#nalslastworkingbraincell

[codenamesazanka]

I'm sorry, I'm fixated on The Walk because it has seemed like such a pivotal point in Shigaraki's life, and in the story. And then when it finally came time for Deku to save Shigaraki/Tenko... it gets relegated to two measly panels. 

In Chapter 69, Shigaraki reveals his resentment of basically the entire world for being so carefree when they know, logically, someone is out there suffering - "someone, somewhere...is off killing people, for whatever reason... these fools keep smiling and laughing... living their lives." 

Later, building on this idea, he realizes - and states out loud to Deku - that All Might annoys him because All Might has created a false sense of peace. Plus, All Might himself smiles so bright and cheerful, as if he's invincible, as if he can and has saved everyone: "The reason these fools can smile and live their lives... is cuz All Might's always got that grin on this face... Smiling wide, as if to say... There's no one he can't save!!" 

Paired with a flashback of a severed hand, much like the ones Shigaraki wears, the implication is clear: Shigaraki resents how no one came to save him when he had a quirk accident that killed his dad/family; moreover, specifically, he seems to hate the bystander effect - that tragedy and suffering can happen but the people around such incidents can just not give a single crap. There are people in trouble, but the majority of the world doesn't bother to help, because they think Heroes will take care of it - All Might, especially, has made them feel like it's just not their problem. 

This was before Shigaraki regained his memories, but his life since the amnesia hasn't really disproven any of that. He was picked up by AFO, a Villain, first of all; but he would later create the League, all members of who have clearly suffered from something and was never saved - not by Heroes, but also not by people who are supposed to protect them, like parents and family, and not by their fellow humans. 

There's a reason Shigaraki targeted Bakugou to kidnap and recruit - he saw someone who seemed to be restricted and suppressed, literally bound and gagged on live television, a thing allowed and even awkwardly laughed at by the people around him. All Might was smiling as he presented a medal to the clearly upset boy. And so he thought Bakugou would understand.

When Shigaraki remembers his past, his memories also don't disprove the bystander effect and his hatred of it either. In the house his father built, everyone saw he was suffering, but did nothing. They never stepped in to stop Kotarou’s harsh punishments; in fact, they only ever come to him in the aftermath to try to coax him to stop crying - essentially telling Tenko that hey, they aren't going to stop the actual problem (Kotarou), but they will try to make Tenko accept it. As if it's not their problem, but rather Tenko's. Tenko says that all he needed was just to hear a word of encouragement from them, but they couldn't even give him that. 

All this passivity in the family eventually leads to the moment when Kotarou slaps Tenko hard - twice! - and yet his mom and grandparents only stood by and watched. (Afterwards, they apparently also allowed Tenko to be forced to stay outside, crying, until nightfall.)

Then, of course, is The Walk.

Dozens of people saw a clearly-distressed lost child walk past them, and did nothing. Tenko at that moment is tragedy and suffering made manifest - he's a tiny little boy, alone, scared into silence, bloodstained, barefoot on concrete in a city. He's not hidden away or in some unknown corner of the shadowy edges of society - he's there in front of everyone, in broad daylight. 

And no one bothers to give a crap. Or, even if they do, briefly feeling troubled at the sight, they look away. The one lady who did try to help ends up deciding this was above her pay grade and explicitly states never mind, Heroes will take care of it. Everyone at the scene feels it's not their problem. 

(And the thing is - Tenko knew he deserved to be saved. There's one line that always stuck out to me: "I thought maybe the reason no one helped me was because I was being punished for killing my family." 

Tenko knew he did something bad, he was feeling immense guilt, so much that he was rendered mute, but he wasn't expecting to be punished then and there - he hadn't written himself off. Not being helped wasn't a foregone conclusion yet. He killed his family, but he wanted help - he knew he should be helped. Basically, it wasn't immediately, "I did something bad, so of course a Hero won't be here, now I need to run away and hide" - it was "[I did something bad, but] somebody... anybody, just me tell [what to do]. Someone help me." The idea that he deserved being ignored because of what he did seemed to have only come afterwards. 

This is why, I believe, in Chapter 365, Inner Tenko thought, "I wasn't broken back then... but it's not like anybody reached out a helping hand to me. It's not like anybody even looked at me." 

Two of the flashbacks are scenes from after he did a Bad Thing - Hana running away after he killed their dog; the old lady turning away, after he wandered into the city post-massacre. He did a Bad Thing, but "I wasn't broken back then..." 

