Chapter 10: Getting There
"All right, people. Settle down. The bell has rung," called out Ms. Takata, the English teacher. "Today, we'll start on a new section in the book. 'Fiction Writing'. First off, each of you will write a short story, a scene in a fiction story you have thought up. Be creative, there are no limitations to writing! Get to work."
Utena flipped open her notebook. "Hmmm." She brought her pen to the paper, as she thought of what she would write about.
"Hey Utena, got any ideas I can bum off of you?"
Utena looked up. "Nah, sorry Tristan. I'm stuck in the idea department too. Why not ask Joey? He might have ideas."
"All right." Tristan turned to the boy who sat in front of him. "Hey Joey, lemme see your paper!"
"No way man, get your own ideas! Mine is gonna be the best in the class and I ain't letting no doofus like you steal my ideas."
"What'd you call me?" Tristan, who was his best friend, answered. "You stinking, half-witted, doped-up..."
As the two best friends half-joked, half-argued, as usual, Utena focused back on to her paper and thought about possible plots and scenarios to write about as her short story or scene. Suddenly, a flood of information about a possible plot broke into her mind and soon Utena was writing any words that came to mind on to her paper.
A girl dressed in tight, black leather pants, a black shirt, and a black leather jacket walked down the deserted alley, minding her own business, taking no heed of the trash and junk that lined the buildings on either side of her. She had on a hat that was pulled on backwards and had on leather knuckle gloves, which were hidden by the fact that she kept her hands concealed in her pockets. Every so often, not even lifting her head, she glanced behind her and all around. The teenager exited the alley and followed the building wall down the empty street of the shady part of Tokyo. Her comfortable black sneakers softly padded on the cracked, and in badly need of repair, sidewalk.
As the girl was crossing the street, the movement of shadows to her right caught her attention. The girl never broke her pace as she reached the other side of the street, as though she wished not to give anyone warning that she had noticed something out of the ordinary. She continued to walk down the sidewalk and when she sensed the shadows nearing, turned into a darkened alley.
The man who had followed her in the shadows hurried into the alley after her, but he came to a stop at the mouth of the alley when he found that it was empty, and a dead-end. He looked around for a few seconds in confusion and was about to turn to leave when there was a clatter of what sounded like soda cans, at the back of the alley. The corners of his mouth came up into a sick smirk as he took a few silent steps into the alley.
Suddenly, a small, but strong figure dropped down from the fire escape that hung above his head and kicked the air out of him. The man fell back a few feet and held his chest as he caught his breath. He looked up and saw the girl he had been trailing, standing in a wide stance in front of him with her gloved hands at her sides and her eyes calm, as though she fooled rapists and pickpockets into alleys and assaulted them, on a daily basis.
"Well, well, what have I caught tonight? You must be Joe Kravin. Wilkins told me I would be meeting you shortly, after all, you're the only one working these four streets at 11 at night. I heard about what you did to that girl last week and I'm here for some payback. No one messes with teenage girls and gets away with it."
The man growled as he struggled to stand. He held his sore gut as he stood before her with a sneer. "Who are you girlie? And how do you know Wilkins?" he sputtered.
"Maybe you haven't heard of me, but that would be expected since all the guys who've met me are behind bars now. And your pal Wilkins is lucky to be one of them. You probably know me as the Huntress, a stalker of the night creeps, but I go by the White Rose Savior, but I'm not much of a savior to your people now am I?"
"White Rose Savior?" the man laughed. "How'd you come up with an "angelic" name like that?"
"Like this." The girl put up her right hand with her palm facing her and swept her left hand across the back of it. When she revealed her left hand, there was a white rose between two tips of her fingers. She slid her hands across each other again and then, in one fluid motion, threw the rose at the man. He gasped as the rose flew at him and closed his eyes tightly, hoping the impossible, that the rose would go off course. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he realized he didn't have a hole in his head. He opened his eyes and saw the rose spiraling stationary in the air right in front of him; the sharp, thorny, pointed stem almost touching his face. His eyes widened at the unbelievable occurrence.
