"It's the moment you've all been waiting for!" Milly announced exuberantly. "Now that Shirley has passed her exams, everyone on the Student Council is finally free for vacation, and I've got a plan all ready to go!"

"What is it, Madam President?" Rivalz asked.

"You see, my fiancé was called to do some work on a desert island, and he invited me and 'a few of your friends' to come along," she said, making an imitation of what Lelouch assumed to be Earl Asplund's voice, adding a bit of a drawl to her words, though he couldn't be entirely sure, as he had never met the Earl before.

"Oh, that's neat," Rivalz started. Then he realized exactly what she had said. "WAIT! You have a fiancé?"

"Oh? I never mentioned it to you Rivalz?" Milly asked innocently. "We were engaged not that long ago. Earl Lloyd Asplund."

"He's an EARL?" Rivalz buried his face in his hands. "Why, Madam President, why?" He muttered. "There go all my dreams…"

"Um… anyways, as for our itinerary," Milly continued, rolling out a map. "We'll take the main high-speed line southwest to the Izu Peninsula. We'll stay there for a day or two. It's known for its beaches, caves, waterfalls, and hot springs. It also has a pretty good view of Mount Fuji."

Lelouch nodded. He was familiar with the Izu area, and had snuck over there with Suzaku from time to time. Genbu Kururugi had also owned a holiday home in Izu, and after the former Prime Minister's death, no, murder, Lelouch reminded himself, the vi Britannia siblings had been evacuated to it.

"After we're done in Izu," Milly continued, "we'll board the ferry to Shikine Island. There, we'll meet with my fiancé, and he'll escort us the rest of the way to Kamine Island. There we can enjoy some camping, hiking, and team-building exercises, as well as have the beach all to ourselves!"

"Kamine Island?" Kallen asked. "I'm not familiar with such a place."

"It's not on most maps," Milly chuckled. "State secrets, I suppose?" She shrugged. "But that makes getting the chance to visit it even more of a once in a lifetime opportunity, doesn't it?"

Lelouch grasped Milly's unstated meaning, though it would go over the heads of anyone present who was unaware of their involvement in the Black Knights. Earl Asplund had discovered or was working on something there, something possibly connected to the Metaverse, and Milly wanted to check it out.

"In that case, Madam President, I have to agree," Lelouch said, trying to contain a wicked grin. "It would be a shame to let this opportunity pass us by."

xXx

"It's going to be so fun going on a trip with everyone!" Nunnally said as they packed their bags.

"Indeed," Lelouch agreed. "But there is one matter of business that we have to discuss first, Nunnally."

"What is it Lelouch?"

"I'm concerned about that detective."

"Rolo?" She asked.

"He's the one. He might notice if there are no changes of hearts in Tokyo while the Student Council is on vacation. I think he's already suspicious of us. He wouldn't have come to this school otherwise."

"So you want the Irregulars to change hearts while you're gone?"

"Precisely," Lelouch replied. "Of course, simply changing hearts won't be enough. They'll have to claim responsibility for them in the name of the Black Knights."

"Their operations will be limited without me," Nunnally frowned. "I'm not sure that they'll like it. I don't want to put them in danger either."

"I'm not asking your friends to infiltrate a full-fledged Palace. All they have to do is change the hearts of a petty criminal or two in the uppermost levels of Mementos, those whose distortions are minor enough that their Shadows won't pose a serious threat. Besides, they survived before you joined them, didn't they? And we'll owe them a favor in turn."

"I can ask," Nunnally replied.

"Please do."

xXx

Their preparations complete, the Ashford Academy Student Council waited on the platform for their train to arrive at the station. To Lelouch's relief, Order had agreed to do as he requested, though she relayed to him through Nunnally in no uncertain terms that she fully expected him to honor his side of the agreement.

He was surprised however by what Order asked of him: to bring Alice along with them. Lelouch couldn't help but question the wisdom of Order's request. Wouldn't that mean the Irregulars would be down two members? But Nunnally assured him that Order and Power were more than capable of handling lesser Shadows by themselves, and Land would be there to provide them with support. Still, it was simple enough, and it didn't hurt to have another Persona-user on their end, just in case.

