Chapter Ten: If You Build It, They Will Come

Arc Three: The Big Show

Opening: "Kikai Jikake no Cinderella" - Eliza

"What exactly did you say you wanted?"

"We're not here to buy."

The old, poor shop owner's long, weathered face drooped yet further, leaning down towards the floor as he gave a sigh of disappointment. He shook his head slightly, before asking in his native Japanese uncertainly "So what is it you want here?"

It was Suzaku's turn to sigh. He really wasn't getting anywhere.

Not that this was anything special. He'd been bogged down from bootlegger to barterer all day, trying to communicate what seemed to him like a basic concept, but what turned out to be difficult to get his target audience to understand.

Especially given the language gap. Suzaku spoke exceptional Japanese, having learnt with literally the best teachers in the country before practicing with Lelouch for over a decade, however it seemed that dialects had grown apart. He could barely make out whole words.

The Ghetto, he supposed, must do that to people.

Indeed, it seemed as if all the Japanese were destined to come to this twisted designated home at some point, whether by force, or by a mean twist of fate. Still, as many grievances as he had in returning to this dank, cramped place that reeked of poverty and neglect, he had a job to do, and so he took in breath and persevered.

"We're here to try help. Britannia is suffering economically, and there are terrorists everywhere. Britannian money may stop working, or it may become worthless, so we're doing an initiative to try float some new money."

On cue, Ohgi displayed a collection of fresh banknotes, all new and original, and not any currency that was recognisable. Indeed, it wasn't. Lelouch, Suzaku and Ohgi had had sets designed and printed, ready to distribute.

They were restarting the Yen.

"So what is this, free money? I've never seen this before. Is this a scam?"

"No, it's not. The only reason we're giving this to you is to kickstart it. Community leaders throughout the Ghetto will be getting bundles, and distributing them to people, who will come in here and spend it."

At the mention of people visiting his store, the man perked up. "They will pay?"

"Yes, they will. Right now, people are too nervous to spend Dollars, or don't have any money at all. We're trying to fix that, by distributing Yen and getting people into local employment."

"But why? Why is this money better?"

"Unlike Dollars, our Yen is tied to Gold. If you have a little over 2000 Yen, you can get an ounce of Gold back from us at any time. With this, you can make sure your currency is safe, and with the currency more spread throughout the community, you'll have more customers. Plus, how many Dollars do you have?"

"What's the catch? Why are you doing this?"

Suzaku paused, before leaning over the counter, laying down his elbow, his forearm laid parallel to the stall and explaining "We're not… the biggest fans of Britannia, so circulating a Japanese currency through the ghetto will hurt them, as well as help a lot of us here. You'll be able to spend a lot more on the shop, hire a few helpers, and spread the wealth through the Ghetto, improve people's quality of life, et cetera."

The man seemed satisfied with this explanation, before seeking to clarify with "So all I need to do is accept this money from customers?"

Suzaku nodded, before adding "And try to spend it throughout the town, return the favour."

The man smiled, as would anyone getting free money and a chance to spite Britannia. They shook hands, and exchanged the briefcase and nods. As they moved towards the door, the owner asked one more question.

"Wait, what do I call you?"

Suzaku turned back, and nodded. "Call us the Yuaikai. If you need one of us, I'm Akate, this is Arata, and we have a third Britannian colleague on the financial side you can call Akira."

With that, Suzaku and Ohgi departed through the scrubby entrance into the brown day.

Suzaku searched for more adjectives, hoping to find a more eloquent way to describe the streets of Nerima, the heart of the Ghetto, however it was just brown streets with brown air, brown water and brown pathways leading to dismal brown all around. It was a thoroughly depressing place, reeking thoroughly of disease and disorder.

He sighed as he stepped into the dirt stained streets as Ohgi suggested they take a break and relax for a half hour before combing the North Side. Suzaku could only thank him for a relief from the draining work, as they shuffled through the anxious crowd. Wearing older clothes and tired faces, they passed through the crowd seamlessly, making for the train line that separated the Ghetto from the city proper.

As they approached the edge of the town, the crowd thickened, and the stench and dense heat grew in ferocity, creeping under his skin and sending him into a fit of sweat, his hair clamming under the thick air. He grew uncomfortable, running his hands over his face and through the roots of his hair as they approached the incline towards the train tracks which stood sentinel between the Ghetto and the Tokyo CBD.

The trip over was arduous and more than a little unnecessarily complex due to terrible walkways with dubious design principles that left Suzaku wondering whether the effect was intentional or borne out of incompetence on the part of Britannia.

