It's amazing, Ruiko.
I could barely lift a paper cup!
Are you okay?
Ruiko?
What should I do?! This is a special ability!
Akemi!
Thanks for dropping me!
Cut it out!
This ability might not be much compared to Shirai-san or Misaka-san's ability.
This ability might not look like anything to others, but...
I became an ability user!
Estimated time until completion 2 Seconds...
Estimated time until completion 1 Second...
Saved
Finished.
Just listening to this causes you to level up...
Is it really a possibility?
According to a benevolent tip off, that's what they said.
I don't really believe it, but...
Oh but if I used this and become an ability user greater than Shirai-san...
I could do stuff like this and that and get revenge for all I've suffered.
All your thoughts are open.
If you want to get revenge on me then sure.
I'm lying!
It was a lie!
Your mobile! Your mobile is ringing!
Yes.
Yes, I understand.
It looks like another student is going violent again.
Uiharu, call Kiyama-sensei.
Understood.
Yes, the actual file has arrived.
Is it really possible to increase your ability by using just music?
Hmm... that's difficult.
If it was the Testament, then I don't know...
Testament?
There's a machine like that?
Oh...
Yes.
I see.
Thank you very much.
Are we following a wrong lead thinking it's just music?
Oh, hello, Saten-san?
The number you called is somewhere without a signal or is turned off and-
How do you like my power?
Another Level Upper?
What are you?
10 years too early to screw with me!
So you're 10 years older than me?
My,
power.
It's enough!
It's going to sting a bit.
You're getting more wounds every day.
It can't be helped.
There are more and more Level Upper users.
I have no idea how widespread it's become.
There no use whining.
Anyhow, there's three things we should do:
Stop the spread of Level Upper,
Recover the users who have become unconscious,
And...
Capture the inventor of Level Upper.
We're going to find whoever spread this throughout the internet...
and make them confess!
All right, let's finish up with the treatment.
You want Misaka-san to wrap it around you, right?
I can't have Onee-sama see me like this.
Don't worry.
No one wants to see you period.
Hey!
Is there anything I can help with-
Good evening, Onee-sama.
Are you making progress with the investigation?
Well...
According to Kiyama-sensei,
there's a special machine called a Testament, which can transmit a great deal of electrical signals to the brain in a short period of time.
It can function via any of the five senses - sight, hearing, taste, smell, and touch.
Level Upper itself is only a musical program.
It operates only via the auditory organs.
When we investigated the rooms of the victims who fell unconscious,
we found nothing except that song.
Hot water room
Oh...
This is just some speculation on my part, but...
I wouldn't rule out the possibility that the song can affect all five senses.
What do you mean?
Don't you remember the conversation we had when we were eating shaved ice?
Hmm...
Uhh, we were going to taste each other's?
No not that one.
Synesthesia!
What's that?
It's synesthesia!
Obtaining more than one sensory input from a single stimulus!
Or, in other words, stimulating one sensory organ will, in turn...
stimulate another one.
That would mean...
That they're using sound to stimulate all five senses in order to achieve the same effect as Testament?
That is a possibility.
I see. I didn't think of that.
I'd like to ask you to look further into this line of reasoning.
Yes.
We should be able to get permission to use the Tree Diagram for this.
Tree Diagram?
It's the finest supercomputer in Academy City! It'll spit out results in an instant!
I'll tell you when we have results.
Then can I head over to where you are now?
I want to see the Tree Diagram in use!
Yes, that's fine.
How's this!?
I can do this with only like, five days of practice!
Me too!
You're all great!
Maybe I should at least tell Uiharu.
But she might get mad...
Akemi?
Akemi-chan?
What happened?
Akemi-chan!
Akemi!
Akemi-chan!
Are you all right?
Pull yourself together!
Akemi-chan!
Saten Ruiko
Oh, Saten-san?
I was worried about you.
You're acting unfriendly at school, and you won't return my calls...
She went unconscious.
What?
Akemi suddenly lost consciousness.
Huh?
I didn't know that using the Level Upper caused loss of consciousness...
Why is this happening?
This wasn't what I wanted...
C-Calm down...
Just explain everything from the beginning.
I got the Level Upper, but...
I was hesitant, since you had mentioned arresting those in possession of it.
And yet I couldn't just throw it away.
Because... Akemi and the others said they wanted to use it.
No, that's not it... I was just scared to use it by myself.
Anyway, where are you?
Am I going to lose consciousness too?
What if I never wake up again?
I hated myself because I had no abilities.
And I couldn't stop myself from admiring those who had them.
Mommy...
Hmm? What?
Does being a Level Zero mean that you're defective?
What are you talking about?
I went so far as to cheat my way into having an ability. That's why I'm being punished now.
Sticking my nose into dangerous business and getting the people around me involved in it too...
I'm...
You're fine!
Don't worry. I'll wake you up if you fall asleep.
I'll wake up Akemi-san and the rest, too!
So... just let me take care of it!
I bet you'll say something like, "Gimme five more minutes..."
Uiharu...
Saten-san, you aren't defective!
You might not be able to use an ability, but you always help me out!
It doesn't matter if you're a Level Zero or not! You are who you are, Saten-san!
You're my best friend!
So... so... don't say horrible things like that.
Rely on Uiharu?
Not just me!
There are a ton of great people to rely on, like Misaka-san and Shirai-san.
Yes, I know.
Thank you, Uiharu.
Sorry to cause you so much trouble.
I'll leave the rest to you.
Charm
Silent Majority
A Certain Scientific Railgun
So Saten-san used the Level Upper too.
