As the Hakurei Shrine Maiden who guarded Gensokyo, Reimu was a very busy girl. There were donation boxes to check for the occasional miraculous offering, fairies to drive off when they came to dump rubbish into said boxes, the odd outing to see if any incidents had broken out, the rare chance of catching some youkai who happened to have spare cash they didn't want…
And on top of all that, she had to dust the shrine.
The entire burden rested on the shoulders of one underage girl, and her single greatest leisure indulgence was steeping herself a cup of not-particularly-precious tea.
Sip, sip, sip…
The cat she had released hadn't actually left. In fact, while Reimu was looking the other way, it had jumped onto the table and started lapping at the tea she'd only just brewed.
When Reimu came back over, Yimi licked her lips and put on a face that said nothing happened here, staring up innocently.
The water in the Big Big Cat's bowl was always the tastiest.
"That tea was worth five million!" Reimu snapped, drawing her gohei again.
"Mew! (^_^)" Yimi spun around and bolted.
An angry chase was the perfect seasoning for this particular drink, because it made the cat feel like she'd really gotten away with something.
Yimi leapt left and right to dodge the ofuda Reimu was hurling at her, then turned and dashed out the door.
What the little cat hadn't expected was that the Red-White Big Cat was startlingly nimble—in two or three bounds she had Yimi snatched up by the scruff.
Reimu carried her by the back of the neck, just like before, and stormed off toward the entrance of the Forest of Magic. Her destination turned out to be what looked like a little curio shop.
"Reimu, can I help you?" The male shopkeeper standing in the doorway reading a book immediately began hiding the valuable items.
"What's with that motion? I'm not Marisa."
Rinnosuke Morichika—nickname Kourin, race: half-youkai.
He ran a curio shop called Kourindou. He had a habit of taking interest in objects that drifted in from the Outside World, and possessed the curious ability to see at a glance the name and function of any item—though never how to actually use it.
Reimu plopped Yimi down on a shelf without ceremony. "You buying cats?"
"I don't deal in live animals. And while we're at it—wouldn't it kill you to actually pay for something now and then?" Kourin hurriedly began stashing the edible items on the shelf so the cat wouldn't get at them.
Reimu helped herself to a bag of snacks off the shelf, tearing it open as a stand-in for breakfast. "I haven't even started on the bill for that shoddy wood you used to patch up my donation box. What kind of wood crumbles the moment you touch it?"
Kourin looked genuinely puzzled at that. "It shouldn't have… that was made from Marisa's broo—ahem. You're the one who didn't pay, and you still expect me to do quality work?"
"Then take this in trade." Reimu poked Yimi on the head, then crossed her arms. "This cat just stole tea worth five million. In exchange for one solid-gold donation box, that's not unreasonable, right?"
"Where does anyone get tea worth five million?"
Reimu waved a hand. "Fine, I'll give you a discount. Twenty, sold."
> System: Achievement unlocked—A Crummy Cat Worth Twenty Bucks. Reward: +5% portal energy.
"Mew mew mew?"
"That's not a question of price… wait. Is this actually a cat?" Kourin pushed up his glasses and peered closely at Yimi.
Yimi was tilting her head to eye the snacks Reimu had just opened.
Kourin produced a magnifying glass and examined Yimi's face through it. "I'm sure I've read about this in a book from the Outside World—this should be a rare species called a 'panda.' By the size, this one's a cub."
> System: Achievement unlocked—Calling a Deer a Horse. Reward: +5% portal energy.
Not counting the time she'd spent sleeping, she'd been in this world less than an hour, hadn't done a thing, and was already racking up achievements left and right. This world deserved praise.
Or maybe it had something to do with staying in cat form? Last world she'd been in human form throughout, and walked away with only two achievements total.
"Rare species? Then a solid-gold donation box is more than fair, right?" The girl's interest was firmly fixed.
"I already said I don't deal in live animals. Still—if this species came in from the Outside World, my memory is that their diet is rather unusual compared with ordinary bears…"
Kourin turned, rummaged, and pulled from a corner a bamboo shoot he'd been saving as a drinking snack. He held it out to the kitten. "Here."
Yimi sniffed at it, then batted it aside with one paw.
"That's odd. Is this bear picky? Or perhaps…" Kourin fetched a metal spoon from a drawer and held it under Yimi's nose. "There are rumors this creature is also called the iron-eating beast."
"Mew!" Yimi smacked that aside too.
Kourin pushed his slightly reflective glasses back up and delivered his verdict. "This is just an ordinary cat."
"No. This is a precious panda." Reimu scooped Yimi back into her arms and stroked her fur with the air of doting.
"…"
"Since you won't buy her, then at least tell me where I can sell rare animals."
"I don't know. And even if I did, I wouldn't tell you—it'd feel like I was an accomplice to fraud." Kourin turned, dug through another box, and pulled out a tin of dried small fish he'd been saving for himself, holding it out.
"Mew." Yimi finally showed interest.
"Not afraid of people, and I can't sense any youkai power from her. This is probably just a house cat that wandered out of the Human Village. It's no small feat that she made it all the way to your shrine without getting eaten. You could ask around there—if she has an owner, they might pay you a reward for bringing her home."
"You're right. I should ask around to see who's lost a panda." Reimu pinched her chin, brow furrowed in thought.
Kourin tried again. "And if there's no owner, you could keep her yourself. Living all alone out in the middle of nowhere has to get lonely, doesn't it? A little affection wouldn't hurt—it might even soften the 'Red-White Murderer' image the youkai have of you—"
"Who's a Red-White Murderer? And why would I care about my image among youkai? It's because you youkai keep wandering over to my place that nobody comes to make offerings." Reimu slipped the dried fish into her sleeve. "And who told you I lived alone? There's still a turtle in the pond."
She'd nearly forgotten about him herself. She'd take a few dried fish back as a little treat for Genjii.
"Even so—isn't keeping the balance between humans and youkai the duty of the Hakurei Shrine Maiden?"
"Mew?" Yimi's ears twitched at the keyword.
She pawed at Reimu's hand, ignoring the System's old warning that little cats suddenly speaking would scare people, and asked in a clear child's voice, "Are you the Hakurei Shrine Maiden?"
"?"
"It talked…"
"So you really are a youkai. Pay me back for my tea!"
The kitten patted her hand again, polite. "Could you put me down… and let me be… the Hakurei Shrine Maiden for a while?"
"?"
This was the first time Reimu had ever met a youkai with this kind of nerve.