Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 142

Charge (突貫) is the 142nd chapter of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series, released on September 27th 2022 in Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh. The second half of the 142nd chapter was released on October 27th 2022.

The chapter was released in 2 parts when serialized in Dengeki Daioh and combined together when compiled for the tankōbon version.

Part 1
With the help of Kessai Kiyoshi's steam, Hasekura Reiri conceals their location and baits the attackers, a pair of persons in unusual-looking suits, to make another attack. However, Hasekura finds no attackers as the steam clears, the pair having been ordered to withdraw. With Sha Danshan's help, they determine through her ability several residual thoughts from the calcium projectile left behind from the attack. One of them is Attachment DarkMatter. Sha also surmises from the relative lack of residual thoughts that the projectile may have not been produced by an esper.

With the help of Asato Kisa's information gathering, they discover an institute within range of the latest attack, the Montgolfier company, which claims to be working on producing esper powers using machines with their own Personal Realities. The intel also reveals an injection of money from an unknown source, a facility in District 10, and the hiring of former Anti-Skill and other combat-trained personnel. Despite the dangers, the Hasekura Clique unanimously agreed to confront Montgolfier, bringing along Shin'enkouji Rurikakesu along with them.

Part 2
A representative of Montgolfier attempts to deal with the members of the Hasekura Clique. However, he is unable to answer the questions related to the difference of the calcium structure in the projectile left behind in the latest attack with the ones produced by Sukezawa Sena or how he is detected to be lying by one of the clique members. Ruri then shows her trump card by revealing that she is a member of Judgment and is holding a search warrant for the company premises, something that Anti-Skill cannot do as their jurisdiction is limited within the Garden. Cornered by the clique, the Montgolfier representative resorts to summoning numerous armed men wearing the same suits as the ones who attacked Hasekura earlier.

As clashes between esper abilities take place within the premises of Montgolfier, another company called Antikythera prepares contingency measures by abandoning Montgolfier and taking their data along with them using Mitarai Ayane's esper ability as a transmitter-receiver.

As the fight inside Montgolfier continues, the men in suits are overwhelmed by the reinforcements brought by the Mikagami Clique and the Sha Clique. Antikythera urges Montgolfier to continue fighting despite the odds against them, hoping to squeeze out as much data from multiple espers from them, unaware that the correspondence has been caught by Hasekura Reiri herself, operating separately from her clique.

Major Events

 * Hasekura Reiri fends off an attack with Kessai Kiyoshi's help. Sha Danshan discovers from the calcium spear left behind by the attackers that it was likely not produced by an esper power.
 * Subsequent investigation led by Asato Kisa reveals that Montgolfier, a company said to be attempting to technologically reproduce esper powers, may be inciting and perpetrating the conflict.
 * After a failed attempt to push back the members of the Hasekura Clique, the representative of Montgolfier launches an attack against the clique members, causing a clash of esper powers between the clique members and armed men in suits capable of using similar powers. Montgolfier's forces are overwhelmed by reinforcements provided by the Mikagami and Sha Cliques.
 * Antikythera, who was funding the operations of Montgolfier, prepares to abandon the company by taking its data with them. This exchange of data is detected by Hasekura Reiri.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Hasekura Reiri
 * Kessai Kiyoshi
 * Sha Danshan
 * Shokuhou Misaki
 * Asato Kisa
 * Mibuki Kazan
 * Yasutoba Suika
 * Amano Ayane
 * Shin'enkouji Rurikakesu
 * Enjou Kasumi
 * Mikagami Nagisa
 * Kadosaka Rina
 * Sukezawa Sena
 * Kazan'in Tsukasa
 * Asakura Olivia Moa
 * Urui Aika
 * Lin Lihua
 * Ouyang Qian
 * Lily

New Characters

 * Mitarai Ayane
 * W. G. Waitley (unnamed)

Abilities

 * Hydrogen Station - Hasekura Reiri, Level 4
 * - Sha Danshan


 * - Enjou Kasumi, Level 3
 * - Yasutoba Suika, Level 3
 * Oil Direction - Mikagami Nagisa, Level 3
 * - Kadosaka Rina, Level 3
 * - Sukezawa Sena, Level 3


 * - Asakura Olivia Moa, Level 3
 * - Urui Aika, Level 4
 * - Lin Lihua, Level 4
 * - Ouyang Qian, Level 4

New Abilities

 * - Mitarai Ayane

Locations

 * Academy City
 * District 7
 * Tokiwadai Middle

New Locations

 * Montgolfier HQ
 * District 10
 * Montgolfier's Testing Facility
 * Antikythera HQ

Trivia

 * Kakine Teitoku is in his present-day position as the #2 Level 5 at this point.

Referbacks

 * The calcium spears that Montgolfier used were designed to be identical to the ones used by Sukezawa Sena, as part of their efforts to instigate and aggravate the clique conflict for data collection. Sukezawa's calcium spears were previously seen during her battle with Yasutoba Suika.
 * The member of Hasekura's clique who uses her ability to show that the man from Montgolfier is lying is Enjou Kasumi's friend, who was with her during her near-altercation with Kazan'in Tsukasa, shortly before the attack by a hidden Montgolfier operative (using a reproduction of Enjou's ribbon control ability, actually used against her in the battle here) which was used to instigate the clique conflict.

Cultural References

 * When Sha mentions Attachment Dark Matter while reading the projectile, Hasekura wonders if it means the space stuff or the Level 5. is a hypothetical form of matter thought to account for approximately 27% of the matter in the universe. Dark matter is called "dark" because it is electromagnetically neutral, which means it does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation and is, therefore, difficult to detect.
 * Montgolfier's name is the family name of the, French aviation pioneers and paper manufacturers, who invented a hot air balloon which launched the first confirmed human piloted ascent in 1783, as well as inventing the self-acting hydraulic ram and a process to manufacture transparent paper.
 * Antikythera's name is derived from the, an Ancient Greek hand-powered , described as the oldest example of an analogue computer.
 * s and s are bone cells. While osteocytes are individual bone cells, osteoblasts are groups of bone cells that work together in the process of bone formation.