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Kagami was never one for racing into akuma battles. That was until she became Ryūko.
The feeling of soaring through the air felt free, and it was beautiful. She loved being a superhero, and was always excited when Ladybug called on her. She dreamed that one day, she would work alongside Ladybug and Chat Noir permanently. She enjoyed their presence and was happy to help them when it was required.
But that wasn’t possible, so she pushed it to the side. Her identity was already revealed to Hawkmoth, and she couldn’t be a permanent holder. She would have to settle with being temporary, always depending on Ladybug to come and give her the choker that she treasured so dearly.
Then, there was Strike Back. The battle in which the villain finally won. The battle in which even Ladybug had lost hope. Shadowmoth had the miraculous. That precious jewel Ladybug would turn to when she needed a superhero. When she needed Kagami.
But that was in the past.
And currently, the present needed some attention.
It was the early afternoon, and the sun was shining in the distance, lighting up the courtyard in an array of oranges and yellows. Kagami was at her daily fencing class with Adrien. There was a new student, who had been put against Kagami and asked her to let him win. She didn’t, of course, because she would never go easy on anyone. Plus, the boy probably wasn’t going to be at risk of akumatization. Strike Back was a huge battle, and it was only the day before. If she were Monarch, she’d wait a bit and make a plan before starting up with the akumatizations again.
But Monarch was foolish, and didn’t wait. At all. The boy had been akumatized into some sort of sword-wielding monster in all white, out to get Kagami. Judging from his terrible evil speeches, his mother had demanded that he won and was furious when he didn’t. Kagami felt a pang of sympathy, but quickly brushed it off and ran into the locker room to hide. She was still out in the open enough that if Ladybug needed her, she could find her.
But that was before she remembered that she could no longer be called, due to Ladybug losing the miraculous.
Still, if the heroes needed her for information on the akuma, she couldn’t take the risk of hiding while Ladybug or Chat Noir were hopelessly looking for her.
She heard a loud shriek echo from the courtyard, where the fencing lessons took place and now where the akuma battle was happening. She jumped, and a locker behind her slammed shut. Loud.
Shit, shit, shit, shit shit shit shit shit! Her head raced.
She needed to get out of the locker room, and fast. The door to the courtyard wasn’t an option for obvious reasons, and there were no other doors to the outdoors. The bathroom would lead to her being trapped easily if caught, so she caught a glimpse of the windows leading to the outside of the school. Cursing herself for even thinking of climbing out of a window while she had her fencing outfit on and her mother was probably within a mile vicinity, she stopped.
There was a loud banging on the door that resounded throughout the room. She forgot about everything that she had just reminded herself about and opened the window. She was relieved that the locker room was on the first floor, or she would be in big trouble. She pictured falling out of a two-story window and shuddered.
Climbing out was easier than she thought, but as soon as she was on the windowsill she toppled over into the bushes. She just had to hope the miraculous cure would fix this little mess she had gotten herself into, because her mother would kill her if she knew that Kagami had fallen into a bush and gained scratches all over her fencing uniform.
She made her way out, regretting every decision she had made up until that moment. She heard loud noises from the locker room, and peeked back through the window to find Ladybug fighting off the akuma. The superheroine seemed to be glancing around the room, as if looking for something – or someone. Ladybug met her gaze, and seemed to relax before going back into ‘battle mode’. Or whatever you’d call the fighting version of focusing on something.
She eventually got frustrated and immobilized the akuma before running out of the room. Kagami saw her approaching from the entrance of the school and sprinting to her.
“Kagami! This is dangerous,” she spoke. “You shouldn’t be hiding here. I’ll get you to safety.”
“You could’ve used the window to get out,” Kagami blurted. She stared up at Ladybug, feeling her cheeks heat up in embarrassment from the situation. It was only embarrassment. Because she immediately wished she could take back what she just said.
Where’s Chat Noir when you need him? she thought. Seriously, she wished Chat would come along and relieve the awkwardness with some of those awful cat puns that she detested with all of her being yet wished to hear right now.
She snapped back to the topic at hand when she saw Ladybug outstretching her arm to her, looking at her like she had two heads. The two just looked at each other for a few seconds, but they felt like years to Kagami.
She stared up in awe at the girl in front of her, who had that annoyed look on her face that said ‘let’s just get this over with already’, which she had on practically every akuma battle. Kagami hadn’t noticed – after all these months fighting beside her – how adorable that face was. Despite Ladybug being a badass superheroine who fought villains on the daily, Kagami couldn’t resist thinking that she was so small and kind of cute. But everyone thought that way, so it was nothing new.
Nothing new.
Kagami continued staring. She couldn’t stop. It was like she was a magnet, and Kagami was the iron. Ladybug was an angel descended from heaven itself, come to rescue Kagami from the clutches of life— and vengeful akumas. The afternoon sun shone behind her, making it appear as if she was glowing. To Kagami, she was in fact, glowing. She was radiant. Her silky black hair was tied up into the regular pigtails, and they swayed gently in the wind. Kagami was entranced with her beauty. Was this how Chat Noir felt? Kagami was snapped out of her daze when Ladybug spoke up.
“Are you going to take my hand or not? I really need to get back to the battle…” She looked a little sheepish, as if she was uncomfortable with all the awkwardness and staring. Oops.
What was that? I haven’t felt the way I felt right here and there about anyone since Adrien, Something about her is just.. breathtaking. Is there something wrong with me? Kagami blushed, hard, and took her hand, allowing them to soar over the rooftops of Paris, away from the battle.