Kiryuu Touga is seated at his desk within his office in a pretty mundane
session of form filing and letter reading..as he sifts through various
odds and ends he piles a goodly amount onto the 'out' basket...after a
moment he calls out without looking up, "Utena.."

Utena answers with a quick, though not necessarily CHIRPY, "Hai,
Seitokaichou.." She stands up and walks over to stand in front of his
desk, her hands linked in front of her as she glances down.

Kiryuu Touga gestures to the 'Out' basket, "Take this stack to the front
desk for distribution throughout the school..and be prompt..you need to
finish your stamping before the night is done." dismissing you as
abruptly as he called you.  Still writing papers as he does so..

Utena eyes the LARGE stack unhappily, and nods, leaning to ease the papers
into her hands.. then oofs slightly as the papers shift around in her
arms.. and turns to go through the open door... walking out briskly, with
a bored expression. Boring. This is SO boring.

Kiryuu Touga continues with his various tasks as you leave the room..and
walk down the hall towards the front desk.

Utena . o O ( How can he STAND this. So boring.  )

Utena sets the stack down on the abandoned front desk and whews!, wanting
to relieve her arms for a moment... then, she glances idly at the top
sheet, wondering exactly WHAT it is that she's lugging around, and what
could be so important.

The first few sheets are various school advisories, staff meetings,
volenteer work, similar things, extracurricular activities..as you
glance..there is a notice to the Student Council with a rose signature in
the upper left hand corner...curious...

Utena blinks.

Utena's eyes narrow slightly, focusing on the signet. She can't help it.
She's just curious. She glances about herself cautiously, making sure no
one is around.. then casually slides apart the top of the stack, pulling
out the notice marked with the rose. . o O ( What's this...?)

There are a few copies..actually exactly as many copies as there are
Student Council members... with a simple message in the middle with black
on white 'Meeting arranged at <enter time> date for the discussion and
briefing on new situation of recent challenge made on Ootori.' signed
Kiryuu Touga.

Utena BLINKS, feeling rather like someone just hit her in the head with a
bolt of lightning. Confused, she stares at the notice and rereads it
several times, until she can see it even if she closes her eyes. "N..
nande.." she whispers incredulously, confused, and DEEPLY wanting to
steal a copy for herself. She counts them just to make sure.

Only as many copies as there are Student Council members...but lets see
if you remember about the copy machine in the supply room just a bit down
the hall..

Utena does, actually, as Touga had her copying some notice for the
bulletin boards earlier. She glances around herself again, hastily, and
picks up the whole stack to carry with her to the supply room.

The hallways are empty..as Touga seems to insist on working late...the
supply room door is closed however..but probably not locked..a minor yet
onvinencing obstacle..

Utena looks at the closed doors, and the stack in her hands. Wiser to set
it down, quietly. *Carefully.* Having done this, placing the stack down
alongside the doorway, she reaches out and SLOWLY turns the knob to see
if she can get in.

Utena . o O ( Please don't be locked...  )

Not locked..as you open the room you see various school supplies and
general odds and ends.. and the copy machine.

Utena silently cheers as she eases the door open, then bends back down,
picking up the whole stack of papers, carrying it inside with her...
setting the massive stack near the copier.. then closing.. and.. if
possible.. LOCKING the door behind her.

The door is lockable from the inside yes.  Might take you a moment to
find the light switch tho..

Utena will risk it. She turns the lock inside the knob, and then fumbles
about slightly, her hand brushing along the wall, fingers questing for
the light switch.

Utena moves SLOWLY, so as to hopefully not trip over anything.

After a few moments of fumbling the lights switch on..once again bathing
the room in soft flouresent light. 

Utena exhales, deeply, and pauses for a moment. Tries to think. Will the
sound of the copier carry? If she's quick, it won't matter much. But
first... before that... she wants to see if there's anything else in the
stack of interest; since she's gone this far, why not carry it the rest
of the way... ?

Not particularly..just extracurricular activities..a few
announcements...some public test score results of certain students...

Utena hrms for a moment, then shakes her head. Tempting as it is to see
if, say, *Nanami's* test scores are in there... the letter's more
important. She snatches one of the copies and hastily feeds it through
the machine, then takes the resultant copy, folds it into a square, and
slips it into her jacket (unbuttoning briefly to do so.) With the copy of
the letter safely nestled inside, she pats herself down quickly to make
sure it won't show, then replaces the original in the stack of papers,
goes to unlock the door, then turns back to get the stack of papers. All
done quickly, and with a nervousness..

