AN: Here the story no one asked for...I found the prompt starter "Just because you can't see a use, doesn't make something useless." on Tumblr and fell in love with it. So here it is :)
Just a heads up...the characters are a bit OCC
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The Usefulness of Uselessness
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The metal hangers "clinked" being thrown on the ground; one on top of the other . Drawers of the dresser were being slammed open and thoroughly rummaged with the flurry of random sunglasses and bracelets being pushed aside. The closet had been utterly destroyed; both his and her clothes scattered throughout the master bedroom. Her neatly lined up shoes in total disarray and his small collection of ties unrolled and limp on the wooden floor. Although he needed to leave for work in approximately 15 minutes, Satoshi had spent the past thirty searching the entire room, panicked at the one item that could not be found. Where the hell is it?
He peered his head out into the hall, calling for Nene, who was reading a book on the couch. "Nene, have you seen my watch?"
"What?" She replied back, keeping her eyes on the ink of the pages. "What watch?"
"It's black leather with a silver face. No numbers just slashes." He continued, now trying to search under the bed.
Ugh, what is it now? Nene decided to put her book down on the coffee table to see what in the world her husband was talking about. "What are you do-" she halted surprised by the mess. Unlike Satoshi who could deal (quite comfortable) with a messy room, Nene was a total neat freak. She had spent ages trying to organize the small room to fit both of their belongings, which was no easy task...how could a guy who wears almost nothing most of the time own so many clothes!
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Nene scolded, standing at the frame of the doorway. "YOU BETTER CLEAN THIS UP!"
"I will." Satoshi mumbled from half way under the bed. "Have you seen it?"
Frantically trying to not go crazy, Nene started to pick up the hangers and arrange them neatly on the rack. She let out a huff, thinking for a second, "I don't know, Satoshi. It could have been with the old clothes I threw out a couple of days ago."
Satoshi stilled, pushing himself out from under the bed. His bangs were matted by sweat to his forehead and his dress shirt wrinkled. "What?" He asked looking towards her.
Nene continued to place the shirts back on the hangers, clearly unbothered by his surprise. "Yeah, I might have threw it away. If I remember it was broken, wasn't it? I threw a bunch of mine away too." She said nonchalantly.
"Why would you do that!"
"I asked you if it was okay to get rid of stuff and you agreed!" She argued.
"You only asked about clothes!" He retaliated.
"I got rid of my jewelry too, I don't see what you're so worked up about!" She said, finishing the last hanger in hand as she turned, arms crossed to face him.
He sat on the edge of the bed, resting his face in his hands clearly trying to contain his irritation. "Nene," he started carefully, "that was a graduation gift from Fumio-san. Why did you throw it out?"
"It was broken." She stated matter-of-factly, clearly not seeing the issue. "There was no point in keeping something that's useless."
He paused, closing his eyes and sighing. "Just because you can't see a use, doesn't make something useless." He muttered. "If I got rid of your dull cooking knives without asking you, wouldn't you be upset?"
"Why would I keep dull knifes anyways?" She asked.
"Gosh, nothing is getting through." Satoshi said as he rubbed his temple.
"Look, I'm not arguing over a stupid watch, just hurry up and get ready, you're going to be late. Also, clean this up!" She warned before slamming the door shut.
When he had returned home from the restaurant, he was clearly sulking. "Are you hungry?" Nene asked, looking up from her book. He took his time before replying to her; hanging his coat and keys, placing his shoes neatly on the shelf. He crossed the living room and kitchen, failing to acknowledge her prior "welcome back" to him.
"No, I already ate. Thanks." She watched as her husband barely spared her a glance as he walked upstairs to take a shower. You're being so petty, honestly, Nene scoffed, turning her attention back to her book.
That night, it felt as if an ocean separated them, with each others back facing away. The bed that held the couple's usual warm began to grow cold as the night passed and dawn rose. The next morning, the two woke up separately; him choosing to not kiss her good morning, and her deciding to not tighten his tie. They ate breakfast in silence, obviously waiting for the other to apologize first. Even dropping her off at work without his usual wave and "Love you~."