The girl, meanwhile, smirked as she held her hand towards the rose and slowly rotated her wrist. Then she gestured for the return and the rose fell backwards, away from the man, and landed softly in the savior's hand. "Satisfied?"
The man turned and fled, every so often stumbling as he looked over his shoulder, hoping that the Huntress wasn't following him. He ran down the empty street and down a side street. He looked back as he ran across the street and saw that no one was following him, so he slowed with a sigh of relief. He turned the corner and let out a shriek, much like a woman's scream. The girl stood in front of him, as if she was always standing there, waiting for him.
Suddenly Utena stopped. No more words entered her mind on its own. It was as if the river of words now had a dam plugging it up. Utena sighed at her sudden spurt of a great story and then the rapid loss of it. "Oh well, I might as well read it over and see if I can come up with anything else." Utena began to read but then with a barely audible gasp, her eyes caught on the words "White Rose Savior." She stared at it as if it were something not from this world.
'Where did those words come from? I know I heard them before.Oh!' Utena's eyes widened. 'In my dream! That Prince Touga called me Princess of the White Rose! Could it be true that-No! It can't be true,' Utena argued with herself in her thoughts, 'I'm just being crazy. I must have thought it up because my mind remembered it from the dream.' Utena crumpled the paper up and tossed it over to Tristan who was still trying to think up an idea.
"Yo Tristan, here's an idea," Utena said.
Tristan opened the ball of paper and read it quickly. "Utena, this is a cool story. Except...'White Rose Savior'? Where'd you get that from?"
"I have no clue," Utena mumbled under her breath and began to write a new story.
By the end of the class, Utena had written about a team of street racers, who were racing other teams in their prefecture and others to claim the title of the 'Fastest Racer in Gunma Prefecture'. Utena had to admit, it was a pretty good story, partially true of course. "Much better than that stupid 'White Rose Savior' one," she muttered as she headed for the door, dropping the story on the stack of papers, which were her classmates' stories, on Ms. Takata's desk.
***
That night.
"Hey Utena!" One of the dorm's girls called up from the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah?" Utena walked up to the edge of the landing. She wore a blue robe.
"We're gonna watch some DVDs. You wanna join us? We got popcorn and candy," Lacy invited.
"Uh, actually, I'm kind of wiped out. I was thinking of turning in early," Utena replied.
"Oh okay, I'll tell the other girls so they won't bother you. Good night." Lacy called to her cheerfully and returned to the TV room.
Utena hurried back to her room and tore off the robe. Underneath she wore black leather pants, a black front-lace-up tank top. She went over to the bed and sat down, retrieved a pair of black ankle boots from under the bed. She pulled them on quickly and laced them up. Grabbing her black leather jacket from where it hung on the back of the desk chair, she stepped out on to the balcony and shut the door behind her, careful not to lock it. She slipped on her jacket and climbed on to the cement railing. Near the balcony were thick vines that hung from a huge banyan tree. Utena jumped for the vines and grabbed a tight hold. She quickly slipped down the vines without getting her clothes covered with sap. A few feet from the ground, she let go and dropped down, landing in a crouch as the leaves crackled. Utena paused, listening for any sound that indicated someone had heard her "escape".
Hearing no one, Utena quickly ran over to the clearing in the bushes that hid her motorcycle from view. She pulled her loose hair back and twisted it to the back of her head, slipping her motorcycle helmet over her head. She quickly wheeled her motorcycle out of the bushes, careful not to scratch the paint and wheeled it around to the front of the dorm building. Just as she was about to climb on, when there was a sudden shout, "Hey! Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"
Spinning her head around, Utena saw it was Christina, the girl who had to room at the end of the hall. 'She must have been planning to go to the 24- hour snack bar to grab some more snacks for the girls,' Utena thought. She quickly threw her leg over the seat of her bike and started the ignition. She glanced back behind her and saw that the rest of the girls who resided in the dorm had gathered behind Christina to see what she was shouting about. Christina had the cordless phone in her hand and her fingers flew across the buttons, most likely dialing the academy's main office.
