Lelouch fully expected Igor to pull him from his rest and into the Velvet Room yet again, but the long-nosed man apparently was content with leaving him with a night to himself.
No, that wasn't true. Igor and the green-haired sisters resided between dream and reality, and as beings with a clear link to the Metaverse, that meant that they were likely in some way part of him, just as the Shadows that had become his Personas were. And Igor had to be watching him. How else would Igor know just when to pull him into the Velvet Room, or what he had been doing before? Perhaps Igor's ability to keep tabs on him wasn't equal at all times or locations, for it seemed unlikely that Tsu would have risked saying anything that could be construed as disloyal if she thought that Igor was listening in.
Moreover, from how Igor callously regarded the death of Kallen's brother, did not like having his authority questioned, and apparently terrorized Shi, Lelouch was certain that Igor wasn't quite the benevolent mentor, interested only in his 'rehabitlitation', that he liked to portray himself as. What did Igor truly mean by 'rehabilitation' anyway?
A thought occurred to Lelouch. Were Kallen, Arthur, and Milly also inmates in the Velvet Room? He knew that Kallen's brother had been an inmate there before him, so there could be others. He had seen Kallen and Milly establish contracts with their Personas, and presumably Arthur had done the same before meeting him, so wouldn't that qualify them to enter the Velvet Room?
But none of his companions had mentioned Igor or the sisters. To be fair, he hadn't told them about Igor either, but he liked to hold his secrets close, even as circumstances seemed to be conspiring against that tendency of his. He had to reveal his past to Kallen so she wouldn't murder him, and the nature of his ability meant he would need to find more people that he could entrust at least a few of his secrets with if he was to create more powerful Personas. Still, that didn't mean he was going to be careless and divulge his past to those outside of his band of Metaverse thieves if could be possibly avoided. The fewer people who knew about the continued survival of Lelouch and Nunnally vi Britannia, the better.
Still, what was Igor's game? Igor kept bringing up 'Ragnarok', which Lelouch knew from mythology as the 'Twilight of the Gods', the climatic battle of Norse mythology. In other words, Ragnarok was the end of the world as it was known. But Lelouch doubted that Igor just wanted him to slay some frost giants and a giant wolf, or outwit a scheming, shapeshifting god. It had to have some deeper meaning.
He didn't really care if Igor was some sort of devil, or if he had condemned his soul for eternity by dealing with him, not that he had ever really believed in such things. He would do whatever it took to protect his sister and bring down his father's empire, no matter what price he had to pay in the end. So far, he had only needed to pay Tsu to recall his Personas, and that was to her clear material benefit, but he couldn't see Igor helping him without expecting to gain something far less nebulous than 'stopping Raganarok' from their contract.
Then again, his Personas supposedly came from the sea of his soul, and the Metaverse was shaped by human cognition, so did that mean that gods and devils could indeed exist there? Shadows already took the form of demonic beings from mythology and folklore in battle. They were hardly omnipotent beings, but their capabilities greatly exceed those of ordinary humans nonetheless, and they behaved much as their namesakes would. So Lelouch found that he couldn't rule out the possibility of Igor wanting his soul as payment after all; it was certainly a common enough story to take form within the Metaverse, discomforting as the thought was.
But until Igor had pledged the services of the Velvet Room to him, he hadn't actually had a contract with Igor, had he? The first contract that he had made was with that mysterious voice, who had unlocked his powers and let him awaken to Arsene. Hadn't she said that he would need to "make my one wish come true?" It was curious that she hadn't specified what that wish was. He had been desperate for any power that would let him survive to see Nunnally again, but could it be something so terrible that he would refuse to make a contract with her if he knew what it was?
