Chapter 1

Lotte and Sucy were studying in their dorm room quietly. There had been around thirty uninterrupted minutes of quiet when they had heard a gentle knock at the door. Lotte looked up from her notes a bit confused. Surely that couldn't have been Akko that just knocked. No matter what the situation was, Akko would always enter the dorm room without hesitation. Lotte looked over to Sucy to see if she also heard the knock at the door, but she was either completely focused on studying magic potion vocabulary or she was entirely disinterested in the admittedly mundane situation. Lotte set her notes down, got to her feet, opened the dorm room door, and was surprised to see Diana Cavendish standing on the other side.

"Uh...Hi, Diana, what are you doing here?" Lotte said. Diana had only come by here once or twice in the two months following the incident with the missile, and Lotte assumed that she was here for the same reasons as before.

"I'm here to give Akko some notes for tomorrow's potion creation test. She wasn't in class today. Did she sleep in again?" Potion Creation was a newer class that had been introduced last month. Lotte knew that Akko had taken the class because it was more involved than the history classes that she routinely slept through. The problem was that the class was at eight in the morning and Akko was not a morning person in any capacity. She would either be very sluggish during class time or stay up, sleep in, and end up missing the class completely. On the days that Akko managed to make it to class, she would go back to her dorm room as soon as the hour-long class let out and sleep until noon. On the days that Akko was absent, Diana would take it upon herself to make a copy of the notes she took that day and give them to Akko so that she could study over the material she missed.

"She's actually not here, Diana." Sucy said from across the room, "We think she's taking a walk or getting breakfast or something."

"Would you like to come in for a minute?" Lotte said.

"I don't see why not." Diana said as she walked to the desk and sat down in the chair.

The girls shared some small talk about recent happenings around campus when Akko suddenly burst into the dorm room a few minutes later.

"Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys! She said yes! Let's start packing! I've got a great spot in mind and there's a super beautiful view like thirty seconds from the spot and if we see the sunset it'll be like a movie or something! Let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go!"

Akko had burst into the room like a hurricane and began packing several items into her bags as if she had been waiting for a situation such as this for a lifetime. Lotte and Sucy were taking this behavior in stride while Diana had been caught completely off guard. What could possibly have Akko so excited at an hour where she would usually be sleeping? The curiosity had only come a few seconds ago, but Akko's excited attitude made asking for context practically irresistible.

"Um...if you don't mind me asking, what's all this about?" Diana asked.

"The headmistress allowed us to go on a camping trip for the day!" Akko answered with the same excited and frantic speech that she entered the room with.

"A camping trip? How do you expect to go camping when we've got a test in Potion Creation tomorrow?" Diana inquired, visibly curious as to how Akko will accommodate for the class that she's been showing up irregularly for.

"I'll look over my notes before I go to sleep tonight! Oh, I see you have my notes! Thanks, Diana!" Akko snatched the notes out of Diana's hand and went back to furiously packing her bags.

"Okay, done! Let's go, guys!" Just as soon as Akko had started packing her camping bags, she had finished. She had appeared to have also packed some bags for Lotte and Sucy. The other two set their notes aside, took their bags in their hands, and began moving towards the door.

"Hold on a second, you three!" Diana said, trying to grasp the situation. Akko, Lotte, and Sucy had stopped at the exit of the room. "Akko, does the headmistress know that you three have a test tomorrow?"

"No worries, Diana!" said Akko, "We'll go to bed early and be back for class before eight!"

"Akko, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news, but unlike Lotte and Sucy, you haven't been doing especially well in Potion Creation. I don't think that going camping is the best idea!"

Although it sounded like Diana had Akko's best interest in mind, her face didn't match her words. A few seconds of silence and an observing of Diana's facial expression was all that was needed. Suddenly, a huge smile grew on Akko's face.

"Do you want to come with us, Diana?"

End of Chapter 1.