AN: Here we go again! Chapter no. 2!
Prompt for Day 2: Lost & Found/ Book
Whenever Mamoru Chiba was agitated, he laced up his trainers, rolled up his sleeves and went for jog through the city. Preferably in the early morning, when the city was not too crowded with people rushing to their workplaces.
But on the morning after Unazuki's party, Mamoru was suffering. After his first hangover years ago, when he had too many beers at a University party, he was keen on not repeating that ever again. Now he faced the aftermath of last night's events: A pounding head, a sore and dry throat and as he swung his legs out of the bed a dizziness, he had never felt before came crashing down on him. He wanted to lay down again, but he knew the cure to this kind of sickness was hydration. And probably coffee. Lots of coffee.
He carefully lifted himself up and was immediately hit by a stabbing pain between his temples, but kept going to the kitchen nonetheless, where he went straight to the sink, let the water run from the faucet and poured some of it in a nearby glass and gulped it down in one take. Then he prepared a huge pot of coffee all the while trying to ignore all of the symptoms of a hangover he was suffering from. It was even worse than the last time, since he drank a combination of different kinds liquors with a wild mixture of sweet sodas and juices. No wonder, he was feeling like this.
He watched as the dark droplets fell way too slowly into the pot. He was angry with himself and with the world, so he refilled his glass with water again and drank it like he was a man dying of thirst.
In this state it was impossible to go for a jog around the city or else he would probably throw up on the pavement. Mamoru was in desperate need of a distraction. When he practically fell into his bed, still half clothed, there was only one thought in his mind: He was an idiot. A total freaking idiot. And that thought was dancing a tango with his headache.
A few days ago he was looking for a present for Unazuki, who was more or less his sister. He had spent so much time with the Furuhata family since he was 8 years old, that it definitely felt like it. That being said, he had to get her something really special.
That's how he found himself in a huge mall with way too many shops in it. Rei had told him about a certain bag she wanted to get for herself, but apparently, she deemed too expensive to just purchase it randomly. Rei had sent him a picture and the name of the brand, so he just had to find the right shop. The choice of stores on the display inside the mall was huge. Mamoru sighed and contemplated calling Rei, but she was probably not answering her phone, since she was working full-time at the shrine now. One shop at a time then.
He was unsuccessful in the first 5 shops, but in the 6th boutique he got lucky. The light blue suede leather satchel was on display in the shop window, so he went straight to the section with the accessories. He had learnt in the past shops, that was the area where the bags could be found.
The boutique was rather small, thankfully it didn't take long for him to find the bag. He inspected it carefully, opening and closing it again to see if the bag was damage-free. It would be too embarrassing to hand Unazuki the bag of her dreams with scratches. She probably wouldn't mind, but he did.
After he had chosen a bag that met his requirements, he let his eyes wander over the different garments of the store. There was a time in his life, when he didn't care about fashion or style. Most of his clothes were from a secondhand shop, that was nearby his apartment. He didn't care, because he was mostly wearing his school uniform. At first, he also didn't care, that Unazuki teased him about his choice of attire. However, after a while the remarks by Usagi towards his "style" got him thinking. Especially as he overheard her and her friends talk about the stylish boys, they were crushing on. One day, as he was wearing his green jacket, Usagi was bawling at the sight of him. In between laughs he could make out the words "ugly", "jacket", "lost & found", which was ironic, because he had picked that jacket from the lost and found box at the Crown. He thought, he looked sophisticated in it, like one of his teachers, that he admired.
Admittedly the jacket was a bit too big for his rather slim and tall body at that time. However he kept wearing it out of spite. And because the jacket was comfortable. Now that he went jogging on a regular basis and did some workouts at home, the jacket fit perfectly. Sometimes he still wore it and even got compliments for the way he combined that vintage piece with slim cut jeans and elegant shirts. Not that he actually minded.
Suddenly his gaze halted at the sight of something shiny. Two hairpins with three glossy pearls on it caught his attention. He could tell by the shape of the pearls and their colour, that they were indeed exquisite copies of Akoya-pearls. He gently picked them up and watched how the light danced on the surface of the pearls.
