I'm Just a Cat! (P.S. My Stand is a Menace)

Chapter 366: Chapter 11: Hero Hunter (Bonus Chapter for 300 Power Stones)

Amai Mask really was a pretty good singer, but the concert was a little too noisy for Yimi. She had to cover both ears before she could listen normally.

"Bye-bye, Yimi. Can you get home by yourself? Oh, right, you’re a psychic."

"Bye-bye, Zenko." Yimi waved a paw at Zenko, turned around, and flew straight away.

After watching the concert and getting the merchandise, Zenko’s foul mood from being stood up by her brother finally improved quite a bit.

Yimi was not especially interested in the badges showing Amai Mask in various outfits, but when she realized they could also be flicked around like cards, she decided to keep them.

"What? It’s already over?"

Naturally, it was at exactly this moment, just after the two girls had parted outside the concert venue, that the brother Zenko had mentioned finally appeared.

He had the same fierce eyes as his little sister, an aggressively modified old-fashioned black school uniform, and a pompadour that was almost impossible to see nowadays. He was even carrying a solid metal bat in a public place. He looked like the textbook image of an old-school delinquent.

Metal Bat, S-Class Rank 15—battle-damaged edition.

"You’re hurt? Seriously, you went fighting again." Zenko took out a handkerchief and motioned for him to bend down so she could wipe the blood from his face.

Metal Bat turned away. "It’s just a flesh wound. Looks like things are over here too."

If something could make him stand his little sister up, naturally it meant another monster had gone out causing trouble somewhere.

"I already watched it with my friend. There’s nothing for you to do here anymore. Hmph." Zenko deliberately acted angry and walked right past her brother.

Metal Bat raised an eyebrow. "Concert? Why would I care about that guy’s concert? What I meant was, so the monster from the alert already got taken out?"

Amai Mask had a tense relationship with S-Class heroes, especially Metal Bat, though Metal Bat would still ask him for autographs for his little sister.

"Mo!"

Zenko made a strange noise and lightly kicked him in the shin.

"Ow—! I rushed here from the other side of the city the moment I was worried you might get hurt." Metal Bat clutched his ankle, exaggerating at least a little.

"You don’t need to worry about me, Nii-chan. Amai Mask is really strong." Zenko crouched down and rubbed the spot she had just kicked.

* * *

After insisting on seeing his sister safely home, Metal Bat shouldered his metal bat and headed out again. His wounds really were not deep, but he did not want his sister seeing them, so he planned to find a clinic instead of bandaging himself at home.

"Meow."

A creature that was probably a cat appeared directly in his path.

"A cat?"

Metal Bat looked left and right. Seeing that nobody was paying attention, he crouched down and wiped the blood from his hand onto his clothes.

Softly, he called, "Come here. C’mon, you. You’ve got an owner, right? Can you shake?"

He quite liked cats. His family even had a female cat named Tama.

"Meow." Yimi obligingly put her front paw in his hand and shook.

Halfway through flying home, she had suddenly remembered she still needed to find Zenko’s brother, so she had followed his scent here.

"What a smart little thing. Do you have an owner? Doesn’t look like it. Homeless? Since you shook my hand, I’ll take that as you agreeing to come home with me..."

What a presumptuous human.

Since he was Zenko’s brother, Yimi decided to be polite. She stood upright on her hind legs and greeted him first. "Can I, hit you?"

Metal Bat: "?"

"Temee! So you’re a monster?! I even came up with a name for you!" Metal Bat swung his bat down, the blow carrying all the anger of someone whose feelings had been deceived.

Yimi dodged. The solid metal bat smashed into the ground and blasted out a five-meter-wide web of cracks, making the surrounding ground shudder as though a road roller had been dropped on it.

Yimi glanced at the blood on his forehead again. "Never mind. I won’t, fight you."

"Huh? You looking down on me?" Metal Bat raised an eyebrow.

"You’re, hurt."

"I don’t need some monster worrying about me! This is nothing. Getting tricked just makes my Fighting Spirit burn even stronger!"

