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“Oh, hello Sucy, you were a while in Blytonbury!” said Lotte as her friend entered the dorm, clutching bulging shopping bags. “What horrible things were you looking for this time? Or do I not want to know?”
Sucy smirked, though Lotte couldn’t help but notice the mischief on her face wasn’t quite as intense as usual. “Oh, you definitely don’t want to know. Awful things, I reckon even Lukic would have a conniption if she saw them.” She chuckled.
The Finn rolled her eyes. “Honestly, Sucy, I like you but I do wish you had a more wholesome hobby, sometimes.” she sighed. “It can’t be good for you, messing with…with…”
She glanced at Sucy’s shopping bag, which had a slight tear in it, revealing the corner of one of her items.
“Is that…icing sugar?”
In an instant, Sucy’s cheeky façade cracked, and she suddenly looked almost a little panicked. “O-Oh, yes, it is.” She replied, trying to keep her deadpan monotone up. “This latest thing I’m working on is so atrocious that, uh, icing sugar is the only thing that will stop the reaction if it goes wrong, you see. Safety precaution! Even I’ve got my limits, heh heh.”
Lotte raised an eyebrow. “Sucy, are you sure you should be doing something that dangerous? I know you know what you’re doing but-“
“Yes, don’t worry, I’ll be fine!” Sucy cut her off. “Trust me, the end result will be worth it! My finest creation yet if all goes to plan.”
The redhead did not look convinced.
“And if it doesn’t go to plan?”
“Eh, can’t worry about that now. I’ve wanted to do this for too long.” The Filipino answered, unusually flustered for her. “But I’ve already told you too much, I need to put this stuff away. No peeking either, or I’ll fill your underwear with centipedes.”
Lotte considered scolding her, but decided against it. An angry Sucy was not something she wanted to deal with.
“Well, you do what you have to.” She gasped exasperatedly. “I’m off to the library.”
She stood up and strode out of the dorm, closing the door behind her and leaving her roommate to do whatever deranged things she wanted.
Still, something didn’t seem quite right. Icing sugar…What kind of potion needed icing sugar?
“…So anyway, I think I might finally be getting the hang of white magic!” said Akko, as she walked back from the library with Lotte. “Diana’s really good at teaching, if she weren’t set on becoming a doctor I’d say she should be a teacher here when she’s older!”
Lotte smiled, warmly. “Oh, that’s wonderful!” she replied. “I’m so glad she’s been able to help you out with that, she’s so kind!”
Akko nodded. “You have no idea! I can’t believe I used to think she was such a jerk, she’s such a lovely person!”
“Yeah, I’ll have to ask her for help if I’m struggling with anything.” Lotte said. “There was something I wanted to ask her, actually, I hope she knows what it is.”
“Oh? What is it?”
Lotte suddenly looked a little concerned.
“Well, Sucy came back from Blytonbury this afternoon with loads of stuff, including icing sugar.” She answered. “She said it was a precaution because it was the only way of stopping a reaction if her latest project went wrong, and the way she was acting it sounded like she wasn’t supposed to be doing it. I don’t know much about potions but if it’s that dangerous…”
Akko’s eyes went wide. “Yikes, really!?” she blurted. “Knowing what her “projects” are like, that’s not good at all! Let’s get back to the dorm and try and change her mind!”
“Good idea! Let’s hurry back…”
“…Oh no…”
The two had returned to the dorm, and to their horror, Sucy was nowhere to be found. Her workspace was empty, and the bag she had stowed under her desk was gone.
“We’re too late, aren’t we?” shuddered Akko. “She’s already doing…whatever it is she’s doing!”
Lotte shook her head. “We’re not too late, we just have to find her and stop her before she does something stupid and blows the school up!” she exclaimed. “She’s probably working in the potions lab whilst nobody’s there…”
“Alright. Let’s get there before things go really badly!”
Akko and Lotte crept through the corridors, hoping they wouldn’t be caught by the staff and questioned for being out of bounds during after-class hours. Even though they had a very good reason to be there, they’d rather not have Sucy potentially subjected to full disciplinary action for whatever it was she was doing, so they needed to do this themselves.
“OK, this is the potions lab, let’s try and get in as quietly as possible.” Whispered Lotte. “We don’t want to cause a ruckus after all.”