Come to think of it, the voice had sounded an awful lot like Tsu's. If it was really her, perhaps it was because she couldn't say what her wish was, lest Igor discover it. And in a sense, she already owned his soul, or rather, whatever pieces of it he executed to create new Personas, which she then sold back to him for pizza money. He chuckled at the thought. In that case, he could do a lot worse than having her as the Mephistopheles to his Faust.
xXx
As Lelouch headed to class, Ashford Academy felt more oppressive than it had usually been since the founding of the SSDF. Some of that feeling was of course from the knowledge that he was working under a deadline, which could well prove a death sentence for his sister if Coach Nu chose to report them. Worse, he was absolutely certain that Coach Nu would do so if she managed to put together exactly who they were. Ruben Ashford wouldn't be able to offer her enough in blackmail money or whatever other favors she had in mind next to what members of the royal family could offer her, perhaps even the coveted title of baroness for discovering the lost Eleventh Prince and his sister.
Of course, depending on who the royal in question was, they might ask coach Nu to seal the deal by killing the offspring of the commoner Empress. Others would merely seek to turn Nunnally and himself into political pawns once again, but that wasn't any sort of life for his sister, and every bit as dangerous in the long run, exposing her to the intrigues of the Imperial Court again when she was hardly in any state to defend herself.
Clovis would be the royal Villetta would most likely turn to, as he was already the Viceroy of Area 11; it would be far easier to secure an audience with him than a royal who was back in the Homeland. Part of Lelouch wanted to think that they would be at least a bit safer with Clovis for a time, as the Third Prince had always been kind to them while they were growing up, but that wouldn't change the ruinous end result, and he couldn't really say that he knew his half-brother anymore either. It had been too many years since they had last seen each other, and as Viceroy, Clovis had displayed what would have once been an uncharacteristically heavy hand in his treatment of the Japanese.
But there was more to his mood than just the looming threat posed by Villetta. There was now a certain melancholy mixed into it. In the Metaverse, he had supernatural abilities, and while he literally wore a mask there, he could let his true personality out. But here at the real Ashford Academy, or the real world in general for that matter, he had no special powers, besides being able to perceive Tsu and the entrance to the Velvet Room, and the use of the Third Eye that Igor had granted to him. From a practical perspective, that meant he was still almost as weak as he had always been.
At least it was a familiar routine for him, as he settled once more beneath the mask of Lelouch Lamperouge.
xXx
"Did you hear? Kallen got suspended!" A girl whispered to her friend as he passed through the halls.
"She barged into the Headmaster's office and slugged a member of the SSDF!"
"I didn't know she had it in her… She always seemed so fragile…"
"Why would she do such a thing?"
"Sometimes people just snap…"
"I doubt Coach Nu will let her out of gym classes when she gets back though…"
That was interesting. Lelouch had assumed that Coach Nu would leak Kallen's heritage to the student body at the earliest opportunity, to preemptively poison the well against her at the disciplinary hearing. Nor were the girls talking about Kallen's imminent expulsion, just her suspension. He had to give Ruben Ashford some credit. Whatever the headmaster had offered Villetta, it had been enough to buy her silence on the matter… for now. But Coach Nu would no doubt reveal that information when it came time for the hearing, which would of course sink Kallen's case, no matter what other evidence was presented.
Then again, Coach Nu was probably blackmailing Earl Stadtfeld too, with the threat of revealing that he had fathered a child with a Japanese woman. That was actually the most likely scenario. The Stadtfeld family was in better standing than the Ashford family, so withholding that information would be far more lucrative for her if Earl Stadtfeld was also paying her to do so.
But if Coach Nu had been able to discover that secret so quickly, might she soon discover that Earl Stadtfeld had at least two children with the same Japanese woman, and that one of them had disappeared under mysterious circumstances? He doubted that she would learn about Kallen's brother in Ashford Academy's records. As far as he knew, Kallen's brother had never attended the school, and most of the student body believed that Kallen was an only child. But Coach Nu was from Britannian intelligence, and now that she was suspicious of Kallen, she would widen her search to investigate anyone around her, catching other potential rebels in her net. She would search for incriminating evidence on the rest of Kallen's family, and the truth behind her supposed medical condition. That could lead in turn to learning about Kallen's late brother, and any resistance contacts he might have had too.
