Toaru Kagaku no Mental Out - Vol. 3 Ch. 19
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We all knew Aleister started his research in esper powers to accomplish what he couldn't with magic, but if the person that would eventually become the cube came from outside Academy City, that means magic was far more involved in esper powers than I initially imagined.
Also, she's a Kihara. Kill on the spot, please!
Also, she's a Kihara. Kill on the spot, please!
You're just realizing all of that now? You anime-onlies are something else lol. Gemstones have been a concept since forever, the anime just skipped over their introduction as a concept. One of the current Level 5s (Sogiita Gunha) is a Gemstone. There's only a few dozen at most in the entire world though.
But yes, Toaru as a series has made it very clear that the only way to deal with a Kiara is by killing it. They learn from mistakes very quickly and do increasing worse and worse things when threatened. And more often than not even killing them outright doesn't even work. They have a nasty tendency to live after death and resurrect themselves. Yuiitsu was not bluffing when she warned Shoukuhou about not looking into the mind of a Kihara. You'll probably get contaminated by them, or worse, become one.
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unless it's Noukan, always kill Kihara on spot.
let's hop off the pedestal for a bit there bud
for the sake of GT8 and the glorious Anna and Aradia thighsHey man I'm only still reading this series to see how far Kamachi can stretch it until it collapses under its own weight. There's no way this series is going to end in anything other than a confusing trainwreck and you know it. But that's why we all love it, don't we? Just let me lord over the anime-onlies who know nothing of the sheer over-the-top anthetamine-fueled but strangely compelling insanity that is post-Othinus Arc Index.unless it's Noukan, always kill Kihara on spot.
let's hop off the pedestal for a bit there bud
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The whole disguise is definitely just a reason to doll Kuroko up.
Its rather easy forget with how she usually acts mature whenever she's not spilling her spaghetti over Mikoto, her senpais dotting on their cute kouhai is a neat reminder that she is just a middleschool freshman.
Its rather easy forget with how she usually acts mature whenever she's not spilling her spaghetti over Mikoto, her senpais dotting on their cute kouhai is a neat reminder that she is just a middleschool freshman.
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What is interesting though is that Kamino, despite her familiarity with the concept, ragards the old #1 as the only notable Gemstone. Which means that Gunha's origin as a Gemstone must be a quite well-kept secret.
The number of documented Gemstones is at least around 50 though, and there are potentially a lot more given that we know at least Himegami managed to slip under the radar.
With the old #1 here now, Himegami, Gunha, the one Touya and Tabigake saved, and the one from the Kamisato faction, we're already up to 5 Gemstones featured in the story. 6 if you include the one from the PSP game.
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This makes esper origins a bit confusing considering we already had the Beginning child and what the magic violin said in Railgun ss3
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What about Bersi?
Nah, i say kill them all, the only good kihara is a dead kihara, i say.
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You do you. Just make it fun okay
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never occured to me that people dont like, know shokuhou is the one who killed kihara gensei (or even that he reappeared and is dead??) cool worldbuilding for someone who refuses to read index lol
Most things about the Level 5s are pretty secretive. They are generally a mystery to most of Academy city. Misaka's the most well known one because since she's the one that comes off as the most outwardly sane and has a power that isn't particularly scary and is easy to understand. She's also a cases of an esper with a fairly common ability that started as a Level 1 and became a Level 5 "Through hard work", and can be used to push propaganda both inside and outside Academy city. Most people definitely don't know that half the Level 5s are murderous criminals, and that it's predetermined who will become a Level 5. And Misaka's just as crazy as the rest she's just more subtle about it. Shoukuhou's weirdly enough is probably the most 'sane' Level 5, though a lot of that is as a result of her secretly hating her own abilities.
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Misaka's hardly crazy at all. A tad childish, prideful and hotheaded, but she is 100% more grounded than the other level 5s. The only times we see her even start to crack are when she's subjected to repeated psychological trauma, and even then she never snaps. The only thing Academy City needs to hide about her are her vigilante tendencies, which are kind of warranted.
