Chapter 1: An Old Friend

Crepes are delicious; never let anyone tell you otherwise. Sure, crepes were not my favorite food in the world – that honor had to go to pickled plums – but it was up there with apple tarts and that fancy bread I had at Diana's place that one time. I mean, how could anyone resist a good crepe? Crepes are low in calories, pass my taste test, and are usually good for your health.

Well, the one I was currently munching on probably wasn't going to do my glucose levels any favors. Biting into a pastry that had twenty dollops of whipped cream and a crap ton of chocolate, I found I didn't really care. Licking the chocolate coating my lips as I pulled the crepe away from my face, I thought to myself, 'Ah, what could be sweeter than a good crepe?'

"Diana," I said, setting my crepe down to properly address the girl in front of me. Dabbing at her lips with a handkerchief, Diana shot me a questioning look, eyes narrowed, one brow raised. I used to be intimidated by that stare, but after everything Diana and I have been through together, I knew there was nothing accusatory coming from the Englishwoman: just curiosity. "You enjoying your crepe?"

"Yes, it is quite decadent," she replied, her lips curling into a soft smile I was starting to see more and more ever since the Noir missile crisis a while back. I returned the smile as she continued, "The use of crème Fraiche instead of normal cream was a notable addition that really brought the whole pastry together."

"Uh, 'kuremu fureshu'? Is that still English?"

"It's a kind of sour cream, from my understanding," Diana explained, taking her typical lecturing pose: hand on her elbow as she used the other to gesture around with whatever pointing implement she had on hand – usually it was her wand, while this time it was a teaspoon she had used to stir her coffee.

While I'm not sure why I started to notice her smiles more, I'm pretty sure I know why her lecturing pose was burned into my retinas. After the missile crisis, Diana started lending me a hand with my studies. While she had recognized that Sucy and Lotte had Fundamentals of Magic Pharmaceutics and History of Magic covered, Diana wanted to see my grades in my other classes improve too, so whenever Professor Ursula wasn't giving me supplementary lessons, Diana would fill in.

I don't know how she found the time to tutor me, especially since Hannah and Barbara kept subtly taking jabs at how much of Diana's time I was wasting, but Diana never complained. Still, sometimes I felt bad about monopolizing her time, which is why-

"Anyway," Diana digressed, dusting off the crumbs of the treat, "thank you for treating me to this. I've had a wonderful time with you."

-I wanted to return the favor. "No, thank you! It's because of you that I'm not that far behind anymore. Professor Finnelan even complimented me the other day during Magic Linguistics class!"

"With all due respect to Professor Finnelan, I hardly consider 'You didn't mess it up this time' as a compliment. While she is an excellent witch, I'm afraid my opinion on her interactions with you is similar to Professor Ursula's: quite lacking in tact."

"Hey, I'll take what I can get," I admitted, trying my best to defend one of the few positive statements I've received from the aging Anne.

Pointedly, Diana said, "I'm sure you do, especially with regards to those tarts you keep stealing."

Suddenly, the mood in the booth Diana and I shared dropped dramatically. I look up to the lights illuminating the quaint café we were staying at. I could have sworn the lighting was warmer – definitely not blue. And I'm pretty confident that I wasn't able to see my breath two seconds ago. My gaze dropped from the lights to the girl in front of me. Her blue eyes were piercing, and I found myself tightening my tunic to cover myself better.

'Busted,' I remarked to myself, trying and failing to wipe all the sweat from my brow. Someone would have to bring a mop thanks to how much I was sweating.

As Diana took a sip, I tried to defend myself, "I-I was just tired of eating potatoes, that's all. Don't you ever get tired of them?"

"While I can empathize with your stance," Diana admitted, putting down her cup, "I disagree with your means. I'm going to have to ask you to cease your weekly kitchen pillaging."

"I am a growing girl, and a girl needs her food!" I objected, holding my hand seven centimeters above my head: the height difference between Diana and I. I didn't wanna be short forever, dammit! "How else am I supposed to catch up!"

"A tart wouldn't give you all the necessary nutrients required for growth, Akko," Diana shot back, knocking my argument aside. I made sure to puff my cheeks out of exaggerated indignation. Maybe that'll get her to soften her stance. Seeing my expression, she closed her eyes and sighed. "I did not want to have to resort to this; however, I see no other alternative. If you continue to make the lives of the kitchen staff harder, I'll just have to cease our tutoring sessions."

My heart ceased. "But Diana-"

"Oh my goodness, Akko?" I heard a familiar voice say to my left. I turned to face the source, and I was instantly assaulted by a wave of nostalgia. It had only been a year since junior high, but it felt like eons since I've seen the girl standing in front of Diana and me. Blue hair, square-framed glasses, slightly timid posture; it had to be-

"Minne? Is that you?" I said, managing to push back my shock.

"The one and only," she replied, pointing finger guns at me. I shot some right back at her.

"What are you doing here?"

"I'm an exchange student. I'll be staying in south-west England for a whole month! I can't believe that the school you mentioned a year ago was around this area!"

Abandoning my crepe on the table, I shot up from my seat and wrapped my arms around her. Ah, how I missed this. It's been so long since I've been able to just give her a good ol' glomp and rub cheeks with this girl… except it was more like me rubbing my temple against her cheekbone instead.

