Chapter 001: Yet another man falls in the hands of Shirai Kuroko, a young middle-school girl from Judgment, Academy City's student-based crimefighting organization. In a swift move, she takes down a runaway thug and pins him to the ground, twisting his arm to fully submit her target.
However, after she cuffs the thug's wrists, she sees a short-haired girl deep into the alleyway.
And in front of her is a smoking pile of thugs fried by what appears to be electricity that leaps from the girl's hair.
It turns out that Kuroko knows this girl, and she has mistaken her for a helpless girl that needs her help. It turns out that Kuroko needed to save them from her electrifying grasp.
Soon, Kuroko gives her friend some reminders on who is supposed to uphold the law in Academy City, and that it's either students affiliated with Judgment like Kuroko or teachers who are enlisted at Anti-Skill to handle problems that Judgment cannot handle on their own. However, the girl doesn't seem to listen to her friend's reminder, and instead, wonders about her flawless win streak — except for a blotch on her record due to a certain someone. Their talk later shifts to the clear offset between Academy City's advancements in technology and the amount of thugs still littering the city. Kuroko, however, trusts enough how it goes around in Academy City, and tells her that lawbreakers are inevitable no matter the place, and this is the reason why Kuroko chose to join Judgment.
The two soon arrive at a park, where a vending machine is located. As Kuroko continues talking, the girl, later called by Kuroko as "Misaka", delivers a roundhouse kick to the poor vending machine, and she is helpless as Misaka takes her free drink on their way to their school: Tokiwadai Middle School.
Later, class begins at Tokiwadai Middle School.
A teacher discusses to a class of female students about the system used to classify an esper's power level. According to the teacher, it goes from 0 to 5, and it is possible "through hard work and determination" that an esper would reach Level 5 from scratch, and it depends on how Academy City's Power Development Curriculum would work on each student.
Soon, a loud explosion is heard from the class, and the startled students began to ask where the explosion came from. The teacher responds, telling them that the explosion is brought by one of the most successful products of the Power Development Curriculum, a girl who has climbed from Level 1 to 5 through sheer determination.
The "Railgun". The Level 5 Misaka Mikoto.
In Tokiwadai's shower room, Mikoto hears from Kuroko about the response of many students about the explosive potential of her ability, and Mikoto appears to be quite worried about the disturbances that she might have caused, but Kuroko assures her that she has a right to make heads turn as the Ace of Tokiwadai. Soon, however, before Mikoto could react, Kuroko uses her own esper ability — teleportation — to get through Mikoto from the other shower cubicle. Fortunately for Mikoto, she was able to shove Kuroko out before her breasts are claimed by the perverse Teleporter.
After class, Kuroko and Mikoto head to the park, where Mikoto visits a crepe stand while Kuroko continues to lecture her about knowing her place as a civilian. Kuroko declines under the excuse of "being still on duty", but Mikoto was able to determine that Kuroko is on a diet. Nonetheless, Mikoto offers her crepe to Kuroko.
However, it appears that it is part of Kuroko's plan to get an indirect kiss from Mikoto, and Kuroko quickly goes into her clingy mode, which Mikoto easily takes care of.
Soon, the two are joined by a student and a member of Judgment named Uiharu Kazari, who due to having a flu is wearing a mask to cover her nose and mouth. Mikoto quickly shows some concern for Uiharu's condition and even checks her temperature by placing her forehead on Uiharu's. This triggers Kuroko's jealousy to erupt, and while Kuroko tries to contain herself, Uiharu tells Mikoto that despite her sickness, she is still compelled to go to duty due to a sudden increase of cases involving rogue espers who use their powers on crimes. Mikoto thinks that a device that restrains an esper's powers are needed, but Kuroko thinks that such a device might be dangerous to one's brain, since an esper's powers are harnessed by the human mind.
