Mulligan

Amanda was hot on Akko's tail, chasing her down the soccer field. They had started this little one on one during recess, and the rest of the team was cheering loudly, a mix of "Akko!"s and "Amanda!"s battling to be the loudest cry.

Akko used her hand to wipe the sweat from her forehead, not moving her eyes from Amanda's goal. She grinned. This was what she lived for. The wind whipping past her face, and the splat her shoes made as they hit the muddy, fertile ground.

"Akko! I'm coming for you!" Amanda jeered in impressive Japanese. Akko didn't look back while she fired off a retort.

"You're certainly coming after me, but can you catch up to me?" She said between huffs and puffs. Amanda always pushed Akko to her limit. And soon enough, Amanda was right in front of Akko, and the two began a little tango of 'who can keep the ball' that was full of misdirection, back passes, and step overs.

Akko always had a bit more finesse with that, being able to squirm her way around with a ball like a 'mouse' as she was often referred to by Amanda and her teammates.

"Just give me the damn ball already!" Amanda yelled in frustration.

Akko smirked, knowing that she had checkmated Amanda, and broke off with the ball to score. "Akko! Akko! Akko!" Everyone cheered.

Akko woke up with a start, rubbing her eyes as she looked at the glaring computer screen on her lap. Blytonbury v Glastonbury on sunday! was written boldly on the school's home page. Akko took that information in dully as she looked at the computer's clock.

3:00, damn. Akko closed the computer and put in on the side of her bed, falling into a now dreamless sleep.

The sun broke through the folded blinds, shining light into Ursula's dusty office. Akko was sitting on the grey couch across from her therapist while her wheelchair was folded up against the wall. The Japanese girl had started going to this office almost immediately after she moved, and while it took some getting used to, Akko had learned to trust Ursula.

The brunette idly twirled a pen in her hands, lost in thought. Silences like these weren't uncommon in Ursula Callistis's office, and Akko's dark haired therapist never seemed to mind. Akko was grateful for that. It allowed her to carefully mull over her words and gather her thoughts, because despite the fact that a therapy session was a completely safe space, Akko had never gotten entirely comfortable with sharing just anything.

But they had to make some sort of progress, and a few seconds later, the young woman spoke up. "Shall we go through the checklist?"

The 'checklist' referred to a rough plan of action that the two would follow each meeting they had in case Akko didn't have any immediate developments or just couldn't find the energy to talk. They usually started with something like family life, and then school life, maybe a conversation about Chariot—Akko had been thrilled to learn that Ursula also played the game, if not as often as she—and then most of their sessions would revolve around How do you feel about your body, Akko?

It seemed like this would be one of those sessions, because Ursula caught the flinch Akko made when she asked that question. "Akko…?" Her tone was questioning, but like always, there wasn't any pressure.

Another pattern that their scheduled meetings followed was that Akko would often go on random tangents. "There was a Chariot tournament at Luna Nova yesterday. I went with Lotte and Sucy."

Ursula nodded, not missing a beat at the random subject change. The more Akko opened up, the better. "You've never been to a tournament before, right? How was it?"

Akko breathed in. "It was… it went pretty well, I guess. I made it 4-1, which didn't let me break for some reason. That sucks. But Lotte and Sucy broke, and they're competing today, actually. So, I mean, it's not all bad." She forced a smile. Ursula nodded, gesturing for her to continue.

"Anyways, at the end of the tournament, something happened. I saw Amanda." Her voice broke into a mumble.

Ursula quickly checked her notes. "Amanda… is she… uh, sorry." the young woman smiled with embarrassment. "Who is she?"

Akko didn't take offense. She hadn't talked or really even thought about Amanda in the years she had been missing from her life. So it was perfectly understandable that Ursula wouldn't know her.

"She used to be my friend, back in Japan. Before all of this." Akko gestured to her chair. "We were sort of rivals on the soccer field, and we pushed each other to improve. We hung out after school, and I even helped her improve her Japanese. But…" She took another deep breath, steadying herself.

"Like the rest of the soccer team, she ignored me after I got out, and I don't know why. Everyone else I could have dealt with in time, but her...I don't know, Ursula. Maybe she thought I wasn't worth it anymore, or that she thought she was too cool to hang out with… someone like me. I wanted so badly to ask her why, but then she had to go back to the states before I got the chance." Akko hiccuped, her eyes going hot with the threat of tears.

