The new school year starts tomorrow and Marinette is beyond nervous. A lot has happened over the summer; she got into huge trouble with the whole Adrien situation and got her devices taken away, attended some much needed therapy sessions, everything going on with Lila (it's gotten somewhat tame here lately), she joined a band, finally kickstarted her 'Back To School' collection on the MDC website, and now her current dilemma is starting out the new school year in a brand new classroom without any of her friends from Bustier's. Yippity freaking skippity.

     From what Adrien had told Marinette a few days ago, his friend Kagami was transferring into DuPont and is going to be in the same class as her. Perhaps this could be the perfect time to apologize to Kagami for what happened in the past. If Kagami were to turn down Marinette's hand in friendship, she wouldn't blame her one bit.

     Today Marinette was attending another therapy session with Ms. Gardner, coloring in a new design she had just recently came up with a few hours ago.

     "So Marinette, I heard that you're going to be starting up a new year in school soon. Are you excited?" Mary-Jane asked her.

     "I'm more nervous than I am excited," Marinette responded, "I'm worried Lila might try something again...she's been too quiet here lately..."

     "Ah, I see. So you're more worried about Lila than you are Chloé?"

     Marinette nodded, "I actually ran into Chloé the other day while helping Luka out with delivering stuff. She was surprisingly nice to me, though it seemed she was annoyed by something...or someone by the name of Zoé."

     "Zoé?" Mary-Jane raised an eyebrow.

     "It wouldn't surprise me if she turns out to be Chloé's secret long lost sister. Audrey Bourgeois strikes me as the type of person who cheats on her husband, if you know what I mean," Marinette said in a joking tone.

     "It would be unprofessional of me to respond to your statement," Mary-Jane chuckled a bit, "But I can see where you're going with that."

     "Ironically enough, Chloé actually put in a commission on my website for her and Sabrina to have matching Ladybug and Chat Noir dresses. I just simply told her to come over to my house with Sabrina and I'll take their measurements," Marinette shrugged slightly, "As long as they don't bring up Lila, I'm sure everything will be fine."

     "Just remember to get plenty of rest and take frequent breaks when you can," Mary-Jane said in a slightly stern tone.

     Marinette nodded, "I will, Ms. Gardner, I will. Now, would you like to see some new designs I came up with?"

—

     Patrolling with Chat Noir in the afternoons here lately has become oddly relaxing for Ladybug. He's toned it down on the flirting a whole lot since summer started, but unfortunately that only came with an increasing amount of cat puns. At least she isn't getting called 'Bugaboo' as much, so that's been pretty nice.

Reflecting on what Chat vented to her only two weeks ago, Ladybug has came to the conclusion that Chat Noir is most definitely a student at Francois DuPont. But who exactly could he be?

Nino? From what Ladybug heard from Rose he was too busy with preparing a new soundtrack to play at Lila's supposed 'Back to school' party. Kim? He's dating Ondine now, who is a massive upgrade from his previous crush. Ivan? Can't be Ivan, he's loyal to Mylene. Adrien? He's-

Wait, Alya had told her a few months ago that Adrien does kind of look like Chat Noir (the edit didn't exactly help her case out any, but now looking back on it he does look similar to her feline partner). Also Adrien has been directly involved with the whole Lila situation since the start and is on Ladybugs side, so that could be how he knows about what has been going on at her school. There has also been several instances where Chat was actually informed on certain akuma-related situations (victims, whereabouts) before she found out.

It all really added up now....Adrien might be Chat Noir...And if her suspicions were correct, that would mean that one of her friends had a huge crush on her alter-ego self. If Adrien was really Chat Noir, then she and him are going to have a long discussion about his past behavior.

     As for what she's going to tell Master Fu....that conversation is going to have to be postponed until after the first day of school. Confronting Chat Noir about his secret identity is also going to have to wait until she talks to Master Fu about this. Oh boy....that sure was going to be one interesting discussion.

     Yippity fucking skippity...

—

"Tikki, I know I'm not suppose to ask you these types of questions, but at least please be honest about this one thing for me; is Adrien Chat Noir?" Marinette asked her as she worked on a new commission.

"Why are you asking me if Adrien is Chat Noir?" Tikki tilted her head, faking a confused expression on her face.

Marinette shrugged, "I have a strong suspicion that Adrien is Chat, Tikki. You remember when Chat vented to me about the whole Lila situation on the rooftop two weeks ago?"

Tikki nodded, "Yes, I do in fact remember that conversation. But are you sure that Adrien is Chat Noir?"

"Either Adrien Agreste is Chat, which there is a high possibility that he is my feline partner, or if it's someone else, I know for sure that it's someone who I go to school with and who is in Mrs. Bustiers' class," Marinette responded in a firm tone, "Even if my suspicions were still correct, I wouldn't want Chat to get his miraculous revoked. You probably do know who Chat Noir is, Tikki, so that's why I asked you if Adrien was indeed Chat Noir."

"And you know that I'm not allowed to give out that type of information," Tikki added on.

Marinette slightly nodded, "That's why I plan on asking Master Fu tomorrow right after school. I know it's a risky move to make, but I've already came up with a plan that can guarantee that Chat still gets to keep his miraculous. After all, I wouldn't be able to protect Paris without him, regardless of who is underneath the mask."

Tikki smiled a bit, "But what exactly are we going to do about the temporary heroes?"

"Alya and Nino I'm still on the fence with, as I have chosen to give them both a clean slate to work with starting from the beginning of the new school year tomorrow and onwards. I forgive them for what happened over the summer (as well as everyone else), but if they want to become temporary heroes again they're going to have to realize on their own that Lila isn't who she makes herself out to be. Now Chloé I'm still debating on rather or not I want to have her be Queen Bee again. She's just too....unpredictable...." Marinette said, pondering over the last bit, "But Master Fu said I should trust my intuition, so I'm just going to wait and see how she presents herself when we go back to school."

"Marinette, you are a fantastic Ladybug, don't you ever forget that," Tikki said as she patted Marinette on the back.

Marinette smiled, "But there's one more thing I would like to bring up to Master Fu, and I know it does go against the rules...but I want to tell my parents that I'm Ladybug."

"And you have every reason to do so, but if Hawkmoth finds out that they know you're Ladybug..."

"It will put them at greater risk for akumatizations, I know, but if I could possibly find a way to prevent them from getting alumatized...." Marinette mumbled the last part underneath her breath, "Wait, you're the Kwami of Creation...so that means that I could possibly use my powers as Ladybug to come up with some sort of charm that prevents akumatizations..."

"Your powers are limitless, Marinette, and that also applies to Chat Noir and any other miraculous holder. If you could somehow manage to figure out a way to create something that prevents people from getting akumatized by Hawkmoth, then that will be a huge game changer," Tikki said as Marinette nodded.

"I'm going to lie down and get some rest for the night. After all, we can't be late for the first day of school tomorrow?" Marinette placed down her sewing supplies and headed over to turn off her bedroom lights, "Goodnight, Tikki."

"Goodnight, Marinette."