Hi there! This fic is being crossposted from Ao3, where we are currently on chapter 4. My username there is HighAboveTheCity, if you want to read over there! The next few chapters will be posted over the next few days, and I won't be including any more author's notes on this version. If you want those, head over to Ao3!
Chapter One: i've got a picture perfect plan (but i can't go in alone)
It was the start of January, and though no one was looking forward to heading back to their homes through two feet of snow, when they would much rather stay at their relatively warm school for a while longer, Marinette had never sprinted out of class faster.
She was on a mission.
Just over a month ago, Gabriel, the iconic fashion brand owned by the world-famous Gabriel Agreste, had hosted a competition that had designers all over France submitting their best designs for a chance to win… something. The details hadn't been particularly clear on what exactly the best design would receive, but it would almost certainly include recognition from Gabriel Agreste, and if that wasn't enough to get her scrambling to get a design ready then she wasn't sure anything else would.
In the end, she'd labored for almost two weeks on two outfits based on pro heroes. One was based on a newer pro known as the Medieval Hero: Durandal. Taking inspiration from their costume, she used quite a bit of blue and gold accents around a light gray, almost silver base color. She also made use of a motif for the skirt that was centered around their sword and mask, the most recognizable parts of their image. For the second part of her submission, she decided to go with a more foreign inspiration, though he was still one of the most famous heroes in the world.
All Might was the inspiration for her second outfit, and she used his red, white, and blue color palette liberally. Of course, to make sure no one confused her design for being inspired by the French flag (or the American flag, or even that of the Dutch), she made sure to fit All Might's belt design into the shirt and she even managed to create the trousers using a pattern that was easily recognizable as the V-shape of his hair. Yes, Marinette was quite confident in her designs.
That didn't stop her from panicking almost immediately after submitting them. Over the past month, she'd been doing a lot of fretting and second-guessing her designs, going over possible ways to improve them. Portions of the designs almost looked like hero merchandise, and she hoped that she would never stoop so low as to be forced to design hero merch.
But today was the day! All of the participants in the competition were supposed to get an email with the results of their submission, though the details of what those results were meant to look like eluded her. She supposed she would just have to hurry home so she could check for an email from the company.
She reached the bakery in a time that was only beaten by that one day when Alya managed to trick her into drinking a mixture of caffeine, energy drinks, and some sort of mystery ingredient that kept her awake for almost 60 hours. The only positives about that period were the number of designs that Marinette managed to churn out. Needless to say, she didn't trust any drinks Alya tried to give her after that incident.
She sped through the bakery, taking only a second to hug her parents before climbing the ladder to her room in a frenzy that had her parents sharing a knowing glance and a smile at seeing their daughter so clearly excited, before returning to their work selling the last of their stock.
Meanwhile, Marinette was impatiently bouncing around in front of her desk, too impatient to sit down as her computer finally booted up past the lock screen. She was all too eager to check her email, and finding nothing there so far, allowed herself no time for disappointment and began to mash the refresh button.
After a few minutes of this, she decided that it would probably be better for the continued health of her finger if she just checked every couple of minutes as she finished up her homework for the weekend. Luckily (or unluckily depending on your point of view) she had enough energy and motivation to finish up all of her work within 45 minutes, and was stuck waiting.
And waiting.
And waiting.
She sat there for a total of one hour as her energy started to wane, two hours when she felt her hope starting to dwindle, and a grand total of three hours before she realized that she probably wasn't going to get an email back.
Oh. She felt tears starting to well up, at the fact that she wasn't even deserving of a rejection email of some sort, and checked her phone only to see that she had unintentionally ignored multiple texts and a call from Alya.
Alya
(15:04)
[hey girl, I know the results are coming out for that fashion thing you entered,,, keep me posted!]
