[Isn’t Yuanna crazy? Didn’t she catch Mirage?]
[Starlight of W City, who captured the despair-class monster that Cage of A City failed to stop, has made it perhaps time to start calling W City, A City.]
[Star Punch! Star Punch! Star Punch!]
The day after the despair-class monster Mirage, which had fled from A City to W City, was dealt with,
journalists flocked to the Hero Association of W City, declaring to the citizens that Mirage had been fully defeated.
Yuanna, responding to interviews from the local broadcasting station of W City, was explaining the damages caused by Mirage alongside other heroes.
“27 severely injured, 89 lightly injured, and 0 fatalities. Other damages to the area include 52 buildings…”
“52 buildings? Is that right? Didn’t you mean to say 52 kilometers?”
“I live in zone 2, and it’s correct, my home is intact.”
“But what about our house? Our house is gone! Our house is gone!”
[Breaking News: Citizens from A City are in an uproar. They question whether it’s not time to reassign A City’s heroes, given the report on the damages caused by Mirage in W City.]
“Is this really a despair-class monster? It caused far less damage than when Black Cat ran amok with another despair-class monster.”
“Go check how much damage Mirage left behind in A City before making such comments.”
[A City Mirage Damage: 3 zones completely wiped out, death toll unmeasurable. W City Mirage Damage: 52 buildings destroyed in 2 zones on the city outskirts. W City Black Cat Damage: 17 Orphanage Directors and one zone.]
“Wait, wasn’t the destruction of a whole zone attributed to Black Cat and not Starlight?”
The damage inflicted on W City by Mirage was beyond miraculous, bafflingly minimal.
A mere 52 buildings destroyed, a level of damage that could be fully restored within a week, not to mention the low number of casualties.
Thinking of the heroes who often perish when facing a despair-class monster, one might even suspect the government was tampering with information to calm the citizens.
“A question! As far as I understand, the damages to A City couldn’t be compared to W City. Why this discrepancy in the results?”
“It is due to the characteristics of the monster, Mirage. Mirage was a creature that could not help but cause massive damages if its true form was unknown.”
In response to the reporter’s question, an association staff member switched on a TV to play a video.
“The Mirage we managed to defeat this time gained its name because it was like Mirage — difficult to capture. Indeed, the name suits it well. We will now showcase some parts of the battle video.”
Onscreen, images of Mirage captured by the heroes’ cameras were seen changing ceaselessly.
At first, viewers admired the heroes’ seamless combination of attacks in the video, but soon they felt a chill as Mirage effortlessly regenerated from every assault.
No matter how many attacks were thrown, the monstrous entity would slither back as if unaffected. How could something like this have been defeated?
The video then showed heroes collapsing one after another as Mirage deployed a smokescreen. This illuminated how A City might have suffered such extensive damage.
However, immediately after, a scene played where Yuanna clutched a large clam and proceeded to beat it senselessly.
Just when the video had been serious moments before, this new scene confused reporters, who wondered if the footage had been edited poorly.
“Uhh…this clam, what does this mean suddenly…?”
“The true form of Mirage. What you saw previously were illusions created by Mirage.”
“Huh?”
According to the government’s explanation, Mirage was a monster with a clam-like appearance, using its shell to project illusions and employing telekinetic powers generated from its clam meat.
Using this ability, Mirage would create powerful physical illusions, misleading and mesmerizing its targets—an effect previously believed to be a supernatural attraction.
Moreover, the shell’s resilience meant that only an S-Class hero stood a chance of breaking it—leading to it being a monster that couldn’t be defeated unless its true form was struck with tremendous power in the midst of a thick fog.
At this moment, it became clear why Cage, the S-Class hero of A City, had failed to capture Mirage.
Cage believed he had Mirage within his grasp, only for Mirage to consistently evade him.
This realization turned the journalists’ attention away from Mirage.
“How did you manage to find Mirage’s true form?”
“What do you think of Cage, the S-Class hero of A City, for letting Mirage slip away and wander into W City?”
“Didn’t it feel easier to deal with Mirage?”
Comparative articles between this other S-Class hero and the S-Class hero of W City were always sensational and guaranteed clicks.
But Yuanna had no intention of indulging in such trivial games and sighed, interrupting the press conference.
After the government announcement, the people took to the internet to hotly discuss the recent events.
[Isn’t Mirage incredibly difficult to catch? How did Yuanna manage?]
[Does a friend know what happened in Zone 2? Did Yuanna just whirl around with her eraser technique and catch something by chance?]
“Is that the eraser technique that wrecked the underground of Zone 2?”
“She said this wasn’t an eraser but a Meltdown technique.”
“Homeless Maker is a more fitting name.”
“Ultimately, the story is that Yuanna just pounded away at it, found something that stuck, realized it was the core, and smashed it, right?”
“Yuanna demolished Zone 2 but clearly knows how to capture a monster.”
“Why couldn’t they catch Black Cat?”
“How is it that the S-Class hero Cage from A City was toyed with by Mirage, but Yuanna can’t catch Black Cat?”
“Still, Black Cat runs away when Yuanna appears, even spitting out the monsters he eats.”
“Maybe Black Cat is just scared of Yuanna?”
“Black Cat: If I attack humans, I think Yuanna will come and kill me. I don’t want to die, so I’ll just eat the monsters.”
“Aren’t the Orphanage Directors human?”
“I’ve heard some strange rumors about them…if those rumors are true, honestly, Black Cat hasn’t killed humans but beasts.”
[Most importantly, with Yuanna around, W City is safe.]
