Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 012

"July 24, Part 2" (七月二十四日②) is the twelfth chapter of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series, released on February 21, 2008.

Synopsis
Heaven Canceller discusses with Misaka Mikoto the possibility of creating a 'Brainwave Network' by having people with the same brain wave change their brain wave pattern to an electrical signal. Mikoto theorizes that this would work as long as the consistency of the brain waves doesn't change. As Mikoto asks if Kiyama Harumi did that, Shirai Kuroko interrupts to tell her that she cannot contact Uiharu Kazari.

Harumi has captured Uiharu and is taking her with her in her car. Uiharu asks her about Level Upper, her reason for doing these things and what will happen to the unconscious espers. Harumi's answers to these questions are interspersed with scenes showing Mikoto and Kuroko as they discover the answers themselves. Level Upper boosts esper abilities by connecting the espers' brains, which makes complex calculations possible and lets espers with the same ability type share their experiences. However, Level Upper users are influenced by each other's brain waves, and the comas are due to espers losing control of the network. Harumi wanted to use Tree Diagram to carry out certain simulations but was rejected, so she used Level Upper to have espers carry out the complex calculations for her. She claims that she will free them once the simulation is done, and gives Uiharu a program that will supposedly uninstall Level Upper. Uiharu is unconvinced, pointing out that Level Upper hasn't been properly tested and people who live on their own or are taking a bath would still be in danger if they weren't discovered in time. It turns out that Harumi didn't expect this, causing her to say that she needs to call the supervisors to check the students' rooms.

Kuroko receives a call from Anti-Skill, revealing that they've arrived at the AIM laboratory but there is no sign of Harumi. Anti-Skill interrogates the laboratory's researchers but they claim to not know anything about Harumi's objective or destination.

Harumi realises that Anti-Skill is at her lab. She explains that her security program, which has been activated by Anti-Skill not taking certain steps before activating the equipment, will erase the data on Level Upper. Thus, the only way to wake up the Level Upper users is the program she's given to Uiharu.

Mikoto decides to head out herself. Kuroko tries to stop her, arguing that Uiharu should be able to free herself and Harumi shouldn't stand a chance against Anti-Skill. Mikoto refuses, saying she has a bad feeling. Kuroko then tries to accompany her but Mikoto points out that she's in no condition to do so. Mikoto says that Kuroko is in a lower grade and should rely on her more. Kuroko is overjoyed and tries to jump on Mikoto.

Harumi encounters an Anti-Skill roadblock and stops her car. Anti-Skill orders her to leave, and Uiharu encourages her to do the same. Harumi explains that Level Upper has an interesting side-effect for its controller. She gets out of her car and pretends to surrender. However, when Anti-Skill attempts to arrest her, Harumi controls their guns to shoot each other. While Anti-Skill is distracted by this, she creates a ball of wind and causes an explosion.

Mikoto sees this explosion while in a taxi. She tells the taxi driver to take her there and, when he hesitates, gets out to head there on foot. She calls Kuroko and learns that Harumi is using multiple esper abilities to fight off Anti-Skill. Mikoto points out that this shouldn't be possible. Kuroko tells her that the Level Upper network is essentially one giant brain and, through manipulating it, Harumi could achieve the impossible Dual Skill. Mikoto arrives at the scene to find utter devastation, with Anti-Skill defeated and Uiharu unconscious in Harumi's car. Mikoto tries to get her to wake up, only for Harumi to reassure her that Uiharu simply fainted from shock and isn't injured. Harumi adds that, while her network doesn't include a Level 5, Mikoto has never fought an opponent like her and asks if she can stop ten thousand brains combined.

Adapted To

 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 10
 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Episode 11

Characters

 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Heaven Canceller
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Kiyama Harumi
 * Uiharu Kazari

Locations

 * Heaven Canceller's Hospital
 * Judgment 177 Branch Office
 * AIM Analytic Research Center

New Abilities

 * Multi-Skill - Kiyama Harumi (side-effect of being the Level Upper Network administrator)
 * Dual Skill -