Chapter 35: The Miraculous Tomorrow

(3 days after the screening event)

Fuji Mausoleum, United States of Japan

It is a quiet midnight at Fuji Mausoleum, a light grey, monument-shaped building that was built to commemorate the fallen souls of the SAZ Massacre. Kaguya, Ohgi, Villetta, Tohdoh, Chiba, Kallen and Tamaki are all standing inside the mausoleum, facing a pool of water, while several security guards are standing outside of the building.

"This place is more desolated than I have expected," a Tohdoh in his formal military uniform sighs as he gazes at the few floating candles on the body of water in front of the group, "I have spoken to the curator earlier, and she told me that ever since Lelouch had taken over the world, there have been almost no visitors coming in, and among those who had come in, most were just tourists who got lost and wanted to find someone to ask for directions."

"That just means Lelouch was successful in wiping away people's memories about the SAZ massacre and Princess Euphemia, isn't it?" Kaguya says as she is writing something on the side of a round, white candle before lighting it, "A plan so successful, not even us who know what actually happened at the SAZ Inaugural Ceremony can tell the truth to anyone else, all thanks to his exhaustive strategy of bundling the secret behind his death and the truth of the SAZ Massacre with the sustainability of the current peaceful world order." Kaguya then kneels down and places a lit white candle onto the water. On the side of the white candle, "HH Princess Euphemia li Britannia" in cursive script is elegantly inscribed, slowly floating towards the centre of the water body.

"Tsch, that pretentious boy..." a Chiba in her dark green military uniform hisses at the mentioning of Lelouch. Despite having learnt the whole truth behind Lelouch's ultimate sacrifice, she still cannot forgive what Lelouch had done to her JLF comrades at the Narita Mountains and Port Yokosuka, as well as to her fellow countrymen at the SAZ inaugural ceremony. She also despises how Lelouch had wronged his innocent sister, who genuinely wanted to help the Japanese.

"Nagisa, we are here tonight to pay our respect to Princess Euphemia," despite still having uneasy feelings that he had been cheated into working for the murderer of his real liege unknowingly, Tohdoh reminds his hardheaded wife of their reason to be here tonight – they are here because in a screening event hosted by Nunnally vi Britannia, the 100th Empress of Britannia, at Ashford Academy 3 days ago, they have discovered some unsettling and inconvenient truth that requires them to apologize to a fallen maiden they have wronged so horridly. In fact, they have wronged the fallen maiden so horridly, they wouldn't mind flying all the way across the Pacific Ocean and go to the fallen maiden's actual resting place in Pendragon to offer their sincerest apology – it is just that such option is no longer possible after a certain blond prince had blown up Pendragon with a F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead. Left with no other better options, the group hence come to this desolated mausoleum in the middle of the night to do what their senses of honour and shame have compelled them to do.

Hearing her husband's words, Chiba quickly snaps out of her deriding thoughts of Lelouch as she takes a half step back, standing slightly behind Tohdoh obediently. Then, the seven people present in the mausoleum, at Kaguya's lead, bow to the white candle that is floating on the body of water. After the bow, they stand in front of the body of water silently with their eyes closed, each sinking into their own thought.

'Princess Euphemia, I apologize for wrongly thinking you as a mass murderer and not realizing your true intention of helping us. I sincerely pray that your soul is now rest in peace, and we shall never forget your magnanimous and courageous attempt in taking the first step to treat Japanese equally with the Britannians,' Tohdoh muses. Next to him, Chiba stands silent. Her anti-Britannian inclination is still alive and well, but she, too, recognizes the sacrifice Euphemia had made for the Japanese, and for that, the pink princess has earned the recognition and respect of the hardheaded Japanese woman.

'Your Highness, we have never met in person, but I have in the longest time mistaken you as a… as a hypocrite who lured us Japanese out and slaughtered us all. I even wanted to kill you when we confronted each other in our Knightmare Frames… I am sorry,' Kallen muses, finally getting the chance she so longed for to apologize to Euphemia ever since she has learnt the truth during the screening session at Ashford Academy, 'I… I still don't know whether Lelouch's approach to make people to forget about what happened at the Inauguration Ceremony of the SAZ of Japan was right or not, but at the very least, people are able to move on. I hope you find Lelouch's remedy acceptable…'

Ohgi and Tamaki, both in black suits with black ties, also muse their thoughts and apologies to the fallen princess. Ohgi remains silent as he muses in shame and regret, while Tamaki, an expressive man as he is, has tears coming out of his shut eyes as he broods on his apology to the young, innocent girl who died tragically. Next to a silent and regret-filled Ohgi, Villetta, in a black coat, black skirt and wearing a small black beret with a layer of thin veil in front of her face, also muses her prayers to the wronged 3rd Princess of Britannia who, until the very end, was still confused as to why she had been gunned down and left this world prematurely with a white lie told to her by her beloved knight.

Meanwhile, Kaguya muses her respect to the fallen princess. 'Princess Euphemia, your legacy may have been blurred deliberately by Lelouch as he tried to erase people's memories of what Geass had forced you to do, but your genuine care for the Japanese shall not be forgotten. May this gentler and peaceful world that currently exists be your wordless epitaph and true lasting legacy.'

Just as the Japanese are musing their apology and respect to Euphemia, the white candle bearing Euphemia's name has finally reached the centre of the body of water and radiates its warmth and light around the mausoleum, just as how the fallen pulchritudinous white swan of Britannia would have beamed her gentleness, kindness, grace, love and empathy to everyone around her.

'Tis another quiet midnight at Fuji Mausoleum.

(1 week after the screening event)

Imperial Summer Palace, San Francisco, Holy Britannian Empire

"Your Majesty, Princess Cornelia and Lord Guilford have arrived," a lady-in-waiting announces as the purple princess and the bespectacled knight arrive at Nunnally's office.

"Please show them in," Nunnally says, and the lady-in-waiting complies.

"Nunnally, what is it that you want to discuss with us?" Cornelia walks into Nunnally's office and finds that Zero, Schneizel and Kanon are also present, who all nod to greet the entering princess and her knight Guilford, who is wearing a pair of specially coloured protective glasses. Next to Zero sits Arthur the cat, looking curiously at the entering purple princess and her tall, bespectacled knight.

"I would like to announce my intention to abdicate as the last Empress of the Holy Britannian Empire," Nunnally says calmly.

"What?" Cornelia is utterly surprised, and so is her knight. "Why would you want to do that? And what do you mean by abdicating as the last Empress of the Empire?" she asks incredulously, and then quickly realizes something and shoots Schneizel a wary glare, "What is going on, Schneizel?"

"Cornelia, Nunnally wants to reform this country from an empire into something more appropriate in this modern age," Schneizel explains in his typical calm and gentle voice to his younger sister by one day despite her wary glare, "the Holy Britannian Empire will be transformed into the Principality of Britannia, and once the transformation is complete, we will be officially joining the UFN as a member nation."

Cornelia takes in what Schneizel has just said as she recalls what she had seen during the screening event held one week ago at Ashford Academy. 'That's right, Schneizel has been placed under the Geass order to serve Zero unconditionally, so there is no way he is attempting to trick Nunnally once again. And Zero's resolve to uphold the current world order is genuine. But why…'

"I understand and support Britannia to join the UFN," Cornelia continues as doubts still remain in her mind, "But there is no need for Nunnally to abdicate, nor is there a need to suddenly change our Empire into something else!" The 2nd Princess of Britannia has no qualms about her beloved country joining the UFN, but she is unconvinced about the need for Nunnally to abdicate and to abolish the Empire altogether. Why doing it when Nunnally, a capable, kind and gentle young woman, is on the throne?

"Big Sister, this is necessary," Nunnally explains, "to prevent another father from appearing and causing utter chaos to the world again."

"Well…" Cornelia is starting to see Nunnally's point, "alright, but that doesn't mean you have to give up your throne, Nunnally! You are definitely not father!"

"And how can you be assured that I would not become like him in 20 or 30 years' time?" Nunnally asks, "Also, if you recall what we've seen during the screening event, father, and Uncle V.V. as well for that matter, had good intentions they both wished to bring to the world. After seeing what their good intentions have brought to the world, don't you think it's time for us to seize this opportune moment and end such tragedies that have happened on both of us and on the whole world from happening again?"

Cornelia is stunned by Nunnally's thoughtfulness and determination. Ever since Nunnally has become Empress, the warrior princess has been focusing her effort in rehabilitating the Empire as she goes to different corners of her country to help put things back in order without thinking too much on the longer term prospects of Britannia. As she thinks back at all the sad things that happened under her father's rule, and that the Britannian nobility has basically been wiped out by Lelouch and has no real power to oppose the Imperial Court, she realizes that her sister is right: the imperial system, if left unchecked, could cause good people to impose their good intentions onto others that are no different from evil acts; and that now is the opportune moment to make big changes when nobility resistance is close to none. And of course, while Nunnally has only mentioned their father, Cornelia knows that Nunnally is also referring to Schneizel and Lelouch – the young empress just doesn't mention them out loud to show deference to Schneizel, who is present at the meeting; and to Lelouch, who, unlike both Charles and Schneizel, had set an end to his "evil act" that would allow the world to move into the future.

"I see your point, Nunnally," Cornelia finally agrees and smiles at her sister, "I will support your plan."

"Thank you, Big Sister!" Nunnally exclaims in excitement before switching to a slightly worrisome tone, "I thought you would oppose my proposal for more personal reasons…"

"Huh? Why would I?" Cornelia is puzzled. Does she look like someone who is too selfish to accept reasonable changes being made?

"Uh… I was thinking if you would be mad that your Imperial title is no more, and you will not have a Britannian army to lead anymore…" the younger sister hesitates and stutters.

"Oh, that," Cornelia realizes what Nunnally was worrying about and waves her worries off with a smile, "No, after all the things I've been through, I don't really care much about my princess title anymore. What I said to Lady Ohgi on the Ikaruga applies to myself as well."

"As for Cornelia's military career, there is no need to worry, Nunnally," Schneizel chimes in, "the Black Knights have been asking if Britannia would allow our dear sister, who shines more beautifully and brightly than any flower or butterfly at a soirée when she's on the field of combat, to concurrently serve as Lt Gen. Cornelia li Britannia of the Black Knights."

"Stop that, Schneizel! I…" Cornelia blushes again at the praise Schneizel once again showers on her. Even though it was the exact same praise she had received from the tall 2nd Prince of Britannia almost two years ago, she is still too weak to accept heartfelt praises from others, let alone someone as good at praising others from the heart as Schneizel.

"That's great, Big Sister!" Nunnally is happy to hear that the Black Knights has offered her sister a place to shine, "that way, all of us will be able to transit seamlessly into our new positions along with the transformation of Britannia."

This piques Guilford's interest. "What will you be doing after the transformation is complete, Your Majesty and Your Highness?"

"Our talks with the UFN to accept the new Britannia as one of their member nations is still ongoing, but His Highness will likely be serving as the new UFN Chief of Staff," Kanon answers, "as for Her Majesty…"

"I am joining the World Humanitarian Agency (WHA), serving as its honorary consultant," Nunnally says.

"I see, and I assume you will be staying by Nunnally's side, Zero?" Cornelia asks.

"Of course," Zero affirms, "I will be by Nunnally's side to protect and assist her aside from serving as the Chief Advisor of the Black Knights."

"Well, that settles it. When will the changes be made effective?" Cornelia turns back to Schneizel.

"I expect the negotiation and transition to be done in a month or so," Schneizel replies. "Now that we have got your consent to move things forward, if you will excuse me to go and set the wheels in motion," Schneizel and Kanon then smile and nod to Nunnally, Suzaku, Cornelia and Guilford before turning and leaving Nunnally's office to head back to the Prime Minister's Office.

"I'd have to say, His Highness looks quite normal just now," Guilford says after Schneizel and Kanon have left Nunnally's office, "so normal that one can hardly tell whether he's under the effect of Lelouch's Geass or not."

"Lelouch's Geass command only forces him to obey my orders, but he's otherwise unaffected by it," Zero explains to Guilford, "I have already ordered him not to consider developing and using weapons of mass destruction such as the F.L.E.I.J.A. ever again in the policies he and his cabinet formulate and halt any such attempts whenever he sees it, so he should not be a threat to world peace anymore."

Next to Zero, Arthur the cat meows docilely, seemingly agrees with what Zero has just said.

(1 week after the screening event)

Official Residence of the Prime Minister, Neo-Tokyo, United States of Japan

"Ahh… Ahh… Ahh…" a baby with light dark skin is crawling happily on the floor inside the living room under the supervision of some maids.

"I'm back! Have you been a good boy, Naoto?" Villetta has just come back from shopping and greets her son with a smile as she enters the residence. Some maids greet her as they help him to take her groceries into the kitchen.

"Ahh…!" Naoto is happy to see his mother back.

"Good boy! Mum mum mum…" Villetta picks up Naoto and holds him in her arms. Naoto smiles brightly as he gets to see his loving mother.

"I'm back…!" Suddenly, a male voice flows into the residence as well. It is Kaname Ohgi, the Prime Minister of Japan.

"Prime Minister," the maids greet Ohgi as they help him to take his briefcases loaded with government papers into his study.

"Welcome home, dear," Villetta hands Naoto to one of the maids, and then comes out and gives Ohgi a hug and a kiss, "How was your day?" she asks.

"A busy day as usual!" Ohgi answers, "The treasury is adamant in cutting our spending plan for the redevelopment of Neo-Tokyo…"

"Sounds like another busy day for you," Villetta leads Ohgi to the living room have him seated on the sofa, and then pours a glass of water on the coffee table in front of the sofa and gives it to Ohgi, "Here, have a sip first."

"Thanks, Chigusa," Ohgi takes the glass and takes a sip of water, "Hah! It's always good to be back home."

The loving husband and wife then lean against together to enjoy a moment of serenity.

"…Say, Chigusa," Ohgi mutters unsurely after a brief while of silence.

"Yes, Kaname?" Villetta responds lazily.

"What if… what if I tell you that I am thinking of…" Ohgi stutters, but eventually musters up enough courage to keep going, "thinking of resigning as Prime Minister of Japan?"

"Why?" to the great surprise of Ohgi, Villetta does not react to his question violently as he has expected. Villetta doesn't even move away from the comfortable position she is in now, leaning on Ohgi's shoulder and playing with his fingers.

"You're not surprised?" Ohgi is surprised that his wife is not surprised by his rather surprising decision that he thinks would be a surprise to his wife.

"I know you don't make rash decisions, my dear," Villetta responds, "so tell me, why do you want to resign?"

