Snowblind

by RLTygurr

After dropping out of University and leaving his toxic parents, Naofumi takes a job in some place called Melromarc as a mountain rescue. He quickly finds that it isn't quite what he expected, especially when he meets a beautiful demi-human girl who always pushes herself too far. Follow our hero(?) as he conquers the mountain and her heart!

11. Chapter 11: Happy Little Family

It's not over until the queen screams loud enough to shatter glass.

I'm back with another chapter after a very long delay! Life's been rough, so I'm doing what I can to get by. Hope everyone is hanging in there.

Enjoy!

It was a warm morning, and not because of the temperature. A content smile was plastered on my face as I looked over to Raphtalia. She was helping me make breakfast; today's meal of choice was pancakes and eggs. It wasn't exactly something that required two people to make, but the fact that we were cooking together made it more enjoyable.

I gently slipped behind her and wrapped my arms around her waist. Raphtalia leaned back into me and smiled before pecking a quick kiss on my cheek. "You're so affectionate this morning." she said, turning back to flipping the pancake batter on the skillet.

"I can't help it. I never thought I'd feel like this."

She giggled. "Like what? Having someone cook for you in the morning?"

I shook my head. "No. It's...hard to explain." After being branded a failure by my family and running off to what was supposed to be Switzerland, I had fully believed I was digging my own grave. I'd had a feeling there was something odd about the job request. It seemed too good to be true for some random Japanese person to get chosen for a job overseas for minimal qualifications.

In the end, it was all just an excuse to escape and I knew it.

"How so?"

"This just...I dunno, but it feels nice." I said, immersing my face into the back of her head. Her ears flicked twice, hitting me with a face full of fuzziness. "I never thought I'd be in this kind of place in my life."

Raphtalia turned down the heat on the burner and turned around to face me. "What do you mean? Being on your own without your parents?"

"No. I never thought I'd know what being a happy family is like."

She blushed, momentarily stunned with widened eyes. Then a soft smile grew on her face as she brought a hand up to my cheek. "Oh, Naofumi..."

Heat rose in my cheeks as I averted my eyes in embarrassment. "I am happy. Especially now that I'm here...with you." I felt a pull on the back of my head as Raphtalia pulled me in for a long kiss. Her lips were as soft as ever, with the slightest hint of minty toothpaste still lingering on her breath.

She looked at me with an emotion that I couldn't quite place. "I'm not sure what a happy family is like either. Whatever this is, though, I like it." Raphtalia flipped back around to resume cooking. Slightly disappointed at the lack of contact, I moved back in for another hug.

A spatula stopped an inch from my face, flinging a drop of batter onto my cheek. "Stop being handsy and let me cook, Naofumi! Otherwise we'll never leave the kitchen!" Even though she chastised me, the playful smirk on her face told me she wasn't upset.

I chuckled, wiping the batter off my face and licking it. "Fine, I guess I am pretty hungry anyway. I'm trying to hit the old lady's store before noon. Are you free to come with me?" I said, moving over to help her flip the eggs on a separate skillet. The fresh steam that wafted from our meal-in-progress was filled with a scent so delicious that it made my stomach growl.

She giggled and nodded. "Hehe, someone's hungry! And yep, I don't work until tonight. All of us at the cafe are scheduled to work at the same time since there's supposed to be some kind of concert happening tonight."

"Sounds like it'll be pretty busy." I said in reply as the food was finished. We both sat down to enjoy our small plate of pancakes and eggs. Oddly enough, they tasted better than when I made them by myself.

Could it be that whole 'the secret ingredient is love' cliché at work?

"What kind of concert?" I probed.

She shrugged. "It's some rock concert, but I don't know much about the band. If I wasn't working, I'd ask you to go with me."

I waved it off. "Eh, rock isn't really my favorite type of music anyway. I'm sure I'll be able to hear it from just about anywhere in downtown." It would have been something fun to do with Raphtalia, even if it wasn't my ideal music genre. Oh well, there was always something going on at the mountain so it wasn't such a big loss.

We finished eating in comfortable silence. I decided to throw the news on the TV just to give us something to watch while we ate, but there was nothing too interesting to hear about. Something about a girl getting lost on the mountain trying to find the perfect ice-fishing spot, or something.

Some people are crazy, I swear.

The two of us finished our morning routine and headed toward the antique shop. When we reached my building's lobby on the first floor, we spotted Ren nursing a cup of coffee. He looked exhausted.

