“Oniichama!” The girl clung to him and turned to the woman, practically daring her to take him. But then, she noticed the deep sorrow in the woman’s eyes, which dissolved her intense anger. “I-I’m sor…” Equally intense remorse now welled up inside her. “I-I’m sor…” She kept trying to say the words, but the sound would not come out.
“Miyuki-sama! Miyuki-sama!!” Two guards rushed over, having come to search for the missing girl, and raised their guns to protect the children from the suspicious woman. The woman continued to calmly regard the children.
Still clutching the boy, the girl could not avert her eyes. “…I’m sorry…” She whispered, her voice breaking and her face tear stained. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she finally managed to say, and buried her face in the boy’s shoulder to avoid the woman’s eyes. She repeated the phrase like an incantation. “I’m sorry…”
“I’m not angry at you…” The boy, thinking the words were meant for him, hugged the girl and gently patted her head.
“I’m sorry.” The girl did not want to see the woman’s eyes anymore. She was afraid. She knew that if she looked into this stranger’s eyes, she would not be able to stop the boy from leaving with her.
The second one of the guards touched the woman to take hold of her, a powerful wind whipped around them. For a moment, everything turned white—perhaps along with the emotions of everyone present.
Goodbye, dear boy… The girl heard the woman’s voice clearly through the billowing wind.
“…?!”The girl flinched and, raising her face, saw the woman smile at her. Her red hair danced in the wind, and she had the same gentle green eyes as the girl’s brother. Then the woman vanished into the snow.
The guards brought the girl back with the boy, and, exactly as she expected, she was scolded by her worried mother. Since she had gone outside just as she was getting over her cold, she ended up on bed rest for another week. The boy also caught a cold, and they were laid up side by side. The girl held the boy’s hand as he panted restlessly through his illness.
“Oniichama… Oniichama… Oniichama…” Thoughts swirled endlessly in her mind. Feeling the warmth of her brother’s hand, she relived the day. The woman must have been the Snow Queen. A kind, sorrowful apparition. A beautiful red-haired spirit of snow who let her have her brother back…
“Mihoshi-oneechan, what happened to the Snow Queen?” Sasami asked innocently.
“Nobody ever saw her again.”
“Is that so?”
“Heh, who knows? She could’ve been nearby this whole time…” Ryoko said in a low voice, threatening Mihoshi.
“Huh? Come on, don’t scare me like that…”
“Seriously, she’s…right behind you!!” The moment Ryoko said that, the window opened, the snowstorm swirled inside, and a figure with red hair silhouetted against the sky appeared.
At this well-timed entrance, followed by Mihoshi’s bloodcurdling screech, everyone jumped up, screaming. “Th-the Snow Queen!!”
“Wait! Don’t leave meeee!” Paralyzed with fright, Mihoshi crawled across the floor, bawling.
“Mihoshi!” A snow-covered figured grabbed Mihoshi by the collar.
“Eek! Save me!!” Mihoshi frantically screamed.
“Mihoshi!!” The snowy figure yelled in her ear.
“That voice…is that…Washu…chan?” Tenchi was the first to notice, but soon, everyone besides Mihoshi realized that the “Snow Queen” was Washu.
Washu’s angry voice and Tenchi’s words did not reach Mihoshi, as she was the only one still crying and screaming. “Please, spare me! I won’t tell anyone! Although I guess I just did…!!”
“Quiet!!” Washu, exasperated, bonked Mihoshi on the head, something she rarely did.
“Oww! What was that for, Miss Snow Queen…?!” Mihoshi took a long, hard look. “Oh… Washu…san?” Her ability to think returned, and she recognized the person standing before her as Washu. She let out a sigh of relief. “I’m so glad… I thought you were the Snow Queen…”
“Mihoshi-dono…” Washu grabbed her by the collar, brought her close, and glared at her. When Washu was mad, she looked even scarier than the Snow Queen.
“Wh-what’s the matter? Why the scary face…?”
“Do you really think I could smile when I almost got lost in a blizzard?”
“Oh, dear, that sounds terrible.” Mihoshi was slow on the uptake.
Washu’s face twitched. She should have known that beating around the bush never worked with Mihoshi. Feeling drained, she switched to a specific line of questioning. “What did you do in my room when you went to look for me?” This time, she did not tell Mihoshi to be brief.
Mihoshi started to talk. She had an excellent memory and could explain everything she did in great detail. “Well, first, Sasami-chan was preparing lunch. The menu was tender stem broccolini in broth and simmered potatoes, which Ryoko stole a taste of this morning, and I was thinking that they must be getting so tender just about now, soaking up the broth enough to fall apart… Oh, and I smelled fish and daikon stewed in sweet soy…”
“That’s enough of the lunch menu.”
