Snow, the Fox Spirit has spent

  countless days alone, then suddenly, an interesting guy came around and

  she refused to send him to afterlife. What will happen between the two

  of them?

  After setting her coat and scarf down on the side of the couch, Snow set her leather pouch down on the kitchen counter and opened it. She laid the herbs out on the table.

  “This should be sufficient,” she said proudly to herself.

  “What are you going to make, anyway?”

  “A soup.”

  “…What kind of soup?”

  “Don’t worry, you’ll see!” Her fox ears stood up as she hummed.

  “…” Fiu’s jaw twitched, and he clicked his tongue. He just stared at Snow as she was moving around the kitchen instead of replying.

  She poured some water into a pot and sat it down on the cooker. She turned the cooker up to the maximum. While she was waiting for the water to boil, she picked up a white apron and tied it around her waist. She also tied her breath-taking white hair back in a ponytail. Soon enough, steam started coming out of the pot. The light sound of bubbling water filled the room, creating quite a cozy environment.

  Snow started cutting up the herbs they brought from the earlier with an addition of some regular vegetables. Once done, she put them in the pot with the water. She added some salt, some pepper, and some greens, too.

  “Now, we just wait,” she declared. Her tail started wagging just a tiny bit faster than before.

  After some time, the soup was finally ready. Snow laid two plates out on the dining table with spoons.

  “The food is ready!” Her head shot toward Fiu, her eyes wide in anticipation.

  Fiu stood up from the couch without a word and set down in a chair on one side of the table. Snow followed suit and sat down on the chair facing Fiu’s.

  “Bon apétit.” She said with a faint giggle and a wide smile.

  “What are you now, French?” Fiu said in a flat tone as his gaze settled on Snow’s plate, not even wanting to look her in the eyes.

  “No…” Her gaze dropped and her mouth curled downward. A tremor ran through her lower lip, which she suppressed by biting down on it.

  Fiu took a spoonful of the brown-ish soup into his mouth and swallowed. Snow watched as his throat muscles moved, already preparing herself mentally for the scolding she was about to get.

  “…” Fiu needed a moment to find the right words to describe the soup. His eyes started sparkling a bit. He liked—no, even loved—the taste. But, of course, he hesitated to show it. “It’s not so bad, I-I guess.” He said while averting his gaze.

  “Yay! I knew you’d like it.” Her eyes widened, regaining their shape once again. A warm shiver shook her body pleasantly.

  They continued eating in silence, not awkward this time. Once they were both finished, Fiu stood up from the table and walked back to the couch. He splayed his body out on the couch and closed his eyes.

  “Thanks for the food,” he mumbled out in a soft sound.

  “Yeah, no problem.” Snow stood up too and walked over to the couch. She slowly kneeled next to it to face Fiu.

  “And thank you for not running away. I’ll do everything in my power to make your life here as good as it can be.” She said with in a determined and serious tone.

  Fiu turned his head toward Snow and slowly opened his eyes to look at her. Her huge, blue eyes were sparkling and a faint blush colored her cheeks.

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  “Okay..?” He looked at her with surprise.

  “Are you going to rest now?” She asked, her expression not entirely readable.

  “I guess I’m going to.”

  “Then sleep well.”

  With that, Snow stood up and walked into her room. She laid down on her bed and started reading a book. After some time, she fell asleep with a book in hand.

  Meanwhile, in the other room, Fiu was just laying on his back and stared at the ceiling. To simply put it, he was drowning in ennui.

  “How ironic. Death really wasn’t the end of my ‘life.’” He muttered to himself, followed by a depressed chuckle. “How miserable.”

  Fiu let his hand drop to the side of the couch. His digits drummed against the fabric of it. The cabin was completely soundless except for Fiu’s heartbeat and occasional, heavy breaths. He lifted a translucent hand, still strange to him, and watched the sunrays shining through and against his… skin?

  “Is this really living?” he wondered.

  A creak of a door broke the silence. Fiu’s head snapped toward Snow’s bedroom. There she was. Sound asleep. The book she was reading splayed across her stomach, fox ears twitching in her deep slumber. At that moment, Fiu felt something. Something weird and unusual. Envy? Longing? She’s been this way for centuries, but she seemed at peace with it.

