Revised again (not as much though) and extended again. Most of what I've
added is a "dinner with Wakaba" section. I'm not sure about it at all,
though. Is it good, does it need work, or should it just be chucked?
   And I haven't even got to the Utena-Anthy scene yet...*sigh*...
   Thanks to Chris Davies for comments received. Please, the rest of you,
don't be shy. :) 
   Again, does Utena sound right, or is the conversational tone overdone?

---
Your Highness,

   What time am I writing this at? 1 o'clock. That's how long it's taken to
stop shaking enough for me to be even able to write this, never mind getting
to bed. That and I have classes in the morning. I know I'll be like the
walking dead in class tomorrow if I don't get to sleep like RIGHT NOW, but
the fact is if I don't write this to you it'll replay in my head all night
and I won't sleep at all, and I'll be even worse in the morning.

   Shoot, where do I begin?

   Anthy. She's in bed right now, sleeping like a baby like nothing happened
at all. I envy her.

   Yeah, I know. It usually begins with Anthy. You must be getting really
bored with me writing as much about what she does as about what I do, your
Highness. I'd probably wish you'd talk about something else too. I guess I
must sound like a girl in love, or something, like Wakaba gushing her
"darling Utena." (Don't laugh--it gets old after a while, at least if you're
me. I almost wish she _would_ get hitched with Saionji, just so she'd cut
that out stuff out. But you're not me. You're a prince, so I guess being
adored by girls is something you just had to learn to live with, right?)

   Did I say a girl in love? Did I really?

   No, wait. I'm getting ahead of myself. Where was I?

   Right, Anthy. Never a dull moment with her around. You must have thought
you'd heard it all--how she'll be happy as a calm watching Micky's metronome
go back and forth for hours on end, or the Home Shopping Network (talk about
easily amused)--her shaved ice dinners--that darn curry--the pencil-box full
of snails--the mongoose--the inflatable octopus--and so on and so on and so on.

   You thought you'd heard it all? Well, I thought I'd seen it all. She acts
like a child, or like she comes from Mars. "Not of this world" doesn't begin
to describe her.

   From Mars. That reminds me--now I know where to begin. I'd actually been
wondering for a while about her, about her folks, where she comes from. Near
the end of lunch, today, just before lit. class, don't know why but I
figured I'd ask. So I go and ask her, just to make conversation, "Say,
Anthy, just out of curiosity--your folks from around here?" Because she
always looked kind of exotic--I've told you that, right. Himemiya's a
japanese name, but maybe her mother was foreign?

   Okay, okay, not like Anthy'll ever give you a straight answer--but I had
to try. 

   She just kind of smiled nervously, and didn't say anything--that I
expected, but just how nervous she was I didn't, She looked like, "Crap!
I've been found out!" or some darn thing. I was going to ask if I'd said
something wrong, but then there was a message over the intercom asking will
Anthy Himemiya come to the principal's office?

   Anthy got right up. Guess she was glad to be off the hook. I heard people
muttering. Why's Anthy going to the office? Not like she gets in trouble.
She's really shy and quiet. Keeps to herself mostly. Yeah, like every axe
murderer you ever read about! Giggles. Kind of ticked me off, but Anthy
mustn't have heard. Or just didn't care; not like she doesn't get it all the
time.

   I had to ask what she thought the principal wanted.

   "I don't know, Miss Utena," she answered. "But whatever it is I suppose
it must be important." 

   And she picks up Chuchu (he generally sleeps in her desk during the day)
and just leaves without a word. Me I just kind of watched her leave, and
must have spaced out, I guess, because next thing I knew Wakaba was shaking
me and asking if I thought she had failed the mythology test we'd had to
take last week (we got it back today).

   So I'm like, "Uh, yeah. I wouldn't worry about it. Say, do you know if
Anthy's mom is foreign, Wakaba?"

   And she goes, "Anthy's mom is foreign? Hm..." and she makes a big show of
looking thoughtful. Maybe she was being silly because my question was weird,
or something. Guess she never thought about it. Finally she says, "I dunno.
Maybe she's from Africa or something."

   "Africa?"

   "Yeah. Isn't she, like, black?"

   "Black? She's not black!"

   "Well, she's got the right complexion..."

   "It's not _that_ dark! I think..." I mean, she didn't look like the black
people I'd seen on TV. Now I think of it, she doesn't look much like she
comes from anywhere.

