Chapter 22
Crashing her lips against Akko's, Sucy almost threw her against one of the walls of the room.
"Sucy..." Akko whined, opening her eyes to look at her with hunger.
It was enough to make Sucy lose control. She captured her lips, causing Akko to let out a moan.
Grinning into the kiss, Sucy moved her hands to unclasp Akko's bra from behind and tugging it along with her shirt up and over the Akko's head, revealing the most delectable looking expanse of skin Sucy had ever laid eyes on. Dragging her fingernails from Akko's hips up to her newly exposed breasts, she let out a pleased hum.
"See, now this isn't really fair," Akko quipped, tugging Sucy's dress pajamas. "You're still completely covered and I'm..." she waved a hand over her naked torso.
Sucy silenced her, placing a finger against her lips, then, reaching up to brush a stray lock of brown hair from her beloved's face. She leaned down to cover Akko's body with her own.
Her response was explosive.
The feeling of Akko's front pressed against hers was maddening. Akko involuntarily slammed her eyes shut and arched upwards at the contact, groaning loudly before the noise was swallowed when Sucy kissed her again.
Unable to do much but writhe beneath the body on top of her, Sucy tried to focus on reciprocating the sheer amount of pleasure she was receiving.
Placing her hands on Akko's waist, she hungrily kissed the other girl, eventually sliding her hands down and over the Akko's rear. Grasping it firmly, she pushed her hips down until they collided with her own, and stars exploded behind her eyelids.
Sucy groaned as she tore her lips away from Akko's. She moved to kiss her beloved's neck, then her collarbone, until she was bare inches from her breasts.
"Please... Sucy," Akko whined, desperate for the Sucy's rough tongue to continue its descent.
Sucy grinned wickedly, bringing an arm down from beside Akko's head, trailing a fingertip between her breasts down over her stomach, until it was running along the waistband of Akko's shorts that she had neglected to remove. Her solution was to simply thrust her hand down the front of the article of clothing and press her fingers into the slick wetness she found. She had never felt like she was losing control before. Nothing compared to the absolute ecstasy that she was touching Akko right there.
Akko was unable to form proper words, but Sucy didn't need any encouragement. Sliding a digit in tiny circles around a hard nub, Akko moved her lips to Sucy's shoulder, biting into it as Sucy slid slightly to her left, allowing herself better access to Akko's center, whilst also finding a delicious friction against her beloved's thigh.
Stroking her softly, Sucy heard her moan into her shoulder. With the last thread of sanity she possessed, Sucy plunged a digit inside her and was rewarded with a noise that she could only describe as one of pure bliss.
Akko cried as Sucy gripped her beloved's waist with her free hand, her short nails leaving crescent-shaped marks on the girl's fair skin. Both now covered in a thin sheen of sweat, the pair panted and slid against each other, trying to find the rhythm they so desperately needed to push them over the edge.
"I love you, Lotte." She whispered.
In the place of long brown hair, her partner had short orange hair instead. Sucy watched in terror as her beloved's red eyes turned into blue, the clear skin changed into ones with tiny cute freckles.
The new girl wrapped her arms around Sucy's neck, locking her in her grip. "I love you too, Sucy."
And then Sucy snapped wide awake in the midst of the dream. She was sweating and gasping for air. It felt so real; she thought she could no longer escape it. The dream where Akko turned into the Finnish girl was so vivid in her mind. Each wave of pleasure wracked her like loose sparks of electric ecstasy.
The number of guilt settled on her stomach.
In an effort to remove the horror-filled revelation, she tried to get some work done in her room, studying for her exams, but her mind couldn't seem to settle. She tried writing an essay, she tried studying her ancestral book of spells, she tried everything, but no matter what she did, she just kept seeing the sweet smile on Lotte's face. She even tried changing it with the concerned look on Akko's face just this morning.
She clenched her teeth, micro-analyzing the matters of her heart over and over again.
Sucy flipped a page of one of her textbooks and, after her third fruitless attempt to absorb any of what she was reading, violently slammed the tome shut and hurled it at the wall. It hit the wall with a loud smack and thudded to the floor as Sucy buried her face in a pillow and screamed.
"What's going on with you?" Loa asked as it floated inside the room. The hospitalized Canadian girl stood beside her in a daze. She was carrying a plastic bag of oranges. "You threw the book to the wall as you did to me before. Did your homework scare you?"
"I can't stop seeing her face!"
"Your girl?" Loa offered.
"No, not her," Sucy grumbled, "The other one—Lotte Jansson."
The doll chuckled. "I told you she was messing with your head."
