-----

Chapter Five— I Hope You'll Be Happy Too

"So this is it," I said as I walked into the bare living room area. It was pretty big, hardwood floor as far as the eye could see. Windows sat on each wall, it seemed, making the room bright with the morning sun. The living room drifted right into the kitchen, and the bedroom was only a short hallway walk away. Minako and a couple of her friends, who happened to be male models she worked with, helped her carry in the furniture that we had picked out earlier, along with other trinkets Motoki's sister had given me.

I never thought me, irresponsible little Usagi, would actually be living on my own in an apartment. It all seemed almost unreal. I had barely just applied to a local college, and I was applying to jobs left and right. It's amazing how you go from a child to an adult in such a short time. Two weeks ago, I was living at home, no job, and practically nothing of my own. And now? Now I owned my own apartment, which I was just now filling up with things I wanted. Not what my parents wanted, but what I wanted.

These weeks went by so fast, with all the buying of furniture and applying to colleges and jobs. I hadn't even seen the place until today, and I fell in love with it the moment I saw it. Each room seemed to be so… happy. Like they could actually speak and feel. My mom called it their 'Personality'.

"Okay, move it a liiiitle to the left… No, the right… Up a bit… There, perfect!" Minako was saying to her friends. They finally set the bulky couch onto the ground, with it making a loud thud as it hit the floor. Already they had set down two chairs, a small television that my brother gave me, and then this couch that was facing the television. Of course, nearly everything I bought was pink.

"Phew," Makoto was saying as she plopped onto the couch, her hands behind her head. "This moving stuff is hard work."

"You're telling me," Rei agreed as she sat on the chair adjacent to the couch, with Ami in the other chair. "I thought my back was gonna give out after carrying that damn microwave!"

"It wasn't even that heavy," Minako told her. "Try carrying around a couch and then see how you feel."

"I think I'll pass on that."

"Thought so."

Rei looked toward the empty doorway to make sure the "movers" weren't walking in and said, "Hey, Minako-chan, those guys are really hot. How is it that you can have friends like that?"

"That's the beauty of being a supermodel. You get to have friends that are extremely attractive. Among many other things, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, enough bragging," Rei told Minako, waving her off with her hand as if she was too exausted to say anymore. Yeah, right.

I heard a tiny knocking noise coming from somewhere, and we turned our attention over to the corner of the room, where my dad was standing with one hand pressed against the wall and the other tapping lightly on it. My mother was standing next to him, her arms crossed and her eyebrow raised.

"Kenji, what on Earth are you doing?" she questioned him, but he only shushed her in response.

"Shhhh… Honey, I need to hear if these walls are sturdy enough. I don't want them cracking on the first contact of a nail through them," he said as he continued his knocking on the wall, moving along it on different spots.

"Honestly, Kenji," my mother sighed. "The walls are perfectly stable."

"I don't trust these so-called contractors these days."

"You don't trust the man who makes bread at our bakery."

He finally stopped 'testing' the walls and explained, "Well, he could've put it in at the wrong temperature! It's never a bad thing to at least check."

"You didn't have to hit him."

"I swear, Ikuko, he was going to attack with that pastry!" my dad exclaimed.

My mother rolled her eyes a bit and walked away from him, giving me one of her 'He's hopeless' kind of looks, making me giggle. No matter how completely paranoid, my mom always did and always will love him. I'm glad that they're so happy together.

"So tell me, Usagi," Minako said, walking up to me and wrapping an arm around my shoulders. "What's it feel like to be on your own? Scary, ne?"

"Actually, I kinda like it. It's different, that's for sure."

"Wait until you get all the bills. Then you won't like it," Rei countered, still sprawled across the chair like she was dying from a heat stroke.

"Oh, shut up, you grouch."

"Just realistic," she said, shrugging.

"I still say you're a grouch."

"She's right," Minako defended me. "She might as well enjoy it while everything is fresh and new. Don't worry, though, nothing will ever be dull as long as your dear ol' Minako is here."

