On Sunday, they met at a river that ran through the campus for the morning swim. Akko carefully dunked the fishbowl in slow moving water so that Prof. Pisces could swim out safely. After Diana transformed to a fish, Akko changed into her usual merman form.

Together, they followed the river to the lake.

"Prof. Pisces, Akko told me about the exam. Thank you for your help," said Diana.

Akko translated, "She says you're welcome. She'll do her best to hold your aunt off, so don't tell anyone. LNN has many ears."

The sun lit the lake's surface, exposing various fish hiding among submerged plants and lily pads.

"It's quite nice here," said Diana as she looked around.

"I bought some snacks, Prof. Pisces," said Akko as she released a few very small seaweed pellets from a vial. "These are from Okinawa."

( Why thank you, Akko! ) Prof. Pisces sampled a pellet. ( This is quite different from the last one. )

"This has some crushed sea urchin in it."

( How interesting! ) Pisces nibbled another pellet. Diana swam next to a pellet and stared at it.

"You don't have to eat that, Diana. I have some in packages if you want to try. These are specially made for Prof. Pisces."

"Is that so? Perhaps, I'll try some while we study," said Diana.

They explored underwater plants and local wildlife. Diana seemed like a child who was discovering things for the first time. Akko wished that she could see her facial expression but she could tell Diana's reaction by her wiggling fins and tail. From time to time, Akko would give seaweed pellets to Prof. Pisces. She was still a fish so Akko had to be careful not to over feed her.

One hour passed quickly and they returned to their dive point. After dropping off Prof. Pisces in her office, Diana asked, "Do you mind if we swim with just the two of us?"

"Sure! When do you want to do it?"

"How about Saturday morning?"

"Ok!"

-----

On Monday, Diana received news from Juniper. "Amanda, Constanze, do you mind if we talk in your room after dinner?"

"Sure," replied Amanda. Constanze nodded.

"Can you come, Akko?"

"Yeah, that's fine."

They met there after dinner. Diana began to cast a spell, but Constanze stopped her and pointed to her bed. Akko immediately understood and guided Diana to the bed. "Sit close to me."

When the four of them were seated, Constanze pushed down on a bed post. As soon as the bed flipped, Diana yelped with surprise. Akko held her so that she landed on her lap when they fell into the cart. "It's ok. We're just going to her workshop."

The signal on the wall counted up to three and the cart careened down the railway. Diana threw her arms around her neck and screamed as the cart zigzagged through the dim corridor. She forgot that Diana wasn't very good with rides. Then the cart plummeted down and dumped them over a soft green couch. Constanze and Amanda landed in a sitting position but Akko landed awkwardly since Diana had wrapped her arms around her neck while her legs straddled her waist.

Amanda whistled. "Need a room?"

Diana gasped and tried to disentangle herself. Akko tried as well and they both fell off the couch with Diana landing on top of her.

"Ooohhhh... Diana's a top! Say cheese!" Amanda snapped a photo.

"Stop that!" said Diana who tried to rise with her elbow which ended up on Akko's neck.

"C--ca--n't b--bre---" gasped Akko.

"I'm sorry!" Diana moved her elbow.

There was a loud clanking noise from above and an iron claw lifted Diana, placing her in a standing position. Across the room, Constanze operated several levers.

Akko rubbed her neck. "Thanks, Constanze."

Constanze moved more levers and the walls glowed green.

"Cons secured the room," said Amanda as she put the camera on a shelf.

Diana looked around in awe and turned to Constanze. "Incredible! Is this is your workshop?" Constanze nodded.

"She specifically asked for a ground floor room," said Amanda. "Don't tell anyone."

"I see. Thank you for hosting our meeting." Diana took an orb from her pocket and started a chat. Juniper's image appeared above it.

"Hi everyone."

"Hey, Aunt June! How's it going?" greeted Amanda.

"Quite well. Remember Fafnir?"

"Yeah?"

"We found plans in his home. Some of the drawings match."

"That's good news indeed. Have you found a motivation?" asked Diana.

"Not yet. Wilma's translating a lot of parchments. The plans are dated from about the 7th century. Do any of these look familiar?" An image of parchment appeared. A drawing of a large arch was on it. A few seconds later, a different drawing appeared. Six more drawings were shown.

"There are similarities to the ones we found," said Diana.

