Chapter 018: A young Mikoto looks at a young boy struggling to walk in a laboratory and is informed by the scientist that he has a form of sclerosis, which causes muscle degeneration. He continues, telling her that he would eventually die from respiratory or heart failure; the only way of curing him is by providing them a sample of her DNA. This is supposedly to control bio-electrical signals and reroute them to another nerve signal network so they can gain control of a muscle. Looking at the suffering children, Mikoto (naively) agrees, the dream ends with her agreeing and spotting a young Shinobu in the background.
Mikoto wakes up from her dream to find Kuroko hugging her, to which she physically retaliates. Now walking outside, she tells Kuroko her plan to go shopping who tries making it a shopping date, insisting that they go through a shortcut to the shopping district. As she is going through the alleyway shortcut, she encounters a few people and after squeezing past a few, meets a particularly large person. She teleports past him, but trips over a can on the other side. While on the floor, she finds an open envelope and on the inside is a bank card.
The duo go the Judgement Headquaters to talk to Uiharu, who tells them that for the past few days, bank cards were dropped all around the city. As a result, many people gather in the alley to go 'treasure-hunting', which raises the concern that some may fight over the cards. Kuroko apologizes to MIkoto for no longer being able to shop with her, to which Mikoto wink and brushes Kuroko off. As she is walking to the Shopping District, she finds Saten on all-fours and literally sniffing around for the bank cards. An excited Saten drags Mikoto off for a hunt, lasting until the sun started to set. Eventually, Saten thanks Mikoto for helping and leaves Mikoto with four envolopes of bank cards. But as she's standing there, she overhears four thugs talking about the origin place of the bank cards and their plan to raid it.
The scene cuts to the four thugs entering the room and taking away the bank cards from Shinobu, the person distributing the cards. With a series of psychological games she plays with the thugs, she makes them all faint with shock. Mikoto watches from the doorway and applauds Shinobu for her actions, telling her that she would've intervened if the situation got out of hand. The chapter ends with Shinobu looking at Mikoto and saying "So, you are the original".
Chapter 019: In a phone booth, Misaka looks at a report on her smart-phone about a cloning plan that originated in the place (Seiguchi Pharmacies, Seventh Medical Research Center) where the scientists mapped her DNA for research. Still dubious about the cloning story, she decides to infiltrate the laboratory, buying and changing into casual clothes with the newly found bank cards.
Using her electrical abilities, she gets into the research centre, finding the only room that isn't watched by cameras. The alarm goes off and a guard shines his light upon a person to create a silhouette. Mikoto walks into a room with a cultivation device ("Large enough to fit a human) and brings up a report about the 'Sisters' on the computer. The report describes a plan to find out how Level 5's are made through cloning, using somatic cells extracted from her hair (Which she donated in the flashback of Chapter 18). Their growth would be accelerated through hormones and the such, creating a body equal to Mikoto in just 14 days. However, according to a calculation from the Tree Diagram, the Sisters were not nearly strong enough, the strongest one being only a Level 3. This calculation leads to the apparent dissolution of the project, much to the relief of Mikoto. However, as she leaves, the silhoutted person is revealed to be a clone of Mikoto, who approaches the computer and starts deleting data.
Chapter 020: A suddenly carefree Mikoto wanders the street, her strange attitude puzzling Kuroko, who even 'tests' if Mikoto is an imposter or not. Kuroko brings up the topics of clones, ending with an off-hand question of what would "Mikoto do if your own clown were to appear before you".
Before Mikoto answers, the chapter cuts to a different scene, three months before, inside a research centre of Academy City. It shows a fully matured clone of Mikoto (Misaka 9982) on her 14th day since 'birth', being released from her cultivation unit by the two scientists Yumi and Eiga. She's put into Testament in order to install basic motor functions, speech and logic, but noticeably not emotions, and is given a basic health check-up. It is in this 'restoration room', she is given her first tea, given her first verbal description of the outside world and informed of the 'original', or how the scientists refer to her, the "Big Sister". The chapter ends with the scientists ordering Number 9982 to clean up a room of bloodied 'Sisters', to which Mikoto acknowledges with no emotion.
Chapter 021: The chapter opens with Mikoto exiting from a convenience store, dabbling in her past-time of reading copies of manga for free. As she sits down and eats the store food, dissapointed by the week's manga, she meets the children from Chapter Two and meets Kana again. She's drafted into playing with them and during the break, Nao brings up the fact that he can cause a spark. Kana asks Mikoto if they can communicate through radio (Due to their ability with electricity), to which Mikoto replies no to, due to the interference of the city; However, she does bring up that with people with a similar brainwave pattern should make a network possible (And also brings up the 'Level Upper' as well). A Gekota badge on one of the children suddenly catches her eye and Mikoto asks where she got it. Travelling to the "Gachagacha" in the shopping street, she starts filling baskets full of badges, even asking the other children to change her notes into coins. After filling out an entire machine's worth of badges, she starts buying the ones in front of the station and eventually wins one there. After winning the badge, she suffers from shopper's regret, not knowing where she could wear the badge without feeling embarrassed.
