Disclaimer: Code Geass belongs to Sunrise. Jojo's Bizarre Adventure is property of Hirohiko Araki.
Chapter Four: Aftermath
The entirety of Shinjuku let out a heavy breath of relief when the announcement came through. Nobody could believe it. To the Japanese, it was a miracle. To the soldiers, it was a confusing irritating order that they had to obey or suffer the consequences.
"Yeah, you hear that? You gotta treat us all like equals!" Tamaki yelled. A picture of subtlety as ever. "To begin with, I think I'd like an apolo- Oof!"
The only reason Kallen hadn't elbowed the idiot in the ribs is because Ohgi beat her to it. Even under those kinds of orders, the smart thing to do was to keep a low profile. Stay under the radar. Today, the fighting was over. Damn close thing, too.
"I don't understand," Ohgi whispered. "Why would Clovis reverse orders like that? It doesn't add up."
"Tsk, what does it matter?" Tamaki snorted. "All I know is, that stupid ass mystery voice nearly led us to our graves!"
"I don't know about that," Kallen said, deep in thought. "He was winning until that new Knightmare showed up." Which was true enough. He had stolen up to date equipment, then led them to near victory against forces with superior numbers. A veritable tactical genius, who had only lost because of a single factor nobody could have foreseen.
"Well, he certainly abandoned us when things went south. Fancy him disappearing like that, in the middle of a battle!"
"Maybe not," Ohgi said, suddenly appearing a great deal more thoughtful. "If I was reading the situation correctly, Clovis sent his own guard after us, and we took them down as well."
Kallen stopped cold and stared at him. "You're not suggesting -"
"Maybe. It would explain why Clovis made that announcement out of the blue. He had no other reason to. Then again, I could be wrong. It's just pointless speculation without any way to check the results."
That was Ohgi's biggest problem really. Lack of confidence. Kallen shrugged it off and retrieved her phone. In a mission like this it was inevitable that members of the group would be split up, but still need contact. But at the same time it was possible one of them could be captured. The answer? Prepaid phones, completely untraceable.
And paled a fraction at the sound she heard.
"Something wrong?" Ohgi asked.
"The line is dead," Kallen replied, wincing a little at the word choice.
"So what?" Tamaki replied. "Doesn't mean nothing. Maybe he switched his phone off or something."
"No," Kallen replied. "We all made sure our batteries were charged, and switched the ring to silent. There's no reason he would switch it off unless-"
"Unless it was destroyed," Ohgi finished, looking positively dejected. "He was a good man."
"A lot of good people died today," Kallen said, feeling her bile rising towards Britannia once again. "Nagata… Damn it!"
The three stayed silent for a moment, in memory of yet another lost ally. There had been too many of them. Too many reasons to fight. Too many reasons to hate. Growing on what felt like a daily basis.
"I think we need to keep our heads down until the heat is off," Ohgi said out of the blue. "The way things are now, after an event like this… Things are bound to be pretty tense."
"Good!" Tamaki said, a little too loudly. "Let's keep 'em tense! Let's keep the momentum going! I'd rather give 'em another bloody nose than hide under some rock!"
"If we run at them without thinking, we'll just wind up dead as well!" Ohgi said, staring at the ground. "We can only win this fight if we think clearly, and… Kallen. I think it's time you went back under cover."
Under cover wasn't quite the right word for it. The phrase implied she was spying on their enemy, when the truth was more "live among them for a while." Pretend to be a sickly, weak young girl and spend her time talking to arrogant, vapid rich girls for whom the worst problem might just involve showing up to a party with the same dress. The kind of person that never imagined what it might be like to miss a meal, never had to worry about being randomly beat up or shot. Never even realised these kinds of things happened anywhere in the world near them. The kind of person that was born into paradise, the kind that believed they deserved to be there and that anyone on the outside simply isn't trying hard enough. Or was too weak, too stupid to crawl their way through the system.
Little did they realise that the cogs of the system, more often than not, chewed up those that tried to pass through it and spit them back out. A mangled heap of flesh that once resembled a human being. Even if they did make it through intact what came out of the other end was human in a purely physical respect and nothing more than that.
"Not a chance," Kallen said. "We should be trying to track down that mystery voice! Not sitting on our hands!"
"Alright," Ohgi said. "So what do you think we should do? How do we even start tracking down this voice? We don't know anything about him. Can't track down a voice."
"There has to be something we can -"
"Hey everyone! Come on, don't be such a downer!" all three of them froze, realizing they'd been so caught up in their discussion they hadn't even noticed someone else approaching. It was a Japanese woman, thankfully, though she was rather manic in appearance. There was a peculiar gleam in her eyes, the slightest tint of madness in her expression. ""The one! The only! The Great Takako Matsuzawa is here to entertain you! Available for children's birthdays, weddings and the aftermath of slaughters!" She was shuffling a deck of cards like it was second nature. Takako let out a slightly insane giggle and suddenly fanned out the entire deck, presenting it to them with a slight bow.
"Please, do me the honour of picking a card. Any card that you like!"
"Ah, we don't have time for this," Tamaki said, turning around to walk away. "Come on, let's find someplace else to talk. More privacy, less crazy."
"No no no!" Takako said, skipping just ahead of him with the deck thrust out. "It won't take but a moment! I think you'll really be blown away by this trick!"
"Tsch, fine! Whatever!" Tamaki said, reaching out for the deck. "If it'll get you outta our way, I'll draw a stupid card!" He took one from the deck and Kallen rolled her eyes. She'd seen that. The deck had been moved under Tamaki's fingers, probably the most ancient method of forcing a card. "Let me guess, now you tell me what card I drew or something stupid like that?"
Takako took a step back, and the grin on her face grew more malevolent from moment to moment. "Well, if you insist," she said with a low laugh from deep, deep within the territory of madness. "The Ace of Spades! And I could tell even if I hadn't forced the card. Do you want to know how?"
"Huh? No, not really."
"I'll tell you anyway!" Takako roared in laughter, and drew a gun out from under her baggy clothes. "It's because the spirit of the card is about to attack, and only I can see it!"
"Spirit of the card?" Ohgi whispered. Kallen was wondering much the same thing. What did she mean by -
The card within Tamaki's hand vanished. Moments later, the ground beneath his feet followed suit. Before Kallen or Ohgi could even blink their friend was buried up to his neck with an expression mixed of shock, fear and rage.
"Tamaki!" Ohgi yelled, quickly kneeling next to his friend. "Are you alright?"
