Fusion Cuisine – Part IV: Turning Up the Heat

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

Three Years Ago

"I cannot thank you enough for allowing the use of your facilities," said Diana, bowing her head in gratitude for about the fiftieth time in so many minutes. "I know my request was somewhat…unconventional."

Ben, head of the kitchen staff and union foreman for the fairy workers at large, shrugged his shoulders indifferently.

"Wotcher, li'l lady. If'n this weren't fer her, I'dda slammed the door in yer face meself," spoke the goblin through pursed lips. "Dunno wha' she sees in yer bougie white bum, but hey. No accountin' fer taste, eh?"

"Accounting for taste is…precisely what I intend," Diana mused, mostly to herself. She held up her finished creation to the light, as she swathed it carefully in layers of fancy wrappings borrowed from Barbara.

While more than a bit of a cliché, she had no doubt this handmade chocolate heart would be appreciated by the recipient.

"S'a beaut, I'll admit tha' much," said Ben, even as he eyed the confection like it'd murdered his cousin. "Bu' we already preparin' tha' big feas' fer Valentine's. Ya really think she gonna have room?"

"Of that, I have very little doubt," Diana replied. If there was one thing that could be counted on in this world, it was the endless appetite of Atsuko Kagari. "And in any event, Valentine's Day in Japan has slightly…different traditions."

Ones she absolutely hadn't researched fervently over three months in advance, and then spent the entire intervening time biding away for this very moment. No, not one bit.

Always the meticulous planner, Diana simply wasn't capable of doing this kind of thing spontaneously. She was barely capable of doing it with those three months of advance planning.

But if she was going to confess her feelings at long last…surely, this was the most proper way? Honoring the Japanese girl's culture, and in a way that would leave no room for ambiguity. Akko understood subtlety about as well as she understood magical history, so the latter was very important.

"Well, fer wha' it's worth…" Ben added after a lengthy pause, his ever-present sneer seeming to lessen, just slightly. "I s'ppose she could do worse. Bu' you be'er be treatin' her righ', y'hear? Or Ol' Benny's gonna have words."

"I know she's meant a great deal to you all, ever since the strike," said Diana. "Rest assured that to me, she means just as much. Her getting hurt is the last thing I want to happen."

Naturally, that was the point when the entire hall shook with Akko Kagari's shrieks of pain.

Diana tore away from the kitchens without glancing back, hastily stuffing the chocolate heart into her pocket. "Akko!" she cried out.

"Diana, is that you?" the Japanese girl's voice came back, though Diana still couldn't see her. "Okay, before you say anything this isn't as bad as it l…!"

Her words were cut off as a great deal of the floor and walls collapsed, revealing a massive wormlike beast with many rows of sharp teeth. Hanging onto its underbelly for dear life were Akko, Lotte, and Sucy.

"A crimson-eyed ebon wyrm!" Diana exclaimed in alarm. "What in the world is it doing in Luna Nova?!"

"I needed some of its fangs for a potion," said Sucy as the creature made a pass by, sounding equally as bored as she always did, despite the life-threatening peril. "And as usual, this dolt couldn't sit still for five seconds while I pulled them carefully."

"Try five years!" Akko shouted back in indignance. "You were taking forever! I figured it'd be better if we just…y'know, got it over with!"

"A…Akko…I th…think anybody w…would be mad if y…you pulled out t…ten of their t…teeth at o…once…!" trembled Lotte, the only member of their team who seemed to be reacting at all reasonably to the situation.

Diana resisted the urge to slap herself in the face.

"The roars of these wyrms destabilize earth and stone. That is to say, the materials that Luna Nova is made of," she told the trio. "We need to lure it as far away as possible!"

"That's our Diana! Always ready with a plan!" said Akko, her effusive praise causing an unwelcome swooping sensation in the heiress' stomach. "Erm…what's the plan?"

"These creatures are known to have a real sweet tooth. They go right after anything that's high in sugar," Sucy drawled. "Don't suppose any of you have something like that. Not exactly my thing."

Diana bit her lip as her fingers slipped unconsciously into her pocket. She couldn't, could she? And yet…

No, she had a duty to protect this school, and everyone in it. And every moment that wyrm was rampaging was another where it might suddenly realize there were dozens of fairies toiling over tasty desserts just a few corridors away.

Akko would never forgive herself if her actions led those workers to come to harm.

"Tia Freyre!" Diana exclaimed, rising into the air on her broom and holding the package aloft – thanking the stars that she'd wrapped it to obfuscate the telltale heart shape. "And Magna Foetida!"

The latter spell produced a gust of magical wind, which surrounded the package and then coursed directly into the wyrm's nostrils, carrying with it the irresistible scent of chocolate.

