Code Light Chapter 4: An Old Friend, An Immortal Witch
"Its been seven years since we used the signal." Lelouch smiled. It had been a long time since he'd been able to talk with Suzaku.
"Let's meet in the attic right?"
"Yeah. I'm glad to see your okay after saving me at Shinjuku." There was a moment of silence between them. Suzaku started the conversation up again.
"So do I still call you Lelouch?"
"My true name is listed as dead, but you can call me Lelouch Lamperouge." Lelouch looked down from the rooftop. "I hope you don't have too hard a time here. You being accused of Clovis' murder probably hasn't helped your standing with the student body. You can practically feel the tension among the other students when you walk into the room."
"I'll be all right. I seem to have made friends with that guy Light. I doubt it's much of a surprise though. Even though he's an eleven, most Brittanian students seem to have taken a liking to him."
"Well, that's Light I suppose. I don't really know him personally, but I suppose he does make friends rather easily." Lelouch was unsettled by Suzaku's closeness with Light. Perhaps Light had paired up with him in order to gain access to Lelouch. Did Light already suspect that he and Suzaku knew each other? No impossible, however then again he needed to be careful. "Hey Suzaku, did you decide to meet up with Light later today?"
"No, I said I was busy, Any reason why?"
"There's someone who would like to see you again." Lelouch's cell rang. "I'm sorry, let me take this." he exclaimed apologetically and took steps away from Suzaku. An unknown number. It couldn't be Ohgi could it? He opened his phone.
"Yes? Who is this?" Lelouch questioned in a stern voice.
"You called me." a voice with an obvious voice changer responded "I am L. You wished to speak with me?" Excellent! Now he could find if Kira's identity really is Light!
"It's good to finally speak with you L. I have been waiting for you to call."
"Indeed. Now, surely there must be a reason for you to contact me. It is not an easy task, what are you looking to have me do?"
"I want you to investigate the Kira case. It is of the utmost importance to reveal who he is." There was a long period of silence.
"I will look into the matter." The phone hung up.
Light casually walked through the Student Government Clubhouse, otherwise known as the Lamperouge residence. He made a suggestion to Sayoko earlier that since Nunnally was so fond of origami perhaps she would appreciate Japanese cooking, so she was getting the ingredients for a batch of oyakodon. He looked around for Lelouch's room when Ryuk tapped him on the shoulder.
"Are you sure this is a good idea? There are cameras everywhere here, I'd hate to have to leave this interesting world as a result of your carelessness."
"Of course Ryuk. Everything in this clubhouse is linked to a central system. As a student council member it was easy to access the cameras and disable them." Light used his shirt sleeve to open the door. He hated to do this himself but he couldn't very well ask Ryuk to do so. He opened the door and there was a girl on Lelouch's bed!
"That's her Light! The one with no lifespan." Ryuk pointed. Then he noticed a Pizza Hut box. "Ooh pizza, that's almost as good as apples! Can I have some Light?"
"Who are you and what are you doing here?" Her voice seemed strange and aloof. Inhuman and estranged from the world.
"Oh, Violet hasn't mentioned me? I'm Light. Sayoko is out getting some things so I'm here to look after Nunnally. I was just looking for her, but I'm afraid I don't know where her room is."
"Oh, is that so?"
"And if I could ask, who are you? Sayoko didn't mention having any guests and you don't appear to be related to Violet."
"My fate and that of Lelouch are intertwined inexorably." She stated it in a cold fashion. Then she seemed to catch on to something. "Why do you call him Violet?"
"Well how many people have purple eyes?" Light asked. He would have to be careful, she might not end up reacting well to his implications.
"Actually, there are quite a few..." she started, but Light had done his homework and whoever this was, had likely been conspiring with Lelouch.
"Other than the members of the royal family. In fact I believe Violet actually shares his name with one. On top of that Nunnally also shares the same first name, both children of Marionne the Flash. However records show that those two died a long time ago and Violet and Nunnally are still alive. So it must be coincidence."
"Why would you bother telling me this?" the girl lay back on the bed, not even paying attention to him anymore. She may have an interest in Lelouch, but it didn't seem too serious. But he couldn't go on interrogating her like this, it was time to leave. He could try again later.
"Just an observation. Anyhow I'd best go back to looking for Nunnally, it really isn't my business who you are." Light stepped back out. That was close.
"Giving up so easily?" Ryuk asked "You didn't get any information out of her. And I didn't get any pizza!"
"Ryuk if we stayed any longer she would have grown even more suspicious. She will likely report this and any further questions would have made our situation worse. Still it would have been nice to figure out what she was doing there. Maybe I could ask Suzaku." The chance that Suzaku knew her were slim,but it certainly couldn't hurt though. And then there was that symbol on her head, it seemed familiar somehow. Finding Lelouch's identity was a simple matter of looking into old records, but this would be more difficult.
"Good evening Nunnally!" Light greeted. Though the time for investigating was over, it would be strange if he did not look after Nunnally as he said to Sayoko.
"Good evening Light. What are you doing here?"
