Akko Kagari and the Contest of Champions
A/N: Show your support for Serenity Academy
Chapter Ten: Crisis at the Council
Mrs. Manbavaran woke them after only a few hours sleep. She used magic to pack up the tent as Akko and the others said their farewells to Andrew and Frank, and they left the campsite as quickly as possible, passing Mr. Torres at the door of his cottage. Mr. Torres had the look about him that told them that he was happy to see them leave.
"You know, it wouldn't surprise me if he was one of those Purifiers," said Amanda quietly as they marched off onto the moor. "He definitely has the attitude to be one. He was probably laughing it up the entire time…. I wish they had caught them last night so we could at least have some proof."
They heard urgent voices as they approached the spot where the Summoning Stones lay, and when they reached it, they found a great number of men and women gathered around Azrael, the keeper of the Summoning Stones, all clamoring to get away from the campsite as quickly as possible. Mrs. Manbavaran had a hurried discussion with Azrael; they joined the queue, and were able to take a pink-marked rock back to Puerto Princesa before the sun had really risen. They walked back through the forest and up the damp lane toward the Manbavaran Manor in the dawn light, talking very little because they were so exhausted, and thinking longingly of their breakfast. As they rounded the corner and the manor came into view, a pair of high-pitched cries echoed along the lane.
"INA!"
Mrs. Manbavaran was nearly knocked off her feet when Garie and Sabi came running toward them, still wearing their pajamas, and threw themselves at her. They were both sobbing very loudly, tears and snot running uncontrollably down their faces as they buried them into their mother's dress.
"Ina…we thought you weren't coming back…," sobbed Garie.
"We thought we'd never see you again, Ina," sniffled Sabi.
Mr. Manbavaran, who had evidently been waiting for them with Garie and Sabi, approached them shortly after, his face pale and strained, a rolled-up newspaper clutched in his hands.
"Susan – I've been so worried – so worried – "
He stepped in between Garie and Sabi and pulled his wife in close, dropping the newspaper onto the ground. Looking down, Akko saw the headline: SCENES OF TERROR AT THE INTERNATIONAL CHARIOT RACING TOURNAMENT, complete with a photograph of the Eclipse over the treetops.
"Thank goodness you're all right," Mr. Manbavaran muttered distractedly, releasing Mrs. Manbavaran and staring around them all with red eyes, "you're alive…thank goodness…"
"Ate!" Garie and Sabi yelled in unison when they saw Sucy behind Akko.
The twins removed themselves from their mother and flung themselves at Sucy. And to everybody's surprise, she seized Garie and Sabi and pulled them both into such a tight hug that their heads banged together.
"Hey, you little brats, I'm back," she said softly.
"We're sorry we're bad sisters!" Garie said, sobbing harder. "We're sorry we're always making you mad and playing with your things!"
"We promise we won't do it ever again!" Sabi cried along with her. "We promise we'll be good little sisters from now on! Just don't leave us…."
"Tulog ka," Sucy mumbled in Filipino, brushing their heads lightly. "It'd be even more annoying if you were polite all the time."
"Come on, now, girls, we're all perfectly okay," said Mrs. Manbavaran soothingly prying the twins off Sucy and guiding them by their hands back toward the house. "Sucy," she added in an undertone, "pick up that paper, I want to see what it says…."
When they were all in the dining room, and Jasminka had made a pot of very strong tea for everyone, into which Mrs. Manbavaran insisted on pouring a shot of Tanduay rum, Sucy handed her mother the newspaper. Mrs. Manbavaran scanned the front page while Mr. Manbavaran looked over her shoulder.
"I knew, it," said Mrs. Manbavaran heavily. "Council blunders…culprits not apprehended…lax security…anti-Demi-Human fanatics running unchecked…national disgrace…who wrote this? Ah…of course…Quattro Scaglietti. I should have known. The woman doesn't have a single shred of human decency or consideration for others. Always twists people's words into something that she thinks will make her articles more popular."
"Didn't she do a piece about you," said Sucy. "I think she called a homicidal maniac akin to Franken Stein."
"And it looks like she doesn't stop there," said Mrs. Manbavaran, frowning deeper as she reached the bottom of the news article. "I'm mentioned."
"Where?" Spluttered Mr. Manbavaran, choking on his tea, "If I had seen that, I'd have known you were alive!"
"Not by name," said Mrs. Manbavaran. "Listen to this: 'If the terrified men and women who waited breathlessly for news at the edge of the woods expected reassurance from the Magic Council, they were sadly disappointed. A representative emerged some time after the appearance of the Eclipse alleging that nobody had been hurt, but refused to give any more information. Whether this statement will be enough to quash the rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods an hour later, remains to be seen.' Or really," said Mrs. Manbavaran in exasperation, throwing the paper carelessly over her shoulder. "I'm not a representative, I'm a doctor for god's sake. Rumors that several bodies were removed from the woods…well, there certainly will be rumors now that she's printed that."
