The days after that were hard on Mamoru.

Everything had been so perfect, how could it go so wrong?

He looked horrible, with bags under his eyes, and angry glare settling on his face.

He couldn't sleep, all he saw was her face as she lifted his mask, full of surprise. Most likely if he had stayed a while longer, her face would have contorted into a furious look, and she would have yelled at him for being a jerk. Say that he was being mean and playing a joke on her.

If only she knew that it was all true, that it was all for her!

Some nights he would think of the feeling of her soft lips on his own...how perfect everything was that night. He had gotten so close to having Usagi...

He took different routes to school and work. He even stopped going to the Crown Fruit Parlor, because he knew Usagi would always be there.

He was angry at everything, and even small problems infuriated him.

He drank bitter black coffee all the time, making him even more bitter, and making it harder for him to sleep.

And he could never stop thinking of Usagi.

Now he had lost her, she would never speak to him again, whether he was Mamoru or Tuxedo Kamen. If she saw him again, she would profess her hate, her anger. He wouldn't be able to take it. The girl he loved...hated him? He would rather go on, knowing that she hated him, without actually hearing it. He would lose all reality if he did.


Motoki noticed that Mamoru had stopped coming in for coffee. At least if he didn't want coffee, he would come to talk to his best friend, right?

'Maybe I should call Mamoru...just to make sure he's okay.'

He picked up the phone and dialed the number.

"Moshi moshi." he heard from the other side of the phone.

"Mamoru? It's Motoki."

He heard a grunt.

"Are you alright? You haven't stopped by here lately."

"I'm fine." The voice said gruffly.

"Are you sure Mamoru? You sound like you need some sleep."

Mamoru grunted again, and hung up the phone.

Motoki took the phone away from his ear, and looked at it, the dial tone accenting the silence.

'Huh?'


She hadn't seen Mamoru since that night. She looked for him in all the places that she had ever seen him... the book store, the arcade, the park, all those places where she had run into him...but hadn't seen him. It was like he disappeared.

Her thoughts went back to that night...

He said he loved her, but if he loved her why would he avoid her? Or was it all a joke? Sometimes she thought it was, and that any moment he would come from behind her and laugh his head off at her confusion. But he had sounded so sincere...and now, with careful inner debate, she realized, that she wished he did love her...because she felt herself...loving him too.

He kissed her, it was tender and gentle...and full of longing...somehow she had tasted pain and want in his lips...like he was seeking relief and maybe...love?

But when she unmasked him...she couldn't believe that Tuxedo Kamen was Mamoru.

Mamoru loved her?

Tuxedo Kamen loved her?

Mamoru was Tuxedo Kamen?

Mamoru rescued her when she was in danger?

Tuxedo Kamen teased her about her hair and bad grades?

They were the same person?

He had kissed her, told her that he loved her...

Was he ashamed?

She thought back again...

After she had taken off his mask, before he covered his face and disappeared into the shadows...had she seen fear?


"Usagi!" Rei exclaimed, seeing her childish friend for the first time in a few days.

Ami, Makoto and Minako turned their heads to see their friend passing by the arcade. For some reason, she was elusive in school, and impossible to find at any other times. They all got up from their booth and walked outside the window to greet her.

"Usagi! We haven't seen you in ages!" Makoto said.

"You guys seem really excited for some reason." Usagi replied dully.

"You know what they say, absence makes the heart grow farther." Minako commented.

"Fonder, Minako-chan. Absence makes the heart grow fonder." Ami corrected.

"Isn't that what I said?"

They all laughed lightly, except Usagi.

They exchanged looks asking 'What happened to Usagi?' and returned looks that were blank and confused.

"Actually girls, I've got to go. Bye." Usagi stated plainly as she walked in the opposite direction of her house, which further confused the girls.

"Bye...?" Again the girls exchanged quizzical looks.


Usagi walked around the park aimlessly.

How come she hadn't seem Mamoru in so long? Where had he been? Where COULD he be?

'Right there.'

Her eyes widened a little.

Mamoru sat on a wooden park bench, his elbows propped on his knees and his head clutched in his hands. His hair was pulled into weird positions and strained in all directions, if it had not looked so desperate, it would look almost comical.

She walked close to him, standing right in front of him. She saw in shudder slightly, and she whispered his name. He shook his head, as if trying to clear the thoughts from his head.

Why was Mamoru doing this?

She sat on the bench next to him, and whispered his name again. She reached out and lightly put her hand on his shoulder.He looked up at her, his eyes wide, and she saw it again.

Fear?

Not a word was spoken, and neither of them dared to move. They stared into each others' eyes for what seemed like years...