Akko felt as though she were carrying some kind of talisman inside her chest over the following two weeks, a glowing secret that supported her through Light Spinner's classes and even made it possible for her to smile blandly as she looked into her horribly narrowed eyes. She and the Shiny Corps were resisting her under her very nose, doing the very thing that she and the Council most feared, and whenever she was supposed to be reading Borin's book during her lessons, she dwelled instead on satisfying memories of their most recent meetings, remembering how Chinatsu had successfully disarmed Makoto, how Sarah Bernhardt had mastered the Impairment Jinx after three meetings' hard effort, how Lin-Lin Chang had produced a Heat Blast Spell so powerful, it had reduced a statue to ash.
She was finding it almost impossible to fix a regular night of the week for their meetings, as they had to accommodate five separate Chariot Racing teams' practices, which were often rearranged depending on the weather conditions; but Akko was not sorry about this, she had a feeling that it was probably better to keep the timing of their meetings unpredictable. If anyone was watching them, it would be hard to make out a pattern.
Diana soon devised a very clever method of communicating the time and date of the next meeting to all the members in case they needed to change it on short notice, because it would look suspicious if people from different Houses were seen talking to each other too often. She had each member of Shiny Corps hold at their arms and started marking the insides of their wrists with a strange purple pen embedded with a tiny glowing emerald.
"Oh, don't be a baby, it's not going to hurt," said Diana, dragging the pen across Lotte's skin at the end of their fourth meeting. The purple ink appeared to mark them before it vanished, seemingly absorbed into their skin. "This is a special ink that crafted based on the secret messaging system used by O'Neill and her sisters. When we have decided on a time, the date will appear on your arm for a brief moment. It responds to body heat, so you'll feel hot when the date changes. Once we've chosen a date, I will mark it down on my own arm, and because I've put a Protean Charm on this pen, your marks will all change to mimic mine."
A blank silence greeted Diana's words. She looked around at all the faces upturned to her, rather disconcerted.
"Well – I thought it was a good idea," she said. "I mean, the formula I borrowed from O'Neill makes it completely invisible to magic, so even if Light Spinner tries to find something, she won't. Most Demi-Humans never consider using basic human methods of secret communication…."
"You can do a Protean Charm?" said Amity Blight.
"Yes," said Diana.
"But that's…that's M.o.M standard," she said dumbfoundedly.
"Oh," said Diana, trying to look modest. "Oh…well…yes, I suppose it is…."
Amity stared at her senior in wonder, oblivious to Luz's attempts to catch her attention.
"So, does that mean everyone consents to the idea?" asked Diana.
There was a murmur of assent and everybody lined up to receive their marks. Akko looked sideways at Diana.
"You know what this kind of reminds me of?"
"What?"
"Evelyn. The way she is connected to some many people at the same time and take control of them."
"Believe me, this is nothing like Evelyn," said Diana firmly. "For one thing, this is simply for communicating with people, not taking over their minds."
"I don't know," said Akko with a teasing grin. "With the way you've been acting lately, I wouldn't be surprised if you were secretly plotting world domination."
And that little remark earned her a kick in the shin.
As the first Chariot Race of the season was drawing closer, their Shiny Corps meetings were put on hold because very insisted on almost daily practices. The fact that the Chariot Cup had not been held for so long added considerably to the interest and excitement surrounding the forthcoming race. Even the Heads of Houses of the competing teams, though they attempted to disguise it under a decent pretense of sportsmanship, were determined to see their side's victory. It showed how much Professor Finnelan wanted to win when she abstained from giving Diana homework in the week leading up to the match.
