Author's Note: I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. It's a pretty silly one, although there are important bits inside it. I hope that you guys would enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it!

Disclaimer: I do not own Code Geass or any of its characters.

Chapter 4
Induction Day

"So, Prez, where are we going?" Shirley asked the student council president. She expected them to have a sit-down interview of sorts in the student council room before they decided on whether to welcome her and Suzaku in the council. Milly's swift acceptance surprised them both and now they were being led by the curvaceous blonde.

"We're going to the student clubhouse to meet the other council members. They're in one of the function rooms," Milly replied, skipping ahead cheerfully. She found Shirley's habit of assigning nicknames rather entertaining – Lelouch being called "Lulu" and she herself being named "Prez".

"Why would they be at one of the function rooms anyway?" Lelouch interjected, walking behind the two girls alongside Suzaku. "Is there an event I'm unaware of?"

"Well, yes, there's going to be an impromptu event," Milly answered, brushing a strand of her blonde hair aside as they reached a set of huge oak doors, which she promptly pushed open, revealing a wide and spacious room. "We're here!" the blonde announced, gesturing dramatically at the room.

The group of students stepped inside. "Woah," Suzaku muttered, impressed. The room was huge; it had 2 floors, and they were currently on the higher one. A flight of red and gold carpeted stairs, its banisters complete with elaborate metal patterns, led downwards to the first floor, which had many round tables with immaculate white tablecloths. The walls were a pristine and of a light brown colour and there were large, spotless windows with fancy designs. An extravagant glass chandelier hung on the ceiling.

"It's grand, isn't it?" Milly asked, giggling at Suzaku, whose mouth was agape with wonder. She turned away from the honorary Britannian and called out. "Attention, council members, we have another two new additions here. Come out and greet them!" Almost at once, the other students appeared, peering curiously at Shirley and Suzaku.

"Eh?" Rivalz did a double take as he spotted his two classmates as new members of the student council. "What a surprise! I'm Rivalz. I'm the secretary of the council," he introduced as he walked up to the pair.

"I didn't know you were part of the student council too, Rivalz," Shirley smiled at the blue-haired teenager. From the corner of her eye, she noticed three girls starting to approach them – one was of average height but having a figure that could compete with Milly's, and with crimson hair that barely touched her shoulders and bright blue eyes. The other was bespectacled and rather slight with medium length hair, which was a shade of green so dark it was almost black. The remaining female council member was none other than Nunnally, who was of course seated on her wheelchair, her warm blue eyes shining with welcome.

"Kallen Stadtfeld. I just joined the council today as well," the redhead introduced, with an amiable smile on her lips as she extended her hand for a handshake.

"You look rather familiar," Shirley commented as she returned the gesture, racking her brains as she tried to place Kallen. "Wait, weren't you in class with us just now?"

"Class 1-D, yes," Kallen agreed. "I have a condition… I'm not very well, you see. That's why you won't see me much in class."

"I see. Hope you'll get better then", Shirley smiled reassuringly at the seemingly ill girl. However, she noted that despite Kallen's seeming languidness, she had a firm and strong grip when they shook hands.

"Nina Einstein," the other student council member said shyly, meeting Shirley's eyes for a moment before looking away.

Shirley glanced at her inquisitively for a moment before Nunnally chimed in, "And I'm Nunnally Lamperouge, Lelouch's younger sister… I'm only an honorary member though. Pleased to meet you."

"I'm Shirley Fenette. Nice to meet you all! And this is Kururugi Suzaku," Shirley beamed at all three of them as Suzaku stepped forth, grinning sheepishly.

"So, Prez… would you like to tell us what the occasion is?" Lelouch inquired after all of the student council members were acquainted with each other. He had a sneaking suspicion, but he preferred to let Milly display her quirks herself to the new members.

"Of course! Since we have three new members joining the council today, today will be Kallen-Suzaku-Shirley Induction day!" Milly proclaimed, waving her hands around in sheer excitement. The three new council members stared at the council president.

"Is she serious?" Shirley asked Lelouch with polite incredulity.

"Now, there's no time to waste, let's prepare dinner!" Milly immediately bustled about before Lelouch could respond, grabbing the spluttering vice-president's arm and began marching towards the kitchen. "Shirley, Rivalz, you're with us for cooking! Suzaku, Kallen and Nina, please fetch the party decorations and drinks from the storehouse! Thank you!"

