In the wake of the incident with Kallen, I found myself officially labeled as a chronic anemic within the halls of Ashford Academy.
It was a golden opportunity, and there was no way our devilish Student Council President would let it pass her by.
"Now, everyone, lend me your ears! I am hereby issuing a special mandate for the sake of our newest secretary, Kallen Stadtfeld, and our Vice President, Lelouch, who is perpetually on the brink of overwork!"
President Milly had gone and officially designated Kallen and me as the 'Invalid Duo.'
"Since the two of you are so fragile, it is only fitting that I assign you lighter duties!"
Her first command was a thorough cleaning of the Student Council's supply warehouse. She framed it with the plausible justification that training the new secretary fell under the Vice President's jurisdiction.
Shirley seemed to flicker with a faint spark of jealousy seeing Kallen and me paired up, but she quickly quelled her own feelings.
"Lulu is so sickly, Kallen, so you have to make sure you take good care of him!"
If anything, she was practically pushing Kallen toward me. Rivalz, meanwhile, leaned in to whisper a warning.
"Try not to have another 'accident' like last time."
I adopted Lelouch's signature air of arrogant nonchalance, projecting a confidence I didn't entirely feel.
"Rest easy. I don't intend to repeat such a blunder."
Inside, however, I was breaking into a cold sweat. Eventually, Kallen and I made our way to the ancient supply warehouse located in the basement of the Ashford Academy main building.
As the door creaked open, the pungent scent of stagnant dust assaulted my nostrils. In an awkward silence, the organization of the warehouse began.
I attempted to strike up a conversation several times, but her responses remained strictly monosyllabic. She was still maintaining an impenetrable iron wall, treating me like some sort of perverted creep or a suspicious intruder.
In an effort to change the atmosphere, I decided to retrieve an old box from the top of a shelf. It was a pathetic attempt to reclaim some shred of my shattered masculine pride and salvage my image as something other than a total invalid. However, Lelouch's abysmal stamina was ill-suited for the task; regardless, I staked my last bit of dignity on the effort and began to scale the shelving.
"I've got it!"
I succeeded in pulling the box forward, but its sheer mass overwhelmed my meager strength. Gravity took hold, and my body began to tilt backward into the abyss.
"Gah!"
With a short cry, I squeezed my eyes shut against the impending terror of the fall. Yet, the anticipated impact never came.
Instead, I felt something simultaneously soft and firm supporting my back. Opening my eyes, I found Kallen standing directly behind me, bracing my fall.
With one hand wrapped around my waist and the other effortlessly supporting one side of the heavy crate, she stood as steady as a pillar. My pride as a man disintegrated into atoms at that very moment. A box that would have challenged even a fit grown man was being held aloft by her single hand with terrifying ease.
Kallen herself seemed startled by her own reflex. She wore a dazed expression for a moment before turning frantic and letting go of me abruptly.
The moment she released her grip, the weight of the box proved too much for me once more. I grunted and struggled, barely managing to lower it to the floor. Kallen turned her face away, her cheeks flushed a deep crimson, and grumbled in a voice so low it was barely a whisper.
"...Damn it. Why did I even bother acting like a sickly girl at school?"
Seeing her like that, an involuntary laugh escaped me.
"Pfft... Hahaha!"
"Wh-what's so funny?!" Kallen shouted, her panic rising. I managed to stifle my laughter and looked her squarely in the eye.
"Nothing. I just thought... everyone has their own circumstances, don't they?"
I kept my gaze fixed on hers as I spoke.
"You don't need to put on such an exhausting performance. Not in front of me."
Kallen's face turned beet-red. She glared at me for a moment before letting out a long, weary sigh, as if she had finally decided to surrender. Then, her demeanor underwent a total transformation.
"Haa... To hell with it. This act was becoming a colossal pain anyway."
The rough, blunt manner of speaking—a complete departure from her school persona—was her true self.
"Don't worry. I'll keep your secret."
"...Why?" Kallen's eyes sharpened like cold blades.
This was the pivotal moment. I needed to give her the 'correct' answer.
"Well, I suppose everyone has one or two secrets they can't share with the world, wouldn't you say?"
Rather than probing her, I chose to subtly hint at the existence of my own secrets. It was a gesture of solidarity, a tacit proposal for a truce: I'll safeguard your secrets if you refrain from questioning the anomalies surrounding me. I reached out a hand toward her.
"I am Lelouch Lamperouge, Vice President of the Student Council. And you, as of today, are Kallen Stadtfeld, Secretary of the Student Council. Nothing more, nothing less. Isn't that right?"
Kallen looked back and forth between my hand and my face. Her eyes flickered with a complex web of emotions. After a long hesitation, she reluctantly took my hand. It was small, yet its grip was firm and resolute.
"...I'll be in your care, Mr. Vice President."
"Likewise, Secretary."
I flashed her a bright smile. Kallen stared blankly at me for a moment before turning her head away to hide the flush deepening on her cheeks.
And so, our peculiar alliance of the 'frail' began—a precarious relationship built on shared secrets. My plan to recruit Kallen was drifting in an entirely unexpected direction, but it was undeniable that I had taken a significant step forward.
