POV Narrator:
Wednesday, 11 October 2017, Luna Nova
It had been a few days since the events that occurred at the ball of the Earl of Appleton's visit, the Earl of Appleton himself kept a secret so that no one would know about what happened in Luna Nova with Akko's appearance and the near death moment running away from the bear Arcas, finally the classes were returning to normal and as always Akko was doing pretty badly in the days, not even getting the basics, always giving the worst possible result, either the room exploding, or her ending up bewitched, but at least it was being something, since not even that Kagari was getting, but even so it was still guaranteed some laughs, mainly around the many failures.
That week during Astrology class with teacher Ursula, she called the girls to see how they did in the magic of predicting the future, which was an interesting experiment, although most of the class couldn't even see much, that is until Diana arrived and she was the highlight for succeeding and of course Akko confidently asked to be seen.
"So Diana I want to see you predict me" Atsuko said full of herself as Cavendish went on to observe the Japanese woman's prediction of her future.
"Akko you will leave Luna Nova" Said the Scot after taking a look at the predictions, which no one could see only herself.
"What? You must be wrong" said the desperate Kagari.
"I am serious Akko, these predictions are nae wrong, unless you have just gone for a walk, but in the prediction it was showing you going alone, it was snowing on the day, which is tae be suspected that it will be right in the winter, this can be given question by your grades Akko, if you do nae have good grades until the winter you could end up in a situation of expulsion, dinnae forget that Luna Nova values the excellent performance of the students - Said the prodigy student while everyone was getting a little shocked especially the Japanese girl.
After that moment in class, Atsuko became desperate, she started running from one place to another, trying to dedicate herself as much as she could to have some opportunity to increase her grades, even venturing into the magical language classes where the teacher Pisces was teaching and of course because of that she didn't realize that the teacher herself was explaining in fish language that the Japanese girl was not noticing.
In the middle of the week Akko thought that her days were numbered, that she was going to leave Luna Nova anyway, because even though she tried hard to study, she always ended up falling asleep. She went to try to understand the teacher Pisces more closely because she thought that there might be an opportunity to get some grades and not be expelled from Luna Nova.
POV Akko:
I need to pass the year, I'll see if I can talk to the teacher, after what Diana told me I can't think of anything else, maybe if I understand the language of fish I might have a little extra note to hold the rope that will hang around my neck, well maybe even, I take a deep breath, I enter her room, when I see the aquarium, I end up seeing the teacher swimming upside down.
"Professor Pisces!" I go to her running and see her all turned around, I run to get her in the aquarium, I don't know how she can live in such a small space like this, I take her to the trough.
Come on teacher, I'm sure you just need some fresh water, surely she must just be needing it, the water must have been dirty somehow, damn... Come on Pisces come to your senses, out of nowhere she jumps out of my hand and falls into the drain of the drinking fountain, now it's fucked up for good, I'm definitely leaving Luna Nova.
"Professor Pisces!" I scream in despair and start looking in the drain, trying to find it, I can't even stick my hand in there, Professor Ursula appears there and I get a bit embarrassed.
"What happened Akko, what are you doing at the water fountain - said the teacher.
"It's nothing, I was just taking a little water" I answer scratching the back of my neck.
"So that's it then" she said and went straight on... I was relieved, if they find out that I did this to teacher Pisces they will all kill me.
I run from there to the bedroom in desperation, seeing Lotte and Sucy, one was reading a book and the other was stirring some potion or mushroom, I don't know, but I need their help, so much so that I couldn't even process a word, when they stare at me, but I take a deep breath, so I can speak.
"I went to the Pisces teacher's room, she was apparently dead in the aquarium, so I picked her up to take her to the water cooler, but then she jumped out of my hand and went into the drain, now I need your help so we can rescue the teacher before I get kicked out of Luna Nova"
"Speak more slowly Akko" Lotte said.
"The Pisces teacher, she fell down the drain and it was my fault, we have to find her before the teachers foul her and I end up being expelled" I tell the two who get a surprised look on their faces.
"You what?" Said the shocked blonde.
"Woah Akko, I think you've gone too far this time huh, how can you do the most incredibly stupid things" Sucy said and I just inflated my cheeks.
"Are you going to help me or not? It's an emergency" I tell them in desperation.
"Well, since it might be the last moment with you here, I think it's worth going on this last adventure" said Manbavaran jokingly, and as always to mock me, but I'm not going to fall for it.
