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Chapter Text

Himawari is standing in front of the school’s gate, realizing that all of her confidence suddenly vanishes in thin air. The pressure of being the new student at Françoise Dupont High School is more nerve-wracking than she thinks. Then again, who does not feel the pressure when they first step foot into a new school, let alone, a whole new country?

Himawari Ono, a full-blooded Japanese, moved to France a couple of months ago. She landed in this country under her parents’ pressure as they, or to be more specific, her mother wanted her to study in France. Her mother, a beautiful woman with both Japanese and French backgrounds, wished her daughter to come to France and study till she graduated from university, then she could decide on whether she wanted to return to her homeland. Under her parents’ pressure, Himawari accepted the ‘offer’ and moved to France to live with her aunt. She left everything behind, her family, her friends, and all the best memories she has in Japan to start a new life in Paris, the city of love…

Touching her long black hair, Himawari tries to calm the racking nerves and presents herself in the best way possible, she believes that the first impression is always the most important aspect when starting on a new journey. Today, she wears her old school uniform as a representation of her own culture, the uniform has been a part of her life and it will always be. She wears her long black hair in a side braid with a blue ribbon, and bright amethyst eyes staring at the door of her new classroom. Yes, just in the next few seconds, she will be introduced to this new class and she can feel her shoulders tighten with stress as her head swims its way to any bad scenarios that can happen.

“Oh, hello there, you must be the new student in our class, Himawari Ono?”

The tall woman with fair skin and reddish-orange hair smiles at her and Himawary just nods, chewing her bottom lips nervously.

“How lovely, I’m Caline Bustier, your homeroom teacher. You may address me as Ms. Bustier.” she looks at her new student “Come now, my dear. I’ll introduce you to our class.”

Himawari follows Ms. Bustier into the classroom, each step feels heavy as she tries to ignore the obvious stares of her soon-to-be classmates and stands right next to her new teacher. There are interested eyes, curious stares, and some negative looks, but the raven head keeps a calm face, not letting any of those things affect her. Ms. Bustier puts down her teaching material before smiling at her students.

“Class, I’d like to introduce you to our new member, Himawari Ono.”

“Oh wow, a Japanese!”

“Are you Japanese?”

Many of her classmates begin to bring up the questions, to which she just softly replies with a yes or no. The attention is nice, but the visible pressure in the classroom does not allow her to answer everyone’s questions in full sentences.

“She is new in the city so please, welcome her with all your heart. Himawari, you can sit next to Marinette and Alya.” Ms. Bustier turns to her, the warm smile never leaves her lips “Please raise your hand so she can see you, Marinette.”

The young girl awkwardly nods her head and strolls down to her seat, realizing the intense glare from the blonde in the front seat as well as the brunette at the back of the classroom. Settle down onto her seat, the girl named Marinette smiles kindly at her and holds out her hand.

“Hi, my name is Marinette, this is Alya. Please to meet you.”

“Oh, hi. It’s my pleasure. I’ll be in your care from now on.”

She smiles and shakes the bluenette’s hand, as well as Alya’s hand while trying to ignore the negative feeling from her fellow classmates. Marinette, noticing her discomfort, just pats her shoulder and reassures her that everything will be fine.

Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the class representative, is a cheerful girl with a passion for fashion. The bluenette is very creative, not only in her designs but also in her plans and other activities, according to Alya. And she’s the daughter of the best bakers in town, the Tom & Sabine Boulangerie Patisserie, which gives her another plus when it comes to making macarons. But the most important thing when it comes to Marinette is her huge crush on the blond friend sitting in front of them, Adrien Agreste, and the revelation makes Himawari giggle in response.

Alya Césaire, Marinette’s best friend and the head of the Françoise Dupont High School’s daily blog. A self-proclaimed journalist with a passion for her job who loves investigating and writing news about the school. The brunette is currently in a relationship with Adrien’s best friend, Nino, which gives Marinette another perk as they always set up these two together.

“Oh, how adorable…” the raven head smiles, her cheeks are painted with a faint blush.

“Alya! You don’t have to say that!” Marinette retorts, finding herself stuck in an embarrassed situation.

“Come on, Marinette! Himawari doesn’t seem to mind about your little crush, right?”

“Not at all! You guys remind me of my friends back in Japan. They kinda go through a similar situation…”

The way her amethyst orbs shine brightly catches both girls off guard as they stare at her in awe. Marinette also notices her outfit and lets out a squeal of excitement, it is the first time she sees a real Japanese school uniform and she has to draw inspiration from this outfit for her new designs.

However, her new design can wait a bit longer as the bluenette turns her attention to the board, or maybe Adrien because she begins to drift away into her own La la land with all the weird imagination of how she and the blond boy will end up together as a couple.

“Is she…always like this…?” Himawari laughs awkwardly at her new friend’s dreamy state.

“Girl, she is hopeless.” Alya fixes her glasses, sighing exaggeratedly at Marinette’s lovestruck expression.

After the fourth period comes the lunch break and sweet Marinette has invited her to join them for lunch. Lucky for them, Nino asks to tag along which causes the bluenette to blush madly as Adrien will also come with them. They go to the cafeteria and choose a spot before getting their lunch while Himawari takes out her bento box.

“Himawari! That lunch box is so cute!”

“Thank you, I made it myself.” she smiles “Would you like to try some?”

“Can I?” Alya looks at her with sparkles in her eyes, and opens her mouth widely when the raven head feeds her her food “Oh my god, that is the tastiest piece of fried chicken I have ever tried!”

“Thank you.”

She eats her bento box in silence, observing the scene in front of her. Marinette is absolutely trying her best to not be a klutz while Adrien, the pretty boy, just keeps on going with the flow without even realizing how head over heels the bluenette is for him. Alya talks about her daily blog and some of the news that’s been spreading around the school lately while Nino is focusing on his phone, checking out the new album of Jagged Stone.

“Hey, we haven’t been able to properly introduce ourselves to you.” the blond boy with emerald eyes smiles charmingly “My name is Adrien and this is Nino, my best friend.”

Himawari responds with a giggle because before she can even open her mouth, Marinette is having a hard time trying to process the handsome smile of her prince charming, which causes her to fall on the floor. Adrien, fully understands what is going on, guessing that Marinette is just being the clumsy little girl with great talent and holding his hand to help her. The bluenette stammers out a thank you, trying her best to stay calm and grabbing onto his helping hand.

“Are they…”

“Yeah, you can say that.” Nino nods, setting down his phone, and chuckles a the young love birds “But it’s kinda hard because Adrien is like a baby bird that needs a lot of training while Marinette…”

“Marinette is a hopeless girl who doesn’t know how to act in front of her crush, so yeah…” Alya shakes her head, feeling tired at her friend’s over-the-top reaction.

The raven smiles, amazed at their responses as well as Marinette’s awkward reactions towards Adrien just to say thank you. Maybe having lunch with all of them is not bad at all, that is until a hand slams in front of her, making Himawari startle. The hand belongs to Chloé Bourgeois, the ultimate bully of the school. The blond sneers at her, not taking Adrien’s words of ‘don’t be mean to Himawari’ and begins to mock her in front of the whole cafeteria.

“Has anyone told you how ugly your eyes are? Ughhh, Japanese people are so ugly with their tiny eyes…”

“Uhm, you’re talking to me?” the raven head blinks, confused as she points a finger at herself for clarification.

“Well, duh…who else I’m talking to?” Chloe scoffs at her answer, flipping her golden locks sassily “Obviously, you’re not normal because you can’t even hear my sentence properly, right?”

“Chloe, stop! She’s our friend, you can’t be mean to her.” Adrien knits his brows as he looks at his so-called childhood friend.

“Adrien, darling! You shouldn’t sit near her, she might bring some weird tiny eye disease to infect all of us!” the blonde keeps on rambling “Also, this hair color is sooooo last decades. And your outfit is so boring that I can’t even look at you properly.”

Himawari is baffled at her words, unable to respond or even process what is going on. Alya is in rage mode, ready to fight back immediately while Marinette is not ready to step down from this fight for her new friend. Amethyst eyes stare at her, this blond girl dares to badmouth her in public. No way she is sitting here and saying nothing, she refuses to be insulted like this.

But before she can stand up for herself, a hand touches her shoulder, and Himawari’s body freezes.

“What’s going on here?”

Himawari hitches at his warm, low voice. Her fingers lace together and rest neatly on the lunch table as she nervously chews on her bottom lip.

“Luka!” Marinette squeals in excitement, her blue eyes twinkling in joy.

In a split second, the raven head spots it. A glimpse of irritation spreads across Adrien’s face before he masks it with a charming smile.

“You seem to have a lot of things to say, Ms. Bourgeois.” Luka wears a nonchalant expression, turning to the spoiled blonde with his question “But you do realize that it is lunchtime and people are minding their own business, except for you?”

“I… I…” she shutters, completely unaware of the annoying expressions that other students have while she is throwing a fit at Himawari “Ugh, ridiculous! Utterly ridiculous! Just eat your stupid lunch box, new girl!”

With that, she leaves the scene with Sabrina, her only friend and follower. Himawari’s eyes are still following the blonde, she is baffled at the turn of events and struggling to find a way to respond. But Marinette has rested her hand on the raven’s shoulder, reassuring her that the bully will not come to her anytime soon with Adrien and everyone here.

“That silly girl! I swear if I even hear her voice again, I will shove this piece of chicken nugget into her mouth to shut her up!” said Alya “Can you believe her?”

“It’s okay, Alya. I don’t really care about what she said.” Himawari turns to Luka “And thank you, for helping me…”

Luka Couffaine, an upper-class student, smiles at the petite girl in front of him which makes Himawari blush as she finally sees his full appearance. Standing in front of her is a tall young man with pale skin, his hair is dyed in teal, adding a touch of coolness to his overall appearance. His eyes are bright and clear, a striking aqua color that captivates her heart upon seeing them.

Oh… Why is my heart beating so fast?

Himawari rests a hand on her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart as her cheeks turn bright red.

Luka turns to Marinette and asks for his little sister, Juleka Couffaine, before bringing his attention back to the raven head and holding out his hand.

“You’re new here, right? My name is Luka Couffiane. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Ah… I, uhm…” she stares at the hand in front of her before bashfully grabbing onto it “Y-yes, my name is Himawari Ono. Thank you, again, for helping me.”

Oh…His hand is so big and warm…

She looks at him with a beaming expression, beautiful amethyst eyes shining brightly as she smiles gently at him. Alya watches the scene with an amused face, she knows that look, that’s the look that Marinette wears whenever Adrien is near. This is interesting…

The brunette nudges her best friend and casts her a look as Marinette focuses on the scene right in front of her eyes. She giggles, unable to hold back her excitement, it seems like someone is growing a small crush on the Kitty Section’s guitarist, Luka Couffaine. The older boy smiles and waves at the band before leaving to find his sister, Juleka. Alya comes up to Himawari, giving her the ‘I-know-that-face’ look, and smirks like someone has let the cat out of the bag.

“You girls better hurry. We’re having Ms. Mendeleiev’s class after lunch.” Nino calls out “Better get to class soon before she comes.”

“Got it, see you guys in class!” the brunette responds “Right, Marinette? Say goodbye to your ‘good friend’ Adrien!”

“O-oh, gooddye, I mean, goo-goodbye, Adrien…” she waves heavily and the blond boy returns it with a smile, completely oblivious of her affection.

Himawari giggles at the scene while Alya describes it as ‘the adorable but dorky’ scene and turns her attention to the raven head.

“Say, Himawari…”

“Yes?” she raises her brows at her friend’s weird tone “Is something wrong?”

“I saw how you stare at Juleka’s brother, Luka. Care to explain what’s going on?”

“I…wha…?” Himawari stares at Alya as she fumbles on her words, turning crimson “I…I mean…I…”

Marinette and Alya high-five as if they just found a bag full of gold. They can not deny that many girls feel the same way about Luka, he is quite popular at school after all. Juleka in their class might be a shy, quiet girl but Luka, well, he’s outgoing, kind, and always wears a calm expression, the typical ‘cool guy’ that leads the story in almost every comic book and manga series. He and his sister are both very talented musicians, with Luka as the guitarist and Juleka playing the bass in their own band, the Kitty Section.

“He has looks, smart, and is a talented musician. Who would not want a guy like him?”

“Well, I can see why he’s popular…” Himawari rubs her arm, acknowledging what her friends are saying “He’s very attractive if you ask me.”

“Right?” the bluenette smiles “I think that you will be his perfect match.”

“Huh? W-what?” the raven startles again “Marinette, I don’t even know him. We just met, remember?”

“Then you should get to know him more, I think you both are very cute with each other.”

Alya face-palms, finding whatever her best friend was saying is complete nonsense. Don’t get her wrong, she loves Marinette but the girl who can’t even talk to her crush properly is now doing love therapy for Himawari? The new girl better not take her advice seriously or else…

“Well, maybe after you can talk to Adrien properly…”

“W-what? I…I talk to him…wha…?”

Himawari laughs along with Alya at the shuttered Marinette, unable to hold back their amusement at how adorable the bluenette acts when they mention her crush. Himawari notices the black and blue locks standing at the corner with Juleka and Rose, realizing the similarity between him and his sister. She also notices the starings and gigglings of some girls near her, talking about how amazing the older boy looks. Oh, he’s indeed very popular…

Chapter Text

The last class finishes when the clock strikes 4:30 PM and Himawari signs as she gathers her books into the school bag. Her first day at school is fine…maybe…? Besides how Chloe keeps picking on her and the brunette sitting at the back gives her a cold stare, everything is fine…

Alya suggests that she and Marinette walk her home but Himawari turns down the offer. Her aunt just moved into a new house and she does not want to be a bad host by not having enough space for her friends to sit down and enjoy a cup of tea.

“I need to help her arrange the furniture, maybe next time.”

“You and your aunt? Do you need more help? It’s faster with more people!” Marinette states “We can help you if you want.”

“It’s okay, I can handle it. Thank you for your offer.”

With that, she says goodbye to her friends and takes her to leave. It’s nice to walk home with a few friends but her auntie will not pleased with her bringing friends over without telling anyone.

Her aunt, Cecile Yamada, is a young woman with a passion for writing. She is the author of several romantic novels about Paris and Tokyo, two places she has spent most of her life living and studying. Unlike her sister, Cecile moved to France after graduating high school and majored in Language and Literature at the University of Paris before establishing herself as a writer in recent years. A kind-hearted yet very mature woman, Cecile has taken Himawari under her wings, providing her niece a place to stay while studying in this country and taking on the role of mother while her family is still in Japan.

“Hello, Auntie!”

“Himawari, my dear! How’s your first day at school?” the young woman smiles kindly at her  “Did you make any friends? Did anyone bully you? If they bully you, tell me and I’ll have a serious conversation with your Principal.”

“I’m fine, Auntie. Everything was nice and refreshing, except for a few caveats here and there…”

“What?” the blond woman looks at her “Say that again, my dear?”

“Well, a girl in my class doesn’t seem to like me, but it’s okay.” she smiles “I’m not taking any of her words seriously…”

Cecile looks at her niece, not pleased with what she just heard but Himawari has reassured her that everything is fine and she can handle it herself, so…

“I’ll help you with the cleaning, Auntie.”

“It’s fine, my dear Himawari. I’ve finished unpackaging and storing away everything in the moving boxes. Your stuff is in your room, I don’t know how you want to decorate your room so I leave it there instead.”

“Auntie, you should wait for me to come home and help you.” Himawari responds with a pout “What if you got hurt while doing everything alone?”

Cecile laughs at her comments, her sweet little niece seems to forget the fact that she has lived alone in Paris for more than 10 years and she can do everything by herself back then when she lived in her small apartment. With Himawari joining her small family, Cecile wants to expand her space, which is why she purchased this house for both of them to live in. She’s very excited to live here because she has decorated the interior so it matches her parents’ house in Japan, with a full kotatsu table and many more.

This, of course, makes Himawari very happy. She loves the Japanese vibe inside the house with a touch of modern Paris, the vibe that she’s been familiar with ever since she was born. Not to mention, her house is very close to an Asian supermarket, where she can go and buy all the ingredients she needs to make a full Japanese meal. It’s simply amazing that her aunt knows this and tries her best to offer her everything she wants so that she won’t be homesick for Japan.

“Okay, Auntie! I’ll make dinner tonight. What do you want to eat?”

“Hm…Curry with fried pork cutlet, I’m craving some curry today.”

“Got it. I’ll go to the supermarket then.”

She does not have a lot of homework for today so Himawari has more than enough time to cook dinner, decorate her room, and do all her homework tonight. The raven head hurries to the nearby supermarket, not only to buy the ingredients for tonight’s dinner but also her lunch box for tomorrow.

There’s a reason why she loves Japanese culture, especially the education system. Yes, it is difficult but at the same time, she enjoys Home Economy classes a lot. They teach her many things like cooking, sewing, and many other aspects of life that she will eventually encounter later on. And thanks to all of her studies in Japan, she’s now able to help her aunt with many things like house chores, cooking, and many more. Cecile has provided her with many financial benefits, so these are the least she can do to show her appreciation.

When Himawari finishes her grocery shopping, she returns to her house, only to find herself in a tough situation. Some guys on the road have started to catcall her, which she tries to ignore completely. The sky hasn’t turned dark yet and they already try to do these things to a young lady, how rude…

“Hello there, where are you going by yourself?”

“Yeah, let us help you with those heavy bags.”

Himawari signs as she picks up her pace, trying her best to mind her own business while avoiding the guys. There is a big main road in front of her, and as soon as she gets to it, they will leave her alone. But the guys are not having it, grabbing the grocery bags in her hands to stop the raven head from leaving.

“Hey, let me go!” she exclaims, baffling at their audacity.

“Aw, come on, sweet one! Let us help you!”

“No thank you, please let go or I’ll call for help.”

“You’re no fun. Come with us, we’ll show you the true meaning of ‘fun’!” they laugh smugly at her attempts to escape.

Ah…this is bad…

Himawari has been taught about this kind of scenario, and how these guys will take her away by force. She needs to act fast, either leave all the groceries behind or scream out loud for help. But there is a guy who holds a pocket knife, which is very dangerous, as she imagines a scenario where he will harm her with that thing.

What to do…? What can I do…?

“Come now, sweet one!”

This time, a guy grabs onto her hand, yanking her to follow him.

“Let go of me!”

Juleka and Luka are on the way back to their houseboat on the Seine River, they were just passed by Marinette’s bakery to get some baguettes for dinner tonight. Juleka smiles at her brother and comments on how she wishes she could be like him, kind, courageous, and outspoken. It’s no surprise to anyone that she looks up to her brother, who wouldn’t be? Luka Couffaine is popular in the school due to his calm and collected yet friendly attitude, even Chloe who has constantly bullied Juleka has to tone down her voice while facing him.

“It would be nice if I could be more like you, brother…”

“Don’t say that, you are very unique Jul, just because not many people say that doesn’t mean you’re not special.”

“You just say that to make me happy…” she signs, grabbing onto her hanging bang “I will never be like you, or Rose, or Marinette. I’ll always be that girl who got lost in the crowd…”

“Juleka…” he signs “Don’t look down on yourself like that. No one asks you to change anything. You’re perfect, just the way you are…”

Juleka looks at him, and a small smile forms on her lips. At least her amazing brother believes in her…

“Let go of me!”

A scream erupts causing both siblings to startle, they look onto their sides, only to see Juleka’s new friend is being surrounded by a couple of guys who don’t seem to take ‘no’ for an answer. She gasps, watching them pulling and grabbing Himawari’s hand while she’s struggling to break free.

“Brother…that’s my new classmate, Himawari.”

“Stay here, Juleka.”

Luka tells his sister before stepping closer to the scene. This girl is the one he helped at lunchtime, right? The one who got into Chloe’s blacklist. He approaches them, clearly seeing how her amethyst eyes light up upon seeing him.

“Let her go!”

“And who the hell are you?” one man steps in, asking him with a loud threatening voice.

“I’m someone who you guys should not mess around with.” he stares at them, not intimidated by their obnoxious behavior “Let her go!”

The guys are not having any of his words but when they turn to him, they are completely frozen. His eyes, the aqua-blue orbs, are intense and venomous, like a snake ready to swallow his prey. Himawari stares at him, unable to move. For some reason, she can’t take her gaze off him, the dangerous and vicious glint shines through his eyes.

Luka is not having any of this, especially when someone can treat a lady in such an impolite way and Himawari’s worried expression has said it all. She is not comfortable, let alone being forced to come with the guys. The tall boy steps closer, aqua orbs cast an icy look at them, a fair warning before things get worse. The guys look at each other, not willing to let go but at the same time, not wanting to take any risk.

Whoever this guy is, he is dangerous…

They finally let go of her and Himawari immediately grabs all her bags, running to his side. The gang clicks their tongue loudly before fleeing the scene without daring to look back. She signs in relief, finally…

“You’re okay? They’re not hurting you?”

“No…” she shakes her head “Thank you, again…”

“Don’t mind it.”

His lips curl up into a kind smile as he waves at his sister to come over. Juleka goes to him and turns to Himawari to give her a small nod of acknowledgment, and the raven head returns it with a smile. She blushes a bit at the raven head’s beaming face and she looks at her brother, only to realize the look he has on his face. Luka is caught off guard by Himawari’s appearance, his eyes widening in surprise. During lunchtime, he wasn’t able to look at her properly and only remembered the soft smile formed on her face, but now…

“Thank you, for saving me again.”

“It’s fine. You don’t have to say thank you all the time.” raising a brow, he asks her “You’re going somewhere?”

“I was heading back home to cook dinner but got into this mess…”

“Hm…” thinking to himself for a moment, he instructs his sister “Juleka, you bring the baguettes back to our house. I will escort Himawari back to her house.”

“Oh, you don’t have to…ah…”

Before she can say no, Luka grabs onto her grocery bag and nods at his sister, who simply waves at him and turns in the other direction to go back to their house. Himawari looks at Juleka and turns to him, not sure if he wants to let his sister go back alone like that.

“It’s okay, our house is right around the corner.” sensing her worries, Luka turns to her “And where is your place?”

“Ah, just a few blocks away from here. I’m sorry for the trouble…”

Lowering her head, Himawari bites her bottom lips, a habit she adopts to ignore the invisible pressure aura around her. Luka is holding her grocery bags and they look kinda heavy, to be honest. She is fine with holding all of that herself and to have someone do it for her makes the raven head feel guilty. She does not want to trouble him for a small matter like this.

“Uhm, is it heavy? I can hold it if you want.”

“It’s fine. But you bought a lot of things at the…Japanese supermarket?” eyeing at her groceries, he asks.

“Yes, I’m making dinner tonight.” she smiles.

“You’re making dinner? How nice…” he replies “I bet your food is very good.”

“Ah…”

Himawari blushes at the compliment. She never felt this way before, yet now…

“You seem to be a good friend of Marinette’s gang.”

“I guess so…” she gives him a soft nod “She and Alya are my deskmates, but I find her very nice and kind towards everyone.”

“It is her personality to make people happy. She’s friendly, idealistic, very creative, and cares a lot for her friends.” Luka smiles “She’s just that amazing…”

The raven head looks at him, realizing the meaning behind his words. The way those aqua orbs shine in adoration, it would be a lie if she said that she was not bothered by it.