What exactly happened if one died in the Metaverse anyway? Would your body be stuck there, possibly being devoured by the more feral Shadows? Or would it return to the real world, to be found by whoever happened to come by? Kallen had never said if they had found her brother's body, and Arthur had to know the answer, but Lelouch had no intention of asking either of them. He knew enough to realize that would serve no purpose other than reopening a wound that was still all too fresh for them.
But in any case, once Coach Nu knew of Kallen's brother, her situation, not to mention that of her father and the headmaster, would become far worse.
Was refraining from exploring Villetta's Palace for even a single day, let alone two, cutting things too close? Lelouch hated being uncertain in his decision. They might have only half as much time as their nominal deadline before Coach Nu had definite proof of treason on her hands, which wouldn't just mean expulsion for Kallen, but the death penalty. Though Coach might not even need such proof, if she could just manufacture a link between Kallen and some rebel group, real or fictitious.
One thing was clear to him though: they needed to do everything possible to reach the throne room, and hopefully steal Villetta's Treasure, on their next excursion into the Palace. Realistically though, he would have to budget an additional day for the actual heist. The defenses around the Treasure could be fairly elaborate, possibly requiring specialized equipment and careful planning to remove successfully, and they wouldn't know exactly what they needed until they had cased the Treasure's vault.
The fact that they had been able to take objects from the Metaverse back to the real world, such as the pearl he had stolen from Shadow Villetta, now resting in one of his pockets, was an encouraging sign that the heist could work in principle. But one matter about the Treasure was bugging him. If it was really the manifestation of Villetta's distorted desires, what sort of form would it take? It could be too large for them to carry… Or, perhaps it might not be something tangible at all…
No. Shadow Villetta wouldn't have even considered that Kallen's brother might be in her Palace to steal her Treasure if doing so wasn't at least possible to begin with. And if moving the Treasure presented an unforeseen complication, they would find a way around it. They had to.
xXx
Coach Nu couldn't help but sneer at him during gym class, a malicious look glinting in her eyes. More than ever, Lelouch could see her Shadow watching him through them.
According to Jung, a Swiss psychiatrist who was said to have been the founder of analytical psychology, a Shadow was one's repressed subconscious thoughts and desires. That caused Lelouch to recall a quote he had encountered once while reading through one of Jung's books psychology, so that he might better understand how his opponents thought. "It must be the conscious personality who integrates the shadow ... and not vice versa. Otherwise the conscious becomes the slave of the autonomous shadow." He had never imagined though that he would one day be fighting Shadows in a literal sense.
Could Jung somehow have known about the Metaverse? It was impossible to say now; Jung had died of cardiovascular disease in Switzerland just under two years ago.
Still, Lelouch had seen that Shadows could become his Personas. Might not Arsene have once been his own, personal Shadow? As Shadow Lelouch, Arsene would have been the embodiment of his never forgotten drive to rebel against his father and avenge his mother and sister, that his conscious self had nonetheless put aside for far too long as an impossible dream, though he would have denied that to himself. Yet with the help of the mysterious voice, he had recognized and come to an understanding with the Shadow dwelling within himself. And so he he had masked himself as a demonic version of the famed gentleman thief, whose stories he had come to admire, as he cast aside the doubts that had made him hesitate from acting upon his will to rebellion.
He could infer that Suzuka Gozen had similarly born from Kallen's death wish after the loss of her brother, which had driven her to rebel against Britannia with reckless abandon until Shadow Villetta had thrown the true nature of that drive in her face. Yet with his help, she had not only faced that self-destructive Shadow side of herself, but harnessed it to be her protector, bringing death to her foes instead.
If he recalled correctly, Suzuka Gozen had been an Oni princess who engaged in thievery while under a different name... How fitting for one who lived a double life like Kallen did. But there was more to Suzuka Gozen's story, wasn't there? In the end, she had...
Lelouch shook his head. He had to be overthinking it.
As for Milly, she was always throwing parties and indulging in make-believe not only to raise the spirits of her friends, to make herself forget how unhappy she really was with her parents trying to decide her future for her. Medea drew upon Milly's long suppressed resentment, and turned her whimsical "spells" into actual magic, ensuring that woe would befall any man who would take her freedom from her.
