Author's note: I wrote Fields of Hope for two reasons: the first was as buildup to the Euphinator arc. The second was to cast some light on a certain unappreciated character in the series. You'll see what I mean by the end of this chapter.
I'm disappointed no one caught the Macross reference last chapter. Perhaps you'll have better luck with the Prince of Tennis reference this time. Look for it XD
Stage 02 Unending Torment
If there was one thing Kallen hated, it was loose ends. With stories, she was always the one who pointed out the plot holes and got irritated by them while her brother Naoto always had to come up with some sort of hasty explanation to appease her. To Kallen, the Holy Britannian Empire was a loose end. Her mother was a loose end. Naoto's dream was a loose end.
Suzaku was no different. As long as he was around and knew about Kallen's secrets, it would niggle at her mind. The possibility of discovery would be that much closer and it would make her feel vulnerable – an emotion Kallen knew of and despised.
The issue therefore needed to be settled once and for all with either Suzaku's sworn silence or his death. Of course, they were acquaintances in the student council, so this could get messy. Not to mention the incident with the note had focused his attention elsewhere. But with Kallen as an initial prime suspect, she could not rest. With Suzaku on edge like this, who knew when he'd decide to turn her in? Their score had to be settled... and soon. It was nothing personal – he would understand. They were enemies, after all.
"Suzaku," she announced when class was over, "I challenge you to a d-"
He didn't hear her. "Lelouch, I don't know how I'm meant to set this trap you're talking about."
"It's fine," Lelouch told him. "Just leave it to me."
At various other times throughout the day, Kallen tried to approach Suzaku and challenge him to a duel but things just kept getting in the way. At lunch time, they were sitting outside eating sandwiches when some giant bees came flying out of the bush. The girls surrounding her all screamed and Kallen had to pretend that she was frightened by them too. (… which she wasn't.)
Then, just when class was about to start again, she opened her mouth – but Arthur chose that moment to slink into the scene and bite Suzaku on the finger. This happened with startling regularity, so no one gave too much thought on it. Still, the moment was lost and so gym class started without anything being achieved.
Kallen sat by the wall because she was too "sick" to play any part. During this time, she noticed Lelouch cast her an envious glance, which cost him because a split second later, he got hit on the head by a tennis ball. He still had a ways to go, evidently. As for Suzaku...
He wasn't there.
Kallen noticed the teacher mark off the attendance record. "Kururugi forgot his gym clothes," the teacher was muttering to herself.
"Hmm..."
Kallen gingerly raised a hand and asked to the go to the toilet. Upon being given permission to leave the gym, she commenced a quick scour through the school. Where could Suzaku be? At his locker?
No. He was at the sink. He had his sleeves pulled up to his elbow and he was washing something. His gym clothes.
"Suzaku!" Kallen said to him sharply. "What are you doing?"
"Oh, it's you, Kallen." Suzaku looked down at his hands. "I'm doing nothing."
"Nothing?" Kallen raised an eyebrow. "You're trying to wash off the permanent marker that says 'Filthy Eleven' on the back of your shirt. Unless I'm so sick and frail that my eyes deceive me."
Suzaku sighed.
"So how long has this been going on? And now you're getting threatening notes too. Maybe you should start fighting instead of being the dog kicked by Britannia."
"Kallen..."
"Oh, it won't matter to you," she said bitterly. "You think everything will be fine if you just grin and bear it. You remind me of my mother."
"What happened to your mother?" Now he was concerned, like he was a friend of hers or something.
Kallen scowled, realising just how far she'd let her guard slip. "It's nothing to do with you," she responded tersely. "Just go on... doing what you were doing."
"I do like you better like this, when you're honest."
"Shut up."
Only after Kallen was finished storming from the scene in a huff did she remember what she had forgotten to do: issue Suzaku the challenge.
Love meant nothing to Lelouch, meaning that he'd failed to score even a single point in tennis. Even Nunally could probably do better than him at it. The thought made the esteemed leader of the Black Knights scowl darkly. Very darkly indeed.