   So Wakaba gets up and says, "Maybe the Three Stooges know!" She meant
Suzuki, Yamada, and Tanaka. They were in their little corner of the class,
talking about either Gundam or Nanami Kiryu. Not like I paid attention to
what they were talking about, but that's all they seem to ever talk about.
Creepy as heck. That and they could be triplets. 

   So she goes to the Three Stooges and asks, "Say, you guys, do you know
where Anthy's folks are from?"

   They gave her a kind of weird look. Guess they didn't know either. They
had lots of ideas about where she might be from, mind you.

   "Maybe she's Indian, or something," said Tanaka. "Don't Indian girls have
those dots in the middle of their heads?"

   "I think those are stuck on, guys," I said. I was beginning to be sorry I
asked.

   "Hey, that's it! Maybe she's the reincarnation of the Buddha!"

   "Oh yeah, right!" Wakaba said.

   "Don't be a dumbass," said Suzuki all of a sudden, and boy did he look
intense. "Anthy's not an Indian name."

   "Sure sounds like it," Tanaka said.

   "Yeah," said Yamada, who sounded a little puzzled. "What sort of a name
is Anthy anyway? Maybe she's like an Arab or something..."

   "It's not 'Anthy,' it's 'Anthe'e.' It's French," Suzuki said, standing up
and folding his arms, really dramatically--he was really getting into this,
you could tell. "But ultimately, it comes from the Greek 'Anthea.' So you're
not far of the mark, Yamada. She may be from the Levant, but from Greece,
not Arabia or  Palestine. In other words..."

   Dramatic pause. You could almost hear a drumroll in the background. It
was that corny.

   "She is in fact Anthea, Goddess of Roses, come to visit us from Mount
Olympus!" Amazing how funny the guys seemed to think it was. Even Wakaba
giggled. Maybe it was the delivery, or something. Me I was just like, "Hey,
you guys, can we stop?"

   They didn't of course. Too late for that. They were on a roll, now. Like
sharks in a feeding frenzy. Jerks.

   "Guess who got a hundred on the test! You literary dog you!" said Yamada.
Suzuki made a show of being embarrassed, saying "aw, shucks," hand behind
his head and stuff.

   "I dunno. I preferred her as the Buddha," said Tanaka.

   "I have a compromise, men," said Yamada. "I say she's Kaguya-hime, the
Princess of the Gods of the Moon!" More laughter.

   Then Eiko Ikuhara started. Damn her.

   "Wait! I've got it! I've thought up the subject of my new play. Ohtori
Monogatari, the Tale of the Rose-Cutter! The tragic tale of the moon-child
found in a rose-bush, and who was courted by all the fair princes of the land!"

   "Will you cut it out, already!" I said. A bit too loudly, I guess. It
didn't work.

   "Oh, don't be like that, Utena!" she says. "You can be the emperor!" 

   "Just so you know, I am not going to be the prince who had a bird poop in
his hand!" Biiko Saito said that. She was laughing too.

   That did it. I don't know why, but right there I just lost it and yelled
at her to shut up and slapped her. Hard. So hard she almost fell out of her
chair.

   And she looks at me like she's about to cry. Wakaba looked a little
scared, though I didn't pay it any mind then. Everyone else just stared,
frozen like they were statues; I guess they were scared too.

   "What was that for?" she said finally. "We were just teasing, you know..."

   "Don't. You. Talk. About. ANTHY like that!" I said, just like that. I was
really pissed by now, and I must have looked it, because Wakaba seemed to be
shrinking in her chair.

   "Miss Tenjo, I've tried to make you correct your disruptive behavior in
the past, and failed, so this time I'm asking you nicely. Will you _please_
keep your outbursts for outside class periods?"

   I was a bit confused for a moment there. Wakaba nervously pointed to the
lit. teacher--that was her--who'd just come in. Turned out everyone'd got so
carried away nobody'd even noticed the bell ring. Don't know what that
means. Maybe it meant that really it wasn't just me that wondered a lot
about Anthy. Or maybe they were just having too much fun. Either way, in the
end I never got a straight answer.

   "Now that's out of the way, playtime's over. Stand up! Bow! Sit! I have
your tests, and as usual they're a disgrace!"

   Could have been worse. At least she didn't see me hit Biiko, so that was
good.