Shokuhou however is decidedly mentally unstable. It's just mostly benign, since the subjects of her mental instability are her self-image and Touma.
I didn't say Misaka has snapped. I was trying to say it that she has a warped personality just like her level 5 peers. None of the Level 5s have truly actually gone "crazy". Misaka has an incredibly warped view of herself and the world she lives in. Look at all the shit that she does and compare it with what a normal person of above average intelligence would do in her situation, and you'd think she were deranged. She received way too much power way too young and lived in a peaceful bubble for years. Her entire worldview is based on the idea that she is powerful, that she can deal with any problem and undo what is made wrong, and if she can't deal with said problem she can grit her teeth and improve on herself to overcome it. This single-minded strength, confidence of purpose, and altruism is why Shirai admires her so much. When this worldview gets shaken and she can't right it, she gets incredibly self destructive and reckless, though in reality this is just her usual behavior taken to an extreme. Misaka latched onto Kamijou as a stabilizing factor when this happened, but ultimately this has just made it worse. The more Misaka learns about him the more she realizes that he and the world he exists in is so far out of her power to reach or mental capacity to understand. She desperately wants to be his equal and someone who he confides in. She got sorta close once in Denmark, only for that position to be seized and jealously guarded by someone better suited to it nere hours later in events completely unrelated to her. She's also scared shitless of Kamijou's dragons because there represents in clear forn that Kamijou is completely beyond her comprehension. She's basically shown Kamijou she's perfectly fine with throwing her life away for him. She's purposely forced herself into his life repeatedly, and every time she's nearly died.
Not that Shoukuhou's anywhere near normal or even in a positive lifestyle, but she's not currently driving her life off a cliff to the level Misaka is. Shoukuhou's liable to get worse the more legitimate hope she has of being in any sort of a relationship with Kamijou. Kamijou is good for her as a distant unreachable dream, a reward for the hardships she subjects herself to. As a reality he brings out her worst traits, those being her childish irrationality and selfishness combined with paralytic self loathing at such. Ironically those traits are the things most keeping her from being a monster. However this might be unfair because she clearly has a capacity to learn. Misaka's too close minded and proud to charge herself. Imo, Misaka's most like Mugino in what she's like, and Shoukuhou's most close to Accelerator, oddly enough.
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None of that has anything to do with being crazy, nor a warped world view. Her focus on self-agency and self-improvement is a healthy one. The only unhealthy part about it is her reluctance to ask for help, which is something she shares with every single protagonist in this franchise besides Hamazura.
In fact, it's the exact kind of nature that Academy City was created to intentionally foster, albeit primarily in Touma. Given that her whole arc was deliberately planned by Aleister, and her supposedly being "Aleister's favorite", I'd even go as far as to theorize she was deliberately shaped to be this way in order to support Touma.
It's only when she ends up way out of her league that she buckles, but even then, she doesn't flip out, she just gets desperate for a solution.
All the other level 5s have parts about them that are straight up twisted, aspects where their sanity is slipping. The only other one besides Misaka not to exhibit some sort of psychosis is Gunha, because he straight up just seems to work on the power of delusion.
The big issue with her idea of self improvement is that her idea of self worth is entirely based upon her powers and identity as a Level 5. She's not really changed for the better as a person I think. The reason initially that she got so fixated on Kamijou was that his Imagine Breaker made her powers useless, and the fact that he didn't particularly take her seriously despite knowing she was a Level 5, and in fact he didn't really see the value in being an esper at all. Their conversation on the bridge in the very first scene in the entire series shows the contrast between them, and I've never forgiven the anime for cutting it.
Once again he sighed. The girl was always like that. He had seen her here and there sporadically for almost a month, but they had yet to learn each other’s names. In other words, they were by no means friends.
This time, the girl would arrogantly arrogantly attack in an attempt to beat her opponent into a pulp and Kamijou would be the one to put up with it. Without a single exception, it went that way and he won every time.
