"Your intrepid reporter risked life and limb to capture this footage. Under the instigation of the evil forces of the Scarlet Devil Mansion, the Hakurei Kitten orchestrated this very incident. Sources indicate that the Hakurei Kitten has inherited Hakurei Reimu's abilities..."
"That stinky crow!" Remilia shredded the newspaper in her hands.
Not only had her mansion been blown apart—now she'd been branded the shady mastermind behind it all?! Everything associated with the Church really WAS detestable!
Aside from the Scarlet Devil Mansion taking the worst of it, the incident's enormous coverage area had barely inconvenienced even the most vulnerable Human Village. After all, without the outside world's industrial infrastructure, a single day of travel trouble wasn't exactly a disaster.
"That stinky crow!" Reimu's expression was equally dark. She couldn't wash herself clean now if she jumped in the Yellow River.
But that technique Yimi had used in the final moment—fragile as it was, shattered the instant Reimu's power touched it—had unmistakably carried the same essence as her own Fantasy Nature.
Reimu turned to look at Yimi sitting in the corner, apparently still tinkering with spiritual energy.
"Wow, impressive! This energy signature is practically identical to Miss Reimu's." Crouching beside her, a green-haired young woman with a frog hairpin clapped her hands in delight.
This was Reimu's rival: Sanae Kochiya, shrine maiden of the Moriya Shrine. An ordinary human, technically—but one who bore the status of a living god and possessed the ability to cause miracles.
She'd noticed something off about the cat grass the moment it reached her shrine, and had been wanting to meet the culprit ever since.
"Why do you come in here and immediately start fawning over MY mascot? Doesn't your shrine have its own frog mascot?" Reimu propped her chin on her hand, displaying her standard displeasure.
"That's not a mascot! Uh... well, maybe it could be?"
No point objecting to a rival's visit. Sanae wasn't the only one who'd shown up.
Every time an incident resolved, a crowd of youkai and assorted others would pile into the shrine under the pretext of seeing who'd caused all the fuss, really just angling for a free feast. Reimu never turned them away—she could always count on a decent meal out of it.
"So that's Reimu's daughter? I didn't believe it before, but this spiritual energy really does feel like—" Suika Ibuki squinted at Yimi's back in amazement.
"I've told you people—that's a rumor. How many more times do I have to say it?" Reimu was losing patience.
"What rumor? That spiritual energy's a dead match for yours."
Suika was utterly unconvinced. She hoisted a sake jar nearly as big as her own torso, stood on tiptoe, and poured a bowlful. "I'm gonna go teach her to drink."
"You're already hammered, aren't you?" Reimu grabbed her by the hair and dragged her aside.
Credit where it was due—Reimu's intuition cheat had served her well. She'd worked out Love Train's weakness, though "weakness" wasn't quite the word. The thing operated on both passive and active layers simultaneously.
First, the kitten had to have genuinely done something wrong. Then, before she could react, you had to flip her across your lap and deliver three quick smacks to her behind—using just enough force to sting without injuring, the way any ordinary woman would discipline a child.
It had to be fast. She couldn't be given time to process what was happening. And it couldn't be forceful enough to register as an "attack"—that would keep it right at the edge of Love Train's passive trigger threshold while still getting the point across.
The catch was that Reimu's own backside would ache in sympathy, courtesy of the Unequal Exchange. But Reimu was an adult. Reimu could pretend it didn't hurt.
And because she pretended it didn't hurt at all, Yimi had clearly developed a measure of awed respect for grown-ups.
As for the kitten's disposition—mischief came naturally with the territory. But once she recognized her own mistake, she'd actually volunteered to go apologize in the Human Village. Reimu had stopped her.
Gensokyo's essence was a kind of equilibrium. Keeping the Human Village's residents wary of non-human threats was a good thing.
But then Reimu's train of thought snagged. The kitten lived at her shrine. If people feared Yimi, wouldn't that mean even fewer visitors tossing coins in the donation box?
And if she did bring the kid to apologize, wouldn't that basically confirm the whole "Hakurei Shrine Maiden successor" narrative?
Just thinking about it was a headache.
Whatever. The kid was going to temple school anyway. She'd leave it to time.
"Heave-ho." Marisa—who'd been oblivious to the entire incident—sat on the shrine's edge and lifted the identically dressed Yimi onto her lap.
