The beginning of the next stage.
[ACMI: Calm Days]
Joule didn't move much at the start of the day following her awakening, but she did undergo a lot of tests.
The frog-faced doctor… yes she could remember his name. Heaven Canceller. He performed tests now that she was awake.
Her memories were badly damaged, along with some of her muscle memories. In the afternoon, GV helped her into a wheelchair so she could move around a bit more.
She met her friends after school and GV apologised that he had to leave her with them. He had received quite the lucrative job offer. Something about the reformation of many of Academy City's dark side organisations.
By this point, the others had largely recovered from the events at the prison. They helped Joule remember the things she had been forgetting.
One of the things that had been a surprise, both for Joule and for her friends, was the loss of memories related to Lumen.
"You really don't remember her at all?" Misaka asked.
Joule shook her head "Really. Though she did show up in my dreams while I was recovering."
"I don't suppose it's likely then that she'll be able to emerge?" Shirai asked "It feels like a shame somehow that she can't join in our conversations anymore."
Saten shrugged "Well, Uiharu and I could hardly see her in the first place without Joule's help. And if even she's having trouble…"
"Can you tell me about her?" Joule asked then "She said she was a friend, and you're all saying she was able to join in."
Together, they explained what little they knew of her companion, how she was some exhibition of Joule's power. How she could be a charming prankster. Things like that.
There was an air throughout the conversation that they hoped their words might just be some sort of trigger that would draw her out, but Joule's hairpin sat alone on her head. The hair tie on the other side was blank and unadorned by the blue butterfly.
It became something like a game of storytelling in the end, as the others helped tell Joule about their adventures so far, trying to see if she'd lost any other memories. As it turned out, she had.
Saten found the first hole in her memory. She remembered meeting Index and about the nun, she had forgotten that she'd spoken in some way to control the Golem. Though she had remembered the Golem itself without prompting.
At first they chalked that up to simple forgetfulness. That fight was months ago now.
It went on though when they brought up the events of the Endymion space elevator. Joule had also lost all memories of the explanations of magic. She hadn't remembered the fact that the tower was referred to as something like a temple.
Curiously enough, that seemed to go for a lot of her knowledge. She could remember the results easily enough, but any actual explanations of how some magic was being used were lost from her mind.
On top of that, a lot of her memories from when the dragon was possessing her were either foggy or simply lost. That bit was less unexpected but it did just add to the things she had to be filled in on.
"Is Frenda okay?" Joule asked Saten "I don't remember much around that time."
"Well you were getting more sick." Misaka noted.
Saten nodded "Yes, she's fine. Esther, a mage we know, is helping protect her. I've spoken with her a few times recently. She's out of the hospital and staying with some friends in District three."
What else was happening when her memory was faulty… nothing else obvious came to mind.
The group of friends asked the hospital if they could go out with Joule and were told it was fine as long as they got back with her tonight as she should spend one more night watched over, just to make sure her brain had recovered properly.
Uiharu and Shirai each had emergency medical training from their Judgement work and Shirai specifically could get her back to the hospital instantly if things went wrong.
"There's an outdoor cafe that opened near Tokiwadai." Uiharu said as they left and boarded the train "We went and visited it together once we'd recovered, but we promised to bring you here too."
"Is it good?" Joule asked.
Uiharu was about to answer when Misaka laughed "Let her try it for herself. Let her have the same reaction."
"That makes it sound like you expect me to dislike it." Joule noted "This is the sort of thing expected to be good after all."
"True enough." Misaka tilted her head to the side "Then how about this? The School Garden wouldn't allow a bad cafe to open, would it?"
All of this talk had Joule very curious. The sun was getting low when they finally finished travelling to the school garden. They'd needed to take a bus, a train and then another bus.
When her friends had said "Outdoor cafe" Joule must have admitted this wasn't what she'd expected. The words normally drew to mind the idea of a cafe in a building that just had tables outside. Those were fairly common in the school garden. There was a certain fanciness they gave to the environment.
Instead, this was an entire arrangement under the open sky. The Cafe's ground looked like a European garden surrounding a tiled square with four or five tables set up. The square was small so they only just fit. To one end of the garden was a counter where one could order and then behind that was the actual building. It was a small building that was basically just a food preparation area and a set of toilets for those who needed them.
And so the friends had a classic tea party along with some cakes and sandwiches. It was just about dinnertime anyway so it was a pleasant way to spend the evening.
"I wonder if it was the best time of year to open this?" Saten looked skyward "It's just going to get colder after this. I don't think people will want to spend time like this in the winter."
"A snow party might be nice though." Misaka noted, putting her sandwich down "As long as we all wrapped up warm and had plenty of hot tea."
Shirai seemed lost in thought imagining that.
Eventually it was time to go. Misaka paid for the meal and they began the journey back to the hospital to drop off Joule.
This day had been peaceful for her.
The evening was not promising to be peaceful for GV.
End of chapter.
So yes, we're skipping right ahead to the DRAGON arc. Well, part of the DRAGON arc at least. Legitimately, why were the two sides of the arc going on at the same time? They seem mostly unrelated.
Whatever, only one side of the arc will matter for this story, and you should be able to tell which side from the set-up mentioned in this chapter.