We walked to the nearest water entrance, walking through the corridors, we went underground, from there we got close to the pipes, then Lotte turned us into fishes, they became really cute fishes, when I went to see myself in the reflection I was frightened by the horrendous and huge creature I became.
"Oh come on, look at my size, because I can't be cute like you girls"
"Akko, the magic in you is quite limited to accept a full transformation, even still coming for the others, it was the best I could try" Yanson said as I got a pouty face being the pouting fish.
We went swimming in the middle of the sewers, an interesting thing, I never thought I would end up doing something like this, swimming like a fish in the water, it's a unique sensation, even more breathing underwater, we arrived in the middle of a river, where we saw other fish, how cool is that part, I liked it, but we have to find the teacher.
"Look, being a fish is not a bad thing, swimming from place to place" Akko said.
"So now you can choose what to be when you get kicked out of Luna Nova" said Sucy mocking me, and I showed her my fish tongue.
"No jokes people, we have to find where Professor Pisces went, surely she must be in the surroundings, the sewer took us here" I tell them.
"That's if she survived the sewage water" Complements the pink fish as usual with her sadistic comments.
We immediately started asking other fish and strangely I could understand how to talk to them, they answered, but they didn't know where the teacher was, nor where there was a fish that looked like her, that is until we saw the teacher standing out among the other grey fish.
"It's her! Let's go! Finally we found her, now we just have to talk and get Luna Nova back - I say going towards the fish and the two were standing still.
I was excited, but out of nowhere something started to come down from the water, it was a net, I was caught unprepared, I tried to swim to the other side, the teacher was also close, we were going as fast as we could, but we were caught, I went to the surface and gave my faces to the fishermen.
"Release those fish or you will face my wrath" I say in a voice all scary, enjoying this atrocity in a way they left me, there may be something useful in that.
"Ahhhhhhhh! Help a sea monster" said the fisherman who let down the net in desperation and I jumped back into the water, I didn't even notice but someone must have taken a picture, I hope nothing spreads to Luna Nova.
When I return to the water the fish thank me, giving me hugs and everything, but Professor Pisces keeps swimming, I follow her, kind of alone, wanting to know where she was going to take us, we arrived in a kind of cave, the place was beautiful, full of crystals around.
"Thank you Akko, thanks to you I was able to enjoy a few moments outside the aquarium, you can leave it to me that I will relieve you and assure you that it was me who asked you to do this" said the teacher.
"You... I can understand you" I say surprised.
"When you turn into fish, you end up speaking their language, so you understand me now, you can leave it to me that I have a way to hold you more in Luna Nova" She said being gentle with me.
"So you don't have the same impression of me as everyone else? You don't think I'm a problem" I ask surprised.
"I still think you're a troublemaker, but after that moment you did good for me, you didn't understand a word of my wishes to come here to enjoy outside the aquarium, but now that you understand we can plan something to hold you back more" said Professor Pisces and I went on thinking it was the coolest thing in the world.
"Not to be nosy, but why do we have a teacher who is literally a fish and you being a fish don't you have the life span of a fish? As far as I know fish die in a few years" I ask her questions and she laughs.
"These are things that you will understand one day, but this part about the age of the fish, I kind of have the life span of a human being, anyway this place is isolated enough, so we can talk about how we are going to do during the conversation, I'll make some gestures and you will understand my sentences when you return to your human form" said the teacher and I agreed.
I thought only teacher Ursula was nice to me, but Pisces is also very nice, the girls are also helping me in this, they are starting to understand the gestures, besides they must know a bit more about the fish language than me.
After the rehearsed...
I understand now, it's all clearer, this is going to be quite easy to achieve, I may yet be able to prove myself as a fish language expert, she literally taught me the basics of the basics, I didn't understand any of the gestures, I was getting excited.
"And so you understand Akko?" asks the teacher.
"Is it that simple?" I say to the teacher.
"What do you mean? Fish language is that, you could genuinely understand?" she said in surprise.
"Ah, I understood a few things here and there, you know, I think I can make it, like I got a good grade in English class to get the visa here, I have a facility to understand languages" says the teacher.
"That might help you a lot, but let's keep going safe okay" she said and I nodded in agreement.
We kept swimming and she was telling us a little bit about how bad it is to be in an aquarium, she even laughed about the comment I had made before we got to the water fountain, I knew it was really boring to be in that aquarium and wait for someone to move you, I think I'm finally getting along with someone, we kept swimming passing through a portal all covered with sewage, until we stopped at the Luna Nova pipes again, we got back to normal and I took Professor Pisces in hand, we put it in a little hidden bag.
