Okay, here's a slightly revised version... see whatch'all think of it, ne?
==========
Sometimes, the old ways are better.
Yes, I've heard the Chairman has some state-of-the-art equipment in his
office at the top of the Ohtori tower. So what? It's not like I'd be
allowed up there to use it. I'm just a first-year high school student - what
interest would He have in me? So I have to make the best of my own clunky
telescope that I've set up on the roof of the West dorm.
It's just as well, really. Planetariums are nice, but all they can display
is what they're programmed to... they show what is known. They can't
discover new things...
...things like this...
...now, since when did the Pleiades have *eight* stars?
==========
SEASON OF THE COMET
a Shojou Kakumei Utena fanfiction by Ukyou Kuonji
==========
Shojou Kakumei Utena is the creation and property of Chiho Saito and
Be-Papas. No infringement is intended
----------------
Mild spoilers... all action takes place some time after the series thus far
translated commercially by Software Sculptors. No spoilers about Ends of the
World or the Revolution itself, however...
==========
I don't believe this... could there really be an eighth star up there?
There's no way my little telescope should be able to pick up something that
the big observatories have missed all these years... can there be?
I've got to get my camera attachment, and take a picture of this...
***
Gosh, it's been a while since I tried to hook this thing up. Good thing my
laptop's batteries have a good charge in them... that way, I can digitize
this photo and forward it for confirmation. I *have* to know what I've got,
here...
Okay... just a little more to the right... focus, focus... there, that's got
it. Point, click... and we might well have something.
I know, I know, I shouldn't get my hopes up. If nothing else, the Hubble
probably picked this up a long time ago: it just wasn't considered stop-press
news, so I never heard about it.
But all the same, I'm curious... just what am I looking at here?
Now where did I put the email address for the Royal Astronomical Society...?
Hope they can read my broken English... my grades are good, but it's only
high school level, after all...
***
It's amazing how long a day can go by when you're waiting for some important
news. The only class I could even remotely pay attention to was English, and
that only to correct the grammar errors in my letter to the RAS.
I have *got* to get back to the dorms and see if I can find it again...
whatever it is...
***
Okay, got the computer hooked up to the scope so I get a digital view
directly. Let's aim it back to the Pleiades... see if we can find it...
Oh, no... there's only seven of them again. What happened to it...?
Wait a minutes... there it is, over a few fractions of a degree. It's still
there... and it's moved! This is fantastic! Gotta take another picture...
All right... this has *got* to be something important...
***
Come onnn... damn, but these modem connections here at Ohtori can be so
*slow* sometimes... okay, there we go... and I've got a message from the RAS!
A comet! I've discovered a comet! They say they're working on the
calculations of its orbit, but they will keep me informed about...
...Comet Kanae...? Wha...?
It has a name already? I thought I discovered it... shouldn't I get the
credit?
***
At least the Society is kind enough to explain. Seems our beloved Chairman
has exercised His 'droit du seigneur' to the intellectual property of an
Ohtori student (me) for the sole purpose of naming my discovery (and yes, I
*am* on record as discovering Comet Kanae... thank the kami for small favors)
after His fiancee. A romantic gesture, sure, but couldn't the lovebird have
discovered his *own* comet? He's supposed to have all that equipment...
Of course, maybe I can take that as a moral victory. For all that machinery
He has in that huge tower, a puny freshman with a telescope and a computer
beat Him to it. Ha! Take *that*, Mr. Chairman!
And what kind of a present is that for a fiancee? Oh sure, it looks pretty
from here, but we all know it's made up of ice and debris. Surely the
Chairman could think of a more appropriate token of esteem than something
that's cold and filthy...
Besides, it's not like this is something I'm ever going to be able to point
out to my kids someday: "See that comet up there? Over by the Pleiades?
Your dad discovered that, way back in high school." Nope. According to the
Royal Astronomical Society, Comet Kanae's orbit takes it around the sun only
once every 20,736 years. A quick flash through the sky, and then it's gone
for what might as well be forever.
***
Anyway, I don't care what its name is... it's *my* comet, and I'm gonna keep
an eye on it. By now, I don't even need a telescope; you can just look up
into the sky and see it. It's a greyish smudge at the hem of Orion's tunic,
but it's there. I still prefer the view from the telescope, though, and
nightfall regularly finds me on the roof of the West Dorm, staring into the
sky.
