Shokuhou Misaki

Shokuhou Misaki (食蜂操祈, Shokuhō Misaki) is the fifth ranked Level 5 esper and a student at Tokiwadai Middle School that goes under the alias "The Queen". This refers to her having the largest faction and influence within Tokiwadai Middle School due to her ability. Originally referred to only in passing in Toaru Majutsu no Index, her character later officially debuts in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun  and later made her debut in the Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index novels.

Etymology
Misaki's first name can be translated as "Wish For Control" and her name as whole can be translated as "Dominated Psychology". Her first name is composed of the characters for "control" and "pray", and her surname carries a "honey bee" motif, which was later decided by Kamachi to illustrate Misaki as someone who eats through societal structures.

Appearance
Misaki appears as an elegant beauty of Tokiwadai Middle School, sporting long straight hair of golden color. She wears a pair of white gloves and stockings, both adorned with lace. She is also seen holding a shoulder bag with a star adorned on the middle. Her eyes are also gold colored, however, one notable feature of her eyes is that it has a star design on it. Literally, she is a starry-eyed girl. She claims that she was born that way.

Her large breasts are a point of jealousy for Mikoto, who mocks her for it. She even once suspects Misaki of not being a middle school student based on her bust size, to which Misaki replies that it may be possible with her abilities that she is not. Both Seria and Touma have also question her if she was even in middle school. However, a year before the story Misaki had a smaller bust, even being called flat chested by Touma.

Personality
Coupled with her cute face, Misaki exudes a seemingly playful and childish personality, as seen with her interaction with Mikoto. This is backed up the fact that she has a taste for sweets and likes to do silly and cutesy poses that even other people such as Kumokawa Seria try to jokingly emulate. However, with this facade belies a much more cunning nature, as she demonstrates her power to intimidate Mikoto by controlling the entire student body that was currently inside the Tokiwadai Middle School library. Despite this ruthless exterior, she is not necessarily a bad person as she greatly values her friendship with the formerly deceased Dolly. She shows more redeeming features as she interacts with Kamijou Touma, as well as getting involved in any subject related to him; this is fully shown as the normally self-centered Misaki had shown her complete humane side when she wanted to save Mitsuari Ayu, a person that Touma has failed to save in the past.

As one of the two Level 5s of Tokiwadai, she and her followers have a rivalry with Misaka Mikoto and her fans. She never shows herself in public, instead using her followers or mind-controlling people to act as her representatives when talking with individuals. It is hinted that she has a strong dislike for public appearances, and this is why whenever the school needs a "face" to promote certain public events, she and her faction will simply stand aside and let Mikoto hog all of the attention and responsibilities. She seems to prefer working alone, even if it is with a Level 5 like Misaka Mikoto, though she is able to work well with Kamijou Touma. Unlike most girls in School Garden, she has described herself as someone who is not a pure girl who knows nothing of the world, after describing that girls from School Garden are either those who go out or those who stay in. This may be the reason why she claims she doesn't work with anyone whose mind she can't read. She can be described as being similar to Laura Stuart because of her frivolous outward personality that hides a layer of cunning scheming, though much more downplayed. Despite her using powers on other people with or without their permission, she has a personal rule in taking care of the people she takes control of with her powers. When facing enemies, she has yet to use any deadly force on any of them.

She is also terrible at athletics, and a mere jog, according to Mikoto, will quickly tire her and even almost drown in a pool less than a meter deep once because she couldn't (and perhaps still can't) swim; even Touma notes that she was beyond unathletic as she was unable to defend herself against park pigeons, that casually covered her up and ate her food, until Touma drove them away. Although, she will usually make excuses for it such as her breast weighting her down. She would even show a stubborn side when someone ask if she can't do something simple or just points it out to her. At times when she looks her worst, she has even used her powers to erase everyone's memory of what happened.

She uses the word ~ability or ~power (~力) as a suffix to certain words, like "relationship ability" or "brainwashing power".

Background
Not much is known about her past. Like all Level 5s, there are research facilities dedicated to her. In the past she was part of a project to train her powers for the Exterior Project, being able to use her powers to brainwash people like Makuwa to think melons are apples. Part of this project was the development of Exterior, which is a giant brain to significantly increase the reach of her powers and how many people she can control at a time. For that project, part of her cerebral cortex was taken from her to create Exterior. During the project, she was asked to brainwash a girl that is known as Dolly, which the scientist required for data, into thinking she is her friend that left her after discovering the machines implanted on Dolly's person. Misaki somehow acquiesces and begins pretending as Dolly's friend. This ultimately ends in tragedy when it is revealed that Dolly's condition is steadily deteriorating even with Academy City's powerful medical technology, and by the time the two have become close Dolly falls ill and dies shortly after—supposedly a foregone conclusion and necessary to the Exterior project. A crestfallen Misaki soon turns against the facility and its researchers, exerting her influence and control over everybody involved in the project. She learns that the Clone Dolly Workshop is related to the Exterior project, and also that the scientists are to dispose of her once Exterior is completed. By the time she enters Tokiwadai Middle School, Misaki has effectively hidden Exterior and its capabilities completely, though later had help from people apparently loyal to her to maintain it. By the way she speaks to Seria she seems to have a bit of rivalry between them though it is unknown how this developed, though one possibility is because of Touma.

Due to the events involving Dolly and the Exterior Project, Misaki becomes weary and depressed to the point of wanting to use her powers on herself to remove what she called "heavy thoughts".

Meeting Kamijou Touma
Back in the August of the previous year of the timeline, Misaki meets Kamijou Touma several times, which would later be remarked upon by her "as the happiest period of her life", despite their relationship ending abruptly. Misaki, a 1st year of Tokiwadai, first meets Touma in an intersection, bumping into him as he was in a hurry. In his haste he leaves his cellphone with Misaki, forcing her to hand over the phone to Anti-Skill. This event would later consequently lead to the attempted suicide of Mitsuari Ayu at Ground Geo, a girl similar to Misaki, who had just reached an impasse in her ability development. This is because the cellphone could've been used by Touma to call her and prevent her from trying to take her own life as she herself stated "wanted to be saved" by him. Later, a still-depressed Misaki, goes to Ground Geo on herself and pondered using Mental Out on herself. She later meets Touma again who was still hounded by his failure to help Mitsuari, recognizing him from before. The meeting would subsequently prevent Misaki from doing the deed as Misaki discovers first-hand, several times, on how Touma's power worked against her.