If he actually lost, the girl would likely be satisfied, but Kamijou was a terrible actor. He once tried to fake his defeat and she chased him like a demon for the rest of the night.
“…What did I even do?”
“I cannot allow anyone to be more powerful than me. That is enough of a reason.”
That was how it was with her. He felt that even a character in a fighting game would have a more detailed incentive.
“But you’re treating me like an idiot, too. I’m a Level 5. Do you really think I would go all out against a powerless Level 0? I do know how to handle the weak.”
In that city, the usual standard of a back alley delinquent being the strongest in a fight did not hold up. Those delinquents who could not keep up with the psychic powers development Curriculum were the Level 0s, the powerless.
The truly strong in that city, the top-tier students, were espers.
“Yeah, about that, I do understand that you possess a talent that only 1 in 328,571 have. I really do. But if you want to live a long life, you should stop speaking to people so condescendingly.”
“Shut up. If you couldn’t bend a single spoon after having various crazy things done to you like have drugs injected directly into your blood vessels or have electrodes stabbed in through your ears and into the brain, what could it be but lack of talent?”
“…”
That was indeed the kind of place Academy City was.
The other side of Academy City could be seen in how means of developing the brain had been calmly added into the Curriculum under the name of “documentation methods” or “memorization methods”.
However, not all of the 2.3 million students living in Academy City had ceased to be human and became something like a manga protagonist.
Just under 60% of the whole population were utterly useless Level 0s who could only bend a spoon after focusing their brain to the point of blood vessel bursts.
“If I need to bend a spoon, I can just use pliers, and if I need fire, I can just buy a cheap lighter. Also, what do I need telepathy for when I have a cell phone? Are psychic powers really that great?”
Those were the words of Kamijou who had been branded as useless by Academy City’s physical examination sensors.
“And everyone’s priorities are all messed up. They’re all rejoicing over the byproduct we call psychic powers, but isn’t our real objective something beyond that?”
In response, the girl who was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s twisted the edges of her lips.
“Hahh? …Oh, that. What was it again? Something like, ‘Humans cannot calculate god, so we need to acquire a body that exceeds humanity before we can arrive at god's answer’, right?” The girl gave a haughty laugh. “Hah. Don’t make me laugh. What is all this about the ‘brain of god’? Did you know that my DNA map was analyzed and military Sisters were created based on it? It seems to me these lucrative side effects are more important than that objective.”
After saying that, the girl suddenly stopped.
In the silence, it felt as if the quality of the air was changing.
“…For God's sake, those are the words of the strong.”
“Hah?”
“The strong. The strong. The strong. Those are the fearless and cruel words of a manga protagonist who was born with his abilities and does not understand the pain of arriving there on his own.”
The river below the bridge began to make an unsettling amount of noise.
A dark flame could be felt on the grit of her words that hinted at just how much of her humanity she had abandoned to arrive at the position of one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.
Kamijou denied all of it with just a few words. Not even once did he turn around.
He did this by never losing.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! Take a look at the results of the annual physical examination. I’m a Level 0 and you’re a Level 5. Ask anyone you find out on the streets, and they’ll tell you who’s stronger!”
Academy City’s powers development heavily used things such as pharmaceutics, neuroscience, and cerebral physiology. It was a purely scientific endeavor. After undergoing the Curriculum to a certain extent, one could bend a spoon even without talent.
And yet Kamijou Touma could do nothing.
According to Academy City’s instruments, he was truly powerless.
“Zero, you say,” repeated the girl as if she was turning it over in her mouth. She stuck a hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out an arcade coin. “Have you ever heard the term Railgun?”
“Ahn?”
“The idea behind it is the same as a linear motor train. It is a ship-borne weapon that uses powerful electromagnets to fire a metal projectile.”
The girl flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back onto her thumb.
“It refers to something like this.”