"I don't recognize anything," said Amanda. Constanze shook her head.

"There's art that looks like the ones near the Shrine," said Akko.

"Oh, yes. I confirm that as well. Thanks for reminding me, Akko," said Diana. "Do you have the copies of the Shrine glyphs?"

"We do," said Juniper.

"Ask Wilma to compare them and see how much they match."

"I shall. Where's Fafnir?" asked Juniper.

"The Hexenritter have him imprisoned. Lt. Reinhart keeps me updated. He's still unconscious."

"Please ask her if I can see him. Maybe, I can read his mind."

"I will. Please let me know what you find."

"Of course. Good luck and good night."

"Good night," said Diana. She put the orb away.

"Cons wants to know more about the drawings," said Amanda.

Diana explained the cases with Juniper and the mysterious carvings around the Shrine. Constanze began to sketch on a drawing board. Diana stopped her explanation.

"Keep talking," said Akko. "She does that when she's thinking."

Diana continued for a while until Constanze activated her orb and replayed Akko's memory of Katrina's examination of the heap of parchment that Jennifer stole. She stopped the memory at a certain page and rotated the image. She held up five fingers.

Understanding lit Akko's face. "The fifth page that Juniper showed! It matches this one in my memory!"

Diana's jaw dropped. She activated her orb. "I'm asking Juniper for a copy of the plans." A few minutes later, her orb chimed. "Here it is." An image of the drawing appeared. Although Akko's memory only contained a portion of the drawing, there was enough of it to make a match.

"Do you mind if we give Juniper a copy of your memory? Just the scroll parts." asked Diana.

"Go ahead," said Akko.

Meanwhile, Constanze copied the visible portions of the drawings to the large parchment on her drawing board. Since the memory was from her point of view while she was a mouse on Woodward's head, the perspective made it difficult to see the parts furthest away.

Amanda stared at the drawings. "What could this be?" Constanze gestured and pointed to certain drawings. "Some kind of power generator, huh? Anything else? Oh, you can't read Dragon?"

"I'll be happy to translate," said Diana.

Amanda picked up a pencil and offered it. "Cons said you can write on it."

For the next 20 minutes, Diana wrote the translations. "I think that's all I could find. Some are too blurry."

"Cons says that's good enough. She'll look at it later."

Constanze led them back to the exit seat. When Amanda blasted off first, Diana's face turned a shade of gray. Akko held her hand. "Don't worry. We'll go together."

When the seat came back, Akko sat first and made Diana sit on her lap. She put her arms around Diana's waist. "Ready?"

Diana held on to the armrest and nodded. "Y-yes."

Akko nodded to Constanze who pressed the button. The seat accelerated and Diana gasped. Once again, she clung to Akko's neck. Akko counted patiently then quickly cast a shield around them. The bed flipped and they bounced off the ceiling to land on the bed with Diana on top of her.

"You really are a top. Should we leave?" asked Amanda with a smirk.

Akko helped Diana stand. "Nope. We're leaving."

After thanking Constanze and Amanda for their hospitality, Akko walked Diana back to her room. She felt her wrist and asked softly, "Diana... about the binding... Do you feel something when you think of me?"

Diana looked surprised. "I did... but I thought I caused it by my own wishful thinking. It makes more sense if the binding is giving us feedback."

"It's pretty cool!"

Diana giggled. "Yes, it is!"

They stopped in front of Diana's room. "Well... good night."

Diana looked left and right and quickly kissed her on the cheek. "Good night."

Akko blushed and said again, "G-good night." She walked to her room in a daze.

-----

They waited at Luna Nova's gates as usual. A hazy form solidified into Sanya.

"Good evening. I hope both of you are doing well." Her eyes moved to Diana.

"I'm doing much better, thanks to Akko," said Diana.

Sanya flicked her wand. "Do you mind?"

"Please do."

Sanya cast a spell which revealed her aura. For a while, Sanya stared at the colors, then she nodded approvingly. "Much, much better. I can tell you're quite happy. I trust you two have worked it out?" She gestured towards a translucent violet band around Diana's left wrist.

"Yes." Pale cheeks turned pink and Diana touched the band.

Akko could feel her right wrist tingle. She stared at it and glanced at the purple band. If she cast the aura reveal spell, would her band be visible too?

