Little Pilot Academia

Chapter 78

Diana entered the big building next to the even bigger mansion. The mansion was old, really old. It was more of a castle, in actuality. The stone walls had battlements on top, though a roof had been built to turn the entire thing, that had at some point been a fortress into a big, stone cold house. The side building, on the other hand, was newer. Built next to the stables, it was no older than a hundred and twenty years. Old, sure, but it had been remodeled a few times and it held up pretty well. Flat roof, flat walls, small windows, only a wide, metallic door.

It was a garage.

Diana entered through the smaller door within the big one. The lights didn't even work anymore, so she took out her wand to use as a light, since the morning sunlight streaming down the windows wasn't really enough. And, under the green light of magic, she looked at The Pony. Her mother's broom. Now hers.

It's design was old fashioned. The back wings curved like a crescent moon, having two vertical stabilizers, since it was a broom created for Earth piloting, and the engine had three small nozzles for the exhaust. The main body around the cockpit was thin, but it gradually widened until it bounced and ended in a wide, rounded nose. It was painted a vintage brown, almost as if it was made out of wood.

Diana felt nostalgic, and sad. She got closer to the broom, putting her hand in it. She could almost hear her mother's voice as she took her into the cockpit and allowed her to drive the broom in the roundabout in front of the mansion. Diana had little memories from before her mother passed away, but most of them had her mother as the common denominator.

She was relieved to see the broom still there. Her aunt was dirty enough to try and move it away or something. Of course, sadly, it hadn't received any maintenance for the past fifteen years. It was un-usable, and the magic inside it probably faded long, long ago. Re-making all the magic circuits would cost a fortune. The ship wasn't valuable for anything other than its uniqueness and achievements.

Diana felt her heart ache. She didn't want to think of the monetary value of the ship, but what could she do? She needed to talk to her aunt about this. She often won arguments against her, but if she went unsupervised for another month and a half...

Diana wished she had brought Barbara or Hannah- Well, no. She wished Akko was there. Akko's energy would probably have helped clear her mind a little. But she was also distracting, and Diana wasn't talking only about her hyperactivity. Having Akko in her house could lead to things Diana wasn't ready to do. In fact, she was already starting to regret what had happened the day prior.

Would Akko recognize her mother's ship? She had never raced Chariot, so it was unlikely. Her health had started to decline months before Chariot finally made her debut on the Inter-Planetary pilot tournament. Had Chariot known about the true nature of the Shiny Rod? Maybe that's why she had disappeared. Diana had felt... betrayed, when Chariot vanished. Her mother had died so soon after that. Diana had lost her two idols in the span of a week.

She missed Bernadette so much that she had grown used to not thinking of her. It threw her off. It made her emotional. In other words, it was a weakness she couldn't let others see. Barbara and Hannah kind of knew about it, though they didn't really know to which extent it could affect her. Diana doubted she'd ever be able to tell them.

She climbed on top of the broom. It was easy to walk in it, since the top was mostly flat. She approached the cockpit. The windshield, as everything else, was covered in dust. Opening it proved to be hard, but she persevered and managed to do it after some struggling. The inside was also kind of dusty, though nothing Diana couldn't handle. She sat on the pilot's seat. There was some disappointment when the smell of her mother didn't come to her nose, as it was something her brain had attached to the identity of the place. The seat was comfortable, more comfortable than the Shooting Star's and even the Shiny Rod's, though she was probably biased. It was a leather-lined seat, and Diana could see scratches here and there. She saw one she had done on purpose. It was a heart. Her mother hadn't been angry about it.