Euphemia of the Personas
Inaba, Town in another World
Disclaimer – I do not own either Code Geass or the Shin Megami Tensei Persona franchise. Code Geass is the property of Sunrise, Gorō Taniguchi and Ichirō Ōkouchi and the Shin Megami Tensei Persona franchise is the property of Atlus.
A good few hours had passed on Shikine-jima since the attempt to kill Zero; "Area Eleven's" most wanted terrorist, had gone awry, mainly thanks to Major Kururugi Suzaku, who seemed to have developed a change of heart at the last possible minute, which had led to him disregarding his orders in order to preserve his own life. Not only that, but apparently, upon learning that they were intending on sacrificing her Personal Knight, Princess Euphemia li Britannia, Third Princess of the Holy Britannian Empire, had commandeered a Portman Knightmare Frame, and went off in the direction of where Suzaku had been restraining Zero, intent on saving the "Eleven" boy.
However, what happened not so long ago remained a mystery. Somehow, after the Avalon, Prince Schneizel's personal flagship, had initiated its attack, Princess Euphemia, Suzaku, Zero and one of Zero's own subordinates, who had exited their Knightmare in a bid to try and save their leader, had all mysteriously vanished, and it was as if they had all disappeared into thin air. All that was left was the abandoned Portman atop a cliff, which had been recovered and the Lancelot, which was mysteriously empty, and the mysterious thing was, the cockpit was still closed, meaning that, by all logic, Suzaku should still be inside, and yet, the cockpit was somehow completely empty. Suzaku had somehow managed to defy all logic, and quite possibly even the laws of physics, and exit the Lancelot without opening the cockpit hatch, and if that was not enough, inspections of the Lancelot had found that there was no possible way he could have slipped out via alternate means, as there were no alternate means he could have pulled it off. It was as if he had completely vanished into thin air.
Anyway, while the Lancelot had been taken aboard the Avalon, along with Lloyd Asplund and Cécile Croomy of the Britannian Special Research Division, Advanced Special Envoy Engineering Corps, ASEEC or Camelot, as they had dubbed themselves, a search and rescue operation had been mobilised in order to search and retrieve Princess Euphemia, with soldiers swarming over where Suzaku had been restraining Zero.
Soldiers and Knightmares surrounded the crater that Zero had lured Suzaku to as part of his trap, guarding the rim, even as more soldiers had gone down into the depression armed with metal detectors, and were busy canvassing the area, even as someone barked orders to them.
"Find her!" the voice of Lieutenant-Colonel Fayer bellowed down to them from where he stood, "Whatever it takes, find Princess Euphemia!"
Fayer stood on the northern part of the crater's rim with his hands clasped behind his back and two officers, one standing on either side of him, with the one standing to his left holding a portfolio booklet on the right side of his front.
"Why couldn't she behave the way a Sub-Viceroy Figurehead is excepted to?" he practically growled to himself in frustration, and then, he shuddered in fear upon thinking about the possible repercussions should news of Princess Euphemia's sudden and mysterious disappearance reach her sister, "What a situation… if Princess Cornelia hears about this…"
He trailed off daring not to finish that train of thought. He had only learned of the Third Princess's apparent stunt after communications between him and Suzaku had somehow been cut off, and yet, since he was in charge of the base at Shikine-jima, he knew that, unless Princess Euphemia was found, preferably safe and sound, he would be the one who would get it in the neck and face Princess Cornelia's wrath, and not just him, but he also feared for the lives of his entire family.
As Chief General of the Imperial Army, Princess Cornelia's reputation, as both the Witch of Britannia and the Goddess of Victory, were well known throughout Britannia and the entire world. She had been responsible for the establishment of many "Areas" and she was also a decorated war heroine and battle-hardened war veteran. News of her various escapades fascinated Britannians the world over and struck fear into the hearts of many of the Empire's enemies, and several were even inspired to join the military in the hopes of becoming just like her.
However, what the masses of the general public did not know was that Princess Cornelia was also known for her short-temper and merciless and ruthless attitude when it came to things such as insubordination, or even treason. Among the military, Princess Cornelia was ruthless and was known for her short-fuse and fiery temper. Just about anything, even if it was small and, ultimately insignificant, could set her off into a furious tirade, and when it came to things that she was not happy with, she always needed to have someone to blame in order to take her anger and frustrations out on, and so, she always seemed to have a scapegoat on hand in those instances. Unfortunately, because of this aspect of her personality, it had led to some rather terrifyingly unnerving, frighteningly unsavoury and sometimes, rather obviously exaggerated rumours to float around concerning her.
It was clear to Fayer that, at least some of those rumours were clearly highly exaggerated to ridiculous degrees and blown out of proportion, but unfortunately, he did not want to see just where the reality ended and the exaggeration began, since, he knew that when Princess Cornelia was in one of her bad moods, it was easy to see why some of those rumours were overly exaggerated, and one would be tempted to believe them, and unfortunately for the military, Princess Cornelia did not exclude them from experiencing her wrath. It was not just her enemies that she took her frustrations out on, but also her allies, usually when there was no one else around for her to target and shunt the blame, for when things went wrong, onto.
Fayer just knew that unless Princess Euphemia was found, he would be the next one to face the Witch of Britannia's vengeful wrath, since he was in charge of the base that Princess Euphemia had been visiting. The fact that he had no knowledge of what Princess Euphemia had done until after her disappearance would mean absolutely nothing to Princess Cornelia. In her view, since he was in charge, anything bad that happened within the base, and by extension, the whole island, was his fault by default, regardless if he knew about it or not. One rumour that was circulating was that when Princess Cornelia had already chosen her target, she did not care whether they were at fault or not and proceeded to unleash her fury on them regardless, and would, in the cases of when it was clearly obvious that her anger was misplaced, come up with excuses, even rather obviously flimsy and ridiculous excuses to justify herself.
Another rumour that circulated was that whenever one of Princess Cornelia's subordinates had upset her, was that she did not just target them, she targeted their entire families. Whether this was true or not, the Lieutenant-Colonel did not know, but he was not intending to find out. Evidence in the past regarding those unlucky enough to get on the Princess's bad side seemed to suggest that that particular rumour was, at the very least, partially true, though, he could not be sure just how much of it was actually true, and he was in no hurry to find out; especially considering one such rumoured incident when Princess Cornelia supposedly had a nobleman arrested for pointing out that her hair was a mess and then proceeded to shoot his seven-year-old son at point-blank range, and in cold blood, when she had ignored his pleas to spare his father, and she only shot him when he called her a "bad lady", and then, she proceeded to have both his parents executed to cover up the fact that she practically murdered a minor in cold blood.
"A little exaggerated, I'd say, but I'm not going to try my luck," Fayer thought, as he reached into his right trouser pocket and pulled out a mobile phone, "Thankfully, I thought ahead."
He then proceeded to push the buttons that brought up his call index page and scrolled down till he reached his wife's number, and then pushed the call button, and sighed in relief when his wife answered after only two rings.
"Hello," a woman's voice came from the other end.
"Hello, dear, it's me," Fayer replied with a rather sad sigh, and then started talking before his wife could ask just why he called, "Listen, you remember what we discussed a few months back."
"Uh huh," his wife said in a rather fearful and uneasy tone, obviously having sensed the urgency in his voice and knowing what he was talking about.
"Well, it seems that my worst fears may have come to pass, so please take the children, and you know what to do, don't you?" Fayer went on in a hushed voice so that no one would hear, and he even looked around to see if anyone else was listening in.
"I… I understand," Fayer's wife said with a bit of a stutter and a rather sad and depressed sigh, realising that there was a real distinct possibility that she would never see her husband alive again, and also knowing that it was pointless to argue since they had discussed this at length in the past.
Fayer sighed as he hung up. He could only hope that Princess Euphemia would be recovered soon, since he knew that if not, then he would, most undoubtedly, be facing execution by Princess Cornelia's hand.
Thankfully, his family would be spared. He had heard of Princess Cornelia's fearsome reputation ever since he joined the military, and upon receiving word that she would be replacing her half-brother, Prince Clovis, as "Area Eleven's" acting Viceroy, he had started making arrangements to move his family out of "Area Eleven" and to somewhere in the EU to keep them from suffering Her Highness's wrath, should Fayer ever incur it. He pretty much guaranteed that should Princess Cornelia target him for some reason or another, only he would suffer the consequences.
Unfortunately, it was something that his wife disagreed with, and upon telling her of his plans, she had fiercely objected and insisted that he was exaggerating and it had led to a massive argument, and Fayer had told his wife repeatedly about what he heard and was not going to risk the possibility that those rumours were indeed, exaggerated. It had taken a few days, but eventually, his wife had come to agree, albeit rather grudgingly and reluctantly. She had resided herself to her husband's plan and had obviously held out the hope that it would never come to pass, but unfortunately, it seemed that had been for naught. When he called her up, she knew that it was pointless to argue, since all their arguing had been done in the past and she knew she had no choice but to reside herself to the fact that there could be an undoubtedly high possibility that her husband was going to be executed.
