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The moment the green team had announced that they’d be hosting a “totally-not-totally-supervised” New Year’s Eve party in Luna Nova’s own courtyard, Diana knew her answer was an automatic no to the extended invitation.
However, due to some… complications, Diana had found herself saying a polite thank you to the Stanbot that had delivered the letter to her team’s room. Hannah and Barbara, unsurprisingly, buzzed about the celebration to no end for the next few days. In fact, Diana doubted the entire school wasn’t doing the same. It seemed that the effects of the Yule celebration just days before did nothing to dampen the spirit of everyone at Luna Nova.
She dipped her quill back in the ink, then neatly scribbled on her new notes on the new page of her notebook. It was hard trying to drown out the constant trills of her teammates’ screams of delight or their occasional prodding at her leisure choices, but Diana had learned over the past few months to, as Amanda had put it, suck it up. However, her friends’ whispering was bothering her for an entirely different reason than the regular interruption to her concentration.
The get-together, it seemed, was extended to every team in Luna Nova (and foolishly, to the teachers by who Diana assumed to be was Amanda insisting to not leave out any “poor lost souls to the spirit of New Year’s”). Though Diana didn’t know why that was so significant anyway, as Atsuko Kagari would’ve went regardless of extended invitation or not.
Her hand paused at the scribbles she made on her paper, frowning down at it more to herself than anything else. The celebration was tonight. She didn’t have to particularly remember that, as Hannah and Barbara’s louder excited chatter was a big enough cue. Diana had promised herself that she would go. At first she believed it was because that she deserved the time off, but now she was seriously doubting that was the only reason.
Diana had drawn a blank.
Thankfully, her friends had pulled her out of that mini trance long enough to get her head back on straight (figuratively, of course). “Diana?”
“Sorry?” She twisted her body around as she closed her notebook, blinking owlishly to rid her eyes of the strain.
“I asked if you wanted to come with us,” Barbara announced proudly.
“Yeah! I mean, didn’t you say you wanted to, anyway?” Hannah piped up.
“I— yes, I did.” It took her a second to take in the clothes and accessories they adorned. Not as fancy as going to the ball, but fancy enough to suggest something more lavish than coming to a stuffy old classroom. “Oh, is the celebration right now?”
Hannah and Barbara glanced at each other. It seemed they both just realized that Diana wasn’t even close to be prepared to go out. “We could always wait for you,” Hannah said again, the genuine suggestion composing Diana’s nerves just a little.
“No. It’s fine, girls,” Diana assured them. She got up from her chair, walking to the ornate wardrobe close by her bed. “Go ahead. I’ll meet you both there in half an hour.”
Her friends’ eyes lit up like the Yule trees still residing in the cafeteria. Diana didn’t have to guess for long to know it was because they were expecting a complete rejection to the idea of celebrating New Year’s. It wasn’t a secret, really, that Diana thought New Year’s was just an impractical holiday for a concept that didn’t make a difference. After some events this past year, however, maybe it was finally time she changed her mind about some things.
Hannah and Barbara took off like rockets out their door, yelling out quick goodbyes and “Happy New Year, Diana!”s to their friend before fully running out of sight. Letting out a chuckle, Diana opened up her wardrobe and got dressed accordingly.
She was just about to leave the room when she took sight of the forgotten notebook crowded on her desk. She walked over to it, a small contemplating frown tugging on the sides of her lips. Tentatively, she ran her fingertips over the smooth cover of the leatherbound book. It was stupid, she knew, but she couldn’t help but glance around in an almost comical matter before running her thumb through the pages.
It stopped on the particular one she was looking for. Her writing was neat, cursive, clean to the very core. She took her first New Year’s resolutions as seriously as her study notes, after all. Well, resolution rather than resolutions.
Atsuko Kagari, it read, right below the header of “New Year’s Resolutions”. Diana touched the edge of the page, intending to rip it right out. Seeing it written down made her feel more ridiculous than she did when she was thinking it over the past week. She didn’t even write anything besides her friend’s name! She was planning ways to grow closer to the odd witch of her age, though it seemed her past self was too sleepy to even write a coherent sentence.
“Yo, Diana!”
Diana looked up, foolishly slamming her notebook closed as Amanda O’Neill strode right into her room, devoid of any care in the world as per usual. There was an easygoing grin on her face as she greeted Diana in a friendly manner, arms stretched over her head.
