This is it...
She's finally here...
The school that Shiny Chariot studied in...
The most prestigious magic school in the world...
The one and only: Luna Nova Witchcraft Academy.
"Unbelievable! I've finally arrived at Luna Nova! Yay!" Akko is very excited about having achieved (step one of) her lifelong dream.
So much so that the Japanese girl had momentarily forgotten that she is Lotte's passenger, and her excited reaction caused a very violent shake to the glasses girl's flying broom.
"Akko, calm down, please!" Lotte said worriedly as she held on to her broom.
"Oh, sorry!" Akko apologized as she calmed down.
Lotte sighed. She hoped she hasn't made the wrong choice by helping this hyperactive Japanese girl.
...
The two touched down on the designated landing zone of the campus moments later. A professor is standing nearby, guiding the student witches toward the main building of Luna Nova.
"I'm finally here..." Akko is so happy she shed tears of joy. "I've waited my entire life for this..."
"Akko..." Lotte snapped her back to reality. "Are you sure you wanted to be like Shiny Chariot?" She then asked.
Akko's reaction to that question made Lotte regret asking it. "Of course I wanted to! Chariot is the most awesome performer in the world, and I want to follow in her footsteps and become an awesome performer myself!" As Akko answered the question excitedly, she moved close enough to Lotte as to invade her personal space.
Lotte gently pushed Akko back. "Uh...you do know that Chariot didn't just perform, right?" She reminded the Japanese girl.
Akko threw her hands up in the air. "I know! Chariot starred in several movies and TV shows too, and I watched all of them even before I could understand English! But she's still better known as a performer!" She then lowered her hands, and remembered about the Shiny Rod, which she showed to Lotte. "And then there's this! Do you have any idea what it is?"
Lotte looked at the Shiny Rod. She blinked her eyes in disbelief. "I-is this...re-"
"THE Shiny Rod!" Akko interrupted, causing Lotte to reel back. "Chariot's magic staff! And it's the only one of its kind!"
Lotte pinched her nose. She sure picked one heck of a hyperactive girl to give a ride to. "W-well, uh... Maybe we can talk about this later? The matriculation ceremony's about to st-"
"Hey, there, Little Lotte, I see you've made a new nerd friend~" A different voice suddenly spoke, causing Lotte to stop mid-sentence and avert her gaze.
Akko wondered who it could be that caused Lotte to avert her gaze.
"W-what do you want, Chloe Dubois...?" Lotte asked whoever that voice belonged to. Her own voice sounded like she was angry.
Akko realized that the owner of the voice is standing her. She turned around to see who it was.
Standing over there is a girl with blonde hair done up in a pompadour that all but said "school celebrity". Following right behind her are two more girls: one has auburn hair tied in a ponytail with a yellow ribbon, the other has a simple long dark hair.
"Nothing. Just wanted to talk to you for the first time in months~" Said smugly the blonde haired girl, with a French accent not unlike Chariot's.
"Who's this friend of yours~?" Teased the auburn-haired girl. Her British accent made the teasing sound so much worse.
"A Shiny Chariot fangirl? How lame~!" The dark-haired girl teased as well.
Lotte just stood there, face red with anger as the three bullies gave bitchy laughs.
"Hey, don't be so mean to her!" Akko stood out in defense for Lotte.
"Or what?" The blonde girl dared. "You're going to blast us with a water spell?"
"Ooh, scary, scary~" The other two girls mocked.
"You bet I would!" Akko rebuked, as she raised and pointed the Shiny Rod at the bullies. "Shiny Rod, go! Blast them with water!"
Nothing happened. The Shiny Rod remained inert.
"Shiny Rod! I command you to blast these bullies with a jet of water!" Akko repeated. Her attempt remained in vain.
The bullies laughed at Akko's failure to cast a spell. Loudly enough that the other passing-by student witches stopped in their tracks to see what is going on.
"I'm guessing you have never casted a spell before..." The blonde girl mocked.
"Here's how it's really done, Muggle..." The auburn-haired girl said as she raised her magic wand.
She waved the wand for a bit before redirecting its tip at Akko, where it then shot out a torrent of water that soaked her from head to toe.
Akko spat out some water. These three actually are much worse than Avery and her friends from back at the Leyline Terminal...
