Cat Noir's figure, like a nimble lightning bolt in the night, lightly landed on the spacious rooftop of François Dupont High School.
He stretched, twirled his metal staff coolly in his hand, then, with a tired sigh, greeted the familiar figure floating in mid-air on a 'living throne' made of hundreds of pigeons.
"Hey, Mr. Pigeon..." His voice was filled with a helpless, accustomed weariness, "We... meet again."
It felt less like facing an Akuma Butterfly supervillain and more like greeting a slightly troublesome neighbor who always showed up at the community center at a fixed time.
"Cat Noir!" Mr. Pigeon, far from showing hostility at his appearance, seemed rather excited.
He commanded the pigeons beneath him to float a bit further forward, eagerly stating his purpose, "I'm not here for you! I'm here for Jaden! I need him! I need him to make another statement for us pigeons!"
Cat Noir nearly stumbled off the rooftop when he heard this. He looked at the other person with an expression like he was looking at a madman, utterly speechless.
"A statement? Mr. Pigeon, are you mistaken about something?" He couldn't help but retort, "Hasn't Jaden already made several statements for you?!
He's called for everyone to live in harmony and even helped you get a formal job at the park!
Now, you come here to punch in almost every few days. What's wrong with you?!"
"But..." Mr. Pigeon's perpetually slightly neurotic face was filled with grievance and sadness, "But people's love for pigeons is so fleeting!
They are only briefly moved by Jaden's words, but soon, they start to dislike us again, chase us away, and even... harm us!"
As he spoke, his emotions became agitated, and the surrounding pigeons began to coo uneasily.
"Hawk Moth is right! Only Jaden, only his oracle-like voice, can truly and permanently change the deep-seated prejudice in people's hearts!
So I must come for him!
I must get his help!"
While they were 'chatting,' an increasing crowd had gathered below the school building.
Students, teachers who had heard the news, and even some passing citizens all stopped, raising their phones.
Flashlights clicked incessantly, and videos mixed with exclamations and discussions began to spread at an astonishing speed across Paris's social networks.
Meanwhile, in another part of the city, on the second floor of a massage therapy shop.
Master Fu's body was simultaneously glowing with three different miraculous lights!
Fine beads of sweat seeped from his wrinkled face, and his breathing became somewhat rapid.
Driving three powerful forces at once was an extremely heavy burden for his aged body.
Before him, an orange glow, like fox fire, was slowly condensing into a familiar and agile figure in a red and black bodysuit.
"Mirage!"
With his low shout, the power of the Fox miraculous successfully created a lifelike illusion identical to Ladybug.
Immediately after, he aimed the Rooster ring on his other hand at the illusion.
"Sublimation! Grant you... true power!"
A golden light instantly enveloped the illusion! The originally ethereal image, at this moment, seemed to be infused with soul and flesh!
The texture of the bodysuit, the glimmer in her blue eyes, and even the curve of her flowing hair became indistinguishable from reality!
Finally, he raised the green-glowing turtle shell bracelet on his wrist.
"Shell-ter!"
An invisible, solid hexagonal energy barrier silently enveloped the 'Ladybug illusion.'
This was the last safeguard he put in place for this operation.
"Go." Master Fu weakly gave the command to his perfect 'creation.'
The Ladybug illusion's eyes instantly lit up. Like the most precise combat doll that had received its orders, she performed a graceful backflip and leaped out of the second-floor window!
Her yoyo swung into the distance, carrying her with an elegant and swift posture, identical to the original, towards François Dupont High School!
On the school building's rooftop.
Just as Cat Noir was still agonizing over how to communicate with the persistent 'pigeon fan' in front of him, a red figure, like a meteor, descended from the sky and landed steadily beside him.
"Ladybug!" Cat Noir's eyes instantly lit up, but then, he noticed something was off.
Today's Ladybug... seemed different somehow.
She didn't greet him or tease him as usual.
She merely gave Mr. Pigeon a cold glance, then immediately entered combat mode. Her gaze was sharp, focused, and... icy, devoid of any emotion.
It was a pure, absolute calmness, with the sole purpose of solving the problem.
"Hey! Don't be so rough, Ladybug!" Cat Noir, seeing her readiness to act without a word, was about to intervene.
However, the Ladybug illusion's movements were faster than his words!
Her yoyo, turning into a red afterimage, instantly wrapped around Mr. Pigeon's ankle at an incredibly tricky angle!
Then, with a strong tug of her wrist, she mercilessly pulled the poor man, still floating in mid-air, directly off his 'pigeon throne'!
"Bang—!"
Mr. Pigeon let out a scream and crashed heavily onto the plaza in front of the school building, startling the surrounding students into screams.
"..." Cat Noir stared at the scene before him, utterly stunned.
Is this... is this still the Ladybug he knew, who always tried to communicate with words, full of love and patience?
Why was her attack today... so decisive and ruthless?!
At the same time, inside the classroom.
"Look! Ladybug has appeared!" A sharp-eyed student pointed out the window and shouted loudly.
This news, like a bomb dropped into water, instantly ignited the entire classroom!
Nathan immediately took out his phone and quickly sent a message in their chat group.
[@Everyone Ladybug is here! Everyone stay safe!]
This message, seemingly a reminder but actually a code, immediately signaled the 'investigation team' in the girls' restroom.
And Marinette, in the stall, naturally saw this group message.
Her hanging heart finally, at this moment, settled back into her stomach!
She suppressed the urge to laugh out loud, put on an expression full of worry and curiosity, and decisively pushed open the restroom door!
"Bang!"
Her push coincided exactly with Alya, who was outside the door and about to recklessly crash in to check the situation, resulting in a full-on collision.
