Chapter 126: Monsters?

Early in the morning, in the main hall of Kai’s mansion, Shino, Ryuko, Tomoko, and Chatora were sitting on the sofas wearing their hero suits, sipping tea and chatting with Yumiko, Keiko, and Nemuri, who couldn’t help but tease them for how excited they looked.

“Fufu, look at those faces, as if you were about to go to an amusement park.” Yumiko commented playfully as she set her teacup on the table, prompting Shino to reply with a smile.

“Well, you can’t blame us. This will be the first time Kai acts as a hero, so of course we’re excited.”

“I’m not trying to ruin your fun, but you do realize Kai isn’t going to ‘act like a hero,’ right?” Keiko commented with a small smile as she looked at the heroes in front of her. At that moment, Chatora spoke in a calmer tone.

“That might be true, but hope is the last thing you lose, and since we have the chance, we’re going to try to show Kai what we love about this career.”

“Chatora is right, it’s an opportunity that took a long time to arrive, so we want to make the most of it.” Ryuko added with an excited smile on her face, and Tomoko nodded, brimming with excitement, then exclaimed as she raised her hands into the air.

“Besides, we’ve been wanting to do hero stuff with Kai and Salem for years! We’re not going to waste the chance!!!”

“Fufufu, so you’re letting your true intentions show. Your main target is that lazy cat.” Nemuri remarked in a teasing tone, making the Pussycats blush a little. But just as Shino was about to defend herself, Nejire, Momo, and Kai came down the stairs.

Looking incredibly excited and happy, Momo came down already wearing her hero suit along with Nejire, who had a similar smile; both were clinging closely to Kai’s arms. Kai himself was only wearing a casual black athletic outfit, with not even the slightest intention of donning a “hero suit”.

“How do we look?!!”

Upon reaching the bottom of the stairs, Nejire let go of Kai’s arm and spoke with a cheerful smile, pulling Momo in front. Nejire wore a full-body suit that completely covered her skin, in shades of blue and green. She wore yellow gloves and what looked like some kind of bulky blue bandage-like accessories around her forearms, plus what appeared to be a sheath for a short Ninjatō hanging from her waist.

“You look gorgeous.” Yumiko commented with a joyful, maternal smile, to which Keiko added with a similar expression.

“Yes, you’ll be the center of attention wherever you go.”

“I agree; Ryukyu might even have to worry about you two stealing the spotlight, hehe.” Ryuko chimed in mischievously. Tomoko joined in excitedly.

“Totally, you look super cool!”

“You look truly stunning, but I think you’re going to be late.” Nemuri added with a small smile, her eyes full of pride for the two girls. At that moment, Momo took out her phone and checked the time, then commented in a serious tone.

“That’s true, it’s already late.” Momo spoke with a bright smile on her face, and Nejire nodded, happily adding.

“We have to go, bye everyone!!”

After saying their goodbyes, Nejire grabbed Momo’s arm and dragged her toward the door, while the lovely black-haired girl quickly waved farewell.

“Bye everyone, see you tonight!!”

After Momo and Nejire took off flying, the Pussycats stood up from their seats and approached Kai, who had been quiet ever since he arrived. Shino spoke to him with a smile while looking at the blue-eyed young man.

“Well, we have to go too.”

“All right, let’s go then.” Kai nodded at Shino before turning to face Yumiko, Keiko, and Nemuri. He said his goodbye with a smile.

“Goodbye, Onee-chan, Aunt Yumiko, Aunt Keiko.”

“Goodbye, Kai. Have fun.” Yumiko replied with a smile, getting up from the sofa alongside Keiko and Nemuri. They approached Kai and gave him a small hug, which Nemuri also did, speaking in a cheerful, loving tone.

“Take care, Kai.”

“It’s not like I’m going to do anything dangerous.” Kai replied with a small smile on his face, causing Nemuri to return a slightly ironic smile as she squeezed the hug a bit before letting go. Then Keiko hugged him and affectionately said.

“Seriously, don’t do anything dangerous, and try not to get bored.”

