The cat's design looks too intentional, coming from Hata. There's a possibility it has bigger role in the serious sub-plot? But then again, Hata is mostly unpredictable.
Wait so on page 9 it says that he's a yakuza yet from the past 2 chapters it's been made clear that he isn't but looks and phrases things as if he is one. Is it a translation issue or is he actually part of the yakuza? which means i misinterpreted the joke of this rip
Hata can draw cute cats and in Hayate he drew many cute cats so this design is absolutely intentional. And I expected for Shiranui (cat from Hayate though I might have got the name wrong) to appear as an old time hayate reader, so the reveal of how it looked only at the middle of the chapter was probably another intentional thing from troll Hata.