Diana quietly stepped away from the door to Principal Holbrooke's office. She shouldn't have been listening after they sent her out, she really shouldn't have, but it wasn't like she was planning on sharing any of the information she had just overheard. She just…let her curiosity get the better of her.

She had hardly gone seven steps, however, before she ran smack into Akko. Literally. Of course, she sighed to herself, and opened her mouth to offer a polite apology. But when the other girl realized who she had collided with, her eyes flashed.

"Diana!" she cried, and Diana involuntarily took a step back to avoid her pointing finger. "How could you do that to Sucy!"

"To Sucy?" was all Diana could think to say.

Akko glared at her. "Don't you think the three of us have suffered enough? What if she gets suspended? What if she gets expelled?"

"Akko!" Diana took a breath, hoping she could find some way to defuse the situation. "There was no choice. She was growing mushrooms in my medicine."

"Sucy grows her mushrooms everywhere, that doesn't—"

"No, Akko." She hoped she was managing to keep her voice from rising. "I take that medicine every day. I could have gotten sick. I could have ended up in a coma."

"That's…"

Finally Akko fell silent. Her arm began to droop.

Diana sighed outwardly this time. "It's a matter of safety," she said firmly.

Akko looked up again. "And you don't care what they do to her," she accused.

"She's a hazard to my health!" Diana protested, feeling the situation slipping out of her tenuous grasp. "We're all here to learn, and she's keeping us from being able to do that."

"All she wants is a chance to grow and practice!" Akko insisted.

"Akko," Diana said again, feeling very, very worn. "She tried to kill you on your first day of term."

The shorter girl's eyes went wide, and her arm zipped back to her side. "H-how do you know about that?" she said.

Diana tried to keep herself from blushing. She should have headed back to the library right after she had been dismissed from the principal's office, but when she had heard Professor Finnelan raise her voice she had lingered outside the door. She wasn't going to admit that to Akko of all people, though…

Akko apparently decided that she didn't need an answer, shaking her head vehemently from side to side. "No. That doesn't matter."

"It…doesn't matter?" Diana repeated.

"She didn't mean anything by it," the other girl explained. She didn't sound entirely comfortable with the idea, but her voice was growing firmer again.

"This is what I'm talking about, Akko," Diana said. "She sees something she wants, and she doesn't mind using other people to get it. It's not just a matter of being more careful or polite. She needs to take other people into account in the first place."

"That's…" For a second time Akko fell silent. For all the younger girl was failing her classes, Diana knew she cared about other people. She just couldn't fathom how Akko was friends with Sucy after what the other student had done to her.

"Just why do you hate us so much?"

Diana was shocked. Akko was shaking, her fists clenched, and Diana couldn't see what brought this on.

"I don't hate you, Akko," she said carefully, meeting the shorter girl's gaze. "Where did you get that idea?"

Akko began ticking things off on her fingers. "You're always trying to show us up. You keep getting us into trouble." She paused there, presumably trying to think of more complaints. "You think you're better than us."

"Akko," Diana said again, trying to be firm. "I don't hate you. I know I'm the best in the class—" She stopped as Akko literally vibrated in front of her. "Well, I am. Academically. I'm not going to pretend I don't score as well as I do. But look at it this way: what reason would I have to look down on you?"

"Because I'm not from a witch family," Akko muttered.

"But Sucy and Lotte are," Diana pointed out. "You might not be doing well in class, but that doesn't have anything to do with me." She took a breath. "You even helped me out that one time, with the Pappiliodya."

That was not a pleasant memory. Only a few weeks into the term, and Diana had nearly made a terrible mistake. It was Akko who had figured out what the cocoons on the Jennifer Memorial Tree were. Akko, who was determined to learn how to use magic to make people happy, despite having seemingly no talent for it. Akko, Akko, Akko.

Diana was spared further conversation by the sound of the door to the principal's office creaking open down the hall. Both she and Akko turned to look as Sucy stepped out slowly, looking as taciturn as ever.

"Sucy!" Akko cried, running over to meet her roommate. Diana looked at the two of them for a moment longer, tugging at her collar uneasily. How did the two of them get along? How could Akko care so much about someone who cared so little about her? About anyone?

But that wasn't her business; right now she had a report to write. She lowered her arm and began to stride quickly towards the library once more. And tried not to think about what Akko had told her.