"Oh, yes. I'm just super." Tamaki replied. "I make it a personal point to bury myself to my neck in concrete on my days off, bit of a hobby of mine that I started - No I'm not okay you idiot! Get me out of here!"
"We'd need power tools to dig you out," Kallen said, running her fingers along the ground next to him without taking her eyes away from Takako and her gun. Not for a second. Seamless. The only hole in the concrete was around Tamaki's neck. No cracks or anything that would indicate it had been disturbed. How was that even possible? She rose to her feet, and lifted her hands. Takako was too far away to take the risk of disarming the woman. The best thing to do was wait for an opening, or make one appear.
"Why?" Ohgi asked.
"Ah, the simplest of questions with the most difficult of answers," Takako said, performing a single handed shuffle of her deck with one hand while holding the gun steady at them with the other. "Once upon a time, there was a family of entertainers. The father was a musical prodigy, capable of playing any instrument put into his hands. The children were artists that drew caricatures or actual portraits while you waited! And of course, the mother was a gifted magician. They were a poor family, dependant upon the kindness and charity of the Gods when far too often there was nothing but disdain and coldness in their souls. Even so! That family was happy. So long as they had each other.
"But then, one day a band of fools sought to steal fire from the Gods. They were seen, and pursued into the very home of the family and their friends. So desperate to retain the secret of fire were the Gods that they sent lightning from the sky to torch the ground and swarms of locusts to devour any that survived. The mother had to witness her family consumed whole before her very eyes, even though they had done nothing to the world! Nothing to the Gods! Only entertained them! Only ever wanted to entertain!"
By now, twin rivers of tears were streaming down the sides of Takako's face. A lesser person might have trembled in sadness of grief. A lesser person might have pulled the trigger out of vengeful anger. But she stayed still. She stayed under control, and she continued to speak with only the slightest trace of a timbre to her voice.
"Why did you bring down their judgement on us?" Takako demanded. "My boys… They never would have hurt a soul. Some day they might have escaped this place thanks to their talent. Some day…"
"I'm sorry," Ohgi said. "But you shouldn't blame us. You should be blaming Britannia."
"Do you blame the sun for shining or the gravity for keeping you to the ground?" Takako sneered, stepping to the side, towards a table. At first Kallen thought it was strange it had remained upright amidst this chaos, until she realised Takako had probably set it upright herself. "I heard you talking amongst yourselves! You gambled with the lives of innocence, and only the innocent lost. It's only right you gamble for your own lives!"
She slapped her well shuffled deck onto the table, and with a single gesture created a perfect fan across the surface. The mad magician stepped away from the table and beckoned for Ohgi and Kallen to approach.
"You want to save your friend?" Takako said. "I'm the only one that knows how to get him out, and I'll only tell whichever one of you survives this little game! Because, you see! That mother of that family. One day she found a magic deck of cards, made of real magic! Wherever she went they would follow her around as if to stand by her. She realised that each card in the deck had its own unique ability that would activate whenever one was drawn! That deck of cards lies before you now!
"I want you to take turns drawing cards until either all cards are drawn or one of you dies! Then I let him go free! What will it be?"
"Hey, you two! Just ignore her! Get the hell outta here, before you get caught up in your neck too!" Tamaki yelled.
"In which case I could just shoot them," Takako said. "But that's no fun. I want to see you squirm and suffer a little bit. I want to give you the chance my family never got, because after all: Fair is fair."
"I don't think we have a choice," Ohgi said. "We'll play your game."
Kallen stared hard at the deck. Real magic? It seemed impossible, but then again… Even before Tamaki was buried neck deep in concrete against his will, she had already seen a kind of magic today. A Sutherland. Appearing out of the shadows as though it was made of the stuff. She'd neglected to mention it to her friends because - who the hell would believe that? Maybe it was an optical illusion or something, but now she wasn't quite so sure.
No. That didn't matter right now. What mattered most was surviving this game. What mattered most was getting Tamaki out of the concrete, and trying to give this poor woman some much needed peace of mind. She could hope these two elements weren't mutually exclusive, but if she didn't fight on she'd never find out.
It didn't really hit him until he was lying there under the medical equipment was over him, taking measurements of his heart rate, blood pressure, brain waves and probably a dozen other things he wouldn't think to check. It reminded him of the old saying that the journey of a thousand miles must begin with the single step.
Nobody ever said that first step would cover so much distance so quickly. Imagine. Just this morning, he was merely a private. An Honorary Britannian. A position treated with no respect by your typical Japanese or natural born Britannian. A citizen of the Empire that was not of descent, of first generation only and beyond that being of another country. Another race. Swear loyalty to the Empire, and you were legally almost indistinguishable.
The trouble was that reality and the law do not always agree. Legally, he was a citizen. In the eyes of others he was either a traitor, or a still valid target of discrimination. He had expected it to take years of hard work. Promotion up the ranks, one pip at a time. Crawling up on his hands and knees until - finally - he would be at the top. He would prove to the world that it was possible for a former Number to rise to the top, and once he was there he would use that influence to ensure the system would be kinder, gentler to others forced into it. Suzaku's mission statement: Use kindness to save the world. Because using cruelty and violence to achieve that same end would leave nothing more than a hollow victory.
Given the announcement he'd just made, it seemed as though Clovis agreed. An act of kindness like that would make people less likely to lash out in anger. A validation of his plan, not that any ws needed. It could work. It must work. He would make it work. With his blood, with his sweat, with his tears and if necessary then with his life. If and when it came down to it Suzaku Kururugi would push on with every breath in his body until there was nothing more to give. Pressing on without care for his own well being, only that of others, reserving it all for the chance that tomorrow could be reached without a mountain of bodies, without the weight of sin tying them all down! Even if he failed, even if he didn't survive to see it happen all that he needed was to know that he had tried because of the simple truth: It is better to fail than to not try at all!
"It's rather fortuitous, isn't it?" Lloyd said. Lloyd Asplund. A very strange man responsible for putting him where he was here and now."Finding such an effective Devicer in the middle of a crisis like that, at such an opportune moment. We'll have to make sure this rare tool doesn't slip through our fingers, Cecile."
"Tool? What does he mean by -"
"Don't worry about it," Cecile said. "He tends to think of pilots as parts of the machine, that's all."
"Well, aren't we all?" Lloyd said, with what Suzaku had taken to be a slightly manic chuckle but was quick learning was just his normal everyday laugh. "Cogs in the machine, gears in the system - What was that phrase Prince Clovis started using recently?"
"Bricks in the wall," Cecile said. "It is probably a private joke, from the way that he smiles whenever he says it."
