Everlasting (ch2)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY HIGH-PLEDGING PATRONS!

I'm glad you all enjoyed chapter 1 so far! I just want to warn you that some chapters might seem a little tedious, especially later chapters, as I essentially retell the episodes, but I promise I'll add in original content to make it better~

This chapter is still mostly original content.

Disclaimer: I do not own Little Witch Academia.

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												Chapter 2. Misunderstandings

They'd both known it wasn't going to be easy.

But as soon as they see each other again the next morning, passing by in the hallways heading in opposite directions, both Akko and Diana are hit with a sense of just how difficult this will really be for them.

As soon as she catches a glimpse of Diana, Akko perks up and starts waving exuberantly.

"Dia-"

But then she remembers. She's supposed to play it cool.

Everyone in the hallway is drawn to her shout, including Diana herself, who sends Akko a surprised, but frantic look before she quickly turns away as though she hadn't heard her.

Akko catches herself, and her voice dwindles away, her mouth and body now frozen as everyone looks at her expectantly. Lotte and Sucy are more puzzled than anyone.

"Akko?" Lotte says. "What are you doing?"

Akko begins to sweat, her brain kicking into overdrive as she tries to think of an excuse.

"D-Di... Diamonds! That's right! I had this crazy dream about diamonds last night! The school was covered in them! It was so neat, ahaha!" She quickly turns away from Diana and back to her own teammates. Luckily, Lotte and Sucy both easily accept the explanation. After all, this is just like Akko to make a scene about something so odd.

"Oh, a dream," Lotte smiles. "That's interesting. I wonder what it means."

"Diamonds?" Sucy grunts. "Sounds boring. Should've been mushrooms."

"Geez, not everything has to be about mushrooms, Sucy!"

As the conversation shifts, Akko breathes a small sigh of relief. She'd been too excited, too impulsive as usual. She's going to have to be a lot more mindful about this. Even the tiniest slip-up could expose Diana's and her relationship.

So she makes a mental vow to consciously monitor herself from now on, especially if Diana is nearby.

/We can do this. We'll make it work somehow.../

. . .

Diana isn't in Akko's first class of the day, but they do share the second lecture together in Professor Finneran's class.

Akko does her best to walk in and take her seat normally, without stealing glances at Diana's row. She can't allow herself to look Diana's way for fear of being too obvious. But she has to wonder if Diana is struggling just as much as she as.

Part of Akko believes Diana is perfectly calm and reserved in handling this. But there's also a part of her that knows Diana is probably having a difficult time with it as well, even if she won't show it.

The lecture commences and progresses as any other lecture would. Akko feels her interest and energy being sapped as Professor Finneran drones on and on about whatever the day's topic is. Lotte nudges Akko's arm and whispers reminders to her about taking notes and not falling asleep, while Sucy crushes up some weird leaves and spices into a little bowl for her own amusement.

Whenever Professor Finneran asks a question, Diana's hand is the first one up. She answers just about everything the professor inquires about, though there are a few times other students manage to speak up.

Akko's ears naturally tune in to the sound of Diana's voice whenever she speaks. Even before they'd started seeing one another, she'd always sort of been more inclined to listen to Diana than anyone else.

/I guess I kinda liked her even before I knew it.../

As she muses to herself, Akko doesn't really realize she's let a big smile spread across her face. Sucy stops crushing her leaves for a moment and pokes her.

"Hey, the fumes from this aren't supposed to make you happy."

"Haah? I'm not- Gyaah, Sucy stop it!"

"Quiet, you two!" Lotte whispers. Just as her warning comes, Professor Finneran whips around and snaps much more harshly.

"Silence!"

Akko squeaks and recoils back into her seat. The professor glares at her a moment longer before continuing.

"Now then, would anyone care to explain the reasons for the decline of the Kelsae language?"

As she drones on with her next question, Akko lets out a long sigh, keeping her voice lower now.

"Are we almost done?"

Lotte peers over her teammate's head to the clock above the door.

"Just a few more minutes. You should try to focus, Akko."

Of course, she'd meant for Akko to focus on the lecture. But as Diana is called upon to answer the present question, Akko focuses on her instead.

Diana stands with her eyes closed, her back straight, and her hands folded behind her back, her voice clear and supported as she gives a somewhat long-winded but impressively detailed answer.

