Following a lunch break spent with Kallen, the afternoon bled into a tedious history lecture.
The languid afternoon sun, filtering through the windows, paired with the instructor's droning, monotonous voice served as the ultimate sedative.
Under normal circumstances, I would have used my textbook as a shield and surrendered to the pull of sleep, but today was different. That luxury was forbidden.
It was due to the guardian angel—or more accurately, the warden—clinging to me like an inseparable shadow.
"Now, Lulu. Underline this part and put three stars next to it. It's definitely on the exam."
Shirley whispered, her highlighter gliding across my book. She had volunteered to take notes on my behalf, citing my recent injuries as an excuse to hover.
"Thanks, Shirley. But really, I can manage..."
"Absolutely not! A patient must not strain so much as a finger. Just listen, Lulu. I'll handle the note-taking and organization."
She flashed a saccharine smile and leaned slightly against my arm. Through the thin fabric of our school uniforms, I could feel the warmth of her body and the soft pressure of her weight; the faint, floral scent of her shampoo tickled my senses.
'To be honest… this isn't exactly a hardship.'
As a healthy young man, I saw no reason to reject such luxury. Since I didn't find Shirley's genuine affection or concern unpleasant, I sat back and allowed myself to be coddled.
"Well, this is standard procedure between us! Isn't that right, Lulu?"
Shirley locked eyes with me playfully, her smile bright enough to crinkle the corners of her eyes. I was about to reciprocate with a smile of my own when—
Crack.
The sound of something splintering echoed from directly behind me.
'...?'
A chill shot down my spine. I turned my head with glacial slowness to steal a glance at the seat behind mine.
There sat Kallen. She maintained her usual facade of a frail, sickly girl, head bowed low, but her right hand told a different story. In her grasp lay the mangled remains of a ballpoint pen, snapped cleanly in two.
Pierce.
In that instant, Kallen's gaze shifted toward me. It was a look of absolute, cryogenic frost. Her lips moved, forming silent words.
'Enjoying yourself?'
'Gah!'
I whipped my head back around, staring intently at the chalkboard, but my heart was hammering against my ribs.
'What… what is with her? Is that… jealousy?'
Next to me, oblivious to the lethal aura radiating from the rear, Shirley hugged my arm tighter and focused on the lesson.
"Lulu, look here. This section is vital."
"Y-yeah… I see it..."
I was trapped in a meteorological anomaly: on my left, the sweltering heat of Shirley's affection; from my rear, the biting, sub-zero wind of Kallen's killing intent. I sat there in a state of high-strung agitation, cold sweat slicking my skin.
'Please… let this class end soon. For the love of God, let it end.'
The teacher's lecture was now nothing but indecipherable gibberish to my ears.
Time slowed to a crawl, each minute feeling like an hour in purgatory, until the bell finally tolled for our salvation.
"Very well, that concludes today's lecture."
"Haa… I'm alive."
Triumphant, I snapped my notebook shut and bolted upright. Escape was the only path to survival.
"My, Lelouch-kun?"
My escape was intercepted by a voice that was far more affectionate than the situation called for. It was Kallen. Before I could move, she had relocated to the empty seat on my right.
The mask of the sickly schoolgirl was nowhere to be found; her eyes gleamed with a predatory sharpness.
"Tell me… how are you feeling? Have you recovered? I felt so bad that I couldn't treat you better while you were staying at my house."
"…Cough!"
My breath caught in my throat, forcing out a jagged cough.
'Hey! Why would you bring that up here, of all places?!'
Next to me, Shirley's hands froze mid-air as she was packing her bag.
"...Huh?"
"Oh? Don't you remember? You collapsed, Lelouch-kun, and I spent the entire night nursing you. I was so worried when you insisted on going home despite being so ill. I did my best to explain it all to Nunnally-san, though..."
Kallen tilted her head with a look of pure, feigned innocence, delivering the metaphorical coup de grâce.
Shirley slowly turned her head toward Kallen. Then, with an agonizing deliberateness, she turned back to me. Her large pupils were trembling, her gaze losing its focus.
"Lulu…? What… what did she just say? The entire night…?"
"N-no! Shirley, wait! That's—it's a misunderstanding! I can explain!"
I waved my hands in desperate denial, but the milk was already spilt.
"I heard you collapsed from anemia and got hurt… but you went to recover at Kallen's house?"
Shirley's voice wavered precariously. I could practically see the gears in her head grinding the keywords—'anemia,' 'my house,' 'nursing,' 'explained to Nunnally'—into a single, devastating sentence.
'Lelouch spent the weekend at Kallen's house.'
The plot of a scandalous daytime drama was undoubtedly playing on loop in Shirley's mind.
"No… Kallen insisted on taking me there to treat my wounds..."
"Not a hospital… but her house? And you… stayed the night?"
A single tear threatened to spill from the corner of Shirley's eye.
"Lu-Lulu… is it true?"
"Well, I—that is..."
Kallen covered her mouth with an 'oops' expression, yet the corners of her lips were curling upward ever so slightly.
'That vixen…!'
This was a thousand times more terrifying than being inside a Glasgow cockpit.
And then it happened.
Hug!
"Oh my~? Our Vice-President is certainly popular today, isn't he?"
Someone wrapped their arms around me from behind, and the sensation of a soft, ample chest pressed firmly against my back.
"P-President Milly?!"
Milly Ashford—Student Council President and the academy's premier agent of chaos—had officially joined the fray.
"Lulu~ I heard you were hurt. Come here, let your big sister kiss it better!"
"P-President! Please let go! I can't breathe!"
"Oh, don't be so shy. What were you, Shirley, and Kallen talking about? Include me in the fun~."
Milly feigned ignorance—or more likely, ignored my protests entirely—and tightened her grip.
