Whaaat?! an UPDATE!?

Diana took a bite out of the fruit tart in her hand, and relished in its sweet taste.

The young Cavendish and her group of friends were in the cafeteria having an early lunch. So there the blonde witch sat, with the Red and Green teams, at a vacant cafe table. For the most part, the girls were talking about random topics; but at a point, their conversations veered towards the Ball that was coming around the corner.

From her periphery, the blonde witch could vaguely see a certain brunette inch her hand towards the untouched fruit tart on her plate.

Smack!

"Youch!"

"The tart is mine."

"Stingy!" Akko pouted. "You already have one!"

"I want, and will have two." Diana calmly retorted with a tone of finality.

Akko stuck her tongue out in response to Diana's statement. She ignored Akko's childish behaviour, and proceeded to eat the second fruit tart while holding the brunette's gaze. If it were possible, Akko's pout deepened even more so. Feeling a little bad for the girl, Diana rolled her eyes and offered her the second half of the tart.

Akko beamed a megawatt smile at her, and ate the rest of it happily.

"Isn't that like... an indirect kiss?"

It was a good thing Diana did not have a tart in her mouth because she certainly would have choked on it. No, instead of choking, all she did was glare at the bloody redhead for what seemed to be the millionth time that day. She also heard the snickers of a (just as infuriating) Filipino witch that followed her statement.

Akko, who was too busy enjoying the desert, didn't hear the redhead. However, after a split-second the brunette realized she was being spoken to, and she cocked her head slightly to the side in unabashed curiosity as she met Amanda's gaze. It was a minuscule action that affected Diana more than it should have.

How can someone be this endearingly cute...

Diana mentally shook her head.

WHAT am I even thinking!?

Once she refocused her attention on the American witch in front of her, she didn't fail to notice the devillish smirk the girl was sending her way. Diana narrowed her eyes in suspicion towards the cheeky redhead. She silently dared the girl to say another needlessly suggestive remark. Apparently, Amanda was going to take her up on that silent dare because she opened her mouth to continue on with her blasted blabbering.

That was when Diana swiftly whipped out her wand.

The said wand was then snatched out of her hand.

"Oh no you don't!" Sucy exclaimed, holding the wand out of Diana's reach.

"What are you-!?"

"Diana... you were holding it like a dart," the Filipino witch deadpanned. "I know for a fact that you weren't going to shut her up with a spell."

Diana could only huff at Sucy's (not so far off) observation. Amanda, on the other hand, widened her eyes in shock at her narrowly missed fate of becoming the blonde witch's potential 'dart board.' She watched as the redhead turned to give Sucy a fist-bump in some ridiculous form of solidarity; which was surprisingly returned by the said Filipino witch - both of them sported mirroring smirks as they did this action.

Thankfully, they decided to stop with their incessant, immature behaviour right there.

The rest of their lunch went by in relative peace, with the only other rowdy occurrence being an unofficial 'sweet-eating' contest between one Akko Kagari and one Jasminka Antonenko. Diana never knew why the brunette always insisted on challenging the Russian girl in such contests. It was more than obvious that Jasminka would come out on top - the girl was a literal vacuum.

"Geh... I feel like I'm gonna throw up..." Akko groaned as she made gagging noises into her hand.

Sucy snickered at the brunette. "Well that's what you get for challenging Jasminka, of all people, to a food eating contest."

Suddenly, the hyperactive girl shot up from her chair and pointed a determined finger at the Russian witch. "One of these days I will prevail over you, Jas!"

"And I will gladly accept any and all challenges that you have for me until you do beat me - that is, if you ever do." Jasminka giggled. She then looked off to the giant clock hanging at the end of the cafeteria wall. "Oh! We should get going to our cooking class now!"

"N-No! I don't think that I can handle anymore eating."

"Then maybe you can do the cooking with us, Akko." Lotte suggested.

"Unless you want to get food poisoning or possibly die, then I don't think that'd be the best idea..."

"S-Sucy!"

The Filipino witch shrugged unapologetically at the Finnish girl that tried to admonish her. The rest of the girls, on the other hand, laughed good-naturedly at Sucy's statement. Even Diana let out a little giggle at the (rather crass) way Sucy described Akko's affinity, or lack thereof, for culinary magic. She knew firsthand how horribly the poor Japanese girl would utterly botch her cooking spells, and because of that...

Culinary magic was the one thing Diana would never help Akko with... ever again.

Just thinking about the first, and last, time she helped Akko with her magical cooking skills made the Cavendish girl feel a little nauseous.

How she managed to make Japanese confectionery taste like raw, rotten fish is beyond me...