Just as she spoke, an orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Kamijou’s head. It was more like a laser than a spear. He could only tell it had originated from the girl’s thumb because the afterimage of light stretched back to it.
Almost like thunder, the noise rumbled in with a slight delay. As a shockwave tore through the air around his ears, Kamijou’s sense of balance was partially destroyed. He staggered and glanced over his shoulder.
The instant the orange light struck the road surface on the bridge, the asphalt was blown away like an airplane making an emergency landing on the ocean. Even after travelling a 30 meter path of utter destruction and stopping, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.
“Even a coin like this can be quite powerful when it's fired at three times the speed of sound. Of course, the coin melts after 50 meters because of air friction.”
That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like an unreliable suspension bridge. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally.
“…!!”
Kamijou felt chilled like dry ice was stuffed into his blood vessels.
He felt like all the moisture in his body had been turned to sweat and evaporated.
“Damn you. Don’t tell me you used that to drive them away!!”
“Don’t be stupid. I match my methods to my opponent. I don’t want to accidentally become a murderer.” As she spoke, sparks flew from the girl’s brown hair like an electrode. “This was enough for those Level 0s!”
Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl’s bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards Kamijou.
There was no way to evade. After all, he was against a bluish-white lightning spear shot from a Level 5’s hair. It was an experience like watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then try to dodge it.
An explosive noise followed after a slight delay.
Kamijou immediately held up his right hand to protect his face and the lightning spear struck it. It rampaged through Kamijou’s body and sparks scattered in every direction and into the bridge's steel framework.
…Or so it had seemed.
“So, why are you completely unhurt?”
Her words seemed lighthearted enough, but the girl baring her canines was glaring at Kamijou.
The high voltage current that had scattered into the surroundings had been powerful enough to burn the steel framework of the bridge, yet,
Kamijou’s right hand had not been blown off by the direct hit. …In fact, it lacked even a single burn.
Kamijou’s right hand had erased the girl’s electrical strike that numbered a few hundred million volts.
“Honestly, what's with you? That power of yours isn’t listed in Academy City’s Bank. If I’m a one in 328,571 genius, then you’re a one in 2,300,000 disaster,” the girl muttered in annoyance but Kamijou neglected to give even a single word in response. “If I pick a fight with an exception like that, I might be able to raise my level, don’t you think?" [1]
“…But you always lose.”
He received a response in the form of more lightning that shot from her forehead, well over mach one at that.
However, it scattered in every direction the instant it met Kamijou’s right hand.
It was very much like a water balloon bursting.
Imagine Breaker.
Psychic powers ranged from the ones mocked on TV to the ones established with numerical formulas in Academy City. Anything using that kind of supernatural power, even if it were part of god’s system, would be negated without question by that supernatural power of his.
As it was supernatural in origin, even that girl’s Railgun ability was no exception.
However, Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker only worked on the supernatural power itself. Simply, he could negate an esper’s fireball, but he was still vulnerable to the concrete shards broken by the fireball. Also, the effective range was only his right hand and wrist. If the fireball hit him anywhere else, he would be burned.
And yet…
I really, really thought I was going to die there! Kyaahhh!! He thought frantically.
Kamijou Touma’s calm and composed expression stiffened awkwardly. Even with a right hand that could completely negate those light-speed lightning spears, it was sheer coincidence that they struck his right hand.
His heart was pounding in his chest as he desperately tried to force a mature smile onto his face.
“I guess you could say that was either some misfortune or you’re just unlucky.”
That was how Kamijou brought that day, July 19th, to an end.
With just one comment, he seemed to be lamenting to everything in the world.
“You just really aren’t lucky at all.”
This time, the girl would arrogantly arrogantly attack in an attempt to beat her opponent into a pulp and Kamijou would be the one to put up with it. Without a single exception, it went that way and he won every time.
If he actually lost, the girl would likely be satisfied, but Kamijou was a terrible actor. He once tried to fake his defeat and she chased him like a demon for the rest of the night.
