After a brutal math class, at lunch Izuku and her friends eat lunch but are suddenly surprised when Yuga puts cheese in Izuku's mouth. Yuga explains "I'm sorry, you looked so sad and I thought I could make you feel better and the only way I know how is with surprises. So surprise!" "Wow, I love it. Thank you, Yuga." Izuku said then gave that warm smile of hers that delighted Yuga because she was smiling.
Aizawa announces that U.A will be having a school festival, everybody gets excited except for Eijiro who questions that "Is that a good idea when they have been an exceptional amount of villain activity." Aizawa says "I see where you're coming from but the festival is really important and could boost morale. So put your backs into it because you guys are also participating in the festival too by putting on a display from one of your guys's ideas." Momo writes down all of the suggestions and those that cannot be done for various reasons are progressively eliminated. Students discuss but fail to reach an agreement before the bell rings. Class 1-A's inability to make a decision becomes even direr when Aizawa gives them an ultimatum "If you guys can't reach a consensus then you'll get saddled with a public lecture as your contribution to the festival."
At night, at the dorms. With the exception of the interns and Katsuki, students continue to discuss what to do for the festival. Tenya considers that "Our contribution should be something that gives the other students pleasure and relieves stress." His classmates agree but still do not find the right option. Mina suggests "Why don't we do a dance.", and to her surprise Shoto supports her with saying "I agree that we should do something that blows off steam while also having fun." He with the laptop, searches on a video-sharing platform about music performances to emphasize the suggestion. Everyone seems to agree, but Hanta still has doubts about the idea of dancing. Mina offers to teach her classmates how to dance. Then Minoru remembers that "For dance, music is also needed." and everyone looks at Kyoka. All of Class 1-A considers her suitable for the task, but Kyoka believes that "My musical talent is not a big deal, it's just a hobby." Denki finds it really awesome that she can play so many instruments, which makes her blush. Then, Koji tells her that "Your music can help put smiles on people's faces." Encouraged by her peers, Kyoka decides to help Class 1-A with music. All of them agreeing that Class 1-A's school festival program will be a grand musical performance.
The next day, Izuku and Mirio pay Eri a visit to see how she's been doing. Back in the supplementary lessons room, Shota tells Izuku that Eri has requested to see him and Mirio. As both students enter Eri's room, a nurse is concerned that Eri may lose control of her Quirk if something makes her remember the incident but the doctor assures her that with Eri's current status it is unlikely that this will happen.
Eri starts the conversation asking Izuku "What's your name?" Because she doesn't know him despite having saved her. Izuku informs her "My name is Izuku and I'm The Sunshine Hero: Sunny." Then, Eri blames herself for all the trouble that they and Sir Nighteye (who she is unaware that he has passed away) went through in their battle against Overhaul. Mirio reassures her "It's not your fault and we just want to see you smile again." Eri tries to smile but it turns out that she can't even force herself to do it. Izuku is aware that even though Eri has been freed from Overhaul's clutches, she still sustained a lot of psychological damage. Thinking about the way she can smile again; Izuku remembers Yuga Aoyama's words about surprises and then asks Aizawa "If it would be possible for Eri to attend the U.A. School Festival." When Eri asks "What is a festival?", Mirio explains that "It is a place full of fun and joy, where you can eat delicious things like candy apples." Which catches Eri's attention, Aizawa agrees with Izuku's idea and phones to talk it over with the principal.
