Chapter 22: "Transgression" VIII – Who is Zero? III

-Area 11-

"I am… Zero!" all of a sudden and out of nowhere, Zero's image appeared on all screens and monitors across the world about one year after his disappearance during the Black Rebellion. This shocks Guilford, Suzaku and many of the Elevens, who thought he was dead during the Black Rebellion. "My dear Japanese, I have come back!" Zero exclaimed while operators of T.V. stations were trying to cut the transmission, but to no avail.

Somewhere in the India Military Zone of the Chinese Federation, Diethard's voice was trembling as he saw Zero's reappearance on the screen. "That's it! The Line Omega that I've set up! And the only one who knows about it…" the renegade Britannian TV producer stood up and swung the monitor left and right in exhilaration, "It is Zero! Yes, I knew you're still alive!" Next to him stood Sayako and Rakshata, who also smiled at seeing Zero's return.

"How did he regain his memory?" Ohgi is confused. Now that the audience knows that Lelouch had lost his memory due to the Emperor's Geass, just how did he break it and regained his memory? In the front row, Guilford and the Britannia sisters seem to have the same question in their mind as well.

Villetta is also curious to know. She knows that the Zero on the screen is definitely Lelouch, but what she still doesn't know is how he regained his memory back. The silver-haired woman actually admires Lelouch's ability to keep secrets airtight, especially this particular secret from her, the person-in-charge of the OSI team working at Ashford Academy back then. 'Did he break His Majesty's Geass order like how Princess Euphemia broke his?' she muses.

Zero looks at the scene and thinks inwardly. 'Now that I know the Emperor was simply using Lelouch as a bait to lure C.C. out, would it be that His Majesty had sent Jeremiah to broke the Geass cast on Lelouch?'

Meanwhile, a portion of the audience is surprised to see how excited Diethard was when he heard Zero's returning proclamation. "I wasn't entire sure at first, but now I see Diethard was a complete zealot of Zero," Kallen observes, "I mean, a lot of the Japanese cheered for Zero's return, but I don't think anyone was half as excited as he was when Zero reappeared."

"I still don't understand. Why was he so zealous about Zero?" Chiba asks incredulously. "Was he thinking of getting a handsome reward by working for a prince of the Empire? I mean, he did defect to Schneizel eventually when Lelouch's out."

"He's a good-for-nothing self-centred bastard!" Ohgi slams, still angry at how the Britannian TV producer hurt his wife, "I don't see why any prince or princess would want to have him on board!"

Kaguya decides to chip in. "If he's trying to get a big reward by working for a prince or princess, it wouldn't make sense for him to stay with us for a whole year in hiding, not even knowing if Zero's survived or not. If he truly was thinking of that, he'd have abandoned us right after the Black Rebellion and sought to work for another prince or princess; to any politician who is smart enough, an experienced media man like him is a highly sought-after talent."

Tohdoh says nothing but quietly glances at Ohgi for his lack of appreciation of Diethard's talent. 'He's indeed not quite qualified to be a leader of a nation yet.'

Zero continued his speech. "Hear me, Britannia! All you who have power, heed my words carefully. I am burdened by sorrow. War and discrimination. Malicious deeds carried out by the strong. The same abhorrent interplay of tragedy and comedy. The world has not changed. That is why the resurrection of Zero was necessary. So long as the strong oppress the weak, my rebellion will continue to grow!"

The Knights of the Round were in their conference room, all watching intently at the transmission that was later identified to be signals from the Chinese Federation Consulate General in Area 11. Gino was casually commenting on Zero's sudden reappearance while the other Knights of the Round were either watching it with contempt or indifference. Suzaku's eyes were narrowed and his facial expression turned serious.

"Come on, Zero's dead, isn't he?" Gino clang himself on Suzaku's shoulders, still speaking in his almost trademark cheerful tone.

"Yes," Suzaku answered sternly.

"So this guy is a fake? And whoever he is, if we'd just go over there and storm the consulate general…" Gino continued, still cheerful in his tone.

"…that's a serious violation of the rules, and will result in serious international problems," Suzaku continued, still in a stern tone.

Even though Suzaku had been serious the whole time, that didn't stop Gino to beam a bright and cheerful smile on his face. "He's saying that he's Zero, and Zero killed members of the Imperial Family. That gives this matter equal status with our war with the EU."

"It's a slippery slope either way," Anya commented while playing with her phone.

On the screen, Zero continued his speech. "I shall fight against all those who abuse their power. Therefore, I shall declare, here and now, that I shall continue to deliver justice!"

Contrary to a Nina trembling in anger, numerous Japanese in the ghettos cheered "Zero" like they were praising the Lord's name.

"Lord Weinberg, how can you be so chill when seeing the person responsible for killing Princess Euphemia?" Nina is perplexed at how Gino seemed to be so light-hearted the whole time he was talking to Suzaku about the murderer of her goddess. Sure, Nina eventually worked with Lelouch, but that didn't mean she has already forgiven Lelouch for what he did to Euphemia.

"Well, smile or frown, happy or sad, we'd have to do our job, right? So instead of doing it with a frown, while not do it with a smile?" Gino responds with a bright smile on his face.

Guilford, however, knows that there is more to it. 'Lord Weinberg has the strength and power to be so relaxed; he was the Knight of Three, after all.'

"Never mind that. Kururugi lied to you, Lord Weinberg!" Cornelia points out sharply as she seethes at the man who quickly switched his allegiance away from her deceased sister, "he knew full well that the Zero he apprehended was Lelouch, and Lelouch wasn't dead!"

"Serious violation of the rules?" Rakshata ridicules sarcastically, "said the guy who betrayed Princess Euphemia and sold his best friend to the Emperor for a position among the Knights of the Round?"

"Damn, he's not only a traitor, but also a liar," Tamaki slams the Treacherous Knight of Zero as well. Not only did Suzaku abandon his loyalty to Euphemia and sell out his best friend for a position of power from the oppressors of his own country, he lied to his colleagues as well?

"And this was the guy who said he couldn't approve of Zero's methods on Shikine Island," Chiba hisses, "he's nothing more than a hypocrite and a scumbag."

Bismarck and Suzaku were walking pass a dark passage somewhere in Pendragon. Suzaku was trying to convince the Knight of One to allow him to investigate whether the Zero appeared on the screen was the same Zero from the past, but Bismarck stonewalled the junior Knight of the Round by instructing him to be patient and wait for the report from the OSI. Suzaku was frustrated: why did the Emperor conceal the true identity of the previous Zero and the supernatural power of Geass?

The screen shows the strange dimension in eternal dusk again, with a giant temple-like structure floating in it. The towering Charles was once again in his usual spot, or to be more precise, a few steps behind his usual spot; it was the short V.V. who took his usual spot in the strange dimension, and both gazed into the eternal dusk with a stern facial expression.

