Diana Cavendish didn't express her feelings well. Not since she was a child, at least.

It wasn't that she didn't know how to. It was moreso that they were sifted through a filter in Diana's subconscious, where she would catch any thoughts deemed "non-essential" in her day-to-day routine and store them away somewhere deep and forgotten inside her mind; a place where no daylight came through.

Recently, she tried to allow herself more leniency in the endeavor of open emotion. However, after many excessively warm exchanges between Miss Kagari and herself, this task began to prove more difficult than previously predicted, in more ways than one. It was nobody's fault, it really wasn't. It was just that being around Akko caused her to act… different. Not better or worse in any sort of way, just a deviation from how Diana had always known herself to behave. Perhaps it was Akko's inimitable, carefree nature that often rubbed off on the people around her, or the indisputable weight that carried over from the two of them destroying the Noir Missile. Whatever it was, it was beginning to make things exceedingly troublesome.

Diana often found herself worrying about Akko consistently. By consistently, she meant multiple, multiple times a day. Which was odd, since she knew Akko had the tenacity to fend for herself, as well as trustworthy friends to keep her safe. Even still, doubts would plant themselves in her psyche regardless.

The most prominent location for these doubts were in her dreams. There was no fancy filtration system there. No barrier to keep out the things she so desperately didn't want to acknowledge. Anything was possible.

The very notion of that was terrifying, to say the least.

Syncopated images come in when she least expects them. Small things she didn't see before. The way Akko's hands began to slip from their grip on the broom handle. Why hadn't she noticed? Why didn't she say something? The way she reached out to grab Akko when she lost her balance, but was too slow—too late. No matter how fast she flew, she couldn't catch Akko. Every millisecond, she fell farther away, smaller and smaller; hopelessly vanishing into the sea of clouds as the missile closed in on Diana, frozen in time; so overcome with a knotting despair that sunk deep in the well of her stomach. Her friend would perish all because of her ineptitude; her failure. Necrosis would encompass the Earth, rotting from the inside out, full of decay. Akko. Gone. It would all be her fault. All of it. And then-

Then she woke up.

Her heart rammed against her ribcage, sweat saturating her robe. She gasped in a breath, sitting up immediately only to be hit with the whiplash, a rush of blood to her brain. Dizzying confusion. It took her a few seconds to realize it was all a dream; she was back at Luna Nova, in her bed, and, most importantly, Akko was safe.

Akko was safe.

Diana brought a hand to her chest, feeling how heavy her heart thrummed inside of her. She took another deep breath; inhaling slowly, closing her eyes, and exhaling twice as slowly. There was nothing to be afraid of, nothing to cry about , she told herself. It was just another bad dream. It wasn't real.

Yet, her eyes still stung.

She snapped her eyes shut again to push that incessant burn away.

"Diana, are you alright?"

Diana opened her eyes again to see Barbara peering around the bookcase, eyes wide, genuine concern spread across her face.

"Diana?"

"This has been the fifth time this week," Diana said to herself. Peering down at her hands clasped to her chest, she shuddered heavily. Was there no end to these anxiety-ridden dreams? Didn't she have enough on her plate already? "I'm sorry to have worried you, Barbara."

Looking out the window, she could see the pink hue of sunlight staining the sky. It was morning and, although a tad earlier than usual, it was time to wake up. There were many things that needed to be taken care of today and Diana wasted no time shifting her racing thoughts onto her loaded schedule.

The atmosphere at Luna Nova Academy changed after the battle with the Noir Rod. This wasn't surprising. Neither was it surprising that Akko and her friends had garnered a large amount of attention and praise from their peers. It wasn't entirely a bad thing, but it became an inconvenience after a while; exhaustion set in, the flattering, well-intended words became nothing more than repetitive, broken record hiccups. The whispers and oohs and ahs were akin to flies buzzing past her ears. Akko wanted nothing more than to continue her school life as normal; practicing her magic, learning to fly, spending time with her friends—with Diana. Diana, who she had grown so close to in the previous months, who had believed in her, who had stood by her when the world seemed to end and begin simultaneously.

