So what are we going to do when we get there?

October 14th - Kimura Kiyomi

“'So what are we going to do when we get there?” I couldn't help but ask, since I obviously never had dealt with a situation like this and neither had Suzuki. So I hoped that Kento would be a bit more in the know about this kind of thing.

“I honestly have no idea,” was Kentos answer. So much for that.

“But I think we should be able to help her with your Mana Kimura. Mana is inherently a warm power and since it apes the suns rays it should be able to warm up Reiko and hopefully bring her back to normal if necessary But hopefully we can just talk to her and bring her back to normal.” This didn't necessarily fill me with confidence, but I had no better idea. I looked and Suzuki and he at least sported an expression that seemed confident. Somehow it actually made me feel more confident mself. More self conscious as well incidentally.

When we arrived at the house Reikos mother was waiting for us outside and I could see how worried she was. When we exited the car she ran to me and hugged me tightly, which took me by surprise since I had never seen her like this. I could hear her whisper that we should please help Reiko and I didn't know what to reply. Then she led us into the house and even though everything looked normal I could feel how cold the house was, as if someone left the windows open in the coldest winter night. Then we arrived at Reikos room and the closed door was covered in a thin layer of ice. I looked at the Suzuki and Kento and they both seemed about to be a shocked as I was. There wasn't a lot of noise coming out of the room, only a faint sound of wind. Did things calm down in the meantime? We had to enter the room to find out, but that was easier said than done. I tried to push the door open, but something was blocking it from the inside.

“What are we doing now?” I asked. Reikos mother told us that Reiko had caused a snowstorm inside her room, so it was most likely pilled up snow blocking our way into her room.

“Should we try to burn it away?” Suzuki asked. I must have looked quite shocked since Suzuki looked very apologetic, but Kento seemed to think about it in earnest. That seemed to encourage Suzuki as well and he continued to talk.

“Kento, you told me that a Yuki-Oona as an enemy would be difficult for us to fight because unlike the snow monsters we usually fight she actually has a physical presence here. Shouldn't that mean our attacks shouldn't harm her very much?” I remembered Suzuki telling me about this and if it was true, it might be the solution to our problem, but Kento didn't look convinced.

“I know I said that, but if we use enough energy to burn away the snow, there is no way it also wouldn't hurt Reiko. Maybe she would survive, but gravely injured most likely. So maybe we can only burn away the door?” Kento scratched the back of his head again.

“Then let's try to burn away the door.” I exclaimed with conviction and I started to channel some Mana to give to Suzuki and he grabbed my hand and we did what we just had done earlier in the park. I felt that I was still very tired and didn't have much Mana left to give, but I hoped it was enough to save Reiko. Suzuki told us both to stay away and then launched an attack on the unsuspecting door and and the effect didn't disappoint. The wodden door exploded into a cloud of wood splinters and water vapor. Some of the debry almost hit me around the corner, such was the violence of the destruction in the enclosed space. A couple seconds later we could look into the room and we saw that it was filled with snow and ice and despite me being in the room a lot of times before, I barely recognized it. I was looking for where the bed was located since I suspected that Reiko would be laying there, but I didn't recognize either the bed nor Reiko anywhere and so I tramped into the room trying to find my way through the waist high snow whilst yelling Reikos names. I was really scared that something had happened to her now and so the desperation drove me forward. I made it halfway to the bed when I finally thought that I saw Reiko where the bed should be located and she seemed to be covered by a layer of snow and not moving and now I was even more desperate to get her out of there. When I finally reached the bed I grabbed Reikos body and tried to lift her out of the snow, which I barely managed. I looked around me and Suzuki actually made his way into the room behind me and when he realized what I was trying to do he hurried to get to me and together we got Reiko out of her snowy prison. When she realized that we were there to save her, she showed a weak smile and that alone made me very happy, as I was prepared for the worst when I first saw the state of the room. We managed to get her out of the room and laid her down on the couch in the living room and her mother covered her with all the blankets in the house to warm her up, but luckily Reiko seemed to recover pretty quickly and after a while she was laying on the couch normally and talking to us. She seemed normal now, just a little tried from the ordeal.

“What did happen to me?” she asked after a while. Suzuki and I looked at Kento and he tried to explain to her what he thought happened.

“Being a Yokai runs in your family. More specifically being a Yuki-Oona. And today those powers awakened in you.” Reiko looked at her mother and she nodded her head in encouragement.

“It's true Reiko. Your grandmother was a Yuki-Oona as well. I'm not one myself, but it seems you have the gift.”

“Is it really a gift?” Reiko seemed very down all of the sudden. Her mother seemed worried.

“You have to see it as one. It makes you special.”

“Special... So like Suzuki and Kiyomi?” Now she suddenly seemed a lot happier and looked at Suzuki and me.

“Can I help you now?” Now I couldn't really interpret her facial expression, she was still smiling, but there was something hidden underneath. I looked at Suzuki and he seemed to signal me to treat lightly. But Kento took over answering for me.

“You can actually help us. Having a Yuki-Oona on our side would help us enormously.” He added a smile to those words that made it hard to not be taken in by him and now Reiko seemed to genuinely smile again.

“That makes me happy,” was all she said in response.

“I thought of something we can do in regards to that,” exclaimed Kento all of the sudden. That was news to Kento and me as well so we were all ears.

“I know someone who knows more about all this, especially Yokais. I have to talk to her first, but I think we can visit her together next week and talk to her.” Kento looked around and after no one had any particular reaction he declared it a done deal and that he would give us the details soon. No one objected. After that we decided it was time to go back to Sophias house and we left Reiko in her mothers care. After we finally came back to the house I was so tired that I barely made it to my bed and I fell asleep instantly.