POV Narrator:
Monday 18 May 2020, Luna Nova
The week of the theory exams came to an end, but with a lot of hardness still, many students had to give everything to finish the exams with a good grade, like Akko that had studied a lot, but had her week disturbed exactly by the presence of The Council that was messing the corridors and she was spending the whole week having to clean the blood of the corridor always, and the worst of all is that they couldn't even call the WCI to investigate, It was something that was automatic for the Japanese girl in a moment, she would leave the test room and grab a mop and a bucket of water with some product spending a good few hours having to force herself to have to leave the corridor always clean, what was leaving her body very tired in always having to do the same activity for the whole week, but was coming to the end of the evaluation period and from there would start the final week of tests this time involving something more physical since they were practical tests.
POV Akko:
What a pain in my body, this The Council didn't even spare me on the weekend, I had to stay a whole week, washing floors, washing walls, washing roof, it seemed that the blood was never ending, I think that they really kept Mary alive to do all this, if they think that this caused some fear they are wrong, this only made me more angry with them.
I get up from the bed sleepy and broken, I look in the mirror and today is the day of the practical exams, it will start with the exams involving broomstick flight, now they will see that I am the best here in this, I won't disappoint, Professor Nelson at least is less worse; I do my personal hygiene and I also go to change, that today the day will be full, I want to see if I really succeed
I leave the room and find the girls waking up, Sucy goes after me in the bathroom and Lotte is still a bit sleepy.
"Good morning Lotte" I tell her who just waves at me.
"Good morning," Yanson said sleepily.
"Today will be the start of another week of tests, do you think you will be able to do well?" I ask my friend.
"I don't know yet, the tests were really hard, apart from what they did in the corridors, they left all the blame on you and didn't even question, we even helped you yesterday, I really hope they stop this, because it's unfair what they do to you" Lotte said, and I wish her words had some power, but in reality it doesn't have so much.
Later in the courtyard of Luna Nova...
I'm arriving at the courtyard, it's very different coming here without having Diana or Chariot around, now it's a whole different thing, it's as if I started to feel alone in here again, well at least the days are ending and I'm sure that for what's coming of practical classes I'll manage to do better than they expect me to, I also hope that The Council doesn't vandalize anything. Soon the headmaster arrives on stage, still with the teachers in the middle, now that the tests will no longer be answering alternatives, which I already think I did very well.
"Very well students of Luna Nova, we are one week from you finish your studies once and for all, but before that we still have a week of practical exams, unlike the tests that we had two subjects per day, here there will be only one each day, and the teacher of each one will evaluate each student going through a series of tests one by one, until they finish with all, I'll be quick tests so that it will be enough for each student and they will only have one attempt to do what was asked, having to do the best execution possible, so don't be late, because if you delay you will delay the ones that will come in your turn and the test day will go until the last witch is finished, knowing this now get ready because soon the first day of tests will begin" said the director.
After the headmistress gave her speech we went following the path to the outside of the Luna Nova's yard where there was already an obstacle course mounted on it having a track to do without the broom until reaching a point with a broom where things get more serious, something I am already prepared, the teacher Nelson who will show us this time.
"Here you are, this will be a final obstacle course the most difficult that I could imagine, you must already have the three years of practical classes with me for that and here we will start, at the beginning of it you will go on your own, without a broom, until you reach the stand and from there you will get the broom and do the course, who finishes in a time below 5 minutes will pass, who takes more than five minutes will be disapproved, but of course I will not tell the result later, I will call each student here to make their attempts,
the one who finishes can be released to be free for the rest of the day and wait for the next test" said the teacher who was walking from one side of the room to the other and I was already thinking and watching the course, can I do it in less than five minutes, I think so, I think the most complicated part will be before getting on the broom.
The first one of us to go was Amanda, she wanted to make a point of picking up O'Neill, since she arrived she always went for that, just because my friend has a more radical way of riding the broom and there she was at the starting point, the teacher pressed the chronometer and Amanda started to run.
"Go Amanda!" I say in cheering and everyone looks at me.
"Please Miss Kagari, refrain from making any manifestation of support for Miss O'Neill or any of her friends, this is a serious moment, I ask you to kindly keep quiet" I even feel the bucket of cold water on me.
