Mina woke with a start, a large crashing sound having echoed through the house. For a moment, her body was as tense as steel, then she relaxed, as she heard the aftermath and the regular sound of her dad admonishing her little sister Mana for whatever it was she had done this time.
That admonishing happened once a week, and frankly, it was just something she had long since learned to live with as a regular fixture of her home.
Normally, that sound would have brought a smile to her face, but at the moment, the cheerful pink girl could only think about how much she wanted to sleep in some more, only for her to realize it wasn't gonna happen with all the noise.
So, after laying in bed for about half a minute, desperately hoping the two of them would stop making such noise, only to be disappointed, she finally admitted defeat and got out of her bed, groaning all the way.
Mina, cheerful and bubbly though she was, was not a morning person, and being woken up early when she was supposed to be allowed to sleep in for once, did not make the morning better.
There was only one thing to do about it, however, and as she opened the door to her room and began stalking down the corridor, the only thing at her mind was to sate herself on the only thing that made her feel alive in the morning.
The sweet, sweet taste of caffeine.
As she came down the stairs to the second floor, she saw what it was that Mana had done this time, having toppled a bookcase her dad used for storing research, unto its side so papers and books were strewn across the floor.
On the other side of the room, Mana stood with the usual pose, being told the regular speech by their dad, who desperately tried to imprint into her to stop being as reckless as she was.
As much as he tried, time and again, the unfortunate fact was that her dad simply didn't have the presence to make Mana take him seriously during his lectures.
It might have been his height, his complete inability to be intimidating, or just not being a confrontational guy in general, but he had never been able to instill any of his kids with discipline, despite no lack of effort.
Any discipline the 4 of them had ever gotten, had come from their mom, but she wasn't there right now.
As she walked up by them, her dad stopped his lecture and turned towards her, and Mana did the same.
"Morning Sis!" The little squirt said cheerfully, practically beaming at her.
Unlike Mina, who looked like a blend of her parents, with her dad's hair and face lines, along with her mother's physical build, and having inherited both her parents' quirks into one, Mana took looked much less like either, her hair not being nearly as poofy as her dad's, but not the smooth locks of their mom's either.
It was big, poofy, and white, but nowhere near the Fluffy mess that was Mina's hair.
Her facial structure was also more like their mom, but with a softness that hadn't been found on Black Cat's face since her early teenage years, if ever. Said face was also sporting a mischievous and chipper look, which didn't remind Mina much of mom's cool and collected look.
"Morning…" The older teenager replied in an annoyed, groggy tone.
Her dad looked at her with worried eyes, his black and yellow eyes that looked so much like hers, looking like he was afraid she was about to fall over or something.
"Morning Mina."
She nodded, then stepped past them on her quest for the sweet, brown nectar that would get her blood going.
Finally, she came to the kitchen, where Tomo, her brother's girlfriend sat with a nervous expression, reading something on her phone, as she held a coffee cup in the other hand.
She raised her head up as Mina entered, then perked up at the sight of the pink girl.
"Good morning Mina, you sleep well?"
"I was…"
Then her eyes lit up, as she saw that there was still some coffee left on the mug! YES!
She hastened over, pulled out a large cup, and poured herself some sweet, sweet nectar of Gods.
And lucky her, it was cooled off just a bit, allowing her to just start chugging it all down in one go.
Almost instantly, she began to feel her senses perk up and her mood brightened, as she chugged down the cup of sweet, sweet brown.
Tomo just stared at her as she downed the coffee in one go, then poured herself another cup, with a look that was a mix between fascination and worry.
"... You're way too young to be addicted to coffee."
She chuckled.
"You're never too young to live life to the fullest!"
After finishing her second cup, she decided that was enough for now. She felt, strong, bright, and ready to take on a new day!
"So, where's Ben? Don't tell me he's locked himself in already?"
"Yeah, pretty much. Some of his stocks fell in price during the night, and he's dealing with that since he got up."
Mina's eyes glanced over at a clock their family had on the wall. It was 11.52, so that meant Ben had been at it for almost 4 hours or so if he got up at his usual time.
She shook her head. Ben had been working every day, nonstop for the last 4 months, ever since Tomo had moved in with them. The noticeable bump on Tomo's stomach probably being the main reason for his almost slave-like adherence to work.
"So, how much he lose this time?"
"About 3 million yen or so."
Tomo tried to say it nonchalantly like it wasn't a big deal, but Mina still winced.
"It'll be fine." Tomo quickly added, in a tone that was as forced a "fine" as they came.
"He's lost just as much before."
Yeah, but the last time he didn't have a girlfriend who was only 3 months before birth.
Not that mom would ever let them starve, but still…
"Anyway, don't worry too much about us Mina. How are you doing?"
Again?
How many times were they going to ask that question before everyone stopped asking?
She had come home after the whole invasion mess, and with the school being closed for the rest of the week while they changed their security, she'd generally stayed at home, where she had been bombarded with questions from both her dad, Tomo, and even occasionally Ben(Who usually only traded teasing insults and quips with her) about how she was feeling.
Like, she got it, the whole invasion stuff had been really taxing, dangerous, stressful and all that stuff, but the way the three adults in her home acted, it was like they expected her to have a complete mental collapse or something.
The only one who didn't was her mom, who seemed to be the only one who had really got it.
She was fine. Honest. Right now, she just really wanted the school to start up again so she could get back into things, and get things back to normal again.
Not to mention this kinda thing was what she was training for anyway right? Like, being a hero was a nice thing to be, but part of the reason they were so adored was because they actually did go through situations like these.
You didn't make it as a hero if you weren't able to handle a bit of danger.
Mom had gotten that.
She'd had some harsh words about Yuei for letting this situation happen at all, but her mom had been proud of her and how she'd handled herself, and hadn't minced words telling her so.
Admittingly, Mina couldn't help but feel her mom hadn't quite bought that she hadn't played a massive role in taking down Rhino. The way she talked about it and the way it had been written in the news kinda sold her on that.
"Black cats daughter and fellow student defeat the infamous Villain Rhino" Wasn't exactly wrong, but it kinda shifted the majority of praise over from Midori and to her.
Not that those news had been long in the spotlight, as the whole mess that happened afterward had blown away any enthusiasm the news had had about Rhino's capture.
Frankly, it had soured her mood about it as well.
"I'm fine Tomo. Really." She said as she went over to the fridge, fishing out what she intended to eat for breakfast.
Said breakfast was 4 eggs, 3 large slices of bacon, a pack of Sushi as well as 5 spring rolls.
Bringing some butter as well, she began to cook her eggs, while she threw the spring rolls in the microwave.
It took about 6 minutes before she was done, and plopped down all her food on the table.
The sheer amount did not make Tomo surprised, worried, or fascinated. She'd gotten used to the amount of food Mina and her mom ate long before she'd moved in with them.
"Any plans for today Mina?" She suddenly asked as Mina had begun tearing into the Sushi.
The pink hero in training looked up, still chewing the fish in her mouth, got an expression of thought, before swallowing.
"I was planning to head out and hang with some friends yeah, why do you ask?"
"Eh, I was planning on getting some fresh air at Oden's later, and I wondered if you wanted to tag along."
The thought of going to the sweetest soup kitchen she knew was very, very tempting, but no, she couldn't.
"Sorry, but I've kinda agreed to meet up with someone already."
...
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