Utena slips her last button of the jacket back into place at her throat
and picks up the hefty, slightly unbalanced paper stack. And moves toward
the open doorway.. Mission accomplished. Maybe this isn't going to be so
bad after all..

Down the hall, a figure pauses at the door to the Seitokaichou's office,
glancing in at the empty front desk.  The figure seems to hesitate a
moment, and then enters the office.

Utena staggers down the hall, but her attention isn't entirely on what
she's doing. Instead, her head is spinning with the wording of the
notice.. a new challenge? From who? From what? WHY? What will be done
about it? So many questions.

Utena is returning toward the front desk, balancing a bunch of paper.

A figure is bent over the front desk as you walk into the room.

Utena doesn't immediately spot the figure, for perhaps a few seconds, her
reactions delayed as her head is still whirling. Still in a kind of
light, dazed shock, she blinks, and it takes her a few seconds to
register that someone's messing with the desk. Then, she calls out, "What
are you doing?" to the figure.

Utena frowns.

The figure jumps, startled, then turns around.

Utena tries to get a look at the figure, her arms loaded down with
paperwork.

Yamaguchi Kei blinks.  "Ten'jou-san...?"

Utena blinks, equally. Blue eyes wide and questioning. "Yamaguchi-san?"

Yamaguchi Kei says, "I didn't know you worked for the Student Council..."

Utena shakes her head softly. "I'm helping out. What are you doing?"

Yamaguchi Kei says, "I got asked to deliver something to the council."

Yamaguchi Kei says, "Since no one was here, I was just going to leave it
on the desk."

Utena hms. "That's okay... I'll give it to the Seitokaichou for you,
then. I was worried for a moment; no one uses that desk any more, it's
just there to stick stuff on." She smiles, then, looking relieved.

Yamaguchi Kei nods.  "Hai, if you could just put it on his desk, that'd
be great.  I was just told to make sure it made it to him."  She glances
over at you and smiles.  "I'm glad to see they let you out of the Big
House."  She winks.

Utena laughs and moves forward, placing her stack back on the desk. She
approaches from your right side, so as she moves her hands forward.. you
notice a silver glint of light.. from the rose signet on her left hand.
*gleam* Then she smiles and nods. "I feel a lot better now. Good to see
you're out too... You'll have to come see my new place, I just got moved
into the upper floors of this tower.. the room's incredible."

Yamaguchi Kei glances at the ring on Utena's hand for a moment.  "..."
She glances up again.  "Hai!  I'm sure the view is pretty amazing."

Utena says, "It is..."

Utena grins for a moment, then looks back. "Anyway, feel free to come up
and visit some time.. I'm right off the elevator on the top floor, the
other side of the bar. You can't really miss it.. it's the only room with
a doorbell. Catty corner to the planetarium..."

Yamaguchi Kei nods.  "The message for the Seitokaichou is in the envelope
on the desk...I have to get going, I'm supposed to be at a study session
with my sempai."  She moves towards the door and waves.

Utena nods. "Okay, got it. I'll deliver it.. Thanks for dropping it off."
She waves. "And I'll expect to see you up at my place some time, okay?
^_^"

Utena n.n's cheerfully. It's nice to have a potential NORMAL friend apart
from Wakaba..

Yamaguchi Kei smiles and waves.  "Hai."

Yamaguchi Kei heads out the door.

Utena looks after the other girl, feeling that kinship again, one
'prince' to another... then, she glances at the envelope on the desk.

The envelope on the desk is a plain one.  It is addressed to 'Ootori
Student Council', and has the symbol of the rose on it.  On the back,
it's sealed with a small emblem of a Phoenix, with 'Shinsei' written
below it.

Utena STARES.

Utena gapes like a fish out of water, in fact. O.O

Kashira, Kashira... 

(Fade to shadow play here- two princes, each friends, forced to fight as
enemies by circumstance...) 

Utena says, "...."

A deep masculine voice echo's out from the hallway, "Utena?"

Utena looks back over her shoulder, stricken. . o O ( Yamaguchi-san...? )

Utena calls back, "Hai?" quickly, trying to hide the tremor in her voice.

Maybe she's just the messenger, Utena...

Kiryuu Touga is walking down the hallway in his functional
strides...hands in his jacket pockets..his voice letting a small measure
of annoyance creep in, "I said be prompt..not take an impromptu break.."

Utena's slender fingers move over the purple wax seal on the back of the
letter. She doesn't attempt to break it, yet.. but it's definitely real.
Touching it convinces her that it is real. Can she let Touga see this?