Back at U.A. High School, while walking outside. Katsuki overhears the conversation between two students from the General Department, being condescending toward 1A Hero Course and their decision to hold a live show to lift the rest of the school's spirits, blaming Class 1-A for the damage being caused by the recent villain attacks against the U.A. Back in the dorms, Class 1-A is deciding their roles for the upcoming Cultural Festival. First, they're deciding who should play which instruments and Kyoka notes that "I mostly play guitar, and don't really have the time to teach someone else how to play." She asks if anyone can play the drums since the drummer's job is to provide the beat to support the other instruments. Denki points out "Katsuki was forced to play when he was younger." Katsuki refuses to do but Hanta teases him which makes the former display his prowess in playing drums. Everyone is impressed by Katsuki's performance and they want him to be the drummer, but he doesn't want to due to the fact "The other departments are mad at us and our attempts to please will only look like self-satisfaction from us and they will not accept it." This leads Toru to get cross with Katsuki, Tenya admits he has a point and Shoto says "You should not speak ill of us if he has not even partaken in the conversation." However, Katsuki counters on saying "There is no point in trying to play nice with departments if they are going to do a band and dance performance, they should do it for the sake of it and not for pleasing or helping people." Katsuki announces that he will blow everyone away in U.A. with his sound. Some of Class 1-A are surprised by Katsuki's willingness to participate, being fired up by his words, as Kyoka says she will do her best. Shoto realizes that his attitude is due to the heavy burden he has been carrying since he was kidnapped by the League of Villains. They (class 1A) continue to discuss positions. Momo offers to be the pianist since she received piano lessons as a child. Kyoka accepts and says that "I'll will be the bass player, now the only things missing are the guitarists and vocals." Everyone else will dance but Mina quickly goes on to discuss the staging, as they need effects to set the mood, and suggest Shoto and Eijiro will make ice dust while Yuga will be the disco ball an idea that Yuga himself likes. Izuku, Ochaco, Tsuyu and Eijiro arrive at the dorm after they finally made up all their classes and join the discussion. Looking for a singer for their band, Eijiro, and Yuga try out for the position. As it turns out, Eijiro can't get the right genre, Yuga is a falsetto and Minoru just yells noises. Then, Ochaco and Toru nominate Kyoka as they know she has a great voice. Kyoka is at first reluctant to be the singer but when she sings... she belts out an absolutely stunning song that blows away her classmates, and they immediately make her Class 1-A's vocalist. As for the guitarist positions, Denki and Minoru try out; the former being able to perform well while the latter laments his inability to reach around a guitar. While the rest of the students decide whether to dance or take care of the effects, Fumikage picks up the guitar left by Minoru, showing himself to be a good guitarist, although he states that he has a hard time with the F chord. Everyone accepts him as the second guitarist, although Minoru is depressed and spiteful for having failed, Mina manages to encourage him by promising him a solo harem part if he joins the dance group. And so on, at 1 A.M., everything is set: The band team, the effects team, and the Dance Team.
The next day in U.A's break room, Izuku tells All Might what they are doing for the festival, but they quickly move on to another subject. Izuku had arranged that meeting with him because she is still hung up about his performance in the fight with Nine. During the fight, she was able to use the One For All at 20%, but it took a toll on her body and could only use it for a short period of time. Not only that, but he could not do much against Nine's long-distance attacks. All Might advises her that "You should keep developing ranged attacks." She and All Might step outside and go to the school grounds forested area. Once there, All Might asks her to "Activate Full Cowling at 20%." Izuku reminds him that "One For All at that percentage starts to harm my body." But All Might insists that she do so and that then, remaining in position, unleash an attack. Izuku obeys and kicks, releasing a wind pressure that shakes the trees. Toshinori was going to teach Izuku to properly unleash wind pressure after he passed 15% but Izuku already has some experience in doing this in his battle with Nine but did not realize this because it was such a desperate battle. Toshinori affirms that Izuku can unleash wind pressure without her body breaking. All Might goes on to recap his training and progress in stages: "At first you were able to control 5 percent of One For All in one body part. Next you learned how to control a percentage of your power across your entire body. The next stage saw you shift to his Shoot Style, which uses your legs rather than your arms. Next, you raised his overall level from 5 percent to 8 percent. Now your fifth and current stage means you can concentrate and draw out 20 percent of his power for a short time." Thanks to his exposition, Izuku understands that what she has to do is not using One For All at his max power all the time but learn how to shift seamlessly between full-body power and concentrated points of attack. In other words, using her max power on a single point in his body for a single moment in order to releases a decent amount of power without risking damage to her own body. All Might advises Izuku that "You need to be even more delicate than you have been until now. I decide to focus on training your fingers as you can move them with the most precision in that space of time." She manages to launch a small air burst with this move once, and although after the shot she feels pain, and an encouraged Izuku is willing to start her training.
