Chapter 8: An(other) explosive incident.

Akko skipped happily up the stairs of the Astronomy Tower in the early Sunday morning. The sun was bright in the sky, providing warmth and light that made the school look a little less constrictive and old than usual. Her feet felt light as they carried her towards her destination, and she couldn't stop smiling as she hummed a little song without even being conscious about it. She felt light, she felt happy, she felt… just wonderful. She didn't even mind the fact she'd had to study practically all day, she didn't feel the least bit tired. Last night had been the best she had slept in a long time… even though she hadn't made it to her bed.

"Sensei!" She exclaimed as she entered the tower without even knocking first, as usual. "I'm here! Will you help me study as you said?"

"Oh, Akko!" The professor exclaimed in surprise, almost dropping some books she was carrying.

"Here, sensei, let me help you!" Akko said, taking the books off of Ursula's hands and carrying them over to the desktop.

"Thank you." The professor smiled kindly at her student, giggling a bit when she noticed her struggling with the books that, for her, were as light as feathers. "And yes, yesterday I made sure to finish all my work so I could dedicate today solely to help you study for your upcoming exams."

"That's great!" Akko said, more enthusiastically than usual and radiating such happiness that he professor just couldn't stop smiling.

"My, someone is on a good mood today." The professor noticed as she took a seat on her desk. "I assume your date with Diana went well?"

"It was wonderful!" Akko affirmed, the insinuation flying right over her head. "We went to town, and she bought some books and other boring stuff, but then we went to eat something, and I was like "Hey, have you seen Kiki's delivery service?" and she was like "I'm afraid I'm too much of an aristocrat to watch anime" and I was like "Eeeehhh?! We have to rectify that!" And then we snuck into Constanze's secret workshop and borrowed her projector and then spent all evening watching Studio Ghibli's films!" She finally paused her passionate detailing of the events from the previous day, but only to take a deep breath and keep talking. "I mean, I kinda fell asleep halfway through, and unwillingly used Diana as a pillow, but still, it was amazing! Even if Constanze wasn't so happy to find us there in the morning… She even threatened us with a gun! But yesterday was nonetheless the most fun I've had in ages." She giggled with mirth as stars practically shined on her eyes. Just thinking about it made all everything else seem insignificant in comparison. There was only space for Diana in her brain.

"Uhm… I'm sorry, I got lost in Kiki's delivery service." The professor interrupted her daydreaming. "Is that a movie or something?" Akko instantly gasped like Ursula had just said the worst blasphemy in he history of blasphemies.

"Wait… YOU HAVEN'T SEEN KIKI'S DELIVERY SERVICE EITHER?!" When her professor timidly shook her head no, Akko could only keep gaping and staring at her like she'd grown a second head. "Man, he have to change that, but I don't know if I could handle another anime marathon two days in a row…" She trailed off, unsure of what to do. After all, Kiki's delivery service was one of her favorite movies when she was a kid (she even made her parents buy her a black cat and named him Jiji), and the other Ghibli films were classics too, and she couldn't have her teacher and idol keep living on without knowing them. But Constanze would probably shoot her on sight if she caught her wandering in her lair again, so…

"It's okay. We can leave that for another day." The professor answered with a kind smile. "Today you need to study, so why don't we get into that?"

"Ah… yeah. I guess." Akko answered, all the enthusiasm and energy she'd been radiating before evaporating off her body.

"Oh, come on, it's not that bad." Chariot chuckled at her student's reaction. "Tomorrow's exam is…"

"Astrology." Akko slumped.

"Yes, and I do expect you to have a good grade on the subject I teach."

"It'd be easier if you taught… I don't know, illusion magic or something fun." Akko answered with a huff. "I mean, you're literally Chariot. The Shiny Chariot. And yet you're here teaching Astrology."

"Finnelan would probably kill me if I asked to teach fun magic." The older witch chuckled. "Plus, I really think astrology isn't all that bad. Predicting the future makes for a rather interesting experience, I would say."

"Humh." Akko pursed her lips. "Like when Diana predicted I'd leave the school."

"Yes." The professor shrugged. "But interestingly enough, once you predict something, especially something as specific as that, it's more likely to not happen."

"Then why even bother predicting stuff?" Akko pretty much whined.

"You'd knew it if you paid attention in class." The professor teased, and Akko just pouted in response. "Come on, Akko. The sooner we start, the sooner we'll finish."


"I see… uhm… The Cancer constellation is… uh… in line with the moon, right now?" Akko struggled, her eyes closed as she concentrated on trying to read the stupid magical stars she'd had conjured up with her wand.

