C&C and MSTs welcome!
[] indicates thoughts.
Dear Mom and Dad,
Hi! It's me, your wayward son Skyler. I don't know when this
will reach you, or even if it can, or even if it matters. For all I
know, this is all some fantastic dream. But in case it isn't, I'm
writing you anyway.
First thing, I'm back in high school, the Ohtori Private Academy
here in Japan. Yes, I know that seems impossible, but somehow it
happened. I woke up in a fancy uniform (which is not like the normal
school uniform, and seems to make me something of a target) near a rose
garden on campus.
There was some foolishness involving a kangaroo (I *still* don't
know what that was about), but I decided to check out the living quarters
I'd been assigned. Higashi-kan (East Hall), is an interesting place, but
there are only three people living there right now. Me, a girl named
Utena who wasn't in at the time, and her roommate Anthy.
Anthy is a very sweet person, I think you'd like her, but a
little distant sometimes. She does most of the cooking and cleaning
around here, though I'm pitching in where I can. (See, Mom, I did learn
something from you...) We had dinner together, along with her little
monkey friend Chuchu. Utena didn't make it home because of a rainstorm.
Anthy also fixed up my room, which wasn't very nice at first.
The next morning I walked with Anthy to school. Unfortunately, I
wasn't paying attention, and she got ambushed by some bullies, who were
led by this bratty girl named Keiko. Seems they blamed her for the
kangaroo incident, and inconveniencing Touga, who's big man on campus
here, and his little sister Nanami.
Nanami herself showed up and stopped the bullies in their tracks
by invoking her own status. She's very pretty, and pretty easy to
flatter, though a bit catty. She reminds me of Stella. How are Sis and
her kids doing, by the way? I think maybe Nanami *might* be interested
in me, and wouldn't that be a switch?
In class, (I'm in First Year, which is equivalent to sophomore
back home...), I met my Student Guide, Juri. She's very striking, almost
supermodel quality, but very prickly. Juri's on the Student Council
(which is a *really* big deal around here), and seemed put out that she's
stuck babysitting a weird foreigner. Especially given...
You may have noticed this letter is all in Japanese. Sorry about
that. But when English class started, I discovered that the reason I was
suddenly so good at the local language is because somehow my skills with
Japanese and English had been switched. (Boy, am I glad I actually
taught myself some Japanese, rather than just rely on dubs.)
The other kids in class just seemed to not "get" why I was so bad
at English, but Juri is smart, and when we broke for lunch, had some
questions for me....
MA VIE ET ROSES
by Scott Johnson and Scott Jamison
(All characters and settings except Skyler Sands and the state of
Minnesota are the creation of Saitou Chihou and BePapas. Publishing
rights are held by Shogakukan and Terebi Tokyo in Japan, and Central Park
Media in the United States. No challenge to these rights is intended.)
CHAPTER 2:
"Kage-E no Kikagaku"
(The Geometry of Shadow-Plays)
"So. Who are you, really?"
For a long moment, the question hung in the air. Juri leaned
against the windowsill with deceptive casualness, her gaze locked with
Skyler's. The early afternoon sunlight slanted through the windows,
casting illuminated squares upon the floor.
Finally, Skyler spoke. "I'm beginning to be less sure of that
than I was. Who I think I am is Skyler Gregory Sands, born in Gunntown,
Minnesota. I lived all my life in the United States, except for being
stationed in England for a while, and short vacations in Canada. I
*should* know English. It was my best subject in school. And now
there's a hole in my mind..."
She nodded slowly, eyes still fixed on his. "You're honest about
it, at least. But still... you're a Caucasian unusually proficient in
Japanese and mysteriously inept in English. You're wearing a Student
Council uniform and the Rose Signet. You seem to be rather important to
the Ends of the World. And now you claim to have no idea why all this
is. I'm curious. You haven't the faintest idea what is happening to
you?"
["The Ends of the World"? Hmm...] Skyler took a deep breath.
"Okay, but I'll have to answer with a question. Are you familiar with
the Fox-Broome Theory of Parallel Earths?"
"I don't believe so."
"In essence, the theory is that there are an infinite number of
parallel universes existing next to each other, separated by a function
of space-time we don't understand yet. In some cases, psychically
sensitive people can pick up `information' from these other universes,
believing it to be their own imagination. Thus, they create `fiction'
with this information. You might also have heard of it as `World as
Myth.'"
"And your point?" asked Juri.
"Where I come from, Ohtori Academy and its students are fictional
constructs. I was perusing a magazine devoted to this and other stories
when I wished, in essence, to become a part of one of the stories. For
reasons I have yet to determine, someone or thing chose to grant this
wish, resulting in my arrival here."
Skyler sighed. "I wish I'd read the fine print first..."
Juri looked at him skeptically, and opened her mouth to retort,
but then paused. She just stared at him, frowning, scrutinizing his
face, his eyes, his posture, looking for any hint of deception or
misleading intent. Finally, she broke off with a slightly surprised look
on her face.
"You actually believe that, don't you." It wasn't entirely a
question, but not quite a statement. She held his gaze for a moment
longer, then abruptly started walking down the corridor past him, back to
where they had broken away from the group.
"So?"
Juri fixed him with a cool stare. "I believe that you believe
you're telling the truth. Understand, though, that I have no reason to
accept it. I think you're sincerely deluded. If you can change my mind,
so be it, but insane or not, you seem for the most part harmless."
Skyler thought about that.
Juri kept walking until she reached the corner. "Are you
coming?"
"Oh, right." Skyler's stomach growled to punctuate the idea.
As he hurried to catch up, he said, "That is the most plausible
explanation. It does, however, lead me back around to your first
question. Who am I *really*? And why don't I remember?"
She shrugged. "I don't know. I've barely met you -- I'd be a
fool to speculate on your history without learning more. I could guess,
but there'd be little point."
She had a point there. "Ah well, enough about me. Tell me a bit
about you, please?"
She quirked an eyebrow at him. "Shouldn't you be able to tell
me? If this school is fiction, no doubt I'm a moderately significant
character."
"If my memory is correct, as of two days ago, my Japanese and
English literacy ratings were reversed. And what I had was a magazine
featuring announcements about the story, in Japanese, rather than the
story itself. The star, from the pictures, was a pink-haired girl named
Tenjou Utena, who I haven't actually met here yet, though I did meet the
other person who was prominent in the pictures, Himemiya Anthy. And
since the story was apparently just starting, not much else was obvious."
Skyler sighed. "That is, presuming my memory is correct."
"I see. Quite convenient." The two of them entered the
cafeteria -- a fairly large room with an even larger open-air patio
separated from the main dining room by glass doors. Lunch was being
served by uniformed employees in a manner not noticably improved from
American public schools -- chicken with some sort of chunky red sauce, it
seemed -- and round, white tables were scattered around the floor.
"In any case," Juri continued as she entered the line, "my name
is Arisugawa Juri. I am the captain of the fencing club and a member of
the Student Council. According to school gossip that you'll no doubt
hear soon enough, I'm an unpleasant and wicked enough person that even
the teachers live in fear of me, and no one who knows my true colors
dares come near me. Satisfactory?"
"It's a good thing I'm not in my right mind then, ne?" said
Skyler, hoping she would understand that his smile meant he was making a
joke. "I was certainly the butt of my high school's gossip chain enough
to get an idea how you feel. I know *that's* true, regardless of whether
I remember my past correctly or not."
Looking at the food, he decided it was not surprising many
students brought bento.
She shrugged offhandedly. "And how do I feel?" she asked in an
even tone, not putting much care into her voice. "Don't be so quick to
assume all rumors are false."
They took a seat out on the patio, which had another 'wall' of
white arches around the edge, looking out on the pathways and lawns of
the school below. Students were scattered around on the grass, eating
their bentou under the bright blue sky, in twos and threes and larger
groups. Skyler looked out over them for a moment, taking in the beauty
and strangeness of it all -- an anime crowd, brought to life and talking
in a language he could understand.
