In October 2009, Chaosbahamut123 submitted the original version of Thawing Permafrost. It was a tangle of Author Avatars, Wish-Fulfillment, and Plot Holes. The series spanned a total of two complete fics and one incomplete fic.
Cut to April 2011, and Chaosbahamut123 (now WanderingWordsmith) submits a rewrite
(archived) of the original Thawing Permafrost. There were improvements. Lots of them.
Set three years after Season 1 of the Rosario + Vampire manga, the plot centers around a new, British, human transfer student named Dan, who comes to Yokai Academy, and has no idea about the existence of monsters. There, he meets his homeroom teacher Mizore Shirayuki, who finds out that he is human after one lesson with him. After a meeting with the Chairman, Dan is offered the chance to return to the human world, or stay under Mizore's guardianship. He opts for the latter, and his adventures and mishaps snowball from there.
The 2011 series contains the old gang from Rosario+Vampire and a new cast, with some taken and developed from the original Thawing Permafrost. As of chapter thirty-five, the third story arc is finished, and Thawing Permafrost moved into the final arc of the book.
In 2018, the author published another revision of the story, available here.
Thawing Permafrost provides examples of:
- Accidental Pervert: Dan, Mizore, the school bus and forward momentum do not mix.
- Action Survivor: Dan has had lucky breaks against two villains (Kotsubo and Masumi), despite his reluctance to fight them. Directly, at least.
- Aerith and Bob: Played straight. There's Kaiyo, Kia, Mizore, Masumi, Kotsubo and... Dan. Justified, because he's an international student.
- All-Ghouls School: Yokai Academy. Bar one student.
- Another Dimension: Yokai Academy is situated in the Borderlands, a dimension literally on the edge of the Human World.
- Author Avatar: Averted - almost. In the original Thawing Permafrost, Dan was a direct port of the author into Rosario+Vampire's universe. In the rewrite, he's been developed to stand alone as his own character, though trace elements of being an Author Avatar (like the name) still exist.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: Dan fancies himself as a good judge of character, and actually guesses Mizore and Kotsubo's foul past. When put into a dangerous situation, however, it doesn't work nearly as well.
- Beautiful Dreamer: Dan sees Mizore as this, when she sleeps next to him during the Summer Break arc.
- The Big Guy: Iwao. Important because he is befriended (through means only hinted at) by Kia, therefore becoming Dan's friend.
- Bloody Murder: Kaiyo's true form as a Kuchisake-Onna turns the blood from her scars into very large claws.
- Body Horror: WW took the Kuchisake-Onna from Japanese folklore and tweaked the being's true form.
- Boy Meets Monster
- Broken Bird: Doubles up as a miniature Berserk Button for Mizore, whenever someone mentions a certain Yokai graduate.
- Catapult Dream: Dan's awakening from an unwanted Erotic Dream causes him to jolt upright and tumble from his bed.
- Character Cameo: Dan asks a certain uppity, light-brown haired senior if she's seen Mizore around. It's Koko.
- Clingy Jealous Girl: Mizore slips into this in chapter 28, about her friendship - so she says - with Dan.
- Cry into Chest: With Dan in a café lavatory.
- Curbstomp Battle: Kaiyo against Masumi. She leaves him as a chattering wreck shortly after unleashing her true form. It only turns around when she reels her abilities in, to prevent Dan from suffering the same fate.
- Curtains Match the Window: Mizore, who has blue hair and blue eyes. Also Dan, to a slightly more boring extent, who has brown hair and brown eyes.
- Dark Secret: Dan was a victim of a knife attack the year before he enrolled at Yokai. Whilst the wounds were minor, the emotional damage was far more serious (especially considering how it was a few of his classmates that did it.)
- Deadpan Snarker: Dan has shown flashes of this.Dan: "The only cuisine they serve here probably requires a squeezy bottle and one very soft tongue."
- Defrosting Ice Queen: Instead of relying on distance from everything painful to her including all of the old gang, Mizore has started to reluctantly rely on Dan as a Living Emotional Crutch.
- Demoted to Extra: Kurumu and Yukari have been given only small roles thus far, Koko has had only a cameo, Tsukune a mere mention, and Moka has only had a passing reference as part of "My friends, from Yokai."
- Don't Ask: After taking Dan to a Maid Cafe and then, misguided by Kurumu, booking them into a love hotel, Mizore does this to Ruby.
- The Door Slams You: Happens to Dan in chapter 25.
- Door Stopper: By the author's count, as of chapter 35, Thawing Permafrost now spans 518 pages.
- Emotion Eater: Chapter 37 revealed antagonist Kaze to be a Defacer, adapted from Dungeons and Dragons lore.
- Erotic Dream: Dan has a rather pleasant Dream Sequence, and is interrupted by the focus of his dream. He is, as is stated, "glad that his jeans were slim-fit."
- Fanservice: Kurumu working at a Maid Cafe.
- Flat "What": Upon seeing Pandora's Transformation Sequence.
- Forbidden Friendship: Mizore and Dan, as teacher and student respectively. It's developing.
- Friendly Target: Dan has been made a target because of his relations to Mizore and Kaiyo, by Kotsubo and Masumi respectively. He exploits the second instance.
