Chapter 168

The Strange Tale of Aoyama (青山奇行篇) is the one hundred and sixty-eighth chapter of Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia.

Summary
Yuga Aoyama watches a sleeping Izuku Midoriya from the window before doing something outside and leaving the area. It soon turns out that Izuku was aware of this and becomes scared by Yuga's strange behavior, as he sees that the latter left him a message in cheese to says he knows something about Izuku while he is scared by its state. That morning, Tenya Iida wakes up everyone for class while telling them to be in orderly fashion while some like Hanta Sero complain about this behavior so early. Izuku meets up with Tenya and Ochaco Uraraka as he is told by Tenya not to stay up as it can have repercussions to his health. Izuku apologizes though internally noting that he could not sleep with Yuga's strange behavior keeping him up before the latter casually greets him, to his fear.

While going to class, Izuku notes he has not really talked to Yuga much and wonders about him as the attitude he has shown is contrast to his flamboyant and lively persona. After class, the class discuss new updated hero team ups like Yu Takeyama, Shinya Kamihara, and Shinji Nishiya. Some note that them teaming up could provide improvements in new moves for their training with some even rejecting others as their Quirks are not compatible.

The class soon head to training where Ken Ishiyama tells them they would be working on their moves to gauge their growth. Excited, Eijiro Kirishima activates his Hardening(while recalling his previous experience) and tries to get Izuku, Rikido Sato, and Katsuki to attack him, but Sato quickly tries to warn him of the consequences. Izuku says that he is training alone, which Eijiro accepts. Katsuki questions if Izuku has made any improvements in his Quirk but Izuku states he has not. Katsuki berates him for his lack of initiative, as he brings up Izuku's promise to surpass him before he leaves to take Eijiro up on his offer as Sato continues to warn a gleeful Eijiro.

Izuku is then called out by Yuga who shows him a new move he created though it causes him severe stomach problems. Seeing his state, Izuku asks the instructor for permission to Yuga away from to recuperate before he asks him what he meant in his message. Yuga explained that he is aware of Izuku not being accustomed to his Quirk as the latter wonders if he found out his secret. However, Yuga reveals that he went through a similar experience as he details his childhood of having to wear a belt to prevent his powers from leaking out and how he noticed it was similar to Izuku's initial lack of control of his before they both overcame it. He then tells Izuku he is not alone in hardships as its better to face them together or they won't excel.

Hearing these words, Izuku realizes that Yuga's actions were not meant to scare him but encourage him as he smiles and thanks him for his support before Yuga suffers from another stomach problem.

After this, Yuga and Izuku become good friends with some of the class noting on Yuga's livelier attitude.

Characters In Order of Appearance

 * Yuga Aoyama
 * Izuku Midoriya
 * Tenya Iida
 * Ochaco Uraraka
 * Katsuki Bakugo
 * Denki Kaminari
 * Minoru Mineta
 * Mina Ashido
 * Kyoka Jiro
 * Hanta Sero
 * Momo Yaoyorozu
 * Toru Hagakure
 * Ken Ishiyama
 * Eijiro Kirishima