Touma would later meet Misaki several times during the summer, bickering and getting into shenanigans, like going for a swim, where they introduce each other and where Touma relates his preference for big-breasted women, and getting tricked by Kumokawa Seria. This later culminates with Touma giving a used cheap whistle for her to use to call him when she is in trouble, which notes is an indirect kiss with him. The similarities with Misaka Mikoto's relationship with Touma are clear, and they can be described as acquaintances that often run into each other in the city. Misaki even hypothesized that these similarities may be the reason why she can't stand her.

These run-ins with Touma however would later come to an abrupt end. Deadlock would later try and attack Misaki, forcing Touma to defend her using his own body while she used her powers to whittle their numbers by having them attack each other. Touma's efforts however later comes at a price as he becomes severely injured. Needing to save Touma's life, Misaki volunteers to use her powers on Touma, as in essence it actually manipulates the brain's fluids, cutting off his sense of pain and allowing the EMT to treat him. However, due to Touma's low blood pressure, her attempt did not work correctly as planned, leaving Touma brain damaged and making him unable to remember and make new memories of her and only her.

It is likely that the reason why she has complete trust towards Touma is because of their previous relationship. Indeed, during the Agitate Halation Arc, she helps Touma, while using the body of another girl, regardless of the unscientific and ridiculous things he speaks to her.

Toaru Majutsu no Index
Misaki is often referenced throughout the series for her role as a powerful telepath, and is always referred to in the third person or as her alias, The Queen of Tokiwadai.

Index Arc
Kamijou Touma first references her during the Index Arc. While trying to convince Kanzaki Kaori to let Academy City help Index, he tells her that there's a Level 5 at Tokiwadai that could extract people's memories by just touching them. It is unknown what would happen if Misaki were to do what Touma what intended her to do, but most likely if she were to see into Index's mind, and thus her many grimoires, the backlash would most likely severely harm her.

Acqua of the Back Arc
Mikoto mentions Shokuhou (by her epithet "The Queen") for the first time, recalling that the Queen is the best mind controller in Academy City. Mikoto first considers asking her to fix Kamijou Touma's memory loss problem, but quickly dismisses the idea since she isn't on good enough terms with her, and Mikoto did not want to end up in the "Queen's" debt. Mikoto also did not like the idea of trusting the health of a friend to someone she has an indirect rivalry with.

Homecoming Arc
Misaka Mikoto, when faced with a drunken Touma, thinks to herself that it isn't an illusion created by Misaki.

Kumokawa Seria tries to psyche herself up by imitating something Misaki would say, but finds that she can't do it and is way out of Misaki's league for that sort of thing. This hints that these two schemers know each other somewhat for Seria to know Misaki personally.

Baggage City Arc
Although she does not appear, research material from her are used by Kihara Ransuu to create hallucinogenic drugs he uses against GREMLIN.

Ichihanaran Festival Arc
Kumokawa Seria mentions her saying that she would use her powers in order to win a swimsuit competition, implying that Shokuhou will join Eiri High School's swimsuit competition.

At 8 AM of the festival, Misaka Mikoto tried to go to A Certain High School to check out its trial enrollment. There, she runs into Shokuhou at the main entrance, much to her bewilderment. She then controls several people in the vicinity and had them chase and tease her, forcing Mikoto to flee. It is unknown why Shokuhou was there in the first place.

Shokuhou later appears in Eiri High School for the swimsuit competition. She claims to have been forced by her friends to become part of the competition, and refers to Seria as an old woman, as she refuses to come near her. Seria then mentions that she is in the opposite side is to get out of her range.

Agitate Halation Arc
Shokuhou controls a student from one of the five schools that control the School Garden, wanting to expand her reach of information gathering after hearing about the rumors of a pervert sneaking into the School Garden. Much to her surprise, she finds that it is Kamijou Touma, and shows some familiarity towards him. She references their meeting in Daihaseisai, though he cannot remember it, as well as their relationship in the past, to which only confusing him after hearing of his explanation about magic in the School Garden and the danger poses to it. She helps him by having her clique serve as bait for Mikoto while she, still controlling a girl, hide Touma. She also follows him around the Garden, aiding and giving him information whenever she can. She acts a bit playful when doing so, tricking him into looking at the half naked body of the girl she is using, making him look more insidious to the girls than before, and trying to scare him, but all and all she means well.

After having collected all the maps from all five schools of the School Garden, Touma reaches an emphases on where the Altar of the Wisdom King would be kept. Misaki, after her usual trickery and cunning, convinces a luggage entry inspector to let them use the data for items that have passed through, as she deemed that antiques or works of art such as what the Altar of the Wisdom King would be referred as would go through there. Later, trying to get into Shiraha Social Support Club, Misaki gives a surprisingly pragmatic approach to getting an authorization card from the girls attend there. Using anpan and milk, they drop them on a target girl, which allowed Misaki to steal an authorization card from the other girl next to her authorization cards, using Touma as a decoy. Once inside, Touma searched for the spiritual item but could not find it. Misaki tells him to become suspicious of the source of the information that was given to him. Touma begins to doubt Tsuchimikado Motoharu's words when he dropped him off in School Garden to deal with the Altar of the Wisdom King himself. At that point, an airship showing the latest headlines shows a news regarding the death of Tsuchimikado Maika in a fire in her dorm. Misaki tells Touma that someone might have intentionally kept him inside School Garden like a cage in order for them to be able to do something else.

