Chapter 126: The Shape of Man
In the empty and quiet music classroom, Kaworu Nagisa sat relaxed with his back against the piano. Ade moved a chair to sit opposite him, and C.C. stood beside him in nervous silence. A certain state of mind called curiosity made him anxious to talk to the other party.
"Don't you realize how contradictory your consciousness is?" Kaworu Nagisa looked at Ade compassionately, "You obviously awakened as a NewType, eager to break the wall of the mind, yet inside you stubbornly reject everything, wanting to maintain absolute physical and spiritual independence. This incestuous, half-assed obsession is like—"
"It's like my existence itself." Ade replied calmly, "Neither Lilin nor an alien, but something in between, something like a Paramecium."
C.C. couldn't help but reach out a hand to hold his shoulders. Ade looked up to give her a reassuring smile.
"So you're self-aware, and not caught in the logical trap of self-awareness." Kaworu Nagisa smiled self-deprecatingly, "Slightly envious of you, I don't understand what I really count as for now. I thought we would be similar, but it seems that's not the case."
"We're not enemies?" Ade asked curiously.
"My destiny is to continue living until I find Adam. Perhaps the human race will perish, but that is only their destiny." Kaworu Nagisa looked at Ade with pleasure, "Even if a second impact occurs, it will have no effect on you and the fake around you. I don't see the need for us to become enemies, which is probably your destiny."
Hearing the word "fake," C.C.'s fingers clenched so hard that they caused a vague pain in Ade's shoulders. He helplessly relaxed his body and gently patted the white and slender hand on his shoulder.
"My fate stems from my choices." Ade shook his head with a firm gaze, "Not from some destiny."
"Free will and emotion are among the most important themes of expression in classical music, which is why I love them so much." On a whim, Kaworu Nagisa held out his hand to Ade in an inviting gesture, "Want to learn to play the piano?"
C.C. pressed Ade hard to keep him from standing up, as if he would run away if she did not do it. He looked up and smiled at C.C., gesturing for her not to be nervous, "I quite wanted to learn when I was in school, but that was only because I thought it was cool. When I think about it, I still prefer listening and have little interest in playing."
"So that's how it is." Kaworu Nagisa withdrew his outstretched hand and nodded slightly as if he understood something, "Both eager to communicate with others and reluctant to express yourself, so it's obvious that you're a NewType, yet you have such a Geass."
Ade had an uncomfortable feeling of being seen through all over his body.
"You are really like…" Kaworu Nagisa frowned as if trying to find a suitable metaphor to describe him, and only after a long time did he spit out this word, "A human. "
Such an eerie atmosphere made Ade uncomfortable all over. He tried to change the subject, "Did you come out too early? I heard that angels should debut one by one in order?"
"I'm the first angel, what's wrong with being the first to appear?" Kaworu Nagisa smiled lightly, "Besides, my birth itself is some kind of banter arrangement, even if I appear early, it's for the sake of better show effect."
Ade pricked up his ears and listened carefully, afraid to miss a key word. But the other party did not continue, which made him hesitate whether to pursue what your birth is exactly.
"Wait, show effect?" He keenly noted a keyword, "Is anyone watching?"
"The audience is supposed to be part of the show, and the actors are just audience members standing on the stage. Does it matter who is watching?" Kaworu Nagisa lifted his head to look out the window. His gaze cast through the thick clouds to the infinite universe, "What matters is that none of us are free, have no means to be free, and have no hope of being free."
"You know?!" Ade felt the spirit in his consciousness that resembled NT and did not resemble NT. He could not help but stretch out a finger and point to the sky, "Then there is still a need to fight with humans to the death?"
"This is my destiny, perhaps it will also be yours." Kaworu smiled derisively at him, "Where else would you get so much pressure to be dissipated by huge sexual desires?"
Ade was furious, "Bullshit!"
Kaworu Nagisa smiled indifferently, stood up and walked over to Ade, reached down to hold his other shoulder, leaned down, and whispered softly in his ear, "Anyway, I'm glad to see you, and may you find your way to freedom."
After saying this, he gently patted Ade's shoulder, and without looking back, he got up and walked towards the door. After a short while, only Ade and C.C. were left in the empty music classroom.
C.C. felt like she was in a cold sweat and desperately needed a shower and a change of clothes. She settled down and asked, in a slight trance, "What the hell is he doing here?"
"To see me." Ade replied affirmatively, "Because he himself doesn't know what he's up to."
"I didn't understand what he was saying." C.C. looked at him suspiciously, "Did you understand?"
Ade took a deep breath and nodded solemnly, "In a sense, his existence itself is probably a lot like mine, which is why he came to me for answers. Unfortunately, my answer is only mine and there is no way to give it to him."
C.C. still didn't understand, but instead of continuing to dwell on the question, she thought of something more important, "As you heard, I am a fake."
"A fake of what?" Ade gently took her hand and gestured for her to sit on his lap, "Angel's?"
"Hmm." C.C. obediently sat down with a little upset on her face, "I don't have all the memories from before, and Lilith would never talk to me about the details, only occasionally calling me Crystal, like you did before. Maybe I probably wasn't human, maybe I was some kind of artificial, or natural monster, or something."
"And what does that have to do with it?" Ade wrapped his arms around her, "You are what you are."
"Doesn't that make you sick?" C.C. lowered her eyes in pain, "It's this unknown thing that's skin to skin with you, maybe it's not even organic."
"I don't mind. After all, you're so cute!"
"You…" C.C. hesitated for a while, finally laughed, and shook her head, followed by a wary expression, "He said you and I make love all to relieve stress? Then what am I to you? A toy?"
