Yeah, after I stayed up late last week, like super late last night to finish a chapter, only to realize that I was working over my limit at the end…I needed an easier thing to work on. I needed to revise my schedule to consider that I needed ample study time and time for assignments.

Chapter 17: The Ashford Court

Suzaku's time at Ashford had been…surprising, to say the least. He had never thought he would complete his education after the war, as even before he joined the army and his clan disowned him, he was often too busy for it, with what time he did have only getting him through the first couple years of what would be considered a junior high education. Meeting Euphemia changed all of that; as born from a chance meeting, he found proof that there was merit to his ideals and his goals in her.

She was a royal, born into the lap of luxury and at the very core of Britannia, yet…she was kind and sincere, and she wasn't afraid to call things out when they were wrong. She mourned for the people of Shinjuku, and while it hurt, she could condemn Clovis for his actions. She stood up for him when he was being accosted, figuratively and literally slapping them down for it.

'Though looking back, that was probably the first clue. I haven't had someone take charge like that since Lelouch.' Suzaku fondly recalled that before their day together had ended, Euphemia pulled some strings and placed him into Ashford so he could finalize his education. He had been extremely grateful but also hadn't expected to receive that warm welcome as a few of the other Elevens he served with had horror stories of Britannian schools they or their loved ones attended; most dropped out before they could finish a year.

Ashford was never mentioned, and Euphemia had assured him it was quite liberal, so they wouldn't reject or mistreat him just for his status as an Honorary Britannian. And she was right; the school and staff weren't the issues.

That was the students. From the moment he stepped onto campus, it was like he was a circus attraction. He didn't blame them for it, scapegoat or not; it was his face blasted as Clovis' murderer for a while there, and his non-Britannian heritage just made them all the jumpier. But there was a silver lining in finding that Lelouch was still alive, the same as Nunnally.

'I'm not sure about Euphemia sometimes. You would think he would be more careful, but he's changed.' Suzaku remembered how Lelouch had been unwilling to act like they weren't friends, and he went low enough to get Nunnally involved. Now, when he walked through the halls, he could tell that there was a shift, not acceptance but fear, because word spread that, for whatever reason, he was under the VP's protection. He didn't need to be a student long to learn that Lelouch wasn't someone who wanted to slight.

This situation grew all the more convoluted when Arthur, the cat that Euphemia had taken care of, found its way onto campus and started a school-wide cat hunt. The hunt ended with Suzaku and Lelouch both taking the victory and Milly making another decision.

"What about Panda? It fits with the spot around his eye." Shirley chirped,

"Come on, Shirley, he's a cat. You don't see people naming their dogs after goats, do you?" Rivalz shot that down, gesturing towards the cat in question. The student council had gathered in their meeting room after Clovis' state memorial and brought their feline companion along.

"Maybe Schrödinger," Nina suggested, but that too was shot down, namely because Rivalz and Shirley couldn't spell it.

Pouting over the fact she was the only one who thought a cat named Panda was cut, Shirley turned to Kallen. "Kallen, what do you think it should be?"

"Hmm...how about Tama?" Kallen offered hesitantly, leaving Shirley a little confused.

"Where did you get that?" she asked, as she had never heard a name like that before.

"All cats should be named Tama." Kallen opted not to explain it.

"J.C. Maxwell?" Nina tried again, the group going back and forth on names, all while Suzaku watched with a tight grin, wondering how this all happened.

'Princess Euphemia, at this rate, Arthur's going to wind up with a-!' Suzaku's thoughts were interrupted when Arthur decided that nearly killing him not even 3 hours earlier was enough, and he strolled up and bit his hand.

"Are you all right, Suzaku?" Shirley was already at his side, fussing over him as he waved it off.

"Yeah, I'm fine." He gave a tight grin, happy that Arthur didn't draw blood, though maybe he should get tested just in case.

With attention on him, Rivalz pointed at him. "Say, Suzaku, buddy, what do you think we should pick?"

"Oh, what abou-"

Kallen interrupted Suzaku, a little upset that her idea was rejected. "What does this matter again? Any name would be good, right?"

"You don't get it; if we give it a name that carries our feelings, the spirit behind it will come through! So, no compromise." Milly explained, to which Lelouch snorted as he sat to the side, Henry resting on his lap while Matilda slept in his arms like his baby. "Lelouch, you're being awfully quiet; why don't you suggest something."