[i'm sure you'll win the whole thing :) ]
(15:39)
[have the results been posted yet? don't keep me waiting :'0 ]
(16:17)
[you OK? it's been a while since school let out and you still haven't responded :/ ]
(16:31)
Missed call from: Alya
(16:32)
[let me know when you're ready to talk :) ]
That was the last message she received, and it was about two hours ago.
Well, this ruins any plans I had for the weekend, she thought dejectedly to herself as she trudged over to the chaise longue. Marinette was too worn-out to even consider climbing up the stairs to her bed, even though it was barely evening and much too early to sleep. If she had her way (and she was certain she could garner some sympathy from her parents and friends), she'd be sitting in her bedroom all weekend with a plate of cookies and a tub of vanilla ice cream to numb the crushing disappointment. She almost fell asleep, but right before she could slip into unconsciousness she heard her computer make a soft ding! that notified her of a new email.
It took her a second to register exactly what that sound meant, but the moment she processed it she'd jumped to her feet so quickly that she felt light-headed and had to take a moment to steady herself before rushing over to her desk to see if the email was what she wanted it to be. She only had to read the subject, which read "Gabriel Contemporary Design Results" before she was jumping up and down in excitement.
"It's finally here!" Marinette almost squealed from excitement and relief, forgetting for a brief moment that just because she had gotten the email didn't mean she had actually won.
"Come on, hurry up already," Marinette muttered to herself as she clicked on the email and impatiently waited for it to load before the email finally showed up on her screen. Barely able to contain herself, she started reading.
Mme. Dupain-Cheng,
We at Gabriel believe that while talent may provide great short-term success, and hard work even better long-term results, nothing is more effective than a combination of both. After evaluating your competition submission, M. Agreste has determined that your unique combination of discipline and a gift for fashion created the greatest design out of all the applicants, and invites you to the Agreste mansion to explain the terms of your prize. The Agreste mansion is located at Place du Châtelet, 75001, and the meeting with M. Agreste will begin at 11:15.
Once again, congratulations on your success in winning the competition. Any questions will be addressed during tomorrow's appointed time.
Sincerely,
Nathalie Sanceour
Assistant to Gabriel Agreste
Marinette, not truly expecting anything so positive, had to reread the email more than a few times, muttering all the while. "Tu déconnes? I can't believe it— j'hallucine." But the more she read it, the faster it began to sink in that it was her designs that caught the attention of Gabriel Agreste. She was understandably a bit shocked at this turn of events. Without exactly thinking about what she was doing, she picked up her phone and called Alya.
Alya picked up on the first ring, already using an apologetic tone, misinterpreting Marinette's earlier silence. "Hey girl, are you doing okay? I can be over in about ten minutes with two tubs of ice cream and we can spend the night watching—" was all she managed to get out before she was interrupted by Marinette.
"I did it." Marinette's voice was barely a whisper, as if she could barely believe her own words.
"Marinette, you know I can't hear you if you whisper like that." Marinette couldn't see her, but she would bet that Alya rolled her eyes as she made that statement.
"I DID IT!" This time she yelled into the receiver just to make a point before she winced and immediately regretted that decision. She had forgotten that she hadn't had a drink of water since she came home, and her throat was consequently very dry.
"Did what? Did you figure out how to do the chemistry homework? Because I could really use some help on that—"
She snorted at that and stopped her before she could become even more distracted. "Alya, you know what I mean! I just got an email, and it says that M. Agreste, and I quote, "has determined that your unique combination of discipline and a gift for fashion created the greatest design out of all the applicants," so I'm pretty sure I got in."
After saying that, Marinette had to actually move her phone away from her head so that Alya's squeals wouldn't make her go deaf. Thankfully, Alya's voice quickly returned to a more regular volume, though she's pretty sure that her eardrum will never recover.
"See? I told you! I knew you were going to win, you obviously had the best design!"
"Fine, maybe you were right," Marinette said with a chuckle as she collapsed onto the chaise longue with a feeling of exhilaration. "How was I supposed to know that you actually have a quirk to see into the future?"