“Amanda,” Diana greeted politely. Ever since the missile, Diana and Amanda grew to tolerate each other just a little more than usual. Diana was glad for it— she would rather not pick more petty fights with the American girl than she had to.
“What are you still doing up here? Conz is about to set off the fireworks!” Amanda told her.
Surprised, Diana looked at the clock up on her shelf. It was still about two hours until midnight. She looked back at Amanda, bemused. “Fireworks go off at midnight, don’t they?”
Amanda’s cat-like grin only grew. “Yeah, but they’re pre- fireworks. Shouldn’t you know that? Every good New Year’s party has them,” she said like it was the most obvious thing to know.
“Of course,” Diana said, completely unfazed. “I told Hannah and Barbara I’d be down soon, didn’t I?”
Amanda opened her mouth, perhaps to say an “alrighty then” accompanied by her oh-so casual shrug. But then her eyes darted to where Diana’s hand laid, and she squinted. “Were you studying on New Year’s eve?” she asked, in complete disbelief. “What are you, forty?”
“I wasn’t,” Diana said matter-of-factly. As if she was shocked by the book itself, Diana slid her hand off the leather.
“Then what? Jotting down New Year’s resolutions to go over in the morning to see what would help with your Cavendish-y worth?” Amanda snickered.
A pause.
“You were not.” Amanda blinked once. “Wait. You were? You?” She stopped stretching her arms above her head, the disbelief on her face so absurd that Diana would have laughed if it were not for the situation at hand.
Diana opened one of the compartments in her desk casually, slipping the notebook inside to make it seem she was cleaning up after herself. In truth, she had a feeling Miss O’Neill would wrestle her to see what she had to say for this upcoming year.
“What the heck happened to ‘New Year’s resolutions? They’re nothing but a hindrance to actual goals that can be accomplished all year round, despite such lesser traditions’?” Amanda said, copying her English, posh accent as best as she could to no avail. Diana’s eye ticked, just a little.
“People can change their minds,” Diana said vaguely.
“Alright, Grinch,” Amanda continued, her shock wearing off with a roll of the shoulders. “What’s your resolution then? Need a New Year’s buddy to hit the gym with? Someone to keep you from life’s greatest pleasures?”
“I am neither alcoholic, hypersexual, or out of shape, Amanda.”
Amanda quirked her eyebrow. “I was talking about sweets for that last bit.”
Diana cleared her throat, tempted to throw her slipper at Amanda’s forehead. Of course, that’s how she felt most of the time, though it seemed that it was getting harder as the months passed by. Maybe she should add that to her resolutions. “It’s not your place to know what I want to do in life, or what I think I must stop—“
“Save your breath for a second,” Amanda said with a groan. “Listen, Diana. You have friends for a reason. You know it’s better if you let your friends help you out, right? There’s a reason why there’s partner memberships in every gym. Plus, it’s not like I’m gonna laugh— er, out loud, anyway. Conz’s resolution is to stop neglecting her fifty children she calls Stanbots.”
“It’s… not that, Amanda,” Diana admitted quietly.
A heartbeat of a pause, then Amanda said, “Wanna confess to a crush?”
The surprise must’ve shown on Diana’s face, because Amanda shrugged and replied, “It’s either that, trying to cut back on something like sweets, or trying to get a rocking bod. I call it the Holy Trinity of New Year’s Empty Promises.”
Diana winced. “I think it’s best I don’t tell you who the person is, though a bit of companionship through this might—“
“Is it Hannah?” Amanda cut off.
“What? No, of course not.”
“Barbara.”
“They’re my teammates and are so invested in each other that they leave no room for me.”
“Touche, touche.” Amanda nodded along. She tilted her head to the side, thinking about who the culprit could be. Then not a moment later, she gasped melodramatically, and said, “… Don’t tell me. Finnelan?”
“No! What fantasy are you living, Amanda?” Diana hissed, a tad bit scandalized.
Amanda burst out laughing, waving her hand in dismissal at Diana, slightly offending the other witch. She leaned against Diana’s desk with her other hand, the easy-going grin back on her face in full swing. “I’m messing with you. It’s Akko, right? I don’t know why you’re so worked up about not telling me.”
