She couldn't sell the cat, and now the cat had latched onto her.
Reimu tipped the dried fish out into the pond beside the shrine. No response came back.
"Don't tell me…"
She poked at the turtle shell hiding beneath the water with her gohei.
"Mew." Yimi, still plastered with ofuda from head to tail, padded leisurely over and dipped her head to nibble at one of the fish floating on the surface.
Then an ancient, enormous turtle head suddenly erupted from the water.
"Mew mew mew!" The little cat shrieked, flipped backward in midair, and on pure instinct fled to hide behind Reimu's legs.
"Sorry, it's been a while since I came by." Roughly since she'd learned to fly on her own, in fact.
"I'm busy every day, you know." After she said it, the girl caught a distinct note of doubt in Genjii's eyes.
"Ahem. And there's also…" Reimu glanced down, unimpressed, at the small cat who, the moment she opened her mouth, was already trying to steal her job. She had handled plenty of incidents in her time, but this was the first youkai who'd ever marched up and targeted her on day one. The worst part was that the cat was unsellable.
The Palace of the Earth Spirits did keep a lot of pets, but the owner over there could read minds, which would make passing this off as a panda rather difficult.
She lightly toed Yimi out of the way. "Why haven't you left yet? Waiting around to be exterminated? Don't youkai need jobs? Go find some work and pay me back the five million for my tea."
"Mn."
Yimi rolled over, shifted back to human form, and reached for Reimu's gohei.
Reimu pulled it out of reach. "What's this—you can take human shape? What kind of outfit is that? It's like something out of a picture book."
Most of Gensokyo dressed either in classical Japanese style or in Western fashion.
Yimi's eyes locked unblinkingly on the gohei. Apart from a broomstick, this was the straightest stick she'd ever come across—straighter, even, than the ones she picked up off the ground herself.
Glancing at the ofuda that had slipped off her on their own when she shifted, the little cat refocused on her mission. "How… do I become the Hakurei Shrine Maiden?"
Reimu crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "A youkai wanting to be the Hakurei Shrine Maiden? I have never heard of such a thing. Did you crawl out of a picture book?"
Kourindou occasionally got picture books from the Outside World. The well-behaved Reimu, unlike Marisa with her sticky fingers, always read them on-site and put them back.
The kitten pointed at her. "Could you step aside and let me have a turn?"
"Not a chance. Not unless I die."
"Oh…" Yimi chewed on a fingertip. "Then when are you going to die?"
"…"
…
If she wasn't going to share, fine. No need to be so mean about it. In light of the dried fish she'd been given, the cat would let the rudeness slide.
The cat would go and be the Hakurei Shrine Maiden somewhere else.
Yimi—who had not the faintest idea what Hakurei meant to Gensokyo, or what a Shrine Maiden was supposed to represent—walked off down the path, pulled out her little stick, and started whacking things at random, methodically savaging every plant taller than herself.
The road leading away from Hakurei Shrine was called the Youkai Trail: a winding forest path between the shrine and the Human Village, frequented by vicious youkai.
In a way, this stretch of road was one of the reasons no one ever came to the shrine to pray.
The Human Village was exactly what its name suggested: the settlement where humans lived, and the place where the balance between humans and youkai was maintained.
Compared to the world of the seafarers, the human faces here looked rather normal—but their clothing style was something Yimi had never seen before, and they were going out of their way to walk around her.
Still, while it was called a place where humans lived, youkai did wander in from time to time. Aside from a few familiar faces who had blended into village life, when residents saw one or two strangers who didn't even bother to hide their youkai features and just walked openly through the village, they tended to give them a wide berth.
The more easily spooked might even alert the local self-defense team, especially after that one two-tailed cat youkai—who looked like a child—who liked to drop by and cause trouble.
Which was how Yimi, walking along peacefully, was suddenly hoisted up from behind.
"Where'd you come from, little youkai? I've never seen you around." Whoever it was switched from carrying to cradling, turning Yimi around to look her in the face.
A white-haired woman. Like Reimu, she wore a large bow on her head, though hers was white with a red base. She had on a white shirt up top, and the suspender trousers below were plastered with ofuda.
Fujiwara no Mokou: a girl who possessed the power of the phoenix and had also drunk the Hourai Elixir.
"Rwa!" The kitten wrinkled her nose and clamped it shut. "You stink!"
"Nonsense, I bathe every day." Mokou set her down and, with a flicker of doubt, tugged her own collar up and sniffed.
"You smell like smoke." Yimi took two steps back, putting some distance between them.
"Is it that obvious? Damn it, I'm supposed to be going to Keine's place later… wait, where did you come from, little youkai? What are you doing in the Human Village? Did the two-tailed cat send you?" Mokou flicked Yimi on the forehead.
Yimi planted her hands on her hips and blurted it out without a second thought: "I'm the Hakurei Shrine Maiden."
"Hm?" Mokou's eyes flicked up to the cat ears on top of Yimi's head. She nearly cracked up. "Got it. Run along and play."
She turned Yimi by the shoulders, crouched down, and helpfully pointed her in the right direction. "Go out that way. You'll see a path. Follow it straight and you'll come to a shrine. Inside there should be a layabout red-and-white loafing around. Tell her you're the real Hakurei Shrine Maiden and she should get lost."
Yimi turned back around, distinctly unimpressed at the bad advice. "I just came from there."
"Oh ho?"
Disappointed at the failure, Mokou stood up and ruffled Yimi's hair.
It was a surprisingly good handful.
"So you're the runt the Red-White Shrine Maiden sent to collect protection money on my turf?"
"Nope." Yimi's ears drooped a little, leaning into the head-pat. "Red-White said when she dies, I'll be the Hakurei Shrine Maiden."
Mokou's hand froze mid-stroke. "What the hell?"
What kind of nonsense was this?
Whatever. None of her business.
Mokou pulled her hand back. "She doesn't even have any youkai power… fine. No causing trouble around humans. If I catch you at it, I'll smack your behind and toss you out."
She jammed her hands in her pockets and started to slouch off like a delinquent.
Then she noticed the little thing had the gall to step into her path and block her.
"What now? You looking for a fight?" Mokou rolled up her sleeves.
"You haven't given me food yet." Yimi pointed crossly at the top of her own head.
Another big big cat who didn't know the rules.
"A pat on the head means you owe me food? Is that the rule in youkai-cat circles?" Mokou glanced at her own hand. The corner of her mouth lifted. "Sure. I'll take you out for a bite. But…"
She bent down, grabbed Yimi's small hand, fished a cigarette case from her pocket, and crushed a cigarette open in the kitten's palm. She smeared the tobacco around as messily as she could.
"When you meet the other big sister later, you tell her you were the one who smoked, and the smell rubbed off on me…"