Ursula and Croix were the most obvious couple in Luna Nova, next to Diana and Akko. But like them, when it came to Chariot Racing, all bets were off. Ursula had booked the racing track for Polaris practice so often that other teams had difficulty getting on it to play. And Croix turned a deaf ear to the many reports of Eclipse attempts to hex the other players in the corridors. When Zizi Delevingne from the Twilight team turned up in the hospital wing with her eyebrows growing so thick and fat that they obscured her vision and obstructed her mouth, Croix insisted that she must have attempted a Hair-Thickening Charm on herself and refused to listen to the fourteen eyewitnesses who insisted that they had seen Carmen Diaz hit her from behind with a jinx while she worked in the library.
Akko felt optimistic about Polaris's chances; even without Shooting Star or the Shiny Balai, Akko was still a considerably good flier after a lot of practice. Admittedly, Luz as still not performing to Amelia's standard, but she was working extremely hard to improve. Her greatest weakness was a tendency to lose confidence when she made a blunder; if she missed a target or dropped a ring, she became flustered and was therefore likely to do worse. On the other hand, Akko had seen Luz pull of some truly spectacular performances when she was on form: During one memorable practice, Luz had flown directly into a tornado on the storm track, collected all six rings swirling around inside, and escaped unharmed. The rest of the team felt this performance compared favorably to Elaina; a French International player nicknamed The Wandering Witch.
The only thing really worrying Akko was how much Luz was allowing the tactics of the other teams to upset her before they even got onto the field. Akko, of course, had endured their snide comments for more than four years, so whispers of, "Hey, Kagari, I heard Dahlia's sworn to knock you off your broom on Saturday," far from chilling her blood, made her laugh. "Dahlia's aim's so bad, I'd be more worried if she was aiming for the person next to me," she retorted, which made Amanda and Sucy laugh and wiped the smirk off of Priscilla Vasquez's face.
But Luz had never endured a relentless campaign of insults, jeers, and intimidation. When Eclipse and Corona, some of them seventh years and considerably larger than she was, muttered as they passed in the hallways, "Got your bed booked in the hospital wing, Noceda?" she did not laugh, but turned a delicate shade of green.
October extinguished itself in a rush of howling winds and driving rain and November arrived, cold as frozen iron, with hard frost every morning and icy drafts that bit at exposed hands and faces. The skies turned a pale, pearly gray, the trees of the surrounding forest became snowcapped, and the temperature in the school dropped so far that many students wore their protective dragon skin gloves in the halls between classes.
The morning of the match dawned bright and cold. When Akko came down to the common room, she found Luz sitting in the loveseat, her arms around her knees, staring fixedly into the fire.
"You good?" said Akko.
Luz nodded, but did not speak. She looked so pale and sweaty, not to mention reluctant to open her mouth as if fearing she might vomit all over the rug.
"You just need some breakfast," Akko said bracingly. "C'mon."
The dining hall was filling up fast when they arrived, the talk louder and the mood more exuberant than usual. As they walked through the tables, there was an upsurge of noise. Several of the rivaling houses were pointing and laughing at Luz, and some of them were imitating Luz falling off her broom. Barbara did an especially spirited rendition of Luz's first practice when she flew into a wall and broke her arm, earning some over-the-top laughter from her fellow Lunar students. When Akko looked to her girlfriend, silently requesting her to stop them, Diana pointedly ignored her. Where Chariot Racing was concerned, Diana can be particularly vicious and cruel. It created a paradoxical feeling of love and hate in Akko's chest.
They received a rousing welcome from the Polaris students, where everyone was wearing red, but far from raising Luz's spirits, the cheers seemed to sap the last of her morale; she collapsed onto the nearest chair looking as though she were facing her final meal.
"I must've been insane to do this," she said in a croaky whisper. "Why did I do this? Why?"
"You're going to be fine," said Akko firmly, passing her a choice of cereals "It's normal to be nervous on the first game. I was the same way when I started."
"I'm trash," croaked Luz. "I suck. I can't play to save my life. What was I thinking?"
"Get a grip," said Akko exasperatedly. "What about practice we had the other day? You flew into a tornado and came out with six rings. Even the twins thought it was amazing – "
Luz turned a tortured face to Akko.