Uiharu soon notices that a nearby bank has its shutters down too early. Shortly, anexplosion rips through the steel shutters and a group of men covering their faces with bandanas escape from the blast with a bag of money. Kuroko quickly goes into action and confronts the three, while Uiharu is assigned to look for casualties. Meanwhile, Mikoto is asked to stay in place.
Kuroko stands in front of three men who quickly laughs at the one who is confronting them. However, Kuroko quickly shows what she is capable of. One of the men, upon charging towards Kuroko, suddenly finds himself upside down, and another prepares to fight using his pyrokinetic powers. Unfortunately, Kuroko's agility was more than enough to take down the pyrokinesist, and in a few seconds, Kuroko drives several iron spikes through the pyrokinesist's clothing, pinning him in place.
As Kuroko takes care of two of the three-man gang, the remaining one tries to escape, and in his haste spills Mikoto's crepe on her clothes.
Kuroko soon feels chills down her spine as she sees Mikoto slowly losing her temper. Then, the gang remembers a particular rumor going around... about a Teleporter who "is unbelievably merciless and wicked" and the her partner, the ultimate electric weapon... the Railgun!
As the remaining member of the gang speeds up using a stolen car, sparks fly on Mikoto's head, and after Mikoto flips a coin on her right hand, she launches it using her electricity powers, sending the car flying due to the sheer force of the coin being fired at blinding speeds.
Soon, Anti-Skill takes over the incident, and as Uiharu reports to a fellow Judgment member, Kuroko sends the gang to the Anti-Skill.
And just like that, Mikoto, Kuroko and Uiharu quickly return to their normal daily lives as students in Academy City.
Chapter 002: Inside Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant, a disgruntled Misaka Mikoto vents out her frustration over her friend Shirai Kuroko's constant nagging about her personality and even her choice of underwear. Meanwhile, her companion, Uiharu Kazari, tries to calm her down, seeing that Mikoto has already stirred quite a commotion inside the restaurant.
Soon, Kazari mentions that there has been news of incidents involving explosions which occur in Academy City recently, which are called "graviton incidents", after the substance involved in those incidents. According to her, the culprit chooses to target everyday items such as stuffed animals and child's bags lately, and she even mentions that members of Judgment have been injured in the blasts. Kazari's attention is soon shifted to the towering fruit parfait that she ordered a while ago, but before she could enjoy herself with the tall glass of fruits, Shirai Kuroko appears to reel her in, telling her that they have little time to slack off.
Mikoto could only watch as Kuroko pulls away Kazari from her sweet snack. Then, a girl wearing the armband of Judgment calls Mikoto and tells her to come with her. Mikoto is initially confused, since she never knew the girl in the first place, and she was unable to pull herself out of this situation.
Minutes later, as the stubborn Judgment girl pulls Mikoto into their assignment, Mikoto tries to tell the girl that she is not a member of Judgment. However, her explanations are ignored, and the girl continues to assume that she is a new recruit of Judgment.
The Judgment girl soon explains their assignment. According to her, they are supposed to look for a small children's bag with a floral design. At that moment, Mikoto remembers Uiharu's story about the "graviton incidents" and how children's bags have been involved in these cases recently. Realizing that it might involve the safety of human lives, Mikoto decides to play along for the meantime.
It turns out that Mikoto would end up regretting that she would let herself be bossed around by the Judgment girl, who took her to cramped spaces, asked her to carry her by the shoulders, and let her bake under the summer sun.
Soon, they head to a playground filled with children, and Mikoto, despite lacking some rest after what happened to her during the day, is forced to set aside rest for later. Mikoto thinks that evacuating the children would be a safe option, but the Judgment girl thinks that it's no such place do to such a procedure. Mikoto then finds her patience tested by the children, who started to flock around her and ask questions... especially those which are related to her shorts. A flustered Mikoto tries to explain to the children her reason for wearing shorts, while the Judgment girl finally gets a lead on where the bag is. And it is in the jaws of a dog.
