Peace
It’s been five years since Atsuko and Diana last met, but through those years they’ve been sending each other letters to stay in contact. Now eagerly waiting to arrive at Luna Nova, Atsuko looked out the car window, impatiently tapping his feet.
“Could you please stop that?”
“What? Oh… sorry. I can’t help it, you know? It’s just that, it’s been a while since I last saw Diana, I’m so excited.” Atsuko apologized to his brother, chuckling shyly.
“Sorry, can’t relate.” Andrew rolled his eyes.
“I can’t believe the two of you still can’t get along after so many years.” Atsuko pouted, he then turned around to look at his friend, Frank. They met each other through Andrew, when the two visited Atsuko in Japan, they two bonded immediately, and made a certain green-eyed boy jealous, “Come on Frank, back me up on this. I’m not the only one who’s excited about visiting Luna Nova, right?”
“Right, it’s not every day that we get to go to a prestigious all-girls school.” The blond boy cheered, “Oh, by the way, when are you officially transferring to Appleton, Akko?”
“My first day is going to be in two days, so, Thursday. Guess what, the best part is, I’ll only have two days of school before the weekends.” Atsuko smugly said, earning some laughter from the other two boys.
The three boys kept exchanging some light jabs and talks. They could see Luna Nova from the distance, getting closer and closer every second. Smiling like a fool, Atsuko counted down the seconds till he can see his dear friend.
Climbing down the stairs of Luna Nova was quite the feat, the moments the little goblin-like fairies opened the door, loud music started to play as all the attention of both young and old witches were on the three boys. Whispers of compliments and fawning teen girls followed the boys, mostly the long brunette haired boy.
Looking around, Atsuko spotted a very familiar hair color, platinum blond with tea green highlights, the owner of such hair was in the far corner, with a bored expression. “Guess some things never change,” he muttered to no one and smirked, walking past the crowd of young witches to get to the girl in the corner. Carefully making his way behind the platinum-haired girl, he tapped the girl on her shoulder, “Hello there beautiful, what would you say If we quit this joint?”
“Who-” Her eyes widened as her sharp and serious tone changed into one of excitement, “Akko! W-What are you doing here? When did you come back? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It’s nice to see you too, Diana.” Akko grinned, “Come on, bring it in,” he opened his arms, waiting for a hug, which the other girl quickly conceded, wrapping their arms around each other. “I’ve missed this.” he sighed satisfyingly.
Their moment was ruined by the same person who always ruined it, Andrew, he cleared his throat and said, “Aren’t you supposed to be our guide, Diana?”
“Dude, are you serious, we were having a moment?” Akko pouted, he released his embrace from Diana and took a step back but still held her hand.
“As much as it pains me to agree with you, Andrew’s right. We should start with the tour now if we want to catch up.” Diana said the last part to Akko.
“It’s really nice of you to give us a tour, Diana. I’m Frank by the way. Akko has been talking nonstop about you, so it’s an honor to finally meet the only girl who managed to steal this boy’s heart. I wish you should have seen how many girls who wanted to court him, but he turned all of them down, which was kinda cold, not gonna lie.” Frank introduced, making Atsuko flush.
“Dude, shut up… ” Akko grumbled, earning a sly smirk from the blond boy.
“Hye, that reminds me,” Frank fishes something from his pocket, he takes some pictures out and hand it to Diana, who’s face turned flush, “Back in Japan, we made Akko do cosplay, this one is him dressed up as a cat maid, the other one is him in a cute schoolgirl uniform, and lastly he wore a yukata. Doesn’t he look cute, this honestly made me question my sexuality? You can keep them if you want.”
“That is true, Akko does look cute in both male and female clothing, around six years ago, he fell in a muddy puddle, so he had to wear one of my dresses.” Diana looked at the embarrassed boy and smiled, “I do believe mother made you wear all kinds of cute frilly dresses, she even made a photo gallery for you in cute clothing.”
“Ugh, I can’t take this anymore!” From embarrassment, Akko ran away, ignoring the shouts from her brother and friends. He didn’t know how long he ran, but the next thing he noticed was that he was in front of a large wooden door. Curiosity took the best of him, as he opened the door and started to wander around until he was faced with what looks like a giant polar bear. ‘Ah, shoot.’ he thought and ran away like there was no tomorrow. He ran through multiple different hallways, and stairs, trying to get the polar bear off his tail, and luckily he did, he lost the bear somewhere near the giant staircase. Exhausted and out of breath, Akko slumped down on his knees, finally catching his breath, he scanned his surroundings, he was in an open area with a fountain in the middle, there was a large water sphere on top. Cautiously, he got closer to it, out of the blue, blinding white light flashed. Groaning and rubbing his eyes, Akko opened them, he was now in a new place, looking around, he saw a small baby fox in a rusty cage.
