Nunnally was wound up something fierce. Her tension only grew with each passing day, to the point she could not hide it from her family anymore. Or C.C., for that matter. And of course she had to bring it up during breakfast, the one time she usually remained quiet to enjoy the food.

"And what exactly has you so worked up, girl?"

Nunnally just gave her a look.

"I told you that Cornelia is coming here."

She broke out in a cold sweat when Kaguya let her know two weeks ago. Lelouch was busy brooding ever since she passed the information on. He was tense in his own way and neither of them had an outlet for it.

"And you fear her?" C.C. pressed. "The Witch of Britannia?"

"Yes."

"Good."

C.C.'s response took the wind out of Nunnally's sails. Lelouch was aware enough to be taken from his own thoughts, too. Nunnally stared for a moment, head tilting.

"Pardon?"

C.C. took a sip of tea and leaned back in her chair, immediately slipping into lecture mode. "Fear is a primal force that informed our lives since mankind's conception," she explained. "It keeps you alive as long as you hold onto it, but it can just as well destroy you if you allow it to rule your actions."

It was novel for her to be helpful. It may just be Nunnally's imagination, but this sort of advice had begun coming more often since their contract. She understood what the older woman meant, and so did Lelouch.

"And Cornelia of all people is fearsome indeed," he added with partly forced calm.

Unfortunately, the subject itself was not a nice one. Nunnally's tension faded as a dull depression took its place; she could ever so vaguely remember their half-sister being kind to them. Cornelia even took time out of her busy day to play.

"Though it's sad she has to be our enemy," she mused. "We used to be close, didn't we?"

Lelouch nodded back with a small frown of his own. "We were, yes. But Cornelia's priority is and always has been Euphemia, so I can't tell how much of that was her indulging Euphie."

"I guess blood is thicker than water after all," Nunnally answered with a wry grin.

This, however, prompted a derisive snort from C.C.. "A Britannian misuse of the proverb," she told the siblings once she had their attention. "Though it nicely underlines their stance on bloodlines and nobility. The original version says 'The blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb'."

She did not elaborate further, even when the pair and Sayoko all stared at her in wonder. Nunnally rolled the apparent original around in her mind for a little while as she grasped its meaning.

"So it actually says the opposite?"

"Yes," Lelouch confirmed. He must have reached the same conclusion. "The family we choose are more important than those we are born to. I can agree with that."

He gave a little nod to Sayoko when saying it. This time a smile cracked her serene expression when she nodded in turn. "I as well. Though the Japanese put similar emphasis on family, I believe there is no greater bond than the service one willingly enters. That the both of you welcomed me into your family is only the cherry on top."

Her tension slowly unwound as they spoke. The reassurances around her only reinforced that she was not alone; there were people who loved her and whom she loved. But there were two more, outside of this room.

"It's similar with Kaguya and Suzaku, isn't it?"

Lelouch agreed without hesitation. C.C., however, showed that mischievous grin again. A glint of playfulness to come, which was never a good sign. "Oh? So you do not count your school friends into this circle? Neither of you?"

She knew this was a touchy subject and poked it anyway. And with all the subtlety of a piledriver at that. Going by the outright smirk she showed at the face Nunnally made, this was intentional.

Lelouch thankfully took the initial response off of her, articulating the issue better than she could: "It's hard to say with them. They don't know any of our important secrets, and I don't want to burden them with those. They have a chance to live ordinary lives, far away from danger."

"We don't," Nunnally added, resolute at first but then a little forlorn: "It was always going to end this way, wasn't it? For me, it's more that they still don't feel like my friends and more like yours. Milly is the only one who knows about us being royalty, but she seems happy to be far away from that life."

"I thought I overheard mention that they invited you to join them at the Kawaguchi Conference?" Sayoko interjected, curious but not in contention to her words.

Nobody made a real issue out of Nunnally's stance on Lelouch's friends, which she was grateful for. She nodded at her maid. "They did and I appreciate that they make an effort. I just wonder how much of it is wanting to spend time with me and how much is something else."

"You shouldn't waste too much time on worries like these," Lelouch cautioned her gently. "People always look at themselves first."

Nunnally hummed in agreement at that. "I guess you have a point there. We will see how things go from here. Maybe I can call them all friends at some point, too."

Her brother smiled in turn, notably more relaxed than before. "That reminds me," he started in a bid for some more mischief. "Rivalz talked about your little episode recently. He worried that him spending time with you would make me think he was making a pass at you."

