Part 3 "This Is My Confession, The Real Me..."
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"Hi, Anthy." Nanami Kiryuu greeted Anthy Himemiya with a friendly smile as Anthy rounded the corner walking away from the entrance to the Student Council headquarters.
"Oh! Nanami, it's you. I didn't see you there." Anthy said in mild surprise as the girl stepped from the shadows to stand in front of her.
"Oh, I'm sorry Anthy, I didn't mean to startle you. I've been waiting here..." She said in a tone that was friendly, concerned, and a little uncertain.
"It's alright." Anthy smiled to her friend, taking a step closer to her. "Why are you waiting?"
"It's..." She turned her face away for a moment then looked back at Anthy again. "That heartless girl. She ditched you again, didn't she?" Nanami regarded her. "I'm sorry that happened..." She said it sincerely. "Well, you'll just have to share your picnic with me instead, won't you?" Nanami moved forward and captured Anthy's hand. "Want to?"
"Oh. Alright..." Anthy's mood brightened noticeably. "If it's not too much trouble for you, I mean." She qualified.
"Don't be silly." Nanami brushed it off. "Besides, except my brother, it's not like I have anyone else to have lunch with at this school. And he's busy again. Come on, we'll have fun." She smiled hopefully.
"Alright... Chu Chu isn't with me today." Anthy said as the two walked down the hall together.
"Oh, um." Nanami tried to think of what to say. If she was honest, she didn't really like to be around the odd little animal Anthy kept as a pet. But... she wanted Anthy to like her, so she always tried to like Chu Chu. Or at least, coexist? "He'll just have to come along next time then." She tried valiantly to sound like she really meant it.
"I know you don't like him." Anthy said as they walked, looking down at the floor ahead of her.
"Well... I don't... dislike him?" Nanami was pensive. "And he's your friend, right? So that makes everything okay." She said positively.
Anthy smiled. "Do you think so?"
"Absolutely." Nanami reaffirmed decisively. "I'm sorry I get nervous around him though..." She trailed off.
"It's okay." Anthy said. "I'll make sure to protect you."
Nanami laughed, feeling kind of ridiculous about it.
"You're a good friend." She said half-jokingly.
The two ended up walking out to the grass outside the building, somewhere towards the middle of the small field populated by other groups of lunching students. There were school buildings to be seen in three directions, and, in the other, was the Forbidden Forest - a mysterious place that most of the students at the academy had never seen the inside of. Nanami and Anthy were among the small number who actually had.
"This is a good spot, don't you think?" Nanami asked, standing in a fairly vacant area of the field next to an island of pink and white rose bushes surrounded by a foot high styled wire-guard fence along with a small ring of tiny purple flowers (slightly raised). "Here, give me the blanket. I'll lay it out for us." She offered, taking the fabric sheet after Anthy, complying with the request, held it out for her.
"There, all done." Nanami sat down and looked over curiously at Anthy as the other girl started to set the food and things she'd brought out. The smells of delicious food wafted up to tempt her and she was doubly glad that Juri Arisugawa had ditched on this.
Thoughts of Juri though, brought a certain damper to Nanami's mood and her gaze wondered off to look at the Forbidden Forest, looming imposingly in view to the side. She remembered the day she'd gotten here, nineteen days ago. Her brother had taken her up to a balcony that overlooked an impossible sight. A platform suspended on a diagonal pillar or beam - stairs circled around it, leading to the precipice - a place where duels were fought, with real swords. She could hardly believe it hadn't toppled over long ago, the way it looked. But that, of course, hadn't been the most unbelievable thing. The upside-down floating castle, crowned with glowing lights in a sky somehow miraculously contained within the forest... Mysteries, Touga had said. And he had said a lot more besides, and that was why she was here, really. Why she was at this school. Why she'd first decided to make friends with Anthy Himemiya. Though not why she now really was Anthy's friend.
She found herself glancing down at the rose crest ring on her right hand and once again trying to wrap her head around it's significance. What did it all really mean?