The Judgment girl quickly trips as she tries to give chase to the dog, and Mikoto decides to pursue the dog instead. She knew that simply running towards the dog would be useless, so she decides to use her electricity to startle the dog. Then, Mikoto leaps onto the dog and latches on to it. However, the bag is no longer on its mouth, and is instead flying towards the nearby fountain. Mikoto decides to sprint once again, boosted with her lightning, and lands on the shallow fountain, with the bag now on her hands.
Kuroko, who just arrived, soon asks what is going on with Mikoto drenched in water and wearing a Judgment armband, while Kazari and the owner of the missing bag follow closely. The Judgment girl, despite Mikoto's warnings that it might be a bomb, hands over the bag to the girl who actually received the bag as a present from her parents, and in spite of the confusion that happened, the Judgment girl commends Mikoto's effort in retrieving the bag. Mikoto soon finds herself showered with compliments and thanks, much to her embarrassment.
Then, Kuroko decides to tease Mikoto about wanting to join Judgment, to which Mikoto strongly rejects.
That afternoon, Mikoto decides to visit a convenience store to read some manga. Meanwhile, a certain unfortunate boy ends up with no money after his cash card was swallowed whole by the ATM. Soon, their eyes meet, and the "rivals" recognize each other.
Chapter 003: Surrounding Misaka Mikoto were some delinquents. Apparently they came there to hit on her. As Misaka Mikoto stands there she realizes how cold-hearted people are. Meanwhile, a boy comes and tries to get her out of the mess by using the "fetching up a lost friend" strategy. Obviously Mikoto knows that, but being the tsundere that she is she didn't want to go through all the "trouble. The delinquents noticed and asked him what's he trying to do. He replies saying that it makes him sick seeing a bunch of guys circling around a defenseless girl. Mikoto gets angry from all his insults and shocks everyone except she fails to shock the boy. She starts asking questions to him about how her electricity got blocked from him. He explains that he's a level zero and then runs off.
Back to the present, Mikoto finally catches the mysterious boy at an ATM machine. Mikoto gets angry when he starts ignoring her and shocks the ATM machine. Fortunately the unfortunate boy's card comes out and he thanks Mikoto. But Mikoto's shock seems to have activated the camera and it quickly snaps the boy's face before he runs away with Mikoto.
The two of reappear at an empty field at night. Mikoto wants to fight with the boy, but he points out that everytime they fight Mikoto loses. Mikoto corrects him in saying that since he hasn't damaged her once she hasn't lost yet. The boy then asks how do they determine out the winner and Mikoto replies, arrogantly, that it is until she has won. The boy agrees to fight her and the battle starts out with Mikoto shocking him head on. This shock gets blocked by the boy's right hand. Mikoto then utilizes the iron sand by making a sword and then later a whip. She figures out that this method doesn't work either so she creates a distraction with the iron sand for him while she directly forces the electricity into him. Mikoto sees that there is no change, whch means that her electricity didn't work. The boy then fakes that he got hurt. Mikoto gets angry and tries to shock him multiple times since he is not taking the fight seriously.
Mikoto comes home in her Tokiwadai dorm were Kuroko greets her. Kuroko suspects that the boy and Mikoto might turn out to be trouble. In her point of view anyway.
Chapter 004: Kuroko is explaining to Mikoto what happened to Konori Mii and an unknown judgement officer last evening. They were evacuating everyone from a local store because of a graviton acceleration. While helping an injured person, the unknown judgement officer got severely injured from a graviton.
Kuroko also explains that the person setting these gravitons are putting them in aluminum cans. They haven't figured out who the culprit is, but Mikoto suggests that it's someone with a psychic ability. She also says that Kuroko will easily find him in the bank, but Kuroko says that there is only one person with that kind of ability and she has been in a coma for the last 8 days.
Meanwhile Saten Ruiko calls Uiharu Kazari's name and flips her skirt (something she does constantly). Saten thinks Uiharu calls her name way too formally and suggests that they get closer with each other. Saten shows Uiharu her new music tracks that she got, while a strange boy with earphones walks by. He bumps into some other fellows, and they start to beat him up. A judgement officer comes by and and the boy complains that the officer should've come sooner.