She heaved a deep sigh. "Joe, I'm going to have to go into the office; I'm going to be busy for a long while."
"Susan, you're supposed to be on holiday," said Mr. Manbavaran, looking visibly upset. "This doesn't have anything to do with you; surely the Magic Council can settle its own affairs."
"It's not just the Magic Council, Joe," said Mrs. Manbavaran. "I saw the damages those Purifiers did. There were a lot of injured when I left, and I have little doubt that the hospital is going to need all hands on deck. As the Chief Physician of Alchemilla, I have a responsibility to oversee everything. I'll just change my clothes and I'll be off…."
"Mr. Manbavaran," said Akko suddenly, unable to contain herself, "there hasn't been any letters for me, has there?"
"Letters?" said Mr. Manbavaran distractedly. "No…no, there hasn't been any mail at all."
Lotte and the rest of Akko's friends all looked curiously at her. With a meaningful look at them she said, "All right if I go and dump my stuff in your room, Sucy?"
"Yeah…think I will too," said Sucy at once. "Anyone else want to come?"
They all silently agreed and the six of them marched out of the dining hall and up the stairs.
"What's up, Akko?" said Amanda, the moment they had closed the door of Sucy's room behind them.
"There's something I haven't told you," Akko said. "On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scars hurting again."
Their reactions were almost exactly as Akko had imagined them back in her bedroom in Japan. Amanda rolled her eyes and told her it was nothing while Jasminka and Constanze didn't even offer a response; Sucy was eyeing a group of mushrooms in one of the hanging planets, likely ready to suggest them to Akko; Lotte simply looked dumbstruck.
"You're scar started hurting again? But…what does that mean? Last time they hurt, it was over three years ago. We still don't know what causes it…."
"Actually…I think I have an idea," said Akko. "I think the last time my scars started hurting, they were reacting to the Shiny Rod; they were trying to tell me that Barbara was going after it. Since I'm connected to the Shiny Rod because of Yggdrasil, maybe my scars can like…sense when the Stars are in danger."
"So what caused it this time?" asked Sucy curiously.
"Well…I had a dream about Amon," said Akko slowly. "Him and Ruvik – and Acnologia showed up near the end – I can't remember all of it now, but I think they were going after one of the Stars."
"Well, it was only a dream," said Lotte bracingly. "Just a nightmare."
Yeah, but was it, though?" said Akko, turning to look out the balcony at the brightening sky. "It's weird, isn't it?... My scars start hurting, and three days later, the sign used by Shiny Chariot's old group shows up in the sky again. A group that Amon and Ruvik were members of, remember?"
There was a silence in which Lotte absentmindedly petted Haruka-san, who was nibbling on Sucy's bedspread.
"Why were you asking if any mail had come, Akko?" Jasminka asked. "Are you expecting a letter?"
"I asked Blair to take a letter to Izetta about my scars," said Akko, shrugging. "I'm waiting for her answer."
"Good thinking!" said Lotte, her expression clear. "I bet Izetta will know what to do!"
"I hoped she'd get back to me quickly," said Akko. "I was at least hoping to see Blair when I got back…"
"But we don't know where Izetta is…she could be in Africa or somewhere, couldn't she?" said Stan-Bot; Constanze nodded. "Even a great witch like Blair can't travel the world that fast."
"She got me from Japan to London in half a day when I first met her," said Akko.
"Well, no point in worry about it now," said Amanda, patting Akko roughly on the back. "C'mon, let's head out and have a race in the forest. You and me – one on one. I always wanted to know who was the better flyer. Well, it's obviously gonna be me because you just learned to fly a couple months ago, but I was just being considerate."
"Amanda," said Lotte, in an I-don't-think-you-are-being-very-sensitive sort of voice. "Akko doesn't want to race right now…. She's worried, and she's tired…. We all need to go to bed…."
"Yeah, I want to race," said Akko suddenly. She reached for her belt and pulled out the Shiny Rod. "Hold on a sec…Sybilladura Lelladybura!"
A moment later, the Shiny Rod had morphed into the Shiny Balai and Akko and Amanda ran out of the room while Lotte shook her head and mutter something under her breath that sounded like, "Never learn…"
Mrs. Manbavaran wasn't home very much over the following week. She left the house each morning before the rest of the family got up, and returned well after dinner every night.
"It's absolute pandemonium," said Mrs. Manbavaran tiredly the Sunday evening before they were due to return to Luna Nova. "No matter how many patients I heal, there always seems to be ten more popping up. The hospital has helped the majority that were attacked at the Tournament, but there are still a few in critical condition. And then there is the Council employees coming in and demanded treatment ahead of the other patients."
