POV Narrator:
Sunday 17 June 2007, Tokyo, Japan
It was a hot summer night as usual, with that day even having a more open weather, in a stadium of presentations, children by the surroundings sat in chairs accompanied by their parents, while a background music was playing, in this background music starts to appear a woman with medium hair that beat on the shoulders kind of looking like she came out of nowhere, which waves to everyone, the children are already screaming excited with the appearance of this woman with reddish hair.
" Welcome to the world of magic! Your heart is to believe in yourself!" Said the mysterious girl on stage with a microphone in her mouth, where she began to gesture to the audience.
In the middle of it appears what seemed to be a kind of dragon, that goes flying around the stage of the place, the children are getting scared, but soon the woman of the presentation, more known as Shiny Chariot starts to transform a magic staff that was in hands in a broom, where she goes up in it standing up and goes after the creature, which goes passing by the audience that is getting scared with the huge dragon passing by.
The one with reddish hair passes with a swoop in front of them all where some magical effects start to appear, as of fairies coming out of the chest of some children, which gives an extra air, leaving them even more delighted.
" Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor" Chariot said.
With these words the staff became a kind of bow and arrow, where it reached the creature that was shattering all, exploding and generating what was a rain of a green light, enchanting all the children around.
The Shiny Chariot returns to the stage, where it continues the presentation making choreographies with spells of metamorphosis, changing for a centaur, together with its bird that always remained there accompanying it, enchanting until then the children seeing that scene.
- Her magic is to believe in herself! - Said the witch again to everyone who continued to cheer her performance.
After the end of the presentation...
A little girl with brown hair, jumped for joy, in a strange way the presentation seemed to have something left in her head, but even so she was amazed to have seen everything, even somehow pulling her mother to get to a stand where by there sold Chariot cards.
" Mummy! Mum! There's the legendary Chariot card I want so badly! Please take it!" said the little girl.
" As today is your day we will take it" said the girl's mother.
The little girl, who is called Atsuko Kagari, but everyone calls her Akko, went in the direction of the stall. When she arrived there, another blonde girl was also going to buy, accompanied by a gentleman, who arrived at the same time as the Japanese child.
" Yin chariot caird please" Said the little western girl saying in a rather strange English, and that little Akko did not understand even the basics.
" We're Scottish, can you undersand English?" said the gentleman with the girl at the counter and then handing over 500 yen at the stall.
The girl hands the letter package to the little girl who seemed to be British and then it's Akko and her mother's turn to go and buy it, where the little girl would be sort of jumping around like a spring without stopping, plugged into 220, the animation flowed by itself.
" I want the letter from Chariot!" said the little brown-haired child.
" Oh sure, let me see here" Said the scavenging girl, as the excited child jumped for joy.
"Calm down Akko, this way you'll end up having an accident somewhere" said the little girl's mother trying to caress her to calm her down.
"Oh I'm sorry, I sold the last card to the two foreigners over there, but if you want we have other things too" said the girl at the stall.
A crying expression was appearing for the Japanese girl who was starting to get more stuck to her mother's leg, which was starting to be noticed by the little Scottish girl who was there, she walked over to the crimson red eyed one, where she stood looking at her with a smile and handed over the letter.
" Why are you doing this, lassie?" said the gentleman to the little British girl who also had a split-toothed smile.
"Carter ah wanna be a gallus lassie, 'n' 'twas th' lest caird fur this bairn, we kin fin' ithers whin we come back hame" Said the one with blonde hair with greenish tones handing the letter to Akko, even if she didn't understand a thing.
" Thank you for this, we really appreciate I"- said Atsuko's mother even thanking her, in an English that was a little difficult to understand.
From there the two Brits leave the presentation, the little girl goes back to her house going to the airport, already Akko never forgot that gift that was given to her by the strange British girl and what seemed to be her father accompanying her.
Atsuko returned to the house and that letter enchanted her completely, and it was put together with the other Chariot letters she had, where she spent most of the time playing with her cat in the room. Her mother was amazed, seeing her daughter feeling so well.
