MHA: A Cat’s Way

School is canceled for the rest of the week, probably so everyone can destress from the villain attack and go see the school counselor if they need to. A few of my classmates do go see him the day after the attack, but not the person I suspect to need it the most.

It’s currently Saturday night though, and I can tell that whatever is bothering Mina has the rest of the class on edge around her. It’s not really that hard to tell given all the glances they shoot at her when they think she can’t see them. Not to mention when she plops herself down in the living room and a couple of them leave. Honestly it would be harder not to notice.

There’s very few people who are treating her normally, in fact, and her fake smile is becoming more and more strained. At the moment she’s having a dinner of burgers with Toru, who’s seemed strangely unaffected by the USJ attack. No… that’s not quite right. If I had to say, it would seem that she’s become happier after it? Maybe Mineta was bothering her worse than the other girls when none of us were paying attention? Taking advantage of the others not being able to see her? It makes me glad that the Cult killed him off at the USJ.

And while Toru’s unusually chipper attitude definitely helps Mina feel better, it’s clear that it’s far outweighed by the majority of students ostracizing her. Unfortunately the class dummy, AKA Kaminari, decides that now is a lovely time to get his own dinner while being oblivious, and brings the situation to a head.

He walks into the kitchen, somehow not seeing the bright pink alien girl and the set of floating clothes sitting at the counter. After grabbing a cup of instant ramen, which I dislike but request purely because Iida hates them, he pours boiling water that someone leaves on a hotplate precisely for the noodles, which I do not do but wholly approve of since it agitates my robotic classmate even more.

Anyways, he only manages to see Mina after he turns around to presumably sit at the counter and eat. An activity he becomes unable to do due to jumping in surprise and spilling boiling water on the hand holding it, causing him to scream and drop the whole thing from pain and surprise.

Of course his scream draws the attention of the other people not in their rooms, mainly those remaining of the Bakuclan, as well as Momo and Aoyama. Unable to see the dropped cup of noodles, they can only focus on Kaminari’s burned hand. Immediately Kirishima turns to Mina with a look of disappointment and anger on his face.

“Mina, what the hell!? Why’d you burn Kami-bro for!?”

That seems to be the last straw for her since she slams the remainder of her burger onto the plate and storms up the stairs and to her room, leaving behind a stunned silence. One that’s broken by Kaminari explaining that the burns are from the ramen he spilled.

Seeing Kirishima start admonishing himself for misunderstanding I sigh and jump down from the overhang I put on the window so I could bask in the sun. Seeing me, Toru’s worried expression eases a bit, though she continues to shoot glances at the stairs, clearly worried for our friend.

As for the ones that seem to have a problem with her… My glare causes a couple of them to look away in shame, though Bakugou of course just matches it with his scowl. “Ok, someone is going to tell me why nyall have been acting weird around Mina.”

Bakugou’s scowl deepens. “Like I have time for that shit, I’m heading to bed.”

As he stomps up the stairs to his own room, I turn to the others, raising an eyebrow to prompt them while my tail flicks in irritation. Unsurprisingly, it’s the member of my own clan, Momo, who answers me.

“Well… something happened at the USJ when all of us were separated.” My face deadpans into the most ‘no-shit’ expression I can make. I mean, where else would something have happened? Seeing how unamused I am at her stating the obvious, she flushes and decides to just outright say what happened.

“M-Mina killed the villains she fought.”

I blink at her as my tail stills and my ears perk up. “Nya. So that’s what happened.” I sweep them all with my glare as my tail puffs up. “And nyall decided that instead of comforting the girl who’s taken a life for the first time, you’d ostracize her?”

My tail lashes angrily as I growl at them, taking satisfaction in how Kirishima in particular takes a step back. Mina has told me a bit about how, while they weren’t exactly friends, they did get along well enough in middle school. So the fact that he was the one who accused her of burning Kaminari makes him worse than the others.

“We’re aiming to become heroes, to fight villains who are aiming fur our lives! Do you really think pros don’t have a body count, nya!? Or do mew think she wanted her first villain fight to result in their deaths!?”

I scoff as I turn on my heel and head to the stairs, stopping next to Toru before I go. “She’s the one who’s suffering right meow. The guilt, the justification, the thinking of ‘what else could I have done’. It can break a purrson.”

I put a hand on Toru’s head, petting her with a smile as she blushes and looks away, her own dopey grin spreading. “Right meow she needs reassurance that she’s not a villain herself. She needs people like Toru who won’t treat her differently because of this, nya. She needs her friends.”

My eyes narrow as I look at them over my shoulder. They’re all looking down, remorse and understanding clear on their faces. Even Momo, who’s a part of our clan. It’s disappointing. A clan is supposed to stick together no matter what, but she’s just as afraid of her as the others. “If mew lack the resolve to even understand your classmate, even if you aren’t friends as you’ve all clearly shown, then why are nyall even here in the furst place?”

I pull my hand away from Toru’s head and head up to Mina’s room. Though to my surprise Toru follows me. When I give her an inquisitive look she gets an unreadable look in her eyes. “I overheard something yesterday that I think telling her would help.”

