Despite her late night resolution to power through something as measly as a simple fever, Kallen Kozuki-nee-Stadtfeld (she may hate her Britannian heritage but it didn’t change the fact she grew up juggling both sides of her roots) woke up feeling like shit. Not shit-shit, in that all she wanted to do was curling up under the sheets and sleep until the heat death of the universe, but enough under the weather that the sane thing to do would be staying at home with a cup of hot chocolate and a good book.
Sadly, that wasn’t bad enough to win against Kallen’s stubbornness. She hated living as a frail Britannian heiress, but she also recognized that it had its own benefits: an education none of the others could afford (history aside), a cover no one in the police or the army would be willing to challenge without an equally good backing, and once she graduates she will have access to a very large part of her father’s wealth. The thought of leaving the Bitch completely broke never failed to lift up her spirit, though realistically speaking she will have to settle for a bare minimum the Bitch could not stand only because of her ego. Oh well, a victory is a victory.
Grumbling in irritation at her own work ethics (or something) Kallen left the bed and performed a few stretching exercises. There was no pain, and a quick check under her bandages showed her wounds didn’t start bleeding again during the night or developed an infection. Just a slight fever from fatigue then, annoying but hardly unbearable.
“Shower, shower...” She checked her medi-kit, just to be sure, and found that she still had enough gauze to redo her bandages. A wet dressing, after all, was a no-no. Satisfied she removed her clothes and cut off the bandages, then stepped into the shower stall.
“Cold!” She hissed when the first water jet hit her, forcing the redhead to regulate the temperature until it was acceptable. Usually she was not so sensitive, her body’s temperature must be higher than she initially thought.
Once properly cleaned Kallen dried herself, paying special attention to her wounds, then reapplied the dressing and put on fresh underwear, followed by her school uniform. Next was her school-bag, which still contained the plastic bag to be disposed of: Kallen added the current month’s books, notebooks, pens and everything else needed for her scholastic career. Why didn’t Ashford provide computers for every desk, it would mean much less materials to carry around. Then again Kallen didn’t dislike old-fashioned stuff like writing with pencils, and she was just a little proud of her good calligraphy.
“Alright Kallen.” She stopped in front of the mirror and slapped her cheeks a few times. “Just go, do the act they always fall to, tune out the meaningless chatter, pay the minimum of attention required and then come back. You did it dozens of times already, you can do it again.”
The things she did for her country. Piloting Knightmares was much easier.
Kallen’s mood took a dive when, while descending the mansion’s main stairs, she came face to face with that Woman. “Good morning, Mistress Kallen.” The brown-haired maid greeted Kallen with a soft smile, wilfully ignoring the redhead’s scowl. “How are you feeling today?”
“Headache. I’m still going.” Kallen grumbled, pushing past the Woman without a second glance. She really didn’t need this, especially so early in the morning. She just stopped for a moment before the main doors. “The house is too hot, check the heating. Can’t you see it’s still summer outside?”
If that Woman wanted to play at being a maid, the least she could do was doing her job right.
“Of course Mistress Kallen, have a good day.” The maid bowed towards Kallen, standing up only after the doors closed behind the redhead. The first thing she did after that was to check the heating and lower the temperature, then she picked up her cleaning tools and went inside Kallen’s room.
“Uh?” Blinking owlishly, the maid looked closer at the sheets she’d just removed from Kallen’s bed. They were very warm, which was unexpected, but there were a few dark stains on the side that remained in direct contact with the bed.
No, not stains. Rather than dirt or a liquid like blood, the dark patches reminded the maid of that time she left a dress too close to the oven for a few hours.
“Are these... scorch marks?” What could have possibly- no, it didn’t matter how, only who. The maid quickly folded the sheets and pushed them away, planning an ‘accident’ while ironing them in order to have an excuse to throw the sheets away.
It will be her fault. She will be punished. And everyone that truly matters will be happy.
====
“Amiya, let me get this straight: Originium, the wonder material of Terra that is both a powerful energy source and the catalyst that allows gifted individuals to perform energy-matter manipulation with just their minds, is also the source of an incurable disease called Oripathy. Which manifests as the Originium particles within a living being’s body assimilating it from within in order to produce more of themselves. And while Oripathy is not normally infectious, unless one does something extreme like a blood transfusion, this radically changes when the patient dies because the crystallization will then greatly speed up: turning the body into a dust-like form of Originium that is incredibly more infectious compared to the normal type. To the point the Infected’s body, how those with Oripathy are called, need to either be sealed within an airtight space to contain the dust’s spreading or put inside a special machine to go through a specific form of cremation that will safely dispose of the dust.”
“Yes.”
“And not only there is possibly a new Infected going through life without knowing of the dangers, how many Operators of Rhodes Island did you say have Oripathy again?!”
Lelouch rubbed his forehead at the memory of last night’s phone conversation, his feet automatically bringing him towards the main building of Ashford Academy. At first he thought the Doctor’s insistence on not sacrificing even a single person under their care was due to a mix of sentimentality and pragmatism, since Operators obviously need a lot of training in order to become skilled, but it turned out there was also a much more dangerous reason.
Infected Operators were potential biological hazards. Through no fault of their own, unlike his birth country Lelouch judged people by their own actions and not their origins, but it didn’t make the danger any less real. Rhodes Island being founded to find a cure to Oripathy and the fact Infected were heavily discriminated against by Terra’s population also explained why many of their patients became Operators: Rhodes not only treated their bodies, it also helped them find a new purpose after their lives were irrevocably changed. Treatment for the soul, so to speak.
Lelouch sympathized with them, he really did. But he was also obliged to look at it objectively: the Operators of Rhodes Island were both a great asset and a potential danger. Earth was free from the influence of Originium and it needed to remain that way. To do that, he first needed to find this potential patient and bring them to Rhodes Island for treatment.
Kallen Stadtfeld, real name Kallen Kouzuki. A half-Britannian, half-Japanese girl that led a double life as both a freedom fighter and the daughter of a noble. Not only that, she was also the pilot of the red Glasgow that helped bring down the White Knight. One may wonder why she chose to fight against Britannia when she could have an easy and comfortable life as the heiress to a wealthy noble family, but Lelouch could easily come up with several possible reasons: most likely, Kallen suffered a personal tragedy that burned all bridges she had with her father’s homeland. Just like him.
Of course, right now Kallen’s circumstances took a backseat to the very real possibility of her having become Infected due to an incidental blood exchange. It was just plain bad luck that the other person involved, Operator Blaze, had a very high amount of Originium particles in her blood compared to most Infected. Since she went to Ashford Academy, then obviously her name and class were present in the main student register: Lelouch personally knew Ruben Ashford, the Academy’s headmaster and Milly’s grandfather, the old man would surely let him check the list even with a vague excuse.
The main problem was how to persuade Kallen to follow him to Rhodes Island, or rather how to approach her and address the subject without attracting unwanted attention from the rest of the school. Maybe if he used Geass... no, it would be an easy solution but one with too many problematic consequences since Lelouch would need to tell Amiya and the others what really happened, and using mind control as the first resort makes for a bad precedent. Besides, he has yet to properly test his new power: it allowed Lelouch to extract the truth from Clovis, already a great boon by itself, but there was simply no way Geass didn’t have some kind of limit or restriction. Nothing was that convenient in the world.
Since using Geass was out, what Lelouch needed was a plan to be alone with Kallen long enough for him to address the subject and persuade her he was telling the truth. Possibly without Kallen assaulting him, since that’s what happens when an undercover agent realizes their fake identity is compromised. Perfectly doable, even more since Lelouch didn’t need to gather information about Kallen first.
