"Auntie?" Yukari Yakumo's eyebrow twitched. The smile on her face lost its soul.
She pinched Yimi's mouth shut. "Now, now, little one—from any angle at all, I'm clearly an underage big sister, yes? Come on, say 'big sis' for me~"
「Congratulations, Host—achievement unlocked: [Why Does This Old Crone Pretend to Be a Maiden?]. Reward: Dimensional Gate energy +5%.」
"Hm?"
The cat wriggled free of the pinch—not particularly angry. She'd barely been in this world and was already racking up achievements.
She squinted at the string of unfamiliar characters in the achievement title, then, following what the System had just announced, sounded it out word by word:
"Why... Does... This... Old... Crone... Pretend... to Be... a Maiden?"
"Kkh—" Ran, who had been maintaining her composure, made a strange noise. "Lady Yukari, children say the darndest things..."
"System, what does 'old crone' mean?" The cat was very eager to learn.
"An old Huizhou term for one's wife. In modern usage, it most commonly refers to an elderly woman." The System read out the definition it had pulled up.
"How old?"
The System loaded for a moment, then its AI helpfully listed the most relevant match among the people Yimi had encountered: "For example, someone like Rayleigh the Dark King, whom the Host stayed with for a time."
"Rayleigh?" Yimi's ears twitched. A vague memory surfaced: right before leaving the seafaring world, she'd accidentally learned another one of Rayleigh's titles. The Dark King... Pluton...
She pointed at Yukari. "Are you an Ancient Weapon too?"
Before she could say another word, Chen grabbed her from behind and clamped a hand over her mouth, shaking her head frantically.
"Heh heh."
Yukari settled herself atop a gap, seized the cat, flipped her sideways across her lap, snapped her folding fan shut, and brought it down on Yimi's rear.
Not gently. The spanking that Origami's punishments had never managed to trigger now activated Love Train directly, and a layer of white radiance spread outward.
"What's this?" Yukari studied the mildly uncomfortable energy with a serious expression.
Following the trail of white light, she saw its terminus: a certain parasol-carrying Flower Tyrant out for a stroll suddenly hopped on one foot, raised an eyebrow, and reached back to rub her own rear.
Yuuka Kazami let out a cold laugh.
Sneaking up on her like that. Only one person in Gensokyo opened portals all over the place to peep on people for fun.
"Heh heh. So it was you, Yukari? Come to think of it, it's been a while since our last fight..."
The last thing Yukari saw was Yuuka heading straight for the Yakumo Residence.
"The power to redirect damage, is it?"
Putting aside the matter of the Flower Tyrant heading over for a "date," Yukari righted Yimi and found the cat baring her teeth at her, having realized she'd been hit.
"Could that be divine power?" Ran had noticed it too.
Fairly high-level, but because it had been only a flash—and seemingly hadn't fully manifested—the exact nature was unclear. Going by the residual presence alone, it felt vaguely Western in origin.
Strange. It was clearly her own power, yet they couldn't sense any corresponding aura from her body at all.
"I'll bite you!" Yimi sank her teeth into Yukari's hand. The spanking had hurt, but technically it wasn't an attack.
"What are you doing?! Let go!" Chen frantically grabbed Yimi by the ankle, trying to pull her away.
"I was out of line. My apologies. Let's have a little chat, shall we?" Yukari had already regained her composure, looking down at the cat dangling from her hand.
"Little miss, you've caused quite the commotion. Right now the whole of Gensokyo is buzzing about how Reimu Hakurei doesn't have long to live."
"Doesn't have long to live?" Yimi released her bite.
"It means she's about to die." Chen whispered the explanation. "Hurry up and apologize to Lady Yukari!"
"Is she going to die?" The cat's eyes lit up.
"That's just a rumor... I can't imagine why you'd be so happy about it." Yukari folded her arms and studied her.
"She said once she dies, I'll be the Hakurei Shrine Maiden." Yimi answered.
"My..." Yukari opened her fan and covered her lips in puzzlement. "That simply won't do. The selection of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden requires my approval, you know."
This was the first time she'd encountered a non-human being who actively wanted to serve as the Hakurei Shrine Maiden.