Years went by after that, despite Kagari's fondness for Shiny Chariot, it seemed that the other children around her didn't seem to be something the other children disliked, not even for witches, which was making her a constant target of bullying for that part, where everyone seemed to always want to put her down, calling her a witch all the time.
She really wanted to be one, she tried at all costs taking the broom from the house and going up a hill near it, where she jumped and only ended up hurting herself every time she tried, it seemed that not even the magic that she so much wanted to have appeared, Saori Kagari, Akko was always the girl without potential and that also did not have the theoretical knowledge to be a witch, what forced her to study in a mundane school in all these years.
At those schools she didn't have that many friendships, everyone always turned their faces away when the subject was Shiny Chariot, the thing that the brown haired girl had grown so attached to, the one that was her escape valve, where she would always watch her shows at home, where she would try to imitate her spells, but it never seemed to work out.
POV Akko:
Monday, 25 March 2013, Chiba, Japan
Spring break started again and again I wasn't called for anything, Keiko went out with her friends to the mountains and didn't even call me, the others just ignored me... I wish I could go out and have more friends, I wish I could... Just to be able to talk about Chariot without being ignored all the time, I seem to become a repellent every time I talk about it...
This hill, I tried many times to learn how to fly by broom here, there are many memories, now that I am twelve years old I don't even try anymore because I hurt so much, I tried so much with the right word for what it says in the book and it still doesn't work, I think that book Keiko gave me as a gift was fake... The day is actually pretty today, I love spring and how the cherry trees turn pink, I think I'll draw a little, at least that magic I still know how to do. I
went walking to my favorite tree, but I think it's weird that in front of it there's a staff, it looked like a replica of the Shiny Rod, very weird, I went running there excited.
"Somebody! You forgot the Shiny Rod! Anyone there?" I go trying to call out looking around, but it seemed like my place was more isolated than anything.
I wonder if Keiko gave it to me as a gift to compensate? If so I love the Shiny Rod replica, it's much better than my plastic one actually... Wait a minute, this is made of wood, the balls are glass, there's metal on the top... Someone made a perfect Shiny Rod replica for me.
"Her magic is believing in herself! Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor!" I give an imitation of Chariot and strangely I go to feel something in my hand like a glow passing through it, then I go to observe and it was the staff that began to emanate what seemed to be a glow.
Is it the real thing? How could anyone leave the real Shiny Rod here? I know the Chariot disappeared since the last presentation here, but why would the staff show up here, it's working, it's glowing, it's turned into a bow and arrow that's fucked up.
"Shiny..." I try to launch an arrow, but then the staff simply afterwards returns to normal, strangely enough.
I keep shaking it, trying to make it turn into a bow again, I keep repeating the same words over and over again, I keep trying to get something to come out, but nothing, the staff just keeps getting nothing, as if it was playing with me, I saw it happening, it was not my hallucination.
"Look at the crazy girl who thinks she's a witch hahahaha!" Said Hideo the jerk who lives near our flat he and his friends always make fun of me.
"Oh witch, that's not how you do magic no hahahaha!" Said Keisuke his other friend, insufferable.
"She's 12 years old and still thinks she's a Sailor Moon" Said Mei the girl from the group of assholes as she went pointing at me.
"It's for real! It works! I managed to make a bow and arrow with this staff" I tell them and then they come to my side laughing.
Together they push me, I fall to the ground, until Mei takes the staff in her hand and when she touches it she gets the biggest shock, it was very strange, but I was laughing, happy that the staff can also protect me from those assholes, how incredible and wonderful.
"What the fuck is this Kagari? You want to play a trick on us? So you're going to shock us with this thing? Let's see if you're going to shock us yourself, it won't be your Pikachu stick that will protect you now." Said the furious Mei after being fried and I was laughing, but now I was scared.
I tried to get the staff, but my hand was stepped by her, the other boys were surrounding me, what I was trying to react, but Mei does Karate, I'm not one of those who dedicates to learn martial arts.