Turning back around, she pushed the throttle and with a squeal of the back tire, Utena whipped down the sidewalk and around the corner. Once leaving the area of the dorm, Utena slid the bike on to the back tire and urged her motorcycle faster. The school buildings whipped by as she biked down the long driveway leading to the academy gates, her motorcycle making a deep purring sound. She turned swiftly at the corner and disappeared from view. The security guards hadn't even been contacted yet.
A few moments later, Utena reached a house on the edge of the city. It was a pale blue, two-story house and had a large garage connected to the side of the house. Utena parked her bike in the driveway and knocked on the door of the door, removing her helmet as she waited for someone to answer the door.
The door opened and a sleepy 20-year-old man wearing nothing but boxers greeted Utena; his six-pack rippled as he stretched with his arms in the air. "Man, Utena, I only got two hours of sleep," Chris yawned.
"Sorry, I came to pick up my FD." Utena moved past him and headed down the hall to the door that led to the garage.
As she went through the door, she flipped on the lights and saw that all the cars were accounted for. "Hmm, all the guys are home huh?" She said to Chris, a longtime friend of hers.
"Yeah, they're all wiped out. We went out cruising and we didn't get back until about three hours ago," Chris said, slowly waking up from his sleepy mood. "So you have a race tonight?"
"Yeah, it's nothing much, just some people getting together. Anyway, you guys have been working on the new car huh?" Utena glanced around the garage and saw that everything was clean as usual, unlike the rest of the house. This had been her home for about a year when she had first moved to Japan. She had stayed with Chris, Trowa, Marcus, Gino, and Shawn, having to deal with the five messy college guys who were like brothers to her.
"Yeah, it's going pretty good." Marcus had recently bought a brand new Toyota Celica and was suping it up for weekly drag racing that was done on the streets of Akina. So far the guys had changed the rims, tires, spoiler, seats, headlights, brake lights, speakers, stereo, and the seat belt (changed to double shoulder straps for safety).
Marcus walked over to the covered car and pulled off the car tarp. "Wow, it's looking great," Utena praised, amazed at what they had done with it in a short amount of time. She slowly walked around it, studying the Celica with a professional-drag-racing eye. "So, is Marc gonna let me test drive it?"
Chris grinned. "Probably, he'd let you drive his prized Ferrari if you wanted to, and you know he doesn't let anyone drive it."
"He still doesn't have a girlfriend? I thought he'd have one by now," Utena said with a smile.
"Nah, he's just waiting for you to come around," Chris grinned.
Utena covered the car back up and went over to her own car, the silver FD that the man had told her would be waiting for her in the Pyro Autoshop's parking lot that long time ago. She had driven it so many times that she could tell if there were a problem with it just by driving it a few yards. She had been sent the keys by express mail when she had arrived in Akina; she had no idea how the man had known where she had been staying, she hadn't told anyone.
Utena uncovered the FD and folded the tarp up. She tossed it onto the worktable as Chris opened the garage by remote. The guys had installed a security garage door that only opened from the inside to insure their cars weren't stolen.
She went out and got her bike, wheeling it in and parking it next to the Celica. Utena pulled out her keys for the FD and got in. She started the ignition and slowly drove past the other carefully covered cars and out into the driveway. She pulled up next to Chris and leaned out the window to talk to him.
"I'll be back around three at the latest."
"Yeah. Here, take these." Chris handed her the keys for the house.
"Thanks." Utena slid the key chain and keys into the pocket of her jacket and slowly began to ease up on the brake pedal.
"No prob. Just make sure you win." Chris grinned and went back into the garage, closing the door with the remote.
Utena drove down the driveway and pulled out into the street. In a few moments she had reached the base of the mountain and, shifting gears, Utena sped up the mountain, taking her time.
As she reached the top, she saw the same pack of cars from that other night and drove over to them. It was time to get serious.
