Four quests down.
The familiar mission "Become the Hakurei Shrine Maiden" still hung on her main questline, but since Yimi had been randomly teleported in, she'd long since made up her mind to abandon it. A whole hundred percent of her energy, wasted.
Gensokyo wasn't quite how Yimi remembered it. If she had to pinpoint what was different—it was a bit colder than before. Some of the forest trees had gone completely bare, leaving Mystia's night-sparrow stand sitting forlornly to the side in broad daylight.
"This is an incident."
"How could this possibly be an incident? It's obviously just deep autumn getting colder." Mystia sat in front of her grill with nothing on it, simply warming herself. "It was already autumn when you left. Reimu-san was really worried about you, you know."
Mystia put her hands on her hips and mimicked Reimu's posture with a bamboo skewer in hand: "Last week she showed up at my stand saying, 'I can't find her anywhere—did you kill her, you jerk? Did you grill her into roast cat and sell it here?' And she confiscated a bunch of my lampreys to 'analyze the ingredients.' You'd better clear my name."
As a bird, how could she possibly take down a cat! And besides, apart from blinding passersby at night to lure them to her stand—no wait, she'd never done anything that shady either!
"Mm." Yimi rummaged through her storage space and pulled out a skinned cut of Kyubey meat for Mystia. "This is for you, a present."
"Oh, thanks. But this isn't rat meat, is it? The whole thing gives off an evil vibe." Mystia pinched the Kyubey meat between two fingers and tossed it aside.
"Then I'm heading back." Yimi walked out and trotted along the Youkai Trail toward the Hakurei Shrine.
The little cat had always prioritized completing quests above all else, but she hadn't forgotten the note where she'd promised to come back and visit Reimu. She seemed to have made that same promise to a lot of people by now, though she'd never actually kept any of them.
The Hakurei Shrine looked the same as ever. Shabby as it was, Reimu swept it diligently every day—though a layer of frost had formed over Genjii's pond. Autumn shouldn't have been cold enough for that. The ice fairy must have pranked the pond by washing her feet in it.
Yimi poked at the water with a gohei. A turtle's head with white whiskers surfaced and locked eyes with her.
"Are you cold?" Yimi asked with concern.
"..."
But back in the last world, she'd asked her teacher about this—turtles were more comfortable in water. She had no idea how to warm up a turtle that lived in water, and after what happened last time, she didn't dare think about the relationship between water and fire anymore.
Then she hit on a brilliant idea: "If you're cold, I can dig a hole, under the pond, and light a fire down there to heat the water."
"Don't make it sound like you're stewing a turtle." Reimu reached under Yimi's arms from behind and hoisted her up. "What—you leave for a week and don't grow a single centimeter? You'd better not have come back empty-handed."
Yimi tilted her head up. "I came to see you, and then I have to leave again, to keep looking for home. I also brought you Kyubey meat."
Hearing there was a gift, Reimu's dead-fish eyes softened a fraction. She slowly set Yimi down. "Doesn't matter to me. Marisa's the one who was all worried about you."
She even stuck her hand out in a gimme gesture, holding it there until Yimi placed the Kyubey meat in her palm.
Reimu glanced down at the rat-looking thing, said nothing, and walked back inside—as if Yimi leaving on a whim and returning on a whim warranted no reaction at all.
Following her into the shrine, Yimi could see two futons left unfolded in the center—too lazy to put away—plus a kotatsu that had already been set out, another thing Yimi didn't recognize.
Reimu set the Kyubey meat on the cutting board. Yimi leaned in and pressed her face close to Reimu's hand, curious to see how she'd handle the stuff it had taken Yimi a full month to make barely edible.
Reimu pushed her head aside in annoyance. "If you're only staying a bit before leaving, don't waste time here. Marisa lives in the Forest of Magic."
"Mm..." Yimi tucked her hands in unhappily.
She'd come all this way to visit and Reimu still acted so dismissive. No more presents for you, ever.
As she reached the doorway, Reimu's hands paused. "First thing in the cabinet is an autumn outfit for you. If you're cold, put it on yourself."
"Oh."
—
Before reaching the Forest of Magic, Yimi had to pass through the Human Village, and what was actually closer to the Human Village was the Bamboo Forest of the Lost—or more precisely, Mokou's cabin near it.
She peeked through the window of Keine's school. Keine-sensei was still in the middle of class, so Yimi chose not to disturb her.
Because back in the last world, Yimi had walked out during class time. She'd even gone to the neighboring classroom and invited some boy she'd gotten friendly with during recess to come out and play card-flipping games, right in front of his teacher. The boy had said yes.
And then after school, Tomohisa got called into the office for a talk.
"Hehe~"
Mokou's cabin had no Mokou, but an uninvited guest was crouched over Mokou's bed with her rear end in the air, doing who-knows-what.
"What are you doing?" Yimi patted her.
"Who's there?" Kaguya scrambled out, dusted herself off, and glared at Yimi. "What a rude little child."
"You're stealing!" Yimi pointed at her.
The little cat remembered this person—the one who'd gotten Keine-sensei angry last time.
"Nonsense. What could that turkey possibly own that's worth stealing? Quite the contrary—I'm simply getting payback for her stealing from me last time. Rummaging through my things is one thing, but she actually went and made a scene about it in front of Eirin..."
Eirin had inspected her entire prized collection! Public humiliation!
Kaguya gnashed her teeth and lifted the blanket draped over the bed's edge. "That rotten turkey—Eientei's technology is second to none!"
Beneath it sat a lit mosquito coil, its end connected to a string of firecrackers.
"That turkey smokes and lights fires all the time, so she shouldn't be able to smell something this faint." Kaguya covered her mouth, maintaining an elegant composure. "Come nightfall, she'll be sleeping soundly, and then this little thing called a mosquito coil will burn down right to here..."
Too bad that woman usually stuffed her cigarettes straight into her pocket. Otherwise, Kaguya would have packed firecrackers in there too.
"Mokou likes sleeping sitting up." The little cat looked up at her. "She only sleeps in the bed when she's with someone else."
Kaguya's expression froze. She reached out and pinched the little cat's cheeks, testing the texture. "Is that so... How does a little brat like you know something like that? You seemed pretty close to that turkey last time. You're not going to secretly tell her I set a trap the moment I turn my back, are you?"
"I will." Yimi clasped her hands behind her back, took a step back, and answered with complete honesty.
Even though she didn't recognize firecrackers or mosquito coils.
"Is that so? Then there's nothing for it—you've only got yourself to blame." A cold glint flickered through Kaguya's eyes, and her hands moved too fast to follow.
She scooped Yimi up and carried her away.