At the cliffside where Kota usually hides, Midoriya reached him just in time, barely enough to pull the kid away from Muscular's first swing. The huge blonde villain stood on the edge of the broken ground, looking down at the two of them with clear amusement.
"You'll definitely save him?" Muscular repeated, his tone openly mocking.
He let out a low laugh. "Sounds exactly like what some wannabe hero brat would say."
Thick, layered muscles began to swell from his shoulders and arms, bulging out from under his skin until he looked more like a walking mass of meat than a human. "You people show up everywhere, talking about justice."
Midoriya kept his stance low, breathing hard, trying to stay calm even as the pressure suffocated the air around them.
"You're that Midoriya kid, right?" Muscular tilted his head. "Good. Then tell me-"
Before Midoriya could respond, Muscular tossed his cloak aside and lunged straight at him. The punch came like a cannon blast.
Midoriya blocked with his left arm, but the force still sent him skidding and bouncing across the rocky ground until he slammed into the mountainside.
"Where's the kid called Tsutsumi?" Muscular asked, flexing his wrist as if he'd just thrown a warm-up strike. "I still have a job to finish."
The villain didn't wait for an answer. He charged again, swinging another heavy punch that smashed a crater into the cliff when Midoriya barely managed to roll away in time.
Dust exploded outward. Muscular's grin widened.
"Can I take that as an 'I don't know'?" he asked casually from behind the dust cloud. "Yeah? Good enough for me." His voice sharpened. "Then let's play!"
He appeared in front of Midoriya and drove his boot into the boy's stomach. The kick folded Midoriya in half and sent him spinning through the air, crashing down hard and sliding across dirt and stone.
Blood ran from his mouth as he gasped for air.
For a second, the world flickered around him. He forced himself up anyway and swung a One-for-All punch directly at the villain.
Muscular didn't even step back. He coated his arm in a thick layer of hardened muscle, letting the full force of Midoriya's attack smash into it without flinching.
"That all?" he barked out a laugh. "I barely felt it."
A massive hand came down and slapped Midoriya across the face, so hard it stunned him before he could even react. Muscular grabbed him by the head, slammed his skull into the dirt, then kicked him away like a ball.
Midoriya tumbled and hit the mountain wall again, this time leaving a deep smear of blood behind him.
"You'll 'definitely save him,' huh?" Muscular repeated, stepping closer, enjoying every second. "How? You're saying stuff you can't even back up!"
Midoriya tried to stand. His arms shook uselessly. Ribs felt broken. Breath came short and shallow. His legs barely held him for more than a second.
Kota watched from behind a boulder, frozen, seeing the boy who promised to save him barely able to move and still trying to get up.
Muscular's footsteps got louder as he approached, his grin stretched unnaturally wide.
"Come on, kid," the villain said, leaning forward with a crazed smile. "Be honest with yourself." His arm swelled with another wave of muscle fibers. "You can't save anyone."
"You really talk too much."
A feminine, mocking voice cut through the air a split second before something crashed down from above. A black-and-crimson figure landed hard enough to kick up a thick cloud of dust, forcing Muscular to instinctively jump back to avoid whatever it was.
Within the swirling dust, a single crimson eye glowed faintly, unmoving, steady, and undeniably hostile.
As the cloud thinned, the figure finally came into view. An armored being stood there, covered head to toe in white, black, and crimson plating. Azu had arrived, though her presence didn't reassure Izumi Kota or Midoriya Izuku in the slightest. If anything, her new form looked far more intimidating than Muscular himself.
Muscular narrowed his eyes. "Who the hell are you supposed to be?"
"You're unworthy of knowing my name," Azu replied coldly. Black and crimson liquid metal rippled outward from beneath her feet, sliding across the ground like a living shadow.
She walked forward at a slow, deliberate pace. Each step made a faint metallic click, and the liquid metal responded by spreading further, casting an unsettling glow around her.
"Oh? Let's see about that then!" Muscular roared and charged, raising his swollen, oversized fist to smash her flat.
Azu's systems calculated over three thousand possible attack patterns in a fraction of a second. She didn't even need to move her feet, she just tilted her head slightly. The punch passed cleanly through empty air.
Muscular didn't even get time to recover before she slipped around his next swings, each motion smooth and almost bored.
She lifted one hand. The armor on her fingers sharpened as photon-energy blades lit up at the tips.
With a single swipe, she carved open Muscular's muscle armor and skin as if it were nothing more than soft fabric.
"GRAAAHH!!" Muscular howled in pain as she cut through him again, ignoring his wild thrashing.
"Don't fuck with me!!" he screamed, swinging a desperate wide sweep meant to crush her.
Azu smiled under her mask.
Her left arm expanded in an instant, Cluster Cells reshaping into a massive blade with a crimson edge. She slashed once, clean and precise.
Muscular's left arm hit the ground a moment later with a heavy thud.
Everyone froze. Kota, Midoriya, even Muscular himself stared at the empty space where his arm used to be.
"GAAAHHH!" Muscular collapsed to one knee, blood pouring freely down his side.
Azu turned toward Kota and Midoriya. "Do not be alarmed. I-"
"SMMASH!!"
Her danger sensor screamed. Cluster Cells surged out and formed a massive metal shield just in time to catch Midoriya's punch.
"Ahhhh!" Midoriya cried out as his own power rebounded on him, bones and muscles straining under the force. The shield dispersed the kinetic energy outward, sending him tumbling back through a gust of wind.
"My calculations did not predict you would attack your own savior," Azu murmured, lowering her shield as she looked at him.
