Chapter 17 (Keisuke Satō)

## Chapter 17

**Chapter 17** is the seventheenth and final chapter of the *Little Witch Academia* manga series adaptation illustrated by Keisuke Satō as well as the fourth and final part of its four-parter finale.

## Overview

*Akko and Diana decide to continue the broom race together, but the opponent who stole the Shiny Rod proves to be a great challenge. After recovering the Shiny Rod and being trapped by the magic of the trees, Akko manages to use the Shiny Arc in the last second to get shot first to the goal with some help from her Metamorphosis Magic. The teacher of the rival school is revealed to be Woodward, who explains to Ursula that she was giving Akko a push.*

## Summary

Picking up from where the previous chapter left off, Akko is surprised to see the newly healed Diana saved her life, more so after the Cavendish revealed it was thanks to Sucy. The Japanese then points at Mirage as she tells Diana that the rival school's anchor has stolen the Shiny Rod. As much as she fully aware her forceful entry into the ongoing interschool broom race would negatively affect the event's end result, Diana made it clear she won't tolerate thievery either thus made her mind in assisting Akko and reclaim the staff along the way. Undaunted, Mirage dares them to come and get her for it.

Not surprisingly, Miranda becomes anxious by the race's unexpected turn of events despite Finnelan's reassurance that Diana's interference improves Luna Nova's chance to win. The Headmistress only eased a bit after the rival school professor states that the race should continue owing to both parties' agreement in the track while Ursula can only hope for Diana and Akko's success over the challenge before them.

A fierce competition between two anchors ensue as they swiftly skim through Slalom Ruins with their respective incredible maneuvers during which Diana reminds Akko that they are riding double because their situation demanded it and that she still considers the Japanese a dead weight. To turn the tables into her favor, Mirage attempts to perform Shiny Arc against the two with the Shiny Rod, but the staff doesn't respond to her command despite of her already familiar with the First Word of Seven Words of Arcturus somehow. Disappointed, the rival school anchor tosses the staff aside, prompting Akko to catch it only to realize she does so while jumping off Diana's broom at the same time, much to everyone's shock. Predictably, Diana had to catch Akko *again* while Mirage nonchalantly tells Luna Nova's top student that she shouldn't bother herself to help some dead weights like the Japanese. Although the Cavendish acknowledged that Mirage does have a point in it, she did so anyways because of her already developed genuine admiration and respect towards her friend's determination.

With Shiny Rod proved useless on her hands, Mirage decides to use other tricks in her sleeve. She first magically influences the trees around them to grow extremely tall, then conjures several enchanted leaves that fly orbiting Diana's head to blind her, forcing the Cavendish to have Akko guide her as they navigate their way out of Mirage's bewitched trees as the anxious audience back at Luna Nova watch via. conjured screens. The enchanted leaves disappear by the time Akko and Diana managed to get out of such complicated nature maze, but it already bought Mirage enough time to nearly reach the finish line. Despite this, both girls manage to prove Mirage that they still able to win; using Shiny Rod's bow form in conjunction of Diana's Object Control Magic skills and the Cavendish's broom, Akko propels herself towards the finish line and even magically turns herself into a winged elephant for extra boost of speed, outperforming the rival school anchor and winning the race in the process. To her further joy, the Japanese discovers her Metamorphosis Magic mastery has significantly improves as everyone celebrates Luna Nova's victory as much as her peers amused by her winged elephant form's rather cartoonish form. Finnelan and Holbrooke celebrate as well before eventually notice the rival school professor's disappearance.

In the woods not too far from Luna Nova, the rival school professor dismisses her students, telling them that they have done her a favor as Mirage and her cohorts reveal themselves as dryads while disappearing. Ursula enters the scene as this happens and correctly deduces the professor as the corporeal mortal disguise of one of Nine Olde Witches and her ancient mentor, Woodward. As it turns out, Woodward orchestrated the interschool broom race as a push for Akko to ensure she would be ready for what lies ahead (the search for the remaining Seven Words of Arcturus). Having witnessed the extent of her protégé's determination, Ursula expresses her faith that the Japanese is more than ready for it, something the ancient witch agrees on as she also disappears.

Later in the same day, Akko is fast asleep despite her roommates' attempt to wake her up due to the upcoming potion class. Seeing how the race exhausted her, they eventually decided to left her be for now.

The last few pages contain Akko's narration from her noting that witches in general are not always as wicked as in storybooks and old tales to adventures she had from the day she enrolled at Luna Nova, some of which she decided to save for another time.

## Order of appearances

* Atsuko Kagari
* Diana Cavendish
* Wangari
* Miranda Holbrooke
* Anne Finnelan
* Woodward
* Ursula Callistis
* Sucy Manbavaran
* Lotte Jansson
* Amanda O'Neill
* Constanze Amalie von Braunschbank-Albrechtsberger
* Jasminka Antonenko
* Shiny Rod
* Magic Broom
* Magic Wand
* Seven Words of Arcturus
	+ First Word: Noctu Orfei Aude Fraetor
* Transformation Spell
* Dryad

## Trivia

* Considering Akko manages to perform Metamorphosis Magic with greater success for the first time albeit the end result being a winged elephant during the final part of the manga's four-parter finale, the whole event from Annabel Crème the 12th's sudden visit to Luna Nova during which Lotte learns Barbara's passion for Night Fall series to Akko and Diana winning the interschool broom race that secretly orchestrated by Woodward suggestively take place sometime between "Bee Commotion" and two-parter first cour finale ("What You Will" and "Samhain Magic").
	+ The four-parter finale, however, had a contradicting point where Akko learned about the Second Word of the Seven Words of Arcturus when consulting with Ursula about Luna Nova's future in facing the upcoming interschool broom race as opposed of asking whether she and Shiny Chariot are classmates during their school days unaware that they are the same person as shown in "Blue Moon". This in turn, indicated the events of said episode and two-parter first cour finale will be played differently had the manga continued just like its first and second chapters with "A New Beginning" and fifth and sixth chapter with "Luna Nova and the White Dragon".