleeping...that well."

Her eyes went wide.

Don't be stupid, Usagi. There are a million reasons people don't sleep well and most of them don't involve being a hentai like you.

She was a hentai, she thought miserably, and her reason for not sleeping well was standing in front of her. Then, to add insult to injury, when she wasn't dreaming about him — she was trying to actively avoid thinking about him and how horrible she felt after their fight. Now he literally runs into her in a massive and completely empty park at a ridiculous hour of the morning when no one is even awake yet. She couldn't escape him and that was what she wanted more than anything at this moment.

"Okay, well then...I'll leave you to it," she said, already thinking of the fastest route out of the park.

She started to walk towards the path he had just come down.

"Oda...Usagi…"

She slowly turned and looked back at him, wide-eyed. She couldn't remember a time he had ever called her by her given name.

"It...it was pretty clear that I crossed a line the other night," he said, sounding overly formal and distant, as though he was reading from a script. "I...I should have kept my opinions to myself."

Usagi was already feeling that familiar flame of irritation.

"Is that your way of trying to apologize?"

Mamoru snapped-to in a way that she recognized as him getting defensive.

"Well at least I'm trying here, unlike somebody who threw a milkshake in my face and ruined one of my favorite t-shirts."

A look of regret instantly crossed his features as the words left his mouth. Mamoru closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and tried again.

"I never intended to hurt you." he said, opening his eyes. "But I shouldn't have...said what I did.

He let out an audible breath.

"I'm...I'm...sorry for that."

Usagi shrugged, feeling the awkwardness of the conversation.

"It's not like it was a huge shock. I know you think I'm a lazy, dumb kid who doesn't deserve to go to university."

His eyes lit up in surprise.

"But...I don't think that."

The confusion must have been written all over her face because Mamoru let out another exasperated breath.

He combed his hand through his hair and turned his gaze upwards. It was strange to see the usually self-assured Mamoru look uncomfortable.

"Look, I'm not very good at expressing myself," he said, turning his gaze back on her. "And I think...I know...I failed to do that when we last spoke."

Usagi blinked at him.

She knew Mamoru would never apologize, unless he meant it and it was clear he did. But, she didn't want to let go of the grudge she had been holding over him, because without it, all that that would remain was a lot of confusing feelings that she didn't have the capacity to deal with.

When she didn't say anything, he looked at his feet as he struggled to verbalize something that clearly took all his efforts to get out.

"...And for the r...record...I have never thought for a second that you were a 'dumb kid."

He raised his head and she could have sworn she saw a flicker of the same vulnerability she had seen at the arcade flash across his face.

"Far from it."

A slight wind could have knocked her down at that exact moment.

In just a phrase, he had managed to unravel the last bit of that animosity she was desperately trying to cling to. His apology had disarmed her completely. Yet, she realized he was waiting for her to say something and she had absolutely no frame of reference for how to respond in a scenario where her and Mamoru were being nice to each other.

So she stuck with what she knew.

"Lazy still stands though, right?"

Mamoru let out a small laugh, the tightness in his posture loosening and his hands sliding into his pockets.

"I would be lying if I said that it hadn't crossed my mind a few times."

Usagi smiled; the tension had broken and she could breathe a little easier.

"I guess I can live with that, if you can be okay with me having thought you were a bit condescending...on occasion."

Mamoru, sensing a challenge, said, "Just on occasion?"

"I'm trying to be very generous here and not ruin the moment."

Mamoru let out a real laugh then. It sounded warm and deep and something truly genuine.

Usagi smiled. It was a rare thing to witness Mamoru laughing. And their light jabs made the moment feel a little more like familiar ground.

"I'm sorry too, for what I said to you." Usagi said, still a little uneasy but also like a weight had been lifted. "I'm also sorry about the milkshake and ruining your t-shirt."

Mamoru shrugged.

"Hopefully it made a good picture, at least…"

Usagi thought back to the printed photograph that was laying on her desk at home. She could barely look at it without feeling a tremendous amount of heartache and no small amount of responsibility.

"Maybe you'll show it to me someday?" he said, sounding a little shy.

Usagi raised her eyebrows at his request, feeling like it was more than just seeing a photo.

"Y...yeah...sure."

Mamoru let out a breath and took a step back.

"I should get going, but hopefully you'll get your chocolate milkshake fix tonight at the Crown."

Usagi laughed, "It will have to wait."

"Why's that?" he frowned.

"I have my uh..date, tonight. So I won't be there."

It was as if a switch had been flipped.

Mamoru straightened to his full height and the warmth that had been in his eyes vanished in an instant. His face changed back to the familiar mask of apathy and annoyance she was used to seeing.

"I guess I'll see you around, Odango Atama," his voice, back to it's dry tone, left Usagi feeling as though she had been roughly dragged back to reality.

She was about to respond, but he was already jogging away from her.

Usagi practically ran from the Shibuya metro exit, making her way past the many tourists and locals that had started to crowd Shibuya Crossing. She fought down her pedestrian rage as she walked as fast as she possibly could, overtaking slow moving families and obaasans as she navigated the high-traffic area.

She had made plans to meet Seijuro at 5:30 p.m. for an early meal since he had to leave the next morning for a music performance in Osaka. Per usual, she was running late. She blamed this on the fact that deciding what to wear on a first date is tricky under the best of circumstances, but trying to find something cute to wear that's also comfortable in 39 degree weather is practically impossible. It took her two hours, three outfit deliberations, and a suggestion from Rei that had finally led to the short dark blue summer dress with tie straps she was now wearing. However, it also meant that she was 15 minutes behind schedule.

Her stress over being late wasn't helped by the fact that she had been on edge all day. Her lack of sleep, the hot sexy dreams of Mamoru, and the unbelievable scorching weather had left her feeling like maybe Minako was right — she needed to get back in the dating game, or at least get a summer fling. Since her entire encounter with Mamoru earlier, she had felt thrown — making her even more convinced of that fact that she needed to surround herself with guys other than the ones she viewed as brothers (Motoki) and those that she didn't actively despise (Mamoru). Enter, Seijuro. He was a good looking, nice guy who seemed like he could be a potential boyfriend or whatever.

Usagi rushed through the door of the sushi restaurant, immediately scanning the spacious red and white room for a familiar head of strawberry blonde hair.

Now she just had to hope he didn't write her off, since she was late for their first date.

"Usagi?"

She turned to find Seijuro standing near a table by one of the back windows.

"Hi Seijuro, I'm so sorry for being late!" the words tumbling out of her mouth, rushed and panicked. "I hope you weren't waiting too long."

The tall boy looked a little amused by her somewhat loud entrance.

"Not at all! It's great to see you!"

After Usagi got a chance to catch her breath and down a glass of water, they placed their orders with the waiter and exchanged small talk. Quickly they ran through all the usual topics — the weather, her family, old mutual school friends — none of which they lingered on. Finally, the subject of his music performance came up and Usagi hoped it would lead to some proper conversation.

"It's really cool that you perform with this music ensemble and you get to play these events around Japan!"

Seijuro blushed.

"I guess it is. The travel can be a bit hectic, but I enjoy performing."

She nodded politely. But, when he didn't elaborate any further, she tried to pick up the conversation again.

"Have you only ever played the flute?"

"Yeah," Seijuro jovially, still not elaborating or helping carry the discussion.

Usagi looked over Seijuro who appeared happy to be there and out with her, but maybe he was nervous and that's why the conversation wasn't really flowing? She realized that all the conversations they had had until this point, was only ever been a few minutes long.

Maybe he needs a little time to open up.

"I'm jealous you can play a musical instrument. I can't even sing…completely tone-deaf."

He smiled warmly at her.

"I cannot imagine that's true."

She shook her head.

"No really, I can't carry a tune. When I was thirteen, I saw Phantom of the Opera and decided I wanted to be an opera singer for about a week. I was screeching around the house so much that the cat would run out every time I would start 'singing'." She laughed at the memory. "Finally, the neighbors made a noise complaint."

Seijuro just smiled that same warm smile, but no laughter...suppressed or otherwise.

Maybe it's not that funny.

"So, are you going to still be living in Azabu-Juban when you start at Tokyo Poly?"

Usagi grinned, relieved to not be the one asking a question.

"Yeah, I definitely cannot afford to move out at this point. Plus, even if I could, I think I would still want to stay in Azabu-Juban. It's just home, you know?

"Yeah, it's a great neighborhood."

Usagi's smile faltered, but she nodded along.

Come on, I'm giving you a ton to work with here. Why don't you tell me what you like about Azabu-Juban or tell me what your living situation is going to be.

When Seijuro didn't say anything more, she tried to pick up the conversation again.

"What about you? Are you going to move when you start at Waseda?"

She tried to make it sound natural, and not at all like she was struggling here.

"No, I'm in the same boat. I think I'm going to keep living with my Dad around here."

Usagi felt a little like banging her head against the table.

The discussion swung between odd lulls and not-so-interesting small talk for the rest of dinner. They just couldn't quite get into the same rhythm that usually felt so easy for Usagi when she was talking to...pretty much anyone else.

At one point, she had a small klutz attack and accidentally flung a huge chunk of wasabi from her chopstick onto the window they were sitting next to.

Rather than laugh or even make a good-humored joke about it, Seijuro politely took his napkin and cleaned it off before returning to their extremely banal conversation on a new coffee shop opening nearby.

For the first time in living memory, she was relieved when there was no more food to eat and that they could pay the bill.

The sun had just finished setting when Seijuro dropped her off at the metro station. "Good luck with the performance, tomorrow!" she said politely.

"Thanks, Usagi!"

She looked him over. He was a nice guy, but the date had been kind of a flop. They just didn't click. By the look on his face, she gathered he was having the same thoughts as her. At least they could still be on friendly terms when they would run into each other.

"Have a good night," they both said at the same time.

Usagi laughed and gave him a small wave good-bye.

Once she had passed the barriers, she let out an exhausted sigh, already dreaming about kicking her summer sandals off and curling up in her pajamas. She pulled out her phone and texted Minako.

"Heading back on the metro now...don't think it's going to work with Seijuro."

Usagi took a moment to think about what kind of guy would work for her. She didn't have a type, per se. All her past relationships, while intense at the time, had in hindsight been down to surging hormones and convenient timing. With the exception of one crushing break-up, the other two somewhat established relationships she had, had fizzled out after a month. Usagi thought of how those two guys were similar to Seijuro in that they were both nice and good-humored, but there hadn't really been any chemistry.

Her phone buzzed.

"Sorry to hear that! Do you want to stop in Aoyama on your way home and hang out?"

Usagi frowned at her phone. That was weird, Minako usually wanted to know all the details of how the date had gone wrong and what was said or not said.

"Thanks, but it's been a weird day and I have sleep to catch up on. "

Usagi's phone buzzed persistently at her as the Hanzomon line train pulled in and unloaded with passengers.

"Please! This cute bartender I met the other day gave me tickets to a show for TONIGHT, and I WANT to go see if he's working...but I CANNOT GO ALONE...obviously!"

Then another followed.

"Please be my wingman! You're already stopping over in Aoyama to transfer to the Oedo line anyway! All you need to do is leave the metro station :) :) :)"

Usagi let out a small groan as she stepped onto the train. All she wanted to do was go home, curl up with Luna, and watch TV until she passed out on the couch.

And of course Minako telepathically sensed her reluctance.

"I'll buy you a cheesecake crepe!"

Usagi glared at her phone. Her friends knew how to sway her into situations by simply tempting her with free sweet desserts. She should be mad, but that was usually difficult to do when she was midway through inhaling some delicious confection covered in whipped cream or chocolate. Plus, the whole night had been a bust, a free cheesecake crepe could go down well. She just hoped the music was decent.

"You're evil. I'll see you in a few minutes. Meet me at the station"

After a moment, she sent a follow-up.

"And I want strawberries on it too!"

Leave it to Minako to get free tickets from a bartender that worked at Moon Romantic. Out of all the live houses in Tokyo, Moon Romantic was by far one of the best music venues in the city. Musicians from all genres, be it local rock bands or established jazz artists jumped at the chance to play here. Usagi had never been to any live gigs before but even she was aware of Moon Romantic's reputation as a music hot spot.

As she followed Minako into the intimate venue, she looked around in wonder. The first thing to catch her eye was the massive full moon on the back wall directly above the stage. It served as a focal point for the entire music venue and further spotlighted the rock band that was performing. The room was filled with changing blue and gold lights, which created hues on the painted murals that decorated the overhanging bottom of the second level. While the interior felt almost serene, it was juxtaposed by the high energy atmosphere of the room. The two-level venue was heaving to the brim with about 200 people, most on the main floor, bobbing and swaying to the band, while others were huddled on the balcony level above.

"Okay, who is this guy that gave you the free tickets?"

Minako smiled, obviously pleased with herself.

"He's a friend of one of the models I occasionally work with and he showed up to one of our shoots, today."

Minako looked over towards the bar.

"He had some spare tickets on him so he gave me two…" Minako looked back at Usagi, "Because I said I had a friend who is a huge fan of the band."

Usagi's shoulders slumped.

"Let me guess — I'm the 'huge fan of the band'?"

Minako gave her a guilty grin.

"Hey, they're actually pretty good!"

They were pretty good and even though she was tired and being used as an excuse to advance Minako's path towards what would surely be another squeeze of the week — Usagi was transfixed by the place. Also, Minako had delivered on her promise of that cheesecake crepe before they came here.

"Okay, okay...let's' go see if your guy is working!" Usagi said, already moving towards the bar off the right of the stage.

As they got closer to the busy bar, Usagi noted there were two male bartenders working. Minako made straight for the one with wavy brown hair and a black button up shirt.

"What can I get for you...oh hey!" the bartender said. "Minako, right?"

Minako flashed him her perfect megawatt smile.

"That's it! And you're...Kenzo?"

The bartender's face lit up, obviously happy Minako remembered his name.

Usagi rolled her eyes.

As if he hadn't given her free tickets and she hadn't shown up explicitly to see him.

"Oh, this is my friend Usagi! She's the one I was telling you about, the one who's a big fan of the band!"

...and the pretense continues.

Usagi nodded in greeting.

"Nice to meet you!" he said jovially. "What can I get you two to drink?"

They ordered two chuhais before Usagi half-dragged Minako away from the bar so they could let the other patrons place orders.

"Thanks, Kenzo! Hopefully I'll see you later" Minako shouted over her shoulder, sounding totally neutral over whether she saw him later or not.

Usagi had always been half-fascinated and half-terrified of Minako's psychological dating games. Sometimes she would be super up front with a guy and make her intentions known. Other times she would sort of lay the 'bait' and see if they would take it.

This was further confirmed as Minako grinned giddily.

"Right okay, did what I needed to do. We'll see if he comes and finds me later."

Usagi let out a laugh.

More often than not they did, because Minako was a force of nature who had an unquenchable thirst for life and most guys were drawn to that like a magnet. The fact that she was a professional model didn't hurt either.

"Anyhow...so Seijuro is definitely a no-go?"

Usagi opened her can of chuhai and tried to think of the right words to describe the earlier part of her evening.

"You know how the color of love and passion is supposed to be red?"

"Yeah…"

"The color of my entire date with Seijuro was beige," Usagi said with finality.

Minako gave her a look of total understanding.

"I retract the question."

Usagi chuckled, feeling herself loosen up a bit. Her and Minako focused their attention on the band and she felt herself begin to really get into the music.

About half-way into her can of chuhai, she looked around the room and her eyes briefly glanced over to the second-level of the venue that overlooked the main floor and the stage. As her eyes came across two familiar looking figures, she choked on the drink.

"What's wrong?"

Usagi nodded her head in the direction of the balcony. There stood Mamoru and Motoki with a drink in each of their hands, bobbing along to the music.

"Oh, I guess you haven't really seen each other since the fight," Minako said carefully.

"Actually, I might have forgotten to mention that I have…"

Usagi then filled Minako in on her literal run-in with Mamoru in the park that morning.

Minako smacked her in the shoulder.

"Ouch! What was that for?!" she whined.

"How was this not the first thing you told me about when you got off the metro?!"

Usagi tried to say something in her defense, but she found she had very little to stand on. The truth was the whole exchange had upended how she viewed her and Mamoru's interactions. He was still Mamoru-baka and she was Odango Atama, right? She remembered how vulnerable he had looked when he had admitted he wasn't very good at expressing himself.

She thought back to what he had said.

I have never thought for a second that you were a dumb kid...far from it

Leave it to Mamoru to still be proving her wrong, even when he wasn't trying. How was she supposed to act around him?

"Well, hope you're okay with seeing him now."

"What?!" Usagi said looking back towards the second-level.

Motoki had seen them and was waving enthusiastically. She awkwardly waved back, as she watched Motoki nudge Mamoru and point towards her and Minako. Even from this distance, she could see the surprise on his face when he spotted them.

Then the inevitable happened. Motoki gestured to them to come up onto the second level.

Usagi glanced at Minako, a little panicked.

"You already ran into him this morning," the blonde said in a reassuring tone. "So, the awkward part is out of the way. This is just back to the usual routine."

The entire way across the floor and all the way up the stairs to the second level, Usagi kept thinking about the last moment she had seen Mamoru, right before he had literally run away. The change in attitude had been so drastic. One moment he was being awkward and kind of teasing, and the next, he was the same cold and indifferent Mamoru he had been before she'd thrown a milkshake in his face. She wondered which Mamoru she was going to encounter now.

"Hey, this is random!" Motoki greeted. "I had no idea you were a fan of this band!"

Usagi gave a pointed look to Minako, who had the decency to look a little embarrassed, "Oh yeah, apparently I'm a big fan of the band."

When Motoki gave them a questioning look, Minako just waved it off. "Inside joke. But, what brings you two here? On a Man Date, are we?"

Usagi finally looked at Mamoru, who was eyeing her with a puzzled expression.

"Speaking of dates...I thought you were out on one, Odango."

Usagi felt herself deflate a little. It looked like she knew which Mamoru she would get for the evening, after all.

"I already met up with him," she said sheepishly. "It didn't go that great."

Motoki stood up a little straighter, his face becoming serious. "He didn't try anything..."

"Easy there, Toki," Usagi said, appreciating the way her friend could very much take on the role of protective big brother. "He was a total gentleman. It just wasn't meant to be. The date was…"

"Beige, I believe was the word you used," Minako interrupted, looking hard at Mamoru, as she said it.

"Well, that sounds...bad?" Motoki asked, unsure of what to make of Minako's comment. "It's Mamoru's birthday tonight so I thought I would take him out to the show."

"It's your birthday?!" Usagi and Minako exclaimed in unison.

Mamoru put a hand behind his neck in a gesture Usagi was starting to become familiar with as a show of discomfort. It made sense; Mamoru was a private person and she got the sense he likely didn't make much of his birthday. This would have all been Motoki's doing.

"Yup, he's 21 as of today!" Motoki said with the characteristic Furuhata enthusiasm.

Mamoru rolled his eyes, but he smiled at his best friend's upbeat attitude.

"Happy birthday, Mamoru!" Minako said cheerily. "Oooh, let me buy you a drink!"

"Thanks Minako, but this should be my last one," he said, gesturing to the beer in his hand. "I have to drive home."

Minako muttered something about being 'lame and responsible,' but Usagi was pretty sure she was the only one that caught it.

"She's just looking for an excuse to go back and flirt with the bartender."

Minako put on a show of looking appalled.

"That is not true! I finished my drink and I want another one."

No one believed that for a second, but Motoki wanted another beer and volunteered to go with her.

"Just keep your distance, Toki..." Minako said sternly. "I don't want to scare him off because he thinks you and I are together."

While Minako and Motoki made their way back to the bar, Usagi became very aware that her and Mamoru were once again alone — in a manner of speaking.

As the music played, she realized they could skip any awkward small-talk because there was no need for it.

A faster paced song came on, and the audience erupted with excitement. She glanced over at Mamoru and was surprised to find him mouthing the words, along with the rest of the audience. It was such a contrast seeing him like this — no head buried in a book, no sour-faced expression. He appeared lighter and less reserved.

Chiba Mamoru is human after all.

After the song ended, Mamoru caught her staring.

"Oh god, what now, Odango?" he asked in a good-natured way.

"Nothing, just never would have pegged you for being into rock music," she replied, in a teasing tone.

He gave her his trademark smirk and leaned in so she could hear his response, "And I never pegged you for being a 'big fan' of the band."

Usagi rolled her eyes; she was going to have to pick up a record at this point.

"I like a lot of different types of music," he explained. "But, I don't usually come to live shows."

Usagi moved a little closer towards him, feeling his arm brush up against hers. "Why not?"

A smile tugged at his mouth.

"I'm not normally into big crowds. Typical introvert."

Usagi gave him a wide-eyed look and put her hand over her heart before saying, "You're an introvert?! Nooo."

Then he laughed that laugh again and she felt a shiver run up her spine.

"But, Toki got us tickets for my birthday and I gotta say...I'm having fun. The second level makes it more enjoyable. I don't think I could handle being in the thick of it down there," he gestured to the audience below them where everyone was shoulder to shoulder.

"Given how much you don't like crowds, I'm amazed you can handle being in the Crown these days," Usagi said, turning to face him. "It's been so packed, recently."

Before Mamoru could answer, someone rushed past them, accidentally knocking Usagi forward and smack dab into Mamoru. She felt his hands reflexively go to her hips to keep her upright. She looked up into his face, finding herself distracted by how blue his eyes really were.

She was hyper aware of his hands, which were still firmly on her waist and her body pressed up against his.

"Yeah, well...I guess I'm just used to the...people there."

Usagi inhaled. There was something in his voice that she couldn't quite put her finger on.

Before she could think too much more about it, Motoki and Minako returned from the bar, and she and Mamoru quickly moved away from one another.

The rest of the concert was a lot of fun and by the end, Usagi was happy Minako had lured her out. It was no surprise that she would have fun with Motoki and Minako, but she was pleasantly surprised to find that Mamoru could be so easygoing.

Usagi was a little sad when the band finished their encore and the lights to the venue started to flick on, signifying the end of the show. However, as the audience began to disperse, it became apparent that they were missing someone.

"Hey, where did Motoki go?" Mamoru asked, looking around the venue.

"Um…I'm not sure. He was trying to tell me something before he stepped out," Minako said innocently. "But I couldn't hear him over the music."

Usagi raised an eyebrow at her friend. Minako was a terrible liar.

"Oh..." Mamoru opened his phone, obviously having gotten a text from Motoki. "It looks like he got an emergency call about the cafe and had to go."

Was she imagining things, or was Mamoru blushing?

What was going on? And what emergency did Motoki have that he needed to run out on Mamoru during his birthday, Usagi thought a little annoyed.

That seems so unlike Toki.

Just as Usagi was about to suggest to Minako that they start making their way back towards the metro — during which time she would call Motoki for an explanation — a deep voice called out.

"Hey, Minako..."

The trio all turned to see Kenzo striding over, looking determined.

"Here we go..." Usagi said under her breath, causing Mamoru to look at her in bewilderment.

"Hey, Kenzo..." Minako said smiling.

"Hey, are you ready to go?" Kenzo looked at her and Mamoru, seeming to remember that Minako wasn't there alone. "Unless this isn't a good time! Happy to give you a call and see if you're free later this week."

"I'm so sorry!" Minako said, turning towards her. "He asked me out in the middle of the show and I thought Toki would still be here, so you guys could go home together."

Again, Usagi had known Minako long enough to know just how bad of a poker face the blonde had and something wasn't quite adding up.

"Kenzo, do you think we can reschedule?"

"Don't worry about it, Minako." Usagi didn't know what game her friend was playing, but she trusted she would find out later. "You should go out with Kenzo. I can catch the metro on my own."

At this, Minako looked a little irritated, making Usagi all the more confused.

"I can take you home, Odango."

Usagi whipped her head around so fast, she felt her pigtail slap Minako across the face.

"What?!"

"It's not a big deal, " He smirked. "Or are you scared of motorcycles?"

Usagi was rendered speechless, until she saw a huge grin break out onto Minako's face.

Then it dawned on her...this was what she had been hoping for. She doubted if Motoki even had a work emergency. But, before she could angrily shoot down the ludicrous idea, Minako beat her to the punch.

"She is so not scared of motorcycles, are you, Usagi?"

Usagi gritted her teeth. She didn't know what was worse; Minako's scheming or Mamoru indicating she was scared of riding on a stupid motorcycle. She decided she would deal with Minako later. Instead she met Mamoru's smart-ass smile with one of her own and said, "Why would I be scared of motorcycles? If you're the one driving, we'll be going ten miles under the speed limit, anyway."

Usagi watched in triumph as the smirk was quickly wiped from Mamoru's face. She was half-expecting him to rescind the offer, but now he had something to prove.

"You want a ride or not?" Mamoru mumbled unhappily.

Usagi could hear Minako giggling hard into Kenzo's shoulder as she picked up her purse and chased after Mamoru, who was already walking away.

"Kenzo, it was nice to meet you!" she shouted over her shoulder. "Minako — you and I are having words later!"

While he didn't drive under the speed limit, Mamoru appeared determined to keep to the exact speed limit as he navigated their way through late night traffic back to Azabu-Juban.

Being a stickler for safety, he not only gave her a spare helmet to wear, but insisted she put on his black leather motorcycle jacket "just in case" something went wrong. Usagi had complained about it being too hot to wear a jacket. However as they flew down the road, she was secretly grateful for it, as her bare legs were already breaking out in goosebumps.

It was incredible seeing the city like this, and she could understand why Mamoru probably preferred traveling by motorcycle instead of having a car. The feel of the wind around her body and the city lights still glittering around them as they drove through busy streets of people still out on the town — it was exhilarating.

And the closer they got home, the more she found she didn't want the ride to end. Her arms were wrapped tightly around Mamoru's waist and she could feel toned muscles under his thin t-shirt. The feel of his legs, covered by black skinny jeans, brushing up against her bare skin was almost too much for her to handle after the last week.

When they made their way into Azabu-Juban, Usagi directed him towards her street. There was no one else out in this part of the neighborhood and Usagi noted how pretty the glow of the street lamps were at this time.

As Mamoru pulled up to her house, he surprised her by killing the engine as soon as they stopped. He took his helmet off and seemed to read the question in her eyes.

"Don't want to wake anyone up," he said nervously glancing towards her house.

Oh.

"No one's home, if that's what you're worried about," she said, but the helmet muffled her voice.

Mamoru held out his hand to support her while she climbed off the bike and fumbled with the helmet. After a moment, he reached out to help her. Usagi went rigid, feeling his fingers slide under the helmet straps and across her neck. He easily undid the straps and pulled the helmet off her head, placing it back on the bike.

"What did you say?"

Usagi smiled at his hair, which was even messier than usual from the helmet.

"I said, 'no one's home if that's what you're worried about.' My folks are out of town until next week, chaperoning my younger brother's school trip. So there's no one to wake up." Usagi then looked around the street, "At least in my house."

She felt a little nervous now that they were here and she didn't know why. He was just dropping her off at home.

Yes, Usagi, the guy you have been having sex dreams about is dropping you off to an empty house...where you will be totally alone...

Usagi shook her head, trying to force her mind away from considering something too tempting.

Mamoru stood up off the bike and she became conscious of how close they were to each other. As he looked down at her, she observed, for probably the millionth time, just how tall he was. She also noted that in typical Mamoru fashion, he looked completely unruffled from being on a motorcycle. The casual grey button up shirt he wore over his blue t-shirt was wrinkle free and he didn't look like he was even sweating. His hair was the only unkempt thing about him and she noted with some injustice that it only made him look sexier.

It was completely unfair, considering how tangled her own pigtails were from the whipping around in the wind all the way home.

Without the roar of the motorcycle in her ears, she could hear the crickets chirping and the sound of not too distant traffic. Otherwise, there were no cars coming down the street, no pedestrians nearby.

His hand reached up to finger the collar of his motorcycle jacket, which she was still wearing. She realized with some embarrassment that he was waiting for her to take it off.

"Sorry, you probably need that back," she said, realizing how thick her voice sounded, and shed the black leather jacket from her shoulders. As she handed the jacket back to him, she tried not to think about how her dress could be shed just as fast.

What is wrong with you? Keep it in your pants!

Mamoru smiled and took it from her.

"Fast enough for you, Odango?"

Usagi swallowed hard, but then she realized he was talking about the motorcycle.

"I mean...I guess it was faster than you normally drive. But, you could maybe go over the speed limit once in a while."

He laughed and she found she could get used to that sound.

She could feel his breath on her face as he looked down at her and she swore his eyes darkened. Usagi's gaze went to his lips and remembered what it had been like to have them pressed up against hers. He was only a few inches away, she just needed to push up on her toes and...

A loud beep emitted from her purse, breaking the moment.

Usagi let out a long breath, silently cursing whoever was texting her.

Mamoru took a small step back, smiling wistfully at her now.

"I better get going."

With some disappointment, she watched as he climbed back on his bike. Before he could put his helmet back on, she called out to him.

"Hey, Mamoru!"

Usagi didn't really know what she was doing—she just felt the urge to keep him there a little longer.

His expression was indecipherable as he waited for her to say something.

There was only one thing she could think of.

"I didn't get a chance to say it earlier, but..." she said softly, "Happy Birthday."

The look on his face was enough to root her feet to the ground. There was such a bittersweet intensity about him that she was almost scared to breathe. But after a second, it vanished.

"Thanks, Odango," Mamoru smiled. "It was a good birthday."

With that, he put his helmet back on and started the engine. After giving her a final wave, he drove off.

As Usagi watched him go, she thought back to the second part of the night and how much things had changed about her perceptions of Mamoru in just the span of a day. It was as though her and Mamoru were entering into unchartered territory. She could still feel the trace touch of his fingertips on her throat and without warning, she found herself thinking...red, deep, bright, brilliant red.

Then as quickly as the thought came, so did the shock at what it meant.

"Crap."

Chapter Text

The glass doors opened at the front of the cafe, indicating the arrival of a customer. Usagi, in an almost automatic response, immediately raised herself out of the booth to see who was walking in. Upon spotting two teenage boys enter, she dropped back into her seat with a light thud.

"Usagi, that's the fourth time in fifteen minutes," Rei said. "Are you waiting for someone?"

Usagi shrugged her shoulders in a way she hoped was convincing, "Naru said she might drop by."

Nearly a week had passed since the outing at Moon Romantic and the almost maybe possible kiss that never happened with Mamoru. Yet, Usagi could not stop thinking about what might have occurred had her cell phone provider NOT texted her at that extremely pivotal moment to offer a discounted plan if she purchased the latest iPhone.

She should have been relieved. Kissing Mamoru could have been catastrophic to their relationship...or whatever.

But instead, her mind kept returning to that near physical ache she had felt as she watched him ride away that night. She knew what that feeling was — she hadn't wanted him to leave and that was not good. Because that meant everything she had been feeling wasn't just sexual frustration and confusing dreams clouding her impressions of Mamoru-baka.

Maybe, just maybe...she might be starting to like him.

Or maybe it was just a lapse in judgment after a very bad date, she rationalized.

What made the internal debate over her 'potential new feelings' for Mamoru all the more annoying was that she hadn't seen him since that night, so she couldn't confirm if it had all just been a one-off. Usagi and her friends had practically been living at the Crown nearly every day and she hated to admit that she had kept an eye out for him — always sitting facing the door to see if he dropped in or making a point to linger by the bar in case he was hiding in the corner with a book.

But after the fourth day of the Crown being Mamoru-free, she was starting to worry that he might be avoiding her. As ridiculous and self-obsessed as that sounded, she couldn't think of any other reason why he would stay away from his continuous supply of coffee.

"Okay, I have...one double chocolate milk shake, two strawberry shakes, one melon soda float, and a scoop of green tea ice cream," Unazuki said, setting down their orders.

Usagi was already greedily sipping on her frozen chocolatey drink when she heard Unazuki ask if they all had plans that Friday.