"Why are Council members coming to the hospital so frequently," asked Sucy, who was fiddling through a book called One Million Magical Herbs and Fungi in front of the living room fire.
"People are rioting over at the Magic Council in Era," said Mrs. Manbavaran. "Arguments over the security at the Tournament. They're demanding compensation for their ruined property and their medical bills. That little rat Agrit came into my ward this morning after he got cursed by a Council employee for demanding a replacement for his twelve-bedroomed tent with en-suite Jacuzzi. No one believed it, of course. We all know he was using a tarp propped up by two sticks." She leaned back in the loveseat, groaning. "Ugh, I haven't had this much work since the days of the Eclipse Queen. And that damn Scaglietti woman isn't helping things, either."
"What did she do this time?" asked Mr. Manbavaran soothingly, massaging his weary wife's shoulders.
"She made another article about how the Magic Council is hoarding funds all for themselves so that the people are left with nothing," said Mrs. Manbavaran. "That only made the rioters even angrier; there was actually a armed crowd outside the Magic Council building that had to be dispersed by the Rune Knights. And she made a little side comment about how my hospital is only giving health care to Council employees and shoving non-essential patients aside. Now I'm worried people will start firebombing the hospital next. And then Org came into my office the other day –"
"What did he want?" said Akko, leering.
"He blames me for making a public statement in Scaglietti's article without consulting the Magic Council."
"How can he even think of blaming you for what the horrid Scaglietti woman wrote?" said Mr. Manbavaran, showing the first signs of dislike since Akko had known him.
"If she hadn't said anything, old Scaglietti would just have said it was disgraceful that nobody from the Council had commented," said Amanda, who was playing chess with Constanze. "Quattro Scaglietti never makes anyone look good. I remember when she interviewed my mom once, and called her "easy" because she has so many kids and no husband."
"Come to think of it, I never saw your dad when I was in New York," said Akko thoughtfully. "Where was he?"
"You're guess is as good as mine," said Amanda nonchalantly.
Rain lashed against the living window. Lotte was immersed into the latest Little Witch Academia novel she received in the mail from Annabelle Crème. Jasminka was in the kitchen preparing a pot of Borscht for dinner. Akko was polishing the Shiny Balai, the Broomstick Maintenance Kit Diana had given her for her thirteenth birthday open at her feet. Garie and Sabi were sitting in a far corner, talking in whispers, their heads butted together.
"What are you two scheming over there?" said Mrs. Manbavaran sharply, her eyes on the twins.
"Homework," said Garie vaguely.
"Don't be ridiculous, you don't start your first year of school for a few days," said Mrs. Manbavaran.
"Garie and Sabi are going to school?" asked Lotte curiously. "To Luna Nova?"
"Yeah, they just got their acceptance letters a couple weeks ago," said Sucy, traces of a proud smile on her lips. "Mom was always saying that they would be too much trouble to get into Luna Nova, but after I told her about Amanda and her friends, she seemed relieved."
"Hey, that's just…no, you're right, we're terrible people," said Amanda smugly.
"We never had any trouble with Sucy growing up," said Mr. Manbavaran. "She was always so quiet and liked to keep to herself. Honestly, the thing we were most worried about was that she wouldn't make any friends in school. So you can imagine how grateful we are to you all for being here with her."
"It's our…well, I can't say it's a pleasure, but we tolerate her," said Akko.
"Aw, that's the nicest thing you've ever said," said Sucy, smirking.
A few moments later, Jasminka came into the living room doing an impressive balancing act with ten bowls of borscht as she handed them out individually without losing a single drop. Just as they were about to eat, Mrs. Manbavaran's phone made a small jingling noise; someone had texted her. Frowning, Mrs. Manbavaran whipped out her phone and checked the message, then let out an even deeper groan.
"What's wrong, dear?" asked Mr. Manbavaran concerned.
"It's Quattro Scaglietti again," said Mrs. Manbavaran, grimacing. "My friend in the Council says that she's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Council screw-ups to report. And now she's found out about Aleister Crowley going AWOL, so that'll be the headline in the news tomorrow. Your mother is going out of her mind trying to sort everything out, Amanda."
"That whole Crowley business has been giving her a giant headache for weeks," said Amanda.
"We should at least be grateful that she hasn't found out about Miss Kuroi," said Mrs. Manbavaran irritably. "There'd be a week's worth of headlines if a Chariot Racing champion was caught holding a wand suspected of conjuring the Eclipse."
"But there wasn't any proof," said Akko angrily.