"Ours not to question the mindset of Royalty. Some places are too mad for even science to enter unscathed," Lloyd said, a slightly manic twinkle in his eye. "At least, with the current limitations of technology. Who knows what tomorrow may bring?
"The Knight I brought in," Suzaku said. "How is she?"
"You mean Villetta Nu?" Lloyd wasn't even looking at Suzaku anymore. Instead staring very intently at a particular monitor, scanning a sequence of digits with the same rapt fascination one might stare at a classical work of art. He was lost in a different kind of beauty than brush strokes or colour. Mathematics. Pure maths, pure science. Did he even see the numbers, or was he looking at something else entirely? "Cecile, if you wouldn't mind? I rather lost track of her."
"Villetta Nu was released half an hour ago, just after Clovis' announcement" Cecile said. "And I wouldn't expect any thanks. She is a member of the Purebloods. I'm sure you have heard of them."
"It would be difficult to find an Honorary Britannian that hadn't," Suzaku admitted. Which was true enough. The one group anyone was ever the most familiar with was their direct opposite number. Particularly when that number had the deliberate intention of ensuring your own group couldn't exist at all. While Honorary Britannians were certainly legally very similar to regular Britannians, discrimination was still commonplace. The Purists (or the Purebloods) were the worst for it, and why wouldn't they be? They believed that Britannia was a healthy body and that the Honorary system only served to introduce contagions that would only serve to spread sickness.
Except that in Suzaku's eyes it was more close to say it was the other way around. The Purists were sick with the disease of prejudice and power, and for that disease there was only one cure: Kindness.
"It is my understanding that she is engaged in a debriefing with Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald," Cecile said. "He is the leader of the Purebloods."
"Probably attempting to determine what happened to her," Lloyd said. "It's rather odd that she would leave her Frame, don't you think? Stranger still that someone was able to use it against us after you left."
"I'm sure she had her reason,"
"And don't we all," Lloyd said. "Even if others don't necessarily agree with it. We all have our reasons. And our methods. What sort of methods do you favour, Devicer?"
"I… Want to stop the fighting. I don't want anyone to die."
"So you became a soldier? Dear me. Did anyone properly explain the job description?"
Suzaku shrugged. "How better to put myself where the fighting is?"
"You're certainly an odd tool," Lloyd said. "But with the proper maintenance you should yield truly spectacular results. Speaking of! Lie back now. The analysis is almost complete."
Suzaku's mind drifted away from the conversation, and he replied almost entirely on automatic as he considered the situation. How could he tell them that he knew what happened to Villetta, that he saw it happen, that he knew who pulled the trigger? Lelouch. It was such a strange coincidence in a day full of them. The event that had led to him being catapulted into becoming a Knight for an advanced experimental Frame. That power of invisibility… Lelouch was not the kind of person to let an ability like that go to waste. But what would he do with it? What - if anything - had he already done with it? Had he been able to leave the ghetto before the worst of the fighting hit? Had he been caught up in it somehow?
Assuming that he had escaped. Assume that for the time being. He had an arrow in his possession that apparently granted strange abilities to those scratched by it. He was hardly the sort to let that go to waste either… What would Suzaku do if Lelouch decided to use that arrow. Raise an invisible army. Would he incite bloodshed in the name of revenge? If he did, would Suzaku be able to turn him in?
No. Not before he tried to convince him that what he was doing was wrong. Not until he got him to admit that course of action would only bring about more pain, more suffering. That the ends could not ever justify the means. Especially ends so wicked and vile as what he was imagining.
This was only hypothetical, of course. Perhaps Lelouch would do something else with the arrow. Perhaps he really did just intend to keep it out of Britannia's hands.
Then there was the green haired girl to consider. The images that had flashed before his eyes. His father. Standing tall. Defiant. Full of pride and fury. His face replaced with a skull. Blood soaking into Suzaku's hands. A declaration to fight to the last.
Had that really happened?
"My goodness, you should try to calm down a little!" Lloyd said, interrupting his thoughts. "It won't do anyone any good if you so easily allow yourself to become so stressed!"
"Were you thinking about something terrible?" Cecile said. "From your expression, it looked like you were waking up from a nightmare."
"No, nothing like that," Suzaku said. " Something happened today that reminded me of my father's death."
That green haired girl. Where was she now? Had she escaped the ghetto? Was that sort of ability why Clovis had her bound up? Had it been a result of that arrow? No. No, somehow that felt like something else entirely. If only he could ask her. If only he could get an answer to any of the numerous questions whirling around in his mind. If only he knew who she was, and where she was going next.
There is nothing worse than living in a warzone, though living just outside the edge of a warzone had to be a close second. A humble shopkeeper, that's all he was. Didn't want any trouble from anyone. Just wanted left alone by everyone, save those that wanted to make a purchase. His business was literally his business, and everything else was everyone else's business.
Unfortunately he'd had to close up shop today. A terrible shame, but what could he do? In a situation like this he was lucky still being able to walk. He hadn't seen a soul walk by for about an hour. It was best if he just went home for now. At least, that was his plan up until the moment he heard a voice among the wreckage. In spite himself, old curiosity slew another cat and compelled him to investigate.
"-Oh, I'm sure you do find it all very amusing, but it does rather throw a nasty wrench in the works," said a young voice. Female. The shopkeeper quirked an eyebrow. She was sitting staring up at the sky with an amused smirk on her face. "That boy of yours, so clumsy. It'll be a wonder if he achieves anything at all, if that's what he's like."
Quite a pretty young thing. Green hair, sad eyes. Not teared up or anything. The kind of sad you bury deep down. Don't dare let the world see.
"Honestly. Scratching himself on that arrow. Such a stupid thing to do! Now he'll have to bear a Stand instead of a Geass. Assuming he lives." A brief pause, and suddenly the shopkeeper realized several important facts. "Well. Of course you'd say that. Still, there's no real way to be certain until the time comes. What? Make a contract anyway? How silly. There isn't a soul alive that can bear both Stand and Geass at the same time. The strain is too much."
The first can be expressed by pondering the question of who exactly she was conversing with. He had expected to see a little wire trailing down into a pocket somewhere, but there was nothing like that he could see. This led him neatly towards his second observation. Those sleeves weren't long because it was ill fitting. In point of fact, that particular jacket had probably been fitted up for her and her alone.
"It's a shame really. I had high hopes for him. Hm? Well. I suppose some might consider him attractive, but - Now, now! This is hardly the time to play matchmaker. You know how I feel about Stands. Horrible things. Completely wicked."
