Chapter 124 (Vigilantes)

Naomasa Tsukauchi comes to the hospital a fortnight after the lockdown ends, carrying more questions than answers. The inquiry, he admits, has barely started. Isolating an entire neighborhood was a tactic nobody in hero society had prepared for, and it slipped through a gap none of them knew existed. He walks through what the record says about Koichi Haimawari: flagged as a fleeing villain, taken in by professionals, then pulled into the fighting anyway. Ordered off the scene, he stayed and absorbed everything the enemy threw at him.

Standing his ground carries a bill. Koichi and the pros held responsible for him both face discipline, and the wreckage left across the city sits on that same ledger. He asks whether prison is waiting. Naomasa offers the one bright spot: not a single civilian died, which the detective is willing to call an achievement. Asked about the scarred man behind all of it, Naomasa says only fragments were recovered, and nothing about them points to a name.

Captain Celebrity shoves past Sansa Tamakawa and into the room, ordering the police to stop grilling his sidekick. Naomasa sighs and calls out his sister, who steps into view. Makoto Tsukauchi announces that Koichi draws a paycheck from Captain Celebrity, which is news to Koichi himself. The hero builds his case cheerfully: all those snacks counted as wages, the kid was on duty throughout the Sky Egg Bombing, and half the neighborhood has watched the two of them patrol together.

Naomasa dismisses the argument as quibbling and asks whether it actually helps anyone. Makoto is certain it does, promising that the Captain Celebrity Corporation will shelter both Koichi and Kazuho Haneyama. Koichi asks after Kazuho immediately. She woke up hollowed out, Makoto says, though she can finally leave her bed, and then wheels her in. Koichi lights up. Kazuho says nothing at all.

Naomasa explains that drugs and mind control from Queen Bee's Quirk made her one more Instant Villain casualty, and that the police want her statement only to clear her, not to charge her. On her way out, Kazuho leaves behind a bag holding the All Might hoodie Koichi draped over her the day he saved her years ago. He does not recognize it and asks where it came from; she says it was simply at her house. He calls it a fine memento now that his crime-fighting days are finished, and Kazuho stiffens. Naomasa likes the sound of retirement.

Makoto starts wheeling her back, talking about somewhere restful once she heals, when Kazuho rises out of the chair and hurries down the hall. Everything she meant to say is still stuck inside her. She calls his name at the doorway and finds him sheepishly modeling the hoodie. He blames the temptation. She dissolves into tears and falls into his arms. Makoto, crying too, asks whether he really learned anything, and Polygraph exposes the lie the instant he tries it. She has Captain Celebrity produce a contract, Koichi signs without knowing what he agreed to, and the hero congratulates himself on riding the current.

Naomasa questions a hospitalized Koichi about the lockdown, confirming that no civilians died despite the destruction and admitting that Number 6 left only unidentifiable remains.

Captain Celebrity and Makoto arrive to claim Koichi as an official sidekick, using that tie to the agency to shield both him and Kazuho from prosecution.

Kazuho returns the All Might hoodie. Koichi swears he is retiring, then pulls it on anyway, and Makoto's Quirk catches the lie. She hands him a contract and he signs it.

Written by Hideyuki Furuhashi and drawn by Betten Court, this is the one hundred twenty-fourth installment of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes. It ran on April 23, 2022, spans nineteen pages, belongs to the Naruhata Lockdown arc, and collects into volume 15 with Koichi on the cover.

Serialization used a different title, Something to Say (言いたいこと, Iitai koto), which was changed to Always Have, Always Will for the volume printing.

Anonymous, Shota Aizawa, Number 6 and Kirihito Kamachi turn up only in flashback, while Bee☆Pop and All Might are mentioned rather than seen.