"I… I have reflected on my ability as a leader after the screening event last week," Ohgi starts to explain, "I notice that I have made several big and unforgivable mistakes throughout my time in the Black Knights."

"Which were?" Villetta encourages her husband to speak out his mind.

"First, I mistakenly believed that Zero – the original Zero I mean – did not think of us as his pawns on his chessboard during the Battle of Narita and during the Black Rebellion," Ohgi begins, "Then, I mistakenly thought that Prince Schneizel was a good man and mistook his plan to eliminate both Zero and Kallen as helping us to discover the truth behind Zero's superpower. I even mistakenly thought that Prince Schneizel was forced by Zero to use the F.L.E.I.J.A., whereas in reality it was Zero who was forced to fight against Schneizel to stop him from using the F.L.E.I.J.A. to obliterate the world. In short, I failed to trust Zero, and I am simply nowhere near their level to be a qualified leader of a nation…" 'And I think I was the reason why Zero was forced out of the Black Knights,' Ohgi muses this last part in his mind full of regret and shame, 'in a way, I forced him to sacrifice himself for the world. My mistake was so great, if I were to ever see him again, I would need to apologize to him with my… life…'

"But they are demonically sagacious people, to the point where not even Princess Cornelia is quite up to their level despite herself being a well-rounded and capable member of the Imperial Family by any measure," Villetta decides to play the role of a devil's advocate, "you certainly can't compare yourself to them."

"Be that as it may, the fact remains that I've made several big mistakes when I was leading the Black Knights, and we're here only thanks to sheer luck that we have averted all the possible big disasters that would have befallen to us due to my lack of political acumen," Ohgi continues, "However, I'm not sure if Lady Luck will continue to keep an eye on me and Japan in the future, and it will be irresponsible for me to forcefully keep myself in the position when I know I am not the right person to occupy it."

Villetta remains silent for a moment before she finally says, "I guess it's time for me to head out to find us a new home, then."

"You're not against it?" Ohgi is once again surprised at how supportive his wife is, "I mean, we'd probably not be able to find a home as nice as this one…"

"It doesn't matter even if we go back to that apartment where you nursed me back to health," Villetta says sincerely, "I'm fine as long as I have my loving husband and my cute son with me. In fact, it's better for Naoto to grow up in a more normal environment than being constantly scrutinized by the media."

"Chigusa…" Ohgi is touched by how his considerate and thoughtful his wife is, and he kisses his wife with all his love, to which Villetta also responds with equal passion. How lucky of a man is he to have such a beautiful, understanding and supportive wife?

After they have exchanged their passion through their mouths, Villetta comes back to her sense and asks, "When will you tender your resignation, and what will you be doing next?"

"By law, I can resign at any moment, and our majority in the National Diet is big enough to form a new government without the need to call for a general election, so the Party will just need to choose a new leader to succeed me. But I think I will give a one-month notice to my colleagues to prepare for the upcoming changes and to give time for my successor to be run in before the next election regardless. As to what I will do next…" Ohgi pauses for a moment before he continues, "Well, I was a teacher before Japan was occupied by Britannia, so I think I will return to the teaching profession and become a teacher once again."

"Sounds good to me," Villetta says, "I can also return to Ashford Academy as a PE teacher and swimming coach as well."

"That's right, you told me you were coaching the swimming team at Ashford when you were working for the OSI," Ohgi recalls.

"Yes, I did," Villetta says.

"Ahh… Ahh… Ahh…!" suddenly, Naoto's crying sound appears as the maid approaches the first couple of Japan.

"What happened?" Villetta asks the maid concernedly.

"Sorry for the interruption," a maid apologizes as she brings Naoto close to Villetta and Ohgi, "it seems that Naoto-sama really wants to be with you."

Villetta receives the crying Naoto from the maid. "It's ok, it's ok, honey, mummy is here," she holds Naoto and gently kisses his forehead.

"Ah!" Naoto finally stops crying and smiles to his mother.

Ohgi gets close to his wife and his child. "Naoto simply loves you a lot, Chigusa," the Prime Minister says gently as he holds Villetta's waist gently from the back while placing his head near Villetta's and gazes at his son.

"He loves you too, dear," Villetta giggles as she smiles at their son, "Papa's here, Naoto! Say 'papa'!" Villetta says gently.

"Ah… Mah… Kah… Bah…" Naoto seems to get what his mother is saying, and he starts to produce different sounds as Villetta and Ohgi gazes at him with encouraging eyes.

"That's it! Naoto!" Villetta encourages, "you can do it!"

"Daddy!" Ohgi tries to help by pronouncing the word "papa" to Naoto, but he somehow messes it up and says "daddy" instead.

"…Daddy!" Villetta thought Ohgi was going to say "papa", but since he said "daddy" first, she simply follows suit.

"…Do!" after some initial struggle, Naoto finally utters the closest sound to what his parents have just made he can make.

Villetta and Ohgi look at each other and giggle at it. "You should have said the simpler 'papa' first, my dear," Villetta says.

"… I guess so," Ohgi scratches his head, realizing his blunder.

(2 weeks after the screening event)

Cafe Zero, Neo-Tokyo, United States of Japan

It is late at night. A tall Indian woman and two Indian men, one with an inverted triangular-shaped face who is almost as tall as the Indian woman and another with Fu Manchu mustache who is portly and about a head shorter than the other two, are heading out of Cafe Zero, a new cafe opened at a cozy location in Neo-Tokyo sometime after that fateful day.

"Thanks for the food and drinks! We had a great night, Tamaki," Rakshata thanks the owner of Cafe Zero as she is ready to head back home after having a great works' outing with her two research assistants.

"Glad y'all enjoyed it!" Tamaki, a red-haired Japanese man, responds with a big grin on his face.

After waving goodbye and seeing Rakshata and her two research assistants off, the red-haired cafe owner than turns back his attention to the sweeper and the cloth, getting ready to do a final round of cleaning inside his establishment before calling it a night. Since opening, Tamaki's business has been on an upward trajectory, especially after he has cut a deal with Jeremiah to get the teal-haired man to supply his cafe with his delicious oranges from the Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm. He is also planning to expand his business into selling Black Knights-related merchandise, with the Guren figurine being the first of the many more to be sold to his cafe customers in the coming days.

As Tamaki is cleaning the bar table, he suddenly starts to rethink the screening event he was invited to two weeks ago at Ashford Academy.

"What a guy… my man Zero actually sacrificed himself for the world!" Tamaki exclaims as he recalls what he saw at the screening event while sweeping the floor of his cafe. Suddenly, he sees a magazine that is left on the stool by a customer. He casually flips through the magazine, but stops at the ad page as he sees something that piques his interest.

"Hmph? A cafe for sale?" he says to himself as he reads the particulars printed on the page, "Damn, that's a pretty good location for business!"

Tamaki quickly does the mathematics: thanks to his previous position as the treasurer of Kouzuki's resistance cell and later that of the Black Knights until Zero stripped that from him and transferred it to Ohgi, Tamaki is actually pretty good at doing calculation.

"Right, this works for me!" Tamaki gets excited at the prospect of getting a new store to make his business a franchise, "1 week to contact and negotiate with the owner of this on-sale cafe, 1 week to arrange for all the legal and loan stuff, a month and a half for renovation while recruiting new staff, 1 to 2 weeks of test opening, and then I will have my second cafe! I should make it 'Cafe Zero 2' in honour of my best bud Zero! And then I will invite the whole gang to my new cafe for its grand opening party and to let them know how great of a cafe owner this Shinichirou Tamaki really is!"

Tamaki has made up his mind to do just that. As he becomes excited and speeds up his sweeping of the floor, he also wonders if it would be possible for him to publish something one day to tell the world about his fiery friendship with his "best bud" Zero.

(1 month after the screening event)

Vermillion Forbidden City, Luoyang, United States of China

"…and that concludes my report on the affairs of state," Xianglin Zhou, Tianzi's Private Secretary, finishes her report to the Symbol of Unity of the United States of China. While Tianzi does not possess the actual power to run the Chinese Government, she still retains the right to be informed about what is happening in her country on a regular basis.

"Okay," Tianzi seems bored by Xianglin's report, but her strong sense of duty has propelled her to grin and bear it, making sure she knows about the livelihood of her people.

Xianglin actually feels bad for the 14-year-old girl, having to bear the weight of her country and never had the chance to enjoy her childhood and adolescence like how normal children and teenagers would.

"Your Majesty, I have some good news for you," Xianglin decides to give back a little bit of happiness to the poor young girl who is born a prisoner of the Vermillion Forbidden City.

"Good news?" Tianzi is puzzled. Xianglin usually only reports boring stuff to her. What good news can she possibly bring?

"I heard from Chairwoman Sumeragi that during the screening event you have attended about a month ago, you have expressed your wish to visit Ashford Academy's school festival this year?" Xianglin asks.

"Yes! I want to try the 12-metre (39.4-feet) pizza!" Tianzi answers enthusiastically.

Xianglin smiles. "Chairwoman Sumeragi has just informed me earlier that Mr Rivalz Cardemonde, the Student Council President of Ashford Academy, has indicated to us his intention to invite you as one of the guests of honour of their school festival. Would you be inclined to accept Mr Cardemonde's invitation?"

"Really?" Tianzi exclaims in excitement.

"Yes, Your Majesty," Xianglin smiles as she hands the invitation card to the excited girl.

"I will go! I will go!" Tianzi answers cheerfully after she has read the invitation card.

"Very well, I shall let Chairwoman Sumeragi know of your intention to accept Mr Cardemonde's invitation," Xianglin bows respectfully.

"Yay!" Tianzi cheers. She is totally excited of the prospect of going to a fun event with her best friend and a chance to see a giant pizza in a month's time.

Xianglin smiles at the sight of a happy Tianzi. 'General Li, can you see how happy Her Majesty is now from wherever you are?' she quietly muses to her deceased superior. Noticing how Tianzi is missing the ordinary pleasures of being a teenage girl, Xianglin is also thinking of arranging the young Chinese leader to attend school as well – upon learning Nunnally's decision to abdicate from the Britannian throne, Xianglin figures that Cornelia, the ever caring elder sister of the last Empress of Britannia, would likely be arranging Nunnally to go back to school as well, and Xianglin believes it would be an excellent idea to coordinate with Cornelia to see if Tianzi and Nunnally can go to the same school together, making sure that Tianzi will not be alone in a new environment. By doing so, the Xianglin can also devote more time to matters relating to her other capacity as Deputy Chief of the Black Knights.

(2 months after the screening event)

St Dympna's Mental Hospital, Tullahoma, Principality of Britannia

Kiersten Consalvo still feels surreal the moment she steps out of St Dympna's Mental Hospital, the place she has been held up in the past two years. Having shoulder-length dark blue hair and dark green eyes, she is an average high school student one can easily find anywhere across Britannia.

Kiersten used to live in Area 11 and studied at Ashford Academy, but right before the start of the Black Rebellion, she and her family were evacuated from the war-struck area and moved back to the Homeland. Just as her parents were glad that they have all escaped from a serious military conflict, strange things started to happen to their precious daughter: every night, Kiersten would start sleepwalking out of their home in Tullahoma while holding whatever sharp object she could find nearby, and she would start to attack people with the sharp object if anyone tried to stop her. Mr and Mrs Consalvo have tried various methods, including using multiple locks on the door to stop their daughter from getting out of their house, removing any sharp objects inside their house, and even tying their daughter to her bed at night to stop her from doing the extraordinary things she had been doing, but either to no avail or caused great suffering to their darling daughter. They sought medical help, but none of the doctors or psychiatrists could find out why Kiersten would exhibit such strange symptoms. As it was becoming more and more apparent that Kiersten could become extremely dangerous at night if she could get a hold of a sharp object, she was sent to a highly secured infirmary cell at the St Dympna's Mental Hospital for treatment.

Kiersten was frustrated and crushed by her strange symptoms, mainly because it has only happened at night and she had no recollection of it even if she deliberately stayed awake at night. She had begged her attending psychiatrist to release her, but after being shown the tapes of how she would hold a sharp object in her hand at night and how, even without a sharp object, she would start punching the walls of the infirmary cell if not being restrained to her bed, she had lost hope of ever being able to get out of the mental hospital.

Two months ago, just as she was about to give up everything and commit suicide, her mind was suddenly hit by some supernatural power, allowing her to recall a rather peculiar episode during her time at Ashford Academy: Lelouch Lamperouge, the "Ice Prince" of Ashford Academy, approached her and ordered her to carve a mark on a wall inside the Ashford Academy every day at a particular time. She couldn't understand what happened and why did she recall such strange memory out of the blue, but the day after she was hit by the supernatural power, her attending psychiatrist came to inform her, with excitement, that she didn't struggle to get rid of the restraints put on her the night before. After two more months of careful observation, her attending psychiatrist was satisfied with the conclusion that she was no longer suffering from the mental illness that has plagued her in the past two years, and agreed to discharge her from the mental hospital.

"Kiersten!" Mr and Mrs Consalvo were informed by St Dympna's earlier, and they are already standing outside the hospital building to wait for their daughter to be discharged. As they see Kiersten stepping out of the hospital building, they rush to their daughter and hugs her tightly.

"Mum, dad! I'm back!" Kiersten cries as she hugs her parents back tightly as well, "I'm sorry… to have you worried about me…"

"Shh, don't say that, darling," Mrs Consalvo says, "we are your parents, of course we care about you!"

"Kiersten, is there anything you want to do? Anything?" Mr Consalvo asks caringly, "just tell us and we will do whatever it takes to make it come true."

Kiersten thinks for a moment. "I… want to go back to school," the blue-haired girl says, "I really miss the fun school life when being locked in that infirmary cell."

Mr and Mrs Consalvo gaze at each other for a moment before Mrs Consalvo produces a booklet from her handbag and hands it to Kiersten. "Darling, we have been contacted by a local education officer a few days ago, and she said she could arrange you to attend this school for your matriculation," Mrs Consalvo explains.

Kiersten receives the booklet, and she sees the words "Lady Monica Kruszewski Memorial Community College – Admission Guide for Prospective Students" printed on its cover.

"The education officer says that you can do an associate degree there, or to transfer your academic credits to a four-year university later to earn your bachelor degree if you so chooses," Mrs Consalvo continues, "if you accept this offer, she can also help you to apply for the 'Lady Dorothea Ernst Memorial Scholarship for Students with Interrupted Formal Education' offered by the General Andreas Darlton Memorial Foundation, which would help to cover the schooling expenses."