It's Saturday so everyone in Class 1-A is rehearsing on their day off. The Band team plays the instruments, the Stage team discusses the effects they should use for the performance and the Dance team practices the choreography in front of the Class 1-A rooms under Mina's supervision. Mirio and Aizawa arrive to introduce Eri to the class, although first Mirio prepares a "grand entrance" to surprise Class 1-A, Izuku notices his presence. Although his surprise is ruined, Mirio still does the "entrance", which is popping out his butt from a bunch of bushes. No one pays attention to him. Izuku, Ochaco and Tsuyu are glad to see Eri again. Aizawa informs Izuku that "Principal Nezu has given permission for Eri to attend the festival, although Nezu advised me that I should bring Eri to the U.A. very early so she could adapt, since due to her being separated from society for years, suddenly thrusting her into a big social event like a school festival might be a bit too much for her." After some of the students introduce themselves to Eri, Mirio states that he is showing Eri around U.A. and invites Izuku to join them. Izuku accepts and Mina suggests taking a break. Mirio and Izuku give Eri a tour of the school, where she meets other students and sees how they work hard, preparing for the school festival. They accidentally come across Tetsutetsu, Neito, and Yosetsu while transporting a dragon model. Neito boasts about Class 1-B's play and rants arrogantly against Class 1-A's concert until he is knocked out by Yosetsu, who apologizes for Neito's behavior. Yosetsu clarifies that it is generally Itsuka who punishes Neito, but at that time she is too busy with the beauty pageant. Mirio apologizes to Eri for showing her U.A.'s bad parts. Izuku wonders why Aizawa didn't say anything about a beauty pageant, which reminds Mirio that "Nejire, who was last year's beauty pageant runner-up, participates in said contest." And takes them to the equipment room, where at the moment she tries on dresses and participates in a photo shoot, assisted by Tamaki and her friend Yuyu. Once there, Nejire is wearing a sexy dress, causing Izuku to become awed by her body proportions during her shoot. Nejire is determined to win the beauty pageant. She hopes to beat Bibimi Kenranzaki, who won the previous pageants since this is her last year at U.A. Next, Izuku, Mirio, and Eri go and see U.A.'s Development Studio, where they meet Mei, who is working hard building a giant combat suit, and refuses to waste time bathing. Izuku and Mirio are impressed by her dedication, and Mei clarifies that it is because the School Festival offers a greater opportunity to highlight for the Hero Department during the U.A. Sports Festival. Mei asks Izuku if the Iron Soles she created work out for him but before he can reply, the combat suit explodes, to Mei's surprise and annoyance of the Development Studio's members. Izuku hurries Eri to their next destination. The three (Izuku, Mirio and Eri) continue with the tour, seeing other students working hard on their respective projects for the festival until they decide to go to the Lunch Rush Cafeteria. Mirio and Izuku ask Eri her opinion and she says "I'm motivated by the school's determination and I wish to see how it ends." Izuku and Mirio are happy that Eri is feeling excited. Principal Nezu and Midnight, who were eating in the cafeteria, join their conversation. The principal is also exited at seeing the festival, although Midnight shows his concern due to the Police Force's issues with the event. Nezu tries not to give it any importance, Midnight comments that "Nezu managed to convince the chief of police to agree, assuring him that they (the school) have reinforced security and agree to suspend all activities if the alarms sound, even if it is a false alarm. Midnight leaves after wishing Izuku her best at Class 1-A's performance. When Eri asks about it, Izuku tells her "That Class 1-A will be doing a dance party with live music performance and I promise you that you'll have a great time at the festival." Before Izuku returns to his class.
A week passes and Mina tells Izuku that "You are fired from the dance team." Izuku is shocked, but fortunately, Mina is just tricking him and clarifies that he has been asked to join the effects team instead since they're worried that people will eventually get bored of Yuga being the disco ball and Koji suggested the idea of the Aoyama-ball moving in all directions, so Izuku is requested to maneuver Yuga during the performance. Eijiro apologizes to Izuku for doing this; Izuku decides to go along with their new plan, as long as he can keep his promise to Eri about dancing during it at some point.