"Ouch!" Alya stumbled from the impact, almost falling.
But she ignored the pain; when she saw that the person she had bumped into was Marinette, the very person she was looking for, her usually confident face, for the first time, showed a genuine, as-if-she'd-seen-a-ghost expression.
"Ma... Marinette?! You... why are you still here?!" Alya stammered, pointing at her, then out the window, her mind completely in a jumble.
"I... of course, I'm here." Marinette blinked innocently, her acting worthy of an Oscar, "Outside... did something happen outside? I thought I heard pigeons cooing just now?"
Rose, Juleka, and Mylène, walking behind her, also looked bewildered and confused.
They exchanged glances, seeing the immense, incomprehensible confusion in each other's eyes.
She... she's really here... then... then who is that... Ladybug fighting outside?!
Alya felt her worldview, at this moment, undergo an unprecedented, devastating impact.
"We... we'll know if we go outside and look!" Alya, unwilling to give up, pulled Marinette's hand and ran towards the plaza.
And Marinette, while being pulled and running, was frantically thinking in her heart.
What exactly... is going on? Tikki's method... is to create another me? This... this is too amazing!
As they ran to the edge of the plaza, they just happened to see the Ladybug illusion cleanly snatching the old pigeon whistle, the Akuma Butterfly's parasitic object, from Mr. Pigeon's chest with her yoyo.
She didn't hesitate, directly throwing the whistle to the still-stunned Cat Noir beside her.
"Cat Noir! It's yours!" Her voice was clear, decisive, yet carried a commanding, unquestionable tone.
"Oh... oh! Okay!" Although Cat Noir was full of doubts about his partner's unusual behavior today, their many battles together instinctively made him catch the whistle.
"Cataclysm!"
His right hand, wreathed in destructive energy, lightly touched the whistle.
The whistle instantly turned into black powder, and a tired Akuma Butterfly flew out.
The Ladybug illusion swung her yoyo, purified the Akuma Butterfly, and then made a move that shocked Cat Noir even more.
She extended her fist towards him.
"Good job."
This... this was their iconic victory celebration move for weeks!
Ever since... ever since that accident, she had never done it proactively again!
Cat Noir was stunned. He looked at the fist extended towards him, then at her face, hidden by the mask and showing no expression, and the strange feeling in his heart grew even stronger.
"What's wrong, Cat Noir?" The Ladybug illusion, seeing his delayed reaction, tilted her head and urged him.
"N-nothing!" Cat Noir snapped back to reality, quickly extended his fist, and lightly bumped it against hers.
"Bang."
The touch was solid and... cold.
"I have something else to do, I'm leaving first."
After the fist bump, the Ladybug illusion didn't even say another word. She directly swung her yoyo and disappeared into the sky without a trace of reluctance.
Leaving only Cat Noir, standing dumbfounded in place, his face full of confusion and bewilderment.
Too strange... He looked at his hand that had just bumped fists, muttering to himself.
She, today, was really... too strange... it was like... she was a different person.
After the anticlimactic and eerily clean 'Mr. Pigeon's defeat,' Cat Noir, full of doubts, disappeared into the city's skyline in a few leaps.
To him, his partner today was like a combat robot with a wrong program input, efficient, precise, yet coldly devoid of any human touch.
That stiff fist bump was more like a mechanical collision of routine, leaving only a fleeting, hollow coldness on his knuckles.
The commotion on the school grounds quickly subsided with the departure of the heroes.
Teachers blew their whistles, beginning to disperse the lingering students, urging them to return to their classes to prepare for the next lesson.
Marinette's mood, however, was now as bright as the Parisian sky after a rain shower.
She almost hummed a tune, walking with light, buoyant steps back to the classroom. She felt the thousand-pound boulder that had been weighing on her heart finally lifted!
Crisis averted! Identity safe! From now on, no one would ever suspect her again! She could even be more natural and carefree in front of Jaden... However, the moment she pushed open the classroom door, the sight that met her eyes instantly and cruelly popped her heart, which had been full of pink bubbles.
In the last row of the classroom, Chloé, the blonde, blue-eyed girl like a proud peacock, was draped over Jaden like a lazy cat, intimately and seamlessly.
Her head rested on his shoulder; her hands tightly embraced his arm; her face wore a possessive, victorious sweet smile.
And Jaden, apparently, did not refuse. He merely tilted his head, talking to Chloé about something, his face still maintaining that gentle expression, as if he had patience for the whole world.
Marinette's soaring, cloud-high joy, in this second, crashed with a "boom" into a chilling, icy abyss.
The brilliant smile on her face instantly froze, darkened, and finally turned into a gloomy, overcast scowl.
Those blue eyes that had just sparkled with joy were now spewing flames of jealousy hot enough to melt steel!
And Chloé, immersed in her 'victory' joy, seemed to sense the scorching gaze from the doorway.
She slowly raised her head, meeting Marinette's face, which was clearly written with "I'm very displeased."
Chloé, far from reining herself in, instead, curled her lips into an even more triumphant, provocative arch.
She even deliberately rubbed her body against Jaden's again, then, subtly raised an eyebrow at Marinette in the doorway.
That look seemed to silently say: See, Marinette. You clumsy idiot who trips even while walking, you'll always just be watching from the sidelines.
He belongs to me, Chloé.
This show-off gaze, like an ignited stick of dynamite, instantly detonated the anger in Marinette's heart!
She trembled with rage, her hands clenched tightly into fists, her fingernails almost digging into her palms.
If looks could kill, Chloé would probably have been torn to shreds by her by now!
Just as this tense, silent standoff was about to escalate into an open 'female war,' Teacher Caline's voice timely rang out.
