(Chapter 5: The Snowfall Acquaintance)

"Mmm…" Nozomi moaned achingly as she rolled over onto her side; her stomach was in pain. Rubbing herself gently, trying to soothe the dull throbbing aches, she mumbled drowsily with annoyance, "Whatever I ate last night… I am never going to eat again…."

As she continued this, gradually feeling the pain lessen, she began to feel really cold. The frigid temperature wrapped around her; it was so bad that her teeth began to chatter. "Why... is, is it so cold…?" As her mind began to come up with reasons, she realised it could only be one thing, "Don't...tell me the heating...has gone bad again!" For sometimes, the Dojo's weak old heater would putter out, which would mean she'd have to call Wairu over and ask him to help her fix it.

She really didn't want to bother him. She still felt tired anyway, and so reaching out for some comfort against this awful cold, she asked, "Where... where's my blanket?"

Then as Nozomi reached around herself for the feel of the soft fabric, her hand instead encountered something else that was soft, but it was wet and cold, falling through her fingertips as melted slush.

Puzzled, not understanding what caused this, she uttered, "What's...this?" Then finally opening her eyes partially, still half asleep, she saw a thick blanket of white substance all around her; she was half buried in the stuff as it rested all over her lying body.

"Oh? It's snow…" she uttered, then gently closed her eyes again to sleep some more...

…

"WHAT SNOW!?" Suddenly her eyes snapped open in alert! Quickly scrambling up, causing a flurry of the stuff to scatter off her. She was now wide awake, staring around with wide eyes; she was doing her best to hurriedly warm herself up as she rubbed her arms.

She was shocked as she began to gradually get some warmth back in her body. The space she found herself in was a place that was filled with fresh white, clean fallen snow and loads of tall blue pine trees. These were covered in thick snowy layers, revealing that they had just shed recently, and for all she knew, it was now the coldest point of winter as she continued to shiver.

Nozomi was absolutely confused, "It...was nowhere near Winter, back home..." Then as she uttered this, she realised quickly, "Wait! These aren't Bamboo trees. How did I...?" Rubbing the side of her head, it had a dull ache as she tried to regain some imagery to help her remember. But sadly, nothing came back, "What is going on!" However, no one was there to tell her... feeling depressed at this, she asked, "How did I get here?"

WHOOSH...

She shivered badly as a blast of cold wind hit her, causing her to rub her arms up and down. "Standing around is gonna do me no good; let's try and remember with a walk!" With that, she proceeded into this snowy world as she tried to remember what was going on, blowing some warm air onto her numb fingers.

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As Nozomi walked on, venturing deeper into the woods, she was finally getting some warmth back into her body, which was a huge relief! As she hugged her arms around herself, she tried again to think and asked herself, "Okay, what's the last thing I remember?"

Putting one finger to her forehead and rubbing it, she uttered, "Mmm..." Then as she looked at the grey skies, something began to come, "Okay, let's see… first of all, I remember waking up like usual," then thinking of this, she remembered the annoying wake-up call, "Then there was Wairu, being an alarm clock for me… lessons…."

Then her memory failed for a moment. Moving her hand over, she rubbed her temple hard and tried again. Quickly something else came back from this act, "Oh yeah! There was Reno and his gang! I got back at him…and Rufus too, darn jerks!" She said, mad, thinking of their annoying, taunting faces. It made her tense up her free hand with anger.

Continuing to walk on, Nozomi concentrated hard on her memories as she felt she was getting closer to the answer, "And then I talked with Wairu...um? I think we were going to eat watermelon and then-!"

TRIP

"Agh!"

Landing hard, Nozomi fell face forwards into the snow. Her nose aching as it hit the ground, she covered it with one of her hands, aching she uttered, "Ow! That really hurt!" Rubbing it, as a few pained tears came, her concentrated thoughts had been interrupted and becoming bitter as she lost her train of thought, she demanded, looking behind her, "What got in my way there!?"

There she saw behind her was a huge white lump in the snow. Looking at it with a sour expression, she said, "Oh, it's just a stupid rock!"

Then getting up, she marched straight towards it and said, pulling her right leg back with irritation, "Interrupting me when I'm so busy!" Then-!

KICK!

"OOOWWW!"

"Agh!"

