Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 146

Scandal (醜聞) is the 146th chapter of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series, released on May 26th 2023 in Monthly Comic Dengeki Daioh.

Major Events

 * The day after the theatre fire, Mikoto is approached by an unscrupulous reporter who exploits her unawareness of vulgar slang to record a potentially scandalous exchange, to her embarrassment and fury afterwards once Kessai informs her of the slang and what it means. After knocking out the worked-up and vengeful Mikoto, Ruri drags her off with Kessai, intending to use compromising information on the publisher to stop the interview's publication.
 * Meanwhile, Shokuhou is embarrassed at having to be rescued after all she said in rallying the students during the fire and imagines that she'll be a laughing stock at school, but finds she has gained unexpected popularity among those who witnessed her actions.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Kessai Kiyoshi
 * Shin'enkouji Rurikakesu
 * Mibuki Kazan
 * Hokaze Junko
 * Shokuhou Misaki

New Characters

 * Reporter

Abilities

 * Electromaster (Railgun-variant) - Misaka Mikoto, Level 5

Locations

 * Academy City
 * School District 7
 * Vending Machine 7116
 * Tokiwadai Middle

Referbacks

 * The six girls at the end of the chapter were together at the end of the last chapter, witnessing Shokuhou being carried after risking herself trying to rescue the cat Midinette in the burning theatre.
 * The first girl to approach Shokuhou and one of the girls in the group at the end of the chapter are the two girls who were shown to be intimidated by Shokuhou at the theatre before the fire.

Cultural References

 * "Weekly Bunshu" (週刊文秋) is a parody of Shūkan Bunshun (週刊文春), a Japanese weekly news magazine, known for its investigative journalism.
 * When Shokuhou is imagining what people are probably saying about her after yelling at the students only to need rescuing herself covered in soot, is referenced among the imaginary social media posts. The name Cinderella, along with various translations of the nickname and the story's title, comes from how the mistreated girl was often covered in ash or soot from cleaning the fireplace.
 * The is an edible mushroom native to East Asia, which is now cultivated and consumed around the globe. In anime and manga, when a character's eyes become four-pointed stars, sparkling with excitement, desire or ambition, the most common term for that in Japanese is shiitake-me (しいたけ目), literally "shiitake eyes," as in the shiitake mushroom. Shiitake mushroom is commonly served with cross-shaped cuts on its cap as decoration.