"Probably the same as tonight," Rei said, daintily taking a bite of her ice cream. "Why? Is there something going on?"

An excited smile broke out onto Unazuki's face.

"Motoki is throwing a party that night to celebrate finishing his finals..."

That caught Usagi's attention.

"Finals?" she interrupted.

"Yeah, it's the end of summer term at Keio, so 'Toki and Mamoru have been heads down studying for final exams and finishing term papers."

Usagi nodded in understanding.

Of course!

It made more sense that studying and tests were the reason Mamoru hadn't been seen lately rather than him avoiding her, the Odango Atama.

"That sounds fun!" Minako said brightly. "Will it be here?"

"That's the exciting part!" Unazuki said, leaning in. "Mamoru's apartment building has an open rooftop and 'Toki convinced him to let us have it there!"

Usagi was glad she wasn't the only one looking blankly at the younger Furuhata. All of her friends also looked fairly surprised.

"Yeah, I know Mamoru is not a party person," Unazuki said, responding to their unanswered question. "But, Motoki bribed him with free coffee for a month and the promise to do all party clean up...so can I count you guys in?"

"Are we sure this is the right address?" Makoto asked, plainly impressed as she looked up at the tall, modern apartment complex.

Ami consulted the information Unazuki had texted to her and looked at the number on the building once more.

"This appears to be it."

The heatwave hadn't let up in the last two weeks, but that day had been especially brutal. So the girls had all opted not to leave for the party until the sun had started to set. Usagi felt her hair to see if her buns were still intact and Minako handed her a blotting pad for her face.

"I hope there is a breeze on this rooftop," Rei said aloud as she ran a hand over her sweaty brow.

The girls sighed in relief as they stepped into the luxurious air conditioned lobby. Minako and Rei's heels clacked on the marble floors as they passed by a cozy seating area with swanky looking furniture. A smart-looking man in a jacket and tie greeted them from behind a small desk.

Usagi had never given much thought to where Mamoru lived after all these years, only knowing that it was walking distance to the Crown. She never would have imagined this, though.

"Told you he was loaded," Minako whispered.

After explaining they were there for Chiba Mamoru's party, the man politely directed them to take the elevator to the top floor and then to climb a set of stairs, which would be immediately to their left.

As they began to ascend in the elevator, Usagi found herself fidgeting. Whether it was nervously smoothing out the high waisted pink skirt she was wearing or twisting a strand of hair between her fingers, she couldn't seem to keep still.

"Are you okay?" Ami asked, concerned.

"Yeah, just a little claustrophobic."

Rei raised an eyebrow.

"Since when are you claustrophobic?"

Thankfully, at that exact moment the elevator arrived at the top floor and the question was forgotten.

The spacious rooftop was already crowded with people happily chatting, laughing, and drinking as they stepped back into the daylight. J-pop blasted through multiple bluetooth speakers, drowning out the din of the city below. Fairy lights had been strung around the enclosure of the roof and a long table acted as a self-serve bar. All of this was set against the incredible view that was Tokyo Tower, its night time lights already illuminating the darkening sky. But the best part was the cool breeze that blew gently across the rooftop — an instant remedy to the heat and humidity they had just walked through.

"Whoa!" Makoto exclaimed. "What a set up!"

"This literally looks like something off a Pinterest board," Usagi said, already pulling her camera out of her bag to snap a few photos.

"Okay there paparazzo…" Rei said, placing a hand on Usagi's shoulder. "Let's at least say hello and get a drink before you go all shutterbug on us."

Usagi put the camera around her neck and followed Rei into the crowd.

"Guys! I'm so glad you made it!" greeted an upbeat Unazuki.

"Unazuki, this place looks amazing!" Ami said.

The brunette blushed at the compliment.

"Thanks, it wasn't easy. It took about two hours and I had to have 'Toki and Mamoru heave the drinks table from the Crown all the way here," she sighed. "But I think it turned out alright."

The girls all nodded in agreement.

"So where are Motoki and Mamoru?" Usagi asked, trying to sound inconspicuous.

Unazuki looked around behind her. "'Toki is over there, drinking to his freedom from exams…"

Sure enough, Usagi spotted her sandy haired friend having a beer with two people she didn't recognize.

"...and Mamoru ran downstairs to get more ice, so he should be back in a minute. Anyhow, grab a drink over there," Unazuki said, gesturing to the table. "If you need to use the restroom, head back down the stairs and Mamoru's apartment is 11B. The door should be unlocked."

Unazuki then excused herself to say hello to a newly arrived guest.

"Drinks?" Makoto said in question to the group.

"I'll wait. I want to get a few more photos while the sun is still setting," she said, already stepping away.

That was half-true. The view was stunning and Usagi wanted to take the opportunity to capture it, but it was also a convenient excuse to try and calm her nerves before she saw Mamoru. She just needed a moment to get her bearings and take a breath. At least with taking photographs, her mind had something else to focus on.

Most of the party-goers looked to be students at Keio and from the conversations Usagi could overhear, a lot of them had walked to the party as soon as their finals had been completed.

"I'm impressed you brought your camera," said a teasing voice behind her. Usagi smiled and turned towards Motoki, who definitely had the look of someone that hadn't slept much over the last few days.

"You look like crap," Usagi said, matching his teasing tone.

"I just took three exams and had to submit two papers in the span of three days...of course I look like crap!" he said, taking a long sip of his beer. "Plus, this is my third beer."

Usagi chuckled, continuing to look through the viewfinder of her camera as she took various shots of the party.

"So, how is the summer assignment going then?" Motoki asked in a careful tone.

Usagi glanced over at him before turning her attention back to the camera.

"I've been taking photos, but I haven't really thought too much about what to submit."

She spied a couple in a far off corner of the rooftop making out against one of the enclosures.

Motoki evidently observed the same couple.

"The heatwave continues to work it's spell and combined with the high of finishing the term..." he said, taking a swig of his beer. "...I'm sure that's far from the last you will see of people going at it, tonight."

Motoki was right. Usagi could see the light touches and caresses that were casually exchanged among the party-goers. Whether it was a brush of someones arm while in mid-conversation or a hand on a shoulder, sex was definitely in the air.

"I guess I'm not surprised. I've gotten a lot of similar photos over the last few weeks."

Motoki looked thoughtful.

"It's not a bad idea for a project submission, actually."

Usagi shook her head, vehemently.

"My first photo assignment cannot be people all over each other in public spaces."

"Why not? Isn't photography about spotlighting emotions and human nature?" Motoki asked. "This is part of that."

Usagi rolled her eyes.

"Being a psychology major really suits you, 'Toki."

"I'll take that as a compliment. I'm glad Unazuki got you the invite by the way." He looked around the party, "Is it just you or did the...others come too?"

Usagi was distractedly looking through her viewfinder again as she scanned the area by the drinks table.

"Yeah, they just went to grab a..." she trailed off as her camera focused in on the back of a tall familiar figure with untidy black hair, unloading a bag of ice into the cooler. Through the viewfinder, she watched as he stood up straight, her gaze wandering over the back of his strong neck and his shoulder blades, visible through his black t-shirt. There was no mistaking that it was Mamoru. Almost as if he could sense her stare, he slowly turned around, looking in her direction.

She lowered her camera, her eyes meeting his.

What now? Do I wave? Or call out a teasing remark? Should I walk over there?

Despite all her nervous energy over seeing him again, she hadn't actually planned out what she would do or say. She had just sort of assumed there would be an opportunity to talk to him and she would gauge from there where things stood.

But, before she could even consider what her move should be, a female guest approached him and soon he was focusing his attention elsewhere. She felt a twinge of inadequacy as she noted the woman's killer body, which was accentuated by the stylish purple dress she wore.

"Usagi?"

She turned back to Motoki who was giving her with a knowing look.

"Sorry, I um...zoned out there for a second," Usagi said fidgeting with her camera. "What did you ask?"

Motoki looked around a little awkwardly.

"Nothing important, I was just wondering if you came here with the girls, that's all."

"Oh yeah!" Usagi recovered, "They just went to grab a drink."

She turned the conversation back towards Motoki by asking him how his finals went and what type of classes he was hoping to take next term. After a few minutes, a couple of Motoki's other classmates joined the conversation and Usagi peeled away to go find the girls.

As the sun was getting lower, the light across the rooftop shifted from a golden hue to more muted shadows. The fairy lights shone brighter and people moved closer as the party became more crammed with people. Everyone had a drink in their hand and Usagi tried to avoid knocking people while she squeezed through the thick crowd.

She located her friends on the edge of one of the enclosures, the view from this part of the rooftop didn't include Tokyo Tower, but you could see several of the foreign embassies and if Usagi looked really hard she thought she could spot the edges of Arisugawa-no-miya Memorial Park in the distance.

Makoto was in deep conversation with Kobayashi, a friend of Motoki and Mamoru, while Rei looked bored as she sipped on her beer and listened to a guy with a blonde ponytail talk her ear off about his family's yacht.

Usagi made her way over to Minako and Ami, who looked like they were people watching.

"What are you two up to?"

"Making bets on who is majoring in what."

Usagi gave Minako a questioning glance.

"Just by looking at them?"

Minako smiled in response. "Wanna play?"

Usagi laughed as she listened to Minako and Ami make arguments for whether a guy with spiky orange hair and a FLiP band t-shirt was a Gender Studies major or a Robotics Engineering student.

"He just looks like a robotics engineer to me," Minako said.

"How many robotics engineers have you met?" Ami deadpanned.

It was at about this point that something made Usagi glance up. Mamoru was gazing her way from across the rooftop. Yet, he was talking to another pretty girl, this one with a sophisticated side braid.

A few minutes later, he stepped away from the girl and appeared to be making his way slowly towards Usagi's side of the roof.

She took a big breath.

This is not weird. I can do this.

But, before he could make it even half-way, something went spectacularly wrong. A tall, gorgeous woman with long brown hair made a straight line for Mamoru and threw her arms around him in a big embrace.

Usagi gasped out loud, but no one noticed since all her friends and a good chunk of attendees were also watching the scene unfold.

She felt the nerves and anxiety that had been built up all week change into a hot churning knot in her stomach as she watched this woman speak animatedly to Mamoru. They clearly knew each other well.

At that fortuitous moment, Motoki walked over.

"Hey 'Toki, who is the girl talking to Mamoru?" Usagi asked, not even giving her friend a chance to say 'hi' to Makoto and Kobayashi.

Motoki looked in the direction Usagi was pointing.

"Oh, that's Anna. She's a graduate student from Wales. She's doing um…" 'Toki snapped his fingers as though he had lost his train of thought, "some sort of summer exchange program at Keio."

I can't catch a break tonight.

Usagi watched Anna take something out of her bag and give it to Mamoru, who proceeded to let out a big hearty laugh.

"What the hell is that?" Minako asked,

It was massive and orange.

"I think that's a..."Ami said squinting, "carrot."

"It's huge!" Makoto exclaimed. "Is it me or does it look more like..."

"Nope, it's definitely not you," Minako said soberly. "That is a carrot that looks like it will make every man here feel inadequate."

Normally Usagi would probably laugh at this. Instead, it only added fuel to the fire. She couldn't compete with these girls, especially tall, leggy, British graduate students who made him laugh. Then to top it off, she shows up to the party with a carrot — only the worst food known to mankind?

"Who the hell brings a carrot to a party?!" she said, as if the action was a personal affront.

One by one — Makoto, Motoki, Ami, Kobayashi, Rei, Blond Ponytail Dude, and even Minako all looked at her as though she had lost it.

Great, now I'm the crazy lady at the party and I'm not even the one brandishing penis shaped carrots at the host.

"I'm getting a drink," she sighed.

Usagi slouched over to the drinks table and began making herself a shochu and soda.

What had she been expecting? She had known for years that Mamoru had a huge fan club of people. She had even bore witness to a couple of excruciatingly uncomfortable confessions he had received over the years. It should be no surprise that this was also the case among his very attractive and probably brilliant classmates.She could guarantee none of them had apologized to lamp poles after bumping into them, or flung chunks of wasabi at windows when they were on a date. They also probably managed to get all the food they ate in their mouths and stay awake through entire documentaries — even the ones that went for three hours.

She looked out at the view of Tokyo Tower in front of her — the sky was completely dark now, evening had officially come. There were so many lights on throughout the city, all pretty and shiny in the way that broke through the dark. Maybe that's all she was; just one of the many city lights in Mamoru's purview. She sighed, feeling much of the excitement and anticipation she had come here with tonight, slowly evaporate.

She poured herself a shot of shochu and downed it.

Then again, there were only a few short weeks left of summer and she was at a rooftop party with her best friends on a Friday night. She shouldn't let all that go to waste because of...carrots.

Usagi shook her head and grabbed her drink, moving out of the way so the two guys behind her could get to the liquor.

"...I think I did okay on the final but I doubt I'll get anywhere near the top mark of the class," said one guy with glasses to a taller boy next to him.

"You mean nowhere near Chiba's score?" Taller Boy replied.

Usagi stopped her movements.

"Yeah, probably nowhere near Chiba level," Glasses said disparagingly. "That guy is in a league of his own."

Usagi rolled her eyes and took a sip of her drink.

Was there no one at this party who was unimpressed by Mamoru?

"He must be. I heard that Professor Kamiyama even invited him to be one of his research assistants next term."

"What?! I thought those positions were only open to graduate students!" Glasses said, incredulous.

Usagi could see Taller Boy shake his head.

"Some people are just dealt a better hand. The guy is prettier than my sister and he lives in an apartment building with this view," Tall Boy replied, gesturing towards the remarkable sight of Tokyo Tower in front of them.

Usagi sympathized a little with the two nerdy guys. She was also a little bored of how perfect everyone seemed to think Mamoru was. No matter her current confusion over the guy, she refused to give him this much credit. After all, a few confusing weeks couldn't totally overlap the years of teasing between the two.

"I guess you have a point," Usagi said, piping up. "But you know it's always the 'perfect ones' that have the weird fetishes."

The two guys turned, seeing her for the first time.

"What do you mean?" Taller Boy asked, blushing a little as he faced her.

Usagi hesitated for a moment. She knew it wasn't good to talk about Mamoru behind his back to his fellow peers. But she wasn't going to say anything horrible…per se.

"He reads a TON of shoujo manga," Usagi said, fighting the urge to laugh at the irony, given how many times he had criticized her for that exact thing.

"Who?" Glasses asked a little wide eyed. "Chiba?"

Usagi nodded seriously.

Taller Boy stammered. "What...what kind of shoujo manga?"

She didn't even know why she thought of it. Suddenly it just popped into her brain and immediately out of her mouth.

"He's really into Yaoi manga."

Mmmaybe telling Mamoru's classmates that he has a 'thing' for man on man romance stories that are actually written for straight teenage girls is a tad too far...

Taller Boy and Glasses looked at her wide-eyed in both excitement and disbelief.

"How do you know that?" Glasses asked.

Usagi shrugged her shoulders.

"The same way I know that he has a big thing for magical female superheroes in super tiny skirts."

Where the hell am I even getting this?

Neither boy reacted much to that last one, though.

"Yeah, but a lot of guys do," Taller Boy said, awkwardly.

Ah, that did make sense.

But she was nothing if she couldn't think on her feet.

"Yeah, but do most guys like to wear the costumes of the super short-skirted superheroes?" Usagi tried not to laugh as both guys' jaws dropped. "Don't get me wrong, more power to him." Usagi said, proud of how casual she was managing to sound. "But he is definitely into some kinky stuff..."

Usagi stopped talking as both boys' eyes widened to the size of golf balls.

"Spreading false rumors about me, Odango?"

Whoops.

Usagi tried not to laugh as the two boys in front of her practically ran away, plainly intimidated. She then slowly turned around to find herself looking up into a familiar pair of blue eyes. Mamoru was inches away and looking down at her with obvious amusement.

"I don't know that they aren't true," Usagi said adamantly. "As far as I know, you totally spend your nights reading shoujo manga and have a female superhero costume kink."

Mamoru's face broke into a smile and she hated how it made her stomach flutter. After wondering for a whole week how she felt about the man, it was quickly becoming clear that something had changed.

"Well given how my apartment is currently open to everyone," he said in a daring tone, "you can go and see for yourself. But I doubt you'll find any manga on the book shelf."

She opened her mouth to retort, but he cut her off with, "...or any sexy costumes in my closet."

Usagi felt her cheeks flush and she wasn't sure if it was the shot of shochu she had taken or the fact that Mamoru had inadvertently invited her to go see his apartment. For a moment they just looked at each other, and Usagi felt at a loss for words. Finally, she broke her gaze and noticed he was still holding that damn carrot.

The thing really was huge.

"Nice...carrot."

Did I really just say that?

Mamoru looked down at the vegetable in his hand and laughed a little, not noticing the unintentional innuendo.

"My uh...friend brought it."

Usagi's chest tightened as he stumbled over the word 'friend'.

"Having fun?" he asked her.

Despite the fact that it was such a simple question, she felt like his eyes were boring into her, searching for something.

She nodded politely.

"Of course, are you?"

He smirked.

"Of course," he said, mimicking her.

"Even with your dislike of crowds?"

"Ah...well," Mamoru said, holding up his drink. "That is what the alcohol is for."

Usagi laughed, enjoying their slightly less antagonistic banter. Mamoru sounded less controlled than usual and maybe even a little flirtatious? She looked at the drink in his hand and wondered how many he had had.

"And how many do you need to drink to be comfortable in a crowd?"

Mamoru took a long sip before whispering, "I'll let you know when I find out."

She laughed and couldn't help but notice that Mamoru's eyes appeared brighter at the sound.

"Hey guys, sorry to interrupt…" Usagi turned to find Unazuki approaching them. "Mamoru, I think someone accidentally locked your apartment door and I need to use the restroom."

Mamoru looked back at Usagi, and was she imagining things or was that a look of disappointment on his face?

"I'll be right back," he said before following Unazuki towards the rooftop entrance.

Usagi took a long sip of her drink, watching Mamoru walk away.

Then she turned her attention back to the rest of the party, looking for where her friends were currently located. As her eyes skimmed past three familiar figures, she did a near double take.

Standing huddled together on the other side of the roof were the Evil Three — all of whom were watching her. As Usagi met Natsumi's insidious amber eyes from across the party, the auburn haired girl raised her glass to Usagi as if to toast her, before disappearing with her two minions into the thick of the crowd.

Usagi tried to put the Evil Three out of her mind as she continued to scan the party for her friends. She could already feel the fuzzy effects of the alcohol.

She moved towards the outer edges of the crowd and found Motoki leaning up against the roof enclosure where she had last seen the girls. Motoki's blue skinny jeans and white collared shirt looked more rumpled than when she had last seen him and it struck her as a little odd that he was by himself.

"Hey 'Toki, do you know where the girls went?"

Motoki looked at her and she was surprised to see that he looked almost sad. He took a particularly large gulp off his beer before responding.

"No...I mean, yeah..." he grumbled. "Mako, is over there…" he said pointing with his free hand. Usagi turned and sure enough there was Makoto about twenty feet away laughing at something Kobayashi was saying.

"...still talking to Kobayashi," Motoki finished. "You know, he's my friend and she's..."

"My friend?" Usagi asked with a small smile.

"It's complicated, Usa. It's just stupid...and complicated...and I'm an idiot."

Usagi stared at him in concern.

Maybe it had been a harder week than he was letting on…

She gently took the bottle of beer out of Motoki's hand, which he was in the process of knocking back.

"Alright, 'Toki, I think you've had enough for the night."

Usagi placed the beer out of his sight.

Motoki laughed almost as if he were in on a joke that she wasn't privy to.

"This little dance you and him have been doing…"

It took a moment for Usagi to understand the last phrase Motoki had spoken.

"What are you talking about?"

Motoki yawned, "You two are so ridiculous…"

Usagi looked at Motoki curiously. In her few times seeing him hammered, he had always been more of a happy-go-lucky drunk.

"Hey Motoki, are you doing okay?" a voice called out.

She and Motoki looked up to see Anna, the carrot gifting exchange student, standing in front of them.

Just what this moment needs right now.

"He's fine, he's just had too much to drink," the edge in her voice was apparent.

But Anna wasn't paying attention. Instead she was fumbling through the sizable purse she had on her shoulder, as if searching for something. After a moment, she pulled out an unopened plastic bottle of water.

"Here, you should drink some water."

Motoki took the water without hesitation and mumbled a drunken thank you before sitting down on the ground between the two girls.

"This is Anna," Motoki said. "She was the one who brought the carrot penis."

Anna looked a little confused and said something to Motoki in English. Usagi realized he had translated "carrot penis" because the brunette immediately broke into unstoppable, yet embarrassed laughter.

Usagi refused to admit how endearing it was.

"I haven't been in Japan very long and I think one of the undergraduates thought it would be funny to play a...prank...on me," she said with a thick accent and through peels of laughter. "They told me it's customary in Japan to bring a large vegetable to someone's home when visiting for the first time."

Usagi tried, she really did, but she could not hold back the huge laugh that escaped her. It must have been contagious because soon Motoki and Anna were laughing along with her. She didn't know if it was the laughter, the alcohol, or a combination of the two, but in that moment she surrendered any attempts to dislike the woman in front of her.

"My name is Usagi," she said with a wide smile. "It's nice to meet you."

Anna smiled and eyed the camera around her neck.

"Is that a Nikon?"

Usagi was surprised, "Yes, do you have an interest in photography?"

Anna immediately became a bit more shy. She turned to Motoki to ask for a translation of something and giggled. Motoki was sitting on the ground, dozing against the enclosure.

"I have an interest but mainly...because my...friend is a sports photographer," she said, pausing to think of the correct words.

"That sounds incredible! Do you have a camera too?"

"Yes...it's an Olympus ACE-E. I like…" Anna stumbled for a second, again trying to think of the right words. "...not digital cameras," she finished.

Usagi jumped a little in excitement.

"Film cameras! Yes, I honestly love both digital and film. I think it's crazy that people try and make it one or the other when they're both great for different things!"

Anna nodded enthusiastically, "I agree…my...friend gave me the camera and the film is good for...photos with lots of daylight and they are sharper...but with digital there is more...editing?"

Usagi nodded, understanding she was trying to say "creative control."

Usagi hadn't had the chance to really talk about the in-depth technicality of photography in months, so she was thrilled to have someone to discuss it with. Even though it involved her very poor English and Anna's not quite fluent Japanese, they happily talked about different camera types for a good fifteen minutes before Ami and two Keio students joined them.

The conversation then drifted between photography, medical research, and the best conbini for honey toast in the neighborhood. Motoki continued to snore blissfully through all the people talking over him. Before Usagi knew it, an hour had flown by.

"I'm just going to get another drink," Usagi said, giggling. "I'll be right back."

Usagi walked back across the rooftop in a slightly more clumsy way than she had earlier.

At some point in the last hour, people had started dancing and Usagi laughed as she caught sight of Rei trying to awkwardly dance away from the Gender Studies/Robotic Engineering major who was thrashing around on the dance floor near her.

The drinks table had the look of something that had been severely picked over. The cooler, which had been crammed full of ice and canned drinks an hour earlier, was now full of melted water and a few sad looking cans. The many plastic and glass bottles of liquor were about half full and a small stack of clean unused cups for mix drinks remained.

She fished a can of chuhai out of the cooler and surveyed the rest of the party. For the first time that evening, she realized she was having a good time and it felt like a bit of a relief. Maybe it was a good thing she hadn't run into Mamoru again. Now she could just enjoy talking with new people, hanging out with her friends and have a night free of dealing with complicated feelings. At least that's what her tipsy brain was telling her.

As she made her way back towards Anna, Ami and the others — she realized that their group of four or five had grown to about nine. Among the new additions were Minako, Makoto, and Kobayashi. Everyone was gathered around Minako, who looked to be giving instructions.

"Alright everyone, the game of Truth or Drink is simple — one person gets to ask the group a question and whoever refuses to answer the question has to drink!"

Usagi should have anticipated this. Minako loved drinking games. In her opinion, it was one of the few 'socially acceptable' ways to find out about strangers' personal lives, which Minako was endlessly fascinated by.

Even intoxicated, Ami still looked at Minako skeptically.

"Just one person gets to ask the questions?"

"We will cycle through who is asking the questions," Minako said way more sober than Usagi would have expected. "In fact, Ami you can go first."

Ami thought hard for a second before finally asking, "Where is your favorite place to study?"

Usagi could have sworn she saw Minako facepalm, out of the corner of her eye.

"Ami, come on!"

Everyone chuckled, amused at the exchange between the two friends.

"Okay, fine…" Ami said giving in. "How old were you when you had your first kiss?"

No one took a drink and everyone answered the question. The next person to step up was the girl with the side braid who Usagi had seen talking to Mamoru earlier. She had learned over the last few minutes that her name was Teiru, and she was a first year at Keio who struck her as very poised.

"Who is the person you imagine most when you masturbate?"

Usagi actually spluttered in surprise. Then she blushed furiously. There was definitely no way she could answer that question, and apparently almost everyone else agreed because all participants (with the exception of Minako) opted to drink.

"Now that's a Truth or Drink question!" Minako said excitedly.

The game continued with a lot of laughter, embarassed looks, and no small amount of elbowing between Makoto and Minako when it came to answering specific questions. That was the down side of the game. When you played with those close to you, they knew just what questions to ask to ensure you were drinking more than you were sharing.

Yet when Usagi got up and asked what she thought was the fairly innocuous question of, "When was the last time you had sex?," she was surprised to see Mako and Ami look equally uncomfortable before drinking. Minako, to no one's surprise, proudly announced she had "engaged in intercourse just last week."

Otherwise, everyone was having fun and there were some great stories that people would not have shared under normal circumstances. Usagi glanced down at the still snoozing Motoki and thought about just how mad he was going to be when he realized he missed out on this golden opportunity to hear this much dirt on his classmates

After about twenty minutes into the game, Usagi could feel the heaviness of alcohol on her body. She looked around happily at her friends who appeared to be in a similar state. She also realized that the group had been joined by a few new people.

"Heeyyy! You guys wanna play...Truth...or Drink?" a drunk undergraduate asked the newcomers.

"I think we can guess what you have been doing more out of those two, eh Reo?" Mamoru said, laughing.

The buzzkill was almost instantaneous as Usagi turned to look over at Mamoru, who was standing next to Unazuki and her girlfriend, Mei.

She couldn't be drunk in front of Mamoru, that was a dangerous combination. She would be too giggly or too inclined to say things she shouldn't say.

"Oooh that sounds like fun!" Unazuki said excitedly, but then caught sight of her older brother snoring at the center of the group and seemed to think better of it. "Or maybe…later…"

Teiru called out, "What about you, Mamoru?"

Usagi noted how her voice was a little higher than it was a moments before, when she had asked everyone who their weirdest celebrity crush was.

"It's not really my type of game."

Anna smiled up at Mamoru in a way that made Usagi want to look away.

"Oh come on Mamoru, it's all in good fun," or something like that from the little English Usagi could translate.

Mamoru responded with something in English that Usagi couldn't follow.

"Typical Chiba, all reserved even after a few drinks. But hey, I would be too if I had a big thing for Yaoi manga."

There was a round of laughter, and it took a second for Usagi's brain to catch up to what Reo had just said. By the time it had, she could already see Mamoru turning around to face her. The look on his face just said, 'Are you kidding me?'

Usagi could not help the laugh that escaped her. Her hand flew to her mouth to try and keep it in, which only earned a huge glare from Mamoru. She couldn't believe that stupid lie had actually circulated the entire party and why that was the bigger news instead of him wearing short fukus in his off time.

"Obviously, someone has been spreading rumors about me!"

Usagi caught the look of determination on his face. He was not going to take this lying down.

"Tell you what...since Odango seems to know so much about me, I challenge her to a drinking game."

Whatever she had been expecting, this had not been it. Maybe Mamoru was a lot more far gone than he appeared. But she had never backed down from a challenge when it came to Mamoru and she wasn't going to start now, even if she was five drinks in.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, trying to focus on sounding more sober than she was.

"Unazuki over here..." he said nodding a little unsteadily towards the younger Furuhata, "...can ask three questions about me." He looked back at Usagi. "And for every question you get wrong, you take a shot."

Usagi looked over to Minako, Ami, and Makoto, who all looked a little taken aback by this situation. The famously private Chiba Mamoru was challenging her to a drinking game where she had to answer questions about him?!

"And what if she gets the answer right?" Minako asked, visibly intrigued.

Mamoru chuckled at the suggestion.

"Tell you what...if Odango answers something right, I'll take three shots."

Usagi hiccuped as she narrowed her eyes.

"You're pretty confident that I don't know anything about you."

A cool breeze swept through the rooftop, causing Usagi's hair to blow forward and around Mamoru. He stepped forward, brushing one of her pigtails back behind her shoulder, his fingertips grazing along her skin.

Mamoru leaned forward in a daring manner.

"So prove me wrong."

Usagi wished she could slap herself in the face for the involuntary shiver that ran up the length of her body.

She felt herself flush, conscious that they had a pretty sizable audience. There was no way he would do something like this if he was sober.

"That's still not fair though. How will anyone know if you're answering truthfully?" Makoto asked.

"I can probably tell you that."

Everyone looked down towards a drowsy Motoki, who appeared slightly more sober and looking like a human version of an unmade bed.

"At least for most things."

Once there was consensus on Motoki refereeing, Mei took out a bottle of vodka from the tote bag on her arm, along with a cheap plastic shot glass. Evidently her and Unazuki had just come back from an alcohol run. She placed it on the ground between Mamoru and Usagi.

Usagi looked down at the bottle of vodka with a look of disgust. She hated vodka.

The rest of the group took a few steps back, leaving Usagi and Mamoru to face each other.

"I can't believe you're doing this," she said hiccuping.

"Well between your assumptions about my personal life and the fact that my classmates now think that I'm an otome; I figured this was a good way to set the record straight."

Everyone looked expectantly to Unazuki, who was practically jumping with glee at her role as 'drinking game quiz master' in all this.

"What does Mamoru have a collection of in his living room?"

Mamoru raised his eyebrows in annoyance, probably thinking that was too easy of a question. But, Usagi had not been down to his apartment that night, unlike probably half the guests.

She immediately glanced towards Ami, Makoto, Minako and Rei, who had just strolled over. Yet, she knew none of them could help her.

Her head felt groggy and sluggish as she tried to think what a nerd like Mamoru could possibly collect.

"Medical textbooks?"

There were a few chuckles from the crowd next to them, but Usagi knew it was wrong.

Mamoru picked up the shot glass off the ground, poured the shot and handed it to her, their fingers grazing when she took it from him. This whole situation felt surreal. Mamoru was handing her a shot because she had lost a question in a drinking game to him. What universe was this?

She downed the shot, wincing at the taste of the cheap vodka. She was going to be completely wrecked after this.

"What is Mamoru's total number of sexual partners?"

Usagi felt her stomach lurch at the question. She looked at Mamoru who wore a look of unhappy surprise. Obviously his drunken brain hadn't considered the type of questions that Unazuki might ask.

"Unazuki!" Motoki half-groaned at his sister.

"What? It's a drinking game! I have to ask at least one sex question!"

Usagi felt as though all her insides were tightening together. Only a week ago she had him down as potentially celibate. Then Minako had to put the idea in her head that he could be out there playing the field left and right. Not to mention with all the girls that appeared to be throwing themselves at him that evening...who knew how high his number could be?

Or maybe it wasn't as simple as that. Asexual or not, there were a high amount of people that were sexually inactive these days. Given how dedicated he was to his studies...maybe he was one of them?

She felt as though it took all her mental capacity to focus on the things she knew about Mamoru's personal life. She thought back to the night when he had kissed her. He had been offended by her referring to him as a monk. Maybe she had hit on a nerve…

Usagi glanced up at Mamoru, who was looking skywards, apparently just as embarrassed by the question as Usagi was to answer it.

