Chapter 85 ~ Kururugi Suzaku

It was yet another new day for school.

Kallen walked quietly with her hands gracefully placed in front of her and her downturned eyes solemnly looking slightly downwards. She was a picture of the beautiful frailty and gracefulness of a noble flower atop the tall cliff.

A few girls passed by her side, and while they were attracted to males, they also couldn't help but admire how beautiful and graceful she was, even though she was only walking.

They glanced and stared at the red-haired girl for a moment until she disappeared after turning the corner of the hallway.

And as soon as Kallen made sure nobody was around, she let out the biggest yawn of her life.

"Dammit… I'm so sleepy…"

She wiped the tears off her watery eyes and began cracking her stiff neck.

She had spent the entirety of last night playing with "Excalibur" along with Mordred. And then, she spent hours laying on her bed, thinking about how to execute the moves she did in Excalibur.

In the end, she only slept for around three hours before she had to wake up and go to school.

In all honesty, she planned on just skipping today's class to get a good night's rest and just use her frail, sickly body as an excuse.

But if she skipped now, that'd be one less absent day she could use for when she truly needed to skip school for a mission.

So in the end, she forced herself to get out of her comfy, high class bed and go to school.

Well, last night was fun, and I got to learn a lot. So I guess it's worth it…

She truly learned a lot about knightmare maneuvers and even gained some insights into how she could better utilize her slash harkens from Mordred! Rather than simply using it to damage enemy knightmare, she could use it to anchor herself to her enemy and use it as a grappling hook, pulling her towards her enemy at immense speed and quickly shortening the distance between them!

Her greatest weakness when using the Glassgow was her lack of ranged weapons. The only "range weapon" she had was her slash harken, which was still quite limited and had vastly shorter range than, for instance, a Sutherland's assault rifle.

With this technique, she could mitigate her weakness greatly and also gave her even greater maneuverability around the battlefield.

After gaining such insights from him and spending quite a few hours with Mordred, her initial impression of Mordred had completely changed.

At first, he seemed very intimidating and imposing, especially when he appeared like that. She also couldn't see his face nor know his name, making him a true mystery to everyone.

But after talking with him and spending some time with him, she realized that he's actually quite friendly. And judging by his way of speaking and acting, he seemed to be around the same age as her, and she confirmed it after asking.

She was very surprised that she was able to get along with him so quickly! In just a few hours, she had already begun considering him as a comrade and a friend, which she never did towards a total stranger before.

And honestly… It felt nice. It's nice to finally have a friend her age in the Black Knights. Everyone around her was older than her. So she felt… a bit more comfortable with Mordred.

Just as she was daydreaming about last night, she bumped into "something" when she turned the corner.

"Ah!"

She fell back, but just as she was about to fall on her butt, she was caught by a weirdly… familiar touch.

"Are you okay?"

Recovering from her shock, Karen slowly opened her eyes. And immediately, her eyes widened in shock once she found out who she bumped into and caught her.

"I-I'm sor- I mean, I-I apologize…! Thank you very much. I-I am fine."

She quickly pushed herself away from him and averted her slightly blushing face away from the new transfer student who had taken the entire academy by a storm with his appearance alone, Alexander Kyrielight.

D-Dammit! Out of all the people, I just had to bump into him the first thing in the morning!

Her mind panicked. She was still extremely apprehensive of Alexander. Even though he acted very gentlemanly, kind, and polite… No, precisely because of that, she must be super careful!!! Her experience and all the media she had consumed told her that if a man that handsome acted nicely, then that means he had an ulterior motive for doing it. And that ulterior motive might be to lure in girls he's interested in into his maw.

What's even more dangerous was that there was nothing she felt… safe around him. There's nothing about him that raised any alarms in her mind… That means, there's a high possibility that he's extremely skilled in masking his true intentions, enough that even she felt there's nothing wrong with him.

"I see. It's fine. I'm glad. And I apologize as well."

"Alexander" lowered his head slightly as he apologized. But suddenly, he began staring at her.

"...W-What's wrong?"

Kallen asked with apprehension in her voice.

"...You don't seem well, Miss Stadfeld. Are you truly fine?"

"I-I'm fine! Please don't worry."

Kallen quickly avoided his gaze even more and stepped a few steps backward.

"...You seemed to be lacking sleep. Were you studying until late last night?"

Her body flinched when he noticed her lack of sleep. She immediately thought of the time she spent with Mordred in the Black Knights' headquarters and thought that his question was a way for him to subtly threaten her and insinuate that he knew about her most guarded secret.

But just as quickly, she realized how absurd such a notion was and quickly calmed down.

"Y-Yes, I was."

"I see… Then how about you go rest in the nurse's office first? I will inform the teacher, so please don't worry."

