Episode 14 - The Promise
In the Tokiwadai dormitory, Kuroko is staring at Mikoto's empty bed. As she debates whether to go out looking for her roommate, the visitor bell sounds. To her surprise, the intercom monitor reveals Touma Kamijou, who is holding a small black kitten and asking to speak to Mikoto Misaka.
Kuroko considers ignoring him, but the possibility that he might know something about Mikoto is too much for her to ignore. She admits Touma to the room, but before she can interrogate him they hear the Dormitory Supervisor approaching. Kuroko tries to teleport Touma away, but to her surprise her power doesn't work on him. She hastily forces him and the cat under Mikoto's bed just as the Supervisor comes in. The woman is suspicious, saying she heard something, but Kuroko manages to bluff her by offering to help her investigate. As Kuroko leaves with the supervisor, the cat happens to dislodge some papers hidden inside a large stuffed bear under Mikoto's bed, arousing Touma's curiosity.
The papers are copies of the files on Project Level 6 Shift. Touma reads through them, appalled. They include a complete schedule of the 'experiments'; Touma sees that experiment 10031 was scheduled a few hours ago... and that experiment 10032 is to take place later that same evening.
When Kuroko returns to the room, she finds the window open and Touma gone. By then he is running along the street, frantic but directionless. Pausing to catch his bearings, he notices a wind turbine slowly rotating in the distance, despite there being no wind. Guessing that a nearby electromagnetic field is causing it, he heads in that direction.
Mikoto is standing on one of Academy City's river bridges, gazing morosely at the water. She reflects that if she's to save the surviving Sisters, there is one final option left to her. Wondering how something so well-intentioned as a child wanting to help the sick could mutate so horribly, she hopelessly whispers, "Help me".
Then Mikoto hears a cat meowing. She looks up to see Misaka 10032's kitten emerging from the shadows — and, following it, Touma, who demands to know what she's doing. She tries to brush him off, but he pulls out the papers he took from her room, saying he knows about Project Level 6 Shift. Startled, she thinks he's accusing her of complicity in the project, but then he says he came because he's worried about her.
Mikoto tells Touma the whole situation is her fault, so it's up to her to put an end to it. She tries to leave, but he blocks her way and asks what she intends to do. She replies that the only option left is for her to fight Accelerator herself. He bluntly asks if she's planning to die — according to the papers in his hand, Tree Diagram has predicted that in battle Mikoto would lose to Accelerator in 185 moves. Mikoto says her plan is to prove Tree Diagram wrong — by losing after one move. If she can disprove that prediction, it should throw all the computer's other predictions into doubt, causing the project to collapse. In other words, her death could allow the remaining Sisters to live.
Touma continues to stand in her way, saying he can't let her run off to her death. Furious, she fires a bolt of electricity past him and tells him to either get out of the way or stop her by force. He says he won't fight her, but refuses to stand aside. After he ignores several more warnings, Mikoto finally blasts him directly... and, to her shock, he simply takes the blast without blocking it and is hurled backwards.
As Touma staggers back to his feet, Misaka demands to know why he's being so stubborn, shouting that she's trying to save her Sisters. He tells her this is the wrong way to do it, saying he won't let her destroy herself in the process. Fighting back tears, Mikoto says that even if there were some perfect, happy world like he seems to be imagining, she wouldn't have any place in it. In response, Touma asks if she really thinks the Sisters would be happy with her sacrificing herself to save them. Mikoto replies that there's no other way, and the tradeoff is worth it. She again orders him to stand aside or fight, and Touma repeats that he isn't moving.
Mikoto unleashes a massive blast that tears up the bridge and knocks Touma unconscious. When he comes to, he finds Mikoto crying over him, asking why he's so stubborn. He tells her there's another way to stop the experiments. The whole Level 6 Shift project depends on the assumption that Accelerator is the most powerful esper alive... so if he were to be defeated by a mere Level 0, it would invalidate the very premise of the project. In other words: Touma has to fight Accelerator, and beat him.
He tells the incredulous Mikoto that his dream is for everyone to come back smiling without losing anything. Standing up, he promises he will bring her little sister back safe.
As Touma runs off, he checks the time on his phone: experiment 10032 will start in 16 minutes.
Tropes
- Affectionate Gesture to the Head: When he wakes up to find Mikoto crying over him, Touma reaches up and gently strokes her hair — possibly the most overtly tender gesture he ever makes. Just as remarkably, Mikoto accepts it without complaint.
- Armor-Piercing Question: Touma asks Mikoto if the Sisters would really be happy if she sacrificed herself to save them.
- Heroic Sacrifice: Mikoto plans to die fighting Accelerator in order to save the 9,969 remaining Sisters.
- Lap Pillow: When Touma wakes up from Mikoto's impromptu shock therapy, she's cradling his head on her lap as she cries.
- Perspective Flip: Most of this episode is a retelling of events from episodes 12 and 13 of A Certain Magical Index. Although still largely told from Touma's point of view, we see more of Mikoto and Kuroko's perspectives here.
- Stupid Sacrifice: In-universe, what Touma thinks of Mikoto's plan. We never find out whether it would have succeeded or not.
- Title Drop: As he leaves Mikoto, Touma says he'll bring her sister back, adding "that's a promise".
- Variations on a Theme Song: Stand Still, along with its accompanying animation of Mikoto and Touma, makes its second and final appearance as the closing theme.
