There was a loud ruckus going on his floor. It was unusual, given the apartment complex's tenants, so his curiosity was slightly peaked. He opened his door and stepped out and found two teenagers fumbling with boxes as they headed into the apartment beside him at the end of the hall.

The young blond boy was the loud one, complaining about having to hold onto the boxes for so long, while the young dark-haired girl next to him was whispering apologies and platitudes, but wearing a happy smile on her face regardless.

So he had new neighbors.

As long as they, probably being the kids they are, don't continue to be loud and disrupted, he didn't care. He didn't even expect to run into them anytime soon or talk to them at all.

That's why he was caught off guard to have his doorbell rung two days later, and opening his door to come face to face with the young girl. She had long black hair and eyes the color ochre. She was slim and wore modest and very plain clothes, and wore no makeup.

She immediately bowed, holding a packaged gift.

"Please to meet you. I am Mogami Kyoko and I am moving into apartment number 325. I hope we can be good neighbors."

He blinked, caught off guard by the overly formal greeting and tradition. It wasn't common anymore to give gifts to neighbors and greet them, with most just tending to keep to themselves, but that a young girl like her was doing so was even stranger.

"Thank you," he said quietly, accepting the gift and giving a slight bow in return. She straightened up and he hesitated.

"I am Kuresaki Yuki. Please to meet you and I hope we can be good neighbors."

~*~*~

She'd given him tea leaves from Kyoto and small but very soft hand towels, with a card bearing her name and someone named Fuwa Shoutaro and written in a beautiful flourish that he'd guessed was her handwriting. It was presumptive of him, but he doubted the young boy with her had anything to do with the gift giving at all, especially as he didn't even come with her to greet their neighbors like himself.

He hardly saw her though. On occasion, he'd glimpse her returning very late, and he'd frowned at her haggard appearance and how late she was coming back. It wasn't safe for pretty young girls to be wandering around the streets at night.

He saw even less of the boy she was with. Fuwa Shoutaro (for who else was the boy but the other name on the card) seemed even harder to catch a glimpse of, but it wasn't an issue he was having. Inwardly, he decided he was quite glad. He felt that it helped keep his peace and quiet, and allowed him to either rest or work without bother.

Nearly five months had passed before he had any more interaction with his new neighbors. He was coming home late and found himself entering into the same elevator as the young girl.

"Good evening, Kuresaki-san," she gave him a bright, if tired, smile. Ah, so she managed to remember his name.

"Good evening, Mogami-san," he greeted quietly in return. He glanced at the heavy bags of groceries she was carrying. "Did you go shopping?"

She blinked before giving him a sheepish look. "I went shopping after work, but I need to hurry and make dinner."

It was nearing eleven o'clock.

"How long do you work?" he asked, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Oh, um...I work at Moz Burgers from 7 to 4, and I also work at another part-time job at a restaurant from 4:15 to 11," she informed him. "It was slow today, so I got off early."

"You work two jobs? Whatever for?" He wondered why she wasn't even in school.

She turned red slightly. "Um, the rent for the apartment is very expensive, so I have to work very hard to be able to pay it."

"There are cheaper apartments, I'm sure," he continued to question her.

"But Shoutaro said these were really nice apartments and he liked it," she answered innocently, having no clue what was wrong with this and how things could've been so much easier on her.

He should mind his business. He really should. But...

"Please let me help you bring some of your bags in," he offered, surprising her.

"Don't mind me, Kuresaki-san! I don't mean to be a bother."

"You aren't," he said finally and grabbed half of her bags from her.

She gave him a grateful smile and thanked him profusely, and they exited the elevator and headed to her apartment. He helped bring them in and subtly glanced around the apartment. It wasn't really full of things and barely furnished, but it was well taken cared of and was neat and orderly.

"W-would you like some tea, Kuresaki-san?" she asked and he really should just leave and say it was late.

"That would be nice," he said, carefully setting down his burdens onto her table and sitting down at a chair there when she gestured.

She set up the tea and then began putting away the groceries quickly.

"Are you close to Shoutaro?" he found himself asking, and then found himself hearing her talking happily and animatedly about the young man, how he was a singer and how he'd just recently debuted, and she hoped he was successful and how much she believed in him.

"Where is he?" he asked as well, and watched as she deflated from her happy high.

