MHA: A Cat's Way (Ch 88) (Patreon)

“ON ONE SIDE IS THE FELINE MENACE WHO HAS BEEN DOMINATING THE TOURNAMENT, SHOWCASING JUST WHAT THE POWER OF NYA CAN DO: CATIA AKIHIRO!”

“I’m gonnya sabotage Aizawa’s coffee and pin-nya blame on him.” I grumble to myself at the reminder of my spur of the moment words. It better die out soon!

“AND ON THE OTHER SIDE IS THE DARK HORSE OF THE FESTIVAL, A GEN ED SUPERSTAR WHO MAY BE THE ILLEGITIMATE CHILD OF MY GOOD FRIEND- GAHK!”

“Hitoshi Shinso.” Aizawa’s tired voice comes through the speakers after Present Mic’s voice makes a weird noise before cutting off. On the other side of the arena Shinso rolls his eyes, scowling up at the booth, evidently sharing my homeroom teacher’s irritation with the loud hero.

Still, it’s good to know that I’m not the only one who suspects their relationship.

Nyamuri gestures between us. “Any last words from our finalists? Go on, show us that competitive spirit!”

Shinso looks at me with a fire blazing in his eyes, but I speak before he does, not wanting to risk his quirk activating before we even start the match. “Mew’ll have to settle fur second place, but you’ve done well. After I carried mew in the furst event, at least.”

His lips tighten into a line, his words coming out clipped as his eyes harden. “I’ll win, and secure my place in the hero course.”

Nyamuri raises her flogger straight up before bringing it down. “And with those passionate declarations, let the finals, begin!”

Unlike my fight with Midorinya, I don’t charge towards Shinso. Instead I stride towards him with a smug smile, curious as to what he’ll try. The fights have been fun so far, so I’ll at least give him a chance to turn things in his favor. At the very least, if he makes it interesting I’ll make sure we put on a show for the crowd. Which would also help his chances of a transfer.

But then he speaks, and my mind blanks.

“Geez you’re cocky. No wonder you don’t have a mother. Hell, you had two and neither of them stuck around! No surprise, really. No mother would want to have a daughter like you.”

`~`

“Oh shit. He’s dead.”

Catia’s friends all nod along with Midoriya’s words even as their anger spikes, each of the girls developing a sudden and intense hatred for the Gen Ed student. While they start talking about how much they want to hurt him, Midoriya pulls out his phone, typing in Nezu’s number. It picks up on the second ring and he speaks quickly.

“Make sure Recovery Girl is prepared for some heavy damage on Shinso’s end. Painkillers will be a must, and we might need Aizawa-sensei’s help in holding Catia back from going too far.” He listens for a moment before nodding his head. “Thanks, and I am not overreacting!”

“Honestly, it’s like none of you are aware of what she did to the Wild Villains!” He pauses as Nezu says something on the other end and his eyes go wide. “Wait, you don’t!? But…” He shakes his head in disbelief, shock in his voice. “I’ll tell you all later, after the festival.”

He hangs up, still tuning out Mina and Toru’s cries for Shinso’s blood and Tsunotori’s occasional cry of support from the 1-B seating. Instead he stares at his long-time friend down in the arena, her form unnaturally still as she keeps her eyes on his newer friend. Not even her tail is moving, frozen mid-sway. His eyes narrow as her head tilts.

“Catia… what don’t I know?”

`~`

I stare at the purple haired boy in front of me, my smirk wiped from my face. Instead, it appears on his. “What’s wrong? Cat got your tongue? Hairball stuck in your throat? Do you even take baths, or do you just lick yourself?” He shakes his head in mock sadness. “I wouldn’t be surprised. You’re more beast than human.”

His words barely register, the ones from earlier echoing through my mind. “No mother would want to have a daughter like you.”

I don’t know how long I’m like that, but eventually he says something that snaps me out of it, instead thrusting me into a cold rage. “Are you even fit to be a hero?” The words are quick, and he immediately moves on to saying something else, not even pausing for breath. If I were to pay attention, I’d hear the desperation in his voice as he searches for something that would get me to respond.

Too bad for him: He fucked around, now it’s time for him to find out.