There's also the flashbacks of the family pre-massacre. Scenes of his grandparents trying to pacify him, of his mom looking sad, of Kotarou being angry with him - all likely because Tenko was in trouble for talking about Heroes again, which was against the household rules, but wasn't/shouldn't be a strike against him. He was restricted and suppressed and couldn't fit in with the family, but "I wasn't broken back then..."

All those people in his family, on the streets - none of them ever helped.)

The Walk is the ultimate embodiment of his long and ongoing issue of Heroes and regular people doing shit nothing. It's the exact complaint Shigaraki was giving in Chapter 69. It's completely damning. 

This is what Shigaraki means when he says "everything I've witnessed..." in Jaku in Chapter 281 (and again in Chapter 379). He's seen it all - how there's all this pain, but Heroes have not done anything about it. And because Heroes are pillars of the community - because Heroes are civil servants, essentially representative of the governing system - the regular masses of citizens both follow their example while also becoming complacent. Now they just smile and laugh, living their lives, as if Heroes will and should take care of everything and all will be and is fine. 

Early on, Shigaraki put most of the blame on Heroes and so focused most of his plots on them - the USJ attack and Camp Raid were on Hero students - but he very much disliked the civilians and their bystander apathy too, and was already starting to make plans to destroy the system that enabled that. It’s remembering the Shimura Household Dysfunction and The Walk - the lack of help, the rejection, all civilians that passed him by - that really solidifies his hatred and conviction, causing him to fully embrace destruction - his attacks post MVA doesn't target just Heroes, but everything and basically everyone.

AND YET. Barely any of this shows up when Deku comes to save Tenko in Chapter 418. 

In fact, it starts in Chapter 417, when Nana and Deku intervene in Kotarou's slapping of Tenko. The rest of the family is noticeably absent. The only thing Deku and Nana needed to do was stop Kotarou. That Tenko also had an issue with how the family kept taking Kotarou's side and abiding by the abuse? Not relevant anymore, I guess. 

(Also, Tenko actually does believe he's broken, been broken from the start for being born with Decay. He even wonders why Deku would come help him. Somehow "I wasn't broken back then... but it's not like anyone even looked at me," has become "I'm broken and who could ever look at me given the way I am?" Note additionally that Deku doesn't actually discourage this notion. He only says "Well, I'm here to take your hand and give you peace.")

Meanwhile, The Walk is no longer part of Tenko's origin - or at least, not significant enough to warrant a Memory Environment. Yes, it's true that stopping and saving Tenko at The Massacre means Tenko wouldn't go on to walk The Walk, and I suppose you can argue that technically the issue of bystander effect has been solved since someone did finally show up to help. Deku didn't have to help, but he did. He made it his problem to figure out why Shigaraki seemed so sad inside, and he reached out a hand. 

But like. The Walk is still a thing that happened? It's still a problem? All those people still ignored a five year old? Deku saving Tenko doesn't mean the old lady suddenly gained a backbone and conscience to not walk away. In fact, it just makes it even more 'not her problem' because after all, a Hero did show up! She did exactly what she was supposed to do - nothing. 

It’s just not addressed. To quote @stillness-in-green, “Shigaraki gets way more dangerous to the common civilian after he gets his memories back, and it's a real crock that the story doesn't address that specific turn and what causes it, instead retrenching to "The Slap Bad; AFO Bad.””

I don't like Deku much, and I probably would've rolled my eyes at it, but I did really think Deku would get to be at the memory of The Walk, and he was see all these civilians ignoring Tenko, and he would be gutted and horrified, and maybe he’ll hear what the old lady say about “the police or a hero or somebody will help” as she leaves, and he’ll think something like ‘that's right, a Hero should be helping… but that doesn't mean all you civilians can't even ask if Tenko’s okay and walk him to a police box’, and he would chase after Tenko to save him, and maybe even say something like ‘What you said at Jaku about civilians being coddled. I know it too well that they didn’t want to get dirty. They're trying to support Heroes better now, but they should also support each other. We should all help each other. Let’s change things. I’m here now.’ Because it would make sense and provide a conclusion to this whole thing???

