Out of all places to choose for a double date, Akko preemptively settled on a particular small restaurant in Blytonbury. The place wasn't overly luxurious, but at the same time, it had a bit of an odd friendly atmosphere to it that made Akko gravitate towards the place in her own way, choosing it quite often as a dating spot for whenever she and Sucy would go out, provided they had the money needed to pay up for what they wanted. Naturally, Akko figured that this would be a good enough place for a double date between Diana and Constanze.

As the group arrived there, Diana was somewhat surprised to see that Akko and Sucy opted to sit at a different table, further away from her and Constanze, but didn't question it all that much. As for Akko, she was hoping that the plan would set itself into motion soon.

Under the pretense of looking through her menu, trying to find any good mushroom-based meals, Sucy whispered: "I'm telling you, Akko, it just doesn't seem to click between them. Right now they're hardly even paying any attention to one another."

"Come on, Suce, I know for certain that it's going to work! We just need to give them a little nudge in the right direction, and everything will go perfectly!" – Honestly, even the brunette's attempts at whispering were a tad too loud for her own good. Luckily, neither Diana nor Constanze seemed to have caught on, currently busy placing their respective orders.

While the duo were busy with their soft drinks, Akko was incredibly disappointed with what she was seeing. They didn't even attempt to strike up any conversations! It took the Asian witch all of her willpower to not groan out in sheer frustration.

"Akko, it's not going to work. Even if you're right and Constanze has feelings for Diana, she is too shy to tell Diana anything outright, and Diana is… Well, we don't even know if she has the same feelings for that quiet girl. " – Sucy deadpanned after taking a quick sip of grape juice, earning a pout from her girlfriend in response.

"Sucy, I know it's going to work out! Just give them some time!" – The brunette responded, although she was unsure whom she was trying to reassure here – Sucy, or herself.

And yet still, the awkward silence between Constanze and Diana persisted regardless - even after their respective orders were brought up, they didn't exchange a single word while eating, sans the occasional request to pass the salt or something.

"Then again, I might as well nudge them in the right direction myself…" – Akko remarked, getting up from her seat, and putting on her usual cheerful smile as she approached Diana and Constanze.

The girls were somewhat startled with the brunette's presence, and even more so when she asked in her usual no-indoors-voice tone: "So, are you two enjoying yourselves so far? Maybe you would like to ease the tension a tad and, I dunno, talk to each other for a bit to break the uncomfortable silence here?"

"Akko, right now, you're creating the opposite of silence. And I can't say it's too comforting." – Diana bluntly remarked, making Akko pout yet again.

"Okay… Do you two know why I brought you two along specifically, and not, say, Lotte and Amanda?" – The Japanese girl continued, trying to keep her smile up regardless. At this moment, she could swear she saw Constanze blush, her expression momentarily shifting to a slightly surprised one.

"A friendly double date, I presume. That being said, I do appreciate your efforts – considering we both had a tad too much free time on our hands, it was nice of you to let us tag along." – The blonde replied, a tiny tone of unease persisting in her voice regardless. Cue the groan from Akko as she shouted out: "Come on now, which one of us is the dummy here?! Constanze has a crush on you, and I brought you two along to arrange a surprise date for you two!"

It was at this moment that Akko covered her mouth with both her hands in realization that she let her frustration get the best of her. Not helping matters were the equally shocked reactions of both Diana and Constanze, while Sucy just groaned and facepalmed, grumbling something along the lines of "My girlfriend can be so much trouble sometimes…"

"Akko… I…" – Diana couldn't help but blush as the realization slowly but steadily hit her. – "I do appreciate your efforts, but… I don't think there was any need to play matchmaker, especially in the light of… Some of my past attempts at a romantic relationship, so-"

Before Diana could finish her sentence, Constanze nearly immediately stood up from her seat, casting her usual angry glare at Akko. Although this time, it wasn't her usual grumpy look, but seemingly genuine anger.

