"Adrien gets the point!"

Kagami's mouth tightened as she nodded.

Adrien flipped up his visor. "Kagami? Are you okay?"

She looked down and away. "I'll be fine."

She had to be fine. So what if one of Adrien's 'friends' (though he didn't seem thrilled about calling her that) had set it up so she'd sit on a cake? Who cared that one of her peers had hated her so much, that she'd purposely ruined her clothes and publicly humiliated her? Who cared that for one of the few public events she looked forward to, one of the few where she really got to hang out with her one friend, she'd been forced to leave? She was a Tsurugi. Tsurugis did not get caught up in emotional matters. Tsurugis never showed weakness.

(Her mother had told her that often enough.)

(It was one reason she didn't tell her mother what had happened. She was ashamed enough of herself for showing weakness. For letting someone else upset her. She didn't want her mother to be ashamed of her as well.)

Adrien frowned, his voice lowering slightly. "Is this about what happened a couple days ago?" he asked quietly.

"It was nothing. Just some cake. It washed out."

"Kagami… you know you're allowed to feel bad about that. Right? You don't have to pretend. Not around me."

"Tsurugis CANNOT be bothered by such small things," she said stiffly, a little quicker than she'd intended.

Adrien still looked concerned. He opened his mouth as if to say something to her, but then seemed to think better of it. Instead, he turned to Mr. D'Argencourt. "Mind if we stop the lesson for today? I'm getting tired."

Kagami flushed a little. She knew Adrien was really ending it for her because she couldn't concentrate, because she was failing (she couldn't fail, she was a Tsurugi, she was not allowed to fail), but – she was grateful. He piled it on himself instead of on her, allowing her to save face.

He was a good friend.

(And maybe someday something more? If only he would change targets…)

As they walked back to the locker room, she noticed Adrien fidgeting slightly.

She frowned. She wasn't very good at reading people – she KNEW she had problems with body language – but she'd studied some guides recently, and that sort of movement usually implied that the other person was nervous or anxious somehow.

Why would Adrien be fidgeting around her?

As they sat down on a bench, taking off some of their more cumbersome equipment, he took a deep breath. "I… need to tell you something I found out a few days ago. About the cake incident."

She looked away. After she'd gotten home and changed clothes, after she'd stiffly told her mother that she needed some rest and shut the door, she'd slowly walked to her bed.

And collapsed, screaming and crying into her pillow.

She… she knew she shouldn't. That she should rise above all those who tried to bring her down.

But she just… couldn't.

It hurt.

She'd heard Chloe's parting words as she'd fled, the glee in her voice at driving her off.

Afterwards, she thought that maybe she should've turned around and fought, confronted her, refused to back down.

But at the time, she just wanted the whole thing to be over. For the nightmare to end. For it all to be a bad dream.

Hawkmoth seemed to have taken a day off at least. No butterflies came for her. Because that would've been the perfect end to the day; being akumatized for her own weakness.

"Kagami?"

She looked up, startled. Great, she'd zoned off again.

Wiping her eyes on her sleeve (She. Could. Not. Show. Weakness.) she looked over at Adrien. "What is it?"

Hesitantly, he started. "The cake incident… Chloe wasn't the only one involved."

What?

"What do you mean?" she asked, trying to get her head around that new development. How could anyone else have been 'involved'? And why? Chloe she at least knew hated her, knew she'd do that sort of thing. But… someone else?

If someone hated her, it was probably for a reason.

Hastily she ran through her encounters with everyone at the movie theater, everyone she'd ever interacted with.

It was a pretty short list.

"…Marinette helped?"

Adrien's eyes widened at her question. "You guessed that easily?"

"She was the only other person there I'd encountered before."

Marinette… Adrien thought the world of her. That she was a great friend. And from his looks towards her, and Marinette's towards him… well, it seemed like she was MORE than just a friend to him, whatever he insisted.

As for Marinette's feelings towards Adrien… well, those were clear. Though not to him.

She sort of wished that Marinette would make a move already, find out once and for all whether Adrien was interested in her. To settle the matter.

But… a very large part of her hoped that Marinette never would. She tried to quell those feelings, but… she cared for Adrien a lot. And though he hadn't been been able to change targets after their previous date, she hoped that maybe, with a little more time, he would.

And if Marinette asked him out… considering the way Adrien looked at her, talked about her?