Diana eyed her fellow schoolmate warily. “Are you making guesses again?”
“Nope. Dude. You look at her more fondly than any romance movie Ryan Gosling stars in combined.”
Ignoring the fact that she had no idea who Ryan Goose was, Diana sighed in resignation. She knew Amanda had her limits, so she had no worries about whether or not Amanda would go around telling everyone about Diana Cavendish’s newest infatuation. Though, Diana knew infatuation was not a word she would associate with Akko. It runs… a lot deeper than that. Amanda would have to vivisect her entire being before Diana would ever admit it out loud.
“ Fine. Let’s say it is Akko. Hypothetically.”
“So you wanna confess to Hypothetical Akko before the end of the year?” Amanda said.
“Well, no,” Diana admitted. She had succumbed to fiddling with the pen on her desk, something she hadn’t done for a very long time. “Just… I don’t know? Be nicer, be more… considerate to her? Be truthful to her about how I— just to be truthful for once?”
“Wow, Diana Cavendish not knowing. What a shock,” Amanda said flatly.
Diana huffed. Amanda may not be the best wing-woman, but she’s all Diana had. “All I wrote in my notebook was her name, as pathetic as that sounds.”
Amanda’s grin looked different when Diana finally looked up to face her. It was like she was trying to stifle a laugh. “So you… wanted to do Akko?”
The sudden heat fanning her face was the least of Diana’s concerns. “Isn’t there any fireworks you wanted to go watch right now?” she said, half to change the subject and half in actual curiosity.
Amanda’s eyes grew as wide as the school’s saucers. “Oh sh—!”
Without another word, Amanda torpedoed out of her room. Diana smiled to herself. She untensed the muscles she had strained during her talk with Miss O’Neill. Thinking that was the end of it, Diana made her way out of the room herself.
However, Amanda was coming back straight to her. Panting, Amanda skidded to a stop and shouted, “Akko’s shoving pies into her mouth in the courtyard if you wanna do her!” before running away once more.
“You mean talk to her?” Diana called back.
“Do her, Diana, do her! If that’s your resolution, you gotta stick to it and I’ll be here cheering for ya!”
The courtyard was full with students. Usually, at this time, it would’ve been deadly quiet, as even the most rebellious of students knew to keep it low unless they wanted to face Finnelan's wrath. But now, at the eve of the last year, it was jammed to the edges with excited chatter, loud flugelhorns, and flashy wands at the ready.
Diana brandished her own wand, muttering a spell to herself to fix the dropped pie near the statue. Meanwhile, Amanda guffawed beside her, cheering and laughing merrily as Luna Nova’s reigning pie eating champion, Jasminka, annihilated any competition with her huge metabolism. Diana had no idea why anyone would bother to try and compete against her, anyway. The girl was unstoppable around food.
Though, one glance around the table of competitors told her that not one of them looked even slightly glum for losing. They were all goofing off, some even throwing pie at their friends.
At the center of the mess with her two teammates was Akko, who was accusing Sucy for poisoning her pie that let mini-fireworks steam out of her ears like a western cartoon character. Sucy only shrugged, Lotte trying to defuse the situation between her two friends with a sheepish smile while people laughed all around them. Diana had even managed to smile.
“If you don’t make a move, someone’s gonna take her before youuu,” Amanda sang, draping her arm around Diana’s tense shoulders.
Diana shrugged her arm off, scowling at the girl. “I have an entire year,” she said simply. “You can’t say anything against that. Plus, that wasn’t even my resolution.”
“So? Kinda ties into your wish to be ‘nicer’. You wanna be the best for Akko? Be her girlfriend, you dummy.”
“Amanda, for five seconds, let me be,” Diana gritted.
“I won’t until you promise me you’re gonna talk to her about what’s growing in that Grinch heart of yours,” Amanda replied easily. “I mean by this point, you realize you have nothing to lose, right? You two fended off a missile and saved the world, that’s like some Disney crap right there. I’d be more surprised if you asked her to marry you right now and run away together and she says no. ”
Diana massaged the bridge of her nose, knowing full well she can’t get rid of Amanda without being accused of being a party-pooper. “Fine,” she settled on saying. “I’ll talk to her. Now can you leave me be?”
Amanda grinned in satisfaction. “Sure, buddy. Anything for a Cavendish.”
Diana glared. Amanda kept grinning.