Its crimson eyes lit up, and the wyrm switched targets immediately, lunging after Diana at lightning speed. She dodged its initial strike, but just slightly.

Fortunately, the blonde was hardly a novice flier. She led the wyrm on a wild chase, pushing her broom to its limit as she coursed between pillars and made breakneck turns around corners.

Less fortunately, physical stamina wasn't one of the attributes into which she'd put a substantial amount of training. This wasn't a pace she'd be capable of keeping up for long. And the moment she slowed down even a little…

Diana's eyes went wide as she saw the wyrm's massive maw about to close around her.

Knowing she had less than a second to react, she abruptly switched gears, drawing her wand again.

But before she could fire off a spell, Akko appeared in a flash, and punched the beast in the nose.

It was sent reeling, allowing Lotte and Sucy to leap from its belly. The latter tossed a potion vial before they hit the ground, which exploded into – what else – giant mushrooms, cushioning their fall.

Akko, meanwhile, landed smoothly onto Diana's broomstick, and curled her arms comfortably around the blonde's waist like she did it every day.

"H…How did you…Where did you…?" Diana stammered, trying and failing to keep the blush from her face.

"Oh, I saw that big meanie was about to chomp down on you, so I jumped up on its back and ran all the way to its head!" said Akko cheerfully, as if that wasn't absolutely insane in every way imaginable. "Plus, I knew you'd catch me!"

"Ahem…yes. Well then, that was…certainly, impressive. Yes, yes, very impressive indeed…" coughed an increasingly flustered Diana, before a high-pitched roar interrupted her (what could charitably be called) thoughts. The stone walls around them trembled dangerously.

"It seems our friend has managed to recover," she added, as the wyrm coiled up its serpentine body in preparation for another lunge. "We can continue this discussion after we've taken care of it."

Thankfully, they didn't have much farther to go before they reached a passageway that led outdoors. Plus, with Akko providing regular cover fire from "Murowa!" blasts, Diana was able to concentrate solely on flying as fast as possible.

"Finally, fresh air!" cried Akko as they emerged onto the school grounds, the wyrm still right on their heels. "Uh…so, now what?"

"The lake, Akko! We need to lure it into the water," said Diana. She didn't have time to explain any further right now. "When I give the signal, stop casting Murowa for a little while."

Diana timed it in her head as the crystal-blue waters drew closer. Then, just when they reached the lake's edge, she pulled her arm back and tossed the package with all her might, shouting "Now!"

Five hours in the kitchen and so, so many weeks of prep time, quite literally down the drain.

Akko dutifully holstered her wand, allowing the wyrm to surge forward. And then to pass right by them, following the chocolate dessert into the lake's depths.

"Large amounts of water render a crimson-eyed ebon wyrm temporarily docile. This should buy enough time for the teachers to deal with it," spoke Diana, watching as the beast emerged a few seconds later, patting its swollen belly and drifting lazily along the water's surface. "I'll make sure that when I report it, I leave out the…full details of how it wound up in the school in the first place."

The Japanese girl tugged nervously at her collar. "Yeah, that's…probably more than they need to know…" she mumbled. "But hey, it's a good thing you had those sweets ready! I was kinda surprised…that really doesn't seem like your kinda thing."

Diana watched on as the wyrm floated by, trying to keep any trace of emotion out of her face.

Intellectually, she knew the chocolate wasn't the most important thing about her planned confession. She could still do it, right now if she wanted.

Or go back to Ben and ask for access to his kitchen again, in order to remake it another day. Akko, of all people, certainly wouldn't care if the Valentine was a day or two late.

There was absolutely no reason why their misadventures today – wild and crazy and so very, very Akko – should serve as an excuse to delay sharing her feelings.

"Oh, it was nothing, Akko. Just a free gift from a magazine subscription," she said. "I didn't even want them."

…Except the fact that she was a goddamn coward.

[-]

"What were you thinking of making, Akko?" Diana asked with a frown, as she watched the brunette pull a chaotic assortment of ingredients from the storeroom.

"I dunno! I usually figure it out partway through," said Akko cheekily. "That's the cool thing about cooking: you're always discovering something new!"

"That's certainly…a perspective," responded Diana, keeping her voice determinedly level.

She couldn't imagine going into the kitchen without a clear, focused picture of what you wanted to produce. It wasn't that Diana was dedicated solely and inflexibly to rote adherence to the recipe – experimentation was a key component of the culinary arts – but any deviations came only after careful, planned consideration.

But then, that was just another example of how their personalities differed, wasn't it? It was much the same with their magic. Diana excelled in areas where she could directly apply her wealth of scholarship and research. Whereas Akko's gifts bloomed when she was allowed to improvise and act spontaneously.

