Fusion Cuisine – Part II: Breaking Bread
Disclaimer: In case you haven't figured it out yet, I don't own Little Witch Academia. All LWA-related characters, settings, etc. are the intellectual property of Studio Trigger and Yoh Yoshinari.
[-]
Luna Nova Academy
Two Years Ago
In nearly every respect, it was a perfect summer day.
The sun was shining brightly overhead, but with just enough cloud cover to keep the heat manageable. A soft, cool breeze coursed across the fields, tussling the branches of trees and producing a steady, lazy rainfall of leaves.
On days like this, Akko liked to sit out by the lake, shoes off and toes dangling in the water. So that was precisely what she did.
This time, however, she was soon joined by another.
"It still doesn't feel quite real, does it?" asked a British-accented voice, sweet and melodious as song. "That we'll be graduating tomorrow."
"Hey, Diana," she said, without looking up. Even then, she could sense the blonde girl taking a seat on the grass beside her – though she seemed to draw the line at removing her shoes. "Yeah, it's…I dunno. Kinda bittersweet?"
Out the corner of her eye, she saw Diana's chin dip in a slow nod.
"Luna Nova has been our home for three years now. We've all grown a great deal under its auspices," she responded. "It will be difficult to say goodbye. Both to the vaunted institution itself…as well as the people it's connected us to."
"Yeah, it was hard enough when Ch…when Ursula-sensei left on sabbatical with Croix-sensei," Akko agreed with a sigh. "I mean, I'm happy for them, don't get me wrong! Did you see the pics from their wedding? Soooooo cute!"
"But she was your mentor. Mine too, after a fashion," Diana finished the thought for her. The blonde girl had a bad habit of that. "It's natural to miss her. To miss…everyone."
That finally got Akko to turn her body toward the other girl.
"You know you're the one I'm gonna miss the most, right?" she said.
Diana's cheeks flushed a deep crimson. "Akko…we've talked about this. I don't want to make the parting any harder than it has to be," she murmured evasively.
"But you chose to go to Tokyo U! When you had the choice of…like, basically every med school in the whole world!" Akko exclaimed.
"I…think you might be exaggerating a tad," Diana tried to argue back, though it only made the color in her face sharpen. "Especially given that I don't meet the prerequisites for most medical schools. Normally, it is meant to follow a four-year undergraduate degree. It's only because Headmistress Holbrooke wrote such a glowing letter of recommendation that I was able to…"
"Diana," the Japanese girl cut her off with a single look. "Please don't try to insist you're anything but the smartest freaking person in the British Isles. It's an insult to us common folk."
Diana let out a sound halfway between a sigh and a chuckle. "In any event, I won't pretend my choice in schools was…entirely divorced from those considerations," she said after a few moments. "But it isn't as if it would change things. Your future isn't bound for Tokyo. It's…everywhere. Everywhere there are souls in loneliness and solitude, waiting for your magic to set them free."
The brunette sniffed audibly. She'd told herself she wouldn't cry. She wouldn't!
But how was she supposed to help it, when Diana kept saying things like that all the time?
"Then…how come…?" she whispered, not trusting herself to speak any more.
"Because you inspire me, Akko. You have since the moment you stumbled into the halls of Luna Nova, and declared yourself my rival," answered Diana. "I can't be with you when you're touring the world. So this is the next-best thing. I want to learn more about the world, the culture, that produced a witch so incorrigibly…unique, as Atsuko Kagari."
The other girl tugged anxiously on one of her dangling locks of hair.
"I guess…we could see each other, when I'm on breaks?" she said, voice muffled a bit by how hard she was biting her lip. "Tokyo U isn't that far from where my folks live."
"I'd like that," replied Diana, maybe a bit too quickly. "I know this parting isn't ideal. But let's make this promise to each other, Akko. That no matter how much our lives may change…and no matter how far our divergent paths might take us…"
Ever the proper Englishwoman, she extended an open hand toward Akko.