"Aren't you going to eat, Nanami?" Anthy asked.
"Huh? Oh, Yes! Of course. Sorry about that, Anthy. I guess my thoughts... got away from me." She said, sparing a furtive glace at the forest again.
"You were thinking of the castle again." Anthy said.
"Partly... Anthy, what does it mean, exactly, that you're the Rose Bride?"
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"Utena's here!"
Utena smiled at Wakaba's enthusiastic greeting as she approached the table where her friends were sitting, and readily accepted the hug Wakaba offered her.
"Hi, you." Utena said playfully, smiling brightly when the hug ended.
"You're happy." Wakaba said, curiously.
"Yeah, I am. You saved food for me?" Utena noticed, having expected it but still being very grateful.
"Of course, you're my boyfriend, aren't you? What kind of a sucky girlfriend would I be if I let you starve to death?"
"Well, thank you very much. I'm a lucky boy alright." Utena laughed. "Come on, I'm starved." She went to sit down at the place her friends had saved for her. "Hi you two." Utena greeted Chiaki and Kaori.
"Hi!" Chiaki greeted.
"Hi Utena." Kaori greeted drowsily from her place resting on her girlfriend's shoulder.
"What happened to her?" Utena inquired, putting her elbows on the table and regarding Kaori with inquisitive interest.
"Gym class wore her down." Chiaki said playfully, taking hold of Kaori's head and giving her forehead a conciliatory kiss.
"They're all out to get me." Kaori said grumpily.
"Who?" Utena said.
"The healthy ones." Kaori said. "One of them even managed to seduce me..." She referred to Chiaki. "It's a conspiracy."
Chiaki laughed. "So much with the drama, she is."
"Mmmph, evil temptress." She accused with mock grumpiness.
"I like it when she's like this." Wakaba said. "She's so funny." She laughed.
"Ah, come on, it can't be that bad, can it?" Utena asked, leaning her head on one of her palms and taking a bite of her rice.
"You're one of them too, Utena. Don't think I don't know." Kaori narrowed her eyes and groggily moved off of Chiaki's shoulder, putting her elbows on the table and holding her head up by placing her palms on her cheeks.
"Was it really so awful?" Wakaba asked Chiaki.
"It was just track and field stuff." Chiaki said.
Kaori looked down at her food. "Is it wrong that my curry looks like a pillow to me?"
"Yes, lazy one, it's wrong. Come on, you need to eat more anyway. It's probably why you're feeling as bad as you are. I keep telling you..." Chiaki said worriedly.
Kaori groaned. "I don't even like Japanese food very much. That's the problem. I need salad... and Cherry Coke... and cheese pizza. Yummy, gooey cheese pizza." She said dreamily. "For breakfast, tomorrow morning." She groaned, resolutely supporting her face with one hand and taking a spoonful of curry with the other.
"Good girl." Chiaki praised. "If you eat it all, I'll order cheese pizza from town for you tonight."
"Really?" Kaori asked, the spark of life returning to her eyes.
"Evil temptress's honor." Chiaki pledged.
Kaori laughed that tired kind of laugh that always sounds unexpected and makes you smile and buried her head in Chiaki's shoulder again. "I'm acting goofy, aren't I?" She said, embarrassed.
"Yeah, but it's very cute." Chiaki said, taking Kaori's cheek in her palm and looking into her eyes. "It makes me want to kiss you now." She said seriously. And it really did, even though they both knew they couldn't actually do that in front of everyone like that with teachers possibly around who would probably frown on such things.
Utena sighed watching the two together, a wistful look on her face.
"What's that look for?" Wakaba asked, having just taken a bite of food.
"Hmm?" Utena looked at her. "Oh, yeah, I kind of... Um, well I figured out something for sure today I guess." She looked down at her plate, all the sudden worried about how her friends would take the news that she was for sure gay. Oh, she knew in theory they should be okay with it, Kaori and Chiaki were as out as trees after all, but... well, nobody acts terribly predictable when someone they know reveals they aren't who you thought they were. It always had a tendency to feel kind of like a betrayal for them, even if it really wasn't.