"We shall slay the God," Charles said.

"That's our contract," V.V. responded, before continuing, "say, Charles, why did you not tell Nunnally about the true identity of Zero and things about Geass?"

"That wasn't necessary, was that?" Charles replied.

V.V. turned over and looked at Charles with a smile. "Charles, you are still but a child."

For a mere child to address the Emperor of Britannia by his name and to call him a child was unthinkable to any person with common sense, and such impudent act would certainly be met with the fury from the man who stood next to God on Earth. However, to the audience's utter surprise, Charles simply smiled back and responded, "Is that so, Big Brother?"

The audience is appalled by two things: first, a mere child addressed the Emperor of Britannia by his first name; second, the said Emperor, a 63-year-old man at the time, called a mere child "big brother".

"They are related?" Gino exclaims in disbelief, "How could that little child be His Majesty's elder brother?"

"Perhaps that's a pet name?" Rakshata can't understand it either, "I don't understand. It doesn't make any sense at all for that young boy to be the old emperor's elder brother. Other than a pet name, I can't think of a possible reason for the Emperor to call the boy 'Big Brother'."

"What did His Majesty mean by 'slay the God'? Had he been too detached from the reality, he started to show a theological bent?" Guilford can't understand what the Emperor was thinking either. He can only assume that reigning the largest and strongest Empire in the world supreme for such long time had finally caused the aging leader to seek something above and beyond mere humanity.

Nunnally and Cornelia are both appalled by the revelation. They have both guessed it right that V.V. was a member of the Imperial Family, but they have guessed that this V.V. might be a younger half-brother, lost cousin or lost nephew of theirs. In no way could they ever imagine that their father would call V.V. his "Big Brother", which means this V.V. was actually the sisters' uncle!

"They also mentioned that there was a contract between them," Cornelia finally pulls herself out of the shock, "recall how C.C. also described her giving Lelouch Geass as a contract between them. That means father's Geass was most likely given by this V.V., who also happened to be our uncle."

"But what about this 'slay the God' matter father mentioned?" Nunnally asks.

"I don't know either… I guess we'd have to keep watching to find out the truth," Cornelia says with frustration. There is simply too much about her father that she doesn't know.

Meanwhile, Kaguya was meeting with Tianzi, the 89th Empress of the Chinese Federation, at the Vermillion Forbidden City in Luoyang, the Capital of this most populated nation on Earth. The two young ladies were sitting in a pavilion, each accompanied by a High Eunuch standing behind. Tianzi enquired Kaguya about what was happening in the outside world, since she had never left the Vermillion Forbidden City. Kaguya replied that she was actually bidding farewell to Tianzi because she was going out to see what was happening outside. Tianzi started to weep, not wanting to see her first ever friend to leave her alone.

"That's me!" Tianzi exclaims, before she turned to Kaguya and says, "I am so glad that wasn't the last time I have ever seen you!"

"Don't worry, Tianzi," Kaguya smiles at her young friend, "now that you are free to go out of the Vermillion Forbidden City, we can always see each other, and you can go and make even more friends!"

Tianzi nods with a big smile.

Somewhere in a desert, V.V. sat on a stair step of an apparently damaged and abandoned temple and was speaking to someone. "Yes. If Zero's true objective turns out to be here, we are in trouble."

"Quite so. Is that why you've made preparations for me?" a man replied. It was the long-disappeared Jeremiah, sitting comfortably on a chair and pouring himself a glass of wine.

"That's right," V.V. responded.

"Thank you very much," Jeremiah said.

"How did Orange join that V.V. boy after he was sunk into the sea with C.C.?" Chiba is shocked, "That's impossible! How did he get out from the sea? And didn't he join Lelouch the last time we saw him? Why's he with V.V. here?"

"No idea, but it seems that by that time, he has recovered from his insanity back when he was in that lab in Area 11," Rakshata observes, "he is even pouring himself a good glass of wine."

"He was a Margrave, that's what nobles do on a daily basis," Gino adds.

"What did Lord Gottwald mean when he said V.V. had made preparations for him?" Milly is curious, "he didn't seem any different from that time when he was fighting against Lelouch and C.C., except perhaps wearing better clothes and acting normally."

"Perhaps he… was referring to getting out of insanity?" Nina tries to join the conversation, though stilly timidly, "that… can be considered as a preparation."

"Not much is shown here, so I guess we'd have to wait and see," Cornelia concludes before everyone turns their attention back to the screen.

Back in Pendragon, Nunnally received some big news from Alicia Lohmeyer, her new personal advisor.

"Huh? Is that true?" Nunnally asked with surprise.

"Yes, it is. Your Highness, you will be the next Viceroy of Area 11," Lohmeyer replied respectfully.

"Then I will be able to see Big Brother…" Nunnally was happy to hear the news. She could finally get to see her Big Brother!

"That is out of the question," while still speaking in a deferential tone, Lohmeyer flatly rejected Nunnally's wish to see Lelouch, "I gather His Highness Prince Lelouch has lost his memory. I'm afraid that if he saw you, he would be plunged into even deeper confusion."

"How dare she treated an Imperial Princess like that?" Cornelia is furious at how Lohmeyer treated Nunnally so lightly.

"Your Highness, I think she was one of those self-righteous career civil servants who prided herself of her expertise in administrative intricacies and regarded her political master with contempt. I don't think you need to sully yourself with such a lowly servant of the Crown," Guilford tries his best to appease Cornelia's wrath against the pompous and arrogant woman who is now dead.

"It's alright, Big Sister," Nunnally also tries to calm her elder sister down, "it wasn't the most pleasant relationship I've had, but I managed to get through it. I am actually in debt of her because she had taught me that people aren't always kind to each other."

"Nunnally, you are such a kind girl," Cornelia hugs the young Empress, "and that's your best quality."

"Thank you, Big Sister," Nunnally smiles as she hugs back Cornelia. However, behind her smile, she feels sad as she recalls from the scene how Lelouch tried to "abduct" her when she was on her way to Area 11, only to be stopped by the Britannian forces led by Gino and Anya. As the Britannian forces burst into the airship and escorted her away from the falling airship, the then blind girl noticed a familiar voice calling her name in despair. Back then, she thought she heard it wrong because only Zero was present at that moment, and she had just had a direct confrontation with Zero and refuted his suggestion that she had been used by the Empire to win sympathy from the Japanese; not in a million years would she have guessed Zero was her elder brother, whom Ms Lohmeyer insisted that he had lost his memory and denied her the chance to see him. 'Big Brother…' the 100th Empress of Britannia muses with sadness and frustration, once again feeling a tint of anger towards Lohmeyer and Suzaku, who both prevented her from seeing her dearest elder brother again before it was too late.

