Heartwarming / Return of the Shield Deku

• It’s made very clear that Izuku views Raphtalia, Filo, and Raph-Chan as his family, having pretty much adopted Filo and planning to marry Raphtalia when they’re old enough, while Raph-Chan takes the role of the beloved family pet.
• The very first thing Filo does upon meeting Inko is asking if she can call her grandma.
• Despite being appalled by the notion of slavery, Izuku doesn’t hesitate to buy Raphtalia much earlier than Naofumi. Not because of his need for a party member, but simply because he saw a sick child in need of help. He even would have had her slave crest removed outright if not for Beloukas‘ warnings that it would put her in danger.
• In a strange way, Beloukas warning Izuku against removing Raphtalia’s Slave Crest, thus throwing away a chance to earn some extra coin, can count as this.
• Despite having a more cynical outlook on life, Izuku still has his heroic spirit, shown by how he goes out of his way to help others during the Entrance Exam, even hurting himself to save a girl from the Zero Pointer, just like in canon.
• Itsuki is the only one of the other Heroes to side with Izuku after his false rape accusation, even publicly calling out the whole trial as a sham, due to them both coming from superhuman worlds and facing discrimination.
• Thanks to Itsuki pointing out all the flaws in Malty’s rape accusation, not as many people believe Izuku to be guilty as they did with Naofumi.
• Unlike Naofumi, who pretty much pushed Raphtalia to fight for him, here she chooses to fight for Izuku of her own accord, wanting to pay him back for the kindness he showed her and not wanting anyone else she cares about to die.
• Even after having her Skave Crest removed, Raphtalia doesn’t hesitate to make her loyalty to Izuku known.
• Itsuki and Ren, the latter of whom still believes Izuku is guilty of Malty’s rape accusation, stand up for him and call out Malty’s blatant cheating in the Sacred Duel.
• Raphtalia reaffirms that she is perfectly happy by Izuku’s side, making it clear that even if no one else sees him as a Hero, he’s her Hero.
• Inspired by seeing Izuku and Raphtalia, Itsuki decides to buy a slave of his own, rationalizing that he can save them from being abused by others this way.
• Izuku and Raphtalia take to Filo very quickly after she’s born.
• When Izuku realizes the reason Filo was freaking out in the stables was because she thought she was being abandoned, he comforts her and even sleeps in the stables with her.
• After dealing with the bandits trying to attack Hickwall, Izuku tells him they would have just helped if he had been upfront about it.
• Izuku is shown to hate being referred to as a savior, merely considering himself a humble merchant trying to help people.
• Izuku is able to defeat the Zombie Dragon simply by sympathizing with him and promising to save Wyndia, putting Gaelion’s soul to rest.
• Izuku’s bonding moments with Filo, where he teaches her how to skip stones and even teaches her some music from his world.
• Izuku coming to accept Filo as his daughter after having previously been uncomfortable with it.
• Despite being a pariah as the Shield Hero, Izuku is able to build up a positive reputation as a traveling merchant, to the point that people refer to him as a savior for his cheap, high quality medicine.
• When he takes the chance to return to Melromarc briefly to collect ingredients and check on his friends there, Izuku also meets Motoyasu. Whatever happened in the middle, it's refreshing to see the man now quite friendly with Izuku and taking care of Filolians.

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