"And what does that mean?" The professor prompted as she took a sip from her tea.

"It means… that, like…" Wasn't Cancer usually associated with the moon? She recalled Ursula saying something like that the other day during the class about zodiac constellations. But she couldn't remember much more. Yet, if they were aligned that had to be a good thing… right? "It's good? For Cancer people."

"For people born under the sign of Cancer." Ursula corrected.

"Right. Right." Akko quickly rectified.

"And… what else? You have to be more specific than that if you wish to pass tomorrow's exam." The red haired woman said in what she hoped was a strict voice. Truth to be told, she wasn't planning on failing Akko after she'd spent so many hours studying with her, and on Sunday, but she had to make her work for it nonetheless.

"Uhm…" Akko sweated, trying to feel the connection between he celestial bodies through the magical bond they shared, but it was still very confusing. Too many connections! Some bad, some good, but what did it all mean? Wait, hadn't her sensei said the exam would be almost exclusively about the zodiac? Maybe she should focus on that. Let's see… Cancer seemed to have a strongest connection with that other constellation (what was it's name?) Bull? Cow? No… Taurus! Yes, Taurus, like the Minotaur. And it was tinted red, which meant…

"Aha! Cancer people will have a good chance at love with Taurus people!" Akko grinned, sure she'd gotten it right.

"Very good Akko." Her teacher complimented, and the poor Japanese girl almost instantly dispelled the illusion that honestly was draining all her energy with a sigh of relief. "Okay, that's all for the practical part, but I need to see if you also know the theory."

"Ugh." Akko groaned as she unceremoniously threw herself into the chair.

"Come on, just a little bit more." Ursula tried to encourage her. "Tell me, people born under the Cancer constellation are born during…?"

"Uhm…" Akko scrunched her nose as she tried to dig such information from the deepest confines of her mind. She couldn't remember much, except that… she herself was Cancer? Yes, she seemed to remember something like that, so… "June?"

"Which dates?" Ursula asked again, apparently deciding she really liked torturing her student with impossible-to-answer questions. Why couldn't zodiac signs be determined by month? That would make her life so much easier! But apparently the entire universe was literally conspiring to make her fail her exams.

"I don't know! It was like the second half of June and the first half of July, right?" She said, obviously exhausted and frustrated after studying a boring subject like Astrology for so long.

"And Taurus?" The professor asked, not giving her a moment to rest.

"April-May-ish?" She whined.

"I'll let it slide for now." Ursula finally said, noticing how restless her student was becoming. "Tell me Akko, do you know anyone who was born in April or May?"

"I don't know." Akko scrunched her eyebrows in a thoughtful manner. "I've never been good with dates. I think Amanda was born in March though. 17th, I think?"

"So she's Piscies." Ursula supplied.

"Yeah, just like you!" Akko exclaimed with a big smile.

"Me?" Chariot startled a little, like she wasn't expecting her student to know that information.

"You were born on February 20th, right?" Akko affirmed.

"How did you…?" Ursula was sure she'd never told Akko when her birthday was.

"I'm a Shiny Chariot expert. Duh." Akko said matter-of-factly. "But if you're Piscies, should I call you Piscies-sensei?" She joked.

"I prefer Ursula, thank you very much." She laughed. "So, anyways, what about Diana? Wasn't she born in April?" The professor re-directed their conversation where she wanted it to go.

"Diana?" Akko answered, adopting a thoughtful expression. "Yes, I believe she told me something like that the other day."

"So she's Taurus then." The professor purposefully stressed the word so Akko would (hopefully) take the hint this time.

"Oh, that's right!" Akko exclaimed like she'd made a sudden realization, which made the redhead hope she'd actually came to the same conclusion as her. "I wonder if she knows any Cancer people." Akko said, but the tone she adopted was rather grumpy, even if she hadn't intended to make it sound like that. "Probably not though; I've never seen Diana take an interest on anyone." Akko then added more calmly, as if she was reassuring herself.

"What about you?" Chariot asked, reminding herself that she couldn't just spell it out for Akko, even if the attraction between the two girls was apparent to everyone else.

"Me? Well… I kinda liked Andrew when we met, but then with the whole Love Bee incident I realized we worked better as just friends." Akko answered, oblivious as ever.

"Yes, I don't see you two working out as a couple. No offense." Ursula commented. "I think it'd be better for you to find someone more… delicate. Someone who also loves magic as much as you do and with whom you share interests and experiences." 'Someone who helped you save the world' was left unsaid.

