The Truth about Parisian Heroes
When Adrien arrives to file his report, Lieutenant Raincomprix gently suggests that he should have a lawyer present, offering to contact his father's business for him to send one over. But he brushes it off; why would he need one? After all, he's not here as a suspect; he's totally innocent. Only here to report a crime... but sure, he'll answer a few other questions. Though he doesn't have any real answers for him aside from a litany of "I don't know".
After discussing Nathalie's absence, Lieutenant Roger asks whether Adrien has any legal guardian. He reassures him that his bodyguard's taking great care of him, flashing one of his winning smiles as he switches topics over to how Lila stole from him. Here, he's able to provide plenty of information, and urges him to get on that as quickly as possible... oh, and could he do something about the angry mobs outside his house, too? Roger reminds him that it's a public sidewalk, though they can offer him protection, something he eagerly accepts before running off, leaving the policeman to start making calls.
Nadja's exclusive live interview with Marinette, Kagami and Luka begins. Since their status as heroes was already revealed to the world, her companions decide to reveal their personas as well — Luka is none other than Viperion, while Kagami used to be the dragon warrior Ryuko. The trio transform, with Kagami becoming Kitsune... and Alya, standing in the front row, screeches with outrage, demanding to know what she's doing with her Miraculous.
Marinette explains that she used to be Rena Rouge, but proved unworthy of her trust. Alya insists that the Fox is hers, but Ladybug holds firm: she's the Guardian, and being a Miraculous holder is a privilege, not a right. One many of the former temporary heroes have lost. Being a hero is a major responsibility, and it's her duty to entrust that power to those she knows will use it well. Rena Rouge and many of the other temporary bearers have demonstrated that they're anything but reliable.
After a sobbing Alya is led out by security, Chat Noir crashes the interview, just in time to hear what Ladybug really thinks of him. Namely, that he's incredibly reckless, refusing to take their duties seriously — something that was driven home when he skipped out on the final battle, despite being told well in advance what was happening. He claims that he was babysitting a civilian to keep them from being akumatized, but Nadja points out how many other people were akumatized that day. Rather than admit that he was with Lila, Chat Noir deflects, saying he still kept one akuma off the streets... but at best, he just influenced Hawkmoth to switch targets, with a whole city full of potential victims to choose from.
The topic shifts over to Gabriel Agreste, and Chat Noir leaps in to defend him, suggesting that he needs counseling and help rather than punishment. 'Correcting' Nadja's protests about all the damage he caused by reminding her about how the Miraculous Cure always put everything right back to normal.
Furious, Kitsune reveals that she was akumatized several times, along with her mother. Other victims speak up, testifying to the trauma they suffered that wasn't magically wiped away. Viperion then connects the dots, realizing with a start that this is why Chat Noir brushed off the fact they had to launch a missile strike on the Mazarine Library — he doesn't care about potential civilian casualties or anything of the sort because he expects Ladybug to wipe the consequences away with her Lucky Charm.
Chat Noir then deflects, claiming he'll have to change his lady's mind on their next date. At Nadja's confusion, he brags about how they're destined to be together, only for Ladybug to interrupt: she will never date him. All this time, she's been forced to hold her tongue for fear of risking akumatization, but with Gabriel behind bars, she can finally tell him off for his constant sexual harassment. Time and again, he brushed off her feelings, while she was forced to placate her 'partner'. But no more. The only reason she isn't stripping him of his Miraculous is because it was given to him by the previous Guardian.
The topic shifts to how they've been dealing with the recent attention, with Marinette revealing that she's been staying at the Le Grand Paris with her family — something she feels safe discussing due to the security systems the Mayor just installed. While she notes that it's a major adjustment, given how the closet there is bigger than her whole room used to be, Chat Noir is more interested in the matter of the reward fund that's being put together for the superheroes, eagerly asking when he can expect to get his cut. Despite the chilly reception he's been getting, he continues trying to joke around with 'his lady', even as she coldly tells him to stop calling her that.
Afterwards, he vents to Plagg about how he can't believe Marinette didn't tell him how she felt. Plagg points out that she did, in fact, repeatedly warn him off; it's hardly her fault that Adrien never listened. And speaking of refusing to listen, Adrien notes that his kwami isn't harassing him to apologize anymore... namely because it's clear that he's not going to heed his advice.
Besides, his karma is pretty much locked in by this point. He just kept digging himself deeper and deeper, and now he's going to be facing not just his own karmic backlash, but everything that was originally intended as Lila's just deserts. Despite feeling a chill, Adrien insists it's still going to catch up with her — in fact, she's likely facing justice right now.