With a hefty slap on Diana’s back, Amanda turned away with a final wish of good luck, and followed Constanze to come up with more mischief for the celebration. She continued glaring at the ground, exasperated at how preposterous Amanda O’Neill could be at times.
Then it hit her. She had to go talk to Akko.
Suddenly, Diana wished Amanda came back with her teasing.
Swallowing her fears, Diana held her chin up, eyes looking around for the girl just complaining about Sucy’s latest potion just minutes ago. She wasn’t there, however, and Diana felt a mix of emotions come up.
This would just be like taking an important exam, she told herself. She just had to keep her chin high and know that the positive outcomes overrule the bad. In this case, instead of the fact she used her notes until her eyes bled in the middle of the night, she just had to keep in mind that Akko Kagari was her friend— if not her best friend. Just as Amanda had pointed out, they were two of the Nine New Witches, and had literally gone to space together. A simple rejection from Akko didn’t let them stop being friends.
Diana walked aimlessly around the courtyard, asking a student now and again if they saw Akko recently. Shockingly, no one did. With the mess the girl brings everywhere she went, Diana had a hard time believing she would go quiet on a celebration as grand as New Year’s.
Thankfully, her efforts were proven worthy. A girl named Avery pointed out that she overheard Akko telling Lotte that she was going to the observation tower.
Of course, Diana had her own theories of why the girl would go to such a place. It had the nicest view of the upcoming fireworks, for one. It was also the best place to make a commotion, if Akko wished. Diana hoped that it was the first one.
Diana arrived there soon, but not without overthinking herself yet again. Now that her brain had established that rejection from Akko wasn’t as bad as she initially thought, her brain was thinking about what would happen if Akko did reciprocate her feelings. Where would they go for their first date? Did Akko like grand gestures or small ones? Would their first kiss be nice, awkward, or both?
This is exactly why Diana had tried so hard to fend off feelings for the girl. You couldn’t prepare for things like this.
Jolting out of her mini panic, Diana walked up to the end of the observation tower, willing her hands to still themselves in the chilly air. Akko was the lone student sitting idly with her legs swinging out in front of her. Her head rested against the railing of the tower.
Even when alone, Akko had an air around her. It somewhat resembled her confidence in herself, thus affecting those around her.
Diana approached the girl without a sound, sitting down by her right comfortably. The tower seemed to be made for two, letting them squeeze in perfectly together. “Are you alright?” Diana said before she could stop herself.
Akko tilted her head slightly to her, flashing the girl a genuine smile. Diana’s worry was instantly taken away. “Yep! Why?”
“Sorry, I just assumed…“ Diana shrugged helplessly.
“I’m not up here because I’m mad at Sucy, if that’s what you thought,” Akko suggested. No, that’s not what Diana thought at all. Akko was practically incapable of being mad at the ones she loved for more than three minutes straight.
“Then can I ask why?”
Akko didn’t skip a beat to answering her question. “It’s the coolest place to watch the fireworks! At least, that’s what Amanda told me. I asked her and Sucy and Lotte and everyone else if they would come up here with me, but all of them said no! I don’t get why though, I don’t think any of our friends are scared of heights. Right?” Akko said, sheepishly scratching the back of her neck.
Diana shook her head. “Witches are rarely ever scared of heights. If they were, they’d never see themselves on a broom. Perhaps they just wanted to enjoy the view from below to be authentic,” Diana offered. Though she had a feeling she knew the real reason. If this was Amanda’s plan to get them alone together, it was working.
“Could be.” Then Akko suddenly whined, “Dianaaa.”
“What, Akko?” She tried hard not to smile.
“You’re a lifesaver, you know that? I didn’t wanna spend New Year’s alone and tell everyone I didn’t see all my friends for a year!”
“Ah, the year jokes. I don’t know why I forgot about them,” Diana said, mostly to herself.
Akko hummed a bit to that, almost as if to tease her. She kept swinging her feet absent-mindedly while Diana sat still, watching the sky above her. They fell to a comfortable silence, as it usually ended up with the two of them. It’s what Diana loved about being with Akko. There was no need for small talk sometimes, and Akko knew when she was welcome to conversation or was too buried in the latest chapter of her textbook. Right now, Diana was praying Akko started a conversation, any conversation, before she lost her appetite and then her courage.
