From: mew3point14@doramail.com (Daniel Snyder) Sonoda Keiko was up with the sun. This would be the day! This was the day that the new Student Government would be sworn into office! And that meant that it was her day to make a new set of first impressions. First came a bath with moisturizing soap and three kinds of hair conditioner. Then came a good long soak in the furo with her rubber ducky while she reviewed her plan (which she called "Keiko's Plan to Make a New Positive First Impression"). As she went down her mental checklist, everything seemed to be in order. A good rub-down with a newly washed terrycloth towel, a quick blow-dry for her brown hair, and she was good to go. In her room, making sure not to wake her roommates Yuuko and Aiko, she slipped on her blue and white school uniform and her red neck scarf, or ribbon, or cravat, or necktie, or whatever she chose to call it. In front of the mirror she gave her hair fifty strokes with a comb and fifty with a brush. Two cute bangs flopped down onto her forehead despite all efforts to make them behave. Keiko picked out her nicest pair of hairbands and put her brown hair up in two large pony tails. White socks, brown shoes, and she fancied herself ready. At the door to her room, she caught herself making a tiny mistake. Underpants! Slipping on a pair of underpants while quietly cursing herself, Keiko at length declared herself ready to go. It was just 8 in the morning. Sonoda Keiko walked out of Kazarashi Dormitory and crossed the campus, waving and greeting friends, acquaintances and professors as she went. A quick journey brought her to the front door of Nagamara Dormitory. She knocked, and the door was promptly opened for her by a young man who looked a lot like a camera lens. "Good morning, Lens," she said pleasantly. "Is Suzuhara Touji up and about yet today?" "Good morning, Keiko-chan," said the lens, which apparently had acquired Aida Kensuke's voice somehow--will the miracles of technology never cease? the girl thought. "Yeah, he's just sitting down to breakfast. Why don't you come inside?" "Why, certainly! I'd love to!" she replied. Kensuke and his camera led the girl into Nagamara's cafeteria. It was built to seat 200, but only two dozen students were eating at the moment. At the north end of the cafeteria was an institutional kitchen--students were served by personnel seated behind a short wall, with steam tables in front of them. Keiko and Kensuke both collected miso, rice and fish before joining Touji and Shigeru at the dining room table. "Good morning, Mr. President," Keiko made a point of saying as she sat down opposite Touji. "Ay! Whoa, whoa, hold on a minute here. I won't be president for at least another hour and a half, let's keep it informal here." He chuckled, though. "What, ah, brings you over here, Keiko-chan?" She tried her hardest to sound innocent. "Well, I was wondering if I could walk over to the swearing-in ceremony with you. You don't need any help, do you?" "Naw, I can roll my way over there," he said. "But yeah, that'd be great if you would come, Keiko-chan. The more, the merrier." "True, that," Shigeru put in. "That's fine then. Thank you very much!" Keiko said with a grin. She thought, _Step one is complete. Now I need to get him alone for five minutes and find out what foods he likes..._ -- "It is my pleasure to introduce to you the new Student Council President, Mr. Suzuhara Touji." Smiling proudly, Kihl Lorenz led the cheering and applause as Touji maneuvered over to the microphone. The young man leaned forward in his wheelchair to speak to the assembled student body. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to thank y'all for your endorsement of my candidacy for the presidency. But I'd give everything I got if we didn't have to have an election. Time an' again during my candidacy, people remembered me as the guy who ran into the burned-out building. I may be a hero to someone, but that ain't the kind of notoriety I want ta have." Touji paused to control his emotions while applause erupted from the audience. A few seconds later he continued. "It's too late to change what we've lost. All we can do now is learn from what was in the past and move along. This is really why I ran for the presidency. 