Evening on The Town (Mamoru/Motoki, Open) 12/29

[Chiba Mamoru]

(continuation from Meeting an Old Friend ... since this is a public place, I figured anyone could join if they wished, oh and it's evening ^^;; )

Mamoru hesitated a moment, before deciding to follow Motoki’s lead and leaving his plate and bottle on the T.V. Tray. This wasn’t his home and if Motoki didn’t mind leaving the stuff there to be cleared away later, then Mamoru certainly wasn’t going to object. He grabbed his jacket, slipped on his shoes, stepped outside, and waited politely for his friend to lock the door.

He nodded once in reply to Motoki mentioning the place was only a few blocks away, but he didn’t respond more then that. He glanced at the evening sky, vaguely surprised at the amount of time that had passed. He hadn’t realized that he had stayed at Motoki’s place long enough for evening to fall, but then he supposed that there had been a lot of talk about. When they arrived at the bar, Mamoru watched quietly as Motoki gave the doorman a quick wave. They were allowed in fairly easily which lead Mamoru to realize that obviously Motoki was well known here. He tensed a little when he noticed the flicker of recognition in the doorman’s eyes, but relaxed when the man didn’t do more then allow the two of them through the door.

Mamoru sighed and muttered irritably, “Anything that will successfully drown away my problems for the evening will be good Motoki ...”

He glanced around the place disinterestedly as he followed his friend over to the bar. There was one or two people that glanced their way curiously, but most of the occupants were more interested in their own drinks and companions to notice two more individuals enter the bar. Mamoru relaxed even further, content to simply forget his troubles and have a good time with his friend.

[Furuhata Motoki]

"Good Evening Furuhata-san!" The bartender greeted as the pair appoached the bar. "The usual?" He continued, already reaching into the well for a 'Kirin Ichiban Shibori' beer. Without waiting for a response, he popped off the top and set the bottle in front of Motoki. "And for you?" he asked Mamoru. As soon as the question left his mouth, recognition set in, apparent from the shifting expression on his face. "I mean, what can I get you Chiba-sama?"

Motoki held back a snicker. Mamoru was never one for special treatment, even before his days of being engaged to the leader of the world. Motoki was relatively sure that his friend would rather be addressed as Mamo-buddy than Chiba-sama, but he bit his tongue. "Arigato, Hando-san," Motoki replied before lifting the beer to his mouth and taking a long swig. "Add this one, and anything he orders to my tab."

Hando glanced off to the other side of the room and then back at the pair in front of him. "It's on the house, tonight Furuhata-san." Not many bars had the honor of hosting Chiba Mamoru. His boss would gladly set free beer in front of the former man of the hour in exchange for the publicity he was sure to receive once the tabloid found out about "Chiba Mamoru's post-break up drunken night of fun and pleasure!" or whatever else they made up about the poor guy. And Hando wasn't going to pass up the opportunity for a better tip.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru once again felt on edge the moment he noticed the recognition in the bartender’s expression. He couldn’t keep from glaring irritably at the poor man when he referred to him as Chiba-sama, or from gritting his teeth together when the beer was offered ‘on the house tonight’.
He was not an idiot, it didn’t take him long to figure out why those beers were being offered on the house. The media would have a field day with this and this bar would get plenty of publicity because of it.

For a moment Mamoru regretted his decision to come, he really should have stayed holed up in his new apartment brooding about his situation. Instead he had allowed himself to come down here so that he could be subjected to whatever kind of stories the tabloids could make up about him. Mamoru knew well the kinds of stories that the tabloids could create, hadn’t they already been making up stories about him before the ‘break up’ had occurred?

Technically speaking, they would probably create stories whether he was here or hidden away somewhere. It was inevitable really, he was the man the queen had dumped ... of course the tabloids would write about it. The media loved to prey upon the misery of others and he was most definitely miserable. Well he was here already so he might as well make both himself and the media happy. They could get whatever stories they wanted and he could drink his troubles away for the evening, hopefully they would both be successful.

