Snow had always been a wonderful occurrence for Kaichi. Having moved to Tokyo from Hokkaido only months earlier, the boy often missed the quaint, snow-covered landscape of his hometown. He had arrived in the middle of summer to a concrete jungle where he always felt lucky to even spot a tree or two. Now that the seasons had turned to winter, though, he began to feel a bit more at home. Not to mention, his two best friends, Saori and Masaki, were taking him on a trip outside of the city to enjoy this first snowfall.
"Kai! I've never seen anyone stare so intently out of a window before," Saori stated, tucking a lock of her long brown hair behind her ear as she stared with apparent concern. Kaichi broke from his daze, finally turning away from the window for the first time in what felt like an hour. The tip of his pale nose had turned red from the coolness of the window and even his black bangs felt cold against his forehead. Cold was a feeling he liked—a feeling that, though uncomfortable in the moment, made jumping into a hot spring or drinking warm tea feel even more satisfying. From the seat across from them, Masaki let out a laugh, giving Kaichi a light kick with his boot.
"Can't you tell, Saori? He misses his hometown with all the blizzards and snow monkeys!" Masaki was a year older than the other two—now a senior in college—and had the personality of the most stereotypical older brother. At times he was overlyprotective of his two best friends, then on a moments notice, he was roughhousing with them and tackling them to the ground. Kaichi grinned at Masaki, his face turning a bit redder at how easy it was to read his emotions. It was true that he wished he could at least return to Hokkaido to see his parents during the snowy winter season, but he was grateful that his friends had planned this trip just for him. The two had constantly gone out of their way to help him adjust to city life ever since his first day of school in Tokyo. As the train pulled into the station, Saori and Masaki picked up their bags and made their way to the door.
"Let's go before everyone else wants to get off too!" Saori exclaimed, pulling down on her bright pink, knit cap.
"Right! I still haven't learned to think like a city boy," Kaichi responded, pulling his own black backpack onto his shoulders. The train came to a halt moments later and the doors pulled open to a frigid breeze, snow falling lightly and melting instantly as it blew inside the train. Masaki led the way off the train, pulling out his phone to look up the location of their cabin. Saori and Kaichi, both far less responsible, instantly lit up as they took their first steps in the snow. It seemed as though their rush had been for nothing as no one followed them off the train.
"Wah! I haven't seen snow like this since I was a little kid!" Saori exclaimed, prancing down the stairs of the small, outdoor station and into the snow-covered dirt path. Her brown snow boots sunk down into the snow almost all the way up to where they met her grey leggings.
"Wow, look at how deep it is!" she exclaimed, pointing excitedly at how deep her foot had sunk. Kaichi hopped down the stairs and jumped into the snow as well, smiling at the sensation.
"It is pretty deep! I didn't know Tokyo could get this much snow!" Kaichi replied excitedly, taking a few more steps. The two continued to play around in the snow and would have continued if not for Masaki's commanding voice.
"You guys act like you've never seen snow before! Anyway, you can continue playing once we get to the cabin. Let's go," the older boy ordered, leading the way down the path, snow piling atop his short, black hair. Saori glared slightly, annoyed that her fun had been interrupted, but followed without a complaint. Kaichi let out a soft chuckle, amused by the pair's antics. Saori and Masaki had been friends since childhood, so each knew the other to the core. As he followed along, he once again silently expressed his gratitude that they had taken him into their group.
"You two know this is the area where people say the battle of gods took place, right?" Masaki stated, glancing behind at the other two with a grin.
"Yeah, yeah…who even believes in the gods anymore?" Saori stated, rolling her eyes. Although Kaichi didn't express it, he more or less agreed with the girl. Belief in the gods had shrunk significantly since earlier generations and shrines were hardly visited, save for the main gods. His grandpa had always told him stories of the gods and even about humans who had been able to interact with them. As a child, nothing excited him more than the idea that no matter where he went, he had gods looking over him. Particularly, the story about a girl who could walk the line between the human world and the world of gods had always stuck with him. As he grew up, though, his faith in their existence wavered and he had even become a bit cynical. Still, thinking of the girl who could meet the gods always gave him a pang of jealousy.
"Gods are real, Saori! And you better not denounce them or they won't look favorably on you anymore!" Masaki shot back, glancing from Saori to Kaichi. "It's said that this is the place where Bishamonten fought against the heavens and won."
"Oh, I've heard that story! Bishamon was one of the strongest war gods, so she was able to hold her own against a whole army!" Kaichi responded, his boots crunching against the snow.
"That's right! Maybe we'll be able to see a god here if we're lucky," Masaki replied, almost tripping in the deep now, but managing to catch himself. Saori let out a scoff, but Kaichi could see that the idea of meeting a god here excited even her.
