"My name is Diana Cavendish. It's a pleasure to meet you."

Akko's eyes widened as she got a good look at the newest student joining the class, who was a green-haired girl, and Akko could clearly remember her face as though they spoke to one another just a while ago.

It was none other than her apparent soulmate, Diana Cavendish.

Before their class could start, the teacher had announced that there would be a transferee from another school will be joining their cluster from now on, filling nearly the whole with anticipation to who it might be. Akko, being the quiet and uncaring person that she was, attempted to take a nap until the teacher would start their lesson at least, only to be taken aback as soon as she saw who had stepped into the classroom.

"It's a girl."

"She's cute…"

"That uniform is from Black Rose's girl school, right?"

"Seriously, she must be loaded, huh."

"Oi, oi, what are you even talking about?"

Diana's foreign presence inside the class elicited various responses from the students, except for Akko who was quiet the whole time the girl spoke in front. However, her thoughts were a completely different story.

"She's here?! This means we're going to be classmates…"Akko said in her mind, unsure if Diana being her classmate was a good or bad thing. On one hand, this was her soulmate, and there might be instances wherein they may attract unnecessary attention because of their… 'bond', but on the other hand, Diana seemed innocent when it came to romance, since she was extremely shy around Akko earlier and discussed their academics instead."Calm down, calm down, she's not that kind of girl. Cavendish is well aware that our current relationship is tutor and student, and she doesn't seem interested in having a romantic relationship."

While Akko was lost in her thoughts, the teacher showed Diana her designated seat by pointing towards an empty seat near the back, and the girl complied by nodding her head before heading towards her desk. Along the way, she came across a familiar face, and Diana was quick to notice who she was.

"Kagari-chan?!" she exclaimed in surprise, walking closer to Akko's desk. "You're here as well?!"

Her voice was enough to snap Akko out of her little trance, and she found herself face-to-face with her soulmate/student/classmate. Akko snuck a quick glance at the people around, and found that all of their classmates were staring at them in wonder, most likely due to the fact that Diana already knew who she was.

Crap! Knowing them, they'll make up kinds of rumors if they get even the slightest hint of them having a relationship! Gotta make it clear that they were nothing more than friendly acquaintances!

"H-Hey, Diana-san." Akko gave her an awkward smile, while trying her best to sound natural. "Isn't this a lot more convenient? We'll be classmates from now on."

Diana's surprised look morphed into one that showed happiness, flashing the biggest smile that she could muster. She wouldn't have to look around the school for her tutor, because Akko was just nearby. "Yes, that's right! I'm glad we're classmates, Kagari-chan!"

In a move that sent shockwaves all throughout the room, Diana stepped forward and wrapped her arms around Akko before pulling her into a hug, with Akko's head being half-buried in between her chest A.K.A. the Sacred Valley.

Everyone, including the teacher, let out audible gasps due to complete shock at this, and there were even a few girls who squealed instead. No one spoke afterwards, as their full attention was solely directed towards the newest student, who straight-up walked towards the most unapproachable person inside the classroom before hugging her like it was nothing. What's worse, they looked like they knew each other somehow!

What was even going on at this point?

Akko, despite her blushing face, bore a deadpan look. Welp, there goes her chance to show that her and Diana were merely acquaintances, but she couldn't blame the girl for being like this. Diana didn't even seem like she knew what she was doing, which means she was acting on instinct just now. Because who exactly would walk up towards someone he/she just met and pull that person into a hug?

Diana would, apparently. She was her soulmate, after all.

"Uh, Diana-san? Would you mind…?" Akko stated in a neutral tone, resigning to her fate of being the center of attention in her class for at least a week. There's no way that she could put a stop to their babbling mouths from spreading rumors all throughout the place for a few days, so she'll just have to ignore anything that comes her way. Luckily, since her head was only half-buried into her chest, her voice wasn't completely muffled and Diana was able to hear her.

"What is it, Kagari— e-eeehhhhh?!" she said in a sweet tone at first, before her face turned completely red upon seeing what she was doing. Diana quickly let go of her and backed off, her hair shadowing over her eyes out of embarrassment. She clasped her hands together in apology, paying no heed to their other classmates who were watching closely. "O-Oh my goodness, I… I'm so sorry, Kagari-chan! I didn't know what I was doing…! I just felt so happy, and I… I wasn't aware of what was happening!" she cried, small droplets of tears already forming at the corners of her eyes.

Akko sighed and simply raised a hand, stopping the girl from outright crying while also gaining her full attention.

"It's fine. I had the suspicion that you were acting on pure instinct, so I don't blame you for what happened, Diana-san." Akko bore an unfazed look, showing that she could still remain calm in spite of their current dilemma. "If you still want to talk about it to apologize or further explain your actions, do it later. I am sure that we've gotten the attention of the whole class long enough."

Taking a quick glance at her surroundings, Diana quickly noticed that everyone was staring at her and Akko with looks of shock on their faces, causing her face become red once again. "Y-Yes, you're right, Kagari-chan! We shall continue discussing this later on…!" she said in an attempt to save herself from further embarrassment, before quickly rushing towards her seat.

"I changed my mind. Having a soulmate is as bad as it gets. How naive of me, thinking that romance and relationships weren't troubling in school…"Akko continued in her thoughts, while she could only laugh in a sardonic manner at her own misfortune.

