Chapter 314

The Lovely Lady Nagant (しきレディ・ナガン) is the three hundred and fourteenth chapter of Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia.

Summary
Deku continues his fight with Lady Nagant, thinking about how due to the Smokescreen not being able to spread far in the rain, she would easily react to his decoys and taking his bait, while she notes about just how much faster he is now. Deku demands her to tell him all about All For One, but Lady Nagant, however, tells him to not assume he has already won as she retracts her Rifle. She then remerges it and strikes Deku in the chest with it to force him to let go of her, refusing to tell him anything.

As she gloats that the Hero Public Safety Commission taught her everything, he asks why she’s working with All For One, since she used to be a Hero and knows that he plans to take over everything. She tells him that all he’s been seeing is the manufactured sense of order and couldn’t possibly understand the real truth. Deku then finds himself temporarily stunted, as just like the third user warned him, his parallel processes are screwed up after using Fa Jin for the first time, and needs to readjust himself, while still avoiding Lady Nagant’s shots.

He dodges another strike that grazes him only to hear Lady Nagant’s voice coming from the bullet. As she continues to fire more shots at Deku, she tells him that she was tired and that she killed many people to preserve the fake society they live in. She explains that she had been responsible for the deaths of terrorists plotting attacks on Heroes and Heroes associating with villains to gain fame and fortune. She also tells him that there was a period where Vigilantes were trusted and heralded as Heroes with the country approving their actions, and that hero society was forged on that trust in Heroes. She called herself a cog in the machine preserving that trust, and she obeyed every order she had been given as she believed those who worked in the light and in the shadows were necessary to keep society functioning.

However, despite constantly following orders, it ultimately came at the cost of her own mental health, as the stress of all the killings got to her, especially while still being praised by the public. One day, a group of children ran over to her asking to shake her hand, and just as she was about to, she saw the blood on her hands and retracted it, coming to see the society she lives in as fragile and fake.

Later, the then Public Safety Commission President revealed to Lady Nagant about two Heroes who have been inciting civilians to commit crimes before hunting them down and collecting the rewards, and that he wants them to go missing. Lady Nagant questions if killing them is going to improve anything, and if pretending to the public none of this is happening is any better than brainwashing. The President insists that it is all necessary, but when Lady Nagant continues to question this, he threatens her saying that this isn’t a job you can simply walk away from. In response, she shoots him.

Deku is shocked by the revelation, especially since the news was that Lady Nagant had killed another Hero during an argument, as she continues to explain the Safety Commission had to cover it all up to keep up the illusion. She says this society is all just a fragile illusion, that history will just repeat itself if that status quo is restored, and because of that, even a future ruled by All For One will be much more transparent.

Through the talking, Deku is able to figure out Lady Nagant’s location, using a new Super Move with Blackwhip, “Pinpoint Focus”, to quickly shoot his way toward her. He admits that he might have been ignorant by these issues she’s brought up, but declares that now he realizes that the world isn’t all black-and-white, but mostly shades of gray and blends of fear and anger, but that is why he needs to try to extend a helping hand to those in need.

Lady Nagant brushes this off as more of the phony education, while thinking about how well he has been able to dodge all of her shots and been able to read her patterns. She decides one more trick to disrupt his focus, directly pointing her rifle at a nearby building. Sure enough, Deku's attention is turned to Kai Chisaki, who yells if Lady Nagant is finished yet because he wants to see the Boss. Deku recognizes him as his focus is disrupted, while Lady Nagant seemingly prepares to shoot.

Chapter Notes

 * More of Lady Nagant's past with the Hero Public Safety Commission is revealed:
 * She acted as an assassin, targeting villains and corrupt Heroes.
 * The stress of all the killing, while maintaining the public face as a Hero, led her to question the nature of society.
 * She killed the former Public Safety Commission President when he threatened her after she brought up her resignations.
 * It is revealed Lady Nagant didn't actually kill a Hero, and that was just a cover-up by the Commission.
 * Deku discovers Kai Chisaki has accompanied Lady Nagant.

Trivia

 * Lady Nagant's flashback pose is reminiscent of All Might's.