Okay.
So.

Talking to Akko. She could do that. Diana must've done it a hundred times over the course of the year. She had experience with this. They had talked, what, yesterday? Yes, that's right. They talked about if it was weird that she had Shiny Chariot trading cards now that Shiny Chariot was their teacher.

Diana glowered at the thought of her. Why did Shiny Ursula have to go putting ideas in her head? So maybe she did use…soulmate magic with Akko. Maybe that was a thing that happened. That didn't mean that she had to mention it. She could've been spared all this if Professor Chariot just didn't tell her the truth about her connection with Akko.

In fact, maybe Diana should confront her first, let her know this was inappropriate behavior for a teacher. It was not acceptable for her to go around telling her students that they had their hearts connected with their very good friends. She should march over to her office and speak to her, and lecture her for a couple hours or so, and then it would be late and she would go to bed and wouldn't be able to…

Diana shook the thoughts from her head. She was getting too stressed out and that had been the root of her problem in the first place. She took a deep breath and counted to ten, thinking calm thoughts. No more distractions.

Okay.
So.

Talking to Akko. The first step would have to be finding her. Her room was the most likely candidate. Classes would be almost all over at this point, and Akko didn't have any classes scheduled after 3 anyway, something she had learned through observation.

…Which didn't mean anything more than Diana was an observant person. She had just…derived Akko's schedule by the times when they met up and talked, and it wasn't like Akko never mentioned her class times. And she only payed a socially appropriate amount of attention to when and where they tended to talk.

So her room was Diana's best bet. If she wasn't there, there was a couple of places she could also be. The kitchen was likely, as Akko found it very easy to sneak food when the cooking staff outright gave it to her. She could also be talking to Ursula like Diana had been earlier that day.

…What if she was talking to Ursula? Ursula could spill the truth about soulmate magic to her and that would end disastrously. Diana had been running potential conversations with Akko through her head ever since she left her own room, and none of them factored in the possibility that Akko might have found out that they might actually be…that. What would she say to her then? What would Akko think of that? What would…?

Diana forced herself to stop again. First of all, soulmates aren't real, and occupying her thoughts with that was inconvenient to everybody. Secondly, there was no guarantee she was talking to Ursula and getting ideas planted in her head. Diana still had yet to go to the red team's room and see if she was there. Diana just needed to focus and take things one step at a time.

Okay.
So.

Her knuckles rapped against the wood of the door, and from inside she heard the telltale shuffling of the room's residents stepping up to answer her knock. After a moment, Sucy Mambavaran opened the door, and Diana could peer inside. Lotte was sitting on one of the beds, and Akko was nowhere to be seen.

"Hello, Sucy, Lotte." Diana greeted them politely. "I'm looking fo-"

"Looking for Akko?" Sucy suddenly cut her off with her own question. Diana blinked, and tried to regain her earlier composure.

"Y-yes. I'm looking for…Akko. Is she here right now? Or do yo-"

"By the North Building." Sucy interrupted again.

"…I see. Thank you then. I'll leave you two to your business then." Diana turned to leave towards the North Building (which was not, thankfully, where Ursula's office was) and correct this whole situation.

"Oh, by the way, Diana." Before she could get very far, Sucy had called out to her. Diana turned back around with a raised brow. Sucy's face was blank, but after a moment, the corners of her lips slowly turned upwards into a maniacal looking smirk. "It sounded like you two have quite a bit to talk about."

From behind her, Lotte covered her mouth and did her best to pretend not to be snickering at her misfortune. Unlike Sucy, who made no effort to hide that she was snickering at her misfortune. Which definitely meant they knew what happened, which means more minds to era-

No, no, no. It had been decided she would not go through with that plan. That plan had been vetoed out.

Sucy had closed the door already while Diana had felt her face heating up again, so she couldn't even get the chance to say something to defend herself. With a record low level of dignity, Diana began to make her way to the North Building.