Ignore her ignore her ignore her and maybe she won't get the crazy all over my clothes. Because crazy, now that's a complete mess to try and clean up. It was none of his business and he had no intention of making it so. The best thing for him to do would be to duck out of sight and get as far away-
"Excuse me? Didn't you know that a gentleman doesn't listen in on a lady's private conversation?"
Images of his life flashed before his eyes. The shopkeeper dropped to his hands and knees, and he begged profusely for forgiveness, that he didn't mean to be so rude and thoughtless and that he would never ever do it again. Honest he wouldn't!To his great relief, the girl shrugged and left with nothing more than a shrug and a satisfied smile. Too close for comfort.
"That man is far too stressed for his own good," the girl said, probably thinking she was out of his range of hearing. "Hm? What's so funny all of a sudden?"
The girl stopped. For a horrible moment the thought occured. She was going to come back to do something about his stress. He could see it so easily. Him cowering in the corner in abject terror as that cute face turned into a sinister, monstrous smile. She would reach into that jacket, and from her sleeve produce nothing more than a pen. Just a pen. And with that pen she would show him a hell that would make him wish he had been in that war zone instead of just on the outside -
The fear returned stronger still when he heard her stifle a laugh. "Yes," the girl said. "I suppose you are quite right. There is another. There most certainly is!"
To that shopkeeper's great relief, the girl walked away. He would never see her again, outside of the occasional nightmare.
"See you later, Shirley!"
She turned smiled and waved at her fellow swim club member, but didn't really feel like smiling at the moment. Funny the way humans are, putting on a false face for the benefit of others. Never daring to let slip their true selves, their true thoughts. Whether out of concern for what they think, to protect themselves or to protect others. We all wear masks. We all hide something from the world, sometimes even to the point that we hide it from -
Shirley stopped in her tracks and stared out the front gates. What. Really. He was this late back? What the hell kept them so long? She shook her head and carefully walked up to the oblivious boy and patiently waited with arms crossed while he climbed off the bike. Waiting. Just waiting for him to notice her.
"Can't believe that idiot," Rivalz said, removing his helmet with a weary sigh. "The things he does sometimes…"
"Oh, tell me about it," Shirley said. "Skipping school to go gambling, hanging up on a friend when she calls him, not bothering to even call back, the list does go on doesn't it?"
It was a little bit satisfying seeing him almost jump out of his skin like that. But only a little bit. For now, she wanted a few answers.
"Ah! Shirley! S-sorry, I didn't see you!" he said.
"I didn't see you either," Shirley replied. "Or Lelouch. All afternoon. Honestly, if the two of you keep on cutting classes like this you'll be held back a grade! It's because you keep on dragging Lulu out for those stupid chess gambles. Without that sort of distraction he might actually apply himself, and use that brilliant brain of his to -"
He's a very bad man, and you like it.
Shirley wheeled around where she was standing, and saw absolutely nobody there. Huh? But that was right next to her? Where did they -
"Uh, are you alright?" Rivalz asked.
"Never mind," Shirley said. "I thought there was someone standing… Forget it! Where is Lelouch anyway? Drop him off at another gamble?"
"Well, no actually," Rivalz said. "That idiot just had to go and try to help out at a crash. Climbed into the truck to see if anyone was hurt, then it drives off with him in the back. The driver probably didn't even see him enter."
"And you just let him go without trying to help?" Shirley said. "You - You idiot! What if - what if Lelouch is hurt?! What if he's in trouble?! M-maybe that's why he - he hung up on me earlier and didn't call back! You just left him there without trying to help!"
"Woah, easy now Shirley! You're letting your imagination get the better of you. We don't know anything at all about it, and you're just thinking about the worst case scenario. Relax, I'm sure Lelouch is just fine! You'll see him tomorrow, and he'll be right as rain."
Letting her imagination get the better of her? Maybe. Just a little bit. Rivalz was right, for once. She really didn't know anything at all about where he was or what had happened to him. Maybe her original assumption about him just being rude in hanging up the phone was the right instinct after all? Maybe his phone was out of power, or the signal had cut off, or…
"See you tomorrow, Shirl!" Rivalz yelled, dashing off into the building with a cheeky wave.
"Hey!" she yelled at his retreating figure. "Get back here! I'm not done with you yet! Ugh. If only that boy wasn't such a lousy influence on Lelouch. Maybe then he'd -"
Realise your feelings for him?
All of a sudden there was a loud sound, like a thunderclap right next to her. Once Shirley had finished nearly jumping out of her skin, she turned around and stared at Rivalz's bike. More specifically, she stared at the inexplicable dent that had manifested in the side of it. Shirley blinked and shook her head. Strange. For a fraction of a second, she could have sworn she'd seen a disembodied foot hovering in the air, just next to the dent.
Ashford Academy. A place reserved for the best, the brightest, the richest. A private institution owned and operated by the Ashford Foundation. The Headmaster was Ruben K Ashford, and the student council president was Milly Ashford.
Now, it's obvious to point fingers and scream nepotism, but not in this instance. It would be easy to leap to this conclusion given the manner in which Britannian society worked, especially at the top most levels. In this instance though, things were much more fair and reasonable. Milly had earned her place. She had worked hard, but the interesting thing was that she didn't really need to. Even before obtaining the position half the student body already liked her, and the other half hadn't the opportunity to find out she existed yet.
To put it simply her mission statement was to ensure that every student remembered their time in the Academy. She wanted to see them bring out their talent in all areas, and if even a single one of them was lacking something she wanted to do everything she could to help them sort it out. So, on the surface it might seem like she was given the position by her family. The truth was anything but. She earned it. She deserved it. She owned it. She loved it.
Which led nicely to why she was in the computer labs after school hours, because it was rather obvious that there was something not quite right going on under her very nose. A member of her very own student council! Now, that wouldn't do. Would not do at all.
Nina Einstein. Oh, Nina! Whereas the other members were able to enter on a combination of academic accomplishments and charisma, Nina was different. Nina was the textbook definition of introverted. Quite often people would simply forget she was even a member. That girl blended into the background just that much. But she was! A valuable member, just like the rest of them were.
So it was kind of sad to realise that, outside the council, that girl didn't actually have any friends. It was the kind of thing she couldn't let stand by unchallenged! She would either find some friends for that girl or die trying! Preferably not actually dying in the process.
So here she was. Peering in through the doorway into the computer lab. Where Nina was sitting at a computer, staring intently at the screen. Tap tap tapping away at the keyboard. Whatever was that girl up to? Running another of her simulations or whatever it was she did? Milly crept into the room on tip toes and when the moment was right executed her undefeated perfect attack!
