Episode 08 - Railgun × Mental Out
The picture of Shokuhou from the rumour website shows a building which Kuroko identifies as being in District 2. Mikoto asks the others to look after her mother and Uiharu, who are still unconscious, and heads off to investigate. When she arrives in District 2, however, she finds Shokuhou herself waiting for her. The fifth-ranked Level 5 says it's clear she can no longer keep Mikoto out of the loop, so she reluctantly explains what she's been up to.
On September 19th, Shokuhou and Keitz happened to discover Misaka 10032 right after she lost consciousness from Baba's nanodevice. They decided to take her into their protection by calling an ambulance and then manipulating the paramedics. At the same time, Shokuhou asked Keitz for an update on the "Auribus oculi fideliores sunt" website, which had managed to obtain a photo of her at a particular building she was keeping secret. Keitz informed her that he'd set up a program to hide it by flooding the Internet with dummy data. Then, earlier today, his security program detected Uiharu's investigation and traced it back to Judgement Branch 177.
Shokuhou assures Mikoto that they're keeping Misaka 10032 safe. Saying she's pressed for time, she asks Mikoto to come with her; they board a commandeered van and head for an unspecified destination. On the way, Mikoto says she originally thought the people who attacked Kongou and Misaka 10032 were working for Shokuhou. However, she realized that couldn't be the case when they started asking where to find the Sisters, since she knew Shokuhou already had Misaka 10032. Shokuhou confirms that she's actually working to stop them, then informs Mikoto that the two of them are on their way to confront the ringleader.
Shokuhou says she recently learned about the now-defunct Project Level 6 Shift, and was trying to find out what happened to the Sisters after it was shut down. She employed Keitz, the project's former head of security, to investigate for her. While he was unable to locate them, Keitz discovered that another group was also secretly searching for them — the same group which hired MEMBER to go after Mikoto. Their overall goal is a mystery, but their purpose for trying to get their hands on the Sisters is almost certainly to gain access to the Misaka Network. Since that could have terrible consequences, Shokuhou says she's used her ability on Misaka 10032 to prevent access to the network through any of the Sisters.
Shokuhou doesn't know what their enemy wants with the Misaka Network, but she does know who their leader is: the original sponsor of Project Level 6 Shift, Gensei Kihara. He normally stays hidden, but Shokuhou has learned that he's attending a private conference that afternoon. They are heading to the conference location now, and Shokuhou says she'll use this opportunity to deal with Gensei once and for all.
Shokuhou admits to modifying the memories of Kuroko and the others, but says it was to keep them safe — Gensei wouldn't hesitate to have them killed if they interfered with his plans. When Mikoto asks why Shokuhou didn't come to her from the start, Shokuhou says that Gensei had Mikoto under observation, and she couldn't risk exposing herself. Then she adds that she doesn't trust people, like Mikoto, whom she can't mind-read — pointing out that blindly trusting people in Academy City is what led to Project Level 6 Shift. The only reason she's choosing to cooperate now is because she respects Mikoto's determination to help her friends. Digesting this, Mikoto asks why someone as self-centred as Shokuhou would care about the Misaka Sisters, but Shokuhou declines to answer.
Back at Judgement, Kuroko has been searching the ability bank to try and identify the girl who attacked them. Uiharu, regaining consciousness, comes in and overhears Saten and Kuroko talking about Shokuhou's tampering. Kuroko fills her in on what happened, then asks her to help with their search.
Mikoto and Shokuhou arrive at the location of the conference which Gensei is supposed to be attending. Their grudging cooperation soon falls apart in bickering, and the two split up to head inside separately.
Meanwhile, the skull-pendant girl delivers a report over the phone, saying she's identified the one who's been interfering with their plans as Misaki Shokuhou. The person on the other end, Gensei Kihara, addresses her as Mitori Kouzaku and assures her that everything is proceeding smoothly.
Tropes
- Chekhov's Skill: Shokuhou mentions using her ability to put mental shields around all the Sisters through the Misaka Network, via Misaka 10032. This would seem to indicate she has telepathic access to all Sisters — including Last Order — through any one of them, at least when boosted by Exterior. This in turn implies that someone with the same power could theoretically control Last Order, and thus gain free access to the Misaka Network, by getting control of any individual Sister. Guess what Gensei is planning.
- Dramatic High Perching: When Kouzaku reports in to Gensei, she is sitting on the edge of a high rooftop for no obvious reason.
- Exposition: This episode is basically one long info dump, finally explaining what Shokuhou's really been up to, and who's ultimately behind the attacks on Mikoto and Misaka 10032.
- Flashback: Much of Shokuhou's explanation is accompanied by brief flashbacks which show what she's been doing up to now.
- Greater-Scope Villain: Gensei Kihara finally shows himself in person, at the same time as he's revealed to have been the real power behind Level 6 Shift.
- Internal Reveal: Shokuhou tells Mikoto what she's been up to, and also reveals that she knows about the Misaka Sisters and Project Level 6 Shift.
- Signature Headgear: In an aversion, this episode marks only the second time note that Uiharu is seen without her signature flower headband.
- The Reveal:
- It turns out Shokuhou is trying to protect the Misaka Sisters, and is actually working against the people behind the attacks.
- Gensei Kihara is revealed not only as the current Big Bad, but also to have been the original sponsor of Project Level 6 Shift note .
- Vapor Wear: When Mikoto yanks her forward by the t-shirt, Shokuhou does not appear to be wearing a bra. Given her exceedingly generous attributes, one would think she'd want the support — although it might help explain why she finds running so difficult.
