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"Alright~! Good work everyone~! With this, our school festival preparation will be smoother than we expected~! Let's go out and celebrate~!!!"

Milly rose up from her seat and cheered with a brilliant smile, throwing her hair to the side dramatically.

"Ooh! Let's totally go! Where are we going?"

Rivalz resurrected from his exhaustion and became excited as well by the premise of celebrating and having fun after a tough day's work.

"Where are we going, President?"

"Hm~ Let's go to the new restaurant that opened a few blocks from here!"

"Eh?! Isn't that a fancy restaurant though? Won't it be expensive?"

"Hehe~ It's fine~ After all, we have Alexander here who'll be treating us, right~?"

Milly winked towards Alexander, who immediately sighed and looked at her tiredly.

"First you work me to the bones. And then you want me to pay for dinner?"

"Hehe~ I'm sorry for dumping all the work on you, but you're just super amazing~! And we had to finish them by today if we want to make it for our preparation for the school festival~"

Milly apologized cutlery with her hands together while winking at Alexander. She did admit that she went a bit too far with giving Alexander so much work. But, there were a lot of things that she needed to get done as soon as possible, and she wouldn't have been able to do it this fast if it wasn't for Alexander, which she was extremely grateful for.

"I get that. But what does it have to do with me treating you all to dinner? Shouldn't you be the one paying, pres?"

"Eh~? Don't worry about the small details~ Didn't you just make a lot of money~"

Small details? How is deciding the one paying a small detail?! Yuuji wanted to retort. But in the end, he relented. He did make a few millions from the foreign exchange market, so treating his friends to a meal wouldn't be that much of a problem.

"...Fine. But next time, you'll be the one treating, okay pres?"

"Okay~! Then, let's goo~!!!"

"U-Uhm, p-pres..."

Shirley approached the student council president shyly and pulled on the hem of her uniform blazer, her face blushing extremely redly.

Milly turned to see her, and saw Shirley being in a state of a blushing mess. And only then did she remember about Shirley's plans.

"Hm? What's wro- Ah! That's right! You two will be going on a date, right?"

"I-I-It's not a date! W-W-We're just going... s-shopping for a bit..."

"Yes yes. Alright then, you two can go and have fun with your "outing". But join us for the next one, okay?"

"Y-Yes! Then, please excuse us! Let's go, Lulu!"

"Yes."

Lelouch nodded and gathered his things before putting them in his bag quickly. He was acting quite normally, but he was inwardly fairly excited to go with Shirley on this outing, even if it was only for a bit of shopping.

Even though he was in the middle of war, no, precisely because he was in the middle of war, he felt very happy that he could still spend some time with Shirley peacefully.

"Ah, that's right. Lelouch, I'll be coming over later, okay? I'll be bringing something for you and Nunnally as well."

Yuuji had promised that he'll be visiting C.C today and spend the night with her. And since he'll be going out to eat, he thought he would bring some food back with him for her, as well as Nunnally and Lelouch.

"Sure. Thank you. I'm sure Nunnally would love it. Then, see you later."

"Ah, see you."

Lelouch waved towards Yuuji and the rest of the council members, and exited the room.

"Alright! Then, let's go party with these members~!!!"

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

The student council quickly arrived at the newly established Italian restaurant a few kilometers away from Ashford Academy right after they finished their council business.

In fact, they arrived much quicker than they expected, because Alexander brought them with his car. It was a Mercedez Bens GLB-Class luxurious SUV, an extremely beautiful car with a large and comfortable interior that thoroughly impressed the girls and gobsmacked Rivalz.

It was a car Yuuji recently bought specifically so he could go around with Lelouch, Tatsuya, Satoru, and his friends easily. After all, although sports cars were nice, it couldn't carry more than two people at once. So, he made sure to have a few larger SUVs in case he were to go out with friends.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, they were immediately led into a table by a waitress and were given the menu.

The restaurant's most popular dishes were the Margarita pizza and the Neapolitan pizza. All the pizza here was baked in a traditional stone oven with oak firewood, which produces a high heat, long burn time, and adds a subtle aroma to the dish; a truly traditional and authentic method of baking Italian pizza.

And amongst the large variety of pizza, there were also various other italian dishes that attracted the attention of the young britannia students.

But, when they saw the prize, most of them, aside from Milly, stopped and froze for a few moments.

"Guys, just order what you want. It's my treat. Don't worry."

They all looked at Yuuji, their eyes still filled with hesitance. After all, they didn't know exactly how rich Yuuji was. All they knew was that he was wealthy, but not to the point that Yuuji could easily buy the entire restaurant right then and there with his pocket change.

"Come on. The food here seems very nice. Let's try them out. There's no need to hold back."

"You heard it, everyone~! There's no need to hold back~"

"You should hold back a little..."

After a bit of persuasion from Yuuji, Kallen, Nina, Suzaku, Rivalz, and Milly then began to give their order to the waitress.

Yuuji ordered fettuccine with cream mushroom sauce and salmon. Kallen got bolognese spaghetti. While Rivalz and Suzaku ordered carbonara and tuna carbonara spaghetti respectively. Milly and Nina decided to share a large helping of Chorizo and mozzarella gnocchi bake dish.

After giving their order, the group conversed a little over the drinks they've ordered. And soon, their orders arrived and they began to eat with a gusto.

Having only eaten simple meals that were made in large batches in the Black Knights' base for weeks now, Karen enjoyed every single bite of the luxurious dish before her.

Although it was expensive, she had to admit that the taste was on par with the price tag attached to it. And for a few moments, the taste managed to make her forget about it.

"You seemed to enjoy it. Is it that delicious?"

Kallen snapped out of her daze and looked at Alexander's smiling face in a fluster.

