Episode 171

Ochaco keeps waking from the same dream: a bright, windy clearing, her Hero costume, and Himiko standing there with a soft greeting that never finishes. She has been dozing off over paperwork in her office for about a month, and a doctor Tsuyu recommended found nothing physically wrong and suggested stress. On the train she wonders aloud whether Himiko's blood, the thing that saved her in the war, is somehow still inside her the way One For All left embers behind.

By day, Uravity leads Quirk counselling at an elementary school with Froppy and the Big 3 in tow. She briefs them that communication matters more than any file, that quiet children can carry the most, and that patience beats a schedule. Lemillion obliges the kids by phasing his backside through tree leaves so they can "harvest his peaches," and Uravity floats a nervous boy named Oshima into position to land the winning shot. She notes that the work is sustainable because the support staff and the people leading the cause are genuinely invested, and that Hawks is negotiating funding out of the Ministry of Education, to Mera's exasperation.

Meanwhile Katsuki drives Izuku and Eijiro to a party, complaining the whole way. Eijiro wants a sidekick now that he has gone independent, since Fat Gum warned there are lessons that only arrive when someone is looking to you. Izuku teases Katsuki about applicants fleeing their interviews in tears, and Katsuki says he is holding out for one who says they intend to surpass him. Izuku confirms he is staying at U.A., doing Hero work on the side like their old teachers, and visiting parks, care facilities, and elementary schools to pass on what he learned. Eijiro reveals Katsuki wanted him at his agency and got shot down before he could ask, and Katsuki tells Izuku to think more highly of himself: if everyone is special to him, then nobody is.

The pub is packed with Class A alumni celebrating Shoto's climb to the number two spot. Tenya argues the rankings matter less now that their criteria have been subdivided, and Momo lists philanthropy, education, and social issues as major factors alongside villain and disaster response. Minoru quietly seethes at 108th, Hitoshi remains unranked and unbothered, and Fumikage toasts every generation of Heroes while noting they all work toward a future that no longer needs them.

Shoto admits people keep telling him he overcame a hard fate, which makes him feel like a bit player in someone else's story rather than a man who chose anything. So he has started doing things purely for himself, including a class on making bowls and chopsticks, a decision he reached at Toya's altar after realizing how much he loves eating. Elsewhere in the room, Toru reports that Shihai and Kinoko are dating, and Hanta interrogates Denki about renting the building beside Kyoka's, which Denki insists was nerves about going solo. Izuku, turning Shoto's word over, looks at Ochaco and realizes something.

An alert about carjackers on Scrap Street cuts the party short. Deku, Dynamight, and Ingenium run the van down, Shoto ices it in place, and the pair surrender. Afterward the group settles the tab and disperses. Walking home with Katsuki's words circling, Izuku stops. Ochaco, walking her own way, thinks about being called his Hero, about hiding his Christmas keychain from the girls, and about confessing her crush to Himiko mid-battle, and decides wanting more would be selfish. Then Izuku catches up and tells her that while everyone is special to him, he wants to talk to her more. Remembering the rest of the dream, in which Himiko says she indulged every want and now wants Ochaco to love someone too, Ochaco lets the vestige nudge her forward. She tears up, says she feels the same, and their hands meet as Himiko fades into the crowd.

Chapter 431 is the sole source. Like that chapter, which was published outside the pages of Weekly Shonen Jump, no other main episode aired outside a season's broadcast run.

The adaptation stages Ochaco's doctor visit rather than leaving it as dialogue, and shows Katsuki visibly sparking his Quirk at Izuku and Eijiro while driving. The ranking sequence gains a look at the reigning Top 10 onstage, with the older generation posing for cameras while the newer names stay as stills. Shoto's comic-styled recollection is dropped in favor of showing him praying at Toya's altar.

The carjacking runs considerably longer, with two thieves instead of one and Ingenium, Dynamight, Deku, and Shoto all attacking while the rest hold the street. Billboards for Deku, Dynamight, and Shoto appear behind the final conversation where the manga has only one, Himiko's vestige surfaces in the real world to smile and vanish in the manner of Tomura the episode before, and the credits add the alumni's separate trips home.