Chapter 42

Lelouch's POV

After eating at the on-board restaurant with my classmates, we all split up to go and do our own things. Somehow or another, Suzaku and I found ourselves at the outside bar, where they serve ice-cold non-alcoholic drinks. There, I spotted a very interesting combination.

Hirata Yōsuke, Horikita Suzune, and Ichinose Honami, all sitting together on the barstools as they waited for their drinks. A most unusual grouping, as far as groupings go. Somehow, I doubted that these three were close friends, which meant that they were probably discussing class matters.

Suzaku and I respectfully decided to sit as far away as we could from them, which meant that we ended up leaving a two-stool gap between us with me sitting on the side closer to them.

"What do you think?" I asked, motioning towards the tiny island on the horizon.

"I think it will be a nice change of pace from the usual." Suzaku responded, turning his eyes towards it.

"I wouldn't be so sure."

"What do you mean?"

"Nothing. Forget it."

There was no point diving into a deep explanation regarding my personal conjectures right now. Especially when it would be revealed soon anyway.

Suzaku and I chatted idly about trivial things for a while, enjoying the blissful atmosphere. That was, until an imposing figure appeared, and sat down boldly on the stool beside Horikita. A boy with magenta-hair and violent tendencies, Ryūen Kakeru.

The silence itself seemed to gain a presence as I felt the stares of all the other students in the area. The grouping of students at this bar was quite monstrous, to be fair. Representatives from four of the classes were present right now. Combine that with the ominous aura coming from Ryūen, and you get an extremely tense atmosphere.

Surprisingly, Ryūen turned up with the extremely largely built guy he'd been beaten by before, Albert Yamada. It seemed that sometime between when I'd confronted Ryūen and now, Albert had become subservient to Ryūen. I briefly wondered how that'd happened.

"That was quite a funny joke, Suzune. Getting all zeroes on the midterms." Ryūen finally spoke, leaning his elbow onto the bar.

"I don't remember giving you permission to call me by my given name." Horikita responded coldly, shooting him a glare.

"Ryūen-kun, I don't think that it's respectful to call a girl by her first name without permission." Ichinose Honami scolded him from the far-side of the bar.

Ryūen, however, only laughed in response.

"Kuku, there's no need for you to worry your little mind, Honami. I'll deal with you after I destroy Suzune."

Ryūen was purposely being provocative as he came to declare war on Class E, it seemed. It appeared to have worked, since I noticed Horikita's eyebrow twitch and Ichinose's smile turned into a frown. Ichinose frowning was certainly a rare sight.

"Ryūen-kun, I'd prefer it if you didn't disrespect my friends like that." Hirata spoke up, defending the two girls he was with.

Speaking of the girls he was with, I found myself distracted, wondering how he'd managed to chase away the usual entourage that followed him everywhere. I was snapped back to reality by a sudden movement.

Ryūen quickly reached over Horikita and grabbed Hirata by the collar, causing him and Ichinose to flinch. "Got something to say?" He snarled aggressively.

"Oh my, dictator-kun, that's certainly bold." I finally decided to interject.

"Don't tell me you plan on getting involved as well, Lelouch?" Ryūen said, turning to look over his shoulder but still keeping his grip firmly around Hirata's collar.

"Oh no, I was merely commenting my thoughts. I have no intention of intervening in your petty squabble."

"Lelouch, this is looking like it's going to develop into more than just a 'petty squabble.'" Suzaku said from beside me, clearly on alert.

"You think so? If everyone just let's Magenta-kun over there throw his little tantrum, then everything will turn out fine, no?" I replied loudly, attempting to antagonize Ryūen.

"What did you just call me?" Ryūen asked, looking slightly irritated

"Oh, nothing."

Apparently, Horikita'd had enough, because she sighed heavily in frustration and snapped at both of us.

"You're both enjoying this, aren't you? This is unbearable!"

"I just find Ryūen amusing, that's all." I said disinterestedly.

"Kuku, I'll deal with you later. Do you really think you can win with your little class of seven?"

I didn't give a reply and simply took a sip of my drink instead. Ryūen clicked his tongue and turned his attention back towards the one whose shirt was in his fist.