And those divergent approaches had allowed them to do some truly great things together. So perhaps…

"How is this for a proposal?" she said, returning Akko's grin with a confident one of her own. "I will prepare the appetizer, and you the main dish. Then we shall compare, and see which is superior."

Akko placed a hand to her chest in mock affront. "A challenge from my old rival? Well I certainly can't turn that down!" she declared. "I guarantee, this is gonna blow your way-too-long British socks off!"

Diana suppressed a chuckle as she pulled on an apron and a hairnet. Not the most flattering of looks, but she really wasn't dressed for an impromptu cook-off. She'd have to correct that before Monday.

Seeing that Akko was already chopping up vegetables like a madwoman, Diana decided she didn't have any time to waste, and entered the storeroom herself.

As expected from her review of the books, it was well-stocked with all the staples of modern Japanese cooking. Her own talents – such as they were – primarily lay in Western cuisine, so arguably she was already starting from a disadvantage. Unless…

Diana stared at a row of ingredients, and felt a smile slowly spread across her face, a plan hatching in her mind.

[-]

Akko dashed rapidly between stations, alive with manic energy as her creation gradually took form.

She still wasn't sure what it was going to be yet, save that chicken, rice, and vegetables would all be involved. Her tendency to wander in without a plan and just starting whipping things together had caused her mother no end of consternation, and technically gotten Akko banned for life from this kitchen. But hey…what okaasan didn't know wouldn't hurt her!

Uh, probably.

In the end, unless she came up with any "brilliant" ideas in the next couple minutes, this was probably gonna wind up as some manner of stir-fry. Not that she'd be disappointed if that was the result. Some things were classics for a reason.

And her stir-fries were anything but simple. She loaded it up with as many umami enhancers as she could get her grubby hands on: mushrooms, oyster sauce, shrimp paste. "Season to taste" was pretty much her culinary motto, and she happily tossed in anything that would lend to a bigger, bolder flavor.

Not knowing Diana's tastes all that well – and, admittedly, making assumptions based on her nationality – she chose to keep the spice level fairly low. She had her own, very strong preferences in this area, but everyone had different tolerances.

All in all, it took her about an hour to throw together, between prep time and cooking. Though admittedly it probably would've taken half the time if she hadn't overfilled her wok and accidentally ruined the first batch.

Either way, when she slid a pair of plates onto the table, she was surprised to find Diana already waiting for her, her own dishes sealed in warming pans.

"There's a reason I assigned myself to the appetizer," she said. "I assumed your record of punctuality hadn't improved much since Luna Nova."

Before Akko could do any more than sputter incoherently, however, the blonde's stoic expression broke into a light giggle.

"Apologies, I'm only teasing," she quickly added. "Regardless, I am certainly famished. You have me quite eager to try your creation."

"Same here," replied Akko, as the other woman slowly lifted the lids from her dishes. "Wait, is that…?"

"Mushroom risotto, Japanese-style. Or at least my best approximation of it," Diana explained, though the mouthwatering scent of shiitake mushrooms and cream sauce arguably did a much better job at introducing itself. "I wasn't sure how substantial your main dish was going to be, so I went a little lighter on the cream than I normally would. And this was my first time introducing dashi and sake into the stock, so I'm not sure…"

"Diana, I'm sure it's gonna be freaking delicious," Akko interrupted her. "So let's dig in already!"

Despite its creator's misgivings, the risotto was indeed an incredibly tasty affair. The lack of meat might've been a disappointment in a vacuum, but since the follow-up dish was absolutely overflowing with chicken and seafood flavors, it was hard to get too concerned.

Diana seemed to agree, as she moved from her own creation to Akko's, and immediately made a delighted little face that had Akko's chest melting into goop.

"This is certainly a dish I can tell was crafted by Atsuko Kagari. It has the same bold, intense impact as one of your performances," she said. "My only complaint is that I wish it was a little on the spicier side."

"Dammit. I knew it!" the brunette chastised herself. "I need to stop making narrow-minded cultural assumptions from your overwhelming whiteness!"

Diana very nearly spit out her current mouthful of stir-fry, in her fight to hold back a snort of laughter. Her cheeks burned, presumably out of embarrassment for the "unladylike" behavior, though Akko mostly just found it adorable.

"Well I am overwhelmingly white. It a deficiency that, sad to say, I am wholly unable to correct," she told the other woman. "Nevertheless, I can assure you that I possess a Scoville tolerance that exceeds room-temperature mayonnaise."

It was a good thing Akko wasn't herself eating at the time, because she didn't bother to hold back her laughter at all.

"So, I'm kinda curious," she said after a little while, as they were both nearing the end of their plates. "Where did you learn to cook so well? I don't mean anything offensive by it, but…well, umm…"

"It doesn't fit with the picture you had in your head of me," Diana finished for her.