"Sounds heavy." Kaori said, still looking tired but noticeably perking up at her friend's serious tone. Plus, she had to admit, eating did help. Even if it wasn't the pizza she longed for.
"Yeah..." Utena's hand went to the back of her head, in a clearly understood nonverbal cue. "I, um, I ran into someone on the way here and..." Unsure how to go on, her hand dropped to join the other one in her lap.
"And?" Chiaki prompted.
Utena raised her head to meet the eyes of her friends. "And I'm sure about it now." She said.
"You're sure about it...?" Kaori asked, wondering if her brain was just slow from exhaustion and lack of proper cheese intake or if she legitimately didn't have all the information needed to reach a reliable conclusion as to what Utena Tenjou was referring to.
"I'm a lesbian. For sure." Utena said. "And I like someone." She hastened to add.
"Oh my god..." Chiaki said. "I totally knew it!" She turned to Kaori. "You knew it too, right?"
"Obvious." Kaori said. "Welcome to the fold, pink haired one. It's nice on this side of things." She smiled serenely (maybe a little too serenely in fact), looking over at Chiaki.
"Acting goofy again." Chiaki pointed out.
"I lack proper cheese intake, and my feet are still very sore." She whined piteously. She was also obviously making an effort to create a more low-stress environment through use of humor for Utena's sake as well, which didn't go unnoticed or unappreciated by her girlfriend.
Utena smiled, happy beyond words that this was going so well, only to have her feelings of relief derailed when she looked over to Wakaba to see her best friend looking down at her food with a decidedly not happy look on her face like her brain had just been given information it really didn't know what to do with. "Wakaba..."
"Who is she...?" Her friend asked softly.
"Wakaba..." Utena felt something tighten within her chest.
Wakaba turned and looked at her in the eyes, lending a sense of urgency to her question. "Who is she, Utena? Who did you meet when...?" her voice trailed off.
"Juri Arisugawa..." Utena said, keeping eye contact and trying to figure out what was going on behind Wakaba's eyes.
"...From the student council? Like, from this morning? Her?" Wakaba asked, the information seeming to snap her out of whatever mindset she'd been in, a confused look coming over her face replacing it. [But you just saw her for the first time this morning...]
"Um, yeah, that's her..." Utena said, feeling kind of helpless all the sudden and not sure of what to say next.
Something changed again for Wakaba, and she shook her head and laughed. "Well, that's great!" She said. "I'm, um, I'm happy for you." She turned and reached out for one of Utena's hands and took it in her own. "I really am. I'm glad for you Utena." She said sincerely. "...I guess this means I can't call you my boyfriend anymore though, huh?" She said.
"Huh?" Utena hadn't thought of that. "Oh, well, I... Of course you still can. If you want I mean... I mean, it's not like she's my girlfriend or anything... We just talked a little, that's all." She was quick to explain.
"You just talked? And you know? Like, for sure, you know you like her that much?" Wakaba asked.
"Well, yeah... I could just tell. I've.... No one's ever made me feel like that before. Not even..."
"So, out with it already!" Chiaki interrupted. "This evil temptress wants details, girl."
"Yes, what did she say Utena? How'd you meet?" Kaori asked, her tiredness and goofy mood seemingly now forgotten.
"Oh, well..." Utena looked uncertainly back and forth between Wakaba and Kaori and Chiaki across the table. Tentatively sure that Wakaba was now okay with her confession and all, she continued. "It was kind of a coincidence really... I was walking, and I was thinking about her." She looked from Chiaki to Kaori, seeing they were following along avidly. "I'd just been thinking about seeing her this morning, and we just sort of... ran into each other. And I was about to fall over, and she caught me. She looked down at me, and her eyes were so..." Utena rested her chin on the heels of her palms, fingers curled up over her chin, and she got the smile and a sort of far away look in her eyes.
