Designing

[ACSR: Uiharu Kazari]

Joule sat on the bottom bunk of the bed in the room as Saten and Haruue sat around the table.

Joule had a sketch pad and a set of pencils and was drawing a dress for the upcoming New Idol Show that Saten had told her about earlier.

Saten and Haruue were comparing the number of cash cards they had each found, Saten put all the envelopes they had found down onto the table and Haruue looked impressed.

"Wow, those are all yours?" Haruue asked, Saten smiled and replied "Pretty impressive huh? Well to be honest, Joule and Misaka helped find them so some of these are belong to them."

Saten held up her finger "I know there are lots of people looking for them but finding this many in a single day has to be a record. When you add them all up it is quite a tidy sum."

Haruue looked excited "Really? Could that mean I'm rich too?" as she spoke she placed a deck of cash cards on the table.

Saten was shocked "You really found all of these?"

Haruue clasped her hands together as she explained "Before term started I wanted to familiarise myself with the area. I collected these while exploring."

Saten glanced towards Joule and asked in a voice that was one part joking to one part accusatory "I thought you said telepaths couldn't do item dowsing without the person?"

Joule looked up from sketching a sleeve to reply "We can't, Haruue is just lucky."

Saten's head fell dramatically and she said no more so Haruue looked over to Joule "What are you drawing."

Joule again looked up and replyed "Outfit for an event Saten showed to me."

Haruue came to sit besides Joule as she looked at the outfit.

"What is the event? Some sort of party?" Haruue asked. Joule spoke without taking her eyes from the line she was delicately drawing "New Idol Show, everyone can enter and it is said that the company running it will offer a job to the winner."

Haruue looked down at the pad in confusion "This is for an Idol?"

The outfit itself was something like a Furisode, Joule hadn't got to decorating the design but the 'Swinging sleaves' that the Furisode was known for were clearly visable. In addition the design apeared to expand into a long skirt at the bottom rather than the more traditional Kimono design.

Joule looked up "What would the problem be?"

Haruue was about to speak but the door opened and Uiharu walked in with bags of groceries "Hey, I'm home!" she called

As Uiharu got to the room they were all in she apologised "Sorry for being so late. Thanks for staying to house sit you two."

She looked over to where Saten sat in silence "Are you okay?"

Saten quietly replied "I've been beaten."

"Ah," Uiharu didn't really know what the problem was "I'm sorry? Anyway I hope you are all hungry as I have brought supper."

The four of them ate for a while.

When Saten enjoyed the riceballs Haruue had made. haruue admitted she was still learning to cook. Joule spoke quietly "Don't feel bad about that, I'm still learning to cook too and you are starting of a lot better than I did."

Haruue looked at her, waiting for Joule to continue but she said no more so the praise of the riceballs continued.

"Oh, by the way Saten," Uiharu looked over to Saten as she continued "I was wondering about the things you said about Misaka."

Joule looked over as Saten filled her in "When Uiharu called me to house sit I mentioned the doppleganger."

Saten nodded as she turned back to Uiharu "We saw someone who looked like Misaka while we were card hunting, Misaka didn't know about it later so it must have just been a look-alike."

Joule thought about it "The look-alike was wearing a tokiwadai uniform so they are either from that school, borrowing the uniform from a friend or in the strangest case maybe they were using some sort of ability."

Haruue tilted her head "Now that you two mention it, Misaka and Shirai always seem to be wearing their uniforms."

Uiharu filled her friend in "Tokiwadai students need to wear their uniforms at all times, even outside of school."

Haruue mumbled "That's pretty strict." Uiharu's finger came up at that "You might think that but their uniforms are proof that they are young ladies. I have a hard time imagining Misaka wearing anything else but her uniform."

Saten shrugged "Fair, but it would be nice to see them in street clothes."

The four of them ate a little more and the discussion came to the New Idol Show and Joule's dress.

"How long do you have till the event anyway?" Uiharu asked.

Saten pulled out the same poster she had shown to Joule earlier "The contest itself is held august 26nd, about two weeks from now."

Haruue looked at the poster and mused "I wonder if I would be very good?"

A smile rose on Saten's face as she put on a dramatic voice "Joule the star of song against the up-and-coming little star Erii, a idol battle to remember!"

Haruue shook her head "No, I don't think I would want to be the center of attention like that."

Uiharu then shrugged "I doubt Misaka or Shirai would be interested."

"Probably not." Saten agreed.

Haruue then clapped as if she remembered something "Ah, yes, Joule, your outfit."

Uiharu tilted her head and asked "What about her outfit?"

Haruue explained "She is currently designing it and it's sleeves look impractical."

Joule sighed and turned the sketch pad around so they all could see. Saten hummed for a moment and spoke "Yes, the sleeves are a little long. As they are now, any dancing you do is likely to end with you falling over."

Joule looked suprised before admitting "I'm good at singing but I've never had to physically dance at the same time."

Uiharu thought for a moment "So you were going for something like Enka singers?"

Joule shrugged "I guess, I normally just sing and my performances are mostly just small movements that emphasise parts of the song."

Saten looked at the pad and grinned "You could get freedom of arm movement simply by making them detached sleeves that are put on separately. Leg movement is mostly okay because of the skirt but you'd want to raise the sleeves slightly to avoid a tripping hazard."

Haruue was looking strangely at Saten who shrugged "I wanted to be an Idol when I was younger, There was a phase when I concidered the practicality of outfits."

Joule shrugged and took an eraser to the paper to shorten the sleeves, she then spoke "I'm not removing the shoulders though, I didn't want to show that much skin."

She stopped for a moment as if listening to someone or thinking but shook her head again "No, I can shorten the sleeves and give my arms more room to move but I'm not detaching the sleeves."

Haruue asked "What sort of design do you think the dress will have on it? you based it off the Furisode after all."

Joule flipped the pad to an earlier page to show them a strange symbol "Butterflies, It is going to be covered in butterflies."

End of chapter

For those who didn't get the dress's theme, it is Lumen's dress but with more fabric to cover the body.

Also a chapter without Misaka as she is off breaking into a building (Per railgun S episode 3.)