"Wahhh!" a voice called out shrilly, accompanied with the sound of metal pots crashing. Lelouch closed his eyes and took a deep breath as Shirley somehow managed to mess up whisking the mixture of butter, sugar, flour and eggs and spilt the contents all over the floor. In her panicked fumbling, the slender orange-haired teenager also fell backwards and landed on the floor hard. Chortling from Rivalz and Milly indicated that they found Shirley's clumsiness hilarious, and while Lelouch shared their amusement to some degree, Shirley's constant slip ups were beginning to grate on his nerves since he was a more than competent cook.

"That's the third time you managed to mess something up today, Shirley", Lelouch groaned with exasperation, although he had a slight smile on his face as he regarded her smeared with baking ingredients. He walked across the room to her side, offering her a hand. Shirley winced – more from the painful fall than Lelouch's words as she took Lelouch's hand and stood up.

"I'm sorry, Lulu," Shirley apologized, glancing at the kitchen floor, which was now slick with the mix of egg whites and yolk, not to mention butter and flour as well.

"Need a towel?" Rivalz enquired, smirking at Shirley, who had the combination of ingredients all over her. Thankfully, they were all wearing aprons, so her uniform was spared from stains, but she still looked like an absolute mess.

"I'll get one myself," Shirley answered, quickly releasing Lelouch's hand as she turned to find a place to clean up – perhaps the washroom.

"Hold on, Shirley, before you go, could you pass me the salt?" Lelouch requested. He was tending to a pot of thick white liquid at the stove, stirring its contents slowly with a wooden ladle. "I need it for the béchamel sauce."

"Oh, um, sure!" Shirley eagerly snatched up one of the shakers lying on the table and hurried over to Lelouch's side. "Here you go, Lulu!" She was about to pass it to Lelouch's outstretched palm when her hand brushed against Lelouch's, causing her to blush and Lelouch's eyes to widen slightly.

There was a moment of awkward stillness, which stretched on as Lelouch continued to stare at their hands. "Shirley?" Lelouch asked kindly, breaking the silence as he smiled at her.

"Yes?" Shirley felt her heart flutter a little and she returned the smile, their fingers still touching ever so slightly.

"That's pepper."

"Oh." An embarrassing silence ensued, and Shirley's smile faded away almost instantly. "So Lelouch was looking at the pepper shaker all along". Shirley could feel herself flushing again and she mentally berated herself for her reaction and grabbing the wrong shaker in her haste. "Oops."

"You know what? I think you should just wait outside until we're done", Lelouch sighed. He rested the ladle against the pot and crossed the room to fetch the salt. "You need to wash up anyway," Lelouch added as Shirley quietly shuffled her feet to the kitchen's exit in shame.

"Do you have any last words, Victor zi Britannia?" Charles zi Britannia, the ninety-eighth Emperor of the Holy Britannian Empire, asked icily, glowering at the subject of his ire.

Victor zi Britannia was Charles's older twin brother. He had dark pink eyes and a mane of flowing white hair – which used to be white-blonde. He ceded the chance to be Emperor after Charles overthrew their father, Hector van Britannia, with the aid of Marianne, for unknown reasons and slowly faded into obscurity.

However, several days ago he was arrested for being a suspect in Marianne's murder once incriminating evidence was found after a gruelling investigation which started eight years ago. Also apprehended were numerous key leaders of the organization, known as the Sword of Akasha. The Sword of Akasha was the mastermind behind Marianne's assassination, and Victor was their leader who orchestrated the murder. This discovery was kept a secret among the Britannian royalty and a few select members of the nobility. As the suspects have been proven to be guilty, their execution was scheduled to take place today in a Britannian prison's execution area. All of them were bound and secured to a guillotine, although very few of them showed despair during their last moments. The silent but resolute expressions on their faces were almost disconcerting to Charles.

"I pity you, brother. Even now, you still cannot understand that I did it for us-" Victor began, his eyes sorrowful as he stared mournfully at his younger brother.

"We've been through this before, Victor, and I find your reasons not only inane but quite mad as well," Charles cut him off dismissively. He glanced at the other prisoners behind his brother. "How about the rest of you?"

"Strike us down and another will take our places! You cannot dismantle the Sword of Akasha! We are unstoppable!" A black haired male prisoner ranted, clearly deranged as he glared balefully at the Britannian Emperor and struggled ferociously against his bonds to no avail.

"Typical. Banal. Trite," Charles commented dismissively and signalled at the executioner, who nodded. Charles rose from his seat and walked away, not deigning to look at his wife's murderers as the guillotine's blade descended, making a swooshing noise, and there was a sound of flesh-rending, bone snapping and an object thudding against the ground. Charles sniffed with disdain as the series of sounds repeated, filling the execution chamber and he departed from the prison, heading towards his throne room.

