Chapter 5
June 20, Year Zero

k-y-o-o-s-h-o-o- -i-n-s-i-d-e-n-t Sifir managed to type out after five minutes of finding the right keys. Really, why couldn't keyboards be arranged in alphabetical order? It just made everything harder. Talk about user-unfriendliness in these old clunky computers.

Figuring out how to use a keyboard wasn't that hard. It was just a matter of getting used to pressing buttons…real ones, at least. Being unable to send mental commands to machines forced engineers and designers to create many inefficient workarounds.

Finally. He reached up and tapped the 'search' button onscreen, leaving an oily fingerprint behind.

Nothing happened.

Is the touchscreen malfunctioning or something? he wondered, jabbing at the screen again.

"Hey Sifir! What's up?" Rivalz called as he walked through the door to the computer lab.

Sifir looked up, startled. "Uh, the ceiling, of course. Why do you ask?"

Rivalz laughed. "Nice one. What's going on?"

"Oh, I'm just looking up the Kyushu Incident on the Internet." What did he mean by 'What's up?'

Rivalz looked over his shoulder at the computer screen. He laughed. "That's not how you spell 'Kyushu' or 'incident'." he reached over and typed out the proper spelling.

Sifir gaped at Rivalz, though he didn't notice. How did he type so fast? The keys weren't even in any logical order!

The blue-haired boy moved a rounded contraption with one hand and a small arrow that he hadn't noticed until now moved along with the contraption. He pushed the button on the contraption a couple times when the arrow was hovering over various buttons onscreen.

"Here you go," Rivalz said, moving back a little to let Sifir see. He gestured dramatically. "Wikipedia–all you ever need to know about anything!

Sifir froze. "Oh." Wikipedia was that old? He regularly used it for school assignments in the…future. He scanned the page over. It was radically different than the one he had seen before. Much shorter and less accurate. In fact, the Black Knight's name barely even came up. Most likely the Britannian government was trying to cover up the fact that Zero actually intervened and helped Suzaku Kururugi defeat the so-called returning Japanese government. Everyone was probably not quite sure what to make of it. "Thanks. What about the newspapers though? Any one will do."

"Here," Rivalz clicked around a few more times to show a brief article outlining the incident. There wasn't much more detail there than in the Wikipedia page–mostly about how Princess Cornelia drove back the Japanese government's troops.

"Thanks. I'm just not very used to these kinds of computers." Sifir said.

"Then are you from the EU?" Rivalz asked.

"Uh, probably. I still can't remember." He lied. According to the history books, European computers were the most advanced of its time, though their military was still outclassed by Britannian Knightmares.

Rivalz snapped his fingers. "Oh, that's right! I almost forgot, Milly wants you to come to the student council room."

"Oh, okay." Sifir stood up. "What does she need me for?"

"You'll see in a moment." Rivalz replied as they walked out of the computer lab. "So why were you looking up the Kyushu Incident?"

"Just catching up on the news since I haven't had a good opportunity to do so until now."

"That makes sense. I've been following the news ever since February; it's become much more interesting since Zero appeared."

Well, that was true, at least. The Black Knights were always full of surprises until Tokyo was destroyed. "What do you think of him?"

Rivalz shrugged. "I'm not sure myself. I like how he fights to defend the weak, but…" he shook his head. "Never mind. We're here anyways." The doors slid open automatically.

"Surprise!" Milly cried, jumping out from behind a chair. "Welcome to the student council!" Shirley, a mousy black-haired girl with glasses, and a red-haired girl walked over at a more sedate pace.

"Oh, uh, thanks for the big welcome." Sifir stammered. This reminded him of the pranks that his classmates would sometimes play on each other, but in a good way, of course.

The others came forward. "I'm Kallen. It's a pleasure to meet you." The redhead said.

The mousy girl clasped her hands in front of her nervously. "Um, hi, my name's Nina."

Why do those two look so familiar? he thought as he scrutinized the two. What other girl named Kallen would have the same red hair and blue eyes as the Red Lotus? Admittedly, 'Kallen' and 'Nina' were very common names and the demeanor of both girls were completely different from the confident ones he'd remembered seeing in old news broadcasts. The redhead looked like she couldn't even kill a fly and the mousy one seemed way too shy to invent such a deadly weapon as the FLEIJA.

"And we already met each other at the festival yesterday." Shirley said.

"I thought that spending all day in your room alone while you recovered from your injuries would be boring, so I'm inducting you into the student council." Milly explained. "Kallen also has a similar problem, actually. She has an illness that makes it hard to participate in normal club activities."

Then she's definitely not Black Knight material. "I'm sorry." he said to her.

"No need to be sorry," the redhead reassured him with a little smile. "It's not so bad once you get used to it."

Surprised cries went up from a room across the hallway.

"Oh, that was the Current Events club," Rivalz remarked as he took out something bulky (was that a laptop computer?!) and turned it on. "That mean's something big's on the news right now." His eyebrows shot up when he glanced at it. "Apparently Princess Euphemia's going to address Area 11."

"Princess Euphemia?" Nina gasped, rushing over. Sifir and the others gathered around Rivalz's computer as well.

A Britannian and Japanese flag were displayed behind a podium decorated with Britannia's emblem onscreen. The Japanese flag was probably what caused all the ruckus in the Current Events club.

A distinctively pink-haired girl walked onstage moments later, her body lit up with hundreds of camera flashes. Oh, crap, Sifir thought. I think I know what she's going to do next. But if so, why didn't it happen during the festival?

"I am Euphemia li Britannia, sub-viceroy of Area Eleven of the Holy Britannian Empire,"

Also known as the Euphinator Sifir snarked silently, but there was nothing he could do.

