Five years later, I trudged through the snow, the whistling wind and the crunching of snow underfoot was the only thing that filled the silence in the mountains. Each year since I met the yuki-onna, I climbed the mountain once a week during winter hoping that I'd run into her again, with no luck so far. I'd been searching for her for so long, and as I climbed the mountain for what felt like the thousandth time, I started to believe that this was pointless. Maybe I'd never see her again, or possibly she had been completely imaginary. I kept telling myself that I knew what I saw, but I was starting to think that it was time I accepted that it was never happening, and to just move on with my life.
There was one possibility I had thought of, that maybe I'd only ever see her again if I got lost. One of the most famous stories of a yuki-onna has her appearing in front of two woodcutters who were taking shelter from a snowstorm by resting in a small hut. In the legend she killed the older of the two woodcutters but ended up sparing the other due to finding him beautiful. I'd argue that I had the fact that I'm not exactly ugly going for me if I ever ran into her again, but I knew that if I did need to be lost that I'd never see her again. After all, I had been up and down those mountains so many times that I doubted I would ever get lost again.
Eventually the sky grew darker, I let out a sigh of frustration that I had no luck once again. The previous year I had found a small, abandoned cabin deep in the mountains, and so I decided I'd rest there for the night, and would head back down tomorrow. When I got there, I found it exactly the way it was the last time I was there: dark, dusty, and cold from the lack of insulation. However there was a simple fireplace, and so after putting down my bags, I left once again to look for tinder and some firewood to get a fire going.
As I had been gathering firewood, snow gently began to fall, and the sun finally fell under the horizon. I guess I was getting set up just in time to not be stuck out in the snow in the middle of the night. As I walked back to the cabin, I felt the snow getting heavier and heavier. When I finally got back to the cabin, I could barely see a few feet ahead of me, but I saw in front of the cabin door was a familiar silhouette, who I immediately recognized. I began to rush over, and as I got a good look at the figure, I ended up confirming that it was the yuki-onna, looking the exact same as she did when I last met her.
"Holy shit..." I muttered as I approached
"I don't understand you, for years now you've climbed this mountain and everytime you leave the mountain I can see how frustrated you are. And yet despite what seems to upset you so, you still return." She said in a solemn tone "So tell me, why do you keep coming back?"
At the time, I couldn't help but laugh a bit, the weight I had put on my shoulders for so long as I hoped to find her, had finally come to an end. "I keep coming back for you. Five years ago you saved my life, and I've wanted to thank you, and ask why you saved me. After all, don't yuki-onna prey upon the lives of humans?"
She silently observed me for a minute before the snowstorm that had suddenly formed calmed down and she said "So you were that child... Truth be told I had spared your life because of your age, but by you coming to find me again, I take it that you've come to give your life to me?"
At that moment, I felt a sinking disappointment in my stomach as I backed away and said "You're going to kill me?" I always knew this was a possibility, but when she didn't immediately kill me I had hoped otherwise.
As she saw me recoil in fear, she covered her mouth with her hand and giggled as she said "Luckily for you, in this day and age it is... troublesome to kill humans, more than it's worth at the very least. But still, I ask that you leave and never speak of our encounter again."
She removed her hand from her mouth, and I saw her smiling softly, giving me a smile I couldn't help but find beautiful.
I walked closer and said "I'll leave tomorrow when the sun rises again, but for now at the very least, won't you give me your company?"
