So, here we have it! Another chapter of Envy Problems. I hope you guys and girls enjoy reading this one, because I had a lot of fun writing it. Hard to believe this story has been going on for so long, but we're about to reach a turning point. I won't say anymore than that.

Conscience

Who could be trusted?

It was hard to tell anymore.

Had Nora used him all along?

He was afraid to think about it too much.

How had he allowed himself to become such a damn mess?

Asking too many questions drove a man insane: or a lesser man to the bottle.

Another three glasses of liquor: the cheap kind. Half a bottle of wine, three shots of something that looked like a rainbow and tasted like pure sugar, and a hit of disgusting bargain-basement malt to wash it all down. There was drinking and then there was... this. Mike had never hidden away from his draw to the booze. Smoking wasn't his forte, and outside of one or two brownies (both of which were by total accident), he'd never cared for drugs. Wasn't his thing.

But this was more than excessive, even to his standards. Suki had been all too welcoming when they got back to her place. It made the inner-chaos that much easier to cope with.

"Miiiike-san," she cheered, leaping up from the couch and punching at the huge monster on the TV screen like a chubby boxer. "This is soooo cool, ne?"

"Yeaaah. 'S good. 'S good." Not that he was following the plot anymore. Weird. He'd been fine until the last drink, but now?

The room moved in circles, the wood panels beneath his feet unsteady. Left to right. Left to right. His stomach dropped like a fair ride. It was so hot in here all of the sudden. The top three buttons of his shirt were the first to go, followed by the rest of them. E-Everything's fine, he told himself, and no matter how much the violent ocean waves shook him.

No... This wasn't alright. It wasn't alright at all. Heavy. Too heavy. Suki's words distorted, slowed and skewed, the lights as bright as the sun, bleeding into the front of his skull. His skin flared, the perpetual sway unending.

T-too much booze. Waaaaaay t'much fucking b-

"S-Suki," he rasped: a struggle. "I-I'm gonna puke..."

"It's all okay, Senpai. I've got you... lemme pause this reeeeeal quick."

"Urrrrrrrl... Urgh... Urrrrgh-"

Green and black sludge stared Mike back from the toilet bowl. But the relief was all too real. His companinion held his hair, somewhat long for a guy he'd often been told, out of the way.

"It's fine, Mikey," Suki comforted him with a gentle pat on the back. "Let it all out. Kohai's with you... she won't eeeever let you go."

A flush of the handle cleaned the evidence of his stupidity away. Exhausted, Mike slumped against the welcoming cold of the porcelain.

"Heeeeey," Suki giggled. "If you stay there how am I gonna go pee?"

Vile is it was, the first thing that came to mind fell straight out. "Pee in the sink," he groaned, pulling himself away from the toilet and flopping against the grubby tiles at his back. "It's nice 'n cold over here."

"Hentai," the otaku snorted and giggled, not bothered the slightest bit. "C'mon."

Suki reached out, dragging him upright and leading, her hands held tightly in his, back into the dinky lounge. Mike sank into the leather as soon as she let go, more alive now, at the very least. "There we are. Feelin' better now, senpai?"

"Room's stopped spinning," Mike remarked with thanks: now he only needed to contend with this throbbing headache.

"Subarashi," Suki tottered off, the sound of running water feeling his ears. She came back with a big glass topped up high with ice cubes. "For you!"

Damn she was spoiling him. Talk about the star treatment. He asked for drinks? Half a bar came out from the cubby space beside the fridge. He didn't quite follow the plot of the show they were watching? Suki sauntered right on over and changed it. She'd waiting on him hand and foot all night long.

"Thank you." A hearty hit of hydration to fix this self-incurred fuck up. Mike downed it, placing the glass on the floor beside the arm of the sofa. "You're quite the host."

"Hai! You betcha!" Suki reached for the remote and sprawled out again, unpausing whatever in the world they were watching. A giant robot romped across futuristic cityscape made battleground, firing a building-sized assault rifle at a floating diamond thing.

Well. 'Clueless' wasn't even the word to use when the musician thought about anime and Japanese cartoons, but given how nice Suki had been so far, he figured he'd play along and try taking an interest. He put what concentration he had into the massive clash playing out on screen, orange explosions shaking the surround-sound speakers.

"No... don't run away! Get back in the damn robot, Shinji!"