"I didn't do that on purpose," she whispered miserably. "I shielding my eyes from the winds and flew into the tornado without realizing it. I was flailing and screaming the whole time. Those rings smacked against my face and I caught them by accident."
"Well," said Akko, recovering quickly from this unpleasant surprise, "a few more accidents like that and the game's in the bag, right?"
Lotte and Sucy sat down opposite them wearing Polaris-colored scares and glove; Sucy more reluctant.
"How're you feeling?" Lotte asked Luz, who was now staring into the dregs of milk at the bottom of her bowl as though seriously considering attempting to drown herself in them.
"She's just nervous," said Akko.
"Well, that's a good sign, I never feel you perform as well during a test if you're not a little nervous," said Lotte heartily.
"Hello," said a vague and dreamy voice from behind them. Akko looked up: Molly McIntyre had somehow snuck up to their table without anyone the wiser.
"Hey, Molly," Akko greeted casually. "Looking forward to the big game?"
"Oh, definitely," Molly nodded cheerfully. "Even thought I'm cheering for Twilight, I still want to wish you good luck. And Luz, I'm sorry you won't get to race. I'm sure you would have done just fine."
"Uh…okay?" Luz mumbled, looking at her strangely.
"And Akko," she whispered quietly, leaning close into Akko's ear. "Please try to keep your cool. Don't fall into Light Spinner's trap…. Well, good luck everyone."
She drifted away. Akko had no time to decipher Molly's cryptic message before Avery came hurrying toward them, accompanied by Rashmi and Rajani.
"When you're ready," she said, "we're going straight down to the field, check out conditions and change."
"We'll be there soon," Akko assured her. "Luz's just gonna have some breakfast."
It became clear after ten minutes, however, that Luz was not capable of eating anything more and Akko thought it best to get her down to the changing rooms. As they rose from the table, the other houses gave Luz another round of heckling that made her shrink in on herself. Akko hurried Luz across the entrance hall, down the stone steps, and out into the icy air.
The frosty grass crunched under their feet as they hurried down the sloping lawn toward the stadium. There was no wind at all and the sky was a uniform pearly white, which meant that visibility would be good without the drawback of direct sunlight in their eyes. Akko pointed out these encouraging factors to Luz as they walked, but she was not sure that Luz was listening.
Aery had already changed and was talking to the rest of the team when they entered. Akko and Luz pulled on their uniforms (Luz attempted to do hers back-to-front for several minutes before Avery one of the twins took pity on her and went to help) and then sat down to listen to the pre-match talk while the babble of voices outside grew steadily louder as the crowd came pouring out of the school toward the stadium.
"Okay, I've only just found out the final lineup for the other teams," said Avery, consulting a piece of paper. "Caster and Tennyson from Luna graduated last year, but they've been replaced by Parker and England, Diana's lackeys. Word is they fly pretty well – England is said to be even better than Diana."
"That family magic of hers probably comes in handy," Akko commented.
"They're not the only ones to worry about," said Avery, giving the paper another look. "Almost the entire Eclipse team has been replaced except for one, so they're an unknown quantity. Corona still has the same lineup as last, but now Testarossa is captain, so you can count on her changing things up a bit. And finally, Twilight has one new member: Professor Kowata's sister."
"I didn't know Makoto tried out," said Akko, surprised.
"From the sound of it, she didn't either," said Avery, stuffing the paper in her pocket. "Rumor's going around that Professor Kowata signed her name and she was forced to try out."
"Glad I don't have a sister like that," said Rashmi (?)
"And what kind of sister do you have?" asked Rajani (?)
"Do you really want to know?" Rashmi (?) responded.
They could hear hundreds of footsteps mounting the banked benches of the spectators' stands now. Akko was starting to feel nervous, but she knew her butterflies were nothing compared to Luz's, who was clutching her stomach and staring straight ahead again, her jaw set and her complex pale gray.
"It's time," said Avery in a hushed voice, looking at the clock. "C'mon, everyone…good luck."
