Chapter 171

La Brava replays one of Gentle Criminal's essays to camera. He runs through the heroes whose light history kept, All Might, Brave, Crimson Riot, then the villains who carved their infamy just as deep, All For One, Destro, the Peerless Thief, before turning to the era that ran ahead of today's system, when the line between the two was still blurred.

She gushes over the footage, then reports on her work: the account was deactivated, so she has been steadily reposting everything starting from the first video. Gentle thanks her for the effort, pours out a cup of tea, and says filming begins once he has drunk it.

The new recording opens with him presenting himself as a man posting his own criminal activity. He explains the J Store job. The shop concealed the expiration dates on Plump Pudding nearing its turn, and when the evidence surfaced the pudding company played dumb and brushed the whole thing off. He is the Chivalrous Thief, and he hands out punishment to those who fail to behave in a gentlemanly fashion.

Once it is posted, La Brava fumes at the numbers: six years as a villain of the media world, a dashing performance, and barely anyone watching. She blames Stain's biographical video for stealing their spotlight, and the League of Villains for holding it. Gentle concedes that violence makes the better spectacle, which is exactly where their styles diverge. Hopping to a rooftop, he scrolls through the abuse in his comments and refuses to be discouraged, because his next project will eclipse anything those two managed. Asked what it is, he says it will happen where the rhetoric of heroes begins.

At U.A., Sekijiro Kan tells Shota Aizawa that Class 1-A's band and dance plan strikes him as admirable. Outside, Katsuki Bakugo overhears General Education students grumbling that his class gets to perform for all of them, and takes their reaction for gall from people who start every conflict themselves.

Back in Heights Alliance, Tenya Ida works the planning. Kyoka Jiro proposes club rock and needs a drummer. Denki Kaminari remembers that Katsuki has played, Hanta Sero backs him up, and Katsuki refuses. Hanta needles him about being unable to, so Katsuki grabs the sticks and plays well enough that Kyoka wants him behind the kit for good. He walks off anyway, uninterested, and takes a swing at the premise: the class is treating the show as stress relief, and people who sicken him have not earned that courtesy. All they are really doing is indulging the rest of the school.

Tenya and Momo Yaoyorozu take the criticism seriously. Shoto Todoroki notes that Katsuki has no standing to condemn a conversation he never joined. Katsuki's answer is that fighting villains is not something anyone does for enjoyment, so they should not stage a show to manage anybody's feelings either; if it happens, it happens for its own sake. He announces that his sound will level everyone at U.A. Half the class is startled that he is in, and Kyoka resolves to match him.

Elsewhere, Gentle names the target: the School Festival. U.A. had its defenses rebuilt after the attacks and stands as the heroes' symbol, so the man who walks into its festival becomes the center of attention.

Gentle and La Brava keep producing videos, scheming to overshadow Stain along with the League of Villains.

Class 1-A settles its band lineup, and Katsuki takes the drums only to show up the students who doubt his class.

Gentle resolves to seize attention by walking uninvited into the School Festival at U.A.

Titled Gentle and La Brava, the chapter runs fifteen pages and appeared on February 19, 2018, in issue 12 of that year. It belongs to volume 19 and the U.A. School Festival arc, with Gentle and La Brava on the cover, and Episode 82 adapts it.

Destro, Oji Harima, Tsutsutaka Agoyamato and Chikuchi Togeike all make their first appearances.

Horikoshi's author comment flags this as likely the most school-flavored arc in the series.