Despite everything, Ursula made a small smile. "Akko...do you want a hug?"

"Y-yeah…"

When Ursula got up to embrace Akko, the girl leaned into her touch, letting her tears fall silently. It wasn't that long of a hug, but it felt like forever for both of them. At the end of it, Akko smiled bravely through tears. "Thank you, Ursula."

Urusula shook her head. "No, thank you, Akko. Thank you for letting me be part of such a powerful moment. Now, is it ok if I ask you a question? If you don't want to talk for the rest of our time, then that's what we'll do."

Akko wiped her tears. The hug helped her confidence, if only just a tad. "No, no, ask away."

Despite the confirmation, Urusla was still hesitant. "Akko...do you still want to ask Amanda why she left without saying anything?"

Akko flinched. Ursula's eyes widened, and she mentally admonished herself for rushing into things. But her fears were alleviated soon after when Akko answered.

"I… I think so? I mean, I do, but what if she doesn't remember me? I'll be like 'Amanda, It's me, Akko! I'm your old pal from Japan!' and she'll be like, 'Who are you? How do you know my name? Get the hell away from me, you creep!' and I won't have another shot at asking her anything ever." Akko's eyebrows were scrunched together, like they did whenever she would imitate someone.

Ursula's eyebrow rose. Akko only imitated somebody like that when she was in a good mood, which meant that either the hug worked wonders, or that her memories of Amanda were very fond indeed. That settled it in Ursula's mind.

"Well, you remembered her, right? I'd say there's a really good chance that she would remember you as well." Ursula smiled reassuringly. "Especially if you two were as close as it seems you were."

Akko contemplated that. "I mean, I guess...but how do I even find her? It's pretty hard to sneak up on people with a ride like that." She said glumly, pointing her finger at her chair.

Ursula looked at her notes for a minute. "Hmm...I'm assuming that she's on Blytonbury's football team?"

Akko gave her a weird look. "No, she's on the soccer team—wait." Akko laughed meekly with embarrassment. "Yeah. Football." Even if football, or the direct Japanese translation of it, was officially used in Japan, the ball sport was still commonly referred to as the translation of soccer. The habit of calling it soccer only got harder to break when Amanda came along.

Ursula gave another smile that told Akko it was fine. "Well, if I remember from a couple visits ago, you've been wanting to go to a football game...well, you said that was at the back of your head or something. If you wanted, it would be possible to kill two birds with one stone. Just catch her after the game and I'm sure it'll go fine! But if that seems a little too daunting, we don't need to move that quickly."

Akko found herself actually nodding in agreement. That wasn't the worst idea, and she had been wanting to go out onto the field for a while now. Maybe this would be good. And wasn't there something that was coming up...something related to—

"Oh!" Akko exclaimed. Ursula, who had been watching the gears turn in Akko's head, jumped at the sudden expression.

"There'sagametoniiiight!" Akko pumped her fist in the air, radiating a spontaneous energy that only she could give off. "I remember!"

Akko had been on her computer late at night after the Chariot tournament, where she found herself waking up in the middle of the night. She had been looking at the school's web page for any updates on the football team. She had done this in self-pity, trying to feel angry or sad or something.

It didn't work.

But now, in her elevated mood, she was very happy to know that sort of information. Ursula was cautious, however. "Akko, are you sure you want to do this so soon? It's a lot to try and accomplish when you only just saw Amanda yesterday. You don't have to—"

Akko clapped her hands together. "I've made my decision, Ursula! This is gonna be great!"

Akko's parents were just as happy, albeit confused as to the suddenness of the decision to go to the game. Why now of all days, her father asked. Akko just smiled at him, and he didn't push it because he was so relieved to see his daughter this happy again.

Akko's mother was a different story. Unlike Akko's father, who had to work late again the night before, Akko's mother had seen how badly the girl had felt last night. She feared that this sudden, rash decision would only cause Akko more pain. She expressed this, but Akko insisted that she would be fine, and that it was just a soccer game, Okassan. In the end, she relented, even if she felt a little skeptical.