The team rose, shouldered their brooms, and marched in single file out of the changing room and into the dazzling sunlight. A roar of sound greeted them in which Akko could hear the chanting of the five houses and the names of their favorite players; Diana and Fate were obviously the most popular.
The other teams were standing waiting for them. Diana stood at the front of the Lunar squad, who stood behind their captain like soldiers at attention; the amount of discipline Diana must have enforced to get them to act like that made Akko wonder. Fate stood out to one side, the sunlight gleaming on her golden-blonde hair. She caught Akko's eye and gave her a leer of someone looking forward to an intense match. Akko had to search to find Makoto among the Twilights, standing hidden behind her considerably taller teammates.
"Captains, shake hands," ordered the umpire, Professor Kiki, as the five captains reached each other Akko could tell that Avery and the new Eclipse captain, Dahlia, were trying to crush each other's hands. "Take your positions…."
Professor Kiki placed her whistle in her mouth and blew.
The first set of racers sped off down the track as the course transformed before their eyes, shifting and molding until it became a darkened, dense forest as tall as the stands. From her place on the sidelines, Akko could faintly see Avery's midnight-purple hair weaving through the branches. She was trying to collect as many rings as she could before passing them on to Rashmi. They were sticking with the plan to build up points so they would have less to be concerned with when Luz went last….
"And Buckland snags another ring, bringing Polaris's score up to sixty. What a player that girl is, at least on the racing track. Poor girl still can't find a date – "
"WANGARI!" yelled Professor Finnelan.
"Just a fun fact, Professor, adds a bit of interest – and she ducked Rosemary, she takes a shot at Elusia, she misses – ouch – been hit from behind by a spell from Zephyr. Rosemary goes for a target – it's intercepted by Velko – and Buckland nails Velko from behind with a summoning charm, pulling her right off her broom – walk it off, Velko – Rosemary and Elusia are fighting for the front, but Buckland is starting to catch up – "
As they rounded the third corner of the track, Rashmi hopped onto her broom and floated over the starting line between the other racers, stretching her arm out. The first wave of fliers were rounding the final turn as the track dissolved behind them.
" – Buckland knocks Rosemary off course, but Elusia weaves out of the way – Buckland puts on the speed – Buckland removes her rings, Rashmi takes a leading start – Buckland takes a risky toss and – IT'S GOOD!"
Rashmi deftly caught the rings Aery had passed along amid the cheers from the Polaris section, but nearly tumbled over when the next course appeared as a raging snowstorm. The strong winds caught Rashmi by surprise and pushed her back towards the starting line, giving the second racers from Twilight and Lunar an opportunity to pass her.
Akko rubbed her gloved hands together trying to regain some warmth. It was bad enough that they were playing their first game so close to the winter season, but throwing in a blizzard was overkill. Akko could only imagine how Rashmi felt, growing up in India.
But Rashmi seemed to be managing well enough. She managed to overtake the Twilight racer, Lynch, but was still behind the Lunar racer, Marigold. Akko joined the Polaris crowd's cheers when she weaved around a spell shot by Eclipse's racer and performed a counter spell that smacked her directly in the face, causing Eclipse to lose two rings. Rashmi doubled back to try grabbing the fallen rings, but only succeeded in snatching one while the other was buried in the snow. After that, she had to catch up with the other players who had passed her, getting into a heated duel with Eclipse's racer, Deirdre, while everyone else was speeding up to escape the flurry as fast as they could.
"Don't get distracted, Rashmi!" Avery screamed to Akko's left. "Focus on the points! The points!"
Akko chanced a look at Luz and the younger witch somehow seemed worse than before, dry heaving into a bucket with tears threatening to spill over. Being in a real game was a lot more stressful than practice, Akko understood, and the weight of her responsibility as anchor was starting to get to Luz. The only thing Akko could do at the moment was rub something circles on the girl's back.