“…What did I even do?”
“I cannot allow anyone to be more powerful than me. That is enough of a reason.”
That was how it was with her. He felt that even a character in a fighting game would have a more detailed incentive.
“But you’re treating me like an idiot, too. I’m a Level 5. Do you really think I would go all out against a powerless Level 0? I do know how to handle the weak.”
In that city, the usual standard of a back alley delinquent being the strongest in a fight did not hold up. Those delinquents who could not keep up with the psychic powers development Curriculum were the Level 0s, the powerless.
The truly strong in that city, the top-tier students, were espers.
“Yeah, about that, I do understand that you possess a talent that only 1 in 328,571 have. I really do. But if you want to live a long life, you should stop speaking to people so condescendingly.”
“Shut up. If you couldn’t bend a single spoon after having various crazy things done to you like have drugs injected directly into your blood vessels or have electrodes stabbed in through your ears and into the brain, what could it be but lack of talent?”
“…”
That was indeed the kind of place Academy City was.
The other side of Academy City could be seen in how means of developing the brain had been calmly added into the Curriculum under the name of “documentation methods” or “memorization methods”.
However, not all of the 2.3 million students living in Academy City had ceased to be human and became something like a manga protagonist.
Just under 60% of the whole population were utterly useless Level 0s who could only bend a spoon after focusing their brain to the point of blood vessel bursts.
“If I need to bend a spoon, I can just use pliers, and if I need fire, I can just buy a cheap lighter. Also, what do I need telepathy for when I have a cell phone? Are psychic powers really that great?”
Those were the words of Kamijou who had been branded as useless by Academy City’s physical examination sensors.
“And everyone’s priorities are all messed up. They’re all rejoicing over the byproduct we call psychic powers, but isn’t our real objective something beyond that?”
In response, the girl who was one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s twisted the edges of her lips.
“Hahh? …Oh, that. What was it again? Something like, ‘Humans cannot calculate god, so we need to acquire a body that exceeds humanity before we can arrive at god's answer’, right?” The girl gave a haughty laugh. “Hah. Don’t make me laugh. What is all this about the ‘brain of god’? Did you know that my DNA map was analyzed and military Sisters were created based on it? It seems to me these lucrative side effects are more important than that objective.”
After saying that, the girl suddenly stopped.
In the silence, it felt as if the quality of the air was changing.
“…For God's sake, those are the words of the strong.”
“Hah?”
“The strong. The strong. The strong. Those are the fearless and cruel words of a manga protagonist who was born with his abilities and does not understand the pain of arriving there on his own.”
The river below the bridge began to make an unsettling amount of noise.
A dark flame could be felt on the grit of her words that hinted at just how much of her humanity she had abandoned to arrive at the position of one of Academy City’s seven Level 5s.
Kamijou denied all of it with just a few words. Not even once did he turn around.
He did this by never losing.
“Wait, wait, wait, wait! Take a look at the results of the annual physical examination. I’m a Level 0 and you’re a Level 5. Ask anyone you find out on the streets, and they’ll tell you who’s stronger!”
Academy City’s powers development heavily used things such as pharmaceutics, neuroscience, and cerebral physiology. It was a purely scientific endeavor. After undergoing the Curriculum to a certain extent, one could bend a spoon even without talent.
And yet Kamijou Touma could do nothing.
According to Academy City’s instruments, he was truly powerless.
“Zero, you say,” repeated the girl as if she was turning it over in her mouth. She stuck a hand in her skirt pocket and pulled out an arcade coin. “Have you ever heard the term Railgun?”
“Ahn?”
“The idea behind it is the same as a linear motor train. It is a ship-borne weapon that uses powerful electromagnets to fire a metal projectile.”
The girl flicked the coin up into the air with her thumb. The coin rotated a few times before landing back onto her thumb.
“It refers to something like this.”
