Chapter 266

Hawks uses his feathers to haul himself and Twice clear of Dabi's blast. Dabi, irritated, notes that the hero's weapons are badly damaged. Hawks points out he nearly cooked Twice, and Dabi replies that he counted on the rescue, since that is what heroes do. Asked whether some slip had given him away, Dabi says flatly that trust never entered into it, not from the first day.

Hawks works out privately that burnt wings mean no flying, but resolves to drag Twice clear of the area anyway. Twice scrambles off and shouts at Dabi to finish the hero. Dabi lets his flames loose and tells Twice that between them every hero can be wiped out, telling him to cut loose and reinforce the rest. Twice takes him up on it, and the pair slap a high five.

Hawks then appears behind Dabi, having ridden the fire outside in order to come at him from behind. Twice screams at him to move as Dabi speaks the hero's real name aloud: Keigo Takami. The shock buys Twice the seconds he needs to break away, leaving Hawks stuck on how Dabi could possibly know.

Twice sees the fighting below him, Himiko Toga and Mr. Compress being set upon by a hero, and he resolves to reach them rather than waste the kindness they showed him. He starts a clone as Hawks closes on his back, feather blade ready, reflecting that his life so far has been failure, being conned, and being stabbed in the back, a fairly miserable run.

The hero finally catches Himiko and Mr. Compress and tells them their run is over, and Twice's clone drives a knife into his skull from behind, which kills him and spares them both. Mr. Compress urges a retreat into the bunker, and Twice confesses he cannot make more clones, that holding himself together is taking everything he has after hitting the concrete. He apologizes and reveals Hawks' betrayal, then walks to Himiko and produces the handkerchief from the Shie Hassaikai Raid, the one she once pressed on him, and cleans the grime off her face. One more apology follows, and the clone dissolves in her arms, proof the original is dead. Himiko thanks him a final time for saving her.

Twice reflects that in all the years he spent searching for himself, he never made a friend like Himiko Toga, and for that reason he considers the life he had a blessed one. He tells Hawks he has no right to call his own luck bad, because the League made him happy, as happy as he could ever have been.

Keigo Takami is confirmed as the name behind Hawks, and Dabi turns out to know it already.

Twice dies at Hawks' hands.

One of Twice's clones pulls Himiko Toga and Mr. Compress away from a hero before losing cohesion.

The chapter continues the Gunga Mountain Villa Raid and the Hawks vs. Twice and Dabi fight within the Paranormal Liberation War.

Dabi's knowledge of Hawks' civilian name is left unexplained here and becomes a thread the following chapter pulls on.

Horikoshi's author comment notes that he has been enjoying the act of drawing more than ever lately and wants to get better at it.