In any case, they made it to the other side of the railway tracks, and hurried towards their apartment, rented cheaply to act as a base of operations for distributing and holding the money. It would all be moved once they began employing permanent staff to guard it, but for now it would be irresponsible to store it in the Ghetto itself. As for the gold they had bought to back up their share, that was stored in Ashford University itself. While owning some gold wasn't a prerequisite for holding a Gold Standard, it was far less complicated and risky, and also meant that every aspect of the currency could be run in house.

Entering the barren, but homely room, both Suzaku and Ohgi removed their coats before Ohgi made for the fridge. Suzaku waved off the unspoken question as he sat on the couch and tuned their small, boxy television to Britannian news. He knew Ohgi was a responsible drinker, and so let him off, but he himself wouldn't have any while on the job, even during a break. He had very little doubt this would likely amuse Lelouch, and give him plenty of fodder for jokes pertaining to his ideological puritanism, however the question of who was more averse to alcohol would have to be answered by Lelouch, who still baulked at the idea of a beer while Suzaku could enjoy one or two.

And that fact tended to finish those discussions in a real hurry. Not that Suzaku at the end of the day cared a great deal about either of his friends' opinions on alcohol. He was far more interested in the project thus far.

The basic concept was that any attempt to form an independent Japanese government would require the functional independence of its people, a Republic in all but name. If they were to declare, say, today that there was in fact an independent Japan that did not recognise Britannia's claim to the Home Islands, nothing would change. The world would take a moment to laugh in indifference, before continuing its steady spin.

However, if by the time they made such a hypothetical declarations the Japanese population had their own currency, had jobs not ruled by Britannian Lords, and could make the transition on a nationwide level without any losses, then the world would take note. Functional independence begot real independence.

This required two things. A strong Yen, used throughout Japan, and a weak Dollar people did not want to stay with nationally. The Dollar would, as of the crash, be near a standing start, so they had to make their case to the people, and make it fast. It would be a financial choice rather than a patriotic one on the part of the population.

They had a few things on their side. First, they faced a slumberly, lethargic enemy that was fighting the wrong battles; the Britannian economy. While it was tough, and it had enough industry to fight through its troubles, it wasn't recovering fast enough, and it was far too unwieldy a thing to get up to speed. On top of that, it was fighting the wrong battles. While they could produce thousands of rifles, hundreds of Knightmares, and dozens of Battleships, Yuaikai very intentionally weren't fighting a military battle. Britannian economic principles focused on incentivising research and the perpetuation of the nobility. While this allowed said nobles to go wild with pet projects, such as Earl Asplunds Lancelot, it meant that poor people already felt hard done by. They could thus make the better case to the Japanese, who were all working class at best.

Ohgi sat beside him as the newscaster described in drab monotone the state of Britannian society, in fashions that even pulled Suzaku's attention elsewhere. To Ohgi, he asked lazily "How much left on the North side?"

"We should have it all distributed by Tuesday week, if my contacts hold."

Ohgi had truly been a blessing over the last few days. While store owners were easy to find, seeking out responsible community leaders to distribute the funds would not have been possible without his critical insight and knowledge, having lived there his whole life. What may have taken months, evaluating pillars of the community and distributing the proper amounts to each now only was a matter of days. Out in the middle of his internal musings, Suzaku detected a rumble, shaking hollows in his stomach. He stood up shakily, nearly falling backwards and sending Ohgi into stitches of laughter. Undeterred, he made for the kitchen, slamming two packets of instant noodles into a pot with reckless abandon. Ohgi, having craned his neck to observe Suzaku's endeavours, quipped "Noodles? Stereotypes march on Suzaku."

"Sod off."

The pair spoke in Japanese, laughing as the noodles rose to the boil, before a brief pause allowed Suzaku to return to his reverie.

The shop owner had stayed with him for some reason, beyond what was normal. He pored through the conversation in his head, pondering the reason it lingered as he flipped the sloppy mess out of the pot into the strainer above the sink, splashing hot water that stung off his hands, nearly making him drop the pot as it hit him.

"We're not the biggest fans of Britannia ourselves…"

"What was that Suzaku?"

"Nothing…" came the unsteady reply, as Suzaku returned to thought. That was it. It was the same thing that struck him so clearly after his talk with Reuben. Again, while talk of economics helped, Nationalism always had that special ring. It was, of course, natural, however Suzaku couldn't give the answer as to why it so often superseded rational arguments, leaping through the hearts of men and women, Japanese and Britannian alike. He knew Carl Sagan had once written; They should have sent a poet. Suzaku felt like he'd have done better with an anthropologist. He himself felt a little affection towards the islands that were his home, but his aims were secular of the concept of a free Japan; he wanted to free the people of Japan from the people of Britannia, not the nation of Japan from the clutches of the nation of Britannia.

