She couldn’t help scratching at the bandages on her hand.

Sucy Manbavaran frowned as she, Akko and Lotte snuck through Luna Nova. After over a year of getting into trouble, they had gotten pretty decent at avoiding getting caught whenever they broke Luna Nova’s rules. They knew all the littler corners they could hide, the schedules of the staff and students monitoring the halls and where they would and wouldn’t patrol, allowing them to plot out the best route to get back to their rooms undetected.

Of course, none of those methods were really needed when a majority of the guards helped them sneak back in.

“Thanks again for helping, Asterios!” Akko whispered at the janitor walking ahead of them.

Asterios—the massive minotaur janitor—turned his head slightly and gave Akko and the rest of them a nod, and a grin that looked small on him, but would’ve looked massive on anyone else. Even when compared to all the other minotaurs at Luna Nova, Asterios was the biggest; so big that all three of them could walk behind him side-to-side and be reasonably hidden from any passing teachers or students that patrolled the hall. Of all the benefits of Akko standing up for the faeries here, them helping the three of them break the rules and not get caught was the one she liked the most.

The faeries letting her use parts of their body like hair and skin or, in the spirits cases, bits of their essence for potion ingredients, was a very close second.

In a matter of minutes—with only one close call when Finnelan had passed them by, and they all had to climb onto Asterios’ back—they arrived at the last corridor just before the little junction that led to their room. They had broken the rules, got what they wanted and had a fun little adventure, and were about to make it back to their dorm without anyone finding out. It had all the makings of a perfect night.

But that was only if Sucy ignored what had happened in the forest. That she learned Akko was leaving soon. How she acted, and what Akko had seen.

Sucy’s lips were in a deep frown, thoughts stuck in a loop. She kept thinking back to how she and Akko escaped that weird groove, and the look she kept giving her. Even when they met up with Lotte—and Lotte fretted over Sucy’s injured hand, and Sucy had to calm her down and tell her she was fine—she kept giving her quick, unreadable looks.

And as they traveled back to Luna Nova and stealthily made their ways through the halls, Akko kept sending her those looks, constantly looking back at her when she thought Sucy wasn’t paying attention. At least Akko wasn’t saying anything.

Yet.

When they arrived at the little hallway that led to their dorm room, the three of them entered the corridor, and Akko turned to Asterios, the unreadable look nowhere in sight as a wide smile spread across her face.

“I’ll be sure to get you an extra big spell stone for you and all your friends,” She whispered, raising her thumb up at him. “We really appreciate all the help!”

Asterios raised a thumb back, smiling so big he showed off his teeth and massive mouth. Which was how he naturally smiled, yeah, but with Akko, there was more joy in it. All the faerie workers here had similar smiles when it came to Akko. Asterios turned, starting to leave, but paused, like he just remembered something.

“Asterios?” Akko asked, blinking as she titled her head in confusion. “Something wrong?”

Asterios turned back to Akko, reaching for a large white bag tied to his belt. He then pulled the bag off his belt, reached into it, rummaging around the insides for a moment, and deftly pulled out a woven basket full to the brim with scones that definitely didn’t look like it should fit there. Must’ve been a magic bag. The scones sat on the checkered blanket, and there were even a little section cleared out for three containers full of different jams and some tiny knives to use for spreading them.

“Ooh, scones!” Akko eagerly took the plate. “And they’re piping hot!” Akko said, voice rising in her excitement.

“Hey, moron, keep your voice down,” Sucy whispered without much heat, rolling her eye.

“Sorry!” Akko said, still grinning at the scones. “Asterios, give a big thank you to Jackie and Jiāng Yí, these look so yummy!”

Asterios nodded again, smiling as he tipped his hat, and then turned around and made his way back to the entrance of the hallway.

“Bye-bye!” Akko said, waving at Asterios’ back. After he left the halfway, Akko looked back at the scones, picking one up and giving it a big sniff. “And I was just starting to get a bit hungry.” She quickly took a big bite out of it, and a delighted smile spread from ear-to-ear on her face, eyes shining with stars. “Umai!”

“That was really nice of them,” Lotte said, also looking at the scones with a smile. Then she looked at Akko, and her smile gained a small, teasing bent. “You’re gonna share those, right?”