Akko flushed and tugged nervously on her ponytail, but nodded. "Pretty much, yeah," she admitted.

For some reason, the British woman let out a low sigh. "Well, I expect our stories aren't all that dissimilar in the end," she stated neutrally. "I learned from my mother."

The bottom fell right out of Akko's stomach, despite how full it was.

"Oh," she said lamely. "I mean, we don't have to talk about…"

"It's fine, Akko," Diana cut her off again, her voice firm but not stern. "It was one of the things we shared together, back when she was still healthy. And when she grew too sickly to make it to the kitchen…well, I thought that if I could make all her favorite foods, maybe she would get better. Hopelessly naïve, as children are wont to be."

She put down her chopsticks – which she'd been using immaculately, by the by – and folded her hands in her lap.

Then, in a lower voice, she continued, "After she passed, I found I couldn't leave the kitchen behind. It was where I felt closest to her. And as Aunt Daryl's mismanagement resulted in us losing more and more household staff…and as you might expect, she and my cousins are hardly the type to prepare their own food, much less anyone else's…"

"I guess you would've had to get pretty self-sufficient, huh?" muttered Akko, sighing as well. "Sometimes I forget what you've gone through, Diana. And that's on me. Sorry if what I said was…y'know. Insensitive or anything."

"I tend not to overtly seek pity for the wealthy, privileged, aristocratic girl," said Diana. "My life certainly could've been a far worse one. And I'm glad that it has taught me these skills. I am proud of my cooking, Akko. Equally as much as my magic. And, as with my magic…"

She looked the Japanese woman straight in the eyes, her expression unwavering, as she whispered, "I am glad those skills have brought the two of us closer together."

Akko almost did it, right there. She almost, almost reached across the table, grabbed Diana by the collar, and kissed her senseless until they were both gasping for air. Every part of her body ached to do so.

But she didn't. This wasn't the time, nor the place.

She needed to keep focused.

So instead, she said, "This was great, but it's getting late. We should probably clean up and go home. Got a lot to do tomorrow."

[-]

"Thank you for joining us for this emergency staff meeting," Diana declared, her slideshow presentation now projected onto the wall thanks to an app on Akko's phone. "I know you weren't scheduled today, so we appreciate you coming in on your personal time."

The two young men on the other side of the table reacted to this welcome in very different ways. One, who was rather tall and muscular with spiky blue hair, flashed a grin and a thumbs up. The other, whose soft features and bob haircut made him look vaguely feminine, flared his nostrils and grimaced in annoyance.

"We haven't been scheduled for a whole damn week at this point," said the latter, crossing his arms in front of his chest with such naked petulance that it was almost cute. "Of course we wanna know if we still have jobs here!"

"Taichi, don't be like that! It's not like Kagari-san wanted to get in a car accident," the spiky-haired man cut in, before turning back to the two witches. "Look, sorry about his attitude. We're both here to help. My name's Kenichi."

"Nah, I get it. I'd be ticked too if I was in your shoes," Akko replied sympathetically, sitting down across from the pair. "That's Diana Cavendish, and I'm Atsuko Kagari. But please just call me Akko."

"Kagari? So you're the boss' kid, I take it," Taichi stated gruffly. His perpetually sour disposition reminded Diana of a certain Filipina witch they knew. "Not a big fan of nepotism, but I'll give you a fair shake."

"Regardless of what you are or are not a 'big fan' of, Akko and I will be serving as your interim managers for the next three weeks," said Diana, fighting to keep a vein from pulsing in her temple. If there was anyone completely undeserving of accusations of nepotism, it was Akko. "We're a small team, so I want us to work closely together. But I'll forewarn you that we will be expecting a lot."

"Happy to hear it!" exclaimed Kenichi, fist clenched over his chest like he was saluting. "I grew up going to Kagari's almost every week. I won't let it go down without a fight! Masato Takeuchi can have this place when he pries it from my cold, dead hands!"

"Ah, so you know about the…uh, other stuff," Akko awkwardly coughed.

"How could we not?" asked Taichi. "What with Takeuchi's goons on every street corner. Guy acts more like a yakuza boss than a real estate developer. Hell, maybe he is yakuza…certainly shady enough."

"Well, as…riveting as that theory is…" said Diana, trying and probably not altogether succeeding in keeping her tone from sounding dismissive. "We have quite a lot of material to cover, so I'd appreciate your full and undivided attention."

She clicked to the slide she'd left off with Akko, before their unscheduled cook-off.

"Three pillars to rebuild the restaurant's financial and social capital. Personnel, menu, and marketing," she continued briskly. "Job requisitions have already been placed for a full-time chef and two part-time cooks, plus one more call-in fronthouse staffer. I will be interviewing them personally, and in the meantime, providing the necessary kitchen services myself."