"I can believe that," I said with a laugh.

Rei added, "Only because she'll never shut up and there won't ever be a moment of silence."

"I resent that! I don't talk that much."

"Enough to wake the dead."

"You're just jealous," Minako said airily.

"Of…?" Rei asked her curiously.

"Come on, just look at me. I speak for myself."

We all let out a sigh at her comment.

"I'm not even gonna say anything," Makoto injected, trying her best not to laugh.

Soon a delicious smell was flowing from the kitchen, one that I took in deeply. It was like… a light scent of baked dough, only with some cinnamon mixed somewhere in there. Man, now I was getting really hungry…

"Mmmm, what's that smell?" I asked dreamily. Food sounded really good to me right now. Actually, food sounded good to me all the time.

"Oh, those are my apple cinnamon tarts. Decided to test out your oven. You'll have to wait awhile, though," Makoto told me as she sat up on the couch, stretching herself out.

"But I want one noooow…" I whined, pouting a bit.

"Just wait until lunch, then I promise you'll get one."

I sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, but I have dibs on at least four of them."

"Four? Planning on turning into a blimp sometime soon?" Rei asked me.

"You're one to talk! Last time I made peanut butter cookies, you must've ate ten of them!" Makoto exclaimed.

I could see a blush form on Rei's face as she grumbled, "Oh, shut up."

"Say, Usagi-chan, what do you say we go put all this stuff in your bedroom since these three lazy-asses won't do any work?" Minako asked me, glaring at them.

"Hey, I have a bad back!" Rei exclaimed in her own defense.

"Riiiight, of course you do," Minako said sarcastically as she grabbed a couple of my storage boxes labeled 'Bedroom' across the side, while I grabbed one, as well, following her into the bedroom. We set them down on the floor. My bed had already been moved in by Minako's model friends and fit well in the room. It was pretty big, bigger than my old room, at least, with a huge window falling across the side of the room to let in sunlight and a balcony resting just beyond that. My dresser and other things were already set, too, making it feel more and more like home.

Minako squatted down on the ground, opening one of the boxes swiftly with her sharp fingernail. "So… How's the whole Mamoru situation been going? Have you seen him lately?"

"Well… I haven't told any of the girls yet, but… You know the night when we had that party at the arcade?" I asked her as I opened another box.

"Yeah…?"

"I saw him when I took that walk."

"Oh my God, Usagi, why didn't you tell me? What happened?" she questioned, suddenly not interesting in opening the box the rest of the way.

"He… err… Kinda, well, kissed me…"

"HE KISSED YOU?" she shouted.

"Minako-chan, be quiet! Do you want all of Tokyo to hear or something?"

She rubbed her temples with the tips of her fingers, saying, "Sorry, sorry, it's just a shock. What happened after that."

"He said he was sorry, and left."

"Sorry? For what?"

I shrugged slightly, sitting on the floor cross-legged, I started to pull a couple of things out of the box: My pink lamp, a bunny alarm clock, a couple figurines, and I set them all on the floor, one by one.

"I dunno. For kissing me, I guess."

"The guy's got issues, Usa. It sounds to me like he's just playing around with your feelings because he can't decide what his own feelings are. If he's that unsure about everything, then it's best to not get involved with him, or else you'll just end up getting hurt again, and I can't stand seeing you getting hurt."

I stood up slowly with the lamp in my hand, placing it on the vanity table next to my bed. I glanced over at the blonde girl sitting on my bedroom floor, smiling. "When did you get so smart?"

She grinned at me and said, "Reading all those self-help books seems to help other people, too."

"You and your self-help books. You still read those things?"

"Of course! My absolute favorite has to be 'My Secret Garden'. I'm telling you, it's supposed to be some kind of help for sex, but I think it's more like a comedy. The woman describes everything she does, really badly, might I add," she told me. "She said that women are the 'Fruits of the basket of life' and 'Need to be taken care as a flower would be in a field'. Corny-ass shit, my friend."