"So, where were we?" He asked menacingly.

"Y-you're not really going to hit me, right? You know we'd both lose class points if we got into a fight." Hirata responded, a hint of nervousness in his tone.

"Say we both got penalized by 100 class points. That would be a much bigger hit to you guys than it would be to me, wouldn't it?"

Ryūen's logic was incredibly flawed. While it was true that Class E would be affected more severely due to 100 being a larger percentage of their total class points than it is of Class C's, getting into a fight here would still affect them both negatively. The only ones who would actually benefit would be the other three classes - in fact, my class would benefit the most, due to us being closest to these two in the rankings. But then again, what can you expect from someone like Ryūen?

I was snapped out of my thoughts by a sharp voice echoing across the deck of the ship. "Ryūen!"

We all turned our sights towards the source of the shout. There stood a lean girl with short blue hair. If memory serves, she was a student in Class C when I visited them during the first month. And it looked like she had a bone to pick with Ryūen.

"I'm fed up with the way you do things! I've followed you willingly up until now, but I've had enough!" She said angrily as she stomped over to the bar.

"Kuku, Ibuki, is that so? Do you want to talk about it then?" Ryūen responded innocently. Until he added the next part. "We can do it in my room tonight, just the two of us."

Ryūen smirked while the girl, apparently called Ibuki, as well as Horikita, looked at him with visible disgust on their faces.

"Y-you...!" Ibuki said angrily, before throwing a sloppy punch towards Ryūen's grinning visage.

A large slap sounded out as Ibuki's fist connected. Except, it didn't connect with Ryūen, but with the giant Albert's solid hand, which he'd moved to intercept the attack.

"Albert?! So, Ryūen has you completely tamed, does he?" Ibuki growled in frustration.

Albert, however, didn't respond. He merely looked on, protecting his master. It appeared that Ryūen had him trained well. I wondered how he'd done it.

Ibuki tried to shove her way past Albert, but he effortlessly grabbed her and restrained her. He grasped her by the arm and twisted it behind her back, causing her to cry out in pain.

"That's enough." Albert said calmly in English.

After saying that, he forcefully threw Ibuki away with ease. She crashed back-first into the ships railing, causing a loud sound to reverberate across the deck. Ibuki looked defeated and slumped over, making no moves to get back up.

In the brief moment I'd taken to watch that, my friend seemed to have disappeared. Rather than being sat beside me, he was now standing next to Ryūen, his hand firmly around Ryūen's wrist. It looked like Suzaku had seen enough.

"You've gone far enough, Ryūen. Let go of Hirata." Suzaku said, staring sharply at Ryūen.

"Kururugi-kun?" Hirata looked shocked. He probably hadn't expected anyone to come to his defence.

"Kuku, and how does this concern you, Kururugi?" Ryūen sneered, clearly unfazed by the intervention.

"I won't allow pointless conflict in my presence." Suzaku responded resolutely.

I saw a slight glint of admiration and approval in Hirata and Ichinose's eyes. Horikita, on the other hand, tried her best to stay stoic, but she was obviously also relieved that someone had stepped in.

You've made a blunder, Suzaku.

Suzaku was the a fool that wants to avoid any kind of violence at all costs, and won't stand to see anyone get hurt. However, in this situation, someone getting hurt was nearly inevitable. If you back off, then it's likely that Hirata will get wounded by Ryūen. If not, then you'll probably be forced to fight him, and that will only be resolved by either yourself or him getting hurt.

What will you do, Suzaku? Allow yourself to be beaten so that you don't have to harm another? Or will you defend yourself and your friend, and risk harming Ryūen in the process? Whichever choice you make, I'll be greatly amused.

"Would you kindly release me, Kururugi-kun?" Ryūen asked so politely that it came off as sarcastic. That was probably his intention, though.

"Only if you release Hirata."

"I see..."

Ryūen slowly opened his hand, finally letting go of Hirata's collar. Hirata and Ichinose looked visibly relieved, and they both got up and stood a bit away from him. Conversely, Horikita didn't move. She was putting up her toughest front, to look unfazed.

"Now, let go." Ryūen grinned, making it obvious that he was planning something