Kiersten thinks about what her mother has just told her as she flips through the booklet. She actually wants to return to the Ashford Academy to continue her study as she really enjoys the freedom she had while studying there, but she also realizes that after almost two years in St Dympna's, most of her classmates or acquaintances back at Ashford Academy have either graduated or moved back to the Britannian Homeland already, meaning that returning to Ashford Academy would be no different than starting anew at this Lady Monica Kruszewski Memorial Community College. Also, since her family has moved back to the Britannian Homeland, and that Area 11 has become an independent nation already, it would be quite some logistics nightmare to her parents if she insists to go back to Ashford Academy to continue her studies.

"Alright! I think I will accept the offer," Kiersten replies happily as she now knows that she can be finally back to school after two years of infirmary cell life. As she starts to look forward to her renewed school life ahead, she suddenly remembers something and pulls out two big, round oranges from her bag, "here, have one of these! They taste really good!" Kiersten says to her parents as she gives one each to her father and mother.

Mr and Mrs Consalvo receive the oranges from their daughter curiously. "Who gave you these oranges?" Mr Consalvo asks as he notices a small label stuck onto the orange, "'Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm'? Hmm… these oranges look well-cultivated. Must be very juicy inside."

"A pink-haired girl gave them to me this morning as I was getting ready to leave St Dympna's," Kiersten recalls, "she said she and her co-worker, who was a tall man with a large frame covering his left eye, were delivering oranges to St Dympna's, and she said she wanted to give me the three extra oranges that she had with her. I tried one and it tasted really good!"

"That's a really nice girl you have encountered," Mrs Consalvo comments casually as she is feeling and observing the orange Kiersten has just given to her. Mr Consalvo then started the engine and drives his wife and daughter back home.

"Mission accomplished," a pink-haired girl with a poker face standing behind the corner of the hospital building says on her mobile phone as she sees the Consalvos driving away from St Dympna's.

"Well done, Anya," Jeremiah, the owner of the Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm, says on the other side of the phone, "I shall report to Zero that Her Majesty's order has been faithfully carried out in full."

(2 months after the screening event)

The Dallas Research Institute, Dallas, Principality of Britannia

Right after they have got back from the screening event and knowing from the final bits of the first disc how lacking Lloyd has been in terms of cybersecurity, Cecile has forced Lloyd to review all the passwords he has set in the various systems he is working on, and it took Lloyd almost two weeks to check, validate and completely get rid of all the "pudding passwords" he gave to the various security checks in those systems, replacing them with more appropriate ones. After two weeks of excruciating work on replacing all his passwords with something else other than his favourite food item, he has since been working with both Cecile and Nina on monitoring the manufacturing of something known as the "Frame Coat", an additional layer of armour created by Shanti Chawla, a child prodigy and the younger sister of Rakshata, that would increase the defence ability of a Knightmare Frame immensely at the expense of its agility. Given the incredible speed of the 9th Generation of Knightmare Frames, however, the loss in agility is quite acceptable in exchange for the defence boost. After nearly a month and a half of hard work, they are now entering the final stages of the production of Frame Coat.

"AHA! This will be something exciting to see once the Frame Coat is manufactured and put onto my Lancelot Albion Zero!" Lloyd says cheerfully, "when will they start the production of it?"

"I heard they have started the production process yesterday," Nina answers, "With the appropriate quality control process in place, the Frame Coat for the Lancelot Albion Zero will probably be completed in a month's time."

"That would be a significant upgrade for the Lancelot Albion to have," Cecile says, "now that there is no more large scale war, it is the defence ability of the Knightmare Frames that would be the most important factor for all future peacekeeping missions and humanitarian efforts."

"Not bad to switch the direction of research for some fresh thinking!" Lloyd says, "after all, we have been too focus on the speed and attack power of Knightmare Frames for a very long time, and the defence capability of a Knightmare Frame is actually a relatively new territory for us."

"Indeed so," suddenly, a soothing female voice that does not belong to Cecile and Nina comes from behind the three scientists.

"Aah…! Huh? Agent Shinozaki?" Nina squeaks as she was surprised and scared by the sudden voice coming from behind her, until she finds out who the voice belongs to – Sayako Shinozaki, formerly maid of the vi Britannia siblings and currently an agent of the UFN and the Black Knights.

"AHA! It has been a while since we last met!" Lloyd greets the "Supermaid" who had played a key role in learning everything about Schneizel's plan while in Cambodia and instrumental in transmitting such information to Jeremiah and Lelouch, "to what do we owe the pleasure of seeing the 37th Successor of the Shinozaki School of martial arts?"

"It has indeed been a while, Dr Asplund, Ms Croomy and Ms Einstein," Sayako greets the three scientists as well before producing three finely designed envelopes out of thin air, each with the name of the three scientists respectively, "I have some great news for you."

Lloyd, Cecile and Nina are slightly surprised to see three letters suddenly appear on Sayako's hands, but then quickly realizes that things with the ninja maid are usually difficult to explain, and so they turn their attention to the letter they get from Sayako instead and open the envelopes, only to find an even more finely handwritten letter from and signed by Schneizel el Britannia, now Chief of Staff of the UFN.

"Agent Shinozaki, this is…" Cecile asks unsurely as she finishes reading the letter.

"Yes, the Chief of Staff of the UFN would like to invite you and all staff members of the Camelot Engineering Corps to join the research arm of the UFN and Black Knights," the black-haired Japanese woman nods with a warm smile on her face.

"AHA! Seems like His Highness still hasn't forgot his old unit after all!" Lloyd laughs as he finishes reading his letter from the former patron of where he has been working for at least the past two years. Next to Lloyd, Cecile is also thrilled at the opportunity of working with the research arm of the two largest international organizations post-Zero Requiem as well.

However, contrary to how excited Lloyd and Cecile is, Nina looks worried, to say the least.

"What's wrong, Nina?" Cecile notices the worried-looking bespectacled girl after the blue-haired beauty's initial exhilaration and asks the dark green-haired girl concernedly.

"Ms Croomy, this…" Nina stutters before mustering enough courage to continue, "This will not be another attempt of Prince Schneizel to… to… to exploit us…"

'I see, Nina sees the parallel between this invitation and the last one, and she fears that…' Cecile immediately notices why Nina is wary of this invitation from Schneizel – the bespectacled girl's mind is still plagued by the traumatic memory of being exploited into developing the most devastating weapon in the world. She immediately holds Nina's hand to try to calm the agitated young genius and the inventor of F.L.E.I.J.A. down, "Nina, it's alright," she says.

"Ms Croomy…" Nina still trembles a bit in fear as she once again recalls all the nightmares she had after the first F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead was dropped at Tokyo that took away more than 25 million lives, "What if Prince Schneizel…"

"Nina," Lloyd suddenly calls Nina's name in a serious tone.

"…Dr Asplund?" Nina is surprised. She hasn't seen this side of Lloyd for quite some time since the end of the screening event held at Ashford Academy two months ago.

"Remember what I told you when you asked me about the meaning of the destruction caused by the F.L.E.I.J.A.?" Lloyd asks.

"Uhm… yes," Nina hesitates at first, but decides to answer nonetheless, "that I must make a choice of either throwing science away to preserve my humanity, or to sacrifice my humanity for the sake of science."

"Correct," Lloyd says before continuing, "However, that also depends on what you are trying to achieve by endeavouring in the realm of science. Tell me, Nina," Lloyd looks directly into Nina's eye, "what do you want to achieve as a scientist?"

"I… I don't know…" Nina stutters at such a difficult question, before letting her real thought coming out as she doesn't know how to polish her answer, "I… just want to do whatever I can to correct my mistake…"

"Well, that clears your problem, doesn't it?" Lloyd suddenly reverts back to his cheerful tone, stunning Nina once again, "as long as you know what you are doing, you brilliant mind will guide you to tread the path of science correctly in order to bring you closer to your goal!"

"Dr Asplund…" Nina is starting to see the way forward.

"Dr Asplund is right, Ms Einstein," Sayako chimes in as she sees Nina being convinced by Lloyd, "and just to assure you of how things are now, Prince Schneizel has been placed under Master Lelouch's Geass to serve Master Zero, and Master Zero has already instructed Prince Schneizel to never deploy or develop any weapons of mass destruction anymore. Plus you will have the opportunity to work with Dr Rakshata Chawla as well."

The mentioning of Rakshata has aroused excitement in Nina's mind. So she is going to have the honour to work alongside not only Lloyd and Cecile, but the Indian scientific genius as well? That's basically the dream working environment for any young scientists such as the dark green-haired girl herself!

"See, the game is set and match!" Lloyd exclaims with excitement, "His Majesty has had it all worked out, and there's nothing to worry about!"

"Will you join us once again, Nina?" Cecile smiles warmly to Nina as she gives an inviting hand to the bespectacled girl.

"Of course, Ms Croomy!" Nina finally shows a beautiful smile as she answers in the affirmative, "I am excited to work with Dr Asplund, you and all our colleagues at the Camelot once again!"

Cecile smiles back at Nina as the Camelot Engineering Corps are ready to head to their next destination.

(2 months after the screening event)

Imperial Summer Palace, San Francisco, Principality of Britannia

After the abolition of the Empire and the formation of the Principality, the Britannian Government moves its seat back to the rebuilt Pendragon, but Nunnally gets to keep the Imperial Summer Palace as the official residence for the members of the former Imperial Family.

Cornelia and Guilford are walking down the corridors inside the summer palace after having attended yet another meeting with Nunnally, ironing out the details of arranging Nunnally to go back to school after she has abdicated from the Britannian throne. Earlier, the purple princess has received a call from Xianglin Zhou, Tianzi's Private Secretary, enquiring on the possibility of sending both Tianzi and Nunnally back to school together in order for them to enjoy their teenage years more besides serving in their respective official capacities as the Symbol of Unity of China and the Honorary Consultant of WHA. Cornelia thinks Xianglin's idea is an excellent one, and as an action-oriented military leader, she quickly goes to set the wheels in motion by contacting Milly, who then swiftly helps with arranging both Tianzi and Nunnally to attend Ashford Academy starting next school term. Things get even better when Margaret Walpole, the EU President, also expresses interest in attending Ashford Academy after catching wind that her two counterparts are going to attend the prestigious school in Japan starting next school term. While still serving in their official capacities, the three teenage girls are now set to spend their best years together very soon.

Meanwhile, Cornelia is also thinking about the operations of the General Andreas Darlton Memorial Foundation, a charity named after one of her closest allies, colleagues and friends who unfortunately got killed during the Black Rebellion about two years ago. "How's Claudio doing with running the Foundation named after his adoptive father?" Cornelia asks Guilford as they slowly walk down the corridors, "Is everything going alright? Is my help required?"

"Claudio is doing fine with running the Foundation, Your Highness," Guilford answers respectfully, "I gather the Foundation has recently set up some scholarships for young people who missed their formal education due to the wars in the past two years, and Claudio has been liaising with schools and universities across Britannia to discuss arrangements regarding identifying, assessing and sending those qualified young people back to school to continue their formal education and become a functioning and participating member of the society once again. In fact, that young lady who was placed under Lelouch's Geass and got held up at a mental hospital for almost two years has just been offered a scholarship funded by the Foundation to continue her studies at a Community College after Lord Gottwald had lifted the Geass placed on her."

"Good to know," Cornelia says before she sighs reminiscently as she thinks back the footage she had watched at the screening event organized by Nunnally two months ago, "I'm sure Darlton would be proud of his lone surviving adoptive son…"

"I'm sure General Darlton would, Your Highness," Guilford says as he is also reminiscing his fallen colleague, mentor and friend.

After a brief moment of silence as the princess and her knight reminiscing their fallen friend, Guilford decides to ask the question he has always wanted to ask Cornelia since their meeting with Nunnally, Zero, Schneizel and Kanon almost two months ago. "Your Highness, are you sure you want to accept General Tohdoh's invitation to join the Black Knights?" Guilford asks concernedly, "after all, they are only giving you the rank of Lieutenant General, which I believe to be a bit too underwhelming to reflect your actual capability and achievement as a military leader."

"Of course, Guilford," Cornelia answers, "Where else can I go to continue my military career? And don't worry about the rank. What I said to Villetta on the Ikaruga also applies to me, and in this case, as long as I can continue with my military career, I'm content."

"Well, there is always the Glinda Knights for consideration," Guilford suggests as both of them have finally got back to Cornelia's office, "and I am sure they would have offered you the rank of General."

Cornelia turns around, leans against her large office table and faces Guilford, "…Guilford, you are not seriously suggesting that I join Nonette's playground, are you?" Cornelia says as she feels a chill going down her spine at the thought of being toyed around by that wild senior of hers once again since their time spent together in the military academy.

"Err…" Guilford also has no words to say about Nonette's presence in the Glinda Knights, "Well, perhaps you are right, and I shudder to think how Lady Zevon is dealing with Lady Enneagram right now. Though I thought you've not yet forgiven Lelouch, and to join an organization that he had founded may be a bit…"

Cornelia sighs at the mentioning of her deceased estranged brother. "I have thought about it for quite some time after seeing the whole truth behind Lelouch's actions," she begins, "and I realize why I still can't forgive Lelouch: it is because he has blocked all avenues for me to punish him for his crimes against Euphy and Darlton."

Guilford is puzzled. "But Your Highness, hasn't Lelouch paid for his sins by sacrificing his life and reputation for the betterment of the world already?" he asks.

"That's the thing. What he did makes it impossible for me to avenge Euphy and Darlton," Cornelia explains, "Lelouch's final act might have sever the chain of hatred at large, but it did nothing to redress Euphy's tainted name and honour because he merely forced everyone to forget everything about her, nor did it recompense the confusion and shame he had inflicted on Darlton, since Lelouch's death was realized all according to his own plan to the letter. Moreover, since Lelouch had staged his death already, there is no way I could bring him to justice: he used his death and his infamy as the basis of this new, peaceful world, so cursing and condemning him is not punishing him, but helping him to achieve what he wanted. Even if I am spiteful enough to posthumously execute him, which I am not, that would only help with his goals even further. Tell me, Guilford, how else could I avenge Euphy and Darlton, who had been serious wronged by him and died when what they stood for and what they believed in were utterly humiliated by the power of Geass?"

Guilford finally realizes where his princess' frustration comes from after learning the truth behind the Zero Requiem. "Your Highness…" he hesitates.