His eyes fell on a dark-skinned figure in the shade of a nearby
tree. Anthy was eating her lunch, or rather feeding bits of it to
Chuchu, who was seemingly engrossed in staring at the tree's leaves. Two
other people were sitting next to her, a blue-haired boy Skyler didn't
recognize, wearing a uniform like his and Juri's, but in white and blue,
and a pink-haired girl Skyler was all too familiar with the sight of.
He couldn't see much of Tenjou Utena from this angle -- she was
kneeling and her back was to him, but he could still make out the pink
hair cut slightly below her shoulders, the black jacket she was wearing,
and the bare legs indicating she was probably wearing shorts or a skirt
as short as the regulation uniform. As he watched, she rubbed the back
of her head as Anthy smilingly offered her a morsel from her bentou.
"Ah, Sands-kun, Arisugawa-kun! I was hoping I'd find you here."
Skyler turned to see Kyoto-sensei approaching, briefcase in one
hand and a ruffled stack of papers in the other. "Sands-kun, I know this
might be a little inconvenient, but I was wondering if we could start
your student teaching duties early. It's nothing much -- all you'd have
to do is grade a few short tests sometime today, and I've got the answer
key right here..." He set down the sheaf of papers on the table.
"No problem, sir. What time do you need them back by?"
"The end of the day, if you could... just leave them on the desk
and I'll drop by the room on my way out. It shouldn't take too long.
You should be able to finish before lunch is over, if you want."
"Certainly."
Kyoto-sensei went off, presumably to fetch his own lunch.
Skyler quickly leafed through the tests, and noted they were all
for Junior High class 2-A. A couple of the names were familiar.
[Lessee, Tenjou Utena -- Tenjou written as 'Above Heaven.' Shinohara
Wakaba, wonder if there's a Shinohara Industries in this world. Ah,
Himemiya Anthy. "Princess", huh? And the other name in katakana...]
He turned his attention back to Arisugawa, who had continued
eating at a measured pace.
"I remember that on the acceptance letter I got when I arrived,
there were members of the Ohtori family listed as the management here.
And this is also Ohtori province, so is the Academy named after the
family or the location, or both?"
She shrugged disinterestedly. "The Ohtori family has always been
influential here, whether as feudal lords or wealthy academics." She
fixed him with a jaundiced eye. "For one with such grand delusions, you
seem fixated on rather mundane topics."
"Cognitive dissonance. Very well, then, you mentioned `the Ends
of the World'. Who or what is that, and what does it have to do with
revolution?" Skyler added that last on a hunch, remembering the card he'd
found on his arrival.
In response, Juri placed an envelope on the table -- small and
almost square, formerly sealed with a drop of wax imprinted with the same
rose seal on his ring. It looked remarkably like the card he had
received in his introductory packet.
"'Sekai no Hate' is whoever sends these mysterious letters to the
Student Council. They have various purposes -- the most recent one
predicted the arrival of a new Duellist, and instructed me to be your
student guide.
"As for revolution... you don't know about the Duels yet, do
you?"
"Only that they occur, and apparently the distinctive uniforms
indicate who's eligible." Skyler was getting a little concerned about
the possibility he would be involved in one soon.
"According to the letters, there exists a 'Power to Revolutionize
the World,' whatever that may mean. Those of us with the Rose Signet are
supposed to fight duels among ourselves to become the Victor of the Duel,
who not only controls the Bride of the Rose, but will someday gain this
mysterious 'power.'"
"The Bride of the...?"
"Himemiya Anthy." She shrugged. "Foolish, don't you think?"
"Sounds vaguely familiar, somehow. Like something out of Masonic
ritual, or maybe the Rosicrucians, but taken farther. And yes, it does
sound a bit foolish. And dangerous. I know I wouldn't trust most high
schoolers with a power like that, including me." He paused, then flicked
his eyes to the tests. "My note wasn't signed. Wonder why?"
Juri shrugged disinterestedly. "Who knows?"
She then rose to her feet a bit abruptly. "If you'll excuse me,
I have a Student Council meeting to attend. It would seem President
Kiryuu is far more curious about you than I." She took her tray and
walked off, barely sparing him another glance.
"See you round!" Skyler chirped brightly. "Well, at least I have
something to do in the meantime."
Skyler took up the tests again. He shuffled the three names he
recognized to the bottom, to give himself something to look forward to.
[Now let's see, we have the answer key, and...ah, history.]
The grading went quite quickly -- the test was mostly simple
multiple-choice and fill-in-the-blank questions. He went through,
marking off errors and scribbling in the percentage right. An 88 here, a
94 there, the occasional 98 or 72... He tried to absorb the information
himself, just in case.
Finally, he came to the first of the familiar names. Tenjou
Utena -- a 76. She'd struggled with some of the more obscure questions,
it seemed, but managed to scrape through.
[Okay, traditionally anime heroes aren't too good at schoolwork,
but at least she's passing.]
Shinohara Wakaba -- a 74. She'd missed most of the same
questions Utena had, along with one or two others. [Well, that lends
validity to the "studying together" story. Curse you, Chris Davies.]
Himemiya Anthy -- a 0.
Zero?
Skyler blinked. Aside from her name and the class number in the
upper right hand corner, she hadn't written a thing on the paper. Every
single question answer was left blank, even the simplest -- even the ones
*Skyler* could have gotten just from his anime background.
[Hmm, she doesn't seem to be an idiot, so this is deliberate.
Anthy *wanted* to fail this test. Why?] He thought back to Nanami's
remarks. [Um, no, if it were overwork, she'd at least be *trying*. This
is rebellion. But against whom?]
He'd have to risk prying a bit tonight.
He glanced down at the grass again. Utena and Anthy were still
there, along with Chuchu, who seemed to have gotten a large falling leaf
right in his face. The blue-haired boy had left already -- [Another
Student Council member, maybe?] -- and Utena and Anthy seemed to be
starting to gather their stuff to go.
Skyler looked up at the clock, noting with surprise that it had
been almost an hour since class let out. Just about time to get to
class...
The first two classes of the afternoon proceeded reasonably
quickly. Juri remained distracted but competent, the classes remained
dull but somewhat familiar, and aside from the language Skyler found
little that didn't remind him of his high school days.
Finally, it came time to break for P.E. [Wonderful. Not exactly
my idea of a fun time...] He glanced over at Juri as she stood.
"I have a meeting of the fencing club to attend. You can follow
the class to the usual P.E. session if you prefer, or you can accompany
me." Without waiting for him to choose, she set off for the door.
[Well, I don't have a sword, so let's try the physical education
class. Three gets you two there's a gym locker for me.] Skyler followed
the main group of boys, noting that several were going off in different
directions, presumably for other club meetings or to get a smoke.
Skyler tried in vain to catch his breath as he leaned against one
of the windows of the gym. Gym class had been... a mixed blessing. On
the bright side, he'd found his locker and a set of sweats in the
school's teal, and discovered that his endurance and speed were
definitely better than they'd been in his real body.
On the down side, it apparently wasn't enough to make a dozen
laps around the track anything less than unpleasant. It was better than
the torture it would have been otherwise, but he didn't see himself doing
long races for fun anytime soon.
To make matters worse, he didn't exactly find himself growing
enthralled with his classmates. There wasn't exactly anything wrong with
them -- they seemed mostly to be nice enough guys, generally friendly and
conversational in a high-school sort of way. Still, he just got a
feeling from them... a feeling that, if he had to put a name to, he'd
call 'Hiroshi and Daisuke.' Nice people, maybe worth making friends
with, but not exceptionally likely to take the initiative or get involved
with any of the interesting things going on in the school. They were, in
short, perfectly, blandly normal.
[Well, I guess it's best to have some people around who aren't
complete weirdos. At least they aren't attacking me.]
He leaned back against the glass as he cooled down, listening to
them gossip against a background of sporting sounds -- the clashes and
squeaks of a fencing match inside the gym, and the cheers of the baseball
game in the middle of the field before him, punctuated by the occasional
crack of a bat as someone (often the very familiar pink-haired
first-basewoman) sent a ball long.