I laughed at her. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Usagi…" she trailed off, walking over to where I was standing. "Are you… okay? I mean, really okay?"

"Actually, I am. I never thought I would be, but after that time I saw Mamoru, I decided it was time to stop thinking about him. It didn't work then, it won't work now. In fact, I haven't even thought about him once until today, when you brought him up."

"Really? That's great! I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed as she brought me into a tight hug.

"How's your love life, by the way?" I asked after she released me from the hug.

"Wonderful, as usual," she breathed happily. "Last night Motoki took me to this beautiful restaurant just at the edge of town, so it was really quiet. Really fancy place, too. When I was about to pay for it, he insisted he would instead. It was so romantic."

"It was romantic that he paid for it?"

She slapped me playfully on my arm and said, "You know what I meant."

"Hey, Minako-chan…" I started off. "Do you think I'll find someone?"

"Of course you will! Just give it some time, and believe me, the right guy will come strolling through your front door. Trust me. I have an instinct about these things... Now hurry up, woman! We're gonna try and get all this done by tonight and you walking like a slug doesn't help."

-----

I became happier and happier as the days flew by. My apartment became completely filled up with everything it could possibly need. Two letters came in the mail, saying I had gotten accepted to their college, and I had already chosen one. It was a couple blocks from my apartment and not too far from my parent's house, the arcade, and where all my friends lived. The best part was that I had gotten a job. It was a surprise.

Minako had called me one day, telling me that her boss' secretary had been fired, so the job was up for grabs. Minako put a good word in, I went for an interview, and soon the job was mine. I was so happy. Not only did I have my very own job, but it was in the same building where Minako would do a lot of her photo sessions, so I'd be able to visit her whenever I wanted. It paid pretty well, too. Things were really turning out good, for once in what seemed like a long, long time.

That is, until I got a phone call about a week after moving in my apartment.

"Hello?" I asked into the phone.

"Usagi," came a deep voice from the other end. I knew who it was, but for some reason, my heart didn't speed up faster. I wasn't short of breath. My cheeks didn't turn pink. I… didn't feel anything. That surprised me a lot.

"Oh, hi, Mamoru," I said calmly. Why wasn't I becoming nervous? I always did whenever I even spoke to him.

"Motoki gave me your new number. Told me all about you moving."

"Yeah, the apartment's nice," I carried on, jumping onto the coffee table, I swung my legs back and fourth under the table. "So… What's new?"

He paused for a moment. He was probably just as surprised as I am at the fact that I wasn't even crying at the sound of his voice. "Well… I just thought I'd call to see how you were doing."

"Oh, I'm fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Mhm," I said, sounding bored.

"Do you think… Maybe we could have lunch together and talk?"

I glanced at the clock that read 2:34 and shrugged slightly, though I knew he couldn't see me do it. "Sure, guess I am kinda hungry."

"Great. Meet you at the Moonlight Café in half an hour?" he asked me. I remember that place. That was another time we went out on a date, and we decided to go there. Why would he want to go there again? How weird.

"Uh, sure… Bye," I said and hung up the phone. This might be a bad idea, but maybe not. When I heard his voice, I didn't feel anything. Not nearly like I used to.

Maybe… I'm finally over him.

-----

"So they tell me to put on this Speedo, right? I guess the guy got the wrong size, and halfway through the photo shoot, it split right open. I was so embarrassed!" he exclaimed as he told a modeling story that happened to him. I burst out laughing at the idea of him naked in front of so many people.

"God, that must've been horrible," I said through giggles.

"Well, most of them just laughed, and some stared. It was really… different."

"I'll say."

I dipped my metal spoon into the glass filled with water, swirling the ice around a bit as it hit the glass edges.

"What about you? Going to college soon?"

"Yeah, I got accepted to two, but I've already chosen the one I want to go to."

"Which one?"

"Meiei."

He nodded his head. "That's a good college. Highly ranked, actually. You need good grades to get in."