His expression cleared when he noticed Suzaku at the sink, folding up some sort of clothing and stowing it away into his school briefcase. At first, Lelouch thought it was a banner or something – but on closer inspection...
"Suzaku! What have I told you about your reactions?"
They'd discussed this when they were meant to be doing work in class earlier that morning:
Lelouch cleared his throat before pointing at Suzaku. "If you react in just the right way, we can lure the offender to us."
"Really?" Suzaku said, fascinated.
"Think about it," said Lelouch. "A bully likes to gloat on his victim's misfortune. The person wouldn't just write the note and not see how you respond."
It made a lot of sense, although it didn't stop Suzaku from being surprised at seeing his friend come to him. "Huh? Lelouch?"
Lelouch sighed with slight irritation. "You don't just quietly put up with bullying – you whine, complain, whinge – and let them come to you."
"Everyone seems to be finding out about this," Suzaku muttered bitterly as he looked down at the markings he had failed to erase just now.
"What was that?"
"Nothing." Suzaku stared at his gym clothes before looking up at Lelouch. "Look, I... I already know who's doing this to me."
Lelouch frowned. "Who is it, then?" And why on earth didn't Suzaku say so before?
Suzaku quietly took Lelouch aside and pointed at a student who walked past. "That guy there. I've seen him do it before."
Lelouch looked the student over: he had a wide, podgy body, a mean-looking face, a flat nose and large, ham-like fists. "What's his name?" Lelouch whispered.
"Klaus, I think," Suzaku whispered back.
"I see."
And then, for all of Lelouch's intelligence and shrewdness, he decided at that moment to do something that seemed very stupid and impulsive indeed.
He simply walked up to Klaus, waved a hand to catch his attention and called out, "You there! I demand some answers!"
"Lelouch!" Suzaku exclaimed, evidently taken aback.
Klaus turned around and faced Lelouch. "You talkin' to me? He demanded roughly. Lelouch had to wonder why he had such a delicate name as 'Klaus'. It sounded like the sort of name a pale little boy who read too many books would have.
Actually, the real question right now was whether or not Lelouch should use his Geass. There was no way he could win in a fist fight, after all. But with so many other students nearby... Also, Suzaku could get suspicious.
There was another way.
"You've been treating Suzaku unfairly, haven't you?" Lelouch tossed his jet black hair back and smirked. "No, I'd go even further than that. You've been outright bullying him, haven't you, Klaus?"
"Lelouch!" Suzaku exclaimed again, only louder and more urgently. A crowd was now gathering around them, eager to see what the fuss was about.
Klaus fell for the provocation hook, line and sinker. "So what if I have been?" he said loudly. "He's an Eleven, ain't he? And ya know what he is! A big, fat traitor! I reckon he's been schemin' with Zero all along!"
Traitor... Ah ha! Lelouch thought triumphantly. The note had said the same thing about Suzaku.
Here was the culprit.
"Will you stand up to your foe, Suzaku? Rise up and overcome your opposition!" Lelouch had no way of knowing that his melodramatic pointing was a rather heavy indication that his Zero theatrics were rubbing off on his model student behavior. Somewhere, C.C. was probably laughing at him.
"Lelouch, I can't!" Suzaku yelled back at him. "Fighting is against the school rules."
And here, Lelouch thought sourly, was the same cretin who opposed the Black Knights at every single twist and turn. To think that same "hero" – and Lelouch used the term very lightly – could not even fight off a single schoolyard bully. It bordered on the ridiculous.
"Suzaku...!" Lelouch began, frustrated.
"Oi," Klaus cut in. "You've got some nerve talkin' to me, Lamperouge! My girlfriend has a crush on you!"
This guy has a girlfriend? Lelouch was thoroughly shocked by this baffling new plot twist. On the outside, Lelouch kept up his calm, condescending smirk, of course.
