The latest episodes of My Hero Academia: Vigilantes have pulled back the curtain on one of the most painful events in Shota Aizawa’s past. Fans finally get to see the tragic day that took his best friend Oboro Shirakumo away and changed the quiet hero student into the strict, no-nonsense teacher everyone knows today. This backstory fills in a major gap left by the original series and explains exactly why Aizawa became an underground hero who works alone.
The spin-off series, which is currently airing its second season, has dedicated significant screen time to exploring Aizawa’s school days at U.A. High. What viewers are discovering is a young man who was once unsure of himself, full of doubt about his Quirk, and dependent on the encouragement of his cheerful friends. The story takes a heartbreaking turn when a routine hero work-study exercise turns into a nightmare, leaving Aizawa to face a powerful villain alone while his best friend lies buried under rubble .
The School Days Arc Reveals a Very Different Young Aizawa
Before becoming the exhausted, sleeping-bag-loving teacher, Aizawa was a second-year student at U.A. High who struggled with self-confidence. He worried constantly that his Erasure Quirk was not impressive enough for hero work. Unlike classmates with flashy, offensive powers, he could only temporarily cancel someone else’s Quirk. This made him question whether he truly belonged in the hero course .
During this time, Oboro Shirakumo entered his life. Shirakumo was the complete opposite of Aizawa—optimistic, loud, and endlessly supportive. Along with their friend Hizashi Yamada (who would later become Present Mic), the three formed a tight friendship. Shirakumo refused to let Aizawa dwell on his doubts and constantly pushed him to see his own worth. He even gave Aizawa the iconic goggles he still wears today, telling him to protect his eyes .
The trio dreamed of opening their own hero agency together after graduation. They wanted to work as a team, supporting each other just as they had during their school years. Nemuri Kayama (later known as Midnight) also appears in these flashbacks, acting as a senior who introduces them to internship opportunities .
The Tragic Incident That Changed Everything
Everything fell apart during a work-study placement at an agency run by a hero named His Purple Highness. Aizawa and Shirakumo were on patrol together when a villain named Garvey launched a major attack. Garvey had used the drug Trigger to enhance his Quirk, which allowed him to absorb incoming attacks and store the energy inside his body to release later .
Professional heroes on the scene made a critical mistake that made the situation worse. The battle spiraled out of control, and soon Aizawa and Shirakumo found themselves responsible for protecting a group of children trapped inside a collapsing building .
Shirakumo used his Cloud Quirk to create a soft cushion that saved the children from falling debris. But in doing so, he could not escape in time. A massive chunk of rubble came down directly on him. The manga and anime make it painfully clear—his head was crushed by the falling concrete. He died at the scene .
Aizawa Fought Alone While Hearing His Dead Friend’s Voice
What makes this moment even more devastating is what happened next. Aizawa had to face Garvey completely alone. He did not have the raw power to defeat the villain in a direct fight. Instead, he relied on strategy, positioning, and his Erasure Quirk to nullify the stored-up attacks Garvey tried to release .
Throughout the entire battle, Aizawa heard Shirakumo’s voice cheering him on. Words of encouragement came through what he believed was a working communication device. That voice gave him the strength to keep fighting and ultimately defeat the villain.
After the battle ended, Aizawa discovered the heartbreaking truth. The communicator Shirakumo had given him was broken. It had been destroyed from the very beginning of the fight. The voice Aizawa heard was never real. It was entirely a hallucination—his own mind creating the encouragement he so desperately needed from his friend who was already gone .
This detail reveals just how deeply Shirakumo’s presence had shaped Aizawa’s confidence. Even in death, his friend’s imagined support pushed him forward. But the reality of losing him hit harder than any villain’s attack ever could.
How Shirakumo’s Death Created the Eraser Head Fans Know
In the months following the tragedy, Aizawa changed completely. He threw himself into his hero training but withdrew from everyone around him. Teachers noticed he was simply going through the motions in academic subjects while pushing himself to the limit in practical combat exercises .
He made a clear decision about his future. Instead of opening an agency with friends as they had always planned, Aizawa told his teachers he would work alone. He would become an underground hero—someone who operates in the shadows, focuses purely on villain combat, and avoids the spotlight entirely .
This decision shaped everything about the Aizawa fans meet in the main My Hero Academia series. His insistence on working alone, his reluctance to form close bonds with others, and his extremely strict teaching methods all trace back to losing Shirakumo. He knows firsthand that student heroes can die. He carries that weight every time he pushes his own students to be better .
Even small details connect back to that day. The manga shows that rain and cats became triggers for Aizawa’s painful memories. The original flashback in Vigilantes begins on a rainy day when a young Aizawa encounters a stray cat—a moment that leads directly into recalling everything he lost .
The Dark Connection to Kurogiri in the Main Series
For fans who only watched the main anime, the name Oboro Shirakumo might still be unfamiliar. But they definitely know the villain Kurogiri—the misty figure who served as Tomura Shigaraki’s transporter and acted as the bartender for the League of Villains.
The main series eventually revealed that Kurogiri was not an ordinary villain. He was a Nomu, created by All For One using the body of Shirakumo. After Shirakumo died, his corpse was taken before it could be cremated. All For One used it as the base to create a being with Shirakumo’s Cloud Quirk, twisted into something dark and unrecognizable .
This connection adds another layer of tragedy to Aizawa’s story. Not only did he lose his best friend, but that friend’s body was stolen and turned into a weapon used by the very forces of evil they had sworn to fight. When Aizawa and Present Mic later confront Kurogiri in the main series, trying to reach the person trapped inside, the emotional weight of that moment comes directly from the story Vigilantes tells .
Why This Backstory Matters Now
The timing of these revelations is perfect for fans. The My Hero Academia: Vigilantes anime is currently airing its second season, bringing these crucial flashback episodes to screens worldwide. For the first time, anime-only viewers can witness the full scope of Aizawa’s loss rather than just hearing vague references .
The School Days arc runs through several chapters of the Vigilantes manga, and the anime adaptation is bringing that story to life with full emotional impact. Episode 6 of the second season, titled “Rains and Clouds,” begins this flashback journey. It shows the trio during their U.A. years and sets the stage for the tragedy to come .
Seeing these events animated makes them hit even harder. The cheerful interactions between young Aizawa, Shirakumo, and Yamada make the eventual loss feel more real. Viewers understand exactly what Aizawa lost because they have seen him happy, seen him doubt himself, and seen a friend who believed in him unconditionally.
This is the story the original My Hero Academia series never fully told. While the main manga mentioned Shirakumo and showed brief moments of his existence, the full depth of his friendship with Aizawa and the brutal details of his death remained in the spin-off. Vigilantes fixes that omission by giving fans the complete picture .
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What This Means for Understanding Aizawa
For anyone who has ever wondered why Aizawa is so hard on his students, why he seems exhausted by the world, or why he prefers to work in shadows rather than standing in the spotlight, Vigilantes provides all the answers.
He is not naturally cold or distant. He became that way because opening up once led to losing someone he loved. He pushes students because he knows the real dangers they will face. He works alone because relying on others ended in tragedy before. The goggles he wears are not just tactical gear—they are a gift from a dead friend, a reminder of someone who saw value in him when he could not see it himself.
The darkest moment of Aizawa’s student life is now fully visible, and it changes how fans view every scene he appears in going forward. Every time he steps in to protect his class, every time he warns them about the harsh realities of hero work, he carries Shirakumo with him.
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