There was a darker side to Medea as well... she had given up a privileged life as the Princess of Colchis and betrayed her family to follow her love, only to be betrayed by him in turn. Needless to say, Medea was the quintessential woman scorned. Lelouch didn't know if Milly had ever truly fallen in love, but he knew all too well that once unleashed, Milly's passions could hardly be contained. While they were usually all in good fun, he would hate to get on her bad side, lest those passions turn into the flames of ruin for both of them.
But Coach Nu…
In that moment, he realized that she had been consumed from within by her own Shadow. Coach Nu was not fully aware of everything that her Shadow was privy to, but otherwise there was no longer any meaningful distinction between the two, forcing her once-forbidden impulses to the surface. The Shadow wore the mask of a gym teacher, but it was a demon free to wreak whatever havoc it wanted, even as it was a slave to its own selfish desires, unrestrained by compassion or compunction.
He didn't have more time to ponder that, as Shadow Villetta took the opportunity to exact revenge upon him through her real world self. She took delight as he gasped for air, his muscles burned, and he felt his throat parch with how many laps she was making him run.
"Faster, Lelouch! You're barely putting any effort into it!" she barked at him.
He complied with the unreasonable request, even though his body was screaming at him, without offering a word of protest. Let Villetta think she had him beaten… it would lower her guard, and he would only have to endure this for a few more days at most.
But no matter how Villetta seemed determined to make gym more of a hell for him than it already was, Suzaku had it worse.
"Why is he still here?" he heard students gossiping.
"He stole something but Kallen's the one who's suspended?"
"They say they're 'finishing the investigation'. But there's no doubt that they're going to expel him when they're done."
"Do you think he's dangerous?"
"I wouldn't get too close to him if I were you."
"You know, I heard that he's been using illegal performance-enhancing drugs."
"He's a cheater then. I knew there was no way an Eleven could outperform us Britannians."
So Coach Nu had already started fabricating additional evidence against Suzaku, and she had started by spreading rumors designed to destroy his reputation in the one area where he was respected by much of the student body.
Unfortunatey, Lelouch couldn't say that he was surprised.
xXx
After class, the Student Council met to review weekly business, but there was little of the energy that the meetings had once had. Instead of planning wacky events, the meeting was mostly just the drudgery of reading through and approving club and budget reports. Shirley was unfocused, frequently staring off into space, and spoke little during the meeting. Milly was trying to act like her old self, but she too was distracted, and her efforts fell flat in the room's glum mood. Rivalz seemed to sense that something was wrong, but neither Shirley nor Milly would say what was bothering them. And then there was Nina…
"Umm… we have here a petition for recognition and funding of the SSDF as an official student organization," the bespectacled girl said shyly.
Nina Einstein seemed quite unassuming next to Shirley or Milly. For starters, Nina was shorter than either of them, though she was still roughly of average height, and she tended to be a rather quiet girl. Sometimes, she just seemed to fade into the background, absorbed in some project or other on a computer, or secluded in the school's science labs as she carried out experiments. Unlike many girls at Ashford Academy, she rarely seemed overmuch concerned about her personal appearance, but she kept her dark, green hair, which looked almost black, cut short, save for a pair of thin braids that framed her face and fell to her shoulders.
While Shirley usually reported business for the sports clubs at their Student Council meetings, Nina typically handled the academic clubs. Yet Nina seemed to have few friends outside of the Student Council, and a major reason that she had joined them at all was that she was a childhood friend of Milly's.
Both of their grandfathers had once worked on building the Ganymede, the prototype 3rd-generation Knightmare Frame that had been test-piloted by the future Empress Marianne vi Britannia, and had served as the technological basis of all Knightmare Frames produced since. The breakthrough should have made the Ashford family wealthy beyond its wildest dreams, and as a senior engineer on the project, Nina's grandfather would have profited handsomely as well. However, the research and development costs of the project had been enormous. Paired with Ruben Ashford's own penchant for lavish parties in his younger days, and the confiscation of many key assets following the death of Empress Marianne, their company had been unable to sustain itself, and collapsed almost overnight.