"… and I hereby declare the formation of the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan in the area around Mt. Fuji!"

Oh, great. Now the bitch has done it again. And it's not just the 'Specially Administrated Zone'–it's the 'Specially Administrated Killing Zone'

"Within the Specially Administrated Zone of Japan, Elevens may go back to calling themselves Japanese. Restrictions against Elevens and special rights for Britannians will not exist within the zone of Japan."

Nothing will stop the victims from calling themselves Japanese in death.

"It will be a world where Elevens and Britannians will live as equals!"

Yeah, right. It will be a world where Britannians massacre over a hundred thousand Japanese in less than two hours. He let out a small sigh. What could he do? He had thought that the SAZ was over and done with when it hadn't been announced earlier, but it seemed like fate was very persistent. At the same time though, he couldn't just stand by and watch as Euphemia prepared to massacre a hundred thousand innocent men and women and children.

But how? He had no resources, no voice. If he said anything, people would just think he was insane. If he could convince someone with the power to stop this…who would listen to him…

"Do you hear me, Zero?" Euphemia called from the television.

Zero?

"Your past and who you are under that mask won't matter to me! So please, I beg of you! Please participate in creating the Zone of Japan! Help me build a new future within Britannia itself!"

Sifir looked around the room to see Kallen and Nina gaping at the screen, though Nina looked by far the most scared and conflicted while Kallen looked more angry and shocked than anything else.

"Why is she asking Zero?" Rivalz wondered out loud. "Isn't he aiming to free Area Eleven entirely from Britannian occupation?"

Sifir considered it. Yes, Zero will probably be against the SAZ. Maybe I'll be able to help him prevent it if I can somehow get into contact. "Accepting the Special Zone will mean accepting Britannian rule. The Black Knights won't have any reason to fight and Japan won't be liberated."

"But does it have to be liberated?" A voice asked from behind.

This boy has some interesting ideas for a Britannian, Lelouch decided silently as the boy turned around. He paused when he saw the boy's face. Ah, so this is the person who owns that vehicle and paperweight. He'd have to confirm that, of course, but there was also something off about him. Maybe he was from the EU? If so, then the EU was much more advanced than anybody anticipated. Sure, their computers were much better than Britannian ones, but an invisibility cloak? That was a whole new level.

At the moment though, said person was trying admirably to hide his expression of shock and panic. Maybe he knows I'm Zero? His mood darkened. With that invisibility cloak in his arsenal, it wouldn't be implausible that the boy had followed him around when he was Zero and saw his face when he took off his mask in private. If that was the case, then he would have to Geass the boy and make him and whoever he had told forget everything after he'd interrogated the boy on the technology he possessed. But why would the EU send someone as incompetent as this boy to find out Zero's identity?

It was time to find out. "Hello, I'm Lelouch. It's nice to meet you." he stepped forward and extended a hand.

The boy unconsciously shrank back a bit even as he struggled to plaster a shaky smile on his face. "Uh, I'm Sifir. I–It's nice to meet you too." Though his expression said anything but.

It was pretty clear that he wasn't going to say much else, and Geassing him right here in front if the rest of the student council was out of the question. So Lelouch would have to find other ways to get him alone in order to Geass him.

But still…what would the EU want in Area Eleven? The best case scenario would be that they wanted to aid Zero in driving out Britannia. The worst case would be that they wanted to eliminate a dangerous threat before it got too powerful. Maybe he should ask Diethard to plant contacts there and keep an eye on them from now on.

Lights out, Sifir mentally commanded the lightbulb above him. And for the millionth time, nothing happened.

Frickin' FLEIJAs, how did people live like this? he groaned. Now I have to get out of bed and turn off the switch.

Before he could though, someone knocked on the door.

"Come in!" he called.

A moment later, the door opened, and someone stepped inside. Finally my roommate decides to make an appearance after being absent for the last, what, three days?

However, all of his thoughts came to a screeching halt when his roommate stepped out from behind the door.

Holy shit.

Suzaku Kururugi, the Knight of Zero, paused when he noticed Sifir, and he broke into a reassuring smile. "Hi, you must be the new roommate that Milly told me about." He walked over to Sifir's bed and extended a hand.

Oh crap oh crap oh crap oh crap

"My name's Suzaku. What's yours?" the serial killer asked.

Sifir tried to speak, but all that came out was a strangled gasp. Clearing his throat, he tried again. "Sifir," he managed. It still came out mostly as a croak, but at least it was recognizable as being a pronoun from the English language.

"It's nice to meet you, Sifir." the boy said. "I heard that you suffered some injuries a couple days ago and have to stay here for a while. Is that right?"

Sifir forced his head to nod.

A look of disappointment, so fleeting that Sifir almost missed it in his terror, passed over the brunette's face. He let his extended hand drop and turned away.

Why is this happening to me? Sifir groaned. First the Demon Emperor, then his dog of a knight. But that makes sense, actually. The two are probably here together so that they can develop their plan on how to take over the world.

He watched as the soon-to-be Knight of Zero bustled around the room and got ready for bed. A small part of him felt sorry for putting the other boy down like this at their first meeting, but he was one of the deadliest killers in known history. Not to mention that he was going to have to share a room with said person for the duration of his stay at Ashford.

He wrapped the blanket more tightly around himself. Act normally, he told himself. If you don't give him any reason to be suspicious of you, he won't attack.

Hopefully.

AN: Haha. Sifir's objective and subjective realities are so screwed up.

On another note, sorry for the delay. Life's extraordinarily busy and it'll only get busier. But if you feel I'm taking too long (aka 2 months), feel free to shoot me a PM, review, or flame. In fact, feel free to PM me for any reason. Just don't spam.