The situation had devolved beyond the point of reconciliation. Sparks were practically flying from Shirley's eyes, while Kallen sat with her gaze lowered, her fists clenched so tightly her knuckles were white.
"President! Let go of Lelouch! We are in the middle of a very important conversation!"
Shirley composed her tearful face and snatched my left arm.
"Now, Shirley. Lulu is a vital pillar of our Student Council. As the President, I must look after him myself."
"I will be the one looking after him!"
"Actually, Lelouch-kun and I already have personal plans together."
Kallen chimed in, flashing a bright smile as she seized my right arm.
"Gwaaargh! My arms! You're going to tear them off!"
I let out a strangled yelp as I was stretched between the three of them like a piece of salt-water taffy.
"Rivalz!"
I locked eyes with Rivalz, who was spectating from a corner of the classroom. He was my final hope.
"Uh… maybe I should go hit the school store?"
But Rivalz averted his eyes with practiced ease, stood up, and abandoned me.
The coward fled.
"Rivalz!!"
My desperate cry echoed pointlessly through the room.
"Now, Lulu, who are you going with? Your President will buy you some delicious tea and cake."
"No! Lulu is going to the nurse's office with me. His head hasn't fully healed yet!"
"Lelouch-kun, you haven't forgotten our promise, have you?"
"Please… everyone, just calm down…!"
In that moment, I realized with agonizing clarity that the fury of a woman's jealousy was far more terrifying than the roar of battlefield cannons.
In the end, I chose the only viable tactic: retreat.
"Look! Nunnally!"
I pointed toward the door as a distraction, exerting superhuman strength to wrench myself free from the three women's grasp.
"Lulu!"
"Lelouch-kun!"
"Lelouch!"
Their voices pursued me, but I didn't look back. I ran with the desperation of a man possessed.
By the time I stopped, I collapsed onto a campus bench, looking like a defeated soldier crawling away from a rout.
"Haa… haa…"
"Oh? Lelouch! You're alive?"
"…So you did survive?"
Rivalz appeared, munching nonchalantly on a bread roll from the shop.
"You bastard… you traitor!"
I summoned my remaining strength to glare at him.
"Whoa! Lelouch, why the scary eyes?! Help!"
"Stand still! You saw me in trouble and you just ran!"
I pursued Rivalz on unsteady legs. After a brief skirmish, Rivalz eventually surrendered, and we decided to forgo our remaining classes. We hopped onto his motorcycle.
Vroom.
Sitting in the sidecar and feeling the wind whip past my face, the pounding in my head began to subside.
"Man, this is really too much. You're the Vice-President, yet you're shaking down your friend for pizza money?"
"Quiet. This is the price you pay for abandoning me."
"It was an act of God, I tell you! Didn't you see the atmosphere? A man being dragged away by the three most beautiful girls in the academy… I'm not sure whether to be jealous or terrified."
"If you're so jealous, you should have taken my place."
"No thanks. I'd like to live a long life."
We bickered as we rode toward the city center. As we entered the bustling downtown district, a grand fanfare erupted from the massive screen on the side of a building, followed by a breaking news bulletin.
[This is a news flash. His Imperial Highness, the Third Prince Clovis la Britannia, will now deliver an emergency statement regarding the recent armed terrorist incident in Area 11.]
Rivalz slowed the motorcycle.
"Huh? Should we see what he says?"
We pulled over to the shoulder and looked up at the screen.
On the display stood Clovis, the blonde and beautiful Third Prince, perched atop a magnificent podium. While he wore his signature elegant smile, a glimmer of indignation burned deep within his eyes.
"My beloved subjects of Britannia."
Clovis's voice was smooth, yet possessed an underlying steel.
"Yesterday, terrorists threatening the peace of our Empire committed an atrocious crime. They stole military assets and murdered our brave soldiers."
I bit my lip. The realization that I was deeply complicit in that 'atrocious crime' flashed through my mind.
"They cloak themselves in the guise of justice, but in reality, they are nothing more than a cowardly pack of rats scurrying through the shadows. I, Clovis la Britannia, hereby declare—"
Clovis tightened his fist.
"Terrorists shall find no haven within Area 11. We will hunt them to the ends of the earth and bring them before the bar of Imperial Justice. We shall demonstrate exactly how high a price one pays for challenging the Holy Britannian Empire."
The pedestrians nearby began to murmur.
"The terrorism has been getting out of hand lately. It's time the military stepped up."
"I heard they stole Knightmares. They must be insane."
Rivalz let out a whistle.
"Well, I guess this doesn't concern students like us."
I didn't answer. I merely stared in silence at the Clovis on the screen.
Clovis la Britannia. My half-brother. A narcissist enamored with art and revelry… and the man who, in the original story, would go on to order the massacre of the Shinjuku Ghetto.
'You seem quite incensed, dear brother.'
The Shinjuku massacre had not yet occurred. However, it was undeniable that my theft of the Glasgow and the destruction of the Sutherlands had provoked him.
'The pace… it's faster than the original timeline.'
The Kozuki Group had gained strength by acquiring Knightmares, but in response, Britannia's retaliation would be swifter and far more brutal.
A knot of anxiety tightened in my chest. Could I truly weather this storm without the power of Geass?
"Let's go, Rivalz. I need pizza."
I patted Rivalz on the back, trying to shake off the complicated thoughts weighing me down.
"Huh? Oh, right! But you're paying today, right?"
"I just saw that your wallet was quite full of cash."
"Eeeeh?!"
To the sound of Rivalz's wail, the motorcycle roared back to life and sped off.
Even as the sounds of laughter and the engine faded, the image of Clovis's cold, imperial smile lingered in my mind, refusing to vanish.