POV Narrator:
Sunday, 31 December 2017, Luna Nova
The year 2017 was coming to an end, which also signaled that Akko had managed to stay a long three months in Luna Nova, despite all the trouble, she was managing to get along well in the place and maintain grades that are within the average, even being a disaster in practical classes. In the middle of this time was having a winter recess, so that the girls can spend the end of the year festivities with their families, but even so some of them ended up staying, Kagari was one of them, missing her own mother a lot, besides that these days would have the birthday of Sucy, who was born exactly in the last day of the year.
A few days earlier, in the blue team's room...
POV Diana:
I hear some sounds coming from my room, I decide tae get out of bed, I was kind of reflecting looking at my things, the portrait that was my mother in it, I was kind of emotional even, I go walking tae see who it was, when I simply come across Akko, wearing a maid's outfit, sweeping the floor of the room, which I quickly found strange.
"By the nines what is this Akko?" I ask her who was a bit embarrassed.
"Don't judge me, I'm just raising some money to buy a present for Sucy, her birthday is this Sunday and I don't want to miss it, on Lotte's birthday I had given her a box of chocolates, but now with Sucy I don't know if I will have money even for that" she said and I continued with my arms crossed, indignant with her being a maid.
"And why did ye agree tae go through that?" I ask further and she just shrugged.
"Hannah and Barbara will pay me well if I do a great job as a maid, so I'll do it for now, by the way, do you want some tea" She said with a straight face and I knew this had a finger on it from those two, by the nine lesbian witches, they've got less worse, but they're still bullshitting.
"Oh, they... I will pay ye tae get out of here, please Akko, dinnae think about going through something like this, it is humiliating, it is precarious, ye have better things tae do, I will give ye..." I say going to where my wallet is, but Akko holds my hand.
"No way, I don't want to borrow money from you, since you don't want me to work on it then I won't do it, I'll do something else to raise money, but I won't be bothering you, I just wanted to be a nice friend with Sucy" She said and then turned her face leaving the room.
What kind of a silly idea... Maid, why did Hannah and Barbara think that would be nice tae do with Akko? It's a job nae worth the hard work it takes, I know well how Anna and the others at the mansion went through the worst, even more at the hands of my aunt, I even helped them from time tae time finding it absurd.
Anyway, let's at least see this tea she made, I decide tae take a sip and it was wonderful, oh Akko knows how tae make a perfect tea, by the nine lesbian witches, I would pay a lot for a tea like that.
In the red team's room...
POV Akko:
I wanted to give Sucy a little help, she would love a more elaborate gift, even more than I could use the money to buy some mysterious mushroom or something, but what a drag... Well Sucy is in her room now, I can ask her what she wants for her birthday present.
"Hey Sucy, don't you want anything for your birthday present?" I ask her.
"I just want it to be no big deal, you don't have to care so much, I don't care about this date" she said and I was getting a little bit drunk.
"Oh really, tell me something you want so much... Are you going to tell me you wouldn't love to get a present?" I tell her and she shrugs.
"Whatever, there's nothing I want at the moment" she said flatly.
From there I leave frustrated and go to the green team's room, who knows the girls might have some work I can do in exchange for some change, I can help Constanze with the lab, for example, I knock on the door and I'm immediately answered by Amanda, there were the other two there too.
"So Akko, what brings you here?" Amanda asks.
"It's Sucy's birthday soon, so I was wondering if you guys have any way of getting me to do some work in exchange for some change" I ask them.
"Now you don't have any, I don't know why you do these things Akko, you want to gift her, go after an Arcturus mushroom, who knows it might be the ideal gift, it's sucy's type to like these bizarre things" O'Neill said and something went up in my head.
"Hey, I know, the hallucinogenic mushrooms that are in the middle of the Arcturus forest, very close to Luna Nova, they sneeze pores that cause hallucinations in the witch that make her think that another situation is happening, I remembered that now that the teachers said... What if we take one of them and give it to Sucy?" I ask the girls.
"Whatever, I'm just going for the excitement of doing something different, I'd still go for the surprise party with the right to a cake" Amanda said, but I'm sure this will be interesting.
"So this is what we'll do, on Sunday is her birthday, we'll all get this mushroom, me, you, Lotte and the girls, we'll give it to Sucy on the day and we'll see her reaction"
"That's fine, we'll be waiting then on the day, we'll take the opportunity and take something to take the mushrooms better"
On Sucy's birthday, already in Arcturus...
I'm walking with the girls in the middle of the forest, I had got some books about it and on the maps we have to walk a little bit, these mushrooms are very close to here, the forest in the winter is much more frightening, besides being cold, the trees with no leaves, only the branches are scary, some of them look like people, the worst of all, this place always scared me.
