A Certain Scientific Railgun

Kuroko Shirai, a member of Academy City's Public Moral Committee, Judgment, is on the scene to apprehend a group of thugs harassing a girl only to find out the girl is not other than her sempai Mikoto Misaka who has already dealt with them. During this time, the city is holding a "System Scan" at several schools including Tokidawai Middle School. At Tokodawai, Mitsuko Kongo, a second year student mocks Kuroko and thinks she'll reach Level 5 before her only to witness Mikoto testing her powers at the School's pool which cause a giant explosion that can be seen and heard from afar. Kazari Uiharu, a colleague of Kuroko at Judgement and a fan of Misaka, is invited by Kuroko to meet up with Mikoto herself and brings along her friend, Ruiko Saten. In reality, Kuroko's main plan was to use Uiharu as an excuse so she could date Mikoto, but after finding her true purpose, Mikoto instead decides to bring them to a crêpe shop so she can get a Gekota key chain where a Tour Group are taking a break. Uiharu and Saten are surprise that Mikoto acts very nice and normal and not like the Rich Socialite image that they had in mind. Just then, a nearby bank is getting robbed and Kuroko goes into action to stop the robbers including one who is a Pyrokinesist. Meanwhile, as Mikoto and the others helps the civilians escape, they hear from a tour guide that a boy has wandered off from the group. Ruiko spots him being taken hostage by one of the escaping robbers and tries to stop them herself, getting kicked in the process. Taking it personally, Mikoto uses her powers to create her signature move, "The Railgun" to stop the robber's car from escaping. After the Robbers have been taken into custody by the City's Police, Anti-skills, Ruiko is praised by Mikoto, the tour guide, the boy's mother and the boy himself for her bravery. « read less

Kuroko and Mikoto invites Kazari and Ruiko to go shopping and sightseeing at the School Garden, a private, high class district which caters for Schoolgirl's of elite and upper class schools and where most of the elite Girls schools are located. Ruiko gets her uniform wet after tripping into a puddle so Kuroko lets her borrow her Tokidawai uniform. When the girls arrive to an Italian Pastry shop for cake, Shirai and Uiharu are immediately called back at Judgment for an emergency. Mii Konori, their sempai in Judgment reveals that yesterday, six Tokidawai students including Mitsuko were mysteriously attacked by an unknown perpetrator with a Taser who immediately drew their eyebrows with a marker while they were unconscious but none of the victims saw their attacker. Unfortunately, it is during this time that Ruiko is mistaken as a Tokidawai student and attacked by the criminal herself whilst in the bathroom. As Mikoto, Kuroko and Kazari try to figure out who the invisible attacker is, they conclude that the attacker has an ability called 'Dummy Check', the ability to make the user invisible to the human eye, which explain why the victims never saw her but the district's CCTV camera's did. At first they believe the culprit is Miho Jifuki, a Sekishi Junior High student and the only person who has this ability but the City's database says she's only a Level 2 and doesn't have enough power to turn herself completely invisible. Saten, who has woken up after her attack and learning on what happen to her eyebrows, confirms Miho was the culprit who manage to see her face in the mirror before falling unconscious and wants revenge. With the help of School Garden's CCTV camera's, the girls manage to track Miho down and cornered her. After being subdued by Mikoto, Ruiko wants to draw Miho eyebrows but finds out the girl has naturally weird eyebrows. Miho reveals that she targeted Tokidawai students because her boyfriend left her for one and didn't like her eyebrows. Feeling sorry, Saten decide to let go of her grudge and ease Miho by telling her that her eyebrows are charming. As she's being taken away by the Anti-skills, Mikoto wonders how did Miho became powerful when she's only a Level 2 in the first place. The next day however, Saten is still angry that she didn't have her revenge against Miho when she learns the ink on her eyebrows won't come off for a week. « read less