That being said, Alice wasn't the only addition to their party. Sayoko accompanied them, nominally as a servant and chaperone. Arthur concealed himself in Nunnally's bag, which was left partially unzipped so that he could breathe. Leila joined them under the pretext of being a friend of Milly's family, and a prospective transfer student. "This will be her first real taste of how we do things here Ashford, so make her feel welcome!" Milly told the others. And Lelouch knew that Euphemia planned to rendezvous with them as well, though she would travel separately to Izu to avoid drawing too much attention.

What he didn't expect was to see a pair of green-haired sisters across from them on the platform.

What were Shi and Tsu doing here, and in plain sight of everyone else?

No, he knew why they were here at least. With two Wild Cards leaving Tokyo, of course the wardens of the Velvet Room would follow. They'd probably even set up temporary doors to the Velvet Room at their stops. They were bound to him and his sister by their contracts. That didn't explain why they were showing themselves so openly, but at least they were doing a surprisingly passable job of pretending to be tourists who just so happened to be boarding the same line as them, and they hadn't done anything yet that would force him to explain them to his classmates.

Of course, Shi and Tsu would have looked very out of place if they were still dressed as wardens. Evidently, they had bought themselves new clothes for the excursion, doubtlessly using the money that he paid for their services in the Velvet Room to do so. At least it wasn't all being spent on pizza. But he had noticed that even while Tsu was no longer deliberately overcharging him out of spite, and had even in fact started offering him "special discounts" on summoning Personas, the price to recall his more recent Personas was still rising rapidly, even exponentially. When pressed about this, Tsu had shrugged, saying that it took significantly more effort to revive more powerful Personas, and that they thus needed to be compensated accordingly for there to be any sense of equivalent exchange. Shouldn't he be grateful that he had progressed sufficiently to be summoning such expensive Personas in the first place?

"Besides," Tsu had smirked, "nobody said that you had to spend so much money on your little vanity project."

By that, she meant Arsene. Lelouch had begun retooling his initial Persona, first nullifying Arsene's former weaknesses in Lockdown, and then empowering Arsene with daily Persona sacrifices through the gallows. Arsene might have begun weaker than any of his other Personas, but at the same time, that meant that the demonic thief had the most room for growth, and had the potential to become truly fearsome, the embodiment of what it meant to be the Fool.

But if he had indulged in vanity, then so had Tsu. She had donned a sleeveless white top, cut to expose part of her midriff, a matching skirt, loose to permit freedom of movement, and high-heeled sandals on her feet. Was choosing white a subtle act of rebellion against having to wear blue all of the time in the Velvet Room? She had also gathered her long hair up in the back into a ponytail, though a long bang still framed her face on each side, and concealed her golden eyes behind what appeared to be designer sunglasses, or at least a convincing knock-off. Completing her look was a handbag slung over her shoulder, with a small Cheese-kun mascot keychain strapped to it, something she had undoubtedly received for being such a loyal customer of Pizza Hut.

Shi was more modestly dressed than her sister, and hadn't entirely abandoned velvet blue, but there were now other vibrant colors among it in the floral patterns on her blouse. She wore a small white sunhat to keep herself in the shade, with a blue fanny pack strapped around her waist, and had a disproportionately large Cheese-kun plushy in her arms, obviously a gift from her sister. In many ways, Shi's outfit was exactly what one would imagine for a tacky tourist, but even if he could without revealing that he knew the Velvet sisters, he doubted he would have the heart to tell her, not when she looked so happy to be traveling.

xXx

Soon, the Student Council plus Sayoko, Alice, Leila, Shi, and Tsu were aboard the high-speed train, en route to Izu. The trip was scheduled to take just 40 to 60 minutes, which would leave them most of the day to explore Izu.

Rivalz was still down from learning that Milly was engaged, but also seemed determined to make a rebound. He tried talking to Leila, remembering that he had seen her on the news before, and she politely listened, though Lelouch could tell that she was uncomfortable having her past "relationship" with Clovis brought up.

"What was I thinking?" Rivalz sighed despairingly as he gave up. "She's way out of my league, even more than Milly is. She was almost a royal princess, for heaven's sake! She even looks and has the manners of the part!"

"It's not the end of the world, Rivalz," Lelouch told him.

"Yeah, I know." Rivalz looked up. "Hey, Lelouch. Isn't that green-haired girl over there staring at you?"