The day passed oh so slowly. But it was only a matter of time, and around 17:30, Akko and her mother rolled her way up the ramps for a front row seat in the Blytonbury v Glastonbury football game. She felt her heart pound loudly in her chest when she laid eyes on the grass, green with streaks of white that almost looked like glistening snow in the evening. The goals stood proudly on either side of the field, gleaming in the light of the stadium's lamps. Akko gripped her wheels with anticipation, a tick that she'd picked up through the years. Oh man, to run through the field, hair waving in the wind as she chased a checkered ball into a goal—

Oh. Yeah. Akko was suddenly brought back down to earth, painfully slammed into her wheelchair.

Okassan was right.

When the game started, her mood hadn't exactly lifted, but watching all of the players walk out onto the field was a good distraction.

Blytonbury's uniform was a midnight purple that had gold vertical stripes that went under the player's number. It was simple and elegant, at least to Akko. Glastonbury's outfits had a much similar design, with a sky blue replacing the purple and white for the stripes.

That was where the similarities ended, however. While Blytonbury had a range of soccer-friendly hairstyles, from french braids to side swept ponies, Glastonbury only had top knots. Uniform hairstyles weren't unheard of, but that combined with the robotic way Glastonbury's team walked onto the field, it made them sorta intimidating.

But Akko wasn't staring so intensely at the soccer field to analyze the psychological impact of player hairstyles. There was someone she was looking for...

Amanda. Akko's eyes rested on the girl, and it was almost like she was 14 again, about to go up against her rival with everything she had.

The American strutted confidently onto the field, a signature smirk resting on her face. Her hair glowed in the light, emerald eyes flashing. Akko almost smiled. She hasn't changed one bit. Akko gripped her wheels again, wondering how Amanda's maneuvers might have changed throughout the years. Maybe this wasn't going to be so bad after all.

Akko's thoughts came to a screeching halt when she saw who came out next. Diana Cavendish. Her demeanor was as confident as Amanda's, but unlike the redhead, Diana's walk gave off a certain coolness. She wasn't here to have fun. She was here to win. Her hair was pulled up into a high pony, and Akko seethed, because she pulled it off so well too—

What? Akko shook her head. She wasn't here because of Diana, she was here to talk to Amanda again. Ripping her eyes away from the blonde, Akko's eyes went to the center of the field where the coin toss was happening. Not surprisingly, Amanda was Blytonbury's representative, because of course she would be.

Blytonbury lost the toss. Akko remembered fondly that Amanda always lost coin tosses, and she wasn't about to start winning them.

The game started off aggressively. Well, Amanda started out aggressively, at the very least. Since she kept her eyes on the American, Akko couldn't tell how the rest of Blytonbury and Glastonbury were doing unless another player crossed Amanda's path. It was still very entertaining, watching her hog the ball like Akko knew she would.

But it wasn't like Amanda hadn't grown, not at all. Akko almost cheered when she saw how Amanda had grown in her ball-handling techniques. She had seemed to master the art of deception, pulling off fake shots and step-overs and other ways to keep the ball from other players. Even if those other players happened to be her own teammates.

All her weaving and spinning down the field towards Glastonbury's goal ended up being for naught in the end, however. Amanda's kicks were always deadly, and as she shot one off to score, it got blocked by the goalkeeper and flew out of bounds. Not only that, but Glastonbury's goalkeeper crumpled to the ground in agony. Amanda stood there, scratching the back of her head, obviously sheepish.

Her face twisted in anger when the injured player started yelling at Amanda. Amanda started yelling back, and when Diana walked up and started scolding her, she started yelling at Diana too.

Akko smirked. It really is Amanda.

The rest of the game went smoothly for Blytonbury and goodness, Amanda was actually a good passer when she was told to be a team player for once. That was another place she grew as a player, it seemed. Akko decided to stop focusing too much on Amanda and she looked instead to Diana, and she was once reminded again of how effortless she made everything look. The way that she slipped through Glastonbury's defenses, passing and receiving the ball like it was second nature. Akko clenched her teeth. Why does she have to be so good?

Akko hoped that Blytonbury would lose just to show at least one imperfection in Diana's perfect shine.

Blytonbury had won. By a landslide actually. Diana and Amanda had made a deadly duo that Glastonbury had no way of countering, and they crumpled.