"Alright, students, everyone return to your seats! The teacher for the next class will be here soon!"
Chloé, hearing the teacher's words, reluctantly 'peeled' herself off Jaden.
She elegantly stood up, straightened her expensive jacket, and before leaving, didn't forget to whisper in Jaden's ear, in a voice only they could hear: "See you at our usual spot after school, I have a surprise for you."
Then, she led her little follower, Sabrina, swaying her hips like a victorious queen, back to her seat in the front row of the classroom.
The other students also returned to their places.
The excitement and commotion from the recent farce gradually subsided, and the classroom returned to the quiet it had before class.
Marinette, Alya, Rose, Juleka, and Mylène also silently returned to their seats.
Mylène, sitting next to Alya, was gently nudged by Alya with her elbow as soon as she sat down.
"How was it? Did you find anything?"
Alya asked in a hushed voice, low enough for only the two of them to hear.
Her face, which usually carried a cool and confident expression, was now filled with curiosity.
"...No." Mylène shook her head dejectedly, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz. "Didn't find anything.
We followed her to the restroom, and she... she really was just using the restroom. Then, Ladybug appeared outside... and she's been with us ever since..."
This outcome clearly surprised Alya as well. She frowned, lost in thought.
Meanwhile, in the front row, by the window, Alya was unconsciously twirling her pen. Her mind was in a state of chaos.
Wrong... It was wrong again... Her proud 'reporter's intuition,' which had almost never failed her, was wrong this time, and so incredibly wrong! The evidence was conclusive, undeniable. Marinette couldn't be Ladybug.
So, how to explain those seemingly perfect 'coincidences' before? Could it be... that they really were just coincidences?
Her heart was filled with deep self-doubt and unwillingness regarding her talent.
Rose and Juleka, sitting beside her, also quietly comforted her.
"Alright, Alya, don't think so much. Everyone makes mistakes. You just... guessed wrong once in a while." Rose patted her shoulder.
Juleka also nodded in agreement.
On the other side of the classroom, the trio of Kim, Nino, and Max were conducting a 'technical review.'
"I just timed it with a stopwatch," Max pushed up his glasses, his expression as serious as if he were conducting a scientific seminar, "From the moment 'Ladybug' appeared until she purified the Akuma Butterfly and left, the total time was one minute and fifty-two seconds!
This is at least three times faster than any of her previous response records!"
"Less than two minutes?! That fierce?!"
Kim's mouth dropped open exaggeratedly. "I thought it would take at least three minutes! This... this is too efficient, isn't it?!"
"Indeed," Nino said thoughtfully, stroking his chin, "Today's Ladybug feels... a bit too aggressive.
Not a single word of nonsense, just straight to business. Cool!"
Just as they were discussing heatedly, Adrien also quietly entered through the back door of the classroom.
He had just de-transformed in the empty storage room, and the little Cat Noir kwami was happily gnawing on the top-tier cheese he had secretly hidden in his backpack.
But in his heart, that indescribable sense of unease still lingered.
He always felt that his partner today was somehow off. But exactly where... he couldn't put his finger on it.
He could only temporarily suppress this doubt and return to his seat.
The class bell rang. The history teacher walked into the classroom, holding a thick lesson plan.
Soon after the teacher began lecturing, Alya secretly wrote a small note and placed it beside Marinette.
Marinette cautiously opened the note under the teacher's nose. On it were words full of apology:
[I'm sorry!]
Marinette looked at these three words, and the last bit of discomfort in her heart completely vanished. She gave Alya a bright, forgiving smile.
Then, she also wrote a note and handed it back.
[It's okay! I know you didn't mean it!]
The two exchanged smiles, and the indestructible friendship belonging to good friends seemed to become even stronger at this moment.
And at this moment, high above the intricate rooftops of Paris, the "Ladybug of Illusion" who had just displayed her divine power in front of everyone, was speeding rapidly.
Suddenly, her body began to flicker unstably.
Her figure started to become transparent and ethereal, like a TV screen with a bad signal.
"Zzzzt... Zzzzt..."
Accompanied by a static-like noise, her entire body finally, with a "pop," turned into a sky full of orange, sand-like light particles, dissipating into the air.
On the second floor of the massage parlor, Master Fu collapsed weakly onto the meditation cushion, gasping for air.
His face was as pale as paper, and his forehead was covered in large beads of sweat.
"Master! Are you alright?!" Wayzz, looking worried, floated out from the turtle shell bracelet on his wrist.
"Huff... huff... I can't go on... Time spares no one..." Master Fu weakly and tremblingly took off the fox necklace and the rooster thimble, carefully placing them back into the miraculous box. Only then did he re-hide the box in the secret compartment of the gramophone.
"Back in the day... I could use seven miraculouses at once and fight enemies for three hundred rounds!
Now... just three... and I can't do it... You know, I used to be..."
Before he could finish his sentence, just as he was about to struggle to his feet, he heard another crisp, ominous "click" from his fragile lower back.
"Ow—! My old back—!"
Master Fu painfully clutched his lower back again, his entire face crumpled into a chrysanthemum.
Wayzz: "..."
The school bell, like a bugle of liberation, dispelled the last trace of dullness in the classroom.
Students, like birds returning to their nests, noisily poured into the corridor, the air filled with the rapidly flowing essence of youth and a faint scent of paper mixed with chalk.
Alya, somewhat dejected, walked to her locker.
She was still vexed and unwilling about her 'perfect theory' that had been mercilessly overturned.
Just then, the garish pink locker next to her, plastered with various luxury brand logos, was violently opened with a "bang" by its owner.
It was Chloé.
She was impatiently barking orders into her phone.
