Ozeki Opinions

As Rentarou and Hinako tracked the Yuki-onna, the two siblings encountered a hole in the mountain. Rentarou was about to jump into it without thinking twice, but before he did, he turned to his sister. “What do you think we should do?”

“I can tell you wanna go inside. So you go first, Rentarou. I’ll follow you.”

“Sweet!” Just as she said she would, Hinako followed Rentarou into the cave after he dived through the entrance.

The two siblings trekked through the cave for an immeasurable amount of time. As they progressed, Hinako began to tremble from the cave’s coldness. That was a reaction Rentarou immediately noticed. “Are you cold, Hinako?”

“No, I’m fine. I—”

“You don’t have to lie like that. Here, take my coat.”

“I don’t need it. Besides, what about you?”

“I don’t need it either, so here.” Rentarou already took off his jacket and extended it out to her.

“I told you I don’t need it because I have this.”

“Hey, what are you—”

“Stand still.” Hinako, after a bit of struggling, pulled out a talisman from Rentarou’s backpack. It had a symbol of a flame on it, and when Hinako directed her mana into it, the area surrounding her began to warm. “That feels better.”

After seeing Hinako’s smile, he threw back on his coat. He sounded slightly grumpy as he said, “C’mon, let’s go. We’ve got a yokai to fight.” Hinako didn’t say anything else as she followed her brother with a smile.

However, that smile faded when the two eventually reached the snow village. They both saw the Yuki-onna at the same time, and Hinako immediately pulled on Rentarou’s collar. “Don’t even think about charging headfirst into the fight. We don’t even know where Shin or Yukimura are.”

“Then, how long are we going to wait for them? Look at her, she’s unguarded and unaware of us. If I charge in and you support me, then those two, wherever they are, can surprise-attack the Yuki-onna. Boom! Sounds like a plan, right?”

Hinako sighed as she heard her brother’s plan, but she knew it didn’t get any better than this. “Fine, I’ll support you. But if either of us sees Shin or Yukimura, retreat immediately, understood?”

“Yup, loud and clear, ma’am.” After he said that, Rentarou cleared his throat as he fixed his focus on the Yuki-onna. “So, this is where you’ve been hiding? You damn yokai!”

Rentarou leapt down at the Yuki-onna as he expanded his entire body without hesitation. When he landed on the snow-covered ground, his gigantic feet squished some of the vacant igloos. Upon seeing this, the Yuki-onna, who was at first shocked at Rentarou’s presence, was now seething with anger.

However, instead of fighting, the Yuki-onna turned to the Yukinkos who surrounded her. She summoned frigid winds to form a barrier around all the Yukinkos near her. As the winds surrounded her children, Rentarou slowly realized that there wasn’t a barrier around her. So, he expanded his arm and swung at the Yuki-onna.

He knew she could dodge that blow, so he expanded his legs in preparation for her counterattack, but she didn’t dodge at all. She took the full brunt of the attack before turning back to Rentarou.

When Hinako saw this sight, her stomach began to tighten. It didn’t look like a monster trying to kill someone; it was as if a mom was shielding her children from danger. Hinako gripped the talisman in her hand, about to act, until she saw Yukimura running past the destroyed igloos.

Hinako was going to yell at Rentarou to stop, but he was too far away to hear her. So, she turned to Yukimura instead. “Yukimura!” The armed Onmyoji looked up at Hinako as her name was called. “Can you secure my brother? We need to regroup as soon as possible.” Yukimura didn’t give a verbal response; she only dashed to where Rentarou was fighting.