Now that was a bit of a surprise, though not an embarassing one. Nunnally blinked back at her brother in bewilderment, a flash of sheepishness drowned under wonder.

"I mean, I wouldn't mind if he did?"

It was both the truth and the perfect response to coax a deep sigh from Lelouch. "That was not where I was going with this," he muttered.

Sayoko hid a smile behind her hand while Nunnally stuck out her tongue. "I know, but still. What did you tell him?"

"That I trust him not to do anything you don't want. Maybe I should have worded that differently."

Nunnally giggled now. She threw her brother a wink, well familiar with his protective streak. "So now he has permission to make a pass at me? My, what would the girls think?"

"Something unflattering," Lelouch shot back, his calm not entirely genuine. "Please consider his position in all this, he is seventeen and you are thirteen."

"I will be fourteen soon enough, but point taken." She then huffed at Lelouch and shook her head. "You act like my being interested means I will spread my legs on the first date."

Her teasing earned a startled noise she rarely heard. Sayoko added a faux scandalised gasp while C.C. broke into laughter outright. Nunnally grinned as well, now that she managed to get one over her brother. It was not an important thing on her mind at the moment, though she did think Rivalz was cute.

"This subject is now over," Lelouch declared.

And of course, it was C.C. who pushed further. "Aww, could it be you are embarassed thinking about dear Nunnally's budding sexuality?"

"Over."

Nunnally could barely stop herself from laughing before that. Now she broke down entirely. Lelouch just looked tired about the whole mess he was currently in.

"I regret giving you the talk," he groused, though there was no heat to it.

"As if you would have let Milly do it," she shot back. He knew she knew that he would never let that happen.

That information made C.C. perk up, though. "Oh? That seems rather early."

"It was," Nunnally agreed easily. It had been early, but necessary. "And Lelouch was not happy. But when you have sensitive ears like me and are constantly around older girls, you're bound to pick up enough to ask questions. So he took me through it two years ago. Sayoko helped with explaining the girl specific things."

Unfortunately, that reminded her of bad things to come. Nunnally grimaced. "I am not looking forward to my first period," she muttered, not caring to speculate why C.C. appeared smug after hearing that. Instead she followed Lelouch's example and got ready for classes.

And as if some god heard her words and decided to punish her for her hubris, Nunnally got that first period just the next day. Suffice it to say, she was miserable. And for the first time in her life, Nunnally truly appreciated her wheelchair.

That day she at least had blessed quiet at work. With only Kallen and Lelouch for company, Nunnally could go through the paperwork without many interruptions. She tried not to show discomfort as best as she could.

"How often do they dump everything on you two?" Kallen asked at some point, somewhere between curious and annoyed. Nunnally ignored her, leaving it to Lelouch to respond.

"Once a month at the least. Sometimes twice. I'm more surprised Nina went along again, she doesn't like going out much."

Kallen shook her head at that, through which she managed to spy Nunnally grimace as another cramp hit. The redhead leaned forward then. "Did something happen? Shirley tried to invite you earlier, didn't she?"

Nunnally did not want to talk to anyone, much less someone she needed to watch her words around. The annoyance was suppressed with some difficulty while she gave a stiff nod. "She did, but today was just bad timing. I guess I still have the Kawaguchi Conference in two weeks."

"You okay?"

"As well as I will ever be, I guess," she groused with a sigh.

When Nunnally said no more, Kallen slowly turned to Lelouch in search of answers. He kept methodically going through his own paperwork and answered without even looking at her: "Girl problems."

At least that seemed to get the point across. Kallen winced in sympathy, then paused as the way he told her registered.

"I'm a girl too, you know?"

"I am aware."

"Please stop flirting and keep working," Nunnally disrupted curtly.

Her interjection prompted Kallen to sputter: "I, I'm not!"

Lelouch was unaffected, though. "She knows that," he said without much more inflection than Nunnally used before. She did not deny it, which made Kallen grumble. The older girl did thankfully get back to work.

The following minutes heard only the scratching of pens on paper, though the silence did not keep as long as Nunnally would have liked.

"Out of curiousity, why are you here if it's that bad?"

It was a justified question to ask. Nunnally admitted that to herself as well and put down her pen for a quick break. Looking to Kallen, she swallowed a sigh before it could escape. "I didn't expect it to be this bad, to be honest. But now that I'm here, I am not going to just push my part on you two."

"Aww, how sweet."