"Notify Margrave Gottwald that I require his assistance in a vital task. Clear the throne room once he has arrived," Charles instructed his royal guards as he entered the throne room. One of the imperial guards nodded swiftly and left, and Charles took his seat on his gold-plated throne. "Finally, Marianne's death has been avenged… it's time to call Lelouch and Nunnally back to where they belong." Charles knew that both of his children have been listed as dead after Britannia waged war on Japan, but Charles refused to believe that they were dead. Furthermore, Lelouch was both resourceful and smart – he was probably faking his and Nunnally's deaths, thinking that Charles abandoned them both.

Charles's train of thought was interrupted when the doors to the throne room were thrown open, and a dark-green haired nobleman, dressed in a military uniform and a white and blue overcoat adorned with intricate gold patterns, entered the room. He was tall but slightly shorter than the Britannian Emperor, and his fierce orange eyes fixated on Charles. The newcomer strode towards Charles, before kneeling before the Emperor and bowing his head in deference. "Your Majesty," he said humbly. "You sent for me?"

"I have," Charles replied simply. "Imperial guards, you are dismissed," he glanced at his guards, who dutifully obeyed and marched out of the throne room. Charles waited for a moment or two to make sure that they were alone before uttering, "Rise, Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald. I am about to assign you a task of extreme importance." That statement caught Jeremiah's interest as he rose gracefully to his feet.

"You were severely injured on the night of Marianne's assassination attempt, were you not?" Charles began, staring at the shorter man. "You felt that something was amiss when she unexpectedly dismissed her royal guard, and you convinced a number of other royal guard members to secretly resume their posts." Jeremiah blinked and nodded, his stern expression softening slightly.

Charles paused, before resuming. "Despite it all, Marianne fell to the assassins. However, you and your men managed to save the lives of the eleventh Prince and his sister, although she has been crippled by the attack. Most of the royal guards perished or succumbed to grievous wounds, but you survived with the aids of cybernetic implants."

"I owe you my thanks, your majesty," Jeremiah rumbled gratefully. "You allowed the Camelot team to test the implants on me." True enough, Jeremiah was more machine than man – he looked like a normal person on the outside, but most of his body depended on the implants for life support. Of course, the cybernetic devices had some benefits – enhanced strength, increased speed and agility and concealed weaponry, but it was a fact that if the devices were to fail, his life would be over in a matter of minutes.

Charles waved off Jeremiah's expression of gratitude. "Camelot has deemed you fully functional and operational for even the most strenuous activities." The Emperor's eyes narrowed. "Therefore, your next mission is to locate the eleventh prince, Lelouch vi Britannia and his sister, Nunnally vi Britannia and bring them back to the Holy Britannian Empire." Jeremiah started and his eyed widened in shock.

"Your Majesty! I was under the impression that they were deceased. Am I mistaken?!" Jeremiah asked frantically, almost forgetting who he was speaking to. Jeremiah felt like he owed a debt to these two royal children in particular as he failed them and their mother, Marianne. Despite Charles's not unkind words, he never managed to forgive himself for his catastrophic failure and blamed himself. If there was any way he could make it up to them, he would.

"To be truthful, Margrave Gottwald, I am not entirely certain. However, I cannot believe… I refuse to believe that they are dead," Charles returned. His answer seemed to surprise Jeremiah, who never thought that Charles would show any of his children such concern. "Lelouch is both talented and ingenious; he must not have fallen with his sister that easily. Hence, I hereby order you to search for them in Area 11… or Japan, which was the country I've sent them for hiding before the war erupted."

"If you sent them to Japan, why did our forces attack and made it into Area 11, your majesty? Or why not recall them before the war started?" Jeremiah was confused. "If Emperor Charles truly cared for his children, why did the Britannian troops attack the country they were hiding in?"

"There was no other option. Japan aligned their Sakuradite distribution policies against the Empire," Charles stated. He grimaced inwardly. If Jeremiah was this bewildered, there was a high chance that Lelouch thought that Charles no longer cared about them. "There was pressure from not only my military advisors but my political advisors and other members of royalty as well. To refuse to invade Japan would look suspicious or worse, it may alert the Sword of Akasha assassins to the location of their exile and the organization were on the loose back then. I had to conquer Japan. The best… and the only course of action was to invade Japan and pray that they don't die. I chose the possibility of death over certain death", Charles explained. There was a note of defensiveness so slight that Jeremiah wondered whether he imagined it.