"There are many things you don't know about me, Marinette." She heard the little giggle that Alya tried to suppress, and soon they were both laughing at their antics.
Obviously, Alya didn't have a quirk that let her see into the future, but both of them would agree that it would've been dead useful for schoolwork. Her actual quirk was called Photo Op, which let Alya pop a camera lens out of the back of her hand and take a picture with said camera, which would get printed out of her upper arm. It was pretty useful for taking selfies and quick pictures, and a lot of the photos on Marinette's wall were taken with Alya's quirk.
Marinette released all of her nervous energy from before as she calmed down, resulting in a very drawn-out sigh that had Alya snorting right back at her. When they both finally quieted down, Alya finally managed to ask something that Marinette was wondering about as well.
"So, do you know what prize you get for winning?"
"I still haven't found out," Marinette said after a groan that expressed all of her frustration with the vagueness of the competition. "Supposedly, I'll be meeting with M. Agreste tomorrow morning to get all of the details."
"The Agreste mansion, hmm?" Marinette froze, only now realizing what she had said and how it was already too late to take it back. "The same Agreste mansion where our resident pretty boy lives?"
Marinette was already giving up, but she figured she could at least try to stop Alya. "Alya, you know I'm probably not going to—"
"Yeah, but he does live there, right? I'm sure you'll see him somewhere, and he'll be all impressed by you winning his father's competition that he'll finally declare his eternal love for you—"
"Alya please don't."
"—and you'll finally be able to stop your eternal pining for Adrien, because it's honestly getting old at this point. Of course, none of this would be an issue if you just asked him out on a date!" Alya finally ended her mini-rant here, noticeably out of breath.
Marinette was pouting at the end of that. "I already said I'm working on it, what more could you want from me?"
"Girl, you've been working on it for over two years now, so either you're the laziest worker I've ever met or this job is too difficult for you."
"It's… neither?"
"..."
Marinette grimaced. "Okay, fine. I know I'm stalling, but tomorrow is absolutely the worst day to do anything about it since I'm going to be meeting with his father. Just… give me some time, alright?"
She could hear Alya's exasperated sigh through the phone speaker. "Fine, but if you take too long, I will absolutely tell him that you're in love with him."
"No, you can't do that! I have to be able to tell him myself, and it has to be at the right time and I need to be able to prepare everything so that it's perfect!" She said with no small amount of indignation.
"Hmph. Fine. Um, since you'll be out tomorrow anyway, would you want to meet me for lunch at the café across from Notre Dame?" Alya's voice had a nervous undertone, but Marinette didn't notice.
"Sure! Celebrating my big success, are we?" Marinette tried for a teasing tone.
"Yeah, that too, I just… I have something important to tell you, and I'd rather do it in person because I'm not sure if you'll like it."
That was perplexing to Marinette— she couldn't think of anything Alya would have to say that she wouldn't like, but maybe she did have some bad news. "Sounds good. I'll be able to tell you about the meeting with M. Agreste while we eat."
"Yeah, sounds good. Listen, I have to go now. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"
"Alright. Bye Alya! Try not to stay up all night again working on your blog— I wanna have a conversation with you, not a brick wall who's too tired to respond." Marinette waved, before realizing that Alya couldn't actually see her so she quickly hung up as she blushed.
"Wow," she said to herself in awe. "I can't believe that I won a competition hosted by Gabriel Agreste. This has to be the greatest day of my life." She climbed up to her loft, ready to spend the rest of the evening relaxing and watching Netflix on her phone.
Gabriel sat at his desk, looking every bit the intimidating boss as he stared at his personal assistant through the specialized tinted glasses that prevented him from activating his quirk on everyone he looked at.
"The preparations for tomorrow are complete?" He asked her after a tense moment of silence.
