Class 1-M all froze in place, especially Marinette. Her eyes widened in shock hearing Chloe deciding to stay here in Japan. It felt like Bakugo was leaving Japan all over again. Everyone was confused as to why she would decide to do this, but Marinette was even more confused as she looked at the two of them holding hands.
"Are you sure, Chloe? I-I mean... what about your parents? Zoe?" Marinette asked her, "Don't you miss them?"
"Yes. Of course I miss them, but I figured that this could be like a foreign exchange student kind of thing," Chloe said to them, "I'll go to school here and become a better hero for you guys. I'm sure my parents would understand, especially Zoe."
"B-But... Chloe..." Marinette said, feeling a little overwhelmed by this decision, "We just got you back on the team. I thought..."
Adrien noticed her getting upset and ran over to her to hold her hand. Chloe wanted to say something, but didn't know what exactly to say.
"Chloe, are you sure? We don't know how that portal works," Adrien said to her with a worried look on his face, "We might not ever see you again."
"Come on you guys. You and I both know that Mei and Melissa can keep that portal up and running," Chloe said to them, "Besides, I think this is a good thing. I can hero train here and become a better hero. I always wanted to be a superhero ever since I saw Ladybug and Cat Noir for the first time. And now that I've got the Bee Miraculous, I can work hard to be one just like you two."
Marinette wanted to be happy for her. This was actually a good thing for her, but something about her leaving them all behind felt wrong. Marinette looked at the Bee Miraculous, realizing that she was actually expecting Marinette, the Guardian of the Miraculous, to let her keep it after choosing to leave them all. Her fists clenched up in anger, feeling hurt that she would even consider leaving the team.
"Chloe... Did you just expect me to be okay with this?!" Marinette asked her, "I'm the Guardian of the Miraculous, and you just decide to take the Bee Miraculous and leave all of us?! You should've told me this before even deciding to leave!"
Chloe and Bakugo were a bit surprised to see her so upset, but Bakugo could understand where she was coming from.
"I just thought that you'd be happy for me. I know that it's kind of sudden, but I really want to do this," Chloe said to Marinette, "I'll get stronger and become a better hero. I'm not doing this just for me, but for our team."
"Marinette, I don't see why she can't do this," Adrien said to her, "She has a good point. If she wants to do this, then we should be more supportive. We can always explain things to her parents. I'm sure they'd understand."
Marinette looked all around to her teammates, and they looked just as supportive as him. Something about this still bugged her, and she didn't know what it was. All she could think about was Alya for some reason. How much she missed her. Then she locked eyes with Bakugo and realized that this all had to do with him.
"Katsuki... You started this!" Marinette yelled at him with her face turning red.
Bakugo was clearly thrown off by her sudden out burst.
"Wha-What?! What the hell did I do now?!" Bakugo yelled back.
"Oh you know what you did! Ever since you two started hanging out together, she's been acting different! She's leaving Paris because of you! You were going to do the same thing by leaving Japan and all of your friends! And now she thinks she can do the same thing!" Marinette yelled at him as she stepped up to him.
Bakugo was shocked to see her yelling at him like this, but couldn't believe what she was even saying. He even noticed everyone looking at him and Chloe.
"I never made her do anything! She wanted this all on her own!" Bakugo yelled back.
"Oh please! All Chloe ever wanted was to be a part of our team again, and now she's leaving it just like that?!" Marinette yelled at him, "She's doing all of this just to be with you! I always noticed the way she looks at you! Ever since we got here, she's been hanging out with you even more than us!"
Before he could anything, Chloe got in between them to stop them from arguing.
"Leave him alone, Marinette! Of course I want to be part of your team! That's why I'm doing this in the first place! Of course I don't want to leave Katsuki, but this isn't just about him! This is about what I want!" Chloe yelled at her.
"It's always about what you want, isn't it Chloe?! I actually thought that you finally cared about this team, but all you care about is your new boyfriend!" Marinette yelled back.
"How dare you?! I could've helped Chrysalis this whole time, but I decided to leave her behind because I knew not to trust her! I helped with all of those akumatized villains, including Katsuki! I've even helped with a lot of hero training and got them home just like we wanted! What do you want from me, Marinette?!" Chloe yelled at her.
"The Bee Miraculous..." Marinette said to her as she reached her hand down to her.
Chloe's heart skipped a beat once she saw Marinette reach her hand towards her. The look that she gave her made her heart break.
Everyone didn't know what to do in that moment, especially Adrien.
"Marinette, maybe you should rethink this," Adrien said to her, "Don't you think that you're being a bit harsh?"