Yes...
Uiharu took off for Kiyama-sensei's place. She said she was going to analyze the data and save Saten-san.
I see.
Can I talk to you for a while?
What did you want to talk to me about?
Saten-san always has a charm with her, right?
Oh, the one she hangs on her bag.
She said she got it from her mother,
before she came to Academy City.
She told you that?
Yes...
I think she wanted to talk to me about a lot of things.
But I...
I might be a Level Five, but I'm no good with stuff like this...
Onee-sama...
If there's a hurdle in my path, I feel like I have to clear it.
I'm only Level Five because of my personality.
I've never seen this as something special, really.
But there are people out there who freeze in front of that hurdle.
I never realized this.
I kept claiming that Level didn't matter.
I was being really callous.
So, please let me help you out with this investigation.
Let me help you save Saten-san.
I understand.
Thank you.
Please help me.
Me too.
Hey, can I have a minute?
Oh, a real Gekota!
Onee-sama, he isn't one!
These are the brain wave patterns of the Level Upper victims.
Brain waves generally differ by person; in other words, there's no common pattern.
However, all of the Level Upper victims indeed share one.
What do you mean?
If one's brain was to be manipulated by another's brain wave pattern,
then their body would suffer grave physical harm.
So the victims fell unconscious after the Level Upper manipulated their brain waves directly?
Who would do that? And why?
I'm a doctor.
You're the ones who are supposed to find the answers to those questions, right?
I see.
That girl from last time, tooo...
It's my fault.
Don't blame yourself.
Why don't you take a break?
I'll make some coffee.
We don't have time to waste.
We haven't gotten the results of the analysis back yet.
Your friend wouldn't like it if you were sick when she woke up.
It's fine.
It'll all work out in the end.
If we know the brain wave of a specific person,
we can have Uiharu search the bank for them.
Oh, Uiharu isn't here.
That's right...
Geez... What's with all the racket?
Oh, Konori-senpai.
I see.
If that's the case, then we should be granted permission to access the bank.
What if their data isn't in the bank?
Nah, don't worry.
It's got data from students who are Ability Users, sure,
but it's also got data from adults who went to hospitals, took placement exams, et cetera.
But... Why would the Level Upper output the brain wave of a single person?
And why would that make their Level increase?
I don't get it.
Computers don't improve their performance through software.
However, connecting to a network is a different matter.
Connecting to a network improves performance?
Well, the performance of the individual units won't increase.
However, if you connect many computers in parallel, you can increase their overall processing power.
Oh... so you're saying that they were using Level Upper to build a cluster of brains?
That's a possibility.
But how would they connect everyone's brains?
The only plausible explanation would be...
The AIM diffusion field.
Ability Users emit power subconsciously.
If these fields were connected...
Remember, though, they're subconscious.
To continue the computer analogy, each of us is running a completely different operating system.
Even if we're connected, there's no guarantee that it'll work.
Computer networks have computers with different operating systems.
They use different languages too.
However, they share a common protocol, so they are all able to utilize the network.
A specific person's brain wave pattern is acting as the protocol here, then?
Well, this is just speculation, like I said...
However, if they did manage to connect brains in parallel like that...
they'd be able to perform an enormous amount of calculations.
Even if they only have a weak ability on their own,
if they integrate with the network, the processing power of their ability will increase.
They'll also become able to use their ability more efficiently, due to sharing the logic patterns of similar types of abilities.
I assume that the unconscious victims are having all of their brains' processing power utilized by this "network," then.
The results came in!
Their brain wave patterns are 99% similar!
This... this too...
Papers on synesthesia...
Why?
Hey, that's not very nice.
Going through other people's research efforts without permission, I mean.
T-This is...
Her registered name is...
Kiyama Harumi!
Name: Kiyama Harumi Place of employment: Mizuho Agency Hospital Special team on cerebral physiology Ability level: Ordinary researcher
Uiharu-san!
What about her?
She said she was going to Kiyama-sensei's place earlier!
What!?
Uiharu!?
The number you have called is currently out of range-
We can't get in touch with her!
Call the Antiskills!
Have them capture Kiyama Harumi!
Tell them she might be taking hostages.
Yes ma'am!
By the way, this has always bothered me...
What are the flowers on your head?
Do they have anything to do with your ability?
I have no obligation to answer you.
More importantly, what is Level Upper?
Why did you do this?
What's going to happen to the victims?
One after another, eh?
You're not doing a very good job of answering my question, though.
Increasing someone's Level, making them feel false happiness...
What's so fun about that?
Even Saten-san...
Heh.
I have no interest in others' abilities.
My purpose is something much greater.
I'm heading out too.
I don't want to get commoners involved, but...
It'd be great if a Level Five could help out...
Onee-sama!
Uiharu is member of Judgment, after all.
When the going gets rough, she'll use her ability to...
Probably... somehow...
If she's lucky...
Furthermore, Kiyama is just a single scientist. There's no way she can beat all of the Antiskills!
She has the lives of thousands of unconscious Ability Users in her hands!
And... I have a bad feeling about this...
Then that's all the more reason!
A member of Judgment would...
Man, you're really persistent, trying to move in that state...
Onee-sama, you realized it?
Of course.
You're my kouhai,
so you can rely on me in times like this.
Onee-sama...
Heh.
A Certain Scientific Railgun
To be continued
Next Episode
Today was a lot of fun!
Kiyama- sensei
I guess I should undress for the preview.
So then next, episode...
Don't undress!
I'm gonna take care of you!