Here I am, where she told me. The hangar of polygon nine. Everything is dark, luckily my transformation allows me to see. However, no one arrives.
This place is not nice, the good thing is that it is a stormy night. At least it hides the smell.
"What a surprise," a voice behind me suddenly says, "a Holder"
I turn around looking for her, but I still do not see her.
"We are called Triple Super."
Only Longg has called me that.
"I don't do it like that."
The lady, an older woman, completely covered in wrinkles that make her look older than biologically possible, appears out of nowhere.
I draw my sword. I should not have come here, it is not safe.
"Why do you draw your weapon? You are the one who quoted me."
She does not lose her cool and I have to pretend that I do not either.
"You startled me, I did not see you arrive."
I keep my sword. Anyway, I still have powers.
The stranger smiles. She makes her face ugly, but despite that, she is not scary.
"You're still too new. You know how to use a sword, but your magical part is asleep."
Her appearance is not scary but it makes me nervous, alert, as if I would be attacked at any moment and I would not be able to defend myself.
"Asleep? I can turn into water, lightning and wind."
"And you think that's the limit of your miracle." She knows where my powers come from. She knows about this, about what is going on. "But we are not here to talk about that, but about black magic. And I am an expert."
The way she says it doesn't indicate anything good. However, the fact that my mother is against approaching people like this woman will not stop me from doing so. I must learn, I just can't let my guard down.
"If you are so expert, tell me about it."
The lady nods slowly.
"Let's make a Deal." she proposes.
She appears to be dishonest. I cannot get caught up in a ruse.
"What do you want?" I sound cold and confident, like my mother.
The woman takes a step closer to me.
"Being close to you."
I do not get it.
"You already are."
The woman smiles as if she has won a prize. Have I done something I should not? I have been naive.
"Black magic is powerful." she begins to tell me. "It uses people's most intense feelings to cast the strongest spells."
It is more or less what I have seen on the Internet and what Hawk Moth does. The use of negative feelings. Even I know that a bad feeling can be more passionate than a good one.
» Black magic takes you down paths that other types of magic could not take you and achieves goals that they can never reach. Black magic fights with other types of magic and even with itself.
She is not telling me anything. Lots of metaphors and hints. Everything that is bad for me.
"Don't be so insecure, young woman, nothing good will come of it."
I am not insecure. It is precisely for my security that I know my qualities and defects.
"Who are you?"
"The same question could be applied to you, Ryuko. And we could both give the same answer: just a person who wants to know more."
Okay, if I got this hint, I think. She wants to know who I am.
"I am just someone who wants to end the darkness that plagues my city."
The stranger smiles again, and this time her face does seem threatening to me.
"We'll see."
She moves so fast she is out of my sight and when I turn around, she is gone.
And with it goes the unpleasant feeling that some people give me.
My research on black magic is not progressing. I have to try harder.
It is time to go home. The patrol is over.
I jump across the rooftops of the city. As usual, people take pictures of me. I make sure to take several detours before entering the house.
I detransform and go down to the living room.
"Have you studied a lot?" asks my mother. She is sitting on the couch, listening to the daily talk show about Triple Super on television.
Before us, on television they talked about more important social issues. Now that has been put aside to always deal with the same topic. We have become the circus.
"Yes, mother, you will be proud of me when you receive the grades."
She nods trusting my words. In my lies
"Ryuko promised that she would protect us." I pay attention to television after hearing my pseudonym. "But the Triple Super completely ignored the citizens affected by Dark Cupid."
I do not know the man who spoke. He wears an expensive suit and horn-rimmed glasses. It makes him look like an intellectual.
"They were fighting the akuma. If they don't do it, who will?"
Answers another man who wears almost the same suit as the first, although no glasses.
"That's clear, it's the only thing they do. Fight Akuma." replies the first aggressively. "They have turned Paris into their particular setting for their rivalry against Hawk Moth. But whata about people? More than thirty women are in hospital in critical condition.
Hearing that gave me a stab of pain in my chest. Despite having noise what we can, they are like this.
