“The Japanese Liberation Front had been nearly wiped out by your ret operation, Viceroy. Though there are still some of its members on the run, we are currently in the process of capturing them-”

  “Is that sarcasm, minister? We are forced tanize our troops as well after that fiasco!”

  “Oh, no! That wasn’t my iion!”

  The apologetic voice that beloo one of the many mihat governed “Area 11” resouhroughout the maiing hall of the Viceroy’s Pad Gover Bh. Almost a dozen other ministers sat on his side of the table, while Euphemia and elia’s generals sat on the opposite side with elia herself sitting at the head.

  “I believe this was caused by our pursuing a fwed occupation policy from the start. Why have we ignored Area 11’s subways and mining railways thus far? In the ghettos, the family registries and property deeds are also left ambiguous and they’re left to breed anti-gover activity!”

  Guilford asserted.

  “Well, the subractically stretch around the entire try. And we don’t have the budget to fill in all of the abaunnels.”

  “Even knowing they’d bee the terrorists’ main base and escape routes?!”

  “P-Prince Clovis instructed us to… H-He said that if we forced them, we’d just trigger an uprising, which would give the ese Federation an opportunity to exploit.”

  elia wao ter the Vice Minister’s words. The ese Federation had already gotten their ce. Zero’s growing power had givehat opportunity. But in that moment, she recalled Zero’s words, causio bite her tongue.

  “Vice ministers, aren’t there delegates of the Elevens which the Ministry of Internal Affairs has charged with the Self-Governance of this Area? I believe it is a group named N.A.C?”

  A look nition fshed across all of the ministers’ expressions when Andreas Darlton, a General and Knight of elia, mentiohe name.

  “We were hoping to catch the tail of the NA the operations two days ago, but the data was buried in the ndslide. However, our suspis remain high. If we suppress them first…”

  Darlton turowards the princess she served. But once again, elia was reminded of Zero’s words.

  Dealing with the N.A.C, the final bastion of Japanese Governance, and subjugating them uhe rule of the Empire would certainly “end the war”. But she khat it would only be for a moment.

  As long as the Bights, and those who’d still sacrifice their lives to fight against Britannia, existed, then the cycle of aih, and suffering would tinue.

  A cycle she was all but tired with.

  Seeing elia’s silence, which the vice miook as the Viceroy seriously sidering Darlton’s suggestioood up in a panic.

  “P-Please wait for a moment! Those are just rumors! There’s no evidence of it at all! If we suppress them, the Eleven ey won’t be able to stand! It’ll affect the tax revenue we send back to the homend! Also, the idea that Numbers should take care of their own is a guiding principle of the empire!”

  “Enough, vice minister. I uand…”

  “Y-Yes, Viceroy…”

  The vice minister let out a sigh of relief and sat back down before elia asked him a question.

  “What about the search for the bights?”

  “F-From the shield mae left behind, we’ve firmed that the Narita I was caused by Zero. But that’s as muformation as we glean from the remains of their members.”

  “I see… Then what about the Excalibur?”

  At the mention of the name, all ministers and generals alike tense up as they await the report. Even Euphemia, who only knew about the Excalibur after seeing the footage of La’s fight against it, felt herself shudder from the name alone.

  She, herself, had seen La and Suzaku’s skill and prowess itlefield. But this Excalibur and the pilot had mao make him look like a child pying with a toy sword.

  And for it to be their enemy… even as inexperienced in war as she was, Euphemia knew how dire the situation was.

  “Y-Yes… Unfortunately, we are uo find out any more information than that it was the lost masterpiece developed by the te Lord Arthur von Mstar. Information and knowledge regarding its development had been lost along with all the papers and researchers who helped Lord Mstar with its development. Only reports from Lord Asplund regarding its specifications were left, and he emphasized that it is only a vague guess on its true specifications. Other than that, we know nothing…”

  “I see…”

  elia let out a deep sigh as she leaned back to her seat. Revisiting such topice more, though it ruly left her mind, and discussing it with others had been weighing heavily on her mind.

  Worry and the feeling of being flicted never left her since her enter with the bck grim reaper and Zero.

  Zero… I truly hope that you truly mean what you said.

  She prayed as her generals and vice ministers tiheir discussion.

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

  “Okay, what made you look so worried~? Are you stipated~? Or are you on your period~?”

  Looking up from her ptop, Milly noticed a frown on the e-haired beauty’s fad began teasing her.

  Currently, only her, Shriley, and Nina were present withiudent cil’s office. And sihere were no guys around, she decided to ask Shirley what brought such frown onto her expression.

