Warning: Contains spoilers for chapter #426 of My Hero Academia.

My Hero Academia is finally nearing its end, and with only five chapters to go, the series has quickly begun wrapping up any loose ends, the latest being the story of the Todoroki family and Dabi. The latest chapter finally gives closure to Dabi’s character with a callback to a wholesome moment in the most heartbreaking way possible.

Chapter #426 of My Hero Academia reveals Dabi is still alive, even if just barely. The chapter sees the entire Todoroki family visit Dabi, who is being contained and kept alive in some sort of chamber. A doctor reveals that though Dabi can speak for a few minutes a day, he is slowly but surely heading towards death.

Each of the family members, save for Natsuo seemingly make their peace with Dabi and resolve to come see him and talk to him. Shoto then asks Dabi what his favorite food is, which he reveals is soba, much like Shoto. The two seem to finally bond over this newfound common interest, but the moment is tinged with a bittersweet sadness given Dabi’s quickly approaching demise.

My Hero Academia Finally Gives Shoto and Dabi Closure

Created by Kohei Horikoshi, Chapter #426 “The Hellish Todoroki Family – Final”

Shoto’s love for soba has been a well-known fact ever since the beginning of the series and, while it may seem insignificant that he and Toya share the same favorite food, the soba more so represents them coming to terms with each other. It also reminds readers of what could have been had Toya not gone down the destructive path that he did.

Interestingly, Dabi also seemingly realizes his hatred and resentment towards Shoto all these years was misguided, as evidenced by the inconspicuous tears he sheds after the exchange. Dabi also has a flashback to his battle against Shoto, particularly the moment Shoto claimed their flames were going to mix whether Dabi liked it or not, in turn symbolizing how they were family, regardless of Dabi’s feelings.

As such, after spending years hating Shoto for replacing him as the family’s golden child, chapter #426 sees Dabi unexpectedly discover that they were perhaps more similar than he’d like to think, thus giving both ends closure at last. ​​

Shoto and Toya Always Had More in Common Than They Believed

Both Todoroki Siblings were Arguably Two Sides of the Same Coin

The shared moment between Shoto and Toya in chapter #426 is also a subtle callback to chapter #192 wherein the Todoroki siblings were seen eating soba together after discovering it was Shoto’s favorite food. In the chapter, Natsuo confronted Endeavor for being the reason he did not know something so simple about his own brother which only proves how history seems to have simply repeated itself with Toya and Todoroki.

Despite how different they ended up, Toya and Shoto arguably suffered in very similar ways and even shared the same resentment towards Endeavor, albeit for slightly different reasons. While Toya’s hatred grew from being abandoned, Shoto’s stemmed from being treated as a pawn and witnessing Endeavor’s poor treatment of Rei. In the end, they both refused to become their father’s pawns but chose rather different paths of doing so, with Toya becoming Dabi and seeking vengeance, while Shoto chose to follow his own ideals of heroism.

Overall, while Endeavor has certainly undergone a satisfying redemption, it is still difficult to completely absolve him of his faults, which makes it all the more realistic that the Todoroki family’s story ends with Natsuo not forgiving Endeavor even at the end of it all. Still, it was touching to see the rest of the family make their peace with Toya and vice versa. Nonetheless, judging by the latest chapter, the last few remaining chapters of My Hero Academia‘s epilogue will likely be just as emotional.

My Hero Academia is available from Manga Plus and Viz Media.