Jumping back in fright, as the 'rock' suddenly flinched and turned sharply from the impact of her violent act, she asked, shocked, "What, what is this? A talking rock!?" But what she thought had been an object turned on its side. There a face was revealed that was covered by the snow. Some white substance had come off their unconscious form as they moved.

As this movement occurred and she realised with a perplexed expression what was going on, she asked, "A person?"

Then venturing a little closer to them, she kneeled down to get a better look. Her eyes were confused as she asked aloud, "There's a person who likes to lie around being a rock? What a weird hobby…." However, after another moment, she knocked into her head with her right hand, saying, with a smile, "Not!" For that was a dumb joke even for her.

But after this moment of silliness, she shook her head and decided, "Well, it's not a good idea for anyone to sleep in this snow like this; I better wake them up!" Then as she began her work to clear more of the heavy white stuff off them, she added, "Plus, maybe they can give me some answers as to where I am, cause, more importantly, I need to know how to get home!"

Moving as quickly as she could, she dusted the person's eyes, removed the snow covering them and then removed what was hiding his hair and body. When she did this, however, she discovered something unexpected about them, "Wait?" For this person's hair, it was "Silver?" Her eyes widened at the sight of this colour! As she got off all the snow on his upper half, his head and neck revealed that this person had long beautiful silver-white hair, which she gazed at with wide eyes.

"Wow… I've never seen hair like that before…." She whispered to herself, slowly moving her right hand forwards to touch it. She was enchanted as she added, 'It's really pretty…'

GRAB!

"Huh?" Suddenly she felt tightness around her hand that made her escape her dreamy thoughts. She saw the young man had caught her outreaching hand with his left like lightning!

"Ah!" She squeaked in fright. Nozomi was too scared to react as she looked at him with wide eyes. Then he opened his eyes, revealing his shade of pale blue irises; he gave her an angry look.

She was sweating, 'I kicked him too hard, didn't I?'

As this uneasy atmosphere settled around them, Nozomi wondered what he would do. Then he asked her, agitated, "What did you do?"

Nervous, she replied, "Uh, I kicked you…?" Then she added fast with an awkward laugh, "Sorry?"

Then mad, he told her, "Don't play dumb with me! Where did you take me to?! Where is this place?!"

Nozomi stared wide-eyed at him for a moment, then she repeated, puzzled, "Where did I take you to?" As he moved to get himself up, he released her hand, and immediately, she snatched it straight back. Standing up, she had questions of her own she wanted to be answered and so began to, "What're you talking about? Why did you ask me that?"

As he dusted himself, getting rid of all the snow finally off his cold form. He also rubbed his arms, revealing his white waistcoat, long purple trousers, and white trainers. He gazed at her as though he was analysing her, to which she looked back with uneasiness. She didn't know what he was going to do, then she heard him ask, "Don't you remember anything that happened?"

Nozomi blinked, not understanding him and replied, "Anything like what? What am I supposed to remember?"

The white-haired boy creased his brow as he looked at her... then after another moment, he sighed.

As he did this, continuing to rub his arms, clearly trying to get warmth back in his limbs like she'd been doing. Nozomi was perplexed and asked, "What're you sighing for?"

"Because it looks like I'm dealing with an old cliché here," he responded, clearly with more annoyance as he rubbed his forehead with his right hand.

Nozomi felt irritation in seconds as she said, "Hey! Who're you calling a cliché!?"

"You obviously," he told her, then he had to ask, "Cause I bet you don't even remember anything about yourself which happens every time, right?"

Soured, she replied, "I do know who I am, thanks! I haven't forgotten that much!" Then pointing her finger at him, she demanded, "Besides, who are you anyway!?" For looking at him, she had to add, looking at his clothes, "What kind of idiot comes out into the snow only wearing a waistcoat!?"

As she snapped at him, he stared at her. Seeing him do this, she stared back with an angry look still present. However, before the argument could grow-!

WHOOSH...

They both shivered as the cold air bit into them. As the boy rubbed his exposed arms up and down, he said, "...This is not going to get us anywhere; we need to move." With that, he started to walk toward her.

Nozomi immediately backed away from him, her hands up defensively in clenched fists, as she stared at him with a hard, angered expression.

As she did this, he looked at her and asked, puzzled, "What're you doing?"

"Staying on guard! What does it look like I'm doing?" For staring at him, she added, "After you grabbed me a second ago, I have no idea what you could do!"

