In Marinette's House...
Marinette smiled once she entered the Bakery Shop. Everything smelled so good, and it made her stomach growl. Tikki was tempted to take something sweet when no one looking. Marinette stopped her from going anywhere and grabbed her purse to hide it. She noticed her mom and dad both making some macarons and cookies. She was tempted to grab a few to share for the beginning of the school year. They all looked like Ladybug and Cat Noir themed, which made her cringe a little.
"Hey Marinette! Are you excited for the new school year?" Tom asked her with a smile.
"Kind of," Marinette said to him, "Adrien isn't going to be here this year, so it feels a little weird."
Sabine and Tom shared a look, and Marinette wondered if she should've kept to herself. Her mom placed her hand on her shoulder, trying to support her.
"Marinette. I know you miss Adrien, but he'd want you enjoy your first day of school," Sabine said back, "He'd wouldn't want you worrying about him the whole time. Maybe you should take a break from... you know."
Marinette knew what she was referring to as people came walking into the Bakery Shop. She knew about Tikki, but she had to hide her Kwami from everyone else. She instinctively moved her hands to her earrings, but didn't take them off.
"Mom. I can't just stop being... you know who," Marinette said back, "I know things have been quiet around here lately, but I still to help people. Even Alya is still helping out and keeping an eye out for me. Trust me mom, I've been doing this for a while now."
Sabine gave her a look, but soon let out a sigh.
"Okay. I trust you Marinette. Just be careful," Sabine said back, "I just want you to at least go out with some friends. Maybe even invite Zoe and Alya over. Anyone you want. I think you need it."
"Sure. I think about it mom," Marinette said to her as she headed outside.
"Wait!" Tom said as he handed a box of macarons and cookies, "You can't forget these! They're especially for your first day of school! Share them and make new friends!"
Marinette took them and soon left with a smile on her face. She walked over to the school, feeling excited to finally meet up with Alya. She felt so much better once she got outside and into the fresh autumn air. The air felt so refreshing as she crossed the street, remembering all those months ago of when she ran into Master Fu. Something that moment made her realize that she's changed a lot. She would've never guessed that she would ever become someone like Ladybug, let alone meet these heroes in training from another Japan.
It was almost straight out of a comic book.
She crossed the street and spotted Alya waving her hand in the air.
"Hey girl!" Alya exclaimed as she spotted the macarons and cookies, "Did your parents give you those?"
"Yeah. They want me to make new friends just like last year," Marinette said back, "They think I need a break or something."
"I agree. You do need a break girl," Alya said back, "You've working too hard for someone that doesn't even need to deakumatize anyone. Even I'm not doing much as Rena Rouge lately. There's nothing to do around at the moment. Just random things for random people."
Marinette realized that she was probably right. Ladybug hasn't really needed to do anything since she got home.
"Well, my mom did want me to invite you and Zoe to sleepover tonight," Marinette said to her, "Maybe even others if they're available."
"Sure! I'll come over after school," Alya said back, "I wouldn't mind sleeping over. Besides, you need to tell me what's going on with Lila these days. She's been pretty distant with school and you lately. Is she not coming back to school?"
Marinette's eyes widened, realizing that Lila isn't going to school here this year. She didn't know exactly what she was up to. They weren't exactly friends, but she knew somewhat of what was going on because of Midoriya. She talked to him somewhat recently. He explained how Lila was trying to get into an art school in Paris. He didn't know if she got in or not. She stopped talking to him at one point. He sounded worried about her.
Marinette soon entered the school, and they both walked towards their usual class.
"Well, Lila is not going here this year," Marinette explained to her, "To keep it short, Lila's trying to get into an art school. She's been talking to Izuku, not so much me. I don't really talk to her that much. I don't think she likes hanging out with us ever since the whole Chrysalis incident."
"Lila? Going to art school?" Alya pointed out, "That's pretty crazy. Is she really that good at drawing?"
"Yeah. She is pretty good," Marinette said back, "I'm surprised that she even wanted to go through with this. She must've finally talked to her mom. Hopefully things worked out for her."
"Yeah. I mean, art schools can be tough to get into if you're not prepared," Alya said back, "Hopefully she's not angry and tries to go after the Miraculous again."
