Cards

[ACSR: After School]

Interestingly enough, she had another encounter with the cards the very next day.

Saten had found a new indian poker card, it had taught her how to play with a certain toy really well. Saten had been shocked when Joule admitted she had no idea what the toy was.

"You seriously never played with a kendama when you were younger."

Joule raised an eyebrow "I've told you about my past."

Saten blinked and her head fell "Oh yeah, I forgot."

She hadn't really had the chance to play with any toys before when she was at Sumeragi's labs and when she had started living with GV, he hadn't ever had any in the house.

Saten had all-but forced her to take the card and the kendama.

"Go on, you can have these, I don't mind."

Joule looked up from the card and asked "But don't you want something in return?"

"It's fine." Saten shrugged "Just remember to seal it up again in the morning, I don't want to waste more of the scent than I have to."

Oh right, there was a scent component to it wasn't there? Saten explained how you could reapply the clear layer that came with cards to keep them working for longer. The more scent there was left, the more effective a card was. Apparently.

With the card and the kendama in her bag, she headed out after thanking Saten.

She didn't really have much to do today, no one had asked for time today and they had just finished up a problem so she could just relax.

Joule walked through academy city. She hadn't really thought about it before but she'd probably be able to live a full life here. As far as she knew, there wasn't any trap in her biology that would kill her like the other clones she knew about so she should be able to grow into an adult.

She thought about her future. She'd decided long ago that she'd be an idol. A bright and sunny person that people could look up to. What would be her backup though? With everything she knew about psychology, maybe a job that used it? She might enjoy being a therapist. She wanted to help people with her life at least.

She imagined what she'd look like when she was older. She hoped she'd be tall, she'd keep her hair long (she was really liking how it felt these days) and...

Huh, she was just picturing Lumen. Lumen with her own hair colour though, she wouldn't dye it blond. Even if it might look good.

"Hey Lumen." She mentally sent.

There was a short delay, like Lumen had been busy with something "Yeah?"

"Just thinking about what I'd look like when I'm older. Do you think I'll grow up to look like you?"

"Maybe if you drink enough milk." Lumen teased "And if you eat enough, you should eat a bit more if you want to fill out."

"Fill out?" Joule didn't really get it at first and then it hit her. Lumen could be heard laughing as Joule looked down at her chest.

Lumen finally stopped and joule could picture her wiping a tear away as she continued "No, really, I think you'll do fine."

But now Lumen had gotten Joule thinking about it. Lumen was a part of her and yet... She had larger...

"I mean what do you expect?" Lumen sent to her "I'm the ideal Idol. That's the point. Your ideal, Sumeragi's ideal, the ideal that the people wanted. It would be a bit strange for me not to have these. You can still grow."

Joule could, granted but what if... Sumeragi might not have intended for Joule to ever be seen, maybe they edited her genes to ensure-

"And stop right there." Lumen commanded "You know as well as I do that it's effected by how you live, not just your genetics."

She had read something about that once, hadn't she?

Joule sighed and kept walking. Thoughts rushed around in her head, maybe she could find a way to ensure they grew more? What were the growth hormones for it again?

Eventually she was pulled out of her thoughts by seeing Misaka. She was standing by someone who was trading Indian Poker Cards. There was another girl beside her that at first Joule took for one of the Sisters but no, the girl only looked similar to them.

...Had Joule seen her before? She wasn't sure. The memory nagged at her though... something to do with Febrie? No, probably not.

She watched as they both grabbed for a certain card and Joule ran over to stop them. Before she got there though, they'd messed cloth and scattered the cards (and their nametags).

The owner of the stall was crying softly.

"Now what do I do?"

Misaka paused and smiled "How about this, I'll take your whole stock?"

"I guess that's fine if you're really okay with it?" The man looked up, cheering up a bit at the fact that he might not have just lost everything.

The other girl stepped forwards though.

"No, I'll pay for half of it."

After a moment of looking at each other, Misaka and the girl clasped hands. Joule raised her hand from behind Misaka.

"Umm, some context?"

Misaka looked back with surprise but continued to smile.

"Hey Joule, mind helping us with these?"

"With... the cards?" Joule checked.

Misaka nodded "Yeah. Tell me, how good at reading dreams are you?"

This was certainly going somewhere.

End of chapter.

First things first, I'm slightly changing how cards work because it makes it flow better to me. Cards can be reused but only for a limited time after their first use. Trading cards based on word alone about what they contain would obviously cause problems so I'm allowing them to work for "About twelve hours" after first being unsealed. Reapplying the film slows or even pauses their decay if applied properly. This isn't the case in the original. It's a change being made to A: Allow Saten to share cards, B: Allow traders to actually know what they're selling, even if it does use up a small amount of time and C: Allows the girls to have the idea to trade Bust Upper instead of just having to trust the other to tell the truth if they do find it.

Second thing, Kinuhata. Joule saw her during the Febrie incident as part of ITEM but she can't remember it well right now. The note about Joule mistaking it for a sister at first is more of an admittance on my part. Years ago, when I was first watching through the Anime, I actually thought she was one of the Sisters before she used her ability.