Yukio

Yukio is a Yuki-onna (雪女, lit. "Snow Woman") who works as the Okami (proprieter) of the Sno Ball Hot Spring Resort, an onsen resort catering to various Liminals.

Appearance
Yukio, as befitting for her name and race, is a tall, slender, elegant woman with pale white skin and long, pale hair reaching her knees. Her eyes distinctively lack pupils, adding to her icy design. Her body temperature runs around 0°C.

Her hair is done up using a hairclip created from her own ice, resembling a snowflake that changes everyday due to her cold aura, and wears a kimono adorned with snowflakes. The obi sash has a hexagon pattern, which also harkens to the hexagon shape of snowflakes. She tends to wear it somewhat loose, exposing her large breasts slightly. In order to tolerate the high temperatures of the hot springs she sometimes also wears a special environmental suit.

Personality
Yukio, as expected of a race associated with the cold, is very emotionally distant, thus making it difficult for her to express herself openly and easy for others to find her intimidating. While polite, she can come off as standoffish and sullen. When talking about the young heir to the hot springs she runs she shows genuine affection and unconsciously grins. But it's also shown if her emotions run wild she has a tendency to lose control of her ability to control ice.

Skills and Traits

 * Yuki-onna Physiology:
 * Cryokinesis: Yukio is able to drastically lower the temperature of her surroundings by choice, though she can lose control of this power if she gets emotional or if she doesn't pay attention of her surroundings. When this happens, she can instantly freeze a bath filled with hot water.
 * Low Body Temperature: As a Yuki-Onna, Yukio's body temperature is much lower than that of a human. It is low enough to freeze the ground beneath her feet, which is part of the reason the resort needs heated floors. Due to this, Yukio cannot handle higher temperatures that are considered comfortable for humans and most Liminals. Nonetheless, she is training herself to better tolerate these temperatures.
 * Weather Manipulation: Yukio seems to cause the weather to become snowy wherever she goes, though she does not seem to realize that she is the cause. It's because of this that the inn is always covered in snow, despite the surrounding climate being quite temperate.

Possessions

 * Environmental Suit: Yukio possesses a bulky environmental suit specially made by the young master (an old diving suit that he converted by insulating the inside), dressed in a similar if not identical kimono. Due to her lower body temperature, she needs this suit to handle the higher temperatures that humans can be comfortable at, though she is training herself to be less reliant upon the suit. Surprisingly enough, the helmet has a strong resemblance to a Zaku II from Mobile Suit Gundam.

History
At some point, Yukio wanted to join the exchange program. While she was waiting in line for an interview, a Killer Bee got impatient and tried to fly to the front of the line.

Plot
Yukio is the proprietor of a hot springs resort constructed around attracting Liminal patrons. However, due to her cold demeanor and the lack of Liminal visitors she has had few customers thus Ms. Smith sends Kurusu and his homestay guests to her inn in order to test the facilities.

After the group partakes in the facilities (the hot springs actually being mixed bathing) Kurusu goes into the outdoor bath, or rotenburo, to relax on his own while the others have dinner. However, he already finds Yukio there, explaining that she's been building a resistance to high temperatures so she can run the inn better. She laments her lack of guests, explaining that she started her homestay at the hot springs and became extremely close to the young heir who she's clearly wanting to marry, the young man having built a special bath for her due to her physiology. She thus came upon the idea of refurbishing the resort so it could cater to Liminals. She partly blames herself, saying she can't smile like he does, though Kurusu notes she was grinning unconsciously when thinking of her beloved young master.

However, this caused Yukio to lose control of her composure and nearly freeze Kurusu. Embarrassed beyond belief at her actions, she claims she'll shut her doors but she is convinced to keep her inn open, the resort hosting special events where Liminal guests and prospective homestay hosts can meet. She also learned how to actively smile, making a huge difference in how she comes across to others.

Afterwards, she forced the guests to write a report about their experiences in the inn.

Zoological Classification


A Yuki-onna (雪女) is a psudeohuman that appears in Japanese folklore as a snow spirit of inhuman beauty that appears before travelers trapped in snowstorms with the purpose of killing them.

While the Yuki-onna race is not inherently malevolent, their stoic demeanor and their natural environment being hazardous to humans, may have given rise to myths that they intentionally cause deaths.

While possessing elemental control over ice and snow, Yuki-onna can not live in high temperate environments without assistance.

Trivia

 * Yukio first appeared not in the series proper, but in a four panel manga on Okayado's Twitter feed.
 * She is dating the son of the owners of the resort. In a later bonus comic it is revealed that the two had become engaged.
 * Like most characters, her name is a pun on the name of her species, in this case Yuki-Onna.
 * The okami not only bears the greatest responsibility for waiting on and taking care of guests but also acts as the chief service manager on behalf of the ryokan. The okami's role corresponds to that of a general manager in a Western hotel. In many cases, the okami is the owner of the ryokan or the wife of the owner, which means that the okami, as the representative of the ryokan, attends to all external affairs such as business matters and cooperation with the local community. Among the numerous ryokans which have developed as family businesses, the okami has constantly supervised guest service in general and continues to play the central role. For this reason, many of the ryokans have been handed down through successive generations within the same family. The traditions of ryokans are often preserved by three generations together, namely the oo-okami (grand okami), the okami, and the waka-okami (young okami). In the majority of ryokans, the role of the okami is handed down from mother to daughter or to daughter-in-law. In either case, the younger generation studies under the older generation, and devotes herself to mastering the responsibilities and principles of the position of okami.