Chapter 325

Tenya holds Minoru back, judging the moment not theirs, and lets Kota Izumi and the mutant woman reach Izuku first. Kota apologizes through tears for being too frightened to move earlier, says Ochaco's words changed that, and tells him to stop crying because he is here now. The woman lifts Izuku up and explains that shelter after shelter turned her away over her Mutant-type Quirk, which she is glad about, since the rejections landed her at U.A. and back in front of him. The two of them wrap him in a hug.

From the crowd, a man Izuku ran into two years earlier steps out and argues that the boy deserves a hearing. He reminds everyone that the stay is only for rest, and that if a break is needed before returning to the fight, no better place exists, which Nezu confirms from nearby. Someone floats Shiketsu as an alternative and is told the reaction there would be identical. The man goes further: until things fell apart, nobody noticed that civilians were the spectators and heroes the performers on stage. All Might cleared the road everyone admired, and in admiring it they forgot the heart and soul of the man himself. Now the stage is rubble, the glory-seekers have quit, and only the people genuinely trying to repair things remain, so rejecting them leaves nothing, and he asks how long they mean to keep watching.

A vocal boy raises the rumors about a man in rags wielding several Quirks, called a villain by some and a true hero by others, and asks Izuku straight out whether a rest stop at U.A. can return the lives they used to have. Izuku answers with certainty that with everyone standing beside him now, those lives will be restored.

Outside the gates, Ectoplasm asks Shoto, Hawks, and Endeavor whether they caught the speech before letting them through, and says things are steady for the moment. Endeavor grumbles that all they achieved was shifting the load onto Izuku with nothing to show, but Hawks reads it differently: a step was taken. Just as One For All ties hearts to one another, that same binding runs through everyone gathered here, All Might into Izuku, Izuku into his classmates, Ochaco linking him to the rest, and that mutual regard is what leads to a future with room for laughter. As Class 1-A help the civilians and Izuku is walked inside, Shoto tells his father they are doing this together, thinking of Toya's face, and Endeavor agrees.

Nezu calls Shota Aizawa, still in a bed at Central Hospital, minus his right eye and fitted with a prosthetic right leg, to report that his class did well. Asked about Kurogiri, Shota reveals that ever since the discovery, he and the captured Nomu have been quietly transferred into Central Hospital so restorative research can continue. Nothing has gotten through to him yet, though Nezu points out that without Oboro surfacing at all they would have no progress whatsoever, so hope remains. On Himiko, Nezu explains they have measured how much blood she can hold and how long a transformation lasts, so evacuees are admitted only after enough time has passed. With U.A. as their fortress, Shota declares it time for payback. Outside, All Might stands with his back to the school.

The crowd relents and allows Izuku to remain on campus and recover, while starting to recognize their own role as spectators in hero society.

Shota Aizawa is confirmed to have a scarred right eye and a prosthetic replacing his right leg.

Kurogiri and the captured Nomu have quietly been moved into Central Hospital, where restorative research continues, a transfer made possible by Oboro's re-awakening.

Countermeasures against Himiko Toga's Transform are explained, based on her blood capacity and transformation duration.

The man who speaks for Izuku is the one he encountered back in Chapter 1, two years earlier in story time.

Seventeen pages long, the chapter ran in issue 40 of 2021 and belongs to Volume 33, with Izuku Midoriya, Kota Izumi, and the Ordinary Woman on the cover. Episode 137 adapts it, and scenes split between U.A. High School and Central Hospital.

Horikoshi's author comment describes falling asleep to Aoi Yamazaki's "Sabasaba" and dreaming about preparing tuna instead of mackerel.