Akko's feet beat rapidly upon the cold floors of the hallway, her shoes clicking a rapid staccato to accompany her mad dash. Her breaths were ragged and painful, as a result of her frenzied sprint down the corridors of Luna Nova, with a break nowhere in sight. The torches lit in the hallways served as a guiding line for her rush, preventing her from smashing into the moonlit walls in her haste to evade capture.

Rounding a corner, she scrambled to keep a hold of her ill-begotten plunder, nearly tripping in her focused escape from pursuit. Dipping and weaving between columns, her eyes scanned across the cafeteria she'd stumbled into, looking desperately in search of something large enough to hide an Akko-sized object. Her eyes settled on one of the many dining tables dotting the room, and doing her best impression of a witch barreling under a table, she barreled under the table.

Taking refuge under one of the chairs accompanying said table, Akko held her breath as her pursuer entered the room, ladle in hand. The cooking goblin whose loot she'd pilfered tore through the room, sparing not so much as a glance towards Akko's hiding place in his chase.

Watching him disappear from her line of sight, Akko drew a breath in relief upon his exit, and slumped against the chair she was hiding under. Checking to make sure all of her organs and extremities were in place and uninjured, she smiled and extracted the item for which she was under chase, her grin widening upon seeing its undamaged state.

One Luna Nova Witchcraft Academy Apple Pie™, spirited away freshly-baked, straight from the ovens of the cafeteria. Akko could barely restrain herself from cramming the whole thing down her throat once the divine scent of the pastry made its way through her nostrils and into her soul. Holding up the pie to the moonlight as one would a newborn lion to the sun, the rising wafts of steam filled Akko with deep satisfaction, and she felt as if the past five minutes of running around was a small price to pay to bear witness to the perfection she now beheld.

Grinning ear-to-ear, Akko fled the scene, looking for a less hostile place to enjoy her piping-hot pastry. Cautiously scanning the path ahead of her, she darted out of the cafeteria and sped down the halls, moving away from the scene of her crime. The tiled floor of the corridor blurred beneath her as she made a beeline to anywhere that didn't have people in it. Two minutes, three flights of stairs, and six doorways later, Akko was met with a rush of air as she exited the Academy, laying her sight upon a runway, meant for high-speed broom takeoffs.

The locale was not unfamiliar to her, as Akko had frequented this location whenever she had a burning desire to sulk about something, be it the failure of her parade plan, a failed class, or failed flight attempt #2843. With a scowl, she pushed these memories out of her mind, as to avoid the sullying the taste of the apple pie with her building anger. Pursing her lips and walking towards the end of the runway, she allowed the last of the anger to dissipate, and she filled her soul with the expectation of piping hot apple pie that was soon to come. With a sigh, she plopped down on the edge, her legs precariously dangling off of the strip.

Closing her eyes, Akko leaned back, her head coming to a rest on the floor. Slowly, she raised the pastry to her mouth and took a bite. As she chewed on the tart, she allowed its taste to permeate every fiber of her being, filling every single electron of every single atom of every single molecule in every single organ of her body with apple pie deliciousness. Humming contentedly, she allowed the apple-pie-electrons to evict her from the earth and carry her to delicious-baked-goods-land, where there were lemonade springs and candy trees and you never had to study or change your socks and-

"Akko."

The witch in question felt a broom like object tap against her head, and with that, the lemonade springs evaporated, the candy cigarette trees were incinerated, and Akko was forcibly pulled out of her paradise. Her eyes opened, and were immediately met with an icy stare. Shooting upwards, Akko jerked around, her eyes meeting with the cold blue of Diana Cavendish's. Considering that Diana was a member of the night patrol team, and Akko was currently in the process of consuming stolen goods, she promptly filled herself with the appropriate amount of worry. Diana, as of now, had a hand on her hip and a hand on her broom, giving her a distinct I-was-making-my-rounds-and-what-is-this vibe. Waiting patiently for Akko to rise, she hit Akko with a questioning yet amused look.

"May I inquire as to the reason you're breaking curfew, as well as why you felt the need to sneak up to a tower restricted from general student access?"

