"Remember this: only with understanding can the Seven Stars of Jennifer the Great be unlocked..."
Akko blinked in confusion. She found herself in the middle of the black void once again, and that was the first thing she heard.
That voice, however, wasn't Shiny Chariot's. In fact, it wasn't a voice Akko recognize at all.
"What are the Seven Stars of Jennifer the Great? Do they have something to do with the Shiny Rod?"
Akko didn't get any answers for her questions. At that moment, a bright white glow erupted from nowhere and started to engulf the black void.
"Wait! What about Shiny Chariot?! Does she have anything to do with the Stars?! Just who are you?!"
...
Red Coven's Dorm
"Wait!"
Akko soon found herself waking up in her bunk bed at her Luna Nova dorm.
"Good morning, sleepyhead..." Sucy greeted Akko. For once, the puce-haired girl seems to be looking up something on the internet using Lotte's crystal ball, probably without Lotte's permission, seeing that Wispy doesn't seem too thrilled about Sucy's browsing session. Then again, Lotte is still asleep, so it's not like Sucy could've asked for permission. "You're early today... Had a nightmare?"
Akko blinked. "No. I think it was something about the Seven Stars of Jennifer again..." She said. "What time is it right now?"
Sucy tapped once on the crystal ball. "Six-thirty in the morning. One and a half hour until first class of the day begins."
"That early?!" Akko exclaimed.
"Some dream, no?" Sucy said as she continued browsing through whatever she is viewing on the crystal ball. "Too bad the talking staff won't spill anything about it..."
"It's not that I don't want to say anything about it." Shiny Rod, which Akko placed next to the bunk bed in the previous night, responded.
"Then why aren't you saying anything about it?" Akko asked.
"Because, to put it in your modern day vernacular, my programming forbids me from directly helping my wielders in their quests for the Seven Stars."
"Why not?"
"I guess it's because the Seven Stars can only be found through my wielders' understanding the value of the Stars on their own, and just straight up telling them will defeat that purpose."
"Oh."
Sucy scoffed at what she heard. "Such a simple explanation..." She said, turning toward Akko. "If Shiny Chariot really was the last person to have took part in this... quest for the so-called Seven Stars, I guess she must've failed somewhere down the line. Otherwise, Akko, you wouldn't be holding the Shiny Rod right now..."
"Say, Sucy..." Akko suddenly changed the topic as she got off her bunk bed. "What were you doing with Annabel's crystal ball?"
Sucy seemed to widen her eyes in panic, as she quickly turned back toward the crystal ball, and tapped rapidly and randomly on it. "Just, um, checking out the Luna Nova News Network's blog..." She then calmly claimed.
Wispy blew a raspberry (or as close to it as a will-o-wisp can try to) at Sucy for some reason.
"Current news..." Sucy begins reading what is displayed on the crystal ball.
Akko made her way toward Sucy to see what is displayed on the crystal ball.
Top story: due to budget restrictions, the 60th Anniversary Luna Nova - Appleton Friendship Ball will be held overlapping with this year's Luna Nova Alumni Homecoming Party. No words on Appleton's alumni as of yet.
Other stories:
Rockstar Witch Miss Marjolaine expected to attend the Alumni Homecoming Party. Dorlin, Vice Chancellor of the East Morgiana Republic, will be attending as well. P.S.: Marjolaine and Dorlin were in the same Coven in their student years.
Director-General of the WHO, who (pun not intended) is also a Luna Nova alumni, may have something personal she wants to settle in the Alumni Homecoming Party.
Ace student Diana Cavendish revealed to have a respiratory disease!
Author of world-renowned franchise Nightfall turned out to be a Luna Nova student! "How long has she been hiding among us?"
MORE STORIES...
"As you can see, it's all just tabloid..." Sucy dully remarked. "Five minutes of my life wasted on all this..."
"That's too bad." Akko said.
Wispy let out an unamused squeak, which for some reason is directed at Sucy rather than Akko.
...
Magic Linguistics Class
Later, the Red Coven went straight to class after getting themselves ready for the day.
The Red Coven arrived at the classroom without a hitch. Though they still have to wait with the other students as Finneran hasn't arrived yet. It seemed unusual for Finneran, who Amanda had called a "control freak" before, to be late for even a second.
Thankfully, the wait is very brief, and Finneran soon showed up. Though the Deputy Headmistress/ Magical Linguistics professor seems to have stopped right outside the classroom, wanting to finish whatever discussion she was having with Professor Badcock at the moment.