"Unwanted," Lelouch stated, to which the cat hissed, picking up the disrespect but backing down when Lelouch glared at it. Now, it hid behind Suzaku.

"Oh, don't be so mean." Milly saw that and crossed her arms.

"It's a fact."

"Are you still mad about the whole…?" Rivalz asked, though they still had no clue what the cat had, and Lelouch merely smiled and said he would take the answer to his grave when they had asked earlier.

"This is my home as well, and just like every other animal here, I'm going to be the one that takes care of our intruder." Lelouch reminded them that they might be friendly with them and even help. Still, Lelouch was the primary caregiver, and all of them paid for with his own money.

"It was majority rule, so you can't just refute." Milly scolded him, to which Lelouch turned his dry gaze to her.

"Since when do you believe in that, Ms. Dictator?" Lelouch recalled plenty of times when they voted, Milly lost it, yet they still pursued her idea.

Milly was unapologetic about her tyranny: "When it aligns with my interests, and I am your dictator, I give our little feline friend the right to stay."

"You just want it around because you think it'll chance upon another part of my private life," Lelouch called her out, which she notedly didn't deny or confirm, making it clearer what she was after.

"Come on, Lelouch, you already have a menagerie living here. I've even seen you spend time with the mice. What's one cat gonna do?" Rivalz asked as Lelouch was just a wizard when it came to animals. It was a surprise that he hadn't just called out for the cat and had it surrender to him.

"I don't care for animals that don't obey people," Lelouch replied.

"And by that, you mean don't obey you?" Kallen challenged him, to which Lelouch smirked at her and snapped his fingers.

"Muninn." He didn't need to say more for the raven to come flying in from her perch, the large raven with crimson-tipped feathers landing on his outstretched forearm, awaiting command. All the while, Lelouch's eyes remained on Kallen, his point made.

Suzaku saw it, too, and perhaps thought this was just another difference between siblings. Euphemia cared for Arthur without prompt or reward, and the cat seemed to respond well to that affection. Meanwhile, with the looks Lelouch was giving poor Arthur, Suzaku was worried he might need to ask Nunnally to have their dog's bowls checked later.

"That reminds me, wasn't it Suzaku that bandaged this cat's leg when it was hurt?" Milly asked, glancing towards Suzaku.

"Oh no, that wasn't me; it was the person I was with." Suzaku couldn't take credit for Euphemia's kindness.

"Was it a girl?"

"Wha-how did you know that?" Suzaku blushed at how brazen Milly was, his response getting a sigh from Lelouch while Milly's grin grew.

"She didn't; you're just gullible enough to give that away," Lelouch told him, as now whatever happened was on Suzaku's head. Word to the wise: You shouldn't accompany me when I go gambling; you have a terrible poker face."

"Don't feel too bad about it, Suzaku, Milly's got a keen eye for stuff like this," Rivalz told him.

"She would have found out sooner or later…no matter how well you tried to hide it," Shirley muttered the last bit, shuddering as she recalled how much Milly had extracted from her on her crush on Lulu.

Milly ignored that and pressed Suzaku for details. Now that she smelled blood like a shark, she wouldn't stop until she had her fill. "You have a girlfriend? Oh, why didn't you tell me sooner? Who is she? Is she pretty? Is she our age? Or perhaps you're into older women, soldier boy, hmmm?"

Suzaku was trapped and had no clue how to handle this. Something told him trying to run wouldn't help when Milly could, have, and probably would utilize the entire student body to chase him down. He looked towards Lelouch for help but only felt dismayed in his gut when he saw the look in the exiled prince's eyes. "Well, I am curious how your taste developed. When I last saw you, you were well in the 'girls are gross' time of your life."

"Wai-you got it all wrong! And Lelouch, what the heck, man? No, she's not older!" Suzaku defended himself, as this seemed like the type of talk guys had in the locker room, not in such an open place and definitely not because a girl asked.

"Oh, I see; the relationship hasn't quite reached that level yet." Milly mused. "But do you want it to?" Suzaku's eyebrow twitched as he thought about it, if only for a moment, a future where he and Euphie could just date and be normal teens.

Milly caught that easy as the sun dried away morning dew, clapping her hands excitedly. "Oh, you do! I knew it; I see budding romance!"

