Chapter 2: A Rare Appearance of Good Amanda

In a stunning turn of events, Akko decided to skip breakfast the next morning. She was most definitely not avoiding Diana Cavendish. Rather, she was just 100% extremely eager to get to detention. And as she scrubbed the dirty cauldrons in Professor Lukic's storeroom, she hummed to herself, her mind dutifully focused on the task and not on any particular blonde student. It wasn't until Akko entered the dining hall at noon that she was forced to confront what she had been avoiding all morning.

Gathering a tray of food, she made her way through the crowded dining hall in search of her teammates. However, when she spotted Lotte and Sucy sitting at a table in the corner, they weren't alone.

It's not that it was strange for Diana to be sitting at their table. Most of the Red, Green, and Blue team members visited one another during mealtimes, often grabbing a nearby chair to chat for a little. And sure, lately Diana had been joining them to eat more often than the others, but Akko had figured that was because they had become pretty much best friends after the events of last year.

At least until the truth had come out last night.

Now Akko couldn't help but feel a little awkward as she sat in the open seat next to the blonde witch and began to eat. Diana didn't seem to notice though, as she continued to quietly pick at her salad with an unfocused gaze. Akko glanced questioningly towards her other friends, but she was only offered a pair of shrugs.

"Uh, Diana," she poked the other girl in the shoulder, "Are you okay?"

Diana gave a small start and glanced up at her in surprise.

"Oh, Akko. Yes, I am quite fine. How was your detention this morning?"

"Um, it was okay. I had only had to clean some cauldrons," she replied through a mouthful of turkey sandwich, "How about yours? I mean—your morning. How was your morning?"

"It was unproductive."

"Unproductive?"

"Yes."

"Uh, ok."

There was a moment of silence in which Akko realized things had progressed past a tiny little awkward into full blown awkward. Lotte and Sucy weren't helping with their expectant gazes switching back and forth every couple of seconds. Meanwhile, Diana went back to eating her lunch. Akko was debating the pros and cons of continuing the conversation when Diana made the decision for her.

"Have you finished Professor Du Nord's essay?"

Akko internally breathed a sigh of relief. They were back to talking and Diana was back in her natural state of discussing schoolwork.

"Not yet," Akko admitted. The essay in question hadn't even been started yet. It was due Monday, but she figured she had all of Sunday to complete it. "I'm doing it tomorrow. I work better under pressure."

Sucy snorted while Diana gave an unamused sort of look.

"I could help you write it later," Diana offered.

Akko shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm planning on practicing flying later with Amanda."

"Did I just hear my name?"

Amanda slammed a hand down on the table, causing everyone to jump. She wore her usual easy-going smirk as she stood at the end of the table, looming over Akko.

"What's up, losers? You girls talkin' trash about me?"

"No, I was just telling Diana about flying practice later," Akko said.

"Ah, that's right," Amanda nodded, "By the way, remember not to eat too much. Wouldn't want you to get motion sickness and barf everywhere."

"That was one time!" Akko crossed her arms in huff. Really, you throw up while riding a broom around here just once and no one lets you forget about it.

"Hmm," Diana frowned worriedly, "Maybe I should supervise if you're getting nauseous when you fly."

"I don't. She's just saying that. But you can join us if you want," she added. It was always more fun to fly with everyone else. That way they could race and play broom games. She looked over at Lotte and Sucy. "You guys can come, too!"

Lotte smiled apologetically. "Thanks, Akko, but we were actually going to work on the essay."

"Yeah, some of us would prefer not to procrastinate," Sucy teased.

"I already scheduled time to work on it tomorrow!" Akko threw her hands in the air, "What is this, 'Pick on Akko Day'?!"

"That's every day," Amanda snickered, tugging the brunette's ponytail. "Anyways, I'll meet you and Princess Peach out near the tower after lunch."

Amanda ambled away, no doubt off to Hannah's table to cause some trouble. Lotte and Sucy also excused themselves to head back to the dorm room. Which left Akko alone with a girl who seemed to be trying very hard to eat a salad. She chewed her sandwich thoughtfully as she watched Diana somehow managed to spear a single leaf of lettuce.