While Kallen all but melted for some reason, Lelouch just cast a worried glance his sister's way. "You know I don't mind. Just say if you need to rest."

"Well, I don't."

Nunnally glowered back, though it had no effect on him. It was a white lie in truth; she did not need the rest, but Nunnally would prefer to be at home. She refused to go back on having others do everything for her, though.

"He's right though," Kallen added her opinion with a hint of worry. "You don't have to force yourself. Wait." A look was thrown back to Lelouch, who remained working throughout. "Is that why you're tearing through these?"

He did not acknowledge the question, but they all knew it was exactly his reason. Nunnally rolled her eyes in response and went back to work as well. Kallen's muttered "Is that what she meant" was so quiet that Nunnally figured it was not meant to be heard. Nunnally left it uncommented.

Then her phone rang. Even when she saw the caller-ID as Kaguya, Nunnally still looked at it in bewilderment. Then she glanced to the other two, only for Lelouch to shoo her away. Nunnally nodded absently, maneuvering her wheelchair away as she took the call.

"Lamperouge speaking?"

A flurry of Japanese greeted her in turn: "Did you hear yet? She's here, they're here!"

"I understood that," Nunnally answered drily, "but I have no idea what you mean."

Kaguya seemed to realise the problem as well, seeing how she switched to Britannian. Her tone did not lose its undercurrent of urgency, though: "Turn on the news!"

"...okay?"

Putting the phone down for a moment, she called to Lelouch and Kallen to do as Kaguya asked. Kallen followed the request after a moment and they tuned right into a speech by the new viceroy.

Euphemia li Britannia.

Nunnally stared at her for a moment. Not a single word from her half-sister registered, nor were any spoken in this room. Longing and anger warred within Nunnally at the sight of Euphemia.

"The new viceroy?" Kallen wondered. "And a princess at that?"

"So it seems," Lelouch agreed tonelessly. Kallen thankfully did not pick up on their upset, too caught up in her own worries.

"Do you see it?" Kaguya asked next.

"I see it. Thanks for telling me."

"No problem. Uh, you aren't free right now, are you?"

"I still have some work here, sorry."

"All good, I know the feeling. Call you tomorrow?"

"Sure. Stay safe."

"Right back at you. Bye-bye!"

Nunnally said her own goodbyes and ended the call with a sigh. The other two were watching the news report that followed Euphemia's speech. Her emotions were still in turmoil, she did not know whether to rejoice or to despair.

Lelouch mused out loud in the meantime: "So her highness, Princess Euphemia takes over civilian affairs while her highness, Princess Cornelia is in charge of the military for now. It seems a storm has come to Area Eleven."

Kallen threw him a sour look in response. Only Nunnally spotted it, though she also saw the worry worming at her. "This isn't good," the redhead answered, almost thoughtlessly. Then she quickly followed up to hide her blunder: "For the terrorists, I mean."

Her recovery was good. Neither of them would have caught the initial mistake if they did not already know her true allegiance. Lelouch did not show that, though. He instead engaged Kallen's point with a nod.

"It really isn't. Her highness is known for perfection in her subjugation campaigns. Prince Clovis' death must have rattled the hornet's nest, now one of our best has come to burn down opposition in the Area."

His assessment, camouflaged as idle musings, did its part in worrying Kallen more. Nunnally had an inkling what her brother tried there, so she played along.

"I can understand it, at least in the sense that Prince Clovis was her half-brother. She must care at least a little bit, so it's personal on top of everything else."

"Not to mention that her full-blood sister is also here," Lelouch agreed.

With Kallen already off-kilter, it was simple for Nunnally to direct the conversation. "So what do you think the terrorists will do?" she asked in wonder, well aware Kallen was listening intently.

Lelouch tapped his chin in thought, primarily for show.

"If they're smart, they will dig a hole and hide in it until Princess Cornelia leaves to fry bigger fish. I may be projecting, but I feel any go at Princess Euphemia will bring down the hammer on the perpetrator, regardless of success or failure."

There he paused for a moment, then let out a soft huff. "Maybe the storm was a more fitting analogy than I thought. Their best bet is to wait it out and hope."

"You really think so?" Kallen asked with a smigden of audible curiousity. "Even though they somehow made it through seven years without being uprooted?"

She acted the discussing schoolgirl well, Nunnally had to acknowledge that. Not that either of them minded her fishing. Lelouch nodded once again and indulged her.