After Amanda's run...
I counted in my head and Amanda went really well, she managed to do it in under five minutes so I think I can do it, she even comes back a little out of breath and holds out her hand past me, which I make sure to hit, it was a good run for her.
"Miss Kagari, you are next, since you wanted to show support to your friend how about you go yourself and show that you are capable too" Said the teacher and I even get nervous, but it's time to show my ability as a witch.
I'm getting to the booth to start, I'm already getting focused, I close my eyes I take a deep breath when I open I just hear the shot that starts and I'm already starting to run, I hate that this is from a dress, this school never thought of another way to get around better, lucky that I put a shorts underneath, because if not they would see everything, I put my hands on the first bar in front and jumped towards the floor that I could jump, she really wanted to pull us to do a parkour here.
"Go Akko! Did you see how it's something that puts pressure on you to stay cheering?" Said the teacher trying to show something and I was just ignoring it keeping my concentration.
I see rings in front of me I jump on them and propel myself forward standing on a thin wall which I bet the teacher does not imagine I can do, the thin wall I give a mortal supporting me with my feet on a bar on top then holding the rings in front and with that using me to throw me to the wall I use to give a boost wall jump between them, which I use my magic for that bouncing from wall to wall, ending with a mortal in which I sit in sync with the broom.
Without needing to speak the words I'm already flying with the broom on the course, where the teacher was using magic to move the walls and try to use as an obstacle, but I'm just passing quietly, watching Amanda I could memorize a good part, I was dodging to the side, up, passing in the middle of obstacles that were impossible to pass, doing pirouettes where I showed that was to do, everything maintaining the form in the broom, as if I was in a rail, even in the curves, where I almost passed scraping the walls, I could do, in the water part I was showing my dominion and control, simply creating a wind vortex that annulled the creation of any wave, what Amanda had to dodge I just passed straight and that saved me a lot of time, I did not even calculate in my head.
I get to the final arcs, I have to go through them changing upside down or going back to normal, going from one side to the other but I make it to the end, I go up showing the control I had of the broom, that gets to be another level, I never thought I would get this far and show my skill.
Now yes arrives the part of the descent, until the closing, in it has some wooden pilasters rotating with sticks, I have to pass for these spaces without being hit, what I go going full speed and sharp in the eyes I even shoot some spells to rotate and to take of my way, I go passing for some, but I see that the teacher also moved others to hinder, What she didn't expect is that I could shrink myself with magic and pass through the minuscule spaces still keeping some speed, I did that when I was about to be hit, until I passed by all, landing with style braking practically in an instant, I finish my run and look at all, awestruck with me.
"That's it" I say celebrating, I hope this took less than five minutes.
I even go back to touch Amanda's hand and she touches mine, which we smile a lot, I think I must have passed, for sure, at least I hope so, because it would be such bad luck to do more than five minutes on a course like that, now it's time to relax, Constanze is next, now it's time to just wait for the tests to finish.
After Akko's friends finish their races...
I stayed here waiting and watching them, I wanted to see if they did well too, and somehow cheering them on even if I can't shout their names or speak them, it's like a kind of cheer, Sucy arrives even a little tired and we are leaving the courtyard outside Luna Nova, we arrive inside and we could finally talk better.
"What was that Akko?" Amanda said to me.
"What's that?" I ask her.
"Your race, you simply destroyed the competition, well I won't doubt the skill of last year's champion, but you did it all in less than two minutes, this way Professor Nelson will set the bar high, that's enough to leave you with the best grade in her class, how much do you think you got in the theory test?" asks O'Neill.
"Honestly, I can get at least 90% out of it" I answer her.
"Wow, you really dedicated yourself to this anyway, I think I got 70% on the theory but I'm pretty sure I did 2 and a half minutes on my attempt" Amanda said.
"But seriously now I want to see something, I wonder if someone showed up to dirty the corridor, let's take advantage that we leave early to catch in the act the idiot who has been setting me up" I tell them.
And we all go along with it, I take a deep breath, we get up from the canteen chair and run to the corridor where they usually vandalise, but there is no one there, besides it is intact, now I think I have a plan to follow around here, since they are going to try to set it up for my side I won't allow them to do that.
"There's no one around here" Lotte said.
