Chapter 3: The False Classmate
"Wait!" Rivalz shouts as he processes what Kallen just said. "You're telling me that Lelouch was Zero?!"
"Hadn't you noticed?" Ohgi asks. "I thought it was pretty obvious, after all several of us were or are still part of the Black Knights, so obviously if anyone was leading us in any battle it would be Zero."
"But that doesn't make any sense!" Rivalz gets up from his seat and starts to panic. "I saw Zero end Lelouch's life, he's right there," Rivalz points at Zero. "How could Lelouch be Zero?"
"Rivalz!" shouts Kallen while holding Rivalz's shoulders. "I know you're confused, but believe me, everything will be explained, so try to calm down."
"But, but" Rivalz is still confused, in a moment he turns to look at Zero. "Who are you?"
"I'm Zero," Zero quickly answered. "I know you are confused Mr. Cardemonde, but as Miss Kōzuki said, all the doubts you have will be answered as we move forward with these videos."
Rivalz seemed to want to say something else, but at the last moment he retracts and simply sits back in his seat. "Okay, I'm still very confused, but I'll try to wait."
"I thank you for your cooperation," Zero turns to look at Nunnally. "Your Majesty, if you don't have any problems, I think we should start the next episode."
Nunnally nods and kicks off the new episode, quickly skipping over C.C.'s narration when she sees that it doesn't say anything different.
The screen displays the title of the episode, "The False Classmate."
"'The false classmate?'" Gino is confused by the title. "What does it refer to? And what does it have to do with what we are seeing?"
"No idea, the other titles were quite explanatory, while this one is quite strange," replies Xingke.
The episode begins by showing the Shinjuku ghetto, several buildings can be seen almost completely destroyed.
"What's this about letting the eleven escape?" asks the voice of a Britannian soldier. "Don't we have to retrieve the poison gas they stole?"
"But, it was Prince Clovis' orders." Says another soldier, while the scene shows several Japanese walking in search of a safe place. Among the Japanese, Kallen, Ohgi and Tamaki can be seen.
"What about General Bartley?" asks the first soldier again. "I want to consult with the General Staff!"
"Tch, you'd think he'd be disappointed that he can't keep killing more people," says Chiba annoyed.
"I wouldn't be surprised if that was their reason," Jeremiah recalls of his army days. "Many soldiers simply wanted an excuse to shoot as many people as possible. Luciano Bradley was a perfect example of that."
Kallen wrinkles her face when she hears the man's name. "Don't remind me of that guy, I still can't believe they would allow anyone like him to be free, let alone have so much power within the empire."
"General Bartley and the others seem to have left their posts," Kallen can be seen turning her head to look at Clovis' personal vehicle as the soldier speaks.
The first soldier is surprised by what his companion says. "You say that Prince Clovis is the only one in command?"
Rakshata can't help but laugh at the soldier's comment. "You can tell they have great confidence in their prince."
Cornelia is annoyed by the scientist's words, but she knows that saying anything in defense of her brother would be in vain, even she can admit that Clovis' performance as a commander left much to be desired.
The scene changes to show again the interior of Clovis' vehicle, in it Lelouch is still pointing his gun at his brother, while the latter tries to save the situation.
"What a joy, Lelouch! I heard you died when they took Japan. I heard you were dead when they took Japan. What good news that you're alive! Why don't you come back with me to our country?"
"So you can use me as a diplomatic tool? You seem to have forgotten why we were used as tools in the first place." Clovis stiffens at Lelouch's words. "Right. Because they murdered my mother."
Nunnally shudders at the reminder of her mother's death, the memory of the event that took away her mother along with her ability to see and walk is one she does not wish to remember at all, yet for some reason a strange feeling also wells up inside her, a feeling she had only begun to feel after seeing her brother's memories.
Cornelia along with Jeremiah grit their teeth at the memory of the death of the woman they idealized. Both still blame themselves for her death, believing they failed in their duty.
The camera quickly to show a different location, the new location appeared to be an elegant room with several glass windows spread throughout the room. Suddenly hundreds of gunshots begin to ring out, shattering the windows.
Just as it had happened when Villetta fired around Lelouch as a warning, the audience is again surprised, making them flinch, even those who had remained calm before Villetta's shots.
"Shit!" Tamaki curses again.
Nunnally, Cornelia, Schneizel and Jeremiah's eyes widen as they recognize the room, Nunnally's shoulders begin to shake at the sight.
A pool of blood is shown falling down the stairs, while Lelouch's voice is heard. "My mother was a Knight of Honor, but she was still a commoner. Of course the other empresses despised her," the camera pans up to show Marianne's corpse and a very young Nunnally, who seems to be trembling in horror under her mother's corpse, while a young Lelouch could be seen at the top of the stairs looking horrified at the whole scene.
Gasps come from the mouths of almost every member of the audience, the sight of such a tragic event leaves almost everyone speechless, even those who already knew how the former Empress had died, can't help but grit their teeth at what they are seeing.
Nunnally feels as if her chest is tightening, her breathing starts to become erratic, the sight of the murder brings back too many painful memories. The young empress seems to be about to go into a panic attack, but before it happens her hand is gently squeezed by Zero's hand.
"Your Majesty, I know it's difficult, but you have to stay calm," Zero says kindly. "Try to take deep breaths."
Nunnally still in a panic tries to follow Zero's advice, which calms her down a bit, her shoulders still shaking, but she no longer seems to be in a state of panic. "Thank you, Zero."
Xingke quickly covers Tianzi's eyes in order to prevent her from seeing even more of the scene.
Cornelia looks at the ground in shame as she watches the scene, she remembers that it was Marianne herself who asked her to leave all the security, but she still feels guilty about everything.
Jeremiah can only stare in anger and sadness at the scene. "Oh, Miss Marianne. I will never deserve your forgiveness for failing you, but I hope that at least wherever you are, you would have been able to observe His Majesty's accomplishments."
"What a horror!" said Cécile, covering her mouth with her hand. "No child should have seen that, much less one so young."
"No wonder Lelouch was so eager to find out who the culprit was," says Gino without his characteristic good humor.
"It certainly looks like that event left a big mark on him," Rakshata let out a sigh. "It seems that several of his actions are due to witnessing such an incident."
"Even so..." says Lelouch continuing his narration. "Even though they made it look like a terrorist attack... You killed my mother!" along with Lelouch's statement, the screen returns to Clovis' face, which appears to be almost hysterical.
"I didn't do it!" Clovis shouts. "I swear it wasn't me!"
"Then tell me what you know," Lelouch ordered, still pointing his gun at Clovis. "No one can lie to me now! Who killed her?" Lelouch activates his Geass while asking his brother the question.
Nunnally and Cornelia can't help but look more intently at the screen, they know it's wrong to expect Clovis to be involved in any way with Marianne's death, but their desire to know more about the death of the one who was the mother of one and the mentor of another momentarily overcomes their guilt.
Jeremiah and Schneizel also pay closer attention to the screen, both knowing that the chances of Clovis actually knowing anything about the empress's death are close to zero, but they may still get some sort of clue.
Clovis, being controlled by the Geass, relaxes and quickly answers the question. "Schneizel, the second Prince, and Cornelia, the second Princess. They know."
"What?!" shouts Cornelia rising from her seat in fury at hearing her brother imply that she was part of the plot to murder Marianne. "Clovis! How dare you! You knew I admired her more than anyone else! And yet you think I was part of a plot to murder her?!"
Schneizel for his part is not surprised that Clovis suspects that he and Cornelia are involved in Marianne's murder, under the strange circumstances in which the murder occurred, it was obvious that the two main suspects would be someone from the nobility or the Royal Family.
Lelouch is surprised to hear his brother's answer. "They were the heart of it all?" Clovis doesn't answer Lelouch's question, showing that he can't really answer the question, something Lelouch seems to notice. "That's all you know?" Lelouch deactivates the Geass, whereupon Clovis is also released from it.
Clovis, when he frees himself from the Geass, is once again cowed by the situation in which he finds himself. "I didn't do it! I swear! I didn't kill her! I didn't have her murdered!"
Lelouch smiles and stops pointing at Clovis. "I understand. However..." Lelouch raises his gun again.
"No! We may have different mothers, but I'm still your brother!" Clovis hysterically tries to get Lelouch to reconsider his choice.
"You can't change the world without getting your hands dirty," says Lelouch as he pulls the trigger.
