Attack aftermath

[ACSRS: Junsui yue no ayamachi]

"Hey Joule?" Lumen called out quietly to her as she, Misaka and Saten were about to wander off with Febrie while the others would stay to talk to Anti-skill.

Joule looked over in the direction that Lumen had just returned from and slowly walked over to the tree. There was a small container seemingly made of purple glass. Joule picked it up and held it up to the light.

"What have you found?" Joule almost jumped as Saten and Misaka had joined her under the tree. She turned and showed the container to them. Upon holding it in a different light, the three of them could clearly tell that there was something long and thin within it.

Saten summed the object up simply "Well that is suspicious."

Just then, Uiharu and Kuroko came over to see what was keeping them. When they saw the object they agreed that it was suspicious. The group left it with them so it could be shown to Anti-skill.

Just as they left, Anti-skill showed up, Uiharu promised to call to tell them how it went.

[ACSRS: Febri]

Misaka took this opportunity to try and trade with Febrie for her finger puppet's return. She offered multiple trades but it looked to Joule as if Febrie were ignoring her.

After a while, Saten's phone rang. She answered and after a few moments the call ended. She looked to the others and explained "Uiharu and Shirai still have to investigate the site some more so they will be a while. She said to go ahead without them."

Joule nodded but Misaka still wasn't paying attention, instead she appeared to have offered a trade of nine puppets for Febrie's single puppet. Joule sighed but a familiar voice spoke up "Saten, Misaka, Joule?" they looked over to see Kongou and co. They greated each other and Febrie ran over to give Kongou a hug.

Mikasa thanked her "You really came through before, I mean it. If you hadn't spotted Febrie then, who knows what would have happened."

Joule remained quiet but Saten coughed "We would have still found her, Joule was tracking her."

Misaka raised an eyebrow and Saten raised her arms in mock surrender before bending down to speak to Febrie "Febrie, do you want to tell Mitsuko something?"

Febrie looked over in surprise for a moment before turning back to Kongou and saying "Thank you Mitsuko."

Kongou blushed bright red before lifting her fan to cover most of the blush "No- No thanks necessary. I'm sure. I only did what anyone would have done in the same position."

Misaka smiled "Well we were all about to go out for some tea. It should be fun. Would you like to come along?"

"Wow, a tea party?" Kongou looked excited but then backed down, covering her face again "Oh. While I appreciate the kind invitation, there are still duties here to which I must attend."

One of her friends behind her spoke up at that with a grin "No worries, you go on and have fun Kongou." The other then continued "Yeah, we can manage the rest on our own, I'm sure."

Kongou spun on her friends "How could you say such a thing? I offered to help and I that's what I intend to do. Mitsuko Kongou is not someone who abandons her friends."

Febrie returned to Saten at that point waving goodbye to Kongou.

The three of them (And Febrie) headed to a nearby cafe. As the others talked about the Academic Assembly Lumen pointed out to Joule how every cafe in the city looked the same from the inside. Joule kept Lumen's comments to herself.

Febrie also got some ice cream that she would be unable to eat without putting down either her lolipop or the finger puppet she took from Misaka. Saten however, fixed the problem by feeding Febrie herself. Misaka looked deflated but her phone rang and she answered it.

From what she said during the call it seemed it was the Judgement members inviting them to go to a bath house with them. The cafe group agreed and they headed over.

"So, this is what you do in your free time?" Misaka asked as she, Saten and Joule looked at the bath house in front of them. It honestly stood out due to the Japanese style compared to most of the buildings in the city.

Konori sounded excited "Just you wait. Nothing beats this when you're tired. What do you say Febrie?"

Febrie looked up at the building in open-mouthed awe, Saten smiled and knelt slightly to speak to Febrie "Have you ever been to one of these before? Inside they have the biggest baths ever!"

Uiharu nodded and spoke to Febrie too "It's so big, we can all go in together."

Saten nodded "Yeah, it will be a lot of fun."

Misaka suddenly reacted to something and turned around, Kuroko was there with a strange look on her face that Joule thought might have been hunger. As Misaka backed away and Kuroko slowly walked towards her, Joule got the idea of what was going on. Misaka brought a fist down and Kuroko fell to her knees and cradled her head.

Misaka took that moment to lead everyone inside.

[ASG: Cyanotype]

Joule relaxed in the hot water with her friends as Misaka washed Febrie's hair. The rest were talking about Misaka and Febrie but she wasn't really paying attention. She just relaxed in the water. She couldn't remember the last time she got to have a bath. She was fairly certain she had at least one before but most of her time with GV they only had showers and not baths.

She was suddenly pulled back into reality as Saten poked her forehead. Joule splashed back a moment before completely waking up. Saten laughed "Wow, you were really out of it." Luckily it was too hot for anyone to notice her blush.

Uiharu asked her then "Do you like baths Joule?", she just nodded and said "Yeah, I normally have showers. It's to the point where I can't remember the last bath I had."

Saten gasped in mock surprise "Oh horror, well if you want to come round our place more often you can use our bath!"

Uiharu nodded "Good idea."

Joule tilted her head "Wouldn't you mind it?"

Uiharu shook her head "Not really, you are a good friend."

After a moment, Joule shook her haid "I shouldn't impose that much, I don't want to take you bathroom from you for that long."

Saten smiled "The offer remains open for the future. If there is anything stressing you, come over and relax in the water."

Joule bowed slightly and sat back into the water.

Soon they left the Bathhouse as the sun was setting and continued on.

End of chapter.

The final scene BTW was just me realising that Joule's opportunities to have a bath would have been very slim while living with GV. In addition it was implied by Misaka that this was the friend group's first time coming to the bathhouse together.

Second half of episode 20 next time.