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It was a normal Saturday morning in the bakery when Marinette first met Tōshirō Hitsugaya. He had come in looking for watermelon flavoured treats and had been slightly disappointed when she told him that they didn't have any in stock. In truth, they had never made anything that was watermelon flavoured before but Tom Dupain had a standing policy that should a flavour be requested even once, they would attempt to make something in that flavour. The easiest thing to make in multiple flavours was macaroons but if the person who requested the unstocked flavour had a particular treat in mind, that is what they would attempt to make.
As Marinette knew this policy all too well she had immediately asked the white-haired teen if he had any preferences only to discover that as long as it wasn't too sweet, he'd enjoy it. Marinette didn't think much of it she just told him that they would have an array for him to try next Saturday and after getting his agreement that that arrangement was ok, Marinette moved on to the next customer.
She spent all day on Sunday working with her Maman trying different recipes that she could adapt to have watermelon as the main flavour, only to find the ones that worked best was indeed macaroons and surprisingly enough, a cheesecake. She hoped that he would enjoy the treats when he came in to try them.
Monday morning came as it usually did, though this time there was the added bonus of it raining heavily. She had cursed slightly when she had seen this as she hadn't closed her skylight properly after the previous nights akuma fight but kept running towards the school, planning on texting her mother as soon as she could to as her to close the skylight for her. She knew she would have to change her bedding either way though!
She had been worrying about her skylight so much that she didn't notice that there was a new student in her class until Mlle Bustier asked her to please show him around and make sure he was comfortable. She nodded in greeting to him which he returned but they didn't try talking as Mlle Bustier had started her lesson already. While showing him around the school she came to understand that he wasn't the most expressive person and decided to give him her number if he ever needed it but with the understanding that she didn't expect him to do anything with it. She also filled him in about the akumas and how to avoid them and or how to avoid becoming one herself.
It was three weeks later that Marinette received the fright of her life. She had been on patrol, once again it was a solo one due to a temper tantrum from the brat she called a partner when she saw someone who looked very similar to her new classmate sitting quietly on a roof. She made her way towards him taking in his clothes as she did so. He was wearing a sleeveless white haori which had a green sash around his shoulders and it looked like it was being held together by a star-like clip. It looked to Marinette like the sash was holding a sword's sheath in place on his back. Marinette stopped for a second to wonder where he got the sword before continuing towards him. It was only as she reached him that she remembered that she was still transformed into Ladybug but knew it was too late to turn around.
* * * * * * *
Tōshirō hated the assignment he was currently on. Not only did he know he would have a mountain of paperwork to complete by the time he got back, but he was around more teenagers than he was used to. Even when Ichigo was around there weren't as many as there currently was around him. He was glad that he could walk around without having anybody expecting from him for the most part but he still didn't like it. He had only just started the assignment when he decided to check where or who the high reiatsu he was sensing was coming from. To his surprise, it was from a small, dark-haired girl that was working behind the counter in the bakery he had just walked into. He had asked for watermelon flavoured pastries as a cover but was surprised when she had informed him that while they didn't have any that week they would the next week. He asked why and was further surprised about the policy that the owners had regarding flavours.
When she arrived in his class and then was instructed to show him around the school, he had half expected her to be just as bubbly as she had been while behind the counter at the bakery. It was due to this that he had to hide a frown when instead of being bright and bubbly, she was quiet and almost withdrawn as though she was trying to make herself invisible or at least less of a target. Even her reiatsu was more contained. Tōshirō stayed quiet throughout the lessons and asked a few questions about the school during the tour. He listened intently as she told him about the akumas that plagued the city and how to avoid making himself a target and for a while he thought that was the reason for the drastic change in her behaviour. He discarded that notion fairly quickly though as if that was the case her behaviour wouldn't have changed.