Meanwhile, Lila puts on another tearful performance for the officer who came to check up on the Rossis and follow up on Adrien's claim. Feigning reluctance, she agrees to answer whatever questions she can, and authorizes them to look into her bank accounts, silently banking on the fact that they don't know about all of them... and if she's set everything up properly, then it's all about to fall neatly into place.
This chapter contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question:
- Nadja questions Chat Noir's Skewed Priorities during the final battle, wondering why he felt it so important to prevent one civilian from being akumatized when so many others were being targeted. Adrien can't answer her... namely because he realizes how bad it would be if he revealed to Marinette that he'd been with Lila.
- Kagami demands to know if Chat Noir has ever been akumatized, throwing him further off balance and forcing him to admit that no, he doesn't have any personal experience with that.
- When Luka connects the dots and asks if his belief that Ladybug magically fixes everything with her Lucky Charms is why he's acting so blasé about skipping the final battle — and about the fact they had to authorize a missile strike on the Mazarine Library — Chat Noir can't answer him directly, struggling to change the subject.
- Broken Pedestal: The cracks in Chat Noir's pedestal deepen dramatically over the course of the disastrous interview with Nadja, as he inadvertently reveals just how little he cared about their safety with his insistence on treating Ladybug's Lucky Charm as a magical fix-everything button.
- Brutal Honesty:
- Alya's outburst at Kitsune's reveal spurs Marinette to explain that the reason Rena Rouge has been benched is because she's proven herself untrustworthy. The same applies to all of the other temporary holders (aside from Kagami and Luka).
- Marinette is also finally able to make clear to Chat Noir — and more importantly, to Nadja and all of Paris — that she never approved of his behavior, especially the constant harassment about getting together. The only reason she endured it for so long was because she couldn't risk either of them being akumatized, but with Hawkmoth out of the equation, that's no longer a concern.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: Alix tries to defend her future heroic alter ego without revealing that she's Bunnyx.
- Cassandra Truth: Adrien legitimately doesn't know anything about his father's activities as Hawkmoth, but he did know about Lila's true nature all along. He happily testifies to both, expecting to be fully believed, despite having seen how little that helped Marinette.
- Entitled to Have You: Chat Noir continues to show his entitled attitude towards Ladybug, even after she makes quite clear that she will never get together with him and, in fact, wants nothing more to do with him.
- Everyone Has Standards: Among those calling Chat Noir out on his dismissive attitude towards Hawkmoth's reign of terror is Vincent Aza, Jagged Stone's Loony Fan.
- Foil: While both Alya and Alix are present at the live interview and horrified to hear that they're being permanently benched, Alix makes an effort to conceal her Secret Identity, while Alya outs herself as Rena Rouge.
- Good Is Not Nice: Marinette isn't treating those who have hurt her with kid gloves anymore, being honest and forthright when addressing the matter of Rena Rouge and the other temporary heroes losing her trust. The same applies to Chat Noir.
- Hoist by His Own Petard:
- Adrien's conduct at the police station does him no favors, as he turns down the offer of having legal council present, can't answer any of their questions about his father, and clearly cares more about accusing Lila of stealing from him without any solid proof of his claims.
- Everything Chat Noir does after crashing the live interview wrecks his reputation, turning the crowd on him.
- Honesty Is the Best Policy: Adrien assumes this applies to his situation; since he truly doesn't know anything about why his father did what he did, and knows Lila's true nature, explaining that to the police should be easy, right?
- Hypocrite:
- Chat Noir minimizes the impact Hawkmoth had upon Paris, claiming that nothing he did had any real consequences because Ladybug was able to repair it all with her Miraculous Cure. Yet he's also chomping at the bit to be compensated for everything he did to protect the city; only the pain and suffering that he endured matters to him.
- Chat Noir lectures Viperion on how the job of heroism works, despite not having bothered to show up for the fight and do the job when it mattered most.
- Innocently Insensitive: Adrien isn't trying to be offensive—in fact, he's trying to be The Charmer—but during the interview with Nadja, Chat makes many extremely insensitive comments. He accidentally implies one person's wellbeing was more important than the rest of Paris and that the people who were akumatized were so because they (unlike him) were just bad at managing their negative emotions, explains to a less experienced hero—who answered the call to the last battle when Chat himself didn't—how heroes are "supposed" to be, downplays the seriousness of Hawkmoth's offenses against Paris in a room full of many of Hawkmoth's traumatized victims, and then, to top it off, focuses very noticeably on exactly how much reward money he'll be getting for all the times he helped save Paris. To say he leaves a bad impression on his audience is an understatement.
