A LITTLE CHAT

Chapter Four

Saturday dawned rainy and grey.

For the first time in a very, very long time, Nathalie Sancoeur woke up with a splitting headache. Her glasses were tossed carelessly on the end table of her small, spartan living room. Her blazer was absent, her blouse and skirt in disarray; her hose and heels were God-knew-where, and she was sprawled in an ungainly heap on her leather sofa. An empty bottle of wine stood on the lacquered table before her.

Sitting up gingerly and wincing, she rubbed her head, letting out a low groan.

A hangover.

Her boss' son, the boy whose life it was her job to micromanage, was missing, possibly dead, and she had spent the entire night getting drunk alone in her living room. A living room she rarely ever saw; most of the time, she lived in a suite at the Agreste mansion, but she maintained her own separate apartment for personal reasons.

She stood unsteadily, weaving her way through the apartment, shedding clothes as she approached her bathroom. She unpinned her hair and turned on the shower, letting the water get hot before stepping into the spray and tilting her head back. The heat soothed away the aches from her awkward slumber and ebbed away the throbbing in her head. As the pain in her head slowly faded, she took time to lather up her body and hair with shampoo and body wash, then slowly, laboriously scrubbed every millimeter of herself clean. Satisfied and far less foggy-headed, she stepped out of the shower, wrapping a large terrycloth towel around herself and plugging in her hair dryer.

As she dried herself off, she contemplated the day ahead of her.

With Adrien missing, there wasn't much for her to do. Gabriel was incommunicado.

She effectively had the day off.

That notion didn't appeal to her. Not with things the way they were.

Her ablutions finished, she returned to her bedroom to get dressed. She started to take down one of her usual suits for the day, but stopped with a frown. Shaking her head, she assembled a casual outfit—jeans, a pullover sweatshirt, socks, and tennis shoes—and tied her hair back in a loose ponytail. She gathered up her wallet, phone, glasses, and keys, then left her apartment, mulling over possible morning destinations in her mind. Seeing that it was drizzling, she went back for her umbrella.

Going to the mansion was...not appealing.

Anywhere Adrien normally hung out...

Her stomach rumbled. She frowned.

There was a boulangerie, one owned by the parents of a friend of Adrien's.

Nathalie nodded firmly, her first stop of the day decided.

* * * * *

"Chat Noir...wake up, Chat Noir..."

Chat Noir snored more loudly, curling up around a pillow.

Marinette giggled, shaking her head, then poked him with the folded bamboo umbrella. "Come on, you silly cat, wake up already!"

Chat Noir groaned and rolled over on his back, peering at her with bleary green eyes. "It's too early," he complained.

"I know, but we want to get the Saturday Special before the customers come in and buy them all up," Marinette said. With an impish smirk, she added, "We can both go back to sleep after we eat."

Chat Noir yawned, shuffling to his feet. "Okay, okay," he said. He stretched. "So what's this Saturday Special?"

"Well, that's the fun part," Marinette said. "It's never the same thing twice. Mama pretty much decides what it's going to be on the spot and makes enough for us plus about the first twenty customers, but if I don't get downstairs in time, she sells mine too."

"Ouch."

There was a knock on the door. It lifted a bit, and Sabine poked her head in. "Good morning, you two!"

"Morning, Mama," Marinette said. "I was just telling the lazy kitty here about the Saturday Special."

Sabine chuckled. "Well, we'll probably have plenty of those this morning, with this rain." She sighed. "It's going to be a slow day. Anyway, Chat Noir, would you come downstairs for a minute? I have something for you."

"For me?" Chat Noir asked, blinking. He glanced at Marinette, who shrugged. Frowning, he followed Sabine downstairs.

Sabine took a folded bundle out of a closet and presented it to him with a serious look. "Yesterday, when I went out to run an errand, I picked up a few clothes that would fit you like you are now," she said. "I'm guessing you probably need clothes, right?"

Chat Noir grimaced. "Kinda, yeah," he said. "I, uhh...the clothes I was wearing when this happened to me didn't shrink with me, and they're folded up in that gym bag I borrowed from Monsieur Dupain."

"I see," Sabine said. "Well, it isn't much, but they're clean, they should fit, and there's...there's also a baseball cap and some sunglasses, in case you're that dead set on hiding your identity from Marinette." She didn't bother to hide the disapproval in her tone.