After she left his side for a bit he got his answer. A group of his classmates cornered him, telling him that Marinette was a bully and that she was constantly picking on Lila. The stories they told didn't make sense to him though as his encounters and observations suggested something completely different. He hadn't agreed but nor had he disagreed with his classmates by the time they left however it seemed Marinette had witnessed the confrontation and had stayed quiet ever since. For the next two weeks, she didn't reach out to him except to help with classwork when he asked. In fact, Tōshirō noticed she stayed quiet in general and on the nights when there had been akuma attacks, she came to school with a large carry mug of green tea loaded with honey. It was seeing this and remembering his early days as a captain in gotei 13, where he would fight hollows all night and still go to his office in the morning to get the paperwork done.
It was less than a week after he came to the conclusion that his ostracised classmate was Ladybug that he got his first alert for a hollow being in the area. The fight had been extremely easy, and there was no damage that would have to be explained away so he decided to sit on a rooftop to relax and possibly get some thinking done. He soon lost track of time as he gazed at the slightly cloudy night sky when he felt the same large reiatsu that he always felt around Marinette and turned to see Ladybug walking towards him.
“Tōshirō, what are you doing out so late? Are you alright?” Tōshirō smiled at the concern he heard in her voice as she spoke softly to him.
“I'm fine, Ladybug, just needed to think.”
“Oh. Is that why you are wearing clothes from your home country instead of...” She slapped a hand over her mouth and went bright red. Tōshirō glanced down to make sure nothing had moved in the slight breeze then looked at her on confusion when he saw nothing out of place and thus nothing to cause her any embarrassment.
“Ladybug?”
“I can't believe I asked that! Bad enough I called you by your name! I am such a spaz...” She muttered covering her face with her hands and squeezing her eyes closed. Tōshirō smiled as he got the answer to his unspoken question. She had revealed that she knew him despite never having met him as Ladybug and she was feeling guilty about the mistake. He got to his feet and walked over to her, then in a move that would have shocked everyone who knew him, he gently grasped her wrists and moved them away from her face.
“Hey, it's alright, I already knew who you were.”
He regretted saying that straight away as she went rigid and almost growled “How? I've always been careful! How did you know who I am?”
“Can we go somewhere a little more private so that I can explain?” She appeared to think for a moment then nodded. She turned and started to move away before stopping and turning to him.
“The best spot is probably at the bakery. Can you get there yourself or do I need to carry you?”
“I can get there myself and I promise I'll explain how when I explain how I know your identity.” She nodded and turning again, flung her yo-yo out to cross the gap between buildings until they reached the balcony above the bakery. When he arrived soon after, she nodded and opened the skylight and stepped through it indicating that he should do the same. He was surprised when he landed on a bed and was about to say something when he saw that she had made her way to the main floor of the room and had flopped back onto the computer chair. He made his way down the stairs and sat on the chaise then had to wince as a bright light flashed briefly in the semi-darkness.
“Marinette! You shouldn't -”
“He already knew, Tikki. I was about to find out how but thought you'd like to hear his explanation too.” Marinette said tiredly to the floating red thing that she had called Tikki. Tikki turned and looked at him, tilting her head to the side and blinked.
“Oh, that explains it.” She stated calmly.
“Explains what, Tikki?” Marinette asked in exasperation.
“He's a Shinigami, and as such is immune to the glamour that comes with the Miraculous.”
“A Shinigami? Wait not like Ryuk, right? And what glamour Tikki?” Marinette was clearly trying to keep her voice down, which Tōshirō appreciated but he was very confused by the reference to someone called Ryuk.
“Yes, a shinigami but no not like Ryuk, Marinette. That anime got the role of shinigami so wrong which is why I always get annoyed when you watch it. A shinigami guides souls to the afterlife or purifies corrupted ones called hollows much like you purify akumas. They don't see what the hollow looks like once purified though as in most cases the soul will move on to the afterlife once it's purified. In cases where the soul was evil even before it became a hollow, defeating the soul will send it to hell but that's really rare!” Tōshirō nodded when Marinette looked at him for confirmation of Tikki's words.
“Ok that answers about what shinigami are but what about that explains the glamour you mentioned? Or how he can see through it?” Marinette pushed.
