Playing Around

[ACSRS: The Usual 5 People]

Saten was released on time and the five friends gathered at Saten and Uiharu's rooms to test themselves with the AIM Diffusion Field readers.

Uiharu was working on a curry for supper as they got started but when she suggested they start without her, Saten frowned and asked "You all waited for me, it would be only right for us to wait for you too."

Uiharu shook her head "It's fine. I'll join in once this is done and I will still chat with you as I cook."

Saten didn't look like she was entirely happy with that but everyone got started.

Saten was the first to try it. Joule pointed it at her to get a baseline reading then, after writing the results down and nodding to her, Saten grabbed a handful of what looked like home-made paper confetti.

Saten closed her cupped hands around the confetti to make sure none of it would escape and focused.

"Readings jumped up slightly." Joule reported before looking over and tilting her head "What are you doing by the way?"

"Rotating the air between my palms." Saten broke her focus for a moment to answer "I can feel the wind and the confetti against my hands."

There was a pause for a moment before Saten opened her hands and the confetti flew into the air around them. Misaka and Kuroko cheered and Joule grinned as it settled around the room.

"You realise we are going to need to clear that up right Saten?" Uiharu asked from where she was standing next to the stove.

At that, Saten paled slightly then let out a laugh "I guess I should do that now. What did I get Joule?"

Saten began to pick up the pieces of paper as Joule checked the results.

"Generally lower than mine, but that makes sense."

Kuroko nodded "I would be surprised if that wasn't true, Level 3 and Level 1 have enough space between them after all. Can that reader detect level?"

Joule shook her head at Kuroko's question "It can only judge the field's strengths."

"It makes sense," Misaka noted "different abilities use different field strengths to do different things. The field strength is only a rough messure of how far we can push the rules, not what our actual personal realities do."

Kuroko nodded before asking "Shall I go next then?"

"The order doesn't really matter that much, does it? Sure." Joule answered simply before asking "Where do I actually point to read your field. Actually, how does your field work? I thought you can teleport great distances, wouldn't that require having a giant field?"

Kuroko smiled at that "My range isn't as big as I make it look. I can just do multiple jumps quickly, if people see that as a larger distance then that is up to them."

Misaka thought for a moment then asked "So how big is your range Kuroko?"

"Eighty-one and one half meters or roughly Eighty-nine yards. With a point four second gap between jumps that lets me teleport at a rough speed of seven and a half miles a minute." Kuroko was clearly proud of those numbers but as Joule had nothing to scale it too she was a bit lost.

Confused as she was, Joule quietly asked "Sorry to ask, but how good is that compared to other Teleporters."

Kuroko smiled softly "I'm in the top three best teleporters in the city. I haven't been told any more than that."

It seemed Saten was just as impressed with that as Joule now was "Top three? That's amazing!"

Kuroko's smile grew as she nodded to Misaka. She was still talking to Saten though as she pointed out "I was only able to get into Tokiwadai due to my ability after all."

Uiharu agreed from where she was testing the curry "Naturally, they only take the best of the best after all."

After talking a bit more, Misaka offered to go next.

Her baseline stood far and above any other field measured thus far and when she made a spark jump between her fingers the device maxed itself out.

"Huh. Must not be designed for a level five field." Misaka commented.

"Well it is just a reader designed for normal schools. They probably use something much stronger during your ability testing Misaka." Joule noted and Kuroko nodded.

"I got to see the reader she used once. They don't bring it out very much, mostly because it's not that useful for a level 5, but it is the size of suitcase and it has a set of wheels like one too."

Misaka nodded and continued Kuroko's explanation "Yeah, normally they skip the field strenght testing these days and just give me practical tests." Misaka left off there but Kuroko spoke up quickly "Like blowing the water out of the pool?"

"Yeah, like that."

Uiharu brought the plates of curry over then and Joule put away the reader so it wouldn't get damaged as they all ate.

After dinner was done Uiharu was tested and got the same sort of results as Saten but with a noticeable increase when using her power compared to Saten.

"It's because I have more practice, maybe." Uiharu offered as a possible answer but Saten just shrugged.

Finally, Uiharu held the reader as Joule tested her levels.

Baseline; same as recorded in class. Higher than Saten and Uiharu's readings, lower than Kuroko and Misaka's readings. Then, she started using her ability by setting up a link with Saten as Uiharu took the reading.

"That's odd."

Uiharu's words made everyone focus on her as she held up the reader. Joule noted it down on the sheet and then realised what she meant. When using her ability, her field spiked to just under Kuroko's.

No one really had an idea of what that meant so Joule noted that as singing helped her power, maybe it would affect her field strength.

[ASG: Cyanotype]

After only a few seconds Uiharu gasped at the results. Joule kept singing as Uiharu showed the reading to everyone else before slowly petering out.

Uiharu silently passed her the reader. The maxed out reader.

"Huh." Joule wasn't actually the surprised but Saten asked about it quickly.

"'Huh'? Joule, this means you have power on scale with a level 5! That's amazing!"

"I guess so. But it is a situational boost."

Joule didn't note the results from this down. She didn't lie though, she just... failed to record this one.

Kuroko frowned "This has to have come up in a test at some point, I wonder why they didn't decide to make you a Level 4?"

Misaka looked surprised and took a new look at Joule. Quietly she murmered "I wonder...?"

She didn't finish her thought as just then, Joule's phone rang.

The caller ID listed Arisa so Joule answered and held the phone up to her ear. A few moments later of talking with Arisa she looked at her friends and asked a question.

"Want to hang out with Arisa tommorow? She wants us with her when she discusses something about her contract tomorrow."

End of chapter.