From that point on, Touma completely abandons the wild goose chase as well as Misaki. She tries to pursue Touma, having been left out in the dark, Mikoto apparently followed her for the same purpose. They later find themselves in the midst of the "heroes" rioting in Learning Core due to the effects of Agitate Halation, though it is implied the Level 5s are unaffected by it. Misaki discovers someone who is acting as the 6th Level 5, though does not care for it very much. As she is surrounded by the "heroes," she takes control of some of them to her advantage, diverting some of them towards Mikoto, much to her annoyance. After hearing Mikoto's explanation of being there, she tells her that the first one to reach Touma gets to do whatever she wants, which confuses Mikoto. As the riot continues, the "heroes" try to find ways to stop Mikoto, to which she requests Misaki to use her powers to stop them as she can use it without hurting them unlike Mikoto. Misaki ignores her request, but is then attacked by a leopard released from the zoo of Learning Core by one of the heroes, she is quickly surrounded by them as she is unable to control an animal's brain. She then asks Mikoto for help, to which Mikoto says she will but only after the leopard bite off her breast. Despite her request, Misaki makes use of espers and counterattacks, allowing to retain her ground. Misaki shows her annoyance at the unpredictable and pragmatic methods of heroes.

After the resolution of the rioting, Touma does not reference meeting the girls afterwards, implying that the both of them failed in their objective.

Magic God Othinus Arc
She was shown controlling a certain adult woman in showy suit in a place near the bus stop bench where Touma and the other girls sat. She saw Mikoto who is standing alone and trembling and proceeds to tease her regarding Touma and the girls with him. She said that if Mikoto isn't at all interested in knowing what's going on, she will be the one to ask and seduce him using other girls that she also controlled. Mikoto panicked and told Misaki that if she keeps going on like this, there would be chaos and proceeded to use her magnetism to make the bench where Touma and the others sat fly so as to keep him away from Misaki.

Shifting and Fluctuating World
In the final recreation of the world by Othinus created specifically to break Touma's spirit, known as the Version_Omega world in-text, where several characters from the original world have been "saved" or have not experienced great tragedy, the traumas or tragedies Misaki faced in the original world likely did not transpire. She is first seen with Seria when the now-broken Touma partakes his "last meal" as he decides on the method on how he should kill himself. As they usually are, the two of them are arguing after Misaki uses her power to cut in line with elementary students just for a hot-dog.

VS The World
Later, as one of the seven Level 5s of Academy City, she is one of the recipients of the email giving an order to kill both magic god Othinus and Kamijou Touma. Here, she becomes enthusiastic, saying that she doesn't know what had happened it looked like she had something to do now, and gave a fearless smile that gave no hint of her true feelings. She doesn't follow the kill order however.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun
Prior to her debut, she has heard of the collapse of the Level 6 Shift, and has become interested in the fate of the clones. She hires Keitz Nokleben, former security supervisor of the project, and sets up meeting with him, to which he woefully concludes that he has no idea what happened to the clones. He tells him that all liability was pushed towards Amai Ao, and that another agency has taken care of the Sisters. However, he says that there is another group searching for the clones. Hearing this, Misaki tells him to investigate and continue to search about the whereabouts of the clones.

At some unknown point in time, the urban legend website Auribus oculi fideliores sunt begins plaguing her as they discover the whereabouts of an institute where Misaki keeps Exterior.

She is finally formally introduced in Toaru Kagaku no Railgun, where Mikoto is already aware of her status as well as displaying her animosity towards her. Here, she warns Mikoto if she attempts to create a clique of her own and challenge her, controlling several Tokiwadai students at the same time to get the point straight. Finally, after letting go, Mikoto asks if she truly is a middle school student after seeing her bust size, to which Misaki states the ambiguity of her appearance may be due to her powers before leaving.

Silent Party Arc
Despite Mikoto's distaste for Misaki and her powers, getting her friends out of trouble from the authorities during the failed terroristic event known as Silent Party was apparently enough for her to cast aside her pride (among other things) and ask Misaki for help. It is unknown what Mikoto did to convince Misaki to help her or what her reaction was, but Shinobu mentions that not only were the digital records modified to make them look in a favorable light she suspects that some people's memories have been modified as well. Allowing for the girls to slip by the authorities conveniently without consequences of their actions.

Daihasei Festival Arc
She is later seen with members of her clique as they discuss the proposal by the Daihaseisai committee for a showing of Level 5s. Misaki says she doesn't feel it'd be right to take Mikoto's spotlight. One of her underlings expresses concern when Misaki has a second crepe when she just had one, and the girl with ringlet curls takes it away. Suddenly, Keitz Nokleben prompts up Misaki as he drinks a cup of coffee from an adjacent table. Her underlings are about to intervene but she uses her powers to rewrite their memories and shoo them away, adding on that they should eat twenty éclairs as fast as possible while they're at it. When they are gone, Keitz and Misaki speak on an arrangement about certain knowledge she wants. The man says he has what she wants but that Misaki shouldn't concern herself with that; the top priority this time is to get the client to trust them. He says Misaki's help is appreciated and the two beam contrasting smiles at each other that perhaps aren't that different.

During the opening of the Daihaseisai, she speaks along with Sogiita Gunha, but is quickly overshadowed by Gunha's fiery speech, drowning out her own. Since he didn't memorize the real speech and was going on guts alone, there was no coordination. She sulks afterwards, saying she was beaten.

She is later seen preparing for a competition and boasting she can just mind control the referees and player to easily win. However, Fukiyose Seiri barges in and takes the purse that contains her remote control, saying Misaki can't have gear on her that isn't for sports. Misaki stand idly with a blank look, realizing she's been had. She is absent during Tokiwadai's ill-fated ball hunting competition, but reappears at the end with the ex-security supervisor of the Level 6 Shift, looming over a tired and unconscious Misaka 10032. She reappears later during the lunch break, talking to Mikoto on how about she's too tired on doing anything else for the day, hither comes Touma, who just talked to Mikoto before Misaki showed up, and is allured by her appearance. She teases Mikoto regarding her temper, and alludes to her knowledge of his name (Touma did not introduce himself to her) and of their acquaintance from before Touma's memory loss, before leaving. Right after lunch, Misaki intercepts an inquiry on Auribus oculi fideliores sunt, an urban legend website from Judgment 177 Branch Office. However, Misaki is well aware of Mikoto's connections with the office and visits the office herself. She finds Uiharu Kazari has read the website and erases her memories of its contents as well as the data in their computers, determined to erase all traces of Exterior. She also reads Kazari's memories and finds out Mikoto's friends, knowing full well that Mikoto would get involved when it comes to her Sisters. She also implants Kazari with instructions on going on a different patrol route in order for her to gather Kuroko and Ruiko in a single spot for her and Keitz to intercept. With that, she has Keitz have inquries regarding the urban legend websites redirect to dummy websites.