Her imperious manner made it seem as if she wasn't talking on the phone, but scolding a servant kneeling before her.
"...What?! You said you didn't get that limited edition bag again?! I don't care! I want to see it tonight! Otherwise, you're fired!"
As she spoke, she casually rummaged through the locker, which was piled high with various cosmetics and fashion magazines that Alya couldn't even fully identify.
Just as Chloé turned around and casually tossed an apparently expensive handbag to Sabrina, who had been waiting for a long time, Alya's gaze inadvertently caught a glimpse inside her wide-open, messy locker.
Amidst the mountain of colorful clutter, a vivid splash of red, like a burning flame, flashed by.
It looked like... a red ribbon? Or... a piece of red... fabric?
The color was so similar to the Ladybug's iconic red!
An absurd, bold, and even shocking thought, like a lightning bolt in the night, suddenly struck Alya's brain!
Chloé... is Ladybug?!
No... impossible... This thought existed in her mind for less than a second before she ruthlessly crushed it with reason.
Crazy... I must be crazy... to have such an idea, a hundred times more preposterous than "Marinette is Ladybug"... Chloé? That selfish, arrogant young lady who knows nothing but showing off and bullying people?
If she were Ladybug, Hawk Moth would have probably gathered all seven miraculouses and summoned the Dragon God by now!
She shook her head self-mockingly, preparing to close her locker and leave.
What if?
This word, full of infinite possibilities, lingered in her mind, refusing to go away.
Outside, Chloé, who was walking ahead, was quietly reminded by Sabrina: "Chloé, your locker door... seems to be open."
"Oh, how annoying." Chloé replied impatiently, but still turned around and walked back towards the lockers.
The 'secret props' she had prepared for tonight's 'special game' were still hidden deep inside the locker!
That set of high-quality Ladybug bodysuits she had specially commissioned, and that set of... equally exquisite Cat Noir outfits she planned to give to Jaden!
Tonight, she was going to invite Jaden to her penthouse luxury game room to enact an intimate role-playing game of 'Miraculous Queen and Cat Knight,' just for the two of them!
This secret absolutely could not be discovered by anyone!
However, when she stormed back, she saw a scene that filled her with rage.
Alya, that four-eyed nerd with black-rimmed glasses who always hung around Marinette, was stealthily standing in front of her half-open locker!
She had even taken out her phone and aimed it at the inside of the locker!
"Click—"
A clear shutter sound was unusually piercing.
"What are you doing?!"
Chloé's cold, furious voice, like a poisoned whip, lashed out at Alya's back!
Alya flinched, startled, and spun around, her face filled with the panic of being caught red-handed!
Before she could even think of any words of defense, a dark shadow silently circled around from behind her. It was Sabrina!
Like a well-trained agent, she took advantage of Alya's momentary panic and, with extreme precision, snatched the phone, its screen still lit, from her hand!
Then, under Chloé's approving gaze, she respectfully handed the phone to her queen.
Chloé took the phone and glanced at the photo on the screen—thankfully, it only showed the messy interior of the locker and not the two boxes at the very back.
Her suspended heart immediately settled.
Immediately following, a burning rage of being offended and spied upon instantly consumed her reason!
For the past few weeks, because of Jaden, she had reined herself in a lot.
But at this moment, Alya's reckless action was like flipping the switch of 'bullying' that had been suppressed in her heart for a long time!
She slowly raised her head, her beautiful blue eyes gleaming with a cold, chilling light, like a predator eyeing its prey.
She looked at Alya, who was pale with fear, and a cruel yet sweet smile played on her lips.
In the principal's office, the atmosphere was so oppressive it felt like it could be wrung out.
Principal Damocles was tiredly pressing his throbbing temples with his fingers.
Looking at the 'old acquaintances' sitting opposite him at his desk, he felt his head swelling with frustration.
"So..." He began in a very helpless tone, "Chloé, you mean... Alya... 'peeped' into your locker?"
"Not 'peeped'! Mr. Principal!"
Chloé immediately corrected him, her tearful expression, combined with her accusatory tone, made it seem as if she were prosecuting a heinous criminal in court. "She 'invaded'! It was a thorough and serious invasion of my personal privacy!"
As she spoke, she even took out her phone, which served as 'evidence,' and placed it on the table.
"My locker is my secret garden! It's the most private place deep within my soul!
She! She actually used her phone to shamelessly and illegally photograph my soul! This is a huge insult to my character!"
Alya, standing by, was trembling with anger.
She argued vehemently: "I didn't! Mr. Principal! I didn't even touch her locker! Her locker door was already open! I just looked out of curiosity!"
"'Looked'?!" Chloé sneered, "Does your 'look' require using your phone's camera function?
Are you also planning to publish my 'secret garden' on your miraculous Blog and let everyone criticize me?!"
"I didn't!"
"Yes, you did!"
Principal Damocles listened to the pointless argument, feeling his head ache even more. He tried to use the school rules to quell the dispute.
"Alright, alright, quiet down everyone."
He cleared his throat, "Chloé, according to school regulations, disciplinary action can only be taken when a student causes actual physical harm or property loss to another person.
The school rules... don't seem to have a 'privacy invasion' clause."
"Then what about 'illegal intrusion'?!" Chloé immediately retorted, "My locker is my private territory!
She peeked without my permission, doesn't that count as illegal intrusion?!"
"Well..." The principal was momentarily speechless, so he turned to Alya, "Alya, is anything missing from Chloé's locker?"
"Of course not!" Alya immediately replied, "I told you, I just took one photo!"
"There you have it!" Chloé immediately seized the opportunity. "She admitted it! She did take a photo! Mr. Principal! What are you waiting for?! This shameful act of secretly taking photos must be severely punished! You must give me an explanation today! Otherwise..."
