Red Coven's Dorm
Akko was woken up abruptly by the sound of an explosion coming from the desk in the dorm. The brunette let out a surprised yelp as she shot up from her bunk.
It had turned out to be Sucy who woke up early in the morning to perform another one of her experiment. Apparently, the pale Filipino slipped up on something and it led to the explosion.
"Ugh, shouldn't have used that much Amanitas Spores..." Sucy complained as she stood up and opened the window in order to let the fumes out.
Akko blinked. After roughly two weeks in Luna Nova, she has already gotten used to Sucy's antics, and so incidents like this didn't faze her much anymore.
Soon, Lotte sat up on her bunk, and looked toward Sucy's direction. "Again?!" She exclaimed. Even two weeks later, the Finnish girl still hasn't gotten used to her coven mate's antics yet.
"Yes. Again." Sucy answered nonchalantly while fanning the fumes out through the window.
Unfortunately for the Red Coven, the fumes is thick enough that it isn't going away quickly enough. Akko and Lotte wound up having to help Sucy spend the next 10 minutes fanning it all out until the Red Coven's dorm is completely free of the fumes.
"Next time, Sucy, try not to do anything that could explode. Okay?" Lotte said.
"Depends on how big the explosion might be..." Sucy nonchalantly responded.
Lotte face-palmed. She could never understand what is on the pale Filipino's mind.
"Anyway, let's not forget that the Banquet is tonight." Lotte then reminded her Coven mates.
"It's tonight?" Akko wondered out loud. Then her eyes widened upon realizing what she just heard. "The Banquet is tonight?"
"Yes, of course." Lotte clarified. "We will be visited by past graduates of Luna Nova along with the boys from Appleton. So we need to be on our best behavior..."
"So no spiking the punch bowl with laxative?" Sucy asked sarcastically.
"Of course not!" Lotte answered with emphasis. "Unless the punch is reserved specifically for Robert Blackwell..."
"Wow, this Robert Blackwell is such a terrible person that even someone as kind as Lotte doesn't want to be kind with him..." Akko commented, recalling what she heard about the mentioned former Defense Minister from yesterday.
The girls' conversation is interrupted when they heard a series of knocking from the door.
"I'll get it!" Akko said as she went to the door. "Who could it be, though? Professor Ashura?"
When the brunette reached the door and opened it, she and her Coven mates will find that standing on the other side isn't the blue-haired professor, but someone they've only met more recently.
"Annabel Creme?" All three Red Coven girls spoke out in surprise.
"Hello again..." Mary-Ann Lait, once again dressed up as a Luna Nova student, greeted the Red Coven with a shy wave of her hand. "Can I come in?"
"O-of course!" Lotte invited the author in.
"What are you even doing here right now?" Akko asked. "Is it about you forcing Lotte to be your replacement?"
"That's not what I'm here for. Though I do want to apologize for that." Mary-Ann answered with a grimace. Looks like she does genuinely regret doing that. "Actually, I'm here for another reason." She then added
"Another reason?" Lotte wondered.
"You see, I started writing a draft for my next story the day after you confronted me at the statue of Jennifer the Great." Mary-Ann began her explanation. "But right now, I'm still stuck writing the prologue. I went through about a dozen drafts and still haven't found a great way to start the story..."
"Let me guess... you came here looking for inspiration?" Sucy stepped in and asked the author.
"Precisely!" Mary-Ann answered. She then turned toward Akko and Lotte. "Any suggestions?"
"You're asking us for suggestions?" Lotte said. "That's... kind of..."
Akko touched her chin as she started thinking. "How about..."
As she brainstormed for a suggestion to give to Mary-Ann, Akko's line of sight slowly drifted toward the Shiny Rod which laid at a corner on the desk.
"How about Shiny Chariot!" Akko said excitedly as she picked up Shiny Rod and showed it to Mary-Ann. "Maybe you can write a story that has Shiny Chariot as a character who helps the good guys! That way maybe Shiny Chariot will become popular again!"
"Shiny Chariot? As in the performer?" Mary-Ann said.
"I knew you would say that..." Sucy deadpanned.
"Akko, I don't think that's how it works..." Lotte told the brunette.
"She's right, it doesn't." The Shiny Rod suddenly spoke, agreeing with Lotte.
Mary-Ann yelped and reeled back in surprise upon hearing the staff speak. "I-i-it speaks?!"
"Yes, I can speak. Never seen a talking magical item before?" The Shiny Rod responded. "And before you think about it, do not call me the Shiny Rod."
"Yeah, Chariot's Rod can talk." Akko said as she lowered the Rod. "It also hates being called Shiny Rod, and prefers an unpronounceable name, for some reason."
"How is Claiomh Solais unpronounceable?!" The Shiny Rod argued.