However, unbeknownst to Fayer, who was so caught up in his own thoughts that he failed to notice the officer to his right inch away from him and he took out his own mobile phone and started scrolling down his call index till he came to a particular number before pushing the call button, and then, he placed the phone to his ear.
"Yes, is this General Andreas Darlton?" the officer said in the same quiet, hushed tone as Fayer as the person on the other end picked up.
"Yes, who is this?" the voice of Andreas Darlton inquired with a hint of annoyance in his voice.
"This is Captain Daryl Hazewater of the Shikine Island Military Base," the officer, Hazewater said, looking around, or more specifically, at the Lieutenant-Colonel to see if he had noticed him, and fortunately for him, the Lieutenant-Colonel was still too preoccupied with his own thoughts to have noticed, "Listen, I have some rather interesting news that Her Highness, Princess Cornelia, may wish to know."
For perhaps the second time in the space of forty-eight hours, Euphemia's vision was nothing but darkness, like at some points during her dream in which she encountered that mysterious robot girl, Unit #031 and those scientists that had been working and experimenting on her. However, unlike before, all she could hear was static, as if she was watching a TV and there was no sound. However, before she could contemplate this, a TV screen suddenly appeared before her vision with a rather hazy, grainy, unfocused and poor-quality image, though from the viewpoint, it seemed as if the camera filming whatever it was, was situated underneath a table, as the pink-haired Princess could make out the silhouette of a table leg to the left.
A pair of feet suddenly entered the screen and appeared to be moving backwards, indicating that the person was backing up. Looking at the feet, Euphemia could see that they had on a pair of women's shoes and stockings, indicating that the person in the image was most undoubtedly a woman, though, the image was too unfocussed and poor in quality for her to make out any colours. However, the screen, itself, seemed to be tinted with a dark yellow hue. On the screen, the woman's feet quickly moved out of the camera's line of vision, and Euphemia could clearly see that she was backing away from someone, and she did not have to wait long to figure out who she was backing away from as the dark silhouette of a rather bulky foot also entered the camera's line of vision.
"Huh, what the… just what is this?" Euphemia said to herself in confusion, having no idea what was going on, or even why she was witnessing this, even as the image on the screen switched to show a short-haired woman who appeared to be screaming with a terrified look on her face, and she was also violently thrashing around with her arms outstretched in front of her and she appeared to be leaning backwards.
Euphemia then knew that this must be the woman, whose feet she saw in the first image, and judging from what she was seeing, it was clear that she was trying desperately to fend someone off, though, the pink-haired Princess could not make out exactly where she or her mysterious attacker were, but she did manage to make out a rectangular shade covering over a light-bulb attached to a wall in the background, which seemed to indicate that they were indoors and in a room of some kind.
The image on the screen suddenly changed yet again and showed the shadowed silhouette of a rather bulky hand, which had wrapped itself around the mysterious woman's neck and proceeded to hoist her into the air. Apparently, whoever this woman was, she had failed to fend off her attacker, though, Euphemia could not make out much of exactly who had attacked her, since he… at least she was almost certain that the attacker was a man, had appeared as a shadowy silhouette, at least the parts of him that Euphemia could see; his foot and outstretched arm as he hoisted the poor woman into the air. However, one thing that Euphemia could make out despite the images' poor quality was that the man had a rather bulky build.
The one thing that did bother her was the lack of audio. All she could hear was the annoying sound of static that had undoubtedly drowned out the woman's screams as she struggled.
However, suddenly, the sound of the static came to an abrupt halt as the image of a platinum blonde-haired woman with brownish orange eyes dressed in blue flashed before her, replacing the screen, and then after a brief flash of white, a short balding old man with pointed ears and a long, toucan beak-shaped long nose and black bloodshot eyes also flashed before her, and then suddenly, after hearing a high-pitched, what sounded like a cross between a ringing and pinging sound, she felt her eyes shoot open as memories of what had transpired from what happened at Shikine-jima up until now flooded back into her mind.
The sky was overcast, that was the first thing that Euphemia managed to register as her eyes suddenly snapped open. It was not raining, though, judging by the heavy grey colour of the clouds; it looked as if they could start depositing their load at any given moment and that when it started, the rain would be coming down rather heavily. Another thing, she realised, was that she was lying on her back, though she did not feel as if she was lying straight, since her line of vision appeared to be at a slightly diagonal angel. She could also feel that the surface underneath her was rather uneven, as if she had been lying on top of a group of boulders.
"Huh, this isn't Shikine Island," she said to herself, as she suddenly turned her head and noticed that she was lying inside a metal red rectangular container with an open top, and not only that, but she also noticed that she was lying on top of black bags filled with rubbish giving off a variety of different rotting smells.
The colour suddenly drained from her face as she realised that she was, mostly likely, lying in some kind of dumpster somewhere, but the question was, where?
She tried to pick herself up, but due the unevenness of the rubbish bags beneath her combined with a feeling of sudden dizziness, she found herself slipping and falling back down, much to her displeasure, and she also felt a rather splitting headache welling up in her forehead. She then let out a small groan of annoyance. Just where was she? She certainly did not remember falling into a dumpster. She remembered everything from trying to save Suzaku from that attack to the mysterious dark-haired woman with either red or brown eyes that flashed before her eyes before she ended up on a dark mysterious road in the middle of nowhere surrounded by fog, and then ending up entering a velvet blue-coloured limousine and meeting a short balding old man with pointed ears and a toucan beck-shaped long nose called Igor and his, mostly-silent, platinum blonde-haired assistant, who was called Margaret.
"Oh yeah, those two," she thought with a sulk, remembering that Igor spoke with her while Margaret mostly remained silent, and he gave her rather cryptic and unnerving warnings about what could possibly happen in her future.
That really annoyed the pink-haired Princess to no end. She wished that he had been a bit more open and less cryptic. However, as much as she wanted to dismiss his claims as the delusional ramblings of a senile old man, she found that she just could not dismiss what he had told her, and in truth, it scared her, especially when he told her that she could wind up dead regardless of the outcome of some journey he mentioned that she was supposed to be going on. Her first instinct had been to dismiss him as talking nonsense, but the more she tried, the more frightening it all seemed to become, as she could not help but wonder if he had in fact been telling the truth, and it brought out a feeling of fearful dread in her.
Of course, it did not necessarily mean that she was going to die; it was just a possibility, but even so, she remembered him mentioning that even if she managed to escape death, she would be forever changed. However, Euphemia just could not shake off the fear of the possibility of her death coming to pass, though, she had to admit, that with Igor mentioning on how she would change forever in some way in the event of escaping her demise, she had to wonder if death was the more preferable option. No, she did not want to die, neither did she want to change. She still had things she intended to do.
Anyway, upon explaining all that he was willing to explain, at least for the time being, Igor had apparently dismissed her, though, Euphemia still had questions she wanted to ask him, but her vision had faded to black, she could not speak, and even her thoughts lost their coherency, and the next thing she remembered was watching that strange poor-quality TV programme in which she witnessed a woman being attacked by some bulky stranger shrouded in black silhouette before images of Igor and Margaret flashed before her and she woke up, finding herself in this dumpster.
"Just what is going on?" she asked herself frantically, wracking her brain, as she tried to come up with a possible explanation to explain all this, "Shouldn't I still be on Shikine Island, or at least in the sickbay of either my brother's Avalon or the Military Base?"
That was something that puzzled her. She could easily discount her encounter with the mysterious Igor, along with witnessing the poor-quality TV images of the mysterious woman being attacked as just a crazy dream, but that did not explain how she ended up in the dumpster. She remembered that back at Shikine-jima before she had found herself surrounded by fog that she caught a brief glimpse of a woman that flashed before her eyes, and then her vision exploded into a sea of white. She reckoned that she must have fallen into unconsciousness, and since she had been standing atop a cliff, there was a possibility that she had fallen over the edge, meaning that she should have sustained gravely serious injuries… that is, assuming she survived the fall, but if she had fallen over the edge then she figured that she must have survived since she was still alive.
However, not only was she somewhere she concluded that she should not be, but she was also perfectly fine for the most part. She had not sustained a single injury that could have come from a fall, and in fact, the only pain she felt, aside from her current headache, was the pain from the discomfort of lying atop the rubbish bags, which was more of an annoyance than excruciating. She figured that perhaps she may not have been as close to the edge of the cliff as she had originally thought and had passed out atop the cliff.
"Was I deliberately thrown in here?" the pink-haired princess thought to herself, as a new thought occurred to her, one that filled her with pure anger, "Did those soldiers deliberately throw me in here like I was trash?"
That was one possibility, she reasoned. She must be in a dumpster somewhere on the base. The soldiers must have recovered her and then discarded her as if she was trash because she had gone against protocol and risked her life for a "Number".
"Discrimination against the Numbers is Britannia's National Policy", those had been her sister's words, and it was a policy that she did not agree with and downright detested.
