Who Needs You?

Episode 07

Riposte: Caught Off-Guard

"This fencing gear really does suit you, Marinette!"

Monday afternoon finds Marinette in the changing rooms of her school, dressed in a borrowed fencing jacket over her everyday clothes. A collection of helmets sit atop a table, and she picks each one up to carefully examine and try on which would fit best.

The D'Argencourt Fencing Academy has opened try-outs for all students, to which Marinette was quick to sign up for. She's waited weeks for this, and she sure wasn't going to allow herself to mess up.

"Thank you, Tikki!" Marinette smiles, picking up another helmet. "Let's just hope wielding a saber is a lot easier than finding a helmet that fits."

"It's good that you want to be a little more involved in school affairs," Tikki comments as she goes through the rest of the helmets.

"Not only that, but with the akumas getting stronger and stronger, I need as much training and exercise as I can get!" Marinette says, putting the helmet in her hands down. "That's why I've got to ace these try-outs! D'Argencourt is the most prestigious fencing academy in all of Paris. I've only got this one shot to show them what I've got and get onto the team."

"You reviewed the fencing rules all weekend, I'm sure you'll be fine," Tikki reassures her.

"Reviewing and putting into practice are two very different things. All I can do now is do the best I can," Marinette says, confidently picking up a helmet. She tries it on and moves her head, taking it off after a while to reveal a satisfied smile. "This is the one!"

Marinette quickly makes her way out of the changing room and lines up with the other students who signed up for the fencing try-outs. They politely greet one another, making small talk as they wait for Armand D'Argencourt to arrive to the courtyard.

As soon as the clock hits four in the afternoon, D'Argencourt makes his way into the area, strides both intimidating and confident. The current members of the fencing academy follow closely behind, full uniforms immaculate and masks adorned. Marinette, along with the other students, tense up and fix their posture in hopes their stance would give them brownie points for respect. The fencing team stops in front of the rookies, allowing some space for their instructor to walk through.

Armand D'Argencourt paces back and forth between the two lines of students, hands tightly pressed against his back.

"As you may all know, I am Mr. D'Argencourt," he begins. "This year, we have but one open spot on the team. In order to select the best possible candidate, I will observe the beginners performing a number of attacks on the experienced students." He then walks off, instructing his fencing team, "Introduce yourselves to your partners."

The experienced fencers close the gap between them and the beginners, and Marinette flashes her partner a polite smile.

"Hi, I'm Marinette," she introduces. "This is my first time fencing. I know it's crazy to hear since the other applicants have been fencing for several weeks to months, but I thought I'd still give it a try."

"That's a bit of a slap to the face to the other applicants, no?" the fencer says bluntly. They take their helmet off to reveal a familiar blond boy with striking green eyes, making Marinette's left eye twitch.

"Adrien?!" she exclaims. Marinette then slaps her forehead, "Ugh, I completely forgot that you fenced…"

"You would forget the star of the team?" Adrien asks in fake shock, a hand on his chest to exaggerate.

"You cocky jerk," she says through gritted teeth, making him laugh.

"Get into position!" Mr. D'Argencourt orders.

Eyebrows furrowed and lips pursed, Marinette puts on her helmet and holds her saber upright.

"Ease up, will you?" Adrien teases as she glares daggers into his soul. "Now, hold your right foot up in the air, and your left hand raised above your head with a slight bend to your elbow and wrists so that your arm appears curved."

Marinette does as she's told, but by the time she's realized that he's messing with her, D'Argencourt calls her out for her stance. "You there—this is the fencing try-outs, not ballet."

"S-sorry! Just… stretching, is all!" Marinette laughs nervously as she immediately turns her ballet position into a side reach exercise. She curses under her breath when she notices the other students laugh into their palms. She then turns to Adrien and points a menacing finger at his face, "Why, you…!"

"Come on, that was funny!" Adrien exclaims as he stifles his laughter. "Fine, fine, no more jokes. Bend your knees, then stretch your left foot back, turned outwards."

Marinette does as she's told, and Adrien claps at her perfect stance. "Good," he says, moving over to her side. Slightly red in the face, Adrien puts his arm around her to have her lean forward, placing his hand over hers to show her how to properly hold her saber. "U-um, now you just have to point your saber forward, like this."

