Trouble Brewing

[ACSR: Tokiwadai Chuugakkou]

A few days had passed since Joule had met the level 5, she had even seen the girl's room when Saten and Uiharu got invited round.

That adventure was kind of an eye opener, she had known the girl Kuroko was odd but hadn't quite seen how odd. It honestly made her wonder about something, the member of the Sumeragi seven able to teleport was the member who represented lust. Was just every teleporter lustful?

That theory would likely fail the moment she met another teleporter but the idea had made GV chuckle when she had mentioned it.

Either way, she now considered them (with Kuroko as a possible exception) as true friends. On the side she had compared Misaka and GV, while both controlled powerful electricity they seemed to quite different, maybe she was just seeing different faces.

As it happened Joule was thinking about all of this while on a bus ride with Saten and Uiharu, rain was falling outside and the girls were presently chatting about schoolwork. Eventually Joule stopped her mental monologue and joined in with the conversation.

Uiharu was just getting another burst of excitement over how they had been invited "I'm so excited, we've been invited to the garden of learning"

Joule and Lumen were excited too just not to the level of Uiharu so when Saten asked "I don't know why they gave it such a fancy name, it's just the area of town that there is a cluster of girl's schools?" it was Joule who answered "I don't think the schools are the only reason it got the name, that area has quite a lot of style that makes it different from the rest of the city. It's designed to look like Paris in theory."

Uiharu nodded "On the subject of the schools though, they are all well known girl's schools like Tokiwadai."

Saten smiled "If you both are so excited then it is a good think Kuroko invited us." Uiharu closed her eyes and clasped her hands as if praying "If she hadn't a student as lowly and comment as I would have no business visiting such an exalted place!"

Joule let a soft smile fill her face while looking at the seemingly praying girl "I think you might be a bit too excited for today." Saten nodded as she turned her head to the side "Yes. can you stop groveling, you're making yourself sound like a brown noser." as she spoke, Uiharu was looking in Saten's bag.

"What's this?" asked Uiharu as she pulled a travel guide out of Saten's bag "Oh I see now, you have a page highlighted in here. Is this a bakery you want to try out while we are visiting Saten?" As she spoke Saten got more and more flustered before eventually replying "Well of course, It's world famous! I've always wanted to try some of their cheesecake but the garden of learning is the only place in the whole country where they have it!"

Uiharu smiled "Your more of a sucker for advisement then I thought Saten." The two girls then looked over to Joule and Saten spoke "If we both have something we are excited for do you have something specific Joule?"

Joule closed her eyes to think before opening them and speaking "I guess the bakery sounds good? Other than that not really, just curious about the garden as it is somewhere I haven't seen before."

In truth Joule was thinking about her old school in her home world, it had been a public school as it was easier to get her in without drawing attention. She was curious about what an entire area of city dedicated to private schools would be like.

As she continued to ponder she heard an announcement "Next stop; entrance to the garden of learning"

The boss dropped the three girls off at the stop while it was still raining. As soon as Saten started complaining about the rain and how they had got here early, Uiharu pulled out her phone and checked the weather. Joule wondered along with Saten about how accurate the weather had to be to predict it's start and end to the second.

After getting through the gates and getting to the garden of learning proper they were blown away by it. Of course as they walked around they were gathering attention from others as they were wearing a uniform that wasn't normal in the area.

Suddenly Saten drew attention to the big clock near the square "whoops, look at the time" it was 3, "Come on we are going to be late!" Saten took a step as if going to run but stepped into a puddle and slipped over. Water splashed up soaking Saten and getting Joule and Uiharu a little wet.

When they approached their destination, Tokiwadai middle school, Joule spotted Misaka and Kuroko waiting for them outside. Saten was trying to dry her clothes by taking a corner of her dress and waving it around (This wasn't working).

As they approached Misaka turned to see them and told Kuroko "Oh, here they come now" when the two girls got a good look at the three friends their eyes were drawn to Saten, still soaking wet.

After giving the girls a brief explanation they headed to the shower room to see if they could do anything, Kuroko offered to give Saten one of her own Tokiwadai uniforms as a change of clothes while her own dried. Uiharu was somehow upset that she wasn't the one who got splashed the worse "I would have gotten to wear the uniform" she moaned.

In the end Saten was changed and the girls set off again into the garden of learning, as they left Joule looked behind her she saw a girl watching them. She didn't recognise the uniform so Joule briefly wondered why she would be so close to Tokiwadai. It wasn't to important however so she turned to join the conversation in which Uiharu proclaimed that Tokiwadai likely had maids to clean their student's rooms.

Lumen however kept an eye on the girl and so saw when she vanished from sight, she decided against mentioning it to Joule as it wasn't that important. It could have just been a teleporter touring the garden of learning.

The girls headed to the bakery that Saten had made a note of and began to plan what they would have. As Uiharu tried to choose between all the options, Joule already knew what she wanted. It wasn't entirely french but that didn't stop her wanting the red bean tarte des alpes.

As Uiharu tried to choose she got a call on her phone, apparently judgement was calling her and Kuroko in for something.

"Don't worry, " Misaka said "We'll get yours wrapped up for takeout Uiharu." Uiharu thanked her and hurried out with Kuroko.