"So far it was the occasional terror strike and reprisal, maybe some skirmishes if one of the larger cells is involved. But now a royal heir died in the process. Even if the homelands can't mobilise a full army to stamp out the terrorists, Cornelia will bring and mobilise enough material to outgun everyone else on the island. Add to that her strategic expertise and I believe you see the problem."

Kallen nodded back wordlessly. She thankfully did not catch Lelouch messing up and dropping Cornelia's title in the middle of it. Too distraught by the danger for her comrades.

"I guess you have a point. I never thought of it that way."

She looked back to the newscast, but it was over by now. Kallen let out a quiet sigh and reached for the last of her paperwork.

"Right, let's- hey!"

Only to grasp at nothing. Lelouch cheekily finished off the last of her forms, his own and Nunnally's already gone. Both girls threw him stink-eyes, but he did not let that bother him. Rather, he stretched his fingers before putting everything in order. Then he stood.

"To celebrate, I gift the ladies an early closing time," Lelouch teased with a mocking bow and that lazy smirk of his. "Will you be fine walking home on your own, Kallen?"

"How do you kn- oh. Yeah, I will be fine. Thanks for asking."

Lelouch nodded back at her and joined Nunnally. "Then I will now take my sister home and make her lie down to rest. Have a good day."

"You too. See you, Nunnally."

"See you!"

She managed a somewhat cheerful wave while being wheeled out of the room. Kallen followed right after and left first; Lelouch locked up the place in silence, which lasted until they were sure she was far out of hearing range.

"You think they're going to keep their heads down?" Lelouch wondered then. He cast a curious look Nunnally's way, who arched a brow at his insecurity.

"I hope so," she answered after mulling it over for a moment. "Cornelia will cut them off otherwise."

A bit to her own surprise, she did not like the thought of Kallen dying anymore. Or of the older girl having to go through such a loss.

Lelouch took her assessment with a quiet nod and began pushing her along. Just as promised, Nunnally was all but forced to lie down; a warm towel was spread over her abdomen, too. She felt that it helped. In addition however, Lelouch and Sayoko were hovering. Their constant walking by to check on her and asking if she needed anything annoyed Nunnally as much as it pleased her. She was tempted to throw something at them

Although she ultimately refrained, the torture continued into day two without remorse. Nunnally bore it a little better by now, but her mood remained awful. She suffered quietly through classes and her work with the student council.

The overall eventless day was interrupted about as soon as she and Lelouch got back home. A message from Kaguya told her to check the news, where they learned that Saitama ghetto was being blockaded.

The siblings watched quietly, neither sure what to think. Lelouch's brows were scrunched up while Nunnally bore a blank expression.

"She only just arrived and it already started," Nunnally commented.

Her brother nodded and walked away without a word. C.C. strolled after him with a hard look in her eyes. Nunnally was left on her lonesome, staring at the broadcast but barely listening to the explanation of traffic rerouting. She had an odd sense of deja vù; something niggled at the back of her mind, though she could not tell what at first.

It took several minutes of wracking her brain before realisation came: this was the same as Shinjuku, all the way down to the flimsy justification for blockading the ghetto. Except that Cornelia would not make such a simple mistake that even Nunnally could spot it.

Just then Lelouch left his room, face blank. The big bag with his suit and mask was slung over his shoulder.

"It's a trap," she said.

Lelouch nodded solemnly. "I know. And in knowing this before I spring it, I will outmaneuver her."

"No."

Her refusal gave him pause, to the point he almost missed a step. Nunnally felt her composure crumble at such a stupid plan; it terrified her that he would knowingly walk into this.

"No?"

But more than that, the terror morphed into anger.

"No. You're not going."

"Yes, I am," Lelouch retorted, unaffected by her demand.

Nunnally shook her head in response. "No. Don't you see this is exactly what she wants? This isn't another Clovis!" she snapped, voice growing louder now.

Lelouch's mouth twisted into a frown in response. "Even Cornelia isn't unbeatable," he ground out. "I have Geass and surprise on my side."

As the tension between them grew, Nunnally faintly noticed C.C. and Sayoko standing nearby. Neither of them seemed willing to interfere, and good riddance. She crossed her arms at her brother, tried to will him to change his mind. "Geass and surprise are not enough to deal with Cornelia. In case you forgot, yours doesn't protect you from bullets."

Lelouch scowled at that, but he did not argue the point. Neither did he give, though.

"This is still something I must do."