“I’m not that much of a big eater, Lotte!” Akko said, giggling lightly. “Of course I’m gonna share with you two!”

Akko held up the basket so that both Sucy and Lotte could take a better look at it, or maybe even take a scone. Sucy wasn’t really looking.

She just kept walking past the basket, past Akko and Lotte, and headed to the door to their room.

“Eh? Sucy?” Even without turning around, Sucy could see the confused frown on Akko’s face. “Don’t you want some?”

“Not really,” she muttered, and her voice was a little lower than usual. “I’m not in the mood for scones.” Or really, eating anything.

When she got to the door, she felt Akko and Lotte staring at her back. And she could all but see the smile leaving Akko’s face as she frowned.

Sucy didn’t look back, twisted the knob, and opened the door.

Their room was just like how they left it; Akko’s bed a mess of covers and blankets, Chariot poster hanging proudly by her wall; Lotte’s shelf near her bed full of her notebooks and novels, with some being scattered around her bed, but more organized than Akko’s mess of a bed. Sucy’s bed, with no decorations on the walls, just a few shelves where she kept her various potions and ingredients bottled up. And then there was the long desk against the wall where all three of them studied at, or “put the rest of their stuff that didn’t fit in their beds”, in Akko’s words, or was, in Sucy’s case, the workstation for where she’d make her various potions. Provided she cleaned up anything there, if she didn’t give Akko and Lotte a warning to clean up first before she started making new potions. She’d learned her lesson after she accidentally burned a part of Lotte’s copy of Nightfall Volume 84.

The disappointed glare Akko had given her that day, alongside Ilo’s heated one as Lotte looked down at her burnt book like a kicked puppy, to this day made her triple check to make sure nothing in her workstation or planned potions and experiments could possibly interact with any of her friends’ stuff.

Sucy glanced around the room. There was absolutely nothing out of place. Everything was exactly the same as they had left it.

But it felt…different, stepping back in. Like she was entering a place that looked the same as her room, but as she glanced around, she noticed things that made it feel like she was somewhere else; somewhere new that just had a coating of familiarity painted on top of it. Like how on their bench, there wasn’t as much as Akko’s junk as there usually was. Or how Akko’s bed was just a little less messier than usual, because there weren’t as many clothes scattered all over the place.

And as she kept looking over the room, her eye caught something just hiding in a little corner, and partially covered by the orange jacket Akko sometimes wore. It was a suitcase, one that was full to the brim and leaking clothes and what looked like a few plushies.

Sucy stared, eye half-lidded. Then, realizing she had at some point paused just in front of Akko’s bed, she looked away, and kept walking to her own. She heard Akko and Lotte’s footsteps behind her a moment later. They quickly stopped, and for some reason, it felt like they were having some silent conversation. Without her.

She didn’t turn back, mouth threatening to pull down. She forced it to stay still, and moved to her bed. Once she was close enough, she started undoing the buttons and clasps on her jacket. All while dealing with the same, looping thoughts, and while trying to keep her blank expression locked in place.

“We can talk later.”

Her fingers twitched, and one of the buttons got a bit stuck. This time, she did frown, and she pulled at the button harder.

There was no reason to keep thinking back to what Akko had said so much. So what if she wanted to talk? Akko just wanted to check on a friend after she saw some things that she thought were concerning. Even if it wasn’t that big of a deal. But still, it was just a talk. One she had even been okay with back when Akko had been holding her hands. So, she was okay with it now.

Even if she wasn’t exactly sure what Akko would ask. Or talk about. Or what she might remember during those talks.

The button was stubbornly not coming undone, not helped from how her hands fingers kept twitching. Because of the stinging from her cut. One that got a bit worse and made her want to scratch at her hand.

If Akko wanted to talk, she would accept it. But, she really didn’t think she’d would, what with her being busy scarfing down those scones, and Sucy planning on organizing her ingredients and then starting the prep work for her potion, and then both she and Akko would probably just head right to—

“Sucy.”

Sucy paused in trying to undo that last button with her somewhat shaky fingers. Very slowly, she turned around.

Akko was sitting down on Akko’s bed, Lotte on her left side. Both of their jackets were off, and both were smiling at her; Akko more so than Lotte.

