Chapter 10: Happy Birthday, Nicolette
Lelouch froze. "I...look like emperor Lelouch?" he said. "Nonsense. Since when-"
"No, really, you do!" Andrew dug out his cell phone and thumbed through it, showing Lelouch a picture of himself, before his death. "I dunno why I never realised it before," he continued. "But think about it, if you dyed your hair black, you two'd be identical!"
"Except the eyes," Lelouch said carefully. "He's got different coloured eyes than I have."
"Really?" Andrew studied the picture closely. "Yeah, you're right. His are purple and yours are..." He looked at Lelouch. "Yellow."
"Amber!" Lelouch snapped. "Not yellow. Yellow eyes? That's mean you're suffering from thiamine deficiency or something."
"Ok, fine," Andrew said defensively. "No need to get so sensitive about it. Geesh." He tucked his cell phone back into his pocket and continued looking at the drinks.
Lelouch glared at him for a while, then came to a sudden realisation. "Why do you have a picture of emperor Lelouch in your cell phone?"
"Hm?" Andrew turned to look. "Something that Nina said... said you look like the emperor."
"Oh. Right," Lelouch said, not convinced at all.
...
"Was that the last item on the list?"
"Yes, it was."
"Did we decide on anything before that?"
"No, we didn't."
"How many times have we been through this list?"
"Five."
"Wanna go for a sixth round?"
"No."
"Andrew's not gonna like this."
"No, he isn't."
"Hey you two! Got Nicolette's present yet?"
"Er..."
"You didn't, did you?"
Swear words from four different languages could be heard within a hundred metre radius.
...
Monday had the assistant dean announce to the school that Mr Harker had been murdered, and that investigations into his death were ongoing. A new dean would be chosen soon, and in the meantime, the assistant dean would be the acting head of the school.
Tuesday morning came the news that Empress Nunnally and her entourage had arrived in Singapore, and would be beginning negotiations with the terrorist leadership in Singapore's Temasek Hall at four in the evening, five pm Japan time.
Lelouch was trying desperately to reassure himself that the negotiations had absolutely nothing to do with him, since he was 'Luke Overton' now, a perfectly normal student studying in Ashford International School, getting ready to celebrate his classmate's birthday in evening, right at the same time the negotiations were taking place...
No no no! Stop thinking about the negotiations! Lelouch thought furiously. Think of Nicolette's birthday, and whether the plan I gave to Kira's gonna work! Jumping onto this train of thought before it pulled out of the station, he glanced sideways to Kira, and was not at all amazed to see him looking all nervous.
Taking a quick check on Mr Peters, to make sure his back was still facing the class, Lelouch leaned over and whispered to Kira, "What're you looking so nervous for?"
Kira looked at Peters' back then darted his eyes to Lelouch. "Why do you think?" he hissed. "Too many variables, Luke. A lot of things could go wrong tonight."
"What?" Lelouch hissed. "Come on, man, I know that you're gonna-"
"Whisper, whisper, whisper," Peters' voice cut their conversation short. "Only relevant to Humour in Language if someone catches you doing it, like I do now." Kira and Lelouch looked up at him guiltily. "So now shut up and pay attention to my lesson!"
...
"Great, now those two idiots have detention," Nicolette said after school. She, CC and Andrew had headed off after class let out, to look over any last minute contingency plans for her 'surprise' party.
"But isn't it a little harsh?" CC put in. "Two hours detention for talking in class... Does Peters normally do that?"
"No, he doesn't," Nicolette said. "Now that you say it... it's like he changed over the weekend. I wonder what happened."
"Mm, true, true," CC agreed. "What d'you think, Andrew?"
Andrew jumped upon hearing his name. "Weeelll... I'm not very sure," he said. "He does seem to have changed, but at least his lessons are still pretty good." He looked at his watch. "Sorry, the library guys need me, so I gotta go..." he lamely excused himself from the girls' presence, too nervous to be around them.
"What the...?" Nicolette glared angrily at Andrew's receding back. "Library? Hah! It's just an excuse that he doesn't want to be near us, that's all." She turned to CC. "What now, Charlotte?"