“Give me whatever you just gave Motoki, Hando-san,” Mamoru replied evenly before adding, “and if you don’t mind terribly much I’ll make sure it’s well worth your effort if you could keep them coming.”

[Furuhata Motoki]

Mokoti raised an eyebrow at Mamoru's last words, but said nothing. His friend wasn't known for excess drinking, but Mokoti definitely understood how easy it was to surrender to the bottle when lonely. His thoughts drifted momentarily to Reika - how easy life was when she was around. He wished she hadn't left again, off traveling on another one of her trips. Motoki understood the business demands her career placed on her, and he accepted that travel was one of those demands. His eyes glanced at the bottle in his hand and he tilted it back, letting the entire contents drain down his throat. Setting the bottle on the bar, he nodded at Hando. "Already, I'm ready for another one."

Motoki glanced up at the televisions behind the bar. He scowled at the j-pop video that was playing and turned back to Mamoru, "I wonder what time the bands start?" he asked, glancing around to see if a sign was posted. "I'm usually not here quite so early."

Hando walked up and set down Motoki's next beer, followed by a second for Mamoru. "The band comes on in twenty," he replied with a nod, then headed off to serve another customer.

Motoki watched him walk off. "So Mamoru, really, what do you normally do for fun these days?"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Even as he was tilting his own bottle back and draining it dry, Mamoru knew that come morning he was probably going to regret this night. He knew perfectly well that drinking would not cause his problems to magically disappear, nor would it ease the pain and loneliness he was feeling. However, it might dull the ache at least for the night and tomorrow he could deal with the consequences whatever they might be. He set the bottle down the moment it was empty and nodded toward Hando indicating that he was ready for another one as well.

Mamoru glanced over at Motoki when he asked about the band and shrugged before saying, “I wouldn’t know. I haven’t ever come here before. I would assume that they would start playing around the time the evening crowd comes in.” He glanced around at the other customers before adding, “It probably won’t be much longer.”

He nodded gratefully at Hando when the man not only brought a second beer, but also told them when the band would begin playing. “See, I was right ... not that long at all. As for fun, according to some I’ve been having an affair with Ami to pass the time away, not to mention a hundred other horrible things.”

Mamoru was quiet for a moment as he started to drink his second beer before he relented somewhat and said, “Actually I can’t say that I’ve had time for anything fun Motoki. It’s been busy. A lot of work goes into creating a new world government and while Usagi took on most of the burden there was still plenty for the rest of us to be doing. There was always someone that needed something done right then that they couldn’t possibly do for themselves. Don't forget, I haven't actually quite my job just yet either ... a good thing I suppose."

[Furuhata Motoki]

Motoki rolled his eye, a smirk on his face. "It's called a rhetorical questions, Mamoru!" Motoki exclaimed, a little louder than necessary as he kicked back his fifth beer of the night. The three he'd already had at home, plus the one he'd downed only moment ago were already saturating his system. Motoki had managed to build a high enough tolerance to alcohol to keep himself from becoming trashed beyond all recognition, but his buzz came on rather quick, especially when he was counting as many drinks as fingers on a hand. "I didn't expect you to know the answer to the question. Don't you remember learning about those things in college?" Motoki reached out and slapped Mamoru lightly on the back. "Lighten up."

Yeah, Motoki thought to himself, he was definintely feeling it. His eyes widened slightly at the mention of Ami, and then a few second later he realized Mamoru was being sarcastic. He shook his head slightly at himself. Here he was chiding Mamoru for being slow on the uptake and he'd almost said something incredibly stupid, like 'woah, you and Ami? Really?' Good thing he was too busy taking another sip of beer to let that comment out of his mouth.

"Well, hey, we all work pretty hard. If you and the girls aren't taking any time for fun, then you're too stressed to be building an effective government anyway." Motoki said with a nod, as if this were an absolute fact and he would brook no disagreement. "Everyone needs to have a little fun. We will definintely have to show them some fun at this New Years Eve Party."

