POV Narrator:
Friday, 18 May 2018, Luna Nova
A few days after Chariot's visit to Arcturus prison, the teacher spent some time talking to her friend through her mobile phone since she now had this option all the time. The other girls were all excited to finish the school year soon, with all their concentration to pass the year and thus guarantee a trip to the hills of Doras, where there would be an excursion that is always held in summer for students who get enough grades, and Akko was beginning to despair a little more, Akko was beginning to despair a little more, due to the low grades in the history discipline, she was struggling as best she could, taking a lot of content, in the greatest desperation, to get that permission, spending the whole night studying to do the exam, besides having to rewrite an entire work about the country of fairies, until she managed to finish everything and barely passed to get the excursion which will be at night.
POV Akko:
Lotte and Sucy, are starting to change, which I find a little strange, so I decide to do the same, in the middle of the night, we put on our uniforms, it must be an extra class I'm sure, so I end up getting changed and start asking the girls.
"Why did you change?" I ask them.
"Have you studied nothing Akko? The departure for the hills of Doras takes place at night" Lotte said.
"It looks like someone's got a clean slate, doesn't it" said Sucy, quickly making fun of me, and I just kept getting my cheeks inflated.
"Ahhhhhhhh, I didn't remember, my head is still processing what is happening, there were so many words that I had to transcribe that I can't think of anything else, I am going to love this trip to the hills of Doras, I can't wait, it is the first excursion I am going" I say all delighted.
"From the looks of it someone will break face soon" Said Manbavaran as always making fun and I will not break face.
We are leaving the rooms, changed we also carry a bag on our back and then we arrive at the patio of Luna Nova, where everyone lined up to go flying on a broomstick, to think that until a while ago I couldn't do the basics of the basics, but now I can at least fly, I won't be so embarrassed and the best of all is that Hannah and Barbara don't pick on me anymore.
"And finally the latecomers from the red team arrive" Amanda said, already picking on us.
"Very well, now with their presence, we can start our journey, so follow me, it will be another long journey along the Ley lines, we are going to the hills of Doras, which is a bit far from the academy of Luna Nova" said teacher Chariot.
"And make a point of behaving yourselves, even more so you of the red and green teams" Said teacher Finnelan who is also coming, ah no, now she is going to be a pain in the arse on this trip.
We start flying by Ley's line, this time a very different way, from what I could notice the teachers were doing, I can't wait to get to those hills of Doras, I'm all excited, I'm sure there will be a lot of things to do there, us flying like that with brooms all together, I feel the most included for knowing how to fly with a broomstick and not being so much a denial to magic, soon something appears, we arrive in the middle of the hills of Doras, but it was only a very dull place, it had literally only a giant rock and only that, when we land the teachers kind of lean on it and stay there.
"What are we going to do now?" I ask them.
"From here we wait for the person in charge of the Doras Hills to take us to her cottage to stay" Professor Finnelan said.
"And the hills of Doras and that's it?" I say half shocked.
"Have you studied anything Miss Kagari?" The teacher has already come to pick on me.
"These are the hills of Doras, on it is the rock of Doras that leads to the country of fairies" explains the teacher and I was already very impressed.
"Then let's go to the fairyland! Yay! I barely..." Just as I was about to finish I am interrupted by Diana.
"Ye're nae going anywhere Akko, have ye really studied anything about it? I'll remind ye a bit tae keep yer head fresh, the fairyland is a forbidden and sacred area, humans can't step on the fairyland and the witch who steps on it will be in serious trouble, the only way tae get there is circling this rock nine times, which obviously we'll keep an eye on so ye dinnae do that, it's against the rules"
"And how long does it take for this responsible witch to appear?" I ask them.
"Not much, we will soon communicate with her, wait for us here" said teacher Chariot.
I thought the hills of Doras would be a cooler place, maybe even an amusement park, the name even sounds like a spa, or some luxurious place like that too, but it's just a boring rock, where you can't go to the fairy country, so it gets too boring.
"Ye're nae going tae do that nonsense, are ye Akko?" Cavendish asks as we wait for the teachers and I was about to get up, but I was stopped by her arm.
"Oh, come on. Let's stay here doing nothing, just leaning against a rock" I say to Cavenboring.
