#I'm so tempted to go look up the results for the 4th poll right this damn second

[makeste]

BnHA Chapter 163: Reunions and Provisional License Training

Previously on BnHA: Gran Torino and Naomasa cornered Kurogiri in the middle of the woods somewhere. It looked like they were about to capture him, but then this big Goron-looking dude stomped in out of nowhere and we cut away from the scene, so who even knows what’s going on with that. Back at the hospital, Deku had a chat with Mirio, who was amazingly cheerful -- the last thing Nighteye said to him was to keep smiling, and he intends to follow through with that. Deku had a moment of guilt-stricken weakness because Mirio had been so amazing while he himself had needed help from everyone. He started to offer Mirio One for All, but Mirio cut him off and said that even if it was “hypothetically possible” for Deku to give him his quirk, he wouldn’t accept because that would only leave Deku in the same situation that he’s in right now. He also said that Aizawa told him they would be working hard to figure out a way to restore his quirk. And Nighteye’s last prediction was that he would be an outstanding hero, and he believes in him. Having been successfully cheered up, Deku returned to school with the other kids. The next day, BAKUGOU AND TODOROKI HEADED OFF TO THEIR PROVISIONAL LICENSE COURSE. YOU GUYS. THEY’RE BACK.

Today on BnHA: The internship kids return to their classmates who have been WORRIED SICK and don’t hesitate to inform them of this. Ochako and Kirishima have quiet moments of reflection about why they want to become heroes and how far they have to go, respectively. The next morning, Bakugou and Todoroki head off to their supplemental training course, chaperoned by All Might and Present Mic. We learn from All Might that Gran Torino and Naomasa managed to capture Kurogiri, but were in pretty bad shape after their confrontation with the Giganto dude, who apparently leveled half the mountainside during their battle. Over at the license exam training course place, Endeavor makes an appearance, having come to watch Shouto train. He also says he wants to have a chat with All Might. Meanwhile Shouto is greeted by his new best friend Yoarashi Inasa (who is still my favorite), as well as For Reals Camie, who we’re meeting for the very first time. Also Seiji of meatball quirk fame is here as well just for laughs. The chapter ends fairly abruptly, but it’s all good because this is going to be a good arc full of fun times you guys.

(As always, all comments not marked with an ETA are my unspoiled reactions from my first readthrough of this chapter. I’ve read up through chapter 187 now, so any ETAs will reflect that.)

(ETA: apparently the 3rd popularity poll results were released with this chapter! I had to go hunt down the color page and the full results because they weren’t included with the scanlation I read. so I’m adding in this ETA as of finishing volume 18 and belatedly realizing there were supposed to be poll results somewhere in there lol

Bakugou in the number one spot once more! that post-Kamino character development was so good that his popularity managed to withstand 40 straight chapters of being completely absent from the plot. pretty impressive

there is literally only ONE vote separating Shouto and Deku, oh snap. Shouto’s popularity also held up pretty damn well during the Internship arc. absence truly does make the heart grow fonder

Kirishima has moved up a spot! fucking superb you funky little rock man

and a surprise guest breaking into that no. 5 spot, Iida fucking Tenya! wow! beat out Aizawa by a good 400 votes. in this post-ponytail world, that is truly shocking to me. once again I will chock it up to his being absent for so long and making us realize how much we truly loved him. although a more likely explanation is that the anime had just finished up the Hero Killer arc right around when this poll was being conducted in the tail end of 2017

I’m delighted to see Kaminari here at number 8, even before his Kacchan moment which is coming up in this very chapter! I love him so much

Shinsou’s got himself some dedicated fans, let me tell you. they are doing the lord’s work, using this poll as a way of not-too-subtly hinting at Horikoshi to drop Mineta from 1-A and replace him with this kid instead. we’ll keep holding out hope

so that’s it for the top ten (with shoutouts to Aizawa, All Might, and Ochako because I didn’t mention them specifically but OBVIOUSLY I LOVE THEM TOO OF COURSE). I think the full list is in one of the omakes, so I’ll cover that at the end of this chapter.)