[Well, I did suspect she was the athletic type. But why am I
getting this strange sense of deja vu?]
"Man, she's good," a brown-haired boy commented, eyes following
Utena as she ran the bases. "Seems like kinda a waste, don't it? I
mean, one or two wouldn't be so bad, but it's like she's got half the
girls in her class after her."
Skyler's interest peaked slightly.
"It's just hormones," a black-haired guy with glasses said.
"Give 'em a few years and most of them will grow out of it. Besides,
it's not like it's her fault. I heard she and the Student Council
President almost kissed at that party last week."
[Let's see, that's Touga, right?]
A third boy shook his head as a crowd of cheering female
spectators rushed Utena as she crossed the plate, offering her water
bottles, fawning over her, and generally contributing to what looked like
a rising blush from where Skyler stood. "Nah, I was there. It wasn't
like that at all. Besides, what about that freaky girl who works in the
flower gardens? There's gotta be something going on there."
[Now who's that?]
"Saionji was sure mad. I mean, if she hadn't stolen her away,
you think there'd be such a big grudge there? I mean, I can understand
Utena's side, because of that letter. But why'd Saionji get so
obsessed?"
"Ego. You know him -- can't stand letting anyone think anyone's
better than him."
[Who's Saionji? Obviously, I'm missing some important
information here....] Skyler stood up to stretch a bit. [Best guess,
Utena won a duel with him. But I don't get the "stolen" bit--]
*CRACK!*
Skyler barely had time to blink. There was a line drive, he
realized, coming at an angle to the first base line, extremely fast, at
about the height of his head.
He also realized he was standing just far enough from the base
line that it would land almost precisely between his eyes.
Reflexes honed by years of having things thrown at him and his
mild ballistophobia took over, and Skyler dropped to the ground as if
he'd been shot. He could feel the ball brushing against his hair--
*CRASH*
The ball plowed through the window, shattering its central pane
into a hundred pieces. Skyler picked himself up gingerly and peered
inside.
Most of the fencing class -- including the blue haired boy he'd
seen before, who was sitting on the sidelines in his uniform and carrying
a stopwatch -- was looking on in stunned silence. From the looks of
things, the window had been at just the right angle that the baseball
would have hit one of the fencers right in the back of the head...
Had the other one not shoved her out of the way and impaled the
ball on the end of her foil.
"Sorry, sorry!" Utena called out as she rushed over from the
baseball field. "Didn't think it'd go this..." She trailed off as she
took in the scene -- Skyler, the window, the blue-haired guy, the fencer,
the ball...
Somehow, Skyler wasn't entirely surprised when the fencer pulled
off her mask to reveal Juri's somewhat sweaty face. For a long moment,
she met Utena's gaze with a cool, hard stare of her own.
Finaly, Juri broke the stunned silence. "Next!" she commanded
the class, as she walked over to the window.
Skyler was still a bit stunned to actually be seeing Utena up
close. Especially that amazingly pink hair.
He tried to get his voice to work again. "H-hi." But any
further conversation would have to be put off...
Utena blinked at him, her bright blue eyes flicking over him for
a watchful moment. "Um, hi. Sorry about the ball... I didn't think it'd
go this far. I..." She trailed off as Juri reached the window, the
blue-haired boy right behind her.
Juri tossed the skewered ball through the broken pane with a
casual flip of the wrist. "I believe this is yours."
"Um, yeah," Utena managed as she caught the ball instinctively.
She glanced from the boy to Juri a few times. "Sorry. It was a wild
pitch, and I couldn't get under it right..."
"Of course." Juri cut Utena off almost casually as she studied
her face. "You're Tenjou Utena, aren't you?"
There was an audible *click* as the boy stopped his stopwatch and
looked up in embarassed surprise. "Oh! I'm sorry, I should have thought
of this sooner." He sounded fairly young, though there was a naggingly
familiar quality to his voice. "Juri-sempai, this is my friend Tenjou
Utena. Utena-sempai, this is Arisugawa Juri, the captain of the fencing
team." He glanced at Skyler. "I'm sorry, but I don't..."
"Skyler Sands, pleased to make your acquaintance."
"An `exchange student'," Juri added dryly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Sands-sempai," the boy bowed. "My
name is Kaoru Miki."
Utena nodded. "Yeah, a pleasure." She glanced at Skyler, then back
at Juri. "You're with the Student Council, right? I've heard about you
a little."
[She must be a new student this year then,] thought Skyler. [And
not in the Fencing Club, either, despite all those pictures of her with a
sword.]
She looked at Skyler again. "Wait, I think... Aren't you the guy
Himemiya said moved into the dorm last night?" Utena's eyes darted for a
moment to his hand, and the ring there.
"Yes, that's so. I suppose we'll be running into each other a
lot then." Shouts from the field drew some attention. "Oh, you'd better
get back to the game, though I don't think that ball is play-legal now."
She glanced back towards the diamond, where the various players
were just standing around watching her, or practicing tossing around a
new ball. "Yeah, probably not. But I guess I'll--"
"Actually, I'd like to speak to you."
Utena blinked as Juri interrupted. "Huh? But I just said..."
"Miki, can you handle the rest of the meeting?"
The blue-haired boy blinked. "I suppose so, but..."
"Good." She fixed Utena with a cool gaze as she pulled off her
gloves, letting the silver ring on her left hand catch the sunlight for
just a brief moment. "I'm sure you can finish whatever you have to soon
enough."
[Interesting,] thought Skyler. [Obviously a fated meeting, but
did I change things, or just facilitate what was always going to happen?
I *did* tell Juri that bit of information about Utena, but that doesn't
mean she would think it worth acting on...]
Arisugawa-san walked away, most likely to the changing room.
Utena looked after her bemusedly. "Weird..." she murmured.
She then looked suddenly back towards the diamond. "Guess I'd
better be getting back to the game. Nice meeting you, Sands-sempai.
Later, Miki-kun." She gave a pleasant wave as she started jogging back
to the baseball field, tossing the ball in one hand.
Skyler and Miki stared at each other a moment, then Skyler said,
"I should let you get back to running the meeting."
Miki glanced back to the fencers talking among themselves. "I
suppose so. It was nice to meet you, and I hope we'll be able to talk
later." Miki turned away from the window and began setting up the next
match. Skyler watched him go for a moment. There was something familiar
about him, but he couldn't quite place what. Something about his looks,
or his voice, maybe, but whatever it was, it rung a bell.
[Maybe he had the same voice actor as someone in a series I've
seen? Don't remember who the VAs were for this...] thought Skyler,
feeling a slight uncomfortableness about treating the situation so
analytically.
Skyler tagged along with the rest of his class to the showers,
and managed to get out just in time to see Juri (back in uniform) meeting
with Utena as the baseball game broke up. He watched as the two of them
talked for a moment, then set out at a casual strolling pace back into
the main corridors and paths of the campus, still talking quietly.
[Wonder what they're talking about?]
*Click*
Miki glanced up from his stopwatch as he stepped up next to
Skyler, eyes following Utena and Juri as they walked out of sight. He,
too, had changed uniforms, Skyler noted, into yet another variant on the
one he and Juri wore, this time with blue pants and some blue trim, along
with the ever-present silver signet ring. It matched his hair and eyes
well, giving him a look that wasn't exactly bishounen -- more 'cute',
perhaps, maybe with a touch of innocent vulnerability. The sort of thing
that, in Skyler's professional estimation, would have female fans of the
series wanting to cuddle him like a lost puppy.
"I wonder what they're talking about..." Miki murmured to
himself.
"The future, I suppose. It's nice to have a future, if a little
scary."
Miki nodded. "If you can find out what the future holds,
perhaps..." he said quietly.
"Although if you knew too much about how tomorrow will turn out,
you'd have a script rather than a future." [Maybe it's best I don't
know.]
Miki nodded thoughtfully. "True..." He looked at Skyler for a
moment, eyes lingering a fraction of a second on the signet ring.