It was late at night, and Suzaku was on Camelot Engineering Corps' jet with Cecile. He was reading on his tablet two separate status reports on Lelouch sent to him by Rolo and Villetta respectively. Neither Rolo nor Villetta reported to Suzaku any abnormal behaviour Lelouch had displayed ever since the reemergence of Zero; both were satisfied that Lelouch was not associated with the reemerged Zero, nor with the Black Knights.

"No unusual behaviour?" Suzaku let out his words in an otherwise silent cabin, alerting Cecile sitting next to him. "Then who's this Zero?" Suzaku frowned deeply.

"That's a really nice jet!" Shirley exclaims. The orange-haired girl is from a commoner family and has never flew on anything other than economy class before.

"AHA! Courtesy to Prince Schneizel, our patron!" Lloyd explains cheerfully, "he's been quite generous with our funding!"

"I can't believe we've been under Coach Villetta and Rolo's surveillance this entire time…" Meanwhile, Rivalz is shocked to learn that a good portion of his school life last year was being monitored. He glances at the present day Villetta as he continues, "I was too shocked about how Rolo was actually an agent and how we had our memories being rewritten by His Majesty, I didn't realize until now that you owe us an explanation too, Coach Villetta."

"I'm sure Coach Villetta didn't know about your few extracurricular trips to the illegal bingo hall at Babel Tower," Milly teases Rivalz, but she is also gazing at Villetta with narrowed eyes, waiting for a proper explanation. A row in front of her, Shirley is also looking at Villetta intently for the same reason.

Villetta doesn't know what to say. She was merely acting under the order of the Emperor back then, and had she not taken this mission, she would never have met her students whom she had built close relationships throughout the year she spent at Ashford with them; but it was still a fact that she has hidden the truth from her students about how their memories were being massaged by the Emperor for a covert operation to monitor Lelouch and lure C.C. When she was confronted by Tamaki and Chiba just a while back, Kaguya defended her because of her contribution to the Black Knights at a later stage, her eventual siding with the Japanese and how she risked herself, notably while being pregnant, to join Cornelia's resistance cell to save a lot of those among the audience today who were to be executed; however, this time around, Kaguya doesn't really have a reason to step in once again, and Villetta must face the consequence of what she had done to her students behind the scenes in the past.

"Hold on, Chigusa was just… huh?" Ohgi once again steps up to defend his wife, only to be stopped by the silver-haired woman who shakes her head slightly before standing up and looking back at her students.

"Even though I was acting under the orders of the Emperor, I am at fault of having unfairly monitored all of you throughout the year when I was in charge of the OSI operation of monitoring Lelouch, as well as concealing the fact that the Emperor had rewritten your memories. I was wrong, and it wasn't fair to all of you. I apologize for what I have done to you," Villetta says in a sincere tone and bows to her students.

"Chigusa, you don't need to…" Ohgi is surprised to see that his wife simply admits that she was wrong in putting her students under her surveillance. 'Chigusa was only acting under the orders of the Emperor, why should she bear the responsibility of it?' Ohgi muses with confusion.

"Darling, even though it was an order from the Emperor, I was the one who executed it," Villetta says to her husband, "I am grateful that you are always so protective of me, but I am still responsible for what I have done, and I have to apologize for the wrong things I have done to my students."

The audience falls silent for a moment. Now that Villetta has openly admitted her mistakes and apologized to the Ashford Group, should she be forgiven? Or should she be condemned nonetheless? Ultimately, that's for the Ashford Group to decide.

"Well, at least Villetta is willing to admit her mistake and apologize for it, that makes her way better than that Kururugi bastard who had never apologized for doing the same thing to you guys while travelling around on a nice, comfy jet," Chiba chimes in while hissing Suzaku at the same time.

Chiba's words have incited Milly's anger against Suzaku's elaborated scheme of concealing the truth that the Emperor had messed with her and her friends' memories and never told them about it, as well as selling out Lelouch for prestige and power. She still has uncomfortable feelings about Villetta's apology and admission of mistakes coming late and arguably being forced by the revelation of the truth through these discs, but for the First Lady of Japan to openly admit her mistakes and to apologize to her and her friends, it still shows a degree of sincerity, and it wouldn't be proper for them to dismiss it, given the vast difference in their social statuses.

"Well, I guess we've come to an accord on this matter, haven't we?" Milly puts back up her cheerful expression, deciding to put an end to this matter even though she still has some reservations in her mind.

"Well, if you said so, Prez, then I guess yea," Rivalz agrees with Milly.

Just as the Ashford Group is coming to an accord with the First Lady of Japan, Cornelia is concerned with something else. 'Why did both Lady Ohgi and that agent boy report to Kururugi that there was no abnormal behaviour observed in regards to Lelouch? Lelouch was a great actor, but even he wouldn't be able to put up a flawless act 24/7 if he played his role as Zero concurrently with his Lamperouge persona at Ashford Academy, which he did. Did Lelouch geass them into submission? But that shouldn't be possible at least for Lady Ohgi since she's been geassed once already. Did he send C.C. to the Black Knights and serve as his double as Zero? But that wouldn't make sense either since he would have to give orders during the battles, or even if he could do that, that agent boy would easily find that out, given how close he'd get to Lelouch by playing the role of his younger brother. How did Lelouch pull that off?"

Suzaku also had the same doubt the present day Cornelia has. He kept thinking about it even when he was slaughtering his enemies somewhere in the EU. "What is happening? I heard that Zero went to the Chinese Federation after making that proclamation upon his return, but Lelouch has always stayed in Ashford Academy. To be absolutely sure, I asked those two to keep a close eye on him, yet I still can't say that Lelouch may be Zero…"

'Kururugi, you have gravely underestimated that friend of yours,' Villetta muses as she sees how Suzaku was frustrated by her reports. 'You have no idea what I went through…' she then recalls that horrifying moment when Lelouch suddenly appeared in the secret OSI operation room under Ashford Academy when she was held at gunpoint by an emotionless Rolo, threatening her into submission as Lelouch gave her a bottle of red wine, purportedly to celebrate her upcoming birthday.

"Wow, so Suzaku had become an auto-slaughtering machine…" Rivalz exclaims as he sees how little regard Suzaku had paid to the lives he was destroying, completely different from how he aborted the mission to save a falling woman from certain death back in Shinjuku.

"He's corrupted by power," Milly shakes her head. Seeing Suzaku stooping to such low point simply infuriates her more and more as she comes around from the series of shock in the previous footage, realizing that Suzaku was the one who sold her aloof yet endearing Vice President of the Ashford Student Council to an old man whose ruthlessness knew no bounds. A row in front of the tall blonde TV anchor, Shirley also frowns at the scene despite knowing the truth behind Zero Requiem.

Back at Ashford Academy, Lelouch was talking to Shirley in the corridor. Suddenly, someone took a photo of Lelouch, taking the raven-haired boy by surprise.