Seeing Chloé's relentless demeanor, the principal knew that this matter would likely not end well today.
If he couldn't satisfy her, then the mayor's call would probably be on his desk the next second.
He couldn't afford that responsibility.
After much deliberation, he could only choose a compromise, a conciliatory solution.
"...Alright. Given that Alya's actions did cause distress to Chloé. I have decided to give Alya a one-hour detention as a warning to others."
Upon hearing this result, Chloé's previously aggrieved expression instantly vanished without a trace!
She folded her arms and said contemptuously, in a victorious posture: "One hour? Mr. Principal, for a student with such bad character, isn't just one hour of detention too light?"
Sabrina, standing beside her, immediately understood and opened a small notebook in her hand, reading with lawyer-like intonation: "According to Chapter 3, Article 12 of the school rules: Students who commit or attempt to commit theft of another person's property shall be suspended for one week."
"But Alya didn't steal anything!" the principal argued.
"Is that so?" A sweet yet cruel smile reappeared on Chloé's face.
Slowly, she took out her phone, and her slender finger, painted with pink nail polish, tapped on the screen, heading towards the phone number she knew best and that held the most deterrent power.
"I think… my father probably wouldn't think so."
Seeing this, Principal Damocles instantly panicked! Fine beads of cold sweat appeared on his forehead.
"No! No, no, no! Chloé!" He waved his hands frantically, his voice tinged with a plea, "Don't bother your busy Mayor father over such a small matter!"
However, Chloé paid no attention. She lightly pressed the dial button, then elegantly brought the phone to her ear, as if truly waiting for the call to connect, and spoke into the air in a wronged, somewhat spoiled tone, "Hello? Daddy…"
"I'll change it! I'll change it, okay?!"
Principal Damocles completely broke down. He knew he had lost.
He turned his head and, with a look full of apology and helplessness, gazed at Alya, announcing with difficulty, "…Alya, in view of your… egregious behavior… I have decided… to give you… a one-week suspension…"
"What?!"
Upon hearing this verdict, Alya was utterly enraged! The uncontrollable fury of being wronged and oppressed by power instantly overwhelmed all her reason!
"Unfair! This is too much!" She pointed at Chloé and protested loudly to the principal, "Just because she's the Mayor's daughter, you can distort right and wrong like this?!
I protest! I'm going to write all of this on the school blog!
Let the whole school, no!
Let all of Paris know what an absurd thing has happened here!"
Hearing the words "school blog," Principal Damocles' face paled a few shades more.
He glanced at Chloé, who was watching the drama unfold with a smug expression, and then made a final decision that even he found shameful.
He took a deep breath and announced in an unprecedentedly serious and unchallengeable tone:
"…In view of the numerous inappropriate remarks recently appearing on the school blog, which have caused a negative impact on the school's normal teaching order.
I have decided that, from now on, all teachers and students are temporarily prohibited from using the school blog. Until… further notice."
Alya felt a volcano brewing and erupting in her chest.
Chloé is not a hero… This thought echoed in her mind again and again, burning away all her past naive, foolish, and one-sided perceptions of "truth."
She wasn't.
She was a villain.
A disgusting, utterly villainous person in fancy clothes!
She didn't even glance back at the suffocating office, nor did she heed Principal Damocles' apologetic and helpless calls from behind her.
She simply walked back to the corridor with a blank expression, grabbed the backpack that had accompanied her for countless days and nights and symbolized her journalistic dreams from her locker, and then, without looking back, walked out of the building that disgusted her.
The lingering glow of the setting sun cast a soft, golden-red hue over the entire campus.
Students leaving school, in twos and threes, laughed and played on the tree-lined path, the air filled with the unique, carefree atmosphere of youth.
However, all this beauty, in Alya's eyes, seemed like a sarcastic and hypocritical oil painting.
At the school gate, Jaden had just said goodbye to Marinette.
"Then… then… I'm going back first! Tomorrow… see you tomorrow!" Marinette's cheeks were as red as a ripe apple.
She barely dared to look into Jaden's eyes, just bowed her head, finished speaking in a barely audible voice, and then, like a startled fawn, hugged her schoolbag and ran away quickly.
Jaden looked at her shy yet adorable retreating figure, a helpless yet gentle smile on his face.
Just as he was about to turn and leave, an angry figure, like an arrow shot from a bow, rushed past him.
It was Alya.
Her face was flushed red with anger, and her brown eyes, which always sparkled with intelligence and vitality, now seemed to burn with two raging flames.
She bit her lower lip tightly, muttering continuously under her breath in a resentful voice that only she could hear.
"It's too much… too unfair…"
"Alya?" Seeing her like this, Jaden immediately stepped forward, wanting to greet her.
However, Alya was completely immersed in her emotional storm at this moment and didn't notice his presence at all.
She walked past him without looking aside, striding quickly towards the school gate.
Just as Jaden was wondering what had happened, another familiar group of figures slowly walked out of the teaching building.
Chloé walked ahead like a triumphant queen, head held high, while Sabrina, like a loyal maid, carried her designer handbag and followed closely behind.
"My knight," Chloé's face immediately broke into a smile so sweet it would make honey jealous when she saw Jaden standing at the door.
She walked gracefully towards him, using a suggestive, spoiled tone to say, "Don't forget our date tonight."
However, Jaden's gaze did not linger on her finely made-up face.
His eyes went over her shoulder, looking at Alya's angry retreating figure, which was almost disappearing around the street corner.
He turned back and stood in front of Chloé, his black eyes, which always held a gentle smile, now carried a rare, serious inquiry.
"Alya… what happened to her?" he asked directly.
