Back to Back 2

Imagination

"Ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!" the girl declared as she huffed her way out of the boutique.

It was the next afternoon. Annoyed from seeing Marinette holding hands with her Adrikins all day during school yet again, Chloé decided to go on a shopping spree to make her feel better. But it didn't quite have the calming effect that she was expecting.

After reaching the sidewalk, Chloé was quickly joined by two other people.

"There's no reason to be upset," her half-sister Zoe insisted, trying to calm her down.

Another huff. "What does it matter if I'm upset?" Chloé replied. "It's not like that ridiculous has-been is going to akumatize me or anything. Monarch's been missing for months."

"Zoe is right," Butler Jean said as he navigated his way over to her. With three shopping bags on each arm and two oversized boxes in his hands, he was doing his best to keep up. "Mademoiselle needs to stop and take a breath."

Chloé huffed again. "What kind of store doesn't carry every single pair of shoes in my size? It's just ridiculous, utterly ridiculous!"

"But Chloé," Zoe objected. "They said that they would order them for you. They'll be here in two days!"

"Two days? That's too long! I need to show them off at school before the weekend."

Exhausted from carrying all of her newly purchased items, Butler Jean made a suggestion. "Perhaps Mademoiselle has had enough shopping for today? We can return home and try again another time."

Chloé wasn't happy with that idea. "After all the stress I just experienced from that horribly lame store, I deserve a new pair of sunglasses. Go put my things in the car, Jean-Sébastien," she ordered him with a dismissive wave of her hand. "Come on, Zoe," she continued before walking off toward the next high-end boutique.

She sighed and hurried to follow her.

And not too far behind, someone else followed her too.

Once they went inside the boutique, a sales lady immediately approached Chloé and started talking. Recognizing the girl, she was eager to make a nice fat commission. So she promptly led her over to the most expensive items.

Zoe wandered around a little bit, admiring the beautiful accessories. But after a few minutes, and tired from the long day, she leaned against the wall near the door. Hopefully this wouldn't take too much longer and they could go home.

Before that could happen though, another person in the boutique caught her attention. The person definitely seemed out of place, shuffling through the store with their head down and a hood concealing their face. After watching them for a few seconds, Zoe moved her gaze to the window. Then back to the person.

Something was wrong. An unsettling feeling came over her as she watched the person circle around Chloé and the sales lady. And it only worsened when the lady stepped away to go to the counter.

Once Chloé was all by herself, the person finally made their move.

What happened next was a blur as everyone moved all at once. The person rushed Chloé, while Zoe moved forward and shouted out to warn her.

Taken by surprise, Chloé instinctively clutched her purse closer to her body, but the attacker wasn't after her bag. They went for the metallic gray comb in her hair instead.

The person barely had it in their grasp before all three of them tumbled to the floor when Zoe collided into them. Then it was a mad scramble after the Miraculous was knocked out of the person's hand and skidded across the tile.