“H-Hey, Lelouch! How are you so unbothered by this?! There’s a super hot guy who just transferred into our css!”

  Rivalz whisper-yelled in panid shock. The moment css ended, he pounced onto his best friend, who was sitting right beside him, and clutched onto his uniform while keeping his jealousy-filled eyes at the new, stupidly handsome, traudent named Alexander.

  Just a few weeks ago, a guy named Kururugi Suzaku came as a traudent! A lot of girls thought of him as cute, but very few showed their i in him because he’s an honorary Britannian.

  But Alexander… He’s 100x more handsome than Suzaku and was rumored to e from a super rich family to boot! A lot of girls fell in love with him at first sight!

  Even Kallen Stadtfeld, one of the most beautiful girls in Ashford Academy, kept staring at him.

  She seemed to be the one waiting owo traudents and leading them to this css, but she’s already fallen for him even though they’ve only ied for a few minutes!

  That guy’s definitely a ova!!! And with that kind of fad mohere won’t be anyone who stop him from getting all the girls!!!

  “...So what? Do you want to get his oo?”

  “Not that! He’s going to steal all the girls! Look, they all immediately crowded around him the moment the bell rang!”

  “Hah… I don’t care. Now stop clutg onto my colrs…”

  “H-Hey, where are you going? Are you not worried about Shirley?!”

  “Mind your own business, Rivalz.”

  Lelouch pushed him away, stood up from his seat, and headed to the door.

  But before he pletely exited the , he g Yuuij and Tatsuya and tugged on his colr, the.

  He headed to the baly oop floor of the academy, and waited.

  A gentle breeze blew past his face as he leaned onto the railings of the baly in silence. He looked down, ahe wall, he saw a girl marking a cross onto the brick wall.

  She’s still doing it, huh?

  Lelouch mused. He was the one who anded her to do so to check the duration of his geass’s effects. Of course, now that he had seen the anime, he khat it would tinue forever uhey were physically uo plete the order. But he did it before he became a member of the Group Chat and knew about… his “future”.

  Lelouch thought back to all the events he had experienced and pared it to the anime he had watched.

  It was… pletely the same. Everything he had done up to this point was the same. And if he didn’t bee a member of the group chat, the tragic future in which he’d ended up sacrifig himself for the peace of the world he so sought for his little sister would also be the same.

  But no more… I will prevent all those tragedies from happening…

  And the first would be to prevent Shirley’s father from dying itle for Narita.

  This was one of the rgest causes edy in Shirley’s life. It was the ohat made her… depe on him, and caused her to be involved with his problems.

  He didn’t want “those” kinds of things to happen to her… To the girl that loved him even until the very end.

  This time… I’ll give her the happiness she deserves.

  He vowed, closing his eyes when a breeze blew past him once again.

  Then, the sound of a door opening resounded from behind him.

  “Took you quite a while. Were the girls that tough to shake off?”

  Lelouch turned with a slight smirk and watched as Yuuji walked towards him with a tired sigh and Tatsuya smiling helplessly.

  “...You don’t even know half of it. It was only thanks to Shirley that I could get here before lunded.”

  “I was waiting for Yuuji. That is why I was te.”

  “...Alright, Tatsuya. You don’t have to rub it in.”

  Yuuji shook his head tiredly before extending his hand out towards Lelouch.

  “It’s o finally meet you, Lelouch. I’ve always been a big fan of yours ever since I watched your anime.”

  Lelouch smiled and took his hand for a handshake.

  “I would’ve loved to say the same. Unfortunately, the anime you are in is illegal for students. But, other than that, it’s also o finally meet you, Yuuji.”

  “Ugh… why is everyone ing after me today…?”

  Tatsuya then also extended his hand towards Lelouch.

  “It’s also o finally meet you. Let’s do our best to ge the tragedies that happened in this world for the better.”

  “Likewise, Tatsuya. I will be ting on your help to realize it.”

  Lelouch shook his hand and smiled before turning towards Yuuji.

  “I’d love to meet Satoru-san as well… Would it be alright for me to go to your resideer school?”

  “Sure. But we also do it in your dorm if you want. I make myself and Tatsuya invisible and sneak in without anyone seeing us. After all, our home in this world is quite a distance away. Wouldn’t want to take your time away from your little sister that much.”

  Lelouch looked at Yuuji with a smile, appreciative for his sideration.

  “That would be nice. But will Satoru-san be able to join us?”

  Yuuji nodded.

  “He said he could use his [Phantom] ability to create a e of “Momonga” and have it cast [Greater Invisibility] and [Fly] on himself to sneak in.”

