MHA: A Cat’s Way

I stare at Midorinya from across the arena, legs bent and ready to move. I know that support department students -which Midorinya technically is- are permitted to bring three of their inventions to help them in the Festival. I’ve already seen his net launcher and his electric glove, but that still leaves his third item. And knowing him, it’s meant to counter me. The question is: how?

He stares back at me, electricity arcing between the fingers of his right hand. His left is held out in front of him, swaying lightly.

“Are both fighters ready?” Nyamuri asks, flogger raised. Neither of us say anything, too focused on the other. Her hand drops, her voice like a cannon shot as it rolls over the silent crowd. “Begin!”

I’m off like a shot, zigzagging my path towards him as I nya cats at random. Mage, brawler, and defenders target him the moment they come into being, trying to make him divide his attention. I expect him to launch his nets at me, but he takes it a step further.

Placing his electric glove on his net launching glove, the electricity flows into it, and when he launches a net at one of the mage cats I’ve left behind I see that it’s loaded with electricity. Enough that when it lands on the mage it doesn’t take long for it to get destroyed

Taking advantage of his brief lapse in attention, I change my run to go directly at him, claws extended. He doesn’t take aim at me like I expect, instead launching another electrified net at a different mage. I frown, my eyes narrowed in suspicion as I wonder what he’s playing at. Because he has a plan, he always has a plan.

But by all appearances he’s leaving himself open. Could it be a trick? Draw me in by appearing vulnerable before he strikes? It would be right up his alley as far as plans go, but it doesn’t feel right.

I could go down the rabbit hole of; he knew I knew that he knew, but after a certain point that just falls into both people being petty. So summing it up falls into two simple possibilities.

Either he has a trap for when I get close, or he wants me to think that he does. Charging in could net me a quick win if he’s bluffing, but there’s no guarantee I’d be able to escape if he does have a trap. It’s all up to chance, and what’s chance except chaos? And no beast embodies chaos quite like a cat.

I continue my charge, keeping a wary eye on his hands and his feet. If he has a surprise, then it’s going to come from one of those.

He destroys another two cats before I make it to him, leaving me with one of each kind remaining. I don’t summon more since I can’t rely on getting knocked unconscious again to replenish my catergy. Really, it’s kind of ridiculous that I’ve been able to use my cats every round already given my limitations for nyaing them.

Once I’m only a few feet in front of Midorinya, he turns to me, a close-mouthed smirk stretching his lips. He whistles, sharp and loud, causing me to flinch and jump back. I hiss as my ears lay flat. “Sound amplifier,” Midorinya says, smiling as he shows off what looks like a mouth guard. “Not nearly to the level of Present Mic’s quirk, but more than enough for distractions. Or those with sensitive hearing.”

“YA HEAR THAT EVERYONE!? THE LITTLE LISTENER TAKES AFTER ME! NOT TO MENTION THAT IT’S THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE START OF THE TOURNAMENT THAT SOMEONE OTHER THAN HERSELF HAS HURT AKIHIRO!”

I ignore the commentary, scowling at Midorinya as my mind races to a solution that doesn’t involve me purposefully damaging my ears. Meanwhile he keeps a wary eye on me as he dodges my mage cat’s hairballs, taking aim and destroying my brawler with another net.

I’m eight down from my twenty cat limit, but do I really have to be conservative when the next fight is against a brainwasher? Even with Midorinya training him for two weeks, he isn’t a physical fighter. But he’s been trained by Midoroinya for two weeks…

But conserving my cats won’t do much good if Midorinya takes me out here and now. Coming to my decision I nya a wave of mage cats around me, the defender finally close enough to Midorinya to buy me the time I need to send out my catergy.

With the defender gone, it’s now Midorinya versus me, and nine mage cats. He looks around at us and lets out a tense chuckle. “I don’t suppose you’d be willing to settle this in a less violent way, would you?”

The growl that reverberates from my throat is all the answer he gets. Well, that and the wave of hairballs launched from my mage cats.

He does his best to dodge them, and for the most part he succeeds. The only exception is when one of them manages a glancing hit on his shoulder. He hisses in pain but doesn’t grab at it, instead he retaliates by launching another electrified net, taking down the offending mage.

And that’s how the rest of the match goes. My mages firing hairballs at him, targeting his gadgets in an effort to render him vulnerable. Him dodging and firing electrified nets to destroy my cats whenever he sees an opening. Unfortunately I can’t get close, that amplified whistle doing a number on my sensitive ears every time I make a dash for him.

I could power through the pain, but I don’t actually have a good reason to. Sure I want to win the Festival, but that doesn’t mean I’ll suffer to do it. Even if I don’t win, I’ve at least shown Todoroki where he falls on the class’ scratching post in regards to strength.

Thankfully, it doesn’t seem like I am going to lose.

With one mage remaining and Midorinya covered in wounds, a hairball finally manages to destroy his net launching gauntlet. He shouts as he jerks his arm back, and my eyes gleam. Finally!

I fall to my hands, putting maximum effort into my dash as I try to make it to him before he can get the breath for another whistle. I don’t quite make it, his eyes widening as he sees me and purses his lips. But the whistle he lets out isn’t nearly as sharp as the previous ones. Before he can try again I’m in front of him, my claws at his throat while my other hand holds his arm, preventing him from electrocuting me.

I smirk, baring my fangs. “Looks like this cat is on top the heap.”

He smiles back defeatedly. “Good match, Catia.” He raises his free hand. “I concede.”

“Victory goes to: Catia Akihiro!”

The crowd cheers at Midnight’s announcement, glorying at the fight they just witnessed. The two of us walk out of the arena, talking along the way. I dismiss my remaining mage as I hop down the steps.

“You have to admit, I had you on the ropes there.”

I snort. “Nya. Mew only got close because of that whistle. Otherwise the match would have been over in a flick of a tail.”

“I mean, I could have pulled an Uraraka and layed my nets all over the arena then electrified them. Would have hurt like hell, but I did it before.”

My ears twitch at the thought of that but I maintain a smirk. “Nya. I would have Cat’d Up. The current would have been too dispersed to have destroyed it, so mew would have just knocked yourself out, nya.”

He rolls his eyes. “There’s always the option of overloading my glove. You’re just lucky I wasn’t allowed to put explosives in my nets.”

“I mew I should have been concerned about that!”

Our banter continues as we head to Recovery Girl’s office to get checked out, the casual air around us leaving no doubt that there’s no hard feelings for how the match went.

`~`

“You’re ugly.”

“...”

“You look like you blow up your head every morning to get your hair to look like that.”

“...”

“Let the match begin!” Nyamuri announces, ignoring the insults Shinso slings at Bakugou, who has an angry vein pulsing on his forehead. I’m surprised he hasn’t blown up at him yet. Figuratively, since his palms literally haven’t stopped popping since he first opened his mouth.

“I saw your mom while I was grabbing a snack. How about you introduce us and start calling me daddy?”

“YOU SHITTY FUCKING EXTRA! I’LL-”

“Turn around and walk out of the arena. For good measure, blow up your hair after you do. I want to see if it changes.”

Bakugou does so, and surprisingly his hair looks exactly the same afterwards. Though his shouting is almost loud enough to block out Nyamuri announcing Shinso’s win.