"And that's my report, Zero," Kallen said to Lelouch, both of them seated in the Metaverse version of the Ashford Academy Clubhouse. "We all needed some time to work through what we had seen in that city, but at least we had the ride back over the Chinese Federation to make sense of it together." She sighed. "Don't get me wrong... I have no issues with killing Britannian soldiers, least of all those Inquisition wannabe Pluton nutjobs. I'd do it again in a heartbeat, if need be. But all that other stuff I told you about... a lot of it just gave me the creeps."

Lelouch nodded. A heavy silence passed between them, though after a few moments, he broke it by asking, "Would you like some more green tea, Queen?"

"Yes, I would," she replied.

Lelouch stood up and poured some for her.

"It's very good," Kallen said, raising her cup to her lips and sipping. "I can't believe I didn't notice that it was matcha when I had the first cup."

"You just went through a lot," Lelouch told her. "It's natural that your mind would be focusing on things others than what type of tea I was serving you. But yes, it's matcha."

"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find this sort of tea these days? Britannia banned Japanese businesses from producing matcha so that it couldn't be used in our traditional tea ceremonies."

"Yes, but there's a loophole. Britannian businesses, like Bishop's, can legally produce matcha, though only in limited quantities."

"I should have guessed as much," Kallen said. "But it's excellent, all the same," Kallen said. "The way that matcha wakes you up, while calming you at the same time... there's nothing quite like it." She took another sip. "It's thick and creamy too, like the best matchas should be."

Kallen shook her head. "I've actually only had matcha a few times. I could probably count them with the fingers on one hand. I was still young when the invasion happened, and the caffeine content in the drink isn't suitable for younger children. Besides that, my mother never had that much money when I was growing up with my brother. We weren't destitute by any means, but it was hard for her to hold onto jobs for long, with how frequently we ended up moving. Really good matcha was a luxury that we could do without." She paused. "Did you prepare this yourself, Zero?"

"Yes," Lelouch nodded. "Though I have to thank Sayoko for that; she taught me how to do so some years back."

"Either way, I appreciate it," Kallen said.

There was a long pause.

"It is troubling," Lelouch said, finally broaching the topic of the raid again. "Leaving their experiments aside, the 'Director' knew exactly who West was. Yet none of you were arrested as soon as you returned to Japan, even though he could have easily left an anonymous tip for Cornelia about the true identities of the Glinda Knights."

"Maybe he died when the cavern collapsed," Kallen offered. "Eurydice... I mean, Lyra, stole the ride he was planning to use to get out of there. Perhaps he was hoping that he could at least make us go down with him. If so, good riddance." She shook her head. "But all I know for sure is that I hope that I never have to see him or his Persona again."

"That would be the best-case scenario, yes," Lelouch replied. "But we can't just assume that's the case. Not only did Medjed teach us how disastrous the consequences of making such assumptions could be, but the Black Mask lived to frame us for Euphemia's attempted kidnapping at the consulate, even though by all rights he should have died when Nemo tricked him into running into the Reaper. Until we find a body, we have to work under the assumption that the Director is still alive. And that means someone or something is making him stay his hand. Somehow, they benefit from letting West continue to walk free." Lelouch scowled. "And the only person who I can think of who would have enough authority to overrule the Director of the cult that's secretly been running Britannia is my father, the Emperor."

"We know he's been trying to use her as a pawn from the start," Kallen said quickly.

"That's true, but why else would he tolerate such an overt act of rebellion from her? And that's after she already tried to kill him when she was a kid." His scowl grew more pronounced. "I suppose that sparing her at least makes some sort of sense if we assume that my father somehow knew that she had the potential to be a Persona-user all along. Technically, it was Oz who seems to have been the primary target of the cult's observation through Terry, and that was ordered by the Director, but there's no reason why the Emperor couldn't ask him to have his agent observe West while she was in the same household, given that they're working together. Yet my father should know beyond a doubt now that West will never willingly cooperate with his plan to bring about Ragnarok."

"What are you getting at?"

"If he still has a use for her after all that, it means that it's not something that she's aware of... and we're equally in the dark." His hands clenched as he continued to quietly fume. "For all we know, we could also be playing into my father's hands even now. How can we make a move at all when we don't know what his game is?"

"What we need to do hasn't changed, Zero," Kallen said. "You don't have time for indecision. But no matter what his plans are, we'll smash them together."

Lelouch looked at her curiously for a moment. Then he chuckled and shook his head.

"What so funny, Zero?" Kallen asked, her eyebrows narrowing slightly.

"Truth be told, I invited you to this meeting because I wanted to be sure that you were alright after the battle." He sighed. "But I think that I was the one who was more in need of reassurance. You're correct, of course, Queen. We can't let ourselves falter now."

Indeed, while he risked working himself into paralyzing indecision in the face of so many unanswered questions, she remained focused only on what was needed for victory.

Infiltrate the Emperor's Palace and steal his Treasure. Any other concerns weren't nearly as important.

"Really, it's West who needs it more than anyone else right now," Kallen said softly. "She still looked like she had seen a ghost when I left her."

"Because Lyra reminds her of her sister," Lelouch said. "No... because she thinks that Lyra might really be her sister, seemingly back from the dead." He paused. "Where did Lyra go after the raid anyway?"

"She departed with Order and the Irregulars. She'll be hiding out with them for the time being."

"A simple pair of DNA tests would be sufficient to establish if they're really related to each other or not," Lelouch said. "We'd just need a small blood sample from each of them, and we could have the analysis done through Kyoto. That way, we don't get any awkward questions from the Britannian medical establishment about why the 88th Princess is having such a test in the first place."

"You don't get it, do you?" Kallen asked. "Think of it this way; you saw your mother's death, didn't you?"

"That was Nunnally," Lelouch grimaced. "When I arrived on the scene, my mother was already dead, still shielding Nemo with her body."

"Well, imagine then that tomorrow you run into someone who looks and sounds just like your mother, alive and well, but either doesn't recognize you at all, or is nothing like how you remember her. Wouldn't that feel creepy? And then on top of that, let's say that you also found out that Sayoko, someone who you've trusted for years, was spying on you for all that time, and periodically deleting portions of your memory. No matter the results, a 'simple pair of DNA tests' is not going to cut it, Zero. That's enough to mess up anyone's head several times over."

Lelouch grimaced. "I... concede the point, Queen. But according to your report, Terry's Persona can only erase memories; it can't alter existing memories or fabricate new ones. If West thought she saw her sister die all those years ago, then that's what happened, unless her recollections were faulty or incomplete to begin with." He paused. "Do you know which of West and Oz's memories were erased yet?"

"No. They talked to Terry about it, but they didn't share that information with me."

