Consequences for Great Misdeeds
Alya rounds on Marinette, demanding to know what she's laughing about — this is serious! Adrien's just lost a lot of money!
Which is true, but... it's nothing the Agrestes can't afford. True, their stock has suffered since Gabriel was outed and arrested, but the bulk of their wealth remains. It's not like Adrien's about to go hungry, or lose his home. Therefore, this was a loss he could afford... and hadn't he previously claimed that was no big deal?
Adrien deflects, claiming that's not quite his position. Which is technically true: though he didn't care about what Lila was doing before, things have changed now that he's her latest victim. Now it's personal. But thankfully, he's friends with Ladybug, so she can pull some strings to ensure the police get right to cracking this case, right?
...Well, no. Marinette refuses to abuse her position this way. She's done with fighting for lost causes, and not about to compromise her morals any further for his sake. Not for him, or any of her former classmates — because that's all they are. Certainly not friends, like Alya claims. All of them abandoned her. Lila drew the line in the sand, and given the choice, they all picked the girl who was Too Good to Be True over her. They threw her away, and only want her back now that they know that she's not just their 'Everyday Ladybug', but the real Ladybug.
Does that mean Adrien deserved to be robbed? No, of course not. But that doesn't mean that she, specifically, has to go out of her way to help him. And as she spells out, she doesn't care what happens to him. She's washing her hands of all this. They can handle their own problems from now on.
She leaves along with her friends; Alya and Adrien pursue. Alya insists that they're still friends, and that she doesn't want to exploit her... but claims that wanting exclusive interviews and whatnot is different, only proving her former bestie's point.
Meanwhile, Adrien implores Chloé to talk some sense into her, only for Chloé to confront him about how he stayed silent and let her get away with bullying others for so long. She wants to change for the better, while Adrien...? He's just an enabler. She needs somebody who can hold her feet to the fire, and hopes Dupain-Cheng will keep playing that role for her.
As Marinette, Luka and Kagami discuss the others' entitlement, Kagami points out that Lila wasn't the only one who didn't show up. Juleka was also missing. Heading back to the Liberty, they find her sitting on the edge, strumming her guitar. Marinette hides while Luka joins his sister, asking her why she didn't go. She explains that it just... didn't feel right. Everyone else acted like it was just... a given that Marinette would forgive them, and that they didn't have to bother making any amends or offer anything more than a token apology. But words aren't enough; you have to change, too... and none of them were trying. None of them wanted to acknowledge what they'd done wrong.
Juleka, though... she doesn't feel like she deserves it. She's still the same girl she was before: staying silent and following the crowd despite her misgivings. Too afraid to speak up and risk getting hurt herself.
Luka reassures her that she has changed; she didn't join the others this time, after all. When he asks what she'd tell Marinette if she had the chance, she says that she knows she was wrong, that she hurt her, and that apologizing doesn't erase what she did. After all she did and didn't do, the least she can do is leave Marinette alone now, rather than pestering her for forgiveness.
Marinette reveals herself, acknowledging that she's right: they aren't friends. But... there's still a chance of rebuilding that relationship, if she's willing to make the effort. The olive branch is tentatively accepted, and they head into the Liberty for cocoa.
The next morning, Adrien's exhausted after spending the night fruitlessly begging the banks to fix things. Despite all his pleas, however, their hands are tied: unless he can prove the money was stolen, they can't reimburse him, and have no idea where to start looking. Plagg suggests that he just tap into one of their other accounts, but Adrien reveals he can't: that was the only one he had access to. With it drained dry, he's got no way of getting at the rest of his family's wealth.
So he decides to take Marinette's advice. Namely, he'll go to the police himself and tell them everything. That should be enough to get the ball rolling; after all, he's not Marinette, so they'll believe him, right? And in the meantime, maybe he can do some fundraising as Chat Noir! Get some payback for all his hard work defending the city!
Plagg doesn't share his optimism, but Adrien's convinced that this is all he needs to do to get things back to normal. Police first, then he'll head to Nadja's interview that afternoon and charm his way into some cash. What could be easier...?
This chapter contains examples of:
- Accomplice by Inaction: Juleka knew that they shouldn't have abandoned Marinette, but didn't speak out against it, not wanting to risk any kind of confrontation with her friends.
- All Take and No Give: Marinette calls out her classmates for how they took her kindness completely for granted, noting that they treated her like a feudal servant: expected to serve them forever and be grateful for whatever scraps she got in return.