Diana and Amanda. Akko's bitterness suddenly slowed down to a defeat as she and her mother walked through the crowd where people were celebrating Blytonbury's victory. A few curious stares followed her, but Akko didn't care. She doesn't need me anymore. This was a bad idea. What did I think was going to happen anyways? Ursula was right. She shouldn't have tried this so soon. Hell, she shouldn't ever try this again.

Akko was brought out of her funk when her wheelchair came to a halt. "Uh, mom? What's up?"

Her mother walked around the chair, having been the one pushing it, to look her daughter in the eye sternly. "You're upset."

Alarmed that she had been found out so quickly, Akko waved her hands in front of herself in a panic. "Wh-what? No… no I'm not."

"Don't lie to me. I'm your mother, I'm supposed to know when you're upset. This whole thing was a mistake, wasn't it?" Her mother crossed her arms.

Akko flinched. "N-no... no, I had fun!" She forced a smile through her mucky thoughts, trying to draw from the good feelings she had while she watched Amanda play. It seemed to work, because a second later, her mother's gaze softened.

"Akko...I'm sorry that we weren't able to talk to your friend today." Her mother said quietly. With Akko's permission, Ursula had told Mrs. Kagari what Akko's true motive was for going to the game. Well, one of them, at least. The big one.

Akko sighed, giving up her facade. "It's...it's ok. At least I know that Amanda goes to Blytonbury like I do. That's...that's really all I was upset about. Not being able to talk to her, that is." Not the full truth, but Akko couldn't explain how she actually felt. "I had fun watching the game, though!" At least that part was true.

Akko's mother breathed out and smiled. She was satisfied...for now. "Ok. Akko, I'm gonna use the bathroom, think you can handle being outside for a while?"

Akko shrugged. "Actually, would it be okay if I got something from concessions? It's not that far, and I'm kinda hungry."

Her mother almost refused, but as she stared into her daughter's defeated, tired eyes, she relented. "You're sure it's not that far? Your phone isn't dead?"

Akko nodded, eyes shining just a little bit. Her mother laughed, then said "Stay safe, ok?" as she walked towards a group of public houses near the school. Akko waved, and began the trek for the concession stand.

Approximately one millisecond later, Akko realized how bad of a decision she made. The crowd of people was a giant, roaring dragon, and she was the disabled heroine who the dragon had picked as its next meal.

Ok, Akko thought, slapping her hands on her cheeks to keep her cool. I'll go around, until I get as close as I can to the concession stand. From there I'll...Akko's plan fell apart in her head. I'll figure it out. And so, gripping the cool rim of her wheels, Akko began the real trek for the concession stand.

It began with a lot of bumps, as the mini-victory party that was happening was on the parking lot and its broken tar. She had to ignore more stares, which, while she never got completely used to them, she had been able to tune them out at least a little bit. Still, she decided to circle around further from the crowd, lest someone ask why a 16 year old girl in a wheelchair was out at night by herself.

This strategy worked for all of 30 seconds.

"Atsuko Kagari." a snotty, mean voice spoke sharply from the dark. Akko tried to ignore it, not knowing where it came from, but as she moved to turn her wheels to get out of there quickly, the rubber broke. Again.

Akko swore.

The owner of the voice revealed themselves from the darkness, and they had a companion. "Why do you think you have the right to come here?" They—she, Akko realized, remembering the voice—snarled.

The Japanese girl almost rolled her eyes. "Hannah, I don't have time for this right now. Leave me alone." She decided that she would just call her mom to fix her wheel. God she needed a new chair.

Back in the present, the dark-haired girl looked enraged. "I'm Barbara! Not Hannah! At least have the decency to learn our actual names! Why can't you get even that right?"

Many reasons, actually. Akko snarked in her head. Outside, however, she tried to maintain a look of disinterest.

The other one—Hannah—pushed Barbara off to the side, much to the girl's dismay. She leaned down close to Akko, glaring into her crimson eyes. Akko glared back. "Why are you here, Kagari?" Hannah growled.

Akko shrugged. "What? Can't a girl enjoy a school soccer game?" she was careful to put emphasis strategically on that word, aiming for maximum piss-off on Hannah. She smirked when the girl's teeth clenched visibly. Other than that, Hannah didn't rise to the bait.