"Oh wow! Didn't know you had kitchen experience too!" spoke an excited Kenichi, punching his companion lightly on the shoulder. "We really got lucky with this one, eh? Told ya we had nothing to worry about."

Diana bit her lip. As nice as the praise was to hear, she felt honor-bound to disabuse the young man of his misconceptions.

"Truthfully, I…have never worked in food service before. All my executive knowledge in this area came from self-study across the past week," she admitted. "So I expect there will be a learning curve, particularly with regard to actual kitchen operations. But if you will all be patient with me…"

"Hold up," said Taichi before she could continue any further, his thick eyebrows twitching. "You mean to tell us you've got literally no relevant experience? Never gone through a dinner rush before, never did a shift in an industrial kitchen or even a goddamn MgRonald's? Then what the hell gives you the right to tell us what to do?"

"Hey, that's not fair!" protested an indignant Akko. "Diana may not've grown up doing restaurant work like I did, but she's definitely the, ummm…bossiest person I know!"

Diana wasn't sure whether she was supposed to feel flattered or insulted by that comment, and so ultimately pushed past it.

"I am under no illusions as to the depth of my inexperience. But Akko and her parents asked me to take on this role, and I would besmirch the House of Cavendish not to give it my all," she said. "If you are willing to learn from what Akko and I have to offer, then we shall gladly do the same in turn. If you are not…then the door is that way."

Kenichi placed a hand on the other man's arm. One which, unless Diana was reading too much into it, seemed to linger just slightly longer than it needed to.

"C'mon, Taichi. Give them a chance," he implored his coworker. "What've we got to lose?"

"Our jobs. Our livelihoods. The ability of this place to survive to next week without declaring bankruptcy," Taichi replied dryly, ticking them off on his fingers.

But Kenichi continued to stare him directly in the eyes, burning passion alight in his azure pupils. And ultimately, though it would've been almost imperceptible to most people, Diana saw Taichi's expression soften.

"Okay, fine," he sighed. "It's not like we could pull this off on our own, anyway. So like it or not…guess we're a team."

"That's my man!" said Kenichi brightly, clapping him on the back with a bark of laughter. "Anyway, that covers one of those 'pillar' things you mentioned. What were the other two again?"

Diana figured that was the best she was going to get out of Taichi at this point, and so was grateful for the segue back to her presentation. She always felt more confident with data backing her up.

"Our other goals intertwine with one another. A redesign to the restaurant's menu and product offerings, and focused marketing to the community to raise awareness and excitement over those changes," she explained, gesturing to the next slide. It was filled with lots of nice, fancy charts and graphs…which were clearly going right over at least two-thirds of her audience's heads.

"What's wrong with the food we got now?" asked Kenichi. "I like it. My friends all like it. You like it, right Taichi?"

The other man cocked an eyebrow, before shrugging both shoulders. "It's alright," he said noncommittally.

"Nothing is wrong, in and of itself," said Diana. "But we aren't going to be able to move forward without cutting costs somewhere. I think we can all agree that sacrificing the quality of the food is a nonstarter. Which means narrowing the range to those we're able to prepare most optimally."

"Thus decreasing overhead, without biting into other operations too badly," added Taichi. "It's a start, at least."

Akko's mouth, however, twisted into a small frown. "I know we gotta make some changes. But the menu's been pretty much the same here since before I was even born," she pointed out. "I don't wanna drive away our long-timers."

Diana had been anticipating this objection, and blew up one of her bar graphs to a larger size.

"I took the liberty of evaluating the last year's worth of sales data. Then sorted the current menu items in order of popularity," she said, gesturing to several color-coded columns in turn. Admittedly, getting this graph to function properly without error messages had taken her an embarrassing five hours last night, but they didn't need to know that part. "The products listed in green are ordered most frequently, and should be kept without question. Blue are medium-sellers but require many of the same ingredients as those in the green category, so would take minimal resources to remain on the menu. Yellow are medium-sellers with expensive ingredients, and so should be considered for removal, even if it may cause some pushback. Red products are barely ever ordered and can be cut without issue. Then, this handful I've coded with purple and white stripes are…"

"Diana," Akko whispered in her ear, causing the blonde's heart to very nearly jump out of her chest. "Remember that 'breathing' thing we talked about?"

Without really meaning to, Diana found the rising and falling of her chest start to slow. She'd slipped easily and unconsciously into the mindset she held whenever she was project lead for an assignment – or in other words, any time she did a group project.

At this point it was almost second nature to take everything on herself. It wasn't something she even thought about.

But maybe that was because she no longer had a classmate like Akko to keep her grounded.

"This is all really impressive," said Kenichi, once the silence had stretched on long enough to grow awkward. "But, uh…I think what your friend means is that you don't have to take all this on alone. Okay, I probably won't be much help on the big-brain stuff, trained to be a firefighter before washing out…but Taichi's got a marketing degree!"