"But Asuka..."

A yawn from Suki. No wonder she was tired, especially if the clock on the wall was right.

3.37am.

"I'm soooo tired. Lemme take a quick nap, okay?"

Mike flinched at the sudden weight against his shoulder. Another yawn from the anime fan, this one deeper: she snuggled against his arm, laying her head against his bicep with a contented smile. "You're sooo warm," she giggled, "I could get used to this..."

She's harmless as a kitten.

A gentle chuckle. An easy smile.

For all the quirks, the fake tan, the flowery Japanese dresses, and the general... uniqueness that was Suki, she had this vibe about her. Something special that she and she alone gave out. Calming? Not quite... and not soothing, either. Welcoming, more like. No other girl, from Nora to even Tiffany brought out this sort of reaction.

Maybe it was because of their first meeting? Mike didn't know. Two strangers brought together. They'd not known a damn thing about the other's life. And by the morning sunrise, after a messy wakeup kiss and a shower, they'd sure as ever learned a lot more. Was that the reason why?

Perhaps some things aren't worth overthinking, he told himself. While Suki snoozed on his arm, the singer brought out the Huniebee. Lillian hadn't called back. Whatever she'd planned to share, she sounded worked up about. Any sort of lead would've been great. They were back at square one again. Yeah. They knew Audrey and Nora were tied into this whole cluster of shit, but who was the one-

An idea. Mike looked to the sleeping girl, patting her head softly.

What if Suki could help? She was the last person his enemies would expect to be lending a helping hand in the way of getting to the bottom of everything. Add that to her being new in town, and it was a winning idea. Then again... anything was a winning idea considering his terrible run this past month or two.

"Most of my bridges are burned now."

A sobering thought, but one he couldn't hide from anymore.

Mark hadn't turned up with anything new yet. Not that his line of injury was going to be quick from the get go. The son of a rich family he wasn't fond of, digging into one of their shady businesses? That took time.

"Nikki," Mike sighed, every time he thought about her that awful churn of the stomach came back. She'd been endlessly forgiving, and even if, by some freaking miracle, she forgave him again... there was no forgiving himself.

What about Tiffany? Nope. He wasn't afraid to ask her, but the resentment was bound to be strong there. After the time she'd caught him under Nikki's bed?

A frustrated sigh. Suki was his last option. "I'll ask her before I leave."

Five in the morning. Not a wink of sleep yet, and the mouthful of hangover pills from the bathroom cabinet weren't working.

Suki mumbled in her sleep, curled up on the couch: having stripped down to her bra and panties. That left Mike huddled in the smallest corner, with a pillow acting as a dividing line, not that he could sleep with a drill boring into his brain. He needed to freshen up some, and wait for the relief to kick in. It was too damn hot in here.

The top floor apartment of a converted three story motel, halfway between Lusties and Downtown. It gave Kyanna's place a run for its money. Both when it came to space and being far too hot.

"Better," a thankful breath. "I needed that."

Mike leaned up against the bathroom sink, splashing a handful of cold water against his face. At last, he feel the pressure around his skull, like two hands squeezing his temples, easing. A discomforting jabbing sensation around the back of his head refused to let up, but it was bearable. Maybe now he'd get some sle-

Clank!

He reached for the tap too quickly, knocking his watch, Nora's watch, down somewhere near the toilet.

"Fuck..." A sharp pang. No matter how she'd hurt him... nothing took away their teen years. He kneeled to pick it up, reaching around the trash can without more than the help of a weak mirror light. No good. Too dark. This was the sort of illumination Mark had over at his place. Not that Kane didn't have a good reason for it.

"Found it."

A pull of the cord brought the overhead bulb blinking into action. Now... where was the watch? Where- Ah, there it was. Mike scooped it up, something thin and plastic falling from the trash. He fell back back when he realized what it was, saved by the wall from a nasty knock to the head. It couldn't have been, could it?

A sleek stick with a digital screen. He'd seen Audrey buy these more than once: had the box of one brand close to memorized.

"Pregnancy test?"

Mike averted his eyes, feeling downright awful for even knocking it to the carpet on accident. What should I do? Did he put it back where he found it and wash his hands? If he left it on the floor like this it'd look like he was-

Floorboards creaked in the lounge. Mike's swallowed his heart: a dead weight in his stomach.