"...As such, that particular language has recently fallen out of favor."

The bell to end class rings just as she is finishing her statement. Professor Finneran is certain to offer her praise.

"Splendid as usual, Diana. Now then class, for next time read pages 233 through 260 and be prepared to discuss the topics addressed in that chapter."

Everyone begins standing from their seats and packing their things away, save for Akko. She's still grinning stupidly across the room at where Diana's closing her books-

"Akko, it's time to go." Lotte taps her head. "What's gotten into you? What are you looking at?" Lotte tries to follow Akko's line of sight. But Akko quickly jumps up and turns Lotte back around.

"N-Nothing! I was just spacing out as usual, you know me!"

"Looks like... Diana?" Sucy mumbles.

Akko yelps.

"W-What? You've lost it, Sucy. Why would I be looking at Diana? That stuck-up show-off. That goody-two-shoes. She just loves to brag about herself and how great she is, huh? She never thinks about anyone but herself! She's so obnoxious, so haughty, so stingy! Always hogging the spotlight, always-"

But as Akko goes off on her excessive rant, she turns back around to find Diana right at the edge of the aisle.

For a split second, her blue eyes are wide, and her expression is pained, as though she'd been struck in the chest. She'd heard every word.

Akko's jaw goes slack, and an awful, slimy wave of dismay rolls up from the pit of her stomach.

"Ah, um-"

But Diana turns away and stalks off without saying a word. Hannah and Barbara shoot Akko death glares before frantically following after their friend.

Akko watches them all go, her stomach churning. Everyone around them takes a step back, as though they hadn't just witnessed the whole spectacle. Akko's eyes follow Diana across the room, but she never looks back. Helplessly, Akko tries to call for her.

"D-Dia-"

"Wow," Sucy interjects. "That was harsher than usual. Even for you."

"Yeah..." Lotte mumbles. "I think you might've gone overboard, Akko..."

Akko feels as though her soul has left her body. She's numb, but it still hurts somehow.

"Ah..."

"Maybe you should apologize," Lotte suggests, gently placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Not sure if she'll wanna hear you out, though," Sucy says.

Akko bites her lip and chews on the inside of her cheek. /Crap! Why did I do that?! That was way too much!/

The fact that Diana hadn't even made an effort to retaliate, even as an act, tells Akko that she might've taken those comments to heart. In that case, Akko definitely has to apologize as soon as possible. She turns to her teammates with a glint in her eyes.

"Lotte, Sucy, don't wait up for me. I'm gonna go talk to Diana."

Sucy shrugs, while Lotte offers a small smile.

"Okay."

With that, Akko hurries out of the classroom, slipping her way through the crowds, trying to keep her eyes on Diana. Hannah and Barbara are keeping close to either side of her, mumbling fretfully in hopes to make her feel better.

"D-Don't let that idiot Akko get to you."

"Yeah! Her opinion doesn't matter anyway."

They say as much because they don't know. But in reality, to Diana, Akko's opinion of her matters the most. Even more so than her professors' or her own family's.

Diana says nothing in response to either of them, but merely tries to mentally cajole herself.

/We had agreed to put on an act. Akko was merely doing her part.../

But that doesn't change the fact that Diana's chest is still aching by the things Akko had said about her. Those were all comments she'd heard and names she'd been called before. But they had never really affected her before - not until they'd come from Akko's lips.

"Diana!"

The sound of Akko's voice calling her has Diana halting in her tracks, but she doesn't turn around right away.

However, her teammates whip around with snarls on their faces to confront their adversary.

"What do you want, Akko?"

"Could you, like, please leave Diana alone?"

Akko glares at each of them, about to retort, but she stops herself. She says nothing, but instead watches Diana's back, waiting to see how she will respond to all of this.

For a moment, it's just the four of them, silent and unmoving. Hannah and Barbara all but block Diana off, their eyes harsh and narrowed. But Akko only looks at Diana.

After a moment, the white-haired witch turns slowly back around and places a hand on each of her teammates' shoulders.

"Hannah, Barbara, I appreciate your concern. But please let us be for a moment."

Both of them drop their jaws.

"Are you sure?"

"Like, seriously?"