At the end of the day, much to her own frustration, Akko Kagari became the subject of attention in the whole class by simply socializing with a girl, who also happened to be the newest student of the class. It wouldn't even take a day for this issue to reach the whole school, and Akko's popularity within the system would change for the worse, at least in her opinion.

What a quick turn of events for the girl who was supposed to be the loner of the class.

As soon as their last class was over, everyone was busy packing their things and Akko wanted nothing more than to venture into a locker and trap herself there for the whole year. She couldn't even gather her belongings properly without her classmates talking about her 'hugging a pretty girl'. In the eyes of a normal person, this was a pretty normal scenario to happen in school, but Akko wanted none of that.

"I still wonder what that girl sees in her…"

"Think she's her secret girlfriend or something?"

"Well, I think Kagari-chan's kinda cute."

"Hmm, but she looks kinda scary..."

Akko could only cry inside, in a state of despair now that her reputation will never be the same again. She was completely fine with being the social outcast of the classroom, but that got thrown out of the window when Diana pulled her into a hug out of nowhere, who was apparently the newest student joining the class. From there, she could deduce that it would only take a mere day before the issue blows up and starting tomorrow, she'll want nothing more than to hide her face with a paper bag until the attention dies down.

Hearing the murmurs from her classmates, Akko could only palm her face in a useless attempt to hide herself from the world. "I just had to be the one that that old man picked, huh…?"

"Hey, Kagari-chan! Our class sure is lively, right?" Diana said with a bright smile before rushing towards her newly-appointed tutor, looking ready to leave with her.

"Huh…?" Akko said blankly, turning towards whoever it was that spoke to her. Much to her relief, it was just Diana and not one of her nosy classmates. "Oh, it's just you, Diana-san. I suppose it is lively, like what you said."

Diana noticed the uncaring tone in her voice, and she could clearly tell what exactly was bothering her. "Uhm… I apologize again for... what I did earlier," she stood straight and bowed her head in apology. "I should have been more aware of my actions, Kagari-chan. I never knew you disliked having too much attention on yourself."

Her eyes then widened when she felt something warm on top of her head, causing her to look up and see that Akko had placed her hand on her hair, before giving her a small pat afterwards. This caused her to blush deeply, as her whole body froze up in response to her tutor's little gesture.

"Like I said, Diana-san, it's not your fault. I don't blame you for what happened since you didn't know such things about me, so let me deal with this thing on my own." Akko explained, before removing her hand from her head. "Besides, the attention will die down in a few days, as long as we don't do anything that will cause it to blow up even further. So don't beat yourself up over it, alright?"

"O-Okay," she slowly nodded, her blush never leaving her face.

"Now, then…" Akko slung her bag over her shoulder and flashed the girl a little smirk. "Shall we get going, Diana-san? We're supposed to have a study session since I am your tutor, correct? Let's go somewhere more appropriate to do this."

Expecting the girl to follow her, Akko walked ahead of her but immediately stopped when she heard her say something.

"Diana."

Akko turned around to look at her curiously. "…what?"

"You can just call me Diana," the girl replied with a smile, her mood doing a complete 180. "Not that we should be more informal with each other, I just want to hear you call my name."

Akko raised an eyebrow. "W-what?"

Diana waved off her concern, before catching up to Akko and with that, the two were walking side-by-side. "D-Don't mind it too much. Just call me Diana from now on, okay?"

"Very well," Akko nodded. "In that case, you may call me Akko. That way, even if I am your tutor and you are my student, we can show that we are still on equal grounds with one another."

Diana shook her head, looking embarrassed at the thought of calling her tutor by her given name. "Ah, you don't have to worry about me, Kagari-chan."

"Whatever floats your boat, then. Now, since you want me to tutor you, I'm going to need you to buy some reference materials that I can start with, particularly those in which you're having difficulties in. Will that be a problem?" Akko asked, taking a quick glance at Diana.

"Oh, that's not something to be worried about, Kagari-chan. I can buy a few books for our sessions, but…" Her expression fell, as her cheeks turned deep red out of embarrassment while her eyes turned blank white. "I…I don't know my way around here…"

"Oh," Akko sweat-dropped, before quickly regaining her composure. "In that case, I'll show you my favorite store where I bought some books that I have back home. I'm sure you'll be able to find all that you need there, Diana."

"That's a great idea! I can't wait to learn from you, Kagari-chan! Let's do this!" Diana gave her the biggest smile she could muster, unaware that she had latched herself onto Akko's arm, nuzzling into her sleeve as if she was her girlfriend.

"I-Is she even aware of what she's doing when this happens…? No, when she hugged me earlier, she didn't even notice her actions until I pointed it out. Her actions are stemming from pure instinct."Akko spoke in her thoughts, blushing deeply from Diana's display of affection. Of course, this is to be expected, since she was her soulmate. However, despite her embarrassment, she couldn't find it in herself to tell the girl to stop for whatever reason unlike earlier.

Akko was about to call out her name and tell Diana that she may have been gettingtooclose to her, but she stopped herself at the last second, when she got a good look at the way the girl was smiling. It caused a bubbly sensation to fill her chest, which she found somewhat pleasing that she couldn't stop herself from forming a small smile on her face in response.

"...I suppose I could let her do what she wants for now."

It was a really good thing that they were the only ones within the hallway, otherwise it things would've been worse for the two of them.

Diana best waifu!!! Anyways, she's Akko's first soulmate, who would be the next girl hmm