“Huh? Okay…and I figured it was about time to call everyone over, so I went to open that door to your laboratory… Oh, I knocked three times, of course, and called your name three times, but you didn’t answer, so I went inside… Then it was pitch-black, and I turned around and the door wasn’t there, and I completely lost my bearings, so I got nervous and cried a little. Tee-hee! But I trusted my instincts as a Galaxy Police officer and looked for the exit, and it was still dark, but it got very hot… Oh, I forgot to say that I heard a bush warbler. Their song is so calming and elegant and reminiscent of spring…
“Anyway,” Mihoshi continued, “it was so hot that I started to sweat, and I tried to take some clothes off, but I tripped on my pants and fell over. It’s so true that you see stars when you hit your head… Oh, before I took my clothes off, I thought you might be around, so I called your name three times, but I still didn’t hear an answer… I picked up my clothes, because I shouldn’t leave things behind. Aaand then the floor was very slippery, so I tripped three more times. I hurt my knee, elbow, and the back of my head, so I cried a little bit. Tee-hee!
“But I’m an officer, so I mustered my courage and got back up. Aren’t I great? Oh, then I called your name three times again, but I still didn’t hear an answer. Instead, I heard a click from my right, and then there was what sounded like an animal growling from my left… I got scared and I ran, but I tripped three more times, and cried… Oh, but I didn’t forget to keep calling your name. Three times. Then I was anxious, and I was hoping I’d hear the warbler again, so I called the warbler three times. Then I figured I should call your name, so that was three more times…”
Mihoshi’s ability to recall was extraordinary, but she did not have the ability to organize those memories. As a result, her reports left not only Jurai, but also the GP in confusion. That was the reason why, earlier, Washu had told her to be brief. This time, for the sake of figuring out what Mihoshi had done, she could not.
Two hours later…
“I got tired of walking, so I sat down to take a rest… Then…”
“Hold on a sec. What exactly did you sit on?”
“Um, well… I think the number 108384788298 was on it.”
“I see.” Washu had patiently listened to Mihoshi’s endless story for hours. Now, she had finally heard the source of the trouble. She picked up Mihoshi with a smile, slid open the window, and threw her out into the heap of snow. Tossed with a strength that belied Washu’s apparent age, Mihoshi landed face-first in the deep snow, about eight meters away.
“Aiieee! Wh-what are you doing?!” Flailing about, Mihoshi made things worse for herself.
“Hmph!” Washu lightly harrumphed at the sight, slammed the window shut, and locked it for good measure. “Good grief… She scrambled the weather controller, and somehow, only for this valley…”
“Washu-san, please open up!” Mihoshi implored, banging on the window, which Washu ignored. The others watched, and though they cast sympathetic glances at Mihoshi, they did not dare open the window.
Washu activated her terminal and started to tinker with the weather control. She turned to the others. “Oh…so, I heard you yelling that I was the Snow Queen. But what were you all doing with the curtains closed?”
Sasami briefed her about Mihoshi’s story.
“I see…” Washu replied curtly, although she was the one who asked for the information, and continued working without another word.
“Um… Washu-sama?” After a while, Ayeka nervously spoke to Washu, pointing to Mihoshi, who was on the verge of tears on the other side of the window. Seeing Washu continue to ignore her, Ayeka fell silent without another word. Tenchi and Sasami did likewise.
“That should do it for now…!!” Finished, Washu turned her terminal off, briefly stretched, and finally turned her attention to the window.
“I’m soooorry! I’m soooorry!” Mihoshi was plastered to the window, her nose red from the cold, repeating her apology over and over in tears. “I’m soooorry! I’m soooorry!” Washu stared at Mihoshi, dumbfounded. “I’m soooorry! I’m soooorry! I’m soooorry…”
Tenchi and Sasami noticed Washu’s body trembling slightly. Then a chuckle came out. “Heh heh…” Washu slowly started to laugh. “Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Bursting out laughing, Washu opened the window and hugged Mihoshi.
“Whaat?!” Unable to brace herself against the sudden onslaught, Mihoshi lost her balance and fell into the snow with Washu.
“You’re just so cute! Darn you! ♥” Washu rolled in the snow, swinging Mihoshi around.
“Is her brain frozen?” At that, Ryoko’s face was suddenly covered in white powder. Washu had thrown a snowball at her. “Why, you…!!” Falling easily for Washu’s provocation, she leapt outside.
“Yay! Me too!”
“Meow!” Sasami and Ryo-Ohki followed.
“Wait, Sasami…!” Wapf! Ryoko’s snowball hit Ayeka. “R-Ryoko-san!” Ayeka squared her shoulders and also leapt out into the yard. Another snowball hit Tenchi. Since nobody knew who they were throwing at, the snowball fight turned into a big free-for-all.
Washu, throwing snowballs, looked sidelong at Mihoshi. “I’m sorry,” she says… You look just like her, little girl. Just then, Ryoko hit her with a snowball. Washu sank into the snow, laughing. So, she thought to herself, it’s been twenty thousand years…
This time, Mihoshi’s coincidences included the discovery of a disconnected circuit that had gotten too old and a bug in one of the weather programs. Neither was too serious. And, on the way to the weather controller, Washu found a manga volume she had left behind and forgotten about.
“Hey! I should’ve known Washu took it!” It was the last volume of Checking In ☆ On You. Ryoko snatched the manga from Washu, looked lovingly at it, and leapt on top of the crossbeams.
“Okay, good for you,” Washu mumbled weakly, watching Ryoko happily read her manga.