He could feel the tension spiking the air. Lelouch had witnessed enough battles to be able to notice where this situation was headed. He glanced at Suzaku – the guy still seemed ill at ease.
Only thing to do now was to land the first strike. Any tactician worth his salt knew about that.
"Lelouch... what are you doing?" Suzaku demanded.
"Protecting you, of course!" Lelouch snapped as he slapped Klaus once more. Klaus seemed more stunned at being slapped by a boy than furious at the moment.
Finally, the bully found his voice. "You total sissy! That didn't even sting!"
Normally, boys liked to say that sort of thing to taunt their foes, but Lelouch strongly suspected that Klaus was actually telling the truth. His incredulous tone of voice suggested so.
So now what will you do, Suzaku? Lelouch thought. This was a careful manipulation of the situation. The only thing Suzaku could do now was acknowledge the bullying happened for his friend's sake. The way to do that was to join in the fight. Then Klaus would reveal what he had done, just as a bully was wont to do.
Lelouch smirked.
Suddenly, Lelouch felt someone behind him grab his arm and drag him backward.
"Thank you," Suzaku whispered into his ear, "but you don't need to do this."
Lelouch was left gasping. Suzaku...! You... You've changed!
Choosing to ignore Lelouch for the moment, Suzaku turned to Klaus: "I don't care if you have a grudge against me, but if you try to hurt my friends, I can't forgive you. If you wrote that note threatening to kill Princess Euphemia..."
"Huh?" said Klaus stupidly. "I didn't do it!"
Lelouch stood up straight and stared at Klaus directly in the eye. "You'll tell us if you have or haven't!"
Suddenly, Klaus's eyes began to gleam and his shoulders eased back. The boy responded slowly, mechanically:
"I did not do it."
What was this? Lelouch was shaken. Klaus was acting as if he had been Geassed! Or was this just some trick of his?
"Are you sure?" Suzaku asked, but Klaus did not say anything.
"What do you know about the note?" Lelouch pressed him, and this time, Klaus chose to respond, again in that eerie, mechanical sort of way.
"I know nothing about the note's contents or its author."
"Do we believe him?" Suzaku whispered to Lelouch, who was still staring at Klaus as if trying to figure him out.
"Y-Yes," Lelouch answered a bit shakily after a pause. "He's telling the truth."
Suzaku looked at him for a moment. "If you say so," he said finally. Suzaku always trusted Lelouch's word.
Lelouch tried to think – there was something to be learned from this – but his train of thought was interrupted by Shirley's voice.
"Huh? What's going on here? You guys...?"
Lelouch looked up. A bemused Shirley was standing by the edge of the now dispersing crowd, and Kallen and Nina stood beside her. Nina looked on timidly behind her glasses while Kallen had no expression on her face in particular. Something clicked the moment Lelouch saw Kallen's face.
"Suzaku, give me that note," Lelouch hissed.
"Uh, sure."
Lelouch unfolded the note and read through it again.
Of course!
The note was written through a Japanese point of view. It had labelled Suzaku a traitor and then criticised his methods. Only a Japanese person would have the desire to criticise Suzaku on those grounds. A Britannian would only have cared about the end result because Suzaku was not really one of them, in spite of being an Honorary Britannian on paper.
"That note again?" Shirley said and frowned. "Here, Nina, maybe you should see it too..."
As Shirley pulled Nina closer to Lelouch, Kallen drew near as well. At that moment, Kallen's eyes fell upon the note. It was the first time she noticed it was handwritten and -
-she gasped. Too loudly, too shocked to be anything but -
"That's Naoto's-!"
Unaware of her own outburst until the name left her lips, Kallen put a hand to her mouth, horrified. Then she turned and hurried away.
It wasn't until that precise moment did all the subtle signs surrounding this particular case come together for Lelouch. He was left with one thought pulsating through his mind:
"This is much more complex than I'd originally assumed."
Next chapter: How is Kallen's brother related to Suzaku's note? Isn't Naoto dead? Assuming Zero's persona now, Lelouch attempts to find the answers.