Better into the sky than onto the quad, though. Now that it's visible to the
naked eye, the Chairman himself can be found walking around, arm-in-arm with
*my* comet's namesake. I can see them from my perch on the roof as he points
out stars, planets, and finally the comet, to her. If I train my scope onto
them, I bet I can see a moist sparkle in her eyes, and a dreamy smile on her
face: "Oh, Akio!"
I stare down at the two of them, scowling. I don't know what bugs me more;
that's he's squiring his Kanae around while I shiver alone atop the dorms, or
that he's pointing at *my* Kanae, acting like it was *his*. Where does he
get the right to...?
Oh, kuso... he's turned around. He sees me up here. I can see that glint in
his eye from all the way up here, and I don't need a telescope to know that
it's not a good sign.
I take the hint... I pack up and take everything back to my room as fast as
possible.
***
***
So for the past couple of weeks, I haven't been on the roof nights... much as
I'd like to keep track of my comet, especially as it takes that turn 'round
the sun, and *really* gets bright, I'm not going out if I see... Him... down
there. Kami-sama, but the Chairman gives me the creeps.
Yes, yes... my roommate tells me the two of them haven't been making the
rounds in the evenings, but I'm not taking any chances. Besides, it's warmer
inside, anyway... and I can keep tabs on it from the Royal Observatory's
website.
Hmm... looks like Comet Kanae's orbit is gonna take it real close to the
planet Venus... man, what it would be like to see it from there, huh?
***
Tonight's the night... my comet is gonna pass right behind Venus. The
Chairman be damned - I'm not gonna miss this for anything.
I set up my stuff on the roof, a little clumsily. Hey, it's been a while...
so sue me, okay?
Can't miss Venus - the evening star is brilliant tonight. And Comet Kanae is
just about there... in fact, it almost looks as if it might crash into the
planet. Such a sight... wonder why there's no one else on the quad to watch
it?
Well, there's one person, anyway. A girl... blonde and tall and ladylike...
and frail, too. Why, she almost looks like a ghost in the moonlight.
Waitaminnit, isn't that Kanae herself? What's she doing out without her
darling Chairman? And... why on earth does she look so pale?
Whoops, never mind that for now... gotta pay more attention to the sky...I
just missed the head of the comet passing behind the... uh...
What happened? Where'd the thing go? I *know* I just saw it... it's not
like you could miss that tail. But it just winked out, like somebody just
flipped a switch. I hope it's just something wrong with the lens, here...
Nope, the thing's gone. What the hell is going on with...?
...Kanae? Kanae?
Hey, someone get an ambulance!
***
***
Sorry about leaving so abruptly like that... but she just collapsed on the
quad, right before my eyes. Someone had to do *something*. Yes, she was
still breathing and all that. No, I don't know what happened to her... the
doctor sent me back here after they admitted her.
And yes, I'm going to visit her tomorrow... Chairman or no. Why not?
There's nothing interesting in the skies, anymore...
***
He's never come by. All this time she's been in hospital, and He's never
even been by. No, I didn't tell Him - What kind of death wish d'ya think I
have to wanna talk to Him? - but I assume word would have reached Him
eventually... she's His fiancee, for gosh sakes! But she just lies here,
silent and alone... poor thing...
I got an email from the Royal Astronomical Society again... apparantly Kanae
really did get too close to Venus, and crashed into the planet. So that's
the end of it. Well, it's not like we would have seen it again, anyway...
You know, they say the dinosaurs were wiped out when a comet struck the Earth
millions of years ago. There's no life on Venus, so that's not an issue; but
I wonder what sort of effect Kanae might have on Venus. Maybe it would
dissipate some of that cloud cover that obscures its surface - wouldn't it be
wonderful to learn what's actually going on down there?
And yet... maybe it won't have any impact on the Morning Star at all.
Kami... her hand is so cold...
==========
Just got to thinking how Akio promises to name a comet after his fiancee, but
after the Black Rose arc, she virtually disappears. I decided to let Akio
keep his promise while he was still willing to do so. So this means that the
comet is discovered 'round about episode 14 and disappears approximately at
episode 32, where Kanae's isn't looking so healthy... no, I have no more idea
why than this freshman does.
Anyway, thanks to Alan Harnum for keeping me a little more reasonably within
canon. Hope you like this, especially.
Itsu mo,
Ucchan ^_^