Akko, Xelia and Lotte were in the cafeteria, talking about what happened just yesterday.

"That was amazing Akko! You were like: 'Papilio Filia Nymphodia!' and then pow! Magic explodes out of the Shiny Rod and then boom! The papiliodia hatch from their pewpi and then woosh! They fly away towards a big tall tower!" Xelia said with a giddy smile.

"Yeah! At this rate, we're going to become like Shiny Chariot in no time!" Akko said, giggling. Lotte was laughing a bit too. She'd opened up to them a lot more and started leaking out of her shy cocoon.

"Anyway, I wanted to tell you guys about something. While you two went outside and did your whole 'Shiny Chariot is amazing' argument with Diana, I managed to make an acquaintance with this girl!" Lotte said. "She's much shyer that me, but since we were both pretty shy, we managed to connect a little! Her name is Ivy Glowglade."

"Ooh! What a pretty name!" Akko said with a cheery smile.

"Yeah... Anyway, it might take a while for her to open up to you two, but I have no doubt that she will eventually be a good friend!" Lotte said with a shy smile.

The bell tolled and it was time to head to class.

"See you after class!" Akko said, and they all headed to class.

After class, Xelia kept thinking back to when she used the Shiny Rod. She'd felt like she'd stolen something from Akko... as if she'd taken something dear to her...

That only lead to her thinking about the possibility of Shiny Chariot's death, and how embarrassed Diana must've felt when she'd proved her wrong...

Xelia was drowning in guilt now, frowning down at the floor as she carried her textbooks back to her dorm.

Professor Ursula was walking by and noticed her looking a little sad. She walked over.

"Hey, are you okay?" Ursula asked. Xelia looked up, a bit startled.

"Oh! Professor Ursula Callistis, was it?" Xelia plastered on a fake smile. "I'm doing fine."

"Are you sure? You looked a little sad earlier. Almost... guilty."

"Oh, it's nothing!" Xelia said, laughing it off. "Really, it isn't."

But Ursula knew the face of someone who was trying to hard to look happy, but was really swallowed in grief.

Despite that, she let it go.

"Alright then. Let me know if you need anything." She said.

"I will!" Xelia said, walking away briskly.

As soon as she turned the corner, Xelia's plastered cheery smile slipped off and a look of self-loathing enveloped in her.

Maybe I can get rid of this self-hate, or at least a part of it, Xelia thought. Oh, I know! Maybe I could apologize to Diana for embarrassing her. That could help, at least a little...

But that thought only made her more guilty.

You're only apologizing to help yourself feel better? Shouldn't you be doing that help her and not you?

Xelia sighed. All she needed to do was just apologize to Diana, and clear her thoughts. Then maybe things wouldn't be so cluttered.

She walked around the dorm hallways, knocking on classmate's doors and asking where Diana's room was.

Most people had no idea, but eventually she came across Avery's room.

"Oh! Avery, right? Do you know where Diana's room is?" Xelia asked.

"Why do you ask? Are you going to make a fool of her again?" Avery challenged with a glare.

"No... I'm coming to apologize."

"Oh... then... okay, her room's at the end of the hallway. Sorry for being a bit rude." She said.

"It's okay."

And then Avery closed the door as Xelia walked across the hall. She took a deep breath.

Just be calm, cool and collected. You can do this.

She knocked on the door three times, fighting the temptation to start singing Do You Wanna Build A Snowman.

The door was opened by Hannah, who glared at Xelia.

"Diana's too high up for anyone like you to talk to her - especially since you disrespected her in front of practically the whole school." She snapped, about to slam the door in her face, when Diana quickly stabbed her foot in the way.

"Hannah, I told you, it's fine." Diana said coldly. Hannah whimpered and scurried away in the dorm.

"Sorry about that. What do you require?" Diana asked.

"Oh, um, I wanted to..." Xelia sighed. "I wanted to apologize for embarrassing you. I feel really guilty about it..."

"Nonsense. I haven't had someone stand up against me and win in the end. You have my utmost respect." Diana said.

"What? But I-"

"You stood your ground firmly. And rightfully so." Diana said, the slightest of smiles on her face. "I am confident you'll become a disciplinary witch once you graduate from Luna Nova." Diana said.

Xelia just laughed it off. "I doubt it," She said sheepishly.

"I don't."

And awkward silence swept between them, before Xelia broke it.

"Anyway, I should get going..." She said.

"Yeah, I should too. Good luck in your studies." And then she closed the door slowly.

Xelia felt a little at ease, as if a weight had been lifted form her shoulders.

All her worrying had been for nothing - Diana had been okay with it in the end.

As she walked downstairs out onto the field, she heard the noises of spells being cast. Looking around, she saw a girl with pue white hair in space buns with orange eyes like amber. She was brandishing her wand, which was glowing.

"Arbor Incrementum!" She said, watching a blast of light shooting from her wand and spiraling around a nearby sapling. The sapling started to grow taller, wider, becoming a bull blown oak tree.

