Target

En Garde

The semi-annual fencing tournament for the students of Armand D'Argencourt's class was being held in the courtyard of the Collège Françoise Dupont on a Saturday evening.

Adrien Agreste was the reigning champion, having won the last tournament, and he was back again to defend his title. He was the favorite to win, but Kagami Tsurugi wasn't far behind.

This time Adrien had invited some of his friends to watch. But the person that he most wanted there was his father, the famous designer Gabriel Agreste. His father rarely left the house, but Adrien was hoping that he would make an exception to watch him compete.

A few minutes before the tournament was to start, Adrien went out to the audience to greet everyone who came to watch him.

"Dude!" his best friend Nino said when he saw him. "This is awesome, you're going to kill it!"

"Thanks, man," he replied, fist bumping him. "Hey, where's Alya?"

Nino jutted his chin across the courtyard. "She's over there talking with Kagami."

Adrien looked over and saw the girls. But it wasn't only Alya and Kagami. Marinette was there too.

He smiled at seeing Marinette. She was one of his closest friends, and he was thrilled that she was able to make it.

Kagami noticed that he was looking over at them so she pulled the other two girls over. "I hope you enjoyed winning last time, because it's not going to happen again," she said teasingly.

"We'll see about that," he replied before turning to Alya and Marinette. "I'm really glad that you're here."

"It's no problem," Alya said.

"Yeah, we would miss it for the world... I mean, we wouldn't world it for the... uh, I mean... yeah," Marinette sputtered, her cheeks blushing slightly.

"Thanks Marinette," Adrien said, smiling at her.

"You're welcome," she replied bashfully.

They stared at each other for a few seconds until Kagami spoke again. "Will your father be coming today?" she asked.

"I think so. I reminded him about it this morning. And Nathalie said that he didn't have any meetings or anything tonight, so I'm really hoping that he'll show up."

The lights flickered.

"I guess the tournament is about to start, let's go grab some good seats," Alya suggested. "Good luck you two!"

"Thanks," Kagami replied as she and Nino walked off.

"Good luck, Adrien," Marinette squeaked out. "I'm sure you'll do great."

"Thanks Marinette."

They stared at each other again, smiling.

After a second Kagami narrowed her eyes slightly and audibly cleared her throat. "Well, we should go get ready."

Marinette was shaken from her trance and looked at her. "Yes, of course. I should go sit down. Good luck, Kagami."

"Thanks," the girl replied, her expression softening.

Marinette gave a little wave and went over to the seating area while Adrien and Kagami went to the stage.

When they got there, Kagami slid over so that she was right next to Adrien. Their arms were practically touching and she looked at him and smiled. Adrien smiled back, but it was less than genuine. He knew why Kagami was moving so close. During the summer they had spent a lot of time together, and she made it abundantly clear that she wanted a romantic relationship with him.