“So… come here often?” Akko finally said, a curious tease to her tone.
“Only sometimes, when I must,” Diana said casually.
Immediately, Akko frowned. Did she say something wrong? She voiced the concern to her friend, who just laughed a little in return. “No, sorry, I was just— nevermind.”
They fell back into the silence. Diana chewed on the inside of her cheek. This wasn’t getting them anywhere. She was the diligent one, yet no words could come out of her mouth even if she tried to. Thankfully, Akko was the talkative of the two.
“You know, it’s only like—“ She squinted at the small pocket watch in her hand, “—fifteen minutes until midnight.”
“Really? Time flies, I suppose,” Diana said in pleasant surprise.
“I know, right?! One moment, you’re trying to figure out who could turn into the cutest mouse between your classmates, and then the next, it’s almost the next year!” Akko threw up her arms in her little rant, in which Diana decided to giggle just a bit at.
She looked back up at the stars, smiling fondly to herself. This was just like a date, she realized. A quite cheesy one that you’d find in Nightfall, with the stars and everything, but like a date nonetheless. Was it a good first, though?
Wait, of course not. The two of them had actually seen those stars up close before. In space. On a legendary broom. Being all the way down here was nothing special.
Sensing Diana’s shift in mood, Akko turned to her, her delighted grin turning to one of concern. “Is there something bothering you, Diana? You know you shouldn’t be sad on New Year’s. That way, you’ll be sad all year!” she exclaimed.
Diana held her tongue about her own opinions of the silly beliefs and hoaxes of every year. Instead, she gave Akko an encouraging smile, just as Akko did for her. She doubted hers was as genuine as Akko’s. Akko tuned in to that, and Diana didn’t know whether to be grateful for it or annoyed.
“My mom used to give me ramen when I wasn’t feeling good. There’s some down by the table if you want me to grab some,” Akko offered.
“Thank you, but no. I don’t need any,” Diana said politely. It was sweet of Akko to offer, but Akko leaving her alone was the last thing she wanted.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, Akko.”
Without missing another potentially awkward pause, Akko said, “What do you usually do for New Year’s, Diana?”
“Oh, um—“ Saying she did nothing every year would only concern the girl. So Diana backtracked to the days when she did something, and decided to answer off that. “I used to watch the countdown live on TV with my mother. We’d usually have the biggest feast after that, with party guests first then just the two of us in the morning.”
Satisfied, Akko sat back and smiled. “Your mom sounds really nice, Diana!”
“I know,” Diana said. Usually, the mention of her mother would cause her grief, or in the very least, a tinge of regret and longing. But with Akko smiling so brightly at her like that, Diana couldn’t help but smile back. For a split moment, she was back to being the carefree little girl that showed her mother the latest Shiny Chariot cards she got over dinner.
That was what Akko felt like to her, she realized. Why Akko was such a good influence on her. Akko was the warm, excited feeling she lost when she forced herself to stop being better when she already thought she was at her limit.
Perhaps that explained why she hated resolutions so much.
“Akko, can I tell you something?” she said softly.
“You can tell me anything, Diana!” Akko said excitedly, leaning in closer to hear whatever Diana had to say. Realizing that Diana looked more solemn than laid-back, Akko dropped her enthusiastic look. “It’s not bad, is it? I mean, you could totally tell me still if it is, but…“
“It’s not,” Diana said quickly. Then she changed her mind, and said, “Well, I hope to you it’s not.”
Akko tilted her head, brow furrowed. “What?”
“Akko— “ Diana started way too quickly. She cleared her throat, forcing herself to start over. Then Amanda’s words crowded around her train of thought, and suddenly red was the only thing to describe how she felt right now.
“Diana? Diana, are you— are you blushing?” Akko seemed to be in shock. Akko’s words only seemed to worsen Diana’s situation. “O— okay, give me like— a couple seconds! There’s gotta be a spell to stop you from choking, right?”
“I’m not choking on something!” Diana said, her voice an octave higher than it normally was. “I’m just— “
“Are you sure? I think your face is turning purple, even! Diana—!”
“I made a New Year’s resolution for myself!” she blurted out. She almost covered her mouth in shock not even a heartbeat after it came out of her mouth.