"We will remain a part of each other's futures," she finished, blue eyes staring straight into scarlet. "One way or another."
Akko hesitated, just for a moment, before accepting the handshake. Again, she didn't trust herself to take it any further than that.
Didn't trust that if she did, she'd ever be able to stop.
"I promise," she mumbled back.
[-]
They hadn't kept that promise.
To be sure, they tried, at first. Diana, who had never touched a smartphone in her life, at last relented and purchased one at Akko's behest. It became their gateway for calls, and texts, and video chats wherein the blonde girl repeatedly proved absolutely helpless at unmuting herself.
But the lives of a traveling performer and a first-year medical student were inherently busy ones, and their time zones rarely matched up neatly. Daily communications slid to weekly, then every few weeks, then once every couple of months. At this point, the text Akko sent last night was the first time they'd interacted in over half a year.
Even the visits in Tokyo proved to be easier said than done. Akko's tour schedule was so grueling that it was rare to get more than two or three days off at a time. If those days didn't line up with Diana's school breaks, then there was basically no point in even trying.
They'd only ever managed to make concrete plans once. Last Christmas, after spending some time with her parents, Akko had arranged breakfast in a nice little café near the airport. With any luck, they'd be able to sit down and catch up for a few hours, before flying to her next show in Abuja.
Only to discover that Anna – the Cavendish family housekeeper, and the woman who'd practically raised Diana after her mother's passing – had suffered a sudden heart attack the previous night.
Yeah…Akko didn't exactly blame her for cancelling breakfast plans.
Yet even after Anna made a full recovery, they never managed to reschedule. There always seemed to be one thing or another.
In the end, neither of them had planned on drifting apart. It wasn't personal. It was just one of those things that…happened.
They'd been so close at Luna Nova, but distance could do funny things to relationships. Akko remembered Yoko, her best friend throughout all of primary school. They'd hung out together every single day, playing and sharing snacks and watching magical girl anime.
Then one day, Yoko's father got a new job, and her whole family moved to America. Akko never saw or spoke to her again.
There was one difference with Diana, of course. One thing that made every attempt to reestablish contact sting a little bit more…and yet, made it unthinkable to fully stay away.
Namely, that even two years after going their separate ways, Akko was still madly in love with her.
She wasn't sure when she realized it. "Love" wasn't a thing she'd ever given much thought to, before Luna Nova. She'd had a bit of a crush on Shiny Chariot when she was younger – who hadn't, right? – but that was rather embarrassing to think about these days, now that she'd met the real Chariot and knew how infrequently she did laundry.
It wasn't her trip to the Cavendish Manor, or saving the world together from the Noir Missile, though in hindsight those had definitely been the sparks. There wasn't any one single, grand moment where it all "clicked."
No, the revelation was slow-moving and gradual. Over the course of their three years together, they'd grown from "rivals" (well, one-sided at least) to the very best of friends. And Akko had begun to notice things in a different light.
The cool face Diana made when she was deep into studying. The musical sweetness of her laugh, made all the more precious by how rarely it came. The way her eyes lit up whenever she saw a new piece of Chariot merch, and then fitfully tried to play it off as if it was nothing.
But Akko never found the courage to, as an increasingly frustrated Sucy put it, "make a damn move already." The fear of rejection paralyzed her.
Yes, she knew Diana was gay. It'd just…come up in conversation once. Akko continually had to marvel at how casual people were about that sort of thing in the UK, compared to Japan.
Except Diana was also brilliant, and gorgeous, and the Moonlit Witch three years running. If she didn't have a girlfriend at an all-girls school full of witches – at least a decent chunk of whom had to be queer, based on how the dorms looked during Pride Month – then the only explanation was that she didn't want one.
Their friendship was a precious, fragile thing, and Akko was filled with dread at even the idea that being honest with her feelings might shatter it.
And didn't the fact that it'd wound up fraying, anyway, prove that she was right?
