Humans were a kind of cat Yimi found difficult to understand—the root cause being that they insisted on doing inexplicable things.
"Nyan-san, look—this is the one that confuses me most. Given x²−y²..."
During lunch break, Tonomachi Hiroto had placed his notebook and pencil in front of Yimi and was writing out the math formula from the last class, apparently attempting to explain it to her.
The cat had no idea what use this was. Humans would be better off spending the time thinking about the fact that they lived on a ball.
Just as the cat couldn't understand why they stayed awake when they had such a comfortable sleeping environment during class.
"So then, 2x²..."
"Host, according to the Qiandu Homework app, the final answer to this problem is 5."
"Mrow."
Yimi snatched the pencil from Tonomachi's hand in one bite, scrawled a crooked 5 at the bottom of his notebook, spat the pencil out, and trotted off.
Tonomachi Hiroto: "..."
Was the world actually more complicated than he'd always assumed??
"Congratulations, Host—achievement unlocked: [I Know This Cat—She Sat Next to Me in the Gaokao] Reward: Portal Energy +5%."
Although Reine was nominally watching the cat, this was a powerful Spirit who had her own ideas—Ratatoskr couldn't compel her to stay put even if they wanted to. Following her around at a distance was the most they could manage.
Which was how the students in window seats during the final period kept glancing outside and spotting the assistant homeroom teacher of Class 2-4 walking behind a small cat, and which was why the principal walked past without a word.
"Come eat something." Reine clapped her hands to call Yimi over.
Yimi sprinted to her side at the keyword, shifting directly into her human form and settling herself in Reine's lap.
"..."
Reine looked left and right. Everyone was streaming toward the cafeteria, so nobody was paying attention here.
She patted Yimi's head through the baseball cap. "Did you use to shift freely between cat and human in front of people?"
"Mm." Yimi looked up at Reine, waiting to be fed.
The mm referred specifically to turning into a cat in front of Shiori.
"It could cause panic. Best to do it somewhere without people." Reine opened a bento box she'd prepared—everything inside chosen to stay palatable after it cooled down.
Cat tongues are sensitive to heat. That required special attention.
"Do you know how to use chopsticks?"
"No."
"Oh." Reine nodded and made no move to teach her.
Best to leave that for Shiori to use as a favorability-building opportunity—even if getting near Yimi was currently very difficult for Shiori.
Plan A was for Reine herself—who somehow inspired unusual ease in Yimi—to open the girl's heart, while Ratatoskr's analysts drew up a complete approach plan for Shiori to execute.
Yimi was clearly the most unusual Spirit encountered so far: cat instincts combined with some degree of human child's social awareness, and she'd just demonstrated the ability to write—judging by Tonomachi's expression, she'd probably even got it right... Meanwhile, while every other Spirit was working out how to stay in the present world indefinitely, Yimi seemed to want to return to the Neighboring World.
Yimi reached in and grabbed an egg roll to stuff in her mouth, then looked up: "Person who looks like Grandmother..."
"That's a bit of an odd form of address. My name is Reine."
The little cat stared at her face with a puzzled look.
Deciding the person must find "person who looks like Grandmother" too long, she quickly shortened the address to its absolute minimum:
"Grandma, do you have water?"
"..." Reine fell into silent contemplation, and handed over her water bottle.
"Where is your home?" Reine asked directly.
Given the similarity in character to Tohka, a direct question might work better than dancing around it.
"A place with a lot of people." Yimi studied the bottle.
Reine's eyebrow twitched. "How many people."
"As many as a whole world."
"As many as a whole world?" The Ratatoskr staff monitoring the feed scrambled for their notepads—even those with higher clearance felt a chill.
Chairman Elliott had never mentioned Spirits could come in numbers like that!
"Could it be something like a parallel-world Earth?" someone speculated. "Reine-san, could you ask?"
Reine's brow shifted again. She followed his suggestion: "Are all those people Spirits?"
"Spirits?"
She'd had the goal of fighting the First Spirit all along, yet Yimi had never really understood what a Spirit actually was.
"People with special powers, like you."
"Special?" Yimi still didn't follow.
"Like producing things out of thin air (Angel, for example)."
That one Yimi knew: "Mom can do that."
Silence fell over the Ratatoskr feed.
Was this the little girl's indirect way of confirming there was a world full of Spirits?
"Sensei."
At the worst possible moment, the very person in question appeared. The white-haired, expressionless girl had tracked Reine down in this quiet corner of the campus and stood with her hands spread open in a silent where's my cat inquiry.
"It's asleep in my office. Door's locked, already fed. I'll return it to you after school—it's fine, don't worry, I'll go look after it shortly." Reine produced her excuse instantly.
Origami gave a small nod, and looked at the small girl sitting in Reine's lap.
"Grandma, I can't get it open." Yimi held the bottle up toward Reine's face.
She didn't know how to open a human water bottle—she'd tried twisting it the way people did, and had somehow made it tighter.
"Grandmother?" Origami looked Reine up and down.
"Children that age say all sorts of things."
"Is she your daughter?" Origami asked offhandedly.
"If you want to think of it that way." Reine's answer was unexpectedly accommodating.
"Is Reine-sensei a relative of Shiori's?"
"Something like that."
The Ratatoskr members monitoring remotely all quietly praised her composure. Truly, their analyst.
The little girl sitting in her lap suddenly set the bento aside, hopped down, and grabbed Origami's uniform with the paw that had just been handling egg rolls.
The cat could tell which temporary meal ticket was more reliable.
"..."
Origami pinched Yimi's cheek, then looked at Reine.
Your daughter got my uniform dirty.
Reine scratched her cheek lightly. "I'll have a fresh uniform ready for you in a moment."
She took gentle hold of Yimi's collar and tried to pull her back. Yimi didn't budge.
"She's very fond of you." Reine kept her expression neutral. "I want to thank you again for sending her to Shiori's the other day. She must want to find Shiori—would it be all right if you brought her over?"
At those words, Yimi immediately released Origami's uniform and grabbed Reine's instead.
Now Reine's clothes had an oily handprint too.
Reine lifted Yimi under her arms and eased her aside. She told Origami: "Go take your lunch break. Come see the cat again this afternoon—it's doing well, no need to worry. I'll head over to look after it in a little while."
Origami looked down at the greasy paw print on her uniform, fixed Yimi with a long look, and left.
Reine waited until she was fully out of sight, then looked back down at Yimi.
"That girl hates Spirits deeply." She told Yimi what Shiori hadn't been able to say in full: "Her parents were killed by a Spirit—a pure-white Spirit, just like you. If she found out you're a Spirit, it wouldn't go well. She would likely see you as her enemy. Leaving sooner may be better for both of you."
This was the conclusion Ratatoskr had reached after deliberation. It might cause the little girl discomfort, but they couldn't let her go on hiding as a cat forever beside Origami Tobiichi, who hated Spirits.
"But—I'm not."
Reine shook her head gently. "This world doesn't work just because you say something. People don't simply believe you."
"..."
The plan, of course, was that as compensation Reine—with her higher favorability rating—would now extend an invitation for Yimi to come stay at her place. There was already a prepared explanation for the Origami side of things.
"I understand."
But before she could get the words out, the little girl slipped off her lap, shifted to cat form, and bolted.
Leave as soon as possible = leave right now.
"This is going to be a problem."