T/N: Here’s a Chinese > English translation for the second chapter of BNHA Light Novel Vol.3. I was a little disappointed that there wasn’t a lot of banter, honestly. I really enjoyed the teachers’ interactions in the first chapter.

I’m hoping to see a proper Japanese > English translation at some point, especially to see Chapter 1 fully fleshed-out. At least for this chapter, the Chinese translator expressed that they like Todoroki a lot and paraphrased less on his parts.



Disclaimers

Some parts were paraphrased by the Chinese translator. // ‘Quirk’ and ‘personality’ are the same, so there might be mix-ups. // It’s difficult to handle verb tense in Chinese. Hopefully I didn’t mess up the order of events too much. / Names. Honorifics don’t translate well. The Chinese characters were weird. “why is he talking about rice fields” “nvm that’s Iida”

BNHA Light Novel Vol.3 Translations

Complete list here

Chapter 1: “Cheers!” – After UA home visits, the teachers go out for drinks. Focuses on All Might and Aizawa.



***Chapter 2: “Dramatic Makeover” – Class 1-A moves into the Heights Alliance dorms. Todoroki-centric, interspersed with scenes from the other students.



Chapter 3: “Crisis”: An unexpected visitor comes to the 1-A dorms. Part One, Part Two



Fantasy AU, translated by aitaikimochi: Set in the alternate universe from the anime S2 ED



Manga References.

You should reread Chapters 98-99.

The Hideout Raid arc or wiki page



Chapter 98 or wiki page – moving into the new dorms



Chapter 99 or wiki page – best dorm room competition



Chapters 53 & 68 or wiki page on Todoroki’s mother.



(The students are about to move into dorms.)

Chapter 2: Dramatic Makeover

Yaoyorozu, who’d grown up utterly pampered in a palace-like home, was now packing for life in the dorms.

Her mother eyes the ten packing boxes with some trepidation. “Are you sure you’ve packed enough?” she hedges. “Did you bring a proper tea set? Make sure you have enough to serve the entire class – it’d be terribly awkward if you ran out of cups.” Then, “You did bring some formal attire, I suppose?”

None of this was necessary for learning at school, so Yaoyorozu obviously had not. “Better safe than sorry!” her mother insists. The house servant agrees, suggesting a few more packing boxes to fill with various luxury items.

Yaoyorozu contemplates it for a while, but eventually refuses, thanking her mother for her consideration.

“My daughter is growing up,” cries her mother.

Yaoyorozu is plied with a dozen boxes of fancy books and bookshelves, a gift from her father. Books are her absolute favorite. Yaoyorozu brushes away the tears that well up. It was time to move forwards to dorm life.

In mid-August, the students of Class 1-A assemble in front of their brand new home.

The atmosphere is heavy as they file into the dormitory, Aizawa-sensei’s lecture weighing on everyone’s minds**.

** See chapter 98 or wiki page for context

Once Aizawa-sensei has finished the building tour and everyone’s received their room assignments, it’s time for the students to unpack and decorate their new rooms. But as Yaoyorozu waits at the elevators with everyone, Aizawa-sensei calls out to her. “Oi, these rooms are too small to fit more than five or six boxes of stuff. Pick out what’s most important and send the rest back.”

“Eh, really?” Yaoyorozu flounders.

Meanwhile, the elevator dings at the 5th floor. Todoroki emerges and advances to his new room – only to halt. A small “ah” escapes him, then silence. Finally, in barely a whisper, “No… no tatami?”

Todoroki had already seen from the earlier tour that the rooms were Western in style. But having been raised in a traditional Japanese house, he couldn’t shake the feeling that his living quarters should be the same. Since students weren’t required to use the standard dorm furniture, Todoroki had brought his own.

“…” After rearranging his furniture for a while, Todoroki peers around the room with a grimace. No matter how he looks at it, the Western room and Japanese furnishings clash horribly. And the veranda… Sure, he’d gotten used to the verandas at school, but to have one in his own room seems terribly wrong. The cloth curtains (in lieu of shoji screens) also make him a bit uneasy.





Todoroki quickly finishes unpacking his sparse belongings. With nothing left to do, he flops onto the (strange Western) bed. He just can’t get used to any of this.

“From now on, I’ll be falling asleep and waking up here,” Todoroki declares to the room.

He’d been waiting to escape the ‘care’ of his damned father for years, but hadn’t expected the day to come so soon. The thought of his father brings a stormy expression to Todoroki’s face. He sits up on the bed, shaking his head as if he can forcefully eject his negative thoughts.

To try to alleviate his sore mood with a bit of fresh air, he opens the window and takes a deep breath. A vast forest stretches out beyond his vision, interspersed with the occasional UA building. But even the magnificent view from the top floor can’t dispel Todoroki’s unhappiness. He turns back to his new room and retrieves a dusty photo album. He tugs out a single faded photograph – his mother, beaming at the unmarred baby Shouto cradled in her arms.

