1. Truancy

Elona 18th, 12

The sky was boiling with cyan-white plasma, dissolving the hulls of ships dangling in the whirl of battle. Damaged metal was torning off by whistling streams of hot air and sweeping away. Gray-blue with orange markings, the ships of the Justice Corps was inevitably pressing the rebel wreckage to the ground, bristling with the spires of space-scrapers.

The ship circled sharply in the air, tossing Lelouch into the wall of the cargo bay. The forearm of his left arm burned again with a wave of heat from the disturbed burn. Rivalz curled up in the corner, sobbing in fear.

"I don't want any more... I don't want any more fucking air combat!" he wailed.

They were completely helpless, trapped in a dangling tin can. Lelouch felt the nausea rising to his throat. And when did a perfectly ordinary day that started at Ashford Academy turn into a nightmare?

***

A few hours earlier

All the channels were broadcasting a speech by the Viceroy of Sector 11, Clovis La Britannia. On giant screens in the skyscrapers of the Sandari capital, in all the portable holographic projectors, his majestic mug could be seen.

Kallen Stadtfield looked lazily toward the hologram her desk mate had turned on. The Viceroy looked, as always, impeccable. Long, blond, well-groomed hair, the perfect combination of white and delicate lilac hues in a garment of expensive trinkets. Aristocrats in general had a strange fashion for some layered, archaic clothing. Among the Nabuans it was particularly menacing. Kallen remembered, though, that Clovis was originally from Naboo.

Of course, all this glittering splendor couldn't be seen on the monochrome hologram of the handheld projector, but it was impossible not to know Clovis' face when it glowed in every iron. The man clearly had a great desire for fame.

"...The inhabitants of Sector Eleven have nothing to worry about. The Republic warehouses are equipped with the most advanced security system in the galaxy. Rumors of terrorists allegedly stealing weapons and transports are unfounded. But I assure you... "Clovis added with a hand on his chest against his heart, crinkling his flamboyant neck scarf. Even watching the Viceroy as a hologram, viewers couldn't help but notice the steely gleam and stern determination in his eyes. "...If it is verified that some intruders did attempt to enter the guarded area-they will soon be identified and the criminals will be punished!"

Kallen rolled her eyes. Such shortsightedness from the Republic, however, was not such a bad thing, from her point of view. At least for those fighting against its tyranny.

Such a thought must have seemed strange to a diligent student of the prestigious Ashford Republic Academy, Kallen Stadtfeld. But her image was nothing more than an illusion.

Kallen Stadtfield, at first glance, was an ordinary human girl of seventeen. More precisely, ordinary for a very well-to-do class of Republic residents. And there could be no other kind of person at Ashford Academy. And no one in their right mind would compare her to some... Sentients, living in the lower levels of multi-kilometer cities.

Kallen wore a plain white shirt and a sand-colored uniform blazer, held up by a green sash. She had already cursed the blazer with every Mandalorian swear word she could think of. On the other hand, the short, dark green skirt made life a little easier on these hot days. It was much harder for the guys who had to wear black long pants. What was a little unusual, though, was the short, ruffled scarlet hair, contrasting with the long hair of the other female students. Kallen was regularly scolded for this whim by her stepmother, who argued that it was indecent to appear in public, let alone at important events.

However, even stranger was Kallen's hands. Slender, well-groomed hands, which had never seen a harder job than typing on a datapad or playing a musical instrument, with neat, long fingernails, was a description that would fit almost any student at the Academy, but not Kallen. Her palms had calluses, as if she'd spent hours driving an aircar or even a landspeeder. Her fingernails were shorn short and, in some places, even chewed, revealing a very impatient nature. And in general, if you looked closely at Kallen's figure, you could not help but think that she was not the sickly, weak girl in which she had always appeared at the Academy.

Yes, it certainly wasn't that simple.

"And now in other news," the announcer said, "The Jedi Order has confirmed that the Dark Gifted who had been revealed earlier was behind the incident in the Quimar Sector…"

"Your Grace, great performance!"

