Became a Failed Experimental Subject-Chapter 6: I’m Not a Kitty

“What kind of joke is this... Hoo... A monster turning into a human...? A human turning into a monster...? If this was on a comedy show, it’d get canceled and torn apart in the comments...”

They kept running their mouth, so I figured they must not be in danger anymore. Thinking that, I swung my tail at the Phantom Hound creeping up behind me like a beast trying to snatch prey while I wasn’t looking.

My tail, spread out like a whip, tore the Phantom Hound to shreds.

The mothers, who had been watching the scene unfold right in front of them, flinched and shielded their children’s eyes.

“H-Hiiik...”

“Y-Your rank...?”

[Despair]

“Y-You’re shitting me... Hahaha... Ah—wait... then that rumor... You’re the one the Heroes are looking for...?”

At that moment, the police officer spoke in a rush, gasping for breath.

“Right now... the Heroes... they’re on standby, preparing for a Despair-Class monster... If it’s real, then they’re coming. Here.”

[Hero]

The reason the kids were in danger was because of me.

Because a Despair-Class monster could show up anytime, anywhere, the Heroes were delaying emergency deployment and staying on standby. The cop getting hurt right in front of me—that was on me too.

“Run... The Heroes are coming.”

She was already bleeding out too fast. As she kept talking, it looked like she was getting oxygen-deprived—her skin started turning blue.

If I let her keep talking, she might really die.

[Stop. Talking. You’ll die.]

“I... don’t even know what I’m saying anymore... Dammit... Just go. Run, you damn monster...! You’ll die before I do!”

Just like she said, even I could feel the Heroes starting to close in.

Some of them were strong enough that escaping wouldn’t be easy anymore.

If I tried to fight them all, I’d probably die too.

But... right now, I can’t leave.

[Can’t go yet. Monster still here. If I go, it attacks.]

“Shit... And this thing’s supposed to be a monster?!”

Just a little longer—until the Heroes get close enough to reach me.

Come on. Get here. Get your power within range of my life.

Kill the monsters around me that haven’t realized yet they’re already surrounded by Heroes.

“Code Zero spotte—! W-Wait a sec! That’s not the one we saw before?!”

“A new species?! There’s another Despair-Class?!”

“Survivors! Eliminate all Phantom Hounds first!”

Some low-tier monsters appear like minions under higher-ranked ones.

Just in case, the Heroes unleashed their powers across the entire park.

The park I’d been staying in for a while now burned, exploded, and turned to chaos in an instant.

“Kyaaaaaah!”

“Moooom!”

“Huff... Huff...”

I blocked it all—every blast, every shield of psychic power.

Lifting my head amid the strongest blow, I saw a flash of red flame-like hair rising like fire.

That one—smelled dangerous.

The most dangerous-looking esper made a face I couldn’t quite read—somewhere between angry and smiling—and punched toward me.

A fist-shaped beam of light flew through the air and tore a chunk of flesh from my waist.

“Grrrrrr...!”

“Kitty!”

[Not a cat.]

As I growled from the sudden rush of pain I hadn’t felt in a while, one of the kids broke free from her mom’s arms and clung to my leg.

Stupid kid.

I shook my leg to toss her off, spread my wings wide, and created a massive barrier against the Heroes.

I channeled energy into my wings and started pulling the wind from around me.

Follow curr𝒆nt nov𝒆ls on fɾeeweɓnѳveɭ.com.

I’m flying out of here.

As my feet slowly lifted from the ground, one of the louder kids seemed to realize it and shouted up at me.

“Wash up properly! Mom said you get cavities if you don’t brush! And if you don’t wash your hands... you’ll catch a cold!”

A teary voice—maybe they knew this was goodbye.

Even the moms looked up at me with strange expressions.

Fearful. Sad.

I gave my wings one big flap and shot up into the sky, leaving the kids with a message.

[Listen to your mom. Two candies a day. No more.]

I created a swirling wall of wind on the ground and blasted upward with all my might.

Then, the Heroes who could fly chased after me, activating their powers mid-air.

“We have to kill that thing here! If two Despair-Class monsters start rampaging in W-City, we’re finished!”

Sorry, but °• N 𝑜 v 𝑒 l i g h t •° I’m not planning to fight.

I am kind of curious, though—who can fly faster?

I turned my back on the espers and soared upward.

From the receding ground, I heard someone yelling.

“Survivor! We’ve got a survivor! Send in the rescue squad, now!”

****

“What the hell! Two of them?!”

“Haaa... Fucking... hell...”

After the long flight and chase, having burned through all their energy, the Heroes collapsed the moment they got back to base.

Three hours of pursuit. High-altitude flight. Stunt-level dives into the cityscape.

Their movements looked like they were about to launch an all-out attack on humanity. The Heroes had desperately chased after the monsters, only to exhaust themselves and lose them.

The second Despair-Class monster, temporarily codenamed Alpha, disappeared just like Code Zero had before—as if it melted into thin air.

The one who had pursued the monster the longest, all the way to the end, was Yoo Anna. She was cracking her wrist.

“So now there are two Despair-Class monsters hiding in W-City...? What the hell is this? Did the monsters change their playbook?”

“The two types are completely different too. One looked like a beast-type specialized in melee, and this new one’s some kind of flying fantasy-beast with heavy esper powers. If both of them go wild at the same time, we’re fucked.”

“But why the hell are they running?! Why would a monster do that?! What are they even trying to do?!”

They were already exhausted dealing with Code Zero, and now a second Despair-Class had appeared.