Akko’s mouth hung open. There was a silence between the two before Akko shook her head, closed her mouth, and grinned almost as widely as Amanda. “You did? Whoa! What is it?” she asked eagerly.
Of course she’d ask that. Diana tried to stall by looking away, pretending to think to herself. Akko whined again, scooting closer to Diana by a hair. “ Dianaaa. I won’t laugh. I could even help you! I’m helping Lotte try to span out her Nightfall reading in a year instead of rereading it all in a day.”
“Well,” Diana began, the lump lodged directly in the middle of her throat. “I— I actually came up here to see you to talk to you about it. But I see now that it’s better I tell you another time— “
“Dianaaaaa!” Akko whined even louder. She looked like she was about to make another rant, before Diana’s words hit her, and Akko was brought into silence. She squinted a bit at Diana. “You came up here to tell me? See, Past Diana was better! I’m your friend, Diana, and if you wanted my help so you could keep it through the year, you shouldn’t have hesitated in the first place!”
“It’s not that, Akko!” Diana groaned. She covered her face with her hands. “It’s— the resolution was about you.”
For once, the girl was stunned into silence longer than ten seconds. Diana buried her face deeper in her hands.
“It’s… about me?” Akko repeated, as if she heard Diana wrong over the trumpet noises from below.
“Didn’t I just say so?” Diana mentally slapped herself in the face. She should’ve said Akko heard wrong. Or literally anything else but that.
“Like, what specifically about me?” Akko was rightfully incredulous. Thankfully, she didn’t sound weirded out. At least, for now she didn’t. “To get me to stop talking a lot? Get my grades up so you didn’t have to witness me being expelled? Actually, the last one sounds like something you would do, you never really stopped nagging me about it.”
“No,” Diana croaked out. She looked up at Akko from in between her fingers, lowering them slowly as she calmed herself down. “It’s nothing like that. It has something to do with you and I. And I… “
Akko stared blankly at her, as if willing her brain to work faster to figure out Diana’s riddles. Diana, growing uncomfortable, looked away and back up at the sky. Down below, the chatter was growing steadily louder. One glance at Akko’s lap with her pocket watch and Diana knew it was because it was two minutes to midnight.
“Diana,” Akko started. “What about us? Am I bothering you?”
“No,” Diana said a little too meekly.
“Do you want me to pay attention to you more when you’re teaching me because I’ll try harder, promise, it’s just that Magic Linguistics is so hard and my brain can’t even—“
“No, though that would be nice,” Diana admitted.
Akko threw her arms up. “Then what!” she said in exasperation. “I don’t get it? We’re friends, we’re not fighting or anything, why—?”
“Akko,” Diana said calmly.
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever considered why people make resolutions?”
“To make their year better or something.” Akko shrugged. “It’s like, when you don’t like something about yourself or something in your life, so you try and change that. Why?”
Diana breathed in a shaky breath. “For the longest time, Akko, I would tell you for as long as I lived that I would never make such promises to myself to make a year better. You could do that whenever you wanted to, as years are just ways for humans to differentiate time periods.”
“Yeah, but having a clean year to go off of makes you believe in yourself just a little more, doesn’t it?”
“I know.” Diana looked right at her, right at the eyes that were always so stubborn to do anything. Right now, it seemed that Akko was more determined to find out what was wrong with her friend than to bother with the excitement radiating from below. Maybe it was just Diana, but there was something else in those bright eyes of hers. She’s only ever saw it on Akko’s face when she was focused on a subject that far interested her more than any diagram to copy down in class.
Diana didn’t want to go on a whole “believing in your heart” lecture again. She’s given them to Akko and vice versa more than she can count to herself. But maybe it was those lectures that she needed to remember right now.
Before she could utter another word, the commotion grew far too loud for the both of them to ignore any longer. They glanced down, Diana straining to hear what the students below were saying.
When she realized that they were counting down from thirty, Diana looked up at Akko. Akko was already looking at her, eyes wide.
“Akko—“ she began as calmly as she could.
“Diana, I have a feeling what you’re trying to say to me, but um…” Akko suddenly seemed nervous. And almost, guilty? “Pleasedon’tkillmeifI’mwrongplease?”
Diana blinked at her. “I’m sorry?”
“But seriously, if you have something to tell me, do it now before I take the deep end,” Akko said as quickly as she could. Not as fast as she did with her other sentence, but fast enough that Diana had to comprehend what she said in a couple seconds.
