Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S Episode 17

is the seventeenth episode of the second season of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun anime adaption, and the 41st episode overall. It was broadcasted on August 2, 2013. The screenplay was written by Tsuchiya Michihiro, storyboarded by Sayama Kiyoko, and directed by Ikehata Takashi. Its animation was co-directed by Fujibe Ikuma and Moroishi Kouta.

The right fist of the "weakest" has brought an end to the incident surrounding Mikoto's clones, the Sisters, and peaceful everyday life has returned. Mikoto and Kuroko slip past the strict dorm leader's inspection to gain permission to leave. They want to participate in the study group (which is actually a nabe party) being held in Saten's room. This is a plan for Mikoto to make up for her recent neglect of Kuroko and the others. Until they meet up that evening, Saten, Uiharu, and Kuroko enjoy their free time separately. Meanwhile, Mikoto visits the frog-faced doctor's hospital the Sisters are staying at.

Synopsis
Mikoto submits a request to Tokiwadai's Dormitory Supervisor regarding staying outside of the dormitory or extended periods, and the supervisor finds a lot of things odd about it: Kuroko had already submitted hers, bearing the same reason — "studying with friends" — and there is still the fact that the two have committed some curfew violations themselves. Fortunately for Mikoto, the supervisor has considered her mention of her friends of other schools and the approaching end of summer vacation as a valid reason...

...However, she reminds Mikoto under her sharp gaze about the repercussions of arriving even a minute late from the approved time.

Uiharu relays the good news to Ruiko, who is busy cleaning up her apartment unit. Ruiko is happy to hear the news, knowing that this is her chance to ask Mikoto about who got her homemade cookies. Uiharu is unsure if Mikoto even gave it to a boy in the first place, but Ruiko trusted her hunch after remembering how Mikoto was flustered just thinking about the reasons why those cookies had to be baked outside Tokiwadai's dormitory. On the other hand, Ruiko's relieved that Mikoto is back to her old, cheerful self after everything that had happened. Seeing Mikoto's face go all red as she fumbles at the mention of the word "boyfriend" sends Saten tingling all over.

After telling news about Mikoto, Uiharu tells Ruiko that she and Kuroko will drop by as soon as Judgment work is done, while Erii would be going late due to running some errands. Uiharu soon ends her call, when she meets Kuroko on her way.

Back in Tokiwadai's dormitory, Mikoto is served breakfast by Tsuchimikado Maika, who remarks that she is slacking again, to which Mikoto denies. Maika then mentions that Kuroko has been eating breakfast alone since she started skipping breakfast at the dormitory. Mikoto, with an expression of guilt, confirms Maika's statement.

Kuroko soon continues her patrolling across Academy City, and feeling the emptiness of the alleyways makes her remember how the cash card incidents had ended, reverting the bustle of the alleyways back into dark and empty paths taken by no one. She then meets the group of kids who are clumped around a patch of ground filled with four-leaf clovers. After Kuroko reminds the kids of curfew time, the children return to their search of clovers, where one girl even picked up a five-leaf clover.

Once more, Kuroko remarks at the peacefulness of the metropolis.

Meanwhile, Uiharu toils at her summer break homework and is struggling at what book to review as part of her homework. To make things worse for her, she is also monitoring the server of Sakugawa Middle School's official newspaper, which has been threatened by hackers recently. Uiharu doesn't seem to make it as threatening as it looks; after watching another hacker break through the server's layer of defense, she decides to report to IP address of the hacker to Anti-Skill before returning to her summer break homework.

Konori Mii decides to offer Uiharu some help, but the latter demanded on something else instead: a supermarket with a good selection of merchandise in preparation for the study session in Ruiko's place.

Kuroko returns to the School Garden to shop some ingredients for the study session as well. On her way, she is joined by Kongou Mitsuko. Kuroko is rather annoyed by her presence and tries to shake her off, but the stubborn Kongou refuses to be left behind. Much to Kuroko's chagrin, Mitsuko takes her to a pet shop, where the latter bought some dead rats for her pet Ekaterina.

Mikoto, on the other hand, takes the chance to visit her "sisters" once more.

The "frog-faced doctor" warmly welcomes Mikoto to his hospital and delivers mostly positive news regarding her clones' recovery. However, he tells some bad news in the case of the Misaka clones' lifespan. Due to their accelerated growth, as well as the tendency of somatic-cell clones to have shorter lifespans, and the frog-faced doctor estimates that the clones have only one to two years of life left.

However, the frog-faced doctor reveals that there may still be hope. By making necessary adjustments to particular aspects of the clones' body composition, their small lifespans may be further extended. For this reason, he recommends the clones to be sent to various Academy City-affiliated laboratories across the world to research on a viable method for those adjustments.