Glowering was more like it.

"Do you know her? She's pretty cute. Looks all mysterious too."

"Hello, I'm right here!" Kallen said irritably, next to Lelouch. Immediately realizing that she had been too forceful, she adopted a meek voice and expression. "Um… what I mean is… Lelouch and I are already dating… so when would he be seeing… other girls? Not that it's wrong to be friends with them, but…". She faked a cough. "Excuse me… I think the heat is getting to me…. I think I'll rest now."

Tsu smirked in amusement, while Shi paid little attention to the heartache and jealousy in their train car. She was too focused on the countryside as it zipped by her, a look of joy on her face.

xXx

They disembarked at the city of Mishima, before transferring onto the Izuhakone Line, which would bring them south to the city of Izu, though it was a short journey compared to the first leg of their trip.

"We're here!" Milly announced. "From here, you can explore the interior, or venture out to the coast if you prefer! Tomorrow, we'll head out to the Izukyu Line, and head down to the port at Shimoda, where we'll catch the ferry! But wherever you go, stick together, and be sure to meet back here before dark. We don't want anyone going off by themselves and getting lost."

"Let's go," Kallen said, taking Lelouch by the arm.

There was a small core of new Britannian development around the station, but it was a far cry from the megastructure of the Tokyo Settlement. To Lelouch, the city looked much as it had after the war, small apartments, shops, and municipal buildings stretching out through the mountainous, forested countryside. Britannian's bombing campaign had largely focused on Tokyo and other major population centers, so Izu seemed in far better shape than the Shinjuku ghetto, with only the occasional ruined building, but there was nonetheless a feeling of decay that became more pronounced as they moved progressively further from the station, as structures gradually deteriorated without much-needed funds to see to their maintenance.

Tourism, the region's lifeblood, had certainly taken a hit, as relatively few Britannians would leave the comfort of the Tokyo Settlement's confines, and the ability of 'Elevens' to freely travel was restricted, whether by statute or by poverty, but some visitors still trickled in. Other industries, based on extracting the region's abundant natural resources also prevented local economic collapse. Forestry, fishing out of the port on Izu's western coastline, and the mining of gold and sakuradite, satellites to the much larger deposits on Mount Fuji, all sustained Izu, though their ores had already been nearing depletion when Britannia invaded. Then there were Izu's prized agricultural products, wasabi, which was extremely particular about where it grew, and shiitake mushrooms. But most of these industries had been taken over by Britannian owners, and heavy taxes ensured that most profits from Japanese-owned businesses flowed back to the Tokyo Settlement and the imperial coffers.

The Japanese people on the streets seemed to regard them warily. Even past its heyday, Britannian tourists in Izu were at least common enough that the locals had become acclimated to seeing them, and they didn't dare to turn away potential customers, lest their tenuous livelihoods slip away, but their fear and resentment of their conquerors was clear. To them, Kallen and himself looked no different than any other spoiled Britannian teenagers. The hot and sticky air only added to the oppressive atmosphere.

"I used to live here, you know," Kallen said softly as they walked. "We kept moving from place to place. We could never stay anywhere for too long. Whenever they found out, people would call my mother…" Her words trailed off.

Kallen's meaning was clear though. Even in the days leading up to the war, as tensions rose, angry Japanese people would have called Kallen's mother a whore for daring to love and sleep with a Britannian man, a prejudice that would grow only stronger after the invasion. That Kallen could pass as a full-blooded Britannian could not have helped matters.

Lelouch nodded. "I've been down here a few times myself."

Pausing, Lelouch saw a vendor hawking produce, fresh Japanese peaches for sale.

"Excuse me," he said to Kallen. "I'll be right back."

He went over to the vendor, and purchased three peaches. They were large, juicy, sweet, and perfectly in season, making for quite a treat. They were always Nunnally's favorite fruit since arriving in Japan, and he was sure Kallen would like them as well. The last peach he would enjoy himself.

"This is for you," he said, returning to Kallen and putting a peach in her hands.

"Lelouch, thank-" Kallen halted suddenly, staring at the peach in her hands to Lelouch and back again, her eyes distant, as if recalling something long forgotten.

"Kallen? Are you okay?" Lelouch asked in concern.

"You…" she whispered.

"Kallen?"

