"Did you talk to her?"
"No."
"Don't you think it's been long enough?" Artemis slinked around Mina's feet.
"What am I supposed to say huh? Hey Makoto, how are you? Sorry I got Usagi killed, forgive me yet?" she began to brush her hair a bit more roughly.
"Mina for the last time it wasn't your fault, it wasn't anyone's fault." he jumped up on the bed so that Mina could see him in the mirror reflexion.
"Then whose was it? It was our job, our destiny to protect her and now she's gone. If I hadn't," she trailed off, looking down at the floor, "if I hadn't been so stupid then she'd still be here."
"But Mina."
"I don't want to talk about this anymore, I'll be late for volleyball practice." she grabbed her gym bag and left, refusing to discuss things further.
Ami sat alone in the library. Not many students could be found there after school hours, except for her. She was always there, same time, everyday, where she waited for her appointments, students who needed tutoring. She picked up her little clipboard and checked her schedule to confirm her next pupil.
3:00pm - Kino Makoto, Physics
Her eyes widened, her fingers clenched around the clipboard. Had it been up to her to schedule her own appointments she would have gotten someone else to take this assignment, but it was the teachers who would notify her when her services were needed and she would accept, no questions asked. For a moment she thought about packing her things and leaving. She was willing to face any punishment that might have come along as a result of walking out on her session. Just as she started to collected her things, Makoto approached the table. They stared at each other in astonishment, Ami dropped her books.
"Y-you're my tutor?"
"Um, yes, yes I am, however it'll be no trouble getting you a different tutor if you want."
"You don't have to." Makoto looked away. "There's no reason why we can't do this, it's only an hour."
"Very true." Ami gathered the rest of her books and placed them on the table "We're adults here, we can be civil during this tutoring session.
Both girls nodded in agreement and sat down. Ami began organizing her materials properly, only catching momentary glances at Makoto.
"Now let's start on page 56 in your book."
"Ami." Makoto stared at her with a sad expression.
"Let's see, if a lead weight falls at a rate of 2.5 cm per second and it's dropped 6 feet from the ground, how long will it take for it to..."
"Ami!" Makoto slammed her hands down on the table, startling Ami. "How long are we going to stay like this?" she looked as though she was about to cry.
"I-I don't know." she slowly closed the book and the two sat in silence, neither one knowing how to continue.
Rei stood at the top of the temple steps, sweeping, as she did everyday around this time as part of her chores. She wasn't doing a very good job, just pushing the leaves around in circles as she stared off into nothing. Every now and then she would look down at her fingers. They were bandaged and still stung a bit from being burned. This hadn't been the first time this happend. There had been past instances where she sat and tried to read the fire, to look for answers. However all she got was memories of what had happend, flashbacks of the last moments of Usagi's life and the constant image of herself hesitating. She could have called out to Usagi, she could have warned her, but she kept silent and let him take her. It was that image that would haunt her, would make the fire go out of control, flare, and burn her hands.
She stared so long that soon her vision blurred as her eyes filled with tears. Rei let go of the broom, letting it tumble down the temple stairs. She croutched to her knees and burried her face in her bandaged hands and wept openly.
"You dropped this."
Rei jumped a bit in surprise, then slowly lifted her gaze to a hand holding her broom in front of her. She stared at the person hovering over her, a single tear trickling down her cheek. Rei quickly wiped it away and hopped to her feet.
"Thanks" she said coldly, snatching the broom away. "You shouldn't be here."
"Fair enough. I'm going to be late anyway. " Mina's lip quivered slightly, she was standing there in her volleyball uniform.
She turned and began descending the steps, she was almost at the bottom when Rei called out to her suddenly.
"Mina!" Mina turned quickly, peering up at her.
"I wasn't the only one who waited was I, who hesitated?"
"No, no you weren't." Mina said simply.
It was at that moment that they both had a similair understanding, It was a different type of guilt that they shared, not only for being unable to protect their friend, but for secretly wishing harm upon her. However they didn't hug or talk about it, both of them were still too ashamed. They just nodded simultaneously and parted ways.