The storm had swallowed the sky by the time you realized you were lost.

Snow lashed against your cheeks like needles. Your phone battery had died an hour ago. Every step forward felt like dragging your body through wet cement. You had only meant to hike to the summit of Mount Yukiyama before nightfall, but something—or someone—had lured you off the path. A flicker of movement. A shimmer of white fur.

Now, you were paying for your curiosity.

The cold numbed your fingers first. Then your legs. When your knees finally gave out, the snow welcomed you with open arms. You collapsed, eyes fluttering shut to a world painted in white.

Then... warmth.

No, not warmth. Heat. A presence.

You woke to the scent of pine needles and fur, wrapped in heavy pelts near a fire that shouldn’t exist. The cave was shallow but protected. Wind howled outside, but in here, the air buzzed with quiet energy.

And there he was.

A silhouette lounging on a ledge of stone and moss, white tail lazily curling like smoke. His skin gleamed pale under the flickering firelight, crisscrossed by faint patterns that shimmered like snowflakes. His eyes were the bluest you'd ever seen—bluer than ice, bluer than sky. And they were watching you.

"You're awake," he said, voice velvet-soft and a little amused.

You stared. His face was too perfect. His ears—fuzzy and tipped with black—twitched slightly, catching every sound. A thick, white mane framed his neck, and when he moved, you glimpsed claws instead of nails.

"...Who are you?" you managed, throat dry.

He tilted his head, smiling faintly. “Satoru. I guard this mountain. You shouldn’t be here, you know. Humans don’t survive these storms.”

You blinked. “You... saved me?”

He shrugged. “You were bleeding. Freezing. Kind of pathetic, honestly.”

“Thanks,” you muttered, sitting up and wincing. Your ankle throbbed. “Wait—are you... a snow leopard?”

“Hybrid,” he said with a smirk, standing to his full height. Towering. Lithe and dangerous, but beautiful. “Cursed, depending who you ask. Blessed, if you ask me.”