Euphemia was not as stupid as many took her for. She knew that her views differed from those of the majority of Britannians, and she had pretty much announced that openly when she had gone to try and save Suzaku, whom she was convinced had been set up in order to be sacrificed, despite all he had done for the Empire, and all because of his ethnicity. She knew that many Britannians viewed "Numbers" and those who sympathised with them as trash, and she figured that she was no exception, despite the fact that she was royalty.
She knew that the soldiers probably did not take a positive view of her actions and must have, in their minds, reduced her to the same level as the "Numbers", since she had risked her life to save one. Perhaps being put in this dumpster was meant to symbolise that she was now considered "trash" by the soldiers who knew of her attempt to save Suzaku; that because she risked her life to save a "Number" she was no better than one herself, regardless of her previous social standing.
"I wonder how Cornelia will react to this," she thought before she took a deep sniff, and then felt an overwhelming wave of nausea rush through her, as she lurched forwards and placed her hands over her mouth, as she felt her stomach attempt to push its contents right back up and out of her mouth.
It was only now that she realised that the awful stench coming through the bags from the various items of rubbish was rather overpowering, and the thing was, it was not just one smell, but a variety of different smells that all combined together into one overpowering nauseating aroma that no one could bare even thinking about. Thankfully, somehow, Euphemia was able to keep herself from throwing up, though, she clamped her index finger and her thump on her nose.
However, before she could try and pick herself up a second time and get out of the dumpster, she heard what sounded like a car engine and guessed that a car had just pulled up somewhere nearby, though, as soon as she heard the car stop, the engine also stopped, indicating that the driver had turned the engine off. After that, she heard what sounded like the soft tapping of footsteps running on tarmac.
"Konnichiwa," she heard an unfamiliar, and somewhat raspy voice say, surprising her, since she knew that Konnichiwa was a word used for greeting other people in the Japanese language, "Welcome to Moel."
"Moel?" Euphemia asked herself in confusion, knowing that she never heard the name before, "What's that supposed to be?"
What was more, the person, whom she guessed was the person running towards the car, had spoken Japanese.
"So, does this mean I'm not on Shikine Island like I originally feared?" she went on in her thoughts, feeling more confused than ever, "But if that's the case, then where am I?"
She suddenly heard someone else talking, though, they were speaking far too quietly for her to hear exactly what they were saying, though, she could tell that it was a man talking, and this was followed by an even quieter voice saying something in reply, though, like with the man, she could not make out what was said and sounded more like them acknowledging that they heard what the man said. She then heard what could clearly be identified as the opening of a door, indicating that someone must be getting out of the car, and then the door closed again. The sound of another door opening and closing was also heard, though this time it sounded a lot gentler than the first, meaning that the second person who exited the car was not as strong as the first.
"It's in the back to your left," the voice of the first person who had spoken, the one that was loud enough for Euphemia to hear clearly, said, obviously speaking to one of the car's former occupants, "You know which way's left? The side you don't hold your hashi in."
"Hashi, chopsticks," Euphemia said to herself, somehow able to understand what the Japanese word meant despite never having heard it spoken before, which only served to further confuse her.
Sure, she had to admit that having Suzaku as a Knight of Honour had its advantages, in that she learned a little Japanese from him, but she had never heard the Japanese word for chopsticks being spoken before, and yet, she found that she could understand its meaning as clearly as if it had been spoken in English. It was a bit scary, she had to admit, since she found herself understanding a language that she had never really encountered all that much before in the past, at least until she had moved to "Area Eleven". In fact, she then suddenly remembered during her dream involving Unit #031, that she could read the nametags of the three scientists and understood what the kanji symbols meant despite having never having encountered any of the three alphabets that the Japanese People use in their writings. She had to admit that that was also a bit scary, and she could not help but wonder if the fact that she could understand kanji symbols from a supposedly unrelated dream and the fact that she could understand Japanese words, while encountering neither in the past were both connected somehow.
"Just what's going on here?" she thought, as she felt a wave of fear well up inside her, since she did not know how to explain it.
However, the sound of a soft and quiet voice, which Euphemia could now identify as belonging to a girl, a child most likely somewhere in her pre-teen years at that, replying to the first voice brought her out of her thoughts, and despite this girl being too quiet to be heard properly, the pink-haired Princess also detected a hint of frustrated annoyance in her tone.
"I think everyone knows the difference between right and left," she mused to herself with a soft chuckle, guessing that that was what the girl was frustrated about, "You'd have to be considerably dumb, like dumber than dumb if you can't tell the difference."
Afterwards, she heard the soft patter of footsteps running off, though they sounded as if they were getting nearer, indicating to Euphemia that wherever she was going, she either had to pass the dumpster or there was a door near the dumpster that she had to go through in order to get wherever it was she was going. Anyway the sound of a car door opening and closing grabbed her attention as she realised that the car must have had a third occupant.
"Are you going on a tabi?" the first voice asked, though Euphemia could not tell just who they were talking to; in fact, listening to this voice, Euphemia found herself unable to determine the person's gender.
"Īe, we just went to pick my oi up from the eki," the voice of the man that Euphemia heard speaking before said in reply to the question, and this time, he was speaking loud enough for the pink-haired Princess to hear clearly, "He just moved here for the tokai."
"So this man's nephew just moved here from a city somewhere and was picked up at a train station," Euphemia mused to herself, as she could not help but listen in, "Also, tabi, in addition to meaning journey is also the name giving to traditional Japanese socks that have the big toe of the foot separated from the rest of the toes and can be worn by both men and women along with zori or geta sandals, as well as other traditional thonged footwear. However, for the moment, I just want to know where in the world is "here", exactly?"
"The tokai, ne…?" the first voice replied in a curious tone, though quieter than before, they were still loud enough for Euphemia to hear.
"Ne, just one of many Japanese word that can mean, huh," the pink-haired Princess mused to herself, once again translate the Japanese, upon hearing the person speak, "Though I think it's official translation is I."
"Fill up my car while you're at it," the man then said, as he seemed to issue an order, "Regular's fine."
"Hai, right away, sir!" the first voice replied, obviously deciding to follow this man's order, much to Euphemia's confusion, "Arigatōgozaimasu."
The man then mumbled something to himself, seemingly ignoring the first voice's offer of thanks, though, once again, he was too quiet for the pink-haired Princess to make out what he was saying.
There was a short pause as Euphemia heard the soft patter of footsteps walking away, indicating to her that the man must be going off somewhere.
"Are you in kōkō?" the first voice suddenly asked, and at first, Euphemia thought that they were talking to themselves, but then, remembering the third time the car door opened and closed, she realised that there was someone else there.
"Kōkō, high school," Euphemia mused, finding it confusing just how those people, whom she guessed must be Japanese, were going about their daily lives seemingly not minding the fact that they had be reduced to mere "Numbers" by Britannia, which really meant that the Britannians did not really view them as people.
It was strange to hear Japanese being spoken, let alone that "Elevens" were allowed to drive any sort of vehicle. It was a known fact that in Britannia's conquered "Areas", "Numbers" entering the settlements had heavy restrictions placed on them; two of which were that they were not to speak their native language, and that they were not allowed to drive any type of vehicle whatsoever, so this served to confuse her, since, if what she was hearing was correct, the people she was listening to were clearly Japanese, and yet, they seemed either oblivious or uncaring towards Britannian repercussions… unless of course Euphemia was in a ghetto somewhere, in which the "Numbers" could do as they pleased, as there was nothing in the ghettos that was of any interest to the Britannians, but Euphemia doubted that she was in a ghetto, as there had been no ghetto on, or anywhere near Shikine-jima; in fact, the only installation on the island was the military base and the nearest ghetto was miles away on the Japanese mainland.
"Are… eh, hai," a new voice came, replying to the first voice's question, and something about this new voice sounded rather familiar to Euphemia, she just could not help but wonder just where she had heard that voice before.
"Are, yet another way of saying, huh in Japanese," the pink-haired Princess told herself, just to be sure that she heard right.
"Does is surprise a tokai shōnen how little there is to do out here?" the first voice went on, as if the second voice had not answered.
"Tokai shōnen, that sounds wrong," Euphemia mused, somehow knowing how complex the Japanese language was and how there were sometimes many ways of saying the same thing, "Ichi no shōnen sounds more right."
"Not really," the second voice, whom Euphemia figured belonged to a teenaged boy replied, and she somehow knew that he shrugged despite not seeing him, "From what I've seen so far, there literally is nothing out here."
"Hai, there's so little to do, I'm sure you'll get bored fast," the first voice replied in agreement, making Euphemia all the more curious to know where she was, "You'll either be hanging out with your tomodachi or doing part-time jobs. Speaking of which, we're actually looking for part-time help right now."
"Are?" the teenaged boy said in surprise, as Euphemia heard footsteps again, though they were brief, indicating that one of the two people talking walked closer to the other, "Eh, kekkōdesu."
"In other words, no thanks," Euphemia mused to herself, as she translated the Japanese yet again, so she could be sure that she understood properly, "And tomodachi is a word meaning friends."