The second shakes his head.
"That's not their fault."
"And they don't seem to care too much either. They fight for themselves, not for us."
Yes I care. He does not know who I am. He does not know that I care or not, and yet he is there with the speech. That speech that has been repeated over and over again, every day since Climatika.
That speech that says that we are the bad ones, although we risk to save them. Although we are the first and only front line against Hawk Moth.
"I agree." adds a woman who had not spoken until now. "And their reluctance to meet with me only confirms it."
The camera focuses on her.
I know her. It is Nadja Chamack. I have to convince Bunnyx to interview. We cannot let them create a bad public opinion of us.
A snort sounds to my left.
"That woman is always whimpering about not getting to interview the Holders." My mother affirms with her usual cold voice.
It is the first time I have heard her talk about us. And she has used the same term as the unknown lady. The same of the kwamis.
"What do you think?" I ask.
My mother does not think about it for a second.
"That you do not have to get into the subject."
Too late.
Since Dark Cupid I seat alone. Not only was Alix expelled, but after class, an angry crowd was waiting for Chloe. She has not come back to class either.
I am in the middle of a fight between my two friends. That they are thanks to the fact that the first told me to approach the second. But now the former hates the latter.
I understand Alix, that she has never hurt anyone. But I also understand Chloe.
I was her. She was trying her best to like and please my mother. Adrien told me.
I realize that I have been standing at the door of the classroom and that the classmates who are here have been looking at me.
I shake my head to clear the thoughts and walk to my seat when I bump into someone right in front of me. How did I not notice? I look up to meet the only green eyes in the class.
Adrien is the son of Gabriel Agreste. And it is very different from him. More friendly, while his father is cold.
Unlike me with my mother. Sometimes I do not want to look like her. I try to be nice, but it does not work as well as it does for him.
Adrien is so gentle and handsome that he makes me let my guard down around him. That is very uncomfortable for me. However, he also does it with me.
"Hey." he smiles "I want to make you a proposal."
I am not entirely sure how to behave with him anymore.
"I hear you."
"You and I are the best in fencing." he begins "And we share class, while the rest are in others."
He is silent for a moment. Is he already?
"Is your proposal two indisputable truths?"
"No, no." He shakes his head. He has been thinking too long. "The proposal is that... we train together. I'm not referring to fencing, because we already do that in class, although if you want too. But mainly I mean strength, endurance, elasticity, agility... Are you good at contorting?"
I raise my eyebrows. That sounds like something very concrete. And it is a completely indecent proposal. Even more after the hour he spent crying for Alix on Valentine's Day.
Adrien seems to realize how he sounds and his face turns red.
"Okay. That sounds awful. What I mean is that I have a gym and a climbing wall at home. It could be fun. And we're friends, right?"
So he is also uncomfortable. I do not like that we have gotten awkward.
"Okay, let's do it."
He goes to his seat and I go to mine.
Once here, I pull out my planner and pencil in 'Training with Adrien' at a random slot in the afternoon because we have not actually said a specific time.
I write it in Japanese. In France, most people do not know how to read it. Gives more privacy. In Japan I always wrote in French.
In Japan everything was different. I have never been good at socializing, but at least people were not looking at me like they thought I was going to rip their heads off.
People there respected me for being a Tsurugi. People here hate the daughter of the mayor of Paris.
There my mother was calmer. Here she spends all day paranoid. It was very bad luck that we moved in just before Hawk Moth started attacking.
The best fencing classes there cost my mother hundreds of thousands of yen a month. Here the best fencing class is an extracurricular activity of a public institute. Actually this is a good thing, but different after all.
Enough of nostalgia. I am supposed to be fighting it.
In Japan I did not have close friends and here I do, although they hate each other, thing that I intend to solve.
Thinking about that makes nostalgia stay so deep that it is as if it did not exist. And if there is an akuma, it is even more distracting.
There is a presence before me. The light from the lamps covers me, preventing me from continuing to write, since the sun has not yet risen.
