Still not the greatest, but it has me laughing, and shaking my head at the improbable poses the cats take when leaping around in fights or dancing. So in this volume, the three strangers to our cat gang’s territory continue to beat up individuals, especially the Bengal who is a fierce fighter. We learn (alongside a surprised Ryuusei) that the gang actually has four females- he just never met the other three because they’re in another area, raising kittens. Telling the young ones scary stories about the sphinx to threaten them into good behavior. Taiga fights the Bengal in a field, where there’s a little side bit about an old man who sits nearby and observes the feral cats- has been doing so for decades. Ryuusei and many of the others succumb to the big fluffy dude’s catnip fumes (they call him Smokey). The young exotic housecat Mocchi is the only one unaffected. So even though timid and unnerved, he takes on Smokey, using his smarts instead of muscle to win. Raiga has another confrontation- with his brother, who shows up and immediately they pitch into an argument. Now there’s more backstory about why the younger brother was once outed from the gang. Has he returned to cause more trouble . . . or to help?
Borrowed from the public library.