A perfectly normal day?

[ACMI: Calm Days]

The last day of september was a school day.

Honestly, while she had been going to school, Joule reflected that she hadn't been thinking about her schoolwork very much for the past few days. There had been too much going on.

It breezed past these days.

Simple lessons, friends she could talk to between classes, homework that could be done quickly after the end of each week.

After school though, it seems everyone had plans already. Shirai and Uiharu had Judgement work, Misaka claimed she was going to be doing something and hadn't given an explanation.

Saten would be free, they could go to the arcade together.

A quick request and she got an okay from her friend. There were even meant to be some poker card merchants down there they could talk to during the adventure.

To most, the word "arcade" refers to a place where you play arcade games and claw machines. In academy city though, the word arcade also refered to an entire underground mall.

And so the two of them went perusing through the mall.

Among what they found were butterfly hairpins. They were like the ones they'd found when Joule had first come to academy city.

Saten ended up buying two for herself in a different colour and put them in her hair to match Lumen and Joule's mirroring clip.

"Oh yeah." Saten remembered something as she walked "During all the mess that went down recently, I forgot to mention something."

And so Saten explained a mess she had gotten into with a can of mackerel and a girl named Frenda who opened the can with explosives.

"How did that never come up?" Joule wondered and Saten shrugged.

"It wasn't involved in the ghost girl- in Yuuri's problem. It just felt like it didn't really matter as much as that."

Joule supposed it could be and wondered if she'd heard the name Frenda before. Something about a bathhouse...

Nope. She couldn't remember. Must not have been too memorable.

As they walked, they eventually bumped into Misaka and... his name was Touma right?

"Correct." Lumen noted as they took in the two of them taking a picture together with a phone.

And then Shirai showed up.

[ACSR: Kuroko's Plan]

Saten raised a finger as Shirai got angry and she suggested "Let's leave that to them, and never speak of it."

Joule nodded and they turned away as the sound of electricity shooting through the air could be heard.

It was something like a car crash. Problems just kept happening.

Some of Misaka's sisters ended up showing up and Saten changed her mind on what they should be doing.

No, she didn't decide she wanted to stop it, she decided she wanted to watch it.

The fact that their friend was apparently part of a love... triangle? The little sister probably wasn't serious... right.

Oh, Last Order was here. Oh. That meant that Accelerator was likely nearby as was Touma and Misaka.

"Maybe we should get involved?" Joule noted "Just to avoid a problem breaking out."

Sure, Accelerator might be calmer now but Misaka... Would she stay calm?

Had she actually told Misaka about Accelerator and Last Order. While she seemed to remember having told her, Joule couldn't remember when. Was she just imagining it?

Well, Last order ran off on her own followed by a sister- who pulled out a gun!

...

"Well." Saten had to break the silence somehow "That happened."

Joule couldn't say she was wrong.

They heard at least one shot from the gun after both had turned a corner.

Saten and Joule took the chance to leave after that. They headed back above ground as they saw the sky had become dark with clouds.

[ACMI2: Daybreak]

"Is it going to rain today?" Joule asked, looking up at them.

Saten checked her phone and answered "Not until after sunset."

Ah, the wonders of Academy City's weather. It was known precisely.

It did get it wrong on occasion though or- no.

It wasn't wrong but it wasn't correct down to the second any more.

The two took to walking but eventually bumped into two members of Anti-skill who were asking questions.

"I'm sorry for bothering you, but have you seen a hologram of a girl in a school uniform?"

Joule shook her head and Saten asked "No, should we have? What does she look like?"

The man nodded and described her "Long brown hair, glasses, wearing either a summer or winter school uniform."

...Wait. A hologram?

"Which school's uniform?" Joule asked, looking up.

The man had to check a note that he had in a pocket before giving an answer.

"Kirigaoka Girls' Academy."

The school Kazakiri was meant to go to, at least on record.

Saten looked curious, apparently not having made the connection or not having the information required.

Joule gave an answer though as the members of Anti-skill seemed to be waiting for one "Not recently, but we've met the girl described. We'll keep an eye out for her or a hologram that looks like her."

The men walked off and Saten looked at her expectantly.

"Kazakiri."

Saten's eyes went wide as she made the connection at last. Of course she remembered her first brush with magic.

"Do you think she might be back?" Saten was excited.

"Well?" Joule turned, her attention on Lumen who, still in butterfly form, was looking at the sky.

Lumen hummed slightly.

"Maybe? The AIM fields... Yes, I think I might be able to track her. I don't know if she's physical though."

But the point, the existance, called Kazakiri Hyouka was nearby.

There's no reason not to look for her, right?

Lumen led them, flying ahead of the two girls as they made their way towards her.

"There."

From atop a bridge they saw her. She was visible but yes, like the anti-skill members had said, she was like a hologram. You could see through her like a ghost.

They ran down to her just as she became more solid, her clothes switching to be a winter uniform instead of a summer one.

But the members of Anti-skill were here too.

"You girls again?" The one who had given them the description last time remarked.

Saten nodded and looked at Kazakiri.

"Are you awake or...?"

"The hologram?" The other member of anti-skill asked and Joule explained the basics.

"It is her, she sees and acts through her avatar."

"Huh." The man scratches his head "We were under the impression it was a prank. That's what we were told at least."

Kazakiri didn't respond though.

"I don't think she's fully awake." Saten wondered with some curiousity.

Lumen answered, creating a mental link so Saten could hear her properly "She isn't. The fields are pulling together but she isn't aware again. Not properly at least."

"Do you know where she is?" The helpful member of anti-skill asked "We should probably have a talk with her about using her powers so publicly."

Saten and Joule glanced at each other. Saten came up with a lie first.

"We don't know which hospital she goes to, she's likely in there though. At least if her powers are acting up like this."

Inspired by Yuuri's situation then? Fair enough.

Joule nodded "You might have to go through the records. She does look exactly like this in reality though."

The members of anti-skill thanked them and departed, leaving them alone in the bustling crowd, no one paying them or Kazakiri any mind.

"...Warning."

They looked back to their friend as she spoke a single word.

"They're coming."

And Kazakiri fuzzed away again, her AIM fields moving elsewhere.

Well, that was ominous.

End of chapter.

Sorry for it being a bit late. As I said in the quick update, FF wasn't working for me during any of my normal writing times.

I had to throw this chapter together this morning.

Also, hey look. Assuming you count all of the unnumbered chapters, this is chapter 200.

(This chapter got retcon'd I changed the memory Saten had of Frenda to make it more timeline-friendly)