"Are we coming?" Amanda asks.
"We just need to keep walking a little further, but we have to be careful, the pores of this thing can cause hallucinations" I tell them as we walk straight through the forest.
We follow the map I took, where we quickly arrive where it looked like a forest of mushrooms, but we have to go after the specific one, so much so that the girls are already looking around to see what it is like.
"Woah, a whole forest of mushrooms" Amanda said.
"We have to find this specific one, it's purple with some black details, they say it's very complicated to find and it also releases the pores as soon as we take it off" I tell them while looking through the mushrooms.
They were of all kinds, I was even impressed, Sucy would surely take a holiday here, it must be paradise for her, she only thinks about mushrooms, I go around the place, where I see specific mushrooms, I come with a pair of scissors, being very careful, I cut them, then I put them inside a plastic bag, I do the same with all the others.
"I found it!" I say excitedly, taking them one by one and putting them in the bag.
"Good Akko!" Amanda said.
They said that this mushroom releases the pores as soon as we take them out, I don't see that, maybe it's just an imagination, I'll take as many as I can, Sucy will have plenty to do her crazy experiments later, I started pulling them out, then I get up, the girls were there just waiting for me and I show them the bag full of mushrooms.
"I got it! Look how much" I say pointing to the bag.
"Wow was it that fast?" Said O'Neill half with a sacked expression, until a whole dust up.
The dust has taken over the whole place, are these the pores of the mushroom being released? I don't know, but let's go back soon, if it is I don't want to get all hallucinated, as the dust dissipates I look back and there are mushroom men behind us, which already makes me a bit scared.
"Girls run!" I tell them and we start to run.
These mushroom men are very fast, I have to be able to deliver the present to Sucy, go to Luna Nova, it's very close to here, we don't have to walk much, one kilometer and we're there... Now there are these things following us, I go running more than ever, taking a look back, I see one of them catching Constanze.
"They got Cons!" shouts Amanda.
"There is no way we will have to fight them" I tell them.
We go back and grab what we have around us, we hit the mushrooms that are releasing the Cons who are getting free to run, but they end up grabbing our weapons that were branches and take them from our hands, which we start trying to run, at least now Luna Nova is much more visible.
"Akko what a stupid idea, now we are being chased by this bunch of crazy mushrooms because of you!" said Amanda giving me the biggest scolding.
"Let's concentrate on running and arguing less" Lotte said.
The mushrooms were fast as we got to Luna Nova, the closer they got, what the hell... Now this one, I'm going to be mushroom man mush because I got their mushrooms, by the nine witches, we are getting much closer, now we get to the wall, Amanda is giving support to everyone. I'm the last one to jump and hold her up, but one of the mushroom men holds her foot which ends up kicking a few times to get it out.
"Take that the ugly bug" she said and then we managed to get to the other side, let's walk more relieved.
"We have arrived, now we are safe, there is no way for the creatures of Arcturus to get through the walls" Lotte said, but I look back and see them climbing the wall.
"In fact it is, run!" I say this in desperation, the girls start running too.
We keep trying as best we can, I notice that the pupils of each one of us are strangely huge, but until then I just want to get to Luna Nova, we are getting closer, but Cons stumbles again, I also stumble and the mushrooms are getting closer, which gives me the idea to take one of the mushrooms from the bag and try to throw it in their direction.
"What are you doing Akko? We didn't run all this way for you to throw the mushrooms away!" Said the furious Amanda, who was starting to crawl across the floor, strangely I was going too.
I couldn't have the strength to stand up anymore, as if that was the end for me, I can't believe I'm going to end up like this... By the nine witches, after everything that I passed here in Luna Nova, I will die for the mushroom men that will devour us, they were getting close, I was trying to throw the mushrooms in them, but nothing was solving.
In the corridors of Luna Nova...
POV Diana:
Now that the cake is already made, the preparations are already done, who knows, maybe the lassies would like a more elaborate celebration, I'll call them tae go tae my dorm where there is more space for Sucy's birthday party, who knows, maybe we can also spend the new year there in a slumber party, I think this idea will be very good, I walk in the corridors, eventually coming across Sucy.
"Ah hi Sucy, happy birthday, do ye know where yer friends are?" I ask her.
"They must have gone out to do something silly, Akko hides things pretty badly, I'm sure she went outside to go after a present for me, but no need, I just want a normal day like any other" Manbavaran said and I can understand.
"I know how it is, birthdays to me are as indifferent as you think they are, they're just dates to remind me that I have obligations ahead of me... Anyway, where do you suspect she's gone?" I ask myself.
