It was another usual day for Snow: visiting the nearby forest early in the morning in search of herbs to brew a meal with, even though her need for feed has long been lost. But we know what they say: old habits die harder than people. As she walked the path carved into the snow, her blue cotton scarf fluttered around her neck. Her black leather boots made no sound as she made her way through the forest.

  She noticed a single small blue flower, matching her scarf’s color, sitting under a tree. A gentle blush colored her usually pale and transparent cheeks and her lips curled into a smile. She approached the little flower, and dug her hands into the dirt beneath the flower, then she lifted the pile of dirt with the flower on top. The feeling of cold dirt under her nails made a shiver run down her spine, but she brushed it off. She carried the little flower back to her cozy cabin at the foot of the snowy mountain with a cheerful smile.

  Once Snow entered her wooden cabin, she quickly picked a fancy pot for her newly found flower and carefully placed the flower inside. She stepped back and stared at the flower contently.

  “Looking good,” she stated.

  Snow quickly remembered what she had gone to in the forest for: herbs.

  “I off again. I’ll just go back,” she said while pouting to herself.

  #

  Once again, Snow had gone off to the forest. She quickly reached the same place where she was before, but now, instead of a little flower sitting under a tree, there were the remains of an avalanche. However, she thought little of it, since in these snowy mountains, avalanches were not uncommon. She lifted her hand—slightly shaky from the cold—palm towards the big mountains of snow. Snow’s fingertips glowed faintly. The air crackled, and the snow shuddered—then erupted into a whirlwind of white. When the flurry settled, a boy’s lifeless body was staring back at Snow, his skin as pale as the mountain peaks. Fear and dread quickly replaced her cheery expression as she saw the body.

  The body had a now fainting black locket laying next it, filled with pictures. Some snow was stuck to its eyelids, and the lips were blue from both the biting cold of the winter in these mountains and from hypoxemia.

  Snow quickly hurried over to the body, and she kneeled next to it. She brushed away the remaining snow from the body and noticed that it was a boy whose age was around her physical appearance, around 19, even though she’s over hundreds of years old.

  “Hey… wake up… please,…” Snow was practically begging the boy to wake up. After a few seconds, she realized the boy was no longer alive.

  “I guess there’s no point in trying to save him now.”

  Snow sat down on the snow-covered ground beside the body and waited. She waited for the soul to depart from the body. Soon enough, the boy’s fluorescent soul left his body, and he looked around, confused.

  “Hey, hey!”

  The boy stared at Snow in disbelief.

  “Hey?”

  “You’re a spirit now! I know it’s not the best promotion, but at least you don’t have to pay taxes from now on.”

  “A spirit?”

  “Yes! A spirit!”

  “What happened to me? Did I die?”

  “You sure did.”

  The boy’s expression suddenly turned sour and his face went pale, if that’s even possible in his case. He turned to look down and saw his own dead body. He furrowed his brows in disgust and immediately got nauseous. He started clutching at his mouth while gagging violently.

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  The boy’s expression suddenly turned sour and his face went pale, if that’s even possible in his case. He turned to look down and saw his own dead body. He furrowed his brows in disgust and immediately got nauseous. He started clutching at his mouth while gagging violently.

  “You okay there?” Snow asked in a worried tone.

  She comfortingly put her hand on the lower on the boy’s back. He looked up at Snow with eyes brimming with tears. In her hundreds of years of leading souls to the afterlife, she has seen no one so terrified.

  “Yeah, it’s just-” another loud gag cut his sentence off.

  “You don't have to say it. I understand...” Snow replied empathetically.

  #

  Seeing the boy having a hard time facing his own dead body, Snow extended her hand forward, palm towards the boy’s corpse. The body started perishing among black flames.

  “Is that better?”

  The boy started tearing up even more. A few tears rolled down his cheeks. His eyes turned hollow, even his spirit from started getting gray. Snow, taken back by the sudden change in his behavior, widened her eyes. Under her hundreds of years of leading souls to the afterlife, she has seen no one so utterly terrified.

