Chapter 75 (Vigilantes)

Letter (手紙) is the seventy-fifth chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's My Hero Academia: Vigilantes.

Summary
The chapter begins with a flashback in which a drunk Iwao Oguro is walking through the dark alleys of Naruhata. Iwao approaches a thug, asking him about who is selling the new drug, and punching him to see his tongue. The thug defends himself and hits Iwao, making him bleed from the nose, but apart from that, the only thing he achieves is angering the vigilante even more, who hits him back again, knocking him down.

At that moment Koichi appears to stop the brawl. He tries to reassure both men by trying to convince them that they can resolve their differences peacefully, but the thug beats him, saying he is the only victim there and walks away angry. Despite the beating and bleeding from the nose, Koichi offers Iwao some tissues for his injuries. Iwao decides to leave without saying anything to him, barely showing his face, and smiling at the boy's good heart. Koichi did not know at that time but he had just met the person who later would be his master Knuckleduster.

Back to the present, Koichi continues reading the letter that Soga gave him. In it, Knuckleduster apologizes for deceiving him about making him a true-blue hero, although he has complete confidence that he will do great. Knuckleduster continues explaining what a hero is: an embodiment of harmony between Quirk and society.

To reflect this, Knuckleduster tells about the story of a hero he “knew” (it's about him when he was O'Clock). Said hero was an efficient one who had dismantled a large number of criminal organizations. However, at the end of the day, he was nothing more than a particularly efficient cog in the machine meant to uphold societal order, and lacked the means to fight back against true evil (Iwao faced All For One, who defeated him and took his Quirk, Overclock, from him).

Knuckleduster continues with the story, saying that most people give up their ideals and let themselves go when confronted with their own helplessness, falling into despair and harming others (after being defeated and losing his Quirk, Iwao fell into a severe depression and started drinking, becoming a violent vigilante to achieve his goals.) However, there is a small percentage that even when faced with misfortune continues preserving their goodness. For Knuckleduster, these people are the true heroes, and Koichi is one of them. Though Koichi doesn't know it, Knuckleduster did not intend to make him a hero after he saved him, as he already is one in Iwao's eyes. His hero.

Knuckleduster knows right now he is facing a serious problem, but he is not worried at all. He says there is no shame in running from an overwhelming threat, but when someone is waiting to be saved by him, Knuckleduster knows he will take to action to save them without a second thought, no matter what happens.

Koichi finishes reading the letter, and asks Soga if he knows where Knuckleduster is. Soga states that he doesn't know, and that the last thing he asked him to do is to keep an eye on him and Kazuho. Moyuru says they haven't seen him in a long time and Rapt suggests that he might even be dead.

Soga tells Koichi to forget about Knuckleduster for now and focus on the immediate problem, Kazuho. Soga reveals that she is possessed by parasitic bees that control people. He could let the heroes do the job to stop Kazuho, but the second they try to arrest her, the bees could kill her from the inside and flee. The only other option is to extract the Queen from her head, though this would break many laws, with neither hero nor officer being capable of doing it. Faced with this dilemma, Soga asks Koichi if he will do it.

Koichi replies dubiously that he doesn't know, causing Moyuru and Rapt to complain about his lame answer. Koichi clarifies that he doesn't know what to do but undoubtedly he will rescue Kazuho, and paraphrasing one of the sentences in the letter, when there’s only one way forward, it doesn't even qualify as a decision. Koichi's response makes Soga laugh, something his friends do not hesitate to point out, which makes Soga feel awkward.

Chapter Notes

 * Through a flashback, it is revealed All For One stole O'Clock's Quirk Overclock.