Anyway, for now he had a Student Council meeting to attend, and following that today’s classes.
====
The reunion proceeded as planned, even if it turned out they needed to hurry up and review the club activity budget before it was too late. Still better than the horseback riding club busting inside the Council room to protest again, Lelouch almost swore the jockey stopping in front of the window and looking at them before trotting away was laying in wait for exactly that chance. Normally he would chalk it up to mere coincidence, but Ashford Academy was full of eccentric people: it was, after all, run by Milly and her grandfather.
“Milly.” Lelouch asked the blonde while he and the other four members of the Council walked to class. “Is the headmaster available today? I need to talk with him.”
“Grandfather? He left early this morning for a meeting with the board of directors.” She replied, referring to the executive committee of the Ashford Foundation, the philanthropic organization founded by Ruben Ashford. “He should be back around one in the afternoon. Do you want me to schedule something with his secretary?”
That was a complication, but luckily a small one. “Thank you, that would be helpful.”
“Do you need to see the headmaster today? Because I doubt he’ll have the time.” The blue-haired boy pointed out as they approached Lelouch, Rivalz and Shirley’s classroom. “Don’t people in his position have a heavy schedule or something?”
“You’re right, but Mister Ashford and I already know each other. He’s... a family friend.” Technically the truth, even if a heavily edited one. Lelouch had no intention to burden his friends with the dangers of his real identity, they were normal people and deserved to lead normal lives.
One day, he will be forced to make them and their families leave Area Ele- no, Japan. But when that happens he will make sure the process is as painless as possible.
“Wait, really?” Rivalz asked Milly, his eyes widening.
“That’s true: Lelouch and I met often when we were children.” The blonde boasted with an easygoing tone. She made it sound like it was just an amusing anecdote, but Lelouch knew she would have never mentioned it had the exiled prince not done it first. In a way, Milly acknowledged Lelouch’s words as an implicit consent to her sharing the rather delicate, and potentially problematic, topic with others.
Still, Lelouch trusted Milly to keep the details relatively safe and not-incriminating. The only reason he never mentioned it before, simply put, was because doing so has not been needed.
As they chatted away the group of five students reached the classroom’s entrance. Lelouch was about to step through the doorway, when he noticed a group of girls making a fuss around one of them. A girl with red hair, if he remembered it right she was often absent for health problems.
His eyes widened when his gaze landed on her face, recognizing her at the girl Lelouch saw within the truck. Not only that, she perfectly matched the physical traits of Kallen Kouzuki that Amiya provided him.
She was a member of his own class from the very beginning. What an unexpected boon, but an appreciated one all the same.
“Lelouch, what are you looking at?” Rivalz playfully asked him. The blue-haired boy looked in Kallen’s direction and grinned. “Oooh, she’s cute. Got a crush?”
“I just thought it unusual to see her in class." The exiled prince replied, unfazed. "If I’m not mistaken, that girl hasn't been at school since the opening ceremony, has she?"
Lelouch may not care much, but he did pay attention to who was in his class.
Before Rivalz could continue, Milly came between the two boys, gaze also looking at the redhead while humming pleasantly. “Kallen Stadtfeld. Perfect: Lelouch, after classes end, bring her to the Council Ballroom would you.”
Needless to say Lelouch was quite taken aback by the blonde’s sudden and unexpected request, though a small corner of his mind noted with amusement that Rivalz was staring at the point where Milly’s generous bosom was touching his arm, a bright blush on his face. “May I ask why?”
“I was planning to ask one of you to do it anyway, this simply speeds things up. Bye!” And with that less than helpful explanation Milly walked away with a cheeky gait.
Lelouch snorted: that was so like Milly, he didn’t even know why he had been surprised. The request, however, provided him with an excuse to approach Kallen and talk with her. Whatever the blonde wanted with the redhead will likely be resolved quickly and easily, leaving Lelouch plenty of time to talk with Kallen afterwards. It also made asking for Ruben’s help unnecessary, Lelouch will just use the meeting to inform the Headmaster about Shirayuki’s presence and introduce her as one of Sayoko’s old acquaintances.
…Did he just put ‘quickly’ and ‘easily’ in the same context as Millicent Ashford?
====
Kallen was starting to think that powering through sheer willpower may have not been a smart decision, because her fever was not going away. Or, to be more precise, while she was feeling a little better in general her body’s temperature just refused to go down: be it outside under the sun or inside with the AC, the redhead was constantly feeling very hot. Even cold water from the bathroom’s faucet had started to feel lukewarm to the touch.
The true weird thing, however, is that despite the heat Kallen was not sweating. At all. It was not like her skin was completely dry, but with how hot the redhead was feeling she should resemble a miniature waterfall. Japanese summers were humid so sweating a lot was perfectly normal, yet Kallen’s body just refused to do so.
“Wow Kallen, you’re drinking a lot today!” One of the girls she was having lunch today, Sophie or something, commented in amazement. Why, she had no idea.
“Doctor’s orders, I need to stay hydrated.” Kallen replied after drinking the last drop of water within the plastic bottle. Now empty she put it on the grass next to her seat, then went back to her sandwich.
It was the third bottle Kallen drank since coming to school, and yet her body still refused to sweat. The only thing all that water did was make the redhead go to the bathroom more frequently: even the teachers were starting to look annoyed despite how permissive they usually were towards her!
A buzzing sound reached Kallen’s ears. The girl seated opposite her made a scared face and pointed at something behind the redhead’s shoulders. “A bee! There’s a bee!” A second later said insect appeared in front of Kallen, slowly flying around her. It was the lazy pace of someone bored out of their mind that suddenly saw something mildly interesting and decided to stick around, hoping to witness an exciting development.
Now, Kallen was not scared of bees: she grew up in the countryside, insects of all kinds were a common sight during the warm months of the year. While their sting could be painful, the redhead knew that if you avoid making sudden and threatening movements around them bees will just ignore you as part of the scenario: all they were interested in were flowers and sweet things in general, so at worst you would have to sacrifice a piece of sugary treat to distract them while you move elsewhere.
“Kallen, run!” Said worldly lessons were apparently all but unknown to the average Britannian girl, because Kallen’s lunch companions screamed in fright and ran away as if the devil itself was after them. The redhead stared dumbly at the insect still circling her, which she swore was just as dumbfounded as her: who runs away screaming from a single bee? Were they all allergic to it or something?
Still, even if it was stupid as hell, failing to behave like the other students would be considered strange. And ‘strange’ could easily turn into ‘suspicious’ if Kallen didn’t immediately run damage control. Deciding it was much easier to just follow the flow the redhead slowly stood up and ran away, quickly hiding behind some bushes.
“What’s a bee doing in here? I wonder if there’s a hive nearby.” Kallen muttered under her breath. That sounded like the most logical explanation, in which case she just needed to inform the janitors and they would quickly take care of it.
As if summoned by her thoughts the bee returned into her field of vision, slowly flying around her in loose circles. Kallen observed its movements for a few seconds before lashing out with one hand and grabbing the insect, holding the thorax between her fingers to prevent it from stinging her. “Geez, I hate this! I am sick of acting like a freaking invalid!” Kallen grumbled under her breath: faking a shy personality was already hard enough, but pretending to be as helpless as a little kid really grated on her nerves. Snorting in a very unladylike way she looked down at the insect in her grasp, wondering about the best place to let go of it.
