Today, even the regular human students had the day off. The kitten was completely out of options for studying. Somehow, the upper half of Keine-sensei's face had fallen into shadow as she told everyone, with unnerving gentleness, that class was dismissed early. Then she walked toward the bamboo forest with a smile.
Yimi watched a massive flock of birds burst from the treetops. Several rabbit youkai came scrambling out in a panic. Feline instinct told her not to follow.
She lay in the grass instead, holding her textbook above her face, trying to read Chapter Two on her own: The Tortoise and the Hare.
Aesop's Fables—four characters, and she could only read one of them.
"What are you doing?" Rumia set her chin on Yimi's shoulder, peering down.
"Self-study." Yimi at least knew that word.
"I see. This is probably Keine-sensei hearing there's a mistress involved and going to gut that shameless pair." Wriggle sat cross-legged on a big rock across from Yimi, analyzing the situation with perfect composure.
"Why do you have to make everything about romance?" Mystia winced.
Wriggle pointed at her. "This is literally from the comic book you recommended to me."
"Yeah, but... we can't read, can we? I just thought the pictures were pretty. How did you even follow the plot?"
"I can't read it either." That was Wriggle's answer.
Being unable to read certainly didn't stop her from making up the story in her head.
"Anyway, I'm definitely right." She stubbornly raised her hand, apparently believing that whoever raises their hand highest wins the argument. "Look at that homewrecker Mukyu—the moment I called out her secret crush on the black-white, she got all defen—pfft!"
A heavy book smashed into her face.
"I don't normally use books when swatting bugs. You really made me break my own rule." The person Wriggle had been badmouthing suddenly sat up from the wheat field.
"Mukyu!"
"Who are you calling Mukyu?!"
Patchouli walked over and picked her book up off the ground. "It's your fault for demolishing the Scarlet Devil Mansion. The goblins are rebuilding, so Remi had a perfectly good excuse to kick me outside to 'get some sun.'"
Wriggle peeled herself off the dirt, rubbing her face. "You're volunteering your whole backstory unprompted! You obviously wanted to come hang out with us but were too embarrassed to say so, and you're pretending it's a coinci—I'm sorry."
She saw Patchouli pull out a can of insecticide.
Patchouli nodded, satisfied, and turned to Yimi. "That magic of yours. Show it to me."
She'd been trying to get a look at it for ages, but Wriggle had derailed things both times.
"Mm. Here." Yimi beckoned, and the mana converted through Third Magic gathered in her palm.
Patchouli took the small hand in hers and examined it from every angle. "This form of truly infinite mana—it's purer and cleaner than even the highest-grade Philosopher's Stone could produce. It's as though the very concept of 'mana' originated from within you. How could that black-white possibly have created something like this?"
But now that she thought back, the newspaper had reported Yimi using powers similar to Reimu's, and Patchouli herself had sensed two types of spiritual energy colliding outside the mansion during the incident.
If you combined spiritual power and mana, what kind of creation would result? She genuinely didn't know. Did this mean the black-white really was involved with the red-white?
Patchouli grabbed Yimi under the armpits, lifted her up, and stared at her for a long moment.
Then, through clenched teeth: "If I kidnapped you, would that black-white come running to give my books back?"
"Meow?"
She shook it off, cooled down, and set Yimi back on the ground. "With mana this strong and you haven't even learned a single basic spell? You're wasting an extraordinary gift."
"Can I become the Hakurei Shrine Maiden if I learn?" The kitten only cared about one thing.
"How would I know? But if you want to be the enforcer, stronger is always better."
At that, Yimi looked disdainfully at the magic tome in Patchouli's hands, then patted her own textbook. "This one is way better than yours."
At least studying with Keine-sensei could make her a shrine maiden. The second line of the chapter, though—she couldn't read three out of four characters.
"Why do I have to sit here and listen to a child put me down just to prop herself up... oh right, you are a little brat." Patchouli took the textbook and flipped through it, stopping on the page Yimi had been trying to read.
"The Tortoise and the Hare? For a kid, this level is about right. Teaching a moral through a story. Though personally, I find it more interesting to just state the underlying principle."
She read everything when she was bored—even things she had zero interest in.
"Principle?" Yimi scooted closer to Patchouli, waiting for an explanation.
Patchouli couldn't help reaching over to pinch the tuft of black hair at Yimi's temple. "Take 'The Tortoise and the Hare,' for instance. In the end, the tortoise beats the rabbit—"
"Eh, what a weird story. How could a tortoise possibly beat a rabbit?" Mystia interrupted with a laugh.
"That's why the story is fictional—"
"You're lying! How could a tortoise not beat a rabbit?" Yimi pointed at Mystia with contempt.
"Huh?? Why am I getting pushback from the wrong direction?!"
Military Advisor Wriggle, completely forgetting she was supposed to be getting revenge on Patchouli, jumped into the conversation. "Obviously! Catch a real rabbit and a tortoise and compare—then we'll know! I call the tortoise winning, and I'll personally go catch the strongest rabbit I can find."
She'd once stumbled into a trap the rabbits had set in the Bamboo Forest of the Lost. The grudge still burned.
Patchouli peered down at them from beneath heavy lids. "Can you people please just listen to the story? It's fictional. Do you understand what fictional means?"
"I can get the tortoise." Yimi raised her paw, completely ignoring her.
"Great, we'll regroup back here!" Wriggle happily settled the matter, then jabbed a finger at Patchouli. "You. Stay here and be the referee. If you leave, you're the mistress."
"Why do I get branded by your one throwaway accusation?" Patchouli raised the insecticide again.
Wriggle shrieked and bolted.
"Do we really have to move this thing?"
"Shh, keep your voice down. Don't let Reimu find out."
Genjii, sleeping soundly as ever, heard the brat's commotion again.
She poked him with the gohei. Same as before.
He ignored her.
"Heave-ho!"
And then he was hauled out of the pond.
"?"
Rumia hoisted the turtle—nearly ten times her own size—above her head and followed Yimi down the hill from the shrine.
Weak as she was for a youkai, she had strength enough for this.
Genjii: "?"
He wasn't the only one at a loss for words.
Why were these children staging a live-action Tortoise and the Hare right in front of her?
Patchouli, who definitely had not left, hid behind her book with a blank expression, staring at the enormous turtle.
Why hadn't she left? Because leaving would mean admitting she was the mistress.
"Big Sis Yuuka, just set it down right here."
"Hehe, certainly."
Patchouli thought she heard a very alarming name.
She turned her head. Sure enough—Yuuka Kazami, the tyrant of the Garden of the Sun who hadn't been seen out and about in quite some time, was here in person, having helped Wriggle catch a rabbit for the race.
The rabbit set down before them was Reisen Udongein Inaba.
Reisen: Who am I? Where am I? Didn't Master send me to break up the fight?