Anger born from a simple mistake

[ACSRT: My genius ability]

Joule and Misaka turned first to listen to whatever was being said on the other side of the fence and Misaki and Hokaze quickly followed their lead.

"C'mon, not so loud." A boy's voice could be heard, Joule wasn't sure she'd heard it before but there was something about it...

His voice was much quieter as he continued "You'll disturb the other customers."

It seemed that whoever he was meeting with was also here because of his job as a dream ranker.

"The card you gave me the other day was indescribably superb." "I never wanted to wake up again!"

"They're that great?" A fourth voice, that meant three customers total. Lumen fluttered up to the fence to get a better look at the four of them.

"This probably isn't enough then..." Black spiky hair said, that was the third customer she'd identified, he was pulling out his wallet and he drew out a packet of cash "but can you please spare one just for me!?"

BLAU held his hand up to stop the man as he tried to pass the money "You don't need to give me that, knowing my dreams are spreading happiness is enough to satisfy me."

Huh, he was actually a good person. Joule had been expecting that a man like that would try to make money off his skill.

"To be fair," Lumen murmured telepathically "you don't make money off your singing."

Joule went to shrug it off, she didn't sing enough and she wasn't good enough to make money off of it- something Lumen would have argued against, but before she could one of the customers spoke again.

"It really was amazing, getting to [Censored for comedic purposes] with Alice of the Goddess Girls Club."

What?

"Whether it's a super model or a virtual idol, your dreams let us communicate in a dimention that normal people could never imagine."

What?

"You can [Censored] A female newscaster in the studio or have passionate [Nope] in whatever outfit you want in the name of a photo shoot!"

No really, what?

Joule didn't fully understand and Lumen had gone quiet.

Misaka had collapsed to the table, Misaki's face was shrouded in some dark emotion far beyond what Joule what made sense and Hokaze just looked confused.

Regardless, Joule felt she shouldn't be hearing this.

"You really shouldn't." Lumen agreed silently.

The men were still talking though.

"You are a god among men for making cards like that BLAU!" "My heart is already pounding thinking about tonight!" "It's only a matter of time before your dreams spread throughout academy city!"

BLAU laughed softly as he continued "It isn't just celebrities either my friends, you know Tokiwadai's two level 5s?"

...This wasn't going to end well. Joule could tell from the faces of her friends.

"They're both more beautiful than idols."

"BLAU, don't tell me-?"

What followed was a string of words that Joule just refused to listen to.

He talked about Misaka first and it looked like her friend was paralysed. Then he went on to talk about Misaki and... Joule thought she saw murder in her eyes. They were still hidden in shadow so...

Joule shared a look with Hokaze. Her confusion hadn't lessened, could she even understand what was being said?

"Bro, listen to him." One of the customers began "He doesn't even fear god."

"It's terrifying." His friend agreed.

"Ha, those level 5s are nothing to me, they are laid bare before me~."

They began chanting his name.

"Umm... They sure do seem excited." Hokaze tried to say "I didn't really understand any of it but thought I heard both of your names mentioned, you really are our famous level 5s."

[ACSR: Skill-Out]

Misaka's hand slammed to the table as she stood up, there was a crackle of electricity around her.

"One sec, just got to stop by the shop next door." Her voice was as cold as ice.

Hokaze was surprised and turned to Misaki to ask her queen to stop Misaka from killing them but-

"We may have our differences, but just for today I'll alter the memories of any witnesses for you." She told Misaka as the electromaster took her first step away.

What happened next was... about what one could expect.

With the four perverts unconscious (with the memories related to the event removed) and their poker cards destroyed, the group left the café.

[ACSRT: Childhood Days]

"Honestly." Misaka sighed "It's not like I can help it if people have that sort of dream on their own, but I draw the line at spreading the dreams around and making it a public spectacle."

Misaki nodded "There's nothing wrong about having pleasant dreams about the object of your affection, that's unavoidable in your youth. But to traffic them in back alley deals like that is just gross."

Joule shook her head and spoke up to change the subject "If you don't mind my asking Shokuhou, but what was it that caused you to dislike Misaka. I didn't take you for someone who would do that for no reason."

The two girls, who had been walking ahead of Joule and Hokaze stopped and turned. Misaki took a lock of her hair and twirled it.

"It's... something personal."

Misaka seemed curious now. Only slightly though.

Joule asked the question that it seemed that they'd all been waiting for "What did Misaka do to offend you, when did she do it?"

From what Joule knew, it would have had to be something done before they ever met.

"She..." Misaki hesitated again "She was a fool, and because of it, someone I came to care about was hurt."

Now she'd caught Misaka's attention.

"I... hurt someone?"

"Indirectly." Misaki corrected quickly "Because of something you did, they were hurt. If you hadn't done that, they would have never been hurt."

There was pain in the top telepath's voice as she admitted that. It was something, a precious secret, something she refused to let go of in it's entirety.

They wouldn't be drawing it out of her today but-

Misaka turned to look at her rival.

"Can I make it up to them?"

It didn't matter that it was a friend of a person she disliked, Misaka would always try to make amends to the people she hurt."

Misaki forced a laugh before shaking her head "I'd expect, if I told her that it was why I dislike you and what you've already done, she'd probably force me to say sorry to you. You're already making it up to her."

In a flash, she spun. It seems she couldn't talk about this any longer "Junko, I'm heading off now to do a thing, you had your own thing to do right?"

Hokaze nodded and Shokuhou walked away before she had to talk with any of them.

"I think..." Hokaze began "I think that this tea party might have actually helped."

"You do?" Misaka turned back to the two of them "I can't really agree, I still dislike her."

"I don't think that's it though." Joule admitted "I think now she's got it out there, the rift can finally start to mend."

Misaki no longer held on to that pain, she'd let it out. Even if it's only a tiny sliver of it, she admitted the reason she disliked Misaka. Now the healing process could begin properly.

"Ah, also." Something occured to Hokaze as Misaka left to do her own things. She turned to Joule who hadn't left yet.

"Do you know how to get to Shirai's judgement office from here? I need to head there now."

Joule nodded and agreed to bring her there, as long as she explain why on the way over.

"And," Lumen added in "She can explain the invisible girl hanging around her. If it's not part of the same situation."

End of chapter.

That's the prologue to the poker card arcs done, now we get to move on to Astral buddy.