I was trying to hit her, but she was just dodging and making fun of me, every now and then she hit me with a punch or kick, I was crying with some blows, she hits very hard.
"You're good at shock, aren't you Kagari, let's see if you can handle the punch" she said as she tried to hit me, only to think of an escape plan.
I throw myself on the ground grab the staff and when she was going to punch my face again I protect her with the staff and she gets the biggest shock, I take advantage of this and run away without looking ahead, swinging the staff from side to side so that the two boys don't catch me, I strangely passed by them, but I started to be hit by stones, I ran home scared to death, I never thought that these three would be the biggest bullies.
POV Narrator:
Akko strangely got this staff that she said was exactly Chariot's Shiny Rod, where she kept it in her room as a relic of hers, leaving it amidst the poster she had, the cards and several of Chariot's plushies, her whole room was adorned like the idol. As for the injuries, Saori soon found it strange even though her daughter tried to hide it, which earned the three children a good scolding when Mrs. Kagari went to talk to Mei's parents, Hideo and Keisuke.
What was a real relief, since then the bullying that the Japanese girl suffered was going down a lot, she wasn't going through the worst of it anymore, she even managed to have more peace, on the other hand she was getting lonelier, Keiko who was her only friend, was also older, she was soon going to graduate and leave Chiba to study at a university in Tokyo, which was making Kagari lonelier and lonelier as time went by.
But not before an event that came to pass when Saori arrived with a surprise, before Akko entered high school, which was a letter, a letter of approval from the Luna Nova witchcraft academy, where classes would start in September, this coming on spring break after Atsuko's graduation from primary schools. She was extremely excited, not only was she going to study at Luna Nova, but she was going to have a holiday of months until she went to study there.
It wasn't easy months anyway, as they had to appeal for a visa for the Japanese girl to attend the witchcraft academy that was also a boarding school, with Saori signing the permission for her to travel alone, as she couldn't leave Japan for another country, since there's the issue of employment what the younger Kagari can understand, she was cheering as it was that witchcraft academy that they considered the best in the world, not only for that, but for being where Shiny Chariot had studied.
POV Akko:
Friday 1 September 2017, Glastonbury, England
So here is Glastonbury, the city where there is the Ley line, it just doesn't show here in the pamphlet a map where it is, I think I'll try to ask people here to see if they know, I'll also see if all that English I learned for years watching Shiny Chariot and playing videogames was worth something, at least in the test I took to travel here they said it was good, let's see if the British understand me.
"Sir, do you know where Ley's line is?" And I thought people in Tokyo were cold, I walk a little further and notice another person, a girl, sure she will be nice to me, I reach out in a nice way to her.
"Do you know where the bus is for the Ley line? I have to go to Luna Nova" I ask her and she looks confused.
"Ley line? That doesn't exist here, does it? And Luna Nova so little" she said to me and I got more frustrated.
A few several people later...
Akko decides to stop at a square to rest
Fuck! Shit! Hell! Nobody here really knows where the ley line is, or even how to get to Luna Nova, it seems like a crime talking about it, they just ignore me as if I was talking nonsense, but what the hell? This way I'll be late and I'll never be able to go to Luna Nova, just when my mother tried so hard for us to be here, I can't let her down. I
even look at my mobile phone and I see her sending some messages, which I send back saying that everything was ok, I don't want her to think that things are really going from bad to worse, even more with these thick and cold people here.
But my hopes won't die, I'm going to be a witch like Chariot, I can't give up, it's here and now, I'll make it, it's all or nothing... I go looking around motivated, I find a girl with pink hair and she was holding a broom, I went running towards her.
"Are you going to study in Luna Nova too? Are you going to be a witch too? I want to be a witch like Chariot! Look at my precious card of hers! It is the rarest card!" I say to the pink haired girl, who as she passes me makes a spell.
My mouth suddenly turns into a zip and I go trying to pull, incredible, it's the first time since Shiny Chariot that I feel a spell being cast on me, I go trying all the ways to take the zip off, pulling hard, but nothing was working, I forced a lot and it seemed that I took a sticky tape out of my mouth, what a pain... But get rid of me.