Hannah slammed her hands down onto Akko's wrists, gripping them so that Akko was immobilized. Akko's eyes widened in a sudden, possessive fear. "Not you." Hannah spoke, digging her nails into Akko's skin. The brunette struggled, but it was no use.

Hannah continued. "Not here. I don't understand you much at all, Kagari. I don't understand how you can come here and enjoy something you can't take part in. I don't like you much at all, to be frank." she smiled nastily.

Barbara brushed herself off from beside the girl. "Yeah, Kagari? Why can't you mind your own buisness and play that stupid game you like?" She was frowning unpleasantly, like she had smelled something bad.

Akko winced at the pain from Hannah's nails. "What...is it to you?"

Barbara sighed annoyingly, like Akko didn't get it. "Just stay away from Diana, ok? She doesn't need you in her life. She's got a lot going on, and you're a disturbance in that."

Akko's tone was bitter. "I'm a disturbance to Diana? What does Diana have to do with anything?"

Hannah leaned in closer, so that Akko could almost feel the other girl's breath. "You shouldn't have come, Kagari, so we'll let you off with a warning. But don't come back. Stay. Away."

Akko didn't respond, only continuing to silently glare at the girl.

"Hey, England! Parker! What do you think you are doing?" Amanda O'Neill's angry voice snarled suddenly from behind Akko. Looking annoyed, Hannah rolled her eyes and released the girl.

"Just leaving, O'Neill. Come on, Barbara. Let's find Diana, or something." Hannah said, grabbing Barbara by the hand. With two identical snobbish sniffs in Akko's direction, the pair walked back towards the crowd.

Amanda cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled, "and stay away, assholes!"

Once they were gone, Amanda whirled around to look at Akko. "I'm so sorry about that. They're both friends of one of my best friends, so I've been forced to tolerate them. Yelling like that damn good actually. I've been meaning do that for a while, and I—"

Amanda paused, looking the other girl up and down. Her eyes widened with the realization that Akko was so afraid Amanda wouldn't have come to.

"Akko?!"

Akko grinned weakly. "Hey, Amanda."

"Like, Akko Kagari? Atsuko Kagari? Kagari Atsuko?" Her voice was rising every second she spoke.

Akko nodded. "All of the above, Amanda." She said her name again because she still couldn't believe that Amanda was here, that they were talking, and Amanda had saved her from Hannah.

The American was jumping up and down now. "What are you doing out here alone? Don't you have like, a parent or someone to help you get places? You could have gotten hurt! And then you really did get hurt, shit. If only I had been here sooner, oh man—"

Her voice died at Akko's raised hand. "In my defense, I thought it was gonna be quick. My mom's in the bathroom, and I just wanted a concession. Like a cookie or something."

Amanda grinned. "Coincidence, huh? I'm heading there now! How's about we get you a cookie and then catch up?"

Akko smiled nervously. She would get her chance finally, and ask Amanda why she did...what she did.

On a tucked-away bench, chocolate from the cookie melted in Akko's mouth, and she hummed happily despite everything. This seemed to give Amanda the courage to ask a single question.

"What happened when I left, Akko?" Amanda patted Akko's wheelchair, so it was obvious what she wanted to know.

Everything. Life happened. "Nothing really." Akko smiled fakely through bites of chocolate chunk.

Not one to read rooms, Amanda moved on with the conversation quickly, wheelchair forgotten. "I'm sure something happened. Did you see me on the field today? I was basically the star of the show. You know, I really improved since we were 14, Akko. and if that goalkeeper at the start hadn't been such a baby, it would have been even more—"

"Why didn't you do anything, Amanda?" Akko spoke quietly.

Amana turned. "What?" although the way her voice cracked on the t tipped Akko off that she knew what Akko was talking about. "What do you mean?"

"When I left the hospital, back when we were 14, you ignored me. Like I didn't exist. Why, Amanda?" Despite the fact that she wanted to patch things up with the girl, she couldn't keep the anger out of her voice.

Amanda went quiet. "Akko… I don't… I don't know, Akko."

"Bullshit. You weren't that type of person, and I would like to think you're still not." Unless I was wrong, and Amanda really just forgot about me. That's probably it. I should go.