But no. Shigaraki wants to destroy because Tenko was sad he was born with an evil quirk and because of that he doesn't know how to love himself and so the source of the problem ultimately lies with himself. Deku is here to validate his existence so Tenko can feel better that someone accepts him so he can learn to love himself and stop all this nonsense. Except wait it turns out AFO gave him Decay and also turns out AFO manipulated his life since even before his conception so who knows what's even real anymore. Maybe the people on the streets really wanted to help Tenko but AFO made a gas leak fill the city with Asshole Gas and so no one helped and Shigaraki has been operating under a gaslit delusion for the past 15 years and his grievance against bystander apathy is completely invalid. Bummer. 

The series hasn't ended yet, and it's possible that the Walk will still be addressed. I've seen it theorized that civilians will show up to help stop AFO and finally save Shigaraki/Tenko like he had wanted all those people on the streets to do all those years ago. 

However, without the problem explicitly stated or even known - Deku never sees the family passivity, and he seems to have only caught glimpses of The Walk (and of course has no reaction/introspection/opinion on it) - this feels unlikely. Plus, the recent chapter hasn't filled me with hope or inspiration. The best the civilian could do was offer an All Might t-shirt. That's not exactly "I won't assume a Hero will take care of it and I'll take action myself"; it's more "I'll trust in Heroes even more to take care of the problem." I know that's not exactly fair, in that fighting AFO and helping a lost child are problems of very different magnitudes. But the fact the story hasn't given the civilians an opportunity to ‘redeem’ themselves, so to speak, in the latter case kinda proves my point, I think. 

So far, the story seems to think that Shigaraki's issue with passivity and complacency is actually irrelevant. Or has been solved by Deku. Who took on the immense task of saving Shigaraki because he possesses a drive to save others that eclipses all common understanding. So Deku is special, and thank god someone so special existed to save Shigaraki. Because otherwise, Shigaraki wouldn't have been saved. Due to the majority of people being passive and complacent. Which isn't a thing that needs to be dealt with.

(Or, I guess you can say that it was All For One who planted the hatred of bystander effect into Shigaraki/Tenko (if he didn't somehow manipulate the people on the streets (and the Shimura family, previously) into ignoring Tenko), since he did say “Everyone just passed by, pretending not to see, thinking some Hero would save the day. Who decided to make the world this way?” when he first found Tenko. So even that hatred and grudge isn't ‘true’ and we can dismiss it. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯)

[nalmull]

This is the desperation of a drowning man looking for something, anything to hold onto. A raison d'être, a purpose; meaning. At his most passionate, shouting from his heart, Spinner reveals that it’s not quite Stain he wants to follow - it’s anything that will give him something to live for. Stain might be gone, but here was the League, here was Shigaraki. He’s begging Shigaraki to give him an answer. He’s willing to follow Shigaraki if Shigaraki proves himself - if Shigaraki inspires him, if Shigaraki can provide direction, Spinner will stay.

This was the wonderful question that hung over the entire arc, from beginning to end. Will Shigaraki prove himself? Is Shigaraki worth following? Spinner is sort of setting the standard here, asking what the audience is asking about the character of Shigaraki Tomura and his potential, providing the goal, the main thesis of the arc.

Spinner ends up serving as the audience surrogate - he’s ideal for it too: he’s sympathetic (victim of fantasy racism, an aimless young adult), he’s got ‘good’ reason to fight against society (where were the Heroes while the CRC were having their meeting?), and though we don’t know it yet, there’s already a sense that he’s the most average guy in the League, way in over his head. Relatable.

While the League being Plus Chaos is fun to watch (esp. Twice and Toga antics), we’re reading HeroAca for a story. We need that logical progression, we need a satisfying beginning, middle, end. same as Spinner, we’re looking for ‘purpose’ and meaning. MVA main thread is Shigaraki growing and maturing, and Spinner is the meta-framing for this.

BONES completely screwed up by cutting this. While the story was still told, it ended up being just an detour to see what the Villains are doing. Randomly, here’s Shigaraki fighting Gigantomachia. Randomly, here’s a Other Villain Group to serve as punching bags. Good, cool, now you’re caught up with our antagonist. the emotional depth got lost.

[codenamesazanka]

like you would’ve think Yoichi would sympathize with Shigaraki, who is his brother’s victim. Who AFO used horrifically in a brutal and elaborate scheme to try to bring back Yoichi. Literally Tenko’s existence was plotted by AFO to nab OFA so he can get Yoichi back.

