POV Narrator:
Friday, 15 March 2019, Luna Nova
A month had passed since Daryl Cavendish was defeated and murdered, things were kind of changing and becoming less scary specially for Diana and Hellene that were losing the fear of having to deal with the witch, this time they were finally free. In this time things were back to normal also in Luna Nova, with the second term coming to an end, but still there was going to be an event before the spring break started and in it will involve the team that got the lowest score in Luna Nova, in this case the grey team that was called, as well as the red one, as guests to make one more enchanted parade.
POV Akko:
I thought it had even improved this year, but we are still behind, well at least the enchanted parade will be fun to do, I'm sure it will be better than last year's, I can even imagine what's going to happen from now on, I can't wait, I soon enter the room, I notice the seriousness of the teachers and see that who is there are Mirage and Jeanne, I even forgot that they ended up being the worst ones with grades only because of Brooke's events.
"All right, the red team has arrived, which we are going to announce that because you two are the teams with the lowest marks, you will have to participate in the enchanted parade" said the headmistress.
"I already knew, I can't wait to bring back Gran Charion and enchant..." Just as I say this, Professor Finnelan shakes her head in denial.
"Not at all, from now on you will do the presentation as it was requested by headmistress Holbrook and you will follow the traditions, the enchanted parade will be performed as tradition dictates" she said and I am starting to remember how the examples were, already becoming quite indignant.
"What do you mean? The last enchanted parade was a real success, the town loved it, it was enchanted by the witches' magic, we have to keep doing it like this to call more people to learn magic, why do you want to change what was already helping?" I ask them, and they just shrug.
"That was a test when Croix was still a teacher here, today we know that her actions led her to jail, we don't want to continue spreading about magic with misinformation and mistakes, we want to correct what Croix ended up destroying and so we will return to tradition" said the headmistress.
"Let Croix be a lesson for you to learn once and for all that technology and tradition don't mix, this is not right to get together and you can prove it with the arrest of Croix Meridies, now let's do the right thing and fix all this" said teacher Finnelan and I was very angry.
"This is unfair! This is against the traditions of magic actually, the enchanted parade was made to show how amazing magic is, I can't believe you are going to make us go through all those humiliations" I say indignantly.
"What are you talking about Akko? What are these humiliations?" Mirage asks.
"Mirage she will make us walk in the street being thrown by tomatoes all over the city, then we will be trapped in those wooden things that you put your head and hands on, being thrown with tomatoes, where in the end we will be drowned by the witch test, the same one where you sit on the chair and the city can pull you up to throw you into the freezing water" I tell her who is in shock.
"As soon as tradition demands, you will show the town how cruel the witches were tortured so that history does not repeat itself again" said teacher Finnelan.
"Rules are rules, traditions are traditions, I hope that you can understand the importance of all this in truth, because this is how we recognize the past, finally you will mature to understand the impact of these tortures, who knows, understand why we preserve so much for the traditions" said the director and I was face to face.
"You can choose not to do it, just sign yourselves out of Luna Nova, then we won't cut so many costs, we'll just have to appeal to find another team that is willing to do the enchanted parade, it's your total choice" said the teacher blackmailing us.
"Our big choice is either we do it or we get kicked out, we have no other way out of this" I tell them shrugging my shoulders.
"Very well we thank you for your cooperation the town of Glastonbury equally, you're going to make the best enchanted parade, then you'll get to enjoy spring break" Said the headmistress to us and I just got the biggest look on my face, I can't believe we're doing this shit.
The five of us leave the headmaster's office, I am simply incredulous, how can things stay this way? Croix may have been arrested and committed crimes, but a lot of what she's done here in Luna Nova has only gotten better, now everything's back to the way it was before she's been really bad, it was nice when we could use mobile phones and also her magic-tech classes, not to mention the events she's changed, that maze hunt, Valentine's Day last year, even the enchanted parade that changed everything.
"I am one step away from leaving this school, I can't believe that just because Brooke was kidnapped we are going to go through this" Mirage said.
"Oh come on people, it's not that bad, those attached to the chair and the wood, I can't wait for this, it will be a very interesting novelty for us, have you ever stopped to think about a unique opportunity like this" said Sucy being weird as always, here she comes with her weird fetishes.