"The Bee Miraculous, Chloe. Now," Marinette demanded at her, "I thought I could trust you with this Miraculous, but it looks like I can't."
Chloe looked hurt to see Marinette so angry and disappointed towards her. She hesitated to take it off, but she didn't want this to end up like the last time she took the Miraculous. She didn't want to run off with it, that would just make things worse between them. Before she could take it off, Bakugo got in between Marinette and Chloe, surprising everyone.
Bakugo stared at her, but he didn't look mad or anything like that. He looked disappointed.
"Sorry Marinette, but she won't be giving her Miraculous to you," Bakugo said to her.
"Ex-Excuse me...?" Marinette said with clenched teeth.
"Chloe hasn't done anything wrong. If you could calm down for a moment, you would realize that," Bakugo said back, "I understand that you're the Guardian of the Miraculous, but that doesn't make it okay to take this out on her. She deserves this Miraculous, and you know it."
Marinette stood there speechless as to what just happened. Bakugo never looked away from her as he stopped Chloe from giving her the Bee Miraculous. Then Marinette felt Adrien touch her arm, and he looked almost as disappointed as him.
"Marinette, I think he's right," Adrien said to her, "I think you need to calm down. Everyone's okay with Chloe leaving Paris. You're the only one who isn't."
Marinette stood there and looked over at her teammates. They all looked like they were siding with Bakugo and Chloe on this one. She looked back at Chloe and all she could think about was the fact that she was losing another friend. Without thinking, she ran out towards her room. Adrien was going to go after her, but something told him to let her go.
In that moment, Midoriya felt something tell him to go up there to help her out.
"Maybe I can talk to her," Midoriya said to them, "She might just need someone to talk to."
"Izuku, maybe you shouldn't bother her," Adrien said to him as he got up.
"It's fine," Midoriya said back a little too harshly, "I'll be careful with her."
Before anyone could say anything, Midoriya was already heading up to Marinette's room. He walked past Bakugo and something about it bothered him. He didn't even look at him as he walked by. It was quiet as everyone started to notice how awkward this all got pretty quickly. Even Chloe and Bakugo were a little thrown off by Marinette's out burst. He held her hand, making sure she was okay.
"I'm sure she's just a little surprised," Bakugo said to her, "I'm sure Deku will handle it."
Bakugo looked up at the elevator, wondering what was going with Midoriya. His mutation was a little weird, but that's not what was bothering him. He knew that Chrysalis messed with his quirk, but he hoped that nothing was wrong.
In the elevator...
Midoriya stood in the elevator, feeling a little out of it. He just felt like Marinette needed someone to talk to, but there was something else that was bothering him. He tried to shake it off, but it wasn't going away. Whatever this feeling was, it felt like that ringing was coming back.
"Take the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous..."
His head hurt as a shooting pain came out of nowhere. He gripped his head and tried to ignore this weird ringing. Something about it felt familiar, but for some reason he couldn't understand what it was.
Soon enough, Midoriya was already making his way out of the elevator. He headed towards Marinette's room, but then ended up stumbling across Chloe's room. It was left cracked open, so he peeked inside.
He was surprised to see that it looked more like a room meant for Queen Bee than for Chloe. He remembered her room being a giant suite from the hotel in Paris. There were a lot of black and yellow patterns along with pictures and decorations of Paris. He entered her room and noticed a picture on her nightstand.
He picked it up, and it was a picture of Chloe and Zoe. They looked really happy to be taking the picture, which was probably rare for them.
Once he heard about Chloe staying in Japan, he wondered how Zoe would feel about this. They were friends after all, and he really enjoyed hanging out with her.
Midoriya felt a ringing in his head get louder, causing him to drop the picture.
"Take the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous..."
Midoriya forgot about the picture and headed out of Chloe's room. He kept it cracked open just like he found it and headed over to Marinette's room. He felt like his head was pounding as he stood there, ready to knock on the door. For some reason, he hesitated.
Then he heard Marinette crying from the other side of the door. It sounded like she was talking to Tikki. Before he could listen in on the conversation, he knocked on the door without meaning to.
She stopped talking to her Kwami and walked up to the door. Midoriya got a little flustered as she opened it.
"Izuku...?" Marinette asked him as she tried to wipe away her tears, "What're you doing here?"
"S-Sorry for bothering you. I was just worried and wanted to check on you," Midoriya said back as he scratched the back of his head.
Marinette smiled at him, but then frowned at what had just happened in the common room. She let him inside of her room, and he realized that he had never been in her room before. He noticed that it looked very similar to her room back in Paris, just in dorm room style.