"Zero?" she said, her voice barely audible as she answered.

You could practically hear a pin drop, it was so quiet. Clearly, Mamoru's private life was just as much of a mystery among his fellow students as it was to the crowd that hung out at the Crown.

Mamoru's face was unreadable as he slowly picked up the bottle of vodka and poured another shot. She held her breath and focused on the movement of his hands...until they started to move towards her. He handed her the shot.

She was wrong. Definitely not a virgin.

Usagi glanced to her left and saw all her friends look towards Motoki for confirmation. The sandy haired blond had a blank look on his face, but he didn't contradict Mamoru's response.

She felt the vodka burn as it coursed down her throat. This time she barely noticed the taste.

Usagi was surprised to find that Mamoru was looking closely at her, as if trying to gauge her reaction. The energy between them had shifted. This wasn't a light-hearted challenge anymore where they could tease each other and laugh. This felt like they had stumbled into that awkward territory that they found themselves in at the park.

"Okay, last question…" Unazuki's voice said, cutting through Usagi's foggy thoughts. "What is Mamoru's favorite book?" Unazuki said with a slight eye-roll, obviously having determined that another sex question wasn't going to go down well.

Mamoru interjected before she could respond. "It's...it's okay Unazuki. We can call it."

She didn't know if it was the alcohol, but Usagi's mind picked up on a flicker of something that she had almost forgotten…

Mamoru, sitting at the bar and reading a small, extremely worn paperback book and...smiling. The title...she remembered being surprised by the title. It made her think of a fairy tale?

"The Little...Prince?" she said as she tried to grasp at the vague memory.

That couldn't be right, yet it stuck out at her in a way that felt too coincidental to be wrong.

The look on Mamoru's face was priceless. She didn't think she had ever seen him so dumbfounded. Usagi looked over to Motoki who also seemed confused but shrugged at her silent question. He didn't know if she was right or wrong.

"H...how did you...?" Mamoru began, his eyes only on her. He trailed off and picked the shot glass off the ground along with the bottle. He looked hard at her before throwing the first shot back. Then a second and finally the third. Three shots of vodka in less than a minute.

Her drunken mind didn't know if she had said something wrong and needed to apologize or if she needed to get a bucket because she was sure after that horrible vodka, he would soon be needing it.

Motoki walked over to Mamoru and said something Usagi couldn't hear. Mamoru just patted his friend on the shoulder and gave her one last look before shuffling back towards the rest of the party.

Interestingly no one seemed to be much in the mood for continuing Truth or Drink anymore.

"Okay?" Ami said as her and the rest of the girls walked over to Usagi.

Usagi didn't get a chance to answer though.

"Well, that was certainly an interesting display," Natsumi said in an overly sweet tone.

She felt Minako, Ami, Rei, and Makoto all tense around her as the Evil Three stopped two feet away.

"What are you doing here?" Makoto growled.

The auburn haired girl looked at her nails. "We heard there was a party and we love parties, don't we, girls?"

Anzu and Kanoko nodded in agreement.

"What do you want?" Minako half-shouted, the alcohol in her system fueling her loathing for the trio.

Rather than react, Natsumi just slowly smiled — the absolute picture of calm.

"Don't worry. We were just saying 'hello.' I hope you girls enjoy the rest of the evening."

As she turned to walk away, she looked over her shoulder at Usagi. "Oh and Tsukino, it's nice to see you and Mamoru are getting along so much better these days."

She smiled malevolently before walking away.

"What was that about?" Ami asked.

"I don't know but whatever they're doing here, I get the feeling it isn't good," Rei turned. "What was that comment to you about Chiba?"

Usagi shook her head feeling even worse than she was before. "I...I don't know."

After Usagi had downed copious amounts of water, her and the girls spent the rest of the night making bad jokes only they would find funny and reminiscing about random things and different people.

Motoki stayed close, chatting with Anna for the remainder of the period. However, Usagi noticed how his eyes kept flicking over to Makoto, who was busy chatting with a few girls from the medical program about her favorite cheesecake recipe.

Finally, when all the alcohol was gone — Rei, being the more sober and responsible one, began to herd everyone together so they could leave.

Usagi's feet felt heavy, yet her head felt as light as a balloon as she stood up and wobbled towards the exit.

"Usagi!" she didn't have enough time to turn before she felt a pair of long arms being thrown around her in a giant hug. She froze for a second, not quite sure how to react.

"I'm sorry!" Anna cried, realizing what she was doing. "We hug a lot in the U.K. But it was so nice to meet you and I hope I didn't talk...too much about photography and my..." Anna turned to Motoki and asked something in English before carrying on. "Sorry, what I mean to say is I hope I didn't talk too much about my boyfriend's work in photography."

Usagi had to scrunch her eyes and shake her head to make sure she was awake enough.

"Who works in photography?"

Anna smiled, "My boyfriend?" she turned to Motoki, evidently checking that her translation was correct. "My boyfriend, the sports photographer."

It took a moment for Anna's words to resonate with Usagi, and when they did, she realized her mouth was hanging open.

Anna's boyfriend...the sports photographer.

"Wait, you don't have a crush on...I mean you're not trying to date…" Usagi trailed off. Between the alcohol and translations she felt as though her brain was broken.

Anna didn't quite catch what she was saying, but she continued, "Anyway, I haven't seen my boyfriend in two months and I miss talking with him about his work. So it was nice to chat with you about photography!"

All Usagi could do was nod and smile because she genuinely couldn't speak.

She thought back to the start of the night when Anna had wrapped Mamoru in a hug — much like the one she had just given Usagi — and how it had made her...jealous.

God, she hated to admit that.

It would seem, she had gotten quite a few things wrong that night….

Anna wasn't after Mamoru and Mamoru obviously had much more going on in his private life than she would have ever guessed.

She thought back to that shocked look on his face before he had taken those three shots of vodka.

It was strange that he would be so annoyed by her assumptions of him that he would challenge her to a drinking game...a drinking game! Yet when she got that one little fact right, he had looked at her as though she'd happened upon something precious and untouchable.

What had it been? Had she somehow embarrassed him?

She hadn't seen him since he had walked off after the drinking game.

"Hey Usagi, are you coming?!" Rei shouted.

"Has anyone seen Mamoru?" she said to no one in particular, "We should really say goodbye…"

Usagi looked around the party, which had dwindled down significantly.

"I think I saw him leaving about fifteen minutes ago," Ami responded.

Usagi gave one last glance to make sure Ami was right and that she hadn't missed him. But, he definitely didn't look to be at the party.

The girls said goodnight to Motoki and Anna before making their way down the stairs towards the elevators.

Usagi kept glancing down the hall, waiting to see if she might catch Mamoru going back up to the roof.

Everyone stepped into the elevator, but Usagi remained in the hall.

"I forgot something. I'll meet you guys in the lobby!"

The doors shut, before Rei could protest.

She didn't really know what she was doing, she just felt like she needed to check on him and make sure he was okay.

Usagi walked down the corridor until she came to 11B. The adrenaline and the alcohol pulsing through her made her feel bold, and she remembered what Unazuki said about Mamoru's door being unlocked to all the party guests. The knob turned easily and she let herself into the apartment.

She stepped through the narrow genkan and slipped off her ballet flats. The lights were still on, so he probably wasn't asleep.

Her hazy eyes drifted over the blank walls, the simple furniture and the view of Tokyo Tower through the window.

She barely had time to notice the layout of the apartment when she saw movement out of the corner of her eye. She turned and her mind was half-convinced she was in the middle of a very bad dream.

Mamoru was backed flush up against the living room wall by Natsumi, who was down to her bra and skirt. Natsumi's lips appeared to almost attack Mamoru's mouth while her pale hands moved lower towards the hem of his t-shirt.

Usagi couldn't breathe. She took a step backwards and hit something hard. The side-table she had walked into toppled over, as did the empty beer bottles that were sitting on top of it. The sound of metal and glass impacting hardwood loudly echoed throughout the apartment.

Natsumi whipped her up head towards Usagi and didn't even look surprised to see her there. She just smiled bitterly, "Oh look Mamoru, it's Tsukino."

"W...what?" he slurred.

Glassy dark blue eyes eyes found hers and he immediately pushed Natsumi off him.

"Usagi!" he cried out with obvious effort.

Her feet must have gone into autopilot and carried her out of there because she didn't remember leaving. The next thing she knew, she was standing in the hall, holding her shoes in her hand and trying hard to breathe. The elevator opened quickly and she stepped inside, desperate to get out of the building. She tried to catch her breath, but it kept coming short. She needed to focus on something...anything. However, she found she could barely see because everything had gone blurry. She reached up and touched her cheeks, feeling the tears falling from her eyes.

There was obviously a lot that she had gotten wrong about Chiba Mamoru.

Chapter Text

Usagi looked around the Crown in some confusion. The place was bright and pristine, with the afternoon daylight flooding in through the windows. But, there was absolutely no one there...save for a lone figure at the bar.

"Where is everyone?"

Mamoru looked up at her from the intimidating looking book in front of him, his reading glasses perched on his nose.

"They just stepped out," he said, obviously unhappy about being interrupted.

"Stepped out whe…?"

Before she could finish her question, a woman emerged from the corridor that led down towards the back room. Usagi was shocked to see it was Teiru, Mamoru's classmate, who was clad in nothing but blue lace panties and what looked to be Mamoru's Keio University t-shirt.

"Mamoru, are you coming?" she asked, holding a hand out towards him.

Usagi felt as if her heart dropped out of her chest and landed somewhere on the floor as she saw the slow grin Mamoru gave Teiru, his eyes hungrily taking in her long legs.

Without looking at Usagi, he said, "Don't you have somewhere else to be, Odango Atama?"

His voice was careless and cold.

Before she could say anything, Mamoru was up and out of the stool, his mouth immediately on Teiru's. The couple didn't give her a second glance as Mamoru pinned Teiru up against the wall; his perfect long fingers running along the outside of her thigh.

Usagi felt as if her feet couldn't move. She was frozen in place and her eyes refused to look away. She wanted to scream, but her mouth wouldn't open. All she could feel were the tears coursing down her cheeks.

As if sensing Usagi's immobilized state, Mamoru turned her way as Teiru kissed down his neck.

"That's right, Odango," he chuckled. "I forgot you like to watch."

She felt his words like he'd shot them at her. The urge to run was so strong that it unfroze her body and she dashed towards the exit, desperate to get out of there as fast as possible.

Usagi found herself grinding to a halt immediately outside the Crown. She looked around in confusion as she saw the darkened sky and the colorful neon lights along the main road.

When had it become night time?

"Going somewhere, Tsukino?" a voice called out.

Usagi looked to her left and found Natsumi leaning against Mamoru's motorcycle.

"Natsumi...wh...what are you doing here?" Usagi said, her voice small as she realized that Natsumi was wearing Mamoru's motorcycle jacket.

The leader of the Evil Three's amber eyes lit up, as if she relished the question.

"Waiting for my boyfriend, obviously," she giggled. "There he is…"

Usagi turned to see Mamoru walk out of the cafe from behind her. He didn't even notice her as he brushed by, heading directly for Natsumi with a huge smile on his face. Usagi didn't think she could feel any lower, but as she watched him embrace Natsumi in a passionate kiss, she found she was proven wrong...

Her eyes opened wide.

The thumping of her heart against her chest and the sound of labored breath helped her groggy mind catch up to the fact that she was in her bedroom.

She almost whimpered in relief as she saw the early morning light shining in from her window. The entire night Usagi had been waking up from various nightmares of Mamoru with different women in what felt like a continuous chain of nocturnal torture. Sleeping when you were drunk was hard enough, but then having to dream of Mamoru and a nameless girl tearing each other's clothes off in a bathroom stall was especially painful. It only got worse during the second dream, which involved Usagi spotting Mamoru making out with Anna through the viewfinder of her camera. However, this last one with Teiru and Natsumi had been downright excruciating.

They may have been dreams but as far as she knew, they were also real.

For what felt like the hundredth time, she revisited the scene she had walked into the night before; Natsumi's shirt had been off, Mamoru had been pressed against the back wall, Natsumi kissing him fiercely.

It was like an open wound that she kept feeling the need to touch, almost to make sure it was really there.

Her mouth felt as dry as sandpaper, and as soon as she began to sit up, the pounding in her head caused her to wince. Somehow, Usagi managed to half hunch/half walk towards her bedroom door without waking up Minako or Ami, who were both fast asleep on the floor. She closed the door behind her and leaned on the wall for support — not quite trusting herself to stand upright due to the sick feeling in her stomach.

Water. She needed water.

After what felt like the slowest possible journey down the stairs, she groped her way into the kitchen where she found Rei drinking a steaming cup of black tea and reading the Saturday paper. Rei had always had a mother-hen type of quality about her when it came to partying; she never drank too much, she scared off any creepy guys, and she always got everyone home safe. She was also rarely hung-over, unlike the rest of her friends.

Rei looked almost amazed to see Usagi, even looking at the clock on the wall and back at the blonde to make sure she hadn't gotten the time wrong. "Wow, I know you mentioned you were waking up earlier these days, but I thought in your world that was like 10 a.m."

Usagi felt too drained to respond.

Rei gave her a sympathetic look. "Do you think you're going to throw up?"

Usagi took a steadying breath. "Too soon to tell."

At that, Rei stood up and moved the garbage bin a little bit closer to the table.

"How about you sit down, get hydrated, and I'll make you some tea," Rei said, already moving towards the refrigerator.

Usagi stumbled her way to the closest chair. Luna, who had been curled up at Rei's feet, rubbed up against her legs. She watched as Rei moved around the blue and yellow kitchen with ease, pulling out a glass and a mug as she went. Her friends had been staying over for years and knew the Tsukino kitchen as well as their own; what cabinet the plates were in, where her mother kept the fresh eggs, and how much of her Papa's coffee they could get away with drinking without him noticing.

Rei poured a cold glass of sparkling mineral water — insisting it would help 'replenish her electrolytes' — and put some bread in the toaster. After Usagi finished two large glasses of the fizzy water, Rei poured her a cup of strong tea.

"So, you want to tell me what's going on with you and Mamoru?"

Usagi was sluggish so it took her a full second to register what Rei had just said. Then slowly she looked up and met her friend's all-knowing gaze. "You know…?"

"Well, I didn't exactly," Rei smiled a little smugly. "But, you just confirmed it."

Of course Rei would know, she thought to herself. The girl's uncanny intuition for drawing out secrets or catching lies always seemed to border on telepathic.

"I figured something was going on since you were on pins and needles all week when he wasn't at the Crown, and then watching your reaction at seeing him talk to that girl with the carrot…" she took a sip of her tea. "You're not exactly subtle."

Usagi groaned, mainly due to the pounding in her head, but also because one of her supposed 'best friends' was taking advantage of her weakened state to question her about a guy, whom less than eight hours ago she found pressed up against the most hated girl in her grade.

"So…?" Rei nudged her.

Usagi let out a long breath.

"Nothing's going on between Mamoru and I...and I think it's pretty clear nothing will ever be going on," she said quietly.

Even if she did stand a chance against the long line of intelligent, put-together, women who eagerly to hung off his every word...there was no point anymore. Not if he was doing...whatever he was doing with Natsumi.

The toaster oven buzzed at that moment, and Rei stood up to get some plates. "Is that why you left the party crying?" she asked as she walked towards the counter.

Usagi put her forehead on the table

The truth was, she didn't know how to answer that. She, herself, couldn't understand why seeing Natsumi all over Mamoru had left her with the painful sensation of something having been stolen away from her.

"Who knows?" she mumbled groggily. "I was drunk and things have been...weird...with Mamoru," she said rubbing her eyes. "I guess I just had a bit of meltdown when I…" she trailed off.

"When you what?"

Usagi took a breath. "When I walked in on him and Natsumi."

Rei, who had been in the midst of helping herself to some butter and jam, stopped with her butter knife in mid-air. She looked at Usagi, positively stunned. "What do you mean, 'walked-in on'?"

Usagi recounted what she could remember about going into Mamoru's apartment and the position she had found them in. Rei listened intently the whole time, but as Usagi finished the story she had an odd look on her face, as if she was trying to work something out.

Usagi tentatively picked up one of the slices and took small, slow bites, hoping it would stay down.

Rei looked thoughtfully at Usagi over her tea. "Do you care about him?"

She let out a short mirthless laugh. After all, that had been the question she had been asking herself for the last week. "I...don't know," she said looking down at the table. "In all the years we've known each other, I can't remember a time when we weren't arguing or insulting each other, then all that changes in the last two weeks?" She shook her head. "It doesn't make any sense."

"Are you sure these feelings have only been there for the last few weeks?" Rei asked carefully.

Usagi's eyes widened at Rei's implication. "I think I would have noticed if that had been the case," she said stubbornly.

Rei raised an eyebrow at her, before shrugging in an 'I don't know what to tell you' sort of way. "Maybe it really is the heatwave."

Usagi gave her friend a look. "I thought you didn't buy into Motoki and Minako's heatwave theory."

"I'm not so sure." Rei sighed, "I have seen too many people doing too many things in too many places, over the last few weeks."

Usagi knew what she meant. She'd snapped dozens of photos of couples all over each other throughout the neighborhood and surrounding areas. Motoki's crazy idea about the heatwave causing people to get together was starting to sound less crazy.

"I mean even Ami seems to have been affected," Rei said in a half-whisper.

Usagi's eyebrows shot up. "What?!"

Rei poured another cup of tea. "She came into the Crown the other day before the rest of you got there and I noticed she had a hickey forming on her neck. I had to lend her some makeup to cover it up. Of course, she wouldn't have told me otherwise, but it sounds like it was a guy that works at the library." Rei took a sip of her tea.

"Apparently, it all started when he was helping her look for a book and from the way Ami was blushing..I'm guessing he found it for her," Rei said with a playful grin.

Usagi was floored. "Ami? Our Ami...the girl who never makes an uncalculated decision, ever?!"

Rei nodded.

Usagi couldn't quite believe it. Ami was rational and cool headed...the idea that she got spontaneously hot and heavy with one of the library staff on a whim was unthinkable.

"As Minako would say..." Rei said, interrupting Usagi's thoughts."...we're not all 'immune to the effects of the heatwave."

Apparently not.

Usagi forced a small smile. "You seem fairly immune so far."

Rei laughed. "It must be all the fire meditation," Rei laughed "It makes me impervious to heat."

Usagi found her thoughts going back to the night before. Something about this conversation tugged at her memory...

"It's just stupid and complicated and I'm an idiot."

Usagi had wondered what Motoki had meant. She knew he had been drunk when he said it, but the way he had also kept looking at Makoto and how dejected he appeared...

Perhaps it wasn't just Ami, what if there was something going on between Motoki and Makoto? What if this was really down to something as simple as the summer heat?

"Okay, say it is the heatwave, why is it just Mamoru?" she said, chewing. "How come I wasn't trying to jump Seijuro or how come I'm not falling over anyone else?"

It wasn't as though Azabu-Juban was short on good-looking guys, some of whom had already tried to chat her up over the last week while she was mentally torturing herself over not seeing Mamoru.

Rei sat back in her chair, considering, "Because you and Mamoru have chemistry."

Usagi gave Rei a look of bewilderment.

"What I mean is…" Rei said with a sigh, "like it or not, you two have always gotten under each other's skin. You both know exactly which buttons to press with each other and there is an element of…" Rei stopped for a moment, trying to think of the right word, "passion...in that."

Rei took a sip of her tea. "What I'm trying to say is if the weather really is causing some sort of added effect on top of that, it's not hard to see why you might be questioning your feelings for the guy."

Usagi muttered under her breath, "Well if last night is anything to go by, I'm not the only girl Mamoru has chemistry with."

Rei gave her a pointed look, "Think about it, Usagi."

Usagi would have rolled her eyes if she wasn't so nauseous.

But, she let her mind drift back to the night Mamoru had kissed her. That had been a few days into the heatwave, and that was also the same night her dreams had started. The time he had driven her home from Moon Romantic, she had remembered feeling that temptation to kiss him. For god's sake, she had even considered the possibility of inviting him in. Then of course there had been that almost physical ache of not wanting him to leave in the moment before he rode away.

That had been the first time she began to really question how she felt about Mamoru. But maybe she had been wrong. She had been incredibly sleep deprived that night and had just come from an awful date with Seijuro. Perhaps having a good time at the concert with Mamoru just made her romanticize it, for more than it was.

It was more believable than her and Mamoru just suddenly being attracted to each other. Maybe she wasn't falling for him, maybe the heat had just gotten to her, just like it had the rest of the city.

"You're right. This all started when the heatwave hit." she said in a sobering tone.

Usagi finished the last of her tea, and slowly she could feel herself coming out of the mental fog of her hangover.

"I just...I didn't think he was the type to go for someone like Natsumi."

She knew it was stupid to be jealous, especially if this was just a temporary thing that would pass. Besides, she had no claim on him.

"Or maybe that was the heat too," Usagi said exasperated. "I don't know…"

There was something about the way Rei was looking at her that gave Usagi the impression her friend wasn't so convinced.

"What? You think I'm wrong?" Usagi asked.

Rei furrowed her brow, "Well you have to remember that Mamoru drank a lot last night…that might have had a lot to do with why he kissed Natsumi." Rei said thinking aloud. "But, it also feels a little coincidental...

"What do you mean?"

"I was getting irritated last night because I was trying to get everybody out the door." Rei said almost more to herself, than Usagi. "But, you were making a big thing of looking for Mamoru…well, right around that same time, Natsumi left. She walked right by me on her way out." Rei shrugged. "It's just a little odd that she chose to head to Mamoru's apartment right when she knew you were looking for him."

Usagi took a moment to think about Rei's implication, that Natsumi set this whole thing up just to get revenge.

Nastumi was far from her favorite person, but going this far for retaliation seemed far too malicious, even for one of the Evil Three. It was more likely that Natsumi and Mamoru were into each other, either because they genuinely like each other or because of the heat.

"Natsumi is horrible but I can't see her doing something so horrible," Usagi said, glumly.

If the last few weeks were anything to go by, Mamoru had definitely been affected by all the sexual energy in the air. He had been nicer, almost flirtatious with her.

But, he was also nice and flirty with a lot of the girls at the party.

She ran her hands through her tangled hair and let out a breath.

What if Natsumi hadn't gotten there first? What if she had gone into the apartment and found him alone? Maybe it would have been her that he whisked away instead. She thought back to the dreams she had been having of her and Mamoru; the intensity of which stayed with her even after she had long been awake. Usagi didn't know if she would have been able to resist the chance to experience the real thing, if he had made a move. But, then her morning after would look very different right now. It would likely be full of awkwardness or regret.

This way, they had at least avoided all that.

But even with a slightly more clear head, she hated to imagine him likely waking up next to...

Usagi's mind reeled back to the terrible dreams she had woken up from less than an hour ago.

Don't go there, she told herself.

This would all be over in a few weeks and they would resume their usual behavior patterns of annoying each other to no end.

Rei appeared to sense the internal struggle Usagi was having and gave her a sympathetic look before pouring her another cup of tea.

"This will all work out, Usagi," Rei said in a soft tone. "One way or the other."

Usagi nodded.

"You're right. The heatwave will pass."

Usagi sat up a little straighter, in resolution.

"I just need to keep my distance. Then everything will go back to normal."

Easy enough.

Over the next few days, Usagi avoided the Crown like it was her job. After her conversation with Rei, she was convinced that if she kept away from Mamoru until the weather changed, things would be fine.

It was better this way. They could go back to being Mamoru-baka and Odango Atama; hurling sharp words at each other about how she was clumsy and he was pretentious. She could finally get a good night's sleep instead of waking up in a sweat with her hand already down her pajama shorts. There would be no reason to feel jealous or insecure about every other woman that touched his life because she felt as though she missed the mark. But most of all, this tension that was between them whenever they were in the same room would finally evaporate.

All she needed to do was lay low and stay away from Mamoru until the heatwave broke.

Given that she needed the distraction, and she couldn't put off her summer assignment forever, Usagi had spent the last few days reviewing and editing the photos she had recently taken. Since she couldn't go to the Crown, she took prints of her best photos to one of the many cramped neighborhood coffee shops, to determine which ones she would be submitting. As she began sifting through them, she realized that the majority of the shots were the intimate scenes she had captured of couples in public spaces.

A waitress came by and set down her iced coconut latte, quietly eyeing the photos covering every inch of the table with what could be described as a look of distaste. As Usagi looked around the cafe and noted other customers not so subtly looking at the photos in perverse interest — she began to think that this may have not been the best idea.

Great, I look like a hentai casually curating my creeper photographs.

Usagi stood up and began to stack the photos in an organized manner so they weren't in a huge pile all over the table.

At least there isn't anyone I know here to see me with all these.

"Odango?" a voice came from behind her.

Usagi jumped probably half a foot in the air, the photographs spilling out of her arms and all over the floor.

She looked over her shoulder to see Mamoru standing a foot away — a messenger bag hanging over his shoulder, hands buried deep in his pockets, and his eyes staring back at her as if she had been the one to surprise him, rather than the other way around.

Well that's just typical.

She should have known this was inevitable. If there was one thing she could count on it was the fact that her and Mamoru always ran into each other. So, in spite of the fact that there were eight coffee shops on this street alone — of course Mamoru would come here for his caffeine fix, because apparently the universe really did have it in for her.

Before she could say anything, Mamoru turned his gaze towards the floor, and Usagi realized, to her horror, that most of the glossy prints had fanned out around his sneakers.

Varying photographs, in color as well as black and white, of couples half-hidden in shadows on street corners or in alleys, tracing each other's bodies lay face up. One image showed a couple passionately kissing up against a building door near the metro station, the woman practically straddling the man she was lip-locked with. Another photograph of a disheveled couple running hand-in-hand towards the entrance of a love motel was especially telling of the subject-matter.

It was as if her entire photo collection was screaming to Mamoru and the rest of the cafe that Tsukino Usagi is a voyeuristic pervert.

She quickly fell to her knees and tried to gather up the vivid pictures.

"Your photo assignment, I presume?" he asked, also crouching to the floor to help pick up the photographs.

"No!" she said a little defensively. "I mean...maybe...I don't know yet."

Because it's better if they AREN'T for my assignment?! That's all I need; him thinking that I get off on documenting other people's foreplay.

Usagi tried to take a calming breath to get over the shock of running into him. She could feel her heartbeat racing and her overall anxiety at the situation.

"What I mean is...they might be. I'm going through them to see what I should submit." She quickly added, "There are other photos too, ones that don't have people…" she trailed off.

Usagi made the mistake of looking up from the ground and found Mamoru's face was only a few inches away from hers. There was something indecipherable in his gaze. 

"...in passionate situations?" he asked, his voice deep and low

Usagi nodded.

Mamoru slowly stood up, finally breaking the moment. It was only then that she realized she had been holding her breath.

He offered her a hand, but she didn't trust herself to take it...instead standing up, unassisted. Mamoru didn't look offended, or even surprised — he just simply handed her the photos he had gathered.

"Thank you," she said to his collarbone.

When he didn't say anything, she looked back up towards his face and found he had his hand behind his neck, obviously nervous.

"I...um...haven't seen you around the Crown in the last few days."

She swallowed hard as she kept reminding herself to be detached and not think too much into all this.

"Yeah...well my family got back a few days ago from their trip and I've just been spending more time at home." It wasn't a lie, yet it had nothing to do with why she hadn't been by the Crown.

But she got the impression he already knew that.

"Did you have a good time...at the party?" he asked.

Usagi felt her stomach twist. The last thing she wanted to talk about was the party and the last person she wanted to talk about it with was him.

"Yeah..." she said probably a little too quietly.

"I feel like I didn't see you most of the night."

The disappointment in his voice was evident, yet it agitated her. Did he say that to Natsumi or to the other beautiful, brilliant, girls who were vying for his attention every time she had looked his way? Maybe she really was one of the many.

"Well, you had a whole party of gorgeous girls to flirt with so….priorities, I guess," she said dryly.

That seemed to catch him off guard. 

"A whole party of gorgeous girls to flirt with?" he repeated, clearly offended.

"Or maybe you're dating all of them..."

Mamoru's eyebrows shot up. He genuinely looked surprised and a little hurt at the accusation.

"I can't believe I'm saying this, especially to the girl who called me a 'monk' a few weeks ago...but are you slut shaming me?"

Usagi gaped at him.

That wasn't…when he put it like that...but that wasn't what I meant…

"I'm not dating…" he began to explain.

But she didn't want to hear it. This was the type of conversation she should actively be staying away from. She didn't want to know what he was doing or not doing with Natsumi or any other girls. It was easier that way.

"I didn't ask." Usagi said, cutting him off.

Mamoru appeared to deflate a little bit, his eyes boring into hers, "Didn't you?"

It was systematic of the game they had started to play over the last few weeks, but only in that moment did Usagi realize it. He was baiting her into asking him a question. The notoriously private Chiba Mamoru wouldn't flat out deny an assumption she had about him. But he would dangle the idea that she was wrong, and it was obvious he wanted her to ask him...are you dating anyone, what do you have a large collection of in your living room, what is your total number of sexual partners, why did you kiss me that night?

She never did though. That in itself was telling because Usagi was curious and constantly asking questions. But, with Mamoru...maybe it was just easier, and less painful, to keep her assumptions. It was safer to stay that way.

Mamoru let out a long sigh, when she didn't say anything.

"About what happened...at the...the end of the night..." he stammered, looking embarrassed.

Usagi felt her breath hitch. She really, really didn't want to know and she didn't have a right to know.

"I'm sorry..." she said, interjecting.

At any other moment, she probably would have appreciated the rare look of confusion on Mamoru's features.

"You're sorry?"

She directed her attention back to his collarbone.

"...you don't owe me an explanation, Mamoru. Your personal life and who you're involved with or who you like...is none of my business."

Usagi took a short breath.

"I also...I shouldn't have just walked in the other night. I should have knocked or...something," she said quietly, trying her damnedest to keep her voice even. "I'm sorry...for interrupting..."

"Odango, stop apologizing."

The urgency in his voice made her look up. Mamoru was looking at her wide-eyed, in a worried sort of way. She felt her stomach clench, and it turned further into knots when she watched his eyes linger on the spare chair at her table. Now he wanted to sit and chat?

This wasn't going according to plan at all. They were supposed to get through some awkward small talk and he was supposed to leave her to her dirty pictures so she could continue her plan of keeping away from him. But there was a nervous sort of determination she saw in his eyes that made her think she needed to hear him out.

She nodded and they both sat.

"I'm glad you walked in when you did," he said, sounding casual, but his inability to look at her gave away his apprehension.

A flush formed on his cheeks as he ran a hand through his perpetually rumpled hair. "I was...beyond drunk and after the drinking game...there isn't a whole lot I remember."

She felt her stomach twist as he spoke.

"I have no idea what happened...with Natsumi," Mamoru continued, his hand was back behind his neck, almost to pull his face lower and out of sight, "If I initiated it or she did, but at some point we were...kissing...and just as I realized that...you came in."

Usagi felt sick. How could she have been so short-sighted? She knew he had been drunk, anyone would be after a few shots of that terrible vodka. But, no matter how many times she had replayed that scene of him and Natsumi together in her head, it had never occurred to her that Mamoru would be so far gone that he might have no idea what he was doing.

She remembered what Rei had told her about Natsumi leaving the party, right at the moment Usagi had been looking for Mamoru. Had the leader of the Evil Three realized just how drunk Mamoru had been?

"Mamoru, I'm so sorry." 

He frowned at her words. "Odango, you have nothing to be sorry about," Mamoru said, as if trying to underline an important point. "I'm glad you came in when you did. You stopped something I would have regretted."

When she didn't respond, he leaned forward, seeming to sense her need for additional reassurance. "And aside from a horrific hangover...I'm okay."