"That's understandable," Lelouch said. "Memories make us who we are. It's hard to find anything more personal. I'd imagine both need some time to work through what they've learned before they're ready to share it with anyone else."

"You should still check on West when you can," Kallen said. "I know she was never as close to you as Nemo, but the two of you are still family."

"Or rather, she's one of the few members of my family who I don't hate," Lelouch said. "Very well, Queen. I will... when she's ready to talk about it."

He'd probably also need to find some way to bring Noir to help. Euphiemia was likely the better choice in dealing with emotional turmoil than he was anyway, and as both family and the Sub-Viceroy she could also find more opportunity to meet with Marrybell without scrutiny than he could as well.

There were several moments of silence between them. Finally, Kallen spoke again.

"This is going to sound rather petty on my part after all of that, but there's something else that's been bugging me, Zero."

"What is it, Queen? You know that you can tell me anything, don't you?"

"Why does Britannia have to be the one developing all of the cutting-edge Knightmare technology these days? First they had Maser Vibration Swords, and now they have a Knightmare that not only has energy weapons, but flies too!" She sighed. "And after getting to pilot a late 5th generation Knightmare armed with 7th generation weapons, I'm going to have a hard time going back to Burais in Mementos, or even my old Glasgow." She grimaced. "More than that, it's a blow to my Japanese pride to think that we haven't been able to come up with anything comparable in the last seven years. Japan used to be at the cutting edge of technology, but we let Britannia overtake us! And it makes me wonder... even if we defeat Britannia, and halt their military conquests, won't they just remain dominant over the world, with the technological advantage that they hold over everyone else now?"

Lelouch listened to her patiently. It was good for Kallen to be able to vent her frustrations. Finally, he spoke again.

"I said this when I last met with Kirihara, but the old Japan had become complacent, Queen, too sure of its own economic and technological prowess, thanks to its control of sakuradite reserves. Innovation, and I mean real innovation, not just incremental change, became dangerous to those who already held power, because it could threaten the comfort of their positions, and so it was quietly stifled. By all appearances, Japan was still thriving, but the deterioration of its spirit had begun long before Britannia's invasion." Lelouch scowled. "Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi's act of hubris in deliberately antagonizing Britannia only hastened the old Japan's demise".

"Is that it?" Kallen asked, looking none too pleased.

"No," he replied. "It's as much a product of Britannia's culture as well. If there's one grain of truth in my father's ideology," he said, his face briefly contorting as if the words were physically painful to him, "it's that Britannia really does encourage competition and progress, after a fashion. Yes, Britannia's nobles still use their power to try to quash anything that could threaten their positions, just like Japan's old elites, but people in Britannia know that there are rich rewards for them if they can rise to the top, no matter how underhanded the means required for them to do so."

"Such as crushing those weaker than themselves," Kallen growled.

"Indeed, conquest has granted Britannia access to a wealth of natural resources, allowing it to undertake projects that would be prohibitive for smaller nations, for lack of rare materials. Even before that, Britannia's military research and development budget is greater than that of all other nations combined. But for all of that, Britannia squanders its most important resource of all."

"Its people," Kallen said in realization.

"Exactly, Queen. Britannia's technology would be so much further advanced if it wasn't so flagrantly racist. If genius, be it in the sciences, the arts, or martial skill, can be found in one in a million individuals, then Britannia could have had over four times as many geniuses as Japan before the war. But over half of its population was relegated to being Numbers, and most of their potential would never be realized, because Britannia would never allow them the opportunities necessary to develop it. These days, almost two-thirds of Britannia's subjects are excluded from meaningfully contributing to the Empire beyond menial labor and grunt work. Even Britannians who could care less about notions of equality should find that a damning argument against the Empire as it stands, purely from the perspective of efficiency."

"It's too bad that of the talent Britannia had left, they were lucky enough to have a handful of Knights of the Round, who cow anyone who would stand up to them into submission."

"Yes," Lelouch nodded. "But fortunately for us, we now have a Knight capable of surpassing the Rounds," he said, glancing meaningfully at her.

Kallen stammered something, momentarily unable to speak coherently as she flushed at his praise.

"There's no need to be embarrassed, Queen," he told her. "I thought as much earlier, and now we have the combat data to prove it."

"Right," she nodded, composing herself. "I won't let you down, Zero!"

"You never will, Queen, as long as you stay true to yourself." He paused. "The other thing that you should keep in mind is that, advanced as Britannia's technology is, it's not perfect. From what data the Glinda Knights were able to share with us on the Gawain, the spread firing pattern of its Hadron Cannons is actually a design flaw; the bolts are supposed to converge into a continuous and far more powerful beam. And then there's that other 7th Generation frame that Britannia has been working on, one that is bottlenecked in development for the lack of a qualified pilot. Powerful as the Empire is, it's composed of human beings, and they're all as fallible as anyone else." He let out a derisive laugh. "Most in the Empire haven't even noticed that a cult is running things behind their backs."

"You didn't notice either, even back when you were a prince, and were closer to the cult's operations than most Britannians will ever be," Kallen cut in. "West had to tell you about it."

Lelouch frowned. "Yes... I was just as guilty of living in ignorance, content with a sheltered life. It took my mother being murdered, and my father refusing to do anything about it, for me to finally open my eyes."

Kallen grimaced. "Britannia has a lot to answer for, but you're not being fair to yourself there, Zero, and I wasn't being fair to you either. Genius or not, you were just a kid, and you had never known anything else until then. You couldn't help but accept the world you were born into as normal."

"I suppose you're right about that, Queen," Lelouch replied, though his expression remained dark. "But the same thing could be said of the children raised by the cult. Given that my father is one of the cult's leaders, perhaps even I might have become one of its members, had I stayed in Pendragon long enough. To say that the thought is unsettling is an understatement."

"Yeah, but it didn't happen like that, so there's no sense in beating yourself up over it, Zero."

"Once again, you're right. That clarity of purpose, and your unceasing determination is proof that while the Japanese spirit may have deteriorated, it's never died out completely. It's lived on in the hearts of all those who have been yearning for a future. That spirit burns brightest of all in you, Queen, but you haven't even seen half of it while you were off in the Chinese Federation. The High Eunuch's strongholds have been falling to the Chinese people one after another, and in a matter of days, one of the world's three great powers will have fallen. The people see that and think that if the Chinese Federation can be overthrown so easily, then why can't Britannia?"

"So...it really worked..." Kallen murmured.

"More than we could have ever hoped for," Lelouch replied with a smirk. "It's reminded the Japanese people of just just how powerful they really are, and rekindled hope where it once seemed extinguished. KnightWatch has been ablaze with activity, and no matter how hard she tries, Cornelia will never be able to stop all of the footage coming in from the Chinese Federation. But was there ever any doubt that it would work?"