"I understand," Jeremiah politely, if not reluctantly, nodded. He didn't agree with Charles's decision, but he could at least understand it. "When do I leave, your majesty?"

"Tomorrow morning. You may want to try the Kururugi Shrine, for it was the last known place where Lelouch and Nunnally resided. Once you have located them, do inform them that their mother's murderers have been punished. I do not expect you to return to Britannia until you have completed your task. Is that understood?"

"Yes, Your Majesty! I will not fail you," Jeremiah promised. His eyes shone with determination. He will redeem himself by completing this mission. "I will not fail them."

"Dinner's ready!" Milly called out ardently from the kitchen. The student council president pushed a trolley, laden with several dishes while Rivalz followed her enthusiastically from the kitchen. Lelouch was the last to exit the cooking area, undoing his apron when the clubhouse's doors slid open and Suzaku, Kallen and Nina returned with their arms full of bottles and party decorations.

"Ah, Suzaku, there you are! Did you get the bottle as I asked you to?" Rivalz asked excitedly, racing over to the honorary Britannian's side. This piqued the interest of the student council as they peered curiously at the pair.

"Yup, I got it", Suzaku grinned, handing over a light green bottle over to Rivalz, who grinned back and clapped exuberantly. "Moët & Chandon, right?"

"You asked Suzaku to fetch champagne?" Shirley asked, aghast. She was seated on a chair around one of the round tables in the clubhouse after her somewhat embarrassing exit.

"Student council members can't drink!" Nina piped up shyly.

"Oh, loosen up, you guys!" Rivalz cajoled as he made to open the bottle of champagne, pushing the cork with his thumb. "Sure, we're student council members, but surely we're allowed to let our hair down once in a while."

"We're not allowed to drink that!" Shirley quickly insisted as she sprung to her feet and tried to wrest the bottle of champagne away from Rivalz. None of them were of legal age yet – even Milly was only seventeen, and the school rules were clearly against underage drinking. Furthermore, the student council members are to set 'good examples' for other students to follow, although a number of them, especially Rivalz and Lelouch, did not really care about it.

Rivalz continuously avoided Shirley's fumbling attempts to snatch the bottle away from him, but he was quickly getting frustrated as he wouldn't be able to open the champagne if this scuffle continued. "Lelouch, catch!" Rivalz yelled as he tossed the champagne over to his friend in an underhand throw. The bottle of alcohol sailed in a lazy arc towards Lelouch, who caught it handily.

"Oh, for heaven's sake," Shirley groaned as she switched targets to Lelouch and sped over to him, still trying to get the bottle of champagne. Lelouch deftly evaded her outstretched hands, using his slightly taller height to use as he held the object high above their heads. "You're not getting away with this either, Lulu!" Shirley insisted as she pressed on stubbornly.

Unfortunately for Shirley, she leaned ahead just a little too much. As her attention was solely fixed on the dark-haired male, she failed to notice her precarious footing until she lost her balance. With a surprised cry, she stumbled forward into Lelouch, causing him to lose his footing as well, and they ended up sprawling on the floor with a loud thud. The champagne bottle was still gripped tightly in Lelouch's hand, pointing towards the clubhouse's ceiling. The cork of the champagne bottle, already loose from Rivalz's attempt to open it, popped open suddenly, the cork hitting Shirley's nose squarely before its contents sprayed forth, drenching her face and uniform with liquor, which dripped down to Lelouch.

"Umm… sorry, Lulu," Shirley murmured. She couldn't believe how clumsy she had been today. Her attempt to get the champagne away had been a total fiasco. Shirley then realized that Lelouch's face was in close proximity with hers; their lips were scant inches apart. She could feel heat creeping up to her face once more.

Lelouch could only sigh and shake his head in disbelief. He then noted Shirley's soaked uniform, which was now strongly giving off the smell of alcohol. "It seems like you need to wash up again."

"Both of you need to go to the bathroom to shower right now," Milly remarked, laughing at them. "As the student council president, I will not tolerate any dirty students during dinner time," she joked as she pulled them to their feet and pushed them outside of the function room.

"Wait! I need to get my spare clothes first!" Shirley protested as she was practically shoved out of the room by the taller, older female.

"I'll bring some for you, don't worry," Milly promised. "Now, off you go," she waved cheerfully at the liquor-drenched pair as they trudged away to the bathroom.