"Half of one," murmured the other man, his arms crossed and his gaze turned askance. "Had to drop out to take care of my siblings."

Diana's heart softened at the bitterness in his voice. She wasn't the biggest fan of the waiter's attitude, but it wasn't hard to see where it came from now.

"You still both have talents we should make every effort to leverage," she told the young men. "And we'll do the same for everyone else we hire on. Because I quite agree. True success isn't built on the efforts of one person alone…but on collaboration and teamwork."

It was the kind of truism it was easy to forget when there was no one around to remind you.

Akko placed a comforting hand on the blonde's shoulder, intimating her support much more strongly than with words. But Diana also saw a switch flick on behind the woman's scarlet eyes, as another thought occurred to her.

"Sounds like we've got a lot to do before we're ready to reopen," she said with a shake of her head. "Is shooting for tomorrow really realistic?"

"I've been considering that," mused Diana, cupping her chin pensively with her fingers. "I believe it is, but it would need to be a soft open. Perhaps for the first week or so, we open for lunch hours, but close in the early evening. We'd lose access to profits from the dinner rush and late-night drinking…"

"But it's better than making no profits at all," Taichi finished for her. "Alright, Cavendish-san, you've got me convinced. At least tentatively."

"When should we report tomorrow?" asked Kenichi.

Diana shared a glance with her fellow witch, before responding, "Bright and early. Six at the latest. Akko and I should be able to take care of the remaining preparations this evening, but we'll need all hands on deck to make sure the first day goes smoothly."

She saw Akko wilt a bit at the notion of waking up so early in the morning, but if she had objections she didn't voice them aloud. Alas, there was no helping it.

In any event, both the waitstaff nodded their assent.

"Bright and early it is, chief!" exclaimed Kenichi, offering another flash of his pearly whites. "C'mon, Taikkun. If we hurry, we can still catch that showing of the Quintuplets movie before dinner! Gotta rep my girl Itsuki!"

He dangled out his fingers toward the other man. And though Taichi's frown didn't disappear, it appeared to shrink, just a little bit, as he took them.

"You and your Inori Minase obsession," he groaned with a roll of his eyes, though it really seemed more performative than anything else. "Besides…everyone knows that Miku is best girl."

Akko and Diana watched on as the two younger men walked off, hand in hand.

"Umm…two things," said Akko after a few moments, her mouth hanging open slightly. "One, I've read that manga, and they are both in for some serious disappointment. Not like me, Yotsubros for liiiiiiiiiiife."

She held a fist at eye-level, as if waiting for a response. Confused at what she was supposed to do, Diana reached up and awkwardly shook it.

Akko, whose cheeks were now tinged pink for some reason, quickly added, "Anyway, second question…am I reading too much into it, or are those two…?"

"I have been told I have an excessively poor eye for such things," Diana interjected, blinking several times. "But I do believe they are."

[-]

The rest of the day was, if anything, even busier than the morning.

Akko ran around Kagemori Shopping District like a woman possessed, handing out flyers which Diana had hastily designed, listing the temporary new menu and hours. Meanwhile, the blonde was slaving away back in Kagari's kitchen, giving herself a crash course in making all those dishes.

Thankfully, just about everyone Akko talked to was excited for the grand reopening, or at least relieved they weren't shutting down for good. She actually had to run back briefly for another stack of flyers, because the first one disappeared like handshake tickets at an idol concert.

There were a lot of new faces around here the brunette didn't recognize, but many old ones too. Matsuyama-san the grocer, and Shimorenjaku-sama the elderly cleaning lady, both welcomed her back to Japan with open arms, before promptly trying to introduce her to their respective grandsons.

After the fourth round of politely declining (Shimorenjaku-sama had a bad habit of pretending to be hard of hearing when she got an answer other than the one she wanted), however, the old lady asked a question that stumped Akko cold.

"Didn't you go off to some fancy magic school, dearie?" she said. "I heard one of the girls in my Shogi club saying you got all big and famous for it! Could we see some?"

There was a general murmur of excitement amongst the shoppers, as a number of them stopped to form a crowd.

Akko bit her lip. Her agency had told her to keep a low profile while in Japan, to avoid attracting undue attention to her family's private life. And besides, with no Sorcerer's Stone nearby, she'd be able to do maybe a minute of tricks, tops.

But then she saw that just about everyone gathering expectantly had a flyer in their hands. Including quite a number of wide-eyed children.

A great big grin slowly spread across Akko's face, feeling the heady rush of recklessness overriding common sense. She could do a lot with a minute.