Just as she spoke, an orange spear of light suddenly and silently shot past Kamijou’s head. It was more like a laser than a spear. He could only tell it had originated from the girl’s thumb because the afterimage of light stretched back to it.
Almost like thunder, the noise rumbled in with a slight delay. As a shockwave tore through the air around his ears, Kamijou’s sense of balance was partially destroyed. He staggered and glanced over his shoulder.
The instant the orange light struck the road surface on the bridge, the asphalt was blown away like an airplane making an emergency landing on the ocean. Even after travelling a 30 meter path of utter destruction and stopping, the orange afterglow was still burning the air like an afterimage.
“Even a coin like this can be quite powerful when it's fired at three times the speed of sound. Of course, the coin melts after 50 meters because of air friction.”
That bridge made of steel and concrete swayed like an unreliable suspension bridge. Failing metal bolts could be heard occasionally.
“…!!”
Kamijou felt chilled like dry ice was stuffed into his blood vessels.
He felt like all the moisture in his body had been turned to sweat and evaporated.
“Damn you. Don’t tell me you used that to drive them away!!”
“Don’t be stupid. I match my methods to my opponent. I don’t want to accidentally become a murderer.” As she spoke, sparks flew from the girl’s brown hair like an electrode. “This was enough for those Level 0s!”
Bluish-white sparks flew from the girl’s bangs like a horn and a spear-like line of lightning flew towards Kamijou.
There was no way to evade. After all, he was against a bluish-white lightning spear shot from a Level 5’s hair. It was an experience like watching a thundercloud fire a bolt at light speed and then try to dodge it.
An explosive noise followed after a slight delay.
Kamijou immediately held up his right hand to protect his face and the lightning spear struck it. It rampaged through Kamijou’s body and sparks scattered in every direction and into the bridge's steel framework.
…Or so it had seemed.
“So, why are you completely unhurt?”
Her words seemed lighthearted enough, but the girl baring her canines was glaring at Kamijou.
The high voltage current that had scattered into the surroundings had been powerful enough to burn the steel framework of the bridge, yet,
Kamijou’s right hand had not been blown off by the direct hit. …In fact, it lacked even a single burn.
Kamijou’s right hand had erased the girl’s electrical strike that numbered a few hundred million volts.
“Honestly, what's with you? That power of yours isn’t listed in Academy City’s Bank. If I’m a one in 328,571 genius, then you’re a one in 2,300,000 disaster,” the girl muttered in annoyance but Kamijou neglected to give even a single word in response. “If I pick a fight with an exception like that, I might be able to raise my level, don’t you think?" [1]
“…But you always lose.”
He received a response in the form of more lightning that shot from her forehead, well over mach one at that.
However, it scattered in every direction the instant it met Kamijou’s right hand.
It was very much like a water balloon bursting.
Imagine Breaker.
Psychic powers ranged from the ones mocked on TV to the ones established with numerical formulas in Academy City. Anything using that kind of supernatural power, even if it were part of god’s system, would be negated without question by that supernatural power of his.
As it was supernatural in origin, even that girl’s Railgun ability was no exception.
However, Kamijou’s Imagine Breaker only worked on the supernatural power itself. Simply, he could negate an esper’s fireball, but he was still vulnerable to the concrete shards broken by the fireball. Also, the effective range was only his right hand and wrist. If the fireball hit him anywhere else, he would be burned.
And yet…
I really, really thought I was going to die there! Kyaahhh!! He thought frantically.
Kamijou Touma’s calm and composed expression stiffened awkwardly. Even with a right hand that could completely negate those light-speed lightning spears, it was sheer coincidence that they struck his right hand.
His heart was pounding in his chest as he desperately tried to force a mature smile onto his face.
“I guess you could say that was either some misfortune or you’re just unlucky.”
That was how Kamijou brought that day, July 19th, to an end.
With just one comment, he seemed to be lamenting to everything in the world.
“You just really aren’t lucky at all.”
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She's just mad scientist John Wick dude. She's wholesome chungus.
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