"Just be patient Akko, besides ye dinnae know how serious and dangerous it is tae step into the fairy realm, nae just any witch can walk there, if ye dinnae have permission, the Cait and Cu Siths are very hostile towards us, sae stay there if ye dinnae want your head cut off"
"Boring..." I mutter and she just stares at me with a more angry look.
"I'll pretend I dinnae hear that" she said.
"Good thing you heard it then, at least you're not deaf" I retort at that point and she runs a hand over her face.
"Holy Lesbian Beatrix, why I went tae answer... Just behave Akko, I dinnae want tae see ye in trouble, even more that this could cost an expulsion" Cavenboring said and I just shrugged, since I can't get up I'll have to wait here sitting.
A long time later...
Ahhhhhhhh, there's simply nothing to do, just stand here with my arms crossed, until the teachers finally arrive, I was getting sick of this place, for me I should have stayed in Luna Nova, the yellow team was smart enough to stay there, we were the ones who didn't have the same luck, we who are not good at getting high grades.
"The one in charge of the cottages died, and there is only one little girl left there who is her granddaughter, the girl was crying and we did not get permission to stay in the cottage and even talk about the visit to the fairyland, so we will all stay grouped here on the rock and sleep around here, tomorrow we will return to Luna Nova" said teacher Chariot.
"The plans for the hills of Doras are cancelled for now, so we'll sleep around here, like witches used to do, which Miss Kagari probably knows, right?" Seriously, now the teacher is going to pick on me, so much so that I just nod my head, but I really wanted to punch the old lady in the face.
Amanda takes out a pack of cards from Uno, which we sort of play to pass the time, between me and them. Diana sits with her arms crossed and her hat over her face, together with the other two, she must be very tired too.
"Oh Akko it's your turn, are you going to stand there just watching Diana?" said O'Neill, picking on me.
"Ahhhh don't bother me, I just want to see a deal" I tell her as I put another card in, this time a blocking one just to skip Amanda's turn that was annoying me, honestly, as they always think I have a thing with Diana, I just wanted to see if the bar was clear.
A few good matches of uno go by...
"Ahhhhhhhh, sorry girls, but I'm getting sleepy already, let's stop here, we'll play tomorrow, I'm going to sleep too" She said with her hand over her mouth, about to go to sleep.
"Damn it Amanda, there's still plenty of time..." I say trying to curl up, but I want her to sleep more.
'I'm sorry, but I'm tired, today's exams made me exhausted and I'll have to sleep on this grass, shit" she said, putting away the uno cards.
I don't know how they find this comfortable, but anyway, Lotte and Sucy were about to do it too when I nudge them and decide to do something different, because honestly I can't do anything like this and I don't want to sleep on this hard floor, I'll do something, this place can't be such a drag.
"Hey, let's go to the cottage and see what's going on there, while everyone's sleeping" I whisper to them.
"There is nothing to do, so let's go, do what" answers Sucy.
With that we go slowly, kind of hiding so as not to wake anyone, especially Diana and her trio, or the teachers, where we walk among some trees, being safer, seeing the chalet in the background, where I think the teachers must have gone and there it is much better than here, for the nine witches, because they did not dialogue any more with the person who is here.
"These teachers are lazy, we could stay in this tidy house sleeping on beds and not on the grass, all dirty and still hard" I say as we get closer.
"Don't you hear that they didn't get permission for this?" said Sucy, picking on me.
"They can't because they're terrible at dialogue" I'm very clear and with that we're off to the chalet.
The place is beautiful, we entered where we heard what seemed to be the crying of a child, it must be the little girl the teachers talked about, we followed the crying trail until we saw a child lying in fetal position, with blonde hair and very cute, it's really the kind of beauty that even leaves Diana being an ordinary girl, her skin looks like porcelain so pale and makes you want to squeeze her red cheeks, her eyes also red, what I decide is who goes there to talk to her.
"Hi, I'm Atsuko Kagari, nice to meet you" I say charismatically.
"Ah I am Sifla" she said all crying and I went closer trying to console her, giving a little caress over her blond and fluffy hair.
"It will be alright, we can help you, we are friends and friends help" I tell her to give comfort.
"You're with the Luna Nova teachers, aren't you? They came by and my grandma died, I'm only six, I can't even use magic properly..." Said the same one half crying, I know well how it is.
"And that's why you were crying? My condolences for your grandmother" I tell her, patting the little girl's head.
"Actually no, it's been a long time since my grandma died, I was still 2 years old, so I was kind of taken care of by Feolas and Alan, my best friends" said the little girl and then I realized that she cried because her friends left.