"Ladies and gentlemen! Non-binary folks of all stripes!" she yelled out. Good showmanship was always inclusive, after all. "Get ready to feast your eyes! Just like you'll be able to feast your bellies at Kagari's, located at the corner of Yukano and Gendoso, reopening tomorrow from the hours of ten to six!"

Akko cringed a bit inwardly, but pressed forward. She'd always been poor at delivering commercials and sponsorship deals, which was part of why she got so few of them.

She decided to keep the impromptu show light, but high on spectacle. She created a number of animals out of colorful stars, before having them stand up on their hind legs and dance a waltz with one another.

Then with a flourish of her wand, those stars burst into a near-perfect illusion of actual birds, each one a different hue of the rainbow. Akko wanted nothing more than to join them in flight, though metamorphosis magic was a bit too risky when you were liable to run out of magic at any moment.

So instead, for her closer, she multiplied the birds tenfold, and had them fly in formation along the backdrop of the clouds. Forming a cartoonish rendition of her own face, sticking its tongue out.

The younger members of the crowd, and even a few of the older ones, erupted into a fit of giggles. And all of them offered cheers and applause.

Their excitement was infectious. Somehow, in a way, far more than when she was performing to a sold-out stadium of thousands.

"I'm sorry that's all I can offer for you today. But if you liked what you saw…uh, Kagari's has really good food, and stuff!" she said. Not exactly the smoothest transition, but it would have to do. "Anyway, I gotta get back there and help some more! But remember this: a believing heart is your magic! And I can actually say that this time 'cuz this show wasn't for-profit so it qualifies as fair use I think!"

She was in such a hurry to get away from the crowd – especially as she wasn't entirely sure she hadn't just committed trademark infringement against Chariot's old agency – that she completely failed to notice a man peel away from the back of it.

That man, who was dressed in a nondescript black suit and sunglasses, raised a cell phone to his ear, and made a call.

[-]

"I'm torn between feeling jealous for missing the performance, and wanting to chastise you for delivering it in the first place," said Diana, as they reconvened over dinner later that evening.

After cooking for about six hours straight, she hadn't been in any mood to argue when Akko suggested ordering pizza. No matter how brutally unhealthy it was.

The Japanese woman let out a sigh between large bites of ham and pineapple (because of course those were the toppings she'd ordered), and nodded toward her fellow witch.

"I hear you. I never wanted to use my fame for this – my parents would never get another second of peace if I plugged the restaurant to my 'Shining Star' fans," she replied. "It's just something that sorta…happened. And it felt good. To be…y'know. To be helpful."

"You didn't feel helpful here?" asked Diana, frowning slightly.

Akko held up both palms. "No, that's not what I mean!" she quickly exclaimed. "But…well, this morning, when we were talking to Kenichi and Taichi…"

She inhaled and exhaled several times, apparently searching for the right words.

"Look, I've lived and breathed this place since I was barely out of diapers. I thought I knew this stuff," she went on after another, lengthier sigh. "But here you come in, studying food service for less than a week and our own books for less than a day, and…you're running circles around me. You had everything figured out in that meeting, and I could barely contribute."

She bit her lip, clearly hesitating to say the next part, before the words finally tumbled out, "That didn't feel like two co-managers, meeting with their two employees. It felt like one manager and three employees."

Diana's throat shriveled up in an instant, her voice turning dry and scratchy.

"I…I didn't mean to make you feel that way," she said, unable to meet the other woman's gaze.

"That's just it, though! You didn't do anything wrong!" Akko spoke up at once, her eyes imploring. "You…You're perfect. Just like always. I'm the one who needs to catch up with you."

One of the troubling things about being in love with Atsuko Kagari was that the woman didn't have a dishonest bone in her body. Whatever she felt in her heart, she said, with no dissembling or preamble.

Diana had never met another person like her. And likely never would again.

"I have never seen you that way, Akko. I hope you know that," she told the brunette. "We simply have different strengths. Mine happen to center in areas of organization and planning, which are key to these early stages. But there's a reason you needed to be the one going out and promoting us in the community. I'd fail miserably at that, and please don't try to argue otherwise."

She finished her final slice – which she'd insisted on eating with a knife and fork, causing Akko to term her a "heathen infidel" – and folded her hands across her lap.

"There are many different types of intelligence. And despite my reputation, Akko, I excel at only a few of them," she said. "Never let anyone tell you that your social intelligence, or your creativity, are any less valuable."

Diana leaned forward, and added in a whisper, "I want us to meet in the middle. Combine our strengths. And accomplish together, what we could not alone."

At a certain point, she was pretty sure she'd started talking about more than just co-managing a restaurant. And now their faces were so close.

They drew a little bit closer.

If Diana hadn't already hated cellular telephones with a fiery passion, then the fact that hers chose to ring at that moment would've cinched the issue. Still, she received calls so infrequently that it seemed poor form to ignore it.

