The Struggle of a Young TS Yuki-Onna. Chapter 22

Author:

Character cheat sheet. This is mainly for me, and people who took a break from the novel.

Yukiya Kitahara(北原雪哉) now (雪耶): The protagonist. A junior high student, 14, and  now a Snow girl. Short black hair, beautiful pale skin.

Syuuji Kitahara(北原修司): Yukiya's father, and owner of the Snow House.(雪乃亭) Which is located in Hyousei Village(氷清村)

Yukino(雪乃): Yukiya's mother, and is a snow woman/ Yuki Onna.

Hazuki Natsumi(夏美) and Saeki Tomonori(智則): Yukiya's friends and classmates.

TN: Mamuni

"Hah. . .Hah. . .Hah. . ."

I was running towards the mountain as it lightly snowed around me. That's odd, seeing as there is supposed to be a blizzard on top of the mountain.

The town was calm as I rushed past it. An occasional truck or taxi was found on the main road. But it was a very dead night.

The ski slopes were visible from the town, but there was no sign of life. Night skiing isn't uncommon, usually you'd see a few people lit up from the lights of the slopes after a sunny day, however it seemed to have been canceled due to the steep snowing. The lift has also stopped functioning.

I arrived at the entrance of the mountain outside of the village in record time. There was a simple shelter near the gate. The building is mainly there to simply send notifications to passersby and give news on the mountain. The gate awaiting visitors was roped off with yellow tape. A red round mark with white lines marked the prohibiting location.

Past the ropes, the lights shined brightly down upon the parking lots. A few parked cars sat resting. In addition to that, there were several watchmen on the side. Probably village officials. They were simply looking around with flashlights.

"Crap. . ."

I quickly hid myself in the nearby bushes. It's bad if I'm found.

They have already announced that nobody is allowed entering the mountain without permission.

If they saw me I would definitely be stopped. 

Or rather, because I'm a junior high school student without a guardian at night, it is actually a violation of the law. 

What excuse could I even come up with if I'm caught?

I'm a snow girl, but I can't just simply say that. I can't openly tell them that I'm going into the snowy mountain at night. But I can't be deterred.

I cautiously approached in the shadows. When I suddenly heard the conversations between a young man and an elderly man.

They were around a heater, and both drinking hot canned coffee.

"Haah, you're new to this, aren't you? Do you know that these disasters happen frequently in the winter."

"Huh. Really. . ? I wonder why?"

"I'm not certain. But they say that the women are always found first, frozen and dead, but the men are never found."

"Huh, that's weird. But where do they go?"

"Nobody knows, but I've always heard that the men are caught by the Yuki Onnas. They are trapped and continue to suffer by their hands. Never dying or living, stuck in limbo of pain and misery, frozen forever."

"That sounds like fairy tales."

"You better be careful, Boy. The Yuki Onna might take you. . .Actually, you are too ugly. You will be fine. Wa ha ha!"

"Really now. . ."

It's apparent that they are a part of the rescuing team. It seems that they are planning to continue their search in the morning. Hoping that it will clear up by then. I wonder if my dad will be joining them.

Regardless, it looks like this way is a no go.

I'll look for another path.

I went back a little and then went deep into the woods. Far from any of the roads.

After one month of training in the snowy mountains, traveling in the woods without a road is no longer scary to me.

"Umm."

After confirming I was far from the road, I stopped once again.

I know how to get to the mountain from here.

Thanks to what my mother taught me during my training.

"Now to find the path. . ."

I closed my eyes and concentrated.

Feel the energy flow into the mountain. See the streams it makes.

I remembered those words.

It's like seeing the path of the spirits.

If I follow them, I should be able to find my way, even if I was in a snowstorm. I could see routes the rescue team would never find.

It's the snow girl's way of traveling.

I never thought I would actually use these so quickly.

"Hmm. . .This way?"

But I do regret not taking it more seriously. If I knew lives would be at stake, I surely would have tried even harder.

I proceeded deep into the mountain.

The weather here was progressively getting worse as I went up.

I eventually found my way to the peak of the mountain in less than 30 minutes. Only after a lot of trial and error, and course corrections. 

"As I thought. . ."

It was calm at the foot, but here the blizzard is raging. These violent winds are something I have never experienced before. Even though I grew up living in snow country.

The trees were completely covered in snow while being shook violently by the wind. It was hard to see anything.

And despite this, I was in a thin kimono. But I'm fine.

I'm currently in snow girl mode. So I feel nothing. 

If I didn't have this, I doubted I could have lasted even 30 minutes. But if anybody saw me like this, they must think I wasn't human.

"Where are they. . ?"

I couldn't see those college students in this blizzard.

Will I reach them in time?

I pushed those thoughts away, as I continued my advance.

A new chapter is here. Hopefully it didn't take too long. We are finally on the mountain. Live coverage of the mountain? Most have been in the past tense/flashbacks. Also some new magical ice girl powers.

Anyways, next chapter in 3-4 days. It will be a different type of chapter than I am used to. So it may be faster or slower for me.

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Chapter end