MHA: A Cat's Way

Ch 79 Quirk Exhaustion?

I wake up slowly, my head feeling like it's full of fluff. Which is weird, since the fluffiness is meant to be on my head, not inside of it!

I blink, aware that my mind isn't thinking clearly, but unable to tell exactly why. Deciding that opening my eyes would be a good first step, I'm put into a state of immediate regret due to the lights being too bright, making me groan in discomfort. And that seems to be some sort of signal, as a rush of voices surround me, making my head throb with pain. I curl into a ball with my hands covering my ears, but that just sets them clamoring louder. At least until a sharp voice cuts through the din and forces them to fall silent.

"Shush now! Can't you all see you're bothering her? Be quiet or get out! Actually, some of you need to get out anyways, it's too crowded in here!"

There's the sound of shuffling, followed by a few muffled protests as some people are presumably shuffled out of the room. Then there's the click of the door closing before silence once again thankfully blankets the room. It lasts for a few blessed moments before a soft clicking starts up, though it's not nearly as loud as the people were. Slowly, I uncover my ears as I crack my eyes open.

I'm in the infirmary, and as I peer at the people around me I identify my clanmates, as well as a couple people whose backs are facing me. Probably checking on someone else. But what happened...?

"Deary, can you take this? It'll help with the noise and the light." Recovery Girl's soft voice enters my ears just as she enters my vision, holding out a small cup of liquid. Grimacing, I stretch out my hand and take it, closing my eyes as I toss it down in one gulp. I breathe out a silent sigh of relief that it's tasteless as I hand the cup back, missing the confused/amused looks on everyone's faces. Though my nose still crinkles at the phantom sensation people tend to get no matter what the medicine is actually like.

I just can't stand the taste of medicine!

Eventually though, I do have to open my eyes, and when I do I'm pleased to see that the light isn't nearly as bright as it was before, and I can more clearly see who exactly is around me. Minya and Tormew are expected, and I'm also not overly surprised to see Purrny. A bit away surrounding a bed are a group of people I don't know, and between the gaps I can see Kitten sleeping. Next to me is Shinpo, who's awake, with Midorinya on the other side of his bed so he can see both of us.

I focus my attention on Recovery Girl as I ask what happened, to which her answer surprises me. "Quirk exhaustion. Apparently you strained your quirk, and it made you sick. Since you were using it on the other two as well, they also got some peripheral effects from it." She looks over at Kitten. "Though it seems as if she got the worst of it, being close to you in physiology but not having your familiarity with your quirk."

I blink. "...That make nyo sense. How does my quirk cause quirk exhaustion for them, nya!? I haven't even pelt like this before!"

Midorinya raises his pen, getting our attention. "I think I can explain." He opens the notebook he's holding and turns it to show us a page with a sketch of me. He's good, I can't help but note before focusing on his words. "See, you have an interior power source for your quirk, correct?"

I nod. "And you've always tied your cats to yourself, or by themselves, correct?" Another nod. "So then, what I think happened is that, when you put your cats around Shinso and Chaineko, you inadvertently tied your cats to them instead of yourself. And since they don't have your quirk, they lack the power source that allows you to summon them. So it must have drawn on some other aspect of their bodies! Most likely their stamina, or perhaps it put a strain on their minds. But since Chaineko's quirk is identical to the mutation your quirk gives you, it drew on her more heavily than it did to Shinso. But when it couldn't get the required energy from her, it rebounded on you with an increased cost. Which is why the both of you passed out but Shinso didn't!"