It is later revealed that she has altered the memories of the paramedics that took Misaka 10032, as well as her own teacher, Watanabe, whom she fully controlled, putting Mikoto in a tight spot. Having manipulated Kazari yesterday, she follows Misaki's instructions into going a different patrol route. There, together with Keitz, she uses her powers to completely erase the memories of Misaka Mikoto from Uiharu Kazari, Shirai Kuroko, and Saten Ruiko. Knowing that her true enemy is Kihara Gensei, she attacks Kouzaku Mitori's "villas" to search for information and making Mikoto look like the culprit my messing with eyewitnesses' memories, it is likely here that Misaki discovers the presumed whereabouts of Gensei in School District 9, not knowing it's a ruse by him.

Misaki is later shown once again standing over a collapsed Misaka 10032 in the building that houses Exterior, seemingly coordinating her actions with Baba Yoshio while members of her clique continue to stall Mikoto's attempts to uncover her plots. However, it is later revealed to be a misunderstanding. Yoshio has mistaken Misaka 10032 for Misaka Mikoto in attempt to leash her as she might attempt to interfere with the mission they were given after her intrusion in the Level 6 Shift. Keitz and Misaki comes upon the clone and tells her how she was injected with a nanodevice, as such the antivirus software for her would not be able to heal her. Misaki says that if it is a danger to her life, she might be forced to ask Misaka Mikoto for help, but Keitz says that the opportunity might allow them to do the first move against their enemy, Kihara Gensei. Misaki later asks about the urban legend website called Auribus oculi fideliores sunt, which was somehow able to monitor her whereabouts within a secret institution in School District 2. Keitz tells her that he has prepared a program that creates dummy sites to bury the website in the web. With that done, Misaki later takes her in to protect her against MEMBER, keeping her inside the secret institution in School District 2.

After the conclusion of Kongou and Baba Yoshio's battle, the former is taken to a hospital, where Mikoto witnesses her serious condition. After that, Misaki's clique members are unable to further stall the furious Railgun. Next, after the appearance of Kouzaku Mitori, seemingly another constituent of MEMBER, it's raised the possibility that Misaki may not be involved with the attack on her friends.

Later, when Keitz is monitoring his program, he discovers that someone was able to break through his setup and reach the website, annoying Misaki and berating him. However, he reveals that he can trace the intruder, to which it reveals that it was from Judgment 177 Branch Office. Seeing that it is Mikoto's interference, Misaki leaves Keitz to meet up with her.

Mikoto finally confronts Misaki. The Mental Out ensures that Misaka 10032 is currently safe in her custody, and directs the Railgun to a truck. Misaki reveals that she abducted 10032 herself after she had been incapacitated to try to keep her safe while searching for the aggressors. Misaki forced information about the Level 6 Shift out of a group of researchers, realizing that Kihara Gensei was behind the plot, and also that he is attempting to exploit the Misaka Network. Moreover, Misaki uses her ability to cut off the means of infecting the Misaka Network through an electrical virus input on an individual Sister, allowing for the Misaka Network not to be taken over once a Sister falls into enemy hands. Misaki tells Mikoto that they are en route to Gensei's hideout to end his schemes. Mikoto asks why Misaki erased her friends' memories of her, at first suggesting that it was Misaki's idea of being considerate by keeping them out of danger. Misaki denies this, stating that it stopped Mikoto from enlisting the aid of her friends and also from forcing her way out of Misaki's clique, and that it was necessary to prevent any variables and irregularities from interfering with her plan. A shocked Mikoto asks why she couldn't have just worked with her from the beginning, pointing out the extent of Kongou's injuries. Misaki says that although what happened to Kongou was unfortunate, it ultimately helped her since it resulted in the destruction of Baba Yoshio's robots, which Misaki had no way of dealing with. An enraged Mikoto demands once again why she did not simply ask for her help, but Misaki states that co-operation and trust are unreliable — it was Mikoto's trust in others, after all, that led to the Radio Noise Project and the Level 6 Shift. Misaki concludes that she has no intention of working with anybody whose mind she cannot read. They are only working together, Misaki says, because of her respect for Mikoto's devotion to her friends and the possibility of finishing the job before Gensei can react. Mikoto says that she doesn't think that she will ever be able to get along with Misaki. Before they are about to begin the assault on Gensei's hideout Mikoto asks why a person like Misaki would help the Sisters, to which the Mental Out says she has no obligation to tell her that much.

The impromptu alliance between the Railgun and Mental Out begins with Mikoto hurrying forward, speeding past her ally. When Misaki doesn't catch up, Mikoto believes that she has been set up since the path they took was straight and there was no way that she could have gotten lost. An exhausted Misaki catches up moments later, chastising Mikoto for losing focus and getting worked up. Mikoto says that she thought she was jogging. Misaki hurriedly responds that Mikoto is simply lighter than her in certain areas and that she is more aerodynamic. Mikoto asks if she is simply out of shape and the two argue heatedly about the importance of athletic abilities and body shapes. They finally decide that they should not be moving together and split up, both Tokiwadai students telling the other not to get in each other's way. Misaki is later seen mind-controlling a group of Gensei's thugs, forcing several to fire on each other while sealing off the rest of the complex to prevent any escape. As the infiltration of Gensei's hideout progresses, Misaki's mental manipulation has completely broken apart the cohesion Gensei's troops as they cannot identify who is friend or foe. Misaki meets up with a disguised Mikoto, making a quip about her outfit as she is escorted by a pair of guards. She says that the building has been sealed off and is then told by a mind controlled guard that Gensei has been captured. Later, Mikoto and Misaki attempt to interrogate a restrained and blindfolded Gensei, but he only utters gibberish. Misaki says that she doesn't need him to talk, she only needs to ask his brain. When she uses her remote on him, she realizes that something is wrong. She grabs Gensei and yanks at his scalp, ripping it apart and revealing that they had only apprehended a disguised minion. Misaki hurries away from the body double and a confused Mikoto — her reading of the body double's mind shows that the real Gensei was a step ahead of Misaki and he quips that she is in the wrong place, and that she "can't protect Exterior like that." She rushes towards Exterior before Gensei can reach it. She tells Mikoto that Gensei might have used the urban legend website that was recently buried into the Internet in order to find it. As the car she is on races towards their destination, they are suddenly stopped by a huge traffic jam. The driver tells her that an Automated bus that exploded yesterday (due to the work of Stiyl Magnus), and since the City pulled out its main transportation for the Festival to find the cause, it caused a traffic jam. Running out of time, Misaki calls out to Exterior, allowing her to control many people for kilometers on end, forcing them to drive out of the way. This event amazes Mikoto, though questions how she was able to pull it off as Misaki begins to reminisce of her past with her ill-fated friend Dolly.