"We… met before… haven't we?" Kallen asked slowly. "Before any of this… here in Izu…. It was the day we were moving out of town… A peach came rolling out of nowhere… a strange Britannian boy came running after it… I realized that it was his, and that he had gone to some lengths to obtain it. A Japanese boy followed him, saying that they would miss their bus I tried to return it to the first boy… But he all but forced me to take it back. He never told me his name… I had forgotten all about it…. But when you gave me that peach just now… it came flooding back." Her eyes locked on him. "That boy was you, Lelouch, wasn't he?"

She remembered something like that? Lelouch wracked his brains. He had tried to get peaches for Nunnally when he could, but one time, the peach had slipped away…There had been a girl who found it first…. No matter how much he wanted to give it to Nunnally, he felt guilty keeping it, as it seemed that the girl needed it more. He couldn't remember the girl's face, not truly. He had never expected to see the girl again, and the peach he had given her was gone forever, so her features had passed from his memory. But at Kallen's words, the image of the young Kallen that he had seen in her family photos began to superimpose itself over his fragmented recollection of the incident.

They fit like pieces of a puzzle.

"Kallen…" he whispered in recognition.

"It was you!" Kallen gasped. She shook her head. "I guess our meeting really was fate then, wasn't it?"

"Jung would call it synchronicity, a meaningful coincidence."

"Not much of a romantic, are you?" Kallen grumbled.

"A belief in fate is little better than embracing determinism, which I call fatalism. Why bother working to change anything if everything has already been set in stone? I couldn't live that way, and neither can you, Kallen. Your will is too strong to simply sit back and let life pass you by according to another's plan."

Kallen grinned, her rebellious spirit shining brightly in her blue eyes. "You've got that right."

"Let us agree to one other thing, Kallen."

"What's that?"

"Let us never mention what we discussed here where Milly might overhear it. We'd never hear the end of it."

xXx

Kallen and Lelouch continued to walk around Izu together, with her showing him places where she had enjoyed playing with her brother as a child. Soon however, it was time for them to start regrouping with the others.

They were making their way back to the station, when they heard a shrill, panicked cry.

"St-stay away from me, you Elevens!"

"That's Nina's voice!"

"Elevens…" Kallen muttered.

"Britannians, Japanese, it doesn't matter," Lelouch said, taking off in the direction of Nina's cry as fast as he could. "That's more than just her xenophobia crying out. She's in trouble, and needs our help!"

"Right," Kallen nodded, easily overtaking him. Lelouch didn't have her speed or strength, though at least he felt that his excursions into the Metaverse and training with Sayoko had improved his stamina somewhat, so he wouldn't be reduced to pathetically gasping for breath as Kallen left him in her dust.

They had almost reached where they thought Nina's cry had come from, when they heard another female voice call out.

"Unhand that poor girl this instant!"

Both of them knew that voice.

Euphemia.

Rounding the block, they saw Nina cornered against a wall in an alleyway, cornered by four Japanese men. White with fear, Nina was trembling uncontrollably, but her face was slowly turning blue, as one of the men was throttling her, preventing her from crying out again, with only pained gasps escaping from her mouth. Euphemia had come from another direction, and now stood across from the men that were threatening Nina.

"Oh, look, another Brit…" one of the men said, turning to face Euphemia. "She too should know better than to wander around on her own here, after what her kind did to us."

"She's really pretty though… for a filthy Brit," another leered at the princess.

"What's your name, doll?" the third said, advancing menacingly. Euphemia didn't reply. A switchblade appeared in his hands. "Are you lost? You fragile thing. Don't worry. We'll take good care of you and the other girl. We'll teach you two a lesson you won't soon forget."

The man lunged at Euphemia, grabbing one of her arms, but to his shock and that of his cohorts, Euphemia delivered a vicious and well-placed slap across his face with her free hand, immediately followed up by driving her knee into his crotch, causing the man to collapse to the ground in pain. Once, Euphemia would have never been capable of such violence, let alone to such effect, but then again, hadn't she pledged to leave the weak Euphy behind her upon awakening to her rebellious spirit? In any case, fighting through two Palaces had honed her instincts in close quarters combat when the need for it arose.

Bending down, Euphemia picked up the man's fallen switchblade.

"My name is Euphemia li Britannia. And I am not a fragile doll."

