The investigation into the Level Upper leads Kuroko into a fight against a dangerous esper.Kuroko has Mikoto right where she wants her.It seems that the only one Kuroko wants to see stripping is Mikoto... while the two of them are alone.Summary:Kuroko and Mikoto invites researcher Kiyama out for drinks so they can ask her about the Level Upper. Kiyama claims that she doesn't know about the Level Upper but would be glad to help with the matter. The three are then joined by Ruiko and Kazari. Ruiko had originally wanted to show everyone that she had found the Level Upper song, but she decides to keep her mouth shut when Kuroko mentions that the Level Upper has severe side effects. After the meeting, Kuroko and Kazari go off to collect data, but Mikoto notices Ruiko running off. Mikoto catches up to Ruiko and wonders what's wrong, and Ruiko does not provide a real explanation.This is what Kazari gets for not watching her back.Little Ruiko is a lot cuter than the current one.The next day, Ruiko is wondering if she should delete the Level Upper song from her phone when she hears a commotion near some abandoned buildings slated for demolition. Ruiko investigates and discovers that a man is trying to buy the Level Upper from a trio of thugs. The thugs demand that the man pay them more money and proceeds to beat up the man. Ruiko knows that she has no chance against the thugs, but for some reason she decides to intervene anyways. As the leader of the thugs is about to beat up Ruiko, Kuroko arrives on the scene as part of her investigation into the Level Upper. Kuroko quickly beats up the two other thugs, but thug leader is not the least bit intimidated. Kuroko and the thug leader start fighting and Kuroko finds herself unable to hit her opponent. At the same time, Kuroko is also unable to dodge the thug's attack and is kicked into one of the buildings.Nice kick, but terrible teeth.Injured from the kick, Kuroko runs into the building to buy some time, but the thug knows the building layout very well and chases Kuroko up the floors. After a short chase, the thug finally corners Kuroko, but Kuroko is ready for him. Kuroko states that she knows that thug has the power to bend light and therefore obstruct his opponent's sight. Kuroko concedes that she won't be able to hit the thug directly, but instead she is going to teleport mirrors into the support columns and collapse whole building. The thug thinks Kuroko is joking, but soon realizes that Kuroko is serious as the building starts to collapse. At the last possible moment, Kuroko teleports herself and the thug out of the building. Kuroko demands that the thug hand over the Level Upper, and the thug hands over his music player and explains that the Level Upper is an audio file.Went a bit overboard? Really? Just a bit?As the thugs are taken away by the Anti-Skills, Ruiko wanders away from the scene. Ruiko is happy that Kuroko is okay, but at the same time she's feeling down about her own lack of ability when compared to Kuroko. Ruiko then runs into three of her friends who start talking about the Level Upper. At this moment, Ruiko reveals to her friends that she has the Level Upper.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~More developments on the Level Upper story, but there's still a ways to go. This episode mainly featured some more weirdness from Ruiko and the fight between Kuroko and the light-bending thug. The Kuroko fight was one of the parts for which I actually peeked at the manga, and I have to say that I enjoyed the manga fight more because I didn't read what came before or after that part. I don't quite understand why Kuroko had to run inside the building to defeat the thug. Even if Kuroko can't handle the thug in close combat, her teleportation ability would essentially make it impossible for the thug to catch her. She could have then just sniped at the thug while he's not looking instead of having to destroy a whole building. I guess Kuroko thinks she's doing a favor for the demolition crew. I suppose in the regard of collateral damage, Kuroko is still better than Mikoto. The other possible reason for Kuroko to run into the building is so she can have that speech about how she's going to beat the thug. Looks like the speech-itis that we dreaded from Touma and Komoe-sensei has infected Kuroko as well. Anyways, Kuroko know possesses a copy of the Level Upper song, but unfortunately the preview doesn't show Kuroko and Kazari doing anything with the music player.Moving, the other main focus of this episode was Ruiko, who is acting rather strangely. It's not that strange she's hiding the Level Upper from her friends; that's understandable, but it was strange that she tried to play hero despite knowing that she had no chance. Just run to a pay phone to call the cops. Ruiko was slightly out of her mind this episode, and it's gotten to the point where it's becoming hard to sympathize with her. I guess she'll continue descending down that path until she starts listening to the Level Upper.
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