CC shrugged. "Listen, Nic... Andrew's just worried about the party later. So if he seems a little distant now, it's so that everything will be perfect later, okay?"
"Really?" Nicolette replied sarcastically. "Since when has he been so devoted to anything?"
CC blinked. "He hasn't?" she asked. "Strange. I kinda thought that he'd be this organized at everything he did."
"Oh, yeah, you wouldn't know," Nicolette said. "Well, anyway, Andrew only goes full force about something only if he really, really wants to do it... Either that or if he believes that it'll make him happy."
"Aah," CC said. "I get it."
"What?" Nicolette turned to her. "What? What's Andrew planning? How much do you know?"
CC smiled, not enigmatically, but in a happy way that nonetheless made it evident that she was keeping a secret. "Can't say, Nic."
"C'mon, tell me!" Nicolette dashed to her and tried to catch her arm.
"Can't!" CC darted away, still smiling.
"Tell!"
"No!"
They both ran, one chasing the other, up the knoll that fronted the main school building, unaware that they were being watched.
...
"Okay, you ready?" CC's hand was covering Nicolette's eyes, so she had to rely on the sound of her voice to guide her.
"Come on, Charlotte, why all the secrecy?" Nicolette giggled. "I'm ready, I'm ready. You can take your hand away."
CC did so, and what Nicolette saw took her breath away.
She was in a long art gallery, the walls smooth and soothing to the eye, works of art hung at regular intervals on the walls, and softly lit by light spots on the floor and ceiling. She walked over to the closest one-it looked terribly familiar...
"This is one of mine!" she exclaimed, and looked around her. "These are all mine!" She whirled around at them. "How did-? Where-?" They all pointed towards Andrew, who was now carrying a cake, on which he'd painstakingly arranged twenty candles around the circumference.
He smiled and said, "Happy Birthday, Nicolette."
...
Later, when the party was dying down, CC joined Lelouch behind the rented warehouse with a drink. "Hey, 'Luke'," she said, sitting down beside him "Penny for your thoughts?"
"They're worth a hell more than that," Lelouch replied. He looked at his watch, then up at the night sky. "By now, the negotiations should be over. I wonder what the outcome is." He looked back at CC.
"Do you think I'm thinking too much about this?" he asked. "I mean, I'm an ordinary schoolboy now. I shouldn't really care about Nunnally anymore, but... I am her older brother."
CC shook her head sadly. "Lelouch," she said. "You're not Lelouch anymore. You're Luke Overton. You don't need to care-"
"I know!" Lelouch snapped. "I know I shouldn't be feeling concerned about this, but I just can't help it! To me, she's still the little sister I knew from back then, whom I'd always love and protect and I don't-"
"Hey you two," came Andrew's voice. Lelouch and CC jumped, and whirled around to face him, Just how long has he been standing here? Lelouch thought anxiously. Andrew didn't seem to have heard anything untoward though; he was still smiling serenely as he always was.
"You two'd better clear out, Kira needs this space, remember?" He looked back into the warehouse-turned-art gallery. "Though, personally, I don't think it's a good idea to confess to her on her birthday, especially since you're not aware of her feelings... Come on, let's go." He waved them back in.
"Okay you two!" Andrew fairly shouted. "The main event has come! Kira will explain everything to you, Nicolette, so please follow him. The rest of us will wait in here for the outcome."
The three of them registered a look of amused surprise on Nicolette's face before Kira took hold of her hand and led her outside. All three watched their exit closely, and once the warehouse door had closed, they sprung into activity, clearing up the mess and getting everything ready for a quick departure or another lengthy celebration.
But as they were clearing up, Andrew's cell phone sounded an SMS alert tone. Frowning, he opened and read it, and gave a violent exclamation.
"What? What happened?" Lelouch hurried over. Andrew handed him the cell phone. "International News message alert," he said. "You should read it."
Lelouch took the cell phone and was rooted with shock to the spot.
"What happened?" CC almost ran over to read the message. "No way..." she whispered.
TERRORISTS SURROUND TEMASEK HALL, it read. EMPRESS NUNNALLY AND ENTOURAGE TAKEN HOSTAGE.