Yukinko

“Can you hold my child for me?” After the woman repeated her words, I finally gave her a response.

“Why do you need me to hold your child?” When I asked her, streaks of tears poured from her face. Seeing this made my heart beat faster than it was prior.

“Please. I’ve already accepted death in these mountains, but not for my baby! Can you hold her and take her down the mountain for me, please?” I looked down at her hands, and they were frostbitten and brittle. “Please!”

“I will, ma’am.” I eventually caved in. There’s no way I’m going to let a child die in these mountains. I’m not going to let you die either. However, I realized it wouldn’t be that simple when I grabbed her baby.

When the child was in my arms, I got a good look at their face, and it looked human, but it didn’t feel like it. With every passing second, my arms got heavier and heavier from the child’s weight. Despite the unnatural weight, I turned and tried to pick my leg up to move, but it didn’t budge. This kid is too heavy! I can’t even move my body!

While I couldn’t move, I heard laughter from behind me. It was the mother of this child. “What’s wrong? Can you not hold my child for me?” She may have acted innocent, but I could feel it—the malice behind those questions.

“What did you do?” I asked, but the woman didn’t respond to my question. She only laughed, laughing as her voice echoed through the mountain, being carried by its frigid wind. The only thing that was able to cut through that laughter was a shout that was as sharp as a sword.

“Shin! Let go of that thing immediately! That isn’t a human, it’s a yokai! It’s a Yukinko, and the woman behind it is the Yuki-onna!”

I heard and was able to see Yukimura perfectly, but I couldn’t listen to her words. “Sorry, I can’t let go of it.”

“Why not? Are your limbs freezing? Can you not move?” I could hear the Yuki-onna’s laughter rise.

“No, that’s not the reason.” It grew louder by the second.

“Then, why?” Please make it stop.

“Because if I drop it, yokai or not, it’ll die!” When I said my piece, the laughter stopped, and so did the snowstorm. I could only feel the unbearable weight of the Yukinko slowly dragging me down, along with the bag on my back, before I heard, “Pillar!”

A cylindrical pillar of ice rose from the snow, knocking the baby out of my arms. When it was gone, I could feel the strength return in my arms. As the Yukinko was flung over the edge of the mountain, I reached out to grab it. However, I was pulled back by someone.

“Let go of me! The Yukinko is going to die!” I struggled to escape her grasp, but I didn’t have the strength to. I was still too weakened by the cold and extreme weight.

“Shin! Stop and look ahead of you!” I did, and the sight was spectacular. I saw the Yuki-onna flying, rushing to save Yukinko, who was falling. When the Yuki-onna grabbed it and settled the Yukinko on the mountain’s snow, I let out a sigh of relief.

“Damn you!” The Yuki-onna’s voice rose as she proceeded to yell. “Damn all of you, Onmyoji!”

“Oh, yeah? Well damn you, too!” Rentarou’s shadow leapt ahead of my face as he jumped to punch the Yuki-onna. He made contact, but then—she disappeared? I can’t see her. Did she run away? My thoughts were answered when I heard her appear behind Yukimura and me.

“Die!” I felt a strong gust of wind, and I shifted my gaze to Yukimura. She was supposed to be behind me, but she wasn’t. Instead, the Yuki-onna was behind me with her hand outstretched. Across from her hand, falling off the mountain, was—

“Yukimura!” I didn’t feel my legs react, but they did. I chased her off the side of the mountain, biting down on my right arm. I barely managed to cling to her as we fell down the mountain into the blizzard surrounding us.