.

Chapter 22

.

Mika was forced awake via a pillow pitched directly towards her face. She let out a rather loud groan of protest when she rolled over and glared at a panicked Miyuki.

"What the hell do you want?" she spat, voice low and rough from her exhaustion. Miyuki pointed to her parents' box.

"The box is moving," she explained in a hushed—albeit panicked—voice.

Mika raised an eyebrow and forced herself out of bed; her emerald eyes widened when she saw the chest shaking on the floor.

Both her and Miyuki jumped and switched to offense when the lid swung open. Mika quickly grabbed her sword, Kusanagi, and Miyuki brought her hands up. All was silent as the box began to glow.

"What did you do…?" Mika finally asked. Miyuki narrowed her eyes but kept them trained on the light.

"There was something engraved on the bottom that wasn't there before," the noirette explained. Mika couldn't help but facepalm at that.

"That's how people get cursed, Yuki. Have you never seen a horror movie?" she sighed in a disappointed manner.

Miyuki shot her an annoyed glance, only to have her attention brought back to the box when it started to glow even brighter than before. Snow flurries had begun to circulate the room, dancing around the girls and even tangling themselves in their hair.

Mika's jaw fell to the floor as she dropped her sword. She couldn't believe her eyes, despite everything she had experienced throughout her lifetime.

Softly, a melodic tune began to play from the chest. It made no sense but Miyuki felt as if the music was calling to her. While Mika admired the snowflakes, Miyuki stepped closer to the box.

When she finally got close enough, she placed her hand inside and felt something cold touch her hands. Pulling it out, she realized it was a big block of ice.

"Y-Yuki...look!" Mila suddenly called, pointing to the opposite end of the room. Miyuki furrowed her eyebrows in confusion then followed her friend's finger to see…

"...Mom…?"

"Hello, my dear snowflake."

"What's going on…?" the noirette's large eyes refused to leave the vision of her mother.

Without consent, her legs began to move towards the older snow woman until they were face to face. She had seen her in pictures and in replayed memories but this was something entirely new. Toshiko Arai truly was elegant and gorgeous..

"If you're seeing this message, I am no longer with you. Whether I am deceased or somehow wound up under my father's rule again, I want to speak to you one last time," her eyes shone like rubies, putting Miyuki in a trance.

"H-How...What?" she stuttered. Her speech skills were lost to her for a brief moment while she tried to reach out and touch her mother. Her hands simply fazed through her body, making the young noire realize that this was only a vision of her mother.

"Your brilliant father created this contraption which he calls Chronos' Chest. By analyzing some of my own power, he made it so the box will only open when a series of code words are said and the hands of a Yuki-Onna are placed onto it. That is how I know you will be the one to receive this message," Arai explained, kind eyes almost looking directly into her daughter's confused ones.

"This is simply a recording, so keep that in mind. I asked Kaiya to give this box to you when you come of age. When you open up Chronos' Chest, you will find a necklace that links you to me. It will help you find me if that is truly what you desire." Miyuki looked down at the necklace around her mother's neck. It was a beautiful sapphire with little diamonds placed around it to make it look like a snowflake.

"I do have one request, however…If I am in Gehenna or anywhere near Satan, please do not come for me. I fought just to keep you away from my father," Arai continued as her eyes teared up.

"B-But how...Where-" "If you're as strong as I think you are, you will be able to find me at the place where the torrent falls upon the blaze. I love you until the stars fall, Snowflake. Be careful and don't let him catch you!" she warned with a smile, a single tear rolling down her cheek.

Then, just as quickly as she had appeared, she vanished. The box had returned to its normal state yet every trace of the Toshiko's were gone. Everything except a snowflake necklace similar to Arai's.

Miyuki didn't know what to say and Mika could only stare at the snow flurries as they melted. The quiet was confusing but also melancholic. Arai knew what would happen and left breadcrumbs for her daughter to follow but she seemed to do so reluctantly.

Don't let him catch you, she had said. "Him" could only be referring to the Devil himself.

Quietly, Miyuki clasped the necklace around her neck and picked up the empty box. Her face was unreadable; almost as if she was trying to figure out her feelings.

Neither of the girls went back to sleep that night. In fact, they left the hotel room earlier than expected. Whenever they found an empty alley that not even the shadiest of people would go down, Miyuki stopped.

"Where are you going?" Mika asked, trotting after her. Miyuki took some stones from the ground and arranged them to form a simple summoning circle. She stared at it a moment before using her sharp canine teeth to bite into her hand hard.

"Summoning a friend," the noirette answered. Her blood ran down the length of her arm then dripped onto the circle. It glowed for a moment until a puff of smoke appeared. Behind the smoke was none other than Aliza the imp.

