Riposte 2

A Distraction

"Thank you for coming. I think you'll all be very impressed with the skills of our young fencers here today. We'll start the tournament with a round of eight bouts. Each winner will move on to the next round, until we have a final winner for our tournament. Best of luck to all of our fencers!"

Mr. D'Argencourt remained quiet for a moment while the audience members applauded.

"Alright, let's have our first two competitors" he continued.

Marinette and Luka whispered to each other as the first two fencers took their places.

"How long does each fight last?" Luka asked.

"Not long" Marinette responded. "If you blink you might miss it!"

Luka chuckled as they turned their attention back to the bout.

The first bout lasted for all five conversations. They were doing best of five, just like Marinette and Kagami did.

"Next up, we have Adrien Agreste and Louis Segal" Mr. D'Argencourt announced.

Adrien went over to the piste and scanned the crowd. Once his eyes landed on Marinette he broke into a big smile. She smiled back and gave him a quick wave.

He got in place and saluted his opponent. Taking one last glance at Marinette, he lowered his mask.

Their bout didn't need five conversations. Adrien won it in three.

As soon as he was done he lifted his mask and looked back over at Marinette. That smile of hers was addicting. He needed to see it, he needed her validation.

A few more bouts took place until Kagami's turn.

"Next we have Simon Mercier and Kagami Tsurugi."

She didn't need five conversations either. Three was plenty.

"Now we're moving on to our second round, consisting of four bouts. First up, Vivienne Gagne and Adrien Agreste."

Once again Adrien looked at Marinette as he took his place. Now armed with her smile, he was ready to go. He easily won the first conversation.

Everyone in the audience clapped, impressed by his skill.

"Wow, no wonder you asked Adrien to give you some lessons, he's really good" Luka whispered to Marinette.

"Actually, I was going to ask Kagami but Adrien offered to help me" she responded, looking at Luka.

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah, he wants me to try out for the team."

Adrien glanced over at Marinette through his mask again as he got into place. His heart sank when he saw that she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at Luka. They were whispering to each other and they were so incredibly close.

He was so distracted that he almost missed the call of "Allez!"

But he was too late to react. His opponent got the touch.

"One for Miss Gagne" Mr. D'Argencourt announced.

Marinette turned back surprised when she heard the announcement. "He lost that one" she said quietly. She couldn't believe that he didn't win.

Neither could Adrien. He slowly went back to his place. Taking in a deep breath, he closed his eyes. He needed to refocus. Just breathe... breathe...

"Come on Adrien!" someone called out. He opened his eyes and found Marinette's smile again. She was there for him. And she was cheering for him.

He nodded over at her and watched her smile wider. Now he was ready.

"En garde... prêt... allez!"

This time Adrien got the touch.

The first thing he did was look at Marinette. Seeing her smile was all he needed.

He went on to get the next touch, winning the bout.

Adrien walked back to his seat next to Kagami and sat down. They hadn't spoken to each other since before the tournament started.

Kagami leaned over to him. "Great job" she whispered, trying to break the ice between them.

Adrien didn't look at her. "Yeah, and I didn't even need to punch her to win."

She was taken aback by his comment. Tears started welling up in her eyes again as she straightened up.

After two other bouts Mr. D'Argencourt called for her. "Now we have Nigel Wilson and Kagami Tsurugi."

Once again she won in three conversations.

Kagami turned to Adrien with a smile on her face after her victory. It disappeared, however, when she saw that he wasn't looking at her. She followed his gaze until her eyes landed on a girl in the crowd.

Adrien was looking at Marinette.

"We'll now have a brief intermission before out semi-final round" Mr. D'Argencourt announced.

Instead of going back to her seat, Kagami turned and quickly made her way to the locker room.

Adrien got up and went over to Marinette and Luka. "Are you enjoying the tournament?" he asked the blunette.

"It's so awesome" she replied. "I can't believe how good everyone is. You guys are really talented." She looked around. "Where's Kagami?"

Adrien looked around too. "Oh, I don't know."

Marinette's face dropped. "I hope she's still not upset about what happened. Maybe I should go find her and talk to her."

"No, you don't have to do that. I'm sure she's fine" Adrien said.

She didn't look convinced. He hated to see her like that.

"I'll go check on her" he continued.

Marinette seemed relieved. "Thanks Adrien."

Anything for you. "I'll be right back" he said, walking to the locker room.

Once inside he found Kagami sitting on a bench, hunched over and fiddling with her sabre.

"Marinette is looking for you" Adrien huffed, avoiding eye contact.

She glanced up at him. "Why did you invite her here?" she asked quietly.

The question surprised him. "I... um, I invited her because I want her to try out for the team." That wasn't completely untrue.

"And why do you want her to try out for the team?"

Why was she pushing this? "Be... because... she's really good" he said, still avoiding her gaze.

Kagami sighed. "Adrien, just tell me the truth. Are you in love with Marinette?"

Adrien kept looking down at the floor. After a few seconds he slowly nodded his head.

At seeing him confirm her suspicion, Kagami stood up and ran into the girl's bathroom. She burst into tears and sank down to her knees as waves of sadness came over her.

She stayed there sobbing until a little black butterfly landed on the sabre still clenched in her hand.