“Hey there little guy, what are you doing in there?” Akko kneeled before the small fox. Something about it felt familiar to him, so he tried opening it.
“It won’t work, I’ve tried.” The fox said in a child-like voice, but its mouth didn’t move, “This shall be my eternal prison unless you accept yourself, Atsuko.”
“W-What are you talking about?” Akko asked wide-eyed, “and how can I understand you? How do you know my name?”
“Have you truly not figured it out yet? We’ve been together since the very beginning, through happiness and hardship, I’ve always been with you.” The tiny fox whimpers, “And here I thought that all that training in the motherland would improve our bond.”
“Wait... you’re the fox spirit?!” Akko shrieked, “But you’re so… so tiny, and cute.”
“Yes, unfortunately.” the fox sighed, “My old body was destroyed, while my soul was sealed. When your parents tried to bind me with you, I was reborn, with a new body in exchange for their life, that’s why I’m small. Since you’re not an adult, then neither am I. We are connected with both mind and body. You probably hate me now, huh, knowing that your parents died because of me.”
“No, I’m not, I’m not going to blame you for what they did, that’s just dumb.” Akko simply answered, shocking the small fox, “They died because they wanted to control you, control us. And seeing you being guilty means that you’re a good person-er… fox, no being.” he gently smiled, the cage that imprisoned the fox started to disappear, “I’m sorry for not trying to free you sooner, I was just scared, in all the archives, they described you as a heartless monster, but now, I know better.” Now that the cage was completely gone, he picked up the fox, “No more cages, no more lying, what do you say, partner?”
The fox stared at the boy's eyes, looking for any deception, but found nothing of the courts, only eager determination and truth, “I would like that, and please, give me a name, I don’t want to be called ‘fox’ all the time, you know?”
“Okay, let me think,” Akko hummed in thought, “how about… Nozumi, it means hope.”
“Nozumi, huh, I think I like that, thanks again, Akko.” Nozumi snuggled closer to the brunette. Embracing and laughing with each other, they finally bonded. The room around them started to gently glow and disintegrate, but they didn’t care, they don’t know how but they knew they would be alright.
“Miss Hanbridge, Miss Hanbrideg!” A young professor shakes the unconscious brunette.
Groaning, Akko woke up, his drowsy eyes met the concerned red ones. “Who are you?” he asks.
“Pardon my manners, Miss Hanbridge, my name is Ursula Chalistis, but my students call Professor Ursula.” Ursula introduced, “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you so wet?”
“The fou-” “My, my, what a conundrum,” The Headmistress interrupted Akko, “How knew the second son of the Hanbridge was actually a girl? Though one could have guessed as much, you do seem to have more feminine.”
“W-what are you talking about, I’m a bo-” “Please stop, Miss Hanbridge, your clothes are soaking and we can see your chest compression wrap.” Headmistress Holbrooke gently smiled, “Would you like to attend Luna Nova, Miss Hanbrideg? Judging by the ears and tails, you’re obviously someone with magical prowess.”
Sighing in defeat, Akko looked down, “I wish I could, I would love nothing more than to learn magic, but I can’t. Appleton already accepted my application, and I need to inherit my family name as a man, or else, I’ll lose everything.”
“That does seem complicated, but not impossible. You’re already sixteen, correct? Then you’re already old enough to get your family name. And as for, Appleton, since it’s an all-boys school, you could transfer here after you get your name back, easy.” The headmistress cheerfully explained, “I believe the whole process could be done in a week of time, so if you two excuse me, I’ll be working on some transfer document, see you later, Miss Kagari.” then she left.
“Now come here Miss Hanbridge, let me dry you off,” Ursula offered, “Miss Hanbrudge?” Akko was now crying, from both happiness and fear, Ursula took pity on the boy, no, girl, as she took her into a gentle embrace, making small circles on the girl’s back for comfort. Ursula doesn’t know why, but she feels strangely attracted to this crying girl like she’s someone important that she lost. “You should probably put your ears and tail away before someone sees you.” She suggests the girl complies and does so, still holding the young professor. ‘I don’t know why, but I want her to be happy…’ Ursula thinks to herself, as she starts to hum a gentle melody.