He suggested with a charming smile. And although everything he said felt like a trap to her, Kallen felt that it honestly seemed like quite the appealing idea.

She really needed some sleep right now, and if he could inform the teacher about her "condition", she might be given the permit to rest due to her sickness and not be counted as absent.

So, even if it felt like a trap, she needed sleep so badly and ended up accepting his offer.

"Then… I'll take you up on your offer. Thank you very much."

"Of course. Would you like me to accompany you to the nurse's office as well? Or perhaps call another girl to accompany you instead?"

"No! I will be fine. Then, please excuse me."

"Alright. Take care."

Kallen quickly walked away from the dangerous casanova.

But after a while, she stopped to look back.

Alexander was no longer there. She had no idea why she stopped and looked back. But she did… And her mind suddenly thought back to the time when she looked up towards Mordred the moment he lifted her up in a princess carry.

But… for some reason, instead of Mordred's demon-like mask, she saw Alexander's handsome, smiling face. And her heart skipped a beat.

"Why the hell am I thinking this…"

She shook her head and let out a sigh. She seemed to be even sleepier than she thought.

She quickly made her way to the nurse's office, laid down on one of the beds, and closed her eyes.

Forget about that Alexander. She had to rest as much as possible so she could challenge herself again tonight.

She'll definitely succeed in doing a backflip and also perfect the grappling hook maneuver Mordred showed her.

Though… she might need to think of a way to convince Mordred to let her try it with Excalibur again. She needed to get it right first with "Excalibur" since her Glassgow's maneuverability was much more limited in comparison.

Also, she didn't want to break her own knightmare when she failed… So she felt more comfortable using Excalibur for her practice.

Maybe I should bring him some cake as a bribe…

She thought as she quickly fell into the comfortable darkness of sleep.

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

Yuuji sat silently in his class, casually listening to the lessons about things he had already mastered.

After attending several classes in three different worlds, he came to notice several differences between them.

One of the most obvious differences would be the lessons they teach in history class. Given they were different worlds, their history would, of course, be different.

The second difference would be the level of difficulty. Tatsuya's world's education was by far the most advanced. If compared to Yuuji's original world, then the things he was learning during his time as a first year high school student there would be equivalent to the lessons taught in famous universities of his world. While the lessons taught in Ashford academy would be kind of in the middle. They were more advanced than Yuuji's school, but they're still far below the lessons taught to the first year high school students in a far more technologically advanced world.

Still, with his accelerated learning speed, Yuuji had long since mastered all subjects up to university level lessons, and in some subjects that he had proficiency in, even beyond that.

So, he spent his time in class quite leisurely. But just then, something from the periphery of his eyes caught his attention.

He turned to look towards the windows to his side, and his eyes widened in shock.

What..? Could that be…?!

He saw an immensely beautiful girl with leaf-green hair tied into a low twin tail by a white ribbon and dressed in the academy's uniform. And like a fairy of spring, she was walking around the academy, enjoying the clear blue sky, cool breeze, and rustling leaves of the trees and bushes around her.

Just from a glance, he could immediately tell who it was… After all, she was one of the most important characters in Code Geass, second only to Lelouch.

But he didn't expect her to be this… beautiful.

Even at this distance, though it matters little with his enhanced vision, the "pizza" girl was much more beautiful in person than she was in the anime.

This was the first time he had ever been entranced by beauty since he saw Aika in person for the first time.

As if noticing his gaze, the girl slowly looked up and met his eyes.

Their gazes interlocked for a few moments before she suddenly widened her eyes in shock and immediately ran away, towards the direction of the Student Government's Clubhouse where Lelouch and her sister, Nunnally, were residing.

Ah…! Well… That's awkward…

Yuuji didn't mean to stare on purpose… But he definitely owed her an apology. He also ruined her rare outing, so he might even need to buy her several pans of pizza.

Well… we might come into contact soon. I'll apologize then.

He didn't know when they'll meet. But he expected Lelouch to introduce him, Satoru, and Tatsuya to her before the events with Mao. So perhaps after the operations in Narita.

Just a few days more, huh…?

In just a few days, if everything went as planned, then they'd be able to clear several missions from the Group Chat in one fell swoop.

Achieve victory in the Battle of Narita. Defeat the Purist Faction in Battle. And lastly, Defeat the Britannian Knightmare, Lancelot and its Pilot, Kururugi Suzaku using the Knightmare Frame from the Multiverse Chat Group.

If all went according to Lelouch's plan, the first and second would be easy enough to complete. As for the third…

Yuuji glanced back to the seat behind him and saw the honorary Britannian and pilot of the Lancelot, Kururugi Suzaku, sitting there and paying attention to the class very attentively.

It was the first time Yuuji saw him in real life.

I'll make sure to defeat him then… Even if I have to use magic.