"It wasn't like this last year, when Croix was still a teacher around here things were better, things were moving forward, Luna Nova was getting renewed, so much so that we had one of the best performances of the enchanted parade, but unfortunately she ended up getting arrested and today the elders live to use Croix as an example of how tradition and technology don't go together, which doesn't even make sense, one of the seven words of the Shiny Rod is about how modern and traditional forces come together forming the gate to an unknown world" I tell them.
"But that's the way, we'll get through this fucking parade, at least it got us out of having to rehearse something, we'll just have to really wait out the day and get going" Mirage said.
"Really last year's was the best enchanted parade ever, I remember it like it was yesterday" Lotte said.
"And when the witches were hunted it was nothing like that, witches were tortured and sent straight to the bonfire or something worse, never that the population wasted the little food they had by throwing it at the witches, the more we were imprisoned and exposed for days to... You know what, at last they are making a historical mistake, but at least we will not go through these things too" Jeanne said.
"They're not that clueless, after this I'm going to Diana's room because I'm outraged"
Then I walk to the blue team room, kind of looking around, seeing the girls passing by the corridors and talking, gee to think that it's been two years that I'm here in Luna Nova and until a year ago I could barely climb on a broom, but today I'm managing with ease.
I reach the corridor of the high class rooms, knock on the door where I am answered by Diana who gives me even a kiss and a hug, all affectionate as always.
"Sae love, how was it there?" she asks.
"You can't believe they wanted to go back to that tradition of torturing witches as entertainment" I tell her and she gets a bit angry.
"What do ye mean? The last enchanted parade followed the traditions, the first ones were like the one ye had done which was one of the best, I'm going tae fix that now" she said and I hold the cavendish's hand.
"Don't do it love, don't waste time on it, they've got their heads screwed on tight, it's not worth it, you..." I just feel my mouth being shut by her
"That's nae the Akko way, I'm going tae go there and sort this out, wait for me and I'll be back soon" She said and then kissed me.
I've never really seen Diana so angry as now, her defending me is strange to see, before she was much more the type that wanted to see me screwing myself, today she only wants to wear gloves and scarves all the time to protect me from the cold, then I go into her room and sit down, I kind of take the opportunity to check the messages I've been sent by turning my mobile phone to normal size and so I can talk more normally.
A while later when Diana returns...
Wow I can't wait to go to Japan this summer and my parents get to know about me and Diana, they'll love to know that things are going well, if well they even know partially, but not how close we are, I also want to spend time with Diana and her mum, it'll be nice, soon spring break will be here to do that, I really can't wait. Diana arrives from the conversation, I can see that she is quite annoyed, she comes to me and lays down on my lap, where I start to keep petting her.
"Didn't it work out?" I ask her.
"They are blinded by conservatism, they even came tae accuse me of being influenced by my mother Laura tae act this way, seriously now it seems more like I should act as they want, it's strange, since the beginning of the year it has been like this, now they implicate me because of this issue, it makes absolutely nae sense about it" said my beloved.
"Things are getting like this, you now realize how I've been losing all my yay, all that will to change, I've been stepped on so much that I've just been content" I tell her who stares at me with a more serious look, so much so that she stands up and sits on my lap with her hands on my shoulder.
"Listen here Akko, dinnae give up on things, I know that there's a whole world on top of ye, but it's this different way of being that motivates things tae change fae the better, I'm sure that from here ye'll manage tae improve, but anyway, dinnae let things shake ye, I know that ye still have a lot of yay left" she said being affectionate.
"The problem is that I got tired of all this, I tried to be a person of high spirits who didn't give up on anything and was motivated with my heart, but the world around me wanting to put me down managed to be stronger"
"Dinnae say that Akko, be strong love, come here, I think ye really need a little more affection" She said and I even smiled a little imagining what it would be.
POV Narrator:
Sunday 24 March 2019, Glastonbury, England
The days passed since the announcement of the parade, the town of Glastobury was getting ready, a tomato fair was even installed, where most of the inhabitants bought tomatoes, which they will use to throw at the five witches, The girls would also have to dress in torn clothing so as not to spoil their uniform and give a sign that they were following the traditions of being witches captured and publicly humiliated.