Before, when Todoroki looked at this photo, he’d be hit with a wave of regret and fear that his mother would never smile the same way again. But no more. Now he knows that his mother is still full of laughter**. The picture soothes his troubled heart.

** See wiki page on Todoroki’s mother

Todoroki is beginning to feel much better when a gust of wind snatches the photo from his hands. The photo drifts out into the forest.

He rushes out of the dorm. How will he find a single photo in such a huge forest? He scours the ground, the trees, the UA buildings. “Where the hell did it go,” he mutters, a frown etching itself back onto his face. In the distance, he suddenly hears a mechanical clanging.

“?!” Out of nowhere, a small object comes hurtling into Todoroki’s (hastily-raised) wall of ice and falls to the ground with a thunk. It appears to be a large fist-sized gadget of sorts. “The hell is this?”

“That’s my baby!” a feminine voice retorts back. Ah, it’s the inventor girl from the Department of Support. Her performance in the UA Sports Festival had certainly been something. Not wanting to face the same fate as Iida, he offers the handful of machinery back to her.

**bold = originally in English

** See wiki page for Hatsume Mei

Hatsume thanks him with a brilliant smile. She’s about to go off on one of her advertising spiels when one of her inventions zips by. A few others zigzag about in the distance.

“My baby! Wait up!” In the blink of an eye, Hatsume vanishes from view to chase down her precious machines.

“Hold up, there’s one over there too,” Todoroki points out. It’s finally dawned on him that she’s referring to her inventions.

“Help me catch it!” Hatsume yells over her shoulder.

“… Hah? Oi!” But his cries are lost to the wind. Todoroki flounders a bit, stunned.

Your machinery may be very important to you, but I’m also looking for something precious to me, Todoroki gripes. An especially strong gust sends a flurry of leaves up. His anxiety spirals up as well. In the time he’d wasted just now, the photo could have flown off even further.

He sends a wall of ice in the direction of the machines to freeze them in place. That settles that. He heads off to resume looking for the photo.

But more clanging and whirring reaches his ears. Are there more gadgets out there? Todoroki is at a loss.

Suddenly, Todoroki recalls Iida’s response to the Bakugou Rescue Squad. Though Iida hadn’t agreed with the group’s reasoning, he’d joined to make sure he could watch over and protect everyone.**



** See Hideout Raid arc – Summary – Infiltration Preparation

Iida is a serious student and responsible class president. Had Iida been placed in this position, he wouldn’t hesitate to lend a helping hand. And as a prospective hero, Todoroki obviously can’t turn down a person in need. He turns back towards the machine whirring. Though the lost photo is dear to him, he take the time to freeze the other gadgets.

(Oblivious to the events outside, Iida is in his room, organizing his book collection.)

Finally, Todoroki captures the last gadget. Some belated introductions are exchanged. Hatsume sheepishly admits that she’d tripped and triggered the power switch for the gadgets earlier, when she’d been unpacking her own room.

“Did you really make all of these?” Todoroki is rather awed. “Amazing!”

Fluffed up with pride, Hatsume restarts her earlier spiel on her inventions.

Todoroki listens with half an ear. “Is this all of the machines?” he suddenly interrupts.

It turns out they’re missing one. This particular invention is barely the size of a prune, but weighs a ton. It’s designed to latch onto villains so they can’t escape under the added weight, Hatsume explains.

“Well, if it’s that heavy it can’t have gone far, right?” Todoroki offers hopefully.

“I’ll look around, then!” Hatsume agrees. “My quirk is ‘Zoom’, so I can see objects up to 5 kilometers away!”

“I’ll check any blind spots,” Todoroki decides. He heads off. Then he backtracks. “Hey, if you see a photograph with that ‘Zoom’ of yours, can you let me know?”

“A photo? Ah,” Hatsume’s eyes light up in understanding. “So you were looking for something! Sure!”

A voice suddenly cuts into their conversation. “Hey, what are you youngsters doing out here? Shouldn’t you be unpacking right now?” It’s Recovery Girl, who’s out for a stroll.

Hatsume explains the situation, and Recovery Girl offers to look over Hatsume’s blind spots with Todoroki. But after they peer into the nearby nooks and crannies and decide to move on, Recovery Girl trips over some tree roots. Todoroki rushes to catch her, but she rights herself.

Noticing Todoroki’s outstretched arms, she smiles warmly at him. “You wanted to help me? Thank you, young man!” She adds, good-naturedly, “I trip rather often anyways though, since I’m getting old.”