"We could've gone without you touching me," Marinette smirks. "I guess you just really wanted to hold my hand, huh?"

"You know what? You're absolutely right," Adrien says, holding her hand tighter. He does his very best to calm his beating heart, calling his victory when he sees the flustered look on Marinette's face from his unexpected answer.

"Greet each other!" Mr. D'Argencourt orders, making Adrien return to his spot in front of her.

"Caught you a little off-guard back there?" he taunts with a smirk.

"Oh, shut up," she scowls, pulling down her helmet.

Adrien crosses his saber over his chest, swiftly slashing it to his side in the traditional fencing greeting. Marinette copies him.

"En garde!" Mr. D'Argencourt begins. "Prêt, allez!"

Marinette immediately lunges forward, surprising Adrien, who manages to dodge her attack at the very last second. They go at it for a while, both blocking each other's attacks, when Marinette manages to touch Adrien's chest with her saber after he makes a lunge.

"Attaque. Touche," Mr. D'Argencourt announces, gesturing an arm towards Marinette. "Point!"

"Star of the team, huh?" Marinette snickers, pulling up her helmet.

"You do realize I'm not giving it my all, right?" Adrien smirks, pulling his helmet up as well. "If I did, Mr. D'Argencourt wouldn't even as much as look in your direction."

"Ah, just fight me," Marinette scowls.

"With pleasure," Adrien grins. "En garde! Prêt, allez!"

Adrien and Marinette fence, with the latter giving it her all. Having spent several months fighting off akumas, her reflexes have gotten a lot sharper, helping her dodge and block several of Adrien's attacks. By the end of their round, she and Adrien poke each other in the chest, though Adrien was faster by a solid two seconds.

"Attack, parry, riposte, counterattack. The point goes to you, Marinette," Adrien says, pushing up his helmet to give her a genuine smile. "Good job this round."

"Wait, what?" Marinette says behind her mask. "I'm confused. You hit me first."

"You could at least review the rules before trying to join the team," Adrien snorts, making her glared at him. "With saber fencing, the attacker doesn't necessarily win the point even though he touched his opponent first. You took the initiative, so we say that you had priority. I can only parry or riposte, so I lose."

"Woah, you were able to catch all that?" she asks in awe. "Everything happens so lightning fast. Does it ever happen that two people hit each other at the same time? How can you tell when that happens?"

"We don't always know for sure. That's why you can also abstain. Shall we continue?" Adrien asks.

Marinette nods and goes into her fighting stance, but before she can send an attack, a shout echoes throughout the courtyard, interrupting the fencing try-outs. A figure in an expensive, red fencing uniform stands stop the scoring box, a scarlet red saber gripped tightly around her fingers.

"You! Are you Armand D'Argencourt?" the fencer asks.

"Why do you ask?" the man in question asks curiously.

"I hear you're the best in all of Paris. I want to join your team," they announce boldly.

"Only the best are admitted here," he snorts. "Do you have what it takes?"

"I was the best everywhere I went," they say proudly.

"Hm," he hums, a finger on his chin. "I may consider your admission, shall you defeat one of my students."

The unnamed fencer jumps off the scoring box and walks over to the members of the fencing team with unbreakable confidence.

"Which one of you in the best combatant?" they ask almost aggressively.

The students all move away to reveal the ace of their team—the one and only Adrien Agreste. Marinette can't help but think just how cool he looks as he walks forward to meet his opponent.

"Adrien," Mr. D'Argencourt begins almost smugly. "Please give our visitor a lesson in chivalry."

"I shall," Adrien says, walking forward to meet the fencer by the scoring box.

Upon reaching it, Mr. D'Argencourt attaches a cord to Adrien's uniform, and then does the same with the stranger in red. This allows Adrien sometime to observe the person before him—he notices that they're almost a head shorter than him, and their build is petite, yet toned. Their uniform looks expensive, and its shade of red makes them stand out so much, especially in a room full of fencers dressed in the traditional off-white.

Once Mr. D'Argencourt is done setting everything up, Adrien is instructed to tap his opponent's shoulder with his saber to see if the cords are working properly. He does as he's told, and a buzz resounds from his side of the scoring box, the rectangle blinking green. His opponent taps their saber on his shoulder this time, another buzz resounding, but this time, the rectangle blinks red.