The Flying Glomp.
"Nina!" she cooed. "Nina Nina Nina! Fancy meeting you here!"
"M-Madam President! Wh-what brings you here?" Nina said, squirming so cutely in her embrace. Milly backed off to give the girl a little breathing room, no need to suffocate the poor thing.
"Why, I suppose I could ask you the very same thing!" Milly said, her gaze falling upon the screen for the first time. She tilted her head in confusion. That really wasn't what she was expecting at all.
It was a picture of a grey sinister face. It had no eyes, only a pair of slanted black voids. At the bridge of its nose was a peculiar protrusion that extended up the forehead, looping off around to the left. The mouth had exaggerated lips with a pair of tiny fangs protruding, almost menacingly - no, like a warning - from the mouth. After a moment, Milly realised that she wasn't looking at a face exactly. The shape of it - that was a mask. A mask made of -
Nina closed the image, blushing quite furiously. "P-please, this is a private conversation," she insisted.
"A private conversation?" Milly said. "I see! You've made an Internet buddy! What are they like?"
"H-His name is Damocles," Nina said, typing in the letter 'brb'. "We met online about a month ago. He's really interested in my ideas about a new way to harvest energy from Uranium-235 , and he's been telling me about the research he's been doing."
Well then! Perhaps her mission here today wasn't quite so necessary after all. Sure, she'd never see her friend face to face but did it really matter? A friend was a friend. Who knows, maybe she'd open up a little bit with other people as well? Milly took a seat, fully intending to listen with rapt attention. Even if the subject didn't turn out to be all that interesting, it would be rude to do otherwise.
"He's been looking into an ancient barbaric culture that used to perform human sacrifice," Nina said. "It's awful. They'd tie someone to an altar, and then they would be sacrificed by someone wearing that awful mask."
"How terrible!" Milly said, genuinely feeling a little unwell at the idea. "I suppose they did this to appease the sun or some nonsense?"
"N-no, not really. They thought it would give them - They thought it would make them immortal. Which is stupid, because the first person to try would obviously be killed and they'd all see it didn't work. It's terrifying what other cultures used to be like. This one makes the Elevens look civilised by comparison."
"I suppose you must have seen the news just now," Milly sighed. "I could hardly believe it."
"What do you mean?" Nina said. "What happened?"
"You didn't see?" Milly said, genuinely surprised. "Some terrorists attacked a military facility, and then released poison gas in Shinjuku ghetto. No demands were given or anything like that."
"Completely senseless," Nina whispered. "They didn't need to do something like that. They didn't need to, but they did it anyway. What was the point? Mindless brutality. Little better than animals."
The girl trailed off, and Milly sensed that she needed to change the conversation back to something else, lest she lose the girl in her own fears. Poor thing was obviously rather shocked by the news. No. Not so much shocked. That would imply she was surprised. Strangely, it seemed more like validating a fear she had.
"Human sacrifice conducted in the name of an impossible power! It sounds like your friend Damocles has a very interesting career. I'm impressed he can keep up with that, and your theories!"
"He does have quite a versatile knowledge base," Nina said. Goodness, she snapped back quickly. This was the most animated Milly had seen the girl ever since they'd known each other! "He also mentioned something about an ancient, ornate set of arrows which have gone missing over the years..." Nina continued, pulling up the picture to show Milly. The student council president simply smiled at the girl, grateful that she was showing an interest in interacting with the outside world. It was just the thing she needed. Not only would it make her a better student council member, it would also help round her out as a person.
You could tell a great deal about a man by the state he keeps the place he works. Take this office in particular. It had a certain classical taste without seeming archaic. The windows were ornate, the desk pristine. Oak carved. Meticulously crafted, with nothing daring to sit atop it save an equally masterfully crafted globe.
What was even more telling was the lack of chairs. Note the plural form. There was a chair. Just one. Anyone else paying a visit would have to stand, and the strange thing was that even though this visitor might well be looking down upon the person whose office this was, the impression given was that they were the ones being towered over.
Villetta did not feel that intimidation. Not in the slightest. She had no reason to be intimidated by this person. Perish the thought. In front of anyone else, if she were to deliver this debriefing then she might be a little bit nervous. Not so much Jeremiah. Because if there was anything he valued above all other things.
"I believe you of course," Jeremiah said. "But that's not to say anyone else will."
It was loyalty. One could say it was his currency. Give it to him, and he would repay it in kind. The two of them had worked together long enough to develop an understanding. It was this kind of understanding that meant she could say to him with a completely straight face "I was shot by an almost entirely invisible person" and be taken seriously. She wasn't entirely certain of it herself.
"Given the head injury you suffered immediately afterwards, some might argue you dreamed it. At the very least we should be grateful you didn't develop amnesia."
"No, of course not," Villetta replied. "Developing amnesia in such a manner is the sort of thing best kept in soap operas."
"I would advise keeping that part to yourself for the time being," Jeremiah said. "For now I'm more interested in your reputation. Owing your life to an honorary Britannian? I can overlook that, but having your frame stolen and used by the enemy? Your reasons for leaving the frame to begin with make sense given our instructions, but you are not the type to leave it unsecure."
"I can offer no explanation," Villetta said. "The thief must have taken it after I was rendered unconscious."
"Doubtless Kururugi will claim it happened after he had taken you away. For the time being, let's focus on him and the problems he presents."
"It's sickening," Villetta said. "That idiot Lloyd gave a lowly honorary Britannian an experimental knightmare frame! That honour should have gone to a true Britannian, not some -"
Jeremiah waved it aside. "I feel the same way. As if anyone but a real Britannian can be trusted with such expensive equipment. Why, for all we know he shot you himself to set up a rescue! Ah, but that's just idle paranoid speculation. I have no real reason to believe that."
"We cannot allow him to remain as a pilot for this Lancelot model," Villetta said. The thought was increasingly uncomfortable the more she considered the implications. Herself and Jeremiah were members of the Purebloods. The inevitable response to the Honorary System, which offered Numbers the opportunity to raise their status. How foolhardy! Britannia did not get to be where it was by borrowing from other cultures! They conquered! And then they showed the backwards culture something better, raising them up from the beasts by proximity.
This was the truth that the Purist Faction accepted: That Britannia had no need or want of outsiders, that the presence of so called Honorary Britannians merely served to sully their society by being given the opportunity to exist within it.