There was nothing in her hand. Kallen blinked in disbelief, since she was very sure she didn’t move her fingers from the moment the bee was captured. Even so, there was no denying the fact the insect was nowhere in sight: the only thing left within Kallen’s hand, spread over her palm, was a thin layer of grey, powder-like stuff. The redhead picked up a small amount and rubbed it between her fingers, feeling how it was slightly crisp to the touch.
There was no way.
Was this grey stuff... ash?!
“Miss Stadtfeld?” Kallen was startled out of her mind-blanking episode by someone calling her name. Turning around, and shaking the incriminating hand behind her back to remove the grey powder, the redhead saw a boy with black hair and purple eyes. He was... part of her class, right? He surely wasn’t among the boys who kept trying to flirt with her. “Is something wrong?”
“No! No, nothing’s wrong. I was just catching my breath.” Kallen lied, hoping he didn’t see her breaking the ‘sickly girl’ facade. His expression didn’t suggest so, but the redhead could admit she wasn’t the best at reading other people’s silent clues. “Can I help you?”
“I’m Lelouch Lamperouge, the Student Council Vice-President.” He introduced himself. The name was familiar to Kallen, her ‘friends’ mentioned it often when discussing boys. “After today’s lessons end, could you come with me? There are some things the President wishes to discuss with you.”
After all lessons end, so the time when the majority of the students and teachers are absent from the school. That was mildly concerning, but Kallen was confident she could beat him even with an arm behind her back. “Why? I’m not in trouble, I hope?”
“Unfortunately, the President didn’t see fit to inform me.” He shook his head. “You will have to ask her yourself.”
Plus, if she ended up needing to remove him the less people around the better. “Oh, alright then. I’ll wait for you in my class.”
“That’s great. Thank you for your assistance, Miss Stadtfeld.” Lelouch nodded to her and turned around to leave. After taking a single step, however, he stopped and looked behind his shoulder. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret.”
Kallen stilled, hand inching closer to her purse and the knife hidden within. Maybe, if she was fast and discreet enough-
“I’d do anything to get out of gym class, too.” The raven-haired boy continued, as if everything was perfectly normal.
“I-uh-what?” He thought the reason Kallen was faking being sick... is to skip gym class?! Actually, that was a perfect cover story! It was not like the redhead sometimes secretly dreamed of humiliating arrogant boys and girls by beating them at their favorite sport. She coughed to clear her throat before smiling awkwardly. “Right, of course it’s that! Oops? Could you... you know, please not tell anybody? It's embarrassing...”
“As I said, it’s no problem.” Lelouch’s smile widened, and Kallen suddenly had to restrain herself from caving his face in out of sheer principle.
====
The first part of Lelouch’s plan worked flawlessly; true, the bee was an unexpected occurrence, but the exiled prince was confident there would have been more opportunities for him to take advantage of. If Kallen’s public life was even remotely like his own (lies upon lies upon lies) then she too would yearn for chances to just drop her mask and be herself, even if only for a limited amount of time. And that could only happen when she was alone.
Granted, Lelouch had been honest when he asked her if there was something wrong at the start of their conversation: Kallen’s incredulous look as she stared at something in her hand was genuine, as if the redhead had no idea what she was looking at. Considering it was the same hand with which she caught the bee Lelouch initially thought she ended up killing the insect and felt bad about it... except something just wasn’t right. His gut feeling, no matter how little he relied on it compared to his mind, told him Kallen had not been reacting to the unwanted consequences of her actions but to something that came completely out of the blue. That Kallen was quick to hide and destroy the evidence made it even more suspicious.
It wasn’t a hindrance to his plan. It could also be that the whole episode was a misunderstanding and Lelouch was making a mountain out of a molehill due to a lack of context.
But, considering the fact Lelouch was approaching Kallen Stadtfeld because there was a possibility she has been infected with a disease that gives superpowers and sometimes weird mutations, just the hint that something was strange made it worthy of attention. Not enough to act upon it, no, but enough to keep it in mind and pay attention to future developments in case the same event or similar happens again. According to what Amiya said Oripathy shouldn’t spread so fast unless under very specific conditions, but it wouldn’t hurt Lelouch to keep an open mind. At least, until he can deliver Kallen to the actual experts.
The final lesson of the day finally ended, allowing Lelouch to calmly stand up and put his books back into his school bag.
“Sorry buddy, gotta go! I’ll explain later!” By contrast Rivalz just shoved everything on the desk inside his own bag and left with a speed that was just short of running. Lelouch raised an eyebrow at the odd behavior: now that he thought about it, didn’t the blue-haired boy receive a message on his cellphone some time after lunch hour ended? It was probably an emergency at work like a broken case of wine or the sudden absence of a co-worker: being a part-time bartender paid well, especially in a high-class local, but more often than not it left his friend exhausted.
Lelouch understood: unlike him, Rivalz was forced by his contract to be polite to snobby nobles and general pains in the ass.
Keeping a firm business-like expression on his face, making it clear to everyone watching that he was acting as the Student Council Vice-President, Lelouch approached Kallen’s desk. The redhead was chatting, or more exactly listening to five girls talking about inconsequential topics he turned off with practiced ease.
“Hello Miss Stadtfeld.” He greeted her after the girls noticed his presence, stopping in front of her desk and looking down at the still seated redhead. “Are you ready?”
“Yes.” Paying little attention to how her friends collectively took a step back, sharp blue eyes staring at him from a face carefully kept tirely bland, Kallen put both hands on the desk and stood up from her desk. “I was waiting for you.”
The members of Kallen’s group gasped in shock, along with some other girls still within the classroom. Was seeing Lelouch acting in his role as Vice-President so surprising? He was the one who worked the hardest within the Council, in fact he was the only reason the paperwork was barely kept in order!
Though, Lelouch had to admit this was the first time he personally approached another student for school-related issues, usually Milly either went herself or sent Rivalz. Oh well, people seeing him work hard was good for his (fake) reputation.
====
“Tell me, Miss Stadtfeld.” Lelouch suddenly said while they walked, breaking the just-shy of awkward silence that fell on them since they left the classroom. Instead of going to the Student Council room as Kallen expected, the raven-haired boy brought her outside the school and was now walking towards a side building Kallen has never been to before. Definitely suspicious, but not enough for the redhead to call him out of it. Yet. “Do you have any hobbies?”
“Uh?” Kallen was taken by surprise at the unexpected question. The truth would be ‘training with the Knightmare simulator’, but obviously she couldn’t say that. “Not... really. Because of my poor health I can’t do sports or move a lot. But I read many books.”
90% of the stuff produced by Britannia was garbage, even the school texts, but when at the base Ohgi let her read the Japanese books he saved during the invasion. That was an ex-school teacher for you.
Lelouch let out a hum that didn’t really tell Kallen anything about what he thought of her answer. “Myself, I am an avid lover of chess. Especially its metaphors.”
She stiffened at those words, then forced her body to keep walking after him. Chess by itself was nothing too surprising, it was one of the most popular games in Britannia, but adding a mention to metaphors? After what happened yesterday?
“We’ll need to use codenames. Pilot of the Red Glasgow, you’ll be Q1.”
“Well, that’s certainly subtle... but given how she’s been shredding, I can’t say it’s inaccurate.”
“A lot of people play chess.” Kallen added neutrally, unwilling to expose herself in case it was just a coincidence. Let Lelouch speak if he wanted, the redhead had the distinct impression he quite loved the sound of his own voice.
...A voice which, now that she thought about it, Kallen wasn’t sure she heard today for the first time. As if a gut feeling was triggered by her memories of yesterday’s events, but was it legitimate or just a product of Kallen’s paranoia?