"I believe we were practicing spell reinforcement. Shall we continue?"

"Please."

-----

After Sanya left, Akko cast the aura spell on herself. To her delight, she could see the purple band on her right wrist. "Look, Diana!"

"I see it. I was surprised that the binding could be revealed like that."

"Sanya said that physical conditions appear differently in the dreamscape, but the aura is the same awake or asleep."

"She said that I looked better and that I'm happy. How was she able to tell that?"

"By the colors. You have a lot of bright green and yellow now. When you were under the potion's effects, your aura had a lot of muddy red and orange. She said those muddy colors meant that you had a lot of anger and emotional imbalance."

"I see. I'll have to look into this." She put her arms around her neck. "But first, I'd like to try an experiment."

Akko looked slyly at her. "What kind?"

"This." Diana leaned in and caressed her lips. "Did you feel that?"

"Maybe... I need another sample."

A pale eyebrow rose and pink lips snared hers. She asked huskily, "How many samples do you need?"

Akko licked her lips. "100?"

Diana tapped her nose. "We have Finneran in the morning. You shouldn't be late."

"70?"

"50."

"35?"

"All right. I want your report in the morning." She winked.

Akko felt herself fading for a moment and the courtyard around them blurred. Then they were on Diana's bed in her home.

Diana caressed her cheek. "Here's the third one."

An inquisitive tongue parted her lips and Akko welcomed the explorer. As Diana played with her tongue, the feeling seemed less intense. Was this why Diana wanted to experiment? Sanya said that physical senses didn't have a complete correspondence within the dreamscape. If the dreamer expected a certain effect, then that sensation manifested as a result of the dreamer's expectation. Still, this was a chance to express her love for Diana without being interrupted or observed. Throughout the week, there were many times when she wanted to hold Diana's hand or kiss her, but she dared not. The dreamscape offered sanctuary and she took advantage of it by returning the kiss as passionately as she could manage.

When they paused to catch their breath, Akko whispered, "I miss holding you like this."

"Me too. This doesn't feel the same though."

"Yeah..."

"Do you mind if we do this after we work with Sanya?"

"That's great idea! Let's do it!"

They shared kiss after kiss until they faded from the dreamscape, still in a warm embrace.

-----

Later in the week, Akko noticed Constanze and Amanda behind the main building. Constanze had taken her shirt off and a sweat soaked sports bra provided modesty. Fingerless gloves protected her hands as she swung a padded wooden hammer over her head while standing within a crude circle drawn with chalk. There were five ping pong balls, with one ball hovering in the middle of the circle while the others were spaced equidistant to each other.

Akko walked up to Amanda. "What's she doing?"

"Practicing spell forging." Amanda held an orb which replayed Katrina forging. Constanze bent her knees and swung down. The hammer missed the ball but the handle hit her on the chin. The little witch grunted. "You ok?" asked Amanda in a concerned voice.

Constanze rubbed her chin and raised the hammer above her head. Half way down the handle, her left hand supported the hammer by the ridge of her index finger.

"Hold on." Amanda walked over and held the orb at Constanze's eye level. "I think you're holding it too far in. See? With the way you're holding it, there's about five inches of wood that can hit you when you swing down. Move your right hand closer to the end." Constanze adjusted her hand. "Yeah, that looks about right." After Amanda moved away, Constanze tried the motion again but wasn't able to hit the ball.

"This looks like fun! Can I try?" asked Akko.

Constanze walked over and gave her the hammer. Akko almost dropped it since it was heavier that she expected. "Whoa... you've been swinging this?"

"It's weighted to be similar to a real hammer," said Amanda.

Meanwhile, Constanze sat down and drank noisily from a bottle, with some water dribbling from the sides of her mouth. Grabbing a towel, she wiped off her sweat.

Amanda showed the memory. "Start like this then switch hands while swinging down to scoop up mats."

"Looks easy enough." Akko shrugged her shoulders to loosen up. She assumed the starting position and whipped her right wrist to create momentum. She thrust her left hand to grab the handle, but pushed the handle so hard that it slipped out of her right hand, causing the hammer to tilt towards her head instead of away from it. "GAAAAHHH!"

Amanda quickly caught the hammer. "Yikes! You ok?!" Meanwhile, Constanze chuckled.