"Don't fall asleep or your coffee will get cold, Ren." Raphtalia said with a giggle. He blushed a bit at the attention.

"Have you not been getting enough sleep?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No I haven't. I've been...uh...busy lately."

I raised an eyebrow. "What could you possibly be so busy with that you're losing sleep?" He averted his eyes, obviously not wanting to talk about it. "Well...just don't eat much sugar and drink plenty of water; it should help you sleep when you can."

Raphtalia poked me in the side, causing me to flinch and bend away from her touch. "I didn't know you were a personal trainer on top of a mountain rescue." Her teasing made me roll my eyes.

"It's not that hard. A single internet search could tell you the same thing."

Ren downed the rest of his coffee, gagging a bit as the hot liquid slid down his throat. Raphtalia and I sweatdropped as his coughing continued far longer than it should have. "Hey, um, are you okay?" Raphtalia asked.

"Yeah, *cough!* yeah I'm fine." Ren continued to cough for a few moments. Thankfully, we were the only ones in the lobby aside from an elderly couple in the corner. He was making quite a scene, so it would have been embarrassing if a lot of people were around to hear it. Ren stood up and tossed his coffee cup into the garbage. "So anyway, I have somewhere to be this morning so I'll see you guys later."

I nodded. "Yeah we're headed to some antique shop today."

He looked shocked. "Really? That's exactly where I was heading."

What an odd coincidence. If it was Itsuki, I may not have been so surprised. I wasn't sure if Ren even knew that the old lady was capable of teaching magic. And even if he was, what would he need it for?

Raphtalia's ears perked up and her tail flicked. "Oh! We could all go together, then!"

"Sure, I don't see why not."

I looked up the address on my phone as we walked down the street. It was a small shop in a section of downtown surrounded by nightclubs, so it probably got ignored most of the time. A bell jingled from the door as we entered.

"Good morning!" The granddaughter from the previous night greeted us with a smile.

"Good morning! How is your grandmother feeling?" Raphtalia asked.

"Oh she's-"

"Oh I'm fine, dear. Don't you worry about me." The old woman appeared from behind a hanging curtain that led to the back of the store. She was in a wheelchair, slowly pushing herself around. A thin wrap surrounded her leg. "If it weren't for these blasted joints of mine, I'd still be walking around just fine!"

The woman tried to push herself out of the wheelchair, but nearly stumbled forward before her granddaughter caught her. "Grandma, please. The doctor told you to stay in the chair for at least a few days until your leg heals."

"The doctor can bite me." she said with a pout.

"Grandma!"

I took the time to look around the shop as the feisty old woman argued with her granddaughter. Old, worn objects were carefully displayed in glass cases. Some outdated-looking video game consoles were set up in the corner, most likely for children to play if their families wanted to browse the less exciting wares. There were even vintage wines on a shelf behind the counter for connoisseurs.

Sadeena might like that about this place. Maybe she'd buy the entire stock and help the old woman's business, which could be a form of thanks for teaching us magic. Speaking of magic...

"Let's take care of this young man first. How can I help you, dear?" the old woman turned to Ren, who had his hands in his pockets with a nervous expression on his face.

"I...um...I'm looking for something a little...special."

The woman's eye gleamed mischievously. "Oho, something special? I happen to have a collection of vintage wedding rings if that's what you're aiming for."

Ren's face exploded into a blush, causing Raphtalia and I to burst into laughter. "N-no! That's not what I'm looking for at all! I'm looking for magic and I was told this is where to find it!" he shouted indignantly, before turning his head and looking away. "Maybe this was a bad idea..." he mumbled just loud enough for me to hear.

Poor guy can't take a joke, can he?

"We're here for the same thing, so you're in the right place." I said, gently punching his shoulder like I would have done for my younger brother.

The old woman's eyes narrowed. "And what do you need magic for?"

"Huh?" Confusion was written all over Ren's face. I hope I didn't need a reason to learn it too, otherwise she'd be disappointed. My reasoning was literally to do something cool, and maybe help Raphtalia win a freestyle competition.

Not exactly a noble cause, but it's all I had.

"I...It's a little silly..." Ren's blush returned as he clenched his fists. I could clearly see the small war waging in his mind as he considered his words. Finally, he raised his head and resolutely locked eyes with the shop owner. "B-but I have people I want to protect! I want to learn to use magic so I can help people!"

I looked back to the old woman's knowing smile. She already knew, didn't she!? She just liked torturing him and his socially awkward self!

