Becka looks up wide-eyed, "We'll stop now."

Back in the darkened library, someone, mistakenly thinking it safe, pulls out a pocket flashlight and examines a row of books. Miki's eyes detect the faint glow like radar. He flings himself at the shelf, clawing at the books and haphazardly tossing them aside. "MY SHINING THING!!" The student 'eeps' and quickly turns off the light as Miki squirms through the hole he has made in the shelf. The student gets out of the way as the bookshelf and several others collapse on Miki. Several moments and two hippopotami later, a badly bruised Miki bats away the debris.

Unnoticed in all the commotion, the electric fireplace flickers brightly. Miki turns toward this NEW source of light, and his eyes grow wide yet again. "MY SHINING THING!!" Both authors note Miki's intention with growing alarm. Karen dives for Miki as Miki dives toward the light. Karen fiercely holds Miki's legs as he uses his teeth to propel himself at a snail's pace forward. Becka places herself in Miki's path and kneels down. She pokes him lightly on the nose. "It's okay, Miki. You can stop now. You don't want to become a crispy critter..."

The light having been blocked, Miki can now think clearly. Relieved, Karen releases his legs. He looks up toward the source of the relentless poking. He sees Becka's beaming face. His eyes grow wide with pathetic hope. He stands purposefully, offering his hand to Becka. She accepts, and as he pulls her close, a little too hard, his voice lowers several octaves. In an Akio-like tone, he whispers, "You WILL be my shining thing."

Becka *erps* and vainly attempts to escape. In retaliation, Miki glomps onto her leg, koala-style. Becka hops around on one foot, which isn't easy to do with a full-grown man/boy attached to her. She screams, "Get it off me! Get it off! Get it off! Ka-chan, HELP!" Karen follows Becka and somehow takes her spatula. Using the weapon as a sort of crowbar, Karen tries to pry the impossibly stubborn Miki off of Becka.

Eventually, the sky lightens and the sun peeks over the horizon to reveal a still-attached Miki fiercely hugging a frantic Becka's leg amidst the rubble of the library. For what seems like the millionth time, Karen weakly tries to pry Miki away with the slightly bent spatula. Miki blinks, and abruptly lets go, sending the two girls sprawling. Collapsing and covering his eyes with his hands, he gasps out, "Chuchu... Anthy... Kozue... piano... my lock picks!!"

The scene flashes to an intent Chuchu working furiously to unlock the piano with a well-used lock pick while Anthy stands guard and Kozue looms nearby with sheet music in hand, ready to play.

There is a manly announcer-type voice, "The Questions start here." Becka and Karen fear, but continue.

Leaving Miki like that on the floor, the two authors pull out a bingo cage filled with letters. Karen turns the handle a few times and Becka reaches in and pulls out a letter. She reads:

This was sent in by KrisStarru, "I have a question."

Karen pops up, "42."

Becka continues, "What does 'glomp' mean?"

Karen glares quickly at Becka. "You can't demonstrate it... they can't SEE you."

Becka pouts and goes off to find a dictionary amidst the rubble while Karen turns to answer the letter. "Having had first-hand... er... *back* experience with glomping, I feel qualified to answer this question. Glomp is not a real word."

Becka looks up from what is left of the reference section. "Now you tell me."

Karen smiles pleasantly and continues, "Glomp is a Wakaba-ism. Actually, it's what Wakaba does when she jumps onto Utena's back. There have been several variations on the term 'glomp' including glomphuggle, glompattack, and glompattach. It's basically just what it sounds like. One of the best examples is in the first episode when Wakaba almost knocks Utena out of the window via a hearty glomp."

Becka, still miffed about the dictionary, grabs another letter and shoves it into Karen's hands. Karen reads fearfully, "This question was sent in by the dirty minded, Adrian Wong. "'Does Touga… em, have a thing with Akio for real in the series? Is there an Akio/Touga sexual relationship going on? If so, in which episodes?'"

Becka muses aloud, "Hmm… how exactly to answer that question…"

Karen just grins, "I did the last. Your turn."

Becka sighs, "Well, you really don't ever SEE anything, at least, as far as we know. But, it's kind of implied. First, Touga is Akio's right hand, the one who knows more about what's going on that everyone else save the Dean and his sister. Second, Akio and Touga are seen taking car rides rather frequently together. Touga is the one who helps Akio do most of his recruitment. Basically, Akio says; Touga does. One example being when Akio offers Touga to Nanami in quite forward terms, which is somewhere around episodes 30 through 34. We don't remember which, so we could be wrong. And our last reason for believing that Touga has had relations with Akio is, hell, Akio gets around."

Karen blinks, "Damn… you've really given some thought to that."

Becka smiles, "You have to have some hope when you're tied in a straitjacket."

Karen sweatdrops and pulls out another letter, "From Misha, 'Ok, yeah… what is up with the "random iced drink" thing??? Did I miss something?'"