Chat Noir sighed. "Thank you," he said. "It...it would be nice to not be Chat Noir all the time while I'm like this. And...and I'm going to tell her today." He grimaced. "First chance I get." His stomach growled. "Maybe...after breakfast?"

Sabine laughed. "Alright. Go get changed and washed up first. That—Kwami, was it?—of yours would probably like to eat too."

Chat Noir winced. "Yeah, Plagg's gonna kill me for letting him go this long without...yeah." He accepted the clothes, then headed for the restroom. As soon as he broke his transformation, he looked at the somewhat irritated Plagg and sighed. "I'm sorry," he said.

Plagg snorted. "Better feed me good, kid."

"I will, I will," Adrien said as he began unfolding the clothes and checking them against his small frame. "Umm...would you go up to Marinette's room and warn her that I'm not Chat Noir right now? But tell her I'm still going to...not quite tell her who I am yet."

Plagg rolled his eyes. "Sure, why not." He zipped through the door. Adrien shook his head and dressed himself. He looked at himself in the mirror, adjusted his new clothes a bit here and there, and put on the cap and sunglasses Sabine had given him.

"Well...I guess it'll hold until breakfast is over," he decided with a sigh. Taking a deep breath, he left the bathroom and headed downstairs. A minute later, Marinette joined him, Plagg floating in lazy circles around her head. She looked him up and down, her head cocked curiously. "So...you changed back, but you're still hiding your identity, huh?"

Adrien grimaced. "After breakfast," he said. "Just...after breakfast."

"Okay," Marinette said, brow furrowed. He could see it in her eyes—Ladybug's mind at work, catching something out of place, threading it together.

"More importantly, I'm looking forward to this Saturday Special thing," Adrien said with a grin. Marinette giggled, and they headed for the back of the boulangerie floor, where Tom was slaving over the hot ovens and Sabine was...

Adrien frowned. "What in the world...?"

Sabine was hollowing out baguettes and stuffing the crusts with cheese omelettes, shredded fried potatoes, and crumbled sausage. She saw them walk in and smiled. "It's such a miserable morning I thought I'd go with something a little more American today," she said. "I mean, who's going to do anything in this mess anyway? And it's supposed to do this most of the day."

"Wow, that's...a lot of food for breakfast," Adrien said.

Sabine shrugged. "Once in a while, non?"

Marinette giggled. "That's the thing about the Saturday Special," she said. "Sometimes it's a fruit pastry, sometimes it's a bagel—Papa isn't very happy with the bagel ones, but at least Mama can make them taste decent—and sometimes it's dinner in a crust of bread."

"And sometimes it's a disaster," Tom said jovially. "Remember when you decided to try a Japanese recipe for your Saturday Special, dear?"

Sabine cringed. "That...was not my best moment," she said. She finished stuffing two crusts and plating them, then handed them to the kids. "Here you go," she said. "I think given the rain and everything, I'm just going to make these to-order today."

Marinette and Adrien sat down on the steps with their breakfast, Plagg hovering expectantly nearby. Sabine noticed him and called out, "Plagg, was it? I'm making a cheese omelette just for you if you'll be patient."

"Ah, someone who knows how to treat a cat with respect," Plagg said, smacking his lips and flying away. Tom stared at the little Kwami, then shook his head and went back to work.

"That's gonna take some getting used to," Adrien muttered as he took a bite of his breakfast. "Wow. This is good."

The door opened, and a woman in a sweatshirt and jeans walked in, wiping stray raindrops off her glasses and shaking out her ponytail. "Welcome," Sabine said from the kitchen as Plagg ducked out of sight. "What can I get for—Nathalie?"

Adrien nearly choked on his breakfast. He stared at the woman who had walked in and realized that it was, indeed, Nathalie Sancoeur. "Merde..." he whispered.

Sabine moved to the counter, concern in her eyes. "You're a mess," she said. "Your eyes are so red and puffy, what—"

Nathalie coughed once. "Good morning, Sabine," she said a bit raspily. "Please...not so loud. I'm...having one of those mornings."

Sabine took in her bloodshot appearance and frowned. "A hangover?"

"Please don't tell anyone you saw me like this," Nathalie said.

"Of course not," Sabine assured her.

On the steps, Adrien drew in on himself, completely hiding his face behind his plate and his knees. Marinette frowned at him, but returned her attention to Nathalie.

"What can I get you?" Sabine asked.

"Anything is fine, I just...I need to eat. I may or may not have drunk an entire bottle of wine last night and I'm pretty sure I didn't bother eating any dinner."

