Miraculous: Tales of Ms. Ladybug and Tom Cat

Part 25: A new friend

Emilie surveyed the dance floor. It was mostly people who were wealthy and elite. She walked around blindly looking for the butterfly Miraculous before realizing it was a dead-end trying to look for it this way. Disappointed, she sat down towards the side of the room and relaxed.

Ok, think Emilie thought. How do I draw him out of hiding? What can I do to single him out?

As she started thinking she was accompanied by the girl she'd met on the houseboat. The one who would become Ryuko.

"Is this seat taken?" she asked.

"Uh, no I guess," Emilie said. She noticed that this girl was dressed differently from everyone else. While most wore lavish tuxedos or extravagant party dresses, the girl was wearing a comfortable red kimono with a black waistband. Her hair was pulled into a traditional Japanese style and was braided with pink Sakura flowers.

"You look very nice tonight." the girl said as she sat down beside her. "I wanted to apologize for my behavior earlier. I'm still new at making friends."

"Well, I've never been good at making friends either," Emilie said. "That's always been my brother's strong suit."

"So would you like to start over?"

Emilie thought for a moment "Yeah, I think that's for the best. So, hi. My name is Emilie."

"I am Kagami." The girls shook hands. As they began to talk they realized they actually had a lot in common. They both were very skilled athletes, both liked Japanese cuisine, and liked arranging flowers.

What is happening? Emilie thought. It's like I can feel what she's going to say next. She's really awesome! Is this what it's like to have a friend?

Suddenly, Emilie felt a dark presence in approach, like an oncoming wave of despair and annoyance "Well, if it isn't Dupain-Cheng's stupid new roommate and weird fencing girl." Chloé said. She was wearing a black and yellow dress, an omáge to her time as Queen Bee. Beside her stood a girl with red hair and teal glasses.

"What do you want, Chloe?" Emilie said.

"Well, I want to know how some peasant from Northern France ended up at my hotel at the fanciest party in town."

Emilie looked around to see two security guards flanking to either side of her. What am I gonna do now? She thought.

"Well, obviously I invited them!" A new voice said. Coming from behind Chloe was a girl with bangs in an orange dress.

"You see," Lila said. "I'm like, totally BFF's with her and her brother and they would've felt so bad if they weren't allowed to come during their stay in town."

"So you know her parents. What made you think that you can just invite someone to my hotel?" Chloe asked

"Well, I can because I'm helping to host this party. But I don't seem to remember giving you an invitation, Chloe." this girl suddenly had a smug look on her face. "So perhaps the question should be, what are you doing here if no one invited you?"

Chloe gasped in shock. "Not invited to the fanciest party of the year?! And it's at my own house?! Ridiculous! Utterly Ridiculous!"

"Well, I might let you stay if you agree to let my friend Emilie stay."

Chloe scoffed. "C'mon Sabrina." She then dragged the glasses girl towards the dance floor.

"That was very nice of you," Emilie said. 

"I know." the girl said.  "Thank you. But she's right, you know. I don't remember seeing you come in. So let's greet each other properly."

They then gave each other a kiss to properly greet each other. "I'm Lila by the way. Don't go too far and enjoy the party!" Lila then walked away.

Wait, Emilie thought. Lila? As in Lila Rossi? As in the person, my Mom hates the most? She seemed so nice though...

"Are you really friends with that Lila girl?" Kagami said, looking worried.

"No," Emilie said. "But she seems pretty nice."

"Well, that's really her trick. Adrien and Marinette told me all about her. Apparently, she lies with every breath. Just like what she did to you right there."

"If she's so bad then why'd she just help me?"

"It might've had something to do with the fact that she just stole your earrings."

Emilie panicked. "What?!" She felt her ears and found that yes, her earrings were gone. "Kagami! I know we've only just met but can you please help me find her! I need those earrings back!"

"I'll help you. And I think Adrien can help us too."

Emilie nodded. She searched throughout the party but Lila was nowhere to be found. Eventually, she bumped into Thomas.

"Thomas! Thank goodness! Someone stole my earrings! We have to get them back!"

"We have another problem," Thomas said. "My ring is gone too! I lost it shortly before I ran into..." he looked over and saw Kagami. "Adrien. I don't know where he went."

"Where who went? Adrien asked. Thomas jumped in surprise. "Wait. Adrien? Weren't you wearing a different tie? And what happened to your jacket? It was a different color."

"What do you mean?" Adrien said. "I haven't changed clothes since you left."

"But weren't you just by the food tables?"

"I only just got here."

"But then who was I talking to?!" Thomas was confused.