“You seriously gotta try these scones, Sucy!” Akko said, jostling the basket a little for emphasis. At some point she had taken her bandage off her hand, though that was fine since she'd had it on long enough by now; even if it was still a little bruised. “They’re really good.”

Sucy blinked. That wasn’t what she was expecting. But still, her lips pressed into a thin line. “Akko, I told you, I don’t want to eat,” she said, dismissively rolling her eye. “Go devour them by yourself.”

“C’mon, Sucy, you can at least try some!” Akko said, and Lotte nodded in agreement, and also nibbled on a scone herself. “Especially when you haven’t eaten that much today.”

Sucy frowned in confusion. “I did eat.”

“Sucy.” Akko’s gaze went flat. “You’ve only had mushroom soup for ‘breakfast’”—She didn’t know why Akko was saying it like that, the soup had been her first meal of the day; even if was at noon—“a mint-chocolate granola bar, and some purple sludge from one of your vials.”

“That was not sludge,” Sucy said, frown pulling into something more annoyed. “That was a nutrient potion. I told you before—”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s a magic protein shake except the body gets even more health junk than you would’ve if you had a meal.” Akko blinked, as if remembering something. Her eyes narrowed pointedly at her. “Actually, isn’t it barely better than a small meal?”

Sucy rolled her eye again, a bit more forcefully, and crossed her arms. “I’m not a glutton like you, Akko. That’s honestly all I need.”

“So you didn’t eat anything after that?” Lotte suddenly asked, concern in her eyes.

“I did,” Sucy said, the lie coming out easily. Her voice didn’t waver, and her words were as indifferent as always.

Lotte squinted at her, as if trying to see something better.

Akko just pointed dramatically at her. “Liar!”

Sucy groaned, and palmed her face. How did she—was Akko just psychic when it came to food stuff? Could she hear if someone has or hasn’t digested any food recently?

Lotte let out a little gasp. “Sucy, you shouldn’t do that!” she said, a surprisingly firm frown on her face. “Nutrient potions might give your body the nutrients it needs and a little extra right now, but you’re supposed to eat something after to avoid the negative side effects!”

“Lotte. I know that. I am literally the best potion maker here.” Sucy let out another groan, feeling the onsets of a headache coming. “You don’t need to explain this.”

“Then why didn’t you eat anything after?” Lotte said, tone suddenly becoming a lot more scolding. Before she could say another denial, Lotte continued. “You know if you don’t eat, you’ll get headaches or mood swings or even more hunger from that potion later on.”

“Yeah!” Akko agreed, nodding fiercely. “So get your butt over here to eat some scones!” Akko said, thrusting the basket at her with way too much seriousness.

“I’m not hungry,” she insisted, sounding maybe a little surly. And her words were maybe a bit sharper than they should be. “I’ll take another potion in a bit to make the side effects manageable. Or just eat later. So would you two just drop it.”

Sucy turned away without giving them a chance to respond, and went back to fiddling with her jacket and the stupid buttons there, a scowl almost breaking across her face. She really wasn’t that hungry, and she was more focused on just putting this day behind her already. She wanted to organize her ingredients, do some of the prep work for the Essence potion, and do literally anything else than think about how Akko was leaving in literally just two days, or how she saw her freak out in the forest, and wanted talk about something she wasn’t sure about anymore, or sure where that conversation might lead to. Sucy was half-tempted to forget the potion work and head to bed early, just so that way this day would end without having to have a talk that wasn’t necessary, and so that she could forget about the stupid stinging sensation in her hand that made her fingers twitch and made her unable to undo the last stupid button on her jacket.

Sucy resisted gnashing her teeth in frustration, but a hint of that scowl started to split her mouth. She heard movement behind her, and again, it felt like Akko and Lotte were having another silent conversation. Well, that was fine with her. They could talk and eat or do whatever without her. She just told them they could. Besides, it wasn’t like Akko wasn’t already doing that with—

“Sucy.”

That was Akko again. But her voice was a lot more gentle than it had been before. Kind too. Like back in the forest.

The stinging on her palm and the button were suddenly the last thing on Sucy’s mind, that tone all but guiding her to look back.