“I’ll try.” Kai answered with an amused grin while looking at Keiko, who understood him the best. Tomoko then spoke with a pout.

“Hey!! We’re not going to be bored, we have a super important mission to do!!”

“Fufufu, well, you’re going to be late.” Yumiko remarked with a smile, and shortly after, the Pussycats went out to the garden, where Kai summoned his Accompany card.

“All right, then we’re off. [Accompany] on! [Pussycats base]!” Kai casually announced and activated the card. Soon after, they all arrived at the Pussycats’ base, where Tomoko quickly took Kai by the arm and commented with a smile.

“Kai, we’re going to catch lots of bad guys!”

“Are they strong?” Kai asked with a grin while looking at Tomoko, who answered in a playful tone.

“We don’t know yet, but they are heroes!”

“That sounds interesting. What’s it about?”

Evidently curious, Kai asked as they all entered the base together. Shino answered with a smile as she observed the excited Tomoko, who was really looking forward to teaming up with Kai and Salem, the lazy cat sleeping comfortably on the blue-eyed boy’s head.

“It’s a bit complex to explain, but basically, we’re investigating some suspicious maneuvers by certain heroes.”

“Suspicious maneuvers by heroes? That sounds even more interesting. Tell me more, what’s going on?”

While taking a seat on one of the sofas in the operations room, alongside Tomoko and Ryuko, who had taken his other arm, Kai asked with clear interest. Shino replied in a more serious tone, sitting across from him along with Chatora.

“By chance, a few days ago, we discovered that some heroes have strangely started solving cases at a faster pace, all following a predictable pattern, and they all seem connected. That’s way too suspicious to be a coincidence. But since we don’t have solid proof, we’re investigating on our own before we file a report.”

“Hmm, I’d recommend that, instead of reporting it, we handle it ourselves first and then reveal the results. Because for some reason, the politics here seem too obsessed with making everything look perfect—especially regarding heroes—so it’s hard for them to act quickly and apprehend everyone involved. They might even bury the matter under the rug.”

In a much more serious tone, Kai spoke while looking at each of the Pussycats. It wasn’t just about his personal disdain for politicians; Japanese politics really were strange or, well, a lot of the politics in Asia in general were weird. For some reason, they were incredibly obsessed with appearances and showing their respective countries as perfect—even though, like any country, they weren’t—something that became even worse when it came to heroes.

In Japan specifically, as opposed to the Western world, cases of heroes committing serious crimes were extremely rare, almost nonexistent. Not because they didn’t commit them, but because they either weren’t made public or those heroes died in “strange” circumstances before or during investigations. All were recorded as suicides, even if they’d been shot in the back.

It was almost as if having a hero commit a crime was a taboo, and politicians used all kinds of dirty tricks to hide it. Kai couldn’t understand why it was necessary; in the rest of the world, especially in developed countries, investigations against heroes were launched all the time, and famous heroes serving life sentences weren’t that unusual.

Because of that, Kai arrived at two possibilities for this “weirdness”. Either they were doing something so stupid just to justify their salaries and positions—typical politician stuff—or they wanted to maintain that facade of “perfection” in order to use that power for less “glorious” purposes. He was betting all his chips on the latter.

“Kai is right about that. There’s a certain taboo around the issue of heroes committing crimes, so filing a complaint might not be effective.” Chatora said in a more serious and thoughtful tone. Ryuko added with a grave expression.

“But at the same time, if we do things on our own, we could get into trouble…”

“That’s true, but we can’t just sit around and do nothing. This is all really suspicious.” Tomoko added in an unusually serious tone, at which point Shino spoke up solemnly.

“It’s still too early to think about that. We don’t have anything concrete yet, so let’s focus on the investigation. If we gather something solid, we can ask for more specialized support from trusted heroes.”

“Yes, that’s best for now.” Chatora agreed on behalf of the others with a serious tone. That’s when Kai commented with a grin full of malicious intent.