Sucy closed her eyes and lifted her head up into the ceiling. She let out a loud exhale then looked at Loa again. "Please stop adding strain to me with your nonsense. The girl is incredibly nice and beautiful. It's not magic or spells that drew me to her—ACK!" she gasped when the fruits were thrown her way. Sucy was forced to acknowledge the girl wearing white garments.
"Status report?"
In a puppet-like trance, the girl handed her a golden hair strand.
"Good girl!" Sucy received the damned hair, clutching on it hard to make sure it was real. "Well, since I'm bored might as well have fun."
"You need to eat that fruit first," Loa said. "Or need I remind you this purple haired girl is still under your spell every once in a while."
"—and the spell gets its energy from my physical health," Sucy said, peeling the fruit; she wished she could smell the citrus scent wafting through the air than having a stuffy nose. "I also didn't think that a simple invisibility incantation to get her to sneak here would be that damaging to my immune system."
"You call it simple, Sucy, but it is undecipherable by your grandmother during her time."
Sucy motioned for her malevolent doll to come closer and Loa yielded to her command. "Do you have any more to report to me?"
"Professor Cruz is an undercover Detective Inspector of Scotland Yard. She's the one from the Criminal Investigation Division's handling your case. She wasn't keen on collaborating with Diana, but now she is."
Sucy looked skyward, focusing on the color of her ceiling. Even though they were a little faded, they melted into a lovely color of pure chaos. Her heartbeat thrummed, rising into an unsteady rhythm. Sucy clenched a fist, remembering what Cavendish told her. The Blytonbury Police was calling in the Yard.
"It seems the blonde Brit isn't your only problem now," Loa said. "You're gaining enemies from left to right, Sucy. Should I be making a list of people who want you behind bars?"
"You're right," Sucy said, her voice sounded oddly strangled. Controlling her temper she mulled it all over. "I knew there was something fishy about the new professor in a new curriculum. The biggest problem is, if I kill her, they would just send in another detective to work on my case."
"Am I hearing what I think I'm hearing from your thoughts, Sucy?"
Sucy flashed a smile; her eyes seemed to glow in the light. "I think it's time we return poor Avery back to her hospital room and let her do what she's best at—gathering gossips while we continue our dubious schemes."
After the uneventful interview, Wangari promised she would bring Blackwell to the infirmary and she would also take his version of events. Noting specifically she only wanted to do it for ethical reasons since she knew from the evidence on Diana's jaw that she was a victim.
"Already have lunch?" Amanda asked.
Diana didn't get a wink of sleep last night. Hunger is the last thing on her mind right now. "I'm not that hungry anymore." She frowned.
"Diana, you really need to eat." Amanda pointed the bat at her.
"Please stash that away."
For a moment, Diana cast her eyes downward and away from Amanda, almost as if she was trying to conceal some kind of disappointment and disapproval within. Amanda leaned over gingerly and gave Diana a small pat on the shoulder, a reassurance of some sort.
Chewing on her lower lip, now unsure of herself, she hesitated a few seconds before responding, making an almost conscious effort to avoid her green eyes. "I'm sorry Amanda. I've just been…preoccupied, I guess."
"Wow, I can't believe it." Her jaw unhinged.
"Can't believe what?" Diana echoed.
"You just referred to me by my first name!" A cheer rose from her belly. "That's it! I've unlocked your friendship! This is an achievement!"
Diana crossed her arms, adapting a haughty appearance. "I advise you to not get used to it."
"Oh come on!" Amanda wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Diana had to straighten her spine because the redhead placed all her weight on her. "This calls for a celebration! Come on, whatever you want to do, my treat! And since school is stressing you out, I can help you skip classes or something."
Diana removed Amanda's arms around her and hissed. "Absolutely not! I am used to the stresses of life, I'm a Cavendish!"
"Well gee okay, British girl," Amanda said placing the bat's end at the ground, leaning on top of the handle. "There are still a few minutes to spare before next class so I suggest you better start eating or I will have to shove something down your throat.
Diana sighed, surrendering. "Fine."
After returning Amanda's bat on her locker, they headed towards the cafeteria and thankfully there were only a few students left there. Those who inched towards them, Amanda chased away.
Amanda volunteered to get their food while Diana found them a table to their liking. Diana glanced around, her eyes landing on a solitary Atsuko Kagari. She was munching on some chips while absorbed in reading something on her phone.
There were no signs of Sucy Manbavaran which is mysterious.
Diana approached her. Akko didn't seem to register her presence so she had to clear her throat. But even then, the Japanese girl didn't stir. Diana couldn't help herself from stopping on looking at Akko's phone. The first few words she came upon were:
...there was a belief that each individual had more than one soul. Among the Bagobo tribe from the Philippines, each person had a right-hand soul (the good side of the individual and went to heaven after death) and a left-hand soul (the evil in each person and at death it went either to the underworld or stayed on earth to vex the living).