"But now…" said Akko to herself, sighing audibly. "I don't have a choice. There's no one else I can turn to for this."
After breaking their promise, Akko knew she didn't have a right to ask Diana for such a huge favor. She was fully prepared for the woman she loved to resent, even hate her, after all this was said and done.
But that was okay.
Her family's happiness was worth it.
[-]
Diana Cavendish had spent the past twenty-four hours furiously researching.
In and of itself, that was nothing unusual for the studious blonde. Except that none of that research had anything to do with the study of medicine.
After an embarrassingly long time spent in a mode that could only be described as "blind gay panic," Diana had composed herself and sent a calm, formal reply, arranging a time the next day to speak over video.
And with that, she'd descended on a computer in the campus library like a bird of prey, desperate to find out what could possibly be causing Akko to reach out to her after so much time.
(Yes, sure, she could've waited until tomorrow to find out from Akko herself. But that was far too long.)
Diana knew less than zero things about what Anna called "those social medias," but that seemed the best place to start. She scoured the official Akko, the Shining Star Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages, but all she found were post after post of praise for the recent show in Munich.
Her personal accounts – which took Diana longer than she would admit to actually find – were no better help. Just a whole bunch of anime memes and food photos. Diana would've been tempted to roll her eyes, if her chest wasn't so tight.
Then, suddenly, just as she was about to click away, she saw a new series of posts pop up on Twitter. They came from the official account, though Akko's personal one Retweeted them all less than a minute later.
We regret to announce the #ShiningStarFallTour has been suspended indefinitely. PickledPlumPrincess will be taking some time away to deal with a family emergency. (1/3)
We thank you for your understanding, and ask that your respect her family's privacy during this difficult time. Media requests may be directed to MendezTalentStudios (2/3)
If you have already purchased a ticket and wish to defer to a future tour or apply for a refund, click HERE. Our sincerest apologies for the inconvenience. (3/3)
Diana barely paid attention to the replies, which were equal parts dismay about the sudden cancellation, speculation on the nature of the "family emergency," and words of well-wishes from numerous fans. Her own mind was spinning over the mystery.
She knew very little about Akko's family – which in retrospect was a little strange, given that Akko had once been in her own clan's secret crypt. It simply wasn't a topic that'd ever come up.
The blonde woman bit her lip as she returned to the search engine. Checking her public social media pages had been one thing, but taking this investigation any further seemed almost an invasion of privacy.
But in the end, she couldn't hold herself back. As if possessed, her fingers typed "Kagari" into the news section.
The next few steps took some time, because Akko's surname wasn't an altogether uncommon one in Japan. Diana scrolled past numerous articles on Ami Kagari, who owned a chain of very successful tailor shops, and Aya Kagari, who was apparently the Saitama Prefecture competitive hot dog eating champion ten years running.
Until finally, a five-year-old news clipping caught her eye.
Local Eatery Celebrates Very Own Magical Girl
June 30, 2017
Ask any long-time resident, and they'll tell you that Tokyo's Kagemori Shopping District has a magic all its own. But for one local restaurant, that might just be a little more literal than most.
Kagari's has been the heart and soul of Kagemori since its founding. It's a place of small, intimate table settings and decorations that look like they came straight off a living room wall. Their website describes the experience as "Japanese comfort food, with big portions and even bigger hearts."
But many reviews posted these days barely mention the food at all. Instead, they rave about the girl who waits tables there after school, five or six days a week.
Atsuko "Akko" Kagari, the only daughter of its namesake family, is hard to put into words. Even Junya Kagari, owner and proprietor of the restaurant and father to the girl in question, seems to visibly struggle when asked.
"My Akko-chan is always…full of spirit," he says. "And she brings that to work with her every day. Not once have I ever heard a customer complain about her service. Her clumsiness, inability to focus, tendency to talk the ears off of anyone who will listen…"
At this point in the interview, Miss Kagari walks by to shout "Papa!" in frustrated indignance.
