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[effortless]

All students planning on attending this Monday's Gardening class should assemble in the main courtyard at the beginning of the lesson. Dress warmly and wear your outdoor shoes.

[ PDA - to Lelouch ]

I would appreciate you reporting to the Prefect Building today at your earliest convenience. If you so desire, you may bring your Knight, although he will not be necessary.

Comments

[effortless]

Yes, you could certainly expect that. [ she looks across at Suzaku again. ] Ah, your Knight seems to be confused... Was there something you wanted to ask, Suzaku?

[swordofzero]

[Suzaku blinked at being addressed and shrugged] You speak as if their is a power above you, that you are not the ones controlling this system at all.

[veepofchess]

Lelouch paused for a moment while Suzaku was addressed, but didn't look back at him. "Of course not, the punishments she is obliged to give out are only a mechanism of the system. She is as much a prisoner as we are. I would expect the same to apply all the way up to the Mayor."

But then he returned to what she had last said to him. "It wouldn't merely be an expectation. If you want me to kill you, then you must be as forthcoming as you can."

[effortless]

"Yes, I have no interest at all in running this system," she agreed as amiably as you like. "Although I cannot speak for the others..." More precisely, Santana and Day. Though she was fairly sure saying so would be a waste of time. They weren't trying to hide their proclivities in the slightest. "But we are digressing. I agree to share with you any information I feel you will use appropriately. Was there anything else?"

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded and fell silent once again, if these six were as much prisoners of this system as they were, who was controlling it, and where were they. He listened quietly again.

[veepofchess]

Lelouch thought a moment. While others might question the wisdom of trusting this girl, he thought they had the best arrangement that could be negotiated under the circumstances.

"No, I believe that will do. Unless you can give me information as to the means necessary to have a power I used to hold returned to me."

[effortless]

"A power you used to have?" She looked back directly at Lelouch at that, eyebrows lifting. "There is nothing I can do directly, but... I believe they are suppressed to make the game 'fair'... We assumed previously that if our abilities were individually suppressed by the world's system, there must be a way to reverse it." She shifted, legs unfolding from under her. She spent a moment rearranging her skirt, absently.

"I wonder if that is helpful... after all, the most we could do was return them for twelve hours. The game was a little rushed near the end, you see..."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku blinked and looked at Lelouch, he was no longer able to use Geass? Suzaku should have guessed, he supposed, since with the Geass he should have been able to prevent being killed.

He frowned realising that Lelouch was in a lot more danger than he had thought. "But there is a way?" He asked Nanami, after all any advantage was worth knowing about.

[veepofchess]

Well, this was unexpected. "Could you explain that a bit more fully? What happened during the last game?"

[effortless]

"I wonder if I have said too much again?" Nanami sighed and shifted her weight onto one of the armchair sides, having been lulled into the manner of a more casual conversation. "There is not much more I can explain. The anomaly was created by a group of children from Conquest a week or so before they ascended, but it affected the entire town. It seems that certain actions can cause something they called a 'glitch', a problem in the system that has consequences for all non-native inhabitants of Rakuen. Most of them were tedious, or silly, or dangerous..."

She paused to reflect.

[swordofzero]

Suzaku listened carefully to the explanation, a glitch... "Where there many of these glitches?" He asked.

[veepofchess]

But Lelouch caught something else. "Ascended?" It didn't matter if she'd though she said too much. He was going to grab on whatever little hints she dropped.

[effortless]

"Many of-- Ah, is that an unfamiliar concept to you?" Well, it had technically been for her at first, but. Well. "When they left this world... would be a more direct term."

And, perversely assuming that was why he had called attention to that word, she turned back to answer Suzaku. "There were enough. As most of them had only a slight effect, it could be assumed that there are many that we miss due to their brief duration or limited area of effect."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku nodded, but he was more interested in the idea that people ascended from the world. "And how did they manage that?" He asked, "The ascending I mean."

[veepofchess]

He wondered just how long she would continue dropping bread crumbs like this. But he couldn't get ahead of himself. Just because he was being given information, that didn't mean it was good information. He let Suzaku's question stand as his own for the moment, and just waited for her response.

[effortless]

"That falls under the category of things I am unable to tell you. My apologies."

[swordofzero]

Suzaku frowned, but he had not expected her to tell them even this much so he was not surprised. He fell silent and let Lelouch ask the next question, if he had one.

[veepofchess]

Oh, there were no shortage of questions. It was answers that were in scarcity. "Then why did you remain behind with the Headmistresses, the Mayor, and the other Prefect?"

[effortless]

"Is it the method you want to know, or my personal reasons?"

[swordofzero]

Both, if you are willing to tell us.

[veepofchess]

"Yes, as completely as you can." There was certainly a lot more to this than he had anticipated.

[effortless]

"The method is something you will doubtless discover for yourselves in time, and irrelevant to any plans you might make, whether I tell you or not." Apparently she was tiring, because she slumped back into the chair and closed her eyes before continuing. "As for my reasons... well. We had naturally gathered that our actions would return us to our original worlds, but of course, having died once before in mine, I could not be sure that returning would not somehow revive my body... With this uncertainty, I chose to remain behind when it became clear that sacrifices were required.

"Furthermore, I cannot tell you what those actions of ours were either, so I would appreciate it if you did not ask."