"That's very strange, look I was going to tell us to stay here for a while, since we are going to take the bastard by surprise" I tell them.
"We can stay, since there's nothing to do, but you'll have to give us some of your chips, and we have to stay here and at least do something" said Amanda.
"We can play a Gartic Phone, if someone shows up we hide the phone in the shape of a keychain, the witches here always fall for this" I make the first suggestion and they agree.
"That's fine, since you've got nothing to do these days, we'll shrink the bastard, he won't vandalise the corridor anymore and you'll get away with it" O'Neill even touches my hand.
As a group then we go to the green team room, down Constanze's slide, but I think I've dumbed down too much, I think I have a better idea for this, and it might be smarter, as we go to get the stuff.
"Wait up!" I tell them.
"What is it Akko? - She asks.
"Why are we gonna do this by showing up? Like, we could use cameras, instead of showing our faces, you know a video evidence is better than a voice evidence, they'll never believe us, even if we prove something" How stupid of me to be so primitive.
"You're right Akko, we won't have to stand in the corridor if we film everything, excellent idea Akko" Amanda said.
"I've had a Diana Cavendish moment now, then if anything happens I'll take the blame, but I make sure I prove to the headmistress that I was right" I say excitedly and see Constanze sending a thumbs up sign.
She was already setting up some cameras, and I was eating some chips since I was hungry, Amanda was taking advantage and getting some too, hers must be finished by now, I rationed mine for our party, we can't not celebrate this, it will be amazing, I hope we can celebrate, even without Diana here, nor Chariot.
"Well everything is ready, Cons has finished, now all we have to do is install the cameras" Amanda said.
"And who will look at everything?" I ask them.
"Let's alternate, an hour each watching, I think that covers enough time" O'Neill said.
"Well for sure, we can pay attention, it's going to be crucial for us to catch the joker who is dirtying here and incriminating me," I tell them.
And with the cameras in hands we're leaving Cons' lab, we go up to the corridors, this time we didn't leave them in only one, we spread the cameras where we could leave them, there were 15 cameras in the corridors, I think it's going to be enough to see who was the funny girl who did all this, we finished and, relieved, we look at each other.
"Finally, we've finished doing that, now let's find out who the guy was" Amanda said.
"Now let's go to your room, play a gartic phone and then we'll come back here to see what's going on, I hope the plan really works out, it'll be fun to see what's going on" I tell them.
"Who do you think could be the funny one?" Lotte asks.
"Surely one of The Council's incels, or else it could be some girl here paid by the boss, but anyway we will find out and this will have an end" I tell them.
And with that we walked back to the green team's room, sliding down to Constanze's lab, we were already starting to take out who is watching in the jokenpo, luckily who ended up leaving wasn't me the first one to watch was Sucy, which was safe, now it's time to play a little and this will be fun, Manbavaran wasn't that frustrated to be the first one.
"I'll be able to keep watch here, go play" Sucy said.
We sat down on the sofa, took our cellphones and started our Gartic Phone session, I put my nickname, being the usual Shiny_Akko, putting the icon of a star, we created a room with the usual rules, heh, this is going to be fun, I can already imagine, I'm going to do as the first drawing to ask the first one to do Diana in a cabbage patch, this is going to be very funny to see.
"Wow, but have you ever stopped to think if the person pretends to be you too?" Amanda asks.
"There's no way I was the first to finish the tests all week, I always found the corridor dirty and there I was cleaning everything, I even tried to set something up to catch the bastard, but he always comes running away, but the idea of putting cameras is the first I've seen, I hope it works very well" I answer her
"You were too stupid Akko, we have Constanze here for that, she could leave a hidden camera recording the corridor, we even thought of giving you that suggestion" said O'Neill.
After an hour...
I'm still laughing, what was that Constanze that Amanda drew, she always draws things in a funny way, I have a lot of fun with all of this, it's time to draw who will be the next one of us and we did it at Jokenpo, this time without Sucy.
"Damn it!" I say as I am the chosen one.
"Rules are rules Akko, now you're the one who's going to keep watch" Amanda said.
"Well, what the hell, I'll watch the whole thing, I'll be sucking my thumb with you guys having fun" I said scratching the back of my neck.
