Chapter 74

Smoke Signal is the seventy-fourth chapter of Kohei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia.

Summary
Shota Aizawa takes Denki Kaminari, Mina Ashido, Eijiro Kirishima, Rikido Sato, and Hanta Sero back into the facility for supplementary lessons, intending to teach them how to conduct themselves during a crisis. Inside, the five remedials of Class 1-A see Neito Monoma, who is apparently also in need of supplementary lessons. Before the supplementary lessons can begin, Mandalay uses her telepathy to contact Shota, Vlad King, and the remedials and warns them about the villain invasion. Shota orders Sekijiro to protect the remedial students while he heads outside to protect the students. Shota is outside the facility and notes that the situation is not good. Suddenly, Dabi appears next to Shota and criticizes Eraserhead for letting his emotions guide his actions. Before Shota can shout to Vlad for help, Dabi smothers Shota in flames and warns him to keep his Pro Hero friends out of their way since they are not the targets.

Outside the forest, Spinner introduces himself as part of the League of Villains' Vanguard Action Squad while Magne threatens Pixie-bob's life. Tiger prepares to take action, but Spinner tells him to back off as Pixie-bob's life is decided by Stain's word. Tenya Iida wonders if Stain is responsible for this; Spinner recognizes Tenya as the one who brought Stain's terror to an end. Spinner unravels his sword (a sword clustered together by dozens of bladed weapons) and declares that he is the one who will carry on Stain's dream. Tiger criticizes the villains for scarring Pixie-bob and calls their actions reprehensible; Spinner notes that Heroes do not have the luxury of a happy life and prepares to attack. Mandalay and Tora prepare to battle Spinner; Mandalay tells Tiger that she has left the safety of the students in Ragdoll's hands. Mandalay tells the Class 1-A students to leave and orders Tenya to take the lead. As Tenya leads his classmates away, Izuku Midoriya tells Tenya to go on ahead as he informs Mandalay about the villains' objective.

Back in the smoke covered forest, Itsuka Kendo carries Yui Kodai and Juzo Honenuki with her Quirk, trying to find a safe place. Itsuka runs into Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu and Ibara Shiozaki who are wearing masks. Tetsutetsu informs Itsuka that Momo Yaoyorozu was nearby and made masks for them. He also tells Itsuka that Yosetsu Awase is leading some of Class 1-A to the Class 1-B safe zone for aid. Tetsutetsu gives Itsuka, Yui, and Juzo masks. After Itsuka and Yui put their masks on with Yui putting a mask on the unconscious Juzo, Itsuka thinks that they should head back to the facility. However, Tetsutetsu refuses to flee and decides to stay and fight, telling Itsuka to take care of Ibara. Itsuka questions Tetsutetsu's actions, to which Tetsutetsu tells Itsuka why he has decided to fight; they have known for the longest time that Class 1-A has always been ahead of them because they have been exposed to danger and used that exposure to gain invaluable experience in order to become better Heroes. Tetsutetsu continues to say that they will not be Heroes if they run away from evil and danger that threatens the lives of others. Tetsutetsu declares that he will expose himself to danger in order to become a Hero and promises to defeat the villains.

Meanwhile, Kota Izumi is confronted by Muscular. Mandalay asks Kota to return to the facility and apologizes for being unable to help him. The masked villain comments on Kota's stylish hat and wonders if the boy will trade the hat for the mask he despises. However, Kota begins running away as the villain takes off his mask. The villain uses his Quirk to jump in front of Kota. The villain's face shocks Kota as he remembers watching the news about the murder his parents, the Water Horses. The villain had a simple augmenting strength Quirk and his most defining feature was the deep scar across his left eye left by the Water Horse duo. Kota realizes that the villain in front of him is none other than the villain who murdered his parents. Muscular prepares to attack while Kota cries and becomes immobilized from fear.

Suddenly, Izuku appears and saves Kota from Muscular's attack. Izuku analyses the situation; his phone is broken as a result of tumbling to the ground from saving Kota and did not tell anyone about his location, thus he does not have any way of communicating for backup. Izuku notes that his top priority is to protect Kota from Muscular since he is the only one standing in the villain's way. With no other options available, Izuku decides to fight Muscular to protect Kota. Izuku tells Kota to not worry because he will save him no matter what; Izuku activates One For All: Full Cowl and prepares to fight the villain who murdered Kota's parents.