"Oh, by the way, when you join the student council, you have to reveal one story about your love life; that's the rule," Milly added, leaving Suzaku slack-jawed.

"What?" He peeped as Lelouch came to his rescue.

"Don't buy into it; she just made it up."

"Darn it." Milly snapped her fingers.

"Lelouch, don't spoil it so soon." Rivalz bemoaned the loss of a good source of entertainment.

"I haven't heard anything about your love lives, nor do I want you to listen to emptiness," Lelouch told both of them.

"Hey!" Rivalz yelled back as Lelouch got up, placing the sleeping dogs on his chair and table. Walking over to Suzaku, he gestured for them to have a quick talk.

"Hey, where are you going?" Shirley asked.

"Nowhere far." Lelouch waved over his shoulder.

"That could be the entire school!" Milly shot, but neither stopped, with the conversation going back to discussing names for the cat.

"Listen, Suzaku, you gotta be careful around Milly. She means well, but if you don't watch yourself and what you say, she'll make you into her toy soldier, and you'll march to her tune." Lelouch warned his friend, which Suzaku appreciated.

"Noted, but I really don't mind. I'm just happy they're willing to treat me like one of their own so quickly." Suzaku smiled, looking at the council, who seemed so invested in the cat's name. It seemed so…surreal after the last couple of weeks, but he cherished it all the same.

"I can say many things about this court, but intolerance is not something you need to worry about," Lelouch noted, as he felt the same about them. He was far too marked and scarred to be like them. He didn't see the world like they did, and while Milly understood part of the rot that lay in Britannia, what she experienced was paradise compared to him.

Glancing towards Suzaku, he noted how concerned his friend seemed to be. "But you seem to have more on your mind."

"Well, it's about the cat. You see, the girl who patched it up already gave it a name: Arthur." Suzaku explained, to which Lelouch raised an eyebrow.

"What a…unique name for our little intruder," Lelouch stated, as while he tended to give his pets names that belonged to royalty, it was more his attempts to insult such groups and the nobility. He doubted others would do the same.

"Tell me about it. It would be arrogant for an honorary Britannian like me to suggest it," Suzaku muttered, but he didn't want Euphemia's choice to be ignored.

Lelouch rolled his eyes at his friend's self-enforced problem. "Didn't you just hear me? They wouldn't care about such."

"But-"

Lelouch placed a hand on his shoulder, shaking a little with an encouraging smile. "But nothing. This isn't the army; this is Ashford, and such notions and labels carry as much weight as a wet paper bag here. If you want to soften it, just tell them it wasn't your idea but this mysterious girl's."

It was unsaid that Lelouch would have…words for whoever had such opinions and was foolish enough to air them.

"You don't want to learn about them?" Suzaku asked, another reason he was worried: he wondered how Lelouch would take Suzaku spending time with his sister, one of the few that Lelouch spoke about when they were younger.

"If they can tolerate your stubbornness, they have my approval." Lelouch waved such notions off. His friend was entitled to his secrets, the same as he was.

"Lulu, Suzaku, are you done?" Shirley called them out.

"Everyone, Suzaku came up with—" Lelouch's attempt to get Suzaku's suggestion on the table was interrupted by Milly.

"All right, we're ready to name the cat Lelouch the 2nd." Milly declared which Lelouch was immediately against, his face shifting out of disgust and…trauma?

"I reject that."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. We already have Luluko." Milly, un-effected by his expression, turned away from that idea.

"Luluko?" Suzaku asked. Kallen, also confused by the name, thought she had heard it before.

Neither could ask about it as the door opened and Nunnally wheeled in with a happy smile. "Good afternoon. I heard something about Luluko here?"

Milly smiled as she saw Lelouch's posture and face turn on a dime. He was already at his sister's side, attentive and happy to see her. "Good afternoon, Nunnally, and yes, we were talking about possible names for the cat, and Rivalz mentioned Luluko."

"Oh, that's right, you two haven't heard all their names yet, have you?" Rivalz finally noticed the confusion on the faces of their newbies and took it upon himself to clear the air. "Well, you already met Matilda, Henry and Pedro. But there's also Muninn and her identical twin, Huginn. You can tell the difference with their feathers; the brother has blue feathers." He started before he went down the list of their pets.

