Everything was dark. Karin had no idea where she was.

She reached around her, but sensed nothing. No sound, no smell, no visuals — nothing.

Until she heard a distant voice, screaming. What was that? Who was that?

Karin listened more closely. The voice seemed to draw nearer — it was the voice of a woman. She sounded very upset.

Was she calling someone’s name…?

“Lena…!”

The voice drew even closer.

“Lena… My little Lena… Where are you…?” the woman cried.

Karin started to feel bad… Part of her wished she could help, but how…?

Suddenly, a light flash.

Karin saw a silhouette in front of her in the light. It was the silhouette of a woman, who appeared to be almost elven-like — no, fae-like, rather. She had beautiful, long wavy hair and what appeared to be wings.

It was the woman she heard just now.

“Lena… where are you… please help us all…”, she cried once more.

Lena…? Who was Lena? Karin had gotten curious.

She opened her mouth to ask the question, when suddenly —

“Karin!”

She awoke from her dream by the sound of the Math teacher, mister Johnson, slamming his hand on her desk.

Still disoriented from the dream, Karin yelled, “Hello! Can I help you?”

The whole class started to giggle. Her friend Rashida, who sat next to her, had a worried look on her face.

“And if you can, young lady!” The teacher walked towards the front of the classroom again. “Instead of taking a nap during Math hours, your time would be better spent solving the equation I wrote on the whiteboard.” He pointed with his finger on the whiteboard, towards an equation that Karin had no idea how to solve.

Well crap, there goes my grade, Karin thought while worryingly biting her lip.

“Eh…”, was all that came out. Had she really slept throughout the entire explanation? Was she really that tired…?

Rashida, who had been awake and paying attention all this time, kindly raised her hand to help her friend out. “Sir, I think I know the answer.”

“No Rashida, it’s Karin’s turn right now. And if she doesn’t answer”, mister Johnson continued, “then she gets detention as well as an F on her report card.”

Oh no.

Karin was suddenly very worried. Her Math grades had never been that great and this whole incident would make them even worse. And detention too… Her parents would be angry.

Karin sighed. “Okay sir, sorry sir…”, she mumbled.

“After school at three. One hour. See you then, sleepyhead”. Karin rolled her eyes at the teacher’s snarky remark. The only nickname she accepted from anyone was Freckles, given to her by Rashida, who was her best friend. Imagine being best friends with a teacher, gross!

And at least it was an accurate one, because Karin actually did have freckles. But she was not a sleepyhead, dangit!

🌸🌸🌸

The bell rang, which meant break time.

As always, Karin and Rashida shared a table together in the cafeteria. Karin stared mopingly at her lunch plate, twirling her fork around in the food.

“Hey now, cheer up, Freckles”, Rashida said while smiling and poking Karin’s arm.

“Ugh, I just hate Math, Rashida! I’m so bad at it… I feel so embarrassed, especially since the final exams are this summer. It scares me.” She grumpily took a bite of her food.

Oh great, today’s lunch was apparently fried cardboard. What a delight, not.

“You’ll be fine, trust me. I can help you with homework!” Rashida was as cheerful as ever in this dire situation. Granted, it didn’t affect her directly, but Karin was still her friend. And Rashida cared a lot about her friends.

A faint smile appeared on Karin’s face. “Thank you Rashida, truly.” She took another bite of her fried cardbo- er, her lunch. “Say, are you free tomorrow then? Another excuse to come over, haha.”

“Yeah I’ll be free, no swimming practice tomorrow.” Rashida took a bite of her food as well. Judging from the face she made while eating, she probably also thought it tasted like cardboard.

“Well rub it in, will ya!” Karin responded with her mouth full. “You get to do fun things whereas I get to go to detention. I envy you, life isn’t fair.”

“Well I wasn’t sleeping in class!” Rashida laughed. “Also, we have a competition coming up in a month, which means I have to train extra hard. So I don’t know how ‘fun’ my training will be today, honestly.”

“Still better than detention though”, Karin responded with a sigh. “At least you’re good at swimming. I, however, absolutely suck at Math. And I didn’t sign up for detention, whereas you taking up swimming was your own choice, right?”

“You do have a point there”, Rashida said while chewing on food. “I do in fact enjoy swimming, of course. It’s just a bit stressful right now… But the coach told me she has a lot of trust in me, so part of me suspects that I’ll at least do well enough. And win, hopefully”, she quickly added.

“I wish you luck in advance”, Karin said with a smile. “I’ll see if I can come watch when the day comes.”

“That’d be great, I’ll see you then”, Rashida responded happily.