"Yeah… Plus, I don't think Andrew is Taurus." Akko furrowed her brows as an idea got into her head. "Wait… should I then ask every boy I meet if he's Taurus so that I can find my true love easier?"

"I really don't think that's a good idea." Ursula immediately said, recognizing Akko was deadly serious about it and not wanting her to make silly life changing decisions because of what she'd learned in her class. "While stars certainly do influence our future, they can't shape it. Our decisions are still the driving force in our lives." She explained.

"Then why even bother with Astrology at all?!" Akko whined, frustrated. "I'm so tired of all these concepts and names and complicated relationships between the stars, and… can't we take a break?"

"Akko…" She started, only to be promptly interrupted.

"Please, I'm starting to lose my mind here! Maybe if you told me one of your stories, it would lift up my spirits?" She smiled, showing off one of her innocent pleading expressions that only a soulless being could ever hope to resist. Yet, Ursula still made a brave attempt.

"Don't you have another exam tomorrow?"

"Only potions! But Sucy said she'd help me out with that after dinner." Akko wisely decided to leave out the fact Sucy's idea of helping Akko was making her brew potions by memory, only to then test them on her… usually with less than favorable results.

"Probably a good idea, since I was never good at potions myself. Even to this day, Lukić rarely lets me get in a ten foot radius of her lab." The professor laughed, and her student readily joined in. It was nice knowing she had that in common with her mentor. "Oh! I know which story to tell you today!" The older witch exclaimed, suddenly appearing a lot more relaxed and less strict.

"So… are we taking a break?" Akko asked hopefully.

"I'm way too lenient with you." Ursula mumbled more to herself than to her student. "But anyways, let's go sit at the couch so we can begin the story."


"Chariot!" Both of my teammates yell at the same time when the potion we were working on explodes. I flinch and give them the most innocent smile I can muster, even if we all know what happened was most probably my fault. But hey, I was getting tired of not being allowed to do more than just watch them as they worked, and figured I would help a bit if I just added one of the ingredients. We were making a levitation potion, which isn't so complicated, and I studied how it was made with Croix the other day, so… I don't know what went wrong.

"Ah… sorry?" I squeak under the angry gaze of Karen and Amelia, as well as Professor Lukić's. "I-I just… uhm… I added some mandrake leaves, like the book says. I don't know why it exploded!"

"Are you blind, girl?" The old professor asks, obviously very upset that I just blew up yet another one of her precious cauldrons. "The book says you have to boil them before you add them!"

"It… does?" I look down at the opened book at my desk to corroborate her words, and sure enough, under the list of ingredients (the only thing I read), there's a paragraph detailing how to prepare some of the ingredients before adding them to the potion, and yes, mandrakes leaves have to be boiled. "Oh."

"You three will have to stay here and clean this mess after class. The rest of you are dismissed." At this, all the other students start walking out, all looking at me with either pity, contempt or amusement.

"I guess we can always count on Chariot to blow up the classroom and get us out early!" A girl from the yellow team says as she passes, laughing loudly with her twin, who is from the pink team. Those two are even better than me at getting into trouble to be honest, but at least they never get caught, so they can laugh all they want when I get punished, but I can't do the same to them, so I just blow them a raspberry as they walk by.

"I want everything to be nice and clean when I return." Lukić says once very student has exited the classroom. "Or else I'll rip off your tongues! Hehehe." And with that odious laughter she has, she closes the door and leaves us alone.

"Seriously, Chariot what were you thinking? We told you not to touch anything!" Karen says immediately, not giving me even a moment to breathe.

"But I was so bored! You guys won't let me do anything!" I immediately protest.

"Because you always end up blowing something up!" Amelia retorts, scowling at me. "And now we have to clean your mess. As always."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" I answer defensively. "I just thought…"

"You clearly didn't." Amelia cuts me off, visibly angry. Which makes me feel even worse because she's usually nice to me. Nicer than Karen anyways.

"And you, Amelia?" Karen then directs her glare at her, which gives me a moment to relax slightly. "Where were you? I told you to keep an eye on her!"

"Oh, so now it's my fault?" Amelia answers, glaring right back at Karen.

Great. They're going to start fighting again.

"G-girls, please, let's calm down…" I try to interfere, but I just manage to direct their anger right back at me, and I can barely stop myself from taking a step back in fear for my life.

"You want us to calm down?" Karen asks in disbelief, her green eyes piercing me all the way into my soul and making me shudder because of how cold they are. "How can we? Thanks to you we got punished again!"

