There was a trap laid across the path. It was as clear as day. Branches reaching across the path from trees on either side. They looked like gnarled, withered fingers that might snatch him away at a moment's notice, but Lelouch could tell that their intention was more insidious than this.

"Where are you, Lelouch?" Kirihara called from elsewhere in the garden. "The shame of it. A young man like you fleeing in terror from an old man like me? Fufufu... My contacts in your homeland tell me the Emperor beams with pride when he hears reports of your activities. I wonder, what would your father think of you now?"

Calm down. The trap in his words is as obvious as the trap on the path, and both serve much the same purpose: To make him make a mistake. An obvious trap can be more dangerous than a subtle one, for the obvious trap can easily allow the one that set it to control your actions, and lead you into a harmful action. In this case, stepping off the path or waiting here to confront a vampire head on. Either action would be inherently harmful to staying safe, just as much as stepping through the branches would be. That was the real trap: Every option was a bad one!

"So if every option is equally bad," Lelouch thought aloud, but quietly. "Then I shall do what I have always done: If you are prepared to kill, you must be prepared to be killed!"

He disturbed the branches, deliberately and willingly. The plants around the path drew back revealing a series of pine trees dotting the pathway. As one the trees seemed to explode, sending pine needles flying out, filling the air around the depressed branches. Even Suzaku and Kallen couldn't dodge them all, nor could Schizoid Man catch all of these out of the air. There were too many, from too many different angles. It would be impossible for Lelouch, for anyone at all to dodge. Provided that they were standing there to begin with.

"So Lelouch, what was my mistake?" Kirihara cheekily called out. He wasn't too far away now. "I can tell you're still alive. How did you do it?"

"You tried a little too hard to be scary," Lelouch answered through Painted Black. No need to give the game away for his exact location. He stepped forward and looked down at it, the real folly of Kirihara's plan: He had left his stone lanterns up. They were light enough for Lelouch to throw, but also heavy enough to trap the branches onto the path. He stepped on top of it, and used the lantern to step across, bypassing the other branches without giving away his position. "I could tell you wanted me to push through the branches rather than step off the path."

-Lulu's Bizarre Rebellion Chapter 48