Suddenly, the bell rang again.

The girls grabbed their lunch plates and walked towards the counter.

Rashida turned to Karin and said, “Oh, and you good luck with your detention too, of course.”

“Haha, thanks”, Karin responded while trying to be cheerful about it.

Together, they walked back to class. Thankfully they had Biology now, which Karin was a lot better at than Math.

🌸🌸🌸

It was 3 PM when the final bell rang. As all the other students walked out of class to leave for home, Karin stayed in her chair while waving her goodbyes to Rashida. Detention had officially started.

Mister Johnson walked into class towards Karin’s table.

“Well well, look who we have here”, the teacher said with a grin.

Karin rolled her eyes. Yup, here we go.

“You’re going to solve these formulas,” the teacher said while walking towards the whiteboard, “within the next hour.” He promptly wrote twenty math formulas on the whiteboard. From the looks of it, they were very difficult — of course, Karin thought while she sighed.

“Understood, Karin?” mister Johnson said as he walked towards Karin’s table.

“Yes, sir…” She knew detention meant punishment, but Math was just too difficult and too boring. Karin wished she had never fallen asleep in class.

The teacher gave her a stencil with the same formulas on it. “One hour. Do not disappoint me.”

He walked towards the door of the classroom. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m gonna go get my coffee. Dealing with you snot-nosed kids all day is pretty tiring”, he snickered. Clearly he thought himself to be the epitome of comedy.

“Oh, and if you sneak out before I’m back, you’ll get detention tomorrow too!” Mister Johnson walked away through the hallway as soon as he was done talking.

Not that Karin had any intention of leaving early — this was already a harsh enough punishment as-is. In truth, Karin rarely broke the school rules — sometimes she’d get comments from the teachers for talking too loudly, but it rarely ever came to the point that she’d receive punishment. On top of that, she also had no idea why she had fallen asleep in class, since she didn’t feel particularly sleepy when she came to school this morning.

And most importantly, what did that strange dream mean…?

Who was that fae-like woman? And who was this “Lena” she talked about?

Okay Karin, focus, she told herself while staring at the stencil in front of her. She could barely concentrate on this confusing material.

But as soon as she wanted to grab her calculator, she saw something shimmery in the corner of her eye right outside the window.

Karin turned her head. She caught the glimpse of a butterly — a sparkling one, no less.

But when she blinked, it was gone.

Karin turned her head to her table again. Okay, time to focus for real now, she told herself. She was probably still hallucinating from that dream earlier, no big deal.

However, as she began writing down the first solution, the sparkling butterfly had reappeared in the corner of her eye.

Once again, Karin turned her head. This time, she stared right at the butterfly and it didn’t leave.

She blinked her eyes a few times to be sure it was there. It definitely seemed to be real…

Suddenly, she heard footsteps and the door opening. The teacher was back.

“Sorry for the wait, Karin, for as much as you would care,” mister Johnson snickered, “but it’s gonna be another while since the coffee machine is malfunctioning today. Consider yourself lucky, even though I still expect you to work.”

Karin listened as she was still paying attention to the butterfly in the corner of her eye. It hadn’t left, so surely the teacher would notice it too, right?

“Sir, look!” Karin exclaimed while pointing at the window. “Do you see that sparkling butterfly over there? Isn’t it strange?”

The teacher glanced over to the window.

“Are you pulling my leg, Karin? That’s just a normal, plain-looking butterfly. There are no sparkles to be seen. Maybe you’re still sleepy from that dream from earlier”, he snickered. “Now stop looking at that stupid butterfly and get back to work, you hear!”

“Maybe you’re right, sir. I’m sorry.” Karin looked at her piece of paper again as the teacher walked out of the classroom again.

But once more, Karin couldn’t concentrate. She just couldn’t stop being curious about that butterfly. At this point she didn’t care whether it was a hallucination or not, she wanted to see it up close to confirm for herself.

Karin opened the window. The butterfly was, once again, nowhere to be seen.

“Oh buuutterfly”, Karin exclaimed. Silly me, she thought, butterflies can’t understand human language.

But suddenly, the sparkling butterfly flew in front of her through the window.

It was pink with hints of light yellow and, as she had thought, it did indeed sparkle.

Then, something unexpected happened — the butterfly spoke.

“You called?” the butterfly asked.

🌸🌸🌸

“Eek!” Karin yelled. She quickly fled to the other side of the classroom.

“Hey, hey!” the butterfly said with an agitated voice. “Don’t walk away, you!”

It flew towards Karin.

“Do not worry, I come in peace. You can understand what I’m saying, right?”