I tilt my head to the side as I summon two of my brawler cats next to me, pumping my energy past where I would usually stop the flow. Instead of the half-chibified humanoid cats that would usually reach up to my waist, I summon two catified humans who look like they bench-press cars and wrestle for the world championship heavyweight belt. They cross their arms as they glare at Shinso, who swallows.

I open my mouth, smiling, and give two simple orders to them. “Break his fucking legs and throw him out of the ring.”

He pales and raises his hand, probably to forfeit or something in an effort to avoid the pain he’s about to experience. Too bad for him that my cats are next to him before he can speak, one aiming a hand at his leg while the other raises its foot to stomp down.

He screams as they break, but they grab him before he can fall. Other than his screams, the stadium is silent as they drag him towards the edge. Without a care for his comfort, they throw him forward, making a show of dusting their hands off from the task before turning to me and crossing their arms. I nod in thanks as I dismiss them, walking forward as they dissolve into light.

I look down at him as he grinds his teeth, propping himself up on his elbows to glare at me. I stay there, silent as I stare at him. Eventually I hop off, walking past him and heading towards the tunnel leading out. I ignore Midnight’s declaration of my victory, and the call for the medical bots to take my opponent to Recovery Girl’s office.

Instead, I make my way through the tunnels and head out of the stadium, avoiding people as well as I can as I make my way to the dorms where I plan to change out of my uniform.

I need to work out the anger filling me, and I’d rather not kill someone on school grounds.

There’s plenty of other people I can kill out in the city instead.

`~`

Midoriya sighs as he sits next to Shinso in the infirmary. “Normally I’d say I told you so, but…” He glances at the bandages covering his friend’s legs. Shinso snorts.

“Yeah, yeah. I figured it would be bad, but I didn’t expect her to break my damn legs.” He leans back onto the pillows piled up behind him. “Still, it’s not all bad. Second place, huh?”

Midoriya grimaces. “Yes, but you shouldn’t be so casual about breaking your bones, even if the school does have Recovery Girl to make it a day of healing instead of a few months.”

Suddenly he feels an impact on his head, and he turns around, trying to find the person who hit him. But he finds nothing, and he doubts Toru is in the room since she’d target Shinso before going after him. He puts it out of his mind as Shinso speaks.

He rolls his eyes, suddenly looking serious. “Midoriya, I’m not being casual about it. There’s just nothing I can do about it now.” He snorts. “I probably should have listened to your warning about her, huh?”

“Yes. Yes you should’ve.” Midoriya replies in a dry tone before shaking his head. “Honestly. You just had to insult her birth mother.”

“Huh?” Shinso raises an eyebrow. “That’s what set her off? I would have thought it would have been about her adopted mother. Since she’s the one who wanted her in the first place. Or even all the quirkist comments about her being an animal.”

Midoriya looks at him like he’s an idiot before realization sets in and he groans, dragging a hand down his face. “Shinso, you’re an idiot.” Ignoring his cry of outrage, he explains. “First of all, Catia is perfectly fine being referred to as a cat. She doesn’t care about that. What matters here is that Catia’s birth mother did not give her up. She got killed during a villain attack. In front of her.”

Shinso’s mouth closes with a click and he seems to shrink back. “Shit. Really?” At Midoriya’s deadpan look he hunches into himself. “Ok, dumb question. Damn. Should have asked around more before the match started.” He glances down. “She’d still have been pissed off, but even I can admit that I crossed a line there. Still, at least we’re even now, right?”

Midoriya shakes his head, worry gnawing at his gut. “It… might not end here.” At Shinso’s raised eyebrow he explains. “She didn’t make a single cat pun when she told her cats to break your legs. More than that, she cursed. The lack of puns can be waved off as a brief moment of clarity from her quirk, but I didn’t even know she could curse.”

“Why wouldn’t she?” Shinso asks, clearly taken aback by the claim. It’s not like cursing is unique or anything, so why is it special when she does it?

“Anytime she’s tried to curse, it's  gotten replaced by a cat pun. Even before her quirk forced her to make cat puns.”

Midoriya looks at him, and Shinso becomes engulfed in a sudden feeling of dread. “You managed to get her angrier than she’s ever been before, and I have no idea what she plans to do.