"If you put yourself back here again, I'll have you forbidden from participating!"
I give Recovery Girl a lopsided grin from my bed in the infirmary. "Nyace to hear mew have faith I'll beat Midorinya."
She huffs in annoyance, slapping my leg with her cane. "Don't get smart with me, brat. The ones who lose in the semi-finals fight for third place. Maybe I was talking about that."
"Hmm~. But I lick the thought that mew have faith in me better, so let's go with that~."
She huffs again, this time putting a bit of force into her cane, making me let out a hiss of pain. "Meany-ya! Don't injure the injured, nya!"
She rolls her eyes, her cane tapping as she returns her attention to Todoroki, who hasn't regained consciousness in the ten minutes since I woke up here. "You're fine. Just backlash from your quirk -again, I might add. Why didn't you ask Aizawa to help you train that move if it hurts you so much to use it?"
"Hmm?" My ears perk up. "What do mew mean? I haven't been catable of doing that before."
"Huh?" She looks at me with a confused expression, her hand on Todoroki's forehead.
"Nya?" I tilt my head inquisitively, not sure what she's confused about.
""...""
There's silence between the two of us as we simply stare at each other. It's only broken by the door bursting open and my clanmates pouring in.
"Catia, Catia! You'll never guess what Toru did!" Minya darts around my bed while Tormew tries to clamp her hands around the pink girl's mouth.
"Stooop! It's embarrassing!"
Minya giggles as she rolls under the bed and out the other side, ignoring Recovery Girl's yelling about how the infirmary isn't a place to be playing around. "You'll never guess! She punched Shinso in- gugh!"
Her news is cut off when Recovery Girl slams her cane into her stomach, forcing her breath out of her lungs while making a weird noise. "This is not a playground! Either wait outside or behave yourself!"
"Ye-yes ma'am." Minya manages to wheeze out hunched over while Tormew slowly stands back up from where she was going to crawl under the bed to get to her. Unfortunately for Tormew, that means that she's not in a position to stop Minya from speaking. Which she does the moment she's recovered. "Toru punched Shinso in the balls!"
"Pft." Out of everything she could have said, that's something I definitely didn't expect, so I can't hold back the snicker of laughter that slips out. "Mr-mrow did that happen?" I manage to ask as I stifle my amusement.
Seeing my expectant look and the laughter in Minya's eyes, Tormew sighs before letting out a groan. "Well, the match started off the same as my last one: we wished each other luck and I stripped to my underwear."
""Exhibitionist," nya," Minya and I say at the same time. Tormew pouts, otherwise ignoring our teasing.
"So he started calling me an exhibionist, which I have practice ignoring!" She glares at the two of us and I look away, whistling innocently. Following my cue Minya does the same. Letting out a huff Tormew continues. "I ran at him so I could punch him in the face and hopefully knock him out, but I guess he got mad I didn't respond so he said something else."
"Oh? I didn't hear anything from the stands, what did he say?" Minya asks in curiosity.
Tormew sends me a look before a brief look of anger flashes across her face. "He said that Catia is crap at controlling her quirk because she's gotten hurt using it twice during the Festival! Obviously I wasn't going to let that go! No one is allowed to insult Catia like that! He needed to be punished!"
I'm a bit bemused at how Tormew feels the need to defend my honor(?), but Minya just nods like it's the most natural thing in the world before she stands and turns around, cracking her knuckles. "Where is he? I just want to talk."
"Minya, nyo."
"Minya, yes."
Tormew refuses my refusal for violence, but I grab a hold of Minya and pull her beside me, petting her head around her horns to calm her down. Seeing Tormew pout I roll my eyes before gesturing with my other hand, watching in amusement as she immediately perks up and drapes herself across us. She closes her eyes and makes pleased noises as I lightly scrape her scalp with my claws.
"So mew won?" I ask Tormew absently. After all, it would take either a quirk or an incredible amount of determination to continue fighting after suffering an attack like that. But to my surprise she shakes her head, her cheeks puffed out as she recalls what happened.
"He asked why I punched him there, and after I told him my mind went blank. Then he told me to walk out of the ring and I did."
"Hmm." I hum to myself in thought, letting my hand drift as I change the spots on her head I scratch. So it's response based. I'm guessing voice, then. That really is a powerful quirk to go up against, and useless against the robots from the practical… No wonder he's bitter about it.
Now that I know his quirk, after I beat Midorinya he won't be a problem. If he manages to beat Bakugou that is. But as the girls snuggle against me, moving their arms so that we're basically in a group hug, I decide that thoughts for the tournament can wait. For now, it's time to relax.
We stay like that for a while, content smiles on all of our faces. It's only when I hear a small click that I tear my gaze away from the two girls around me, looking for the source.
