So what was that about?

[ACSR: After School]

So, it wasn't much of a shock to Joule when Frenda basically vanished. She had said she was going to the toilet but from what she heard Anti-Skill talking about, she'd managed to break out of the area with a smoke bomb. No one had gotten hurt though so Joule didn't blame her. She'd been the one with thoughts swift enough to get them to safety.

Saten was going to try and get a phone tomorrow to replace the one she lost. She knew Frenda's account so she could just get back in contact. Frenda would still want to be paid in canned fish after all.

Joule, Saten and Iruka came in for questioning but since they had no idea of why Rakko had come after them, there wasn't much to say. Joule did admit she knew who Frenda was the whole time and was told she should have contacted them just because of that alone. There wasn't any actual problem though, if Frenda had been hostile, there was no way she would have allowed Joule to call for help in the first place.

Uiharu and Shirai came to see them after questioning was over.

As they still didn't know why they'd been attacked, it was decided that Saten would be staying at an Anti-skill facility. Joule was meant to stay with her too, but she could leave as long as she had a friend with her. From what little they had known, Saten was the primary target after all so she needed more help.

Uiharu agreed to get a new phone for Saten so she could get in contact with Frenda again and Joule stayed with her for the time being. The room she'd been given was in the same building that they'd been questioned in so it was just a short walk and an elevator away.

As GV had gotten back from his job, he acted as Joule and Uiharu's escort as they went to buy a phone (And food) for Saten. Iruka hadn't come with them. She'd wanted to ask Rakko something and Anti-skill had agreed that she was more likely to get answers out of her sister peacefully than they were.

As with everything else, the tech level of Academy City was years ahead of elsewhere in the world. The holographic phones used by Uiharu and Shirai were testament to that. Those were expensive though. Older-style phones were really cheap though.

A smartphone, the peer of those coming out from america's biggest businesses was only about 6,000 yen. It felt a little crazy really but that was what you got when you had a city full of geniuses.

Of course, the fact that the people doing the shopping were three tech nerds (Or rather, one tech nerd and two people who understood electronics really well thanks to psychic abilities) they weren't just looking for the cheapest option, they were looking for what Saten would need most.

That line of thought led to them looking through a set of phones noted to be shielded.

"Shielded against what?" Joule noted "Sudden electricity?"

"Well, it would be useful for Electromasters?" Uiharu suggested before glancing over, "GV, do you need a-"

"I don't." He shrugged "While most Academy City phones have anti-tampering measures, I can skip past them and build my own phone, repairing it too if it gets damaged. I can normally shield mine from electricity though so shielding isn't that useful for me. Joule's is modded too, but it has fewer."

Mods that ensured the phone wouldn't break and would be easier to find after being tossed out of a moving car for example. That was the sort of thing they needed for Saten though so they had to hunt for them.

Finally they got a good deal and headed back as the sun set. On the way they grabbed Saten some snacks and delivered all of the gifts to her when they got back to the Anti-skill building.

Saten thanked them all and plugged the phone into a wall socket. Then at her insistence Joule downloaded the app too and befriended Saten's account as she got the app on her new phone.

Joule's account image was, unsurprisingly, Lumen's butterfly symbol on a purple background. Joule almost expected a comment from Lumen about it but her friend was being very quiet today.

Frenda even took the time to drop a message. She noted that she'd want to come round for dinner in a week. That would be fun.

As they left Saten in her temporary room, they found Iruka sitting sadly on a bench.

"Anything from your sister?" Joule asked.

Iruka shrugged "She told me she was working with one of the big shot dark side organizations now, though not which one. It seems they think Saten had something on her, a Poker card, that they were looking for."

"...What." Joule deadpanned.

Iruka nodded "It was meant to be a really special one with secret information on it."

"It was a card about using chopsticks." Joule complained "Not anything special like that."

Uiharu looked over, surprised "Really? Iruka, did your sister say what the card they were looking for was?"

Iruka didn't have a good answer "Her orders were apparently just to bring Saten in alive. Nothing about what card it was meant to be."

"So it could have been another card she bought?" Joule asked.

The others nodded. A dead end, it seemed.

Uiharu glanced back though "If it was a mistake, if it's made clear then Saten might be let out early. Tomorrow maybe. Whatever dark side organization it was wouldn't attack her again if they knew that they hadn't gotten anything."

"That would be nice." Joule agreed.

End of chapter.

Right, then the battle royale starts next chapter. Again, can someone point me to the LN chapter it starts in. I just need the volume. If I don't know where to start, I'd have to work of the Anime and people have already pointed out that it's a really bad adaptation of the dark side battle royale arc.

Also, to guests. If you're a guest I can't reply to your reviews directly. Don't spam it in every chapter. If you review with an account, I can reply to your reviews.