Akko had stood up, and was smiling softly at her; just a bit bashful, but still oh-so-caring. “Food always taste better when we’re all eating together. I’d feel really kind of guilty if we were eating and you weren’t.” She rubbed the back of her head, and gave her a look like she was about to ask for a big favor. “So could you come at eat with us…please?”

Akko grabbed a scone, and held it out. She shook it a little for emphasis. Sucy stared, more at Akko’s face than the scone. At all the warmth in her smile and bright eyes.

When was the last time she just sat with Akko and ate some food with her?

Sucy kept staring, impassive red eye unblinking. Then, she out a loud, almost-painful sounding sigh.

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“Fine,” she said, making her tone sound as neutral as it always was. She undid the last button on her jacket, threw it off her shoulders and onto her bed, and then slouched her way towards Akko. And Lotte, who was smiling at her too, even giggling a little. “But they better be good.”

Akko’s smile somehow went even wider. “Yay!” she cheered, just over the fact Sucy was willing to eat with her. Sucy’s lips almost twitched, but she fought the urge off.

It probably was better to eat something now. She honestly wasn’t sure when exactly she ate that granola bar—the last piece of actual food she had all day—and it would’ve been a pain to deal with nutrient potion side effects if she pushed things off for to long.

Besides, she doubted Akko would try and talk to her about how she acted when she was stuffing her face. Or if she was smiling like that.

Akko sat back down on her bed, and quickly slapped the spot to her left for Sucy to sit down in over and over again . Sucy rolled her eye, but she still sat down and took the scone that Akko was still holding out for her. The scone was still pleasantly warm, and a buttery aroma hit her nose as she brought it closer. Well, it smelled good, at least.

Sucy opened her mouth, and her sharp teeth bit into a slightly crispy crust that crumbled pleasantly in her mouth as she chewed. Huh. It wasn’t as buttery as she thought; it was, of course, but it was a more subtle richness. She could taste a hint of something sweet—probably vanilla—and it only made her savor the richness just a little bit longer as that light, not-too-dense-or-airy dough was broken apart by her teeth. It was like taking a bite into a buttery, fluffy cloud.

“So?” Akko asked, grinning widely. “How is it?”

Sucy stared for a second, then shrugged. “It’s pretty decent,” she said.

Akko’s grin widened, and she turned to Lotte. “Did you hear that Lotte? Sucy loves it!”

“Don't go putting words in my mouth,” Sucy grumbled, elbowing Akko in the arm, but she didn’t seem to notice at all. If anything, her elbow was feeling a little sore. Sucy frowned at Akko for having stupidly toned arms.

Lotte giggled, Akko joining her too, and Sucy rolled her eye. Sucy finished off the rest of her scone, savoring the taste of butter and sweetness, and then reached for another scone. But there wasn’t a need, as Lotte quickly held out one for her to take. Sucy nodded at Lotte, taking the scone and quickly biting into it. She glanced at Lotte as she also took a scone, but then, she broke off a small piece from it, and placed it behind her.

Sucy stretched her head a little, wondering what Lotte was doing. And that was when she saw Ilo sitting just to the side of Lotte’s legs, and taking the piece of scone she broke off. She almost forgot about them. They hadn’t really made much of a sound after she and Akko met up with Lotte. All they did was stare at them.

Kind of like how they were staring at Sucy right now. Their head was tilted, and they looked almost confused as they kept looking at her with those beady, unblinking eyes on their face.

Sucy raised a brow, but Ilo gave no response. The flames that made up its head just kept swishing back and forth in an invisible wind.

“Sucy, have you tried the jams yet?” Lotte asked, and that brought Sucy’s attention away from Ilo.

Sucy shook her head. “I’m not really a fan of that strawberry stuff they use here.”

“I am!” Akko said, dabbing a new scone with a heavy amount of the light red, strawberry jam.

“It’s not just strawberry, they have two more.” Lotte brought up the two containers. One was a deep purple, and the other was a orange color with some kind of green shavings on top. “The purple one’s lingonberry,” Lotte explained, smiling a little wider. Lingonberry jam was one of Lotte’s favorite snacks, almost as much as umeboshi was for Akko. “And the other one is…well, try it. I think you’ll like it”

Sucy’s eyebrow rose a little higher, but she obliged. She grabbed the container of the orange jam, and spread it on her scone. She took a bite out if it.