There was Willy, the old brown, white, and black beagle, who typically spent his days with Nunnally, to which she explained he was napping in her room. There was Beren, a silver and tan Australian terrier. She was also up there in her years, being 12, but she was more of Lelouch's 'office dog,' at least one of them. However, she had a vet appointment, and Lelouch would pick her up later. They had all seen Gustavus, the massive red and black Tibetan Mastiff that patrolled the council building. He wasn't present as he was more active at night.

Blue Hammer handled the student council's morning patrols, fitting for the black-and-blue rottweiler. Rivalz did not know why he had blue on his coat, only that he did. Cathy was Nunnally's 'seeing eye dog.' However, everyone knew that the red-and-tanned Doberman was her guard dog who took her job seriously, so he playfully warned the newcomers not to act weird around her; she'll remember it.

Doby, by comparison, was an angel. The chocolate and creamy Labrador Retriever was just to assist Nunnally with her day-to-day tasks and was incredibly friendly and curious. Rivalz then moved onto the birds. The Parrot Kallen had seen when she joined the council was Alfred. Then came the others. Suzaku and Kallen struggled to keep up with all the names and would need them repeated to them.

Lastly, Rivalz gestured to the ginger, brindle white, and red Akita, who had been watching them all silently from Nunnally's side. "As for Luloko, she would be Nunnally's second guard dog. She's the more friendly of the two as Cathy, but that might not mean much as without permission from Nunna, she might bite you." Rivalz frowned, as he had learned that the hard way.

'I trained her well." Lelouch gave a proud grunt, and the dogs all barked in agreement with him. Whether they have been strays or some other sort of forgotten hound, they had all found themselves a part of the Lamperouge menagerie. They would fight for it, no matter what.

"Okay, but what about the name? I didn't picture you as the type to do that." Kallen asked as Lelouch might be more willing to drop politeness around the council, but no way he chose that name.

Nunally answered, "That's because big brother didn't. We normally pick names together, but he was busy that day, so I decided to name her Luluko."

"It's an Eleven thing," Shirley explained to Kallen, ignorant that Kallen already knew that. Kallen didn't like how Shirley so casually used that term, but she restrained herself. She didn't know better, and it was a hell of a lot better than what some others used it for.

"Sayoko explained it to me. She said it's common for girls to have a male name given to them, maybe from a relative, but they add 'ko' to the end of it." Nunally smiled. When she heard that, it seemed like the perfect name for her latest guard dog, and the rest of the council had agreed, which was why Big Brother had been forced to accept it.

"So, it would be confusing to have two adorable animals named after Lelouch. It could get confusing and cheapen the name." Milly finished, ignoring how Lelouch grumbled that his name was already cheapened.

"But isn't all this a bit silly? The cat already has a name." Nunnally told them, looking confused as to the point of their conversation.

"He does?" Shirley asked.

"Of course he does! I've known Arthur for ages, longer than anyone else." Nunally laughed as she stated that she was conversing with Arthur the same way Suzaku had seen Euphemia do, making meow sounds that the feline proved incredibly receptive to.

Arthur jumped onto her lap and started to purr, looking a little smug as her two guide dogs looked on in confusion. "I met him when I had a hospital day, and he was wandering around town. I would have recognized his footsteps earlier if he wasn't injured."

As Lelouch wondered how that could even happen, as she'd always had him or one of their animals nearby, Milly thought about the name. "Arthur…it's not a bad choice."

"Pretty outrageous for a cat, though." Rivalz joked, "Oh boy, would that cause some heads to turn later?"

"Well, I like it, seems fitting." Shirley clapped.

"You hear that, Lelouch? Nunnally already knows this adorable little kitty cat. Will you refuse to give poor little Arthur a home?" Milly asked him, directing his gaze to the cat he seemed to hate and how it sat happily on his sister's welcomed lap, daring him to try something.

"We're keeping him?" Nunnally perked up.

"We already voted, and it was nearly unanimous," Milly told her, Lelouch looking downer with each second.

"Oh, that's just amazing. I've always wanted a cat, but Big Brother doesn't like them very much." Nunnally smiled, picking up Arthur. The cat's eyes closed as it let out content purrs.

Kallen smiled a little when she saw how trapped Lelouch was. It reminded her of her brother; he could be so weak-willed when she asked for stuff. Suzaku openly smiled as he saw the same person willing to threaten and kill, who had done both to protect his sister, unable to say no.