The ball of tension in her stomach unfurled and relief flooded through her. How could she have gotten the situation so wrong? For the first time since the party, she felt she could breathe easier and it had nothing to do with the fact that he wasn't with Natsumi. That's what she told herself, anyway.

Mamoru leaned back in his chair and shrugged in an almost shy manner. "I don't want you to get the wrong idea. I'm not someone who..."

His discomfort was obvious as he trailed off, clearly struggling to find the right words.

"Leaves a party they're hosting to drunkenly make out with pretty girls?" Usagi said with a tentative smile.

Mamoru smirked at her light teasing tone as he ran another hand through his hair.

"No...I mean yes..." he stammered, his cheeks flushed red. "But not so drunk and...not with just...any girl."

Usagi looked at him a little wide-eyed and despite the redness on his cheeks, he adamantly to held her gaze. For a moment they just stared at each other.

She could sense he was waiting for her to make the next move, to ask that damn question.

She felt her mouth open as if ready to ask 'what girl?'. But before she could speak the words, the waitress walked over.

"One pour-over to go," she said, setting Mamoru's order down in front of him.

Usagi watched Mamoru blink and she felt as though she had been pulled back from the edge of something. The cafe around them came back into sharper focus, as did the noises of the customers and the sounds of the espresso machine.

She couldn't help but notice the big smile the waitress gave Mamoru as she asked if he needed anything else.

She knew he had always been a sought after guy, even when there wasn't a sex inducing heatwave.

Whereas I'm still just the Odango Atama...and soon, I'm sure I will be again.

Usagi looked back down at the stack of photographs in her hand as she heard Mamoru utter a quick "no, thank you." This was harder than she thought it would be.

Usagi had assumed knowing all this wasn't real would mean she would be less susceptible to this pull between them. But she was wrong and it felt like her resistance to it only made things more torturous.

Focus on something else, anything else.

She distractedly began pulling out photos here and there and placing them back on the table as if she was considering them further.

It was true that she had other photos, beautiful photos actually...of locals exercising, running for the metro, mothers carrying groceries, or friends going to karaoke. Scenes of everyday life in Azabu-Juban. However, they were nowhere near as compelling as the photos of people in, as Mamoru so delicately put it, 'passionate situations.'

Usagi could feel Mamoru's gaze on her but she refused to look up from the photos on the table, feeling the action would be dangerous.

She saw his hand reach to pick up a photo or two.

"There's something about these," he said in a curious tone.

She noted the ones in his hand were those from the amorous collection she had gathered.

Usagi snorted, still focusing on the prints in front of her. "Yeah, I know they're very racy."

She saw Mamoru shake his head out of the corner of her eye. "I was going to say, they feel very...daring?"

That gave her pause and she looked back up towards Mamoru to find him transfixed on the prints.

"Or maybe that's not the right word," he said. "Tempting, alluring…"

As he spoke, something clicked in Usagi's head as she observed the photos with fresh eyes.

"Fleeting," Usagi said as if answering a question.

That was what the photographs had that the others didn't. They illustrated an atmosphere and an energy that would be swept away with a good rainstorm or the change of a few degrees. The impermanence of the heatwave and the effect it had on the population, made them interesting.

"That's why they're so intriguing," Usagi said, feeling brave enough to meet Mamoru's stare once again.

Mamoru looked taken aback by her comments. It was clear from his searching eyes that the conversation was going somewhere far from what he had expected.

She watched his face become serious, almost as if he could read where her thoughts were going.

"The heatwave...seems to be causing everyone to act strangely," she said quietly. "But, the heat never lasts."

That's why we can't do this.

His face fell ever so slightly and Usagi knew that he understood what she was trying to say. After a moment, he silently nodded. Something shifted in the air between them and it felt somehow crestfallen. A slow, broken smile formed on his face as he picked up his coffee.

"I should let you get back to your assignment," he said, his head low so that she could only see half his face.

A lump in her throat formed as she watched him unfold his long legs from under the small table and sling his messenger bag over his shoulder. "I'll see you around, Usagi."

And then he was gone.

Usagi felt her shoulders fall as she unlocked the front door. After Mamoru left, she hadn't been able to concentrate much on her assignment and had eventually ended up going for a walk to take more photos, mainly just to get her mind off things. But three hours later, she didn't feel even a little bit better about watching him walk away from her.

This was exactly what she wanted. Right?

She wanted things to stay the same between them and not ruin the entire dynamic by doing something they may both come to regret all because it was a season of apparent insanity.

But if that was the case, how come she didn't feel better? Why hadn't she been able to swallow the lump that had formed in her throat after he had left? How come she felt simultaneously foolish and sad?

She had asked herself these questions over and over again. Maybe it was because she was a self-indulgent person, unused to denying herself whatever fancy came her way. Now with this stupid heatwave all she wanted to do was throw herself at a guy who had been annoyed at her since the day they met and who was maybe already moving onto some other girl to focus his summer sexual tension on.

Usagi winced at that last thought, as she shut the front door behind her.

"Usagi, is that you?" her father's voice came from the living room.

"Yes, Papa. I'm home!"

She slipped her shoes off and reached down to pick up Luna, who had decided the middle of the genkan was an excellent place to lay down. The feline purred in her arms and nuzzled her a little bit, almost as if she sensed Usagi needed comfort.

Usagi followed the smell of her mother's cooking into the kitchen, where she found Ikuko stirring a big pot of curry.

"Smells good, Mama."

Ikuko smiled at her daughter. "It should be ready to eat in about twenty minutes. How's your assignment going?"

"It's fine...I'm just a bit stuck right now," she said her voice full of fatigue.

Ikuko nodded, practically beaming at her daughter. "I can't believe you're going to be starting university in three weeks!"

Usagi shrugged uncomfortably at her mother's gushing, which had become more common as they got closer to the first day of term.

Her father walked in from the other side of the kitchen, a familiar looking light blue shoe box under his arm.

"I was just thinking the same thing," Kenji said, full of pride. "It's crazy to think how one student exhibit could change your whole future, eh kiddo?"

She swallowed awkwardly at her parents happy faces. Her fifteen-year-old self would never have imagined this moment. After years of coming home with failed test papers and listening to the disappointed lectures from her parents about how she needed to work harder at school if she wanted a bright future, seeing her parents' excitement over her starting university was something she could never have predicted.

Usagi put on as good of a face as she could. Hiding behind a well-placed smile had been her go-to response when it came to these recent conversations about her future.

But obviously she wasn't doing as good of a job as she normally did because her mother looked at her worryingly.

"Are you okay, honey?"

Usagi sighed, "Yeah, the heat has just been taking a lot out of me, lately. I think I might just skip dinner and call it an early night."

If her goal had been to get out of there fast, saying she would 'skip dinner' had been a dumb idea. Meal times were Usagi's favorite time of day and if she was missing dinner by choice, something must be very wrong. Her mother walked the three steps between them and put her hand on Usagi's head, checking for a fever.

"Mama…" Usagi said in exasperation, "I promise, I'm just tired,"

Ikuko didn't look totally convinced, but stayed silent as she walked back to the pot of curry.

"Before you head upstairs, I thought you might want this," Kenji said, holding out the blue shoe box to her. "I was cleaning out the hallway closet and found it buried in the back."

She opened the lid on the box to find it crammed full of photographs she had taken two years ago. Usagi immediately recognized posed photos of her friends at a local carnival and another at a picnic during the cherry blossom festival. There were also a few she vaguely recalled from her first photography class.

"Thanks, Papa."

She bid her parents goodnight and climbed the stairs towards her room, Luna following close behind.

As soon as her bedroom door shut behind her, she leaned back against it and crumpled to the floor. Luna meowed at Usagi as she crawled over her lap, her brown eyes staring up into Usagi's blue ones.

"You wanna hear something funny, Luna?" Usagi said as she scratched behind the felines ears. "I thought this would be a nice and relaxing last summer before my doom begins in the fall."

Luna purred as Usagi continued to pet her.

"But, as usual," she said sighing. "I was wrong."

Usagi stood up and placed the blue box on her desk. She lifted the lid and picked out a few more photos. As she reviewed them, she began sorting them into stacks — one for each individual she had photographed and a separate pile for group pictures. Soon she felt transported back in time as she looked through moments long gone captured on photograph paper.

A smile tugged at her mouth as she came across pictures of her and Motoki making ridiculous faces at the camera as Mamoru looked at them like they were crazy. The piles quickly grew and before long she had nine different groupings of photos spread out on her desk. There was one last photo at the bottom of the shoe box and she stared at it in absolute wonder because it pulled on something she had long ago forgotten.

She gently picked up the photo out of the box and just stared at it. It was a photo of Mamoru wearing the green tweed jacket she endlessly teased him about. She would always say the only reason he probably wore it was because he thought the elbow patches made him look more academic.

In the photo, Mamoru was sporting his reading glasses and reading an extremely old and raggedy paperback, where "The Little Prince" was clearly printed on the front cover. But, it wasn't the book that made Usagi stare at it. Mamoru was smiling in a way that she had never seen before or since that picture was taken. It was a smile of innocence and joy...and it was so small.

That day came back so clearly to her as she recalled lifting the battered film camera she had on loan from her photography class and capturing that rare glimpse of happiness on the usually stoic boy's face. It had been that moment and that picture that had made her want to become a photographer — to record these impossible glimpses in time that are there for an instant and then gone forever.

Usagi took the photo and laid down on her bed, staring up at it in the dark. The street lights from outside illuminating her room just enough for her to make it out. Her eyes traced the small smile in the photograph on his face and she thought of their meeting that afternoon when he had left her. It felt as though there was so much between them, yet so little was said.

Mamoru had always been untouchable in her eyes. He had been haughty, brooding and completely unaffected by those around him. But lately she had started to feel as though she could read him better and after watching him walk away that afternoon...she felt as though something had changed between them. Usagi didn't know if in her efforts to maintain their relationship as is, she may have already led to it being altered permanently.

Her eyes began to feel heavy and her breathing slowed as she pictured those unreadable blue eyes.

Please, please don't let me dream…was her last thought as sleep finally overtook her.

Chapter Text

"Dear Ms. Tsukino,

We are looking forward to welcoming you to Tokyo Polytechnic University on September 7th to begin your first year as a student in the Department of Photography.

This letter is to remind you that all compulsory assignments must be submitted to the department no later than noon on August 30th. All first year student submissions must include 5 -10 photographs taken over the summer period.

Please note that all student submissions will be put on display at the Shadai Gallery for our September Exhibition.

First year students are also invited to enter the department-wide Fall Photography Competition by submitting an optional project of their choosing. To participate, students must submit a maximum of 15 photos to the department no later than noon on August 30th. The three finalists will have their work on display at the September Exhibition. The winner will be announced at the Shadai Gallery on September 4th, 8 p.m.

If you have any questions please reach out to…well you get the idea," Ami said, putting down the formal letter.

"So...which part of this is the bad news?" Rei asked. "The part where your photographs will be on display or the fact that they're due in three days?"

She grumbled, "Both," from where her head was buried in her arms.

"When did you think your assignment was due?" Ami asked in a gentle tone.

Usagi slowly sat up and removed her head from the table.

"I just figured I had to turn it in on the first day of term," Usagi whined.

The blue haired girl gave her a disapproving look.

"Usagi, you need to be better about keeping up with deadlines. You're lucky they sent a reminder letter."

"Yes, I knooooow," she groaned.

"I don't get it, you have plenty of photos to submit." Makoto twisted her rose-stud earring thoughtfully, "Why are you stressing over this?"

"Because Usagi here has decided that her sexy summer heat photos are not worthy of Tokyo Polytechnic University," Minako said in an annoyed tone.

Usagi glared at the fellow blonde.

"What would you do if this was one of your very first big modeling jobs where everyone would see you for the first time...but you had to do it nude?"

Minako looked dramatically offended, "You're really asking me that?!"

Usagi rolled her eyes.

Yeah, that was a dumb question.

She twisted her hair in her fingers as she so often did when she was anxious. This was exactly what she had been waiting to happen since she had received her acceptance letter.

"Look, Sensei Yamamoto recommended me...I can't…" Usagi stammered. "I can't have my first assignment and apparently my first university exhibition be about sex!"

All four pairs of eyes looked at her with empathy.

Ami pulled out her phone and began tapping away on the screen.

"What are you going to do then?" Makoto asked.

Usagi shrugged her shoulders.

"I have other photos."

Usagi took out a stack of prints from her bag, removing six photos from the top and laying them face-up. She pushed the giant pile of 'heatwave' photos, as Minako had dubbed them, to the side.

"These are people around the neighborhood...you know, coming and going from work and running errands. Just everyday life, here."

Everyone stared at the prints Usagi had laid out on the table, but they also couldn't stop glancing at the messy larger stack of photos that Usagi had not displayed, which were still visible.

"Usagi, these are really nice..." Makoto said, her eyes on an elderly couple walking down the street at sunrise.

Usagi narrowed her eyes, sensing Makoto wasn't finished.

"But?"

Makoto met her eyes apologetically.

"But they don't hold a candle to the other ones."

Rei and Minako nodded in agreement.

"They also look a lot like these," Ami said, holding up her phone.

Usagi scowled as she took the device and began to swipe through the photo gallery that Ami had up.

She flipped through photo after photo and glanced back at the ones on the table in front of her.

Ami was right. They were practically identical in theme; commuters going to work, families in the park, restaurant workers opening their shops. They were pleasant but anyone, including Usagi, could have taken them. There was no personal stamp or unique angle.

"Where did you find these?"

Ami took her phone back.

"Those are the first year submissions from last year's September Exhibition."

Her body began to break into a cold sweat.

"I think the point Ami is trying to make..." Rei said from beside her, "is that it's going to look like you're playing it safe."

She knew that the heatwave photos were more interesting in comparison, but she had really thought these could be their own collection.

Ami nodded, "And Usagi, the bold and unique perspective of your photos is exactly why Sensei Yamamoto invited you to apply to the program to begin with."

She was beginning to shiver as the blasting air conditioner and her sweat made her skin cold.

Makoto looked at the letter that was still laying on the table.

"Why can't you just enter photos for the photography competition? Then you don't have to just submit photos you've taken over the summer. They can be from any time."

Usagi let out another groan, but Ami saved her from having to answer.

"Because the competition is optional, the assignment isn't."

Everyone went quiet, as if they were all trying to think of something else that could be done.

Usagi heard the sound of the milkshake machine behind her and the chatter of the crowd around the cafe. She glanced up as she saw the sliding glass doors opening, but she knew it wouldn't be him.

Ever since their run-in at the coffee shop two weeks ago, she and Mamoru had seen very little of each other. Initially, she had thought he was avoiding the Crown all together, but after arriving earlier one night to meet her friends, she had caught him just as he was leaving. They had obviously surprised one another, him on his way out the door, and her on the way in. It had felt strange seeing him, like it had been months rather than weeks.

The awkwardness of the moment had been so distracting that neither of them had noticed they were standing right in the entryway of the Crown — which meant the sliding glass doors were continuously opening and closing. Only when Unazuki had finally yelled at them to decide whether they were going in or out did they both snap back to reality. Mamoru had given her a quick nod and swiftly departed.

Afterwards, whenever she would walk into the Crown, Usagi started to notice there was usually an empty coffee cup left behind at his usual bar stool, almost as if he had just left. It was then she realized, he wasn't avoiding the Crown...just her.

That fact had crushed her. But she reminded herself, as she had continued to do over the last few weeks, that this was for the best. Once the heatwave was broken, he would realize he didn't feel anything for her and would go back to his usual attitude of indifference or annoyance when she was around.

"So, what are you going to do?"

Usagi blinked, the question bringing her back to the present.

"What?"

Minako spoke again, "What are you going to do about your submission?"

There was only one other option.

She grabbed the prints on the table and slid them back into her bag and put her camera around her neck.

"I have three days," she said, hearing the uncertain resolve in her voice. "I'll just have to get more photos."

The girls began to argue but Usagi wasn't listening. All she could feel was the panicked need to run out of there. There wasn't anything else to say or think on, action was her only option.

She finally cut through their protests and spoke as firmly as she could.

"I have to do this."

Rei began to stand up, "We'll come with you…"

Usagi shook her head. It was always easier to photograph when she was on her own.

"Thanks, I'll be alright," she forced a smile to try and reassure them. "Have fun at the sleepover tonight. Sorry I'll miss it."

Her friends seemed to realize it was a lost cause to try and stop her. Usagi shouted a quick good-bye, and as she neared the exit she heard Makoto shout over the crowd, "Be careful and don't do anything stupid!"

It was getting late, but Azabu-Juban was far from quiet. The bright neon lights and signs of the 24-hour conbinis, izakayas, and western style bars illuminated the darkened neighborhood as Usagi walked hurriedly through Kimi-chan square, dodging tipsy twenty-somethings migrating from their first drinking spot of the night towards the nearest club or karaoke bar.

The humidity was at an all time high and she knew she probably looked as disheveled as she felt. Her muscles were sore from how tense she had been since leaving the Crown and her movements had become jerky as she kept looking around in near panic for potential shots.

How was she ever going to do this?

She had been walking around for at least two hours, frantically snapping as many photos as she could. Unfortunately, given the fact that most of the people out were drunk university students on break — the only interesting thing to take photos of were more couples trying to not so subtly feel each other up as they peeled away from their larger group of friends.

It was as if the heatwave was taunting her.

Either way, she knew this was likely a pointless venture. It was always easy to take photos, but taking good photos...took time. She just didn't know if three days would be enough.

As Usagi looked down one small road, she caught sight of four figures walking underneath the red and yellow lanterns that had been strung up above a few bars. The light was hitting them just right so that they appeared like silhouettes walking away from her.

Without hesitation, she raised her camera at the group and adjusted the lens to the light. She lined up the shot and just as she was ready to take the picture...the lanterns in the shot went out.

She lowered her camera, bewildered. Then she saw the lights lining the street begin to go out, one after the other. The bright neon lights of the bars and restaurants around her soon followed.

It was as if a wave of blackness was sweeping through the streets and killing all light in the neighborhood. Usagi heard people around her giggling or whooping in excitement at the darkness.

She went still as understanding dawned on her.

Oh my god! It's a blackout. I won't be able to see anything!

The anxiety Usagi was already feeling began to turn towards what she knew could be a full blown panic attack. She could feel her hands shaking as she looked around trying to think what she was going to do now. Her heart was racing and she felt her feet start running towards...she didn't know where.

But, if she kept running, maybe it would be okay. She needed to find photos, somehow, some way.

Usagi felt her breathing getting short between the anxiety and her jogging down the main road. She couldn't see anything aside from what the headlights of the few passing cars illuminated as they went by. She bumped into someone and after a few muttered apologies, she decided she needed to slow down.

The night sky! There is no light pollution right now, so I might be able to photograph the stars.

Even as she was freaking out, she knew this was a long shot. She didn't have a tripod or a lens hood, which was absolutely necessary to capture something like the night sky, but she needed to try something.

Usagi tilted her head back, to see what the sky currently looked like. Unfortunately, she didn't think to stop walking while she was looking upwards. As she came upon a corner she felt herself smash, chin first, into something much bigger than her. She heard a deep "oof" and what sounded like a stumble as she fell flat on her ass.

Her hands immediately went to the camera around her neck, feeling for any damage. She sighed in relief when she felt her lens cap was still in place.

Then a bright light cut through the darkness, blinding her.

It was a cell phone flashlight, shining down on her.

"Odango?"

The light was no longer directed on her. Instead it was held out in front of the figure so that Usagi could make out Mamoru's picture perfect features. She noticed his other hand was leaning on the side of a building for support.

"Are you okay?" Mamoru asked, pushing himself off the wall and regaining his balance.

Usagi was already on her feet and dusting herself off.

"Yeah...sorry for running into you."

In any other circumstance, she would probably be making awkward and stifled small talk. But tonight, she didn't have time for that.

"I have to…" Usagi started as she looked up into his concerned eyes.

This was too much. She needed to keep going and get as many shots as she could. This was not the time for her to get overly wound up over Mamoru.

"I really have to go."

She hurried away, walking fast around the corner. But, after about a minute she saw there was a light shining from behind her.

Usagi turned abruptly and this time, it was Mamoru that nearly collided with her.

"What are you doing?!" she asked agitated.

"I'm walking you home," his voice was firm.

Her eyes widened.

"I'm not going home!"

Mamoru looked slightly taken aback.

"Where are you going in the middle of a blackout, then?"

She needed to go. She had so much to do and this conversation wasn't helping.

"Not that it's any of your concern, but I have photos I need to take."

Mamoru's eyes widened over the cell phone light.

However, Usagi didn't give him a chance to respond. She was already walking ahead.

She made it ten feet when he managed to outpace her and effectively block her path.

"Let me get this straight — you're walking around late at night, during a blackout to try and take photos?!"

Her jaw clenched. She was in the middle of a crisis and Mamoru, in typical fashion, was there to serve as commentary on everything she was doing wrong.

"As a matter of fact…!" she yelled, her patience long having run out. "It's the perfect time to photograph the night sky because there is no light pollution," she exclaimed as she walked around him.

Typical smug jerk, thinks he knows everything.

She made it a few more steps before he called out after her.

"Won't that be kind of hard to do, considering it's overcast?"

Usagi's feet came to an immediate halt. Her eyes turned upwards.

He was right. There wasn't even the slightest glimpse of light in the sky, from the stars or the moon. It was just as dark as the city surrounding her.

There was nothing to photograph.

I've only got three days...

"It...it might pass," her voice sounding pathetic. "I'll go to the park and get set up...and the clouds might pass over…"

She made it maybe three more steps before she felt Mamoru's fingers wrap around her arm and gently pull her back.

Usagi closed her eyes, her skin tingling at his touch.

"Mamoru…" she began to argue but stopped as she noted how close he was.

His cell phone was still between them, so she could see the worry and frustration in his face.

"This is insane! Just go home, your photos can wait until the morning."

"It can't wait!" she half sobbed. "I don't have time! My assignment is due on Sunday and I need different photos or I'm going to...!"

She couldn't even bring herself to finish that sentence.

"You can't take photos in the dark!"

"I just can't go home now, okay?" she said, her voice cracking.

If her parents were still awake, they would see straight away that things weren't all right and she didn't know how she could even begin to explain the issues around her assignment. More than that, she didn't think she could bear sitting at home and not doing something to try and fix this.

She heard Mamoru sigh in defeat. 

His hand was still around her wrist, gently holding her in place. His cell phone, which was in his other hand, was shining against the wall so she couldn't make out his facial expressions. However, she got the impression he was having some sort of internal debate with himself.

Finally, he tugged on her wrist and began leading her in the opposite direction of where she had been walking. She pulled back a little, resulting in his hand sliding down so that it was holding hers.

She was on the verge of being hysterical, but her skin still reacted to him in a way that she couldn't control.

"What are you doing? Where are you taking me?" she said, making no motion to really fight him.

"Home."

Nononononono NO!

All she could think of were the proud looks on her parents faces as they talked with absolute joy about their daughter going to university. She had to get more photos, she needed to do something, anything to make this last longer for them.

"I told you, I can't go home!" she yelled, glad he wouldn't be able to see the frustrated tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Not your home...mine."

Wha...What?

"If you really insist on this ridiculous idea…" he said with clear agitation, "you can set up on my balcony and if the cloud cover passes..." He turned his head slightly back towards her. "Well, it's a hell of a lot safer than you camping out in the park for the whole night."

Slowly he let go of her hand.

The choice was hers.

She knew it was probably a bad idea, but at this point, there were bigger priorities at play. And he was right, his place was a lot safer than the park.

"Okay."

They hadn't said a word to each other the entire ten-minute walk back to his apartment, except to express relief when they found the elevator in his building was still operating thanks to a backup generator.

Now, standing in Mamoru's large studio apartment while he dug out flashlights so she could take photographs on his balcony in the midst of a blackout, she realized how strange this whole ordeal was.

Mamoru emerged from the coat closet next to the genkan, fiddling with something in his hands. The device erupted in light and Mamoru, as well as the space immediately around him, became visible.

"Here, I picked this up last week," he said handing her what looked to be a modern-day lantern. "I figured, with all the blackouts happening lately, it would probably come in handy."

She silently took the lantern, not quite meeting Mamoru's eyes.

"I'm going to get some matches and light a few of these candles," he said, gesturing to the unopened pack of white candles he had taken out of the closet.

He ran a hand through his hair, clearly a little unsure of what to say or do.

"The balcony door is across from the couch if you...want to set up."

Usagi stared as Mamoru headed towards the kitchen area, candles in hand.

She held the lantern up, letting the light shine over the living area, taking in the minimal furniture and nearly non-existent decor. The last time she had been here, she hadn't really been able to get her bearings.

The living area where she was standing had a large couch, low coffee table, and a flat-screen TV. Next to the couch, she recognized the end table she had accidentally upended the last time she had been there. She cringed as she recalled the memory, before carefully moving across the room.

Usagi noted that the far wall of the apartment wasn't actually a wall, but floor to ceiling windows which undoubtedly provided an incredible view of the city when there wasn't a blackout. About twenty feet away from her, she could make out a small desk with a stack of handwritten notes next to a sleek looking laptop.

Between her and the desk there was something odd that her light flicked across. Usagi raised the lantern above what appeared to be an old turntable sitting on top of a cabinet. As she made to stand in front of it, her foot came into contact with a hard object and she lowered the light towards the ground. Her eyes widened in surprise. It was an old discolored metal box with no lid...and it was filled with antique vinyl records. She crouched down and eyed the sleeves of the records which were all worn and faded. Judging by the photos of the people holding trumpets, clarinets or saxophones — she guessed these were jazz records from decades ago.

Usagi cast her light out and saw that the cabinet the record player was resting on was actually open shelves, which were also filled with vinyl records — none of which were new. Yet, all the records looked carefully organized, with some even encased in new plastic sleeves. She touched a few of the records and saw that there was Japanese and western music from all types of genres; classical, disco, jazz, rock, blues, opera, and even some traditional Japanese folk. It appeared as though the latest records were at least 20 years old. There was nothing modern.

"Looks like you finally found that collection of mine."

Usagi turned to see Mamoru a few feet away from her holding his cell phone flashlight. But, he hardly needed it given the six or seven lit candles burning around around the apartment.

"Although if you had just said 'books' instead of medical textbooks…" he aimed his flashlight behind the desk Usagi had spotted, towards a large bookshelf crammed with books, "you probably wouldn't have had to take that first shot of vodka."

Realization dawned on her.

Vinyl records. In that stupid drinking game they had played, this was the large collection Unazuki had been referring to.

Usagi looked back at the records.

"Well, you did say you like a lot of different types of music...some of these look like they are antiques."

When he didn't say anything, she turned to look up at him.

"You collected all these?" she asked, raising the lantern up to see his face.

Mamoru, however, had turned so she could only make out his profile.

"No," he said, firmly. "My grandfather and my father were both music enthusiasts...apparently...and now I have them."

The way he had said 'apparently' sounded odd to her.

Neither of them said anything, which was quickly becoming a theme for the evening. Things had already been tense since they came into the apartment, now it was magnified by the discomfort Mamoru was displaying.

They were hardly on good terms, especially since the other week and the only reason he had brought her here was because he probably thought she was a nutcase that he needed to babysit.

Maybe this was a bad idea.

Mamoru had walked back towards the kitchen and she was contemplating what she should do.

She stood back up and she noticed how the lamp light touched on the far end of the apartment. The floor on that side was slightly raised above the rest of the room, where a large bed was made up, almost as if...

Usagi's breath caught in her throat.

All the reasons she had been staying away from him for the last two weeks came flooding back. The heatwave, the girls who had been flirting with him at the party, the waitress from the cafe...

Oh god…what if he had plans tonight?

She shined her light around the apartment again. It was completely spotless and everything was where it should be. Her eyes zoomed in on the candles he had lit and placed around the apartment.

What if he was expecting someone?

How had she not seen it before? Looking around the place, it seemed clear he had planned for company. Then he was clearly uncomfortable with her being here and had probably only invited her back so she wouldn't risk her safety by running around the city trying to get photos in a blackout like a crazy person.

She began to walk towards the genkan, then stopped.

But photos...what am I going to do for photos?

"Odango?" Mamoru asked as she put the lantern on the end table and turned into the genkan. "Where are you going?"

She held her cell phone flash light out, in an effort to locate her shoes.

"Look Mamoru, thanks for offering to let me hang out here. But I'm sure you have plans…and I really don't want to intrude."

"What are you talking about?" .

Usagi let out a sigh, her eyes on the floor.

"I don't want to get in the way...if you have someone coming over."

Her words hung in the air between them. She could feel the sweat starting down the back of her dress and she didn't know it if it was a result of her being overly stressed out or the lack of working air conditioning. The whole room felt so hot it was almost hard to draw breath.

Finally, he broke the silence.

"I haven't had anyone...over...in a long time," he half-whispered, as though this was something he needed to navigate carefully.

"Oh."

She knew how inadequate and strange of a response that was.

"So you're just a neat freak who has candles around the house because you're just really prepared for blackouts and...stuff…?"

Gold star, Tsukino. You're nailing this conversation.

Mamoru glanced around the apartment, "Pretty much."

Usagi closed her eyes and leaned back against the genkan wall. She didn't think her night could get any worse or she could be any more embarrassed.

"How...how about I make us some tea?"

Usagi's eyes opened, "Tea?"

Mamoru nodded, still not looking at her.

"Yeah, I have a gas stove so it should still be working. Why don't you go check the cloud cover?"

He was already walking towards the kitchen, so she didn't even have the chance to argue.

The last few hours of various emotional turmoil was finally catching up with her.

It was with a heavy sense of defeat and no expectation that she walked towards the sliding door to the balcony and stepped outside into the night time heat. At least at this height, there was a nice breeze. It was clear from the view that it wasn't just Azabu-Juban that had experienced the blackout, it looked as though the entire district had no power. The sight before her was one of black looming shapes against a slightly less dark sky. She could still make out Tokyo Tower, now looking more like a shadow in the night. The only lights below were the headlights of the few vehicles traveling through Minato.

She let out a sigh and looked up, unsurprised to see that the cloud cover was still thick. There were a few stars peeking out here and there, but nothing even worth attempting to photograph.

She felt the tears start to fall from her eyes as she looked into the blackness ahead of her. All the odds were stacked firmly against her tonight and there was nothing she could do to change that.

"Looks like the cloud cover isn't letting up," Mamoru's voice came from behind her.

Usagi was grateful he only had one of the small candles with him instead of the lantern, so her tears would be less visible. She watched as he placed the candle on a table she hadn't noticed.

"It probably doesn't matter anyway…" she said, her voice full of sadness. "I don't even have the right equipment to take those types of photographs. So, even if it was clear I'm not sure the images would turn out."

She knew it was obvious from her voice that she was upset and she hated that Mamoru was here to witness it.

"Come inside and have some tea."

He left the balcony door wide open so that the breeze cooled down the apartment, even slightly, as they sat around the coffee table.

Mamoru didn't ask her what was going on or why she was acting so strangely. Maybe it was her exhaustion from all of it — the assignment, the heatwave, her many dreams, her feelings about Mamoru — but everything she couldn't say all summer about going to university tumbled effortlessly from her lips.

"I never thought in a million years that I'd pursue a degree," she hushed into her tea, and it opened a floodgate.

When Mamoru didn't say anything, she continued.

"Then my high school hosted a photography exhibition for students in Tokyo…" she said, remembering. "Several of my photographs were being showcased at the exhibit and this...woman came up to me and introduced herself. She was Arisu Yamamoto, the Head of the Department of Photography at Tokyo Polytechnic University," she laughed humorlessly at the memory. "She told me she was impressed with my work and urged me to apply to her program."

Usagi took a sip of her tea, feeling some relief in finally saying all this.