Oh…he likes her…

Luka likes Marinette…

She frowns, feeling a bit jealous that the bluenette can grab his attention so easily. Marinette may fall head over heels for Adrien Agreste but she clearly does not see how her personality charms both the blond and Luka, something that Himawari knows for sure that she can never pull off.

“Oh, we’re here…” trying to cast away the irritation, she smiles at him “Thank you again, for helping me.”

“No problem, I’ll see you at school tomorrow.”

“Okay, have a great night, Luka.”

For the rest of the evening, Himawari can’t think of anything else but Luka’s compliment for her friend. Marinette is loved by everyone. She is kind, sweet and such a bubbly girl with a dream for fashion, even Himawari likes her. But the thought of Luka liking the bluenette causes her heart to clench a bit…

Luka Couffaine…

Tall, lean with beautiful aqua-colored eyes. Just looking at those eyes brings such calmness to her mind and his maturity makes her heart skips a beat. Himawari had never thought that coming to Paris would get her into this kind of situation. Back in Japan, although she heard from her friends that many guys had their eyes on her, the raven head never took any interest, but now…

Chapter Text

Himawari signs in content as the bell finally rings, telling the student that their school time has finally finished. Tomorrow is Saturday, which means she will have more time to finish the last few pages of her manga to submit to the website.

Finally…

She needs to finish the last few pages, review them, and send them to her friend for the final review before uploading them onto her own blog. She has been doing this since elementary school, knowing too well how addicted she is when it comes to manga and anime. Himawari considers herself an otaku, not those hardcore ones, but still very addicted to their storyline and characters. She enjoys soft Shojo manga that follows the romantic theme, but she also has an interest in the Shonen genre as it inspires her to spice up her storyline rather than just going with the soft, fluffy theme.

Since elementary school, she has trained herself in the mangaka field. Himawari purchases many skilled books to learn, and she looks into many resources online and reads a lot of mangas to upgrade her drawing skills, as well as trying to come up with a good storyline and characters. Her skills have sharpened over time and she even started her blog to post new chapters every month.

Well, that is her plan for tonight if everything goes well…

Her first week at Collège Françoise Dupont is anything but fun. Yes, she has a lot of fun with her new friends but at the same time, it seems like Chloe loves making her life miserable. Throughout the week, the blonde has been picking on her nonstop, even with the aid of Adrien and the others, that girl does not understand the meaning of ‘enough is enough’ and keeps on mocking her for silly reasons.

Just like today, Chloe and Sabrina had tried to lock her in the girl’s restroom. Lucky for her, Marinette and Alya were there just in time before they could even lock the stall that she was using.

“Oh look, it’s the Asian freak…”

“Chloe, shut up! Did anyone tell you that ‘If you don’t have anything nice to say, then don’t say it’?” Marinette snaps back.

Chloe sneers and turns away with Sabrina following behind her. Himawari shakes her head, she doesn’t care about the tricks that the blonde has for her but she can’t help but feel annoyed at how silly and troublesome she is.

“Ignore her, Marinette. Let’s not stand on her level.” Adrien speaks up calmly.

Marinette’s face is soon to become an explosion, red cheeks puff out and steam comes out of her head causing Himawari to giggle.

In this first week, the bluenette and Alya have both helped her a lot and she appreciates their kindness. It’s nice to have a small group of friends to talk and share her stories, they have added her to their chat which now has 3 members: Himawari, Marinette, and Alya. They usually talk about school, Chloe’s silly attitudes, and the main topic, boys.

In this group chat, Alya and Himawari are having lots of fun teasing the bluenette about her crush on Adrien. They try to give her some pieces of advice, which always backfire because the silly girl can’t even express her normal side properly whenever he’s around. It is a way for Himawari to get away and ignore the negative feelings she has for the bluenette whenever Marinette is having a good time with Luka. She knows Alya has tried to consult with Marinette about her unclear attitudes toward both Adrien and Luka, but…

“Hey there Marinette.”

“Oh, Luka.” the bluenette smiles as she approaches him.

Alya sees a glimpse of jealousy in Himawari’s amethyst eyes. She wants to curse her best friend for being so careless and oblivious about the raven head’s bubbly feelings for the senior boy. Himawari lets out a long sigh and looks away, trying to ignore her clenching heart.

“Don’t mind her, Himawari.” Alya pats her shoulder lightly “She is like that, being friendly with everyone except Chloe and Lila. She doesn’t mean any harm.”

“I know, Marinette is a sweet, loving girl. I can see why many guys fall for her charms…” the raven head signs “Luka sure has great taste in girls…”

The brunette bites her lips, her brain is screaming loudly as she is put in the position of either supporting Marinette or Himawari. The bluenette is clearly falling head over heels for the blond model, but both are so unclear about their feelings that it is harder for her to get those two together. Luka, on the other hand, is kind and gentle and clearly shows his interest in Marinette, but she is too oblivious about his feelings for her.

Himawari is quiet, calm, and gentle. She shows her interest in Luka in small actions that are hardly recognizable, even Alya is having a hard time looking for clues on whether or not the raven head really likes him. Compared to sweet Marinette, Himawari’s feelings can be disregarded easily because she does not show them clearly in the first place. Even Rose and Juleka have once commented on how cute bluenette and Luka are when they are together.

“Well, I have to go now, Marinette. I’ll see you next week.”

Luka smiles and takes his leave, notices Himawari who is standing right beside Alya, and…why is she wearing such a sad expression on her face?

The brunette glances at him, thinking that this will be a great opportunity for her shy friend to talk to Luka, thus taking her steps toward Marinette and trying to get her out of the scene. The young guitarist walks to the small figure, who does not recognize the footsteps that slowly approach her.

“Hey, Himawari…”

“Oh…” she startles and looks up, her cheeks painted in a shade of red as she stares at him “L-Luka, how is it going?”

“It’s good. Are you not feeling well?”

“No, I’m fine. Why did you ask like that?” she blinks at his question, tilting her head to one side.

“Well, your face says otherwise…” he looks at her, observing every expression she is currently showing “Come now, I’ll take you home today.”

Himawari stares at him, amethyst eyes wide as he grabs onto her hand and pulls her with him. Alya and Marinette witness the whole scene, crossing their fingers at their friend as they squeal and giggle at how romantic it is.

“I heard from Marinette that you play guitar?”

“Yeah, I play for the Kitty Section with some of your classmates. We’re actually having a band practice tomorrow afternoon, you can come to see if you want to.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a distraction…”

To be honest, it’s more like she doesn’t want to see Luka and Marinette getting all cozy with each other. She knows way too well that he will invite the bluenette because she has been friends with Juleka for a long time and she is also the head designer for the band. Himawari does not want to show her feelings like that, especially when she knows that she will never be able to gain his attention the way Marinette does.

“Don’t say that, you’re not a distraction. Come and join us, it will be fun. Alya, Marinette, Nino, and Adrien will also be there.”

“I will see if I can make it, but I can’t promise anything…”

Luka looks at her, aqua orbs observe the girl walk side by side with him. He has a hard time reading her expression, something that he is surprised as well. For a man whose life revolves around music, Luka has a talent for seeing through one’s heart, but with Himawari, he can not seem to get through the walls she is building around her.

“Are you…missing home, Himawari?”

“I…”

Yes, she misses them. She misses her family, her friends, and her home country. She misses walking down the street, feeling the cool morning breeze wrap around her body while looking at the beautiful cherry blossom petals falling down. She misses doing all the school activities, the sports festival, the culture festival, the picnic trips, and so much more. She’s not happy when her parents force her to come to France, she hates dealing with everything herself, and she hates it.

“I miss home, but then again, I have to endure it…” she sighs “I think that it’s fun that I finally have friends here but at the same time, I really miss those that are still in Japan…”

“Himawari…” touches her shoulder, aqua orbs meet the beautiful amethyst color “I may not understand how difficult it is for you but…you have us, we’ll be here for you.”

She blushes at the comment, holding a hand to her lips as she lets out a giggle. Smiling, the raven head looks at Luka with beautiful amethyst eyes and thankfully nods her head.

“Thank you, for taking me home and for letting me know that you and everyone are here for me.”

“You’re welcome!”

Himawari opens the front door, only to see her aunt running around with an apron, with a spatula in the right hand and a medium-sized pan in the left. Seeing her little niece at the door, Cecile bursts into tears and runs toward the smaller lady, holding onto her like a koala.

“Auntie, what’s wrong?”

“My dear, you’re here! You have to help me!”

“Is something wrong? What do you need?”

“We’re having guests over tonight and I don’t know what should I cook for dinner!” she cries out “I thought we can serve them authentic Japanese food but…”

The raven head sweatdrops as she looks at the mess in the kitchen, apparently, her aunt has tried a lot of recipes but none of them works because she is not familiar with authentic Japanese cuisines.

“Auntie, we can cook normal Japanese food, it doesn’t have to be a special meal or anything.” she smiles “How about you take care of the cleaning while I prepare the meal?”

“Yes, please!” Cecile beams at her “I’ll clean up the mess and prepare the table.”

“How many servings should I prepare, Auntie?”

“Three guests and us two, so five servings, dear.”

She looks in the fridge and finds many ingredients that her aunts got from the supermarket a few days ago. Smiling to herself, she decides to make Japanese-style pasta because it’s one of the best comfort foods that she can think of right now. Besides, who doesn’t like a dish of pasta? She can also make a side dish and a dessert if she has enough time.

Cecile glances at her niece who is having a good time in the kitchen and smiles to herself. The little one seems to be happier than usual, which is a good sign. It is hard to look at the dull expression that Himawari wore a couple of months ago, mainly because she’s still mad at her parents for forcing her to study abroad like that. At least the sweet child is kind and not giving her any trouble like some other troublesome kids and she bonds with her niece quite fast as the young girl always brings a glimpse of sunshine into her life.

Preparing the table, Cecile can pick up the aroma coming out from the kitchen and it smells amazing. Whatever her niece is cooking in there, it’s gonna be a great dish.

*ding dong*

Cecile runs to the door and opens it, she grins at the 3 people in front of the door.

“Anarka, welcome!”

“Ah, Cecile, good evening!”

She welcomes the Couffaine family into the living room, unaware of the weird look on the tall boy’s face. As Mrs. Couffaine sits down and introduces her two children, Cecile smiles brightly and brings out her niece, who is still wearing an apron and protesting madly about meeting her aunt’s guests in such a messy state. However, as soon as Himawari steps into the living room, her amethyst eyes open widely as she sees the familiar faces.

“Luka? Juleka?”

“Himawari, hi…”

The raven head looks at them before a heavy blush appears on her face as she runs and hides behind her aunt’s back, holding tightly onto her waist. Juleka looks down with a guilty expression and Luka is trying his best to not let out his own giggles of amusement. Mrs. Couffaine laughs lightly at the scene, commenting on how adorable it is while Cecile tries to tell her niece to at least say hello to the guests.

But all her encouragement falls on deaf ears as Himawari is not willing to step out anytime soon. Oh, how embarrassing… Luka has seen her in such a mess…

“Auntie, I’m going back to the kitchen!”

Himawari bows a bit at Anarka before dashing back into the kitchen. Cecile yells at her, not pleased with her manners but the other thinks otherwise. She looks at her children before telling them that they can do whatever they want, as long as it does not cause any trouble for the Yamada household.

Luka smiles to himself as he walks into the kitchen with his sister, admiring the scene in front of him. Himawari, in a blue apron, rolling pie dough onto the tray. He looks at the bowl with apple fillings on the counter, thinking that she is baking an apple pie before holds the bowl and approaches her.

“You need this?”

“Yes, thank you, Luka!” she replies, taking the bowl before stopping herself and looking at the person beside her “L-L-Luka…?!”

“Hey, you’re making apple pie?”

“Yes, I mean no, I mean…” stammering, Himawari turns to a bundle of nerves when he is this close to her “W-why are you in the kitchen?”

Luka smiles at her, clearly not wanting to answer her question before pulling a high chair and sitting down with Juleka right next to him. He is carrying a guitar today, something that has always been with him no matter where he goes, and begins to play a soft tune. Juleka smiles as she closes her eyes and listens to her brother’s playing while Himawari pushes aside the embarrassed feeling and continues with her cooking.

She has done with the pasta pot, and the side salad and the dessert is in the oven, that’s probably enough to fill up every stomach in this house. Now onto the plating and this is where things start to get a bit complicated. Because of her small stature, the cabinet that stores all the plates is too high for her, which is why she has to use a stepping stool and climb onto the kitchen counters to get the plates. But….how can she do such things with Luka around?

Luka is still playing his guitars, he opens his eyes to see Himawari just staring at the high cabinet and then realizes the situation. Slowly approaching her, he offers to take the plates and the raven head just nods in response, too embarrassed to look at the older boy. Juleka walks to them, smiling at the petite girl as she helps her brother take the plates out.

“Here you go.” Luka passes down the plates to his sister to put on the island counters “You need anything else, Himawari?”

“Ah, uhm… Can you get the smaller plates in the back of the cabinet?”

“This one?” he holds out 1 plate.

“Yes, that one.” she replies “And thank you for helping me.”

Juleka looks at her and nods, keeping herself as quiet as possible. Her brother takes the plates from her hands and gives them to Himawari as she brings them out to the table. Because she is in a hurry to avoid Luka at all costs, she trips on her own feet and yelps, bracing herself to meet the cold, wooden floor and the plates crash on the surface. However, whatever she has in her mind never turns into reality as the older boy has caught her in time with Himawari’s back crashing onto his body.

“Are you okay?” Juleka breaks the silence as she takes the plates out of her hands.

“Himawari, are you okay?” this time is Luka’s concern.

Himawari’s eyes are still wide open, totally embarrassed at her own clumsiness. Luka helps the poor girl up on her feet, still asking about her well-being, and does not even realize the bright blush appears across her face.

“I’m…I’m good, thank you…”

She bites her lips, takes the plates, and puts them on the table, with Juleka right behind with the big pasta tray. Himawari needs to calm herself down, really, really needs to calm herself down. She can’t believe what just happened, she just crashed into Luka’s lean frame and she still can feel the warmth of him.

I just made a fool out of myself… This is the worst…

Chapter Text

Luka’s eyes follow every one of Himawari’s actions, she seems to be scared of him, or maybe it’s just his illusion? But currently, the girl is trying to avoid him. He frowns, the usual calm expression has finally shown some emotion, and Juleka, his sister, notices this side of him immediately. She looks at Himawari and then back at her brother, who is staring at the poor girl intensively, eyes shining brightly as if she just discovered something interesting...

Juleka has thought that her brother likes Marinette but that doesn’t seem to be the case here…

“Auntie!” Himawari walks to the living room “Dinner is ready!”

“Ah, thank you, sweet pea! Come now Mrs. Couffaine, you must be hungry.”

Inviting Mrs. Couffaine to sit down, she grabs two glasses and a bottle of red wine while assigning the kids to have juice and pour one for her guest. Himawari sits near her aunt, only to be startled by a figure who plops down next to her.

Oh…this is not going well…

Luka sits next to her, masking his irritation with a calm expression while his sister sits on the opposite chair. Anarka looks at her children, surprised to see how the seats are planned out. She turns her gaze to Himawari, who is focusing on putting the entre on each plate but when she turns to Luka, the poor girl freezes as she can feel a cold aura surrounding her.

“Luka!”

The raven head looks at Mrs. Couffaine, wondering if she really sees through what is going on because the guy next to her is now fixing his gaze on something else rather than just staring at her. Well, at least she gets out of the weird situation…

“Oh, I forgot about the apple pie!”

She puts down the pair of tongs and runs to the oven, signing in relief as her pie has not burnt yet. Taking out the pie, she left it on the cooling tray before returning to the table. Her aunt looks at her, smiling in approval of how the food has been plated on the table. Japanese are very serious about being a host of an event, a party, or even just a small thing like hosting a dinner. They want the guests to feel the best and it seems like Himawari has succeeded in this because of how enjoyable the Couffaine family is when eating the food she makes.

“Oh my, you cook all of this, my dear?” Mrs. Couffaine asks “My god, the man who gets to marry her will be the luckiest guy.”

Himawari blushes heavily at the compliment, glancing at Juleka who is enjoying the food then at Luka. Even at the dining table, his etiquette is still very calm and polite, which makes the raven head quite disappointed as she wants to know whether or not he likes her food. Cecile grins and talks about how her niece is the best when it comes to cooking, following up with Mrs. Couffaine’s praises which makes Himawari smile a bit.

At least most of them like her food…

After finishing the main course, Himawari brings out the pie that she has spent more time than ever to make. The aroma is nice with a hint of spice along with the apples that have been cooked through in the oven. Sharing the pie at the dining table is one of the best experiences everyone can have, that’s what she’s learned from her mother back in Japan as she always bakes an apple pie every month of the year. Himawari obviously picks up this habit from her mother, she did live in Japan with her parents for almost 15 years after all.

“My god…” Mrs. Couffaine smiles as the sweet and tangy taste of the apple pie blends so well together “Cecile, your niece will become a fine cook one day.”

“Oh, you don’t have to say that, Mrs. Couffaine.” her aunt looks at her “Himawari, what do you say?”

“Thank you, Mrs. Couffaine!”

The praises and compliments are nice, but she wants to know the opinion of Luka Couffaine. He has been quiet since dinner which makes her feel a bit uncomfortable at the sudden change of the atmosphere around them. Juleka quietly observes the pairs, mainly Himawari’s attitudes toward her brother, and smiles to herself. It seems like Marinette is not the only option for Luka after all…

Cecile’s phone rings as she apologizes and looks at the ID of the caller, grinning widely, she turns to Himawari and gives her the phone.

“It’s your parents!”

“Oh, really?” she beams upon hearing her family call and picks up immediately “Hello? It’s very late in Japan and you guys haven’t slept?”

She leaves the table to find a comfortable seat to talk to her parents, they’ve been eagerly waiting to listen to her first week at school. The blonde woman smiles as Himawari leaves the dining space to spend time with her parents while Mrs. Couffaine questions about her life before moving to France.

Himawari smiles at the phone, her parents aren’t able to sleep so they decide to call her, they want to know their daughter’s first week at school and whether or not she’s having any trouble. Being the first of her three siblings to study abroad, her parents are both very worried about her well-being, especially after Cecile reviewed that their daughter has been avoiding meals altogether due to homesickness.

It’s a hard decision but her mother really wants her to study in France, believing that it’ll be the best for her daughter. Himawari understands why, in a male-dominated society like Japan, she has to work harder to achieve her goal and if she ever decides to return to Japan, her French background might get her some advantages when it comes to job-seeking. Every parent wants the best for their child, there’s no doubt about it. But to Himawari, she feels like she’s being trapped in her mother’s vision and wishes nothing more than to break free from it. She’s glad that her parents, especially her mother, care about her future like that but forcing her to leave everything behind to start a new life in France is complete nonsense.

“Himawari, are you still angry at me?” said the blonde woman in the softest tone “I’m very sorry for doing this to you, honey…”

“If you know that I don’t like it, then you should never have done it in the first place.” she mumbles “I know that you want the best for me, but please, at least let me know rather than put me in this kind of situation.”

Himawari is angry at her mom, the more she thinks about everything she has to sacrifice for her mother’s vision, the angrier she becomes. Cecile has tried to consult with her, admitting that what her sister had done was wrong but at the same time, she’s willing to be the ‘antagonist’ in Himawari’s life so that she can have the best of the best.

“I’ve told you that I never want any of this, but you just never listen…” the raven head bites her lips “Why don’t you understand that I never want to come here? That I want to be with my family? That I want to have that beautiful youth experience in my home country?”

Through the phone screen, her mother sighs and lowers her head in shame, wondering if her daughter will ever forgive her for doing such things to her.

“Do you know how hard it was for me? To be here all by myself? Even if I live with Cecile, I still want to be with my parents and my brothers, I want to feel our family bonds, I want to go home…”

“Himawari…” her mother looks at her, eyes filling with tears “I’m very sorry…”

Seeing her mother’s tearful face is the last straw for her as Himawari breaks down and cries. She cries out loud, not caring if there are guests in the other room. The raven head needs to let all of her negative feelings out, she wants to let her mother know how upset she is because she’s been hiding all of this for too long. Tears stream down her eyes as her mother is also sobbing on the other side of the phone, Himawari lets herself be vulnerable in front of her parents, a clear statement that she’s clearly very upset at their decision.

Her father sighs as he tries to bridge back their soon-to-be broken relationship. The mother-daughter bond between Himawari and her mother is very strong, he believes that even if his wife has done a bad thing to their child, the raven head will always accept her apologies but this time…this time is a whole different story… He knows that his wife will never forgive herself if Himawari decides to never speak to her again, that’s why he advises her to call their daughter, to let her know how sorry she was for forcing the raven head into this mess. Even if Himawari is their eldest child, she’s at a very vulnerable age, and a small negative action can leave a scar on her heart.

“I’m very sorry, Himawari…” her mother sobs “I want the best for you but I was wrong…I was wrong for never stopping and considering your feelings…”

Cecile walks out to the living room with the Couffaine family after finishing all the clean-up, Mrs. Couffaine looks at the scene and turns to the young woman, asking whether or not they should intervene. The blonde woman sighs and walks up to Himawari, who is curling on the sofa, sits down, and pulls her niece into her arms. The Couffaine family sits on the other seats, with Luka plopping down on Himawari’s other side.

“My dear, why are you crying like that?”

“Cecile…”

“Auntie…”

Himawari doesn’t mind if Mrs. Couffaine and her children see her in such a miserable state, right now, she’s having a mother-daughter bonding experience and no one can stop her from doing what she wants. Cecile smiles and tightens her arms, looking at her sister to reassure her that she can handle this.

“Himawari, look at you, baby girl…” she pulls out the tissue and wipes her tears “You’re having fun crying with your mom? Jeez, didn’t I tell you that you’re not beautiful when you cry?”

She holds onto her aunt and steals a glance at her mother who is wiping her face with tissue paper. A guilty feeling spreads out inside her heart as Himawari realizes that she just made her mother cry and she finds it horrible. No matter how much she hates her mother for doing this, the raven head never wants to be the reason for her mother to shed a tear. She might act all upset and angry, but she still loves her parents, nonetheless.

“Mommy…I’m sorry…”

The blonde woman looks at the screen and covers her mouth to stop the small gasp from escaping her lips. Her daughter, sweet Himawari, is sitting straight with her head hanging low and forefingers are twiddling each other, a sign of asking for forgiveness.

Luka, who is silenced the whole time, witnesses the scene and he finds it adorable. It is hard to find such a mother-daughter scene like this in Paris, often time people just say sorry and that’s it. With Himawari, she is asking for forgiveness from her parents, even though it’s their fault for doing this in the first place. The young boy smiles, he hears her complaints while sitting in the dining room, she is very vocal about what she likes and doesn’t like. But right now, looking at Himawari’s shy reaction when she sees her mother’s tears, he realizes that she has a very soft spot for her mother and wishes nothing more than to make her happy.

“You’re just so adorable, my dear!” Cecile hugs her and squeals.

She covers her face with both hands, blushing at the compliment. Peaking through her fingers, Himawari sees her mother smile as she touches her lips with her fingertips and then presses them at the screen, a kiss from a mother to her daughter.