"Y'know, if you're busy with the essay, you don't have to come with us. Amanda was only joking about me throwing up. I mean, I really did throw up that one time, but I think it was something I ate before I—"

"Would you prefer if I didn't come?"

Diana had stopped eating and she looked sort of…sad? Akko suddenly felt guilty.

"No, no, I just didn't want you to think you had to come to look after me. That's all. I want you to come, really!"

"You're sure?" Diana asked hesitantly.

"Yeah! It'll be a lot more fun than just me and Amanda!"

"Ok."

Akko was determined to have everything go back to normal, at least for the time being. She couldn't think straight if she and Diana were going to be all weird together. That way, maybe she could figure out just what was going on inside her own head. She then noticed Diana had resumed her strange way of eating and had to ask.

"By the way, why are you eating so slowly?"

Diana shrugged, "I just wanted to spend more time with you."

And there was really nothing Akko could say to that.

They had finished lunch with Diana looking noticeably more cheerful and Akko feeling relieved that they could still hang out semi-normally. They made their way to the base of New Moon Tower where they spotted Amanda lying on her broom, drifting lazily about.

"Amanda!" Akko called out.

The American witch propped herself up on one elbow still balanced effortlessly on her broom.

"Hey, look who finally showed up! I grew old waiting for you guys!"

"You said after lunch," Akko retorted, "We literally just finished eating!"

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Amanda rolled her eyes, "Let's get this party started. Hop on your broom!"

Akko and Diana got on their brooms and recited the spell in unison.

"Tia Freyre!"

Akko slowly rose into the air until her feet dangled below, toes brushing the grass. Even though she'd been flying (well more like floating) for months, she never lost the sense of joy at having finally mastered the spell. After learning about Croix and Chariot and finding out about the loss of her magic, part of her had been afraid it would be impossible for her to ever fly. So, every time Akko felt that wonderful swooping sensation in her stomach when she broke free of gravity, she couldn't help but grin with delight.

"I love flying!" She looked over to where Diana was hovering on her own broom. "Isn't this great?"

Diana smiled encouragingly back. "Yes, it's quite wonderful."

"Now let's continue with what we were working on last time, "Amanda paused to ask, "Wait, what were we working on last time?"

"Turns!" Akko answered cheerfully.

Amanda snapped her fingers in realization. "Oh yeah! Okay then watch closely."

Akko and Diana floated a couple feet off the ground and watched as Amanda zoomed off, making her way up around the tower in tight spirals with her sleeve almost brushing against the old masonry until she reached the tip of the spire. Amanda then performed a series of corkscrews before dropping into a dive the brought her within inches of the ground. She zig-zagged towards an oak tree at the edge of the clearing, executed a flawless hairpin turn, and sped back to the base of the tower, pulling up on her broom to come to a screeching halt.

"And that's all there is to it!" Amanda smirked proudly.

Akko cheered and clapped. "That was awesome! Lemme try!"

"No, absolutely not," interrupted a less than amused Diana. "Now I see why you get nauseous when you practice flying."

"Aw, come on, Diana," Akko pouted, "I promise I'll be careful. Besides, you're here to heal me if anything goes wrong."

"Yeah, let 'er fly, Cavendish! She'll be fine." Amanda interjected as Akko nodded eagerly.

"I may be well versed in healing magic," Diana began, arms crossed, "but I am far from an expert and I cannot fix everything. As such, we should exercise a certain amount of caution. I propose we set up a clearly marked training course to practice. Slowly."

Akko thought about it carefully. She really wanted to do all the tricks that Amanda showed off. But at the same time, she would prefer not to spend the next week in the nurse's office. Plus, Diana was offering to help in her training and she couldn't say no to more flying instruction.

"Ok, let's do that!" She agreed.

Diana took out her wand.

"Very well. Please wait while I set up the course," she said then flew off.