“W— Well, I hardly think it’s ethical to base telling important things to people from the pressures of a countdown, don’t you think?” she said.
The students were at twenty now.
“Diana, come on!” Akko practically begged. Was it her or was Akko coming closer?
“Akko, please. Resolutions don’t disappear overnight. If you’re so insistent, I can tell you soon, but not—”
“Not with yours!”
“What?”
Ten.
Akko moaned as if she lost another bet to Amanda. Her eyes were bright in the glow of the night, and for once in the entire night, Diana found herself speechless. Now was not the time to coo over how pretty the girl was in front of her, she knew, but really, who could help themselves at times like this when Akko was looking at her like that?
Wait.
Why was Akko looking at her like that?
“FIVE!” the students roared from below.
“DianaI’msosorrybutmaybenotifthat’swhatIthoughtbutI’msorryeitherway.”
“Akko, what—?”
“FOUR!”
And before Diana could hear the shout of three, Akko came forward, hands gripped on Diana’s shoulders while she brought their pairs of lips together in a mushy, messy, but wanted kiss.
There were fireworks in the sky and her heart by the time Akko and Diana broke apart for air, foreheads pressed against each other.
There was a slight lag of a pause between each firework brought to the sky, and by the fourth, Diana cleared her throat and Akko almost shamefully sat back down to give Diana space. “I— I think I was wrong after all?” Akko panted, her ears almost as red as her eyes.
Diana’s brain caught up to what happened. Her heart, however, was still pounding heavily against her chest from the very very pleasant surprise. “You thought my New Year’s resolution was to kiss you?” she stammered.
“You sound surprised.” Akko hid her face. “Oh no, you sound surprised! I’m so sorry! I just thought— with where you were going you liked me back—!“
“I do!” Diana said without thinking. “ Liked me back”? Did she say “liked me back”? her mind screamed at her. She ignored it for now, continuing with a hurried, “I do like you! A lot , Akko. I just mean that— my wish was to be kinder to you, or to at least be truthful to you and to myself about my feelings but I didn’t realize you’d— just— “
Akko slowly looked up at her, eyes wide with hope. There was a tint to her cheeks, and her lips were redder than before from their sudden kiss. Diana didn’t realize she was staring until Akko spoke again, a slow smile spreading across her face.
“So you think I’m pretty?” Akko said.
A split second too late did Diana realize that Akko said it to make the situation lighter, not to be actually serious. “Very very pretty,” Diana assured her. “Using the word ‘very’ should be avoided, I know, but I can’t— um— think of any other word besides pretty.”
Akko flushed again, and Diana finally realized her mistake. “Perhaps it’s my turn to be sorry this time?” Diana asked, laughing a little more to herself than anything.
“Don’t be,” Akko blurted. “It wasn’t weird or anything, I just didn’t think you’d actually, you know. Um… “
Diana, for once during the whole night, took the initiative and drew closer to her friend. Their hands brushed, and instead of pulling away, Akko turned her hand and laced Diana’s fingers with hers. Their hearts both racing and their faces red even without the bright fireworks in front of them, they took the time to calm themselves by watching the display.
When the screaming in Diana’s head had finally subsided, at least enough for her to come back on it later tonight, Akko turned to face her with her trademark mischievous smile.
“What is it this time, Akko?”
“You haven’t kissed me in a year.”
Diana quirked her eyebrow at the girl in amusement. They had kissed and broke away before the final second. She was right, and maybe that was something not to be proud of. Diana leaned over and kissed Akko gently on the forehead.
“Then I’ll kiss you three hundred sixty five times, if that makes you happy.”
“That’s a little much, don’t cha think?” Akko teased.
Diana laughed with her. She leaned their foreheads together, feeling Akko grow closer to her to the point she nuzzled just a bit. It made her heart feel like the fireworks crackling in the sky.
Maybe next year, her resolution would be to tell Akko she loved her.
But then again, she didn’t need to wait that long to say it.
With them so invested in each other in the moment, they both didn’t realize that a special kind of fireworks were just released into the air for the entire student body to see. Of course, Conz was the one who made them, so of course Amanda had to ask for a special request. It was all sorts of colours in the sky, making a rainbow as it said the holy words.
“DO HER, DIANA."