"It is my experience that honorary Britannians intend to use the system to raise their place in the world," Jeremiah said. "It is all about their status and standard of living." Jeremiah chuckled. "Strangely poetic, is it not? How little honour they have. They easily cast away friends and family, not because it is the right thing to do. Only for themselves, their own life and comfort. Honorary Britannians have no sense of [b]loyalty[/b]."
It was a cloudless day. Bright, shining blue sky without the slightest hint of rain. Despite that, the window behind Jeremiah suddenly turned a bright dazzling white as a thunderbolt struck a nearby rooftop. This never made sense to Villetta. She just learned to ignore it. Safest thing for her sanity.
A phone rang. Jeremiah reached beneath his desk and said "Excuse me," before answering it. "Yes," he said, not bothering to introduce himself because anyone calling that number had damn well better know who they were talking to before they dialled. For a minute Jeremiah simply sat and listened. With each passing moment his face underwent a transformation. Gradual. Subtle. His posture straightened out. Tension flowed into him like water down a stream.
"I see," he said, rather tersely. "Continue the investigation. I shall have further instructions shortly."
He hung up the phone and leaned forward in his desk, leaving the impression of gears turning in his head. After a brief moment of contemplation he finally seemed to remember Villetta's presence and spoke.
"Prince Clovis has been found shot in the back. Dead. None of his staff witnessed anything unusual, save his instructions to be left alone. All personnel were accounted for, with nobody witnessing a likely target. His assassin remains unknown, at large, with no apparent trace or clue."
His hand raised into the air, formed into a fist and struck the desk with the force of a hammer.
"Why?" he asked between grit teeth. "Why must history repeat itself in such a manner?! Protection sent away by the victim! No trace of the killer! Too many suspects to count! Why is it happening again?!"
Villetta said nothing. It was obvious that Jeremiah was no longer talking to her. He was contending with his own personal demons, and she knew better than anyone that those demons were about to be wrestled into submission.
Sure enough, like a switch was flipped Jeremiah took a deep breath and relaxed into his seat like nothing had even happened. Which is how it would be for the rest of the conversation. Just a hallucination Villetta had. Nothing more than that.
"This presents us with a unique opportunity to get rid of multiple problems at once," Jeremiah said, exuding greater confidence now than before.
"We can set in motion the dismantling of the foolhardy pointlessly harmful Honorary system, remove that Kururugi rat from the Lancelot program and perhaps even find Clovis' killer."
"You have a plan?"
"Naturally. To begin with, we should announce Clovis' death, and offer rewards for information leading to an arrest. After about a week, we arrest Kururugi with whatever evidence we happen upon in the intermediate time."
"I don't see how that finds Clovis' killer," Villetta said.
"That's the beauty of it. If he thinks we have concluded our investigation with Kururugi's execution, they will grow more lax. A secret investigation outside of the public eye would bear even greater fruit. If need be, we can try them as an accomplice."
"And even if we fail to find the real killer, it will give the Purebloods the level of control required to keep Area Eleven stable."
Jeremiah shrugged in a motion of faux denial of his own ingenuity. Why, this plan almost made her feel a little bit sorry for Kururugi. Almost. But not nearly enough.
The situation was ridiculous. Tamaki, buried in concrete behind them and yelling insults at the top of his lungs (which everyone seemed to be tuning out). Takako standing in front of them, pointing a gun at them with a manic expression upon her face. A table in front of Kallen and Ohgi, with Takako standing a little distance off on the other side, outside any range they could reasonable grab her before she shot anyone that made a wrong move.
They could probably escape by ducking behind cover. But in so doing Tamaki would be a sitting duck. She would shoot him in the head without hesitation the second they tried to hide. Dammit! What would Naoto do in a situation like this?
His mind went back, just a few short months. Had it really been that long? Sometimes it felt like a lifetime ago. Other times, he had to remind himself when he woke up in the morning because it didn't feel at all real.
"Sometimes I dream, Ohgi. Did I ever tell you? I dream that one day, we will send Britannia scurrying out with their tail between their legs and Japan will stand on its own two feet once again. Sometimes it feels so real I can reach out and touch it."
"You'd make a good prime minister."
"No. I think you'd be a bit better at that than I would."
Why did he have to be the one that died? Why not Ohgi? In a terrible moment of clarity, he realised that Takako must feel the same way about her children… Damn this situation! What the hell would Naoto do? How would he placate her? How would he proceed?
He glanced to his right and into the eyes of Naoto's sister. In some ways they were so very similar, yet in other ways so very different. Yet as he looked into those eyes he saw only the similarities: The determination. The drive to free Japan. The will to win. The courage to fight.
That was the answer. That was what Naoto would do. He would fight until he won, or until he could fight no longer.
"I don't think we have a choice," Ohgi said. "We'll play your game."
"I'm glad to hear that," Takako said. "So, who will go first?"
"I will!" Kallen and Ohgi said at once. Ohgi gently laid his hand on her shoulder and stepped past, shaking his head.
"I'm supposed to be in charge here, right? It's only right that a leader leads."
Besides which, Kallen would be far more useful to the resistance than he could ever hope to be. Ohgi reached out for the deck of cards, letting his hand hover out over them. No way to force his choice this time around. He really could take any card he wanted. Ohgi turned his vision towards Takako's eyes, watching her reaction as he tried to make his choice. Nothing. She didn't seem to know which was which either, or perhaps didn't care what happened in what order. So be it.
His hand snapped out, index finger extended on top of a card. It was slide out to the edge of the able, and Ohgi lifted it up in front of his face -
"Ten little Clubs float around his head," Takako sang. "Soon he'll wish that he was dead."
It felt like a hammer struck his shoulder, and that was only the beginning. He released an inarticulate whimper of pain at the same time his hand released the card. As it drifted towards the ground another blow came, landing squarely in his face and very nearly rendering him unconscious. When the third struck his leg he dropped to his knees, and he instinctively attempted to shield his body from the remaining blows which were now raining down upon him, invisibly and from every angle. He could see the card before it vanished on the ground just like the Ace of Spades Tamaki had drawn; Ohgi's was the ten of Clubs. Could she somehow tell which card it was without looking? Marked cards as well as magic? Or - No, was it something else?
Regardless, he felt the bruises form under his skin. He felt the swelling in his face and the tears from pain form in his eyes. But then, just as surely as they had started the blows stopped. There hadn't been many, on reflection after the fact. It hadn't felt like it at the time.
"Ohgi! Are you -"
"I'm fine," he said, waving Kallen off. "Don't worry about me. It's your turn. Let's just get this over with."