"If we meet a god here, you'd better hope it's a nice one, or else I'm sacrificing you two to make my escape," the girl stated, a smirk covering her face. "Well, maybe not Kai…but definitely you, Masaki!"
"Hey! You can't sacrifice your best friend. Who else can leak all of your darkest secrets?" Masaki stated, an even bigger smirk appearing on his face. The two continued bickering as Kaichi took in his surroundings. The area they were in felt like a frozen tundra, spotted with bunches of evergreen trees here and there. In all the time that they had been walking, they'd yet to pass even a single person. Kaichi had no complaints—Masaki and Saori were loud enough on their own and he enjoyed the fact that it was just the three of them in nature.
"Ah…there it is! Finally!" Saori stated, pointing excitedly at the cabin after what seemed like half an hour of trekking through the snow. Masaki unlocked the front door and pushed it open, revealing a rather posh cabin. Two sets of bunk beds lined the far wall and a large fire place covered the adjacent wall. A comfy sofa sat in the middle of the cabin with a fuzzy, orange rug underneath. The three dropped their backpacks onto the couch, happy to be free of the weight.
"Wow, this place is really nice!" Kaichi exclaimed, climbing up onto one of the top bunks. Saori climbed onto the other top bunk, then pointed at the bunk below Kaichi.
"Don't get ideas, Masaki! You're sleeping under Kaichi," she stated, crossing her arms with a smile. Masaki sprawled himself out on the designated bunk with an over-the-top sigh of relief.
"Wouldn't have it any other way!" he replied, causing Saori to shoot him a glare.
"Whatever! Anyway, let's take a little rest and then explore the area around the cabin, okay?" the girl asked, pulling out her phone and beginning to text.
"Sounds good to me," Masaki responded, Kaichi nodding in agreement. The younger boy decided a nap would probably be best to regain energy and before he knew it, he was out like a light. He woke to Saori in the exact same position, texting furiously. Peering down at the lower bunk, he saw that Masaki was already awake with his boots on.
"Ah, you finally woke up. Now Saori can stop texting and we can actually go enjoy nature!" Masaki exclaimed. Saori rolled her eyes, but finally put her phone away and climbed down to the floor.
Kaichi rubbed his eyes and let out a small yawn before following suit. "I can't wait to go out there! It's just like Hokkaido!"
His friends both instantly lit up at the remark, clearly happy that he was enjoying the trip they had planned for him. As they finished lacing up their boots, Masaki quickly ushered them out the door. It was already quite late in the day and the sun was on a decline. Before long, it would be sunset—Kaichi's favorite time to be outside in the snow. The orange and pink of the sunset reflected off the snow and made for a sight that was impossible to see anywhere but out in nature.
"Let's get moving! We should get back to the cabin before it gets dark," Saori stated, leading the way into the snow. The trio walked for quite a while, simply enjoying the frozen landscape before they finally came upon an area of interest. The sun had begun to set and the lights that Kaichi loved began to glean off of the white snow. In some areas, it gleaned even brighter than normal, causing Kaichi to squint at what was amplifying the light.
"Oh!" he exclaimed, pointing towards the area where the light reflected particularly brightly. "It's ice! That whole area is a frozen pond!"
Masaki and Saori looked to where he was pointing, their faces lighting up with excitement.
"Wow, it's just like in those movies where people go skating on a frozen lake! I've never seen one in real life before!" Saori exclaimed. Masaki seemed equally as impressed by the spectacle, inching closer to it. He came to a halt near the edge, Saori following close behind. Masaki stopped the girl from progressing and turned to Kaichi.
"It's not safe, right? It's risky to go skating on this kind of ice!" he asked, causing Saori to look to Kaichi for confirmation as well. Kaichi shook his head, his black hair swinging back and forth before landing softly back against his forehead.
"No, it should be safe! I went skating on ponds like this all the time in Hokkaido!" he replied, coming to the edge of the pond himself. He had skated on frozen lakes with his friends countless times when they were little. He had to admit, Hokkaido was quite a bit colder than the area they were currently in, but tapping his foot on the ice, it felt quite sturdy.
"Hmm, well, I trust you Kai…but you're the pro, so you go first and show us how!" Saori said, looking from her friend to the frozen pond, then to Masaki. The older boy nodded in agreement.
"You should definitely go first, Kaichi. I'm definitely gonna slip and fall on my face, so it'd be good to see how a pro does it first," the older boy stated. Kaichi grinned at the thought of his friends slipping and sliding on the frozen surface, just like he had as a little kid.
"Okay, okay. I'll go first! You just have to keep your balance and pretend like you're wearing skates," he stated, taking a step onto the ice. As he pushed himself away from the perimeter of the pond, his skating skills instantly returned to him as he slid quite gracefully towards the middle.