"You think that's going to matter to Scaglietti?" said Mrs. Manbavaran. "If she catches even the slightest whiff of a scandal, she'll jump on it like a piranha on a slab of beef. The story doesn't even have to be true as long as it sells."
"She'd fit right in with the rest of Americans," said Amanda.
"All right, that's enough of that," said Mr. Manbavaran, clapping his hands to stem the talk. "Once everyone is done eating, I think everyone should make sure that all their things are packed properly. Sucy, I bought you and your friends your new books today. Please make sure they are the right ones for me, will you?"
Once they were finished eating, Akko repacked her broomstick maintenance kit, tucked the Shiny Rod in her belt, and went back upstairs with Lotte and Sucy. The rain sounded even louder in the empty corridors, accompanied by loud whistling and moans from the wind. They found Haruka-san having a staring contest with one of the man-eating plants in the corner of Sucy's room. Haruka-san was drooling and the plant looked like it was actually quivering in fear.
"I bought her some treats," said Lotte, throwing a packet across to Akko. "I tried to get her some rice balls, but a wild Afuu came and stole them."
Akko stuffed the entire bag into Haruka-san's mouth without even opening the package; Haruka-san seemed content enough. She then turned to the balcony, looking out into the forest with a deep sigh.
"It's been over a week and Blair still isn't back yet," said Akko. "Lotte, you don't think they've been caught, do you?"
"No, it would have been all over the news," said Lotte. "After what happened at the Tournament, the Council would want to come out with some kind of win."
"Yeah, I suppose…."
"Look, here's the stuff Ama got for us in London," said Sucy. "And he even washed your socks for you."
She heaved a pile of books onto Akko's bed and dropped a load of socks next to them. Akko started going through the shopping, as did Lotte. Mr. Manbavaran had gotten her The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4, for normal classes and The History of 20th century Demi-Humans and The Spiritualist Guide to Star-Gazing for her advance classes in History of Magic and Magic Astrology. Lotte already received the book she needed for Magical Literature from Annabelle Crème – Akko didn't need it because she wouldn't be taking Magical Literature again this year, much to Lotte's disappointment. Akko started piling her books into her luggage when Sucy made a disgusted noise behind her.
"What is this supposed to be?"
She was holding up a very fancy-looking dress made of stunning purple fabric that glittered in the sunlight. Akko thought it was pretty, but Sucy looked like she was about to gag.
There was a knock on the door, and Mr. Manbavaran entered, carrying an armful of freshly laundered Luna Nova uniforms.
"Here you are," he said, sorting them into three piles. "Now, mind you pack them properly so they don't crease."
"Ama, why was this in with my stuff?" said Sucy, handing it out to him.
"Well, that's your ball gown, isn't it?" said Mr. Manbavaran.
"My what?" said Sucy, looking horror-struck.
"Ball gown!" repeated Mr. Manbavaran. "It says on your school list that you're supposed to have ball gowns this year…dresses for formal occasions."
"You've got to be kidding me," said Sucy in disbelief. "I'm not wearing that, no way."
"Everyone wears them, Sucy," said Mr. Manbavaran compassionately. "They're all like that. Your mother even has some for formal parties at the hospital."
"I'd rather drown myself in acid than put that on," said Sucy stubbornly.
"Don't be silly," said Mr. Manbavaran. "You've got to have ball gowns, they're on your list. I got some for Akko and Lotte too…show her, girls…."
Looking at one another in curiosity, Akko and Lotte opened up packages that had been at the bottom of the books. They were just as pretty as Sucy's; both fluffy with ruffles and lace – they looked like something straight out of Cinderella. Akko's dress was in a heart-pink while Lotte's was canary-yellow.
"I thought they would bring out the color of your eyes, dear," said Mr. Manbavaran fondly.
"Ugh, I think I'm gonna be sick," said Sucy, grimacing.
"Oh, don't be that way, Sucy," said Mr. Manbavran positively. "I bet you'll look lovely in yours."
"I don't want to look lovely," said Sucy stubbornly, tossing her new dress in her with her luggage angrily. "I'm never wearing this stupid thing."
"Oh, fine," said Mr. Manbavaran exasperatedly. "Go naked. And, Akko, make sure you get a picture of her. Goodness knows Susan would get a laugh out of it."
He left the room with a humorous chuckle. There was a funny spluttering noise from behind them. Haruka-san had finished with her snacks and was now eating the man-eating plant. Lotte flailed and ran over to stop her, while Akko looked over at Sucy, who was glaring at the dress like it had insulted her mushrooms.
"Me? Look lovely?" said Sucy in a low, almost unheard tone. "Now that's a laugh…."
She slammed her luggage shut with all her might.
Again, please show your support for Serenity Academy, because you know I'm just going to keep repeating this message over and over again.
Next time: Aboard the Mystic Rail