"And I certainly don't look forward to cleaning all of this." Amelia adds, turning to look at our table.

I also let my gaze wander for a moment, looking at the mess I caused. The contents of our cauldron are now scattered all over the laboratory, staining the tables with a purple substance that appears to be sticky, so it'll probably be difficult to remove. There are also some flasks that got knocked over because of the explosion and their contents are now spilled all over the floor. And to top it all, there's a very nasty aroma impregnating the whole place.

Yeah… I wouldn't want to clean this either.

This will surely cause another crack to appear in the already fragile relationship between me and my roommates. I wonder how long it will be before they make me sleep in the hallway. And with good reason, at that.

But before I can suggest they let me clean it all by myself, the door opens. We all tense instantly, thinking it's Lukić coming back to check on our progress, but instead in walks…

"Croix?" I exclaim, unable to hide the smile that instantly appears on my face, like I'm seeing the first ray of sunlight after a particularly fierce storm.

"Chariot?" She also says, clearly surprised, but then she takes in the rest of the laboratory and chuckles. "What the hell did you do this time?" She shakes her head in amusement.

I can only blush in embarrassment at her seeing one of my infamous disasters. More so because she's tutoring me, and she's a prodigy, and after taking so many lessons with her this surely shouldn't be happening. Great, now she'll think I'm even more of a dunce.

"Croix Meridies?" Amelia speaks, looking at my friend with a mix of surprise and confusion.

"The one and only." Croix smirks, modest as ever. I can only roll my eyes at that. "I'm sorry to intrude, I just came here searching for my favorite slave over there."

"How can you even stand her?" Karen scoffs, crossing her arms over her chest. "With how bad she is at literally everything I thought you'd turn her into a frog at the first chance, given your reputation."

"Maybe I should turn you into a frog." Croix answers, her eyes narrowing into slits and her whole demeanor changing from casual to murderous in less than a second. Karen gulps at this, and then looks to the side, avoiding looking directly at her.

"I'm just saying… with you being a prodigy and all, I bet you could find someone better to help you out while you're injured." Karen shrugs, trying to appear nonchalant, even if she's obviously scared of Croix. "That's what everyone else thinks, anyways." She adds quickly, probably not wanting to upset her even more. But now that I think about it, why is Croix even getting upset? It's not like Karen is wrong… even if it hurts.

"I don't suppose you can understand why I chose Chariot instead a snobby brat like you, so I won't even try to explain it." She makes a dramatic pause, getting out her wand and twirling it around for show. "But I won't tolerate you insulting her anymore, are we clear?"

What? Why is Croix defending me? I thought…

"Why do you even care?" Karen voices out my exact thoughts, though she does so in a defensive manner.

"Why do you care why I care?" Croix shoots back, instantly shutting her up. "Now, I recognize that Chariot can be quite… disastrous, to put it mildly."

"Hey!" I protest. I thought she was defending me!

"Which is why…" She continues, looking at me with an expression that clearly says 'Don't interrupt me again, or else'. "I believe it's only fair if she cleans this mess alone, wouldn't you agree?"

"What?!" I shriek. Just when I thought Croix was being nice for once!

"But professor Lukić said the three of us should do it." Amelia interferes for the first time since my friend walked through the door.

"And she'll cut out our tongues if we don't finish in time." Karen adds. "And I honestly don't trust Chariot to do it all on her own."

For once, I agree with Karen. But I wouldn't say that out loud.

"And if I help her?" Croix says, to the astonishment and confusion of me and the rest of the orange team.

"W-what?" This is getting more and more confusing by the second!

"You would do that?" Amelia asks, eyes wide as saucers, since she clearly can't believe what she's hearing. "Why?"

"I have my reasons." Croix shrugs, smiling in a way that I know she probably has some experiment in mind, and all I can do is gulp and see as my fate is sealed. "But rest assured, I swear on my honor as the top student in Luna Nova that this place will be spotless by the time your professor comes back."

"That sounds… tempting." Amelia says, turning to look at Karen questioningly, silently asking for her opinion.

"Certainly." Karen agrees, smirking maliciously in my direction. "It's hard to argue with Croix's reputation, and I do have homework for tomorrow, so I would benefit from some extra time."

"Girls." I practically whine, begging them not to leave me alone here.

"Then it's settled." My friend smiles, crossing her arms over her chest. "Come on, get out before I change my mind."

