"Conviction" is the ninth chapter of Hideyuki Furuhashi and Betten Court's Vigilante - My Hero Academia: Illegals manga.
Summary
Akira Iwakou is attacking innocent civilians again. Kouichi and Pop Step arrive on the scene. Kouichi is surprised to see Akira once more and thought he was thrown in jail, to which Pop Step comments that since Akira didn't commit crimes multiple times, he wasn't registered as a villain. Akira spots him and is angered at seeing Kouichi again and calls him The Crawler, which pleases Kouichi that he remembered his Hero name. Kouichi leads Akira to an abandoned parking lot where they start fighting; Kouichi is managing to evade Akira's attacks but sees that he is faster and stronger than than before. On a car's mirror, a bee is watching which is allowing Quinn to watch the fight.
Quinn comments that she gave Akira "TR-D2C". While Quinn analyzes the drug's effects on Akira, two of Quinn's classmates asks her what she is doing, to which Quinn replies that she is making a report for her part time job. Kouichi is still evading Akira's blows, but is driven into a corner after his Quirk's ability is stopped due to being unable to slide over the pavement. Just before Akira strikes, a masked figure with a katana intervenes and stops Akira's attack; this peaks Quinn's interest. The masked figure slashes several times against Akira which leaves cuts on Akira's hardened body. Akira runs away.
Kouichi thanks the masked figure for saving him and asks him his name. Before leaving, the masked figure reveals to Kouichi that his name is Stendhal and enjoys sticking his nose where it doesn't belong like him. Stendhal leaps over several buildings with ease and disappears from sight, which impresses Kouichi.
Back at his apartment, Kouichi is gushing over Stendhal and starts thinking about also getting a katana. Pop Step receives a message from Ichimoku and Juubei, who say that Ichimoku's strong friend from his hometown is coming to visit and wants to meet Kouichi and his fellow Vigilantes at Ichimoku's family restaurant. Kouichi is glad that there are people out there with a strong sense of justice, although Knuckleduster thinks otherwise. Pop Step decides that they will meet with Ichimoku's "senpai".
At Ichimoku's family restaurant, Kouichi and Pop Step are surprised that Ichimoku's "senpai" is none other than Souga Kugizaki. Souga is taken aback by their shocked reactions and wonders who they think he is, to which Pop Step replies with a negative insult. Souga is annoyed and sees that there is no point in talking with them, although Kouichi wonders what Souga wants to talk about.
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, Quinn is quite impressed.
With Akira dead, Stendhal decides to move on to his next target; Souga Kugizaki.
Characters In Order of Appearance
- Akira Iwakou
- Koichi Haimawari
- Kazuho Haneyama
- Knuckleduster
- Quinn Hachisuka
- Stendhal
- Ichimoku Samazu
- Juubei Namimaru
- Souga Kugizaki