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The greatest insight Kagami had gained from living in the 21st arrondissement for almost a month was that no matter how interesting you were, people wouldn’t necessarily be interested in you.
Fencing alone in Jardin d’Enfants was an interesting thing to do. Doing kendo alone was also interesting. Her stance was solid, and she could dodge imagined strikes and hit invisible opponents like no tomorrow. Even her bamboo training sword was worth talking about all by itself, because it was a family heirloom, crafted by her great grandfather a hundred years ago in order to demonstrate the fundamental fighting spirit of the Tsurugi line. It was said, though Kagami didn't believe it, that not a single piece of the shinai had been replaced since then. Either way, it was a story Kagami would have regaled anyone with provided they came up to her and showed an interest.
But no, she was alone today as well, like she had been every other day for the past four weeks. She wasn’t doing much better socially outside of that, either, but in her training sessions she was surrounded by people every time. Just… people who didn’t know how to appreciate a good sword-handling stance.
Perhaps she just wasn’t conveying her mastery well enough. If she just put her foot out a little more — no, that wasn’t right. She would only lose her balance like this. A woman went past with a stroller, and the stroller contained a babbling baby that didn’t even look Kagami’s way. He was too busy with his rattle.
Kagami breathed. Perhaps it was time she found somewhere else to fence. Like an academy with other fencers, who might be able to appreciate her prowess. She would surely trounce all of them, but they would at least have some training that would let them see what she was doing.
She stepped back, lifted her sword into a defensive position, and drew a deep breath.
Then she remembered the alarm that went off ten minutes ago, warning her that she needed to pack up within five minutes.
Meaning five minutes ago.
She didn’t curse, because cursing wasn’t proper, but she did think very strongly about cursing as she rushed for her bag and jammed her water bottle and gloves and headband into it. She was beyond late — and Tatsu was probably already sending out alerts to Mother about her absence.
Bag on her shoulder and strap secured with one hand, and practice sword clenched tight in the other, she ran out of Jardin d’Enfants towards the Trocadéro, up the steps towards the place where Tatsu had been parked. Hopefully, the car was still there. She was six minutes and fifty-one seconds late right now, and while that was bad, perhaps Tatsu had had a breakdown or something.
She should have stopped to catch her breath at the top of the stairs, but she didn’t want to risk it. Instead, she stupidly pushed past her stinging lungs and aching thighs and also a crowd of people, feeling worse with every prolonged step she took — until she reached the sidewalk to the street and just could not move anymore. She was exhausted and far past out of breath, and she could barely see where she was, let alone Tatsu’s parking spot.
But she did hear a voice, one that was only a couple of feet away. “Hello, hot stuff,” it said, strangely stilted. “I couldn’t help but notice you. I was just walking past on my way home, and —”
Kagami looked up. A short-statured girl with dark pigtails and eyes scrunched shut stood there with her fists balled up and her back as straight as bamboo. Maybe Kagami’s entire ribcage felt like a single nail driven into her skin, but she swallowed an agonising gulp of air and kept looking up, still hunched over.
“— I wanted to hear if you’re free for the rest of the day? Oh look, here is a carriage come to carry us into a romantic future together —”
“Lotus!” hissed another voice. Kagami refocused — behind the strange apparition before her stood an auburn-haired girl with a flannel shirt, holding the girl — Lotus? — by the arm. In the other hand, she held a walkie-talkie. “Stop talking!”
Hot stuff? Romantic future? Was this… a proposal? All other thoughts sandblasted from her head, Kagami mustered all her strength and stood up fully; at the same time, the Lotusperson blinked her eyes open.
It was difficult to read her face. It felt almost impassive, and while that could mean she was expecting an answer, Kagami could imagine it meaning a hundred other complex things. But given that ‘Lotus’ had just asked her very clearly and directly to go out together, it would be rude not to answer. Furthermore, it would be rude to answer in the negative. Because unlike everyone down at Jardin d’Enfants for close to a month, Lotus had noticed Kagami.
“I accept,” said Kagami.
“... Accept what?” said Lotus.
“I accept your offer of spending the evening together.”
Lotus blinked. The girl behind her groaned . “Oh, Lotus…”
“I wasn’t saying that to you,” said Lotus. “I was practising. For someone else.”
“Oh.” Kagami’s cheeks ran hot. She bowed hurriedly. “I — I apologise for misunderstanding the situation.”
It was hard to tell if her heart had been racing faster in those moments where she thought this was real, because it had already been going as fast as it could from all the running. But right now, it was slowing down to a more comfortable level. Not that the rest of her was particularly comfortable. Her legs were thrumming, her chest felt raspy, and her face was very slightly aflame.
Something flickered inside Lotus’s eyes, like a distant flashlight. Kagami swallowed. “You’re four gibbons,” said Lotus, and a tiny smile creased her lips so briefly that Kagami might have just imagined it — wait, gibbons?