"Wah! You should be a figure skater, Kai! You're actually really good," Saori stated, covering her shocked mouth with a mitten. Masaki nodded his agreement, then demanded that Kaichi do a spin for them. Kaichi grinned once again, happy that his skill could be of entertainment. As he reached the center of the pond, he did a quick spin, gaining an overzealous round of applause from the pair.
"Honestly, it's more fun to just watch you skate! I'm too scared of falling!" Masaki confessed. To his surprise, Saori nodded her agreement and the pair took a seat on some rocks popping out of the snow. As the sun really began to set, Kaichi did a few more tricks that he remembered from his childhood in front of his friends.
"Alright, it's getting pretty dark now," Kaichi stated, looking towards the horizon where the sun had all but disappeared. "Ready for the finale?"
Saori and Masaki let out a cheer that echoed through the silence of the wilderness. Kaichi turned his back towards them, looking towards the far side of the pond. This stunt would take a lot of momentum and he'd likely have to skate all the way to the far side. He turned back to his friends, then pointed towards the other side of the lake.
"Mmm, you guys should stand over there! It'll be a better view!" he stated. The pair nodded and made their way around the perimeter of the lake to the other side, waiting eagerly.
"Wow, I haven't done this since I was like ten," Kaichi stated to himself. With a smile, he pushed himself towards the far side of the pond, memories of his childhood filling his head. As he picked up speed and came to the middle of the pond, the last rays of sunshine glanced off of the far side of the lake, revealing ice that looked particularly shiny. A pang of dread shot through him as a memory came to his head. His parents had always warned him countless times to avoid ice that looked like glass.
"Where the ice is shiniest is also where it's weakest," he remembered his dad stating when he took him skating as a kid.
"Damn it!" he whispered to himself, realizing the mistake he had made. He had yet to skate on that side of the pond and hadn't bothered to scope it out, yet now he was going too fast to stop. It was a rookie mistake, and he was shocked that he had let himself forget something so obvious and critical. Kaichi dropped to his bottom and dug his heels into the ice, his gloves clawing in a desperate attempt to stop his momentum. Saori and Masaki looked at him with concern from the far side of the lake, trying to figure out what had happened.
"Are you okay, Kai?!" Saori shouted as the skating boy finally came to a halt on the ice. Kaichi looked down at where he had stopped and his eyes widened as he realized he could see perfectly through the transparent ice to the lake below.
"Shit…" he stated, this time loud enough for his friends to hear.
"What is it?!" Masaki exclaimed, beginning to move forward towards the ice, Saori following behind.
"Don't!" Kaichi shouted, doing his best not to move a muscle at the risk of cracking the ice beneath him. "Whatever you do, don't come on to the ice!"
"What are you talking about, Kai?! Don't tell me…" Saori stated as she realized what was happening. "What do we do?!"
"There's nothing you can do! We didn't bring any rope. I'll just have to get off of the pond by myself. If I fall, make sure you don't come onto the ice or you'll both fall in too!" Kaichi responded, daring to inch forward on his bottom towards the perimeter where his friends stood. A deathly silence filled the air as a sense of dread overtook the trio. The boy managed to make it almost a foot before a light crackling sound filled the air. The sun had all but set, but even in the darkness, he could see splinters spreading through the clear ice below him. As he stared helplessly at his friends, he realized it was too late to do anything. If only he had had one more chance to see his parents back in Hokkaido, he would've apologized for having made such a stupid mistake.
"Kaichi!" Masaki shouted from the shore, looking around frantically for something to throw out for his friend to grab.
"Kai!" Saori shouted, tears welling up in her eyes as she stared on at her friend helplessly. The crackling sound intensified as Kaichi gazed back at his friend, tears of regret beginning to form in his own eyes. He turned his head to look for any hint of the sunset, but night had already fallen upon the landscape. He opened his mouth to assure his friends that it would be okay, but the ice gave way in the moment, fracturing beneath him and plunging him into the icy water below. Even beneath the water, he could hear the screams of his friends, but the pond below the ice was pitch black and there was no longer any sunlight to illuminate the ice above him. The frigid water instantly caused him to lose his breathe as he gasped from the burning sensation. Swimming towards the surface, he couldn't break the ice above him no matter how hard he swung at it, the water slowing his punches.
As the last of his breathe slowly left him, he opened his eyes under the water and looked around. If there was a moment that a god would appear to save him, it had to be now. To his dismay, only darkness embraced him as his strength faded. Sinking towards the bottom of the pond, the darkness overtook him completely.
Yay, my first Noragami fic! I love this series so much. ^^ The gods will start appearing in next chapter, so be sure to sub and favorite! 3