It was late at night and everyone was sleeping the night away to feel refresh and awake for the new day. However, there were some people who were 'night owls' who want live their life with the moon high up in the sky and a couple of people were one of those 'night owls'.
Driving at a fast speed on an empty road was a red corvette roadster with Akio as the driver with his long hair free from his hair tie and dressed in his version of the Duelist uniform. Akio wasn't alone in his car; he has a passenger with him and that passenger was the Student President, Touga.
Akio shifted gear before speeding up more than he was before, causing both his hair and Touga's hair to push back against the blowing winds.
"We're really flying down the road…" Touga commented.
"The throb of the engine feels good, doesn't it? Care to take the wheel?" Akio asked.
Touga was taken back by Akio's offer and said, "Hm? But I'm not old enough…"
Akio chuckled and said, "Such as strict boy."
"That wasn't a fair proposal, Mr. Chairman" Touga said with a smile while pushing his bangs away from his face.
"My Ohtori Academy values the independence of its students, Mr. President." Akio stated before pushing the gas pedal even more, speeding up the car again.
"So, where were you during your absence, Saionji?" Juri asked as she and the other student council members were sitting at a table while Saionji was standing before them.
Saya was curious as to where Touga was at since he got over his depression and he had not been with the student council for a while. She was also curious as to why Saionji requested a council meeting with all of the council members. She noticed that Saionji was acting different than usual, but she assumed that he had a lot of things going since his return to the academy and just let it alone.
"That doesn't matter." Saionji said before tossing a sealed envelope on the middle of the table. "In any case, I'm through with the duels!"
"Meaning what?" Nanami asked.
"It means I can't trust what's written in these letters!" Saionji exclaimed before turning his back towards the members.
"You were fooled by a phony letter before. You seem to have learned from the experience." Juri simply stated which angered Saionji a bit.
"I've already verified the letter's contents." Everyone turned their attention to Miki who explained, "I passed through the Rose Gate and in the middle of the stairway leading to the Dueling Arena…a gondola appeared."
"A gondola? There was never one before. Why would it one appear out of nowhere?" Saya thought out loud.
"I believe it's to carry us to a new stage." Miki theorized.
"Whether the letter's content is true or false doesn't matter. I never signed up to be End of the World's lackey! There's no way I'll fight because somebody orders me to!" Saionij started to walk away.
"Brother!" Saya called out after jumping out of her chair.
"Don't try to stop me! You should get out while you still can, Saya!" Saionji said before entering the evaluator and the doors closed behind him.
"Jeez…It's not like I want to do it either!" Nanami muttered.
'And besides that…' Miki thought.
'Who exactly is 'End of the World' anyway?' Juri thought.
"That star, there. You can see it more clearly than usual today." Akio said to Saya who was sitting next to him on the couch while they were looking up at the stars from the planetarium projector.
Saya was asked by Utena and Anthy to help them gather their remaining stuff from their dorm rooms to their new room at Akio's house. From what Saya understood, Akio asked Utena and Anthy to come live with him since he was mostly alone and Kanae was still recovering after what happened with the Black Rose Duelists. Saya was taking a quick break on the couch when Akio appeared out of nowhere and turned on the planetarium.
"Which one is it?" Saya asked.
"Look. Over there." Akio pointed at a certain spot at the ceiling.
Saya narrowed her eyes to see which star he was pointing at but still does not see it. "Either my eye sights are bad, or I don't see it."
Akio chuckled and said, "Here." Akio placed an arm around Saya's shoulders and brought her closer to his chest, causing Saya to blush a bit from contact "Just look where I'm pointing. That star which is brighter than any other. That's Venus."
"Venus?" Saya asked as the redness on her cheeks died down.
"The Morning Star. My name id derived from its Japanese name." Akio stated.
"Sounds a bit romantic, doesn't it?" Saya asked.
"The Morning Star has another name…" Saya looked up at Akio when she heard a change in Akio's tone of voice. She noticed that his face was giving a sadden expression. "Lucifer."
"Lucifer?" Saya repeated.
