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Luna Nova was overcast, a recent, and rather large storm, had caused an incredible amount of snowfall and extreme winds. Akko walked across the campus without any guidance or destination. She found herself near the gyms, and Akko heard a scream. Not a scream of pain, or fear, this scream was a frustrated, angry, anguished scream, "AAAHHHHHHHHHH!"
Akko was curious, but nervous, she probably didn’t want to be in the way of whoever was so upset, but this yell sounded very familiar, she had an idea who it belonged to.
Akko crept carefully toward the entrance to the gymnasium. She heard the commotion of someone throwing whatever they could lift, knocking things over, every time the same girl yelled in a voice that was quickly growing hoarse. And then
It stopped.
Akko tried listening closely to understand what was going on, if the person inside was moving, the doors and walls were to thick for Akko to hear. Akko gently opened the door to the gym, hoping not to startle the person inside. Peering in at the disaster inside the gym, Akko was shocked to see how much destruction one witch could do, even without evident use of any magic. All over the floor were strewn equipment, unfolded mats, and a dozen chairs flung far from the stack they usually stood. Close to the wall was a small mound, a person huddled with their knees close to their face. And Akko heard sobbing.
The young witch who was responsible for the state of the gym was covered in a thin, red, and very old, blanket. The rest of her luggage, clothes, and other personal affects covered the floor around her. The young witch gasped for air, obviously crying and screaming so hard that she was having trouble keeping her breathing steady.
"H-Hello?" Akko was scared to raise her voice, afraid she might startle the witch and possibly make her run off.
"What." It hardly sounded like a question, and her voice was incredibly strained. And although it barely sounded like her normal, careless, laid-back, and always relaxing voice, Akko recognized her nonetheless.
"A-manda?" Akko still didn't raise her voice, partially out of shock that the person who was bent over crying, alone in a school gymnasium, was Amanda.
"What do you want." Amanda's voice still hardly speaking above a loud whisper, still sounding uncharacteristic.
"I-I-Is something- Is something wrong?" Akko letting herself be heard at a normal speaking volume.
"Yeah." Amanda's response was short, and it was obvious she didn't want to talk about it.
A silence stayed between the two, hanging in the air for a while before Akko started walking, carefully, toward the figure of her crying friend. Akko placed her hands on her knees and slid down the wall beside her friend, close, but not so close as to risk making Amanda uncomfortable. And Akko didn't say a word. She knew something like this was difficult to talk about, that Amanda of all people wouldn't just start exposing her problems to her. And they sat there for a long while, Amanda scooting herself closer to Akko so she could comfort her.
"I wanted to go home for once." Akko looked up at the sky through the high-up windows, staring at the snowstorm that had rolled in recently. "I was so ready to go home, and now, now, I'm stuck here."
Rather than responding, Akko gripped onto Amanda more firmly, a close, comforting arm over her shoulders.
"Of course all the other girls were able to change their flights in time. And I couldn't." Amanda covered her face with her hands, her breathing becoming uneven again.
"It's okay, you can cry in front of me, Amanda." And sure enough, after a few moments of quiet, Amanda let herself cry again. Her sobs were long and drawn out, letting herself be exposed to her friend, her tears streaming down her face.
"My parents were so happy for me to go to Luna Nova, and sure they had sent me to other boarding schools before, but this was different. I'm so far away from them this time, they're all the way across the ocean, so I can’t exactly hitch a ride there like I used to, so now I'm stuck, thousands of miles away from my family, with almost all of my friends already home. " Amanda started to chuckle, "Then again, look who I'm talking to. The little witch from Japan, stuck here with-" Amanda took a deep breath and exhaled through her nose, "- with me." Amanda leaned away from Akko's hug, so ready to stay by herself and now she was pouring all her emotions out to her friend. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that Akko."
"There's nothing for you to be sorry for, you didn't make this storm happen, and it sounds like going home meant a lot to you. I know it doesn't really mean much, but I'm at least glad someone else was here when I couldn't go back home either."
"Yeah…" Amanda opened up her blanket with her arm, gesturing an invite to Akko to join her. Akko leaned into Amanda and let herself be covered in Amanda's old blanket, and she felt the warmth radiate from Amanda. "I've had this blanket for a long time."
"Really?"
"Yeah. I was eight years old. My mom made it for me herself. She made it my favorite color."
"I would have thought your favorite color would be green."
"Nah, I always loved red. It's warm, it's nice, it's passionate, it really is everything love is." Without realizing it, Amanda had started playing with Akko's hair, gently brushing her bangs away from her face as she reminisced about her treasured memento of her childhood. And when she looked down, back at Akko, Amanda's eyes locked with hers in a soft and caring gaze at Akko's beautiful red eyes.
Then Amanda closed her eyes, and leaned her head back against the wall. Amanda had felt comforted in letting herself be seen by Akko, and Akko felt as though she had strengthened a bond between the two of them and felt herself relax as well. And they sat there, in the sweet tender comfort of each other's company until Amanda moved again, though neither knew how long they'd stayed in their position.
"C'mon, I don't wanna clean this mess up and I don't want you to either."
"Okay," Akko sounded upset that she would leave her spot in Amanda's casual embrace.
"Do you like hot chocolate?"
Akko's demeanor changed in an instant, her eyes lighting up with excitement, "Yeah!"
"Let's go to my room, we can spend some time together with something actually warm." Amanda gathered up her blanket and took Akko's hand and led her back to her room to spend the day together in comfort.