My house...

Even as my superior actually opened the driver’s side door, even as Ricardo swung open the passenger’s side, ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ I couldn’t snap out of it.

My ceiling?

I really said I only needed a place to stay dry from the rain...

“Snap out of it and get out.”

Even through the deafening storm, Yun’s low voice came through clearly.

“Rookie. You listening?”

“Just tell him to stay inside....”

Even as the storm drenched the smooth car seats without mercy, the seniors were unfazed.

I couldn’t see Ricardo’s face as he already stood outside, but I saw him moving to shut the passenger’s side door.

“He’ll just drag us down....”

Crash!

The cabin window shattered. A small kitchen window had broken. The shards caught the rain and glittered as they scattered. Something spilled out with them.

Truly miserable.

Yun, with his soaked hand, reached in and killed the engine.

“Well, I suppose. Just crouch down in the back seat.”

The wipers froze, and the windshield went dark under the rain.

“If the front glass shatters, at least it won’t hit your eyes. If the car looks like it’ll blow up, get out yourself.”

“Excuse me?”

No further explanation.

The seniors slammed their doors without opening umbrellas. The thunder of rain around me abruptly dulled. The downpour over the leather seats vanished too.

Left alone in the car, I muttered blankly:

“...You mean stay inside, right?”

No answer, of course.

I glimpsed the men who had been standing at the driver’s and passenger’s sides moving off. Their shadows vanished forward into the storm. A creature hunt, in weather like this? Could they even stay standing?

I pressed my face to the rear window, trying to see.

All I caught were silhouettes whirling in the gale—things spilling out from my house. Shattered to pieces.

They said this storm came from a giant butterfly. But where was the butterfly?

Boom!

A deafening blast.

I turned my head to see a soaked tree filling my vision. A sharp splinter of trunk had ripped through the Lamborghini’s roof, stabbing down inside.

If I hadn’t been pressed to the window, my skull would’ve been split.

The torn roof, the huge splinter, the familiar woodgrain.

Watching the rain and branches pour through the gap, I shouted:

“My ceiling came back!”

“Does that look like it came back to you?”

Ricardo yanked the door open.

He frowned and smiled strangely, then grabbed me by the collar.

“That’s why climate creatures are...”

Crash!

The windshield exploded.

Another splinter punched in. If Ricardo hadn’t dragged me out, I would’ve been pulverized, shredded by glass.

Drenched in an instant, lashed by the storm.

I staggered as he let go of my collar and turned forward.

Without even looking at me, he said coldly:

“Stay right here.”

That usual faint smile of his was gone.

“Don’t run anywhere.”

Run? I could barely stand.

The storm howled. Even outside the car I could hardly see. The rain pelted my whole body without pause. Soaked socks, shoes heavy with water, hair plastered down.

I shielded my eyes with my arm, squinting, searching for the butterfly they kept talking about.

Thud, thud, boom!

Things flew out of my destroyed cabin, carried on the whirlwind. Bagels, chocolate, a beanbag, mattress, dishes, knives. All circling in the air.

And at the center of that spiral—I spotted a heavy shadow.

That thing in the tornado’s core... the butterfly?

And that flare above it, like an engine burning across the sky?

“Oppa!”

Ami’s bright voice dropped from above.

My jaw fell open as she shouted on:

“I’ll knock it down—so you catch it!”

“Sordi.”

Yun, already close to the storm, spoke.

“If it falls, hold it down.”

I had no time to process.

Boom!

The shockwave slammed into me. The Lamborghini beside us flipped and flew backward. If Ricardo hadn’t caught me by the collar again, I would’ve gone with it.

My body stung all over from the blast. I clung to his arm.

And suddenly—the wind stopped.

The howling gale that should’ve followed the shockwave simply vanished.

Why did the storm die so suddenly?

Because Ami had smashed the butterfly into the asphalt.

A crater gaped where it hit.

Ami hovered above it, wearing strange boots.

“It’s alive.”

Her voice carried clearly in the slackened rain.

“Ric. Pin it down.”