POV Akko:
I already thought it was bad, but getting dressed here is even worse, we are practically wearing a floor cloth as clothes, it stinks, it is disgusting to put on, and there are tears everywhere, I can't believe we are like this, especially since we arrived inside the truck, when we arrived the LNN team comes in front, they walk to announce with the microphone.
"Dear citizens of Glastonbury, as tradition demands, let's take up the old enchanted parade again! With that get your balls ready and throw them at the witches who have been tried as heretics, experience what witches have been through in the past, during the age of the hunts" Wangari said with all the will in the world, I just looked like a fool.
"And here we go, I didn't want to do this shit, but it's valuable for us to get approved, but what the fuck" I say quite furious.
"I can't believe this is tradition, well at least we can wear something underneath, because in the water part it would show everything" Mirage said.
"Before there wasn't even that, witches were left completely naked and humiliated by the city, it was much worse, wow, the smell of this is horrible, it seems that they haven't washed these clothes for years, or at least they just threw them in water and let them dry, you can even feel the hairs on these clothes" Jeanne said and she always with the historical facts, it's even worse that it's a bit cold today, these clothes don't warm up at all.
"And let the parade begin, you can start punishing the heretic witches for committing witchcraft! The town is condemning them!" said Wangari and right away they started throwing tomatoes at us.
It hurts and it's not little, these balls don't fall apart on the spot when they hit, they are hard, it's worse than taking eggs, the balls are still pretty hard, but what the hell, you couldn't see anything but red, these things are hard as stones, being thrown at us, ahhhhhhh, how can this be a tradition? Just because our grades don't match what we actually get, we have to go through this.
"Witches! Witches! Witches! Boooohh! - Said the townspeople and that was all I could hear, my vision practically going blind with what I saw in front of me.
"How horrible! This is what happened in the past with the witches, history cannot repeat itself again as you can see, that is why the information is important and should be passed on, not the opposite, you are repeating what the people of the city did, but this should never be done, witches were persecuted just for being witches, a real horror - Wangari said and as if the population cares about this, my body is getting all broken because of this shit, but people do care about this.
I just wanted to put an end to this and rebel, but it seems that the city is loving it, the little I can see are tomatoes thrown at me, even more I see them being sold one by one, I see that they are even emptying the shelves, what a farce of food, what could serve to feed the homeless being used for an idiotic tradition.
"That's the real thing! These witches have to pay!" I heard someone saying that and I'm getting annoyed already.
"As you can see the corridor of humiliation comes to an end, where they will be locked up in the Berlinda, where they were exposed for the whole town to humiliate them" Wangari said and I am getting shocked, we will get to them.
I hate this kind of tradition, well at least the torture stopped with the tomatoes being thrown, I could see the way, I even looked back and the streets are red from so many tomatoes that were thrown, where we got to the stage that had the marbles, I look at the girls half bad, feeling all sore.
"The cradle! The classic instrument of torture of witches before they were judged, the city had the right to do whatever they wanted with them, but of course here will be much lighter things, you can throw tomatoes and eggs on them, and also if you want to come and mark with pen on their face some messages or the ferlinda itself, as a reminder of how were the days of torture, during medieval times, they stayed in this for three days before the trial, but as we will take it easy it will only be a few minutes" said Wangari and big shit, I'll still be stuck here like an idiot.
The girls and I are putting our heads and wrists on the stand, I had only seen this in cartoons and movies, I didn't think it was real, it gives a uncomfortable feeling in the spine, I saw Wangari and her team leaving and forming a stage next to it where the town was lining up, each person taking something, I am hating this, how can a tradition like this be something normal, we are humiliating ourselves to prove a point, how stupid.
"And come on, you can start getting on stage and start the tradition of humiliating heretics" Wangari said and seriously how she can get the urge to say that.
The first person arrived, she throws a sack of flour all over Mirage's head, then an egg on Jeanne's face, she writes on Lotte's face, she throws a tomato on Sucy who is loving it, for her this is a wonder, she has strange fetishes, now the cursed one has arrived on me. He spits in my face, then throws cold water over me, it's already cold here, it only gets worse now.