“It’s late, sister. You should go to sleep.”

“Yeah, I will.” looking at her daughter one last time “Good night, sweet one. I’ll talk to you later.”

“Good night…”

Turning off the phone, Himawari buries her face in Cecile’s chest, an action that she used to do with her mom back in Japan. Her aunt smiles and pats her back gently, separate from the family at such a young age gives the raven head a lot of anxiety and self-doubt. She understands the feeling very well because she had gone through the same experience, the only difference was that she was willing to go while Himawari was forced to go. It’s hard for her, to go through all of this by herself. Even with Cecile right next to her, there are things that she can not share with anyone but her mother.

Luka looks at her, sighing. Soft and gentle Himawari, the girl who never talks back to anyone and always keeps a smile on her face yet this is the first time he sees how vulnerable Himawari is. It can’t help when she has to separate from her family at such a young age, finding her way to adapt to the new life in Paris. She’s like Juleka, his sister, always keeping everything to herself and as quiet as a mouse. At least in his sister’s case, she can still rely on him for words of advice but Himawari…well…she has no one but herself…

“Feeling better?”

“…”

“You want to go to bed?”

No response…

Cecile checks her niece, only to see the peaceful sleeping face of Himawari. Crying so hard then falling asleep, how ladylike…

The blonde woman shakes her head, trying to gather her niece in a firm hold to get the girl to her bedroom. Mrs. Couffaine looks at Cecile then turns her attention to her son, sending some silent signals. Luke glances at his mother, stands up, and opens his arms as an offer to carry the sleeping girl to her room. Cecile smiles at the young boy, he should do this because she can not carry her niece to the bed without waking her up.

“Let me help you.”

Luka scoops the small body into his arms and carries her as if she weighs nothing.

“Her bedroom is upstairs, the second door to the right.” Cecile smiles “Thank you, dear.”

He smiles and starts walking upstairs, ignoring the eyes that are glued to his back. Looking down at the sleeping girl in his arms, he remembers that one time when he did the same thing with Marinette, lifting the girl on air when they were skating with Adrien and his friend, Kagami. That time, Marinette commented on how strong he was and he just gave her a smile as a thank you. It’s not hard and he even saw Adrien at one point easily carry the bluenette without any complaints, but Marinette’s compliment did flatter him a lot.

The second door to the right…

Spot it…Her name is written on a sunflower-decorated door plate.

Gently opening the door, Luka carries hers into the room and lays the small figure on the soft bed. Himawari immediately turns her back to him and spreads her arms to hold the stuffed bunny on the bed. Take a brief look at her bedroom, he fixes his gaze on the picture frames that she has put around the room.

A family photo with her, her parents, and 2 younger male siblings.

A photo of her in her school uniform, standing in front of the school gate with her parents.

A photo of her wearing a yukata, enjoying the summer festival.

A photo of her hanging out with her friends at the school’s culture festival.

A photo of her holding out a 1st place flag with her whole class at the school’s sports festival.

It seems like Himawari is willing to put every part of her memories in a frame and display them around the room. He looks at the 2 large bookshelves that store many of her mangas and books, her main source of inspiration for drawing. Aqua eyes then move to her computer desk, where the drawing book is still open with lots of art sketches about some characters in the series that she’s currently reading.

Taking a closer look at the sketches, Luka smiles to himself. Marinette and Himawari sure have a lot in common, especially when it comes to drawing. While the bluenette focuses on clothing designs, the raven head leans more on doing visual storytelling as he notices a book about phrases and dialogues for stories.

“Uhm…”

Her soft hum surprises Luka as he turns his attention to her, smiling as she is now facing him. The moonlight shines through the window, illuminating her face as she sounds asleep. Stepping closer to Himawari, a warm hand caresses her cheek then moves to her hair to untie her signature blue ribbon, letting the dark onyx locks spread across the pillow.

“Good night, Himawari. Have a sweet dream.”

Chapter Text

Amethyst eyes slowly open as Himawari hears the little birds chirping outside the window, she rises herself off the bed and looks around.

It’s morning already?

Eyeing her own appearance, she sweatdrops at her outfit, she has slept through the night without even taking a shower…How lovely…

Climb off the bed, the raven head gets herself ready for a new day then goes downstairs and prepares breakfast. To her surprise, Cecile is standing at the stove with a frying pan in her hand. This is weird, she usually wakes up very early in the morning to make breakfast but seeing her aunt in the kitchen makes her realize that she might have slept in a little bit too much.

“Good morning, my dear! Have you slept well?”

“Auntie, I’m sorry…” she looks at Cecile with an apologetic face.

“No worries, it’s only 8 in the morning.” her aunt smiles “Come now, get yourself a seat. I’m making pancakes today.”

Himawari smiles and sits at the table. Her aunt bought a set of kotatsu tables but they rarely use it, it’s more convenient to eat at the table and the other dining area is only used for special occasions, such as having a hotpot.

While eating breakfast with her aunt, Himawari asks her aunt about what happened last night when she was asleep, only to be embarrassed by Cecile as she teases how the raven head cried in front of the whole Couffaine family. Her memory of last night is a bit fuzzy, she knows that she had cried in her aunt’s embrace and nothing after that. It would be a disaster if she did something to embarrass herself in front of Luka without remembering it.

“You cried and you fell asleep. That’s all!”

“Really, Auntie? I didn’t do anything crazy, did I?”

“Nope, you were fine, my dear.”

Well, at least she didn’t do anything stupid. But then again, who put her to bed last night? She fell asleep on the sofa, right? Was it her aunt?

“My dear, you’re worrying too much!”

“Sorry, auntie… I just want to make sure that I didn’t do anything weird in front of your guests…”

“In front of my guests or in front of him?”

Himawari freezes as she stares at her aunt, what did she just say? ‘Him’? Who’s him?

Cecile gives her a smug smile, knowing too well that this morning is going to be amusing. She then starts to talk about many other things but still keeps her eyes on the young girl, who hasn’t gotten out of the shocking state.

“Himawari, I didn’t know that you had a small crush on one of our guests…”

“H-huh?”

“You two looked so cute together last night.” she smirks “If only I had grabbed my phone and snatched some pictures.”

“Au-auntie….what are you talking about?”

She blushes madly at Cecile’s words, her aunt even puts an emphasis on the word guest which causes Himawari to stop herself and tries to remember all the events that happened last night. By her aunt’s words, she must have done something because the young woman’s voice is full of teasing.

“Auntie, what did I do?”

“Nothing. I just found out you and the Couffaine siblings were very cute last night.”

Cute? What does she mean by ‘cute’?

“Anyway, do you have any plans today, my dear?”

“Ah?” Himawari pouts, her aunt is trying to change the subject “Nothing really, I have to finish the final sketch before posting the new chapter on my website.”

“Ah, the story that you’re currently drawing? How nice.” Cecile smiles “Are you going to the Couffaine’s house today? Mrs. Couffaine said that her children’s band is going to have a practice and would love to have you there.”

“I don’t know, I mean I still have to finish my drawings.”

Cecile frows at her niece, telling her that this is a great opportunity for her to get along with the Couffaine siblings, as well as make new friends and gather more inspiration for her next work. Himawari doesn’t think so...

Her aunt sure is being pushy about her going to the Kitty Section’s practice but she really can’t go, the deadline is getting nearer and she needs to send her final draft for her friends to check before uploading it on her blog page. But the older woman doesn’t seem to support the idea of her staying home all day.

“Where are you going, auntie?”

“Ah, I need to make a phone call.”

With that, Cecile leaves the dining table while Himawari begins to clean up the dirty dishes. What is this irritation inside her? She can sense that her aunt is going to play a huge prank on her or something…

Should she be worried?

“Hima-chan! I have a small meeting with my friends so I won’t be home till evening, are you fine with that?”

“S-sure, auntie. Should I prepare dinner for you?”

“It’s fine, dear. I will eat out with them.”

Himawari raises a brow at her aunt, something smells fishy about this. At least she has the whole house for herself till evening, which means she can do whatever she wants without her aunt's constant interruption about ‘you should get some fresh air’ and forces her to go out.

Glancing at the clock, Himawari smiles to herself. She has time to spare and is craving something sweet, something like a cookie. The raven head prepares the ingredients and all the tools she needs to bake some cookies while her aunt is getting ready for her meeting. While mixing the matcha cookie dough, she suddenly remembers the apple pie.

They didn’t eat the whole pie after she fell asleep, did they?

Checking the fridge, Himawari sweatdrops were no trace of the apple pie inside it, which means they either ate the whole thing or her aunt gave some of it to the Couffaine family while finishing everything herself. Cecile does have an extra stomach when it comes to sweet things like cake and dessert after all…

“Are you baking cookies, my dear?”

“I’m making matcha cookies.”

“Save some for me, please?”

Himawari smiles and nods her head, not really wanting to ask about the whereabouts of the pie. As the house entrance shuts, the raven head turns her focus on the cookie dough, and can’t stop herself from stealing a few bites of the raw dough. The guilty pleasure of eating from the pot, or in this case, the mixing bowl is thrilling, although it’s best to not eat raw cookie dough because it can cause stomachache.

She’s able to bake 50 cookies because she doubles the recipe, after all, no one says that matcha cookie is bad for health. She once said that to one of her brothers, who outright told her that either she stopped doubling the recipe or just accept the fact that she would get diabetes one day. Himawari pouts, remembering her brother’s words, it can’t be helped when she also has a soft spot when it comes to sweets.

Talking about food and dessert, the raven head still wonders if Luka enjoyed the food last night. He didn’t talk much and always kept a calm expression while eating, which really disappointed her. Himawari hopes that he keeps the same composure when Marinette offers her dessert, according to Alya, the bluenette receives a lot of compliments when it comes to her macarons.

“I want to know his opinion about my food…”

Pouting, Himawari takes off the apron and hangs it on the hanger before storing the cookies in a glass container. Glancing at the clock, it’s already 10:30 AM, almost noon. The Kitty Section is having their band practice around the afternoon, should she come over and check it out? She doesn’t want to be a distraction, after all, it’s not like she’s a good friend of the bandmates.

Sighing out loud, Himawari walks upstairs and sits at the computer desk. Well, she still has to do all the drawings so it’ll be a reasonable excuse to not come to the Couffaine houseboat. Maybe they don’t even care if she’s there or not…

Holding the pen in her hand, she begins to do the final touch-up for a 20-page chapter of her manga. Like all the other phases, touch-up is very important because it’s those little details that bring life to the manga, as well as the dialogue that suits the character’s personality. There’s a reason why she purchases many books about creating dialogues between characters, one boring sentence can send the whole chapter in a downward spiral if she’s not careful.

Drawing alone like this makes Himawari a bit sad, before she came to Paris, she had friends who helped her a lot in the race to finish each chapter of her story. They were willing to stay overnight to help her then sent it to the monthly event for young mangaka in the magazine that she followed. After getting into middle school, Himawari invested more in drawing materials and technologies, saving money to buy a tablet PC and many more to aid her drawing.

“I really need to listen to something loud, like Kaito’s loud singing voice…”

But before turning on the music, the doorbell rings.

She raises a brow, who is it?

The delivery guy? It can’t be, her aunt didn’t mention anything about delivery before she left.

The billing guy? No way, they just moved here.

Then who is it?

Walk to the front door, she frows as there’s no peephole for her to see who’s standing in front of the house’s entrance. No camera is installed outside for her to have a good view of the visitor. She can’t yell out because that’s bad manners…

Himawari sighs and opens the door, surprise to see the person standing at the front. Aqua eyes meet amethyst orbs.

“Good day to you, Himawari.”

“Luka? W-what are you doing here?”

“Your aunt called my mom, saying that you don’t know the way to my house so she asked me to come and pick you up.”

She stares at him, unable to process his words. The raven head knows it, her aunt is too playful to not pull a prank on her like this. The worst part is that Luka is standing in front of her house, waiting for her to come to the band practice.

Auntie, how can you do this to me?

“You’re ready?”

“Ah, uhm, you know, uhm…” she shutters, doesn’t know how to respond “I’m currently behind the deadline for my stuff so I, uh, I don’t think I can go.”

“Ah, your aunt told me that you can bring your stuff over and finish them at my place.” he looks at her “Unless you don’t want to go…”

“No, no. I-I want to go, it just…”

Her aunt has finally cornered her, not only putting her in the position of being unable to say no but also bringing the person who can persuade her to go to the band practice. Luka lets out a soft laugh as Himawari sighs in defeat and begins to gather her stuff and change her clothes to go to the Couffaine household.

Put everything in a bag, she goes to the kitchen to get the freshly baked cookies then leaves the house, not forgetting to lock the door carefully. The older boy glances at her bag, it looks quite heavy for a petite girl like her. Himawari notices his stares and turns to him with a smile on her face.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, it’s nothing…”

She raises a brow, and her hands on the bag begin to loosen up a bit. Luke takes this as a chance and slightly grabs onto her bag and slides it off her arm, holding it for her instead. Himawari blushes, telling him that it’s fine and she can carry it herself but the older boy says nothing. She sighs in defeat and continues to follow his lead to the Couffaine’s houseboat that resides on the Seine River.

Right now she’s walking alongside Luka, there’s no one around to interfere with their conversation, and Himawari realizes that this is a great opportunity for her to ask about whatever had happened last night.

Should I?

The thought of hearing her crazy story from Luka is not a good feeling, that is, if she really did something stupid. He won’t mind telling her everything that happened, right?

“Say Luka…”

“Hm?”

“Uhm, I…last night…uhm…” this is harder than she has imagined “You see, uhm, I kinda don’t remember what happened last night. I was wondering if I had done something crazy…”

“Last night?”

He stops in his tracks and turns to her, eyes looking at her with an intense gaze. Himawari freezes a bit, wondering if she had embarrassed herself in front of the Couffaine family last night. Frowning as she touches her chin with her fingers, she tries to remember the scenario but nothing comes to her mind.

A hand pats her shoulder as she looks up to face his charming smile, the older boy doesn’t say anything and motions her to keep following his lead. Himawari pouts, annoyed as everyone is trying to keep her from thinking about it, causing her to believe that she did something very bad that no one wants to mention.

“Don’t think about it too much…”

“Huh?”

“Today is a new day, so you should enjoy this rather than think about what happened last night.” he turns his attention to her “Come now, we’re almost there.”

“I really did something silly, right?”

“Maybe, maybe not.”

His reply causes her to blush as amethyst eyes open widely, witnessing the smug smile he has on his face. Her heart is beating very, very fast.

Oh no…How can he be this handsome? Be still, my heart!

Chapter Text

Everyone on the Liberty boat cheers as soon as they see Luka and Himawari, he puts her bag down on a table while the raven head is being greeted by Marinette and the others.

“Hey Himawari, having some alone time with Luka, I see?”

“Uhm…no, not really…” she stammers “Anyway, cookies?”

Her cookies are well-received by everyone, mostly because it’s less sweet than the usual ones that Marinette’s bakery sells. Himawari loves the taste of dark, bittersweet chocolate and surprisingly hates milk chocolate, it is way too sweet for her taste buds.  She steals a glance at Luka, who is enjoying her matcha cookies with his sister and smiles to herself. At least he likes her cookies…

Putting all of that aside, she walks to the table and takes out her drawing tablet, she is running out of time after last night's dinner fiasco. Adding small details, scanning through the dialogues, finding small mistakes, fixing them, etc. She puts all her effort and concentration into the 20-page manga that is soon to be released on the public site.

She is so focused on her work that she doesn’t even realize the smooth guitar tune near her. Luka has sat on the lounge chair close to her this whole time, playing a tune he thinks suits her current situation. Because Adrien and Nino haven’t arrived, the Kitty Section still has some spare time before the band practice.

While Marinette is talking to Rose and Mylene, Alya steals a glance at the pair sitting on the deck of the boat and smiles to herself. At least this time, her best friend is not that oblivious to distract the older male and her new friend from their bonding experience. Juleka quietly walks to the brunette, tapping on her shoulder, and smiles as Alya points towards Luka and Himawari. The younger Couffaine really wants her brother to be happy and she thinks that her new classmate has done a fine job of keeping him company.

Himawari sighs as she takes off her glasses, giving the amethyst orbs some time to rest. Her eyesight is getting poorer as time goes by and she is not ready to permanently damage her vision. Looking up, the raven head is surprised to see Luka who is still lounging on the chair with his guitar, eyes closing while playing the instrument. She is amazed at his talent to play the guitar so calmly like that, even with his eyes closed, Luka has not missed a single note.

Blushing at the sight, she quietly pulls out her sketchbook and draws a few lines with a pencil. Her vision soon comes to life as Himawari slowly and carefully sketches the figure of the young boy sitting near her, smiling at her achievement. A finger taps on her shoulder making her startled as she turns around to see Alya and Juleka smiling mischievously at her.

“Such a nice drawing, right Juleka?”

“Yeah…”

She blushes, hiding her face behind the sketchbook as amethyst orbs shine when looking at him. The brunette giggles, finding her new friend is awfully adorable.

“You really like him, huh?”

“Ah…” biting her lips, Himawari shyly nods as she feels her face begin to heat up.

“Good luck to you then, Himawari. We’re rooting for you!”

Juleka smiles at Alya’s comment and slightly rubs the raven head, acknowledging her feelings for the older Couffaine as well as showing her support for the girl to pursue him. Himawari beams at them, face blushing in various shades of pink as she holds her sketchbook tightly to her chest.

“Wow Luka, such a nice tune.”

Marinette’s voice brings the young boy back to reality as he looks at the bluenette with a smile on his lips. The baker girl sits down next to him, close enough that their shoulders almost touch. Alya frowns at the scene, not happy with her friend for ruining such a sweet moment and Juleka just pats gently on the raven head’s shoulder, silently telling her to ignore it.

Himawari sighs and turns to the other side, not wanting to anything that happens between Luka and Marinette getting all cozy with each other. She needs to return to her own work and finish it so her friends can review it as soon as possible. Putting on the glasses and turning on her tablet, Himawari tries to shift her focus on the drawing screen but the idea of the other two sitting and smiling at each other has become a big distraction.

“I know this manga…” Juleka speaks up in a soft tone causing Himawari to look up “I’ve been reading it this whole time.”

“You have?”

“Yeah, it’s amazing. I love the storyline and the characters a lot.”

Himawari’s pout turns into a bright smile as this is the first time a French girl compliments her work. Juleka immediately sits down next to her and becomes very excited to know that the raven head is the author of the manga she’s reading. Alya looks a bit confused and when her shy friend tells her to search up Himawari’s pen name, Sunflower Field, to read her works, the brunette is slowly getting drawn into the manga that she is currently on her site.

“Oh, this is amazing, Himawari!”

“Thank you, I never thought that you read my work, Juleka.” the raven head smiles “It makes me happy to see that you enjoy my manga.”

“I usually read the superhero genre but now, this soft romantic theme will be added to my top-tier genre.” Alya proposes “This is amazing!”

It’s a lie if Himawari said that she’s not flattered at all the praises and compliments. Juleka can openly compliment her works like that like a string orchestra playing right next to her ear, the feeling of accomplishment is amazing, nonetheless.

“Hey, you girls are having fun without me?” Marinette shifts her attention to the group “What are you guys talking about?”

“Look at this, girl. This is a masterpiece!”

“Woah, are you okay, Alya?”

The bluenette is very surprised to see her best friend shed a tear at something she read online. Curiously, she snatches her friend’s phone and scans through the screen, only to slowly read the content of the manga that Alya is currently reading.

Himawari sweatdrops and tries to focus back on her incompleted work. The girls move away to show their friends the hidden gem that they have found online which makes the raven head giggles in amusement. She turns her attention to Luka, who is peacefully changing the tuners, and smiles. At least she has some alone time for herself again.

The guitarist checks his string and then notices a pair of amethyst eyes on him, he turns in her direction and smiles, making Himawari startles in response and shyly waves back at him. She shifts her focus on the tablet again, the digital pen in her hand keeps moving on the screen.

Reflected against her glasses, Luka can see a bit of her drawing on the lens before stands up and steps closer to her. This is the first time he sees her in glasses, it seems like she only needs them whenever she draws on the tablet. The cool breeze runs through the boat, causing her sketchbook to open and his eyes immediately land on the drawing in front of him. Luka covers his mouth, unable to hold back his pleasing smile as he looks at the sketch of himself on the paper. However, the sketch is not the only thing that catches his attention. Himawari has worn her hair in a low ponytail today with her signature blue ribbon, when the wind blows, the soft black locks flow with the cool breeze, creating such a beautiful sight.

Hearing noises at the back, Luka turns around to see Adrien and Nino have finally arrived and how Marinette is flushing and flabbergasting at the sight of her crush. Chuckling to himself, the guitarist taps gently onto her shoulder and she turns to him immediately. Himawari blushes at him, wondering why he’s calling her.

“They’re here now, you want to go out there and listen to our practice session?”

“They?” she seems surprised at first before realizing who he’s talking about “Ah, Adrien and Nino…”

Luka holds out his hand and the raven head blushes again, taking the hint to grab onto his hand and stand up.

“Thank you.”

Rose stands right next to Juleka and giggles as she witnesses the whole scene, claiming that it’s so romantic that Luka has offered Himawari a hand. The pair comes closer to the group as they announce the practice session will begin soon.

Marinette is currently in her La la land as Adrien just compliments her designs on the Kitty Section's new poster which causes the girls to giggle at the bluenette’s reaction. She’s stammering on how amazing it is to have the blonde model join the band as a guest member, however, her sentence is missing, and mixing a few words here and there causes Adrien to laugh in response.

His laugh, well… It doesn’t stand well as the bluenette frowns in embarrassment. Nino stands beside the blonde and nudges him a bit, knowing that his action doesn’t mean any harm but Marinette sees it as a negative reaction. Luka steps up for her immediately, keeping her company as the bluenette smiles at whatever they’re talking about.

Himawari’s gaze follows him, sighing to herself when Juleka walks to her with Rose, offering an appeased smile. Alya facepalms, pulling her boyfriend's arms, and whispers something in his ears. Nino turns to her, eyes open wide in surprise, they have to be the cupid of not one, not two, but four people. Seriously?

Himawari walks next to Juleka, her eyes fixed on the blonde model as once again, she sees it. The hint of annoyance is masked perfectly by the happy-go-lucky smile, Adrien Agreste is indeed the best model for masking his true feelings so easily like that. She wonders if anyone knows about this, if Nino, Alya, or even Marinette knows about this side of him. She can see right through him, the irritated eyes that land on the pair as he looks at the bluenette and laughs at Luka’s joke.

She turns to Alya, who is having a small personal conversation with Nino and sighs. She will have this small talk with the brunette later, right now, she has a practice session to enjoy. Himawari sits down with Marinette and Alya on both of her sides, holding the sketchbook and the pencil tightly in her hands. The raven head looks up to see Luka as he is checking his guitar one last time and then asking Adrien if he needs anything. Both boys seem to have a normal conversation so maybe the problem only comes when Marinette is involved. Himawari raises her brow, not wanting to distract herself from listening to the live performance, and decides to ignore the reason and focuses on the scene in front of her.

Luka smiles and pulls down the big fabric to reveal a giant speaker, smirking at the thing as if it were one of his most precious possessions. Mylene hands out earplugs for everyone, telling them that they should wear them to prevent any further damage. Himawari giggles at the comment before wearing the earplugs, she then looks at the band again, her eyes fixed on the older boy.