As one of the lowest-ranked S-Class heroes, Metal Bat was rather unusual. In terms of his ordinary fighting ability, he was unquestionably near the bottom.

But he possessed a special ability: the "Fighting Spirit" he had just mentioned.

As a fight progressed and his anger rose, his Fighting Spirit grew stronger and his power rose with it. Besides that, the best way to increase his Fighting Spirit was to get injured.

Yimi looked at him.

He was her good friend’s brother, after all, and the kitty was the one who had asked to fight him.

A tiny cat paw touched Metal Bat’s leg.

"You..."

Then Metal Bat suddenly felt energetic and comfortable all over, as though his entire body had been thoroughly purified. His Fighting Spirit disappeared along with it.

"?"

The injuries on his body had been transferred away by Love Train.

"I’m going to, attack."

Once he was healed, Yimi attacked, first testing him with Haki the same way she had tested Amai Mask.

"Gah!"

Metal Bat raised his bat to block, only to be blasted more than ten meters backward and smash through a road sign.

"Meow?"

Yimi stared at her paw in confusion. "How are you, so much weaker than, Amai Mask?"

"What did you say?!"

Hearing her compare him to that guy, Metal Bat angrily shoved the road sign away. His Fighting Spirit immediately surged. "Then I’ll show you—"

Seeing that he had gotten hurt again because of her, Yimi hurriedly used Love Train to heal him once more.

The wave of comfort washing through his body suppressed the Fighting Spirit that had just risen.

"Quit screwing around! Watch me—" Metal Bat tried to force his Fighting Spirit upward.

Yimi sent him flying again.

Now Yimi was certain. Zenko’s brother really was that weak.

Disappointing.

Yimi healed him again and decided she was done fighting.

"Bastard! Don’t think you can act cocky just because you’re cute!" Metal Bat charged again, only for Yimi to knock him down and heal him again.

Lying in a patch of roadside greenery, Metal Bat stared at the sky and sank into thought.

This cat was deliberately messing with him, wasn’t she?

Yimi did not know whether this counted as defeating him, but she did not want to keep fighting. After healing Metal Bat one last time, she flew away.

Someone this weak definitely had nothing to do with being the strongest. Amai Mask seemed much more promising.

* * *

"I’m home."

Fubuki returned after a busy day and stretched.

She strode over and pinched Yimi’s cat ears. "At a time like this, you’re supposed to answer, ’Welcome home.’"

"Welcome home," Yimi obediently replied.

Fubuki cupped Yimi’s cheeks in both hands and kneaded them back and forth.

This child was so much cuter than her sister.

"Finished your homework? Want to watch TV?" Fubuki lifted Yimi onto her lap and switched on the television, which happened to be set to the news channel.

"We interrupt this program with breaking news. An anonymous hero claims that a cat-like monster with panda-like markings has been attacking high-ranking heroes. According to the hero, who narrowly lost to it, A-Class Rank 1 Amai Mask has already been attacked. For now, we are calling it the Hero Hunter... Next, let’s hear from our expert."

The pundit said, "Well, this cat has very unusual markings, so, you know, when it comes to this subject I don’t really understand it either. Maybe it’s just an ordinary cat."

"All right. Please escort the expert out."

The shot changed to Amai Mask being interviewed with a smile on his face.

"I did encounter a monster like that in the dressing room during today’s concert, and of course I did not lose. It was certainly my responsibility that I accidentally let it escape. But personally, I believe that heroes have a duty to make everyone feel safe, so we should not search for excuses for our own powerlessness..."

Someone of unclear identity appeared on camera. "Mr. Mask, Metal Bat-san is outside right now. He says you appearing on the news interrupted his little sister’s homework, and he wants to challenge you to a fight."

Worried that Yimi might be frightened, Fubuki first patted her head. "Attacking high-ranking heroes... and it escaped from that monster in one piece. Looks like I’ll have to be careful too."

* * *

In a corner of City Z, Garou, who had only formed his plan and had yet to act on it, stared at the television in front of him.

Then he punched it.