Chapter 252

Endeavor asks Natsuo whether he is hurt. Katsuki, swept up in the same embrace, reports that he is fine and asks to be released, while Natsuo notes how hot his father's grip runs. Free at last, Katsuki asks what became of Ending, and Shoto turns up having sealed him in ice, the villain wailing that being stopped by him is the last thing he wanted. Izuku checks the bystanders and calls it a clean win for the three of them. Katsuki reminds Endeavor that they pulled off the assignment handed to them when the Work-Studies began, downing a villain quicker than he could; Endeavor replies that they covered his mistake at the fastest speed available.

Pulling away from him, Natsuo hears his father admit that he stopped in that moment out of fear that saving him would end whatever was left between them. Endeavor says he never intended to neglect Natsuo and Fuyumi, but concedes he dodged responsibility by running from them, and that Toya's fate is his own fault. Natsuo tells him none of it matters. He grew up hearing everything from Toya, he will never forgive him, and by his own reckoning he lacks the kindness Fuyumi and Shoto carry.

Endeavor answers that Natsuo came out here anyway for Fuyumi and Rei, respecting the effort of the sister trying to repair the family he broke, which is kindness enough by his measure. He says the lack of forgiveness is acceptable, because forgiveness is not what he is after, only atonement. In tears, Natsuo says Fuyumi has been happy lately, but every look at his father drags the past back up. Why is he the only one expected to change, and what exactly does atonement look like? Before there is an answer, Ending interrupts, wailing that the arrogant, ferocious flame is fizzling out.

The police arrive and note that Ending used a drug to juice his Quirk, adding that supply of it has been drying up in illicit channels. Untenmaru Kurumada warns him to watch his back, since this is the second attack on him in days, and remarks that society's evil never fades. Endeavor's reply is that the light does not fade either.

Natsuo thanks Izuku and Katsuki and asks Katsuki for his Hero Name. Izuku guesses it is simply Bakugo, which Katsuki rejects: he has picked one, and he refuses to say it, because someone else gets to hear it first. Watching, Endeavor thinks about how good Hawks' eye really is.

Home again, Fuyumi frets over the attack, and Natsuo tells her Shoto and his friends handled it. Endeavor reminds her of the home she has been building for their mother to come back to, and admits she is all he has had to lean on. He intends to put up a new house somewhere more convenient, for her and Natsuo, where Rei can be welcomed home. Asked what he plans for himself, he says he will keep the old abode and live there alone, having worked out that the only useful thing he can offer his family is his own absence.

The police take Ending into custody after the students subdue him, and confirm his use of Trigger.

Katsuki reveals he has settled on a Hero Name but will not share it yet, since there is a particular person he wants to tell first. Endeavor tells Natsuo that forgiveness is not the goal and atonement is, then informs Fuyumi that a new home is coming for her, Natsuo and Rei, while he stays behind alone in the old one.

Thirteen pages long, the chapter closes out both the Hero Work-Studies: Round 2 stretch and the Endeavor Agency vs. Ending fight. It sits in volume 26 within the Endeavor Agency arc.

Release fell on December 2, 2019, in issue 1 of the 2020 Weekly Shonen Jump run. Natsuo, Endeavor and Katsuki share the cover. Chapter 251 comes before it, Chapter 253 after, and Episode 106 adapts it. Horikoshi used his author comment to say he was looking forward to the Spider-Man: Noir limited series due the following year.