"You have the eyes of a good person, dear. I'm more than happy to show you the basics." she said before turning to me. "And you, boy? What reasons do you and your girlfriend have?"

Raphtalia giggled nervously as a bead of sweat dripped down her temple. I coughed into my hand, finding that the wall to the side of us suddenly looked very interesting. "We...um..." Raphtalia began, ears pinned sideways. "We're trying to use magic to win a competition."

"Yeah, uh...what she said." I added, helpfully.

All was silent aside from the shop owner's daughter slapping a hand against her forehead. I felt a blush creeping onto my face. This was so awkward, and did Ren have to look at me with such disappointment!?

Meanwhile, the old woman wheezed out a laugh. "Oh dear, you think I don't know? All kids want to look cool these days; you're no different. Besides, even if you didn't have a reason I would teach you all."

I sweatdropped. This old lady's teasing was starting to bother me more than I liked to admit.

"Anyway, come to the back and I'll show you the tomes." The woman tried spinning the wheelchair's wheels to turn, but was having trouble. Her granddaughter tried to help, but the owner swatted her hands away and said she could do it herself. With a sigh, we all followed her under the curtain to the back room.

Everything was lined on shelves and clearly labeled. At a glance, I could tell that the books were old. Very old. Old enough that the covers were falling apart and the amount of dust could choke you to death. The owner tried to stand and grab a crystal ball off one of the shelves, but the granddaughter snagged it first.

"Why you-"

"So first, you'll need to touch this crystal ball." She interrupted her grandmother with a smile, placing the orb on a nearby table. "This will tell you what your magical affinities are. Once we know that, we can pick out which tomes are appropriate for each of you to learn from. Who wants to go first?"

Raphtalia and I shared a glance, then turned to Ren who pointed at us. "Uh...ladies first?" he offered weakly. I shrugged.

"Sure. Go ahead, Raphtalia."

"Okay." She approached the table and laid her hand on the orb's surface. It took a few moments before the orb began to brighten. "It's warm..." Raphtalia said in awe, looking down at the crystal ball. My own eyes widened as I clearly saw two masses of light swirling around inside the ball. One was a golden yellow, and the other was a dark purple that was nearly black.

The shop owner looked pleased with how interested we were, if the smug look on her face was any indication. "Seems like you have an affinity for light and dark magic, my dear. Not very common these days, at least from my experience."

"So...what exactly does that do?" Ren asked. "Does it like...let her make light and stuff?"

"Oh she can do much more than that! The girl here could learn to make light, snuff it out, create illusions, and even become invisible!"

"Invisible!?" Raphtalia cried. "I-I could do something like that!?"

I was shocked. Something like invisibility magic existed in this world? Wouldn't that make it extremely easy to commit crimes and get away with it?

"Naofumi...what's with that look on your face?" Raphtalia seemed to pick up on my line of thoughts somehow. Damn, she's sharp.

"Nothing." I waved her off.

"Well anyway, here's the book for learning those types of spells! Once you get the basics down, the rest should come naturally." The granddaughter knelt down and plucked a dusty tome off the bottom shelf before handing it over. "Next?"

"Go ahead, Ren." I said. He followed Raphtalia's lead, and after he touched the orb it glowed with a mixture of blue and white.

"Hmm...You have water and support affinities. Water is pretty common, but support is...rare." the granddaughter said with a conflicted expression. "Water is self-explanatory, I hope. Support magic..." she trailed off, looking to her grandmother for help.

The old woman chuckled, much to her granddaughter's embarrassment. "She's a little young to know any support magic firsthand, so I'll explain. Support spells enhance people. For example, you can protect someone from harm with a spell like Guard."

"How exactly does that work?" I asked, hand on my chin in thought. "Does it make your skin harder or something?"

She shook her head. "Not at all. Think of it like a small force field that surrounds you, keeping you safe. It won't keep you safe from a bullet or anything that powerful, but it can prevent most normal injuries for a while."

"Interesting...that would be pretty useful for keeping someone safe while rescuing them, right Naofumi?" Raphtalia asked, tail wagging behind her. Every time it brushed against my leg I wanted to touch it, but that was probably as inappropriate as groping someone in public.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea!" Ren's excitement showed on his face. "If someone's already hurt, a spell like that could make it easy for us to move them without causing more damage!" His face fell. "But...it doesn't really help with preventing the injuries unless we know it's going to happen."

