II

Bud

The room went awkwardly silent for a second. The headmistress pats Andrew on the back and smiles somewhat nervously.

"Alright then! I think my work here is done! Andrew, you are officially part of the Red Team! You have a lot of time to get to know each other, uh… figure out the living situation, be nice, and have fun and… Good luck, Andrew! You can do it!" Headmistress Holbrooke leaves hastily with a smile on her face. Andrew is left flustered, feeling his face heat up as he turns and takes another look at the three girls in the room. He told himself to let go of any inhibition and simply go for it!

"I-" He quickly gets interrupted by a cheerful and energetic young girl with long brown hair tied to a half-ponytail that jumps at him to shake his hand aggressively. "Hi! I'm Akko! Atsuko Kagari! Are you actually going to be a student at Luna Nova?" Andrew tries to answer but gets interrupted again by another, more soft-spoken girl wearing glasses, with short, bright orange hair and turquoise blue eyes. "Did they finally start letting boys into the academy?" Another girl, sitting on the single bed on the right side, slouched, with droopy, half-lidded eyes, mauve hair that covers her left eye, with an aloof and lethargic demeanor, responds with a seemingly dull tone of voice and a snarky attitude. "They must've gotten so desperate…" They begin talking over each other for a little bit, not letting Andrew get a single word in before finally going abruptly silent and all three of them turning their heads towards him.

He looks around the room for a second. "Okay, so… yeah! I'm going to be a new student here. Um…" Akko moves closer to him. "Are you coming in the first year?"

"Oh, no. I'm coming in straight into the second year." says Andrew in a tone of voice that's neither too high nor too low, still feeling a little bit on edge and unsure how to react. Things are happening all so sporadically. The soft-spoken girl wearing glasses looks at Andrew from sitting on the bed and asks him, "Did you do your first year at Sorbates Academy?" Another magical academy, albeit an all-boys one. Andrew replies, "No… This is my first time attending a magical academy, actually. Besides, I had my sights set on Luna Nova, anyway. And when I heard they're opening their academy to absolutely anyone now… I had to take this opportunity!" His voice slowly begins to rise; an attempt at feigning confidence on his part, albeit still feeling a little flustered. Akko leans closer to Andrew, her eyes sparkling. "Luna Nova is amazing, isn't it? My first year here was probably the best year of my life! Say, do you happen to have a magical inheritance? I know that most people that come here do… I didn't have one, myself, hehe…" Andrew thinks for a second before answering. "No, unfortunately. But I've actually learned a few spells, like the… flying one, for example." His voice gradually softens to a normal level, for him at least.

"Then you're already better off than Akko." says the girl on the other bed in a snarky way before breaking into a chuckle. "Sucy…" says the girl wearing glasses, also chuckling softly. Akko turns towards the two, feeling a little embarrassed. "Hey! I know how to fly now! Besides, it wasn't entirely my fault that I couldn't!"

Andrew quickly steps in before he gets interrupted and loses the opportunity to speak again. "Hey, so… Who… who are you all?" The girl wearing glasses gets up from the bed and chuckles nervously before introducing herself in a gentle voice. "O-oh, right… I guess we forgot to properly introduce ourselves. My name is Lotte Jansson," she then points towards the other girl in the room, "and she is Sucy!"

"Sucy Manbavaran." she adds. Andrew smiles softly. "It's nice to meet all of you!" Suddenly, Akko leaps forward towards Andrew, their faces almost touching. "Wait! Are you telling me you've never heard of us?!"

"Uh… no?" Having heard that, Akko turns towards the other girls. "I-I'm sure we must've made the paper in Blytonbury! Right? A-at least… for a little bit…"

"Sure. For about a week in March." remarks Sucy unenthusiastically. "Only for a week?!" continues Akko, "But we… we…"

"Face it, Akko. People just aren't that interested in magic anymore. Or witches for that matter…" Sucy shrugs.

"I am!" Andrew and Akko say in unison. Sucy crosses her arms and turns away a little with a slightly disgusted expression. "Ugh… Don't tell me there are two of them now…"

"And you are too, Sucy! So don't use that as an argument!" Akko continues.

Andrew sets his luggage in a corner of the room and takes a look around, looking everywhere between the girls, as if he doesn't want to make eye contact with them, his eyes going through great effort to do just that, to the point it feels like a physical activity to train some eye muscle. "Well, anyway. I guess I gotta… figure out… how this is going to work."

"Oh yeah… Where are you going to sleep?" asks Lotte. "This room is quite crowded, isn't it…?" says Andrew with a nervous chuckle, trying to fill in any gaps in the conversation, but still feeling as though everything he says sounds so unnatural. "I guess… if I take a sleeping bag, I could sleep on the floor somewhere…"

"Oh, don't be silly! I-I'm sure you can simply share a bed with one of us! It's... spacious enough!" suggests Lotte, her cheeks turning a slight shade of pink. Andrew gets flustered, feeling his ears and the back of his head getting warmer again. He stutters over his own words, his face getting redder by the second. "W-what? W-well… I… Um…"

"Oh, I know!" Akko rubs her hands excitedly. "The perfect way to decide something undecidable… Nose Goes!" Akko quickly puts her index finger to her nose, followed by Lotte. A smile gradually spreads on their face as the two of them look at Sucy. She looks at them confused, not having realized what had even happened. "What?"

Fast forward to Andrew and Sucy laying in bed together, looking up at the ceiling with a towel wall between each other. They are all wearing their comfortable pajamas now. "This… is… very… uncomfortable." says Sucy, annoyed, still looking at the ceiling. Andrew responds, also a little annoyed, but flustered as well, "I've been uncomfortable ever since I walked through that door. So let's just go to sleep and both of us stop complaining."

"Okay, but I warn you… I kick in my sleep. Hard. Probably through these towels even." she says, turning to face Andrew. "Okay, okay. I get it. I'm not going to get any sleep. Chances were low anyway…" Sucy smirks as Andrew responds. From across the room, Akko also butts in with the slightest hint of a grudge. "Oh, Sucy will do far more than simply kick you in your sleep. She'll also experiment on you whilst you're unconscious…" Akko looks at her, narrowing her eyes. Sucy turns her attention back to Andrew. "That too."

As they all drift off into their peaceful slumber, Andrew can't help but fall asleep with a slight smile. Despite the sort of rough start, he feels like he integrated into this group much better than originally expected, and that he is already being accepted, not that he knows for sure. However, it's a feeling that tantalized him for the longest time, always hoping for things to go as smoothly and satisfying as they have in this very moment, in this very room. He thinks it's weird that this is what he calls 'gratifying' - an embarrassing situation, an awkward talk that somehow ended on a not-so-bad note. Every miniscule thing that can be considered 'good' he takes as a victory. As for the bad things that happen to Andrew, he has reached a point - that he considers a good one - where only the very worst scenarios seem to affect him in a substantial way. Of course, he is happy this way, and it may, indeed, prove as an advantageous way of thinking, at least way healthier than dwelling on all sorts of problems and troubles - probably why Andrew is usually the most relaxed person in the room, often accused of not caring, despite probably caring the most, just not showing it. Nevertheless, the seed of hope that was once planted in his heart at the beginning of it all can finally grow and bloom under the warm, bright light of his most sought-after dreams, whatever they may be…