Cornelia's anger towards her brother fades quickly, she is still upset that Clovis implied that she was partly to blame for Marianne's murder, but watching Clovis' final moments simply makes her feel sad again for her brother's fate. "Clovis, I still can't believe you believed I could commit such an act, but you didn't deserve that ending," Cornelia can't help but remember when the news of Clovis' death came. "Little Laila and Gabrielle were devastated when they found out, Laila had lost her beloved brother, while Gabrielle lost her beloved son."
Nunnally sadly remembers the times where everything was simpler, where together with her siblings she could just laugh and enjoy life, she never wished for any of them to die under any circumstances, so seeing Lelouch kill the one she considered one of her favorite half-brothers hurt more than she expected. "Big brother... I know brother Clovis' actions were unjustified, but I still didn't want him to die," Nunnally recalls the Battle of Damocles, "Although, who am I to say anything against you about this? At least you didn't try to kill the person who had given everything for you."
The outside of Ashford Academy is shown, several birds fly out, almost as if Lelouch's own shot was the reason they decided to take flight, but quickly the inside of the Student Council room is shown.
"Wake up, Lelouch!" Milly says as she hits Lelouch over the head with a rolled up piece of paper. "You fell asleep! You stopped moving your hand!"
"Did you just hit the Demon Emperor on the head?" asks Chiba incredulously.
Milly just smiles in amusement. "Sure, it was the only way Lelouch would stop slacking off during council meetings."
Lelouch, tired of the blows, tries to speak. "So what? You mustn't hit me for that."
"It's punishment for getting rid of me before," Rivalz is amused at the situation his best friend found himself in.
"That's right," Shirley said looking suspiciously to Lelouch. "What were you up to yesterday?"
Lelouch tries to avoid Shirley's gaze. "In nothing..."
"All right," Milly says as she slams the paper against her hand. "I won't let you change the subject! If we don't go over the club's activity budget now, there won't be a budget for anything, will there?"
"And if that happens..." Nina finally speaks after being silent during the discussion.
"The riding team will really get mad," Rivalz finishes what Nina was going to say. "We don't want them to come here on their horses"
Milly stands firm before Rivalz's words. "Rivalz, you belong to the Student Council, can't you take it more seriously?" along with Milly's words, a member of the riding club could be seen looking out the window.
"Were the people from that club really watching you?" asks Cornelia, strangely disturbed by the actions of the riding club member.
"How can you not imagine it" says Rivalz. "They always did everything they could so they could have their budget."
"Yes," Milly smiles as she recalls her time as council president. "They certainly made everything a lot more fun."
Shirley tries to defend Rivalz. "You should have reminded us of the deadline a day earlier."
"It would have been better to do it a day later," says Rivalz with humor. "Then we would have given up by now."
Lelouch seems to agree with Rivalz's words. "Good idea. At least, for now."
"Guts! Milly suddenly shouts. The other council members cringe at the shout.
"Fuck!" Tamaki shouts. "What the hell was that for, woman?"
Milly just smiles in amusement. "Isn't it obvious? It was a spell to get everyone to work at their best."
Guildford listening to Milly can't help but mutter his thoughts about the blonde to Cornelia. "Your Majesty, I remember the Ashfords were supporting Empress Marianne. Were they all like Miss Ashford?"
"I really couldn't say," Cornelia replied, also confused by Milly's personality. "But I really doubt that anyone could become like her."
"Are you trying to cast spells again?" asks Rivalz
"That's right. Don't you want to work harder now?"
"A fake spell like that will never work," says Lelouch.
Shirley is the only one who plays along with Milly. "I'll pretend it worked on me, President!"
"Oh, Shirley," Milly sighs. "You were always the one who encouraged us the most, even after your father's death you were able to carry on," Milly feels her throat tighten. "Why did everything have to end like this?"
Rivalz, Kallen, Nunnaly and Nina seeing Milly's reaction can't help but feel their spirits wilting, being able to see their friend again as if she were still alive brought them too conflicting feelings, they didn't know whether to feel grateful or angry for being able to see times where everyone was happy and it seemed that nothing bad could ever happen.
"I see that having a good body makes for good ideas," says Milly.
Shirley smiles proudly. "Well, we do a lot of training, so..."
"That's not what I meant," says Milly, interrupting Shirley, which confuses her. "You're stunning. I've been watching you in the ladies' room lately. You're really filling out up and down, aren't you?" At Milly's words the camera moved to focus on Shirley's figure.
"Okay... This has already become uncomfortable," says Ohgi averting his eyes. "Is it really necessary to show us this?"
"Oh come on," says Milly enthusiastically. "A little feminine charm never hurt anyone, it's not like these scenes are going to be very common, after all we're supposed to be watching about Lelouch, and if there was something that Lelouch was not interested in, it was female company."
Zero couldn't help but look at Milly, remembering all the strange festivals where more skin was shown than many would consider appropriate, and for some reason he thought he heard a chuckle when Milly said that these kinds of scenes would be uncommon.
"Hey, hey," Rivalz also looks at Shirley.
Shirley embarrassed covers her chest with her arms. "What are you talking about, you pervert?"
The camera switches to show from the sky to the academy, Shirley's voice can still be heard.
"I swear! Milly's a dirty old man on the inside. Did you see how she deflected the conversation in her favor?"
"But Milly was always like that," says Nina.
"Always?" said Gino, confused. "Did you two know each other before?"
"Yes," Nina replies, looking at Milly. "Our families worked together creating knightmares, so we've been friends since we were very young."
"Oh, I still remember," Milly recalls the first time she met Nina. "You were such a lovely little girl, always hiding behind me when you were afraid of something."
"President," says Nina, embarrassed that Milly would tell that part of her childhood in front of everyone.
Rivalz laughs in amusement at the conversation. "Well, we finished the budget plan just in time, so let's not complain."
Shirley, Rivalz and Nina are shown entering a classroom, where several students appear to be watching via computer something interesting on the news.
"Did the terrorists use poison gas?" asks a student. "How creepy."
"Shinjuku is only 30 minutes away," says another student.
"I saw it!" a female student commented. "There was smoke in the sky in the direction of Shinjuku. It was probably poison gas!" as the student spoke, Lelouch arrived in the classroom near Shirley and the others.
Tamaki gritted his teeth at the sight of them being blamed for the deaths of his countrymen. "Damn Britannians, they blame us even though they were the ones who murdered us with pleasure."
"What did you expect?" Chiba is also annoyed by the news. "There is no way they would have said what really happened, they will never admit that one of their princes started a massacre just to recover a secret project."
"At least it's not like that anymore," says Kaguya. "Now with Nunnally as empress and Zero as her guardian things have improved, we no longer have to fear that something like this could happen again."
Nunnally blushes at Kaguya's compliments, while Zero simply accepts them.
"We appreciate your words," says Zero. "We just try to do the best we can."
"Do you know anything else about what's going on there?" a student asks.
"Shinjuku?" says Shirley confused to her friends.
Lelouch turns to Shirley. "I called yesterday and asked you about it. A friend was telling me about it in real time."
"He was always good at lying," says Cornelia, remembering when Lelouch was just a child. "He always knew how to use words to his advantage."
Schneizel lets out a small laugh. "I remember, Lelouch always found a way out of trouble, and it seems that ability is something he kept."
A student raises his voice calling everyone's attention. "Hey, look at the pictures of those dead eleven!"
"Don't look at them!" says a disgusted student.
"You bastards!" shouts Chiba angrily. "They treat our deaths as a source of amusement."
Tohdoh can't help but let out a sigh. "It's really sad, it just shows how hard they conditioned the kids from a young age, all so that to them the death of anyone not from Britannia is of no importance whatsoever. I really feel sorry for them."
Nina shrinks uncomfortably in her seat, still remembering her attitude when she was younger. "I can't believe I acted like that too, maybe even a part of me was glad. Thank God that's all behind me now."
Lelouch begins to think as he listens to his classmates. "Why would they hide it in the media?" Lelouch is shown again shooting Clovis, but as he remembers it Lelouch realizes what he really did, so he clutches his mouth with his hand to avoid throw up, finally processing that he killed his brother.
"He was about to vomit?" says Gino incredulously.
"I guess even he was innocent at first," Rakshata thinks aloud. "Few people are born with the ability to kill their brother without feeling some kind of remorse."
Cornelia seeing Lelouch about to vomit keeps thinking. "I don't understand, if killing Clovis after he committed carnage made you about to vomit, why did you kill Euphy? How could you kill Euphy? She would never hurt a fly."
The scene changes to show a border area where two soldiers make preparations to let a car cross. The scene changes again to show the Ashford Academy bathroom, where Lelouch's voice is heard.