"Thank you," Clovis accepted the flattering words with a broad smile.

Diethard Ried, the well-known reporter and cameraman famous for filming reports for dignitaries, lowered the holo-camera and adjusted his perfect gray suit. Cunning and slippery by nature, he successfully kept afloat in this world of lies and hypocrisy. Nevertheless, Ried felt a wistful dull irritation growing in his chest.

"Mr. Ried, thank you again for your impeccable work," the Clovis' PR manager complimented him again.

Dithard returned the compliment with a radiant smile on his face. The high salary must have been worth it to work here. Then a short, stout man in a puffy military uniform and a monocle on his right eye came into his field of vision. He cut through the crowd of people like an icebreaker and almost unceremoniously ran up to the Viceroy, wiping sweat from his bald head with a handkerchief.

"General Bartley?" Dithard thought in surprise, squinting his eyes slightly as Bartley whispered something quickly in Clovis' ear. The smooth features of the Viceroy's face distorted as he frowned.

"Don't you dare tell anyone!"

"W-what are you…"

"Just double the vigilance of the patrols for now. We don't want panic, Bartley! As soon as you hear anything else, let me know."

Dithard felt a look of anticipation creep over his face. Maybe at last he would witness something more grandiose than the endless festivities of bored aristocrats.

***

Recess was over, and history class began. But the heat didn't seem to be in any hurry to go down, and it only got worse. Sitting in the stuffy classroom was torture.

The decision came spontaneously.

"Miss Dulls, can I go outside? My stomach hurts."

"Ah... Of course... Just don't forget to ask your classmates their homework," the teacher replied.

Kallen stood up, taking her datapad from her desk. Her desk mate gave her such a sympathetic look that it made Kallen sick. She didn't need anyone's pity!

A corridor with a high arched ceiling, decorated with stucco molding, blew a fresh breeze in her face. She sighed deeply and staggered thoughtlessly away, still not knowing where she was going.

Ashford Academy covered a fair amount of ground, with several academic buildings, a student council building, and dormitories for girls and boys. And the most luxurious was not even the ornate buildings of a delicate sand color, but the park in which they were housed. A park in a multi-level metropolis is indeed a rarity, allowed only on the upper levels, where the Academy was located. Real trees in a city, where vegetation was limited, to flower pots! And the fountain in front of the Student Council building? Oh, it was certainly worth an incredible number of credits. And all that splendor, built, by the way, on Mandalore, was affordable only to the wealthy Republicans!

Kallen stopped at the window sill and leaned her forehead against the glass as she went down in the gallery on the ground floor. Here, by the way, is another way to throw away the credits. The question is, why put glass in when there's transparisteel? Not only is it cheaper, but it's also incredibly strong, unlike easily broken glass. But no, these Republicans had to show off.

The Republic is a wonderful and just state, ruled by democracy. Everyone said so: the holonet newscasters, teachers, classmates, and those strange wizards from the Temple on Coruscant, the Jedi who called themselves Guardians of Peace and Justice. Except that Kallen somehow couldn't find that Peace and Justice anywhere. But she remembered how, seven years ago, houses and even entire cities melted under the relentless fire of the Republic ships' turbolasers, how sand sintered into black glass and how the skies blazed with distant flares and then rained debris on the ground. She knew that in the Republic, without lineage and important friends, you are nothing. She had heard many gruesome stories of sentients carelessly walking out at night being seized and sold into slavery, which pompous senators claimed did not exist at all.

That's why she chose to fight. Against corruption, against endless humiliation and racism. But what could just one girl do? And she was not alone. She had another life, one devoid of any frills, but there, among the rebels, she could be herself.