"This is serious, isn't it." Kaori put in.
Chiaki nodded. "She's gone alright." She smiled, sparing a worried glance for Wakaba who still looked like she was struggling to deal with this.
"We just talked for a little bit." Utena said, sitting up straight again.
"What about her and Anthy Himemiya?" Wakaba asked. "So, they weren't together after all?"
Utena looked over at her friend. "...It's complicated." She said. "I shouldn't really be talking about what she said about... but, they're not together, and they haven't been together before either. So, it's not a lost cause or anything. I just figure, I'll try to be her friend and.... who knows? Girl's gotta try, right?" She asked.
"Totally correct." Kaori agreed.
"I agree with the lazy girl." Chiaki said.
"But... She's defiantly into girls too, right?" Wakaba asked. "She said so."
"Definitely." Utena said.
"Well, that's a relief." Wakaba said, surprising Chiaki who hid it well. "I mean, it would suck if she wasn't, right?"
Utena smiled and hugged Wakaba. "Oh Wakaba, you're always looking out for me." She said.
"Yeah, that's me alright." Wakaba said in an inaudibly soft voice as she hugged her friend back.
Chiaki looked over at Kaori with concern.
Kaori nodded. "Trouble." She said softly, agreeing with her girlfriend's unspoken assessment of the situation.
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"I don't think it's too out of the ordinary for me to consider things in that regard, do you?" Saionji pressed his point. A point which Juri had frankly not cared to try to find in the midst of the hot air and bluster that was blowing her way the first time. She was getting a headache.
"Saionji, I really don't see how arguing about this is going to change things." Miki said, reasonable as usual.
Juri had been talking with Miki Kaoru in the piano room after classes. She'd come in hopes of finding an unbiased ear to talk with about some things, and hopefully get a free recital from her genius musically gifted friend at the same time. She'd gotten the first thing, and was feeling marginally less confused about things, but Miki had only gotten part of the way through one song when Kyouichi Saionji had come in, whining, ostensibly, about the new dullest they'd heard about again.
"Oh will you shut up, boy?" Saionji sneered at Miki. "Do you practice being so much of a know it all, or is it simply a result of-"
"Leave him alone, Kyouichi." Juri turned back to face the tall green haired Student Council vice president, her voice fierce yet in control.
"Mind your tongue, and remember who your talking to, woman." Saionji narrowed his eyes at her.
"Get over yourself." Juri stared him down. "No one wants to hear your whining. I don't, I'm sure Miki doesn't. We both know you don't care about this new dullest pretense of yours, you're just preening and strutting until you get up the nerve to finally challenge me to a duel."
"Why you..."
"Either make the challenge, or leave." Juri said, her voice growing more icy by the minute.
"Fine! I'll leave. For now." Saionji said. "But I'll remember this, and when it is time for our dual, I promise you, you'll regret taking this attitude towards me." He said it and abruptly turned and strode out of the room.
"Ass." Juri said, turning and leaning one handed against the piano, rubbing her face, her better mood now seemingly spoiled.
"Well, it is Saionji after all." Miki said. "If he acted any other way, I think it would be even more of a shock."
Juri smiled and laughed just a little bit.
"Why do you think he keeps delaying like this though?" Miki asked, sitting back at the piano and looking over at Juri.
"Who knows." Juri groaned. "I almost wish he'd just get it over with already though."
"He doesn't think he can beat you yet." Miki put forward.
"Mm?" Juri looked over at him with interest as Miki paged through the sheets of music he had before him.
"It's true. I've heard he's been putting in long evenings at the fencing hall - preparing, I would guess..."
"Hmm. He really is serious about this, isn't he?" Juri said, a slight thread of worry cropping up despite herself. Regardless of how Anthy affected her, the thought of her engaged to that truculent jackass was simply in no way acceptable to her. She couldn't let Saionji win, there was no way she could let him - No. Way.
"I think he is, yes." Miki said. "If you'd like, we could spar together more often?" He offered. "I know you keep in practice, but..."