Her cheeks still felt overly hot as she made her way outside. There were less students outside, and she was sure it was visibly obvious she was blushing. Glancing upwards, she could see the North Building ahead of her, and her heart started beating faster. Diana forced her legs to keep moving forward, to keep her upper half walking towards her destination. She could feel herself clenching and unclenching her hands as her arms swung stiffly back and forth. Her throat felt dry and her stomach felt like it had been flipped upside down. It was all very uncomfortable and unwelcome.

Diana stopped in her tracks. There, in front of the building, pacing back and forth, was Akko Kagari. She hadn't noticed her yet. Her delicate hand was covering the lovely lower half of her soft features as it rested on her chin, and her deep, piercing red eyes were half closed in contemplation, as her thin brows fell beneath her long, auburn bangs in…

…Her hand was on her face. She looked like she was thinking because she had a funny look on her face and her eyebrows were under her hairline. Either way, Akko hadn't noticed Diana standing there yet. It was time to do this. Diana would have to start this conversation. She just needed to pick and choose her words, so she could get through this with minimal embarrassment. And it would all start as soon she gave some sort of greeting to the other girl to signify her presence. It may not be an easy conversation, but it was something she had to do. She had to take responsibility here. It was time to talk. Had someone painted the building recently? The bricks looked remarkably white today. It contrasted well with the intimidating architecture. Very large and imposing.

"Diana?"

Akko noticed her there. Akko was looking at her and was definitely aware of her presence and now they were going to have a conversation and Diana was definitely not prepared for this and maybe she should've learned the amnesia spell as a just-in-case and she should probably say something right about now.

"…Good morning, Akko." A small voice in Diana's head told her it was close to 4:30 in the afternoon, but what was one more mistake at this point?

"Oh, Diana. Is this a convenient time for you?" Akko glared at her, and Diana involuntarily winced. So this is how it would go down then.

"I…was hoping to explain my actions from earlier…if you're available?" Akko's glare merely deepened, and she pointed her finger at her accusingly.

"What's your problem with me anyway? What did I even do?"

"W-what?" Diana hadn't been sure how Akko would react, but she hadn't expected her to be angry.

"I thought we were friends, but now you're back to teasing me. I just wanted to know if you were mad. And yeah, maybe I shouldn't have kept asking, but you could've just told me you didn't wanna talk about it instead of…w-whatever that was!"

"Wait. Y-you thought I was trying to make you leave?" What should Diana do with that? She really needed to just somehow move past her feelings for Akko, but if Akko thought she was just belittling her, she didn't want to leave her with hurt feelings. But if she told Akko she wasn't making fun of her, she'd be admitting her crush to her.

"Yeah that's what I thought! You just embarrassed me in the middle of the hallway and called me annoying and then you just left before I could even say anything! What was I supposed to think?"

"A-Akko, that wasn't my…!" She had meant to say 'intention', but that had been her intention, hadn't it? She had been hoping to get Akko to leave because she couldn't talk to the girl after everything that happened. Everything was too raw to compose herself around her. Diana had spent the rest of the day beside herself with worry as to how Akko would respond, but Akko had interpreted it as a taunt rudely directed at her.

Diana had, well obviously not made peace with but accepted the idea of Akko knowing her feelings. She hadn't wanted her to know, and so in some ways playing it off as simply a cruel joke seemed appealing. She and Akko obviously wouldn't work, so it's not like she needed to know about Diana's infatuation with her. Logically, it was better that she think Diana was simply insulting her, using a fake confession as a distraction to simply escape a conversation. It was easier than what she had been planning to do earlier before being talked down by her teammates. So she should let Akko think she was simply being facetious, let this entire crush of hers simply be left forgotten and officially unspoken.

But despite what her head was telling her to do, her heart preferred Akko think Diana was simply a weird screw-up that had a crush on a girl out of her league than having regressed back into a schoolyard bully. It was an idiotic decision, but Diana cared too much for her friend to leave her with hurt feelings. She already said the truth to her once today, might as well make it clear.