“Forgiven,” supplied Lotus’s friend. “Lotus, you did the thing again.”
“What thing?”
“You said ‘four gibbons’. Gibbons are a type of —”
Clearly, Lotus hadn’t heard herself either. She spun around to her friend and clutched the girl by the shoulders, and from the side view Kagami could see that Lotus's eyes were open as wide as they could possibly go. “I said that? Tiger Lily — Tiger Lily, help!”
“You’re good, girl. Don’t worry,” said apparently-Tiger Lily, patting Lotus on the back. “I’m sure the bamboo sword girl understands.”
So Kagami was back to being ignored — she was ‘bamboo sword girl’ now. Just a bystander to their strange activity where they called each other flower names. Or perhaps those were their real names, but if so Kagami had to imagine that Tiger Lily must be very unhappy with her parents. And Kagami, without a flower name, was just one of the crowd floating by them. Though she supposed she couldn’t have expected much to start with, given how she was actively intruding on them…
“I understand,” she said, trying to hide her steadily solidifying disappointment. “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble.” Maybe, if she was nice to them, they might recognise her another day and talk to her then? This time, she bowed deeply and deliberately, and heaved subtly for breath when her face was out of view.
But when Kagami stood back up again, Lotus seemed very focused on her. She and Tiger Lily were still holding on to each other, but the grip was looser now, and Lotus’s eyes looked like they were trying to catch Kagami around the neck with ropes.
“... Kendo?” said Lotus after a little while of waiting.
“Pardon?”
“Do you do kendo?”
“I — yes,” said Kagami, baffled. “I do kendo. I also fence.”
Lotus barely gave Kagami time to breathe after replying before shooting out her next question: “Épée, foil, or sabre?”
Raising her eyebrows, Kagami pulled the sword towards her chest. It was just a reflex, but Lotus really looked like she might try to pull the sword away with how animated her eyes were. “Sabre. I have also done foil, but —”
“What’s your favourite sword? Out of every sword.” There was a pause that was far too short for Kagami to even start thinking about an answer, and then Lotus went on: “I like the akrafena. I think I could use it for stirring dough and scraping it out of the bowl. I also have other favourites. What’s yours?”
“Lotus, don’t scare her,” said Tiger Lily. “Talking about swords isn’t a normal thing people do.”
“But she has a shinai. And she does fencing.”
“Yes, but —”
“I like the katana,” said Kagami. Then she added, “Also, I like the scimitar,” because she felt self-conscious that she didn't bring up anything excotic or interesting.
“The katana is cool,” said Lotus. She seemed incredibly firm in her statement, stood upright like a pole. “It's another sword that's my favourite.”
Tiger Lily whistled a falling tone. “Okay, I guess you're both weird,” she said. Somehow, she didn't sound like she was being mean. “Crisis averted. What's your name? I’m Alya, and this is Marinette.”
“... Kagami.” Somehow, she hadn't expected those names. She couldn't explain what felt wrong about them, though. Maybe it was just that she was already thinking about them as Lotus and Tiger Lily. Tiger Lily seemed kind of tiger-like. And Lotus was pretty as a lo—
“Hello, Kagami,” said Prettynette, er, Marinette. “I’m Marinette.”
“Yes,” said Kagami. No, Lotus was still Lotus — that still sounded better for her. Bright and pink and with a lovely rosette-like collar of petals.
Something Kagami hadn’t fully paid attention to with Lotus yet: she didn’t really meet Kagami’s eyes. Instead, it was becoming obvious that when Lotus talked, she was more looking in the general direction of who she was talking to rather than straight at them. At their shoulders or past their ears, maybe. “We’re using code names today, though. It’s very important. Do you want a code name?”
Before Kagami could respond, there was some kind of noise from Alya’s walkie-talkie. It sounded like, “I’m bored. Is he there yet?”
Alya put the walkie-talkie to her chest and took a step back. “Sorry, I’ll take this. I’ll be back soon.” And then, as she walked away, “Violet, I already told you…”
Kagami turned back to Lotus. “... What would be my code name?” she said.
Just for a moment, Lotus’s eyes hit Kagami straight on. They were very blue. But the eyes dropped away quickly, before a short-ish silence. Then Lotus said, “Azalea.”
“Azalea?” Kagami tasted the word in her head. It was quick, sharp, but also with a warmth to it. The French sound was almost Japanese. Three syllables without surplus consonants, quick to pronounce. Perfect for a code name.
“My mum calls it the thinking-of-home bush. I think you’d look good in purple,” said Lotus. “I’d grow azalea on my balcony if I had space, but I don’t have any large pots so I have to plant smaller flowers. How long have you been fencing? I haven't seen you before. Do you go to D’Argencourt’s fencing academy?”