"Hello." Her voice is sharp and kind. I look at her. What remedy? The girl is the one who always wears two low tails and a gray jacket. "We haven't talked properly yet because I'm always late and you always leave very quickly, which is a shame." She opens her eyes and changes her tone, as if apologizing. "That we haven't talked, not that you leave quickly, surely you have a reason. Even though I'm late, it's a shame." And she puts that tone of speech again. "Today I came on time because I stayed to sleep at Alya's house. Although I don't think you've talked to her either." She gives a start, as if she had remembered something. "Hey, you might recognize me because we went to your informal fencing competition. We should have chatted at that time. Sorry, I've talked too much. Oh... my name is Marinette."
She has told me about her life. And she has doubted her own name. It is a bit sad.
"I remember you. You are the girl who told Mr. D'Argencourt that I lost the duel on tryout day. Although according to Adrien, I won."
It is true, it is the best memory I have of her. The rest of the time she was just a person in the background.
She opens her eyes and her mouth a little, frowning a little. I think I have hurt her. No! It is she who has approached. And I want to make more friends.
I am going to apologize when she does it first.
"Sorry. But in the end you got in, didn't you?"
"Yes, I do. And everyone can have a mistake."
She nods and smiles.
"Would you like to come this afternoon to my parents' bakery? You can try the cakes I make for free."
How good! Another invitation. Although it's a pity that she can't go.
"Sorry. This afternoon I have already made an appointment with Adrien. But I can go tomorrow."
The girl seems to deflate, but she puts on a very big smile.
"I can not tomorrow. Well, we'll see when. I'm going to go back to my seat, the teacher is going to come in soon. Bye!"
I cannot help but smile a lot.
Also on Valentine's Day a girl wanted to be my friend. Erika, who I saved from Reflekta. She told me that the chocolate and the letter were put in there by the janitor, that apparently he has to clean all the school lockers every week. Not a good idea, no matter where you look at it.
This girl is a big fan of Triple Supers and she thinks, ironically, that I look like Ryuko. She says I have a superhero profile.
The morning has been a disaster. I do not consider myself a clumsy person, but today my agility has worked to half.
In class changes I have tripped on the stairs, in all of them. I lost my math book, my pen and history notebook.
And in music. I am not particularly capable, despite my obligatory study of the cello, although my embarrassment has increased after trying to play the recorder and only unpleasant squeaks sounded. Then it turned out that I had left the flute brush inside.
Everyone laughed at the time, but after that Adrien helped me get my fingers right and I managed to sound halfway decent. He is good at music.
And here I am. Sitting at my desk, writing everything I can about black magic and ways to combat it. Longg helps me analyze what little that woman said. My mother, again, is not at home. Every time she worries me more the constant absence of her.
"The witch said there were several ways to deal with it. From her own experience, a transformed wielder is a black magic neutralizer herself."
I look up from the screen. Behind Longg, through the window, I see the dark sky and today's fine and incessant rain. There is something about that sentence that sounds wrong to me.
"But it is not like that. Queen Bee was unable to kill Reflekta's akuma."
Longg leans on the computer.
"She had been transformed into a clone."
"Does that mean that black magic can cancel ours?"
"And yours can nullify black magic." he points out "Your skin of kwami magic and human will."
On their own the kwamis cannot combat black magic. And they can also be used for her. That means that black magic and white magic comes from humans, from their will. Kwami magic is different.
"Why did not you tell me before?"
Longg shrugs, sort of. He has no shoulders, but he makes the gesture.
"I thought it was obvious."
"If it had been obvious, I would not have looked for information on black magic."
I do not understand why Longg has not told me about this before. Kwami logic is weird.
"So, now that you know this you will stop trying to learn more about black magic?"
The kwami stares at me, waiting for me to answer his question.
"Of course. Starting today, I will learn everything I can about your magic. The woman said that the miracle allows me to do much more than I currently do.
Longg is about to say something when a ringtone interrupts him. It is my phone.
The name 'Adrien' is on the screen.
"Are you ready?" It is the first thing he says after picking up.