Shirley closed her eyes, enjoying the feeling of warm water on her skin before she adjusted the tap. The shower head sputtered to a stop and she drew the shower curtains, stepping out of the tub. The water droplets on her skin glistened and she shivered briefly from the coolness of the bathroom before grabbing a large yellow towel and began drying her slender, toned legs.

As Shirley wiped herself dry, she could not help but reflect on the events of today and flinched at how ungainly she was today. She committed blunder after blunder, being more of a hindrance than a help – and to make matters worse, Lelouch did not seem pleased with her at all. She had never felt so abashed in her life before, and she felt the desire to apologise to Lelouch rise again. "I didn't do it intentionally though. And I already apologized many times," Shirley thought defensively. "But still… what if he's secretly angry with me? Or he might think I'm an incapable bum?"

Shirley frowned, perplexed at why she would be so concerned over what Lelouch thought about her. Without warning, Sophie's past words to her echoed in her head, "…I shall not interrupt the time of you two lovebirds…" Shirley started, shaking her head to dispel such thoughts. Surely she was not attracted to him, of all people! "I mean, he's kinda cute… and definitely good looking, but he can be so arrogant sometimes!" Shirley argued with herself. "Besides, he's a friend whom I'm going to spend the next two or three years with. Of course I should be mindful of his impression of me!" She made to towel her auburn hair dry while walking over to the basket that should house her clothes. Shirley leaned forward, bending down, her fingers reaching forward to fetch the clothing in the basket – only to find that they weren't there. The wooden basket was empty.

Shirley panicked momentarily. How could she go out of the bathroom without having any clothes on? She could wrap the towel around her body – but that wasn't very dignified. The redhead adolescent calmed down a little as she recalled that Milly said that she would bring her clothing. But she should have done so by now. After all, Shirley did spend quite a bit of time in the shower. "Perhaps she's late. Or something occurred and it occupied her attention. I'll just wait here until she arrives," Shirley mused as she carefully enveloped herself with the towel, warm water still dripping slightly from her hair.

"Why is Shirley taking so long? The food's getting cold," Rivalz bemoaned, eyeing the mouthwatering plates of food. His stomach rumbled loudly. "I know that girls can take a long time in the shower, but it already has been an hour!"

"You shouldn't have asked Suzaku to fetch the champagne for you, Rivalz," Nunnally chided, frowning in disapproval at her brother's friend. "School rules are rules, after all."

"Not you too, Nunnally", Rivalz groaned and he turned to Milly. "Say, do you have any idea why Shirley's taking such a long time in the shower? Lelouch only took ten minutes!"

"I might have an idea," Milly smirked, stifling a giggle. "I'm honestly surprised that she lasted this long. You see, I didn't bring her any clothes, unlike what I promised. I can't wait to see the expression on her-"

"PRESIDENT!" a high-pitched voice screamed in frustration as the doors slid open. The scream drew the attention of everyone in the room, but Lelouch and Suzaku, upon seeing the source of the shriek, immediately averted their eyes, coughing awkwardly.

It was Shirley, who looked extremely indignant as she scowled at Milly. She only had a bath towel wrapped tightly around her lithe form, her orange hair still damp from the shower. One hand was balled into a fist while the other clutched at the towel firmly to ensure that it would not loosen.

Milly burst out laughing the moment she spotted Shirley clad only in the yellow bath towel. "It's not funny, Prez!" Shirley protested angrily, still glaring at the blonde reproachfully. She had to run all the way from the bathroom to the function room in fear of being seen.

"You're impressive," the student council president remarked nonchalantly, her blue eyes sweeping Shirley head to toe, giving her a thorough once-over.

"What do you mean?!"

"You have a pretty good figure. You're filling out nicely on the top and bottom, aren't you?" Milly commented cheekily, as she continued to eye Shirley's figure admiringly. The towel clung tightly to Shirley, which displayed her form very clearly.

"Y-You pervert!" Shirley accused the older girl shrilly, scandalized. Her face was now the shade of a deep, burning crimson and she folded her arms over her body. Milly went into another a fit of hysterical giggling, and even Rivalz chuckled.

"That's enough," a new voice entered the ruckus. Kallen rose to her feet, shooting Milly a disgruntled look as she walked over to Shirley. "I'll bring you some clothes, Shirley. Follow me," she said kindly as she motioned Shirley to follow her, and the two redheads exited the clubhouse, bringing the commotion to an abrupt end.

