II
It was almost exactly one year after Ohtori when Juri met Utena again. Juri was in a local flower shop looking for the right roses to send Shiori, roses that said something like: "I actually only ever wanted to be your friend (haha, how strange that you thought otherwise), but if you did ever want something more from me, then wouldn't I be a wonderful option?" It was hard to find roses that said all that, and even harder when it wasn't the (humiliating) truth anyway.
"I'm looking for roses," she had stated to the salesclerk's back, thinking that the woman's hair was a shade of pink she'd only ever seen on that annoying girl who liked to preach the virtues of nobility (whatever had happened to her? Hadn't she drowned or something? How depressing). The clerk whirled around to gape at her, and to Juri's shock she found herself staring at the strange half-remembered prince-girl herself.
"U-Utena-kun?" she asked, because that was the name that came to mind, suddenly and out of nowhere.
"Arisugawa-senpai!" said the young woman, and she looked surprised and excited all at once. "Wow, it really is you."
"What are you doing here?" asked Juri, as she scrabbled wildly at her memories, fighting for composure. "I thought … I thought you … didn't like flowers …."
"You mean because I'm a tomboy?" Utena laughed self-deprecatingly. "Yeah, well, Himemiya once said she wanted to work in a flower shop. After we graduated I mean. And hey, well, I guess this is kinda like graduating and …." She blinked and stopped, staring at Juri. "Um … you've graduated from Ohtori?"
"Yes … " said Juri slowly, thinking:
Himemiya Anthy? That freak with the glasses? She shivered for no particular reason.
Utena rambled on.
"Yeah, so Himemiya said she'd work someplace like this, and I-I guess …."
She looked sad for a moment, and oddly young.
" … I thought if I worked someplace like this, maybe I'd meet her again even sooner. Or I'd, I dunno, be closer to her or something." She laughed a little and shrugged. "It's silly I know."
"It sounds sweet," said Juri, in a tone that said it was extremely silly. Utena flushed. Juri found herself oddly charmed by the reaction and took a step back to cover her own confusion. For some reason her hand rose to cradle her locket, where it rested in the scoop-neck of her elegant white blouse. Utena's gaze followed and she gasped out:
"You still have your locket …."
How does she know about my locket?!
"It's new," Juri said coldly. It was actually the third replica. The first had broken in some kind of fencing accident she barely remembered, and the second had gotten crushed into a permanently closed clasp under a piece of fallen rubble. It was another freak accident – nobody knew where the rubble came from: it looked like a castle turret of all things, and it was next to impossible that it should have caught her locket where it lay on her bedroom windowsill. Simply impossible! It was such a waste of a photo that had been very important to Juri. Although she couldn't quite remember who that photo had been of ….
Her latest locket was made of platinum (more durable than gold) and boasted Shiori version 2, courtesy of her good friend Kaoru Miki's graduation book. Hopefully he'd never look past the page that bore photos of himself and his twin, Kozue. He'd certainly never called Juri on it; they belonged to a fencing club together, and often met up for friendly cups of tea.
"I'm sorry, who are you exactly?" Juri asked. She pressed a hand to her suddenly pounding temple. Utena stared at her, eyes huge and shimmering with compassion.
They're so blue, Juri found herself thinking. Like the sky. Like the sky on that day, that last day, when we played squash and laughed about the future ….
What day?
Clearly, they knew each other. But how?
"Tenjou Utena," said the woman proudly, then she crossed her arms and scowled at Juri, in a way that was endearing yet just a tad alarming.
"So you don't remember me either, huh? I'm so sick of that. Sheesh, I hope Himemiya remembers …."
"Himemiya?" echoed Juri weakly, not caring in the slightest who that was.
But she already cared a great deal who Tenjou Utena might be.