  “N-No!”

  “Then, you must be lonely because Lelouch isn’t here, right~?”

  Shirley flinched wheudent cil president mao guess the source of her gloomy mood so perfectly. Her first instinct was to deny Milly out of embarrassment. But, in the end, she couldn’t hide it anymore from Milly as she gave her a knowing look.

  “Not just that… Kallen’s absent with him. Again.”

  Milly smiled and leaned back to her chair.

  “So carefree~ The world is talking about what happened in Narita two days ago, which is also the reason why Suzaku was absent. But you’re here thinking about those two~”

  “I-I know, but my problem is with Lulu and Kallen!”

  “Fufu~ I envy you, Shirley~ That’s what I love about you~”

  “Could you please not make fun of me?!”

  Shirley smmed the envelop in her hand which she had received from her father. Within it air of tickets for her to go with a friend.

  She wao ask Lelouch if he’d like to go with her this m. But instead, she found out that he’s absent along with Kallen.

  “That’s why I’ve been saying… Just tell him already~! Say that I like you~”

  “E-Eh?! H-How could I do that?! I-I ’t! W-What if…”

  “What if he rejects me~? Maybe we won’t be able to even be friends~! Ahahahaha~!”

  Shirley blushed aed as Milly ughed out loud, having guessed the e-haired maiden’s internal flict perfectly once again.

  “You don’t have to ugh like that, you know…?”

  Milly smiled and crossed her arms under her full chest.

  “You know, those two are not the only ones absent?”

  “Hm? Ah, do you mean Alexander?”

  “That’s right. You’re so focused on your “Lulu” that you fot about Alexander, right? Don’t tell me you didn’t know about the rumoing on around Kallen and Alexander?”

  “Eh? What do you mean?”

  Shirley tilted her head fusedly, causing Milly to let out a tired sigh before she turowards Nina.

  “Nina, you know what I’m talking about, right?”

  The quiet green-haired girl nodded.

  “Uhn… Some people have seealk to each other when nobody was around. They seemed to be just talking casually, but many people suspect they’re in a retionship.”

  “E-Eh?! Seriously?! When?!”

  Nina didn’t stop her fingers, which was still typing away on her puter, as she responded.

  “It seems like they’ve only seealk with each other once. But with Alexander and Kallen’s popurity, many have jumped into their own clusions.”

  “And we don’t know if it is the truth or not. But that also goes for Kallen and Lelouch tht?”

  “...”

  Shirley couldn’t deny Milly’s words. All of her suspis regarding Leloud Kallen’s retionship stemmed from when he suddenly asked her out for a private talk a short time after Kalleuro the academy. From then on, although she hadn’t seen any sort of iioween them, she was still suspicious of their retionship.

  After all, what if Leloud Kallen were really in a retionship? One was her friend, while the other… she had a crushed on for so long.

  If those two were to be in a retionship… she wouldn’t know what to do?

  Just then, the sound of the automatic door opening resounded.

  “Look, if it’s b you that much, why not just ask him about it as soon as you ?”

  Milly grinned and turowards the person who had just ehe office.

  “So? How were things on your end?”

  Shirley’s eyes widened and she immediately turo see who had just e.

  “L-Lulu?! I-I thought you were out for today?!”

  “Nunnally just had a little fever. Sayoko had things to do until the noon, so I stayed home to take care of her.”

  Dressed in his casual outfit of a bck, turtleneck shirt and browher jacket, Leloutered the Student cil Office as he expihe reason behind his absence.

  “O-Oh, you don’t say! Is Nunna feelier now?”

  “She is.”

  Lelouodded and inwardly thanked Satoru for helping him take care of Nunnally from the shadow. The eldest member of the Group Chat had go of his way to have his phantom “Momonga” to stealthily watch over Lelouch’s little sister and used some spells to cure her and help alleviate her pain.

  Thanks to that, Nunnally was now simply resting and rec from her fever.

  “Ms. President, do you have that paperwork you wanted me to work on?”

  “ht. Make sure yahem by year and css, okay?”

  “Yes yes. You work people to the ground as usual, huh?”

  Lelouch picked up the paperworks in front of Shirley.

  “Well, it’s my pleasure to have su able subordinate~ Oh, and please do help me make sure Alexander bees a perma member of the cil~ He does as great of a job as you and pins a lot less~”

  “Then please, by all means, make him repce me so I be free from this mortal coil.”