"Help me to get to Luna Nova! I need to know where to take the bus, please, my name is Atsuko Kagari but you can call me Akko" I say politely to the girl who then uses a spell on my Arcor plush.
Strangely out of nowhere the plush pecked my eye, ahhhhh, what a terrible pain, I was in terrible pain lying in fetal position and that plush was still pecking my ass, which made me lose sight of the pink haired girl, but less bad, bad girl. I get up from there, pick up my stuff thrown on the floor and put it in my bag, relieved to see that girl disappearing at least. I
go up a hill nearby where I see a tower full of branches and tree roots, I was going
to sit on a bench, but my hopes light up again.
"Can you believe it? The level of Luna Nova has gone way down since they let a muggle student in there" Said the girl with brown hair half red, is she talking about me.
"Luna Nova has been better before" Said another with very long dark hair.
"They must be desperate for money" Said the shorter haired one, she even looked a bit Asian like me, I never expected I would get one of my own who was so snobby.
Even so, with their words being heard from far away, I walked to the trio of girls and decided to talk to them about where Luna Nova is.
"Is this where you catch the bus from Ley to Luna Nova?" I ask them gently and before long giggles begin to ring out from the trio.
"Bus? Stop being pathetic, we are witches, you must be that student, what a joke" said the redhead teasing.
"We don't need a bus because real witches cross the Ley line like real witches" Said the long-haired friend picking up a broom and riding it.
The three convinced were mounted on the broom going to the inside of the tower, I was following them, which was strange, I noticed a portal appearing then they three disappearing, still laughing at my face and that's where I could realize, up there was the passage to go to Luna Nova, now I'll climb this place if it's the last thing I do in my life, I can't give up.
Akko tries to climb the walls and climb
but can't
I fall to the ground, already all dirty and bruised from trying this shit, it's like they don't want to see me there, until a little blonde girl with glasses comes by and she sees me lying on the ground, I look at her and then I see her floating with the broom.
"Please help me make it to Luna Nova!" I say desperately.
"Ah just fly on the broom, it's simple" Said the blonde but I start to get weepy right in front of her.
"I don't know how to fly on a broomstick, please help me take a ride there, I will thank you immensely for it" I tell her who half-accepts my decision.
"How strange, a witch who can't fly on a broomstick, look we better go soon, I can't be late because that could give me a risk of being expelled, Luna Nova is quite strict" Said the four eyes who was a sweetheart.
I hugged her and got all excited, the hope comes back in my heart, I got my bag and climb on a broom, I was feeling amazing, it was the first time that I was flying on a broom, well it wasn't flying, but even so I could feel what is flying on a broom, staying on the ride.
We were going up more in the air, I already felt a cold in my belly for the height, but I was excited, I didn't worry about that, we were floating together until the portal, where from nothing the broom start to accelerate, very fast, very fast.
"Ahhhhhh! That's fast! Stop that thing!" I say in desperation.
"We can't stop, we'll be late if we stop!" Said the blonde and I went grabbing myself desperately.
I didn't think it would be that scary, until the broom goes from one side to the other like crazy, and I see some things starting to fly, getting even more desperate, trying somehow to hold on, but nothing solved.
"Stop that thing! We're going to die!" I tell her.
"Something's destabilising, Ley's lines don't like salt" said the bespectacled one.
"I have salted plums in my bag that must be it" I tell her taking it out of my bag and then I see her throwing it and then my stuff from the bag goes flying like my staff.
"Girl you didn't read the pamphlet!" Said the same one giving me the biggest scolding.
"The Shiny Rod, we have to get it!" I say forcing the broom and then we went out of control, where we hit a portal wall passing through, falling in the middle of a forest.
At least I could get the Shiny Rod, but then I started to free fall, leaving some more important things in a small suitcase, we fell in the middle of a strange place, where there were some plants and there also the blondie's broom broke, besides her complaining of pains.