I had to admit, that sounded extremely helpful in the right situation. But he was right; it would be impossible for him to cast the spell on everyone on the mountain to keep people safe. By the time he'd know someone was hurt, it was too late. "I guess so. Still, it's a lot better than nothing."

"You're last. Go ahead and see what you've got." the old woman said, motioning for me to touch it. I did as I was told, taking a deep breath as the sphere warmed underneath my touch. It was a soft warmth, the same as if I'd put my hands near the space heater in my little hut for work. Unlike a flickering fire, the heat didn't come and go; it was steady.

The crystal ball began to glow and take on a shade of light green and white, and I took my hand off. "So...what's that mean?" I asked, looking to the two women who owned the shop. They were dead silent, jaws open in shock.

"Y-you...you have healing magic!" the grandmother shouted, pointing at me. I recoiled in shock at her outburst.

"Wh-"

"Quickly now, get the book!"

"Right!"

"Wait wait wait, what the hell's going on!?" I asked, confused as the young woman frantically searched the shelves for a specific book. Raphtalia's ears stood at attention as her head followed the woman back and forth around the back room.

"Found it!"

"Found what!?" I asked, before a small book was dropped into my hands. It was much smaller than the ones Raphtalia and Ren had received, almost the size of an instruction booklet for an appliance or something. I held it up sideways to see just how thin it was. "Is this really all there is?"

The owner wheeled herself over and fixed me with a stern glare. "Now you listen up, boy. An affinity for healing magic hasn't been seen since the Great War centuries ago! Do you even know what that means!?"

She wheeled even closer unconsciously, and I took a step back so my feet wouldn't get run over by the wheelchair. "I...I guess I can heal wounds?" I said, not confident in my response in the slightest. Raphtalia grabbed my hand excitedly.

"Naofumi..! If you can heal wounds, then doesn't that mean you could do even better at your job!?" she asked, and the realization dawned on me. Ren was just saying how he could prevent wounds, but couldn't heal them. Apparently, I had the other piece of the puzzle. Together, we could theoretically protect and fix wounds if we found someone on the mountain.

Quite useful, indeed! But...

"How the hell is that supposed to help me in a snowboarding competition?..."

...

The owner slapped her palm against her face. "You have the power to bring someone back from the brink of death, and you're more interested in a contest...I think I'm ready to die now. I've lived too long." she said, leaning back in her chair with a sigh.

After a quick primer on how to actually feel the magic inside of them, we began reading through our magic tomes. I decided to start with healing magic, since it seemed the most practical out of all magical types. Being able to hurl lightning bolts or fireballs may be awesome, but destruction was pretty much all they were good for. The ability to heal injuries without any supplies was useful even in a modern society such as this.

Raphtalia picked it up like a natural; before we left, she was already scratching the surface of casting her first spell. Rishia's talent for using both magic and Hengen Musou really stands out now. Both of those things are so similar and yet so different at the same time.

Ren and I seemed to have a bit of trouble focusing on it, and made little progress. Something about the words in the books prevented us from helping each other. The old lady said that only those with an affinity for that type of magic can even read the text, which would explain why she couldn't help me with any healing magic.

She'd most likely never seen anyone able to use it even in her long lifetime. The booklet that held the healing spells had probably found its way into her possession and stayed there, collecting dust for decades...maybe longer. At least with Ren and Raphtalia's spells, the old lady had some kind of assistance she could give. For me, not so much.

By the time we left, it was just after noon. Raphtalia wound up having to go to work early because there was a sudden influx of people for the concert. For a few hours I sat in my room, idly watching the news and fiddling with my magic booklet. Apparently this event was less of a concert and more like a festival celebrating the beginning of the freestyle competition. It was supposed to go all week, with a variety of bands playing live music in the evenings.

It's a good thing Raphtalia got plenty of practice in already. If I'd known that she'd be working overtime this whole week, I'd have tried a bit harder to calm her nerves.

I added cooking a nice dinner for Raphtalia to my list of day-off duties. It had been a while since I'd cooked anything major aside from breakfast, so I decided to thaw out some beef and other ingredients for later.

Even as I read through the magic booklet over and over, it barely made any sense. The language of this world translated itself for me, but the grammar in the booklet was all over the place. The words were so scattered that it was difficult for me to understand how they were supposed to fit together. Since I had time on my hands, I wrote down the words on a sheet of paper and ripped them into separate slips.

This was the best decision I could have possibly made.