"Whew, we managed to rescue the teacher, did you notice how in the sewage pipeline we pass through a path similar to Ley's line?" I ask them, and looking at the bag the teacher herself answers me.
"The pipes of Luna Nova are also part of the ley line, leading back to the land, since there are no pipes around here with good water, we had to make a whole system that takes the water from the land through the ley lines, it was the witches of the golden age of magic who made that possible, didn't you learn that in history class?" She said in a fish language that I could understand very well.
"I never paid that much attention to it, but anyway it's interesting to imagine it, now let's go, no one can notice us" I say hiding the bag in my bra.
We were walking in the corridors, waving to everyone as if nothing had happened, but the teacher Finnelan seems to have X-rays to know everything, she arrived facing me, with her hands on her waist, I think it really fucked up.
"You three, on the board now and get Professor Pisces out of this place!" She said and holy shit does it look like they have X-rays.
On the board of directors...
And here comes the bomb, it looks like we can't really escape, but Professor Pisces has given me a fishy wink, so I am reassured, I know I will get away with it, I am sure, she is on our side, just like Professor Ursula who was there.
"Miss Holbrooke, we found the scoundrel, she was trying to run away from Luna Nova with our teacher Pisces, this is an affront to our rules, besides the super low grades, we can't keep her here in Luna Nova for much longer, or else she will kill all of us, what do you have to say in your defense Miss Kagari? It's not enough what you've caused" she said and I shrugged.
"I was just making a request of the teacher, she who asked us to take a walk" I say in fish language and the teacher pisces is even impressed, while all of them also show that I was just mocking the situation.
"You see she is even debauching the situation" said the teacher.
"Wait a minute Finnelan, that's fish language, she's... Speaking perfectly" said Professor Ursula intervening.
"Fish language? I know you want to defend your beloved student so much, but this is already an exaggeration"
"So why don't we listen to what teacher Pisces has to say" Said the cool blue-haired teacher, I'm thinking now it looks like they're going to break face.
"Akko is right, she was the one who made my request, I asked her to take me to the drinking fountain, so I could escape from there, it was just a trick, I'm sorry for putting a student in such a situation, but in the end she went after me anyway and made sure to bring me back, she was the hero here" The teacher recognizes me and I was finding the greatest satisfaction in old Finnelan's face.
"What? So she confirms the story? Even so, you have gone against the rules, especially you Miss Kagari, you made an unnecessary display of magic, as the rules say it is expressly forbidden to use magic outside Luna Nova and also to demonstrate magic in front of mundanes, they might get scared" Said the annoying lady.
"But they know that magic exists, this is not Hogwards, come on, you want this place to be as it seems, I have never seen punishments so inhuman and close to slavery as here, apart from what they said now, why don't you admit right away that you want magic to remain a secret, even though everyone knows it exists" I say to them that get a little angry.
"This is an outrage Miss Kagari, don't question the traditions like that, you deserve it, if you behaved like a real witch and showed some class you wouldn't be putting your team in detention, we have never had a team as underperforming as yours" said the boring old woman.
"Since you want to expel me so much, I do complain, at least I will make you aware of how you are being a reason to give everyone a reason to think that magic is old-fashioned, even slavery you normalize"
"Calm down Akko, let's not make hasty statements either, the headmistress hasn't even made her decision yet" said Ursula trying to calm my nerves.
I stared at everyone on the spot, confident that now I wouldn't stand a chance, if I'm going to be expelled then at least I should be expelled with dignity, I'm not going to keep lowering my head to a bunch of boring old women, I'm not going to give up on you yet either Chariot, you can be sure that this won't be the end yet, I may come back here later but in a sneaky way when I graduate in Japan.
"I've decided, Miss Kagari stays, I won't expel her, she performed a heroic act and made a request of Professor Pisces, even if she was deceived by herself without knowing the consequences, it was an act she did for the greater good, that can't be ignored at any moment, but she caused an unnecessary exposure of magic, but since we don't have a magic restriction out there and literally everyone knows we exist, I can alleviate that, you won't be expelled, but you will still pay detention and I can guarantee that you will stay here until the summer, then it will be up to you to get good grades to keep up, it's just a simple task that you will do alone, without your team, and you won't have a noose around your neck for the rest of the year" said the headmaster, and hearing this was a relief, I was ready for expulsion, I thought it would happen today, a little over a month in Luna Nova and I almost got expelled, who would have thought?
"Thank you Principal Holbrooke, you have no idea how much this has helped me, I feel grateful for all the help you've given me now, I make sure I leave these corridors glowing" I say kneeling down to thank you.