He paused for a moment, then smiled, "You ready for another one yet?"

Just then, a pair of cute college girls wearing tight jeans and low cut tank tops slid up to the bar. The taller one slipped between Mamoru and the bar. "Hey you," she purred softly, "I heard you're avaliable. Wanna buy me a drink?"

The second girl laughed, "You might want to introduce yourself first Riko." She turned to Motoki and grinned, "Riko is so outgoing that she forgets to give her own name. I think she just assumes everyone knows it. I'm Mayu. And I'd like a drink as well."

Motoki shot Mamoru a brief look, then shrugged. "Hando! A drink for these ladies! You girls just tell Hando what you'd like." As the girls ordered, Motoki leaned back and whispered to Mamoru. "Your call. You know I can't cross that line, but anything you do is going to be front page tomorrow..."

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru glanced over at Motoki when his friend loudly proclaimed that it had been a rhetorical question. Under normal circumstances Mamoru might have been uneasy, knowing that his friend’s loud voice would probably draw attention to them. This wasn’t ordinary circumstances however and Mamoru didn’t find this at all bothersome. He simply shrugged and muttered, “Rhetorical questions deserve to be answered sometime Motoki, if people never answered them they might start to feel left out.” He paused a moment to consider the next part of Motoki’s words before continuing, “Actually, I don’t recall having fun or rhetorical questions as any of my courses in college. I was too busy with other things, perhaps I should learn to lighten up after all ... maybe if I did I wouldn’t be in this situation.”

Drinking wasn’t something that he did very often, especially excessive drinking as he was doing tonight. Although he did have some tolerance to alcohol, five beers were definitely taking their toll on him. His observation skills weren’t as keen as they normally might have been. He never even noticed the fact that he had startled Motoki with his response about Ami, nor did he feel particularly inclined to argue with his friend about whether or not they were too stressed to be building an effective government. Motoki sounded confident that what he was saying was a fact, who was he to disagree with him. “Perhaps you are right, maybe fun is what everyone needs ... Usagi and the senshi, they would appreciate fun I bet. Though I doubt Usagi’s guests, those Governmental Ministers and foreign dignitaries would like it very much if you tried to introduce them to fun.”

Mamoru swallowed down the last of his newest beer before glaring at nothing in particular and adding, “Rei doesn’t need a lesson in fun, she needs a lesson in minding her own business. This is all her fault you know. Usagi would never have known about anything if she had kept her mouth shut.”

He was very well aware that his troubles weren’t entirely Rei’s fault, nor were they even mostly Rei’s fault. It hadn’t been Rei that had kept the secret of the Shitennou away from Usagi, nor had it been Rei that had handled that meeting the way he had. Yes, Rei had brought the situation to Usagi’s attention ... but she had only been doing what she was suppose to do as both a friend and a senshi. However, Mamoru had long since stopped listening to that voice of reason. It was a lot easier to blame someone else, especially when his sense of judgement was clouded with both the alcohol in his system and the anger at his predicament.

Mamoru set his bottle down and was just about to say he was definitely ready for a new drink when the college girl slipped herself between him and the bar. He simply stared at her in surprise at first, his mind going blank as she said something about him being available and asking if he wanted to buy her a drink. After a moment he was able to comprehend that she was talking to him and gazed curiously at her.

She was a cute girl and technically speaking she was right. He was very much available now, it would be perfectly alright to sit here and buy her a drink. Motoki had just said he should lighten up hadn’t he and he clearly recalled Lucan saying something about protecting any future spouses of his, at least he thought he did. He wasn’t particularly clear on the details of his morning right now but he was very clear on the fact that he wasn’t engaged anymore. There was nothing stopping him from spending time with this girl, nothing at all and maybe, just maybe it could help his heart from hurting so much.