The next morning, at 6:30, Izuku is training under the supervision of All Might to shoot wind pressure attacks with his fingers. Izuku is struggling with successive movements when using more power and asks All Might "Do you know any tricks to help me." All Might doesn't have any helpful suggestions since he was able to master One For All almost immediately. The only advice he can give her is the same one he gave at the beginning: "Create an image in your head." Suddenly, All Might hears a noise behind him and catch a flying ball that was flying at him and Izuku from behind without turning around. It turns out to be one of Mei's inventions, who is testing her machines out in the woods. Mei apologizes and when she sees Izuku, she informs him that the support item Izuku requested is similar to one of her inventions and is customizing it for her use, to which she thanks Mei and it might be available before the culture festival. As Mei leaves, Izuku explains to All Might that "I requested an item to help me with my new move." All Might surprises Izuku by revealing that "Once I also used support equipment, but since it wasn't effective for me, I chose to fight relying on my own body." All Might tells Izuku he approves the usage of items, as long as he doesn't rely too much on them and to return to training.
In the dorms, Class 1-A is having a night off. Momo praises Kyoka for being able to improve Denki's ability to play the guitar in just one week. Kyoka mentions that "The tea you are preparing, Momo smells very good." And Momo reveals that she has received special tea from her mother called Gold Tips Imperial and prepares some of it for her classmates to try. Ochaco asks Izuku "Do you want some (referring to tea)." But she is surprised to see Izuku obsessively searching online with her phone to find images or videos of All Might wearing the support items. Izuku accidentally clicks on a video about tea starring Gentle Criminal, where he announces that his next video will be about society receiving a wake-up call. Izuku notes that Gentle is a villain famous for his online videos who has managed to avoid being arrested for it and wonders what he's planning next.
In the gymnasium, Class 1-A is making their final preparations for their musical performance before the day of the school festival, with Mina working hard to have the dance choreograph precisely. The practice is cut short when Hound Dog arrives to tell them it's 9:00 PM and they must return to their rooms.
In the dorms, some of the students cannot sleep from how nervous and excited they are. Izuku and Yuga are checking the stuff for when Yuga plays the mirror ball. Izuku realizes that the rope is frayed from being overused during practice. Denki advises her to ask Momo to create another rope but Mina tells him that she is sleeping right now and reproaches him for treating her as a handy tool. Izuku says that since tomorrow morning he has to go out to buy several things, he will take the opportunity to buy a new rope. Before all going to sleep, Class 1-A vows to make their School Festival event a success.
The day of the festival has arrived. At 6:30 AM, Izuku is training with All Might when a scruffy Mei shows up and gives him the support equipment he requested: a pair of gloves. She also made sure the design went with Izuku's hero costume. Izuku thanks her for making the gloves, and Toshinori is impressed by how compact they are. Before leaving, Mei gives Izuku the gloves manual, and Toshinori asks him to test them, with which Izuku agrees.