Karen sighs as Becka hums the theme to Jeopardy. Karen speaks, "In episode 39, when Utena is trying to open the Rose Doors, Akio is standing with a random iced drink in his hands. It just suddenly appears, kind of like a chick, hatching out of a shell…"

Becka stops Karen, "Er… anyway… if you look closely, there are random iced drinks that appear throughout the series. It's a conspiracy I tell you! They are trying to brain wash us with ice!"

Karen drools, and mumbles, "Ice is good."

Becka glares, "Ice is kinky."

Karen repeats, "Ice is good."

Becka decides it's best to just give up and pulls out the next letter. Blinking, she reads, "This is more of a request then an FAQ... from Peggy, 'Define "manipulate."'"

Karen smiles, and firmly states, "Yes."

Becka looks at Karen, "Ka-chan, I *don't* think that was the answer they were looking for."

Karen continues to smile and repeats, "Yes."

Becka pulls out her spatula and whacks her on the head. "Just answer the question, ne?"

Karen starts to say "Yes," but frowns and thinks better of it. She clears her throat "Anyhoo... manipulate." She tries to call Miki over to help with the definition, but Miki is otherwise... occupied... so, Karen sighs and turns to Becka. "Becka, what *does* 'manipulate' mean?... Becka?" Karen is somewhat surprised to find Becka already with dictionary in hand, open to the proper page.

Becka takes a deep breath and begins, "Manipulate. Verb. 1) to treat or operate with the hands or by mechanical means, especially in a skillful manner 2) to manage or utilize skillfully; to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means, especially to one's own advantage 3) to change by artful or unfair means so as to serve one's purpose, to doctor. Synonym: see HANDLE."

Karen blinks, "Damn."

Becka shrugs, "Since I seem to be on the receiving end of this disturbingly literal 'handling' more than anyone else, I highly recommend that you don't get into that position. It may sound fun, but it ain't no picnic."

"*ahem* From SnowTygra, a question has been debated by blue-haired bishonen fans everywhere, 'What is Miki's shinning thing?'" Becka blinks (again).

Miki nearly attacks the bingo cage and the two girls on either side of it as he eagerly dives in front of them. His eyes waver, brimmed with pitiful tears, as he pleads, "Where??" Both girls sweatdrop and hesitate to answer, as whatever they say may cost them their lives at the hands of a hearty blue-hued glomp. Fortunately, someone had noticed the Blue Terror's momentary distraction and risked using the copy machine. As the white-blue light flashed from across the library, well... a much relieved Becka and Ka-chan were left Miki-less.

Becka begins, "Well, it's more of an idea than any actual thing. It has to do with his precious memory of the sunlit garden. I think his shining thing is really his innocence. He realizes that back then he lived his life blissfully unaware of hardship. His piano-playing days with Kozue abruptly ended after that one concert, and he blamed himself for her failure. Soon afterward his parents were divorced, and he associated all of his happiness and the way he wanted his life to be with his memory of that garden. It became the one shining moment of his life before things fell apart and he had to be mature enough to take responsibility for himself and his sister."

"From Kasei ,'What is Chu Chu anyway? I think it's a mouse but now I'm not sure.'"

Karen thoughtfully responds, "Technically, Chu Chu is a monkey (that's why he gets spinning bananas when Utena first sees him, and why Utena tells Miki that calling him ChuuChuu sounds to mouse-like), but he looks like a mouse, so he gets called a 'monkey-mouse' all the time. We personally believe he is a species all his own, and rightly so."

Karen turns the bingo cage again and passes it to Becka, "Your turn! ^.^"

Becka pulls out a letter. "Hey! No fair! This one has two questions… I want a refund!"

Karen continues to smile, "Your turn." Becka sighs and reads the letter.

"From CMM, 'First, has anyone ever found that Touga really is in love/lust for Utena? If so, in which episodes has it been in?'"

Becka thinks about that for a second, "Well, yes… That is, if you take Touga's word for it. And his actions pretty much speak for themselves. The episodes where his feelings for Utena are most blatant are episodes 3, 30, 31, 35, and 36."

"And still from CMM, 'Second, is Dios the reincarnation of Mamiya?'"

Becka blinks, "Um… no. I really don't think so. There are a lot of things we're not sure about in this series, but I think that's a safe NO. If anything, it would be the other way around… but Mamiya isn't the reincarnation of Dios, either. Mamiya was a figment of Mikage's imagination based on the real boy who was Tokiko's brother and died from his illness. The purple-haired Mamiya is merely a combination of Mikage's denial and Akio's manipulations. For once, Dios had nothing to do with it."

"From Jelivs, 'My question is you frequently say that people 'manipulate' other people. Especially Akio and Touga. Right? Well if Akio and Touga can do it, what the hell is keeping Utena from doing it?'"

Karen and Becka blink and look at each other. They both say at the same time, "She's just too NICE."

"From the SlurpeeQueen, '1. How did you find out about Utena?'"

Karen happily chirps up, "I first saw Utena when one of my friends picked it up because it looked spiffy. We were traumatized by the visual onslaught of so many spinning things. So, I bought my own copy and forced Baka-chan to watch it."

