Mitakihara City—the most unusual place Yimi had ever seen.
The only things the little cat had ever formally studied, aside from Haki, were two lessons from Keine-sensei, so finding the right words to describe this place was beyond her. The best she could manage was "lots of tall buildings."
It wasn't that she'd never seen a city before. She'd been born in one—not quite first or second-tier, but the skyscrapers were tall enough for her absurdly strong mother to leap back and forth across the main road. She still preferred the one-and-two-story townscapes of the first world, but she couldn't say she disliked what lay before her now, because experience had taught her that the taller the buildings—
"What an unusual little kitty! Want a cookie?"
—the more people there were who'd feed a cat.
"She's really clean, and nice and chubby too. Probably a house cat that got out on its own." The girl tentatively reached out and touched Yimi's head. "It actually let me pet it! So cute."
"Should we try to find its owner?"
"Sure! I'll take it home first, keep it for a while, and look for the owner in the meantime. Watch carefully—you grab it from behind where it can't see, lift it by the scruff of its neck... Ah, it ran off!"
Yimi bolted, grumbling under her breath as she glanced back at the two girls. She'd never seen such brazen humans—plotting to grab a cat while loudly announcing the plan right in front of it.
She ran until she found a deserted spot, then opened her system panel to check this world's quest.
"How very strange." A childlike voice that hadn't yet hit puberty suddenly sounded from behind her.
Yimi turned around and found a vaguely familiar creature she couldn't quite name. Its overall silhouette was somewhat cat-like. The body was white, but its eyes were a rabbit-like pink. From each cat ear, a twin-tail-like "earlobe" drooped downward, tipped in pink, with two ring-shaped loops hovering above them.
Its tail was fluffy like a squirrel's. More than a living creature, it looked like one of those stuffed toys Suzi-obaachan had bought her in the previous world.
"Are you a cat? Or some other unknown creature I've never seen before?"
The plush-like thing sat atop a garbage can—one that looked far cleaner than any she'd encountered in previous worlds—with its mouth closed, yet its voice appeared directly inside Yimi's head.
"I'm a cat."
Seeing that even this creature wasn't following the rules, Yimi dropped her own "cats don't speak human language" policy and seated herself with equal elegance.
"Now that's very strange. My understanding is that normal cats shouldn't possess the ability or intelligence to speak." The plush-thing hopped off the garbage can and circled Yimi, studying her as it went. "Or could you be a creature from another civilization that came to Earth?"
"Meow?" Yimi glared at the creature that dared look down on cats.
"Human girls—the ones most prone to emotional fluctuation—are the ideal candidates for becoming Magical Girls. That much should be correct. And yet I've never encountered anyone with a greater aptitude than yours, despite the fact that you're clearly not human."
The plush-thing stopped and sat facing Yimi. Factoring in the species difference, it didn't bother deploying the pitch it used on human girls. In terms of what was trending in human society, the topic of "Magical Girls" alone was enough to hook young girls of a certain age—but other species might not get it.
"Do you believe in the power of Miracles?"
"Meow?"
"The power to alter reality, to the point of granting wishes."
"Meow?"
Yimi didn't understand what it was going on about. She rose onto her hind legs, showing the courtesy of standing when speaking with someone.
This thing had popped up out of nowhere, rambling about miracles and wish-granting.
Sure, the power of Miracles really could break the rules of reality. But whether it could actually grant wishes, Yimi had no idea. Back in Gensokyo she'd experimented on her own—combining Third Magic's infinite mana with Miracle could indeed modify reality. But since she'd only ever been interested in cat grass, she'd never explored it further. The thing couldn't help her get home anyway.
"My name is Kyubey. Would you like to—"
The standing kitten looked down at it. "Go on, tell me."
"Hm?"
Kyubey's face showed not the slightest change. It tilted its head.
Yimi continued: "What's your wish?"
"I get the feeling you've misunderstood something. Could it be that you possess the power to grant others' wishes?" Kyubey was quite interested in this.
"No." Yimi's ears twitched.
The furthest she'd ever pushed Miracle was infinite cat grass.
"Then—would you like to form a contract with me and become a Magical Girl?" Kyubey cut straight to the point. "I can grant you one wish. In exchange, you'll become a Magical Girl and fight creatures called 'Witches' to maintain the world's order."
"Grant wishes?"
A flicker of familiarity. The Holy Grail War had also promised to grant wishes, and in the end the Grail turned out to be nothing more than a product of Third Magic.
The little cat, wiser now, tamped down her expectations and fixed Kyubey with a stare. "How, exactly, do you grant wishes?"
"Just as I said—do you believe in miracles?" Kyubey replied.
Yimi sank back to all fours in disappointment.
If miracles could get her home, she wouldn't be traveling from world to world.
Ignoring the strange creature, she went back to checking her main quest.
Main Quest: Using Kyubey as an ingredient, prepare a delicious dish and have five specific Magical Girls sincerely rate it "absolutely delicious." (Current progress: 0/5)
"Meow?"
This quest was more absurd and bizarre than anything she'd gotten before. The System didn't specify which five Magical Girls, and her reading comprehension wasn't strong enough to fully parse what "specific" meant in that sentence.
( ⓛ ω ⓛ *)
She slowly turned her gaze toward Kyubey. "What did you say your name was, again?"
"My name is Kyubey. Have you made up your mind?" Kyubey scratched its neck with a hind leg. "I feel like the look in your eyes just changed for a moment there. You don't look like you're about to agree."
The System had handed down that kind of quest, sure, but this particular Kyubey hadn't really done anything to provoke her. Their conversation so far had been more or less friendly. If the kitty attacked it out of nowhere, she'd be the bad guy.
While Yimi wavered, time froze in an instant.
"Meow?"
Unlike the previous world, where time abilities had been interfering left and right, this time Yimi could still move freely. And so, in the stillness of stopped time, she watched the Kyubey she'd just been chatting with get engulfed in a hail of bullets.
"Hm?"
A puzzled hum. A pair of soft, seemingly boneless hands scooped Yimi up and pulled her away.
The bullets riddled Kyubey like a sieve.
"Meow!"
The little cat stared at the scene in shock.
"Scared you, did it?" came a somewhat cold voice. The black-haired girl named Homura Akemi scratched under Yimi's chin in a brief attempt at comfort.
But she'd just heard Kyubey's voice—she'd assumed it was trying to recruit someone into a contract. Why was the only thing here a cat?