"Really? That was it? That's the sole reason you- I can't even… Why would you…" – Constanze stammered out, shocking just about every other girl present in this conversation – mostly because rarely anyone heard her speak more than just a few occasional sentences. One could clearly hear the slight nervousness in her voice, however, as she sure wasn't used to talking so much. Especially considering she had yet more to say still.

"So the sole reason you dragged us along here was just because you got some mixed signals? Because you saw something that made you get the idea that I might actually have a… A crush on Diana? And you just had to interfere in some way?!" – Constanze shouted out, her eyes seeming teary by now.

"Constanze, look, I just wanted to help. I thought that-" – Not that Akko got a chance to finish her sentence, as the normally-quiet German girl continued her tirade: "You didn't think anything through! Even your attempts to help me out back then with the Wild Hunt project was solely because you, for some dumb reason, felt like intervening! That's what your problem is, Akko! You always stick your face into matters where you have no sense of being in, and mess everything up in the process! The only thing that you accomplished right now is… You just made everything horribly awkward and…" – It was at this point that Constanze didn't feel like talking any further as she looked down and off to the side.

"Constanze…" – Akko tried in a vain attempt to get Constanze to hear her out, but all she got was a loud "Leave me alone!" as the girl bolted right out of the restaurant in tears, causing a few surprised "Oh"s courtesy of the other people present within the restaurant at the moment. After a few moments of awkward silence…

"Oh dear… Normally I'd crack a joke at how badly you messed up here, but…" – Sucy looked over at Akko, who was now also looking downright dejected. – "Yeah… That would be too mean even for me."

"I do have to admit, I… Never heard Constanze get so… Talkative." – Diana added, feeling somewhat shocked at the situation herself. – "I… I suppose I'd better take my leave for now. Regardless…" – As much as she wanted to reprimand Akko for what happened just now, the blonde decided against it, instead saying: "Thanks for the effort, I suppose."

After Diana left the restaurant, Akko went back to sit beside Sucy and leaned on the mauve-haired girl's shoulder, sighing dejectedly.

"You messed up, big time." –Sucy's brutal honesty came into play yet again, eliciting another defeated groan from Akko. Sure, she wouldn't bring herself to crack any jokes at Akko's expense in such a situation, but a tiny bit of brutal honesty still slipped on through regardless.

"I know, Suce, I know." – The brunette remarked, not even bothering to snap back at her girlfriend. – "I just don't understand it. I thought it was going to go by smoothly. All that was needed was to give Constanze a nudge in the right direction to confess to Diana and… That would be it."

"Look, Akko, I'm no expert in matters of the heart… But I think I kinda know how Constanze feels in that situation, even if I don't hang around her nearly as much as, say, Amanda or Jasminka do." – The alchemist replied, giving Akko a light pat on the head, figuring that she would need to tone her usual harshness down by a bit. – "After all, she's not the only person I know who was too shy to admit her feelings for another girl."

"But of course. You know a good half of the Academy after all." – The brunette replied, giggling, and prompting a chuckle from Sucy as well. However, even after the brief attempt at alleviating the otherwise serious mood, Akko sighed again and added: "Still, when we get back to Luna Nova, I think I should apologize to Constanze for what happened. I think I really might've made everything way more awkward for her than intended."

"Give her some time to calm down, at least. Trust me, if you won't, she'll just refuse to talk to you completely." – The Filipina girl replied the moment Akko tried to get up from the seat and rush over to the restaurant exit.

"No, I have to fix this ASAP! Catch up to me later, will ya?" – The brunette hastily replied as she rushed right off, not even letting the alchemist stop her. As Akko left, Sucy was just about to grumble that her girlfriend ditched her with everyone's bills, but soon noticed that she preemptively left a fairly sizable amount of cash that covered a good half of the costs, including the ones for her and Sucy's meals, so she preferred not to bring that one up.

Not that this was on the top of the list of her concerns at the moment anyway.