Her wish

[ACMI:tM: People are lazy and stupid]

"That's your starter?" Kuroko asked with a look of shock on her face.

Everyone else had chosen something small for their first course. The sort of thing that you might get at an italian restaurant.

Index on the other hand, had chosen something a bit bigger. A plate of various bits of meat.

It was quite the sight to see, she had a burger on her fork and her knife had impaled a battered shrimp. As she ate, she talked.

"Yeah, I always eat this much."

Misaka raised an eyebrow at that "And it comes out of Touma's allowance?"

"Yup."

The level 5 just nodded at that and seemed to come to a decision.

"Don't worry about the cost." Arisa insisted "I've got a pretty big allowance, concidering what I do, and I'm happy to share it."

"You're really kind Arisa." Joule said with a smile.

Arisa shook her head "I would be in trouble if not for all of you, you've kept me company, been great friends and helped protect me from those mages."

"Why did they go after her in the first place again?" Uiharu asked "Did we ever find that out?"

A memory struck Joule then "Actually I may have an idea."

The waitress stopped by to drop off everyone's main course and she stuck around nearby to see if they needed anything.

"When we were on stage yesterday, I-" Joule mentally apologised to Lumen for taking credit "felt something interesting."

"Interesting?" "You 'felt' something?"

Joule nodded "Sometimes I can feel AIM waves. Or in the case of mages would they be 'Magic' waves?"

Saten looked up quickly "So are the mages Espers then?"

Joule shook her head "They aren't the waves are quite different, there are similarities though."

"Ok?" Arisa noted "So what did you sense?"

"Odd magic waves. They were of- how would I say this? A different level?"

"A different level?" Misaka asked "Like the difference between two levels of Espers?"

"It was similar to that but not quite..." A thought occured "Index, you know a lot about magic right? What could be said to be 'like magic' but 'above magic'?"

Index gave her an odd look at that. It conveyed a lot.

"First of all," Index noted "that is a really vague question. Secondly, there are three different things I think it could be. The first and most likely is that you simply felt a type of magic you were unused to and it simply felt different."

Joule shook her head as Index grabbed another mouthful of her food "I don't think that's it, it was really distinct."

Index swallowed before answering "Then the two possibilities remaining are a Saint or a magic god."

"A magic god?" Kuroko asked with a hint of sarcasm "A nun is talking about other gods?"

Index puffed up her cheeks before answering "No! That is just the official name. It's also impossible. If she were here, we would know."

"Ok, then what is a Saint? As in a literal Holy Man?"

Index shrugged "Kind of? A Saint is a person who possess bodily characteristics that match those of the Son of God and allow them to draw on his power."

"The son of god?" Misaka asked "Do you actually mean J-"

Index gave her a look and Misaka didn't finish his name. Regardless Index nodded "Yes him, it's a property of magic. If two things are similar then they are the same, from a certain point of view at least. Most members of the christian church use some sort of item that uses this rule. My clothes are like that. For Saints they have bodies that are able to channel the same power that the son of god possessed. They are on a different level than normal magic."

Joule nodded "I understand that, but how would you go about seeing if someone was a Saint or not?"

Index tilted her head "You don't need to normally, they just have the power or don't. Why, did you feel the 'strange waves' from anyone in particular?"

Joule nodded.

Index thought for a moment "Can you describe her? I know descriptions for most of the Saints."

"It's Arisa, I felt the waves from Arisa." Joule admitted.

Silence fell at the table.

"Ah?" Arisa made a soft sound "What? I'm a... Saint?"

Index shook her head "No, probably not. As I said, Joule might just be misreading. The fact that 'Magic' was coming off you does mean something though." She looked over "Joule, when you encountered the mages before, did you make note of where exactly their 'Magic Waves' were coming from."

Joule shook her head "I just noticed what they felt like, not where they came from."

Index nodded "I could probably figure out more if I knew what Joule was detecting... Wait, I know! Did you feel waves off the golem?"

Joule thought back "I think so? I'm not sure."

Index slipped into thought at that and the rest of them continued to eat.

The waitress refilled their cups as they ordered dessert. Arisa then placed something on the table.

"Here, I did promise."

"Are those...?" Uiharu's eyes went wide.

"Enough tickets for all of you, even Touma and Joule's friend."

"Amazing!" Saten cried "That's amazing!"

"Each has one of your names on, the one for Joule's friend is the one without a name on. If you get that one to him, have him write his name on it."

Everyone was in shock at the tickets. Finally Saten held up her glass.

"I think this deserves a toast! Here's to Arisa."

"To Arisa." Everyone clicks their classes together.

As Joule lifted the glass to her mouth though Lumen cried out, probably loud enough to be overheard.

"Joule, something's wrong!"

[ACMItM: Fortis931]

The water leapt from the glass to cover her mouth. Joule looked around in a panic to see everyone else caught in a similar way.

Was she going to drown? No, the water froze and formed an icy gag.

Ah. This might be a problem.

End of chapter.