In spite of the debacle, the Einsteins and Ashfords still maintained close ties with each other, but the issue of the SSDF had strained Nina and Milly's relationship, causing an even more awkward silence to settle over the Student Council as Nina finished putting forward the SSDF's petition. Nina wasn't formally a member of the SSDF herself, but she was sympathetic to them, and the timing of the petition left Lelouch with the distinct impression that Coach Nu had put her up to it, as if to say to Milly, "Vote no and I'll squeeze your grandfather even harder."
"Um… support among the student body for the SSDF has been slowly growing for weeks," Nina said nervously. "And after yesterday's incident with the Eleven, we seem to have reached a tipping point in student opinion."
Lelouch scowled slightly, but he thought better than to correct her casually racist remark. Doing so right now would only himself stand out when he was trying to keep a low profile. More to the point, it would likely be a useless gesture. While she was otherwise a perfectly agreeable member of the Student Council, whenever she spoke about 'the Elevens', he got the sense that a far deeper distrust of the Japanese dwelled within her than could be explained by a typical Britannian upbringing. That was even before considering that Nina was now effectively Coach Nu's eyes and ears on the Student Council, forcing him to be wary around her.
"I… I feel safer knowing that they're keeping watch over campus," Nina concluded.
"We've been over this before, Nina…" Milly said wearily. "You're asking us to sanction what amounts to a student vigilante group…"
That was actually a rather hypocritical thing for Milly to say, now that she had become part of a team of Metaverse thieves seeking to forcibly change Coach Nu's heart. But of course, the others on the Student Council didn't know that. Besides, the SSDF preyed upon the innocent and sought to crush the already defeated Japanese people under still more oppression. Lelouch wasn't going to pretend that his own motives in targeting Coach Nu were at all selfless, but at least he and the others were only targeting a guilty party.
"They wouldn't be vigilantes if they had the recognition of the student council," he heard Nina reply.
Lelouch decided that he couldn't remain silent any longer. They couldn't let the SSDF be recognized as an official student organization, but there were other ways to do that rather than directly confronting Nina's bigoted beliefs about 'Elevens', which would only serve to make her defensive. No, he would undermine the SSDF's very credibility in her mind.
"If you ask me, they're self-important, and they think they have the right to boss other students around," Lelouch said, making his disdain clear. "Do you know why Kallen punched one of them yesterday? It was because of how roughly they were manhandling her. They were about to drag her away. Is that the sort of behavior that we want to condone, Nina?"
"No…" Nina began, "But…"
"I'm glad that she showed them that some flowers have thorns," Lelouch continued, ignoring her protests. "I can't say I'm too surprised by Kallen's sudden show of strength either. That sort of fight-or-flight response kicks in when you're in danger, and the adrenaline can let people perform feats they'd never otherwise be capable of. I heard they were some pretty big guys. She was probably afraid that they'd take advantage of her weak constitution to treat her in an unseemly way once they were out sight of teachers."
"They… wouldn't…" Nina protested weakly, but Lelouch could see a sudden wave of anxiety cross her face. No, that was an understatement. There was disgust... fear... and anger. Nina visibly paled, and clenched a fist. It was a reaction she usually only showed around Japanese people, yet somehow, it was far more visceral. She took several breaths, trying to calm herself. "I'm... glad Kallen was okay," she finally managed, though she still seemed unsettled. "I guess... sometimes power goes to people's heads, and they might take things too far."
Everyone was staring at Nina now, making her clearly self-conscious.
"We're all feeling down," Milly said diplomatically, and at the same time, wisely pivoting the group's focus away from Nina. "We shouldn't vote on something this important when we don't have clear heads. Let's table the motion for now and bring it up again next week."
It was good maneuver on Milly's part. Not would it make Nina more comfortable, but by simply not holding a vote on the issue, she could forestall a further consolidation of Coach Nu's power. Moreover, the Student Council would maintain plausible deniability, as they hadn't actually voted against recognizing the SSDF, just to decide at another time.