"Y-You!" Mika instantly pointed out the small demon's appearance. Aliza smiled a sharp-toothed smile.

"Me."

"You two know each other?" Miyuki asked, crossing her hands over her chest. Mika tutted while narrowing her eyes.

"This...thing is why I found you. It basically led me right to you. Right after I cornered it for stealing my things, that is," she huffed as she glared at the imp. Aliza only cackled at that.

"T'was all part of the plan, Miss," they snickered before turning their large, blank eyes towards Miyuki. "Speakin' of, what can I do ya for, M'lady?"

"Liz, have you seen anything like this when searching for my mother?" the noirette unclasped her mother's necklace from around her neck and handed it to the small demon.

Aliza took it in her sharp claws, carefully examining it's crystalized design. Once they got a good enough look, something clicked.

"Yes! I've seen this on a demoness in Satan's castle," they explained with wide-set eyes. Miyuki's face hardened at the mention of the King of Hell. Mika gazed at her sympathetically.

"Oh, Yuki…" she hesitantly placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. Miyuki bit her bottom lip hard enough for it to start bleeding.

"Did she...Did she look like me?" the Yuki-Onna asked with a shaky inhale. Aliza shook their head.

"It wasn't your mother. It was dangling from the neck of Zanevni, the Queen of the Succubi," they snapped out the name as if it was poisonous to say. Mika's face scrunched up in confusion while Miyuki ran a hand through her raven-coloured hair.

"Crap…" the noirette sighed with closed eyes, "I hate Succubi." Mika's evergreen eyes worriedly stared at her for a second before turning to the imp.

"Wait...This Zanevni chick's a succubus? Like the sex-appeal demon, succubus?" she raised an eyebrow quizzically. Aliza nodded sharply.

"Zanevni's ruthless in her acts but she almost always stays in Assiah. I know where she is so it shouldn't be hard to find her and ask her about the necklace," they explained after returning the snowflake necklace to its rightful owner.

Miyuki felt as if she had taken a breath for the first time in forever as soon as the cool chain touched her neck. It was somehow cooling and now that she had put it on, she never wanted to take it off. It was the only thing she had of her mother's, after all.

"Use force if necessary," she narrowed her eyes while the three of them made their way out of the alley, adorning determined looks.

.

.

Rin held his go-bag in his hands as he eagerly waited for the others to arrive at the train station. They had picked out their first place of interest and as soon as they were ready, they'd be on their way.

The group would be travelling to Hinode village; a town too small to fit on most modern maps. Hinode is where both Mika and Miyuki grew up, so it made sense for that to be where they went to first.

"Okumura? You're usually the last one to show up," Shima spoke up as the rest of the class arrived. Rin's welcoming smile dropped when he noticed his brother standing behind his friends.

"I thought we agreed on not telling him," he spoke flatly. Yukio frowned before swiftly slapping the back of the boy's head.

"Am I not allowed to help retrieve one of my students? I'm worried about her too, idiot," he snapped. Rin stood there for a moment. His azure eyes glued to the ground and his brother's feet.

His mind wandered back to the afternoon he and Miyuki shared at the beach. The time she finally accepted him as her friend. He remembered how much he loved when she hugged him. That was when he realized he loved the scent of vanilla. It was her scent. That's why it was so special.

"Whatever, just don't get in the way," Rin furrowed his eyebrows but kept his mouth shut. He was somewhat surprised any of his friends wanted to come with him on this journey so he wasn't going to complain.

A strange silence consumed the group as they waited for the train. Yukio had already been informed of the plan to travel to Hinode, yet Rin still didn't know of his intentions. There was no doubt that if he had to kill Miyuki, he would.

Once the team found themselves in Hinode, it was a quaint little village with lots of flora. It was a sight to behold and none of the kids could believe this is where the Ice Queen grew up.

"Where do we start?" Kamiki asked, glancing around at the colourful flowers surrounding them.

"Hayami was an orphan so we should probably check near any orphanages or mosques," Yukio circled a few locations on a map he had picked up at the train station. Rin thought for a moment, trying to remember what the Yuki-Onna told him about her past that might hint to where she'd hide.

"Kaiya!" he shouted when it finally came to him. "We need to find Kaiya. She'll know where Miyuki went."

"Who's that?" Suguro raised an eyebrow.

"It's the lady who took care of Miyuki and her friend when they were little. They might have come by here to look for her," Rin explained quickly while he scanned his surroundings. His determined eyes searched for anything that resembled an orphanage.

Yukio once again focused on his map, deciding to follow his brother's logic. Once he circled a point of interest, they all set out to check the only orphanage in the village for this Kaiya woman.