Her eye went a little wide as a sweet, tangy flavor hit her taste buds, followed by a little punch of tartness.

Sucy quickly swallowed, and stared at her scone. “Is this…mango?”

Lotte nodded. “Yeah, I think so! Maybe not the exact kind you like, but I think they used some sweet and bitter mangos to make it.”

Sucy blinked. The only time she ever admitted to liking the fruit was that time they all went out to a restaurant and it happened to have some decent filipino-ish food. She said “ish” because they had to make some substitutions, what with being in England, but it was still nice to get some kind of filipino food in her. And it happened to come up when she was ordering that she liked mango, carabao specifically, and usually liked it with something sour.

Sucy looked down at the jam. “How’d they know I liked mango?” she asked.

“How do you think?” Lotte asked. She nudged her head, and Sucy followed the general direction.

She saw Akko devouring another scone, jam and crumbs staining her face and mouth.

Sucy turned back. “Akko told them?” she asked. Her voice was a lot quieter. “She…remembered that?”

“Of course she did,” Lotte said. Her smile getting a little wider; more fond. “We always pay attention to the things you like.”

Sucy blinked again. “Oh.” She didn’t know why that surprised her. Of course her friends would listen to her. She’d seen it before, and Akko even told her she liked hearing her talk about mushrooms and potions. It was just…she didn’t expect them to pay attention to little, off-hand mentions like what her favorite fruit was. Or for Akko to notice and remember those things.

Her chest did that lurching pull again, the one that made it more obvious to notice her own heartbeat. She didn’t know why.

Lotte’s smile grew a little. “Yeah,” she said, even though Sucy had been quiet. “She really does care a lot, Sucy. Especially when it’s about—”

“Oooh, mango!”

Akko’s voice was suddenly right behind her, and Sucy jolted up from her slouch as she turned around. Bright red eyes stared right into her own eye.

“Sucy, you gotta gimme some of that!” Akko said, lips splitting in an excited smile.

Sucy pushed her back with a roll of her eye, trying to ignore how hard her heart was suddenly beating. “Too close,” she groused out.

“Sorry!” Akko said, Sucy’s non-bandaged hand still on her face. Gently, she grabbed Sucy’s hand and pulled it off, smile still in place. “But could you please give me some jam?”

Akko’s hand was still on her own. Sucy fingers almost unconsciously gripped Akko’s hand a little tighter. But then she remembered Lotte was right behind her.

She pulled her hand out of Akko’s grip, and as dispassionately as she could, extended the mango jam. “Fine,” she muttered, letting out a put-upon sigh.

“Thanks!” Akko dabbed her own knife into the jam, quickly spreading it onto her scone. With an eager chomp, half of the scone was gone, and she let a delighted moan. “Oh, that’s so good!” she said, through a mouthful of half-eaten scones. She spread more jam on more scones, and went to work on eating them all.

Sucy rolled her eye. She was a little surprised though. Usually Akko didn’t like mango that much. Maybe it was because it was a jam, and full of added sugar; even if it was balanced out by tartness, a flavor Akko wasn’t a big fan of.

“Akko, you really shouldn’t talk while eating,” Lotte said, frowning in displeasure.

“Then I guess you shouldn’t either.” Akko gave Lotte a sly smile full of crumbs and jam. Lotte blinked, and then only now seemed to realize that she was also eating and talking. Akko then pointed at Lotte’s face. “Also, there’s some lingonberry on your cheek.”

Lotte touched the spot of her cheek Akko pointed at with her finger, and it came back purple. She blushed a little, swallowing the rest of her food, and let out a sheepish chuckle. “A-ah, yeah. Guess I should take my own advice,” she said. She looked at Akko’s face. “And get a napkin for both of us.”

“Eh? Why? Do I have something on my face too?” she asked, the sides of her mouth still very much stained with both strawberry and mango jam, a few more swatches decorating her cheek, and even her chin.

“A little bit,” Lotte said, gaze flat. Sucy snorted. She loved it when Lotte got sarcastic; she liked to think that was because of the "influence” she had on her bookworm friend just through hanging out with her.