Cornelia sighs. "Guilford, call me a petty woman, but I simply cannot forgive what Lelouch had done to Euphy, Darlton and the many others who've served me with nothing but dedication and loyalty. I myself was frustrated to find myself unable to forgive Lelouch even after witnessing him sacrificing himself to allow mankind to move into the future, without knowing what exactly stopped me from forgiving Lelouch. Even after I have realized why I cannot forgive Lelouch, I still can't find a way to remove that hurdle in my mind that prevents me from finally letting go of my vengeful feelings against Lelouch. Of course, I could have endeavoured to destroy this peaceful world that he had created and made his effort in building it down the tube as his punishment, but obviously he'd already realized that I would never do that." 'And even if I published Lelouch's cross-dressing photos that Lady Ashford sent me last week to the public, it will simply add a perverted side to Lelouch's tyrant image that further helps with his intention, and possibly garner another hoard of fangirls for him…' Cornelia quietly muses the unspoken part with a tiny tint of red on her cheeks as she thinks back Lelouch's embarrassing cross-dressing photos Milly sent to her last week. The purple princess may despise Lelouch and has lost her respect to Marianne ever since she has learnt the true nature of Marianne from the screening event, but that doesn't mean she cannot appreciate how demonically beautiful Lelouch was when he cross-dressed and wore a wig with long, wavy black hair on his head, who looked exactly like the former 5th Imperial Consort to Cornelia's father. Actually, during her meeting with Nunnally just now, the younger Britannia sister was simply exhilarated to finally get to see her elder brother's cross-dressing photos to the point where she almost screamed loud enough to cause a false alarm to the security details in the Palace. Cornelia can only imagine what would happen to the female population in the world if she ever publishes those photos to the public.

"Your Highness, you are definitely not a petty woman," Guilford assures his liege, "the fact that you knowingly leaves out the only way to subside your vengeance against Lelouch is sufficient proof of your magnanimity."

"If Lelouch ever comes back to life and stands in front of me, I'm still going to kill him," Cornelia snorts. However, Guilford knows better: Cornelia may be tough on the outside, but she is really a big softie inside, especially to her younger siblings. In the hypothetical situation of Lelouch coming back to life, all he needs to get Cornelia to forgive him is to be honest, humble and sincere to her, though none of those were Lelouch's strong suit and may prove to be difficult for him, at least according to what Guilford had seen and learnt about Lelouch during the screening event. Also, Guilford can tell that Cornelia has a tint of proudness in her tone whenever she mentions Lelouch. 'Her Highness is actually proud of what Lelouch had done for the world, but simply refuses to acknowledge it. I remember Mr Tamaki once mentioned to me about how to refer to this type of woman… "tsundere" if I recall correctly. I wonder what that literally means, though?' the bespectacled knight thinks inwardly.

Just as Guilford is still contemplating whether his princess is a tsundere or not, Cornelia puts down the file on her desk and says, "You know, Guilford, you don't need to address me as 'Your Highness' or 'Princess' anymore, since I am no longer one."

"Huh?" Guilford is taken by surprise, "But Your Highness, I have sworn my lifelong loyalty to you back then as your personal knight!"

"The Empire is no more, Guilford," Cornelia sighs, "when there is no princess, there is no knight…"

"You are my princess!" Guilford suddenly interjects, taking Cornelia by surprise, "even though the Empire is no more, even though times have changed, you will forever be my one and only princess. And as long as you accept me and my loyalty, I will forever be your knight." The loyal man declares.

Cornelia is touched by Guilford's heartfelt words, and tears start to swell on her bluish violet eyes. 'Oh, Guilford, you foolish, stubborn man…' she muses with happiness before she wipes away the tears in her eyes, putting up a stoic expression on her face and standing regally before Guilford.

"Kneel before me, Guilford," Cornelia orders.

Guilford is taken by a bit of a surprise, but quickly complies and kneels down before his purple princess.

"Gilbert G.P. Guilford," Cornelia begins, "wilt thou upon this day once again pledge thy fealty to me, Cornelia li Britannia, and stand as my Knight?"

"Yes, Your Highness," Guilford replies solemnly.

"Dost thou still wish to abandon thyself and be sword and shield for my sake?" Cornelia continues.

"Yes, Your Highness," Guilford affirms again.

Cornelia nods and holds out her right hand with the palm facing down, to which Guilford gladly receives the hand and touches the knuckles with his lips.

"I, Cornelia li Britannia, notwithstanding the permanent vacation of the imperial throne and the lack of imperial authority thereof, do hereby accept thy fealty and privately reaffirm thee as my personal knight," Cornelia says solemnly as she turns her right palm towards the sky and gave a light pull to Guilford, "you may rise, my knight."

Guilford stands up as prompted, only to be pulled by Cornelia towards her as she hugs him tightly.

"Thank you, my knight," Cornelia murmurs as she buries her head into Guilford's broad shoulder.

"Princess…" Guilford suddenly feel an urge coming to his mind that he has never experienced before – he touches Cornelia's chin and gently lifts her face up.

"Huh…?" Cornelia is puzzled by Guilford's rather unusual action, but nevertheless raises her face and looks into Guilford's light blue eyes behind his pair of specially coloured protective glasses. "Guilford, what…!"

She can never finish her sentence as Guilford lowers his head and seals her lips with his own. While utterly surprised at first, Cornelia's eyes swiftly turn mellow as she feels happiness filling her mind. 'So you are finally taking the lead now, my dear knight?' She muses as she closes her eyes and embraces her loyal personal knight with all her heart.

(2.5 months after the screening event)

Ashford Academy, Neo-Tokyo, United States of Japan

"Congratulations, everyone!" Milly waves her hand as she approaches her friends in graduation gowns, standing in the lawn and taking photos together.

"Prez!" Rivalz exclaims excitedly as he also waves his hand to the alumnus of the Academy and now famous K-TV news reporter.

"Madam President!" "Milly!" Shirley, Kallen and Gino also wave their hands to the former she-devil of Ashford Academy. Anya simply nods to Milly.

Due to all that happened in the former Tokyo Settlement, the school year has been interrupted by wars and conflicts, and graduates of the current academic year were forced to delay their graduation ceremony to allow more time to complete the school curriculum necessary for admission to universities or vocational schools. Because of the compressed and delayed school year, the school administration has decided to merge the graduation ceremony with the school festival that Rivalz' student council has worked so hard in organizing, making the school festival essentially a grand graduation party for the graduates as well.

"Here are your flowers!" Milly takes out five small flower bouquets from her large paper bag and hands them to her five friends graduating from Ashford today. After each of them has taken a photo with Milly, they start to talk about their future.

"I'm returning to the Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm to continue cultivating and selling oranges with Jerry," Anya says. She has actually completed her studies earlier than most people in order to spare more time to work on the orange farm, and she is here today to collect her high school diploma.

"I'm not sure what I want to do yet," Rivalz says, "but I will figure it out very soon! Now if you will excuse me, I need to get back to the stage to announce the arrival of our guests of honour for this year's Ashford School Festival!" he then rushes to the main stage at the other side of the lawn.

"I'm thinking of studying sport science in university!" Shirley says, "Although I can still change my mind in my junior year, since the first two years will be the general education curriculum."

"That's quite reasonable, considering you were one of the top swimmers of the swimming club," Milly says before she stares at Shirley's body, "…and that you're still a ten, although I haven't had the chance to verify that for quite some time since the last one."

"What, what are you talking about, you perv?" Shirley blushes hard as she tries to cover her body from Milly's lusty gaze, "I thought you're not into this kind of things anymore!" Shirley then runs away, red-faced and embarrassed.

Milly simply laughs happily at her orange-haired friend's expense before turning to the tall blond man of the group. "And I suppose you are going to serve as an officer of the Black Knights?"

"Yep! I have been a great Knightmare Frame pilot, and that's where I will shine. But since we have a peaceful world now, I think I will try moving towards the diplomatic profession and see if it fits me," Gino says cheerfully, "However, before that, I will simply enjoy the Ashford School Festival to the fullest!" He then drags Anya with him and runs off to look for fun things to do at the School Festival before he has to work hard again.

Milly shakes her head and rolls her eyes at how energetic Gino is when compared to the always quiet and stoic Anya, before finally turning to Kallen. "How about you, Kallen? What do you plan to do?"

"I don't really know," Kallen says, "I can return to the Black Knights and continue to be a Knightmare Frame pilot, but I am not sure whether I should do that without trying something else first. It would be like how I automatically defined Britannians as the bad people in the past, and I don't want to repeat the same mistakes again."

Milly smiles at Kallen's response. "I'm glad that you are considering things more than just being a Knightmare Frame pilot. I'm sure Lelouch would want you to explore other possibilities in life first before deciding what you really want to do as well."

Kallen is a bit surprised at how thoughtful Milly is, considering how she has just sexually harassed Shirley yet again.

"Greetings, ladies and gentlemen! I'm Rivalz Cardemonde, your friendly host of the Ashford Academy School Festival this year," Rivalz voice suddenly comes through the public announcement system while himself standing on the main stage, "I know you're all excited about our upcoming 12-metre (39.4 feet) giant pizza from our gigantic oven and the exotic dressing ball tonight in the school hall, but let us first welcome our guests of honour for today's event…!"

"Oh, seems like Rivalz is introducing the guests of honour of this year's school festival now!" Milly says, "I'd better go up front and take some good footage of them before my boss complains about me not doing so. Catch you later!" the K-TV news reporter then rushes to the main stage to cover the opening ceremony of the school festival, of which Rivalz has got Nunnally, Tianzi, Kaguya, Zero, Cornelia, Guilford, Tohdoh, Chiba, Villetta and Ohgi as the guests of honour, a true feat that is made possible thanks to the screening event Nunnally hosted a bit more than two months earlier.

"And now, the Ashford Academy school festival, which is the most open event in the Tokyo Settlement, is about to start!" Rivalz says proudly as he walks down the stage and approaches Milly, handing her the microphone.

"Huh…?" Milly is confused, and so is the crowd right before the stage. Why is the blue-haired student handing the microphone to the blonde TV reporter?

"Prez, the 'meow' promise, remember?" Rivalz whispers to Milly before announcing to the audience, "The festival will start with this voice!"

Milly finally remembers what she has promised to Rivalz back during the screening event. She then shows a big smile on her face before taking a deep breath and putting the microphone that Rivalz has just handed to her close to her lips:

"MEOW!"

"Woah…!" the crowd is electrified by a cute meowing sound from the popular K-TV news reporter. What a treat!

Kallen smiles warmly as she gazes at the main stage at the other side of the lawn, thinking back the screening event hosted by Nunnally two and a half months ago. 'Lelouch, the world has become a lot better since that eventful day,' the red-haired beauty muses, 'All the energy that was once expended on war is now being directed towards solving hunger and poverty. The world is finally free of the past, and everyone is able to move forward into the future. Are you laughing about how everything went according to your elaborate strategy right now, Lelouch?'

(3 months after the screening event)

Unknown Location

It is the second year of the Kowa era, about a year after Emperor Lelouch vi Britannia was defeated by Zero. The world was reorganized with UFN at its core, and the first year of the new era passed by with no threats of war or terrorism, remembered by history as "the miraculous tomorrow". Sadly, since conflict is part of the human nature, it is unavoidable that such peace will eventually come to an end.

It is a sunny day, and a yellow truck with its back covered by canvas is seen parked on a road right next to a river. A girl with ponytail style lime-coloured hair who is wearing a yellow hat, a reddish ethnic clothes, a dark green skirt with red and brown stripes near the bottom of it and a pair of brown knee-high boots sat on a rock next to the river, seemingly talking to someone on the phone. It was the long-disappeared C.C. The part of the canvas covering the back of the truck is flipped up a bit, and a mobile TV being placed at the end of the loading part of the truck, showing a cartoon programme for young children. Suddenly, the cartoon programme is interrupted by an urgent news flash.

"Breaking news: the WHA Honorary Consultant was abducted during a refugee camp inspection. Nunnally vi Britannia was taken by parties unknown, along with the Chief Advisor of the Black Knights…"

Feeling the news flash interrupting her phone conversation with someone, C.C. takes out a remote control to tune down the volume of the news flash airing on the mobile TV before she looks back at the river in front of her and continues to speak on the phone. "Wow, it's been over a year, hasn't it? Since I took the body from Jeremiah…" C.C. puts down the remote controller and refocuses herself to the phone conversation, "I really owe you one, Shirley. You were the only one who could move freely back then. It's just…"

C.C. looks downcast as she glanced to her left hand side while listening to what Shirley has to say before turning her eyes back to the river in front of her. The lime-haired girl then continues, "I see… so you have heard that from Anya…"

About 3 to 4 metres (9.84 to 13.1 feet) away from C.C., someone with a big hat covering his face and wearing a white shirt wrapped by a piece of yellow-brownish central Asian ethnic cloth is standing right in front of the river, gazing at it silently.

"Right, there's a gateway that Charles hadn't touched yet, and I am thinking of going there to place my bet on it…" C.C. continues her phone conversation with Shirley as a gust of wind suddenly blows off the hat that covers the standing person's face, revealing some smooth, raven-coloured hair and an extremely handsome face with a pair of lacklustre violet eyes, staring emptily at the river and void of any emotion – it is the supposedly dead Treacherous Emperor, Lelouch vi Britannia, in the flesh.

-The End-

AN: The Truth within the writing of "Truth within the Trilogy"

We have made it! 1000+ favourites, 1000+ followers, 1000+ reviews, and a 300k+ word count reached at the conclusion of this story – not too shabby for a first-time fanfic written by a first-time fanfic writer! Thank you for sticking around and reading my first ever fanfiction. It has been quite a journey and I would like to thank all those who favourited, followed and kept writing reviews every time I posted a new chapter – your continued support and input is what keeps me going and reaching the end of it.

I have refrained from responding to some earlier criticisms on how I write my story and the speculations about certain particulars of my profile until now for the sake of not spoiling the plot of my story, and I believe I owe my loyal readers who have stayed till the end some proper answers to those criticisms, accusations and speculations made by some reviewers. So be it – here comes the truth within the writing of this "Truth within the Trilogy":

Q1: Do you hate Lelouch? Why do you bash Lelouch so much in your story?

A1: I don't hate Lelouch. Quite to the contrary, he is one of my favourite characters I have ever come across, and that's why despite being more of a reader than a writer of fanfictions, I have mustered enough motivation to spend days and weeks sitting in front of my computer to write this story.

Difficult as it may be for some to believe, I did not so-call "bash" Lelouch in this story at my pleasure; quite to the contrary, I am obligated to write the story in the way it is because of some higher comments and directions handed down to my writer-self. In fact, I actually got worried when I was writing the SAZ-Black Rebellion arc as I realized how my writer-self differed from my reader-self in terms of how Lelouch is being viewed upon. The exact meaning of "higher comments and directions" will be elaborated and discussed later.