"No way!"

"The princess?"

"Never mind that!" The man holding Nina shouted, pointing at Euphemia with a free hand. "This bitch is crazy! Get her!"

The other two men charged at Euphemia.

So focused were they on the Third Princess that they never saw Kallen close the distance between them in the blink of an eye and crash into them from the side. Even Euphemia herself seemed surprised.

The leader was throughly freaked out by how quickly two harmless-looking young women had demolished his men. Letting go of Nina and roughly shoving her to a side, he tried to make a run for it, but Kallen and Euphemia were swift and merciless. The fight was all but over by the time Lelouch reached Nina, but then one of the men who had fallen nearby them began to rise unsteadily on his feet. Ordinarily, Lelouch would have never been able to overpower such a man on his own outside of the Metaverse, but this time he didn't need to. With the man so off balance, all Lelouch needed to do was to shove him back, causing the man to tumble back under his own weight and strike his head against the wall of the alleyway. The man slumped down, unconscious.

"Are you alright, Nina?" he asked, extending his hand down to her so that he could help her to his feet.

Nina didn't respond to him though, and just breathed raggedly, murmuring incoherently.

"She's still terrified," Euphemia said. "Let me try." She knelt down beside Nina. "Can you hear me?" She asked gently. "I know you're shaken by what just happened, but you're safe now. No one's going to hurt you any more."

Nina blinked, and looked up at Euphemia, finally seeming aware of her surroundings again.

"That's it," Euphemia smiled at Nina. "My name is Euphemia li Britannia. What's yours?"

"Nina…" she squeaked. "Nina Einstein, Your High-"

"Don't worry about titles right now," Euphemia said disarmingly. "You can call me Euphy if you want. That's what my friends call me."

"I… I couldn't…" Nina replied weakly.

"Well, it seems that you have some very good friends, Nina," Euphemia said, glancing up at Lelouch and Kallen. "They must have come running to help as well as soon as they heard your cry. I couldn't have done it without them. Four against one is a bit much, even for me."

Nina followed Euphemia's gaze, and it was as if she was seeing both of them in a whole new light.

"If you can stand, I'm sure your friends will help me bring you back to the rest of your group, and find you whatever medical attention you might need. Can you do that for me, Nina?"

"Y-yes, Your Highness," Nina stammered, taking the hand that Euphemia offered her, and rising to her feet. At once, her legs almost gave out on her, but Lelouch helped catch her, and put a hand over her shoulder to help stabilize her. Nina let out a small gasp at the unexpected contact, but after a moment, she seemed steadier on her feet.

"One more thing, Nina," Euphemia said. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't mention me taking down those thugs to anyone. It would clash with my public image. You understand, don't you? It can be our secret."

Nina bobbed her head in affirmation, but then her eyes turned to Kallen, questioning.

"Umm… You know what happened with the SSDF…. Adrenaline… I shouldn't have pushed myself like that." Kallen went into another fake coughing fit. "But you were in danger, so I'm glad I was able to help."

Nina still looked suspicious, but she didn't say anything. In fairness to Nina, it would be extremely difficult to see Kallen's skill and apparent ease in dispatching her opponents and then come out of it believing that Kallen was really as sickly as she said she was. After a point, "adrenaline" was no longer plausible as an excuse.

"Nina!" a voice called out, footsteps running in their direction. It was Milly. Sayoko followed her, and Lelouch saw an exasperated Jeremiah Gottwald approaching from another direction, clearly searching for Euphemia. "There you are! I was- My god… what happened to you, Nina?"

"I… wasn't paying enough attention to where I was going… I took a wrong turn… and…. I… those… Elevens…" Nina trembled.

"I'm so sorry Nina," Milly frowned. "This was not my idea of how our vacation would start."

xXx

"She has some bruising and other minor injuries, but otherwise she's fine, physically anyway," Milly told Lelouch. "Jeremiah saw to it that her attackers were arrested. Mentally… that's another story. Did Nina ever tell you why she's so afraid of Japanese people?"

"No."

