MHA: A Cat's Way (Ch 72) (Patreon)

The heroes all watch in shock as the gun is fired, as the bullet hits its target.

As Overhaul stumbles forward, dropping Eri from his arms at how unexpected it is.

Slowly, he turns, staring at his right hand man with wide eyes. Nemoto chuckles, his shoulders shaking as he clearly fights to hold back from full-blown laughter. A fight he loses as he throws his head back, his cackling echoing throughout the space.

“Oh my god! You should see your face! Even with only your eyes being visible, it’s hilarious!” His cackling quiets into maniacal giggling and I scowl at ‘him’.

“Really, Hi-Yellow?” I quickly change how I call them. Himiko isn’t directly on the heroes’ radars, so it’s better not to put her there by letting her real name slip. “Why didn’t you do that earlier!? Do you have any idea how worried I was when we found all that blood in Eri’s room!”

The disguised Himiko crosses their arms like a petulant child as she pouts at me. But before she can explain herself Overhaul lunges at her with a cry of rage, his hand brushing against her disguised body, and it explodes!

…Into clumps of dried sludge.

She takes a few hops back as she covers herself with both arms, her body wriggling. “Oh my, Eraserhead! I didn’t know you were that kind of person. Especially in public!” She tilts her head as she looks at me. “But Catia, I thought you said that Midnight is the pervert?”

I just let my head fall into my hands…paws, even while Eraserhead’s scarf completes its journey and traps Overhaul. “Please just change into someone wearing clothes.” So much for not letting the heroes be able to target her. With her face known there’s no way they aren’t going to find her record.

She shrugs, twirling forward around the trapped Overhaul and to the bag lying on the floor. Unzipping it reveals a shocking sight for the heroes, and Overhaul who turns his wide-eyed stare at the noise. Somehow they manage to widen even more when he sees the contents. But the moment I realized that Himiko had disguised herself, I had a suspicion about what was in it.

Himiko pulls the bloodied coat off of Shin Nemoto’s corpse, uncaring of the half-dried blood that stains her skin as she dons it and gives another twirl. “Well? How do I look?”

The coat does cover up the important bits, but the copious amount of cuts throughout reveal most of her skin. I roll my eyes, not bothering to answer even as we all start to make our way towards the three of them. Though the heroes are understandably cautious.

Caution that’s misplaced, as they haven’t earned the enmity of the vindictive blood-sucker in front of them.

“What…what did you do to me?” Overhaul asks as he grabs fruitlessly at the scarf tying his arms to his side.

“I’m erasing your quirk, so there’s no way you’ll be escaping, Overhaul.” Eraserhead states bluntly, his glowing eyes and floating hair being just as intimidating as usual. But Himiko’s giggle draws the heroes’ attention, even as Lemillion drops from the ceiling and goes to Eri, taking her into his arms and trying to comfort her, though she still refuses to look up.

“You don’t need to do that, Mr. Scary Eyes.” She wiggles the gun carelessly, unconcerned with how everyone tenses up. “He did manage to make one of the finished product, after all.”

“No… You didn’t.” Overhaul stares at her with mounting horror reflecting in his eyes as the realization hits him. The heroes are only a few seconds behind as their eyes widen and they appraise him with a new look in their eyes.

She giggles again, popping the clip out of the gun and waving it so we can all see how it’s empty. “Had to wait for the perfect moment to hit you with it, couldn’t risk you raising a wall to block it or something.”

He falls to his knees, staring at the ground as he’s overcome by despair. I can’t help the grin that works its way onto my face seeing his state. Serves him right. Losing his quirk when he tortured Eri to feed his obsession with erasing them. You would think he would be happier, knowing that he’s ‘disease free’, as he likes to claim quirks are.

“Here, Eri, see? Overhaul won’t be able to hurt you anymore. He’s going to be put in a place where he won’t be able to hurt anybody ever again.” I raise an eyebrow as I see Lemillion bring Eri closer to the captured villain, wondering what in the nya he’s thinking. I’m not the only one.

“Lemillion, you should not be so careless. Even if he’s been restrained, he may still pose a danger.” Nighteye berates him, adjusting his glasses while his suspicious eyes remain focused on Himiko, who snorts.