Yuuji gained confidence in his piloting skills after spending last night playing around with "Excalibur" with Karen and also teaching her some stuff.

Karen was an extremely skilled pilot. This, he was sure of. But, he had also been learning from her while she was playing around with Excalibur and improved tremendously in just a few hours.

If Karen now could almost defeat the Lancelot if not for her being caught by an unfortunate landslide during their battle, then he'll definitely be able to win against it even without the help of his magic.

And this will also be the first major thing we'll do that will cause things to deviate from the future I know…

He had to admit, being in the dark in such a dangerous world did make him a bit nervous. But, it was all for the better since the future he had seen in the anime was filled with tragedy and sadness. He didn't want to see such… terrible tragedy occur in front of him in real life.

Just as he was thinking about this, he realized Suzaku noticed his gaze and smiled politely at him.

So, Yuuji smiled politely in return and nodded slightly at him, surprising the honorary Britannian soldier.

He didn't expect "Alexander" to smile back at him, given his status as an honorary Britannian!

Suzaku had to admit, he unconsciously held a prejudiced thought against Alexander.

For someone with his appearance, his popularity, his status, and his wealth, Suzaku automatically thought that Alexander would hold him in contempt for being an honorary Britannia, just like the majority of Britannian.

But, he smiled. Something he never got from most Britannian he had ever met. There was also no arrogance or condescension in his eyes. And he even nodded at him.

Suzaku felt something well up in his heart.

Perhaps… he found someone who'd befriend him just like the members of the Student Council!

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

When lunch came, just as Yuuji was about to quickly escape the class before he was "captured" by his female classmates who had been eyeing him like a delicious hunk of meat all this, Suzaku walked up to him and approached him with a polite smile.

"Hello, it is nice to meet you. I am Kururugi Suzaku."

Yuuji was quite surprised by his sudden introduction. He didn't expect Suzaku to approach him, especially when he was acting the part of a rich, britannia student.

"It is nice to meet you as well Kururugi Suzaku. I am Alexander Kyrielight."

Yuuji introduced himself with a smile, shocking Suzaku with his unexpected warm attitude towards his honorary Britannian self.

"I've heard a lot about you, Kururugi-san. I've heard that you're actually an active soldier currently fighting in the front lines."

"Ah, yes! Yes, I am."

"I see. Then, you must have quite the story."

"A-Ahahaha, perhaps. Though, not much were interesting. And the ones that are, are classified."

"Well, I'd still like to hear them". The war and the life of a soldier are all but foreign to me. It might as well be a different world. So those you deemed "uninteresting" might be an exciting tale of heroism. How about we share some stories with each other over lunch?"

"Eh?"

Suzaku froze as his eyes widened in shock.

He didn't expect… Alexander Kyrielight, the most popular guy in the entire academy despite him having just transferred in a few days ago, to be this kind and friendly towards him, a former "eleven".

And after the shock, worry began to fill him as he noticed eyes directed towards himself and Alexander.

"Of course, I would love to. But would that be fine…?"

Suzaku didn't mean to show his worry for Alexander, who might receive enmity from other students, for being with him. But he unconsciously glanced towards his classmates with concern apparent in his eyes. And Yuuji didn't miss it.

"Of course. I do not like discriminating against others simply because they're "not of our race". If they are nice, then I will be happy to befriend them, even if they're honorary Britannian or an "eleven". On the contrary, even if they are pure blooded Britannians, I will not concern myself with them if they hold a black heart in their chest. So please don't concern yourself over such things, Kururugi-san."

"..."

Suzaku, as well as everyone else in class, all looked at Alexander in pure surprise and bewilderment.

Because of the kindness, politeness, and gentlemanly attitude Alexander had shown, which captured the favor of not only girls but even the instructors and the boys who had came to acknowledge him as a good friend, they've expected him to not mistreat or discriminate against the honorary Britannians in the academy, such as Kururgi Suzaku.

But, they didn't expect him to treat the honorary Britannians, and even the "Elevens" so… equally.

Due to his appearance, many who had recovered from their shock, quickly chalked it up as Alexander's magnanimous attitude that encompasses even those who were not Britannian by blood. They immediately gave him the benefit of the doubt, a privilege given automatically to the beautiful and handsome.

But Kallen was still shocked to her core. The most dangerous playboy casanova she had been trying to avoid… Did he actually believe in what he said? Or was it a ploy he did, knowing she would hear it, so he could make her fall for him?

No… he didn't know that she was half Japanese. So… why did he say that…?

As Kallen was still in a state of pure shock, Suzaku snapped out of his daze quickly and let out a bright smile.

"Thank you… It would be an honor to have lunch with you…"

All eyes focused on the two as Yuuji stood up and walked together with Suzaku towards the school's cafeteria.

They shared quite the amicable conversation as they made their way, but Yuuji couldn't help but think back at what he did just now.