It took quite some time to roughly translate a single section of the booklet. The separate spells weren't clearly marked, just sort of thrown in where they fit. It almost looked more like a sketchbook than an instruction manual, with diagrams and runes that didn't seem to have anything to do with the magic itself. Maybe, long ago, there was some kind of study of magic and its inner workings.

It wasn't very helpful now that magic wasn't so common, but it would have been interesting to see.

The next few days passed without incident, though I barely got to see Raphtalia in the evenings due to the festival. The cafe was apparently bombarded by foreigners and tourists who were in town for the competition, so she barely got a break to eat or sleep. Every day, I'd cook a nice dinner and bring it to her during one of her breaks to eat. Even though they had food at the cafe, they barely had enough time to eat a small sandwich let alone have something cooked for them to eat.

I had a feeling that Rifana's teasing held a bit of jealousy, but I was told that Raphtalia shared the food with the other girls so they could all enjoy it when they had breaks. It made me happy to know I was helping people even when I wasn't on duty, though it was a little stressful to come up with recipes that were simple but filling. I tried to give them some level of variety to liven things up while they were so exhausted.

I wasn't a five star chef, but I was enough of a cook to have some pride to defend. A cheap-looking, sloppy dinner would make me look bad. Not to mention how ashamed I'd be for giving my girlfriend less-than-satisfactory food.

Now it's Friday, the day before the competition begins. Throughout the week, Raphtalia had spent nearly all of her spare time with me to help calm her nerves. I couldn't blame her, since this would be her first major appearance. She really wanted to make a good impression on the judges, even if they were supposedly a bit racist and biased.

Our time together included sleeping together in my room, which I obviously didn't mind in the slightest. She had a tendency to find herself practically laying on top of me overnight. For some odd reason that I couldn't place, waking up to seeing nothing but her made every morning a little easier.

Even if getting out of bed was much harder.

The warmth always helped; it was starting to get colder these days. I wasn't sure how the seasons worked here, but it must have been closing in on something akin to autumn. On a mountain as tall as this one, that meant it still had plenty of room to get colder. It also meant that the weather could be significantly more dangerous when it got bad. Hence my current situation.

"Damn, I can't see anything out here!" Motoyasu's voice crackled through the radio. "Where the hell did this blizzard come from!?"

I wiped my goggles, but my vision was quickly invaded by a mass of white flakes that stuck to me like glue. No matter what I did, seeing more than a few feet in front of me was impossible. "I don't know, but we need to hurry and find these people. Unless they found some shelter, they're not going to last long!" I said, gritting my teeth.

"But where could they be? We have no idea where they even went!" Itsuki complained from behind me on the snowmobile.

I shook my head. "Either way, we have to do what we can or they're goners."

Apparently, a small group of three people went missing somewhere on the mountain overnight. One of their friends, a woman by the name of Therese, came to us in a panic when she hadn't heard back from them in quite some time. Cell phone reception wasn't very good once you left the resort area of the mountain, so it wasn't uncommon to lose contact with someone for a few hours if they were on the slopes.

However, they'd apparently been gone for over a day. And with weather like this, that meant serious danger. Especially if they didn't have food or fresh water.

"Shit man, I can barely hear anything with this wind!" Motoyasu cried from the snowmobile ahead of us. "If this blizzard gets any worse, we might get trapped out here too!"

Itsuki sighed behind me. "Hold up a sec', Motoyasu. Let me try something and see if it works."

"Huh?"

It wasn't until I got closer that I noticed he'd actually stopped, and I pulled up beside him. We shared a shrug as Itsuki held out a hand. "I can't say for sure if this will work, but it's better to give it a shot."

He mumbled some words under his breath, and the telltale sign of magic emanated from his body. That slight warmth and tingly feeling was instantly recognizable to someone who'd experienced magic before.

"Woah, woah, what are you doing!?" Motoyasu yelled in shock.

"First Tornado!"

The magic erupted from him as the wind bent and swirled around us. It was nearly impossible to see beyond the wall of wind and snow, but within the eye of his tornado we could see almost completely clearly.

"Woah..." Ren's mouth was probably hanging open right now based on his tone, but the face mask he wore to keep himself warm shrouded it from sight. "I would have never thought wind magic could be used for something like this."

"You guys know magic too? Ha, and here I thought I was special!" Motoyasu said, revving the snowmobile. "Anyway, let's get a move on! Now that we can actually see a little, we might stand a chance of finding those people!"

I wasn't shocked in the slightest. Itsuki and Rishia talked often, so it wasn't out of the question for her to find out his affinities and teach him something. She had an affinity for all elemental magic, and he happened to have an affinity for wind. However, I wondered what Motoyasu's affinities were.