"…But certainly not her service," he continues, as if uninterrupted. "Akko-chan makes sure that every customer who walks into our restaurant leaves with a smile."
"I remember the very first shift she took," adds his wife, Rio Kagari, when we visit her in the kitchen. "Kept old man Hibiki-sensei an hour past closing, rambling about some video game she was obsessed with. Not that he minded in the slightest."
But Miss Kagari brings something else to her service model that most competitors can't match. I sit down with her for a lunch of katsudon curry, and ask for a demonstration.
"Well okay. But don't see you didn't ask for it, sir!" she exclaims with a knowing wink. Then, after she makes a big show of clearing her throat…
"~Welcome…to the world of magic!~"
She practically sings the words, like she's practiced them a million times before. Same with the waving motion she makes over my plate, gesturing wildly with a wooden ladle.
A puff of smoke appears above my table. And then, when it clears…
My pork cutlet is a bright, vibrant shade of blue.
Miss Kagari, however, doesn't look happy at all with the result. "Kuso! It was supposed to be rainbow-colored!" she wails. "How come I can only ever manage one?"
But my jaw is on the floor.
Most people learn what "magic" is in primary school: a type of energy that enables small-scale breaches in the ordinary laws of physics. At one point, it was considered a world-defining force, playing a key role in political and military history for all major nations.
But developments such as the Industrial Revolution have increasingly pushed the magical arts into irrelevance. Unit for unit, it is one of the least efficient energy sources in existence, to the point where it is essentially worthless except while in close physical proximity to the rare minerals dubbed "Sorcerer's Stones."
The only known Sorcerer's Stone in Japan is carved into the Yasakani no Magatama, one of the Three Imperial Regalia, whose location is a close government secret. Therefore, magecraft is something most Japanese citizens may go their whole lives without witnessing.
That's why it's such a surprise for diners in this quaint little eatery to see a bona fide witch serving their meals. Even if her results can be…inconsistent.
"I can change colors, and levitate things a little bit, and make sparks and bubbles!" Miss Kagari says happily, before her expression takes a downturn. "But that, uh…that took me a loooooootta years of practice. And I'm still not that good at it."
That may be changing in a few weeks, though. Because Miss Kagari now has something else she's eager to show off to any customer willing to listen.
"It's my acceptance letter to Luna Nova Academy!" she exclaims, waving a scroll with tidy, cursive handwriting in front of my face. "I'm gonna go there in the fall, and learn to be the greatest witch ever, just like Shiny Chariot!"
Shiny Chariot, as some readers may recall, was a popular magical entertainer in the mid-2000s. Her flashy performances took the world by storm, before suddenly disappearing from public life in 2007.
But it's clear she still has at least one enormous fan left in the world.
"When I was a little girl, I saw Shiny Chariot at a live stage show. And it completely changed my life," she tells me, sounding far more serious than she's been about anything else. "I wanna do that for the next generation of kids, who need a bit of magic in their lives. That's why I'm so happy to be going to Luna Nova."
"Obviously, we have mixed feelings. Akko-chan is so young, and she'll be traveling halfway around the world to attend this school," Junya Kagari says. "But I've never been good at saying 'no' to my little girl. It's obvious how much this means to her."
The first day of term for Luna Nova Academy is August 1st. And it seems like just about every resident of this tight-knit shopping district knows that date by heart.
"It's gonna be sad, seein' our li'l witch take off on her own," I hear from local grocer Matsuyama-san, a sentiment echoed by nearly everyone I speak to. "I jus' hope she finds what she's searchin' for."
A massive celebration is being planned for the end of the month, to bid farewell to this home-grown magical girl. I ask her mother whether this article will spoil the surprise.
"I don't think there's any risk of that," replies Rio Kagari, laughing out loud. "Our Akko-chan doesn't read anything that isn't manga."