"Ahhhh that explains a lot, your friends then left, but didn't they tell you where they were going?" I ask her, who immediately wiped her tears, that's it, I'm getting it, to think that I as always end up saving the day, but I'm never recognized for these acts of mine, it's always Diana who is credited.
"I don't know, they just left out of nowhere a little while ago, that's why I'm crying, they can't leave me alone here, I'm only six years old..." She said, crying some more and I soon hugged her.
"We can bring your friends back and with that you will also let us go to the fairyland and stay here in the cottage" I say sort of making a deal.
"Really? I'd be very grateful, I don't know if I can go to the faerie country because I'm too young and they're very hostile to humans, I might lose Feolas and Alan's guardianship, but if it's you guys from Luna Nova who are going" Sifla said and with that I was already getting excited, at least one thing to do tonight, I saved the tour one more time.
"And what do these two look like? Can you give us a detail?" I ask her.
"Feolas is a cat and Alan is a dog, they are not boys, they are my dear friends, a little bigger than animals usually are, but they are good people, you will love to meet them, but I don't know where they are" said the little girl and I went with one hand on my chin.
What do you mean a cat and a dog, I hadn't seen anywhere, neither one nor the other around, I was just getting kind of confused, so she's sad with little animals, but from the way she describes it they seem to be kind of humanoid, I guess that must be it, I'm kind of making the image in my head, but Sucy interrupts me.
"Akko you're not thinking of doing that are you?" she said.
"And do you think these friends of yours went to the fairy realm?" I ask Sifla who nods in agreement.
"They have a connection with the fairy realm yes, but I can't go... If I go I lose their guard, it's dangerous, before when my grandma was alive she had the permission from the king of the fairy country to transit there, but I myself still don't have it..." Said the little one and I put my hand on her head, while I see Sucy passing her hand on her face, I already saw that she doesn't want to go.
"Then we'll go in your place" I say until Lotte and Sucy appear
"But no way Akko, we'll get in trouble" Yanson said.
"You have gone mad, we can be expelled" Manbavaran said.
"Hey... We can negotiate, I've been thinking here and I can pay you some fiction books you want Lotte, and Sucy I can be your guinea pig in experiments, come on girls" I said waving to them.
"So that being five experiments" Manbavaran said.
"Three" I still try to bargain.
"No deal, either you accept soon or we won't help you with this" she said being annoying as usual and I could see Sifla giggling a little, I'm even happy that we're managing to make her feel better in our silly way.
"Okay then four and no more talking" I say rolling my eyes and at that she squeezes my hand.
"Treat is treat my lab rat" she said and I could see Sifla laughing which motivated me a lot.
"If you succeed I will also give you the bud of a flower that serves as the best antidote" said the little girl.
"It was fate that made you be my lab rat Akko, now let's get on with it" Sucy said and I just stood with inflated cheeks kind of regretting my decision, until Sifla comes to me.
She takes my hand where I go feeling her magic, which by the way is quite powerful, as much as she is a six year old girl I could feel something like that, all this for a bracelet that ended up appearing on my wrist and I found it strange, but it must serve some purpose, I am sure and we will also be able to bring these two back, gaining a comfort where we have nowhere.
"This is just as a sign of friendship, if you are in the fairy realm... In case you find Feolas or Alan, you can inform them that I miss them both very much and bring them back, I will be very appreciated for your help Atsuko Kagari" She said and I even feel important.
"You can call me Akko, we are now very good friends, you can be sure that me and the girls will make sure to bring your friends back" I say confidently.
"I wish I was better at magic to help you, but I am also afraid of the hostility of the faerie country, I wish you good luck" said Sifla who was wiping the tears that were on her face and I feel all happy that I can help someone and even jump in excitement.
Then we leave the chalet, kind of walking slowly, where we go to where the Doras rock was, but what a stupid place, really, how could I get so excited for such a boring place, we go going kind of taking care that was necessary, not to call anyone's attention, first of all we started to do the nine laps, that I remembered.
Walking carefully so as not to wake anyone up, so that no one notices us and we don't get any trouble, so much so that when we finish the last lap, simply nothing happens, because I don't feel surprised.
"As always nothing happens" I tell them.
"It usually gets foggier, the fog gets thicker, but it was already pretty foggy" Yanson said I was noticing that too.
