MHA: A Cat's Way

Ch 77 Festival Fun!

I stretch my arms out behind and above my head as I wait for 1-A to be called out from our waiting room. The others are either preparing themselves as well or talking with their friends. But as Todoroki comes up to me with his eyes steely with a cold determination, I can't help my tail from flickering in curiosity.

"Catia. From an objective standpoint, I would say that I'm stronger than you."

I shrug, flicking my tail dismissively. "Yowl to disagree."

He tilts his head fractionally upwards, so that he's literally looking down on me, even if it's only by the smallest amount as he continues. It would probably be more effective if we weren't about the same height. "You may have been able to fight with All Might and that monster at the USJ, but you shouldn't underestimate me. After all, I wasn't there to fight myself."

"Mew would have just gotten in the way," I smirk at him. I may have claimed him for my clan at the start of the school year, but he's never really participated in it before. So he falls more along the lines of our clanless classmates. Even then though, I normally wouldn't try to get a rise out of him so much, but he's the one who started this. Plus I've been feeling more smug and whimsical recently. No idea why though.

He huffs out a breath before speaking with determination coloring his usually bland voice. "I will beat you."

My smirk grows wider as my tail lashes in excitement. "Purrhaps. But don't furget that fate is a string. And cats are the ones who play with the yar-nya."

He turns away, and I almost think that he's tempted to scowl. But of course he never shows enough expression for that. Kirishima steps up to try and de-escalate the tension, but he has the opposite effect as Todoroki says that we're not here to make friends.

Oh how right he is~.

I watch him as he retreats to a corner of the room, everyone avoiding him due to the sudden aggression. I'm only pulled away from it when I feel a pair of arms laying over my shoulders.

"Eh, just ignore him. He's probably just in a bad mood because a kid asked if his hair is peppermint flavored." Minya sticks her tongue out at him.

"Yeah, he's just jealous that you got to go on an actual hero raid." Tormew backs her up. "And I heard that too, he pulled out a piece of his hair and tasted it before telling the kid it doesn't."

Minya and I turn and look at her. "Wait, that actually happened? I was just making a joke!"

"I mrow, we have the weirdest class."

The three of us hold our looks for a moment before breaking down into giggles. By the time we get ourselves under control, we hear our class getting called. We leave the waiting room to Present Mic's voice echoing over the speakers to the accompaniment of celebratory fireworks.

"This first class are no strangers to the spotlight! You know them as those who survived a villain attack!" I wonder how many people noticed the slight emphasis on 'survived'? "They're the ones you came here to watch, that's right! Give a round of applause to the hero course 1-A!"

A few of the class swallow nervously at the catcophony the crowd makes, my own ears flattening in an attempt to block out some of the noise. But I'm pleased to see that Minya and Tormew are soaking up the attention, enthusiastically waving their arms around with big grins on their faces. Midorinya is doing better than I expected, having squared his shoulders to fight back his nerves as he strides forward with his head held high.

While Iida tries to read more into the Festival than there really is, and Bakugou grumbles his usual 'I'm going to win because I'm the best' litter, Present Mic continues the introductions.