"I swear. That girl is never on time." Diana said to herself as she sat on a bench in town.
Diana and Akko had agreed to meet here at 11:30 so they could get something to eat in town before going shopping. Diana had a few books she wanted to pick up for her studies and Akko had told her she needed to buy a late birthday present for Lotte, apparently, so they decided to just come together.
Diana was still getting used to her and Akko being close now. They butted heads so often when they first met that it almost felt like they were just pretending to be friends at first. However, ever since Akko had shown up to Cavendish manor unannounced and helped with Diana's family issues, the two had seen each other in a new light. They no longer nagged at each other when they talked, their friends all seemed to be getting along better, and "The Nine New Witches of Luna Nova" as they had been dubbed have been enjoying their time together.
"Still," Diana thought to herself, "it wouldn't kill Akko to at least let me know if she was going to be late." She looked at the clock next to the bench she was sitting on, 11:54 it read. "Almost half an hour late. Honestly, Akko."
"Sorry!" the brown-haired witch in question shouted from down the street.
Diana snapped herself out of her thoughts and looked at the source of the noise. Akko was running down the street in her usual casual uniform attire, which confused Diana slightly as it was a Sunday. Even Diana was currently wearing a pale blue sundress she had found in her closet this morning.
"Twenty-four minutes late. Really, Akko?" Diana shouted as she got off the bench.
"I couldn't find anything to wear!" Akko explained as she finally stopped in front of Diana.
"Well maybe if you took care of your things for once you would've been faster." Diana retorted. Akko immediately opened her mouth to defend herself but Diana wasn't done. "I've seen your dorm, Akko, and I know for a fact all that stuff on the ground is yours."
Akko simply just puffed her cheeks out and crossed her arms grumpily. "Are we going to get food now or not?"
"We may." Diana began, "Where was it you wanted to go?"
"Well, there was this nice café Lotte and I went to a few weeks ago!" Akko replied, suddenly in a very good mood again, "They make the best sandwiches I've ever had." she finished while staring off into space. Diana took a closer look at her and noticed she was drooling slightly.
Diana couldn't help but smile softly as she replied, "Sounds lovely."
"So let's go!" Akko exclaimed as she grabbed Diana's hand and began dragging her towards the aforementioned café.
After arriving at the café, the girls were able to get a nice window table and order without any trouble. The waiter left them two glasses of water and went to get their food. As they waited for their food Diana decided to strike up a conversation.
"So," Diana began as she caught Akko's attention, who currently seemed rather preoccupied with the straw wrapper she was playing with, "what stores are we going to be going to today?"
"Well," Akko replied as she put her straw wrapper down to focus on the conversation. "I wanna go to this clothing store downtown. They had this cute dress on display that Lotte wanted, plus I need to buy some stuff for me anyway."
"That sounds like a good starting point to me," Diana replied as she put her straw in her glass. "I want to look at some books downtown as well, and if you want to stop at a clothing store anyway, I may look at some things. Though I most likely won't buy anything there today."
"Sounds great!" Akko replied with a huge smile on her face, "I just need to get that dress and some new bras." she finished as she began sipping her water.
Diana just looked at her and eyed her up and down before replying "What for?"
Akko immediately began choking on the water she was sipping and turned very red. Diana smirked as she began drinking her water and watched Akko try to regain her composure.
Although the two now got along rather well, it was still in their nature to make fun of one another frequently. They both knew it was meant in a friendly way and that neither thought anything bad of the other. Teasing was just how the two of them seemed to get along, and both girls seemed to strangely enjoy their mutual teasing.
While Akko continued to die in her water, the waiter came back with the sandwiches the girls had ordered and looked at the brown-haired witch with some concern. "Do you need some help, young lady?" he asked slowly.
"N-no." Akko coughed out, "I'm… I'm okay." she finished as she finally regained control of her breathing and tried her best to smile brightly. "Thank you for the food!"
"Yes, thank you very much." Diana agreed.
"Not a problem at all." The waiter smiled back as he placed the food down, "Please, don't hesitate to ask if there's anything else I can do."
