Chapter 8

In the Library, 8:10 AM. Cool, crisp silence is the most notable detail of the morning's lesson. Everything about the start to the day was as it should be; the birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the witches of Luna Nova were eager to enjoy their first day of summer break. But within the cluttered space of the library, something feels...off.

"Pass me that book on magic glyphs, please."

"Here."

"Thank you, Akko."

"No problem."

"How have your practice exams with Professor Pisces been, by the way?"

"I'm slowly improving, I think."

"I see…Good."

"Yep. How about your reading? How's that going?"

"Quite well. I'm currently going over lectures from Aristotle on the nature of free will. Very intriguing material."

"Wow, sounds interesting."

"Indeed. You can visualize the topic as two competing notions, determinism and individual freedom, which have made for centuries of rigorous and contentious deba-"

"Diana."

"Yes, Akko?"

"To put it bluntly, I don't care about this at all."

"Oh, is that right?"

"Yes," Akko sighs as she shuts her book. "It is right. You know what I want to talk about instead."

Diana, not one to play games, frowns and does the same with her own heavy textbook. An eerie stillness sets over the library as their eyes meet.

"You would like to know why I walked away yesterday, correct?"

Akko doesn't respond. She doesn't need to: both she and Diana know very well what she means.

"It's more complicated than you know, Akko," Diana goes on to say, still meeting Akko's gaze with deep-blue.

"I've heard that one before."

"Akko."

"Why won't you just tell me?"

Compelled to stand up by some unknown force, Akko puts her palms on the table and leans towards the star student.

"I thought we were close!" she says. "If there's anyone in the universe you can tell, it's me!"

"What are you expecting to hear?" Diana scoffs. Her legs and arms both crossed, she's seemingly slipped back into the icy persona that Akko hasn't seen in a long while.

"Do you want an emotional confession of all my heart's problems and worries? Do you hold the naïve belief that somehow, as if through magic, you can make them all better? Because you can't."

Akko grits her teeth.

"Maybe I can!" she says. "Maybe I can. But keeping me in the dark won't make things better."

She comes around the table and takes a seat next to Diana, who won't look her in the eye now. When Akko tries to put a hand on her shoulder, the girl is quick to brush it off.

"I'm worried about you," Akko says. "You're not acting like yourself."

Diana rolls her eyes, as if she'd heard the phrase one too many times, and gives Akko a stinging reply.

"I am only myself, so however I act can only reflect who I really am," she says. "I appreciate your concern, Akko, and I apologize for any heartache I may have caused you. However, I will speak no more about this today, or tomorrow, or ever."

"Diana…"

"Please, Akko. Let us not discuss this any longer."

Both girls are feeling rather somber as the conversation slowly burns down to embers. Akko reaches for Diana's hand with her own, and their fingers interlock on top of the table. This time, the girl doesn't resist.

"I won't even begin to say that I know what you're going through," Akko says, coughing awkwardly halfway through her sentence, "but I want you to know that I'm here for you." In response, Diana squeezes her hand tight.

"Ironic."

"Heh? What did you say?"

"What you've just said is ironic. You being here for me, and what I'm going through…for me they're one in the same."

"I don't follow. Is this some sort of metaphysical philosophy of magic stuff?"

Diana chuckles faintly. Her shadow, given her height, is cast over Akko as the morning sun rises in the window behind her.

"In a way, yes," she says, brushing her golden hair aside with her free hand. "You could call it a paradox. You want to be the solution to my problem, yet you are my problem."

Akko puffs her cheeks. She's simultaneously offended and confused.

"Rude…Just how am I your problem?"

To this, Diana has no response.

Minutes pass as minutes typically do, unyielding and without care for those who live in them. Akko knows they'll be back tomorrow but, somehow, it feels like her time with Diana is slipping through her fingers. Even sitting next to her, hand-in-hand, Akko knows the distance between them is greater than ever.

After a bit, Diana clears her throat and squeezes Akko's hand again to get her attention.

"Do you remember that philosophy of magic question we discussed a while back?" she asks. "The one about choosing between the child and the old woman?"

Akko nods.

"And you recall your answer?"

"Of course. I'd save both, duh."

"Yes. I'm not refuting your answer in any way. But what if I told you that it was never your choice to begin with?"

"I would say…I have no idea at all what you mean."

"Imagine it as such," Diana continues, apparently unfazed. "Everything about your genetics, upbringing, experiences, and life in general has shaped you to be the person you are today, correct?"

"I guess so, yeah."

"Following that logic, by the time you first heard the question, you had already become…you. Stubborn to a fault, yet selfless. Someone willing to think outside the bounds for their answer if it meant serving a greater good."

"Uh…sure. If you say so."

