Thaw

  They traversed the forest in a single file, steady and soundless under the cool night sky. The Yuki-onna opened the march, her hair rising in wilding strands with the fitful breeze; Debuu-ni followed her closely, its outsize eyes locked on the back of her neck. Behind the bug, Lu advanced with caution, taking care not to stumble on a rock or a root; Inês, more alert than ever in the darksome woods, walked two steps between her and Jin, trying to keep the boy in her sights also. The air was electric that night. As they progressed, the Yuki-onna's upward flakes collided with the heavens' downward pour, meeting in suspended clouds of cotton-like snow, alluring and eerie. That was just before the group passed the unmarked grounds of their battle against her; if she thought anything of it, she didn't let it on, though Inês did notice a buried shift in Lu.

  They soon arrived at the edge of the forestland, where a familiar—if slightly unnerving sight—greeted Inês in the pale light of the moon: a grotesque silhouette, like a hairy, crouching beast of ample size. Lu had a tremor of fright, but Inês nudged her along; there was nothing to fear, she thought. The figure didn't budge until Debuu-ni approached it; once the bug was only a meter away, the child seemed to take notice of it. His face illuminated and he turned to face the group.

  “It's a cold one, tonight, isn't it?!” he said in a cheerful tone. “I was making my way to the shrine when I noticed you. Will you join me?”

  When the boy spoke up, Inês felt something coming from the Yuki-onna that she couldn't quite put into words, like a mixture of grief and revolt, perhaps. The woman's body went stiff and she made a step forward.

  “All of ya go wait for me in the shrine,” said Debuu-ni hurriedly. "Me and the boy need to talk about something.”

  Inês took Lu by the arm and looked at Jin. Together, they went ahead, followed, a few steps back, by the Yuki-onna, her handsome face indignant.

  The wait for Debuu-ni was awkward to say the least. A good ten minutes had passed when it came back, alone. The bug didn't explain itself; instead, it simply sat on the deck and looked into the distance, on the qui vive like a guard dog. Its pompon tail quivered now and then, no doubt anticipating what was to come.

  When it did come, it was hard to decipher at first, for they had never yet seen the innkeeper out of the bounds of the House of Still Waters, so when they caught her small figure emerging under the red torii gate, it felt uncanny: like seeing a teacher at the supermarket or mixing friends from different social groups, Inês remarked to herself. Bowed and fragile, she seemed so small against the white backdrop of static snow. In her arms, she carried a tiny package wrapped in cloth. Behind her, the boy followed, holding a bundle of clothes. Both of them were barefoot.

  “Thank you for coming to us,” said Debuu-ni.

  They climbed the short stairway to the snowy, moonlit shrine and bowed. The innkeeper placed the package in front of Debuu-ni with a light thud. She untied the dark furoshiki to reveal a little wooden box, carved with great care. In the meantime, the boy stepped forward to the Yuki-onna and handed her a kimono, navy blue in color. The innkeeper then took the lid off the carved box to reveal four cubes of deep red jelly that shimmered like ice, each adorned with a single cherry tree leaf. She bowed again, lifted the box and went to place it on the shrine's offering table. Then, she went to help the Yuki-onna endue her garment. As she passed the bug, Debuu-ni's look fell on the trio, silent and still, they observed the song and dance with great interest.

  “This is the moment we've been waiting for,” said Debuu-ni solemnly. “With these offerings, I'll be able to reboot myself once more and fuse with this world's code, thus giving ya new transformations, making you stronger than ever.”

  There was a silence during which the cloth sounds of the Yuki-onna's red obi being tied were the only noise anyone heard.

  “What will happen to you?” asked Inês.

  “I'm not exactly sure… but whatever does happen, I can say this is certainly the last time you'll ever see Debuu-ni.”

  Jin hung his head, despairing.

  “Maybe you'll come back cuter,” said Lu with a half-smile, tears streaming down her face.

  “You know…” said Inês. “I've always thought you were cute… in your own way.”

  Debuu-ni smiled and, after a break of contemplation, it fluttered its wings with a light buzz. The Yuki-onna had finished dressing up, looking regal in an assorted navy kimono and bordeaux obi. She exchanged a nod with the bug as it hovered over the group and to the table. It landed on it and approached the box with determination. The yokan must have been easier to gorge on than the kagami mochi, because one bite was enough to terminate one cube with a fat gulp. The bug glitched; corrupted. Then, it ate another one; in two swallows, this time. There was a red dot, like a cat's laser toy, and suddenly a hundred, all bursting from Debuu-ni's muted frame. The bug started panting and addling; parts of its body displacing jaggedly. It ate a third cube of jelly. Its horn grew tenfold and shot a powerful red laser into the sky, breaking part of the shrine's roof and disturbing the snow clouds up above. Finally, it ate a fourth yokan and it disappeared. An upward cascade of bright red pixels met a downstream of blue light, and it fulminated into power.