Questions for later.

With our vision somewhat cleared, it was much easier to keep track of where we were and where we've been. At first we went up and down the slopes to make sure we didn't miss anyone, then checked the backcountry slopes as well. A pit grew in my stomach as we failed to find anyone.

The light of the evening sun had already faded. If it weren't for the snowmobiles, we wouldn't be able to see anything despite Itsuki's magic keeping the snow flurries out of our eyes. We'd been searching for nearly two hours already to no avail.

"Where are they?..." I mumbled to myself. There was nowhere of note to go on the mountain than the slopes, for the most part. A couple hiking trails here and there, but nothing so far out of the way that someone could get terribly lost. The trail markers were bright and clear, and emergency alarms were placed at each one. Anyone who needed help could easily find the nearest marker and signal for aid. That would go straight to Aultcray - and by extension, us.

So where on Earth did these people go? Scratch that; this world probably wasn't called Earth.

"I think it's safe to say they aren't on the slopes. We've searched every single one, including the backcountry." Ren said as both of our snowmobiles slowed to a stop. Itsuki's breaths were labored from casting a magic spell for so long. I was impressed he managed this much at all.

I sure as hell couldn't hold a spell for an hour.

"Where else would they go, then?" I asked out loud, before turning back to the blond boy behind me. "Go ahead and let the spell go, Itsuki. It's helped a lot, but we need you to be in a condition to help people too."

"O-okay...thanks." he said. As he relaxed, the wind howled in our ears and made us shiver. The temperature around us plummeted immediately. I flexed my fingers to keep my blood flowing; that was about the only thing I could do to keep myself warm. The snowmobile's engine only warmed my lower half.

"Damn, that's cold." Motoyasu cursed under his breath. "What did that Therese girl say they were here for? Maybe there's some kind of clue."

"I think she said they were here for the festival, but they were all here to do different things." Ren explained. "She didn't go into much detail though. Just that one of them was a bit...odd. She was the one who was lost at first."

"Oh yeah, I remember that now. Something about...fishing?"

My head shot up. "Wait a sec, you said fishing?"

My outburst startled them. "Y-yeah, what's that got to do with anything?" Motoyasu asked, arms huddled around himself to stay warm.

"Everything! I saw something on the news about some girl who searches for ice fishing spots and got lost earlier this week!" I cried. "There's only one spot I know of where that would make sense, and it's on the other side of the mountain past the hiking trails!"

"So we were in the wrong area the whole time..." Itsuki said despondently. His tone quickly shifted from exhausted to determined. "Then let's not waste any time. Once we get closer, I can use my magic to keep our vision clear."

"Thanks. We'll need it once we get far enough out there; the terrain is pretty rough."

The night was cold as we made our way past the resort and onto the hiking trails. I tried my best to recall the path that Granny took Raphtalia and I for our Hengen Musou training, but it was hard to do when I could barely see twenty feet in front of me. Still, I had a feeling I was generally headed in the right direction. Luckily, the trip was much shorter by snowmobile than by foot.

Still, by the time we reached the lake, it was probably close to 9:00pm.

"There, I think that's it!" I said, pointing down the hill that overlooked the lake. Just as it was before, the water was mostly unfrozen. Small patches of ice lay on the outer edges, but the rushing water kept it from solidifying too much.

"You think these people are around here, Naofumi?" Ren asked, pulling down his face mask so I could hear him. "I don't see anyone nearby."

"Only one way to find out. Let's take a quick look around the area." Motoyasu said, revving the snowmobile and driving down the small cliff and into the miniature valley where the lake was. I did the same. Itsuki lazily collapsed against my back in exhaustion.

We swept our surroundings for anything out of the ordinary, but it was hard to find anything with the thick layer of snow covering the area. Itsuki - either from exhaustion or a genuine desire for the cold embrace of death - had the bright idea of dunking his face into the water to wake himself back up, but he quickly regretted it. The water was beyond freezing, and the droplets of water froze to his skin almost immediately after he lifted his head back out.

We reconvened not long after that, shivering in our heavy coats. Aside from the thin beam of light from each of our flashlights, we were in complete darkness. The blizzard had covered the sky and kept the light of the moon from giving us any natural light. Ren rubbed his gloved hands together and blew warm air onto them.