Marinette gave her a dirty look, and they soon settled down their usual seats.
"Like I told, Lila isn't like that anymore," Marinette explained to her for the millionth time, "She's done with that. Even Izuku and her are starting to get along over the phone. I know it's weird, but it's true."
"Alright. If you say so," Alya said back.
Marinette opened the box of macarons and cookies and gave one to Alya. They both shared one and soon waited for everyone to show up. Everyone from their usual classroom came in except for Chloe, Adrien and Lila. No one questioned it since everyone knew why they weren't here. Surprisingly, Kagami was in their class this year. That really made Marinette feel a lot better as she sat down with Nathaniel. Even Marc showed up, which was nice change in pace. There was no one here that would cause any trouble this year. Their classroom had everyone here when Ms. Bustier entered the classroom.
"Hello everyone and welcome to a new year of school!" Ms. Bustier exclaimed, "I know that everyone is aware that we're short of a few people in this classroom, but don't worry. We actually have a student here. They're new here, so be nice and welcoming to them."
Marinette and Alya shared a look and wondered who this new student was.
"Did you know anything about this?" Marinette asked her.
"No idea," Alya said back.
Soon, a young girl with scarlet red hair and golden eyes that stood out quite a bit. Her hair was pulled up into two buns on either side, looking a little messy. Her outfit looked a little baggy on her, but she didn't seem to mind. Marinette and her locked eyes with each other and something about her felt different from everyone else that was here. She didn't know what, but it definitely felt familiar.
"Class, this is Ember Koshiba. She'll be our new classmate. Please make her feel welcome here."
The entire class said hi as Ember just stood there, looking a little out of it. Marinette didn't know what to think of her. She didn't seem like she was from around here considering her last name was japanese. She kind of reminded of Ashido with her eyes being golden and her hair up like horns. But Ember clearly talkative like her. Something about her seemed off about her as she stood there not saying a word. Everyone was a little thrown off by her attitude and soon sat with Sabrina, taking Chloe's spot.
"She seems talkative," Alya pointed out.
"Yeah. She's seems... different," Marinette explained to her, "Something about her feels... I don't. Out of place."
"Whatever. She's probably just shy," Alya said to her, "Maybe we could invite her over to our table for lunch."
"What? Alya, we don't know her," Marinette said to her, "She probably wants to be left alone. It's her first day here."
Alya gave her a knowing look, and Marinette knew what she was going to say.
"Marinette. Didn't your parents say to make new friends? Well, there's one right there," Alya said to her, "We'll just ask her after class. It's not that hard."
Marinette let out a sigh and looked down at her macarons and cookies. She knew that Alya was right. She needed to at least try to be friends with her.
"Fine. We'll talk to her later," Marinette said back.
Alya smiled and sat in her seat, feeling much better. Ms. Bustier soon started class, and Marinette slumped in her seat and grabbed her notebook. She could tell that this might be a long class, but she didn't mind. She side glanced at Ember and could tell that she came unprepared. Thankfully, Sabrina was reliable and welcoming and gave her an extra notebook and pencil.
Something about her did seem off as she paid attention to Ms. Bustier. Marinette couldn't pinpoint it, but she felt so different somehow. Something about her was just gave off a weird energy, and Marinette didn't know what it was.
She tried to shake it off and focus on taking notes. Marinette smiled, feeling good about school this year.
Earlier in Class 2-M's dormitory...
Adrien woke up, feeling so refreshed and ready to go to school. He would've thought that going to school this early would feel so good. He did that before everyone left, but something about it feel so good. He got up and got dressed in his school uniform. It felt so weird to actually like getting dressed into something that everyone wore. Something about it felt like he was actually working towards something. He smiled as he fixed his hair in the restroom.
"Perfect," Adrien said to himself.
Adrien felt ready to go, but then he looked down at his phone. He remembered Marinette calling him last night, but he was busy with school work. Ever since Summer camp, things have been pretty tough around here. He didn't expect Summer camp to be so tough. AllMight and Mr. Aizawa were really tough on them during Summer camp and sent them somewhere outside of U.A. Class 2-A warned him and Chloe about this, but they were still thrown off by the whole thing.
