I honestly doubt any students will die. Look—killing kids in BNHA is just…of course it’s possible. Last arc and all. Anything goes, I guess.
But really—that precedent would have been set early on as a possibility for that to happen. BNHA is not big on killing characters, and it hasn’t killed ANY kids. And I don’t see that precedent changing now.
Look at how much attention the story as a whole pays to the deceased…it’s not much. Midnight will be relevant but only for Mina’s small fight. Nighteye is basically irrelevant altogether. Twice, whose death had the most emotional impact out of all of them so far, is set up to get more attention later.
The only teenager who has died in canon died years before the story started. So we didn’t have to feel the shock and brunt of it when it happened. I think it’s safe to say that the story isn’t big on dealing shocking deaths and waves of grief to the readers.
On another note: Shigaraki is set up to be saved and redeemed. I honestly don’t see Horikoshi making that more difficult to do this close to the end. It’s already difficult as it is. Look at the past two chapters. Had we more time, I’d say yes it will continue to get worse before it gets better. But at this POINT in the story, this close to the end, throwing Shigaraki into the darker pit closer to irredeemable doesn’t seem to be what’s happening.
It’s not a matter of “could they die in this fight?”, it’s a matter of “What is this story willing to do with its characters?”
And tbh I just don’t think BNHA is willing nor is it trying to devastate the people reading it.