Q2: You have stated in your profile that your favourite character is Cornelia li Britannia. Is it true that while you claim your story to be based on the Movie Trilogy, you have actually cherry-picked some scenes from the original TV animation series to bash Lelouch in order to make Cornelia seems incredibly positive in this story?

A2: First, I did not cherry-pick scenes in writing this story. For those who are enthusiastic and meticulous enough to actually compare the bold text part of this story with the actual Movie Trilogy, they would have found that with the sole exception of a small segment in Chapter 24, all bold text in this story is written strictly in accordance to what is being shown in the Japanese version of the Movie Trilogy and not the original TV animation series (I converted the Japanese monologues/dialogues into English with reference to other available English dub scripts while ridding mistranslations, improving semantic structure, putting back lost translation due to cultural differences or niceties, ensuring the lines reflect what is being shown in the Movie Trilogy instead of the original TV animation series, etc.). The exception made in Chapter 24 will be explained and elaborated later.

Second, I did not so-call "bash" Lelouch in order to make Cornelia seems incredibly positive in this story. In fact, if I were to do that, the following Lelouch-Cornelia comparison would have appeared in this story for such purpose:

(a) Episode 25, R1 (Theme: different ways of treating comrades): Juxtaposing Cornelia's best attempt to help a rank-and-file soldier insignificant to the command chain of her army to get back on his feet with Lelouch's effortless discarding of the severely injured Ohgi, his deputy commander key to the command chain of his army;

(b) Episodes 11 and 20, R2 (Theme: different ways of treating someone who is not close, but immensely useful): Comparing how Lelouch almost casually marrying off the underage and powerless Tianzi to Tohdoh or Tamaki for Lelouch's own political gain with how Cornelia offering heartfelt advice to Villetta on not to see peerage as the only thing that matters in life for Villetta's own sake; and

(c) Episode 16 of R1 and Episode 22 of R2 (Theme: different ways of treating half-siblings): Contrasting how Cornelia still feels bad and thinks about the loss of Lelouch, Nunnally and Clovis well after their actual or supposed demise with how Lelouch not only geasses Odysseus, Guinevere and Carine into recognizing him as emperor, but also humiliates them by making Odysseus an insignificant foot soldier and Guinevere and Carine as lowly housemaids, all while with the full knowledge that none of them are responsible for Marianne's death or the plight he and Nunnally have gone through in Area 11.

None of the above comparison appeared in my story for two simple reasons: (i) all of the above scenes, with the exception of the Cornelia-Villetta scene, are from the original TV animation series that were not shown in the Movie Trilogy; and (ii) I did not write this story to so-call "bash" Lelouch in order to make Cornelia to seem incredibly positive by comparison.

Q3: If that's the case, why did you put Cornelia as your favourite character? And you still haven't explained why you have deliberately made her incredibly positive in the story?

A3: I put Cornelia as my favourite character because I like her personality the most out of all the characters in Code Geass. As for the widespread scepticism or outright accusation in the reviews that I have deliberately made her incredibly positive in the story because she is my favourite character, now that I don't have to worry about spoiling the plot of my fanfiction anymore, I can finally give a resounding "no" to all those speculations. There are a number of very solid reasons why Cornelia has to be portrayed in such positive light regardless of my own views of her, not only because of her positioning in the Movie Trilogy, that paragraph in Chapter 34 that has summed up her life experience thus far and how she has come to be her current self, or how she truly loves each and every of her siblings despite being an imperial princess competing for the throne, but also the higher comments made on her by the people closest to "truth" of the Code Geass series. This will be elaborated and discussed later.

Q4: What exactly is your "historian style of writing" that you have claimed to have used in writing this fanfiction?

A4: I have mentioned before that I have been trying to write this novel from a neutral historian point of view. I chose this way of writing because of the nature of this fanfiction: this story is not about showing Lelouch to be a good person or a bad person; it is about showing the truth – what have actually happened in the two years of Lelouch's rebellion against Britannia. Similar to writing a credible academic paper, it would not be so much of a historian-style of writing if I don't put down a list of reference materials I have used to write this story at the end of this fanfiction:

Reference List by Chapter

Abbreviations:

CG: Code Geass

JVA: Japanese Voice Actor/Actress

MTU: Movie trilogy universe

VC1: Director and Cast Video Commentary on "Initiation" [Commentators: Goro Taniguchi (CG Director), Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch), Yukana (JVA of C.C.)]

VC2: Director and Cast Video Commentary on "Transgression" [Commentators: Goro Taniguchi (CG Director), Takahiro Sakurai (JVA of Suzaku), Ryota Fujitsu (Professional anime commentator and essayist; not involved in the production of CG)]

VC3: Director and Cast Video Commentary on "Glorification" [Commentators: Goro Taniguchi (CG Director), Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch), Kaori Natsuka (JVA of Nunnally)]

VC4: Director and Cast Video Commentary on "Re;surrection" [Commentators: Goro Taniguchi (CG Director), Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch), Takahiro Sakurai (JVA of Suzaku)]

Chapter 3 – Where All Begins

The concept of the new Movie Trilogy

In VC1, Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) asked Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) on the concept of the new Movie Trilogy in face of the existence of the original TV animation series. In response, Taniguchi explained that "Initiation" is the story of Zero; "Transgression" is the story of Suzaku; while "Glorification" is the story of Lelouch.

Chapter 6 – The False Classmate

The level of difficulty for the audience to truly understand the enigmatic Lelouch

In VC1, Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) mentioned that at the beginning of the recording of R1, he had been constantly told by the production team to "become a demon (ずっと「悪魔になれ、悪魔になれ」と言われて)" to the point where he actually doubted whether Lelouch really loves Nunnally from the bottom of his heart during the scene when Lelouch gets back to his house as Nunnally is having dinner, causing Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) to actually instruct Fukuyama explicitly "you have to really love Nunnally! Why is there a wall (between you and Nunnally)?" From this, Taniguchi also recalls that he actually got worried if something had happened between Fukuyama and Kaori Natsuka (JVA of Nunnally) when he saw Fukuyama seemingly having issues with voicing the scene in the way Taniguchi had instructed. Seeing that even the JVA of Lelouch, the person who was supposed to be fully synchronized with Lelouch, also had doubt on Lelouch's true thought about Nunnally, Taniguchi decided to insert the monologue 'I have to build a world where Nunnally can at least find happiness' towards the end of that scene in order to explicitly and unequivocally inform CG viewers that Lelouch indeed truly loves Nunnally from the bottom of his heart.

This piece of information serves as one of the bases for most characters in the audience, who know a lot less about Lelouch than the JVA of Lelouch, to have a tendency of assuming the worst when they are trying to decipher and understand Lelouch's thoughts, motives and actions, aside from the fact that a good portion of them have come out from the horrific experience of almost being executed by the "demon emperor" nine months prior to the start of this story, and that Lelouch has chosen to either lie to or deceive various people in the audience at various points of time to conceal the truth for various reasons to achieve his various objectives.

Chapter 8 – The Witch and the Princesses

Anya and Zero's remarks on the cruelty of the indefinite Geass order cast on the blue-haired female student (a.k.a. Kiersten Consalvo in this story) to carve a mark on the wall every day

Anya and Zero's comments on the indefinite Geass order cast on the blue-haired female student to carve a mark on the wall every day are based both on what they each have suffered from in terms of being a Geass victim (Suzaku suffers from the indefinite "live" Geass and Anya had suffered from Marianne's indefinite soul-inserting Geass before Jeremiah lifted it), as well as on what Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) had answered to a fan question "which Geass Lelouch had ever cast do you think was the cruelest?" at a CG event in Japan. Fukuyama recalled this episode of his in VC1 when watching and commenting on "Initiation" with Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) and Yukana (JVA of C.C.).

Cornelia arriving at Tokyo as the new Viceroy of Area 11

In VC1, Taniguchi remarked that in MTU, Cornelia arrives at Tokyo with the intention of prioritizing the maintenance of law and order in Area 11 and, by extension, the protection of the well-being of Britannian civilians over any other objective, avenging Clovis included. This has caused the Saitama Ghetto Ambush to never take place in MTU.

Characterization of Cornelia

In the "About Character" section of the official Japanese webpage for CG R2, Cornelia is described as "2nd Princess of Britannia. A heroine (烈女) who always stands at the forefront of the battlefield, feared by other countries as 'the witch (魔女)'."

In VC1, both Fukuyama and Yukana remarked that Cornelia as a person is a good person (いい人) and wonderful lady (素敵な女性). Yukana went further and opined that Cornelia is probably the only decent (まとも) person among the members of the Britannian Imperial Family, while Fukuyama doubted how come a decent person such as Cornelia could be the daughter of Charles (巻き毛, which literally means "curly hair", the nickname JVAs have given to Charles because of his hairstyle). In response, Taniguchi laughed and remarked that it was probably because of Cornelia's good upbringing thanks to her mother.

In VC4, Fukuyama noted that Cornelia is the most just person (一番正義の人) in the CG series, to which Taniguchi and Takahiro Sakurai (JVA of Suzaku) also agreed. Taniguchi immediately added that Cornelia is the firmest (しっかりする) and most resolute (筋(は)曲がらない) character of the series, to which both Fukuyama and Sakurai nodded in agreement. Furthermore, Fukuyama praised how strong and capable Cornelia is, and Taniguchi commented that the UFN is actually wary of a hypothetical situation where she might be able to single-handedly revive the Holy Britannian Empire because of how competent she actually is, and hence preemptively recruits her into the Black Knights post-Zero Requiem to prevent her from being powerful enough to do exactly that. During the scene when Cornelia tells Volvona Forgner, the commander-in-chief of Zilkhstan's army, to give up ordering his troops to eliminate both him and her by informing him that his soldiers understand well enough that Forgner is the last defender of the small, militaristic country, Fukuyama opined that only Cornelia would be convincing enough to say those words – not Lelouch, not Suzaku, and certainly not Ohgi, to which both Taniguchi and Sakurai agreed as well, reflecting Cornelia's unparalleled prestige and trustworthiness as an accomplished and respected military leader. Combined with how she is set to play her role in MTU, Taniguchi, Fukuyama, Sakurai and Yukana's comments regarding Cornelia serve as the basis for the portrayal of Cornelia in this story, her reactions to the scenes, as well as the audience's reactions towards Cornelia's scenes in this fanfiction.

More relevant information on the characterization of Cornelia will be detailed under "Chapter 20" of this list that would concurrently address specific matters pertaining to that Chapter.

Chapter 9 – Humans are Not Created Equal

Characterization of Odysseus and Schneizel (prior to the advent of the F.L.E.I.J.A.)

The paragraphs describing Odysseus' character and Schneizel's original intention and motive prior to the advent of the F.L.E.I.J.A. are written based on information mentioned by Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) in VC3.

Charles' eulogy to Clovis

In VC1, Taniguchi remarked that in the original TV series, Charles appears at Clovis' funeral for the first time as the leading antagonist, and hence his eulogy to Clovis is all about showing him as the "last boss" character; in MTU, however, since Charles has already appeared at the very beginning of "Initiation", the CG production team changed the acting direction given to Norio Wakamoto (JVA of Charles) and had him to give the eulogy with Charles' own brand of paternal love for Clovis instead. Taniguchi reiterated this point in VC2 and said that rather than being a villain, Charles is a bit more like a destination, a fatherly figure to Lelouch. Such change affected how Charles speaks to Lelouch during the confrontation between Lelouch and his parents before and during the Ragnarök Connection segment when compared to Episodes 20 and 21 of R2 in the original TV animation series, the details of which will be discussed under "Chapter 30" of this list.

The "ALL HAIL BRITAN~NIA" chant

In VC1, Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) mentioned that the JVA cast was confused on how to do the chant of the soldiers in the background after Wakamoto did it in a unique way, lengthening the sound between "Britan-" and "-nia" when he voiced Charles in MTU. Wakamoto's way of voicing the chant is duly reflected in this fanfiction by adding the "~" in between the two parts of the word "Britannia". Also, this is one of the only two phrases that have the distinction of being shown every time as a single, centred and all caps separate line in this fanfiction, in recognition of how iconic this phrase is in the CG story (the other phrase is "MEOW" during the Ashford School Festival in Chapters 16 and 35 of this story).

Chapter 10 – Who is Zero? I

Shirley chasing after Lelouch in various scenes in "Initiation"

Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) mentioned in VC1 that the Shirley in MTU has been casually dating Lelouch from the beginning.

"Shirley of the Re;surrection"

In an interview that followed the screening of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection", Fumiko Orikasa (JVA of Shirley) said that when she was first contacted by the production team for the production of the CG movie trilogy and "Re;surrection", she "felt heavy (気が重かった)" because she thought that she would have to experience the death of Shirley again (「またあれを…」). However, after she had been told by Taniguchi that Shirley would not die in the movie trilogy and once she had finished with the voice-recording session for the movie trilogy, she felt relieved that Shirley stays alive this time (「よかった、シャーリーが生きてる」), and to her, rather than "Lelouch of the Re;surrection", she wants the new film to be known to people as "Shirley of the Re;surrection (『復活のシャーリー』)". This shows Orikasa's emotional investment into Shirley because a hypothetical JVA of Shirley who has no attachment to the character would have preferred to play a scene where Shirley dies like how it happened in the original TV animation series for the practical reason that it is occupationally more challenging, satisfying and dazzling for a JVA to play tragic yet memorable scenes than merry but quotidian scenes. For Orikasa to prefer Shirley to survive than to die again, in which the latter would be more helpful to advancing her own JVA career, is a clear sign that she loves Shirley and cares for her survival in the series more than to treat the character as a stepping stone or booster of her own voice-acting career.

Chapter 11 – Guren Dances

The respective stance of Cornelia and Lelouch in the Battle of Narita

In VC1, Yukana (JVA of C.C.) commented on how Lelouch has "cowardly (卑怯で) caused significant damages (被害甚大) by choosing one of the (more devastating) options (on the course of action) he can think of" when the screen was showing the JLF troops being engulfed by the artificial landside, to which Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) also agreed. In response, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) said that Lelouch is powerful because he has nothing to protect in this Battle of Narita, whereas Cornelia has to, at least to a certain extent, protect the residents that she governs. Fukuyama then elaborated that more than having nothing to protect, it is Lelouch's lack of need to protect things while having an extremely clever mind that has made him to use nothing but sly means (ずるい手段) (to achieve his ends, which in this case is to isolate Cornelia, capture her and interrogate her for information regarding Marianne's death), to which Yukana nodded in agreement.