"Good morning, Lelouch," it was Anya Alstreim, the Knight of Six. She was in a pink school uniform that matched with her pink ponytail, and she was holding her camera phone while greeting Lelouch with her poker face.

"The… the Knight of Six is here…?" on the side, Rolo was surprised to see one of the elite soldiers of Britannia was present in Ashford.

However, it is not only the Knight of Six that Rolo had to worry about. "Hey! I have been waiting for you!" a blond head popped out from the doorway of the student council room, a few steps behind where Anya was and greeted Lelouch cheerfully: it was Gino Weinberg, the Knight of Three.

"You are Mr Lamperouge, the Vice President of the Student Council, correct?" Gino came out of the doorway and walked towards Lelouch, "We are from the Knights of the Round…"

"Don't be so formal," Rivalz interjected Gino as he and Milly were coming out of the student council room as well.

"Ah, right," Gino responded and started to switch his speech pattern to a more informal one, "we've recently transferred into this school, and please ignore our social status on the school grounds, 'kay?"

Despite Gino's cheerful and friendly tone, Lelouch didn't seem to be happy about it; rather, his face showed surprise and fear.

"They said they want to experience an ordinary student life," Milly explained.

"So I'm teaching them how to talk normally," Rivalz added.

Gino dashed to Lelouch with a bright smile. "Hahaha, I am really looking forward to this… old man." He tapped his hand on Lelouch's shoulder.

Lelouch took a step back, looking up to the tall blond boy. "Right."

Anya took some photos of this encounter on her phone.

The Black Knights watches the scene with apparent interest. Their interaction with Lelouch was limited to that of being subordinate to him when he was Zero, and of being adversary to him when he was the 99th Emperor of Britannia. The Lelouch showed here starkly contrasted to what they know about the enigmatic young boy.

"He seemed to be a pretty normal schoolboy," Ohgi says with the authority of a former school teacher, "he'd be one of those super smart student who would always seem aloof to what is happening in class, but ultimately glues everyone together by virtue of his wit."

"Y'all know, now that I have watched how messed up that Kururugi guy was, I think Lelouch wasn't all that bad after all," Tamaki says.

"Guess I will have to reluctantly agree as well," Chiba says with apparent frustration, "at least he wasn't monitoring his friends like that Kururugi bastard had been doing."

Cornelia watches the scene with a tint of sadness in her mind. 'Had Lelouch not gained the Geass power, perhaps he would be able to live in peace with his friends at Ashford Academy forever, I wouldn't need to come to Area 11, and Euphy wouldn't die. I would still be saddened by the fact that I would not be able to reunite with him and Nunnally, but what turned out to happen was simply such a tragedy, it made the alternative turnout much more desirable…'

"I didn't notice that at the time, but Lelouch's really not happy to see you and Anya joining us," Rivalz says to Gino.

"Argh, I really should have had the old man to bring me to those underground chess games before he's gone. They sounded so cool!" the tall, blond boy reminisces the good old times he had with his "old man" Lelouch.

"Why is everyone interested in gambling on chess?" Shirley is going crazy about that. Why couldn't the boys stop doing those illegal things?

"You guys seem to have a lot of fun when I was gone," Kallen says to Milly.

"It's my job to keep things fun!" Milly smiles, "I really wish you were there back then."

Kallen can only imagine how her life would be had she chosen to accept her Stadtfeld identity: she would be free from all the worries about survival, enjoying a comfortable life and having all the fun at school, being able to enjoy Milly's schemes to the fullest.

'…yet, I still have my Japanese half to consider. It wouldn't be right for me to enjoy all the perks due to my Britannian heritage and leave my Japanese kinsmen to rot in the ghettos,' Kallen struggles in her mind.

"Well, you are back at Ashford now, so you can still catch up with the fun you've missed in the past year," Milly understands Kallen's struggle as a mixed girl, "Rivalz' not a bad president, is he?"

Kallen smiles. "You're right, he's not. Thanks, Milly, I will."

The screen then shows Lloyd, Cecile, Suzaku and several other members of the Camelot Engineering Corps camping in some forest near the Alps.

"Oh, there's some big news," Cecile was checking the news on her computer.

"What happened? A-choo!" Lloyd curled on his bench while shivering in cold, holding a large cup of hot drink and sneezed even though he had got his big winter coat on.

"It seems that the engagement between His Highness Prince Odysseus and Her Majesty the Empress of the Chinese Federation has been cancelled," Cecile said, surprising Suzaku, "the Chinese Federation is in the hands of some young officers now, and they are teaming up with the Black Knights."

"Hmph…" Lloyd could care less about such news and took a sip of his hot drink to quell the coldness away, while Suzaku frowned at the news. Suddenly, Lloyd spat out the drink. "What the hell is this?" he cried.

"That's miso soup with burdock, jalapeno pepper and apple," Cecile smiled as she detailed the ingredients in Lloyd's drink, "it will keep you warm!"

Lloyd looked at his cup of hot drink with contempt; Suzaku wasn't sure whether he should really drink his.

"By the way, it seems that the pilot of the Guren Flight-Enabled Version was captured and apprehended to Area 11," Cecile added, surprising both Suzaku and Lloyd.

"Give me that thing!" Lloyd yelled.

"Earl of Pudding, you do realize what you said was simply unacceptable, right?" Rakshata scowls at Lloyd's words.

"What's wrong with that? The pilot was captured, and I can have a new toy to play with," Lloyd said nonchalantly.

"Was that the reason why you defiled my baby, Earl of Pudding?" Rakshata barks angrily and starts to shake Lloyd's shoulder.

"Uhm… err…" next to the trio, Nina is getting nervous. Things are getting ugly! What should she do?

"Please! Stop fighting!" Cecile immediately intervenes, finally separating the two rival scientists.

"It's okay, Rakshata! Dr Asplund won't touch the Guren anymore," Kallen also steps in to try to appease the infuriated Indian scientists.

"He'd better not to!" Rakshata hisses to vent out her anger, finally calming down.

In a highly guarded prison in Area 11, Kallen was in a white straightjacket, sitting on the floor against the wall after she was apprehended by Xingke Li of the Chinese Federation and handed to Britannia as a prisoner when the Black Knights were confronting the Chinese Federation army during their operation to abduct Tianzi. Her hands were tied behind her back, and her beautiful face was shadowed by her red hair she lowered her head. Someone opened the lock of her prison cell.

"So you've finally come. Are you here to torture me? Or are you going to execute me? Do what you want!" Kallen said in a downcast, despaired tone.

"I will do none of those things," a young girl's voice came, shocking Kallen. She looked up; it's Nunnally!

"It's been a while, Kallen," Nunnally, the Viceroy of Area 11, greeted.