"Are they hiding Clovis' death to avoid chaos? If they are, when they announce it..." Lelouch looks at himself in the bathroom mirror and smiles sadly. "It seems I'm not as strong as I thought I was."
"Strong?" thinks Cornelia angrily. "What's strong about killing your family? What's strong about murdering the people you grew up with? That's not strength."
The camera switches back to the border area, where the car finally makes it through, inside are Jeremiah and Villetta.
"The reaction of this former bureaucrat is lukewarm to say the least," says Jeremiah.
"Are you talking about General Bartley?" Villetta asks.
"The killer entered high-security areas twice. Such a superficial inspection was not enough."
"I doubt they could find anything," Sayoko mutters to Jeremiah. "There would be no way to find evidence thanks to the Geass."
"You're right," Jeremiah mutters back. "Although we don't really try as hard as we should either, you know we use Kururugi as a scapegoat."
"Margrave Jeremiah, now that Clovis is dead, we the Purebloods, we can..." but Villetta was interrumped by Jeremiah before she could finish speaking.
"I will give the orders. Wait until they get everyone on our side."
Cornelia frowns at Villetta's words, for her it is an insult that the first thing they think of her brother's death is how to use it to gain more political power. "I see that you Purebloods didn't waste time; you certainly knew how to take advantage of the situation in which you found yourselves."
A shudder runs through Villetta's body as she heard Cornelia's words and the tone in which she said it, she wanted to say something to try to apologize for her behavior, but the words didn't seem to be able to come out of her mouth.
Jeremiah, unlike his former companion, was not affected by the words of the former princess. "Of course, after all at that time we were simply following the ideology of Britannia, I even remember that the emperor in his speech made very good use of Clovis' death to be able to convey his message."
Cornelia looks angrily at the cyborg, but decides not to raise her voice, after all Jeremiah was right that even her own father used Clovis' death to his advantage in his speech.
The screen now shows Lelouch entering to his classroom, when he hears the voice of one of his classmates. As Lelouch turns around, he sees Kallen and several other students.
"Kallen! It's been a long time!"
"Are you all right?" asks another student.
"Sophie was worried about you."
Another student speaks up. "Are you all right now?"
"Yes, but I must take care of myself," says Kallen faintly.
"I had forgotten how you acted before," says Rivalz, looking at Kallen. "Very different from how you act now."
"Of course," Kallen smiles. "After all I don't have to lie about how I really am anymore, you don't know how annoying it was to have to act like a sickly girl, literally all I could think about was wishing I didn't have to stay at the academy, but now I can actually get to enjoy it completely."
Lelouch hearing Kallen's voice remembers seeing her when he got into the truck by accident. "Of course. She sounded familiar."
"It took me many days not to be able to keep up with the others," Kallen said to her classmates. Lelouch for his part sat in one of the lounge seats, still discreetly watching her.
"What are you looking at? Something you like?" Rivalz asks mockingly when he notices the look on his friend's face. "You have feelings for her, don't you!"
Kallen can't help but blush at her friend's teasing. "Rivalz!"
"What?" says Rivalz shyly. "It was the first time I'd seen Lelouch pay attention to a girl, I obviously would be going to suspect he must have feelings for you."
Shirley listening to Rivalz looks at them discreetly, while Lelouch replies to his friend. "It just seems odd to me. She hasn't been here since the semester started."
"Kallen Stadtfeld. I was told she's not well," says Rivalz as he shows the students playing sports, with the exception of Kallen, who is just sitting on the floor. "She barely went to school last year. Still, she's the top student in the class. Since she belongs to the Stadtfeld family, she has money and a good disposition. Man, you're picky!" the camera switches to show Kallen answering a question from the teacher, followed by her eating lunch in the school garden with her friends.
"Really, Rivalz?" asks Kallen, annoyed by her description. "How did you know all that in the first place?"
Rivalz nervously tries to avoid Kallen's gaze. "You know; it's just stuff you hear around."
"That's not true!" Lelouch denies.
"Stop pretending!" says Rivalz. "If you ask me, she's a little too overprotected."
Gino laughs at Rivalz's words. "Too overprotected? Yes, of course."
"Oh, shut up," Rivalz replies. "How was I supposed to know that Kallen knew how to fight a knightmare."
While Kallen and her classmates are eating their lunch, a bee appears, scaring the students except for Kallen.
"There's a bee! There's a bee!" shouts one of them, getting up to run away with the others.
"Kallen, run!" says another student. The students quickly run away from the bee, but Kallen just runs slowly, which confuses her friends. "Hurry, run."
"You know, you could have put a little more effort into your acting, I'm surprised no one found out you were acting," says Ohgi.
"I know," Kallen replies. "I was just tired of having to act like that, especially when everything in Shinjuku had happened just a short time before."
Kallen walks to a bush and stands behind it. "What's a bee doing here? I wonder if there is a hive nearby," the bee had followed Kallen, but Kallen kills it with one blow, knocking it to the ground and tearing it into three pieces.
"You can do that?" asks Rivalz, impressed. "You split the bee in three. How could you even hit it?"
Kallen smiles proudly. "I've always been very good at all physical activities and fighting Britannia meant you had to train a lot harder."
Gino can't let out a whistle. "And I thought you couldn't get any sexier, are you sure you don't want to go on a date?"
"I'm sure," Kallen says wearily. "I'm not interested."
"Come on... I'm sure it will be fun," Gino, seeing that Kallen ignored him, simply smiles. "I know one day you'll accept."
Kallen simply sighs at the blond's antics.
Kallen grunts in annoyance. "God, I can't stand it! I wish I didn't have to act like such a goddamn invalid!"
Kallen cringes at her choice of words and looks at Nunnally apologetically. "I'm sorry Nunnally, I shouldn't have said that."
"It's okay," Nunnally replies kindly. "I know you weren't trying to insult anyone; it was just a little mistake."
Kallen puts a piece of sandwich in her mouth and starts to eat it, but as she does so she realizes that Lelouch was by her side the whole time.
"Damn, he saw me!" thinks Kallen as she continues to eat her sandwich.
Lelouch stares at Kallen as he thinks, "It had to be her!"
"Do you need something?" asks Kallen, acting like a sickly girl again.
Lelouch simply activates his Geass. "Answer my questions."
Kallen shudders and feels her chest tighten at the sight of Lelouch using his Geass on her. "No... Lelouch actually used it on me."
"I knew it!" Ohgi shouts angrily. "He really used the Geass on us."
The other members of the Black Knights frown at what they believe is proof that they had indeed been controlled by Lelouch.
"Do we really mean nothing to you?" Kaguya thinks sadly, then remembers Lelouch's death. "But then why? Why did you decide to follow that plan?"
"Yes," says Kallen being controlled by the Geass.
"Were you flying that Glasgow in Shinjuku yesterday?" asks Lelouch.
"Yes."
"Why are you a terrorist?"
"Because I'm Japanese. Although technically I'm half Britannian."
Lelouch is surprised by Kallen's answer. "Are you a half-breed? But why go that far?"
While Lelouch was interrogating Kallen, Shirley can be seen walking past one of the windows of the academy, she looks out of the window and sees Lelouch and Kallen together. Kallen at the same time exits the Geass control.
"Did you need something?" asked Kallen without realizing what had just happened to her.
"No. I'm done here," answers Lelouch turning around to leave, but he turns around before leaving and activates his Geass again. "Right. Just in case... don't say anything about what happened in Shinjuku."
Kallen is confused by Lelouch's words. "What do you mean by Shinjuku?" Lelouch is confused by the fact that Kallen not obeys him again. "Why do you mention it?"
"The Geass didn't work?" says Kaguya confused.
Kallen feels her chest relax a little, feeling a little hope in his being. "It could be... Please tell me it is."
"Go back to the classroom!" ordered Lelouch.
Kallen is annoyed by Lelouch's tone. "Only if you answer my question!"
"It's not working?", thinks Lelouch confused. "What's going on?".
"Why didn't the Geass work?" asked Chiba confused. "The Geass seemed to work perfectly."
"Maybe he can't use it twice as fast," Xingke theorizes. "Even a power like Geass must have some limitations, it may have to be recharged after use."
"I doubt it," says Lloyd, "we can see that the Geass does appear in his eye, maybe it can't be used on the same person twice as fast or at all, maybe it can only be used once per person."
The Black Knights, with the exception of Kallen, upon hearing Lloyd's theory can't help but worry, if Lelouch could really only use Geass on them once it would mean they were wrong when they thought he was controlling them, after all Kallen was still following him even after becoming immune to his Geass.