“Sure thing!” replied Akko. “I’ll open the door as slowly as possible, and…hang on a second…”
Akko could have sworn she could hear faint muttering coming not from the potions lab, but the culinary magic room. And judging by the slight nasal twang of the voice…
“Eeeek, what’s she doing in the culinary magic room!?!” Akko gasped. “Is she planning on poisoning someone?”
For a second, Lotte looked absolutely horrified. Then, something clicked in her head, and a look of dawning realization settled on her face.
“…I think I might know what’s going on…” she said, still slightly concernedly. “Follow me…”
Akko nodded, and tip-toed after Lotte as she went to the culinary magic room door. The Finn withdrew her wand and with a hushed incantation of “Frictionaria Silensio” cast a quieting spell on the door hinges to avoid the creak of the old brass giving them away.
Slowly, she pushed the now silent door open, and Akko and Lotte slid into the room. Sure enough, stood in the middle was Sucy…
…Surrounded by mixing bowls, bags of flour and sugar, wearing an apron and humming merrily to herself.
“OK, now, that should do it.” She said, happily. “Just need to put that in the oven for 20 minutes…”
She knelt down, slid open the door to the oven she was stood in front of, and placed a receptacle inside, before closing the door again.
Smiling, she turned around, and nearly jumped out of her skin when she saw Akko and Lotte standing in the entrance.
“G-GAH!” she exclaimed in shock. “How the hell did you two find me!?!”
Lotte giggled a little. “Magic!” she replied, devilishly. “But more to the point, what are you doing here?”
Sucy’s cheeks flushed bright red. “That’s…secret…” she mumbled. “Now get out, you’ll ruin the surprise…”
“Surprise?” Akko wondered aloud.
“Wait a moment,” said Lotte. “What date is it?”
“The 24th of June, isn’t it?” replied the Japanese witch. “Why, do you…oh…”
Sucy sighed, deeply. She looked a little bit downcast.
“If you must know…I’m making a birthday cake for you, Akko…” she said, sadly. “I was trying to keep it a secret, and I thought pretending it was some horrible chemical experiment would be the best way to keep you two away until it was ready…”
The duo’s expressions softened. “Oh, I see…” said Lotte, gently. “I’m sorry, Sucy…we were just worried you were going to do something dangerous…”
Sucy felt a slight smile creep onto her lips. “Not an entirely unfair assumption to make, I suppose.” She chuckled. “I just thought it’d be a nice thing to do for you, Akko, and maybe to make up for me being mean to you…”
“Hey, Sucy, you don’t need to make anything up to me!” said Akko, who suddenly looked slightly sad. “You’re one of my best friends!”
“Well…thank you…” the Filipino sighed. “I don’t wanna be rude but…please, can you leave me to it? I don’t want this to come out wrong after all!”
Lotte nodded. “Sure! C’mon, Akko, let’s go.” She said. “Don’t want to spoil the surprise any further after all!”
“Heh, true!” Akko laughed. “But…Sucy, thank you so much, that’s really sweet of you…no pun intended.”
Sucy grinned. “Heh, that was a good one, intentional or not.” She sniggered. “But yeah, I need to get back to work…oh, and one more thing, Akko.”
“Hmm?”
Sucy stared at the floor.
“…Happy birthday…well, happy early birthday…”
Akko smiled, and gave a thumbs up.
“Thanks, Sucy…” she replied. “Anyway, we’ll let you get back to that…”
“Well, all things considered I’d say that could have been much worse.” Said Lotte, smiling. “Nice to see Sucy actually doing something not involving poisons or mushrooms for once too!”
“No kidding!” responded Akko. “I’m sure she’ll work mushrooms in somehow, but…I dunno, I get the feeling they’ll at least be nice ones.”
The Finn beamed. “Yeah…I think you’re safe from being poisoned this time, Akko.”
“I certainly hope so!”
Akko sighed, happily. For all that Sucy was a tease and a prankster, deep down she was a really nice girl, and she was so glad she had her as a friend.
She just hoped the cake turned out well. It would be sad if it didn’t work given how eager Sucy had been to do it and how hard she’d tried to keep it a surprise. Though given her talent at all things alchemical she somewhat doubted sponge cake would be her undoing.
Now she just had to think how she could return the favour for Sucy’s birthday…