   Anthy came back in just in time to be marked present. We got the tests
back. I could tell by the way she pouted that she'd failed even before she
told me. I got a 90! (Yes!) Dunno what Anthy got. She's not that good at
school, but tests don't seem to phase her at all. She'll just take the paper
and put it in her bag without even looking at the grade sometimes, so I
guess even she doesn't know, if she even cares. You'd think with Micky
helping her so much she would care. I mean, I told you she seems to like
him. Making people you're supposed to like work for no reason isn't cool, right?

   So at the end of the class the tecaher leaves and the moment she's out
the door Wakaba jumps on me and starts to wail, and she's like "Waaah! I
flunked! I'll never pass this class! My life is OVER!"

   I'm like, "Hey, hey, you don't have to cry about it, you know..."

   And she's blubbering and stuff and says, "I'm sorry, Utena, I just need a
shoulder to cry on right now..."

   Then she looks up and looks all happy. "I know! You awnna come over to my
dorm for dinner? Huh huh huh?" Just like that. And I'm like, "Well, I,
uh..." Not like I didn't want to, just I was a bit overwhelmed. I'm like
that a lot around Wakaba.

   And then she says, "Come on! You must be pretty sick of the Moon
Princess's shaved ice by now, right? You must be _starving!_"

   "Wakaba! That was really rude, calling her that right in front of her!" I
said, because Anthy sits right beside me (Wakaba's a few rows in front).
"You think she doesn't have feelings?"

   Not to mention it isn't true. Anthy can't cook much in the way of dinner
food, but her breakfasts rule She ought to be running a cafe or something.

   "It was?" Wakaba said, blinking and looking all confused. Like she didn't
know what she'd said! I couldn't believe she was even still thinking about
that! "Oh, I'm sorry, Anthy, I didn't mean..."

   "Miss Utena," Anthy said, "if you don't mind, I have to be somewhere this
evening myself. Is it all right?"

   And I'm like, "Uh, I guess it is...well, Wakaba, guess I'm coming over
after all. No point staying home..."

   Of course Wakaba jumped on me again. "Hurray!"

   Yes, Your Highness, this has a point. It meant more later on. First
though I need a cup of tea.

---

   Well, what do you know? Anthy left some in the pot. She thinks of everything.

   You know, maybe that means she thought I'd be shaken up tonight. But I'm
getting ahead of myself.

   2 a.m. already. Crap.

   Where was I? Right. Wakaba.

   So after school lets out I go over to Wakaba's. Real food, too, not
cafeteria food. Wakaba's dorm is fairly new, and not only do they have
air-conditioning (lucky them, it has been _hot_ this summer), but they also
have a small kitchen, so people who have allergies, or foreign students who
aren't used to the food--yeah, we've got a couple, mostly from Europe, a few
Americans, coming to study Japanese--can cook their own. Nobody likes the
dorm food much, though, so everybody ends up using it.

   Not that it matters, but it turned out Wakaba made some sushi. Really
nice, too. She put her heart and soul into it. Me I sat and did some of my
homework while she did that--not all of it of course, 'cause tonight was a
Friday, and not all our classes meet on Saturday, just the morning ones, and
Wakaba didn't take _that_ long at the sushi--and just watch. She made me
just watch. I offered to help, but she wouldn't have it.

   So she finishes the sushi and we go up to the room and go inside.

   Biiko Saito was there. Now that was normal enough by itself--Biiko's
Wakaba's roomie this year. Did I tell you that? (Her idea, not Wakaba's. She
was rooming with Eiko, but Eiko's a real slob and a pain to live with too.
She--Biiko that is--got assigned to Wakaba when I was moved out at the last
minute when school started.) But we open the door and there she is and
Wakaba's like, "Oh, Biiko, hi, didn't you go to theater club yet?"

   And Biiko's like, "Well..." and then she sees it's _me_, and she says
really weird-like, "Truth is, I was just leaving now, um, hi, Utena, sorry
about today, tell Anthy I'm sorry too, bye," like that, and she almost runs
out of the room. I guess I must have been staring after her, because Wakaba
dragged me into the room, going, "Are you coming in or not?"

   So I go in, and we split the sushi, and she makes me some tea to wash it
down with. Green tea, not the black tea Anthy always serves. Talk about
traditionally Japanese--as unlike Anthy as you can get, I thought
afterwards. Was that intentional, I'm wondering now? I don't know, I didn't
ask. I didn't think of it then, even. Maybe I'm paranoid, is all.

