MHA: A Cat's Way (Ch 95) (Patreon)

The class travels from UA to the train station, carrying the cases containing our hero costumes with us. While waiting for our respective trains, Aizawa gives a lecture about how we don’t have hero licenses and so can’t use our quirks for hero work without express permission from who we’re interning with, otherwise it would be considered vigilantism. I side-eye Iida at the reminder and see his jaw clench and his hand tighten on the handle of his case hard enough to turn his knuckles white.

I debate in my head for a moment before approaching Aizawa, who narrows his eyes at me. He’s really been acting off ever since the Festival. He hasn’t been asking for cats to snuggle nearly as often, and whenever he does it’s never a spy cat despite them being the longest lasting. Is it really that big a deal that I broke a kid’s legs? Tormew shaved his head and nobody has even batted an eye! I did contact the person I know with a hair growth quirk for him though, since he looked incredibly creepy without hair.

I nod my head at the robotic boy standing off to the side as he waits for his train, brushing off others’ attempts at making conversation with him. “Do mew want me to have a spy cat follow him? We both knyaow why he chose Hosu.”

His eyes narrow before giving Iida an appraising look. He sighs, giving me a slight nod. “Fine. But make sure it has one of your trackers so nearby heroes can be alerted.”

I nod, summoning a spy cat and pulling one of the deactivated trackers out of my pocket, having already expected to get permission. His eye twitches at how prepared I am, so I smirk at him before latching the device around one of the cat’s front legs and giving it orders to activate it if Iida gets involved with the Hero Killer. Not that I would care if he gets himself killed, but it could provide me with an opportunity~.

After I get on my train I give my teacher a mocking salute, enjoying his scowl as it pulls away from the station. I take a deep breath as he fades into the distance, my ears twitching from nerves. Yes, I’m the one who decided to accept this internship, but that doesn’t mean I’m not second-guessing myself. With so many offers, I think it’s only natural to wonder if you made the right choice. Especially given the circumstances…

I sigh, settling in to wait out the thirty minute train ride. At least she’s out of the hospital, I think to myself, wondering if it means that I’ll actually get to experience what official hero work is like. If I do, it would be especially helpful given that I’m also planning to be a solo hero without an agency.

But there’s also a point of worry that caused me to choose Mirko like I did. She applied for Coach to be put under her authority for villain rehabilitation, which means that if he hasn’t been careful a lot of my secrets could be revealed. I don’t really have a way to deal with that if it is the case, but I’d still like to know if it is.

I breathe out slowly, watching the city pass by through the train’s window. Nothing to do but address the problems if they pop up. No point in worrying about what ifs.

Eventually I find myself looking up at a decently sized apartment building. Not much height but it more than makes up for it in how much ground it covers. According to the directions, Mirko lives on the top floor. Not ‘has a place on the top floor’, but the entire top floor. Evidently she bought all the apartments then ‘remodeled’ the floor to suit her better. Grandiose, yes, but also practical in that if she gets attacked at home she doesn’t have to worry too much about people around her becoming collateral. As long as the floor doesn’t break.

Thankfully there’s a functioning elevator that leads to the floor under her home, since I find stairs more or less a waste of time for long distance vertical travel. Plus the suitcase with my costume isn’t light. I’m sure that if this was Aizawa’s house he’d break the elevator himself to teach me a lesson on ‘perseverance’ or something while watching from the comfort of a fluffy chair with an even fluffier cat in his place. He’s definitely sadistic enough to do something like that.

When I reach the plain-looking door at the end of the hall preventing random people from climbing the last set of stairs up to the rabbit hero’s home, I push the button on the intercom, waiting for her to answer. It doesn’t take… too long before I hear a buzzing sound come out of it, quickly overtaken by the number eight’s voice.

“Eh? Who’re you? What d’you want!?”

I deadpan at the intercom, raising my case and shaking it since I’m pretty sure there’s a camera in the device that she’s using to look at me. I mean, it wouldn’t make any sense for her not to have that basic of a security measure, even if having an intercom is kind of low-budget for someone making so much.

“It’s Catia, the hero kitten you requested fur an intern?”

There’s a beat of silence before she speaks again. “Oh yeah! Now I remember, just go ahead and come on up. We’ve got shit to work on!”

I hear a heavy CLUNK come from the door, signaling that it’s open. I push it open and am nonplussed to see a spiral staircase, of all things, leading even further upwards. I let out a sigh of exasperation as I start climbing, a feeling of mild regret settling over me. I don’t know what I expected- no, that’s a lie. I fully expected for her to come flying at me the moment I opened the door in order to test my combat capabilities or something. 

Yes, it’s petty to complain about one set of stairs when I already avoided the other six, but still. Speaking of, why does this building only have seven floors? Usually don’t these places make floors in increments of fives or tens? Did she choose to live here because both rabbits and the number seven are considered lucky?

I shake my head as I reach the top, the final barrier to the rabbit hero’s home, another door. But this isn’t the same as the one leading into the staircase, this is a thick heavy-duty door, the kind they would use in a prison, I think.

I knock and feel more than hear it reverberate inside Mirko’s house. Useful, given her enhanced hearing, and something I can appreciate too. I hear a heavy clanging coming from the opposite side, followed by the hero’s voice.

“Ok, first lesson Stray!”

Suddenly the floor under me jolts. I only manage a quick glance down before I’m falling. Falling and sliding. She turned the entire spiral staircase into a fricken slide! “What the nyaaaa!?” I shout the entire way down, sliding a few feet past the bottom doorway. I blink in shock for a few moments before Mirko’s voice comes out from over the intercom again.

“Always be aware of your surroundings! Quirks are bullshit, and you never know what kind of bullshit is going to be thrown at you! You also need to be adaptable! Get back up here but don’t damage the slide! I use it to get rid of door-to-door salesmen, creepy fans, nosy neighbors, and whenever I don’t feel like walking or jumping off the balcony dramatically.”

I feel a challenging growl building in my throat before I force it down. I look at the slide, estimate how tall it is, and smirk. I have more than enough~. I summon five defense cats and direct one of them to extend their shield up the slide, then have another climb on that shield, and extend, and so on. It doesn’t take long before I’m climbing over the backs of my cats and approaching the (probably) entrance to Mirko’s home for a second time.

Instead of the heavy door I see an open doorway, Mirko standing there with her arms crossed. She huffs. “Well, you dealt with that easier than I thought you would.”

I smirk back, crossing my arms confidently as I stand firmly on my defense cat’s shield. “I’m Nya-Army. It would be purrthetic if I couldn’t even get up a slide.”

Mirko snorts. “Yeah, yeah. Funny name. Anyways-” Suddenly I’m flying backwards and slamming into the pillar for the staircase. Pain shoots up my back, competing with the pain from my face for my attention. I hiss as I fall down to the slide, knocking the top cat down and leading to the rest all piling together at the bottom. From her home, Mirko shouts in a cheerful voice.

“Never assume you’re safe just because you got to your objective! Quirks are bullshit and can throw whatever the fuck they want at you! In this case, my foot!”

Yep. That’s more like what I expected from interning with her.