[mario voice] here we GOOOOOOO

so we’re back at the fanfic dorms (I MISSED THESE TOO), and the internship kids have finally made it back after going through all sorts of “inquiries and processes”

Mineta’s screaming “THEY’RE BAAAAAAACK” and honestly it’s one of the few times I’ve empathized with him so strongly

are you kidding me. you fit 18 fucking kids into this panel but you couldn’t fit Bakugou fucking Katsuki

also I always die any time Shouji is wearing one of his legendary ponchos. lmao

honestly, even without Bakugou (and who else is missing, though? ... oh shit, Tokoyami), this one panel still feels more like BnHA than the series has in ages. I missed this

(ETA: wait a sec, was Tokoyami out on his own internship while this was all taking place? is that why he’s not here? do I need to stop dragging my feet and force my ADD brain to sit still for five goddamn minutes so I can finish the arc I’m currently on?)

Kaminari’s shouting that Kirishima and Deku (a.k.a. the two who were also involved in Rescue Squad Jr.) are always getting mixed up in crazy shit and they need to stop scaring them

they were scared, then. of course. that’s fine, it was only to be expected. it’s not like I’m tempted to stop reading right this second and go look up post-Internship Arc class 1-A genfics on AO3

but like, I really did want to for a minute, and y’all know how badly I want to see Bakugou again, so please understand that I’m loving this scene just that much

Hagakure’s hugging Tsuyu and Ochako awww

what’s this

Shouto got a mysterious text? Shouto is always on his fucking phone I s2g. get off social media for two seconds and say hi to your friends

(ETA: this seems like a good place to share my headcanon that Endeavor texts like Captain Holt from B99 and composes all of his texts like formal business letters with perfect grammar and begins them all with “Dear Shouto” and signs them all with “Sincerely, Endeavor.” yes he signs them as “Endeavor” and not “dad” or even “your father” because he’s just really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really, really bad at being a dad. you guys.)

Iida is divebombing in front of the returning kids and screaming at everyone to calm down

;_________;

IIDA BRINGING THOSE CLASS 1-A FEELS. THAT’S OUR CLASS PREZ

but Deku’s waving a hand at him and thanking him for being considerate, “but”

oh my god

loooooool

“ARE YOU SURE, MIDORIYA. BECAUSE I JUST MADE A PRETTY BIG FUCKING SCENE RIGHT NOW, YOU KNOW”

LOOOOOOOOOL, BUT NOW THAT HE HAS THE GO AHEAD...

IIDA FUCKING TENYA I MISSED YOU TOO YOU BIG GOOBER

Momo is running off to make some tea for them

and Satou is literally shoving cake into Deku’s face now

for some reason Ochako is being very quiet though

oh. oh no

honey it’s not your fault!

shit. this is the first job-related death they’ve experienced, though. of course they’re all going to be traumatized by it to some degree. no wonder the staff wanted to brief them thoroughly

I hope they offered counseling. they fucked up with Bakugou and they need to not do that again. class 1-A keeps accumulating various traumas and if these kids don’t get mental health support they’re all going to be a hot mess by the time they graduate

in the meantime we at least have Aizawa “Mom of the Year” Shouta on the job

is it just me or does Aizawa not even pretend anymore these days. he’s so fucking maternal. he loves them all so much, and he’s not even mad about it. they’re good kids

so Ochako is having what we call a Deku Moment

staring at the hands and everything

is this the first time she’s said this? remember, previously her goal was to become a hero so that she could provide for her mom and dad. very selfless, but she was still in it for the money rather than the whole “rescuing people” thing. so I think this is the first time we’ve heard her voice this particular sentiment out loud. and it’s great

Kirishima’s looking at her with a quiet expression that suggests that his own angst is brewing beneath the surface omg

and Sero’s slinging an arm around him aggressively

this is nice! he needs this!

aww! Mina too!

NO NOT REALLY

KIRISHIMA ;_____;

WHERE IS BAKUGOU GODDAMMIT

GASPPPP

ever the antisocial one

HERE HE IS IN HIS OWN PANEL FINALLY OMGGGGGG

omg

so he’s listening in with his resting bitch face, because of course he was worried just like all the rest of them, but like hell you’ll catch him joining in with the obnoxious crowd of people swarming them all at once

but this way he can still see that they’re all right. and maybe he can talk to Kirishima later. and maybe nod at Deku or make awkward eye contact for two seconds and then pretend like nothing happened. you know how they do

LOOK WHO’S HOPPING OVER AND MAKING THE SAME OBSERVATIONS OMG

excuse me WHAT DID YOU CALL HIM JUST NOW? AHEM??