"Of course not! I just... it's really happening," Kallen said. "This is the start of a new rebellion against Britannia. Of course, it's going to take some time to really get going, but... I've dreamed about this day for years. Yet some part of me thought it would never come."

"The events we've set into motion are likely to take on a life of their own from here on out, Queen. As you said, there's only one thing for us to do."

"What's that, Zero?"

"See our path through to the end. What else could it be?"

Kallen gave him a wide smile. "I couldn't agree more."

Lelouch returned a grin. "Indeed." He paused. "It's good to have you back at Ashford."

"You shouldn't have worried so much," she replied, her smile widening. "I have this, remember?"

She produced the omamori that he had given her.

"Of course," Lelouch replied. "A prayer for victory. It seems to have served you well."

Kallen nodded.

"Before you go," Lelouch said, standing up and walking over to her. "I know how suffocating the 'sickly schoolgirl' mask is for you to wear, and I'm sure it's going to feel even more limiting after you've been in your first large-scale battle against Britannia. But it's more important than ever now. We, as we have always been, are the most logical suspects for being members of the Black Knights, and so our actions will be scrutinized more than ever."

"Yeah, especially with that detective around," Kallen grimaced.

"But I know you can do it. And... I'm glad to have you back, Queen."

"Zero..." Kallen said. Rising to meet him, she placed a hand to his face.

The two of them kissed. It was a tender kiss, far moreso than one might expect from someone as fierce and passionate as Kallen, but offering both of them comfort and satisfaction after the ordeal that she had been through.

"That's one way to mark the end of a mission," Kallen said as their lips finally parted. "I almost feel that you're spoiling me lately, Zero."

"Is that a problem?"

Kallen shook her head. "Don't stop doing so now."

xXx

"Did you see that on the news last night?" the voice of an Ashford Academy student anxiously asked those around her.

"A rebellion in the Chinese Federation!" another student replied.

"They say the Black Knights were behind it," a third student added.

"I thought they were targeting the Imperial Family, with how they killed Prince Clovis and kidnapped Princess Euphemia. But this... this is crazy!"

"It's practically on our doorstep!"

"I know, scary!"

"Yeah... especially if you look at what's being discussed on KnightWatch," a boy said.

"You shouldn't be visiting that site in the first place!" one of the other students gasped. "What if they think you're involved with the Black Knights?"

"I don't post anything there; I'm just trying to figure out what's going on. But the Elevens seem really riled up online. They had better not try anything. I can't say I feel sorry for the High Eunuchs though."

"Yeah... they were a bunch of creeps!"

"That we can all agree on," the boy agreed.

Listening in on the conversation as he passed by, Lelouch couldn't say that he had expected the reaction among Ashford Academy's student body to be much different. Euphemia's kidnapping had dominated the discussions around campus, but it seemed that the other students could scarcely talk about anything other than the uprising, at least for now. It was easy to see why; they were witnessing something unprecedented in any of their lifetimes, the imminent collapse of one of the world's three great powers, in real time.

Of course, most of Ashford's students were easily distracted by the frivolities of their own daily lives, and their teachers would be sure to clamp down on such talk, perhaps with a stern lecture that they should be more focused on their studies and future careers, rather than happenings in a foreign land, so a semblance of normalcy would quickly return to the campus. Britannian media would also continue to downplay the uprising and the Black Knight's involvement in it, awaiting an official statement from the Emperor or the Prime Minister on the matter, lest they contradict the official narrative.

But nothing would ever be the same, no matter how much everyone else tried to deny it.

On the Black Knights' side of things, there were a number of discomforting revelations from Kallen's report that he felt that he needed to discuss further, particularly with his second-in-command. Leila's perspective was always valuable to him as a fellow strategist, as were her insights on topics that he was less familiar with, especially those involving religion or the occult. Given that they were dealing with a cult, both of those were likely to come into play.

Of course, given her situation, Lelouch couldn't be publicly seen spending an inordinate amount of time alone in Leila's presence without a sufficient pretext for doing so. While she was one of his girlfriends, nobody outside of the Black Knights and their close allies knew that. It would be a ready-made scandal if others became aware that Leila was seeing him in a way that went well beyond simply being friends on the Student Council with him, all while publicly maintaining a facade of mourning for Prince Clovis. It would headline every Britannian-run tabloid in Japan if someone leaked that to the media, which they almost certainly would, especially now in order to divert public attention away from the Chinese Federation, and it was attention that neither he nor Leila needed.

It would be less of an issue after school, when there were fewer people around, but Lelouch didn't want to wait that long. Fortunately, Milly was willing to pull a few strings so that he would have an excuse to spend more time around Leila during the day.

"Madam President has asked me to tutor you," Leila said, approaching him. "You scored well in the last round of exams, but your grades are still in a rough shape, and now that we know you are capable of such, we expect you, as a member of the Student Council, to set an academic example for others." Leila paused. "That's the message she told me to give you, anyway."

"If I did well last time on my own, wouldn't it be more reasonable to wait and see if I will do it again, rather than interfering? Furthermore, if it was a just a fluke, isn't Milady likely to just waste her time tutoring me?"

Of course, it was just a performance he was putting on for others, just as he knew that Leila was. Lelouch, the lazy slacker would never accept tutoring without at least a show of resistance.

"Oscar Wilde once said that sarcasm is the lowest form of wit but the highest form of intelligence. If you put half the effort into your studies as you do when wording your witticisms, you will be a honor student in no time at all," Leila replied.

Even as he pretended to be at a loss for words, some of his reaction was genuine, silently impressed at how smoothly she had countered his argument.

"I guess there's no getting out of this one, is there?" Lelouch asked with an affected sigh. "There's no arguing with Madam President when she really puts her mind to something."

"I'm afraid so," Leila said, shaking her head slightly.

"Well, I guess I could do far worse for a tutor," Lelouch said. "Did Madam President assign us a meeting place as well?"

"No, but I think the library would be a quiet place for us to study," Leila replied.

Lelouch tried to force himself not to think of what had happened the last time he had spent time 'studying' with Leila. He cherished the memory, of course, but he couldn't risk showing any undue reaction to the term that could blow their cover. After a moment, Leila seemed to realize her mistake, and gave him a slightly embarrassed look, but in the next moment her face was once again an impassive mask.

Lelouch doubted he had entirely succeeded in averting suspicions from them in the end, but at least he managed to compose himself enough before speaking that he was able to avoid giving the game away right then and there.

"There's no sense in postponing the inevitable," he said. "Lead the way."

Leila nodded. "Don't worry. If you're as bright as Madam President says you are, this will be easy for you."