Akko rubbed the side of her head. "Ow... the hammer's pretty heavy. My hand slipped."

"Lemme wipe it." Amanda took a towel from the bench and wiped the handle. "It's like this." From the starting position, Amanda's nimble hands rotated the hammer and swung down to hit a ping pong ball. The ball rolled into the corridor.

"Playing cricket?" asked Diana who picked up the ball. "This is too small."

"We're spell forging!" said Akko.

"Spell forging?"

"This one." Amanda showed the memory to Diana then gave the orb to Akko. She stood in the circle. "You start like this, then do a quick twirl and WHAM!" The hammer hit the ping pong ball. She offered the hammer to Diana. "Wanna try?"

"All right." Diana took the hammer. "Hmmm... this is quite heavy."

"If it's too heavy for you, maybe you shouldn't do it," said Amanda.

"It's fine." Diana stood in the circle.

Akko's eyes twinkled with anticipation and she prepared a shield spell. It would be so cute to see a clumsy Diana. Her beloved twirled the hammer and a ball bounced away. Akko's jaw dropped.

Amanda whistled. "You go, girl!"

With a very grumpy look on her face, Constanze marched over and took the hammer. She pushed her out of the circle and made a shoo-ing gesture.

Akko broke out of her astonishment and hugged Diana. "Amazing! That's my Diana! I thought the hammer would be too heavy for you."

Diana glanced at Constanze. "Beginner's luck. After all that digging with Juniper, I got used to lifting heavy things."

"You're really talen---" A finger landed on Akko's lips. For a few moments, she wondered why then she understood. Constanze was working hard but Diana did it on her first try.

"I've been looking for you," said Diana.

"What is it?"

"I managed to get Numerology homework and exams from previous years. Would you like to go through them?"

"Yeah!" Numerology wasn't one of her better subjects. She turned. "Good luck Constanze!" At her words, Constanze missed a grab, and the hammer twisted the wrong way to hit her on the knee. "Ooops..."

Diana winced in sympathy. "Let's not bother them anymore." As they walked away, she said, "I appreciate the compliment, Akko. I'm sorry I stopped you."

Akko touched her hand briefly. "I understand. I think it's pretty cool that you didn't brag."

"Beginner's luck," said Diana modestly.

-----

On Saturday morning, they walked to the river. Akko waited for Diana to transform first then she followed in her merman form. They swam to the lake. Once there, Diana cast the metamorphosis spell. At first Akko thought that Diana wanted to swim, but when she saw that only her upper body changed to human form, she turned away and pinched her nose. "Oh no, oh no... Please, please don't bleed!" thought Akko in a panic.

"Is this better?" asked Diana.

Akko turned around slowly and opened her eyelids just a little. To her relief, water lilies and large leaves covered Diana's torso. "Uh... yes..."

Diana swam closer. "Are you bleeding?"

Akko swallowed nervously and let go of her nose. She quickly looked at her fingers. "N-no..."

"That's good." Diana smiled. "One mystery solved."

"What mystery?"

"Of your bleeding. I thought about it when I remembered your nose bleeding after I accidently left the bath door open. I was concerned about your bleeding, so I did some research about Japanese nosebleeds. Were you too... happy... to see me naked?"

Her scales twitched when she mentioned the word happy. Diana probably meant to say something else. "N-not really..." Diana crossed her arms and looked steadily at her. She turned away. Hands held the sides of her head and blue eyes bored into hers. "M-maybe a little..."

Diana giggled, creating a stream of bubbles. "Prof. Pisces isn't here. You don't have to use that form."

It wasn't exactly a request, but Akko understood and transformed. For her tail, she copied an orange and white koi fish. "How about this?"

"Hmmm..... A mermaid with a uniform. Strange, but cute." Blue eyes twinkled with amusement but gazed at her like a cat about to pounce on a mouse.

Akko looked at her chest and saw she still had her uniform. Except for water lilies, Diana wasn't wearing anything else. "Hold on..." She tried again and used some of the water lilies above them to cover her front. "Tada!"

"Much better." Diana swam closer and slipped her arms around her waist. Her hands slid lightly across the small of her back, causing Akko to shiver at the contact of skin on skin.

Akko's heart began to beat faster as those shapely pink lips drew near. The blue tail wrapped around hers. Her lips were cool but her