Money cards

[ACMI: Nichijou]

The alleyway was cramped but Saten just kept tugging Joule along with her as she explained.

"So get this;" Saten had finally decided to explain why she had called Joule here "Someone is just leaving money cards around in envelopes in low traffic areas."

Joule nodded as the signal for Saten to go on and she continued "Uiharu is busy with Judgement work, Misaka and Shirai said they would be busy today and Haruue went to see Banri. So in the end you were the only one I could call for help finding these things."

Joule sighed before asking "Aren't you afraid these cards are illegal or something?"

"No, not at all," Saten responded "On the website I heard about them someone had cashed one in already, they are legit!"

The two of them continued down into the alley as Saten continued "If we find some I will tell you something fun I found the other day, that will make up for the search right?"

Joule spoke calmly "Does that 'something fun' happen to be the same one you offered over the phone to get me to come?"

Saten turned round with a smile "Yes!"

The two of them flattened themselves against the wall of the alley so that someone going the other way could come through and they got down to searching.

An hour or so of searching later they had managed to find two money cards and had hit a rough patch of nothing. Saten sighed "You don't happen to know the Telepath trick of finding lost items?"

Joule had been told about the trick in some of the books she had read but she shook her head "Can't, it differs from the ESP method and requires the person who lost the item to be nearby for me to look through the forgotten memories of."

Saten nodded "Makes sense." before moving again. As she did Joule followed her "How is your training going anyway?"

Saten turned back with a big grin on her face, she pulled one of the envelopes they had found earlier out of her pocket and tore off a small piece. She then held the piece in the palm of her hand and focused. The piece moved slightly, moving slowly from her palm towards the knuckle of her middle finger.

Before it reached the joint though a blast of wind came through the alley and blew the fragment away. Saten was disheartened but Joule patted her shoulder "You can do it now."

Saten sighed "Kongou's training is quite good but I'm still just a level 1, and a weak one at that."

Joule smiled to her "So? You waited a long time to get this far, it's not like you would give up now"

Saten finally smiled back "Yeah, you're right."

The two then got back to searching.

The two headed to Seventh Mist, partially to search that area for cards and partially to spend the cards later. They were lucky enough to find a card in the first alley they looked in and Saten added to the bag.

On the way out Saten stopped for a moment and pointed out onto the street "Is that Misaka?"

Joule looked out onto the street ahead and saw someone who looked like Misaka looking back into the alley. Something about her felt off so Joule knew it wasn't actually Misaka but she couldn't put a finger on what.

"Her mind." Lumen spoke up "Her mind is different"

The doppelganger of Misaka was wearing a strange pair of goggles on her head but was otherwise dressed just like Misaka. Saten stepped forward to reach her but the doppleganger just walked away.

Saten pouted "She didn't even say hello."

Joule spoke quietly "That wasn't Misaka, trust me on this."

Saten's eyes widened "A doppelganger, A clone of Misaka? That rumour is true?"

Joule held her hands up quickly "Don't put words in my mouth, all we know is it looked like Misaka and it wasn't her."

Saten's face had a growing smile on it "We need to catch her! I will find out the truth behind the legend!"

Joule sighed as she was pulled along by Saten to the street.

They didn't know where she had gone so Saten searched in vain for an hour.

The two of them then stopped to have lunch in a nearby cafe.

As they ate, Joule asked "So, what is this rumour about clones?"

Saten finished her mouthful quickly and coughed, after she had finished she started "So; there is a rumour going round about how they cloned some of the level 5s, some people just say Misaka but hear and there the others are mentioned. They say these clones are dressed like the real thing and wander town looking for something."

Joule thought for a moment while her mouth was full, when she swallowed she asked "I wonder if Academy City has their Gene maps."

Saten shrugged "Maybe? I don't know."

The two got back to searching and managed to find two more money cards.

As they left an alley they bumped into Misaka who was coming down the street.

Predictably Saten had no tact "Hey Misaka, has Academy City ever taken a Gene map of you?"

Misaka looked cautiously at Saten "Why?"

Joule sighed as Saten went on excitedly "We saw your clone today-"

She was cut off by Joule who continued for Saten "We saw someone who looked like your doppelganger today, Saten read a rumour that all the level 5s had clones and is convinced we saw a clone of you."

Misaka was silent for a moment before trying to laugh it off "A clone, are you serious? Do you really think I wouldn't know that I had been cloned."

Joule noticed a slight tremor of something in her voice but didn't press the issue.

She then watched as Saten grabbed Misaka "Let's go check over hear next!"

Joule sighed, their little party now had three.

They kept searching until late evening where Saten split the cards evenly between the three of them.

Misaka asked Saten if she knew any rumours of where the cards were coming from and Saten told her what she knew, Misaka then left grumbling that she hadn't got any shopping done at all.

Saten then turned to Joule clapping her hands suddenly "Ah yes, the 'something fun'"

She pulled something like a small poster out of her bag and opened it for Joule to see.

Joule read the title of the advert "New Idol Show?"

Saten smiled "You like singing right? I saw this earlier and wondered if you would join it? It is being run by Orbit Portal Company and they are recruiting from all over the city and I've heard that anyone can join and the reward money is quite large."

Joule shrugged and took the poster "I'll see."

As they went their separate ways Lumen spoke to Joule "An Idol contest? Now isn't that exciting!"

Joule couldn't hide her excitement from Lumen who laughed "You can take the Diva from the stage but you can't take the stage from the Diva."

End of chapter

So yes, the railgun Sisters arc is starting. Also an Idol contest is starting, Hmm I wonder who else might show up there.