'Cause miscommunication has lost us lives. I don't want no more miscommunication between students, or teachers, or the admin'stration." Once more, applause rose and fell. As he collected his thoughts, Touji glanced over at the other members of the Student Council: Executive Vice President Wakaba, Secretary Miki, Treasurer Juri, Housing Vice President Mayumi, Social Vice President Shiori. His mind touched on the fact that he was responsible to these people as well, in a different way than the others on the campus. He looked out over the audience. Hundreds strong, they had given him their endorsement as one to the vote; now, he owed them the best government he could provide. In the front row, his friend Keiko was smiling at him. What could he offer her to bring her closer to him? The young man spoke a few final words. "In the next few months, the Community Party will help bring incredible changes to this campus. There will be more opportunity for student involvement, as leaders, administrators and even educators. Our new mentoring program promises to not only forge bonds b'tween adults and adolescents, but encourage lifelong friendships between people from different backgrounds. An' by the end of the month, the intramural sports program will be underway. "I guess that what can be said is, the dark clouds all on our future have silver linings, and I just want to show them to everyone. Thank you all." -- The ceremony had gone as planned, but Kaoru Miki found himself in not much of a partying mood. He excused himself from the soiree that had followed, and Ohtori Kanae said that she would walk back towards Nagamara with him. They left the faculty lounge and passed the library, drawing to a halt at the very base of the forested area at the north end of campus. From there, the two could look out over most of the campus. "What do you think of Wakaba?" Kanae asked Miki. "What, my inner thoughts? I think she'll make a good vice president, but I must admit she's an oddball choice," Miki explained. "She's such a contrast to Touji, let alone an introvert like Mayumi. But I guess it's like they say, you need to have foxes and you need to have lions. Better to have a popular girl in a place where she can't do much of anything than have people spend their time worrying about what the President and the Housing VP are up to." "I suppose you're right." Kanae cast down her eyes. "I just worry. I suppose it's because of the circumstances that I worry. We shouldn't have had to elect a whole new board. We shouldn't have lost seven good people from this campus in a foolish accident." Miki put a friendly arm around Kanae's shoulders. "I don't think we'll ever know what Professor Fuyutsuki was thinking when he led those students into Akumafune Dormitory. Ever since there was that accident a few years ago that left poor Misato-san in such shock--" "Please. Don't let's talk about it anymore." By mutual consent they fell quiet. Keeping their thoughts to themselves, they made no outward sign as Ibuki Maya joined them, walking down the stairs from the Temple of All Faiths. She was dressed in a golden yellow dress, the color of the sun. Miki turned to her and said, "You weren't at the swearing-in ceremony, Maya-chan. Your presence was missed." "My apologies," she said with a bow. "I've been praying in the church all day. For guidance." "Oh, I see." The three of them gazed across the campus for a minute longer before Miki turned back to Maya. "Maya-chan...maybe you can help me. For the longest time, I was under the impression that there was an altarpiece of some kind in the temple. Has there ever been one? You spend enough time up there these days, you should know." Maya shook her head. Her reply struck the two listeners as pointedly mysterious: "Up until earlier this year, there was an altar nobody worshipped at in Akumafune Dormitory. It was a young girl, younger than us, hanging from the branches of the World Tree. She hung from the branches of the Tree of Life willingly, for her own enlightenment." Miki and Kanae were struck dumb for a moment. At last, Miki found his tongue. "Well, thank you for clearing that up, Maya. I'll be going now..." "Maya-chan, wait a moment." Kanae took a close look at her roommate's face. "Now, I know I've heard you throwing up in the bathroom yesterday morning and today, and now you've got something all over your face. Are you coming down with a disease?" Maya took a deep breath and sighed. "I don't know yet. I'll go to the doctor on Monday. But I'm pretty sure it isn't contagious." "That's a small relief to know, Maya-chan." Miki turned, pulling Kanae along with him. "See you later, Maya-chan! Hope you're feeling better!" -- There was no way from her perspective to confirm it. The rash on her face and the morning sickness could be psychosomatic. All girls get food cravings now and again. A late period wasn't indicative of anything. She only heard the heartbeat in her dreams. Still... _I know that it is true...and I know that he is still alive...I can feel it..._ -- Midday. A bright sun and a dark man. Like an incision across empty air, the front gates of Feuervogel Academy pulled open. Ikari Gendou slipped inside, unacknowledged