That was when Nunnally understood.

They were both just going through the motions for years; she woke up from that dreamlike state first, when meeting Kaguya. Lelouch only truly woke up in Shinjuku. Yet back when Nunnally came back to her senses, she felt that same urge to do something. An incessant desire not to fall back into this awful play-pretend of normalcy. She worked through this feeling with all her practice and exercises, but Lelouch still felt it now. That urge to go out even though she knew better.

Except that for him, this could be lethal. Or worse.

Nunnally's expression softened a little, though emotions still roiled in her gut. The cramps only added to her brittle state. "You mustn't take fights you can't win, Lelouch," she reasoned with as much calm as she could muster. "Doesn't The Art Of War say that, too?"

"I can win it," he argued back, still not willing to give. Nunnally simply shook her head.

"No, you can't. And I won't let you get yourself killed there."

Her words made something snap in Lelouch. His expression turned livid as he threw out his hand, shouting now: "Then what else am I suppposed to do?! Sit back and twiddle my thumbs like I did the last seven years?! Keep playing house with Milly?! Cornelia is here and she is here now, but apparently you don't have any faith in me to begin with!"

Silence reigned after his outburst.

Nunnally twitched slightly, but her own burning anger buried the smidgen of fear at being shouted at by her brother.

Lelouch barely had time to realise what he just did; she could see the horror on his face, as if he thought she could not take it. That thought made her own feelings boil over. She pushed herself up on the arms of her wheelchair, then shouted back.

"Maybe if you got your head screwed on right I could have faith in you! I don't care about your stupid pride, I care about you being safe! I even accept that you're going to risk your life in the future! There's no safety in war, I know that! But springing a trap like this isn't a risk, it's plain stupid and so are you!"

Nunnally took a deep breath in the ringing silence. Lelouch stared at her with wide eyes while she forced the anger back down to simmer. Her scowl remained in place, though.

"There will be other and better opportunities," she snapped, "but you won't be able to take them if you get yourself killed today. But sure, if you don't care about anything else, go and do it."

She could not stand to look at him anymore, and she did not want to cry. So Nunnally turned her wheelchair around and left.

Nobody followed her as she made her way down to the hideout in the sewers. If nothing else, practice would help getting a grip on her feelings.

Unfortunately, aiming steadily was even harder with abdominal cramps. So Nunnally ended up reading files for several hours to calm down.

She glanced up when the door swished open, only to find Lelouch standing there. His expression was tight, though the conflict shone through. He needed to start three times before any words left his mouth.

"Dinner is about ready. Come on up, please."

With her anger evaporated, Nunnally was simply tired. She gave a nod and a soft "Okay" before following her brother.

The awkward atmosphere between them persisted all the way back. It had never been like this before; they never fought like that. Nunnally did not like it, but even now she was too stubborn to crack first. Lelouch did not say anything either, he just stared glumly at the floor.

Back home, she was greeted by the tantalising scent of home-made lasagna. Her favourite, with copious amounts of cheese. Nunnally's lips twitched up before she even saw the food; this was clearly an apology. The vanilla muffin waiting nearby to be her desert only emphasized it.

Moreover, C.C. was nowhere to be found. Neither was Sayoko.

The two took their seats in silence. Lelouch plated up, putting Nunnally's portion first as he always did. Then, with a sigh, he finally looked at her properly.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have shouted at you. You were right, I had a stupid idea and didn't think it through."

And just like that, all her leftover tension faded away. Nunnally relaxed, relieved that he did see her point after all. "It's okay," she said. "I'm sorry too. I felt just like you a few months ago, but I took it personally anyway."

Lelouch cracked a smile in response before motioning for the steaming food. "Let's talk about how to proceed later, dig in."

She had no problem with doing just that. In fact, she stuffed herself as much as she dared without vomiting; the rest of the evening was spent lying around feeling full, but this was absolutely worth it.

For the following two weeks, they lay low and observed Cornelia's movements. Resistance in Saitama had been eliminated, which just showed her acumen; even though the actual target of her trap failed to appear, she still got something out of it. She kept her cards close to the chest afterward, too; no further attempts were made to lure Zero out of the shadows.

Even C.C. and Sayoko agreed that Cornelia was planning something, but none of the four could see her exact goals. She hammered terrorists down wherever they cropped up. Their current suspicion was a strike against the Japan Liberation Front, or perhaps a deeper dig into leads on Zero. Maybe both at once, even.

