Hey guys. Sorry for the delay, but I've had some writer's block lately. Disappointingly, this chapter is rather uneventful (I knew this from the start, which is part of the reason I had writer's block in the first place) but I'm sure you can forgive me. On top of this, I can't promise I'll update much quicker for a while – I have my AS levels to mull over – but after 23rd May it'll all be over, so I'll try to get my act together again around then.

I've had a lot of chapters that were chronologically very close, so time for a clean break. Well, it's the next morning, anyway…

It's pretty obvious, but italics are for memories and thoughts. It's pretty easy to distinguish which. I'm just figuring I'll start with those for the next couple of chapters, because there's history Rei will be open about, and then there's… other history. ;)

I know the plane thing may be a little farfetched, but I can't be arsed to change it, and besides – why the hell does Rei know the exact time the OSAKA leaves?

I'll also explain the truck. Because there's a good explanation for it. Really.

Hmm… Can't seem to think of much else to say. Aw, well, might as well kick off then…

Bishoujo Fall Hardest: The Gig

Chapter Five: Mars

Rei slid open the door to the shrine. She didn't expect to see him anymore. The coldness and horribly still silence made it known to her. She hadn't cried yet, always just gazing inwardly, eyes glazed from the pain of losing a piece of herself to an acknowledged but somehow not understood fact of life.

She had thanked Makoto kindly for attending the ceremony, but despite her friend's genuine concern, she had watched the girl's face mar with steadily increasing disappointment as she stole glances around the greenery at the back of the shrine. Rei knew who she had been waiting for. A small part of her had been waiting, too.

The ritual had been held here. Indeed, presently dressed in her kimono and having ascended to being a qualified Shinto priestess, she had performed it herself. It was the least she could do.

Usagi and Mamoru also came to pay their respects. Odango had managed not to cause a scene all day. She had mostly remained silent, though the quiet tears never ceased to pour down her face.

Even Yuuichirou put in an appearance. Rei had too much on her plate today to be overly concerned with her feelings for him, which were still not completely severed after so long, but nonetheless, she worried for him. He looked pale, his eye sockets dark; and he was much thinner, as if he hadn't eaten properly. She knew he was still on the drugs.

When he came over to her, however, apologising for her loss and expressing wishes that things could have turned out better for the two of them, she had cupped the side of his face in her hand, pushing up his dense, unruly fringe. What she found nearly broke her down on the spot.

His pupils weren't dilated. He was sober. He might have had a lot of problems, but today, he had pulled himself together. For Grandpa. For her.

This single act of reverence had finally allowed for her to make her peace with him, and now he and everyone else had gone home. Makoto and Usagi both offered to stay, but Rei knew she had to face this moment alone. Mamoru had known too, gently dissuading the ardent Usagi from doing so. She had thanked him with her eyes as he pulled her away, and Makoto hadn't persisted too hard in the first place. She had other things to think about.

The body had now been taken away for cremation. She didn't like to think about it.

She took one step into the foyer, closing the door behind her.

She had always assumed that something would have to set it off. Something specific. But this media-acquired perspective, brought on by Saturday night specials and bad movies, was a lie. It took only that shutting away of the outside world, the pall to shroud her from prying eyes, for the plates of that carefully constructed mask to slip.

The lamp was the first in the crossfire. It hurtled across the room, smashing against the far wall and taking the silence with it. Rei spun on her heel half a circle, and shrieked as she swept everything else off the foyer table.

"The number you have dialled has not been recognised. Please hang up and try again. The number you have-"

She turned slowly towards the phone, now off its hook on the floor. A wounded scowl befell her features, and she tore it clean out of the wall, resting her forehead against the cold wooden foundations of the shrine. She breathed heavily. Then the snarl collapsed to an expression of pure, unadulterated emotional pain. She slammed her back to the wall, slipping down to the floor in tears.