I go to reply, but Longg shakes his head.
"No, I am not. We did not say anything about a time."
"It's true, I'm sorry. I'll come pick you up and wait as long as you need."
I look out the window. The rain continues. It is the kind of rain that does not seem to get wet until you have been under it for a while and you realize you have gotten soaked.
"There is no need. I will be ready soon. Bye."
There are a few seconds of silence from Adrien.
"See you later then."
And he hangs up.
"Why did you tell me to say no? I am ready. I have nothing to prepare." I turn to Longg.
He does not take long to answer, as if he had it very clear.
"Kagami-san, I am much older than you. And I know that in this situation, that would have made you look like a desperate and lifeless person wishing that anyone would call you to hang out."
Why does he think so much about it? Do I have to try to look like something I'm not?
"But that is the truth."
"It is not. You have friends, a double life and an ongoing investigation. In addition to the group work that you have not finished yet."
Sigh. Certain. I am busy. So busy that working out with Adrien is almost a distraction.
"Alright." I admit "But what if Adrien thinks I am desperate? He is much more so. The impression we make on each other no longer matters. Not after Valentine's Day."
"Maybe you are right." he accepts. He points his finger up and down at me. "Now you should change your clothes, unless you want to exercise with a white tartan skirt."
He has a point. I put on my favorite tracksuit and go downstairs. Longg has hidden in the jacket. I will not be able to take it off. I do not think it is necessary though. The cold is enough to freeze my nose.
I leave the garden of my house and stay by the fence. I love the smell of wet earth that comes from the outside. In my room I do not open the window, so it usually does not reach me.
It does not take long for the limo to appear and Adrien opens the door from inside.
"Hello again." he smiles. I think that day I really helped him.
I correspond with a much smaller one. I do not want to make it bigger, it is going to scare him away.
I close the black umbrella and get into the vehicle.
Adrien runs his hand over my head and shoulders.
"You got a little wet." He explains.
I nod and we stay silent.
The silence spreads. It becomes tense, at least for me. I glance at Adrien out of the corner of my eye. He seems calm. Am I the only one who feels this discomfort?
"Today I will win." Adrien declares. "I'm stronger than you."
That is a bit childish. However, it relaxes the atmosphere.
I will show you how wrong you are.
I can be childish sometimes too.
When we arrive at his house, we are greeted by a middle-aged woman dressed in an elegant purple suit. The woman reminds me of my mother, for some reason I cannot figure out.
I have seen her before, at the party Chloe, Adrien and I ended up running away from.
She leads us to Adrien's room, though I am sure he could have done it on his own.
His room is different from mine. About the same size, but a thousand times less intimidating. There is a piano right in the middle and a foosball table nearby. On the right a basket and next to it a climbing wall. He has a sofa with a television and a staircase that leads to a personal library. In the space between the stairs and the bed there is a desk with a huge monitor.
My bedroom is not so cozy. I have my bed, my desk, my closet and a big bookcase. But I also have swords hanging on the walls, training dummies of all kinds and samurai armor, just on the whim of my mother.
Upon entering I find that there is also a built-in wardrobe and a bathroom.
"Where is the gym?"
"A little further." Adrien says pointing up the stairs.
Indeed, behind the stairs there is a gym. His room is bigger than mine.
"What do we do first?"
"You are the one who invited me."
After that little exchange, Adrien and I raced for three hours on all the machines he has here. Treadmill, weightlifting,... and even rock climbing. For some reason, Adrien's competitiveness is back, and I like it.
"I am going back up." I tell him pointing to the climbing wall.
"Again?" Adrien is surprised. "How much energy do you have?"
"Well…" My eyes go to the window. Still raining.
One moment. In the distance I see a shadow. On the wall of Adrien's house.
"What is that?" I ask. If I was in Ryuko form I could see it, however, now I am unable.
"What?"
Adrien jumps up from his couch, where he had lain completely exhausted. But when we both look again, the shadow is gone.
"I don't see anything."
I keep looking at the dot and point to it.