“Himawari, it’s a bad manner to stare at someone like that.” Alya whispers in her ears teasingly and smirks as she blushes immediately.

“You’re just too cute, Himawari.”  Marinette smiles “And Luka seems to be very happy when he’s with you.”

Alya and Himawari both sweatdrop at her comment, it seems like the bluenette is either too naïve to realize that she has messed up a lot or she is just outright oblivious to everything. The brunette sighs heavily as the raven head slightly pats her friend’s shoulder, not knowing how to respond to her comment. Marinette stares at them, questioning their behavior, did she do something wrong?

“I…I have nothing to say…” the brunette shakes her head, pinching the bridge of her nose as she exhales.

“Hey, what does that even mean, Alya?”

“Now now…”

Himawari smiles softly as she tries to separate Marinette from jumping on her best friend to ask her about what she just said. Alya shrugs her shoulders in response, too tired to counter-argue the bluenette’s statement.

“Hello everyone! We’re the Kitty Section and today, we will rock your world with our hit song, I love Unicorn!”

Luka strums a note on his guitar, which is connected to the speaker, and the sound that’s coming out of it is loud enough to break all the glasses on the houseboat. Everyone, except for Himawari, is frozen in their seats. The sound that blasted through the speaker is way too loud which causes Nino to fall from his own seat but the band doesn’t seem to mind as Rose starts singing the band’s signature song.

Himawari looks at everyone on stage with an awe expression, especially Luka as he plays the guitar skillfully to the point that makes her think that he’s the one who leads the whole band throughout the song. They make eye contact and he smiles, but Himawari isn’t sure whether it’s her or Marinette that he’s smiling at, thus lowering her head instead of looking at him. The bluenette, smiling and waving at her friends, giggles in excitement when Adrien winks at her. Alya sits on the side, smirking at the raven head as she guides her face to look at Luka.

“You can do it!”

She looks at the brunette who is jamming at the song then turns her gaze to the older boy, amethyst eyes once again meet the aqua orbs and he smiles again, this time, turning his attention fully on her. The raven head returns the smile with a beaming expression, listening to Alya’s advice to be confident and it works, because instead of looking elsewhere, Luka’s gaze is fixed on her. The brunette nudges her side, smirking mischievously at the sight while Marinette’s arm wraps around her shoulder as she screams out in excitement.

The pencil in her hand begins to move, one line then two lines then the drawing finally comes in as a whole. Alya glances down at the sketchbook, smiles at the drawing of Luka then looks at her friend, whose eyes spark in delight. Another drawing is done and this time, it’s the Kitty Section as a whole band, jamming to their signature song.

Luka strums the guitar on stage, and a hint of amusement shines in the aqua orbs as he sees Himawari’s pencil moving around the paper. The girl seems to be very happy, her face lit up with all the positive vibe as Marinette and Alya wrap their arms around her and sing to the song. This causes her to drop her pen and sketchbook as the petite girl struggles to get out of her friend’s hold to get her drawing materials. The pencil rolls to the stage and Luka immediately walks down and grabs it for her.

With the jamming music in the background, Himawari blushes as he hands her the pencil, moving closer to whisper something in her ears, and walks back to the stage. The raven head bites her lips, her whole body shivers in excitement as she nods her head and returns to her seat.

“Himawari! What did he say to you?”

“Uhm..nothing…he just told me to be more careful…”

She smiles at her friend, bringing her hand to her cheek as the warmth of his breath is still lingering on her skin.

‘Show me your drawings after this.’

She places her hand on her left chest, feeling her heart pounding and her whole body burns up in embarrassment.

He’s going to be the death of me one day…

Chapter Text

As time goes by, Himawari realizes that she has been a part of Ms. Bustier for more than 1 month. Her student life goes quite well, except for Chloe who keeps bothering her even at the smallest thing. Marinette and Alya have helped her get away from the blonde’s troublesome attitudes, with Adrien and Nino standing by to aid her every time things get a bit too far.

Today is another example of how Chloe Bourgeois is being mean to her. Because the PE teacher has to leave early so he combines both her class and Luka’s class to study PE, today’s lesson is about cartwheeling and vaulting horse jump, which is a new lesson plan that he adapted from his business trip to Japan.

“Ugh, utterly ridiculous. You expect me to do all of those stupid jumps and dirty my expensive shoes?”

“It’s okay, Chloe! I’ll do it for you!” Sabrina smiles.

They’re gathering in the indoor PE room with students wearing different styles of sports attire and Himawari immediately spots the familiar teal locks from afar. He’s talking to his classmates and doesn’t realize that she’s staring at him. Juleka taps her shoulder, a smile appears on her face as she looks in the same direction as the raven head.

Although it’s a PE class, Luka still carries his guitar on the back. The younger Couffaine explains that the guitar is like a part of his soul, his most precious possession, the instrument that has been with him since his diapers.

“Really?”

Underneath that calm and composure is a huge passion for music, the older Couffaine usually expresses his thoughts through the tune he plays on his guitar which is one main reason why he charms many girls in the school. Himawari, when hearing this, she finds that there’s a similarity between them. She knows that she’s not the most talkative girl, which is why the raven head usually expresses herself through the form of art, drawings, and sketches that often imply many hidden messages. Not many people can understand her ideas, which is why she rather not talk about them than have to sit in a chair for hours, just to explain her own perspective of the story.

Maybe, if she can gather enough courage, she can walk up and say hello to him. Yeah, she will do that. It may leave him another good impression of her, that would be nice…

But before she can even start walking, Marinette has come to his side, sitting down right next to him with a sad expression on her face. Immediately, she turns to Adrien, who is having quite a pleasant conversation with another Asian girl. 

“This love triangle is way more troublesome than I have thought…” Alya walks to her “That Kagami, Adrien’s fencing partner.”

“Alya?” she looks at the brunette “Love triangle?”

“Hm, no. Not triangle, more like a love pentagon.”

With that, Himawari playfully hits the glassed girl on her shoulder, not pleased with her answer. She kinda understands what Alya is saying, with Marinette and Adrien and Luka and Kagami, their weird relationship is already messy, now with her joining the crew, it’s either gonna be messier or worse for all of them.

“I think that Adrien has something for Marinette…”

“Huh? Adrien?” Alya raises a brow “What do you mean? Do you know anything?”

“Well, not really. I…observe him…a bit…” she slowly forms her word “I notice how annoyed he is whenever Luka and Marinette are together.”

“What? No way! He’s way too oblivious about her feelings.”

“I mean…maybe? But I think he has something for her.” Himawari looks at him “Alya, look!”

Slightly tilt her friend’s head in the blonde direction and the glassed girl almost squeals out in excitement. They see it, that facial expression when he spots the bluenette sitting next to Luka, Kagami has left the scene and Adrien doesn’t seem to care about masking his irritation anymore.

“Do you think he hates Luka?”

“I don’t think so. I think that he only becomes tense around Luka when Marinette is involved in the matter.”

“Nice observation, Himawari. Even I miss some of those key elements.”

She smiles in return and acknowledges her friend’s compliment. However, now they know that the blonde model has a soft spot for their bluenette friend, what can they do to help the main characters realize their feelings?

Alya complains that Marinette doesn’t know how to express her feelings properly, and often makes a fool of herself in front of him. She also has this weird stalking habit to the point her friend is creeped out by how well she knows all of Adrien’s schedule. Alya believes that her friend can capture his attention by just being herself but Marinette thinks otherwise, she is afraid that she will get all wacky whenever she faces him, either in a group of friends or alone.

“Marinette is a talented girl, I don’t understand why she thinks that she needs to do more to attract him…”

“Well, it’s hard to tell.”

They both sigh, shaking their heads in unison.

Marinette smiles to herself as she listens to Luka’s guitar, feeling a wave of relief after seeing how close Adrien and Kagami getting cozy with each other. She always has this thought that her crush and Kagami are an item but she doesn’t want to take the risk of asking him, too afraid to hear the truth. Sitting next to Luka, the bluenette rests her head on his shoulder as if he is her only source of comfort.

Staying by his side, Marinette really appreciates his kind and sweet personality and how he‘s always there to comfort her every time she gets into trouble. Her friends have teased her that Luka might be the perfect guy rather than Adrien but to her, he’s just a friend…a friend…

Alya said that she was too oblivious to understand the situation and that hurts her feelings, if anyone is oblivious, it would be Adrien. How can he not realize her feelings? Or maybe he just ignores it?

“Are you feeling better, Marinette?”

“Yeah, thank you so much, Luka.”

She smiles and gives him a kiss on the cheek, blushing as he rubs her head in return before they both go back to their class. Himawari witnesses the scene and sighs to herself, she has been sighing nonstop and it really annoys her. Just seeing how close her friend and the guitarist are makes her stomach turn. Not only that, she can see a glimpse of happiness in the aqua orbs after spending some time with Marinette, something that she is convinced she can never do.

“Okay, class! Gather up!”

Their PE teacher, Mr. Ross, calls out as the students begin to gather around him.

“Today, we’ll practice cartwheeling and vaulting horse jump. These activities will help with your flexibility and reflex so better pay attention to today’s lecture. Before we do any actual jumping and flipping, we’ll start with a warm-up routine and stretching. Pair up!”

Pair up?

The students look at each other, puzzled. Why do they have to pair up? The sound of Mr. Ross’s whistle catches everyone’s attention as they begin to find their partner, either from the same class or a different class. Marinette gets a hold of Alya while everyone in Himawari’s class has finally found a partner except her. She looks around at Luka’s class, disappointed to see that they’ve all paired up already.

“And you? Where’s your partner?”

“I, uhm…”

“I’m sorry sir, but we have one student absent today so…” the bluenette replies “Is it possible for 1 group to have 3 people?”

“It can’t be helped…”

Himawari smiles and walks to her friends before someone gets a hold of her hand, she turns around to see Luka, who has not paired up with anyone yet. He turns to the teacher and looks for permission as Mr. Ross nods his head in approval for them to pair up. Alya whistles teasingly and Marinette claps her hands in excitement, others give them a knowing look while some female students send her cold glares that make Himawari sweatdrops.

“Okay, follow the instructions on the board and help your partner with the stretching. When you finish, jog around the room for 3 rounds, that will be your warm-up session.”

Some students complain about jogging but Mr. Ross is known to be a strict and serious teacher so their whinings don’t seem to bother him that much. Himawari looks at the board, surprised to see how similar the stretching session is to the Japanese one she had at her previous school, at least she’s familiar with all the steps.

“Shall we start?”

“Ah, sure. Do you want to do it first?”

Luka nods his head and follows the steps for the stretching session. They do a few stand-alone moves first before pairing up to help their partners with moves like crunches, sit-ups, sitting stretches, etc. The raven head gently pushes down the boy’s back as he performs the stretching, afraid that he will be hurt if she uses too much strength. Luka tells her to put more strength into her hand because he doesn’t feel anything while stretching his whole upper body on the floor.

Then they switch, this time with Luka holding tightly on her feet as she does the crunches. Himawari slowly and carefully crunches her abs, feeling the pressure and the pain in her stomach, it’s been quite a while since she had this kind of warm-up. With the stretching, it’s a different story. The guitarist is amazed to see how flexible Himawari is as she’s able to lay her upper body flat on the floor without any complaints whatsoever. He did ask her if it’s too much but she just shakes her head in return. Her everyday yoga routine has not failed her this time.

“You’re very flexible, Himawari.”

“Thank you, I was able to do all the stretching because of my daily yoga routine.”

“Nice, you’re doing yoga?”

She smiles and nods her head, realizing that they’re having such a casual conversation without her stammering or blushing, it’s an improvement if you ask her. About 15 minutes later, all the students have finally finished their 3-round jogging, except for Chloe as she’s threatened to call her father if Mr. Ross forces her. The PE teacher doesn’t seem to care, he even states that anyone who ignores today’s lecture will have to run 10 laps around the school as a punishment. The blonde girl begins to throw a fit, saying that he will regret this but her PE teacher ignores all of her screeching and yelling.

“Students, we’ll start our main event. This is the vaulting horse, your job is to jump over it and land on your feet, no falling or laying on this mattress. I’ll demonstrate 3 times then each class will form 2 teams to practice. I’ll check your progression as each student will perform cartwheeling and vaulting horse jump at the end of this class.”

There are many protests among the students, saying that this is an act of abuse but his cold glare shuts down all the complaints immediately. If anyone knows anything, they should not mess with the PE teacher. His reputation for being the spartan teacher is popular among the students and even their homeroom teacher can’t say anything against him.

“They have strict teachers here?”

“Well, the principal invites him to be the teacher to tame some of the delinquent students at school. Although Chloe’s dad is the mayor, he can’t help her get out of this.” Alya giggles “I guess that’s the perk of being a strict teacher.”

Her class forms into a boy-girl group, with all the boys on the left and all the girls on the right. Himawari looks around and notices that Lila, the girl who constantly glares at her during class, is indeed absent. Marinette has commented on how lucky she was for Lila to be absent, no one in the class wants to associate with her and she’s too snobby to even consider them as her classmates.

“I can’t believe I say this but Lila’s personality is 10 times worse than Chloe's.”

“Yeah, do you remember the time she got the whole class against me? My god, that’s the worst thing I’ve ever encountered.” Marinette pouts “At least you and Adrien believe in me.”

“She’s that…bad…?” Himawari stares at them “She’s been glaring at me since my first day at school.”

“Yikes! Better avoid her at all costs, girl.”

They practice the vaulting horse jump, but some of the girls like Mylene and Rose aren’t able to perform the jump because the jumping box is too high. Alix with her sporty enthusiastic attitude performs the jump quite easily, the girl even tries to challenge Kim, another athletic student in the class to see how can perform the perfect cartwheeling technique and vaulting horse jump. Himawari laughs at the two sportsmen before returning her attention to the jumping box in front of her. Next to Marinette is her turn so she has to mentally prepare herself for the performance.

“You’re ready?” Alya looks at her “Set…! GO!”

The raven head sprints toward the box, with good reflexes and years of experience, Himawari performs her vaulting jump successfully.

Welp…At least I remember how to do it…

“Look at her, how can she do the jump in such an ungraceful manner?” Chloe speaks up “Didn’t your parents teach you about mannerisms before they send you here?”

“Chloe, stop it!” Adrien, upon hearing this, walks to his ‘childhood friend’ and defends the petite girl.

“It’s okay, let her say whatever she wants to say.”

“But Himawari, she shouldn’t say that to you, nor anyone else in the entire school.”

Marinette pouts and looks at Chloe in displeased, the blonde girl ignores everyone in her class and focuses on her nails instead. Himawari just shakes her head, telling them to ignore the spoiled blonde. She’s used to the bratty attitude and is way too mature to even let Chloe’s words affect her.

“How can you be so calm like that?”

“Cause I don’t take her seriously.” she smiles at her friends “Besides, she’s going to face Mr. Ross’s punishment if she can’t perform the vaulting horse jump.”

“But…”

“Marinette, Himawari is right. We shouldn’t stand on her level.”  Adrien puts a hand on the bluenette’s shoulder “By the way, your jump was amazing.”

“Not as amazing as Marinette, right?”

The blonde boy chuckles and nods his head, his actions shock the young designer as she blushes and gasps out incomprehensive words. Patting her shoulder one last time, Adrien winks and returns to the boy's line, leaving Marinette to smile like an idiot in love, completely forgetting everything that had happened between him and Kagami.

“Adrien just touched my shirt, I’ll never wash it ever again!”

“Uhm, you know you’re wearing it in PE class, right?”

Marinette pouts and playfully hits her shoulder, feeling grateful because Himawari has mentioned how amazing her jump was in front of Adrien. Her blue eyes keep following him, longing and yearning for the affection that he has given to Kagami.

“You know, you should be yourself. There’s no reason for you to try to impress him just for his attention.”

“I’m…I don’t know, Himawari. I just…He will never look at me the same way.” Marinette sighs “And Kagami, she’s just too perfect…”

“Even the most perfect person has flaws, Marinette. We’re humans, we make mistakes, we have flaws and we have issues.” Himawari smiles and gently pats her friend’s shoulder “Embrace your true self, only then you will see how beautiful you are in everyone’s eyes.”

Her? Beautiful? Himawari is messing with her. How can a baker girl like her be beautiful like Kagami? Nothing about her is perfect, nothing…

“If Kagami is that perfect, why would Adrien even bother to be friends with you?”

“Because he’s just a nice person.”

“Well, he’s nice but at the same time, he sees you as…you... Not the class representative, not the baker girl at the famous bakery, he sees you as Marinette Dupain-Cheng, the most talented person who has many flaws yet stays true to her own self.”

Marinette stares at her friend, face burning red at the compliment. Looking at Himawari, she is kind, sweet, gentle yet very mature despite her young age. Her words of wisdom have lightened the bluenette’s heart as she smiles and hugs the raven head tightly.

“Thank you so much, Himawari.”

Their practice time is over as Mr. Ross blows the whistle to gather up his students. As he had said previously, each and every student has to perform cartwheeling and vaulting horse jumps. As their name is called to perform, Himawari turns to her side to see Chloe and Sabrina, whose faces are as pale as a ghost. They didn’t practice and instead, focused on other stuff that wasn’t related to PE. When Mr. Ross calls Sabrina’s name, the poor orange head’s performance is poorly received as she landed on her butt with a loud ‘thud’, which causes many other students to snicker and make fun of her.

“Ugh, just how pathetic can you be, Sabrina?”

“I’m so sorry Chloe!” she cries when the blonde doesn’t even care about giving her any words of encouragement.

Himawari feels bad for her, Marinette was right when she said that Chloe shouldn’t treat anyone that poorly. Ignoring the irritating feeling, she watches Juleka’s performance and smiles as the girl is able to land on her feet, still a little bit wobbly. The next performance is Luka’s as many girls cheer when his name is called. Alya glances at her, smiling mischievously, implying that ‘this is how popular your guy’ and she just shrugs her shoulder in response.

Amethyst eyes examine his act, which scores a perfect 10 on Mr. Ross’s list as he lands perfectly on his feet, both in cartwheeling and vaulting horse jump. His classmates clap their hands and she can hear the girls cheer on the phrase ‘so cool’ and ‘so amazing’ when the teacher pats his shoulder as a compliment. Spotting the familiar raven head, he sends her a charming smile before returning to his seats which causes many girls to squeal in excitement.

“Nice, he’s looking at you, Himawari!”

“Oh, that’s just so romantic.” Rose’s eyes turn into heart shapes as she exclaims.

“Awesome!” Juleka nods her head.

Himawari sweatdrops at her friends’ responses but also smiles to herself. At least he doesn’t ignore her or anything similar to that, it’d be very weird when she tries to be closer while Luka just wants to avoid her.

“Next, Himawari Ono!”

“You’re next, girl!”

“Good luck!”

She nods her head and runs up to the starting point. Looking at the teacher for a signal, she begins her performance when after hearing the whistle sounds. Luka sits on the side, aqua eyes widening as he witnesses her performance in both activities. She’s able to flip her whole body all the way to the end of the mattress due to her flexibility and good reflexes. Different from the others, she doesn’t stop after 1 cartwheel and instead, does it multiple times and then lands on her feet at the end of the mattress. Then comes the vaulting horse jump which she has mastered the techniques and successfully jumps over the boxes.

The students applaud her performance because not many of them are able to do it. None of them thinks about the fact that she’d lived in Japan for more than 10 years and had adopted all the required techniques to pass the vaulting horse jump.

She blushes at all the compliments and then notices Luka’s smile while watching her actions, the petite girl shyly covers her face with soft black locks to hide the bright blush that appears on her cheek. Himawari walks back to her seat and timidly smiles as her friends tease her nonstop.

“Next, Chloe Bourgeois!”

“I’m not doing it!” she replies “And if you force me, I’ll simply call my dad!”

“Well, since you don’t want to do it, 10 laps around the school for you then.”

Chloe glares at him, stomping her feet on the floor with a spoiled attitude. This teacher dares to talk back to her like that? Utterly ridiculous!

“I’ll call my dad and you’ll be fired within seconds!”

“Go ahead, tell him that I said hello.”

Everyone snickers and giggles at his response, looking over to Chloe who grits her teeth in disbelief. She snaps back at those who laugh at her and walks towards Himawari to start a scene. She screams at the raven head, telling her that she’s stupid and nothing about her performance is good enough to watch. The poor girl just stares at Chloe, unable to say anything because the spoiled blonde has stolen away every chance for her to fight back.

“Are you done?”

“What?”

“Are you done?” she asks again “If you’re done, your punishment is waiting.”

“You! I dare you to say that again!”

“I said: YOUR PUNISHMENT IS WAITING!”

Chloe flabbergasts at Himawari’s loud and clear voice, gritting her teeth and stomping her foot on the floor as the raven head sighs heavily and turns her attention to somewhere else.

“That’s it for today, class. You guys may take your leave, except for Ms. Chloe Bourgeois.”

“This is ridiculous, utterly ridiculous! I’m telling my dad about this, you’ll be sorry for messing with me!”

Chapter Text

Himawari sighs, believing that she has stepped into the burnout stage. Recently, she has not come up with any ideas for the storyline, and the previous story was finished a week ago. Her usual source for inspiration is no longer here and without it comes the burnout stage.

“This is bad…”

She tries to read many books to gather some information for the new storyline but nothing can help her, everything is too boring and uninspired... The petite girl tries following Marinette’s advice to come to some tourist site for inspiration but even that can’t help her.

“What should I draw…?”

With the pencil on the top of her lips, the girl pouts in irritation and defeat. This is very bad, she needs to come up with something for her audiences and fans to read, but what can it be?

What will be the theme?

How will the storyline work out?

Where will the story take place?

Who is the main character and what is their story?

With hundreds of questions in her mind, Himawari lowers the utensil and sighs heavily. Gathering her sketchbook and utensils in a bag, she changes her clothes, does her hair, and leaves the house. Today’s weather is sunny and warm, maybe having a walk around the city can help her clear her mind and find some muse for her next story. She can also visit Marinette’s bakery to get something sweet to fill up her energy bar.

“Himawari, hey!” the bluenette smiles “What can I get for you today?”

“I’ll have a fruit tart, please.” she looks at her friend “Can you put more sugar on the top for me?”

“Sure, you’re in the burnout phase?”

“Yeah…”

The bakery girl smiles in empathy, knowing too well how the burnout state can affect her friend. It physically, mentally, and emotionally drains all the creative energy of an artist, leaving them all tired and stressed because they can’t come up with any new creation.

“Hey girl! You’re here, too?”

“Hi Alya, how’s it going?” she smiles “You’re here to grab some sweets too?”

“Not really, I actually have something for Marinette. Got news from Nino that Adrien needs a partner for his next photo shoot, someone who’s experienced in the patisserie area…”

The bluenette’s eyes open wide upon hearing the news, that her beloved Adrien is asking for a partner in a photoshoot. She must be dreaming…

Alya and Himawari sigh at the sight of their friend’s dreamy face, eyes glittering in excitement. The brunette tells her to get ready because she has contacted the blonde model that Marinette will be available for the photoshoot, which causes her to have some wild reactions and be flabbergasted about how she can not be alone with him.