Even if this would be the most embarrassing conversation of her life.

"L-look. Erm, Akko. I'm here to…explain my earlier actions. I-it's not…ah, it wasn't like…" Speaking full sentences wasn't typically this difficult for her. Diana kept forcing herself to make eye contact before involuntarily dropping it almost immediately. This was not helping her argument appeal to Akko. From her brief stolen glances at her face, she could see her anger slowly turning into confusion. "I…you see…"

This was a pathetic display. Diana knew how to speak, she knew how to speak to Akko, and if that wasn't enough, she had already said what she wanted to say earlier by complete accident. This situation couldn't get worse, so there was no longer any reason to be nervous about it. She'd spent the entire day being embarrassed and affronted at every turn, there really wasn't much dignity left for to lose. It's likely not healthy to be emboldened by such facts, but today, she'd take what she could get.

"W-when I said…w-what I said this morning, w-what I meant was…" This was it, the moment of truth. She just needed to say it. "Akko…I..."

"HEEEY! AKKO! There you are!"
Oh no. Not now.

Amanda O'Neill, oblivious as ever, had suddenly inserted herself into their conversation. Akko seemed surprised to see her too, especially as she walked over and slapped her hand on her shoulder.

"Hey, what's the deal? You said you were gonna hang with me, Jazz and Contz, and you never showed up." Akko looked momentarily chastised, but quickly dismissed it.

"O-oh right. Sorry Amanda, I'm just…dealing with something right now."

"Oh," Amanda said, looking around and finally noticing Diana there. "Am I interrupting something, or…?" Thankfully, now was the one time O'Neill decided to be observant. Perhaps if Diana let her down gently, she could get her to just leave so she could do whatever this was.

"Y-yes, Akko and I were just having a private discus-. "Diana tried to explain, but she found herself cut off by Akko's own, louder explanation. Akko returned her attention from Amanda with another angry glare that shot through Diana.

"Yeah, Diana was just explaining why I'm such an annoyance to her."

"What?" Amanda seemed surprised at that, before joining Akko in narrowing her eyes at her. "Really, Diana? You being a jerk to Akko again? I thought you got past this."

This was just not going to be her day at all, was it? Trying her best to work past the disdainful stares directed at her, she stammered out another excuse. "L-look, it was a misunderstanding, and I came here to correct it! There's no need for anyone else to get involved." If she could just keep the details to her chest, she could spare everyone some embarrassment. Akko remained unconvinced, and balled her fists on her hips.

"A misunderstanding? You were making fun of me when I was just trying to be nice!"

"A-Akko, I wasn't teasing! I was just…I d-don't think you heard me correctly, I was…!"

"Yeah, I heard you! You said I was 'inconvenient' to you!"

"T-that's not...!" Her eyes glanced to Amanda, who peered back at her with furrowed brows. "Look Amanda, it's n-not what you think." Diana had no idea how she was going to explain this, but if she could avoid just one shameful incident today, it'd be enough. Amanda could do without knowing the sordid details.

"I don't really get what this is about," she started, "but you better not be acting all stuck up like you used to."

"I wasn't being malicious! I w-was just…!" She and Amanda had never truly seen eye to eye, being the top student and the school rebel respectively, and O'Neill looked unlikely to give her the benefit of the doubt here. Ignoring Diana's stammering, she simply turned to her friend.

"What even happened anyway? Why are you two all ticked at each other?"

Diana's heart raced in her chest. Akko wouldn't just say it to her, would she? Surely she'd agree O'Neill didn't need to actually know what had been said. Could Diana just have this saving grace today? Just a single person that didn't know about her feelings for Akko?

"I asked her what was wrong, and Diana said she had a crush on me and it was inconvenient to her, and then she just left! Can you believe that?"