"The star who was once an angel, yet chose to be the King of Hell. When you look up at it from this world, it is always at the sun's side. A star which cannot shine unless the sun sets. What must it think as it shines in the sky?"
Saya was silent for a moment before she asked, "Are you all right?"
Akio looked down at Saya and said with a smile, "I'm fine. Why do you ask?"
"Well, don't take this the wrong way, but…your face…"
"My face?"
"Your face was giving out a sad expression when you were talking about Lucifer."
"Oh, forgive me. It's just that the story about Lucifer saddens me a bit everyone I talk about it."
"Sorry about that." Saya said with her head down. "I didn't mean to make you sad from the thing that you love."
"Don't be." Akio gently placed a hand under her chin and brought it up to look at each other's eyes. "I enjoy looking at the stars with company. I apologize for ruining this experience for you."
Saya just smiled and said, "It's all right. After all, real men aren't afraid to cry in the presence of others. At least, that's what I believe."
Akio didn't say anything and just smiling at Saya who noticed that his face was getting closer to her face. Quickly thinking on her feet, Saya pulled away from Akio and got up from the couch. "It's getting late. I should be heading home and prepare dinner for myself and Saionji." Saya stated with her back facing Akio.
"Why not join us for dinner and spend the night?" Akio offered.
"I appreciate the offer, but I can't. Saionji is a bit protective of me and I don't want to worry him. Maybe another time." Saya said before turning back around and bowed at Akio. "Thank you for showing me the stars. Please tell Utena and Anthy that I'll see them tomorrow."
"Of course." Akio said as Saya stood up straight and walked towards the door. "Be careful going home now."
Saya stopped at the door and said, "Thank you. I will." Once she said those words, she opened the door and walked out of the room with the door closing behind her, leaving a smirking Akio alone in the room while turning off the projector.
While Saya was waiting in the evaluator, she was trying to figure out what Akio was going to do to her. 'Was I seeing things or…did Akio try to kiss me?' Saya shook her head and shouted out loud, "That's crazy! She's engaged to Kanae and I'm not that kind of girl! If anything, I'd want my first kiss to be with Touga!" Her eyes widen at the last declaration she just shouted. 'W-What am I saying?! There's no way Touga would want to kiss me! All though…' Memories of her and Touga almost kissing at his birthday party and the rose garden flashed in her head. 'Neither one of us pushed each other away during those times…Does that mean Touga wanted to…kiss me?'
It was late at night and Saionji was sitting alone in the dojo room at the academy, finishing up clean before he heads home.
"Cleaning the floor at this hour?" Saionji didn't even bother turning around to see that Touga was standing behind him. "You're always so conscientious." Saionji stayed silent as he grabbed the handle of the bucket and got up on his feet. "You're sure to be the champion in the local tournament this year."
"There's one thing about you I truly hate. That infernal conceit of yours." Saionji said, breaking his silence.
"Oh?"
"You're right." Saionji turned towards Touga and stated, "I'm going to be the champion this year." Saionji walked up and stood by Touga's side and continued, "But you consider that to be meaningless child's play and in your heart, you laugh at me."
"Not at all!" Touga denied.
"In the end, only the truly strong end up being the winners. You may be proud of your little schemes, but never forget that you lost to Utena Tenjou." Saionji said.
"That's true for both of us. And yet one of us seems to have abandoned the duels." Saionji turned his head down in anger. "At the very least, I haven't given up."
Silence filled the room for a brief moment until Touga stated, "There's someone I'd like you to meet."
Saionji turned towards him and asked, "Someone I should meet?"
"Even you haven't really given up, have you?" Touga brought a hand up to his ear and cupped it before asked, "There…Can't you hear it?"
"Hear what?" Saionji asked with narrowed eyes.
"If your soul has not truly given up…then you can hear the sound…that races through the End of the World!" Touga exclaimed.
"Are you insane?!" As soon as Saionji shouted those words, a loud sound of engines filled the room. "What the…? What is that?!" Saionji looked around to find the source of the sound.
"Come! Come with us! Follow us to the world you seek!" Touga shouted with his arms wide open and his shirt completely unbuttoned to reveal his bare chest.