What Radiant Wave Surger really is

In VC1, when asked what "Radiant Wave Surger" really is, Taniguchi's answer was "an exceptionally strong microwave". Taniguchi's remark serves as the basis for the use of the verb "microwaving" when describing Guren's attack in subsequent chapters.

Chapter 12 – Battle of Narita

Lelouch learning the truth behind the death of Prime Minister Genbu Kururugi of Japan

Because the Mao arc is removed from MTU and the plot requires Lelouch to get to know Suzaku's best kept secret in order to enable him to pressure and persuade Suzaku to join the Black Knights during their confrontation on Shikine Island, the production team moved that part up to when C.C. is sending shock images to Suzaku while Lelouch touches C.C., thereby allowing Lelouch to see the images that flow through Suzaku and C.C.'s mind.

Chapter 13 – Who is Zero? II

Ohgi and Tamaki's explanation of why they half-bowed during the debut speech of the Black Knights made by Zero while everyone else stands straight and strong

In VC1, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) explained why Ohgi and Tamaki are in that peculiar pose when Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) asked about it, thus giving an official explanation on this matter for the first time.

Chapter 14 – Younger Sister or Best Friend?

Tamaki's thought on Ohgi's extreme good luck in finding love

This is written based on the reaction given to the same scene by Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) in VC1. Also, part of Tamaki's thought is a parody on the title of the animation / light novel series "Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?" or "DanMachi" for short.

Chapter 15 – I Order You, Suzaku Kururugi

Characterization of Chiba

Chiba questioning Zero the reason of appointing Diethard to the important position of Chief Intelligence Officer of the Black Knights solely on the basis of him being a Britannian serves as the basis for her natural anti-Britannian tendencies she has exhibited throughout this story.

Anya appearing inside Avalon

In VC2, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) explained that due to limited screen time of MTU, the CG production team wanted to introduce members of the Knights of the Round to the viewers as soon as possible, and hence why they had Anya to be in this scene in MTU.

Chapter 17 – Bloodstained Euphy

The emotionally-invested JVA Cast

In a special programme titled "コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ 女だらけのコタツ対談" sold with Newtype (a monthly ACG magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten) in April 2008, as Akeno Watanabe (JVA of Villetta), Fumiko Orikasa (JVA of Shirley) and Junko Minagawa (JVA of Cornelia) were discussing what happened in R1 prior to the first official airing of R2 in Japan, Minagawa had tears swelling in her eyes when she talked about what happens to Euphemia. Minagawa also mentioned that when she was being interviewed by a magazine on her role as Cornelia in the CG series, she sobbed when she was talking about the death of Euphemia as well.

In fact, Minagawa had invested her emotion into Cornelia so much, according to an interview that followed the screening of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection", Ami Koshimizu (JVA of Kallen) recalled that when the JVA cast received the script for this episode for the very first time back in 2006, those who had finished reading the script first went to Minagawa and advised her "it's better not to read the script now".

As a side note, even the JVA cast as a whole did not seem to sit well with what would happen to Euphemia when they received the script of this episode for the first time in 2006. In Episode 23 of the complementary CG internet radio programme "コードギアス 反逆の山々 DX" hosted by Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) and Noriaki Sugiyama (JVA of Rivalz) aired on 8 September 2007, Fukuyama recalled that when they first received the script of this episode and learnt that Euphemia would be gunned down by Lelouch, the entire JVA cast was shocked, and the recording session went blue (台本をもらって、「わあ。。。」でなって、いろいろうちで、収録の間にブルーになりました).

Chapter 18 – At Least with Sorrow

Villetta's comment on Lelouch being a dick for musing about how he loves Euphy as he guns her down

This is a dramatized version of a comment made on the same scene by Akeno Watanabe (JVA of Villetta) in a special programme titled "コードギアス 反逆のルルーシュ 女だらけのコタツ対談" sold with Newtype (a monthly ACG magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten) in April 2008, in which Watanabe discussed what happened in R1 with Fumiko Orikasa (JVA of Shirley) and Junko Minagawa (JVA of Cornelia) before the first official airing of R2 in Japan. Both Orikasa and Minagawa agreed with Watanabe's comment on that particular scene, with Orikasa further questioning "why would (Lelouch) say 'You were probably my first love' (to Euphemia)?" at that exact moment when Lelouch guns Euphemia down. Watanabe further recalled that the JVA cast at the time was sad about what has happened to Euphemia and thought that Lelouch is being a dick at that precise moment. Watanabe was 24 when she first voiced Villetta, who is 26, in R1. This is also separately mentioned by Omi Minami (JVA of Euphemia) in Episode 23 of the complementary CG internet radio programme "コードギアス 反逆の山々 DX" hosted by Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) and Noriaki Sugiyama (JVA of Rivalz) aired on 8 September 2007, in which she recalled that during the recording of that scene, the rest of the JVA cast sitting around and behind her (後ろの、周りの皆さん) were almost as if they were screaming "horrible (ひどい)!" to the tragic scene, to which Fukuyama added that the whole recording studio went silent because the rest of the JVA cast thought that it wasn't a good time for them to say anything about this horrid scene that they had just witnessed. Minami further mentioned that the moment she finished recording her part of the scene, she was bewildered by everyone else's silence and their warm gazes (暖かい目) shone on her.

Chapter 19 – The Collapsing Stage I

The Guren about to "microwave Suzaku into a chicken nugget" with its Radiant Wave Surger

The name "Suzaku" means "crimson bird (朱雀)" in Japanese, hence the use of the term "chicken nugget" to described a would-be nicely "microwaved" Suzaku.

Chapter 20 – The Broken Mask

Cornelia's fate and whereabouts after being geassed and interrogated by Lelouch on the rooftop of the Government Palace

In VC3, Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) observed that in the original TV animation series, Cornelia first appears as a heroine (女傑) at the start of the series, and then eventually becomes a decent person (まともな人) in R2. Fukuyama wondered if Cornelia was originally set to be like that in the original TV animation series, or did the production team change their plan in the middle that caused her characterization to change in R2.

In response, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) first clarified that Cornelia has always been a decent person (元々まともな人です). He then mentioned that the production team originally planned to have Lelouch to kill Cornelia at the end of R1, right after he is done with interrogating her for information about Marianne's death (similar to how Lelouch kills Clovis in cold blood right after Lelouch has extracted all the information Clovis knows about Marianne's death, which makes Clovis basically useless to Lelouch's ongoing quest for the truth behind Marianne's death), and her role in R2 was to be filled by yet another sibling of Lelouch by virtue of Charles' astonishingly potent reproductive ability. That didn't happen eventually because of four reasons: (i) the production team found Junko Minagawa's (JVA of Cornelia) interpretation of Cornelia too well to be forgone that it'd be a waste not to keep her around (yes, Cornelia averted death partly thanks to her JVA's splendid performance); (ii) since most of the time allowance for introducing characters in R2 to the viewers had already been spent on the new Knights of the Round, the production team deemed that there was insufficient time to properly introduce yet another member of the Imperial Family to play Cornelia's role in R2; (iii) there was the question of how to utilize Guilford in the story if Cornelia is gone; and (iv) the production team needed a strong and capable character to contrast and hence further accentuate the level of intellect Schneizel possesses. As a result, what eventually happened in the TV series (and MTU) was that a severely injured Cornelia is abandoned by Lelouch on the rooftop garden of the Government Palace as he rushes back to the Gawain to head to Kamine Island to rescue Nunnally, and Cornelia is returned to Britannia for a short period of time to recuperate. Once she has recovered, she abandons her imperial title and privileges and disappears from Britannia without telling anyone about it, embarking on her lone journey to clear Euphemia's tainted name.

The above information serves as the basis of how the relevant scenes were depicted in this Chapter, and as part of Lelouch's characterization alongside other relevant information that will be detailed under "Chapter 21" and "Chapter 26" of this list.

The Lelouch-Suzaku-Kallen three-way confrontation scene in the cave on Kamine Island

I am of the view that the limitations of the TV and movie media had forced the viewers to view the three-way confrontation among Lelouch, Suzaku and Kallen solely from Lelouch's perspective, and so my objective in writing this scene was to use the allowances afforded to me by text and the lack of time constraint to portray each cut of that segment through the lenses of each of the three characters, giving readers a taste of what they can see from the three characters' own perspectives during that exact moment. It has been the most challenging yet satisfying bit of this fanfiction that I have written (I have had at least 10 drafts for this particular scene before finalizing it), and I am simply proud of it – I think I am the few, if not the only fanfiction writer to actually present that scene from the perspectives of all three of them, including the always omitted detail of how Kallen trips herself as soon as Lelouch calls a truce with Suzaku and asks for his cooperation, and how she stares at her trembling hands with despair and shock on her face right after that. I hope my depiction of that scene would encourage CG fans to go back to episode 25 of R1 to watch it again, and try to understand both Kallen and Suzaku more before giving them the final verdict in regards to their actions taken and decisions made in that scene.

Chapter 21 – Knights of the Round

Trivia about the Knights of the Round

Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) mentioned in VC2 that the Knights of the Round were not created until the end of the airing of R1 in Japan, when they needed to figure out a way for Suzaku to rise in the Empire to continue his path of pursuing changes within the Empire in R2.

Characterization of Lelouch; Suzaku starting to "do wrong things" in the middle of the series

In VC1, Yukana (JVA of C.C.) mentioned that Takahiro Sakurai (JVA of Suzaku) often jokingly said to people "apologize to me" for all the hatred and fury being dumped on Suzaku by the fandom. Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) admitted that the reason why Lelouch, a character that displays so many negative aspects (負の部分) of human beings, could be loved by so many viewers was thanks to Suzaku attracting all the hatred and fury from the fans, aside from the fact that unlike the villains in other shows, Lelouch actually executes his own plans himself (the latter reason was given by Fukuyama when he was referring to the scene where Lelouch scuba-dives into the waters of Port Yokosuka to set the bomb under where Katase's ship would pass by as the JLF is trying to escape from Area 11, which was a scene not present in MTU; however, Fukuyama's comment still stands as during the Battle of Mt Fuji, Lelouch actually leads a small team to deactivate an incoming F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead launched at Schneizel's orders, displaying the same quality as described by Fukuyama in relation to the scuba-diving scene). Taniguchi, Fukuyama and Yukana all agreed that Suzaku has done nothing wrong in the beginning of the series (i.e. R1), though he starts to derail and has done some very wrong things in the middle of the series (i.e. post-Black Rebellion). Nevertheless, Taniguchi remarked that such bias in favour of Lelouch in inevitable because the viewers are bound to suffer from a "protagonist-correction (主人公補正)" problem, trusting, seeing and justifying things from the protagonist's point of view when evaluating character actions and events throughout the series.

Separately, in an interview that followed the screening of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection", Ami Koshimizu (JVA of Kallen) opined that Lelouch as a person is regrettable (人として残念だ) because if one calmly thinks about Lelouch's words (発言) and actions (行動), one would see that Lelouch is someone who has done a lot of terrible things (ひどいことをいっぱいやっている), though she added that she understood such opinion might upset some CG fans because Lelouch is the main character (主役) of the show, after all. Meanwhile, Kaori Natsuka (JVA of Nunnally) commented in the same interview that Lelouch is good at using the one good thing he does at the end to repaint his image (イメージを塗り替え) that makes people to think "that person, he's not bad, isn't he? (「あの人、いい人だったな」)", even though he has also unexpectedly suffered from failure, as well as having done terrible things (意外と失敗やひどいこともしている).

It is interesting to note that such sentiment towards Lelouch is not only confined to the director and main JVA cast, but shared by most, if not all of the JVA cast as well. More relevant information on this and on Lelouch's characterization will be detailed under "Chapter 26" of this list.

Additionally, this "Suzaku is the right one" sentiment is not only shared by the generation of people who were in their 20's or 30's at the time of the TV animation series' airing in 2006, but also by the ensuing younger generation. During the Code Geass New Project Presentation on YouTube on 5 December 2020, when being asked which character would she want to "meet and talk" in the upcoming smartphone game "Code Geass: Genesic Re;CODE", Yumiri Hanamori, the 23-year-old JVA (as of 11 February 2021) for the character "Archive" in the said smartphone game, said that she would like to "meet and talk" with Suzaku because she was enamoured by Suzaku's pursuit and insistence for justice. She also mentioned that her younger sister had once told her that "you will be drawn into the Code Geass universe because of Lelouch, but ended up as a Suzaku fan", showing that Taniguchi, Fukuyama, Sakurai and Yukana's assessment of Suzaku's qualities is actually cross-generational and not standalone instances of assessing Suzaku as a person in a positive light.

The above information, together with what is actually shown in "Transgression" (and the latter half of "Initiation"), serves as the basis for the "hatred apportionment exercise" of this fanfiction, in which the audience's hatred and grievance are mainly aired at Lelouch from Chapter 11 to mid-Chapter 21, and then mainly to Suzaku from mid-Chapter 21 to Chapter 25, in addition to what the title of the second movie, i.e. "Transgression", has already hinted to readers on how Lelouch and Suzaku would be portrayed by the footage and perceived by the audience. The above comments from the JVAs of Lelouch, Suzaku and Kallen on Lelouch as a person also serve as additional reference materials for the characterization of Lelouch in the three-way confrontation scene in the cave on Kamine Island in Chapter 20 of this fanfiction (corresponding to episode 25 of R1).

Tianzi's remark on how cruel Luciano Bradley was in throwing a dagger at Suzaku

Her remark is a dramatized version of a comment made on the same scene by Sakurai in VC2.

Kallen's explanation on why she eventually temporarily put behind her doubts about Lelouch and worked with C.C. to retrieve and reinstate Lelouch as the leader of the Black Knights

This is written based on information from the CG R2 Picture Drama "Turn 0.923", set shortly before episode 1 of R2.

Suzaku's inner thoughts about his trip with Lelouch to Euro Britannia and the EU

His thoughts are written based on information from the CG OVA "Code Geass: Akito the Exiled".

Chapter 22 – Who is Zero? III

Audience's reaction to Charles calling V.V. "Big Brother"

The collective reaction of the audience is a dramatized version of Takahiro Sakurai's (JVA of Suzaku) comment (in VC2) of having Norio Wakamoto (JVA of Charles), a veteran in the Japan voice-acting profession, to keep calling Einosuke Kawashiro (JVA of V.V. in MTU), a child actor at the time of recording, "Big Brother" during the recording sessions.

Guilford asserting that his loyalty to Cornelia takes priority over his loyalty to Britannia

Part of his speech is paraphrased from the second verse of the anthem "God Save the Queen".

