Misaka Mikoto/Personality and Relationships

This article details Misaka Mikoto's personality, as well as her relationships with other characters.

Personality
To most people, she is considered a 'proper lady' or ojou-sama (お嬢様). In reality, she's short-tempered, prideful, has an improper attitude with some slightly violent, boyish tendencies (or masculine since she wears boxers and an undershirt), and insecurities, a fact few people know of. Despite this, she is friendly and easygoing, to the point where Saten Ruiko and Uiharu Kazari comment on how they are shocked to find that, compared to other Level 5's, she doesn't look down on lower-level espers at all. This is probably because she was originally a level 1 esper, and became a Level 5 esper through hard work.

She often shows an incredibly immature and selfish side and displays heavy tsundere tendencies when her crush, Touma, insults her. To add to this childishness, she has a soft spot towards cute things, most specifically, Gekota and Kill Bear merchandise, and is easily embarrassed. She likes frog merchandise, but only if it features Gekota. When she realizes that a stuffed animal another person is carrying is just a regular frog, she immediately loses all of her interest in the stuffed animal. She has a very irrational and unexplained fear of bugs, as shown in episode 6 of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun. She can also be slightly hypocritical at times, getting angry at Touma for not calling her by her name despite never once calling him by his. While generally amicable and humble, Misaka is highly individualistic. She often prefers to be solitary and dislikes the idea of being restricted by rules and duties such as those of Judgement and Anti-Skill. She wishes to avoid endangering other people and relies on her powers to try to solve problems on her own, often times despite her better judgment.

She has a keen sense of justice, demonstrated by her frequent involvement in the crime-fighting body, Judgment, and her unshakable resolve. This is shown when she was willing to lose in a fight against Accelerator on the first move, just to prove the Sisters Project was wrong and save the remaining 9969 sisters (the Tree Diagram predicted that she would die in the 185th move). She often goes to Green Mart to read manga for free in her spare time on Mondays and Wednesdays and goes to the bookstore on the 10th of each month. She's also good at playing the violin and teaches Uiharu Kazari how to play in Volume 12 of the Light Novel. Furthermore, according to Shirai Kuroko, Mikoto naturally acts as a leader and becomes the center of attention by everyone, yet she cannot mingle with those people regardless of being the center. She states that Mikoto is at the top and can defeat her enemies, but she cannot avoid making more enemies at the same time. Moreover, she states that the most important to Onee-sama is someone she can feel is on the same level as her.

Mikoto is known for being very intelligent, naturally as she is in Tokiwadai Middle School, a school that is meant to create world-leading talents and thus deals with a very advanced curriculum. Furthermore, she has been shown to be capable of solving problems intended for Kamijou Touma who courses a school grade higher than her, though it should be noted that Kamijou's school doesn't pursue the same academic excellence that Tokiwadai does.

It was shown that Mikoto had intended to take the trial enrollment into Touma's school during the Ichihanaran Festival, which further showed her interest in Touma, though this came to naught as she was interrupted by Shokuhou Misaki.

As of December of the story's first year, following the encounter with the High Priest and a glimpse at what Touma had been facing, Mikoto's pride has been considerably damaged, seeing how far behind she was and feeling she was nothing but a burden to him. At the same time, she is desperate to catch up with Touma and be able to stand on the same stage as him so she could tell him her feelings. This has led to her personality becoming somewhat unstable and developing in a potentially dangerous direction, noted by Mass Murderer Salome and exacerbated by her acquisition of the Anti-Art Attachment.

Misaka Misuzu
Mikoto often comments her mother acts more like a child than she does. This causes their relationship to be slightly antagonistic, as Misuzu's irresponsible demeanor and childish behavior are the polar opposite of her daughter Mikoto's mature and responsible nature, with the latter regularly and openly shouting "shut up, stupid mother" in public and the former frequently teasing her daughter for her lack of "development" (her breasts) and relationship issues.

Despite this, they do love each other dearly, as seen when Mikoto is willing to go shopping with Misuzu for souvenirs and tells her mother to not fall for scams.