"I don't know, let's go into town, I want to catch them in the act" she said.
"Oh and before that, you and the girls are invited to spend New Year's Eve in the blue team room, I'm having a slumber party there, anyone who wants to have some fun might be a good one" I tell her who shrugs.
"It can be, it will be cool" She said and I got more excited.
We go outside and in the background I see some lassies lying down, we go running towards them, they were Akko, Lotte, Amanda, Jasminka and Constanze, all of them kind of under the effect of something, they were sleeping deeply, I notice that there are some mushrooms lying around, I already realize that there is something there, Sucy is kind of collecting the mushrooms and putting them back in the bag.
"Arcturus hallucinogenic mushrooms, they are the weakest, soon they wake up, they must have taken them the wrong way, these things are in Luna Nova, I even have some" she said, putting them away.
"I'm going to cure them of the pore effect, before they get drooling with hallucination, it's already too much for that to happen" I say as I cast the spell.
Little by little they were getting up, in the middle of the grass, being thrown, in this cold, they will end up freezing and catching some cold, Akko gets up and she notices Sucy, starting tae cry on her legs, she must still be hallucinating.
"Sorry Sucy, I couldn't get the mushrooms, the mushroom men of Arcuturus took them from us, we had to fight not to be devoured" she said crying.
"You mean these ones here?" She points Manbavaran to the little bag and she even gets her expression all realised.
"Yes, those are the ones! Happy Birthday Sucy, me and the girls went after those mushrooms to give you, but the mushroom men, where are they, did you manage to scare them away?" said Atsuko cheerfully, what a cute thing.
"Mushroom men do not exist Akko, you ended up hallucinating with the pores of the mushroom, you took them off, did not use a mask and still took all this off, of course the pores would spray on you, you were lucky that you are the weakest ones, but even so you hallucinated well until you got here and lay down completely" said Sucy.
"I cured them of the hallucination effect, now ye are normal, but ye should still be careful, it's nae the kind of thing ye can just pick up, these mushrooms are dangerous, there have been witches who hallucinated fae so long that they never left Arcturus and ended up dying... Ye know those trees? Well... They are witches who died on the way, witches when they die unite with nature and end up becoming it afterwards" I answer them, who are still kind of in the effect, it seems, they kept looking at their own hands.
"They are still crazy about mushrooms, I think maybe this could liven up the slumber party night" Sucy said showing the mushrooms.
"Nae!" I shout at her, who laughs sadistically.
"Slumber party! Where?" said Akko excitedly.
"Come tae my room, we are going tae have a slumber party, we are going tae spend New Year's Eve in the blue team's room" I tell them and they get up.
"Well if there's anything interesting for us to play in that time then it'll be interesting Cavendish, can we go or are we not classy enough" Amanda teases.
"I am in the same situation as ye O'Neill, I lost everything... I must be even worse, anyway, will have games yes, even have a PS3 that brought, but ye cannot play without electricity, outside that is against the..." When I say that I am interrupted.
"Fuck the rules, Cons has a TV, we can use a converter that takes the energy from the wizard stone and makes an electric generator, you said you have a PS3 and we will play" O'Neill said, which I actually cheered up a bit, even though it was against the rules.
POV Akko:
My head is spinning right now, but I heard slumber party, PS3, new year's eve, I think it will be interesting to go there to see, in the end we were hallucinating, I can't believe everything was just an illusion, there were no mushroom men and we spent ridiculous lying on the grass ... By the nine witches.
"Come on girls!" I say excitedly and walking a bit dizzy.
I feel terrible, I don't know how I saw the way, arriving at the room, I feel so dizzy that I go running to the bathroom, throwing up in the toilet, where all the sensation passed, but now with a headache and still a horrible taste, so much that I sit on the bed with Diana stroking me.
"Vomit is a sign that the breeze has passed, you were too much in the effect of this thing, you took a lot of pores too, anyway thanks" Sucy said putting away the little bags.
"Akko..." Diana said worriedly.
"Just take a cold shower now, and then we'll drop by later Diana" Sucy said to her and I was starting to process things.
"I'll stay fae a while tae look after them, Hannah and Barbara can take care of there, there's plenty of food," Diana said as she half stroked me.
The five girls, ended up vomiting a lot after being affected by the mushrooms, but in about an hour they were back to their senses, even more so after a cold shower, which they ended up going to the blue team's room...
Wow, what was that bad trip? I'll never get near those mushrooms again, my head went sky high, I must have thrown out all the food I ate since the day I arrived in Luna Nova, but now I'm feeling much better, we arrived at the blue team's room, it was really nice to have Diana taking care of me, she is being really nice with us these days.
