To Be Determined

"Sayaka, are you done yet?"

Ah, the golden question. The very same golden question I've been asking for the past two, count them, two hours. Sayaka Maizono is already gorgeous in my humble opinion, so I'll never begin to understand why exactly she needs to take two hours to "get ready."

"Just about…! There!" She lets out a sigh of relief from beyond the door. "Phew! I thought that would never stick! That's the last time I buy off-brand eyelashes!"

I roll over on my stomach and prop myself up on my elbows. Sayaka's bed is too plush… I almost fell asleep. "Why would you even need fake eyelashes?" I ask, stifling a yawn. "Yours are already super thick!"

She lets out a laugh. "Silly Makoto, that's because of the mascara! There's no way I could use that tonight… There's going to be dancing at the party, and there's nothing worse than makeup in your eye!"

I grimace. That does sound like it would suck. "How hard were you planning on dancing!?"

Rather than answering my question, she just laughs. "Forget about that! Take a look! What do you think of my outfit?"

She opens up the door with a flourish, revealing… how she looks normally. Her usual outfit is replaced with a pink tank top and denim shorts, but that's the only difference I can make out.

"Oh, is it too much?" She sighs, eyeing herself up in the mirror. I guess I took too long to respond. "Maybe I should ditch the pink gloss and go with a clear…"

"N-No!" I quickly shake my head. "No need for that! I think you look as pretty as ever! It's just…" I sigh, feeling my cheeks warm slightly. "I'm just not the best at noticing makeup… You look pretty no matter what you put on!"

"D'aw… Makoto! You're too sweet!" She blushes a bit, causing my heart to do little flip-flops. "I guess I'll have to take your word for it! Shall we head out?"

I shove off the bed, checking my phone for the time. "May as well. We're already an hour late."

"Which means we'll be right on time!" She cheers. She slings a small bag over her shoulder, stopping in front of the mirror one last time. "No one ever shows up right as it starts; that's just an unspoken rule."

I stretch, following her out of her room. "So… why is this party a big deal, again?" I fish around my pocket for my keys. "It doesn't seem like it's that special. People throw parties all the time."

"Ah-ah! This one is different!" She stops short in the hall, turning to face me with a smile. "A bunch of my friends that I haven't seen in forever are going to be there, and it's been planned for weeks! It's a guaranteed good time!"

I sigh. "Sayaka, why are you taking me though? I'm not going to know anyone there…"

"Don't be such a stick in the mud, Makoto!" She chides. "As college students under legal age, this is as close to the nightlife as we can get! Not to mention…" She leans in close, causing my face to heat up. "It wouldn't be as fun without you."

"It so would!" I poke her in the cheek. "You just want me to drive you around, you turd!"

"At least I'm a pretty turd! But say, Makoto… " She giggles again, closing the distance between our faces once more. "If you really end up disliking it that much… we could always do other things when we get back here, you know?"

Without saying anything more, she turns down the hall and runs out the door, cheerfully calling me a slowpoke. I let out a shaky breath and follow her, making certain to lock the door to our shared apartment on my way out.

It only took me about fifteen minutes to drive us to the address given for the party. To be truthful, I didn't even need the address once we were in the neighborhood; the party was so noisy, so bright, that we could see it from blocks away.

I can feel Sayaka practically vibrating with excitement from her seat. "Ohhh…! This is going to be amazing! C'mon Makoto, park the car!"

"Hang on, hang on…" I choose to park a little ways away from the party. It may not be the fanciest car, but that doesn't mean I want some drunken asshole to puke on it. "Okay, let's-"

"Let's go!" She squeals, cutting me off. She doesn't even wait for me to stop the car fully before she hops out of it.

"Wait, Sayaka!" I slam the door shut behind me and chase after her, pausing for just a second to lock it.

"Such a slowpoke!" She taunts. "A girl is beating you, Makoto! Step it up!"

"You got a head start!" I jeer, running after her. "Besides, the party isn't going to get up and walk away! Calm down a little!"

She stops and sighs, facing me with a pout. "Makoto, why do you need to make sense all the time? It's no fun!"

I rub the back of my head. "S-Sorry…"

"Oh stop." Sayaka flicks my ear. "That straightforward personality of yours is what makes you adorable."

"No man wants to be called adorable by a woman, Sayaka!" I grumble.

"But you so are!" She pecks me on the cheek before she runs off again. This time, I end up chasing her all the way to the door.

This.

Sucks.