“True, but the number of people who play it well is, sadly, limited.” She almosted expected Lelouch to add a dramatic shake of his head at the end while speaking with a tone of fake disappointment, but instead he stated it like a fact. “You see, Miss Stadtfeld, one of the most fundamental prerequisites in chess is that the pieces must trust their player if they want to win.”
Kallen blinked at what, to her ears, sounded like complete nonsense. Chess pieces trusting their player? They were carved pieces of wood, not sentient beings.
“A shame most sets only come in black and white. I’d prefer something much more daring.” Lelouch turned his head to the side by a slight amount, just enough for Kallen to see his lips... and the absolutely smug, annoyance-inducing grin on them. As if silently shouting to the whole world that the owner was having the time of his life. “Like red.”
No. No way. There was just no way. And yet, why did mentally adding his face to that voice fit so perfectly? Kallen may not be on the level of a detective in a mystery novel, and she preferred the use of her fists to her brain, but she was far from stupid. And with all the hints being dangled in front of her face, how could she not see?
Her hand snapped to her pocket, her fingers clamping down on her combat knife. “You’re—!”
A hand clamped around her wrist, holding the arm in place gently but firmly. Standing on Kallen’s side was a young woman wearing a maid uniform, a black face-mask covering her mouth and nose. Yet what immediately drew Kallen’s attention were the woman’s rounded animal ears, one of which with two metal studs, and blue slitted eyes.
“A guest is expected to behave themselves in the home of their host,” The stranger intoned in perfect Japanese, just like a native speaker, even if there was a curious accent that made Kallen think of Japan’s northern islands.
The redhead hesitated, suddenly not sure anymore about what was the best course of action. Her gaze jumped between the stoic maid and Lelouch, who was standing in front a side door while fiddling with a key. He was still showing them his back, though Kallen saw his posture was perfect for suddenly jumping to the side.
Kallen and the maid stared at one another for a few seconds, after which the former let go of the knife and relaxed slightly. Even if they fought Kallen doubted she could come out of it unscathed, so may as well see what those people wanted. “Fine, but I’m keeping it.”
The young woman’s expression, what little there was anyway, flattened as she let go of Kallen’s wrist and raised her other hand. Showing the same knife that Kallen kept inside her purse and which she was holding on until a few moments ago. "Not a request."
While Kallen was doing a good imitation of a fish out of water, the maid turned her head to look in Lelouch’s direction. Then she spoke, still in Japanese: “Then I assume the host will behave themselves just as well?”
“Of course. After all, it’s only polite.” The boy replied without turning around, also in Japanese. In his case it was clear he was a foreigner who learned the language, but it was still miles ahead of what Kallen expected from a Britannian. Using the key the boy opened the door, then turned around and looked at Kallen with a raised eyebrow. “Are you coming or not?”
Kallen was starting to be fed up with all those curveballs coming one after the other. Still she squared her shoulders and marched up to Lelouch. If they thought she needed a knife to fight they were going to get another thing coming. “I want answers.”
“Obviously.” Lelouch nodded before walking ahead of Kallen. “But first, we need to deal with something much more dangerous than anything we could discuss.”
Oh joy, another surprise. “What could possibly be more dangerous?” Yet, not even Kallen expected the boy’s answer. Spoken as if he suddenly got an even bigger headache than Kallen’s.
“Milly.”
====
Meanwhile, having stayed behind, Shirayuki took off the glove she’d used to hold Kallen's wrist and shook her suddenly stinging hand. She stared hard at the glove, the palm and fingers smoking. The surface had been warped, as if they’d come in contact with a blistering hot surface. “Concerning, this is.”
She needed to make a call. Rhodes Island must be informed they needed to prepare the emergency care unit, immediately.
====
At first, when Lelouch saw no one inside the Clubhouse’s main hall, he briefly thought the meeting had been canceled for an emergency. Or, better yet, Milly had found something else to distract herself with. Fit to host a formal dance, a modest one anyway, the room had a single staircase at the opposite end splitting into two opposite passageways, with a golden chandelier hanging from the ceiling.
Then he noticed the white cloths covering the tables had been replaced: from those meant to protect furniture from dust, to tablecloth fit for dining. “Found it! Look, it’s this, right?” Shirley’s voice came from the second floor, the orange-haired girl standing up from where she was previously concealed by the balustrade. Nina and Rivalz soon followed suit, talking about a chip and experiment data. Likely Nina’s, the bespectacled girl had been busy since last year with some kind of high energy physics project, though she refused to divulge the specifics.
The automatic doors (which Lelouch had installed for Nunnally’s sake) opened, allowing an apron-wearing Milly to push a kitchen trolley full of freshly prepared food. To appetizers to first courses, and even a pot of vegetable beef soup. “Did you find it? I’m done on my end, so why don’t we start?”
Lelouch was starting to regret reacting so obviously upon recognizing Kallen. “Milly. I am very grateful for the opportunity to partake of a full course dinner in the middle of the afternoon.“ Despite being perfectly polite, the raven-haired boy’s voice oozed sarcasm so thick you could use it as glue. Kallen released a barely noticeable snort of amusement, while Milly barely acknowledged the boy’s words. “But don’t you think it’s time for you to reveal why you had me bring Miss Stadtfeld here?”
“We’re letting Kallen into the Student Council.” The blonde revealed with a bright smile before going back to set the dishes. “My grandfather asked us to.”
“The headmaster did?” Ruben didn’t mention anything like that when they’d spoken earlier. But then, Lelouch reflected, why would he have? Either Milly’d told them already, or she planned to make it a surprise so why spoil it? Like granddaughter, like grandfather.
“Correct. He said it would be hard for her to participate in regular club activities because of her health problems, so this seemed like an acceptable compromise.”
A reasonable decision, club activities at Ashford Academy were not mandatory but greatly encouraged. It also favored Lelouch’s plans, since Kallen being a fellow council member would give him an excuse to keep interacting with her in the future. Provided she would be able to keep going to school, but he wasn’t the one qualified to decide that.
“Oh! I’m Milly, the council president!” The blonde suddenly stopped preparing the food and turned to face Kallen, as if only now remembering her existence. “How do you do?”
“Oh. Uh... I remember seeing you at the opening ceremony? It’s a pleasure to meet you.” Following ingrained habits Kallen bowed by reflex, though she quickly snapped out of the motion before its origins could be recognized. It was clear she was still confused and only going with the flow, especially when the others introduced themselves next.
Any and all thoughts about what to do next flew out of Lelouch’s mind when a very familiar voice entered the conversation. “Excuse me, Shirley. Could you put those on the table for me?” Nunnally wheeled inside the receiving hall on her motorized wheelchair, a plate of sweets on her lap sitting on... pizza boxes?
Alarm bells rang inside Lelouch’s head at the thought of how unhealthy that combination was, but faded away when the boy realized his sister was just helping Milly bring the food from the kitchen. As long as he was present he would ensure his sister would only eat healthy food... with one or two small exceptions if she insisted, of course.
“Nunnally. You’re here too?” Lelouch asked as he quickly joined her side alongside Shirley, who gently picked up the food and put it on a nearby table. Now that he was closer and could smell the heavy scent of cheese and grease, he decided that Nunnally was definitely not touching the pizza.
“She’s Lelouch’s sister.” Milly told Kallen upon noticing her puzzled gaze.