The present day Kallen recalls what happened right after she left the cave at Kamine Island in despair. Because their commander suddenly vanished from the battlefield, the Black Knights crumbled before the Britannian forces in Area 11 and retreated to the Chinese Federation and hid there for about a year, until Kallen was suddenly approached by the long-missing C.C., who told Kallen about Geass and made her to realize that the Black Knights could not have succeeded without Lelouch as their leader. After some time to regroup her thoughts about Lelouch after hearing what C.C. had to say, Kallen decided that she must see Lelouch once again to confirm a few things that had occupied her mind in the past year. She then got ready with C.C. to rescue Lelouch from Britannia and reinstated him as the leader of the Black Knights once again, almost a year after the failure of the Black Rebellion.

As the Black Knights left Area 11 for the Chinese Federation and intervened the wedding between Tianzi and Odysseus, Kallen once again fought to protect Lelouch from his enemies, only to be apprehended by Xingke and handed to the Britannians. She was then transferred and imprisoned in Area 11, and just as she had lost her hope, Nunnally, the new Viceroy of Area 11, suddenly appeared before her and made her life a lot easier while in prison: she was moved to a much better personal prison cell, and she was given clean dress and food of better quality. Those have certainly made a difference.

'Wait, this scene isn't the entirety of it,' Kallen muses, 'I have spoken to Nunnally and learnt much more about Lelouch from her while being imprisoned there. I wonder if C.C. has included that part in the disc as well?'

Back in the abandoned temple in the desert shown earlier, several dead bodies in researcher attire lied on the staircase that led to some underground facilities.

"Ugh!" another researcher was killed by a sword wielded by certain woman with long, purple hair. It was Cornelia, the long-missing 2nd Princess of Britannia and former Viceroy of Area 11. Her left arm was tied close to her chest, apparently still recovering from the injury she suffered due to Darlton's surprise attack.

"I have finally caught it, the tail of Geass…" the warrior princess muttered as she stood back up on her feet, narrowing her eyes, "I shall drag you out of the shadow and wipe the stain away from Euphy's name!"

Meanwhile, Guilford was sitting in an office in the Government Palace of Area 11, going through a photo album containing photos of him, Cornelia and Darlton taken in the various battlefields they have been to.

"Your Highness, you were in the Chinese Federation the whole year by yourself, even though your left arm still hadn't fully recovered yet?" Guilford can't believe it. He had been wondering where Cornelia went after she disappeared right after the Black Rebellion; he had not seen her again until they finally met each other again on Horai Island during the Battle of Mt Fuji.

"Yes, after I regained my conscious back on the rooftop of the Area 11 Government Palace, I realized that something in my memory was off during my encounter with Lelouch. I used my connections in Pendragon and found that there was some research going on about some sort of strange power known as 'Geass'. That's when I first got to know about this evil power, and I have decided that I could not rely on anyone but myself to investigate it if I wanted to clear Euphy's bloodstained name."

"But Princess, surely you could've taken me with you, I'm more than willing to…" Guilford protests.

"That would likely make you an enemy of the Empire," Cornelia interjects, "I was investigating a power secretly being studied by the Empire. If it's a secret even to me, than investigating it would most likely be considered as an act of theft of state secrets. I can't ruin your career simply because of my private investigation…"

"My career means nothing to me if it wasn't for you!" this time it's Guilford's turn to interject Cornelia, surprising the princess. Guilford continues with a serious yet emotional tone, "I am your sword, your armour and your shield. I have sworn myself as your personal knight not because I need a career in Britannia, but because I want to serve you, the elegant yet daring princess who did not choose to spend her days to decorate the garden with flowers, but to pick up a sword to defend her countrymen and bring glory to her country. I scatter your enemies and make them fall; I confound their politics and frustrate their knavish tricks; I defend you from harm and malice, and I bring glory and victory to you. My loyalty and service are yours and yours alone."

"Guilford…" Cornelia is touched, thoroughly touched. She could not have asked for a better knight and a lover than Guilford. She then realizes from the scene just now that Guilford must have endured so much pain and sorrow for not being by her side for more than a year. "I am sorry that I've left you behind in Area 11. I truly cannot be more thankful that I have the fortune to have you as my knight…" the princess says, then suddenly gets close to Guilford's right ear and whispers, "…and my one and only."

"Princess…!" Guilford's face becomes a tomato. Somehow Cornelia has become a lot better in suddenly making him embarrass!

And all Guilford gets from his one and only princess is a mischievous smile.

Gino and Anya were inside a pavilion in a garden inside the Ashford Academy. Anya sat on the side of the pavilion, playing with her phone as usual; Gino was on the phone speaking with Suzaku.

"Suzaku, you are way too slow! Milly has just graduated!" Gino informed Suzaku while scolding him a bit, still in his trademark cheerful tone.

"Huh? Then who's the student council president now?" Suzaku asked.

"Since Lelouch declined the job, Rivalz has taken over," Gino answered.

"I see… uhm, is Lelouch acting strange in any way?" Suzaku asked worriedly as he was travelling in a car.

"He hasn't changed much ever since I've met him," Gino said as he walked out of the pavilion.

"I see, alright then," Suzaku ended the call.

Gino was confused about Suzaku being seemingly overly concerned about what Lelouch had been doing at school, but his thought was interjected by Anya. "Gino, your guess about the pilot of the Guren was right," the petite pink-haired girl said.

"Bingo! I just feel like I have seen her somewhere before," Gino turned to Anya and said cheerfully.

"Glad to see you two blended into Ashford so quick and seamlessly!" Milly says to Gino and Anya with a teasing expression on her face, but underlying her tone is that of anger and frustration resulting from the fact that Suzaku had shamelessly used her school, her friends and herself to monitor and trap Lelouch.

"Dude, Suzaku had really changed…" Rivalz feels sad when he watches the scene. How could Suzaku turn from an upright knight to a scheming bastard just like that?

"You have seen me somewhere before?" on the other hand, Kallen is curious as to why Gino said he had seen her somewhere before on the screen. How could that be?

"Of course. You have attended several banquets and dance parties that the Stadtfeld family was invited to, right?" Gino asks.

"Yes, I have, but there were so many people, I couldn't remember who's who," Kallen answers.

"I pay attention to every beautiful lady I have encountered, whether in parties, workplace or even battlefields," Gino says with pride, "I am quite good at that."

"I see…" Kallen doesn't know what to say. She knows that Gino is just being considerate to everyone, but what he has just said sounded like something that only a veteran womanizer would have said.

After a while, Suzaku was on the phone with Milly, apologizing for not being able to attend her graduation activity. Milly was still hyped about the fun she had, and she simply waved off Suzaku's apology, and instead cast a "RELAX!" spell on him, telling him to relax from time to time amid heavy workload, to which Suzaku was grateful for.

The present day Milly frowns at the scene. 'Suzaku acted so innocuously, whereas the truth was that he had placed everyone within the Academy under surveillance…' she still can't believe the docile and friendly Japanese student in her school would be doing such shameless things to his friends and classmates.