“Marinette Dupain-Cheng! This is your only chance to get closer to him, don’t you dare mess this one up!”

“That’s true, it’ll be a great opportunity. Besides, Kagami is not there so you two can have that sweet moment together!” Himawari smiles in encouragement “Come on, Marinette! You can do it! Just be natural, be yourself!”

The raven head giggles as Alya pulls her friend out of the store and heads toward the Agreste’s manor, too bad she can’t join the crew. Taking her leave, Himawari wanders around the street, amethyst eyes looking at all the sights in the hopes of finding some inspiration. Maybe she can draw a one-shot about Marinette’s crush on the golden boy, that would be fun.

Paris in her eyes is a beautiful city, all the momentums and landmarks draw the attention of not only the tourists but also the citizens of the city to express their individuality through arts and music. She is not surprised, considering more than half of her classmates are either the artsy type or the musical type. The city of love, where everyone can express their creativity in many ways, has attracted her to do the same thing with her stories. The only drawback is…

“How can I write a Japanese-inspired story when I’m in Paris?” mumbling to herself, Himawari sighs in defeat.

The girl stops at the bridge at goes across the Saint-Martin canal, looking at something from far away. The sight in front of her is beautiful yet so casual, so familiar that she doesn’t even bother to admire it. What Himawari needs are those hidden gems across the city, the sights, and scenes that are rarely seen by people, something that only the locals know about.

Marinette has tried to encourage her to look at things beyond her own eyes, that all of these landmarks are great sources of inspiration but she can hardly digest that idea. She has been sitting and looking at those momentums for hours and hours yet nothing comes to her mind, not to mention the ‘Japanese-inspired’ story that is poles apart from what she’s seeing in Paris. Maybe she should be open to more themes and ideas.

“Himawari?”

Stopping his bike and taking off his helmet, Luka looks at the girl standing on the bridge with a bored expression on her face. He also notices the sketchbook that she’s holding tightly against her chest and smiles to himself, guessing that she’s finding some inspiration for her next story.

Juleka has shown some of the raven head’s works to him and the guitarist is impressed at all the hard work she puts into her creation. Most of her works are about love and friendship, the way they tell the story is sweet, soft, lighthearted, and as gentle as a dove, which is also a great description of Himawari’s personality. There are hidden messages throughout her works, those that require a lot of thinking to discover yet Luka can see through all of them. He is a musician after all and as complicated as those metaphors are, he can easily understand the true meaning behind all the drawings and words that she uses in her works.

Walking up to her, Luka tries his best to maintain a calm expression as he can see her signature pouts as clear as daylight. It seems like she’s in some sort of trouble because the petite girl is so deep in thought that she doesn’t even realize he has pulled out his guitar and plays a tune right beside her.

His observation is correct because the girl doesn’t even flinch or have any other reaction when hearing the tune, but he sees that the pencil in her hand begins to move on the blank surface. She’s doodling something or someone as the drawing becomes clearer and clearer until he can see the character that she just came up with.

“That looks cute!”

“Huh?” she turns around and startles, stammering unintelligently as she sees the familiar teal locks “L-Luka? What are you doing here?”

“Good day to you, Himawari. I was just planning to visit Marinette, I just came up with a tune that I want her to listen to.”

“Marinette?”

There’s a glimpse of disappointment in the amethyst orbs as her heart clenches upon hearing his answer. It would be a lie if she said that she is not jealous of her friend, the boy in front of her just stated that he wants the bluenette to be the first one to hear his new music. Tightening her grip on the sketchbook, she tries her best to smile at him and tells him to go and find her but Luka’s response is not something that she has expected.

“Well, since you’re here, maybe you want to hear it instead?”

“Wh-what? Me?” a cute blush forms on her cheeks as she twiddles her index fingers together “A-are you sure?”

“Yeah, unless you don’t want to hear it. I’m fine if you choose not to.”

“No, I never said that!” Himawari exclaims, her voice raising a bit.

Luka stares at her, surprised to see her reaction. Himawari is known to have a very calm and collected personality, it piques his interest to see that she can also express this much feeling in front of him. The raven head looks at him before realizing how impolite she is, covers her mouth, and lowers her head immediately.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t yell at you like that.”

“It’s okay, I don’t mind.” he smiles and gently pats her shoulder “You’re a funny girl, Himawari.”

She blushes at his comments then follows him to the side of the canal and sits down while Luka parks his bike at the nearby tree. Plop down next to her, the teal-haired boy takes his guitar and plays a few notes of his new music. His composed expression while playing the instrument makes her heart swell with happiness and stimulates her creativity as she begins to visualize the overall scenario of her next story. Open her sketchbook, Himawari draws a few lines and writes a few words here and there as a draft, a rough sketch of what is going to happen in the new story.

The raven head closes her eyes, deep down in her thoughts, she can see splashes of color, the sceneries that she’s tried to visualize, the characters that she wants to create, the plotline that she wants to build. Listening to the soft guitar sound, Himawari smiles to herself as she is finally able to find the muse to write her next story.

What amazed her, even more, is how she unconsciously sketched the picture of Luka, eyes closed, hand strumming the guitar as he also falls into his own musical world. Looking to her side, she covers her smile with the sketchbook, a sweet-loving smile that she doesn’t want him to see. Her feelings may be obvious to her friends but to him, she has tried to keep it as cool and calm as possible, too afraid that if she approaches him too fast, it may harm their friendship.

Oh, I consider him as my friend…I wonder if he thinks the same… she thought, hand placed on her left chest to feel her heartbeats.

The gentle breeze blows through the trees as they begin the shed their leaves. The yellow leaves fall down, one lands on Luka’s hair as he’s too concentrated on his music to realize. Himawari looks at him, wondering if she should get the little thing off him or just wait until he finishes his song. She doesn’t want to interrupt the boy or his music flow, to any artists or musicians or writers, it’s a big ‘no-no’ for anyone to cut in their muses and inspiration.

“So? What do you think?”

Aqua eyes open as he looks at Himawari, who hasn’t stopped staring at him. It flatters him to see how focused and serious the petite girl is while listening to his creation, maybe a little bit too much…

“I think it’s beautiful, Luka. The melody is soft and gentle, like a declaration of love. I can see why you want Marinette to listen to this.”

Blinking nonstop, Himawari’s words imply many messages which cause the older boy to blush, embarrassed to see that the young mangaka has finally found out his little secret.

Reaching out as she picks the small leaf on his hair, she gives him a small smile that masks her disappointment and puts it in his rough, callused hand.

“You should tell her how you feel.” she speaks in the softest tone “It’s always better to let it out rather than hide your true feelings.”

“You think so?” he smiles, looking at the yellow leaf “I’m okay with her not knowing about my feelings. Besides, she already has a target…”

“Don’t you want to make her happy?”

“I do, but seeing her so happy around him makes me happy too. At least I know that Adrien is not going to hurt her.”

Amethyst eyes look at him with an awe expression, she has never thought that there would be a day she witnesses such a soft, gentle soul like Luka, who loves someone enough to let them be happy with another person. His response makes her heart swell, in both positive and negative ways. She’s glad that he has decided to not confess his feelings, this means she still has a chance. However, the downside of this is that she is afraid Luka’s love for Marinette is so strong that he will never look at her the same way she looks at him.

“Is everything okay?”

“Oh…” she startles “Everything is good. Thank you, for sharing your music with me.”

“I’m glad you like it. How about you? Have you found any inspiration for your next story?”

“A little bit…” clutching her sketchbook tightly, she smiles “I guess…”

The guitarist glances at her before getting up on his feet and putting the guitar back into the basket of his bicycle. Himawari blinks her eyes, exhaling as she believes that he wants to leave. However, much to her surprise, Luka turns to her with a helmet in his hand and puts it on her head.

“Uhm…”

“Let’s go! I have something that might inspire you.”

Holding tightly onto his shirt, Himawari bites her bottom lips as Luka begins to pedal, riding both of them to the small route between the buildings of Paris. She looks at the surroundings, feeling confused and amazed at the same time a question pops inside her head, where is he taking her? 

The young guitarist stops at an old building with an outdoor staircase that leads to the rooftop of the building. He parks his bicycle, like a gentleman, and holds out his hand to invite the girl to go upstairs. She smiles, walking on the steps slowly, afraid that the whole stairs will collapse if she goes too fast. Paris has many old buildings that are homes of many residents, however, this building is close enough to be considered as a rundown structure.

“Don’t worry. Just keep walking…” she can hear Luka’s deep tone behind her “I’m right behind you, so trust me.”

Trust him…

She smiles and picks up her pace, a wave of relief washing over her soul as she now understands that he’ll catch her if something bad happens. When they reach the top of the building, Luka grabs her hand and slightly pulls the girl so she follows him to the spot. Comfortably sits down, the guitarist gently taps on the spot next to him and Himawari complies as she takes a seat right beside him.

Taking out his guitar, the older boy strums a few notes to ease the tension between them. This is the first time he takes someone to his secret hiding spot, even Juleka doesn’t know this place and she’s his beloved sister. He doesn’t understand why he wants to take Himawari here, something inside his mind calls out, telling him that this is the wrong idea but his heart says otherwise.

Luka likes Marinette, without a doubt. He had once, confessed his love to the bluenette, hoping that she would accept it but the girl didn’t seem to understand, thus, making her believe that he wanted their friendship to grow stronger.

How ironic…

Marinette is his everything, as clear as a musical note and as sincere as a melody. She has been the song he hears in his head since they first met. But the baker girl only has her eyes on Adrien, no matter how much he cares for her, she would never let their friendship blossom into something beautiful, something romantic. He likes Marinette and enjoys the girl’s company, yet never once did he let her know about this place, his very own hideaway spot.

To Himawari, however, it’s a completely different story. They have only known each other for more than a month yet Luka realizes that he has a very soft spot for the raven head, and often time treats her the same way he treats Marinette. Unlike the bluenette whose personality is all sweet and sunshine, Himawari is very kind, gentle, graceful, and very polite towards almost everyone. She’s also very mature for her age, something that she has to adapt as a result of leaving the family nest at a young age.

As opposed to Marinette who doesn’t understand the deep meaning of his music, Himawari can almost see through all the messages that link to his melody. He was very surprised to see that the young artist knew his feelings for her friend just by listening to his music and it would be a lie if he said that he was not impressed. It’s like those beautiful amethyst orbs can see through him with just one look and he is amazed by this, considering that not many people can see through the walls he has built around his heart over all those years.

“This is the place that I visit whenever I can’t find any inspiration for my music.” Luka’s eyes sparkle as he stops playing the instrument “It may not seem like it but trust me because I’ll show you the reason why I find this place amazing.”

Checking the clock on his phone, Luka smiles and covers Himawari’s eyes with two hands, waiting for the right moment to show her the beauty that has been hidden deep in these rundown buildings. Her hands touch his as she eagerly waits for something to happen, blushing at the low chuckles behind her. Aqua eyes look around, feeling pleased with the scenery surrounding them. He can imagine the beautiful amethyst orbs shining in delight if she’s able to see all of this.

“Are you ready?”

“Y-yes…”

“Open your eyes, Himawari.”

In front of her, the sight of sunset shines through every corner of Paris, the red and orange hue of the sun lingers on the purple sky. The daylight fades on the Eiffel Tower, creating a big shadow that splashes across the old buildings. As the sunlight dims down, night lights begin to shine on the rooftop, the dusky light that has been used for many years. Himawari stands up and walks around, her face beaming with the most delighted expression as she experiences one of the most beautiful moments in her life. Seeing the sunset on this rooftop brings a look of Paris to her eyes and the scenery right in front of her is simply breathtaking.

“Do you like it?”

“Like it? I love it!” she turns to him, her eyes sparkling with joy “It’s so beautiful! Captivated even! It’s like a page in a fairy tale storybook, such a gorgeous sight.”

“I’m glad you like it.” he chuckles, amused at her reaction “I hope this can help you find your inspiration.”

Himawari stops and looks at him, a gorgeous smile forms on her lips as she slowly walks to the young guitarist. He leads her to this secret place to share such an aesthetic scene just to help her find muses for her next creation, how thoughtful of him. When she is close enough to get a better view of his handsome face, the raven head tiptoes and plants a kiss on his cheeks, something that she has never thought that she would have the courage to do. Luka is surprised and looks at her immediately, only to see the prettiest amethyst orbs stare at him.

“Thank you, for showing me such a magnificent scene, Luka.”

Chapter Text

Today’s weather is all sunshine and warm, quite different from the other cloudy days as Paris is transforming itself to welcome the fall season. Himawari has gone shopping with Marinette and Alya for a couple of hours as the bluenette wants to find new fabric for her new design. They have been in Madame Antoinette’s fabric store and the young designer doesn’t seem to be tired of looking at all the fabric inside the store.

“Marinette, can we go now? I’m hungry!”

“Just a bit more…”

Himawari sweatdrops at the sight of her friend pulling through yards of fabric, only to pout because it’s not what she wants. Marinette wants to get the fabric with stars embroilment or the sparkly type that is not too overwhelming, but nothing in the store matches her vision.

The raven head scans through many sections of the store, hoping to find something that her friend likes so that they can get out of there. She walks through aisle after aisle, from chiffon to satin to lace, until she spots the hidden gem that hides in mountains of fabric in the corner of the store.

“Marinette, come here! I have something to show you…”

Her friends come to her, surprised to see the delighted smile on the raven head’s face as she tries to hide the thing behind her back. Himawari giggles, knowing that Alya’s patience has reached its limit and Marinette is not planning to give up. She also thinks that what she has in her hand might be the best solution for the bluenette, if not, then she’s not sure if she wants to go on another shopping trip with her.

“I literally squeal after seeing it, check out this fabric…”

Pulling out the navy blue fabric with sparkles all over it, she grins widely as the bluenette yelps out in excitement and runs her hand through the thing. This is what she needs for her beautiful celestial-themed dress and she has found, the perfect material that matches her very own vision of the design. Alya exhales in contentment, finally…

“Oh my god, this is it! My dress!”

“Thank god you found it!”

After purchasing the fabric, the trio decides to celebrate the success of Marinette’s fabric hunting by getting some ice cream. Although it’s fall season in Paris, they don’t mind having the sweet, cool taste of ice cream from their favorite vendor, Andres.

“For you, lovely Marinette! Peach pink like his lips and green mint like his eyes.”

The young designer smiles at the combination, admiring the green color of the mint-flavored ice cream as it reminds her of Adrien’s beautiful emerald eye.

“For you, dear Alya! Dark chocolate like his hair and mocha caramel like his eyes.”

The glasses girl giggles, knowing too well who Andres is talking about. The bluenette nudges her friend, teasingly smiling as Alya playfully scoffs at her for not minding her own business.

“And for you, sweet Himawari! Vanilla rose like his lips and mint chocolate like his eyes.”

Himawari stares at Andres’s creation with an awe expression then looks at her friends, only to see the smug smiles on their faces, the signature pout forms on her lips as she is being teased by them. It’s no surprise for them to know about the raven head’s feelings for the certain aqua eyes, even when she has tried her best to keep it a secret.

Alya has been very supportive, and often partners up with Juleka to bring the two closer together. Marinette, however, acts quite differently when it comes to friendship and romantic relationships. She shows support for her friends but on some occasions, accidentally interrupts them with her own problems with Adrien.

The brunette has warned Marinette many times for confusing both boys as one day she’s happy all smiley at Adrien, and the next day she rests her head on Luka’s shoulder to seek comfort from the older boy. The bluenette argues that she only sees the guitarist as a friend but their classmates think otherwise, especially Juleka, who doesn’t seem to be pleased with the way her class representative’s misleading actions towards her brother.

“She really likes Luka…” the bluenette smiles as she looks at Himawari talking to Andres about her ice cream combination.

“You just notice?” Alya scoffs at her.

“Hey, that’s mean!” she pouts “Look, I don’t see the point of you telling me to back off from Luka. He’s just a friend, nothing more!”

“That’s not the point, Marinette. You can be friends with anybody, but don’t give them false signals that you’re into them.”

“I did not do that!”

“You lean on his shoulder, you cry in his arms, you kiss him on the cheeks! Marinette, only lovers do things like that!”

The young designer frows, she never thinks about her actions towards Luka being inappropriate. He’s like a brother to her and she appreciates his company, but to think of him as someone more than a friend has never once crossed her mind. Yes, she seeks out his comfort and support but that doesn’t mean anything more than friendship level, Luka knows this.

“What are you guys talking about?”

“Nothing, we’re just talking about my designs.”

Alya sighs in defeat as Marinette tries to come up with weird excuses so Himawari doesn’t question her odd behaviors. The three then spend more time at the bench near Andres’s ice cream vendor until they notice the familiar blonde head.

“Adrien and…Kagami?”

“Oh? Hey girls! You’re here to grab ice cream too, I see.”

Next to Adrien is Kagami, his fencing partner at school. Seeing the young fencer with her crush together, the bluenette frows, the feeling of jealousy just burns inside her heart. Kagami glances at her with a prideful glint in her amber eyes as she actively wraps her arms around Adrien’s, smirking to see the bright red color appear on Marinette’s cheek.

Himawari and Alya are shocked, the worst thing is that the blonde model doesn’t seem to mind the intimate action as he even wipes her cheek with his hand. This action devastated the bluenette, she tries her best to not show any discomfort expressions but things just keep getting harder when the pair decide to approach them.

“Hey Marinette, Nathalie just show me your new design, it looks amazing!”

“Y-yeah, you know…you look ama- I mean – my design looks amazing…” she blushes at the compliment.

“What are you guys doing here?” Alya chimes in “You’re not going on a date, right?”

“Who? Us? No, we’re not.” he answers immediately and doesn’t notice the displeased expression on Kagami’s face “We just finished our fencing practice and Kagami said that she wants to grab some ice cream, so we’re here.”

“Andres’s ice cream is amazing, look at his combination for us.”

Marinette lowers her head, trying her best to avoid the death stare of Kagami and Adrien’s worried eyes. She doesn’t want to see the combination, knowing too well what the young fencer is trying to imply. Even if Kagami said nothing, her amber eyes and non-hesitating actions towards Adrien tell the bluenette everything she needs to know about their relationship.

It hurts…

It hurts her so bad that she wants to cry…

But Kagami doesn’t stop there, she tries to show her affection towards the blonde model as much as possible. If Marinette is there, she will do everything to keep the emerald orbs on her, only on her. Adrien is oblivious to the bluenette’s feelings for him and Kagami has taken advantage of that to force the poor designer to back down before it’s too late.

Adrien smiles at Kagami before feeding her a spoon of their ice cream, seeing this causes Marinette to whimper, and unable to handle the scene, she flees. Alya calls out her name and runs after the bluenette while Adrien is shocked to see his friend runs away like that. He wants to follow her but Kagami holds onto his hand, shaking her head in disapproval. Himawari stands by as she observes the scene before walking toward them with an odd expression. She looks at Adrien, who is still confused at Marinette’s behavior then turns to Kagami, who is smirking like she just won the lottery.

“Adrien, I think you should go after her.”

“Himawari…”

“He doesn’t need to, Marinette will be fine.”

Amethyst eyes look at her, displeased at the answer. She looks at Adrien, silently telling him to do what he feels is right and the blonde model immediately nods his head, running after the bluenette. Kagami opens her eyes widely, her whole body shakes violently as the fencer grips her hand tightly. She looks at Himawari in rage mode, expecting the young artist to give her an explanation on why she encourages Adrien to chase after Marinette.

“Kagami means the mirror…” she looks at her with a calm yet serious expression “Mirrors only reflect your true self.”

“What are you trying to imply?”

“Kagami, your feelings for Adrien…Is it as a friend or more than that?”

“Of course, it’s-?!”

“Are you sure? Or do you just want to compete with Marinette to get Adrien’s attention?”

With that, Himawari turns around, leaving Kagami to stare at her with an astonished face.

She runs after them, knowing too well that Marinette will run back to her house, and cries her heart out after seeing how close Adrien and Kagami are. She feels bad for the bluenette but at the same time, thinks that this will be a great opportunity for Adrien to see the true reasons why Marinette acts so odd around him. He may be oblivious but not stupid and he will have to understand it, sooner or later.

Spotting the blonde standing on the sidewalk, Himawari runs to him, only to see a heartbreaking scene of Marinette, sobbing in Luka’s arm as he holds her tightly and dearly. She stops herself, too afraid to take any steps further. Glancing at Adrien, she can see how his knuckles turn white as he tightly grips his hand. Emerald eyes are filled with sadness, disappointment, anger, and all the negative feelings that she can use to describe him.

“Adrien…”

“Have I…done something wrong?” he asks in a bitter tone “Why…?”

“Let’s…go somewhere else…”

Gently patting his shoulder, Himawari leads him to somewhere else, somewhere that they can clear their minds a bit. She leads him to her house and opens the door widely to invite him in before walking into the kitchen to get them some nice warm tea. Adrien sighs as he makes himself comfortable on the dining chair while looking at Himawari as she brews a pot of chamomile tea.

“Here you go.”

“Thank you…”

There is a dead silence between them, the blonde model refuses to talk and the raven head tries to enjoy her tea, they don’t know what to say…

The scene they just witnessed has shaken them badly, enough to make them mentally question whether or not they should keep fighting for the other's affection or just let it go. Adrien grips his hand tightly, the picture of Marinette holding on to Luka like he’s the only person who understands her is as clear as crystal, it makes his stomach twist seeing those two together. Himawari, on the other hand, feels like her heart just broke into pieces. The sight of Luka whispering comforting words as he gently held her tight in his arms was just too much for her to bear.

“Himawari, what did I do that upset Marinette?”

“I…” playing with her teacup, the raven head sighs deeply, “I think you should confront Marinette. I don’t want to assume anything…”

“I don’t think I can do that…” he looks at his reflection in the warm liquid “Not when Luka is there…”

“Adrien, you should tell her how you truly feel about her.” she puts down her teacup and stares at him “I think that you’re oblivious, but not that stupid.”

“Wh-what? How can I…?”

“It’s always better to tell the person you like your true feelings. You don’t want to regret not letting her know that you truly love her.”

That night, Adrien lies on his bed, sighing to himself. His black kitty, Plag, calls out and rubs his little head against his owner like a sign of comfort. The blonde model smiles and caresses his fur, swallowing himself at the thought of letting the young designer know his feelings for her.

“Adrien, are you okay?”

His stepmother, Nathalie, knocks on the door and steps into his room. She looks worried because the boy hasn’t said a word since he returned home from fencing class. Adrien smiles at her, and a wave of relief washes over him as he sits up to talk to his stepmother.

Since the day his mother passed away, Adrien was left with a broken heart and a broken family. Due to the grief of losing his beloved wife, Adrien’s dad, Gabriel Agreste, had drowned himself in work and work. He ignored his family and his very own son, leaving Adrien in a vulnerable state at a very young age and overall, scarred his childhood.

Adrien had been homeschooled his whole life, he wasn’t able to get any friends and was forced to study many things under his father’s supervision. The blonde model was expected to be the best of the best and if he couldn’t meet his father's standards, he would be punished. His whole life was under his father’s control and even though Adrien loves him, the poor blonde couldn’t help but want to break free.

Adrien’s life took a turn when Nathalie came into the picture, her beautiful soul and warm smile melted his father’s ice chamber, knocking down every obstacle that stood in her way of warming Gabriel’s heart.