"It's good to be one of the first, then you won't be taken away anymore and you'll be all free to do whatever you want, that's why I set it up to be the first" Manbavaran said and gee she was smart.
Well, time to stay at the computer, I'm getting to the screens, watching from afar the girls having fun, time to suck my thumb, at least here there's a bag of Doritos and soda, I'm watching the screens and until then nothing different in the corridors, well it's going to be tedious, I can imagine, at least the soda is still cold, nothing like a good magic too, the Doritos is good as always.
"WowAkko you have to see this, Sucy is also very good at drawing, she made a really cool mushroom here" Amanda said.
"I don't want to see, if you want to print the screen, here I am the security of the cameras, I don't want to know anything" I tell them.
"GeeAkko you don't know what you're missing" I just raise my middle finger above the screens showing them.
Here comes Amanda teasing me, I knew she was going to do that, well now it's time to watch, I won't let you out of my sight you bastard, so far nothing, the corridors are empty, honestly this reminds me of FNAF, I just need to use the doors to not be surprised by any animatronic, it's almost there, but the gameplay here takes more time.
20 Minutes later...
Nothing different in the movement, until I see a girl that looks like me, she was starting to use a hose and was drawing on the walls of the corridor, but what a bastard, so it's a girl, she's disguising herself as me, I don't believe it, worst of all is knowing that I'm getting into trouble because of it.
"Come here quickly!" I shout calling them.
"What is it Akko? Did you find him?" Amanda asks.
"Get your fucking ass up and come see this!" I tell her that she's getting up with the others.
They arrive and notice that there is a girl with my exact copied appearance, only changes that she has western eyes, but who cares, if it's to arm my side they will even use this as a tactic, I even zoom in to see more, the red lenses, she's kind of dirtying the corridor, what a bitch, she's arming me.
"Wait a minute, it's a student here disguised as you, but who would do something to set you up?" Amanda asks.
"I don't know but the damned thing is going to pay, I'm going to go and have a satifaction with her right now" I say furiously already lifting up the sleeves of my t-shirt.
"Come on, she's not going to frame you like that" O'Neill said.
We leave the room and run to where the corridor is, we go with all the haste of the world, I arrive and I see her on her back, still dirtying the wall, laughing a lot, with her hands on her waist I get close.
"Funny you should set me up" I tell her.
"Oh, looks like someone found out" The girl turns around and has a half-familiar accent.
"Listen to me, you bastard, give me two reasons why I shouldn't make your face bleed like you left this hallway"
"There is no reason mon cherrie, I think you should worry about what is coming" I notice she is a bit taller than me and throws all the equipment at me, then uses a smoke spell.
She thinks she's going to blind something with it, I let go of the thing and go running towards her jumping towards the window which I realize is a very bad idea when I see that she escaped through a grapple gun, I try to cast a spell towards the cursed one, but she dodges and runs away, at this time the third word of Claiomh Solais is missing, wretched, I try to use some artifice to climb up, but I'm pulled back by the girls.
"Damn! She slipped out, but I could notice a French accent coming from her" I say the girls.
"And now Akko?" they ask, and soon the teachers and headmistress Holbrook arrive.
"Ah so what do you have to defend yourself Miss Kagari, we found the funny little artist here" Professor Finnelan said.
"It wasn't me, they set me up" I tell them.
"It's not true, I saw you vandalising the corridor, there's no point in lying, I saw you" Rina said and what was it now will turn against me.
"It wasn't me, did you see her eyes?" I ask Rina.
"It was you, your eyes are the same red" she said.
"But she's not Japanese, she's French, I talked to her, she was in the green team's dormitory, there's no way it could be me, they witnessed it here" I say pointing to my friends.
"Akko is right, we were in the green team's dormitory the whole time, there's no way you can frame her" Amanda said.
"Miss Kagari this has gone too far, I see no choice but to have you suspended from exams for the whole week" said the headmistress and I was about to be devastated.
"Woah, wait a minute, don't do this if you can't prove it was reallyAkko, we filmed everything, we even filmed it in the green team's room, we can show you, someone disguised as Akko is framing our friend" said Amanda.
"Ah so I want to see this evidence, only witnesses are not valid" said the headmistress.
