Collège Françoise Dupont was bigger than Lio had expected.
“It’s huge.” Lio muttered, somewhat astonished.
“It’s completely normal.” Marinette said.
“We’re standing in front of the same building?”
“Yes!”
“Strange.”
They went inside.
The hallways were filled with students moving in every direction with an energy Lio usually didn’t possess in the morning.
Fast French voices crossed over one another from every direction, along with bulletin boards covered in things he understood only half of.
Lio looked around with the focus of someone assessing a potential threat.
“Alright.” he finally said.
“If someone asked me how to get from point A to point B without being noticed, I’d need a map and three hours of planning.
Here?
Two hundred children do it completely at random, and nobody even bumps into anyone.”
“They’re just used to it.”
“That’s more concerning, not less.
A chaotic system succeeding without any apparent planning?
That goes against everything I believe in.”
Marinette looked at him with a half-smile.
“Are you analyzing a school hallway right now?”
“Of course.
What do you think I’m doing?”
“A normal person would just say, ‘It looks crowded.'”
“I’m not a normal person.” he said with obvious pride, making no attempt to hide it.
“I’m a genius.”
Marinette looked at him with amused sarcasm, her eyes half-lidded.
“Alright, alright, Mr.
Genius.”
“Thank you for finally admitting it.” New chapters come out on g.com first.
“That wasn’t an admission.
It was sarcasm.”
“I’ll accept both with equal gratitude.”
On their way to the administration office, Lio bumped into someone coming from the opposite direction.
It was a boy with neatly styled blond hair and remarkably elegant clothes, carrying a bag that looked more expensive than anything Leo had seen in the entire bakery.
“Sorry.” the boy said politely in French, then noticed Lio’s confused expression and immediately switched to English.
“Sorry, are you alright?”
Leo looked at him.
Something about the way he apologized—the speed, the automatic politeness, as if he was accustomed to apologizing before even considering whether the mistake was his or not.
“I’m fine.” Leo said.
“I’m just new.
And I’m still learning how not to bump into people in this particular building.”
The boy smiled.
“I’m Adrien.” he said, extending his hand.
Leo looked at the offered hand.
Then at Marinette, who was standing directly behind him and had suddenly frozen in place, as if her feet had decided to stop working without consulting her.
Leo shook his hand.
“Leo.”
“New student?” Adrien asked with genuine, seemingly unforced curiosity.
“That’s unusual in the middle of the year.”
“Complicated circumstances.” Leo said in a tone that gently closed the subject.
“Long story.”
“I like long stories.”
“Well, this isn’t the kind of story you tell in a school hallway.”
Adrien laughed.
“Fair enough.”
Adrien finally turned to Marinette.
“Hi, Marinette!”
Then she quickly added, as if trying to fix something that hadn’t broken yet, “I mean—good morning!
I mean—how are you?
I’m fine.
I didn’t ask if you’re fine.
Are you fine?”
Adrien looked at her with his usual gentle expression.
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“Good!” she said in the voice of someone who had just survived something.
“That’s good.”
Leo stood there watching the exchange in complete silence, his eyes moving between the two of them with the curiosity of someone witnessing a scientific phenomenon for the first time.
When Adrien finally walked away toward his classroom, Leo slowly and deliberately turned toward Marinette.
“So.” he said.
“Don’t say anything.”
“I haven’t said anything yet.”
“You were going to.”
“I was, yes.” he admitted with complete honesty.
“I just wanted to give you a chance to stop me yourself first, and you did.
I respect that.”
Marinette let out a long sigh and covered her face with her hands.
“I don’t know why I act like this around him.”
“I have a theory.” Leo said calmly.
“I don’t want to hear your theory.”
“This theory is excellent, Marinette.”
“Leo.”
“Alright, I’ll keep it to myself.” he said with a smile that hid nothing.
“But it exists.
And it’s probably correct.”
Marinette nudged him with her elbow as she walked, her face redder than it had been two minutes ago.
Leo laughed quietly behind her and followed her toward the first class of his first day at a school in a world that wasn’t his own.
End of Chapter Sixteen