"Y-Yes, i-it's very delicious. T-Thank you for treating us."

Her cheeks blushed redly, feeling plenty embarrassed from being caught enjoying her meal so much that she forgot her surroundings.

"It's fine. Milly was the one who made me pay, and I really don't mind treating everyone, especially after being so busy."

Yuuji shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. Although he acted like he was annoyed with Milly, he truly didn't mind treating his friends to a nice meal. Money was the last thing he had to worry about, and since they seemed to enjoy it, it was plenty worth it to pay a bit of money and give everyone a fun time.

"Ah, that's right. Do you want to try mine? It's very delicious."

"Eh? Is it okay...?"

"Of course. Here."

Kallen looked at the dish Yuuji had pushed towards her for a few moments. And after a while, she shyly lifted up a few strands of the fettuccine with her fork, and ate it.

"Mm~! It's delicious...!"

"Isn't it? You can have more if you want."

"N-No, it's fine. Thank you. That's enough. Uhm..."

Kallen lowered her head shyly and hesitated for a few moments, before she pushed her dish towards him as well.

"H-Here, you can try mine too. If you want..."

"Really? Thank you. Then, I'll try a bit."

Her cheeks blushed redly and she felt her heart skip a beat when Yuuji took a small bite of her dish.

Dammit! Why am I acting like this?! I know I should be acting demure, but this is too embarrassing!

Kallen watched as Yuuji tasted the food slowly, trying her best to calm her heart down while also keeping up her demure, high-class britannia girl act.

"It's very delicious. Now I know why you seemed so engrossed with it before."

Her face immediately blushed red, and all her efforts of trying to calm down went down the drain as her heart immediately began rushing up and down her chest.

"I-I was not engrossed! I-I was just enjoying the food normally."

"Yes yes. Sure you were. You were enjoying the food "normally" enough that you didn't hear the first few times I called you."

"Eh? You did?"

"Nope."

"..."

Kallen froze and looked at him in disbelief for a few moments, before she burst into a rage.

"Y-You bastard!"

"Ahahahaha! I'm sorry. It was so funny teasing you!"

Kallen groaned and clenched her teeth in embarrassment.

And now, she found yet another thing that this britannia bastard before her had in common with Mordred.

How hateful they both were.

"Oh my~ You guys are so close now~ Fufu~ You have a tough road up ahead of you, Karen~ I suggest you buy a stick so you beat all the girls that are trying to get to his pants~"

Kallen's eyes widened in shock and she slowly began to turn towards her friends, only to see them all looking at her with either a knowing smirk or a shy expression.

"Y-Y-You've got it wrong! W-Who's close to this bastard! I'm not!"

"Ahahaha~ There's no need to be that shy~ You're with friends now~ It's fine to be honest~"

"I'm telling the truth!!! And you, don't just sit there and laugh! Help me resolve this misunderstanding!"

Kallen pointed the fork she was holding with a death grip towards Yuuji as he just sat there with an annoying smirk on his face.

"Eh? Are they wrong? We are close right, Kallen? We gave each other a taste of our dish, after all."

"Y-Y-You bastard! Stop messing around already!!!"

Why... Why does it feel like she had to deal with Mordred's shenanigans even though she's not in the base right now, Karen thought to herself.

Ah, I need to find him quickly. There's so much rage I want to vent to him right now.

--------------------------------X--------------------------------

*Knock* *Knock*

Yuuji knocked on a wooden door and waited, standing in a dimly lit corridor of the Student Council Building.

In his hand were two large boxes, wide and short, with the logo and name of the Italian Restaurant he had just dined in with the members of the student council.

A few moments later, the door opened slightly, and peeking from within, C.C's golden eyes shone through from the lit interior of her room.

"Hey. I'm sorry I'm late. I went out for dinner with the student council. But, I brought you pizza."

Yuuji said with a soft smile and lifted up the lid of the box slightly to let C.C get a peek of what's inside.

Seeing his actions, C.C snorted and opened the door wider to let him in.

Yuuji entered and placed the two boxes of pizza on the table. Then, he unbuttoned his blazer and took it off, placing it on the chair.

But, as he was about to take a seat, a hand grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the bed.

Yuuji didn't resist and let C.C lead him to the bed and pulled him down.

"Seems like things are calming down for now. At least, enough for you to hangout with your friends and Lelouch to go on his date."

After having Yuuji sit on the edge of her bed, C.C opened up the box of pizza and took a slice of the margherita before sitting down beside him. She wrapped her arm around his, held his hand and intertwined their fingers, and began eating while resting her head on his shoulder.

Yuuji smiled softly and tilted his head towards her, resting it softly on her head, and held her hand tight.

"It is. Thankfully. Things are going well. We just received word from Kyoto that the JLF and the Japanese Government are willing to cooperate with us and support us. And the Britannians have been pretty quiet these days."

"Are you not afraid they're just amassing their troops in secret?"

"They might be. But I doubt Cornelia would incite another massive war soon with her army still in shambles like this. She might not be a peace seeker, but she's a competent enough commander to know when to not incite war."

"Hm... Is that so?"

C.C took a bit of her margherita pizza and her eyes shined brightly in delight. She quickly devoured the entire slice before taking another one and began munching again.

"Still. Shouldn't you be preparing for when she finished amassing her troops?"

"And we are. Even now, we're working on the "alliance" with the JLF. Also... Lelouch and I are watching other forces right now."

"Hm? Other forces?"

C.C looked up towards Yuuji with a confused expression as a string of cheese connected her luscious pink lips to the slice of pizza.

"Mm. Someone even more dangerous than Cornelia."

"...Who is it?"

"The second prince of the Britannian Empire. Schneizel el Britannia. We think he's starting to make his move."