Kallen's older brother, Naoto Kōzuki, was the leader of a small group of rebels. Of course, the holonews would have simply called them terrorists, but she was firmly convinced that they were doing the right thing. And even though they didn't have as many resources as, say, the Death Watch, they tried to do the best they could. If there is a way to undermine the welfare of the rotten Republic even a little bit, then by all means use it. If there was a way to help the unemployed and destitute Mandalorians, they should just do it. They'd rather have fresh food, new clothes, and household items than Republicans or some bandits. Just recently there was a skirmish between Naoto's group and Roach's gang.

'Bandits, denigrating the honorable name of a Mandalorian,' she thought angrily. 'These freaks are just terrorizing ordinary sentient beings instead of protecting them! These Roachians are... real cockroaches!'

Anyway, Kallen believed she was doing the right thing.

'By the way,' she thought to herself. 'Hmm, maybe I should call Naoto. What if he needs my help?'

The thought of doing something really important instead of hanging around the Academy encouraged Kallen. She pulled a communicator out of her small bag. The small round device with a built-in holo-projector beeped softly, indicating that it was on. Soon a list of contacts appeared above it. Kallen selected Naoto using the touch buttons on the side and waited impatiently for an answer. The wait was excruciatingly slow.

There was never an answer.

Kallen frowned. There were only two occasions when Naoto didn't answer. The first implied that her brother was right now punching some scum's mugs. However, Kallen hadn't heard that another operation was being planned. And the second case implied that Naoto was just busy planning an operation and brazenly ignoring his sister!

"So you're just going to leave me out again?!" Kallen hissed. "I swear, if you don't get yourself killed in there, I will personally rip your head off!"

To confirm her hunch, Kallen chose another contact. Soon a hologram of a young guy with a fuzzy haircut and a cocky smirk on his face appeared in front of her.

"Hey, Kallen, what d'ya want?" he asked cheerfully.

"Hi, Tamaki. Hey, didn't you say you'd throw a party for our last successful operation? Like you said, 'it's a sin not to drink to this ship'? I'm about to die of boredom here at the Academy.

Tamaki sympathetically nodded. If there was one thing he hated most, it was boredom. And in his mind, school was just a concentration of all the most boring things. What he did like, though, was drinking.

"So what about me? It's OK from my side, it's Naoto! He, ya know, told us not to have a blast until we get that thing! Said we couldn't miss out on a big fucking opportunity, not with our new ship and codes... Wait…" Tamaki frowned. "Naoto told us not to tell you, didn't he?.. You-u!"

Kallen chuckled to herself while the guy spewed curses. Forbidding Tamaki to say anything was not a trivial task. He'd blab it anyway. However, her amusement didn't last long. So Naoto decided to leave her out again. And that was despite the fact that Kallen had the best results in the simulator! No one in their group could pilot a ship like her! And Naoto still seems to think that she's still a little girl who can't stand up for herself!

The bell rang in the hallway, signaling the end of class.

Now Kallen had a problem: if she didn't hurry up and get to Naoto's group base in time, she'd miss the best part. The base was on the outskirts of the giant megalopolis of Sandari, on the lower levels, and Ashford Academy was practically in the center. Sandari is not Coruscant, of course, but even here the traffic can be very heavy. So if Kallen doesn't get out of here right now, she could get caught in traffic. Except who's going to let her out of the Academy before classes are over? The security here is good, an elite school after all.

Suddenly Kallen noticed two guys walking quickly down the corridor, talking quietly about something. They were classmates-two known slackers and truants.

'What are these guys doing here?' thought Kallen. She knew for a fact that the classroom in which the next class would be held was on the other side. So Lamperouge and Cardemonde were definitely not going for knowledge. Oh, they must be planning to skip class again.

'Of course, they can do anything! They're members of the Student Council, and its president is Millie Ashford, granddaughter of Ruben Ashford, head of this lovely Academy!' The fact that someone was getting privileges just because of connections made Kallen furious. She even raised her fist, threatening the unfortunate glass with immediate demise, but an interesting thought stopped her from breaking it.

'How do these two actually escape from the Academy?'