  Snow leaned closer to the boy and helped him stand up. However, he did not try to maintain his standing position and fell back on his butt. Snow looked down at him with genuine concern.

  Suddenly, a random thought popped into Snow’s head.

  “Hey, do you want to live with me?”

  Snow knew that her duty was to lead souls to the afterlife. However, she saw something in this boy—something that made her want to change his fate. Maybe the way he looked at her, or the seek for companionship after the loneliness that had consumed her whole from a life in solitude.

  “Live with you?”

  Snow’s adorable fox ears stood up with excitement.

  “Yeah!”

  “But I don’t even know your name yet.”

  “Oh, sorry ‘bout that. It’s Snow. And what’s your name?”

  “Fiu.”

  “Fiu..? That’s a strange name. I’ve heard nothing like that before.”

  “Guess I’m just unique.”

  “You sure are. So very unique.” Snow’s eyes sparkled with adoration.

  Snow realized that she still hadn’t gotten an answer to her question.

  “So? Do you want to live with me?”

  Fiu looked at her with a puzzled expression.

  “Didn’t I die already? What does she mean by ‘living’ with her?” He thought to himself.

  “It’s a cozy place. I’m sure you’d enjoy it.”

  Snow tried to convince him.

  “What does it look like?”

  “I’d show you, but you’ll have to stand up first.”

  “Oh, yeah.”

  Fiu slowly rose from the ground. Snow, being the pushover she is, forcefully grabbed Fiu’s hand and started dragging him down the path that’s leading to her cabin. Fiu had finally noticed that she has fox ears and a huge, fluffy, continuously wagging tail.

  “What are you even?”

  Snow seemed taken aback by the sudden question and she turned back to face Fiu with an unreadable expression.

  “By what means?”

  “You have ears and a tail stuck to your ass.”

  “Ohhh! That… I’m a fox spirit.”

  “A what?”

  “Basically just a normal humanoid being, but half-fox or something, I’m not entirely sure either.”

  Fiu didn’t get a full answer, but he was satisfied anyway.

  “Okay then.”

  Snow started dragging him down the path faster.

  “By the way, if you don’t mind me asking, how did you end up dying?”

  Fiu tried his best to remember, but he could hardly make out anything.

  “I was-”

  Fiu fell to his knees and started gagging, making the two of them halt to a stop once again.

  “I guess I shouldn’t ask about his death then,” Snow thought to herself.

  “Woah! You okay there?”

  Snow kneeled next to him and tried to comfort him.

  “Do I look like I’m okay?” Fiu asked himself.

  Fiu stopped gagging at the thought of how obvious the answer was to his question and eventually stood up.

  “Yeah, I’m ‘aight.”

  Better to impress than to depress…

  “O-kay?”

  Snow started dragging Fiu along with renewed passion.

  “What were you doing? And how did you find my… body?”

  “Hm? I was going to the forest to get some herbs to make soup with.”

  Snow remembered the herbs.

  “Oh, right! Herbs. I completely forgot about them!”

  Snow changed courser in another direction.

  “…”

  After a few minutes of walking in awkward silence, they reached a place filled with smaller green plants and not-so-good-looking mushrooms sticking to the sides of trees. Snow let go of Fiu’s hand and leaned over to crack down a flat, brown mushroom from a tree’s bark, unknowingly giving Fiu a good look on her backside, but Fiu didn’t seem to care even a bit.

  Once she had finished picking up some herbs, she threw everything into a leather pouch.

  “We’re done here.”

  Snow once again started walking towards her cabin, expecting Fiu to follow suit, and he did.

  After what seemed to be an eternity, they finally reached Snow’s cabin.

  “It’s cozy, isn’t it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  They both walked inside. The first thing Fiu noticed was random stuff and clothes thrown all across the room while Snow’s eyes were lingering on old paintings hung on the walls of the cabin.

  “How can a girl be living like this?” Fiu thought.

  “Well then, sit down and let me make the best soup you’ll ever taste!”

  “Already making me food? What are you even..?”

  He paid it no more thought and sat down on the couch in the center of Snow’s living room.