Yuki Onna
Winter four years ago, the incident happened on an evening just like tonight, when the snow was blowing so violently it shut off my field of vision...
That day, I was enjoying skiing with my friend C at Hakuba in Nagano, and as we kept sliding down, forgetting the passing of time, we put the ski slope behind us a little after 12 midnight. We hurriedly fastened our pairs of skis to the car ceiling, and I leapt into the driver's seat and turned the ignition key, my hands numb with cold.
I had the next day off too, but since C said he had to work, I put all my strength into gripping the steering wheel so we could go home as soon as possible, but the mountain road was covered in deep snow. It'd be dreadful if we slipped due to being in a hurry. Up until some time ago the snow had been falling lightly but before we realized, it had changed into a snowstorm heavy enough to cover the windshield and my field of vision worsened steadily. On the whole I felt that the snowscape dulled down my sense of direction.
In my mind I was thinking, 'I give up... If I can I'll wait somewhere until the snow turns to rain...'
That was when I noticed, beyond the wipers that were continuously wiping away the snow for quite a while, a red blinking light. 'Huh?' I thought, and turned my eyes to C in the passenger seat. "What's that?"
"It couldn't be a drive-in could it? But in a place like this...?" C murmured, as I faced forward again.
Anyway, I tried going closer, leaning over the steering wheel with my foot on the accelerator, driving faster until I could perceive the range of that light before my eyes. Then the identity of it became clear. The thing that emitted a strange light amidst pure white darkness was a lamp beside the railway crossing.
I had been hoping for a shop or something, and a question welled up along with my disappointment.
"A train at this hour?"
As we stopped for a moment in front of the railway crossing, C tackled that question. "Couldn't it be a freight train passing, maybe? Ah, but the crossing gate isn't down? What could it be?"
Whether C had just finished saying that, the railway crossing gate came down with a sound like 'kankankankan'.
"Just as I thought, a freight train is coming. Ahh~ it's strange at this place and time, isn't it? A long railway crossing out in the sticks."
C sighed while leaning back into the seat, and put both hands behind his head. I made a sound of agreement at him as I took my cigarettes from my pocket to have a quick smoke. The moment I lit up, 'tap-tap. tap-tap.'
Someone was knocking on the side window. When I wound the window down as in conditioned reflex, I laid eyes on where the sound was coming from. In the next instant, I dropped the cigarette that I had been holding in my mouth outside the car, unable to take my eyes from that person.
Pure white hair, pure white clothes. Was this an old woman in an outfit that entirely gave the impression of a corpse, standing with her face tilted slightly down, in the middle of a snowstorm?
I couldn't move, it was as though my entire body was frozen. That old woman asked me with a gaze that seemed to shine, "Do you know... my son...?"
With those words I shook my head back and forth many times to show my intentions, and then the old woman turned on her heel while whispering, "Is that so... is that so...?" And then she disappeared as though dissolving into the snow.
When I witnessed that I hurriedly rolled up the window. "Oi! What was that just now!!"
I looked over my shoulder while talking rapidly, to see that C next to me had become pale-faced. "No way... that wasn't something from this world... in a snowstorm like this... Anyway, anyway, let's get outta here right now!!"
When I faced forward I saw that the railway crossing gate had risen before I was aware of it, and the blinking red light had shut off. I put my foot on the accelerator with all my strength and with a sound of scraping tires, fled from that place.
We didn't speak for a little while, and I concentrated all my nerves on gripping the steering wheel, but only when I was able to see homes and shop signs did we finally recover our composure and begin to speak.
"What was that?!"
"Dunno... But isn't it usual, on such a night..."
"Isn't it? Still, that..." We were talking like that but since C abruptly fell silent I shot him a light glance, and saw that he was staring forward with his lips closed.
Thinking 'Was I driving too rough?' I faced forward again and said, "Did you feel ill? Yeah... just now we saw a terrible thing didn't we..." There was no reply from beside me and I got a bit irritated.
"Oi, are you listening?" My tone containing a little anger, I tried talking to him again but still no reply came.
'Really...' I thought, and turning my eyes toward C again I noticed something strange about him. 'You're not blinking at all...'
Thinking it was suspicious I pulled my car into the side of the road and pulled the side brake. "Oi!! What's wrong? If it's your health..."
I looked over again as I started talking, and the white stuff at C's feet jumped into my vision. It was concealing C's feet as though holding them, and from his feet to his knees seemed to be completely buried.
'What's this.... snow...?' I thought, but at that time I saw the white stuff move and when I brought my face closer to it, it turned back to me... somehow or other it was the old woman from before, and when our eyes met she laughed like "Nitaa~"
"Gyah!!" I violently threw open the door and fled at full speed. As I looked behind me while running, C had just escaped from the passenger seat of the car...
We kept running and stampeded into a convenience store where we waited for dawn to break, at which point we timidly returned to the deserted car. There, we were surprised again by what we saw...
The doors that should have been wide open were shut, and for some reason we couldn't see the state inside... Resolving myself, I opened the door on the driver's side and the inside was covered in snow. No... it wasn't that the inside was covered. Snow was jammed in there without even the tiniest gap. We were dumbfounded for a little while by this incomprehensible state of affairs, but eventually we ended up calling the police station and I explained the drawn-out circumstances with untiring zeal. But even the police officers could only cock their heads in puzzlement.