"They aren't here, Naofumi. We've looked everywhere and haven't seen a thing." he said, putting his newly warmed hands over his ears. "Y-you guys don't think they're-"

"They're not, Ren." Motoyasu stopped the boy's line of thinking with a tone of finality. "We can't give up on them. Not when a pretty girl like Therese is waiting so diligently for her friends to return!" I would have sweatdropped if the air wasn't cold enough to freeze it instantaneously. The guy really had an obsession with pretty women.

He wasn't wrong though. Therese was very attractive, but it shouldn't make a difference for whether or not we continue to search for her friends.

"Let's just look a bit further. Maybe they found some natural shelter." I said, going back to the snowmobile and turning it back on. The constant rumbling between my legs was starting to make me go numb, but the warmth of the engine helped keep me sane. How cold was it out here? It had to be well into the negatives, and the wind chill coupled with the snow only made it worse.

Raphtalia is probably worried sick about me. It's too bad there's zero phone reception out here, otherwise I'd send her a quick text to let her know I'm still alive.

The four of us ventured a bit further from the lake. As soon as we left the small valley, the mountain walls no longer protected us from the frigid gale of the blizzard. The temperature plummeted immediately, and I started to have my doubts about this group's survival. I'd never voice my concern to the others, lest I plant seeds of doubt in their minds as well. Ren seemed a bit frightened at the possibility that these people wouldn't make it out alive. There was no reason to scare him further, if that was the case.

The snowmobiles were having trouble because of the terrain being so rocky. Small cliffs and edges were hidden by the ever-growing blanket of snow that fell from the sky. This made it even more treacherous for us to be out here this late at night. If the conditions get any worse, we might wind up in serious danger as well.

"Wait, hold up! I think I saw something!" Itsuki cried, energy suddenly returned to his body as he pointed off to the side. I slowed to a stop and tried to see through the thick snow, but I couldn't see anything of note. Itsuki's eyesight was probably much more keen than mine, if there really was something there. Just in case, I drove the snowmobile in that direction. Now that we were closer, I could see what he was talking about.

"Guys, over here!" I waved the other two over.

"No way..." Motoyasu was in awe.

"What are the odds...?" Ren mumbled.

Sure enough, a single beam of light peered out of a relatively large outcropping that carved into the side of the mountain.

"C'mon! We have to make sure they're okay!" Motoyasu shook his head and hopped off his vehicle as we followed. As we turned the corner, we saw three individuals staring back at us with expressions of terror and relief.

"Are you all okay?" Ren asked as we rushed toward them.

"Yes...but my friend is..." A black-haired woman wearing a thick coat sat beside a young girl who shivered uncontrollably. I rushed forward and took my glove off before laying a hand upon her forehead.

It was ice-cold. She was probably suffering from moderate to severe hypothermia.

"How long have you all been out here?" I asked.

A man stood up and looked at me. When I got a better look, he had burgundy-colored hair and a handsome face. I swear I've seen him before somewhere, but I can't quite remember where. "Kizuna's been out here the longest, but Glass and I just found her yesterday." he said, looking down at the two females with a sad expression. "We found Kizuna in pretty bad shape not too far from here, but before we could get her back to safety the blizzard hit."

The girl named Kizuna looked awful. Her lips were blue, face was pale, and her teeth chattered as she huddled in on herself for any warmth she could keep for herself. She barely responded when we arrived, and it looked like her voice was failing her. The only change we could notice in the darkness was the pleading look in her eyes.

"Is she injured?" Ren asked. "And have you guys eaten or drank anything in the past few hours?"

The dark-haired woman - presumably Glass - shook her head. "We ran out of supplies earlier today. We took trips to the river for fresh water, but it's freezing."

Ren shook his head. "At least it's running water, so it's clean. Here, we have some bottled water you can all drink." he said, pulling out a few bottles of water from his emergency pack. They took them and gulped them down greedily.

"Hold up a second, I'll start us a fire to warm you all up." Motoyasu pulled out some small wooden planks from the snowmobile's pack and set it on the ground. I raised an eyebrow. Starting a fire with winds as strong as this wasn't easy, and it probably wouldn't last long. Even though this outcropping was like a small, shallow cave, the wind still rushed in and out constantly. After mumbling to himself, Motoyasu glowed a bright red color and held his hand out.

"First Fireball!"

A red-hot ball of flames erupted from his hands, coating the wood in bright flames that made us cover our eyes. Even with the wind howling through the fire didn't fade in the slightest. "There! That should help in the meantime while we check you guys over." Motoyasu finished, wiping a bead of sweat from his brow.