"Indeed. Please wait for me in the cafeteria. I will be along shortly."

The two girls share a look with one another, then shoot Akko one last set of matching glares before turning up their noses and trotting off down the hallway.

Akko watches them go for as long as she can, then gulps as she turns back to Diana. Her classmate's expression is unreadable. Akko decides to just get straight to the point.

"D-Diana-"

"You certainly did not hold anything back."

Diana's voice contains a hint of betrayal, and Akko knows she really did go too far with her comments. She takes a step closer, just glad that Diana doesn't retreat.

"Diana, I'm sorry! I was just trying to play it up like we'd said we'd do! B-But I got too nervous about it s-so I just kept talking and I wasn't really thinking about what I was saying... I didn't think you'd hear anyway, and if you did, I didn't think you'd take it to heart..."

She feels awful. Worse than she feels when she fails an exam she studied really hard for.

Worse than she'd feel to lose her most treasured Chariot cards.

This is a different kind of pain, one she's never experienced before. It's even worse than the few times she'd spoken foolishly and upset Lotte and Sucy, and that had been pretty terrible. Her shoulders slump, and her gaze drops to the floor, her vision blurring.

"I'm... I'm really sorry, Diana. I-I didn't mean a word of it..."

But Diana doesn't smile and forgive her as Akko hoped she might. She crosses one arm over her stomach and holds onto her opposite wrist, a rather defensive, almost vulnerable pose.

"People do not simply say things they do not mean," she murmurs. "There is a certain amount of truth in everything we say."

Diana sounds like she's about to run away, about to cry. Akko can't bear this.

"N-No!" she blurts out. "D-Diana, that's not it! M-Maybe I once used to think those things about you, but that's not true anymore! I was just using those old thoughts about you, back when I didn't really know you! Maybe those things are what I used to think, but it's not true anymore! I promise!"

Akko's voice rises up a pitch in earnest, and a tear slips free from each eye. She rubs her sleeve across her face, sniffling as she tries to make sense of Diana's reaction.

Her blue eyes widen. Akko's explanation makes perfect sense if she thinks about it that way. Diana's fingers loosen their grip on her sleeve, and she relaxes just a little bit.

"I see." She brings a hand to her temple and sighs. "It appears I was being far too sensitive..."

"N-No!" Akko realizes her voice is too loud, so she frantically looks around them to ensure no one is nearby. Then, she steps closer to Diana, shaking her head. "I'm the one who wasn't sensitive enough, Diana. I didn't think before I spoke, as usual. I'm really sorry..."

Cautiously, she reaches out for Diana's hand, curling her fingers around her wrist and gently stroking the backs of her knuckles. "This was... just a little obstacle, right? But, uh, w-what was it you'd said last night? That good things have little value...? N-No wait-"

"That which is easily obtained often has little value," Diana corrects her. A small smile forms on her lips now, and Akko perks up.

"Yeah! Exactly! S-So I made a mistake, b-but now I've learned from it! So that's good, isn't it? We... We don't have to stop...?" She swallows hard, scuffing her shoes nervously on the floor. Diana turns her hand in toward Akko's and squeezes back.

"Of course not. Misunderstandings are a part of any relationship. This was merely a stepping stone." Diana uses her free hand to wipe her eyes as well. She releases a sigh, one that takes most of the uneasiness with it. Akko makes a small whimpering sound.

"Are you sure you're okay? I really didn't mean it, Diana..."

"I am aware," she assures. "And I am fine, Akko. I apologize for any distress my reaction might have caused you."

"You're not the one who has to apologize here!"

Just then, the sound of footsteps coming their way puts both girls on-edge.

"Crap!" Akko hisses. "I-I'm sorry again, Diana! I'll try to think it through better in the future. A-And lemme know if there's a good time we can meet up again!"

"I will," Diana replies. "Now go."

Akko nods. But she takes one last second to lean in and steal a peck on Diana's cheek before she lets go of her hand and scurries off down the hallway.

Professor Finneran passes Diana by a moment later and greets her. Diana quickly composes herself and politely replies.

She isn't quite sure when the next time she and Akko will be able to see each other could be.

But she hopes it won't be too long of a wait.

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A/N: Shorter chapters for now, but they will get longer, I promise.