"Oh, then Auntie, just approve it." The cat raised a paw and gently rubbed the spot on Yukari's hand where she'd just bitten, her voice turning noticeably sweeter.
"Heh heh..." Yukari's fist clenched, though her brow smoothed considerably.
Powerful divine energy—but the girl herself seemed to be nothing more than a child. In Yukari's experience, most other gods hadn't even given her a civil look.
"The Hakurei Shrine Maiden is typically a human. Your power sources are completely different."
"Then." Yimi let her mana seep out and ran it through Miracle, converting it several times over.
This world's tolerance for different types of energy was evidently very broad—when trying to adaptively convert to local power, there wasn't just one option.
Mana, youkai power, divine power...
Something about that was extraordinary.
Yukari narrowed her eyes. "Little miss, do you know what the Hakurei Shrine Maiden actually is?"
She didn't ask directly why the girl wanted to become one.
Yimi: "The Crimson Slasher."
Alright, go play somewhere else.
"Then where did you come from?"
"Another world."
"Which world?"
"The one where the buildings are really tall." Yukari didn't seem particularly surprised. Gensokyo had dealings with Lunarians, after all.
Sounded like the Outside World.
Yukari reached out and tweaked Yimi's ear, holding the cat's guileless gaze.
Certainly innocent enough—but innocence didn't mean harmless. Being an unidentified divinity was dangerous all on its own, and that meant surveillance was necessary.
"Listen, little one, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden is a guardian. Her job is to protect the peace of Gensokyo. It's not something you can just decide to become, understand?" Yukari stifled a yawn. "Besides, I'm not quite ready to let little Reimu retire just yet."
The cat crossed her arms impatiently. "Then what do I have to do?"
"Well... what do you think, Ran?"
"Yes—according to the handbook left by the First Generation, the Hakurei Shrine Maiden requires not only formidable strength, but also a constant sense of vigilance for Gensokyo's safety, a positive attitude, upright moral character, impartial neutrality, willingness to help both humans and youkai—"
"That's enough, Ran." Yukari cut her off.
Any more and the cat would start asking how Reimu qualified.
The reasons she couldn't let Yimi become the shrine maiden went well beyond her not being human. There was also the matter of her background being completely unknown, and her past might well be shady.
Yukari had absolutely no idea what this creature's story was, and asking directly might not yield intelligible answers.
"I can't say yes to that, but..." Yukari drew open a gap in the air, a rift tied at both ends with ribbon bows, lined with many watchful eyes.
She pulled only Yimi through. On the other side was a very irritated Reimu.
"Oh. I was just about to come find you." Reimu rolled up her sleeves and glared at Yimi.
"Here's the thing, Reimu—this child says she wants to be the Hakurei Shrine Maiden." Yukari ruffled Yimi's head.
"Don't tell me you said yes?"
"As if." Yukari turned to look at Yimi, who was curiously tugging at the ribbon bows on the edge of the gap.
"But this child doesn't have anywhere to go, does she? And she admires you so much. Why not keep her here for now? If it's you watching her, I'd feel a lot better."
Reimu Hakurei—as the guardian, she was quite literally the strongest in Gensokyo. If anything went sideways, she could handle it.
"Do I look like someone who can afford to feed another mouth?" Reimu instinctively reached for her gohei, only to remember it had gone missing somehow.
"Then it's settled! I'm going back to bed~" Yukari slipped back into the gap.
Yawning, she addressed her shikigami: "Ran, do keep an eye on that child. She arrived in Gensokyo and hasn't even caused a single incident—that's quite unsettling, honestly... Oh, and if Yuuka comes looking for me, tell her I've gone out. I'll be back in the evening."
"Then where will you be, Lady Yukari?"
"Since Yuuka's at our place, I'll go nap at Yuuka's house until evening."
Yukari's remark about being "at ease if it's Reimu" had all but spelled it out: she was asking Reimu to keep the unidentified creature under watch.
But Reimu—still on edge from sleep deprivation—hadn't caught the subtext.
She glared at Yimi. "What's that supposed to mean? She actually wants me to retire so she can train you as my replacement?"