It is revealed in a flashback that Misaki was part of an experiment used to develop her powers further. This involved gathering data on a clone named Dolly—though the only means to do this was by the pretext of befriending her, as Dolly had been traumatized by the loss of a friend in the past due to the latter seeing her disfigured, machine-embedded body (a necessity to keep her alive). However, as Misaki, who Dolly refers to as Mii-chan, begins to spend more time with Dolly she slowly warms up to her. Misaki reveals to Dolly that her powers tend to alienate her at school, hence her ambivalence towards it. Their relationship culminates in Misaki's promise to take Dolly to the ocean when she is released from the institute. Unfortunately, by the time they have become close friends Dolly's condition deteriorates immensely and she is taken away, asking Misaki for her real name just before she leaves her. When Misaki asks a researcher if Dolly's condition will improve and if she will return soon he coldly replies that this will be the last time she sees Dolly, and that the full details are murky at best; he explains to a shocked Misaki that Dolly's body had "long since passed its limit", even with Academy City's scientific capabilities. He then states that everything is going according to plan, and that even Dolly was aware of it. Misaki sinks into a stupor at this development and ceases to further any of her curriculum. A researcher passes by to chastise her lack of activity and also to inform her that Dolly has died—Misaki does not react to this at all. Later, the scientists discuss Misaki becoming a problem due to her inactivity and her negativity over Dolly's death. One scientist in particular notes that "even that girl has human emotions", while another suggests telling Misaki that Dolly was simply a clone to improve her attitude. One researcher explains the significance of the Exterior project and that the Clone Dolly Workshop is the crystallization of our greatest wishes," another adding that the substantial growth of Misaki's power will soon render their mental guard helmets useless, and finally that the truth of the project will be impossible to hide at that point. The other researcher replies that it is not a problem, and a certain figure asks why; he replies that once Exterior is complete, there will be no further use for Shokuhou Misaki and that she can be disposed of when the opportunity presents itself. It is then revealed that Misaki has been among the meeting all along, having brainwashed every single scientist in the project starting with the lower-level researcher they had experimented on earlier, using him to tamper with the other researchers' helmets while she asserted her influence everywhere else.

Misaki notes that she brainwashed everybody related to Exterior before she had entered Tokiwadai Middle School, and that none of them would leak any information even if they were tortured—there should be no way Gensei should have known about Exterior otherwise.

Arriving at the building where Exterior is kept, Misaki notes that her phone doesn't have a signal, to which Mikoto says that there is a powerful jamming signal being emitted in the area. They see the hole into its entrances, and here Mikoto says that she'll be going even if Misaki told her not to. Having no choice, Misaki allows Mikoto to go with her, stating that she might be of need of her powers. They find the building mysteriously bereft of both invaders and the employers needed to maintain Exterior. Mikoto then asks about Exterior after Misaki showed her power back in the jammed highway. Misaki says that officially Exterior allows her power to be amplified, but states that its true purpose is to allow registered users, regardless of being an esper or not, to use her powers. Misaki notes that before Exterior could be used by the researchers’ purposes on brainwashing great men, she took over the project, saying that Mental Out is for people with a pure personality such as hers. Mikoto is unbelieving of Misaki's story. She asks if that is the machine that is referred to by Urban Legend sites as one that produces esper powers, but Misaki just wonders where those rumors come from. Misaki then says that it isn't a machine, and much to her hesitation, allows Mikoto to see what Exterior is a giant brain cut between the two sides inside a tube of liquid. Misaki notes that a part of her cerebral cortex has been taken out, cultivated, and enlarged to create Exterior, much to Mikoto's horror.

Misaki notes on the mysterious circumstances surrounding Gensei's invasion, saying that there is no signs of damage on Exterior as well as no signs in moving it. Mikoto conjectures that Gensei may be planning on using the brain for something, but notes that it will take several days to registration before anyone can use it. Misaki mulls over the facts again, as it would seem fruitless to take over the facility as he cannot use Exterior. Moreover, if he wants to take over the Misaka Network, he needs to get through the protection she has set-up, which requires Gensei to use Exterior. She puts her suspicions behind her and tries to direct where Misaka 10032 is treated. However, Keitz Nokleben is finally able to make contact with her. Misaki asks where he is, to which he says is on the rooftop along with Misaka 10032. Misaki is ecstatic, but Keitz interrupts her, saying that the attackers were a group of skilled special forces and that he may have been led up there in the first place. He tells her to be careful, but Misaki notes on how she has Mikoto there to aid her. Suddenly, something happens with Exterior, and Misaki falls to her knees. Gensei arrives on the roof and quickly stuns Keitz with the power of Mental Out, and later taunts Misaki on the phone regarding one he easily took over, asking her if she heard that rumors, the Level Upper. He is entralled by Mikoto's arrival in the building, saying that it saved him the effort. With Misaki collapsing after Gensei took over her giant brain (Exterior), Misaka Mikoto tries to intercept Gensei up on the roof, leaving Misaki alone as Mikoto quickly becomes the next subject for Gensei's plans to create a Level 6.

Following Mikoto's transformation, Misaki seeks to find Gensei to end this, on her way up to the roof, she sees Touma on the streets and remarks how his timing is always so good, and if it didn't involve her, she's be worried, but since it does involve her, he looks like a Prince. After this, Misaki sends a telepathic message to Touma giving him a very succinct summary of what happened and what he needs to do to save Mikoto, confirming his suspicions that the creature in front of him is really the Number Three. Following this, she heads to the ceiling, where she meets Keitz, noting that Gensei has disappeared, and remarks that only someone with Mental Out can defeat someone with the same ability. At this time she is attacked by the liquid metal humanoid created by Mitori's Liquid Shadow, however she is saved by Kuroko's timely intervention.

