A/N: Thanks for all the kind reviews. I finally forced myself to sit down and finish this interlude. I figured that I needed add a little bit more before the fun actually starts. Chapter three is 1/4 done; I still want to figure out how much I want to put into that chapter.

Stone-Three words: Nao. Kozue. Meets. And I wonder who is throwing who to the wolves.

Disclaimer: Utena and Mai HiME do not belong to me. If I did, Mai HiME would be way more Natsuki and Shizuru-centric and Shiho and Tate would have stayed dead. I wouldn't change a second in RKU—that show was bloody brilliant.

1st Movement

Prelude conti.

D.S.

Now, it was hot water that traced pathways across his body. His head was bowed down as water dripped in small rivers from his shoulder blades. He had moved from cold, punishing rain and into the shower. Like the steam rose and fogged up the glass in the bathroom, thoughts emerged and ran parallel with his regrets. Not only was he plagued by his own thoughts but also the ghosts that he inherited from Kokuyou no Kimi during the others' stay in his body also conversed with him. His mind whirled with the paradoxes that he created, each replacing the other with another "what if" scenario.

Was his actions justified? Did he have the right to change the world to fit his ideals? He did have the power to do so. And if you had power…did you not make the most of it?

If he had done...if he had made sure…

Drip drip.

The water stopped. Reito loosened his tight grip on the handle and slowly let go. He slowly and mechanically dried himself and dressed. Just as he got out of the bathroom, the phone rang.

"Hello?" He said. Surprise and shock flew to his face as he heard the voice on the receiving end.

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"Cheater."

"It seems I finally have your full, undivided attention." Touga grinned and lazily threw down his cards.

Juri too threw down her hand. The expression of near anger and annoyance rang true on her face. Greenish-blue eyes glared at the other.

"Why are you wasting my time?" She said irritably. Juri had better uses for her lunch break than to listen to the egotistical boy talk.

"Can't you see that what goes on in this school does not happen because of chance, Juri?" The school playboy said calmly as he folded his arms, "even without my memory of the important parts of this year I know this. In fact, it only strengthens my point. Tell me that you never thought—tell me that you never wondered of the power of this school...this school where you and I, mere children, have more power than the majority of the faculty here. Why does such a place exist?"

He glanced at the fencing captain for a moment. She did not speak, instead chose to silently contemplate the President's words. Touga continued on.

"Nothing ever happens by chance," he repeated, stressing out his point. "We were not chosen to become duelist or part of the Student Council by chance. Therefore…you have heard the announcements made this morning. In another four days an entire academy worth of students are going to be studying and living in Ohtori."

"The question you—we should be asking is 'why'. Why is the Chairman and the School Board allowing this to happen? Where does that leave us?" Surely such a large assimilation is usually uncalled for.

Touga's eyes now showed an almost weary countenance as if he had spent the last few nights awake in reverie of the past. Closing his eyes, a sigh escaped his lips. He slowly stood up.

"Anyway, we are going to have an emergency Council meeting after school to plan for the arrival of our guests." In an almost gentlemanly fashion the 11th grader bowed before leaving.

"Until then Juri."

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Shizuru sighed and set down her tea cup. Her eyes flickered to Natsuki who was sitting adjacent to her. The blue haired girl ate quickly, never once looking up. The Kyoto born could tell that her friend was still seething from the other's posture. Natsuki was still angry at her.

They ate in silence. Both girls did not want to start conversation because they knew where it would lead to. Neither one wished to talk about events that had happened less than a week prior that had tore a large gap between them. Yet…it hung around them like a tight embrace, suffocating them into the hushed uneasiness. Shizuru had, when Natsuki had accepted to stay in her room, without speaking gotten out her spare futon. She would have slept in the living room if Natsuki hadn't vehemently commanded her to switch places.

These three days—nights—had been terrible. Their conversations were usually short and abrupt—ghosts of what use to be between them.

The phone rang. Shizuru set down her hashi and went to pick it up.

"Moshi moshi…yes," the red eyed girl looked up, her face emotionless. "Natsuki, I am going out," she said without a question.

"Come back soon," the other girl said moments later as the door had swung to a close.

Coda

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"You wanted to see me?"

From the windowsill, Mashiro spun her wheelchair around to face the person who stood in the shadows. Reito took a step forward from the shadows, his step resounding in the large room. Only the little rays of moonlight illuminated the room, the generator and power had been shorted days ago.

"Yes," she says softly.

He tilts his head questioningly, amusement sparked in his depths. "Well," he starts, "what do you want to do with me? Punish me for the wrongs I have done these past few weeks, Queen of Hell?"

Teal eyes remained soft as the doll's head shakes slowly. "No, not at all. You have done nothing wrong."