  “Fufufu~ Nope~ Although he’s capable, I must treat that hottie so much better~ After all, he’s an eye dy too~”

  “Hah… I see. So I’m just the uglier of the two you’re willing to work to the bone, huh?”

  “Oh my~ You make me sound so evil~”

  “...”

  “Fufu~ Thank you, Lelouch~”

  “You’re wele.”

  With those parting words, Lelouch headed out of the office to return to his residence. Although “Momonga” was there to watch over Nunnally, it’s give him more peaind if he were there to look after her personally. So he decided to work on these paperworks from his home.

  As he was walking home, he noticed a preseanding atop one of the roof floors of the academy.

  He g the dire of the presence, and with his enhanced sight thanks to his SSR, he was able to see his figure clearly.

  He’s here… So the time has e, huh?

  The man that almost broke him and Shirley in the anime… If he didn’t know about what would e and what he would do, then Lelouch might’ve experiehe same thing.

  But it’s different now… I will make sure you experience how helpless you are in this world.

  He ighe presence as nothing that man could do now with his geass could affect him now with his [Archivist of Universal Knowledge].

  But just then, a voice that came from behind him snapped him out of his daze.

  “Lulu!”

  “Yes?”

  “U-Uhm, a-actually… I think yht an envelope by mistake!”

  “An envelope…”

  Lelouch looked down to his pile of papers and indeed found an envelope above it.

  Ah, that’s right… I didn’t realize its here… I should’ve known about this.

  “Is this it?”

  “Y-Yes! Thank you…”

  Shirley grabbed the envelope and fell into silence for a bit as she lowered her head.

  Then, a few moments ter, a determined expression appeared on her redly blushing face as she opehe envelope, took one of the two tickets, and pushed it towards Lelouch.

  “I-I got this cert ticket f-from my father! He actually wao go to it with my mom, but he was hospitalized retly. S-So he gave this to me. I-I’m giving oo you. So if you have the time, you should e!”

  Lelouch’s eyes widened in shock as he held one of the tickets in his hand. And immediately,Tatsuya, Yuuji, and Satoru’s words resounded in his mind.

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

  Now that we’re here, you rely on us… Allow yourself some happiness.

  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.

  Those words they said… Lelouch brushed them off before since he was busy with something else.

  No… He ran away from it. He was afraid ing Shirley into the darkhat he had begun trudging his path towards. And… he was still afraid.

  But… with his friends now here with him. Would he be able to experience… even a sliver of happiness?

  Would it be alright for him… to experience such a thing?

  We all know you have romantic feelings for her.

  Allow yourself some happiness…

  Don’t live a life you’ll regret.

  Their words resounded within his mind once again. And at that moment, he made his decision.

  Just as Shirley turned around and was about to run away out of embarrassment, Lelouch’s voice stopped her iracks.

  “Thank you for the ticket! I’ll… I’ll definitely go!”

  Shirley slowly turned around, her face blushiremely redly. And when she did, she saw Lelouch with a tinge of blush in his fabsp;

  Her heart skipped a beat as her face grew hotter and hotter.

  It was at that moment that she couldn’t deny it any longer… She had utterly fallen in love with the man before her.

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

  Meanwhile, within the headquarters of the Bights.

  With Zero absent, Mordred had taken over some of his tasks and was reviewing a few dots in his ptop. And Karen, who had just finished doing some maintenan her Guren, was sitting adjat to him on the same coubsp;

  “... Have you even moved since I left to do maintenan the Guren? I swear you’ve been in the same position for hours now. Do you ever get tired?”

  Karen remarked. With the amount of time they’ve spent together since Mordred ehe anization, Karen had noticed his exceedingly incredible physical prowess and seemingly endless stamina.

  She had never seen him get exhausted or eve a bit tired. Even after a long, major operation like the ohey had just finished in Narita, he was still running around their headquarters, making sure everything was alright, while the others colpsed into their beds and took a nap.

  He’s just like a mae…

  Mordred raised his head from his ptop and turowards the crimson-haired beauty.

  “Oh? Are you worried about me~?”

  A blush immediately appeared on her cheeks and her leg quickly flew for a kick to his shin.

  “I-I’m not! Geez, ’t you be serious for a sed?”

  “O-Ow… You didn’t have to kick me, you know…?”

  “Hmph…”

  Mordred rubbed his shin before shaking his head to her.

  “I’m fine. I’m used to this. How about you? You must be tired, right?”

  “...No. There’s not much wrong with the Guren, so I just did some standard maintenance checks.”

  “I see. That’s good.”