Something writhed in the hand holding my collar.

Dumbly, I stared at Ricardo’s ring. I hadn’t noticed before—silver, shaped like a snake.

It writhed, uncoiling, changing shape.

What...?

The small snake ring elongated, stretching into a sharp spear before my eyes.

In an instant, Ricardo gripped a lance.

Boom!

The silver spear flew. Arced beautifully into the crater.

“You’re good.”

Ami laughed, looking down.

“Like a giant butterfly specimen.”

My superior walked to the crater’s edge.

He drew a dagger from his uniform sheath. Head lowered, he asked: 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

“Shall we harvest?”

“If possible.”

Yun took a running leap and disappeared into the hole.

His dry voice rose out:

“Keep an eye on the rookie.”

Why me?

Blankly, I stared after him. The rain weakened. The storm that had blinded me was gone.

In front of me: Ricardo with green eyes, Ami floating overhead, Yun vanished below.

Boom!

The crater exploded.

Air burst upward, flinging debris like a volcano. A waterspout rising, bursting with force.

Rain poured again.

“Ami!”

I shouted in panic.

“Yun!”

“They’ll be fine, stay put~.”

Ricardo stopped me from bolting, catching his silver spear midair. Without looking at me, he snapped:

“Crouch down....”

“Excuse me?”

Slash!

A chunk of wood came flying. Probably a piece of my cabin ceiling. Ricardo cleaved it in two with his spear.

“Crazy?”

“They keep coming.”

He ignored my words, focused ahead.

I jerked my head up—saw countless cabin items spinning up into the sky.

“My beanbag!”

Thud.

It too was skewered by his spear.

I could only gape as he elegantly slashed away flying debris—splintered wood, bouncing bagels, crushed chocolate.

Ricardo spun the spear, scattering raindrops in arcs.

What is this situation? Were Ami and Yun safe? And why were all these things flying at us?

As if trying to kill me?

Rumble!

The storm column swelled, devouring what remained of my cabin. Mattresses, pots, blankets, cups. Torn to pieces, whirling skyward. Toaster. Clothes. Shoes. Umbrella.

A kitchen knife.

Its blade flashed, reflecting the rain. Small, easy to miss—only the glint gave it away.

Ricardo, eyes fixed on a mattress, didn’t see.

The blade flew straight at him.

Thunk.

Pain jolted through my arm.

“You!”

Ricardo’s voice, short, filled with surprise and anger.

“I told you—!”

“That’s the butterfly?”

Even as he yanked me by the neck, I saw it.

A giant butterfly hovered overhead. Its lower pair of wings had been cleanly severed, leaving only two yellow petals clinging to its body.

It looked about to crash and die.

“Sordi!”

Yun’s voice boomed, as he vaulted up from the crater intact.

“Stab the body! Don’t touch the wings!”

Poison, then.

The thought struck as the butterfly surged toward me—faster than any insect should move. My vision locked onto it.

The yellow wings ballooned. The abdomen loomed. It stooped, attacking.

‘A bigger target is easier.’

My vision overlapped with memory.

I shoved Ricardo back, yanked the knife from my arm with my good hand—

Shhk!

And drove it into the butterfly’s belly.

Thick black liquid splattered.

Even blinking through the stinging spray, I raised the knife again. And split its body in two.

The butterfly fell in halves, wings fluttering down like paper.

At last, the wind faded.

And then—I felt the pain in my left arm.

“Hilde!”

Ami dropped from the sky and rushed to me.

“Ahhh, Hilde, your arm’s bleeding so bad!”

“Hildebert....”

Ricardo’s voice behind me, dark and low.

The ache in my left arm sharpened. Blood poured down. And as I stared at it, I realized—

The rain had stopped.

The wind was gone.

The sky had cleared.

***

We were inside my superior’s house.

“Was ‘don’t run out’ too hard to understand?”

Ricardo looked down at me, smiling.

His green eyes, crescent-shaped, glimmered with malice.

“Or did I look like someone whose words you didn’t need to follow?”

“...I was wrong.”