Unfortunately, Rashmi came around the final corner behind everyone else as the previous course melted behind her. She was ale to pass the rings safely to her twin, but the other teams had gotten a good head start, which meant Rajani had her work cut out to catch them.
The next track turned into a giant hedge maze with indestructible walls that the racers couldn't fly through, which the Eclipse racer, Creed, had demonstrated by flying headfirst into the first wall and was rebuffed. A chorus of pained groans bellowed from the Eclipse section not only because their player flopped on the ground on her back, but the rings she had been carrying littered the track, including their first. Eclipse's score immediately fell to zero – they had been eliminated from the race. Eclipse captain Dahlia was screaming a lot of profanities at the unconscious racer.
"Watch your mouth, Dahlia, before I wash it out for you!" Professor Finnelan chastised her over the loudspeakers, which caused a great many student to laugh openly.
"That makes things a little easier," Avery told her, "but we're still behind by sixty points. Kagari, you need to get us ahead before Luz goes on."
"I'll do what I can, Avery, but you should have a little more faith in Luz," said Akko. "She might even – hey, where'd she go?"
Luz had seemingly disappeared, and Akko and Avery looked around frantically. They eventually found her hiding under the bench in a fetal position, trying to make herself small. Avery gave Akko a disbelieving look, which Akko nervously tried to laugh off.
Back on the field, Rajani had managed to close the gap by thirty points when Akko wasn't looking and was flying behind Twilight's racer, Vandelay, as they turned the third corner through the maze. Akko gave Luz a reassuring pat on the shoulder before grabbing her broom and gliding over to the starting line waiting for her turn.
"Good luck, Akko."
The little witch looked to her left. Makoto flew in from the benches; Akko didn't realize they were flying in the same lap together.
"You too, Makoto," Akko replied politely. "But just so you know, I'm not gonna go easy on you because we're friends."
"The same goes for me, too," said Makoto, making a show of pumping her fist with a determined smile.
Rajani managed to sweep ahead of Vandelay and shot out of the hedge maze, struggling to remove the growing collection of rings from her arm. Akko started floating ahead slowly while Makoto did the same a second later when her teammate shot out of the labyrinth. Rajani finally managed to get the rings loose and slid them over Akko's extended arm. Akko turned on her broom and shot down the track at top speed; Makoto followed shortly half-a-minute later with her own bundle of rings.
The course once again shifted beneath them. The hedge maze melted and was warped into a tall cliff that rose above the stadium. Spattered across the surface were a number of holes in the bedrock that lead into long tunnels.
"Lumen!" Akko ignited her wand before diving into the upper right tunnel.
The tunnels were rough and narrow, nearly knocking Akko off her broom when an exposed rock bumped her shoulder after diving in full speed. She had little choice to slow her flight when the tunnel led into a sharp right turn, forcing Akko to kick out her legs before she crashed into it. There were no rings or targets to be seen; not that she would be able to go after them after her wand being used to light the path. But before long, Akko saw light at the end of the tunnel and picked up speed as she came up to the exit.
Akko blinked her eyes rapidly to adjust to the change in brightness. When her vision was cleared, she saw nearly two dozen balloons branded with the Luna Nova symbol, all of them dangling targets and rings by thin bits of string. Akko aimed at aimed her wand at the closest target ahead, only form a beam of magic to whiz past her left ear and shoot it down first.
Makoto had emerged from the tunnels behind Akko, followed shortly by Corona and Lunar's racers. Makoto caught up to her in no time; Akko's school broom had no chance against Makoto's custom one in terms of speed. Makoto attempted to reach the ring ahead of them, but Akko threw herself forward and snagged it just inches from Makoto's fingers. Makoto huffed and pointed her wand at Akko's face, but the Japanese witch managed a successful barrel roll to avoid the blast. Akko only found out too late that Makoto was intentionally distracting her and used that time to destroy two more targets. In retaliation, Akko stole another ring right out from under Makoto's nose.