Kamijou Touma
Mikoto had a crush on Touma for a long time but only realized that she had fallen in love with him near the end of the Acqua of the Back Arc. Mikoto never calls Touma by his name, only referring to him as "you" or "idiot." Since realizing her feelings, Mikoto has been willing to get involved in Touma's life, trying to rescue him during World War III, and going with him to Hawaii during the Hawaii Invasion Arc, in order to initiate a relationship with him as a couple. However, she backed up when trying to give him a ring she bought. At the end of the Hawaii Invasion Arc, Mikoto tells Touma that she will bear his burdens with him and that he is not alone. Touma was thankful for what Mikoto said, but believed that he could not let her get wrapped up in his problems. When he returns to Academy City and is immediately caught up in another dangerous situation, it has been shown that she has accepted that Touma cannot be held back in his actions, and that she will support him in his endeavors even if they may be dangerous. She refers to it as a sign of being a "good woman," however during the Agitate Halation Arc, she returned to her former outbursting relationship towards him. In the Magic God Othinus Arc, Mikoto confronts Touma on his ideals in protecting Othinus and preserving the "perfect world." Despite his pleas, she doesn't believe his claim that a world without him would erase the sins connected to him, telling Touma not to be bound by meaningless principles, and bear the weight of her future and that of six billion people. With a smile, Mikoto gives Touma an embrace, and shocks him with her power, making him lose consciousness. Regardless of finally beating Touma at his game, Mikoto feels her victory is empty.

Despite Mikoto's desire to help Touma, her short-temper usually leads her to attack him before trying to figure out the situation. This has caused Touma to avoid seeing her since she ends up making things worse for him. While she doesn't hesitate to use her power on him, this is only because she knows he can block it. When he actually does get hurt, she would usually panic about it.

Shirai Kuroko
Shirai Kuroko is Mikoto's roommate and best friend. Because of her high-status Mikoto is alienated by most of Tokiwadai, so she values Kuroko's friendship very much. Kuroko's perverted actions towards her tend to rub her the wrong way (often resulting in the latter shocking Kuroko), she doesn't consider them anything more than an annoyance. But Mikoto does care for Kuroko by saving her from danger. When Awaki seriously hurts Kuroko, Mikoto gets very angry with her, also for getting Kuroko involved with the problem. However, Mikoto is angrier at herself for getting Kuroko involved. This means that Mikoto does care about Kuroko and worries about her.

Misaka 10032
Misaka 10032 is Mikoto's clone, but Mikoto considers her and the other clones to be her younger sisters. She was created from somatic cells taken from her original's hair in order to create a clone of her. Mikoto goes to great lengths to protect 10032, along with the other clones and was willing to die to end the experiment. Mikoto's conscience takes on a lot of personal guilt about starting the experiment, seeing as how she had given her DNA map on her own free will (Granted she did not know the full details of why they needed her DNA map back then.). She does, however, get jealous when 10032 tries to get close to Touma, which is shown more and more as they compete for Touma's affections.

Index
Mikoto considers Index as a rival in love. After their first meeting, both fought over who would stay with Touma. Both know that Touma ends up in situations where he usually saves a girl's life and were angered at him when they found he saved the other girl's life. Also, Mikoto is embarrassed to note that Index knows more about culture than she does. The two usually don't get along when they're with each other, even calling each other names (Short Hair by Index, Silver Sister by Mikoto).

Shokuhou Misaki
Shokuhou Misaki is Mikoto's archrival. Mikoto feels very uncomfortable approaching her and will try her best to avoid her if possible. Shokuhou Misaki represents the opposite of Mikoto (girly, manipulative, suspicious of others, and working from behind the scenes). As such, Mikoto feels a big dislike towards Misaki, and the latter's developed chest only exacerbates things. Despite the animosity between them Mikoto freely admitted that she would have aided Misaki if she had simply just asked for help in the Daihaseisai incident with Exterior. In the recent chapters of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga, it was shown that they're comfortable enough to work alongside each other in investigating Kuriba Ryouko's cyborg experiment and its relation with the Indian Poker cards. Later, as both Mikoto and Shokuhou get more involved with Touma, the two girls seem to socialize with each other in a more peaceful manner.

Meigo Arisa
Arisa first chronologically appears before the "Miracle of Endymion." She apparently meets Mikoto beforehand, and they are apparently friendly with each other enough to have a nice chat.

Mugino Shizuri
Mikoto's first encounter with Mugino was when she was on her mission to destroy one of the last two labs involved in creating the Sisters. Mikoto considers Mugino a deadly adversary to deal with, while the latter is jealous that the former is ranked higher than her.