Suddenly, a familiar red car came to a screeching stop in front of Touga and Saionji.
Driving in a familiar empty road, Akio was driving his car with Touga and Saionji, dressed in his student council uniform, sitting at the back-passenger's seat.
"He's the guy engaged to Ohtori's daughter. The chairman, right?" Saionji asked when he finally recognized Akio.
"Yes, And the older brother of Anthy Himemiya." Touga looked at Saionji from the corner of his eyes and asked, "Do you want the Rose Bride?"
"What do you mean?" Saionji asked while looking back at Touga.
"Exactly what I said. What do you want? What do you aspire to?" Touga asked while gently brushing his fingers against the side of the car. "What do you wish to be?"
"What's the point of asking those questions? First of all, I don't trust you." Saionji declared.
"Oh, please. Aren't you my friend? Are you going to keep Saya away from me?" Touga asked.
"True friendship doesn't exist in this world." Saionji responded.
"You think so?" Touga asked with his cheek resting on his hand.
"I know so."
"Is that…Is that what you really believe?"
"Get to the point."
"Then why are you trying to reach the castle where eternity dwells? Is it because something eternal exists there? You believe you can find eternal friendship, perhaps?" Saionji was silent while Touga asked, "Do you remember that girl we found in that coffin?"
"Heh…Did that really even happen?" Saionji scoffed at the memory of him, Touga and Saya finding the girl hiding in the coffin during the rainstorm.
"The girl said she wanted to see something eternal, didn't she?" Touga asked.
"Maybe…I don't remember it that well"
"That night…it was Akio here who saved her from that coffin." Touga stated.
"What?!" Saionji couldn't believe what he just heard. All this time, he thought that it was Touga who saved the girl, not someone else; especially that person being Akio.
"Akio showed the girl something eternal and saved her." Touga added.
"He what?!" Saionji grabbed Akio on his shoulder and demanded, "Just who the hell are you?!"
Akio smirked and asked, "The throb of the engine feels good, doesn't it?"
"What are you talking about?!" Saionji was getting irritated by his questions not being answered.
"Let me show you the End of the World." Akio announced, catching Saionji off guard. "To you now, as well."
"Are you saying you're…?!"
Akio didn't say anything else as he pressed down on the gas pedal and shifted gear, causing the car to speed up at a fast speed which made everything around them pass in a blur. Without giving any warning, Akio hopped out of the driver side and landed on top of the hood of his car before sitting on top of the hood while the car was still driving at the fast speed as if Akio never left the driver's seat and drove off to who knows where.
"I don't know because I never got any letters from End of the World." Utena stated as she and Saya were talking in the rose garden while Anthy were taking care of the roses.
"I thought so. You didn't know about him." Saya said.
"What else?" Utena asked while she was reading a book. "You said something about the stairway to the Dueling Arena."
"You know how the stairway is built around a central pillar?" Saya asked.
"Yeah."
"Apparently, there's some sort of gondola inside the pillar."
Utena snapped her head towards Saya with widen eyes. "Gondola?"
"Exactly!" The girls turned their attention towards the open door of the rose garden to see Saionji standing over the red car that appeared out of nowhere with his back towards them. "That gondola is the wings which will fly to the End of the World."
"Brother…" Saya couldn't help but noticed something was different about Saionji, but she doesn't know what it was.
"It will carry the Rose Bride and I to the castle where eternity dwells." Saionji turned himself around to reveal a crazed/bliss expression on his face.
"Saionij!" Utena jumped out of the chair.
"But…you gave up on the duels. You said so yourself." Saya said.
"Unfortunately, I'm not the man I was yesterday, my dear sister." Saionji stated.
"How are you different?" Saya asked.
"You can't tell?"
"No."
"I don't understand a word of what you're saying!" Utena exclaimed.
Saionji chuckled and said, "I see. You don't understand." He picked up Chu-Chu who was standing next to him on the car and flung him to the side. "You couldn't understand, even if I explained it to you." Saionji stepped away from the car and walked into the rose garden, making his way towards the girls.
