"Now where is it… it should be around here right… Ah! There it is! Diana!"

After spending time searching in the dark, Akko spotted a bright green light isolated in a wide field. Knowing that must be Diana, Akko immediately began her descent.

"Good evening Akko." Diana greeted, as she laid out a mat on the ground. "Have you had anything to eat yet?"

Akko shook her head. After all, she had just finished working with Professor Ursula, and while she could have maybe stopped by the dining hall for a quick snack, she had already bolted to see Diana before she could have put any more thought into it.

"Is that so? Well…" Diana took out a container from her bag. "Would you care to join me for a light snack before we begin today?"

Akko's face split into a bright grin as she nodded.

"Thanks for the food Diana!" Akko said as she happily scarfed down a sandwich.

"There is no need to thank me Akko." Diana said before sipping tea she had prepared.

"Just accept the thanks Diana." Akko joked with a pout.

Diana sighed amusedly.

"You are so very welcome." Diana replied in the most overly proper way she could manage, earning another pout, as well as a slightly annoyed grunt, from her friend. Diana started chuckling at the reaction, a sound that caused Akko to laugh as well.

"It feels like it's been forever since we just sat down and relaxed like this, huh." Akko said as she finished laughing.

"Really? Because I seem to recall you being pretty relaxed just the other night." Diana said playfully.

Akko laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head.

"Oh right! I never did thank you for that did I?"

"Thank me?" Diana questioned.

"Yeah! For flying me home that night. Lotte and Sucy told me you carried me all the way to my room. That was very sweet of you, so thank you!" Akko smiled brightly.

"… I-It was nothing. There is no need to thank me for that. I was just… fulfilling my duties as your tutor." Diana muttered bashfully. Diana's face reddened as she spoke.

Akko smiled mischievously.

"Ehhh? What's this? Why so red Diana?" Akko teased as she brought her face closer to Diana's to take a closer look.

After all, Akko found it really cute when the usually calm Diana grew flustered or embarrassed.

"A-Akko please." Diana pleaded as she covered her face from Akko's gaze.

"Fine, fine. Sorry" Akko giggled out before returning to a normal distance. "Honestly, I feel like you're getting even weaker to my teasing." This statement earned a glare from the blonde prodigy. "Seriously though, thanks a lot for bringing me home. Oh! And for yesterday too. We couldn't have done it without you."

"It was no problem at all. But… you're welcome." Diana replied, a warm smile on her face.

"Soo, what are we going to do today, oh wise tutor?" Akko asked playfully.

"I suppose we should go over the details for the obstacle run. You did have a chance to read them before coming here, correct?"

"Yeah. It's like speeding through a forest, followed by avoiding rising geysers of sand, which is then followed by collecting seven flags around some kind of ruins right?"

"That is correct."

"So what should I do?" Akko asked. She looked around the field. "Maybe I can fly through the trees around here?"

"I would much prefer we avoid that. After all, it is night time. It might be too dark to see the trees in time to prevent injuries." Diana answered as she looked carefully at her wand.

"Eh? Then how can I practice?"

Diana's wand began to shine more brightly.

"Our performance yesterday gave me an idea."

Akko watched as Diana stood up. She waved her wand and cast a spell, the spell that was the original plan for yesterday's performance. Rays of light gathered together into a large orb before bursting into a sea of glimmering green sparkles lighting up the entire field.

It was like sitting among a sea of stars.

Of course Akko had already seen something like this yesterday.

However, the experience as one performing for an audience was far different than that of the audience watching a performer's performance.

And this performance… this performer, illuminated by the soft glow of both the moonlight above and the stars below, was absolutely…

"…beautiful." Akko softly muttered.

"Did you say something Akko?" Diana asked.

"Eh?" Akko's face reddened upon realizing she might have just said that out loud. "It was nothing. Nothing at all. I didn't say anything. Nope." Akko quickly blurted out, earning a quizzical look from Diana.

"If you say so… So Akko, what do you think?"

"It's super pretty!" Akko exclaimed. "But uhm, how can we use this?" Akko quickly grew confused.

"As I am sure you remember, these lights can be controlled. They will do whatever it is I desire. For example…"

Immediately, several bits of light began congregating together, forming into the shape of a tree trunk.

"Woah."

"With this, we can create something similar to the trees you will need to be avoiding. In addition…" Diana ran her hand through a branch on the trunk. "You will run right through it should you fail to avoid it, meaning you won't be harmed."

"Eh? Then how will we know if I avoided it or not?"

Diana smiled as she showed Akko the palm of her hand.

"When you fly through one of these, this happens."

There were bits of glitter scattered all over it.

"Oooh! I see. That's so cool!" Akko exclaimed.