"Just us then." she continued as she looked at Saten and Joule. Before the three of them could collect their cakes and sit down Saten admired she need the toilet and Joule agreed to pick up her order so it was at the table when she got back.

Misaka and Joule sat down with their cakes and tea, they agreed to not start until Saten got back so they waited. They waited nearly five minutes before wandering if Saten was okay.

"The tea is getting cold." Misaka noted and Joule nodded and said "I'll go check on her." Joule stood up and went to check.

[ACSR: Sakubou]

When she got to the bathroom she knocked on the door as she heard the tap running before opening the door and saying "Is something wrong Saten?"

Saten was leaning over on to the basin of the tap, she was seemingly unconscious.

"Saten!" Joule cried out and Misaka bolted over to see what the problem was. "What happened?" Misaka asked desperately, Joule was checking on Saten "She appears to be out-cold, she might have hit her head on something." Misaka walked besides her and turned Saten around to get a good look at her, it was then the two of them saw what her attacker had done.

Joule pulled out her phone faster and sent a message to Uiharu telling her that it looked like Saten had been attacked. A few seconds later Kuroko arrived back at the cafe via teleporting and came into the bathroom to see what the problem was.

In two jumps she first to Saten and then Misaka and Joule to the local Judgement office.

Kuroko began filling them in about how this attack had been one of many and how they were likely targeting Tokiwadai students.

Misaka began to ask "Then why was Saten attacked?" The answer was simple but Joule reached the connection a moment before Misaka did "She was wearing your uniform Kuroko, anyone who didn't know would assume she was a Tokiwadai student."

Kuroko nodded to Joule "That is the general idea, good thing this attack was more of a prank than anything."

"Will she be alright?" Uiharu asked hopefully before Misaka answered confidently "She wasn't badly hurt so she should be fine after resting for a bit"

Briefly Joule considered waking her up through some song but she decided against it. If everyone else left however she might try it while no-one was watching.

"How did the attacker do it?" Joule muttered out loud before Uiharu responded to a comment made by Kuroko "The attacker was invisible."

Uiharu then pulled out a laptop and showed the collected girls the recording from the questioning of one of the victims. Joule didn't recognise the girl but she look a little stuck up.

From the video it was clear that to the victims the attacker was invisible even if they showed up on cameras. As Joule wondered what the power could be she looked out the window and thought about telepathy, could the attacker have a power that controlled not light but people's perception. "Oh a dove, Joule did you see it?" Uiharu asked, this broke her out of her own thoughts before saying "No, sorry Uiharu." Before she got back into her thoughts she asked "Uiharu is there a telepathic power that allows you to be unobserved?"

Everyone stopped for a moment before Misaka noted that "Cameras would still be able to see you but the targets wouldn't, if that power existed it would be a good fit."

Uiharu began a search through the database and said "It's here, the name of the ability is Dummy Check. The power to impair the awareness that a subject is looking at a particular subject. Apparently it doesn't work if they are being seen from another way rather than direct sight so it doesn't work via the cameras. Apparently there is only one person with the ability."

Kuroko slammed her hand down "That's our attacker then!" Uiharu looked back to the computer "I don't think it can be, she is only level 2, she wouldn't be able to conceal her body and perform the attack at the same time." As the girls think again they hear moaning from Saten who was lying on a sofa nearby. Uiharu leaves the computer on the face of the Dummy check user and with Joule went over to check on her.

Saten sat up and a cloth that was over her eyes falls off. When she looked towards the others it was hard not to laugh but as the others started Joule was able to hold to a smile. Saten's eyebrows had been drawn thicker with permanent marker to make them look silly. After a small amount of freaking out Saten joined the others around the laptop.

"That's her!" Saten cried out as she saw the face on the laptop, Kuroko looked up suddenly "You saw her then?", Saten nodded "I saw her in the mirror when it happened."

Saten began chuckling evilly before dramatically pointing at the screen "You made me look ridiculous and your going to pay, " she glanced down at Uiharu and said "Let's do this!"

"Do what?" Uiharu said while wondering if something had happened to Saten's mind.

Joule talk 7: Tea

[[ASG: Cyanotype]]

Earlier when they had their cakes and tea but when waiting for Saten, Misaka and Joule talked.

"I wonder how good the tea is, " Misaka wondered "Saten's travel guide didn't say anything about it"

"Do you drink tea often Misaka?" Joule inquired.

Misaka nodded "Every so often, Not quite daily but I do enjoy it."

The two sat in silence for a moment as they looked at the bathroom door.

"What tea do you like?" Joule asked.

Misaka shook her head "Nothing specific, I don't have a favourite tea yet."

The two felt awkward as this was actually one of the first times they talked alone. Joule looked like she was going to start eating but looked back to the door.

Misaka to try and continue the conversation spoke "I wonder what problem Judgement is having today."

Joule nodded "Pity they had to leave today, we were going to have fun later."

*Misaka feels a little closer to Joule*

End of chapter

You might have noticed I skipped episode 2 and went 75% episode 3 and yet didn't finish it. This is because a lot more happens in episode 3 then I remembered.

Anyway next chapter will wrap up episode 3 and do a bit of 4