Finally, a moment of peace.

[ACSR: Precious Friends]

Fireworks exploded over Joule's head as she looked up at the sky.

They had barely made it in time but now they were here again.

"We've been through a lot in only two days." Lumen noted.

Her friend and companion was "sitting" on the fence. The others glanced towards her occasionally but Saten and Uiharu still couldn't see her. They were able to feel that she was there though.

"Yeah." Joule nodded as she replied, gesturing in Lumen's direction for the benefit of those that would have thought she wasn't responding to anything.

Misaka looked to be deep in thought as she looked up. Saten glanced over at her as the explosions lit up the sky.

"Oh, come to think of it, Misaka is your stomach doing okay?"

Well that was a nonsequitur.

"Huh, what do you mean?" Misaka asked, looking back down towards the others.

"When you ate something bad from the streetfood stall earlier?"

Uiharu nodded "That's what I heard too. And you were sick in the bathroom for most of the day?"

"Then when Shokuhou and her clique tried to help you, you ignored them? It was the only thing our school was talking this afternoon."

...Ah.

Joule resisted the smile as she saw Misaka's expression shift. She didn't need to be a mind reader to figure out what Misaka's thoughts on Misaki were at that moment.

Well, it explained some things. If she'd messed with their memories to hide what happened, she must have made them forget about Joule's sin too.

...She didn't really know what to think about that but it didn't make her upset. It was...

Misaka forgave her. And the others-

It didn't really seem to matter to Joule anymore.

She decided to speak up "I'm sorry to tell you but that was just a rumour."

"It was?" Saten looked surprised.

Joule nodded and she saw a thankful look on Misaka's face as she continued "In truth, the sickness didn't last that long at all. Shokuhou just tried to spread the rumour when she tried to mess with her later."

A lie, true, but it was a lie that fit the "facts" that Misaki had created.

The others accepted it easily. Misaka gave a nod and thanked Joule for telling "the truth" about it.

[ACMI: Summer Sunshine]

In comparison to the first two days of the festival, the rest was a lot calmer.

That is, relative to the normal life they'd been having for the last two or three months by this point. The races and events were a lot more exciting and Joule joined in with it all with a new energy to her.

Everything before now finally started to fade. It was strange in a way but they had a solid three days before anything interesting happening.

During the last day of the festival there was going to be a folk dance.

Joule had never been to anything like that before. It was a new experience for her.

"It's just dancing around a large bonfire." Misaka had explained "It's not too strange."

Joule understood dancing at least.

[ACSR: Evening in Academy City]

They walked between the stalls after the sun set, Uiharu pushed Kuroko's wheelchair around.

"Not long now, right?" Joule asked the Kuroko.

Kuroko nodded "I should be out of this in a day or two now." She sighed before continuing "if only I hadn't gotten hurt on the second day, I might have been out earlier and been able to compete yesterday."

Misaka had a few team events over the last week. Kongou had been her partner most of the time but it seems that it had annoyed the teleporter.

"Isn't teleportation banned in the races though?" Joule asked, tilting her head slightly. She'd never seen a teleporter in any of the events.

"Depends on the range." Kuroko explained "I looked it up in advance. I can only teleport my armspan per teleport."

So that would be about a meter and a half. She had a second of lag between teleports so-

"Running would have actually been faster?"

Kuroko nodded and looked down at the chair with a scowl "If they worked, then yes. My teleports would have been to dodge the other teams or to get past traps."

Saten gave a shrug "It's not like you had much choice, you got hurt stopping a terror attack after all."

Joule nodded, having gotten used to the lie used to cover for the events involving the sister on the second day "Though it is strange that the first two days each had an attack and then nothing else for the rest of the time."

"Don't jinx it!" Saten complained "I've been thinking the same."

Kuroko looked pensive for a moment before speaking "I know this is going to sound strange but, whever I think about that day it feels like I'm forgetting something really important."

Misaka and Joule caught each other's gaze as Uiharu agreed with that thought and Misaka tried to distract them for a moment before they realised what it was they'd forgotten.

"I'm going to buy some drinks for everyone." She said as she skipped a little ahead of the group "What are you all in the mood for?"

After she'd taken all of their orders, she skipped off and Saten looked over towards the folk dance.

"Umm." Joule began "Does it have to be between two people?"

Around the fire, couples danced. Joule hadn't been ready for that.

"Hey..." It looked like Saten had an idea. And that face made it seem like it was something that someone wouldn't enjoy.

With a glance at Joule she smiled "Do you think GV's around anywhere."

As Joule blushed, Touma showed up. Apparently Saten had helped him in one of the events. He offered to get her something to thank her but she told him it wasn't that big of a deal.

And then Misaka returned with the drinks.

One thing led to another and while Kuroko was restrained by Uiharu, Misaka went to the dance with Touma.

The remaining friends found a good observation spot to watch the pair of them dance, blushes covering their face.

Kuroko was angry, Saten had her evil smile and Joule was just glad that GV hadn't shown up. She didn't think her heart would have been able to take it. She guessed this was another way in which Misaka was better than her.

She'd forgiven Joule when Joule hadn't wanted to forgive herself. Now too, she could stand up the embarrassment that Joule didn't think she could have dealt with.

"It would have been fun though." Lumen said quietly.

Joule... couldn't disagree.

Oh, and eventually Kuroko teleported to break up the dancers and to drag Misaka away.

Ah yes, that was going to happen. No real shock there.

As the night drew to a close and they all prepared to go home, Saten sighed happily "Daihase was great wasn't it?"

Joule turned to her and nodded "Yeah, it was."

"Well then, we'll just have to look forward to it next year too." Saten nodded as she said it and Joule blinked.

This was a yearly event after all, she'd forgotten it.

Joule... hadn't really thought about it. She'd only been free from Sumeragi for less than a year. The idea that this would all happen again was strange to her.

One year... In a way this was her first year. A year spent with GV and with her new friends.

Joule let a smile come to her lips and she nodded.

"Yeah, definitely."

Saten punched her fist into the sky "And we'll invite GV next time too."

Wait, no.

She wasn't ready-

Well, it was a year away.

End of chapter, and arc.

Finally, we've been on Daihase for about a year at this point. We're finally leaving.

Now, there will be a sort-of epilogue to Daihase next time. It's finally time for what you've been waiting for;

Aleister's coming back for his next analysis of the plot.