"I thought so. She doesn't like to talk about it. The only reason that I know is that I've known her since we were kids. Once, when she was younger, she accidentally wandered into one of the ghettos. It wasn't long before she was accosted by a number of Japanese men and assaulted. Nina was never really the same afterward. The incident traumatized her. Nina began to crawl into her shell, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible, and her self-confidence was shattered, outside of science. That was her refuge. She still has nightmares about it. But she'd actually been getting a lot better. Shy as she still is, you don't know what it means for her to have so many friends on the Student Council. And when she was able to accept Suzaku, in spite of him being Japanese, that was a real breakthrough for her. But now it's happened again."

Lelouch nodded gravely. Misplaced as Nina's xenophobia was when most Japanese people were simply trying to live as best they could under the Britannian regime, to her the idea that 'Elevens' wanted to and had hurt her was very real. In a way, he could even empathize with her now. His mother's assassination had left deep mental scars upon him, which he doubted that time would ever heal, and quickly the trauma he had experienced turned into a virulent hatred of Britannia, culminating in his pledge to destroy it. But even then, not all Britannians were bad, even among the nobility. His friends were living proof of that.

That understanding, and Nina's unspoken gratitude brought with it new power, but he still worried for her.

"Nina's been given some medicine so that she'll be able to sleep," Milly said. "But it would really be a downer if we let the day end this way."

"What do you propose, Madam President?"

"We might as well enjoy the hot springs while we're here. You know, soothe the body and relax the mind? I think we all could use that right now."

"As long as you don't have any hijinks planned for us while we're in there."

"You don't trust me?"

"In this case, Madam President? Not at all."

"It'll be fine! You're too uptight about these things, Lelouch!"

xXx

"It's been too long since I visited an onsen," Suzaku said with a contented sigh as he stretched out in the hot, mineral-rich water.

"Is that what they call it here?" Rivalz asked. "I thought they were just called hot springs."

"Hot springs or onsen, I've never been to one before," Rolo spoke up.

"Geez, it really is all work and no play for you," Rivalz frowned.

"The Black Knights remain at large," Rolo shrugged. "And by all indications, Medjed has vanished without a trace."

"Medjed's dead. I would bet on it," Suzaku replied grimly.

Rolo nodded. "That was my thought as well."

"Whoa, that got dark," Rivalz said uncomfortably. He turned. "You're awfully quiet, Lelouch. Are you still thinking about what happened to Nina?"

Lelouch nodded. It was half of the truth in any case.

"Yeah, that would be scary for anyone, but worrying about it isn't going to do any good now. I'm sure she'll feel better once we get to that island!" He looked around. "Aw, come on, I'm trying to lighten the mood!"

"You've been around Madam President too much," Lelouch replied.

"And you bring that up now?" Rivalz moaned. He shook his head. "You've got to tell me your secret, buddy!"

"What secret?"

"How do you get all of those girls like it's nothing? You're dating Kallen, Shirley still pines for you, that girl on the train… Need I go on?"

Lelouch didn't get a chance to answer him though, as they were interrupted by the sound of a door swinging open, followed by footsteps, signaling that several people were entering the bathing area.

"Are you sure this is right time for us to be using the springs, Madam Prez?" he heard Shirley's voice asking.

"You worry too much, Shirley," Milly's voice replied. "I've taken care of everything," she said devilishly.

He had expected Milly to pull some sort of stunt while they were in the onsen, but was she really going to- ?"

"Just so long as there are no Peeping Toms," Kallen's voice said, a bit too hard for the role she was supposed to be playing. "I mean," she said, softening her voice, "I've just... um... heard plenty of stories about... creeps spying on girls in hot springs."

Kallen would know about that. It was an all too common trope in Japanese culture; far too often, women would find little support when faced with sexual harassment, a matter that the island nation had lagged behind much of the world on. Though Britannia wasn't much better in that regard. While on paper it had more stringent protections for women, most of those laws only applied to women with Britannian citizenship. Moreover, the Empire's social Darwinisim's explicitly encouraged powerful Britannian nobles to take advantage of any that they could, be they Numbers, Britannian commoners, or lesser nobles, and they would regularly be able to get away with it, thanks to laws written highly in their favor.

It also meant that she would have extremely little patience if she thought they were there to peep on her and the other girls.

"I wouldn't worry so much about Peeping Toms," he heard Leila say, as if she was casting a sidelong glance at someone.

"Hey!" Milly objected, and Lelouch could imagine her pout. "Are you insinuating something about little old me?"