"So, in a way, it was unavoidable that you would choose the option of saving both."

"I see…That's what you mean. So it's sort of like fate I picked the answer I did?"

Diana smiles, and nods.

"The idea that all of choices are already made for us, when we have yet to make them for ourselves…Fascinating, no?"

Akko thinks it over for a second, and then pouts.

"I don't really like it," she says. "I would rather have control over my own life, instead of it being all laid out for me."

"That's the thing. You would never realize that you're not in control, because all of the choices are still yours."

"So am I making the choices, or is there some magic force making me make them?"

"Who can say for sure? It's only a theory. Countless magic philosophers have tried to prove or disprove the definitive existence of fate, but without anything to show for it."

"…This is too much for me to wrap my head around, Diana. Why are you bringing this up?"

The girl squeezes Akko's hand one more time, this time to the point that it hurts.

"Because I've recently made my choice," she says, melancholy, her gaze cast out the window and into the green fields surrounding Luna Nova. "And I would rather believe I was meant to make this choice instead of believing I made it on my own."

"…Diana, you're not talking about…?"

"The choice I have yet to tell you about, yes. The mysterious choice that seems to be a never-ending source of conflict between us."

"Oh." Akko swallows, and there's suddenly a tight feeling of anticipation in her chest.

"I…I feel that it would be best if we didn't meet anymore, Akko."

"…Diana?"

"You heard me correctly…You know what I mean."

"No, I don't!"

Akko shoots up out of her seat, still clinging onto Diana's hand because she's afraid that if she lets go she'll never be able to hold it again.

"You can't be serious," she says. At this point, Akko is going into panic mode, and Diana's ashamed expression only fuels the fire.

"It's…it's for the best. It's meant to be this way."

"Why? Why does it have to be like this?"

"…"

"I need an answer, Diana! Give me the truth!"

"The truth? The truth?!"

Diana stands up, turning to confront Akko with an incredulous look on her face. Still, neither girl is willing to let go of the other.

"Do you think we can live like this forever?" she says, her tone sharp. "Did you think that…that this fairytale romance would last forever, that this summer day would never end and we won't have to go back to our normal lives?"

Her words cut deep, but they only serve to make Akko angrier.

"Why can't it last? Oh, I know. Because you won't tell me anything! Your secret choice or whatever…what a bunch of rubbish."

Diana digs her nails into Akko, even drawing a hint of blood.

"You want to know about my choice?" she growls. "Fine. Suit yourself. You are the choice, Akko."

Hearing the truth only causes Akko to tighten her grip on Diana's hand.

"What does that mean?" she snaps back. "That you've always been considering doing this? How long? How long have you had your mind made up?!"

"…A day."

"A day?"

"When you handed me that key yesterday," Diana says, solemn, "it made me realize how little time we have left. I wasn't lying when I said I had to leave because I felt ill. Truly, I felt sick to my stomach."

"Diana…Why can't this last beyond today? We've…we've had our share of fun, right? Why can't it last?"

"…How do you suppose we explain this to our families? Our friends? Can you even begin to imagine the mess of explaining that I'm intimately involved with another student here at Luna Nova?"

"Well…I mean…"

"You hadn't thought that far ahead," Diana scoffs. "Of course not. Your defining characteristic, the one that both attracts and disgusts me, is how short-sighted you are. Always living in the present, without a care for tomorrow."

"Don't act like you haven't been living each day in the moment for the last however many weeks," Akko shoots back. "You enjoyed every moment as much as I did!"

"Yes, I did. But it's time to think about the future, Akko. It's time to stop."

"No, it's not! You know I'll fight this, Diana."

"As expected. But resist as you might, this is my choice. When the sun rises tomorrow, we will go back to being acquaintances. Friends, at most. But whatever may have blossomed between us in each and every today…it will end. It will be no more than a memory."

"…Don't do this, Diana."

"Atsuko Kagari."

"No. Please…"

"I no longer wish to meet with you in the mornings, here in the library. Nor do I wish to associate with you outside of here. This…this will be the last time we meet in private."

Finally, with tears in her eyes, Akko lets go of Diana.

Smack!

A large and aching red mark on her face, Diana is temporarily stunned, but her expression soon shifts to one of reluctant acceptance and shame.

"Goodbye, Akko."

With nothing left to say, Diana shuffles out of the room, trying to maintain her composure but betrayed by the droplets forming under her deep-blue eyes.

Alone, once again and apparently forever more, Akko breaks down into tears and quiet sobs.


Hey friends. I know it's been a while. I've been very busy outside of writing, but this chapter was also really difficult for me to write. I'm not great with drama, and for context I rewrote this chapter twice, with each variation being vastly and markedly different. Anyways, here's to hoping for more regular updates. See you all soon~