“When we choose a wielder we cast a mild glamour over their civilian form that basically redirects everyone's attention when you need a getaway to transform. If someone tries to watch you transform it will blind them temporarily and they won't remember that they were with you when you transformed unless you give them your permission to do so, then the blindness won't bother them either. In the case of cameras, it will blur the image and no amount of filtering will clean up the image to get a positive ID, though this only kicks in when you are needing to transform. As shinigamis deal primarily with souls, the glamour doesn't affect them nor do any of the other side effects of the glamour. He also can't be akumatised but the miraculous cure can heal him if he is hurt or caught in an attack.” Tikki explained. It was clear Marinette still had questions about what Tikki had said but she seemed to accept it all and moved her focus onto him.
“So, what are you going to do with the information and how long have you known? What brought you to Paris in the first place?”
“I wasn't planning on saying anything to anyone about your identity, to the point where I haven't even included it in my reports as it has no relevance to Gotei 13 nor to the council.” He sighed, thinking then gave Marinette a run down about reiatsu, the ranking system they had so as to explain why he was sent instead of anyone with a lower rank and even how hollows were formed. He even told her about how her reiatsu had attracted the attention of Gotei 13 and their worry about it after the drama that had happened with Ichigo, “That's mostly why I'm here” He concluded before he glanced out the window and his eyes widened in surprise at seeing that dawn was breaking. Have we really been talking for that long? He thought. Thank Kami that today is Saturday and we don't have classes today.
Marinette had followed his gaze and groaned. “Well, today is going to be fun!” She moaned sarcastically before continuing when he shot her a confused look. “I have to work in the bakery with my parents today and we didn't get any sleep. If I sleep now I'll get an hour, two at most before having to get up to help anyway and I'll feel worse then I would if I did sleep than if I didn't.”
“Oh! Sorry about that we should have kept an eye on the time.”
“Yeah we should have,” she replied then glanced to the side and smiled, “At least Tikki got some sleep!” They both laughed softly at that before Tōshirō left with the promise to keep their friendship and her identity secret.
* * * * * * * *
A month had passed since that all-night conversation and the two of them had become even better friends. They had even asked Tikki if it was possible for Tōshirō to use a Miraculous if he needed to and they were both relieved that it was indeed possible. Marinette was getting better at keeping her reiatsu under control in order to avoid accidentally attracting hollows to herself and it had helped her with her emotions as well which she was happy about.
A change to her fighting style and even her strategising had taken place when Tikki had revealed that there was a way to link the miracle box to her yo-yo as she was the current guardian, which helped shorten the akuma battles immensely. Due to Miricle Queen, she hadn't been using the various temporary holders she had originally chosen, which had most of them sulking but she had a duty as Ladybug to keep everyone safe and she was determined to do just that. She also didn't trust Alya, Nino or any of her classmates other then Tōshirō thanks to Lila so they were all out of the question as temporary holders anyway. Even her crush on Adrien had vanished due to his lack of spine. She was still grateful that Master Fu hadn't left the scans and translations of the grimoire on the tablet but had transferred it to a flash drive, which he had given her almost as soon as the theory part of her training was completed as a safety measure. While Hawkmoth had managed to get the tablet everything had been done on, it had been whipped by professionals so there was nothing on it except Master Fu's cute animal pictures.
Unfortunately, Chat had seemed to notice this and kept pushing for her to share the guardian's duties with him and his temper tantrums had resulted in her telling him to grow up more than once. She had noticed that he was unable to see Tōshirō when he was in his soul form and that had resulted in yet another long and uncomfortable conversation with Tikki. Apparently, he wasn't a true match for the black cat miraculous, so it wasn't giving him the same boosts as the ladybug one was giving her. Eventually, they had decided he had until the end of the month to either shape up or he would be replaced.
The number of akumas that had been sent out had remained the same but the number of amoks had dropped to one every two to three months so Marinette knew they were due for one soon. It was just her luck that on the day the amok- akuma duo struck on a Friday whilst Tōshirō was visiting her. Marinette heard the scream first so she spun the computer chair around to check her computer for details and grumbled under her breath. She sighed when she saw that there was a sentimonster as well as the akuma so she knew she would need extra back up. However, as she watched a plan formed in her mind that would work whether or not Chat showed up. She quickly walked over to the Miricle Box and pulled out the Dragon Miraculous as well as the Fox.