When he was younger, he had dreamt about a "moon princess/ goddess". He always had the same dream: He was running after her, chasing her, because he knew, if he reached her, he would know, who he really was. But he never caught up with her and he never figured out, who he was before that accident on his 6th birthday. The moon princess, he suddenly recalled, had similar hairpins on each side of her bangs.
As he stood there in the middle of the shop, he could easily picture a certain blonde wearing these, while twirling, dancing and jumping with them in her hair. Without a second thought, he went with the bag and the pins to the cashier, laid several bank notes on the counter and left with a fancy-looking boutique bag in his hands. On his way home, Mamoru tried his earnest to focus on anything, except his impulsive und out of mind purchase.
He took his first sip of the freshly brewed coffee and immediately felt the caffeinated energy flow through him, lifting his spirits a little bit and all the memories of last night came crashing down.
He raked his fingers through his hair and lightly pulled at the roots in a frustrated manner. What had he done?!
The purchase of the hairpins was already questionable, taking them with him to the party even more so, but handing them to her in that clumsy and awkward manner and then practically avoiding her again was stupid x 1000. Yup, he was a total idiot.
There was no plan behind the purchase, he didn't actually intend to give them to her. Why he bought them in the first place? He had no idea, he just followed an impulse. An impulse, he strangely didn't regret the slightest. But the reason behind all of it had kept him up the past few nights. Except last night, when he instantly fell asleep in a drunken stupor.
But what now? How should he behave the next time, he'd meet Usagi? He had to figure out any of this sooner or later. Better sooner, than later, since he was always running in to her. Almost every day and the days he didn't he felt…the days felt…incomplete?
However, his stomach rioted already against the coffee, if he started to jog, the coffee wouldn't stay for long in his stomach. He had to sort his wild thoughts through another way. The old-fashioned way, way back before he started his physical activities.
With heavy feet he dragged himself to one of his shelves in the living room and fished up an old-looking book with a small back. It was one of the notebooks he had used back in his childhood and teenage days to clear his mind. Even though Motoki and his family were like his family, with whom he could talk about everything, there were certain things he felt uncomfortable to share. That's why he neatly wrote down the things, he had trouble to talk about. Certain feelings, certain thoughts and some emotions, he could not actually describe and felt stupid to describe. So, he kept most of it to himself and his notebooks. Eventually this had helped him over the years to come to terms with the fact, that he'd never get his memories from before his parent's death back. The memories before the car accidents were gone forever.
Before he had realized it, his hands were writing something down seemingly on their own account. With a steady hand he had written down a name: Usagi. The root of many, many emotional confusions, he had faced over the years. He had no problem to interact with other people. Of course, he was shy and a bit too reserved at the start, but overall, he was not that bad at being empathetic with other people. Actually, he was quite popular with his classmates. Especially with the female ones, he recalled. But Usagi was a whole different level.
Any kind of conversation with Usagi ended in a total disaster. Motoki and Unazuki had both over the years hinted, that he was acting like a fool whenever she was around, because he liked her a bit too much. That he had a thing for her. HER. Unbelievable. She was the total disaster. No wonder, they couldn't be civil with each other.
So why did he think so often about her? And why couldn't he stop? Why did he think, that the hairpins would look absolutely gorgeous in her soft, golden strands? And why did he crave to run his fingers through these strands? And most importantly: Would their strange relationship change after last night? Did they have to talk about it? It was always awkward between them…But maybe, he should explain that gift? So, she wouldn't read too much into it…
But before he could talk to her, he had to survive this hangover, that excruciating pain in his head had to stop and he definitely needed to make up his mind about the pins.
He emptied his coffee mug and started to write notes in notebook with his neat handwriting. Then he would analyze his notes and form a plan. Just like he had learned in one of his classes. Easy, right?
AN: Thank you for reading, reviewing and your kudos! I started writing a year ago and ever so often I can drown in self-doubt.
Anyway: I got the idea of Mamoru writing down his feelings from a post on Tumblr. I don't remember, who posted/ reblogged it right now. I saw a fan-drawing of Tuxedo Mask writing in his diary and I thought, that it was soo like Mamoru. So it's not actually a book, but a notebook.
This was Mamoru's morning after, tomorrow you can read about Usagi's morning after.
I hope you liked it! Please leave a review and don't forget to check out the other contributions for Usamamo Week 2022.