"Woah, look at all this, Diana this is a real feast" I say in astonishment looking at all the options I had, small potatoes, even a cake, which I immediately started to attack.
"Ye can eat all you want, but just stay away from the mushrooms" Diana said laughing.
"Ah this I guarantee they will stay, they don't know how to stay in the bad trip, it would ruin the tour with everyone vomiting here, eating helps to pass the effect of the mushrooms as well" said Sucy, who miraculously didn't get angry with us.
I was eating the chips, drinking soda, everything was good, it wasn't rich food, but they are the good old snacks that I love to eat, but I can never do it because I don't have money, I see Cons bringing the television, kind of magically it's all big in the middle of the sofas, she's installing Diana's PS3 and also putting a business, now it's going to be interesting.
"Finally a television!" Hannah said celebrating.
"This will only be fae today, since technology is against the rules of Luna Nova" Cavenboring said, but at least we'll have a video game to play after all this time.
"A will you stop being so boring Cavendish, will you tell me you didn't want to take the time to play every now and then, it's boring to just be stuck with books" Amanda said quite rightly.
"Actually aye, but I dinnae want tae go out breaking the rules, it's wrong to do that" she said.
"And who needs to care about image? Diana, now you can be yourself, you don't need to be attached to other people's expectations" Barbara said, which surprised me coming from her.
"Ye know what? Ye do have a good point Barb... I'm nae longer part of the aristocracy and high class, I dinnae owe them anything anymore, I can be myself without worrying about these reputational obligations, ye're right, but I'm nae rebel to break rules anyway," she said and I can already see someone who is giving in a lot and has desires deep inside.
I sat down next to Diana, showing a mischievous expression, while she was turning on her PS3 and putting a Call of Duty Black Ops 2 for us to play, we took the controls, in this case, me, her, Amanda and Sucy who is the birthday girl of the day.
"Oh Diana, have you seen how nice it is sometimes to break the rules once in a while?" I say teasing her.
"Nae, I'm nae going tae be a rebel who breaks the rules, ye won't be persuading me tae do that, dinnae try tae corrupt me, I know well how tae behave" she said half resisting.
"Fuck it, put on a gun game for us" said Sucy interrupting.
We started the Gun Game, I even got nostalgic for when I played with Keiko there in Japan, also on my PS3, she was very addicted to COD, we start the game, the other girls are eating and just watching us, I start and barely play and I'm hit by Sucy.
"You flinched at that Akko" she said.
"Oh come on, you took it from behind" I say with inflated cheeks.
"No point looking at the other's screen" Amanda said.
"Just do it," said Diana who cast a vision spell on us, where I could only see my screen and that makes things even more difficult, we were in Nuketown.
After a while playing at night I was arriving in Luna Nova...
I can't believe we've played so much and now it's night time, we got here in the daytime, I got a bit full from eating so much, it was so much fun, I lost track of time, playing videogames after a long time is a wonderful feeling, it seems you enjoy it a lot more, ahhh, what a wonderful day, I can't believe we're living such a different moment in Luna Nova, but I have to remember that too.
"Oh people let's sing Happy Birthday" I tell them.
"Oh no, do you really need to?" said sucy and everyone agrees.
Diana even takes her mobile phone that she was using to also take a picture of us on the day, I never thought she would give in so much today, she enjoyed too much and now she is seeing how things don't need to be so traditional, I'm loving to see how she is changing little by little, stopping to think the fire took a huge weight off her back now.
We even put a party hat on Sucy and put the candles with 1 and 6 on them, started to light them and sing Happy Birthday, clapping our hands.
After singing...
"Sucy! Sucy! Sucy! Sucy! Yay!" We said ending the song.
"Speech! Speech!" I try to tease but Sucy just shows her middle finger by walking away and then grabbing a piece of cake where she went to eat by herself.
"And the cake?" Amanda asks.
"You two go off amongst yourselves" she said shrugging.
I even rolled my eyes, as always Sucy being herself, even on her birthday, I can't even complain, today is her day, it was already wonderful everything that happened here, I've never had so much fun, before it was just me and Keiko in Chiba, but here in Luna Nova, there are all these people, I feel much better, full of friends, ahhhhh... It's wonderful to be surrounded by wonderful people like them.
"Ah Sucy as always being Sucy" I say as I grab a slice of cake.
"Well today you're being nice Cavendish, I didn't expect you to have a more out of the box side of the bourgeoisie" Amanda teased her and was answered by a middle finger from Diana.
