A/N: I have decided on the direction of the story! If you have any requests, I may consider them…or not. Sorry (:
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Lelouch exited the bathroom in a daze. He felt dizzy and nauseas. Perhaps he was coming down with something…it was the season to get sick soon, and his immune system was not the best in the world. He didn't even feel like going up the stairs anymore. He rubbed his temples as he closed his eyes and walked slowly. He couldn't afford being sick – he would have to stay at home if that was the case. He leaned against the wall to stop his world from literally spinning.
"Oy, you."
Lelouch knew that whoever was talking, the voice was talking to him. It was an obnoxious-sounding voice, like one from a junior high student's, but yet one with great authority. He opened his eyes and turned around to face a young lady with green hair. She was tapping her shoulder with a rolled-up confiscated magazine – Lelouch could make out the word 'PLAYBOY' – and was walking towards him.
"Are you alright?" she asked, her golden eyes showing concern.
He kept silent.
"Maybe you have low blood pressure."
"Maybe."
"Or possibly you have the flu."
Hmm…"
She smiled at his taciturn nature.
"You should get some rest in the nurse's office. You don't look too well."
"I'll think about it."
"Have you eaten your lunch yet?
"No."
"Maybe that's why. Sometimes, you feel nauseas if you don't eat."
"Hmm…"
"Are you always this taciturn?"
"Perhaps."
She sighed as she reached into her pocket and pulled out small pad of paper. It was the "absentee paper", which allowed one to be excused from class if they didn't feel well in school. All the student had to do was hand that to the front desk by the school entrance and they could go home.
"Hold this," she said as she handed the magazine to Lelouch. Lelouch held onto it and grimaced. It was Playboy. There was a half-naked woman on the front cover holding handcuffs. He looked away from the hideous cover.
She noticed his expression and smiled. At least there were decent schoolboys out there.
"Name?" she asked.
"Lelouch vi Britannia."
"Hmm…" she muttered as she scribbled his name down. "A senior, am I right?"
"Yes."
She ripped the paper off and handed it to him as he gratefully accepted it and handed over the dirty magazine.
She smiled as she took it back. "I know it's the first day of school, Lelouch, but rest is very important."
"I guess."
"I trust that you'll go home after you leave?"
Lelouch looked away. Would he actually go home? He wasn't sure himself. Maybe he would, since Charles wasn't going to be there until 7:00 PM, but he hated to see his home. It always brought back painful memories…
"Yeah, I'll be home," he answered looking back, unsure of whether he was lying or not.
---
'I guess I lied…' he thought as he found himself walking along the streets. Oak Street. There were many booths and boutiques lining the sidewalk, and the smell of maple syrup and strawberries was in the air. He smiled at the nostalgic surroundings. He had just moved to this area a few years ago due to Charles' work, but he remembered coming here with Marianne and Nunnally after school when he was younger. Marianne would buy them ice cream and Nunnally would always order green tea flavour. Lelouch always had a tough time choosing his ice cream, so Marianne chose for him almost all the time.
He walked towards the ice cream shop. It still looked the same – the long list of flavours written on the wooden board that was hanging behind the counter, the colourful walls with pictures of ice cream, the tiled floors…
He was reading the flavours. He stopped at the green tea flavour, and he looked at the price. It was 20% higher than when he had come with Marianne and Nunnally. He laughed inwardly, pitying himself. Since when was he the type to think about the past and not the future?
The shop was empty, and a worker was ducked behind the counter getting more cups to put the ice cream in. Lelouch knew that in an hour, it would be filled with children and parents.
He walked away, just as the worker got up and put the pile of cups on the counter.
---
It was nostalgic. Marianne sighed as she leaned against the counter, fiddling with a lose thread from her sleeve. The store was empty, but, like always, it would be filled with students and adults soon. She laughed as she remembered the times she had brought Lelouch and Nunnally to this area of town. The old-fashioned streets were comforting to anybody who walked on it, and the shops around it were frequently visited by even big-name celebrities.
She sighed at the boredom of her job. Her colleague would be coming soon to help out with business; but as of now, she was alone. Not knowing what to do, she decided to restock.
The ice cream store had brought back many happy memories, but she couldn't help but stop and think about where her precious son was. She remembered having to help him choose his ice cream flavour almost all the time. She crouched down to get the cups that were in the drawer under the counter. The plastic bag that stored the cups rustled in the silence, and the silence felt extremely lonely.
She took the cups in her hand and stood up just as she heard somebody walk away. Somebody was inside the store? She got up and caught a glimpse of an Ashford student with black hair. He had turned away, but Marianne had seen his face, and she gasped. It was strangely familiar, and strangely right.
Lelouch was around this age now, wasn't he?
She would have gone out after him, shouted his name to see if it really was Lelouch, screamed to catch his attention, but she couldn't. That was because at that moment, a customer walked in, and she was the alone. She glanced at the customer and then quickly looked back at the spot where the student was.
He was gone.
But Marianne was sure.
---
Lelouch found his situation extremely troublesome. He had to ride the train back home.
Oak Street was a short way from school, but that made it a long way to get home. He could ride the train to school from home as well, but a penny saved is a penny earned. Even though he was rich, Charles insisted on giving him allowance. That was because he wanted all the money. Greedy pig.
He groaned as he walked into a nearby grocery store, thinking about what to eat for dinner. It was always a headache for him to think about it.