"So..." He struck out vainly in search of a conversational topic. "Have
you been enjoying your stay here so far?"
"It's been very interesting. A few rough spots, but I think I'll
like it here." He paused a moment, then decided to change the subject
again. "Say, does the cafeteria here serve dinner, too, or are we on our
own?"
"Usually the dorms have their own arrangements," Miki replied.
"They usually have kitchens as well, for those who want to make their own
food."
Skyler nodded. He had a hunch that, given his living
arrangements, Anthy was likely to be cooking most of the meals for the
dorm, especially since it had only been for herself and Utena (and
Chuchu) so far.
[Of course, that means negotiating with them about chipping in
for the meals. Since I don't have any funds yet, that could be tricky.]
Of course, he could cook for them every so often, if Anthy wasn't too
possessive about the kitchen.
"Fair enough. What's the city like in general? I just arrived
yesterday, and I'd like to do some sightseeing some time."
Miki looked off into the distance, considering. "Well, there are
some pleasant parks and beaches... Theaters and a concert hall, as well,
but I don't think there's much scheduled for the next month or two.
There's an old castle some distance outside of town, and I think there's
an amusement park a while down the coast, but they're a little far away
to go to without a car." He shrugged slightly abashedly. "I'm afraid I
don't get out much, though, so I can't be much help here."
"Oh, so you're from out of town yourself?"
Miki blushed slightly, rubbing the back of his neck. "Actually,
I grew up near here. It's just... I've never been to very many places.
I've always been a little busy, and when I'm not, I tend to stay home and
do things I like..."
"Oh, right. I used to be pretty tied down to the farm, until my
brother got old enough to do some of the chores, and even then my
preference was for reading."
The blue-haired youth nodded. "I always preferred mathematics
and piano, and later fencing. They've always been what I really loved."
[I wonder what is is about math and piano playing in anime?]
"Are you more a classical pianist, or jazz?"
"Mostly classical. It... well, it's always seemed to shine more,
for me."
"That makes sense. How long have you known Tenjou-san?"
"Not long, really. I've been helping her study over the last
week or two." He glanced up at Skyler. "Have you known Juri-sempai
long?"
"No, we just met today in class. She got saddled with being my
guide."
"I see. I hope you'll get along well -- she's really a nice
person."
"Very intelligent, too, I've noticed." [And attractive, but I
think he can figure that out for himself.]
"Yes, she is... and quite a fencer, too." He looked away, a bit
nervously. "Do you know much about fencing? Or kendo, perhaps?"
"Very little, really. Never trained in either, since there
wasn't a teacher for that in my home town." Skyler smiled ruefully.
"Maybe I should take it up."
"It might be a good idea. There's space in the fencing club
right now, or you could ask Saionji-sempai if the kendo club was
accepting applicants..."
[Not if he's as bad as some people have been implying....] "I'll
take that under advisement. It looks like I may be having to do extra
study for a while to catch up in some of the classes." Skyler hoped he
could find a legitimate excuse to bail out of English soon.
"Some of them can be difficult, I realize. I've been helping
Tenjou-sempai and Shinohara-sempai study for their makeup exams... I hope
they passed them."
[Yup, main character has trouble in class.] Skyler smiled at at
least one anime cliche holding true. "So what's your take on this
dueling stuff?"
Miki shrugged. "I suppose Tenjou-sempai and Himemiya-sempai get
along well enough. Tenjou-sempai is certainly better for her than
Saionji-sempai was, but..." He sighed. "I just wish she could be free,"
he murmured. "Perhaps next time..."
He trailed off as the school bell's chimes sounded. "Oh! I'm
really sorry, but I've got to go. I promised my instructor I wouldn't be
late for piano practice today..."
He bowed slightly as he turned to leave, a crisp, stiff yet
elegant motion. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Sands-sempai. I hope
everything goes well for you here."
Skyler bowed back. "Thanks, and you can call me Skyler if you
like."
Miki blinked surprisedly. "Ah... well... Thank you, but... It's
a little informal," he managed embarassedly. "We've barely met..."
"Oh, I forgot. I'm used to an extremely informal arrangement,
you understand. If you're uncomfortable, you can just stick with what
seems appropriate."
Miki nodded, relaxing slightly. "I understand. It must be quite
different in America. I didn't mean to..." He trailed off, then
shrugged slightly. "Until later, then... er, Skyler-sempai..."
"See you round!"
Finding himself alone for the moment, Skyler wandered in
Higashi-kan's direction. "So Anthy's passed off to whoever `wins' her?
That's more than a little disturbing. I'll have to ask if there's an
official rulebook for the duels I can look at. Freedom of choice would
be preferable, if it can be achieved...and this Saionji guy sounds like
trouble. Still, mustn't jump to too many conclusions. There's still
huge pieces missing from the puzzle..."
Skyler was just getting his room unlocked as he heard the front
door close. Glancing down the corridor and over the balcony, he could
just make out Anthy removing her shoes, with Chuchu on her shoulder
clutching what looked like a bouquet of flowers.
"Hi!" he called down.
She looked up and smiled. "Good afternoon!" she called back
cheerfully.
Skyler came down the stairs and met Himemiya-san in the entry
hall, as she set the bouquet in a vase. It was roses, he saw now, of all
different colors -- red, green, pale blue, yellow, and pink, all
beautifully lush and bright. She looked as cheerful as always, though
the faded shadow of a slight bruise was still visible on her face. "How
was your day?" he asked, fully expecting her to just say "nice."
"Oh, it was fine," she smiled. Close enough. As she turned to
him, his eyes fell on the one rose remaining in her hands -- a lavender
one, matching his outfit perfectly. "If it's not an inconvenience, this
is for you," she said, extending it towards him.
"Thank you, Himemiya-san," he said, taking it with both hands.
[Lavender roses? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised.] He tucked the
flower into his breast pocket for safekeeping.
"It seems breakfast and dinner are up to me to arrange, so if
it's all right with you and Tenjou-san, I'd like to join you most of the
time. I'll chip in grocery money when I can, and I can cook once in a
while, I'm not as good as you but I can cook, and I'm sure I can help
move heavy things or whatever else needs doing--" Skyler ran out of
breath.
Anthy just smiled softly in response. "Domo, domo," she said
casually. "I don't mind cooking, but if Utena-sama says it's okay, of
course you can help."
"Thanks! I don't want to impose on your hospitality if I can
help out in return instead."
"Oh, it's no imposition at all."
"Also, I need to talk to you about something a bit less
comfortable. Perhaps we should be sitting down for it."
"If you like. I did want to clean a bit before starting dinner,"
she added as she set down her bag and sat in one of the entry hall's
armchairs.
Skyler tried to look non-threatening. "They didn't brief me on
any of this dueling and Rose Bride stuff before I came here. I've picked
up a little bit now, but I still don't fully understand it. I need for
you to be honest with me, even if you think it might hurt or offend me.
What's this about, from your perspective?"
She shrugged slightly, her smile never wavering. "It is a
mystery, isn't it?"
Of all the responses he'd thought she might give, that wasn't
high on the list.
Before he could press further, the door swung open again, this
time revealing a rather tired and frustrated looking Tenjou Utena, now
dressed in the uniform he'd seen in all the pictures -- a black boy's
uniform jacket, cut fairly close to her body, edged in red piping with
triangular brass lapel pins and round buttons, and extremely short,
extremely tight red shorts. An interesting combination, to say the
least, not to mention an attractive one.
"Welcome home, Utena-sama!" Anthy called out as Utena entered.
Utena waved back, blinking in slight surprise as her eyes fell on Skyler.
"Hi, Himemiya. Um, you're that guy who was with Juri-sempai,
right? Skyler Sands, wasn't it?"
Skyler quickly got back to his feet. "Yes, that's right. And
you're Tenjou Utena?" He forced his eyes to stay on her bright blue
ones, despite the temptation of looking lower. [Steady up, boy, girls
don't like it if you stare at their assets first...]