Of course, they might as well just hang out in the dorm and play video games, for instance. But somehow Kallen had heard a rumor that they weren't playing video games somewhere, but gambling. And that meant that these slyboots were still somehow leaving the Academy grounds.

It was with that in mind that Kallen followed them.

***

Trying to make as little noise as possible, Kallen lurched around the corner, eagerly watching the finger movements of one of the walkers. They ended their journey in the elevator. Generally speaking, the Academy building itself wasn't very tall, allowing its students to walk up and down the stairs, but it did have an elevator, even if it was closed for public use.

Kallen doubted that Lamperouge and Cardemonde simply wanted a ride to the top. But where else would they go? Only down. And since Ashford Academy had a fountain, there had to be a big enough sewer. And that was probably where the entrance was. The only obstacle was the touchpad, where a code had to be typed in. The truants knew the code.

'It wasn't until Milly Ashford got it!' Kallen thought. Nevertheless, that code was now her chance to get out of the Academy. After waiting a while after the boys disappeared behind the elevator doors, Kallen ran over to the panel and tried to figure out which numbers her classmates had pressed. After a few tries, the elevator doors gave way.

It was an ordinary elevator, not a turbolift like the ones they put in multilevel cities, so it went down slowly. High-speed turbolifts were designed to move between levels, which could take more than a dozen floors.

Once in the sewers, Kallen faced a maze of pipes and walls. The dim lighting didn't improve the situation. Reddish signs on the walls dotted the walls with all sorts of technical terms. Through the distant hum of multiple pumps, fans of some kind, and the sound of water, Kallen heard voices. The boys must not have gone far yet. She headed that way, remembering to mark her route mentally.

The sewers beneath the Academy were surprisingly clean. Kallen had seen places far worse than this. The pipes shone with fresh green paint, rust stains were a rare sight here, the lamps, though not bright, were all lit up, and there was almost no unpleasant odor. Except for a lingering metallic tang in the humid air.

Lost in her thoughts, Kallen didn't notice that she turned the corner and crashed into something. Or rather, into someone. Two known slackers and truants were standing in the middle of the short aisle, looking right at her.

"H-ha-ha, Lelouch, you were right! We have a little spy here!" exclaimed the first one, with tousled blue hair. Cheerful little sparks danced in his brown eyes.

'Call me a little again, and I'll smash your face in,' thought Kallen grimly, trying feverishly to think of a good excuse.

"Why are you following us?" asked the other one, Lelouch, glumly.

Kallen concluded that in this situation it would be better to tell the truth. Partial.

"I want to get out of the Academy. I figured you would certainly know the best way to do that."

The guy with the blue hair laughed.

"I never would have thought that a proper and decent girl like you would skip out! You're Kallen Stadtfield, aren't you? You don't come to class often enough that you've begun to forget what you look like."

"And who said that the right and decent girls also love school?" Kallen replied with venom in her voice. This guy was starting to piss her off with his idiotic behavior and facial expression. So was the other one. He had too much of an arrogant look on his mug.

"You could have just gone to the nurse's station and complained about your stomach again, instead of following us," Lelouch said grimly.

Kallen froze for a second. She just hadn't thought about it. On the other hand, she could hardly play a convincing enough concert in such a disgusting mood.

"Anyway, she's already here," the blue-haired guy said. Kallen finally remembered his name — Rivalz.

"I won't tell anyone, honestly!" she assured them.

"Should we walk her to the door? She might get lost," Rivalz asked his friend. Lelouch shrugged.

"But let's hurry. It's time," he said.

All three of them moved forward, looping between the pipes. The boys walked ahead, discussing the landspeeder races going on in the Badlands.

"Anyway, Rivalz, you're not going to bet, are you?" Lelouch asked glumly. "You've spent all your money recently anyway. Considering who's running these races, you might be in trouble. Very big trouble.'

"No, no, of course not!" Rivalz assured him. "Ah, there's the exit."