Nathalie remained poised and emotionless. "Yes, sir," she confirmed, "The relevant documents are set to be emailed to the girl's parents shortly after the conclusion of the meeting. The offer we make will not be one she will be inclined to refuse. If she still does, however, it will be no great loss."
"Good." Gabriel was pleased, though he made no outward show of it. "How are Adrien's studies for the entrance exams going?"
"His tutors have nothing but praise for him, and at the rate that he is completing his exercises I have full confidence that he will pass the exam with full marks."
The gray-haired man allowed himself a slight upwards quirk to his lip. "Excellent. In conjunction with the financial preparations, this means that we will be able to roll out production within two years, and begin sales during Adrien's final year, in time for him to become the public face of the fashion brand of Gabriel, while I head the new branch."
He thought for a minute, and then asked Nathalie, "Are you prepared to act in my role while I do business in Japan?"
She responded with no trace of hesitation. "Yes, sir. Photoshoots for a variety of models are scheduled weekly for the next three months, to be supplemented by any new shoots of Adrien in Japan. Any new designs that you send shall be swiftly put into production, and we currently have a backlog of fifteen. Assuming a steady stream of photos and designs, I could keep the brand afloat until you return to France, and that is without any of your input."
That was enough to satisfy Gabriel. "Good. You're dismissed."
Once Nathalie left, Gabriel kept sitting for a few more minutes, and then stood up and walked over to the portrait of Emilie.
He hesitated for a brief second, but ultimately activated the hidden mechanism in the painting that opened up the lift beneath him, taking him to the underground repository where his wife's body was being held in stasis.
He hesitated over her, then grabbed her hand. "Soon, my love. Soon, this will all end; you will be back with me, and Adrien will have a mother again." He kissed the back of her hand, and then laid it back down and turned around.
All evidence gathered over the past years has pointed to the Chinese Miracle Box residing in Japan. Just having the Butterfly Miraculous won't be enough to ensure that I find the cat and the ladybug. I need to be prepared to make a deal or two with certain villains to secure my chances of success, especially if I have to fight any holders or a Guardian to get them, he thought to himself as he walked down the pathway.
He reactivated the lift, already planning what he had to do when he arrived in Japan.
Soon, this would all end, one way or another.
The Next Day
Putain, I'm going to be late!
Those were the first words on Marinette's mind when she woke up. After last night's events, she had fallen asleep late and subsequently woke up late as well, with only twenty minutes before she had to be at the Agreste mansion. She would not mess up this opportunity by making herself late. Thankfully, it was only about a five-minute walk away from the bakery, so as long as she left within the next fifteen minutes, she would be on time.
Unfortunately, it seems that the universe itself was conspiring against her trying to have a stress-free morning, as she'd already almost fallen from her loft and tripped three times over herself in her haste to get ready. It was a wonder she hadn't gotten a concussion from hitting her head against something already.
It took five minutes of fumbling through her closets looking for something to wear before she was finally ready to make her way downstairs to greet her parents with a kiss on the cheek and have just enough time to grab one of her father's croissants on the way out.
I'll just grab a big lunch when I meet up with Alya, she thought to herself in order to justify her light breakfast. She wasn't all that hungry anyway in part due to the anticipation she felt for what was likely to be an eventful meeting.
She walked over to the Agrestes, perhaps at a faster pace than she would otherwise in order to ensure that she wouldn't be late for the scheduled time of 11:15. Honestly, being on time for something was an achievement in its own right and she was proud of her haste in getting ready that morning.
She pulled her coat tighter around her, cursing her lack of foresight in selecting a warmer winter coat and approached the front gate. She rang the buzzer, and a speaker turned on soon afterwards.
"Name?"
"Marinette Dupain-Cheng."
"Age?"
"Fifteen years old."
"Quirk?"
She swallowed a bit uncomfortably. While it had been many years since she was seriously harassed for this, Marinette nonetheless was still uncomfortable with answering the question whenever it came up.
"Uhh, quirkless."