Meanwhile.
Yaten kept glancing down the road as Touga talked to the council members. He thought, 'I can't believe Julius's little sister is the Revolutionary Driver. She seemed so free-spirited when we met her that first time. She was so glad to see Julius and she had already made a lot of friends.but when Julius said that we were on the Council, she kind of seemed.quiet. Maybe something's going to happen, something big,' Yaten thought grimly. 'Whatever it is, Utena didn't like the fact that Julius was on the Council.'
Suddenly there was a flash of headlights from down the road and Yaten sighed. 'And it begins.' He called to the others, who were talking together a several feet away, "She's here!"
The Council members all looked down the road and saw the bright light speeding down the stretch, towards them. Touga went over to his car and retrieved a small black book from the passenger seat. He slipped it into his pocket and stood waiting for the Revolutionary Driver.
The FD slowed as it neared the Council. It pulled up next to Keisuke's FD and the door opened. Utena stepped out, clad in black leather. Her expression was dead serious.
The air had changed somehow. It seemed more tense and vibrated with the tension. Everyone could feel it. Keisuke studied his opponent, the foretold racer who would have the skills to surpass even "The One", whom Touga had told them about.
***
This wasn't just another race for Utena. She knew she could win, but she was still tense. This was the beginning for the series of races that she had once dreaded, facing all these racers and taking the power of revolution. She dreaded what would happen in the end if she won.what would happen to the council members if she won.what would happen to her brother.and Miki.
Utena took a deep breath and took the first steps toward her destiny.
***
In the shadows, two figures stood, watching the Council members and the arrival of the girl.
"Is it her?" The shorter person asked in her elegant and soft voice.
"Yeah, it's her all right," replied the taller person in his deep voice.
"Then it has begun.the Revolutionary Races have finally begun, now that its creator is here," the woman said. Her voice was grave, with a hint or sorrow in them.
"Yes." The man said. He looked at the girl. "Princess."
"She's back."
"All right, people. Settle down. The bell has rung," called out Ms. Takata, the English teacher. "Today, we'll start on a new section in the book. 'Fiction Writing'. First off, each of you will write a short story, a scene in a fiction story you have thought up. Be creative, there are no limitations to writing! Get to work."
Utena flipped open her notebook. "Hmmm." She brought her pen to the paper, as she thought of what she would write about.
"Hey Utena, got any ideas I can bum off of you?"
Utena looked up. "Nah, sorry Tristan. I'm stuck in the idea department too. Why not ask Joey? He might have ideas."
"All right." Tristan turned to the boy who sat in front of him. "Hey Joey, lemme see your paper!"
"No way man, get your own ideas! Mine is gonna be the best in the class and I ain't letting no doofus like you steal my ideas."
"What'd you call me?" Tristan, who was his best friend, answered. "You stinking, half-witted, doped-up..."
As the two best friends half-joked, half-argued, as usual, Utena focused back on to her paper and thought about possible plots and scenarios to write about as her short story or scene. Suddenly, a flood of information about a possible plot broke into her mind and soon Utena was writing any words that came to mind on to her paper.
A girl dressed in tight, black leather pants, a black shirt, and a black leather jacket walked down the deserted alley, minding her own business, taking no heed of the trash and junk that lined the buildings on either side of her. She had on a hat that was pulled on backwards and had on leather knuckle gloves, which were hidden by the fact that she kept her hands concealed in her pockets. Every so often, not even lifting her head, she glanced behind her and all around. The teenager exited the alley and followed the building wall down the empty street of the shady part of Tokyo. Her comfortable black sneakers softly padded on the cracked, and in badly need of repair, sidewalk.
As the girl was crossing the street, the movement of shadows to her right caught her attention. The girl never broke her pace as she reached the other side of the street, as though she wished not to give anyone warning that she had noticed something out of the ordinary. She continued to walk down the sidewalk and when she sensed the shadows nearing, turned into a darkened alley.