Diana smiled.

"So, I will have you start on the opposite side of the field. You are to fly over here, dodging as much of these lights as you can. You can move however fast or slow that you want."

Akko nodded before grabbing her broom and flying to the opposite side of the field. From this far away, the only thing Akko could see was the light emanating from Diana's wand and the thousands of glimmering lights surrounding her.

"Okay! Ready!" Akko yelled out as loud as she could. Immediately the lights congregated together forming a dense forest of light.

"Tia Freyre!" Akko immediately raced into the mass of light.

Diana heard a broom come to a sudden stop behind her.

"Oh, you made it back much faster than I tho- Akko."

"Yeees?"

The sight in front of her caused Diana to instinctively cover her face with her palm.

In front of Diana was Akko. Akko, her student. Akko, her precious friend.

"You were supposed to avoid the branches."

Akko the fool. And… for better or worse, her fool at this point in time.

Standing before Diana was Akko, practically caked head to toe in glitter.

Akko laughed nervously as she scratched the back of her head, avoiding Diana's piercing gaze.

With a sigh, Diana waved her wand.

…

"That is… peculiar."

"Eh? Something the matter Diana?"

"Well, waving my wand was… supposed to remove the glitter."

"Eh? But it worked! There's none on me."

What Akko said… was true. Ninety percent true at least. Diana waving her wand did get rid of much of the glitter. However, there was still clearly some still stuck on Akko's face and hair. Not enough to be a problem, but just enough to notice.

"There are still some remnants on your face." Diana noted.

"Eh?" Akko furiously rubbed her face with her sleeve. "Is it off?"

Diana laughed. "It is not. Allow me to try again." Diana waved her wand, but this time no glitter came off. "This is very strange."

Try as she might, Diana could not figure out what the problem might be. Figuring she could just remember where the glitter was on Akko's face, she decided it wasn't worth the effort at the moment.

"Alright Akko, let us try this again. And please try to avoid hitting the branches this time."

"Fine, fine." Akko jokingly said before flying across the field. "Ready when you are!"

Once again, Diana waved her wand, rearranging the trees of light.

This time, Akko took much longer to get through to Diana's side. Just a bit under the time Diana would have expected. Diana looked up at her friend and, thankfully, saw that Akko was much less covered in glitter.

There were still bits of it on the tips of her shoulder, as well as some on her sleeve, but it was a stark improvement. There also seemed to be few more sparkles on her cheeks, as well as on the little ponytail Akko sports.

"Well done." Diana smiled. "That was much better than last time."

Akko laughed bashfully at the compliment.

"On the next run through, you can work on trying to fly through faster. Okay?"

"Alright!"

Diana waved her wand to rid Akko of the sparkling glitter that clung on to her. Again, those on Akko's face and hair refused to come off.

That was strange. According to her studies as a child, as well as what she was taught from her mother, this spell was supposed to follow Diana's desires. To disobey her directions, not only once, but twice, seemed to be a complete contradiction to what she was taught.

Again, thinking that worrying about it was not worth the effort, at least for the moment, Diana decided to just take note of the glitter adorning Akko's face and have her try again.

"Okay, Akko. Let us try this again."

Akko smiled before flying off into the distance. Diana readied her wand, and rearranged the forest once more.

It was the seventh time Akko had flown through and reached Diana's side. Each time, Akko showed steady improvement.

But just like the first two times, every time Diana tried to remove the glitter from Akko, the ones remaining on her face and hair refused to come off. The small bits of glitter had accumulated until it was glaringly obvious, even to Akko, who began to see it through her peripheral vision.

"Diana! The glitter's still there."

"I know… Let us just take a break while I figure out what the problem is."

"Alright! You're not going to turn off the spell are you?" Akko asked.

"It was one solution, yes. Would that be a problem?"

"Not really? I just like that it's on right now. It's really pretty."

Diana smiled at the compliment. "Fine, I will leave the spell active."

Diana knelt on the mat. Akko was about to do the same, but smiled coyly as she thought of something different.

"A-Akko! What are you doing?"

Diana looked down on the glittered face of her friend, who had a child-like smile on her face.

Akko opened one eye to look up at Diana's surprised, slightly reddened face.

"Lap pillow." Akko said brightly. "Just let me rest here first." Akko said before Diana could reply.

"F-fine, but do not fall asleep again. I cannot guarantee that it will end the same way as last time."

Akko giggled. "Whatever you say~" Akko smiled as she relaxed herself. She turned so that she was facing away from Diana.

Diana looked down at her friend. With a shaky sigh, she tried to calm herself.

There was something about this girl. Whether she was helping Akko, working with her, or just relaxing with her, Diana found that no moment with Akko had ever felt boring.