"Wait!" Tamaki shouts. "That means we betrayed him for nothing!"
"No. We still have no proof that this is the case, at the moment what Mr. Asplund says is just a theory, you shouldn't take it as a fact" Ohgi says, but contrary to his words, his head keeps thinking about the possibility that Lelouch doesn't control them. "If what he says is true... then I failed again as a leader."
Kallen for her part only feels her hope grow even more as she listens to Lloyd's words. "Please, please, please, please be right."
Kallen and Lelouch stare at each other for a moment, Lelouch seems to be about to run away, but before he does, a voice is heard that surprises Lelouch.
"Lulu! Kallen!" Shirley shouts from the window where she had noticed them. "We must go to the science lab now! Hurry!"
"Damn!" shouts Lelouch falsely, and then runs away. "I must prepare everything for the experiment!"
When Kallen sees Lelouch running away from the place, she simply stares at him in confusion.
While running Lelouch keeps thinking about what just happened. "Didn't it work? But..."
"Lelouch seems to have noticed something," says Cornelia.
"I'm not surprised," Schneizel looks at Lelouch with a smile. "He was always quick to pick up on things."
The scene changes to show the academy now at night, quickly changes again, to now show Sayoko and Nunnally doing origami in a room.
"What do we do? He may be late again," says Sayoko.
"I'll wait," Nunnally replies. "He said we'd have dinner together."
Nunnally looking back at her former state feels a small lump in her throat, she may have finally regained the ability to see, but the reminder that for years she had been blind still bothered her greatly. "I wonder if I could have noticed what my big brother was doing if it hadn't been for my blindness."
Sayoko finishes making a paper crane and shows it to Nunnally. "Look, it's ready."
Tamaki can't help but snort at the Japanese maid's words, not being able to believe she said that. "Who tells a blind girl to look?"
Ohgi, when he hears Tamaki, gives him a blow with his elbow as a sign to shut up. "Tamaki, now is not the time."
"Come on," says Tamaki, still smiling in amusement. "You can't ask me not to laugh when I hear something like that."
Nunnally hearing Sayoko gently grabs the crane and begins to feel it. "A bird?"
"Of course. It's a crane."
"The Japanese are really skilled!"
Sayoko simply smiles softly, but notices that Nunnally for some reason turns her head towards the door. "Mistress Nunnally?" Sayoko also starts to look at the door, which quickly opens to reveal Lelouch.
"How did you know Lelouch was coming in?" asks Anya.
"I can't really explain it," Nunnally replies. "It was just instinctive."
"It may have something to do with your blindness," Lloyd turns to look at the empress. "When someone loses one sense the others become stronger, perhaps your sense of sound became strong enough that you could hear it from far away."
Nunnally hearing the scientist's theory simply recalls that time. "What Mr. Lloyd says makes sense, but I'm sure it wasn't the noise that made it that I could tell when my big brother arrived."
"I'm sorry. It's very late," says Lelouch.
"Welcome home, big brother," says Nunnally.
"Welcome home, Master Lelouch," says Sayoko.
Lelouch smiles at them. "I'm home, Nunnally, Sayoko."
Sayoko smiles faintly at the scene, remembering when everything was simpler and she simply took care of the two siblings, a part of her wished things had stayed that way, but she knows that Lelouch would not have been truly happy in that life.
The scene changes to show a place that appears to be a laboratory, where several scientists and General Bartley are present.
"As you know, the project was a total failure," says Bartley. "So I will dissolve this research center."
"Project?" says Gino, confused. "He is talking about C.C.?"
"It's the safest thing to thing," Tohdoh thinks about the General's actions. "Seems like they were really trying hard to discover C.C.'s strange abilities, it's not like I don´t understand them, any government that discovers that kind of power will want to find a way to replicate it."
The scientists in the room are surprised by the announcement just made by the General.
"What? But..." one of the scientists tries to protest, but is interrupted by Bartley.
"I already got you a place at Narita," Bartley says quickly. "Take everything there. Even if we don't remember it, the fact is that the rest of the officers and I left Prince Clovis alone. I will surely be returned to the homeland to take responsibility. If His Majesty learns that this procedure was carried out behind his back while I..." next to Bartley's words are shown images of C.C. being experimented on, and another rather old image of C.C. running on what appears to be a battlefield.
The audience seeing the images along with Bartley's words don't really know how to feel, human experimentation is something that has always been seen in a very bad light, but what strikes them most is an old photo.
"That photo... It must be at least 70 years old," Xingke analyzes the photo. "How old is really C.C.?"
"No idea, but this shows us that C.C., apart from being able to recover from a wound that should have killed her, also seems to be incapable of aging," Rakshata replies. "For all we know she could be hundreds or even thousands of years old."
The audience does not know how to feel about the possible immortality of C.C., even taking the Geass as truth, the idea that immortality is something possible is still too strange for several of them.
"Understood, sir!" interrupts one of the scientists. "We will prepare everything as quickly as possible!"
Lelouch is shown cutting up a piece of meat while Nunnally tells him what she was doing.
"Just now, Miss Sayoko was teaching me about origami," Nunnally says happily as she eats. "If you fold paper over and over, you can make birds and boats and all kinds of things!" Nunnally eats a spoonful of her soup, but some of it slips out of her mouth.
"Wait," says Lelouch as he begins to wipe his sister's face with a handkerchief. "You mustn't talk so fast. I'm not going anywhere."
Nunnally blushes as everyone in the room could see this embarrassing moment, but her embarrassment quickly disappears as she hears her brother's words and her expression immediately turns to one of sadness. "I'm not going anywhere... Really big brother, you shouldn't have told me something you couldn't deliver."
"Thank you, big brother," says Nunnally, smiling.
"You are welcome."
"I am so glad."
Lelouch is confused by his sister's words. "What?"
"You scared me a little last night," Nunnally explains.
Lelouch looks away. "Really? Sorry," Lelouch's expression hardens. "I had to think of something."
"So..." says Nunnally showing Lelouch the origami crane she made. "They say that if you make a thousand cranes, you'll get a wish, do you have something you'd like to wish for?"
"No, not me," says Lelouch uncomfortably. "What about you, Nunnally? Is there anything you want?"
Nunnally thinks for a moment before responding. "I wish the world were a kinder place."
"When you can see again, I'm sure it will be. "
Nunnally couldn't help but let out a small bitter laugh. "Big brother, sadly you were wrong."
"Really?" asks Nunnally.
"I promise," says Lelouch, and then starts to think. "That's right, we have little chance in the future. We may be protected here, but how long can this security last? If our identities were revealed, even Shirley and Rivalz would abandon us. We would end up as political cogs or casualties of ambition for the throne. I have to make it happen. A world where Nunnally can live happily."
"I was happy being with you," Nunnally thinks on the verge of tears. "I just wanted you to stay by my side."
Rivalz can't help but be saddened by Lelouch's words. "Did he really think we would turn him in? He was my best friend; I would never do that."
"Don't feel bad, Rivalz," says Milly. "Don't think Lelouch thought badly of you, he just didn't want to put Nunnally at any kind of risk."
While Lelouch is caught in his thoughts, Nunnally grabs his hand, surprising him, then makes their little fingers hold each other's.
"Miss Sayoko taught me this. This is how the Japanese make a promise," says Nunnally as she starts chanting and waving her hand, "May I be struck by lightning and eat a thousand needles if I lie. I'll be struck by lightning and eat a thousand needles if I lie, I swear!"
Lelouch stares at his hand for a moment until he finally responds, "Now I'm scared! I might have to eat a thousand needles someday!"
"Of course! So you'd better not lie," says Nunnally good-naturedly.
"Don't worry, I would never lie," says Lelouch and then thinks again. "Not to you, at least."
"Tch, so much for saying he wouldn't lie to her," Chiba snorts in annoyance. "Well, he lied to her about the whole Zero thing."
"Family shouldn't lie to each other," Tianzi says innocently. "So why did he lie to Nunnally?"
Kaguya gently caresses her friend's back. "Sadly sometimes a person feels the need to lie to their loved ones, even when they shouldn't have to."
The screen goes black for a moment, but returns to show the academy now in daylight, Lelouch is looking at his reflection in the river with his Geass activated.
"This is my only weapon," Lelouch thinks. "And I don't even know how to use it."
"No doubt that's Lelouch's biggest concern at the time," says Schneizel. "His Geass can easily change the outcome of a battle, but not knowing how it works fully could lead to his defeat, the smartest thing he could have done was to keep a low profile while he figured out how to fully utilize his Geass."