And yet, the shop owner hadn't got onboard until after they had dropped that they were opposed to Britannia, and that that was the whole point. Of course, that was not the only possible explanation. It could have been the store owner hadn't been sure they were 'on the level' until that point, or perhaps there was another reason.

Still, it didn't help his nerves. Perhaps-

Ding

Suzaku's sleek modern phone, out of place in such a shabby room, gave a slight sigh, vibrating off its wooden bed like a waking child, crying for a parents attention. Sighing, Suzaku reached over and laboriously read the contents of what proved to be a text.

"Who is Kallen Stadtfeld?"

Suzaku paused, furrowing his brows to reread the message. His own mind asked the question, who was Kallen Stadtfeld? It took him several moments to make the connection, before the answer confused him further. Why did Lelouch care about a damn Britannian noble girl? Why would he text him while they were busy about that?

An unexpected revelation struck Suzaku, as he made a connection. He had been talking to Kallen quite a bit recently, and…

"Aho!" Suzaku roared angrily at the phone, before slamming it shut and huffing. Nonplussed, Ohgi asked "Who was that?"

Suzaku sighed. "Lelouch is being a goddamn idiot. Texting me over a girl, the nerve."

"That doesn't sound like him…" Ohgi mused concernedly. "I wonder what's up."

"Join the sodding club." Suzaku moaned sourly, resigning himself to the couch once more, stuffing his face angrily, barely taking a breath to belch out "The nerve on him…"

Ohgi eased, waving it off. "Calm yourself, we can't expect him to be a twenty four seven Übermensch. Even he must take some time off."

Suzaku didn't disagree, but he found Ohgi's description of Lelouch, the word he used, to be curious.

"Übermensch? No, he's far too unscrupulous for that. Not that he doesn't have some of the qualities, but he is still… tied to some extent to reality. Not that that's a bad thing, it's just not him. His aspirations are earthly, and it's a good thing too. Perhaps an argument could be made his father i-" Suzaku replied, before catching himself in shock at how easily he had nearly let the secret slip. Ohgi still didn't know, and he had nearly revealed it.

But he hoped too much, as for while Ohgi was not on the level of Lelouch, he was still remarkably intelligent, catching on and responding in a unconcerned, casual manner out of ignorance "His father what? Would he be someone we know?"

Suzaku breathed outwards, trying to clear his head, which concerned Ohgi. While he could lie, there would be little point. Any lie would be easily disproven, and he could get ahead of the issue and present Lelouch's side first. He began slowly, his voice a little shaky from uncertainty on how to proceed.

"Listen… Lelouch is who he is, and you know him well enough. He's genuine, and he hates Britannia more than anyone on the goddamn Earth, and... what you've seen, he's entirely-"

"Suzaku."

Running a hand through sweaty locks, Suzaku spoke in broken words, annunciating each syllable with shallow breaths, saying "Lelouch... Lamperouge is not his real name. He is… his name is Lelouch Vi Britannia, excommunicated son of the Emperor."

The teen looked at the adult pensively, as the emotions flowed through his face in flashes of confusion, realisation, then sudden shock that fired up his eyes and brows, before Suzaku saw the nuance reach his lips that pursed on cue, and finally it returned to a mixed, conflicted state, the retreatful mouth contrasting the harsh eyes. It was clear he was not the least bit pleased to be working with the spawn of his enemy, however he could on some level appreciate the fact Lelouch may not be his father's biggest fan, given everything he had said up to that point. Ohgi's eyes fell low, his sake hanging from his fingers loosely.

"This is…"

"It's okay if you don't want to stay on. You've been a hero for Japan with what you've done, but if this is an issue…"

Ohgi spat onto the floor, a motion that stopped Suzaku short. It was a sudden shift in the mood of the room that left Suzaku speechless and uncertain.

"It'll take more than a royal brat to stop me working for Japan, so don't start talking like a fool." he hissed "But if you don't explain what that means in a real hurry…"

Suzaku was an expert in multiple self defence doctrines that had been drilled into him since the age of 5, with over a decade of honing backing it up, and yet he was terrified of the glare Ohgi was giving him. Trying to present his point reasonably, he explained "He was a Prince, but after his mum was killed, he confronted his father, asking why he hadn't done anything, and he was banished to Japan for defying him. He was here during the war, and we've lived together since. Ohgi, he is on our side."

"Oh"

Suzaku stopped again, confused, before Ohgi sardonically explained his sentiments "It's a Freudian Excuse."

"A what?" Suzaku replied, completely nonplussed.

"A single inciting incident experienced in youth that sets the child off on the path of crime and or death often out of proportion to the incident. I'm saying he's fighting for us because of daddy issues."

