MHA: A Cat's Way

Ch 81 Survive

(Midorinya)

"Tokoyami, Dark Shadow can't be permanently killed, right!?" The sudden panic in my voice seems to startle him, and he rapidly nods. "Good, have them stretch as far as they can to search for the exit. The rest of you, don't stop running no matter what." There's a moment of stillness where nobody reacts. "NOW!"

My shout spurs them into motion, and Dark Shadow rushes down the path, shooting around the corner by the time we've taken our third step. The race is on, and now it's only a question of whether we find the exit, or Catia finds us.

I really hope Catia doesn't find us.

It doesn't take long for Nezu to announce the first elimination, someone from class B. It's an even shorter wait for us to hear that their two teammates are eliminated as well, the whole team being wiped out within a minute of the event starting.

"What the hell?" Shinso gasps without stopping. I've never been so happy that I made someone do physical exercise until they've dropped from exhaustion. It's the only time I've done it, but that's beside the point. In this situation, it was the right call. When I first got him training he dropped after two minutes, now he can go to ten, maybe more.

We're going to need it.

"Midnight, what did you do!?" I glare at the person I'm positive is at least half responsible for our precarious situation. I have no doubt that the other person responsible is Present Mic.

"It was a prank!" She yells, eyes constantly searching for danger. "It wasn't even aimed at him! The school year hadn't even started yet!"

"And you think that meant you were safe!? Nezu has made it very clear in our lessons that he knows how to hold a grudge!" A quarter of our lessons so far have been on how to legally get revenge on people! "What did you do!?"

"Catia was the first student in the dorms, and Mic suggested giving her catnip as a housewarming present! Nezu showed up to introduce himself and she ended up chasing him all over the school!"

I curse to myself, ignoring the huffed laughter of my classmate and friend. This is just the type of thing Nezu would do to get revenge! And now we're the ones suffering for it!

"Dark Shadow back-tracked." Tokoyami says in-between breaths. "It seems-"

"Yosetsu Awase, eliminated. Kosei Tsuburaba eliminated. Sen Kaibara, eliminated."

Tokoyami swallows. "It seems she was engaged with another team."

"Did she see Dark Shadow?" I ask sharply. If she did, we might have to use them as a distraction and run in another direction. But Tokoyami shakes his head.

"I cannot communicate with Dark Shadow unless they are with me. We lack a telepathic connection."

I file the information away to analyze later. Sure, there's even odds on us dying here, but I'm pretty sure that Nezu won't allow that. But that does lead to the question of how those eliminated are being taken out of the maze. But if Catia finds us...

"Call Dark Shadow back," I order. "They have another objective."

'~'

(Minya)

"Togaru Kamakiri, Shihai Kuroiru, and Juzo Honenuki, eliminated."

"Wow. Catia's going wild, huh?" Seriously, it hasn't even been ten minutes and she's already eliminated three teams! Though that last one sounds like she got Ectoplasm's clone instead of getting them out individually.

"Yeah, you don't think she got catnip, did you? She and Midoriya did tell us how she gets when she eats that stuff." Toru sounds a bit worried.

I shrug. "Maybe? But I don't think the principal would be reckless enough to put us in any real danger, so it's probably fine."