"Yeah," she nodded. Her gaze fell on the rose in Skyler's
pocket, and expression turned to worry, with perhaps a touch of
weariness. "Um, don't take this the wrong way, but you're not here to
challenge me to a duel or claim Himemiya belongs to you or get some kind
of revenge or anything, are you?"
"Well, I'm not here to challenge you to a duel today, I have no
claim on Himemiya-san and you haven't done anything to me, my family or
friends that I know of. I can't rule out 'anything', though. But I'd
like to believe I'm not hostile. Oh, and she gave me the rose herself,
so no fear there. Okay?" Skyler hoped he'd covered all the bases. He
tried his best to look non-threatening and friendly.
She looked askance at him for a moment, then sighed, half-
smiling. "Guess it's better than nothing." She relaxed slightly as she
kicked off her shoes and walked over towards the chairs where Anthy was
sitting. "Sorry to get all paranoid, but lately it seems every time I
see that uniform it means trouble. At least you and Juri-sempai seem to
be acting sane, relatively speaking." She flopped down in a chair. "I
take it you've moved in here?"
"That's right, I was assigned to the room just down the hall from
yours. The uniform was assigned too. Lucky me, eh?"
[Juri would probably be amused to hear myself and "relatively
sane" connected in the same sentence.]
"Smells like a Student Council set up to me," Utena frowned.
"Wish I knew what the heck they're up to..." She stretched slightly,
unconsciously calling Skyler's attention to the twin facts that yes, her
shorts were extremely short, and yes, she did have rather nice legs
indeed. He looked away embarassedly.
"Erm, I was saying to Himemiya-san earlier, if it's all right
with you folks, I'd like to eat here most of the time. I'll pitch in
grocery money when I can, and I'm sure there's some heavy lifting chores
that need doing once in a while, and I can cook once in a while. I'm not
as good as she is," Skyler indicated Anthy, "but I'm not bad either."
Utena blinked. "Sure, if you want. Actually, I might as well
help out once in a while, too. I mean, I'm nowhere near the cook
Himemiya is, either, but I can still manage." She glanced at Himemiya.
"How about it? You take the night off tomorrow, and Skyler-sempai and I
can handle dinner?"
"Of course, Utena-sama," Himemiya smiled.
"While we're still near the subject of the Student Council,
what's your take on the dueling? I wasn't exactly briefed on it before I
arrived."
Utena sighed. "You and me both. I didn't have a clue about it
until I was in way over my head, and I still don't completely understand
what's going on. There's something about a miracle power that can
revolutionize the world and being 'engaged' to Himemiya, but that's about
all I know." She stretched slightly, frowning off into the distance
while reaching towards her toes, prompting Skyler to blush and look away
again. "Still, from what I know, no one's actually got to duel except
me, and that's just because I'm the Victor of the Duel. So as long as
you don't challenge me, you've probably got a chance to keep from getting
caught up in all this weirdness."
"'Engaged'? And here I thought arranged marriages weren't going
to come into this." [I didn't say that out loud, did I?] Skyler winced
internally as he realized he had.
"Jeez, I hope not," Utena frowned, seeming to think little of the
gaffe. "I don't *think* it's anything like that, though. Though I guess
it probably ties into them always calling Himemiya the 'Bride of the
Rose.' Never thought of it that way, though."
"Just a random thought. I've watched too many cartoons for my
own good."
"No problem. Heck, I sorta wish my life was a cartoon sometimes.
At least then I'd probably have some cute sidekick thingy telling me what
in the world's going on..."
"Chu?" Chuchu glanced up from its position on Anthy's knee,
where it had been shuffling a pack of cards. It quickly grabbed them up
and scampered up her legs to climb her blouse, inadvertently drawing
Skyler's gaze along the long, dark legs to the hem of the extremely short
skirt... He blushed and averted his gaze yet again.
[Man, those hormones are beginning to hit me really hard. Eyes
up, girls like eye contact...] Skyler brought his gaze up to Anthy's,
who smiled back.
Utena smiled. "Okay, okay... present company excepted," she
smiled as Chuchu shot her what was probably meant to be a reproachful
look.
[Just because we don't understand what it's saying, doesn't mean
it isn't trying to communicate.] Once again, Skyler wondered just how
intelligent the monkey actually was.
"Well, I should be hitting the books, way behind on my studies,
see you at dinner, Tenjou-san, Himemiya-san." Skyler tried not to look
panicked.
"No prob. See you then!" Utena smiled as Himemiya waved goodbye.
Chuchu didn't look up from its hand of cards.
As he went up the stairs, Skyler started humming again. [o/~Who
likes short shorts? We like short shorts!~\o What am I thinking? I'm
old enough to be a father to most of the cast...on the other hand, I
don't *look* like I am...let's put that sort of thought off till later,
shall we?]
He entered his room, sat down at the desk, and pulled out the
schoolbooks. [Hmm...well, let's get the "easy" homework out of the way
first, because English is going to be a bloody horror.]
Skyler slowly walked down the stairs, hoping he didn't look as
weary and frustrated as he felt. He'd been right. Some of his work had
been easy but dull, some had been tedious but doable, but English had
been a nightmare. The phrases were inane and yet annoyingly difficult,
and even the most incomprehensible words gave him a weird sense of deja
vu. Still, he'd gotten enough done to call it a night and break for
dinner. Utena and Anthy were waiting for him at the dinner table, and
greeted him pleasantly as he sat. Dinner, at least, looked highly
appetizing... He said a quick silent grace, then dug in.
The three (or four, depending on how one counted) of them ate in
awkward silence for a time, punctuated only by Chuchu slurping the tea
and crunching the crackers. Finally, Utena broke the ice.
"So, you're from America, right?"
"Yes, from Gunntown, Minnesota. Very small town."
"Why'd you end up deciding to study abroad? I mean, you're good
at Japanese, so I guess that's why you came here instead of Amsterdam or
wherever, but why in general?"
Skyler smiled ruefully. "I wanted a change. You know, a little
adventure, romance... magic. I've always liked visiting other places,
and when the opportunity to see Japan came up, I could hardly turn it
down." [You asked for it, you schmuck!] his conscience pointed out.
"Sounds cool. I've never actually been out of the country
before. Closest I ever came was when my aunt moved to Holland just
before the school year started, but I decided to come to Ohtori instead."
[Aunt? Ah, probably an orphan then. Another traditional anime
hero cliche.] "I've heard Holland is very pretty, especially in the
spring. Of course, Minnesota is too, especially out in the country."
"Really? It sounds great... I've been stuck in the cities most
of my life. Never had much of a chance to get out in the wild." She
leaned forward as she paused to take another bite. "What's America
really like, anyway? I mean, you hear about it a lot on the news and in
the movies and everything, but I've never really been sure how much of it
is real and how much is just hype."
"America is a really big place, with a little of everything.
There are parts of the cities that are just as crimeridden as all the TV
shows make them look, and other parts where little kids can play in the
streets safely. There's no real Wild West anymore, but there are parts
of the country that you can get far enough away from other people to
pretend there is. We have huge mountains, and prairies that go on
forever. Or at least it seems like that when you're driving across
them." Skyler took a quick drink.
"Near my hometown, it's mostly flat with low hills, farm country.
Lots of pine trees."
"Neat. That part sounds a little like Hokkaido, actually -- the
whole flat farms and pine trees bit, I mean. I've only been up there
once, but it's a pretty cool place."
She glanced down as Chuchu went to work like a buzzsaw on a piece
of cracker. "I guess it's just the whole scale thing that gets me -- it
seems like you do everything so much bigger over there." She glanced at
him curiously. "What're the schools like? I mean, I hear you get
something like a quarter of the year off."
"Well, most places that's true, though there are a few private
schools that handle things differently. It goes back to frontier days.
Most of the kids were needed to work on the farm during the summer, so
they couldn't attend school. And the tradition stuck, same way as the
style of school uniforms did here in Japan, so I'm told."