They stepped through an automatic door onto a small platform overhanging the chasm between the buildings stretching toward the sky. Kallen walked to the edge of the fence, peering into the enchanted depths. The streams of aircars and airspiders cutting through the hot air glittered and shimmered in the sun like the asteroid rings of a gas giant. Kallen took a deep breath with pleasure. After the sewers, albeit relatively clean, the fresh air seemed incredibly delicious and sweet.

"The exit is that way," Lelouch said slyly, pointing to the eerie metal stairways that departed from the platform. As in other metropolises, Sanadari had permacrete sidewalks along the buildings on every level, so you didn't have to get into an aircar every time you had to walk a hundred or two meters to the nearest store. However, the exit from the Ashford sewer was somewhere between the levels, so to get to the sidewalk, you had to climb a long ladder.

"Lelouch, shall we make the lady climb the stairs? I have enough room for her too. Look, my precious!" Rivalz said proudly, pointing to a tattered blue aircar at the opposite end of the platform.

"Rivalz, we don't have enough time!" Lelouch objected.

"Well, we can only take a ride to, for example, a bus stop, that's all! And if it's on the way…" Rivalz winked at Kallen. Lelouch rolled his eyes.

"I'm glad I got you out early," he muttered. "But we're running out of time at this rate."

"So where are you going, Kallen?"

"Um... It's that way, southwest, uptown."

"That's cool. That's where we're going, too. Not quite uptown, but we can give you a ride." Rivalz exclaimed happily. There was another sigh of dissatisfaction from Lelouch.

"But, but, the transport is mine!" said Rivalz, putting on red gloves and motorcycle glasses. "Sorry, I don't have a roof, so it'll be windy!"

The boys settled into the front seats, and Kallen settled in the back.

'I'm in a hurry, too,' she thought. 'We can wait another half hour for them.'

The aircar hummed and lifted into the air, merging into the flow. Kallen squinted her eyes at the wind blowing in her face: no goggles were available. From below and above, huge buildings whizzed by. For all her dislike of the Sandari, whose erection by pacifists she considered offensive to true Mandalorians, Kallen might have called it beautiful. Once upon a time, not now.

About seven hundred years ago, the Republic defeated the Mandalorians, leaving horrific scars on Mandalore, the Wasteland, with orbital turbolasers. After that, pacifists loyal to the Republic became the leading faction among the Mandalorians. They built a new capital, Sandari. Nevertheless, it was a Mandalorian creation. Buildings of regular geometric shapes, mostly cubic. No excesses, only austere and even ascetic beauty. Moreover, the builders of the time tried to ensure that Sandari avoided the fate of Coruscant, Taris or Nar Shaddaa. They didn't want the city to grow uncontrollably on more and more levels, turning the lower ones into slums. And everything was going well enough until that fateful moment.

Seven years ago, the Republic invaded the Mandalore sector again. Sandari was severely damaged, with many buildings collapsing. After the war, the Republic took the reins. They began to rebuild the city in their own way. So on the ruins of the beautiful Mandalorian buildings were erected absurdly ornate monstrous republican structures. Some disordered superstructures, passageways, and passageways hung with layers of ornamentation. The result was a hodgepodge of sorts.

"I've saved my own money for my beauty," Rivalz boasted loudly. " Someday I'll save up for a real spaceship."

"Sure you will," Lelouch muttered. "Honestly, you surprised me when you saved up enough money to buy this junk. I still don't know how you could keep yourself out of betting it all away."

"Ha, you just underestimate me!"

"Oh no, I just look at things rationally," Lelouch grinned.

"Rational? Don't confuse the terms by calling your pessimism rational. And anyway... we all have our own dreams. I dream of flying around the galaxy in my own ship. Imagine... Me, a brave pilot and traveler, with Milly, teasing Shirley…" Rivalz looked dreamy. "Somewhere in the maintenance bay fixing Nina's hyperdrive after a heated firefight. And you and Nunnally."

"You watch too many holomovies," Lelouch snorted.