The boy was quiet. However, after another moment, he unexpectedly laughed at her. Perplexed, she asked him, "What? Why're you laughing?"

"Cause you don't need to be on guard that much," with that, he walked past her, and as he did, he added, "I don't bite." Then as she watched him walk a little distance forwards, she heard him finish with, "Not much anyway."

Seeing him walk on ahead, Nozomi was puzzled to no degree, "Who is this guy?" Then as he walked further away, she looked about and knew one thing. "I don't want to be alone here... I better tag along," so quickly she went to catch up, "But I still don't trust this weirdo..." His angry looks and fast grab of her hand might mean one thing: "He could be a wolf in sheep's clothing!"

With that, she began to follow him at a slight distance behind, to keep an eye on him. However, neither of them could be aware that a dangerous creature with a pair of hungry yellow-red eyes lingered in the shadows of the trees and was tailing after them as it had found more potential prey.

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WHOOSH...

It had been a long since Nozomi had started to follow her strange acquaintance; shivering against the cold, she was quiet as she stared at him. Thinking back to what he said, 'Where did you take me to?!' She was bothered by these words. For it didn't make any sense, for looking at his silver-white hair, she knew she'd never seen anyone like him before. No one like him had ever existed within Bamboo Town!

'What could he have meant by that...?' She thought to herself, rubbing her arms again; she tried to think of a reason… but nothing came. With a sigh, she uttered to herself quietly, "This isn't getting me anywhere..." for if she was going to get any answers, she'd need to get them from him.

Looking ahead, she saw the white-haired young man blowing warm air onto his hands, trying to keep himself warm against the terrible cold. Making clouds of steam rise up into the air.

Watching him do this, she couldn't blame him. She wasn't doing much better. Then as she looked at him, he seemed to be gazing about left and right. Was he looking for something?
She didn't know, but getting answers were vital to her at that moment, so she went to begin to try and get them asking, "Hey, Snowball?"

….

The white-haired boy came to a sudden standstill. Nozomi did the same as she looked at him, puzzled. Then quietly, he turned back to look at her; as he did, with a perplexed look, he asked her, lowering his hands, "What did you just call me?"

Not understanding the big deal, Nozomi repeated, "Snowball," then shrugging her arms, she said relaxed, "I didn't feel like calling out, hey you."

It was clear after the explanation settled with him that the young man didn't like that nickname as he sighed, saying, " Don't call me that!" With that, he started walking forwards again.

Nozomi blinked, then she told him as she began following him again with annoyance, "Well, if you'd given me a name in the first place, I wouldn't need to have called you that..." Then she realised and asked, "What am I supposed to call you anyway?"

Keeping his eyes fixed ahead, focusing back on probably searching, he didn't look at her as he gave her a one-word answer, "Riku…."

Nozomi stared at him as he walked on ahead, then doing her best to remember the name she was given, she repeated, "Riku…." Then testing it out a little more to get a better feel for it, she repeated again, "Riii...kuu….Hm?"

"What're you doing?" Hearing him again, Nozomi looked up and saw he'd stopped as he looked back at her with a perplexed expression.

Blinking, Nozomi stood still and said, "Oh, sorry!" With that, she scratched her head and explained, "I just thought I'd remember your name better if I repeated it." Then brightly, she decided to add, to eliminate the sour mood that happened a few moments ago, "Also, it's got a nice ring to it!"

Riku stared at her, then shaking his head, he told her, "You are weird!" With that, he continued forwards again.

Seeing her tactic had failed, Nozomi groaned, and with that, she started walking forwards again... once more, silence came between them, but before it could fully settle, she heard him ask, "So what's your name anyway?"

Surprised he was initiating conversation, Nozomi asked, pointing to herself, "Mine?"

Riku sighed again, then turning his head to the side to look at her, he said, "Obviously, who else is there for me to talk to around here?"

Annoyed, Nozomi couldn't believe how rude this guy was being! So folding her arms, she said, "Well, if you need to know so badly, it's Nozomi!"

"Nozomi?" He asked her with an unimpressed tone.

"Yeah, that's right, Nozomi!" She replied, turning her head into the air to look away from him in a mad huff. It was then-!

"AAAGGGHHH!"

A violent image resurfaced within her mind! The vivid burning sight was so terrible that she shivered, and her eyes widening, she uttered, "No!" Then-!

Collapse!