She had a feeling that Adrien might be able to switch targets to Marinette, where he hadn't been able to do so to herself.

Dread pooled in her stomach. If Adrien thought so highly of Marinette, if Marinette was such a good friend, and yet was willing to help humiliate her publicly, to drive her off-

Had she screwed up that much?

Done something so terribly wrong, that Marinette had judged her unworthy of being around Adrien?

And… what did that mean for her own relationship with Adrien?

Would he even want to be around her anymore?

Or was she about to lose her only friend?

Adrien started to reach out to her but then seemed to think better of it, letting his hand fall back to his side. "Marinette, she… she made a mistake. She got caught up in her fears and anxieties, and let that blind her to what she was helping with. Chloe still masterminded the plan and was the main one implementing it, but- Marinette knew what it was, and still participated."

He took a deep, shuddering breath, letting it out slowly, then continued. "As soon as it happened – as soon as it succeeded – she realized what she'd done and felt horrible about it. I got a chance to talk to her later, and… well, she wanted to apologize in-person, if you were up to it. To explain herself. She wanted to make sure she wasn't forcing anything on you though and causing you MORE pain, so she asked me to relay the message to you. If you don't want to see her, she said she was okay with that. You have every right not to. But she wanted to give you the option."

Marinette… wanted to apologize?

And was giving her the power to decide whether to see her?

That… that was a lot more consideration than Kagami was used to. Normally, her feelings weren't taken into account.

But it seemed like Marinette had jumped through hoops to make sure that this was on KAGAMI'S terms.

A warmth began seeping into her stomach, replacing the dread.

"That is acceptable," she stated.

He gave her a small smile. "She's actually close by. Would… would you like to talk to her now? We can always do this another time if you don't feel up to it," he added hastily.

Talk to her now?

It was sudden, but.

Kagami was not one to hesitate.

"Yes. I'd like to speak to her."

Adrien typed a message on his phone. A small fwoosh coming from it a moment later.

"She'll be here in just a minute," he assured her. "Would you like me to stay here for this, or leave?"

"Leave us, please," she said. "I'd prefer to settle this with just the two of us."

He nodded, getting up and walking to the door.

As he opened it, he ran into Marinette.

Kagami's stomach twisted slightly as she saw the soft looks they gave each other, deeper somehow than they'd been previously, during their double date.

If they weren't dating already, she had a feeling they soon would be.

She turned away briefly, composing herself.

Whatever Adrien's choice, it had no bearing on the situation on hand.

…if only that would keep it from hurting.

"I'm sorry."

Kagami looked towards Marinette.

Her eyes were locked on the ground, a small cloth bundle in her arms. She quaked ever so slightly. "I… I needed to tell you that. It- I know it doesn't make up for what I did. But I just- I needed to let you know. If you were willing to hear it."

"…What DID you do?" Kagami asked softly.

This trembling girl, who couldn't even look her in the eye… as terrible as she'd felt these past few days, she had a feeling that Marinette had felt even worse.

Even if Marinette had helped hurt her, even if she'd lost Adrien to her – shove that thought away, you don't know that, and it's NOT RELEVANT – she didn't want to spook her.

Marinette hadn't had to do this. Chloe certainly hadn't.

She just wanted to understand what happened, and why.

"He didn't tell you?" Marinette asked, sounding surprised.

"Adrien said you helped with the plan, but not what you actually did."

Marinette took a deep breath, seeming to gather her thoughts. "I… I gathered the materials Chloe needed, like the string to move the chairs with. And… and I planted the gum that got onto your shoe."

When had she-? Oh.

"That was when you fell on the ground and spilled the macaroons?" Kagami asked.

Marinette nodded, wincing. "Honestly, I should probably apologize to Mom and Dad too. They worked hard making all those macaroons and they let me help serve them, even though they were afraid I'd drop half of them. And then I went and dropped them on purpose!

That… that wasn't all I did though. I also distracted Jagged Stone, asking him to autograph a poster for me so he'd be forced to set down the piece of cake he was holding onto the chair Chloe'd rigged. I… should probably apologize to him too, when I get the chance," she confessed guiltily. "I ended up dragging him into the plan, and he had no idea about it, but… well, I still kinda ended up using him."

So she hadn't really executed the worst part of the plan at least. She wasn't happy with Marinette, but…

Well, Marinette seemed to feel bad enough already.

"Why did you do it?"