But that sucks, as always nothing goes right for me, I even get the same face as always, but out of nowhere in the fog a staircase appears in front of us, this could be a great sign, a little strange to be a staircase down, but right, I've seen many more bizarre and worse things around here, this here is the most normal, so much that I'm walking forward, all excited.
"Let's go!" I say jumping up and down.
"Ahhh Akko, why go in such a hurry, this place is giving me the creeps" Lotte said with a little fear, using her skull lantern to light the way.
"What a cold little place, kind of dull, I have to say, just a little ladder of nothing" Sucy said.
The staircase seemed endless, but at least we are arriving at the fairyland and that's very good, the other thing is just the little corridor, until a light starts to appear, when we see the other side finally a relief, there really is something on the other side, a light at the end of the tunnel, appearing to us, what a relief, when we arrived it was exactly like the hills of Doras, which makes me a bit frustrated.
"What? This place is the same" I say a little discouraged.
"Calm down Akko, we have to walk a bit further" said Sucy.
Walking more through the place we went towards Sifla's chalet and we noticed that there was already something different, this time a dense forest covered it, very different, it's almost as if there was a parallel dimension down here, even the sky is the same, the moon with the crater that Chariot made, it's wonderful to look from here, I didn't even know that the earth had so many nice places that I didn't even know, we walked to where there was a gate, so it must be here, before opening it I take a deep breath.
"Are you really going to go that far?" I ask them, because I am afraid they will get into trouble because of me.
"I didn't come here to give up and you're still a bit out of control with magic, even though you've improved a lot from the disaster you were in the beginning" Sucy said making my cheeks inflate, seriously these girls really like to tease me, they can only.
"We wouldn't have much to do anyway, they'll say things to us and we'll pay detention, but it's a price worth paying" said Lotte, who at least was more sensible and less Sucy.
"So let's go, and carefully, let's try, I even missed those moments that the three of us spent together like this, my mother bought three tickets to Japan, I can take you there later when we are on holiday, then you come back in a fortnight and I stay there for a while..." I say this now because I appreciate the moments we lived this whole year.
"Ah, that's not going to stop us, so let's go" said Sucy.
We open the huge golden gates, entering the fairy country, now it's all or nothing, we went through them, we kind of entered the bushes on the side, walking as carefully as possible not to be caught, the place is really beautiful, it seems like it came straight from a fairy tale, a forest all hidden, we get close to what seemed to be a village, kind of hidden in the trees.
"This must be the realm of fairies" I whisper to them.
"Don't make too much noise Akko, or we might get caught" answers Sucy and let's take the necessary care, I don't want to get into any trouble, or else everything will end up worse for everyone.
We sort of climb the trees nearby, going from branch to branch where I start to notice that some cats live there, exactly as I imagined, but they are bipeds, besides that they are a little bigger than normal cats, I'm even a little impressed, they are more or less the height of my chest, but they look like such cute things, bipedal kittens, what a nice little thing, I would go to them, but it seems that they are kind of the hostile inhabitants, so these kittens, but how ironic.
"Why these cute little kittens are such hostile inhabitants, soon kittens" I whisper half wanting to even squeeze some of them.
"Akko you haven't read anything have you? They are the Cait Sith, we learned about them in class, just be warned that just like normal cats, they have excellent hearing and also reflexes, I don't want to have to fight with an animal like that, even more with the claws they have" Sucy answers me and my memory gets fresher, which honestly I burned all my neurons having to think about the content of the class and get enough notes to come here.
We went further along the branches, where we got close to where the centre is, at least, the good thing is that this village is covered by trees everywhere, when we arrive we see something that looks like a royal procession, but what a thing, we arrived right in the middle of a coronation, that's right, how are we going to find Feolas in the middle of it? I'm sure he only came here because the Cait Sith must have warned him about the coronation of the new king.
"Everybody salute our king!" Says one of the cats calling the attention of the others, what I end up finding the cutest thing in the world, the kittens raising their hands greeting the king, ownttttttt, how adorable.
Seriously, are these cute kittens really hostile? Look at this adorable thing, it even reminds me of my cat at home, what an adorable thing, I feel like using a laser or something like that just to call their attention, look at these adorable little animals, cats wearing trousers. Ahhhh I never thought I would see something like this in my life, a bunch of cute kittens, we see the king of them and he was the only one wearing boots and a red cape, being crowned with a hat.
