Episode 16 - Dream Ranker
Following class one day, Mikoto runs into the ringlet-curled girl from Shokuhou's clique, whose name is Junko Hokaze. Their conversation is derailed when Shokuhou herself shows up, and then broken up completely by the arrival of the Dormitory Supervisor. Hokaze later apologizes to Mikoto, and gives her what looks like an unusual playing card covered in abstract designs.
After school, Saten identifies it as an 'Indian Poker' card — the latest underground fad. They are special cards on which people can record their own dreams and then share them other people, allowing them to experience the same dream. Supposedly, dreams are assigned 'ranks' according to how useful or enjoyable they are; people who are gifted at creating the most-popular S-Rank dreams are known as 'Dream Rankers'. Saten says the colour coding on Mikoto's card suggests that it's a fun or happy dream.
Mikoto decides to try it out that night. Falling asleep with the card on her forehead, she finds herself in a cheerful fantasy land populated by Gekota and its friends. After playing with them happily for a while, she's led to a castle where the 'Queen' resides. To Mikoto's horror, the Queen turns out to be Shokuhou, who immediately turns Mikoto into her personal maid. And so the happy fantasy turns into a nightmare, with Mikoto forced to wait on Shokuhou hand and foot... until eventually she wakes up in horror, screaming that she doesn't want this (and incidentally traumatizing her ever-attentive roommate).
The following day Hokaze approaches Mikoto again and invites her to tea at an outdoor café. It turns out she's also invited Shokuhou, much to their mutual dismay. Hokaze tells the two she wants to bring them closer together — a suggestion which does not receive an enthusiastic response. Changing the subject, Hokaze mentions Indian Poker, in response to which Shokuhou frowns and says she'd prefer that the members of her clique avoid it.
As they sit together, they hear a boisterous conversation coming over the fence from another café. Pierce Aogami is holding court with several boys who are calling him a legendary Dream Ranker. Apparently, his dreams are particularly high-quality... erotic fantasies of famous people. Featured subject matter includes models, popular TV personalities... certain Level 5s from Tokiwadai...
Once Aogami and his clientele have been pointedly shown the error of their ways, the girls indignantly march off. Hokaze innocently wonders if Shokuhou or Mikoto ever have dreams about someone they love, which causes them both to pause awkwardly before hastily making excuses and going their separate ways.
Meanwhile, Uiharu and Kuroko have discovered an unusual new phone app which uses Augmented Reality to mark places and times where accidents have occurred. What's odd is that it sometimes predicts future accidents — and so far all of these predictions have proved correct. Kuroko theorizes that an esper with a precognition ability could be responsible. Deciding to investigate, they stake out the site of the next predicted accident to see if something happens. Sure enough, a car swerves to avoid hitting a child and ends up crashing into some nearby vending machines. Kuroko manages to avert tragedy by teleporting in to save a girl who is standing where the car crashes. After making sure everyone's OK, she teleports up to a nearby vantage point, and finds an elementary school-aged boy intently watching the scene. He immediately admits to being the person who created the app, and asks Kuroko if he can talk to her.
The boy, Shaei Miyama, is a 10-year old precognitive esper. At the Judgement office, he tells Kuroko and Uiharu that his ability lets him take "psychic photographs" which can be specially developed to produce a prediction. However, the only things he can predict are tragic events — and he's never found any way to prevent them from happening. He's taken to publishing his predictions through the app in hopes of finding someone with the ability to stop them coming true.
Elsewhere, a girl goes into a park with some friends, and injects an ampule full of nutrients into the base of a tree. Her friends ask if this is OK, but she replies that blooming flowers won't do anything except make people happy. She adds that she learned how to do this from a dream; as they leave, an Indian Poker card can be seen sticking out of her pocket.
Tropes
- Blank White Eyes: Kuroko spends the first half of the episode with these after being inadvertently traumatized by Mikoto's Catapult Nightmare outburst. Hokaze also develops them several times as she tries in vain to persuade Mikoto and Shokuhou to get along.
- The Cameo: Saraku of MEMBER a.k.a. "Kill Point" is one of Aogami's customers. note
- Censored for Comedy: Aogami et al's detailed descriptions of the erotic dreams are censored by bleeps which do absolutely nothing to disguise what they're talking about.
- Compressed Hair: Hokaze is somehow able to hide her Regal Ringlets completely within a swimming cap that doesn't so much as bulge. Mikoto doesn't even recognize her until she takes the cap off, and then can only stare in shock as her hair all pops free.
- Continuity Nod: Hokaze asks Mikoto if she knows any way of acquiring the Gekota "pair contract" phone strap, which is only available to couples. Mikoto will end up dragging Touma with her to get some a few days from now, as part of their penalty game in A Certain Magical Index. This may well be where she gets the idea from.
- The Dreaded: Even Misaki Shokuhou knows when it's time to bail when the Tokiwadai Dormitory Supervisor comes.
- Entendre Failure: When Aogami is hawking risqué dreams of Mikoto and Misaki while within hearing range of them and Hokaze, the two Level 5s get increasingly angry while the entire lewd speech flies completely over Hokaze's head.
- Erotic Dream: What Aogami is offering his fans. Unfortunately for all of them, he fails to keep his voice down when describing the subject matter...
- Happiness in Slavery: Hokaze's perfectly happy dream involves making the dreamer into Misaki Shokuhou's slave. After experiencing it, Mikoto wakes up horrified, but can't actually be angry because Hokaze meant entirely well.
- I Need to Go Iron My Dog: Shokuhou takes her leave after Hokaze's Innocently Insensitive question by saying "I just remembered I have a thing I need to do with a thing". Mikoto follows up by saying she has a "thing" to do as well, leaving poor Hokaze standing befuddled by herself.
- Irritation Nightmare: While Mikoto's first time using an Indian Poker Card was enjoyable at first due to interacting with Gekota, it soon turns into a nightmare when she finds herself becoming Queen Shokuhou's maid, getting increasingly angry with every task she's forced to do until she snaps and wakes up angry and horrified.
- Playful Cat Smile: When Saten sees Uiharu walking by across the street, she immediately acquires a gleefully feline expression and excuses herself from her conversation with Mikoto. Moments later we hear her greeting Uiharu offscreen in her usual idiosyncratic way.
- Spit Take: After reflecting that Aogami must be a kind person to offer his dreams up for free, Mikoto takes a sip of tea... just as one of the customers blurts out what the dreams are actually about.
- Too Dumb to Live: Even if Aogami and the other guys weren't aware that Mikoto and Shokuhou were in a neighboring cafe and able to hear everything they're saying (including the fact that Aogami has cards about the two girls in question), they still should have known better than to blurt out their erotic fantasies in a public place. They're really lucky that Mikoto and Shokuhou only destroyed their cards and erased their memories.
- Unusual Euphemism: Aogami promises his erotic dreams will have his customers "reaching Level 6" in no time.