While investigating a series of car break-ins, Kuroko and Uiharu encounter the culprit in the act but Kuroko rushes into action against Uiharu advice and gets knock out by the thief’s accomplice who was hiding inside the car. Uiharu tries to stop them but is tazered by the escaping thieves. Both of them get into an argument as Uiharu blames Kuroko recklessness for not listening to her to wait for backup. When Uiharu asks her about the promise they made, Kuroko doesn’t remember which angers Uiharu and causes her to storm off. Saten arrives at the Judgment’s 177th Branch Office to visit Uiharu who is currently in a foul mood which Mii Konori decides to explain how Uiharu and Kuroko became partners which, at the same time, a musing Kuroko tells to Mikoto. When they were still in grade school, Kuroko met Uiharu whilst both of them were training at Judgment. While on patrol with Konori, Kuroko felt she was being held back due to her age, but Konori that she needed to learn to work with others. To cheer her up, Konori decided to treat her and went to withdraw some money from the post office ATM’s, where Kuroko met up with Kazari again. However, Konori noticed a suspicious man carrying a gun, but failed to notify the staff before he made his move. Ignoring Konori’s orders, Kuroko quickly rushed to the bank robber and knocked him down. Unfortunately, the robber had an accomplice hiding among the crowds who had taken Uiharu hostage. With everyone distracted, the alarm was sounded, bringing the shutters down and activating a security bot. Kuroko again rushed towards the robber using the bot as cover, but Konori pushed her away when he destroys the bot, shielding her from the explosion and shrapnel. As the robber beat Kuroko, she blamed herself for being thoughtless and getting Konori hurt and Uiharu into this mess. She decided to save Uiharu by teleporting her outside while she keeps the robber trap inside. As Uiharu cried for help, the robber realized what Kuroko was planning but told her he could still escape thanks to his power “Equal Speed”, with which anything he throws will not stop no matter what obstacle is in its way, which he demonstrated by throwing a steel ball breaking thorough the shutters. He told Kuroko to use her powers to get the money in the ATM’s but she refuses, to which he responded by throwing a barrage of steel balls against her. But the balls were destroyed by an electrical blast shot by Mikoto, who anonymously answered Uiharu pleas. With the robber distracted, Kuroko used the opportunity to pin him down before he had a chance to act just as the police finally arrive. In the aftermath, Kuroko and Uiharu both promised with each other that they’ll help each other to become true to themselves and become better members of Judgment. Upon finishing the story, Kuroko realizes this was the promise Uiharu spoke of. When she gets a call from Konori that Uiharu has found the car thieves, with encouragement from Mikoto, Kuroko decides to go and help Uiharu. « read less

With incidents involving graviton bombs becoming more frequent and bigger in scale, Judgment are asked to cooperate with Anti-Skill to investigate the matter. However, they are still unable to find any leads, given the minimum psychic level needed to pull off such a feat. Talking with Mikoto, Ruiko laments her lack of powers, thinking she wouldn't be helpful. She also mentions to Mikoto about a rumor concerning the Level Upper, which supposedly increases a psychic's power. The next day, whilst Kuroko continues to try and find a connection between the graviton incidents, Mikoto, Ruiko and Kazari go shopping at the mall. Whilst looking at a pair of pyjamas, Mikoto runs into Tōma, who is accompanying the little girl she met the other day. Meanwhile, Kuroko discovers that the graviton attacks are targeting Judgment members, and when she detects the vibration of graviton particles in the mall, she soon realises that Kazari is the next target. As civilians are evacuated from the mall, Tōma informs Mikoto that he had lost track of the little girl. They re-enter the mall to find her giving a stuffed doll containing a graviton bomb to Kazari. As it goes off, Mikoto tries to shoot it with her railgun, but fumbles her coin, leaving the explosion to take place. However, nobody gets hurt, and Mikoto finds and beats the culprit, a bullied boy who had become hateful of Judgment's late arrivals. Whilst everyone believes Mikoto saved everyone, it was actually thanks to Tōma's Imagine Breaker that everyone survived. « read less

Mikoto and Kuroko talk with Harumi Kiyama, the specialist Mikoto had previously met, about the Level Upper. They are later joined by Kazari and Ruiko, the latter of which has the Level Upper, but decides to keep it to herself. Mikoto later catches up with Ruiko, noticing she's a bit down. The next day, Ruiko stumbles upon someone being conned by three thugs over the Level Upper and can't bring herself to just run away. Kuruko coincidentally arrives before she gets hurt and subdues two of the thugs, but has trouble using her teleport powers against their boss due to his ability to distort light. He chases Kuroko throughout an abandoned building, but is defeated when Kuroko teleports windows to cut through the building's supports and bring the place down. Having barely just survived, the thugs surrenders his Level Upper to Kuroko. Later, Ruiko encounters some of her friends, and reveals to them that she has the Level Upper. « read less

Harumi explains she used the Level Upper as an alternative to the Tree Diagram and gives Kazari the antidote program. When she is eventually roadblocked by the Anti Skill, she uses Level Upper's side effect; the power to use multiple abilities, to defeat them. Mikoto arrives and battles against Harumi, initially having trouble against her abilities. However, using some cunning to avoid her attacks, she is able to get up close and shock her directly. As she does, she gains Harumi's memories of when she was a teacher for abandoned children. She grew attached to her students and became really depressed when they were all killed as part of some experiments. Harumi's constant rejection to ask the Tree Diagram for help led her to create the Level Upper to find a way herself. Just then, Harumi falls unconscious and a strange creature emerges from her head. « read less