As I expected, Sayaka ended up ditching me to go talk to her friends as soon as she caught sight of them. I knew this was how it was going to be from the start, but it doesn't make this suck any less. Sitting alone on a couch, going completely unnoticed by all the strangers who are having the time of their lives right now. One of the grinding couples knocks into the end table next to me, causing a lamp to tip over and shatter.

Ugh.

I stand up, deciding to make my way over to the kitchen. It's not like I can get wasted like everyone else since I need to drive… but that isn't going to stop me from raiding their snacks.

The area is relatively calm compared to the rest of the house, oddly enough. People are just lazing around, grabbing whatever it is that they may want from the fridge or otherwise. I end up wandering over to the counter when I see that they have mozzarella sticks.

After several minutes of mindless eating, someone approaches me from the side, leaning up against the counter next to me.

"Got stuck as DD, huh?"

I glance up. A scruffy man with insane hair is standing next to me, easygoing smile on his face. I nod. "Sucks. Nothing worse than going to a party and not being allowed to party, ya know? Course you would; you're living the nightmare."

I shake my head. "No, that's not the part that bugs me so much. I'm not much of a drinker… I just hate being stuck here."

"Gotcha." He scratches his beard. "Knew somethin' was fishy… I didn't recognize ya at all. Yeah, I'd be pretty bummed to if I was stuck with a bunch of people who knew each other. Who dragged ya here?"

"Sayaka did." I answer, stuffing another cheese stick in my mouth.

"No shit, really?" I nod. "Man, how'd you end up with a babe like that?"

I swallow, doing my best to ignore the man's incredulous look."...Well, we're childhood friends. Went to the same middle school, split up during high school… and just kinda kept in touch the whole time. Now we live together."

He nods, almost in a sagely way. "I get it now. You guys are totally a thing."

"N-No!" I quickly shake my head. Sayaka hates it when people call us a couple. "Well, not officially anyway. We definitely do things a normal couple would."

"Oho, she's always the same. Such a free spirit." The man shakes his head. "Anyways, m' name is Hiro. I was a year ahead of her in school… kinda how we met."

"Wow, really?" I smile up at the guy. "My name's Makoto, by the way."

"Makoto, huh? Nice name. Powerful." He nods again. "Well, it sucks that I'm the one that has to tell you this Makoto, but lil' Sayaka was dating in high school. I hope you guys weren't talking then."

I shake my head. "No… we didn't get to be much more than friends until we started college. It's fine."

"Good!" He grins, letting out a sigh of relief. "Man, do I hate having to deliver bad news. It's always a real bummer, you know?"

"I definitely know." I laugh. What an easy guy to talk to.

He gives me an appraising glance. "Say… I think I know another wallflower that you might just get along with! Come with me!"

Without waiting for my response, he snatches up my wrist and stalks out of the kitchen. We end up on the well-lit patio that leads to the backyard.

"H-Hey, why are you dragging me around like this? Who am I meeting?"

He turns back and winks at me. "Just a friend from one of my classes! She came here on a date, and she kinda got the crap deal you did! It'll be fun!"

I can't help but feel like I'm being used by Hiro so he doesn't feel guilty, but I don't mind. I'm just happy that I'm not the only one who got ditched.

"Where on earth…? Oh!" He finally finds who he was looking for in the mass of people. "Hey, Chihiro!"

A girl wearing a ruffly green dress turns around as he calls her name. Short, honey-blonde hair, hazel eyes… adorable is really the only word that comes to mind when I see her. A genuinely cute person.

"H-Hello, Hiro." She smiles slightly. "Who is this?"

"This," He makes a dramatic gesture towards me. "Is Makoto! Fellow DD, and he was also ditched by his significant other!"

I give the girl sort of an awkward wave. "Hey."

"Now, I gotta keep policing my pad." Hiro chimes, turning around. "Need to make sure none of the good stuff gets broken!"

Once he's off into the crowd, I can't help the words that escape me. "Jeez, he owns the place? He looks like a couch surfer for sure…"

The girl next to me, Chihiro, laughs. "H-He is, in a way. He's babysitting the house while his parents are gone."

"Now that makes sense." I turn to face her fully. "So… your boyfriend dragged you here?"

She nods and sighs, resting her elbows on the railing. "Yeah, but… it was supposed to be a date. I-I didn't expect him to run off as soon as we were in the house."

"This isn't exactly my ideal either." I move to join her, watching people's drunken antics over by the pool. "My kinda-girlfriend dragged me here so I could drive her home… I just love being a taxi. Beep beep."

