Jamming Out
for @theneonflower
Fandom: Little Witch Academia | Pairing: Dianakko Word Count: 1,044 | Read Time: ~4 minutes
Akko danced around her room while she cleaned, twirling and singing along to the different songs that came on her MP3. She had decided at the beginning of her disciplinary chore that she would at least have fun with it. The last time she was told to clean something didn’t go too well but that was only because she was barely able to focus without something to keep her mentally occupied. And boy did she put on quite a show while she was cleaning.
“Every time I hit the street, I am caught up in the beat! Everyone I meet is Tokyo-o-ing And I wanna go~” Akko was using the broom as a microphone stand, dipping it as she sang into the chorus. “People everywhere will try To be Tokyo tonight, Leave it all behind it's Tokyo-o-ing And I wanna go~ Shibuya eto!”
She made a leap into the air and felt her face flush as she slid on her knees, back practically parallel with her shins.
“Chikatetsu de shibuya Watashi wa SO HAPPY!! Harajuku de tanoshimou kono machi de iku toko dokomo suteki Tokyo dreams!”
Akko was in the middle of her solo when she opened her eyes and stared at the unmistakeable shoes of Diana. She had fallen back in surprise and hit her head on the floor of the room with a soft “ow!” She quickly paused the song and ripped out her earbuds. How long had she been standing there? Akko knew she left the door open but... did Diana really see her entire performance of parading around like a dork?
“D-Diana!” Akko could barely manage to say her name. Was she in trouble? “Sorry, was I too loud?”
Diana had only been on her way back to her room when she’d heard Akko from down the hall. She wasn’t too loud, but it was definitely hard to ignore when she was so intensely focused on the lyrics and her delivery.
“A bit,” she said, crossing her arms. Diana knew not the name of the song nor the artist that sang it but from what she heard, Akko had sang it marvelously. Diana had no idea that Akko could sing, and this peaked her interest. “What are you listening to?” Akko had opened her mouth to apologize but instead formed a solid “oh” when Diana asked the question. “Just Becca’s earlier album, Tokyo-o-ing, This song, Shibuya, is one of my favorites, although I like the Hatsune Miku version better.” Akko stood up and brushed herself off. There was a long pause between the two of them as it registered to her that Diana had no idea what she was talking about. “Would you... like to listen with me?”
Now it was Diana’s turn to be taken aback. She pouted a bit as she thought about the implications of the action, whether or not it would distract Akko from her work, or if she even should intrude on the girl’s afternoon. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah!” Akko grinned. “Of course! I’m done sweeping anyways,” she set the broom against the wall and moved to sit on her bed, patting the space beside her. Diana hesitated before stepping in, closing the door behind her, just in case any faculty were to walk by while Akko was supposed to be cleaning. She sank into the bed slowly, careful not to intrude or get too close. She stared at the earbud with a quirked brow, taking it and watching as Akko put the other one in her ear before mimicking the action.
“Hang on, I gotta restart the song so you have the full thing for comparison.” Akko quickly started the song over and watched Diana listen. Watching her react to Synth music was rather entertaining, but Diana had adjusted to the soft percussive sound before Akko had a chance to giggle.
She closed her eyes, listened to every layer at work, tried to imagine their sounds separately, then together. When the song shifted from English to Japanese, Diana found her brain working twice as hard to comprehend, having to translate one language that was entirely uncommon to her life was jarring enough if the music’s style wasn’t already.
When the song ended, Akko pressed pause on her playlist and flipped through the tracks she had before finding the other version she wanted Diana to hear. “Okay, so this one plays with stereo more and sound as a 3D space so...” Akko took the earbud out of her own ear and moved to put it in Diana’s own ear, leaning across the blonde’s lap to do so.
Diana had been caught off guard by Akko’s disregard for personal space and felt her face heat up as Akko’s hand trailed from her ear down past her cheek, pulling away quickly. She was more shocked by this version of the song than the last, due to the fact that it was her first time hearing a synthesized voice. She thought about what magic effects could be used to produce similar results but shook the thought out of her head when it distracted her from listening. She had trouble comprehending the Vocaloid’s speech patterns at times, and thus things were lost in translation, but it was essentially the same message as it was in the previous song, so Diana supposed it didn’t matter. Akko was right about the usage of sound as a 3D space, for when she was getting two separate vocals harmonizing on either side of her, she had to refrain from turning to look either direction, or reacting much at all. Akko’s taste in music was interesting to say the least.
Akko had been keeping track of the song’s timing via her MP3′s screen and paused her playlist before anything else could fade into existence, grinning widely as Diana took the earbuds out of her ears. “Well?”
What was it that the commoners said to songs with nice rhythms and melodies? Diana was sure she had heard either Hannah or Barbara say it, maybe not exactly the phrasing that came to mind but something similar. “It’s a jam...?”
Akko snickered and Diana blushed, embarrassed that she was uncultured to some degree when it came to these sorts of things. Now who was being the dork?