After discovering that the puppet is at the maximum control range she has for maintaining control over both the puppes and Mikoto, she has Kuroko teleport both Misaka 10032 and Keitz away to safety, after teleporting them back inside the facility, gives her a briefing with her powers on the likely area where Mitori is hiding and sending her off to find her. She later sees Gensei making his way to release Exterior's controls and she surmises as to why Mitori was trying to capture her and not kill her. With that in mind, she decides to memorize the code for Exterior's limiters and leave no data behind, forcing Gensei to go after her as there is no other alternative. She later uses her powers on herself. She later watches as Gensei easily bypasses the facilities defenses by the powers he gained by using Level Upper unknown number of espers, Multi-Skill, Gensei then reveals that upon reaching level 6 Mikoto will overload and destroy Academy City in the processes as he pins her to a wall with an ice crystal. He then states that by incapacitating her he can bypass the mental blocks she placed on herself to prevent Mental Out being used on her and proceeds to use an unknown power to try do this by asphyxiating her. While doing this he becomes distracted with his Clairvoyance power not only noticing by the arrival of Touma, but also the fact that Sogiita has shown up as well, Misaki takes this opportunity to free herself and escape. As she escapes she comments to herself that with Sogiita now interfering as well Academy City should survive, but still believes that Mikoto will perish. The game of cat and mouse continues as Misaki makes a bluff against Gensei, who sees right through it. However, Misaki tricks him, though using his Multi-Skill ability, specifically the Aero Shooter, allows him to escape the pit that Misaki hidden through the Exterior building's Graviton Panels. After being hit by and downed by Gensei, it is seemingly for Misaki. However, she once again uses the Graviton Panels to appear inexplicably appear at the hole Gensei was going through, trapping his hand. However, her relief only lasts for only a moment as Gensei reveals to her that his hand is merely a prosthetic from one of the times he nearly died when to focused on something else. Gensei says that it is due to his experiments that led to this state. Moreover, Misaki cannot fool him, for he knew that she still had hope when she was running away and had relied too much on her power to read peoples motives. With that Gensei used his Multi-Skill to choke Misaki, making her pass out. He is then able to retrieve the release code. After retrieving his hand, he later senses Mikoto's transforming, something he claims as her "Opening Stage" and then uses the release code to fully open Exterior.

However, unknown to Gensei, Misaki had previously considered how she was unlikely to be able to trap him with the Graviton Panels, whether she actually needed Exterior anymore, the need to heal the Sisters of the virus and that this was likely her last chance to capture Gensei. As such, she had taken a gamble by switching her own concepts of the limiter release code with the self-destruct code. Exterior begins to crumble and Gensei collapses from the backlash. Regaining consciousness, Misaki figures out what she must have done.

She later decides to read Gensei's memories, and later learns from it that Dolly has a little sister that was created at the same time as her. Sometime after both Touma and Gunha successfully got Mikoto back to normal and Kuroko defeating Mitori, Misaki goes down to where Mitori is being held by Kuroko's handcuffs. She tells her she will have her turn herself in but before that she tells her what she knew from reading Gensei's memories. She tells her that Dolly's little sister had Dolly's memories and experiences transferred into her. She tells her that though she isn't Dolly, she just can't let her be, and tells her to come with her. Mitori escapes her bonds and asks why she didn't just use her powers on her instead of explaining things to her. Misaki asks if she needed to use her power, to which Mitori says she didn't. Thus with a mutual understanding, Mitori stands once more to bring an end to the tragedy that has befallen on Dolly.

Misaki first restores Kuroko and the others' memories of her, though modified the events somewhat for them, making them believe that they were out trying to catch terrorists targeting the festival to avoid contradictions. Apparently all to hide the existence of both Exterior and the Sisters from public knowledge, as well as passing along the information on the virus to Heaven Canceller to treat the sisters. Mikoto's not participating in the festival events on the second day was changed as well to that of her eating too much and having her stay in the bathroom all day, much to her chagrin.

Back with Misaki and Mitori, they enter the building where Dolly is kept, Misaki tells her that Dolly perceived her as Mitori, as at the time she still didn't have the ability to manipulate memories. Misaki says that at some point, Dolly noticed that she was a fake, to which Mitori notes that Dolly surprisingly good intuition. Mitori then says thanks as the elevator comes to their intended floor. She says to Misaki that with her at the end of Dolly's life, at least she wasn't alone, and says that was her biggest regret. The door opens to reveal the capsule where the clone of Dolly is kept, and runs up to it. The clone's consciousness wavers until finally it awakens and calls out to Mitori's name at the sight of her.

Misaki is in the shadows observing in the shadows during Dolly and Mitori's tearful reunion. She finally tries to leave. However, Dolly calls out to her, knowing who she is. Misaki tries to play it off, but Dolly says she knows she is Misaki because they are always together in their dreams, and says the time they've spent together is the only memories they both have. Misaki is at loss for words, and then finally, she apologizes to Dolly. With emotions overcoming her, Misaki says that she is sorry for deceiving her, manipulating her memories, and her getting lost in the comfortable lie of being her friend. She says that if she had looked into who "Mi-chan" was then she could've reunited her with Dolly, and if she had known the truth of the experiment she is sure that Dolly wouldn't have died. Misaki says that it is all her fault for selfishly putting herself between the two of them. And then states that she'll do anything to make it up to her.

Then, Dolly with Mitori, come from behind Misaki and embraces her, telling her that she wants her to take her to the beach, let her ride a roller coaster at an amusement park, let her see a hippopotamus at the zoo, ride an airplane, and see an aurora in Finland. She continues on with many more requests, to which Mitori says that it is way too much. But Dolly can only help but laugh. She says, as she leans on Mitori, that if they are all together, anywhere is fine, and asks if they can do that. Hearing this, Misaki says that Dolly still ignores what everyone says and force her opinion on them. She turns to them to reveal the tears upon her face and says that Dolly is selfish and that there's no arguing with her.