In the classroom of Sakugawa Middle School, Uiharu and Saten are learning about AIM diffusion Fields.Saten asks Uiharu if she wanted to go to the Seventh Mist and starts teasing her. The teacher overhears teir conversation and smacks their heads with a piece of paper. When they both get out of school they meet up with Mikoto. Saten drags Uiharu off somewhere else asking how she knew a student from Tokiwadai. Uiharu answers by saying she knows her inderectly from judgement and finishes off by saying that she is Misaka Mikoto, the railgun. After Uiharu and Saten praises her, Mikoto asks if can go shopping with them, and they agree.
The same strange boy seems to have gotten in trouble again. Some delinquents start asking him for money. After he refuses he gets beat up again. He starts asking what the judgment officers are doing, when they're supposed to be looking after people.
Saten starts asking if there is such a thing called a "Level Upper". She starts thinking if it was real and if she would use it. Uiharu reassures her by saying that those are just rumors people create on the web. Mikoto takes this into consideration, that this might be why they couldn't track down a suspect from the graviton cases.
Kuroko is exhausted in her judgement office room looking for clues of the graviton case. She finds out that just in the graviton case, nine judgement officers were hurt.
The strange boy decides that he's not going to wait for judgement officers anymore, and that he's going to take matters in his own hands. He is seen going inside the Seventh Mist with a stuffed frog in his hand.
Chapter 005: Uiharu Kazari, Saten Ruiko, and Misaka Mikoto are out shopping at the Seventh Mist. Uiharu is amazed that even arcade coins can be used as a projectile for Misaka's Railgun move. Misaka explains that either way the coin will melt if it flies beyond 50 meters. Saten comments that having her own finishing move must be great and that someday she wants to have a power that has impact too. Saten holds up a very bold underwear that she suggests that Uiharu should buy. Uiharu says that she could never wear something like that. Saten explains that even if she flips Uiharu's skirt she can show off her underwear to others. Uiharu replies saying that she should not flip her skirt and she doesn't like showing her underwear to other. Uiharu guides the rest to the pajamas section since Misaka wanted to buy a pair. Misaka spots a cute pair of pajamas. Saten criticized the pajamas to be childish to which Uiharu agreed upon. Misaka also agrees with them, hiding her true opinion of the pajamas. As Saten and Uiharu go to the swimsuits section, Misaka picks up the pajamas and tries them in front of a mirror, just when A certain unfortunate boy walks in. Misaka, surprised asks him what's he doing here. He gets interrupted from the Bag girl who calls him big brother and brings a dress to show him. Misaka obviously thinks that she is his younger sister and Kamijou says that she just wanted to go shopping and he showed her to this store. The bag girl watched TV and they said to come to this store if girls want to look pretty. Misaka then suggests that they should fight in the store to see who wins from yesterday. Kamijou says that he didn't want to fight in front of a kid and walks away. In the meantime the bag girl acts confused. Saten and Uiharu approach the two of them and the bag girl notices Uiharu right away. Misaka takes the opportunity to excuse herself in the bathroom.
As Misaka comes back from the bathroom she notices a person with a frog to in his hands. Misaka thought it was a Gekota figure but takes a good look at it and sees that it's not. Misaka wonders what a person would do bringing a stuffed animal to a place like this. As Misaka returns see asks where the bag girl went and Saten says that she went to visit the washroom. At this moment a frantic Shirai Kuroko calls saying that she has an update regarding the graviton bombings. Uiharu asks for the location of the graviton detected and Shirai says that it's a dress store named Seventh Mist. Uiharu tells Shirai that she is already there and hangs up. She tells Misaka that the store is the target and to help her with evacuating the bystanders and she tells Saten to go outside with the others. Kamijou comes rushing in to ask Misaka where the bag girl might have gone to.