"It doesn't help that he doesn't really have anything to compare the Geass to," Guilford adds. "It's a completely new and unknown tool, the Demon Emperor doesn't even know if there are any side effects to using his Geass."
Suddenly, a voice sounds. "Lelouch!"
When Lelouch hears someone call his name, he raises his head and sees one of his teachers.
"Class will start soon," says the teacher.
"Ah, yes, I'm coming," says Lelouch as he quickly activates his Geass. "Professor, could you tell me what questions you will include in the test essay?"
The professor affected by the Geass obeys Lelouch. "They will be about the 'Humiliation of Edinburgh', the transfer of the capitol to the new world and the war between north and south."
"Dude!" Rivalz looks at Lelouch with jealousy. "That would have been very useful for my exams."
"Really, Rivalz?" asks Kallen, not believing what her friend is saying. "When you see the Geass in action, is it really the first thing that comes to your mind to use it to cheat on exams?"
Rivalz scratches his head faintly. "You can't blame me, not everyone has Lelouch's brain, everyone has ever fantasized about always being able to know the answers to exams."
"I didn't lose the power after all," Lelouch thinks as he deactivates his Geass. "Professor!"
"What?" asks the professor, no longer affected by the Geass.
Lelouch activates the Geass again. "Could you tell me what questions you will include in the test paper?"
"Very funny," says the teacher, unaffected by the Geass. "Maybe you should try to study, if you apply yourself you won't have any problems."
"Of course!" Lelouch replies. "As I suspected, it only works once on the same person."
"I guess that confirms it," Lloyd says. "Geass can only be used once per person."
A smile appears on Kallen's face, she feels as if a great weight has suddenly been lifted off her shoulders. "Then I did it! I followed him of my own free will!"
"Wait, so that means..." says Tamaki as he tries to process the scientist and Kallen's words, and then he gets up from his seat and looks furiously at Ohgi. "We betrayed him for nothing! You said he was controlling us!"
Ohgi simply took in his friend's shouts as he tried to think of something. "We don't know for sure yet, just because Kallen wasn't controlled doesn't mean the rest of us weren't."
"Don't screw with me!" Tamaki shouts more angrily, it seemed that the red-haired man wanted to continue shouting more expletives, but before he can do it, he hears someone raising his voice.
"Tamaki!" says Tohdoh firmly. "I understand that you are angry about the situation, the possibility that we may have been wrong about Lelouch controlling us also bothers me, but this is not the time to argue, when we have a break we can discuss everything in depth."
"But!"
Chiba interrupts Tamaki. "It doesn't matter, don't forget that even if he hadn't controlled us using his Geass, he is still the Demon Emperor. Have you forgotten the reports we read about his rule? In two months he got more people killed than had died in the last two years, whole families disappeared, millions of children were orphaned. You're not going to tell me you'll forget everything that monster did just because maybe he didn't control us!"
Tamaki grits his teeth at the Japanese woman's words, but finally sits back down and remains silent.
Jeremiah also grits his teeth at what Chiba has said, but unlike Tamaki he allows himself to mutter to himself. "Ignorant woman, calling His Majesty a monster, even though he is the only reason we can even have the peace we enjoy today."
Forher part, Kaguya reflects on Tamaki's words, "We betrayed him for nothing... Now that I remember, I don't think they ever told me what exactly happened between them and Prince Schneizel, but..." Kaguya discreetly looks at Chiba and Ohgi. "With what I've seen, what they tell me may not be the whole truth, I think I'll wait for now, hopefully what happened will also be revealed."
The outside of the academy is shown, while Ohgi's voice is heard. "So, how is life at your beloved school?"
"Oppresive," Kallen replies. "I had history class yesterday. Look, maybe I should come back with you."
"The army is on red alert right now," says Ohgi. "Stay there and wait for things to calm down."
"But what about the voice on the radio?" asks Kallen.
"You can't live looking for a voice," Ohgi turns to look at a photo. "Besides, Naoto must be happy that you're going back to school." The photo is shown, in which Kallen and Ohgi appear together with another person.
Kallen, Tamaki and Ohgi forget for a moment the matter of Lelouch controlling them and look longingly at the photo. The three still remember when Naoto was still alive and leading the group.
"Naoto... Even now I feel like everything would have turned out better if he was with us," Ohgi can't help but imagine a world where his friend was still alive. Ohgi had never believed he should be in charge, he even feels inadequate in his position as Prime Minister of Japan and now, with the possibility of Lelouch being betrayed for nothing his insecurity only grew even more. "I was never cut out to be a leader."
"Who was he?" asks Tianzi.
"My brother," Kallen replied sadly. "He was the one who founded our group."
Kallen is annoyed by Ohgi's words.
"Forget about what happened in Shinjuku for now," Ohgi advises. "I'll call you back later."
"Shinjuku... I understand, but..." Kallen thinks, until a moment when she remembers Lelouch's words.
"Don't say anything about what happened in Shinjuku," says Lelouch in Kallen's memory.
Kallen squints suspiciously. "Was it his voice?"
A classroom is shown, where Lelouch appears to be answering a question.
"The first point was the education of the aristocracy," Lelouch explains. "By concentrating on intensively educating and training the ruling class, a superior breed of leaders was born. The second point was speed..." Lelouch's words become a background sound, while Kallen's thoughts become present.
"Could it be? No, I don't remember the voice well enough to tell," Kallen muses looking at Lelouch subtly thanks to a small mirror.
"Really?" Nina says confused. "It seems pretty obvious to me, after all if someone is acting weird while talking about where there was a battle the day before, it would seem obvious to me that they are involved in some way."
Kallen shyly scratches her cheek. "In hindsight it's pretty obvious, but at the time I didn't think a Britannian man could have been the one to help us, let alone a student."
"Well," says the teacher when she hears Lelouch's answer, making him sit down. "That's enough. With the rise of Henry IX, son of the great Elizabeth I, the golden age of..." While the teacher was speaking, Lelouch noticed that Kallen was looking at him, so he began to think.
"I only told him what I knew about Shinjuku. However..."
"If he finds out who I really am...", Kallen thinks.
"So, as soon as possible," Lelouch continues to think.
"I have to take care of him," Kallen finally thinks.
"Look at you," says Milly teasingly. "You two were already in sync, it almost seems like fate, don't you think?"
Kallen blushes at Milly's teasing. "President! I don't know what you're talking about, it was just a coincidence," Milly simply smiles in amusement at Kallen's weak response.
The scene changes to show several knightmares escorting a military vehicle, inside the vehicle a coffin and General Bartley can be seen.
"What about the research center?" Bartley asks over a communicator.
"He was transferred to Narita last night," a subordinate replied.
"I understand," says Bartley, clutching his head depressed. "Forgive me, Your Highness."
"At least we can say that the General was truly loyal to Prince Clovis," says Guilford. "Most people would look for a way to save their own skin."
Cornelia nods. "At least Clovis did something right by having Bartley as a subordinate."
The academy is back on display. Lelouch is gathering his supplies while listening to his classmates, among whom is Kallen talking.
"They specialize in herbal teas," says a student. "That's fantastic!"
Shirley approaches Lelouch. "Hey, Lulu, we're about to go to..."
Lelouch interrupts her. "I'm sorry. Maybe next time."
While the students were still talking, Lelouch approached, making them keep silent, and quickly stepped in front of Kallen.
"Could you come here for a moment?" asks Lelouch. "I want to talk to you."
"What?" said Shirley and the other students, surprised by Lelouch's actions.
"Isn't that a bit of an exaggeration?" asks Cornelia. "Lelouch simply asked her to join him to talk about something."
Milly laughs. "I can tell you don't know how things were at the academy. Lelouch was always the most popular boy, obviously it would cause a stir if he suddenly asked a girl to join him, especially since he had never shown any interest in anyone before."
"He was popular?" Tamaki asks. "But he's almost like a toothpick, he has no muscle at all. I would understand if it were me, after all my face and muscles are perfect."
Kallen rolls her eyes at the red-haired man's nonsense. "Tamaki, not everyone finds the same things attractive," Kallen smirks. "Not to mention that your face and muscles are anything but perfect, did you forget that time I beat you up when you pissed me off?"
Tamaki blushes at Kallen's teasing. "Shut up! That time it didn't count. And how that my face and body aren't perfect?!"
Cornelia, ignoring the argument between the two Japanese, leans toward Nunnally. "Was Lelouch really that popular?"
"Yes," Nunnally replies with a smile. "My big brother was always very well-liked by his classmates; I remember I even heard he had some secret fan club."