"All in favor of tabling the motion?"
"Aye," a chorus of voices unenthusiastically stated. After a moment, Nina whispered her own "Aye." Whether it was out of newfound doubt, or simply yielding to the peer pressure of her fellow Student Council Members, her agreement made the vote unanimous.
The motion has been tabled until next week," Milly announced.
The meeting over, Shirley excused herself, and Rivalz departed shortly afterwards. Nina however remained, seated dejectedly at the table.
"Are you alright, Nina?" Milly asked gently.
"I still can't believe they'd treat Kallen that way…" Nina murmured. "It's not really true, is it?"
"I'm afraid it is," Lelouch replied.
"But they're doing some good… aren't they?" She glanced up at Milly, but then shook her head. "No, I should just drop the subject. We just tabled it, after all." Nina paused. "There is… something else that's been on my mind though… I didn't want to bring it up at the meeting though… because I thought it would be too selfish."
"You know you can tell us anything, Nina," Milly said. "We're friends, aren't we?"
"Yeah… we are. Okay…" She swallowed, taking another moment to compose her thoughts. "There's a science project I've been working on my own time, outside of the clubs… But it's going to take a lot of materials to complete and… it's too expensive for me to just put in a budget request…. It just wouldn't be fair to the other clubs at all."
"Wait... that's it?" Milly asked. She burst out in laughter, nervous at first, but quickly becoming genuinely lighthearted, something that had been all too rare since Coach Nu and the SSDF had begun taking over. "With all of that build up, I almost thought that it was going to be something much worse."
Lelouch wasn't sure what was so funny himself, but suddenly he recalled the conversation he had with Kallen, Milly, and Arthur outside of Omotesandō Mall the day before.
"But don't look at me… I'm a cat… I can't exactly mix chemicals together," Arthur had said.
"If only someone didn't spend half of his time sleeping through chemistry class…" Kallen's voice echoed in his mind.
Who in the room not only paid attention to but was always riveted to her science classes like nothing else, and had the laboratory know-how to do some serious chemistry?
Nina Einstein did.
Given her anti-Japanese attitude and loyalty to Britannia, Nina normally wouldn't have been the first person he would have thought to turn to. But if he chose his words well, she presented a unique opportunity for him.
"What sort of materials do you need, Nina?" he asked cautiously, trying to seem casual.
"I'm just prototyping at this stage," Nina replied. "So I could use some scrap tin… some spools of silk yarn… it has to be strong enough… and some natural oils…"
"What's so expensive about all of that?" Milly asked. "We can easily get that for you Nina."
"I told you, it's just the preliminary stages of the project," Nina frowned. "I'll need much more than that in the end. And..." she whispered, looked increasingly uncomfortable, "it's actually hard to get some of that stuff in the quantities I need in the first place these days, especially the scrap metal. They just won't let you buy it in bulk these days unless you have the proper business licenses." She frowned, and her expression became slightly fearful. "They think that the Elevens might be able to use it to make improvised weapons."
So that was another of the Viceroy's ill-conceived security measures. But what an eclectic list of materials... What exactly was Nina making? Lelouch wracked his brains for several moments, but even he couldn't fathom what she wanted those things for.
She sounded guilty even asking about it, which also struck Lelouch as odd. Was Nina involved in something that she shouldn't be? He certainly couldn't see her sneaking out to the black markets, hidden in the ghettos and the dark recesses of the Settlement, where she surely would have been able to find what she needed. Everything he knew about Nina told him that she would be too frightened to do so.
Yet... it seemed too much of a coincidence, but they already had some the items that Nina wanted. They had been among the apparently useless trinkets that the Shadows had thought to bargain for their lives with. The only reason Lelouch hadn't discarded them earlier was that they had at least some potential value in being sold to fund the purchase of other, more useful supplies. He had thought some crafts shop might take them, if he was lucky. But now…
He grinned. "Actually, I may have some of those things, Nina. Can you wait a few minutes?"
She nodded.