“Oh, okay!” Akko looked down at the basket, frowning in thought. “Do you guys see any—”

Sucy reached into the side of basket, and pulled out some napkins. Without a word, she handed one to Lotte, and then started dabbing another one onto Akko’s jam-stained face.

“Wha—hey!” Akko said, scowling a little as Sucy cleaned her up. “I can do it myself!”

“I doubt that,” Sucy said, pushing the napkin a little harder against her face and making Akko squirm a little. “You’d just make more of a mess and get some on me somehow.” Once that napkin was done, she went for another one, quickly grabbing Akko’s cheek to prevent her from ducking out of the way.

Akko let out a little whine. “You could at least be a little more gentle.”

“I don’t know what the word means,” Sucy said, and she cackled slightly. Teasing Akko never got old. She couldn’t believe she almost missed out this because she was a little—because she didn’t want to talk about unnecessary things. But that was obviously not happening now. Not when they were all eating and having fun, something they really hadn’t done that much lately.

And not when she was holding Akko’s warm cheek as she carefully cleaned the stains off her face. She really was too messy for her own good.

“Hey, your hand’s okay, right?”

Akko’s sudden question made Sucy pause. “What?”

“Your hand.” Akko glanced at the hand wiping her cheek. The one she had bandaged after she got cut on that, weird tree. “It’s not hurting, right?”

Sucy raised an eyebrow. “No, it’s fine,” she said. Well, it had been stinging, but that seemed to have went away. It wasn’t anything worth mentioning.

“Okay, good,” Akko said, smiling a little in relief. “Wanted to make sure I did a good job bandaging you up.”

“I wouldn’t say ‘good,’ but you did a…decent job,” Sucy admitted. Then quickly added, “For a guinea pig.”

Akko chuckled, and Sucy joined in with her own little laugh. But then, when her laughter faded, Akko frowned a little. “But, uh…”

Akko trailed off. And she looked hesitant about something. Very hesitant.

Something heavy started to settle in Sucy’s stomach, but she kept her mouth in a neutral line. “But…what?” she asked.

Akko glanced away for a moment, visibly contemplating her words. Then, she leaned a little closer, bright eyes all Sucy could see, and when she spoke, her voice was a whisper.

“Are you feeling okay?” she asked. “After everything that happened?”

Sucy froze.

She thought about that tree again.

She thought of the lingering heat of flames from then.

And she thought about how she freaked out when she thought Akko called her that and then that scalding burn—

“Fine,” Sucy said. She thought of all the mushrooms in the world, and ignored how her lungs felt a little smaller. “I’m fine, Akko.”

She didn’t so much as blink as she spoke. Her tone was completely neutral.

But Akko still frowned in worry. “Sucy…”

“I am.”

“You know you can talk to—”

“I know. You said it about a dozen times,” she said, sounding bored, and keeping any bit of rising irritation, or any emotion, out of her voice. “But I’m fine.”

Akko kept frowning. She opened her mouth, but quickly closed it. She looked right into Sucy’s eyes, her own unusually somber. Sucy didn’t like that look. It didn’t fit Akko.

And she didn’t like how she could all but see the question on Akko’s mind through her darkening eyes. One she might actually ask her soon.

Sucy’s chest tightened. At the same time the stinging on her hand returned.

“Girls?”

Sucy and Akko stiffened at that voice, Sucy instantly letting go of Akko’s cheeks. As one, they turned around.

Lotte was staring at them with a confused frown. “Have you seen Ilo?”

Akko blinked. “Ilo?”

“Yeah. They were just here, but I can’t find them.”

Akko frowned. “Huh, that’s weird. I could’ve sworn they were—found them.”

Sucy blinked, and Lotte did too. “What? Where?”

Akko pointed. Sucy followed the direction.

Ilo was sitting on the top of Lotte’s headband. And staring right at them.

“They’re on your head,” Akko said.

“They are?” Lotte asked. Akko nodded, and Lotte’s glanced at her head, frowning slightly. “Ilo, get down from there. You know I don’t like it when you wander off without telling me.”

Lotte palmed her hands together, and waited for Ilo to jump down.

They didn’t.

“Ilo?”

There was no response.

“Ilo, come on. This isn’t funny.”