The two competitors bow to each other respectfully before taking a few steps back. While Adrien bends his saber in preparation, the fencer in red performs a series of poses to show off their skill. Adrien grins beneath his mask, excited for a challenge.

"Prêt…" Mr. D'Argencourt starts. "Allez!"

Adrien is the first to lunge forward, but his opponent is quick on their feet and dodges his attack at the very last second. He swivels around just in time to block an attack with his saber, and once he sees an opening, he doesn't miss this chance and throws his arm forward. His saber hits their shoulder, but he curses under his breath when he realizes he's been hit in the rib.

"Simultané! Par un toucher!" Mr. D'Argencourt announces when both buzzers go off at once, letting the crowd know that they've touched each other at the exact same time.

Adrien and the fencer both go back to their spots, the former aggressively bending his saber that one might think it will snap.

"That was a close one," Adrien says to himself. "I can't lose my focus."

"En garde! Prêt… allez!"

The two opponents lunge at each other, and after a few blocks and attacks, the buzzers go off simultaneously a second time.

"Uh… Abstention!" Mr. D'Argencourt announces. With everything happening so lightning fast, the fencing master isn't so sure who won that round, and so has chosen to abstain to give both fencers another chance at a fair fight. "En garde—"

"Wait," the stranger in red interrupts. "I request that we do it the old-fashioned way. We'll be much more at ease without the machine."

"Fine with me," Adrien says, unclipping the cord from his suit.

His adversary unclips theirs, and celebrates their freedom by performing a backflip and striking a pose with their saber. Adrien shoots back by twirling his saber in his hand and striking a pose himself, resisting the urge to overdo it, which he's so used to doing when he's Chat Noir.

"En garde…" Mr. D'Argencourt begins. Adrien grips his saber tighter. "Prêt… allez!"

The two fencers immediately lunge at each other, the sound of sabers clashing echoing throughout the courtyard. Now without the cord limiting him, Adrien takes several steps back as his opponent attacks him with unforgiving slashes. He suddenly feels the air get knocked out of him when his adversary pushes him into a post, but he's quick to recover, and he makes his way up the stairs as they continue to fight.

"Playing dirty, are we?" Adrien asks, referring to getting pushed into the post.

"Rather, I play to win," the fencer replies, jumping onto the railings and performing a flip in the air before gracefully landing on the second floor.

"Part le fer!" Mr. D'Argencourt exclaims. "Now, this is fencing!"

Adrien rushes over to the second floor, readying his saber as the fencer in red lets out a battle cry and lunges forward. He soon finds himself pinned between the railing and his opponent, who's pushing their saber against his own.

"Is that all you can do?" they taunt.

Both angered and annoyed from being looked down on, Adrien gathers up his strength and pushes the fencer off of him, taking the opportunity to sprint up the stairs. Adrien leads them to the library, where they both create a mess while fencing furiously, including knocking over piles of books on the study tables, and pushing the book carts out of the way.

"Let's end this!" the fencer in red yells, sprinting towards Adrien.

Adrien nods and sprints towards them, his weapon at the ready. They clash their sabers for some time, before finally landing a hit on one another, thus ending the match.

A gasp resounds from the entrance of the library, and both fencers turn to see Marinette standing by the door with her jaw dropped.

"Who got the first hit?!" the fencer in red yells. "Who?!"

"Don't yell at her," Adrien says in an angry tone.

"I need to know!" comes their reply.

"U-uh… I don't… I'm not…!" Marinette stutters pathetically as her eyes shift from one person to the other.

Armand D'Argencourt comes crawling to her side, absolutely exhausted as he seems to have been trampled on by his students on his way up.

"Who touched first? Tell us now!" he pleads, reaching a shaky hand out to her.

Gulping nerovusly, Marinette feels pressured to give an answer, despite her honest uncertainty. She replays the scene in her head, forcing herself to remember what she saw exactly. She very clearly saw them hit each other at the same time, but she thinks she saw Adrien hit the stranger just a millisecond earlier.

"I think it was… Adrien," she finally says.

