Chapter 1: Shinohara Wakaba

Morning.

The students of Ohtori Academy stirred to life to greet the day. Students rushed through the halls to get to class, or chatted about common interests in groups with their friends. As dawn ended, some students were still wearing sportswear from early morning sports practices.

One student dashed down the hall. She wore an Ohtori Academy girls' uniform - her high-cut skirt fluttered as she ran. She dodged between loudly-laughing girls and clumps of boys. Her target was the girl in a boy's uniform who was headed towards Middle School 2nd Year, Class C - Tenjou Utena.

"U~tena! <3"

She threw herself forcefully onto Utena's back. It would have been enough to knock most people over, but Utena kept on her feet. She made a slightly sour face while she gave Wakaba a piggy-back ride.

"Morning, Wakaba. You seem lively as ever."

"Yep! <3 Thanks, Utena!" the girl – Shinohara Wakaba – replied happily from Utena’s back. This was their usual morning greeting.

“Hey, Utena, listen!” Still clinging to Utena's back, Wakaba began chattering at great speed. "Last night, my favorite compact broke, it was terrible! It was the one with the blue and gold eyeliner in it. It made me look so mature, I really liked it, it was such a shock! And to top it off, there was glass scattered all over my room, I cleaned it up but it seriously took all night... hey, are you listening, Utena?"

"Sure," Utena answered, half annoyed and half impressed by Wakaba's rapid-fire speech. "But before you keep going, do you mind getting off my back?"

"Aww, why? It's just a little 'skinship' between lovers. How about just a little longer?"

"Who are you calling lovers?"

"You and me, duh. <3"

Wakaba hugged Utena. Or, to be more accurate, she was latched on to her.

It had been about one month since that day - when Utena had taken Wakaba's love letter down from the hall, had her first duel, and become engaged to Anthy Himemiya. Wakaba had gone back to being her perfectly cheerful self, at least as far as Utena could tell. Maybe one month had been long enough to heal her broken heart.

For her part, Utena was finally recovering her balance from the disruption of her second duel. No new challenger had appeared since Miki. The members of the Student Council seemed to be lying low, and she'd returned to a peaceful daily routine.

"Oh yeah, and speaking of my compact breaking, it's because I was watching this drama last night, and it was so crazy! The tooootally beautiful but ordinary heroine got another new boyfriend, again! Talk about being fickle, geez!"

Wakaba hopped off Utena's back, but kept talking. She began to relate the entire plot of the drama in question.

"...but she didn't go to the meeting place at all! And in the window of the store... hey, Utena, didn't you see it? Everyone was watching it in my dorm."

"Nope. My dorm doesn't even have a TV."

Utena and Anthy lived in the East Dorm. People called it haunted, and it was indeed old, not the sort of place that would have a television.

"But aren't you bored in the evenings, without a TV?"

"Nah, not really. Anthy's there, too. We chat and drink tea and stuff. It's nice. Right, Anthy?"

"Yes, Utena-sama," Himemiya Anthy smiled back from Utena's side. It was the first time Wakaba had heard her speak today.

"You chat, huh...?" Wakaba eyed Anthy. They'd been in the same class since last year, but Wakaba had never seen her chat with anybody. Even recently, she only really talked to Utena - to anyone else, she would usually just smile and nod.

(I still think it'd be prett