"Oh my god!" Amanda screamed from behind her. "Are you invading her privacy?"
Diana was shaken, but she managed to muster up a lie. "It's not my place to read personal correspondence."
"Eh, and here I thought you've become snoopier." Amanda carried both trays while addressing the brunette, already sitting next to her. "Hey Akko, where's Sucy?"
"Geh!" Akko's phone slipped through her fingers and she had to do a short montage before she caught it back. "Amanda!"
Akko hadn't given her any answers but Amanda laid their trays on the table and sat on a chair next to her.
"Oh, you know each other?" Diana asked.
"Yes, we do," Amanda said, putting ketchup on her burger. "We're best of friends. Birds of the same feather flock together."
Diana helped herself with the other seat next to the Japanese girl. "Akko, do you know that Miss O'Neill's a bit of a light-fingered?"
"You mean she has springy hands?"
"I think she meant I'm your everyday kleptomaniac," Amanda said after taking a bite. "Hey, you should continue calling me by my first name you know! No take backs!"
"Oh, right she is," Akko grumbled. "Speaking of stealing things, please return that motorcycle named Shooting Star you stole from the junk shop. They all think I did it. I don't want to give Professor Ursula more trouble than I'm already worth."
"Yeah yeah, remind me in two days."
"AMANDA!"
Diana let out a little giggle before her face fell again. She had no right to be laughing when she did cause two deaths and one accident now.
"Hey!" Amanda threw a chip at her direction. "No more sulking and brooding like a YA hero in a book! Eat!"
Diana eyed her meal and skipped her tea. She carefully took a spoonful of the porridge Amanda specifically ordered from the cafeteria for her and winced at how bland it tasted. She reached for the salt packet that came with her meal and mixed three small bags into her meal.
Amanda looked at her incredulously.
"But I must say I'm equally curious, Akko." Diana started, loving the taste of the porridge's saltiness in her mouth. "Where is Miss Manbavaran anyway?"
"Oh," Akko gulped. "She's actually back at her flat with the flu. It was weird because usually, I'm the first who gets sick."
Diana had to stare at Akko's eyes and body language. A potential serial killer getting the flu after her crime was laughable and almost unheard of; especially if that possible murderer is a student on her first day of exams. But Akko wasn't lying or perhaps she believed Manbavaran to be. She must find out the truth.
The rest of the exams for today went by with a blur and Diana accompanied Professor Ursula, helping her carry some test papers she gathered from all her classes towards her desk at the faculty room.
"Thank you very much for helping me, Diana."
"Please professor," she said at the woman holding far more stacks of papers than her. "There is no need to be gushy about this. You deserve basic kindness."
"Ah indeed," the professor's clumsy and timid nature was caused by being younger than most of her faculty peers as Professor Finnelan so eloquently put. But as Diana observed the woman, she can tell she was trying so hard to hide a certain habit.
They paced the corridors until they reached the faculty room.
"Oh! You can put them on my table." Professor Ursula instructed as she began segregating the old student notebooks in her bins according to class.
Diana sighed at the disorganized stacks of student's notes and papers on the French woman's table and simply placed what she carried on the wooden surface. Professor Ursula was teaching a huge amount of Literature class so it was no doubt that her working space would be cluttered with written essays and printed analysis.
A stray gush of wind from the open window made a mess of the papers on Professor Ursula's table.
"Oh my!" Professor Ursula jumped to the floor and picked them all up.
Watching her was pitiful so Diana helped organize the ones at the table first. Her eye caught a certain jaunty flourish of lines and silently gasped when she read the name of the owner. It was Sucy Manbavaran's quiz paper from last week—her penmanship presented itself to Diana in all of its glory.
She seized the paper and swiftly pocketed them.
When the entire debacle was over, Diana's heart was leaping from her chest and itched to be anywhere but there. This was the first time she stole something from a professor and it clearly distressed her more than ever. She excused herself from the Professors who wished her well and stepped out of the room.
"Hey Princess, are you still going to ignore me?" Amanda caught her by the elbow. She was just dismissed by Professor Finnelan who reprimanded her and it seemed she hurried herself to catch her.
Diana yanked her arm free, but Amanda's grip on her was firm.
"Come on, talk to me or I'll tell on you."
Diana blinked, fearing that the American might have seen her take something from the Professor's table.
"Oh yeah, I saw what you did you sneaky little bitch." Amanda jeered, "Oh how cute to see you get anxious just from a small heist. Is it a part of the investigation?"
Diana squeezed her thumb and index fingers to her eyelids as her headache returned. "As I had said before, learning to see the puzzle in everything has its costs. It is a lonely way to live."