“Yeah, good advice. Not like he’s going to be a problem for much longer,” she says, hefting the gun to point at the man. All eyes turn to her, even Eraserhead’s for a brief second. Which is why none of them can react fast enough to stop what’s about to happen.

Eri lunges forward, one hand plunging down the neck of her rags and pulling out a knife that’s easily the length of her forearm. Definitely something a little girl shouldn’t have. And neither is the smug and bloodthirsty smirk on her face as she cuts through Overhaul’s throat, causing an arc of blood to spray out and cover her.

Horrified, every hero makes a move to grab her, but it’s Eraserhead’s instinctive reaction, honed through countless encounters during his time as a hero, that reaches her first.

Eri’s body bursts in the exact same fashion as Nemoto’s did when Himiko was revealed, and so she is revealed once again, clumps of sludge scattered around. Eyes shoot from one Himiko to the other, each bearing a smug smirk, glorying in the trick they’ve pulled on all of us. No more so than me.

What the nya!? She can’t turn into people that much smaller than her! She’s tried it before!

Eraserhead’s scarf unwraps from the rapidly bleeding out Overhaul and shoots around the new Himiko, who raises her arms and lets it happen. “Thanks for the clothes Eraserhead!”

She smiles at him even while some of the heroes try to stem Overhaul’s bleeding and the others surround her and the first Himiko.

“Why would you do that!? He was unarmed! He was detained! You had no reason to kill him!” Rocklock shouts at her while I stare between the identical girls with wide eyes, a buzzing going through my head as I try to process what’s happening.

Both Himikos glare at the hero with a ferocity that makes him take a step back. “See, this is what I hate about heroes,” Himiko One says.

“They act like there’s only one way, their way.” Himiko Two finishes.

“Our way is following the law!” Fat Gum shouts as he clenches his fists and takes a threatening step towards Himiko One, who remains unperturbed. “The law is the way we keep people safe! By committing a murder, you’ve branded yourself a villain! You’re under arrest!”

Both Himikos shake their heads in disappointment. “So shortsighted. The law doesn’t keep people safe. People keep people safe. And there are always people who do both. People who try to keep people safe but hurt even more.” Their eyes are boring into me as they speak at the same time, my head throbbing.

““Heroes turn a blind eye to those they hurt in pursuit of their so-called ‘justice’. And then the ones who cared for them are left behind to deal with the fact that the ones who hurt them are lauded for their actions. Now, what do you think that can do to a person?””

None of the heroes answer her, I suppress a groan as I rub my paws against my head. I know what she means… It's why I want to kill All Might. Because he’s the one who took my mother from me.

And what then? A voice seems to echo in my head with a mocking tone. Do you really think killing him will make everything better? That you’ll be better? You know the truth. The sooner you accept it, the less you’ll hurt…

I shake my head, my eyes focusing on Lemillion, who’s holding Himiko One by the front of the cloak with rage filled eyes. “I said; Where. Is. Eri.”

She smirks back at him. “Somewhere safe. You didn’t really think I’d risk Overhaul hurting her, now did you?”

He grinds his teeth, pulling his arm back. “I said,” his fist shoots forward, striking her in the gut. “WHERE IS SHE!?”

I step forward with wide eyes, to do what, I don’t know. But before I can she sends a smirk at me, even as she loses color and seemingly falls apart. “Heroes are nothing but bullies…”

Her body turns liquid, and she falls into a puddle of sludge similar to the kind that made up her disguises.

We all turn to the second Himiko, who smirks. “If you want Eri to be under the care of the heroes, then you’ll have to negotiate with the Cult of Nya. I think we’re all aware of what would happen if the Safety Committee got their hands on her.”

Her arm swings, plunging the knife into her shoulder, and with a twist it falls off and hits the floor with a splat. As this Himiko starts to dissolve as well, she meets my confused eyes with her serious ones.

“You need to figure out what you really want, Catia. Stopping two blades with one only works for so long.”

She turns into a puddle of sludge, her last words lingering in the still air. It’s quiet as the heroes look at me. Some with suspicion. Some confused.

One with concern.

“I…” I shake my head, dispelling my cat. “I need to sleep.”

My mind returns to my body, where I let the blissful nothingness of sleep envelope me. I know I need to consider what happened, but…

I let my mind rest, not finishing the thought.

I don’t want to finish it.