Although clumsy, for some reason, experiencing Akko's magic reminded her of the first time she had ever felt magic's true wonder. At a time when Shiny Chariot's magic was all that she could think about. At a time far away in the past.

A past the both of them shared, although the brunette did not know it yet.

Unbeknownst to either witch, the glimmers of light slowly began to dance and circle around the two.

Reminiscing on their shared past, Diana absentmindedly rested her hand on the side of Akko's head, her thumb slowly caressing Akko's cheek.

Akko, at first, felt conscious of the sensation, but very quickly found it soothing. Pleasant even, so she let it go.

Diana didn't even realize she was doing it until she heard a hum from the girl beneath her.

And upon realization, Diana quickly removed her hand, which earned a pout from Akko.

"My apologies Akko, I did not even realize…" Diana began to apologize, her face burning up.

Akko turned back so that she was facing up at Diana.

"You don't need to apologize Diana." Akko said, a slightly annoyed look on her face. "It felt… kind of nice anyway."

The statement earning an even more embarrassing shade of red.

"B-be that as it may I should not ha..ve…" Diana trailed off as she stared at Akko's face.

"…Diana?" Akko opened her eyes to see Diana looking intently at her.

It was Akko's turn to grow more and more conscious of their position.

"D-Diana is everything okay?"

"Yes, yes just. Be still for a moment." Diana slowly began to bring her hand back to Akko's face. "May I?"

Akko felt a flutter in her chest, causing her to blush before choking out a yes.

Given permission, Diana began to caress Akko's forehead with her thumb. Akko slowly grew redder and redder as she felt the soft and gentle touches. How warm Diana's hands felt. How comforting it felt.

How embarrassing this probably looked.

Akko grew more embarrassed as this continued, but chose to endure it. And she endured it… until she could not endure anymore, screaming as she jumped away from Diana's lap.

"Is this payback for earlier?!" Akko blurted out.

"Pay… back?" Diana questioned, before realizing the kind of position they were just in, prompting her face to erupt in a similar shade of red as Akko's. "N-No no, it is not!" Diana said, suddenly unable to look at Akko's face. "It is just…"

"Just?"

"The glitter."

"Eh?" Akko suddenly grew more confused.

"The glitter was coming off when I was doing that." Diana said.

"O-oh."

For some reason, Akko felt slightly disappointed.

"Yes… I noticed it came off after I…" Diana suddenly recalled what she had done earlier without realizing, causing her to grow more embarrassed. "I am sorry. I did not realize you were growing so uncomfortable. I was too absorbed in…"

Watching Diana grow more flustered quickly rid Akko of whatever disappointment she was feeling earlier. Akko laughed at how awkward the situation had become.

"It's fine, it's fine." Akko quickly said, hoping to cut the tension. "I'm sorry for overreacting." Akko said sincerely.

"… It is fine."

…

"So… the glitter came off?" Akko asked curiously.

"Yes… though I am unsure for what reason." Diana answered, still clearly conscious of the situation.

"Well… are you going to get the rest of it off? When I said I wanted to become Shiny Chariot, I didn't exactly mean literally." Akko laughed, referencing the shine of glitter on her face.

"Is that alright?" Diana asked, finally meeting Akko's eyes.

"Yeah of course!" Akko smiled brightly. "But don't miss a spot okay?"

"Okay then." Diana slowly moved closer to where Akko was kneeling.

Akko closed her eyes as Diana gently brought both of her hands up to Akko's face to wipe off whatever glitter was still there.

Akko hummed pleasantly at the soft touches from Diana's thumbs. After mentally preparing herself, separated from the earlier awkwardness, Akko found herself fully enjoying herself.

Diana found herself relaxing, seeing how calm Akko now was of the whole situation. She found her lips curling up into a tiny smile. She even found herself, once again, totally absorbed in what she was doing... gently caressing Akko's skin, running her fingers through Akko's hair.

To remove the glitter, obviously.

At least that's what they told themselves.

All the while, the glimmering specks continued to circle around them slowly.

Diana let out a shaky breath. She looked back at Akko's face and hair.

Not a piece of glitter in sight.

"I am finished."

Akko opened her eyes and smiled brightly.

"Thanks Diana!"

Diana was the first to get up. She waved her wand, commanding the light to form up into trees once again.

"Are you ready to begin again Akko?" Diana asked, looking at her pupil.

"Yes!"

Diana offered a hand. "It is the final stretch. Just about one more week."

Akko smile dimmed a tad upon hearing Diana's words, but brightened once again as she grabbed the offered hand.

"Yeah! Just one more week!"

…

Just… one more week, huh.

…

I have watched minutes 17-19:44 of the finale at least 10 times by the time of me posting this.