Suddenly worried-er, Akko stammered, grasping for a response, faltering under Diana's level gaze. At the lack of an answer, Diana expectantly quirked her eyebrow, leading Akko to spurt out the first thought that came into her mind.

"I was um practicing flying." Nailed it. Akko inwardly let out a sigh of relief, taking solace in her ironclad defense.

At this, a smirk tugged at the corners of Diana's lips, and she regarded the brown-haired troublemaker with no small measure of disbelief.

"I suppose that's why you have no broom and are clutching a pastry to your chest." commented Diana, gesturing at the offending item with her wand.

Akko balked, at a loss as to how Diana saw through her ruse. Racking her mind for any other explanation for her behavior, Akko sighed, and bowed her head in defeat.

"… I was hungry. And it's not my fault that I took the apple pie because I was really really really really hungry and Lotte's actually really bad at cooking and the last time that Sucy made something for me it was a mushroom thing and after I ate it I smelled like a fish for the rest of the day and Sucy was really mean about it because she said that the mushroom wasn't the reason and I just smelled like a fish and-"

Diana felt a smile grow on her face at Akko's continued justification, which was growing more animated by the second, the rambling now being coupled with very expressive hand motions.

"… and that's why we should redistribute both wealth and pastries!"

Akko wrapped up her rant with a very satisfied harrumph, and stared at Diana, awaiting a response. Diana blinked, unsure how to respond to Akko's tirade.

"As much as I'd like to make sense of your screeching, Akko, there might be some students on campus who are committing acts that are arguably more concerning than grand theft strudel."

Snatching away the offending apple pie, Diana held it above Akko's head, out of the grasp of the shorter girl.

"As such, unless you have any further comments, I will be taking my leave."

Turning away from Akko, Diana brought the apple pie to her mouth, and Akko's frantic arm waving somehow managed to ascend, becoming even frantic-er.

"DianawaitItookabiteoutofth-"

But it was too late. Diana took a bite out of the pastry that she had also taken a bite out of. They were basically married now. Akko's previous worry increased by a factor of about forty-three percent. How would she tell Lotte and Sucy? How would she tell her parents? When and where would the wedding be, and how many guests should be invited, and should she invite Andrew because she was cool with Andrew but Diana didn't like him that much so s-

Akko was brought back to reality by the sensation of a pastry being pushed into her hands. Akko looked at the offending object, and then up at Diana.

Her gaze was met with a smile. It wasn't an I'm-totally-gonna-blackmail-you-for-this-later kind of smile, nor was it a haha-Akko-you're-so-silly kind of smile. It was the kind of smile that held your soul with an apple pie kind of sweetness – the kind that permeated every electron of every atom of every molecule of every organ of your body with a sense of warmth and satisfaction – the a smile that gave off the we-kind-of-saved-the-world-together-so-I-don't-mind-a-little-pastry-theft-every-now-and-again-but-don't-do-it-too-often-also-Akko-I-like-you-do-you-want-to-maybe-go-on-a-date kind of vibe.

"Go to sleep, Akko. Staying up late is bad for your health."

With that, Diana took off, and Akko was left alone with naught but her thoughts and the pastry that Diana and she had shared. Her gaze settling on Diana's retreating form, Akko's mind wandered. Returning to her original sitting position, Akko considered all of the things that she and Diana had shared, aside from the pastry.

From the dragon, to the parade, to that one time Diana fell in love with Akko for like twenty minutes, to the other parade, to the time Akko got heavily invested in the ideals of Communism, she and Diana had always been together. Perhaps not always on the best of terms, but together. Closing her eyes, and laying down on the floor of the runway, she noted that even this very tower was a location of significance to the two of them.

It was where she had returned with Diana after saving the school from the dragon. It was where she had challenged Akko to live up to her ideals when she'd gotten down over the oncoming failure of her Happy Time Project. It was where Diana had almost flew out of Akko's life forever, and where Akko had dragged Diana back to after that. It was a lot of things, for them.

Happily munching on the apple pie, Akko smiled. She and Diana had come a long way, haven't they? From being mutual-annoyances, to sort-of-rivals, to friends, and then to more-than-friends-but-not-quite-lovers. As the sweetness of Diana and the apple pie once again began to fill her being, Akko contented herself with the fact that her future most likely held a forecast of Diana.