Marinette sat down on her bed, still looking really upset. Midoriya stood there and immediately drawn to her Miraculous. Tikki floated right in front of her, obviously worried about her.
"I'm sorry for yelling at Katsuki like that, Izuku," Marinette said to him, "I know you and him have gotten close lately. I just... I got so upset that Chloe is leaving, and I..."
Marinette trailed off, and Tikki comforted her by placing her hand on her face. Marinette felt tears coming back, and she tried to wipe them away again.
Midoriya felt something come over him again and flinched from the ringing. He sat down next to her before she was suspicious of him. Midoriya narrowed in on her Miraculous and almost felt the need to wrap his arm around her for comfort.
"Izuku... Is this how you felt when Katsuki said that he was leaving Japan?" Marinette asked him as tears kept coming.
Midoriya snapped out of it, and he remembered that exact moment when Bakugo told him that he was leaving Japan. How he felt and watching him leave the park in Paris.
Marinette looked at him, expecting an answer from him.
"I... I didn't really know what to feel... I just... Kacchan is important to me, so I guess I understand why you're upset," Midoriya said to her, "You like Chloe as a friend, and you don't want her leaving now that you two have gotten closer."
Marinette was shocked to hear this from Midoriya, but he was also right. She realized that the reason she lashed out at her and Bakugo was because she didn't want to lose another friend. She didn't want to see Chloe leave again like when she jumped through the portal to help out Midoriya in the cave.
Marinette felt more tears streaming down her face and without thinking threw herself into Midoriya's arms.
"Izuku... I don't want to say goodbye to you guys..." Marinette said through tears, "I've been having a lot of fun and enjoying my time here with you and Class 1-A. Even in Paris, I didn't know what to do when we were leaving to get you all home. If Chloe leaves, I don't know what I'd do. It just wouldn't be the same without her..."
Midoriya felt her embrace him, and she didn't want to let go. He was shocked to see her so upset that he could feel how he felt when Bakugo said that he might be leaving Japan. He wanted to hug her back, but something kept ringing in his head again.
"Take the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous..."
"Izuku... what should I do...?" Marinette asked him.
Midoriya flinched, and Marinette kept hugging him. For a moment, he felt something pulling him away from her. An image of Chrysalis came up, and he suddenly felt so out of it. Her eyes glowed purple and all he could do was listen to that ringing inside of his head.
"Take the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous..."
Midoriya felt his vision blur as he narrowed in on her Miraculous.
"Marinette..."
Marinette looked up to see Midoriya's purple eye glowing. She gave him a confused look, but then something about his eyes made her feel out of it. She felt herself getting sluggish the more she looked at him. Something about it made her feel so relaxed that she almost fell into his arms.
"Marinette... Chloe deserves to stay here in Japan and become a better hero... She needs the Bee Miraculous in order to make it as a hero... You didn't trust her with it... You should give me your Miraculous..."
Marinette felt for her Miraculous, and Tikki noticed something wasn't right.
"Marinette, something's wrong! Don't listen to--"
Marinette took off her Miraculous, causing Tikki to disappear back into them.
"I'll keep it safe... You can trust me..." Midoriya said to her without looking away from her.
Marinette felt so out of it that she thought that she was giving her Miraculous to Adrien. She gave him her Miraculous and smiled at him.
"Thank you Adrien... I trust you..." Marinette said under her breath.
Midoriya put the Miraculous into his pocket, and Marinette ended up falling asleep into his lap. He caught her, causing him to snap out of it.
He looked around frantically as if he didn't even realize what he had done. He didn't even remember why he was here in the first place. He just remembered feeling bad for her, so he must've talked to her. He noticed that she was now asleep, so he tucked her into bed.
Midoriya didn't even notice that her Miraculous was gone. He turned off the light and quietly headed out of her room.
As he headed back to the elevator, his purple eye stopped glowing. The ringing in his head went off again, giving him the same sensation.
"Take the Ladybug and Black Cat Miraculous..."
Another amazing chapter!
This is such a good chapter! I love a little drama between Marinette and Chloe! Chloe is leaving Paris?! I love the fact that Marinette blames Bakugo since they already went through this with him and Midoriya! It's happening again, but we'll see what happens! It's so much more interesting now that Marinette actually sees Chloe as a friend! Something about it is just so much more impactful! Obviously Marinette is a bit harsh towards her considering what Chloe is doing for. Whatever Midoriya is going through is about to ruin everything if someone doesn't notice something right away and stop him!
He took Ladybug's Miraculous!!
What's going to happen next??
More to come soon!
