Chapter 9 (Vigilantes)

Judgment (断罪) is the ninth chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's Vigilante - My Hero Academia: Illegals.

Summary
Akira Iwako is attacking innocent civilians again. The Crawler and Pop☆Step arrive on the scene. Koichi is surprised to see Akira once more and thought he was thrown in jail, to which Kazuho comments that since Akira did not commit multiple crimes, he was not registered as a villain. Akira spots him and is angered at seeing Koichi again and calls him The Crawler, which pleases Koichi that he remembered his Hero name. Koichi leads Akira to an abandoned parking lot where they start fighting; Koichi is managing to evade Akira's attacks but notes that the villain is faster and stronger than before.

Kuin Hachisuka is watching the fight through a bee on a car's mirror. She gave Akira "TR-D2C", and while she is analyzing the drug's effects on Akira, two of her classmates ask her what she is doing. Kuin replies that she is making a report for her part-time job.

As the fight progresses, Koichi is finding it harder to evade because the villain's punches have created holes in the pavement. Koichi's foot suddenly catches in one of the holes and Akira moves in to attack. Just before Akira strikes, a masked figure with a katana intervenes and stops Akira's attack; this piques Kuin's interest. The masked figure slashes several times against Akira which leaves cuts on Akira's hardened body. Akira runs away. Koichi thanks the masked figure for saving him and asks him his name. Before leaving, the masked figure reveals to Koichi that he is called Stendhal and is a fellow vigilante. Stendhal leaps over several buildings with ease and disappears from sight, which impresses Koichi.

Back at his apartment, Koichi is gushing over Stendhal and starts thinking about also getting a katana. Kazuho receives a message from Ichimoku Samazu and Jube Namimaru, who say that Ichimoku's strong friend from his hometown is coming to visit and wants to meet Koichi and his fellow vigilantes at Ichimoku's family restaurant. Koichi is glad that there are people out there with a strong sense of justice, although Knuckleduster thinks otherwise. Kazuho decides that they will meet with Ichimoku's "senpai".

At Ichimoku's family restaurant, Koichi and Kazuho are surprised that Ichimoku's "senpai" is none other than Soga Kugizaki. Soga is disheartened by their reactions and questions why they think poorly of him, to which Kazuho replies that he tried to rape and murder them. Soga is annoyed and sees that there is no point in talking with them, although Koichi wonders about what Soga wants to talk.

Elsewhere, Akira is running in an alley. Suddenly, a knife strikes him and he turns around, only to find a knife has been thrown into his right eye. Akira yells in pain as more knives are thrown at him. The one who threw the knives at him is Stendhal and he sees that losing focus causes Akira's Hardening to slowly dissipate. Stendhal knows why Akira is in pain and that is because he lacks conviction; wielding power without conviction is something he considers a crime. Fulfilling his beliefs, Stendhal delivers his judgement and cuts down Akira with his katana, killing Akira. Watching Stendhal kill Akira from above, Kuin is quite impressed. With Akira dead, Stendhal decides to move on to his next target, Soga Kugizaki.