The man paused, before continuing with the questions. "Reason for visit?"
"Scheduled appointment with M. Agreste for 11:15." She checked her phone to make sure she wasn't running late, and was pleased to see that she had an entire five minutes before the meeting started.
The speaker turned off and the gate began to open as the door to the mansion was opened to reveal M. Agreste's bodyguard. She's not sure he was the one questioning her, as she's positive she's never heard him speak in all the times that he had accompanied Adrien to school or anywhere else.
As she walked up to the front door, the man grunted, before turning around and starting to walk away. Marinette took that to mean she should follow him, so she did just that until they reached a doorway to what she assumed contained an office.
The man stood next to the door and didn't make any motions, so she assumed that she had to wait until M. Agreste was ready to see her. She looked around and didn't see anywhere she could sit down, so she awkwardly stood across the hall from the man.
For some reason, she didn't think he would be much for conversation.
It was another minute of waiting before the door was opened from the inside by a dark-haired woman with a red streak in her hair— Marinette could only assume that this was the assistant that had sent her the email the day before.
"M. Agreste is now ready to see you. Please step inside," she said before returning into the office. Marinette was a bit nervous, but tried to remain confident as she stepped inside.
What she thought would be an office was actually much larger: on the right side of the room was a large glass pedestal with a screen on it, where she assumed Adrien's father worked. On the left, however, was a desk that looked to consist of marble with a glass desktop. On it was a computer monitor and some paperwork, and sitting on the other side of the desk was M. Agreste himself.
"Welcome," he said and gestured towards one of the two chairs located on her side of the desk. She chose the one on the right side, which wasn't next to the wall and was less likely to make her feel trapped. The assistant, whose name (if she remembered correctly) was Nathalie Sancoeur, stood slightly behind and to the right of her boss.
Marinette took a deep breath before she lost her nerve. "Thank you for having me here, it's a great honor to have been chosen by you to be the winner of your competition." She was looking down, scared to see his reaction, but all she heard was a chuckle before she managed to look up again.
A small smirk graced M. Agreste's lips. He told her, "It was my pleasure. It's refreshing to see such talent in today's youth, and even rarer to see that talent being put to good use. Why, it would be foolish indeed to not acknowledge your skill."
Marinette blushed and looked down again, unwilling to meet the eye of her idol as he complimented her. He gave her a moment to compose herself before he continued.
"Of course, we aren't here just to talk about your entry. I'd hazard a guess that you're more interested in the prize associated with winning."
Marinette gulped. This was the moment she'd been waiting for. "Y-yes sir."
"Excellent." He signaled Mlle. Sancoeur with a hand and she stepped forward, placing a stapled packet on the desk. M. Agreste gestured for her to take it, and upon reading the heading she looked up at him, a bit confused.
"I'm not entirely sure what this is supposed to be. Isn't this a printed application for U.A. High School?" she stammered out.
"Yes, Mlle. Dupain-Cheng, it's part of your prize, should you choose to accept it," he said with a gleam in his eye.
Marinette was too stupefied to remember her previous nervousness as she stared at him in visible confusion.
The man smirked and leaned back. "Allow me to explain. I am planning on expanding my brand to include hero support items, and I will be traveling to Japan and staying there for the next three years in order to broker business deals and plan production lines. My son will be joining me, and is currently studying to take the recommendation exam for the business course, which will prepare him to work at Gabriel. In sharing this information, you will be legally obligated not to share it with anyone until I allow the news to go public, thanks to the NDA on the last page of this packet.."
Marinette nodded, though she still wasn't sure how she was involved in this, and shared this observation with him.