Izuku was practicing to get used to it until he was almost out of time. At 7:50 AM, Izuku rushes to buy the things he needs while still wearing the gloves. At 8:30 AM, Izuku hurries back to the U.A., after buying everything he needed, when she suddenly runs into a disguised Gentle Criminal and La Brava. Izuku apologizes while Gentle tells him to be careful because he has been about to ruin him the aftertaste of the Golden Tips Imperial. Then, Gentle and La Brava attempt to leave wanting to avoid further contact. Upon hearing that variety of tea mentioned, Izuku notes that the house next to the store is some kind of café, which grabs Gentle's attention, who cannot help praising him for being so knowledgeable about tea despite his youth. Izuku admits that this is because a friend of his made some for him. From that conversation, the disguised Gentle realizes that Izuku is a U.A. student, and after realizing that he made a blunder for talking too long, He and La Brava try to leave. However, after hearing his passion for tea and recognizing his voice, Izuku manages to deduce that he is the villain in the video she saw several days ago: Gentle Criminal. Knowing fully well that if the alarms sound, the festival for which everyone has worked so hard on and with which she wants to make Eri smile will be canceled, Izuku drops his groceries and he tells Gentle to not do anything to the U.A. Being aware that his cover has been blown, Gentle asks La Brava to start recording. It is 8:32 AM, half an hour until the School Festival begins. Izuku can't expect any backup: there are no people on the streets being a Saturday morning, there are no hero agencies in the vicinity, and the option of going for help is ruled out. With no choice but to stop Gentle by himself, Izuku activates the Full Cowl at 8% and readys her wand. Gentle informs La Brava that there is a change of plans, and tells her to continue filming, whatever happens. She obeys, puzzled that he intends to fight. With a flourishing movement, Gentle takes off his overcoat and hat and tells his listeners to bear witness to his dazzling ambitions. Although his plan has been altered, he still intends to infiltrate the U.A. Gentle has the courtesy to pull an intro on himself for the camera while Deku is about to get ready to fight. Izuku charges at Gentle but suddenly an elastic sheet stops him. Gentle reveals that when he removed his disguise, he activated his Quirk, Elasticity, which allows him to give elastic properties to everything he touches, and that includes the air itself. Gentle uses Gently Rebound, which repels Izuku, knocking him backwards. Gentle says "I don't like using violence to solve his problems." La Brava comments that "Your (Izuku) attack has been quite violent." to which Gentle surmises that Izuku possesses considerable speed and power despite his appearance, making his Elasticity do so. Gentle and La Brava run away as Izuku recovers and chases after them. Gentle uses his Quirk on the ground to make it elastic, bouncing Izuku high into the air with Gently Trampoline. Gentle is aware of Izuku's feelings and desires to protect the school festival. When he was a student he also worked hard to put on events, but he does not intend to allow those feelings to get in his way of infiltrating the U.A. and becoming a legend. Gentle Criminal bids farewell to Izuku while he and La Brava bounce away in the air. La Brava recognized Izuku as the crazy boy who broke his fingers fighting in the U.A. Sports Festival. Fearing Izuku's insanity, Gentle changes the mission to a timed attack on the school. Gentle wishes to not be further involved with him and tells the listeners that their infiltration operation has become a race against the clock. They have to quickly infiltrate U.A. before Izuku can warn them. As Izuku recovers from Gentle's attack in midair, he recalls everything that's riding on the School Festival. He remembers Eri looking forward to Deku's work at the festival; nearly pulling a complete smile. He also recalls a conversation he had with Kyoka Jiro, when she showed Izuku all the advice she wrote to all the members in her notebook, proving that she is putting in her all for the school festival. Izuku prepares to shoot a wind pressure attack. He thinks he needs to land after he remembers All Might telling him that he's having trouble using air blasts while he is moving, but after recalling one of Mina's lessons where she advises him that he must focus his attention for an instant as he moves, and when he asked Mei to build him special gloves, Izuku clears his head of all doubts and shoots a Lasor Shoot, hitting Gentle right in the back mid-air. Despite being hit, Gentle Criminal refuses to give up. Izuku lunges off a telephone post and charges at Gentle, culminating into a full-on brawl between Gentle and Izuku as the two crash into a construction site, as La Brava cries out. The crash to the construction site attracted the attention of an old man. La Brava tries to convince him that they are filming and to pass it on to his