But the stretch of openair was blocked off by another cliffside with more tunnels waiting for them. Akko dived for the hole directly in the middle, unaware that Makoto was trying for the same tunnel and they both flew in at the same time.
The tunnels were already uncomfortably small for one person, but now it was almost suffocating with two. Akko and Makoto were flying shoulder-to-shoulder while scratching their arms and legs against the rough rock walls around them. With some difficulty, Akko was able to get her wand ahead and cast the light spell just in time to see the flat wall coming up. Akko was flying to fast to stop, but Makoto gave her a quick shove and both of them were able to turn the corner at the last second. Makoto saved them from flying head-on into the wall, but it also allowed Akko to pull ahead, her wand light dancing in the dark tunnel like a firefly.
Akko kept her head low as she soared through the twisting loop of the tunnel, hearing Makoto's broom bristle just behind her. But when Akko caught sight of the end of the tunnel, she heard a sharp shriek and a terrible clatter. Akko flew out of the tunnel and immediately pivoted to a stop, looking back.
Seconds later, Makoto tumbled off out of the tunnel, off her broom, and plummeted toward the ground.
Akko exhaled a sharp gasp and dived for her friend, once again cursing the schools broom for it lacking speed. Thankfully, someone in the vicinity yelled "Subsisto Motus!" and Makoto stopped within a foot of hitting the ground with her face. Professor Kiki came dashing in holding her whistle in one hand and her wand in the other, her broom lay abandoned several feet away. She picked up Makoto and gently lay her on the ground, inspecting her while Akko landed on the ground a few feet away. The rest of the racers that had emerged from the tunnels stopped when they saw Akko and Makoto below.
"Is she all right?" asked Akko, concerned. "Will she be okay?"
"My god…what happened to her?" Professor Kiki gasped in horror.
Akko slowly walked around Professor Kiki for a better look and jumped back with a startled gasp. The upper left section of Makoto's face, including her left eye, looked like it had been burned with a slab of hot iron. The skin was raw-red and a portion of her scalp had been completely seared off.
The Twilight team ran out onto the field and Professor Akane was not far behind them. They whole stadium suddenly plunged into frightened whispers with many people pointing and glaring at Akko. It wasn't difficult to imagine that everyone blamed her for this.
Professor Akane lifted her sister and ran out of the stadium with the Twilight team while Professor Kiki marched over to Akko and pulled her away by her upper arm. She was pulling her towards the stadium exit amid the boos and jeers from the crowd.
"Professor, please you have to believe me!" Akko shouted desperately. "I didn't do anything – "
"I believe you, Miss Kagari, but you'll have a hard time proving it," said Professor Kiki stiffly. "I'm afraid I have no choice. We're going straight to your Head of House's office."
Akko kept her head down, understanding there was no point in arguing. As they walked under the benches, Akko could hear the things the crowd was saying.
"You see that! The Council was right about her!"
"She's mad! Kowata didn't deserve that!"
"It's only a matter of time before she comes after us! They should just kick her out!"
Great, Akko thought bitterly as they climbed the front steps of the school, her tarnished reputation had just plummeted further. This incident just further supported the Council's smear campaign against her. And somehow, Akko had the feeling that was intentional….
They had barely reached the door to Ursula's office when she came marching along the corridor behind them. She was wearing a Polaris scarf, but tore it from her throat with shaking hands as she strode toward them, looking livid.
"In!" she said furiously pointing to the door. Akko entered and Ursula turned to Professor Kiki. "Thank you for escorting her, Professor. I will take it from here."
"I'm going to check on Kowata," said Professor Kiki. "Get her account on what happened. I'll update you when I can."
"Thank you, Professor," Ursula nodded. After bidding her farewell, Ursula slammed the door shut behind her. She strode around behind her desk and faced Akko, quivering with rage as she threw the Polaris scarf aside on the floor. "What – happened?!"