He held her gaze as he leaned back in his chair, and continued to explain. "The opportunity I am giving you is a chance to intern at my company and join me on my trip to Japan. You will thus be given the opportunity to take either the regular entrance exam or the recommendation exam for the support department, though I would recommend the recommendation exam. You will be able to choose what you specialize in, though I imagine that you'd prefer to stick with the design specialization, seeing how it's the most similar to designing for the fashion industry. All travel costs will of course be covered by the company, along with tuition and living expenses, though the actual living arrangements I believe will be handled by U.A.. If those aren't satisfactory feel free to let me know, and I will handle it personally. For the designated internship periods during the school year you would be required to work alongside me, where I will mentor you about both the fashion and support industries. I cannot control what you do after you graduate high school, but if you continue to prove yourself like you have until now, it would be within the realm of possibility that I'd extend an offer to join Gabriel in an official capacity."
Marinette was honestly having trouble processing the massive amount of information being thrown at her and didn't know how to react, so her brain resorted to having her stare at him with her mouth opening and closing as she tried to figure out what to say.
M. Agreste chuckled, though she privately hoped that it was more with her rather than at her.
"I understand if this makes you feel rather overwhelmed, so I will be giving you a week to decide whether this is an offer you wish to accept. Obviously, it will still be necessary to get accepted into U.A., but according to my son you appear to have no such worries," he stated matter-of-factly, as if the slightest mention of Adrien's existence (much less the fact he'd talked about her to his father) wasn't enough to turn her into a stuttering mess.
"Y-yes, of course M. Agreste. T-thank you for having me and for offering me this chance," she stammered out as she stood up and took the packet with her.
"Your parents will have already received emails containing the information in the packet along with what was discussed today. One more thing," he said, in a tone that made Marinette turn around to see him smirking. "It'd probably be wise to brush up on your Japanese."
She nodded weakly, and barely held herself back from sprinting towards the door.
Marinette left the Agreste mansion in a daze.
She wasn't really sure what had just happened, only a vague feeling that it had been important. Then she looked down and thought to herself, Ah, yes, I'm being offered the means to go to U.A..
She kept thinking about what this offer could mean for her as she let her legs go wherever they felt they wanted to. U.A. High School was distinct for being the most famous secondary institution in the world, providing a level of education for specific careers that rivaled that of many universities, though it was best known for pumping out many of the best known heroes in the world (though that statistic may be a bit inflated, since Japan's attitude towards heroism was much more sensationalized than other countries, and heroes only required a high school education rather than the university-level education requirements to get a license like in most other countries).
She couldn't say she didn't want to go to U.A., because let's face it— almost everybody had thought about it at some point— but she'd never really considered it as a legitimate option because of the costs associated with going and the academic prowess that would be required to get in. Her parents were well off, but not enough so that they could afford to send their daughter overseas pour la lycée.
If she did go, even for the support course (which focused almost entirely on hero costumes) she'd be able to get into almost any fashion program in the world on purely the prestige that came with a name like "U.A.".
And with an almost guaranteed job at Gabriel when she graduated? She wouldn't even need to go to university, because she'd be in her dream job right out of high school. It was certainly a tempting offer, even considering all the studying she'd have to do for the entrance exams (and to learn a passable amount of Japanese— she was pretty sure Maman had some family in Japan, maybe she could ask her for help?)
Her other issue was the consideration that she'd be leaving all her friends behind. Adrien going to Japan was one thing, they were never the closest of friends thanks to her awkwardness, and she wasn't sure she could leave behind her parents, along with Alya and Nino.
She pulled herself out of her musings then, because the thought of Alya reminded her that they were supposed to meet for lunch. Surprisingly, it seems that she'd subconsciously remembered about it, because she'd been walking towards the café where they were going to meet without even realizing it.
Bemused by this turn of events, Marinette entered the café and ordered a pain au chocolat and a small coffee for herself along with a plate of macarons for her and Alya to share before she chose a small table near the window. Unfortunately, the fact that it was winter hindered her ability to enjoy an outdoor seat.
She sat down and thought about what M. Agreste had told her, and was so absorbed in her thoughts and coffee that she didn't notice Alya had come in until her wool hat was pulled down over her eyes.