"Adrien? Wonderful!" Mr. D'Argencourt says as he springs to his feet, his injuries quickly forgotten. "This victory is an honor to the D'Argencourt Fencing Academy!"

Sighing in defeat, the fencer in red walks up to Adrien and offers their hand for a shake, which Adrien hesitantly takes. Without a word, they walk out of the room, head hung low.

"Hey, klutz," Adrien calls out, taking his helmet off. He walks over to Marinette with a slightly raised eyebrow. "Are you sure I hit them first?"

"To be completely honest, I'm not entirely sure. I mean, it looked like it was you, but everything happened so fast, it was hard for me to register," Marinette replies honestly while biting her lip.

"I think they touched me first," Adrien tells his fencing instructor.

"Adrien, you know the rules," Mr. D'Argencourt says. "The referee always has the last word."

"It just doesn't feel right," Adrien says before rushing out of the library. He looks over at Marinette and his teacher, and tells them before turning the corner, "I'm going to offer them a decisive match."

Adrien sprints down the stairs, catching sight of his opponent's signature red saber stabbed into the ground. Past it, he can see them making their way towards a red car, so he quickly picks the saber out of the ground and rushes over to them.

"Wait!" he calls out just as they were able to open the car door. Upon reaching them, Adrien holds out their weapon, saying, "Your saber!"

With a sigh, the fencer aggressively throws their gloves into the car and removes their helmet to reveal a girl with short black hair. She appears to be of East Asian descent, with freckles lightly sprinkled across her nose, cold amber eyes, and flawless fair skin. Adrien can't help but think that she's very pretty.

"Let's do a decisive match," Adrien tells her, his eyes shifting over to the ring on her finger for a split second.

"There's no point," she says coldly. "You won. There's no such thing as a second chance in my family. Goodbye."

Before Adrien can say anything else, she gets into her car and shuts the door. The vehicle drives off immediately after, leaving him no time to process anything.

"H-hey, wait!" he shouts after the car. "What's your name?!"

Beep.

Adrien turns to the sound of the beep to find Gorilla parked a few feet away. Adrien rushes over to the car and jumps inside, pointing towards the red car driving off.

"I've always wanted to say this," Adrien excitedly says to himself. "Follow that car!"

The sound of screeching tires resounds from underneath them, and Adrien falls back into his seat, gently placing the red saber next to him before taking his phone out to see if he can find anything on this mysterious black-haired girl.

Adrien types in a general search of famous fencers on his main search engine and he taps on the first link that pops up, leading him to a page filled with information on several world champions, along with their representative logo. He scrolls down some, eyes widening in curiosity when he spots a logo that resembles the Japanese character on the ring worn by the female fencer from earlier. He taps it, revealing a page filled with information on the most recent champion under that symbol, Tsurugi Tomoe.

"She's the only daughter belonging to a family of prestigious fencers," Adrien whispers to Plagg, who's poking his head out of Adrien's fencing helmet. "Her mother and grandfather were both world champions. It says here that she and her mother just moved to Paris."

Adrien barely has any time to react before the car is sliced in half, launching his out of his seat and making him groan in pain as he hits the ground. The red saber lands right next to him and he picks it up to examine its condition, sighing in relief to find that it's without an obvious scratch or dent.

"I'm taking you up on your offer of a decisive match!" a woman in silver armor says. She takes out her enormous saber and points it at him, the red symbol on her helmet and sword grip glowing a threatening shade of crimson.

"What?!" Adrien exclaims. "You don't really expect me to fight you like this, do you? You're not yourself!"

"You're right," the akumatized victim says. "From now on, I'm Riposte—much better at fencing than my original, dishonorable self. Now, fight me!"

Adrien swiftly gets back up on his feet and attempts to get away, but Riposte performs a flip in the air, landing a few feet in front of him to block his path.

"I said, fight me!" Riposte says, pointing her sword at him.

Before either of them can do anything else, a familiar red and black polka-dotted yoyo wraps itself around the silver sword.

"How'd you like to fight me instead?" says a voice.

Adrien and Riposte follow the black thread to find Ladybug crouched on top of a post. She forcefully tugs at her yoyo in hopes of disarming the akumatized victim, her face displaying shock when her weapon does nothing but rewind back into her hand.