Rivalz and Shirley are not happy at the scene as well. "Man, Suzaku's much worse than Lelouch," Rivalz complains, "when Lelouch was Zero, apart from that one-time taking-us-as-hostage incident, he didn't really invade our school lives and at least kept his business outside of the campus; whereas Suzaku had basically got us all in a state of house arrest, monitoring our school lives all the time. That somehow turned all of us into full-time prisioners…"

Villetta listens to her students intently. 'I still can't forgive Lelouch for trying to execute Kaname, but… I guess my students are right. Apart from that one odd time during the Black Rebellion, Lelouch was actually much more protective of his friends than Kururugi was: Lelouch tried to keep his rebellion outside of Ashford Academy, whereas Kururugi, despite initial objection, followed the Emperor's plan and actively used Ashford Academy as the prison for Lelouch and trap for C.C., thus putting all of his friends in immediate danger…' the silver-haired woman muses before she sighs as she ridicules herself inwardly, '… but who am I to talk, I was one of those instigators who put my students in danger, after all…'

Back in the underground facility in the desert, Bartley was shocked by the hypothesis his research assistants had just drawn up. "Hold on! If the hypothesis were true, then we have committed the most hideous crime in the history of mankind…"

"Let's run away! Now that the tuning work for Jeremiah has been finished…" one of the research assistants suggested.

"But that would mean that we are abandoning our country…" Bartley continued, but couldn't finish his sentence: Cornelia suddenly jumped down the ventilation tube and pointed her bayonet at the portly general's back as she landed on the ground. "Freeze!" she muttered before she realized who the person her bayonet was pressing against, "well, if it isn't Bartley," she said.

"That voice… is that you, Princess Cornelia?" Bartley didn't look back, but he recalled from memory the distinct alto voice that had brought victory and glory to the Empire until about a year ago, when the owner of the voice suddenly vanished from people's sights.

"Why are you here?" Cornelia narrowed her eyes and demanded. Why was Clovis' subordinate in this Geass-related underground facility?

However, instead of answering the question, Bartley pleaded for help. "Thank… thank God. Please, save us! I have been ordered to be here by His Majesty…"

"Father?" Cornelia was shocked. Her father was behind this underground facility in a desert in the Chinese Federation?

"If this goes on, the world will be on its way towards destruction…" Bartley explained to the confused princess. The warrior princess narrowed her eyes. What was her father planning to do?

"Lady Ohgi, did you know any of this?" having seen how Villetta was recruited into the OSI and teamed up with a Geass-using agent boy to monitor Lelouch, Cornelia wants to know whether Villetta was informed of the existence of such a facility.

"No, Your Highness," Villetta answers respectfully, "I was only briefed by the OSI about the existence of Geass, that Lelouch and Rolo possessed that power, and that Lelouch had lost his memory after the Black Rebellion by virtue of the Emperor's Geass."

Cornelia frowns. "I see, then this facility must have been a top secret of the Empire back then, and key to father's plan to 'slay the God'."

"Your Highness, I wish to show my admiration to your resilience, endurance and insistence on clearing Princess Euphemia's name," Villetta suddenly changes the subject, taking Cornelia by a surprise.

"Huh?" the purple princess is confused.

"You have been on your own for a whole year, travelling across the world with just one functioning arm and was able to locate that underground facility in a random desert in the Chinese Federation. I am sure everyone here would have agreed that that was an amazing feat by itself. Your Highness, you are indeed a model for all female soldiers," Villetta finishes her long sentence with a Britannian salute.

"I agree, you're amazing!" Kallen seconds. Kaguya, Tianzi, Rakshata, Cecile, Milly, Shirley and Nina all nod with smile as well.

"I can't argue with that," Chiba says, albeit visibly unwillingly.

Cornelia doesn't know what to say. She is experienced in facing adversary situations and enduring criticisms from all directions, but she is definitely not used to being praised from all directions. "Please, stop saying that. I'm only…" the princess blushes. What is happening now? "Oh, Nunnally, you know…" she is desperate in switching the topic.

"Big Sister, I think you can be more frank and just accept the praise that you deserve," Nunnally, however, simply smiles at her sister, stopping her from switching the topic while encouraging her to accept the compliment.

Cornelia struggles for a few more seconds before finally gives in. "Thank you, I am honoured," she nods to the audience, still blushing.

"…recorded," Anya takes a photo of Cornelia blushing. Under her poker face, Anya also mentally nods to Villetta's praise to Cornelia as well.

Suzaku was once again receiving regular reports from Rolo, this time via direct online communication.

"Everything's fine, there is no problem arose regarding Lelouch," Rolo reported with a smile and in a cheerful tone.

That looked suspicious to Suzaku. 'Is Nebiros someone who could smile like that?'

"That's mean of him to say that about Rolo!" Shirley protests, "of course Rolo could smile like that! He's a human and has emotions too!" Rivalz and Milly both frown as well, not happy with how Suzaku treated Rolo as a tool rather than a proper human. 'And I thought that Suzaku would be understanding and kind enough to others after having experienced how bad it could be to be seen as inferior...' Milly muses with disapproval as she thinks back the initial days when Suzaku had just transferred to Ashford Academy upon the recommendation of Euphemia, only to be bullied by his classmates until much later. How could he be that cruel to Rolo when he himself had suffered from the same agony before?

However, the smarter ones among the audience already guessed what happened. 'I see, Lelouch somehow won over the agent boy's heart into cooperating with him, that's why this agent boy's reports kept saying Lelouch did not behave abnormally,' Cornelia muses. 'And if this agent boy had a change of heart, then it would not be difficult to use him to force Lady Ohgi to succumb to Lelouch as well.' Then something come up to Cornelia's mind. 'Father would not have overlooked the possibility that Lelouch could break through the surveillance system in Ashford Academy, knowing full well how intelligent and cunning Lelouch was. Was that the reason why he'd sent Weinberg and Alstreim to Ashford Academy in the first place? But that would be strange: Weinberg didn't know about Geass until today, and Alstreim didn't seem to know it either. Was the lack of preparation against Lelouch breaking through the surveillance system the reason why father was eventually killed and deposed by Lelouch?'

After graduation, Milly became a newscaster and started to report weather on TV. The student council members were pleasantly surprised by her choice, but nevertheless found it to be very "of her style". It was a rainy day, and Shirley was walking on the street with an umbrella while speaking with Lelouch on the phone, discussing Milly's performance as the weather girl on TV news.

"Yep, I saw her on TV. Typical Madam President, wasn't it?" Shirley commented, before discussing something else with Lelouch, "So what do you think we ought to do with the rooftop garden? Right. Well then, I'll bring back some herb seedlings from the store. Would you talk to the gardening club, Lulu? Okay, see you later…"

Suddenly, the screen showed a blue sphere being spread out, covering a good portion of the people on the street, including Shirley. Shirley stopped, and her eyes were encircled in red.

