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The soft glow of the Crown Parlor's neon sign bathed the cozy, retro diner in a warm light as Usagi and Mamoru slipped into a booth by the window, the gentle hum of the evening crowd in the background. Mamoru checks with Usagi before rising to go up to the counter and make an order.

Mamoru leans back in the booth, absently twirling a straw in his drink as he glanced at Usagi with that familiar, teasing smile. "You're unusually quiet tonight."

Usagi shifts in her seat, her cheeks tinged pink. "I'm just... happy," she said, her voice soft, almost shy. "It's been nice, just the two of us. Without everything else going on."

Mamoru raises an eyebrow, clearly amused. "And here I thought you were only quiet when I did something to upset you."

Usagi rolls her eyes but can't hide her smile. "Well, you're not that bad... not all the time, at least."

As they continued to banter, Motoki emerged from behind the counter, wiping his hands on his apron as he caught sight of the two of them. He freezes mid-step, eyes widening in complete shock.

Usagi, who had been in the middle of taking a sip of her milkshake, almost spat it out. "What's wrong, Motoki?" she asks, blinking up at him.

Motoki blinked a few times, his hand still gripping the cloth. "Wait—hold on a second." He points a finger at Mamoru, then at Usagi, and back to Mamoru. "You two—together? For real? As in, no more pretending?"

Usagi and Mamoru exchange a brief, nervous glance. The air between them was a little heavier now, charged with unspoken words.

Mamoru smirks and leaned forward on his elbows. "Is it so hard to believe, Motoki?"

Motoki's jaw dropped. "I—I thought the two of you would never admit it!" he exclaimed, hands raised in a mock surrender. "I've known for ages, but I figured you'd dance around it forever. I can't believe you finally said it!"

Usagi's face flushes crimson, her hands scrambling for the napkin dispenser to cover her face. "We—uh—we didn't exactly say it! It's not like—"

Motoki, still in awe, leans closer. "You two have been so obvious to everyone but yourselves, it's ridiculous!" He shot Mamoru a knowing look. "You've both been coming in here separately, talking about each other when the other isn't around. I thought you were just playing it cool!"

Mamoru's lips curl into a small smile. "Well, we didn't exactly shout it from the rooftops."

Motoki laughed, shaking his head. "No, but you both practically confessed to me weeks ago, didn't you? Both of you came to me on different occasions, spilling your guts about how you felt... and I just listened. Never told anyone." He gave them a teasing grin. "You can thank me for keeping your secret all this time."

Usagi's eyes widen in realization, and she turns to Mamoru, who had gone still for a moment, the corner of his mouth twitching upward. "You... both told him?" she asks, almost incredulously.

Mamoru chuckles, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly. "Guess it's not just you who needs to talk things through sometimes, huh?"

Usagi's mouth dropps open, and she glances back at Motoki, who gave a casual shrug. "What can I say? I'm a good listener. And hey, I figured if you two were too stubborn to say anything to each other, I'd be your intermediary."

A mix of emotions washed over Usagi—surprise, a little embarrassment, but mostly warmth. They'd confided in Motoki. Both of them? And Motoki had kept their secret all this time, never letting on.

Mamoru caught her gaze and winked. "Guess we have to thank Motoki for making sure we didn't do something stupid, huh?"

Usagi couldn't help but giggle, feeling a soft, fluttering warmth spread through her chest. "Yeah, thanks, Motoki... for not blowing the whole thing up."

Motoki grins, raising his hands in mock surrender. "Anything for the happy couple." He turns to head back to the counter."

Usagi's face flushes again, and Mamoru raises an eyebrow at her. "Looks like we have a lot more explaining to do... but at least we're starting somewhere."

And with that, a new, quieter understanding seemed to settle between them. No more pretending, no more uncertainty. Just two people, finding their way forward together in a world that finally felt a little smaller, a little simpler.

Usagi blinks and smiles as she sits down in a chair, listening to the machines beep. She stops replaying another memory her brain dredged up.