I nod but don’t question her. At Mina’s door I knock, but don’t get an answer. “Mina,” I yell, “It’s Catia, nya. Ignore the idiots, let us talk to mew!”

Again, no response. I press my ear up against the door, which is kind of awkward given that they’re on top of my head instead of the sides like most people. Inside I can hear her sniffling, though it’s faint. She’s probably lying in bed.

Seeing that she won’t be letting us in, I turn to Toru and motion for her to follow. We enter my room then open the door to the balcony. Now all that’s left is for us to hop across until we reach Mina’s room. Looking through the glass, I’m thankful that she didn’t close them as I see her curled in bed crying into her pillow.

Exchanging a glance with Toru, we both nod and slide open the door, startling the room’s resident as she looks up at us with puffy eyes. “C-Catia? T-Toru? W-what are you t-two d-doing on the b-balcony?”

Ignoring her question, we move swiftly and envelope the girl in a hug, wrapping her tightly in our arms. Though seemingly taken aback, she swiftly devolves back into sobs, but clinging to us instead of the pillow as she starts to unload the weight she’s been carrying..

“I-I d-d-didn’t m-m-mean to! B-b-but they wanted to k-kill us! I *sob* I didn’t want to die, and then I saw Ojiro fall a-a-and what else was I s-s-supposed to do!? If I h-h-held back then they w-w-would have k-k-k-killed both of us!”

I pat her head while Toru rubs her back. “B-b-but e-e-everyone else just looks at me like I-I-I-I’m no better than them! I-I-It’s not fair! I want to be a h-h-hero just like them, but they think I’m a m-m-monster!”

Toru and I just keep comforting her, letting her breathe after finally saying what she’s been holding in her heart the past two days. Once she calms down a bit, Toru shocks the both of us with her own confession.

“I killed some of the villains too.” Mina pulls herself up, freeing her head from its position between us in order to look at Toru with wide eyes. No judgment, for she knows exactly what it feels like.

“I snuck out yesterday in order to visit Ojiro in the infirmary, you know, because of the lockdown while they strengthen the school’s security. While I was there I overheard Midnight and Mic talking about the USJ. They were debating about whether or not Nezu’s decision not to tell two students about having killed people was the right one. They said I killed them.”

A complicated expression flashes across her face, one that I can’t describe. But it’s gone just as quick as it came, and she looks at Mina with her own tears doting the corners of her eyes. “S-so if you’re a monster, then that would make me one too. But I don’t see you as one, and I know you don’t see me as one either. So we’re not. We’re just two aspiring heroes who managed to survive our first life-or-death fight, while our opponents didn’t.”

They share shaky smiles, and now it’s my turn to speak. “Sometimes heroes have to kill, there’s nyo avoiding that Mina. Though I hate him, Endeavor is a prime example. He tends to focus on the more dangerous villains, and half the time he doesn’t bring them in alive, nya. Even All Might,” my voice darkens for a moment saying his name, “has killed before.”

I ignore the clear surprise on both their faces at this revelation as I continue. “Inya world where people can shoot lasers from their belly buttons, or turn someone to dust, death is unavoidable, nya. As someone whose job will be to prevent those deaths, you will have to get blood on your claws. Every hero kills. Mew may have gotten started a little early, but as long as you fight for your beliefs, then mew shouldn’t have any regrets.”

“They’ll just pull you down when you need to stand tail.” I whisper, which seems to prompt the two of them into a question. One that I’m not expecting, but guess I should have given the topic.

“Have… you killed, Catia?”

For a brief moment, I think about lying. Not out of shame, for I decided long ago that I’ll always hold my head high. I’ll fight for my goals and I won’t regret them. And that’s why…

“I have, nya. Purrobably more than either of the two of you.” I wink. “But that’s a story for the future, and it’s getting late, nya.”

Mina nods but doesn’t let go of either of us. “Can- can you guys sleep here tonight? I don’t think I want to be alone tonight.”

Toru giggles as we both nod. “Of course! It’ll be a slumber party! Though I’m pretty sure that we’re supposed to be talking about boys instead of killing.”

That gets a snort of laughter out of Mina, and I smile at the first sign of her putting the deaths behind her. She falls back with a groan, finally letting us go as she stares up at the ceiling. “But what about the rest of the class? I mean, I have experience so I can deal with it, but like, I don’t want to!”

I snort. “Nya ‘em. If they stay small-minded they’re nyever going to become good heroes.”

“Plus Catia scolded them before we came up here, so they should be at least a bit nicer.”

I roll my eyes before remembering something. “Oh yeah, didn’t mew say ‘two’ other students? So who’s the third, nya?”

Her eyes light up like she knows a juicy secret, which I guess she does. “Surprisingly, it’s Midoriya!”

`~`

They stumble away from the door, their eavesdropping having revealed something that they never expected. They stumble back to their room in a daze, the brief greetings of the others heading to bed going unheard. They slump down, unable to believe it.

That’s right… it’s not true! The broccoli headed boy? Kill!? That’s so ridiculous it’s not even funny. Even if it was true, it’s not like they could tell anyone. Who’d believe it? And what would they gain from it? Well, they know that, but they also know they won’t be sharing this around.