Mamoru glanced over at the other girl when she spoke up before turning back to Riko with a smile and murmured, “Riko is a pretty name and there isn’t anything wrong with being outgoing ... ”

That was when Motoki leaned over and whispered something about it being his call because he couldn’t cross that line and that anything he did would be on the front page tomorrow. The front page that Usagi would be bound to read and he had no doubt that she would be hurt, even if she didn’t love him anymore. Usagi was too caring not to be hurt if he chose to take comfort in this girl’s company so soon after breaking up with her. She would be hurt and once again it would be because of him, no amount of alcohol was going to cause him to do that to her. He wouldn’t be able to bare it if he caused her tears once more.

Although none of this was the girl’s fault by any means, anger was the easiest defense he currently had to keep people at bay and he used it effectively.. Without a thought to how it would make Riko and her friend feel, Mamoru immediately slid his chair away from the girl and in the same scathing tone of voice he had been using on the palace staff recently he snapped, “This isn’t a good idea ... please, just go talk to someone else.”

[Furuhata Motoki]

Mayu let a small pout grace her lovely face, her hands resting lightly on her hips. "Don't tell me that you're too busy pinning Mamoru-sama," Mayu replied, emphasizing the word pinning and purposely using Mamoru's name rather than his surname. She especially liked the touch she'd given the -sama suffix. It simply rolled off her tongue like sweet honey. She reached up with one hand and let her fingers run softly down the former-future-king's cheeks. He was, after all, incredibly handsome, and her own failing acting career would be propelled immensely if she could manage a few tabloid covers with her stunning smiling face next to Mamoru's. Or maybe even kissing Mamoru's. That was something she should try. She leaned in closer pushing up on her tip toes so that her lips brushed against his, her hand slipping down to press against the inside of his thigh. "I can promise you," she whispered, her voice husky, that I will make you forgot your troubles. What could it hurt?" Without waiting, she pressed her lips again his and kissed. No doubt, she thought, the camera's were already flashing.

And there were. Motoki had heard Mamoru's words, and he wished to support his friend. He turned to Riko and frowned. "My friend asked to be left alone. Your friend should respect that."

Riko shrugged, "Mayu is her own girl. I'm just here for my own fun. Perhaps with you?" She was far less aggressive than her friend.

"I'll buy you that drink, but I go no further. Mamoru may be single, but I'm a married man." Motoki replied, fully intending to keep his vows intact. His lies about his alcohol problem did not extend to cheating, one area he had promised himself he wouldn't dabble in. "Hando!" he called out, "A drink for the ladies? On my tab." Which, Motoki thought to himself, was hopefully still free. If having Mamoru drinking in the bar wasn't enough publicity, the stunt Mayu was pulling would be.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru glared irritably at Mayu when she continued to bother him, even going so far as to call him by his name. He became even more annoyed when she reached forward and ran her fingers down his cheek, obviously this girl was not going to go away simply because he asked her too. He shifted away from her hand and was just about to snap at her once more when the situation progressed further.

He stiffened in surprise when she leaned forward to brush her lips against his and pressed her hand against the inside of his thigh. For a fraction of a second Mamoru once again considered Mayu’s words, a chance to forget his troubles ... that was what he had come in here for wasn’t it? What could it hurt? Again, the alcohol in his system wasn’t enough to stop the image of Usagi being hurt that those very words brought up. The next time that Mayu pressed her lips against his and kissed, Mamoru reacted a lot quicker. He leaped to his feet and shoved away from her growling, “I’m not interested ...”

Mamoru glared in the direction of a camera flash, dimly aware that despite his rejection the damage had been done. The pictures would be in the tabloids as fast as they could be printed, Usagi would see them, and she would assume the worst. Why wouldn’t she? Didn’t she already believe he was capable of betraying her?

It was then when he heard a slurred voice behind him say, “What the hell are you doing with my woman?”