"Is it though? Maybe it's just the result of character. To me, it sounds like an adventure."
"Oh please, you are quite naïve. People and all their deceits, illusions, and actions inform everything that they do tend to be the most fascinating puzzles of all and if you did solve someone, they become boring and in the end, you lose a friend or gain enemies."
Amanda asked. "Is that why you had a falling out with your minions?"
Diana scoffed. "Hannah and Barbara are not my minions! They are... were my friends."
"Are you sure? It doesn't look that way from an outsider's view."
"Don't be predictable, Amanda. Your futile attempts to make me feel worse than I already do are all for naught."
"Challenge me, then." Amanda offered. "And if I pass the test, I should be able to come along with your investigation, and you'll have to tell me why you stole somebody's paper back there."
Diana let out a long sigh. "Alright, if you ever did pass, you are more than welcome to join me. There are, however, some details I want to check at first."
"Bring it."
"Are you friends with Sucy Manbavaran?"
"Yeah, I mean... we hang out with the same circle of friends."
"Essentially you are not that close."
"I mean... yeah. It's hard to crack that one's noggin unlike you." Amanda sniggered.
"Here's what I want you to do." Diana inched closer to the redhead's ears and murmured. "Go check if Sucy Manbavaran is really sick."
Amanda gawked at her in disbelief. "Are you messing with me?"
"To be able to search out clues in a murder investigation, you have to train yourself through secretly collecting and reports information on the activities, movements, and plans of your friends and to see if they are lying or not."
Amanda's eyes went from skepticism to determination. "So you had a hint that Akko lied?"
"Akko didn't lie," Diana said, resolve unwavering. "Sucy Manbavaran on the other hand..."
"Oh do I smell a hint of drama?" Amanda asked. Diana sent her a stare that was enough of a reprimand because the American stopped her banters. "So Sucy... you don't trust her?"
"Akko trusts her. It would be unwise to question her judgment without substantial evidence."
"I get that Sucy could give off the vibe of deviousness, but why? How's it important?"
"I will tell you once you pass your test. If you uncover such evidence that Manbavaran is anything but sick, bring it directly to me."
"Alright! Leave it to me!"
And with that, Amanda turned and walked away, and Diana had no choice but to listen to her echoing footsteps.
Diana headed towards the Student Council room to resume her duties. She also wanted to get started with next semester's work as well. Since a new short election was coming up and a lot of students were itching to run for Vice President.
She had evaded a lot of people at the hallways and she was doing just fine until someone seized her elbow and yanked her into a nearby broom closet. Somebody closed the door behind them and locked it, plunging the pair of them into total darkness.
Within seconds, her assailant and Diana conjured their phone lights so that they didn't have to have their conversation in the dark.
"Akko?" her voice went an octave higher.
Akko quickly sealed off Diana's mouth with her palm. Diana's breath caught in surprise as Akko took a step into her personal space, their bodies only an inch or so apart. The Japanese seemed to peer into Diana's eyes and Diana couldn't help but stare at Diana's in return. Red like lava, her irises seem to burn like embers in the soft, white light of their only source of light. They were enigmatic. Diana thought to herself, entranced and exasperated with herself all at once.
"Quiet, I'm sorry about this. But can I ask you a favor?"
Diana was still captivated by the color of her eyes gleamed brightly in the dark. When her fingers left Diana's lips, those eyes dimmed down a little.
"It depends on my capabilities, Akko. What seems to be the predicament?" she said trying to deflect Akko's attention from her flushed cheeks.
"I want you to listen very carefully, and remember every word I say." Akko paused, hesitating as she scanned the room and stared at the walls as if they were transparent, and through them, she could see into all the rooms of this academy. "Could you accompany me somewhere right now? Professor Ursula's preoccupied with school stuff since all the other older Professors are making her do more work."
Diana considered the notion. She couldn't help her when there are other important matters to attend to. But it seems that Akko's entire life is in jeopardy if she won't help.
"Why of course, Akko," Diana said. Her rational thoughts and emotional heart weren't making the same decisions. "Where are we heading off to?"
"First I need you to swear to me you won't tell anyone about this."
This was the first time Diana saw Akko with a particular steel strength in the way she presented herself. Diana understood the severity of the situation. "I swear."
"Great, because I need to be invisible and go to a cathedral, but there's no one else out here I can trust."
There was a long stretching silence. Diana looked at Akko in disbelief.
"Why?"
Akko offered this straw of cheer with a weak and nervously fluttering smile that did not succeed in releasing Diana from doubts which Akko's demeanor and her information had pitched her into. Diana didn't like the way Akko's eyes skipped guiltily away when she tried to catch them.
"Just for... you know... reasons." She said, hiding something.