Suddenly, the sound of the school's warning bells had rung throughout the cafeteria.

In one quick motion, Jasminka picked Akko up and threw her over her shoulder. All of the girls simply watched as if nothing was inherently strange with what the Russian witch was doing - mostly because they were sure that Akko couldn't properly stand on her own. Also... it wouldn't be the first time Jasminka had to lug around the Japanese girl in such a manner.

Akko groaned. "Ughhh... Jas, could ya be a little more gentle? I'm gonna yack all over your back..."

"Oops! Sorry, Akko! But I don't want us to be late for our culinary magic class!" Jasminka turned towards Amanda with a friendly smile. "We'll see you, Diana and Sucy at the end of the day for dinner. Have fun with your Advanced Potions lessons."

In response, the three mentioned witches simply bid Jasminka and the others a friendly farewell.

Diana watched their receding forms with a small smile. Truthfully, it was quite amusing seeing Akko being flopped around like a bag of flour on Jasminka's back. In the back of her mind, she couldn't help but wonder where the Russian witch got her inhuman strength. It was outlandish, to say the least.

"Heh... thinking of something perverted, Cavendish?"

Her smile all but wiped off her face.

She turned towards the blasted American and scowled. "Shouldn't you be reviewing for our Potions lessons?"

"Trying to change the subject, I see." Amanda leaned back, tilting her chair backwards as she held her hands behind her head. Diana had half the mind to push her even further, so she would fall onto the ground. She resisted the profound urge to do so.

Sucy smirked. "Y'know, I enjoy teasing Diana as much as you do but she's got a point. Lukić is going to have your head if you don't properly revise for her lessons."

"Bah! What's the worst thing that crone could do?"

"Make you the guinea pig for our potions?" Sucy drawled as she continued to smile like a madwoman. "If I can remember correctly... we'll be starting the transmutation unit today..." she flitted her gaze towards Diana, sending her a suggestive look.

Catching onto her intention, she hummed - effectively grabbing the (now slightly panicked) American witch's attention.

"Ah... that's right." Diana confirmed as she stroked her chin in feigned contemplation. She turned to Amanda, and tilted her head to the side. "How do you think it would feel like to turn into a mug? I imagine that it would be uncomfortable, if not painful, considering that your bone structure would have to morph to fit the properties of such an item."

Amanda flinched and scrunched her face up in fear.

"Forget sensation... imagine the taste of the potion." Sucy added on.

Even Diana grimaced at that statement, along with the thoroughly mortified American witch sitting next to her.

Lukić was a very hands-on teacher. So more often times than not, her students (which included Diana, Sucy, and Amanda), were required to 'taste-test' some of the potions themselves. The young Cavendish was convinced that Lukić made her students ingest their own potions for her personal amusement. There was something sadistic about the old witch's laugh whenever a student's concoction went awry.

"Ugh... fine. I'll review for the stupid class already! Stop trying to scare me." Amanda grumbled as she opened up her Advanced Potion's tome.

Diana and Sucy smiled in satisfaction when the redhead began studying her notes.

The girls stayed like this for a while, silently passing time by reviewing for their class (or in Sucy's case: blankly staring off into space). Recently, the young Cavendish often found herself in the presence of these two quirky witches. Interestingly enough, Amanda and Sucy were close to her in terms of intellect. At least when they actually focused on their studies.

The atmosphere around the unlikely trio was... comfortable. Maybe even peaceful.

"I'm bored."

I bloody jinxed it.

Diana sighed. "I'd tell you to review for Lukić's class too, but I'm sure that wouldn't be necessary. At least for you."

"Ooh~ Praise me more, Diana." Sucy droned flatly as she rested her chin on her right hand. Something in the Cavendish almost snapped in that moment. It must've been the infuriating grin Sucy directed towards her.

"I wasn't praising you, Manbavaran."

"Heh... it sounded like praise to me." Amanda interjected, her tome completely forgotten on the table.

"O'Neill, get back to work."

Diana resisted the urge to let out a frustrated groan when Amanda responded by closing her potions tome. Knowing that she wasn't going to get the rowdy witches to focus any more, she closed her book too.

She was probably spending way too much time with these girls because she actually decided to humour them.

And if Diana were being quite honest with herself?

She was kind of bored too.

"So what do you guys have in mind?"

Amanda and Sucy stared back at her like she grew another head. Diana simply gazed back at them flatly, and waited for an answer.

"In mind for what?" Sucy asked slowly.

Diana quirked a brow at the Filipino girl. "To satisfy your boredom for the next fifteen minutes?" she then sighed when they didn't catch on to what she suggested. "If you're both going to be disruptive, I might as well make sure things don't get carried away."