"I swear there was something."
"I believe you." Adrien nods. "It could have been an owl."
"An owl? If it's raining. Birds hate water."
He denies with the head.
"Birds love water."
They do not do it. But I'm not going to argue about that nonsense. Adrien returns to his couch and stares at me.
"Weren't you going to climb the wall?" He says with a smile.
Of course. It is a good training to improve my climbing. I do not want to have to use my powers to climb to high places that I cannot jump to. And I also cannot depend on Queen Bee to always be there to take me with her spinning top.
I climb the wall following a different pattern than the other times. I lose grip a couple of times, but manage not to fall.
When I reach the ground I find Adrien at the foot of the wall.
"What are you doing here? Were you not exhausted?"
He puts his hands on his hips and then crosses his arms.
"I've seen you slip. So I put myself here in case you fell."
Is he trying to hide the worry? And what was he going to do?
"To be a human mattress?" I ask genuinely. "Thank you very much."
"Human mattress?"
"Yes. I fall and you take the damage. It is a great gesture on your part."
He lets out a giggle that turns into a laugh. I do not understand what is so funny.
"Of course I'm not going to be a human mattress. It was to catch you with his arms."
I raise an eyebrow.
"Princess style? I think there is more chance that I will carry you like that than you will carry me."
The memory that this is true and that it happened in Juleka's akumatization makes me smile. Adrien turns red. He is probably thinking the same thing.
He lies back on the sofa. Lying like this he looks like a cat.
"Can I... talk to you about something?"
Although he is lying on the sofa like that it seems that he has become uncomfortable.
His sudden shyness makes me believe that he wants to talk about something that embarrasses him. So it is about Alix.
"Do you think I'll ever be able to like Alix?"
The answer is clear. As much as she gave it.
"No."
"But…" Adrien begins to reply.
"We already discussed it on Valentine's Day. She told you that she did not like you. And a no is always a no. It was clear."
I hope I have not been too harsh. I am going to sit next to him on the couch. I move my feet away from him to make room and he stays seated.
"I know it is difficult, but after a while you'll look back and say 'I have got over it'." I grab his hand and give it a squeeze. "Okay?"
He puts on a smile. But he still looks sad.
"Talking about her. Can you think of a way I can get her to get along with Chloe?"
Adrien snorts.
"Even I can't get along with her. And that I have always done."
"But they did not get along badly. Until Kim."
He nods.
"That's logical. Alix and Kim are... very close friends."
What does that tone mean?
"Chloe apologized. I talked to her and convinced her. It also helped that she felt guilty."
Adrien's eyes widen.
"Did she feel guilty?"
"Yes, she did. I do not understand." He looks at me questioningly. "I do not understand that worrying so much about her, she has distanced herself from you."
I lean further back. It may be an awkward question. According to my app to make friends, those kinds of questions exist.
"I do not understand it either. Every time she talks to her she tells me that she won't be my friend if I keep hanging out with who I do. Although she does not specify who she is referring to."
This is getting sad. I decide to change the subject.
"After today's session it is clear that I am better than you." I challenge.
He gives me a sweet look, as if thanking me that I changed the subject.
"No, not at all."
We compete again. Another hour more.
"I'm here!" Chloe announces arriving where I have quoted her. A cafe. "The queen has arrived."
The more bad she feels herself, the more diva she tries to seem. I have learned it after the fashion party. And that Adrien told me.
People look at her a lot, with distaste for the shout she gave when she arrived.
My eyes move to Alix, who looks at Chloe with undisguised disgust.
"What is she doing here?" she asks.
"I could say the same." Chloe says as she sits down.
They both look at me with frowns.
"Why did you bring her?"
I put my hands on the table, fingers crossed. It is a position that, according to my application to make friends, causes a feeling of proximity.
The app also says that I have to help my friends when they fight.
"Because I want you to make peace and reconcile." I try to put on a calming voice, although not sweet, since it scares Chloe. "That you get along."
Alix gives me the disgusted look she gave Chloe earlier.