Skyler let his eyes unfocus a bit as he remembered. "Gunntown is
really small, so it just had one school, with an elementary wing and a
high school wing. I'd say about eighty percent of the people in my last
class there were in kindergarten with me. Heck, I think more people
attend Ohtori than live in the city limits back home."
"Yeah, that sounds like some of the towns in the country I've
heard of. I've never actually been to one that small, but I've heard of
them."
"Oh, there's smaller. Places where the `Welcome to Town' and
`See You Again Soon' Signs are on the same post. Where'd you and your
aunt live before you moved?"
"A lot of places, actually. Her job kept her moving around a lot, so
every year or two I'd have to drop everything and head for another school
in a new city. I didn't mind, really -- it kept things interesting, and
I got to see a lot of the country. We mostly stuck to the bigger cities,
though. Not much call for a high-class interior designer in the mountain
country."
"I suppose not."
The conversation drifted to more mundane matters after that, such
as the next evening's dinner -- Utena offered to try some of the recipes
she'd been learning in cooking class, like curry, teriyaki, or
shabu-shabu, while Skyler decided to go with "salad, maybe, and a dessert
of some kind, depending on what kind of recipe I can find and available
ingredients." Eventually, the meal broke up, with Utena and Skyler
heading back for their rooms and Anthy finishing the cleanup, claiming
cheerily she didn't need help.
Skyler stretched in his chair. Normally around this time, he'd
be watching TV or reading a book. But he hadn't seen a television since
he had arrived, and after the nightmare that was English, he didn't feel
like another bout of staring at text.
"D'oh! I forgot, I wanted to talk to Anthy about that test, if I
can catch her alone." He went to search for her.
"So," Skyler began, "how have you been doing in school, lately?"
"Oh, it's fine," Anthy smiled as she hung a teacup on a rack.
"Really?" He hesitated a moment, trying to come up with a
tactful way to broach the subject, then decided to plunge right in.
"It's just that I was grading one of your tests for Kyoto-sensei earlier,
and, well... you left it entirely blank."
Anthy nodded. "Yes, I did," she smiled.
Skyler blinked. "Why? I mean, are you having problems in class,
or...?"
"I don't worry about such things," she replied placidly.
[!?] He shook his head, unable to quite grasp what she'd said.
"You...don't worry about such things..."
"Yes." If she was joking, Skyler had to admit she had the best
poker face he'd ever seen.
"Wow. I mean, grades aren't exactly my highest priority right
now, but not to worry at all..." He found the notion slightly repellent,
like having someone admit to an aversion to bathing.
Anthy finished shelving the last of the dishes. Wiping her hands
on a dish towel, she went out into the hallway, and began polishing the
vases there while humming a quiet tune to herself. "Was there anything
else?"
"Um, no, thank you." Skyler decided a walk outside was best, to
clear his head a little. [So much for the "Utena interferes with her
schoolwork" theory...Maybe the "Nanami is jealous" theory is more
accurate?] He turned for a circular route around the nearest four
blocks.
The sun was just setting in the hills behind the city as Skyler
turned to walk towards the ocean. The hill at the heart of the town,
with the Academy at its peak, cast a long shadow over the slopes of the
city below, with the central tower casting an accusing finger at the
ocean, which burned orange with reflected light, shining all the way to
the horizon. The rich colors suffused everything in sight, like an old
Technicolor movie, and Skyler paused at the top of the concrete
embankment where the street turned to lean over the edge a moment and
take the splendor of the scene.
[Thank you, God, for this beauty, and for getting me through the
day.] He sighed, then began thinking out loud again. "The girl ain't
right. She may be nice, but maybe touched in the head. Utena seems a
pleasant enough sort, if a little paranoid. And if she's being
challenged that often, it's not surprising. Nice to know I probably
won't have to do a duel for a while, though."
He passed by another small house, then an apartment building that
looked uncannily like Maison Ikkoku. The shock of recognition was
lessened by seeing another almost exactly like it next door. "Must be
built to a pre-fab plan."
Skyler turned downhill, towards the ocean. "The scary thing
about a self-insertion fic is that somewhere there's theoretically a
meta-Skyler doing all this to me. Ugh, not something I want to think
about too carefully. I just hope his sense of humor was sufficiently
sated by that language bait-and-switch.
"Then again, they never promised me a rose garden...
o/~Along with the sunshine, you've got to take a little
rain sometime~\o"
He realized he was doing a bit of soft shoe, and stopped,
embarrassed. But the shops nearby were closed for the evening (he
noticed in passing a sign for something called 'Manga Jungle' he resolved
to check out during the day sometime), the streets seemed deserted, and
he was coming up to what appeared to be a small park. "What the hey, I'm
wearing a comic opera costume, I might as well sing. o/~I am the very
model of a modern Major-General--~\o" Skyler continued the song as he
swung into the park.
[Okay, plans for tomorrow. Locate library, get recipe, find out
more about this Saionji fellow...subtly, if I can. Oh, and Touga too.
It sounds like he might be a major player.]
Several minutes and one major Broadway revue later, Skyler sat
down at the base of a large tree, a bit winded but in good cheer. [Okay,
I got a little carried away, but it was fun.] He looked up through the
gaps in the leaves above into the newly-starry sky, eyes picking out
familiar constellations like old friends. [At least the stars here are
the same as they are back home. That's a comforting feeling...]
Back home. Would he even be going back? Did he want to? [The
Ends of the World called this a "dream". And all dreams end when you
wake up. But when that awakening might be is a question I can't answer.
Certainly not for a while, though.
[Just in case this place is somehow connected to the real world,
or time is passing, I should write home. After all, it's something real
exchange students do...]
Skyler let his thoughts drift to the young women he had met
today. [Pretty, one and all. But can I win a heart? Should I even try?
Would it be honest, knowing who and what I am?] He remembered Juri's
alternate explanation. [Huh. Unlikely, though something to joke about.
Don't think that girl is at all interested in me, sad to say. I'll just
leave the door open, and hope she considers walking in.]
[Nanami, now, she seemed a bit more friendly that way. Easy to
flatter, anyhow. Though if she and Utena are on the outs, could become
pretty darn uncomfortable at the dinner table.
[Utena and Anthy *might* be a couple. Or it could just be a
really close friendship. At least living next to them, I should get some
better clues soon.
[Oh, and Miss Keiko and her wingmen. Ah don' theenk soh,
Meester. Unless that horrible anime cliche of first meeting argument
leads to romance later applies....ick.]
Skyler blinked as a cold breeze blew across him, and realized
he'd been sitting in one place for quite a while. [Must have dozed off
there for a moment... Or did I just get lost in thought?] He
instinctively tried to check his watch, then realized his outfit hadn't
come with one. [Well, at least I don't feel tired. Small blessings, I
guess.]
He stood and stretched for a moment, listening to the sounds in
the distance. It was remarkably peaceful for a city, even a city at
night -- no honking horns or sirens or rushing cars, just the wind, the
birds, the distant voices echoing through the darkness...
"Unbelievable, just unbelievable!"
Skyler jumped slightly. Okay, not-so-distant voices. He turned
towards the park's entrance in time to see two female figures,
silhouetted by the streetlights, walking by, one of them lugging
something extremely large.
"Oh, come on!" the other girl replied with quiet energy, in a
voice that tugged at his memory. "It's a great idea! And you know that
if we don't practice whenever we get the chance..."
"I know, I know." The other girl shifted her burden (which
resembled nothing so much as a tractor tire) just enough so she could
cover her mouth as she yawned. "But at this time of night... I wonder
if she'll even be awake."
"We are, right?"
"Debatable..."
[Oh ho! Mischief afoot! And what kind of practice do you need
in the middle of the night?] Skyler grinned, something that would have
startled most of the people he knew back in Minnesota.
He listened to his footsteps as he walked to the exit. [Not
*too* loud...] Yes, he'd follow quietly and see what was up. But no
sneaking, that was undignified, and left you open to accusations of ill
intent.
"I still don't see why I have to carry this thing," the second
girl grumbled as the pair continued up the street, with Skyler a discreet
distance behind. "You were the one who found it, and you were the one
who had the idea of using it..."