"…I'll start looking into feline dietary needs." Lelouch surrendered with a sigh, picking up his dogs, and slumped into his seat, coddling with Matilda.

"Well then, I propose our feline be named Arthur." Milly saw she had claimed victory but wanted to take a little celebratory lap first.

"I second it." Shirley agreed.

"Third." Rivalz was the next.

"No objections from me." Contrary to the rest, Lelouch didn't sound happy with this but didn't have the will to continue to stand against it.

"I'm also on board," Suzaku noted, Milly, claiming this to be a victory on the cat vote. Nina remained quiet as she turned her attention to her research.

"I know we'll have so much fun together, Arthur. But you should promise not to go after any of the birds; that wouldn't be nice." Nunnally held Arthur a little ways away, trying to be stern, to which the cat meowed with Nunnally took an agreement to the terms. "I'm happy you agree."

The birds, led by the raven twins, still watched the cat with narrowed eyes.

Suzaku, all the while, could only watch with fondness as this happened without input from him. 'Without realizing it, she picked the same name as you, or maybe you picked the same name as her, Euphemia. I guess that just proves you really are sisters.'

Nunnally then went to her brother's side, Arthur riding along on her lap as she placed a hand over Lelouch's. "And I wanted to apologize, Lelouch. I only told Milly because I wanted her help in finding Arthur. You were almost hysterical when you took off."

Lelouch sighed, flipping his hand to hold onto his sister's. It's…fine, Milly is a chaos demon."

"I resent that." Milly butted in, to which Lelouch turned a dry glance over to her.

"But don't refute." Lelouch raised an eyebrow as he retorted. Milly acted like his words had hurt her, but she put far too much into it for any of them to take it seriously.

"Oh, would you love me if I were any different?" Milly asked, to which no one refuted, namely because they could smell the trap, so Milly moved on. But seriously, with how much you keep covered up, you'll think you have a person locked up."

Lelouch looked at me in confusion. "Why would you assume crime out of all possible explanations?"

"Was it a piece of juicy poetry, then? Perhaps a love ballad about a certain someone?" Milly asked, shooting a look at Shirley that the swimmer caught, even if Lelouch hadn't.

"Milly!" Shirley yelped, already turning red at such a suggestion…even if she wasn't against the notion Lulu would do that about her.

"When have you ever known me to write ballads, songs, or poetry?" Lelouch reminded them that he was almost as inattentive in art class as he was in history and P.E.

"Maybe a picture of our dear Kallen? I know you have an eye for painting." Milly kept pushing, even as Kallen turned beat red and glared at Lelouch, daring him to confirm that he would do something like that, praying that if he had, it wasn't something horrific like him painting from memory what she looked like nude.

Lelouch frowned as he recalled that it was Clovis who got in, or, more accurately, who forced him to learn how to paint after he had lost another game to him and decided Lelouch should do something Clovis excelled at.

Lelouch…had kept up the hobby, though he rarely let others see his works, so as out there was the idea was, it wasn't impossible. "I'm not even going to dignify that with a response."

Nunnally drew his attention by squeezing his hand. When she was sure he turned his gaze to her, she spoke. "Big brother, maybe it's time you're honest with them. They're our friends; after all, we can trust them." It was funny hearing him and Milly trade barbs like this. She knew that her brother was a good enough actor that even if she got it right, he could play it off, but she also wished for the group to be more open. She knew they couldn't tell them everything, but they should tell them some things…right?

Lelouch could sense her sentiments, and he wasn't against it per se, but he would be lying if he said he wasn't hesitant. "You saw just what Milly's capable of, Nunnally."

Milly cozied up to him, his arm wrapped around him, which had Shirley glaring at her, even though she knew it was nothing to worry about. "Oh, please spill the tea. If you do, I promise not to mobilize the school like that again."

"And this is the person you want me to trust?" Lelouch ignored it and kept his attention on his sister.

"We know she's trustworthy already, but Milly will always be Milly." Nunally reminded them, as Nunnally knew more about them than even Suzaku did, and she had never given even a hint that she would abuse that.

"So I can fully enjoy my dictatorial powers?" Milly asked, batting her eyes at him.

"Don't push it." Lelouch shot that down; her feminine charms would be better suited for Rivalz, as, unlike his friend, Lelouch was well and truly de-sensitized to Milly's antics.

