The Yakumo Residence—home of the Youkai Sage, Yukari Yakumo. Rumor had it she lived in a place called Mayohiga, but that was actually the abandoned village where Chen lived. Chen even kept a whole litter of stray cats there.
Despite being one of the oldest youkai in all of Gensokyo, Yukari Yakumo insisted on sleeping a solid twelve hours during the day, and hibernating through the winter on top of that.
While she slept, her shikigami Ran Yakumo served as her eyes and ears. Calling Ran a mere shikigami hardly did her justice; she was a powerful nine-tailed fox youkai in her own right.
At this moment, Ran was striding toward the Hakurei Shrine with a newspaper tucked under her arm and a deadly serious expression on her face.
The Bunbunmaru Newspaper was usually good for a laugh and nothing else, but it mattered a great deal who the rumors were aimed at. The Hakurei Shrine Maiden was the guardian of Gensokyo—you couldn't just go printing that she was being replaced and not expect a massive uproar.
"Lady Ran! Lady Ran!"
Her mischievous little shikigami came bounding up from behind.
"Chen, wait a moment—I don't have time to play right now." Ran turned around, intending to give her shikigami a quick pat on the head and send her on her way. What she saw instead was a different-colored cat head altogether.
Chen was holding Yimi under the armpits, struggling to lift a cat who didn't look much smaller than she was, presenting her prize to her master.
"I have a shikigami now!"
"I'm a shikigami." Yimi raised a paw in greeting.
Her eyes went wide at the sight of Ran Yakumo's backside—nine tails swishing behind her, impossible to bundle neatly.
She has that many tails and still manages to wear a skirt?!
"..."
Ran looked down at the newspaper illustration, then back up at Yimi.
"Chen, where did you pick this one up?" The culprit, caught red-handed.
"Right there on the Youkai Trail! But I couldn't turn her into my shikigami—Lady Ran, can you teach me again?"
"A shikigami..." Ran took Yimi from Chen's arms and scratched under her chin the same way she always fussed over Chen.
Yimi couldn't help tipping her head back and squinting in pleasure.
Not human. No youkai aura either. Definitely not a fairy. Could she be a cat god—some newly born divinity?—but there's none of the corresponding presence for that.
The only thing unusual about her is a faint trace of mana. Really faint—Chen's level of perception certainly wouldn't pick it up.
Without preamble, Ran flipped the newspaper around and held it up for Yimi to see. "What's the story with this?"
Yimi studied the paper, looking left, looking right, then explained: "This is a newspaper. It's for finding out what's going on out there."
The kitty had learned about newspapers back in the seafaring world.
"I'm asking about what's written on it." Ran's tone sharpened just a fraction. "It says Reimu is dying and has decided to make you the next shrine maiden. How did this rumor get started?"
"She said once she dies, I'll be the Hakurei Shrine Maiden." The cat answered honestly.
"Huh?" Chen's little mouth fell open.
Ran's breath caught.
This wasn't something she could pretend she hadn't heard. As a proper shikigami, she needed to have the whole situation investigated before Lady Yukari woke up.
She tucked one cat under each arm and headed for the shrine.
Even from a distance, looking up the long stone staircase, she could see several youkai milling around the top, some looking worried, others clearly up to no good, all carrying get-well gifts and preparing to pay their respects.
"Did you read the paper? The Crimson Slasher ate some spoiled food, and now she's at death's door. Going to hand her position over to a youkai..." one youkai whispered to another, tugging at their sleeve.
"You actually believe the tengu papers?"
"It's real! Look at how many people have gone to check on her—they saw with their own eyes that she can't even get out of bed! And somebody spotted a little cat youkai running around waving something that smells like her gohei..."
"Huh. Human lives really are short."
That youkai scurried off and leaned in close to the next one's ear: "Hey, did you hear? The Crimson Slasher ate a poisonous youkai and she's about to die. She's decided to pass her title to a youkai."
"What? Is karma finally catching up to her?"
"..."
"Did you hear? The Crimson Slasher wiped out an entire youkai clan and ate them. Apparently the red on her outfit is all youkai blood—but retribution has finally come. She's dying of food poisoning, and on her deathbed she decided to pass the title to a youkai."
"..." Reimu nodded along, then grabbed the speaker by the collar. "Open those dog eyes of yours and take a good look at who I am!"
The hapless no-name tengu—who'd only wanted some gossip—stared in horror at Reimu's outfit. "My life is forfeit!"
A starving camel is still bigger than a horse!
"Get lost!"
So that's what had been going on. Ever since Marisa left, people had been showing up with get-well gifts at odd intervals, and after one look at the dark circles under her eyes they'd clap a hand over their mouth, turn around, and leave.
At first she'd been quite pleased: luxury ingredients she'd normally only see at post-incident banquets were piling up. She'd barely slept all night and didn't have the mental energy to question it.
But as the visitors kept coming, she couldn't fall asleep no matter how carefully they tiptoed around, and she finally realized something was very wrong.
"That damn crow!" Reimu tore the confiscated newspaper to shreds.
"What's this, little Reimu looks perfectly alive to me. Gave me quite a scare." A languid voice drifted over, belonging, of course, to the one who cared most about Gensokyo's well-being: the Youkai Sage, Yukari Yakumo.
The youkai of boundaries—or the gap youkai, as some called her—possessed the ability to manipulate boundaries themselves, and could open rifts in the air that functioned much like a door to anywhere.
Of course, it would have been more dignified if, while speaking, she'd brought the lower half of her body out of the gap too—instead of leaving it curled up under a blanket on the other side.
"Easy for you to laugh! I've been socially sentenced to death out here! They're all youkai—can't any of them tell whether a person is still alive or not?!" Reimu flung the shredded newspaper scraps right at Yukari's face.
"With those dark circles and that bedhead, even I'd have assumed you were on your way out." Yukari didn't take offense. She reached up and caught one of the scraps, which happened to be the illustration from the article.
"Don't be upset—you did rake in quite the haul, didn't you?" As she spoke, she withdrew back into her gap, scanning Gensokyo for the subject of the article.
Oh—Ran had already caught her. Reliable as always.
She opened another gap, and this time Yukari emerged properly dressed, panties and skirt and all, looking perfectly composed as she materialized before the three of them.
"Lady Yukari, why are you awake?"
"Lady Yukari!" Chen called out with deep respect, then tugged at Yimi's sleeve. "Quick, say 'Lady Yukari'!"
"Why do I have to say 'Lady'?" The cat still didn't quite grasp what that meant.
"Because—because Lady Yukari is very distinguished!" That was the best explanation Chen could come up with.
"It's quite alright." Yukari waved a hand with easy magnanimity, the picture of a great personage being gracious to the little people. "My, whose child are you? I don't believe I've ever seen you before."
Gensokyo's youkai came in every shape and size, but Yukari Yakumo genuinely had the standing to say that. Not that it was anything to be proud of—mostly it was because she had a habit of peeking in on people uninvited.
Yimi raised a paw. "I'm Mama's child, Auntie."