"Wha—it's merged with her hand?!" Ladybug exclaims.

Riposte suddenly strikes her sword in Ladybug's direction, making both Adrien and the superheroine jump out of the way. The post Ladybug was previously on gets sliced in half, which was enough to send passers-by running and yelling for their lives.

"Looks like I'm going to have to get rid of the bug first," Riposte snarls.

Riposte lunges forward, making attacks so lightning-fast that all Ladybug can do is run backwards while twirling her yoyo to block them. The villain is quick to realize that her attacks are futile, so she switches to slashing at Ladybug with all her might.

"Don't let her close in on you! Fight back!" Adrien says, throwing the red saber in his hands at Ladybug.

"Thank you, but you've got to get out of here!" Ladybug exclaims upon catching the saber mid-air.

Ladybug moves in to attack Riposte with the saber, but one kick to the stomach is enough to knock her flat on her back. Riposte jumps in the air and points her saber forward, ready to stab Ladybug to the ground.

"Ladybug!" Adrien screams, diving forward to shove her out of the way.

This action causes them both to roll over, and once they've stopped, Adrien opens his eyes to realize that he's the one who ended up on top of Ladybug. He quickly gets off of her and keeps his mouth shut before he can accidentally say something Chat Noir would.

"Thank you, Adrien," Ladybug says with a smile as she sits up. Ladybug looks over at Riposte, who's letting out cries of frustration as she tries to get her sword out of the ground.

"I need to get you as far away from here as possible," Ladybug says, launching her yoyo towards the roof of a townhouse. Once the yoyo wraps itself around the chimney, Ladybug pulls Adrien close and tugs at her weapon, making them fly into the air.

"Any idea who this akumatized victim may be?" Ladybug asks when they land behind the chimney.

"I fought her earlier at the fencing try-outs," Adrien explains. "She's after me because of my supposed victory."

"If she's after you, then I have no choice but to keep you within my sight at all times," Ladybug says.

Adrien's eyes widen. "Uh, how about I hide instead? It might get a little too challenging for you to both fight and protect me at the same time, no?" he asks nervously.

"It's much too risky. I'd feel more at ease if you were always nearby," Ladybug says. She then looks around and attempts to call her rival with her compact, muttering to herself, "I wonder where Chat Noir is? He'd love a good fencing foe."

Adrien laughs awkwardly.

"Well, he might turn up later," Ladybug says. "But until then, how do you feel about partnering up with me again?"

Before Adrien can give her his reply, the chimney they're hiding behind crumbles into pieces, and thundering voice follows shortly after.

"Allow me to explain the rules to you—you're not allowed to call it quits at any time!" Riposte growls. "The match ends when I win!"

"Listen, it was all a mistake. My friend, Marinette, made a bad call earlier," Adrien says. "That's why I offered you a decisive match."

"Referee errors can happen in fencing," Ladybug reasons. "I'm sure this friend wasn't trying to humiliate you."

"It's too late—the damage has been done," Riposte thunders, pointing her sword at them. "For her to make such a mistake just proves that I wasn't good enough, that being faster by just a millisecond is pathetic. I'm eliminating you today, Adrien, and once I do, there will be no one to stand in my way, and I can be a world champion fencer!"

Riposte lurches forward, making both Ladybug and Adrien jump out of the way in different directions. Ladybug tosses the red saber to her new partner, and Adrien catches it, using it to defend himself for the various attacks Riposte sends his way. All it takes is one look at Ladybug for him to know what to do, and so he corners the akumatized victim against the wall of the following townhouse, whose roof is a level higher than the one they're currently on.

Ladybug throws her yoyo at Riposte, who easily dodges and taunts her with, "Can you really call yourself one half of Paris' if you have such awful aim?"

"Awful aim, you say?" Ladybug smirks, pulling her yoyo.

The chimney her yoyo had wrapped itself around gets cut into pieces, falling on top of Riposte and trapping her underneath the debris. Ladybug takes this as her chance to escape, taking hold of Adrien's hand and pulling him close before launching them both into the sky. Adrien nearly drops the fencing saber in his hand from the sudden lurch.

"Where are we going?" Adrien asks.

"The Louvre," Ladybug answers. "I've got a plan."