Recovery Girl considers Todoroki for a moment. “Really, Endeavor’s son is already this grown up!”

“Ah…” Todoroki scowls at the mention of his father’s name. This goes unnoticed by Recovery Girl, who begins rambling about the Endeavor as a student, and his aspirations to be the greatest hero.

But all Todoroki could hear was that terrible, hated rumbling voice, “In my place, to fulfill my dreams, you will surpass All Might to become the greatest hero.”

“I don’t want to hear about that guy,” Todoroki cuts in. Recovery Girl is immediately apologetic.

An alarm goes off, coming from the direction of the road. Recovery Girl heads over to assess the situation, while Todoroki heads deeper into the forest.

He stumbles over something. It’s a prune-sized machine. Todoroki gives it a tentative tug. It’s quite heavy. Well, this is definitely the right one.

Todoroki yells out that he’s found the gadget. The sound is buried under a sudden cacophony of mechanical clanging.

It appears that one of the gadgets has captured Recovery Girl in some steel rope. Hatsume speculates that some of the circuitry must have been damaged when the gadget fell, and it mistakenly set Recovery Girl as a target.

Recovery Girl had tried to evade the machine earlier, but she’d tripped again, allowing the rope to snag her.

Todoroki valiantly attempts to free her. Unfortunately, he gets tied up as well. Now dangling together with Recovery Girl, escape attempt thoroughly botched, he apologizes profusely.

(read Aitai’s Japanese > English translation of the following scene here and here)

Kirishima Eijiro. Todoroki hadn’t ever really spoken to the boy before they’d teamed up to save Bakugou. But they’d shared the frustration of having the League of Villains snatch away Bakugou in front of their noses. For Kirishima to have his dear friend whisked away, without getting the chance to do anything about it – well, Todoroki could certainly empathize. This frustration was what drove the students to form the Bakugou Rescue Squad, anyways.

In the current situation? Kirishima would probably act according to instinct, complete with a ‘manly’ desire to help others…

As it turns out, Kirishima is presently on the 4th floor, helping his next-door-neighbor Bakugou unpack. One of Bakugou’s boxes had gotten mixed in with Kirishima’s luggage earlier. When Kirishima dropped off the box, he’d decided he might as well help out.

“Hey Bakugou, what’s this stick?” Kirishima inquires. “Some weapon?”

“That’s for mountain climbing, dumbass.” Bakugou snaps. “Why are you such a pain in the ass? Go the hell back to your own room.”

At Bakugou’s scrunched-up scowl, Kirishima just laughs, unfazed. “Hey now. Two is better than one, right? When we’re done with your room, let’s head over to sort out my room too!”

“I bet, you lazy ass! You’re just slowing me down!” Bakugou doesn’t put any real weight behind his harsh words.

Rescuer and the rescued. The breeze drifting in through their new home scatters the vestiges of unfamiliarity between the two.

Todoroki attempts to break the ropes. Unfortunately, the more he struggles against the unyielding steel, the higher he and Recovery Girl get hoisted up by the ropes. Hatsume’s remote control isn’t working either.

“Damn… in a time like this… if only Yaoyorozu was around!”

Like Iida, Yaoyorozu had also disapproved of the Bakugou Rescue Squad, but had joined them to make sure no one would engage in combat.

With her ability to stay cool-headed in any situation and her superior knowledge and strategizing – if it was Yaoyorozu, she’d definitely be able to come up with a solution!

Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu is still on the 1st floor trying to cut down on her luggage.



“Silverware… it can go.”

“For paintings, just one will suffice.”

“Shoes… three pairs is enough, right? Ah, but I really need a pair of heels. There’s just no room! I’ll just have to go with the bare minimum for everything. Screw it, one pair of shoes it is.”

Todoroki racks his brain for ideas. He could possibly use either side of his quirk to deal with the rope, but Recovery Girl could get seriously hurt in the crossfire.



“Well, I guess I’ll just have to dismantle the machine,” Hatsume finally says, defeated. “I’ll go fetch some tools from the workshop!” But as she turns to leave, the two captured begin flailing about violently.

The offending machine – unwilling passengers and all – begins to roll away, along the road. Hatsume makes to send her other gadgets after it, which is totally ineffective and nearly gets her caught as well.

“Oi, don’t mess around,” warns Todoroki.

“Go call a teacher,” Recovery Girl decides. Meanwhile, Todoroki’s getting swung about. He eyes something ahead with trepidation. The gadget is approaching a large, deep pit, one that was used by the second-years for practice. And now they’re on track to go tumbling into a bottomless chasm. If they fall in with the huge machine, it can only end in tragedy.

Todoroki can no longer conceal his anxiety. The machine is still making for the pit with speed. There’s no time to call for help. Should he take a chance with his quirk? No, but… What to do?