"Give it some thought, why don't you?" the first voice said in a somewhat polite tone, though Euphemia could tell that they were intending to make the boy at least consider it, "We don't mind if you're a gakusei."
"Student," Euphemia went on translating, and suddenly decided that she'd heard enough and started to lift herself up.
"Ara, ē, I might just do that," the boy's voice replied, obviously deciding to indulge the person he was talking to, even as Euphemia started to pick herself up.
However, the sound of footsteps made her stop as she heard them close to her at first, but then got further away. She guessed that the girl must have returned from wherever it was she had gone off to.
"Ara, I should get back to work," the first voice suddenly said, probably realising that they had a job to do upon the girl's arrival.
The sound of footsteps, obviously whoever it was who had been talking was heard and then the sound of someone stumbling slightly could be heard, though from the sound of it, it seemed as if whoever stumbled managed to catch themselves and prevent themselves from falling over. Euphemia then heard the girl talking again, though like before, she was speaking too quietly for her to hear what she was saying, but she sounded somewhat concerned.
The sound of another set of footsteps caught Euphemia's attention, and she guessed that the man must also be returning from where he had been.
"Sorry for the delay," he went on to say in a somewhat apologetic tone, but then sounded just as concerned as the girl when he spoke next, "Are, what's wrong? You okay?"
"Ā, it's nothing," the voice of the teenaged boy said in response, "It passed. I just felt a bit light-headed for a moment."
"That's understandable," the man said in an understanding tone, "It must have been a long trip for you. Why not take a little walk, get some fresh air? Just let me know when you're ready to go."
There was a brief silence and Euphemia just knew that the boy was obviously considering what the man, whom she knew to be his uncle, had said.
"I'll wait here," the man went on, obviously reassuring his nephew, "Why don't you take a walk and get some fresh air? The shōten machi is near the house, so you should get to know where all the stores are."
"Shōten machi, so I'm in some kind of shopping district?" the pink-haired Princess said, as her confusion rose even more, "No, that can't be possible! Just where on Earth am I, and how did I get here? This doesn't make any sense!"
She then grabbed the side of the dumpster and pulled herself up, managing to pull herself upright and the majority of her was visible above the dumpster, but unfortunately standing on top of uneven rubbish bags was not the best option, as Euphemia's weight pressing down on them caused one of them to dislodge, and the movement caused the pink-haired Princess to stumble and fall out of the dumpster and face-first onto the ground.
"Ā kami, are you alright?" another new, and concerned voice came, and Euphemia heard footsteps running towards her.
"Huh?" she said, feeling rather disorientated, as she found herself momentarily unable to focus of her surroundings, feeling her headache flare up slightly.
Currently, she was lying face down and staring right into grey tarmac. She also felt somewhat dizzy, and looking up to her left, she could make out at least five people starting to congregate around her, though her vision was too unfocused to make out any their features, but she could tell that at least one of them was a child, whom she guessed was the girl that had been too quiet for her to make out what she was saying.
"Nē, are you okay?" the same voice as before asked again, sounding even more concerned than before, "What were you doing in that dumpster?"
"That's okay, I'll handle this," the voice that Euphemia recognised as the first voice she heard and she saw one of the onlookers turning to address another, "You can go, I'm sure that you still have haitatsu to make."
"Deliveries," Euphemia said to herself, translating the Japanese word, though she had spoken aloud, which caught everyone else's attention.
"You understand some Japanese, then?" the first voice said in a curious tone, and Euphemia then noticed that the person who had spoken then turn to face the person they had been talking to, "Don't worry about a thing, I'll get this sorted out. I do work here, after all."
"D-demo…" the second person, whom, now that Euphemia's vision was started to come into focus, she could tell was dressed in teal coloured overalls, protested, obviously worried about her.
"Don't worry, I'm sure she'll be fine," the first person said, interrupting the first person with a reassuring tone, "Anyway, you don't want to be late for your next haitatsu. Trust me, I'll look after her."
The second person looked as if he was considering what the first person had told him and after a moment or so, he shrugged.
"Ara, jā ōkē, if you insist," he said with a sigh of defeat, though he still sounded concerned about the pink-haired Princess's safety, "Just as long as she'll be okay."
"You have my word," the first person said with a nod, and the second person turned and walked towards what Euphemia could make out as a somewhat small flatbed truck.
Now that her vision had regained most of its focus, she looked towards the man walking towards the truck. He wore brown laced shoes, teal coloured trousers and a teal coloured jacket with dark navy blue sleeve cuffs and a dark navy blue band at the bottom.
Since his back was to Euphemia, she could not make out much, but she also noted that he also wore a teal coloured cap and had short dark greyish brown hair.
The truck he was walking towards had a teal coloured cab, the same colour as his overalls, with a white stripe running along the bottom of the side displaying red kanji symbols, which Euphemia guessed was displaying the name of the company that the truck belonged to and that the deliveryman was working for. The cab was relatively flat at the front and rounded instead of pointed at the edges. The flatbed at the back was covered with a dark green tarpaulin, held up by metal rods on the inside, or at least that's what Euphemia assumed, at the tarpaulin formed a cuboid shape and was high enough for a person to stand up in, and it was held in place by black rope that formed a triangular zigzag along the sides of the flatbed.
Anyway, the man opened the door and climbed into the cab before starting up the engine, and then, he drove off.
Euphemia then turned towards the other four and noticed a man, whom she guessed was the man that had spoken before watch as the deliveryman drove off. This, from what Euphemia could tell was a middle-aged man with short, slightly messy brown hair that was giving way to grey and greyish brown eyes. He wore black shoes, black trousers with a brown belt with a silver buckle, a greyish brown shirt with rolled-up sleeves that were rolled up to just before his elbows, a left breast pocket that appeared to contain a pack of cigarettes and he also wore a red tie. The collar was also folded outwards and he also had a silver watch around his left wrist.
The girl, who looked to be in her mid-to-late preteens, and who Euphemia guessed must be the man's daughter, had short brown hair that was styled into pigtails, one at either side that curled inwards towards her and held in place by two pink ribbons. She also had big dark brown eyes and wore pink shoes with white bottoms, white socks, and a sleeveless dress that was divided into three different colours with black borderlines running vertically, and underneath her dress, she wore a white sweater, and the collar covered three quarters of her neck and the sleeve cuff ran over the tops of her hands. As for her dress, the top third was light pink, the middle third was darker, more reddish colour of pink and the bottom third was a dark reddish, almost brown shade of pink.
The next person, Euphemia could identify was a teenaged boy with short grey hair, almost in a bowl cut, though the front was slightly messy and grey eyes, the same shade of grey as his hair. He wore black trainers with white-tipped fronts and white running along the sides of the bottoms, dark grey trousers that could easily be mistaken for back, a grey waistcoat with a silver zip at the front, a dark shirt underneath the waistcoat those collar covered three quarters of his neck, which was how Euphemia was able to tell her wore it and a dark navy blue coat.
Euphemia paid most attention to his waistcoat, noticing that it had a high-rise collar that was folded outwards and had two colours running horizontally along it with a thick light greyish blue borderline, with the top colour being a darker shade of greyish blue and the bottom colour being dark green that seemed to have a tint of grey. She also noticed that the waistcoat had sleeves as she could see the sleeve cuffs sticking out from underneath the coat, and they had the same pattern as the collar, though the green was at the top this time and the dark greyish blue was at the bottom, at least from her perspective as he had his arms by his sides. This same pattern was also display running around the bottom of the waistcoat, and like with the sleeve cuffs, the green was at the top, though the borderline was significantly thicker and the bottom was a thin grey outlining.
However, as her gaze fell upon the last person, Euphemia could help but shiver as she felt as if the temperature had suddenly plummeted dramatically. She did not know what it was about this person, but there was something about them that was frighteningly familiar, giving the pink-haired Princess a case of déjà vu, and for some bizarre reason, it unnerved her, and she suddenly found herself climbing to her feet. She could not place the reason why, but for some strange reason, Euphemia felt fearfully uneasy in this person's presence, and she wanted to quickly get as far away from them as possible.
The person in question certainly did not look threatening in any shape or form, and seemed rather confused by her sudden animation and looked to be concerned for her well-being.
"Are you alright, wakai josei?" the person asked in a tone that sounded like genuine concern, and the look of concern even looked genuine.
However, Euphemia found herself backing away from them with a look of panic on her face. Somehow, she did not want this person anywhere near her, and she did not know why. It was rather confusing to her, since she knew for a fact that she had never seen this person before, and yet, she found herself terrified of them for no apparent reason whatsoever. It was almost as if her fear had been instinctual.
"Sā," the person said in a rather cheerful and enticing tone, "I don't bite."