"I can't exactly say that I blame her," Shirley replied. "You can be like a dirty old man sometimes!"

"I'm sure it will be fine, and that everyone will be on their best behavior," a gentle voice said firmly.

"Aww... now you're being just like Lelouch! You don't trust me, do you?" Milly continued to protest.

"I trust that you're a wonderful Student Council President," the gentle voice patiently said. "But right now, you're acting very strangely."

"Huh?" Suzaku started, as he recognized the voice. "Prin-"

Lelouch reflexively cupped his hand over Suzaku's mouth to prevent his friend from giving them or Euphy away. He didn't want Rolo realizing who she was, or questioning why she had a connection to Ashford Academy's Student Council.

Then he realized that, while he had been right to to muffle Suzaku on account of Euphy's presence, it had been precisely the wrong thing to do in an onsen predicament. The girls would still hear something, and now they would definitely think that someone was hiding in or around the springs, waiting to spy on them.

"Sayoko?" another voice asked, softer than Euphemia's. "I thought I just heard something."

That was Nunnally! She was here too?!

"I can check the onsen first, if it pleases you, Mistress Nunnally."

"Sheesh! It's probably just the water bubbling or something! Let's just get in already," Milly urged. "GUTS!"

Was Milly just oblivious to how badly this sort of thing could go? She probably wouldn't mind mixed bathing at all, and she loved flaunting her figure. If anything, she'd think it would a blast to share the onsen with them. But the other girls certainly would mind!

By Rivalz and Rolo had also realized the danger that they were in, their self-preservation instincts kicking in. Rivalz glanced anxiously at him, as if to ask, "What do we do, Lelouch?"

Lelouch quickly weighed their options. There was a large rock in the middle of the onsen. That was the only reason why the girls hadn't seen them yet. Maybe if they could move around the side as the girls came in, the sound would mask their own movements and…. But no, that would only be taken as a sign of guilt if they were caught!

"Hmmm... do you smell something Arthur?" he heard Nunnally ask.

Arthur was with the girls? No, of course he was. Between Leila, Euphy, and Nunnally, there were enough cat lovers that Arthur would be a fool not to stick with them. And of course, Arthur been Kallen's partner in the Metaverse for longer than anyone else, so though he didn't like the codename "Tama" that she had given him, he still had a great deal of loyalty to her. And that meant that if Arthur was forced to pick a side, between the boys on the Student Council and the girls, he would probably side with Kallen and the other girls.

"Yes, something... or rather, someone is definitely here," Arthur replied.

Lelouch had already come to the conclusion that Arthur would help the girls, and Lelouch knew he wasn't being quite fair their feline companion, but he couldn't help but inwardly think, 'Traitor!"

There was no point in hiding anymore. If they remained where they were, Arthur's nose would quickly lead the others to them, and if they tried to flee, the girls would quickly cut off their escape. As much as Lelouch hated surrendering at anything, doing so now was their best chance at deescalating the situation.

Lelouch stood up.

"What are you doing, buddy?" Rivalz whispered anxiously.

"Getting us out of this in the only way that we can," Lelouch replied. He stepped out from behind the rock, putting himself in the sight of the other girls. "You know that it was our turn, Madam President," he said, looking Milly right in the eye. Don't say you got the times mixed up either. I can tell this was your idea of a prank, but you didn't think this one through."

"Lulu?" Shirley murmured, seeing him. Her cheeks then flushed, and she quickly threw her arms tightly around her chest to make sure her towel wouldn't fall off in front of him. She then turned to Milly. "I knew the time wasn't right for us to go in! Is Lulu right? Did you want us to enter the hot springs while they guys were still there?"

"Don't be like that, Shirley," Milly, frowning slightly for a moment, before her more mischievous demeanor returned. "It would have been a good way for everyone to loosen up! You're too uptight about things like this. What could be better than all of us just relaxing in the hot springs together?"

"That assumes we didn't rush in there and do something something rash when we saw them!" Kallen said testily. "You know that's how this sort of thing normally goes, don't you?!" She proceeded to fake a cough. "And... um... that wouldn't be good for my health either."

"If I thought someone was trying to peep on my friend, I'd end them," Alice said, who Lelouch noticed was standing by his sister's side. "It's a good thing that you're her brother, though. That's clearly different. And you'd do much the same, if you saw someone else doing that, wouldn't you?"