Their mental fatigue was off the charts.

If only they knew why the monsters were running—they all gathered and braced themselves for the worst-case scenario.

“Have there ever been cases where two Despair-Classes show up in the same zone?”

“Once they hit Despair-Class and above, monsters start developing strong territorial instincts. They’d rather hunt each other than attack humans, so it’s rare.”

“What if they’re planning to fight? In W-City?”

“If two Despair-Class monsters start tearing the place up fighting each other, W-City won’t recover.”

“No... If they both ran, maybe they already know about each other. Maybe they’re waiting for the right time to strike.”

“Just like we do...”

If two monsters are fighting, Heroes typically don’t get involved. They evacuate civilians and wait until the fight ends—then strike the weakened winner.

If they interfere too soon, the monsters might team up and wipe out the humans first. That’s become the standard approach now.

And monsters... they’re living beings, just like humans. They learn and evolve.

Even if the monsters were copying human strategy—it wouldn’t be that strange.

“Both are special specimens... Honestly, it makes more sense to think they’re on the verge of becoming Extinction-Class.”

“We should report this to the other cities. The higher-grade monsters might be changing their behavior patterns.”

“Haa... Another new-type monster this time, too... Everyone, compile all the data from the fight with Code Alpha. Did we get statements from the survivors?”

“Playing them now.”

One of the Heroes manipulated their tablet, and voices began playing from the conference room’s speaker.

[You know what? Big kitties can’t control their hunger! What’s control, you ask—!]

[The kitty was like this, like this! And like this!]

[Uh... I, I mean... well... I was so flustered, and, aaah....]

[Can I... maybe get some treatment first...? Ever since it bit my neck, I can’t really remember....]

[Kitty protected us!]

[Ah—features, features... It was big. Really big... Black, and big... I mean! Its body! I didn’t peek or anything!]

[It didn’t seem like a bad monster....]

A total mess of a recording. But since they were right under a Despair-Class monster, panic was expected.

Still, some of those comments stood out.

Yoo Anna stopped cracking her wrist and frowned.

“Another one fooled, huh... Haa... What a pain in the ass...”

All the Heroes agreed with Yoo Anna.

“Smart monsters pretend to be harmless so they can do even more damage.”

“We already fell for that trick way too many times at the start. If we fall for it again, we’re idiots.”

Some highly intelligent monsters act like they’re protecting humans.

But it’s not real protection—it’s bait. A deception meant to make humans drop their guard and become easier prey.

Even the battle-weary Heroes had hesitated once or twice, just in case. But the outcome was always the same: disaster.

And yet, there were still people insisting monsters were on humanity’s side.

“Shut them up. If another wave of those ‘monsters are our friends’ idiots starts, I’m gonna lose it.”

Those kinds of people even tried to block Hero deployments, babbling about how everything should be solved through conversation instead of fighting.

As if the Heroes didn’t have enough on their plates already, chasing monsters all over the city—being interfered with by their own kind was just plain insulting.

Yoo Anna pulled up the recorded images of Code Alpha and Code Zero on a camera feed and thought to herself.

Despair-Class monsters showing abnormal behavior.

Monsters who hunted not only humans but also weaker monsters.

Creatures with high intelligence, avoiding direct confrontation with Heroes and refusing to attack humans—seemingly in a constant state of mutual caution.

If they didn’t catch this monster soon...

Things might get even more annoying.

****

What’s destroyed is rebuilt.

In a world where everything is designed with the assumption that monsters will destroy it, old things are hard to find.

The park in this apartment complex had also been rebuilt after monster-related damage, becoming a new playground.

The previous one hadn’t even had a name, but the new one was christened after a vote by the residents’ association.

The name of the playground: Black Cat Playground.

A giant slide shaped like a black cat stood there like a symbol.

“Rawr~!”

From that slide, a small child jumped down.

Seeing this, the nearby police officer, who’d already sensed something was off, dove and caught the kid.

“Huff...! M-My back...!”

“Ahahahaha!”

“Oh no! Oh no! Are you okay?!”

The child’s mother came running belatedly, then smacked the kid on the head like she’d just realized words weren’t gonna cut it.

“Ack!”

“How many times do I have to say it—no more slides! Didn’t I tell you to listen to Mom?!”

Dragging the child by the arm, the mom walked them away from the playground.

Beside the two, another mom and kid were chatting.

“Mom, I want sausage today!”

“Yeah? Should we get one of those big sausages?”

“Grrrr~ I can’t control my appetite~”

“Oh my, oh my! Ahahaha! Mommy can’t control her appetite either~”

Meanwhile, in a nearby apartment, a small child was carefully opening a jar full of candy while her exhausted mom lay asleep.

I crouched on the apartment rooftop, chewing on some meat, and muttered to myself.

“That little brat...”

She’d already eaten five pieces of candy while her mom was sleeping.

Why don’t kids ever listen?

Maybe I really should give her a good smack on the head someday.

I shifted my gaze from the apartment to the playground.

Near the bench where the cop was sitting and rubbing her back—where the trash can used to be—there was now a black cat statue.

The cop picked up a slice of ham that had been placed in front of it like an offering, unwrapped it, and started eating.

“Haaa~ Skipping patrols like this is the best~”

Ugh, that delinquent cop.

Still, maybe the wound on her neck hadn’t fully healed—she wasn’t drinking.

So I took out the glass bottle from my pocket instead, popped off the cap, and took a sip.

“Tastes awful.”

Yeah, alcohol really doesn’t taste good.