Chapter Text
Akko dashed into her dorm at Luna Nova, quickly closing the oaken door behind her, careful to not let it slam. She had managed to guarantee time to herself after classes, claiming she’ll meet her friends in the library to study in around half an hour. Right now though, she needed to be alone. Today had been a bad day. Today, Akko not only received a bad grade on a test, she also was cornered by Hannah and Barbara and ridiculed after not performing a spell correctly, she had failed to fly once again, and to top it all off she had to endure another of Sucy’s poisons. Akko fell against the door and slid down to the floor and put her head in her hands. She wanted to scream.
Akko eventually looked up again at the room around her the one she had shared with Lotte and Sucy for the better part of a month. She looked at the bunk bed on the left side of the room, hers below and Lotte’s up top. Behind that were three tables placed end to end, Akko’s own sitting on the far left, pictures of home and Shiny Chariot on the wall, her textbooks were placed lined up vertically for easy access and tucked between two books near the end was a small first aid kit, in case anyone got hurt. Akko brought it from home where she often made use of it, just in case she "failed trying to ride a broom". The sight of it made Akko’s inhale catch, and as she tried to exhale it came out shaky, almost needy. Her legs began to ache.
In one quick motion, Akko stood from the floor and walked over to the table, gingerly plucking the kit from where it sat. It had been a while since she had needed it. She opened it and took out a small plastic bag from within, inside the bag were three things. A red cloth, mesh gauze, and waterproof two inch medical tape. Akko took everything out of the bag and left the rest of the kit open on her table. Moving to beside her bed, Akko laid the cloth on the floor and placed the other two items on her bed. She then took part of her already short skirt on the right side and tucked it up through her waistband until her upper thigh was exposed, she looked at the scars that marred the area. Some thin normally colored and nearly faded, and others that are plump and an angry red color despite being nearly a year old. Akko knew doing this was risky, with her shortened skirt some of her old scars had been seen in the past. But then again, she just fed them the same line she’d fed her parents a few times, she just failed riding a broom. I mean it wasn’t technically lying, she did have scars from that but none of those were never so clean, so uniform.
As all the preparations were finally made, Akko knelt on the red cloth so if any blood managed to get away it would not only be caught but also hidden. Next, Akko looked nearby for anything that looked sharp enough to break skin. At home she had a special implement, but she hadn’t brought it with her to Luna Nova in hopes she wouldn’t need it. Guess past Akko was wrong. As she scanned the room Akko’s eyes fell upon a small part of the Shiny Rod sticking out from under its hiding place beneath her mattress.
“Fitting,” Akko scoffed.
Akko lifted the mattress slightly and pulled the Shiny Rod from beneath. It seemed to glow in the afternoon light drifting through the dorm window. It’s white surface of unknown material only broken by small divots each housing a small gem. It was beautiful, but none of that is Akko’s focus instead she fixates on the sharp point that the rod ends in. While not a blade, the point was easily enough to break skin. Akko braced the rod against her chest allowing the top to rest on her neck as she held the bottom so it’s poised over her leg. With her other hand, she pulled the skin apart using her thumb and index finger, so it would be easier to cut. Akko took a deep breath and counted to three in her head and at three pressed the point of the Shiny Rod into her thigh and quickly jerked to the side, eyes clenched shut in pain, her teeth clenched from a sharp inhale as she felt her skin tear. Three times she repeated the process; it took under a minute to do. Finally, Akko opened her eyes and looked at her handiwork, her vision was blurry but even through the blur three long cuts were clearly visible, beads of dark crimson blood gathering along them. Akko let the Shiny Rod fall, no longer in need of it as a cutting implement.
Slowly, Akko moved from a kneeling position to sitting on her bed, she grabbed the red cloth and wiped away the blood that had just started to run down her leg. She then reached behind herself and grabbed the gauze and tape. She placed the gauze over the wound so it could collect the blood and wrapped it once with the tape, tight enough around her leg to keep everything in place, but loose enough as to not cut off circulation; no reason to do more harm than necessary. Akko then let her skirt fall over her thighs again, maneuvering it so it covered the cuts in a way she deemed satisfactory. At last, Akko returned everything still clean to the first aid kit and threw the red cloth in the laundry. Once sure she had covered her own tracks, Akko walked to the door again. By the time she got there she noticed the limp in her step. She’d have to get good at hiding it again, as she gets the feeling this won't be the last time she does this at Luna Nova. Putting a warm “Akko” smile back on her face, she walks out of her dorm and toward her friends in the library. On the way a final thought crosses her mind: even if people do notice the limp, she could always just say she messed failed trying to ride a broom.