Seeing him question her for that four-eyed girl, a flicker of imperceptible jealousy and displeasure flashed in Chloé's eyes.
But the next second, her beautiful face immediately took on a tearful, wronged expression.
The speed of her change of expression was even faster than the world's quickest page-turner.
"I… I don't know what happened to her either…" She lowered her head and said softly in an innocent tone, as if she were the victim, "She… she invaded my privacy and… and secretly took pictures of my locker with her phone… After I found out, Principal merely gave her a one-week suspension according to school rules… Who knew she would get so angry…"
"What? A one-week suspension?!" Jaden's brows furrowed instantly. He knew very well that although Alya sometimes made extreme moves to pursue the truth, her nature was definitely not bad.
To be given such a severe punishment as a one-week suspension just for "peeking" into a locker… there must be something fishy going on.
"Yes…" Chloé looked up, her blue eyes already brimming with sparkling tears, looking pitiful, "Did I… did I do something wrong?
But… my locker is my secret… I'm really… scared…"
As she spoke, she secretly observed Jaden's expression.
Seeing his tightly furrowed brows, she knew her chance had come.
She took a step forward, leaned close to his ear, and whispered in a seductive, transactional tone, like a femme fatale, audible only to the two of them:
"However… my knight, you don't have to worry too much."
"Don't forget… our date tonight."
"If your performance tonight can 'satisfy' me…"
"Perhaps, I might mercifully consider withdrawing her one-week suspension."
"After all… you wouldn't want to see your upright friend have a disgraceful stain on his record for this 'small matter,' would you?"
This threatening and suggestive, standard villain monologue left Jaden completely stunned.
And Chloé, after saying these words, her face once again returned to that sweet, innocent smile.
She winked at Jaden, then elegantly turned around and stopped in front of the black extended limousine that had been waiting for a long time.
The car door was respectfully opened by the driver, and she got in, disappearing behind the tinted car windows.
The sound of the engine starting pulled Jaden back to reality from his shock.
What… what was all this?!
He looked at the luxurious car, which symbolized power and arrogance, driving away, and then at the direction Alya had disappeared, feeling his mind was a tangled mess.
He no longer hesitated. He quickly followed in the direction Alya had left.
By the Seine River.
The golden sunset, like the most intense pigments in Van Gogh's paintings, dyed the entire river a shimmering, broken gold.
The evening breeze gently blew, carrying the cool, damp scent unique to the river, rustling the leaves of the plane trees on the bank.
Alya sat alone on a bench by the river. She hugged her backpack tightly, her brown eyes, always full of vitality, now gazed dully at the slowly flowing river, as if it could carry away all worries.
"Why…" she murmured to the empty river, her voice full of resentment, "Just because she's the Mayor's daughter… she can do whatever she wants?"
"School rules… are like a piece of waste paper in front of her! Truth… is an absurd, worthless joke in the face of power!"
"I just… I just wanted to know the truth… What did I do wrong?!
Why… why am I the one being punished?!"
Her voice carried an uncontrollable, wronged tremor.
The negative emotions of being wronged, oppressed by power, and having nowhere to vent, spread rapidly from the bottom of her heart like ink.
And on the other side of Paris, in the nest full of white butterflies, hidden in the city's shadows.
Hawk Moth stood in front of his iconic, large circular window.
A smile appeared on his face.
"Oh~~ I feel… such… such delicious negative emotions…"
His voice echoed in the empty room, full of mesmerizing magic, "A… righteous soul eager to expose the truth, yet mercilessly wronged by her foolish classmate, whose eyes are blinded by power… This despair, full of resentment and anger… is truly… perfect!"
He slowly spread his hands, and a pure white butterfly lightly landed on his palm.
The Akumatization energy instantly dyed the butterfly an evil, ominous black.
"Go, my dear little one."
He gently released the Akuma Butterfly, "Go find that sad girl.
My butterfly will help her achieve the justice she longs for!"
Jaden finally found the lost figure by the river.
He didn't go forward immediately, just stood quietly at a distance for a while.
Then, he took a step, walked to her side, and sat down at the other end of the bench.
"I saw… you seemed very angry when you came out of the principal's office."
He didn't ask "What's wrong?" but started the conversation in a declarative, gentle tone.
Alya was startled by the sudden voice. She looked up and saw it was Jaden; a flicker of surprise flashed in her swollen eyes, followed immediately by the pent-up resentment, which, like a breached dam, could no longer be suppressed.
"Jaden…" Her voice was heavily nasal, "It's too much! Really… too much!"
She poured out everything that had happened that afternoon, in detail.
From her fleeting, absurd speculation to Chloé's unreasonable accusation, and then to the principal's disgraceful and distorted judgment.
Jaden listened quietly. He didn't interrupt, nor did he make any judgments.
He just watched her silently with his gentle, understanding black eyes.
Only after she finished speaking did he slowly say, in a soothing, gentle tone, "Yes, this is indeed… too unfair."
Just this simple, affirming sentence instantly brought a glimmer of comfort to Alya's heart, which was filled with injustice and anger.
She felt that her pain of being misunderstood finally had a harbor to rest in.
"No matter what," Jaden continued, "I believe you. I know you are definitely not the kind of person who would maliciously invade someone else's privacy."
His voice was so sincere, so certain.
Alya's heart, which had turned cold from feeling betrayed by the world, was slowly melted at this moment by this sudden, gentle warm current.
Just then, a cheerful, jingling music came from the bridge not far away.
"It's Andre's ice cream truck." Jaden looked up towards the source of the sound, then turned back and gave Alya a gentle smile, "Wait for me here, okay?"
After speaking, he stood up and walked towards the bridge.