Diana closed the tab with the article, struggling to control her breathing. Reading it had reminded her so much of…
Well, things she couldn't afford to be thinking about right now. Not when she had a video call scheduled with the woman in question in several hours.
But at least it gave her a starting point. To take it any further than that, though…
She sighed audibly. Her best bet was talking to one of the few people it'd be even more awkward to ask than Akko.
[-]
"I still don't understand why you can't just wait until tomorrow to hear all this from Akko herself."
The crisp, accented male voice, per usual, was made all the more irritating by the fact that he was bringing up an entirely logical point. But Diana's headspace didn't have much room for logic right now.
"Andrew, are you going to help or not?" she said testily.
This was a voice-only call, but she could just picture her childhood friend pinching his brow.
"How…is she, anyway? I haven't spoken to Akko in quite some time."
It was a question that clearly came from a place of honest concern, but Andrew Hanbridge was about the last person in the world she wanted to hear her honest answer to that question. Still, she was the one asking for a favor.
So, choosing her words carefully, she responded, "I…wish I knew that better as well. I suppose I'll be finding out soon."
"Really? I know I didn't keep in touch as much as I should've, but I always assumed you two would get together after graduation. The chemistry was so obvious that even Frank noticed it, and he needs an instruction sheet to use the dishwasher."
Diana concentrated on keeping her breathing steady. "When did you get so meddlesome?" she asked. "You never seemed to care about that sort of thing when we were children."
"I still don't. One of the advantages of being aromantic. But that doesn't mean I couldn't hear how miserable you sounded when you called."
The medical student let out a low sound, somewhere between a hiss and a sigh.
"Please…just help me with this," she all but begged. "There's no one else I can ask who has the means and ability, and who won't tell Akko that I've been snooping."
"Thus why you decided to ask Britain's Foreign Secretary to investigate the business status of a hole-in-the-wall Japanese restaurant."
Diana was about to raise another objection, but he cut back in before she could.
"That being said…yes, I found something. Check your inbox."
A few seconds later, an encrypted email appeared on her screen. After three failed attempts at entering her credentials, she finally got in to see a handful of scanned documents.
"That's a bill of sale for Kagari's, prepared by Takeuchi Holdings but not signed by the tenant. The rest of the materials are everything else I was able to dig up on Takeuchi. Lot of shady dealings."
"How so?" said Diana, as she scrolled through the pages.
"Nothing overtly illegal. But they've been engaged in hostile takeovers of business centers for years now. Seems their specialty is redeveloping into residential, then spinning for a profit. And right now, they own everything in Kagemori Shopping District except the plot of land registered to Junya and Rio Kagari."
"So they're at risk of losing the family business to some predatory firm," Diana whispered aloud. "That'd certainly explain why Akko is in need of assistance."
"And then there's…one more thing."
Andrew was normally so coolly self-confident that the hesitance in his voice stood out all the more. But in lieu of explaining further, another encrypted email popped up.
"Just to be clear, I didn't look into any non-public information. Japanese police records are very thorough on any traffic incidents. But…well, this is what popped up when I did a search on her parents' names."
Diana's blood ran cold as ice as she looked through the report. Her muscles relaxed a tiny bit when she read the words Fatalities: (0) – but not by much.
Because for just a moment, she'd felt herself transported back to that hospital room, when her mother's hand went cold in hers.
"This…is as much as I can help you with, Diana. You'll have to hear the rest from her."
The blonde felt herself nodding mutedly. "I…I really appreciate it, Andrew," she said, genuinely meaning it. This information gave a lot of context to the obvious desperation Akko was in.
But it didn't make the prospect of talking about it with the Japanese woman any easier. On the contrary, it seemed more daunting than ever.
And so of course, that was the moment when her phone decided to light up with an incoming video call request.
"She's calling me now," she breathed out, biting her lip so hard that she nearly drew blood. "I don't…I don't know if I'm ready…"
"Yes, you are. You always have been."