“I’m fine, Big Brother. I was just helping out Milly.” Nunnally reassured her worried brother before turning her head to face the general direction where Milly’s voice came from, her eyes closed. Revealing to the newcomer that she was not only unable to walk, but also blind. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Miss Kallen. My name is Nunnally, I’m in the middle school group so I’m not in the student council, but everyone treats me like an honorary member.”
Kallen blinked in slight surprise before relaxing, her smile turning far more warm and genuine compared to everything else she’d shown Lelouch so far. That alone earned her a sharp rise on Lelouch’s personal list, if only because she didn’t react like some other individuals he didn’t care to remember. “It’s a pleasure for me, too.”
“Okay then! First, shall we drink a toast?” Rivalz put on the table a bottle of champagne, and a high-quality one at that. Lelouch knew his friend would never stoop so low as to steal, but judging from his grin, Rivalz clearly managed to obtain this bottle at a huge discount.
“S-Student council members c-can’t drink!” Nina protested—squeaked, really—and Lelouch silently agreed with her as he pinned Rivalz with a glare. Not only because everyone present, beside Milly, was underage but also because he was not going to allow his friends to become tipsy or, God forbid, drunk in front of Nunnally!
“Oh, loosen up you guys!” Undeterred, Rivalz was about to pop out the bottle’s cork but was suddenly stopped by Shirley reaching out for the bottle.
“We’re not allowed to drink that!” The orange-haired girl proclaimed with a tone that admitted no dissent, wrestling with a struggling Rivalz to remove the bottle from his hands. Lelouch, he couldn’t help but admit to himself, found the scene mildly amusing. The fact that Milly gave a curious Nunnally a glass of orange juice also served to reassure him and derail any burgeoning thoughts of putting Rivalz in traction.
“Lelouch, catch!” The sudden call caught the distracted prince by surprise, and upon turning around it was only by reflex that he managed to grab the bottle Rivalz tossed to him. Then again, Lelouch mentally grumbled to himself, maybe there was something to be said on the subject of corporal punishment.
“Oh, for heaven’s sake! You’re not getting away with this either, Lulu!” Roughly pushing Rivalz away Shirley zero’d on him, glaring disapprovingly at Lelouch as if he were complicit in this (apparently) heinous crime. He didn’t even want to drink the damn thing, why was he getting involved with Rivalz’s moronic idea without even a say in the matter?
“Calm down Shirley.” He told the orange-haired girl while avoiding her attempts to catch him, if only because Lelouch refused on principle to be manhandled by anyone. “Just let me put this down and—”
With a very distinctive ‘POP!’, the cork suddenly shot out of the bottle, likely due to Rivalz’s earlier attempts, flying right at Kallen’s face. Lelouch hoped he was the only one who managed to catch the redhead swatting the cork out of the air with one hand, though in the opposite case he could just use sheer luck as an excuse.
And then the champagne inside the bottle also came out in a long arc, pouring all over Kallen’s head. The scene was so surreal and unexpected that everyone ended up staring, except for Nunnally who innocently asked what just happened. When the stream of champagne started petering out Kallen was the first to recover, raising one arm to inspect her drenched uniform with a despondent expression— only for her eyes to suddenly widen in alarm. The redhead hugged herself, forearms pressed against her stomach and bolted towards the hall’s opposite side. “Bathroom! Where?!”
“Second floor, go right.” Lelouch answered, pointing the way with his free hand. Kallen promptly changed direction and dashed up the stairs, soon disappearing from view.
“Uh...” Rivalz scratched his head in confusion. “I... guess she really dislikes the feeling of wet clothes?”
“It’s wine, not water: it’s the smell.” Shirley commented while finally snatching the bottle from Lelouch’s unresisting hands. The others nodded, silently agreeing with the girl’s words.
Lelouch, however, kept staring for a second longer in the direction Kallen ran to. While Shirley’s words made sense, reacting like that wasn’t in line to what he knew of the redhead’s true personality. It was yet another instance of odd behavior, nothing more than circumstantial evidence... but there could only be so many circumstances before they all pointed towards fact. While going through with Milly’s scheme and easing Kallen into returning to Rhodes would have been more convenient, it seemed all too likely that they’d left the realms of ‘convenience’ long ago.
“I suppose Miss Stadtfeld will want to change into clean clothes.” He commented idly. “I’ll loan her some of mine until we can get her a new uniform.”
“Choose baggy ones, Kallen has more meat on her than you, Lelouch.” Milly commented with a mischievous smile, unwilling and unable to resist making a perverted quip. “I’ll need to put the soup back on the fire. Shirley, Nina: put a lid on the plates of cold food. Rivalz, clean the floor and put that champagne away: we aren’t drinking today.”
The girls immediately went to work, while Rivalz begrudgingly moved to get a mop.
“Milly.” Lelouch paused in turning to leave as he addressed her. “There is a possibility Miss Stadtfeld will want to go home after this... let’s call it an incident. If that happens, I guess there’s no helping it?”
“Mmh, just what are you implying Lelouch?” Milly’s smile gained a small edge for a few seconds, then returned to normal as the blonde sighed regretfully. “Tell her we’re sorry, will you?”
“Of course.”
After saying goodbye to Nunnally, Lelouch went up to his room and retrieved one of his reserve sets of clothes: a simple combination of shirt, jacket and pants. Remembering Milly’s words, and forced to concede there was some merit to it, he switched the shirt for a larger one he’d planned to use during winter.
Lelouch took out his phone as he made his way to the bathroom and sent out a message. ‘Preparations?’
‘Done.’ ShiraYuki sent back, which meant that Sayoko had returned with the car he’d sent her to retrieve. They’d need its tinted windows and fake plate to get close enough to Shinjuku to sneak inside the perimeter. While the Britannian troops had visibly withdrawn, they were sure to still have spotters keeping track of movements in and around the ghetto. ShiraYuki was sure that infiltration wouldn’t prove to be an issue, so he assumed Rhodes already found a few safe routes.
Lelouch stowed his phone away as he knocked on the bathroom’s door. “It’s me. I brought a change of clothes.”
“C-Come in!” Lelouch frowned at the small stutter within Kallen’s voice. “The shower curtain’s closed.”
He pressed a button on the right side, stepping in and letting the door close behind him as he walked inside. Like she said, Kallen was behind the curtain, standing in the stream of water and getting... rather thoroughly outlined as a result. Lelouch was not a prude, but even for him the current situation was mildly uncomfortable, prompting him to avert his gaze. “Um, sorry about... all this. Milly tends to march to the beat of her own drum and Rivalz... well, he’s a nice guy but that doesn’t guarantee that he uses all of his brain.”
Kallen didn’t answer. Even as he put aside the clothes, a small part of Lelouch’s brain kept telling him there was something wrong with the current scenario. It took him a few seconds of going through every small detail before finally realizing why: despite the presence of steam coming from behind the curtain, the air within the room was still cold. The steam was hot, more so the closer one got to the shower, but the temperature was still lower than what it logically should have been.
“I’m still hot.” Kallen finally replied. Her voice was low and morose, a weak croak of terror tinting her words. “I’m under a full-blast cold shower... and I still feel like I’m ready to spit fire.”
Lelouch blinked: he knew that the feelings of hot and cold depended on how the brain interprets the signals from the nerves, and how it was possible for certain conditions to fumble them. Was this one such case?
“And I don’t just mean I feel it, I mean my body, my skin, is literally scorching hot. The water’s steaming off me. Just like the champagne.”
Or not. Definitely not.
The silhouette of Kallen’s head turned, staring at Lelouch through the curtain. “You. You were one of the voices on the radio... right? I-It was you? Wasn’t it? You were with... you know Rhodes Island?”