  Karen crossed her arms and leaned bato the couch as she kept her eyes at the masked figure.

  Ever since she first met him, Karen couldn’t get his figure out of her mind.

  His appearance was what caught her attention first. But with three other masked figures, having a mask didn’t really make him stand out mubsp;

  Then, what caught her attentio was his piloting skills. He was… a monster. She didn’t know what else to call him except a monster. He was a genius when it came to piloting a knightmare frame.

  When he pilots a knightmare, it was as if the mae had bee aension of his body. And he could trol every single aspect of it.

  She had never seen ah such a level of trol and skills.

  And then, she found out that outside piloting a knightmare, he was also a genius with iing and trading iock market.

  Even now, most of their budget for the Bights came from the profits he had gaihrough his stock trading.

  And not only that, he was also extremely skilled with managing their finances as well as managing the members of the bights.

  With every moment she spent with him, she learned a new side of him that she never knew about. And before she k, she found herself spending most of her time with him while she was with the Bights.

  Even now, when she could've gone anywhere else to rest, she came here and sat o him.

  Her eyes were filled with curiosity as she stared at the demon-masked figure. And before she k, that curiosity was slowly turning to i.

  Though at this point, she was still unaware of that subtle ge.

  Just then, the door to the trailer opened, and climbing up the stairs was Ohgi with an envelope in his hand.

  He turowards the two and tilted his head a bit when he saw Mordred clutg onto his shin.

  “Hm? What happened?”

  Karen blushed and quickly sat back while Mordred simply shook his head.

  “Nothing. I just hit my shin onto the table. What’s wrong?

  “Oh, alright… There’s a letter for Zero.”

  “A letter?”

  Mordred took the letter from Ohgi and ope, taking out the folded piece of paper within.

  “It’s from Kyoto. Seems like they’re asking us to meet them.”

  Mordred began reading it through as Ohgi and Karen awaited his decision.

  Meanwhile, within Yuuji’s mind, he couldn’t help but feel a twinge of worry.

  The request from Kyoto House finally came… That means Mao’s arc must be starting as well…

  Mao, a man obsessed with C.C after the geass he received from her went out of trol, causing him to be uo stop hearing the voices of everyone around him.

  His geass made it extremely difficult for Lelouch, who’s main on was his brilliant mind, to fight against him in a game of wits. He only mao win because he had cast a geass onto himself to make him fet about his pn.

  But now… Lelouch won’t be having that problem. With his [Archivist of Universal Knowledge], his mind will be protected from any magical phenomenon that would attempt to affect it.

  Yuuji had a geas that would disable all geass activation in his sight in addition to his immunity to all magical effects. While Satoru simply summon a “Phantom” of one of his guildmates to cast a spell that would protect himself and Tatsuya against Mao’s geass.

  And without his geass, he’d be reduced to a deranged powerless man with a loose screw.

  Holy, dealing with him would be easy. But… If he were to be simply erased from the picture, C.C’s guilt of giving him the Geass and abandoning him afterwards might not be resolved.

  That’s why they must tread this problem carefully.

  After a while, Yuuji closed the letter and folded it back to the envelope.

  “What do you think, Mordred?”

  Yuuji o Ohgi.

  “Holy, it’s not a bad deal. This will help expand our coffers more and give us more breathing room to use our budget.”

  Ohgi nodded in agreement.

  “Yeah, I think so too. The profits you got from your stock trading were enough to keep this entire anization afloat. But if we could get their bag, it’ll be easier for us to expand.”

  When Ohgi first saw Mordred’s skill with iments and trading, he holy couldn’t believe it… The man was essentially robbing from the rich. He mao accumute an amount that they’d previously only be able to get after a month, in a day.

  Thanks to him, the Bights were able to procure more ons, money for their operations, do maintenance for their knightmare frames, and also improve their livelihood. And now, if they could get the bag of the Kyoto House, they’ll be able to expand evehan before and uake rger operations.

  “Mm. I’ll hold on to this and give it to Zero ter to get his approval. Thank you, Ohgi.”

  “You’re wele. Oh, and also…”

  “Hm?”

  Yuuji looked back up towards Ohgi just when he was about to turn his attention back to his work in his ptop.

  “If possible, you should… rest for a bit. You’ve been w so hard… Some of us are getting a bit worried about you.”

  Inside his mask, Yuuji’s eyes widened in surprise from the sudden show of from Ohgi. But, he soon smiled and nodded.

  “Sure. Thanks. I’ll take it a bit easy after we return from Kyoto.”

  VergsX