Schneizel laughs at Nunnally's words. "It sounds like that time was a lot of fun for you guys."
"Yes, there was never a dull day," Nunnally recalls fondly of her days as a student.
"Of course," says Kallen, getting up. "I was waiting for you to ask me."
The girls are even more surprised and even squeal at Kallen's response.
"Agh," Chiba growls in annoyance as she covers her ears from the screeching of the students. "They're overreacting. It's not like the world is going to end because the guy they like asks to talk to another girl."
"Of course," says Tamaki sarcastically. "You would act the same if Tohdoh did the same with another woman."
A blush appears on Chiba's face. "I don't know what you're talking about! I would never act so childish in front of the General."
The camera quickly switches to show a knightmare being shot, which ends up destroying it. Almost all of the knightmares escorting the vehicle carrying Bartley are shown to have been destroyed.
"I hope you can understand our determination now," says Jeremiah.
Bartley inside the vehicle is terrified. "But I told you..."
"That you don't remember?" Jeremiah asks as he uses his knightmare to tear off the roof of the vehicle. "Are you still clinging to that pathetic excuse?"
"Ask the others! If you want the testimony..."
Jeremiah glares at the General. "Still making excuses! You are pathetic, I will not allow you to stand by His Highness any longer!"
"Ironic, don't you think, Mr. Gottwald," says Guilford. "After all, you would end up saying the same thing when you were arrested, it almost seems like a punishment for your previous attitude."
Jeremiah snorts. "I doubt I can be blamed for not believing Bartley's explanation at the time, besides being detained was anything but a punishment, after all it allowed me to walk the path to follow my master!"
The academy is shown again, now exposing an extremely luxurious room, in which Lelouch and Kallen are sitting.
"I didn't know there was such a place at the school," says Kallen.
"It's the club for the Student Council," Lelouch reports. "They made it big for proms."
"I remember when we used it," said Ohgi recalling when they had used the academy as a base. "Many were furious that such a large and luxurious room was available for a few simple students, while several Japanese were starving."
"It didn't bother you?" asks Anya.
Ohgi shakes his head. "Not really, it wasn't my first time entering the academy, so I already knew that students were very enthusiastic about their festivals, besides as long as they could enjoy their school life I was satisfied, as a former teacher it will always make me happy to see students having a good time."
"You were a teacher?" asks Sayoko.
"Yes," Ohgi says, remembering with a smile when he was simply teaching young people. "Before Britannia invaded I was a teacher; I can still remember what it was like to teach the students."
"Well," Rivalz says amused. "If one day you decide to stop being the Prime Minister, you could always try to apply to Ashford."
"Maybe," Ohgi says in the same tone as Rivalz, but his face quickly turns serious as he personally does entertain the idea of letting himself go back to being a normal teacher. "Honestly I'd like to, this position is too big for someone like me."
Villetta, noticing her husband's condition, squeezes his hand and whispers to him, "Kaname, are you all right?"
"I'm fine, Chigusa," Ohgi lies sweetly. "I was just thinking about my time as a teacher, there were many troublesome children," Ohgi's lie calms Villetta down.
"They can't bother us here?" asks Kallen.
"Exactly."
"Wow, Kallen," says Milly with a smile of amusement. "'They can't bother us here'. Were you thinking of doing something that shouldn't be see?"
Kallen feels her face redden at what Milly is implying. "President!"
"Come on," Milly laughs. "You can't say the way you said it don´t suggests anything."
"There it is!" Shirley shouts upstairs in the room. "I found it! Look. This is it, isn't it?" Shirley held up something that look like a memory card.
"Yes, this is it!" says Nina approaching Shirley happily. "The information about the experiment."
Rivalz gets up from the floor. "God, now my back hurts."
"Did you find her?" Milly asks, entering the room while pushing a food cart. "I'm done. Why don't we get started?"
"Where did you get the food?" Kaguya asks. "Did you ask someone to make it?"
Milly denies with a proud expression. "Not at all, I made it myself. I've always been good at cooking, I was the only one on the council next to Lelouch who could cook really well, the others always ended up making a mess, especially Shirley."
"Lelouch know how to cook?" asks Kaguya, curious about Lelouch's domestic skills.
"Of course," Rivalz replies amused. "We always joked that he was almost like a housewife, he was always good at housework, he even had a cookbook."
The idea that the man who had managed to conquer the world was good at housework was a strange idea to all who didn't know, the very image of Lelouch acting as the archetypal wife or mother, for many was too bizarre to be taken seriously.
"Wow! Unbelievable!" says Rivalz at the sight of the food.
"Congratulations, Milly!" comments Shirley.
Milly laughs happily as she sets out the plates of food. "You can continue to flatter me."
"What's all this?" asks Lelouch confused.
"You didn't bring her because you knew? We admitted Kallen to the Student Council," Milly's answer surprises Kallen. "My grandfather asked us to."
"The Director ask you?"
"Yes. He says that it won't be easy for her to participate in club activities because of her health problems," Milly realizes that she hasn't present herself. "Right! I'm Milly, the chairman of the board. How are you?"
"Why would the principal be interested in a student attending a club?" asks Tamaki.
"It's mandatory for students to be in a club," Milly replies. "All the academies in Britannia have that rule."
"Really?" Tamaki is confused by that rule. "I don't remember there being such a rule when I was a student. Did it exist when you were a teacher, Ohgi?"
"No," Ohgi replies. "It's most likely a cultural thing."
"Sure, nice to meet you," says Kallen, acting like a sickly child again.
"I'm Rivalz, the secretary," says Rivalz as he goes downstairs with Shirley and Nina. "If there's anything you don't understand; you can ask me."
Shirley follows Rivalz's lead. "I'm Shirley. Am I on the swim team too? Welcome."
"And I'm Nina," Nina introduces herself shyly.
"You were really shy back then," Lloyd says with amusement. "I remember you could barely say a full sentence without stuttering. You really were a child..."
"Professor," says Nina, embarrassed. "Please don't remind me."
Cécile looks at Lloyd sternly. "Lloyd, don't tease Nina," the scientist looks at the red-haired girl kindly. "Don't worry, you're a really mature woman now."
"Thank you," says Nina, blushing at the compliment.
"Sure, nice to meet you," says Kallen.
"Excuse me, Shirley," says Nunnally as she enters the room holding several muffins. "Could you put them on the table?"
Shirley quickly approaches Nunnally. "Of course, thank you Nunnally."
"Nunnally, you too?" asks Lelouch confused.
Kallen is surprised at Nunnally's condition.
"Were you so surprised to see someone blind and in a wheelchair?" asks Gino.
Kallen looks down at the floor in embarrassment. "It wasn't so much that she was blind and in a wheelchair, but that it was a Britannian woman in that condition. At the time I found it hard to believe that a Britannian person could suffer in any way," Kallen lets out a sigh. "I was really quite ignorant back then."
"She is Lelouch's younger sister," Milly explains, seeing Kallen's confusion.
"I'm in the high school group, so I'm not on the council," says Nunnally.
"All right," says Rivalz, approaching. "You're an associate member, right?"
Nina follows Rivalz. "That's right."
"Nice to meet you, Kallen," says Nunnally kindly.
"Likewise," Kallen answers honestly.
"Well, shall we toast first?" asks Rivalz as he places a bottle of champagne on one of the tables.
"You shouldn't drink alcohol," Tohdoh says sternly. "All of you are still underage."
"Oh come on, there's nothing wrong with breaking the rules once in a while," says Rivalz. "Besides, most nobles already drink some kind of alcohol before they consider themselves adults."
"Do they?" asks Chiba. "Why?"
Milly quickly replies. "Because of parties, you're often expected to drink a little at parties run by nobles, even if you're underage, not to mention that most young nobles manage to get alcohol easily because of their position, hardly anyone would tell a noble that they can't drink because they're underage."
"Champagne?" Shirley is surprised.
"Yes, but council members are not allowed to drink," warns Nina.
Rivalz tries to remove the cork from the bottle. "God! Relax, guys."
"We're not allowed to drink that," Shirley says as she tries to take the bottle from Rivalz.
"What's going on?" asked Nunnally, confused as she couldn't see what was going on.
Milly gave Nunnally a glass of juice. "Here, drink this, Nunnally."
"Were things always like this?" asks Kaguya with an amused smile.
"Of course," Milly replies. "There was never a dull day, I personally took care of it and the festivals were even better."
"Sounds like fun!" says Tianzi excitedly. "I can't wait to be at a festival."
