2016
Pov Kallen
Kallen was angry, very angry. That idiotic brother of hers, Naoto, had kicked her out of the ghetto again. She had planned to surprise him and spend the day with him in the ghetto, had arranged everything. She wanted her brother, at least on his birthday, to celebrate with his little sister, like in the old times. But no, the boy got furious at her "total thoughtlessness" before giving her a lecture, while accompanying her to Ashford against her will. Unbelievable.
As the hours passed, her anger transformed first into annoyance and then into complete boredom. The history lesson was the last straw. What was supposed to be a lesson on the medieval period quickly turned into a monologue by the teacher, glorifying Britannia's greatness and mocking the Japanese resistance. The young girl didn't realize what she was about to say until she said it: "IF BRITANNIA IS SO GREAT, HOW DO YOU EXPLAIN Itsukushima?" The whole class was shocked. Kallen understood she had made a HUGE mistake, but before she could even think of an excuse, a boy with black hair and violet eyes broke the silence by starting to laugh. The attention of the entire class was now on him. The professor asked with a almost rude tone, "What's so funny, Mr. Lamperouge?" The boy replied against his better judgment, "Isn't it much more interesting to answer these questions than to make a list of Britannia's great deeds?" The professor chuckled a little and then said, "You're right, Mr. Lamperouge. You and Miss Stadtfeld should write a long report on how uncivilized Elevens managed to slow down our mighty empire." It was going to be a long afternoon.
After the end of classes, Kallen approached her new study partner introducing herself, "Nice to meet you, my name is Kallen Stadtfeld." The boy replied, "My name is Lelouch Lamperouge." Then he smiled, and as the last students left the room, he said, "I found your input during the lesson quite interesting." Kallen, doing her best imitation of a sick girl, replied, "Um... I was just curious... and..." Kallen was about to continue, but Lelouch had stopped smiling and seemed annoyed. They spent a few seconds staring at each other until the boy threw in the towel, sighed, and asked, "Well, we have a long and totally interesting report to write and little time to do it. Shall we go to the library?" Kallen was about to agree when she remembered reading a notice at the entrance: "Ashford Library will be closed today for maintenance work." Her usual luck: "I think the library is closed." The realization seemed to hit Lelouch: "Right." He took a few seconds to think and then said with a slightly annoyed tone, "Could we do it at your place?" Kallen, although slightly curious about why not at Lelouch's place, kept her curiosity to herself: "Very well, we can go." Before Lelouch could say anything, she took out her cellphone and made a call. The response came immediately: "We have another person for lunch."..."No, not Naoto," she almost shouted. She ended the call with fire in her eyes. For the second time today, her mask had fallen, but at that moment, she was too angry to notice. "Let's go," Lelouch was increasingly intrigued, and in a teasing tone, he said, "Yes, my queen." It took all of Kallen's willpower not to punch him.
Upon arriving at the Stadtfeld mansion, the two entered. Kallen looked at the coat rack, noticing the absence of a coat, and said, "You're a lucky guy, Lelouch. The witch left early." Lelouch made no comments, but he imagined it was one less problem to worry about. A maid came to welcome them, and Kallen's good mood disappeared: "Welcome back, Lady Kallen. May I ask your name, mister..." Lelouch replied, "My name is Lelouch Lamperouge." Kallen cut the discussion short: "Is lunch ready?" The maid replied, "Yes, miss," and led them to the dining room.
Pov Lelouch
To Lelouch, from his time as a prince, he he didn't miss grand mansions and the endless formalities that came with that life. But he could admit to himself that eating food made by a private chef was something he couldn't despise. Sayoko was an excellent cook when it came to Japanese dishes, but that didn't make it any less necessary for him to learn to cook for himself and Nunnally. Lunch passed without anything really important being said. However, he could feel the tension in the air. Whatever it was, for Lelouch, it would remain a mystery, at least for now. Kallen had intrigued him, not for her name and the wealth that followed, not even for her beauty. Rather, what truly drew Lelouch in was the fire in the girl's eyes. As much as he hated to admit it, it reminded him a bit of himself before his confrontation with the emperor, before the war, before carrying Nunnally on his shoulders through Japan, advancing through bombs and mud reddened by the blood of soldiers. After those events, he realized that throwing himself into the fray without a plan was simply foolish. Both wore a mask, and for the first time in a long time, Lelouch was intrigued by someone.
They finished lunch and went to Kallen's room to start studying. It would take longer than they expected. Apparently, the Itsukushima miracle was a taboo topic to write articles about. Most of the material focused on a poor commander who was blamed for the failure. Neither of the two was particularly surprised by this detail. Kallen was surprised when Lelouch started typing the name of the battle in Japanese. She asked almost shocked, "Do you know Japanese?" Lelouch calmly replied, "Yes," and seeing Kallen read the page very quickly, he added, "And I'm not the only one, it seems." If Kallen was surprised, she didn't show it and replied, "Even though I'm British, I was born and raised in Japan, after all. How do you know it?" The most interesting thing for Lelouch was the natural way she said "Japan" and not "Area 11". But now it was his turn to share some information: "Similar story, born in Britannia, raised in Japan when it still had that name." The last part of the sentence imposed silence in the room for several minutes, until Lelouch presented his idea for the research. Normally, he tried to keep a low profile, but he wouldn't deny himself his small revenge against the tyrant. Kallen's reaction to the idea was a wicked grin. The student council vice president had to make a call.