Ah, she was making it seem like she was less familiar with him and his abilities than she really was. That was a good play on her part, and she pulled it off so very naturally. Of course, she had plenty of acting experience, given how much time she had to spend playing the role of a young noblewoman just to survive in Britannian society.

As Lelouch departed with Leila, he became aware of the fact that several students no longer seemed interested in the developments occurring in the Chinese Federation, and were shooting him jealous looks.

"How can he act like it's a bother to be tutored by her?" a boy said to one of his friends. "Doesn't he know how lucky he is there?"

"Trust me, he does. It plays into his whole 'bad boy' image. The chicks totally dig it. Why else do you think he's so popular at this school?"

"I'm more irritated that she gets to spend so much time with him," a girl said. "First they're both on the Student Council together, and now she's tutoring him? Talk about unfair."

"Is it just me... or do they have chemistry with each other? I'm not talking about the class, though."

Lelouch wasn't going to let their words bother him. He already knew that he had that sort of reputation around Ashford Academy. There would be rumors no matter how he was seen with Leila, but this way, they would remain just that, rumors, and no more. Really, it was all exaggerated to the point of being a parody of himself. They made him out to be some sort of Casanova, but he was only-

Lelouch stopped himself right there. He was in a committed polyamorous relationship with three girls, and had slept with two of them, something he was willing to bet was a first even in a school filled with hormonal, privileged teenagers. As much as he didn't want to admit it, there was at least a kernel of truth behind his reputation, and he was certainly living up to it more now than he had ever done before. But while others may assume that he was casual in his relationships, in keeping with the laid-back slacker image that he projected at Ashford, he knew that he was nothing but committed to his significant others, and therein lay the difference.

Arriving at the library, Leila said, "I understand that there are some small rooms are the side designed for study groups. You go on ahead, Lelouch. There's some materials that I want to grab before we begin our tutoring session. It will just take me a minute."

"Very well," Lelouch replied. Besides being good for extra quiet and minimizing distractions while studying, the side room would allow the two of them to surreptitiously slip into the Metaverse, so that no one could eavesdrop on their conversation. "I'll see you there."

Leila joined him a few minutes later, carrying a bag containing her books. While Lelouch doubted that they would be doing any real studying, it made sense for Leila to bring them into the Metaverse with her, lest people wonder why she had left her book bag behind.

"I've already talked with Queen about what she saw on her mission," Leila said. "But let's quickly review things from the beginning, to make sure that we're both on the same page."

"That sounds like a plan."

xXx

"The phrase that Queen reported seeing on the screens in the underground city is familiar enough to me," Leila said after they had finished going over the details of Kallen's account. "D.O.M. is an abbreviation for 'Deo Optimo Maximo, meaning 'to the most high God' in Latin. It was originally a pagan mode of address when worshipping Jupiter, but it was later adopted into the Roman Catholic church to refer to the Christian God instead."

Lelouch nodded. Kallen had been right that Leila would know what it meant. "And 'Hostia' means 'victim', 'offering', or 'sacrifice'," he said. "I looked that up on my own."

"That's correct," Leila replied. "Thus, taken together, it means, 'a sacrifice to the most high God'. Given what they were researching, it comes across as being rather ominous."

"Indeed."

"Then there's the matter of the Director's Persona." Leila frowned. "Zero... how familiar are you with H.P. Lovecraft and his works?"

"I know of them by reputation," Lelouch replied. "A cosmos filled with alien horrors, though frequently vaguely aquatic and with far too many tentacles and teeth. Compared to them, humanity is but an insignificant speck, yet Lovecraft's horrors have a strange tendency of haunting sleepy towns in New Britannia, especially those in Massachusetts, though Lovecraft himself was originally from Providence, Rhode Island. He published his stories in pulp magazines, and died in poverty twenty-six years ago, in the same city where he was born."

Lelouch shook his head. "Lovecraft's works have greatly grown in popularity since his death, but I never was one for his writing." His lips curled in disgust. "For starters, Lovecraft was a virulent racist. Often, the worshippers of his malevolent deities would be Numbers, and he had a deep-seated fear of relationships between Numbers and Britannians. Is it any wonder that he eventually gained traction in Britannian literary circles? They eat that sort of bigotry up... anything to demonize those they've conquered."

"Yes, there's no denying the prejudice behind his stories," Leila replied. "But the Metaverse is shaped by human thoughts. Lovecraft's fears, put to page and read by untold numbers of people in the years since, can be made manifest there... just as our own Personas are famous figures from folklore, mythology, and literature." She sighed. "Distasteful as his work can be, I'll admit that I've read some of his stories, out of an almost morbid curiosity about what people saw in them. I think you'll find this interesting."

Leila produced a book, bound with a black cover that was trimmed in green, and began to read, her voice almost a whisper.

"Nyarlathotep... the crawling chaos... I am the last... I will tell the audient void..."

Leila's finger moved down the page, skipping several lines to move to the relevant portion of the text.

"Into the lands of civilisation came Nyarlathotep, swarthy, slender, and sinister... He spoke much of the sciences—of electricity and psychology—and gave exhibitions of power which sent his spectators away speechless, yet which swelled his fame to exceeding magnitude. Men advised one another to see Nyarlathotep, and shuddered. And where Nyarlathotep went, rest vanished; for the small hours were rent with the screams of nightmare."

Leila continued to read. It was as much a poem as it was a story, but it painted a disquieting picture of a world driven to madness by Nyarlathotep's bizarre demonstrations and unspeakable prophecies. The narrator was but one among the throng, witnessing the world falling into decay and ruin around them, overtaken by the surreal horrors that Nyarlathotep had ushered in. At first, they tried to deny the changes occurring before their eyes, but before long they were reduced to laughing madmen, shuffling toward a destination that they dared not think of.

"As if beckoned by those who had gone before, I half floated between the titanic snowdrifts, quivering and afraid, into the sightless vortex of the unimaginable..." Leila skipped to the final line of the poem. "The blind, voiceless, mindless gargoyles whose soul is Nyarlathotep."

Leila closed the book. "That was 'Nyarlathotep', first published in 1974 a.t.b., though it was later collected with Lovecraft's other works. According to the author's account, the inspiration for the story came to him in a horrible nightmare. Lovecraft would go on to develop the character of Nyarlathotep in three more short stories and a pair of sonnets, though several other authors would also write about Nyarlathotep in the following years.

"Together, they establish him as the son of the Blind Idiot God, Azathoth, whom he served as the 'Messenger of the Outer Gods'. Unlike his father, Nyarlathotep possessed a frightful, evil intelligence. Moreover, while most of his brethren either pay humanity little notice, or remain exiled to distant stars, Nyarlathotep walks among mankind in any number of guises, and has a malign interest in us. He delights in cruelty and is fully capable of understanding the human mind, exploiting its weaknesses to spread madness and trick others into bringing about their own destruction."

