Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 072

"BLAU" is the 72nd chapter of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series.

Synopsis
Ruiko meets up with Mikoto and Kuroko, the latter still being emotional and dejected after what happened the night before, and asks Mikoto how she felt about the Indian Poker, to which Mikoto says it is horrible, confounding Ruiko as the color of the card should've been that of a happy dream. Ruiko then states that Indian Poker is a great way for sleep-learning as one can use a dream to learn about new things or skills, making cards like those very valuable. Ruiko agrees and that is why people who give out those dreams, the Dream Rankers, are also ranked, and that are also rumors that the cards highest ranked cards from S-ranks and A-ranks are sold for lots of money. This makes Ruiko excited that she can sell her Urban Legend cards for money even mentions to herself that she has also come upon another Urban Legend while looking into it, but before she can tell them what it is, notices Kazari nearby. Ruiko bids them farewell as she goes to her with her usual antics.

Later, the Ringlet curl girl asks Mikoto what she thought about the Indian Poker, remarking that Mikoto should start doing them as well. Mikoto hesitates to answer as the girl invites her over for tea. Not being able to turn down her sincere kindness, Mikoto obliges her. Much to her surprise however, Misaki has also been invited as well, with the both of them not amused. The two of them as the Ringlet curl girl they're here, to which the girl reveals that she thought that they could use the chance to deepen their friendship, to which both of them immediately reject. The girl tries to continue about the conversation, asking Misaki if she knows about the Indian Poker fad going around their group. Misaki says that she is aware of it, leading to the Ringlet curl girl to say that Mikoto wants to invite Misaki as well, despite the fact that Mikoto hasn't said anything. Misaki plainly tells her that she is not interested and tells the girl that she should stop too even adding to tell that to all the girls in the group, to which she agrees. Mikoto is surprised by her decision, to which the Ringlet curl girl says it is because the Queen asked her to do so.

Suddenly, just before they continue, there is shouting nearby. Over the shrubbery is Aogami Pierce and three suspicious-looking blokes, calling him BLAU and thanking him, an S-rank Dream Ranker, for giving them wonderful dreams. One of them, Hikoichi, offers Aogami with money in exchange for one of his cards. However, Aogami declines it, saying that knowing that his dreams give other people happiness is enough to satisfy him, impressing the men, as well as Mikoto who wonders what kind of dreams Aogami gives to them. However, her impression of him is crushed when she discovers that he sells erotic lewd dreams of various girls much to Mikoto and Misaki's horror. The Ringlet curl girl, however, is apparently too pure and ignorant to understand what they are talking about. Meanwhile, the boys all praise Aogami Pierce for his services, and that it is only a matter of time before his dreams spread into the city. Aogami notes that it isn't just entertainers, and notes that he can dream of the two Level 5s of Tokiwadai, piquing both Mikoto and Misaki's horrified silence into a tranquil fury, as he talks about the lewd things he has them do in their dreams.

As the boys celebrate, the Ringlet curl girl, who's still clueless what's going on praises them for being famous until Mikoto finally snaps, stands up and walks out noting to them that she is going to visit the next shop over. This scares the Ringlet curl girl knowing her intentions and asks Misaki to stop her but much to her surprise Misaki decides to help Mikoto saying that she'll do her the favor of her erasing witnesses' memories while she handles the security cameras. Shocked, the Ringlet curl girl notes that the two of them can easily pull off the perfect crime.

After Mikoto beating them unconscious and destroying the cards while Misaki altered their memories, both Level 5s are tense after the little incident. Seeing this, Ringlet curl girl offers a topic for them to discuss, asking them if they have dreams of a gentleman they like. Hearing this, the two Level 5s are silenced, and later make up terrible excuses to leave, much to the girl's disappointment.

Meanwhile, Kazari and Kuroko are in patrol. After Kazari snaps Kuroko out of her daze, she asks Kuroko if she knows of the treasure hunting app, to which Kuroko shows that she does. It is an app that has set points in locations around the city. If the user takes a picture of the proper scenery on those set points using the app's special camera they will get a reward. Kazari adds to Kuroko's explanation that when taking a picture using that app in a certain location, instead of treasure as intended, it can apparently show images of an accident that has happened in the scene. Kazari shows an example on a set of stairs that had an accidental fall that morning of September 27. Kuroko remarks that it is in bad taste, but Kazari says that if it was then they would just mark it down as such. However, she points out that the app also shows accidents that can happen in the future.

Major events

 * Mikoto and Misaki successfully stop the spread of Aogami Pierce's erotic dreams of their persons via Indian Poker by destroying his cards and manipulating his memories.
 * There is a treasure hunting app that is going around Academy City that can show where an accident is about to occur.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Ringlet curl girl
 * Shokuhou Misaki
 * Hikoichi

New characters

 * Aogami Pierce
 * Saraku

Abilities

 * Railgun (ability) - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5
 * Mental Out - Shokuhou Misaki, Level 5

New Abilities
No new abilities were introduced in this chapter.

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School Garden
 * Tokiwadai Middle School

New Locations
No new locations were introduced this chapter.

Trivia

 * According to the manga's editor, Ogino Kentarou, in his twitter the date where this story is supposed to take place is on September 27 of the current year of the timeline, making the date printed in the story during Kazari's investigation a misprint.

Referbacks

 * The large bald delinquent that appears in the Toaru Majutsu no Index anime and manga chasing Kamijou Touma in the beginning of the series and the one that appears in the 6th chapter of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun appears in this chapter as one of the people Aogami is talking to.

Cultural references

 * The "2D, or not 2D that is the question" shown in Ruiko's examples of things one can learn from Indian Poker is an obvious reference to the famous phrase "To be, or not to be" from William Shakespeare's play Hamlet, where the title character recites a soliloquy on life and suffering beginning with the phrase.
 * Sleep-learning is referenced in this chapter.
 * Blau is the German and Catalan word for the color blue.

Unanswered Questions

 * What is the urban legend that Ruiko is talking about?
 * Who are the administrators of that app, and how are they able to predict the place where an accident is about to happen?

Quotes

 * Aogami Pierce: "Even the Level 5s are laid bare before me. Literally."―regarding his erotic dreams with the two Level 5s of Tokiwadai.
 * Ringlet curl girl: "Oh, no. Together these two can easily pull off the perfect crime."―regarding Mikoto and Misaki.