  “I see… Then that would be nice. What is he doing now?”

  “He’s flying around the town, enjoying the “ air” and “beautiful nature”, while invisible.”

  Lelouch stared at Yuuji and Tatsuya in shock for a moment. What they just said sounded… so absurd that he couldn’t help but process it for a moment.

  But when he sidered how absurd and ridiculous the Group Chat in of itself was… the absurd sentence Yuuji just said started making sense.

  “I see… Well, as long as he’s having fun.”

  “Oh, he is. He’s been having a lot of fun ever since arriving here.”

  The three shared a brief ugh before Lelouch started the versation he wao have with these two and the entire reason why he called them here.

  “We talk about what you get from the app ter on. For now, I wao tell you about my pn for Shirley’s father and your appearance as a member of the bights.”

  Yuuji and Tatsuya nodded in unison.

  “Sure.”

  “Alright. Then, here’s my pn… It’s simple.”

  --------------------------------X--------------------------------

  After school, Yuuji, Tatsuya, Satoru, and Lelouch gathered in ay room inside Lelouch’s dorm building.

  Lelouch stood by the window, which curtain he had drawn to prevent anyone from being able to look inside. Yuuji sat on the edge of the bed, while Tatsuya and Satoru sat on chairs which came in a set with a beautifully desigea table.

  Yuuji and Tatsuya had snu together unseen using Yuuji’s invisibility spell, while Satoru, who had been told about the time and pce of their meeting, snu using [Greater Invisibility] that “Momonga’s Phantom” cast upon him.

  “Well then, what do you want to hear first from us, Lelouch?”

  “Hm, how about yeass first?”

  Yuuji nodded.

  “Sure. My geass allows me to e the activation and use of any and all geass within my field of vision.”

  Lelouch’s eyes widened in shobsp;

  “That is… impressive.”

  “Yes… Though I don’t think it’d be able to erase existing effects.”

  Yuuji shrugged his shoulders.

  “You won’t be able to activate yeass around me, but I won’t be able to erase your order from someooo.”

  “I see… No, still. Yeass would be extremely useful against eass users.”

  “Mm. I think so too. It’d be useful in our enter against Mao.”

  Lelouodded in agreement.

  If Yuuji’s geass could prevent Mao’s geass from being activated, then he won’t be able to read their minds. He’ll just be a normal… no, a deranged, geass-less guy.

  If that’s the case… he won’t be able to endanger Nunnally nor C.C with his sick games.

  “This is great. That’s ohing I don’t have to worry about…”

  Lelouch let out a smile and turowards Satoru and Tatsuya.

  “How about the two of you?”

  “I have a geass that would let me feel another persoions. I don’t think it’d be quite useful in bat.”

  Once again, Lelouch’s eyes widened in surprise, but not fot the same reason as when he did with Yuuji’s geass.

  As Tatsuya said, such geass wouldn’t be as useful as Yuuji’s in bat. But knowing Tatsuya’s story… Such a geass erfect for him.

  “No… But still. It is amazing. gratutions, Tatsuya.”

  He nodded. A small smile blooming on his fabsp;

  “How about you, Satoru-san?”

  “A-Ah, I got a geass that would show me someone’s name, age, skills, strengths, weaknesses, a s of their backstory, and their current thoughts like a game’s status s. It’s like… seeing the status s of an allied NP admin mode in Yggdrasil.”

  “That’s amazing…”

  Lelouch held his , falling into a thought, before turning towards Satoru with a smirk.

  “Would you like to bee the head of Bight’s HR Department, Satoru-san?”

  Upon hearing the phrase “HR Department”, the veteran saryman who had been enduring the torturous, monotonous, and depressihat is the “workpce”, shivered. Simply hearing about the terrifying demons that could cut his pay and give him terrible marks for his performah a snap of their fingers gave him terrible memory fshbacks of his traumatiters with them.

  He could feel the cold sweat dripping down his back just at the thought of it.

  “Satoru-san?”

  “Ah? N-No, it’s nothing. Uhm… if you wao do it, then I’ll do it…”

  Satoru shook his head, snapping out of his traumatic fshbacks, and scratched the back of his head.

  “No, I was just joking. But, it’d be nice if you tell me who have the potential to betray us.”

  “Of course. I do that.”

  “Thank you. The’s hear about you backgrounds.”

  “Sure.”

  Starting with Yuuji, the three began telling Lelouch about their backgrounds, which also included the “lost” Britannia secret on, Excalibur, and the legacy of Yuuji’s “parents”, the mobile headquarters, and their location.