Somewhere along the way, Yuanna went from being a hero who would chase after despair-class monsters and fail to capture them, into a hero so powerful that a despair-class monster would only run and refrain from attacking humans.
Public opinion certainly flips quickly. Why then had people been so relentless?
Lying back on the sofa after a long time of rest, Yuanna, reviewing a community talking about her, left an anonymous comment.
“But what happened to those who said Starlight was weak?”
Not asking out of ignorance, but expecting the responses she wanted, she penned the message.
Sure enough, the replies she hoped for piled up quickly below.
“The ones calling Starlight weak, have all been erased by the fireflies this time? Why is it so quiet?”
“Did those who insulted Yuanna perish under Mirage? They have all disappeared.”
“0 casualties in W City due to Mirage.”
“Isn’t it time we all admitted we trusted Yuanna?”
“Star Punch! Star Punch!”
“Hoho…”
An image of a brawny man, seemingly morphing from Yuanna’s looks, appeared in the replies, throwing punches into the air.
Cheerfully humming a tune and opening the fridge, the long-absent good mood finally returned to Yuanna.
Maybe she would cook something delicious today, as recently the damage caused by monsters had been less.
Although it seemed a bit funny, Yuanna had indeed been growing more relaxed recently.
Since W City only had one S-Class hero, Yuanna, and every time a powerful monster appeared, she had to rush everywhere frantically.
But when Black Cat started hunting monsters, it was as though W City now had two S-Class heroes.
By the time Yuanna arrived for an assignment, Black Cat had either already hunted down the monster or was devouring it in front of her.
Then, it turned into Black Cat’s chase, but since Black Cat never pointlessly destroyed facilities or caused casualties, the mental fatigue was rather low.
Well…sometimes, when Black Cat shredded something very expensive with his claws, one couldn’t help but wonder why it had to be exactly that.
There were plenty of posts online where people cursed Black Cat for the damages they suffered.
“Black Cat has severed the communication cables again.”
“Black Cat has stuck iron rods into my building, how am I supposed to remove them?”
“Why is my car stuck over here…?”
“Damn cat! Yuanna, please kill it!”
“Star Punch! Star Punch!”
These posts often accompanied a photoshopped image of Yuanna beating up kittens.
I’m becoming an animal abuser or something, thought Yuanna with furrowed brows, musing over Black Cat.
Black Cat, the monster that was so different from all the others.
Even though it should be guarded against and someday caught, an inexplicable trust towards Black Cat seemed to grow.
If someone was seen too late when chasing Black Cat, one no longer had to fear the monster attacking them, as Black Cat would just automatically fly away and, if the wind made one fall, would sometimes even turn the other way and accept getting hit by Yuanna.
And each time, Yuanna, in her heart willing herself just one indulgence this time, would restrain from hitting.
“Really, what are you thinking?”
Why didn’t Black Cat attack people? Lately, Yuanna had been thinking more and more that Black Cat was not deceiving people.
She refrained from revealing her thoughts for fear that people might confuse other monsters with Black Cat, fearing a potential danger—Black Cat seemed to not have any intention to harm people, and was probably shielding heroes from monsters, wondering…if she, Yuanna, was seen as a villain who kills co-monsters out of necessity.
Searching a keyword in her SNS search bar, Yuanna saw the autocomplete suggestions.
Searching for the tag #W City Black Cat♡, images of Black Cat rescuing people and getting meat in return flooded in.
If throwing a few hams could result in handling a monster easily, Yuanna wished she could delegate such tasks.
Photos and videos of Black Cat disappearing after dealing with monsters, including several where Black Cat was being petted by women and caused them to scream in excitement, were abundant.
“Kyaaaa! So soft!”
“Look at the shine, wow! What do I do!”
Petting a monster…while obviously a dangerous action, Yuanna had lately become tired of getting angry.
Nowadays, she was even considering wondering how Black Cat’s fur felt like and if she should give it a try.
And further down the feed…videos that left her puzzled.
“Look at this…it’s embarrassing…”
In the video, Black Cat was carrying a slaughtered cow in its jaws.
Was this an act of theft? In the video, no monster alert sirens went off as Black Cat appeared. Lately, it had been known that Black Cat could hide himself from the sirens.
Had another monster possessed this ability, it would be terrifying indeed—but Black Cat’s actions in the video were absurd.
A set of three videos titled “I agreed to give Black Cat a whole cow, and then it found its way back!” followed suit.
“Hey! We made an agreement! If you don’t hurry up, my dad’s gonna scold me.”
In the dark refrigerator, a female voice urges it to go quickly. Black Cat picks up the cut of beef in its mouth and then puts it down again, clearly not against leaving with it but places the meat outside the fridge.
Sometime later, Black Cat returns from outside the building with something strange in its mouth.
“What is this? A gas range…?”
A portable gas range… Pushed by Black Cat’s paws, it seemed to clearly ask for the meat to be grilled.
Had someone grilled meat for it before? Once a beast eats cooked meat, it usually prefers it over raw meat.
The girl hesitates but cuts up a piece of meat and grills it for Black Cat, who emits strange mewing noises and takes the food.
“Such cooing noises when eating meat…”
In the final video, it appears as though the girl’s parents are caught by surprise but, upon seeing the monster eating the meat with dignity, they, amazed, all join in cutting and grilling it.
After finishing watching the video with the conclusion that they’d grant any further requests, thanking the monster for its help, Yuanna immediately contacted the government side, asking them to take down the video, as it would be dangerous should people grow too friendly with the monsters.
And after a brief consideration, Yuanna saved the video before it was deleted.