Mamoru glanced behind him to see a very drunk man standing there glaring at him and Mayu both. He didn’t even have time to respond before the guy suddenly decided to slug him. Mamoru had been in many battles as Tuxedo Kamen and should have been able to dodge whatever this man could throw at him, but it had been years since he had actually fought anything not to mention his reactions were somewhat slowed because of the earlier drinks he had consumed. Although he managed to not be knocked off of his feet, Mamoru wasn’t quite able to dodge the blow as it connected with his jaw. None of this was fair, he hadn’t asked for any of it, not Mayu and her kisses, not this idiot, and certainly not the tabloids. He had only wanted to drown away his sorrows in peace, was that too much to ask? All the anger he had been feeling earlier that day came flooding back, doubled now that he couldn’t really think straight thanks to the alcohol, but this time his anger found a target in the drunk man before him.

With a snarl of rage, Mamoru instinctively lashed out at his tormentor with all the frustration and anger he had been feeling for the last couple of days. His fist caught the other man in the face knocking him to the floor. The man howled in pain clutching his nose before starting to scramble to his feet intent upon continuing the fight despite the fact that his nose was probably broken.

[Furuhata Motoki]

Motoki groaned as he saw the man pushing up to Mamoru. He hadn't intended any of this trouble - Motoki wasn't famous, so the thought hadn't crossed his mind that they'd even have issues until Hando had started in with the free drinks. Even then, Motoki had still thought they'd be enjoying their beer and watching the band and relaxing the way men do. He could even handle a little innocent flirting, but Motoki if he was one thing was faithful.

He pushed Riko lightly aside and stepped up to Mamoru's side, intending to offer support when Mamoru sent the man reeling with a punch to the nose. "Mamoru!" Motoki exclaimed stepping in front of him. "Stop. This isn't going to help." But Motoki's balance was bad and he wasn't able to completely stop his progress. He ended up tilting over into Mayu, who was standing next to Mamoru in disbelief, unsure which man to rush too. Flailing, Motoki accidently grabbed Mayu's shirt and the pair tumbled to the floor, with Mayu's shift half down to her waist.

"Get off me you oaf!" she exclaimed, rage and embarrassment burning through her voice. Before Motoki could reach, a camera was in his face snapping pictures of the two.

"Are you, Mamoru-sama, and that man fighting over this girl?" a tabloid reporter shouted over the crowd noise, as she pushed to get into his face. "Why is Mamoru-sama punching people."

"GET OFF ME!" Screamed Mayu again, raising one hand to push Motoki and the other to push away the reporter. "GET AWAY!" She'd wanted to be the headline news, but as 'Mamoru's new squeeze', not the hooker who was dating three guys and had her shirt around her waist. She reached down and pulled her top back into place, then wormed her way out from under Motoki who was still struggling between getting up and getting the camera out of his face.

"Mamoru!" Motoki called out as he clammered back to his feet, hoping his friend hadn't continued the assault while he was on the floor.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Although Mamoru did hear Motoki tell him to stop, his anger was hard to let go off ... especially since it had been boiling under the surface for the last couple of days now. Still the fact that his friend fell dragging Mayu down with him almost immediately upon standing up did manage to drag his attention away from his opponent. Luckily the other man was being held firmly in place by a few other customers by this time, otherwise Mamoru might have been slugged again since his gaze did follow Motoki to the ground. The scene dissolved into chaos then, with Mayu’s shirt being dragged down to her waist, the camera flashing, and the tabloid reporter demanding answers to her questions.

The rage he had been feeling just moments before cooled enough for him to once again regret coming out tonight. Instead of helping him to relax, it had brought him nothing but even worse trouble then he had already been in ... not to mention getting poor Motoki involved in something that he didn’t deserve. Motoki had only been trying to help him forget his troubles, not drag himself into a scandal like this.

Mamoru was just about to answer Motoki when yet another disaster added itself to the mix, the siren of a police car. Apparently sometime during the last few minutes someone had oh so helpfully called the police because of the fight that had been started. He closed his eyes momentarily, desperately wishing he was anywhere but here before opening them once again. He groaned softly, running his hand through his hair in frustration as he watched two officers make their way through the crowd. He really didn’t need this ...