"Mon Dieu," Sabine breathed. "What...why...?" She motioned for Nathalie to come behind the counter. "No, come here, I think you should go upstairs with me, sit down...I'll fix you something to help..."

"Thank you," Nathalie said. As the two women headed upstairs, the kids—who had scrambled out of their way as they approached—heard, "I...this isn't a thing I do, this..."

"I know it isn't," Sabine soothed. "Is it...is it because of Adrien?"

"Him and...and Monsieur Agreste, and...and that damn clock that won't stop ticking," was the last they heard before the women were out of earshot.

"Poor woman," Marinette said softly, eyes wide. "She always acts like such a robot, but...yikes."

Adrien sighed. "Yeah..." He shuffled his feet. "Marinette? Let's...let's go up to your room and...and talk."

Marinette peered at him. "Okay," she said. They took their half-eaten breakfasts with them as they headed for the loft.

Plagg, watching them from the kitchen, sighed. "Good luck, kid," he said. He then turned to the block of cheese that would have gone into his omelette and began scarfing it down. Tom shook his head and sighed.

"Crazy day," Tom muttered.

* * * * *

Nathalie nursed a cup of strong coffee while Sabine bustled around in the kitchen. "The Saturday Specials I was making downstairs would probably not be a good idea right now, so how does porridge and fresh fruit sound?"

"Perfect," Nathalie said. "Thank you, Sabine. I...I'm sorry to put you out like this."

"Oh, it's no trouble," Sabine assured her. "This week...it can't have been easy."

"No, it hasn't been," Nathalie said miserably. "I hate to think what's happening with the company, I haven't been on top of my game all week, Monsieur Agreste does nothing but go back and forth between the mansion and City Hall, he's cancelled everything, nobody has the slightest clue where Adrien is..."

Sabine paused in her cooking, hiding a wince. "He'll...he'll turn up," she said. "I'm sure he will."

"I...I hope so," Nathalie said. "It hasn't been easy on him, this past year. His father getting more and more restrictive, then finally giving him some freedom but always with the implicit threat that he might take those freedoms away at a moment's notice. And..." She grimaced. "If...if Adrien disappears like...like she did..."

Sabine brought a light breakfast to the table and placed it before Nathalie, then sat across from her. "I've always wondered about that," she said. "I mean, I only know what I've heard, and it isn't much, but..."

Nathalie shook her head. "She just disappeared one day," she said. "Monsieur Agreste spent months searching for her, hiring investigators..." She shook her head. "Nothing. After that, he...he withdrew. I mean, he was always withdrawn and reserved, but he...he shut himself off. And walled Adrien up in the mansion."

"Oh dear..."

"I just wish somebody knew something," Nathalie said. "Having this happen again so soon..."

Sabine sighed. "I know," she said. "His friends are all worried too. Especially Marinette, she's...she's been beside herself with worry." She sipped her own coffee, then said, "Marinette has a huge crush on Adrien."

Nathalie snorted. "Her and half the girls in Paris," she said. "I shred fifty pounds of fan mail a week."

"This is different," Sabine said. "Marinette isn't...it's not because he's a model or because he's famous. It's because he's Adrien." She smiled. "I won't deny it, I ship them."

Nathalie's lips quirked in a wry smile. "Huh." She sighed. "I hope..." She shook her head and busied herself with her porridge.

Sabine wanted desperately to tell her that Adrien was right there in the building with them, alive and well, being taken care of.

But she couldn't. She had to keep up the pretense.

*Is this what it's like, him being Chat Noir, having to keep such a secret? Does Ladybug feel this way too?*

Her thoughts turning to Ladybug, she prayed the heroine would hurry up and do whatever she needed to do to turn Adrien back to normal, to end everyone's pain...

* * * * *

Marinette perched on her favorite chair, setting her plate on her desk. "So...I guess this is it, huh?"

"Yeah." Adrien sighed and took off his hat and glasses. "Marinette, I—"

Marinette swept him up in a huge hug. "Oh thank GOD," she breathed. She looked into his startled eyes, blushed, and set him down. "I mean, umm..." She poked her fingertips together. "Wow. This explains...a lot."

"Yeah," Adrien said. He shuffled his feet awkwardly. "I...kind of expected you to be a little more...freaked out, honestly."