Lelouch swallowed heavily, professionalism warring with pity. “I was. And I am.”
Kallen’s arms slowly rose and clutched at the sides of her head. “Rhodes Island... t-their operators... they could... could do things too. Do you know... What’s happening to me? What’s... wrong...?”
“Please calm down Miss Stadtfeld. Kallen.” Lelouch raised his hands placatingly, modulating his voice to a more comforting tone. “Yes, I’m an ally of Rhodes Island, and yes, I know what’s wrong. They had reasons to believe something like this could happen, so they asked me to contact you. I was told a certain Kaname Ohgi sent his apologies; he’s very worried about you, and he wanted to know if you were alright.”
“I am not ‘alright’!” Kallen suddenly snapped, her temper outweighing her terror. “I caught a bee and it turned to ash! In my hand! Now I’m making water boil with a touch! What the hell is going on here?! What’s wrong with my body!?”
Lelouch grimaced: he was no doctor, but it seemed his worries were justified and this was indeed the worst case scenario. He needed to bring her to Rhodes Island and fast. “I have an idea about that, and that’s why I’m here. I’ve been informed that Rhodes Island is a very accomplished pharmaceutical company, and they’re very good at their jobs. If you come with me I can bring you to their base. They’re already waiting, and they’ll be able to give you the help you’ll need.”
He decided to withhold the fact that help would be palliative in nature, rather than curative. Not only was it premature for him to make such an assessment rather than an actual expert, there was also the fact that the last thing he needed right now was to run the risk of Kallen panicking and endangering herself, or worse, the rest of the planet. Or worst of all, Nunnally.
Who, Lelouch now realized with a chill down his spine, was in the same building as a plague-carrier. Why did his life have to be so, as the Chinese would put it, ‘interesting’?
Meanwhile, Kallen was given pause from her turmoil of muddled emotions as one part of Lelouch’s reassurances stood out to her above all others. “Did you just say... that the people who beat back Britannia’s unbeatable military for one of the first times in history... are a pharmaceutical company?”
Lelouch allowed himself a wry smirk as he wrestled his nerves back under control. “As they’ve said to me, a very proactive pharmaceutical company.”
There was a knock on the bathroom door.
Lelouch heaved a sigh of relief and turned to leave. “Case in point, that would be the ninja they sent to guard me and who came to collect us. Dry off, get dressed, and then we can get going.”
That comment prompted Kallen to forgo decency in favor of confusion, and she poked her dripping head out from around the shower curtain so as to better boggle at her supposed benefactor. “Are you—ninja?!”
Lelouch allowed himself a smirk as he opened the door, revealing the much more professionally dressed white-haired maid from earlier waiting for them.
“Welcome to Rhodes Island, Miss Kouzuki. Now let’s get you the help you need.”
====
“Are we through?” Lelouch asked in response to seeing ShiraYuki halt in place.
She raised a hand, looking around the devastated square they were standing in and silently listening to something, before turning around and nodding. “Yes. But quiet, we must remain.”
“Why? We left the Britannians behind.” Kallen complained, her mood having hardly improved since they’d snuck out of the Council’s clubhouse. Evidently, leaving scorched prints on the car’s seat wasn’t doing her nerves any good. That or the hood covering almost all of her head, seeing as unlike Lelouch and ShiraYuki, the redhead couldn’t use a gasmask due to her ‘condition’. “And I can’t believe we’re back in Shinjuku. Are you telling me your— ”
Lelouch hastily put a hand over Kallen’s mouth, silencing her. He pulled it back just as swiftly with a pained hiss, glad he’d the foresight to wear gloves and bring a few extra sets with him before leaving. Just that brief contact felt like he’d touched a stove... though it might also have been the blistering glare and scowl Kallen was shooting at him. “That’s not something to speak about while we’re out in the open, Kallen. It’s a secret for a very important reason, and it needs to stay that way for as long as possible.”
“Concur, I must.”
Kallen’s expression ratcheted back from ‘contemplating murder’ to ‘mildly annoyed’, but nonetheless nodded back with a resolute expression. “I... fine, but hurry up, alright? I...” she winced as she tugged at her jacket’s collar. “It’s getting... harder to breathe...”
Lelouch winced sympathetically, giving her a nod of acknowledgement before turning his attention to the dilapidated city surrounding them.
After being turned into a ghetto for the Japanese that did not (or, for a variety of reasons, could not) become Honorary Britannians, the number of Shinjuku’s habitants remained low for many years. Yet the recent ‘incident’ emptied it even more, the whole district having become a warzone that almost saw the genocide of its entire civilian population. Between the destruction, the remaining traces of violent death and the haunting memories of the survivors, only the very stubborn and the truly desperate chose to keep living there.
It meant the streets were completely empty as the group of one Anaty and two Britannian students moved through them, yet they still did their best to be as inconspicuous as possible. It was exactly because Shinjuku was such a dreary place that they needed to be wary: if it was so easy for them to cross the district, what stopped a competent enemy from trailing after them without being noticed? Or worse, to ambush them?
Mercifully, however, none of those situations came to pass. The group entered an abandoned subway station unmolested, then followed ShiraYuki inside one of the old tunnels. After a few minutes of following the tracks, the ninja approached an emergency exit and knocked, whispering something too low for the two students to hear.
The door was pushed open from the inside, revealing a girl a little shorter than Kallen. She had long, dark-purple hair, cat ears and a tail visible in between her legs. She was armed with a straight sword without a guard held in one hand and, like Lelouch and Shirayuki, was wearing a gasmask that concealed her face. Her tone of voice was oddly shy, as if she wasn’t used to talking with others. “H-Hello, come on in. Please be quick!”
The door was shut once they were all inside, and was secured by a pipe acting as a makeshift drawbar. Their journey through the city’s underbelly continued thus for a short while, passing through several checkpoints manned by Rhodes Island Operators, until they arrived inside an underground room in an abandoned residential complex.
It was at this point the experience left the realms of ‘probable’ and became outright ‘incredible’. Because a hole in the wall of the room showed a metal corridor that reminded Kallen of the boarding bridges she commonly associated with airports.
“How... far below ground are we?” She tentatively asked.
“Twenty-five meters. But it goes even deeper.” Was Lelouch’s succinct answer.
So Rhodes Island’s secret base was located directly under Shinjuku. That explained the secrecy, but it also left Kallen with even more questions. The notion of which gave Kallen pause right at the mouth of the passage as she eyed it warily.
Lelouch paused next to her, gently—and gingerly—putting his hand on her shoulder. “Do you need a minute?”
“I...” Kallen hastily shook her head, trying to dispel her nerves. “N-no, no, I’m fine. This is... fine.” She gave him a shaky grin that looked a lot more confident that she felt as she walked into the metal tube. “I mean... how bad can it be, right?”
====
“I’m sorry, Miss Kouzuki, but your bloodwork is conclusive: you’ve been infected with Oripathy.” Ceylon, the pink-haired woman who looked and talked like a stereotypical Britannian noble, told Kallen with a solemn but kind voice. The upper part of her dress was covered by a sheet of transparent plastic, likely to keep away stains, and there were blue feathers coming out of both sides of her head. In fact, Kallen was ready to swear Ceylon had two small wings just behind her ears.
“Ori... pathy?” The redhead weakly repeated the unfamiliar word, hands keeping the cooling blanket the doctor had given her wrapped around her body. The device had been a big help, lowering her body’s unnatural temperature to a far more acceptable range... but even though Kallen still felt uncomfortably warm, right now her blood might as well have been icewater.