The officers were very efficient at their jobs and promptly took charge of the situation. They questioned everyone and as it was the policy to take everyone involved in the commotion; Mamoru, Motoki, Mayu, and the guy eventually found themselves in two separate cars on their way to jail. Riko, not having actually done anything more then talk to Motoki and order a drink was spared the indignity of being hauled out of the bar and placed under arrest.

Mamoru thunked his head against the seat with a groan and muttered, “I’m sorry for dragging you into this Motoki ... this is very much not how I intended this evening to go.”

[Furuhata Motoki]

Motoki grabbed Mamoru's arm, steadying himself as he returned to his feet. "No more fighting. We'll end up..." his voice trailed off as he heard the sound of sirens punctuating the air around them. In a matter of minutes, he found himself in handcuffs in the back of a squad car sitting next to Mamoru. How had a night out on the town gone so wrong? Didn't the police realize who they were arresting?

He turned to Mamoru and frowned. "I was the one who thought we should go out. I didn't even think people would act like they did. What do I know? I'm not used to anyone knowing who I am. Don't apologize to me - I should be apologizing to you."

The rest of the trip the pair was silent as the squad car headed for the main Toyko station. Once there, Motoki and Mamoru, along with 'fight guy' were transferred to a holding cell. Motoki took one look at 'fight guy' and rolled his eyes. "This was the guy you had to punch? He's no bigger than 1.7 meters!" Motoki slumped down on the bend and leaned back against the wal, shooting 'fight guy' a nasty look in case the man wasn't pleased with Motoki's comments. His head was beginning to hurt as the alcohol slowly cleared his system. The last place he'd wanted to spend his hangover recovery was in jail. "I assume, at least, that between the two of us we have the money to post bail?"

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru shook his head and simply said, “You haven’t been in the public eye, I have. I should have been prepared for the general public and how they would react, especially since I had been warned earlier this morning. I don’t intend to allow you to take the blame for this.”

He remained silent during the rest of the trip, wondering how bad the tabloids would be in the morning. He had no doubt that come morning each and every picture would be printed along with whatever neat little story that reporter could come up with. He just wondered exactly what kind of pictures the woman had actually gotten. Oh well, there wasn’t anything he could do about it now except to hope that it wouldn’t fall too badly upon his friend’s head.

Despite the fact that he was feeling rather glum right then and his head was beginning to ache, when they were thrown into the holding cell with the ‘fight guy’ and Motoki mentioned the fact that the guy had only been 1.7 meters Mamoru couldn’t help grinning just a little. If it wasn’t so awful, this night actually might have been funny in a strange sort of way ... well if it hadn’t have been happening to him anyway. He glanced over at the ‘fight guy’ with his best intimidating glare to make certain he wouldn’t do something idiotic like try to continue the fight.

The ‘fight guy’ however wasn’t stupid enough to attempt something like that, or maybe it was more like he couldn’t. The only thing he seemed capable of doing was to sneer at the both of them before collapsing into a drunken stupor.

Mamoru leaned back against the wall next to Motoki, his eyes closed as he tried to ignore the pounding of his head. He sat up quickly enough however when Motoki made his next comments, trying to figure out if he had enough money to cover the bail. After a moment of digging through his pockets he was forced to realize that no he didn’t have enough money with him to even cover a quarter of the bail money, much less half of it. He could afford to pay the entire bail, but he hadn’t been carrying that kind of money with him at the time.

“I wasn’t carrying that kind of money with me Motoki, I really hadn’t expected to do more then go visit you today.”

This night just kept getting better and better. Mamoru thunked his head against the wall behind him in frustration once, decided that it didn’t help his headache any to be doing that, before attempting to think of someone he might could call to come help them. He now had Hiroki he could call upon if he ever needed something, but he wasn’t entirely certain Hiroki would have that kind of money on him.