"Alya!" Marinette pulled her hat back up and pouted at her best friend. Alya just gave her a coy smile and sat down, taking off her own beanie and fixing her reddish-brown hair. "Love you too, Marinette!"
Marinette just huffed and turned away from her friend, not letting herself meet Alya's eyes.
Alya just smirked. "Aww, is poor Marinette mad at her best friend for playing a mean trick?" she teased some more.
Marinette finally gave in and turned to meet her friend. "If you keep doing these sorts of things, I won't be your best friend for much longer."
"Oh, the horror! If you're no longer my best friend, then who will I turn to for comfort? Who's going to bother me about their embarrassing crush on Adrien?" Alya gasped dramatically. They stared at each other for a moment before they both broke into laughter at each other.
"So," Marinette said to her friend as she took a sip of coffee. "What was so important that you needed to tell me in person today?"
Alya very suddenly became interested in the view from the window. "Yeah, that's… uh… something…" she stuttered through.
"Come on, you can do it!" Marinette encouraged her.
Alya pursed her lips. "I might be going to Japan, to U.A. High School. I know the exams haven't even come up yet, but I've been studying quite a lot and I think I gave a really good chance at getting in—"
"Alya."
"—and the general studies department has a journalism elective, and it's one of the best programs of its kind in the world—"
"Alya, please."
"—I'll be able to find internships really easily and my prospects for universities and jobs will be improved by mmph."
Marinette wasn't sure what Alya was going to say next, but that was probably because she had covered her friend's mouth with her hand.
"Hey, hey," she tried to calm her friend down, "why are you so worked up about this?"
"Mm mmm mmph!"
Ah, right. She should probably remove her hand.
Once Alya's ability to speak was unhindered, she answered Marinette a bit bashfully, which was unlike her. "I just… wasn't sure how you would react because I might be leaving France to go halfway around the globe for school, and maybe you'd be mad at me for abandoning you here," she finished, head down in shame (or perhaps worry, it was a but hard to tell when she couldn't see Alya's face.
Marinette's only reaction was to laugh, because either it was destiny for her to have received the news that she did today, or perhaps just a humorous coincidence. Alya looked up in confusion, as Marinette explained.
"That news actually lines up quite well with what I wanted to tell you. It turns out that the prize for winning the design competition is essentially a full scholarship for U.A.'s support course, assuming I can pass the entrance exams."
Alya just stared at her, mouth slightly open in shock.
"I know that the support course isn't exactly about fashion, but I figure that with the design specialization it should be pretty close," Marinette continued, "and I'll be able to get into any university I want anyways."
Alya kept staring at her, not showing any signs of having heard her. Marinette started to wave her hand right in front of her face, and she finally covered her face and sank down in her seat out of embarrassment.
"Ughhhh, and I was so worried," she groaned, "when it turns out that you might actually be joining me in Japan."
"Oh, and Adrien is going to be there too," Marinette helpfully added.
"I—" Alya seemed to have trouble getting any words out. If this continued, Marinette might have to start seriously worrying for her friend's health. She told her exactly that.
"Well— no, I mean it's just— you'll be going to school with Adrien, and you're not panicking about it at all?" Alya had to clarify.
"Well," Marinette tried to explain, "we've been going to the same school for about two years now, so this really isn't anything too new."
Alya tried to dispute that, but found that there was nothing in that statement that could be argued over.
"I still have to talk to my parents about it, but I imagine that I'll be applying in that case," Marinette said. "Can you review some of the exam topics with me? I'm afraid that I'm behind on my studying on account of not knowing I'd be applying."
Alya snorted. "Yeah, totally! Maybe we can rope Nino into applying with us, get the whole gang in Japan?"
Marinette smiled. It was nice having a few good friends, and she wondered what U.A. would be like. Would she make any new friends there?
Well, one thing was certain: she didn't think that things could get any better than what she had right now.