She fell onto her knees and the painful memories that had hidden themselves away from her began to re-emerge!

She shivered as the images came back to her, rapidly, one after the other! Then as each one did, she heard-!

"Hey!"

Looking up with terrified eyes towards Riku. She saw he had a look of worried concern as he asked her, "What's wrong? Are you okay?"

Nozomi didn't know how to answer, but as more terrible images came. She shook her head, grimacing from the pain, and she uttered, "No... no, it was horrible! My-!"

"Don't come closer!"

"Another Vessel?"

SMASH!

It was then she remembered, "Wairu! Wairu was taken! Then that girl, the one with the wings, she-!"

Again more pained pulses flooded her mind as the terror and destruction of Bamboo Town came alive again within her rapid recollections! As these memories meshed in a chaotic mess. She heard Riku ask her, "Wairu? The girl who attacked you? What did she do? What-!"

Nozomi, though couldn't answer him! For thinking of her best friend in the hands of that horrible person, she got up fast, almost tripping up in a hurry! Then-!

"Hey!"

Nozomi went running past Riku! As she did, fast ahead through the snow. She heard the young man cry out to her from behind, "Where are you going!? What're you doing!"

Feeling panicked, Nozomi wanted to do something, anything! Running forwards, looking through all the trees, she looked about in desperation for Wairu! Maybe he was there in that place with her! Would he-!

"Hey! You can't run around like this! You have no idea what's in these woods!" She heard Riku call out from behind her as he was giving chase; and heard his footsteps in the snow along with her own.

Not looking back, Nozomi cried, "I have to find him! I have to get Wairu back! And my home, Bamboo Town! It was destroyed by-!"

SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!

Then, as she began to run past one particular set of tall, snow-covered branched bushes. That she saw these things shake as they did. She came to a sudden standstill. Looking at them, she asked with worried eyes, "Wairu?"

SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE! SHAKE!

Then the bushes seemed to shake a little more. With widened eyes in her frenzied state, Nozomi cried out, "Wairu! Is that you in there!?" With that, she rushed straight towards the shaking plants. As she did, though-!

"You idiot, don't go near there!"

"Huh?" Nozomi turned back to look towards Riku, who was only just making his way over to her. As he did, her hand was already about to touch them.

As he looked at her breathless, he told her, "You don't know what will come out of there! So don't-!"

"RRREEEOOOWWW!"

"AAAGGGHHH!"

Spooked, Riku, with wide eyes, felt something, "Hey!" Then looking behind himself, he saw that standing there, holding onto his purple trouser legs for dear life. An odd group of this world's inhabitants was a little boy with a red hat over his blonde hair dressed in a red shirt, pink trousers and black snow boots. Behind holding onto the blonde boy, he could also see a little green duck with a black cap and a ginger cat holding onto her.

They were all shivering, clearly terrified of something. As Riku stared at them, he asked, "What're you all doing?" Then he heard-!

"TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!"

It was then he looked back to where Nozomi was. As he did, he saw the dark-haired girl lying on the snowy floor in a daze. He swore he could see stars flying over her head.

But gazing on, he saw the final member of the odd party of animals. On Nozomi's nose, looking back to the bushes the group had erupted from, was a small red bird wearing a black cap too. As they did, they were twittering something in an alarmed tone, pointing to where they came from urgently.

Riku didn't understand what was going on, as did Nozomi clearly as she blinked and uttered with an awkward laugh, her manic episode over as footprints covered her face, "Um...what just happened here?"

Riku releasing a sigh, said quietly, "I wish I knew too!" Then-!

"TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET! TWEET!"

The bird suddenly flew away and quickly came to hide behind him, holding onto the blonde boy's hat for dear life. As he did, Riku didn't understand its reaction, for what-!

GGGGRRRR!

In alarm, he turned back and saw a huge wolf standing over Nozomi! Dark grey and black in colour, with a shaggy coat, it pressed its long snout against the helpless girl's nose!

"Huh?" He quickly saw that the creature was beginning to dribble its hungry saliva all over Nozomi's face as it licked its tongue over its red gums! Then as the terror grew, he saw the wolf's yellow and red eyes burning themselves into her gaze as it moved closer to her.

"Ah!" He heard Nozomi gasp as the wolf opened his jaws wide and was about to bite down on her! As it did, he then heard,

"AAAGGGHHH!"