Shirai calls Uiharu again and tells her to leave the store this instant. She tells her that her judgement colleagues have been injured during the graviton bombings. So, Shirai tells Uiharu that the current target is Uiharu. The bag girl comes up from behind Uiharu and gives her the frog seen from earlier. She tells her that a boy wearing glasses wanted her to have this.As the bomb starts to prepare to explode Uiharu throws the graviton to the opposite side and protects the bag girl. Kamijou and Misaka approach and Misaka realizes that the stuffed frog is the same one from before. Uiharu yells that its a bomb and Misaka tries to railgun it. The only problem is that she dropped her coin and the bomb was going to explode before she took out another one. People from the outside saw the explosion and says that there were people still inside, one of them being a judgement member.
The boy who was holding the stuffed animal from before walks away into a dark alley and compliments himself for how far he's come with his power. He also reveals that it won't be long until judgement members see his power. Behind him was Misaka's smiling face and as he says he'll blow everyone away, Misaka kicks him in the back. Misaka tells him that he should know what's going on by now and calls him "Mister Bomb Maniac". He lies and says that he doesn't know what she's talking about. Misaka comments on how interesting the explosion was and tells him that no one got injured. He replies by saying that it was is full power and then changes it to saying that he could see that the explosion was serious and thought that no one could do anything at that point. He pulls out a spoon thinking of blasting it in Misaka's face, but Misaka uses her railgun to protect herself and knock him down. He recognizes her as Tokiwadai's Railgun. She threatens him and he says that he's always being knocked down and that he wants to kill everyone who thinks about this "Judgement" nonsense. Misaka tells him that people who do have abilities are the same as him. She then shocks him with electricity. She tells him that Tokiwadai's Level 5's were once known as a mere Level 1. But they obtained their great power by hard work. Misaka then tells him that even if she was a Level 1 she would've still stood up to him. She hits him once before they're done talking.
A judgement girl tells Shirai that the criminal has been captured. Uiharu calls out to Shirai and she comments on that Uiharu is still in one piece. Uiharu said that it was Misaka's doing. Shirai asks herself how did Misaka use her ability to protect them.
Later, Misaka recalls that her railgun didn't make it in time to protect them and that in the end Kamijou protected them. Coincidentally he walks by her and Misaka asks why he didn't take the credit for saving them. Kamijou says that it doesn't matter since no one got hurt. As one of the staff workers from Seventh Mist came to congratulate Misaka, she ends up kicking the door and starts insulting Kamijou. Kamijou feels that there is some sort of grievance he's feeling.
Chapter 006: 37.3 degrees Celsius was Uiharu Kazari's temperature as Saten Ruiko measured it. Uiharu has a slight fever and Ruiko feels bad about it since it was her that was having Kazari tag along. Ruiko proposed to give Kazari her class notes, but Kazari replied saying that she will catch up herself. Since its summer break starting tomorrow, Ruiko will help Kazari cure her cold.
Kuroko, thinking to the point were she is confused, asks Mikoto if the Gravitation Bombing culprit was the one she seized. Mikoto says that she was definitely sure, but Kuroko points out that the bank says that his ability is that of a Level 2, but Mikoto says it was exactly identical of that of a Level 4. With both of them confused, Mikoto says that they should have a break and eat flavored ice. Kuroko orders the same thing as Mikoto (strawberry flavored) and Kuroko says that whenever you listen to the wind chimes, it feels like it's colder when it's really the same temperature. Mikoto says it has something to do with synesthesia. A single simulation evoking two perceptions. She gives the example of looking at cool and warm colors. When you see red it gives you the impression that it's warmer, but when you see blue you feel colder. Kuroko comments on how the human brain is surprisingly simple when Ruiko approaches them. Saten also gets some flavored ice along with them.