It was 8:30pm when she decided to approach him first. At the knocks of the door, he invited her in. He had been working on contracts and various business forms, trying to keep his ventures organized and clients happy. She came in with a tray of green tea, setting a warm cup on the desk along with a napkin.
"Thank you." He simply said out of formality, not bothering from looking away from the laptop. She was beginning to become annoyed by him ignoring her. Honestly, he's acting like a child over nothing. She hugged the tray to her chest and for once tried to break the stiffness between them. "We need to leave early tomorrow to avoid traffic. The performance begins at 9:00."
"I'm sorry, I'm busy tomorrow." Satoshi said flatly, writing numbers down on the notepad.
"With what? It's a holiday tomorrow! We got these tickets two months ago." exasperated Nene.
"I have a lot of paperwork and stuff to look over. Why don't you go with Rindou-senpai instead?"
The scribbles of the pen on the pad filled the silence as Nene could just stare in utter shock at Satoshi's response. "Are you still mad about the watch? You're being so petty, Satoshi."
Taking a moment to finish his notes, he simply replied: "I'm not being petty, and yes, I'm still mad."
"It was broken!" Nene reasoned.
"That's not the point." He looked up at her. "You're clearly not understanding where I'm coming from. If that's all, thank you for the tea."
Nene's hand vice gripped the tray as she all but glared at her indifferent husband. "Fine." She retorted, leaving the room.
'Why don't you go with Rindou-senpai instead?' How rude! She thought, storming back downstairs. Although anger was the immediate reaction, Nene couldn't help but have a sense of rejection. She really didn't want to fight anymore, but he clearly saw something she did wrong that she didn't understand. She sat alone for awhile, trying to get back into her novel but nothing was sticking. All she could think about was Satoshi. She put down her book and picked up her phone instead. I wonder if Rindou-senpai is up?
She began to type multiple different things, trying to figure out how to start the conversation, ultimately holding down the delete button on most of them before she decided to simple start with Hey, can I ask you something?
A moment later, her phone chimed: What's up Nene? Shoot!" Despite the redhead being a year older, and completely different in personality, Nene knew she could always depend on her superior; someone she considered a sister, an annoying one at that.
Would you get upset if Tsukasa-senpai threw out something important to you?
Hmm, why would he do that? Rindou replied.
Because he thought it was useless.
Oh Nene, you're so transparent! Are you and Isshiki fighting? Nene could practically envision the girl rolling over in her bed, laughing at her phone and teasing her kohai.
JUST ANSWER THE QUESTION! Nene replied irritated.
If I thought it was important then...yeah I guess I would be upset…
Nene furrowed her brows, confused as to why such reaction was common. Why? You can't do anything with it.
So practical Nene! You may not be, but most people are sentimental you know! It's not the object itself that's worth keeping, it's the memory associated with it that makes it special. You don't wanna get rid of those feelings.
Nene paused, trying to think of something to reply with when Rindou beat her to it. It's like someone telling you to give away your wedding ring, would you do that?
No. Nene typed guiltily, starting to understand where Satoshi was coming from.
You see! I could tell you it's just a ring, but you know it's more than that!
I get it. Thank you senpai.
No problem :) Good luck you two!
Nene locked her phone, lying back on the couch. I was pretty insensitive, wasn't I? She thought, before taking off her glasses and rubbing her eye. She laid there for awhile, thinking of the past two days and what she did wrong.
She couldn't sleep that night either. Not only was her husband's snores keeping her up, but the lack of his warmth around her as well. No matter what she thought of, the heavy guilt in her heart wouldn't leave.
This is disgusting. That was the first thought that came to Nene's mind, followed closely by I can't believe I'm doing this. Lucky for her, the garbage disposal only comes once a week, meaning that there was a possibility the watch was still there, somewhere. Unlucky for her, it was the end of the week, meaning everyone else's trash on the street were at the drop off corner as well.
Nene had taken every precaution she could from touching anything: rubber gloves, mask, goggles, hairnet, long sleeves, jeans and an apron. This is going to take forever. She sighed before resigning to the situation and began under the darkness of night and the faintly lit street lamps.