"Yes, you pretty young thing!" Takako snarled. "Let's just get this over with. Just like you recklessly decided to kick the hornet's nest."
"Ah, shut your face you stupid old witch!" Tamaki yelled. "You may have a magic deck of cards, but you don't know any damn thing at all! Crazier than a bag full of raccoons!"
Ohgi drew himself to his full height and nodded at Kallen, who turned towards the table and didn't even hesitate at grabbing a card from the table, carefully lifting it so that both she and Ohgi could see. It was -
"Diamonds around her number five," Takako sung. "They'll barely leave her alive!"
All of a sudden a thin trail of blood appeared across Kallen's cheek. She reached up to touch the cut with a small expression of shock, then suddenly used her other hand to grasp the first arm. Ohgi saw a tiny cut appear just above the knee, and another two across her back. Tearing through the clothes and tearing through her skin leaving tiny papercut like trails of blood.
"Nngh!" Kallen gasped.
"Are you okay?" Ohgi asked.
"I'm fine," Kallen nodded. "It just feels worse than it is. Stings like a bitch. I'm fine, I- " she stopped for a moment and stared up at Ohgi, with flash of something behind her eyes. "Of course. Five Diamonds, five cuts. How many times were you -"
"Ten," Ohgi said, following her reasoning. Stupid! How did he miss that? It was so obvious! "I was hit ten times by… something I couldn't even see."
"It took you this long to figure that out?" Takako laughed, not the laugh of enjoyment but from a place where only madness lurked, a place that the sane only knew of because the residents sometimes escaped to terrify them. "I'd offer sarcastic applause, but I'm holding a gun. Please, for my benefit pretend that I did."
"Diamonds cut. Clubs hit. Spades bury," Kallen said. "How much depends on the value we draw. So. What happens when we draw Hearts?"
"That's for me to know, and you to wildly guess at!" Takako said. "You. The handsome one with the swollen eye. Your turn again. Pick your cards wisely, now! Haha!"
"D-dammit, you guys! Get the hell out of here!" Tamaki yelled. "It's my fault you're in this mess! Don't let me being an idiot drag you into this as well!"
"Not a chance! We've left behind too many people today! I'm not leaving you as well!" Ohgi yelled. But even if his mind and his heart was drawing from the well of courage, his body was still trembling. Just from the first card he felt like he was being beaten to death. His instinct was telling him that the best thing to do was to draw low, but he was ignoring that little voice in his head.
He wanted to draw high. He wanted to draw it all upon himself, as much as he could stand. Until the moment that he dropped from being shredded by Diamonds or beaten by Clubs or buried by Spades or whatever the hell Hearts did. A normal person would be looking to survive this game, to win at all costs. But Ohgi? For him victory meant something other than winning. It meant using his life to keep his friends hand lashed out at the deck, and -
"Tsk," Takako sounded disappointed. "Oh well. I suppose you were going to draw Hearts eventually."
The King of Hearts. Ohgi smiled. Yes, this ought to do the job. Something like a King should finish him off, end this game and let Kallen set Tamaki free. He could feel his skin start to tingle, and -
And the pain was fading away. The swelling was vanishing, the bruises and injuries suffered under the raining blows from the Ten of Clubs were disappearing into nothing.
"Hearts… heals?" he said, feeling a little bit dumbfounded.
"Well naturally," Takako said. "I'm giving you a much fairer chance than my family got. Besides which! If the situation was truly hopeless, it wouldn't hurt all that much when you finally succumbed to real despair and guilt, would it?"
"Oh, shut up!" Kallen said as the card vanished in Ohgi's hand. Before it had even finished she'd already picked up another card. "I just want to get this stupid game over with already."
"Three Spades hover without a sound, as they bury you in the ground!"
It was the same thing as with Tamaki. One moment Kallen was standing there holding a card, and the next she appeared to be falling. Unlike Tamaki she didn't fall all that far. Only her feet and lower legs were buried. She tried to step out, Ohgi even pulling at her arms but to no avail.
"I'm stuck!" she said.
"Yeah, at least you can move," Tamaki grumbled, probably thinking neither of them heard his remark. Ohgi's gaze flickered back at the remaining cards on the table. If the game was finished then Kallen and Tamaki would be let loose from their concrete prisons. Okay then. Time for him to draw another card -
"A single diamond in the air, cuts him down without a care!"
The Ace of Diamonds. Tamaki felt a cold presence behind him, but knew that if he turned to look he wouldn't see anything. Not the floating red razor sharp diamond that he imagined was half his size. Not the spectre of death, no skeleton in black robes wielding a scythe. Nothing but the ruins of Shinjuku, and the bodies of the dead. Among whom he would surely now number.
It felt like he'd been run through by a sword, back to front. Or at the very least what he imagined that had to feel like. He felt vital organs being pierced. He felt himself spit up blood. He felt pain and agony the likes of which a living being should not have to suffer, but he didn't even notice himself falling over. His mind was too focused on the pain, the agony, the certainty that he was dying.
"Ohgi!" he heard Kallen scream as his head landed on the table.
"No! Damn bitch!" Tamaki was yelling at a distance that seemed to grow larger with each second. "Once I'm outta here, you're dead! Hear me! Dead! Damn psycho!"
The weird thing was, the pain was disappearing. Was his brain already deprived of oxygen? He had expected an injury like that would have killed him very slowly, leaving him in agony for hours as he bled out. Or maybe it had hit a major artery. Who could say? He could but speculate he could but-
He could but stand up. Alive. Feeling healthier than he had in years. Ohgi stared at his hands in disbelief. How was that possible? What happened?
"He's a zombie!" Tamaki yelled unhelpfully. "Kallen, you gotta go for the head! It's the only way!"
"Shut up, idiot!" Kallen said. "He isn't a zombie, he's just insanely lucky! That Ace of Diamonds should have killed him!"
It was odd, but looking in her eyes Ohgi saw something. Calculation. She was running it through in her head. He had seen that same sort of look whenever she was checking out a fight she was about to get into, scoping out her opponent, the way they moved, likely weaknesses. Except that this was a different kind of calculation. She was working out something else entirely.
"When you fell," she started. "Your finger brushed a card on the table. That card there. See that? It's still there!" Kallen turned her attention towards Takako, who looked very, very annoyed and like she might just pull the trigger to shut Kallen up. "You led us to believe that the act of drawing a card was what it took to trigger the effect, and then the card would vanish. It doesn't work that way at all, does it? All you have to do is touch the card and it triggers. They only vanish when someone looks at the face value."