"The Louvre?" Adrien asks, eyebrow raised. "Uh, I'm aware that you're the superhero here, but… that's not the best idea."

Ladybug looks down at her temporary partner, almost offended. "I haven't told you about my plan yet," she says sharply.

"Think about it," Adrien says as they zip past buildings and civilians pointing at them. "The Louvre has a security system, right? Let's say Riposte gets there without us knowing. Let's say you tell me to stay put while you check if the coast is clear, and bam, the security system goes off, bars the doors, and we're separated. If Chat Noir's bad luck rubbed off on you enough, then I could be trapped in the same room as Riposte, and it's the end for me."

"It's a bit of a stretch, but it's still a likely scenario," Ladybug hums. "I was thinking of hiding you inside a sarcophagus in the Ancient Egypt Exhibit, so I'd at least always know where you are and keep you out of harm's way."

"It sounds good on paper, but if Riposte manages to find out where I am, she can slice that sarcophagus in half with me still in it," Adrien reasons. "I personally think that if you want to defeat this akuma, you have to give them what they want. Riposte wants a decisive match with me, and that's what I'll give her."

"What are you thinking?" Ladybug asks.

"Take us to," Adrien says, pointing in the distance. "Here's what we're going to do…"

Adrien stands on top of the fencing team's scoring box, crimson saber in hand and helmet secured on his head. He looks over to Ladybug, who's hiding on the second floor, and he gives her a thumbs up, to which she returns with a grin. The doors to the school courtyard suddenly slam open, revealing the wrathful, silver-armored villain.

"I'm taking you up on your offer of a decisive match," Adrien quotes her, pointing his saber at her. "But let's deal with this through fencing. Only a flawless victory through sport can heal your pride, correct?"

"You mock me," Riposte says.

"I do not," Adrien says, jumping off the box to take his spot on one side of the scoring box. "What do you say?"

"Fine. I accept your challenge," Riposte says, walking over to him, and stopping right before him. "But before we start, where's Ladybug?"

"She left," Adrien lies. "She told me to hide in the school, but I'd rather be the one to defeat you."

"Do not lie to me," Riposte says, swinging her sword. "One glimpse of that bug, and I'll impale you without warning."

"Deal," Adrien nods. "Now, let's talk about the rules."

As Adrien lists them out, he bends his saber when Ladybug peeks around the corner. Seeing the signal, she goes straight into action.

"Any questions?" Adrien asks.

"None. Let's go," Riposte says. She bows to her opponent, and Adrien does the same. "Prêt… allez!"

Riposte sprints towards her enemy, who flawlessly dodges or blocks every attack sent his way. Their sabers clash as the fight carries on, with Adrien leading her across the courtyard around the posts and staircases. Riposte is as skilled as her original counterpart, but her backflips, sharp turns, and strength in general have all been enhanced thanks to Hawkmoth, making the fight a lot harder on Adrien.

While trying to calculate his next move, Riposte plays dirty once more and pushes him against a post, causing him to slide to the ground while clutching his rib.

"I win," Riposte cackles as she makes her way over to him.

She suddenly lets out a cry of surprise when she's suddenly pulled back, and she turns around, gasping to see a black cord clipped to her armor. She follows the cord, letting out a grunt of anger to see it wrapped around posts and stairs. She'd fallen right into their trap.

"I'll finish you off here!" Riposte yells, raising her sword in the air.

However, before she can bring it down, Ladybug jumps down from the second floor and traps the sword between what seems like a ladybug-printed radiator—her Lucky Charm.

"Don't you dare lay a finger on him!" Ladybug thunders as she and Riposte fall to the ground.

Ladybug manages to get back up on her feet, but all Riposte can do is lie on the ground with her arm up and trapped in the radiator's grill.

Adrien runs over to Ladybug's side to see a portion of Riposte's sword poking out of the Lucky Charm. She turns to him and grins, "Want to do the honors?"

"Sure thing," Adrien says, kicking the sword down with his heel.

The saber breaks in half, releasing a pitch black butterfly. Ladybug twirls her yoyo and catches it, dyeing it an immaculate white and setting it free from Hawkmoth's evil. A black and violet cloud envelope Riposte, soon fading away to reveal the short-haired girl in red with a look of confusion on her face.

