Diana mumbled in her sleep. Maybe it was just because she was more tired than usual but Akko found it surprising, regardless. That, and how utterly unrefined she looked now. Her head rested atop one arm, while the other was spread across an open textbook. One of her legs was stretched to its full length under the table, and the other was curled under her chair, toes resting on the rungs.

Something wispy passed her lips, and her head nodded forward, attempting to find a more stable resting place, before sharply returning to its original position.

Akko secretly hoped someone else had seen Diana. Knowing her, she would drown in the embarrassment - silently, of course. She wasn't like Akko, all red-faced and a bundle of stuttering at her embarrassment. But Diana had fallen asleep in a public space. That was practically asking for people to see her. Then there was the oh so incriminating fact that she talked in her sleep. Akko could have sworn she heard 'Shiny Chariot' pass her lips, but most of it was unintelligible gibberish. Gibberish! From Diana. She had never seen Diana look so... un-Diana. Her hair was a bit frazzled, particularly the areas on which she laid, and her pages of notes were getting crumpled beneath her sleeping form and - was that drool?

...

No, it wasn't; Akko had gotten her hopes up for nothing.

...

That was definitely drool, and it was definitely wetting Diana's very pristine notes and the cover of some old tome.

But regardless, she plopped into the seat in front of Diana, dragging one of the many books surrounding the young witch to herself. Of course with her luck, her first pickings would be in a completely different language, one only Diana could read.

"Profess... Finnelan, what is... is..." Diana mumbled, and her hand clenched around air. Upon finding purchase on nothing, she released a sigh.

"Wow, Diana, you don't know something?" Akko replied, laughing at the blond. Her eyes scanned the page, picking up small markings in the margins of word clarifications and portions directly translated to English. Diana's handwriting was so small and fine and perfect, but Akko hadn't the foggiest idea why Diana would need to read this old, foreign junk.

She reached for another book and flipped it open to a page that Diana had marked with a yellow sticky note. "What does the Battle of Maleficis have to do with learning magic?" Akko offhandedly questioned, squinting at the words on the page.

"Roman... Holy Empire... mmm..."

Akko giggled at Diana's failed attempt at a reply. "Diana, you're making less sense than this dusty old book-" She pointed to the first book, the one in some old, unintelligible language. "-and I can't even read this one."

"Miss Kagari, I suggest you keep it down."

A chill ran down her spine. Words bubbled up to her mouth, prepared to spill over regardless of whether or not they made sense because she had done nothing wrong... at least that she could remember.

But she found them stuck in the back of her throat at Professor Finnelan, who carried a small bundle of fabric in her arms, which Akko quickly realized was a blanket. The older witch spread the material out before stepping around the table and wrapping it around Diana's shoulders. And despite the fear coursing through Akko's veins that she had to have done something wrong - that was why Professor Finnelan was here - her own expression softened.

"Curfew is in five minutes."

Why wasn't she waking Diana? Why was Diana allowed to be out past curfew? The questions were on the tip of Akko's tongue, but they died as Diana produced another stream of utter babble.

Professor Finnelan stilled her hands at the sound, nimble fingers halting their adjustment of the blanket. She retracted one hand and rested it atop Diana's head, and a soft, gentle expression flittered across her face, one that was just as foreign to Akko as that old, dusty book Diana had been reading.

"However, I will withhold punishment if you desire to watch over your fellow student."

Akko furrowed her brows, and a question formed on the tip of her tongue - Had Diana fallen asleep like this before? Had Professor Finnelan found her like this before? But she wasn't sure if she wanted to test her luck. Anything she wished to voice died, anyhow, as Finnelan ran her fingers gently through Diana's hair, pulling loose strands away from the blond witch's face.

Diana pulled the blanket closer, pen dropping lightly from her hand in exchange for the corner of the soft material before letting out a soft sigh of content. "Akko... Ugmm... be care...ful..."

Well that certainly wasn't unintelligible, and Akko could feel her cheeks grow warm. She wasn't that bad at staying out of trouble... Was she?

"Miss Kagari."

The witch in question jumped, eyes darting up to her professor.

"Y-Yes?"

"I will see you in class on Monday. Please avoid making a ruckus when you return to your dorm tonight."

Akko could have sworn the beginnings of a smile tugged at Professor Finnelan's mouth as the older witch turned on her heels, swiftly being lost between the mountain of bookshelves as she departed. Just as her attention returned to the sleeping witch, she shifted in her sleep, and a few more words tumbled lazily from her lips.

"Sh... Shiny... Arc..."

Akko sputtered, and hands hastily grasped to cover her mouth.

She changed her mind. She hoped no one else had seen Diana. She was torn on whether it was because the tired witch deserved the decency or because she totally wanted to be the only one to know about these spilled contents of her dream.

...

She silently tugged a different book in front of her and opened it to where Diana had placed a few pages of her notes. These were taken just yesterday, in the Magical Potions class they shared together. She read the first paragraph, then the second. The notes were so detailed, it was almost as if she were listening to the lecture all over again.

Akko stifled a bundle of laughter as Diana mumbled under her breath, something or another about ingredients for a potion. It seemed that her overt studying habits were ever-prevalent even within her dreams. With a certain delicacy that Akko didn't often exhibit, she slid the book away from herself and lowered her head atop her folded arms and just...watched.

She wondered how late Diana had stayed up studying before slumber finally slid her eyelids closed, how late she stayed up on a normal night, when she pushed past the desire to succumb to sleep.

...

How much studying she did beyond the normal student workload.

Akko sighed, exhausted just thinking about all the work. It was a wonder how Diana managed to grab the sleep she did get.

She decided, Diana deserved the rest - uninterrupted.

Regardless if the next words out of her mouth were more incriminating evidence for her love of Shiny Chariot. Perhaps if she didn't work so hard, such embarrassing things wouldn't tumble from her lips - but that was okay.

It was a secret Akko would be happy to keep.

Author's Note: I apologize that this chapter is so short! I tried to add more (because I certainly had more ideas), but I felt that it ruined the work. I have a bunch of WIPs, and there is another that may be a multi-chapter fic; but I have a busy, busy two weeks coming up, so I know writing will be limited. Anyway, it was a blast participating this week! Thank you so incredibly much to everyone who has left me such amazingly sweet and kinds comments. I truly appreciate them all, and if I have not replied to a comment yet, I will do so by tomorrow. I hope you all have enjoyed reading just as much as I have enjoyed writing. :)