Leila fell silent. After taking a few more moments to consider her words, Lelouch spoke.

"The Director was willing to murder thousands of his own followers, and he's trying to bring about the end of the world. From what you've told me, I'd say Nyarlathotep's a good fit for a psychopath like him, as far as Personas go." Lelouch paused, almost wondering if he should even ask his next question at all. "Where... did you find that book, Bishop?"

"I just picked it up off a shelf in the library. But you can also find copies in most major bookstores around the Settlement these days."

Lelouch shook his head and burst out into a chuckle. "For a moment, I was almost worried. Whether it's reading fortunes or storytelling, you have a talent for making it seem real."

"Thank you," Leila said. "But I wonder... What if the Director and his agents are behind the renewed interest in Lovecraft's work, or at least encouraging it? If enough people read about Nyarlathotep, and come to fear him, might that collective Cognition affect the Director's Persona in turn, strengthening it?"

"There are Personas among our team that are far better known than Nyarlathotep," Lelouch countered. "Take Dame's Persona, for example. I'm sure that every child in Britannia has heard of Maid Marian growing up; she's among the most famous characters to serve as a basis for any our Personas, perhaps surpassed only by Lancelot. Suzuka Gozen is similarly well known among the Japanese, and Guren Jigoku is feared as one of the Eight Cold Hells in Buddhism."

"Maybe it's influenced by the user's culture, and how they perceive the character that serves as a basis for their Persona," Leila offered. "Queen subconsciously sought to clad herself in the strength of the famous thief and celestial maiden, Princess Suzuka of the Oni tribes. As she reached a newfound resolution, she then channeled the powers of the Crimson Lotus Hell itself, so that she could destroy any who would stand in her... or your way. Likewise, I looked to one renown for leading her country to freedom when I was trying to see my parents' ideals to fruition, and took on the mantle of the Goddess of Love and War when I realized what was truly important to me. And you modeled your rebel's self as the one hailed as the greatest gentleman thief in literature. Perhaps you even took on a French Persona partly out of a rejection of the Britannian culture that you so hated."

"That seems clear enough for the most part, and that last bit is an.. intriguing hypothesis, Bishop." He chuckled slightly. "For more reasons than you know. But in any case, I looked up to Arsene Lupin ever since discovering his stories, and I eagerly read any that I could find."

"Of course, it still seems to largely come down to experience, and inherent potential," Leila admitted. "We have no idea of exactly how long the Director has been a Persona-user; we only know it's been far longer than any of us. But it seemed like too much of a coincidence for me to ignore. Whether or not it actually made the Director's Persona any stronger, we can't rule out the possibility that he's been conducting experiments on mass Cognition, using the general public to do so, with none of us being any wiser about it until now."

"He certainly knows how to exploit mass Cognition to his advantage," Lelouch scowled. "He used it to collapse the Metaverse version of the cavern that his city was in. So I can't deny that possibility either."

"Moreover, the Director was able to drag Queen and the Glinda Knights into the Metaverse, seemingly without using the Navigator himself." Leila paused. "I suppose that technically he couldn't have the Navigator in the first place, as that app comes from Igor, but Britannia has clearly developed an equivalent technology. But perhaps his ability to forcibly pull others into the Metaverse is an extension of his Persona's power to partially manifest itself in the real world. Either way, it makes him exceedingly dangerous. We are fortunate that he chose not to reveal himself until now. If he had come to the Tokyo Settlement, and revealed himself at the Consulate instead of sending Black Mask as a proxy, we probably would not have survived the encounter."

"That would have been a likely outcome, yes. But I don't like even the thought of losing. That's why it's imperative to make sure we're prepared for when we next cross paths with the Director. We'll have to make sure we 'compare notes', so to speak, the next time we meet with West. Any information, whether it's from her own recollections, or data recorded from Queen and Oz's Knightmares, could prove crucial."

"I agree," Leila said. "It goes back to what Sun Tzu said. If we do not know the enemy, for every victory we gain, we will also suffer a defeat."

"And in this case, defeat would be almost certainly fatal, considering the enemy that we're up against. But I don't like to lose anyway."

"You've always been gracious enough in our chess matches, whether they ended in victory or defeat for you; though obviously there's a world of difference between them and a life-or-death situation like this."

"It would be more accurate to say that I show as much sportsmanship and courtesy as I am given by my opponent." He grimaced and glanced downward as he thought back to how flagrantly the Black King had thrown aside any pretenses of fair play in refusing to accept his loss. "War doesn't have rules, or at least none that our enemy will follow the moment they cease to be convenient, and so there's no veneer of sportsmanship to be had there.

"Nevertheless..." His expression changed back into a smile, and he raised his head to make eye contact with Leila once more. "That you were able to hold your own against me in chess definitely got me even more interested in you than I had been. For years, I hadn't come across anyone who could beat me at chess. The last had been Schneizel..." He scowled slightly. "And I never won against Schneizel."

"You do have a winning record overall in our matches," Leila said.

"That's no simple feat when you're my opponent. Our last two matches were so very close. You almost had me both times."

"Of course, West actually managed to score a win against you that time," Leila replied.

"I still have a 3:1 win ratio against her. And I had trouble focusing during my last pair of matches against her because I was still ruminating over what she had told me about Ragnarok."

"Yes... I concede the point, Zero. You definitely do hate to lose." Leila smiled and let out perhaps the smallest of giggles, though she quickly assumed a more dignified expression. "Though you said something interesting back there."

"What was it?" Lelouch asked.

"You said being able to match wits with you at chess got you 'even more interested' in me. And I don't think you're talking about my Persona's abilities either."

Lelouch felt his cheeks growing warm.

"Well... I mean... you're strikingly beautiful. I never really used to pay attention to that sort of thing, but I guess it became much harder for me to ignore, once I awakened to the Personas within me. That isn't to say that Queen and Dame are any less so, in their own ways, and I knew that they were attractive, but now I realize I did my best at the time to keep thinking of each them in a context that was comfortable to me."

Lelouch frowned slightly at himself, the blush fading from his cheeks as he tried to convey a suitable gravitas, so there could be no doubts as to the truth of what he was saying. "Kallen was a teammate who had her own reasons to fight unrelated to mine, and Shirley was a classmate I had to protect from my secrets for her safety. I didn't have a ready-made context for you, and that made it harder for me to maintain the distance I thought should keep with everybody for their own sake."

