Plagg, Tikki, and I were up all night going over the new case file evidence regarding the "groundbreaking" information we've uncovered since Ms. Bustier's kidnapping.

It all came to me as a shock, really. Not the fact that literal criminal masterminds were working in a school meant to educate the nation's future, but shocked that they were so easy to spot. It seemed like accepting this case was too easy.

Here I am, a professional field ops agent at age 15 having to deal with amateurs. Quite the insult in my honest opinion. But I can't really complain.

These "criminal masterminds" are attempting to implement something into the school system that would affect the students, but I'm not quite sure what that something is. It could be anything at this point. Something in the food? Secretly implanting chips into the arms of unsuspecting students? Propaganda seminars? Whatever it is, we'll find out.

The extent of my knowledge on the subject goes as far as this: In specially chosen private high schools all across the nation, each school has a principal who acts as a "curator" (or double agent) for whatever they decide to test on students. When they complete the stages successfully, financial compensation is assumed from an unknown figure.

For now, we've decided the unknown figure is the leader of this organized scheme and our goal is to find their identity.

They use privately funded high schools because of reliability in terms of where the streams of money come from, a majority of which alumni donate. The only reason why the alumni continue to donate and fuel these crimes is because of the way these "implementations" are advertised.

Most alumni grow to become influential and wealthy figures in society, and these influential figures with money want to invest in the future of their kids.

They'd do anything and pay any amount to give their children an advantage in schooling and society as a whole. But they don't realize it is all a scam for an operation that wants to use innocent children as guinea pigs in their experiments.

Therefore these hotspots for criminal activity are over-funded, yet under-researched by the very people funding it, leading to a major miscommunication that in turn also leads to the restart of this crime cycle. Who knows how many different things were implemented before the agency had the chance to notice? A corrupt system only gets worse.

Anyway, that's just what I learned last night. I woke up with a small headache this morning that only grew when I completed my daily training.

It's a Saturday, meaning I'm going shopping with the friend group for our homecoming outfits. If I'm being honest, I have to admit it's nice having someone to go with. I didn't think I'd find a friend group in this school so quickly. What are the odds?

By the time I finish a quick shower, it's 9 AM. I went into my closet to slip on some jeans and a simple tee and decided to try attempting a new hairstyle that Lila texted me. She calls it the "Cher Horowitz" (the actual term is a "blowout"). Tikki is always calling my lack of style for hair sad and drab, so today I pledged to make her proud. (thank you, Lila, although I think you might hate me.)

Satisfied with my look, I pop in my contacts, put on my ladybug earrings, and sling my crossbody bag over my shoulder. I step down the stairs into the kitchen to greet Plagg and Tikki and also get some painkillers for my ever-growing headache.

"Thank you for driving me Plagg, I'll look into public transport next time."

Plagg stopped the car in front of the entrance. "Don't worry about it. It's a part of the contract to drive you places. Anyway, you know the drill agent. Have fun, but not too much fun."

"I understand, Plagg. Regardless if it ever gets bothersome, please let me know. See you in a few hours!"

I step out of the car and look around the vast area. The mall looked quite pretty in broad daylight since the last time I was here was at night to watch a movie with the same group of friends.

Entering the building led me straight to the food court. I wonder where everyone is?

Scrolling through my total contacts list of about 14 people now, I call Kagami and she picks up almost immediately, "Hey Ellie! The group is sitting at a table nearby the sub-zero ice cream place, Phillipe wanted to try--"

Muffles and giggles are heard through the speaker, then Sabrina takes over: "HI ELLIEEE!!! Come meet us already!!"

I giggle at her enthusiasm. "Alright, Sabrina. I'll meet you guys. Who's there right now?"

She takes a moment to count, and says, "Umm, we have the twins, Chloe, Lila, Kagami... and I think Adrien is in the bathroom... Pretty much everyone. Come quick!"

"Okay, I'll see you guys in a few, Bye!"

I start making my way towards the sub-zero down a wide marble walkway until I spot a golden head coming up an escalator. Adrien and I make eye contact, and I run over to him.

"Hey, Adrien! I was just about to meet up with the rest of the group. How are you doing?" I ask.

Adrien looks startled for a second, then smiles, "Hi Ellie! I'm doing good--I mean-- I'm doing amazing, now that you're here."

He realizes what he said and a gentle pink brushes over his cheeks, "I MEAN, I'm doing good! You look really nice, did you do something new with your hair?"

I let out a small giggle over his flustered-ness and reply, "Yes! Thank you for noticing, Lila sent me a new tutorial to follow."

"It's nice you and Lila are becoming better friends, I've noticed she wasn't always in the best mood when you were around."

"Yeah, I noticed that. But I'm glad she's warming up to me. I'm really grateful to have found this group. You guys are all so nice!" I say with a warm smile.

"Yeah, I'm glad you found us too." he responds.

We walk in comfortable silence for the next two and a half minutes, occasionally commenting on cool things we see, until we finally come upon the sub-zero ice cream place.

"Ayyyy the whole group is here! Who's ready to do some shopping?" Peter yells out.

Sabrina, Chloe, Kagami, and Lila come up to me and immediately start fawning over my hair. Wow. Everyone in this friend group is so supportive, is this what genuine friendships feel like?

"Ellie! YOUR HAIR! It is to die for, I knew it'd look good on you, I have an amazing taste." Lila says with a smirk. "I'll make sure to send over some other hairstyles if you want, I have a ton!"

"I'd like that Lila, thank you so much!" I respond.

Sabrina cuts everyone's conversations off and says, "Okay guys. Operation: Homecoming is now A-GO! Let's get shopping!!" She grabs mine and Chloe's arms, and the rest of the group follows.

For the first hour, all we do is window shop every store that comes into sight. For the last half of that hour, I stand back and observe their shopping tendencies.

The girls tend to splurge on shoes and makeup products, while the twins like buying low quality matching graphic tees just for the memes. I'm not at all surprised at their eagerness to buy so much in so little time, especially since they have the money to do it. More power to them, I guess.

The only person not buying anything is Adrien; instead, he chose to stand back and observe with me.

Adrien sidles up to me after being at an awkward distance for the last 30 minutes. "Why aren't you getting anything?" He asks.

"I can ask you the same thing," I reply with a chuckle. "Also, I just haven't found anything appealing enough to buy."

He nods understandingly, "I guess the same goes for me. My dad taught me at a young age to not waste money on meaningless objects and items, so I just listen to him."

"Makes sense," I reply.

He begins again, saying, "I won't say no to high quality items however, like this keychain here."

A mischievous smile forms as he picks up a deformed Mario Plushie off the shelf next to us that said, "Eat Ass, Skate Fast." On the hat.

I simply laugh at the stupidity, but say, "How wise, I'm impressed."

"But yeah," he says as our laughs subside, "There's a lot of things my dad doesn't like me doing. But I just gotta assume it's for the best, y'know?"

Adriens dad seemed strict and controlling, yet wise at the same time. It's been so long since I've had my biological father be there for me that my heart aches and yearns for something similar. Although I've had Dr. Fu, and until recently, Plagg, I feel like it'll never be the same for me anymore.

Now isn't the time to get in your feels, Ellie. Relax—

My personal thoughts and conversation with Adrien is interrupted as the group walks into a furniture store.

I hear Sabrina say, "Let's split up into groups and meet back at the food court by noon for some lunch!" And before I knew it, everyone else was gone.

Everyone ran off so quickly I couldn't tell who went with who. All I knew was that I was alone with Adrien in a furniture shop, staring at couches.