Ilo still acted like they didn’t hear Lotte. They just kept staring at both her and—actually. They weren’t really staring at Akko. They were honestly more staring at just Sucy. Again. In the same way, even, with their head tilted, eyes unblinking, and the flames on their head flickering back and forth.

It was a weirdly intense look for a spirit.

“Akko, could you…”

“Oh, sure thing!”

Akko gently grabbed Ilo, the flames of their body not burning her at all, and then placed them into Lotte’s palms.

“Okay, you little rebel,” Lotte said, adopting the tone that Akko had once described as ‘scolding mother.’ “Why were you ignoring me?”

Were implied Ilo had stopped. But they didn’t.

They just stared at Sucy.

Sucy frowned.

Lotte frowned too. Then, she sucked in a little breath, and a bit of magic she could feel leaving the air and into Lotte. In a tone that was both English and a magic of pure sound, Lotte all but shouted, “Ilo Tuli Jannson!”

That got Ilo to react. They quickly jumped up in Lotte’s palm, completely startled and almost tripping over their own two feet when they landed. They then looked around quickly, as if they forgot where they was. They turned around, and looked at Lotte, eyes wide with…an emotion she couldn’t quite make out. She wasn’t all that good at reading will-o-wisp’s expressions, but to her, Ilo looked a little shocked and, with how little beads of flame in the shape of sweat fell down the side of their face, they almost looked like they were…scared.

Lotte’s frown quickly went from scolding to concerned. “Ilo? What’s wrong.”

Ilo seemed to take a moment to gather their “breath,” and then started making several squeak-like sounds.

“What?” Lotte’s frown got even deeper. “I…no, I didn’t hear anything.”

“Didn’t hear what?” Akko asked.

Lotte looked up from Ilo. “I…well, Ilo said they heard something. Did you two?”

“No,” Akko replied. She looked to Sucy, but she shook her head. “Neither of us did.”

“Okay, I figured as much.” Lotte looked back to Ilo, an her expression became equal parts confused and a little nervous. “Are you sure you heard that?”

“Heard what?” Sucy asked.

“Well, Ilo said they…they heard laughter.”

For some reason, the air felt a bit colder. Sucy didn’t know why.

Just like she didn’t know why she was suddenly hit by an image of that tree.

Akko looked uneasy. “Er…laughter?”

“Y-yeah,” Lotte said, hesitantly looking around.

“Like…they heard someone laughing? In this room?”

Lotte looked at Ilo, and let out a soft, humming like noise. Ilo responded with more squeaks, and Lotte visibly stiffened. “Er, yeah, but um…not a, not a person.”

She felt even colder now.

“Lotte.” Akko’s eyes were slowly widening. “Why did you put so much emphasis on ‘person.’”

Lotte was looking a little pale, still looking around. “O-okay, so, sometimes, human languages don’t always have an exact word for what a spirit is saying. Spirits talk more in ‘meanings’ then exact phrases, so I just translate the ‘meaning’ into appropriate words. And I’ve always been able to translate what Ilo says pretty well, but it’s…it’s just this time, they used a…’meaning’ I’ve never heard them use before.”

Akko swallowed. It was painfully easy to hear the sound in the sudden quiet of their room. “S-so…what did they say?”

“Um…it-it’s a little hard to find the exact word, and, well, I could be wrong, but…” Lotte trailed off, frowning heavily.

Why could she hear something pounding in her ears?

“Lotte?” Akko asked, nervously leaning closer. “What was laughing?”

Slowly, and with a not small amount of hesitance, Lotte opened her mouth.

“It… it was something not human, but different from the faeries and spirits here…”

The poundnig sound got louder.

“Something…something Ilo just called wicked—”

There was a knock on their door.

Akko and Lotte jumped up from their bed, Lotte giving a little shriek and Akko letting out a choking kind of gasp, moving far back to the wall next to the bed.

Sucy whirled around.

The door to their room stood perfectly still. Unopened, not so much as creaking, and suddenly looming in its frame.

They were quiet. She didn’t hear Akko or Lotte breathing

And then another knock came, breaking the quiet as she practically heard her friends heartbeats spike.

Sucy swallowed through a dry, too tight throat.

“Um…” Akko looked between the three of them, a bit of sweat dripping down her face. “Were any of you guys expecting someone to come by?”

“N-no,” Lotte said, scooting a little closer to them all.