POV Diana:
Woah... What I've become today... I'm feeling... It is strange it is very good, it is liberating, it is something I could never feel before, even breaking the rules I feel good doing it, I am nae pressuring myself tae do everything right, I am looser, I can express myself better about my real personality, nobody judges me, even though I still prefer nae tae express myself about it... I sit down with the piece of cake and watch the girls playing, they are enjoying the moment and sae am I, it's very strange.
"What's up Diana? Are you okay?" asks Akko tae me.
"I am, Akko, more well than I thought I would feel, now I understand why ye lassies have sae much fun breaking the rules" I tell them.
"Rules are just a form of oppression of the system to make us be its robots, the rules here clearly don't make us witches, but mere servants of the witch council, that's why I was afraid to be a witch... I wanted to be kicked out of here, but you've even lit a flame in me Akko, maybe we can change that, even that Shiny Chariot you're so fond of talking about has a point" Amanda said and I was kind of impressed.
"The Chariot? She's a break from magical traditions" Hannah said.
- What's killing witchcraft is the magic traditions, if you play Diana's little bitch, would you be interested in magic if you weren't a witch from a witch's family and pushed to do it since forever? No! Chariot has done more for magic than any of the old ladies here, just look at Akko, she got interested in magic because the Chariot one shows magic in a real fun way, not this boringness that it is here, nobody is interested in magic because there are a bunch of old ladies dictating what is right to act, pushing old fashioned stuff" Woah, that one I really dinnae expect, she had a good point, I even got a little quiet.
"Woah! You're right Amanda, I didn't expect that from you" Akko said delighted.
"On the other hand Chariot makes magic look like clowning around, it's not that, there's even a serious part, but I'd rather have a Shiny Chariot captivating children than an Anne Finnelan" she said and that one I felt a lot, teacher Finnelan is only a bit harsh yes, but she's a good person.
Later, it's time for the new year countdown...
"Five! Four! Three! Two! One! Happy New Year!" We all said together, which we started tae pop a bottle of champagne and the cap hit just on the ceiling, in the window we started tae see magic fireworks being shot.
We arrived at the window and saw the messages, celebrating a happy 2018, the magic drawings, made with magic fireworks, that dinnaet make as much noise as the ordinary ones that are on the other side of Ley's line, which is even strange we dinnae see them, but anyway, now the year is finally starting here, we have tae celebrate the new things, sae much that we were hugging each other, starting this new stage, the sky was beautiful.
"What do you hope for 2018?" I ask them.
"I hope to find Chariot" Akko said.
"I hope I finally enjoy staying here" Amanda said.
"Whatever" said Sucy.
"I very much look forward to reading another new volume of Night Fall and seeing Annabel Creme again" Lotte said.
"I hope so too Lotte" said Barbara.
"I hope I can find a handsome boyfriend" Hannah said.
"Hm" grunts Constanze.
"Want some" Jasminka said pointing a crisp at me until it comes tae me.
"And you Diana? What are your expectations for this New Year?" Akko asks.
"Tae be able tae meet my other mother, tae discover the secret of where I came from" I say with my hand on my heart.
"From your mother's pussy huh" O'Neill said shrugging.
"That I know, but I wanted tae know before" I say as she laughs.
"Disgusting Diana, do you want to know if your mother had sex? Of course she did, all parents have sex for you to be born" she said mockingly.
"Ye understand, dinnae play dumb, but anyway, I just want tae be able tae know this other mother of mine, she must have answers tae things about my origin, my family that I dinnae know until now, it fills me with hope to know that I can manage tae know at least this, it can be bad or good, I know that knowing will already relieve another weight" I tell them.
"Ah whatever, let's play a little more, now that 2018 has started it's going to be a new year with new things, I hope this place doesn't remain the same boring as always, I hope a new teacher comes along who's nicer than the ones they have here" O'Neill said.
"Ah go teacher Ursula is nice" Akko said.
"You say that because she is your tutoring teacher" Implicates Sucy with her and I giggle a little.
"Whatever it is, let's enjoy this new year, hope that these things really come to pass" I tell them.
"A happy new year to you all" Akko said and we kind of all stood together, I really hope these things happen.
POV Narrator:
Sucy's birthday didn't have a very expected outcome, since confusion around the gift with the mushrooms came, but after a while things were easing up with Cavendish's invitation for a slumber party that ended up giving a total improvement in the day and even in a new year's celebration, being a moment of peace between the blue, green and red teams, that started back there being quite contrary to each other, now they are being friendly. The year 2018 is starting, new things will come to this beginning of the year, news and revelations that will shock these nine young witches.
Happy new year, lesbian witches...