Actually if you rewatch the ep. 1 again, the scene where she's being hit in the face while trying to protect a child, you'll become aware of real problem of Saten (actually it was shown to us again in ep. 9 but in a less acute way). It's not like this:
in the world of espers she's powerless, and she wants to get those powers. But rather this one:
she desperately wants to make an impact on the events surrounding her (she experienced several events that were dangerous to people involved in them), she wants to protect those people near her, to save them, but she has no powers to do so. The true conflict behind Saten's character is that
she is Touma without Imagine Breaker. Tbh it's as well may be the main conflict and the main story of the whole series.
Just like Touma, Saten care about everybody, not only about children and cute girls, but about fat and stupid and greedy guy from the 9th ep. too, just like Touma, she's never satisfied with "meh, I tried" or "what could I do" attitude (she returned to those three guys, remember?), just like Touma she's ready to pay exceptionally high, enormous price to save other people, even to risk her own life. But what could she possibly do against Mikoto on that bridge without imagine breaker??? This is her true tragedy.
Btw, somebody already mentioned something like this. Here:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tornado Riku
I suspect that Ruiko and Touma are cousins
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But to me, the issue about does Saten have hidden Imagine Breaker potential inside her or not doesn't seem very important (in fact, the series main conflict's resolution can employ any of these two variants with equal success). What is really important, at least from the "artistic truth" viewpoint (or you can call it "the logic of the work of art"), is the fact that deeply inside Touma and Saten are the same.