Chapter 323 - 322: Silence

"It's starting!"

"I'm more punctual for the weekly Code Geass update than I am for my own meals."

"Same here. My boss actually tried to call me back into the office for overtime tonight. I just hung up on him. I'm already lying on my couch with snacks ready to watch the show. Work? He can go jump in a lake."

"I haven't finished my homework yet, so I'm sneaking a look at the TV in my room. This is so intense."

"Elementary schoolers should be studying! Why are you watching anime?"

In the fan group chats, the usual crowd of friends spent the final seconds before the broadcast venting their excitement. Fugaku shifted his attention away from the scrolling messages and fixed his gaze on the television screen.

For the past six months, Tokyo TV1's advertising slots before each episode of Code Geass had been completely taken over by home shopping programs dedicated to series merchandise. Since the show began, these programs had featured over eighty different types of products.

Prices were climbing by the day, yet everything remained perpetually backordered.

"Who are these people with so much money? How can such expensive merchandise sell out every single time?" Fugaku muttered to himself with a sigh.

As a high school student, he was desperate for the collectibles, but he simply couldn't afford them. They were all fans, but being a true adult fan clearly required some serious financial backing.

He watched with envy as the host introduced one item after another. Finally, at exactly 8:00 PM, the familiar opening theme began to play.

A few minutes later, the story picked up where it left off. Following the Holy Britannian Empire's use of a nuclear weapon, the F.L.E.I.J.A., Nunnally was missing and unaccounted for. Just as expected, Lelouch had fallen into a state of utter despair. His fake brother, Rolo, appeared shortly after, looking worried and attempting to offer him comfort.

However, Lelouch's eyes caught sight of the cell phone charm that was originally intended as a gift for Nunnally, now dangling from Rolo's phone.

Under normal circumstances, Lelouch might have been able to control his emotions, but at that moment, the charm acted as the final straw.

"Why do you have that? That was meant for Nunnally. How could someone like you ever think you could replace her?" Lelouch's expression was twisted with rage, and his eyes burned with an uncontrollable loathing as he looked at Rolo.

He was done acting; he was laying all his cards on the table. He had swallowed his pride, played the fool, and pretended his memories hadn't returned just to keep up this disgusting game of house with a fake brother.

What was the purpose of it all? It was only to find a chance to rescue Nunnally from the Empire's clutches. But now, Nunnally had likely been killed in the blast. Lelouch was on the verge of losing everything that mattered to him. He ruthlessly snatched Rolo's phone, threw it to the floor, and crushed it under his heel.

"Haven't you realized it yet?" Lelouch's voice dripped with pure disgust. "I hate you! I hate you more than anyone. I've tried to kill you so many times, but I just couldn't pull it off!"

"Brother..." Rolo's face was a mask of pure disbelief.

"Get out! I never want to see your face again. Get out!" Lelouch roared.

A look of devastation crossed Rolo's face, as if something vital inside him had shattered. The dream of having a family, of having a reliable older brother who shared a deep bond despite not being related by blood, had vanished in an instant. The last glimmer of light in his world was extinguished. The dark, lonely life he had endured as a test subject for the Empire and a recipient of Geass was about to consume him once again.

Fugaku sat watching the scene unfold. He had been a member of the anti-Rolo camp.

Although Rolo had gained a small following among fans who found his weak and protective younger brother persona cute, Fugaku remained unmoved. The fact that Rolo had killed Shirley meant he could never be redeemed in his eyes.

And yet, seeing Lelouch drop the facade so heartlessly, seeing him strip away the mask of the dependable brother to reveal nothing but fury and murderous intent, and then seeing Rolo looking down with tears in his eyes, he felt a sharp pang in his chest. For a moment, he actually felt sorry for him.

"Wait, wait, wait! Fugaku, don't go soft now. What is there to pity about this guy? He deserves what's coming to him. The only way he can atone for his sins is to have a mental breakdown and end it all," he muttered, taking a deep breath to sever that sudden moment of sympathy.

Still, he couldn't help but marvel at Haruto's writing. He could take a character he had loathed until seconds ago and make him feel sorry for him in a matter of minutes.

The plot continued to move forward.

The battle between the Holy Britannian Empire and the Black Knights had reached a stalemate following the deployment of the nuclear weapon. Lelouch's greatest adversary, his older brother Prince Schneizel, took this opportunity to sow seeds of discord within the Black Knights.

