Chapter 71 (Vigilantes)

Hideout (隠れ家) is the seventy-first chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's My Hero Academia Vigilantes.

Summary
While posing as Rokudo Nomura, Number 6 meets with Kazuho in a cafe to chat. She tells him that she wanted to talk to someone she is close to, although she can't say a reason why she didn't do it, so she doesn't finish her sentence. Number 6 considers that it is probably because she couldn’t find the courage, but Kazuho doubts that is the reason, so Number 6 quickly suggests that the real reason is because she didn’t get the timing right. Kazuho agrees with that assumption and internally Number 6 is glad he got it right with his response.

Number 6 begins to imagine his “master” O’Clock giving him advice on how to use his Quirk Overclock to interpret person's subconscious reactions to both manipulate and react to their reactions without the subject even knowing. With this ability he can give her the correct answers and the words that Kazuho wants to hear. Number 6 thanks him for “his wise tips”.

Back to the conversation, Kazuho says that she still has no confidence in herself. She says her family and friends only know a part of her and she is afraid of being rejected if they know how she really is. Number 6 tells her that will not happen because everyone loves her, and after suggesting a change of scenery, he tells her that what she needs is to calm down, take stock and examine her feelings and then have healthy communication with all of them. Kazuho agrees and leaves with him.

A flashback shows Knuckleduster returning to Koichi's penthouse, encountering Kazuho cooking curry. Knuckleduster is surprised by this and she tells him that he cooks occasionally, and that he had decided to cook curry when he knew that Koichi likes it. Kazuho suddenly blushes and asks Knuckleduster if there is any problem. He tells her if she continues to hide her feelings that way, then she can't make the right decisions. She angrily thanks him for the tip she hasn't asked for.

At that moment Koichi arrives, and knowing that he has curry to eat, he is happy in a silly and goofy way, which makes Kazuho ask Knuckleduster if he should wear a heart on his sleeve like him. Knuckleduster advises her to do better in moderation.

Back to the present, while walking down the street, Kazuho is glad to have "Nomura" with her, since he is a kind and honest person, although "Nomura" denies him saying that he actually has a passionate side and a complex inner life. Kazuho takes his words as another of his jokes, and Nomura decides to invite her to his hideout.

The two go to an abandoned building and "Nomura" apologizes for the appearance of the place, but Kazuho doesn't care because she knows someone who lives in a similar dump. Nomura takes Kazuho to the basement and asks her to enter a room. Thinking that there is a studio there, Kazuho does it, but she hardly sees anything because it is completely dark, she only hears a strange buzz. At that moment Number 6 decides to stop his facade as Rokudo Nomura and reveal himself as who he really is, and before Kazuho can react, he pushes her into the room and locks her up.

Due to the darkness of the room and her glasses falling off because of the push, Kazuho barely sees anything, but soon begins to glimpse that the room is full of numerous corpses, and that the buzzing comes from bees generated by the Queen Bee Quirk.

Chapter Notes

 * It is revealed that Number 6 managed to recover Kuin's Queen Bee from the bee that survived the confrontation with Knuckleduster.

Characters in Order of Appearance

 * Kazuho Haneyama
 * Number 6
 * Iwao Oguro (Flashback)
 * Koichi Haimawari (Flashback)