A photograph caught her eye, its frame smashed in her fury. She picked it up. Her and her friends, at the park a few years back. The sight of one person in particular made her clutch the picture tighter, ignoring the sharp edges cutting into her skin. She stared at the face of her best friend, and cried even harder. She cried until her ribs ached, and after a while, as the tears began to subside, wondered in a blur of guilt who she was mourning for – who she truly wanted back more than anything.

"Mina…" She whispered the words in the fallen darkness.

"Mina, I need you…"

---

She watched herself swaying onstage, singing soulfully into the mike. The image was convex, tinted amethyst with a black core, and the bulb of the hanging light fixture glinted in a corner of the bubble of intense observation.

Minako watched the reflection from the TV in Rei's eye until Rei's eye caught Minako's reflection in the TV.

The blonde jumped as Rei turned to look at her and immediately sat up straight, trying to look like she hadn't been gazing too intensely into those violet orbs. The brunette tried to look as calm as possible, inwardly hoping she hadn't been gazing too intensely at Mina's ass in that stage outfit.

"Whatcha doin'?"

Rei turned her gaze away from the grinning ditz and refocused her attention on her pixelated counterpart. "Studying."

"Studying what? Me?!" Rei felt the other girl's chin rest on her shoulder and resisted a shiver at the contact.

Caught off her guard, she went with her usual reflex: bravado.

"Well if I wanna know how to get things going right for you, it makes sense for me to see where you started going wrong, right, baka?"

Surprisingly complacent to the near-attack on her hard-earned career, Minako went straight for the jugular and probably didn't even know she'd done it.

"Well, I'm a little insulted you've gotta do so much research. Clearly you never watched my gigs."

Rei took on an indignant expression. "Mina…!"

Of course I did. I just never watched them for analytical value before.

Again words failed her.

I watched them to keep you around in my head.

The gesture was misinterpreted as irritation, however, and before she could turn her sentence opener into something constructive, the close presence was gone and Mina was headed out the door.

"Jeez, you and you're 'alone time'. Whatever. You need me, I'll be down at soundcheck, okay?"

Soundcheck. That's right, Mina had caved. It was never actually iterated outright, but the events of last night (which had also not been mentioned since) seemed to have had the desired effect. It would be too much to expect Minako to admit she had been persuaded, and so when she had sauntered in like it had been her intention to perform from the start, Rei for once let it slide.

No point messing with a good thing.

The fact that she had unintentionally done just that unsettled the usually coolheaded priestess, and she hesitated as she considered following her. Eventually, though, she reluctantly averted her gaze, turning her attention towards the lyrics foldouts on the bed. Rei doubted that it was Minako's own talent that had brought her down - contrary to her harsh words, most of her problems seemed to be down to technical disasters – but still it was worth making sure she wasn't missing anything.

Better to get the biggest contrast.

She sifted through the foldouts, taking out Minako's debut album and latest addition.

As she listened to Minako's performance through one earphone, Rei's violet eyes darted down the sheet. Unfortunately, the backgrounds to each page featured Minako in various poses, and it was only the shriek of a microphone assaulting her left eardrum that drew her from evident distraction.

She cursed loudly before glaring at the screen.

The mike this time. Either you're being sabotaged or some clown is not doing their job.

Turning the volume down to avoid a repeat performance, she continued what she was doing.

It was strange. In the beginning, most of Minako's songs were bright and carefree, but by the last few releases, things had changed. Her songs had become a little gloomier – not noticeably as she sang, because the tunes were always so upbeat, but when you looked at their foundations, the words alone, Rei felt sadness build inside her for her friend.

What happened to you, Mina?

A scream of frustration echoed throughout the performance hall below, and Rei was suddenly out the door. The phrase that escaped her, a name dead for so long, caused her heart to jar for a moment, a well of memories bursting forward.

"Mars…" A smile formed on her lips. "Sailor Mars to the rescue…"

---

Told you – it's filler, nothing more. Oh well, hope to hear some feedback, however useless it may be, and I'll update whenever I get half a chance.