(ETA: this is disturbingly high on my list of all-time favorite BnHA moments)

is he allowed? is this allowed?? what is this. this is the childhood nickname that only one person has ever been allowed to use. (and that one person has apparently never been told to stop using it, either, because you know he would have if Kacchan had actually asked. or demanded. and yet he still uses it, exclusively. and somehow I’ve never essayed about this? what have I even been doing with my life. but now is not the time. maybe in an ETA when I’m not so fucking hyped)

(ETA: so I did in fact write a whole big essay about this, and it got so long that I ended up removing it from this already-lengthy post and putting it up as its own separate thing. because it’s definitely something I’ve been meaning to talk about, but it was pretty off-topic.

but anyways, I just wanted to say that if me writing a 1200 word BakuDeku essay out of fucking nowhere doesn’t perfectly sum up my reaction to him being back in the manga, then I don’t know what does. lol)

I don’t know what to get excited about first. the fact that he noticed Kacchan was in fact sulking in the corner being worried but pretending like he wasn’t. the fact that he came over to bother him. or the fact that he just casually called him the nickname, again most likely to bother him, but he didn’t get blasted into oblivion for it so oh my god. does Kacchan even realize that’s just giving him the green light to do it again later

anyway so Bakugou is making a classic grumpy retreat now

YES

and also he has his provisional license course tomorrow too!

Ojiro’s asking if he’s really just going to skulk off without even saying a word to their returning traumatized friends. Ojiro have you even met Kacchan before

and actually Todoroki is now bidding everyone good night as well

and getting the exact same “what are you a grandpa” response from Kaminari to boot. Kaminari is on fucking fire tonight

oh man. this is going to be one of those chapters where I just post and comment about every single panel, huh

you see, I have to post this one because (1) bunny! and (2) Tsuyu isn’t even surprised about Bakugou. they’re all used to him going to bed this early. see, this is exactly the kind of shit I need to make a note of for when I inevitably start to write fic. this kid is early to bed early to rise

it’s literally 8:30 and Kacchan’s in bed, lights off, glaring at the ceiling

and Shouto is glaring at his phone

I swear I wasn’t originally going to post both of those panels. but I just wanted to comment that (a) Bakugou has an OtterBox-style case for his phone (which makes perfect sense, because he probably abuses the poor thing every day and throws it when he gets frustrated and tries to blow it up at times, and honestly he’s probably managed to destroy it once or twice even WITH the case. and I bet he has the special warranty that includes quirk damage. and I bet they regret ever giving it to him), and (b) I’m getting an inkling that whatever reason Shouto had for retiring to his room early, it didn’t actually have anything to do with the next day’s training

someone on tumblr told me that we would be getting Todoroki Family Drama at some point. but I’m pretty sure that’s still like 20 chapters off. but maybe this is early set-up for it? hmmmm

and now panels of the four intern kids lying in bed wide awake thinking angsty thoughts

FYI, that’s Satou’s bedroom with the light still on in the middle of the 5th floor. and below that, on the fourth floor, that room is supposed to be unoccupied lmao. so that is presumably a ghost right there. next to Bakugou’s bedroom

here, I’ll post the layout so you can see

so I’m not sure if Horikoshi maybe just spaced out and moved everyone’s rooms down one from where they’re actually supposed to be, and this is supposed to be Bakugou and Todoroki’s rooms with the lights on. but if we go by our canon reference, Satou is doing some midnight baking and the fourth floor is in fact haunted

anyway, we’re now cutting to the next day and Bakugou and Todoroki are walking to the train station

every sentence Todoroki says ends with dots

is this the arc that’s going to make me ship TodoBaku. it is isn’t it. it’s already happened for Deku, Ochako, and Kirishima, it was only a matter of time before Strawberry Shortcake got in on this too

(ETA: we’re at a solid “I’ll read it if it’s there and the summary intrigues me” level, FYI)

oh my

first of all, I highly doubt that. Bakugou strikes me as being way too much of a type A to ever be late for anything, and Todoroki also has an air of impeccable punctuality about him

and second of all, OH MY GOD

All Might looking spiffy as hell in that tailored suit with his manly satchel. and Present Mic’s out here trying to poke Kacchan in the fucking eye

so Aizawa was leading the course previously, then? he’s the one who supervised whatever insanity led to Shouto’s nose getting broken and the two of them basically looking like they’d been hit by small cars? I guess he’s only a mom when he feels like it huh

(ETA: so when All Might says “leading the group”, what he really means is “accompanying the two kids to and from their lessons for safety purposes.” which makes more sense. and means that contrary to what I just said, not only does Aizawa continue to be a mom, he’s now a goddamn soccer mom on top of everything else.)