Karin nodded her head, still with a scared look on her face.

“Good, good, just as expected.” The butterfly landed on Karin’s shoulder. “I was honestly just flying around town a bit to find anyone who would be able to notice me, and you clearly did. Can you see my glow as well?”

“Y-yes…”, Karin stammered.

“Perfect. Listen,” the butterfly continued, “the fact that you can understand what I’m saying means that you have certain powers. This is very important, seeing as Earth is in danger.”

“W-What do you mean?” Karin didn’t quite understand. Was the world going to end…?

“Well, I can’t explain everything right now, but you have certain powers that make you able to defend yourself. You see”, the butterfly continued as it got up and flew around, “the Earth has been invaded by creatures from another world. These creatures have been brainwashed and turned evil.”

“Um… if I may ask, what kind of creatures?” Karin asked. She was definitely interested, even if she still didn’t understand what was going on.

“Many different kinds”, the butterfly replied, “including creatures that you may have never seen before in real life. You’ll notice when you see them.”

Karin was intrigued. Her mind went to unicorns, dragons and the like, although she wasn’t entirely sure if that was correct.

“S-so, I have to fight, then? Seeing as I apparently have these powers”, Karin stammered.

“Yes. And I know that might be difficult to process, but it’s important that anyone who is capable fights along. It’s very serious.” The butterfly’s voice had become somber.

Karin still didn’t quite understand, although she was a tad too afraid to ask. Instead, she decided to ask something else.

“Say”, Karin asked, still with caution, “do you have a name?”

“Ah shucks, that’s right”, the butterfly responded, “I never got the chance to introduce myself. You can call me Papiyon. And what may your name be, then?”

“M-my name is Karin”, she stammered.

“Alright, Karin,” Papiyon continued, “it’s time to pay attention for any strange creatures wandering around. Some of them are very similar to the creatures of Earth, but a lot of them can also be very different and unusual. I highly suspect that… he… is behind this strange phenomenon.”

“W-who is ‘he’?” Karin asked. She became more and more curious with the moment.

The somber tone had returned to Papiyon’s voice. “You will learn at one point. For now, I think I’ve mentioned most of what you need to know.”

Suddenly, Karin remembered a news report from a while ago, where a few people had apparently spotted a unicorn in the wild. The creature was apparently attacking bystanders, with horn and all. At the time, however, most scientists and investigators dismissed it as them mistaking a regular wild horse for a unicorn, although animal biologists did mention that the horse’s behavior was rather unusual since none of the bystanders had provoked it beforehand. On top of that, some of the people’s wounds apparently also seemed rather unusual for a horse attack.

Karin handwaved it at the time as people making things up to get their ‘fifteen minutes of fame’, but the fact that a lot of aspects of the story were rather unusual made her connect the dots in her head.

“I see”, Karin said. “So, do you suspect this is the start of something bigger? That we’ll all get attacked soon by other strange creatures? Because truth be told, on one hand I’m fascinated and maybe even a bit excited, but also a bit scared if that’s really true…” A frightened look appeared on Karin’s face. “I know I apparently have powers, but despite that I still don’t know how exactly I can defend myself!”

“Not yet.” Suddenly, Papiyon chanted something in a language Karin had never heard before:

“Latsiya tsulaya yamina, atsunyas!”

Suddenly, Karin felt something on her stomach. Something was lighting up. What was happening…?

She lifted up her shirt slightly. A flower-shaped gem had materialized itself.

It was very pretty, and fashionable too… Karin wondered what it was for.

“You’re gonna need that once something happens”, Papiyon explained. “It renders you able to transform into your true self.”

“True self…?” Yet another thing Karin didn’t quite understand.

“Shh!”

Before Karin could get her answer, Papiyon hushed Karin while looking out of the window with a concerned face.

“It has begun.”

Karin’s heart skipped a beat. She didn’t know whether it was due to fear, excitement, or perhaps a combination of both.

She listened closely. The screams of people could be heard, as well as the loud growl of a creature she didn’t recognize.

A chill went through Karin’s spine. Suddenly, it all truly felt real.

“S-So, I have to-”, Karin stammered.

“Yes. Look.” Papiyon pointed towards the window with its little insect paws.

Karin looked. There, past the constraints of the school grounds, was that… a dragon?

A dragon… Karin only knew them from fairy tales, fantasy novels, movies and video games. And yet, there it was. A real, fire-breathing dragon.

Granted, it wasn’t a very large specimen — not much bigger than a horse or a cow. But it was still a rather unusual sight in this otherwise fairly mundane world.

