Unknown Source

[ASG: Cyanotype]

Joule floated. She was deprived of sensory input other than the feeling of gravity and the steady pounding of her heart.

She bobbed in the liquid, or at least imagined herself doing so. Her real body was currently just lying down in a machine at the hospital while she was examined. This little mental world was just something to put her mind in the right mood for a proper scan.

AIM could be finicky apparently, this machine was just meant to remove as many external factors as possible so Heaven Canceller would be able to get a good idea of what the problem was. They'd tried a lot of other things and had to resort to this when none of them had given complete information.

Joule hadn't been here very long. When she'd woken up, she'd been happy to see GV home safe and sound. She'd gone to school as normal but was allowed to sit out some of the classes due to the current strain on her mind. Lumen wasn't able to chat with her currently, at least not easily. Occasionally Lumen would give a sign that she was still doing okay but...

It was strange for her, to not have her constant companion by her side. Or the Muse in general, her throat still hurt and singing in this state would be near-impossible.

All that had been determined for sure so far was that she was producing a lot less AIM then she normally did. That was typically a bad sign for an esper, one that hinted at some sort of damage to their personal reality. Joule suspected that it wasn't that though. AIM seemed to just be a byproduct for her and GV instead of the source of the ability that Espers had.

It was curious.

That wasn't to say the drop in AIM force wasn't a symptom, it stood alongside her throat and general fatigue as a sign there was an underlying cause. One which this test was meant to find.

There was a sound at last, a clear note. Joule felt herself coming to and opened her eyes. She was staring up at the top of the pod. The cot she had been lying in slid out of the machine headfirst. She slowly stood and got dressed before heading through into the room Heaven Canceller had been in analysing the data.

She sat in a chair as he continued to work. He was still working through the last of the data.

As Joule waited, she felt a little wave from Lumen and smiled. Lumen was still trying her best.

"Hmm. Most unusual." Heaven Canceller noted. Joule turned to him quickly, had he figured something out?

Heaven Canceller slid back in his chair to look at her.

"The results aren't conclusive, but lets look over what you know again. When did you start suffering symptoms?"

Joule had answered this question a few times at this point, she wasn't sure why he kept asking. Maybe it was just so she'd keep it in mind too?

"The end of last month, or roughly there at least."

Heaven Canceller nodded "You might remember that there was a large scale incident at the time involving Magic?"

She did, she was involved with it after all. They'd even spent some time here during it.

Heaven Canceller nodded at the screen at last "I believe something changed then, a strange interaction between science and magic that gave birth to that."

The "That" in question was being simulated on the computer. A small orb, maybe a cocoon or an egg? Whatever it was, it sat atop her throat in some way.

"What... is it?" Joule asked.

Heaven Canceller shook his head "I've seen a lot of things during my life, but this goes aginst most of the wisdom that I have gathered. The easiest explanation would be to call it a tumour, except it doesn't exist in any biological part of your body, but instead within your AIM fields."

Joule went cold, her first thought was something very simple.

"Am I going to die?"

Heaven Canceller shook his head "No. No matter what happens in relation to this, I promise that I'll find a way to treat it."

That did make her feel a little better but...

Heaven Canceller continued, giving her the information on what the tumour was doing, though he suggested visiting Index and asking her about it.

Sure. Okay, Index's books might have something about this.

As she left the hospital, she pulled out her phone to call Index. Before she was able to though, someone else called first. Joule didn't know the number though. Regardless she answered the phone.

An unknown girl's voice spoke out the other side, though Joule quickly figured out who it was when they introduced themselves.

"Hello Joule, It's Shokuhou."

Not her voice obviously but the words had her inflection. Joule could almost imagine a sparkling sound at the end of her name. She might be placing the call with a proxy. Just to test her though, Joule asked "If you are, do you mind telling me what happened when we last had tea? Specifically the question I asked you at the end?"

Shokuhou's proxy sighed "You asked what Misaka did to offend me."

Yep, that was her.

The proxy moved on to the actual point of the call "Do you mind giving me your friend Index's number, I needed to ask her about something."

...Shokuhou asking about magic? Curious.

"I'm on my way to talk with her now actually." Joule noted "If you want I can just pass on any questions you have."

"That would be great." Shokuhou sounded happy and Joule just nodded. After a moment, she continued with the question.

"I've recently come across another of Academy City's more bizarre experiments, an experiment to split a soul. This is the sort of thing that magic would know, right?"

She explained the experiment that she'd heard of, of a girl split in half and replaced with cybernetic parts, then stitched back together. She wanted to know what a magician would say happened to her soul during the process.

Joule nodded and answered she'd be happy to pass it on.

For now though, she'd have to find Index. Apparently she'd been at the hospital with Touma in the morning but Heaven Canceller said she'd left around lunch and hadn't come back yet. Now that the call with Mental Out was over, she could call Joule to allow them to meet up.

End of chapter.

Don't blame Heaven Canceller for his misdiagnosis, as far as I know he wouldn't have any know-how when it came to this kind of esotericism.

After all, this isn't a tumour, it's a parasite.