Chapter 7 (Vigilantes)

Team Idaten's PITO1 unit tails a reckless speedster tearing along the highway toward the Naruhata Area, a stretch he has already lit up three times by tearing around the loop lane. With civilian traffic confirmed clear ahead, Turbo Hero Ingenium is cleared to pursue. Tensei Ida orders the man to stop; the runner slips him, taunts that catching him means wagering his life, and laughs with his black-tipped tongue out. A kick sends Tensei spinning out of control, and only the airbags he built himself save him while the villain vanishes.

Koichi Haimawari jogs his neighborhood the next morning, free to work his Quirk because the expressway that opened a decade back thinned the population out. He overtakes another runner, grumbling that stopping is the hard part, and is startled when Tensei pulls alongside and keeps him from crashing.

Tensei introduces himself as Ingenium and Koichi reels at meeting a genuine hero. Apologies for the Quirk use are waved off; Tensei is more interested in the braking trouble. Koichi describes a repellent force that pushes him forward, back, sideways and around, which impresses Tensei, since his own younger brother still cannot manage corners. Told that Koichi brakes with his shoe rubber, Tensei diagnoses a usage problem and suggests cancelling momentum by imagining a sharp burst of acceleration the other way. It works on the first honest try.

The fix delights Koichi and the demonstration convinces Tensei that this Quirk matters, since speed decides whether people live. Koichi shrugs the ability off, but Tensei counters and offers a place at his agency, which is built around speed and teamwork. No hero license, Koichi says. Tensei answers that support staff work can run alongside earning the qualification, hands over a business card, and leaves the decision open.

Home again, Koichi cooks fried rice for Knuckleduster, who returns to find him beaming. Kazuho Haneyama explains the scouting; Pop Step notes Pro Heroes hand flyers to anyone breathing, and Knuckleduster bristles at being ranked below Tensei. Koichi simply wanted a respectable person to see something in him.

That evening, five kilometers out from Naruhata, Tensei matches the runner's pace at last. The villain spots the blockade the rest of Team Idaten has thrown up, and while Tensei crashes into it, wings unfurl and the man takes to the air. Team Two moves to intercept the target location, a flying member misses with a net, and the villain touches down and slips past them. Mid-brag about how fast he is, the man is tripped by Koichi gliding out of a side alley, and Knuckleduster's fist puts him out cold. Tensei arrives to find the runner bound and unconscious, and spots The Crawler, Knuckleduster and Pop Step on a rooftop before the vigilantes withdraw. Asked whether to pursue, he calls it a night.

Jogging the following morning, Tensei catches up and thanks Koichi as The Crawler. Koichi denies it. Recovering, Tensei asks him to pass along that it was a good run, then requests his card back, which lands hard. He tells Koichi he has clearly found where he belongs and that raising the job with a jogging partner was a mistake. The card goes back. Tensei apologizes for any hurt and offers a race to the next corner instead.

The Bat Villain outruns and kicks Ingenium off the highway, escaping the first pursuit. Tensei then meets Koichi while jogging, teaches him to brake by countering his own momentum, and scouts him for Team Idaten with an offer of support work while he earns a license.

The evening rematch ends with the villain grounded by The Crawler and knocked out by Knuckleduster before Tensei can close in, and Tensei chooses not to pursue the vigilantes. The next day he all but confirms he knows who Koichi is, takes his card back out of respect for the path Koichi has chosen, and races him instead.

The seventh chapter of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes by Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court runs thirty-five pages in volume two and belongs to the Vigilantes Beginnings arc. It follows Chapter 6+ Beta and leads into Chapter 7.5, with Ingenium and the Bat Villain on the cover.

Bat Villain, Bigshot, Onemu Shinya, Watchbird and Tough Grab all debut here. The chapter originally carried the title Runner and was renamed for the volume release. Episode 4 of the anime adapts it.