DISCLAIMER: I'll hum a few bars about not owning MARS. I wish that I had it, that's nothing new—and this is just for fun, so please don't sue! Do you guys like my rhyming? Maybe I'll write a MARS poem sometime!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Sorry for the lack of updates you guys! I really meant to, I just never got around to it. With the sixth book coming to me in a few days, I figured that I'd better do the fourth and fifth ones. So here's number four—Shiori and Takemura!
Things Aren't the Way They Were Before by Sushifishie
Shiori threw her hands up in disgust. She'd been sitting in her room for days and days and he still hadn't come. Rei had yet to even check up on her. She wondered if Takemura had asked Rei to come yet. Maybe he hadn't—that would explain a lot. But if he had, then why wasn't Rei coming?
Rei loved Shiori, and she knew it. If Sei hadn't gone and killed himself, wedding bells would have been ringing in a matter of months. But now, Rei had hooked up with that hussy, Kira Aso.
That girl had a split personality, and she was the one who forced Shiori into this room. Although she put a sweet girl front up to Rei and his friends, she knew the truth. She was nothing but a slut wearing modest clothing.
How could Rei fall for such a girl? Of course, it had been a matter of brainwashing. She probably had some sort of technique to twist people around her bony little finger. She wasn't even that pretty, so how could she get Rei?
Turning onto her stomach, Shiori buried her face in her pillow. She wouldn't let Kira take hold of her man. Rei was hers to begin with. Not only did he love her, but he couldn't live without her either. Sei certainly couldn't—he killed himself because he couldn't be with her. That meant that by keeping Rei away from her, Kira was forcing Rei to kill himself!
If Rei did end up killing himself, though unlikely, Shiori would have to take all of the blame. That's because all of Rei's new friends didn't see that slut for what she really was—they only saw the sweet innocent Kira.
Clenching her fists, Shiori dug her nails into her palms. Why did he even look at her in the first place?
Because she reminds him of Sei, she told herself, and she knew that it was true. No longer did Rei have eyes for the one he clearly loved; now he could only see Kira, just Kira.
Shiori narrowed her eyes. If she ever by chance met up with that hussy, there were about a million things that she would like to say and do to that girl. But the most important and the most impacting was to push her into the dirt and spit on her face.
After that, she would hand her a ten dollar bill and say, "Rei wanted me to give this to you. It's payment for all of your—" she'd pause—"services."
Kira would run away crying and Rei wouldn't care, because he would finally see Kira for what she really was, just a slut—just and ordinary prostitute who can't get enough.
Shiori grinned. How sweet revenge would be!
* * *
As he picked up the phone, a trickle of sweat began to trace a line down Takemura's neck. He breathed a deep breath and got up a little more courage, trying to ignore Shiori's prodding finger that was presently digging into his back.
He shook as he punched in the numbers he'd rehearsed once already, hearing them beep as he pressed each one. His finger hit the last digit and he slowly pulled the phone to his ear. With Shiori hovering this closely, he was scared to make this call—he was talking to Rei's new girlfriend (or at least, he assumed she was his girlfriend; he'd thought that when he had seen the painting in the newspaper).
Takemura heard the phone ringing on the other line, once, twice. Then a female voice picked up.
"Hello?" it asked, "is someone there?"
"Uh, I'm Takemura from Seiwa Academy. I'm looking for Kira Aso. Can I please speak to her?" he asked, trying to sound calm. Though his voice wavered a little, he thought that he sounded okay.
"Hold on a moment," the voice replied. He thought that it was probably Kira's mother.
"Kira! You have a phone call!" he heard the voice yell. "Someone named Takemura from Seiwa Academy."
He shivered a little bit as he heard the other line get picked back up. He took another breath and calmed himself down.
"Hello—" he heard a hesitant voice say.
"Hello," he replied quickly. "My name's Takemura from the art club at Seiwa Academy." Getting to the point, he said, "I wanted to ask you about the painting you have in the Niki Gallery."
"What!?" she asked, sounding surprised. "Um—"
"Oh—" Takemura caught himself. "I'm sorry to be so abrupt—your art teacher, Ms. Kaneko, gave me your number. Your painting, MARS, is that model Rei Kashino?"
Kira sounded a little suspicious when she asked, "How do you know Rei?"
Shiori poked him lightly in the ribs, telling him to get on with it. He just gasped a little, and continued talking.
"So it is Rei," he confirmed. "Rei goes to your school then?
"Um—yes," she said, sounding even more doubtful than before. "What do you—"
Shiori gave me the throat cut-off sign, so I quickly began talking again.
"Thank you very much!" Takemura hung up.
I confirmed everything that I'd just heard with Shiori. She began rustling through a cluster of papers and came up with a flyer advertising a school fair for the school that Rei went to. I picked it up and nodded.
We were going to the fair!
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Well, that was short again! I just noticed that I've been writing these points of views in third person, but I don't want to switch to first, although that would be more appropriate. Oh, well. Also, I don't really like Takemura's point of view very much at all. I basically just rewrote what I thought happened in the manga. The only point I tried to make in this piece was my image of him as Shiori's servant. I know that I'll be disagreed with on this, but it's how I imagine him. I've got to go clean for Thanksgiving (cousins are coming) so I've got to stop writing now. Hopefully I'll have chapter five out by next week. Encourage me to post with your reviews!