"Oh, I'll freak out in a few minutes," Marinette promised. "Then I'll get angry and start throwing things at you. Then I'll go completely spastic because you're Adrien and I have a massive crush on you." She gave him a serious look. "I'm telling you all this so you know what to expect," she said gravely.

"Uhh...noted," Adrien said, gulping.

"But right now I'm just relieved you're not dead in a ditch somewhere," Marinette said. "Although come to think of it, I should've kinda worked this one out for myself, I mean, you disappear for days, Chat Noir gets turned into a little kid around the same time..." She shook her head. "Kind of obvious."

"Yeah, your mom figured it out," Adrien said. "Pretty much guilted me into letting the cat out of the bag." He sighed. "Speaking of guilt...Nathalie...merde..."

Marinette grimaced. "I...think for now, this is as far as the secret goes," she said. "I'm pretty sure your dad won't...take this very well."

Adrien snorted. "If he ever found out about this, he'd lock me in a cage. Literally. I mean, it'd be a nice cage, but..." He sighed, then looked around the room. "So, umm...awkward time for this, but..."

Marinette blinked, then went pale. "Umm...y-yeah," she agreed, blushing.

Adrien shook his head. "I mean, now is really not the time for this, but...I guess we need to at least acknowledge it?" He wrung his hands. "I'm in love with you, Marinette. I really am. I fell in love with you as Ladybug, and...and you being Marinette under the mask is the best thing I ever could've hoped for." His cheeks burned red.

Marinette let out a funny squeak. "R-really?"

"Yeah," Adrien said. He took a deep breath. "So, umm...after we find a way to fix this, umm...I'm thinking maybe we could go out sometime?"

"Uh-huh," Marinette squeaked, her head bobbing up and down.

"Well, you broke her, Adrien," Tikki said, emerging into the open with a giggle. "I kinda suspected you were Chat Noir all along," she added. "I mean, a lot of little things did kinda point to it."

Adrien spent a long moment eating in silence, then said, "I'm...worried about Nathalie." He frowned. "I've never seen her like this. It...this is because of me." He hung his head miserably.

Marinette frowned. "Yeah...we can't just tell her the truth, but...it bothers me too, seeing her the way she is..." She started absently fidgeting with various small items around the room, brow furrowed. "We have to do something," she decided.

"But what?" Adrien asked. "I mean, the only way we can help her is to tell her the truth, and we can't...we can't."

"I know," Marinette said. She frowned. "Unless..."

Adrien watched her warily. "Unless?"

"No, that won't work, nevermind," Marinette said, shaking her head. "Besides, it's too much lying, especially with your father believing Ladybug is tirelessly searching..." She frowned. "Of course, until about ten minutes ago, that was true..."

"What're you thinking, Marinette?" Tikki asked warily.

"Yeah, what are you thinking?" Adrien asked.

Marinette ran a hand through her hair. "I was just thinking...what if Ladybug dropped in and, maybe...told Nathalie she has you stashed somewhere safe? That you witnessed that murder the other day and somebody tried to kill you, and you ended up..."

"Yeah, that wouldn't work," Adrien said. "For a lot of reasons. Plus, your mom knows what really happened to me, so...spinning one like that, it'd pretty much be confessing you're Ladybug."

Marinette winced. "Yeah," she said. She let out an aggravated groan. "Ugh! I...I got nothing," she said. "I mean, if stealing a phone was involved I'd know what to do, but..."

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "Stealing a phone?"

Marinette made a stuck noise. "Uhh..."

Tikki giggled. "Don't even get me started," she said. "If Paris knew that their beloved Ladybug was a serial phone thief for the most ridiculous reasons..." With a sly smirk, she added, "She even stole your phone one time, Adrien!"

"TIKKI!"

Adrien blinked. "Wait, what?"

Marinette blushed. "It...it's complicated!" she said. "There...there was this voicemail, and...and it was an accident, and I couldn't let you hear it, so I had to grab your phone while you were at fencing so I could erase it, and..." She sighed. "Yeah."

"Wait," Adrien said, brow furrowing. "This...was this right around the time we fought Copycat?"

"Yeah."

"Huh. So that's what happened."

Marinette ducked her head. "Sorry. I'm...I do stuff, sometimes...that's not very heroic."

Adrien sighed. "Yeah, well, I think I understand." He paused. "Well, no, I don't understand any of that, but I know how little things can snowball out of control. The whole Rogercop thing was basically Plagg's fault."

Tikki and Marinette blinked. "How's that now?" Marinette asked.