Toaru Kagaku no Railgun OVA 01
Not actually appearing in person per se, but she is referenced by Shirai Kuroko in the final moments of the first Toaru Kagaku no Railgun OVA, where she states that there are two Level 5s in Tokiwadai Middle School.

Mental Out
Her ability is Mental Out (心理掌握 (メンタルアウト) ), a very powerful ability involving the human mind which includes mental control, reading other people's memories, telepathy, changing a person's personality, willpower and memory destruction, reveleation and transplantation of emotions, brainwashing, and psychometry.

Her powers (and that of Mitsuari Ayu's Mental Stinger) are derived from her control of the secretion of chemicals in the target's brain via the control of blood distribution, cerebrospinal fluid, and others, in the brain. Instead of controlling bio-electricity directly, she changes its conductive efficiency by controlling the fluid that acts as a catalyst for the electricity to flow through. Furthermore, Misaki's method of reading minds without relying on another person's brain is likely also related to moisture.

Her power allows her to prevent the use of powers, movement, and even sense of pain of other people using the remote. Also, unique to the power is that some of the people that have been tampered and controlled by Shokuhou display star markings (Misaki's eyes have stars on them) on one or both their eyes. She can take-over a person and use their body to interact with other people in long distance. She has the ability to control up to 10-14 people at once using her full power. She can also control large number of people, up to triple digit, but she can only give them simple commands. Using her powers, she was able to give preset commands to each student of all five schools in the School Garden, and is able to switch between them constantly if she needs to. In addition, she can remove people's memory just by touching them. She is also able to use her ability on herself and apply mental blocks to prevent Mental Out being used against her, though these blocks only work while she is conscious. She can even use her ability to swap out concepts, like the concepts of limiter release code and self-destruct code, in people's minds, as she did on herself to trick Gensei. Outside of the human mind, Misaki can make use of her powers to recall an object's residual memory like a form of Psychometry. Misaki touches an object with her bare hand, and then presses a remote control on herself to extract its memories. She can extract memories from an object from the past 24 hours. She can use the same application on herself even extracting her memories of the past year.

As one of her personal rules Misaki divided up her esper ability in preset "categories" to make it easier to use These "categories" are often used for specifics applications or simple commands. Likely to better concentrate and control her powers, Misaki speaks the word "Category" followed by a number and then its corresponding application when using one. Seemingly, a "category" can have more than one corresponding application and targets and conditions can be slightly modified at the moment. Misaki's "categories" include, but are not limited to:


 * Category 005: Locates a mental ‘bomb’ set in the indicated individual.
 * Category 011: The indicated individual must answer accurately to all questions. (Misaki uses a television remote for this)
 * Category 030: Leaves the indicated individual unconscious for twenty-four hours.
 * Category 044: Extracts the past twenty-four hours'/year’s memories from the object Shokuhou Misaki touches with her bare right hand. (Misaki uses a digital recorder remote for this)
 * Category 081: Can make the targeted individual believe that Shokuhou Misaki is their target and that she is the person standing next to them, or can designate Shokuhou Misaki as the target's "Direct Superior A". (Misaki uses a television remote for this)
 * Category 109: The target recognizes Shokuhou Misaki as their ally and immediately eliminates anyone who attacks her. (Misaki uses a television remote for this)
 * Category 220: The target becomes afraid of sailor uniforms and wants to eliminate said uniforms if any get near them. (Misaki uses a television remote for this)
 * Category 330: Prevents the indicated individual from detecting the passage of time for sixty minutes. (Misaki uses an audio set remote and spins the volume dial with her thumb for this)
 * Category 401: Returns the indicated individual’s mind to its state just before a mental ‘bomb’ activated.

Through the use of Exterior, Misaki can increase her reach and the number of people she can control. In the first instance the audience sees her use it, she forces kilometers wide of drivers to move out of the way in order for their car to drive through. She still requires the usage of a remote controller to do this however. After Exterior's destruction, she cannot access it anymore.

Finally, as she still manipulates moisture, it is likely possible that under certain circumstances such as extreme anger, her ability can go out of control and cause an explosive phenomenon similar to freeze-drying that creates a territory that can cause any living being within it to crumble like dried paper mache. This was displayed by Mitsuari Ayu after her breakdown, and since Misaki is a Level 5, the phenomenon occurring may be much more powerful for her.

Drawbacks
There is most likely a limit to the number of people she can control. Her powers apparently have so many applications that she does not have a stable control of it unless she creates "boundaries" for herself. Repeatedly, Misaki is shown to use a remote to use her powers. According to Toaru Kagaku no Railgun's editor, Misaki's powers has too high a degree of freedom, so she uses a remote to provide a basis to control her powers. She does not have a single remote. She uses different remotes depending on what type of power she wishes to use. The bag she carries around is filled with many different remotes. It is possible for her to use her powers without a remote, but it is very difficult, so she generally prefers not to as it has a too high degree of freedom. This is backed up by the fact that Rensa, the cyborg which can mimic the powers of all Level 5s except the 7th ranked one, is forced to dumpster dive for a television remote for her to use her powers against Touma. The fact that she tried to use a television remote taken from the trash, implies that Misaki can use any sort of remote control, even things like a Wii remote control. Moreover, Misaki apparently uses different kinds of remotes depending on her intentions, like using digital recorder remote controller to extract residual memories of an object.

Because of the fact that she controls electricity indirectly through the brain's bio-fluids, Misaki has problems against espers that can directly manipulate their bio-electricity, such as Electromasters. The most celebrated example of this is Misaki's powers being used against Misaka Mikoto, the 3rd-ranked Level 5. Her electromagnetic barrier surrounding her body prevents Misaki from using her powers on her. Despite this, Misaki can force her powers through an Electromaster's defenses by raising her power. This either indicates her using Exterior or her having a higher power level than her target. Regardless, Misaki was able to penetrate Misaka 10032's mind, and through her, provide a multi-layered protection on the Misaka Network against electric viruses.

Finally, Misaki cannot control animals or anything that is not human. This is seen when she is desperately trying to get escaped zoo animals off of her and resorts to controlling a hero to save herself by shooting ice at the animal that had pounced on her.

