It was lunchtime, and Akko was sitting with Lotte and Sucy as usual. Or rather, Akko was slumped over the table, bemoaning the morning's History test, while Lotte tried to comfort her. Sucy, next to Akko, was slowly, methodically flattening out her baked potato with her fork, as taciturn as ever.

"Don't worry, Akko," Lotte tried. "The test is only 5% of our grade. You're doing fine on the homework, right?"

Akko paused in her lamentations. Lotte…had a point. As long as she could stay on top of the readings…

"Yay, I'm not gonna fail!" she cheered suddenly, knocking over her juice. Lotte jerked back, but not fast enough to get her bookbag out of the way. "Oops. Sorry, Lotte."

"It's all right," her roommate answered. She flicked her wand at the bag. "Sosomme Tidiare!"

Akko sighed. As nice as Lotte had turned out to be, it still hurt sometimes to see such casual use of magic. If Akko tried it herself, chances are the bag would turn out fine, but the books inside would be sopping wet. She just didn't get—

"Eep!"

Lotte and Sucy both looked up. Wordlessly, Akko pointed to the other end of the dining hall, where Professor Finnelan and Professor Lukić had just entered.

"Uh oh," Sucy said with a dry smile.

Akko felt a sense of panic. "Do you think they found out about the chestnuts?" she whispered to Lotte.

"Or the chocolate?" the other girl answered, her eyes wide behind her glasses.

"Or the steak?" Akko risked a glance. "They're almost here! Act natural!"

The two professors strode up to their table, one on each side. Akko tried to put on a smile. "Professor Finnelan! Professor Lukić! It's so nice to…see you! …Outside of class!" Across the table, Lotte was making frantic faces at her. What was she getting at? "Rest assured I haven't been anywhere near the kitchens—that is—" Her words petered out and she gave an awkward laugh to cover it up.

Both adults seemed like they were in no mood to laugh. Professor Finnelan was looking more serious than usual, if that was even possible. It was a little strange, though—it was like they weren't looking at her—

"Miss Manbavaran?" said Professor Finnelan. "Would you please come with us to Principal Holbrooke's office?"

Akko's fake grin fell off her face. She looked at Lotte, who was wearing the same shocked expression. Of the three of them, it was Sucy that was in trouble?

"Sucy? What did Sucy do?" Akko demanded.

The professors ignored her, looking pointedly at Sucy. The quiet girl set her fork down on her plate and stood up, pausing only to sling her bookbag over her shoulder. The momentary smile from earlier was gone, leaving her usual impassive expression. The two professors followed after her as she began to walk from the room.

"Hey!" Akko cried after them. "What's going on?"

"Miss Kagari," Professor Finnelan said, the stiffness in her tone perfectly clear. "I hope I don't need to remind you to show proper respect."

Akko's mouth shut with a snap. She fell back into her chair, exchanging a nervous glance with Lotte, then looked back to the door.

As the group was about to exit, another student detached herself from the wall and joined them. Akko didn't have to strain her eyes to see who it was; only one girl stood out like that.

Diana.