"Mrs. Holbrooke, this is absurd, are you really trying to lower the level of this academy of witchcraft to the point of keeping this worldly woman here a little longer?" Said Mrs. Finnelan, always getting on my nerves, the girls were relieved.
"Wait a minute too, I didn't forget to mention, it will be 10 days cleaning the corridors, so make it count after school" said the headmistress and it was a bucket of cold water, I can't even imagine the hell this is going to be, but less bad.
"Come by my office afterwards, I will give you a reward" Lady Pisces said and I just nod my head, being relieved that I managed to at least stay here.
That being the case, even with all the barriers I will clean this floor with such gusto for all these days that I will make Luna Nova glow, looking like magic, but now I know I am staying longer than Diana had anticipated for me, suck it up Cavendish, I said I would hold on, I can't wait to throw it in that starched little girl's face that I am staying here.
After the first day washing the corridors...
I'm exhausted, I really never thought the corridors here were so big, but look, this is beautiful, the wood is shining, the floors too, the walls are cleaner than ever, even the ceiling, but now my arms are killing me, I finished just on the blue team floor, where I sit on a stool and see Diana's two bitches laughing at me.
"What was it? Why are you laughing at me? I want to see if they can stand what I do" I tell them.
"Getting ready for what you will work on in the future Akko?" Said the little red-headed bitch.
"I'll stick that broomstick up your ass, that's what I'll do" I answer, showing my middle finger, and I see Diana appearing in the middle of them.
"Akko language! Is that the way a witch behaves?" she said, and I was already getting a bit fed up.
"My your person is preparing to perform work with that broom to insert inside the anal cavities of whoever is listening" I reply with two middle fingers to them and I even see Diana with a pouty face, she told me to have language and now I have it.
"Honestly Akko, you will never manage tae become a witch by acting so childish like this, I hope that really my prediction has put you in your head that you have tae dedicate yourself more tae improve your magical skills" Cavenboring said.
"And your prediction was wrong, didn't you read the newspapers that a strange fish was seen by humans? And I have one more for you, the headmistress is going to extend my stay here until the summer, I'm not going to stay with the noose around my neck, I will reverse this yet and continue longer and longer, you can hold whatever you want, you will have to put up with me until next year" I say all smug in front of them.
"Oh, so you'll still be here? Who would have thought it, but if you're mopping the floor it's because you dinnae do the right thing, as always getting into trouble" said the starched girl.
"It seems that the headmistress has a favourite even, the little protector will never leave, but that's not so bad, we can mock you for much longer, it would be too dull this place without having someone like you around to give a sense of how superior witches are to any witch" Diana's little redheaded bitch said.
"Woah, what kind of a twisted idea is this Hannah? It's nae like that either, have more respect for Akko" Cavendish said and I just turned my face walking out of there, I'm not going to waste my time with these idiots.
I took the cart with the cleaning stuff and left it in the caretakers' room, where I even gave a thumbs up to them that were playing cards in the caretakers' room and smiled at me. They are other people from Luna Nova that like me, always cleaning my dirty work.
"Thanks Kagari, you always help us to give it a rest, since you arrived we hardly needed to work" said one of the elves.
"You work hard, at least you get a salary, but the director plays the slave" I say to them.
"Salary which is extremely low too, we can't even complain that much because the headmistress said that we are too broke to pay us any better, unfortunately it is the opportunity we have to bring a better welfare than living in the dangerous forest of Arcturus" said another goblin.
"I don't know about you, but by the corridors that you have in the most luxurious rooms and also some wealthy students, I wouldn't say that here is a bad place, even more with Fafnir's scheme discovered, one day this place has to change for the better, don't you think?" I say to them, who shrug and go back to playing cards.
Then I leave the room of the caretakers, it is ironic that they are the calmest people with me, and that they don't really treat me like the rest of the people here treat me, even though I still think it is a joke because my troubles guarantee less work, I feel that with them we can do something big, who knows, let's see if these witches here become aware of what they are doing, of how some of them have privileges even too much.
"What is this, teacher?" I ask her in fish language.
"This is a mermaid necklace, you can enter the water in the form of a mermaid and swim in the waters having breath in it and also being able to speak the language of the fishes calmly, it grants you the use of magic under the water, just put it on, jump in the water and you enter the form of a mermaid, it is very rare to get one of these, but after today you deserve it," said the teacher and I was surprised, how incredible.
