Akko stretched her arms as the group walked through the hallway.

"Hahhhh I'm so glad that's over!" She whined a little. "Who would have thought the extra credit was for having your partner drink the potion and not the other way around?"

"Everyone." Hannah answered.

"Everyone." Barbara repeated.

"Everyone with a brain." Sucy huffed.

Akko turned around and stuck her tongue out at them.

"It did seem a little too good to be true when you first mentioned it." Lotte said, hoping to be helpful.

"At least Cavendish was willing to drink your potion." Amanda smirked and turned towards Diana. "Like, seriously, are you crazy, suicidal, or both?"

"For your information," Diana huffed, "I had absolute confidence in Akko's ability. I have absolute confidence in Akko's ability. Unlike you, it seems."

Amanda raised her hands innocently.

"Regardless, even if she had made a mistake, it is incredibly difficult, or rather, nigh impossible to incorrectly brew the Coma Capillus potion in any way that would be consider dangerous."

"Nóstos Álgos, on the other hand…" Sucy mumbled. "Seriously, did you brew that to show me up or were you feeling that cocky enough to try it?"

"I wanted a challenge," Diana shrugged, "liquid nostalgia sounded interesting."

"Speaking of which…" Hannah put a hand on her hip. "Akko, is your happiest memory seriously at some…hot spring?"

"No!" Akko huffed indignantly. "…okay, fine, I did remember the first time I ever visited a hot spring, but I also remembered a bunch of other stuff! It was like…reliving all my happy childhood memories, I guess?"

She smiled warmly.

"I remembered the first time I rode a bike, the first time I saw Shiny Chariot, my old room as a kid…" She trailed off, mumbling about all manner of mundane, ordinary things of little importance.

"It's liquid nostalgia," Sucy clarified, "does exactly what it says on the tin, makes you feel nostalgic."

"I take it it's difficult to brew?" Barbara asked, though it wasn't really a question.

"Rating of four black stars according to the Olde Witche Brewing Catalog." Stanbot chirped from Constanze's shoulder. "Second highest complexity ranking!"

"Indeed," Diana said, "it's not dangerous per se if brewed incorrectly, but there's a large number of steps that must be followed to—oh my! Akko! You…you look hot!"

Lotte tripped over her own foot and collided face-first into the ground.

"Are…you alright?" Sucy asked as she helped the poor girl up.

"I-I'm fine…" Lotte answered, rubbing her nose. "I-I just…oh, my! Akko, you look feverish!"

"Ih fweel phweeeen…" Akko wobbled in a circle, her cheeks flushed to the point that her face resembled a lumpy pomegranate.

Amanda put a hand to Akko's forehead, winced, and put her hand back down.

"Yikes." She said, not needing to say any more than that.

"Pwobly jussa floo…" Akko mumbled, then sniffed. "Nah big eel."

Sucy rolled her eyes and reached up her sleeve. From somewhere hidden in her robes she withdrew a small bottle filled almost to the cork with a yellow liquid that shimmered so brightly that it looked like molten gold.

She uncorked the bottle, and held it out to Akko.

"Drink this," she said, "and then go take a nap."

Akko grabbed the bottle and the group collectively stared at it. After a few seconds, they all gave Sucy a variation of the same look.

"It's a cure-all." Sucy rolled her eyes.

"You don't make 'cure-alls'," Hannah narrowed her eyes, "you make poisons."

"I can make more than one thing!" Sucy snapped, than sighed. "Look, I swear it's not poison. I'll drink some of it myself if that'll prove it to you."

"Nab…" Akko sniffed again. "I trush you, Shucy!"

And with that, she downed the bottle's contents, much to the rest of the group's bewilderment. She smacked her lips when she finished.

"Kinba tase like pinabble…" She wrinkled her nose and pinched her forehead. "Woof, that clearsh the sinusesh!"

"Yeah, yeah…" Sucy mumbled, as if embarrassed to have created something that didn't kill her. "Now go lie down in the infirmary or something and let the potion do the rest."

"Cahn do!" Akko saluted and half-stumbled, half-skipped down the hall. She paused for a moment near the end to grip her nose again and mumble about how tingly it felt to jump around.

"I'll go with her." Lotte said, more as a statement of fact than an offer. She too walked away and together the pair disappeared into the school halls.

With the two of them gone, Diana decided to stare at Sucy. Sucy shifted uncomfortably.

"What?" She asked flatly.

"Oh, nothing, nothing…" Diana tossed back her hair. "Just…that was Xanánioma Draught, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…" Sucy ventured, unsure of where this was going.

"Quite the…quite the complex brew, one might say, hm?"

Sucy narrowed her eyes.

"Four black stars in the Olde Witche Brewing Catalog, if I recall correctly."

"Don't you dare."

"Did you brew that to show me up?" Diana raised an eyebrow.

"Don't. You. Dare."

"Or were you feeling that cocky enough to try it?"

"Bite me, cabbage dish!"

"There you go," Lotte half-mumbled as she rolled Akko into one of the infirmary beds, "you get some rest."

"Bud Ihm naw tire!" Akko whined into her pillow. "I wanna schtay up an plah!"

"You need to rest," she said, "you'll feel much better if you do."

"Ohkey mommy…" Akko dragged the sheets half-heartedly over herself.

Lotte rolled her eyes and turned around to adjust the bed's curtains. Her glasses fogged up briefly and she moved to wipe them off.

"You know, I don't remember you ever getting sick before," she said as she lightly pushed the lenses into the fabric of her robe, "I hope it's not contagious."

"Wash contashish mean, mommy?"

"I'm not your mom, Akko." Lotte put her glasses back on and blinked the blurriness away. She made a brief mental note to open a window or something, the infirmary was far too hot and humid.

"Hehe…" Lotte chuckled to herself. "It's kinda funny, I never took Sucy to be the kind of person to make helpful potions. Did you know what she brewed today? I actually don't know myself, it was so powerful I was afraid I would pass out from the smell alone! Ugh, that girl, I swear…"

Silence was the response.

"Hm?" Lotte dropped her voice to a whisper. "Did you finally get to sleep, Akko?"

Her glasses were starting to fog up again. She frowned and twiddled with her hair as she wiped them off for a second time. Her hair, from what she could tell, was frizzing up something fierce, which might have been chalked up to the humidity if it didn't also feel a bit…damp.

Why did her hair feel damp? That…that wasn't right.

Lotte turned around.

"Akko?"