Toaru Kagaku no Railgun Manga Chapter 099

"Beginning of Competition" (緒戦) is the 99th chapter of the Toaru Kagaku no Railgun manga series, released on November 27, 2017.

Synopsis
The start of the jailbreak trial is finally announced. As the lead group decides to use the element of speed to conquer the initial hurdles, Mikoto, Kuroko, Uiharu and Saten choose to look over the floor plans of the reformatory and plan their next move. Eventually, they would see the reformatory's security drones use various suppression tools (like rubber shells, electric nets, etc.) to slowly whittle down the number of active participants. A group of thugs, who brought a heavily-modified car to act as a battering ram, would also find themselves on the receiving end of an acoustic weapon deployed near the main gate of the facility.

As more of the acoustic weapons are activated, a girl with the ability to amplify sound disables one of them using a shockwave created by her voice, but has to be rescued by a boy wearing a tanuki mascot head. Meanwhile, more participants are disqualified after falling into a sticky pitfall. Mikoto and the others manage to cross the pitfall by using Kuroko's teleport.

Elsewhere, Kouzaku Mitori, who chooses not to take on the security robots directly, uses a drone to attempt to open the main gate from the inside. However, she discovers that the ducts are also covered by the facility's security protocols, and she is quickly tracked down by one of the security robots. In time, Dolly reveals herself to rescue Mitori and uses a combination of "rails" created from her hair, her powers over electricity, and several screws to destroy the robot.

Major Events

 * The jailbreak trial begins.

Characters
By order of appearance:
 * Misaka Mikoto
 * Shirai Kuroko
 * Uiharu Kazari
 * Saten Ruiko
 * Junta
 * Fusou Ayame
 * Kouzaku Mitori
 * Dolly

New Characters

 * Oumi Shuri
 * Yamashiro Shoubu (unnamed)
 * Raifu (unnamed)

Abilities

 * Teleport - Shirai Kuroko, Level 4
 * Unnamed sound amplification esper ability - Fusou Ayame
 * Electromaster (Radio Noise-variant) - Dolly, Level 3

Locations

 * Academy City
 * 2nd Reformatory (Juvenile Hall)

Trivia

 * Mobile weapons make a return, which have not been used in-universe since the Toaru Majutsu no Index Movie: Miracle of Endymion.
 * Fusou Ayame references buying a truck in this chapter, hence why she joined the Jailbreak Trial as she was later in debt. Later in the timeline, Ayame would later somehow gain 3 more trucks in Shinyaku Toaru Majutsu no Index Light Novel Volume 07.

Referbacks

 * The polearms used by Judgment against STUDY and their Diffusion Ghost controlled Powered Suits as seen in the last episode of Toaru Kagaku no Railgun S.
 * The Indian Poker cards from the previous arc are referenced, apparently now dying off with the card supply cut off.

Cultural references

 * The modified car used by the thugs to ram into the facility is likely a reference to the  franchise.
 * Saten Ruiko makes an exaggerated reaction of disappointment after Kuroko simply teleports her and the others into the facility. This is a reference to the "Nyoro~n", a catchphrase of Churuya-san, the super-deformed version of Tsuruya from , in the 4-pane comic series “Nyoro~n Churuya-san”.

Unanswered Questions

 * Who is the boy in the tanuki mask?

Quotes

 * Fusou Ayame: "Being a hero ain't easy."