He shook his head. "Then there was the fact that Clovis's Palace kept hitting me over the head with the idea of just how attractive you were, making it impossible for me to ignore. But don't think I was ever so shallow that I was ever interested in you only for your looks; that was just the least of it. I could tell that there was far more to you than that. Your eyes were those of someone who had suffered a great loss, yet there were also determination and intelligence in them as well. There was a feeling of connection with you from the start, and as I spent more time with you, I kept realizing there was more and more that we had in common."

Leila laughed lightly. "There's nothing for you to be ashamed of! It frustrates me to no end that so many people see me just as a pretty face who almost got married to Prince Clovis, an inheritance that they can take advantage of, or a trophy wife to be claimed. But you were always different than that, Zero, and that's why I'd never begrudge you those feelings." She smiled, and raised a hand to her hair. "It means a lot, hearing it from you, because I know it's not simply flattery. I must also confess that my attraction to you was never purely intellectual; there was always a physical component to it as well. Knowing that you also felt that way about me from the start..."

Her smile grew wider.

"Bishop, are you preening?" Lelouch asked, gently teasing her.

"Of course not," she replied, convincing no one.

Lelouch chuckled. "You're certainly showing another side of yourself... not that I mind in the least."

"I spend so much time wearing the mask demanded by my noble station that when I'm finally able to remove it, it's natural that I would take the opportunity to relax a little, especially when it's with someone so special to me. My parents were much the same way with each other."

"As always, you have a way with words," Lelouch replied. "No matter how I look at it, whether by wit or by beauty, both inner and outer, I'm so fortunate to have met you, Bishop."

Leila beamed. "I have plenty of other words, Zero." She switched tongues. "Nous sommes faits l'un pour l'autre. Tu es tout pour moi et je suis à toi. Mais entre deux cœurs qui s'aiment, nul besoin de paroles. Le seul vrai langage au monde est un baiser. Que mes baisers soient les mots d'amour que je ne te dis pas."

Leila gazed into his eyes, as he blushed at her words.

After a moment they leaned in together, each closing their eyes. Lelouch felt Leila's lips brush against his, and then they locked together, as her tongue entered his mouth.

A French kiss. How very fitting. He wasn't complaining though, and reciprocated in turn.

"Mmmmm..." Leila sighed. "Si je devais revivre ma vie, je te trouverais plus tôt."

Lelouch allowed himself a small grin as their lips finally parted. "They say that French is a romantic language, and you certainly know how to use it as such. But two can play that game. T'as d'beaux yeux, tu sais?"

"You've been practicing French?" Leila asked, opening her eyes in surprise. "Did you understand everything that I just said?"

"I have, and I did," Lelouch replied. "My interest in French really took off after I found Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin novels. A lot of them remained untranslated into Britannian, so I took it upon myself to study French so I could read them in their original language. Of course, speaking the language is another matter entirely. I know that my pronunciation needs some work, but hopefully it was passable enough for you."

Leila nodded. "You said, 'You have beautiful eyes, you know?' That's a quote from a famous French film, Le Quai des Brumes."

"I'll admit, I had to do some research for that one. Finding French books isn't easy in Britannian-controlled Areas, but it's even more difficult to find foreign-language films these days."

"I actually have a collection of them back at my home, if you're interested."

"Then I may have to take you up on that offer one day."

"So... what did I say, Zero?" Leila asked, a slightly mischievous smile spreading on her face.

"You said, 'We are made for each other. You are everything to me and I am yours. But between two hearts that love each other, there is no need for words. The only true language in the world is a kiss. May my kisses be the words of love that I do not say to you.' Then, you said, 'If I had to relive my life, I would find you sooner.' Is that correct?"

"That's right," Leila replied, beaming.

Lelouch chuckled. "You were right when you said that you really were a romantic deep down." He shook his head. "But I also had another reason for my interest in learning the French language. I actually have some French ancestry, on my mother's side. She was born in Britannia, but her own mother was an immigrant from France. My grandmother earned full Britannian citizenship before she had my mother, and her husband took on her surname out of love for her."

"I've never heard you talk about your grandparents before," Leila said.

"I never had the chance to know them," Lelouch replied. "They all died before I was born. My father's parents were assassinated during the power struggles of the Emblem of Blood, over fifty years ago. I know at least one of my mother's parents died of natural causes before she joined the military, but I think the other may have been murdered to get at her, after the nobility began to see her as a threat. I don't know for sure, though; she never really talked about it, and you can't trust Imperial records, when it may have all been covered up."

Leila nodded silently.

"In the end, my mother's parentage just gave her enemies another excuse to hate her, on top of her being born a commoner." Lelouch shook his head. "There are a number of Britannian noble families of French ancestry, just as there are many with German ancestry, but they get a pass for having well-established bloodlines, like yours. There's a great deal of distrust toward any immigrants from Europia these days, given how the have a nominally democratic government, ideologically opposed to Britannia's monarchy. As such, the other nobles used to spread rumors that my mother was less than loyal to Britannia, and was bringing unwanted influences into the Imperial Court."

"Of course..." Leila murmured. She paused, as if thinking for a moment. "You have a French name, whether we consider just your given name, or the surname that you go by here at Ashford. Was it your mother's maiden name?"

"It was."

"I hope that you don't mind me asking, but wasn't that an unnecessary risk for you to take? Drawing the connection between your mother and 'Lelouch and Nunnally Lamperouge' would hardly be a stretch for any member of the Imperial Family."

"Both of us had been declared legally dead. The Kururugi Shrine was destroyed early in the war, but the official account is that we went missing and were most likely murdered by unfriendly locals as we tried to make our way across the war-torn Japanese countryside, as an act of revenge against Britannia. Most would assume that if we had survived, we would have announced ourselves once we could make it back to Britannian occupation forces. Clovis would have definitely been able to verify our identities, and I'm sure he would have welcomed Nunnally and myself with open arms, had we any interest in returning to Britannia. But as it was, any continuing attempts to look for us were abandoned as futile years ago."

"But Clovis spent more time looking for you than any other royal, didn't he?" Leila asked, "even after you had been declared dead. Yet it only led him deeper into madness, so that he sought to turn Japan into a sort of memorial to you and Nunnally, before he lost sight of even that, and became concerned only with his own vainglory."

"Yes," Lelouch admitted. "There was a time when, perhaps, Clovis was a good man. He certainly was a kind half-brother. But that Clovis died soon after the invasion of Japan, consumed from within by Azazel."

Leila nodded.

"In any case," Lelouch continued, "my mother was hardly the only person in the Empire to have the surname 'Lamperouge', and if any members of the Imperial Family happened to notice that there were a pair of students at Ashford with the same names as the late Empress Marianne's children, they would have already been too close. We would have had to go into hiding again."

