Chapter 55: A Portrait of a Young Woman - C.C.

C.C. is a girl with long, almost waist-length light green hair and golden eyes. She had come to the lake at the university to get away from the hectic proceedings of her life. But over the past couple of minutes she is getting the uneasy feeling of being observed by someone.

"Who is there?" she calls out.

"No one." Answers back a voice from somewhere behind her, hidden beneath the shade of trees. C.C. turns around in the direction and spots the person who has been creeping on her for a while now. He looks back at her with a pair of rotten dead fish eyes, somewhat apologetic. "Can you go back to looking at the lake in the way you were doing about a second ago."

C.C. frowns. What an odd little request. What an odd little way of asking someone to ignore their obvious stalker. "I will do no such thing. Who are you by the way?"

"Hachiman Hikigaya." The person answers. "And why not? You were just ignoring my existence, probably lost in some imaginary world of yours a moment ago. You looked really peaceful, serene even."

"I don't think I have ever known peace." C.C. says. It's then when she spots the small drawing notebook and the pencil he is twirling in between his fingers. "What were you doing, Hikigaya?"

"I was painting a picture of what I thought was an ideal woman, a thing of beauty which would last forever." He says. "But then she had to open her mouth and ruin the image. Now I know you are just some girl with her own set of problems who had come to this lake to take a break from her troublesome life."

C.C. blinked. "You don't know a thing about me and yet you make that assumption."

Hachiman closes the drawing notebook and puts down his pencil on the grass. "It's a fair assumption to make. Plus, I'm channeling my inner artist."

"So you are an amateur painter who likes to draw unsuspecting women who happen to come by this lake." C.C. remarks. Then because she had been wanting to reference it, she says. "You are nothing like Jack from the Titanic."

"I should hope note. Dying of hypothermia doesn't seem like a good way to go." Hachiman remarks.

"Neither is drowning." C.C. states and despite herself the memories of her past assail her, the countless times when people who were afraid of her and misunderstood what she was and tried to kill her countless of times only to be met with failure. She lived despite everything, the witch trials, being guillotined and yes, drowned. But it never made the phantom pains leave her.

"What's wrong? You look weary all of a sudden."

C.C. hasn't met this Hachiman fellow before, this is her first time interacting with him, but she can tell, he is quite perceptive. Which is not good, all things considered. But she had never been one to practice caution and it doesn't hurt to know the right sort of people every now and then. Lelouch would probably disagree with her, but then nowadays he seems more worked up about his roommates. Odd for a child his age, she thought.

Back to answer his questions, she said the first thing that came to her mind which was to say something completely different. "I would like to see your painting."

"It's unfinished." Hachiman replied quickly. "I will probably never be able to finish it now because I doubt you can return to looking as serene as before. Now you just look, expressionless."

"Pity" C.C. said without much thought. "I would have loved to seen my expression captured on a canvas. It's been ages since someone drew a painting of me."

"Oh yeah, who was the guy you painted your portrait?" Hachiman asked, curious.

"Leonardo da Vinci."

Hachiman Hikigaya blinked. For a second, he wondered whether she was lying or not. But there was something in her expressionless visage which told him it was actually the truth. She was not lying. But that meant –

"You are old."

C.C. pushed a lose strand of her hair, away from her face. "A lady doesn't encourage talk about her age."

Hachiman Hikigaya smiled. "Fair enough. How about your name? Will your grace offer me the courtesy?" He didn't know why, but for some reason, he found out the ladies really liked it when he addressed them all high and mighty. Talking to Mordred and Anastasia paid off it seems.

But this woman was different. She didn't blush. "The name is C.C."

"C2?" Hachiman questioned. "Like carbon?"

C.C. looked at him like he was an idiot. "Can you go back to finishing your painting of me? I think the more you open your mouth, the less I seem to value your intellect as a human being."

"It's a legitimate question." Hachiman asked. "I almost got mugged once by a living, breathing, anthromorphic white blood cell. It was night, so I didn't see it all that well. I thought he was after my wallet, when in fact, it thought I was a virus."

Hachiman was of course talking about the time when he was saved by Revy. She shot and killed his would be mugger who wasn't a man, but a white blood cell. The news you get from the internet is hard to believe sometimes, but this one, well, it was definitely hard to swallow. But it was the truth. And to make it worse, the white blood cell thought he was a virus, not even a human being. That took a psychological toll on his mental health. Nothing said waste of flesh more than being attacked by a white blood cell, apparently.

"You are looking sad and pathetic. What's the matter?" C.C. asked.

" Nothing." Hachiman shook himself of the morose feeling. "Let's get back to capturing your visage on canvas. I have a lot to live up to, seeing as the last person who drew you the famous renaissance painter."

"A famous renaissance painter." C.C. corrected.

"The famous renaissance painter." Hachiman corrected back.

"I like Michelangelo more." C.C. said.

Hachiman sighed. "You have terrific taste."

"Thank you."

"That was sarcasm."

A/N: Sorry, I haven't been able to write for a while. I got Covid and that's that, I guess. But I think I will start writing again soon. I missed this very much.

Here are the options for the next fic I should write:

Option 1: Real Harem fic set in Neo Tokyo University. (Hachiman – Second Year.)

Option 2: Plot heavy case fic set in Neo Tokyo University. (Hachiman – First Year.)

Option 3: Action & Adventure fic set in Neo Tokyo (Hachiman – Third Year/Self Employed)

Now, here are the options for the next chapter:

Option 1: Mikasa Ackerman (Attack on Titan)

Option 2: Asuna Yuuki (Sword Art Online)

Option 3: Hinata Hyuuga (Naruto)

Option 4: C.C. (Part 2 Continued)

Option 5: Taiga Aisaka (Toradora)

Please pick any of the above options or suggest a character in the review.

You can also send a voter list.

Hope everyone enjoyed reading this chapter.

Leave lots and lots of reviews, follow and fave.

Won't betray your dreams.

Trivia: The university dining area sees a lots of fights. There was the time Ezra Scarlet nearly made Light Yagami the happiest man alive, when she nearly decapitated L for eating the last slice of strawberry shortcake. It was a way better plan that using the death note.

Then there was the time Vash the Stampede (Trigun) and Shinobu Oshino (Bakemonogatari) came to blows over a donut. Yes, a donut. Those who get it, get it.