Akko couldn't hear what the faculty members' conversation is about, but she did hear the words "dragon alphabet" in it.
The conversation is soon finished, as Professor Badcock left the scene for elsewhere. With that settled, Finneran entered the classroom in the same strict and calculated manner as she did in last week's class.
"Pardon me for being late, class..." Finneran addressed every students in the classroom. "I was having a very urgent conversation with Professor Badcock." She then placed her textbooks on the teacher's desk, and looked at a particular student. "Are you alright, Miss Cavendish?"
Everyone looked - and Chloe glared - at Diana who sat in the exact same position as last week, as are her Coven mates Hannah and Barbara.
Diana coughed once into her hand. "I will be fine-" She momentarily stopped as she realized she was speaking with her natural Scottish accent. "I will be fine, Professor. Thank you for asking." She restarted with her forced English accent.
Diana momentarily glared at Akko. The blonde's icy blue eyes stared straight into the brunette's ruby red, sending shivers down her spine.
"Now, shall we begin?" Finneran then said, unknowingly interrupting the standoff.
And so Magic Linguistics class for the day started and ended without a hitch. Though Akko spent the entirety of the class being crept out by Diana's ice cold glare.
...
Potions Brewing and Handling Class
All of the students arrived at the Potions lab in time, but Professor Lukic said she had to cancel the day's Potions Brewing and Handling Class at the last second due to an urgent matter. What that urgent matter is, she refused to say anything except that it's a confidential matter that Headmistress Holbrooke doesn't want the students to know about.
The entire class spent the two hours of the cancelled class discussing to each other what that confidential matter could've been. Some, on the other hand, pointed out that it was a good thing Lukic had cancelled the class, as they'd otherwise have to breathe potion fumes for two hours, which would have been especially bad for Diana's respiratory illness (forgetting that she had used a shield spell in last week's class to shield herself from the fumes).
During the whole commotion about the faculty's urgent matters (and Diana's respiratory illness), Akko failed to noticed that Sucy has used a potion to turn her ponytail into a leaf...
...
Magic Numerology Class
Professor Badcock arrived in the classroom on time, and started Magic Numerology Class without mentioning whatever urgent matters it is that Finneran had talked to her about earlier.
As with last week's Magic Numerology Class, the Red Coven girls are barely paying any attention due to how boring it is. Sucy is once again flipping through her exotic potions ingredient handbook under the table (albeit a different handbook this time). Lotte looked like she is paying attention and taking notes, but it's actually just lines after lines of her name "Liselotte Jansson" which, due to the Curse of Annabel Creme, became lines after lines of "Annabel Creme" instead.
Akko, on the other hand, is able to force herself to stay awake thanks to experience from last week's class. She pretended to be taking down notes so Professor Badcock wouldn't notice her not paying attention. But it is still very boring for her.
Akko decided to kill her time by looking around the classroom at her fellow classmates. Avery seems to be writing more often on her pocket notepad than her notebook (What's in that notepad? Akko thought). Gaelle is taking down notes on her notebook endlessly, somehow without looking at the blackboard even once (How does she know what to write if she doesn't ever look up?). Chloe is gritting her teeth at how Diana exudes that aristocratic air even when she is just taking down notes (Everything Diana does feels aristocratic...). Constanze (Huh? How come I didn't notice her here last week?) seems to be, instead of writing down her notes into a notebook, typing it into a tablet. A girl with blonde hair and a pair of headphones is standing just outside the classroom, watching Akko and her friends...
Wait...
A blonde girl with a pair of headphones?
Akko looked at the blonde girl that is standing right outside the classroom. While many girls in Luna Nova or even England, for that matter, have blonde hair, Akko knew of only one who wore a headphone like that. That blonde girl may be wearing a Luna Nova uniform, but there is no mistaking that headphone she is wearing...
That is Mary-Ann Lait, the previous Annabel Creme and creator of the Nightfall franchise.
After what Mary-Ann had put Lotte through last Saturday, Akko wanted to just stand up from her seat, run right out of the classroom and strangle the former author right then and there, detentions be damned...
"Oh my!" Professor Badcock suddenly exclaimed. "Miss Logisdottir has burst into flames again!"
Everyone in the classroom stopped what they were doing, and turned toward Sola Logisdottir of the Leaf Coven, who is indeed, and literally, on fire.