"Wait a minute, you're taller than me!" I exclaimed, loosening my vice grip on my friend enough to be able to get a good look at her. Running my eyes over her, I confirmed my worst fear; Minne left me behind! "No fair! You're like a whole forehead above me now. I can't believe you've changed so much in a year."

"Eh? You're the one who's changed so much. Look at you; you're a witch, Akko!" she replied as she raised a hand to the brim of my hat. My head suddenly felt cold as she whisked it off my head, placing it on her own. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Y-you look just like my Magic Philosophy classmate," I managed to choke out between giggles. I wasn't wrong; she had the same blue short hair and fair complexion as Gaelle, though I don't think Minne would literally bury her head in her notes like the German girl. Not to disparage Minne; from what I could remember, she had a very rigorous study regimen, just like-

"Diana," I said. I let go of the blue haired girl and spun on my heel to face the blonde. For some reason, she looked absolutely livid: nose upturned, eyes narrowed, and overall dismissive, just like the time I accidentally got all of her notes for Magic Law wet. Maybe if I shot back with enough cheer, her stern expression would crumble. I flashed her a smile that could light up a room and continued, "Is there something wrong?"

"Oh, no, nothing wrong in particular," Diana waved off, though nothing about her softened. She was definitely still mad at me, and I still didn't know why. "Please, continue your previous conversation with your friend."

Friend… oh, so maybe I broke some kind of etiquette rule by not introducing her to Minne?

"Oh, I totally forgot! Diana, this," I started, snatching back my hat, "is Mitsune Yagami – Minne for short. She's a friend I've known since junior high. Minne, this is Diana Cavendish, a friend from Luna Nova who I owe a ton to."

"Yeah, I saw her on TV with you when then nine of you took down that rampant missile a while back," Minne said, a hand of hers rubbing the back of her neck out of uneasiness. "I'm not sure what they teach you there over at your school, but I'm surprised that they let their students into that kind of danger."

"I'm surprised at how good your English is," Diana said, her condescending tone reminding me of my first days at Luna Nova when I saw her as a rival and she saw me as an annoyance. I pursed my lips. I wasn't sure why, but it seemed that Diana wasn't very fond of Minne.

Minne didn't seem to like Diana very much either if the frown on her face was any evidence. I found my lips curling into a similar frown too. I would have never expected this much disdain between two people who had known each other for only five minutes: well, aside from the looks Hannah, Barbara, and Avery shot me at the leyline on my first day at Luna Nova.

Minne continued, "Our previous school prepped us for jobs in English-speaking sectors since I wanted to become a United Kingdom diplomat, while Akko-"

"Yes, I'm aware of Akko's dream," Diana interjected, shooting Minne a smirk. She clasped her hands under her chin, propping it upon them. "I'm trying to help her achieve it, after all. I assure you, Miss Yagami, that Akko and I work very closely together on such matters."

Okay, this was getting a bit out of hand. I had to act before they caused a scene or something. "Guys- "

Luckily enough, Minne checked her watch, saying, "Well, I'm out of time. Gotta go run errands for my foster family. Before I go: Akko, are you free tomorrow? I'd love to catch up with you!"

"Hm," I hummed, grateful that Minne seemingly dropped whatever beef she had with Diana. Now to think about her offer. Well, it was a Sunday tomorrow, so unless Sucy were to slip me something as I slept and took me out of commission, I should be able to go. "Yeah, I'm free the whole day. What do you have in mind?"

I saw Minne turn to the bar of the café we were at, watching as patrons sipped on their mugs of coffee. "Coffee at ten?"

"Sure!" I sat back down as Minne left, a smile on my face. On the other hand, when I turned around to face Diana, all I could see was a grimace. "Mou, you've been in a bad mood ever since Minne came along."

The blonde witch's brow furrowed. "I agree that it isn't very rational to hold disdain towards someone within the first minute of meeting them, but there is just something I find off-putting about her."

"I-I don't understand," I admitted, confused.

"The way she looks at you, the way she holds you," Diana growled as she stood up, leaving a quid on the table we were sitting at. As I shot up to follow, she looked at me from over her shoulder. "It isn't like how Lotte or Sucy do it."

Hi. A few things I wanted to note:

1. This story was prompted by a picture of Akko in her junior high uniform with her arm slung over the shoulders of a blue haired girl who had the same uniform. That along with the fan drawing that accompanied that screenshot led to me writing this story. For those curious, you can find that picture here: /kitten_crow/status/942037235121111041

2. I have no idea what the canon name of Akko's friend is, so I just fumbled one up. I chose Mitsune because I wanted her nickname - Minne - to match the way Atsuko formulated hers. I also wanted a name to relate to Diana's in some way, so I picked Yagami, written with the kanji for god, which should line up with Diana's, which means "heavenly".

3. This is my first ever Little Witch Academia fic, so I'll need a lot of feedback concerning the personalities of the characters, especially Akko and Diana. I'm a little concerned that I'm not making Akko cheerful enough, or that I'm doubling down on Diana's cold side a bit too much.

4. It's been a while since I've written from the first person perspective, which may have been a mistake since I feel I don't have a solid grasp of Akko's character yet. Hopefully, nothing egregious arose from this decision.

5. This will be a three chapter story, and I have a feeling that the second one will be the longest. However, I do not have an ETA for when that drops, so I hope what was written so far is enough to satiate you guys for now.

Until next time.

EDIT (Jan 2, 2018): Changed some of the wording. Nothing consequential in terms of plot was touched.