Besides, if he called Hiroki to come bail him out of jail he would never hear the end of it. He wasn’t close enough with any of his coworkers to call on them and he certainly couldn’t call upon Usagi or her senshi. It was bad enough that they would read about this in the paper tomorrow.

He continued to think before suddenly remembering the conversation with Lucan earlier that day. Lucan had given him his business card with his personal number and told him to call if he ever needed anything. Mamoru was quite certain that this probably wasn’t what Lucan had meant, but the offer had been sincere and at this point Mamoru was desperate.

Mamoru dug through his pockets once more until he found the card and glanced over at Motoki saying, “However, I do have someone I can call ...” With that he called one of the officers over to ask if he could make a phone call. It wasn’t long before he was taken to the phone and allowed to make his call.

He quickly dialed Lucan’s personal number and listened to the phone ring as he waited semi-patiently for the man to answer.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Did Lucan ever not sound crisp and professional? Surely the man had to take some breaks in life from his job, didn’t he? Perhaps not, at least Mamoru had never seen him just relaxed and not ready to spring into his work if need be.

“Yeah, hi Lucan? This is Chiba Mamoru ...”

This was harder then he thought it would be. How did one go about asking Lucan to come down to the station to bail him and a friend out of jail in the middle of the night? For what felt like the millionth time that night, Mamoru ran his hand through his hair in what was fast becoming a habit of frustration. He was certain he looked anything but his best at the moment, after all one couldn’t possibly look perfect after going through everything that he had gone through tonight.

He hesitated a moment more before continuing, “Remember this morning when you told me that I could call you for whatever reason? Well after an event earlier this evening which I’m sure you will be able to read about by tomorrow morning, my friend and I have ended up in jail without any way to bail ourselves out. I have the money to reimburse you of course, I just don’t have it with me. There wasn't anyone else that I could call other then you ...”

Mamoru fell silent, not really knowing what else to say. By this point he was rethinking his earlier thought that this was even the slightest bit humorous. This was anything but funny, it was becoming increasingly embarrassing.

[Chiba Mamoru]

Mamoru ground his teeth together in irritation when Lucan demanded an explanation. Could nothing in his life go easily these days? Apparently not. Apparently he was going to be forced to describe the entire course of events over the phone to Lucan, all while the officer was standing nearby with a bored expression on his face listening to everything Mamoru was saying.

He growled in frustration for the millionth and one time that evening before saying, “To make a long story short, earlier this evening Motoki and I went to a bar to listen to the band and to have a few drinks ...” At least he thought it was just a few drinks, he couldn’t actually remember at the moment how many he had drank in the course of the day.

“We were waiting for the band to start when these two girls came over. There was one that was a little, um friendly and I asked her to leave me alone but she refused. She kissed me twice, the cameras flashed, I shoved her away, and her boyfriend came up demanding to know why.”

There was absolutely no reason why Mamoru should inform Lucan that for a brief moment he had actually considered Mayu’s offer in an effort to forget the pain and loneliness he was feeling at the time. That was a secret that Mamoru refused to share under any circumstances. He didn’t care what anyone thought about secret keeping, that was one that would only cause harm in the long run and anyway he had rejected the idea just as soon as it had come.

“The guy hit me before I could respond and I hit him back. I shouldn’t have, but I was angry at the situation and I wasn’t thinking clearly. Too many drinks I guess, especially since drinking is not something I do on a regular basis. Anyway Motoki tried to stop me but he fell taking the girl down with him. Someone called the police and now we are here ...”

Once again he fell silent, waiting for Lucan to respond. He hoped that things couldn’t possibly get any more embarrassing then they already were. Things just couldn’t possibly get any worse.

While he was standing there thinking that, he noticed the officer smirking at him and sighed in defeat. “Lucan, just come and get us ... please?”

This entire night had become one long humiliating, pride deflating event, and it didn’t look like it was going to end anytime soon.