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Diana didn’t know how much time had passed by since she first opened her book, but when she looked up again, she found the countryside outside the train’s window covered in a white blanket. The trees were powdered in a soft layer of white, growing thicker as it continued to snow. The fields that the train passed by were hidden under frost. The only thing that stuck out between all this white were the occasional deer, if you managed to catch a glimpse of the shy creatures.
I hope the clothes that I brought will be enough against this cold...
Although she had looked at the weather report for Blytonbury for the next week, she didn’t anticipate for snow to fall for at least two more days. After deciding that she could worry about the weather another time, she peeked at her watch and was surprised to find that she would be arriving in less than an hour. With that realisation nervousness and excitement started to fill her body at the thought of seeing all her friends again and spending almost a whole week with them. Especially her closest friend. Even though they meet up regularly every month or so, Diana can’t wait to see the clumsy brunette again, with her optimistic attitude and her beautiful crimson eyes and her- Andrew. Right, Andrew was going to be there too. Her childhood acquaintance has changed a lot throughout the years. The arrogant and cold boy that she knew was gone and, in his place, stood a young, confident and charming politician. Even if both have changed a lot, to no small amount due to Akko, the brunette remained the only thing that linked them together and had them spend time with each other.
Though I wouldn’t mind not having to spend time with him at all.
Diana shook her head to get rid of her negative thoughts. She wasn’t sure why, but something just didn’t sit right for her about Akko’s and Andrew’s relationship, like they just weren’t the perfect match.
Probably just a bit of jealousy. They at least have each other after all.
Still, their relationship seemed to have started out of the blue for her... Chuckling ruefully to herself while watching the outside scenery pass by she decided to take a small trip down memory lane.
“Akko, where are you?” she just sighed the question into her phone. Though the brunette had gotten better over the years, she still managed to sleep in occasionally, hence why Diana was currently more resigned than annoyed.
“I’ll be ready and on my way in five!” she heard Akko panting slightly through the phone, presumably sprinting around the dorm flat she shared with her two closest friends in search for her graduation robes. Under normal circumstances Diana could trust Lotte or Sucy to get Akko up and going before she would be terribly late but since the two wanted to finish running some errands before the highlight of the day took place, they weren’t there to throw her out of bed like they usually would.
“Seriously Akko, on the day of our graduation? Although you know what, never mind, of course you would be able to sleep in on such an important day.” Her attempted lecturing though quickly lost its stern edge since you could clearly make out the fondness that bled through in her voice.
“Alright, I’ll see you there.” she said and hung up, shaking her head she unknowingly let a bright smile take over her face. They’ve come a long way over the last few years. Starting out as rivals (though only Akko saw them as that) the first time they really spent time with each other was when they were paired up for an interdisciplinary project. In order to make it work they had to put aside their differences and genuinely had to try and work together. It was hard at first, both not wanting to give the other the benefit of the doubt after having started off on the wrong foot...on multiple occasions. But once they both started to open up a little, conversations started to flow smoothly and by the end of the project they had become good friends. After that they continued to hang out and even had somewhat of a positive influence on one another. Akko’s rather loose work ethic got better thanks to Diana pushing her here and there and with Akko’s help Diana loosened up enough to make friends other than Hannah and Barbara which she had known since high school. She was about to meet up with their friends to head to the venue when she was intercepted by Professor Finnelan.
“Ah Miss Cavendish! Will you be making your way to the venue to prepare for your speech?”
“Yes, I will Professor, in just a minute.”
“Don’t stress yourself. I am sure you are just as prepared as ever. Pardon me but I couldn’t help but overhear the end of your conversation. Were you talking to your partner?”
“No Professor, just Akko.”
Finnelan appeared to have frozen up at her answer. Diana presumed it was due to her strong dislike for the loud girl.
“Akk- Miss Kagari?... I see. I’ll leave it to you then.”
Since Diana was in a hurry to get to her friends, she didn’t have time to think about the Professor’s peculiar reaction or how she seemed to move away in stupor.
After the ceremony, which, to Diana’s relief, went smoothly; their group of nine plus Andrew and Frank decided to head to their favourite bar “Last Wednesday’s Society” for a round of drinks in celebration. Once everyone had their drink, they got saddled at their usual table. Before everyone could clink wine glasses or beer bottles, Andrew stood up to hold a small speech.
“You know this isn’t the parliament, right? Please save the stuffy sp-!”, she didn’t get to finish her rude remark because Hannah thought to swiftly shut her up with an elbow to the side.
“Please go ahead,” Hannah said in her stead.
“Don’t worry, I will keep this short. First of, I want to toast to all of us for getting to where we are today, for it was not without struggles.” Everyone raised their drink at his words.
“Second of all, I want to proudly announce that Akko and I are dating.” he stated, reaching his hand out to hold Akko’s gently in his own.
“Really now? How did this dunce manag-ow! Will you stop hurting me already?!”
“Only if you stop being rude Amanda. Congratulations guys!” Hannah and almost everyone else shared their support and well wishes to the new couple. Although some expressed their sentiment rather differently.