Looking at them, Euphemia still was unable to determine their gender. They looked to be male, but had rather obvious feminine features about them, mainly focussed around their face. Heck, even their voice sounded rather androgynous despite the slight rasp. They had shoulder length grey hair that was almost the same shade as the teenaged boy's with a strand falling down between the eyes, which were a brownish red colour. They wore black shoes, dark grey-almost black trousers, a black leather belt and a multi-coloured jacket that was absent of a nametag. They also wore a red cap with a black visor and a rectangular white sticker above the visor that read the word, "MOEL" in roman letters and two kanji symbols that spelled the word, Sekiyu, the Japanese word for either petroleum or gasoline next to it.
The jacket was at least three different colours with a black interior, which Euphemia could tell since the collar was folded outwards. There was also a black line running down the front that highlighted where the buttons were. At first it seemed as if the jacket was divided in half with the bottom being white and the top being light yellowish orange, but the tops, fronts and back of the shoulders were red along with the sleeves, and on the left breast area was a red rectangle situated above a red shape that appeared to be that of a stereotypical medieval shield drawing and inside this "shield were three yellowish orange leaf shapes positioned diagonally and pointing upwards to the left, though from Euphemia's perspective it was to the right.
"What's wrong?" the middle-aged man suddenly asked, grabbing the pink-haired Princess's attention, "And I'm also curious as to why you were in that dumpster as well."
He then shot her a hard, inquiring, and almost suspicious look, as if he believed that she had been up to no good.
"Huh, well… just where am I?" Euphemia responded, unsure how to handle the man's suspicious gaze.
She then looked herself over and realised that she was still wearing her ceremonial dress that she had been wearing at Shikine-jima.
"Are, just what do you mean?" the man asked her, his gaze intensifying, and Euphemia knew that he was becoming even more suspicious of her, "What exactly are you playing at?"
"You mean, you have no idea where you are?" the teenaged boy said curiously, though, he seemed to have a rather expressionless, stoic look on his face, and once again, Euphemia could not help but feel like she had heard the voice before.
Thinking about it, she realised that the voice sounded a lot like Zero's. Sure, when she had met with Zero at the hotel at Kawaguchi-ko, his voice had been mostly disguised by a voice modulator, but she could clearly make out part of the natural voice, and then her eyes widened in pure shock and horror as a new, even more terrifying scenario came into her mind.
"Oh god, please don't tell me…" she said in a somewhat panicked tone.
What if…? What if instead of being recovered by the Britannian Military, she had, in fact, been abducted by the Black Knights? Yes, that did seem plausible. After all, those people were all Japanese. Suppose this was, in fact, a façade to lull her into a false sense of security, and they believed that she knew of some closely guarded secret that they believed could possibly be of some value to them in future. Maybe she had been the target of the Black Knights' attack after all. However, the thing was, despite being a Princess of the Realm, Euphemia hardly knew of anything that could possibly be of help to anyone, let alone the Black Knights. The teenaged boy's voice sounded a lot like Zero's, but if he was Zero, then that threw her theory that Zero was, in fact, her supposed-to-be-dead half-brother, Lelouch, out the window.
She then started to look around and study her surroundings and was surprised to find that she was in what appeared to be a gas station. The dumpster was next to a building with a red stripe painted along the top, and look out she could see six rectangular pillars holding up the roof along with two sets of gas pumps and a white car parked next to the farthest set. There were also three advertisement banners advertising something in Japanese to the left of the parked car and two more with a different advert at the opposite end of the roof next to two sets of automatic doors that led into the gas station's store.
"Huh?" she said to herself, looking more confused than ever.
"Are, what's wrong, just what's going on here?" the middle-aged man spoke up in a demanding tone, as he glared at the pink-haired Princess, clearly demanding an explanation.
However, Euphemia just ignored him as she ran off towards where she could see a road.
"Oi!" the man called out to her, and started to give chase, but stopped when he noticed a small rectangular card lying on the ground, situated where the pink-haired Princess had been lying, and walked over to it before reaching down and picking it up.
Euphemia ran out onto the road and looked around and was surprised to find that she was in, what appeared to be a rather peaceful looking rural town. Looking down the road to her left, she saw a row of stores on either side, though some appeared to have been abandoned, while others appeared as if they were still open for business. She also noticed people, Japanese people, going about their daily lives, seemingly oblivious to the Britannian occupation that had befallen their country. To her right was a road with cars driving by and she noticed a bus stop at a corner just opposite the gas station. Looking up, she saw that the side of the gas station roof had yellow outlining painted at the edges and the area between them was painted red aside from an area near the right ends that with a thick yellow slant painted between the outline and next to the slant, also in yellow were the three leaves that she remembered being on the androgynous person's jacket and also the sides had the word "MOEL" and the two kanji symbols next to it in white lettering that spelled the word, Sekiyu, much like what was on the sticker that was on the androgynous person's cap.
"Huh, this isn't…" Euphemia started to say before she trailed off, feeling more confused than ever before.
Was she really kidnapped by the Black Knights? This did not look like one of their bases, and in fact, looked like a normal everyday rural town. Just what was going on? Surely the Black Knights would not be able to pull something like this off, kidnap her, and then, to lull her into a false sense of security, create a fake Japanese style rural town and have its members masquerade as townspeople in order to get information out of her. There was just no way they could possibly be able to pull something of that magnitude off. Even if they did have the resources and the manpower, there was no way they would be able to pull it off unnoticed. The Britannians would have noticed and then come down on them like a ton of bricks.
Of course, the possibility that she was underground and that the sky was fake did occur to her, but she quickly dismissed it, as she could feel a light breeze in the air and she could also smell a variety of smells that one would naturally associate with the great outdoors, and she knew that those particular smells could not be replicated in any way indoors, plus she could also feel that it was rather humid as well, which probably explained why the clouds in the sky looked so threateningly heavy. No, the Black Knights could not have kidnapped her, this was out in the open, plus she doubted that they would recruit children and one of the people she had seen was clearly a child around about six or seven-years-old. Surely Zero would not be immoral enough to go as far as to recruit children to his cause, would he?
Besides, one thing Euphemia did know was that when Britannia invaded a country they were intending to re-establish as an "Area", they were completely indiscriminate and just destroyed everything they could find, including the areas that had no value to them whatsoever, just because they happened to be there. Euphemia remembered one time she asked Cornelia about this, and Cornelia told her that it was necessary. She told her that while the area in question held no value to Britannia whatsoever, it was still necessary to destroy them because terrorists and other would-be rabble would no doubt use them as safe havens and bases, and with the resources of that area still intact, they could prove to be more dangerous than usual.
"Can't argue with that logic, but still…" Euphemia thought, knowing that her sister had a point, but still had misgivings, since to her, Cornelia sounded more like she was looking for any reason she possibly could in order to justify the military's actions than anything else.
Anyway, putting all that to the back of her mind, she had come to the conclusion that she had not been kidnapped by the Black Knights despite the teenaged boy sounding a lot like Zero, but if that was not the case, then just where was she, and more importantly, how did she end up there?
"It's been quite a while since we've hosted a guest outside the country of Japan, and not only that, but a guest whose origins originate in an entirely different world," Igor's voice suddenly echoed in her mind.
Euphemia's eyes widened in shock as she recalled Igor telling her that. She had been curious about that, and had actually demanded that Igor explain what he meant, but, much to her frustration, Igor had dodged the question, and with everything else he had brought up, that little detail had slipped her mind.
"No way!" she thought to herself, as realisation suddenly washed over her, "No way, there's just no way, it's not possible!"
"Nē, are you okay?" the voice of the teenaged boy came, bringing the pink-haired Princess out of her thoughts, as she turned to see him walking towards her.
"Huh, what?" Euphemia said in confusion, unsure how to respond.
"There's no way I can be in another world, there's just no way!" she told herself in her thoughts.
However, unfortunately for her, the evidence pointed to the contrary. Like she had already gone over before, when Britannia had invaded Japan and re-established it as "Area Eleven", they had practically scoured every last inch of the country, destroying every area of habitation they came across and pretty much murdered anyone they happened to find, including unarmed civilians, which included unarmed men, women and children. Even the rural areas that were of little to no value were not spared.
However, upon looking around, Euphemia saw that this place was a typical Japanese rural town with no evidence of Britannian build-ups and the people went about their daily lives completely oblivious to the Britannian Invasion that had occurred seven years previously. All the people that Euphemia could see were clearly Japanese, and they seemed quite happy and content. There was no way that this would be possible in "Area Eleven". Even if by some amazing stroke of luck, the Britannian Military had somehow missed this area, there was no way that it could possibly have gone unnoticed for seven long years. The Britannians would have eventually discovered it and then have sent the military to decimate the place. It was incredibly unlikely that the people would be able to hide from Britannia for seven years straight. As impossible as it sounded, she could not help but realise that this was probably a town in rural Japan, a Japan that was based in some sort of alternate parallel universe, or something along those lines.
She had also wanted, and hoped, to discount the whole thing with Igor, as well as the mysterious poor-quality TV images of the woman being attacked as nothing more than a mysterious dream, and that this was indeed, some elaborate ploy of some kind, but like with the dream involving Unit #031, she found herself remembering every last detail. It was rather frightening and confusing at the same time. It just boggled her mind to know that she was in some sort of alternate world, and she had no idea how she had ended up there.
