Episode 20 - Poltergeist
Mitsuko Kongou is sitting in her dorm room when there is a brief earthquake. As she reflects that there have been a lot of them lately, items inside her room suddenly start moving about of their own accord. She demands to know if someone is there, but gets no answer. Then a number of her dolls rise up off their shelves and come flying at her, and she screams...
The next day, at Sakugawa Middle School, Uiharu has a meeting with her teacher, Daigo. After briefly discussing the recent earthquake, he introduces her to a new transfer student from District 19: Erii Haruue. As the school's Judgement officer, he wants Uiharu to look after her, and assigns her to be Uiharu's new roommate.
After school, Kuroko, Mikoto and Saten visit Uiharu and Haruue at their dorm. After helping Haruue unpack, Mikoto suggests they go and have some fun. However, Kuroko and Uiharu have to attend a joint conference for Judgement and Anti-Skill, so Mikoto and Saten volunteer to show Haruue around the district.
They take Haruue to their favorite crepe stand and start getting to know her. Haruue proves to be sweet-natured but a bit shy, and occasionally rather spacey. As they chat, Saten mentions that District 19 has been badly hit by the recent earthquakes, and asks Haruue about it. Then she says that there are some interesting rumors about them going around...
Meanwhile, at the joint conference, Aiho Yomikawa is giving a presentation about this very topic. It seems they are not earthquakes at all, but a phenomenon dubbed "Poltergeist". The technical explanation is a multiple simultaneous occurance of something called "RSPK Syndrome". Yomikawa introduces another speaker, Therestina, leader of the Multi-Active Rescue unit, to explain some more. RSPK Syndrome occurs when an esper unconsciously loses control over their powers; when this happens to several espers in close proximity, the resulting interaction causes Poltergeisting. Konori, who is listening along with Kuroko and Uiharu, says that something about this doesn't add up.
Kuroko and Uiharu eventually rejoin the others. After playing at an arcade together, they all go home and prepare to visit a fireworks festival in the evening. Back in their room, Uiharu and Haruue try to figure out how to put on their yukata note . In the process, Uiharu notices that Haruue wears a locket around her neck, which Haruue says is kind of a good luck charm. They end up having to call Saten over to help them with their yukata.
After managing to sneak out of their dorm, Kuroko and Mikoto head to the festival. Mikoto asks if Konori is also coming, but Kuroko says she's still doing research on the Poltergeist phenomenon because something about it is bothering her.
The five girls meet up at the festival and start enjoying the atmosphere. They notice a Multi-Active Rescue team on the scene keeping an eye on things. When the fireworks start, the girls head up to an elevated pathway some distance back from the festival area to get a better view.
Haruue watches Saten and Uiharu interacting and smiles wistfully, telling them she used to have a friend she was close to like that. Then her expression changes and she abruptly turns and walks away. Saten and Uiharu follow after her as she starts mumbling "where are you?" with a distracted look on her face
At the same time, Kuroko gets a call from Konori, who has found some worrying information about RSPK Syndrome. It seems there is a theory that it could be caused artificially by tampering with AIM fields. If this is true, then the Poltergeist incidents might not be happening by accident. Right at that moment, a violent earthquake suddenly occurs where they are. Part of the walkway collapses, forcing Kuroko to teleport herself and Mikoto to safety. A short distance away, Saten, Uiharu and Haruue are knocked to their feet. A lamp post topples over and almost falls onto Haruue and Uiharu, but someone in a powered suit appears just in time to catch it. It turns out to be Therestina, leader of the Multi-Active Rescue unit. She asks if they're all right; Uiharu and Haruue are uninjured, but Haruue still seems disorientated. She pulls out the pendant around her neck, and keeps whispering "where are you?"
Back down at the festival, the fireworks display continues uninterrupted. Nobody there has noticed the earthquake, although a few people see the collapsed walkway and wonder what happened. In the crowd, one person in particular stops and looks over in that direction... Harumi Kiyama.
Tropes
- Call-Back: Mikoto and Saten take Haruue to the crepe stand from episodes 1 and 6, commenting that it's becoming a tradition for making new friends.
- Chekhov's Gun: Attention is drawn to Haruue's locket several times. We'll find out why next episode.
- Epic Fail: Yukata can be tricky to put on properly if you're not used to it, especially the sash... but Uiharu and Haruue are hilariously incompetent, somehow managing to tie themselves together half-dressed. When Saten arrives, she just stares and asks how on earth they managed to end up like that note .
- Power Armor: The MAR squad members wear it.
- New Transfer Student: Erii Haruue. It likely comes as no surprise that she seems to have some connection to the mysterious incidents that have recently started.
- The Bus Came Back: Kiyama appears for the first time since the Level Upper arc.