Alya stared blankly at his gradually receding, tall figure.
The lingering glow of the sunset stretched his shadow long, long.
That warm, reassuring feeling gradually calmed her troubled heart.
A novel, unfamiliar, yet somewhat sweet emotion quietly sprouted in her heart.
He… is so good… Then, as if she thought of something, she shook her head sharply.
Wait! Alya! What are you thinking?!
Your mission is to get him and Marinette together! How can you… But then, another voice quietly sounded in her heart.
But… now… it seems… it might be okay?
Just as she was in an internal struggle, the Akuma Butterfly, carrying Hawk Moth's will, had silently flown near her.
It originally wanted to immediately possess this prey full of negative emotions.
However, when it sensed the boy who had just left, it dared not approach.
Until it confirmed that the boy had gone far away.
It no longer hesitated! As if finding a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, it suddenly pounced on Alya's phone, which lay on the bench, a symbol of her journalistic soul!
The Akumatization energy instantly corrupted the phone.
"Hello, Lady Wifi."
Hawk Moth's seductive voice resonated directly in Alya's mind.
Alya was startled by the sudden voice!
"This world is too unfair to you. But don't worry. I will give you the power to expose all truths."
Although Jaden's gentle comfort had calmed her angry heart considerably, Hawk Moth's seductive words still accurately struck what she longed for deep inside.
"No... I don't want to..." Alya's consciousness resisted.
In her mind, Jaden's gentle, trusting black eyes, and his reassuring, soft smile when he said, "I believe you," appeared uncontrollably.
That hard-won warmth, just received, was her sole and final defense against the darkness eroding her soul.
"Oh? Is that so?"
Hawk Moth seemed to sense her resistance, and he chuckled, his laughter carrying a chilling understanding that saw into people's hearts. "Is it because of that boy?
Alya.
Is it because of his brief, cheap comfort?"
"Can that comfort clear your name? Can it save you from a week-long suspension?
Can it make the high and mighty mayor's daughter pay the price she deserves for her actions?"
A barrage of questions, like sharp ice picks, fiercely and relentlessly pierced Alya's crumbling defense!
No... it can't... Her reason told her this cruel, undeniable truth.
"See, you know it too, don't you?"
Hawk Moth's voice grew softer, more filled with bewitching magic. "What he gave you was only temporary sympathy.
And what I am about to bestow upon you is the power to change everything!"
"Think about it, Lady Wifi. That boy named Jaden... he can become your partner."
This sentence was like a clap of thunder!
A partner... with him... to become a partner fighting side-by-side... The thought was so tempting that she almost forgot to breathe.
"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity..." The seductive voice, like a lover's whisper in her ear, soft and deadly, "You can do anything you want together.
Expose any truth you want to expose. Punish anyone you believe deserves punishment..."
"No... I can't... I can't drag him... into this..." Alya was still making her last struggles.
"You can." Hawk Moth's voice carried an undeniable, certain power. "Believe me, I won't force him.
Nor will I leave any trace in his memory."
"When all of this is over, whether you succeed or fail... he won't remember anything that happened today."
"He won't know anything..."
This last sentence, like the final straw that breaks the camel's back, completely shattered Alya's resistance and reason.
Yes... if he won't remember anything... if all of this is just a brief, erasable "dream"... then... then can I, just for a little bit... indulge my selfish, small desire?
Just once... just this once is enough... "Very good..." In his distant, dark lair, Hawk Moth's lips curved into a victorious, cruel smile. He knew his plan had succeeded.
His Akuma Butterfly couldn't get close to Jaden, and even if it did, it would be in a pacified state, but that didn't matter.
Not being able to get close directly didn't mean he couldn't be dark transformed.
After the last Stormy Weather incident, as long as the dark transformed person could get close to him.
As long as there was a tiny emotional gap in that boy's heart due to intense empathy and anger...
Then, with just a simple hug, a close contact, that magnified negative emotion could infect him, erode him, like the most terrifying virus, ultimately transforming him into his most powerful, most perfect knight.
Meanwhile, on a nearby bridge, Andre's ice cream truck, like a colorful, sweet-dream-filled mobile castle, was playing cheerful, romantic music.
"Ohoho~~ Look who it is!" Andre, the cheerful ice cream magician who always wore a top hat, greeted Jaden with an enthusiastic smile as he approached the truck. "A handsome young man! Are you here to buy an ice cream that represents your love for your sweetheart?"
"Hello, Andre." Jaden replied with a smile. "Two ice creams, please. One for me, and one... for my friend."
"Friend?" Hearing the word, Andre's always smiling eyes flashed with an understanding glint that said, "I know everything." "Oh, I see, a 'friend' indeed."
Humming a tuneless, romantic ditty, he began his artistic ice cream creation process.
First, he made Jaden an ice cream scoop with three colors:
The top layer was refreshing mint green, representing friendship;
The middle was sweet peach pink, representing shy affection;
And the bottom layer was tranquil vanilla white, representing Jaden's own gentle personality.
Then, he made another one.
The top layer was a sweet and sour raspberry red, representing Alya's current passion and anger;
The middle was a deep blueberry purple, representing her journalist's heart that sought truth;
And the bottom layer, like Jaden's ice cream, was mint green, representing "friendship."
"Here you go, young man!" He handed Jaden the two exquisite, artistic ice creams. "Have a pleasant afternoon with your... 'friend'~~"
Jaden took the ice creams, thanked him, and then turned to walk back to the bench by the river.
When he returned to the bench, he found Alya still sitting there, head bowed. Her shoulders were still trembling slightly, and soft, suppressed sobs escaped her lips.
"Hey," he gently offered her colorful ice cream in front of her. "Have something sweet, you'll feel better."
