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“What are you doing?” Tamaki asked, flopping back on the couch.
Kallen stopped doodling on her homework. “I’m studying,” she said sheepishly. “Or I’m trying to, anyway.” She shot a glare at her rude friend, who was making a show of yawning at her answer.
Tamaki stretched, a drawled “Boooooring” falling from his lips. “Why don’tcha go do some simulator battles in the Guren? You kick ass at fighting!”
The ace pilot only snorted. Turning back to her mathematics textbook, she caught sight of Ohgi and Zero entering the base. They were murmuring something between themselves, and her ears strained to hear Zero’s deep voice. As usual, her heart rate picked up at the sight of her—their— masked leader, and she felt the familiar lightheadedness she always felt when she was near him. Aqua eyes brightened when she noticed the two approach the couch, and she hurriedly threw stacks of scrap paper on the floor to make room for Zero to sit next to her. “I need to prepare for an important test,” Kallen explained to Tamaki, though her eyes never left the masked rebellion leader’s profile.
“Yeh don’ hafta,” Tamaki whined. “C’mon, Kallen, stop doing boring things. I know! Why don’tcha come to the new recruits dinner party with me?”
Kallen shook her head. “It’s a really important test,” she argued.
Ohgi smiled encouragingly at her. “I’m glad to see you so involved with your school life, Kallen. It’s a normal life Naoto would have wanted for you. And besides, nobody your age should have to deal with the stress of our operations.” Nobody noticed how the masked leader stiffened minutely at those words. Heaving a sigh, Ohgi plopped down in the space next to his surrogate little sister—the one she was hoping Zero might occupy.
“Zero, my man!” Tamaki shouted in glee. “You agree with me, right? Kallen should be doing badass stuff for the Black Knights instead of wasting her time doing—” here, he actually bothered to look at what Kallen was working on before continuing, “—shit with numbers and crap.” The zesty oddball screw-up looked expectantly at Zero, waiting for his leader’s unyielding agreement and praise.
Zero gracefully sat on the table next to Kallen’s open textbook. Crossing his legs in his customary manner, he clasped his gloved hands over his knees and just stared at his followers for a good minute before speaking. “Actually, I agree with Kallen and Ohgi. It is of utmost importance that Kallen keep up her cover outside of the Black Knights organization. As well as being our ace pilot, she is also a schoolgirl—and that role is no less special for being ‘ordinary.’”
Kallen happily breathed, “Zero!” Her eyes sparkled up at him.
Noticing the girl’s reaction to the masked man, Ohgi discretely coughed and stood up. “I need a drink,” he proclaimed loudly. “Zero, I need your opinion. Water or coffee?”
“Water is healthier for you,” Zero lectured after a second’s pause. He was most likely confused at the abrupt question, and no doubt he was trying to crack some secret meaning behind the words.
Ohgi shook his head. “I think this decision requires a bit more thought. You’d better come with me to the kitchen and help me decide,” he urged. Marching across the room, he didn’t look to see if Zero was following. When he reached the kitchen area of their base, he swirled around and was pleased to note that his leader had caught his very obvious hint. “I need to know something,” Ohgi began in a low voice, glancing back the way they’d come to be sure no one had followed them.
“Go on,” Zero ordered. He was wrapped in his cape, and he almost blended into the darkness.
“What is Kallen to you?” the deputy commander demanded.
Zero didn’t move an inch, didn’t miss a beat as he answered calmly, “She is my ace pilot and an outstanding Black Knight.”
Ohgi warily rubbed his forehead. “She’s…a young girl,” he said—and then backtracked. “Not young young, like a child, you know, but she’s still young and impressionable and, well…”
“What are you getting at, Ohgi?” Zero asked impatiently.
“Young girls—or rather, girls Kallen’s age—they have dreams, Zero. Cherished dreams. Impossible dreams.” Sweat slid down the back of the Japanese man’s neck. Crazily, he waved his hands around in a haphazard manner, very much like how the rebellion leader himself often did. “Do you understand what I’m saying?”
The masked head tilted slightly to the left. Though it must have cost him dearly to admit it, the low answer that came from Zero was, “…No.”
“I’m telling you,” Ohgi said, breathing deeply, “that I want you to stop playing with Kallen’s heart. She doesn’t need that, and as the closest thing to an older brother she has left, I will not let her get hurt. Not even by you, Zero.” He leveled his gaze with where he assumed his leader’s eyes were hidden behind the purplish navy glass, and his quivering jaw set determinedly.
Zero’s arms fell from their folded position across his chest. “I…wasn’t aware I was playing with her heart,” he said slowly. “I can’t help it if she has some deep fascination with me; I’ve done nothing to encourage her attentions.”
Ohgi nodded, as if that was the answer he had been hoping to hear. “Good. That’s how it’s going to stay.”
A deep chuckle sounded from behind the mask. “Oh, is it?” the rebellion leader asked slyly. Then, upon seeing the glare forming on his second-in-command’s face, Zero promised, “I will never pursue Kallen.” He gathered himself again in his cape before adding, “If I ever decide to, I’ll be sure to go through you first and gain your permission. After all, I can’t have an overprotective big brother on my back when I’m trying to run a rebellion, can I?” he asked, a teasing smirk present in his tone.
It was the first time Ohgi had heard any kind of normal, happy emotion coming from the masked man. Though he was shell-shocked that Zero of all people was joking, the deputy commander couldn’t help but respond as if the masked leader’s words were serious. “I’d never give my permission,” he insisted. “I know right now she might be infatuated with you, but she needs someone her own age, someone who can be a part of her ‘ordinary’ life, too. I’m sorry, Zero, but I just don’t feel comfortable with an older, mysterious man making moves on Kallen.”
Another deep chuckle sounded from Zero. “I understand your concern,” he said. Taking a step closer, he leaned in nearer to the other and asked, “Just out of curiosity, how old do you think I am, Ohgi?”
“Judging by the way you carry yourself, and your intelligence level…I’m not sure,” the Japanese man admitted. “Maybe somewhere in your late twenties, early thirties?” His eyes futilely searched Zero’s mask, trying to find a reaction. “Am I close?”
“Not in the slightest,” Zero surprised him by answering. “Here’s food for thought. Do you think this mask is the only thing hiding my true identity?” He tapped his toe on the floor, the click-clack sound drawing the other’s attention.
Staring at the very bottom of Zero’s costume in the dim lighting, Ohgi squeaked, “You’re wearing…heels?”
Zero shifted uncomfortably next to him. “I would prefer it if you didn’t make me sound like a girl, but yes. I’m not actually this tall.”
Ohgi swallowed. “Why are you telling me this? Do you want me to try to figure out who you are?”
At once, Zero shook his head. “Why, not at all. I’m perfectly content keeping my identity secret—like it’s supposed to be. I just wanted to add one more thing: it’s not only my physical features I hide or exaggerate to keep my true identity safe.” Swirling on his heel (high heel), he exited the kitchen in a dramatic swirl of cape and mystique.
The deputy commander scratched his head and tried to collect his thoughts. What did Zero mean exactly? Following the head rebel back to the main room of the base, he froze. His blood started to boil when he noticed Zero sitting pressed close to Kallen on the couch, his masked head staring down at the math textbook spread over both their laps. “What are you doing?” he asked Zero, trying to keep the ice out of his voice; no one else needed to be alerted to the contents of their private little chat.
Zero raised his head. “I’m studying. There’s a really important test tomorrow.”