“Hehehe, you don’t need to worry so much about those leeches. Even if they have power, leeches are always stupid and inefficient. All we have to do is stir the hornet’s nest a bit by exposing some of their dirty laundry, let them focus on that completely. Then, ‘coincidentally’, we leak the information about the heroes and put someone they can’t easily touch—like All Might or Principal Nezu—in the spotlight. Even if they want to, they won’t be able to do anything.”

“…”

Kai’s words were met with unanimous silence from the Pussycats, who looked at him with solemn expressions. After all, they knew him perfectly well, and he was more than capable of doing what he said; in fact, he would do it with a delighted smile on his face. What’s more, they could see in his expression that he was dying to get started on the matter, which inevitably made the heroes’ skin crawl.

But the silence was cut short when Shino raised her right hand, indicating for them to wait, and brought her left hand to her ear. Her ears were covered by the device shaped like mechanical cat ears on her head—everyone recognized that gesture as her answering a call.

“Mandalay speaking… Understood… we’ll get ready immediately… oh, I see, all right, yes, I’ll let him know.”

After a brief conversation, Shino hung up with a serious expression, making everyone look at her with curiosity. She began to explain in a firm tone loaded with authority, something born from years of being the leader of her successful group, which let everyone know it was something important.

“I just got a call from Principal Nezu. There’s an urgent matter that requires our expertise, and since at the moment we’re affiliated with UA because of the apprenticeship program, they reached out to him, and he decided Kai can participate. By the way, Principal Nezu sends his regards and asked me to tell you this is very likely ‘exactly the kind of case you want to get involved in’.”

“This is getting interesting. What happened?” Kai asked in an enthusiastic tone, which pleased everyone, though knowing it was a serious matter, they chose not to show it. Shino quickly explained.

“He didn’t give me all the details, but apparently they lost contact with a scientific research base on an uninhabited island. The strange part is that the last communication mentioned some odd geological events and a request for help because they were being attacked by ‘monsters’.”

“Monsters? Sounds interesting…” Kai commented with curiosity, which Shino decided to ignore as she continued speaking.

“Because of this, we’ll be carrying out a mission together with the pro hero Mirko, a combat specialist. The deployment has to be as quick as possible, so a helicopter will be arriving for us at any moment, which means we need to get ready quickly.”

“Do we need to prepare any special equipment?” Chatora asked in a serious tone, to which Shino shook her head and explained.

“No. First, they’ll take us to a nearby base, where they’ll give us the complete information as well as whatever equipment we might need.”

“Then let’s go. We’re already set.” Ryuko said seriously as she stood up from her chair. Tomoko then took Kai’s arm and declared firmly.

“Come on, Kai, it’s time to be heroes!”

“I’m going for the ‘monsters’, but whatever makes you happiest.” Kai said casually as he stood up with Tomoko.

Quickly, they all headed out of the base and waited outside. Around ten minutes later, a police logistics helicopter landed, generating powerful wind and noise that inevitably woke the lazy Salem, who meowed back angrily. Kai laughed in amusement, but the Pussycats—due to the seriousness of the situation—managed to hold back their emotions.

Once the helicopter landed, two police officers got out, and one of them quickly approached the group and spoke loudly, giving them instructions on how to board. They followed the instructions at once, sitting on the side seats of the helicopter, fastening their safety harnesses, and then taking off.

About an hour later, the helicopter landed in what appeared to be a special forces airfield. They quickly disembarked and were escorted by a fully equipped police unit into a tall building. At that moment, another helicopter landed on the base, and from it emerged a striking woman.

She had bronzed skin, long straight white hair, long eyelashes, and a pair of distinctive rabbit ears pointing straight up that moved slightly. She was wearing a sleeveless white leotard that showed off her athletic, toned figure, along with white gloves and what looked like purple boots reaching up to her thighs.

Leaping forward with impressive speed, the woman arrived at the Pussycats’ side, leaving the escort team who had come to meet her somewhat bewildered. She looked at Mandalay and spoke in a deep voice that matched her wild appearance perfectly.

“We meet again.”

***

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