"Don't listen to his bullshit! What does a virgin like him know?" Being accused so seriously, Ade looked agitated, "It's because you're too attractive! I can't control myself at all!"
"Stop it, it's not like you're being asked to incriminate yourself." C.C. smacked his hand away, "I'm sweaty."
"And what does that have to do with anything?" He asked rhetorically, "Does it matter?"
…
"It's very important, it's a matter of honor for Princess Euphemia." Suzaku Kururugi looked nervously at commander Cornelia, "Please let me go to fight again."
Cornelia weighed her options and decided to give him a chance, "One last chance."
Kururugi got permission to fight and turned around to leave with high spirits. On the way, there were people pointing at him unabashedly, whispering at a volume that was not meant to be lowered, and some even took the initiative to greet him with "Hello, former Knight of the Round Table."
"Have you heard the saying, 'If you haven't beat Kururugi, how dare you call yourself an ACE?'" Someone said this in a small voice and everyone laughed happily.
Kururugi walked briskly without changing his look. These onlookers could not influence his actions and thoughts, he only needed Euphemia. For Euphemia, he can do anything.
At that moment, a teenager wearing the uniform of the Round Table expressionlessly walked towards him, then brushed past him, and people whistled in all directions.
"Setsuna·F·Seiei…" Kururugi silently recited that name with displeasure.
He was confident that his strength was definitely above Setsuna, but for some reason, the Emperor was very fond of Setsuna, and in order to help him increase his reputation, he went out of his way to imply that Kururugi had taken the initiative to lose to Setsuna in the MS match. This made his already unsightly record even worse, but being in the system, he had no choice.
As for why him and not others? Apart from him, the remaining Knights of the Round Table either had noble status or strong supporters and only he was the best to bully. He is just a Japanese, and his loss won't be a disgrace to Britannia, so why not choose him?
"Such a corrupt empire! It's ridiculous, Nunnally is really right." He muttered in a low inaudible voice, "Euphy, only Euphy is different from them, only Euphy… I must…"
Kururugi clenched his fist hard and made preparations to strike.
In the previous battle, the Black Knights were defeated, but its leader ZERO still managed to escape with a small remnant of his party. Now the Britannia army has finally found out where the opponent's stronghold is, and plans to wipe out this group of small people.
Sometime later, Britannia's MS troops advanced quietly and orderly in the night, with Kururugi leading the way. The perimeter of the Black Knights' stronghold was very weakly guarded, and a gap was easily torn open by the onslaught of MS troops. Kururugi wandered through it easily and comfortably, harvesting MSs one by one, as if he had regained his confidence as an ACE.
In less than an hour, this modest stronghold was occupied by Britannia, and Kururugi also received a report from his men, "We found ZERO! Should we take off his mask?"
"Don't do anything rash." Kururugi decisively ordered, "Take him back and wait for Cornelia to decide."
The next step was to bring ZERO to Cornelia, but on the way back, they were unexpectedly attacked by a small group of troops.
"Londo Bell?" Kururugi looked at the F91 in front of him and was shocked, "This isn't what was promised!"
The plan must not be disrupted, Kururugi manipulated Lancelot, drew out the beam saber, and took the initiative to meet the F91 Gundam, while ordering his subordinates to retreat with ZERO first.
The two forces stopped firing to prevent stray bullets from accidentally injuring friendly troops, and Lancelot and F91 battled in front of the two armies. Both sides were extremely maneuverable MSs, and their fight was dazzling and overwhelming to watch.
"I can do it." Kururugi ignored the pain that almost tore through his muscles, forcibly evading the attacks from the other side at an acceleration that could kill any ordinary person. His eyes fixed deadly on the string of streaks in front of him, "I see you!"
The beam saber ignored all the residual images, breaking the delusion to stab into the void. The next moment, F91 appeared in front of his beam saber, whose reactor was being pointed exactly by the beam saber.
F91 suddenly twisted in place. Before the beam saber grazed its reactor, F91's beam saber had cut off Lancelot's arm. After that successful strike, F91 drew back sharply and did not take advantage of the opportunity to pursue.
"As a pilot, you're very good." The other party's voice came from the public channel, "ZERO has already gone far, there is no point for us to fight any longer."
After leaving these words F91 quickly retreated under the cover of his teammates, and soon there were no traces of them under the night.
"So, this is also the actor you arranged? To make everything look a little more realistic?" Kururugi hammered the control panel in the cockpit with hatred and repeatedly took deep breaths to calm himself down, "For Euphy, it's all for Euphemia…"
When he returned to the base, it was already late at night.
ZERO, wearing a mask and with his hands handcuffed behind him, was personally escorted by him to Cornelia. After receiving Cornelia's authorization, he trembled and removed ZERO's mask.
"Lelouch, how is it you!" Kururugi said while making a shocked expression. This expression, this tone of voice, which he had rehearsed countless times under Nunnally's guidance, was perfect.
Cornelia walked faithfully in front of Lelouch without any doubt and followed with a surprised look.
Since it was already late at night, there were only Cornelia's personal guards in this room besides the three of them. Kururugi changed his position, and stood between Cornelia's guards and Lelouch, so that no one else could see Lelouch's face.
Lelouch showed an evil and impetuous smile, and the scarlet bird-like pattern in his eyes lit up, "Sister Cornelia, listen to me …"
Kururugi looked at what was happening in front of him and sighed inwardly helplessly. He knew that he was also controlled by this ability, and he couldn't remember what orders Lelouch had given to him, but the only thing he remembered—he had volunteered.
