Part 6: The Dark Secrets of Yuriko

The next morning, school was canceled. News traveled of a strange incident where two of the Student Council members were poisoned. Oddly, the poison was not meant to kill, but to be a threat. Kyoko furrowed her brows as she heard it coming from the largest loudspeaker in the Ohtori office. How weird, she thought, poison is usually meant to be fatal. Almost smiling, she wondered if it was Megumi. That girl was just nuts! Seeing as she had nothing better to do that day, Kyoko put on her Student Council uniform. After all, after the arrival of her Student Council uniform, her normal uniform was confiscated by one of the maids. She had tried to pry it away from the fat woman's hands, stating that she couldn't wear one uniform for five days straight, but the maid refused to listen. Speaking through pursed lips, she told the upset Kyoko, "The uniform will be washed every single day. Whenever you get home, take it off, change into something else, and I'll come to take it to the dry cleaners." Kyoko had wanted to protest, "Why do YOU have to come?!" But she kept her mouth shut.
Kyoko softly closed the door to her dorm. She didn't want to arouse any of her dorm-mates, because they always whispered things about her. This time they would most likely say, "Kyoko went out at seven in the morning today! She probably went to conspire with Akio-sama's weirdo visitor. They're probably planning to bomb the school and to poison the rest of the Student Council!" Kyoko left them to their stupid fantasies. Fools.
Actually, Kyoko didn't even know why she was going outside. To take a walk, maybe? Or was it just on a whim? Somehow, her legs carried her to the glass greenhouse that Anthy had taken her to on her first day at Ohtori. It had only been a few days at this school, and all these weird things were happening already! Maybe I'm a curse, Kyoko thought to herself, amused. Then again, eerie things had occurred when the famed Utena Tenjou attended Ohtori, as well.
Kyoko stopped suddenly. The glass greenhouse was no longer empty and full of weeds. They were all pulled out. The glass was still clouded over, and the wire frame of it was still rusty, but the roses were oddly in bloom. How the heck had they bloomed in a matter of two or three days?! And, there was someone in there, watering the beautiful flowers.
"Yuriko?" Kyoko asked herself. She felt that she should leave the Rose Bride to herself, but her curiosity got the better of her. Carefully striding to the greenhouse, Kyoko peeked through the only pane of glass that was cleaned. She wasn't trying to snoop or invade others' privacy, but all these mysterious events had happened so quickly that everything was necessary to be investigated.
Yuriko was wearing her teal, white, and red school uniform, and dull black shoes were on her feet. Her hair was still in that elaborate hairstyle with the hairpins. Yuriko was smiling to herself gently and watering the roses as if they were her favorite passion. However, there was something odd about those roses. Perhaps it was because they were either red, black, or white, and extremely thorny. Kyoko had heard from Keisuke sometime after the Student Council meeting that each duelist, when they were dueling, had to wear a rose of their color scheme. Keisuke had then smiled at Kyoko and said, "You have a pink rose. It fits you so perfectly, because you are so beautiful." Kyoko blushed with embarrassment as she watched Yuriko, thinking of how she had retorted it off and stormed off angrily. Romance... she knew that she could never accept it. It wasn't entirely due to her personality; also, past events had triggered this thought. A tear nearly came to her eye. Shaking her head angrily at such weakness, Kyoko resumed watching the lovely Rose Bride.
Yuriko placed her index finger onto a humongous black rose; the largest of the patch. She kissed it gently, and it seemed to bloom even larger. Simultaneously, all the other black roses of the patch bloomed larger as well. Kyoko covered her mouth in surprise. Maybe this was one of the reasons the Student Council members dueled for the Rose Bride: she had a power that would be used to their advantage! Little did Kyoko know that her "lucky guess" was actually reality.
Yuriko repeated the process of making the roses bloom as Kyoko watched anxiously. Even if Yuriko's usage of magical power doesn't seem very dangerous, it will still be bad if I get caught, Kyoko thought grimly. Who knew what Yuriko could do?
Suddenly, Yuriko slumped to the floor, choking with pain. Beads of sweat hung on her forehead damply. Her deep green eyes were bulging with strain as she doubled over, coughing. A blackish-pink light surrounded her faintly. Kyoko wished that she could just run in and hold Yuriko tightly. Then, she thought, No, if I do that, it would show my emotions. EMOTIONS ARE WEAKNESS. Besides, she'll know that I was watching her... She shook her head and kept on watching Yuriko.
Finally, the light managed to diminish from the Rose Bride's body, and Yuriko, even paler than before, pushed herself up from the floor. Heaving another racking cough, Yuriko wiped a tear from her eye and touched a rose. She smiled at it like a mother would to a child, and started to walk towards the door of the greenhouse.
Kyoko panicked. She didn't want to get caught, now did she? Looking in all directions, she ran towards the cafeteria as fast as she could. As she was running, she didn't notice Yuriko staring after her with a slight smile on her pallid face. She laughed, a light, hollow laugh came from her perfect lips. Then, she walked towards the cafeteria for her lunch.