neighbors, hoping to buy some time for Gentle to retreat. Izuku has landed on the construction site and recovers quickly, thanking Mei Hatsume for building the gloves in time to stop Gentle as well as Mina for balancing his stance with her dance lessons. On the other hand, Gentle ends up stuck by his jacket onto a girder, hanging him in mid-air. Despite his situation, Gentle intends to continue with his infiltration plan. As La Brava runs to where they are, Izuku asks about Gentle's objective. Gentle tells Izuku that "I prefer not to be lumped as being the same as the League of Villains, because I have no intention of stealing or harming anyone since all I wants is to sneak into the school festival." As La Brava reaches them, Gentle pleads with Izuku to let him go, which shocks her. Izuku tells him that "I cannot allow you to do that, because if the alarms sound, the festival will be canceled." Gentle assures him that he does not have to worry because his partner in crime La Brava will disable the alarm system, in this way his plan can succeed and they don't have to suspend the Festival, a win-win situation for both. Izuku quickly refutes his argument saying that it will make an even bigger problem, and Gentle can't deny that Izuku is right, which shocks La Brava again. Izuku tries to bluff Gentle with a false report that the police are on their way to arrest him. Sadly for Deku, Gentle wants to accomplish his goal, so the battle resumes. Izuku charges at Gentle, but Gentle uses his Quirk again, bouncing around the construction site by causing all the girders to become elastic, and causing Izuku to simply be unable to calculate or predict Gentle's movements due to all the bounciness of the girders, as well as causing the air to be bouncy. Izuku shoots Gentle with an Detroit Air Blast but he uses his Quirk to make the attack rebound, hitting Izuku herself. As Izuku stumbles, La Brava suggests retreating but Gentle plans on dealing with Izuku first. Gentle plucked out the rivets holding together one of the beams due to them being turned into elastic and he starts bouncing the steel beam like rubber. Gentle tells Izuku that he can't really remove the elasticity from an object and must wait for it to resume its own inertia. Izuku makes note of the old civilian with whom La Brava met before, who just happens to be standing by the construction site because of the commotion that was causing their fight. Gentle jumps from the collapsing construction beam, distracting Izuku by forcing him to jump in the way of the steel beam to catch it and keep it from crushing the bystander underneath him. Izuku is angered because Gentle tried to harm a civilian, but Gentle retorts that "I had no intention of dropping the beam on the old man but rather delay you hero, as I expected you to avert that incident and if you didn't then I was going to bounce the beam away from the civilian if Izuku didn't move. As the civilian runs away, Gentle uses his Quirk and turns a crane's hook into elastic, planning to use it as a slingshot to launch himself and La Brava towards the U.A. It is 8:45 AM and Class 1-A have finished preparing for their live dance performance. Everyone is getting their places ready as well as their dresses. Shoto notices that Izuku is not there and wonders what is taking him so long, to which Yuga Aoyama concurs, stating that he went out to buy rope. There are 15 minutes remaining until the start of the festival. At the construction site, Gentle and La Brava launch themselves and are flying towards U.A. Gentle tells his partner that he is confident that his infiltration will succeed and then his name will become even more well-known as a man who accomplished a great feat. With no intention of letting them continue, Izuku uses his enhanced strength to lift up the beam with one hand, while using the other to unleash another Lasor Shoot from a great distance at the pair of villains. Gentle manages to dodge Izuku's flick of pressured air in the nick of time and notes Izuku's tenacity. As Izuku drops the construction beam, La Brava notes that they might have no choice but to use her Quirk. Izuku chases the villains, using the same elasticized crane's hook that Gentle and La Brava used to slingshot himself in their direction. He also notices that the invisible barriers Gentle leaves behind don't disappear immediately but stick around for a while and he needs to remember where he placed them. Holding La Brava, Gentle uses his Elasticity Quirk to create invisible trampolines to control his fall and land safely in the forest area that surrounds the school. Seeing that Izuku is on their tail, La Brava advises Gentle to use her Quirk, otherwise, he will fail in his mission. Gentle looks up and is surprised to see Izuku approaching from the sky at full speed, ready to shoot another air blast, so he raises an elastic invisible barrier in front of him and La Brava. Remembering the positions of the elastic aerial trampolines Gentle created, Izuku bounces on them to navigate through the trees and get behind Gentle and