He smiled, amused at how today had reminded him how indecisive he was. First the 'should-I-go-home' dilemma, then the ice cream flavour memories, and now the dinner…
He walked around the meat section, the vegetable section, the fruit section…and paused. He glanced at his half full basket and realized that he couldn't afford the fillet if he got fruits. He tried to remember what fruits were inside the fruit basket, but his memory failed him. He stood there for two minutes and decided to get some fruits and buy one serving of fillet. He wasn't even hungry, and he just realized he didn't eat lunch yet.
"Thank you for visiting! Have a great day!" the cashier said as she handed Lelouch his plastic bags of goods. He thanked the lady, took the bags, and walked towards the train station that was nearby.
Lelouch took out some coins and went over to the ticket machine. He selected the student status button and got his ticket. His hand was turning red due to the groceries, so he walked faster to insert his ticket. That way, he could balance out the weight of the groceries.
The train rolled around the corner as Lelouch arrived at the platform. It stopped and the doors opened. He entered and leaned against the pole beside the door. The seats were all occupied, much to his dislike. He was tired and the groceries were heavy.
"Please stand back from the doors…" the automated message played. The doors slowly closed, and Lelouch turned his head and looked out the window. His eyes caught sight of something golden brown and silk-like, and he smiled to himself. It reminded him of Nunnally.
How was she doing now?
---
"Aw gee!" Nunnally panted as she caught her breath. She just missed the train, and had to wait another five minutes for the next one. She looked at the time. Marianne would be home soon, and Nunnally wanted to cook a nice dinner for the two of them.
She sighed as she stood patiently waiting for the next train.
School was quite fun that day. The teachers were knowledgeable, her homeroom teacher was well liked, her classmates, although weird and different from each other, were all cooperative and rational, and their homework load was reasonable. It was quite possible that the first thing Ashford Academy looked for was not a person's academics, but their level of EQ.
"Yo, Nunnally."
Nunnally turned to the direction of the voice.
It was Kei Heart, a girl from her class. She was the one who hung out with the delinquent guys. Her dark bangs almost covered her left eye, and she had multiple earrings. She was holding her briefcase over her shoulders, and she looked like a model for modern visual kei style, if you get the pun.
"Kei?"
Kei grinned as she walked towards the shy Nunnally.
"I'm glad you remembered my name! So, where do you live, Nunnally?"
"I…uh…" she was shocked at Kei's openness.
"I'm not going to stalk you, but I'll find out sooner or later since we're on the same train."
Nunnally flushed, embarrassed. "Balcherist Station."
Kei's eyes brightened. "Far out, Nally. I do too!"
'Nally?'
Kei put her thumb up. "That's awesome! You know what; I really need to introduce you to some of my guy friends tomorrow. See, this guy, Shou, the one with orange hair…yeah, he's real awesome. He lives in Balcherist too, right by my place. Ren lives in Seratol, so that kind of sucks. He's moving soon, though."
"Ren? Seratol?" Those words made no sense to Nunnally.
"Yeah. Ren's the hot dude that's always with Shou. You know, the cool-looking one that doesn't really talk… He lives three stations away from Balcherist, but he's always begging his mother to move to Balcherist, where the rest of the gang lives. So yeah, he's moving soon."
Nunnally was amazed. She had just started talking to this girl, Kei, for three minutes, and she was already telling her so much. She was also amazed that this guy called Ren could move his entire family just because he wanted to be living closer to his friends.
Kei smiled. "You should come over to my place sometime. Our gang wants to start a mini band, just for fun, not for debuting purposes, and we could do with some good vocals. Can you sing?"
Nunnally nodded. She's not sure if she was good, but Marianne had always thought she had a talent for it.
Kei looked up at the sky. "My mother always told me I needed female friends…" she smiled and looked at Nunnally. "I just couldn't find anybody trustworthy enough. I always think that guys are more trustworthy than girls. I have a knack to detect trustworthy people. That's a compliment, by the way."
"Ah…" Nunnally blushed. Kei looked worried for a moment.
"You don't mind me talking like this, do you?" she asked.
"Of course not!"
"I trust your word," Kei grinned. "Nally, people think I'm annoying, so if I-"
"You're not annoying, Kei."
Kei stared at Nunnally. Nunnally continued.
"I'm always so quiet, and I feel strange around quiet people. I felt that I needed energetic friends, but everybody felt awkward around me because I rarely talk…" she stopped, realizing that she, too, was opening up to a 'stranger'.
Kei laughed. "You're so cute, Nally."
Even though Kei seemed to be like a delinquent, a trouble-making teen, a student that doesn't care about anything, Nunnally felt that she was actually mature. She acted immature, but the meaning she conveys behind her words and the way she presents herself with confidence made Nunnally like her more and more with every word she spoke. It was just a five minute encounter, and Kei had already made Nunnally a more self-assured person than she had ever been in these few years.
The train arrived, and the two girls stepped inside, still talking like old friends.
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Sorry for the long, long period of non-updatedness (not a real word). I was really tired and slept until dinnertime for the whole week, meaning I had to finish homework after dinner before I could write my fanfiction, and that only gave me a couple of minutes each day before I felt lethargic and fell asleep again. Thank goodness for Friday nights and Saturdays, eh?
The ending was kind of rushed, so sorry for any grammar mistakes.
Okay, it might seem as if the Nunnally/Kei thing at the end was kind of random, but you'll see the role that this friendship plays later, hopefully, unless I change the direction of the story for the 193829324th time.
C.C.'s name is still a mystery. I have a name for her, but I decided not to put it in yet. It's not the right time. Wait for it. The suspense. It's actually nothing special, but still. What could it be? ETC on suspenseful sentences.
Thanks for reading!