"It wasn't my fault, Professor!" Akko shouted desperately. "It wasn't what it looked like – "
"Really?" Ursula snapped. "Because it looked like you had burned Makoto Kowata's face off in the middle of a race! I understand that tensions are high and people tend to let the adrenaline go to their heads, but – "
Suddenly, Ursula doubled over in an aggressive coughing fit. Though she covered her mouth, traces of blood slowly slipped between her fingers. Akko moved to help her, but Ursula held her hand up to stop her. After another few seconds of coughing, Ursula calmed herself, straightening herself out, and wiping her mouth with her sleeve. She took a deep, calming breath before facing Akko again.
"I am at my wits end, Akko," Ursula said calmly. "I have never seen such a brazen act of aggression in all my years as a teacher."
"I didn't do anything!" cried Akko. "You have to believe me – "
"I find it hard to believe anything the way you've been acting this year," said Ursula sternly. "I want to give you the benefit of the doubt, but without any evidence – "
"Hem, hem."
Akko spun around. Light Spinner was standing in the doorway wrapped in a midnight-purple cloak, and a gleeful look in her eyes that Akko had come to associate with imminent misery.
"May I help, Professor Ursula?" asked Light Spinner in her most poisonous sweet voice.
Blood rushed into Ursula's face.
"Help?" she repeated in a constricted voice. "What do you mean, 'help?'"
Light Spinner moved forward into the office, still looking happy as a clam.
"Why, I thought you might bee grateful for a little extra authority."
Akko would not have been surprised to see sparks fly from Ursula's nostrils.
"You thought wrong," she said, turning her back to Light Spinner. "Now, you had better listen closely, Akko. Until we et our facts straight and this mess sorted out, you will be spending the next week in detention. Don't look at me like that, Akko, because I could do far worse! And if you ever – "
"Hem, hem."
Ursula closed her eyes as if praying for patience as she turned her face toward Light Spinner again?
"Yes?"
"I think she deserves more than detention," said Light Spinner.
Ursula's eyes flew open. "But unfortunately," she said, with an attempt at a kindly smile that made her look as though she had lockjaw, "it is what I think that counts, as she is in my House."
"Well, actually, Miss Callistis," simpered Light Spinner, "I think you'll find that what I think does count. Now, where is it? Crawford just sent it this morning…I mean," she gave a little false laugh as she rummaged through her cloak, "the Chairman sent it this morning…. Ah yes…"
She had pulled out a piece of paper that she now unfolded, clearing her throat fussily before starting to read what it said.
"Hem, hem…'Education Decree Number Twenty-Five…."
"Not another one!" exclaimed Ursula violently.
"Well, yes," said Light Spinner almost giddily. "As a matter of fact, Miss Callistis, it was you who made me see that we needed further amendment…. You remember how you overrode me, when I was unwilling to allow the Polaris Chariot Racing team to re-form? How you took the case to Holbrooke, who insisted that the team e allowed to play? Well, now, I couldn't have that. I contacted the Chairman at once, and he agreed with me that the High Inquisitor has to have the power to strip pupils of privileges, or she – that is to say, I – would have less authority than common teachers! And you see now, don't you, Miss Callistis, how right I was in attempting to stop the Polaris team reforming? Dreadful tempers…. Anyway…I was reading out our amendment…hem, hem…'The High Inquisitor will henceforth have supreme authority over all punishments, sanctions, and removal of privileges to the students of Luna Nova, and the power to alter such punishments, sanctions, and removal of privileges as may have been ordered by other staff members. Signed, Crawford Seam, Chairman of the Magic Council…."
As Light Spinner folded the paper back up, something clicked in Akko's head, and Molly's earlier words came to the forefront of her mind:
"Please try to keep your cool. Don't fall into Light Spinner's trap…."
But she couldn't; not when she knew the truth. Akko furiously stood up from her seat and pointed an accusing finger at Light Spinner.
"It was you!" she screamed. "You did it! You hurt Makoto!"