It’s not Yoichi’s fault, obviously, but at least you would hope he have some response to it beyond thinking of Shigaraki as a “heinous calamity… the mightiest villain with amor forged from untold malice and hatred.”

And you would think Nana would try to interact with her grandson before she disappeared. That she would directly face Shigaraki and apologize to her last remaining blood relative and the legacy of her actions, after realizing her abandoning Kotarou caused a trauma that was carried on to the next generation; for having given up on him and decided he should be killed for the greater good. To ask him his name and to give some kind words.

But nah, let’s instead have her interact with not even a real ghost of Kotarou, but a non-responsive memory. Let’s have her weep for the already dead and gone, only more or less off-handedly apologize in thought to her living grandson in his traumatic core that they punched their way into.

And you would think Deku would actually care about Shigaraki beyond just The Crying Child. That he would try to talk to him. That he would search for whatever clues he can find about Shigaraki - interrogating captured League members (MR. COMPRESS), asking All Might and Gran about the Shimuras, analyzing his flashbacks to all his encounters with Shigaraki - because he’s working hard to know and understand his opponent, to find out what Shigaraki wants. That he would object to a plan called SKY COFFIN that’s designed to hurt and subdue Shigaraki and intended to serve as his metaphorical grave; that when Gran Torino tells him “killing is a form of salvation,” Deku would actually say something out loud instead of silence.

But he only ever cared about the innocent child he saw crying, as if time isn’t linear and that sad little boy didn’t directly grow into the man in front of him.

For all the talk of ‘saving’ Shigaraki, I just don’t think Deku (and the vestiges that ostensibly support his quest) actually seem to care about Shigaraki - as a victim, as a person - all that much. The result is that we’re mainly focused on how supposedly cool and merciful and brave Deku is for half-heartedly considering the idea after receiving a psychic vision of a sad innocent child, with his ultimate plan being to literally beat Shigaraki’s traumatic backstory out of him.

[codenamesazanka]

maybe the ‘Bystanders All Watched a Bloody and Injured Five-Year-Old Walk Past Them And Did Nothing’ thing is not addressed, and will never be addressed because that’s just how things are supposed to be. That’s just normal human nature and people just have to live with it.

Have this passage from famous Japanese novelist Natsume Sōseki’s book Sanshiro - from more than 100 years ago.

The farther they walked, the more people they encountered. Soon they came across a lost child, a little girl of perhaps seven.

She swept aimlessly back and forth beneath the sleeves of the throng. “Grandma, Grandma,” she called out in tears. Everyone who saw her seemed touched. A few stopped to look. “The poor little thing,”someone said. But no one took her in hand. The little girl attracted the attention and sympathy of everyone around her, but still she had to keep crying loudly in search of her grandmother. It was a strange phenomenon.

“She’s in the wrong place, too, I suppose,” Nonomiya said, keeping his eye on the shifting shadow of the little girl.

“Everyone figures a policeman is bound to take care of her sooner or later, so they avoid the responsibility,” Professor Hirota explained.

“If she comes near me, I’ll take her to the police box,” Yoshiko said.

“So why don’t you just go get her and take her over?” her brother suggested.

“I don’t want to go chasing after her.”

“Why not?”

“I don’t know—there are so many people here. I don’t have to be the one.”

“That’s it,” Hirota said, “avoiding the responsibility.”

“She’s in the wrong place after all,” Nonomiya said. The two men laughed.

At the top of Dangozaka, they found a swarm of people by the police box. The lost child was finally in the hands of the police.

“You can relax now,” Mineko turned and said to Yoshiko.

“Oh, I’m so glad.”

[codenamesazanka]

[codenamesazanka]

Shigaraki Tomura: actually a nice and fair guy

[codenamesazanka]

[codenamesazanka]

i've said this more than a few times before, but it continues to be true. the more I think about Shigaraki letting Spinner join the League of Villains, the funnier it gets. Everything about it - here's a guy Shigaraki has to vet to let into his supervillain battle group, and he's

A hikkikomori country boy from the middle of nowhere with zero criminal experience just somehow finding his way into a big city Villain hideout

showing up in low-budget cosplay based on a serial killer who recently went viral

(because the serial killer went viral)

having to reveal that in the fight against professional superpowered mercenaries, his power... is to climb walls

then asking for a giant sword made out of dozens of knives duct taped together as his main weapon. (They'd have to pay money for this.)

