Afternoon Teasing and Nightfall adventure

[ACMI: The Thing You Lost]

When the group of friends finally reached Misaka she was blushing brightly and leaning on a metal bar at a construction site. Saten acted fast and took a few steps quickly before leaning in from below "Oh~?"

Her voice was filled with curiosity as she gave a wide smile "Did you enjoy your date Misaka?"

Kuroko choked as Misaka turned away, embarrassed. Saten glanced down to the bag she had clutched in her hands. It was a MocRonall takeaway bag and from the smell it was still full.

Saten looked at the bag for a few moments before reacting as if she just put something together in her head. Her voice was slightly angry as she asked "Did he ditch you?"

Kuroko approached the two of them now. Clearly showing more anger than Saten but trying hard to sound calm "That idiot. Why on earth did he ditch you?"

Misaka waved her arms "No, it's not like that." She blushed harder and held up the bag to hide her face "I was the one who ran off." she admitted.

Saten was taken aback but Kuroko just smiled and spoke surely "You realised he was not even close to your league and dumped him then?"

Misaka shook her head before pausing and nodding before stopping again and holding her head, the bag dangled down to touch her cheek.

She sighed in exasperation before just starting to walk away. She turned back and when she saw they were all following her she slowed down so they could catch up.

Behind her the group talked, Saten was trying to ask Misaka if it was the same boy that she had made cookies for before while Uiharu and Kuroko occasionally commented.

Joule watched Misaka's blush slowly fade before, with a moment of hesitation, she dropped the bag into the bin and tried to get everyone to change the subject.

It partially worked and the topic changed to homework. Of course Misaka had found the time to finish it all, she even suggested that if anyone hadn't finished with theirs then she could try and help them.

Eventually, Lumen arrived back from scouting and Joule messed with her hair for a moment to quickly hide Lumen as a hairpin again.

Saten noticed the movement however and spoke "Hey Joule?"

"Yes?"

Saten shook her head "Sorry for not asking about this before but have you been trying to grow out your hair since we met?"

Joule's hair was getting fairly long at this point. It had about three months of growth so far so it had about an inch and a half more length than when they had first met.

Joule nodded and explained "I have actually been growing it out for a while, before I came to academy city I had to keep it short for one reason or another. Once I could grow it out I decided I wanted it longer."

Uiharu looked over "Did you just not like it short?"

Joule shook her head "No, I just wanted to try for a change."

Saten smiled "So are you going for a style more like mine?"

Joule was quiet for a moment before replying "Slightly longer actually, I want it down to the middle of my back."

"It will need a lot of care at that length." Saten cautioned but Joule nodded.

"I know."

Misaka and Kuroko fell back to join the conversation, Kuroko was the first to speak though "How do you think you'll style it then?"

Joule shrugged "I don't know yet. I will see when it is gets longer."

Saten held a hand up "Can we help style your hair when it gets long enough?"

Joule nodded and smiled.

[ASG: Cyanotype]

Later that evening, Joule sat with GV after eating supper. Lumen had been telling them what she saw of Accelerator and GV nodded when she talked about the smaller clone.

"This 'Misaka Misaka' was likely Last Order. Nunotaba told me how the last clone was called that. She had some sort of authority over the other sisters from what I understand."

Lumen nodded "That would fit the facts. But what do you think about her opinion? That Accelerator would have stopped if one of the siters had asked for him to."

GV looked out the window and after a few moments he sighed "Maybe. He was the kind of person who sought after power. I don't know if he would have stopped but I must agree with her reason for thinking such. It does make sense."

GV stood up then and walked over to the small balcony their room had. It looked like he was preparing to leave but he stopped and shook his head before turning to Lumen "You are more likely to be able to track them. Can you go see if Last Order is okay? This feels like a continuation of the experiment somehow, why else would Last Order find Accelerator?"

As Lumen flew over and turned into a butterfly, Joule stood and spoke "You think it's like Febrie? Someone intentionally sent her to find him for some reason?"

GV nodded "I can't be sure but it does feel strange. She could have just tracked down Accelerator for her own reasons of course but still, why would she be out and about when she is an important piece to their experiment?"

Lumen flapped out the window, her eyes shifting so she could see the waves of AIM in her strange way. "I'm on it GV."

Joule sat back down with a sigh. This would be a long night.

Elsewhere, Touma Kamijou ran into Misaka while looking for a mage that kidnapped Index. Misaka reacted Tsundere to him when she remembered what he had told the strange imposter earlier that day. Before she could give him her number, he had already ran off to continue to search for Index. She through a bolt of lightning in his direction to get him to stop. He was understandably annoyed and confused but Misaka blushed and while she was confused he ran off again.

End of chapter

Almost to the end of the arc. Soon September will arive in the Toaru world and the timeline will get even more confused.