"You disgusting witch, you are a delay to humanity" said the man.
And so it went on for 20 minutes with person after person going through the girls doing whateverthey wanted while they were stuck in the crib, with Wangari commenting on the history of thewitches...
"Okay, that's it for each one of you, now I'm going to make room for you to close the dance by throwing tomatoes at the witches, before we go to the last step of this tradition" What I heard from these people is that they didn't learn about history or anything, they think this is a sport.
Everyone is still celebrating, now it's really fucked up, me with my face in front of everything, they were mercilessly starting to throw tomatoes at me, how this hurts in a hellish way, by the nine witches, I didn't expect something like this, ahhhhhhh, right in the face is much worse, I feel my nose flattening with each tomato thrown, after this I swear I'll never eat a tomato again.
"A horror to imagine that witches went through so much humiliation in the past, so we have to learn that in the present it is not right to repeat something like that, let this day serve to remind everyone how to have an empathy to witches and understand that they suffered and a lot" Wangari said and I think no one touched that, if it was a parade made by us showing that and how witches were battlers it would be better.
These times I think it would be better to be mundane, but I remember that for the witches I am seen as such, they never saw me as a real witch by them, only my friends recognize that and sometimes not all of them, Diana until last year was a bit like that, she had the mentality of the older witches, luckily she changed and for the better.
"Now they can finish and we will do the test to see if they are witches or not, with the chair," Wangari said.
We were released from that, but even so the marks remain, I feel like I've been through hell and a truck drove over me, and it was much worse before, seriously how the director wants to continue with something like that, I'm sure she does it on purpose just to punish us for not getting good grades.
We went to the chairs where we were tied up, each of them has six of them, I could see that Sucy was in paradise, I'll never understand her madness with masochism, I even like when Diana slaps my ass until it gets red, but nothing at the level that Sucy is.
"Very well, now the purity test, we will be sinking the witches in the water like this and then going up to know if they are really witches, remembering here that you can't leave them more than 15 seconds underwater, this is just a performance, you can make lines" Wangari said and I just saw her using Mirage as an example and I could see how angry she was, the water was even a little red and dirty with everything they threw at us.
People were arriving, a stranger came to my chair, he pulled the lever and I went all the way into the water, which is cold, even too cold, I'm already shivering with cold here, now with this cold water it's even worse, I'm going to get out of this cold or worse, I go back up feeling the cold wind hitting my body and then another person comes and lowers me without even giving me time to breathe.
"The test involved testing the purity of the person, a person could not stand to stay long under water, a witch could, that was one of the tests, another was that they kept putting it on and off until they got the confession out of the witches" Wangari said and I think this is idiotic, there must have been many innocent women being accused of being witches who were killed with this.
I am hating this enchanted parade, there is nothing enchanted about it, I am feeling horrible, cold water and my nose getting already full of water, this is one of those tortures, not to mention the smell that gets on these clothes, by the nine witches, we go down in the water practically filthy, luckily nobody invented to throw shit on us, at least this and the population is loving it.
"Witches! Witches! Witches!" Looks like I'm on a witch trial.
I'm feeling short of breath already, it feels like my lungs are pure water here, I just want this to end soon it's a hell of a lot of unpleasantness, for the nine witches, why is this a tradition? Who approved it? Oh yeah it was the director who started to change the enchanted parade to this new kind of approach, how could someone with such a good face have come up with such a sadistic and heartless idea like this.
It wasn't fast at all, on the contrary, they stayed 15 minutes, until they were finally released, with thewhole city booing at the end of the parade?
"And here comes the end of another enchanted parade, I know you want more and know in depth, but this is just a demonstration of the past, I hope you have learned how the past was cruel to you" Wangari said and the present is not much different I doubt you have really learned anything.
We walk then to the back of the truck that takes us back to Luna Nova and the town was booing us, simply because their fun is over, I sit down relieved, half full of pain, they threw everything at us, I will stink for days because of this mixture.
"Oh, guys, I'm sorry... The director told us to follow the script, the biggest idiotic thing to do" Wangari said.
"I thought you were enjoying yourself" I told her.