- Gossip Evolution: This is character-specific, but Kia's habit for gossiping leads her to mistakenly believe that Kaiyo is a man-eater.
- Gossipy Girl: Kia openly admits that she likes to gossip. This like leads her to believe that Kaiyo is an incredibly dangerous individual to anybody male.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Has struck two characters very recently. Guess who.
- Glasgow Grin: Kaiyo.
- Growing Up Sucks: It's implied that Mizore enjoyed her years as a student far more than she does her adult life.
- Halloween Arc: The Festival Arc has given Mizore's homeroom class the opportunity to work on a Halloween café, inspired by her and Dan's experience over the summer break.
- Harmless Freezing: It's implied that Mizore does this to Yukari, in order to let Dan visit Ruby.
- Heel–Face Turn: Iwao. How it happened is a Noodle Incident that both Kia and Mizore know, but neither will disclose.
- Intertwined Fingers: Mizore to Dan when he tells her about his scars, reversing their relationship as Crutch/In-Need-Of-Crutch for one night.
- Jade-Colored Glasses: Dan's past prior to enrolling is his (as he justifies it, anyway) reason for being very slow to trust anyone at Yokai. As of chapter 21, he's only revealed anything of his past to one person.
- Japanese Monsters Speaking English: Averted; Despite that the story itself is written in English, the author recognizes the Japanese setting and occasionally reminds the readers (often through a comedic moment) that all the characters, including Dan, are speaking Japanese.
- Living Emotional Crutch: Dan is Mizore's, and vice versa.
- Ruby is also Dan's, to a lesser extent.
- Mama Bear: Ruby doesn't like people threatening her friends.
- Megaton Punch: Mizore to Gin. Because it's Gin.
- Meido: Kurumu's employed at a Maid Cafe, but carries it into everyday life to mess with Dan.
- Monster Mash: There's a Yuki-onna, Kuchisake-Onna, two Witches, and two unidentified monsters in the protagonist's direct social circle. There's also a Kraken and another unidentified as villains.
- Motor Mouth: Dan, whenever something isn't going as planned or someone says something that catches him off guard, babbles.
- The Mourning After: Mizore hasn't gotten over Tsukune choosing Moka.
- Nice Guy: When presented with an opportunity to learn about all of Mizore's past, Dan refuses on the basis that he wants to hear it straight from Mizore, when he deserves to hear it.
- Non-Action Guy: Dan is about as useful as a chocolate teapot in a fight. Except when he pushed Mizore out of the way of some tentacles in an early chapter.
- Noodle Incident: How did Kia get Iwao, Masumi's lackey, to let her and Mizore go? Answer: She won't say, and even her answer isn't an answer.
- The Omniscient: The Chairman is implied to be this. Naturally.
- Photos Lie: Mizore shows Dan a photo of all the True Companions being all chummy and happy upon graduation. Turns out, for her at least, things weren't so cheerful.
- Please Put Some Clothes On: "My line of sight would be a pervert's paradise right now."
- Post-Kiss Catatonia: Dan has a mild case of this.
- Promoted Character: Despite being part of the News Club in the manga, and therefore technically a central character, Mizore is given a lot more focus in Thawing Permafrost (seeing as she's one of the lead protagonists).
- Psycho Ex-Boyfriend: Kotsubo was this in the manga, to an extent, and he's back in Thawing Permafrost.
- Psychoactive Powers: Sort of. When Kaiyo gets worked up emotionally, her scars re-open. Guess what happens when people say she isn't pretty.
- Running Gag: Kurumu treating Dan as her master, after the Summer Break Arc.
- Scar Survey: Played straight, but not post-copulation. Mizore notices scars on Dan's back whilst he sleeps, and he doesn't say anything until after they're booked into the love hotel.
- School Festival: Is rapidly approaching in the Festival Arc.
- Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness: Yukari: “Is that invidiousness I detect somewhere in your voice, Mizore?”
- She Is Not My Girlfriend: Played straight by Dan and Mizore in the Maid Cafe.
- "Shut Up" Kiss: Also Dan and Mizore's First Kiss, although she did tell him to shut up first.
- Shout-Out:
- "Are you seducing him, Miss Shirayuki?"
- Kurumu working at a maid café has its roots in Rosario + Vampire.
- Shrinking Violet: Kaiyo is this upon her introduction, although she is quite rude to anyone who tries to pull her out of the scenery.
- Sleep Cute: Mizore in the Summer Break arc.
- Stealth Hi/Bye: Mizore's habit of climbing through Dan's window to either say hello, wake him up, or deliver lollipops is treated as a normal thing.
- On the flipside, Dan sneaking into Mizore's room to talk causes her to Freak Out.
- Stiff Upper Lip: Subverted. Despite being British, Dan is one of the least imperturbable characters in the whole fic.
- Stranger in a Strange School: Dan is the only human in Yokai Academy, and whilst there is no direct, lawful punishment for him if this is found out, the student body will be most likely not pleased if word does get out.
- Teacher/Student Romance: Dan currently has a one-sided infatuation with Mizore. The romance blossomed in the Festival Arc.
- There Is Only One Bed: Mizore is forced to book herself and Dan into a love hotel. Happens again in her room after hours.
- Waistcoat of Style: In the fic (and some artwork) Dan favors these for casual-wear.