   We split the sushi, and she puts on the TV and makes me watch a show
called _His Secret Her Secret_. High school comedy. Animated. Girl meets
boy, girl's a real freak, guy has deep dark secrets, it's love. That sort of
thing. Anyway, that doesn't matter. Point is, the show's over and the
credits roll, and it says "Director: Hideaki Anno" and Wakaba's like,
"That's really _weird_, huh?"

   And I'm like, "What is?"

   And she's like, "That guy directed stuff like _Neon Genesis Evangelion,_
and now he's doing sweet stuff like _His 'n Hers_. Isn't that _weird_?"

   "I guess. I never watched _Eva_." Which was true. All I knew about it was
that it was about giant robots and the ending sucked, and I only knew the
last thing because the Three Stooges were bitching about it the next day.

   "Oh you have no idea. It was so _cool_! And there are people in it who
are _just_ like the people at school! I'm like, I _know_ these people!" she
says.

   And I'm like, "Uh-huh..."

   "Like Asuka. She's one of the pilots. She is _so_ like Nanami Kiryu it's
not even _funny_! I mean, she isn't white or anything like Asuka--Nanami I
mean--but the way she thinks she's all that, they're _exactly_ the same. Oh!
Oh! Even better. Rei Ayanami. She's another pilot. _Really_ creepy. It turns
out she's a clone or something, but that doesn't matter. She never talks and
she looks really weird too. Freaks everyone out, especially Asuka. She is
_so_ like--"

   "Anthy?" I asked.

   "Yeah! _Exactly_ like her. You took the words right out of my mouth!" She
giggled. "Hey," she suddenly said in a conspiratorial tone, "you know the
forest on campus that nobody's allowed in? I was thinking, what if there's a
secret lab there where, like, they make clones of Anthy? Wouldn't that be--"

   My chopsticks snapped in my hand. She took that as a hint.

   "Oops." She covered her mouth, like she was trying to stuff the words
back inside.

   I tried to restrain myself. I was thinking, I will not lose my temper. I
will not slap Wakaba. I will not punch her lights out. I will not...

   I managed it. Couldn't unclench my fist, though.

   So I said, "Wakaba. Tell me something. What the hell is this? National
Pick on Anthy Week?"

   "I'm sorry..."

   That did it.

   "You're sorry? You're SORRY!?" That was me gone. I didn't have to slap
her--the tone was enough to make her recoil. "Sorry you opened your big
mouth, you mean!--Now you listen and you listen good, God knows I'm used to
seeing people make fun of Anthy, God knows I'm used to seeing them trying to
make her life miserable, I don't know why, but where the hell _you_ and you
call yourself my friend mind you where _you_ get off saying things like that
to me about her to my _face_--"

   "They went easy on you." She said that through her hands, which she was
using to hide her face. (From slaps? From blows?)

   "What?"

   "You should hear them when you're not there..."

   "No, I don't..."

   She came out from behind her shield. "Biiko told me not to tell you this,
but I guess I'd better now. You know what Eiko said about a play about you
and Anthy? She's for real."

   "_Really._"

   "Yes." Her voice was quavering a bit. "I don't know about the Princess
Moonlight thing, but Biiko said Eiko was going to write one of those
shadow-plays for the school festival about, and I swear she said this,
'Utena's prince.' This was a few days ago. She said she tried to talk Eiko
out of it, because she thought it was real mean, but you might as well talk
to a brick wall than tell Eiko anything, she said, and apparently Eiko said,
'Everybody else will laugh, so who cares?'"

   Did I ever tell you about Eiko's shadow plays? I don't think I did, so I
will now. Apparently she's a real genius. She's been putting on plays with
shadow puppets--writing them and directing them--since she was eight, or so
I heard. Her mom used to be a actor, I think. Anyway, she's been in charge
of the theater club here for two years--apparently the school, including the
principal, begged her to enroll. Every term or so she writes a
play--actually more like sketches--about goings-on around the school and the
city of East Ohtori and the club puts it on using her puppets. People love
it--matter of fact the kids at the school paper hate it because she can say
stuff that they can't, and then people go, "I can't wait for Eiko to give us
the real deal." She changes things around so the teachers won't catch on, of
course. Which is bad, because she makes fun of them, but also students--and
sometimes she's really nasty about it too. When people make fools of
themselves around here, they just got to hope and pray Eiko doesn't get wind
of it, because you might end up in the next performance. 