Suzaku patted his shoulder. "Take our own advice, Lelouch. If I can trust them to be good people and treat me like an equal, I'm sure they can be trusted."

"Traitors, the both of you are traitors," Lelouch retorted, groaning as he leaned into his chair, petting Matilda like a supervillain out of a cheesy action flick. "Traitors, I say."

Lelouch decided to go with it, looking over each of them. "What I'm about to say is don't leave this building."

"My lips are sealed." Rivalz smiled as he traced his lips as if zipping them before he tossed the keyway.

"Why do I already regret this?" Lelouch muttered, but he made a commitment. "The ca…Arthur snuck into the council clubhouse, don't ask me how I still don't know, and he made off with something important."

"That much we already knew or figured out," Kallen stated, as she couldn't say she wasn't interested in this.

"It wasn't mine, but it was…a bra that belonged to my girlfriend, who was staying with him." Lelouch saw how his response had shut Kallen up, the same as the rest as he continued. Arthur got into her clothing, managed to get the bra stuck around his neck, and bolted before she could catch him.

His explanation was done, and he waited for the response, though silence gripped the council room. One could hear a pin drop as they looked at him like he had grown a second head.

"D-did I hear that, right?" Rivalz asked, trying and failing to grasp it.

"I think so…but I could be wrong…" Nina was just as stunned as she was. She wasn't invested in the romance, the same as she thought Lelouch was, but she had never imagined-.

"G-girlfriend?!" Shirley nearly shrieked, feeling like she was about to fall apart. Lulu, her Lulu had a girlfriend? He was taken? When? How, Why? Who?

Milly grabbed onto him, glaring at him. "All right, who are you, and what have you done with our old grump, Lelouch? He would never date or be so bold to invite them to live with him."

"Oh, hardy har-har." Lelouch frowned.

"But…you've never shown interest in any of the girls; they practically throw themselves at you!" Rivalz pointed at him; he had seen Lelouch brush off just about every attempt to get him to go on a date since he met it, even before they were close; Lelouch was the one guy on campus who was both straight and seemingly impervious to the female charm.

"Just because I don't like fan girls doesn't mean I don't have romantic desires, Rivalz. I just don't express them when there are more important things to deal with," Lelouch told him.

"Details, I need details!" Milly yelled, her earlier glare shifting to a maniac hunger for details, which only made Lelouch want to go to his room and nap. However, seeing how he had already come this far, he couldn't just stop.

"I met her a couple years back when I was our gambling, we met up from time to time and started speaking before we started dating. She's in trouble right now, and I offered her a place to say, that's it."

Rivalz held up a hand. "Hold it, how come I didn't know about this? I'm your ride."

Lucky for him, Lelouch was an excellent actor and could fabricate lies on the spot. "For the last year, we started to spend time together outside gambling before we became friends, Rivalz. Also, we frequently text, and no, I'm not showing you my phone; I'll sooner break it than let any of you see that."

Nunnally smiled, happy that the truth was out there, but now that it was, she could have a little fun. "He's not saying everything."

"Nunnally, please," Lelouch begged, but alas, his pleas fell on deaf ears, and after that, Milly wouldn't be satisfied till she heard more.

"Claude said that they're very close, and he's already made a promise about their futures," Nunnally stated, using the name that Ms. C.C. had given her when she had bested her in a game of go fish.

"You mean like an engagement? Damn, man, you work fast." Rivalz laughed as Shirley shrieked.

"Why, Nunnally? Why?" Lelouch asked his sister, a horrified look on his face as Milly and Shirley fell on him, question after question flowing out of them. All the while, Nunnally giggled at the chaos she started, Suzaku shivering as he realized that as much as Nunnally was Euphemia's little sister, she was Lelouch.

Later, the council split to handle their own affairs, with Rivalz and Suzaku posted out by the entrance. Rivalz was working on his bike, a tool kit by his side as he fiddled with its engine. "Thanks for the help. Lelouch typically does this, but well…" Rivalz didn't quite know how to phrase what had happened.

"No problem. I would be drained too after how much Shirley and Milly quizzed him," Suzaku noted as Lelouch looked utterly exhausted by the time they had started and left him to waddle off.

"Say, Lelouch said you're friends, but when did you meet?" Rivalz asked.