The news from the frog-faced doctor has relieved Mikoto enough. But now, she has some shopping errands to do, especially with the study session coming near.

After some quick shopping, Mikoto goes to a branch of Joseph's, hoping that Kuroko hasn't left ahead of her. To her shock, however, she sees her enemies from several days ago, Frenda and Mugino Shizuri from ITEM. As Mugino sighs at the sight of a "rich, spoiled girl" in a family restaurant, Frenda reminds Mikoto about the outcome of their last fight. But, this worsens Mugino's already dismal mood as she recalls how she and Frenda lost because of her own devices.

Soon enough, Kuroko appears to quiet down a simmering argument and, to her shock, Mikoto is involved somehow. Kuroko proceeds to scold Mikoto about causing a stir in a public place, but Frenda ends up badmouthing Kuroko, causing the Teleporter to slowly lose her temper.

Eventually, their fight becomes a bragging contest of who has the better companion, and as their "subordinates" begin to expose their most embarrassing traits, Mikoto and Mugino end up punishing them.

As an embarrassed Mugino storms out of the family restaurant, Mikoto and Kuroko head to Ruiko's place. Ruiko prepares a mini-stove, a clay pot and some cups for a hot pot feast. Mikoto shocks Ruiko and Uiharu with several kilos of premium beef cuts. Uiharu brings some summertime vegetables. Then, Kuroko presents her rather exotic choice for a hot pot ingredient: soft-shelled turtle, complete with a fresh turtle blood cocktail as an aphrodisiac.

Mikoto outright rejects the turtle blood drink and instead adds the turtle meat to the hot pot.

Fortunately, it seems that Kuroko's present to the hot pot feast is enjoyed by the girls, and the hot pot turns out to be quite filling for everyone, although Erii has yet to come.

Uiharu comments that their hot pot ended up more delicious with friends, and Ruiko agrees, thinking that there are some things that taste better when prepared on-the-spot... especially cookies. The rather unexpected reminder of those homemade cookies made Mikoto spit out her food, her cheeks flustered as she began fumbling over the hot pot. Ruiko just looks on in satisfaction as she sees Mikoto's embarrassed face.

Soon, Erii shows up just before sunset and joins in on the hot pot, bringing along some udon to finish up the meal. Minutes later, the rest get to wonder what to do with the poor turtle's shell while they end the dine-out with Erii's udon noodles. Throughout the night, Kuroko still pleads Mikoto to take even a single sip of that exotic aphrodisiac cocktail.

Mikoto and Kuroko return to Tokiwadai's dormitory feeling satisfied about their day with Ruiko, Uiharu and Erii. However, as their extended curfew time approaches, Mikoto urges Kuroko to get going.

Kuroko is pleased that Mikoto is finally back. As Mikoto calls out her name once more, she heads off with her "Onee-sama" to Tokiwadai's dormitory.

Major events

 * Mikoto meets Mugino Shizuri and Frenda Seivelun again.
 * Kuroko meets Shizuri and Frenda, arguing with the latter.

Adapted from
Most of this episode is an anime original, though features adapted content:
 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 039
 * Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 040

Characters

 * Tokiwadai Dorm Supervisor
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Tsuchimikado Maika (cameo)
 * Minori
 * Konori Mii
 * Kongou Mitsuko
 * Ekaterina
 * Misaka 10032's cat
 * Heaven Canceller
 * Misaka 10032
 * Mugino Shizuri
 * Frenda Seivelun
 * Haruue Erii

New Characters
No new characters were introduced during this episode

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * Tokiwadai Dormitory
 * Saten Residence
 * School Garden
 * Judgment 177 Branch Office
 * Heaven Canceller's Hospital
 * Joseph's Coffee and Restaurant

New Locations

 * Horus Pet Shop

Trivia

 * Mii referenced Kazari as the Goalkeeper during this episode.
 * Kuroko replaces Mikoto as the one that accompanies Mitsuko to the Horus Pet Salon to buy some food for Ekaterina.
 * The segment where Kuroko and Frenda argue which of their Level 5 acquaintances is better is taken from an omake 4koma from the 5th Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Volume.
 * Both the OP and ED, sister's noise and Grow Slowly respectively, are replaced by their new counterparts during this episode.
 * In initial airings of the the TV version, the preview for the next episode is replaced by a preview for Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie: Miracle of Endymion, later airings have some stations use the proper preview episode preview instead.

Referbacks

 * The homecooked cookies that Mikoto tries to give to Touma back in the previous episode is referenced twice in this episode.

Animation Trivia

 * For the entirety of her appearance during this episode, Maika's face is obscured.

Unanswered Questions

 * Why does Kazari act strange when asked about Erii's whereabouts?