“Come Karin, get out of the window now! Quick!” Papiyon hissed quietly but urgently. “Before your teacher gets back!”

“Now that you mention it, I wonder where he is…”, Karin murmured as she climbed out the window.

“No time to think about that for now. Come on! Time to transform!” As Karin crawled out of the window, Papiyon flew in front of her.

“Okay, repeat after me: ‘Latsiya yamina nalitsa, tekyalas!’

“Eh… could you repeat that, please?” Again that weird language. Karin didn’t understand any of it.

Papiyon sighed. “One day I will properly teach you the language of my people.” Papiyon promptly repeated the words for Karin once again.

This is gonna go terribly wrong, I can feel it, Karin thought to herself. She gulped a bit, and then recited the words she had just heard:

“Latsiya yamina nalitsa, tekyalas!”

🌸🌸🌸

The gem Karin had just received suddenly started glowing. Within a few seconds, it felt like she got wrapped up into a cocoon. She felt things happening to her body that she couldn’t quite describe…

As soon as the giant cocoon had appeared, it disappeared again.

Karin looked down to see what had happened. She was wearing a completely different outfit — everything was suddenly flower-themed and pink. On top of that, her hair blond had grown way longer and it suddenly had pink highlights in it. And — were those fairy wings?!

She touched her ears — they had become pointy on top of it all. In her hand, she was holding a magical staff decorated with flowers — it was the cutest staff she had ever seen, she’d almost want it as a prop in her room.

“W-wow…” was all Karin could exclaim. As much as she wanted to examine her entire transformed look, there was no mirror to be found nearby, so all of that was for later.

On top of that, there was a dragon to be slain.

Karin looked in Papiyon’s direction, who was most certainly staring at her.

“O-okay… Time to fight and purify that dragon so that it can safely return to its own world”, Papiyon said with a slight stammer.

“Do I look that interesting…?” Karin asked.

“W-well… Forget about it, there’s no time for this now. Let’s go!”

“Alright.” Karin was still rather confused at Papiyon’s reaction. Was something the matter…?

However, she indeed did not have any time to think about it at the moment. She wanted to save the neighborhood — after all, if she wouldn’t do it, who else would?

Karin ran towards the constraints of the school. She pondered for a while how on Earth she could climb over them.

“Hey, what are you doing, silly! Stop wasting time and fly over the fence!” Papiyon yelled with audible aggravation.

Oops, that’s right — Karin had wings now. This would take some time getting used to for sure.

“I forgot, sorry!” Karin responded with embarrassment.

She set herself off the ground and suddenly, she flew.

Karin felt delighted at how fast and flexible she felt using her new wings. Maybe she could use her powers to cheat her way to school quickly…?

No time to think about all of that right now though — she had a dragon to beat.

🌸🌸🌸

Before she knew it, Karin had landed on the sidewalk.

Since this was her very first time flying, her landing was a bit clumsy — she almost tripped over and she definitely could’ve landed a bit less painfully, but all in all it wasn’t too terrible for a first time.

Karin stood up. Right there, a few feet in front of her, was the dragon.

It had noticed Karin appearing and turned its head. Its eyes were glowing red and the creature looked very aggressive.

Suddenly, it started growling loudly at Karin.

“Rrrrrooooarrrrrrrrr!”

Oh dear… Karin was slightly taken aback by it all, but she didn’t let it tarnish her courage, especially right now.

The dragon threaded closer and started breathing fire — Karin quickly jumped aside with the help of her wings. Her newfound agility certainly felt fantastic.

“Um, okay, so what do I do know?” Karin yelled at Papiyon. “I need to attack it, right? How do I do that?”

“Hold your scepter and shout: ‘Latsiya nalitsa juyas!’” Karin listened closely to Papiyon’s words and recited them to herself in her mind.

As soon as Karin yelled these words, a beam of flowers appeared from her scepter. Unfortunately, she had completely missed the target and instead almost fired it at Papiyon. She only missed by a hair.

“Oops, sorry!” Karin apologized. “I’m still rather new to all of this, please forgive me!”

Karin looked around. Multiple people were staring in her direction in awe.

That’s right — Karin was a fairy now, among a world full of regular humans.

She wasn’t used to being stared at like that, but seeing as she didn’t look entirely human anymore in this form it was something she had to get used to.

Karin sighed. Aright then, let’s do this.

She looked at the dragon again, which was once again treading closer. Karin held her scepter very firmly and aimed it towards the dragon.

“Latsiya nalitsa juyas!”

This time, the flower beam from her scepter did in fact hit the dragon. It roared again as it was hit, falling down on the ground for a bit.

