"?"
The two who heard the announcement froze at the same time.
"Huh? Our opponents are Momo-chan and Chacha?" Igarashi Masata slumped immediately. "That's way too unlucky, isn't it?"
"Stop whining!" Yaoyorozu Momo snapped without hesitation. "I'm not holding back just because it's you. You'd better take this seriously too. Chacha, let's go."
"Eh? O-Okay." Uraraka Ochaco blinked in surprise. "I didn't expect our opponent to be Masata either… then let's head in first."
Since they were assigned as the villain team, the two girls moved out together to set up inside the building.
"…Wow. Ruthless," Masata muttered, watching them disappear inside. "So… where's my partner?"
He looked around until he spotted a short figure with purple grape-like hair, standing completely frozen with a blissfully foolish expression.
Minoru Mineta was staring straight at Hagakure Toru, who had just finished changing into her hero costume, enthusiastically giving her a double thumbs-up.
"Hero team… forever," Mineta murmured dreamily.
"…Would it be better if I knocked him out before the match even starts?" Masata muttered darkly.
Mineta, still lost in his own world, remained blissfully unaware of the killing intent looming behind him.
Inside the Building
"So," Mineta asked irritably once the match officially began, "why are you staring at me like that?"
"Huh?! I was about to ask you the same thing!" Mineta suddenly yelled back, offended. "Why have you been staring at me this whole time?! I'll say this upfront—my orientation is normal!"
…Even if it weren't, I still wouldn't be interested in you, Mineta.
"I'm obviously waiting for you to go in and grab the nuclear weapon," Masata said flatly.
"You heard me wrong, didn't you?!" Mineta exploded. "You're the strong one—why don't you go?!"
"I can't," Masata replied calmly. "Isn't that obvious?"
"…That actually makes sense," Mineta said after a pause, surprisingly convinced. "But you can't just send me in alone! I have zero combat ability!"
Masata fell silent for a second.
…He wasn't wrong.
"Then your only option is to complete the objective without directly fighting them," Masata sighed. "Come on, Grape. Use that brain of yours and think."
"How am I supposed to think of something like that?!" Mineta shouted.
"You don't have a brain for combat in the first place," Masata said mercilessly, glancing down at Mineta, who barely reached his waist. "That's your real problem."
"If you keep talking like that, I'm gonna get mad!" Mineta yelled, trembling slightly.
…Though the hesitation was obvious.
While the two were still bickering—
Villain Team — Inside the Fortress
"Um… Momo-chan," Ochaco said hesitantly, looking around the room. "Are we… maybe going a little too far?"
The entire building had been transformed.
Steel plates reinforced the corridors.
Traps were layered everywhere.
The place looked less like a training field and more like a military bunker.
"Mmm… Chacha," Yaoyorozu replied calmly, continuing to work, "you've only just met Masata. You don't really know him yet."
"Yesterday probably made him look incredibly strong to you," she continued, her tone steady. "But that wasn't even close to his true strength."
Ochaco recalled the damage Masata had casually done in Yaoyorozu's private training room… and those near self-destructive training routines he treated as normal.
"Don't be fooled by how exaggerated he acts," Yaoyorozu said quietly. "If you look carefully, you'll notice the arrogance in his eyes."
"The kind of arrogance that comes from not even seeing others as real competitors."
"To be honest," she added, placing a thick steel plate to seal a doorway, "our setup looks perfect. But against Masata, being too serious might still not matter."
"His physical ability has reached an absurd level. Even people with enhancement-type Quirks aren't necessarily stronger than him."
"He was the one who destroyed the entrance-exam robot," Yaoyorozu said firmly. "And he came out without a scratch."
Ochaco inhaled sharply.
"But don't worry too much," Yaoyorozu added, softening slightly. "Masata values his friends deeply. He won't go all-out against us. His Quirk is far too dangerous—something meant for real villains, not classmates."
"Even so," she said seriously, "we still need to face him with two hundred percent effort."
With that, Yaoyorozu finished sealing the final steel barrier.
Years of training alongside Masata had drastically improved her efficiency. She could now create complex objects using far less fat than before, though this fortress had nearly drained her completely.
Ochaco surveyed the battlefield:
A steel-wire capture net rigged to drop the moment the front door opened
An improvised explosive attached beside the stairwell
Iron spikes hidden in shadowed corners
Massive steel plates blocking hallways
The nuclear-weapon room sealed with reinforced bars
Floating desks and debris suspended by Ochaco's Quirk, ready to crash down
A simple grenade in hand
And even a cannon aimed directly at the entrance
It was a fortress built entirely from Yaoyorozu's Quirk.
Even exhausted, it was more than enough.
"Alright," Yaoyorozu said, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Now we wait."
"I'm confident this will cause Masata some trouble."
Hero Team — Entry
With All Might's signal, Masata and Mineta finally pushed the door open.
"Shooo—!"
A sharp sound sliced through the air.
"Huh?" Masata reacted instantly, leaping backward.
"AHHHH—WHAT IS THIS?!" Mineta screamed.
The capture net snapped shut around him, slamming him to the floor.
"…Yep," Masata muttered, smirking. "Classic Momo-chan."
Yaoyorozu had never been a frontal-combat type. She always relied on preparation, strategy, and tools.
"So this place really is full of traps," Masata said calmly.
"Stop standing there!" Mineta yelled from the floor. "Help me! I can't break this thing—it's way too strong!"
"Of course you can't," Masata replied. "Steel wire, reinforced. Probably magnetically contracted too. Let me check…"
He flipped Mineta over, examining the mechanism.
"Hey—!"
With a powerful pull, Masata tore the net open and tossed it aside.
BOOM!
The discarded net exploded instantly.
"…Gulp."
Mineta swallowed hard, staring at the blast.
"Masata…" he asked shakily, tears welling in his eyes, "there aren't… more of those everywhere, right?"
Masata grinned.
"Based on my understanding of Momo-chan?"
"…You're absolutely right."