Several weeks later…

Jeremiah stalked through the corridors of Omotensado Mall. His eyes - both his enhanced bionic one and his ordinary eye darted around the complex, observing the shoppers carefully. Several days have passed since he had arrived in Area 11 to search for Lelouch and Nunnally, and while he commenced his mission the very moment he set foot in the colony, he has met nothing but failure so far.

The Margrave made a trip to the Kururugi Shrine on his first day, but there was no sign of human life in there, let alone the exiled prince and princess. The shrine was clearly deserted a few years ago – perhaps shortly after Britannia won the war. The musty smell, combined with the cobwebs and dust-coated floorboards were strong indicators of its abandonment. Jeremiah then went to investigate places related to the Kururugi family, after all, they were the ones who hosted Lelouch and Nunnally during their exile, but once more came up with nothing. Since then, he resorted to asking passers-by with a photo of Lelouch and Nunnally when they were little and living in Britannia. He was careful not to divulge that the two children in the picture are of royalty.

Jeremiah groaned and adjusted the collar of his once-crisp military uniform wearily. He doubted that asking random people would bear fruit, but he had little choice. This time, he was scouting around Omotensado Mall, which is a fairly popular place for people around the age of the eleventh prince and princess. The possibility of bumping into them here was extremely minimal at best, hence Jeremiah decided to ask the adolescents in the area with the hopes that one of them would recognize Lelouch or Nunnally in his photograph, regardless of how slight his chances are.

As he made his third round around the shopping mall, he noticed a gaggle of schoolgirls chatting animatedly among themselves, in the midst of leaving a restaurant. Jeremiah pretended to glance at them casually; in reality, he was keeping a keen eye for any bit of clue that would lead him to his targets. The golden, gleaming symbol on the school uniform caught his eye and he frowned, there was something about the symbol that jogged his memory. After a moment or two of pondering, it hit him – it was the Ashford family coat of arms. "Wasn't the Ashford family backing Empress Marianne and her children before falling from grace after her assassination? Perhaps they would know something about Lelouch or Nunnally?" Jeremiah thought excitedly.

Confidence renewed, Jeremiah hastened towards them. His improved hearing capabilities caught every word they uttered. "-was really good. It's a pity that Shirley couldn't come. She's always so busy with her duties as part of the student council-"

"Excuse me, ladies! I'm sorry to disrupt your conversation, but may I have a moment of your time?" Jeremiah interrupted the schoolgirls as he called out in a clear, booming voice. They halted and turned, many eyeing the Margrave with confusion and curiosity.

"Margrave Jeremiah Gottwald," Jeremiah began, bowing slightly before rummaging in his overcoat's inner pockets. The group of students blinked and some of them straightened their backs when they realized they were speaking with a noble. "Allow me to cut to the chase." He produced a pair of photographs from his pockets and held them for the girls to see. "I would like to know if you recognize any of these two children here. They should be around your age by now."

"Sophie Wood," a girl in the middle with lilac hair past her shoulders, introduced herself calmly. She then scrutinized the two pictures for nearly half a minute and murmured, "They sure do look very familiar… but I can't quite place them…" The schoolgirl glanced questioningly at her group of friends.

"Wait a moment, Sophie," one of them piped up, narrowing her eyes at the photographs. "Don't you think that they kinda look like Lelouch… and his sister…?" her voice trailed off speculatively, as though a little unsure of herself. However, at the mention of the name 'Lelouch', Jeremiah seized the hint.

"Yes, that's Lelouch!" The Margrave could barely reign in his emotions and stopped himself short of yelled in his excitement. "Do you know where they are right now? This is a matter of utmost significance." Jeremiah pressed, his eyes gleaming with exhilaration.

"Umm… he's my classmate," Sophie answered warily. She wasn't sure why this distinguished-looking noble was searching for arguably the most popular student on campus and his crippled sister, but it wasn't her concern. "He's staying at Ashford Academy as well, with his sister, if I'm not wrong".

"Thank you very much, ladies," Jeremiah beamed at them buoyantly. The nobleman could scarcely believe his luck. "Now if you excuse me, I have business to attend to." With that, Jeremiah brushed past them, almost breaking out into an all-out sprint as he set out to find the eleventh prince and his sister. He would not let them down this time.

He would not allow it.

Author's Note: And we get the ball rolling! Yes, Charles is a little 'nicer' in this story but I felt it was reasonable for him as long as he doesn't show it openly. And yes, I took the name 'The Sword of Akasha' from Code Geass itself but made it into an organization instead. Partly because I can't think of what to name it and it's related to Victor (V.V.). Further details on this syndicate will be given next chapter.

Once again, I hope that you readers had enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts if you have any.