The dawn had risen, and for once, Satoshi woke up without Nene's presence. He softly yawned and stretch out before rolling over to the bedside clock. 7:52, she decided to go huh? He looked over at the empty bed and sighed, he was beginning to feel bad for treating Nene so coldly. Yes, he was upset at her, but perhaps yesterday was a bit too harsh. She was excited to see the orchestra play, and since it was a holiday she wanted to see it with him. He had even found the new dress she bought for the occasion, and he silently regretted not being able to see her in it. I hope she's having a good time with Rindou-senpai.
The brunette shuffled down the stairs, deciding to make himself a cup of coffee. He started to plan what agenda he should get done for the day before something on the counter caught his attention. His eyes widened in surprise, seeing his watch, brightly polished and cleaned. He picked it up finding that although it still didn't work, it felt like new. Seeing the small yellow post-it besides it, Satoshi began to read:
There's rice in the cooker, and miso soup on the stove. Just heat it up.
I'm sorry.
He smiled gently at the note, feeling a pang of regret and guilt in his heart knowing full well what Nene had to go through to get the watch back. He decided to make it up to her and take her out sometime. Taking out his phone, he texted Rindou: Take care of Nene today please.
A couple of minutes later, his phone went off: huh? What are you talking about?
Aren't you with Nene today? Satoshi typed back immediately; confused.
What? No. Was I supposed to be? Hey did you two make up!? Satoshi froze for a second putting two and two together, before quickly replying back: Sorry, I'll get back to you. He rushed upstairs to the drawer where Nene keeps all the paperwork, and to confirm his suspicions, he found only one of the tickets missings. She went by herself? Grabbing the ticket and placing it on the railing, the man frantically started to change out of his sleepwear dialing someone in the process. After a couple of rings, a voice finally came through.
"Hello? Nakiri speaking. Isshiki-senpai?" a groggy Erina answered.
While trying to find his suit, he placed the phone on speaker. "Ah, Nakiri-san, sorry for calling so early. Can I speak with Soma-kun?" He heard slight whispering and complaints on the other end of the call.
"Isshiki-senpai?" Soma questioned hazily. "It's a holiday, too early."
"Soma-kun! Remember when I helped you propose to Nakiri?" He said as he was buttoning up his shirt.
"Ugh...yeah?"
"So you owe me a favor. Nene took the car, so I need you to come pick me up...ASAP!"
"Huh?"
"Thanks, Soma-kun!" Isshiki said as he closed the door of the car and rushed inside the concert hall. 9:42. Damn I'm late. He could hear the muffled sound of the orchestra play throughout the convoluted system of hallways as he ran to try to find the right section door of the auditorium.
Meanwhile, Nene was dead tired. For the past 42 minutes, she had been trying her best to keep herself awake; catching herself every time her head fell and her eyes closed. She had been looking forward to seeing the philharmonic play for the past two months, but she barely got three hours of sleep and she was exhausted. Resting her head on her hand, Nene tried her best to focus her attention on the conductor instead of the empty seat besides her.
Finally finding the correct row, he awkwardly scooted passed the row of spectators, quietly bowing and apologizing for the disruption, until he found his seat number and ultimately her.
"Sorry I'm late. What did I miss?" He grinned, plopping himself down.
She sat up at his sudden entrance in shock. "What are you doing here?"
"Didn't I promise I would watch this with you?" He turned to her and chuckled, holding her hand in his.
She shifted slightly, turning her attention back to the performance. "You didn't miss much." she said, squeezing his hand back.
As the performance drew on, Satoshi enjoyed the deep resonance and feel of live music as he moved his thumb mindlessly back and forth over the smooth skin of Nene's hand. This continued until he felt the soft impact of his wife's head on his shoulder. He couldn't help but smile at her closed eyes and the soft rise and fall of her chest. He turned his head slightly and gave her the small morning kiss atop her forehead that he's been aching to give her for the past two days.
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AN: So I wrote Nene being mad at Isshiki, now it's reversed! Not my best by far...I literally wrote this over a 3-4 day period when I had to wait for the bus to pick me up XD. Hope you enjoy!