Thanks to her, his dad can understand the consequences of his own actions against his son.

Thanks to her, Adrien was able to go to normal school.

Thanks to her, he was able to make friends and live a normal life as a teenager.

Thanks to her, he was able to meet Marinette…

“Are you okay, dear?”

Sitting on his bed, Nathalie pulls Adrien in a hug while the boy carefully moves in her hold without pressing too much on the small baby bump that is slightly visible. She has been very close to Gabriel’s son, not hoping to fill in his mother's place but wanting him to know that she’s always there for him. Adrien is glad, he’s grateful to have such a great woman like Nathalie as his stepmother.

“I’m okay, Nathalie. I’m just…having some issues…”

“With Marinette?”

The blonde model blushes as Nathalie smiles, pointing at the picture frame on his bed, the picture of him, Marinette, Nino, and Alya. The woman knows his feelings for the certain bluenette and often encourages him to confess his feelings to her. Adrien, however, is too shy to do this. He may be a great model on every magazine cover but when it comes to love, the blonde doesn’t know how to respond to it.

Falling for Marinette is something he never expects to happen. The bluenette is cute and sweet and bubbly, she has a great passion for becoming a designer, so much so that she even has her own designs on several things like hats, purses, clothes, etc. He has always seen her as a friend and nothing more, but as time goes by and as she gets closer to Luka, the hidden feelings for her begin to rise, and before Adrien even knows it, he has fallen for Marinette, HARD.

“I think I’ve done something that hurt her today…”

“What happened? What’s wrong?”

Adrien told his stepmother the whole story, from his ice cream break with Kagami to seeing Marinette in Luka’s arms to Himawari’s advice about being truthful about his feelings. Nathalie listens to the story, nodding her head to acknowledge her stepson’s words before giving an encouraging smile.

“I think that your new friend is correct. It’s always better to tell Marinette how you truly feel about her.”

“But…what if she doesn’t feel the same way?”

“Then…what if she feels the same way?” she looks at him “Adrien, you will never know the answer unless you actively seek it. No one is going to tell you anything until you discover it yourself.”

“Nathalie…”

Caressing his face, Nathalie plants a kiss on the cheek and holds him tightly, letting the boy relax in her arms.

“Believe me, my dear. You don’t want to hide your feelings for her and then live in a state of regret for not telling her the truth.” she smiles “You need to have fate in yourself and your feelings for Marinette. You need to have fate in love and believe that your feelings will eventually be returned.”

Chapter Text

Kagami walks back to her hotel room, sighing in defeat. She understands that everything she’d done this afternoon is unforgivable but when it comes to love, she has to be the person with a realistic goal rather than just sit there and wait for a prince charming to come.

Being friends with Adrien, she slowly sees him as a reliable person so that she can share all her burdens and vice versa, as the blonde model is willing to share parts of his imperfect life with her. She likes Adrien, she likes him a lot, he is the first person to be her friend after all. Having lived under her mother’s shadow and expectations, she was never able to find friends as they always looked at her as this ‘prodigy girl’ with competitive issues. Her mother isn’t a good parent either as she forces her child to go through goals that are unrealistic for a young teenager like her.

When Adrien and Kagami become friends, the young fencer is very happy that she’s finally found a friend. Then comes Marinette with whom she has formed a rival friendship. Marinette is a great girl, she’s cheery, sweet, and a very caring person. Kagami likes her, too. Like Adrien, the bluenette has shown her the beautiful side of rebellion, of being disobedient, of breaking all traditions and rules that her mother has put on her shoulder. She’s grateful that Marinette is there and accepts her for who she is.

Having a small number of friends, Kagami never wants to hurt or lose both Adrien and Marinette, but the jealous feeling of seeing how close the two are makes her fear the day that they will leave her and she will return to her lonely world again. She understands the bluenette’s romantic feelings for Adrien, she is aware of how the blonde model reacts whenever they mention Marinette. She knows they have mutual feelings for one another yet she chooses to stay quiet. Kagami chooses to keep silent and pursues a deeper connection with Adrien, knowing that her actions will deeply hurt Marinette.

Her actions this afternoon are one way to tell the bluenette to stay away from the blonde model, telling her that she should keep her feelings on guard instead of risking their friendship. Poor Marinette, Kagami could see the sadness and sorrow in her bluebell eyes and it hurts to know that she was the one who caused this.

‘Mirrors only reflect your true self.’

She remembers Marinette’s friend, Himawari, and what she said this afternoon. Her words of wisdom rang inside her mind nonstop. The serious expression Himawari wore when she calmly told her that her feelings for Adrien were anything but love, it was as if she were stating a fact. Her comment shocked Kagami and the young fencer began to realize how bad the situation was.

She followed them.

She saw Adrien’s blank expression, hands tightly gripped to the point his knuckles turned white.

She saw Marinette cry in Luka’s arms, letting out her sadness and sorrow.

She saw it all…

“Kagami, I’ve heard from Mr. D'Argencourt that you haven’t been focused lately.”

“Mother…”

Her mother storms into the room with an angry expression. The child of the Tsurugi can only be the best of the best, the top of everything. Kagami Tsurugi is expected to be the perfect prodigy of the family, one that exceeds the limit, especially in fencing.

“It’s because you have been hanging out with that Agreste boy, isn’t it?”

“Mother, please…”

“Kagami, I’ve told you many times. You are not allowed to have any friends, they will distract you from the real goal, our family goal.”

Kagami sighs deeply, listening to her mother’s criticisms. It’s not the first time she heard such harsh words from her parent.

“I let you wear our family crest for a reason, Kagami. And you’ve failed me…”

“Fail you? What did I do?” the young fencer grips the white bedsheet “I haven’t done anything but follow your expectation, Mother!”

“By following my expectation, do you mean completely slacking off at your fencing class? I can hardly digest it!” her mother snaps back, angrily gripping her katana “Kagami, from now on, you’re not allowed to hang out with that boy or anyone else. When you finish your class, go home immediately!”

“Mother, you can’t do that!” she cries “He’s my only friend, you can’t take him away from me! You can’t isolate me like this!”

Gasping at her daughter’s words, the old lady storms up and slaps her across the face, so hard that Kagami falls back to the bed immediately.

It hurts…

Her cheek is burning…

Her mind goes blank…

She can feel hot tears streaming down her face as she slowly regains consciousness. Her beloved mother, the one she has the utmost respect, has slapped her. Kagami knows that her mother is a strict person, but she has never, ever hurt her like that, yet now…

“How dare you raise your voice? Who taught you that kind of disrespectful behavior?”

“I taught myself, mother! I taught myself to be like this because I can’t stand your control anymore!”

With that, she runs out of the hotel room and leaves the building, tears streaming down her eyes as she runs as fast as she can. The sky above her begins to roar, and dark clouds gather as the small raindrops begin to fall, wetting her white blazer.

Kagami runs, she keeps on running as if she’s too afraid that if she stops, her mother will be there to take her back. In the rain, people can see the flash of white dashing through the street, passing the old buildings of Paris and vanishing in the crowd.

Himawari is sitting at her desk, feeling blue. She knows that the scene that she saw this afternoon is just Luka trying to comfort the heartbroken Marinette but it still left a sour taste in her mind. It’d be a lie if she said she didn’t mind about it because the guitarist was clearly very worried at the sight of the bluenette, who was clinging to him like he was the only source of comfort for her.

The storyboard is lying on the desk, untouched. She has tried to gather herself together, mindfully telling herself that his actions are nothing more than a friend comforting a friend, yet the thought of them being together after this aches her heart. Himawari will be glad for Luka but she will beat herself for not being able to let the person know how much she loves him. Holding the digital pen tightly in her hand, the raven head sighs deeply.

“I can’t do this…”

Slowly raising herself from the chair, she walks to the window, feeling the cool aura against the glasses. It’s raining hard in Paris, so much that the sound of raindrops tapping her glassed window is as loud and clear yet so oddly soothing. She looks down to the street, people are carrying umbrellas and wearing raincoats to cover themselves from the cold rain. Some walk alone, others as a pair as they smile and giggle at their partner’s jokes. Looking at the scene, Himawari wishes that one day, she can also walk under the same umbrella with Luka, sharing her thoughts and stories while the boy just calmly replies to her in the most loving way. That would be nice…

“Huh?”

Rubbing her eyes, Himawari squints them, trying to get the vision as clearly as possible. She sees it, the white blazer, the short, midnight blue colored hair… That person is leaning against the wall, their clothes are soaking wet because of the rain. They’re shivering…

Without a second thought, Himawari runs downstairs with her raincoat on, holding another one with an umbrella, and dashes out of the house, ignoring her aunt’s calls. She runs toward the figure, amethyst eyes full of concern as she shields the person with the umbrella in her hands.

Looking up, amber eyes full of agony, hurt, and despair…

‘Who is it?’

“Kagami, can you stand?”

Who is helping me now?

“Come now, let’s get you out of here…”

Kagami reaches her hand out, and for the first time in her life, she accepts someone’s offering hand. She doesn’t care if they call her weak, she doesn’t care if they call her ‘the imperfect version of her mother’, she just knows that she needs help…

Himawari brings the poor girl back to her house as her aunt hurries them inside before they get drenched. The raven head draws a hot bath then gets a new set of clothes for Kagami, telling her to dry herself thoroughly before stepping into the bath.

When the bathroom door shuts, Cecile turns to her niece, puzzling. Who can leave their child under the heavy rain without an umbrella or raincoat to shield themselves? Unbelievable…

“I’ll go warm up the oden for your friend. You stay here and keep her company, okay?”

“Thank you, Auntie…”

She’s grateful for how thoughtful her aunt is. Turning her attention to the bathroom, Himawari sighs as she remembers the pitiful state of Kagami under the rainfall. It surprised her to see how miserable and distressed the young fencer was and she can’t help but question why she was in that position in the first place.

Looking at Kagami’s personal belongings, she sees her phone which hasn’t stopped rumbling for more than 5 minutes. Picking up the phone to check, the raven head realizes that all the calls are from her mother and begins to wonder if she should answer the calls or not, Mrs. Tsurugi must be worried for her daughter after all.

The phone rumbles again and she looks at it, fighting back and forth on whether or not she should answer it before the bathroom door opens. Kagami walks out and immediately walks to her, snatches the phone as harshly as she possibly can off her hand to turn it off. Himawari looks at her, too afraid to say that her mother will be worried if she doesn’t answer the call.

Kagami holds the phone tightly in her hand, so tight that she can literally break the device into pieces. The phone rumbles again and she blankly stares at the caller ID with no intention of picking it up. From her observation, Himawari has a few guesses that the fencer may or may not have gone into a fight with her mother, which is why she hasn’t answered any of Mrs. Tsurugi’s calls.

“Uhm…”

“You probably think I’m weak…” Kagami hisses under her breath “It’s okay for you to laugh at me. You don’t have to hold back.”

“I never said that you’re weak, Kagami.” Himawari stands up from her seat “You have every right to feel and be vulnerable.”

“Vulnerable is for weaklings, I’m not a weak person!” she snaps back, her voice quivering.

“No, it’s not. Being vulnerable does not make you a weak person, Kagami. Nobody is a weak person, they’re strong in their own ways, even if it means accepting their failures and being vulnerable in front of everyone.”

Giving her a comforting smile, the raven head opens her arm widely as an invitation, letting her friend know that she’s here for her. Looking at the open arms, Kagami bites her lips, her whole body trembles before swooping into the embrace, hot tears streaming out her amber eyes as she sobs violently. Her hands grip tightly onto Himawari’s blue nightdress, wanting to feel the warmth of the other against her cold skin.

As she hiccups and speaks out incoherent words, the raven head is still able to pick up what Kagami is trying to say. Listening to her story, Himawari feels like she’s going to cry because of how cruelly Mrs. Tsurugi has treated her daughter. Like a tiger mom, Mrs. Tsurugi is very strict with her daughter, going as far as isolating her from the rest of the world, just so that no distractions can stop Kagami from getting to the top. They say that all parents wish the best for their children, but often time they completely forget that their child is a human being, not a toy or a puppet that they can put wherever they want.

“I love her…so much…How can she…do this to…me…?”

“It’s okay, Kagami. Let it out, let it all out…”

Gentle pat her back, Himawari lets the young fencer tighten her grip on her clothes. The thought of what Kagami has gone through to please her mother makes the raven head have this compassionate feeling for her. The only difference is that, unlike Mrs. Tsurugi, her mother still understands and prioritizes her well-being rather than minding how other people think about her.

“How can she be this hateful towards me…?”

“Kagami…” break free from her hold, Himawari cups her face with two hands “Even if your mother is a bad person, you still love her, right?”

Kagami sniffles, wiping her tearful face with the sleeves. Kagami, as headstrong as she can be, is still a little girl with lots of love for her mother. There’s a reason why she chooses to follow Mrs. Tsurugi’s expectations rather than figure out her own path. To Kagami, her mother is an amazing woman, raising her all alone in a male-dominated society, teaching her to be strong and to be prideful, and never give up on her hopes. Without the father figure by her side, Mrs. Tsurugi is both the father and mother figure in her life, the strong, independent woman who is ready to face every obstacle that this world throws at her.

“It’s hard for you to fight against your mother’s wishes. You are very brave to break out of her control like that, but…” holding her phone, Himawari smiles “Don’t you think that your mother is also very worried about your wellbeing?”

The phone has many, many missed calls. Some are from Adrien, others are from Marinette, but most of them are from her mother.

“I think that you should tell her how you truly feel. The more honest you are with yourself, the more your mother will understand who you truly are.”

“I can’t. She will never listen…”

“You don’t know if you don’t try. Never assuming anything, Kagami.” tilting her face, Himawari smiles “If you’re afraid, then I’ll be with you. I’ll stand by your side whenever you need me.”

The young fencer looks at her before leaning in to rest her head on the artist’s shoulder, seeking the soft comfort that her friend has given her.

‘Himawari is too kind…’

Too kind to the point that she is willing to sacrifice everything to make everyone happy, including pulling herself back from interrupting Luka and Marinette when they’re sharing a sweet moment.

It’s her fault too…

If it wasn’t for her own selfishness, none of this would happen. Adrien and Marinette will acknowledge their feelings for each other, Himawari can be with Luka and she can still be friends with all of them. They’re all her friends, her precious friends that she is willing to do everything to protect.

Yes…It’s time…

It’s time for her to face everything, including her mother. Himawari has said that she’s here whenever the young fencer needs her…

“As much as I want to interrupt you guys, the oden is hot and ready to serve.” Cecile leans against the wall, smiling at them.

“Thank you, auntie. Come now, let’s feed that empty stomach of yours.”

“You guys have oden?”

“Well, not the traditional one but good enough to be considered as oden.”

Pulling Kagami up to her feet, Himawari leads her friend to the dining room. Sitting on the chair while enjoying the steamy hot oden, for the first time in her life, Kagami feels like she is no longer walking alone on her own path.

Chapter Text

“Write a letter to your mom, Kagami. Write down everything you want to tell her, your true feelings, your wishes, and everything else.”

“My mom can’t read letters, Himawari. She’s blind, she can’t see…”

Himawari purses her lips, trying to think of another way for Kagami to open up to her mother. The young fencer has decided to stay overnight at her place, not wanting to deal with Mrs. Tsurugi, not now, not yet…

The raven head sighs to herself, whenever she feels like she can not express her ideas to her parents, she would write them a letter. Through the small paper, she is able to tell her story as a whole rather than finding the correct words to describe her own problem when talking to her parents. Kagami’s mom is different, she can only read the letter if there’s someone who read it to her and that’s probably not a good idea. Himawari wants to create an intimate moment between Kagami and Mrs. Tsurugi, something that can only be shared between the two with no one else’s involvement. She’s sure that the young fencer will not be happy if her vulnerability is shared around.

“Hm…”

“It’s okay, I will find a way to talk to her.” Kagami smiles as she pats her friend’s shoulder “You shouldn’t be overthinking my problems.”

“Hm… - the artist frowns.”

There must be something that they can do…

She looks around the room, still thinking of ways that she can help the young fencer before a lightbulb appears above her head. She sees it, that thing…

“Kagami, I have just the perfect solution for you…”

The next day at school, Marinette is nothing less than an awful mess herself. She could not sleep last night, turning and twisting on the bed as she remembered the happy moment that Adrien had shared with Kagami.

She sighs in defeat, feeling as gloomy as she possibly can. Alya, who sits next to her, just comfortably pats her friend’s back. She understands that yesterday’s event has devastated the young designer as she called her and cried out about how unfair her life was, how Adrien could be so oblivious about her feelings, and how Kagami was ‘the perfect girl’ that suits the blonde more than she could imagine.

She told her friend that at least Luka was there and held her in his arms, letting her cry her heart out while gently whispering comforting words to her ears. She couldn’t even think of anyone else who could get her through all this pain besides the guitarist.

“Marinette…”

This is bad…

Alya feels bad for the bluenette, getting herself in a tangle with no way out. The sad part about this is that Himawari, sweet and kind Himawari, will have to face the decision of either pursuing Luka and breaking Marinette’s heart again or giving up on him and having her heartbreak…

“Marinette, you should tell him how you really feel…”

“It’s no use, you saw how happy he was with Kagami, right?”

“Yeah, but maybe they’re just friends…”

Just friends…

The bluenette hates those words…

‘Just friends’ is the silent reject that Adrien has given her multiple times, she should have known better than to not push her luck. The blonde model sees her as nothing more than a good friend of his and he sees Kagami as a potential someone. It breaks her heart to face this, the fact that he will never look at her the same way she looks at him.

“Good morning, guys.” Adrien steps into the classroom with a jaded greeting.

He turns to look at Marinette, who is trying to mind her own business rather than be all excited to see him like before. The young model can see it, the dark patches underneath her eyes, a sign of lack of sleep.

Nathalie has told him to be true about his feelings. Himawari has told him to tell the bluenette his feelings before it is too late. Alya and Nino have encouraged him to face Marinette after yesterday’s ice cream fiasco. And now, he finally tells himself that ‘it’s now or never’…

“Marinette…”

“Huh? Y-yes?”

She bites her lips, trying to avoid making eye contact. It hurts to see him, she can feel how her stomach is twisting in the most painful way she can imagine. Adrien doesn’t seem to be in a better place as he scratches the back of his head, awkwardly trying to find words to say something.

“I…uhm…can we…”

Marinette looks at him, questioning his odd behaviors. If anyone has to be all stammered and indecisive, it would be her, not Adrien…

The blonde model lets out a deep sigh, trying to collect himself and his own confidence then looks straight at her, bluebell eyes meeting the emerald orbs. This time, the bluenette blushes, dazed at the beautiful view in front of her and how mesmerizing his green eyes are. What does Adrien want from her?

“Can we…?!”

“Good morning, everyone!”

Before he can finish his sentence, Himawari shows up with a bright smile on her face. She is very loud with her greeting, almost to the point of causing everyone to startle and stare at her. The raven head let out an embarrassed giggle for causing such a scene before walking to her desk and pulling someone alone with her. Marinette and her friends are surprised to see the familiar face, and even more surprised to see her outfit matches the young artist.

“Kagami? W-what are you doing here?”

“And why are you with Himawari?”

The young fencer turns away, doesn’t know how to respond to their questions but the raven head giggles and guides her to her desk. Adrien unknowingly looks at his fencing partner before offering her a seat at his and Nino’s desk, a normal action for a gentleman like him.

Marinette frowns, hands gripping tightly underneath the desk, and turns away, not wanting to see the sight of how sweet and gentle Adrien is going to treat Kagami. Himawari sweatdrops, thinking that she may or may not have interrupted a moment of the two. The other Japanese girl, however, observes the scene before walking to Marinette and stares blankly at her.

“I-is something wrong?”

“Would you be fine with me sitting in your seat?”

“P-pardon me…?” the bluenette looks at her, puzzling.

“I just don’t want to sit at the front, I hope you don’t mind switching it with me.”

Alya nudges her friend’s side, excited. Finally, Kagami has come back to her senses to push forward Adrien and Marinette’s ship. The bluenette is baffled, unable to answer her ‘offer’ Himawari sighs in defeat as she gathers all of her friend’s belongings and puts them on the front desk.

Adrien is very surprised as well, not ready to have the bluenette sit so close to him like that. However, he is very grateful for Kagami’s kind words and offering as this might be a good chance for him to understand the bluenette more. He and Marinette have been great friends, there’s no doubt about that, but the more he spends time with her, the more he wants those bluebell eyes to only look at him.

“But what about your class?”

“I’m fine, I’ve requested to temporarily change my class only for today.” Kagami looks at them “Well, shall we sit down?”

They all go through the day quite well, with Marinette slowly opening up for Adrien as they exchange their notes during class. The trio sits behind them and smiles at the scene, knowing that Kagami’s action has had a positive effect on the pair, mentally and emotionally.

The lovey-dovey aura around the two does not sit well with Chloe and she constantly tries to pick a fight with Marinette, sneering and saying awful things to her. The young model doesn’t have any of Chloe’s mean attitudes and fights back whenever he feels like she has gone too far with her behavior. His actions warm the bluenette’s heart as she smiles behind her notebook, feeling grateful that he has gone all his way just to protect her from the spoiled blonde.

Their happy moment, however, doesn’t last long. During the PE session with Luka’s class, Mrs. Tsurugi shows up with one of her bodyguards, demanding to see her daughter. Kagami is frozen in her seat as she sees her mother, Mrs. Tsurugi, with a deadly aura around her. She steps in, her hand holding tightly onto the wooden sword as she turns to face the young fencer.

“Kagami Tsurugi!” her voice is loud and clear “I have taught you way better than this!”

“Mother…”

Kagami tries to talk but nothing comes out of her mouth as she is immediately silenced by her mother. She holds out her hand, a sign to tell her daughter to either stop talking or prepare to face the punishment for fighting against her wishes.

“No more talking, Kagami. You’ve disappointed me….”

“Uhm, Mrs. Tsurugi…” their teacher, Mr. Ross tries to speak up “Maybe we should take this outside…”

“I’m not talking to you, teacher.” she snaps back at her “Kagami, go home immediately! This is an order!”

The whole class is shocked at her demand, turning their attention to Kagami as she lowers her head, her bangs covering half of her face. Adrien frowns, seeing her lips quiver as if she’s trying her best not to cry. Himawari looks at Kagami, she can’t believe that her mother would go as far as embarrassing the young fencer in front of the whole class like that.

“You can not say that! You are her mother, not her master!” Marinette speaks up, feeling the anger just boil inside her “You have no right to ‘order’ Kagami like that!”

“Silence, child. This is my family matter, you’re the one who has no right to interfere!” she turns to her daughter, stomping the wooden sword hard against the floor “Kagami, you’ll be sorry once you get home.”

Wave her hands, Mrs. Tsurugi orders her bodyguard to come in and get Kagami but before he can even step near her, Himawari has walked to shield the poor girl behind her back. In front of her are Adrien, Nino, and Luka, who have witnessed the whole thing and decided to come up to help her.

“Kagami, come over here immediately. Do you wish to fight back against your own mother?”