"I didn't think she was serious, but a few days later...my photography instructor pulled me aside and told me that Ms. Yamamoto had been in touch and told him that she believed I had a real talent. She had also forwarded over an application to the program." Usagi took a breath. "Tokyo Poly started out as a school of photography in the 1920s. It's the oldest and one of the most prestigious schools in this field. I didn't imagine that I would pass the entrance exams, much less that the department would like the portfolio I submitted…"

She felt the tears start to well up again and she stopped speaking to try and swallow them down.

"But then you got accepted…" Mamoru said quietly.

"I'm...I'm not cut out for university and sooner or later they are going to figure that out," the tears were falling down her face in steady streams. "I guess I...I guess I just wanted to make it last as long as I could before they realized that…"

She groped around on the floor towards her bag and felt her fingers close around the stack of prints that she had been looking at only a few hours earlier.

"...now all I have to show Sensei Yamamoto are photos that are either too generic or too scandalous," she said as she put the photos on the coffee table between them. "She's going to probably regret ever encouraging me to apply if this is what I submit."

There it was. The fear she hadn't even allowed herself to think, much less verbalize. It was all out in the open.

She was an imposter who would surely be found out.

Usagi hadn't looked at Mamoru throughout her explanation and she didn't know if she could. She felt stripped bare in front of him. The genius who belonged in the world of academia and universities, who likely felt at home there. How could he ever understand or even begin to relate to what she had just told him?

Mamoru didn't say anything. Instead she saw his hands slowly and carefully sift over the stack of photos on the dark coffee table, the lantern reflecting off the shiny surfaces of the photographs that she had looked over hundreds of times already. His fingers were long and graceful, yet she also saw the calluses on his palms, likely from gripping the handlebars of his motorcycle.

They were mesmerizing.

She noticed he had begun sorting the 'safe' photos from the stack and soon he was looking at eight photographs that she felt were certainly her best work, even if they were from her collection of heatwave shots.

"These are incredible, Usagi."

His voice was quiet, clear, yet to the point.

She finally allowed her gaze to drift up towards his face and found him looking at the photos in concentration.

"The photos are definitely...sexy...but I think you're so caught up in the subject-matter that you're missing what you've captured," he said as if politely debating with someone. "I don't know anything about photography, yet I can't stop looking at these."

She rolled her eyes, "Of course you can't…"

"It has nothing to do with sex," he said interrupting her in that dry voice. "The connection and...total freedom of emotions here is a rare thing and you have managed to illustrate that."

She was speechless.

Her eyes went back to the photos in front of him and she tried to see them from his perspective.

But she was distracted as she watched him run a finger over one of the black and white photos of a couple embracing, their mouths close yet not quite touching in an 'almost kiss.' Her breath caught as she watched his fingertip, following along the curve of the negative space between the couple's lips.

The way his eyes took in every detail of her work was something she couldn't not observe.

Usagi was so caught up in watching his reactions as he turned over each photo that she felt herself jerk a little when she saw he had come to the photograph she had of him shirtless and with milkshake dripping out of his hair.

His eyes widened a little as recognition took hold of him. She memorized every flutter of his lashes as he blinked. It was almost like he couldn't believe it was an image of himself that he was seeing. After a long moment, he turned the photograph face down and put it to the side with the rest of them.

"You obviously have talent, Usagi," he said, taking a sip of his tea. "But if you're going to make it then you need to be less of a coward about your work."

The coldness in his voice was abrupt woke her from her daze.

Did he just call me a...COWARD?!

The feelings of vulnerability and sadness she had just shared with him transformed into red hot anger. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have let herself be so vulnerable in front of Chiba Mamoru.

Then again, was it really a surprise?

"It was just a matter of time," she snorted.

She pushed off the table so forcefully, it nearly knocked over the mugs of tea.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You….This!" she shouted, dramatically gesturing between them.

"Want to use your words there, Odango?" Mamoru asked in his typical nonchalance.

"You being nice to me all of a sudden," she said indignantly. "I should have known it wouldn't last."

Mamoru sat up a little straighter, which prompted her to stand up all together. She wanted to feel like she had the high ground in every sense.

Unfortunately, he also got to his feet.

She let out a strangled growl and began to walk towards the other side of the room.

"You're just mad because I'm being honest!" his voice raising, as he followed her.

"No!" Usagi turned on him, daggers in her eyes, "I'm mad because you're an ass!"

Mamoru's eyes hardened.

"Really?!"

"If the ugly green jacket fits…"

Mamoru hands immediately flew to his hair, pulling at the strands in agitation.

"You're so damn irritating! You know that?!"

"The feeling is mutual!" she said, moving towards the genkan.

"Where are you going?!"

Usagi already had her cell phone out to turn on the flash light.

"Well I'm a coward, aren't I?! So I figured I would leave like one!"

"Stands to reason!" his deep voice echoed throughout the apartment.

Usagi wasn't proud of her next move. She angrily stomped her foot at him.

In her defense though, this was Mamoru — the one guy who would simultaneously try and get you to stay while still arguing with you.

"I cannot BELIEVE you're calling me a coward because I actually want to do a good job on my assignment!" she shouted. "...by being mindful of how I use SEX!"

"They aren't just sex. They're way more than sex!" The look he gave her was heavy. "You're in university now, be bold!" He stuffed his hands in his pockets, suddenly seeming a little uncomfortable. "Stop tiptoeing around anything that could be a little dangerous."

Her jaw fell open.

Were they still just talking about her assignment?

"Don't explain my work to me!" she said gesturing towards the table where the photos were piled. "I'm well aware that it isn't just sex."

"Then that just proves my initial point that you're not brave enough to show them!"

Usagi scoffed, remembering she needed to get her photos off the coffee table.

"You know I'm right," he said, following her back into the main area of the apartment.

"That's what it's about, isn't it?" she said, turning on him. "Chiba Mamoru has to be right?! That's how it has always been!"

He moved closer to her, but he didn't leap on her insult.

"The point is...I am right about this!"

"You may be so sure that they're not pornographic, while someone else may think they're tasteless photos of people giving way to hormones!" she yelled. "That is a risk I can't take!"

Mamoru let out an exasperated sigh.

"If you don't see what I see...then you're blind!" He threw his hands up in the air, "I just can't believe that I, of all people, have to tell you to stop playing it safe!"

Usagi felt her breathing becoming shallow as she looked at him in pure indignation. The heat of the apartment was stifling.

It wasn't helped as he closed the distance between them.

She tried to think of something to say to disprove his point, but she came up empty. Her lack of response only appeared to infuriate him more.

"You are the most irrational person I know! If you were brave enough, you would have submitted those photos already!"

She stepped closer to him, "That has nothing to do with me being 'brave'!"

She knew it was a weak response, but it was becoming difficult for her to concentrate when his lips were just centimeters away.

"It has EVERYTHING to do with that, you moron!" he hissed. "You're braver than that!"

The challenge in his voice was clear and it ran through her like fire.

It wasn't clear who moved first...but in an instant, his mouth had collided with hers and she lost the ability to resist temptation altogether. Lips slipped against lips, wild and out of sync. The kiss was all passion and frustration, far from gentle or careful.

Mamoru's arms wrapped around her, pulling her flush against him and deepening the kiss. Soft and rough, his tongue so deep, as if he was fighting her for dominance.

Usagi's hands automatically slipped under his shirt, feeling the smooth skin of his lower back and the taut muscle of his shoulder blades.

The combination of tongue and touch was overwhelming, leaving her with a heady feeling, as if she was in another one of her dreams…

She ripped her mouth away from his. They stared at each other in wide-eyed silence, both breathing hard. The light from the candles and the lantern flickered over his face, allowing her to see her own disbelief reflected there.

Are we really doing this?

She had resisted this for four long weeks. Usagi couldn't remember the last time she had had a good night's sleep or taken a hot shower.

Now there she was in his arms with the taste of him burning on her lips, and the scent of sweat and summer air filling her senses. The yearning to touch more of him was so palpable that she was actually gritting her teeth.

As she felt his heart pounding into her chest and the look of crazed desire and anticipation in his eyes, she knew she couldn't fight it anymore.

With a curl of her hand around his neck, she closed the small space between them. Mamoru let out a small groan, as her mouth melted against his.

The pace was just as fast and ferocious as their argument had been so it came as no surprise that their hands started to move at the same rate — his thumbs pressing into the sensitive skin beneath the strap of her dress, while the leather of his belt slipped against her fingers as she ripped at it.

Breaking away, Usagi pulled his t-shirt up over his head, biting her lip as her fingers came in contact with warm skin. Her eyes greedily took in the sharp definition of his abs and the lean build of his chest and arms in the dim light.

She had seen him shirtless before. Hell, she had looked at the milkshake photo of him so often, the image was practically tattooed on her brain. But, this was different. As far as she knew, there was only now, and that recklessness allowed her to appreciate what was right in front of her in a way that had seemed forbidden before.

"You don't have to look so pleased with yourself," he whispered in her ear.

She tried to pull away to smack his shoulder, but he was already crushing his lips to hers, making it hard for her to catch her breath, much less deliver a cutting response.

Usagi's arms circled around his neck, pulling him down further to her mouth and grinding against him. The cotton of her dress slid against his hard body, absorbing the heat he radiated.

Her movements went lower, writhing up against the very obvious bulge in Mamoru's jeans.

"Fuck," he muttered, breaking their kiss.

Usagi felt a sense of victory as he swore.

Pulling out of his embrace, she reached for the zipper on the side of her dress and yanked it down. The pesky fabric pooled around her feet, leaving her in nothing except her light pink mesh bra and cotton panties.

Even in this light, she could see Mamoru's eyes darken as he scanned every inch of her. It was only when she dragged him back into a searing kiss, that he seemed to realize he could touch her.

And touch her, he did.

His long fingers moved over her with abandon — leaving a tingling sensation over her stomach, hips, breasts, and even the flesh of her butt. Usagi's whole body trembled with the newness and intensity of it.

Seizing the rough denim waist of his jeans, she forcefully parted his lips.

Mamoru didn't hesitate, keeping pace with her every action. His movements were fast and reactive, pushing when she pulled and clutching her harder when she shifted closer, all without breaking from her. Even in their movements, they were arguing — trying to make the other moan or establish the upper hand.

Usagi shoved against him, forcing his feet backwards until Mamoru was up against the window, and even then, she didn't stop pushing. Her chest thrust up against his, allowing the pads of her fingers to trace the indents of his lower abdominal muscles, stopping where they disappeared into the top of his pants.

The effect of which left her whole body quaking in arousal and Mamoru breaking their kiss to take in large gulps of air.

Even as she tried to take pride in the fact that she was getting to him, she couldn't remember ever being this turned on. Not with past boyfriends, not even from her sex-crazed dreams.

Every bit of skin he caressed felt electrified as his hands explored every curve and cleft of her body. Her thighs clenched together as she felt her core pulse, her underwear already soaking.

None of this was helped by the feeling of Mamoru's hard-on pressing urgently through his jeans into her stomach.

Usagi took a breath, frowning at the glint in his eye as he realized the effect he was having on her.

That just won't stand.

Usagi bucked her hips hard against his erection. The low whimper that emitted from his throat was one of want and torment and it was absolute music to her ears.

Observing Mamoru's wide-open eyes, the heavy rise and fall of his chest and the sheen of sweat on his skin — it was almost too much for her.

Which is exactly what he took advantage of.

She felt his fingers tighten on her hips and before she could register what was happening, he turned them in a lightning fast motion, reversing their positions. The cool glass of the window was a relief to the flushed skin of her back.

It was short lived, however.

She gasped as Mamoru's hand cupped her breast. His mouth quieted hers, as his fingers began to stroke sensitive skin through the thin barrier of her bra. As his thumb rolled lightly over her hardened peak, the intensity of the motion sent her head jerking upwards so fast that her chin narrowly avoided colliding with his jaw.

He smirked at her reaction in a way she was all too familiar with.

"Find something you like?" she gasped, barely keeping up the pretense of scolding.

Mamoru seized her lips with his own, his body pressing hers further into the glass.

"You have no idea," he said breathlessly.

Maybe it was the crack in his voice, the feel of his breath on her cheeks, but Usagi knew she was past the point of return here.

She felt his palms make their way down her shoulders, gently pulling down the straps of her bra as they went. She had a moment of déjà vu,remembering how he had done just the reverse the night of the bet, after he had kissed her.

The sound of the barely there garment hitting the hardwood floor echoed loudly in the silent apartment.

Mamoru went still, gazing down at her slack-jawed as he took in her form.

Usagi, however, was impatient.

She crushed him to her, reveling in the feel of his naked chest against hers. The movement spurred him back into action.

His soft lips, frantic and hungry, teased hers before moving along her jaw and leaving a trail of heat along the sensitive hollow of her neck and down her chest. Usagi's hands grasped the inky black strands of his hair as he sucked and pecked at the tender skin — crying out a strangled expletive as his teeth grazed her nipple.

The sensation was so immense she was sure her legs would have given out if he wasn't holding her securely against the glass.

Usagi clawed at his hair and yanked his head back towards her mouth. As their lips connected, she fumbled to undo his jeans, which she could feel were straining painfully against him. Usagi easily undid his fly and without breaking their kiss, dipped her hand inside.

Her fingers grasped tightly around him...all hard and thick and throbbing.

Mamoru cried out loudly, ripping his mouth from hers, his hands pushing into the window. The sound of him inhaling and exhaling labored breaths echoed into her ear and she saw his palms digging into the glass on either side of her head.

Her hand stayed firmly wrapped around him, unmoving.

Mamoru's forehead pressed against hers, his panting leveleling out.

His eyes found hers and she felt him twitch in her hand.

The look he gave her was positively carnal.

There was something about having this level of possession over the most reserved person she had ever known…

...she could make him lose control.

It was something she hadn't realized she so desperately wanted to see. Sure, she wanted him to fill every inch of her and to taste the salt on his skin. She could even admit she wanted to see that smug smirk on his face as he discovered all the ways he could make her scream his name and then beg him for more. But the thought of seeing him possibly reacting in the same way to her...

It was exhilarating to watch his eyes roll in the back of his head while she stroked him long and slow from base to tip.

Yet, it was when the flat of her thumb grazed over his head that something in Mamoru came alive.

Without warning she felt his large hands latch onto the back of her thighs and lift her up. Surprised, both hands reflexively went around his neck. His grip was so strong that she was sure they would leave bruises.

She cried out as his erection, still trapped by his underwear, brushed along her very damp panties as he pulled her up his hips.

Usagi lost herself to the intentional movements of his tongue against hers. It was as though he was trying to devour her as his tongue savored hers and his lips pulled and puckered against her mouth.

It was only when his hands released her thighs that Usagi broke their kiss. She became conscious of the feel of impossibly cool cotton sheets against her clammy and heated skin.

She looked up to find Mamoru staring down at her, as he pulled down his jeans and boxer-briefs, all in one.

Fully naked, Mamoru laid back down on top of her, carefully propping himself up on his arms, so as not to crush her. The feel of his body against hers had her hips already lurching forward, trying to feel more of him.

Mamoru smirked at her as he reached down between them. Her breath hitched as she felt the roundness of his head against her. The warmth of him against where she needed him to touch her the most was torture.

Then he started to move. Left to right. Right to left.

Her eyes rolled in the back of her head as the tip of him brushed along her clit in the most incredible way, even through the damp cotton of her underwear.

As he swirled along the opening of her slit, her body nearly jolted.

"Oh god!" she groaned loudly, beyond caring if she gave him the upper hand.

All that mattered was that he didn't stop touching her.

Usagi's eyes flew upwards. She could see a bead of sweat falling down the side of his face in a look of utmost concentration. He was totally focused on her and her reactions.

Mamoru obviously took his cue from her groans and rubbed his head against her opening again, this time swirling and dipping slightly inside her in a way she didn't realize could be so sensitive.

It made the vibrating sensation inside her build even more.

As he swirled and dipped again, she moved her hand lower. The next time the head of his cock pushed against her, she moved the fabric aside. They both cried out as he slid against wet and naked skin.

Mamoru stopped moving all together. A drop of sweat trickled down the side of his neck and onto his chest. The emotions on his face were unforgettable. He looked at her with a mix of desperation and defiance, like he was a man who had been without water for days and now he came upon a poisoned well.

Usagi saw he was shaking slightly, like he was fighting himself to stay still.

Just one small push...

Mamoru seemed to read her thoughts.

With a grunt and no small amount of effort, he pulled away from her.

Usagi half grumbled in protest until she realized he was digging through the nightstand by the bed.

Tearing foil broke the sound of their heavy breathing.

Oh yeah...probably a good time to be lame and responsible.

Heart hammering in her chest, Usagi frantically contorted to pull her underwear off, jutting him with her legs as she tried to shake them off her foot. He didn't even notice, all attention on the current task.

She watched him roll on the condom before slowly climbing back between her legs.

Usagi inhaled, feeling the weight of him on top of her, all skin and muscles and male. But, rather than resuming their extremely hot foreplay, Mamoru just stared down at her, unmoving.

How had they literally just been fighting only moments earlier?

The look of yearning in his eyes made her heart skip a beat. For one small moment of clarity, she wondered if anyone had ever looked at her that way before.

Mamoru's eyes didn't leave her as he pushed his hips forward and plunged into her in one long, deep motion. Her breath stopped completely as she felt every inch of him pushing and stretching inside her effortlessly.

How had she not realized how much she craved this? The feeling of Mamoru sliding inside of her and her clenching around him...how did she deprive herself of this for so long?

She could hear the low rumble in his throat as he pushed into her again, this time balling his fists into the sheets on either side of her head.

Her hips pushed up to meet his, quickening their pace and allowing him to go even deeper. Usagi could feel that familiar tightening in her stomach as he pulled out to just his tip, circling her entrance before thrusting back into her. She moaned at the motion, feeling completely and totally aware of him inside of her.

He was being careful...too careful and too slow.

She needed release so badly. She pushed her hips against him, urging him faster and causing him to groan.

His arms were tense as he tightened his fists. He was obviously trying to hold on and she knew the fast pace was not helping.

She whimpered. She was almost right there.

Finally, she pushed her hands against his chest, motioning for him to pull out.

Mamoru looked panicked for a moment. But she kissed him in reassurance as she rolled him on his back.

His eyes went wide, as she proceeded to straddle him.

She hovered for a second, waiting for him to nod that this was okay before she positioned herself over him...and sank all of her body down on his cock.

Mamoru threw his head back against the bed as she repeatedly raised and lowered herself on him, allowing him to go even deeper.

His hands went to her waist, gripping her tightly as she dictated their motion. The feel of his hips brushing along her thighs and knees bracing against the mattress gave her extra leverage to push down harder on him.

Usagi placed her hands on his chest, her eyes never leaving his as she began to pick up her speed.

"Usagi...I'm not going to…" Mamoru barely seemed able to speak.

She was so, so close. She could feel her stomach and chest tightening, her limbs become more rigid.

Then, just as she was sliding back up his hard shaft, Mamoru bucked his hips hitting her just right. She moaned so loudly, she was sure the entire floor heard her. Her pace was brutal, as she rode out her orgasm, chasing the high of it. A wave of release took hold of her, bursting throughout her body and leaving her breathless. She couldn't stop clenching Mamoru, even if she tried.

Mamoru thrust his hips in time with her as best he could, but after two, three more strokes she felt him twitch violently inside her.

Her name dragged across his throat as he came hard.

Her body felt slack but she insisted on riding him out, her eyes never leaving the twisted look of agony and pleasure on his face as he came completely undone in front of her. His eyes as bright as she had ever seen, his mouth open and looking up at her in total ecstasy. It didn't seem possible that they were doing this, that she was the reason he had just voluntarily lost himself so utterly.

As their panting slowed, Usagi carefully rolled off of him. She could feel him next to her, on his back looking up towards a ceiling they could barely see.

There were neon lights reflected off of it, broken up by moving shadows. The power must have come back on sometime ago.

Her breath came short and heaved in perfect sync with his, her slick body touching his slick body, and with every passing second her thundering heartbeat got even faster.

What had they done?

She didn't get much time to contemplate because he had finally caught his breath, rolled back over, and with it, his lips were back on hers.

She exhaled into his mouth, tension evaporating, and those long fingers of his were already rubbing against her clit, working her towards another orgasm.

That was when the feeling of relief hit her. The relief that this irrational heatwave induced night wasn't over yet. The relief in knowing that when they would finally tire of exploring and tasting and touching each other, she would finally be able to sleep. And she knew more than anything else, there would be no dreams tonight.

Chapter Text

Usagi's eyes felt heavy as she blinked them awake, her gaze falling on an alarm clock that she didn't recognize on a night stand that wasn't hers.

She closed her eyes again, convinced she was dreaming.

Her bed felt so comfortable and much bigger than she remembered. Her arm would normally be dangling off the side in this position, her fingers felt nothing but feather soft sheets as she sprawled out across the bed. She must have left a window open too because the room wasn't stuffy and hot, as it normally was in the mornings. Instead it felt cool and airy and there was a slight pleasant smell of wood that she didn't recognize...

Her eyes flew open.

White sheets, not pink. Queen sized bed, not her usual twin.

Usagi bolted upright into a sitting position.

She was most definitely naked under the cool sheets that she was desperately clutching around her body.

It all came flooding back.

The blackout, her photos, the argument, kissing Mamoru, hard muscle and soft skin, the feel of him inside her...oh god, she didn't know she could be that loud.

The adrenaline from the shock woke her up faster than a shot of espresso.

Sex. I had sex with Mamoru. I had sex with Mamoru-baka!

Usagi felt herself flush deeply and wrapped the sheets more securely around her. Her eyes immediately began to scan the apartment for any signs of her nemesis.

The ridiculously bright morning sun was shining in through the wall of windows that gave way to a stunning view of Minato and Tokyo Tower. The sunshine bathed the entire apartment in light, allowing Usagi to see clearly what she couldn't the night before. The white walls were bare except for the large bookshelf Mamoru had previously shown her and for a few hanging shelves that housed several small green plants.

She noted with some disappointing comparison, that it was very unlike her own room which was a constant disaster zone of stuffed animals she had long outgrown, a mountain of dirty clothes intermixed with clean clothes she never got around to folding, and boxes of photos she couldn't bring herself to digitize.

But here there was no sign of clutter or excess. No photos or knick knacks. Everything was perfectly in its place. This was the apartment of an adult, someone who was serious.

It was only missing one thing — Mamoru.

The studio apartment didn't have many places to hide.

Maybe he was in the bathroom?

As she looked around the room again, something pink caught the corner of her eye.

She turned to her right and saw her dress, which she had distinctly remembered taking off somewhere around the living room area, hanging off the back of the desk chair.

She let out a long sigh.

Her hair was everywhere, sprawled out across the bed in tangles and waves. Usagi scrunched her eyes shut, still not quite believing where she was.

She forced her feet to the ground, wrapping the sheet around her in case Mamoru suddenly decided to make an appearance.

Not like he hasn't seen every inch of me at this point.

She was sure her face was going to be in a permanent blush from this day forward.

Making her way to the chair, she found that Mamoru had not only taken the liberty of laying out her dress, but also her undergarments.

Usagi gave another fruitless glance over the apartment, before dropping the sheet and proceeding to get dressed.

Maybe he had left?

Her mind flashed back to the look he had given her when he had laid her down on the bed. It had been fierce and almost reverent. It had felt, even in that moment, like there was so much he was holding back.

No. Mamoru wouldn't just leave.

Usagi managed to messily tie her hair up into her trademark style, or at least an imperfect imitation of it.

She padded across the hardwood floors carefully, almost holding her breath. It jumped in her lungs painfully when she spotted him through the window.

His tall form leaned against the railing of the balcony, and she found herself tracing it reflexively. He appeared deep in thought, staring unblinkingly out at the view in front of him. Usagi couldn't help how her eyes slowly took every detail of him in. He looked uncharacteristically disheveled — barefoot and wearing the same black shirt and jeans as the previous night, his hair even more windswept than usual.

It felt strange seeing him now. Her brain hadn't had time to reconcile the unguarded man from the night before, who had touched her and kissed her in a way that set fire to her whole body — with the reserved, arrogant, smart-ass she had known for the last four years.

She knew the feel of his skin now, the sound of his voice cracking as he came undone, and the way he tasted bittersweet all over. She couldn't unknow those things.

Mamoru turned and spotted her through the window.

She took a breath and braced herself for...she didn't know what.

His movements were sluggish as he opened the balcony door and took a few hesitant steps into the apartment.

"You're awake," he said in a neutral sort of way. But he didn't meet her eyes.

"Yeah, have you been up long?" she asked in a small voice.

Mamoru glanced back down at the floor and shook his head.

She was starting to feel sick.

It was amazing how uncomfortable everything became the morning after a one night stand. Or at least she imagined this is what it felt like. 

Anything done in the dark of night could be hushed away or forgotten. But in the light of day, that was much harder to do.

"Mamoru, about last night…" she began, but found she didn't know what else to say.

His eyes finally met hers and when they did, she almost wished he had kept his attention on the floor.

Those dark blue eyes she knew so well were wide, round, and full of fear. The look of regret was unmistakable.

"I'm so...so sorry," he said hoarsely.

Usagi felt her heart drop.

He's sorry?

Isn't that what everyone wants to hear from the person they just had transcendent sex with? An apology?

"I swear...what happened," he ran a hand through his hair. "It wasn't my intention when I brought you here last night for that to…"

He couldn't even say it.

With every stammer, her chest tightened. So many emotions and thoughts were running through her, and they were all combining and building into a tight ball in her gut.

"I really just wanted to help you. I don't want you to think that…"

Usagi was already nodding her head — automatically agreeing with him even when he wasn't saying actual sentences. She needed to get out of there as painlessly and quickly as possible.

"This means anything?" she finished for him in a voice that was unrecognizable to her own ears.

That was where this was going, so she might as well cut to the chase and put him out of his misery. He was obviously struggling to find a way to break to her that last night was just a one-off.

"Don't worry, I get it."

Mamoru looked like the wind had been knocked out of him.

"What do you think you 'get' exactly?"

He sounded breathless and his eyes were looking everywhere around the apartment, except at her.

Usagi frowned at the question. She knew what this was. Did he really need her to say it aloud?

The heatwave had finally won out and now she had to live with the consequences. They both did.

"It's like Motoki said, right?" Usagi said, trying to sound casual. "The heatwave makes people do things they normally wouldn't do."

Mamoru's head jerked up. His eyes were wide again, this time with disbelief.

"Y...you think we slept together because of the weather?!"

Usagi suddenly felt nervous.

Weren't they on the same page? Didn't he see what had been happening over the last few weeks?

"What else would it be?" she sighed. "We barely put up with each other when we aren't fighting like cats and dogs. Now the heatwave hits and we..."

She glanced back towards Mamoru's bed on the other side of the apartment; the sheets in total disarray, the pillows showing signs of where their heads had rested. It was the only thing in the apartment that didn't fit in the otherwise immaculate room.

For a moment, it looked as though Mamoru was going to say something and she felt herself hoping he would argue with her. Tell her that it wasn't that simple, that it hadn't just been circumstance and a case of blind lust.

But he didn't say anything and that small hope quickly faded.

After a long pause, Mamoru's eyes found hers again. 

"If you say so."

His words were quiet, but they sounded so resigned and final.

It was the last crack in the facade she was trying to keep intact. All the nervousness, the confusion, the disbelief, and now the hurt were threatening to shatter her.

"I need to get going," she said, already walking towards the coffee table to grab the stack of photos that were left there from the previous evening.

He owed her nothing and she had brought this all on herself. She could have stopped this the night before. But she had made a decision to walk into it willingly, ramifications be damned.

He didn't say anything or move as she stepped into the genkan and picked up her shoes.

As soon as she stepped out that door, that would be it.

She turned one last time and found the look on his face indecipherable.

They couldn't be Mamoru-baka and Odango Atama anymore after last night.

There was no going back.

She didn't know what it would be like to see him after this, assuming she saw him at all.

His eyes met hers and Usagi knew he was thinking the same thing. The sadness in them was clear. They had made a huge mistake.

For the second time, she left Mamoru's place with barely any memory of opening the door or rushing to get in the elevator. Somehow, she managed to get outside his building before the tears began to gush from her eyes. The painful ball of emotion in her chest made it hard to breathe.

It's just the heatwave, it's just the heatwave, it's just the...heatwave…

Usagi slowly made her way up the steps of Hikawa Shrine, feeling the weight of the humidity hug her body from all sides.

Over the last few weeks, Makoto had been baking her way through croissants, macarons, eclairs, and any other French pastry she could find a recipe for. She had wanted to impress her new boss on the first day of her apprenticeship and the girls had happily volunteered to sample any and all her baked goods.

It was the weirdest feeling not to be excited about the prospect of Makoto's desserts. Perhaps she should have cancelled and stayed home.

On the other hand, maybe it would do her good to be there. Ever since she had left Mamoru's, she had been an emotional mess —which probably wasn't much of a surprise. She couldn't forget the look of remorse and dejection on his face. The way he was so anxious to apologize for sleeping with her, despite the fact that she had been the one who caused this.

What had Minako told her a few weeks ago?

"You're the most self-indulgent person I know."

Her friend hadn't been wrong. All she had needed to do was keep it in her pants and wait out this heatwave. She couldn't even manage that.

This was her fault.

Things would be awkward between them from now on and that meant one of them would have to give up the Crown. Motoki and the girls would figure it out at some point if they continued with things as usual, and she didn't want to make things uncomfortable. Motoki was Mamoru's best friend, for crying out loud.

She should give up the Crown.

Usagi sighed.

Her mind went to the persistent image she had of Mamoru — the stoic student with his head buried in a book. The same guy who was always agitated when she was around. Yet that same man less than 24 hours earlier had been making her moan and whimper as his mouth had kissed down her hip bone — torturously licking and sucking every inch of her skin except where she needed it the most.

That smart ass smirk he would always give her after he had landed a particularly good insult, was the same smile that had crossed his face when his fingers had found just the right rhythm to make her cry out.

How could the sexiest, most passionate night she could have ever imagined, let alone experience, have been with her worst enemy?

Worst enemy? Did that even still apply?

Usagi looked up, relieved to see the torii gate was bigger than it was a moment before. Her legs were already aching from the climb. You would think after years of trekking up these steps she would have been able to get up them faster, but she still was slow-poking it all the way up like a sweating slug.

She took a big breath.

There was no point in trying to interpret Mamoru's behavior. After last night, she was sure he would be avoiding her going forward. There would be no more days of loudly arguing with him at the Crown while they both competed for Motoki's attention. He wouldn't bristle at her comments about his clothes or the fact that he would never go a mile over the speed limit.

That was over.

A loud beep interrupted her thoughts.

She reached into her bag to pull out her cell phone to a text from Ami.

"Hey, are you still coming to Rei's for pastries?"

Usagi sighed, wiping the sweat from her brow.

"Climbing the steps to the shrine now. Be there in a few."

The crickets were already starting to chirp, indicating the afternoon would soon be turning into evening.

No one knew about what had transpired with Mamoru the night before. She could already imagine her friends reactions to that news.

It was clear they would read more into it than there was. How could they not? After that initial kiss during the bet against the Evil Three, the teasing from Mako and Toki afterwards, and then the interrogation from Rei, and Minako engineering it so Mamoru gave her a lift home from Moon Romantic — she wasn't going to convince them it was nothing.

Even so, that regret in his eyes and the stammering apology had pained her in a way she hadn't expected. Despite that she knew they could never go back to normal, it hurt that he wished it hadn't occurred.

Maybe that was why she should tell her friends, because it did hurt and when things got hard they were the only people in the world she needed to turn to for comfort. Plus, if she was now going to have to give up the Crown — they were going to figure out why.

I guess it's better to just come out with it.

With that resolution in mind, Usagi quickened her pace and true to her text, arrived outside Rei's a few minutes later.

As she slid back the shoji and entered the large sitting room, she realized something was off.

Rei, Makoto and Ami all looked up at her when she arrived. But, there were no teasing remarks about her being late or greetings of hello. All of them held a look of soft sadness.