- Shinjuku Resistance Hideout -
The air was thick with the stagnant stench of old grease and rusted iron. Tucked away in a forgotten corner of a subway tunnel in the Shinjuku Ghetto, our hideout was, as always, dark and damp.
I was meticulously wiping the barrel of an automatic rifle with an old rag. The cold sensation of the metal and the rhythmic movement of my hands helped clear the chaos in my mind.
"Kallen, that's enough for today. Go get some rest. School life is taxing enough; you don't need to push yourself like this here."
A voice filled with concern drifted over my shoulder. It was Kaname Ohgi. A soft-hearted, kind man who had taken up the leadership of this resistance group following the death of my brother.
"I'm doing this because I want to. Don't worry about me, Mr. Ohgi," I replied, my eyes never leaving the rifle.
While I appreciated his concern, it was often a burden. He wished for me to live a life of comfort by clinging to my status as a Britannian noble—the Stadtfeld name. But I loathed that name like it was a parasite.
The House of Stadtfeld... lacking an heir to carry on the lineage, my father had taken a Japanese woman as his concubine. She was merely a tool meant to produce a son. And the child born from that union was me, Kallen Kouzuki. After my birth, my father registered me as the child of his legal wife and then discarded my mother, sending her to the outbuilding like an unwanted servant.
There, she lived as nothing more than a maid in a grand mansion, enduring every humiliation imaginable. I fight for one reason: to create a world where my mother no longer has to live in the shadow of 'Stadtfeld,' a world where she can live with pride as 'Kouzuki.'
"Even so... you're different from us. You have a place to return to."
"I have no home to return to. Not unless it is a place where my mother is present and where I can maintain my pride as a Japanese. Besides, doesn't my status prove useful at times?"
At my sharp retort, Ohgi let out a heavy sigh. He knew further attempts at persuasion were futile. In the corner of the hideout, other members were exchanging idle jokes while preparing for our next operation.
"Hey, Tamaki! The rifle you serviced has a stiff magazine again! What are we supposed to do if it jams during a real fire-fight?"
"What?! I did my best! You're the one, Sugiyama, who tried to pull a grenade pin backward last time!"
Shinichiro Tamaki barked back at Sugiyama Kento's nagging. Nagata shrugged as he stepped in to mediate, while Naomi Inoue watched them with a quiet, knowing smile. This was my other 'daily life.'
Though it was a dangerous existence where death could strike at any moment, at least here, no one looked at me as the 'frail daughter of the noble Stadtfelds.' I was simply a comrade—Kallen Kouzuki.
"So, Kallen. How is life on the other side? At school, I mean," Inoue asked as she sat down beside me. She was the only woman in the group near my age, and she looked after me like a younger sister.
"It's nothing special. Boring as always, and crawling with hypocritical Britannians," I answered nonchalantly. But in that instant, a certain man's face flashed in my mind.
Pale skin, amethyst-colored eyes, and an arrogant smile that seemed to see through everything. Lelouch Lamperouge.
'...Damn it, why am I thinking about that guy?!'
Feeling my face suddenly flush, I shook my head violently. That man was strange. When we first collided in the hallway, he had been sent sprawling like a man with zero physical constitution. Yet in the storage room, despite seeing through my secret, he had reached out his hand and proposed an bizarre alliance.
'Everyone has one or two secrets they can't share with the world, wouldn't you say?'
His voice seemed to linger in my ears. Just what was he? To be a mere student of a minor Britannian noble house, he smelled far too suspicious, too dangerous. And... I found myself strangely preoccupied with him.
"Oh? Kallen, your face is red. Don't tell me... did you find a boy at school that interests you?"
Startled by Inoue's mischievous jab, I shouted back, "N-No! As if! Don't be ridiculous!"
My explosive reaction drew every eye in the hideout. Tamaki's eyes went wide.
"Whoa! Is there really something going on? Our Kallen? A guy? Who is he? Better not be some Britannian!"
"Shut up, Tamaki! It's none of your business!"
"Aww, come on! Tell us! We need to check him out and see what kind of punk thinks he's good enough for our Kallen!"
Sugiyama and Nagata joined in on the teasing. My face felt like it was about to explode. I slammed the rifle down and stood up abruptly.
"I told you to shut it! It's nothing, so everyone back off!"
I stormed toward the exit of the hideout. Behind me, I could hear Tamaki's grating voice: "She's totally sulking!"
I didn't look back. As I stepped out of the tunnel, the cold night air began to cool my burning cheeks. I leaned against a wall, catching my breath.
'Damn it, damn it, damn it!'
Why did I overreact like that? He's just someone I'm wary of. Right, he's suspicious. He knows my secret, so I'm just staying on guard. Nothing more, nothing less. I repeated this to myself over and over. Yet, his smiling face from the warehouse, the way he reached for my hand, wouldn't fade from my mind.
'...I'll be in your care, Secretary.'
Why had my heart pounded so fiercely at that moment? In the distance, at the hideout entrance, I saw Mr. Ohgi watching me with worried eyes. I waved to show I was fine and retreated back into the shadows. Between the mask of Ashford Academy and the reality of the Resistance, the unpredictable variable known as Lelouch Lamperouge was beginning to pull Kallen Kouzuki off-balance.