- Armor-Piercing Question: An unpleasantly heavy silence falls over the gathering when Marinette asks if they only care about her now that they know she's Ladybug.Marinette: Be honest. If you didn't know I was Ladybug, and if Lila was still here telling you I was bullying her, would any of you have cared when I transferred classes?
- The Atoner: Juleka notes that normally, an apology is paired with the promise to address and correct the behavior that caused the issue.
- Cassandra Truth: Plagg warns Adrien that the police might not believe his testimony about Lila. This proves to be an example in and of itself, as Adrien continues to ignore his counsel.
- Entitled Bastard:
- Alya and most of the class continue to feel entitled to Marinette's friendship even after being called out on how they hurt her, much to her ire.
- Alya also continues to assert that Marinette 'owes her' exclusive content and perks. When Marinette explicitly calls her out on trying to exploit her status, Alya insists that 'that's different' — to her mind, that's not even Marinette doing her favors, but just what she's due.
- Adrien thinks he deserves everyone whom he considers a "friend" to put aside their own feelings and get along because that's what suits him best, and disrespects and trivializes the feelings of "friends" with inconvenient and discordant perspectives like Marinette, proving himself to be a False Friend to them in the process.
- Adrien decides that he's entitled to compensation for all his heroic deeds as Chat Noir, on top of everything else he's demanding.
- Foil:
- Juleka, like Adrien, chose not to speak up about the Lila situation for fear of the potential social repercussions. While Juleka recognizes and regrets how she hurt Marinette, Adrien continues to insist that he didn't do anything wrong, and that it's not fair that he hasn't been forgiven already. Juleka is willing to stay away and leave Marinette be, while Adrien intends to keep forcing his way into her life until he gets what he wants.
- Both Juleka and Chloé want to change their ways for the better, but aren't sure how to accomplish that. Chloé intends to stick with Dupain-Cheng in hopes that she can help keep her on the straight and narrow, while Juleka thinks it will be better to just leave Marinette be.
- Gaslighting: Adrien has hints of this in his behavior here, trying to convince Marinette that she doesn't have any valid reasons to be angry at him and the class and that she's being "ridiculous", along with trying to convince Chloé to help him convince Marinette of this, since Marinette's more willing to listen to Chloé now.
- Heroism Won't Pay the Bills: Adrien hopes to avert this by charming his way into some kind of payment for his services as Chat Noir.
- Honest Advisor: Chloé hopes that Marinette will help her be better by calling her out whenever she steps out of line, as opposed to how Adrien just stayed silent and kept out of her way.
- Hourglass Plot: Adrien and Marinette swap positions here; now he's the one trying to convince her to take action, entirely because HE was victimized.
- Ironic Echo:
- Marinette reminds Adrien of how he'd previously told her that it wasn't a big deal if somebody lost something they could afford to lose.
- Adrien similarly echoes her prior sentiment that it isn't right to let Lila get away with deceiving and stealing from others.
- Moral Myopia: Adrien only cares about Lila's crimes now that he's been personally victimized.
- Plot Parallel: As Chloé herself notes, Adrien never wanted to do anything about her misbehavior either, and was more than happy to let her act out and make a damned fool out of herself.
- The Power of Apathy: Marinette makes clear that she honestly does not care about trying to save Adrien or her former friends from Lila anymore.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech:
- Marinette calls out Adrien, Alya and the rest of her classmates for taking her completely for granted, pushing her aside in favor of Lila, then flocking back to her purely because they know she's Ladybug and want to benefit from being her 'friends'.
- Chloé combines this with a "The Reason I Suck" Speech: Adrien helped enable her bad behavior for years, letting her throw tantrums and be a Spoiled Brat rather than confronting her about it. As a result, she can't trust him to be honest with her or help her change her ways.
- Riches to Rags: Adrien finds himself in the awkward position of not being able to access the rest of his family's ridiculously huge fortune.
- Secret Test of Character: Luka tests the waters with Juleka by talking to his sister while Marinette is secretly listening in, giving her a chance to hear Juleka's unfiltered thoughts on the matter.
- Skewed Priorities: Alya fails to convince Marinette that she actually cares about her and values her friendship for more than just the little fact that she's Ladybug because she's too focused on getting that 'exclusive interview'.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Luka reassures his sister that she's changed more than she realizes over the past week, as she's already altering her behavior.
