Episode 18 (Vigilantes)

Naomasa brings Eraser Head a pattern at Hoppers: weeks of Instant Villain outbreaks share one thread, since every victim was at a mixer alongside female college students. Eraser Head finds the venue obvious, because friendly rooms and drunk patrons make spiking trivial. Handed a spreadsheet of upcoming Naruhata mixers, he declines the assignment as not his scene and passes it to someone better suited.

That someone is Midnight, who parks a van outside with Kazuho as backup. The men attending are the Mad Hatters, so suspicion falls on the two women, especially Rin Yaritezawa, an eyewitness at multiple outbreaks. Kazuho is assigned to occupy the quieter Hina. She only volunteered because Koichi mentioned being invited, which made her jealous enough to spy. The pair go in as "Kaori" and "Kazuha."

The night sours for Rin, who finds the band tedious, resents that she is always the one organizing events for other people, and is furious that two strangers have stolen the room's attention. Drinking heavily, she nearly collapses, and Koichi catches her, hands her a towel, and cheerfully promises to look after her. She blushes. Hina hisses, snatches the towel, and bolts for a stall, where she suckles it obsessively, decides Koichi is trying to seduce her friend, and pulls out a vial.

Back at Hoppers, the group works out that this Trigger differs from the injected version distributed with a Bee Quirk, since victims recall no needle. Naomasa concludes it is being slipped into food and drink. At the mixer, Hina returns in a flashier outfit, wedges herself between Rin and Koichi, insists on serving the drinks herself, and doses every glass with an oral variant while promising herself she will prove all men are shallow. Koichi declines the beer for being underage and the sodas because "Kazuha" claims he hates carbonation, and a server clears the tray before he takes the tea. The Mad Hatters' Quirks go haywire anyway.

Recognizing another Instant Villain outbreak in a poorly ventilated room, Midnight sheds her disguise and floods the pub with her Somnambulist fragrance, dropping every man present. Confronted, Hina tearfully admits her motive was hating that Rin wanted to spend time with men instead of her, reaches for another vial, and is knocked out too. Midnight cradles her and declares herself an ally to wayward young women.

Analysis later shows this batch is weaker and lacks the psychotropic cocktail, suggesting the maker is not chasing Instant Villains, though a safer and more palatable product could spread further. Eraser Head notes Instant Villain cases have fallen since summer's end, replaced by permanently modified opponents like Kirihito, Teruo, and Octoid, and theorizes the outbreaks were a scouting method for the Villain Factory to select test subjects. Hina's interview points back to the Scarred Man, whose bar was cleared out before police arrived, and the new Trigger arrives from elsewhere in Asia in individual packages, meaning someone is importing it personally. Eraser Head's joke about handling it through quieter methods unsettles the room.

In Hong Kong, a grimy figure in a hooded coat gives an outdated password at an apothecary, dislocates a bodyguard's arm when threatened, and is recognized as "Hyper Quadfist," the local name for O'Clock, a Hero supposedly dead after his identity was exposed and his Quirk stolen. He agrees, says that man died long ago, and pulls back his hood as Knuckleduster. Home in Japan, Rapt, Moyuru, and Soga keep Tamao company in the hospital; Soga tunes her guitar and urges her to play while she has time and reason. Knuckleduster arrives, apologizes, asks Soga to stay a while longer, and leaves again, with Tamao telling him to shave first. She plays anyway, and he smiles from the parking lot. He then passes Eizo Tanuma a cigarette carton listing Hong Kong dealers and the Japanese importers among them, warns that anyone with O'Clock's Quirk must be shot to kill or not at all, and offers himself as the outside help the Police Force will need.

Chapters 42, 43, part of 44, and 45 supply the material, keeping the episode in the Team Ups arc. It closes with The Crawler and Pop☆Step circling a locomotive-bodied Next-Level Villain while Knuckleduster watches unseen from a rooftop, reminding himself about the beard.

The mixer infiltration is heavily condensed and reordered. The Hoppers conversation between Naomasa and Eraser Head leads rather than arriving as flashback, Midnight never catches Pop spying and has already recruited her, the Midnight Boys' escort and the introductions are cut, and the plan is laid out in the van instead of a bathroom mid-event. Rin only nearly vomits rather than vomiting, though Hina still sucks the towel, and Hina drugs every drink on delivery instead of starting with Koichi's beer. Midnight, not Koichi, reacts first when the Quirks break loose.

Other trims include the entire Tommy S. Gordon sequence, the argument over whether Octoid counts as a squid or an octopus, and Midnight's report back to Hoppers. Eizo is shown interrogating Hina rather than her being handed the vials by the Scarred Man. The Cantonese conversation persists until Knuckleduster begins revealing himself, and a shot of an injured O'Clock with a broken mask, drawn from later in the manga, is added when the dealer mentions the stolen Quirk.