Alya had opened up a new part of the LadyBlog, held exclusively in favor of fans where they could submit theories such as who Cat Noir and Ladybug are to whether they are related, dating, friends, or whatever.
She'd spend time collecting short segments of theories and work on debunking them, becoming a true Myth Buster, as she'd later claim to make it sound much more intense than simply solving a theory and disproving it.
Lately, she'd received more theories asking if Ladybug and Cat Noir could be certain people, one of which was whether Kagami Tsurugi could be Ladybug while another theory cropped up over whether Adrien Agreste could be Cat Noir.
Alya first went to prove that Kagami Tsurugi couldn't be Ladybug as she lived far away until recently and for another thing, she'd been Akumatized which happened days after Alya had first received the theory.
Even though her hair color was similar to Ladybug's, it didn't have nearly the same length, and she never wore it in pig tails for that matter.
She also had no well known talents for yo-yoing as she seemed to prefer fencing, and Ladybug did not seem to be a fencer from the way she battled; Kagami would probably make a better Cat Noir than Ladybug though Alya knew way better than to write that.
Alya definitely did not want to get any theories over whether Kagami was actually Cat Noir though it would be mind boggling if the Miraculous changed that much, from the gender to body type, hair color, eye color, and whatever else to make that work.
She shuddered at the thought, but happily went forward to debunk how Adrien Agreste was simply too busy and too reserved to be Cat Noir.
"So some people suspect that Adrien is Cat Noir." Alya was never quite the subtle sort and couldn't help her almost smug smile at mentioning this to her three best friends, "But even though they look a lot alike, Adrien certainly doesn't act all that much like him and obviously couldn't fit in superhero work in with all of his private tutors, school, and modeling in his life."
Alya half leaned on the table, pretty proud of herself though tired; Adrien's somewhat startled, somewhat nervous look missed her in the sight of her confidence.
"So people think that I could be Cat Noir?" Adrien looked concerned as he half leaned over the table.
"Yeah, but it's a little absurd." Alya admitted, "I used to think that you might be him, like how I used to think that Marinette could be Ladybug, but it's a little unfeasible now. Cat Noir and Ladybug going to our school and being some of my best friends? Impossible. I surely would have found evidence for it ages ago if that was the case." She shrugged.
Adrien looked just as surprised as Marinette was starting to look as they stared wide eyed at Alya.
"Uh, Alya, how are you going to disprove this theory this time?" Marinette looked slightly tired and a little concerned over her best friend's sake.
"Just follow Adrien around and ask him important questions which I obviously know the answer to, because he can't be Cat Noir. I'll try to find solid evidence linking him away from Cat Noir." Alya smiled slightly as she relaxed against the table.
It was downright frustrating!
Every day, hanging out with Adrien to the point that some people assumed that she'd dumped Nino for the chance to date the supermodel.
With each passing day, Alya was slowly but surely growing convinced that Adrien could be Cat Noir even though he punned even less than before; Cat Noir seemed to act over exaggerated to make up for it, and Alya was starting to go insane.
It made too much sense; Adrien would vanish, Cat Noir would show up.
Adrien may be busy, but he was pretty good at avoiding his bodyguard and secretary as well as anyone else that stood in his way whenever Akuma attacks happened with the weak excuse of, 'I was hiding' to 'Sorry, the Akuma caught me under his or her spell.'
Alya was about at her breaking point and ready to yell at him to just tell the truth already when she finally stumbled upon solid evidence.
Her hands shook, but her phone stayed down.
It felt like the suspenseful build up to a great climax in a movie, where suddenly realization dawns, and you watch stunned, transfixed, waiting for the next moment to properly unfold and capture the rest of the story.
That evening regardless, she went home typing up that Adrien Agreste couldn't be Cat Noir and posted a photoshopped picture of her own that she'd spent hours creating and making look as real as possible to show Cat Noir and Adrien Agreste near each other.
Due to Marinette's crush and the ease of finding Adrien Agreste pictures online, it wasn't hard to find a good one to alter and throw in with her large collection of Cat Noir ones.
She was determined to make it look as real as possible and since she had never lied on her blog before, she was positive that they'd believe the pretty real looking picture that she posted online.
Alya still felt as if her mind had stilled from that moment in the school hallway when she stopped dead in her tracks to watch Adrien Agreste transform into Cat Noir and even though he hadn't seen or heard her standing there, she was determined to keep her loyalty to best friends first over even her career as a reporter.
Sometimes you just had to trust that others kept secrets for reasons even you may not understand yet.