"My broom broke, we're stuck in the forest of Arcturus!" said the one with the glasses, and I think I had heard that name somewhere before, but I don't remember where.
POV Narrator:
In the midst of this disaster there was someone who was watching the two, a blue haired woman wearing glasses who could notice that two girls ended up falling in the middle of the Arcturus forest, she was already showing enormous concern especially that she also had another one nearby.
"Damn, there are girls trapped in the forest of Arcturus, I have to rescue them, they will be late for the opening ceremony" said the woman who was starting to get the broom and get ready.
POV Akko:
"It was bad really, I messed up didn't I, now how are we going to get back?" I ask the blonde.
"I don't know, but we have to try to fix my broom, it happens, ahhh, my ankle, by the way, my name is Lotte Yanson and you?" said the one with glasses.
"My name is Atsuko Kagari, but you can call me Akko" I tell her all excited.
We've been kind of freaking out in the forest, since there are some pretty scary plants, including one that took a piece of Lotte's broom and devoured it, which ended our hopes, but not until a girl showed up there, the one on the bridge... I don't believe it.
"You?" I say to her.
"What are you doing here?" she said.
"Me and Lotte ended up crashing, please help us fly back to Luna Nova, we'll help you" I tell her pleadingly and she gave a sadistic smile.
"So you'll help me with a ritual, and I'll go with you to Luna Nova, I just came by to get the cockatrice feather I wanted so badly to complete my deadly poison" said the weirdo, and I just shrugged.
Out of nowhere she wraps us both in a circular net and I even find the ritual a bit suspicious, but I remain confident, I know that in the end we will manage to reach Luna Nova and that's all that matters now.
"Repeat after me Kutchur Katera Huraala" Said the pink-haired one.
"Kutchur Katela hura hura" I try to repeat.
"It's actually Kutchur Katera Flala, do it loud enough for the ritual to work" she said and I wonder why she doesn't speak herself.
"Kutchur Katera Flala!" I shout loudly and then hear a high-pitched sound followed by a shudder.
Something was coming towards us, we looked back it was a giant chicken with a snake tail, I was terrified and immediately questioned the pink haired girl what the fuck was that.
"What the fuck is that?" I tell her, already terrified.
"The spell said Hey idiot! If you don't like it eat me hahahahahaha! It's a cockatrice, a legendary bird that only exists in the Arcturus forest, well you'll be the bait to distract it while I get the feathers, by the way my name is Sucy Manbavaran, in case you don't survive the attempt" Said the little cursed one I swear I want to get my hands on this motherfucker.
"Case what? Fuck you in the ass!" I tell her angrily.
We started running desperately, as the creature was spitting fire in our direction, we were trying to run not to be hit, the little cursed one was following the giant chicken, we were made of idiots, I knew I couldn't trust this girl, now I can die here on my first day of school, what the hell... Running we got some momentum, I could see her taking the feather, then she uses a smoke spell, get us out of the net and we start flying, the three of us together.
"I said I would help you, well now you help me get the feather and I help you by taking you back" said the idiot.
"Blablabla you help us, we were made bait for your idiotic plan" I say angrily to her.
"But it worked, didn't it? Now let's fly out of here... That's if I know how to get back" she said, which made me even more desperate.
The chicken still followed us, the broom was too slow with the three of us, it was just a matter of time for us to turn into a plate for this giant chicken, what the hell! As it got closer we tried to push it, but nothing.
"Go faster" I say desperately.
"Look maybe one of us will have to leave, it's too much weight for the broom, do you propose to do that Akko?" Said the sarcastic Sucy.
Only she was right and the weight of the broom slowed us down, which was worse, a blast of fire hit us, knocking all three of us off the broom, and a blue-haired girl appeared next to us.
"The words! Say the words!" she said and I look at the staff.
This shit has betrayed me many times, but it's shining again, I wonder if it's alright if I try to use it, it can't hurt to try, it's this or death, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, hold the staff with all my strength and motivation.
"Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor!" I say the magic words I used the first time and remember succeeding.
"She made it" Said the blue-haired girl who came out of there afterwards.