Looking at her mother, the young fencer bites her lips as she slowly walks to her mother, her head hanging low as a sign of defeat. The artist, however, doesn’t give up as she holds onto her friend’s hand, amethyst eyes shine with determination when she tells her to let Mrs. Tsurugi listen to the audio that she has recorded last night.

Mrs. Tsurugi is not having any of their stupid actions. She has taught her daughter to always be independent and never rely on anyone, yet right now, Kagami has shown a sign of weakness as she turns to her friend for advice. The old lady grips her sword tightly as she slowly walks toward them, spiteful words spill out of her mouth without even caring about how her daughter is feeling.

“Don’t you dare to influence my daughter with your bad behaviors, young one.”

“Mrs. Tsurugi, I have no intention of forcing Kagami to do something she doesn’t like. Even if it means for her own good…” she looks at the other woman “Your daughter has nothing but the utmost respect for you. Please consider giving her the same respect she has for you.”

Kagami grabs onto her shoulder to stop her from stepping any further. She knows how prideful her mother can be, she hates it when people comment about her behavior and oftentimes will say hurtful things to them.

“Tell me, young one. Are your parents the ones who taught you to speak like that to an adult? Where are your manners?”

Luka grips his hands tightly, and the way Mrs. Tsurugi talks makes it seem like Himawari has very poor mannerisms when talking to someone older than her. Her friends don’t tolerate that either as they try to speak up, telling the older woman that she’s wrong and the young artist is way more polite than she is right now.

Mr. Ross has called the Principal to come and deal with this family matter. Mr. Damocles has come down and announced the end of PE class as he demands his students go back to their classroom for the next class. Some of them follow his request, while others are still waiting to see the dynamic between mother and daughter of the Tsurugi family, finding it very amusing, and are eager to see how the prideful Kagami is going to be punished by her mother.

“Ms. Ono, I demand you go back to class, right now!” he loudly exclaims “If not, you’ll suffer detention and one-week suspension from school!”

“You can’t do that, she did nothing wrong!” Luka scoffs at his statement.

“Anyone who is planning to help Ms. Ono will suffer the same consequences!”

Her friends startle, unable to process what the principal just said. Since when does the school become such a dictatorial environment that forces students to comply with everything the adults want?

Himawari doesn’t seem to faze a single bit, amethyst eyes burn with passion and anger when she witnesses the smug smile on Mrs. Tsurugi’s face. She has decided to stand by Kagami’s side and she is not planning to back away from her promise, even if it means that her report card will receive a negative comment from the teachers.

“Ms. Ono, this is the last warning!”

“It’s enough, Himawari. Go back…”

The raven head stands still, holding tightly onto Kagami’s hand as she stares at the older woman.

“My mother, she has a vision for me. Since I was welcomed into this world, my mother has taught me many, many things. To be graceful and gentle, to be poised and polite, to be kind and benevolent. Besides that, she also taught me to be strong, independent, educated, and always stay true to myself.”

“Ms. Ono! You will-?!”

Mrs. Tsurugi holds her hand up, telling the principal to not interrupt Himawari’s story about her mother. She wants to know what this young lady here is trying to imply…

“I was forced to come and study in France, I was forced to leave everything behind to start a new life in this country. I know my mom wants the best for me, but she forgot that I had my personal life too. I was angry at her for changing my whole life like that, I was very angry…”

She looks at the older woman, amethyst eyes shine with a genuine expression. She wants her to know the story, hoping that her hidden message will be able to get through to the stubborn woman. There are so many things that she wants to tell Mrs. Tsurugi, they have similar backgrounds so she knows that the wise woman will understand her story.

“However…The only mistake my mom has ever made was forcing me to go to France. In my whole life, she has done nothing but encourage me to follow my own dreams and ambitions. She let me experience every aspect of my teenage life, telling me what is right and wrong rather than shielding me away from everything. She believes in me, she believes that I will do the right thing…”

Mrs. Tsurugi scoffs at her words, the word ‘mistake’ has never been in the family’s dictionary.

“And what if you make a mistake? The child of the Tsurugi family must never make a mistake!”

“Then you learn from it. You can not expect Kagami to be perfect without making any mistakes. You can not expect Kagami to be strong without experiencing her own vulnerability. You can not expect Kagami to be on top without knowing the taste of defeat.” standing tall on her own feet, Himawari smiles at Kagami as she holds onto the phone tightly “Perfection means embracing your own strengths and weaknesses, the two things that make you a unique person in this world.”

With that, she walks Kagami to her mother, gently guides her friend’s smartphone to Mrs. Tsurugi’s hand, and smiles at her friend, silently praying that whatever she has done will help heal the mother-daughter relationship of the Tsurugi family. The old woman feels the cold metal touches her hand as Kagami plugs the earphone into the device.

“Kagami has something she wants you to hear…”

“Himawari…”

Hands shaking, the young fencer lowers her head, too afraid to do this. She has never once tried to confront the wise woman about what she likes and dislikes. Her whole life is dedicated to making her mother happy, which is why she’s afraid that she will hurt her mother’s feelings by doing things like this.

“There will be no better time than this, Kagami. Let her know…”

She steps away, giving the pair their personal space as that’s what they really need. Turning to Luka, he smiles and puts a hand on her shoulder to ease her feelings, going as far as pulling her close to him, enough for her to feel his warm body near hers. She sighs at the sight, hoping for the best for the Tsurugi family and hoping that the message will bridge their feelings for each other.

“Mother… I… Please listen to this…”

Mrs. Tsurugi keeps her silent, allowing her daughter to put the earphones into her ears and hit the play button.

Mother…

It’s me, Kagami…

I’m sorry for being a disobedient child, for running away from you like that, for leaving you all worried for my well-being…

I am staying at my friend’s house tonight, too afraid to come back because I know that I have hurt your feelings. I don’t know how to express my feelings because I… I’m not good at being true to myself… Himawari told me to record this message, she said that it would help me to tell you everything I want to say in all those years… So please, I hope that you’ll understand me through this…

Mother…

I…I want to make a friend… I want to live a normal teenage life, to go out with friends and to have fun. I have always been alone, even back in Japan, no one wants to befriend me and I feel very lonely.

When I first stepped foot in France and met Adrien, I was very happy because I was able to find a friend. He’s very nice and kind towards me and makes me feel confident about myself that I’ll be able to make friends with everyone else, but I was wrong.

I’m not able to make any new friends at school, my whole schedule is all about study and fencing practice. I see other people hanging out with their friends, grabbing orange juice and ice cream, and going to a concert, I wish I could do that too…

I’m jealous of them and I let that jealousy affect my studies and fencing practice. I just wish to have a friend with whom I can share my happy and sad moments, someone with whom I can put my trust, someone who can understand me as Kagami Tsurugi, not the fencing prodigy, not the ice queen, just the simple Kagami Tsurugi…

I know that you’ll disapprove of this idea but I hope that you will understand. I wish nothing more than just making you happy, mother…

Mrs. Tsurugi frows a little bit, unsure of how to react when hearing this. She knows that she has always put the name of the Tsurugi family on top and has always expected her daughter to do the same thing. She despises failure, which is why she forbids Kagami from making any mistakes. She believes that friendship is deciduous, something that will later end in sourness or disappointment.

To be the champion of everything, to succeed in everything beyond the limit, to be the best of the best…

That has always been her goal and expectation for Kagami, demanding the young fencer follow their family tradition of being the best fencer in the whole world. However, she also realizes that she has never sat down and listened to her daughter, she has never tried to understand how her daughter truly feels and what is her real ambition…

Kagami has been under her shadow, following everything that the wise woman wants her to do, and never once, declines her mother’s request. She loves her mother and has the utmost respect for her, but she’s also just a teen who wants to have fun instead of following the rules and traditions. She never says anything about it, she never shares her story at school, she never mentions how much she wants to make a friend...

Kagami is forbidden to mention wanting a friend because that is a sign of weakness and the child of the Tsurugi family is expected to be anything but weak and vulnerable…

“Mother…”

Kagami lowers her head in defeat as her mother turns her heels and takes her leave. She has failed her mother, she has failed herself…again…

“Mrs. Tsurugi!” Himawari calls out after the old woman, her voice as gentle as a breeze “Even bad parents love their children…”

Mrs. Tsurugi sighs deeply at her comment and keeps walking to the school gate. Before she walks to the other side of the gate, she turns to Kagami and says something in Japanese. This sentence causes her daughter to look up and a bright smile appears on her face while Himawari covers her mouth in joy.

“Go home before dinner!”

“Th-thank you, mother!”

Kagami bows her head deeply as a sign of appreciation before turning to her friends with the brightest smile on her face. They’re all cheering for her as Marinette and everyone walks to her, patting the young fencer on her shoulders as well as welcoming her to the crew. Everyone… except Himawari…

She stands there, not moving or taking any actions. Luka turns to her, aqua eyes full of concern before they open wide as he catches the young artist in his arms before she makes an epic fall onto the floor. Kagami is shocked, she quickly walks to her with worries filling the amber orbs. Kneeling down, the young fencer looks at the raven head who is still sitting on the floor with Luka right next to her. His hands wrap around her small frame as he lets her rest the whole body weight onto the arm behind her.

“Are you okay?”

“Y-yeah…My legs just gave in and…” Himawari smiles before her facial expression turns somewhat childish like “Your mother is so scary, Kagami. I thought she was going to give me some fencing techniques and send me into the air…”

“What?” Kagami chuckles “You’re afraid of my mom?”

“Who wouldn’t be? She looks so scary…”

Everyone laughs at her adorable reaction as she pouts in displeased, not happy with how everyone treats her fear lightly. Kagami turns to Adrien and Marinette before standing up and leaning forward, close enough that Marinette hears her whisper.

“I’ll leave Adrien in your care, Marinette Dupain-Cheng. If you dare to upset him, I’ll have no hesitation in taking him away from you.”

The bluenette opens her eyes widely at the comment before a small smile forms on her lips.

Don’t worry, I’ll never let go of him. Thank you, Kagami…

Chapter Text

Himawari smiles to herself as she is on the way to Marinette’s bakery. Today, the Dupain-Cheng family is going to take the whole crew to the nearby beach as a celebration for finishing their exam season, the young designer has invited Alya, Adrien, Nino, and Luka to come along.

With the help of Adrien’s family, his father has allowed them to stay at their vacation house over the weekend under Tom and Sabine’s supervision. Although having 2 adults come along, Marinette knows that they will never force the teens to live in a routine and instead, let them have the freedom of exploring all the sights that Normandy city has to offer.

“Are you excited, Marinette?”

“Yes, Dad!” she yells back, unable to hold back the beaming grin on her face.

Alya giggles along with Nino, they sure know why Marinette is overly cheery today, even the one who sits next to her is affected by her positive vibe. Adrien smiles at the bubbly sight of the bluenette, jumping up and down like a child on the morning of Christmas day.

After Kagami’s family problem was resolved, his fencing partner gave him quite a lot of advice on how to approach a girl from her female perspective. While talking to her yesterday about the trip, Kagami told him to gather up his confidence and go get his girl, simply stating that ‘Girls hate hesitation. If you like Marinette, just tell her!’ which caused him to blush madly.

Following her advice, Adrien has actively asked Marinette to sit next to him during the trip. She is very surprised to hear this and almost melts into a puddle as she stammers incoherent words. If it were not for Alya to push her to the seat, she would still be frozen in her very own spot. Adrien is very confused by her over-the-top reactions, thinking that she doesn’t like it which causes the blonde model to doubt himself whether or not he can tell her how he truly feels.

“Adrien, is something wrong?”

“I’m fine, Marinette. Just a little bit nervous…”

“Nervous? A-about what?” she looks at him, puzzling.

“Well, you don’t seem to be very comfortable around me.” scratching his head, he smiles “I wasn’t sure if I have done something that upset you…”

Marinette blushes at his comment, not knowing how to respond. After Kagami declares to give up on Adrien, she gives her the hope to pursue the young model. There is a shift in their relationship as well, Alya has commented on how Adrien always stares at her without her notice, which causes the bluenette to scoff at her friend for teasing her like that.

Himawari mentions the same thing, telling her that she should prepare for the greatest love confession of this whole world. Her friends’ words clearly aren’t helping, because ever since Adrien has gotten closer to her, she realizes the increasing rate of her odd behaviors around him, stammering and getting all flustered and even saying weird silly things in front of the blonde. She really needs to cool herself down…

“N-no, I’m not…I mean…It’s not like that…” she shutters.

“Are you sure? You don’t seem to enjoy the moment whenever I’m around.”

“No, it’s not like that.” she exclaims, bluebell eyes shining with genuine as she gently holds his hand “I can never hate you. Adrien. I just…you know…my clumsiness always gets ahead of me so…”

Emerald eyes look at his hand in her hold as he smiles, squeezing it a bit to let her know that he feels the same nervous as her, a soft blush appears on his cheeks. The bluenette is astonished and clearly understands what he is implying as shyly averts her eyes to focus on something else besides the boy next to her. Adrien does the same thing, turning to the other side to start a conversation with Nino, he needs to distract himself a bit. Although they do not look at each other, none of them let go of the other’s hand as they enjoy a sweet moment together.

Besides Nino is Alya, who is looking through her phone to search for places where they can hang out later. Behind them are Luka and Himawari, one is still strumming on the guitar while the other looks out the window to admire the view. The ‘wise’ pair, Nino and Alya, has planned the seat for all of them, hoping to get their friends to get along with each other more.

Luka, who hasn’t said anything, just keeps gently playing his guitar. The raven head slightly turns her attention to him, not sure if she should start a conversation. By the sound of his tune, the artist can sense his unpleasant feelings from him. Luka is not pleased to see the others getting all lovey-dovey at each other.

After Kagami’s incident, Himawari’s eyes have never left Luka. She is unsure about this, wondering if she should tell him to follow his heart or just give up on Marinette. It brings her down to see him so dull and wearisome like there’s nothing that can inspire him besides the bluenette.

“Luka?”

“Hm?” turning his attention to her, he smiles “What is it?”

“I…Do you want some cookies?”

Hoping to cheer him up, she shows him the bunny-shaped cookies that she just baked last night and the older boy gladly accepts them. Sweets have always been the best to ease one’s sadness and what better ways to cheer up a person than to offer them some homemade cookies?

She notices that Luka indeed has a sweet tooth. He likes cookies, candies, and other types of sweets because the guitarist always accepts and enjoys her homemade treats. Looking at him, Himawari smiles, seeing how his mood has slightly become better than just a moment ago.

“Thanks, Himawari.” Luka chuckles as he munches down another cookie “Your sweets always make me feel better.”

Her face beams up at the comment, a cute blush appears across her cheeks as she smiles in acknowledgment. With Luka’s calm and collected personality, it’s hard to tell whether or not he’s being moody about something. He can easily read people’s feelings but not many people can understand how he truly feels about one situation or another, which is why Juleka has commented that her brother has a reputation for building and maintaining the walls around his heart.

With a gift of music, Luka usually expresses everything through his guitar, which helps his mother and sister to understand him a bit. Himawari knows this side of him, there is a reason for her to only observe him rather than walk up and start a conversation. The guitarist will immediately mask his problem behind the perfect charming smile and pitch in for others rather than let anyone help him.

Through her observation, Himawari knows some of his usual ways of expressing his feelings. When he’s happy or inspired, his face will light up and aqua eyes shine in excitement as he writes down the notes for his music. When he’s sad and upset, he will blankly stare at something while lazily strumming the string. When he’s angry, although masking the negative feeling behind the calm expression, he will tightly grip his hands until all the knuckles turn white. Thanks to her observation, Mrs. Couffaine and Juleka can break the walls around his heart and understand him more.

“You…have something on your cheeks…”

Himawari takes out a handkerchief from her bag and wipes the cookie crumbles on the corner of his mouth, letting out a small giggle when she sees a soft blush appear on his cheeks. The guitarist turns his attention to her, she is talking about something to light up the air around them but Luka doesn’t pay enough attention to what she is saying and instead, observes her.

Himawari wears her hair in a soft french braid with the signature blue ribbon, similar to the hairstyle that princesses wear in films. There’s a soft floral scent around her, so nice and weirdly soothing. Luka has never enjoyed the scent of perfume and fragrance, he finds them very strong and often gives him a headache, so when he says Himawari’s fragrance smells nice, he really means it. Her outfit choice today is quite casual compared to the one that she uses to wear to school, with a t-shirt and a flowy midi skirt paired with walking shoes.

She looks very nice today…

The guitarist startles at the thought as he slightly covers his face with one hand, hiding the fainted blush behind it. Not minding about Marinette being all lovey-dovey over Adrien, Luka finds himself in a situation where he is blushing at someone else besides Marinette, a fluttery feeling surging in his chest.

“Juleka showed me your new work yesterday.” Luka starts up the conversation, distracting himself from staring at the girl sitting next to him.

“Oh, uhm…” Himawari blushes, lacing her fingers as she asks “How was it?”

“It was good, quite different from your previous stories.” he smiles, glancing at his guitar “I feel like the main character bears a resemblance to me…”

His comment catches her off guard as amethyst eyes turn their attention to him, shyly laughing at herself for being so obvious about ‘borrowing’ Luka’s appearance for the new character. Although very surprised that he can see through the design, the raven head can’t help but feel like there is something deeper behind those words.

Her new work tells a story about the golden boy who was a prodigy at calligraphy art. He came from a family that has a long history in this field and he was the chosen one to continue the family’s tradition of creating magnificent art of calligraphy. Although he has a very good relationship with his mother and sister, the boy and his dad have never seen eye-to-eye due to the older man’s overbearing and tyrannized behavior towards everyone.

One day, the boy got into a fight with the bullies at school as they hurt his best friend and broke his gifted hand. His dad, instead of worrying about his son’s wellbeing, stormed into the hospital and cried out about how the family’s tradition could no longer be preserved. He then verbally attacked his wife for not ‘caring enough for the family’s heir’ and yelled at his sister for ‘being useless’. These actions were the last straw for him as the boy got into a huge fight with his dad in the hospital before deciding to run away from his house.

He stayed at his best friend’s house in the countryside, hiding away from everyone. His friend, although just a young girl, was a wise person with a heart of gold. Her family welcomed him and offered to find a physical therapist to help but the prodigy declined. The girl then tried to talk to him, and offered her support and words of encouragement, telling him that he should not run away but instead, face his problems.

The story ended ambiguously, with the young boy watching the sunset with his friend on the grass field. There was no sign that he would go back to his family and cure his hand or he would run away from everything to start a new life. The ending was soft and gentle, with many questions left unanswered, which didn’t really stand out well with her audience.

“I’m glad you like it. To be honest, a lot of people think that I have gone overboard this time…” she smiles “They prefer a happy ending rather than an open ending like this.”

“Don’t mind them. Not every story has to end in a ‘happy ever after’ style, besides…” he pauses a bit “There are issues you can’t solve within a small amount of time.”

Amethyst eyes beam at the guitarist, amazed to see that he gets the hidden message behind this one. In her new work, she wants her audience to understand that sometimes, there are things that can be out of their control and aren’t always that easy to untangle. For a short story like that, Himawari doesn’t want to jump into the happy ending because it will drive away from the realistic sense of the story, the idea that some problems and questions may take days, months, and even years to find the answers.

They exchange small talks before Luka decides to take a nap while Himawari pulls out a book to read. Marinette’s dad, Tom Dupain, has decided to take the longer route to Normandy instead of driving on the highway, saying that they can use an extra hour to admire the scenery on the sides of the road. The raven head smiles at his comment and turns her attention to the book, she has seen enough sight and is getting bored as each minute passes by.

While enjoying the light novel, she feels something heavy lean on her head. Freeze in the seat, the artist slowly glances over to see the familiar black-and-teal hair comfortably resting against her black locks. A deep shade of red spreads across her cheeks as Himawari sits still while trying to be a good ‘headrest’ for the other boy to relax.

This is bad…

As much as she wants to focus on the novel, Himawari finds herself failing miserably at the task. Her body heats up, knowing how close he is to her. She can scent the earthy cologne from him, the soft teal locks against her head, and his weight against her frame.

This is very bad…

Biting their lower lips, she fights her inner self against the idea of taking a picture of Luka while he is sleeping, which will be an invasion of privacy. The raven head sighs as she lightly whimpers, hands clutching tightly on the book, she really wants to see his peaceful sleeping face…

Concentrating on the book, she tries her best to relax and reads the content of the novel. Mr. Dupain drives the car at a steady pace, the AC is turned on at the right temperature with the soft soothing music in the background causes her eyelids to become heavy. Before Himawari knows it, her eyes have closed as she allows the drowsiness to take control and slightly leans toward the warm body next to her.

Alya and Nino are both soundly sleeping when the vehicle stops, causing the glasses girl to wake up. She looks around and then checks the clock, one more hour before they reach their destination. Looking over Nino’s tall frame, she smiles at the sight of Marinette and Adrien as they’re watching something on the blonde model’s phone. She then turns around, only to witness the sweetest moment between Luka and Himawari.

“Nino! Wake up, Nino!”

“H-huh?”

Yawning, the tall boy turns to his girlfriend with a drowsy expression on his face. What is it that makes Alya wake him up like that? She smirks at him before waving her hand to grab the other two attention, telling them to look at the seats in the back. Her friends look at her, puzzling before a smile forms on the bluenette's lips as she lets out a small ‘awww’.

“They look so cute!” she exclaims in excitement “Look at them…”

“Better get a picture of this.” the brunette holds up her phone and snaps a bunch of pictures “Juleka is gonna be so thrilled once she sees this.”

“Send it to me, too!”

Adrien chuckles at the girls before glancing at the guitarist one last time. It seems like he doesn’t have to be worried about the potential rival for Marinette’s feelings thanks to Himawari, maybe he can help his friends on a mission to bring those two closer, that would be nice…

Chapter Text

Mr. Dupain drives to the Agreste’s vacation house for everything to put their stuff away before they head to the beach. Walking into the house, they are all astonished as the place is perfectly clean and full of decoration.

“Make yourself home, guys!” Adrien walks in, the black shuffle bag slides down his shoulder.

“Adrien, does anyone live here?” Nino looks around “It looks so clean…”

“No, Nathalie probably called the cleaning service before we came.” he smiles “There are three bedrooms, and Mr. and Mrs. Dupain-Cheng can sleep in the master bedroom. You girls stay in one and us boys stay in one, sounds good?”

Everyone agrees with the blonde as they move their stuff into the bedrooms. Marinette beams at the king-sized bed and plops her whole body onto the soft mattress. Alya changes into her swimsuit while Himawari walks to the balcony, admiring the fresh scent of the sea and the beautiful sunshine. Although enjoying the scene, there’s a hint of anxiety and distress in the amethyst orbs as she looks down, biting her lips to disregard the bad memories from the past.

“Himawari, hurry up and get change, girl! We’re hitting the beach in 10 minutes!”

“Ah…uhm…” hesitation spreads across her face “I’m a bit tired, so…”

“Are you okay?” the bluenette looks at her with concern “Come and lay down a bit, maybe you’re having car sick?”

She smiles, telling her friend to not worry and to enjoy her time with others. Both Alya and Marinette have skeptical looks on their face but the raven head has reassured them that she will be fine and lays herself on the bed.

The brunette rubs her head lightly before leaving the room with Marinette, leaving Himawari alone to rest. The boys and 2 adults are ready to hit the beach when Luka notices the raven head is missing. Turning to ask the bluenette, he is surprised when both girls say that the artist won’t join them because she’s not feeling well.