"He didn't tell you?" Rivalz shook his head.

"Nope," "He just asked that I be friendly with you. Not a hard thing to do since you seemed to be a pretty all-right guy, and I was proven right."

"Well, Lelouch and Nunnally spent some time here before the war." Suzaku kept it simple, as lying wasn't his strength, nor did he like doing it.

"They lived in Japan?" Rivalz looked up from the bike, surprised by that.

"Not really, it was more a summer trip. They stayed close to where I lived, so we met." Suzaku nodded, stretching things a bit. It was never announced that the vi Britannia's were staying with them, but it was safer to not drop details that could imply as such.

"You can ease up, man. You look like a spring about to burst." Rivalz mistook his nerves for something else, though it wasn't completely wrong. Even while they had their meeting earlier, Suzaku acted like he was waiting for orders at times.

Suzaku blinked before he relaxed, offering an apologetic look. "Sorry."

"No problem, man. But this is a first for me, too. I've never met someone who knew Lelouch before he came to Ashford. And he doesn't talk about his past a lot." Rivalz stated that he wasn't the pushiest person out there. Still, he couldn't deny that he was curious about Lelouch and Nunnally. Suzaku could give him some insights into the guy he learned had been hiding a girlfriend from them because he feared what Milly would do with the info.

Kinda sad that he didn't consider Shirley's feelings, but the guy still didn't notice she had a crush on him…same as Milly didn't notice Rivalz on her.

"Hey, can you pass me the 12mm wrench?" Rivalz didn't like to think about that.

"You mean the 10mm, right?" Suzaku corrected, to which Rivalz blinked before laughing.

"Hey, hey, you're right? You a gearhead, too?" Rivalz asked him.

"I just recognized the model, BMC-RR1200. Pretty reliable and fuel efficient. Before I joined the army, I knew someone who rode one of these, and I often helped her with repairs and stuff like that." Suzaku told him, fond memories playing in his head. "But she never let me ride it; the best I got was the repair guy. If I tried to ride it, she threatened to kill me."

"Sounds scary." Rivalz quipped as he was also protective of his ride.

"Don't I know it, but she was nice, so I never took it seriously." Suzaku retorted before adding with a laugh. "Still never tried riding it though."

It was a laugh shared between them. "Well, spill, whose was it? Was Milly on the mark about you liking older women?"

"Of course not." Suzaku shook his head. Though he did have something of a crush on her, that was mainly because she was just an amazing person. It faded soon enough, as all young crushes do.

"Your big sister then? Don't tell me it was your mother." Rivalz suggested.

"Nothing like that. I grew up a single child, and…she's gone now." Suzaku smiled, though it carried a tinge of bittersweetness to it.

"Oh…well, sorry to bring down the mood." Rivalz apologized and backtracked.

"It's fine, I've accepted it," Suzaku told him.

"So, you live in the barracks then?" Rivalz changed the subject before he put his foot any further into his mouth.

"No, the unit I'm assigned is renting space at the university across the street, so I stay there," Suzaku told him. Rivalz nodded, as it would make sense for the travel time. Most students who didn't dorm on campus had private means to get to and from campus, and Rivalz wasn't sure how far the closest base was.

"It must be a big deal unit to have that privilege," Rivalz noted. Aren't military things meant to be super strict and regimented?

"It's mainly research and engineering, nothing too important," Suzaku replied. Lloyd might not care about what Suzaku told others about, but Cecile did. While she couldn't counter Lloyd's orders, she had asked him to keep their work secret.

"If you say so." Rivalz didn't push him on it, but if Suzaku said that was what it was, he would believe it. He was a friend, after all. "Say, why don't you come live here in the dorms? I don't have a roommate, so there's definitely a free slot. It'll be fun."

Suzaku smiled, as that was proof that Britannia had good in it, something that could counterbalance the bad, but sadly, he had to decline. "I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to refuse. I'm still a soldier, and that comes with duties. Really, just attending Ashford is enough for me."

There was the scene that I wanted to do, a small thing where Lloyd and Cecile would talk about the day-to-day of their work, with Cecile having some extra lines, but I decided against it. It could be placed in a later chapter, and this one was more focused on the student council and its members. Also, we got more changes, as now C.C.'s existence isn't just a Lamperouge secret, at least in part.

The next chapter will be out March 29th

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