However, Alya didn't take the ice cream. Instead, she stood up and suddenly threw herself into his arms!
Before he could react to what was happening, it was a powerful, undeniable embrace.
"Alya...?" He patted her back gently, a little at a loss.
Then, he heard her whisper in his ear, in a trembling voice filled with infinite apology and pain:
"I'm sorry... Jaden..."
That soft "I'm sorry," like a lover's murmur in a dream, sounded in Jaden's ears like an incantation opening the gates of an abyss.
He could clearly feel a strange and profound change happening in the body holding him.
Alya's originally warm body, with the soft, unique fragrance of a young girl, now emitted a cold, static-like energy that made his skin tingle.
That energy, through their tightly pressed clothing, seeped into his limbs, bit by bit, omnipresently.
He slowly lowered his head to look at the girl in his arms.
Alya was also looking up at him. Her face was still that familiar and beautiful face, but her brown eyes, which always sparkled with vitality and wisdom, were now covered by an eerie pink glow, shimmering like data streams.
Deep in her pupils, there seemed to be a constantly rotating Wi-Fi symbol, with a fatal attraction that could suck one's soul in.
A strange smile, mixed with apology, satisfaction, and determination, hung on her lips.
"I'm sorry, Jaden..." she whispered again, "But, I need you."
Just then, that familiar, cold voice echoed directly in his mind.
"Hello there, Mr. Information."
Hawk Moth's voice was no longer just seductive and bewitching as before. This time, his voice carried a hint of... appreciation, even... anticipation.
"That poor girl, she has a megaphone to speak, but she lacks the sharpest pen.
And you, my dear Jaden, you have eyes that see through everything, but you lack a stage to show the world the truth you see."
Hawk Moth's voice, like that of a master psychologist, precisely plucked the string of "order" and "control" in Jaden's heart.
"Look at her, look at this soul crying out against injustice.
Your gentle comfort is like scratching an itch through a boot—it can only temporarily soothe the wounds on her skin, but it cannot cure the deep-seated ailment in her heart.
And I can give you the power to truly help her."
Jaden's gaze shifted slightly. He looked at Alya in his arms, who had completely transformed into Lady Wifi, feeling the restless, dark energy within her, filled with a desire for revenge.
He knew Hawk Moth was right.
Comfort is cheap.
Sympathy is powerless.
On this unfair stage built by lies and power, to seek true justice, one must use a stronger, undeniable force to overturn the entire chessboard.
Last time, as Winter Knight, he chose to use extreme beauty to showcase extreme despair; it was a magnificent yet solitary monologue.
But this time... he would not be alone.
"You two will make a perfect team." Hawk Moth's voice was the seductive final chapter. "She is the 'Lady Wifi' to expose the truth.
And you will be the monarch who controls all 'Information.' Together, you will clear the name of this wronged girl.
And then... retrieve those two insignificant trinkets for me."
Jaden slowly closed his eyes.
He didn't struggle, didn't resist.
It was a calm, clear-headed, almost elegant choice.
He released the sweet, melting ice cream in his hand.
The colorful cone slipped from his fingers.
"I accept."
In his heart, he calmly responded to the invitation from the darkness.
The next second, an energy even greater than what Lady Wifi possessed, surged out like a floodgate opening!
It wasn't a viscous, sickening black liquid.
It was the purest dark data stream, composed of countless tiny numbers and codes, shimmering with a ghostly blue light!
They clung to his legs like living spiritual snakes, coiled around his waist and abdomen, covered his chest, and finally enveloped his entire being in a rapidly rotating, ghostly blue data cocoon, filled with a sense of future and technological beauty!
The evening breeze by the Seine River seemed to stand still at this moment.
Lady Wifi released her embrace and stepped back two paces. She gazed mesmerized at the man undergoing a drastic transformation before her.
Her eyes, shimmering with pink data streams, were filled with a fervent, almost worshipful glow.
"Crack—"
A crack appeared in the outer shell of the data cocoon.
Immediately after, that crack spread rapidly like a spiderweb across the entire surface of the cocoon!
"Bang—!"
With a crisp sound like shattering glass, the entire data cocoon instantly exploded! It transformed into billions of ghostly blue, star-dust-like code fragments, then slowly dissipated into the golden afterglow of the setting sun.
A brand new figure, exuding a suffocatingly elegant yet cold aura, appeared in its place.
Jaden's ordinary casual wear had been replaced by a meticulously tailored, pure black, slim-fit long trench coat.
The material of the trench coat seemed unlike any known fabric; it appeared woven from the deepest night sky, with countless ghostly blue light traces, like circuit board patterns, slowly and regularly flowing across its surface.
The raised collar accentuated his already strong jawline, making it even more severe.
On his face, he wore a simple yet futuristic, pure black half-rimmed glasses.
On the surface of the lenses, countless lines of tiny data cascaded downwards like a waterfall.
Those glasses obscured his black eyes, which always held a gentle smile, replacing them with an absolute, emotionless, machine-like precision of calmness.
His hair had become a bit longer than before, with a few strands highlighted in ghostly blue, falling untamed across his forehead.
He slowly raised his hand, his black fingerless-gloved hand elegantly adjusting his perfectly smooth collar.
Every one of his movements seemed precisely calculated, composed, elegant, and filled with a deadly, superior sense of oppression.
He was Mr. Information.
"Feels... not bad."
He spoke.
His voice was much deeper and smoother than before, with a curious, cold, metallic quality, like a digital synthesis.
Lady Wifi looked at him, almost unable to breathe.
She quickly walked forward and stood beside him, saying in a voice filled with excitement and adoration, "Now, what should we do, Mr. Information?"