"Just what's happening to me?" she thought, shaking her head in denial, "Why is this happening to me?"
However, no matter how hard she searched, she just could not come out with an answer. She really wanted to discount everything as one big nightmare, from Unit #031 to that mysterious woman she saw flash before her eyes back on Shikine-jima before ending up in the Velvet Room to the TV programme of that woman being attacked. They all just seemed like random events that could not possibly be related, but Euphemia, despite trying to convince herself otherwise, just knew that they all related to her situation somehow, though, just what a robot girl that was basically a consciousness within a mechanical body being abused be scientists, a mysterious woman, whose features she did not even know, aside from her dark hair and either brown or red eyes, due to how quickly the image had come and gone, a goblin like old man in a limo travelling through thick fog and a woman being attacked by a mysterious bulky man shrouded in silhouette had in common, she did not know. All she knew was that they all related to her situation somehow.
There was also that mysterious voice she heard to consider as well, that had told her about the time being at hand, both in her bedroom in the Tōkyō Settlement's Government Bureau Building immediately after her first dream involving Unit #031 and while she had been racing towards where Suzaku had been restraining Zero, while piloting the Portman. It was obviously related to her situation, but just who did the voice belong to? It most certainly was not Igor's voice she heard. It lacked that Transylvanian edge that Igor spoke with.
"Nē, come on now," the teenaged boy said in a comforting tone, "I can understand that you're obviously a bit frightened, but please try to calm down."
"Huh?" Euphemia said, coming back out of her thoughts, and saw that the boy was staring at her with a look of concern in his eyes despite the rest of his face being expressionless.
"Let's go back with my oji-san and itoko," he went on, as he started walking back to the gas station and ushered Euphemia along with him.
"Huh, your uncle and cousin, eh, yeah, I suppose so," Euphemia said in automatic agreement, knowing that she had nowhere else to go.
She still did not want to believe that she had somehow been transported to another world, but with everything that had happened to her, and having no logical way to explain it, she found that she just had to accept it for the time being, at least till she came across evidence to the contrary. After calming down, she started to recall what else Igor had told her, specifically how she would understand more as time went on, despite not actually phrasing it like that, but basically, that was the meaning he was trying to get across.
"I am unable to answer your questions… or rather, the answers you seek are difficult to put into words," Igor's voice echoed in her mind once again, as if reminding her of what he had said, "However, I can assure you that you will come to understand in time, as you will experience those answers for yourself, and when you do, I promise that you will come to understand."
Now she knew what he had meant. If he had told her that when she left, she would end up in another world, she would have undoubtedly laughed in his face. He knew that it was something she had to experience for herself in order for her to understand. She was somehow in another world. Whatever happened to her at Shikine-jima had transported her here, and she was sure that that mysterious woman that had flashed before her eyes before she had been transported was the one behind it. However, the question was, who was this woman and why had she done it. What did she want from her? Unfortunately, Euphemia did not have those answers and she did not know where to start looking for this woman, since the image had been so brief that she had been unable to make out her features, aside from her dark hair and that she had either brown or red eyes.
"Ā, there you are," the voice of the middle-aged man came, being her back to reality, and she realised that they had already returned to the gas station, and the man's earlier suspicions about her seemed to have dissipated, at least for the time being, "Your name is Euphemia li Britannia, is that correct?"
"What?" Euphemia said aloud, as her eyes widened in shock, and briefly, but also a bit hopefully, she wondered if perhaps she had initially been mistaken, "H-how d-d-do you know m-my name?"
"It says so on your gaitōshō, an abbreviation of gaikokujin tōroku shōmeisho," the man said, holding out a small rectangular card towards Euphemia, clearly intending for her to take it, "That means an alien registration card in your language."
"Huh, alien registration… what…?" Euphemia said, as she took the card from the man and looked at it and was surprised to see her own picture staring back at her, and next to the picture were a list of personal details about her, including her name, date of birth, though she was surprised to see that in the nationality box that she was listed as American, and that her place of birth was listed as Phoenix, Arizona.
It also stated that she was to be a student attending Yasogami Kōtōgakkō or Yasogami High School, and that she was going to be staying with a Dōjima Ryōtarō, his daughter, Nanako and his nephew, Narukami Yū.
"No… what is this?" the pink-haired Princess said in complete disbelief, "This can't be right!"
"I'm afraid it is," the middle-aged man said, interrupting Euphemia before she could retreat into her thoughts, "And it's really a coincidence because I just so happen to be Dōjima Ryōtarō."
"Huh?" Euphemia said, for perhaps the umpteenth time since she arrived, clearly confused, unable to explain why this was happening to her.
Just what was that card and how did it come into being? She was no fool. It was probably something that all foreigners in this world's version of Japan were required to carry around with them, but in order to get one, she knew that they would have to be applied for, and yet, she had not applied for one. How could she? She only just arrived, and another thing that caught her was the word, American.
America was where Britannia was based. After the loss of their original homeland, the Britannians had sailed over to America and sought to re-establish themselves, which had been difficult, since the failure of George Washington's rebellion to establish the United State of America had still been relatively fresh in the colonists' minds, and they had undoubtedly sought revenge against the Britannians for that particular defeat. That was probably how modern-day Britannia came to establish itself, Euphemia guessed. The Britannians were a relatively small group back then surrounded, and outnumbered by angry and hostile colonists, who were probably hell-bent on taking their revenge for Washington's defeat, and so, the Britannians had adopted a ruthless mind set in order to survive, but unfortunately even after they managed to re-establish themselves and build up their power, that mind set never left them, and they were still living believing that they had to oppress and subjugate others because if they did not, then they would suffer the very same fate as those they conquered.
"Does this mean that in this world Washington's Rebellion was a success?" she asked herself, bringing herself back to the topic at hand.
"Are, nē, what is this?" the voice of the boy, whom Euphemia guessed must be Narukami Yū, came, and Euphemia saw that he was studying the alien registration card, "According to this, you're staying with us."
Both Yū and the girl, whom Euphemia knew must be Nanako but turned to look at Dōjima with confused looks on their faces, clearly looking for answers.
"There seriously must be some mistake here," Euphemia said, as she tried to explain, "This is all wrong. I'm not a student, and I definitely don't know any of you."
"Well, y-you see, about that," Dōjima said to his daughter and nephew nervously with a chuckle, while scratching the back of his head, "I was so overworked that I forgot that I was hosting both you and a ryūgakusei at the same time. I guess that it just slipped my mind."
Euphemia's eyes widened and she saw Yū raise an eyebrow, and Nanako just gave her father a confused look.
"I shouldn't have done that, I'll admit, but I was so swamped with work that I agreed to take my oi and a ryūgakusei in at the same time," Dōjima continued to explain, practically repeating himself.
"So, I'm an overseas student, then?" Euphemia said, and then gave Dōjima a rather sincere look and looked him in the eye, "Look, Dōjima-san… I can call you that can't I?"
"Of course," Dōjima said with a nod.
"Look, I honestly have no idea what's going on here," the pink-haired Princess went on, though she knew that if she told her story that she was from another world, they would not believe her and most likely laugh at her, "I don't remember ever applying for an alien registration thingy or that I'm on some overseas student thingy, and I also don't know how I ended up in that dumpster. There has to be some mistake. I don't remember ever meeting you before."
"Sokka," Dōjima said with a nod, as he shot the pink-haired Princess an inquiring look, and looked as if he was pondering something, "Well, I can honestly say that there's no mistake. I have confirmation that I'm providing for a girl by the name of Euphemia li Britannia, and though you're right in the sense that we've never spoken before, all the arrangements were done through third parties."
"Who?" Euphemia asked curiously, and both Yū and Nanako also looked on, obviously curious as well, and Euphemia then knew that they were pretty much as in the dark about all this as she was.
"I don't remember hearing you talking about this with anyone," Nanako said, speaking for the first time, and this was the first time that Euphemia could make out what she was saying, and her comment also made Euphemia even more confused.
"That's because it was after you had gone to bed," Dōjima replied, turning his head to look down at his daughter, "I took care of all this after your bedtime; you know I stay up long after you've gone to bed."
"Well… I guess that's true," Nanako said, as she thought it over, though, she was still somewhat reluctant to accept her father's explanation.
"As for who… well, the funny thing is, I don't remember…" Dōjima went on, turning back to face Euphemia and Yū, as he answered Euphemia's question.
"What do you mean you don't remember?" Euphemia asked with a hint of frustration in her voice, as she started to glare at the middle-aged man, "Surely you must recall just exactly who you were speaking to."
"Well, I honestly don't remember," Dōjima said, shooting Euphemia a stern look, which told her that the discussion on that particular issue was over, "Anyway, I have to say that it's surprising to find you in a dumpster, and you say you don't know how you got there."
"Yeah or hai, as you Japanese say," Euphemia said with a nod, "The last thing I remember was… the last thing I remember was that I was rushing to save a friend of mine and then I must've passed out."
