And now...Utena.

Chapter 1 -- Orientation

      Her aunt had warned her that the bookstore would be busiest the
day before term start, especially with the arrival of all the unwary
freshmen.  So Utena Tenjou made sure to go shopping for her first
college textbooks with four days to spare.  It would be too much to
hope for that she'd actually look at them before classes started,

No one *ever* does.

but she still felt satisfied in starting college in a reasonably
organized manner.

      The bookstore was still quite busy, filled undoubtedly with
upperclassmen and graduate students who already well knew the
academic routine.  Utena picked up a shopping basket at the
entrance.  She was carrying a full course load, and expected that
especially the literature survey class would require multiple texts.

They *always* do.

      Her basket rapidly filled up, particularly with the addition of
the huge hardbound chemistry text. She saw that she'd have to make a
separate trip to the copy shop to get the remainder of the required
class materials.  She resolved to sit down with the books and her
class schedule to make sure her backpack would hold what was needed
for each class, knowing that she'd likely have to make periodic
trips back to her dorm room.  She wondered how she was going to get
even this load back to her room.

My. Quite a few books, to be sure.

      Utena's breath caught in her throat, and she reflexively
interposed her laden basket between them.  She finally managed to
choke out, "Saionji."

interesting choice. And I don't think anyone other than Wakaba was glad to
see him. :)

      With a last wary glance at Saionji, Utena made her way to the
front of the store as fast as the crowd would let her.  She didn't
let herself look back as she waited in the checkout line, but stared
resolutely out the front windows at the passing street traffic.  Not
until she'd paid and packed her new books into two sturdy sacks did
she take one final scan across the store.  She saw no sign of
Saionji.  Feeling suddenly paranoid and silly, Utena hefted her bags
and began the trek back to her dorm.

There will be others. :)

      Winter had given way to a crisp, windy spring.  Utena's heavy
sweater kept her comfortable enough but

enough, but

 halfway home she found

herself wishing she'd brought her gloves.

drop 'her'. Not needed.

 >

      >
      Utena studied the slight-framed young woman, her short cut hair
moussed up into spikes, giving her a sprightly appearance.

Blech. Never liked that look

      "So is he cute?"

Utena; In a moron sort of way. My best friend loved him to death.

      Utena returned to her room, feeling much calmer about the
encounter after talking it over with Yuki.  Still, before she began
sorting out her textbooks, Utena called up the campus roster on her
own system.  She searched for every name she recalled from Ohtori
Academy.  No other familiar names appeared to haunt her.

Hmm. Interesting.

      "What?" cried Yuki.  "Two people for an entire dorm?  That's
crazy!"

Utena; Well, it was a crazy place.

      "Yes, I feel silly," agreed Utena.  She read the name of the
street Yuki was pointing to on the map and compared it to the street
sign at the corner.  Then she stiffened as the street name
registered.  Utena whipped around, scanning the nearby building
numbers.

Oops.

      "That's idiotic," complained Yuki.

He's probably walking around anyway.

      "You remembered this guy's address, after professing to dislike
him so much."

Well, when one is feeling emotional, one tends to remember details. Even
about people they don't like.

      "It's not like that," spluttered Utena.  "I was just trying to
figure out which areas to avoid."

      "Then why did we just stumble into the neighborhood?

Because Utena wasn't paying attention. She said that from the beginning.

Interesting work. Will get to the second part some time.

D.B. Sommer



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