She removed Yimi's hat and checked her scalp for injuries. "What are you spacing out about? Reimu didn't hit you too hard, did she? That girl never knows when to hold back. I heard you cried."
"Did NOT cry!" Yimi's head bumped up against Marisa's chin in protest.
"Someone gave me this. Didn't know them." The kitten produced the basket of truffles—piled so high she could barely carry it.
"Whoa, these are expensive." Marisa picked through them with growing unease. "Great quality, too. That person didn't do anything to you, did they?"
What kind of stranger hands a kid something like this?
"No, but he told me not to tell you it was from him." Between a mysterious stranger and the girl who'd given her clothes, Kitty naturally trusted Marisa more.
"That's SO much worse!" Marisa slapped her own cheek.
What kind of situation involved a stranger telling a child, "Don't tell the adults"?!
Yimi raised her hand. "He lives at the Rain-Rain Shop."
"Rain-Rain Shop? You mean the Kirisame Shop?" Marisa's expression shifted. She set the truffles aside with a complicated look. "What's he trying to pull? Telling you not to tell me it was him."
"You know him?" Yimi tilted her head up curiously.
Humans seemed to have a habit of sending gifts to people they knew through people they knew.
Marisa turned away, scratching her cheek. "Yeah. Not really close though... okay fine, he's actually my father. But I'm only telling YOU—don't go telling everyone else."
"Mm-hm, I won't tell anyone." Wriggle had materialized from somewhere, lying flat on her stomach nearby.
"Me neither." Rumia.
"When did you two—cover your ears!" Marisa whipped around. The coast looked clear otherwise.
"Black-White's father, but not close?" The kitten counted on her fingers, unable to reconcile those two facts.
"Don't call me Black-White... It's perfectly normal, okay? Some people never meet their parents from the day they're born. Others have a falling-out over something and leave home, then go years without contact."
Marisa forced a display of maturity that rivaled any adult's, one leg bouncing restlessly—which made Yimi, seated on her thigh, bounce along with it.
"That's just how the world works. Some people share the same blood but are born under clashing stars. Others aren't related at all but love each other to bits. I figured that guy would've treated everything connected to me as a thorn in his eye by now."
She poked at the truffles, then shoved the entire basket back into Yimi's arms as if remembering something urgent. "Right—it's a party! Quick, hide these before anyone spots them. I'll cook something good for you when we get back."
"How selfish of you." Wriggle turned her head, threatening to announce it to the crowd.
"So selfish." Rumia echoed.
Marisa pressed a finger to her lips. "Fine, I get it—I'll share with you two. Happy? Shh!"
"Blood relation?" Yimi shifted the basket in her arms. The concept interested her more than the food.
"It means you're actually related. Like, your mom gave birth to you, so you two share a blood relation. And you'd also be blood-related to your mom's siblings."
Marisa elaborated: "But if a kid's adopted and raised with love, that's family too. You can't really rank one above the other. In my eyes they're the same—since when does love come with a hierarchy?"
「Achievement unlocked: The Power of Love Is Infinite! Reward: Portal energy +5%」
Yimi's ears perked back up.
Kitty gets it now. So Mama is Mama, and Mama and Grandma both love her!
She remembered now—back when a bad person had carried her away, Mama had even fought her way in and snatched her back by force.
Yimi patted Marisa. "Thank you, Black-White."
"I don't know what you're thanking me for, but I DO have a name..."
"Thank you, Black-White." A cold, sharp voice mimicked Yimi's words and cut in.
Stage 2 Boss of the Cat Grass Incident—Patchouli!
"We don't have truffles." Quick-thinking Rumia immediately cleared them of any food-hoarding suspicion.
"I'm not interested in those." Patchouli looked down at Yimi, then at Marisa holding her, and felt an inexplicable irritation. "Why have you switched to spiritual power again? Show me your magic."
"Her eyes look kinda scary." Rumia stage-whispered to Wriggle at a volume everyone could hear.
"I know what this is—it's the homewrecker trying to establish dominance," Wriggle replied at the same volume. "She's had a crush on Black-White forever and now someone beat her to the punch, so she's getting desperate—"
BOOM—
A magic cannon blasted her into the distance.
Stage 2 Boss just one-shot Stage 5 Boss.