rakuen | ROUND -1

This morning, the marks of ownership disappear from the bodies of every Weapon who was owned during the previous round. The woman from the introductory video appears on the Exaclan video screens across campus, and on all of the computer screens as well.

She doesn't look very happy.

"My, you weren't very enthusiastic this time, were you?" she says, frowning and waving one finger in disappointment. "That's no good. If you don't fight, you can't earn Tokens to buy your powers or your memories back! If you don't even have those, imagine how hard it'll be to earn Legend Fragments!"

She smiles; the shift from her previous expression is sudden and startling. "You know, if you hear the legend, you just might learn a few things!

"We didn't want to do this, but it looks like we're going to have to. Okay! From now on, Players, you can only go three days without fighting. After that, we'll start taking away one Token a day. And you want your Tokens, don't you?" She smiles even more widely, as though she has no idea why anyone might be upset at being forced into such a situation. "To get you all started, we've given you some free tokens! You already had three each, you know, and we've added seven more. That means you all have ten tokens, so visit a booth and get spending."

She pauses, and then snaps her fingers, "Ah, but only Players can do that, so if any of your Weapons want to buy something, you should do it for them, okay?

"I know you can do it! Believe in yourselves and each other, and you'll achieve utopia!

"Now, here are the Players for this round!"

The screen goes blank, and the following appears:

PLAYERS FOR ROUND -1:
Fletcher Tringham
Kevin Smith
Mei Chang
Meryl Silverburgh
Oichi
Suzaku Kururugi
Tsuki Aoi

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

"Sora," Tsuki replied, with a slight smile. She had already been told of Sora's presence, though she hadn't made much of an effort to seek her out directly. If anything, a reunion between the two could only lead to questions she wasn't prepared to answer. But now that her idiotic knight was actually in front of her, she couldn't help but relax a bit. Perhaps she'd just been overthinking things.

"That's right, it seems that way," she nodded. "It seems I have that... honor, this time." She wasn't sure exactly how she felt about the state of things, but she wasn't going to run away from fighting either.

"Have you made a vow with Euphie yet?" She looked around the lobby, but couldn't immediately spot her. "Or Lelouch, I guess... you're going to have a lot of weapons!" This was obviously a good thing; at least one Knight was able to serve their loved ones properly this time.

Speaking of loved ones... She reached for Tsuki's hand, thrilling in even being able to remember one of her friends' names. Even now, the game was giving them a way of participating.

"Tsuki, if you don't mind, I'll serve you!"

Suzaku looked between the two, Tsuki did not seem to happy to see Sora but maybe that was just the way she was towards her knight. The way she spoke actually, like she was carefully calculating everything said was very much like Lelouch. A strange trait for a princess.

Suzaku nodded at Sora, "I will when I find her, and Lelouch also yes," she was right he was going to have a lot of weapons but it was the only way to protect them. As Sora asked Tsuki if she could serve her Suzaku smiled again but sensed he should probably leave.

"It was nice to see you Tsuki, Sora I'll see you around I am sure," he left them to talk and vow and started looking around to see if he could spot Euphemia or Lelouch.

"It was nice meeting you as well," Tsuki agreed, nodding to Suzaku as he began to depart. "Good luck in finding the people you're searching for."

That said, her attention went back to Sora, still holding one of her hands. For a moment, Tsuki actually seemed taken aback by Sora's sudden offer. Of course, that was just like her though, wasn't it? When push came to shove, she knew she could always rely on her. Especially in a situation like this. She just nodded a bit sullenly at Sora's offer, before replying in the same sarcastic tone as always, "An idiot like you is offering to be my weapon?"

Of course, she didn't mean the words quite literally. If anything, she was more than happy to accept Sora as her weapon; she had been counting on that as soon as she'd discovered she was a player. But she was never the type to make her feelings readily apparent, though hopefully Sora knew that well enough by now.

"Ah, yes! See you later, Suzaku!" She half-turned to wave him goodbye, then refocused on Tsuki in anticipation of her reply. As expected, Sora was completely unfazed by the sarcasm. To all intents and purposes, she'd just agreed to own her, and that was what counted. And, as Tsuki said so often, Sora was an idiot, especially in comparison to her. Her grin was sheepish at first, but it never stayed that way around her for long.

"Of course," she said, because sometimes Tsuki wanted to hear it out loud. "I'm still your knight, no matter what, aren't I?"

Her expression softened at that, especially now that their company had departed. "Yes, every since we were little..." she smiled, nodding in agreement before placing her hand on Sora's forehead.

"It's strange that the situation has reversed now, hasn't it? It doesn't feel like very long ago that I was telling you I would become your possession one day. But now it's the other way around," she couldn't help comment. She pushed away Sora's bangs, getting a clear look at the scar that remained as a reminder of their past. "Very well then, for now I'll do what I can to protect you instead."

"I don't mind being Tsuki's possession," Sora leaned into Tsuki's hand, almost surprised at the magnitude of her relief that she was there, right at that moment, with her. When she tried to chase that feeling down, she hit one of the blanks in her memory, only managing to make the emotion stronger. She'd never needed a reason to miss her, but still, "I'm really glad you're alright. I thought..."

She didn't know what she'd thought. Another blank. But she trusted her feelings. To distract herself, she pulled away from her touch for a moment to check for the mark.

It was strange hearing Sora say that, though not unexpected. When the roles were reversed, what was it that she's said so long ago? She wouldn't own princesses, but instead treasure them. It was a ridiculous thing to say, especially in the desperate situation she had been in. But at the same time, it was that kind of charisma that drew others to her so much.

"We'll protect each other then. That's only fair, isn't it?" Tsuki replied with a nod, though she paused as Sora trailed off. "I am alright, why wouldn't I be?" she shrugged off-handedly. There was no need for Sora to ever find out about her captivity, if she hadn't discovered it already. That would only cause her pain.

ROUND -1

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