She laughs as I make a honking gesture, but quickly sobers. "What do you mean by "kinda" girlfriend?"

"Ugh…" I feel a frown slip it's way on my face. "I don't know, really. We've been living together for about six months now, and yet… she still refuses to make it official. It stings."

"S-Six months!?" She gasps, clearly shocked. "Y-You mean, you even moved in before it was official…?"

"Well… it's a little complicated." I scratch the back of my head. "I've known her since middle school, but we'd only really started talking romantically a month before she moved in with me. Her parents wanted her out, so… she just ended up asking me if I would mind living with her."

Chihiro nods. "I get it… finding affordable places to live without a roommate is difficult. Still though…" She puffs out her cheeks in thought. I can't help but think how cute the gesture is. "Seven months of dating is a very long time… f-for not being official, I mean."

"Preaching to the choir…" I cross my arms. "Sometimes I think she's just jerking me around, but… we've known each other for so long. I don't think she has it in her to do that, you know?"

"Well..." She looks like she wants to say something, but she holds back. "Never mind. I don't have any room to talk, really."

"Oh?" I know I shouldn't pry, since we just met and all… but I can't help wanting to know more. "What do you mean by that?"

She leans up against the post. "…I guess it's only fair for me to share a bit. My boyfriend and I met in high school, okay? It wasn't until right before graduating that he asked me out… and I rejected him at first."

"Woah, really?" I'm shocked, to be honest. She doesn't seem like the kind of person to outright reject someone. "What made you change your mind?"

I see her bite the inside of her cheek. "W-Well… I didn't reject him because I hated him. It was the opposite, actually! There was just… something holding me back, at the time. If I'd agreed to date him without telling him about it… well." She shakes her head. "Long story short, I ended up being forced to tell him about it after a while. He just wouldn't take no for an answer."

I let out a low whistle. "Sounds rough. How'd he react to it?"

"E-Eh?" Chihiro looks surprised for a second, almost like she'd expected me to ask something else. "Well… he was shocked, at first." She smiles, but it quickly shifts to a frown. "He ended up getting over it pretty quickly, and asked me out again as soon as he told me that. I was happy at the time, but…"

"But?" I urge.

"H-Hey!" She tuts. "I've said enough already…"

"Jeez, just as it was getting good!" I pout. This gets a laugh out of her.

"Okay, how about this…" She smiles up at me. "We take turns giving information about ourselves. S-So it's fair, you know?"

"Sounds fun!" I motion over to one of the unoccupied tables. "Let's get settled in then; I have a feeling that we won't be getting out of here any time soon."

I sit down in one of the chairs, Chihiro plopping down on the seat across from me. I lean back a bit to get a better look at the night sky.

"Where to start…?" I mull it over for a bit. "Ah, okay! I'll just pick up where you left off."

"What do you mean?" She asks, tilting her head slightly.

"You'd said before that you were happy at the time, right?" A nod. "Well, it's the same for me. When Sayaka and I started "dating," I was on cloud nine. I'd had a crush on her for years! After a while of living together and going through all the couple stuff, though… I just started feeling like it wasn't right."

She leans forward. The look on her face is telling me to continue.

"Ah, man… how to explain it?" I can't help the frown that works it's way onto my face. "She says that she feels the same way I do, but I'm just not seeing it! It's not just because she refuses to call me her boyfriend either; it's her entire attitude. I feel like she's keeping me at arm's length… if that makes sense."

"I kind of get it, I think…" She puts a finger to her lips in thought. "I actually have the opposite problem. My boyfriend… he can be clingy. O-Overly so, for our kind of relationship! If he even sees me talking to another guy, he'll throw a fit!"

"Your kind…?" At this question, she blushes a bit.

"Y-You see… we've been dating for over a year now! Pretty much since we started college. E-Even then, he still hasn't… made a move." Her head hangs a bit at this.

"Made a…" It takes a minute for the gears in my head to click together. "What, really!? A whole year without him asking for it…? That's insane!"

"Y-You don't have to react like that!" She buries her face in her hands. "I'd thought we'd finally gotten past this point, and yet…!"

"You guys have at least kissed, right?" The question comes out without much thought. I instantly regret it when she jumps.

"Of course we have!" Chihiro fumes a little over this, but quickly calms down. "I-I would have given up a long time ago if he refused to do that…"

"That's something, at least!" I try to sound positive as I say this. She frowns.

