MHA: A Cat's Way (Ch 4) (Patreon)

Each pin is color coded and numbered, matching a coinciding pin on one of the boards detailing what happened during the sighting. Another board has printouts of all the interviews he’s done in the past, both official and unofficial.

Looking over the details again, I’m reminded of a trend I noticed a year ago. For some reason his appearances are limited in time. Sure, they’re spread out over the course of a day so it’s not obvious. But if you compare the time of each day you’ll notice that he never spends more than three hours in public each day.

I can’t tell when exactly it started, but it was at least a couple of years ago. Before that he would usually spend most the day running around saving people, doing interviews, promoting products, etc. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to find a reason for the change. None of the fights I’ve been able to find would have resulted in some kind of injury. It is possible that the fight was buried, but I find it unlikely since it would be a huge PR win if someone strong enough to seriously injure All Might was defeated. They’d have to be some kind of bigshot if that was the case.

The Hero Public Safety Commision (HPSC) has too tight security for Himiko or me to sneak in to try and find something, so I’ve essentially disregarded finding out the reason for his abrupt change.

I sigh, looking over my accumulated intel. Sure, it’s impressive. But it doesn’t help me with getting revenge for my mother. Especially since I want to be able to live a normal life after. If it comes to it I can give that up, but I’d rather not. My mother wouldn’t want that.

She probably wouldn’t want me to try and kill the Symbol of Peace either, but that’s what I want.

Ten minutes of analyzing later, without anything new to add to my collection I reluctantly leave the room. I guess there wasn’t really a reason for me to go in there. In the main room, I see that Himiko has managed to clean up most of the blood, the only signs left a few spots of discoloration. Not enough to warrant getting everything redone though, so I shrug it off. Though I don’t see her anywhere.

I leap onto one of the chairs and stare at the blank tv, wondering if I should wake up for class after Himiko gets back. But I already set up my spy cat so I could have the day off…

My self-named Spy Cat will share the sights and sounds it experiences once it’s either destroyed or dismissed. The cat I summoned for a pillow, a Defense Cat, doesn’t share this trait, but it’s fluffy body is good for protection, and sleeping!

Fear the power of my Quirk: Phantom Cats!

I shake my head to clear it of my inane thoughts. I think I’ll wander around town until lunch after saying bye to Himiko. Just after I come to this decision, she walks through the door holding two large vials of blood. Thankfully she’s clothed in one of her former school uniforms. I’m not sure why she likes them so much, but she has dozens of sets of them.

“Hey Himiko, I think that I’ll wander around town for a bit before I need to head back for lunch.”

She looks downcast at my words, “Oh, ok,” but quickly recovers and shoots me a beaming smile. “Can we go out this weekend? It’ll be fun!”

I smile. “Sure, you have blood from some girl around our age?” Not only would it be awkward for me to spend the day with someone who looks much older than me, but it would also impact my reputation.

But she rapidly nods, banishing my worry. “Yep. That fake blood drive you hosted last month really helped!”

I roll my eyes at her. “It wasn’t fake, the blood did go to someone in need. You!” We have a giggle together before I leave. “I have some school tests over the next two days so I won’t be able to come. But I’ll be here in person around nine on Saturday morning. See you then!” She waves goodbye as I walk out.

“Hmm. There’s not really any place I want to go, so I guess I’ll just wander.” So saying I jump on some nearby boxes in order to reach the roof. There I proceed to jump over alleyways, going further and further from my school. Eventually I reach a shopping district and decide to people watch.

Time passes, and before I realize it I only have an hour before lunch, so I stand up and give a languid stretch. “I should probably dismiss the cat and head back to my body. Hopefully Meruem hasn’t drawn on my face again…”

But before I can dismiss it, my attention is drawn by two people wearing life vests and helmets resembling scuba gear. Heroes… I can’t help the twinge of dissatisfaction I feel when I see them.

Sure, heroing is a job, so most people treat it as a job. But still, I can’t help but be angry about how most heroes are in the current times. Using my cats, I’ve witnessed plenty of heroes abusing their authority: treating civilians as being beneath them, using their quirks to steal things when they think they can get away with it, there was even one bastard who tried to force himself on a woman he saved! Luckily the cat I had watching them was an Attack Cat, which has good offense capabilities. The prick got his dick cut up, and the woman got to safety.

Of course, none of these made the news. The HPSC can’t have their heroes looking bad. My claws unsheath as I recall how my mother’s death was pinned on the villain while All Might was lauded for ‘minimizing casualties’.

I take a deep breath and let it out slowly as I re-sheath my claws. I’ll watch these two for a bit and see what they’re like. Once I learn their hero names I’ll add them to either the ‘good’ hero list, or the ‘bad’ hero list.

After about twenty minutes I haven’t seen them doing anything bad, mainly just patrolling the area and mingling with the people. Watching the people they interact with closely, I can’t find any kind of tension in their body language or their tone of voices. I do learn the pairs’ name though.

Apparently they’re a team hero, Water Hose. Seems like the name refers to both of them rather than only being a single person. They seem good so far. I’ll see what I can find online later. Just as I’m about to return, I’m once again interrupted.

Except this time it’s by the wall of a building blasting outwards. The couple reacts quickly, the man spraying low pressure water just above the cloud of dust where it seems to detonate. This creates a small localized rain above it, dispersing it almost immediately.

Maybe it should have stayed up though, to keep the person inside hidden from sight. The blonde man's arms are horribly disfigured, with grossly exaggerated muscles pulsing outside of his skin instead of inside. And clenched in one of those hideous hands is the head of a man in a suit.

“I told you, you should have given me the money when I was asking nicely.” A manic smile splits his face. “But I’m glad you didn’t. It wouldn’t have been nearly as much fun.”

He starts to squeeze and the suited man screams in pain. Before he can go too far though a jet of water hits him in the chest, causing him to stagger back in pain while dropping the man.

The man of Water Hose jets forward with water shooting from his hands, propelling him. Before the villain can react he’s grabbed the fallen suit and retreated, though not as quickly with only one hand free.

My eyes flick between him and his wife, who is holding her hands out towards him. I come up with a quick analysis of their Quirks, though it’s just a rough guess. The man can eject water from his hands with some degree of force, and the woman seems to control how dense it is, increasing its pressure and force or dispersing it.

Regardless of my musings, the villain glares at the couple, his scowl transforming into another mad grin. “Looks like the fun is just getting started.”