Code Geass Stage 14: Geass vs Geass

The Guren destroys one of the Lancelot‘s swords and uses smoke as cover for its escape. Ohgi tries to call Lelouch over the radio, and C.C. answers and tells him they need to retreat. C.C. comments that it’s rare for Lelouch to freeze up, and he says that someone stole his gun while he was unconscious. C.C. wonders if someone saw his face, and Lelouch says that judging by the amount of blood on the ground, at least two people were present. Back at school, Shirley hides the gun and begins to write a letter. The next morning, Nina tells Suzaku that she wants to meet Euphemia and thank her for saving her life at Lake Kawaguchi. Rivalz fantasizes about hooking up with a princess, but Nunnally says people with impure thoughts probably don’t get to meet princesses. Lelouch calls and asks Suzaku if anything strange is happening, and Suzaku mentions that Shirley is absent. After hanging up, Lelouch concludes that Suzaku doesn’t know his identity, and C.C. wonders who would be at the battle aside from a Britannian soldier or Black Knight. Lelouch is having the blood analyzed and has Ohgi checking for the gun on the black market, and he swears that he saw Shirley at the battle. Elsewhere, Darlton reports to Cornelia and Euphemia that Zero seems to be specifically targeting the royal family. Guilford suggests that as vice governor-general, Euphemia should have her own knight to protect her. At the Lancelot hangar, Cecile expresses reservations about how Suzaku views human life, and she asks Lloyd not to treat him as one of Lancelot’s parts. At school, Lelouch uses Geass to have Shirley’s roommate stand guard at the door while he searches the room. There’s no sign of his gun, but he finds a box filled with pictures of him. Shirley travels to Narita with the gun and encounters a strange man at a memorial park who knows her name. At the Black Knights base, Ohgi wonders why the JLF tanker exploded, but Tamaki dismisses the concern. Diethard notes that the timing was too perfect and asks Ohgi what he intends to do if Zero was really behind it. As they head for Narita on a train, C.C. asks Lelouch if he likes Shirley, but he answers that he doesn’t know. At Narita, the mysterious man reveals that he knows Lelouch is Zero and is responsible for the death of Shirley’s father. He also knows what Shirley did the night before. After Shirley picked up the gun, Viletta appeared and was surprised to discover that Lelouch himself was Zero. She believed that if she delivered Lelouch to Cornelia, she’d become a noble. When she saw Shirley pointing the gun, she tried to attack, but Shirley shot her several times. The mysterious man tells Shirley that she and Lelouch are murderers and must be punished. He then pushes further by saying that she manipulated Lelouch by acting like a victim to get a kiss.

Lelouch and C.C. split up in Narita to search for Shirley. Lelouch answers a phone call from Shirley’s phone, but the mysterious man is standing behind him and tosses the phone over. He then pulls out a chess piece and suggests they have a duel. While asking around about Shirley, C.C. sees Lelouch riding a cable car with the mysterious man named Mao. Lelouch plays chess with Mao on the cable car and wonders if Mao is the other witness. As Lelouch considers the possibility of a trap, Mao comments that it’s his first time playing chess, but Lelouch should focus on the game. Nearby, C.C. hurries up the mountainside on a motorcycle. As the cable car reaches the station, Lelouch is shocked that he’s been completely defeated by Mao. Mao says what Lelouch was thinking, and he briefly removes his sunglasses to reveal the Geass symbol on his eye. His Geass power is reading minds, and Lelouch demands to know if he shot Shirley. Just then, Shirley walks up to the cable car and points the gun at Lelouch. Ohgi thinks about things at the dock and finds wounded Viletta. He runs over to her, and in her delirium she mentions Zero. Mao tells Lelouch he can use Geass to not have Shirley shoot him, but he pulls out his own gun and says he’ll shoot Lelouch. As Lelouch thinks of strategies, Shirley tells him he should die for his sins and that she will as well. Mao explains that Shirley murdered the other witness who saw Lelouch’s identity. Lelouch realizes that since Mao can read minds he can trick and mislead people. He tells Shirley that if killing is a sin, she shouldn’t sin again by killing him. He asks Shirley if she really killed someone, or if Mao is misleading her. Shirley shoots at Lelouch, and the bullet grazes him. As he falls back and lands on the stairs, her photos fall out of his jacket. Mao urges her to hurry up and shoot Lelouch because he’s a murderer. Annoyed by her hesitation, Mao tries to shoot Lelouch, but she shoots at him. He goes inside the cable car to retrieve a rifle, but the doors close and the car begins to head down the track. He then spots C.C. and is overjoyed to see her. Shirley cries in Lelouch’s arms about shooting at him and Viletta, and he tells her it’s all his fault. He tells her he can make her forget all the painful things and apologizes about her father. She says she can’t forget, and he uses his Geass. Later, Shirley is at the memorial park and sees Lelouch, but she doesn’t recognize him. She asks him if he lost a family member too, but he tells her that he lost a precious friend and didn’t realize how important she was until he lost her. She says that even though sad things happen, another morning will come. Lelouch agrees and walks away.