"W-what about you, huh?" Chihiro points a finger at me. "Have you guys done anything?"

"Er…" I look off to the side. I guess I brought this on myself. "Yeah, actually. Pretty often…"

She looks dumbstruck. "…Seriously?"

"Hey, I said we did all the couple-y things!" I feel a little sheepish because of the sheer awe on her face. "Is it really that surprising?"

"N-No, but…!" She lets out a soft sigh, looking dejected. "I just don't get it… I know our relationship isn't exactly normal, but why does he keep me on such a short leash if he isn't interested? It's not fair!"

"Hey, you never know!" I feel a little flustered. That sad look on her face is like a dagger to the heart. "You said you had something that made you reject him at first, right? Maybe he's got issues he's too embarrassed to bring up!"

"You think so?" She asks, perking up slightly. "I-I always thought that the issue was with me…"

"It's possible." I nod to myself. Nice save. "I'd ask him about it sometime if I were you. Like you said, he wouldn't be so clingy if he didn't like you! If you cleared up your problem with him, then there just might be something on his end!"

"I… I hadn't thought about it like that at all!" She smiles and straightens up. "Thanks a lot for the advice, Makoto!"

The way she's beaming at me makes my heart skip a little. How a guy could net a girl this cute and leave her on her own? How could he refuse to touch her? It seems criminal, in a way.

"No problem!" I glance back towards the kitchen, standing up once I make up my mind. "Okay, no more of this relationship pity-party. That's no way to start a friendship! How about I grab us some snacks, and then we can focus on talking about the normal stuff?"

She nods, small smile on her face. "Alright, I'll be waiting!"

We talked, alright. We talked a lot. While everyone around us was getting rowdier and rowdier, we sat in our own little bubble, talking about whatever came to mind. Family, friends, interests… we talked about everything and anything without any lulls. Without realizing it, we'd talked into the wee hours of the morning.

"I mean, Hiro is cool and all, but he's so noisy during class!" Chihiro looks like she's pouting a bit. "One time, the professor kicked the both of us out because he decided to braid my hair while he was giving a lecture. It was the worst!"

I try and fail to stifle a laugh. "How can you braid someone's hair noisily?"

A small smile works it's way onto her face. In spite of her earlier annoyance, she seems to be fond of the older man. "He was cursing and complaining because he didn't have a tie. Apparently he was proud of his work, or something."

"Man, he sounds like a riot." I glance around. "Do you know why he decided to throw a party all of the sudden?"

"Oh, well actually… no." She puts a finger to her lips in thought. "Hiro just kind of told me one day after class. I insisted I wasn't coming, but Mondo wanted to come as soon as he heard about it."

"Mondo?" I snap my fingers. "Boyfriend, right?"

Chihiro nods, closing her eyes with a sigh. "I really should have said no. I have a project I need to turn in for work tomorrow… it's already so much later than I would have guessed."

"Why not just tell him you're going to leave, then?" I ask. We'd both made a pointed effort to keep our relationships out of the conversation, but I can tell this is weighing on her a lot. "I'm sure he could find his way back."

"No, he can't…" She frowns. "He was already buzzed when we got here. "Pre-partying" is what he called it… I-I wouldn't feel right leaving him all alone."

I screw my face in thought. "That doesn't sound too fair to you, though. Why don't we just go find him? I'll help you get him into the car."

She starts a bit. "E-Eh? Really?"

"Well yeah!" I stand up and stretch. "It can't be that hard if he's drunk. It'll be fine!"

"M-Makoto, he's really big!" Chihiro rockets up, chair making a loud screech as she does. "I don't think you'd be able to…"

I shake my head. "I'm not as weak as I look, promise! It'll be okay!"

For some reason, my words seem to stop her short. "I… I didn't mean to call you weak. He may just be too much for us to handle."

I feel my eyebrow raise at the sudden stormy expression on her face. Is he… is he a violent drunk, or something? "We'll get Hiro to help us if he gets to be too much, okay? I won't push it."

She hesitates. I see the doubt in her eyes, but she nods anyway after a moment of consideration. "I-I guess it'll be fine."

"Great!" I cheer. I fish around my pocket for my phone. "Here, before I forget… let's exchange numbers! It'll be hard to do it once we start carrying him off, so…"

"W-What? Really?" Chihiro brightens up considerably at my request. "You'd want to hang out again?"

"Well yeah!" I sheepishly rub the back of my neck. I hadn't even considered that she wouldn't want to. "I mean, only if you'd like. I just had a lot of fun talking to you, so..."

