The morning came with an unusual chill, seeping into her light cotton blanket like a persistent weight. Sumire shivered within her futon before peeling herself off of it with great reluctance.

She soon found out the reason for the freezing weather as she opened her window — light white snow falling gently from the graying sky, only to pile up on the dew-covered ground. The peach blossoms in the garden, which were blooming in full the day before, had withered and fallen to the ground.

Sumire blinked in disbelief.

It was May — summer should be coming soon to the northern hemisphere. But nature seemed to have another plan.

No, she thought, this was nothing natural. Something was definitely happening. Something unnatural — or perhaps, more exactly, supernatural.

A yokai was behind it, no doubt.

She stared at the fallen peach blossoms and let her maudlin thoughts run wild. The cycle of seasons, which should be permanent, could be turned impermanent at the whims of higher powers that be. Such was the frailty of life.

And wasn’t that a sad thing to think about? Humans and yokai had been battling for centuries, but it was apparent that it was a battle without an ending in sight. No matter how skilled a yokai hunter was, there were always yokai stronger than them. 

It was a never-ending cycle, a vicious one that would eventually devour the world. Perhaps it was what the Evil God Susanoo wanted when he opened the Gate of Yomi.

She shut the window with a dejected sigh. She always disliked snow — it reminded her too painfully about things he didn’t want to think about. About the people who were supposed to be there, but were no longer around. About things she could’ve had.

She went downstairs to find her sister in the hallway, looking unusually pale even by her standard. She placed her finger to her lips, gesturing for Sumire to stay quiet. Their grandfather was talking to someone on the phone in the living room. By the sound of it, he seemed to be angry.

Grandfather was never angry. Irritated, perhaps. But never angry.

Sumire didn’t dare to eavesdrop, but she didn’t need to. Her grandfather soon finished with the call and burst into the hallway, eyes narrowing as he found Sumire standing awkwardly by the door. He gestured for her to follow him, not even glancing to Koharu’s direction.

Hurriedly, Sumire followed her grandfather to the garden, where pristine white snow was already covering the ground. Their footprints marked the path they walked. Sumire wondered what her grandfather was thinking.

There was silence for a breath after they stopped, before her grandfather spoke, “What do you think caused this phenomenon?”

“A snow spirit”, Sumire answered. “An extremely powerful one. A Yuki Onna, perhaps.”

“That is correct”, Fuyuta said, his voice lacking the pride he usually displayed when Sumire answered his question correctly. When he turned, his expression was quite severe. Something dire was happening, Sumire could tell.

“What should I do now, Granddaughter?” he asked, sighing. “Other yokai hunter families are urging me to send you to quell the catastrophe before it can destroy the world as we know it.”

“Then send me, Grandfather”, Sumire said.

“But are you ready, Granddaughter?” Fuyuta asked, and that made her pause.

Was she ready? She thought about the question for a while, as snow continued to fall around her and her grandfather. Perhaps it was the chill caressing her skin, or perhaps it was her grandfather’s conflicted expression, that eventually led her to make her decision.

“I am”, she answered, confident. “Grandfather, when I saw the peach blossoms in our garden wither and fall to the ground, I thought about the fragility of this world and the battles I must fight to protect it. And I will protect it, even if I must sacrifice myself.”

Something like grief, so deep it was incomprehensible to gauge its depth, flitted across her grandfather’s face, like this was something familiar. But then it was gone, replaced with her grandfather’s usual expression of an unmoving mountain.

“This will be the most dangerous mission I will give to you”, Fuyuta said, his voice steely. “Let your determination be the beacon for other yokai hunters to follow in this dark time.”

—

Dressed in her winter hunting gear, Sumire set off to track the Yuki Onna. However, it only took her five steps into the evenly layered snow outside the gate of her house, when she caught a familiar figure already waiting for her.

“Natsuno”, Sumire greeted the dark-haired boy. She wasn’t surprised to find him around, but she wasn’t expecting him to be so bold to come to wait outside her house.

“Mind if I tag along?” Natsuno asked, with that annoying smirk of his.

“In that outfit?” Sumire raised her eyebrows in disbelief.

“What’s wrong with my outfit?” Natsuno glanced at his red sweater and black pants — it looked like something to be worn mid-autumn, not in the middle of an imminent blizzard.

“Nevermind”, Sumire shook her head. If Natsuno was going to freeze himself to death, that wasn’t really her concern anyway.

“You’re a lunatic if you think you can cleanse a Yuki Onna”, Sumire pointed out, before slogging her way through the snow.

“Well, personally I think cleansing it is more plausible than sealing it”, Natsuno remarked, already matching her steps. “But I’m not gonna debate that. Besides, I’m not going to cleanse it.”

“Then why are you here?” Sumire asked.

“Just joining in the fun!” Natsuno answered cheerily, but that was clearly not an honest answer.

“Does Tamamo no Mae know where Yuki Onna hides?” Sumire asked. If Natsuno was going to be obstinate, he might as well make himself useful, in Sumire’s honest opinion.

“Mmm”, Natsuno hummed with a smirk. “She’s not exactly hiding, is she?”

“What do you mean?” Sumire asked, pausing as she turned on her heels to glare at Natsuno. His cryptic answers were starting to grate at her.

“I’m saying, if I were to make changes in the atmosphere and cause an imminent snowstorm that covers the entire city, if not more, where would I be?”

“Somewhere high”, Sumire hummed, before a realization dawned on her. “The shrine.”

“Bingo”, Natsuno grinned.