Four years after that. Even now, I never get in the mood to go out skiing...
That day, I was enjoying skiing with my friend C at Hakuba in Nagano, and as we kept sliding down, forgetting the passing of time, we put the ski slope behind us a little after 12 midnight. We hurriedly fastened our pairs of skis to the car ceiling, and I leapt into the driver's seat and turned the ignition key, my hands numb with cold.
I had the next day off too, but since C said he had to work, I put all my strength into gripping the steering wheel so we could go home as soon as possible, but the mountain road was covered in deep snow. It'd be dreadful if we slipped due to being in a hurry. Up until some time ago the snow had been falling lightly but before we realized, it had changed into a snowstorm heavy enough to cover the windshield and my field of vision worsened steadily. On the whole I felt that the snowscape dulled down my sense of direction.
In my mind I was thinking, 'I give up... If I can I'll wait somewhere until the snow turns to rain...'
That was when I noticed, beyond the wipers that were continuously wiping away the snow for quite a while, a red blinking light. 'Huh?' I thought, and turned my eyes to C in the passenger seat. "What's that?"
"It couldn't be a drive-in could it? But in a place like this...?" C murmured, as I faced forward again.
Anyway, I tried going closer, leaning over the steering wheel with my foot on the accelerator, driving faster until I could perceive the range of that light before my eyes. Then the identity of it became clear. The thing that emitted a strange light amidst pure white darkness was a lamp beside the railway crossing.
I had been hoping for a shop or something, and a question welled up along with my disappointment.
"A train at this hour?"
As we stopped for a moment in front of the railway crossing, C tackled that question. "Couldn't it be a freight train passing, maybe? Ah, but the crossing gate isn't down? What could it be?"
Whether C had just finished saying that, the railway crossing gate came down with a sound like 'kankankankan'.
"Just as I thought, a freight train is coming. Ahh~ it's strange at this place and time, isn't it? A long railway crossing out in the sticks."
C sighed while leaning back into the seat, and put both hands behind his head. I made a sound of agreement at him as I took my cigarettes from my pocket to have a quick smoke. The moment I lit up, 'tap-tap. tap-tap.'
Someone was knocking on the side window. When I wound the window down as in conditioned reflex, I laid eyes on where the sound was coming from. In the next instant, I dropped the cigarette that I had been holding in my mouth outside the car, unable to take my eyes from that person.
Pure white hair, pure white clothes. Was this an old woman in an outfit that entirely gave the impression of a corpse, standing with her face tilted slightly down, in the middle of a snowstorm?
I couldn't move, it was as though my entire body was frozen. That old woman asked me with a gaze that seemed to shine, "Do you know... my son...?"
With those words I shook my head back and forth many times to show my intentions, and then the old woman turned on her heel while whispering, "Is that so... is that so...?" And then she disappeared as though dissolving into the snow.
When I witnessed that I hurriedly rolled up the window. "Oi! What was that just now!!"
I looked over my shoulder while talking rapidly, to see that C next to me had become pale-faced. "No way... that wasn't something from this world... in a snowstorm like this... Anyway, anyway, let's get outta here right now!!"
When I faced forward I saw that the railway crossing gate had risen before I was aware of it, and the blinking red light had shut off. I put my foot on the accelerator with all my strength and with a sound of scraping tires, fled from that place.
We didn't speak for a little while, and I concentrated all my nerves on gripping the steering wheel, but only when I was able to see homes and shop signs did we finally recover our composure and begin to speak.
"What was that?!"
"Dunno... But isn't it usual, on such a night..."
"Isn't it? Still, that..." We were talking like that but since C abruptly fell silent I shot him a light glance, and saw that he was staring forward with his lips closed.
Thinking 'Was I driving too rough?' I faced forward again and said, "Did you feel ill? Yeah... just now we saw a terrible thing didn't we..." There was no reply from beside me and I got a bit irritated.
"Oi, are you listening?" My tone containing a little anger, I tried talking to him again but still no reply came.
'Really...' I thought, and turning my eyes toward C again I noticed something strange about him. 'You're not blinking at all...'
Thinking it was suspicious I pulled my car into the side of the road and pulled the side brake. "Oi!! What's wrong? If it's your health..."
I looked over again as I started talking, and the white stuff at C's feet jumped into my vision. It was concealing C's feet as though holding them, and from his feet to his knees seemed to be completely buried.
'What's this.... snow...?' I thought, but at that time I saw the white stuff move and when I brought my face closer to it, it turned back to me... somehow or other it was the old woman from before, and when our eyes met she laughed like "Nitaa~"
"Gyah!!" I violently threw open the door and fled at full speed. As I looked behind me while running, C had just escaped from the passenger seat of the car...
We kept running and stampeded into a convenience store where we waited for dawn to break, at which point we timidly returned to the deserted car. There, we were surprised again by what we saw...
The doors that should have been wide open were shut, and for some reason we couldn't see the state inside... Resolving myself, I opened the door on the driver's side and the inside was covered in snow. No... it wasn't that the inside was covered. Snow was jammed in there without even the tiniest gap. We were dumbfounded for a little while by this incomprehensible state of affairs, but eventually we ended up calling the police station and I explained the drawn-out circumstances with untiring zeal. But even the police officers could only cock their heads in puzzlement.
Four years after that. Even now, I never get in the mood to go out skiing...