"Ohhhhhh, teacher this is so amazing, I loved the gift, honestly you are one of the few people here who respect me, who actually enjoy my presence not as a way to make fun of me" I reply to her who flashes a smile.
"You will soon also know the importance for which I gave you this gift and also one day I will tell you more about myself, ah and you said you are a big fan of Chariot aren't you?" Does the teacher know Chariot?
"Yes I am a big fan of Shiny Chariot, she is my inspiration to be a witch today, unfortunately it seems that you here have a strong repulsion to her, I do not understand this implication, she was only captivating children like me to be enchanted by magic" I say the teacher.
"I am not one of those, I recognize what Chariot did, I know she is here in Luna Nova, closer than you think Akko, I know her, but I cannot confirm it yet because it is too early for you to see her, anyway, I am one of the few teachers here that really understands her idea and I say that it is because of her that magic is still alive today, she captivated children, many here were Chariot fans in their childhood but because of the conservative elders they had their tastes remolded so that they understood Chariot as an outrage, you will still understand these things, I already notice that you are going against the system by your way and that is a thought of a great witch, I believe that we are witnessing with you the beginning of a new era that will come in magic" Wow, I never thought I would hear words like that from a fish, but here I am talking to an aquarium.
"I got very emotional here, teacher, thank you so much for the gift and I will make sure to use this gift a lot, thank you for everything, teacher" I kiss the aquarium and from there I go running to my room with the shell in hand.
In the red team's room...
"Look who has arrived, stayed alive from duty and almost got kicked out today" Sucy said sarcastically.
"I'm in pain to where I could never imagine I would be, but it's worth it, I won a shell that can make me become a mermaid, I can look beautiful underwater, let's see if it really works" I say running to the bathroom, putting the necklace on.
I turn on the water of the shower with the necklace I'm feeling the magic flowing in me, little by little I'm feeling my legs disappearing, becoming a fish tail, but then I see my arms gaining fins too, wait a little I'm not becoming a beautiful mermaid, when I see the girls are also looking at me sitting on the floor of the shower in the shape of a fish, they start laughing.
They get a mirror and when I go to see my face is with some scales, I have fish eyes and ears that look like fins, I look horrible, I thought I would be those beautiful mermaids, so much that I take off the necklace on the spot.
"Professor Pisces!" I say crying as I notice that the transformation doesn't make me an Ariel.
"Akko, mermaids are like that in real life, you're not with the lie spell" Sucy said and I stood in shock as I returned to normal.
"What? Is it serious?" I ask the girls taking off my clothes and wrapping myself in a towel, I go to the bedroom.
Lotte shows me in the crystal ball, mermaids have scaly bodies, it's not just a fish tail, it's from head to tail, I would get scaly skin and fish face, I wouldn't look like a beautiful mermaid like Ariel, so even that's a myth I had no idea about, now I never use that thing again... But it must give me some way to be able to swim right? When I see in the photos at least the hair is a thing that remains, but it becomes some strange scales, loses the colour, gave me even a little disgust.
"So mermaids are like that?" I say in frustration and the two nod in agreement.
"Did you really think mermaids were like in Disney?" said Sucy laughing at my face.
"Don't tease me, it's magic, anything is possible, it can't be that I actually look hideous like this, Chariot could get in mermaid form and stay beautiful, how can I not?" I tell them and from the looks of it Lotte knows.
"Because these are not mermaids, you can manage to keep the human traits as in the fiction, but you need a sea witch stone, unfortunately you can only get it at sea and with the witches of Atlantis, it is extremely expensive, you can only get one or with a lot of money or by going to Atlantis and winning by some merit, then you can manage to reverse the total mermaid spell and keep the top human half, still breathing underwater" Explains the blonde and now I have a new mission.
"And where Atlantis is, we can go together" I tell them who gesture for us not to go.
"In the waters of Arcturus, far away from Luna Nova, we would have to cross the forest and reach the sea, it won't work with us if we didn't have the mermaid shells to accompany you in this Akko" Lotte said and I got frustrated, but this is already a start, maybe then I will become a great and beautiful mermaid witch.
POV Narrator:
A mess that went down the drain, Akko almost ended up being expelled from Luna Nova due to her inconsistency, but somehow it was also what ensured the witch's stay by the academy of witchcraft, who as always never manages to stay out of a detention, having to perform tasks and more tasks to be able to guarantee her stay, besides a new horizon opening up for Atsuko's journey in becoming a beautiful mermaid too after discovering that real mermaids are not the beautiful creatures she thought they were.
See you, fish witches...