Chapter 71

Kouta is the seventy-first chapter of Kōhei Horikoshi's Boku no Hero Academia.

Summary
After Izuku, Tenya, Shouto and Katsuki destroy the dirt beast, Class 1-A begins traversing the Forest of Magic Beasts. However, the journey through the forest to the Cabin takes around about 8 hours. Class 1-A arrive at the facility, battered and tired. It is now 5:20 pm in the evening. Pixiebob admits that she thought they would take longer to get to the facility; she praises Class 1-A for figuring out her Earth Beasts quickly and easily. Pixiebob then commends Izuku, Tenya, Shouto and Katsuki for taking quick action against one of her Earth Beasts and concludes that they have experienced action against villains. Izuku then asks about the boy, Kouta and wonders if one of them is his mother. Mandalay explains to Izuku that Kouta is her nephew and asks him to say hello to Class 1-A. Izuku introduces himself to Kouta. Suddenly, Kouta punches Izuku in his crotch and begins walking away. Tenya goes to check on Izuku and admonishes Kouta for his actions. However, Kouta harshly replies that he doesn’t want to be with people who want to become corny Heroes. After Kouta walks away, Shouta instructs Class 1-A to fetch their luggage from the bus and put in their rooms. After doing so, he tells them to go to the dining hall for dinner and afterwards, take a bath and relax. Shouta tells Class 1-A that their training begins tomorrow morning.

After fetching their luggage and putting it in their rooms, Class 1-A head to the dining hall and have dinner; they enjoy the delicious food that the Pussycats provide them. After finishing dinner, Class 1-A go to the hot springs for a bath, one side for males and another side for females, which is divided by a wooden wall. On the boys’ side of the bath, Minoru notes that the bath schedules for the males and females have overlapped and as a result, the females of Class 1-A are also at the hot springs. Tenya demands Minoru to restrain himself. However, Minoru is unable to contain his desires and begins scaling the wall to look on the other side. As he reaches the top, Kouta appears and pushes Minoru down, reprimanding Minoru for his perverted behavior; Minoru curses Kouta as he begins falling back down. The females of Class 1-A thank Kouta for stopping Minoru; Kouta accidentally looks at the Class 1-A females and falls into the males’ hot springs from shock. Izuku rushes in using One For All Full Cowl to catch Kouta.

Izuku brings the unconscious Kouta to the cabin’s office who has passed out from the fear of falling. In the office, Mandalay thanks Izuku for being there to help him. Izuku notes that Kouta doesn’t like the concept of Heroes and explains that he along with many others grew up in an environment where they wanted to become Heroes; Izuku is surprised that Kouta has a jaded view on Heroes. Mandalay explains that there are people in the world who don’t like Heroes and if Kouta had a normal upbringing, then he would have grown up to idolize Heroes as well. Pixiebob arrives and tells Izuku that Kouta’s parents (who are Mandalay’s cousins) were once Heroes. However, they lost their lives on the job. Pixiebob explains some of Kouta’s history; two years ago, Kouta’s parents sacrificed themselves to save civilians from villain. As a result, they died from a truly heroic death; Kouta’s parents were praised and celebrated for their actions befitting true Heroes. However, Kouta became devastated from his parents’ deaths because they meant everything to him. Feeling that his parents abandoned him and chose their jobs over him, Kouta started despising Heroes. Pixiebob tells Izuku they are aware that Kouta isn’t too fond of her and Mandalay for being Heroes, but since he has no other relatives, he feels obliged to follow them and their orders because he has nothing else. Upon hearing Kouta’s backstory, Izuku is reminded of his encounter with Tomura and his similar resentments towards Heroes; Izuku begin to understand that not all people have the same opinion.

The next day at 5:30 AM, Class 1-A are outside the training camp cabin. Shouta greets his students and tells them that they will undergo reinforcement training and explains that the training camp’s purpose is to strengthen their Quirks which will allow Class 1-A to obtain their temporary licenses. Shouta tells Katsuki to perform the pitch from the Quirk Apprehension Test. Katsuki throws his pitch; however, Katsuki’s pitch records at 709.6 m, which is a minor increase from his last pitch. Some of Class 1-A are surprised with the lack of difference with Katsuki’s new pitch as they were expecting it to be immensely higher. Shouta explains that Class 1-A have gained much experience and definitely have grown, but the growth has only been emotionally and technical. Shouta tells Class 1-A that it is now time to focus on physical growth; he notes they have now realized from Katsuki’s new pitch that their Quirks have improved only a little. Shouta declares that from today onward, they will be focusing on upgrading their Quirks.