"Well, when I left, I really had nothing else to do but study and dance. So basically I got in shape and better grades."

He smiled gently, almost sadly, and said, "I'm glad you're doing so well."

"Me too," I replied, staring at the ice cubes that were floating around in the water. "So how's your love life? Anything new with that girl?"

I glanced at him. I could barely see a flash of hopelessness in his eyes, but they faded away. Once again, his composure kept any feelings hidden. Big surprise.

"Well…" he started off. "Not really. My love life's pretty nonexistent."

"Why? You're good-looking and all, so it shouldn't be too hard to get a date."

I could see him shrug as he said, "They're all the same. I guess you could say I'm waiting."

"For…?" I pressed.

"I'm not sure. Someone special, I guess."

"You don't have anyone in mind?"

He eyed me for a second and said, "Well, maybe someone."

Our food came before we could say anymore. For awhile, we were silent as we both ate. So I listened around me, hearing the clatter of dishes in the kitchen not too far away, the sound of people laughing, talking, and the playing of some classical music in the background of it all. Come to think of it, this is actually a pretty nice place. Not too loud, the food's good, and it was just… nice.

"How about you?" he asked me about halfway through eating my sandwich.

"Hmm?" I mumbled, swallowing the lump of food that was in my mouth.

"Your love life."

"Same as you. Besides, I really don't have time for anyone, with school and my job and all."

His eyes grew a bit wide and he asked, "You have a job?"

"Yeah, I didn't tell you? It's at Minako's modeling company. I'm a secretary there, for Minako's boss."

"You mean Eden's Modeling Agency?" he asked me, still sounding surprised. Is it that hard to believe that I actually have a job or something?

"Yeah, you've heard of it?"

"Well, I go there to shoot layouts sometimes. My main photographer works at two places, that being one of them."

"Really?" I asked in curiosity. "I haven't seen you there."

"My photographer works wherever he wants, when he wants, so I never really know when I go there. Maybe I'll see you there sometime this week."

I smiled a bit. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

We ate the rest of our lunch in peace.

-----

After lunch, we decided to take a walk. We ended up at one place I knew well: his apartment.

"You wanna come in for a bit? I can scoop up some ice cream, if you'd like," he offered as we stopped walking in front of the complex. It was a lot bigger than I remember it being.

"Um… I don't know if that's such a good idea."

He blinked. "Why not?"

"Mamoru," I sighed, glancing down at the sidewalk. "We were a couple for a long time. You know that, and I know that. Nothing's going to change the past. And no matter how much we ignore it, our past is always gonna be there. Today was nice. Really, it was, but… I just don't want to complicate anything."

He stared at me with those intense blue eyes of his that always made me melt. Now I simply stared back with the same kind of look.

"It's not complicated, Usagi. What's wrong with us being friends?"

"It's not going to happen."

"Why?"

"Feelings will always get in the way. I think it's better… If we don't see each other again," I said finally. I looked in his eyes, seeing the hurt he was trying to mask.

"What?" he asked, sounding shocked.

"It'd be best, for both of us."

He continued to stare at me. "How did this happen, Usagi? One minute, you're practically jumping all over me, then the next… You're saying we should never see each other again?"

To move away from his gaze, I stared out into the blueness of the sky, smiling. "When you broke up with me, I was depressed. Past the point of depressed, even. I felt like I could never do anything with my life after that. And now…? Now, I feel like I'm on my own. I'm happy, Mamoru, happier than I've ever been. I don't need you to be happy anymore."

"Usagi… It doesn't have to be this way."

"I know it doesn't, but it's the way it's going to be."

"I—"

"I hope you'll be happy, too…" I interrupted him before he made it too hard for me to say anymore. "I really did love you, you know. With all my heart."

That's when I walked away without another word, and didn't look back.

------

Don't worry, this isn't the end, I promise! There's much more to come. Sorry if this chapter was boring, but hey, I tried. Keep reviewing, everyone!