A warning beep resounds from Ladybug's earrings, making her clamp a hand over one of her ears. "I'm about to change back," she says. "Take care of her, will you?"

Adrien nods. "I will," he says.

Ladybug turns on her heel and throws her yoyo into the sky, but before she can tug at it, Adrien stops her.

"Wait!" he exclaims, running over to her.

"Something wrong?" she asks.

"No, it's just, uh," Adrien scratches the back of his head. "Thanks for going along with my plan. Not only was my plan super different from yours, but you took tips from a civilian inexperienced with crime-fighting. It was a big risk, but still gave it a chance."

"It was a brilliant idea," Ladybug smiles. "If Chat Noir were here today, he sure would've liked you."

"Yeah," Adrien laughs awkwardly. He then holds up a fist, and gives her a small smile. "Pound it?"

Ladybug unintentionally expresses her shock, caught completely off-guard by his kindness. It doesn't take long until she wills herself to smile and raise her own fist.

"Pound it," she says, bumping her fist with his. "Take care, Adrien."

"You, too, Ladybug," Adrien nods.

With that, Ladybug tugs at her yoyo and gets sent into the air, disappearing in the distance. When she's no longer in sight, Adrien turns to the other black-haired girl in red and rushes over to her side.

"It's you," she says. "What happened?"

"You were akumatized by Hawkmoth," Adrien says. "I don't know if you've heard of him, but—"

"I have," she interrupts, getting up from the floor and dusting off her red uniform. "I'll be on my way now."

She walks past him without looking him in the eye and takes out her phone, speaking in Japanese to the person on the other line. Adrien takes one glance at the red saber lying on the ground, and he picks it up, chasing after the girl for the second time that day.

"Wait!" Adrien calls out to her once again, causing the short-haired girl to flinch in surprise and turn around.

He holds her fencing sword with both of his hands, treating it with outmost respect. The girl eyes the saber, and then the boy before turning away from shame and embarrassment.

"Listen, I…" she begins.

"I'm sorry," she and Adrien say at the same time, the former bowing respectfully. Adrien smiles awkwardly, scratching the back of his head.

"Perhaps you'll agree to take this back now?" he asks, holding her saber out for her to take.

The girl lifts up her hands to take it, but just as her fingers were centimeters away from touching it, she retreats as if burn, clutching her hands to her chest.

"I can't," she frowns. "I lost. You get to keep it as proof of your victory."

"To be honest," Adrien says, pushing the sword closer to her. "I personally think you won."

"That's not what your friend saw," she argues. "The referee always gets the final word."

"Marinette is…" Adrien says, feeling his ears growing warm. "To put it simply, she's a bit of a klutz. She gets flustered easily, and trips over her own feet all the time. But she means well. She would never cheat or lie. Today was her first-ever experience with fencing, so she must've been caught completely off-guard when D'Argencourt pushed her to give him an answer."

"You like her a lot, don't you?" she asks.

"Wh-what?" Adrien stutters, almost dropping the sword in his hands. "Me, like Marinette? I mean, sh-she's a good friend and all, but I could never fall for a klutz like her, and—"

"It was just a joke," she laughs into her palm. "But your reaction alone was enough for me to make a conclusion of my own."

"You're a smart one. Or maybe I'm just too obvious," Adrien grins sheepishly. "Even so, if you do end up transferring to the D'Argencourt Fencing Academy, let's keep that a secret between us two, all right?"

"Sure," she answers with a smile.

Adrien smiles back, and for a moment, he can't help but think about how pretty she looked when she smiled. He holds her saber out to her again, saying, "Please, take it."

She glances at it for a moment before smiling to herself, and accepting it graciously.

"Thank you," she says, bowing respectfully once more.

Adrien holds out his hand. "I'm Adrien, by the way. What's your name?" he asks.

"Kagami," she answers, taking his hand and shaking it firmly. "It was nice meeting you."

"Likewise," Adrien grins.

A red car pulls up in front of the school, and Kagami recognizes it as her ride. Adrien walks her to the car, being quick to notice her newfound confidence and pride. He can sense her passion for the sport, and her overall determination to work harder so that she can achieve her goal. She was like a whole new person—completely different from the girl from earlier who was falling apart from high expectations.