Although the Black Knights were a massive organization, their core members were the same few who had followed Lelouch since the beginning. None of them knew Zero's true identity. Schneizel revealed everything: that Zero was actually Lelouch, a prince of the Britannian Empire. He further explained that Lelouch possessed the Geass power to control others.

A prince of Britannia? Leading the Japanese people in a rebellion against his own empire? Was there anything more absurd in the world? Moreover, it seemed many of the miracles Zero had performed were achieved through the use of Geass. If that were true, what was the real story behind Princess Euphemia's death? Why had she ordered the massacre of the Japanese people at the assembly? Was it all just a trick by Zero to manipulate everyone?

Once the seeds of doubt are sown, they inevitably take root and grow. At this critical moment, the leader of the Black Knights, Ohgi, stepped forward. He took the lead in inciting the others to turn against Zero. Haruto's fans had long been suspicious of Ohgi's dedication compared to Lelouch's vision.

Watching this, Fugaku was fuming. It was impossible to carry such incompetent teammates. Lelouch was literally fighting a one-versus-nine battle! In the previous episode, the nuclear weapon forced a cease-fire. In this episode, the Black Knights were on the verge of total collapse simply because of a few words from the enemy. These people, whom Lelouch had saved countless times, were turning their backs on him just like that.

"These teammates are such dead weight,"

"He can't carry them. It's impossible,"

"This is exactly why a disorganized mob can't beat a army."

"The Black Knights are such a joke. Betraying him over a few sentences? They really are just a bunch of amateurs."

"It's hilarious. Do they actually think the Black Knights were strong because of them? Without Lelouch, Schneizel will play them like a fiddle. They're idiots."

In the group chats, the fans were reaching a boiling point. While the nuclear weapon was terrifying, it could be countered by dispersing their forces. The Empire wouldn't use such a thing on its own territory just to wipe out the Black Knights. However, internal collapse was a problem that couldn't be solved.

Back at the Black Knights' base, Lelouch was still immersed in his grief and fear over the possible death of his sister. Soon, a decapitation strike aimed at Lelouch was launched by the Black Knights themselves. Ohgi tried to lure Lelouch to a warehouse under the guise of an important meeting. Kallen, who knew nothing of the plot, followed him and even tried to protect Lelouch when her former comrades turned their guns on him.

But when Lelouch saw that Schneizel was also present, he realized his older brother had blocked every possible escape route. To protect Kallen, he made a choice.

"Have you only just realized it? I've been using you this entire time. To me, you people were nothing but pawns. Kallen, you were the most useful pawn of all. That's right; everything was just a game of chess."

Lelouch deliberately distanced himself from Kallen to save her. He knew he wouldn't get a chance to use his Geass; his brother wouldn't have set this trap without ensuring Lelouch couldn't control the people there. His former comrades pointed their rifles at him. Lelouch himself felt a sense of release now that Nunnally was gone. This entire game of chess had been played solely for her sake. If she was gone, then let this be the final scene of his life.

"Kallen... you must live on." As Kallen turned away from him in disappointment and walked toward her teammates, giving up her attempt to protect him, those were the last words Lelouch whispered to her. In the next moment, dozens of submachine guns opened fire. Lelouch's face remained calm.

But a second later, a massive Knightmare Frame lunged in front of him, shielding him from the bullets. Fugaku, completely absorbed in the story, felt his pupils contract.

It was Rolo.

"I will... protect my brother."

Rolo was originally an agent of the Britannian Empire. He had been used as a biological test subject since he was a child, enduring countless cruel experiments to master a Geass that could temporarily stop the perception of time for everyone within a certain range. He had been sent to Lelouch's side as a spy.

However, during the year he spent living with Lelouch, he had fallen in love with that ordinary, peaceful life. He had grown to love this brother whose memories had been altered by the Emperor to believe they were truly related. Even after Lelouch regained his memories, Rolo was completely won over by Lelouch's claim that while their shared memories were fake, the affection he felt for Rolo as a brother was real. Even today, after Lelouch had told him the brutal truth and said he never wanted to see him again, Rolo still stepped forward. At the moment of Lelouch's certain death, he put his life on the line and used his machine to shield him.

His choice meant that the Black Knights would no longer have a place for him, and the Britannian Empire would treat him as a traitor. But he didn't care.

He activated his Geass. Everyone in the vicinity stopped thinking. Rolo used his Knightmare to scoop up the frozen Lelouch and carried him away, escaping from the floating battleship.