"It was Plagg who stole Chloé's bracelet," Adrien admitted.

"I...see," Marinette said, narrowing her eyes. "Well, I'll have to have a few words with Plagg about that later." She frowned. "And...why...?"

"It was shiny."

"Yeah, that sounds like Plagg," Tikki said with a sigh.

Marinette ran her hands through her hair, then pulled on her pigtails. "Great," she drawled flatly. "At least when I steal stuff, it's for a good reason."

Tikki gave her a look. "Really?"

"Well—!" Marinette flushed. "Okay, so it's for a really crazy reason usually, but there's at least a reason!"

Adrien raised an eyebrow. "And...exactly how often do you steal stuff?"

Tikki smirked. "Three phones and a memory card," she said.

Adrien blinked. "Huh. Maybe you should be the cat," he said teasingly. "I mean, you've obviously got the burglar part down..."

Marinette threw a stuffed animal at him.

* * * * *

The day wore on, dark and dreary, a light, steady rain falling. Once Nathalie had left to go home and rest, a quiet mood had taken hold in the boulangerie; very few customers trickled in through the day. The most memorable customer arrived early in the afternoon: a Japanese teenager, a tourist by the look of him, with wild dark hair and sharp blue eyes, wearing a black tracksuit with the hood pulled up over his head. He bought a box of macarons and asked Sabine a few questions about Trocadero, the gardens, and a couple of landmarks. He tipped generously and flashed Marinette an impish wink as he left, eliciting a mild frown from Adrien. Tom had been let in on the 'Chat Noir is Adrien Agreste and we are now hiding him from his father' thing, which he had not been a fan of; he had agreed to defer to his wife's judgment in the matter, and assured Adrien that he understood how the boy felt about the situation. Even as he did so, he gave Marinette an odd, thoughtful look.

With the rain continuing well past the forecast time, Tom decided to close early for the day, and the family plus guest took hot chocolate to the living room upstairs to watch television. At Adrien's insistence, they checked the news first; there was no news about the manhunt for Councillor Devereaux's killer, but there was a story about a small bar on the outskirts of town burning to the ground under mysterious circumstances.

"Two bodies were found in the cellar, where the fire is believed to have started," the anchor reported. "Police say the bodies show signs of having been killed by gunfire; the fire appears to have been set to destroy the evidence, but either due to the early morning rains or insufficient fuel for the fire, enough remains of the two bodies that police are hopeful they can be identified."

"Oh my God," Marinette said, paling.

"Yeesh. Give me Hawk Moth any day," Adrien said, shuddering. "I mean, yeah, supervillains are dangerous, violent, and there've been some close calls, but at least that's a kind of violence I can understand."

"This week has...certainly been rough," Sabine said worriedly. "A city councillor shot, your situation, and now this?"

Marinette frowned thoughtfully. "Adrien, come help me with something real quick?"

"Huh?" He caught the look in her eye and nodded. "Sure."

"We'll be right back," Marinette promised her parents as she led Adrien upstairs.

Once they were safely in the loft, Adrien crossed his arms. "What's up?"

Marinette began pacing. "You said there were two men, right?"

"Yeah?" Adrien narrowed his eyes. "Why?"

Marinette turned to face him. "This may sound crazy, but...what if those two dead bodies in that fire, the ones who were shot to death and burned..."

Adrien's eyes widened. "You think somebody...but why?"

"I don't know," Marinette said. "Maybe for revenge, or maybe..."

"Maybe to cover up something bigger," Plagg said solemnly, having joined the conversation along with a sad-looking Tikki.

"We've seen this kind of thing before," Tikki said. "Back in the 1920s, in San Francisco." She sighed. "Back then, the Miraculous users spent most of their time protecting innocent people from getting caught in the crossfire of organized crime."

Adrien frowned. "So wait, those guys that did this to me...they were gangsters?"

"Probably," Plagg said.

"And when my sketch got out to the media, somebody...somebody killed them to..." Marinette paled, sinking into her chair. "Oh no..." She shook her head. "No, no..."

Adrien jammed his hands in his pockets. "This...this is bad," he said roughly. "So what do we do now?"

"I don't know," Marinette said, sounding lost and forlorn. "I thought this would help, but...I just made things worse..." She looked up at Adrien, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry..."

Adrien gently embraced her. "It's not your fault," he said. "Neither of us could've seen this coming." He sighed. "We'll...we'll just have to figure out what to do next, that's all."

