Kasumi did not return and no one ever hear from her again.

The first thing Kisuke did was send word himself to Takeshi of his sister's strange disappearance, considering it odd that he hadn’t heard once from his old friend since he’d married Kasumi.

Word returned relaying shock, for Takeshi said his youngest sister had died twelve years ago in midwinter, her corpse found frozen solid one morning in the woods. He said she was long buried in their mother's natal village.

For all the happiness Kisuke had had, very little now remained.

The dream he’d been living these past eleven years had shattered like a fragile icicle. He found himself questioning everything he thought he knew.

Who was it he had married? Who was the mother of his children?

If the real Kasumi was dead then who was it that became what Kisuke’s life had been missing?

It seemed unlikely that a ghost could’ve fooled him and the villagers for so many years, and even more unlikely that the girl had never died at all.

Kisuke’s heart ached, reminded of his childhood belief that death was not the end of life.

But this time it was different, for he knew not if he was facing something beyond death, or something that had never been mortal at all.

Regardless, Kisuke still had his children, the only happiness he was certain of, the only joy he had left. They could not disappeared like their mysterious mother; he wouldn't allow it.

Kisuke would face more hardships in the future, but he would not treat this as a death. Time would continue to flow, so it was up to him how he chose to live.

Though he longed to see his beloved wife again, Kisuke vowed that if he was ever to see her again it would not be caused by him mistreating their children.

From then on Kisuke raised his four children alone, telling them only happy stories of the past that he and their mother had shared.

Whether for fear of death or loss I do not know, but Kisuke never spoke of the strange snow woman again.