Kagami caught Adrien as he was headed out of the school. It was Saturday which meant Adrien was probably off to a photo shoot. Or maybe he was sneaking off to a bakery. She knew his dad was strict about what he could eat.
He stopped on the steps outside after hearing her call his name.
Kagami hurried over, but found herself at a loss for words. She stood there in front of Adrien speechless.
"Is everything okay, Kagami?"
"Yeah," she managed to squeak.
"I thought you didn't want to talk to me."
"You're not the only one who made a mistake," she admitted, shifting on her feet.
Adrien looked over at the bus stop across the street. "I was going to get some coffee. Come with me?"
She nodded, thankful for the reprieve from the conversation. What she was about to do would be hard, but she needed to do it.
Kagami and Adrien caught the next bus and rode in silence into downtown London. Kagami stared out the window. They were still a few miles away when Adrien leaned over and said,
"I heard this song the other day I thought you would like."
"Really?" Kagami's face crinkled into a smile.
"I almost sent it to you."
Her expression faded. "Yeah, I haven't made it easy for anyone to talk to me."
"I made a lot of mistakes too, Kagami. I should never have kissed Marinette when I was dating you."
She swallowed the hard lump in her throat. "I'm sure you know I manipulate Lila into spreading those rumors about Marinette so you would break up."
Kagami couldn't read his facial expression.
"Yeah, I know," he finally said. "But I made my own mistakes with Marinette. I should never have submitted her designs to my father's internship program." Adrien rested his head in his hands. "I think we might've had a chance, even with the rumors, if I hadn't done that."
Kagami rested her hand on Adrien's knee. "Maybe you still have a chance. Have you tried talking to her?"
Adrien shook his head. "I can't. I can't face her."
I know, Kagami thought. Neither can I.
But she had to. Adrien wasn't the only one she owed an apology.
"I'm so sorry, Adrien. For everything."
"Me too."
The bus rolled to a stop. Adrien stood and waited for Kagami, but she shook her head. "I have something else I need to do back at school," she said.
"At least let me pay for your ticket then," Adrien offered. "It's my fault you got on the bus in the first place."
Kagami smiled at him. "No more apologies? Let's start fresh."
Adrien paused, his hand halfway in his backpack. "Okay. Friends?"
"Always friends."
***
Back at school, Kagami wandered the halls. She had gone to Marinette's dorm room, but no one had answered. Where could she be?
The sewing room! Kagami turned on her heel and headed away from the cafeteria. If Marinette wasn't there, then she was out somewhere and she'd have to wait until tonight to talk to her.
Sure enough, Marinette was in the sewing room. She hunched over one of the machines, hands guiding what looked like a bag under the needle.
Sweat covered her forehead, and her shoulders were tensed.
"Marinette?"
The machine was so loud, Marinette didn't hear her.
"Marinette?" Kagami said loudly.
Marinette jerked up and looked around. Surprise crossed her face when she saw Kagami.
"Hi." She sat up straight and rolled her shoulders.
Kagami wondered how long Marinette had been at it.
"So, what's up?" Marinette rested her hands on her knees, leaning down in her seat.
"I'm sorry." Kagami's lip trembled. "I'm sorry I made Lila spread those rumors about you, and then went after Adrien once you'd broken up."
Marinette shrugged. "It's not like you forced Adrien to break up with me."
"No, but I helped." Kagami hung her head.
Marinette sighed and looked away before turning her gaze on Kagami again. "I'm sorry about the kiss."
"That was definitely not your fault," Kagami protested. It wasn't like Marinette had gone after Adrien. He had chased her down and kissed her while they were still dating.
"I know but I still feel wrong."
"I know we can't be friends again. But I didn't want to leave Clifton without apologizing."
"I appreciate it, Kagami." Marinette leaned back in her seat. "What are you doing after graduation?"
Kagami grimaced. "Attending University of Tokyo on a fencing scholarship."
"Wow, that's really exciting."
"I'm sick of fencing," she muttered. Kagami stopped short, surprised she'd finally admitted it to someone.
"Why don't you quit? You could try something new."
Quit? Quitting fencing and never once crossed Kagami's mind. Mother had always said the Tsuguri family weren't quitters. But she was so sick of fencing. Kagami would rather do anything else.
"I'm sure you'll figure out the right thing." Marinette went back to her sewing.
Kagami said goodbye and left the room, still wondering what the right thing was.
***
Chloe sat across from Luka at the coffee shop where she'd first heard him play. It seemed like such a long time ago, especially with graduation looming so closely.
Graduation meant they were running out of time save Marinette's family bakery. Before long they'd all be in different parts of the world, doing different things.
Chloe curled her hand around her coffee mug. She wasn't normally sentimental, but the thought of letting this go made her want to cry.
These friends had been everything to her the past two years. They'd had ups and downs but eventually she'd discovered they had each other's backs no matter what.
"Chloe?" Luka asked softly.
She realized a tear had dribbled down her cheek. It plopped into her coffee as she scrambled to wipe the rest of it away.
"Are you okay?"
"I'm just going to miss this," she said, her voice thick with emotion.
"Yeah me too." He smiled, brushing away a few strands of blue hair dangling in front of his eyes.
"So," Chloe cleared her thoughts of any emotion. They had a job to do. "Tell me about this idea."
Luka leaned forward with a conspiratorial grin on his face. "How about a benefit concert? It would attract tons of people to the bakery. I already talked to my agent and Jagged— I mean my dad."
"You mean Jagged would perform too?"
Luka nodded. "We'd sing together. The public can't get enough of us together, and my dad would draw a bigger crowd than I could."
Chloe mulled it over. "I think it might work. Alya could probably get an ad in the paper she worked for over the summer."
"My agent said he could promote it without Marinette finding out. She's so busy, I'll bet she wouldn't see any ads anyway."
"You're right about that," Chloe agreed. "What if Sabine catered it? I could place the order so she doesn't know it's for the concert. I'm sure our friends wouldn't mind helping set stuff out."
"That's genius, Chloe. What better way to promote the bakery?" His eyes sparkled.
Chloe raised her mug to her lips.
"I feel terrible, Chloe. I really misjudged you when we first met."
"It's fine. I'm not the easiest person to befriend."
"I'm glad you're my friend."
Chloe took another sip of her coffee to hide her red cheeks.
They soon finished and decided to head back to school together, but before they got to the bus stop, it started to rain. Chloe and Luka ran for the nearest overhang, which happened to be an awning in front of a convenience store.
They huddled beneath it, waiting for the rain to clear. Chloe held out her hand, feeling the cool raindrops in her palm.
"I don't think it's clearing anytime soon," she said. She hated the thought of running for the bus stop but they might need to if it was going to rain like this all day.
"Well, I guess this is the perfect time to do this." Luka wrapped his arm around Chloe's waist and tipped her back.
She felt his lips brush gently over hers and then he quickly released her.
"Sorry. I should have asked if that was okay."
"It was definitely okay." Chloe smiled shyly. She stood on her tiptoes and kissed Luka's cheek.
Finally, another update. Getting so close to the end!!!! Also Luchloe kiss!!!!!!!!!!