And Shigaraki said 'sure' to all of it. Is it any surprise he's dedicating his destruction of Mt. Fuji to Spinner? We all talk about Spinner's giant crush on Shigaraki, but i think Shigaraki is actually the one got a crush first, moment he first saw the guy.

[codenamesazanka]

Toga wanted to ask for blood. She wanted to ask Saito for blood.

In fact, outside of battle and missions where anything goes, I think Toga usually does ask before she stabs. She asked Deku for blood in Chapter 348.

And though this is omake, and I forgot whether this is official or not, she asks here too:

I’ve seen some previous meta that pointed out that all Toga needed was to understand consent (and to eventually find a tolerant group of kinksters). That is indeed a solution, but I think the examples above does show that Toga has at least the basic understanding of consent.

It’s just that the act of asking for it would’ve ostracized her. If she asked, it wouldn’t just be someone random calling her a freak; it would be the person she loves calling her a freak. It’s the ostracism that scared her more than a simple ‘no’.

Her parents hammered it into her head that any manifestation of her desire for blood makes her not human. So she was afraid to ask, and afraid to talk about it, and afraid to seek help or support for it; and it was bottled up inside of her until it exploded.

Not that her stabbing Saitou was okay, obviously. Her logic of ‘well, if I can’t ask, I might as well go for it’ is wonky.

But there’s a reason she functioned so well in the League. She could ask for their blood, and they wouldn’t judge her for it. Maybe they gave it to her, maybe they didn’t. But they never saw her as less.

And that’s what Ochako finally did here. She let Toga explain herself, she listened, she didn’t judge. Ochako even offered her blood— but note that it wasn’t the blood that got Toga to finally stop.

It was Ochako reassuring Toga that she still views Toga as human. And that’s what Toga wanted all along.

[codenamesazanka]

Toga-chan and Ochako-Chan PV

[codenamesazanka]

Best Friends

[codenamesazanka]

Got the urge to draw something dumb. And so.

Based on this.

[codenamesazanka]

Age 3, Toga had her hair put up in messy buns, and dressed in cute, frilly clothing.

Her outfit looks to be a two-piece - shirt and skirt - complete with a little bow-tie and additionally frilly socks.

I don't think 3-year-olds can coordinate and dress into an outfit such as this without adult help; and to get her hair buns, there definitely needed to be an adult to style her hair.

So this was Toga, age 3, having been fussed over by her parents, who took time and attention to dress her in pretty outfits and brush her hair for her.

All this changed after she demonstrated the tendencies of her quirk, after her parents found her drinking the dead bird's blood:

In the first pic, she looks only slightly older than when she was in that frilly outfit - age 4 or 5, perhaps. She's several years older in the second pic - 8 years old, I'd say?

Her hair is being down is the most obvious change - her parents didn't take the time to style her hair anymore. They no longer help her put it in a hairstyle that would take an even few minutes of time and effort.

But her clothing has also changed - her dresses are much more plain, and look to be simple things that can be easily slipped over the head.

Much like how Toga's old house showed that her parents stopped marking her height at around age 3, the way Toga is dressed as a child also possibly shows that after Toga manifested her quirk, her parents might have just since gave her minimum attention. Might have avoided touching her as much as possible.

Toga will continue to keep her hair down for years afterwards until age 15 (last year of middle school). By then, she'll be old enough to do her own hair, but she continued to keep her hair down and straight. It's associated with 'normal' for her, the 'normal' that she's told to follow. It's part of the mask she wore, it's how she suppressed herself.

Once she ran away, though, once she's free from her house, and the 'normalcy' she was performing, Toga has her hair out in messy buns again:

And even in her imagine spot after her heart is saved by Ochako, she pictures herself with the same hair style.

[codenamesazanka]

you know that post that's like "dads will casually drop the most horrifying lore of their lives suddenly in the middle of a conversation and never bring it up again"? That should be AFO.

*random mundane conversation about animals*

AFO: ...Ah, raccoons. I've always found them awful tasting. Of course, that was probably because my younger brother and I were eating the roadkilled ones that were left in the sun for hours. Rotted meat has the worst texture.