"Brother…" Saya stood in front of Anthy and stared down at Saionji. Saionji just smiled at his sister before pushing her off to the side, surprising both Utena and Anthy. If anyone knew Saionji, they'd know that Saionji would never harm Saya. She means the world to him, so you can imagine everyone's surprise when Saionji did what he did.
"Saya!" Utena cried out as she ran towards Saya and helped her sit up. "You okay?!"
"I'm fine." Saya said as she stared at Saionji with widen eyes.
Suddenly, Anthy screamed and dropped her water can on the ground. Utena turned her head towards Anthy to see her in Saionji's arms.
"The Rose Bride belongs to me!" Saionji declared with his eyes showing craziness.
"Let her go, Saionji!" Utena ordered.
Upon arrival of the gate to the Dueling Arena, Utena noticed the gondola that Saya mentioned before. As she walked towards the opened gondola, she noticed Anthy was standing inside the gondola before disappearing completely, letting her school uniform fall to the floor before Utena stepped inside with the gondola doors closing behind her and began to ascend.
As the gondola continued to its destination, Anthy appeared out of nowhere in front of Utena in her Rose Bride dress. Either they didn't notice or didn't care, underneath the abandoned school uniform a small branch began to bloom and slowly started to bloom into a tall bush with the school uniform being held up by the branches.
As the gondola was getting closer to the arena, Anthy brought her hands up towards Utena, who was standing naked in front of her for some unknown reason, and gently glided her hands from Utena's face to her chest. Brushing her hands to the side, Utena's dueling uniform began to appear and cover her naked body as Anthy continued to do the same on her arms and hips.
The tall bush in the school uniform fully grew and covered in pink roses. Once the gondola made it to the Dueling Arena, the wind from the gondola's entrance cause the petals from the pink roses to scatter around Utena and Anthy.
Suddenly, on the other side of the arena, a bright light shined which blinded Utena and Anthy a bit until they opened their eyes to see Saionji standing in front of the red car which was where the bright light was coming up. Hearing footsteps coming from the side, Utena and Anthy turned to the side to see Saya standing off to the side. Utena had a feeling that she would come, despite the strange behavior her brother was displaying.
Turning their attention back to Saionji, Utena said, "Saionji, you've got to let this go. If you really love Anthy, look at it from her point of view!"
"I did. I, too, once considered the Rose Bride's feelings." Saionji said as he unsheathed his katana. "That's what so inflamed me!" He threw the sheathe towards Saya, who caught it in her hands. "But now I know better! The Rose Bride has no will of her own!"
'Saionji…' Saya thought with a worried expression on her face.
"I'm gonna have to beat you to make you understand, huh? Anthy! The sword!" Utena shouted.
After Anthy summoned the sword and the bells rang, suddenly the same red car from before began to shot out from the ground; catching Saya off-guard and jumped away before one of the cars shot out from the spot she was standing on.
"What the hell…?" Saya muttered to herself. She could hear the engines running and noticed the tires were spinning. "What is up with these cars?"
The duel began with Utena and Saionji running around the arena while avoiding the cars.
"I'm no longer the man you beat before!" Saionji stated as another red car appeared out of nowhere and drove around the stone walls. Saya was even more surprised that no driver was in the car; it was as if the car was driving itself. "The reason is because…I SAW IT!"
"Saw it?" Both Saya and Utena repeated with a confuse expression on their face.
"Exactly!" Saionji shouted before stopping at his tracks and Utena followed his example.
"What did you see?!" Utena shouted.
"The world…" Saionji answered before clashing his sword against Utena's sword while trying to push him away from her space. Using her strength, she was able to push Saionji away from her before jumping out of the way from Saionji's strike of his sword.
Saionji went after her and attempted to strike Utena with his sword, but Utena kept blocking each strike. However, she noticed that each strike was harder than the last one, to the point that the last strike knocked her sword out of her hands. Quickly thinking on her feet, she jumped away from Saionji who attempted to strike her down. Landing beside her fallen sword, Utena grabbed the handle of her sword and held it up when something strange happened…her sword magically disappeared, surprising Utena and Saya.