The room is very minimalist, there are a few chairs and another door leading to a bathroom. The window is behind the bed which is centered and the shades down to prevent light so that Kenji can rest. There is a closet beside the room's main door where Kenji's belongings are placed.

After the debacle downstairs, the consistent beeping with very little sound elsewhere is refreshing. Usagi sinks into the chair and silently counts her blessings.

Kenji's breathing is consistent which Usagi is thankful for. Existing in a world where Kenji Tsukino isn't alive is absolutely disappointing. Ikuko may be the heart of the family, providing emotional support and encouragement to Shingo and Usagi to chase their dreams, Kenji provided everything else and then some.

I should've come back home more often. Maybe I could've helped mom prevent this from happening to begin with.

"Usa, don't sit over there and blame yourself."

She looks up surprised but happy to see her father lucid and waking from his sleep. "Daddy?"

"I'm awake, I'm not sure I slept very good last night." He says looking around the room. "Is Ikuko stopping by today?"

"Yeah, she will later."

"How was your flight in? I hope you didn't waltz out of your comfy office for this, Usagi." He chides with a stern looking adorning his face.

"I used PTO. I couldn't not come in, you're sick."

"I'm also getting older." He counters.

"You should be taking care of yourself better than this." She says getting testy and moving her chair closer to his bed.

Kenji mutters incoherently under his breath and rolls his eyes despite Usagi's words. He knows she's right. He should've gotten more exercise and ate more vegetables. He just knows the doctor will tell him to cut back burgers and exercise more. It was coming. "Usagi, I'm fine. The doctors will discharge me in the morning as long as my vitals are still good."

Her lips tremble slightly because she thinks he isn't taking his health seriously. He's put everyone else first at his own expense. She knows that he cannot keep this pace up forever. "Promise me that you'll slow down and take care of yourself more."

"Usa, Shingo is in college-"

"Dad!" Usagi interrupts him sternly, her lips tighten before speaking slowly, "Shingo will be fine. He's got a scholarship. He also works part time, and he does well. I don't think he wants you to kill yourself to support him."

Kenji averts his gaze elsewhere in the room. He knows she's right. Shingo isn't hurting for money, and he barely accepts financial support from them. He refuses because he wants to make his own money.

"Fine, I'll consider taking more time off from work and contemplating retirement." Kenji says with a sigh. "Your mother always wanted to take a trip over to Osaka."

Usagi smiles at her father.

"When do you plan to get married though?"

Smiling over. Usagi straightens up in her chair and smooths out her leggings and pushes her bangs away from her eyes. He knows how to kill a mood.

"We don't."

"Whatever happened between you and Mamoru?"

"We grew apart, dad." There it was. She wondered if he secretly wanted her to end up with him. He adored the young man for reasons she isn't able to fathom. She couldn't break her dad's heart and tell him what really happened. He treasured the memories of Mamoru walking through the office, trailing behind him with a thousand questions. It also broke her heart once upon a time as well, but she done what's best for her.

"He works here. He came to see me last night."

That piqued her curiosity. "He did?"

"We talked about politics and medicine. He asked me when I planned to retire. Sounded awfully like you." Kenji says chuckling and repositioning himself on the bed so he's sitting instead of laying. "I hoped he'd take over the business. I really didn't see medicine in his future."

"He done what he wanted to with his life, dad. Don't begrudge him for choosing medicine."

"Tch. I don't."

"It doesn't that way. Do you want anything from the cafeteria to eat or anything?" She asks standing from the chair. It was nearing lunch and Ami might be free. She's not seen her a year. Even though she visited months ago, she didn't find time to go out and catch up with her friends. She had a feeling Rei wouldn't go easy on her when she found out that Usagi and Ami made plans without her.

"I'll rest a bit longer before your mother gets here."

She leans over him and kisses his forehead tenderly and leaves him to rest before hurrying back down the hallway to the elevators. She looks around the floor, scouring for Mamoru because the last thing she needs is to be accosted by him and his ridiculous need to talk to her. She isn't sure she'll feel better after talking to him. So why talk?