and unobtrusive. He wore a black jacket over a red sweater with black pants and black shoes. Nobody saw him; nobody was looking for him. He did not have far to go. Ibuki Maya was waiting for him in her dress of the sun, standing in the middle parkland where the wildflowers never grew. Her fury was reigned tightly by her mind and sense of duty. "Speak your piece," he said. "I want my lover back," she stated. "This world is lonesome for a hero. Ikari Shinji--your son--is the greatest man I have ever known. Before he left me, he told me that he believed there was a world beyond this one." Ikari looked at her quizzically. "You didn't really destroy the universe, Ikari-san. You cut us off from the rest of it. The instant that I go out that gate, your wife allows the universe to exist again, and we're all free." "Then why don't you?" he replied. Maya smiled as he fell into her feint. "Because I'm carrying your grandson, Ikari-san. I'm going to give birth to him, and I'm going to teach him everything Shinji taught me before he left us. Then I'm going to follow in my true love's footsteps, and let my child choose whether to follow us or not." Ikari snorted. "Shinji walked out the main gate of Feuervogel Academy and was instantly annihilated by the cosmic forces outside. That will be your fate too, if you follow him." "Shinji-kun is free now. He's in the real world." "I see that there's no convincing you." He turned around and walked back towards the gate. "By the way," he added over his shoulder, "welcome to the family." "Thank you," she replied politely. The front gates closed tightly as he left. Maya let out a deep sigh and walked off the pathway, sitting down beneath a tightly-trimmed tree. The three Magi were already there, seated in the shade. Maya looked down at her womb, trying to imagine the life growing there. The first Magus spoke. "Ikari Gendou tried to break the last taboo. He tried to become the one true God. Theoretically, it wasn't that difficult. Using the knowledge he'd gained at ROSA, he was able to convert all matter in the universe into energy. The problem he ran into was how to turn that energy back into matter." The second continued the tale. "After his wife found out that he'd been having sex with people in exchange for their knowledge, she accelerated herself into the fifth dimension and became one with the Kingdom. In the material plane, she had the form of a rose--Fuyutsuki-sensei called it the Living Rose. Ikari put Katsuragi-sensei's knowledge of how plants utilize energy to work and hoped that, by storing the energy of a four- dimensional universe in a five-dimensional organism, he could call it back at will. Not realizing, of course, that his wife was still self- aware and aware of his intentions. She has been refusing to release his energy ever since." The third one offered an analysis. "Does that mean that there is no world out there? Or simply by walking out the door, did Ikari Shinji convince his mother to create one? I don't know. I only know about the state of the natural world here in Feuervogel Academy. These physical laws say nothing about worlds beyond my imagination. Maybe someone could tell me. Maybe Ikari Shinji could tell me." "If the egg's shell does not break, the chick will die unborn. Now, we are the chick, and the egg is Feuervogel Academy, the fane of the firebird. If the shell of the world does not break, we will die unborn." "Ikari Shinji broke through the shell of the world. This I know. But I am still on the inside of the egg. I do not know if he died in birth, or if he lives still." "Empty shell today, and here I sit." "Once upon a time, there was a beautiful bride. She knew love, and she knew what it was to be loved. But she was proud, too, and resolved not to give herself to anyone." "On the day of her wedding, she was dressed in her most beautiful gown and surrounded by everyone she loved. But she frowned, because she was proud and she had only half-chosen her husband-to-be. Although she knew him by the word of others, she had never seen his face." "'Smile and love your husband,' they all shouted, 'smile and love your husband.' And the longer she did not smile, the louder they shouted, and the more impatient everyone became." "Finally, she swallowed her pride and smiled weakly. In that moment, her bridegroom came to her. She saw him for the first time." "He was beautiful to look upon, and charming in his bearing. Willingly, she smiled then. Willingly, she married him." "What was the name of the bride?" "Humanity," Ibuki Maya answered. "Gloria In Excelsis Deo," the three Magi chorused. -- "The Messiah will only come when he is no longer necessary; he will come only on the day after his arrival."--Franz Kafka.