MHA: A Cat's Way (Ch 57) (Patreon)

(Nyamuri)

I really can’t help but question why Catia would allow such a suspicious man to take the child with him. The threat in his voice was obvious, even if the words themselves weren’t. Which is rather unfortunate considering it would have been enough for me to place the man under arrest right then and there. And it would have held too, since I’ve been recording everything on my phone ever since I put it in my pocket.

Heroes must always be ready to spring into action, even when they’re ‘off the clock’, so to speak. As such, all of my clothes are made out of easily breathable fabric that allows my quirk to escape. Though they obviously aren’t as effective as just tearing my hero suit. It would still be enough for me to at least stall and call for backup. But this particular clothing set has several cleverly concealed holes stitched to allow various hidden cameras to record what’s happening around me when I’m told to gather information or catch someone with influence in a criminal act.

Now, since this was meant to be a simple outing, I don’t have any of the usual spying devices. But the hole in my pocket was big enough for my phone’s camera, so I made it work.

But anyways, after the man leaves I turn to question her only for my eyes to widen as she stands while hissing. My eyes are firmly on where she’s holding her side, which means they’re firmly on the spot where red has clearly seeped into her shirt. And it’s spreading!

“Catia! You’re hurt!? When!? How!?” I quickly take out the emergency first aid kit in my pocket, thankful that I never bothered to take it out when Shota told me I might need it one day.

As I take out a tiny bottle of antiseptic and the bag of cotton balls Catia chuckles. “The kitten did run into me-ow know. And her horn was sharp, even if it was small, nya.”

I’m not distracted from my goal of tending to her wound, even if her cat puns are adorable. After lifting her shirt enough that I can see the wound, I wince. It seems like the horn was pulled up and out, so instead of a single hole it’s more of a gash. But she’s right that it was small, which means that the gauze patches are big enough to cover it.

Still though, “We’ll need to get this checked out by Recovery Girl back at UA. You’ll need it gone by the morning if you want to be able to participate in your heroics class.” Not to mention that she’d beat me with her cane if I didn’t take you to her right away. She’s scary with it.

She makes a noise of agreement, and I look up as I pull her shirt back down. Her gaze is focused on the alley the two had disappeared into with her three cats in tow. There are a myriad of emotions swirling through those eyes, but the most predominant one is guilt. One that I can fully understand. Though its presence assures me that she knows she likely just sent that girl back to an abusive home, which means I will be questioning her.

I motion for her friends to walk and we start our way back to UA, the two I can see shooting her worried glances as she sways a bit in her movements. Despite the pain she’s in though, her walk still raises the hair on the back of my neck. It’s silent, her legs automatically finding the quietest path forward. Even as I watch, her foot drifts slightly so that she steps just next to the puddle in front of her. I’m not sure she even noticed it was there.

More than that though, she kind of… glides, instead of outright walking. Her feet don’t leave the ground farther than they have to for her to move, and her knees never quite unbend fully. Like she’s always prepared to jump in any direction. The other teachers have noticed it as well, even if she herself doesn’t seem to realize it.

It’s not the walk of a person. It’s the walk of a hunter.

I shake my head free of my musings, instead focusing on the conversation we’re about to have. Or in Nezu’s words-

Interrogation.

“So Catia,” I begin. “Care to explain why you didn’t want me calling the police to get that girl checked out? Also why you allowed her to go with that man? And let's not forget the illegal quirk use, though I’m personally ok with it since you did it to calm her down and help her feel safe.” But really, she’s lucky there weren’t any police or other heroes around. Sure, I could have come up with something so she wouldn’t get in trouble, but it’s concerning how casual she is about it.

“We don’t knyow her full situation,” she explains. “If she’s under the care of someone with influence, they could have contacts in the purrlice who’d take her back to them without anything else being done.”

Unfortunately, that makes sense, though the other girls are taken aback by her words. “What do you mean? Isn’t helping people the police’s entire job!?”

She nods in response to Ashido’s shock, but also gives her a sad smile. “That nyight be so, but any organization people can apply to will have corruption. That includes the heroes and purrlice.”