"Ugh. Since when have you become a hippie? I hate hippies."
"I also." Chloe agrees.
Alix looks at her for a few seconds.
"From now on I love hippies." She announces after stopping looking at her.
Chloe crosses her arms and legs and leans back in the chair. She has been offended.
Alix gives her a quizzical smile.
They behave like children. We are teenagers, there has to be some maturity.
"Alix do not nudge Chloe." I scold. She sometimes goes too far. "Look, I know that you are very contrary and that you do not put yourselves in the place of the other. But the reality is that you are both right in your own way. And I do not intend to be biased. I do not have enough patience either, so you are going to solve your problems while I have my black coffee with Adrien."
I point to where he is sitting. He waves to us.
I get up from the table with the intention of going to his.
"But we've never been friends." Says Alix.
I stop midway and turn toward them.
"Once you wanted to be. You can get it." I answer in a serious tone.
The two of them sit quietly at the table, staring at each other as I walk over to Adrien's.
"Do you think it will work?" he asks.
I sit next to her instead of across from her, so I can watch them.
"Hope so. I do not want Chloe to leave me too and Alix to reject me too."
That is what has happened to him. He gives me a look I cannot quite make out. After a few seconds, he returns to them.
"It is very risky."
For a second he relaxed me too much and I almost let out an exasperated sigh. That's Adrien's fault, the relaxation, I mean.
"I know. But when I met Alix she told me that she had always tried to be friends with Chloe. I only got it first. With both."
There is a moment of silence in which we both watch them. They are both silent and do not look at each other.
"I don't understand how you can take that." Adrien blurts out suddenly, pointing to my coffee.
What is that about? Is it possible that I transmit the same feeling to him as he did to me?
"It has a strong and bitter taste. I like it." I explain. Adrien frowns, shaking his head in disbelief. "What I do not understand is how you can drink that."
He takes a long sip of his blueberry smoothie through the straw.
"It's good."
As trivial as the conversation is, it fails to distract me from the restlessness, nervousness that is fighting to control me at the moment. Fortunately, I have a habit, learned over the years, of not showing my feelings.
I could lose my friends. They have known each other for longer than me and they have put me in the middle. Now I am going to do what I think I should and I am going to bring them closer.
However, that factor does not remove the risk.
"Hear." Adrien catches my eye. "If you get the two of them to get along, could you do the same with me?"
"Adrien, Alix told you no."
"I don't mean her." he corrects. Oh wow, I was wrong. "When I entered high school I stopped being with Chloe because I discovered that she was mean to others. Because that's what Nino told me. But knowing that she has relapsed makes me think there is something here that I am missing. And the last thing I want is to abandon her when she's having a hard time."
I could not do it either. Knowing that someone is having a bad time, really bad, and leaving it to her fate is heartless.
And from what little I understand, Chloe has major self-esteem issues.
There is movement at her table. They are arguing. I get up. I think I will not be able to leave them alone. They need someone to act as an intermediary.
"I'm going." Adrien offers, putting a hand on my shoulder and sitting me down.
He turns to the girls and speaks to one and the other. Neither of them seems very happy about his intervention.
I look at them. At three.
In Japan I did not have a single friend. I was always lonely.
Many things have changed. People here behave differently. My mother behaves differently.
I have a kwami here, currently sleeping inside my jacket. He loves naps.
Although the most different thing is that I do have friends here.
Knowing that this is true makes me feel happy.
Replies to comments:
Hi Linettye!
It is true that it is a difficult miracle to get into the plot, but I think it's the one that appears the most.
Actually, from Alix I have put that she has been in street fights.
There are parts I don't understand, sorry. I'm not good at acronyms.
There are a lot of things in the series that don't make sense (or are getting ridiculous). I haven't seen the S4 and S5, just on Twitter.
Who lives where?
Do you think there will be fanfics of my fanfic?
Thanks for telling me the mistakes. I don't realize it and sometimes the application I use to translate does what it wants. I also forgot to put a divider. I already corrected all that.
Thank you for your appreciations.