"And why are you so boring? Don't you wan anything? Here, Kallen, what do you want?" Rivalz turned back, which made the aircar dangerously bump his nose.

"Watch the track!"

Kallen was stumped by the unexpected question. What would she want? Justice, of course! For the Mandalorians to have the right to live the way they themselves wanted, not because those Republicans said so! But she couldn't just say that, could she?

"So what, Kallen? How about love, huh?" Rivalz poked his friend in the side. He threw a sizzling look at him.

"I... Um... I want everyone to be happy. So no one has to live in poverty on the lower levels."

"Wow, cool," said Rivalz.

"And totally impossible," Lelouch added.

Kallen was about to hotly object, but then the aircar shook and the surrounding space bounced upward.

"Kriff! We're going down!" Kallen clutched at the seat. She felt as if her heart went not to her heels, but somewhere in the opposite direction, away from the rapidly approaching surface of the planet. Her insides clenched and the wind whipped at her face, blinding and deafening. She wanted to scream, but all the air was blown out of her chest.

Suddenly the fall stopped as quickly as it had begun. Only a few seconds had passed, but it seemed like an eternity.

"Hutt, hutt, hutt!" Rivalz was swearing. "Again! Not again!"

The aircar hummed with the strain of having to disperse the others in its path. Rivalz desperately pulled the wheel, equalizing his flight. A jerk, and the car slammed into the nearest landing ramp. They seemed to sit in silence for a minute, listening only to an unpleasant hiss somewhere under the hood.

"Damn it…" Lelouch finally said. "When was the last time you had your car inspected?"

"You... You almost got us killed!" Kallen finally came to her senses. "Assholes!" She unbuckled her seatbelt and jumped out of the aircar like it was about to explode.

"I'll fix it," Rivalz muttered. He and Lelouch also got out of the car.

"Nah, I'm not flying this junk anymore!" Kallen crossed her arms across her chest.

"No one's forcing you," Lelouch said dryly." You can stay here," he threw his arms out to his sides. "I would, too, if I were you, but…"

Kallen knew what he meant without words. The fence on the site looked like it was about to fall down. Rust stains on the walls, peeling paint, and a stained floor. A pile of trash piled in the corner, giving off an unpleasant odor. The permacrite on the road deep into the array of buildings was cracked. A few neon signs shone just above, perfectly visible in the shadows that enveloped the landing pad.

They were on the lower levels.

Strictly speaking, the lowest levels were still a long way off. Yes, the place was not pleasant, but there was no need to panic. The government offices and the main residential areas were overhead, but the real slums were still lower. And not just lower, but closer to the outskirts. Nevertheless, he didn't want to stay here for long.

Meanwhile, Rivalz took his tools out of the trunk and disappeared under the hood of his aircar. Lelouch leaned against the car door and stared off into the distance.

Kallen caught herself thinking that they hardly knew each other, despite the fact that they were classmates. She could hardly remember the name of the smiling and somewhat ridiculously awkward Rivalz at all. But Lelouch... All she remembered from her desk mate's chatter was that he was handsome. Now she could see that was bullshit. Pale, tall, skinny guy with black hair and narrow, almost frail looking wrists. What did they all see in him?

"And you're not hot?" she asked, noticing that his back jacket, with its stand-up collar, was buttoned up tight. She'd taken hers off a long time ago.

"No," he answered briefly.

Kallen shrugged. Realizing that she needed a break from the company of these two, she decided to take a short walk. Maybe she could even find someone willing to drop her off for a few credits. Then she wouldn't have to wait for that idiot Rivalz to fix his junk.

Around the corner was a shopping street. Stores of all kinds huddled against the walls. A group of slightly tipsy young men emerged from the open door of a cantina. The sun's rays did not reach here, so the street was submerged in semi-darkness. Kallen noticed that there were mostly only people present. That made her heart ache. Aliens were not liked in the Republic. Not officially, but on a domestic level. It hit the Mandalore aliens especially hard. Not only was all Mandalorian culture forbidden, but so was this racism.