"Right! So you've got to have something to do, don't you think?"
The second girl just sighed. "Okay, okay. What's this about,
anyway?"
"Oh, the denial of desire. The rationalization of frustration
and failure. The true nature of nature. I wonder if we can work some
poetic justice in, too, or if we should save that until the next time."
[Must be a poetry major,] Skyler decided.
"Probably next time. I'm having enough trouble just trying to
convincingly talk like I have a cold..."
"You're right, I think. Anyway, we're almost there."
'There,' in this case seemed to be the main building of Ohtori
Academy itself. [Should've guessed by the outfits -- even in shadow,
that outline's pretty distinctive.] The two girls picked up their pace
as they got in sight, the first waving to a third girl, who seemed to be
waiting by the door for the two of them. Skyler followed at a more
hesitant pace as they entered the building. [Now what? If I follow them
in it'll look like I'm snooping for sure. Still, I wonder what the heck
is going on here...]
He stood indecisive, then realized, [I've gone too far already,
besides at this point they'll be in as much trouble as I am if we're
caught.] Skyler took courage and a large step forward.
The main hall was still dark -- the girls hadn't bothered to turn
any of the lights on, giving the vast hall a gloomy and cavernous feel.
Moonlight and the reflected glow of streetlights through the high stained
glass windows cast shadows on the rose-mosaiced floor, piercing the gloom
enough to navigate by, but somehow that only brought the darkness into
sharp relief. Skyler slowly made his way towards the rear of the room
and the banks of lockers, listening to the echoes of whispers.
"...just set up the scaffold here..." "...move the light a
little back...?" "...can't fit into the darned thing..." "Just cling to
the bottom, and I'll... Oof." "Right. Everything ready? Then..."
With a sharp click, a spotlight flared to life, casting shadows
on the rose-engraved wall, as a plunkety music box cranked to life,
playing a simple tune. The silhouettes of the girls looked slightly
larger than life, projected on the walls (the first girl standing to one
side, the second clinging to the bottom of a giant tire swing), but more
than that, they looked familiar. *Now* he remembered where he knew those
voices from...
["I wonder, I wonder! I wonder how those beings from that
'Earth' shall receive us."]
"Talk about deja-vu," Skyler muttered. [But that was a dream
before, right? So is this a dream, or a performance for someone I
haven't seen yet? Curiouser and curiouser.]
He made himself comfortable and watched the show.
"Ka-choo!" The girl on the tire swing sneezed as the tire rocked
back and forth. "It's such a good thing I caught this cold," she
muttered peevishly, through what sounded to be a very stuffy nose. "I'm
sure that outing was going to be so tiresome. Who wants to go to the zoo
anyway? It's always the same there, with the same old insignificant
animals.
The other girl raised her hands high into the light, making
shadow animals as the swinging girl listed them by name. "The hawk. The
wolf. The deer. The swan. The giraffe.
"Honestly, is that all? Why should I want to go!? Who'd want to
see all that!?"
The other girl just sighed in a quiet, motherly voice. "You
really wanted to go, didn't you?"
The music plunked around one last time and stopped. "Great
work!" the 'motherly' girl with the bow exclaimed as the tire dropped to
the ground, its fall cushioned by the girl clinging to it.
"Ow! Watch it!" The girl with two braids pushed the tire off of
her and stood, rubbing her back. "Honestly, honestly. You'd think you
could be more careful."
"Sorry," a third, quiet voice replied. [Must be that girl they
met up with.]
"Oh, don't worry about it!" the girl with the bow said lightly.
"It was a grand rehearsal, as always."
[Oh, right, rehearsal. It'll probably make more sense in
context.] Skyler stretched. [Maybe I should clap? Or should I just
back out before I'm spotted?]
The first girl was obviously getting carried away a little, her
hands into the shadow animals again. "I loved the animal bit -- 'the
hawk, the wolf...'"
"Kyaa!" Skyler wrenched his head around, away from the shadows
on the wall, just in time to see the tractor tire hurtling towards him.
"Peeping Tom!"
In accordance with the anime tradition about angry women and the
men they hit, Skyler was frozen to the spot. And any thought of defense
fled his mind as well. Thus, he was bowled over by the large toroidal
missile.
"I don't think I can do that one," the other girl replied
puzzledly, looking at her hands.
"Ulgg..." Skyler pushed the tire off himself. [No fair! We
hadn't even gotten to a nude scene yet!] Skyler squelched the hentai
part of his thoughts and tried to concentrate on appearing harmless.
"There's someone spying on us, I mean! See?" The girl with the
two brown pigtails was storming towards him, menace in her eyes. "Some
sort of pervert!"
"Pervert?" The girl with the curly black hair and red ribbon
seemed nonplussed. "We weren't doing anything that weird, I don't
think."
That gave pause to the other girl. "Well... He still shouldn't
have been spying on us."
Skyler decided to take the opportunity to break the ice. "Hi.
Does the Drama Club always meet this late?"
The black-haired girl smirked. "Are you kidding? You'd never
catch *them* out at this hour. They're not exactly the most creative
types in the world."
"That's right! That's why we got together. *We* are the
Experimental Shadow Theater Ultimate New Gravity Shadow Experimental...
er... Kashira Ultimate... er... How does that go again?"
The first girl just sighed. "Never mind." She nodded to Skyler.
"I'm Ikuhara Eiko. Who are you and why, may I ask, are you sneaking
around watching us rehearse?"
"Skyler Sands, new guy in town. I happened to see you folks
carrying the tire up here, and wondered why anybody would be doing that.
At first I thought it was some sort of elaborate prank."
"Nope." The second girl shook her head. "Just our creative
genius here getting a sudden inspiration. I think I'm almost getting
used to it by now."
"Come on, Biko-chan, it worked, didn't it?" Eiko looked to
Skyler. "What did you think?"
"Well, experimental pieces always require a bit more thought than
usual to decipher. Or, in layman's terms, I didn't get it. By any
chance did you recently do a piece involving aliens?"
"You see?" Biko's irate expression reappeared. "I told you he'd
been spying on us, I told you!"
Eiko raised an eyebrow. "I do have to wonder. How'd you find
out about our practice two days ago if you weren't watching us?"
"I had a rather curious dream on the way over from America. I
thought it was nothing more than that until your performance tonight.
Now I have to wonder..." [Great. My otakufic power is tuning into
avant-garde drama productions. Wait a minute...Eiko, Biko? If the third
girl is Shiiko, someone's having a good laugh...] "I assure you, I
wasn't knowingly present at the time."
Biko blinked. "You saw our rehearsals. In a dream." She
narrowed her eyes exasperatedly at him. "Either you're crazy for
thinking that or you're crazy for thinking we'll believe that."
"Or he's some sort of weird psychic from beyond time and space
sent here to watch over us and help with rehearsal," Eiko added casually.
"What do you think, Sands-san?"
"Hmm, Option Two is the most likely, from an Occam's Razor point
of view. Option One is also quite probable, and would fit with at least
one other person's diagnosis. Option Three is highly unlikely, but has a
certain ring of truth to it...and I tend to tell the truth whenever it's
possible. Not sure about the `watch over us and help with rehearsal'
part." Skyler adjusted his glasses, as he adopted a professorial
attitude.
Then he grinned. "It all depends on what you *want* to believe,
since I can't prove any of those."
Biko was not impressed. "Like I said, one way or the other, he's
nuts."
[Hmm, wonder if in a past life she worked in a military
recruiting office?] thought Skyler, remembering a certain notation on his
enlistment papers.
"Okay, okay," Eiko grinned back as she framed Skyler's face with
her hands. "So we've got one vote for nuts and one for a fast-talking
psychic guardian angel from America." She moved in closer, blatantly
inspecting Skyler's profile and jawline even as she deepened her voice
comically. "For the tie-breaker vote, we move to the esteemed Judge
Shiizaa. Your honor, your comments?"