"Whatever." Akko responded in a deadpan manner, having already given up on trying to convince the Shiny Rod.
"Anyway," The Shiny Rod took the conversation back on topic. "unless you can get direct permission from Chariot herself, you cannot use her as a character in any works. As far as I know, Chariot's likeness is still trademarked by the studio that she used to work for."
"Um... yes, that is correct." Mary-Ann said, agreeing with the Shiny Rod while still in the middle of recovering from her surprise. "Copyrights and trademarks, and all that legally entails..."
Hearing that, Akko became dejected as she lowered the Shiny Rod. "I guess that means Shiny Chariot is out of the question..."
As Lotte started brainstorming for her own idea, her line of sight slowly drifted toward the Cinderella Magic Set that was placed at an inconspicuous corner of the dorm.
That immediately gave Lotte an idea.
"How about a banquet?" The Finnish girl then offered her suggestion.
"A banquet?" Mary-Ann asked with curiosity.
"You see, Luna Nova is holding a banquet tonight..." Lotte began to explain to the author. "It's a banquet that will double as both a Homecoming for the academy's alumni, and to celebrate 50 years of its friendship with Appleton Academy."
"Why Appleton, though?" Mary-Ann raised her eyebrows on the mentioning of that name. "Isn't that the same school whose headmaster is also the UK's sorry, racist excuse of a Defense Minister?"
"Oh, don't worry about that..." Sucy reassured. "Blackwell the Bastard got fired from the Defense Ministry yesterday due to another one of his Muggle supremacist nonsense. I highly doubt the Education Ministry would let him keep his other job after that stunt."
Mary-Ann scoffed at the notion that Robert Blackwell had received his just desserts. "Well, I guess that is one less pain in the arse to worry about." She said. "But anyway, can I take part in this Banquet? Maybe I can get some inspirations from it..."
...
Blue Coven's Dorm
"Do I look fat in this, Han?"
"No, you don't, Barb. How about me in this dress?"
"You actually look thinner in that than in anything else."
In preparation for tonight's Banquet, Hannah and Barbara decided to try on their dresses to make sure that they'll look good in them (but mostly just to make sure they still fit).
As for Diana, she is currently staring at a copy of the parchment that Luna Nova's faculty had asked her (and Chloe) to help decipher. The ace student had stayed up late last night trying to decipher the message written on the parchment, and went to bed in about 3AM, frustrated by her inability to understand heads or tails about it.
The fact that Chloe had taunted her, calling her "not-at-all-a-know-it-all", immediately after she told the faculty that she doesn't understand what's written on the parchment made Diana felt even more frustrated.
Diana sighed. She still can't believe that after everything she has done to make sure she will be the best of the best in Luna Nova, she failed her professors on the one thing that has nothing to do with education.
"By the way, have you heard who will be coming?" Hannah asked in her conversation with Barbara.
"Annabel Creme?" Barbara guessed. She didn't bother to hide her love for Nightfall to her friend anymore, ever since she accidentally revealed it herself that day at the statue of Jennifer the Great.
"No." Hannah corrected. "I'm talking about the notable people who will be coming as Luna Nova alumni."
"Oh." Barbara said. "I think there was a rockstar, the Vice Chancellor of the East Morgiana Republic, and..." She paused as she started racking her brain for the last detail. "What was her job? Oh, right, the director-general of the World Health Organization."
Diana suddenly tensed up upon hearing that.
"Wait, the head of the WHO is a Luna Nova alumni?" Hannah repeated what she just heard, acting totally surprised by it.
"Yeah! The LNNN has already mentioned it on their blog." Barbara said.
"Oh." Hannah said as it just came to her.
The two Blue Coven girls then turned toward their leader.
"Hey, Diana..." Hannah started as she tried to grab Diana's attention.
"Aren't you going to try on your dress?" Barbara followed up. "To see if you'd look good in it?"
Diana got up from her desk, and walked around the bookshelf dividing her half of the dorm from Hannah and Barbara's as she went toward the wardrobe.
"Yes. I. Will." The ace student then replied with venom in her tone for some reason, as she took her ball gown out of the wardrobe. Then without another word, she entered the bathroom and locked the door as she tried on the ball gown.
Hannah and Barbara glanced at each other, unsure of what to make of Diana's sudden rudeness to them...
Well, whaddya know? Mary-Ann Lait came back even though her subplot has already been wrapped up a few chapters ago! Does she have more role to play in the later chapters?
Also, while we all already know what's on the parchment, who is going to translate it, seeing that Diana here doesn't understand it at all?
In addition, what did Hannah and Barbara mention that made Diana suddenly so pissed? And why?
Maybe the next chapter will answer some of those questions? Well, since this story is nearing its end already...
"Just remember: a believing heart is your magic..."
Afterword ends here.