"Huh? What happened? Somebody cast that Geass thing on Shirley?" Rivalz is confused.

"That didn't seem right," Rakshata observes, "recall that the Geass being cast until now were all shown in red. However, the one we've just seen was distinctively blue."

"Maybe C.C. got the colour wrong when she was editing this scene?" Kallen guesses. After all, that woman cared about nothing but pizza, "she might be devouring pizza when editing these footages..."

Inside a building on the opposite side of where Shirley was, a teal-haired man in white shirt and reddish vest was standing by the window of the room. It was Jeremiah.

"Is this the eighth place?" a child voice rang through the communication system. It was V.V.

"Yes, but are there really people who are affected by the Geass power being deployed as secret security forces?" Jeremiah asked.

"It's exactly because I am not sure about it that I've sent you there to make sure about it," V.V. answered, "You've been given a Geass Canceller that can destroy all types of Geass power. Hence…"

"Understood. I don't know who's under the influence of the Geass, but once I'm done with the Ashford Academy, I shall take care of all the businesses with Lelouch," Jeremiah replied. His left mechanical eye that was highly unstable was upgraded to an orange-framed artificial eye with a blue, inverted Geass Sigil on it.

Back on the street, Shirley stood still, her pupils shivering. "I remember now. Lulu… is probably a member of the Black Knights!"

"A Geass Canceller?" Cornelia cries out as soon as she sees how Jeremiah cancelled her father's Geass cast upon Shirley. "You mean Gottwald now possesses the power to cancel any Geass command?" she turns to Anya.

"Yes, Your Highness," Anya answers in the affirmative.

The first thing that comes to Cornelia's mind is Euphemia: that means that the Geass Lelouch accidentally cast on Euphemia could have been cancelled. If that's the case, then there is no reason for Euphemia to die because of Geass!

"Where's Gottwald? Get him here at once…" Cornelia orders Anya. However, Guilford quickly holds the purple princess' hand and shakes his head.

"Your Highness, according to the timeline of the footage, the advent of this Geass Canceller was one year after what had happened to Princess Euphemia. There was no use to summon Lord Gottwald and question him about it; temporally, it was impossible for him to cancel Lelouch's Geass cast on Princess Euphemia because that device hadn't exist yet back then."

Cornelia finally calms down a bit. However, she is still feeling that her younger sister's life was ruined by a bad joke and cruel fate. "If only this Geass Canceller was available back then, Euphy wouldn't have ordered the massacre of the Japanese, and even if she did, she could still be saved by lifting the Geass curse. Why, why did Euphy have to die…" tears start to fall down the purple princess' cheeks; not even the usually stoic and resilient Cornelia can take in this news easily. Fate was simply too cruel to her innocent and wronged younger sister.

"Your Highness…" Guilford offers his shoulder and chest to his liege by hugging her.

"Euphy…!" Cornelia finally let go of her emotion, buries her face into Guilford's shoulder and starts to cry for her unfortunate deceased younger sister. Guilford lightly strokes her purple hair as she was releasing her emotion in his embrace.

On the other hand, Nunnally recalls an earlier episode when Lelouch geassed a female student at Ashford to carry out an indefinite order of marking on a wall every day, and Anya has asked her to locate that girl in order to help her. "Lady Alstreim, when you said you can help that girl who was cast with an indefinite Geass command to get out of her situation, were you referring to this?"

"Yes, Your Majesty," Anya replies, "Jerry would be able to free that girl from the Geass Command cast by Lelouch."

"That means the Geass His Majesty cast on us could be lifted as well?" Rivalz jumps into the conversation. Milly is listening to the conversation intently as well.

"Yes, like how mine was lifted by Jeremiah as shown on the screen just now," Shirley answers.

"Where's Lord Gottwald now anyway?" Ohgi demands, "We need him here now to confirm whether Lelouch had cast his Geass on us, as Prince Schneizel had so kindly informed us!"

Anya silently and quickly presses the buttons on her phone. After a brief while, her phone vibrates and a message is sent to her.

"Jerry says he's on his last leg of delivery, after which he will be heading straight here," Anya announces.

"Orange's oranges are that popular?" Tamaki is surprised, "guess I'll have to cut a deal with him then!"

"A deal?" Ohgi asks.

"Yeah, we can collaborate: he will supply me with his oranges, I will sell orange juice at my cafe! Win-win situation, right?" Tamaki explains.

'Tamaki's usually an idiot, but I guess everyone has his own redeeming feature,' Kallen muses.

Unbeknownst to everyone in the auditorium, Zero is actually relieved when he hears Anya announcing that Jeremiah is still on his way. 'Good, seems like the extra orders I have placed had worked and slowed him down from reaching here,' the masked man muses, 'although Nunnally insisted that all people who were close to Lelouch should know the truth, if I remember correctly from my various interactions with Lord Gottwald and what Lelouch had told me about him, he must not be shown the truth, at least not at this juncture of events, or else…'

Shirley continued to mutter in a shaking voice, before realizing something was off. "Huh? How about Nunna? I mean, the Viceroy…"

Suddenly, Shirley looked to the front and saw Jeremiah standing before her, staring at her intently. "Are you a fellow classmate of Lord Lelouch? I have seen you on the files," he asked.

Shirley was frightened. Who was this tall, teal-haired man? What did he have to do with her Lulu? "Uhm… I don't know a thing! I really don't know a thing you're talking about…"

"That's perfectly fine," Jeremiah said, surprising the orange-haired girl. "Although I have broken the Geass cast on you, but if you keep digging deeper and deeper, I would not be able to guarantee that you could stay alive."

"Huh…?" Shirley was shocked by the seriousness of the things the man was saying, "to stay alive…?"

Jeremiah didn't answer Shirley's question. Instead, he turned and left while saying, "Please… I don't want to make both of them sad again…"

Inside the control room of the underground Geass facility, V.V. was visibly frustrated as he overheard Jeremiah's advice offered to Shirley. His hands were on the control panel with his fingers tensed, his body inclined slightly as he stared blankly at the control panel, his shoulder trembling.

"Haha… I knew that already, Jeremiah. I knew you always pay special attention to the children of Marianne…" V.V. chuckled sarcastically, "Well, go forth to where Lelouch is! Then I shall know whether the current Zero is the real one or not, as well as the whereabouts of C.C."

"Your Highness, it seems that Lord Gottwald had already known the true identity of Zero at this point. What I still don't understand is his sudden change of heart to Lelouch," Guilford mutters to Cornelia, who has just recovered from the emotional release regarding Euphy's untimely death.