She and Lelouch had been led through Rhodes Island’s advanced corridors to a relatively normal looking consultation room, where Ceylon had introduced herself to them. Though Kallen was initially wary of the doctor’s seemingly Britannian demeanor, her unfailingly polite attitude had served to put the Japanese girl at ease. She’d even relaxed enough to let the doctor draw her blood, and had been relatively composed while the doctor inserted said blood into a machine and let it run its course.
But now that composure had fled away quite abruptly, and Kallen shifted nervously on the examination table she was sitting on, while Lelouch slouched into his seat with a weary sigh.
“That, uh...” Kallen swallowed heavily, trying to kick her brain back into proper gear. “Sounds kind of... serious? What is it, exactly?”
Ceylon heaved a sad sigh as she pulled up a stool and sat before Kallen, her hands folded together in a patient gesture. “Oripathy is a progressive disease that, I am sad to say, is very serious. It occurs when the body is introduced to a crystalline mineral known as Originium. Upon contact with living tissues, Originium will begin to propagate by cannibalizing the infected’s cells, and converting them into yet more Originium. The process is slow, taking place on a cellular level, but without proper care it can spread and have severe, adverse effects on one’s health... before ultimately resulting in death.”
Kallen shivered heavily at the clinical explanation. She tried to swallow again, but found that her throat refused to cooperate. “Cannibalizing my—Y-You mean to tell me... that I’m turning to stone?”
Ceylon winced uncomfortably. “A... crude, but not inaccurate summation, Miss Kouzuki, yes. You are.”
Kallen’s mind whirled as she ran that thought over and over through her head. She was... turning to stone. She had stone, inside her body, and it was eating at her. Turning her into... into...
The Japanese rebel raised a trembling hand to grasp at her chest, plastering a shaky, desperate smile on her face. “B-but... you can cure it, right? That’s why I’m here. Because you’re a pharmaceutical company. Doctors. So you can... make me better?”
Ceylon didn’t say a word... but she didn’t need to. The sad, sad look in her eyes spoke volumes.
Kallen’s hand fell to her side. “...There’s no cure, is there?”
“...No, Kallen, I’m afraid there isn’t.” Ceylon confirmed with sincere regret in her voice. “Rhodes Island is dedicated to combating Oripathy, to researching it and discovering its cure so that no Infected such as yourself needs to suffer it a second longer than they must... but thus far, that research is still ongoing. Oripathy is, at present, an incurable disease... and it is terminal. Without fail.”
Kallen stared blankly at Ceylon for a full minute before slowly grinding her head to the side to turn her gaze on Lelouch. “...You knew. Didn’t you?”
Lelouch grimaced, but met her gaze evenly. “I didn’t want to panic you. Or give you false hope. I did not lie to you, not with malicious intent. I’m sorry, Kallen, I really am.”
Kallen stared at him with searching eyes for what felt like an eternity... before letting her eyes close shut with a tired nod. “Any other day, I’d say you were lying and rip your head off your scrawny neck—” Lelouch rubbed his throat with a self-conscious cough. “—but I believe you. But... still.”
She looked back to Ceylon with a much more earnest—and more importantly, less panicked—sense of confusion. “How did this happen? You said that this... Originium stuff causes Oripathy? But I’ve never heard of it or touched it, or—!”
“The reason I was so intent on getting you here,” Lelouch cut in. “Is that Oripathy is an infectious disease.”
The Japanese rebel was confused for a moment before stiffening in shock, slapping a hand to her side. “Blaze. I got her blood in my wound yesterday.”
Ceylon nodded sadly. “Person to person infection is exceedingly rare, but it is possible, and blood-to-blood transmission is one of those rare possibilities. For what it’s worth? Operator Blaze was extremely distraught when she heard what happened, and I imagine she’ll want to apologize to you at the soonest possible convenience.”
“...No.” Kallen only had to consider that for a moment before shaking her head, slowly at first but then with more force, renewed determination in her eyes. “No, t-there’s no need for that. I... I knew I was hurt, I should have waited for treatment, but instead I ran back onto the battlefield like an idiot. This is my fault, not hers. She shouldn’t take the blame for something I did to myself.”
The Liberi blinked in shock for only a moment before smiling kindly. “I’ll be sure to pass that along. Thank you for being so understanding.”
“Relatively understanding...” Kallen qualified tentatively, holding out her arm and looking over her own flesh with trepidation. “I... still don’t understand why this specifically is happening to me. I remember that Blaze seemed to almost be on fire at times, is that why I’m a human torch?”
“Mm... in a manner of speaking.” Ceylon waved her hand in a so-so manner. “To summarize things a bit, Originium is a very peculiar mineral with diverse reality-warping properties, beyond its self-propagating nature. These in turn can result in a diverse range of mutations and alterations to subjects of the disease. Quite frankly, Miss Kouzuki, you’re actually quite lucky to be in as good a state as you’re in.”
That declaration prompted the newly Infected patient to level a flat stare at her attending physician. “I was practically burning the clothes right off my body when I got to you.”
“And another patient I know grew horns, while another is progressively losing her sight and hearing, and several others have developed severe psychological abnormalities such as DID, amnesia, and schizophrenia. To name but a few.” Ceylon patiently listed off.
A list which caused Kallen to pale significantly. “You know what? Suddenly ‘human furnace’ doesn’t sound quite so bad anymore.”
“Mm, I thought not.”
The room lapsed into a relatively amused silence for a bit, before the mood lowered once more as the weight of the situation reasserted itself.
Finally, Kallen heaved a heavy sigh and clapped her hands together. “Alright, no point in putting it off any longer, give me the honest truth.” She looked straight at Ceylon, fighting so, so hard to be brave as she spoke the words she was dreading in as steady a voice as she could manage. “How long do I have to live?”
The Liberi grimaced slightly, a pained expression coming over her face before she switched to a more professional one: serious, but not unkind. “Well, Miss Kouzuki, yours seems to be a particularly aggressive case, but luckily we managed to catch it early. With proper treatment, healthy living and an avoidance of aggravating factors...” Ceylon gave Kallen a genuinely sad look. “I would estimate a life expectancy ranging anywhere from forty to fifty years from now. I’m very sorry.”
“...Oh.” That was all Kallen said in response, her voice barely above a whisper. Lelouch was not a psychologist, but his own experiences with tragedies and negative emotions told him the redhead had yet to properly process the news. Probably didn’t even know how she should react to the knowledge of exactly when she would die: Lelouch has been disabused of such naive thoughts a long time ago, but he was aware most people his age never think seriously about death.
“But please, don’t despair: Rhodes Island has been founded for the precise purpose of finding a cure to Oripathy. Myself, and many other exceptional experts, are working every day towards that goal. Just like I promised my best friend, I promise you this Kallen: I will save you.” Ceylon put a hand on Kallen’s shoulder and gave a reassuring squeeze, a determined fire in her eyes.
Kallen nodded weakly at the declaration, even managing to crack a small smile at the earnest, honest dedication being shown to her. “...Alright then. I’ll hold you to it. So, uh...” she spread her hands helplessly. “What now?”
“Now, we determine how exactly Rhodes Island can help treat your condition.” Ceylon stood up and primly dusted off the hem of her dress before indicating the medical machinery she’d used earlier. “If you’ll excuse me a moment, I’ll just take a few minutes to analyze your blood more thoroughly so I can prescribe you some initial medication, and then we’ll go and get you X-ray’d so that we can better determine the state of your infection. Just sit tight, this won’t take but a moment.”