Chapter 23 – Geass Hunt

Reason for Lelouch to want to attack and wipe out the underground Geass facility and V.V.

MTU changes Shirley's fate and also the primary motive for Lelouch to wipe out the underground Geass facility. I have hinted Lelouch's rationale to do so in MTU across multiple chapters of this story, but just in case you still find it too confusing to understand, in MTU, the CG production team had V.V. to help Suzaku and Jeremiah to chase after Lelouch during the Black Rebellion, causing his eventual failure to rescue Nunnally. C.C. later informs Lelouch of this, and Lelouch is infuriated by it and hence plans to wipe V.V. and his underground Geass facility out as his revenge to the culprit who causes all his sufferings post-Black Rebellion.

Ohgi's strong distrust towards Lelouch ever since he has learnt that Lelouch has threatened Villetta into submission, all the way till he learns about Schneizel's true intention in Chapter 32

This is written based on Ohgi's own characterization as shown in MTU, as well as to satisfy the plot requirement of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection". Please refer to "Chapter 35" of this list for further details on this.

Reason for Lelouch to want to kill Rolo

Due to Shirley's survival in MTU, Rolo has not committed the crime of killing Shirley, thus taking out the most apparent reason for Lelouch wanting to kill Rolo. However, one should not forget that back in the original TV animation series, Lelouch has long wanted to kill Rolo for his crime of impersonating Nunnally: towards the end of episode 4 of R2, Lelouch muses "Trying to take Nunnally's place, you little phony. I'll use you up and then throw you away like a piece of tattered rag (ボロ雑巾)", which is the reason I used in my story to explain why Lelouch wants to kill Rolo even though the latter hasn't killed Shirley in MTU.

Nunnally's excitement of finally seeing a cross-dressed Lelouch

This is written based on information from the CG R1 Picture Drama "Stage 9.33", set after episode 9 of R1.

Audience's reaction to the confrontation between Villetta and Ohgi in the Chinese Federation

Comments made by the audience on the scene are parodied from the full version of the lyrics of "Love Dramatic", the first opening theme song of the manga / animation series "Kaguya-sama: Love is War". This is the part that gave me the greatest fun when writing this story.

Chapter 24 – The C's World

C.C.'s Backstory

This part is straight out from episode 15 of R2 and is not explicitly shown in MTU. This is also the sole exception I have made to the general rule of this story that scenes from the original TV animation series will not be shown directly to the audience (i.e. such scenes will not be described or depicted in the bold text part), but at most be mentioned in passing in characters' thoughts or dialogues only. The reason for me to make this exception, admittedly a notable one, is that I needed to compensate C.C. for the loss of her last epilogue scene in "Glorification" in Chapters 34 and 35 of this story that has regrettably been forgone in the interest of having a more natural flow of the story.

Chapter 25 – UFN Resolution No.1

Margaret Walpole as President of EU

Margaret Walpole is first mentioned in the picture drama "The Miraculous Birthday" to be the sitting President of EU post-Zero Requiem, jointly ruling the world with Nunnally (Empress of Britannia), Tianzi (Symbol of Unity of China) and Kaguya (UFN Supreme Council Chairwoman). Margaret also appears briefly as a non-speaking character in the movie "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

World map shown during Charles' speech

Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) remarked in VC2 that the colouring of the map shown during Charles' speech in MTU is different from the one in the original TV series for "some reason" (i.e. the production of the Re;surrection movie; Taniguchi couldn't say that out loud back when VC2 was made and sold in 2018, one year prior to the screening of the Re;surrection movie).

The audience discussing children Lelouch and Suzaku's sufferings when walking pass that piece of wasteland filled with dead bodies

When I was writing the segment on the discussion among the audience regarding Lelouch and Suzaku suffering from PTSD in this Chapter, I have used parts of an article on the Encyclopædia Britannica contributed by Professor Robert E. Emery, Director of Center for Children, Families and Law at the University of Virginia. Below is the APA citation of Professor Emery's article on the Encyclopædia Britannica:

Emery, R. E. (2020, July 30). Post-traumatic stress disorder. Retrieved November 21, 2020, from h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-w-w-w-.-b-r-i-t-a-n-n-i-c-a-.-c-o-m-/science/post-traumatic-stress-disorder

Chapter 26 – A Taste of Humiliation

The Latin phrase Cornelia said to Tamaki

The phrase is often attributed to the Latin philosopher Boethius (c. 477 – 524 AD), which translates to "If you had kept your silence, you would have stayed a philosopher". The translation Cornelia gives to Tamaki was taken from the British sitcom "Yes, Prime Minister".

Tamaki and Chiba cheering at the scene where Suzaku steps on Lelouch's head during their meeting at the Kururugi Shrine

Tamaki and Chiba's reactions are dramatized versions of what had actually happened in the recording studio during the CG voice-recording sessions: in VC3, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) recalled that the JVA cast was always happy whenever they saw Lelouch suffers, and Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) recalled that when he was voicing this exact scene, he saw the other JVAs, sitting on the back benches in the same recording studio, looked very happy (すごく嬉しそう) as they saw Lelouch being stepped on by Suzaku, stopping short at cheering "Do it! Do it! (やれ！やれ！)" to Suzaku (because they could not make unnecessary sound that would interrupt the voice-recording sessions). This reflected the JVAs' collective sentiment towards Lelouch in that particular scene, arguably the closest thoughts to what the characters in the audience themselves would have reacted by virtue of how the JVAs have synchronized themselves with, and invested their emotions into their respective characters (please refer to "Chapter 10" and "Chapter 17" of this list to see two examples of how emotionally-invested the JVA cast was into their respective CG characters).

This scene is so popular among CG fans (at least in Japan) that Ichirou Ookouchi, one of the creators of CG, actually played the scene out himself in a Kururugi Shrine replica at a CG exhibition held in 2018 in Japan by having someone to step on his head. Interested readers may consult Ookouchi's twitter ([at sign] ichirou_o) to have a look at the photo of Ookouchi being stepped on the head at the Kururugi Shrine replica as he was, in his own words, "enjoying being Lelouch" (the post was posted at 3:10 p.m. on 2 February 2018, with the hashtag "[hashtag] ルルーシュ展").

In VC4, Taniguchi further explained that the popularity of this exact scene was what made the production team to water down the scene in Re;surrection, where Lelouch meets Cornelia face-to-face for the first time since he had imprisoned her on the Ikaruga: according to the original plan, the production team was to make Lelouch to kneel down and apologize for what he did to Cornelia (and the people she cares about dearly) as he asks for her help to save Nunnally, but then the production team feared that the similarity of that plan with the scene that he kneels down to apologize to Suzaku and asks for his help to save Nunnally at the Kururugi Shrine would trigger strong demands from CG fans to have Cornelia to also step on Lelouch's head for one reason or another, and so the production team finally decided to make Lelouch to take off his mask, revealing his true self to Cornelia and sincerely asking for her help instead.

Chiba's comment on Lelouch being a demon beyond redemption when Lelouch angrily (and mistakenly) accuses Suzaku of betraying him

This is a dramatized version of a comment made by Fukuyama in VC3. In fact, both Taniguchi and Fukuyama agreed that Lelouch is an evil guy (外道) beyond redemption (救いようがないやつ). Fukuyama further ridiculed Lelouch (yes, the JVA of Lelouch ridiculed Lelouch) "who are you to complain about Suzaku betraying you? (「お前、どの口が言うだよ？」, literally "From which mouth did you speak from?")" when discussing this exact scene with Taniguchi and Kaori Natsuka (JVA of Nunnally), a comment made in reference to the numerous times Lelouch has betrayed Suzaku (e.g. lying to Suzaku about his identity as Zero; leveraging on Suzaku's best kept traumatic secret of mistakenly killing his father in an attempt to pressure Suzaku to abandon his newfound allegiance to Euphemia and to switch to the Black Knights instead on Shikine Island; lying to Suzaku about a one-on-one fight that turns out to be him holding their Ashford friends as hostages with a view to lure Suzaku into a Gefjun disturber trap at Ashford Academy; threatening to kill Suzaku with a Sakuradite bomb inside the cave on Kamine Island if Suzaku does not accede to his demand of helping him to rescue Nunnally; etc.) and many other CG characters (e.g. killing Katase while tricking Tohdoh, who has sworn his personal loyalty to Katase, into working for him unknowingly; betraying the Black Knights by abandoning them during the Black Rebellion; betraying Kallen's devotion to him inside the cave of Kamine Island; almost betraying the Black Knights by disregarding the heavy losses the Black Knights have suffered after the F.L.E.I.J.A. blast in Tokyo Settlement and pressing for the Black Knights to go search for Nunnally, only to be stopped by Jeremiah; etc.) for one reason or another.

Chapter 27 – The Collapsing Stage II

Cornelia as a specialist in Knightmare Frames

Apart from her skills in rigging the Akatsuki Knightmare Frames in the underground Geass facility in the Chinese Federation, Cornelia as a specialist of Knightmare Frames is also shown in the picture drama "The Miraculous Birthday", where she is seen wearing a lab coat and works with Rakshata and Guilford on Kallen's Knightmare Frame.

Nunnally's belief that she should shoulder half of Lelouch's sin

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Chapter 28 – A Hijacked Coup

Nunnally's explanation on how she escaped from the F.L.E.I.J.A. blast

Her explanation is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Chapter 29 – The Imperial Parents

Gino's comment on Charles' long and struggling life before and after he has become the 98th Emperor of Britannia

This is a comment paraphrased from how Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) described Charles' life in VC3.

Chiba calling Lelouch narcissistic when Lelouch announces his presence to no one as he struts on Kamine Island in front of the flame, and Shirley and Milly's defence for Lelouch's actions

Chiba's reaction is a dramatized version of a comment made by Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) in VC3 when he explained what went through his mind when voicing this scene. Meanwhile, Shirley and Millly's defence for Lelouch's seemingly narcissistic action is a dramatized version of the response Taniguchi gave to Fukuyama, saying that it is more like Lelouch's "self-encouragement" as he is about to carrying out his final mission of defeating his father.

Chapter 30 – The Ragnarök Connection

About Marianne

In VC3, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) remarked that Marianne is a "completely good person (完全な善人), too good to be understood by normal people", hence her totally detached attitude towards her son because she cares about mankind as a whole but not Lelouch as a specific individual.

While Lelouch does not fully inherit this trait from Marianne when he implements his Zero Requiem to give a future to mankind as a whole, discerning readers should be able to see from this the reason why Kallen knowing the truth behind Zero Requiem from the start of this story does not automatically equate to her knowing how Lelouch truly thinks about her – to Kallen, who, unlike the omniscient viewers of the show (i.e. you), possesses partial knowledge only and cannot completely rule out the possibility that Lelouch might have cared about the world as a whole but not about Kallen as an individual (like how Marianne cares about mankind as a whole but not Lelouch as a specific individual) before she finally gets to see Lelouch's inner thoughts during his confrontation with the Black Knights on the Ikaruga, as well as having listened to Kaguya's analysis of the situation in Chapter 28 that she can finally be absolutely sure of how Lelouch truly thinks of her.

About Charles

As mentioned under "Chapter 9" of this list, the production team gave different acting directions to Norio Wakamoto (JVA of Charles) in voicing Charles in MTU, and hence his reactions to Lelouch's words and the emotion he displays when persuading Lelouch to accept the Ragnarök Connection are different from the ones he displays in R2: in MTU, Charles actually loves and cares for Lelouch in his own twisted way, hence Cornelia's observation that it was Charles, not Marianne, who actually cares about Lelouch and Nunnally's well-being, and is willing to go through the trouble of geassing Nunnally into blindness and staging an act in the throne room that looks like exiling the vi Britannia siblings, thereby assuring V.V. that they do not have close enough ties with Charles to threaten V.V.'s contract with Charles, and thus ensures that Lelouch and Nunnally would not suffer the same fate as Marianne.

Cornelia's realization on why Charles actually cares about the survival of Lelouch and Nunnally

This is written partly based on an observation / reaction given by the YouTuber "Awakeproductions" in her first-time reaction video to Episode 21 of R2, apart from the information mentioned above.

Jeremiah's Orange Farm

The name of Jeremiah's orange farm "Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm" is mentioned in Shirley and Jeremiah's letter to C.C. shown in the epilogue of "Glorification".

In VC4, Taniguchi mentioned that the area surrounding the farm was originally controlled and plagued by mafias, but Anya has somehow unknowingly destroyed all of them when she is piloting her Knightmare Frame en route to that area (i.e. the "friendly interactions" between Anya and the local people as mentioned by Jeremiah), and so those mafia people, now jobless, all join as staff of the Justice Gentlemen Orange Farm.

Chapter 31 – Good Intentions, Evil Acts

Odysseus, Guinevere and Carine die due to Schneizel dropping a F.L.E.I.J.A. warhead on Pendragon (to the best of Cornelia's knowledge)

Carine ne Britannia, 5th Princess of Britannia, actually survives Schneizel's bombing of Pendragon: in "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection", it is revealed that unbeknownst to everyone, she is rescued by Dasko la Clermont, her knight, from the fatal bombing, but losing her memory in the process. Dasko has since been taking care of the amnesiac princess who never reunites with her remaining siblings, hence the phrase "to the best of Cornelia's knowledge" in that part of the chapter.

Nunnally pardoning Jeremiah and the Britannian soldiers served under Lelouch shortly after her ascension to the throne

Nunnally's pardon of Jeremiah and the Britannian soldiers served under Lelouch is written partly based on plot necessity, but also partly inspired by how American President Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon, Ford's immediate predecessor, in an attempt to end the "bitter controversy and divisive national debate" in the United States due to the Watergate scandal in the early 1970s.

Rakshata and Lloyd talking about Lelouch and Suzaku wearing student uniform when proclaiming themselves the 99th Emperor of Britannia and Knight of Zero respectively inside the throne room in Pendragon

In VC3, Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) asked Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) the reason for Lelouch and Suzaku to wear school uniform for such an important occasion, to which Taniguchi simply answered "it seems quite cool to do that".

The names of Dorothea and Monica's respective Knightmare Frames

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Personality of Monica

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

The Knights of the Round using 7th Generation Knightmare Frames

According to the bonus information included in the first volume of DVD of R2, the Knightmare Frames used by the Knights of the Round are of the 7th Generation; it's just that as the most advanced 7th Generation Knightmare Frames, they have all attained the performance standard of an 8th Generation Knightmare Frame. Hence, in the strictest theoretical sense, the Galahad, Palamedes and Florence all have a two-degree generational disadvantage against the Lancelot Albion, a 9th Generation Knightmare Frame.