"I'm glad Kenji is alright." Ami states as she sits down at the table with her tray of food.

Usagi found Ami sitting in the main lobby with a chart in hand. She smiled and put her work down to join Usagi for lunch. As much as she wanted to go to Crown, it isn't in the cards at her lunch hour.

"He looks good for someone who suffered from a heart attack." Usagi says nodding. "I'm dead serious. I don't know what I expected but it wasn't that."

"At least he was able to talk. Imagine if he had a stroke. He may never be the same." Ami explains. She looks down at the bowl filled with salad and the peanut butter and jelly sandwich, unable to decide which to eat first.

"Eat the salad. If I've learned anything from my father's health, it is definitely eating more veggies."

Ami nods and pokes at her salad. In between bites she sneaks a peek at Usagi who is looking around the cafeteria. She isn't sure what or who she is looking for. She only has a hunch. "Looking for Mamoru?"

"I already had that confrontation today." Usagi says monotonously. "This nurse is chasing him."

"Let me guess, her name is Anne?"

"The one and only. I told her she was going about it all wrong."

"If you aren't interested in Mamoru, why bother telling her anything?"

Usagi stops chewing and her eyes fall back on Ami. The blunette was getting at something and she isn't sure she is enjoying this line of conversation anymore. She certainly didn't have the same sweet shy energy about her anymore.

"Zoicite?"

"We're engaged, he is a professor across town." Ami informs her.

"I knew there was something different about you."

"Zoicite brings out the best in me. It certainly wasn't love at first sight though." Ami tells her before picking up her cup of lemonade.

"I missed a lot, didn't I?"

"You shouldn't feel guilty, Usagi. You had your life to live. I'm just happy to see all those study sessions paid off."

They shared a smile. She remembered marching to Ami's home, determination etched onto her face. She wanted better grades, not just because her parents expected it, but because she didn't want to need someone to support her. She didn't want to fail. She thought many times throughout high school that she would stroke out from studying with Ami, but she was wrong. It all paid off in the end.

Usagi is now a commissioning editor for a well-known publishing company outside of Juban in Ota City. Her position gives her flexibility to work from home or weekends as approved by upper management.

"Back to Mamoru." Ami says putting her utensils down and looking stern at Usagi, "Are you going to give him a chance to talk?"

With a pout and sigh, Usagi slouches in her seat, "Do I have to?"

"How old are you now?" Ami asks with a giggle. She sobers up and once again speaks sternly, "I've worked with him for a while now and he's changed."

Ami has a point and Usagi knows it. They were young when he behaved poorly and they haven't talked since, well, today. She blocked him on all social media accounts. She also blocked his phone number. Now, they're both adults and it is possible he matured since that day.

"I don't have to forgive him."

"You had the biggest crush on him despite our warnings. Now you're being obtuse?"

"Changing the subject, how is Rei?" Usagi asks.

Since returning home, she hasn't received any calls or texts from the raven-haired woman. She hadn't heard very much from Rei in a few months. The last she heard, Rei and Jadeite were still bickering and trying to pick a destination for a honeymoon. She isn't sure how the two managed to fall in love. Rei went into interior design and works for an up-and-coming boutique downtown. Jadeite opened his own business as a CPA.

"Jadeite managed to get her out of that apartment they shared forever. They live in a townhouse now."

"How did he manage that?"

"Sex, I think?" Ami says shrugging as she finishes her drink as well.

"Ami!" Usagi hisses mirthfully at the brazen words. "That is a good way to get someone to do something."

"Let's be honest, they needed the change. That apartment was on its last leg. Also, I know she wants us to get together."

"I suppose it is about their wedding?"

Ami nods and both women collect their trays and walk toward the exit. "Don't be a stranger Usagi and make sure you talk to Mamoru sooner rather than later."

Sooner rather than later? "I'll talk to him." She mutters before walking toward the hospital exit. I just don't plan to talk to him again today.