As she's walking with the children, she suddenly has a strange feeling of her "own power... coming from outside". The chapter ends with her running to the source of the power, meeting with Misaka 9982 under a tree.
Chapter 022: Mikoto confronts Misaka 9982, asking who she is, to which Misaka 9982 just replies with "Mya". Mikoto freezes up, unsure of what Misaka 9982 means; Turns out, Misaka 9982 was referring to the noise that the cat in the tree made, which ran up there as a result of the use of Misaka 9982's electrical ability. Mikoto shouts at Misaka 9982, noticing Misaka 9982's evasiveness, but Misaka 9982 plays upon Mikoto's compassion of small animals. Mikoto finds herself beneath Misaka 9982 to better reach the cat, who jumps up to save it. Both Misaka's are instinctively frightened of the weak electricity coming off from their bodies. Mikoto shouts in frustration as she realizes that Misaka 9982 evaded the question once again and asks her if Misaka 9982 is Mikoto's clone. Mikoto asks why she exists, due to the dissolution of the project, to which Misaka 9982 asked for the confirmation code. Unable to give her the code, Misaka 9982 is no longer willing to answer Mikoto's questions.
Mikoto threatens Misaka 9982, but is (obviously) unable to hurt her and instead lets her go. However, she realizes the significance of the term 'Sisters' and shouts her questions, frustrated. A passing ice-cream truck passes the arguing sisters and the sympathetic ice-cream driver gives two ice-creams to Misaka 9982 and Mikoto, to try to 'heal' their relationship. Misaka 9982 compliments the ice-cream driver for the great ice-cream and after thanking him, he drives off. Mikoto, distracted by the van driving away, doesn't notice Misaka 9982 eating her ice-cream; This leads to them having tea together (Which Misaka 9982 compliments again).
After an entire day of chasing Misaka 9982 around, she informs Mikoto that she would not be returning to her creators. As Mikoto rifles through her pockets for her phone, the previously won Gekota badge rolls out. Mikoto tests out the look by pinning it onto Misaka 9982's jumper, to which Misaka 9982 finds too childish. An embarrassed Mikoto reaches out to take back the badge, but her hand is slapped away. After a flurry of attempts, Misaka 9982 successfully fends off Mikoto, believing that "The moment you attached it, ownership of this badge was transffered to Misaka" and more importantly, "This is the first present I ever got from [MIkoto]" (Although she does lament the fact it is a bit childish.
Mikoto says good-bye to Misaka 9982, wanting to find the creators by herself, and as she's running she gets the feeling that Misaka 9982 really felt like a real sister. She calls up Kazari, asking about the confirmation question that Misaka 9982 asked when Mikoto first met.
There is a cut, showing Misaka 9982 opening a public locker, revealing a guitar case, and the chapter ends with Accelerator meeting with Misaka 9982 in an alley; Misaka 9982 cooly tells Accelerator that the experiment commences in 11 minutes and 40 seconds, "So move to the designated area".
Chapter 023: The chapter opens with Misaka 9982 announcing to Accelerator (Who's cracking his neck to warm up) that the experiment is going to begin. As she's fighting Accelerator, the bullet ricochets due to his power and hits Misaka 9982, causing her to run into an alley.
At the same time Mikoto finds out about the 'Level 6 Shift' program with the Accelerator (Given to her by Kazari) and that the scientists are killing the 'Sisters' in order to Shift Accelerators Esper Level to 6. At first she thinks its a bad joke, but after given the location from the report, she can't help but check if it's real. Upon arriving, she doesn't find anyone, but she finds Misaka 9982's NV Goggles shattered on the floor.
The chapter cuts to Misaka 9982 being chased and attacked by Acclerator. Knocked to the ground and bleeding, Misaka 9982 states that she doesn't know what ability the Accelerator is, but concluding that his feet are unprotected, reveals there is a mine underneath. The explosion is repelled by Accelerator, who shoots out of the smoke to grab onto Misaka 9982's leg, ripping it off which causes the Gekota badge to roll of. She doesn't stop moving, instead starting to crawl away, much to the disgust of Acclerator who tells pauses before saying "Enough already, you". He starts picking up a train and throws it at Misaka 9982, just as she stops crawling to pick up the Gekota badge that rolled off before.
The explosion the mine causes attracts Mikoto to hear the explosion and she runs to the bridge above where they were fighting. She sees Accelerator picking up the train and throwing it at Misaka 9982 (As Misaka 9982 picks up the badge). The chapter ends with Mikoto screaming, running towards Accelerator in a rage.
Rating: 9/10
Comentários