his barrier, ready to shoot with Detroit Air Smash. Gentle quickly covers himself with another barrier to intercept the blast, but Izuku aims precisely to shoot at his barriers to ricochet his attack right at Gentle. La Brava goes to help Gentle, but Izuku apprehends both of them, ordering them to surrender. Despite his efforts, Danjuro (Gentle) cannot break free of Izuku's grasp. La Brava whispers "I love you" to Gentle, activating her Quirk: Love, which gives Gentle a massive power boost, giving him enough strength to throw Deku off of them, landing a chop to the back of Izuku's neck. Believing they have defeated Izuku, Gentle and La Brava begin to walk away, but he doesn't lose consciousness. Izuku tells Gentle that he has fought stronger and faster people that him and he hasn't lost yet and prepares to attack. It's 9:00 AM and Present Mic announces the start of the U.A. School Festival. Gentle dodges Izuku's air blast, shocked to see the young hero continuing to fight despite La Brava giving him a massive power boost with the Lover Mode. Deku and Gentle clash ferociously, with Izuku pleading with Gentle to stop his attack on U.A. while a sobbing La Brava apologizes to Gentle saying her love wasn't enough but, as he landed on a tree, Gentle replies to her that no one can say her feelings weren't enough. Izuku attacks Gentle again, but he launches a Gently Sandwich, creating numerous elastic aerial barriers and stacking them on top of his opponent. Deku is pinned underneath the attack while Gentle explains he still intends to invade U.A. no matter what. Gentle begins to think of his past and explains to the young hero why he must continue: his dream is no longer just his own. Izuku manages to pull himself away from the Gently Sandwich and attacks Gentle, asking him if he understands that U.A.'s students have dreams as well, why he would choose to trample on everyone's hopes. Gentle replies "This is how it is, and I will do whatever it takes to make my dream come true." Gentle continues his assault towards Izuku, with La Brava observing the combat with concern at the fact that Gentle uses the Lover Mode to fight for the sake of his dream instead of retreat. Gentle yells at Izuku that he doesn't care if he mocks him. When they clash once more, Izuku blocks Gentle's enhanced punch. Izuku replies that he is not laughing at him.
La Brava cheers for Gentle, boosting the Lover Mode even more, to the point that Gentle starts to overpower Izuku. As they struggle, Gentle asks Izuku "Why does you want to be a hero?" Izuku replies that "I am like you. My dream is no longer my own anymore and I will achieve it for the sake of those who believed in me and I want to be the one who shows them all a bright future." Gentle smiles smile at Izuku's reply and tosses him away. La Brava pulls out her laptop to deactivate U.A.'s security system but realizes she is out of range. With tears in her eyes and sheer desperation to help him, La Brava runs off into the woods. Gentle wants to stop her because it's too risky to go alone, but first, he has to deal with Izuku. Gentle attacks Izuku when she was preparing to chase La Brava, telling her that "If you really think that I am not as strong as those you have faced before, then I will abandon all notions of shame, honor, and dignity in order to defeat you, as a sign of respect for the person you have proven to be." Gentle creates several aerial elastic barriers and jumps from them all over the vicinity ready to attack Izuku. Elsewhere, La Brava continues to run through the woods in order to hack into U.A.'s mainframe with her laptop, until she isn't able to proceed further when she notices Ryo and several clones of Ectoplasm close by. On the battlefield, Gentle lunges at Izuku, who responds by shooting four Delaware Smash Air Force moves at once. Gentle manages to evade most of them but one of them strikes him in the leg, throwing him off balance in mid-air. Using this opportunity, Izuku sneaks up on him and ends up taking down Gentle with a "Strawberry Strike Down". Izuku apprehends Gentle and tells the villain that "This is the toughest battle I've fought so far." La Brava runs back to the fight and sees Gentle defeated. Tearing up, La Brava runs at Izuku to tell her "To get off" and that Gentle put everything into their plan today. She asks Izuku where La Brava's bright future is when Gentle is the only light she has in the world, and that Izuku can't steal him from her. Gentle thinks to himself how 'She (La Brava) won't run away now, but if she stays security will learn she helped him in battle and she will be an accomplice.' With the last ounce of energy of the Lover Mode, Gentle uses his quirk to launch Izuku into the air so they can pretend the battle never happened. Gentle hugs La Brava as he tells Izuku to fly away for the sake of Manami's bright future, thinking to himself that Izuku "You should be very proud of your victory, protecting everything you stood for." Security arrives and Gentle Criminal, clenching La Brava in his arms, declares "I surrender."