"Didn't Sayoko tell you? We were talking and when she mentioned how much you liked oragami, I thought you might also like Japanese cuisine. She thought it would be a great idea and set out right away. She should be back in an hour or two, but until then she asked me to stay with you." Light opened his messenger bag and removed his tablet. Most people in this age still regressed back to a sleek laptop, but Light was found of touchscreens. Primarily he was able to draw the symbol he saw and have a search for similar images. Most may have made the world rotten, but certainly there were some Brittanians out there dedicated to the betterment of humanity through their inventions. "By the way Nunnally do you know Suzaku Kururugi, son of former prime minister of Japan?" Her face lit up at the mention of Suzaku.
"Really? Suzaku is here? Oh it's been years, I can't wait to see him!"
"Well, I can't say for certain when he will come, but I'll try to get him here as soon as possible." Past that there was nothing but idle chatter between the two. Light scrolled through pages of images until he found it. It was an image of an old broken down church near Stonehenge and the symbol above the door greatly resembled the one on the girl's head.
"I'm back." Sayoko called "Thank you for looking after Nunnally, would you like to stay for dinner?"
"Oh no, I couldn't impose on you like that." It would not go over well to have dinner with Lelouch. On top of that he needed to continue purging which he could not fall behind. He had been spending an increasing amount of time time investigating Lelouch which was subtracting time away from cleansing the world. However if he was able to acquire the same power Lelouch had, he would be able to cleanse the world more efficiently.
"Wouldn't you stay with us Light? Please?" Nunnally pleaded. Light let out an exasperated sigh, he needed to retain his standing as a close friend to all those close to Lelouch. Perhaps having dinner now would be less of a gamble than if he encountered Lelouch later.
"All right, I'll stay."
"Heh. Just can't resist the whims of a blind girl, can you Light?" Ryuk laughed in a mocking tone. Of course the shinigami was ignored as always, Light would never let such trite comments get to him.
"Light, could you cook the rice while I make sauce?"
"Of course Sayoko, but I'm not much of a cook." Light was a model son, always helping around the house. However he never made meals, it was the child prodigies one weakness. After several minutes Sayoko quickly rushed over and looked into the pot Light stood watch over.
"Light," she asked timidly "How did you manage to burn the rice? I guess it will have to do."
"Sorry Sayoko but my hand in the kitchen is cursed." There was a slight resentment for making himself look like a fool.
"What is that smell?" The girl with the green hair came into the room. "It seems as if you can't even cook a decent batch of rice. I thought Lelouch said you were smart." Light maintained a smile over his grimace. She was definitely worse than even Ryuk when it came to scathing comments. Mantaining his composure he pulled a chair out for her and gestured for her to sit down.
"Well I'm sure it will be fine C.C." Sayoko tried to diffuse the tension that was building between the two. Perhaps she shouldn't have invited Light to stay with C.C. around. Light smiled, he had her initials when Ryuk interrupted his internal gloating.
"Light, I already told you you couldn't kill her. She's too old for one thing, and her name only has one C." Light almost reflexively questioned him before realizing he was with company. "I guess you're going to have to deal with her for a long time." With careful planning he wouldn't actually have to deal with her, she would be incapacitated soon enough. He just had to deal with Lelouch first.
"I'm back Say..." Lelouch's voice fell as he instantly surveyed the scene. The corner of his mouth was practically twitching. "Light?"
"Violet."
"Hey Light!"
"Suzaku?"
"Nunally!"
"Sayoko..."
"Yes, master Lelouch?"
"What..."
"Girl from Shinjuku!"
"Yes?"
"Ryyyuuuuuuuuuuk!" Of course, no one but Light could see or hear Ryuk, but it was mildly disconcerting from all the other chaos that was in motion. Nunnally seemed excited to see...well... to hear Suzaku, who in turn was interested in this C.C. character. There was competition for attention and Light decided to step in.
"How about we all sit down and take a breath now." Light tried to get them talking one at a time to absorb all of their conversations. Sayoko quickly went along with his plot and handed out the bowls of oyakodon. Suzaku started questioning first.
"You're the girl from the capsule! Who are you and why are you here with Lelouch?"
"Well the soldiers realized who I was, I was free to go. After seeing C.C. they really couldn't take her and she's been staying with me ever since."
"Doesn't she have anywhere else to go?"
"I am right here you know. I won't have you talking about me talking about me as if I am elsewhere." Suzaku looked slightly embarrassed, but Lelouch just shot her a glare. He probably didn't want to talk about what was going on near anyone. The lack of new information was exactly why Light did not wish to stay for dinner, such a waste of time. Several moments of an awkward silence passed. After the group fiddled with their food for a while.
"So," Light started "How long have you known each other?" Suzaku and Lelouch glanced at each other, their hesitation cueing Light in on their secret. Lelouch might be on his guard but Suzaku wasn't. "If I was to guess, I'd say you two met a little before the Brittanian invasion of Japan, am I right?" Everyone turned to Light with surprised looks other than C.C.
"He already knows you're royalty Lelouch. And likely a bit more than that." she sighed. Lelouch's face contorted into a mix of shock and rage. "Don't look at me like that, he'd figured it out already."
"Indeed I have, it wasn't so hard. Both you and your sister's names matched those of allegedly deceased royalty, I assume you've renounced your bid for the throne in order to keep yourself safe." The room remained silent. "I think I'll go now, this is becoming exceedingly awkward. Don't worry you have my word that I won't tell a soul about this." He gracefully stood up and left, leaving a stunned room behind.