Ceylon’s words were polite, yet they carried the unmistakable authority of a doctor who knew what was best for their patients. Left with no choice but to comply, the two Ashford students sat at a respectful distance from each other, allowing the doctor to return to the machines and begin the required analysis.
The clock ticked down as the Liberi worked, the silence broken out only by the sound of her moving stuff around and the occasional comment. Feeling the rapidly increasing awkward atmosphere, Lelouch tentatively decided to strike up a conversation. “Kallen, are you alright? I know this is a lot to take in—”
“I’m fine. I’m not even mad you keep using my first name.” She sighed. Rather than despairing, or in denial, she simply looked resigned. “I decided a long time ago that I would do anything for the sake of Japanese independence, even dying. So long as I bite it after I see my country free again... I can live with it. Honestly, fifty years is a lot longer than I thought I’d live anyways, so not like I’d be missing much, right?”
Lelouch stared at her, part of the assumptions he made about her crumbling away and being replaced with new ones. “I see.”
“Plus, now Ohgi can stop nagging me about what I’m going to do once we’ve won!” She continued with a slight manic tone. “Because it doesn't matter now!”
“...And that comment has earned you a few mandatory sessions with a therapist.” Ceylon commented sternly without turning around. Lelouch silently agreed with that statement: he could really have used some after his mother died, but in Britannia seeing a therapist was seen as a weakness unbefitting a noble and the general attitude in Japan towards those sorts of treatments wasn’t much better.
“Yeah, probably for the best.” Kallen showed a rather grim smile.
Lelouch matched her expression for a few seconds before continuing. “I must confess something, Kallen. I have not been... entirely sincere with you.”
“Mmh?” The redhead turned her head to look at him, eyes squinting in suspicion. “About what?”
“When we first talked on the radio, my associate said we found your group’s frequencies because they were not encrypted. That was true.” Lelouch revealed, legs crossed and hands folded on his lap. “However, I already knew your personal frequency before we started the scan.”
Now she was glaring at him. “And how, exactly, did you know that?”
“That’s what happens when you write the frequency on a post-it and then slap it on the back of your portable radio.” He shrugged. Kallen blinked: it was true she... used such a method to remember the rather long number, but how could Lelouch have come into possession of one of her radios? As far as she remembered they were all onboard the— “You see, earlier that day I happened to witness a truck crashing into a building yard after almost running me and my friend over. Seeing no one else calling for help, I decided to check if the driver was hurt. Since the cockpit was inaccessible, I climbed on top of the truck...”
His expression fell flat as he turned a stare on the red-head. “Imagine my surprise when the vehicle suddenly moved and made me fall into the trailer.”
Kallen’s mouth slammed shut.
“Though, not as surprising as when the Britannian Army started chasing after the truck, yelling about terrorists.” Lelouch resisted the urge to grin at the sight of the redhead’s cheeks turning red. “So I did the sensible thing and hid myself. I picked up the radio after you engaged the army with your Glasgow, and left the truck after it reached Shinjuku.”
“Sorry...” Kallen sheepishly apologized, then frowned as an inconsistency struck her. “What were you even doing out of school?”
“Gambling. Chess matches against the nobility, sometimes substituting in for the friend of a friend.” He raised a hand to forestall interruptions, a grin on his lips. “And before you start criticizing me, I think we can both agree that divesting the nobility of their savings is a net gain for everyone.”
She thought about it, then smirked. “...Heh. Got me there.”
“If what I’ve heard of Britannian nobility is even remotely accurate, then I have to agree with the sentiment, even if I disapprove of gambling on principle.” Ceylon added, stepping away from her computer for a moment to open a small fridge, taking out two small water bottles. “I got my education in the Terran version of London, the teachings were top-notch but I was not a fan of the way the nobility ruled the city.”
“The... Terran version of London?” Kallen repeated, more than a little confused. As far as she remembered London was the capital of the old Britannian Empire before Napoleon kicked the Royal Family out of the British Isles, which are now part of the EU. She was not aware there was more than one version. “What do you mean?”
“That.” Lelouch cleared his throat. “Is part of the topics I planned to discuss with Kallen in the future, together with the Doctor and the others.”
“Is that so? My apologies.” The Liberi giggled slightly while handing the bottles to the grateful students.
However, the moment Kallen grabbed her bottle—
POP!
—the cap abruptly burst off, the water inside already boiling and releasing steam.
Kallen grimaced in annoyance, gingerly setting the bottle down beside herself and trying to shake off her hand without splashing anyone. “I don’t suppose you have gloves made of the same stuff? Because this is already getting old.” The redhead commented despondently while holding the blanket tighter around herself.
Ceylon, however, didn’t reply. She was far more concerned with staring at the discarded bottle in confusion. “That... isn’t right?”
“You’re just figuring that out?” Kallen asked snidely.
Ceylon swiftly shook her head in denial, her thoughts visibly awhirl. “No, no I mean the way the water reacted, that shouldn’t—if you were directly generating heat, then the plastic of the bottle should have melted. But instead, the water-? How could... this...” The Liberi trailed off, her eyes darting about in thought before abruptly paling.
Moving far faster than she had up until this point, the doctor ran to a cabinet and began to open several drawers, until she found what she was looking for. She turned on the rectangular device in her hands, which immediately started ticking like an old-fashioned clock gone mad.
What little blood remained in Ceylon’s face rapidly fled it. “Oh no.”
Before the teenagers could react, she shot over to the wall and slapped a palm on a button panel, hitting the large one with a bright red [EMERGENCY QUARANTINE] written above it.
Almost instantly the doors to the clinic slammed shut, heavy shutters falling over them while an emergency siren began blaring and lights started flashing from the ceiling.
“What the hell—?!” Kallen gasped.
“Doctor Ceylon—!” Lelouch started to get up.
“Lelouch, Kallen, stay right there and don’t move!” Ceylon brusquely ordered, freezing them in place with a raised hand and a firm voice.
There was a panicked gasp behind one of the doors before someone began pounding on it. “Ceylon! Ceylon, open the door!”
The pink-haired Liberi shook her head as she strode up to the door in question. “Schwarz, no.”
“Ceylon—!”
“Contact Doctors Kal’tsit, Warfarin and Folinic, tell them we have a Code Red situation and to prep a HAZMAT team, decontamination showers, and fifteen ccs of Leithanien Blue, immediately!” Ceylon looked at the still bewildered Lelouch and Kallen, who clearly had no idea of what was going on. “...Actually, tell them to make it twenty, just to be safe.”
“Ceylon, open this door, now!” The other woman shouted.
“I can’t and you know I can’t, Schwarz. Now do what I say and contact the bloody doctors!” Ceylon shouted back.
There was a pause, followed by a muttered curse and the sound of someone running away, fast.
That matter handled, Ceylon strode to a nearby closet and withdrew a pair of blankets, one of which she threw to Lelouch. “Mister Lelouch, I’m going to need you to wrap that around your body as tight as you can. And no matter what you do, stay as far from Miss Kallen as you can possibly manage.”
“Why?!” Kallen demanded, huddling further back on the examination table warily. “What the hell is going on?!”
“What’s going on, Miss Kallen, is that I’m afraid I was wrong,” Ceylon declared as she wrapped herself in her own blanket. “Your mutation is much more dangerous than I initially assumed.
“How is heat dangerous?” Lelouch asked, retreating back into a corner as he eyed Kallen warily.
“It isn’t. But then, that’s not what she’s releasing.” Ceylon declared in a grim tone. “Kouzuki Kallen isn’t exothermic. She’s radioactive.”