Kallen spotted several turbolift shafts behind rows of stalls. Fixing her bag on her shoulder, she hurried that way. As she got closer, Kallen stared at the information board. In multilevel cities, turbolifts were another form of public transport. How could they not be, when, for example, the Galactic City on Coruscant was more than a dozen kilometers high?

The board displayed information about the current position of the turbolifts and the levels at which they stopped. Under the number and name of one of the upper levels, Kallen noticed the inscription "airbuses".

'Great! That'll do. Just have to go up higher and take the bus,' Kallen thought and headed back to the boarding platform, figuring she should warn the guys first that she was finally leaving their company. She was about to reach the turn onto the platform when an unpleasant scene appeared before her eyes.

The drunken young men dragged the yellow-skinned Zabrak, the hot-dog vendor, with a row of small horns on his head, from behind the counter and threw him to the ground.

"Get the hell out of here, you inhuman!"

"Don't hang around here!"

The poor Zabrak was kicked under the ribs. He continued lying on the ground, not even trying to resist. And not a single person around him paid any attention to it! On the contrary, it was as if they were turning their heads on purpose. Kallen's fists clenched. She couldn't leave it at that! She'd taken a step forward when she heard a familiar voice behind her:

"Don't."

"Are you following me?!"

"I return the favor," Lelouch quirked one eyebrow. "We're practically done fixing the aircar. I just wanted to know, are you still with us?"

"Wait, we have to intervene!" Kallen turned toward the drunken boys and the Zabrak again, but was stopped again. She threw Lelouch's arm off her shoulder with fury.

"You'll only make it worse."

"What do you even mean?!" Kallen stared angrily at Lelouch. The expression on his face remained invariably indifferent.

"Kallen, well, let's say, you succeed, and they go away. But then they come back again and take their anger out on that Zabrak. And on and on until they chase him away. And this way they'll soon forget it, and he can keep peddling here."

"And you're just gonna stand there and do nothing?! We've got to do something!"

Lelouch shrugged indifferently.

"Isn't this solitary action going to make any difference? It's not like you're going to be here all day and night".

"Well... Maybe not, but it's better to do something than nothing!"

Kallen wanted to continue the angry tirade, but suddenly she felt it. Like so many times before this moment. A strange sensation emanating from other sentient beings.

"Why?" she asked?"

"Why what?"

"I know you care. I know you hate jerks like this, so why stand by?!" shouted Kallen.

"You don't know anything!" Lelouch hissed."

Kallen clenched her fists. She couldn't be wrong, her intuition had never failed her. She could sense the emotions of those around her, even if their faces didn't express anything. Lelouch was definitely lying, he really cared!

Then Kallen noticed that the drunken Republicans had left, leaving the battered Zabrak lying on the ground. She ran over to him.

"Are you all right?" She asked worriedly.

"Oh, not to worry, miss," he answered. Then he turned his attention to the Academy insignia on Kallen's jacket. "Are you from the noble Ashford Academy? Would you like me to give you a free hot dog?"

"No, no, don't," Kallen muttered, pulling away. She felt the lousiest way. When she turned back to Lelouch, she noticed that Rivalz had run up to him.

"Hey, I finished fixing it. It's just a loose connection, and the power's gone out," he said happily. His contented face was stained with something. "Kallen, are you with us?"

"No," she muttered, glaring at Lamperouge and Kardemonade. "I'll take the turbolift up to the bus stop.

"Oh, well, whatever you say."

Kallen turned on the heels of her school shoes and walked away. Lelouch followed her with a glance and turned away. For the first time in a long time, he felt disgusted not only with the world around him, but also with himself.

'As always... unable to influence anything…' he thought bitterly.

None of the Academy students noticed that several men in black and russet cloaks were watching them intently. Quietly, they divided into two groups, one of which followed Kallen, and the other followed Lelouch and Rivalz.