It wasn't as if similar thoughts hadn't occurred to Suzaku. Certainly, back when they had just escaped the Kururugi Estate, after the massacre, Suzaku had had to call Lelouch out on something similar, but the idea that rejection was the source of his motivation seemed to him impossible. Lelouch was a man of far greater principle than that, Suzaku thought. Angrily, he retorted "That's not the case! Granted, that didn't help, but you must have seen by now that he fights Britannia, not just its ruler!"

"What a man does and why he does it can be very different. He strikes me as a pragmatic lad, willing to do one thing to achieve a long term goal."

"Your analysis of Lelouch's personality isn't wrong, but your conclusion about his motives is. He has other motives-"

"Name them."

It was Suzaku's turn to have a thunderous face, glaring at Ohgi, but the older man didn't flinch. This seemed far too personal a demand, but there was little point in backing out now.

"He wants to protect his sister, and other people victimised by Britannia. He wants to restore Japan. He wouldn't mind in the least to see Charles Zi Britannia on the chopping block. His ideas extend far beyond the realm of daddy issues."

Ohgi mulled this over, his eyes relaxing but his mouth firming, as if reaching a new level of realisation only to be faced with further decisions. Ohgi spoke in single phonetics, making his meaning clear in his deep, accented Japanese.

"I see. While this isn't exactly what I was expecting or hoping, if your word is true, and I suspect it is, then it is what it is. However, this must be kept a secret, lest we be discredited."

"That was the idea."

Ohgi nodded in understanding. "It'll take more than any one person to stop me, let alone one on my side." He chuckled, before adding "I guess you're right."

"Mm?"

"Übermensch really is the wrong word."

It was a long time and several hours of door to door salesmanship before Suzaku made it back to Ashford to turn in for the night. Ohgi would stay to mind the money across the train line. The teen was exhausted as he approached the front gates, passing the occasional straggler breaking the silence of the eleven o' night.

"The hell are you doing here?"

"Oh, spare us a coin!"

"The end is nigh! This catastrophe that hath befallen all we Britannians is a message from the heavens that we ought not to tolerate disobedience against their will any longer!"

Suzaku snickered at that last one. He didn't believe, and knew for a fact Lelouch didn't, but to see such a reaction from something with natural causes struck him somewhere between silly and deluded.

"What a pathetic image. Good evening Suzaku."

Suzaku spun round and saw him, Lelouch leaning against the school gate under the glare of a street lamp, coat draping down giving him an appearance befitting a Film Noir character. Suzaku smiled at seeing his friend and walked up to greet him. Lelouch smiled in turn, though more cruelly, as he explained "Ohgi said you'd be arriving about now."

This made sense to Suzaku, but what followed, a sly, yet somewhat disappointed grin, did not.

"Two months Suzaku. You made it two months without telling Ohgi who I was."

"Oh… yeah, I might've done…"

Lelouch laughed, and so Suzaku laughed in turn as they walked back, Lelouch replying "I can't take one eye off you… I swear you'll be the death of me."

Suzaku merely chuckled as they returned to the main building, Lelouch bidding Nunnally goodnight as they moved to their respective rooms. Suzaku paused, asking while he still remembered.

"Lelouch?"

"Mm?"

"Why do you fight?"

Lelouch paused to consider an answer, his face pouting in thought before he looked Suzaku in the eye.

"I fight because no one else in this goddamned country seems to know how to. Now go to sleep."

The Mandela Effect strikes again; it is indeed If you build it, he will come, but that really doesn't fit this chapter, all about people coming together. While I am aware the Gold Standard has little meaning in this day and age of big, digitised currencies, it serves as a nice gimmick to get people onboard. Another talky chapter, but I have often found I write those best. A few notes on things that were said include "A Republic in all but name", a phrase used to describe the Irish situation prior to 1920, which I view to be in a quite similar situation prior to the War of Independence to Code Geass' Area 11, however this could be Creator Provincialism. You can search up Freudian Excuses on TvTropes, which give a much better explanation than I have. Finally, Yuaikai refers to the first Japanese Labour Union created after the Meiji Restoration, founded in 1912 and surviving until 1940 when the Hirohito government replaced it with the Sangyo Hokoku Kai.

I wanted this chapter to be longer, to allow me to elaborate further on several themes and ideas which are mentioned in passing, as well as lay out some of the maths I did when putting the plan together, but alas. Thank you all for reading and I hope you stick around for Chapter 11 of For Hearts And Minds, So Goes The Nation. Until then, stay safe, try to keep your friends secrets a bit better than Suzaku did, and please rate and review!

~Eth0