"If what V.V. said here was true… and given his apparently frustrated facial expression," Cornelia rubs her slightly swollen eyes to readjust her composure, "that would suggest that Gottwald was not wholeheartedly working for V.V. Adding what Gottwald had said to Ms Fenette in the previous scene, I think Gottwald may have held a special regard to Lady Marianne that prompted him to pledge his loyalty to Lelouch, Her Highness' first child."

"All because of his admiration to Lady Marianne?" Guilford finds it a bit difficult to believe. Lelouch was the man who ruined Jeremiah's entire career and almost got him killed. How could Jeremiah be so willing to overlook that?

"I vaguely remember that Gottwald was on the security team of Aries Villa when I headed it," Cornelia recalls, "combining with what has been shown to us regarding Gottwald's performance at the Battle of Narita, it can be surmised that Gottwald has a very loyal personality, loyal to the point where he's willing to sacrifice himself just to prove his loyalty to someone. Such loyalty might be the reason why he was able to overlook past grudges he might have with Lelouch as Zero and pledging his loyalty to him as a sign of his loyalty to the late Lady Marianne."

"If that's the case, then Lord Gottwald is indeed an honourable man," Guilford comments.

"Indeed," Cornelia agrees.

Meanwhile, Suzaku was once again travelling on a jet. He was changing his clothes while on the phone with Rolo through his hands-free device attached to his right ear.

"…have you properly communicated with them, Rolo? What is V.V.'s evaluation of the current Zero? He was the one who informed me about Geass and helped me and Jeremiah to reach Kamine Island. Wasn't he the administrator responsible for preventing the power of Geass from running loose?" Suzaku demanded, before he seemed to have realized something. "…that's enough," he said as he pulled away the hands-free device from his right ear.

'I see… V.V. and His Majesty have different objectives, and I am their sacrifice on the chessboard in order to achieve their different objectives,' Suzaku mused, beginning to fume upon such realization.

"So V.V. was the culprit who transported Kururugi and Orange to Kamine Island to chase after Lelouch?" Ohgi is surprised by the information. He still couldn't believe how a young boy could do those things across the battlefield.

"Since when did that imbecile think that the Emperor was not treating him as a sacrifice on his grand chessboard? Did he forget it was that very man who espoused the supremacy of Britannians and inferiority of the Numbers?" Chiba barks at seeing how late Suzaku's realization came to himself. How naive was Suzaku to believe that he was being seen as an equal to the Britannians?

Tohdoh does not say a word, but his frown pretty much sums up his disappointment at Suzaku, his former disciple.

"Well, at least he realized it at last," Kallen spats, "not doing too bad for someone with a fossilized head like him."

"I am surprised, though. What did Kururugi mean when he said that V.V. and the Emperor had different objectives?" Rakshata observes, "I thought they were working towards the same goal? That whole 'slay the God' thing?"

Cornelia is also perplexed at Suzaku's realization. First, Bartley was ordered to be at that underground Geass facility by her father. Since V.V. was in charge of that facility, it would only make sense if V.V. and the Emperor were working on the same goal in order for V.V. to accept Bartley's presence in the facility at the order of her father. Second, several previous scenes have shown that V.V. was indeed working with her father, from bringing Nunnally to that strange dimension with eternal dusk, to both of them gazing at the eternal dusk in that strange dimension, talking about their contract of "slaying the God". If V.V. and her father had a contract together, wouldn't that mean they are working towards the same goal, i.e. to "slay God", whatever that meant? All of the scenes concerning V.V. and Charles have suggested that they were working towards the same goal, and they were bound by some sort of a contract between the two. 'Why did Kururugi come to the conclusion that V.V. and my father have different objectives, and what different objectives did father and V.V. had?' Cornelia muses.

Frustrated by his realization and the lack of progress in OSI's report on Lelouch's behaviour, Suzaku decided to confront Lelouch directly to make sure that the raven-haired boy was not the current Zero. He walked pass Rivalz, who was working on his motorbike and surprised to see Suzaku back at Ashford from the EU. Suzaku then walked straight to Lelouch's room and knocked the door. The door opened and right behind the doorway stood Lelouch.

"Huh? What's up? If you are coming back, at least give me a call… hmm?" Lelouch was perplexed to see a smiling Suzaku pulling his collar. "What's that?"

"I see, so you don't know what this code means," Suzaku said in realization. Lelouch suddenly realized something went wrong and instantly launched an attack at Suzaku.

"Huh? What happened?" Rivalz is shocked by the scene. "Why did Lelouch suddenly attack Suzaku?"

The two kept fighting and came to a stalemate inside Lelouch's room. Seeing things were not going well, Lelouch had his left foot's heel stepped on the floor, releasing some green smokescreen and temporarily deterred Suzaku's attack. Lelouch took the chance and moved in inhuman speed, jumping from the first floor to the ground floor down the student council club house and running towards the exit. Suzaku also hopped down to the ground floor to pursue Lelouch, but eventually lost him due to the green smokescreen being released continuously on Lelouch's escape pathway.

Suzaku decided to rush to the underground OSI operating station instead. He slid his ID card through the authenticating machine on the side of the door and got into the control room before he demanded the OSI staff, "Where is Lelouch Lamperouge?"

"There is nothing of concern," a staff responded.

"I am asking you where he went!" Suzaku barked with a furious face, "Where is Captain Nu? The false brother?"

However, the staff gave the same answer. "As I have just said, there is nothing of concern." Another staff added, "It's the same as usual, sir." It turns out that all the staff members present in the control room have red rings surrounding their pupils.

Suzaku finally realized what was going on. "I see… all of the OSI members have been…" he hissed.

"Suzaku…!" Shirley is angered by what Suzaku is doing on screen. How dare he referred to Rolo as "the false brother" and treated him as a tool, and how dare he attacked her Lulu like that?

"Wait, I don't understand. How did Lelouch suddenly become a ninja?" Rivalz is also not happy to see how Suzaku treated Rolo like a tool instead of a living human, but he is more puzzled by what he has just seen on the screen. "We are talking about Lelouch, right? That guy who couldn't even beat a girl in a 50-metre (164 feet) race?"

"The answer is simple: that's not Lelouch," Milly says.

"Huh? What do you mean?" Rivalz is puzzled.

"Remember the scene where Suzaku had just transferred into Ashford Academy and when Lelouch walked pass the isolated Suzaku and pulled his collar to give Suzaku a signal?" Milly hints.

"Oh! That 'meeting on the roof' code?" Shirley gets what Milly was referring to.

"Bingo! The Suzaku in this scene also pulled his collar, but this Lelouch asked for the meaning of the "code". What does that tell you?" Milly asks Rivalz.

"… that the Lelouch appeared on the screen just now was not really Lelouch!" Rivalz finally realizes, "That means someone else was impersonating him! Plagiarism… no, an identity theft?"

"More like Lelouch having a body double to stand in his place when he's out there as Zero," Milly says, "And I have an idea of who that body double was."