They weren't as prepared as they thought they'd be and ever since, Adrien has been trying to study more every night. He even asked Hatsume and Melissa for an upgrade for his hero costume. Cataclysm could only get him so far during combat.
He grabbed his phone and wondered if Marinette was already starting school soon. He knew that school was different in Japan, so he knew that she should be starting soon. It felt weird to be slightly ahead of her when it came to the school system. He let out a sigh and put his phone in his school bag.
"What's wrong kid?" Plagg asked him, "You look down for someone who's going to a hero school."
"I just... I haven't talked to Marinette since last night," Adrien pointed out, "She's probably wondering what's going on. I should call her."
"Dude. She's busy with school. You should know that by now," Plagg said to him, "Just give her some space. You can call her after school."
Adrien hesitated to leave his room, but knew that he was right. Besides, she wasn't going to answer during school anyway, and he didn't want to get her in trouble.
"Okay. Come on, Chloe's probably waiting for us," Adrien said to his Kwami.
Adrien soon found himself in the common room, and Chloe was already eating some breakfast. It was just her and no one else for their classmates. AllMight was taking his time as he grabbed his coffee. There wasn't any new students since didn't quite make sense to have new students in the middle of a second year for them. For now, Class 2-M was just a private class for both Adrien and Chloe.
"Good morning Chloe," Adrien said, "Good morning Mr. Yagi. I hope you had a good night's sleep last night."
"Good morning Adrien," Chloe said as she ate her toast, "I could actually barely sleep last night. You know, Summer camp and all that."
"Good morning Young Agreste. I had a good night's sleep," AllMight said to him as he took a sip of his coffee, "Young Bourgeois. You should go to bed early tonight if you wanna keep up with your grades. I only say that to help you focus on your studies. You don't want fall behind Adrien did during Summer camp."
Chloe slumped her shoulders, but soon got confident enough to finish her breakfast.
"Yes sir," Chloe said back, "It's just that Summer camp wasn't what any of us were expecting. I think even Class 1-A was a bit thrown off by it as well."
"Yeah. I could tell that they weren't expecting to be doing hero work in the middle of the beach and ocean," Adrien explained to him, "I can tell that some of them weren't quite prepared for it."
"Well then, use this opportunity to learn from this," AllMight explained to them, "Sometimes hero work isn't all about preparing. It is about taking a situation and trying to find solve solutions to those problems. Even when it seems tough, there's always something that you can do to help."
Adrien and Chloe shared a look and bowed to him for his advice. Adrien soon grabbed some toast and orange juice. He went over to Chloe with his toast and orange juice as he pulled out his phone. He looked at his messages and didn't see anything. Marinette never got back to her. He let out a sigh, and Chloe noticed right away.
"Did Marinette not call you or something?" Chloe asked him, "You seem down about something."
"No. It's just... I haven't really told her much about Summer camp," Adrien explained to her, "I've been busy with school work and barely have time to talk to her. She's probably really worried about me."
Chloe finished her toast as Adrien sipped on his orange juice.
"Well, if you ask me she's probably just nervous about going to school without you," Chloe said to him, "Give her some time. She'll come around. If anything, she needs some space to figure some things since she's going to school soon. She's probably there already."
Adrien bit his lip and soon noticed a message he got from his father. It was an older one, but one that stuck out to him. It was something about him being proud of him for working so hard. He smiled, feeling so much better just seeing that message.
Adrien soon finished his toast, and Chloe noticed him smiling at his phone. They got up and headed out of the dormitory along with AllMight.
"Is something else going on?" Chloe asked him, "I can tell that you're thinking about your mom again."
Adrien looked at her, and he knew that he was doing it again. He's been pretty excited whenever gets to talk to his mom, and Chloe seemed to know whenever that happened. He put his phone away as he headed out.
Emilie had finally talked to Adrien. He has actually been talking to her a lot more than his father lately. Every time he called her, she was always so interested in what he had to say to her.
"Not much. I haven't talked to her recently. I just wondered how things were going over there," Adrien explained to her, "I mean, my father told me things are kind of complicated with his fashion industry. He can't anyone to model because of him being HawkMoth. At this point, he have to quit if he can't get anyone to wear his fashion designs. I feel bad for once."