"Shiny Arc!" I shoot the arrow with everything and a portal opens up underneath us, which we end up together falling in the middle of a floor.
I didn't even know if we were safe or not, but I didn't turn into a cockatrice's barbecue, which I soon make sure to look around, seeing the students all lined up, the teachers staring at us and the headmaster in the middle and I get a smile on my face.
"Yeahhhhh! We did it! Yay!" I say all excited laughing with happiness, everything was there present, even our bags and the staff worked, we managed to arrive on time.
After a ceremony
And the boring explanation for the event in the room.
"They almost arrived late, they still fell in the middle of the courtyard of Luna Nova, which is a serious and traditional ceremony, they were lucky that Ursula appealed to them to continue here, remember not to commit any nonsense, oh and no technology, we will confiscate the mobile phones of Mrs. Manbavaran and Mrs. Kagari, they will only get them on holidays, here there is no signal and there is no reason to use these things, magic is made to be traditional and respected, at last feel relieved that you could be the exception of the rule, now go to your rooms and get ready that Monday will have class, you will study here for three years until you graduate, have excellent grades and become real witches" said the boring teacher.
"Well, welcome to Luna Nova, now you can go to your rooms" said the headmistress.
I was celebrating excitedly, walking to my room, where I reached the door of the place, when I entered I was also accompanied by Lotte and Sucy, it seemed that we would be room mates by what our sash was showing, which was already making me get a smile on my face.
"Hello I am Atsuko Kagari, but you can call me Akko! Nice to meet you all" I tell them with a smile on my face.
POV Narrator:
Atsuko Kagari's journey is only in its beginning, after going through so much before even starting her magic classes, she will still have a lot to go through, but the life of a witch with a lot of spirit and motivation will not stop being difficult, which is one more reason for all the struggle she makes to become what she is today.
Many obstacles will come for that dream to be made difficult, but the Japanese woman will be strong to beat them head on and manage to conquer them, in a totally deserved way, since she has potential.
See you, lesbian witches...
Atsuko "Akko" Kagari
Date of birth: 25 June 2002
Place of birth: Chiba, Japan (Japanese)
Height: 1.61m
Weight: 46 kg
Sexuality: Bisexual
Gender: Female (cis)
Occupation: Student (Luna Nova 2017)
Measurements (bust/ waist/hip): 80/56/82
Hair colour and appearance: Dark brown, straight 1A, long, reaching up to the chest, some fringes passing across the forehead and sides of the face, usually with a ponytail to the upper right side.
Eye colour and shape: Crimson red with the presence of epicanthal fold
Physical appearance: pale pastel skin, small breasts, round nose, some childhood scars, slim body.
Likes: Shiny Chariot, Card games, Magic festivals, Mahou Shojo animes,
Dislikes: Boring classes, Methodical people, Defamation surrounding Shiny Chariot,
Akko is an extroverted and very inspired girl, always the whole time motivated a thousand times, stubborn in every aspect, she never gives up, insisting until the last second, much of this is due to the fact that when she was a child and had the golden chance to go with her parents to watch the performance of Shiny Chariot, which ended up enchanting her wanting very much to become a witch like the enchanting Chariot, but fate seemed to have denied it all the time, even the people around, Just because Akko wanted to be a witch she was constantly bullied by other children around her and to make things worse she also had to endure the worst that was the fact of not having any affinity with magic, which turned out to be another barrier, because not even with the girls who were witches she could have some friendship, they excluded Kagari for not having affinity with magic, much for not having origin in any family of witches as the others had. What made her spend a childhood much more isolated, having her cat, videogames and animes as company, or even her own staff that she found in a forest, which she still believes works for real as the Shiny Rod from Shiny Chariot, but that everyone always says is a mere replica.
Despite all the barriers, all this talk, the Japanese girl is a confident girl who never gives up and never stopped believing in her dreams, achieving one that she always hoped for, which was to study at the Luna Nova
academy of witchcraft, the same academy of witchcraft where Shiny Chariot studied.