So he had a fire affinity, huh? And he also knew how to use it? I'd have to ask him for details later.

I knelt down and helped Glass move Kizuna closer to the fire. The girl still shivered, but the chattering of her teeth slowed as her body slowly warmed up. "You're Kizuna, right?" I asked carefully. She nodded, but said nothing. "We're here to help. Are you hurt anywhere?"

She hesitated, but after sharing a quick glance from the man beside her she nodded. Glass sighed. "Kizuna apparently fell into the water while fishing. The current dragged her down a small waterfall and she hurt her leg on some sharp rocks. L'Arc tried his best to set it himself, but neither of us are any good at that kind of thing." she admitted, looking away in shame.

I gently asked for permission to touch Kizuna, and it was granted after a moment of hesitation. Though her thick pants concealed it well, I could feel the irregular shape of her calf. The girl winced and pulled away from me slightly as I touched a sensitive spot. I was no expert on this kind of thing, but it seemed like a bone fracture.

This would be the first time I tried using healing magic at all. These past few days of diligent studying paid off in a big way. Once I arranged the scattered words into somewhat legible sentences, the words literally appeared in front of my eyes and all I had to do was recite them for the spell to successfully be cast. Every time after the first, the words appeared whenever I mentally decided to cast the spell.

It was like karaoke, almost. The words were given to me, and all I had to do was say them in the correct order.

"As source of all power, I order thee: decipher the laws of nature and heal my target. First Heal!" I chanted, and my body filled with green energy. I gently laid my hand over Kizuna's leg, and I could feel the spell mend the wound. I couldn't see it for myself, but almost immediately her face relaxed and she slumped sideways. Were it not for Glass catching her, the girl's head would have hit the hard stone beneath us.

"What did you just do?..." the man named L'Arc asked, eyes widened. "Was that...healing magic?"

"Our rescuers are quite the odd bunch, aren't they L'Arc?" Glass noted.

"You can say that again."

I nodded. "Yeah, apparently it's pretty rare so I'm not surprised. But we have more important things to worry about. Are you guys well enough to travel by snowmobile? We have two, so one of us could take one of you. Kizuna might fit as a third on one, but it would be a tight fit."

L'Arc shook his head resolutely. "Don't worry about me. Get Glassy and Kizuna to safety. I can still walk if I have to."

I looked to the rest of the Squad and nodded at them. "Ren, Itsuki, are you guys good enough to drive these two back?" They both nodded in response. "Alright then. After we give Kizuna a bit of time to warm up, you two take them back to the resort's doctors. Motoyasu and I can walk back with L'Arc."

With a plan in place, we sat in relative silence around the campfire. There was nothing to talk about that wouldn't dampen the mood further, so we all opted to remain quiet. After nearly half an hour, Kizuna found her voice for the first time.

"I-I th-th-think I'm g-g-g-good..." she said through chattering teeth.

"Alright then. Let's go, Ren." Itsuki said, helping Kizuna to the snowmobile. Ren and Glass sat down on the other one, though the boy seemed flustered when she scooted close to him. The engine turned over from the ignition, but never fully engaged. He tried again and again, only to get the same result.

"Ah, dammit! We're out of gas!" he complained, heaving a deep sigh and looking at the other snowmobile. "What about yours, Itsuki?"

"Same thing here. Maybe we should have stopped for gas at the resort."

"Oh...you've got to be shitting me." I mumbled under my breath. "Of all the stupid-"

"Ah, dammit..." Motoyasu shook his head, scratching at his neck with a sigh. "In hindsight, yeah we should have stopped. But if we'd waited too much longer, Kizuna here might have been a goner. In the moment, we did what we could. At least we found them and they're safer than they were before."

Everyone groaned as they got off their vehicles and returned to our little grotto in the mountains. We sat down around the magical fire and used it to warm our hands.

"So...some rescue, huh? What now?" L'Arc asked, a bit of a cheeky smile on his features. I mentally applauded him for keeping a sense of humor in a situation like this, but I sort of wanted to smack him for it.

I shared a look with the others. We had some protein bars in our bags for emergencies, and some bottled water that wouldn't last too long with this many of us. Still, the only injured one among us was healed to an unknown extent. As long as we're diligent and keep that fire burning, the seven of us could reasonably survive the night until it warmed up in the morning. Whether or not the blizzard would let up by then was anyone's guess, though.

Still, it was a better plan than nothing.

"I hope you guys like camping, 'cause we're spending the night here."