Tōshirō looked at her as she walked over to him and offered the Dragon Miraculous to him. “Are you sure?” He asked quietly.
“I'm sure,” she answered even as she put on the Fox Miraculous.
He nodded and greeted Longg before they both transformed. Due to using a combination, Marinette's costume looked very different from what she normally did. The red was now a rusty red rather than her usual scarlet. Instead of gaining a tail like Rena Rouge did, her hair lengthened like it did when she and Chat had accidentally swopped miraculi. Instead of one braid though she had nine trailing down her back, all from one high ponytail, each tipped in the same rusty red as her suit. She still had her spots, however, she now had panelling of pure black that formed a corset as well as arm guards and thigh-high boots. Her mask remained the same except for the colour changing from scarlet to rust like the rest of her suit.
Tōshirō, on the other hand, seemed to be paying a tribute to his Zanpakutou, Hyourinmaru and his element of ice. His hero costume looked very similar to his shinigami uniform but without his haori and it was an icy blue colour instead of being black. His normal sash was holding the sword that came with the Dragon Miraculous and the Dragon symbol replaced his star sharped pin. The sash, much like the rest of the detailing on his outfit was a teal green that matched his normal eye colour. His mask had a scaled effect in ice blue and teal on it as well as lenses that gave him amber reptilian eyes much like the way Chat's gave Chat cat eyes. It was very striking in Marinette's opinion, as well as being very stylish.
Due to her preplanning and Tōshirō's experience battling hollows, the battle was over relatively quickly. Tōshirō had taken out the sentimonster while she had concentrated on the akuma of the day. They had switched briefly so that she could cleanse the amok, then they tag teamed each other with the akuma. They were about to finish the battle off without her having to call on her lucky charm when Chat arrived. As usual, he threw a temper-tantrum about the fact that she had called on a new Hero, Kōri no ryū. He was highly annoyed at the fact that he hadn't been consulted on who to choose, as well as the fact that the new hero was male. She exchanged a glance with Kōri no ryū and he nodded slightly, which caused her to sigh. She tuned out Chat's voice and quickly finished off the akuma sending both the purified feather and butterfly on their way.
She then turned her attention to Chat, who was still moaning and hadn't moved from the spot he'd been on since he'd arrived. This hadn't gone unnoticed by the rest of the population of Paris and they were all muttering to each other as they watched Ladybug to see how she reacted. She felt more than saw Kōri no ryū walk up to join her so she murmured a quick query about how much time he had left, only to find out that Longg had told him due to his shinigami status he didn't have a time limit. As her eyes had never left Chat she saw him take a deep breath to prepare for his next round of complaints.
“Do you even hear yourself right now, Chat Noir? You rarely show up to fights after you throw one of these fits, you always complain about the fact that I have the responsibilities of Guardian yet you show no maturity when it comes to battles and almost invariably gets controlled by the akuma if it has mind control capabilities. Do you even bother with doing your patrols on the nights when you are meant to be doing a solo patrol? Don't bother answering, I know the answer is no.” Ladybug closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself. “With this in mind 'Wǒ, piáo chóng, dōngbù hǎiguī hézi de shǒuhù zhě, zài cǐ, xiàng nín (qiáo tè·nuò yī) bōduó nín de zhízé hé “hēi māo de qíjī”. Rúguǒ nín kàngjù, nín jiāng miànlín rènwéi héshì de hòuguǒ.'”
Chat stared at her, making it clear that he spoke Chinese and understood what she had said. Although the crowd didn't seem to understand they did notice the glow that was starting to come from Char's ring.
“If you wish for your identity to remain a secret I suggest to leave now and send the ring with Plagg and Kōri no ryū as he is a permanent holder. However, if you wish to fight you have less then three minutes to do so. Do you understand?”
Chat growled low in his throat before trying to call 'Cataclysm' only for it not to work.