Before I can even protest any further, and with my begging falling in deaf ears, my roommates take their belongings and exit the classroom, all the while thanking Croix profusely and blatantly ignoring me. And in just a few seconds they're out. Great.

I turn to glare at the lilac-haired prodigy.

"Why did you do that, Croix? You're so mean!"

"You'll thank me when your teammates don't murder you in your sleep." She shrugs, smiling excitedly. "But that aside, I really needed to be left alone in here."

"What are you planning?" I ask with a mix of curiosity and caution. After all, I don't want to get in any more trouble, but I'm curious to see what kind of experiments Croix does on her lab.

"I need to get some ingredients from Lukić's personal stock, but I can't just ask for them because they can be… dangerous." She explains, the smile not leaving her face.

"You're gonna make me use them, aren't you?" I say once I come to the obvious conclusion.

"You're the one who won't let me do any magic." She retorts, and I'm left without any good answer for that.

"Okay, but first you have to help me clean this." I relent at the end, knowing I have really no other option.

"Like this?" She raises an eyebrow as she points to her injured arm.

"Uh…" Damn, I hadn't thought about that! Is she really going to let me clean all of this on my own?

"We need to use magic if we want to finish on time." Croix says. "But the spell is quite advanced, especially for a first-year like you…" She trails off, looking pointedly at me and silently asking me something. And while her offer is very tempting, I'd rather spend the rest of my life scrubbing this classroom than letting her hurt herself trying to clean my mess.

"Forget it. You're not doing magic." I deadpan, crossing my arms over my chest for emphasis.

"Fine then, catch this." Croix takes something out of her pocket and throws it at me without warning, but thankfully I'm able to catch it, though I do fumble with it for a couple of seconds before I can properly secure it in my grasp. Then I notice it's a small flask of glass containing a transparent blood-red liquid. "Drink it and you should be able to cast the spell."

Oh! So it's a potion then.

"Were you just carrying it around for no reason?" I ask, raising an eyebrow. It's a little too convenient, to be honest.

"I bought it from a third-year. Just in case you did something stupid and wouldn't let me fix it." She smirks.

"I hate you." I say pouting. But I have to admit it did come in handy… which just makes me hate her more.

"You're welcome." She answers, undeterred and continuing to smirk as odiously as she always does. She appears to be in a good mood today, and honestly? I almost miss grumpy Croix. "The spell is Yera Retoure."

"Year Tour?" I mispronounce it just to spite her.

"Yera Retoure." She corrects, rolling her eyes. "Now come on, we don't have all day."

"Okay, okay." I agree, since I do want to finish it as quickly as possible even if I'm not looking forward to working with dangerous substances in Croix's lab. But I'm more afraid of Lukić, to be honest.

So I uncork the flask and swiftly drink it all in one just one gulp. It tastes gross and bitter, like medicine, and the taste remains in my mouth even after I've swallowed, but as soon as I put down the flask and wipe my mouth with the back of my hand, I start feeling something like a tingling. It's like the magic inside my body is getting restless and trying to break out of the tips of my fingers… it's the same feeling than when I try to cast a spell, except it's like someone else is doing it for me. I don't really like this sensation, but if it gets the work done without any more disasters then I ain't going to complain.

Anyways, I decide to ignore the unpleasant sensation and just cast the stupid spell.

"Yera Retoure!" I yell, pointing towards the broken cauldron and scattered stuff. And as if by magic (ha!), everything starts going back to its original state and position; the flasks' pieces regroup and attach, like they were never broken in the first place, the ingredients go back inside the now-repaired jars, the burning marks disappear and the gooey substance returns to the cauldron. "Whoa!" I can't help gasping in awe. Everything looks so pristine! Professor Lukić will be so impressed when she comes back.

"Yeah, yeah, very impressive." Croix rolls her eyes one more time, clearly annoyed I'm just staring at the cleaned laboratory like it's the most marvelous thing I've seen all day (and it is!). "But don't get cocky, okay? That was just the potion at work. If you tried to do it on your own you'd probably cause an even bigger explosion."

"I know." I answer, pouting at her. I didn't need that reminder! Come on, Croix, just let me believe I can actually do decent magic for now!

"Good, now… I think it's time to collect some ingredients."

That smile definitely means trouble. What did I get into now? I'm starting to think the free lessons aren't worth this.


A/N: I hope you liked this chapter! Please let me know what you think of this in a review, even if I don't usually answer them, I read them all and I really really appreciate them. So thanks for reading and thanks to all of you who have left reviews/favs/follows :D

See you in two weeks :)

Thanks to my beta reader moonwatcher13.