Once they were out of range, the people affected by his Geass regained their senses. Schneizel immediately issued an order for everyone to spread out and launch a massive, indiscriminate attack. Since Rolo's ability relied on stopping the perception of time for those nearby, a sufficiently large and spread-out force would ensure that some people would always be outside his range and able to strike his machine.

Faced with the enemy pursuit, Rolo could only flee desperately, relying on the high performance of his Knightmare, and his Geass.

"Stop it, Rolo! Nunnally is dead. I have no reason to keep living. Just save yourself and run!" Lelouch shouted as he climbed into the cockpit. "Using Geass over such a wide area is too much! Rolo, the side effect of your power is that it stops your heart. You're going to die!"

As shells hit the machine's energy shield, the cell phone charm fell from Rolo's pocket once again.

"That's enough, Rolo!" Lelouch cried.

"I can't, Brother. Because..." Rolo activated his power again, cutting off Lelouch's attempt to stop him.

The pursuing enemies, caught in the long-range influence of the Geass, lost control of their machines as their brains froze mid-flight, causing them to crash into the sea.

"I've always been a tool for others."

"Stop it, Rolo!" Lelouch spoke during the cooldown of Rolo's ability, but Rolo immediately activated it again, freezing Lelouch's thoughts once more.

"I was a tool for the Order."

The background music shifted into something soulful and melancholic. Fugaku felt his eyes welling with tears.

"Don't save me!" Lelouch's sentence was cut off again as his mind froze.

"And then I was a tool for my brother..." Rolo's heart was throbbing with pain, and he could barely catch his breath. Yet, he continued to fire at the enemy machines. "It's true, I might have just been used by you, Brother. But..."

"Those times... they were real to me."

Rolo spoke through his pain to the thoughtless Lelouch. That one soft sentence made Fugaku break down into tears. Rolo had betrayed the Order, betrayed the Emperor, betrayed the trust Shirley had placed in him before her death, and betrayed the Black Knights. Yet, at this moment, he was giving his life to save Lelouch. He might have been a villain, and he might have known that Lelouch was using him and never truly intended to be his brother, but he truly viewed Lelouch as his family.

"Thanks to those memories, I finally... became a real human being. So, I've already..."

"Don't use Geass anymore! Do you want to die?" Lelouch yelled. Even though his thoughts were being constantly interrupted, he could tell from Rolo's pained expression exactly how many times he had pushed his heart to the limit.

With one final burst of power, Rolo's last Geass allowed their machine to escape the pursuers.

"I am no longer a tool. This is... my own will."

Using the last of his consciousness, Rolo piloted the machine to a safe area before the systems shut down. In a deserted forest, the cockpit hatch opened. Rolo's face was pale and weak as he looked up at the sky and his brother standing beside him.

"Why did you save me? I only used you as..." Lelouch's voice was no longer filled with hatred.

"Because you're a liar, Brother. All those things you said... about hating me and wanting to kill me... those were all lies, weren't they?" Rolo managed a small smile for Lelouch with his last bit of strength.

"Is that so? I guess you saw right through me." Lelouch was silent for a moment. Then, for the first time, he gave Rolo a genuine, heartfelt smile that wasn't part of an act. "You truly are my little brother."

"Of course. I know everything... about you, Brother."

After whispering those final words, Rolo's heart stopped beating. He passed away with a smile on his face.

"Yeah. You're right. Your big brother is a liar." Lelouch picked up the cell phone charm and placed it in Rolo's hand. This time, it wasn't a facade. He truly acknowledged him and gave it to him as a final gift. He had told one last lie to give Rolo a peaceful dream to carry into death.

The ending credits began to roll.

In his room, Fugaku was sobbing uncontrollably.

Unlike previous weeks, the various fan groups across the country didn't immediately explode with rage or excitement. Instead, there was a profound silence. Haruto had kept his promise; the fake brother, Rolo, was dead. He had also followed through on his promise to have Rolo learn the brutal truth and be abandoned by Lelouch.

However, the character's final choice had elevated him.

Even after the cruelty of the world was laid bare before him, he chose to stay true to his own path. Rolo was certainly a villain, but after seeing him meet such an end, most fans found it impossible to hate him anymore.

The silence following the episode was merely a facade. In reality, countless people were busy wiping away tears and trying to get their emotions under control. The episode was both a tear-jerker and incredibly depressing, but fans who wanted to blast Haruto for being heartless couldn't find a single reason to do so. After all, they were the ones who had demanded that he kill off Rolo in the first place.

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