“Plagg no longer has to respect your control therefore he won't let you use the full extent of his powers. You now have less than two minutes and counting.” Ladybug said looking completely relaxed, while still being ready to fight the second Chat tried to make a move to fight them. He seemed to fold in on himself as he realised that not only had everyone witness his attempt to kill Ladybug or Kōri no ryū but that Ladybug was serious about taking away his miraculous and exposing him. He was about to leave when his time ran out and with a bright flash of green light, Adrien Agreste stood where Chat Noir had once been. Plagg flew out the ring and grabbed it off of Adrien's limp fingers, flying onto Ladybugs outstretched hand.
“For what it's worth Adrien, I'm sorry it came to this. I just wish you could have grown up instead of acting exactly the same way you did when we were just starting to fight against Hawkmoth. I also hope you know better than to be akumatised over this.” Her voice was soft and those closest to her could see that she was trying not to cry. Adrien nodded and simply walked away, knowing that he was currently prime akuma bait with his tremulous emotions but also knowing he would fight tooth and nail against being possessed.
Ladybug cast her miracle cure and Kōri no ryū used the Kikanshinki wipe away any evidence that Adrien was Chat Noir as well as remove the memory of what had just happened and replace it with an extended battle followed by an announcement introducing him and about Chat retiring as he was moving. He left Adrien and Marinette unaffected though and told her what he'd done as soon as they were back in her room.
Marinette was so thankful for what Tōshirō had done and so overwhelmed by what had just taken place that she couldn't help it. She burst into tears. Tōshirō wrapped his arms around her and let her cry all her emotions out while Tikki kept an eye out for akuma butterflies. Marinette had cried herself out within an hour but instead of falling asleep like her body practically demanded she do, she sat up and sighed.
“Tōshirō, I meant what I said about you being a permanent holder until Hawkmoth has been defeated. Unfortunately, I also have what may seem like a random question to ask you. It may seem like I'm trying to use you for your shinigami abilities but I promise I'm not.” He silenced her rambles with a quick, soft kiss then smiled as he watched her try to get her brain back under control.
“I know you wouldn't ask me to use my skills unless you had a really good reason.” He said softly.
“Why did you...” Her voice trailed off as she gazed up at him.
“Two reasons. One, you were starting to ramble and as cute as it is I thought it would be better to stop you from getting totally confused by your own rambles.” He smiled indulgently at the pout on her face as he said that. “And two, I've wanted to do that for a while now and I couldn't help it.” She looked at him with wide eyes so he nudged her slightly. “We can talk about that later, you wanted to ask me to do something but got yourself distracted, so feel free to ask. If I can't do it due to rules that I have to follow or for personal reasons I'll tell you.”
Marinette nodded then started to speak softly, “When Lila first came to our school she stole a book that Adrien had stolen from his Dad's safe earlier that day. Tikki identified it as the Guardian's Grimore and urged me to take it to Master Fu, which I did after I saw Lila throw it away. It also got me thinking that M. Agreste could be Hawkmoth. Chat hadn't liked the idea and I see now why but he also agreed that it was a strong possibility at first. Anyway, my question is would it be possible for you to scout around the Agreste Mansion while in your soul form to see if you can confirm it? If so it would probably be best for you to leave soon as he's likely to try to confront Adrien about why he's so upset. Either that or he'll still be transformed and trying to send out a new akuma. I suspect that Nathalie is Mayura but I'm not sure. If she is she'll be extremely sick right now and so there is also the possibility that M. Agreste will be trying to tend to her.”
Tōshirō nodded in agreement with her theory then popped a soul candy to ditch his Gigai. He was half surprised to see the Dragon Miraculous was still around his neck but smiled in thanks anyway. He gave Marinette another quick kiss then headed out. She directed the false soul that was currently in his gigai to lay on the chaise as though he had fallen asleep, which is all she felt like doing. Instead, she focused on making sure she had some watermelon flavoured treats ready for when he got back, then went to work on her homework.