Akko watched on in confusion as she put the device to her ear, provided a few clipped, monosyllabic answers, and then hung up.

"One of my professors," she offered in explanation. "I was assuring him that my 'leave of absence' won't affect my ability to complete my term paper in a timely fashion. It is, as he so helpfully reminded me, worth sixty percent of my grade."

The spell they'd just been under thoroughly broken, Akko let out a laugh that was perhaps just a little too loud.

"Man, medical school must be brutal!" she said jokingly. "The last time I had to do a paper was for Ursula-sensei. And she let me turn it in a whole week late, just as long as I never told anyone about that old photo I found of her at the Luna Nova New Year's party, about to…!"

"Akko, I hate it," Diana spat out, before she could stop herself.

The Japanese woman's voice, and her smile, both fell away in an instant. "What?" she asked mutedly.

"I hate medical school. Everything about it," she found herself explaining, unable to hold back the floodgates now that they'd been breached. "I hate the classes, I hate most of my professors, I hate how cutthroat and political it is. I hate that it's a system seemingly designed, not to produce the best doctors possible…but to produce doctors who follow orthodox methods, never question authority, and never make trouble for the hospitals that employ them. And Japan doesn't even have the worst of it. I took a semester in the United States, and quite literally half my coursework centered upon, not patient care or safety…but on how to avoid lawsuits."

"Diana…" Akko mumbled, clearly at a loss for how to respond.

"Some of my peers have been supportive. But I see how most of them – the faculty as well – look down on me," the blonde continued, wringing her hands anxiously. "Thanks to your efforts, public opinion of magic is slowly changing. Yet many more still see it as antiquated, inefficient, and obsolete. Particularly in such a traditional institution as medicine."

"So they won't let you use your magic?" said Akko hollowly, like she could think of no worse fate.

"The modern medical infrastructure…is not designed to accommodate magical healing as a treatment modality," Diana answered, repeating verbatim how it'd been explained to her by the least condescending of her professors. "There's an acute irony there, isn't it? Growing up as heiress to the House of Cavendish, 'tradition' was the ideal I strove for above all others – simply in the opposite direction. But after all our adventures together, it feels so incredibly foolish. Not unless it is moored to the shore of that which is new and innovative."

"Sybilladura Lelladybura…" Akko breathed out, confirming they were thinking the very same thing. "The fifth word."

Diana nodded once, before asking through gritted teeth, "Do you want to know the worst part? The biggest reason everyone I've spoken to has discouraged me from my pursuit to meld modern medical science with sorcery?"

Her fists closed so tightly that her nails dug into her skin.

"Because almost no national healthcare service or private insurance in the world lists magic as a covered service," she finished bitingly. "I can't do it, because they won't pay for it."

Diana could've gone on and on about this subject for hours – and had, privately, the night she first discovered sake.

But she was cut off by a pair of slender arms throwing themselves around her shoulders.

"I'm so sorry," said Akko in a tiny voice. "I shouldn't be hearing this for the first time now. I should've stayed in touch better…should've been someone you could confide this stuff in."

Diana couldn't see the other woman's face, but she was certain she was crying. Her own eyes were starting to well up as well. To stem them, she found herself burying her face against Akko's shoulder, taking in the heady aroma of her shampoo.

Unsurprisingly, it was plum-scented.

"It isn't your fault, Akko. I chose to keep all this bottled up, to deal with it alone," she gasped out, between ragged breaths. "I think I just…I didn't want to ruin your image of me. You've always seemed to see me as some perfect prodigy, who had her whole life figured out from age six. And I thought that was true. But now here I am, walking down the path I set for myself…"

She pulled away, looking Akko straight in the eyes as she whispered, "And I've never felt more lost."

The Japanese woman remained still for several moments. Then she took a single step back, head dipped as her fingers fiddled with one another.

"I know it's…late to offer," she said. "But if there's anything I can do to help you find your way again…then I want to. I want to be there for you, Diana. Any way I can."

Kiss her, demanded an incredibly unhelpful part of Diana's brain. Hold her, embrace her, never let her go again…

But she didn't listen to that voice, intense as it was. As she'd forced herself not to listen for over four years now.

Instead, she let her lips form into a tiny smile as she responded, "Then I wish to offer the same thing. If there is ever anything in your life you need to discuss, then I shall be your confidante. To the best degree I may."

For just a fraction of an instant, Diana thought she saw a tightening of Akko's expression. Like there was something else she wanted to say.

But it passed so quickly that Diana was sure she must've imagined it. Standing before her, the brunette offered a cheery, full-mouthed grin.

"No problems here!" she exclaimed, eyes shut and head tilted to the side. "You know me, Diana – what you see is what you get!"