He shook his head. "You hadn't joined the Black Knights yet, but it was an awfully close call when Coach Nu discovered that the documents establishing our identities here at Ashford Academy had been fabricated. If she hadn't been so fixated on getting Knight and Queen expelled, and blackmailing Diamond's grandfather, she could have easily discovered our true heritage. Perhaps it was foolish pride on my part, to so brazenly use my mother's name, but I'll never regret that choice. If nothing else, it serves as a reminder of what my sister and I lost, and symbolizes that we'll have nothing to do with our father from now on, short of changing his heart."

"I see," Leila said, appearing lost in thought for a moment. "You know, your name can be read in two very different ways. 'Lelouch' could be seen as a compounding of 'le louche', meaning 'the disreputable', or 'the suspicious'. 'Lamperouge' itself literally means 'red lamp' or 'red light' in French." Leila frowned. "The word order's not quite right, but taken together, it would mean, 'the suspicious red light'. Yet that can't be the intended meaning."

"Indeed not," Lelouch said, "but it's accurate nonetheless. I am a disreputable fellow, leading my fellow thieves through the Metaverse, while constantly lying to everyone else at school, and willing to commit any sacrileges that I must for the sake of my justice."

"The other possible reading of 'Lelouch' comes into French through the Arabic 'el allouch', meaning, 'the lamb'. I'd assume that this is the meaning that your mother intended."

"Well, I certainly didn't live up to that one. If anything, it almost seems ironic; a lamb wouldn't survive long in the den of wolves that is Pendragon without someone to constantly protect it. But an Arabic name isn't that unusual, even among the nobility; your own name is Arabic for 'daughter of the night', or 'night beauty.' Isn't that right, Bishop?"

"Yes, that's correct," Leila nodded. "But..." A sudden look of unease crossed her face. "Your father would have needed to agree to whatever name your mother gave you."

"I doubt he gave it any thought," Lelouch said slowly, not sure where Leila was going with it. His expression turned to a scowl. "He already had plenty of other children, and he probably stopped caring about what they were called after the first few, if he ever cared at all. He certainly didn't care about my mother, beyond using her skills to help him to secure his throne."

"Yes... Maybe I'm just worrying too much... and I'll be the first to admit that this is a bit of a stretch, but hear me out. We know that your father has a leading position in a apocalyptic cult... And as I was talking about the meaning of your name, I couldn't help but think about 'The Lamb of God', given my upbringing."

Lelouch looked at Leila incredulously. "Are you saying that my father, the Emperor, who hates Christianity for encouraging compassion toward the weak, and all of the other Abrahamic religions for that matter, knowingly allowed me to be named after its messianic figure? You weren't kidding when you said it was a stretch."

"I know... But... according to the Gospels, the Lamb of God allowed himself to be sacrificed to offer humanity salvation from its sins. And what appears in the cult's city but D.O.M. Hostia, 'A sacrifice to the most high God'? Perhaps it's just in mockery of the Church's use of the phrase. But we already know that your father is trying to use West somehow. And..."

Lelouch felt himself freeze, thinking back to what he had said to Kallen.

"He really is trying to use me somehow, isn't he?" Lelouch.

"He's certainly used you in the past," Leila said. "Namely, he used you and your sister as sacrifices to obtain access to the ruins at Kamine Island, which is the site of his Palace, and central to the cult's plans to usher in Ragnarok."

"Yes, because having us as hostages of the Kururugi family lulled Japan into a false sense of security before the invasion. But what about now? We know he had Knights of the Round at the Consulate party. Maybe they were just there to keep an eye on West, but somehow, I can't buy that. They were there because he expected the Black Knights to show up. Then there's the Black Mask." Lelouch placed a hand to his forehead. "He was probably already looking into Clovis on the behalf of his true masters, lest Code-R become a security risk for them. Given the short time between us taking the Viceroy's Treasure and the collapse of his Palace, Black Mask must have been in the Palace at the same time as us."

"In which case, he likely saw us as he was moving to eliminate Clovis," Leila said. "From there, it would not be difficult for him to deduce our identities. You were already prime suspects for being behind your teacher's change of heart, and paired with a physical description of the Black Knights from Black Mask that matched several members, is it any wonder that a detective was sent to Ashford Academy to keep a closer eye on you soon after Clovis' confession? Even if the Director was not investigating us before, if the Black Mask is one of his Persona-users, he would have evidence of Persona-users existing outside of his control, and there's no way that he wouldn't follow up on that."

"If what you're saying is true... then the Director and the Emperor have likely suspected, if not known exactly who we are, for months now." Lelouch clenched a fist. "They've been playing us for fools!"

Leila nodded gravely. "If your father knows who we really are, yet has seemingly chosen to let you, West, and Nemo walk free for now, I would hazard a guess that it's because he wants to somehow make use of your potential as wielders of the Wild Card. Britannia's Cognitive Psience program has been able to artificially create Persona-users, but as far as we know, they haven't been able to replicate that sort of natural potential."

"The Black Mask tried to kill Nemo and the Irregulars," Lelouch countered. "Then he tried to get Queen and myself arrested by Chinese Federation authorities, and kidnapped Noire. I'd hardly call that letting us walk free." He shook his head. "Maybe my father sent an assassin after us because he knows that it would be almost impossible for Cornelia to apprehend us in the real world, when we can just use the Metaverse Navigator to escape, and it can all be easily covered up in the Metaverse."

"Or maybe Black Mask is acting according to his own agenda," Leila offered. "But there's no way to be sure." She paused. "There is something else that I've been wondering about."

"What is it?"

"You were sent to be hostage of Genbu Kururugi. We also know that before his death, Prime Minister Kururugi was interested in the same ruins that would become the basis of your father's Palace. Is there a deeper connection between them? Might Prime Minister Kururugi have been pursuing his own program of Cognitive Psience research?"

"There's no way to answer that now."

There were several moments of an uncomfortable silence between them.

"Let's change the topic," Leila said finally.

"Very well," Lelouch said. "What's on your mind?"

"I don't want you two to rush into anything you're not ready for... but I hope that Dame isn't feeling left out of our arrangement. You've been spending more time with Queen and myself lately. Dame made it possible for the two of us to be together in the first place, so it wouldn't be right if she were to be left behind."

Lelouch knew that Leila was right there, even if it hadn't been a conscious decision on his part to give Shirley less time than them. Kallen had been personally involved in the raid, and so he had been worried for her, while Leila was there with him to both meet with Marrybell and help him plan their next moves. But Shirley had just been quietly playing the role of an ordinary student for the last several days, while his attention was focused on events happening far from Ashford Academy.