That was technically true, she told herself. She figured that she could reveal that much, since it did not imply that she was from another world. She reckoned that she could tell some of the truth without being taken for a crackpot.
"Sokka," Dōjima said, as he looked Euphemia up and down, choosing to ignore her brief pause, since he could see that she was having problems remembering how she ended up there, and noticed how expensive her dress looked, "Well, if I had to hazard a guess, my first instinct would be, on account of your dress, that you must've been at a party of some kind and had been drugged and discarded once whomever drugged you was finished with you."
"You mean; she could've been raped?" Yū said in pure shock, as he turned to look at Euphemia with a look of panic visible on his face.
"No, I wasn't raped," Euphemia replied with a hint of annoyance in her tone at that suggestion, "I think I'd know if I had been. I'm serious, the last thing I remember was trying to rescue my friend before passing out!"
"Well, perhaps your memory's not all there at the moment," Dōjima suggested, clearly offering an explanation to explain it, "In any case, according to your gaitōshō, you're staying with us, so I guess you'll be coming with us."
"Huh, oh, I guess so," Euphemia said with a sigh of defeat, having resided herself to her current situation.
It was not like she had any game plan or anything. She seriously had not considered just where she would go in this strange new world, and with that in mind, she decided that she might as well play along and go with Dōjima and his family. It was not like she had anywhere else to go.
However, she found it weird that Dōjima had apparently known she was coming, and that she was supposedly an overseas student attending a Japanese High School, probably as part of a foreign exchange program. She knew that that was not true. She was not native to this world, so there was no way that she could really be a foreign exchange student, and yet, there was an alien registration card with her name and personal details on it. Just where had that come from? She did not remember having it before, and another thing that boggled her mind, was that it also displayed her picture, a picture that she did not recall being taken in the past.
"This is all just too confusing," she thought to herself, and she turned to see Yū staring at her with a rather expressionless and stoic look on his face, though, looking into his eyes, Euphemia could see that he was studying her and silently inquiring about her.
"Anyway, now that that's all out of the way, some introductions are in order," Dōjima went on, bringing both Euphemia and Yū out of their thoughts, as they turned to look at him, "As you already know, I am Dōjima Ryōtarō."
"N-nice to meet you," Euphemia said with a polite bow, unsure exactly what to do next.
"And this here is my musume, Nanako," Dōjima went on, as he looked down at his daughter and gently pushed her forwards toward the pink-haired Princess.
However, Nanako just looked up at the pink-haired girl unsure how to react, and she looked a bit timid and frightened.
"Ano… konnichiwa…?" Euphemia said, speaking Japanese with a nervous chuckle, scratching the back of her head, as she was unsure how to go about the situation.
The little girl was clearly wary of her and Euphemia could honestly say that she did not blame her. After all, apparently, if what she had gathered so far was accurate, both she and her father had gone to pick her cousin up at a train station, and now, as it turned out, thanks to an obviously non-existent mix up of some kind, they were also playing host to her, a complete stranger. Nanako had every right to be wary. She did not know her and probably had objections to her staying with them, especially considering that she had apparently been unaware of her father's supposed intentions about hosting her.
"Mm-hmm… 'nichiwa," Nanako managed to blurt out in a rather quiet tone before she darted behind her father's leg and peered out from the side looking rather shy and nervous.
"Come on now, Nanako, there's no need to be shy," Dōjima said with a friendly chuckle, though it was clearly obvious to the pink-haired Princess that he was pleading to his daughter, trying to get her to open up to her, "I'm sure that she doesn't bite."
"I can't say I blame her for being wary," Euphemia said with an understanding sigh, "I am a takokumono, a stranger to her, and a gaijin at that. She's very wise."
"It's gaikokujin," Yū said, causing Euphemia to turn and stare at him, "You are technically right, but gaijin comes across as being rather offensive and derogatory, so we use the correct term, gaikokujin in relation to foreigners."
"Yeah, but I'm sure your itoko doesn't want me around the house," Euphemia said as she turned to look at Nanako, who ducked back behind her father's leg upon noticing that Euphemia was staring at her, causing her to sigh, "I mean, how would you feel if your parents suddenly told you out of the blue, and with no advanced warning whatsoever, that they were going to have a complete stranger come and stay with them, and you had no say in it?"
"Don't worry, she hasn't exactly warmed up to me either," Yū said in a reassuring tone, indicating that he was practically on the same boat as her and then turned to face her, "I'm Narukami Yū, by the way."
"Oh, I'm Euphemia li Britannia," Euphemia said, as she turned to face Yū to see that he had his hand extended towards her, and she took hers in his, and they shook hands.
"Well, anyway, I know this is rather bad timing, after all, I promised aneki that I would look after her musuko while she and her otto are overseas on business," Dōjima explained as he addressed both Euphemia and Yū, letting them both know that he was speaking to them both, "As I said before, I was so swamped with work that I unwittingly decided to take you, Euphemia, in as a ryūgakusei at the same time."
"So, your parents, or ryōshin are working overseas, and you're staying with your oji and itoko for the duration of their stay?" Euphemia said, as she summed everything that Dōjima said up, "I mean your mother's his big sister and otto means husband, is that right?"
"Un, that's correct," Yū said simply with a nod, "My ryōshin are both working abroad overseas, somewhere in the United States of America, I think, though I'm not too sure where exactly. It's always like this for me. I practically move from place to place every year."
"Hai, well I'm his haha's otōto, and that about sums it up," Dōjima said with a nod, "I agreed to look after him, so you'll be sharing the house with him, I'm afraid, and Yū, likewise, you'll be sharing the house with her, I hope neither of you mind."
"No, not at all," Yū said, shaking his head, though Euphemia could not help but wonder if he was being truthful, or if he was only agreeing with Dōjima because it was expected of him.
In the short amount of time that she had known him, she already knew enough about him to know that he was a very hard person to read, since the only hint of emotion he showed was the shock and horror he displayed when he thought that she could have possibly been raped. Other than that his face remained expressionless and devoid of any emotion, making it difficult to tell what he was thinking, plus his voice reminded her of Zero.
"No I don't mind either," she said, speaking up once she came out of her thoughts, "It can't be helped I suppose."
"Once again, sorry about this," Dōjima apologised yet again, "Though I suppose in a way, this could be a blessing in disguise. After all, if you hadn't ended up in that dumpster, who knows how long it would've been till I remembered about you, and you could have been waiting at who knows where waiting for me to pick you up."
"Yeah, I suppose you're right," Euphemia said with a nod, as she decided to reside herself to her fate for the time being, "Especially considering how it looks as if it's going to rain rather heavily any second."
"All's well that ends well, eh?" a familiar voice came with a friendly chuckle, grabbing everyone else's attention, causing them to turn, and they saw the androgynous person walking towards them.
Euphemia suddenly felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she realised that she had forgotten that they were there, and her fears and unease around this person returned with a vengeance, as she felt herself back away from them. Looking around, Euphemia was a bit surprised to see that she was not the only one who was unnerved by this person's presence, as Nanako, upon seeing that this person was walking up behind her had ran around her father, who had turned to face the person and hid behind his leg again, only this time, she was hiding from the androgynous person standing in front of them and not her.
In fact, upon studying Nanako further, Euphemia could see that she was downright terrified of this person, as she clung to her father's leg as if she was afraid that he would disappear at any given moment. When it came to her, Euphemia could see that Nanako, though shy, timid and somewhat afraid, she was not absolutely terrified of her. By contrast, Nanako looked at the androgynous person as if they were some sort of frightening monster from a storybook taking on a human form. If the pink-haired Princess had to hazard a guess, if the little girl had to choose between her and the androgynous person, then she would choose her over the androgynous person any day of the week.
"So it's not just me," she thought to herself.
"Chotto ima, why so scared," the person said with a rather awkward chuckle, "I don't bite. I'm just your average jūgyōin here at this gas station."
"S-s-s-so you're a-a-an at-at-attendant, then?" Euphemia practically stuttered nervously, as she tried to work up the courage to suppress her fear of this person.
She could not put her finger on it, but something about this attendant just did not sit well with her. Something about them just scared her, making her feel ill at ease and she found herself putting her guard up in case they tried anything.
"Un, and I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," the attendant said in a seemingly friendly tone, "So your name is Euphemia, I gather?"
"Un, hai!" Euphemia said with a quick nod.
"Now go away and leave me alone," she added in her thoughts.
"Well, Euphemia-san, in case you're wondering where you are, let me be the first to say, "Welcome to Inaba"," the attendant went on in their friendly tone, seemingly unaware of the pink-haired Princess's unease, "Inaba's the name of this here machi, that means town in Japanese, though, to be honest with you, it's rather dull and boring out here. I'm sure it's not like what you're used to back where you come from. Like I told this guy here, you'll probably end up being bored to tears if you don't have a job or something."
"Huh, well, I overheard you mentioning that part-time job, but I don't think I'm all that interested," the pink-haired Princess said, managing to suppress at least some of her fear.
