Episode 15 - Touma Kamijou
Still shaky from the shocks Mikoto gave him, Touma frantically runs through the streets towards the site of experiment 10032. He passes by a clock and is stunned to see that it's already past time for the experiment to start. It seems his phone was damaged by Mikoto's attack, and is showing the wrong time.
At the railway yard where the experiment is underway, Misaka 10032 is already close to defeat. Accelerator mocks her for being unable to put up more of a fight, even after he revealed the nature of his powers in the last battle. He starts to move in for the kill, but pauses in surprise as a certain spiky-haired boy staggers, breathless, into view. Touma steps forward and orders Accelerator to leave "Misaka's sister" alone.
More amused than angry, Accelerator tells Touma to catch her, then kicks Misaka 10032 high into the air. Diving desperately, Touma barely manages to grab her before she smashes into the ground. She is battered and barely conscious, but manages to asks Touma why he'd go to so much trouble to save her — after all, there are 9,968 other Sisters, and more can be manufactured as needed. Touma retorts that he's here to save her, and there's only one of her in the whole world.
Touma stands up and confronts Accelerator, saying he's here to put a stop to the experiments. The white-haired Level 5 simply chuckles and casually starts hurling projectiles at him, starting with pieces of the ground, followed by metal rails ripped out of a nearby railway track.
Back on the bridge, Mikoto is gathering her composure. She considers Touma's absurd promise — she wants to believe it, but doesn't see how he could defeat the strongest esper alive. The black kitten comes up to her, meowing; Mikoto, thinking it looks familiar, wonders if it's the same cat she and Misaka 9982 rescued all those days ago. Thinking about all the different Sisters, she finally realizes why she really wants to take responsibility for them. Picking up the cat, she heads for the railway yard.
By now, Accelerator has moved up to throwing entire freight cars at Touma, who is barely managing to dodge them all. At the same time, the Level 5 is starting to feel uneasy. He can't see how Touma could be a threat, but normally anyone stupid enough to challenge him would have fled or been crushed by now — and yet this apparent Level 0 just will not give up. He notes that the broken freight cars were carrying bags of flour, which have filled the air with fine powder. He asks Touma if he knows what a dust explosion is — then throws another container onto the pile, igniting a spark and triggering a massive blast.
Not far away, Mikoto is making her way towards the railway yard when she sees the explosion in the distance. She puts down the cat she was carrying, and runs towards the scene as fast as she can.
Touma is still on his feet, although he's scorched and bleeding. Accelerator congratulates him for lasting so long, then says he'll do Touma the honour of killing him with a single touch. Asking Touma which hand he prefers, Accelerator charges at him with unnaturally-boosted speed. Touma extends his right fist to meet him...
A moment later, Accelerator wonders why he's looking up at the moon. After a moment, he realizes it's because he's lying on his back. He's also feeling pain, which he can't understand. As he slowly gets to his feet, it dawns on him that he was just punched in the face. Puzzling it over, he concludes that he must have inadvertently let his reflection lapse by over-focusing his attack power. Resolving not to repeat the mistake, he turns and rushes at Touma again, who raises his fist once more...
Mikoto reaches the railyard and looks through the fence to see Touma decking Accelerator so hard he flies several metres backwards. Stunned, she realizes his promise wasn't just empty bravado. Touma punches Accelerator again and again, until Academy City's Number 1 finally clues in that there's something special about his right hand.
Touma castigates Accelerator for what he's doing to the Sisters, saying they're just trying to live their lives the only way they know how. Accelerator wonders uneasily about the word "living", insisting to himself that they're simply "wind-up dolls" like he was told. Then he angrily banishes the thought and decides he needs more power, enough to crush Touma utterly.
Raising a hand into the air, Accelerator reaches out with his ability, performing vector calculations so complex that he starts muttering what sounds like gibberish. A vortex forms in the air and quickly grows into a huge whirlwind, picking Touma up and lifting him high into the air before smashing him back into the ground. Mikoto screams at the sight of Touma lying motionless, and rushes into the yard. She pulls out an arcade token and yells at Accelerator, but he pays her no heed whatsoever. He is now standing in the eye of the vortex, lost in concentration as he manipulates the air currents throughout Academy City. He can feel the movement of the atmosphere across the entire Earth, and realizes he can control all of it. Laughing maniacally, he boasts that even without reaching Level 6, he could destroy the world.
Accelerator begins compressing the air into a point high above, creating a glowing mass which Mikoto recognizes as superheated plasma. Afraid he could destroy the whole city, she desperately casts about for some way to stop him — and realizes their only chance is to disrupt his control over the air currents. Looking around, she sees Misaka 10032 lying on the ground and rushes over to her. Kneeling next to her, Mikoto says that she may be the Ace of Tokiwadai, one of seven Level 5s... but by herself, she's powerless to stop Accelerator, powerless to save the Sisters, and powerless to make Touma's dream come true. She knows she has no right to ask... but she needs their help. In reply, Misaka 10032 says that she doesn't fully understand, but that Mikoto's words have resonated with her.
As Accelerator continues to build up the plasma in the air, it suddenly stops coalescing and starts to come apart. He senses an unnatural wind which is somehow counteracting his control of the air currents, but he can't identify the source.
A short distance away, Mikoto thanks Misaka 10032 and says she can take it from here. The Sister says she can distract Accelerator long enough for Mikoto and Touma to escape; in response, Mikoto smiles and says protecting them is her job.
Accelerator finally identifies the source of the strange wind: the wind turbines all over Academy City. Something is causing them all to rotate backwards at high speed, and not randomly — they are precisely counteracting his own vectors. Thousands of Misaka Sisters are using their electrical powers to generate perfectly calculated electromagnetic waves... which means the exact parameters of his own vectors must be getting fed into the Misaka Network somehow...
Accelerator turns around to see Misaka 10032 watching him — and Mikoto standing protectively in front of her.
Meanwhile, Touma, still lying on the ground, slowly stirs...
Tropes
- Ain't Too Proud to Beg: Mikoto finally accepts that she can't solve this problem on her own — and asks the Sisters to help her.
- Ax-Crazy: Not for the last time, Accelerator shows a tendency to become rather unhinged once he gets fully absorbed in a fight.
- Big Sister Instinct: Mikoto finally realizes this is the real reason she's so determined to save the Sisters: not retaliation for the theft of her DNA, and not just to atone for her role in their plight... but because they're her little sisters, and it's her duty to protect them. We won't hear her articulate this until next episode, but it's implicit in what she says to Misaka 10032.
- Book Ends: Of a sort — the first and last experiments we see (9982 and 10032, respectively) both take place at the railway yard.
- Perspective Flip: Like the previous episode, this one retells events from A Certain Magical Index. Here, though, the perspective is mainly from Accelerator and Mikoto's points of view.
- Plot-Based Voice Cancellation: When Misaka says it's her job to protect Misaka 10032, she refers to herself using a phrase which is obscured by the rushing wind, but is clearly "Big Sister". This is presumably done to heighten the narrative impact of her claiming that role in front of Accelerator in the next episode.
- Slasher Smile: Accelerator is a master of these, although he sometimes alternates with a more restrained Psychotic Smirk instead.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: Once he realizes he can control the atmospheric currents across the whole world, Accelerator comes close to destroying all of Academy City just for the thrill of it.