Luckily, Sola's Coven mates, Rajani and Rashmi Patil quickly put the fire out by dousing her with a fire suppression spell (which looked and sounded like a fire extinguisher, for some reason). Judging by how casually the Patil twins did it, and how Sola seems to be in more of an inconvenience than a panic, this apparently has happened several times in the past. Sola sneezed a bit, causing the fire to immediately reignite, only to be doused again by Rajani (or is it Rashmi?).
Akko blinked. While she has seen Sola a couple of times in the past seven days, this is the first time she saw the "onion-head" spontaneously burst into flames.
Diana similarly looks confused about the matter.
With that thing with Sola handled, Akko turned back toward the classroom entrance... to find that Mary-Ann has already disappeared.
"Well, uh, thank you, Miss Patil and... Miss Patil, for keeping the situation under control..." Professor Badcock thanked the Patil twins. "In any case... No assignments this week, so you can prepare for the Ball this coming Sunday. With that said, class dismissed."
As soon as Professor Badcock has finished her announcement, Akko quickly bolted out of the classroom with lightning speed.
"Akko!" Lotte called out to her Coven mate.
...
Luna Nova corridors
Akko can't believe it...
That girl, Mary-Ann Lait, actually had the guts to come all the way to Luna Nova to stalk Lotte. The brunette wanted to hunt down the former author and make her pay for what she did to Lotte.
Before she knew it, Akko found herself bolting right out of the classroom to pursue Mary-Ann. However, there was no trace of the former author anywhere in sight.
"Kuso!" Akko cursed as she stamped her foot on the floor in frustration, forgetting that as a witch, her stamping is strong enough to crack the marble that made up the floor.
"Akko!" Lotte followed her out soon after. "What's wrong? Why did you suddenly run out?"
"I thought I saw Annabel Creme - the previous one - standing right here just now, watching us..." Akko explained. "She was also wearing a Luna Nova uniform..."
Lotte looked around the corridor, just as the other students begin to file out of the classroom. "I don't see her anywhere..."
"She got away..." Akko said.
"Who got away?" Sucy suddenly appeared behind Akko and asked.
"Mary-Ann got away." Akko told Sucy. "You know? The previous Annabel Creme? We met her at the Nightfall Trivia Quiz last Saturday?"
"I still don't know what you are talking about..." Sucy responded. Her one exposed eye stared at the leaf that Akko's ponytail was transformed into, which Akko is still oblivious to.
Akko clenched her fist. "Never mind. I'll deal with her later." Akko released her clenched fist. "Come on. Let's go to the cafeteria."
"Not so fast, you three." Professor Badcock suddenly appeared behind the Red Coven, sending shivers down Akko's and Lotte's spines. "I need to have some words with you."
What did we do this time...?! Akko mentally lamented.
And so the Red Coven girls are dragged back into the classroom by Professor Badcock...
If any one of the Red Coven girls have stayed outside for one more second, they'd have noticed that one of their classmates who left the classroom just now is a blonde girl wearing a pair of headphones, and she was only inside the classroom during the last few seconds of Magic Numerology Class. Said "classmate" then doubled back to continue her observation of the student who she passed on the Curse of Annabel Creme to...
Annabel Creme/ Mary-Ann Lait, what were you up to...?
Anyway, a new week begins for Akko's life at Luna Nova, and with that, more questions showed up that are in need of answers.
Here's a secret: I hid something in this chapter that would foreshadow a big reveal later on. Try to guess what it is. You may give out your answers in the comments section, but I will neither confirm nor deny if your answer is anywhere close to being correct, since it would just spoil the aforementioned big reveal.
Also, see if you can guess how I came up with the last names of Rajani, Rashmi, and Sola (who are all Background Witches). There are Easter Eggs behind both of them.
Before I end this chapter's Afterwords, I'd like to announce something...
Getting stuck in my house for an entire month due to the quarantine has made me, like a lot of people around the world, a bit stir-crazy. So stir-crazy that I actually came up with the concept for a piece of original fiction. It's basically a magical girl/spy fiction hybrid revolving around this witch who's also an MI-6 agent, and her job is basically the usual James Bond stuff plus magic (and minus the boning, I might add). I call this original fiction Modern Witchcraft. I was planning on releasing its first chapter after this one, but it might take a while to tidy it up before I get it posted (on AO3, as Fanfiction don't accept original fiction, and I don't plan on registering an account in Fictionpress).
"Just remember: a believing heart is your magic..."
Afterwords end here.