Chapter 198: Chapter 4: The Yellow Person
Yimi’s communication skills were poor, and Homura couldn’t extract much useful information from her.
One thing was confirmed, though: this creature was an alien. Yimi had openly and without hesitation admitted she came from another world.
Then there was the most critical matter—Kyubey’s reason for approaching the cat. And the answer was disappointingly mundane: plain old Magical Girl recruitment. More than anything, Homura wished the real answer had been that Kyubey had spotted another alien species that posed a threat to it.
As for Homura herself: family working abroad, a congenital heart condition, recently transferred in as a new student at Madoka’s school. That was Homura Akemi’s background.
She’d looped so many times that she’d almost started treating her own backstory as exactly that—a backstory.
None of those details mattered to Yimi. The only thing that mattered was Homura’s identity as a Magical Girl.
Tail tucked into a custom-fitted dress, head topped with a hat that just happened to be shaped like cat ears—clothes Suzi-obaachan had specifically commissioned for her in the last world. Still the most comfortable disguise she’d found for hiding the ears and tail.
"I want this."
Inside a large supermarket, Yimi slapped the pocket money Joseph had given her onto the checkout counter.
Then she lifted her head and asked the cashier with genuine curiosity: "Don’t you sell Kyubey here?"
She’d scoured the entire meat section without finding a single cut of Kyubey.
Homura was already a Magical Girl—body and soul separated—but she still needed normal sleep. Yimi, having arrived in this world that same morning, wasn’t the least bit tired and had slipped out on her own.
"Kyubey as in...?" The cashier offered a professional smile. "Sweetie, you can’t use toy money to buy things..."
"This is real." Yimi gripped the bill with both hands and held it up for her to see.
Joseph had deliberately given her crisp new bills to make a child happy—which, ironically, made them look even less real.
"Ah... is this foreign currency? I’m afraid we don’t offer exchange services here. Also, it’s pretty late for you to be out alone—do you live around here?"
"Mm." Yimi stared glumly at the money in her hands, unable to understand why currency that worked everywhere else was suddenly useless.
She’d been trying to buy a cookbook—maybe it had a recipe for Kyubey meat.
Yimi slumped against the counter and eyed the shrink-wrapped recipe book. "Can I at least look at it here, without buying it?"
"I’m afraid not."
Yimi planted both hands on her hips, indignant. "Then why do you even have a supermarket?"
"Those two things don’t really have anything to do with each other, do they?"
"Heh." A light laugh. A blonde girl set her own purchases on the counter. "Excuse me—go ahead and ring this book up with the rest."
"Certainly."
Yimi had obtained a cookbook of this world!
This was the power of a kitty’s luck and Golden Rule: go out to buy something without any valid money, and odds were some kindhearted person would cover the bill.
Yimi craned her neck to look at the sudden benefactor. Golden-blonde twin-tails, roughly five-foot-three, the girl smiled warmly down at her.
Good kitty thanked her properly: "Thank you, auntie."
The girl’s smile froze. The cashier’s smile, however, became genuine for the first time.
"Here, this is for you." Yimi grabbed a handful of her precious catnip and offered it as compensation.
Sadly, she’d run out of the stuff from Yuuka. That batch hit harder.
"What’s this?"
"Catnip."
"Oh, thank you." The girl pocketed it.
She’d take it home and let Kyubey try it later—it did have a pair of cat ears, after all. Maybe it’d enjoy the stuff.
"But whether it’s a prank or something else, you can’t call me ’auntie,’ okay? This big sister is only a fifteen-year-old third-year middle schooler."
"Mm."
Yimi still didn’t understand. "Auntie" seemed like a perfectly normal word, yet so many people seemed to dislike it.
She studied the young woman, and per her usual naming convention, assigned a designation: "Yellow Person."
"Yellow... you mean my hair color, right? Come on, I did pay for your book—you could at least call me ’big sister.’ Or just use my name: Mami-nee works fine."
Mami Tomoe ruffled Yimi’s head, then withdrew her hand, her expression turning serious as she glanced at the ring on her finger.
She’d been thinking about helping the kid find her parents, but now she immediately changed course: "Anyway—head home for now. Your mom and dad will worry if you’re out too late."
Yimi opened her small mouth, because she’d sensed mana emanating from Mami’s ring.
She asked, hopeful: "Are you a Magical Girl?"
"Hm?" Mami blinked in surprise, but found nothing resembling a Soul Gem on Yimi. She chalked it up to a child’s anime-fueled imagination.
Plenty of anime Magical Girls did exactly this sort of thing—suddenly staring hard at something, then abruptly excusing themselves to go transform.
Mami answered with a smile: "I am. Big sister is a Magical Girl."
"Then I’ll treat you to something tasty someday." Yimi waved goodbye.
"Something tasty? I look forward to it." Mami didn’t think much of it. In a city this size, they’d probably never recognize each other again.
Kitty’s luck was incredible—two Magical Girls on day one.
Mami hurried off. Yimi, hugging the hefty cookbook, walked out of the supermarket.
"Looks like you’ve taken an interest in Magical Girls." Kyubey’s voice came from beside Yimi.
It hopped from a stack of cardboard boxes to the ground beside her. "So you can take a human form too—or is turning into a cat your special ability? Is that connected to the exceptional aptitude you possess? How curious."
"Kyubey!"
"How nice—you remember me."
Then it watched as Yimi glanced off to one side, feigning nonchalance, and inched toward it in tiny steps.
Grabbed it. Snapped its neck.
"Seems like there’s been a minor complication." A fresh Kyubey appeared at Mami’s side.
"Kyubey, are you saying a powerful Witch is coming?" Mami extended a ribbon to bind a Familiar, then dispatched it with a single shot. "But I didn’t run into any Witch this time either."
"I mean the child you just met. She possesses an aptitude I’ve never seen before. If she could become a Magical Girl, she’d probably be able to defeat Walpurgisnacht in a single blow." Kyubey mentioned this as though in passing.
"That child? She looked like she was only about seven years old." Mami’s brow creased.
Humans are a species that’s reluctant to put very young children in harm’s way.
...
"Meow~"
Early morning. Homura was up early, going over Kyubey’s likely next moves in her head while preparing a bento. Then she noticed the cat she’d brought home the day before, moping on the floor with a book pinned under her belly.
After getting the cookbook home, the little cat had discovered she couldn’t read most of the characters. Having the System explain them one by one was way too tedious.
Homura nudged her aside with a foot, glanced at the book she’d been lying on, and frowned in mild bewilderment.
She walked to the kitchen, opened a hidden compartment, and revealed the cookware stashed inside.
Yimi’s ears shot straight up.
"Meow!" She leapt onto the counter, produced a Kyubey carcass, and pushed it toward Homura, looking up at her with shining eyes.
Could you please add this in?
"..."
The kitty had a new idea. Maybe her own cooking wasn’t great—but she could get other people to try making Kyubey for her!
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