Other abilities
Misaki is very intelligent and a skilled tactician. She is able to predict how a large number of people will react and to make plan to counter or use them to her advantage. This is exemplified when she helped Touma to get around the School Garden, as she was able to keep everybody from realizing who he was by dressing him with an Anti-Skill uniform and to quickly make everybody focus on something else, and when she outwitted a brilliant mind as Kihara Gensei using bluffs and taking double-edged gambles, like to manipulate her own mind, to deceive him, leading him to self-defeat.

She also possesses a good haptic memory, being able to memorize and select the remote she want by touch alone.

Kamijou Touma
Due to their past relationship, Touma is someone whom Misaki seems to trust implicitly. Even with the mention of magic, Misaki completely believed him and aided him in his situation when required. She also likes to tease him a little in a similar way to Mikoto and implies that she knew him before his memory loss. She was genuinely happy with the arrival of Touma in the Daihaseisai incident, and mentioned that if she was not involved, she would have been very jealous. She also does not hesitate to take an opportunity to flirt with him, having no qualms about doing so even in serious situations and even doing so while using another girl's body.

She has some knowledge of Imagine Breaker, including how to send Touma a mental message without him negating it. Despite this, Misaki has made a personal rule that she would never use Mental Out to look into Touma's mind.

She is in love with Touma, calling him both a prince and a hero, and even still keeping with her the whistle that he gave to her. Indeed, despite the fact that Touma will always forget her due to his brain damage, Misaki still hopes that he will remember her eventually. Misaki is also the first and currently the only girl to have kissed Touma on her own, though only on his forehead.

Misaka Mikoto
Likely due to their similar circumstances in meeting Touma, among other factors like her resemblance to Dolly and the fact that she can't read her mind, Misaki dislikes Mikoto. Both are the exact opposites of each other, but unlike Mikoto who wants to avoid her altogether, she comes to her by choice to tease her and can go to the extent of using her Mental Out ability. Despite that, she does trust Mikoto enough to tell her of some of her secrets and indirectly ask for her aid.

Kumokawa Seria
Misaki and Seria seem to have a rivalry. This could stem from how similar they are to each other, and the fact that they both have a history with Touma. In spite of this, Misaki respects Seria's skills, noting that she is the only one who can stand an equal footing with her when it comes to the brain, despite not having a mental esper power.

Design evolution
Haimura was told that there was going to be a meeting that would decide her character for her appearance in the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga. Haimura's first draft of her design was drawn without thought and before he was given instructions and descriptions on what Misaki would look like, other than that she was designed to look like a shoujo character that will not stand out when mixed in a group of characters. After the meeting that decided her character, the draft of Misaki with the blonde hair was chosen and Haimura later finished the overall look of her character.

For her bag, Haimura first designed the bag with many stars, and later realizing that it was too cluttered, simplified it.

Trivia

 * Along with the 6th Level 5, her identity was one of the most speculated in the series by the fandom. This was brought on by both series' characters referencing her, and Mikoto's apparent lack of trust towards her.
 * In a deck of playing cards, the ace is two levels higher than the queen. Though possibly a coincidence, this is portrayed by how Mikoto (The Ace of Tokiwadai) is ranked two above Misaki (The Queen of Tokiwadai).
 * Based on the events in NT 7th novel, Misaki probably knows the identity of Number Six. Whether she already met him/her, or has access to the database of Number Six is yet to be determined. She could have also just read the mind of the man who was thought to be the Number Six.

Quotes

 * (Misaki as she is poking Mikoto in the library, from Railgun Chapter 41): "Miiii-saaa-kaaa-saaan!"
 * (Taunting Mikoto about Kongou Mitsuko, ibid): "I heard you were forcing yourself on a transfer student that had no place to belong to... On the surface you're being a wolf, while in the back you're making a secret gang?"
 * (Threating Mikoto and her friends, ibid): "Ah, I see! All I have to do is take Misaka-san's followers with my brainwashing ability.♥"
 * (Talking about the Level 5 demonstration, from Railgun Chapter 43): "Hmm... Just doing it would be fine, but going as a stand-in for Misaka-san just doesn't feel right..."
 * (Misaki commanding her clique, from Railgun Chapter 43): "You guys leave for 15 minutes. Oh, and challenge yourself to eat 20 Éclair as fast as possible during that time.☆"
 * (Talking about her comment remarking on Touma's arrival, from Railgun Chapter 62): "Oh, my, my, my, my!♥ Your Timing ability is a little too convenient. If this had nothing to do with me, I'd be a little disturbed. But... When it's about me you look like a prince. Girls really are selfish."
 * (To Touma, from NT 7): "But you are always like this. Perhaps that is the proper form for our relationship ability. No matter how many times I ask or our paths cross, the answer is always the same. Saying this will probably make you angry just like back then, but perhaps that is my punishment for having this power. After all, these repeated coincidences cannot be explained logically☆"
 * (To Touma, ibid): "“Yes, yes. I believe you. If you say that is the case, then that must be the case."
 * (Misaki using her powers to affect the "heroes", ibid): "Category 109 / Shokuhou Misaki is your ally. Immediately eliminate anyone who attacks her. Category 081 / Your target, Shokuhou Misaki, is the boy standing next to you. Category 220 / You are afraid of sailor uniforms. If any get near you, you want to eliminate them."
 * (To Mikoto regarding Touma, from NT8): "And even if an adult woman isn’t in his strike zone…If I bring in this much variation…He’s sure to like at least one of them☆"
 * (To Mitsuari Ayu about her choice in life, from NT 11): "You are weak, from the moment you could only use your life as an excuse for committing crimes, you insulted that very life. You didn’t notice, you were afraid of noticing, and you went around destroying everything that could make you notice, but you have also crushed your ability to ever gather respect. Even if you managed to reach the position of Level 5."
 * (To Mitsuari Ayu about Touma, from NT 11): "He is my hero. I don’t care how others see him. He can be someone else’s hero too. The authenticity of his righteousness doesn’t matter. But none of that changes his ability to be my personal hero. …So he will come. Even if he has forgotten everything and even if someone else is smiling by his side, just this once, it’s my turn☆"''