“Not me,” Sucy said, not taking her eye off the door

The knock came again. At the same pace. At the same quiet, almost whispering volume, one that seemed to almost physically linger in the air.

No one moved. They were all perfectly still, waiting.

Another set of knocks echoed. And this time, there was some kind of muttering that followed.

Sucy’s hand reached back.

Lotte whimpered a bit, holding Ilo to her chest.

Akko laughed; it was a horribly awkward, forced sound. “C-c’mon, girls,” she said, voice very quiet. “It’s…probably just one of the teachers. Checking in on us in the middle of the night. For…for no reason.”

Akko looked less and less sure the more she spoke, and she swallowed loudly.

The knock didn’t come, but the muttering got louder.

Sucy shifted a little in her seat, reaching for a potion with one hand, the fingers on her other hand tightening their hold.

“It…it could be because they found out we snuck out past curfew?” Lotte said, just as quiet as Akko was.

“Yeah!” Akko snapped a finger at Lotte, a shaky smile on her face. “They probably found out what we did and are here to give out our detention!” She never heard Akko sound so excited about possibly getting a detention. Shakily, she turned to the door, and started to get off the bed. At some point, she had drawn her wand out, and was gripping it in a shaky, white-knuckle grip. “S-so I, guess I should open it before they get mad or—”

When Akko fully stood up from the bed, she was pulled back slightly. She blinked, and looked down.

And that was when Sucy realized she was holding Akko’s hand with her own non-bandaged one. Tightly.

Sucy went completely still.

Akko whipped her head up to stare at her, eyes wide. She could feel Lotte and even Ilo staring at her too.

Sucy let go of Akko’s hand like it had burned her. “Don’t grab me so hard,” she growled out, like it was Akko who had been the one to grab her hand first. Because, obviously, at some point she had without Sucy realizing it. Akko always was way too touchy-feely whenever she got—

Another knock rang out, this time along with even louder muttering, and Sucy whirled back to the door. The air she sucked in felt stilted, not helped by the fact she could still feel Akko and Lotte looking at her.

She made sure her face never showed so much as an ounce of emotion, staring at the door as she thought of mushrooms.

And that was when she felt someone scoot a little closer to her. And when Akko crouched down in front of her with a determined frown.

“We got this, Sucy,” she said, and then she placed a comforting hand on her shoulder, squeezed it for just a second before taking it off. “It’s okay.”

She didn’t know why Akko made her voice sound so soothing. It wasn’t like she was the one that, that was actually scared of something.

Lotte was suddenly by her side, her own wand out, and Ilo on her shoulders. She looked at Sucy, then to Akko, and gave a firm nod alongside Ilo.

Akko gave a nod back, and with even more determination in her eyes, she stood up from her crouch, and looked to the door. “It’s probably just a teacher,” she said. She let out a breath, and marched to the door. “Or just one of the student hall monitors.”

Yeah. Yeah, that was possible. If it was something wicked, she doubted it would bother knocking on their door. And since they were knocking, it was more likely a student than teacher, since they could’ve just opened their door with their keys. So it was a student hall monitor that was outside—

A thought suddenly hit, bringing her mind and the world to a grinding halt.

Wasn’t today the same day Diana was scheduled to patrol?

Weren’t those knocks just perfectly spaced out to give someone time to respond?

And wouldn’t it be appropriate if, after finally spending some time with her, and Lotte, Cavendish would then come to try and suck up more of Akko’s time, even when she was about to get a monopoly on it for the next two week?

Heat started to rise in the depths of the cold inside her.

Sucy stared at the door. Akko had arrived right in front of it, wand still out and looking ready to sling about a dozen different spells. Slowly, she reached for the door, and would either open it to some kind of monstrous creature that was probably the stuff of nightmares, or Diana.

Heat and cold warred inside her. And as she stared, one holding a somewhat toxic potion and the other clenching her skirt in a shaky fist, waiting for the answer, she never noticed that she didn’t hear a familiar growl.

Or notice how Ilo had started staring at her again, flames rising and flickering, lost in a sound only they could hear. The sound of inhuman laughter that fell like a cold night over a graveyard.

And the laughs only got louder as the stinging in Sucy’s hand grew worse.