Marinette was quiet for a moment, then spoke, her words coming out haltingly at first, then in a rush, as if forcing the poison out of her body. "I… I was jealous. And scared. Chloe convinced me that we were good and you were bad, and that you were gonna steal Adrien away to Japan and marry him and I'd never see him again and this was my one chance to stop that from happening and it was stupid and I was stupid and I'm sorry that was no excuse and- and-!"

Her breath hitched, small sobs coming out as her shoulders shook.

Kagami was in a different sort of turmoil. Marinette had thought…? MARRIED… and that they'd go to JAPAN…?

"Heh."

Marinette looked up, her sobs slowing.

Kagami tried to suppress it, but… she couldn't help herself.

"Heh heh. Ha ha ha. HA HA HA HA HA!"

She nearly doubled over laughing.

"What's so funny?" Marinette asked. Her voice still trembled a little, but she mostly just seemed confused.

Kagami wiped the tears from her eyes. It just felt so good, after all the stress and emotion, to let it out as laughter instead of cries.

"My mother barely approves of Adrien. She thinks he's fairly decent as far as young people go, but… that's it. I usually have to persuade her that it would be good for our social standing or for our skills to hang out. She doesn't even realize that Adrien and I are friends, not really. Just that we keep each other occupied while she and Gabriel are busy with business deals, and that he's a good rival. Mother… she's never approved of friendships much. She sees the value in building alliances, but… she's always said that 'friends' can prove disappointing."

"That's… that sounds awful," Marinette said. "But you've had friends before, right? Surely she allowed you that much!"

Kagami shook her head. "Adrien is the first and only friend I've ever had."

Marinette's eyes went wide. "But you only met him a few months ago! Even Adrien had CHLOE before he came to school, even if she is kinda a sucky friend," she said, muttering the last part under her breath.

Kagami heard a few more snatches of muttering from Marinette, though she did better at keeping them too quiet for her to hear. Something like "Why are all these parents so lousy," "…break them out…" and something that she didn't quite catch, but she was roughly 90% sure was a swear word, judging by Marinette's tone and expression.

Finally she sighed, looking determinedly into Kagami's eyes, a fire present that she'd never seen before in Marinette. "I should NEVER have done what I did. I wronged both you AND Adrien. Trying to separate you two, to break you apart like that, was just… it was horrible. I became a bully, heck, I HELPED the girl who'd bullied me for years, to bully you in turn. You deserve better, Kagami. To be able to spend time with your friends when you can, without someone trying to embarrass you, to deliberately drive you apart."

Kagami stared at her a moment, eyes shimmering. "Thank you."

Marinette reached out, extending the bundle she was carrying towards her. "I know this can't make up for what I did, but- I made you an apology gift. It only seemed right."

Slowly, Kagami took the folded fabric.

It felt smooth and cool to the touch… silk perhaps?

Getting a better look at it, the red fabric practically bloomed with pink cherry blossoms.

Gently she unfurled it.

The kimono she unveiled was as good as any she owned, any that she'd buy at a store.

Marinette had created this in just the past couple of days?

She must've been up late, working on it every waking moment.

"Is… is it okay?" Marinette asked hesitantly. "Adrien got ahold of your measurements from when your mother ordered clothes from Gabriel, but I still had to guess on a few of the measurements – I can adjust it as needed-"

"I love it."

"You do?"

Kagami nodded, a smile slowly spreading across her face. "It looks wonderful. And the fact that you worked so hard on it makes it even better."

This was a long shot, and definitely a risk, but maybe…?

"Marinette… would you like to come to one of my fencing tournaments? Technically I'm not allowed to invite anyone… but it's a public tournament. If you happen to show up… well. It's just coincidence that you're there."

"You'd… you'd want me there?" Marinette asked, disbelieving.

Kagami nodded. Her mother would definitely say she was foolish, wanting to get to know her rival for her crush's affections (she shoved that thought away as quickly as she could), even wanting to befriend her, after she'd helped to hurt her, but- well, she wanted to try. Even if it was foolish. Even if it ended up being a bad choice. She wanted to take this chance. "I do."

Marinette nodded firmly. "I'll be there."

…And then seemed to think better of it. "Well… unless something comes up. I REALLY hope nothing comes up. But I'll definitely try."

Once Kagami got home, she carefully put her new kimono away in her closet.

These last few days had been hell, but maybe- just maybe- they would lead to her making a new friend.