Midoriya struggled to push himself up. "R-Run, Kota… go…!" His voice shook, but he forced the words out.
Azu tilted her head, genuinely confused. "Sosaki Shino, Pro Hero Mandalay, made a personal request for me to retrieve both Izumi Kota and Midoriya Izuku and return you to the facility. Are you sure you want to run off?"
"W-Wait, you know my aunt?" Kota asked, startled.
"Y-You're… on our side?" Midoriya managed, still breathing heavily.
Azu's appearance didn't help her case; she looked more like a villain than even the villain himself, but her tone remained calm.
"You could say that. I obey my Master's orders, and I accepted Mandalay's request." Her attention shifted as she sensed Muscular trying to crawl away.
MALICE. FEAR. RAGE. HATRED. DESPAIR. CONFLICT. MURDER. Perfect Conclusion! Learning Seven!
Crimson and black energy surged around her right leg. She kicked off the ground, rising high into the air before locking onto the fleeing villain.
She descended in a precise, devastating dive, her Rider Kick slamming into Muscular's back. The black liquid metal and crimson sparks burned straight through his muscle armor and skin, dragging him across the ground with violent force.
Another explosion rang out when she kicked off him and landed.
Muscular lay unmoving, finally unconscious.
Azu looked back at Kota and Midoriya as if nothing unusual had happened. Her voice returned to its polite, neutral tone.
"Now then. Would you both please follow me back to the facility?"
Kota and Midoriya followed Azu from behind quietly, both too stunned and afraid to even speak.
Once they reached the facility entrance, Azu gave a brief nod to Kota and Midoriya before quietly stepping back into the shadows of the forest.
Her armored form loosened and broke apart, the pieces dissolving into a massive swarm of Cluster Cells that flowed like silver dust through the treeline. The cluster returned to Tsutsumi's side, gathering around him and rebuilding themselves into the long coat draped over his shoulders.
He watched the last flicker of crimson light fade from the treetops, then shifted his gaze to the burning forest in the distance. The glow of the flames reflected in his eyes for a moment before he turned and walked back inside the facility, hands tucked into his pockets as if the entire night had been nothing more than a minor inconvenience.
Because of the sudden villain attack on the Summer Camp, the entire operation was cut short.
Students, teachers, and the heroes overseeing the camp were all granted an early return home. The arrival of ambulances and police cars flashing their lights made it clear how chaotic things had actually been.
The injured villains were picked up one by one, each of them in various states of injury. None of the officers asked questions, not because they didn't want to, but because the Pro Heroes quickly took responsibility for the condition the villains were found in.
Considering that almost no students had even stepped outside during the attack, it made sense to pin everything on the professionals.
It sounded far more reasonable to say the heroes had sprung into action and immediately secured the students' safety. Much better than explaining that some mysterious android girl tore through the attackers like they were training dummies.
Yeah. That kind of truth would cause way too many headaches for everyone involved.
Out of forty students, only one ended up injured. The rest were all perfectly fine, mostly because they stayed inside the lodge the whole time. And if any villains tried to get close, they didn't get far; Azu or Tsutsumi dealt with them long before they could make it near the cabins.
Ironically, the only real casualty from the hero side was Midoriya Izuku. According to the official report, he mistook his own rescuer for an enemy, pushed himself past his limits again, and nearly destroyed his arms to the point of needing amputation. The explanation made people shake their heads and wonder.
Is something wrong with his head?
The night ended with stretcher after stretcher being loaded into ambulances, while the students were escorted back inside to rest. Tsutsumi stayed out of everyone's way, watching the activity from a distance without offering any comment.
...
The next day, still part of Summer Vacation, Tsutsumi and Jiro sat together in his living room, watching the news report covering the villain attack at the U.A. Summer Camp.
"Damn… I really didn't expect you to actually give Azu my face of all people," Jiro muttered, slouching deeper into the soft sofa. Her legs were resting across Tsutsumi's lap like she had no intention of moving anytime soon.
"It's more pleasing to the eyes," he replied casually, not even looking up from the Rubik's Cube he was idly solving for the fourth time that morning. His tone was so flat she couldn't tell if he was teasing or being legitimately honest.
Before Jiro could comment, Azu stepped out of the kitchen carrying two freshly brewed cups of coffee. Her movements were smooth, exact, and perfectly balanced. She placed the cups on the table with grace.
"Please enjoy, Master, and Miss Jiro," she said with a polite smile.
"Thanks," they both answered. Jiro reached for her cup immediately, though her eyes flicked toward Azu for a second.
"…Long hair would actually look good on me," Jiro thought, narrowing her eyes slightly as if trying to visualize it.
Tsutsumi, meanwhile, didn't seem to care at all. He took a slow sip of his coffee, still focused on the cube in his hand. Whether he noticed Jiro staring at Azu or not, he didn't comment.
On the TV, the reporter continued:
"-while no official statements have been released by U.A. or the Hero Association, rumors are already spreading. Many believe the school will not let this attack pass quietly. It is expected that U.A. will coordinate with multiple Pro Heroes and law-enforcement branches to track down the group known as the 'League of Villains' before they escalate into a larger threat."
Jiro exhaled sharply through her nose.
"Hmmm. Do you think U.A. would be planning a counterattack?"
Tsutsumi lowered the Rubik's Cube and flicked his eyes toward the TV for the first time.
"Most likely, but not now..." he murmured, then went back to twisting the cube.
He already made plans to meet up with Nezu today to tell him about the rat in U.A., and no, it's not Nezu himself. So, whatever plans for an attack should be put on hold first; there is no point in planning things out only for a rat to leak all of their intel.