“Well, I’ll stay with her to see if she needs anything.” Ms. Cheng kindly says “It’s not good to leave her alone like this.”

“She told us to go and that she can manage herself, Mom.” Marinette looks at her mom “Besides, I don’t think Himawari is happy to see you stay back rather than enjoy your time at the beach.”

“Also, we’ll be close to her, the beach is literally 5 minutes away. I think she will be fine.”

With that, they all head to the front door except for Luka, who seems to be very hesitant about leaving the raven head alone in a place like this. Dropping his belongings, he tells the crew to go without him. The bluenette tries to say something but both Alya and Adrien have stopped her, telling her to leave them be as the brunette pulls her friend out of the house.

Luka walks to the bedroom and knocks on the door, telling her that he will come in before opening it. Himawari is not on the bed…

“Himawari?”

Calling out her name, the guitarist looks around, only to see her on the balcony looking out to the beach. Raises a brow, he slowly walks to her and notices how her body is slightly trembling like she is afraid of something.

“Hey, are you okay?”

“L-Luka?”

Putting a hand on her shoulder, the older boy turns her whole body to him, aqua eyes pick up a distress signal from her. She is holding the hands against her chest, lips quivering as she averts her gaze from him.

Something is wrong…

He asks her again, but the girl refuses to say anything and tells him to go out with the group and have some fun. Luka frowns at her, not pleased with the response she is giving him. His question hangs in the air and his grip on her tightens, he calls her name in a low voice, a warning for her to tell him the truth. Luka has been by her side long enough to see through the lies she is telling. Himawari backs away a bit, still avoiding his eyes awkwardly.

“Uhm, it’s nothing. I just have bad memories of the sea, that’s all…”

“Bad memories?”

She laughs in embarrassment, thinking about the time that her parents take the family out to the beach. She was 13 while the twins were 11. They were all having fun when her cousin decided to play a prank on them, on her to be more specific. She was enjoying floating herself on the sea when her cousin came up and pulled her down, drowning the poor girl in the salty water…

“I was so afraid that couldn’t recover from it.” Himawari shivers “I’m sorry if I worried you and everyone…”

“Well, Marinette and Alya were both very worried but they’re probably having a lot of fun now.” Luka replies “Let’s go!”

“Go? Go where?”

“To the beach, go and get change. I’m taking you to the beach today, you will be safe with me.”

She stares at him, unable to process what he just said as Luka pushes her back into the room and leaves so that she can have the privacy to change her clothes. Himawari takes out her swimsuit, her face turns bright red as his words ring in her ears. She questions herself on why she even listens to the older boy. The artist has a very bad feeling about whatever Luka has in mind, she hates the beach, and even if the scenery and the refreshing scent of the ocean calm her mind, she still hates it.

The raven head begins thinking of scenario after scenario of what can possibly go wrong with her entering the salty seawater, either she’s gonna drown herself or get someone to drown thanks to her stiff behavior. But Luka…

Himawari can see the determination sparks in his eyes when he tells her to get dressed, he seems to be so sure about getting her to the beach that his positive vibe has rubbed on her. Looking at herself in the mirror, the artist sighs one more time before putting on a light, floral cardigan and walking out to the living room.

“Let’s go.”

Blushing, Himawari accepts his offering hand and walks out to the beach with the guitarist, feeling the warmth of his palm against hers.

This…is…nice…

Walking side by side with Luka, she feels like her whole body is walking on air and her heart flutters in excitement. For the first time, the guitarist actually cares enough to stay behind and takes her with him. Normally, this spot is reserved for Marinette and she will just observe from afar, but this time…

“Hey! Over here!” Marinette screams, waving her hands at the pair.

They are having a beach volleyball game with Marinette and Adrien on one team while the two brunettes are on the other team. Mr. Dupain and his wife are lounging under the umbrella, taking their precious time to relax all the sour muscles after a week of work.

“Took you guys long enough, wanna do a quick warm-up before heading to the beach?”

“I, uh…”

“Sure!” he turns to Himawari, a smirk spreading on the handsome face “Hope you’re not a sour loser, Himawari!”

Oh dear…

She sighs and walks to Alya’s team while Luka turns to Marinette’s team. It's just a warm-up session, nothing to worry about… Right?

Boy, was she wrong…

The opponents don’t seem to understand the meaning of ‘warm-up’ as they fire at her team with full force, from Marinette to Adrien to Luka, they keep smashing the ball down onto the sand like crazy. Their inner athletic spirits are screaming out while Alya and Nino are freaking out because of all the roaring and screaming coming from their opponents.

Luka smirks, turning his attention to the raven head as she sighs again and jump-serves the ball again, this time, landing directly at the guitarist's spot as he easily receives it. Marinette jumps and hits the ball as hard as she can, knowing that her attack will score another point for her team. The brunette girl is not happy, mumbling under her breath about how crazy and obsessed her friends are at being the winner.

“Marinette, you have gone too far now!” she exclaims, feeling mad for not being able to catch the ball.

“Aww, come on! You’re no fun, Alya! Bring out your sport spirit!”

The raven head looks at her friend with an annoyed expression, feeling her body burn up with the passion of defeating her opponents and wiping up that smug smile of Luka. He has been looking at her with that silly face, even going as far as telling her not to be ‘the sour loser’.

“You…” she points at Marinette, who stops her victory pose and looks at her friend “You will be sorry, Marinette!”

“Game on girl!”

Pouting, Himawari swirls the ball in her hands before performing another jump serve. This time, the ball lands on the sand field immediately, so fast that the other three can’t even react. They look at her, astonished at her skill. Things are just getting interesting…

Another serve hits the sand as Himawari puts on her satisfied smile at their dumbfounded faces. Alya and Nino clap their hands, aiding their teammate through another set as the raven head keeps on scoring points and points for their team. Marinette is shocked when the other team is slowly catching up to them, all thanks to Himawari who is in her competing mood.

Amethyst orbs burn with passion when she tries to deliver the ball to Alya, over the net is Luka, jumping up to stop the ball. This is it…her greatest moment to show the older boy who is ‘the sour loser’, the ball is passed over to Alya and she hits it as hard as she can, scoring their victory point.

Turning to Luka, she smiles and holds out her hand.

“Hope you’re not a sour loser, Luka…”

He smirks, amused as she uses his comment against him. Not that he minds or anything, but the guitarist thinks her actions are very adorable when she shakes his hand, blushing cutely at him as she giggles.

After the warm-up session, Nino and Adrien run to the sea, followed by Alya and Marinette. The bluenette has tried to convince her friend to come along but Alya stops her, saying that they’re ruining the moment before leaving their friends on the shore.

Amethyst orbs gaze at the scene, sadly smiling to herself. Her friends look so happy, splashing each other and running around like little kids. Even Adrien has dropped all his ‘gentlemen’ looks and teased Marinette, which causes her to laugh and fire back at him. A sigh escapes her lips, she’d love to be down there with them but her thalassophobia is not helping the poor girl a single bit.

“Come with me…” Luka holds out his hand “Don’t worry, I’ll help you get through this.”

“It’s not that simple, Luka…”

“You don’t know if you don’t try. You can also stay near the shore if you want to.”

With that, he grabs her hand and pulls her to everyone, slowly and steadily so that the poor girl won’t freak out. Her whole body tenses immediately the moment she feels the cool waves splash against her feet, Himawari grips his hand tightly, swallowing hard when he turns to face her and holds both of her hands like a parent teaches the baby their first steps.

She looks at him and how her hands fit perfectly in his hold, it feels amazing…

The warmth of his big, calloused palms calms her down a little bit as she follows him further and further until the seawater reaches her knee. Luka stops and gives her a concerned look, he does not want to force her and is very thoughtful about her fear of the ocean, thus making him stop walking so that she can get used to the height of the seawater.

“How are you feeling?”

“I, I don’t know…”

“You are very brave, Himawari.” he smiles, gentle hands still holding hers “Don’t worry, I’m here for you.”

The raven head blushes and nods her head, she doesn’t know how to respond to that. Luka is so kind when he ignores his fun to help her instead and this makes her wonder whether he did the same thing with other girls beside her. Himawari is not surprised if he does, the guitarist is kind and gentle, and his calm and composed personality makes everyone want to rely on him, including her.

A big wave comes up and splashes against them as Himawari’s eyes open widely, panic rushes into her as she begins to experience lightheadedness and her heart begins to race. Her body freezes to the point where her feet start to numb and she grips tightly onto his hand, too afraid to let go.

“Himawari, are you okay?” he looks at her “Take a deep breath…hold…and… breathe out, easy now…”

Hearing his voice and following his instruction, the poor girl tries to get into the breathing exercise, her eyes close tightly as she tries to focus on the warmth of his hands. Deep and gentle as a breeze, his voice slowly turns into a lullaby that brings such calmness into her mind that helps Himawari to relax her grip on him.

“Are you okay? Do you want to go back?”

“I’m…I’m okay…”

Luka sees the hesitation in her voice and doesn’t want to take the risk, he asks again as he crunches down so that his eye level is the same as hers. Aqua color meets the deep amethyst orbs, sincerely concerned for her wellbeing. A small smile forms on her lips, Himawari nods her head again, telling him that she’s fine and just feeling a bit lightheaded but still wants to stand here a bit more.

Alya and Marinette spot the whole scene from afar and smirk to themselves, not understanding the situation at all. In their mind, they think that Luka and Himawari are having an ‘intimate moment’ while in reality, it is nothing of that. The boys have gone to a swimming competition, leaving them behind on the float as the girls are gossiping about a lot of things, including the story of how to bring their other two friends closer.

Marinette, feeling bored, decides to ‘steal’ her friend from Luka. Slowly approaching them, she smiles at the scene of how caring the guitarist is to Himawari before barging into their conversation.

“Hey, it’s getting hotter around here, right Himawari?”

“What?” the artist blushes, knowing what her friend is talking about “Where is everyone?”

“Oh, you know, just minding their own business. Come with me to the float, Himawari! Alya is waiting for you!”

She pulls her friend’s hand as the poor girl struggles to break free, completely freaking out at the sight of Alya and how far she is from the shore.

“Marinette, hold on, you can’t…”

“Come on! You have enough time with her already, Luka! Sharing is caring!”

While trying to tell Marinette that she’s not comfortable, none of them notice the figure slowly walk towards them before a scream erupts as Himawari is ‘ambushed’ by Alya. The brunette goes in at full force, circling the arms around her waist and throwing her into the sea, similar to how her cousin had done to her.

The girls laugh out loud, thinking that they have successfully pranked their friend but…

“What are you girls doing?”

Snapping at them, he runs to her side and pulls the raven head into his arms, letting her cough and catch her breath. The salty water hurts her eyes as Himawari tries to rub it off with her wet hands, whimpering at the discomforted feelings.

“Oh, we’re so sorry!” Marinette comes closer to her “We’re so sorry!”

“Hey, what happened?”

Nino and Adrien walk up to them, having witnessed everything from afar.

“Are you okay? Can you stand up?”

Helping her wipe off the salty water, Luka’s tone is full of concern when she doesn’t respond to his question. As Himawari slowly opens her eyes and sees her whole body sitting in the water, the unpleasant memories of her cousin’s prank come back to her mind and the girl begins to experience hyperventilation. Her breath goes faster and more rapidly, her heart begins to race, and tears form in her as the anxiety becomes overwhelming to the point her whole body freezes on the spot.

Guilt rises in Alya and Marinette as they realize how serious the situation is, the bluenette tries to talk to her friend but Luka stops her, saying that just leave Himawari some space rather than gather up around her.

“She has thalassophobia.”

“Oh no!”

The young designer lowers her head in shame, feeling so bad for putting a prank on her like that. Her friend is trembling in fear and none of them are able to do anything but just look at her, they want to help but none of them know what to do. Adrien bents down and tells her to breathe slowly while Luka holds onto her hand tightly because she has sought him, for his warm hand to calm her down.

“Let’s get you back!”

She nods her head, trying to stand up but due to the lingering fear, her legs give out and she finds herself in Luka’s arms.

“Can you stand up?”

Shaking her head, Himawari whimpers at how weak and miserable she is in front of her friend. The artist knows that she has caused them to be worried and guilted for pulling a prank on her and feels ashamed to even face them. Holding onto the older boy to hide her face, the raven head can feel her body heat up when Luka circles his arms around her. Lowering his voice to ask her, Himawari blushes as she nods her head at his offer.

The guitarist bends down a bit and lifts her up like she weighs nothing, walking back to the shore in front of their friend’s widened eyes. Marinette’s gaze follows them with a hint of jealousy and irritation. Luka doesn’t even bother to look at her, putting all his heart into tending the raven head. She frowns, keeping a fixed gaze on the pair without questioning how close they have become…

Luka…

Behind her are the longing emerald eyes as the model exhales heavily…

Chapter Text

Going back to the vacation house, the group rests a bit then go grab some food for dinner and before they know it, it’s already 8 PM.

Marinette and Alya have both apologized to their friend for pulling a dangerous prank on her but Himawari just smiles, telling them that she’s okay and it’s her fault for not saying anything about her thalassophobia. The apology session soon turns into a teasing talk as the brunette ‘nudge nudge’ and ‘wink wink’ at her friend, noting how Luka has not left her side since the incident. The raven head blushes, averting her eyes and hoping that the guitarist misses her friend’s comment.

“I think that he really likes you.”

“I’m not sure…” she smiles “I mean…”

Gazing at Marinette, she sighs. They all know Luka’s feelings for the bluenette except Marinette herself. It’s sad to see such a talented musician like him get caught in an unrequited love situation, although they don’t want to say this, Marinette has taken advantage of his feelings for her own good.

Seeing her friends’ looks on her, the designer frowns. They have told her many times that she’s as oblivious as Adrien and that’s not true. Alya has tried to drill in her head that Luka is in love with her but Marinette dismisses the idea, saying that her friend is crazy and he is just being nice. Himawari smiles at her friend’s sulked face, but before she can speak, Luka calls her to show her something.

Alya gives her a smug smile, singing how love is in the air as the raven head pouts before leaving her spot. Following her friend, the brunette notices an annoyed expression of Marinette and frowns at her. With the absence of Himawari, she turns to the bluenette with a serious face. Fixing her glasses, she looks at Marinette and begins her ‘investigation’.

“Marinette, what’s with the face?”

“What is it?”

“Tell me the truth, girl. Are you jealous?”

Jealous? What kind of question is that?

Marinette scoffs at the comment, thinking that her friend is trying to play with her mind about how obvious Luka’s feelings are for her.

“You’re being delusional!”

“Uh huh! I can hardly digest!” the glasses girl responds “Tell me, Marinette… Do you perhaps fall for Luka’s charm?”

“What? No! Alya, the only person I have my eyes on is Adrien and no one else!”

Alya smirks, feeling very proud of her friend’s statement. At least her friend knows the difference between admiring someone and falling in love with someone.

“Then why are you feeling annoyed at Himawari and Luka?” she continues “Shouldn’t you be happy for them?”

“I…well…” the bluenette stammers “I’m happy for them, I really do… It just… He doesn’t look at me the same way he used to look at me anymore…”

“What?”

“Well, he’s like a brother to me…” she lowers her head “This afternoon after Himawari’s incident, he didn’t even look at me…”

Alya slams her face with the notebook, hoping that her friend understands the fine line between friendship and lovers. Luka is slowly shifting his attention to Himawari and although he still has some feelings for the bluenette, it’s faded away as time goes on. Marinette has reassured her that she’s not that crazy to go after the guitarist and breaks her heart, she clearly knows her target and Adrien will always hold the number one spot in her heart.

“That’s the spirit girl, that’s how you do! But when will you confess?”

“Well…that…”

“Hey, Marinette!”

The bluenette startles, dropping her whole body on the floor in surprise. Clumsily standing up. Marinette awkwardly laughs as Alya shakes her head and leaves her two friends alone.

“Hey, uh…” scratching his head, Adrien bites his lips  “Uhm, do you want to hang out a bit?”

“S-sure, l-let me call Alya and N-?!”

“I mean, just the two of us, if you don’t mind…”

She stares at him, bluebell eyes widening to see a hand held in front of her. A smile forms on her lips as she accepts his offer, walking hands in hands with him while the blonde model takes her out for a night walk along the shore. No words can describe Marinette’s happiness when Adrien holds her hand tightly like that, but the more excited she is, the more she worries about what he wants to say to her. Maybe he needs advice on something?

Adrien smiles when the bluenette lets him hold her hand like that, it’s a nice feeling. They’re strolling along the shore, enjoying the cool breeze against their skin and each other’s company. Before leaving for this trip, Nathalie had told him to ‘go all out and confess your love to the girl’. He wants to do that, to declare his feelings for the designer and ask her to be his girlfriend. But he’s afraid, afraid that he can’t bring happiness to her the way Luka does.

As perfect as his life seems to be, Adrien has his own issues that he’s still unable to deal with. Stresses from his work, from keeping up with his father’s expectations, from maintaining his picture in the public eye, etc. If Marinette accepts to be his girlfriend, she will have to deal with all of these. Marinette is a great girl. She’s smart, kind-hearted, and full of determination, but none of that can help her deal with all of the problems that come along with dating Adrien Agreste.

“Adrien, is something wrong?”

Marinette turns to him, noticing the weird silence between them. Is he not comfortable walking with her? Did she do something wrong?

“Marinette…”

Does he want to tell her his feelings? Will she feel the same way?

“Are you okay?”

Now, alone, just the two of them, Marinette smiles and caresses his face in a gentle hold. She has never been the person who engages in these kinds of bold actions yet right now, seeing Adrien’s expression makes her feel like he’s just a teenage boy who has lost many things in his life. He lost his mom at a very young age, he lost his childhood due to his neglected father, he never had friends besides Chloe, and many more. Like a broken child, Adrien has never had a chance to find love, too afraid to lose someone as a friend and too afraid that his complicated life will hurt the one he loves.

Those who have lost many things in their lives experience the fear of being alone…

Adrien is afraid of loneliness. With everything that has happened in his life, the young model wishes nothing more than to experience happiness and love. Meeting everyone has shone lights of joyfulness into his life and meeting Marinette… Never before has Adrien felt the joy of love and it’s all thanks to her…

He sighs…This is it…The moment of truth…

“Marinette, I have something I want to tell you…”

“Yes? What is it?”

“I…”

Feeling the heat rushing in his body, Adrien bites his lips as he moves closer to her, close enough for the bluenette to feel his breath against her ears. Marinette flares up, feeling weak in her knees when he plants a kiss on her cheeks then pulls back, emerald orbs look straight into her bluebell eyes, full of hope, adoration, and…love…

Oh…

“I like you, I love you. Will you be my girlfriend?”

Marinette looks at him, she can imagine the beautiful fireworks shot behind her, the beautiful pink aura that she has seen in those romantic cartoons as the male character confesses his love.

She’s not dreaming, is she? If this is a dream then she wishes for this dream to never end…

But no…she can feel it…his touch on her skin…his eyes shining with love…his voice is still lingering on her ears…

Adrien…Adrien just confessed to her…

Her crush just said that he loves her…

“I…”

A hand wipes away the tears in her beautiful bluebell eyes. He caresses her cheek, such a soft and gentle touch like she’s the most delicate doll he has ever seen. She sobs a bit, unable to control the overflowed feelings as she touches his hand, rubbing against his palm. She has dreamt about this moment for so long and now, it’s finally coming true…

“I love you, too…” she smiles “And yes, I’ll be your girlfriend.”

Hearing this, Adrien sighs in relief. The tension on his shoulder has finally lifted off as the blonde model smiles. Marinette has accepted his love confession. Leans down to plant a kiss on her cheek then he looks at her, closing the gap between them. Feeling her soft lips against his,  Adrien promises to himself that he will do everything to protect her, their love, and their future…

Watching from afar, Himawari smiles when she sees her friends share a sweet moment together. Looking at the scene, the pencil in her hand moves up and down, the drawing of Adrien and Marinette kissing each other under the beautiful moonlight.

“Seems like Adrien finally has the courage to confess…”

Himawari startles when a soft, velvety blanket rests on her shoulder, shielding her away from the cool ocean breezes of the night. A cup of hot chocolate is held in front of her, and she smiles, accepting the warm cup and saying thank you to the person.

Plopping down next to her, Luka lounges on the seat with the guitar in his hand. Strumming on his guitar, Himawari closes her eyes as she listens to his melody. This time, she can feel the softness of the tune that suits the romantic scene in front of her so perfectly. Turning to Luka, the raven head expects him to be sad about the situation but his expression is the total opposite of what she believes. He looks so calm and peaceful like a weight has finally lifted off his chest.

“You don’t mind about this?” she asks, her voice full of concern.

“Why should I?”

“Uhm…well…”

“I like Marinette but…” he smiles, his eyes closing like he’s in a moment of realization “I don’t think my feelings for her are the same anymore. And I know that Adrien will take good care of her.”

She looks at him, admiring his strength to let go of someone he has loved in all these years. However, as she sips the hot chocolate, amethyst eyes snap open…

I don’t think my feelings for her are the same anymore…

What does that suppose to mean? Is he trying to say that he has fallen out of love with Marinette?

Turning to him, her face heats up as she sees his smug smile as he looks at her, observing. Blushing madly, she averts her gaze and tries to calm herself down by doodling on the sketchbook. He is teasing her, he is just teasing her…

Come on, Himawari! There’s no need for you to get all thrilled like that…

Focusing on her drawings, Himawari stops herself as something just pops into her mind. This afternoon when she went through a panic attack, Luka had been there to help her. He was amazing, aiding her through the breathing session without any hesitation as he has gone through it several times. She didn’t even have a chance to say thank you.

“Thank you for your help, Luka…”

He turns to her and raises a brow before realizing what she’s talking about.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to say thank you to me all the time, Himawari.”

“I don’t think that’s a possible solution.” she giggles.

She bites her lower lips, feeling uncomfortable yet curious at the same time. Luka is very skillful about helping people get through the panic attack and she can’t help herself but get all interested in how and where he learns to cope with them.

Would it be weird for her to ask him that? Would he feel comfortable telling her about it?

Sensing her curiosity, Luka chuckles. The girl has never failed to make him laugh, even at the smallest thing like her pouting expression. Thinking about what he has gone through in his life, Luka smiles to himself. There is a reason why he is very skillful in helping others get through panic attacks, Juleka and his mother have always been the victim of anxiety and depression, especially when ‘that person’ left them…

‘That person’…

Thinking about them makes his blood boil…

Himawari is still deep in her thoughts when she hears a loud, disturbing guitar sound coming from Luka. Turning her attention, the raven head is astounded when she sees the young guitarist's grimacing expression, his brows furrow, his teeth grit tightly, his hand grips the guitar like he’s going to break it…

“Luka?” she slowly opens her mouth “Are you okay?”

He snaps out of it and turns to her, smiling as if nothing has ever happened. Telling the girl to go back as the night gets colder, he retreats back to his room with Himawari’s gaze still following him.

Never before had she seen Luka this angry, so much that she could see that venomous glint in his aqua eyes, the similar expression when he helped her get away from the bullies. What is it that provokes him, making the guitarist this enraged? 

I might have to talk to Juleka about this…