Returning to school

[ACMI: Road to School]

Joule and GV sat and ate around the table in their apartment. They had awoken a few minutes ago and were having breakfast.

GV nodded to himself as he swallowed the last of his toast. Seeing this, Joule asked "What are you thinking about?"

GV looked up at her and sighed "I'm just hoping our lives will be more simple now that school is starting up again. I mean we will still need to be careful but this summer was one thing after another."

He meant that they would need to be careful not to show off their full potential. Joule had come close during her peformance a few days ago and GV had been worried about getting a letter in the mail like they had last time that would report the increase of Joule's level.

If they reached the point when it was obvious how strong Joule was, she might be drawn into this city's experiments. In addition such an increase would likely take her out of the school she currently attended with her friends as they saw how strong she was. GV himself had received many adverts for other schools over the holiday and he was only level 4 in their system. The moment that it was known how powerful they were they would be moved to other facilities which would be "Better suited for them to learn in".

It would still likely be a school of course, now that Joule and he knew Railgun so well it would raise questions if they were locked away in a lab by the official leaders of the city. They would likely be forced to attend different schools though. The best case scenario would be for Joule to go to Railgun's school where she could be safe with her friends but safer still would be to avoid the issue entirely.

So the two of them would act normally, A level 4 and a level 3. Nothing too special.

The two of them finished getting ready and began to walk to Sakugawa Middle School. On the way they bumped into one of Joule's friends and GV dropped back to give them some privacy while still keeping an eye on them.

Joule chatted happily with Saten as they walked. Apparently Uiharu couldn't come in due to Judgement business so she was going to miss the first day. Otherwise they talked about inane subjects and chuckled.

At one point Saten glanced around suspiciously before revealing something in her hand to Joule. It was a little origami crane which Saten was slowly rotating above her palm on a little cushion of air.

"I have almost finished Kongou's notes and I can now make this little pillow." She shrugged before she continued "I don't actually know where the rotation comes from. In her notes Kongou said it would stay still."

Joule smiled "It's still great Saten."

She nodded with pride before quickly hiding away the crane and changing the subject.

"So, want to hear some rumours?" Her smile was now playful.

Joule nodded with a similar if more sedate grin "Sure, are these new or old rumours?"

Saten thought for a moment "Lets go with old, I've told you about the Seven Mysteries of Academy City right?"

Joule thought about it for a moment before shaking her head "I think you have mentioned them before but not in detail."

"Well," Saten started "I don't think anyone knows all of them but-"

"Not even you?" Asked Joule innocently

Saten was silent for a moment before sighing and answering "No, I only know a couple for sure."

She got a spring into her step as she continued "One of the seven mysteries is of the 'Imaginary Number District'"

"Imaginary?"

[ACMI: Sector i: Five Elements Institution]

Saten nodded "You know how each school district has a number, right? There are 23 in total. However this rumour talks about a district numbered i."

Joule closed her eyes for a moment as they walked "So basically, a school district that doesn't exist?"

"Well here is the thing," Saten began to explain "Supposedly it was the first district, the first research organization in the city was located there and named Primary Knowledge. Supposedly they produce 'Imaginary Technology' there that is more advanced than the rest of the city."

Joule looked above the buildings they were walking by, towards the city center. "So where are they then?"

Saten looked very pleased with herself as she answered "There is meant to be a piece of Imaginary Technology that warps space, they hide the district in the same physical location as another district and you can only get there if you know the trick. We could try it after school if you wanted?"

Joule frowned "Try what?"

Saten grinned and pointed forward "The trick of course, I've heard of it and want to try it! I haven't before as I wanted to have someone to spot for me if I did cross over."

Joule smiled "I would be happy to try the trick with you. Just don't expect it to be as easy as you picture. If it was easy then others would have done it and posted about it."

Saten looked over slightly surprised but happy "You think it exists?"

Joule shrugged "Well, most of your previous rumours had at least a little truth. At this point I believe that at minimum that a hidden district exists. Other than that I'm not sure about anything else."

[ACMI: Calm Days]

The two continued walking and GV caught up with them just before they reached school. They all headed to their class for a hopefully peaceful day.

End of chapter.

And the Kazakiri arc starts. Nothing much to say other than all of Saten's rumours are actual rumours that I found on the wiki.