"Ta-da~!" The auburn-haired girl added as she stored her magic wand away. "That is how a real witch casts a spell~"
"And how much of your allowance did you spend to buy that cheap knockoff, anyway~?" The dark-haired girl followed up with a taunt.
All those insults made Akko really angry. She wanted to punch these bullies so much...
"Anyway, I don't want to waste any more time with the two of you..." The blonde-haired girl said before turning around and walking away. "Come on, Hannah, Barbara, let's get to the matriculation ceremony before it starts..."
"See you later, Little Lotte~ And you as well, Muggle~" The auburn-haired girl and dark-haired girl teased as they too turn around to follow their friend. "Blast us? Hah! She can't even pronounce some of the words properly! I mean, 'brast'? I bet she's still learning to speak English!"
Akko and Lotte stood where they are as they watched the bullies depart.
"Just who do they think they are?!" Akko ranted about the bullies.
"It's alright, Akko..." Lotte moved in to tell her. "Chloe Dubois, Hannah, and Barbara has been like that to me since the last semester..."
"And you just let them say whatever they want about you?!" Akko exclaimed angrily. "I'm going to become a witch, and wipe their smug laughs off their face!"
"Maybe later..." Lotte added. "We going to be late for the matriculation ceremony..."
"Oh right!" Akko said. "Let's get going!"
...
Okay, so it was to be expected that whenever you go to a school, there is going to be a matriculation ceremony that takes place before the semester begins for real. Usually, the headmaster or headmistress will be giving a speech to every student, telling them that they have a lot to face ahead of them and that they should give their best.
Akko expected that, after having experienced it in her very first days in both pre-school and high-school back in Japan, and so is fully prepared to sit through whatever "boring" speech Luna Nova's headmistress has prepared. What she didn't expect is that this particular headmistress - an old witch who introduced herself as Headmistress Holbrooke - would have a speech that lasts more than an hour. Seriously, just how are Luna Nova's faculty and staff able to sit through all of it whenever a new semester begins? And just how is the headmistress able to speak for so long?
And apparently, Luna Nova has a policy of dividing students into Covens - groups of three each denoted by a color. Most of the returning students are already in complete Covens (including Avery, Mary and Blair, whom Akko notes are the Purple Coven), but some Covens have only one or two members in them, either because the missing members have already graduated, dropped out at some point in the previous semester, or was late for the matriculation ceremony and got expelled on the spot (Wow, Lotte isn't kidding, they sure are strict... Akko thought). The new students, on the other hand, are divided from the returning students and put in a bleacher so they can be assigned to a Coven by the end of the matriculation ceremony. Since Akko is a new student, she got placed in the bleacher alongside the other new students.
Akko noticed that the Red Coven, which Lotte is in, consisted of just Lotte herself and no one else. Wonder what happened to the glasses girl's old Coven mates? As for Chloe, Hannah, and Barbara, turns out they're not even in the same Coven: Hannah and Barbara are in the Blue Coven (which is missing a third member), and Chloe is in the complete Beige Coven together with her actual Coven mates.
Akko then looked around at her fellow new students who are seated around her in the bleacher. Seated right next to her is a girl with ghostly pale skin and puce hair, with a bang covering her left eye. She doesn't look like she's even listening to a single word of the headmistress's speech. Seated two rows behind Akko is a gorgeous, regal-looking girl whose hair reminded the Japanese girl of a cabbage or lettuce...
"And with that said, I believe it is time we let the new students know who their roommates will be for the next three years." Headmistress Holbrooke said as she finished her speech.
Roommates. That means the new students are going to be assigned to their Covens right about now. Akko wondered which Coven she might be assigned to. She know she wouldn't have to have Avery or Chloe as her Coven mates, since their Covens are already full. Hannah and Barbara, on the other hand... Akko shuddered at the thought of having those two jerks as her Coven mates for the next three years...
"Please don't be Blue. Please don't be Blue. Please don't be Blue..." Akko prayed to not be assigned to the Blue Coven, to the point that the other new students are looking at her like she's got a potato brain or something. She'd rather commit Sepukku than to have two big bullies as her Coven mates...
A different, stern-looking professor stepped forward on the stage before unfurling a scroll in her hands. "Attention, new students. You will now be assigned to your Covens, which you will be with for the next three years. Your name will be called after the Coven you are assigned to." She announced. "If there are no questions you want to ask, then we will begin now."