Cornelia's fear of Nonette

This is written partly based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection" and the PS2 Game "Code Geass: Lost Colours".

Nonette joining the Glinda Knights, with Oldrin Zevon as its leader

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Cornelia and Nunnally's 107 aunts

This is written based on information from the CG fanbook "Graphics Zero" published in 2007, which states that Charles has 108 wives.

The shape of the Damocles

In VC3, Taniguchi explained that the design of the Damocles is based on the shape of a chess piece.

Sayako getting out of Schneizel's control in Cambodia and heads to where Lelouch is in order to inform him of what has happened to Nunnally

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Nunnally speaking with Lelouch for the first time since Lelouch's ascension to the throne

In VC3, when asked by Fukuyama on how she had planned to play the scene, Kaori Natsuka (JVA of Nunnally) explained that prior to speaking to Lelouch, Nunnally first listens to the people around her (Schneizel, Kanon, Cornelia, Diethard, several Knights of the Round, etc.), in which Schneizel accounts for half of the weight of opinion. Nunnally is then made to believe that what she is doing, i.e. to declare herself Empress of Britannia and to stop Lelouch, to be the best course of action, similar to how Marianne thinks that what she did for Lelouch and Nunnally was the best course of action given the circumstance at that time (please refer to "Chapter 30" of this list for details regarding the characterization of Marianne). It is against this backdrop that Nunnally speaks, without any ill intent, with Lelouch through the Imperial Communication Channel. She uses strong words when talking to Lelouch because she still loves Lelouch.

Chapter 32 – Schneizel's Guise

Cornelia explaining to Ohgi why there is no need to remove Schneizel from the office of Prime Minister of Britannia

Her explanation is written based on information mentioned by Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) in VC3.

Rakshata's praise on Cecile's all-roundedness in performing various tasks on the Avalon

This is a dramatized version of how Taniguchi described Cecile in VC3, noting that Cecile can basically play any role she is assigned to. Taniguchi also confirmed that Cecile comes from a commoner background and has eventually come slightly above the Britannian commoners but below the aristocracy in terms of social status by virtue of her talents and hard work.

Zero's memory regarding how Lelouch's soldiers are geassed

This is written based on what was being discussed in VC3: Fukuyama asked Taniguchi whether Lelouch geassed all of his soldiers at once, and Taniguchi responded that Lelouch actually did it in a few rounds because it would be impossible to geass more than 100 000 soldiers all at once.

Nunnally firing the F.L.E.I.J.A.

In VC3, when Fukuyama asked whether Schneizel plays a role in Nunnally eventually pressing the button to fire the F.L.E.I.J.A., Taniguchi confirmed that it is indeed a plan weaved by Schneizel that culminates in Nunnally being induced to fire the F.L.E.I.J.A. at Lelouch in a "(Schneizel's gentle persuasion, explanation, elaboration, etc. to Nunnally)… so, you will do it, right? (gentle and brotherly smile)" kind of way.

Chapter 33 – The Grip of Damocles

The audience's discussion on how unreliable Suzaku was in defending Lelouch from Gino in the Damocles

This is a dramatized version of a comment made on the same scene by Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) in VC3.

Shirley and Villetta's remarks on Lelouch running up the stairs

Their remarks are based on a comment made by Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) on the scene in VC3 that Lelouch tried his best in running up the stairs despite his rather average physical ability.

Guilford's inner thoughts about Kanon

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Guilford's explanation on how Cornelia was rescued and transported from the Damocles to Horai Island

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Milly's remark on Diethard's never-changing stance/objective

This is based on the remarks made on Diethard in VC3.

Chapter 34 – The Zero Requiem

Nunnally using strong words when speaking to Lelouch because she loves him

This is explained and discussed in VC3. Please refer to "Chapter 31" of this list for details on how Kaori Natsuka (JVA of Nunnally) played the scenes on the interaction between Nunnally and Lelouch post-2nd Assault on Tokyo Settlement.

Nunnally falling down the staircase inside the Damocles

Natsuka explained that when she was voicing the scene, her take on Nunnally's emotion at that moment was that she is full of regret because her heartfelt words don't reach Lelouch, and that she herself can't understand Lelouch either.

Conversation between Cornelia and Nunnally about Cornelia leading a resistance cell and hiding in Hong Kong one month before the scheduled public execution

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

The Damocles floating over Spain after the Battle of Mt Fuji

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Milly's final line

Milly's final line in this chapter is a parody on the title of the animation / light novel series "KonoSuba: God's Blessing on this Wonderful World!"

The intensity of the audience's reaction towards the truth being revealed

In an attempt to make the audience's reaction to the truth behind Zero Requiem as close to reality as possible, I have referred to the first-time reactions by a number of YouTubers to Episode 25 of R2 when I was calibrating the range of intensity of the audience's respective reactions to the truth. Interested readers may do a search on YouTube to compare and contrast their reactions to the ones given by the audience in this story on an aggregate level.

Chapter 35 – The Miraculous Tomorrow

Villetta's mourning dress

The description of Villetta's mourning dress is written based on the mourning dress she wears in Episode 14 of R2.

Euphemia not understanding what happened to her during her last moments

This is written based on information from Episode 23 of the complementary CG internet radio programme "コードギアス 反逆の山々 DX" hosted by Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) and Noriaki Sugiyama (JVA of Rivalz) aired on 8 September 2007. In that episode, guest Omi Minami (JVA of Euphemia) mentioned that Euphemia feels neither bad nor sad (辛いとか悲しいとかない) when she is gunned down by Lelouch because she is geassed. Fukuyama observed that to the very end, Euphemia is not able to understand what has happened to her (最後まで状況は理解できなかったですもんね、ユフィーにしてみれば), to which both Sugiyama and Minami agreed.

Discussion among Nunnally, Schneizel and Cornelia regarding the future of the Holy Britannian Empire and their respective roles to play after the formation of the Principality of Britannia

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Ohgi to resign from the Japanese premiership

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Ohgi musing to "apologize to Lelouch with his life (i.e. to commit suicide / seppuku)" as a way to apologize to Lelouch if Lelouch ever appears in front of him one day (and the buildup for him to reach this point since Chapter 15)

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Ohgi wanting to return to the teaching profession post-premiership

In VC4, when asked what Ohgi will do after he resigned as Prime Minister of Japan, Goro Taniguchi (CG Director) explained that Ohgi would want to return to the teaching profession.

Explanatory note regarding the paragraph on Ohgi talking about how the next Japanese leader will be chosen

I realize that what Ohgi says about the way to choose his successor as Prime Minister of Japan may have confused readers who are/were not political science majors and/or live in countries where a President is elected to actually run the country (e.g. the United States), so I thought I should give a very brief explanation on this to help confused readers to understand what is going on in that paragraph. Basically, Japan does not elect a President to run the country, but instead elect a number of representatives to form a National Diet (equivalent to a Parliament or Congress in some countries) that consists of a House of Representatives (equivalent to a Chamber of Deputies or House of Assembly in some countries) and a House of Councillors (equivalent to a Senate in some countries), and the leader of whichever political party that gets more than half the seats in the House of Representatives will concurrently serve as the Prime Minister of Japan, and will remain as such as long as his or her Party controls at least half of all seats in the House of Representatives and before the next scheduled general election. If a sitting Prime Minister decides to quit before the next scheduled general election, then his or her Party, which has at least half of all seats in the House of Representatives, will simply pick a new leader to be the new Prime Minister – often times, a fresh general election is not required for this to take place.

Villetta and Ohgi trying to teach Naoto to say "Daddy", but Naoto says "Do" instead

This part is a parody of the title / lyrics of "DADDY! DADDY! DO!", the second opening theme song of the manga / animation series "Kaguya-sama: Love is War".

Tamaki opening "Cafe Zero 2"

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Tamaki selling Black Knights-related merchandise (e.g. the Guren figurine)

In VC4, Taniguchi mentioned that Tamaki has been producing merchandise based on Black Knights-related things. The Guren figurine appears on a table in Cafe Zero 2 in "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Tamaki's wish to publish something one day to talk about his fiery friendship with Zero

Tamaki has got his way with this when his book titled "Zero and I: The Fiery Friendship" is published at the end of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection": Ohgi is reading a copy of it in the 5th picture that appears as the end credits of the Re;surrection movie is rolling.

Xianglin's continued involvement with the Black Knights

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection": she is seen wearing her Black Knights uniform both during the negotiation between the Black Knights and the diplomatic mission of the Zilkhstani government at the Black Knights General Staff Headquarters; and the signing ceremony between the Black Knights and the new Zilkhstan under the leadership of Bolvona Forgnar, the commander-in-chief of the Zilkhstani Army, in the 6th picture that appears as the end credits of the Re;surrection movie is rolling.

Kiersten Consalvo's story

Apart from the name of the mental hospital that is inspired by the "hospital for the elderly deranged" mentioned in the novelized version of the British Sitcom series "Yes, Prime Minister", this entire segment, the name "Kiersten Consalvo" included, is my original creation (Kiersten does not have a name in the original TV animation series or MTU, and CG fans commonly refer to her as "Carve-tan" or "Kabeko").

The "Frame Coat" and Shanti Chawla

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Sayako as an agent of the UFN and the Black Knights

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Sayako learning everything about Schneizel's plan while in Cambodia and instrumental in transmitting such information to Jeremiah and Lelouch

This is written based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection".

Nunnally, Tianzi and Margaret going to attend school together

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection": the three girls are seen attending school together happily in the 4th picture that appears as the end credits of the Re;surrection movie is rolling.

The Black Knights only offers the rank of Lieutenant General to Cornelia

Please see "Characterization of Cornelia" under "Chapter 8" of this list for details regarding the reason for the Black Knights to do this.

Cornelia not wanting to join the Glinda Knights because of the presence of Nonette

This is written partly based on information from the CG spinoff manga series "Code Geass: OZ the Reflection" and the PS2 Game "Code Geass: Lost Colours".

Cornelia still cannot forgive Lelouch for what he did to Euphemia, Darlton and the many more people she cares about after watching the whole truth behind Lelouch's rebellion against Britannia

This is written both based on Cornelia's characterization in MTU, as well as to satisfy the plot requirement of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection".

Guilford musing the way for Lelouch to get Cornelia to forgive him

This is written based on information from "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection". Please also refer to "Chapter 26" of this list for more details on how the production team planned for the Lelouch-Cornelia confrontation and reconciliation scene in the "Re;surrection" movie.

Gino's future in the Black Knights

In VC4, Jun Fukuyama (JVA of Lelouch) and Taniguchi discussed the role Gino plays in the Black Knights, and Taniguchi mentioned that Gino has moved towards the diplomatic profession as there is no more large-scale war post-Zero Requiem.

Kallen's final remark

Her final line in this Chapter is actually half of her original monologue in the epilogue part of episode 25 of R2; the other half of that has been incorporated into her final line in Chapter 34 of this fanfiction.

There are still a few within the audience who do not view Lelouch in a positive light after having learnt the complete truth about Lelouch's rebellion against Britannia in the screening event?

This is determined by (i) all the above points; (ii) the logical flow of the story; and (iii) what is actually needed to satisfy the plot requirement of "Code Geass: Lelouch of the Re;surrection" because, and I believe I have stated this in the synopsis already, this is an interlude story between the Zero Requiem and the resurrection of Lelouch.

~End of Reference List~

Loyal readers of this fanfiction would have noticed that ever since Chapter 18 was posted, there have been at times some rather passionate reviews on this fanfiction appearing after some chapters have been posted (not including the even more passionate private messages I have received from some enthusiastic readers that you cannot see in the public realm), and I have gone through what can be said to be the fanfiction-writing equivalent of what Lelouch had gone through along his way towards the completion of the Zero Requiem – he is pilloried as the "Treacherous Emperor" and the worst dictator that has ever treaded his world, while I have sort of being branded as an infamous so-called "Lelouch-basher" in the Code Geass fandom. There is simply no better way to pay homage to Lelouch by doing something of similar nature to what he had done to his world – he sacrificed his name and life in exchange for a better tomorrow to all others, while I at times endured the showering of numerous blazing reviews (and fervid private messages) upon my story or even myself personally in exchange for the first complete Code Geass cast reaction fanfiction ever to all interested and eager readers. For this, I must thank all the real-life Chibas, Tamakis, Cornelias, Guilfords, Jeremiahs, Anyas, Shirleys, Nunnallys, Suzakus (Zeros), Ohgis, Villettas, Kallens, Ginos, Tohdohs, Lloyds, Ceciles, Rakshatas, Ninas, Tianzis, Kaguyas, Millys, Rivalz's and C.C.'s on my writing journey – you have played your respective roles splendidly well and graciously bestowed onto me the singular honour of walking the author-equivalent of Lelouch's path as I wrote and posted this fanfiction on this platform. Your own reactions to me writing this fanfiction have also shown to me that the reactions I have written for the characters in my story are actually a lot closer to reality than I have ever imagined them to be.

Once again, thank you so much for reading this very first fanfiction of mine! My hope is that this fanfiction will be the most official-like unofficial interlude story that bridges MTU and "Re;surrection", and would pique your interest in re-watching "Re;surrection" again before the airing of "Code Geass: Z of the Recapture" this Spring (tentatively scheduled to be aired from April 2021), of which the story timeline immediately follows that of "Re;surrection" according to what has been announced by the CG production team.

I wish to give special thanks to Your Guest, Devil-O-Angel, dsfjr1190 and soumilplays03 for placing my work in their respective communities – I am honoured and encouraged to see my amateur work being recognized as having attained a certain level of quality to be included in your fanfic communities on this site. I also want to take this opportunity to give a shout out to Angatsu for translating my fanfiction into Spanish for the Spanish-speaking readers out there – I happen to be in the process of learning Spanish, and so having someone to translate the things I wrote into Spanish gives me some excellent learning materials to work with – at the very least, I think I will have a great boost in my Spanish vocabulary by cross-reading my own work in English and Spanish.

All in all, this fanfic-writing experience has been a great ride for me, and my mental resilience has certainly grown quite considerably over the past eight months or so. Thank you again and I hope you have thoroughly enjoyed this fanfiction as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Feel free to share the truth within your reading of this "Truth within the Trilogy" in your review as well!

It actually feels great to know that this is very likely to be the first ever completed fanfiction based on the Code Geass Movie Trilogy, as well as the first ever completed one in the "Code Geass Characters Watch the Show" genre. In any case, I will probably take a short break before coming up with some other new stuff. In the meantime, you can follow me on Twitter at LuxSumomo for future updates. Till next time!