She got most of it done by the time Tōshirō returned from his scouting mission she had completed everything that she could, catching up to where she should be and had a list of questions about certain concepts to ask when she got back to school on Monday. All she'd had to do was take a quick glance at his face to know that her suspicions were confirmed. He flopped back into his gigai with a groan, the devoured the treats she had out for him and gratefully accepted the glass of ice tea that she offered him.
“It's worse then we thought.” He started with a sigh after a moment. “M. Agreste is definitely Hawkmoth while his assistant was Mayura. This last amok she sent out killed her and her negative emotions at her time of death caused her to become a hollow just as I arrived, so I had to fight her first. Thankfully, she wasn't sent to Hell for her actions but it wasn't an easy fight either way. M. Agreste doesn't seem to have realised that she's died yet so I was able to get the Peacock Miraculous before I carried on.” He handed it to her as he took another drink from his tea, wishing it was Sake but knowing he shouldn't drink. “I had a look around before I left again. It looks like M. Agreste has his wife in suspended animation underneath the house. However, while her body is perfectly preserved, her soul chain is cut and there's no sign of her soul anywhere. Not even the faintest trace of reiatsu remains meaning she is well and truly dead.”
“I guess we know what M. Agreste's wish is then, he wants to use it to bring her back. While the miraculous wish would work, the price should he get that wish is too horrific to contemplate!”
“I agree. We can't let that happen, no matter the cost.”
They checked the time and decided they had done all they could for that day as it was 10 PM and Marinette was on duty in the Bakery the next day. They had also ignored the fact that he had kissed her twice and that they had yet to talk about it. He brushed himself off then stood up and Marinette did the same thing.
“Do you want to come to supper tomorrow night? It's my turn to cook and I'm going to be making Amanattō for dessert.”
“You are spoiling me, Mari,” he murmured even as he nodded in agreement. Just as he turned to leave Marinette walked over to him and kissed him, taking him by surprise.
“You aren't the only one who has wanted to do that. You just happened to beat me to it.”
* * * * * * * *
By the time Monday arrived they had confirmed that they liked each other and that they wanted to date, but they also wanted to wait until Hawkmoth was gone before they settled anything. They didn't know what would happen with Gotei 13 and if he would be allowed to stay once everything was stabilised so they made a few contingency plans as a precaution. When Hawkmoth was defeated, Tōshirō would return to the Seireitei to find out what his new orders were. If he was to stay there, Marinette would move to, Karakura Town and continue her studies there. She wasn't all that attached to Paris anymore and while she loved her parents they weren't as close as they once were.
The plan to take Hawkmoth down was simple. Luka would wield the Turtle Miraculous whilst Kagami would use the Bee. Marinette would use both the Fox and the Ladybug again. They would sneak in late on Friday night and Kagami would use Venom to paralyse M. Agreste before he could react. They knew they would only have five minutes to work after that so Kōri no ryū would raid the house for any and all Miraculous related artefacts with Luka, while they were doing that Marinette would take the Butterfly Miraculous away from M. Agreste and force him to listen to what the consequences of his actions would have been had he won. The four of them would then use a spell designed to prevent someone from ever being able to recognise a miraculous ever again to prevent M. Agreste from coming after the Miricle Box once they left.
School that week seemed to drag. Everyone was talking about the new hero and at the surprising news of Chat stepping down. Adrien seemed even more withdrawn than normal but everyone put it down to Nathalie's death and not the fact that he used to be Chat Noir. Eventually, though Friday arrived and everything was ready. Kōri no ryū and MiShell were ready to move as soon as Sasu Hachi (Stinging Bee) stung M. Agreste. The plan worked flawlessly as they snuck in and soon Ladybug was explaining exactly what would have happened had he won to M. Agreste. As everything that was miraculous related seemed to radiate a small amount of reiatsu it was all found relatively quickly. Then the spell was cast and they were all gone as though they had never been there.