Utena got up on her feet and stared down at her hand with widen eyes, "It's gone…!"
"The Sword of Dios has vanished!" Saya muttered with widen eyes.
Without anything to protect herself, Utena had no choice but to get away from Saionji who was charging towards her with strikes of his sword.
"Saionji, stop it! This isn't a fair fight!" Saya shouted.
"In this world, life isn't fair, Saya!" Saionji shouted back without taking his eyes off of Utena.
"Miss Utena!" Anthy cried out, grabbing Saya's attention.
"I HAVE YOU!" Saionji shouted as he stood over Utena with his sword held up over his head.
"Saionji, don't do it!" Saya shouted.
Before Saya could even do anything, Anthy appeared out of nowhere and pushed herself and Utena away from Saionji's sword that came down at Utena.
"What the…?!" Saionji was taken off-guard by Anthy's actions and he wasn't the only one.
"Anthy…" Utena whispered with widen eyes.
"Miss Utena, together…!" Utena looked down at Anthy in her arms with a confused expression on her face. Whether than questioning it, Utena nodded her head and closed her eyes; believing that Anthy knows what needs to be done.
Getting her consent, Anthy gently placed a hand on Utena's cheek and glide it down to her chest when suddenly a bright ball of light appeared on Utena's chest under Anthy's hand.
"Rose of nobility…Please…Come forth!" Anthy chanted before part of a sword's handle appeared from the ball of light. Anthy removed her hand from the ball of light, causing the handle to follow and reveal itself to be the handle of the Sword of Dios.
"But HOW…?!" Saionji thought out loud while blocking his eyes from the bright light with his free hand.
"How is that possible…?" Saya wasn't sure how many more surprises she could take.
Utena leaned back as her sword was being pulled out with Anthy's help. "Grant us the power to bring the world revolution!" Both Utena and Anthy shouted at the same time as the sword was pulled out completely with Utena standing upright with the sword landing in her hand and Anthy leaning back against Utena's free arm.
The lights from the castle began to shine down on Utena as all of the cars' headlights turned on and shined up at the castle. Releasing Anthy from her arms, Utena let out a battle cry and charged towards Saionji. Before Saionji could block her attack, Utena cut his rose; scattering the rose petals and the same car that was driving along the stone walls suddenly crashed itself against the stone wall.
The bells rang, concluding the end of the battle and Saionji was left on the ground.
"Saionji!" Saya cried out as she ran towards her brother and kneeled at his level. "Saionji! Saionji! Saionji, please wake up!" She cried out with tears building up at the corner of her eyes while shaking his body in the attempt to wake him up.
Saya stopped herself when a noise came out of Saionij's mouth. Saionji opened his eyes slowly and looked up at Saya. "Saya…" He groaned out.
"Saionji…" Saya said with the tears finally spilling out of her eyes. She closed her eyes and latched herself on top of Saionji's back, letting out cries of relief.
"Oh, Saionji…After all I did to be your friend." Touga said as he and Akio were watching the scene from a familiar balcony.
"Are you enjoying this game?" Akio asked.
"Of course."
"Then what's the problem? Be kind to your friends."
"You're an evil man, aren't you?"
"The Sword of Dios did not appear."
Late at night, Akio was looking out from the planetarium room with Anthy standing off to the side.
"The Sword of Dios did not appear…" Akio repeated. "And yet she still won the duel. Oh, it was magnificent…" Akio was silent for a moment before he ordered, "Come here, Anthy."
Anthy did not move at all, in fact she was hesitating. Normally, she would do exactly what her brother asks without question…but for some reason she didn't.
"Come here!" Being impatient, Akio grabbed Anthy's hand and pulled her into his arms before the planetarium projector turned itself on and made the whole ceiling light up with stars.
While that was going on, Utena was sitting alone in the bedroom she is sharing with Anthy. She was waiting for Anthy, but she noticed that it was getting late and Anthy still wasn't in the bedroom.
Utena fell on her back on her bed and stared up at the ceiling with a concerned expression. "What's keeping Anthy?" She thought out loud, not knowing what was going on with Anthy and Akio at that moment.