He could tell that Chloe felt bad for his father this time around. Adrien knew that things would be weird for him, but hoped that things were turn out okay for him. Then he spotted Class 2-A coming up in the distance. Midoriya waved at them as Chloe ran over to Bakugo to join him. She gave him a kiss on the cheek as they walked together.
"Hey Adrien!" Midoriya said to him, "Summer camp was pretty crazy, right?"
"Yeah. It wasn't anything that I was expecting, that's for sure," Adrien said to them, "Maybe next time, don't tell me that we might be going to a mountainside area. That kind of threw off what I was planning on bringing on the trip. I didn't even have a bathing suit with me."
Midoriya gave him a nervous smile along with some of the other classmates.
"Well, we thought that Mr. Aizawa was planning on doing something similar to last time," Iida explained to him, "We didn't think that he would send out to a beach and ocean. You seemed to handle it pretty well though."
"Cats and water don't mix, and neither does my powers and hero costume," Adrien told them, "Mr. Aizawa could've at least warned me a little. Even Queen Bee had trouble with the water. You know, bees aren't exactly friends with water either."
"Hey! It's not my fault that you fell in the water, and I couldn't pull you out," Chloe said to him, "It was going to ruin my mechanical wings if I tried to get in there, and they were brand new!"
Adrien gave her a dirty look, but then noticed that someone was missing from their class.
"Hey, where's Minoru? Did he get into trouble again?" Adrien asked them.
"I actually don't know where he is. He's probably in trouble for what he did during Summer camp," Iida explained with a slight flustered look on his face, "He should really learn to keep his hands to himself or else he's going to get thrown into detention or even expelled."
"Well, he shouldn't have snuck on all of us like that," Yaoyorozu said with blush across her face.
"Serves him right," Uraraka said as she wrapped her arms around Midoriya, "He shouldn't have done that. He's lucky that I didn't use my zero gravity on him."
Adrien felt a little warm after seeing something he shouldn't have during Summer camp. He didn't think anything like that would ever happen, but this was Mineta they were talking about. He looked at Yaoyorozu, and she locked eyes with her. She instinctively looked away, and he remembered how embarrassing it was to have this happen to him. He was just glad that Marinette wasn't around to see it. Adrien felt a little uncomfortable talking to them about this and soon heading towards the school.
Midoriya and Uraraka soon caught up with him, hoping that he was doing okay with school and hero training.
"Adrien. I know things are tougher than you expected here, but you shouldn't let this get you down," Midoriya told him, "This is how U.A. usual is. You just have to get used to it. Besides, you're not used to Mr. Aizawa's teachings. AllMight's clearly much different compared to him."
"He's right," Uraraka told him, "AllMight clearly is less harsh, but still great with advice and training. You should know that you're still doing great here. In fact, I think you're doing better than anyone expected."
Adrien looked up at his friends, and they confident in what they were saying. Something about their smiles seemed genuine when they stared at him.
"You should listen to them kid," Plagg said to him as he floated out of his jacket, "They clearly know what they're talking about. Besides, Marinette isn't here to tell you what to do all the time like always."
Adrien felt a blush form across his face, realizing that Ladybug was always in charge.
"Hey! I-I'm in charge sometimes!" Adrien pointed out.
"Yeah right. Just barely," Plagg said back, "You're always throwing out cat puns and trying to flirt with her. I'd say she does most the work half the time."
Adrien felt his face turning bright red as most of his classmates and friends were laughing at him. He tried to grab Plagg, but he kept flying and dodging him. Adrien noticed Chloe laughing and felt a little better seeing her enjoying herself here.
He was glad that he could make her feel better after a weird Summer camp.
Another amazing chapter!
I actually really enjoyed writing this one! Something about writing a story that already happened makes it more interesting because you want to know what happened. It was kind of fun just piecing things together like that. I didn't even realize how perfect it is to have both Cat Noir and Queen Bee on a beach and ocean! They don't like water, so it works for them out of their element. Cats, bees and water don't mix! LOL! Also, Marinette and Alya being friends and hanging out is so refreshing now that things back to normal! Who's Ember?? Also, we'll find out more about Lila later, but she might not be in this story all that much just a heads up! We'll see...
What's going to happen next??
More to come soon!