  They didn’t hesitate to tell him every little detail, even the ohey hadn’t mentioned before when they discussed this st night. They khat Lelouch would want every little detail, no matter how small, so he could use it in his future pns.

  “I see… That’s quite depressing.”

  Lelouch smiled helplessly, his shoulders slumping slightly after hearing the depressing “past” of his friends.

  “It is… The group chat never hesitates to give us painful memories, even if they’re fake, to justify our existence here. I’ve lear the hard way from my previous mission in Tatsuya’s world.”

  Yuuji shrugged his shoulders helplessly, still recalling the terrible “past” he had from his background story in his previous mission.

  “So? Are we stig to the pn? Or do you have something new pnned now that you’ve heard these from us?”

  Lelouch thought for a moment, and answered Yuuji’s question.

  “We’ll stick with the pn. I’d like to start our pn for Shirley’s father as soon as I firm that he’s in his residence. Would that be alright, Yuuji?”

  Yuuji nodded.

  “Sure. Just tell me when.”

  “Thank you. Preferably, it will be tonight, but we’ll see. Tomorrow, I will gather the Bights to brief them on our operation in Narita and introduce you as our new members.”

  Tatsuya and Satoru readily o Lelouch’s words, while Yuuji fell into a moment of thought.

  Ideally, it would be better to introduew members to a group long before or after a big operation, especially if it’s during a war and the group was a votile, resistance group like the Bights where trust was difficult to obtain from existing members.

  But, Yuuji also uood why Lelouch wahem to join the Bights now and join the operation in Narita.

  Lelouch wao make sure that this operation ended not only in success, but perfectly.

  It wasn’t only for their mission, but for the Bights to be sidered not only as a simple terrorist or rebel group, but a true force to be reed with against Britannia.

  If they could gain the reition and respect of the Japanese gover, the Japan Liberation Force, and the “elevens” from their victory here, they’ll be able to gain massive momentum, influence, and financial support soohan they would in the anime, making his future pns easier.

  “Alright.”

  Yuuji nodded, and Lelouodded in response.

  Yuuji, Tatsuya, and Satoru will be his failsafe. In case things go awry, he’ll t on their magic to correct them.

  Though, if his assumption was correct, then Yuuji aloh Excalibur would t their plete victory in Narita.

  Lelouch then turowards Tatsuya.

  “Tatsuya, based on your memory, how is the mobile headquarters pared to Britannian’s mobile bases?”

  “...It’s far more advanced. In terms of facility, it’s equipped with high end maery for knightmare maintenand development in addition to high quality surveilnce system and security. And in terms of defenses… it’s equipped with several “ons” that could fire Radiant Wave Surging bsts at ining threats. There are also several devices that could create Radiant Wave Shields all around it. It’s… a moving fortress.”

  Lelouch crossed his arms. His lips curled into a frown.

  Having such a powerful and mobile fortress would be amazing for them. But… it’s just a little too advanced.

  If they reveal it now, they’ll raise questions and attrawatention from powers that were still beyond them.

  They’re still not ready. Not yet.

  “...Then, we ’t use it for now. Yuuji, Tatsuya, you ceal its existence using magic?”

  “...I try. But no promises. I don’t know if we store it in our iory. In the worst case, I will have to carry it with my gravity magic while maintaining invisibility on myself and the entire fortress. I’ve ried carrying such a massive thing, so I ’t guarahat it’d work.”

  Yuuji crossed his arms and tinued.

  “And even if it did, we’d o find a pce to hide it, or create one. Maybe somewhere near our mansion could work, but… We’re going to need a bit of time to make sure of everything.”

  Lelouch fell silent, pting about it for a moment.

  “I see… Then first, try to see if you store it in your iory for now. If you ’t, then we try your idea, Yuuji, or buy something from the group chat’s store that could help.”

  “Alright.”

  “I’ll search for something that could help with this now.”

  Tatsuya opened his phone and began browsing through the group chat’s store while Lelouch turowards Yuuji once again.

  “Yuuji, at the very least, I want you to try and bring Excalibur with you because you’ll be using it in our operations in Narita.”

  Yuuji nodded.

  “Sure. Worst case, I’ll bring it using my space manipution magid invisibility t it. If it’s only a knightmare frame, then I’ll be able to do it.”

  “Good. Then, I’ll be ting on you.”

  The four discussed their pn a bit more. Unfortunately, Tatsuya hadn’t find anything that could help them yet, but he’ll keep searg for it for the rest of the day.