Akko watched as Diana began to casually produce large glowing red rings from her wand. She'd have to remember to get Diana to teach that spell to her sometime. It seemed useful.

"Something catch your eye? Or someone?"

A teasing voice jolted her from her thoughts. She looked over to see Amanda smirking at her, one eyebrow raised suggestively.

"N-no," Akko sputtered, "I'm just looking! Nothing caught my eye. Nothing and no one!"

Amanda's eyes widened and Akko covered her burning face with her hands. She could literally have not sounded any more suspicious. Why couldn't she just have acted normal for once?

"Wait, I was just joking. Do you actually have the hots for little miss prissy pants?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," Akko said, voice muffled. "Last night, Diana said she loved me."

"Like I love Jas and Conz?"

"No, like Constance loves robots."

She heard Amanda gasp in shock.

"Diana said that?!"

"Yes."

"Diana Cavendish."

"Yes."

"Confessed her actual, real life, love to you."

"Y-yes."

"You. Atsuko Ka—"

"Yes, yes," Akko peeked through her fingers to glare at her friend, "Yes to all of it!"

"And you rejected her?!"

"Yes…I mean no! I mean, augh," Akko groaned, dropping her hands into her lap, "I didn't even give her an answer. At first, I thought she was joking or sick or something. Then she said she'd give me time to think and left."

"Whew," Amanda whistled in amazement, "hell of a situation. Honestly, though, you should have just said yes."

"Why?"

"Okay, don't take this the wrong way, but Diana's like way out of your league."

Akko rolled her eyes. "Gee, how can I take that the wrong way. Besides, don't you like, I don't know, hate her?"

Amanda waved a hand dismissively.

"Nah, I just disagree with her on a lot of things. Besides, the truth is the truth. She's top of the class, rich, and hot as hell. Don't tell her I said that by the way," the other witch added.

Akko slumped down on her broom. Sighing, she said, "I just don't know what to do. I'm trying to keep things as normal as possible right now."

"Why would you do that? I mean…do you love Diana?" asked Amanda.

"That's the thing," Akko whined, "I don't know if I love her. I've never thought about loving someone. I've never even thought about liking someone! How should I know what love is?"

"Look, you don't fly into space, blow up a giant missile, and save the world with someone and not fall in love with them," Amanda pointed out. "But seriously, you've never thought about loving someone? What does that even mean?"

"I don't know, like, I haven't even imagined myself with anyone."

"Hmm, that's weird. Because I imagine myself with everyone," Amanda grinned, causing Akko to roll her eyes.

"Have you ever even been in a relationship before?" she asked.

Amanda scoffed, "Girls flocked to me in droves, Akko. Droves. But seriously, I've had crushes before and I've been in a few relationships."

"So what happened?"

"They've pretty much all ended badly," Amanda admitted, "I'm not exactly a picture of romantic perfection."

Akko could see what she was talking about. But at the same time, Amanda was also cool and charismatic, so it worried her that someone like that could have trouble with romance. If Amanda had trouble with relationships, what did it say about her chances? Confronted with this truth, Akko felt a twinge of sadness.

"Maybe that's why I've never thought about romance. Maybe deep down I'm scared because I know I'm not a girl that someone could love."

"You're being too smart for your own good."

Akko looked up in surprise. "Hey! I just—"

"You don't sound like the Akko I know," Amanda smiled good-naturedly, "The Akko I know is stupid and careless and, honestly, isn't afraid of anything."

"But I'm not—"

"Diana's coming back," Amanda interrupted.

Akko whipped her gaze up to see that Diana had finished setting up the course and was making her way back towards them.

"Look, I'll just say this," Amanda said, "Whatever choice you make, don't choose it because you're scared of what happens after."

Amanda headed off to meet Diana halfway, leaving Akko to float in silence with her thoughts. She had to admit, when Amanda felt like it, she really could be helpful. Of course at that moment Akko heard an argument break out between her friends regarding the construction of the course. She sighed and flew off to be the voice of reason and make sure no one said anything too un-witchlike.

AN: Uh, it's been a while. Thanks for reading!