Rivalz and Shirley were still fighting for the bottle, at one point Rivalz throws it to Lelouch.
"Lelouch, catch!" says Rivalz.
Lelouch quickly catches the bottle, causing Shirley to run towards him.
"For God's sake!" Shirley says in annoyance as she tries to take the bottle away from Lelouch. "You won't get away with this, Lulu!" the struggle causes both Lelouch and Shirley to fall, which causes the cork of the bottle to shoot towards Kallen, who manages to stop it from crashing against her, but the liquid inside the bottle also spurts out, drenching Kallen completely.
Guilford blinks a couple of times to verify that what he just saw was real. "What just happened?"
"Something... quite ridiculous," says Kallen bitterly.
"You really are unlucky," says Rakshata amused by the whole thing. "What were the odds of something like this happening?"
"What happened?" asked Nunnally, still not knowing what had happened.
"Hm," Nunnally snorts a little sadly. "I really wish I could have seen in those moments; I seem to have missed a lot thanks to my blindness."
"Don't feel bad, Your Majesty," says Zero holding his Empress' hand. "You still have plenty of time to see all you want to see, and these recordings are also giving you the opportunity to see what you originally couldn't."
"Thank you, Zero," Nunnally squeezes her guardian's hand. "You're right, it's not like it used to be."
Quickly the scene changes to show Shirley and Milly in a room with several laundry machines.
"Don't we have any clothes for her?" asks Milly.
"Sayoko went to look for her," Shirley replies.
The bathroom is shown, where Kallen is taking a bath, the scene first shows her silhouette, and then shows her inside the shower.
"What the hell!" shouts Kallen with a completely red face, immediately getting up to try to cover the screen. "Why are they showing this?"
"Dude..." says Tamaki looking away. "This is bad... very bad."
"You mean very good," says Gino with a smile as he tries to look at the screen.
Anya covers Gino's eyes with her arm and turns to look at Milly. "So, aren't these scenes going to be common?"
Milly for once shows a serious look. "Believe me, I didn't think this would show, even I understand that there are limits."
Kallen was still trying to cover the screen when she turns to Zero, if it could, her gaze would have killed him by now. "Did you know about this?! Did you know this was going to be shown?!
Zero for the first time loses his composure a little. "N-no! We didn't know this was going to appear, we never thought something like this would be shown to us," Zero tries to find a way to fully explain himself. "We thought it would just show scenes of Lelouch, we never thought something so explicit could be shown."
"Zero is telling the truth," says Nunnally. "D.S. never said this kind of thing could show up in the videos."
"I'll kill her!" shouts Kallen furious with the strange girl who had given the disks to Nunnally. "I don't care how, but I will find her and kill her!"
"So..." says Lloyd, completely disinterested in the whole conversation. "We can continue with the videos."
"But... I'm still naked," says Kallen blushing.
"We will avert our eyes if something explicit appears," Xingke replies. "If you wish, even the women will do it, won't they?"
The other members of the audience nod in agreement, only one member does not.
"Do we have to?" asks Gino, pouting. "I don't want to miss the view."
"Yes," said Tohdoh in a tone that left no room for doubt. "We do."
Gino snorts in annoyance, but eventually agrees.
"Thank you," says Kallen. "I don't mind if women see, it's not the first time I've bathed with other women."
"This is why I hate the Britannians," Kallen thinks as she washes herself. "My God...," Kallen's thoughts are interrupted by the sound of someone knocking on the door, which startles Kallen and causes her to open the curtain a little.
"I'm Lelouch," says Lelouch outside the bathroom. "I brought you some clean clothes."
"Come in. The curtain is closed," replies Kallen, closing the curtain.
Lelouch enters the room while looking at the floor. "I'm sorry for what happened. Sometimes they are too lively."
"It's okay," the camera shows Kallen's almost completely naked body. "It's not bad to have a little fun once in a while."
"Do you mind putting on my clothes for now?" asks Lelouch as he places his dry clothes in the laundry basket.
"Don't worry," Kallen moves her eyes to Lelouch with suspicion. "You went to the boys' dorm and come back?"
Milly snorts in amusement. "As if Lelouch could do something like that, he wasn't even capable of climbing a couple of stairs without running out of breath."
"Was Lelouch really in such bad shape?" asks Cornelia. "I find it hard to imagine that a son of Empress Marianne would be incapable of physical activity."
"He was always skipping physical education classes," Villetta says. "The only times I saw him do anything physical was when I was chasing him."
"I live here," says Lelouch, causing Kallen to be surprised.
"What?"
"It would be difficult for my sister to live in the residence," Lelouch replies as he leans against the sink. "The director let us live here as a favor."
"Why did he let them live there?" asks Tianzi.
"The Ashfords supported Empress Marianne," Milly replied. "So when their children showed up we supported them, I remember my grandfather telling me that he considered the Empress his own daughter, that's why he allowed Lelouch and Nunnally to live at the academy."
Cornelia turns to Milly. "So, why did he hide them? He must have known that returning them could help him return to nobility."
"Lelouch asked him and after the death of the Empress, Grandfather knew that Lelouch and Nunnally would surely not survive long if they returned to Britannia. I guess his affection for the Empress outweighed his desire to become a noble again."
"I see," says Kallen.
Lelouch starts to come out of the bathroom. "So..."
"Wait!" shouts Kallen making Lelouch stop, they both remain silent for a moment, but Kallen suddenly takes her hand out of the shower and points it to the sink, in which there is a small case. "Could you pass me that case over there?"
"Sure," Lelouch says as he grabs the case and reaches over to hand it to Kallen, but Kallen grabs his arm tightly, causing Lelouch to be surprised and drop the case. "You have more energy than I thought."
"Were you in Shinjuku that day?" Kallen asks.
"What do you mean?" Lelouch replies.
"Don't play dumb!" Kallen's words and tone make Lelouch frown. "Why did you mention Shinjuku?"
Lelouch acts confused again. "Is something wrong with Shinjuku?"
"Don't answer me with another question!" Kallen grabs her case with her free hand. "Yes or no? I don't want another answer," from Kallen's case comes a small retractable knife.
Gino whistles at the sight. "Look at you, knife and all. You really look very attractive, with a dangerous charm."
"Did you always carry that with you?" asks Rivalz.
Kallen ignores Gino's comment and focuses on Rivalz's question. "Yes, when you went to the ghetto so often you had to have something to protect yourself at all times, especially when many people mistook me for a lost Britannian woman."
Cornelia nods. "It's quite clever. One should always be prepared for possible dangers."
For a moment they were both silent, but suddenly the bathroom phone starts ringing, which makes Kallen nervous.
"If I don't answer, someone will come," says Lelouch as he stretches out his free arm to answer the call. "Is all right? Hello, Ashford Academy Student Council. I'm not... Well. It's for you. He says you'll recognize him when you hear his voice," Lelouch hands the phone to Kallen.
Kallen thinks for a moment about what she should do, but finally puts her case aside and grabs the phone. "Hello?"
"I'm glad you're still alive, Q-1," Zero's voice is heard, surprising Kallen greatly.
"What?" says Tamaki, confused. "But how? He's in front of you."
"He must have used his Geass," says Kaguya. "The question is how he used it to make his voice heard over the phone."
Kallen listening to the voice that had given her orders in Shinjuku watches as she holds Lelouch's arm, then looks at him with suspicion. "Was I wrong?"
"The day after tomorrow at 4:00 pm," the voice continues to say over the phone, while the scene shows Kallen's body almost completely. "In the observatory of the old Tokyo Tower. Come by yourself."
Kallen covers her face in complete embarrassment, she can see the men in the room avert their eyes (Gino almost being forced to do so), but even so the whole scene is still extremely embarrassing to her. "Please don't let something like that be shown again."
"Who are you? How did you give the cease fire order?" Kallen demands answers from the voice, but the voice simply hangs up on her, causing Kallen to move angrily, which causes the shower curtain to stop covering her. "Hey, don't hang up!"
"What do you mean, cease-fire order?" Lelouch asks, making Kallen remember that she is not alone. "It looks like you have some pretty dangerous friends."
"It was just..." Kallen tries to find an excuse without much success.
Lelouch interrupts her before she can respond. "Let me guess. It's a game, isn't it, of the Internet?"
"Please tell me you didn't play along," says Cornelia in exasperation.
Kallen blushes and simply looks away.
"Yes, that's it," Kallen says nervously as she lets go of Lelouch's arm. "It's just that I was locked up in my house for a long time."