“Could I have accidently dropped some of my special mushroom mixture into his food?”
“Sucy!” Lotte chastised her. Sucy just shrugged, eyes refocusing on the book in her hands. Diana could barely make out the title in the dark “All you need to know about the 10 most deadly mushrooms in the world “.
Meanwhile Diana had kept quiet. Not only because she hasn’t seen this coming but there was something else too. Instead of feeling happy for her dearest friend there was disappointment and even slight sadness weighting down on her heart. Though before Diana got to inspect those feelings further, she was distracted by a tap on her shoulder.
“Hey, I noticed you were spacing out. I’m sorry that I didn’t tell you earlier, I really wanted to, but Andrew asked me directly after the ceremony and then everyone was so busy...I just didn’t find the right moment.” Akko shrugged her shoulders, left hand scratching her neck in bashfulness, hesitantly making eye contact in fear of seeing Diana upset.
“It’s alright Akko, I’m not upset. After all, this is a matter between you two, there is no need for me to be informed in advance. All I want is for you to be happy.”
“That’s sweet of you to say Diana, but I’m not even sure if I love him yet...but what I do know is that I like him and that I’m willing to give this a try!” Akko proclaimed with her usual optimism.
“I will drink to that.” Diana clinked her glass of red wine against Akko’s beer, all the while trying to put on her brightest smile. Though everyone stayed at the bar past midnight, Diana excused herself at some point and decided to leave early. She just wasn’t in the mood to celebrate that evening.
I’m probably just exhausted from all the stress that has built itself up to today. Being valedictorian does take quite a lot out of one.
Over the next month after their graduation, everyone was searching for a job in their field of work. Some of them, like Akko, Lotte and Sucy choose to move into a new flat and split the costs like they did in their dorm since they were all starting out and didn’t earn that much yet. Surprisingly everyone stayed in Blytonbury or its surrounding area. Everyone but Diana. Although it pained her to leave her friends behind, they wouldn’t have let her turn the great job offer she had gotten down, so she accepted it. Although she would stay in contact with all of them, she couldn’t deny that it was the presence of a certain clumsy brunette that she was going to miss the most.
Diana was ripped out of her thoughts by a woman’s voice announcing the arrival of her train at its destination. Packing her book away and slipping on her thick black peacoat combined with a baby blue scarf that perfectly matched her eyes she picked up her leather duffle bag and headed out of the train station to the café where Akko told her to meet up.
Making her way down the street, Diana took notice of how the whole town seemed to be decorated for the highlight of the season. Shop windows were displaying general winter wear and, occasionally, ugly Christmas sweaters, even the lampposts had wreaths in the form of Christmas bells, stars and trees hanging from them. She didn’t have to walk far before she could make out a sign that read in an elegant cursive “Sanctuary”. The bell over the door rang, signalling her arrival and making the tall, Russian owner look her way, smiling in recognition and joy. Diana didn’t put on a polite smile like usual but instead let a real, genuine one take over her face. Making her way over to the register, Diana immediately got pulled into a strong but warm hug from the woman across the counter.
“Diana it is so good to see you again. How have you been?” Jasminka Antonenko asked her. Although the two of them never were particularly close, Diana none the less appreciated the time they spent together in comfortable silence, simply enjoying good food or tea and, just sometimes, some good Russian vodka.
“I can’t complain, although I am grateful for the break from work. The winter season is always particularly stressful. How about you? The café seems as popular as-”
“DIANA!” She didn’t get to finish her sentence. All she could make out was a brunette blur before she was almost sent to the ground by a tackle of a hug. Once she had managed to regain her balance, she looked down to make eye contact with burning, sparkling rubies. Her breath got caught in her throat once she noticed the almost non-existent space between their faces. She didn’t notice how her tongue skimmed across her lips...
“Akko, I think you should loosen that hug up a bit. Poor Diana seems to have stopped breathing.” Jasminka joked, a teasing spark glimmering in her eyes.
Once the arms around her relaxed slightly, Diana reciprocated the hug with an unusual enthusiasm.
“It’s good to see you again Akko. By the way, you were squeezing the life out of me not a minute ago. I guess you have missed me?” Diana whispered only for her to hear, hiding her strangely red face in Akko’s soft hair.
Did someone turn the temperature up in here?
“Of course I missed you!” she huffed out, crossing her arms in a pout after having pulled away from their hug.
“Careful now, we wouldn’t want to make Andrew jealous, now would we?” she joked half-heartedly.
“Please Diana, I know we are not that close, but even you should know that I am above such a trivial feeling.” Andrew said, making his way over to them from the back of the café.
“My apologies. A mistake on my part.” Diana plastered on a polite smile, repressing the urge to bow mockingly.
Andrew chuckled, holding his hand out for her to shake.
“It’s a pleasant surprise to see you again Diana. Akko told me you weren’t sure if you could make it.”
“Yes, well I couldn’t just let the opportunity to spend Christmas with my friends pass me by like that.” she answered, mustering him whilst shaking his hand. He hasn’t changed much since their graduation, still managing to keep an air of professionalism around himself, even in a casual button-down shirt paired with, to her great surprise, a pair of black jeans. Her surprise must have shown on her face, since he leaned in and whispered conspiratorially to her.