Ujiko, Tomura, Kurogiri:

[codenamesazanka]

Shigaraki's memories I want Deku to see:

Shigaraki having genuinely wanted to recruit Bakugou because he saw Bakugou get chained up and gagged during the Sports Festival and felt a sort of kinship with the boy

Shigaraki accepting a paper-bag-over-head-wearing, too-traumatized-to-use-his-quirk-properly, incoherent Twice into the League

Heck, just Shigaraki accepting everyone into the League. Took in a bitter middle schooler. Managed to get Muscular and Moonfish - two people true to their bloodthirsty desires - to restrain themselves enough to work in a team towards a specific goal.

Shigaraki watching over a recovering Compress who just had his arm torn off by Overhaul

the League giving Magne a proper burial and keeping her magnet

Shigaraki revealing his face to Toga and Twice and saying he believes in them

Shigaraki telling Toga and Twice to grab "the girl in the middle of the Shie Hassaikai operation"

The League being buddies who stuck together even after losing comrades and resources, even when they're on the run with no money and no food and no clear purpose. Even when they have to fight a giant naked man nearly 24/7 on a mountain in the middle of winter.

The League rushing into great danger to save a kidnapped friend

Shigaraki not dusting ReDestro immediately when the man was bleeding out on the ground, despite having every reason to do so - ReDestro had condescending challenged him, harmed his friends, insulted him, maimed him, and destroyed The Hands. Shigaraki had every reason to just finish off his opponent while ReDestro was down, but he didn't; and especially not after ReDestro apologized and kowtowed.

Shigaraki ordering sushi for Mr. Compress and the League

[codenamesazanka]

The park flashback/scene where Tenko plays with Mikkun and Tomo-chan in Chapter 418 first takes place in early afternoon, as evidenced by the clock reading almost 2:00 PM.

The art in the scene confirms this: clear bright skies, and the shadows under the children are short.

However, the time in the scene changes after Mikkun and Tomo-chan tells Tenko he should be All Might (the moment Tenko decides he wants to be a Hero, as he tells his mom in Chapter 235). Suddenly it's evening: the clock shows 6:13 PM, and the sky darkening because it's nearing sunset.

When Shigaraki/Tenko thinks of the League, he and the League (and Deku) all have long shadows, the kind you see when the sun is low in the sky.

＊

The context:

Sunset is the time to go home. Children who have been playing outside, in playgrounds, at the park, are supposed to go home, to get back in time for dinner, back to their families.

In Japan, many cities and towns have a bell/chime/song that plays from public loudspeakers at around 5:00 PM. It's a daily test of an emergency broadcast system, but it has also come to be seen as the evening bell, a 'go home' signal, especially for children, telling them to go home before it gets dark.

In manga and anime, all these elements have become common imagery and symbolism, associated with each other: red-orangey colors, sunset, long shadows, the chime, children saying goodbye to their playmates for the day, the idea of home and return.

(from Mushishi)

＊

Putting it all together:

When the park scene first shows up, it's Tenko memory of playing with Mikkun and Tomo-chan, likely exactly how it had occurred in real life: it's early afternoon, the sun is shining bright, their shadows are short, they're at the park, they're playing Heroes, and when the kids tell Tenko that he should be All Might, Tenko is overjoyed.

But this isn't the scene 15-16 years ago; this is a memory. Tenko is also Shigaraki here. He has just had his core pried open by Deku, and given relief. The Crying Child has been symbolically saved, but the past, the massacre, the Walk still all happened.

So it's suddenly 6:13 PM, it's sunset now, because it's way past proper time (5:00 PM) to go home - because Shigaraki/Tenko can't go home to the Shimura house. It's too late. It's been long over.

Shigaraki/Tenko then looks away from Mikkun and Tomo-chan, to the side, and say, 'Nah' to their suggestion, because besides it being late, he also no longer wants to be All Might. He's deciding he's a Villain, he still holds malice and he still destroys.

So, the scene changes again to contains the League now, all six of them (plus Deku). They exist in this sunset time, hence their long shadows. They exist with current Shigaraki/Tenko, they exist in the now - and arguably, they would be the home he would return to at sunset.

-

Up to interpretation, of course, but the sunset/going home context is real.

Japanese tweets about it (translated):

[When Tenko got the words he wanted, his eyes lit up, but it was past time to go home so I'm guessing that means "it's too late."]

[It is just heartening that the League members are the place where Tomura would return to when it was "time to go home." I'm sobbing]

[In the scene where Tenko is at the park, the clock is already past 6:00 PM, the time when good kids go home, so if he had met Deku a little earlier, Deku might have been able to stop him, but this seems to show that they're past that stage now, which is good.]