"That's why I warned you before," says Lelouch as he grabs his own arm. "Not to talk about Shinjuku. There are people capable of showing pictures of Shinjuku to someone like you."
"I can't believe you fell for that," Cornelia clutches her face in annoyance. "You literally hear him talk suspiciously about the ghetto in which a voice almost identical to his helped you, you threaten him with a retractable knife showing that your sick little girl personality was an act, you get a phone call right on cue, he gives you an excuse to take it, and you still fall for it. What nonsense!"
Kallen doesn't know how to respond, in perspective she can see that it was completely obvious that Lelouch was somehow linked to Zero. "I really have no excuse; I was so nervous that someone might discover my identity that I took the silly excuse without thinking about it. But you're right, it was silly of me to do so."
"Don't feel bad Kallen," says Ohgi. "At that time we weren't as experienced as we are now, everyone can make mistakes, it wasn't your fault."
"Thanks Ohgi, but it's okay, I'm not going to lie to myself, it was my fault."
Lelouch stops looking at his arm and turns toward the exit. "By the way, I can see you."
Kallen stares at Lelouch in confusion as she doesn't understand what he meant, but when she realizes that her body is exposed she kneels down in shame as she closes the curtain.
"Oh, it's not fair," says Gino. "So Lelouch can see you, but we can't see you?"
"Lelouch, unlike you, wouldn't take advantage," Kallen said annoyed. "He wasn't a pervert like you."
"I won't tell anyone!" says Lelouch as he starts to leave. "Well, see you later."
Kallen seeing that Lelouch was finally gone simply looks at the ground in sorrow. "I was wrong."
The camera immediately switches to show a hand pressing a button on a recording device.
"I'm glad you're still alive, Q-1," from the recording comes the same voice heard in Kallen's call.
"So it was a recording," Kaguya murmurs.
It is shown that the person who activated the recording was Sayoko, who seems to have been affected by Lelouch's Geass, a moment after the Geass stops taking effect Sayoko looks around the room in confusion.
"It seems that Master Lelouch used his Geass on me at that time," Sayoko says calmly. "I guess this shows that whatever order I followed in the future was of my own free will."
"There's not much to do at the Student Council," says Lelouch as he and Kallen walk down a hallway of the academy. "Besides the occasional paperwork, we also organize school events."
"Are you talking about the cultural festival?" asks Kallen.
"In addition to the cross-dressing festival, the festival of absolute silence and the swimsuit day," Lelouch seems annoyed by the festivals.
"I still can't believe you hold these festivals," says Guilford. "How did you manage to be allowed to do that?"
"Isn't it obvious?" Milly laughs. "My grandfather always allowed me to do it, he just asked that we be the ones to handle the budget for everything."
Guilford looks even more confused. "Isn't that an abuse of power? I'm surprised the parents would allow it."
"They had nothing to complain about," says Milly with a shrug. "Although it may not seem like it, we were a pretty prestigious school in Japan, plus the students liked the festivals, so they usually only said nice things to their parents about their studies."
Kallen is confused by the different festivals. "What's all that about?"
Lelouch responds as he enters the room where the other council members are watching television. "She'll have you involved in all that soon, so get ready."
Kallen shudders as she remembers all the different outfits she had to wear during the festivals, even after she left Ashford she had to go and wear a costume to hide her identity. "I still can't believe I had to do that, it was all that pizza-obsessed witch's fault."
Villetta also feels a shudder about the festivals, she really doesn't want to have to perform as a teacher again because of them. "I really hope they don't show me at the festivals, I would hate for Kaname to end up seeing how I should dress in them… I really still don't know how they approved of those outfits."
Before Lelouch can announce that they have returned, Nunnally's voice is heard calling him.
"Big brother, it's horrible!"
"What happene"? asks Lelouch worried.
Milly turns to look at Lelouch. "Prince Clovis is dead!"
"They say he was murdered," Rivalz adds.
"Who knew the killer would be so close," says Nina. "It's really still hard to believe that Lelouch was able to murder Prince Clovis and just show up in class the next day, it seems quite surreal."
"It seems like it would become common for him," says Rivalz, recalling Lelouch's participation in the council's activities. "I wonder how he managed to have time to be Zero and still act like a student."
"Didn't Kallen do the same?" asks Gino.
"Not exactly," Kallen replied. "I was simply in charge of training and preparing for the battles, while Lelouch himself managed our group almost on his own, he was usually the one who decided where we would act and how we would act."
Milly and Rivalz's words surprise Lelouch and Kallen, but Lelouch immediately regains his composure.
Jeremiah is shown on television with several other soldiers in a room holding a press conference.
"Prince Clovis is dead!" announces Jeremiah. "He died a martyr's death, while fighting for peace and justice against the eleven!"
"Of course, peace and justice," Tamaki scoffs at Jeremiah's words. "He simply wanted to hide his dirty laundry."
Ohgi can be seen with several of his colleagues also watching the conference.
Jeremiah continued his speech. "We must suppress our grief and carry on with his will!"
"We have just received information. The suspect in the murder has been captured," says a reporter, surprising the Student Council, and the suspect is quickly shown on the screen. "According to the report, he is an honorary Britannian."
Lelouch, recognizing him, can't help but be surprised. "Can it be?"
"It is Private Kururugi Suzaku. The suspect is a former eleven," the reporter gives the news while Suzaku is clearly shown being escorted and beaten by two soldiers.
Zero seeing the moment when he had been arrested recalls how it had all happened. "I really was an idiot, it was obvious that the court would have found me guilty regardless of the truth, I would have died if it hadn't been for Lelouch."
"The blow was not necessary," says Gino, annoyed. "They didn't even try to hide it, they hit him in front of several cameras."
"Sadly, it's no surprise," Schneizel replies. "No Britannian would mind if an eleven was abused, let alone one who had possibly murdered a member of the royal family."
Lelouch can only watch in horror as his friend is arrested for the murder he himself "had caused.
I wonder how Lelouch must have felt at that moment," says Anya. "On one hand, he found out that Suzaku was still alive, on the other he had to see him arrested for the murder he himself had committed."
"Surely happy and guilty," Cécile replies. "I doubt he expected that the person they would use as a scapegoat would be Suzaku. I wonder if that was the reason he saved him from being executed?"
"Surely that was one of his reasons," Xingke added. "But he probably would have done it even if it had been someone else, after all it was at that moment where he introduced himself as Zero."
"Lelouch... Was I really one of the reasons you showed up?", Zero thinks. "I always thought you had simply shown up so that you could simply show yourself to the world, but the possibility that you did all that just to save me makes me feel strangely happy."
"Well," says Rivalz, "we'll probably find out in the next episode."
"Surely," says Zero, coming out of his thoughts. "Then, if you don't mind, Your Majesty, we'll move on to the next episode."
Nunnally nods and start the next episode with the remote control.
Well, here is the next chapter of the translation, I hope you enjoy it.
The text below is the original chapter notes.
Well, with this I'm ending the third episode, it was strangely easy to write some parts and difficult to write others, I think because I needed to deal with the issue of the Black Knights not being controlled by Lelouch's Geass, and because of all the fanservice that appears in this episode, which I had to handle in a realistic way for the characters, since I honestly doubt that many of them are going to like their loved ones appearing with little clothes or naked. The good thing is that thanks to the fact that I'm finally on vacation, I think the next update could be finished in two weeks at the most.
I hope you enjoyed as always the extra information I add, the name of Clovis' mother and sister being a bit of this information, also the fact that Milly and Nina are apparently childhood friends. I like these bits of information, I've always felt they make the world and the characters feel even more believable. I also liked how I showed Nunnally's reaction to Marianne's death, I've always felt that realistically such an incident would leave the people involved very affected, plus I feel it adds a bit of depth to Nunnally, who I honestly always felt was apretty wasted character in the anime, really during the first season she was more of a MacGuffin than a character, it wasn't until R2 that we got to see a bit more of her, and even then it wasn't as much as I would have liked.
I hope I wasn't too hard on Kallen about the fact that she stopped suspecting Lelouch after the fake phone call, but I honestly don't understand why anyone after seeing everything Lelouch did would stop suspecting him no matter what. I always try to be as fair as possible with the characters, I don't like to just insult them or praise them according to my liking for them, so I hope in this chapter it doesn't feel like I have a bias towards any character.
As always, don't forget to comment and give your opinion, it's always good to see what possible mistakes I made, so don't be afraid to criticize me at all. I almost forgot, I also want to thank Ultimate luck for his advice to change the summary to clearly show that this is a fic about the characters watching the anime, I realized that the summary I put can be confusing for people who read stories in English.