- Internal Reveal:
- Luka and Kagami reveal that they are Viperion and Kitsune, with Kagami also revealing that she was originally Ryuko.
- Alya publicly outs herself as Rena Rouge, and Marinette reveals that Rena Rouge, Queen Bee, Carapace, Pegasus, Bunnyx, and King Monkey will not be trusted with Miraculi again.
- Chat Noir's behavior at the interview makes clear to the public how little he cared about actually protecting them. Marinette also calls out Chat Noir for his constant harassment of her in front of all of Paris, spelling out once and for all that she is not interested, along with revealing that he was asked to help them out during the final battle, but never showed up.
- Lack of Empathy: Chat Noir's blithe attitude about Hawkmoth's reign of terror and attempts to downplay and minimize any discussions of how much damage he did illustrates all too clearly to everyone present at the live interview how little he cares about anyone other than himself.
- Morton's Fork: Adrien realizes too late that he can't reveal that the 'civilian' he was babysitting during the final battle was Lila, as that would risk revealing his Secret Identity and potentially upset Marinette even more. But not clarifying that only serves to make everyone more annoyed with Chat Noir anyway.
- Never My Fault: Adrien blames Marinette for "not telling him" just how irritated she was with his misbehavior as Chat Noir, even as Plagg blandly points out that she did, in fact, repeatedly tell him just that.
- No Listening Skills: Adrien's refusal to pay attention to anything he doesn't want to hear comes back to haunt him when Marinette calls Chat Noir out on that very same trait during the interview. Naturally, he attempts to blame her for that, despite Plagg pointing out that "Kid, you not listening isn't her fault."
- Not Helping Your Case:
- Practically everything Adrien does in this chapter only serves to dig him ever deeper, thanks to his dismissive attitude towards anything he doesn't care about and continuing to double down on his bad behavior in the face of mounting resistance and clear disapproval.
- Alya's outburst only serves to reveal her former identity and sense of entitlement to everyone else present for and watching the live interview.
- Only Bad Guys Call Their Lawyers: Adrien believes this to be the case, turning down Lieutenant Raincomprix's offers to contact somebody to represent him because he refuses to acknowledge the idea that he might be seen as a suspect.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After constantly warning Adrien and trying to steer him into a better direction, Plagg has given up, deciding that there's no point in trying anymore. Especially not now that Adrien's karma has effectively been locked in.
- Punished for Sympathy: Chat Noir advocates for Gabriel Agreste to be shown mercy after everything he did as Hawkmoth, claiming his crimes should be punished with things like mandatory therapy, community service and donating to charities, not facing a life in prison or possible execution. His utter Lack of Empathy for Hawkmoth's countless victims and attempts to minimize the scope of his crimes turns public opinion against him.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Marinette spells out for Chat Noir how his atrocious behavior whittled down their partnership from something she was initially grateful for (since she didn't have to fight alone) to just another burden she had to bear for the good of Paris, as he proved himself to be flakey, unreliable, and obsessed with the idea of forcing her into a relationship she never wanted.
- Skewed Priorities:
- Adrien's more invested in sending the police after Lila ASAP than he is in addressing the matter of his father being a terrorist, which only raises more red flags for Lieutenant Raincomprix.
- Nadja directly questions Chat Noir's decision to focus on guarding a single civilian over helping his fellow heroes deal with Hawkmoth and all the akuma that he sent after them.
- Even as he torches his own reputation, Chat Noir remains fixated on insisting that he and Ladybug are 'destined' to be together.
- Stopped Caring: Plagg gives up on trying to salvage Adrien's situation, as it's clear he won't listen to any of his warnings and has dug his own grave by this point.
- Tempting Fate: Adrien suggests that karma is going to catch up to Lila now that he's not protecting her anymore, and smiles at the thought of her suffering, noting that it might have ensnared her already. At that very moment, Lila is springing her own carefully laid trap.
- Tricked Out Time: Discussed: Alix attempts to defend her future self by declaring that they have to give Bunnyx her Miraculous: she's already traveled back to the past! Ladybug replies that they can avoid a Temporal Paradox by Taking a Third Option, such as creating a robotic counterpart or a sentimonster to play the role of Bunnyx instead.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Chat Noir is called out several times during the interview for his callous and dismissive behavior, especially as it becomes clear that he treats Ladybug's Miraculous Cure as an excuse to never take anything seriously.