Minako, the only one to not acknowledge her presence, was texting on her phone with some urgency.

"Hey," Usagi said slowly to the group. "Is everything alright?"

Ami was the one to answer. "Well, it's good news really. But…"

"It looks like Minako will be leaving by the end of next week," Rei said, ripping the proverbial band aid off.

Usagi looked over at Minako, who had finally put her phone down. The solemn look she gave Usagi confirmed Rei's words.

"What?" Usagi said in surprise. "I thought you weren't due to leave until the 21st!"

The usually boisterous Minako shrugged her shoulders, looking a little dazed.

"One of the models that was supposed to be on a campaign shoot in Singapore broke her arm," Minako said in a near monotone. "The agency just called. They want me to step in for her."

Usagi's mouth fell open and her feet were rushing around the table to throw her arms around her dearest friend.

"MINAKO! That's amazing!" She squeezed her friend into a suffocating bear hug.

The hug was both one of pride for her friend and a convenient excuse to hide the tears that were already starting to form.

It was a blow that Minako was leaving so much sooner than planned. At the same time though, she had worked so hard for this. Throughout high school she had endured countless late night shoots and long weekends away from home. Not to mention the day-long disappointing auditions waiting with hundreds of other girls to find out if she had been selected for a job.

Now, she was going to Singapore to shoot an entire campaign! This was her chance. She deserved this!

Minako mumbled something she couldn't make out into her shoulder.

"What was that?" Usagi asked, stepping back and sniffing back her tears.

"It means we have only one week left together," Minako repeated.

"No, it means we have one fantastic week left together," Usagi said, inserting as much over-the-top enthusiasm as she could muster.

When Minako failed to laugh, Usagi smiled at her.

"You can't pass this up."

Minako's shoulders relaxed at Usagi's words.

"Okay, enough of that. No tears! Not now!" Makoto said, cutting in.

The baker extraordinaire pointed to the plate of pastries on the table.

"I did not make lemon almond madeleines with a raspberry glaze for us to be mopey! These are happy madeleines!"

Rei smirked from where she was sitting cross-legged on the floor. "They sound more like stressed madeleines to me, Mako."

Makoto narrowed her eyes, dangerously. "Then I guess you don't have to eat them."

Rei chuckled before finally putting her hands up in surrender. "No need to do anything drastic!"

With that, the tension in the air was broken  and soon all five friends were 'mmming' and 'aahhing' as they savored every crumb of the delicate pink glazed cakes. Usagi licked the sugar off her fingers, letting her eyes roll in the back of her head while she savored every bit of raspberry icing. For the first time that day, she felt like herself again.

The stiffness in Makoto's shoulders and arms appeared to melt away at the sight of everyone's satisfied expressions.

It was something Usagi noticed often. Makoto only seemed to relax at these 'tastings' after practically every baked good had disappeared. People too busy chewing to talk was a sign of a job well done, apparently.

"I know I say it every time — but seriously Mako, you have outdone yourself!"

"Here! Here!" Ami said with equal enthusiasm.

Makoto blushed attractively, never having been one to take compliments well.

"So Usa," Rei began between bites. "How did last night go?" Did you get what you needed?"

Usagi choked on her madeleine.

Oh my god, they know.

Rei could always tell when something was up and Minako had always sworn she could tell when someone had just had sex.

This is it, I should just come clean.

"Last night?"

Or maybe not.

Rei looked at her like she was crazy.

"Your photos..."

Oh, right.

Before she could respond Makoto spoke up.

"Isn't Usagi's exhibit the same day you leave for Singapore, Minako?"

The blonde beamed at Usagi, "Don't worry Usa, I'm not leaving until late that evening. I wouldn't miss your first big university exhibition."

The exhibit.

She had nearly forgotten she was supposed to be taking pictures.

In that moment though, given everything that had transpired with Mamoru and Minako's imminent departure, she felt too emotionally exhausted to panic about it.

"Let's see what I even end up submitting," she said, more to herself than anyone.

"I forgot to tell you…" Ami said swallowing her last bite. "I was at the Crown earlier and Motoki was looking for you."

"He was?" Makoto said eagerly.

Ami shook her head. "Sorry Mako, I meant he was looking for Usagi."

Usagi saw a look of sheepish embarrassment fall over Makoto's face.

"Is everything okay?" Usagi asked Ami.

"I think so, he just said he had something for you."

"Ah Motoki," Minako said thoughtfully. "I had kind of hoped a girl would have caught his eye this summer."

Usagi felt Makoto go rigid next to her.

"Translation: you were hoping you could catch his eye this summer, now that he's single," Rei said.

"Please! That was so three years ago!"

Makoto quickly became very preoccupied with the flower design on her plate.

"And for the first time in three years, he's available," Rei replied dryly.

"Yes, but he's been in recovery mode for the last six months. That break up with Reika was rough. Now, it seems like he's finally single and ready to mingle."

Rei cringed at Minako's musical tone in those last five words.

"He has seemed in better spirits since the summer started," Ami said.

Usagi watched Makoto as she brought her eyes to focus back on the group.

"I suppose," she said in agreement. "I just don't think he's over his breakup with Reika."

"Well hopefully by the time I get back from my trip, he'll have found someone new," Rei interjected. "That's another good six months, after all."

A tense silence fell back over the group and this time it had nothing to do with Makoto's delicious cakes.

Usagi turned and looked at Makoto, Rei, and Ami who were all wearing the same forlorn expression. She knew what they were all thinking.

The last summer was coming to an end. Soon, real life was going to begin and they would all have to start their own individual next chapters. Life was catching up and things were about to change.

There was no fighting it.

All she had wanted that summer was to spend as much time with her friends as possible and to relish every moment they had. This heatwave and this drama with Mamoru had made her lose sight of some of that. Tonight and the rest of next week, needed to be about them.

With that in mind, Usagi picked up her tea cup and raised it to the group.

"To our last week of summer. Let's make it count!"

One by one Makoto, Rei, Ami, and Minako raised their cups to Usagi's. Each looking just as apprehensive and sad as Usagi, but also hopeful.

"To our last week of summer," they said in unison.

Usagi entered the Crown, practically dripping in sweat and more than a little anxious. Tomorrow was the deadline for her assignment and she still had no idea what she was going to turn in. Yet, rather than being at home and sorting through her photos, she was out during the absolute hottest hour of the day, when every sane person was staying indoors — all because Motoki had asked her to drop by during his afternoon shift.

She nervously surveyed the empty cafe, her eyes immediately wandering to his usual place at the bar. She was relieved and simultaneously disappointed to find that it was empty. There wasn't even a drained coffee mug or paid bill on the counter.

She looked outside to see if she might have missed his shiny black motorcycle somewhere on the street, but she knew that was unlikely.

I really shouldn't be here.

It had been two days and Usagi hadn't told anyone about what had happened with Mamoru.

After she found out that she and the girls only had one week left together, it hadn't felt right to share what she had really been up to the night of the blackout. Her drama with Mamoru had suddenly felt less important and she didn't want to end the summer by telling them she might have lost the Crown because of it. That would be truly heartbreaking.

Plus, there was a chance her and Mamoru would eventually get over this. Maybe once the heatwave had broken and some time had passed, they could both manage to awkwardly be in the same building? Then no one would have to give up anything. It wouldn't be ideal, but it was better than becoming strangers.

Motoki came into view, carrying a tray of clean ice cream dishes to the back of the bar.

"Hey, Usagi!"

Usagi half-heartedly greeted Motoki, sitting on an empty bar stool opposite him.

"Thanks for coming by," he said, eyeing her damp and tangled hair. "Milkshake?"

"I don't think I have the time," she said, looking over her shoulder towards the glass doors.

Motoki's eyebrows disappeared into his fringe.

"I'm sorry," she said wearily. "I just have a lot on my mind and I have to get back soon."

The expression of alarmed concern didn't quite leave Motoki, yet he didn't say anything as he slid her a glass of iced water.

"What's going on? You said you needed me to come by."

"Um, yeah," he said in an odd tone. "I have something for you."

Motoki took out a crisp white envelope from the pocket of his apron and slid it towards her.

"Mamoru asked me to give this to you." The incredulous tone in his voice made it clear he thought this all very suspicious.

Usagi fixated on the envelope, suddenly finding it very hard to swallow.

"Do you know what's in here?"

Motoki shook his head.

Before either of them could say more, the shrill sound of the Crown's ancient phone rang loudly through the empty cafe.

"I'll be right back."

Usagi carefully picked up the blank envelope. She knew she should probably just take it and run out the door before Motoki had a chance to watch her open it. However, her anxiety and her desperate need to know what was inside got the better of her.

She easily undid the top flap and found there was no letter inside, nor was there even a slip of paper. Instead the top of a photograph peered out.

It was the shirtless milkshake photograph of Mamoru. She must have missed it in her mad dash to get out of his apartment the other morning.

Her chest tightened in realization.

This was the final nail in the coffin. Mamoru gave this to Motoki to pass to her because he wasn't planning on seeing her. They were going to be strangers now. Maybe she would see him at Motoki's birthday once a year or catch a glimpse of him around the neighborhood — both were bound to happen. Would they even speak to each other? Would he ever tease her again?

Of course she had expected something like this. But she had dared to hope that they could at some point put this behind them and move on. Clearly that had been in vain.

Her life wouldn't include Mamoru anymore.

Usagi stared down at the photo, she could have traced it with her eyes closed; the lines of his bare shoulders, the melting ice cream dripping off his hair and down his cheek, that strangely vague expression that was either pain, anger or just outright vulnerability. She had never really figured out what it was.

The image became blurred as tears started to form in her eyes.

"Wow, I knew you hit him where it hurts, but…"

Motoki's words brought her out of her daze.

Usagi kept her eyes low, hoping Motoki wouldn't notice her tears. Thankfully he was too focused on the photo. She realized, with some amazement, that it was the first time someone other than herself and Mamoru had seen it.

"...It's like you cracked that brick wall he always has up," Motoki picked up the image, really taking it in. "Then again, I guess that kind of makes sense."

"I don't even remember what I said to him," she said, quietly.

Motoki puffed out his cheeks as he let out a long exhale.

"Oh, I do," he said, handing the photo back to her. "I could hear you guys fighting all the way down the hall."

Usagi thought back to that argument in the backroom. It felt as though it had been forever ago.

"You said he's 'never had to worry about disappointing anyone in his whole life'," Motoki said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Usagi narrowed her eyes in confusion, "I...I don't understand."

Why had that hit such a nerve? If anything, that seemed more like an insult to her than Mamoru.

Motoki wiped his hands on his apron and looked around the empty cafe, clearly checking that there really wasn't anyone else there.

"You were right — Mamoru has never had to worry about letting anyone down. But that's only because there was no one around to disappoint."

Motoki paused, clearly he was unsure if he should continue.

"Mamoru doesn't have any family. He lost both of his parents in a car crash when he was really young. He grew up an orphan."

Motoki's words didn't sink in immediately, but when they finally did...it was like a wave of horror and shame overcame her.

Her whole body felt heavy and unmovable. The tears she had tried to hide a moment ago now sprang unbidden to her eyes, fresh and unstoppable.

Never once in all the time she had known Mamoru had there ever been any mention of his family. Even when he was a teenager, it seemed to be understood that he lived alone, yet there was never a question as to why that was the case.

"Oh my god. That's...I can't believe I said that. I…"

Motoki reached across the bar and gently patted her arm.

"I guarantee he doesn't hold it against you." Motoki then added for emphasis, "Trust me."

She didn't hear him though. The memories of the fight were coming back with added clarity and as they did, Usagi became more wracked with guilt.

"I told him he had the emotional intelligence of a snail," she said in self-loathing.

To her surprise, Motoki chuckled.

"It's not funny!"

"Actually it kind of is. Mamoru's people skills can be a little...lacking at times. He's not very good at expressing himself." Motoki smiled at her like he was in on a private joke that she wasn't privy to. "He never has been."

Usagi thought back to her and Mamoru's last argument. "...you need to be less of a coward about your work," he had said with so much frustration. Or the wretched look on his face as he stammered that fatal apology the morning after they had sex. There had been nothing ambiguous about him expressing exactly how he felt.

"That's what you think."

"What do you mean?" Motoki said, passing her a napkin for her tears.

"Nothing."

Motoki stared her down, that searching look back on his face.

"He's just never had any issue expressing his emotions towards me."

She didn't know she could sound so bitter, but there it was, and just like any decent budding psychologist, Motoki picked up on it. She could see the question already forming in his eyes.

"Usagi…"

She couldn't talk about this. Not now, not after what Motoki had just told her. So to pre-empt the interrogation she knew was coming her way, she asked a question of her own — one that had been nagging at her ever since Mamoru's party.

"Did something happen between you and Makoto?"

The change in Motoki's demeanor was instantaneous, and on any other day it would have been comical. The drop of his mouth into a perfect o, the shift of his eyes to shock and guilt, and the immediate fidgeting of his hands all made him look like a man with something to hide.

Motoki spluttered for a second before finally getting his words out.

"Did she say something?"

He sounded fragile and hesitant. The warmth and optimism that usually ran through his words was gone. Usagi watched the tall and exuberant Motoki, a guy who always filled a room, shrink before her eyes.

"No, I've just noticed that you've both been acting oddly when the other is mentioned."

Motoki rubbed a hand over his face as he walked around the bar and fell defeatedly into the stool next to Usagi.

"It's... complicated," he finally said, and faltered. "After Reika and I split up, it was really hard."

That was an understatement. Motoki didn't smile for the first two months after he and Reika broke up. Usagi had done everything she could to try and lighten his spirits; from making dumb jokes to dragging him out to karaoke. Nothing had worked. Even Mamoru had attempted to cheer him up a few times, although it had been painful to watch him try and force a joke. Sarcasm really was his forte.

"Not long after, Makoto started staying late at the Crown to study for finals and submit applications to culinary schools and apprenticeships. It grew into a sort of routine and within a few weeks, she was helping me close down at the end of the night. I liked that she never asked me about Reika, or how I was doing." Motoki took a breath and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth, "With her, I didn't have to be that heartbroken guy everyone was worried about. It was nice."

It was easy to picture everything Motoki described. Out of all Usagi's friends, Makoto was the one least likely to have a speech ready when you needed a pep talk. But she would show up at your door with a mountain of food and stroke your hair while you cried your eyes out over how crappy life was. Her whole presence always made it clear that she was there standing by your side and without judgment.

"That definitely sounds like Mako," Usagi said smiling. "What happened?"

Motoki cringed, turned and gave her a shy sort of smile.

"We…."

Usagi could feel her eyes bulge as she took in Motoki's meaning.

"You guys slept together?!"

Motoki's blush was confirmation enough.

"It was the same night as your bet with those girls? The 'Evil Three'? Makoto stayed back to help me close and one thing led to another. I blamed it on the heat."

Usagi felt her jaw drop at the obvious parallel.

"Later we talked about it and agreed it was nothing serious. I genuinely didn't think I was ready to get involved with anyone, and I think she was worried about being a rebound."

Usagi felt her gut clench uncomfortably. This all…hit very close to home, somehow.

"Afterwards, Makoto started keeping her distance, which is what I thought I wanted. Only later did I realize how wrong I was," Motoki said in exasperation. "I feel like I've lost something I never really had and it's all because I was too stupid to see…"

She was torn between wanting Motoki to tell her what happened next, yet scared of what his response would be.

"How do you know that what you're feeling for Mako is…" Usagi began, not sure how to ask the question. "How do you know it's not just the heat?"

Motoki's eyes were full of sadness as he snorted at the question. "My stupid heatwave theory was absolute garbage. I wanted to believe it. And yeah...the heat may result in people taking more chances and having more sex, but it's just physical."

His shoulders fell back as he met Usagi's gaze, "It has nothing to do with the fact that I can't stop thinking about her, that I miss her all the time, or that I got so jealous of her flirting with one of my classmates at a party that I got blindingly drunk, just to numb it down."

Motoki's omission shocked her so deeply, she was sure she felt it in her bones. She wanted to close her ears and not listen anymore.

Motoki smiled sadly.

"It would be so much easier if this was just the heatwave."

There were so many things to say that she didn't quite know where to begin. So, she reached for the most immediate thing.

"That was why Mako was here when I dropped by the morning after the bet…"

How could I have been so dense?

"That was why you had Mako bring in baked goods. You didn't actually call her to come in…"

"She was already with me," Motoki said, nodding.

Usagi sighed, looking back at her friend in stunned disbelief. She had no idea he had been dealing with all of this.

Then again, she could relate. Couldn't she?

"You sound like you're in love with her," she half-whispered.

Motoki smiled that same hopeless smile.

She'd also blamed the heat. Mamoru had always been the one with the walls, but she had worn Motoki's stupid theory like it was a suit of armor all summer. She was also terrified Mamoru would not be around anymore.

And why would he?

She also slept with him thinking it was nothing, when... when... when really…

She inhaled sharply, her lungs constricting.

Motoki started to respond, but was interrupted by the phone ringing loudly, once again. Usagi nodded at his hurried apologies and watched as he hurried to answer the call.

Usagi looked down at the image of Mamoru staring up at her and she felt herself begin to crumble. Like it had on the morning she'd last seen him, her world started to quake and crack.

Without another thought, she put the photo and the envelope in her bag, and with a trembling hand, wrote a quick note to Motoki.

Sorry, I had to go! Talk to Mako! Please!

Her legs carried her as fast as they through the neighborhood streets, even when the heat felt as though it would flatten her, all she could think of was getting to the safety of her bedroom as fast as she could before she broke down entirely.

Usagi didn't slow down as she burst through the door of her family's house. She didn't stop to take off her shoes, or when Shingo started yelling at her for not taking off her shoes. It was only when the door was shut and locked behind her that she managed to take a few steps before collapsing to her knees.

Her mind was running a million miles per minute, recalling every moment with Mamoru since the night of the bet. The things she had pushed down and refused to let herself think on; like the way she had shivered when he had first kissed her, the sound of his laugh, the feel of her arms being wrapped around him while she sat on the back of his motorcycle, the urge to see him when he wasn't around, and the pain of running out of his apartment in tears and not knowing why. What had happened? What changed that summer?

Her heartbeat was pounding loudly in her ears as she reached into her bag and pulled out the envelope Motoki had given her. She sat at her cluttered desk and looked at it, long and hard, like it would give her the answer to her question.

It didn't.

Usagi let out a breath and dropped the photo onto the cluttered desk.

The piles of photos she had absentmindedly organized the other week, the ones from the shoe box her Papa had found, were still there. Nine different stacks of pictures, categorized by individual, were all lined up in a formation that was far too neat for Usagi's desk.

Her eyes fixed onto the largest stack, the one that had double the amount of all the other piles.

A stack this large, it should have been the group shots. But it wasn't. When she saw the top photograph, she went still. It was the photo of Mamoru reading the battered copy of The Little Prince in his horrible green jacket, wearing that secret smile.

She flipped the photo over, not quite convinced that all the photos in front of her were only of Mamoru. It wasn't like she had that many photos of him.

But she was proven wrong when the next photo was yet another of Mamoru. In this one, he was still in high school, as illustrated by the uniform-issued red tie and the rolled up shirt sleeves on his forearms. The furrowed brow and slight gaping of his mouth as he stared straight into the camera was classic annoyance. She had been trying to take his photo, and he kept ignoring her...until she threw a crumpled test paper at his head.

In spite of herself, she smiled at the memory, remembering how much she enjoyed irritating him when he was being a haughty upperclassman.

Usagi couldn't remember when she had snapped the proceeding photo, but judging by the big coat on the table and the thick sweater Mamoru was wearing, it had to have been during winter. He was sitting at a booth covered in textbooks. Instead of reading them, Mamoru was fast asleep with his head propped against the window. Usagi nearly didn't recognize him with his face so relaxed and seemingly at peace. It was such a contrast to his guarded demeanor.

She turned over another one and found an image of him looking on the verge of spitting something out in disgust. Unazuki was standing next to him, laughing. It was the day she had accidentally put flavored creamer into his coffee, forgetting that he drank it black.

She kept flipping through the stack. Photo after photo, she kept waiting for the subject to change, and it never did. All of them were of Mamoru. Every single one. Each image looked different than it had two weeks ago when she had last sifted through them. There in her hand were all these tiny moments of Mamoru over the years, and she felt like they didn't represent the sarcastic, arrogant, smart-ass she had always described him as. Somehow, these displayed a Mamoru that she had only really noticed over the last few weeks, even though they had been taken over the last few years.

Usagi stopped as she came to a photo she had not taken note of two weeks earlier. This was the day she had been experimenting with a tripod and Mamoru was teasing her, per usual. She had kept trying to make him move so she could get an action shot of Motoki, working behind the counter, but he wouldn't get out of the way. Mamoru was looking to the right of the camera, amusement all over his face and his eyes lit up, bright and wide, something close to but not quite a laugh, coming off his lips.

The same look in his eyes…had been there the night of the blackout when they...when she…

Her hands trembled, dropping the photograph to the desk.

It was the final crack that brought all of it crashing down. She couldn't lie to herself anymore. It hadn't been the heat, nor had it even been the last five weeks. The photos, her photos were proof of that. All this time she had been taking his picture, capturing all bits and pieces of him that she could. Some part of her knew what was behind the walls he put up, but she had been too blind to realize it. For all the mystery there was around Chiba Mamoru, Usagi was looking at the evidence that she had known him better than she realized…that she…

Her whole body contracted as she began to sob. The rush of blood to her head, the strangled cries, and the tears gushing from her eyes as understanding and loss overcame her.

It was the most tragic thing she could have imagined, to become aware that she felt so strongly for someone only after they had made the decision to cut her out of their life.

It was too late now. Far too late.

I'm in love with Mamoru.

Chapter Text

The next three days were a whirl of color, excitement, and sugar — which is exactly what one would expect from an itinerary put together by Tsukino Usagi. Planning and organizing day-trips normally would have been the kind of thing that Makoto delighted in doing, but Usagi was motivated to ensure she and her friends experienced the best time Tokyo had to offer. After all, she and the girls had pledged to make their time together count, so their last week had to be the best ever!

Day one had been spent at the Kōenji Awa Odori matsuri; Usagi had convinced the girls to get in their yukata, in spite of the humidity, and dragged them around to practically every food stall she could find at the festival. They spent the entire day eating, playing games, and enjoying the incredible dance performances. When the event ran well into the evening, they watched the end-of-festival fireworks paint the night in dazzling colors and sparkling shapes, even more beautiful than the colorful patterns on their yukatas. Afterwards, on the train home, the girls all visibly struggled to stay awake. Usagi watched Ami's eyes drooping closed and Minako's head snuggled against Makoto's shoulder, and she told herself for the millionth time...

This is the best day ever! Everything is great! I can't imagine a more fun day than this!

She tried.

The next day Usagi had pumped everyone full of coffee and taken them to a double feature at a large theatre, where they sat through four hours of anime before heading to Karaoke Kan in Shibuya. It ended up being a heavy night of drinking and Rei and Minako trying to out-diva each other to Utada Hikaru's classic hits. By the early hours of the morning, Ami was holding back Minako's hair as she threw up in the nook between buildings outside the bar while Makoto tried to hail a cab. Usagi giggled drunkenly into Rei's shoulder, convinced she would never have as much fun as she had at that moment. Nothing could get better than this.

The third day out, Usagi miraculously was hangover free (unlike everyone else) and corralled the girls to the Ramen Museum in Yokohama where they all were grateful for the bottomless cups of noodles in the museum's street-food-themed food court. After a stroll along the pier, they took the JR to Hibiya where they inhaled burgers and matcha ice cream sundaes. Then it was off to the neighborhood's famous Open Air Concert Hall for a lively jazz concert.

Later that night on the train home, Usagi looked around at her four best friends, slumped and disheveled in the train car, and thought proudly how each day had been better than the last...and they still had two more to go!

"So we all need to get some good sleep tonight because...I got us tickets for Tokyo Summerland tomorrow!" Usagi exclaimed with absolute glee. "We will be outside all day, but it's the best water park in…"

"No more!"

The rest of the girls, who all appeared half-dead, looked up at Minako with mild surprise.

"Usagi, this has been great," Minako said desperately. "But I can't do another day out!"

Usagi looked at her friend, stunned.

"I...I thought you guys wanted to spend as much time together…"

"You know we do, Usagi," Makoto said appealingly. "But we've been on day trips for the last three days and it has primarily been in 37 degree heat!"

"You've been getting us up at 9 a.m. and not getting us home until 3 a.m." Rei said grumpily. "I've barely had time to sleep or relax."

"I haven't eaten anything but fast food and sweets in three days," Ami said miserably.

Usagi looked around at them, feeling crestfallen.

She then felt a hand on her shoulder and looked to find Minako giving her an apologetic smile.

"We can still spend time together," Minako said. "Instead of another day trip, let's just hang out at my place tomorrow and chill out. It will still be fun!"

Fun…

Fun wasn't in Azabu-Juban right now. It was far, far away and at a very fast pace. That was where Usagi could be happily distracted and free. Hanging out in her old familiar neighborhood, on the other hand, was where it was easy to let her mind wander and contemplate the disasters in her life.

Like the fact that her first university photography assignment would be on display to the public — along with all the other first year submissions from Tokyo Polytechnic University's Photography Department — the day-after-tomorrow. After months of self-doubt and anxiety, she would soon learn whether she was truly cut out for university or doomed to disappoint her parents and embarrass Sensei Yamamoto. Usagi was almost sure it was to be the latter.

Then there was her too-late realization regarding a handsome teasing university student. How she felt about Mamoru didn't really change the situation she was already in; it only made it hurt all the more. It was hard enough caring for someone who didn't and wouldn't ever feel the same way about her. But resigning herself to a reality where she and Mamoru had to effectively become strangers...that was something altogether more tragic.

She hadn't wanted all of that to get in the way of her last week with her friends. There was no point in letting her heartbreak or her future failure as a university student ruin the time she had left with them. She could be miserable later. It was why she had thrown herself into making itineraries for her and the girls with such gusto and why she had organized all their trips to be outside Azabu-Juban. There was much less risk of running into Mamoru.

Unfortunately, the girls' new plan to stay local ruined that.

The next morning, while she prepared to go to Minako's, she tried to comfort herself with the fact that there would be zero chance of running into him in Minako's one-bedroom apartment. All she had to do now was find a route that didn't involve her going through the center of Azabu-Juban.

Usagi consulted her GPS to try and figure out the best Mamoru-free directions when she received an email notification from Tokyo Polytechnic University.

Her breathing stopped as she looked at the screen. She had dropped her photo assignment off a few days earlier, but there was no way they could have graded her already...right?!

Her finger hovered over the notification for a second before daring to open the email. For a moment she wasn't sure she had opened the right tab. Then, her eyes widened in horror, and she nearly dropped her cell phone.

No...nononononononononononononono!

The panic drove her feet downstairs and out the door. She ran as fast as she could, forgetting her long "avoid Mamoru" route for the fastest possible path towards Minako's apartment. By the time she was pounding on Minako's door fifteen minutes later, she was shaking with nervousness and half convinced that the sweat dripping off her was only mostly from the heat.

Minako answered the door, looking completely unsurprised by Usagi's appearance. In fact, one would say she looked almost conspiratorial.

Usagi was trying to catch her breath.

"Minako…"

Her friend let her in without saying a word.

"I have to…," *gasp* "talk to you."

Minako pressed a finger to her lips before speaking.

"Let me guess, it has to do with your photo submission."

Usagi felt her eyebrows raise in surprise, "Y..yes!"

"And a certain Chiba Mamoru…"

Usagi's eyes were practically bulging at her friend. Only then did she register the smug sparkle in Minako's eyes, the way she was fighting down a smile...

"How...how did you...?"

In response, Minako held up her phone to Usagi's eye level.

It was opened to Minako's Instagram profile, and there on the feed was Usagi's photo of Mamoru half-naked, covered in double-chocolate milkshake, and wearing that vague yet emotional expression. At the bottom of the image in black font was printed, "The Shadai Gallery Proudly Presents the annual September Exhibition; September 4 - October 4."

Usagi swallowed hard as she registered the post had over 3,000 likes and 500 comments...and it had only been up for twelve hours.

Usagi fell to her knees, her breathing quickly becoming short again.

The amused and knowing look in Minako's eyes quickly dissipated into one of concern.

"Usagi?"

"I think I'm going to throw up."

In lightning fast speed, Minako helped her up and quickly maneuvered her into the apartment — where Makoto, Rei, and Ami were all chatting on the couch — and towards the kitchen sink.

It was ironic that her own photograph, one of the many she had submitted to the photography department, was preventing her from evading him all together. It was splattered across social media and seeing how quickly it had gone viral — there was no doubt his sizable fan club was actively sharing it across Azabu-Juban.

She couldn't catch her breath and the feeling left her dizzy. Any moment now she was going to revisit her breakfast, right into Minako's sink.

"Just breathe slowly, Usagi," Amy said.

She felt a hand on her back and knew instinctively it was Makoto.

Usagi focused on the sound of Ami's voice and the light pressure of Makoto's hand between her shoulder blades. A few minutes of practiced breathing later, she felt the nausea subside and the shaking in her hands ease.

A glass of water was being put under her nose and she took it, slowly sipping it down until the glass was empty. With tentative steps, she made her way towards the couch in Minako's cozy living room and slumped down into the cushions.

She could feel everyone's eyes on her, expectantly.

"I got an email this morning from the university, promoting the exhibition…" she said slowly. "I had no idea they were going to use any of my photos...especially that photo...to market the event."

"Well, I can see why," Minako said, looking at the poster on her phone with an appraising eye. "I told you we could have sold copies of this and made a fortune."

Rei face-palmed her forehead at Minako's lack of ability to read the room.

"Really not the time, Minako!"

The sensation of so much emotional energy running around inside her with no outlet or target to direct it towards was driving her to the brink. It was hilarious and devastating. After all, he had been the one to tell her she should "stop playing it safe," and now the results of that were all over social media. The most vulnerable she had ever witnessed Mamoru, the moment she had unwittingly wounded him in a way that tore her to shreds, was now available to anyone and everyone.

Mamoru didn't strike her as the type to be on social media much, but she knew any of his classmates, or even Motoki, would be sure to send him a link to the poster. She cringed as she thought about what his reaction would be.

"As if things weren't bad enough between us."

"What do you mean?" Makoto asked. "Did you and Chiba get into another fight?"

Usagi let out a bark of laughter.

"I wish," she said, still laughing. "Because that's what we do, isn't it? Me and Mamoru fight."

She realized she was sounding a little deranged, but she couldn't quite stop laughing as the words began to spill from her.

"Unless, of course, one night the fighting leads to sex. Then it's just an awkward morning-after apology from him," she said through giggles and quickly forming tears. "And an unspoken agreement to steer clear of each other until one of us finally moves out of the neighborhood."

The belly-aching laughter and the tears flowing steadily down her face continued. The manic sounds coming from her filled the room.

No one moved or said anything. It was just four pairs of eyes staring blankly back at her. Then after eight or maybe ten seconds ticked by, her friends sprang back to life — the room erupted with gasps, shouted expletives, and noises of surprise at this information.

Then there were the questions…

"When did this happen?" Ami asked.

"How did this happen," Makoto interjected, "is the more important question!"

Not to mention the more lewd queries from Minako — regarding details of size, shape, positions, and the foreplay involved — all of which she refused to respond to expect to turn bright red when Minako pushed her to "paint a word picture."

Finally, it was Rei who interrupted the frenzy.

"Pipe down!"

Usagi took a breath, grateful for the interruption.

"Are you ok?" Ami said, suddenly at her side.

Usagi felt her eyes were wide, leaking saucers, and Ami stroked a hand down her arm.

"You know you don't have to tell us if you don't..."

