Super...
...Amazing...
...Punch!
Awesome--
Now's your chance!
--No, no, no, no! Just a second, just a second, just a--
--Off you go! --No, no, no, no! Just a second, just a second, just a--
Ah, what the hell...
Wait, how am I supposed to land?!
Um...
...th-thank you... Although it was also because of you that I had that close call.
Well?
No good. It's like there's a power I don't quite understand
that keeps coming in from the outside, and I can't cancel it all.
It worked for a second where I did touch her
but went back again right after.
So, what do we do?
There's someone else who's trying to turn her back to normal... apparently.
I don't know who it is, though.
But until she can shut down this power at the source,
all we can do is slow her down.
From what this person was saying,
having me near her is supposed to keep her transformation under control.
Hey, looks like things are still changing.
Well,
--I meant slow her down, not stop her-- --What is it she's trying to do--
S-Sogiita!
That was pathetic. I let my guard down.
Y-You're all right? If you're unhurt after that, then just how strong are you...?
Looks like I'm gonna have to put some more guts into this.
What Kihara Gensei is after--
what made that puppet try to capture me, rather than kill me--
has to be some new information that's come up that he wants from me.
And more than likely,
it's the limiter release code for Exterior.
"A Certain Scientific Railgun T"
Where is her camera?
There it is!
If the data in the Bank is correct,
Kozaku's puppets do not have any kind of sight organs.
She senses her surroundings...
...using echolocation, the way a bat does.
Her sensitivity is sharp enough
to pick up even a heartbeat within a few dozen meters.
The camera is ultimately nothing more than an auxiliary.
Which calls for...
...the portable anti-eavesdropping devices I have for security.
I have now deprived Kozaku of both her eyes and ears, at least momentarily.
And during that time...
Good heavens,
Shokuho really is the cautious sort.
She hasn't left anything here on how to unlock the limiter on Exterior.
What a wild goose chase this is.
Sure enough, it's just as I thought.
To be able to accurately control Miss Misaka in that condition,
he must need more than Exterior's current output.
That's why he has to unlock the limiter.
None of the major function codes for Exterior remain on external memory;
they're all implanted in my brain alone.
And the key to its defense is covertness--
not letting anyone on the outside know it even exists.
But I do have measures in place, just in case something like this happens.
Wha--?
This building and the ones around it
have a security system unlike any normal kind,
including having multiple stand-alone traps set that only I can activate.
Things would sure be easy if he just goes to sleep.
Multiskill. I don't have 10,000 others behind it, like Kiyama did, though.
But I do have a number of interesting people that I've kidnapped--
I mean, secured--and borrowed their powers.
Don't tell me you didn't anticipate me doing so.
Rats.
That is one despicable old man.
But this isn't over yet.
If sleeping gas won't work, then...
No soap.
Mind if I ask you something?
What is it?
As I recall,
you concluded that the only esper who had what it takes to reach Level 6
was the first-ranked, wasn't it?
Mm-hmm, at present, he is the only one who can achieve a stable Level 6.
Stable?
Right now, the state Misaka is in
is making her power run out of control
to steamroll her into approaching Level 6.
If she keeps going like this, then theoretically,
when she reaches 53 percent completion,
her mind will transform into an other-dimensional entity.
And, after that, we'll need the limiter unlock code
to keep her enmeshed in our world. And then...
...the moment she reaches 100 percent and Level 6,
her mind and body will both be strained to the limit,
and the way I see it, she will come apart as an individual.
In other words, Misaka cannot attain a stable Level 6.
At the cost of losing everything, for a moment--
even shorter than the blink of an eye,
she will be permitted a glimpse of the realm of gods. As a result,
she will either wither away like an ill-defined white dwarf star, or...
...she will burst like a supernova,
with enough force to open a doorway to a new world.
And whatever the outcome, what is certain is that something will happen
that will be big enough to wipe this city off the map.
If Academy City gets blown away,
you'll be caught in the middle of it, too. Do you even realize what you're saying?
Me, get caught in the middle of it? What are you talking about?
The advancement of science requires sacrifice.
This is why I hate dealing with people who are short on sanity.
Making use of this "clairvoyance" business is surprisingly inconvenient.
I may be able to filter out the obstacles,
but if I can't narrow down the range and direction just right,
I can't get a line on my target.
It's eaten up a whole lot of my time as a result.
Now,
even if I were to use Mental Out to read your memories,
you could just use the same ability to block my intrusion into your brain.
However, if I drive you into a state where you can't use your ability,
such as inflicting an intolerable level of pain, or knocking you out,
it will be possible to get though.
My breath... the air...!
Shokuho, you're a delicate one, so I'm hoping you'll give in quickly.
And Misaka must be coming along, as well.
Wh-Whoo! I had anticipated some interference from Kamijo,
but I wouldn't have dreamed that Sogiita would join in, as well!
In addition to the stimulus of Imagine Breaker,
I now have the extraordinary power of the seventh-ranked!
It's a sight to behold as exceptional as dividing the universe by zero!
If Misaka were to be multiplied by the both of them, how great would that be?!
I can't stick around here! I have to rally all of the analytical espers
and the equipment I have on hand to observe--
O-Oh, no!
What is he, an idiot?
Whatever, from what I heard of the idiot's commentary,
as long as I can keep the limiter unlock code safe,
then Academy City will be saved, with Miss Misaka being the only casualty.
I won't forget you for at least a week.
Well, if that's what happens, there's nothing I can do about it.
I doubt he's going to let me off that easily, though.
Good grief, if Mental Out were his only ability, I could deal with him.
What am I supposed to do with an old coot who cheats by using Multiskill?
My own private system can only buy me time at this point.
Graviton panels...?
"#12 Exterior"
It looks like I was wrong.
It really is taking too much time to search blindly.