"Owntttttt kitty in robes" I whisper all thinking it's the cutest thing in the world.
"I wanted to hug and cuddle all the kittens" Whispers Lotte too, which I'm getting to think is just too cute.
"Focus girls, we have to find the Feolas guy, do you know what he looks like?" asks Sucy.
"Holy shit, Sifla didn't tell us, I guess we'll have to find a way to get one of the cats and ask them if they know Feolas, that's the way" I answer her and I already have an idea.
"And what's the genius idea or are you just going to stand there admiring the cats?" Manbavaran said, and I already had my wand idea in mind.
They are cats, it can't be that they don't get the same sensibility as the cats I know, so I kind of make a little red laser light pointing to the floor near one of the cats, I concentrate on him and he soon gets distracted, starting to follow the light, like a normal cat, until he ends up on all fours, jumping from one side to the other, which made me laugh a lot.
"Didn't I tell you? They are cats after all, let's make these bugs crazy, now you get him Sucy, we have to do it in a sneaky way" I say to them that are nodding their heads.
"And me? What am I going to do Akko?" Lotte asks.
"Distract most of them, use your magic to carry woolen balloons and also make some little laser lights so we distract the Cait Sith enough" I tell them, I'm kind of genius, at ideas.
And that's exactly what we're doing, I'm distracting the specific cat until the middle of the forest, I hope it's Feolas, that's the cutest thing, it's a babidi cat, there's all kinds of cats here, siameses, angoras, shorthair, manx, even cats without hair, But the focus will be on the specific one while Lotte was distracting most of them, I'm trying to hang myself, I use a partial metamorphosis spell, so I'm hanging on the branches with a monkey cause that I transformed on the column.
"Pspspsps kitty kitty kitty" Owntttt seriously, I wanted to live in this place forever, kitty town, it's the cutest thing in the world, them jumping from one side to the other.
The cats are really distracted, the other one was arriving in the middle of the place, but Sucy unbalances, ah no, she fell, she made the biggest noise, calling attention, what the cats at the time turned their faces, stopping to play, shit... Now it's fucked, then I hear the noise of breaking branches too, it was Lotte that I see falling, ah no, what is this, I look ahead and see a knife coming towards me which I quickly dodge, kind of hitting a tree.
"Have they found us?" I get scared already, I try to use the laser in the middle and thus distract the cats that were going towards Sucy who can crawl to hide, but I go listening afterwards to the sounds of cats fighting, by the nine witches, they caught Lotte and took the wand from her hand.
I hear more sounds of branches breaking, this time I am the unlucky one, I keep my balance alternating the metamorphosis spell to a past one and so I hang myself on a branch returning to the partial spell creating a tail to hold me, but when I went to support myself I see a knife hitting the branch and in the time to put my hand I am hit by a little ball from there that releases my wand and so I lose my balance falling on the ground too.
"Intruders!" The cats say and one of them came with Sucy on the arm, kind of tied, she seemed to be enjoying being like that, weird, only her to have those strange attractions, already Lotte was also there but it seems that she was just enjoying it.
I also found it cute, the kittens coming towards me, pointing spears, this is the time when the anime episode enters the break and the audience starts to get all excited to see what's going to happen, I wish I was a protagonist so I could release one of these one hour hahaha, but now it's fucked, these cats are going to kill us, to think that I'm really going to die in the cute paws of kittens, it seems that this is all a trip after drinking some hallucinogenic potion from Sucy, it seems a lot.
"Kill them! They are witches and intruders!" said another.
"They should pay with their lives!" Said the kitten, speaking with a kitten's voice makes everything more cute, what's worse, they are taking us tied up and leading us towards their king, I'm starting to get scared and tense.
The king sitting there, I see a cat in an executioner's hat holding a huge axe, he's not going to do that is he? I've seen this scene before and it was in Sucy's head, but this is real life here, what a cruel and cute kind of thing, to think I might die now, they're going to chop my head off, it's going to be the end of me.
POV Narrator:
And the summer excursion begins, which marks the final stretch of Luna Nova, before the school year ends, after 5 long years the teachers return to the hills of Doras for a visit to the fairyland, but due to some events everything goes wrong, which ends up triggering Akko who is about to live her end as a witch, since she will be about to be executed by the Cait Sith who live exactly in the fairyland where they could not enter.
See you, Doras witches...