  That's when they all felt it: a renaissance.

  It started with Jin. The mist rolled in, enveloping him as he rose his komabue slowly, his song sending ripples through the fog. Sheets of hanji paper swirled and warped around the boy, dissolving his clothes into streams of evanescent light. From the depths of the mist, a Korean tiger jumped out, prowling and circling him, before leaping through Jin in a white flash, revealing his outfit: a hanbok made of a pale blue jeogori jacket with long, narrow sleeves, fastened with a deep blue goreum. On top of that, he wore a sleeveless, dark overcoat, and narrow baji pants, tucked into combat boots. Around his head, there was a thin, black headband, tied tightly. His transformation closed with an undulation of the space.

  After that, it was Lu. From beneath her stomping foot, red-orange flames sprung in waves. Ribbons of embroidered fabric whirling around her in a dance circle, each draped with sunbursts and flowers, catching fire as they passed. As she spun, her silhouette dissolved into the swirling skirt, fireworks bursting in the air behind the girl. Above her head, flew a proud, colorful quetzal in tandem with her. The ribbons snapping in position as the flames blurred, the dress revealed itself fully: a China Poblana, layered and fiery; it flared dramatically as she spun around, its beaded floral embroidery glowing faintly like embers. She kept her hair in two buns, held with gold combs shaped like suns, and, over her shoulders, she wore a jacket with small tassels, that left trails of light as she moved.

  Finally, it was Inês. Everything dimmed. There was a slow inhale, intentional; she clutched her chest, where her heart glowed like a lighthouse in the dead night of a troubled sea. And then, behind her, the two, gleaming green eyes of an Iberian lynx shone intensely, its strong contour delineated as it laid in the shadows, observant. Silver strings warped around the girl's body in spirals, tuning with melancholic fado chords. Humming in concert, they pulled away at her clothes, shedding the grief and weakness. Singing a single note, she cracked the floor beneath her, from which petals of white carnation swirled upward and warped around her, dissolving into a long, flowing black dress. Made of silk, it was light and mobile, with wave and vine patterns intertwined in embroidery. Over her shoulders, a black lace shawl shifted with the breeze. She wore two tiny guitar earrings, gold and filigree; and on her feet, there were lace-up boots in dark leather, with golden heels.

  Jin looked airy and light in shades of blue, Lu was fiery and bright in flowery multitudes, and Inês was grounded and immovable in black. Standing on the deck of the shrine, the trio seemed all out of bubblegum.

  “Wow!” exclaimed Lu. “This feels different than before.”

  “I think I know what you mean,” said Inês.

  Jin stepped forward, throwing a look of odium at the clouds of snow, white against the black sky, and the perennial world around him.

  “We have a job to do,” he stated firmly.

  Without further introduction, he rose his komabue and began to play. The sorrowful melody carried to the corners of the code. Inês joined in with her song, the tremors in her voice reverberating to the ground below. Meanwhile, Lu danced with conviction, setting the ground ablaze on the stone pathway. Not one of them could notice what was happening for a moment, so caught up were they in their craft; but as the ground shook underneath them and the snow evaporated, the Yuki-onna, her, noticed it.

  “It's working…” she said.

  Inês glanced back at her. That's when she noticed it: with tears in their eyes, the innkeeper and the boy were fading away into particles of light. She thought she caught a glimpse of something the boy was trying to tell her, but she couldn't make it out over the implacable song.

  As if suddenly springing with life, the forestland went from white to green in a vivid, circular motion. The trees straightened without the weight of the snow pulling on their branches; the icy clouds dissipated, letting the full moon shine brightly in the clear night sky; and the rivers thawed, coursing with abandon in a great rush to find the sea.

  The group stopped and looked around. They had changed the world.

  Yuki-onna arose and descended the steps of the shrine. She looked around, scanning the air with a mournful, bittersweet glance. Then, she came forward and bowed.

  “Thank you,” she said.

  Inês smiled at her. Just as she was going to say something herself, a red orb, like ruby concentrate, appeared with a clatter between the two stone lanterns.

  “That was quick,” said Lu.

  With green bolts of light that tore through the pathway and exploded the stone lanterns, it appeared again. This time, the bug had a silver sheen to its frame, and emerald eyes and wings. Its tail was still but a pompon, though it also had two pointy, triangular ears. Their former guardian.

  “Boot sequence complete,” it said, looking straight ahead. “Sugar level: high. Threat level: higher.”

  Before anyone could react, a low rumble awoke the night, running along the distance of the dark expanse. A horn tore through the silence, blasting a dreadful warning. Speeding toward them on an invisible road from the void of the night sky, Truck-kun's headlights blazed white hot.