Kinoho and Maaya ask Mikoto and Kuroko to help them model swimsuits for a web catalogue, with Kazari, Ruiko, Konori and Kuroko's rival Mitsuko Kongō joining in. After choosing their swimsuits, they are taken to a holographic room that can replicate different scenarios down to the touch. However, things get a little awkward when the scenarios switch between freezing, scorching and flooded scenarios. During their break, the gang make some curry, with Mitsuko's bluffs about her ability to make it backfiring on her. After having trouble, Mitsuko admits her failure and asks the others for help and the group end up making delicious curry all round. After work, Mikoto tries on a frilly bikini she was ashamed to wear earlier, unaware she's projecting it to the public. « read less

Mitsuko finds herself attacked by Skill Out, a gang of Level 0s who use high pitched noise to cancel esper abilities. Mitsuko is saved by a man with a spider tattoo, who Konori identifies as Big Spider. Whilst investigating the slums, Mikoto and Kuroko encounter a red haired guy who beats up some thugs. As more espers are attacked by Skill Out, Mikoto and Kuroko battle some of them and reach their hideout and their gang boss, Kurozuma. They activate their Skill Out device, nullifying Mikoto and Kuroko's abilities, but it is disable by the red haired guy. After beating the thugs and scaring them off, the red haired guy is approached by Konori, who seems to be an old acquaintance of his. « read less

AntiSkill member Tsuduri Tessou is having a bad day, first missing her train and then getting taken hostage during a mission. After being saved by her partner, Yomikawa, they do a curfew run at an arcade where they spot Mikoto and her friends, along with a boy named Konoue, one of Kazari and Ruiko's classmates. The next day, after Tsuduri gets given several menial tasks, she encounters Konoue at the arcade again. She meets him again the next day, showing him how to get a secret character, before going to help a drunk Yomikawa. Whilst on duty the next day, Tsuduri deals with both Index and Aisa Himegami before ending up at the arcade again, where she plays against Konoue whilst both using the secret character. The next day, she learns from Ruiko and Kazari that Konoue has transferred to a school for games design, hoping to make a sequel for that fighting game. « read less

The Tokiwadai dorms hold a public midsummer festival and Mikoto, wearing a maid's outfit, gives Ruiko and Kazari a tour of the festivities. Kazari, in particular, is excited to try everything the festival has to offer. At lunch, word gets out that Mikoto will be doing a stage performance and everyone who hears about it looks forward to it. These high expectations make Mikoto nervous until she runs into Tōma backstage. The anger she throws towards him cures her of her nerves, and she is able to perform the violin beautifully in front of everyone. « read less

Following the Poltergeist incident, Mikoto wonders if Harumi Kiyama is once again involved. Since Harumi is supposedly still in custody, Kuroko begins to suspect Eri may be the cause and runs a background check on her. The next day, Kazari takes Eri out to the park to cheer her up, where she tells her about a friend she is looking for. She then spaces out again and another poltergeist attack occurs. Kazari gets angry at Kuroko for thinking Eri is responsible for the attack. Telestina take Eri and the others to a research facility for some tests, the results showing she could not have done the attacks, much to Kuroko's objection. When Eri awakes, she explains that she goes into a daze whenever she hears the voice of her friend, Banri Edosaki. When Eri shows everyone a picture of her in her locket, Mikoto recognises her as one of the child errors from Harumi's memories. « read less

Telestina takes Erii to see Banri. Still feeling some concern, Kazari goes to see Harumi and convinces her to share her data with the MAR. However, Telestina won't let them see either the kids or Erii and breaks Harumi's data. Telestina reveals she is related to Kihara and attacks Harumi. As Kazari tells the others what has happened, they find out that Telestina is Kihara's granddaughter and was one of the first test subjects in his experiments. Mikoto goes to confront Telestina, who reveals she plans to finish Kihara's research, but is beaten by Telestina's battle suit when she uses Capacity Down on her. As Telestina take Erii and the children away, Mitsuko saves Mikoto from being captured. As Mikoto tries to go back into battle, blaming herself for everything that's happened, Ruiko stops her and reminds her that she doesn't have to fight alone. As Harumi chases after Telestina, Mikoto and friends get together to work out a plan to save Erii and the others. « read less