Chapter 431

Ochaco stands in a field while Himiko begins to speak, then wakes at her desk with the dream gone. Later she and Tsuyu host The Big 3 for a Quirk Counselling session: Lemillion, currently ranked first, Nejire Chan at seventh, and Suneater at eighteenth while working as Fat Gum's sidekick. Communication is the whole job, she explains, since children carry problems large and small, so the approach is friendliness sustained until they choose to open up. Suneater asks whether it wears her down. It does not, partly because Hawks has been pushing Quirk education forward with the Ministry of Education through the Hero Public Safety Commission. Asked about personal time, she is interrupted by a swarm of thrilled children, and Lemillion whips them up by hanging in a tree and daring them to hit his backside with their Quirks. A nervous boy named Ooshima gets there with a lift from Zero Gravity and takes the applause. Ochaco tells Suneater she carries plenty of responsibility but loves watching people be happy, and with Tsuyu at her side, every hour counts as her own.

On the train she admits to Tsuyu that Himiko has appeared in her dreams repeatedly this past month, always erased by morning, and the doctors found nothing. Her theory is that Himiko is trying to reach her, since the blood Himiko gave up to save her may have mixed in and left a piece of her behind, the way One For All carried its own. Tsuyu tells her the answer is simply to remember the dream.

Katsuki drives Izuku and Eijiro to the dinner in his new car, complaining about chauffeur duty while Eijiro points out he had already agreed and is plainly delighted to show off the vehicle. Katsuki insists he only came because Eijiro threatened to punch holes in the roof, and Eijiro answers that the Dynamight he knows fears nothing. Izuku's remarks about the back seat go unheard. Eijiro, newly solo, asks whether any of Izuku's students would suit him as sidekicks, and the talk turns to how many classmates went independent years earlier. Katsuki drew a mountain of sidekick applications on the strength of his fight with All For One, and his personality drove every one of them off. He would have taken anyone who came to surpass him, he says. Izuku spots the All Might trading card on Katsuki's keychain, autographed by the man himself. Asked about teaching, Izuku says he will continue, gathering suit data on days off the way Aizawa once did, with lectures and seminars elsewhere giving him more chances to pass his experience on. The suit made him happy, but nothing fundamental changed, and he believes he would have taught even with One For All intact. He thanks them both for a life containing all the work he loves. Eijiro reveals Katsuki was angling to recruit him, and Izuku declines flatly. Katsuki's parting shot lands sideways: think more of yourself, or you will miss the obvious, because treating everybody as special means nobody is.

At the restaurant, former Class A celebrates Shoto reaching Number 2 in the Hero Billboard Chart JP standings. They compare rankings, tease each other's placements, and argue about what the charts even mean now. Rikido is amazed everyone could gather at all, and Mashirao credits the villain count falling every year. Fumikage, considering the heroes old and new still in the fight, suspects the profession is headed for extinction. Shoto reflects on being told he beat a cruel fate, decides that even inside a larger story he would fight his way to this same point, and announces he is taking bowl and chopstick classes in Ichikawa so he can eat soba off things he made. Praying at Toya's altar showed him he has always loved eating, and free time has revealed there is more he wants than heroism alone. Toru reveals Shihai and Kinoko are dating, which prompts Hanta to needle Denki and Kyoka about their neighboring agencies, a coincidence they laugh off. Izuku turns everything over, his dreams, Tomura's instruction to do his best, and finds his eyes drifting toward Ochaco, right as an alert about a criminal's rampaging Quirk sends them all out together.

They wrap it fast, the culprit citing a sudden impulse, Tenya relieved it went no further, and Eijiro noting that whatever Fumikage predicts, heroes are not out of work yet. The group splits for the night. Izuku invites Katsuki to guest teach sometime, Mina asks to see the car, and Eijiro and Denki head the same direction, the three of them trailing behind singing about it. Katsuki's line about special treatment keeps circling in Izuku's head. Ochaco parts from Tsuyu disappointed she never got to talk to Izuku, remembering the day he called her his hero, still smiling, still wanting more of him. Then she turns and he is there. Himiko's dream words surface at last: she lived exactly as she wanted, and Ochaco has life and love left to spend. Izuku says he respects and loves everyone and always thought that was the end of it, but he has realized he wants more conversations with Ochaco, and more with her generally, going forward. Himiko gives her a push, and a blushing Ochaco runs to an equally red Izuku to tell him the feeling runs both ways as their hands come together.

Ochaco has spent a month dreaming of Himiko and believes she is being told something, possibly because the blood transfusion left Himiko's spirit connected to her. Katsuki is revealed to have gotten All Might's autograph on a trading card, and he tries to recruit Izuku to his agency without asking directly. Izuku commits to teaching while working part time as a hero.

Former Class A reunites to mark Shoto reaching Number 2, and where the former students landed, along with much of the Pro Hero field, is laid out, including Hitoshi's hero name, NightHide. Toya is confirmed to have died at some point during the eight-year gap.

Izuku recognizes his feelings for Ochaco and seeks her out. Ochaco grasps that Himiko has been urging her to act, and the two of them step into a relationship as the series ends.

Numbered 431, this is the final chapter of Horikoshi's series and the only main chapter that never appeared in weekly serialization, released December 4, 2024 as an extended epilogue exclusive to volume 42. At 38 pages, only Chapter 1 runs longer, against a series average closer to 15 to 19 pages. Episode 171 adapts it, and the cover pairs Himiko with Ochaco.

Trivia records that a back cover glimpsed on page 22 displays the Japanese ISBN belonging to Volume 19.