Upon reaching the car, Kagami opens up the door to the backseat, smiling at him one last time.

"Get ready for that decisive match," she says. "And who knows—maybe I can help you out with this Marinette girl."

"I can't—wait, what?" Adrien stammers, making Kagami cackle before entering her car and shutting her door. "I didn't say I needed help!"

Kagami lowers her window and chuckles, "It was just a suggestion. See you at our next match!"

With that, the red car drives off, leaving behind a flustered Adrien. Plagg flies out of his holder's pocket and hovers at eye-level, a slice of Camembert cheese in his hand.

"Augh, Plagg! I told you already, you can't horde cheese in my fencing uniform," Adrien grimaces, plugging his nose with his fingers to block out the smell.

Plagg reacts by swallowing the slice whole. "What cheese?" he asks. Adrien rolls his eyes at his kwami's childishness. "With how quick that girl was at figuring out your crush just goes to show how obvious your feelings are. You'd better get that confession ready."

"Plagg, there's no way she feels the same," Adrien frowns. "Best to wait a while."

"Don't take too long," Plagg says. "Before you know it, some other guy will pop out of nowhere and sweep her off her feet."

"What other guy?" Adrien asks, eyebrow raised.

"Any guy," Plagg shrugs. "Who knows? He could be another musician. Or, you know, a guy who doesn't make fun of her. And if my Bad Luck is strong enough, he might even be an older guy—you know how girls like older guys."

"Okay, now you're making me worried," Adrien says.

"I'm just saying," Plagg says. "You've got to do something."

As Plagg continues to bug him about it, Adrien takes his phone out to call Gorilla to let him know that he needs a ride home from the school. While searching for his driver's name in his list of contacts, a text message from Alya pops up on his screen.

Alya Cesaire
hey adrien, marinette's birthday is next weekend, thought i'd let you know because YOU LIKE HERRR

the class (minus chloe and sabrina lmao) and i are planning to throw her a surprise party. wanna help out?

"This is it," Adrien says, pointing at his phone. Plagg flies over to read the text, smirking when he sees his holder's face practically brimming with excitement. "I'll get her something special for her birthday. Something that'll show her just how much I care for her without actually, you know… telling her."

"Just make sure it's something super thoughtful and unique," Plagg says.

"Don't worry," Adrien says, sending out his reply. "I have the perfect gift in mind."

Me
Sure, I'll help out. :)

end card

A/N: Guess who Plagg was describing when warning Adrien of a new boy coming along. (Lenny Face).

It was great introducing Kagami to the story! I personally think that she was a character with great potential, who simply suffered from bad writing, just like Chloe. I'm hoping to give those two more appearances in future chapters to give Kagami the justice she deserves, and Chloe the character development she deserves.

Very few scenes of the love square this chapter, since Ladrien is the more rocky ship out of the four. This chapter was really just meant to show how much Ladybug/Marinette is slowly starting to trust Adrien, and Adrien/Chat Noir's slow-growing soft spot for Ladybug. Don't worry, there will be plenty of shipping scenes next chapter!

To the Guest reviewer who left many reviews asking about updates, I was touched seeing how much you enjoy this fic. To you and to all my readers, I'm both thankful and sorry. Thank you because your support means the world, and I'm sorry because I know my low motivation often holds me back, leading to slow updates. Just know that I'm not giving up on this fic. I will complete it no matter what, I can promise you that.

To the other Guest reviewer asking if I'll be writing for Season 3, sad to say it's going to be a no for now. :( The Miraculous Ladybug fandom isn't as active as it used to be, and Season 3 wasn't exactly… the best… However, I would be willing to rewrite certain episodes and just upload them into this fic. In fact, I'm actually planning on ending this fic with a rewrite of Chat Blanc (well, in this universe, it'll be reversed, so we'll get an akumatized Ladybug instead). A little something to look forward to at least! The episodes in Miraculous Ladybug are very stand-alone/reset every time, so I see no difference writing Season 3 episodes in Season 2. Got any Season 3 episodes you want me to write? Let me know in a review!

Since I didn't get to say it earlier, Happy New Year!

Thank you for reading!

Akuma Capture:
Ladybug: 3
Chat Noir: 5

Next Episode: Befana