"Mike-san?" Suki called out in a daze. "How are you feeling?"

Put it back!

Slam-dunking the thing into the trash hadn't been the intention, but then again, neither was seeing the result. Mike busied himself with washing his hands clean, a displeased, bedraggled man staring him back in the glass: he had to push it away, for the sake of his friend's privacy. He hadn't meant to look.

Water swirled in the sink, a fateful distraction. But sadly not enough to make him forget the screen's reading.

Negative.

"I'm fine," he spoke back, grabbing for the hand towel, "just freshening up. How about you?"

"Sleeepy."

Flicking off the light, Mike returned to the lounge, feeling around the kitchen-top to reach the couch. It was so much harder stop the thoughts from overflowing in the dark, he found. The soft ticking of the clock. And Suki's breathing beside him... getting closer... and closer... and closer. All of it combined was dizzying, even with all the alcohol he'd knocked back.

Suki's arms snaked around his shoulders, "There you are," she invaded his ear, a shiver crawling down his back. "I'm cold..."

"Now that you mention it... me too."

Wasn't a breeze though. It felt more like air conditioning. Strange. Was the air conditioning on when he'd gone to the bathroom? No. It was like an oven in here just ten minutes ago: hotter than Audrey's place that one time she'd not paid the electric in the summer. Sitting in that box of hers without fans didn't- What the Hell? How in the world had the diva come to mind, of all people?

Suki's chuckle floated through the air, her palms crawling across the surface of the skin. Two sapphires broke through the inky black, leering into Mike's soul. They narrowed, coming nearer and nearer until their noses touched.

"Watashi wa, anata o atatakaku tamochimasu..."

Those foreign words, no matter which way you cut it, sounded so... warm-blooded.

"Care to translate for me? Language isn't my strong point."

"Hehe... I'll keep you warm."

The girl snuggled close, her bare skin surprisingly soft against Mike's shirtless chest.

She'd keep him warm? Some good, honest comfort without strings attached? It'd been too long. Why not welcome it?

"Go ahead."

This sensation was so strange. Not hollow: nor lustful. He'd missed it so much.

Their eyes locked tight, blue and green meeting in a silent instant of eternity. Cracks formed, spreading further and further until there was nothing to hold back a lone, painful tear. Every time he held a girl, the guilt pressed down, almost crushing. It'd started a couple of weeks ago, and every time it happened?

Nikki smiled with wide, innocent eyes.

"It'd mean a lot." Leaning in, Mike placed a fragile kiss upon Suki's cheek, holding her for dear life - overwhelmed. His face dampened with water: Suki's shoulder, as well.

"Mike?" The Otaku opened up, filled with concern, her cheery surface shaken and flat. No 'Senpai'. No 'Mike-san'. Just a regular girl free of the pep. It almost sounded... familiar. "Mike? What's hurting? You can tell me..."

"Don't let me go, Suki," he exhaled, the flashes of all he'd done coming to life, reaching into him: every word, every promise, and all the betrayal. Yeah some of the ladies around town hadn't been fair, but he'd been even more of a royal bastard. And now? A sightless hand gripped his heart tight. "I'm so low that it don't know what to do... I'm a mess."

Truth, white and innocent, given to a friend. Never in his life, had Mike Winters ever felt so horribly, dangerously weak.

"Sarah," she spoke, placing her lips against his forehead. "It's Sarah..."

A fleeting glint, so quick, so human, so real.

"But I like being Suki," she admitted, back on form with a wide, ear-to-ear smile. "So long as you care for me both ways, senpai... I'll be the dearest friend you could ask for. Every time we meet you're soooo sad... but doooon't you worry... cuz I'll change that. We'll change it together."

Mike surrendered to her consoling words. "I'll count on you, then."

In Suki's arms he was safe.

"Thaaat's right. You just count on Suki-chan. I'll never let you down, Mike... Never."

She wouldn't lead him astray. Just like before, she'd be his guiding light.

To be continued...

There you have it. Suki has promised she'll stick by Mike and help him out. Where will things go from here? You might not think it, but I'm really enjoying writing these interactions between Mike and Miss Stevens. Feel free to leave some feedback and share your thoughts as well!

As always, keep on supporting Huniepop and Huniecam Studio. I'll see you in the next chapter! Thanks again!