"Besides, I don't want you anywhere near me," she added in her thoughts, as she felt herself involuntarily tremble like she was shivering from being in a cold area too long.
Just looking at this person somehow gave her the impression that she was staring at the Grim Reaper and that he was coming for her, and it brought her back to her discussion with Igor in which he informed her that she may die.
"No, no, no, don't think like that!" she scolded herself, not wanting to think of that possibility.
"Look, if there's a problem in getting a job, then get in touch with the Chihō Nyūkoku Kanrikyoku," the attendant went on, seemingly oblivious to Euphemia's growing discomfort, "I'm sure they'll get it sorted out for you. I mean, you are staying for more than six months, aren't you?"
"The Local Immigration Bureau," Euphemia said, translating the Japanese words, just to be sure that she heard them properly.
"Oh, don't worry about that," Dōjima said with a dismissive laugh, "I've already dealt with that stuff, and believe me, she is allowed to partake in part-time work."
He then paused and turned to face Euphemia.
"Like he said, you'll get bored fast if you don't have something to occupy yourself with, so a part-time job or two will do you the world of good," he went on, as he placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and also appeared to be oblivious to the pink-haired girl's discomfort around the attendant, "I suppose you could do without, but it's so dull and boring out here that you'll be setting yourself up for major boredom in that case."
"He?" Euphemia thought, as she glanced over at the attendant, "You think that they're a man. I honestly can't tell."
"Look, just think it over, will you?" the attendant said in what seemed like a reassuring tone, as they held out their hand towards Euphemia, "I'm sure that my koyōsha, that is my employer, won't mind that you're a gaikokujin."
Euphemia just stared at the hand being offered to her for a brief moment, considering whether or not she should accept it. She was rather tempted to just slap the hand away and make a run for it. She just did not want this person anywhere near her or to touch her in any way, even if it was just a seemingly friendly handshake. She had a terrifyingly sinking feeling that she would probably come to regret the handshake if she accepted, but on the other hand, she knew that politeness was a major part of Japanese society and that she may give off the wrong idea to Dōjima and his family if she rejected the handshake, and so, against her better judgement, she reluctantly accepted the handshake and reached out her own hand to meet with the attendant's.
They both shook hands, though, Euphemia almost panicked when she felt the firm grip of the attendant's hand wrap around her own. The attendant's grip was a bit too firm for her liking and she felt like wincing in pain, but almost as quickly as they had taken her hand, they released it, and Euphemia could not help but back away with the colour having drained from her face, looking as if she had seen a ghost.
"Well, back to work for me, for real this time," the attendant said, as they turned and started to walk away, but stopped and looked back at Euphemia and Yū, "I wouldn't want to be accused of slacking off, would I?"
With that said, they turned their head back to facing their front and continued to walk off.
"What was… what was that about…?" Euphemia said trembling with fear, though, she was unsure why.
Something about the way the attendant had grabbed her hand had caused her to panic. It seemed like a regular friendly handshake, but something about it had set off alarm bells in her head.
"Now I just know that I'm going to regret this," she thought to herself, as she struggled to regain her composure.
"Are, what's wrong?" Yū asked feeling a bit concerned after seeing her fearful expression.
"Don't worry, I find that guy weird as well," Nanako said, as she looked up at the pink-haired Princess, reassuring her that she was not alone in her uneasiness around the attendant.
"Anyway, let's get going," Dōjima said, as he turned to walk towards the car, "We've been here long enough."
The others all nodded and started to follow him, but as soon as Euphemia took her first step, a brief flash of white light flashed before her eyes, briefly obscuring her vision and she also heard what sounding like a cross between a bell and a ping sound, and then, she felt a sharp pain flare up in her head, causing her to feel dizzy yet again, though this time was on a far more intense level than before, and she felt herself stumble and almost dive head-first into the tarmac, but she fortunately managed to catch herself. Once she recovered, she was confused to find that the pain that had shot up in her head was now gone… or at the very least, mostly gone, the worst of it having disappeared as quickly as it had come and her dizziness seemed to have also passed.
"Are, Euphemia-san, are you okay?" she heard Nanako asking her, and looked down to see the little girl looking at her with a look of concern and worry, "Are you sick? You don't look so good."
Yū was also looking at her with concern in his eyes, though, he also seemed to be pondering something.
"What's wrong?" Dōjima asked, having noticed Euphemia was feeling a bit off, "You're not falling ill or anything, are you?"
"No, it's okay, it passed." Euphemia said, offering Dōjima what she hoped was a reasonable explanation, "I'm probably still a bit disorientated from lying in that dumpster."
Dōjima looked unconvinced for a second, but then, he shrugged and continued to walk towards the car. Once he got in the driver's seat, Nanako allowed Euphemia to come up alongside her, and then she turned towards the pink-haired Princess and took a few small sniffs at Euphemia's side.
"No offence, Euphemia-san, but you smell," she said simply, causing Euphemia to groan in annoyance.
"Dōjima-san, when we get back to your house, is it okay if I use your shower?" she called after the middle-aged man as Nanako walked towards the passenger's side of the front and got in.
Both Euphemia and Yū got in the back, and Yū also took a sniff at Euphemia and then waved his hand in front of his nose.
"Nanako's right,, you really do stink," he said in the most stoic tone Euphemia had ever heard, and she had to admit that she was rather tempted to just turn and smack him over the head, despite the fact that what he said was indeed, true.
Euphemia took a sniff at herself and clamped her thumb and index fingers down on her nose, realising that they were right. She did indeed, smell awful. She reckoned that it must have been because she had been lying in that dumpster.
"Mochiron, feel free to use the shower or the ofuro whenever you wish," Dōjima said after everyone had closed the doors.
He then started up the engine and put the car into reverse before he slowly drove the car backwards, making sure that no one was in his way as he backed. He also turned the car at a ninety-degree angle before putting the car into first gear and then slowly drove forwards to the intersection that led into the gas station, and then upon making sure that no cars were coming, he turned the car left and drove down the shopping district.
As Dōjima drove off, the gas station attendant walked out from the store and watched the car drive off with a rather content and rather sinister smile on their face.
"I have to say that I'm a bit surprised that she was more in tune with the vibes that I was giving off than I had originally anticipated," they said to themselves curiously, clearly surprised that, while not realising that their real identity, Euphemia did seem to pick up on the fact that they were not who they appeared to be.
Looking up to their right, they noticed a small bluish white butterfly that appeared to give of a phosphorescent glow hovering nearby. The butterfly was not moving and appeared to be stationary as it flapped its wings and small glowing particles of light appeared to fall from its behind, but vanished before touching the ground.
"Philemon," the attendant said with a somewhat friendly, though smug chuckle, "So you've also developed an interest in Euphemia as well, have you?"
The butterfly did not reply, but moved slightly, as if acknowledging that it had heard them.
"Feel free to observe all you want," the attendant went on, not caring whether they got a reply or not, "It makes no difference to me what you do. The rules you set yourself prevent you from interfering directly. Euphemia's fate has already been sealed regardless of the outcome."
"We shall see," a voice echoed in the attendant's mind, though, this did not alarm them, and in fact, they just responded with a shrug.
"Yes, we most certainly shall," the attendant replied with a sinister sounding chuckle.
They then turned to look out across the road and was shocked to see a girl standing just outside the gas station on the pavement, and from the looks of it, it was quite clear to the attendant that they girl had heard what they had said.
The girl had dark reddish brown hair that was tied into a ponytail that went down to the back of her stomach and held in place by a dark red bobble and she also had dark chocolate brown eyes. She wore a pair of red and white sneakers, a pair of dark brown socks that went up to just below her knees, a dark reddish brown skirt that went down to just above her knees, a red t-shirt that had a depiction of Tōkyō Tower and a light brownish orange coloured sleeveless and unbuttoned waistcoat. She was also holding a black bag in her right hand with white kanji symbols that read, "Konishi Sakaya" on the side and was surrounded by a white circle.
The attendant just sighed in annoyance and then focused their gaze on the girl.
From the girl's perspective, the attendant seemed to gaze straight at her and locked eyes with her. She did not know why, though. Sure she heard them talking to themselves, but she passed it off as the attendant not being right in the head and suffering from some mental illness such as schizophrenia. She was just curious about them. However, her eyes widened in shock as she witnessed that the brownness in their eyes appeared to vanish and all that was left was a pair of crimson red eyes glaring right at her. Before she could even react, the attendant's eyes widened, and then, they appeared to flash a bright red.
Author's Notes – Finally, another chapter done. You know, a great thing about the length of time it took was that it gave me time to watch Persona 4 Dancing All Night and familiarise myself with it. I have to say though, that the scenes involving Euphemia took longer than I imagined, and I had a few extra scenes involving various members of the Investigation Team lined up because I believed that this chapter would not be as long as it was. However, now that I thought up of those scenes, I desperately want them in, so they'll be next chapter as a brief interlude (though given the possible length, it may as well be a regular chapter).