“Wait, you’re saying heroes are corrupt!?” Hagakure shouts only for Catia to shove a hand towards her. I’m assuming she covered her mouth, which is a good call since talk like that is… frowned upon.

“Some heroes don’t live up to the title, nya.” She hisses quietly while her eyes scan the area. After assuring herself that they’re in the clear, she removes her hand with a sigh of relief. “There are good heroes who do their best to help, but there are also heroes who only care about fame and meowney. Though Purrincipal Nezu has done his best to make sure that he only hires good heroes like Nyamuri, so mew don’t need to worry about that.”

I can’t help the pride that swells in my heart at the faith she has in the UA staff, though ‘done his best’ does plant a seed of concern as well. Is there someone on staff that she’s concerned about? If so, should I ask? Before I can come to a decision, she addresses my second question.

“As for letting the kitten go, it was a calculated risk to hunt for more information.”

I raise an eyebrow. “How does letting her go with your cats help gather information?”

She looks over at me and winks. “A good hero has their ways of gathering infornyation. A great hero doesn’t yowl about it. Though I will meow that you haven’t seen all my tricks yet.”

As irritating as it is not to get a straight answer, she’s right again. Most people aren’t aware of just how many high ranking people I’ve put away due to them thinking that I’m too perverted to be trusted with tasks as sensitive as spying. Which is ridiculous, though I won’t deny that I do enjoy a night of fun every now and again. Which also helps with gathering information.

People really underestimate how low a person’s guard can get with the person they’re sleeping with.

Of course, telling people about it renders the whole thing pointless since they’d be put more on guard. Hence, keeping it hidden. As for my last question…

Instead of answering, she instead opens her wallet and hands me a card. I take it, and inhale sharply at what I read.

It’s a medical card distributed to those who’s quirks cause them physical harm if they go unused for long enough. It’s rather rare for someone’s quirk to actively harm them, so not many know about these exceptions. That same lack of awareness also helps doctors from having to deal with fakes who just want permission to use their quirks whenever they want.

As such, it is ridiculously difficult to get one of these! And Catia somehow managed it! Did she fake something? The doubt immediately springs to mind since I’ve never seen her suffer from her quirk. Though I suppose that with her joining UA’s hero course that would make sense since her quirk is regularly getting used now. But still…

“It’s real, nya.” Seeming to read my thoughts, she clarifies. “If I don’t nya at least two cats a day the energy I nya them with gets… clogged?” Her head tilts while her tail sways in thought. I’m not the only one who feels the urge to stroke it, judging by the way the other students’ gazes follow it.

Catia shrugs. “Something like that, nya. But essentially, if I don’t nya my cats I get debilitating pain and can’t move. It also prevents me from nyaing them and fixing the issue that way.”

“Then how you fix?” Tsunatori questions, nearly getting the whole sentence right.

“‘Then how do mew fix it’, Purrny.” Catia corrects gently. That’s another thing I’ve noticed. If she’s particularly close to someone, she’ll turn their name into a cat pun. Which has had me questioning how I ended up on that small list. Really, does giving her catnip really make us close enough for that? Or is there something else?

“I have to nya all the energy out manually, which is either a slow purrocess, or a fast purrocess.”

“Why not always do the faster?” Hagakure questions. Which I think is valid since it would result in less time spent stuck without her quirk.

“Slow and little pain vs fast and incredibly painful, nya.” She shakes her head. “Fast puts me into a catnap while I recover, though the pain before I pass out is horrible.” She shudders. “Nyo thank mew.”

It seems that last explanation put off her talkative mood, since the rest of the walk is done in silence. Silence that I use to think about what Nezu will reveal about her when I report to him. Because her interactions with that girl spoke of a dearth of experience dealing with those types of situations. Something that she shouldn’t have.

And the cold analysis of the situation? That’s more in line with how Shota would act in that situation, though he’d physically follow the person in order to gather information.

Too many things stand out from that encounter and her explanations to be nothing. Couple that with the warning Nezu gave to Shota and me…

He might be right. Catia might be a member of the Cult of Nya who attacked the USJ with the League of Villains.