Utena turns, and hastily attempts to slide the letter off the desk to the
floor, so that it'll fall out of sight. "H.. hai.. gomen... Seitokaichou! 
" She moves slightly, blocking the front of the desk with her body. Kiryuu
Touga stands before you..glances to the front door behind you..then back
to you with an even gaze..he arches an eyebrow, "Speaking with your
friends Utena?  You should really try and stay on task." he doesn't show
any signs of noticing that you knocked the letter down... 

Utena glances at the floor, making every play of looking really, really
chastised. It's also to hide the nervousness she knows must be radiating
out of her eyes.. "I'm sorry. She was walking down the hall and I just
lost track of time for a moment. It won't happen again, sempai."

Kiryuu Touga absently, "See that it doesn't..." as he pauses for a
moment...a very uncomfortable moment...before you feel his strong fingers
on your chin...trying to lift your gaze up to his as he comments, "Are
you feeling alright Utena?" suspicious..

Utena lets you lift her face, a sweetly pink blush crossing her features
as your eyes burn down into hers. "I.. I'm just a little tired.. that's
all.." she half-whispers. "It's been a long day..." The quaver in her
voice must be coming from your close proximity to her... and of course,
she realizes that she's slightly pinned by you against the desk...

Kiryuu Touga tilts his head to the side a bit..a few of his long flame
red tresses spilling over one shoulder as he regards you with his cool
slender eyes, in a slow curious tone, "I see...." lets his strong fingers
brush against your smooth jawline once before drawing back...letting his
eyes roam over you one more time before closing..turning to walk to his
office, "...your long day is not over yet either Utena..you still have
some work left to do in my office.." as his oppressive presense lets up
in degrees..

Utena nods, "H... hai.." She exhales. Close. WAY too close... trying to
ignore the suddenly heated air in the room. As you turn, she slips around
the desk, quickly taking the letter up the moment you turn your back, and
stuffing it up her jacket, from underneath. This is a quick move; she
hastily slips the letter into the waistband of her shorts, and then
hurries to follow the Seitokaichou before he starts wondering what's
taking her so long.

HOURS pass. Utena makes her way, dizzy and nervous, through the rest of
the routine, boring clerical work the Student Council President passes
off on her. She aches deeply to know what the letter says, feeling the
envelope pressed against her skin, but she bites down hard on her
impatience, and hangs on, by sheer singlemindedness, until finally..
FINALLY... she's dismissed to return to her room. She manages to restrain
herself further until she's safely in the elegant, understated room
granted her by the Dean... then, sitting on the edge of her bed, facing
the massive picture window, she unburdens herself of the notice copy and,
finally, the letter. Her fingers trembling as she shatters the purplle
wax seal in her slim fingers.
 
Utena unfolds the letter within, looks over it, and reads.

Written in an elegant script are a few simple words.  "The terms of
challenge are accepted.  The first match will occur tomorrow, Saturday,
at 10 am in the stone circle in the park below the school."

Below the words is an embossed circle with 'Shinsei' inscribed within it.

Utena SLUMPS backward onto her half of the S-shaped bed, holding the
letter over her head, her jacket open, and her hair spilling over the
pillow. She frowns at the moonlight striking the back of the letter,
giving the paper an eerie, pale glow. "What the hell *is* this...?" She
sighs, letting one arm rest along her forehead. "I don't understand... a
duel... without Himemiya and I?"

Utena says, "Shinsei... 'rebirth'...."

As the moonlight strikes the paper, two more words become dimly visible.
"Never again."

Utena SITS UPRIGHT.

Utena bolts over to the window and SMACKS the paper against the cold
glass, letting the moonlight make those words visible again. She wasn't
imagining it.

Utena bites her lip, and then turns and goes to one of the walls, tapping
on a panel, revealing a hidden niche that opens to reveal a closet and
chest of drawers. From one of the drawers, she draws out a crumpled sheet
of paper, and a small black object. She takes both back to the window, and
this time, holds the crumpled paper to the light. The letter given to
her, personally, at the Chalet. Meant only for her eyes. In her other
hand, she holds.. the stopwatch.

A few further words appear on the crumpled paper.  "I will find a way to
end this game, even should it cost me my life.  I am reborn, and this is
my only goal now.  Never again will another be used as a pawn in this
play apocalypse."

Utena *clicks* the stopwatch. 

Her eyes harden. 

"Wakatta.... Miki."

[Utena logo- superimposed "To be continued."]