The planned press release was given to Nadja via Marinette who said it had been delivered to her by Ladybug with the request that it be aired on Sunday as a special broadcast. Nadja was only too happy to do so as she knew that if Ladybug asked for something to be released then it was obviously the scoop of a lifetime. She was confused as to why Ladybug was leaving the disk for her and not for the Ladyblogger but she wasn't going to look a gift horse in the mouth. The note on the front asked that the disk's contents be aired without any editing, as well as without anyone watching it first. T.Vi was wary of doing that but they chose to trust Ladybug and did as they had been asked.
They, along with the rest of Paris, were stunned when they saw what was on the disk. The last thing they had expected was a recording showing four Heros standing in front of the original statue that had been erected in Ladybug and Chat Noir's honour all those years ago. They didn't expect to hear the news that HawkMoth and Mayura had been defeated and that it was doubtful that any of the heroes would ever be seen again due to how Ladybugs civilian form had been treated. Paris listened in horror as Ladybug told them of how she had been subjected to unspeakable betrayal and bullying as a civilian and how she had often wished that she could just give up and leave them to their fate. Ladybug then proceeded to tear apart ever lie that had been posted on the Ladyblog as well as call Alya and Lila stalkers while she cuddled into Kōri no ryū for comfort. She didn't talk about how she felt regarding Chat Noir and how he treated her, nor did she talk about their ever-increasing fights but as far as everyone was concerned there had been enough bombshells dropped for the day.
School on Monday morning was an interesting affair. Tōshirō had had to report in about everything that had been happening in Paris and unfortunately, he had to do so in person. This meant that Marinette would be facing her classmates alone as she didn't doubt that M. Agreste would have pulled Adrien from school for the day at least after he had found Nathalie dead and with the news that M.s Agreste was dead too. Not that Adrien would have stood up to help her anyway.
The noise as she entered her class was deafening. Alya was busy screaming at Lila about her lies and how her blog was destroyed. The rest of the class were also screaming at Lila about various promises that had been made and demanding to know what else she had lied about. Marinette simply walked past everyone and made her way to her normal spot at the back of the classroom next to the window. Rose was the first to see her and she alerted the rest of the class to the fact that Marinette had arrived.
Soon there was a throng of people crowding around her desk and Marinette was ready to tear into them about their
unfair expectations of her simply forgiving and forgetting everything when a woman with black hair walked into the classroom.
“Alright class, settle down now. I need to take the register and-”
Before she could continue Alya yelled out, “Why should we listen to you? You are not Mlle Bustier! Where is she?”
“That will be detention for you, Mlle Césaire. As for who I am, I am Mme Ariès and I am your new teacher. Mlle Bustier has been fired due to her handling of this class and her handling of bullying in general. I'm sure she is a wonderful woman however, we need to carry on with your education, which you have all fallen behind in thanks to various factors. Now...”
Marinette tuned the rest of the new teacher's speech out as she got a message from Tōshirō, which she quickly checked while the teachers back was turned. Tōshirō had been told that he was not coming back to Paris, so he had set their plan in motion by contacting Kisuke Urahara. Kisuke would be in charge of creating a candy that would make her totally fluent in Japanese, not only speaking wish but being able to read and write it too. He would also be in charge of enrolling her in Karakura High School and making sure that Ichigo would be able to host her as he had recently married his long term girlfriend and they had their own house. She knew where Tōshirō had been staying so she would have to swing by there after school to fetch everything.
Marinette nodded to herself sadly, she knew that what she had planned was for the best but she also knew she would miss Paris and her Parents. After class came to a close Marinette looked around the classroom one last time. She had some good memories of it but most of them were tainted by Lila and Hawkmoth. Feeling Tikki touch her leg through her small purse Marinette shook her head, then headed home to pack. By this time tomorrow, I'll be in Japan thanks to Kaalki. She thought to herself. I doubt anyone will even notice I'm gone, but I'm excited about what the future holds. For the first time since I became Ladybug, I'm free to choose my path. I can't help but wonder where it will take me though!
( Translation into Chinese done by google translate – please let me know if it's wrong! Should read: I, Ladybug, Guardian of the Eastern Miricle Box, hereby strip you, Chat Noir, of your responsibilities and the Miraculous of the Black Cat. Should you resist you will face the consequences as deemed fit.)