"I always knew it would be difficult to be fully equitable to everyone involved in such an... unconventional relationship as ours," Lelouch sighed and glanced downward. "I don't want to let any of you down." He thought back to what Nemo had said about him needing to take the next step with Shirley. "But I have to do more. I had... been considering taking Dame on another date... but it didn't feel right to do so when Queen was off risking her life in the Chinese Federation. I think we were all too worried for that. The most we could do was to focus on our school work, and try not to stand out."

"That's completely understandable," Leila replied. "I know I was worried about Queen as well."

He looked back up at Leila. He was heartened that she was showing such consideration for Shirley's happiness and Kallen's wellbeing. Come to think of it, Kallen had said something similar before departing on the Grandberry. She saw Shirley as being like a sister to her now, and she had come respect Leila as one who who was willing to put her own life on the line for her teammates without hesitation.

"Rest assured, Bishop, I will be taking steps to correct the situation with Dame."

She gently smiled back at him. "I know you will."

xXx

The two of them took a moment to make sure that they were properly presentable for class, and then returned to the real world. As they did so, Lelouch heard the sounds of a commotion outside.

Had their absence been noticed?

But no, the voices he overheard, however muffled, seemed to be carrying a tone of excitement, and were getting more indistinct by the second, as if the other students in the library were suddenly rushing outside to see something.

What was going on?

At once, his phone began beeping, as did Leila's. Their phones couldn't receive messages in the Metaverse, cut off from reality as it was, but now they were coming through.

"They're here!" a frantic message from Shirley said. "Madam President is trying to deal with them right now, but I don't know what we're going to do about this!"

Who was at Ashford? In her haste, Shirley had left out the most important part of the message. But no matter who it was, there was no way that it could be good. Damn it!

"No matter what it is, we'll face it together," Leila told him. "As it is, we can't just stay were we are. And though I couldn't make out what the other students were saying, it doesn't sound like we're about to be arrested. The mood would be very different if that were the case."

Lelouch forced himself to take several deep breaths. "You're right. Let's see what's got them so excited... but from a distance."

"Of course," Leila nodded.

Cautiously making their way outside, they saw that a large crowd had gathered. Milly was at the center of the crowd, but there was blonde young man standing next to her. He was several inches taller than Milly, which was immediately distinctive, as Milly was herself taller than most other students at Ashford Academy.

At once, Lelouch realized that he had seen the man before, back at the party at the Chinese Federation Consulate, and again during the battle against Mammon. The man had been masked during their first encounter, and he had been but a Cognition in their second, but he was still unmistakably Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three.

His father had sent a Knight of the Round to Ashford Academy?! Lelouch fought to keep himself from hyperventilating. The Emperor really did know who they were, didn't he?

But that wasn't all. Through a momentary gap in the crowd, Lelouch glimpsed a petite pink-haired girl, who seemed even smaller when standing next to someone as tall as Gino. It was the Knight of Six, Anya Alstreim! Not one, but two Knights of the Round had come to Ashford Academy!

"Sir Weinberg, and Lady Alstreim! This is all so sudden!" Lelouch overheard Milly saying.

"Well, the two of us are going to be stationed in Area 11 for the time being, given all the unrest that's currently going on in the Chinese Federation," Gino replied loudly, yet sounding entirely too laid back about it. "But we still have to get an education in between our duties as Knights of the Round. We could have done so at any of the Area's military academies, but I thought it would be more fun to attend a commoner's school for a change." He chuckled. "Well, maybe it's more accurate to say a school for commoners and nobles alike. But ya know what I mean, don't you?"

"Yes, Sir Weinberg, that's correct." Milly turned to the younger Knight of the Round. "And what of yourself, Lady Alstreim?"

The Knight of Six looked up at her, before glancing over at Gino. "He said it would be a good way for me to make new memories. I would... like that."

Just like at Consulate party, Anya's words were almost emotionless, and if it hadn't been for the crowd falling silent in deference to the two Knights of the Round, Lelouch wouldn't have been able to hear her at all.

If Gino and Anya were telling the truth, the Emperor hadn't specifically ordered them to Ashford Academy, making their presence simply an unwelcome coincidence. Maybe he was being paranoid, but it seemed far too convenient for them to choose Ashford Academy specifically. He also knew that there was only one way that their conversation with Milly could end.

"So, what do you say, Miss Ashford?" Gino asked, all smiles. "You wouldn't have any problems if Anya and I enrolled here, would you?"

"You'd need to submit all of the necessary paperwork to make the transfer official," Milly said cautiously. "I may be the Student Council President, but I don't make admissions decisions myself." She put on a grin, though Lelouch recognized it for the mask that it was. "But we'd be honored to have you!"

In her position, Milly couldn't have openly refused a request from two Knights of the Round. Gino and Anya held authority vastly exceeding their nominal noble ranks, and were ultimately answerable to no law but the Emperor's word. They didn't seem the types to abuse their authority for petty vengeance, but even then, Milly saying 'no' to them would be unthinkable in Britannian society, especially when she had no reason to do so, as far as the other students were concerned.

He felt much as he had back at the masquerade ball, like the cosmos was actively conspiring against him. Yet if there was any saving grace to the situation, terrible as it was, Gino didn't come off as the brightest bulb, more interested in having fun than anything else, and Anya seemed lost in her own world. If they weren't specifically looking for the Black Knights at Ashford Academy, it would be all too easy for Gino and Anya to miss what was right in front of them. Really, Anya was the greater danger with her phone. If she happened to show other nobles photos of the Student Council, it could lead to his and Nunnally's physical resemblance to their parents being noticed. But given that she had already taken their pictures back at the ball, and they hadn't been discovered yet, it would seem that Anya mostly kept her photos to herself, another small blessing.

In any case, he had come too far to turn back now. The fact that the Emperor's personal enforcers would shortly be students at Ashford Academy didn't change what they had to do at all. Even if the Emperor were to come to Area 11 himself, Lelouch knew that he would see his justice through to the end, no matter the cost.

It would take a lot more than this to put him in checkmate.

A/N:

It took me quite a bit longer to get this chapter out than I would have liked. My work has resumed, leaving me with less time for writing than I had over the last several months, but I am still working steadily on the story as my time allows.

Admittedly, this chapter is intended more of a 'breather episode' as the characters process the ramifications of the revelations from the raid, as well as the aftermath of changing Gao Hai's heart. But of course, Lelouch can't rest too easily with two of the Knights of the Round now at Ashford Academy. Canonically, they transferred to Ashford Academy in the second season of the show, but I figured that with the developments in the Chinese Federation, there was sufficient cause to have them make that transfer earlier in this story's universe.

And of course, Cornelia's reaction to the uprising in the Chinese Federation remains to be seen, and will tie into her Palace's arc starting up in earnest...

Thanks to the beta readers who provided feedback on this chapter, and thanks for reading!