Chapter Text
Kagami certainly wasn't the type to stay up late in the middle of the night. Neither was she the type to just stand on the Tsurugi residence's balcony and look off somewhere into the distance and stay lost in her own thoughts.
Yet there she was, looking at the horizon and thinking over the events from a few days prior.
The unfortunate friend date that ended up with Marinette running off and leaving her and Adrien alone together. Two failed kisses in a row – one because of Ladybug's intervention, the other because of Adrien's own hesitation. Complete failure of a fight against the recent akuma between both these events. Not even remembering what went down after the second failed kiss – the only part she could remember after that was a sudden sting in the neck, and then nothing but horrible buzzing.
Sure, the rest of the day went by fairly normally, without any akuma attacks to interrupt her, and she got to spend some more time with Adrien, but at the same time…
Kagami just couldn't help but think back to Marinette. Her only other friend – and she just ended up alienating her even further. Whilst a part of Kagami hoped that Marinette would understand and maybe move on from her crush…
Groaning, the fencer took her still-empty day planner out of her pocket and pulled the all-too-familiar dried rose out.
As far as Kagami knew, the only real reason Adrien hesitated was because he clearly had his sights set on someone else entirely.
And somehow, Kagami had a hunch that the person the blond had his sights set on was neither her nor Marinette.
"Sleeping problems, huh?"
A surprisingly familiar voice interrupted the girl's trail of thought. Sure enough, as Kagami looked behind herself, she noticed the all-too-familiar red-and-black-clad blue-haired heroine having landed behind her.
"You know, if you keep this up, you might just draw in an akuma. And we both know neither one of us would want that to happen."
Kagami could swear that Ladybug's voice at that moment seemed… Strained. As if the Hero of Paris herself was practically forcing herself to speak to Kagami despite herself, and that she instead wished to just get back to her nightly patrol and just be anywhere other than the Tsurugi Residence.
"It's… Really nothing, Ladybug. It's nothing worth a hero's concern, anyway." – Kagami looked away and back at the rose she was holding. It was all dried-up, the thorns were digging into her palms like no tomorrow, and she just felt… Wrong holding it.
"Matters of the heart, or family issues?" – Sure, Marinette knew the actual answer to her own question here, yet she still had to keep the cover up, so as to not end up accidentally revealing her identity.
"The former." – Figuring that holding a dried-up flower won't really help her much and will just leave her with unnecessary pinpricks on her palms, Kagami tucked the rose back into her day planner. – "Just recently, I got into a relationship with a certain someone, and I even went as far as to give him my first kiss… Yet it just felt as if the kiss was all for nothing. Neither of us even felt anything, and he just up and abruptly pulled away mere moments in. He said he is just "not ready", and when I confronted him about it, he just… Went silent. Had it not been for the akuma attack interrupting us, we probably would have broken up mere hours into our supposed relationship. Instead, it just took us until yesterday to break up. The only good news being that we parted ways on a high note – we just agreed that it would be better for us to stay friends, and that was it. "
Not being able to think of any better response, Ladybug remarked: "I guess he's just not the one, then?"
"Ugh, way to go, Marinette, you just let your still-not-forgotten-feelings speak for you! Failing as both a friend and as a hero – that's so you!" – The hero almost immediately thought to herself after blurting that out. The fact that Kagami gave her that typical squinted glare in response did not help matters.
After a few moments of awkward silence, however, Kagami sighed and spoke up: "Even then, do I look like I have much in the way of options?"
"Okay, okay, I was just suggesting! Still, it's not like he's the only… Friend you've had lately, right? Maybe you're just not really into guys after all, so that's why you hardly felt a thing with whoever that boy was, right?" – And just like that, Ladybug logged out, and Marinette entered the chatroom, so to speak, beginning to dig herself deeper than she needed to.
"First and foremost, I've never even considered the idea of even courting another girl, let alone dating one. That would make me a disgrace to the family, even if the rest of the world were to think otherwise. And second, even if I did consider something like that, the only option I would have in that case is that one girl I recently befriended, and not only does it seem like she's exclusively into boys herself, but I also get the feeling that I might've ended up horribly alienating her." – Now there was a distinct tone of remorse in Kagami's voice. Usually one would only hear her speak in such a tone when she either lost a fencing match, or if she ended up disappointing her mother somehow.
Still trying to both keep her cover and not dig herself too deep, Marinette asked: "How is that?"
"Well, she had her sights set on someone else, and that someone was the exact boy I broke up with just a few days into our relationship." – And now for the genuine guilt courtesy of the fencer. – "And judging by how she ran off nearly crying just a while before that failure of a kiss, I'd say I might've broken that unlucky girl's heart in the worst way possible. Seems like relationships are just something I can't handle."
"Or… Maybe she just thought she was being a third wheel to you two and decided to leave you two be, because, hypothetically, that boy could have possibly told her that he was in love with some other girl and so that other-other girl thought that the boy was talking about you? You may never know." – Internally hoping that this wasn't enough of a giveaway, Marinette went abruptly silent after saying that. After a few more moments of awkward silence, Kagami responded: "Well, even though it seems like she finally moved on from her crush by now, I didn't mean to outright make her feel like a yokeimono. All I hope for is that she's not mad at me after all that happened."
"I'm sure she would gladly talk to you about it, provided that you are willing to reach out to her as well. Trust me on this one." – Looking around some more, Marinette soon jumped right onto the balcony railing and remarked: "Well, got to go. Think I'll check around the city some more before calling it a night."
Just before she was able to swing away and even utter "bug out", however, Ladybug was interrupted by Kagami shouting: "Wait!"
As the heroine turned around in confusion, the fencer, blushing quite a bit, remarked: "I… Why did you stop by in the first place?"
Uh-oh.
Think of an excuse, quickly-
"Preventive measures. Wouldn't want anyone getting akumatized in the middle of the night, right? " – Marinette blurted out, hoping that this would work.
"I see. Well, thanks, I suppose." – And shortly after Kagami said that, the red-clad heroine was quick to swing away with a "Bug out!" and leave to continue on with her patrol, leaving Kagami waving her goodbye before turning around and going back to her bedroom.
"See you tomorrow…Marinette."