"The coast is clear."
Wakaba and Utena jumped at the sound of Saionji's voice coming through the door. Utena leaned over to her friend and whispered, "Can we trust him?"
"I think so," the other girl whispered back. "The way he was talking earlier...I don't think he wants Touga to seduce you."
"That's good enough for me; we need all the allies we can get in this place."
Between the two girls, the maitre'd was inside and the barricade set back up in under a minute.
"We don't have much time," he said briskly. "Miki is lurking in the kitchen to catch Utena if she tries to get something to eat, and to catch Wakaba if she abandons her post.
"Hold on just a minute. Much time for what?" Utena demanded, hands firmly on her hips.
"To get you out of here," Saionji snapped impatiently.
"I came here for Wakaba. I'm not leaving without her."
"Wakaba can't leave."
The girl in question looked up in shock. "What do you mean, I can't leave?"
Saionji held up his left hand, showing off the Rose Crest. "No one can leave without one of these."
"That's the ring," Wakaba gasped. "The one that guy gave me. What happened to it?"
The green-haired man gave her a pitying look before turning back to Utena. "The Acting Chairman gives students Rose Crests and sends them here to try to lift the curse. Touga takes the rings from each student he seduces, trapping them all here."
Utena's fists clenched. So that was what he had been trying to do! "Wait a minute. If that's so, then why do you still have one?"
"Miki and I are useful to him as pawns, so we're allowed to leave during the day - but the curse pulls us back at night."
His self-mocking tone and look of disgust were not lost on Wakaba. Utena, however, had something else on her mind.
"You said the Acting Chairman gives out these rings, right?" She waited for Saionji to nod, then continued. "I was given mine years ago by-" Utena paused, then raised her chin defiantly, "-by a prince."
"That's why we have to get you out of here; you're too valuable to risk. You weren't sent by the Acting Chairman. I think you're the one who will lift the curse."
"But how can I do that if I'm not here?"
Saionji gave her a sick smile that looked more like a grimace. "The terms of the curse require a girl that the Playboy can't seduce. You've already turned him down; if you leave, he can't seduce you. If you stay..."
"I'm not leaving." Utena met his eyes steadily, quiet resolve lending her voice strength. "There's something I have to do here."
"What-" The Student Council Vice President broke off with a strangled sound of frustration.
"The girl in the glass coffin filled with roses. I have to free her."
Saionji closed his eyes and massaged the bridge of his nose with one hand, trying so very hard to regain his composure. "Okay," he said finally. "Here's what we'll do..."
Miki was pacing in the kitchen, driving the cooks and scullery maids slowly crazy with his relentless back-and-forth, when the door opened and Wakaba slipped inside. Seemingly unaware of the majordomo glaring daggers at her, she greeted some of the other girls and headed for a refrigerator, rummaging around in it for some leftovers.
"What are you doing?" The blue-haired boy demanded sharply. "You know what the Master said."
Wakaba rolled her eyes. "I know what the Master said. Utena isn't to eat unless it's with him. But he never said I couldn't eat, and I'm starving."
Miki slowly flushed as the girl turned away, clearly ignoring him. "I told you to stay with her," he said sharply.
"I did, until the Master's maitre'd showed up to relieve me." Wakaba was clearly unconcerned by Miki's anger. "If you've got a problem with that, take it up with him."
Nearly growling with inarticulate frustration, the majordomo stalked out of the kitchen.
Utena followed Saionji as he hurried through the castle, up steps and down steps and through grand hallways. Finally, they reached a set of double doors covered with bas-relief of enormous horses rearing as though to strike each other.
"This is the Master's wing," the green-haired man said in a harsh whisper, reaching for one of the brass door handles.
"Saionji!"
"-which no one may enter without the Master's permission," he continued loudly, snatching his hand back.
"Saionji! What are you doing?"
The maitre'd turned calmly, hiding his irritation beneath his usual sour look. "I'm giving our guest a tour. The Master gave no order to keep her confined to her room."
Miki glared at Utena, hands on his hips. "Why did you show her these doors?"
The sour look became insufferably smug. "You don't think the Master would object if our lovely guest wandered through these doors?"
"No one enters without the Master's permission," Miki repeated firmly. "Show her something else."
"Um, hello? I'm right here, you know..." Utena trailed off at Saionji's warning glare.
"Certainly. What would you suggest showing her, my esteemed colleague?"
"The dungeon," Miki shot back.
Saionji made a chiding sound. "She's our guest, not our prisoner. How about the stables?"
"So she can escape? Not likely. The armory."
"The Master might like the idea of a new sparring partner," Saionji said thoughtfully, one finger tapping against his jaw thoughtfully as he moved away from the door, other hand gesturing behind his back for Utena to stay where she was.
"Not the armory then. The Grand Hall..." Miki glared at the older boy as he moved a few steps to keep abreast of him.
"Much too dull. The gardens." Saionji kept moving.
Miki followed, all attention on the maitre'd. "The Master's out there! The library..."
They were halfway down the hall now, Saionji's long legs forcing Miki to scramble to keep up, Utena forgotten by the doors to the Master's wing.
"Well," she said to no one in particular, "that works."
The doors swung open easily, silently, and closed softly behind her.