I need some kind of lead.
Found her!
This person is Kozaku, right?
Miss Saten located the suspect on video.
Forwarding you the information. The timestamp is three minutes ago.
She hasn't shown up on any other surveillance cameras,
so I can determine which building she is hiding in!
On my way!
She's coming straight this way? Ah, the surveillance cameras!
Are those guys only covering their own tracks?!
You are sure that she has not shown up on any other cameras, right?
Mm-hmm. She hasn't shown up anywhere.
If she were trying to move to a different building,
she would be sure to show up on surveillance cameras.
In there...
Uiharu, fix all of the nearby movable cameras on the target building!
Right!
At the rate she's going, she's sure to catch her, huh?
P-Please focus.
The computer detects anything that moves and lets us know, right?
What the...?
What is it? Did you find something?
Miss Saten, be quiet!
Oh, right.
Ah, there she is!
The sewer pipe?!
Miss Shirai, the puppet is heading your way at incredible speed!
There is no question, then?
Is she having her puppet destroy the surveillance cameras?
True, we cannot have her knocking the cameras out
and getting away in a blind spot.
However, all of the directional cameras in the area are trained on this building.
She would need a lot of time to take out enough of them to secure a blind spot.
I have to end this before that happens.
Kozaku's objective is not the camera network, but eliminating me?
I could not ask for more!
I will take advantage of her impatience...
...and run her down even farther!
Now that I know her ability and how to counter it,
the threat her puppet poses is...
Ow!
What's the matter, Miss Shirai? Did something--
I messed up.
I caught a bit of her counteroffensive.
Huh? Are you all right?
It is not a big deal.
She only grazed my side,
but the one on my arm went a lot deeper.
And here my wounds from earlier had finally started to heal, too!
I'm supposed to be saving this body for when I get married!
Still,
now I am certain. Kozaku really is here. Moreover...
...she is on the upper floors.
The attack I just took found me,
despite my anti-listening devices still being operational.
Which means that Kozaku herself saw me.
Further, the attack came all in one line. She was trying to catch me linearly.
It is likely that since she was watching from above,
she could not determine my precise location
and had no choice but to split her attacks.
If I come at her from below, she has nowhere to run.
It is only a matter of time before I catch her in person.
Still, something has felt slightly out of place.
Like there is something that I have overlooked...
Ah, Shokuho!
Hey...
...forgive me for getting so excited earlier. I should act my age.
One of my shortcomings is that when I see something I'm not expecting,
I tend to become blinded to everything else around me, you see.
I've nearly died because of it, many times.
Then why couldn't you have just died and be done with it?
But this is unexpected.
Having you standing there, waiting for me?
I was certain you'd be running away.
I doubt I could get away from you, with your clairvoyance.
If you catch me outside the building,
I'd be completely exposed, without any of my security.
So I came to make a deal.
What kind of deal?
I'll tell you what the limiter unlock code is,
and you'll let me go.
Ho...?
After thinking about it, it doesn't matter to me what happens to Miss Misaka.
And if Academy City is getting blown off the map,
I'm going to get out of here first.
I was waiting here because I didn't want to run around for nothing,
and use up all the time I have to get away.
Hmm, that makes sense.
Good, almost there...
But there's nothing in that deal for me, is there?
My Mental Out doesn't work on you.
And if it weren't for my ability,
I'd just be an ordinary adorable knockout beauty with a smoking figure.
Or do you have a thing for hurting delicate girls like me?
--Four more steps... --Not a shriveled-up old man like yourself, right?
--Three more steps... --Not a shriveled-up old man like yourself, right?
Two more steps...
My ultra-high-power-oscillator-embedded trap, the "Hag's Hug."
Once you step on it, you're finished.
The vibrations that shoot up through the foot
reverberate and become amplified as they move throughout the body,
converging up at your head!
Not only does it destroy your ears' semicircular canals,
it gives your brain a good shake!
One more st--
To be sure, if I get my hands on the limiter unlock code,
I won't have any need for you anymore.
But there is one thing that concerns me.
You've been staring pretty intensely at this spot.
Is there something here?
You knew...!
Yeah, as if.
That was a decoy!
The real trap was under your feet the whole time!
Graviton panels.
Normally, they are here to create my own private shortcut,
but today, I had them impersonating the floor from the get-go.
Now you'll be stuck in between there...
Are his feet exploding?
No, he's compressing the air under his feet into footholds.
Earlier, when he tried to choke me and turned aside those flames...
He has the Aero Shooter ability, all right!
I can't possibly spend any more time on you.
You won't get away from me.
Right now, I'm going to...
How do you like that?
I've set many layers of traps. This is the one I've been saving.
They compress slowly, so I had to catch you off your guard,
but graviton panels also have this application.
The technology was developed as scaffolding for construction work,
but they can also be deployed to crush the spindly arms of old men, too.
With all that intense pain,
will you be able to defend against my Mental Out?
Huh?
Wow, you're so mean.
Imagine, picking on a frail, little old man like this!
Although, I'd have to have a wrist for you to crush it.
A p-prosthetic...?
Didn't I tell you?
My experiments have nearly killed me many times.
My whole body is like a trade fair for replacement technology.
Though, I more or less predicted what you were after even before this.
Someone who is pretending to run away but still has some ploy
displays telltale signs of what they're after.
I don't let those hints that they're about to turn the tables go unnoticed.
Which is exactly why I can tell just by looking at you now...
...that you have nothing up your sleeve to reverse this situation.
The limiter unlock code...
...is mine.
"Next episode preview"
"#13 SYSTEM"
Sure, I should already be on top of Kozaku Mitori, but I cannot reach her.
What feels so out of place, here?
No matter, I will still find her, whatever it takes.
Huh? Shokuho is not speaking in this one, is she?