The man who had followed her in the shadows hurried into the alley after her, but he came to a stop at the mouth of the alley when he found that it was empty, and a dead-end. He looked around for a few seconds in confusion and was about to turn to leave when there was a clatter of what sounded like soda cans, at the back of the alley. The corners of his mouth came up into a sick smirk as he took a few silent steps into the alley.
Suddenly, a small, but strong figure dropped down from the fire escape that hung above his head and kicked the air out of him. The man fell back a few feet and held his chest as he caught his breath. He looked up and saw the girl he had been trailing, standing in a wide stance in front of him with her gloved hands at her sides and her eyes calm, as though she fooled rapists and pickpockets into alleys and assaulted them, on a daily basis.
"Well, well, what have I caught tonight? You must be Joe Kravin. Wilkins told me I would be meeting you shortly, after all, you're the only one working these four streets at 11 at night. I heard about what you did to that girl last week and I'm here for some payback. No one messes with teenage girls and gets away with it."
The man growled as he struggled to stand. He held his sore gut as he stood before her with a sneer. "Who are you girlie? And how do you know Wilkins?" he sputtered.
"Maybe you haven't heard of me, but that would be expected since all the guys who've met me are behind bars now. And your pal Wilkins is lucky to be one of them. You probably know me as the Huntress, a stalker of the night creeps, but I go by the White Rose Savior, but I'm not much of a savior to your people now am I?"
"White Rose Savior?" the man laughed. "How'd you come up with an "angelic" name like that?"
"Like this." The girl put up her right hand with her palm facing her and swept her left hand across the back of it. When she revealed her left hand, there was a white rose between two tips of her fingers. She slid her hands across each other again and then, in one fluid motion, threw the rose at the man. He gasped as the rose flew at him and closed his eyes tightly, hoping the impossible, that the rose would go off course. He stayed like that for a few seconds before he realized he didn't have a hole in his head. He opened his eyes and saw the rose spiraling stationary in the air right in front of him; the sharp, thorny, pointed stem almost touching his face. His eyes widened at the unbelievable occurrence.
The girl, meanwhile, smirked as she held her hand towards the rose and slowly rotated her wrist. Then she gestured for the return and the rose fell backwards, away from the man, and landed softly in the savior's hand. "Satisfied?"
The man turned and fled, every so often stumbling as he looked over his shoulder, hoping that the Huntress wasn't following him. He ran down the empty street and down a side street. He looked back as he ran across the street and saw that no one was following him, so he slowed with a sigh of relief. He turned the corner and let out a shriek, much like a woman's scream. The girl stood in front of him, as if she was always standing there, waiting for him.
Suddenly Utena stopped. No more words entered her mind on its own. It was as if the river of words now had a dam plugging it up. Utena sighed at her sudden spurt of a great story and then the rapid loss of it. "Oh well, I might as well read it over and see if I can come up with anything else." Utena began to read but then with a barely audible gasp, her eyes caught on the words "White Rose Savior." She stared at it as if it were something not from this world.
'Where did those words come from? I know I heard them before.Oh!' Utena's eyes widened. 'In my dream! That Prince Touga called me Princess of the White Rose! Could it be true that-No! It can't be true,' Utena argued with herself in her thoughts, 'I'm just being crazy. I must have thought it up because my mind remembered it from the dream.' Utena crumpled the paper up and tossed it over to Tristan who was still trying to think up an idea.
"Yo Tristan, here's an idea," Utena said.
Tristan opened the ball of paper and read it quickly. "Utena, this is a cool story. Except...'White Rose Savior'? Where'd you get that from?"
"I have no clue," Utena mumbled under her breath and began to write a new story.
By the end of the class, Utena had written about a team of street racers, who were racing other teams in their prefecture and others to claim the title of the 'Fastest Racer in Gunma Prefecture'. Utena had to admit, it was a pretty good story, partially true of course. "Much better than that stupid 'White Rose Savior' one," she muttered as she headed for the door, dropping the story on the stack of papers, which were her classmates' stories, on Ms. Takata's desk.