Amanda gulped. "Akko, can we just move past that? We're here now, and that's what counts, we should—"

"Move past my goddamn life? What the hell Amanda, don't ignore the question!" Akko growled.

Amanda flinched. She deserved that, she knew. "Akko…"

"What."

Taking a deep breath in and exhaling, Amanda looked into Akko's eyes. "I'm really sorry. For leaving without saying anything, for ignoring you and everything. I just… it was strange, you know? Everything about our friendship would have been different. We were brought together because of soccer, and when you couldn't walk...I didn't know what to do. You showed up at school in this huge chair and I was scared, because I thought I lost my best friend in Japan, Akko. I didn't think there was anything we could do together anymore."

Akko was incredulous. "What? We did everything together, Amanda! Like you said, we were best friends! There's a world outside of soccer that we shared! Why—"

"LOOK! Akko, I'm sorry for abandoning you, okay! I didn't forget! I was just…" Amanda shook. "I was just so, so scared. The rest of the team felt the same, or didn't care. But I...I'm a coward, you know that? I think I'm all that and I'm not. I'm...I'm sorry."

Akko was shocked, to say the least. Amanda wasn't the vulnerable kind, not in the least. "Amanda…" she reached over to hold the other's hand.

Akko gave a small smile. "It's okay. A lot changed for me too. I...I get it. You hurt me when you left, but thank you for telling me all this. Do you...do you want to try to become friends again?"

Amanda's emerald eyes were glimmering with tears. "Oh, Akko...I would like that a lot."

Akko gave off her first Akko-certified smile to Amanda in years. "Okay! So, there's this little coffee shop called Luna Nova, you've been there before, I think. Just meet me there next weekend!"

Over a game of Chariot, Lotte was explaining to Akko about how she dropped out right away in octofinals—so don't feel bad about not breaking, ok?—and how Sucy had only made it to semis—the guy got a lucky draw, and I was source-flooded the whole game, so don't blame me!—when Amanda O'Neill burst through the door of Luna Nova.

"Akkooooo! I'm here!" and her gaze landed on a terrified Lotte, annoyed Sucy, and—megawatt smiling Akko.

And they were playing the nerd game that Diana loved so much. "Ugh. don't tell me the reason you wanted me here was to try out—"

Akko interrupted the girl with a laugh. "Yup! Get down over here and play Chariot: The Believing! You'll like it, I promise!"

Sucy chimed in. "Yeah, O'Neill. From Akko's description of you, I think you could use the mental exercise."

Amanda, for her part, was enraged. "What the hell? I don't even know you!" She glared at Sucy, who simply shrugged.

But she sat down, anyways, and learned the sacred ways of Chariot.

"Ugh!" Amanda roared with frustration about 10 minutes later. "I don't understand this! What the hell are Sorcerer stones and why are there so many?" she dropped her cards onto the table and gripped her hair angrily.

While Sucy and even Lotte looked like they were at their wit's end, Akko was expressing an uncommon wealth of patience for her old friend. "Amanda, I told you. Sorcerer's stones are the things that allow you to cast your spells. Without them, you can't really play the game, so of course there is going to be a lot."

Amanda rolled her eyes. "But that's not all! Why do you need an upkeep step if you never use it? Why is it so important to untap before you draw? Why does a spell count as a creature?"

Sucy was actively banging her head against the table now, and Lotte was forcing a smile, her eyes twitching.

But Akko only giggled at her friend's antics. "I mean...when you say it like that, it seems complicated I guess."

"IT IS COMPLICATED!"

And this banter continued to repeat for a little longer. But as Amanda continued for Akko's sake, she found out that yes, it wasn't that complex of a game, when you got past the pedantancy. And Akko was thrilled to see that Amanda was actually developing a certain playstyle: she used the ability flight, particularly with the broom artifact, in order to avoid being attacked by anyone else's creatures.

Sucy said it was a cheap-ass strategy, and Akko agreed, but she was getting her old friend back, and that was all that mattered.

In trading card games, or just card games in general, the term 'mulligan' refers to discarding your hand and obtaining a new one, typically at the beginning of the game. It's a second chance, in a sense.

My vibes are back yay

DFTBA

Nathan Dripps