But it all bubbled out of her. Between frantic gasps she told her friends everything that had happened with Mamoru over the last six weeks; the crazy sex dreams, the tense far-from-normal interactions, the incident with Natsumi, his response to her photographs. Finally, she got to the part about how she had come to be at Mamoru's place the night of the blackout and the circumstances that led to them sleeping together.

Usagi registered the slight disappointment on Minako's face that there weren't more details, but was relieved her friend stayed resolutely quiet throughout her story.

"It wasn't the heatwave, was it?" Rei finally asked.

Usagi looked up and met Rei's violet eyes head on. She was laid bare in front of all of them. There was no point in hiding it anymore, and she felt as though Rei could already see what she had yet to say.

Usagi closed her eyes and shook her head.

"No. I mean, yes...partly..." Usagi stumbled through her words. "But later, I realized…"

Usagi stopped short, finding those last words hard to say out loud.

"It's so disappointing and annoying and completely inconvenient that..," Usagi said with difficulty, "that...I apparently... love Mamoru-baka…"

She looked at her feet, bracing herself for what would come next.

If they were shocked by her revelation of having a one-night stand with Mamoru, what would they think about her being in love with the same guy she had been perpetually fighting with for years?

But nothing came. There was just silence.

Usagi raised her eyes and looked around at all four of her friends who were looking back at her with sympathetic, sad, or neutral expressions...yet, no surprise.

Maybe they didn't hear me.

"I said that I love…"

"Mamoru," Rei said in a near deadpan tone. "Yeah, we know."

Usagi swallowed down her tears and sat up straighter, looking at all of them.

"What...what do you mean 'we know'?" she asked slowly.

Makoto was the first one to speak up.

"Well, maybe 'we're not surprised,' is a more apt response."

"But I didn't know!" Usagi whined. "How could you…? How come you didn't tell me?!"

The girls all looked at her with wide-eyed incedulity, as if to say "Seriously?!"

The teasing from Makoto about Mamoru kissing her, the questioning from Rei the morning after the party, and the frustrated conversation with Minako a few weeks earlier…

They had tried to tell her.

Even over the last six weeks, almost all of them had attempted to broach the subject in some way. That was the whole reason she didn't want to tell them about sleeping with Mamoru to begin with; she had been worried they would read too much into it…

Apparently because they had known all along that you couldn't read too much into it. Clearly they knew her heart better than she did.

She sighed and fell back into the couch.

"How could I not realize?"

"Sometimes we choose not to see the things that are right in front of us because it's easier if we don't," Minako said, gently. "Maybe it was safer for you to just see Mamoru as the same asshat that you're always bickering with instead of something more."

Usagi half sobbed and half laughed at that.

"Yeah, well, he's definitely not going to be that guy anymore. He already couldn't stand to be in the same room as me after we had sex. Now with this…" she gestured towards Minako's phone. "He's probably going to think I'm crazy or cruel or both."

Ami patted Usagi's arm.

"Usagi, I know this photo going viral probably won't sit well with Chiba, but I'm sure it will pass."

Makoto nodded in agreement.

"And if for some reason it doesn't, we will be here for you no matter what."

"No matter what," Rei affirmed.

Usagi really couldn't put into words how much this meant to her. She was full of relief, heartbreak, and gratefulness for her friends.

Ami looked over towards Minako's phone where Mamoru's image was still clearly visible.

"I have to ask…" Ami started, still frowning at Mamoru's image. "What photos did you end up submitting?"

Usagi stared out over the small alleyway overlooking the back of Minako's building. Her view wasn't nearly as nice as Mamoru's, but the balcony was big enough that both her and Minako could sit and face each other with their legs stretched out in front of them. There was a wind that cut through the summer heat and Usagi could see fireflies circling the garden below. It was a pleasant summer night.

Ami, Makoto, and Rei had left an hour ago, and while Usagi hadn't planned on staying the night, she had a feeling that it was inevitable. After coming clean about everything that had been weighing on her mind, Usagi felt as though she had been flattened out with a rolling pin. While it felt good to finally talk about Mamoru and her university scares, it had also been draining.

"So let me make sure I have this right...he apologized?" Minako placed another bottle of beer in front of Usagi.

"Yup," Usagi nodded, her voice popping on the p.

Minako sipped her beer thoughtfully. Usagi could practically see her friends mind working as she tried to contemplate how someone manages to apologize post-coitus.

"Was it bad?"

"The apology?"

Minako smirked, "No, not the apology."

Usagi looked out towards the end of the alleyway.

"It was the complete opposite of bad," she whispered.

"Huh," Minako said after a pause. In her mind, it was likely one of those strange phenomena that there might never be a clear answer for.

Usagi took a long sip of her beer.

"So that's it? No more arguments at the Crown or getting kicked out of conbinis for yelling at each other?"

"It appears so."

She had cried herself out earlier in the day to the point that her eyes probably couldn't produce anymore tears. Having sobbed her way through her explanations of her feelings for Mamoru to the girls for a good part of the day, it was like all that tension and energy had left her. All that was left with was an exhausted feeling of clarity and sadness.

"I don't think this is over, Usagi," Minako said. "Call me an optimist but this all feels a little unfinished between you two."

Usagi took another swig of her beer and looked up at Minako.

"Hard to finish something we never really started," Usagi sighed. "What am I going to do, Minako?"

Minako looked at her closely, considering the question.

"You're going to go to your exhibition with the rest of us and be proud of what you submitted — no matter what those stuffy professors say. You're going to stay here while I'm out of town so you can keep an eye on Artemis and just get some time to yourself. Then you're going to start your first day at Tokyo Poly and nail it…"

"And what about Mamoru?" Usagi interrupted. "I'm going to run into him at some point and he's...he's going to find out about becoming an overnight social media sensation."

Minako smiled.

"You can just tell him you were taking his advice about 'being brave' when you made the submission."

Usagi threw her bottle cap at Minako.

"Okay! Okay!" Minako's musical giggle echoed through the surrounding narrow buildings and the alley below.

Minako drained her beer. The bottle made a dull thud of a sound as it was placed on the cement of the balcony.

"I have no idea what's going to happen. But what I do know is that you will get through this — even if you and Chiba end up never talking again."

"How do you know?"

"Because you're Tsukino Usagi, you always see the brighter-side of life and carry on, no matter the obstacles thrown your way. It's what you do." Minako smiled at her sincerely. "It's your superpower."

As deflated as she felt, Minako's reassurance brought a small smile to her lips and for the first time in weeks, she felt a little lighter. Even if she didn't quite believe Minako's words, her friends faith in her and her ability to push through was enough for that moment.

"One more beer, and then we call it a night," Minako said, walking back into the apartment. "I have a ton of packing I need to do tomorrow!"

Usagi chuckled, feeling slightly better.

"Deal."

Chapter Text

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.

Never had the task of inhaling and exhaling seemed so unnatural. How had she managed to breathe for the last 19 years with so little thought or effort?

The girls all stood a few feet away, trying to give her enough space.

After another long deep breath, the pounding in her ears became marginally slower and the tightness in her shoulders eased a little.

Pull yourself together. You can do this.

She smoothed out the short, yet sophisticated, sheath dress Rei had lent her for the evening and checked her hair for the umpteenth time.

Finally, she met her friend's collective worried gaze and gave a small nod.

There was a long line of people waiting to get into the brightly lit Shadai Gallery. Usagi cringed as she noticed the large poster of Mamoru, displayed prominently near the entrance.

"There are a lot of people here for a small university exhibition," Makoto said.

Nobody commented on the fact that the vast majority of the people in line were women.

"Yeah, well most of them are probably here because…" Minako began.

Before she could finish her thought, Rei elbowed her in the side.

"...they are big photography fans?" Rei finished for her.

Minako silently glared at Rei.

Clearly they were all trying to not remind Usagi how widely the promotion had spread on social media. In the four days since the poster had gone live, it had received over 500,000 likes and became a trending on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook as #HotMilkshakeGuy.

Hence the large number of female attendees now waiting to get into the building, Usagi thought bitterly.

When they finally made it into the gallery, it was jarring to see just how packed it was. Signs directed them towards the second level for the September Exhibition and Usagi felt her stomach tighten more and more with each stair she climbed.

Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out.

"You doing okay?" Makoto whispered from her right.

Usagi nodded.

It's not like my entire future is about to be decided or anything

The second floor was one large airy open-space that had been outfitted with white wall partitions for the many student exhibitions. On any other day, it could have been considered a clinical sort of place, but the building's large tinted windows allowed the setting sun to cast a warm orange glow over the room and make it appear almost inviting.

"Wow, it really is busy!" Ami exclaimed, eyeing the many people circulating throughout the room.

Usagi's eyes eagerly scanned the photographs around her. She noted several collections were of the typical quiet street scenes, similar to those she had nearly submitted. However, there was also a collection of stunning black and white portraits, a chill-inducing study of abandoned metro tunnels and a more abstract submission of photographs where the viewer wasn't quite sure what they were seeing at first glance.

At the far end of the gallery, a large group of people were gathered. A loud murmur of the crowd's chatter echoed throughout the exhibition hall and Usagi observed several people standing on their tip-toes with their phones held high, in an effort to get a photo of whatever they were looking at.

She bit her lip in annoyance. She never understood the concept of taking pictures of pictures, especially in exhibitions or museums.

"What do you think is over there?" Minako asked.

Usagi shrugged. "It's probably some of the upperclassmen exhibitions."

"I wonder where yours is!" Makoto said excitedly.

No sooner had the words come out of Makoto's mouth that the girls came upon a very familiar set of photos.

Eight framed images in color as well as black and white were displayed in two rows of four against a stark white partition. A placard underneath the collection read, "The Heatwave, Tsukino Usagi" in neat black printed letters.

There they were, out there for the world to see — lips and skin, hidden kisses and secret smiles in doorways, on street corners, and even in front of conbinis as well as the metro.

The true force of the heatwave revealed.

"Wow…" Rei said, her eyes transfixed on the photograph of a couple in an almost kiss.

"I know we've seen them already but..." Makoto started.

"...they are really hot," Minako finished.

"Clever," Rei said with a cheeky grin.

Ami leaned her head a little towards Usagi, nudging her softly as she studied Usagi's work. "I'm glad you turned these in. I know you weren't comfortable with the idea, but they really are something."

Usagi swallowed hard, still not sure if it was the right decision.

"I didn't have anything else to submit," she said honestly. "I wasn't able to get any other photos near as good as these."

...even if they are of horny teenagers and college students.

"I'm confused," Rei said. "Where's the picture of Chiba?"

Usagi didn't get the chance to respond.

"Ms. Tsukino!"

A petite woman with salt and pepper hair was striding her way.

Usagi felt her blood run cold.

The cheerful looking woman was three paces ahead of a tall lanky man of about 70, who was trailing her with a clipboard and a sour expression.

"Sensei Yamamoto," Usagi greeted, bowing low.

She took it as a sign of encouragement that the professor was smiling rather than scowling or looking horrifically disappointed.

Usagi let out a small breath.

Time to face my future.

"I'm so glad to see you again!" Sensei Yamamoto said, pushing her round glasses up her nose. "This has been an incredible turn-out, and I think we owe a great deal of that to the photograph of yours…"

"Yes, Sensei, I wanted to ask…"

"I know some were surprised by our choice of a...less traditional photo for the promo," she said at rapid-pace. "Although, I think the ticket sales speak for themselves!"

Usagi could practically hear the words "missed financial opportunity" running through Minako's mind on repeat.

Sensei Yamamoto suddenly seemed to remember the man standing next to her.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! Allow me to introduce Ishikawa Taro," Sensei Yamamoto said politely. "He is the professor in charge of grading all the first year submissions."

The older man had a slightly pinched face, close cropped hair, and a precise manner about him. Usagi very much got the impression that this was not a teacher who would tolerate even a second of tardiness in his classes.

"Professor Ishikawa, this is Tsukino Usagi."

Usagi bowed automatically.

Sensei Ishikawa barely spared her a glance before jotting down some notes on his clipboard.

"I hope your subject-matter extends past half-naked men and lustful couples, Ms. Tsukino," said Sensei Ishikawa, his voice deep and monotone.

He was obviously one of the individuals unimpressed by her picture of Mamoru being used in the promotions.

"I...it does, Sir."

"Good," Sensei Ishikawa considered her for a moment before speaking. "While I find the topic of your assignment unorthodox — I have to admit that you have captured something here that is quite...unique."

Is that bad or good?

Sensei Ishikawa strolled closer to the display of photos, completely disregarding the people gathered around the exhibit.

"The photo of the couple running to the love hotel and the...um..." he paused, clearly unsure of how to refer to the image of the woman straddling the man against the building door, "...this one...could have been sharper." Sensei Ishikawa made a note in his clipboard. "I would recommend experimenting more with your camera focus."

Usagi looked nervously towards her friends, who were standing a polite distance away.

"Most of these were taken in the dark, and it's obvious you were working without a flash," Sensei Ishikawa continued.

Usagi found herself nodding along, like some deranged bobble head.

"That's very impressive and says a great deal about your technical ability. The silhouettes they create and the shading of light and dark is a testament to your skill."

Did he just...compliment my work?!

"Thank you, Sensei."

Usagi bowed. She was almost scared to breathe, fearful one false move would derail this conversation, which was beginning to sound like praise from a teacher.

But she had to ask...

"Does that mean...can I ask what grade I received?"

Sensei Ishikawa raised an eyebrow.

"The grades will be posted early next week."

He turned back to Sensei Yamamoto and gave a curt nod, before walking to the next exhibit to cast his critical eye over another student's work.

Sensei Yamamoto smiled excitedly at Usagi.

"I don't mind telling you that the staff were all very impressed with The Heatwave collection..."

Usagi felt an enormous sense of relief at the Department Head's words. If the staff liked her work, then she assumed she was at least guaranteed a passing grade. Plus, Sensei Ishikawa mainly said approving, if not nice, things about her work.

"...not to mention, I can't remember the last time we had a first-year student place as a finalist in our Fall Photography Competition. The work you have here is incredible and your other collection is so different and so very personal…"

Usagi must have not heard that right.

"I'm so sorry, Sensei Yamamoto," Usagi interrupted. "Did you say that I'm a finalist in the Fall Photography Competition?"

The older woman looked at her in surprise.

"You didn't get the email?"

Usagi shook her head.

"Oh my goodness! My sincere apologies!"

Usagi could see her friends moving closer. It was apparent they had heard what Usagi had, too.

"Yes! I'm very pleased to say that you are a finalist in this year's photography competition," Sensei Yamamoto gestured towards the side of the room where the large crowd was still congregating. "I daresay your work has been a big draw…"

Minako, Ami, Rei, and Makoto broke into a near run towards the side of the room Sensei Yamamoto had pointed to.

Usagi glanced back at Sensei Yamamoto, overwhelmed with surprise and gratitude.

"Th..thank you, Sensei," Usagi whispered. "For everything."

Sensei Yamamoto smiled at her, knowingly.

"I look forward to seeing you next week for the start of term, Ms. Tsukino."

Usagi waited for Sensei Yamamoto to step out of sight before racing towards where her friends had headed. She spotted the girls near the front of the crowd and politely maneuvered her way through the onlookers to join them. And that was when she saw them…

Fifteen pairs of the same midnight blue eyes stared down at her from various angles and positions along the large gallery wall.

The sadness she had briefly forgotten following the strong reviews on her assignment, pushed its way back to the surface and enveloped her like a straight jacket.

The photographs of Mamoru in different displays of emotion or reaction were encased in sleek black and grey frames. Many of the photos she had found in the blue shoebox had made their way into the exhibit, and so had more recent photographs.

One of her favorites was an image from six months ago; Mamoru was doubled over laughing at a prank Motoki had pulled on Unazuki. For a guy who always smirked instead of smiled and chuckled rather than laughed — it was rare to ever see his perfect white teeth. But, here they were on full display as he howled with abandon. The crinkles around his eyes were evidence of unchecked expression, and it made him appear youthful and less serious.

Another shot from last year showed Mamoru looking utterly relieved after having located a library book he was convinced he had left on the train. She had captured him wide-eyed and holding the retrieved book in his hands. His usually upright figure was slouched against a wall and his mouth in a small o as he let out a huge sigh.

The most recent image of him was one she had taken right before summer started. It was different in that it was the only photograph she had captured through a window. He seemed deep in thought, his eyes unblinking and his forehead creased in a deep frown. Usagi had spotted him across the street on her way home one afternoon and had been so struck by his downtrodden pose that she hadn't been able to resist photographing it.

And there at the very center of the collection, larger than the rest of the images, was the milkshake photo. It was the picture that had started and ended her heatwave saga — the shot that pierced her with both guilt and intrigue.

Every picture was framed in a way that highlighted the small shifts in his features when he smiled, frowned, furrowed his brow, or even pursed his lips. All the nuance, all the subtleties, all the layers that made up Mamoru were there for the world to see.

The project had been a literal labor of love. After realizing her feelings for the man she had cursed for so long, Usagi had stayed up all night locating every photo she had ever taken of Mamoru to finally see what she had been recording all these years. It had been almost masochistic — seeking out further proof of her feelings towards him when it didn't matter anymore.

Yet, with every photo she rediscovered, it felt as though she was finding another piece of him. A slow uncovering of the man who had always appeared untouchable and mysterious to her was made tangible and knowable through her accumulated captured memories. Every new image she found, she saw through new eyes, and it had been salt in the wound.

It had also driven something in her.

All those feelings, all those words she couldn't say to him now or ever, were poured into a project that dragged into the early hours of the morning. Her search for Mamoru, her need to somehow be closer, had resulted in her choosing 15 photos of him and editing them so that each shot illustrated another side, a small bit of him that only she had caught. It was probably why she had also titled the collection Right in front of me, which was written on a large placard next to her name under the photos.

There hadn't been any thought or plan behind it, but when 4 a.m. rolled around, she found herself printing the photos and placing them in her submission envelope for the Fall Photography Competition. Usagi's emotionally exhausted brain reasoned that this was her one way of achieving closure for something that would never exist. She could put these feelings somewhere. It was her way of marking their present and past, of having it be known in the world that this happened, and that she loved Chiba Mamoru.

"Usagi?"

Usagi snapped out of her reverie and looked up at Makoto.

She could feel the tears in her eyes, threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. Usagi moved out of the crowd and towards the side of the exhibit. Her friends followed.

"Now you've seen it," she sniffed.

She tried to blink her tears away, her focus on the large crowd.

"Usagi, it's incredible," Ami said in a half-whisper. "What you have created...it's like...it would be impossible for someone to see these photos and not know you just a little bit."

"Ami's right," Rei nodded. "You should be proud of this. Not just because of your talent, but because of how courageous it is."

"It's easy to be courageous when you don't think it's going to be selected as a finalist..." she trailed off.

Her eyes narrowed in on a familiar looking couple.

"Usagi?" Minako prodded.

"I think a few of Mamoru's classmates just showed up," she nodded towards the individuals, in question. "They were at the party with us...Teiru and I think the guy's name is...Reo?"

Four heads turned in unison towards the crowd, in a manner that was blatantly obvious.

"So?" Minako asked.

"So, on the very small chance that Mamoru didn't already know about all of this," she said gesturing to the exhibit in front of her, "he definitely will now."

"He already knows..." Makoto said gloomily.

"What?!" Usagi, Minako, Ami, and Rei all said in unison.

Despite being the tallest one in the group, Makoto looked a little intimidated as she glanced down at her four friends.

"I guess classes started back up this week for second and third years at Keio." Makoto said reluctantly. "...and let's just say Mamoru encountered his fair share of...responses...when he walked into his first lab."

"Responses?" Minako prodded.

Makoto sighed, "Wolf whistling, teasing, and...propositioning."

"Oh my god."

Usagi couldn't think of a worse way for him to find out, assuming that he didn't know about it before showing up to class. The situation was so utterly hopeless and beyond repair that it was almost laughable. Everything that could possibly go wrong had gone wrong.

She went numb all over, and maybe that was a small blessing since Usagi got the distinct impression Sensei Ishikawa would turn his nose up at a student having a nervous breakdown in the middle of an exhibition.

"How did you hear about this?" Rei demanded.

At that, Makoto's arms folded in front of her, and she eyed the floor, intently.

"Motoki told me about it, last night."

"I didn't see you at the Crown last night..." Ami said, confused. "Or 'Toki for that matter..."

Usagi saw a shy smile appear on Makoto's face, a dusting of red on her cheeks.

"I didn't say we were at the Crown."

There was a long pause as the meaning of her words sunk in. Then an instantaneous explosion of questions and exclamations erupted from Minako, Rei, and Ami.

"Wait...you and Motoki?!" Rei asked incredulously. "As in..."

"YOU BAGGED MOTOKI?!" Minako practically yelled.

Usagi stood stone-still and Makoto's eyes met hers. There was a look of understanding in them.

At least this summer worked out for someone.

"Yes!" Makoto said in a firm whisper, seeing they were beginning to draw attention from other attendees.

"We're taking things slow" Makoto blushed. "But yes, we're...dating."

The three girls all looked a bit flummoxed. Usagi knew that it would take some time to get used to the idea of Makoto and Motoki as a couple, but she had no doubt that the adjustment period would be brief.

"Ladies and gentlemen," Sensei Yamamoto's voice was heard over the general hum of the chatter in the gallery. "The winner of the Fall Photography Competition will be announced in five minutes. Please make your way to the far wall where all of our finalists collections are on display."

The girls all looked at each other, unsure exactly what to do next. Thankfully, Minako always found the right thing to break the tension.

"All this drama and suspense..." she grinned. "I'm so glad I booked a later flight!"

Usagi's Right in front of me collection ended up taking second place in the competition. First place went to a third year student whose submission centered around the world of pachinko parlors. While several older students had confided in her that it was likely "department politics," since it was a big enough deal that a first year had even made it to the finalist round — Usagi was beyond thrilled. How could she not be? She had shown up half-expecting to be laughed or shamed out of the department and instead her work received an award!

It was as though a huge weight had been lifted and for the first time Usagi began to get excited about her first day as a university student.

An hour later, the crowd had begun to thin out. Minako looked down at her watch, and Usagi knew this was it.

"It's time, isn't it?"

"Yeah," her friend smiled sadly, "I have to swing by my place and pick up my suitcase, before catching the red eye."

"I'll ride the metro back with you," Rei said. "I have to pick up some stuff for my Grandpa before I head home."

The thing Usagi had dreaded for weeks was finally here. She had been petrified of how different life was going to be now that summer had ended. Yet, if the last few days had taught her anything, it was that some things would also never change. No matter the distance, the romantic entanglements, the stress of careers or school — she and her friends would always be there for each other.

Usagi threw her arms around Minako and held her tight.

"Go knock the socks off the modeling world."

Minako laughed, "I may need a bit longer than four weeks to accomplish that."

"Now you're humble?" Rei said dryly.

Everyone laughed and soon they were all piling onto Minako for a giant group hug.

"Thanks again for letting me stay at your place."

"Well if by chance you decide to rebound off Chiba, you know where the condoms are and just change the sheets!"

Usagi smacked her shoulder.

Minako giggled. "I'll be back in four weeks, and once Rei returns from India…"

"Nepal…" Rei corrected.

"And New Zealand…"

"Australia," Rei said impatiently.

"...then we will all be back together!"

Makoto smiled, "In that case, we'll see you later, Minako!"

See you later.

Usagi liked that. No good-byes, only see you laters.

"Later, Minako!"

With Rei pulling her away, Minako waved one last time. "See you later, everyone!"

Minako and Rei's departure marked the beginning of the end of the evening. Only half an hour later, it was time for Makoto to take her leave. The taller girl blushed adorably as she explained that her and Motoki had made plans to meet up for a late drink.

Ami and Usagi giggled when they watched her practically bounce out of the gallery hall in excitement.

Not long after that, Ami began wringing her hands in a way that Usagi recognized as "study anxiety." Ever the diligent student, Ami always began nervously fidgeting whenever she had school work she felt was being neglected.

"You don't have to stick around for my sake. If you have things you need to do, you should take off."

Ami looked at her with a mix of guilt and pleading.

"Are you sure?" her friend asked. "It's not a big deal for me to stay. I can do my biochemistry review tomorrow."

Usagi was touched. For Ami to offer to push her studies off for even an hour was no small thing.

"I'm sure," she said. "Just because I have to stay at this thing until closing, doesn't mean you have to."

Ami let out a relieved sigh.

"Breakfast on Saturday? We can go over any first day school supplies you may need and pick up your books."

Usagi felt her eyebrows shoot up her forehead.

"Books?! I haven't bought my books!"

Ami laughed, "Don't worry, we will sort that out on the weekend."

At least she still had Ami to help her navigate the academic waters of university.

Ami smiled and wrapped her arms around Usagi in a warm hug.

"I'll see you Saturday!"

Usagi watched Ami walk down the street towards the metro station. The girl genius turned and gave her a wave as she walked past the Shadai Gallery, her vivid blue hair becoming smaller and smaller until it disappeared around a corner.

She let out a sigh. Now it was just her.

Usagi breathed deeply and took a long look at her surroundings.

A few people were huddled together about ten feet from her, clinking glasses and shaking hands. Several small groups of students were huddled around an exhibit, chatting about different camera techniques.

My future coeds, no doubt.

It was a strange thought.

I have coeds...I'm a university student.

The realization filled Usagi with exhilaration. Somewhere in the evening, whether it was Sensei Yamamoto's kind words or the award for her collection, all her doubts about belonging at university washed away. For the first time, she didn't feel like an imposter or someone undeserving of getting into Tokyo Poly.

She was finally ready to face her future head-on.

I'm going to Tokyo Polytechnic University to study photography.

With that in mind, Usagi grabbed a champagne flute off one of the high tables.

Soon, she was exchanging introductions with two second year-students who were happy to share which cafes were the best to frequent near the university...

"Aside from the Lawson just off campus, there is a great French bakery called Boulangerie Lebois that makes excellent sandwiches." A woman named Yui, who was wearing some impressive chunky earrings, said. "Counterpart Coffee is worth checking out too!"

...and what professors were the toughest graders.

"Ishikawa can definitely be a stickler for details in assignments," Kyo, a guy with flaming red hair, informed her. "Just be sure to reference the assigned reading as much as possible!"

After a few minutes, three first-year students, who had recently moved to Tokyo for the program, also joined the conversation.

The discussion immediately shifted to Usagi and the two second-years sharing the best places to go in Tokyo, which quickly escalated into a debate over which neighborhood was the best live in. Usagi, of course fought a valiant battle for Azabu-Juban and Yui was adamant that Shimokitazawa was "hands down" the best place in Tokyo. Kyo, while not as energetic as Usagi and Yui, persisted that Yanaka was "the neighborhood in Tokyo" and everywhere else paled in comparison.

Before she knew it, an hour had ticked by and the crowds at the gallery began to dwindle down. Usagi was just starting to get into a discussion about film development techniques when she saw a tall and very familiar figure enter the gallery.

The words being spoken around her faded out. All the air left her lungs, her peripheral vision blurred, and her stomach churned so painfully she thought she might be sick.

Mamoru.

Her eyes ran over his frame, greedily taking him in as though it had been months — rather than days — since she had last seen him. He looked just as perfect as ever. It was only expected that he would so effortlessly fit into a more formally dressed crowd, even in his casual dark blue button-up and black jeans. The only thing that was out of place was the grey baseball cap pulled down low over his eyes.

Mamoru's head slowly turned around the room, his eyes scanning. Without a second thought, Usagi threw herself behind one of the exhibits, likely earning a few odd looks from the people she had been in mid-conversation with.

The air returned to her chest and she was gasping to breathe, trying to shake off the panic that was quickly overtaking her. After a long minute, she dared to peek around the exhibit.

Mamoru was now moving, with purpose, across the gallery. From this angle she could easily see the clench of his jaw, the way his mouth was pressed into a firm line...she knew that grimace anywhere. He was furious.

What did she expect? Makoto had confirmed that Mamoru knew about the exhibit and his unintentional role in it. Why wouldn't he show up? If nothing else then to scream at her for making him Keio University's Resident Pin-Up and an unwilling exhibitionist across Tokyo.

She audibly gulped when he stopped in front of The Heatwave collection. After all, hadn't he selected these exact photos as her best work, the night they...

Stop. I can't think about that right now.

But Mamoru only glanced over her photos before continuing his search around the gallery.

What is he looking for?

Then he appeared to find it. Usagi watched in fear as Mamoru's attention shifted towards the back wall where the Fall Photography Competition exhibits hung.

Usagi felt her eyes squinch close, torturing herself once again while she ran through the catastrophic order of events that had likely shaped Mamoru's current opinion of her.

First, they sleep together (much to his regret), she submits her assignment and unwillingly puts him forward as the literal 'poster boy' for the event, said poster becomes one of the most shared images across the city, and now he was here looking at her competition submission which showcases to the world how she's been mad about him for years.

I probably look like some obsessed stalker!

There was never a chance she was going to emerge from this fiasco with even a small bit of dignity intact.

Her heart hammered in her chest while she watched his slow progress towards the large collection of photos.

Usagi's body felt like lead as she discreetly moved closer towards that side of the gallery, ducking behind different exhibits as she went.

She registered how his pace slowed the closer he got to the collection. The soft pad of his black sneakers echoed lightly with every foot fall.

Usagi wanted to go to him and explain that she wasn't some silly girl with a dumb crush on him; that the incident with the milkshake photo ending up online had been a mistake and that she never intended for all of this to happen. She wanted to tell him how sorry she was and how she would give anything to go back to being what they were — Odango Atama and Mamoru Baka. She knew he would never care for her in the same way and she could live with that as long as they could just hit pause and go on like the last six weeks never happened. That way she could keep him in some small way.

But, that was impossible.

Mamoru's feet finally stopped behind two women who were admiring the collection. Neither of them noticed his approach.

Never in her life had Usagi concentrated on something so carefully as she did Mamoru's facial expressions as he took in the images. She watched the tension fully disappear from his neck and his shoulders. His hands even relaxed at his sides but beyond that he was indecipherable.

At this distance he was only about twenty feet away and she allowed herself to really drink him in. The exposed skin of his forearms where his sleeves were rolled up, the wrinkles in the back of his shirt from likely sitting in lectures all day, and the shape of his perfectly postured body.

The sound of the two women interrupted her thoughts.

"...look at the way he's staring into the camera, Taki!" the woman exclaimed loudly, gesturing to the large framed milkshake photo. "He looks like he's about ready to strangle the photographer!"

Usagi winced, thinking how Mamoru would probably agree with the woman's assessment.

"Please! Are we even looking at the same picture?" the other woman replied. "That's not anger! The guy looks like he wants the photographer to lick the ice cream clean off him! He's not even wearing a shirt for crying out loud!"

Someone please do me a favor and shoot me now.

Usagi heard Mamoru mumble something, catching the low decibels of his deep voice rather than any actual words.

The two women jumped as they looked up at him in mortified surprise. Then very quickly, they scuttled away from the collection — throwing embarrassed glances back at Mamoru as they went. Mamoru appeared completely undaunted by the exchange.

What did he say to them?!

Usagi watched with some perverse fascination as he slowly removed the baseball cap and craned his neck to take in each picture.

Her gaze latched onto his face and she could see every twitch of his gorgeous mouth, the softness of his hair intermixing with his long eyelashes, and the curve of his nose. But as close as she dared to get, he still gave nothing away.

Then...his features turned. His jaw became set and his eyebrows furrowed down. He stood up even straighter, and without another look around the gallery, he placed the baseball cap over his messy hair. Usagi watched him turn and stride purposely towards the exit, his pace faster and sharper than it had been when he had walked in.

She fought the impulse to go after him, to make him stay even if it was just to be in the same room as him for a little while longer.

Instead, her feet inched their way to an empty corridor. Once she was out of sight, her shaking knees gave out and she crumpled against the wall. Her bones and muscles felt soft as butter and she was content to just stay there — broken and exhausted.