It was an unusually sincere sentiment from the cool, calculating politician. As were his last, parting words.
"Wish Akko well for me, please. And take care of her. Take care of…each other."
He hung up with that, leaving the ringing of the video call the only thing on her phone. Before she could lose her nerve, Diana found herself punching the "accept" button and blurting out the first thing that popped into her mind.
"I know everything."
[-]
Akko wasn't sure what she was expecting to hear from Diana after reconnecting for the first time in six months, but that hadn't been it.
Judging by her flushed expression, that wasn't what the other woman had meant to say either.
She looked askance, and said in a lower voice, "I…I'm sorry. I did some investigating on my own. I know about the restaurant, and Takeuchi Holdings, and the accident. Are they…?"
The brunette swallowed as well. She supposed she really should have expected the smartest woman in the world to research this stuff thoroughly. Wasn't that the whole reason Akko had decided to reach out to her?
Well…there was also the fact that seeing her face and hearing her voice, after so much time spent apart, was like taking a hit from an incredibly intense drug.
Clenching her fingers tightly to banish those very unhelpful thoughts away, she answered the unfinished question, "My folks are okay. They won't be walking or leaving the hospital for a while, but they're gonna pull through."
"That's wonderful," spoke Diana at once, hands clasped over her chest. "What about you, though? I…I saw that you cancelled the rest of your tour."
Akko scratched nervously at the back of her head. "I, uh…didn't know you paid that much attention to that kind of thing," she said.
"I've never missed a show, Akko. Not a single one," Diana told her. "I may have to squeeze them in between lectures and labs, but it's important to me to see how you've grown."
Now it was the Japanese woman's turn to hide a blush. This was precisely why she'd been so anxious about this call; only two minutes in, and they were already running up against very dangerous territory.
So instead, she tried to change the subject. And not by answering the original "are you okay" question, because again…dangerous territory.
"I need help, if I'm gonna save our restaurant," she decided to get right to the point. "I don't know anything about running a business, not really. You're the only person I know with those kinds of skills. I mean, I think Amanda's family had a business in New York, but I'm pretty sure they said they set fire to it before they came to Luna Nova so they're probably not the best person to ask…"
"What about Lotte?" asked Diana. "Don't her parents run a magical item shop?"
"Yeah, I tried calling to pick her brain a bit. But she works for the Last Wednesday Society these days, going on expeditions – y'know, to find magical artifacts with spirits she can talk to," said Akko. "She's on a big one now, in Madagascar I think. It'll be months before she's able to break away."
"Well, the House of Cavendish is definitely no stranger to business dealings of…all stripes," Diana declared, frowning slightly, and Akko was pretty sure they were both thinking of Daryl hocking their family heirlooms like she was on Ebay. "Are you asking me to provide some consultancy? It's not something I've practiced before, but I could certainly make the attempt."
Akko's fists tightened even further. This was going to be the hard part.
"Actually…I want you to do it with me. If you're willing," she responded, bowing her head forward in shame over the brazenness of her request. "Sort of a…temporary co-manager."
She could see the wheels turning in her friend's head in that moment.
First, the initial surprise. Giving away quickly to irritation and dismay. After all, normal people didn't call their old schoolmates out of the blue and ask them to drop everything to help run a floundering restaurant.
Then, the inevitable sinking of the blonde's expression, as she realized she'd have to turn down Akko's ridiculous demand. Something that surely didn't come easily to the endlessly compassionate woman.
"Akko…I just don't know if I have time for that," she said. "I'm really busy with my coursework and research right now…"
"Of course you are," Akko murmured sadly. "It was…selfish of me to even ask. I'm sorry, Diana."
She'd have to come up with another plan. Maybe advertise online? But finding someone with managerial experience that quickly, and who'd be willing to work for the peanuts Kagari's had left in its budget…
But before she could carry that train of thought any further, she was interrupted by Diana exclaiming, "Wait! Maybe…Maybe there is a way."