As he becomes increasingly panicked, the face of his friend comes to mind. Even in a life-or-death situation like this, Midoriya would never give up! Todoroki recalls when they’d tried to save Bakugou while All Might and All for One were fighting. Though there had seemed to be no way to get to Bakugou, Midoriya had come up with a way to succeed.

Todoroki regrets that his own deep-seated, long-standing hatred against his father had caused him to lash out at Midoriya, his friend.

On the 2nd floor, Midoriya is quite upset. Over what? The order of his All Might figurines, of course. Disregarding daily necessities, All Might paraphernalia had taken up a good half of Izuku’s luggage. Position, order, and angle all must be considered…

Todoroki is still desperately trying to figure out what Midoriya would do in this situation. Finally, he comes up with something. He yells out to Hatsume, “Toss the heavy prune gadget to me!”

“Hah?” Though confused, Hatsume retrieves the small gadget. “Wait! Do you really want me to throw this over?!”

“Yes,” Todoroki confirms. “Aim for my mouth!”

Using ‘Zoom’, Hatsume lines up and (nervously) sends the gadget sailing over.

Todoroki catches it with his teeth and swings his body to the side. The altered center of gravity makes one end of the machine lift up. The machine attempts to advance with a single set of wheels and eventually topples over, precariously close to the edge of the pit. Todoroki dives under Recovery Girl to cushion her fall onto the road.

“Whew, that was close!”

Todoroki just winces at the weight in his mouth, still pinned under Recovery Girl.

The runaway machine finally shuts down after some loud clattering and Hatsume rushes over to check over the finally freed hostages. Todoroki finally spits out the small gadget and confirms that he’s fine.

“I’m okay as well,” Recovery Girl concedes.

“Great!” Hatsume beams. “And using the weight of the heavy prune gadget to unbalance the runaway machine was brilliant! What valuable data!”

“Can we get these ropes off first?” Todoroki asks dryly.

So Hatsume runs off to the workshop to fetch some tools, returning with Power Loader. Finally, they sever the steel ropes and free Todoroki and Recovery Girl. Power Loader immediately begins chastising Hatsume.

** See wiki page on Power Loader

“Oh right!” Hatsume, who had been quietly been nodding along to Power Loader’s berating, suddenly reaches into her pocket. “I found this in a tree on my way back. Is this what you were looking for?”

It’s the photograph of Todoroki and his mother. A brilliant smile stretches across his face, and he thanks Hatsume profusely. She rummages in her pile of machinery until she emerges, triumphant.

She offers a strangely familiar basketball-sized barrel as a gift to Todoroki. “Let me know what you think after you’ve played with your friends!” Hatsume and Power Loader then start on the task of moving away all the machinery.

Recovery Girl is about to address Todoroki when she notices a gash on his cheek. When Todoroki had dived under Recovery Girl to cushion her fall, he’d ended up scraping his face on the ground.

She fixes him up with her quirk and pulls out some candy. “Here’s some soft candy, eat up! Thank you for saving me. Hard-working children get more rewards!”

“It’s nothing.” Todoroki ducks his head, accepting the considerable pile of candy. “Any of my friends would have done the same.”

Todoroki startles a bit. Just a while ago, these sorts of thoughts would have never entered his mind. But he acknowledges and accepts the changes to his mindset as personal growth.

Coming to UA had been really good for him.

At Todoroki’s gentle expression, Recovery Girl cheerfully responds, “True, true. You and all your classmates are working hard. It’s true now, and it was true in the past. Not a single person is slacking off. But to occasionally recognize and applaud your own efforts? That’s perfectly okay!”

“Okay.” Todoroki puts a piece of the candy into his mouth. … Did my father also work hard at UA? He shakes his head to banish the thought.

Recovery Girl asks how moving into the dorms is going. Todoroki recalls his strange new room. He just can’t seem to get used to it.

Upon hearing this, Recovery Girl drags him off to the off-campus junkyard. “I think I have just the thing for you!”

When they get there, Todoroki’s eyes light up. In the corner are some apparently brand-new tatami mats, shoji, and traditional furniture!

“Even though these were used for a class, no one will mind if you take them. I’ll contact the teacher to let them know,” Recovery Girl reassures.

“You have my heartfelt thanks.” Todoroki bows and sees Recovery Girl off, then returns to the dorms. What a day. He lets a deep sigh of relief escape him.

He’s opening the brand new doors to his dorm room – in a brand new chapter of his life. Though there are some things he won’t be used to, Todoroki is certain it’ll be okay if it’s at UA.

Now, time to start remodeling! He rolls up his sleeves.

.

–– End of Chapter 2 ––

Chapter 3, Part One

tl;dr “Yes,” Todoroki confirms. “Aim for my mouth!”