"Yeah! But so what?!" Takako yelled. "So what if he got a little bit lucky and happened to touch the Ace of Hearts! So what?! Because you know something? You're going to draw that same card right now and look at the value! Remove it from the game right now! I won't let you use such a valuable card to heal later on whenever you want!"
Damn. And it looked like they had just accomplished something in this game! Now they couldn't even use the Ace of Hearts, the most powerful healing card in the game, to ensure they could heal whenever they wanted. Except… The expression on Kallen's face. There was something about it, like she had already won the game.
"That's fine," Kallen said. "I already intended to draw it anyway." Her hand reached out across the table, and gripped the face down Ace of Hearts between her fingers. But she didn't take it. Not yet. The tiny cuts on her face and body vanished without a trace, and she lifted out of the ground, standing on top of it instead of just beneath. Kallen took a series of deep breaths with her eyes closed before beginning to speak.
"Earlier today, I was piloting a stolen Glasgow against several enemy Sutherlands," she said. "Against even one, I don't think I could have done much more than delay my own defeat. They were toying with me. Waiting for me to drop my guard, run out of power and then take me prisoner. At a crucial moment a voice came over the communicator, offering me a chance to win. All I had to do was put my life in the hands of a complete stranger."
"Interesting story," Takako said. "Failing to see the relevance."
"The point is, if I did nothing I would lose. If I took a chance, then I might win. Only one route lay before me that would lead to victory, so I took it. That's why I fight. If I do nothing, then nothing will improve. But if I fight on, some day there's a chance it will!"
"And that excuses causing massacres like this?!"
"It isn't meant to! You're simply blaming the wrong person! I'm telling you why this game is over!"
Kallen took a deep breath and withdrew the Ace of Hearts from the deck. But she didn't pull the card towards herself. Instead, she pulled it straight upwards, lifting several other cards clear off the table as well. To Ohgi, time seemed to slow to a crawl. Takako gasped. Tamaki yelled something rendered incoherent by the slowness of time. Kallen pulled the Ace of Hearts back towards herself, tilted it a slight angle away from Ohgi, away from her own line of sight as well, Then she let out her breath and used the very edge of the Ace of Hearts to strike at the clump of cards, hurtling them through the air towards a still stunned Takako. Five of them landed on her. Some bounced off towards the ground. Her gun joined them, and she stared all around her at something only she could behold.
"Ah! My children!" she said, tears in her eyes. "You've come back to play with mommy? Look at you, all dressed up! Why, you're the spitting image of the Jack of Diamonds and the Queen of Clubs! Come play with mommy, dears!"
"Tsk, crazy bitch!" Tamaki said as Kallen dropped the Ace of Hearts on his head. He lifted out of the ground and stretched his muscles. It made Ohgi feel tired just looking at him. "So, whadda we do with her?"
"We take her to a doctor," Ohgi said, unable to bring himself to watch as the invisible forces assaulted her body. "Someone like that is as much a victim as anyone else here, and I won't leave her to die."
"There is a risk she could identify us."
"Yep. Then again, maybe nobody would believe her. We've got a choice here. Become the monsters she thinks we are, or-"
Well, he didn't need to finish saying it. After all. They really didn't have any choice at all.
All over Area Eleven, television programmes were interrupted by an emergency message. All eyes fell upon the screen as a serious faced, solemn reporter began to deliver his message to a world he knew was unaware of the tragedy he had to deliver.
"Ladies and gentlemen of Area Eleven," the reporter began. "Earlier today, we reported on an event within Shinjuku ghetto where terrorists released poison gas into the population. At the time, we had believed it would be the worst, most tragic news item of the week. It is therefore my sad duty to inform you that this assumption was… Incorrect.
"Shortly following the resolution of this crisis, Prince Clovis - Beloved Viceroy of Area Eleven - was found shot in the back by an unknown assailant. He was pronounced dead on the scene. At this time, further details regarding the investigation are being kept from the press in order to keep the culprit from using us to escape justice. As and when further details are given clearance to air, they shall be.
"For the time being, Margrave Jeremiah had this to say."
The camera cut away, revealing Jeremiah Gottwald to the stunned public. He stood before the cameras as the very image of a military figure. Tall. Proud. Determined. After a moment of standing still with his eyes closed, they came open and he began to speak.
"This travesty shall be avenged," he began, his voice roaring through every screen in Japan. "The people of Area Eleven - No rather the people of Britannia can rest assured that all measures shall be taken to discover the truth of this case! Whoever they are, whatever their reason we shall not rest until we have them dragged into court! For anyone that comes forward with information of genuine use to resolving this incident, a reward shall be granted! But know that anyone found to deliver a false lead shall also be prosecuted.
"Until the time that a new permanent Viceroy is assigned and installed, I shall behave as acting Viceroy. I shall continue on by following our beloved Clovis' policies and practises, and I promise you. I may not fill his role as admirably, but I shall endeavour towards that ideal with every breath I take.
"This part is addressed to the perpetrator alone: You shall be captured! You shall be tried! And justice will fall upon your wicked head! You can not run! You cannot hide! And by the time this investigation is concluded you shall feel the wrath, know the sting and the outrage of my loyalty!"
If he had anything else to say after that, nobody got to hear it. For reasons that still baffled scientists for years after (in particular keeping Lloyd up at night for a whole week) an electrical storm struck the entirety of Area Eleven all at the same time, rendering the television signal quite thoroughly dead for a whole hour afterwards.
And somewhere in that Area, a young boy was sitting with his sister and they were listening quite intently to that speech. The boy allowed himself a private smile. It appeared to him as though another game was about to begin, and he could hardly wait to see how it turned out.
[To Be Continued |\|]
Stand Stats
Ace of Spades
User: Takako Matsuzawa
Stats
Destructive Power C
Speed N/A
Range N/A
Durability N/A
Precision N/A
Developmental Potential E
Abilities
Spirit Assault: Ace of Spades takes the form of a deck of playing cards that is visible to non-Stand users, and operates Automatically under the following rules. When a card's face value is seen it will disappear shortly afterwards. When a card is touched, its spirit will attack whoever touched it. The intensity of the attack depends on the card's value, and the nature depends on its suit.
Spades Attack: Buries victim from feet up.
Diamonds Attack: Cuts victim at random points on body.
Clubs Attack: Bludgeons victim at random points on body.
Hearts Heal: Recovers injuries at random. Will also dig victim out of holes resulting from Spades Attack.
Shuffle: User may safely shuffle and offer cards to others without being attacked by spirits. If in contact with cards for any other reason, spirits will attack user.