Of course some resistance cells had taken the constant heat as a challenge. Much to Nunnally's utter befuddlement, these people hit smaller targets or left graffiti, then ran for the hills before Cornelia's organised forces could arrive. And so far they got away with it.

If nothing else, the lack of moodiness and despair from Kallen's end implied that her cell was not among those caught in the retaliation. Yet.

"I still can't believe we're here!" Shirley cut off Nunnally's musings. The older girl seemed over the moon, looking around with great interest. Nunnally had to give her that the Kawaguchi lakeside building was definitely impressive. It stood tall and proud, with few others all around to appear even larger.

Milly huffed in response. "As if this was difficult for your president," she preened.

"You act like this is a vacation," Nina chastised quietly. "We're here to observe the conference."

In turn, Nunnally tugged on Nina's sleeve with an indulgent smile. "Let them have their fun. It will be fine."

Nina nodded slowly, her own smile slightly hesitant. She stayed closer to Nunnally, who was on her own today. No Sayoko, mainly to attract less attention. The mousy girl appointed herself something of a handler, which Nunnally allowed.

Meanwhile, Shirley crossed her arms at them. "Oh come on, you two! How often do we get the chance to get out to a place like this? We got to enjoy it at least a little bit!"

"And hit all the tourist traps to spend our allowances!" Milly added cheerfully.

Some people threw them side-eyes, though Nunnally heard the quiet huffs and chuckles going around. Milly once again proved that people just could not be mad at her. Nina just shook her head at the exact words though, being a frugal girl.

With Milly ushering them along, they soon entered the main building's lobby to mingle. As they were still looking around however, Shirley spotted something in the crowd.

"Hey, isn't that? Oh, what a coincidence! Come on, Nunna! This way!"

She seamlessly slid behind Nunnally's wheelchair and started pushing her. Milly and Nina followed in their wake, just as curious as Nunnally herself. Their destination seemed to be a pair of women in business suits, one of them brunet and the other with pink hair held in a tight bun. The second one seemed familiar, but she could not put her finger on why fast enough.

"Oi, Euphie!"

Nunnally's eyes widened in shock, then horror. She had no way to escape the pinkette when she glanced over at being called. At first she even began to smile, but it froze on her face the moment her gaze dipped down to Nunnally. Behind her, Millicent Ashford also realised what she missed the exact moment their eyes met.

Nina and Shirley had no idea what just happened. They both greeted the pinkette kindly.

"I didn't expect to see you here at all," Shirley told 'Euphie' with a bright smile. "Why did you come?"

The other young woman's expression smoothed out, tone pleasant and even. "I'm glad to see you all again. My internship includes this conference, though I am only an observer. I take it you are here for that as well?"

"Yup. And here, meet Nunnally; she's our student council's junior member. Nunna, meet Euphie. We met her in town a few weeks back, her family moved over to Area Eleven a little while ago."

Nunnally had her features under control and a proper fake smile in place. "A pleasure to meet you, Euphie," she said while feeling like hitting herself. How could a different hairstyle, a business suit, and a pair of cosmetic glasses fool her? How many pinkettes did she know outside of Euphemia?

Yet the worst did not come to pass. There was no immediate reveal of her identity, no tearing down their carefully maintained masquerade. The aide by Euphemia's side scowled, but Euphie herself seemed to smile honestly.

"The pleasure is all mine," she answered gently. The moment their hands touched, Nunnally could faintly feel her pulse thrum; Euphie's heart was racing, but none of it showed in her posture or expression.

"Um, good to see you again."

"And you, Nina."

Euphemia only hesitantly let go. There was not a shadow of doubt that she recognised her. But why did she not say anything?

Nunnally found no answer to these questions. The aide cleared her throat and tapped her wristwatch. Euphie nodded back at her and offered the group an apologetic smile. "It seems that duty calls. Hopefully I can get a chance to talk to you all later."

"Let's hope so," Shirley agreed. "And good luck!"

Milly jumped in somewhat lamely: "Yeah, good luck."

Euphemia was pulled away to be questioned about giving a cripple the time of day, only to deliver some strong reprimands about her aide's tone. In the meantime, Milly took her group and Nunnally away; she profusely apologised once it was just the two of them, not that she needed to. Nunnally forgave her easily, still too busy trying to figure out what game was played. She felt she needed to talk to Euphemia again to understand.

Unfortunately, the sudden bellowing of Japanese voices and fearful screams completely screwed up that plan.