***
That night.
"Hey Utena!" One of the dorm's girls called up from the bottom of the stairs.
"Yeah?" Utena walked up to the edge of the landing. She wore a blue robe.
"We're gonna watch some DVDs. You wanna join us? We got popcorn and candy," Lacy invited.
"Uh, actually, I'm kind of wiped out. I was thinking of turning in early," Utena replied.
"Oh okay, I'll tell the other girls so they won't bother you. Good night." Lacy called to her cheerfully and returned to the TV room.
Utena hurried back to her room and tore off the robe. Underneath she wore black leather pants, a black front-lace-up tank top. She went over to the bed and sat down, retrieved a pair of black ankle boots from under the bed. She pulled them on quickly and laced them up. Grabbing her black leather jacket from where it hung on the back of the desk chair, she stepped out on to the balcony and shut the door behind her, careful not to lock it. She slipped on her jacket and climbed on to the cement railing. Near the balcony were thick vines that hung from a huge banyan tree. Utena jumped for the vines and grabbed a tight hold. She quickly slipped down the vines without getting her clothes covered with sap. A few feet from the ground, she let go and dropped down, landing in a crouch as the leaves crackled. Utena paused, listening for any sound that indicated someone had heard her "escape".
Hearing no one, Utena quickly ran over to the clearing in the bushes that hid her motorcycle from view. She pulled her loose hair back and twisted it to the back of her head, slipping her motorcycle helmet over her head. She quickly wheeled her motorcycle out of the bushes, careful not to scratch the paint and wheeled it around to the front of the dorm building. Just as she was about to climb on, when there was a sudden shout, "Hey! Who are you?! What are you doing here?!"
Spinning her head around, Utena saw it was Christina, the girl who had to room at the end of the hall. 'She must have been planning to go to the 24- hour snack bar to grab some more snacks for the girls,' Utena thought. She quickly threw her leg over the seat of her bike and started the ignition. She glanced back behind her and saw that the rest of the girls who resided in the dorm had gathered behind Christina to see what she was shouting about. Christina had the cordless phone in her hand and her fingers flew across the buttons, most likely dialing the academy's main office.
Turning back around, she pushed the throttle and with a squeal of the back tire, Utena whipped down the sidewalk and around the corner. Once leaving the area of the dorm, Utena slid the bike on to the back tire and urged her motorcycle faster. The school buildings whipped by as she biked down the long driveway leading to the academy gates, her motorcycle making a deep purring sound. She turned swiftly at the corner and disappeared from view. The security guards hadn't even been contacted yet.
A few moments later, Utena reached a house on the edge of the city. It was a pale blue, two-story house and had a large garage connected to the side of the house. Utena parked her bike in the driveway and knocked on the door of the door, removing her helmet as she waited for someone to answer the door.
The door opened and a sleepy 20-year-old man wearing nothing but boxers greeted Utena; his six-pack rippled as he stretched with his arms in the air. "Man, Utena, I only got two hours of sleep," Chris yawned.
"Sorry, I came to pick up my FD." Utena moved past him and headed down the hall to the door that led to the garage.
As she went through the door, she flipped on the lights and saw that all the cars were accounted for. "Hmm, all the guys are home huh?" She said to Chris, a longtime friend of hers.
"Yeah, they're all wiped out. We went out cruising and we didn't get back until about three hours ago," Chris said, slowly waking up from his sleepy mood. "So you have a race tonight?"
"Yeah, it's nothing much, just some people getting together. Anyway, you guys have been working on the new car huh?" Utena glanced around the garage and saw that everything was clean as usual, unlike the rest of the house. This had been her home for about a year when she had first moved to Japan. She had stayed with Chris, Trowa, Marcus, Gino, and Shawn, having to deal with the five messy college guys who were like brothers to her.
"Yeah, it's going pretty good." Marcus had recently bought a brand new Toyota Celica and was suping it up for weekly drag racing that was done on the streets of Akina. So far the guys had changed the rims, tires, spoiler, seats, headlights, brake lights, speakers, stereo, and the seat belt (changed to double shoulder straps for safety).