  “How can she…?” He thought to himself.

  Because of his restless state, Fiu sat up and hunched over the back of the couch to stare out the window, his mind filled with empty thoughts.

  Suddenly, a cold wind hit his back, followed by warm breathing against his neck.

  “You don’t belong here.” A womanly voice whispered into his ear.

  His breath hitched, and Fiu whirled around, insanely terrified. But there was no one and nothing behind him. A bead of sweat ran down his forehead.

  “W-What was that… Just now?” He stuttered out aloud.

  Awaken by Fiu’s sound, Snow dragged herself out of the bedroom. He looked up at him with a dreamy expression, her ears twitching slightly and her tail thumping against the floor lazily.

  “What happened?”

  “Some was just here!” Fiu tried explaining frantically.

  “Here?”

  Snow looked around the cabin, but saw nothing. There, however, was a dark glint in her eyes. Like she knew what was going on.

  “I don’t see anyone here.” She said with an adorable yawn. “You must be imagining things.”

  “Imagining things…? But I swear, it was so real.” He replied with uncertainty.

  Snow’s drowsy smile never faltered, even as her tailed stopped mid-wag.

  “Go back to sleep,” she said.

  Then, again, Fiu felt a warm breath on his neck and heard a whisper in his ear. “She lies. She always lies.”

  An uncomfortable shiver ran down Fiu’s spine. Goosebumps shot up throughout his body, and his eyes widened in dread.

  “There it was. Again!”

  “Huh? What do you mean?” Snow said while averting her gaze.

  “…” No response came from Fiu. “Maybe I’m really just imagining things.” He thought.

  “Oh, wait. It’s still the middle of the day. Maybe don’t actually go back to sleep.” Snow said. “How about we go outside for a bit instead? I’d like to show you something.”

  “Hm? I guess that would be okay.” Fiu replied, as his heart calmed down.

  Here they were now, outside, in Snow’s garden. The harsh winds of these mountains were definitely note easy on them. They both shivered in their place, but payed it little attention.

  “So? What did you want to show me?” He asked.

  “Just look.” Her tail stopped moving, despite her excitement.

  Snow took a step back, closed her eyes, and held both of her hands out. A tiny white light started flickering above her palms. That tiny flickering light started flowing and morphing into a shape. A few seconds later, there was a crystalline butterfly in Snow’s hand. It started flapping its wings, hesitantly at first, but it turned into a lively dance.

  “How did you…?” Fiu asked in awe. His usually cold and distant tone broke down for a passing moment.“It’s magic.” She chuckled. “Literally.”

  “…”

  The butterfly started flying towards Fiu, dancing in the air on the way there. The butterfly landed on his nose. It was disgusting. Those tiny spurs on the butterfly’s legs tickled his nose. What an insignificant, revolting creature. He furrowed his brows at the sight.

  Then, the butterfly disappeared into thin air with a pop.

  “Can I do that too?” He asked, his voice back to its usual self.

  “You sure can. Just imagine something and imagine it appearing in your hand,” Snow explained with barely contained excitement.

  “Okay…”

  Fiu started thinking of a book, a novel to be specific—his favorite back from his mortal life. It had “Re:…” written on the front. He held out his right hand and, sure enough, the book appeared in his hand.

  “Oh, wow. It really worked.”

  He opened the book, but saw nothing written in it. A confused “huh” sound left his mouth.

  Snow walked closer until she was invading his private space. He looked down at the book in Fiu’s hand with a curious expression.

  “Hm… Maybe that’s because you didn’t imagine its contents, did you?”

  “I did not.”

  “Alright then. Try again like that next time.”

  Fiu nodded slowly. “O-kay.”

  He tried again, but this time, nothing came. Not a single perceptible thing. Even the book he was holding until now disappeared.

  “What happened?” He turned to look at Snow, the confusion clear in his expression.

  “Looks like your body is tired of this. You’ll get more used to it once you do it more.”

  “Ah, I see...”

  “Don’t worry. You will really get better at it. It’s like…” she stopped for a second-thought, “training muscles. Just for your brain,” she chuckled. “I don’t know, I’ve never done it.”

  “If you say so,” he replied sceptically.