Chapter 16: Worst of the Worst (2)

When the villain- no, the monster stops moving, I send Himiko my location, making sure that she knows to be discreet. It takes a bit of time for her to arrive, time I use to look around the area.

There’s not much to say though. This is one of the worse off areas of the city, with abandoned buildings and graffiti all over the place. Some of them have even collapsed! Though looking closer, it seems like they didn’t collapse naturally. There are odd parts to the rubble. Some are peppered with smaller pieces, while there are also strangely clear areas.

Did this area get abandoned due to some kind of big fight between a hero and a villain…?

I shake my head free of those thoughts. It doesn’t matter now. What matters is that there won’t be anyone around to see me and Himiko kill this bastard. I glance back at the crumbling building he entered, wary of him slipping out without me noticing. But I can see my spy cat nearby, watching the building as well.

I’m tempted to dismiss it, after all, I’m already here so the information I would get from it would be redundant. Plus it’s weird when I have memories of the same event from two different perspectives. Reluctantly, I decide against it. If the monster moves, my cat will probably know before me, and will follow him. I absolutely hate child killers.

Finally, Himiko shows up, walking down the street dressed in her school uniform. She’s carrying a bag with what I hope are our disguises. I nod my head in satisfaction that she grabbed them, since I forgot to tell her. But what has my ears twitching in confusion is the guy walking with her.

He’s taller than her, probably an adult judging by the fact he’s a good head taller. Though I can’t see his face so I can’t be certain. The reason I can’t see his face is also curious. He’s wearing a paper bag over his head, with holes cut into it so he can see. Other than that, his clothes are just a normal pair of pants and shirt.

I sigh as I make my way down from the rooftops, jumping on air conditioners and balconies. Hearing the noise, the two look up.

Himiko reacts to my acrobatic entrance with her usual aplomb. “Cat-aclysm~! Whose blood do I get to see~?” The man, on the other hand…

“That’s dangerous! I wanna try!” His reaction is…odd.

Landing in front of them, I look at him with narrowed eyes, my tail lashing behind me. Without looking away, I question Himiko. “Himiko, who’s this?”

She ignores the irritation in my tone, but at least she remembered to use my other name. When I realized that people didn’t get the joke, I decided to change it to something more on the nose. Not that people can tell I’m a cat while I’m wearing my disguise, but I find it funny. Ignore the fact that I decided on it after my first taste of catnip.

“Well, this guy is called Twice!” She gestures at him with both hands, like she’s trying to sell me something. He plays along and poses, flexing his arms to show off his…lack of muscles. Seeing my quirked eyebrow, she continues in a slightly more serious tone.

“Giran introduced us. He said that this guy is the best when you need more help but have trust issues. So I immediately thought of you~!”

I cross my arms under my chest and turn around, grumbling. “I don’t have trust issues. I’m just being cautious because I don’t want to have to worry about being arrested while going out to eat…”

She pats my head. “I know, I know. Sigh. And you want to experience high school, which I didn’t get to do…” Her tone turns morose, so I turn around and start patting her head. Her eyes narrow fractionally, and then she starts petting me!

It’s on.

I transition from patting, to petting, determined not to lose. But then she cheats! She moves her hand and starts scratching behind my ear! Within seconds I’m purring, pushing my head into her hand for her to scratch me more. Then we hear someone speak, causing us to jump.

“How indecent. That’s so cute!”

Turning my attention to the guy Himiko brought with her -Twice, right?- I glare, trying to hide my flushed cheeks.

“Ahem. So, Twice, what exactly can you do to help in a fight?”

He pulls a measuring tape from his pocket, stretching it out with dramatic flair. “Let me show you! This won’t hurt a bit. It’ll be extremely painful!”

Before I can respond, he pounces at me, and I claw at him in surprise. But he manages to add to my surprise when he bends backwards to dodge it. He moves around me with the measuring tape, and though I’m extremely tempted to attack him again, he’s not touching me so I let him be.

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After a few moments, he pulls away, grabbing his chin while he tilts his head at me. I wait for a moment, and then he speaks. “You're quite a petite person. Eat something!”

He jumps backwards as my claws miss his face, my tail lashing behind me. “Damn pervert! I’ll end you right now!”

He thrusts his hands forward, and a mud-like substance flows from them. “Ohh, scary. How fun!”

The mud rapidly grows to match me in height, then it starts to take form. In the span of a few seconds, I’m looking at a copy of me. I blink in surprise, matched by the clone? I walk around her, trying to see how accurate it is. But it copies me and starts trying to circle me!

I frown at it, both of us stopping at the same time. “Stop that. I want to see how accurate you are.”

“Well I also want to see how I compare. Plus I’m curious how I look from behind.”

We cross our arms and glare at each other, and I can’t help but admire how good I am at it. Seeming to come to a similar conclusion, we share a nod.

“So, are you just a cute face, or can you fight as well?”

She -I?- smirks at me. “Of course, I’m cute and dangerous. With that, she holds out a hand and her claws pop out. I nod in satisfaction before my eyes widen in surprise. Beneath her outstretched hand forms a brawler cat, claws out and ready to fight.

My shocked eyes meet her smug face. Then a viscous grin splits my own. “This is going to be fun.” I look towards Himiko and Twice, who have been watching our interactions. “Himiko, did you bring the catnip?”

She hesitates for a brief moment, a look of uncertainty crossing her face. But then she slowly pulls out a sandwich bag holding a couple of small, marble sized bundles of catnip.

“Are you sure you want to use this? You know that it makes you weird.”

I glare at her while my hand moves for the bag. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. Besides, you’re weirder than me, Haematophiac.”

She rolls her eyes and moves the bag before I can grab it. “You know what I mean. After the first time you used it, you started snuggling with me while I slept! I woke up to you kneading my chest.”

I immediately launch my defense. “Cats knead the spot where they want to sleep all the time. There was nothing odd about that whatsoever.”

Her eyes narrow. “That’s another thing, you slept. Before, you never slept as a cat, and you only took naps so that you could take control of one of them. Now, you take naps all the time! When we went out to karaoke, you took three naps!”

I roll my eyes. “I was tired, there’s nothing strange about that.”

“And your recent interest in hunting rats and mice?”

“...There’s just something fun about it.” She sighs, and I place a hand on her shoulder. “I get it, you’re worried. But trust me, the monster we’re about to fight is strong. We’ll need every advantage we can get. Speaking of…” I turn back to Twice, who’s gotten into a game of patty cake with my clone? I shake my head and get his attention.

“I’m going to need some more clones of myself. With more of me, we might not even have to go in to kill this thing.”

(AN: Hey all, got a question! What do y'all think about a side character reincarnator? If you've read Goddess of Ice: Naruto's twin sister, you know what I'm talking about. Not implementing something like that yet, but it's rattling around in my mind so I'm curious.)

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