Little Pilot Academia

Chapter 84

“Akko, can we talk for a moment?” Diana asked, looking serious.

Akko got kind of nervous, but she nodded. Diana walked off, until she reached the limit of where the shield covered. Under the green light, Diana appeared to be almost a ghost. A beautiful ghost, but a ghost.

Akko stepped next to her, looking out towards the dark night. No light had been left working on the stadium. She wondered if Diana would get mad if she took her hand. She wanted to get closer to her. But how? Diana looked so serious, so gloomy.

“Is the Shiny Rod ok?” Diana ended up asking. “I saw how it completely shut down after the race.”

“Yeah,” Akko said. “It just needed some rest. It rebooted after an hour.”

Diana stayed silent again. Akko pressed her lips, shuffling in place. Why was she being so awkward? “Uhm… I guess that’s not what you wanted to talk about?” Akko asked. Maybe it was, though? Maybe she really was worried about the Shiny Rod. She was up to date with what it was, after all.

“You did wonderfully today,” Diana said.

“Thank you,” Akko smiled.

Diana paused. “You… really made my heart race. For a couple minutes, even if the entire world seemed to be against me, your race made me feel excited. And happy, when you won,” she turned, looking at Akko. “The way you climbed from dead last to first was incredible.”

Akko blushed, smiling awkwardly. Diana was praising her, how could she not?

“And I realized that I’ve been slacking off,” Diana continued.

“What?” Akko frowned.

“Akko,” Diana turned to her. “I appreciate your efforts for cheering me up. And I really enjoyed those kisses,” she spoke seriously. When mentioned, Akko couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. “but I also believe I was being complacent. I should’ve been training, not enjoying myself.”

Akko started to understand where Diana was coming from. “Diana, you can’t blame yourself for what happened today. We’re still in first place, nothing big was lost.”

“We’re tied to the daemons thanks to my failure,” Diana shook her head. “If it hadn’t been for you…”

Akko stepped closer to her, taking her hand. Diana didn’t take it back, but she didn’t shake it off either. “And if it wasn’t for you and Amanda, we wouldn’t be on first place anyways.”

“Yeah, but you know, Akko… You’re going to go down in history,” Diana finally closed her hand around Akko’s. Akko cocked her head. “You broke the curse. You’re the first pilot to break the home-race curse. Even if you disappeared now like Chariot did, you’d be documented in the history of the sport.”

Akko had completely forgotten about it. “You’re right,” Akko said. “But Chariot would have done it too, she just never got the chance, since her IPR didn’t have Earth in the rotation.”

Diana sighed. “You really need to stop looking up to Chariot,” she said. “But I guess I can’t change that.”

“Well, maybe if you tried hard enough…” Akko got a little closer.