The girls both nodded politely and began eating as the waiter went to go tend to other customers. After he was gone Akko wasted no time in digging into her sandwich, causing Diana to hesitate as she watched Akko enjoy her meal.
"So." Diana started after staring at Akko for a few moments, "that good?"
"Ish da bes" Akko muttered out, her mouth still full of the very large bite she had taken.
"Absolutely charming, Akko." Diana replied sarcastically as she took a bite of her sandwich, "I must admit, you weren't lying about the food being good here." She told Akko after taking her first bite, which exceeded her expectations.
"I knew you'd like it!" Akko beamed back as she took yet another bite. Diana smiled softly and continued eating her sandwich once more as well, enjoying the taste and the calm atmosphere of the café.
The rest of their time spent eating went by with little conversation, both girls didn't realize how hungry they were until they began eating and spent the visit just enjoying their meals. After both girls had finished and Diana offered to pay the bill, the two witches set off once more with a destination in mind.
They walked down the busy street together in a comfortable silence until they reached the clothing store Akko had mentioned with a rather pretty dress on display in the window. It was a short cut, sleeveless dress with two small pockets on the chest on either side of the button-up collar. It had a golden color with a pattern of what appeared to be white tulips on it.
"That's it!" Akko announced triumphantly as she pointed at the dress Diana was currently admiring. "That's the dress Lotte wanted the other day!"
Diana had to admit that Lotte had very good taste. Although she didn't feel yellow was a color that would look good on her herself, she did believe it would look amazing on their mutual friend. Part of her wished it came in a different color so that she could get one for herself. "I would like it in a nice blue color." Diana thought to herself outside the shop, "Although, I do have many blue dresses already. Maybe I need a new color for my wardrobe?"
Diana was then pulled out of her thoughts by the sound of a bell as Akko walked into the shop on a mission. Diana shook her head to get her mind back on track before following Akko into the shop.
It was much smaller than she had expected, with the main display area being not much larger than her own dorm. There were many different racks of clothes scattered throughout the room and several odds and ends of things hanging on walls with large signs next to everything listing the prices.
Diana followed Akko up to the checkout desk as she observed the room. "Excuse me?" Akko politely asked for the attention of the middle-aged woman working at the desk. "How much is it for that yellow dress on display in the window?"
The woman working looked over at the dress before smiling softly and replying. "Ah yes. That dress has caught the attention of many people walking by, it's about £25."
"Great!" Akko exclaimed while she dug through her pocket for her wallet. "Lotte is going to be so happy!" she smiled while finally locating her wallet.
The woman behind the counter laughed softly at Akko's excitement, "I'll go get it from the back. What size would you like it in?"
Akko placed her money on the counter before thinking for a second. "Umm. I think?.." Akko scrunched up her face and looked like she was in pain as she tried her best to remember what size Lotte had told her. "Do you remember, Diana?" She looked at Diana in hopes that the more responsible of the two witches would know.
Diana just looked at Akko caught off guard, "How would I know what size dress she wears?" She inquired.
Akko just shrugged her shoulders, "I dunno. I guess I was just hoping you remembered. She's mentioned it before."
"You live with her, and you came here with the exact purpose of buying this dress. How do you not know?"
"I just didn't think of it until now!"
Diana sighed in disappointment, something she seemed to frequently do around Akko. "Just buy her a 12 and keep the receipt so she can exchange it if it doesn't fit right." She suggested to Akko.
"Alright!" Akko smiled once more as she turned towards the woman behind the counter again, "Size 12 please."
"I'll go get that for you." The worker smiled once more as she went through a door that must've led to their storage room.
As the girls waited for the woman to return with the dress they took a moment to really look at the other clothes in the shop. There seemed to be something for everyone here, with clothes in a large variety of colors and sizes.
"Here it is!" The woman's voice suddenly called out attracting their attention once more. She was holding the dress up to show that she had indeed found it, "I can ring you up down here miss." She told Akko as she began walking towards a cash register farther down the desk.
"Perfect!" Akko replied as she took her money and walked down to the cash register.