But Diana was nowhere to be seen today. Odd. She usually appeared around lunch time, adding one of her even-worded quips to the conversation, causing Akko to react boldly and pull in laughter from around the table. Today had already been a quiet day to begin with; the green team was being punished for another one of Amanda's wild stunts and the lack of appearance from any blue team members only added to the strange calmness.

"Say," Sucy finally spoke, breaking their brief silence, "Akko hasn't been scolded by Diana yet and it's already past noon."

"Huh?" Akko's head shot up from sandwich she was shoveling into her mouth, narrowing her eyes at Sucy. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It did seem a tad quieter," Lotte gave a nervous laugh. "In fact, I don't think I've seen Barbara either."

Lotte smiled, though a hint of disappointment could be seen in her eyes.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm sure it's some stuffy aristocratic business. That or Diana just studying like a maniac," Akko said. "So much that she can't be bothered to say hello to us!" Akko added, subtle offense in her tone.

Lotte laughed. "I'm sure it's nothing to worry about. We should be studying as well, since finals are only a month away."

"Ugh, don't remind me!" Akko whined, hanging her head down in shame. Sure she still had a month of time left, but she had promised to give herself a head start this time around.

"You don't sound very confident for someone who's been practicing spells all week." Sucy said.

"Spells are one thing, bookwork-" Akko frowned, visibly repulsed, "is another…"

Lotte looked around the cafeteria, the collective chatter felt a bit empty, especially without Amanda's yelling. That wasn't necessarily a bad thing. Not that she would admit that. In fact, maybe calmness is what Akko needed to help her succeed. A switch flicked on in Lotte's mind. She turned back and took Akko's hand in her own with a newfound determination.

"Akko," Lotte said, her voice louder and more forceful than usual. "I think you should ask Diana for study help."

"Eh?" Akko froze.

Sucy snickered, leaning back in her chair as if to brace for impact.

"EHHH?" Akko's voice rang throughout the cafeteria, causing several heads to turn in their direction.

"No! No! No way! That's so- ugh, embarrassing! I'd feel like such an idiot in front of her! And I'd never hear the end of it from Hannah and Barbara!"

"I think you may be exaggerating a bit! After all, we're good friends with the blue team, so I highly doubt Diana would try to make you feel bad for having a difficult time." Lotte said, trying desperately to calm Akko down by patting her shoulder. She gave Sucy a scolding look, who was still giggling out of the corner of her vision.

"It's not that!" Akko said, pouting and resting her face in her hands. "Diana's- ugh, Diana's super smart and has her own stuff to worry about. Trying to help me out would just be a waste of her time." Akko buried her face into her hands.

"That's not true!" Lotte said. "Diana considers you a good friend, and you'll never know until you ask!"

"And if she says no, you can always help me with my studies…" Sucy said, bearing a ominous, sharp-toothed smile in Akko's direction.

Akko felt the blood rush from her face just thinking about Sucy using her as a test subject all week long.

"I guess it wouldn't hurt to ask…" Akko mumbled under her breath.

"Yay!" Lotte smiled. "If it makes you feel better, we can go with you."

Akko stood up from the table, still hesitant about asking Diana something so compromising. But, Lotte had a point; she was never good at paying attention or trying to study on her own. Perhaps Diana's stricter nature is what she needs.

But still… something about asking for Diana's help made Akko's stomach turn. Could it be pride? Maybe. It made sense, since Akko still refused to let Diana watch her progress until she felt it was just right—but, she had a good excuse for that! She just didn't want Diana to be concerned if something went awry—and maybe she wanted to impress Diana a little, too.

Okay, actually a lot of it had to do with impressing Diana.

However, that wouldn't be possible if she came groveling to her room, hands clasped together, begging for academic aid from Luna Nova's star student. Just the mere visualization made Akko want to bury her face in her hands again. Either way, she had to resign herself to the fact that she was in dire need of a tutor. And if anyone at Luna Nova was good at helping other students with schoolwork, it was Diana Cavendish.

Akko sighed.

"Yeah, let's just get it over with."