"But that might not be enough this time, I think you might be right." Juri agreed. "Thank you, Miki." She said with affection. "You're a good friend."
"So are you." Miki returned the complement. "So. Tomorrow morning, say, a half an hour before classes?"
"Fine. The usual place?" Juri smiled.
"I'll be there." Miki confirmed. "...Would you still like to stay a while, while I play?" He asked.
"No... I think I... Utena?" Juri was greeted by the unexpected sight of the girl she'd spent most of the time she'd been talking with Miki discussing.
"Um yeah. Hi." Utena said rather ill-at-ease all of a sudden. She'd been looking for Juri and someone had told her that she could find her in one of the music rooms. She'd heard the last part of the argument that had just happened from down the hall. "Is this a bad time?"
"...Ah, uh, no, no!" Juri fumbled with what to say. "I mean, it's a nice surprise."
"Yeah?" Utena asked, with interest.
"Yeah." Juri hastened to cross the space between them as Utena stepped into the room. "It is." She said. "So, um, were you looking for me, or, did you just walk by the building and hear yelling out the window?"
"I was looking for you. I thought, I don't know, we could... hang out. Together. Or something." She didn't seem to be getting more eloquent with practice around this girl, did she? "What was that about, anyway?" Utena turned her head momentarily in the direction Saionji had went to indicate what she was referring to.
"That was about Saionji being a jerk, as usual. No real news." Juri explained, signs of her exasperation with the truth of that statement still evident in her tone.
"Oh... He had a student council uniform too, didn't he?" Utena noticed. "That must be really bad, if you have to put up with someone like that all the time." She sympathized.
"It's not fun." Juri admitted. "He's the vice president, actually. This is Miki by the way." She remembered her manners finally and introduced the other person in the room who was watching the exchange with some amusement. "He's a council member also."
"Oh, um, hi there. It's nice to meet you." Utena bowed slightly as Miki got up from his piano bench and came over to shake hands lightly with her.
"It's nice to meet you as well, Miss Tenjou. Juri speaks very highly of you." Miki said, pointedly.
"Oh yeah?" Utena smiled.
"Miki..." Juri rubbed her face, leaning against the wall.
"I think you made a positive impression on her." Miki smiled, leaning in closer to Utena. "Not always the easiest thing to do, if you believe the rumors about her."
"Really? And what rumors would those be?" Utena asked playfully.
"You two can stop any time now, you know?" Juri pointed out in mock exasperation at the easy friendly banter that seemed to come naturally between the two.
"Okay." Utena agreed easily, exchanging a look with Miki, whom she had seemed to instantly have taken a liking to. "So, do you want to, maybe go get something to eat?" She asked Juri. [Did I just ask her out on a date?] Utena's mind panicked a little. [I didn't mean to do that!]
Juri met Utena's gaze. "I would love to do that." She said, moving closer to the other girl and taking up Utena's left hand in her right. "Thank you for the invitation."
Miki looked uncomfortable now, Utena noticed.
"Oh, um. We can bring your friend along." Utena hastened to add. "You know, if you want to?" She offered, wanting to be sure and to offer Juri an out if the other girl really did think this was a date. [I'm taking this slow, remember? Be her friend first?] Utena reminded herself firmly.
Juri looked over at Miki.
"No, I think three would be a crowd in this instance." Miki smiled in amiable fashion. "Besides, I do need to keep in practice, and I was looking forward to having some time to play this afternoon. It is what I came here for after all, and I have yet to even play one song all the way through."
"I'm sorry about that..." Juri said.
"It's okay." Miki reassured her. "I'm glad we had a chance to talk."
"Thanks." Juri said. "Um, so..." She turned back to Utena, seeming a bit uneasy. "Should we go?"
Utena smiled and nodded yes, and they walked out of the room, still holding hands.
Miki went back to the piano and began to play a song. Juri and Utena listened to it as they walked down the hallway.
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To be continued...