Mami is quiet as she listens, the way Utena's body grows unyielding and tight failing to escape her. And Mami wonders to herself in the privacy of her own mind: The duels....where one is pitted against their schoolmates in a clash of blades over the right to claim another person as a possession....a person of some great yet mysterious significance.

That's too cruel and purposeful to be a mere game.

These are things that are thought but not said. Not for the moment, anyway. "Well, people revolt when they aren't satisfied with the way things are. Any history book will tell you that, right?" She reaches up after a moment to touch Utena's shoulder, gentle and reassuring. "But I don't think that anyone can change the entire world all by themselves. Perhaps what it really means is....you're the beginning."

Mami gazes out at the sky as it explodes once more in a flurry of sparks.

"Change has to start within, after all. Otherwise you never grow as a person....you might as well still be a child."