"And do I look like I like these things? I'm a minority witch too, but anyway... It was either that or fail, lucky that this is my last year before graduating, but know that I'm always on your side, that last enchanted stop was the best, Akko you are one of the coolest things that appeared in Luna Nova, makes me want to keep entertaining more" She said and I didn't see this side of Wangari.
"I'm just trying anyway, after all I've been through... Well at least this shit is over, but now what? What will Luna Nova be like without you?" I ask her.
"I'll still be around, I'm going to specialize in journalism, so you can leave that LNN will still have my presence, anyway... I always respect one of my you know, I also know what it's like to have people around you consider you inferior, it's really bad, I'm even surprised that witches aren't as racist as mundanes, even though they still have a bit of a racist streak" She said and I nodded.
"That's because you haven't seen the older witches, Diana's aunt foamed just because I was mundane or Asian, said Beatrix would never accept such a mixture, there we are today, Diana and I being happy, she seven feet under the earth paying for her crimes" I say to Wangari who keeps laughing.
"But there, any difficulty, talk to me, I am very attentive to what happens with you Akko, I see the whole school wanting you to leave and that makes the maximum effort to put you down is not for nothing that you were disqualified in the broom relay of 2017 and also in the Samhaim festival last year when you were better than everyone else, you can count on me if you want to change the world" She said giving her hand and I even feel kind of honored by all this.
We soon arrived at Luna Nova, where we got out from behind the truck, and there were the teachers and the headmistress who just waited for us to come, we went up to them and I think I'm going to say a few good things to those bastards, I can't believe we're going through something like this.
"What kind of parade is this? There's nothing enchanted about it" I say furiously.
"Oh Miss Kagari, at least you got a grade, you didn't do more than your duty, now go and take a shower, that smell is awful," said teacher Finnelan.
"Excellent parade delighted, you have done as requested, nothing different, so you can consider yourselves free and enjoy your spring break" Said the headmistress ah and how am I going to enjoy this.
I go walking to the inside of Luna Nova, walking through the corridors, where the girls go pointing at me and laughing at my face, it's not enough in the enchanted parade, now here, I just want to get to Diana's room, I knock on the door, she opens it and pulls me in on the spot, giving me the biggest kiss, I only feel her dressing gown fall off afterwards.
"Diana... Hannah and..." I say until she puts her finger in my mouth.
"Take off yer clothes and let's take a shower" she said, and started to take off my clothes.
We walked together to the bathtub, where I felt more relieved, warm water rising on my body giving me a relief from that traumatizing cold water, soon Diana arrives and she starts hugging me from behind, what a cute thing.
"I was waiting fae ye love, how did it go there?" she asks and I can be quite honest with Diana.
"I'm all sore, people don't learn anything like that, on the contrary they become even more prejudiced, I heard horrible things, even worse is knowing that the past is more horrible than that" I say to Diana who is washing my back.
"I know well how it is dear, that's how they think, they won't change their minds, the director only does something like this tae punish ye, I can't see it any other way" said my beloved.
"I just wish things would change, last year the enchanted parade was the best, this year it was the worst" I tell her.
"And how was it, ye outdid yerselves, I couldn't even see yer enchanted parade, I was too disgusted and if I saw too much I would put my hand in and create a protective barrier" said the cute Diana.
"I'm glad I have you here love, you always manage to make things better, your hands are divine, I love to feel them all over my body, you have an affection that no other witch is able to give" I tell her and then I turn around giving her a kiss.
"I love ye Atsuko Kagari" she said being cute with me.
"I love you Diana Cavendish" I reply in kind.
This is how I wanted to finish this day, having a moment with Diana, her taking care of me, makes me forget the weight that was today, those hands of Diana on my back was all I needed, better than any massage, I feel even my back freer with all this, hmmmmm, I love it, what was the enchanted stop again? I think the charmed parade was going here with Diana that's the charmed parade I love.
POV Narrator:
And the traditions went back to the way they were before the enchanted parade returned with the idea of the witches humiliating themselves to get their message across, although no one in that parade really understands and only uses the opportunity to distil the prejudice eating away at the streets of Glastonbury even causing a great deal of damage and food waste against the girls who did nothing to deserve such treatment, which already started the spring break and the end of the second term of the 2018-2019 school year.
See you, cursed witches...