"Oh?" Milly asked. "You two have definitely got me interested now. I'd love to stay to see this." She pouted. "But I have other things I have to get to..." She shook her head. "Well, I trust you, Lelouch. Take good care of Nina for me!"
She then bounded off.
From her playful tone, Lelouch suspected that Milly had been teasing him again, though he didn't quite understand it himself. He wasn't going to worry about that though. He hurried up to this room, grabbed what he needed, and promptly headed back to the Student Council Room. He didn't want to keep Nina waiting.
When he returned, he spread a small pile of materials in front of Nina. "I think this is what you asked for. And I'll even throw in these thick pieces of parchment for good measure. Maybe you can find a use for them in whatever it is that you're working on."
Her eyes widened.
"Where did you find all of this?" Nina asked softly,.
"I know a place," he replied with a bit of a smirk.
Nina looked at him with a hint of suspicion, but after a moment she seemed to banish the thought, as if she couldn't bring herself to believe that a fellow Student Council members might be involved in what she feared. She glanced back at the materials, and then spoke up slightly. "Umm... it's a lot to ask… but can you find more?"
"I can keep an eye out for any such supplies that you might need," he replied smoothly.
"What can I do… to repay you?"
Lelouch's smile grew. The first objective had been cleared.
"Milly and I were discussing some ideas for an event… a play.., but it needs some props. Do you think you could make something so that a character could make a dramatic entrance or exit? Like… an evil sorcerer, vanishing in a column of smoke."
Of course, in actuality there was no such play planned, but perhaps Nina could be persuaded to construct tools for their infiltration of the Metaverse if she believed that they were simply 'special effects' for a school event.
Nina thought about it for a moment. "If I mix potassium nitrate, sugar, and baking soda… Yes, I think I can do that."
Nina led him over to a small science lab set aside for the use of the academic clubs. "We have the necessary reactants here," she told him.
Nina was very quiet as she worked, focused on her task, carefully measuring out the reactants and packaging them together. Some time later, she had finished, handing over half a dozen handmade smoke bombs.
"Here you go," she said. "Let me know if they work. I can make more if you need them…. Though I'd appreciate it if you could bring me more materials..."
"Don't worry, Nina," he told her, even as he fought back a wicked grin. "It's a deal."
I am thou… thou art I
Thou hast acquired a new vow
It shall become the wings of rebellion
that breaketh thy chains of captivity
With the birth of the Hermit Persona,
I have obtained the winds of blessing that
shall lead to freedom and new power…
xXx
"Really, Lelouch, I didn't think that you would rope Nina into things," Milly whispered when he caught up with her later and filled her in on the deal that he had made with their fellow Student Council member. "You realize you've made her into an accomplice."
"Do I detect disapproval in your voice, Madam President?"
"She'll get in trouble too if we're found out!" Her voice was still hushed, but no less urgent.
"Then we'll make sure that we aren't," Lelouch replied simply.
"What I do know Lelouch is that we will be staging a play when this is all over," Milly said, now speaking at a normal volume. "A play with a evil sorcerer, and perhaps a beautiful damsel in distress!" As her excitement grew, Milly let out a cackle. "I can't wait to see what costume I can stick you in!"
"Wait- hold on!"
Milly sighed. "Honestly, Lelouch, did you think we wouldn't be having a play after that story you told Nina? Otherwise she'd wonder where those 'props' are going. You really left me no choice..."
Lelouch grimaced. He knew she was right. "Aren't you having too much fun with this?" he demanded.
"It's your punishment," she grinned mischievously. "But don't worry! It'll be fun!"
Lelouch shook his head.
"Just like old times…"
Days until Kallen and Suzaku are Expelled: 10
A/N:
The items Nina requested happen to be some of the materials used for the crafting of infiltration tools in Persona 5, and making such devices for the Black Knights will be the primary benefit of her Confidant to Lelouch, other than strengthening Hermit Personas. Of course, she doesn't know that she's helping the future Black Knights. And she would refuse to make anything that clearly serves no purpose but to commit a crime... at least at first. But perhaps she might one day be persuaded by a certain someone to cross that line...