"I'm fairly certain that you're supposed to be the cat." Recovery Girl says in amusement after taking a picture, putting her phone away and out of my reach.
Note to self: figure out how to get revenge on Recovery Girl. Sure, it's not like I mind. I have nothing to be ashamed of from pampering a couple of cute girls, but it's the principle of the thing! Clearly Recovery Girl thought that I would have a problem with it, so it's only right for me to get revenge for the wrong she thinks she committed against me!
Anyways-
"I'm guessing Bakugou won his scrap, nya?"
Recovery glares at me for a moment -as if she knows of my revenge plans- before rolling her eyes. "You'd be correct." She walks over to a bed with the screen closed around it, tugging at the edge and letting me get a glimpse of Jiro's sleeping face. On her head are a set of large headphones, her jacks tucked inside of them and out of view.
Recovery Girl flicks the curtain back closed. "Honestly. I tell Nezu he needs to think these things through, and then something like this happens. I have no idea what possessed him to let the person with sensitive ears fight the person with explosions literally in the palms of their hands."
I nod in understanding. Yeah, that is kind of a one-sided fight. But so was Todoroki's match against Purrny. And Uraraka against Kendo, now that I think of it. Actually, is it just me, or were half of the initial fights kind of one-sided? But some of the ones I thought were certain wins ended up going to the other one…
I dismiss the thought as an idle curiosity. It's not like I'd gain anything from figuring out how the rat thinks. Actually, I feel like it would be concerning if I somehow did manage to know his thought process.
"Anyways, get some rest. Your match with Midoriya starts in ten minutes." She glances at the two girls, who've started to doze. "You've got some good friends, missy. Make sure you don't do anything to lose them."
I look down at them myself, a soft smile on my face. My mind briefly flashes to All Might, and a frown flickers across my face before it's gone just as quick. I haven't actually made any more plans to deal with him since I got here. Then again, between the USJ, the yakuza raid, Eri, and now the Sports Festival, it hasn't really felt like I've had time. Not to mention it's that time of the year again in two weeks.
It's good that the school made the necessary alterations to my room. The places I have to go otherwise are so annoying to be in.
Speaking of plans against All Might, the League of Villains hasn't made any moves either. It really would be to my benefit if they managed to kill All Might on their own. Then I wouldn't have to put my own position as an aspiring hero at risk.
I would get to stick with these two and be happy, as well as having the satisfaction of seeing him dead. And what else could a cat ask for?
`~`
"Don't do it."
Shinso raises an eyebrow at Midoriya's sudden warning. "You're gonna have to be more specific."
He rolls his eyes. "We both know that you'll beat Bakugou. He's too easy to rile up. And you've done a good job of hiding the activation requirements of your quirk."
Shinso smirks, pleased with himself. Of course, he'd never have thought of delaying taking control of someone after he uses his quirk on them. He always thought it would be better to take control of them as soon as possible to end the fight without them having the chance to counter him. He grimaces, shifting his stance so his legs are a bit farther apart.
Of course, leaving my control for a bit means they have the chance to take me out before I can activate it. He's honestly not sure if it was worth it to get hit like that. And when Midoriya speaks, he's certain it wasn't.
"You can bet that Ashido and Hagakure are going to be telling Catia about your last match. Which means there's a fairly decent chance that she'll figure out what your quirk is. She's not dumb."
Midoriya meets his eyes. "So we both know that you'll only have one chance to take control of her and win the tournament. And I know you asked around about her. So I'm warning you again, don't do it."
Shinso scowls. "I'm going to win. I don't have any other choice if I want to become a hero. If you're so worried, then you just have to beat her in your match against her. Use that big brain of yours to figure something out."
Midoriya grimaces. "That's the problem. I've known her since before UA. I've shared my notes on her quirk with her, and we've worked together to make them even more accurate. I know her weaknesses, but she knows I know them. We've talked about how to counter them together. I've seen her adapt mid-fight to cover her weaknesses."
He sighs. "And with how much catnip she had during the last event, she's become even harder to plan against."
Shinso cocks his head, but before he can ask what he means Midoriya shakes his head before meeting his eyes. "It's a fifty-fifty bet on which of us will win. If I had more of my gadgets, it would be another story. I have a ton of stuff specifically made to counter her."
"Then why didn't you apply to have them brought?" Shinso asks. After all, if she's the biggest threat, having anti-her weapons seems like common sense. But Midoriya just heaves an even bigger sigh, groaning as he plants his head in his hands.
"Because Nezu said it's 'unsportsman-like' to bring counters for a single specific student. I'm pretty sure he just wants to watch me struggle."
Shinso snorts, patting him on the back. "Welp. Nothing to do but make sure you show the world that she'll struggle against you just as much as you'll struggle against her."