Miraculous: Tales of Ladybug Chat Noir Rena Rouge Carapace and also Queen Bee

Riposte - Part 1

"Hey, didn't you say a few weeks ago that you had a crush on Marinette or something?" Adrien asked as the class waited for Ms. Bustier to arrive. "What happened to that whole plot line?"

"Hm?" Nino was spacing out and his mind took a bit to catch up. "Oh, right! Yeah, I'm over that."

"You're...over it?" Adrien questioned.

"Yep."

"..What does that mean?"

Nino shrugged his shoulders. Adrien decided he probably wouldn't get an answer that made sense, so he gave up on trying.

"Alright, class." Ms. Bustier walked into the room. "I'm too tired to come up with some nonsensical thing for you guys to do today, so get out."

The students all looked at each other, sharing the same confused thoughts. Was this a test or something?

Ms. Bustier started to get impatient. "I mean it. Get out. Class dismissed," she repeated as she pointed to the exit.

Marinette raised her hand. "We still have to go to Ms. Mendeleiev's class later today. What are we supposed to do until then?"

"Hmm..." Ms. Bustier put her hand to her chin.

"I don't care." she shrugged, pointing to the door once again.

Most of the class waited outside Ms. Bustier's classroom door, wondering what to do. A few took advantage of the situation and left the building to go home early.

After about a minute or two, the rest of the students realized that Ms. Bustier was serious about not letting them back in. Half the students left the building as well, and the other half walked to Ms. Mendeleiev's classroom out of fear of getting in trouble.

"I...also have fencing lessons with Mr. D'Argencourt today. If you guys want to come hang out over there," Adrien offered.

The four of them agreed that it was an interesting enough thing to spend their time on, so that was the plan.

Adrien was driven home and back again to pick up his fencing gear due to the short notice. The four of them sat on a bench on the left side of the court as Adrien went into the locker room to get dressed.

As the hour passed by, dozens of experienced students and newcomers alike showed up and prepped themselves as well.

After what felt like an eternity (But like, one of those relatively short eternities), D'Argencourt finally showed up to start the tryouts.

The fencers all formed two parallel lines in front of him.

"I am the fencing master, Mr. D'Argencourt. As I'm sure you're aware, we only have one open spot on the team this year. So in order to select the best possible candidate, I will observe the beginners performing several attacks on the experienced students." D'Argencourt gestured to his students. "Get into position."

The only four non-fencers in the room watched as pairs were made between the two lines and tryouts began.

"Wait, which one is Adrien again?" Chloe asked, squinting.

"I have no idea," Alya lied, having remembered exactly where Adrien was standing.

None of them had cared about fencing all that much. They all came mainly because it was something to do. But even still, it was somewhat engaging to see it all in action.

Something was engaging about watching long-time students with who-knows-how-many years of experience under their belts dueling with people just starting out their fencing careers, both fighting for some semblance of superiority in this situation.