Usagi didn't move until she heard the overhead announcement that the gallery would be closing in five minutes. It felt like moving bricks to pick herself up off the floor, but somehow she managed.

She stepped into the hot night and began the short walk to the Oedo Line. The darkened sky and heavy air provided good cover for the tears cascading down her cheeks.

The years of teasing and bickering. The long looks, the flirting, the passionate arguments, the remnants of that one night...

It was all inconsequential now. It was over, it was all over.

Good-bye Mamoru.

"High winds and heavy rain are expected for the rest of the evening and until the early hours of tomorrow morning. Tokyo residents are advised to stay indoors..."

Usagi turned the radio off.

Her shiny new textbooks were stacked in one corner of Minako's small dining table and various handwritten notes were spread in front of her in total disarray.

She was trying, with great frustration, to review the notes she had taken during her History of Photography class. With each half-finished sentence or one-worded line, she became more convinced that she would need to start recording her lectures via her phone. Apparently, she was unable to write as fast as Sensei Ishikawa talked.

Once she was finished deciphering her notes, she still had a two-page assignment to complete. Then there was the reading she needed to do; two chapters for Visual Literacy and one for Principles of Photography. All needed to be finished by Monday.

Usagi let out a resigned sigh and stretched her arms high above her head.

How is there so much to do already? It's only the first week of school.

Getting into university had not cured her dislike of academia; she didn't think she would ever come to enjoy studying for exams or writing essays. However, Usagi had been pleasantly surprised to find that she actually liked sitting through her lectures and participating in class discussions. She was also meeting a lot of new people through her course and the university provided several dark rooms as well as a photography lab exclusively for students in the arts.

Overall, the only major downside was the amount of school work she was expected to keep up with outside of class.

...especially on a Friday night.

The last five days had been a whirlwind of unfamiliar classrooms, new faces and a lot of stress as she tried to not be late to any of her lectures and tutorials. It had been a marathon of a week that hadn't left her with much time to think about anything else...like Mamoru and his very noticeable absence from her life. In that way, her foray into being a full-fledged university student had been beneficial.

Yet, even though school had been a great distraction, there were the inevitable moments when Usagi couldn't help but be reminded of him. The sight of a milkshake would bring back the memory of their fight in the back room of the Crown. Whenever she heard the roar of a motorcycle engine, her head would immediately turn to see if it was Mamoru riding down the street. And when some of her classmates invited her to a show at Moon Romantic, she found herself politely declining — knowing it would be too painful.

The feeling of fur brushing up against her skin snapped Usagi out of her thoughts. She peered under the desk to see Artemis purring up against her leg.

"What is it, Artemis?" she said, reaching down to pet the ghost-white cat.

That was when she heard it — the sound of heavy rain crashing onto the pavement outside.

Usagi rushed to pull the balcony door closed and hastily shut the windows.

"They weren't kidding about the rain and wind," Usagi said aloud. "It looks like the storm is pretty much here."

As if on queue, a clap of thunder rang out into the night and echoed throughout the apartment. Usagi's arms shot out and grasped Artemis tight to her chest.

The cat let out a loud meow and started writhing around in her arms.

Usagi let out a breath. She always got jumpy during storms.

It's just thunder.

Artemis finally managed to escape her grip and bolted towards Minako's bedroom.

"Scaredy cat."

Just as Usagi was about to put the kettle on, another loud noise echoed across the apartment. But this time, it wasn't thunder.

She froze, the small hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. Someone was knocking on the door.

Calm down. You're just freaked out because of the storm.

At least she had locked the door.

A second knock came, even more demanding than the last.

"Who is it?" she called out, hearing the quiver in her own voice.

Another clap of thunder hit, drowning out the muffled voice on the other side of the door. The rain was coming down in sheets and she could hear it hitting the glass of the windows.

"Just a second!"

Maybe it was a worried neighbor, or Ami or Makoto dropping by to check in on her.

Ami or Makoto would try calling or texting first…

Usagi slowly walked towards the door, already regretting watching that horror movie with Minako a few weeks back.

She shook her head, trying to not get overly anxious.

Taking a deep breath, she undid the latch, slowly twisted the knob and opened the door.

Her eyes widened.

"M...Mamoru."

Usagi stared up at him, not quite believing he was there.

His inky black hair, which looked half-wet, was sticking out at all angles and his motorcycle helmet dangled by the straps in his hand. He towered over her, his eyes wide and intense.

Behind him, a flash of lighting sparked across the sky and brought her out of her daze. She opened the door wider, letting him inside.

Usagi noted that his clothes were soaked through; his motorcycle jacket, black t-shirt, and jeans were plastered to his frame like a second skin.

His eyes met hers, and she realized her mouth had gone dry.

"What are you doing here?"

Mamoru glanced uncertainly around the apartment, as though he wasn't quite sure if he should be there.

Finally, his hand reached into his back-pocket and took out his phone.

Of course, he's finally going to confront me about the photo.

She had known this conversation was likely to happen at some point. She just hadn't thought it would be alone at Minako's apartment in the middle of a storm.

However, when he held up the device, it didn't show the exhibition poster like she had anticipated. Instead, the weather app was displayed across his screen — the current outside temperature in large bright numbers.

That was not what she had been expecting.

"It's 16 degrees outside."

What the…?

Usagi looked up at him in total bewilderment. Had she fallen asleep while studying? Was this some sort of strange dream?

Mamoru frowned when she didn't respond. Almost as though she was the one who was missing something.

"The heatwave has officially broken."

Her mind was still drawing a complete blank.

"Is everyone in the neighborhood getting a door-to-door weather report from you or am I just special?"

While her feelings for Mamoru had certainly changed in recent weeks, their way of communicating had not.

Mamoru's blue eyes hardened and Usagi saw his mouth twitch. She could see he was biting back what was likely a smart-ass response.

"I just didn't want there to be any confusion over my motives," he said, shoving the phone back in his pocket.

Now she was really confused.

"Your motives?"

Mamoru ran a frustrated hand over his face and huffed out a long breath.

"Are you free for dinner this week?"

She was definitely dreaming.

"What?!"

Mamoru looked like he was on the brink of tearing his hair out.

"The heatwave has broken and I'm asking if you're free for dinner this week!"

That was when realization dawned on her.

"...the heatwave makes people do things they normally wouldn't do."

Those had been her words that fateful morning, before she realized...everything. It had also been the same morning he had…

"Is this some sort of joke?"

She knew he would be upset about the photo being circulated, but he had also seen her exhibit. She knew that he now understood how she felt about him. If this was his way of seeking revenge — it was a spiteful way to go about it.

All impatience fell away from Mamoru, only to be replaced by shock.

"Excuse me?"

"I understand if you're angry with me, but this is not funny!" she said, louder.

Now it was Mamoru's turn to look totally bewildered.

"Why would you think this is a joke?"

She was so furious with him and at the same time, ready to burst into tears. After all the heartache and the exhaustion over knowing she would never have him, he just shows up and does this?

"I get that our entire relationship consists of us teasing one another and arguing with each other, but this is cruel...even for you."

He took a step towards her.

"Why can't you believe I want to have dinner with you..." he asked carefully. "After we..."

"After we slept together?" she interrupted him, her voice sharp as a knife. "And you apologized for it?"

He recoiled.

"You made it crystal clear how much you regretted sleeping with me," she said, moving further into the living room.

Mamoru's eyes were as wide as saucers. He looked...mortified.

"I regretted the way it happened!"

He stepped into the living room, not even stopping to take off his wet shoes.

"I brought you home when you were upset and half out of your mind over your assignment — then pushed you into bed TWO MINUTES after you thought I had someone else coming over!" He stepped closer towards her. "So when we..." he trailed off, his gaze roaming over her.

Usagi quickly became self-conscious of the skimpy tank top and shorts she was wearing.

He swallowed hard, before pulling his eyes away from her.

"I just felt like I took advantage of you."

An enormous boom erupted outside, reverberating throughout the apartment and causing Artemis to jolt from the bedroom, like a speeding bullet, to the inside of the coat closet.

Yet, Usagi barely noticed.

In just a few sentences, Mamoru had managed to dispel the one "fact" she had been clinging to that confirmed he would never care about her. The apology she would replay night after night when laying in bed, wishing she could stop thinking about his perfect messy black hair or his perfect half-smile...was all untrue?

Her body slouched heavily against the wall, feeling boneless.

Mamoru may not have regretted sleeping with her, but the knowledge that all her misery had been for nothing — that all the tears and heartache had been unnecessary — made her lash out.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT?!"

His emotions appeared to mirror her own. The look of bitterness over the situation was unmistakable on his face.

"I TRIED!" Mamoru yelled over the storm outside. "But then you decided the only reason we slept together was because of the heatwave!"

Mamoru titled his head back towards the ceiling, obviously trying to be less angry.

"I left it alone after that." he added, hoarsely.

Usagi walked to Minako's linen closet on stilted legs, willed a deep breath in and out to calm her wildly beating heart, and just tried to take a moment. She dug her fingers into an orange towel, focusing on the feel of the soft cotton fibers under her fingertips.

When she felt she could, she turned back around.

"What changed?" she asked, holding the towel out.

Mamoru slowly peeled off his motorcycle jacket, which looked like it had been thrown into a lake.

Underneath the drowned jacket, his wet t-shirt clung to his chest — the divots and hollows of well-formed muscles were visible, leaving absolutely nothing to the imagination.

Only Usagi didn't need to imagine, she knew all too well what was under the layers of wet cotton and denim.

Her cheeks burned when he finally took the towel.

"My phone started blowing up one morning. I was getting non-stop calls and text messages from friends, classmates, modeling agencies, newspapers, and random strangers that had somehow gotten my phone number..."

He paused while he ran the dry towel over his face and neck.

"...all because there was a half-naked photo of me circulating online for a small university photo exhibition," he said looking pointedly at her.

Usagi gawked at him.

"I can explain that..."

"So I showed up at the exhibit..." Mamoru continued, cutting her off, "...wanting to see what else the great Odango Atama had submitted for her photo assignment."

Usagi felt her insides twist in a full-body cringe. As if she needed reminding that he had seen essentially, a very public confession of her feelings towards him.

He was so close, she could see him taking in every freckle on her skin, every hair out of place, every small stain on her faded tank top.

"And I left with the impression that maybe it hadn't been just one-night for her either."

...either.

Usagi's mind came to a screeching halt at that one little word. Her heart was beating so loud, she was sure he would be able to hear it over the raging storm. She tried to open her mouth or move her tongue, anything at attempting actual speech — yet she was unable to. She was afraid one sound would chase away the conversation and burst the tiny bubble of hope that was forming in her chest.

When she didn't respond, Mamoru directed his eyes to the floor, his hand behind his neck.

"I figured the only thing to do was to wait until the heatwave broke and then show up at your door," he said dryly. "That way you couldn't blame it on the stupid weather."

Usagi recalled the look on Mamoru's face when he saw her exhibit, the one he had right before he left. The one she couldn't place...

"Then again..." Mamoru said, wistfully. "I suppose if it wasn't the heatwave, you would have just assumed it was something else."

Usagi looked at him, alarmed.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's always an assumption with you!" he shook his head. "I must have slept with you because of the heatwave, I'm dating half of my department..." he ticked each one off on his hand as he spoke, "... I have no sexual interest in anyone, I kissed you just to prove you wrong!"

"You never exactly denied any of those things..."

"And you NEVER ASKED!"

Usagi's mouth clamped shut.

He was right.

Asking him a question would have given too much away. It would have been admitting she was interested or cared. None of that was relevant anymore. He knew exactly how she felt about him and there was no coming back from that. Things would never be the same between them.

Now there was nothing to lose.

"Alright." she said, her voice adamant. "Why did you kiss me the night of the bet?"

It was the question that epitomized all that had happened that summer. It was the one thing she had never been able to fully rationalize.

Usagi saw a look of surprise flash across Mamoru's face. He twisted the towel from around his neck, bunching it into a ball.

"You know why," he said, looking everywhere else. "I was trying to help you out so you wouldn't have to give up the Crown."

"No!"

All cards were on the table now and she was going to get an answer. She was damned if she was going to let him run away from this, now.

"You could have helped just by staying away from Natsumi," she cried out. "You didn't have to kiss me...so why did you?!"

Mamoru's blue eyes stared down at her, wide and bright. His hot breath intermingled with hers, making the space between them feel charged.

She swallowed hard, scared to hear his answer, but also desperate to know.

"Because it's the only thing I've wanted to do for the last two years and I figured it was probably the only chance I would ever get."

Everything went still.

Usagi didn't blink or breathe. Even the thunder outside momentarily ceased. The only sound was that of the pouring rain outside.

Mamoru's eyes stayed fixed on hers, searching.

After three, four, five seconds she exhaled and everything shifted back into place.

"But you..." she started, "...you think I'm ridiculous and klutzy and..." she swallowed. "I'm just Odango Atama to you."

His face softened, a small smile pulled at the corner of his mouth and there was a glint of hope in his eyes. He was so close she could count practically every one of his unjustly long eyelashes.

"And you're far more interesting than anyone else I know because of all that," he said, gently tucking a stray hair behind her ear. "I'm crazy about you, Usagi."

There were no words, just the small push of her feet to her tip-toes as she closed the last bit of space between them and the sensation of her mouth on his impossibly soft lips.

Mamoru responded immediately, his mouth parting hers and kissing her slow and deep. The warm taste of him drew her in and made her stomach flutter uncontrollably.

This wasn't a dream, but flesh and heat.

This was real.

Her and Mamoru.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Usagi failed to suppress the moan that escaped her when his tongue swept over hers. The feeling of her clothes absorbing the water from his wet ones, as well as the hard muscles pressing into her, was intoxicating.

She was losing herself fast, in a matter of seconds she knew she would be unable to think straight. And she so wanted to be lost to this...but there was still one thing that was nagging at her...

Usagi reluctantly tore herself away.

"Two years?!"

Mamoru seemed unphased by the interruption, choosing to turn his attention to lightly tracing the shell of her ear with his lips.

"You could have..." Usagi moaned, "said something."

Her hands slipped under his sopping wet t-shirt, feeling their way over his flat stomach and the crevices his muscles created. She noted with delight how his skin grew heated while her hands pulled the garment over his head. The scent of rain was all over him and Usagi breathed him in, filling her senses.

"You're one to talk," he grunted as Usagi's fingers moved lower and slipped into the top of his jeans. "Those photos you submitted..." he groaned when her fingers began to trace the inside of his waistband, "...go further back then that."

Usagi was having a hard time focusing on her response because Mamoru was pulling her tank top over her head and the feel of his naked chest against hers was making speech arduous.

"I didn't know. I mean..." she sighed, her eyes closing at the feel of his mouth kissing along her collar-bone. "I knew, but I didn't know."

Mamoru's head pulled back, and she bit back a whine of disappointment.

His hand cupped her cheek, bringing her attention back on his face.

"Given everything," he said, his eyes illuminated in a way she had ever seen before. "I think our timing is pretty perfect."

She smiled up at him for a moment...but just a moment. While she appreciated the sentiment, her priorities were very much elsewhere. Specifically on getting him out of his clothes.

Unfortunately, getting Mamoru's soaked skinny jeans off, took more effort than anticipated. Especially, since they were simultaneously trying to remove them while clumsily making their way towards Minako's bedroom.

Usagi yelped when her hip bumped hard into Minako's book shelf. Mamoru had to tear himself away from her mouth, cursing, when he stubbed his toe. Then when they finally were able to get his pants off, they nearly knocked over Minako's standing lamp.

Eventually, they managed to fall into Minako's bed; naked, slightly bruised and blissfully ignorant to the world outside.

Hours later when they both lay there — the sheets tangled around their legs, their breathing ragged and several of Minako's premium brand condom wrappers lying on the nightstand — Usagi couldn't think of anywhere else she would rather be.

The bed shifted and she felt Mamoru's fingers run lightly up her skin; drawing invisible shapes on her stomach.

"You still haven't answered my question about dinner," he whispered.

Usagi turned towards him, her eyes already struggling to stay open from the weight of exhaustion.

"I guess it depends on where you're taking me," she yawned, the light sensation of his fingertips further pulling her towards sleep.

"Oh, you're taking me to dinner."

Her eyes opened.

"What?!"

Mamoru smiled at her smugly.

"You owe me one for helping you win that bet."

Usagi's eyes widened, fully awake now.

"And while we're at dinner we can also talk about just how big you owe me for that exhibition poster."

Mamoru suddenly found himself being thwacked repeatedly with Minako's pillow.

Some things really would never change.

Chapter Text

Usagi stood on her tip-toes and carefully pinned the print on the makeshift clothesline. The chemicals dripped heavily from the corners of the photographic paper and onto the porcelain below. The inside of her nose burned from the smell of the chemicals in such a space with limited ventilation. 

A rosy hue glowed from the single red bulb above the mirror. The light reflected across the shiny tiles that surrounder her small work space — creating just enough visibility for her to function. 

The sounds of opera echoed from the other room, setting a dramatic effect on what had been an entirely tedious hour cloistered in the small room. 

She lowered her heels back to the floor and gazed up at the three black and white images.

Usagi let out a small sigh of relief at the crisp and clear prints. 

She hadn’t procrastinated, per se . 

It had simply been a lucky save that one of her classmates had asked her how her film still-life assignment was shaping-up. 

She mentally kicked herself, for what felt like the hundredth time, as she glared down at the digital version of a similar still-life she had completed earlier that week. 

Usagi had miraculously not missed a single assignment during the entire semester, much to her pride. However, there had been many near-misses where she had only just made her deadline or had been docked points because she hadn’t quite followed the assignment to the letter. 

What was even more astounding was that the perpetually late Tsukino Usagi – who always got assignments in by the skin of her teeth – was on solid footing when it came to her grades. No one was more shocked by this than the stern and traditional Professor Ishikawa.

It had only been six weeks ago that Ishikawa was handing back her mid-term assignment  when he surprised her by shaking his head and uttering a single phrase – “contained chaos.” 

Usagi had been confused by the statement.

“That’s what you are, Ms. Tsukino. You have no patience, very little in terms of approach and yet…” he gestured toward the high mark on her project. 

Usagi’s eyes bulged, hardly believing that she had gotten such a high grade. 

“Like I said… contained chaos.”

Usagi still didn’t know if it had been meant as a compliment or an insult, and at this point she was too afraid to ask. This ambiguity, Usagi learned, was something Ishikawa was famous for throughout the department. It was always unclear if he loved your work or hated it, even when he gave you a good mark – as had been the case with her first photo assignment, The Heatwave.

The sound of the soprano hitting an especially high note, in what Usagi assumed was a very tragic aria, urged her towards the developing tank. 

Please be okay, please be okay .

She plucked her latest (and hopefully last) image out of the tank and placed it in the tray in the sink. Thankfully the assignment was a set of prints of the same subject. She just needed this last one to complete the set.

Usagi held her breath in the dim red-lit room, as the image, submerged in liquid, slowly became clear. 

An entire heap of medical textbooks — from leather bound and ancient to glossy and new — were visible in a harsh sort of clarity. The wear and tear of the books, the faded lettering were all easy to make out in a clutter of sharp angles and perfect shading. 

She let out a huge sigh of relief. 

It wasn’t her best work. 

But, if Ishikawa wasn’t in a particularly cantankerous mood when he graded her, it would probably get a passing grade. 

The soprano finished their solo. The sharp notes and the low ominous melodies blended together in an agonizing conclusion. 

For the first time in two hours — since making a panicked mad-dash back from Tokyo Poly to re-do her entire assignment — Usagi felt the tightness in her shoulders and neck lessen.

Another close call, but she would make the deadline.

She hung the photo up on the make-shift clothes-line and drew the curtain, hiding the prints from sight. 

The music ceased, indicating that the record had finished. 

She poured out the tank and hastily put away the fixer and development chemicals in her trusty side-bag. 

Usagi turned her phone’s flashlight on, before carefully standing on the closed toilet to replace the red-light-bulb over the mirror with its usual white-bulb.The whole space was immediately brighter. 

After a quick scan around the bathroom, she opened the door and stepped into the spacious studio apartment.

When she had arrived earlier, the sun had only started setting. Muted-yellow rays of light had shone through the large floor-to-ceiling glass windows, illuminating the minimalist set-up and casting reflections off the framed photographs that lined the far wall of the apartment. Yet, in the time Usagi had gone into the bathroom, the sun had long-set and the apartment was almost completely dark. The lights of the city-skyline outside were the only sources of illumination in the space.

She could hear the vinyl still spinning in the record player, despite the fact that the record had ended.

Her hand began to blindly feel against the wall for the light switch.

“What are you doing?” a low voice said to her left. 

Usagi jumped. 

Terror immediately began to take hold. The rush of blood. The rampant heartbeat. 

She opened her mouth, a scream already beginning to form in her chest…

…then in the blink of an eye, the apartment flooded with light. 

Leaning against the wall, just a foot away from her, was a tall man with striking blue eyes and disheveled black hair. 

Usagi’s heart was thumping loudly in her ears as the rest of her collapsed against the closed bathroom door. Her hand flew to her chest, willing her heart to slow down from the fright. 

She breathed raggedly. 

“YOU SCARED THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS OUT OF ME!!!” 

Mamoru didn’t even try to hide his amused smile, as he folded his arms. 

God how that smirk both infuriated her and did things to her insides that she still could not explain. 

“How do you think I felt walking into a completely dark apartment except for an ominous red light coming from the bathroom, and death arias by Puccini playing in the background?” 

She opened her mouth to argue, and then realized he had a point. 

“In my defense...I didn’t know it was creepy, tragic, opera music when I put it on!” 

It was true. Usagi had made a habit of blindly picking out records from Mamoru’s collection whenever she came over. The selection was eclectic and she had quickly become exposed to a wide variety of genres she hadn’t heard before. Yet, even after months of visiting his apartment on a near-daily-basis, she hadn’t even made it through a quarter of the records he owned. 

“How long were you standing here?”

“Less than five minutes.”

He stepped closer and she could see a light dusting of snow on his shoulders. She shook her head in mock irritation and grabbed the ruff of his black wool coat – pulling him down into a firm kiss.

He let out of a sound of surprise as her lips connected with his cold ones. The familiar feel of him against her mouth immediately caused her heart to beat just a little bit faster. Mamoru’s hands snapped into action, going around her torso and turning them so that Usagi was firmly pressed up against the wall. In spite of the chill of his skin and the rapidly melting snow in his hair and on his coat, Usagi felt a heat begin to roll through her. 

“Hi,” he said breathlessly against her lips. 

Usagi exhaled audibly, “Hi.” 

“It’s been awhile since you turned my bathroom into a dark room,” Mamoru said wryly, “Forget another assignment?” 

“No!” She said, pushing him back in indignation. Suddenly feeling like a kid caught with her hand in the candy-jar. “I did the assignment two days ago…”

Mamoru gazed at her expectantly. 

“I may have just not done the exact assignment that was….assigned,” she relented. 

“Skimmed the requirements again?” 

Usagi sighed.

Everyone had told Usagi that the first semester of university was always tough because of the adjustment to the massive workload. Unfortunately, given her  lack of organization skills, she had been especially slow in acclimating. Usagi recalled how horrified Ami had been when Usagi had casually mentioned that she needed to cut the night short at 8 p.m. because she had to go home and start on a 10-page essay on the history of color photography that was due the next morning. 

“Usagi, I don’t know how you sleep or stay so calm when you have an essay hanging over your head!” 

She hadn’t paid much mind to Ami’s mortification. After all, her brilliant friend was already one of the top undergraduate students in her department and had never procrastinated on anything in her life. Yet, on reflection, Usagi had to admit that her last minute scramble with assignments  often resulted in her not always paying as much attention to the details she needed to…like the actual assignment requirements. 

Mamoru chuckled and kissed her cheek.

“You just need to slow down a little bit.” 

“Well, I would if I wasn’t constantly running late…”

Mamoru, who was busy putting his coat and bag away, clearly didn’t catch on. 

When he didn’t say anything, she continued. “...which you certainly don’t help with.” 

Mamoru paused and slowly turned, eyebrows raised.

Usagi could see the memory of that morning playing out in his mind. 

The alarm going off. Her refusing to open her eyes and make any move towards getting ready, despite his persistent nudging. Then the soft touch of his fingertips smoothing over her bare skin, and below the sheets…his head following soon after…and her moaning and gripping his hair…suddenly very wide awake. 

Of course, that was far from the end of it. What had started as a creative and fairly enjoyable way for Mamoru to rouse her out of bed turned into a need for more. And more rarely took less than half-an-hour, which had not helped in her making it to class on time. 

“You’re absolutely right,” he said solemnly. “Nothing is more important than school…I promise your morning orgasms will cease.” 

She hated that he could say this with a completely straight face. 

“Don’t even joke about that,” she said, already pulling him back into another searing kiss.

It had been the same argument they had been having on and off since they got together and one that never had a resolution. As she felt his heart quicken through his thick sweater, she could already tell this argument would be no different. 

A low grumble broke through the silence and snapped her and Mamoru out of their reverie. 

Still in mid-embrace they both looked at each other wide-eyed. One in shock and the other in embarrassment.

“Was that your stomach?” Usagi asked in a loud-whisper.

Mamoru tried to look affronted, but the light flush of red on his cheeks gave him away.

“I didn’t eat lunch today!” 

Usagi let out a triumphant laugh. “After all the fun you poke at me about my loud and hungry stomach…” 

Mamoru turned even redder. 

“I am human, you know!” 

“Yeah, but don’t tell all your admirers in your department that!” Usagi, still giggling, leaned in and kissed the top of his nose.” Chiba Mamoru has a growling stomach!”

Mamoru rolled his eyes. “And that’s my cue to get us delivery. Pizza sound good?” 

Mamoru was already walking towards his phone to place the order. 

“Always!” 

Usagi inhaled deeply as she took in the surroundings. 

Her living situation had been sporadic since the start of the term. When she wasn’t staying at Mamoru’s she would often be hopping between her parents house or Minako’s apartment (when her friend was out-of-town on modeling shoots). Despite the constant moving of clothes and leaving items at three different locations, Usagi found that the living situation suited her. It felt right to be in-between spaces and experimenting with living on her own as well as being a constant presence at Mamoru’s. 

She could still recall seeing Mamoru’s airy and minimalist apartment in broad daylight that first morning after the blackout. The place, with its almost clinical cleanliness, had felt like a foreign land to her. It was a place that was too grown-up and serious for her to ever understand the culture or language and therefore, nowhere she could ever belong. Glancing around now, the apartment still looked very much the same and yet, it had transformed. 

Mamoru’s genkan now housed her ridiculous pink, star-covered slippers on a permanent basis. The couch had her favorite wooly blue blanket draped over it. The kitchen was stocked with her favorite strawberry soda as well as several pastries and sweet cakes, courtesy of Makoto’s training as a pastry chef.  A couple of postcards from Rei, evidence of her travels through Australia, were pinned to the refrigerator in the kitchen. 

But, the biggest difference was that Mamoru’s mostly bare walls now had more on them than they used to. The hanging shelves with the odd plant or two had been joined by three framed photographs. Near the living room space, two black and white images were displayed. 

The first image was of a film photograph of a narrow street in Shinjuku, filled with lanterns. In the center left of the image was the silhouette of a couple in an almost-kiss. It was a subtle image, the couple often only being spotted at second glance, given how far in the background they were. 

Usagi had taken the picture the previous summer. At the time, she felt it worked better as a stand-alone image and therefore didn’t include it in her Heatwave collection that was submitted as part of the September Exhibition submission. The assignment had earned her a solid B and put her in very good standing. Yet, she often wondered had she had included this image, if she might have earned a higher grade.

Mamoru had picked it out of her portfolio one day and asked, “Are you going to do anything with this?” 

“Probably not!” she had responded distractedly, while trying to cook dinner. “Most of my images live on my computer or in one of my folio’s.” When he asked if he could hold onto it, she had barely registered the question as she had been trying to not burn the rice, but agreed to the request. 

The next week, she had been surprised to come into this apartment and find it hanging on the wall. When she asked why he hung it up, his only response was, “Given the photographer and when this was taken…isn’t it obvious?.” 

The second image was a reproduction of a gorgeous snapshot from the famous Daido Moriyama. 

On one of the rare nights when Usagi was working later than Mamoru, he had dropped by the photo lab at Tokyo-Poly to pick her up while she finished a project. While waiting, he began flipping through a book that featured a collection Moriyama had displayed at the Shadai Gallery decades earlier. Usagi was pleasantly surprised to see the interest he had with Moriyama’s work and that his tastes veered more towards the avant-garde images in the collection. The photograph that had caught his attention was very abstract. Moriyama had captured two women walking down the street, yet from the ankle up they were a complete blur. The only clear aspect of their figures being their ankles and shoes strolling along the pavement. 

He had asked her how it was possible to capture an image like that and she proceeded to explain the technicalities of the camera and the light, but also the sheer luck of timing that comes with getting any photo. Mamoru nodded and listened intently, clearly still entranced with the image. When he came to pick-her up on another occasion and eyed the image again, she knew she had to find him a reproduction. Two weeks later, it was his turn to be surprised at finding a new framed photograph on the wall. 

Usagi’s eyes fell on the last framed photo in the apartment. 

The now infamous image of her boyfriend, dubbed by the internet as “Hot Milkshake Guy,” hung in a far corner near Mamoru’s bed. It could easily be overlooked by anyone coming into the studio apartment, but for Usagi and Mamoru it was the literal catalyst of how their relationship began to change and what ultimately brought them together.

The last five months had transcended anything Usagi had ever expected. Their relationship was full of the same dry humor. They still bantered with each other competitively, albeit in a much more light-hearted way. It was also full of that intense passion that came from a new relationship. Seriously, was there ever going to be a day where she didn’t have him pushed up against a wall, while clawing his clothes off so she could run her hands all over his perpetually perfect skin. She really hoped not. 

The most surprising thing though was just how at ease Usagi felt with Mamoru. She remembered that night of the party and how she had been so sure she would never be able to compete with any of the model-perfect girls that Mamoru talked to that evening. She had been so intimidated by how flawless, brilliant and sophisticated they all appeared. And yet, she never once cared about Mamoru seeing her terrible bed-head in the morning, complete with her bangs sticking straight up in a gravity-defying feat. If she burped a bit too loudly, she wasn’t embarrassed. If anything, she loved watching his reaction to all these imperfections. His carefree laugh at these “flaws” were something she delighted in. Seeing the way he looked at her, full of warmth and total abandon, made her feel like her totally unlady like moments only made him adore her more. 

Despite all of this, their relationship was far from perfect. As two polar opposite personalities, there was always going to be some growing pains. After years of secretly pining for each other and “talking to each other” via biting remarks and arguments, they had some serious stumbling blocks in how to communicate. For instance, Usagi had learned that Mamoru didn’t pick up very well on queues and hints, which she assumed were obvious. So, she had had to learn to be more vocal and direct about what she was thinking and feeling.  Mamoru, for his part, was a consummate fixer and always trying to “help” by offering Usagi advice when she would complain about a problem at school, issues with a project or a disparaging comment someone had said. It took awhile for him to realize that Usagi was simply looking for someone to listen to her vent, rather than trying to offer a solution. 

It was still a work-in-progress, but overall they were doing pretty great. 

“Alright, pizza should be here in 30 minutes!”

Usagi grinned, already excited at the prospect of cheesy tomato goodness. 

“Can we put on another record?” 

“Sure,” Mamoru chuckled, “But, do you want me to give you a recommendation this time instead of picking one at random?” 

Usagi raised her eyebrows at him. 

“Of course not! I haven’t even made it halfway through your collection!”

He wrapped his arms around her. 

“So that’s your goal – stick around so you can make it through my whole record collection?”  he asked, putting his forehead to hers. “That could take a very long time.” 

Usagi pushed her face up a bit so that she was nose to nose with him. 

“That’s the plan.”