"What are you doing? Hugging an empty flowerpot and not letting anyone touch it. If you want to grow something, there's an empty plot behind the shrine—go plant some vegetables there. Way more useful than any flower."
Dusk at the Hakurei Shrine. Reimu, having gone out for an entirely pointless stroll, lay draped across the low table, eyes tracking the tail swishing back and forth in front of her.
"Reimu, are you really okay?" Marisa sat down beside her with a worried look, wrapping an arm around Reimu and pressing their foreheads together to check her temperature.
"Do I look like I'm about to die?" Reimu shoved Marisa's face aside in disgust.
Given all the warning signs, Marisa was far from convinced. "You should still go see the doctor in the bamboo forest. I actually tried to go see her yesterday, but that wretched rabbit tricked me out of my broom! I nearly got lost in there and couldn't find my way back."
"Hah… fine, I'll do you the courtesy of being moved by that." Reimu turned her head away from Marisa.
Then she noticed something wrong with Yimi. "Wait—you went outside wearing that outfit?"
"Yep." The little cat nodded.
"Did you run into anyone?"
"Lots. Didn't know any of them."
Oh no.
Reimu flopped backward onto the floor.
She'd already gone out parading around in the outfit—what was there left to explain?
She flipped over just as quickly and crawled toward Yimi, tugging at her clothes. "Dammit, you didn't even pay the copyright fee for impersonating the Hakurei Shrine Maiden! Take it off!"
"Ngh!" The little cat hugged her new outfit protectively.
"Cut it out, Reimu! You can't blame her—I'm the one who brought the outfit over!" Marisa grabbed Reimu and held her back.
"Why are you defending her?! And you—" Reimu jabbed Yimi's forehead irritably. "Were you sent by heaven to punish me? Know what, next time there's an incident, you go resolve it. Also, you've got school tomorrow, right? Do NOT wear the shrine maiden outfit. Got it?"
"Fine, I won't wear it then." Yimi pulled the outfit off herself.
The cat didn't want it that badly anyway.
"I didn't say you should strip right here." Reimu put it back on her. "Whatever. Just wear it around the shrine."
At least it saved having to find her a change of clothes.
"You should be more patient with kids, Reimu. I read in a storybook that if you're mean to them, when they grow up they might yank out your oxygen tube!"
"What's an oxygen tank? And why are you just automatically putting me in the parent role?" Reimu grumbled, getting up to check the new pot on the stove. She might be the constant target of worry that she'd starve to death, but when there was food in the house, she did cook from time to time. It just wasn't any good.
She happened to glance at the flowerpot Yimi had brought home. It was overflowing with catnip.
It'd been empty when she brought it in, hadn't it?
This was the power of Miracle.
But it still wasn't enough, and after it grew Yimi still had to pick the seeds off the top by hand.
She folded her arms and recalled the vast field of sunflowers she'd seen that day. If all of that were catnip instead…
Yimi bowed her head, feeling the infinite mana of the Third Magic she'd gained in the previous world. What if she could combine that with the Miracle that grew catnip—would the catnip just grow and reseed itself?
"Didn't you tell me she's a one-year-old baby youkai? …Is this grass the secret behind the Hakurei Shrine Maiden's strength?" Marisa leaned in curiously beside Yimi, grinning as she ruffled the cat's hair.
"Reimu acts all tough, but she's a softie deep down. Don't take it to heart."
Yimi quickly scooped up the irresistibly fragrant catnip and hugged it to the far side, afraid Marisa would ruin the fruits of her labor.
"Well, sorry to disappoint, but the Hakurei Shrine Maiden's strength has absolutely nothing to do with that grass." Reimu stood with hands on hips and carried the pot over. "Or were you two waiting for me to fetch your bowls and chopsticks?"
"Ehh… I was under the impression that a shrine maiden, like a magician, would also need some sort of mystical tool." Marisa pulled off her hat and fished out her Mini-Hakkero, setting it on the table.
The little cat poked at the small box with her paw, curious.
"Like it? This is my most powerful magical tool. I load it with special mushrooms to amplify mana combustion, and it fires a devastating cannon blast." Marisa showed it off proudly.
"Mushrooms!" The little cat perked up, and the black-white woman instantly grew several sizes in her imagination.
This person understood the power of mushrooms too!
But the moment Marisa set down the Mini-Hakkero, Reimu plunked the pot right on top of it.
"What kind of meal is this?" Yimi asked, curious.
"Hotpot. Cook-as-you-eat," Reimu replied flatly. She looked down and noticed Yimi couldn't hold chopsticks properly.
She vaguely remembered gripping chopsticks the same way as a child, and someone patiently guiding her hands to show her how. It seemed like barely ten-odd years ago, and already it belonged to the category of "childhood memories."
Reimu took Yimi's hands and corrected her grip. "Hold them like this. Now pick something up. No, like this… What are you grinning at me for?"
That last part was directed at Marisa.
"Nothing."
Reimu turned back to Yimi and considered for a moment. "After dinner you're taking a bath. Otherwise the smell's going to cling to you all over."
This kid had been living here for roughly three days now… and hadn't bathed once, had she? Yesterday she'd been in such a rush to sleep that she'd only washed herself and completely forgotten about Yimi.
She didn't want to deal with extra chores, but a smelly cat would bother her most of all.
"A bath?" Yimi's hands loosened on her chopsticks. Suddenly she didn't want to eat anymore.
Reimu propped her chin on one hand, utterly unmoved. "Suit yourself. If you go to the temple school tomorrow and people say you smell, don't blame me."
"Ngh…" Yimi made a tentative attempt at picking up food with her chopsticks. A preliminary compromise.
Hotpot was, without a doubt, an unfriendly food for a kitten. Her tongue couldn't handle the temperature. And then there was the other thing.
The weather wasn't particularly hot, and Reimu's bathing method involved filling a large wooden tub, and because she couldn't be bothered to keep heating water she'd simply placed an iron plate under the tub and set it on top of the Mini-Hakkero she'd borrowed from Marisa.
This old-fashioned bathing method was obviously very unfriendly to small children.
Yimi looked at the bathwater Reimu was heating. Then she looked back at the hotpot they'd just eaten from.
Yimi crouched low and tried to sneak out.
"Where do you think you're going? The water's not even that deep. Hurry up—I still need to wash after you." Reimu caught her and hauled her back.
She was going to boil the kitten! Had to redirect the misfortune!
Next day. Early morning.
Today was the day Yimi would begin studying to become the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.
Yimi woke at the crack of dawn, while Reimu—whose sleep schedule had been thoroughly wrecked—was still snoring away.
Clad in nothing but her panties, Yimi checked on her homegrown catnip, then went to find clothes.
Cats are creatures that hold grudges. She'd said she wouldn't wear the Reimu outfit, and she meant it.
She changed into the Marisa outfit instead and set off toward the Human Village.