Marcus walked over to the covered car and pulled off the car tarp. "Wow, it's looking great," Utena praised, amazed at what they had done with it in a short amount of time. She slowly walked around it, studying the Celica with a professional-drag-racing eye. "So, is Marc gonna let me test drive it?"
Chris grinned. "Probably, he'd let you drive his prized Ferrari if you wanted to, and you know he doesn't let anyone drive it."
"He still doesn't have a girlfriend? I thought he'd have one by now," Utena said with a smile.
"Nah, he's just waiting for you to come around," Chris grinned.
Utena covered the car back up and went over to her own car, the silver FD that the man had told her would be waiting for her in the Pyro Autoshop's parking lot that long time ago. She had driven it so many times that she could tell if there were a problem with it just by driving it a few yards. She had been sent the keys by express mail when she had arrived in Akina; she had no idea how the man had known where she had been staying, she hadn't told anyone.
Utena uncovered the FD and folded the tarp up. She tossed it onto the worktable as Chris opened the garage by remote. The guys had installed a security garage door that only opened from the inside to insure their cars weren't stolen.
She went out and got her bike, wheeling it in and parking it next to the Celica. Utena pulled out her keys for the FD and got in. She started the ignition and slowly drove past the other carefully covered cars and out into the driveway. She pulled up next to Chris and leaned out the window to talk to him.
"I'll be back around three at the latest."
"Yeah. Here, take these." Chris handed her the keys for the house.
"Thanks." Utena slid the key chain and keys into the pocket of her jacket and slowly began to ease up on the brake pedal.
"No prob. Just make sure you win." Chris grinned and went back into the garage, closing the door with the remote.
Utena drove down the driveway and pulled out into the street. In a few moments she had reached the base of the mountain and, shifting gears, Utena sped up the mountain, taking her time.
As she reached the top, she saw the same pack of cars from that other night and drove over to them. It was time to get serious.
Meanwhile.
Yaten kept glancing down the road as Touga talked to the council members. He thought, 'I can't believe Julius's little sister is the Revolutionary Driver. She seemed so free-spirited when we met her that first time. She was so glad to see Julius and she had already made a lot of friends.but when Julius said that we were on the Council, she kind of seemed.quiet. Maybe something's going to happen, something big,' Yaten thought grimly. 'Whatever it is, Utena didn't like the fact that Julius was on the Council.'
Suddenly there was a flash of headlights from down the road and Yaten sighed. 'And it begins.' He called to the others, who were talking together a several feet away, "She's here!"
The Council members all looked down the road and saw the bright light speeding down the stretch, towards them. Touga went over to his car and retrieved a small black book from the passenger seat. He slipped it into his pocket and stood waiting for the Revolutionary Driver.
The FD slowed as it neared the Council. It pulled up next to Keisuke's FD and the door opened. Utena stepped out, clad in black leather. Her expression was dead serious.
The air had changed somehow. It seemed more tense and vibrated with the tension. Everyone could feel it. Keisuke studied his opponent, the foretold racer who would have the skills to surpass even "The One", whom Touga had told them about.
***
This wasn't just another race for Utena. She knew she could win, but she was still tense. This was the beginning for the series of races that she had once dreaded, facing all these racers and taking the power of revolution. She dreaded what would happen in the end if she won.what would happen to the council members if she won.what would happen to her brother.and Miki.
Utena took a deep breath and took the first steps toward her destiny.
***
In the shadows, two figures stood, watching the Council members and the arrival of the girl.
"Is it her?" The shorter person asked in her elegant and soft voice.
"Yeah, it's her all right," replied the taller person in his deep voice.
"Then it has begun.the Revolutionary Races have finally begun, now that its creator is here," the woman said. Her voice was grave, with a hint or sorrow in them.
"Yes." The man said. He looked at the girl. "Princess."
"She's back."