Again, there was a brief period of silence after she spoke. But that silence was soon broken by one Amanda O'Neill. The American witch grinned. "Cavendish is totally bored too."

"I... will neither confirm nor deny that statement."

She saw Sucy playfully roll her eyes in response to what she said, but then she felt unsettled when the girl began to mirror Amanda's smirk. There was something about the way these girls smiled that made Diana feel on edge. Usually, when their lips were upturned in any kind of way, it meant that they were planning something.

"So~ whatcha wanna talk about?"

Diana tilted her head to the side in confusion.

What?

"You just want to talk...?"

"Uhh yeah?" Amanda answered her, quirking her own brow. "Like you said, we only have like fifteen minutes until our class starts. That's not enough time to actually do something."

Sucy chuckled. "Were you expecting us to conjure up a potion to blow up the cafeteria?"

"Quite honestly: Yes."

The other witches simply shrugged at her deadpan answer. The prospect of the duo wreaking havoc in some form wasn't all that 'out-of-pocket' for them - especially considering who they were. Sucy and Amanda were notorious for causing trouble. They weren't as bad as Akko, per se... but they were up there.

"Well we can put 'blowing up the cafeteria' on the backburner..." Amanda waved her off, clearly intrigued at the idea. "For now lets just get our 'girl-talk' on!"

Diana gave the girl a brief, suspicious look. However, she quickly deemed this turn of events as harmless. She then opened her mouth to start a conversation about her take on the 'Nine Olde Witches' and their inherent powers, but Sucy had beat her to it.

"So what're you going to do about your crush on Akko."

Diana almost choked on air.

"The hell, Sucy?!" Amanda whipped her head towards the other girl. "I thought you said we had to slowly ease into the topic!"

"It was taking too long." Sucy groaned.

Diana would've responded promptly to the girl's blasted question, but she was too busy fighting off a furious blush. She could feel her cheeks burning (in either embarrassment or anger, she wasn't even sure herself). When Diana regained a portion of her composure, she cleared her throat.

"I do not-!" She squeaked out. Diana cleared her throat once more, and resisted the urge to groan in frustration. "I do not have a 'crush' on Akko," she repeated more steadily.

Sucy and Amanda gazed at her with their own respective, mildly unimpressed stares. Diana frowned - crossing her arms in adamance. She wanted to make it clear that she wasn't going to budge on her statement.

"Seriously?" Amanda rolled her eyes. "You're going to make us list the many examples that point to you having a mad crush on Akko..."

"I'd rather skip that conversation," Sucy chimed in. "That list is long and repetitive."

Diana was about to protest to their accusations, but then Sucy interrupted her... again.

"If you're so sure about your feelings, then why don't we do a little experiment?"

The blonde witch narrowed her eyes at the other girl's proposition.

"Relax, it won't involve any potions." Sucy huffed. However, her signature smirk slowly crawled its way onto her face. "Just the power of visualization."

That... seems innocent enough.

Diana sighed. "Fine."

"Great," Sucy grinned. "Now close your eyes and visualize yourself with Akko."

The young blonde begrudgingly did as she was told.

She sighed sharply as she shut her eyes. Initially, everything was dark but soon enough her imagination took over and she visualized a rather pleasant scene. Diana could see herself on a broom, riding high in the sky with Akko holding onto her waist. Below them was the forest that surrounded their school. In the backdrop, she could see a sunset and a number of stray clouds painted in different hues of pinks and reds. They both were laughing gleefully with the wind blowing in their hair, and enjoying themselves to the fullest.

A small smile couldn't help but make its way onto her lips.

"What are you doing?" Sucy continued to prod.

Diana was about to promptly answer the Filipino witch, but then the scene continued on.

She watched as her simulated versions of herself and Akko began to fly at a steady pace. They adjusted themselves so they both sat on the broom 'princess-style,' and appeared to be watching the sunset together. That was when Diana took note of how close they were. They were shoulder-to-shoulder - smiling at one another.

Time seemed to slow down around them. It was as if they were the last people on earth.

Diana's felt her mouth go dry.

Soon, she could see herself slowly leaning towards Akko and-

I'm... kissing her.

Diana's eyes flew wide open.

Thank the Nine that I didn't say that out lou-

Amanda gasped melodramatically and held an unnecessarily wide smile on her lips. "Did...Did she just say she saw herself kissing Akko?!"

Diana wiped a hand across her face in exasperation.

"Oh Bollocks."

This chap was a little short, but I hope you guys still enjoyed it! And dw, this story isn't dead ;)

Until Next Time,

MediocreWriter.