The sun broke through the clouds, casting thin golden rays into the room.

* * * * *

The rain had finally ended, and the fading afternoon sun broke through the clouds.

Gabriel Agreste had spent most of the day at Le Grand Paris, assembling a team of private investigators and experts in finding missing children and establishing a command post that gave him ready access to the mayor and any place in the vicinity his attention might be needed. Once he had set his team to work, he decided to return home and catch a few hours' sleep. He had slept very little since Adrien had vanished, and he did have other matters that demanded his immediate attention, matters he could no longer afford to put on hold.

"Good afternoon, Gabriel."

Gabriel paused to regard the woman standing at the gate of his mansion. Even through his foul mood, a small smile broke through. "Sharon," he said, nodding slightly. "It's been a very long time."

"Mm, so it has." Sharon Vineyard sighed. "It hasn't been easy for you lately, has it? I heard...about Adrien being missing. It's so much like...what happened to her..."

Gabriel's mouth tightened. "He will be found," he said firmly. "He will be found."

"Oh, I'm sure he will," Sharon said. "Anyway, I was in Paris on business, I thought I'd drop by to check on you, pay my respects."

"I'd offer tea, but my assistant is out today," Gabriel said. He looked Sharon up and down. "I have many colleagues who would kill for your secret," he said. "Not only have you not aged a day, you actually look younger than the last time I saw you."

Sharon laughed. "Yes, well..." She smiled, her eyes shining with mischief. "A secret makes a woman woman," she said in English.

Gabriel snorted. "You're still saying that after all this time?"

"But of course," Sharon said. "It's the motto I live by..."

* * * * *

Marinette spent the remainder of the afternoon getting the guest room ready for Adrien; Sabine had decided it was no longer appropriate for him to crash on her chaise upstairs, and Adrien himself had agreed. Marinette had put up a token protest, but decided, in light of the way Adrien had chosen to wake her the day before, that perhaps it was for the best. After that, Sabine made dinner; everyone was in a fairly sleepy, quiet mood, so by mutual decision, the entire family plus one decided to call it a night early once the dishes were done and the table was cleared.

Once they'd settled into their bed, Tom turned to Sabine, a ponderous expression on his face. "Hon, if...if Adrien is Chat Noir, then...do you think maybe..."

Sabine glanced at him. "Maybe what?"

"I know it sounds crazy, but..." Tom frowned. "Actually, it'd make a lot of sense, it'd...it'd explain those absences..."

"What are you getting at, Tom?"

"It's just..." Tom shifted his bulk awkwardly. "Finding out Chat Noir is Adrien...it made me start to think...what if our daughter is Ladybug?"

Sabine's eyes widened. "I..." She paused. "...oh my God...you might have something there..."

"I think tomorrow we need to find out," Tom said as he turned off the lights.

"And...and if she is...?"

"If she is..." Tom sighed. "Then she is. I mean...I don't know. How do you even approach this?" He rolled over, the bed shuddering under his bulk. "Let's...let's get some sleep."

"Alright. Goodnight, dear."

Neither of them fell asleep for a long time.

* * * * *

A young, pale-skinned girl with blond hair and green eyes, wearing a green sundress and a large straw bonnet, walked down a hallway in a hotel in Haido City, Tokyo. She studied a phone in one hand and a series of old photographs in the other. Her mouth tightened into a thin, serious line.

As she approached one door, she knocked. A muffled voice called out from inside; after a long moment, the door opened. A Japanese teenager with tousled hair stood just inside; sharp eyes looked down at her, then widened in surprise. "Uso," the teen said.

The girl peered up at her. "Is Mary here?" she asked in passable, if halting, Japanese.

"Ah—I don't know anybody by that—" the teenager began.

"Yes you do, Masumi," the girl said firmly. "It's taken me the better part of a year to find you. Now, is Mary here?"

Sera Masumi's face hardened, her posture tense and wary. "Who are you?" she challenged.

A gasp behind her drew both girls' attention.

A middle-school aged girl whose features were strikingly similar to the young girl in the hall stepped forward, eyes wide. "Impossible," she said in English. "E-Emilie? Is...is that you?"

"Yes," the younger girl said, sighing as she took in Mary's appearance. "So it's true. Both of us..."

"Mama?" Masumi asked shakily. "Who...who is...?"

Mary looked up at her, her expression wry. "Masumi, this is your aunt Emilie. Emilie Agreste."

À SUIVRE...

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