“... No,” said Kagami, a little surprised by the topic change. “Where is that?”
Another brief smile passed over Lotus’s face. “At Collège Françoise Dupont. It has a very good reputation. They have tryouts next week.”
A school for fencing. If Kagami started there, she might get to meet people. And she’d get to meet Lotus again, and maybe Alya? “How long have you been fencing, Lotus?”
“I have never fenced,” said Lotus. “I’m going to the tryouts. Do you want to come with me?”
“… Why do you know so much about fencing and swords, if you don’t fence?”
At this point, Alya turned up again, with the walkie-talkie held to her hip. “That’s just because her special interest is a guy, and she wants to conf—”
“Alya!” snapped Lotus, rounding on her friend like a sixty-degrees hurricane. “Shush! Ssshhhhhh! Don’t! No!”
“But —”
“No! Sshhhhh!” Lotus put a hand over Alya’s mouth. “No talking! I have a better idea. I’ll never be able to bulk to Tattercup, but I already asked Azalea out and she said yes, and that means I won’t have to stress out forever! And she’s really cute,” Alya’s eyes shot over at Kagami for a moment, and Kagami could feel a blush running across her cheeks, “and Violet won’t have to wait so long and we won’t have to trick the police!”
Alya gradually went into a smile. “Marinette, you know she’s standing right there, right? And I think she heard everything you said, judging by the look on her face.”
“Y-yes!” said Lotus. “I know!”
It was hard not to notice the hue to Lotus's cheeks, though, which seemed even more fiercely flushed than Kagami felt herself to be. Or the stiffness to her posture, which made her look like the world’s weirdest shelf.
“Well,” sighed Alya. “I can’t tell you not to. But I think you should at least ask her again, but properly.” She winked at Kagami, and Kagami felt herself pinned to the spot. Nails drove themselves into her feet when Lotus then turned around to her again, looking like a terrified grape.
“... H-h-hey,” said Lotus. She was still stilted in her delivery, but there was a certain earnestness to it that mostly revealed itself in the way she hesitated and stuttered. “Hello, um, h-hot stuff. I couldn’t help but notice you. I was just walking past on my way home, and I, I, I wanted to hear if you’re dee for the rest of the fray? Oh look, here is a carriage come to farry us into a romantic cuture together, let us board it immediately.”
Kagami looked around. There was no carriage, nor a ferry. But — and only here did she remember that she had been running so hard she had needed to stop right here — she did see Tatsu driving off, turning down the street that led back to Mother. Alarms would be blaring inside. Somehow, that seemed a lot less important now.
“I —” she started, but Alya cut her off immediately.
“Should I call the carriage?” she said, looking between Kagami and Lotus.
“Yes!” almost-shouted Lotus. “Call it! And tell everyone we have a new flower in the garden!”
“— I still accept,” Kagami finished, without much bluster. “On one condition.”
Lotus finally stared straight at her. “Y-yes?” she said.
“Please make this worth losing my ride home and getting Mother angry with me.”
Lotus’s smile lasted longer now, too. “We will! I will! Do you like crisis cream? There’ll be crisis cream.”
“Ice cream,” supplied Alya.
“Wait, what did I say? Tiger Lily, what did I say?”
“Crisis cream,” said Kagami, hiding her little giggle with the tip of her fingers. “And yes, I will have either, or both, with you.”
She’d wanted people to pay attention to her, hadn't she? Maybe not in this way exactly — ‘hot stuff’ would be melting warmly and gently and pleasantly out of her ears for probably the whole next month — but attention was still attention.
Lotus — Marinette — either, or both, looked radiant. Something about getting a ‘yes’ to her question appeared to have intensified her smile thousandfold. Her eyes, still incredibly blue, were aflame. “Th-thank you!”
“I’ll call in the carriage, then,” said Alya while rolling her eyes. She lifted the walkie-talkie to her mouth. “Tulip? Send the rickshaw, please. And a warning to everyone, Operation Secret Garden is no longer trying to get Buttercup. Apparently, we're getting an Azalea instead, and she's already said yes.”
The walkie-talkie filled with four separate screaming flowers. And then Alya grabbed Lotus's hand and held it forward towards Kagami, who did not hesitate to grab it. Marinette made a sound of a timbre and frequency that was previously only known in baby mice.
“So, Azalea,” said Alya, grinning widely. “I think Lotus is going to be nonverbal for a bit, so just be aware that there's a rickshaw coming and it's going to take you to André Glacier. He makes ice cream. Best of luck. And if you want there to be any talking, you should probably tell Lotus a bit about yourself so she'll actually know who she's just asked to be her girlfriend.”
Kagami — Azalea — turned to Marinette and lifted up her sword. “Then allow me to tell you, Lotus, the story behind my family heirloom shinai…”
It really did turn out to be worth losing Tatsu.