  Meanwhile, Lelouch started getting ready to use one of his powers he gained from his SSR, [Archivist of Universal Knowledge], to firm if Shirley’s father was in his resideonight.

  Yuuji, Tatsuya, and Satoru watched as Lelouch walked up to a chair and took a seat. When he first tried using it, he was standing up. And by the end of it, he fell down to the ground and hit his bottom. Ever sihen, he’d always sit down when using it.

  “Are you sure yoing to use [Mind of the World] for this…?”

  “It is a bit of a waste, but it ’t be helped… I ’t very well ask her directly.”

  Yuuji looked at him with a slight frown.

  “...Have you not made your feelings known to her yet, Lelouch? We all know you have romantic feelings for her.”

  “W-Wha-?!”

  A rare blush appeared on Lelouch’s cheeks as he turowards his friends in embarrassment.

  Tatsuya had a small smile on his normally stoic face. A sign that he was teasing him with his question. While Yuuji and Satoru were smiling helplessly at him.

  “Tatsuya!”

  “I was just asking.”

  “Ghhh…”

  Lelouch averted his gaze away in embarrassment. But soon, his lips curled into a frown and he ched his hands into fists.

  “I… I ’t drag her into this… I just… ’t. Not after I’ve seen what it could’ve doo her. This is my burden to bear. The day I took up the mask of Zero, I vowed to myself to see this through until the end… and I won’t let her be involved.”

  To destroy the world and create it anew. A better world for his sister to live in happiness. That was his vow.

  Yuuji, Tatsuya, and Satoru’s appearan this world and the gifts he had received from the group chat might’ve accelerated his pns and made things easier. But his goal hadn’t ged.

  He couldn’t drag Shirley into this bloody flict. Especially having seen what it had doo her in the anime.

  His heart still ached when he saw her dying figure on the s, bloodied, all because she tried to protect him. He ’t… He simply ’t let that happen to her.

  Yuuji stood up from the bed, walked up to Lelouch, and pced a hand on his shoulder.

  “Lelouch… I uand that you don’t want to put her in danger. But you should also sider your oiness!

  You are Lelouch before you are Zero. You are our close friend. We help you protect her, even if it was from the truth. We also take care of the Bights in your absenow that we’re here, you rely on us… Allow yourself some happiness.”

  “Yuuji…”

  “I agree with Yuuji… Lelouch.”

  “Satoru-san…?”

  Lelouch turowards Satoru and saw a man with a smile on his fad nostalgia, regret, and pain in his eyes.

  “High sight seem like a long time now, but it’s actually very short. Live your life to the fullest. If you have a girl you like… tell her. You only know how much you treasure something when you lose it. And I’ve seen how painful it was for you when you lost her. So please… don’t live a life you’ll regret.”

  The sad smile that apanied his words of experience filled with regret reached the depth of Lelouch’s heart.

  He looked down to his p, where he had rested his fist on.

  Lelouew… He knew very well, deep in his heart, that he’d feel regret and despair the moment he lost Shirley. He could see it in his “self” in the anime as he clutched onto Shirley’s cold, bloody, dead body. And he felt fear that sent chills down his spihe moment he even imagi happening iy.

  He has his duties as Zero. To create a better world for his sister… and everyone, he had vowed to sacrifice himself for that goal. But… was he prepared to sacrifice her… and those he cared for… for that?

  Suddenly, a powerful breeze appeared ihe room, stealing his attention from his own thoughts.

  Lelouch looked up, and when he did, he saw Zero, the masked messiah standing right beside Satoru.

  “When you’re away, he repce you. Just tell him what to do. He’ll uand simple things.”

  “Satoru-san…”

  “You have us now, Lelouch. We’re here not only to make this world better, but for you as well. We all want to help you reach a better ending.”

  “Yuuji…”

  Silence fell upon the room as Zero’s Phantom slowly dissipated into particles of light after Satoru dismissed it.

  And a few moments ter, Lelouch raised his head back up and smiled softly at the three.

  “Thank you… I’ll think about it. But for now, let's use [Mind of the World].”

  “Alright.”

  Yuuji moved away as Lelouch closed his eyes and focused. Wind began to pick up once again in this closed room, swirling around Lelouch as its ter.

  He opened his eyes, and instead of its usual violet color, they were now shining white with brilliant light.

  A few moments ter, the light dissipated and the winds died down.

  He turowards Yuuji and looked at him with a nod.

  “Yuuji, I’ll be ting on you tonight.”

  “Of course.”

  VergsX