"Oh really, is your definition of 'wrong' is that such a word it is nonexistent then? Surely planning the destruction of the world and driving girls into enough pain and torment so they aim to kill is not 'wrong'?"

"Do you want me to punish you?" She asks simply as she stared into the eyes of the vessel who had hung her old body as a trophy beneath the school.

"Ara? Did I come at a bad time?" Though the words were meant to sound humorous, there was an underlying dangerous tone hidden like a concealed dagger. Crimson eyes glowed almost eerily in the darkness as Shizuru moved closer to the other two.

"Well now, what a party do we have here. Good evening, Shizuru-hime," Reito replied as he bowed mockingly.

Shizuru eyed him with bore, flat expression. "I would have killed you when I had the chance. I only followed with your plans because they were in my interests as well."

"You would have tried to do so." He shot back. The black wearing Vice President was about to speak again before Mashiro interrupted them.

"I thought you two would know better than to start like that. I did not call the two of you about your actions during the Carnival." She moves to the large rectangular table in the middle of the room. "Please, take a seat," she says as she situates herself at the front of the table.

They took a seats perpendicular to the Director, adjacent to each other. Fumi moved towards them.

"Would you like so tea?" Both nod and accept the cups offered to them. The maid handed both of them thin vanilla folders and lighted the candles at the table before departing back into the retreating shadows. Mashiro took a drink from her own cup.

"I have plans to restore Fuuka to what it once was," she begins, "I have talked to several of our sponsors and providers and they have agreed to finance the rebuilding of the Academy. However, during this time the school will be unable to provide the necessities to her students."

"So what do you want of us mere students?" Reito asks. Though he would never admit it, a part of him was relieved that the meeting was not about the festival. His feelings about the past few days were turbulent and confused at best. He had opened his folder and was idly flipping through the information.

"During the meantime, I believed that it is for the best that our students continue their education so I have made accommodations with a neighboring gakuen. Fuuka's students will be studying there until our academy is fixed. I will be staying here to supervise the construction. You along with the rest of the seitokai will, with the help of their academy's seitokai, manage matters there."

Shizuru had stayed silent for most of the conversation. She had chosen to quietly sip the offered tea while the other two talked. The folder she had been given remained untouched. The unusual high tension between her and Natsuki had caused her reply to the vice president the way she did. She, like Reito, had thought Mashiro had called her on her actions during the festival and had been prepared to take the consequences of her actions. Finally she set down her teacup.

"If this is all you wanted to say," she started, "then why isn't the rest of the council here?"

Mashiro's gaze cast downwards, "Ohtori academy is much like our own. This year they have been in situation similar to ours."

Almost simultaneously both vice president and president had raised their brow. Reito was the first to speak.

"How so?"

"Their school is wrapped around their own sources of mystery and magic. The students there are confused about what had happened in the past year."

"How do you know this?" Shizuru asks simply.

"Does it matter?" the black haired male shot back though his retort did not even earn him a spare glance from the kaichou.

"I will tell you this: be careful when you deal with the Chairman. Do not get trapped in any games he might ask you to join. You are not in any way become tangled in the webs of their school's customs. These things should not concern to you or the rest of the council but I believe that the leaders should know of them. If anything is to happen than you will know how to deal with them."

"I have given the others instructions and duties to fulfill. What they are supposed to do are inside the folders you have been given. You may want to make sure everything that is being done is correct. In four days we should be ready to move the students into the academy."

"May I ask several questions?" the light brunette says in her distinctive accent. Mashiro nods and Shizuru begins.

"Does the other gakuen have the room to hold another thousand students and does the faculty have the resources to accommodate for us? And what about Fuuka's students—what makes you so sure that they will return after this year's chaos?"

"There will be several things that each side will have to abide by. Lodging will be dealt with by their Council and School Board. Those that return to Fuuka will go to the Academy."

"Why that gakuen? You make it seem that it is almost dangerous—what if something happens?"

"It is the closest one. Besides," a small smile rises on Mashiro's face, "I believe that these we can learn much from each other."

Shizuru nods, processing the information she had been given.

"That will be all today. I want both of you to return tomorrow afternoon. The rest of the seitokai that is able to attend will as well. We will discuss further details then."

President and Vice President stood up. They bowed before leaving the room.

"So what do you think Fujino-san?" Reito asks as they get ready to go back into the rain.

"The entire thing is absurd. The Director moves too fast. However…" She opens her umbrella starts to leave.

"Your fixation clouds your usually impeccable judgment you know." There is a grin on the black haired male's face as he calls out to her.

Shizuru turns, smiling, her voice was no louder than it usually was, "it always has Minagi Reito-san. You should practice what you preach because it did and does yours."

…end of first movement