Juri is defeated in a duel by a masked individual, who is revealed to be Ruka, the former fencing team captain who has just gotten over a long illness. Ruka rejoins the Student Council and starts going out with Shiori, over Juri's objections.
"Whispers in the Dark" provides examples of:
- The Ace: Ruka proves himself to be an even better fencer than Juri, despite having just went back to school after being ill for what's implied to be months.
- Arrogant Kung-Fu Guy: During the duel, Ruka taunts Utena and reminds her of the illness he's just getting over while effortlessly evading her strikes before parrying her next attack and shoving her from behind.
- Chick Magnet: Ruka.
- Graceful Loser: By all means, Ruka handles his loss better than some of the other duelists to the point he's the first one in the current arc to not collapse upon defeat. This also hinges on the fact that he's aware that Utena only wins because she has Anthy backing her.
- Hands-On Approach: Ruka helps a girl from the fencing club correcting her posture in a rather suggestive way.
- Hidden Depths: The truth is that Shiori has a talent to improvise on the spot, and uses it in an attempt to woo Ruka. Too bad he knew all along she was lying, but while he's dumping her, he taunts her saying that her performance was amusing and that she has a talent for ad libs.
- Kick the Dog: After losing the duel against Utena, Ruka dumps Shiori saying that she isn't a good bride and reveals to her that the sword she claimed to have polished every day wasn't his. He seems to particularly enjoy Shiori's desperation when he reveals that he knew she was lying all along.
- Selective Obliviousness: When Juri tries to warn Shiori about Ruka out of worry, Shiori misinterprets her words as jealousy and thinks she's awful for it.
- Sexy Discretion Shot: It's heavily implied that Ruka and Shiori have sex in Akio's car.