"Mrs Holbrook, they are breaking the rules of the academy, they went to each other's room, on top of that they used technology" Finnelan said.
"I want to see if they are telling the truth" said the headmistress.
Now I'm finally going to be exonerated, I don't give a shit that I'm going to lose my chances of passing the exam because of this, we go to the green team's room, we get the pen drive with all the footage, even the recent ones, we take a notebook there and soon we were getting to the board of directors.
"You already know that you are breaking the rules just by doing this and even if you prove Akko's innocence you will still be punished for breaking these rules?" said the headmistress.
"We know, we want truth and justice, you don't listen to us" said Amanda.
Soon we were showing the proof, I was watching everything through the cameras, when I was surprised by the presence of the girl who set me up, this was being filmed, we didn't want to run the risk of being incriminated for this, then I show the girl's footage and zoom in on her face, where we do some image treatment to get more high definition and it is very comparable to the face.
"Look at that, she's some western white girl, she just put on red lenses and walked past me, look at my face, where is that ma Japanese? She's more European than anything else" I tell them all.
"You see, Akko is innocent and someone is framing her to get in the way of her progress through the year, that person should pay, not her" Amanda said.
"She has been washing the halls all week for free" Sucy said.
"I should have been compensated for this mistake, instead you preferred to almost throw me out of here"
"Well evidently it was my mistake, I couldn't notice that the obvious facial features reveal, I'm sorryAkko" Rina said.
"And so Mrs Holbrook, satisfied now?" I say to her.
"Well then we have to find out who it is, but now the damage has been done, even so you will all be punished, use of improper technology, besides being in someone else's room in the middle of quarantine, this could already earn you a suspension, but as I will be benevolent and to compensate for all the damage you might have done to Miss Kagari for the mistake that happened I will change only have to clean up the mess made in the corridors, for the whole week if this happens again" said the director and I had a face like a potato.
"What? We don't do anything and we're the ones who pay the price, who have to clean the corridor for a crime we didn't commit?" I say furiously.
"This is relevant to your punishment for breaking the rules, it has nothing to do with what the other girl did, now it is just a matter of finding out who it is and taking the appropriate measures, you should be relieved Miss Kagari, now you have someone to help in the cleaning of the corridor, and on top of that this could earn you a suspension, think that this saved you from the worst and not that this is an unfair punishment" she said and we were left with a huge face.
"Look how Principal Holbrook still thinks about you, if I were the headmistress I would have kicked you all out already" Finnelan said.
"Well, what the hell, we'll have to do it" I say frustrated.
POV Narrator:
Akko, Lotte, Sucy, Amanda, Jasminka and Constanze ended up having to make up for everything by having to clean the corridor as a group, in that time the boss arrives at the loft to talk to the girl who disguised herself as Akko to set up for her what the plan was.
"Good excellent execution, did as requested, just needed to appear as Akko, unfortunately she was smart enough to escape a suspension, now you will be very well paid for what you did Chloé" Said the boss handing over the suitcase full of money.
"Thanks for the strength, I have my feuds with Cavendish, but I'm glad she got kicked out, now I also want to make her life more hell by taking her girlfriend out of play, do you have any other missions you want me to do?" Deppailer asks.
"Just keep dirtying the hallway all week, I want you to keep forcing these girls to physically destroy themselves, when you finish doing that on Friday the reward will be even fatter than that, stay here in the loft for now, no one will discover your hiding place" Said the boss with a mischievous smile.
"Perfect, I'll do my best, but what if by some chance they still pass?" asks the French girl.
"Well if that doesn't make it hard enough then you just make their days before graduation hell to the point where they give up showing up on the day, the important thing is to focus on ruining any plans for Atsuko Kagari" Said the boss who then walked out of there.
"Now you will suffer some more Diana, I have already decided that I will make your life hell, no one told you to get involved with me" said Chloé looking at the ceiling full of determination.
Things for the girls become quite complicated, having to deal with the new danger that is the presence of someone setting her up to not pass, but even this will not be enough to intimidate Kagari who almost ended up being expelled for setting up for the Japanese girl, who thanks to her friends can be helped and have her innocence proved, escaping from the clutches of the boss and another of her attempts to reprove Akko, who will not give up for anything in getting far.
See you, test witches...