While Akko went to pay for Lotte's dress, Diana decided she wanted to look around this shop a bit herself, see if there was anything that caught her eye. She paced the relatively small room while browsing the many different options and ended up finding something she liked almost immediately and pulled it off the rack to get a better look at it.
It was a rather cute dark green blouse, the sleeves were long but were made of a somewhat transparent fabric that Diana thought made it stand out a bit more than the other clothes she owned. "Could I pull this off?" Diana asked herself out loud.
"Definitely!" Akko told her suddenly with the bag containing Lotte's dress in her hand.
Upon hearing Akko's voice so suddenly, Diana made a strange yelping sound that sounded rather similar to a dog getting its paw stepped on as she nearly dropped the blouse she was holding.
"Though you can pull basically anything off so it's not much of a shock" Akko continued as she got closer to Diana and looked at the blouse with her, "I do really like this though, where's the price?"
Diana took a deep breath to slow down her sudden increased heart rate and took notice of all the color in her face. "It doesn't matter." She stated matter of factly, "I came into town today for books, not clothes."
"Aww. Come on, Diana!" Akko insisted as she elbowed Diana's side playfully, "You know you want it."
"I already told you. I am not here for clothes. I was simply browsing." Diana insisted as she continued to blush.
"Alriiiiight." Akko held out as she put both of her hands behind her head and leaned back a bit. "But if you ask me, you'd look great in it."
Diana turned her face away from Akko as she put the blouse back on the rack and tried to regain control of her heart rate again. "I'll keep that in mind," she told her before turning to leave the shop. "Well, let's go to the bookstore before they close."
"Sounds good to me." Akko replied just as peppy as ever, "What are you looking for there?" She asked while Diana began walking towards the exit of the shop with her.
"I need to find a copy of 'The Astrology Effect: Volume 7' in order to stay ahead in my studies."
"Ugh!" Akko groaned as she threw her head back, "You always need something for learning don't you? Don't you just read anything for the fun of reading?" She asked.
"Who said I can't find learning fun?" Diana asked defensively as she held the door for Akko.
"Me." Akko answered, "Learning is never fun. Especially when it's from old dusty books."
As Diana held the door open, she looked back in the store one last time and picked the blouse out from across the room. "So she thinks I'd look good in it?" She thought to herself while blushing slightly.
"Hellooo? Earth to Diana." Akko said while waving her hand in front of Diana's face, snapping the blonde witch out of her thoughts. "Are you coming?"
"O-oh!" Diana replied pathetically as she smiled softly and nodded, "Of course."
The two witches began walking down the street together once more as Akko continued rambling. "As I was saying. Books shouldn't always be about a boring lesson. What about a nice love story? Lotte's crazy about 'Night fall'."
"I think I'll just stick with what I need for today," Diana responded, getting back into their conversation. But in the back of her mind, she was still caught up on that one compliment. Would Akko notice if she bought it another time and started wearing it? Diana really hoped so.
"Why do I care so much about Akko's opinion?" Diana asked herself while they walked in a comfortable silence once more. "It must just be because she's a close friend of mine now. That's it." She convinced herself.
"Oh shoot!" Akko shouted suddenly, startling not only Diana but others walking down the street.
Akko turned to Diana and looked defeated, "I forgot to buy myself bras." she whined pathetically.
Diana rolled her eyes and looked at Akko's chest as obviously as possible, "I think you'll be fine." she said teasingly.
"Would you stop that!" Akko yelled as her face turned red and she covered her chest defensively.
Diana couldn't help but laugh at how flustered Akko was getting, and soon enough Akko was laughing right along with her while they continued walking.
"Yeah," Diana thought to herself once more as she continued to laugh with Akko, "a close friend."
Author's Notes:
Well, I honestly didn't expect anyone to actually read this. Thank you, everyone, for the follows and favorites! I have a lot planned for this story and have no idea how long it will go, and I'll try my best to update it somewhat frequently. This is my first time writing a story so please don't hesitate to leave reviews, I greatly appreciate any feedback.
Also sorry if the prices of things confuse anyone during the story. Luna Nova is in the UK so I just googled the USD to Pound Sterling.
Anyway, that's all I had to say. Thank you all again for reading and I'll talk to you all in the next chapter.