Yes, if he caught someone peeping on Nunnally, he'd see that they paid dearly, one way or the other. Alice wasn't wrong about him there. He may have reached a new understanding with Nunnally, but that didn't mean all of his overprotectiveness toward her had vanished... those impulses were still very much a part of him. And given that he had seen Alice kill Mao in front of him, he had no doubt that she was capable of following through on her threat as well. And that just served to underscore just how much danger the other guys on the Council had potentially been in, a thought that disturbed him greatly.

"It's okay, Alice," Nunnally sweetly. "I'm more than capable of dealing with any peepers myself."

Lelouch stared at his sister, realizing that, while understated next to Alice's overt threat, if Nunnally had her way, any perverts involved in such an incident would very quickly find themselves on the receiving end of a change of heart, courtesy of the Irregulars.

"I trust that you're not the only one in there, Lelouch, correct?" Leila asked. "I'd assume that none of the guys on the Student Council would have chosen to pass up their time to use the hot springs."

"Yes." Lelouch replied. He turned to beckon to them. "Everything seems to be cleared up. You can come out now, Suzaku, Rivalz, and Rolo."

Slowly, the three of them waded over, as if unable to believe their luck. Of course, Rivalz just had to stare at the sight of Milly, wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around her curvaceous body.

"Like what you see?" Milly grinned, posing for him.

"I must have died and gone to heaven," Rivalz murmured, a trickle of blood running from his nose.

"You're really doing that here?" Kallen groaned, glaring at Milly. "This isn't the time to be joking around after what could have happened!"

"That's just how Milly is," Arthur said to her, cocking his head to look up at Kallen.

Rolo, ever observant as a detective should be, regarded Arthur curiously, perhaps noticing the slightly too-human mannerism that the Student Council's pet cat had just shown. But that wasn't enough to prove anything, and he'd rightfully be called crazy if he tried to make anything of it. After all, Arthur was only purring... as far as anyone who hadn't been in the Metaverse was concerned.

"Okay, I get it..." Milly sighed. "It wasn't one of my better ideas... it was supposed to be a harmless prank, that we could look back at and have a good laugh." Her frown returned, deeper this time. "But someone really could have gotten badly hurt. And now I've made the whole evening awkward. That wasn't what I was going for at all." She shook her head. "So yeah, I messed this one up. I'm going to have to find some sort of way to make it up to all of you, so that tomorrow's a better day."

"Well, you might as well make use of the hot springs while you're here," Lelouch said.

Seeing a faintly amused and strangely approving look on Sayoko's face, Lelouch realized that he had said something that could be misconstrued.

"No, not like that," Lelouch said quickly, feeling a warmth in his cheeks that wasn't due to the hot springs. "What I mean is, we've already been in here for some time, and none of you, save for Madam President, knowingly did anything wrong. It would be a hassle if you had to go back, change, and then come back again to use the hot springs. What I'm saying is, rightfully it's still our turn, but I'm no longer interested in using the springs tonight, so if it's okay with Suzaku, Rivalz, and Rolo, we can just let you have it."

"That's very gentlemanly of you," Leila said, smiling slightly. "You seem to have gift for handling situations like this. Though I hope you don't feel like you're being pressured to go. As you said, it is your turn."

"It's nothing," Lelouch replied.

"Um- Lelouch!" Rivalz started.

"That's fine with me," Suzaku said.

"While I would like to soak in the springs for a while longer, I can see the wisdom in this," Rolo nodded.

"No, Lelouch, I just realized something," Rivalz said, more anxiously. "We can't go now!"

"Why not?" Lelouch asked.

"I... I seem to have misplaced my towel."

"Huh?" Shirley said, as her brain processed what she had just heard. "Then that means... Eek!" Her face went red, and she quickly averted her gaze. "I'm sorry, Rivalz!"

Lelouch sighed. "Then I guess I'd better help you find it."

A/N: Ended up doing quite a bit of research about the Izu area and its rail lines while writing this, but hopefully it paid off.

The incident with the peach comes from the Code Geass light novel Red Tracks.

Edit: Completely reworked the hot springs scene, as I decided I was intensely dissatisfied with the original version, for being way out of character for those involved.

Next time, Kamine Island.