"Whatever do you mean?" said Light Spinner, trying to play innocent, yet her eyes still gleamed with delight.
"Pretty big coincidence that the new rule happens to go into effect the same day I get in trouble!" Akko spat. "You set me up! You attacked Makoto when no one could see and pinned the blame on me!"
"That's enough, Akko!" shouted Ursula.
"Are you hearing this, Miss Callistis?" said Light Spinner calmly. "Such wild accusations. Placing the fault on others rather than taking responsibility for her own actions. Miss Kagari is clearly not well. I think the only proper punishment is to ban this one from Chariot Racing ever again."
"What?!" Akko and Ursula yelled together.
"Yes, Miss Kagari, I think a lifelong ban ought to do the trick," said Light Spinner, looking absolutely ecstatic as she watched her struggle to comprehend everything. "It really is for the best. The safety of the other students should be considered. We wouldn't want another incident like this happening. But I am not unreasonable, Professor Ursula," she continued, turning back to Ursula, who was now standing as still as though carved from ice, staring at her. "The rest of the team can continue playing, I saw no signs of violence from any of them. Well, good afternoon to you.
And with one last look of the utmost satisfaction, Light Spinner left the room, leaving a horrified silence in her wake.
"Banned?!" That was the reaction of her friends when they found Akko sitting in the corner of the Horologium Chamber an hour later. Like Akko, Diana, Hannah, and Barbara were still in their racing uniforms. The match had been cancelled before the final lap owing to Makoto's injury and all of them had rushed back up to the school concerned for both her and Akko.
"That's so unfair!" shouted Amanda, kicking a bench full of tools. Constanze didn't try to stop her; she understood that the redhead needed to vent. "You're sure that bitch set you up?"
"She had to have," said Barbara, scowling. "It sounds like she was just waiting to pull out that new 'education decree' to go after Akko."
"How did the rest of the team take it?" Hannah asked Lotte.
"Avery looked like she had just died inside," Sucy answered for her. "I saw her dragging her feet to the shower room, but she hasn't come out since. I think she's trying to drown herself. The twins looked the same as ever. I don't think anything phases those two."
"…What about Luz?" Akko managed to croak.
"I didn't see her when we were leaving the field," said Lotte, biting her bottom lip. "I get the feeling that she blames herself for this."
"How could it be her fault?" said Akko. "She didn't even get a chance to fly."
"People tend to think irrationally when bad things happen," said Diana, sounding like she was speaking from experience. She shook her head with a sigh and grabbed Akko's arm, forcing her to stand. "Come on, you can't hide in here forever."
"I can try," said Akko miserably.
"Stop," said Diana sternly. "If you let this get to you, then Light Spinner wins. You can't let her break you; that's just what she wants. Come, let's get you to the showers and get changed. You're going to face the school sometime."
Although reluctant, Akko allowed herself to be dragged by her girlfriend and the rest of their group. When they exited through the secret entrance in the library, Akko was relieved that no one else was around other than the librarian, Badcock, who glared at the group for tracking dirt on her pristine floor.
Jasminka poked her head out the door first, checking to see if the coast was clear. After the incident on the field, a lot more people were inclined to believe the Magic Council's accusation, and Akko didn't need the stress of her classmate's ire. Thankfully, the hall was empty and the group was ale to make their way to the spiraling stairs without an trouble.
But as they were walking up the second-floor landing, Jasminka suddenly stopped, causing the rest to bump into her back. Akko walked around her to see what happened when Akko spotted someone walking down the corridor toward them that caused her, and the others, to gasp. This person stopped in front of the group, looking over them with a crooked smile and a lazy wave.
"Hey, kids, how've you been?" said Ymir.
I really have no excuse for why I put this off for almost a year again other than work and a complete lack of motivation. Playing Hogwarts Legacy renewed my interest, so now this is me trying to bully my brain into finishing this. Wish me luck.
Next chapter: Ymir's Story