“Akko gifted them to me on my birthday. Believe me when I say, as much as you are not used to seeing me in jeans, I am still not used to wearing them.”
Diana cracked a sincere smile at that.
Of course Akko would get Andrew to wear something more casual. She really is a force of nature.
After spending the afternoon catching up with Akko, Jasminka and Andrew at the café, Diana excused herself for the evening to rest up in the small hotel room she booked for her stay, though she considered it to be more like a bed and breakfast place.
The next days were filled with lots of fun group activities. They went to the Christmas market in the town square, buying one or another last-minute gift (though that was all Akko, not her, Diana purchased all her gifts months in advance). They went ice-skating with Hannah and Amanda on a frozen lake just a short car ride outside of Blytonbury. On the trip Diana couldn’t help but shake her head in disbelieve when she noticed that the two fiery redheads still didn’t seem to be together.
Unbelievable. How can they flirt constantly and squabble like an old married couple and still be unaware of their feelings? Such fools, too blinded by their love to see straight...
They crafted Christmas decorations with Constanze (Akko managed to burn herself only once with the glue gun) and went on a small hike with Lotte, Barbara, Andrew, Frank and Sucy, though the latter probably just joined to find mushrooms along the way. The trip took them longer than expected, since Akko, as impulsive as ever, challenged her to a snowman-building-fight. Her resolve to not accept crumbled quickly once Akko ambushed her with her puppy-eyes. She wasn’t sure, but she thought she heard Sucy mumble “whipped.” behind her, as she gave in to Akko’s wish. Once they were back in town, they decided to meet up with the others at Jasminka’s to warm up. Knowing how much of a sweet tooth Akko has, Jasminka allowed her, with Diana as her supervisor and assistant, to make candy apples in her kitchen.
“Alright Akko, I know you are excited, but you have to be careful with the caramel and stir it constantly like Jasminka told you to, or it will get burned. Also remember that the caramel is hot, so please be-”
“Stop worrying Diana, I got this!” Akko assured her, her stretched out arm narrowly avoiding the pot filled with very dangerous and very hot sugar. After her almost accident, which she wasn’t even aware of, Akko did quite well, until it was time to let the caramel cool down slightly. Placing the wooden spoon on the rim and handle of the pot, Akko noticed too late how unstable she placed it, resulting in it dropping into the hot mixture and splattering Akko’s hand in it.
“KUSO!” Diana, who was turned away, looked over her shoulder at the exclamation, seeing Akko hold her hand close to her chest, silently continuing to curse under her breath, tears prickling in her eyes. Rushing to her side, Diana immediately wrapped one arm around her shoulders, embracing her in a soft hug, while the other hand tugged carefully at Akko’s wrist.
“Akko please let me have a look at it, I promise to be careful.” she whispered soothingly in her ear. Akko took a few deep breaths before slowly showing her hand to Diana, who quickly assessed it. Her other arm subconsciously continuing to rub soothing circles on Akko’s back. Luckily her burns weren’t that severe. Her hand only got hit by a few splashes and thankfully the caramel wasn’t boiling hot anymore.
“Okay Akko, I’ll lead you to the sink and we will put your hand under some cold water, don’t worry the pain will lessen, just let me take care of you alright?” Akko nodded as much as was possible with her head hidden in the crook of Diana’s neck, who then proceeded to lead her to the sink, softly stroking her uninjured hand.
Unbeknownst to them, the others, minus Andrew and Frank who went grocery shopping for dinner, rushed to the kitchen entrance after hearing Akko's loud exclamation. But their worries faded away almost instantly once they peeked into the kitchen.
“I think Diana got this covered.” Barbara said, addressing the others.
“They are just so sweet together...” Lotte swooned slightly.
“I mean, I always knew they had chemistry but just how does the dunce do it? Two rich nobles...?” Amanda grumbled.
“Well, for one she isn’t so rude, Amanda. But yes, this is getting ridiculous. I’m honestly not surprised that Akko is oblivious, but Diana?” Hannah shook her head in wonder.
Sucy just stared at where the two redheads stood together with almost no space between them, mild annoyance showing on her otherwise expressionless face.
“I’m surrounded by morons...”
Time flew by and before Diana knew it, Christmas Eve had arrived. After they enjoyed the feast that Jasminka had so kindly prepared (probably because she didn’t want to eat Akko’s food, which is made with lots of love, but usually ends up burnt), they spread themselves out in Akko’s and her flat mates' living room. Once everyone had a mug of mulled wine or punch, they sang some Christmas songs together and just had a fun time.
It dawned on her after they had opened their presents. There, in the candlelight of the Christmas tree, Akko looked more beautiful to her than ever. The way she would wave excitably with her hands when telling a story, the way her smile would not only light up her whole face but the whole room too. All of it seems so familiar to her and yet so new. No, it is not new, but she is finally aware of those feelings...of their meaning.
With the new realization came a set resolution. She knew what she had to do.
Even if I get hurt, I have to tell her.