OH SHIT I’M BEING BOMBARDED WITH SO MUCH INFORMATION AT ONCE. THIS IS GREAT. I CAN HARDLY KEEP UP

so apparently they needed Aizawa to help with Eri’s quirk! so this presumably means she’s awake? hopefully he’ll be able to help her

and Aizawa made Mic come along to protect All Might, because he cares! that’s right!

(ETA: and also, maybe not a good idea to send two of the League’s known targets and the son of the current number one hero out into the world all nicely grouped together without any backup. yeah, good call Aizawa.)

and Kurogiri was indeed captured!

but Gran’s team suffered some “serious blows” apparently

!! “there was another individual we couldn’t do anything about”

yessss tell us more about this!

oh shit he done fucked them up proper

he was that bad? bad enough that you weren’t sure whether Kurogiri was worth letting him escape? holy shit

oh snap

was this like. an entire mountain that he fucking leveled here? good lord

anyway, so All Might’s telling them to board the bus

Todoroki is acting weeeeeeird you guys

what the fuck is this kid hiding all of a sudden

so now they’re at some building and the kids’ crazy uncles are dropping them off and waving

this is the cutest fucking shit. the boys look so tiny. All Might looks like he just dropped them off at pre-k

OH SHIT

WELL WELL, IF IT ISN’T THE CURRENT NUMBER ONE PIECE OF SHIT

“I wanted to have a proper chat with you” he says, the veins in his eyeballs reaching critical levels

why does he always do this. can’t you ever just have a normal conversation without dramatically cornering someone in a random hallway

Present Mic is all “I’m going to fuck off now, so good luck”

“I’ma go buy some coffee. it’ll probably take about five hours. just to be safe. see you later”

so apparently the text that Shouto got was just his dad telling him he’d be coming to watch his training the next morning

“I hope he doesn’t bump into All Might,” he thinks. Shouto, does that sound like the kind of thing that’s likely to happen. think about you and your life and how it’s generally gone up until this point. exactly

EYYYYYYYYYYYYY

IT’S MUH BOIIIIIIIIIII

OH HUSH. HERE I THOUGHT KATSUKI WAS GOING TO BE THE GRUMPY GRUMP. COME ON NOW

(ETA: and also there are like, eight people in the whole damn class. how exactly were you planning on avoiding him)

and who’s this?

!!!!

HOLY SHIT IS THIS THE REAL CAMIE

holy shit?!

so this means she’s not dead or kidnapped or whatever! well that’s obviously good!

but just. I have so many questions all of a sudden omg. I should just keep reading

apparently she’s never seen Baku and Todo before? wouldn’t she have seen them at one of the previous courses though? I guess maybe they split up into different groups in the previous sessions?

oh hey look at Kacchan asking these important questions for me

oh my god

right, he was in the character page for this volume

but he didn’t make it past the first round! what gives!!

is that why Camie’s here too, though? were they not invited to attend previously, but then the examiners had a change of heart?

once again Kacchan is acting as my proxy here

at this rate we’re going to have more people observing than actually taking the course

I wonder what Actual Camie’s quirk is? and is she also observing or are they allowing her to take the course with them?

do they even realize it wasn’t her who passed the first half? I mean obviously her teachers and classmates must know, but are they just playing along to help her get her license now?

well at any rate, it looks like these kids are ready to throw down

WE SHALL

BONUS:

people who are too low on this poll: Mina, Mr. Compress, Nighteye, Jirou, Tsuyu, and FUCKING MIRIO, ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME THOUGH

for real?? 41st place? beaten out by Stain, Overhaul, Endeavor, Seiji, and fucking Mineta??!

I’m sorry, I was going to do more commentary on this, but honestly my brain just kind of quit in outrage. honestly this poll should be ashamed of itself. the best fucking character in the manga and he didn’t even crack the top 40. for fuck’s sake