   I knew Eiko doesn't care if she hurts people's feeling. Everyone does.
She even boasts about it. Probably thinks it's her duty to express herself,
or something, though I sometimes think she just likes making fun of people
who aren't artists or smart like her. Outside her little theater club clique
nobody really likes her, even though they love the plays, because it's an
excuse to twist the knife in public. They're kind of afraid of her, really.
I'm so glad Micky's not like that. He's smart, but he's really nice.

   Man, I wrote a lot about that, didn't I?

   Point is, I was not looking forward to Eiko's next play.

   "Oh yeah? Well, she won't be laughing when I--"

   And suddenly it was Wakaba yelling at me.

   "Don't you get it at _all_? People _laugh_ at you and Anthy behind your
back! Oh I know. You got used to your adoring fans saying you were cool,
right? Well, they don't think so any more. Now you just freak them out, so
they make fun of you, and they laugh at _me_ because I hang out with you,
even though I practically had to _drag_ you away from Anthy to get you to
come here. But you don't care about that at all as long as they Anthy's
happy, right?"

   "Um...are we talking about the same girls who all but demand to be the
mother of my children whenever I pass by?" Call me naive if you want, but...

   "_Especially_ them. And the thing is, you actually buy it, waving and
going"--and Wakaba put on a really deep voice here--"'Well, hello there, my
dears!' like a complete _dork_! You really think they mean it? No. That's
not true. They used to mean it, anyway. They don't any more. Now the moment
you're out of earshot they laugh their heads off because you're such a
freak! Are you that dumb?"

   "Now look, Wakaba, aren't you exagger--"

   "No, you look! You think people make fun of Anthy just 'cause she's
there? They do it for a reason!"

   My cue to go back on the offensive. "Oh. Right. I see. I guess you think
that makes it all right, then, huh, is that it?"

   "No! No! Look, I'm sorry about what I said, really, that was real
uncalled for, but that's not the point--"

   "And what is the point?"

   "The point is people pick on Anthy and make fun of her because she really
_scares_ them! You don't think  she's _scary_?"

   "No, I don't think she's scary, Wakaba," I said, as precisely as I could,
"I happen to think she's a very nice and very sweet girl. She's a little
shy, that's _all_. She acts a little weird, sure, but that's because she
doesn't have any friends."

   "No. She has no friends because she's--no, she's not weird. I'm a girl
and I watch _Eva,_ I'm weird. You're weird, a good kind of weird, or you
used to be. She's _scary_. I mean, have you ever seen the way she looks at
people?"

   "No, even though I've lived with her all term. What the hell is that
supposed to mean? Okay, she zones out now and again, or seems to, but--"

   "No, Utena, she does not 'zone out.' She _looks_ at you really really
detached like, like you were one of her flowers or a bug or
something--Utena, haven't you ever noticed how she _talks_ to people? It's
like she's a princess and you're a servant--no, that's not it--like to a
kid--yeah!--like to a child or an _animal_ or something like that! She talks
to you like you were that darn monkey of hers--is she even allowed have that
thing as a pet?--and you don't even seem to notice! Oh yeah. Tell me. Is it
true she keeps a mongoose in her desk drawer like I heard?"

   "Yeah. I told her not to, but she wouldn't listen. She does whatever the
heck she wants. It's true, I don't know what she's thinking sometimes..."

   "I mean, where the heck does it go to the bathroom?"

   "Ha ha. You think that's funny too?"

   "No! I think that's creepy! And really cruel too! Nice! She's not nice at
all! You know what, Utena? I think she's just using you to defend her from
Nanami and Saionji and them, like a hired thug or guard dog or--or--or
something! I don't think she cares about you at all! You told me _yourself_
she called Chuchu 'her friend.' I'm thinking, what does that mean? That to
her Utena's no better than _Chuchu_, for God's sake?" 

   Yes, I _had_ just about had it. Probably because what made too much
sense. I stood up and had a good long stretch, as dramatically as possible. 

   "Bullshit," I said. "I don't need this. I'm leaving. Wakaba, get help.
See you at class tomorrow, or not."

   And I started for the door. Only I never got there, at least not then,
because Wakaba jumped up, somehow got around me and threw herself in front
of the door.

   "No!" she said. There were tears in her eyes. "You're not going back to
her! I don't know what she's doing to you, but I'm not letting you go back
there!"

[...]

I am, Sir, 
Your obedient servant,
Utena Tenjo.

---
Paul Corrigan
corrig11@pilot.msu.edu