"Don't tell me it's like your 'solution' for when you got pulled into ten different projects at our senior year Samhain Festival, and wound up just doing all of them," Akko reminded the other woman. "Resulting in you falling into a weeklong sleep coma at the ceremony where they crowned you Moonlit Witch for the third year in a row."
"I have…learned from those mistakes. Erm, somewhat," said the blonde, though her eyes darted to the side evasively. "No, I mean that I could apply for temporary leave from the university. Just for a few weeks."
"Diana, no!" Akko yelled back, aghast. "You can't do something like that! Going to medical school has been your dream since you were young!"
"Healing people has been my dream. Medical school is just a means to that end. One that…" Diana started to say, though she didn't complete the thought. Akko got the distinct sense that there was more there she wasn't telling her.
Regardless, she swallowed audibly and finished, "My point is, this won't affect my schooling in the long run. My professors will understand. I'm already quite ahead on most of my coursework, which probably won't surprise you."
Akko had to admit that was true.
"So I suppose you'll be returning to Tokyo, then," Diana pressed on, in the face of her silence. "Do you know when?"
"My flight comes in Saturday," said the Japanese woman, eyes flicking down to the printed itinerary in her lap. "I was planning to grab a cab or something to the hospital, visit my folks, and then go to the restaurant to plan."
"Nonsense. I'll pick you up myself," insisted Diana, in a tone that brook no room for debate. "Aunt Daryl wanted to express 'no hard feelings' about that time she assaulted me via venomous snakes…and the method she settled on was purchasing a car as a graduation present."
"Wow. That's…really generous," spoke a gape-mouthed Akko. How was it, even after all these years, that she was still feeling awed by the sheer depths of Diana's kindness? "Err…you, I mean, not your aunt. Kinda the least she owed you after saving her and her daughters from spending their lives as firewood."
The blonde nodded once. "We can arrange logistics by text. Now that I know how this 'app' functions," Diana responded, saying the word like it was from a foreign language. "But for now, I'm afraid I need to be going. I have a meeting with my professor in ten minutes, and I suppose I'll need to explain this to him now as well."
"Of course. Good luck, Diana. Y'know…as if you need it," Akko told her, with a chuckle she didn't quite feel.
But before the other woman could hang up the call, she felt compelled to add, "Just…Just so you know. You really don't have to do this."
"I want to, Akko," Diana said back at once.
"But why?" she all but demanded. She knew she shouldn't be poking at this, but part of her needed to understand. "I screwed up, I…I let things fall apart between us. I've been a shitty friend."
"Akko, we both bear responsibility for the…current state of affairs," stated Diana, who was no longer maintaining eye contact. "And as for why I wish to help you…"
The medical student took quite a long time to formulate her next words, as if choosing them with great care.
Finally, however…
"The motto of the Cavendish Family is centered upon affection and compassion," she pronounced dramatically. "How could I hold my head up high, wishing to lead it someday, if I did not practice those virtues in your hour of need?"
And with that, the video call came to an abrupt end.
[-]
Diana dropped her phone onto the dorm room bed like it was aflame.
That'd been too close. Far too close. When Akko had asked her, point-blank, why she was willing to do something so self-evidently insane as take a leave of absence from her highly competitive medical program to help manage a restaurant she knew almost nothing about…
Well, a lot of answers had jockeyed for access at once.
And yes, the one she'd ultimately selected was the truth, after a fashion. She took her family motto seriously, and strove to live up to it with every action she took.
But it also wasn't the whole story.
Two answers were assuredly more accurate. Neither of which she could bear for Akko to hear right now.
"I hate medical school with every fiber of my being, and I'm desperate for any excuse to take a break" was one of them.
And the other…
The real reason why Diana couldn't imagine a single request Akko might make that she would ever refuse…
"I'm still in love with you, Akko," she said in a halting whisper. "And I always have been."