-The Time of Zero-

August 14, 2017 a.t.b.

Ekkehardt sat in the open cabin of his Sutherland during the day, waiting for the deployment for escorting Suzaku to the court for his case. He didn't like doing this however. "Why did my superior ask me to be here last night when I can be here in the afternoon, the escort doesn't start until tonight." Ekkehardt said to himself as he was reading the diagnostic test on the Sutherland and drinking a pouch of water at the same time. "Are you Ekkehardt Von Kaiser? The one who will be within our squad to escort the Honorary Britannian to court?" A man's voice called out to him. Ekkehardt turned his head to see that it was Jeremiah Gottwald. Speak of the devil… Ekkehardt thought before standing up and saluting to Jeremiah.

"Yes, I am Ekkehardt. I am assigned to be one of the pilots to be the escort." Ekkehardt said to Jeremiah. Jeremiah gave a smirk before turning around and walking away, along with two others from the Purist Faction. Such a filthy group… Ekkehardt thought in irony. He went back to checking with the diagnostic testing on his Sutherland.

Later that day, Ekkehardt was in the cafeteria for lunch eating with the soldiers and pilots there. He sat at one of the benches alone, despite of all of the people there. "I just hope the assignment will be over soon. I'd hate to deal with the Purist Faction." Ekkehardt said to himself as he ate.

Bridge leading to Court

The time has come. The escort of Suzaku Kururugi to the court for his trial. Ekkehardt is in his Sutherland, piloting behind the others over the bridge. The news was there, reeling all of this in as two lines of Britannians were spouting insults to Suzaku for murdering Prince Clovis. A hard scowl formed on Ekkehardt. Damn sheep, I even doubt that the court will do a fair trial that is supposed to happen for Suzaku. Ekkehardt thought with tension. He hated to not be able to help him out, but once again he's forced to observe with the audience behind the fake curtain.

"Lord Jeremiah, we got a situation down here!" One of the pilots who were further ahead said on a channel that Ekkehardt listened to. "Calm down, what kind of situation we got here?" Jeremiah asked back to the pilot. "Well, we got a car, but not just any car, but it is Prince Clovis's!" The pilot answered back. Ekkehardt raised an eyebrow to what the pilot said. By now he stopped along with the others and the mobile platform that Suzaku is displayed on. The hell's going on? Ekkehardt asked in his head.

In the distance, a car with a trailer behind can be seen driving down towards them, the Britannian flag bared display on the front of the large trailer. The car slowed to a stop in front of the escort. Shortly afterwards, the flag burned up and away from the trailer. A figure garbed in a dark cape and a full-face helmet stood.

"I am, Zero!" The figure called out in an echo, as if muffled behind the mask. Ekkehardt got the screen to zoom in towards the figure who introduced himself as Zero. "Who is this guy…" Ekkehardt said to himself.

"Zero huh? Masquerading Prince Clovis's car I see." Jeremiah said with a smile, snapping his fingers and more Sutherlands appeared to encircle the car on cue of the snap. "Oh, and loose the mask." Jeremiah said to Zero. "I wouldn't make a move." Zero said, snapping his finger as well. The trailer opened up, revealing a large, round object inside. Ekkehardt could tell that it is something important, seeing Jeremiah's gasped expression at the sight.

"Wait! That's not what you-Ugh!" Suzaku called out, though the bracer on his neck shocked him to silence him. "Alright, what do you want?" Jeremiah said, attempting to calm down. "An exchange. This for Kururugi. For one person you save hundreds of Britannians. I find that to be a bargain." Zero said. Jeremiah at that point brought a pistol out. "There's no way in hell I would do that! He's the one who killed Prince Clovis!" "No, the one who killed Clovis, was myself!" Zero replied back.

There was a gasp coming from the crowd as Ekkehardt watched in the paradox of confusion. "So, the murderer has shown himself. A bold move." Ekkehardt muttered under his breath. Jeremiah points his gun at Zero. "Alright, I had enough of this game!" Jeremiah said. "You wouldn't want to shoot me, Orange." Zero said, tapping his foot on the car, a cue for the driver to drive closer. "If I die, all about you as Orange will be revealed in the public." Zero continued, mustering Jeremiah into more confusion.

"You will do everything in your power to help us escape!" Zero said to Jeremiah. What hadn't surprise Ekkehardt was that, but how Jeremiah reacted. "Alright, release the hostage at once." Jeremiah said to the two soldiers with Suzaku. They didn't do anything at first, only to get Jeremiah to yell. "I will not say this again, release him at once!" Jeremiah. Ekkehardt watched as the soldiers helped Suzaku off the platform and he walked towards Zero.