"Still working, I'm sure," she said softly. "He's starting to become popular really quickly, so it's to be expected. I'm finding it harder and harder to see him around here."

Plausible and could very be true. He just felt like it wasn't though.

Tea was placed in front of him and he held it loftily in his hands, inhaling the pleasant smell.

"I enjoyed the tea you gave me," he said suddenly.

"I'm glad," she beamed at him.

He felt a little bit sorry for her. In show business, people like this Shoutaro ended up leaving kind girls like her behind, which was what he guessed was what was happening. And even with tired looks, she was pretty and he admired the sparkle in her eye (even when it was mainly shining when talking about Shoutaro) that he feared would go away.

He finished his tea and politely thanked her before leaving.

~*~*~

He didn't see her again for a long time. More correctly, he didn't interact with her again for a long time, but there had been plenty of times where he'd seen her come home in exhaustion. There were even times where he saw her hurriedly leaving for work in the morning, but that was rarer, since he went to work fairly early as well.

But Shoutaro was someone he practically never saw. That is, until one night.

He was coming home very late and had just exited the elevator when he stopped and was confronted with the very young man that he had previously been glad to never run in with. The blond had an overnight bag and looked like he was on his way out, scowling heavily and generally looking angry.

He let the other passed by him, and when the elevator closed behind the boy, he glanced at the door of the apartment he knew held a miserable young girl. He glanced at the elevator one more time and then headed to her apartment and knocked.

The door opened quickly and she answered with a happy greeting.

"Shoutaro, did you come back –?" Her words died on her lips as did the hope on her face.

"Good evening, Mogami-san," he murmured. "I was wondering if you'd like to have tea again?"

She blinked back tears that she probably always refused to fall, and smiled widely at him.

"That would be nice, Kuresaki-san."

~*~*~

He watched the scene unraveling, frowning at some spots before being more neutral at most of it. The movie should be wrapping up soon, so hopefully that meant that he would have more free time before he would choose another production to work on.

"Good work today, Kuresaki-san!" his assistant said, handing him a cup of coffee.

He nodded distractedly, for some reason thinking about that girl again. He glanced at the time. It was nearing ten, so she probably wouldn't even be home right now...

"Yamaguchi-kun, if we're done here, I think I will head home already," he told his assistant, who looked surprised. He usually worked very late and stayed until the end to make sure everything was perfect, but this time he felt he needed to head home already.

"A-ah, very well, sir! I will inform the director. Have a good night, Kuresaki-san."

He nodded at the other before leaving, almost in a hurry and unlike himself. It felt agonizingly slow the way back, with the stoplights always turning red on him and the constant stopping. His mind drifted off to that young girl, always working hard and always being alone in that large apartment by herself. There was also that blond boy who had gone here to Tokyo to become a singer, and yet had never taken a thought to her. Neither of them were really staying in the apartment, with her always working and the other probably staying elsewhere, and yet she was still paying for the expensive rent.

It seemed unfair and it just rankled his nerves.

If he allowed himself more thought on this situation, a situation he'd tried to keep away from and not pay too much attention to, he could admit everything about it made him angry. Why was she not in school? Why was he never home? Why was she the only one paying rent? Could he not pay part of it, especially now that he had gotten his debut and was becoming popular?

The more and more he thought about it, the more he found himself getting increasingly agitated and wanting to confront her about it. She was still young and wasting her youth working all the time. She was like a working-class middle aged woman, having no time for herself or going out with friends or generally having any fun. It unnerved him to see her spend so much of her time and of herself on this incredibly selfish (he had no doubt the blond was) boy, who seemed to just take her for granted and have no actual care for her.

To be honest, it actually...pissed him off.

He managed to finally get to the apartment complex and quickly parked his car, heading to his destination determinedly. Vaguely, he managed to see Kijima Hidehito leaving while he was making his way up, but he pushed that out of his mind aside from the quick wondering of what the actor was doing there. Instead, he waited impatiently in the elevator before he was finally on his floor and making great strides towards her apartment, intent on questioning her.

With a quick, efficient knock, he waited for it to open. Instead of the quick answering of before though, this time it took much longer. He was about to knock again when it finally opened and he opened his mouth for a fast greeting so he could get to business, when he caught sight of her miserable face and eyes that hinted at having cried.

He swallowed and forced on a polite smile.

"I was wondering if you'd like to have tea, Mogami-san."