BAM

ANOTHER UPDATE

TAKE THAT PROCRASTINATION

*flips a table*

Anyway, I realized halfway through the day that I hadn't even started this chapter, and went into full-blown panic mode because my phone was almost dead and I needed to start writing so I could publish it with a minimum of 1,000 words.

Daily updates are actually quite fun, and I'm pretty sure I'd hate myself if I stopped now.

Well, I'm going to watch more Death Note and play Mystic Messenger now, enjoy the hastily-written chapter that — hopefully — gives you more info on the ghouls in this AU!

(This was actually originally going to be part of the last chapter, but I wanted to update yesterday so I just found a stopping point and published it)

"Are you going to explain yourself?"

"It was nothing, I swear!"

Alya was latched on to Marinette's shoulders before class began, refusing to stop pestering her until Marinette explained what she was doing with Adrien.

"Marinette, do not tell me it's nothing! You just walked into class with your crush holding your hand, do you realize how important this event is?"

Marinette let out a strangled cry, dropping her head into her hands as red spread across her cheeks, "I know," she whined, lifting her head and looking into Alya's eyes, "I told you, I was helping in the café when he came by to get coffee, and when he saw the time he offered to walk to school together. That's it, I swear!"

Alya nodded, disbelief spreading across her features, "Yeah. Sure."

It was at this time their homeroom teacher walked in, setting her things by the front desk and opening a folder to take attendance. The only one absent was Juleka, which worried Marinette slightly.

"As most of you know, there's been a steady increase in ghoul attacks lately, and though as of now there haven't been many in the area, the CCG — Commission of Counter Ghoul — has requested for schools to begin teaching students more of ghouls so that they can have an increased chance of avoiding them."

Marinette saw Adrien tense slightly in his seat, and she understood why. They'd learned about ghouls in school before, but never had an actual unit on it.

"Yes," Alya whispered excitedly, "it's about time we learned something interesting."

The ghoul simply smiled at her friend, laughing at the excitement in the girl's tone, "You'll ace this unit, Alya."

"Quiet down, class, this is a serious matter." the Mrs. Bustier called, hushing the sudden chatter that erupted in the room. "We've been provided the information that we are required to share with you all, so please pay attention. It would be a shame for any of you to get hurt because of a ghoul."

She turned on the overhead projector, and Marinette caught a snide comment coming from Chloé's area, "This is so stupid, if you don't want to get eaten then just don't go anywhere with a ghoul, simple?"

Marinette sighed, of course Chloé would think like that.

The teacher turned off the lights at the front of the room, illuminating the projector as the slideshow was pulled up.

"It's common knowledge that ghouls reside in Paris, as well as several other major cities around the globe, with the heaviest known population of them being in Tokyo." she said, turning to the class, "Adrien, I'm sure you know of the issue with your dad being an Investgator?"

The said boy nodded, though Marinette could sense obvious hesitation in his movements, "Yeah, he's currently in Japan trying to help put the situation under control."

Nodding, Mrs. Bustier pulled up a map of Paris, several red dots littering the streets. "This is a map given to us by the CCG, the red dots you see are where ghoul attacks have happened over the past two years." Her hand traveled along the map, eventually stopping by the Eiffel Tower. "Thankfully, our *arrondissement has seen close to no attacks. They don't know if it's because we're close to the Eiffel Tower — and several more people come here daily — or if the number of ghouls is smaller than other arrondissements."

Chloé raised her hand, and Mrs. Bustier sighed, "Yes, Chloé?"

"Can I leave?"

"Why do you need to leave, Chloé?"

"Ghouls aren't real, it just has to be some group of serial killers. I'm not interested in things that don't exist."

Marinette felt bad for the teacher having to deal with the spoiled girl.

"Chloé, you can't leave this class because of something like that. It's that kind of attitude that'll get you killed."

As she spoke, Mrs. Bustier clicked to a new slide on the power point, on it was two photos and a small paragraph.

Marinette recognized the face immediately.

It was a man, probably in his late teens or early twenties, with messy black hair and a mask that resembled some hellish cross between a rat and a cat. The first photo was blurry and low-quality, and the second was a drawing done by a talented artist.

"Along with information about the ghoul species, we also received information about powerful ghouls who're being hunted down by the CCG. The one you see on the screen is known as 'The Gourmet', and is known for luring humans to infamous 'ghoul restaurants', where they're killed and served to multiple ghouls. Unfortunately they can never seem to find these hideouts that often."

Chloé sunk back into her seat, "That's just some stupid cosplayer..." she muttered.

Marinette's heart skipped a beat as the teacher went to the next slide, subconsciously beginning to mess with her hair.

Up on the screen was a photo of her, dressed in a black and red hoodie with a mask resembling a ladybug. Her kagune flared out behind her in a burst of red and black. Thankfully her dark blue hair was hidden by a scarlet wig.

Unlike the last slide, the photo was in much better quality, and there was no drawing.

"This is the S-Ranked ghoul known as 'Ladybug'. Unfortunately, like you can see from the small amount of info, there isn't much known about her. The few time she's been seen were after one or two other ghouls in the area were taken out by the CCG. She appeared afterwards and attacked recklessly, killing an investigator and fleeing just as quickly."

Chloé piped up quickly, "She just sounds like a coward to me." she said, though there was an obvious hint of fear in her eyes at the sight of the wing-like kagune.

"Even if she is a coward, she'd be able to kill you in a heartbeat."

Chloé opened her mouth to reply, but Mrs, Bustier switched the slide.

Marinette would recognize this ghoul anywhere, even if the photo was only a rough sketch. It was an SSS rank, one that — thankfully — resided on the other side of the city.

His mask resembled a butterfly, it's wings stretching across his red eyes that peeked through the purple mask. A rinkaku kagune spread out from behind him in shades of a bruise-like red.

He was terrifying, and rightfully so.

"This ghoul is one of the more severe cases, most investigators who go up against him are either seriously injured or killed."

The teacher quickly exited the PowerPoint, instead opening a separate file on her laptop, a video labeled "kagune".

Chloé looked like she was about to protest, but the teacher started the video before a single word could escape her mouth.

Marinette braced herself for the things she already knew, hoping that nothing she did could reveal her secret.

It was going to be a long day.

[*arrondissements = neighborhoods in Paris]