Mikoto asks about Kazari's condition and Ruiko replies saying that she has a slight fever and she mistakenly bought medicine for a fever instead of a cold. Ruiko asks if she could try some of Mikoto's strawberry ice and she allows her to. In exchange Ruiko gives Mikoto some of her lemon ice and this activates an envious Kuroko. Kuroko tries to get Mikoto to eat some of her ice, but Mikoto reminds her that they bought the same thing. With this Kuroko bangs her head against the ground.
Mikoto asks Ruiko if she knew anything else about a device called the Level Upper. Kuroko takes this into consideration with her investigation, but Saten says that it's nothing but a rumor. Mikoto starts wondering does something like this truly exist (as she throws the cups on the floor to get cleaned up by the cleaning robots). Kuroko says it might be true since some of the crimes committed didn't match their level of how much damage was done. They ask Ruiko some more questions and she says that there are some people who say that they have "applied" the level upper before. Kuroko says that it might be hard to believe them and says that it might be better if they confront them. With that, Mikoto and Kuroko run off and leave Saten on the park bench.
Mikoto confronts some thugs at a restaurant (while Kuroko is sitting on another table spying on them). She asks them is they know anything about the Level Upper.
Two hours ago, Mikoto and Kuroko were on the laptop searching were the Level Upper users might meet. Mikoto comments on that there are people who use their real name to write comments. Kuroko does a check on them and finds out that most of them has bad conduct. Mikoto suggests that she goes undercover and talks with them, which Kuroko goes against since she is a civilian. Mikoto says that if Kuroko goes her Judgment identity might be exposed. Without much argument Kuroko allows Mikoto.
Back at the restaurant, Kuroko is really concerned (it is unclear if it's for Mikoto or the thugs). Mikoto starts "begging" them, but they just say that they're not going to let out that information to anyone. As one of the thugs says that it's bedtime for kids, Kuroko thinks that Mikoto would explode and shock them all, but Mikoto surprises Kuroko and pulls off a Lolita girl act and saying that she's not a kid. One of the thugs has apparently taken a liking to Mikoto and says that he'll tell her about the Level Upper, but he's not going to do it for free. Mikoto replies saying that she might be able to give them a small fee. He said to forget the money while trying to touch Mikoto's shoulder. She avoided him by spinning around him, and says that she's not comfortable doing it that way. She offers him money again, but he says that she's not a kid in an attempt to convince her to take his offer. However, Mikoto starts crying, and makes up a story, saying that she has no other way to raise her level except for the Level Upper. Behind her back, she appears to have a bottle full of fake tears. At the end of her story, Mikoto pulls off a cute face, while saying that the thugs still won't help her even after knowing her story. Kuroko is unconscious at that point, most likely due to emotional shock.
One of the other thugs point out that her uniform is from Tokiwadai Middle School. They ask Mikoto that they'll tell her everything if she brings her money. From behind Mikoto the unfortunate Kamijou Touma comes up and tells them that it's not right to ask money from a girl using numbers. Mikoto is speechless.
Chapter 007: As Kamijou Touma comes to help Misaka Mikoto with the thugs, Mikoto gets all fired up. Touma starts insulting them while Mikoto says that she doesn't know this fellow at all. The thugs say that they won't give out the Level Upper details for free like that. Touma starts saying that he'll just have to deal with the three thugs while six others show up making it a total of nine thugs. Touma gets scared and runs off while the thugs chase after him. Mikoto, being the only one left, gets approached by a waitress asking her if everything is okay. She says she's fine and tells her that she should charge everything on Kuroko. With that, Mikoto runs off after them.
As Mikoto catches up to the thugs she begins asking them (again) about the Level Upper. The thug begins and then gets interrupted by his friend who tells her to leave. Angry, Mikoto shocks him and the other thugs find out that she is an esper. The thugs try to take her out with their "new" levels, which they gained form the Level Upper, but in the end Mikoto defeats them easily.
Touma keeps on running, thinking that he lost the thugs, only to have Mikoto's powerful Railgun to come his way. Luckily he blocks it with his Imagine Breaker.
Rating: 8.5/10
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