Chapter 9 (Keisuke Satō)

Chapter 9 is the ninth chapter of the Little Witch Academia manga series adaptation illustrated by Keisuke Satō.
==Overview==
Luna Nova hosts a welcoming party for the Earl of Hanbridge and his son, Andrew, who appears to be an old acquaintance of Diana's. Meanwhile, as Akko is stuck having to practise her metamorphosis magic after giving herself animal ears, she decides to go and search for the Fountain of Polaris, which she believes can grant her great power. During her search, she comes across Andrew, who expresses a strong disinterest in magic, and inadvertently gives him animal ears and a tail. Arriving at the location of the fountain, Akko and Andrew soon find themselves on the run from its guardian, a giant polar bear named Arcas.
==Summary==
The chapter begins with Luna Nova welcomed its guests, Paul Hanbridge, Andrew Hanbridge, and Frank accompanied by their bodyguards. Every girl present swoon over Andrew save for Diana who dismayed by his presence. As Lotte and Sucy enjoy the banquet, Ursula is dismayed over Akko's absence as she had to continue training her magic alone.
In the red team's dorm room, after another shortcoming in practicing her Metamorphosis Magic (giving herself rabbit ears and nose) and the unsuccessful attempt to cast the spell with Shiny Rod, Akko eventually gives up. Hopeless by her predicament, Akko wondered how did she able to use Shiny Rod and whether she really has magic potential within. It is then she recalled on the Fountain of Polaris, and browsing some info about it from one of her Chariot cards and her books, Akko learned that the fountain endows a witch with inner radiance the powerful magic of stars and where to find it. Confident that the fountain will solve her problem, Akko decided to make haste for that place.
Back in the party, Paul is unimpressed by the dullness of Luna Nova's ancient dance performed by the students but kept it to himself to not offend the Headmistress. Frank tells Andrew that he caught an interest in Diana whose beauty stands out from the rest only to be dismayed by the young Hanbridge's indifference. Seeing his son grew weary from the dance, Paul suggested Holbrooke give Andrew a tour, prompting the headmistress to appoint Diana as the guide. It is then Frank learned that Andrew and Diana are childhood acquaintances.
Meanwhile, Ursula, worried with Akko's progress, decided to check on her student's well-being at her dorm room. To her surprise, Akko has already left, but not without leaving an article of Fountain of Polaris and a Chariot Card pertaining the legendary location.
As Diana takes Andrew and Frank a tour around Luna Nova, Frank expresses his surprise over his classmate and Diana's ties as childhood frienfs, though Diana corrected him that they're acquaintance and nothing more. Andrew reveales that many kids distanced themselves from the Cavendish during her childhood due to wary with her magical studies, in which Diana remarked that Andrew being too occupied by the girls around him to notice their significance. Through the said conversation, the two are revealed to have debate over the importance of magic for a long time with Andrew expressed his cynicism over magic's future, irritating Frank. In the middle of that tour, Andrew got left behind due to distracted by the sight of Akko sneaking around the courtyard, leading to awkward encounter where the Hanbridge grabbed her ears twice, hurting her. Irritated by Andrew's low opinion about magic, Akko tried to demonstrate her Metamorphosis Magic on a nearby squirrel only to unintentionally (or rather comically) gives the young man donkey ears and tail. Eluding Frank and Diana, Andrew reluctantly tags along with Akko in her search for the Fountain of Polaris somewhere at the north building of the Academy so they able to undo the spell once the Japanese get her hands on the star magic.
Entering the northern building, Akko and Andrew stumbled upon a large, worn-out wooden door which has a written warning in Latin that said; "Waken not the sleeping Arcas. As the protector of Polaris, Arcas will attack all those who approach the Fountain." Reading it, Andrew suggested against carelessly entering the area further only for Akko busted the door open, much to his chagrin. As soon as she did, the Japanese unwittingly stopped right in front of the said guardian; an angry polar bear-like creature with yellow four-pointed star-like crest on its snout...
==Order of appearances==
==Manga & Anime Differences==
*Being continuation of the event in the previous chapter, Akko is in her Luna Nova Uniform while stuck in her dorm room before wearing her Luna Nova robe to sneak out for the Fountain of Polaris.
*It takes Akko poorly casting Transformation Spell twice to give Andrew his donkey ears and tail instead of a single cast in the anime.
==Trivia==
*Alongside the next chapter, this chapter serves as manga adaptation of "The Fountain of Polaris".
Category:Manga chapters
Category:Little Witch Academia (Keisuke Satō)