Chapter 74

Smoke Signal is the seventy-fourth chapter of Kōhei Horikoshi's Boku no Hero Academia.

Summary
Shouta takes Denki, Mina, Eijirou, Rikidou and Hanta back into the facility for supplementary lessons, intending to teach them how to conduct themselves during a crisis. Inside, the five remedials of Class 1-A see Neito, who is apparently also in need of supplementary lessons. Before the supplementary lessons can begin, Mandalei uses her Telepathy to contact Shouta, Brad and the remedials and warns them about the villain invasion. Shouta orders Brad to protect the remedial students while he heads outside to protect the students. Shouta is outside the facility and notes that the situation isn’t good. Suddenly, Dabi appears next to Shouta and criticizes Eraserhead form letting his emotions guide his actions. Before Shouta can shout to Brad for help, Dabi smothers Shouta in flames. Dabi warns Shouta to keep his Pro Hero friends out of their way since they are not the targets.

Outside the forest, the sword wielding villain introduces himself as part of the League of Villain’s Vanguard Action Squad while the other villain threatens Pixiebob’s life. Tiger prepares to take action, but the sword wielding villain tells him to back off as Pixiebob’s life is decided by Stain’s word. Tenya wonders if Stain is responsible for this; the sword wielding villain recognizes Tenya as the one who brought Stain’s terror to an end. The sword wielding villain decides to reveal his name which is Spinner. Spinner unravels his sword (a sword clustered together by dozens of bladed weapons) and declares that he is the one who will carry on Stain’s dream. Tiger criticizes the villains for scarring Pixiebob and calls their actions reprehensible; Spinner notes that Heroes don’t have the luxury of a happy life and prepares to attack. Mandalei and Tiger prepare to battle Spinner; Mandalei tells Tiger that she has left the safety of the students in Ragdoll’s hands. Mandalei tells the Class 1-A students to leave and orders Tenya to take the lead. As Tenya leads his classmates away, Izuku tells Tenya to go on ahead as he informs Mandalei about the villains’ objective.

Back in the smoke covered forest,  Kendou carries Yui and Juuzou with her Quirk, trying to find a safe place. Kendou runs into Tetsutetsu and Ibara who are wearing masks. Tetsutetsu informs Kendou that Momo Yaoyorozu was nearby and made masks for them. He also tells Kendou that Awase is leading some of Class 1-A to the Class 1-B safe zone for aid. Tetsutetsu gives Kendou, Yui and Juuzou masks. After Kendou and Yui put their masks on with Yui putting a mask on the unconscious Juuzou, Kendou thinks that they should head back to the facility. However, Tetsutetsu refuses to flee and decides to stay and fight, telling Kendou to take care of Ibara. Kendou questions Tetsutetsu’s actions, to which Tetsutetsu tells Kendou why he has decided to fight; they have known for the longest time that Class 1-A has always been ahead of them because they have been exposed to danger and used that exposure to gain invaluable experience in order to become better Heroes. Tetsutetsu continues to say that they won’t be Heroes if they run away from evil and danger that threatens the lives of others. Tetsutetsu declares that he will expose himself to danger in order to become a Hero and promises to defeat the villains.

Meanwhile, Kouta is confronted by the masked villain. He is communicated by Mandalei who asks him to return to the facility and apologizes for being unable to help him. The masked villain comments on Kouta’s stylish hat and wonders if the boy will trade the hat for the mask he despises. However, Kouta begins running away as the villain takes off his mask. The villain uses his Quirk to jump in front of Kouta. Kouta sees the villain’s face and becomes shocked; Kouta remembers watching the news about the villain who murdered his parents, the Water Horses. The villain has a simple augmenting strength Quirk and his most defining feature is the deep scar across his left eye left by the Water Horse duo. Kouta realizes that the villain (known as Muscular) in front of him is none other than the villain who murdered his parents. Muscular prepares to attack while Kouta cries and becomes immobilized from fear.

Suddenly, Izuku appears and saves Kouta from Muscular attack. Izuku analyses the situation; his phone is broken as a result of tumbling to the ground from saving Kouta and didn’t tell anyone about his location, thus he doesn’t have any way of communicating for backup. Izuku notes that his top priority is to protect Kouta from Muscular since he is the only one standing in the villain’s way. With no other options available, Izuku decides to fight Muscular to protect Kouta. Izuku tells Kouta to not worry because he will save him no matter what; Izuku activates One For All Full Cowl and prepares to fight the villain who murdered Kouta’s parents.