MHA: A Cat's Way

Ch 66 Trio Meeting Duo

Mina and Toru are just relaxing in their common room watching tv, glaring at the occasional classmate that tries to sit next to them. Of course, those classmates don't know why they get such a reception. They can only tell that the previously bubbly and friendly to everyone pink girl, is no longer as such.

She doesn't hate them or anything, but it's clear that their previous caution and wariness of her has not been forgotten, even though she joined them for the 'admonish Catia for clawing Midoriya's heart'. Of course that only counts for most of them. The ones who didn't treat her differently, who she can count on one hand, she treats the same as before, making the juxtaposition between the others all the more noticeable.

She was hurting, blaming herself. Trying to convince herself that she's a horrible person for what she'd done. Yes, they were villains who were after her life and the lives of her friends. But as aspiring heroes, as high schoolers, shouldn't they do what they can to make sure they aren't stuck on the same level as literal villains?

According to most of her classmates, yes, and she wasn't a hero for what she'd done. To Catia? It's just the reality of how heroes operate, something that would have happened eventually anyways. It just happened sooner than it should have. She'd helped Mina come to terms with the fact that she'd taken several people's lives. She'd defended her actions from their classmates, made them understand just how much it was weighing on her.

They went back to treating her as they were, but she can't bring herself to do the same. Not yet. The happy mask she'd made for herself back in middle school to dissuade the bullies she had in elementary school is not so easily put back together. But it wasn't only Catia who was there to comfort her...

She readjusts her sitting position so that she's leaning against Toru. She may not be able to see her like Catia does, but she can still show her that she cares. Take comfort in her warmth. To make sure that Toru knows that she's there for her the same way she was there for her. As she does she feels a hand gently rubbing her head and she lets out a sigh of satisfaction.

The only thing that could make this better is if Catia was with them. But she's busy with her "super secret totally not suspicious at all" meeting with the principal and some pro heroes. The two girls sigh, both desiring the presence of their strange but loyal friend. And as the front door opens they perk up, staring in that direction with hopeful eyes.

But they're disappointed to see that it's not Catia, but an upperclassman with long periwinkle hair. She looks around in excitement before her eyes lock on the cuddling couple. Or, to her, a girl cuddling against a set of floating clothes. As she skips over to them she's followed by two more upperclassmen, boys this time.

One is tall, blonde, has a simple face, and for some reason gives off a similar air to All Might. He follows the girl with his head held high, confidence in his stride. The second has incredibly dark blue hair, on the verge of black really, that's spiked towards the back. He's looking down, his head lifting just long enough for his eyes to dart around the room, but when he sees the girls watching he returns to his previous state.

"Those clothes are floating! Is it your quirk? Or someone else's quirk? Why are you pink? Is your hair as fluffy as it looks? Oh yeah! I didn't introduce myself, I'm Nejire Hado, what's your name? Is anyone else hungry? We should totally order a pizza so we can all eat with the girl we're here to talk to!"

They blink blankly at the rapid-fire questions before turning their heads towards the kitchen and calling for the one person the deluge of words remind them of. ""Midoriya! We need a translator!""

A few moments later he comes out with a confused expression, only for it to turn into an understanding excitement once he's subjected to his own set of nearly jumbled questions. Of course, for someone who strings together quirk analysis papers in a single breath, it's a simple thing for him to hear and answer all her questions, which gets a beaming smile from her.

The more they talk, the less those around them can understand their conversation. Not that it's complicated- they're just speaking too fast. While the two of them...communicate?... the blonde boy holds out a hand. "Hi! I'm Mirio Togata, hero course year three! It's nice to meetcha!"

He jerks his thumb at the shy person standing behind him. "And this gloomy fellow is Tamaki Amijiki! Also a third year in the hero course!" He points to the girl and Midoriya. "And that locomotor disguised as a high school girl is Nejire Hado! Together, we're known as The Big Three of UA!"

"What, no pose?" Toru jokes only for his eyes to light up before turning towards his friend and clamping his hands on his shoulders.

"Tamaki. I know what we're going to be doing the day after tomorrow." In response he starts muttering under his breath, too softly for the girls to hear.

It's then that the two motor mouths finally stop, and Hado thanks him before turning to her friends.

"Let's go!" She says before striding towards the stairs while swinging her arms, stopping once she realizes that they aren't following.

They just stare at her excited face for a few seconds with confused looks on their own, matched by Mina and Toru's. "Uh, Nejire, the two of you were talking too fast, we have no idea what you said."

"Huh." She blinks blankly at them with a tilt of her head, reminding the two girls of their friend. She shrugs. "Akihiro is up in her room, so let's go introduce ourselves!"

"Oh... ok," the depressed boy, Amajiki, says quietly while Mina and Toru exchange confused glances (probably).

"Is there someone named Akihiro in the class?" Mina whispers.

"I don't think so. But it does sound kind of familiar." Toru whispers back.

Seeing the three upperclassmen about to leave, and Mina's confusion that he guesses is mirrored by Toru, Midoriya speaks up both for his own curiosity and their clarification. "Why exactly do the three of you need to talk with Catia?"

The girls jolt upright hearing that the three have business with their feline friend. Nejire turns around, giving a bright smile as she does. "Oh, we're just going to talk with her about the surprise raid we're doing tomorrow. It's super weird that she's part of the team since she doesn't have a provisional license yet so it's kind of illegal too which-"

"Aaaand we're out of here!" Togata says clamping his hands over the evidently air-headed girl's mouth and dragging her up the stairs, immediately followed by their quiet friend.

The girls are left sitting on the couch staring after them while Midoriya returns to the kitchen, his interest in the situation vanishing as quickly as it came. Something he learned a long time ago was that it's better not to get involved with some of the things Catia gets up to. Like that time she was acting weird and he followed her, only for her to spend the rest of the day up a tree in the park looking down on everyone.

He thought that there was a reason, or that maybe it was some kind of training. But apparently it's just another aspect of her cat side that influences her. The worst part was that he didn't realize that until a police officer came along and told her that she couldn't keep doing it. Apparently it unnerved the parents, and she'd convinced some of the older kids to become her 'minions' and call her Goddess.

That was the day he decided not to get involved with her business without a decent reason. If it's important, she'd brag about it later. Or complain if something went wrong.

As for her two female friends, they're much more invested in what's going on in Catia's life. Especially when it's something as interesting as getting to take part in a hero raid! Seriously! How does that happen!? The duo wonder to themselves as they get up to follow the trio of upperclassmen.