"Um..." Skyler glanced to the third girl, the one standing by
the spotlight, with the auburn ponytail, and, as he now noticed, a decent
beginning on a blush. "I really don't..."
Eiko sighed. "And our third member's stage fright kicks in
again. That's the *other* reason we tend to practice when nobody's
around." She leaned back, squinting through one eye at Skyler. "You
know, you've got a good profile for the theater..."
[Shiizaa? Close, but thankfully not quite.]
"Well, I have been in plays," he replied. "I like acting."
"Really?" Eiko's grin turned exuberantly predatory. "Then I
wonder, would you be interested in joining up with the 'New Experimental
Shadow Theater: Ultimate Kashira?'" she asked as she shot a glance at
Biko. "It'll open up new worlds to you, I swear!"
[NESTUK? Oh-kay....and I think I'm already in a new world...]
"Well, if there's a role you really need me for..."
"Oh, come on! Roles are such an old-fashioned notion. We mostly
improvise on the spur of the moment. All you'd have to do is just show
up for rehearsal whenever I get inspired with new ideas!"
"Which," Biko grumbled, "can be any hour of the day or night
whatsoever, including in the middle of classes or an hour before dawn
or..."
"Oh, you know you love it!"
Guerrilla theater might not be to everyone's taste, but Skyler
was finding himself intrigued. Especially if this could get him out of
English class. He opened his mouth to--but he froze in mid-breath.
*Plink*
A chill ran through him suddenly, as if a drop of ice-cold water
was rolling through his bones. Instantly all his senses were on full
alert, his muscles taut as bowstrings, as his mind frantically tried to
figure out what was going on.
Something was happening. He didn't know what, and he didn't know
how he knew, but something important was happening nearby. And whatever
it was, it was unnerving the heck out of him.
"You all right?" Eiko blinked at him.
"Shhh...do you hear that?" Skyler closed his eyes, trying to get
a direction. [If it's trouble, I should be attracted right to it...]
"Hear what?" asked Biiko. "Like I said, nuts."
"No, I think he's on to something," whispered Eiko.
There was something... a feeling he was getting. Something to
the north...
He pictured the campus in his mind. The main hall and spire, the
outlying class buildings, the track and field, and to the north of
them... The forest. He'd noticed it in passing during his run: a
chain-link fence marked 'No Admittance,' beyond which lay marble stairs,
rising up a hill to what looked like a small stand of forest, enclosed by
a high, white marble wall. That had to be it.
He took a deep breath, now smelling the faintest hint of roses in
the crisp, still air. He still had no idea what was going on, but if he
was going to get answers, he was almost sure it was going to be there.
Skyler opened his eyes. "There's something going on in the
forest. Sorry, minna-san, but I'd better check it out. Oh, and
Shiizaa-san, don't be shy, I don't bite--much." Waving, he turned and
sprinted for the door.
"Like I said, nuts," were the last words he heard.
(to be continued...)
Next time, on _Ma Vie et Roses_:
[Skyler walks up white marble steps in the light of dawn, looking at the
white gates to the forest beyond.]
SKYLER: Things have been strange around here, but the weirdness really
moves into high gear as I go deeper into the mysteries of the
Duellists.
[In the middle of a forest, a massive, free-standing spiral staircase
stretches upwards into the mist. Skyler hesitantly puts his foot on the
first stair.]
SKYLER: Will a duel make everything clear, or just confuse me even more?
[Skyler, sitting at a table, bites down on a spoonful of curry.]
SKYLER: Well, at least I can always count on Anthy's cooking...
[The side of a school building explodes in a cloud of brown smoke.]
SKYLER: Next time, on _Ma Vie et Roses_! Episode Three: Mihatenu
Shitsumon (Unfulfilled Questions)! Don't miss it!
ANTHY: Zettai Unmei, Mokushiroku.
Glossary:
Anime: Japanese animation. _Shoujo Kakumei Utena_ is an anime show,
broadcast on Terebi Tokyo.
Ballistophobia: Fear of round objects flying towards one. (Includes
bullets.)
Bentou: Japanese boxed lunch. Usually a number of specially-prepared
foods arranged in an aesthetically pleasing manner, sometimes on a bed of
rice.
Bishounen: Literally, beautiful young man. A somewhat common art style
for young men in anime and manga, emphasizing a soft, gentle
attractiveness. Popular among female fans.
Chris Davies: Anime fan fiction writer known for his exploration of
lesbian themes.
Domo: Literally, 'very.' In context, it can mean many things, but is
often a shorthand for 'domo arigatou' ('Thank you very much.')
Fox-Broome Theory of Parallel Earths: A description of the state of the
DC Comics continuity prior to 1985. Named for Gardener Fox (who
introduced the theory in his story "Flash of Two Worlds" in _Flash #123_)
and John Broome, who created most of the early stories of the second
Flash, whose mythology Fox built on.
Hentai: Usually translated "weird" or "perverted", though as Skyler is
using it, "lewd" would be closer.
"Hiroshi and Daisuke": Two characters in the Ranma 1/2 series,
classmates of Ranma's, who make cameos to comment on the action. In the
manga, they are so unimportant as to go unnamed. They are named in the
anime for script purposes.
Kashira: A feminine sentence ending translatable as 'I wonder' or 'Do
you think?', depending on context. The shadow-play girls use it quite a
bit.
Kendou: The sport form of the art of Japanese swordplay.
Kun: Suffix for names. Generally used by superiors to their charges
(teachers to students, managers to employees, etc.) or by young men among
themselves.
Maison Ikkoku: A low-end boarding house, seen in the Rumiko
Takahashi-created manga and anime of the same name.
Manga: Japanese comics. The manga version of _Shoujo Kakumei Utena_ was
published in the anthology _Ciao Flower Comics_.
Ne: A sentence-ending particle meaning, roughly, 'okay?' or 'right?'
Occam's Razor: A logical principle first formulated by William of Occam,
stating that the simplest explanation that fits all the available facts
is most likely to be correct.
Otakufic: Also known as self-insertion. An anime- or manga-related
story in which the main character is the author, or a thinly-veiled
stand-in for the author.
Sama: Suffix for names. A term of extreme respect, sometimes bordering
on obsequious depending on the context and tone.
San: Suffix for names. Generally considered the 'default' suffix, it
can be used to address anyone from a complete stranger to a fairly close
friend.
Sekai no Hate: Translates literally as 'End(s) of the World' -- Japanese
does not always mark plurals. Note that 'hate' (pronounced 'hah-tay')
implies a physical edge, as opposed to 'owari,' which would refer to the
chronological ending.
Sempai: Refers to one more senior than the speaker (usually in school,
though sometimes in a place of business). Often used as a name suffix.
Sensei: Teacher. Often used as a name suffix.
Shabu-shabu: Japanese dish made by preparing thin strips of uncooked
beef and a pot of boiling sauce and oil at the center of the table.
Using chopsticks, each diner takes a piece of beef and dips it in the
sauce briefly to cook it, then eats it while still hot.
Shiiko: In the humorous anime _Project A-ko_, the three leads are named
Eiko (A-ko), Biiko (B-ko) and Shiiko (C-ko). 'Ko,' meaning 'child,' is a
common ending for girls' names, and hence the characters are almost
literally named 'Girl A,' Girl B,' and 'Girl C.'
Zettai Unmei Mokushiroku: Literally, this translates as 'Absolute
Destiny: Apocalypse.' Among other things, it is the name of the song
played as Utena climbs to the Duel Arena, and is said by Anthy at the end
of each 'Next Episode' segment.
Author's Note: Well, that was a bit of a surprise for me. Hope you
folks are still enjoying the ride. Believe me, it's going to get even
wilder. Let us know what you think, and keep watching the skies! Oh,
by the way...any "X wouldn't do that, because later in the series Y"
type-comments should be sent directly to Mr. Johnson, since I'm not
supposed to be "spoiled" on upcoming events....
SKJAM! majks@cyberx.com
--
Scott Johnson |
zagyg@io.com | This space intentionally left blank.