"And again, from the SlurpeeQueen, '2. What other anime do you watch?'"

Becka gets a greedy gleam in her eyes as she answers darkly, "Whatever we can get our hands on."

Karen sweatdrops and hastily adds, "You can find more about us at the bottom of the creators page, if you're really that (sick and) interested in us."

"And, um... one more time, from the SlurpeeQueen, '3. Why haven't you won more awards?! You're website is one of the funniest out there.'"

Becka pouts and valiantly defends her page, "We have! And we keep getting more, too!"

Karen mutters, "I wonder why..."

Becka glares in her direction and continues, "Go to the Bowling Alley to see them all!"

"From Megan, 'What's with the Rabbits of Doom? What are they?'"

Karen coughs and sweatdrops, then whistles absently while staring at the ceiling of the library (where a certain blue-haired secretary is currently prowling) as she pretends that she didn't hear the letter she just read out loud. Becka is not convinced. "Ka-chan…."

"KA-CHAN!"

"Hai…?"

Becka points at the letter Karen was ignoring.

Karen purses her lips and shakes her head violently, much like a two-year old who refuses to eat its peas. Becka sighs, "Ka-chan. Answer them," she points in Miki's general direction, "or I cover you in glitter and put two dozen spotlights on you."

Karen blinks and seriously considers Becka's threat. She sighs and gives in. "The Rabbits of Doom..." Becka nods. "The Rabbits of Doom..."

Karen suddenly brightens and pulls her best Xellos impression yet.

"Sore wa himitsu desu!"

Becka facefaults.

Before Becka can recover, Karen quickly sifts out another letter and reads, "From Lance, 'What is the deal with the Sword of Dios?'"

Ka-chan sweatdrops, "Well, Baka-chan and I were wondering that too. Everybody has a "Spirit Sword" (for the Student Council this sword is an exact copy of the swords they use in their first Duels with Utena). This sword is powered by the strength of the wielder's spirit. The Sword of Dios is special in that it taps the Power of Dios through the Rose Bride. The Victor of the Duel can use the Sword in a Duel, but if anything happens to the Sword, Anthy feels it . . . or, if Anthy feels any thing, the Sword reacts to it (like in the second Duel with Touga). After the Duels, supposedly the Victor simply hands Anthy the Sword of Dios, and, being her soul, it just magically goes back inside of her. ^.~ Slightly more boring that having to physically replace the Sword, but then, they'd have to go through a LOT of Rose Brides that way, too, ne?"

"From Vanessa, 'Do you have any idea where I can get a Rose Signet Ring?'"

Becka answers, "You might check online, but the only place we knew of closed down. They usually sell them at conventions, or you might be able to order them through a local anime store (if you're lucky enough to have one, that is). They used to be $25 each, but now they cost closer to $50 each." ;_;

"From Sizer, 'In what episode does Saionji become a Rose Bride? I know he does, but I don't quite know what episode. I have only seen the first four tapes, gomen. Just wondering... ps. Do you know where I can find any pics of him in a dress? ^.^ Just a little curious.'"

Ka-chan responds, "Saionji acts as Touga's Rose Bride in episode 36, I believe. (I didn't go check, so I'm not sure. If not, it's episode 37.) As for the dress picture… not that I'm aware of, but if not, there will be one on our 'Do not enter' page soon enough."

"From Heather, 'How many episodes are there, and how many are in English?'"

Ka-chan swallows and puts down a random iced drink from the library vending machine and tosses Becka a bag of animal crackers. "There are a total of 39 TV episodes (and one movie, and one live-action musical). As of now, the entire series can be gotten on DVD (english/japanese) as well as the movie. As for the musical... well, do you really _want_ to see that, even in Japanese?"

"And now, two questions from people whose names we lost. Gomen! First, 'What is with the elephant thing...?'"

Becka and Ka-chan shake their heads, "We don't know. We really don't know." Ka-chan picks up, "Try asking Nanami, but then again, she's rather occupied at the moment, too…"

"And next, 'I wanted to ask a question about Miki.... what is up with the stopwatch thing?? It's driving me crazy! I've only seen up to the episode where Utena fights Wakaba... but I just don't get the stopwatch thing!'"

Becka looks over the library, "I have no idea. I'm not sure even Miki knows. Nanami even asked him in the series, and he evaded the question." Ka-chan pulls out her own stopwatch and clicks it, "But it sure is fun, ne?"

As soon as Karen finishes speaking, the sun glistens off of the library windows. Miki sits up. He flies toward the sunbeams with a renewed cry of "MY SHINING THI---!!" His shout is sharply stopped as Miki splatters against the window. Several minutes later, the janitor comes by and wipes the blue smear off the pristine glass.

Someone enters the library, and Karen and Becka blink as Touga smoothly glides toward them, his hair glistening in the sunlight. Becka just *looks* at Miki. "You touch his chest, I kick your ass."

***