"Woah..." Xelia mumbled to herself. Then when she looked at the girl again, she recognized her.

"Oh, she must be Ivy! Lotte told us about how she looks like if we ever came across her." Xelia muttered. She liked to talk to herself, but she was afraid people would judge her if she did that in public, so she only does it when she alone.

She walked over to the girl with a bright smile on her face.

"Hey! That was amazing!" Xelia called, waving at her and she ran up to her. Ivy's shoulders went up and she looked away nervously.

"O-oh, it was n-nothing really..." She said quietly.

"Ivy Glowglade, right? I heard about you from Lotte! I'm Xelia." She said, holding out her hand. Ivy hesitated before taking it.

"N-nice to meet y-you." Ivy said. "Your hand is very warm."

And then she got even more nervous. "N-not that I'm weird or a-anything! It just slipped out! S-sorry!"

"Hey, it's okay! I can be socially awkward too sometimes." Xelia said. Ivy seemed less nervous at the sound of her words.

"Thanks..." Ivy said.

"No problem! Now anyway, what were you doing before I dropped in?" Xelia asked.

"Oh! Right... I-I was just practicing." Ivy said. "My parents want me to practice powerful and flashy spells... but only so they could get rich and famous..."

Ivy looked very tense once she realized she said that aloud.

"N-not that I want you to get caught up i-in my drama! I just wish my parents weren't like that..." Ivy said, frowning at the grass.

"Don't worry, I'm sure it'll be fine. Once you're a witch, you'll tell the world the truth about them!"

"That's just it. I... I never wanted to b-be a witch. I want to be normal. I want to... I want to draw."

"Huh?"

"Ever since I was little, my aunt and uncle would praise my drawings. It drove me to be an artist who thinks outside the box." Ivy's frown had turned into a smile when talking about drawings. But then it slumped back into a frown. "But my parents wanted me to use my creativity to make my own spells - to create some new, never-before-seen enchantments."

"That's terrible..." Xelia said, matching Ivy's frown.

"It only got worse. When I tried to tell them that I didn't want to, that I wanted to draw..." Ivy frown only grew more sad. "T-they took away all of my drawing supplies, everything..."

"I'm - I'm so sorry, Ivy." Xelia said, pulling her into a hug. Ivy seemed to lost and fragile in her arms, tears streaming down her face.

A few moments of silence passed, the only thing breaking it were Ivy's sniffles.

"I - I'm sorry for dragging you into my mess. I just needed to get it all out." She sobbed, wiping her tears with a sniffle.

"Hey, it's okay. I'm always happy to help." Xelia said, giving her a bittersweet smile.

"Anyway, I should get back to practice. I have a spell in mind that I could make." Ivy said, taking out her wand.

Xelia stepped back a bit, and Ivy pointed her wand at a tree.

"Conversus Lignum Bestia!" Ivy recited, watching as a blast of light hit the tree. It morphed into a dinosaur-like beast.

Ivy screamed in terror. "I didn't mean to do that!" She yelled.

Xelia knew she had to act fast. She grabbed her wand and pointed it at the beast.

"Murowa!" She yelled, watching as a blast of light was shot at the creature. It got a little bit hurt, yes, but it was still fine for the most part. It roared, getting bigger, bigger, until it was giant - like the cockatrice from the Forbidden Forest.

"We need to get the teachers! Now!" Xelia said, grabbing Ivy's hand and running away, the other girls in the field screaming and fleeing for their lives.

After they ran inside Luna Nova, Xelia told Akko and Lotte about the situation.

"Mind if I come along?" A familiar voice asked.

They turned around.

"Sucy!" Akko said, squeezing her with a hug.

"I did not miss this." She groaned.

"Anyway, we need help dealing with a monster." Xelia said. "We need to get the teachers to come quick-"

"Why don't we just use the Shiny Rod? We could use our Shiny Arc to lead it to the Forbidden Forest of Arcturus! We won't have to deal with it if we do!" Akko said happily. Lotte nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, we should do that. I'll get Ivy and Diana to come with me and help with evacuation." Lotte said, taking Ivy's hand and running to the dorms.

"I have some poisons we could use to make the beast unconscious." Sucy said, holding up a vial of green liquid. "It should be able to kick in after a few minutes of ingesting it.

"Okay then! Then we just need to use the Shiny Rod!" Akko said, taking it out. She held it out to Xelia. "Now it's your turn!"

"Wait wait wait - you sure about this, Akko? I'm not stealing something from you? You admire Shiny Chariot more than I do - and I bet there are a lot of others who'd admire her more than me - do you really think I deserve this?" Xelia asked, backing away from the wand.

Akko pushed it into Xelia's hands. "Of course I am. You're stealing anything from me - we're sharing!"

That took another weight off Xelia's chest. She sighed.

"Thanks. Now - lets go stop the beast!" Xelia said, smiling.

The three of them headed outside as fast as they could.