"Of course I'd like to!" She reaches into her skirt pocket and grabs her phone so quickly that she almost drops it. I hand her mine, and take hers, quickly typing in the digits I'd learned by heart and handing it back to her. She smiles down at her phone once she has it back.

"Your boyfriend won't be mad, right?" I ask, suddenly remembering her dilemma with him.

Chihiro puffs out her cheeks in a pout. "H-Hey! I said he was jealous, but that doesn't mean I'll let him tell me what to do! Besides… Makoto can be a girl's name too."

I flush in indignation. "It so can not!"

She giggles. "I'm just teasing… It'll be fine. If he asks, I'll just tell him that you're dating someone! T-That's how he was okay with Hiro and I being friends…"

I can't help but feel slightly scandalized at the idea that the scruffy man I'd met earlier would be able to date anyone. Deciding to not press it, I simply shove my phone in my pocket. "Hey, who knows? Maybe we can meet up and talk when he isn't wasted. No better way to get rid of doubt, right?"

"I-I suppose…" Chihiro glances around. "Where do you think we should start looking?"

"Near the booze, duh." I grab her wrist in an effort to make sure that we don't get separated in the sea of writhing bodies dancing around us. I feel her jump ever so slightly, but the tension quickly leaves her arm. "That seems to be the most likely place for someone looking to get drunk, right?"

It's funny to me that so many people can crowd together in such a tight space without showing signs of discomfort. Chihiro and I split up to look around after we deduced that her boyfriend wasn't clinging to the booze table set up in the kitchen. She took the back yard, while I looked around the first floor of the house. After finishing my search, I go to our designated meeting spot: the stairs.

"M-Makoto!"

I glance over to see Chihiro forcing her way through the front door. The look on her face tells me that she was about as successful as I was.

"D-Did you see anything?" She asks letting out a mute sigh. "T-There's no way he's outside… he'd be easy to spot if he were horsing around out there."

I shake my head. "No, I didn't see anyone fitting the description you gave. That hairstyle seems like it'd be hard to miss."

She glances past me up the stairs. "Then… there's no other option, right? He's got to be up there."

"Awh man…" I grimace. "Let's just hope he can still walk straight. Wrestling dead weight down a flight of stairs sounds horrible."

She mirrors my discomfort, starting up the stairs regardless. "L-Let's just hurry. It's almost midnight."

I follow her up. The second floor is a lot less crowded than the first, with only a few people scattered around the hall.

"He must be in one of these rooms." I muse. "Unless you see him?"

Chihiro shakes her head, hair swaying gently with the motion. "N-No… Let's just check them all."

So we do. Guest rooms, rec rooms, bathrooms… we search them all. We found a few people passed out, a couple making out… but no sign of Chihiro's boyfriend.

Chihiro buries her face in her hands. "I-I can't believe they asked us to join them…!"

I laugh. "Oh come on. It's better than them screaming at us for walking in on them!"

"S-Still!" She sighs, stopping in front of the last door. "O-Oh, forget it…! This is the last room, right? What do we do if he isn't here?"

I tap my chin a little in thought. "We could always flag Hiro down and ask him to help. Maybe he saw him? Let's not worry about that until we check in here, okay?"

She gives me a meek sort of nod. I reach for the knob and twist it, opening the door wide enough for both of us to see inside.

My heart drops to my stomach at the sight that greets me.

"Mmm...! Y-Yes! Don't stop...!"

The very man Chihiro described to me is laying on the bed, with a woman perched on top of him. Even though they aren't naked, it doesn't take a genius to see that they're having sex; panting, grinding, bouncing… they're both so into it that they haven't noticed us standing there.

"Shit..." The man growls. "You're tight, so tight...!"

I feel dizzy, nauseous even. I can't help the horrified feeling that works it's way into my chest at the sight of it.

Not because we caught the man who Chihiro claimed to cling to her blatantly cheating, oh no. While that's bad enough on it's own... that isn't what's making it so hard for me to breathe right now.

It's because of the woman who is so happily riding him. A woman who, not hours earlier, implied we'd do the same thing once we got back to our shared apartment.

Sayaka.

A/N: The funny thing about this is that it started off as a light hearted single-chapter story, and ended up a slightly more mature and dark (not to mention longer) story. I have no idea how I got here, but I'm not mad at it.

I guess I just can't help but make anything that has to do with Chihiro a series. My bad.