And there was the one thing she had really been hoping would remain unsaid. Diana found her throat felt too dry, her face too hot. She couldn't think of a single response to voice. Akko was still glaring daggers right through her heart, awaiting an explanation for what she thought was another cruelty of hers. For a moment, it was quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

And then Amanda. Amanda O'Neill. That smug, foul-mouthed, delinquent and poor excuse for a witch. Laughed.

"Pfft! Oh my-!" She said in-between her (utterly and completely unwelcome!) cackles. "Y-you said you had a crush on Akko?! A-and it was inconven- pff-hfft!" She grabbed her sides, finding this way more amusing than what should've been appropriate.

"Amanda, it's not funny." Akko reprimanded O'Neill. If Diana could bring herself to speak right now, she would've agreed. She found herself burying her head in her hands, and she knew her entire face was red right now. Whatever hypothetical conversation she had tried to psyche herself up for, it wasn't nearly as awful as this.

With the…cat out of the bag, there was no longer any reason to tread carefully and mince her words with O'Neill. After allowing the reprehensible witch to get her giggles out, Diana had finally gathered the shattered remains of her pride enough to speak full sentences once more. "…Yes. I was going to talk to Akko about why I said…that." She muttered, all confidence and poise in her voice long gone. "I was hoping to explain my actions in private."

"Oooh, I getcha!" Amanda said, winking irritatingly. "I'll get out of your way, then."

While she could've lived without anyone else knowing of her faux pas, Diana could at least breathe somewhat easier with Amanda leaving her and Akko to their business. It wasn't like her day could get worse at this point. This entire ordeal was mortifying enough. Her eyes trailed O'Neill as she, with an ever-present grin on her face, casually strolled over to the North Building.

Where she then faced the two of them.
And promptly sat down.

Diana gaped at her long and hard. O'Neill just shifted on her legs to make herself more comfortable, before she caught Diana's eyes boring a hole into her. Instead of actually leaving, her grin just grew. And she had the utter audacity to wave her fingers as a signal for her to proceed with her discussion. As if she wasn't sitting there watching them with a smug look on her face.

If she could kill with but a glance, that rotten, amused expression would disappear from O'Neill's detestable face very quick. She had assumed at one point that O'Neill must've had a conscience somewhere deep, deep, down that gave her some social awareness, but clearly Diana had been giving her way too much credit to actually acknowledge and listen to the little voice in her head. If O'Neill was actually capable of that, she wouldn't be sitting there ogling their private discussion like a sideshow. If she thought Diana would stand for this, she-

"Alright, so spill." In her frustration, she had been momentarily distracted from the humiliating embarrassment that had consumed her earlier, and had conveniently forgotten that Akko was standing right behind her. "Why'd you say that to me?"

Diana's head whipped in between her and the delinquent sitting ten feet from them. "…Must we do this i-in front of her?"

"Just pretend I'm not here, guys! You do you!" She called out from the sidelines.

Between Akko, the girl she had developed feelings for, glaring at her demanding answers, and O'Neill, her current least favorite person in the world, watching the scene unfold with unconcealed glee, and Diana's stomach feeling like it was being tumbled and flipped through a washing machine, there was only one thought in her mind coherent enough for her to properly notice.

She really needed to think of a harsher word to describe this day than 'inconvenient.'

(So here's the thing. I ended up splitting this into two chapters because Amanda dropping in on Diana and Akko's big anguished talk ended up making the whole thing run longer, and I don't like having huge waits between chapters. I didn't want y'all waiting for weeks for what's like 3K words and one step away from being crack. …Do people still use crack to describe fanfiction? Am I dating myself here?

Either way, next time! Amanda joins Ursula and Hannah & Barbara as she too gets to help Diana process having feelings for others. probably won't be livestreaming Diana having a mental breakdown, because phones aren't allowed on Luna Nova, but then Amanda doesn't follow the rules anyway so we'll see)