In hindsight, what he said was extremely controversial, especially in an academy built by and for Britannians. It might've gotten him in a bit of trouble if they decided to brand him as eleven sympathizers.

But even after he considered it… he still didn't regret it.

After seeing the discrimination Britannian had towards the "Elevens" or Japanese occur in his day to day, he was simply… tired of it. There was no other reason the Britannians did it except to feel more superior to other humans and fuel their own fragile ego.

It was an extremely ugly sight…

So, at the very least, he wanted to lessen the discrimination towards the Japanese in the academy. And he knew he had the power to at least affect those in the academy.

His words had more weight and sway thanks to his popularity and appearance. Even if some would still get out of their way to discriminate against the Japanese and, he hoped, at the very least, fewer people would do such useless things. Even if they were to treat the Japanese like air, it would still be much better than treating them like insects.

The two arrived at the cafeteria soon, and as Yuuji already expected, all eyes turned towards them in pure shock.

No one expected to see the number one most popular guy in the academy to be with the honorary britannian soldier who was accused of being Prince Clovis's murderer.

There was such a stark contrast between the two amongst the student population that seeing them together brought more shock than they ever expected.

And the moment they thought of it as a coincidence, both of them bought their lunch, sat on the same table, and began conversing with each other as they ate.

It was a sight they never thought they'd see…

Meanwhile, ignoring the gasps of shock and disbelieved whispers, Yuuji continued listening to Suzaku's stories about his life in the military.

Though, as he expected, Suzaku excluded any mention of him being the pilot of Lancelot.

But then, all sorts of conversation about the military ended, and he began talking about his life in the academy.

Although he clearly had less to talk about since he rarely came to class due to his military duties, it was apparent to anyone who much more lively he seemed when talking about it.

"Although there are some who… looks down on me as an honorary Britannian, there are also those who consider me a friend."

Suzaku had a very gentle smile on his face as he spoke fondly.

"The student council… They're all such kind and generous people. Even to this day, I can't even describe how lucky I am to be able to be a part of such a welcoming group of amazing people, even as an honorary member."

"Wow… I'm glad to hear it. But the student council huh…? I believe Miss Stadfeld is also a part of it?"

"Ah, yes she is. I'm surprised you knew."

"When I transferred in, she was the one who guided me as well as Silver to our class. She seemed like a… woman of few words, but I guess it is simply because we were strangers back then."

"Ahahaha… She is quite the quiet one. I'm not very close to her, but from the time I've spent with her, I believe she's also a very kind person. And speaking of quiet, Lelouch is also a member of the student council as well."

"Lelouch…? Lelouch Lamperouge? Really?"

Suzaku giggled in amusement at Yuuji's perfectly executed fake "surprise".

"Yes. He's actually the vice president of the student council."

"That is… I'm quite surprised. I found that he's rarely awake during class. And while he does excel in his academics, I… really can't imagine him to be in a position with such responsibility."

And now, Suzaku couldn't hold it in anymore and laughs out loud at "Alexander's" assessment towards his childhood friend.

"He has always been that kind of person. In truth, I was quite surprised when I heard of it as well."

Yuuji smiled as Suzaku showed a nostalgic expression. But he didn't comment on it as well as how he had slipped up greatly when he said things that made him seem like he had a long past relationship with Lelouch.

"By the way, what club are you in, Kyrielight-san?"

"Ah, Alexander or Alex is fine."

Yuuji waved his hand dismissively, finding it more comfortable for Suzaku to address him more casually.

"I understand. Then, please call me Suzaku as well."

"Alright, Suzaku. As for clubs, I'm not in any yet. I'm still wondering what kind of club I should join."

There's truly a lot of clubs in Ashford academy, even though the number was apparently already half of what it was in the past. And to others, it'd seem like Yuuji was having a hard time picking.

But he knew which club he wanted to join from the start…

"Really? I would've thought you're in one of the sports clubs."

"Ahahaha, I might be able to do well there, but I'm not that interested in sports."

Suzaku looked at him in surprise.

With such a physique, which he rarely saw amongst the Britannian soldiers, he could easily excel in any sports. Even becoming the ace of a sports club wouldn't be difficult for him. But it seemed like he didn't have any interest in any sports, so it couldn't be helped.

Suzaku thought for a moment before an idea popped into his head.

"Hm… How about the student council?"

"Eh?"

Yuuji widened his eyes in surprise.

He.. didn't expect the chance to come so soon.

"I can not guarantee that you'll be able to join, but the student council is a very welcoming and kind place. It's a very fun place, if you don't mind some of the shenanigans they pull every now and then, especially the president. How about it? Are you interested?"

"...Will that be okay?"

"I'm sure it will be. Well, how about you come and see first before deciding?"

"...Very well. Thank you, Suzaku."

"Of course!"