Miraculous: Tales of Rena Rouge and Carapace

Chapter 3

Nino sat at home, fingering his miraculous bracelet.

Today had been too close. He had made it to the Eiffel Tower just in time. Ladybug's miraculous had begun beeping right after she had cleansed the akuma.

Which meant it had been Carapace's job to walk the young Akuma home. Unfortunately, Ladybug had made him promise that he wouldn't use Momentio, which would have gotten them there in half the time, and the little girl was afraid of water so he couldn't take the water board.

The little girl- Ana- had looked thrilled to be escorted home by a super hero, but Carapace had not been happy.

That walk home was why he was now late for dinner. He had promised Alya, Marinette, and Adrien he would be there at six sharp.

It was six-fifteen, he had patrol withRena Rouge at seven-thirty, and he still had to write an essay for history.

Quickly, he grabbed a jacket with big pockets, so Wayzz could sit comfortably. The kwamii smiled up at him.

Nino couldn't help smiling back. Luckily, the café was only a block away, so it was only five minutes before he had arrived and plopped down in a seat next to Adrian. "Hey!"

"You're late." Alya said pointedly.

He winced. "Sorry, I was busy."

"With what?"

"Uh, homework?"

Marinette gasped dramatically. "Nino, doing homework? What universe have I stumbled into?"

"Hey, Adrien!" Alya said. "Nino and I were just asking yesterday who our favorite superhero is. So, who's yours?"

"Chat Noir." He said promptly. "And Ladybug."

"Well, who do you like better, Rena Rouge or Carapace?"

Adrien contemplated for a second. "Not sure. Rena Rouge is too reckless and Carapace is too uptight."

Marinette nodded. "Agreed. They do balance each other very well, though."

"I don't think that Rena Rouge is reckless." Alya said unhappily. "Maybe she just seems reckless because of her crazy ideas."

"Speaking of reckless!" Marinette interjected. "Didn't you take on an akuma today?"

"Yup! I took it down!"

"Alya, that's really dangerous!" Adrien said. "You could have been killed!"

Alya shrugged. "Well, I wasn't."

"Hey, I'm going to go get drinks." Marinette said, excusing herself. She didn't want to start an argument, and, sure enough, as she left, Nino and Alya began fighting.

Adrien began to wish he had left with Marinette.

***

"Excusez-moi, monsieur. Qu'est qu'il y a à boire?"

"Uh, I'm sorry. I don't speak French." The teenager behind the counter said nervously. "Do you speak English?"

"Yes, I do." Marinette said, noting his British accent. "What do you have to drink?"

"Oh. Well, we have uh, coca and eau and... well, how about I just give you the menu?"

"Good idea." Marinette said. He had pronounced eau as 'ew.'

She scanned the menu quickly. "We'll just have four colas. Are you an exchange student?"

The boy blushed. "Yeah, I thought it would be a good learning experience to get a French job while I was in France. Only I didn't know that they picked a job where I actually had to speak French."