One particular figure got Ekkehardt's attention, the one who followed behind Zero. Red-haired figure, just like Kallen Stadtfeld. "It is time. Farewell." Zero said as he pushed a button, causing the object on the back of the car to explode in a pink smoke. Screams of terror and panic ran down the entire crowd as they ran. The other pilots went after Zero and Suzaku, though Jeremiah interrupted them until the man escaped. The entire time Ekkehardt idled where he was. Viletta Nu notices this and got to his channel. "What are you doing rookie! Help us restrain Jeremiah!" Viletta ordered Ekkehardt. Snapped out of the confused state, Ekkehardt went to restrain Jeremiah down. What a peculiar day this has been.

August 15, 2017 a.t.b.

Ekkehardt returned to Ashford Academy the morning after that. He didn't sleep well though as the night was hard on him for all of the confusion, plus he had to write a report what has happened. Fortunately he didn't get any sort of trouble for what happened. The Purist Faction however, had a mouthful on this. "Heh, that's what they get for trying to take advantage of something to only backfire at them. I don't want to deal with them ever again!" Ekkehardt mumbled to himself. His thoughts were on now is Zero. In his hand was a recent magazine he picked up along the way back with a cover picture of Zero saying: "Who is Zero?"

"I think he's a bit of a coward, hiding behind a mask, or so I think." Hannah's voice came up at his side, startling Ekkehardt once more. "Hannah! You like sneaking up on me do you!" Ekkehardt asked before calming down. "I don't think he's a coward. Britannia has all the resources it needs if he has shown his identity to capture him." Ekkehardt explained to Hannah.

Ekkehardt took a moment to think of something before turning to Hannah. "Hey, you know Kallen Stadtfeld correct? The red-haired girl that one day when you were at the banquet room? Was she here yesterday?" Ekkehardt asked. Hannah nodded her head before shaking. "Yes I know her, but she wasn't here yesterday. You see the same connection?" Hannah asked Ekkehardt. "So, you saw the red-haired figure behind Zero last night haven't you?" Ekkehardt asked before holding a hand to his chin. "Alright, I'll look into it." Ekkehardt said before leaving to his dorm room.

Ekkehardt's Dorm Room

Ekkehardt sat on his chair with one leg raised up, looking on the computer for recent news. "Jeremiah Gottwald suspected of something in the case of the 'Orange' incident. As well as Suzaku Kururugi released from court due to lack of evidence against him, that's good to hear." Ekkehardt said before leaning back. Earlier, he had confronted a couple of friends of Kallen about her along the way to his dorms, but they said that she had a sick day yesterday. "Sick day huh…" Ekkehardt said to himself.

Student Council Room

Ekkehardt entered the appointed council meeting in order to deal with balancing budgets for all of the other clubs. Soon, Hannah came in, though gave a bit of a surprise to everyone. She had her hair tied up, but she carried no books on her as she went to sit on her chair. "No book? What happened to my 'reading every book in existence theory'?" Ekkehardt said in a tired tone as he hands Hannah a stack of papers. "Here's the job. Go through and calculate all of the budgets for each of the clubs." Ekkehardt said before he made a large yawn. He was writing down numbers with his left hand while he was inputting stuff on a calculator with his right.

"So Ekkehardt! Who is the man behind Zero!" Rivalz asked him. Ekkehardt looks up at him with a tired expression. "Look Rivalz, I don't know and even if I did, I can't release information like that. What you saw on the news is what you will only get." Ekkehardt said, making Rivalz sigh and slump back into his chair.

"I don't think anyone can make an accurate decision on who Zero is at the moment." Hannah added to the conversation. Another shocker to the serious, book girl who didn't care about anything but school. Did I prompt a change to her? Ekkehardt thought before finishing up what he had left.

"In any cases, what is known is that with Princess Cornelia coming here as the new Viceroy to replace Prince Clovis, the military will be strict on duty to find him." Ekkehardt said before getting up. "I'm going to go to sleep. See you all tomorrow." Ekkehardt said. "Alright, see you then Ekky." Milly said to Ekkehardt before he left.

He laid on his bed in his room, staring at the ceiling but couldn't sleep. "So much for a good sleep, I'm blaming the whole situation for the insomnia…" Ekkehardt mumbled to himself before turning on his side to fall asleep at least once.