Akko became very nervous. She wished, for the love of god, that she would not be assigned to the Blue Coven.
"Mint Coven: Abigail King and Rita Vrataski!" The stern professor called out the first two new students' names.
A girl with short dark hair and another with light brown hair in braided twintails shuffled out of the bleacher and went to join a girl with long black hair.
"Puce Coven: James Daisy Lorea!" The third new student's name is called out. The stern professor seemed to roll her eyes a bit upon calling the name, as though it's a weird one for her.
"Call me Daisy, please..." A girl with two bows in her hair protested as she made her way to her Coven.
There isn't that many new students. But still, it's going to take a while for the professor to finish assigning everyone to their covens. With each name that got called out, Akko become more worried about sharing a Coven with Hannah and Barbara.
The stern professor continued assigning the new students to their Covens. Verde Shidariza, a girl with green hair in twin drills, got assigned to White Coven. Jeanne Archer, a redhead who was just reading a book about someone named Joan of Arc, went to Navy Coven. Chang Lin-Lin, a (definitely Chinese) girl with two hair buns, and Balsa McVinegar, a girl with messy dark brown hair, got assigned to Brown Coven. Verochka Alianov, a tall girl with a prominent forehead, glared at Akko for some reason as she made her way to Cyan Coven's seats. Fujiwara Shiki, the only other Japanese girl in the bleacher besides Akko, got sent to Cream Coven. Teresa Finneran, a 30-something woman (Just how long was she delayed with her enrollment?), whose name got called particularly loudly by the stern professor, reluctantly went to join Magenta Coven while muttering under her breath "Bloody hell, mother!". Molly McIntyre, a dark-skinned girl with light blue hair covering her right eye, got assigned to Gray Coven together with Elizabeth Cullen, a bright-haired girl whose pale skin seemed to sparkle (curiously, they both acted as though this isn't their first time)...
The assigning went on for quite a bit until only two Covens are left incomplete: Lotte's Red, and Hannah and Barbara's Blue. At this point, only three new students are left in the bleachers: Akko herself, the puce-haired pale girl next to her, and the regal girl with the lettuce hair.
This moment is really intense for Akko. What if she got assigned to Blue Coven? Is she going to endure being bullied by her own Coven mates for the next three years? Or will Hannah and Barbara corrupt her into becoming a bully herself, and pick on Lotte for the next three years? And will she still be worthy of the Shiny Rod if she becomes a bully herself?
Akko became so nervous that she is willing to sacrifice half of her Shiny Chariot merchandise if it let her go to anywhere but Blue Coven.
"Blue Coven..." The stern professor called out, and at that moment, time seemed to be going ten times slower than usual for Akko.
"Please don't be Blue. Please don't be Blue. Please don't be Blue..." Akko went back to uttering her mantra repeatedly.
However, something unusual happened. Rather than calling out the next student's name immediately, the stern professor paused and brought the scroll closer to her eyes, as though she was very surprised by the next student's name. The students and other professors, as well as Headmistress Holbrooke herself, started talking to each other about what might be going on.
"Really? Her?" The professor muttered, still in disbelief about whatever, or whoever the next student might be.
Akko blinked. She's a nobody, so it can't be her that caught the stern professor by surprise. But could it be the puce-haired girl, or the lettuce haired girl?
"Ahem..." The stern professor cleared her throat as she went back on track. "Blue Coven: Diana Cavendish!"
The entire hall went dead silent as soon as that name is dropped...
Wow, Hannah and Barbara sure are much worse here than they were in all the canon works. They were engaging in their lowly bullying and bitchy attitudes before they even met Diana (they hang out with Chloe instead, despite her being from another Coven). And Chloe must've been one heck of a bully if Lotte of all people is pissed enough about her to be on a full name basis at all times.
See those names mentioned up there? Yes, those are the Background students all given last names, or in Daisy's case, a last name and a new, male-sounding first name, with "Daisy" becoming her middle name instead (poor girl). And Elizabeth Cullen... Hm, I wonder what that might be referencing...and what about her and Molly McIntyre treating this as though it was anything but their first time? Also, Teresa Finneran? Could she be related to Luna Nova's most hated professor?
And now, Akko's quest to follow in Shiny Chariot's footsteps begins...
"And remember: a believing heart is your magic..."
Afterwords end here.