The dragon slowly but surely got back up and growled towards Karin again. Karin flew up and chanted the magic spell once more while swinging her scepter.

The dragon was hit again, but still managed to fire a flaming beam from its mouth towards Karin. While she was able to decently duck it this time as well by flying through the air, the dragon’s fire breath was able to hit her slightly — however, it had mostly hit her hair and a little bit of her clothes.

“Crap! Oh well, let’s try this once again.” For a third time Karin hit the dragon with her attack.

The dragon had fallen to the ground once again — however this time, it wasn’t able to get up.

“Be careful not to kill it!” Papiyon yelled at Karin. “This is an innocent creature that’s under the control of an evil power. Who knows it may even have a family back in its own world.” Papiyon flew towards Karin. “At this point, it’s best to purify it with a healing beam.”

Karin nodded. She suddenly felt very bad for the creature… It was probably suffering a lot under this mind control.

“Dragons generally don’t attack people unless you provoke them, or in this case, brainwash them”, Papiyon explained. “Most of the people back in my world have a lot of respect for dragons and rarely do anything that they won’t like. That is,” — Papiyon’s voice had turned somber again, “unless you’re him or one of his supporters.”

At this point, Karin was rather curious as to who this “him” actually was — but she decided not to ask for now. She had a dragon to purify.

“Okay, let’s do this,” Karin said resolutely.

“Alright, that’s what I like to see”, Papiyon said with delight. “Okay, chant the following: ‘Latsiya nalitsa tsulayo, isenyas!’”

Karin held her scepter tightly and recited the words that Papiyon had just spoken.

Suddenly, a large amount of flower petals appeared out of her scepter. It wasn’t exactly a beam this time, more like a sort of rain consisting of flowers and petals that gently fell down on the dragon.

The dragon let out one final loud, piercing growl as it lit up with an intense flash.

The flash disappeared as quickly as it had materialized.

The dragon laid still on the ground. Karin landed on the ground as well — this time, it went better than the last, as she landed perfectly on her feet.

Admittedly, she was a bit concerned about the dragon, since it just lied still a few feet away.

“Is… is it still alive?” Karin asked with a worried voice.

“Yes it is, look”, Papiyon reassured Karin.

Suddenly, the dragon started moving slightly again. The people standing around the scene gasped in unison — they were clearly still scared of this unusual creature.

As the dragon slowly got up, it looked around with a confused look on its face. Suddenly, it didn’t look so scary anymore — the red glow had disappeared from its eyes.

It threaded towards Karin. Despite the fact Papiyon had assured the creature would no longer be a threat, Karin was still a bit wary.

Suddenly, Karin felt something wet against her face — the dragon had licked her with its tongue.

“Hey, hey!” Karin giggled. She looked at the dragon, who had settled itself contently on the ground. It looked at Karin with a happy face.

Karin walked towards the dragon and started petting it, which it greatly enjoyed. It made all kinds of satisfied noises.

“Haha, aren’t you a cutie when you don’t attack people!” Karin laughed.

“Unfortunately, it’s time we send the dragon back home. There is no place for dragons on Earth”, Papiyon said sternly.

“I understand”, Karin replied. “Maybe we’ll meet again someday!” she added excitedly.

The dragon answered with a loving squeal as it gave Karin another affectionate lick.

“Ahaha, alright, you sadly have to go home now, friend”, Karin giggled as she grabbed her scepter.

“To send a creature back to the home world, you have to chant ‘Latsiya suneya kashluyas’.”

Karin carefully listened and promptly repeated those exact words.

Suddenly, a light flash appeared. Karin blinked a few times and suddenly, the flash had turned into a big portal.

The dragon turned towards Karin once again with a sad face. It let out an equally sad howl before it flew through the portal.

“Bye dragon!” Karin shouted after it while waving. “Let’s hopefully meet again soon!”

Suddenly, everyone around them started a big applause.

Karin was certain there were more people now than there had been before. She looked around — the crowd was huge.

Was… was she a hero now?

Karin couldn’t believe it. She had always been just a normal girl… or at least she used to think she was.

Papiyon cut the goodbye short. “I think it’s time to go back to class, Karin. The teacher is probably waiting for you.”

It felt like Karin’s heart was sinking into the floor. Her little adventure fighting a dragon had made her completely forget about her detention.

“Crap! Time to return, I guess! Eh,” — she looked towards Papiyon with questioning eyes — “what spell do I use to uh, get back to my human form?”

“There actually is no spell for that. Well, technically there is,” Papiyon added quickly after seeing the surprised look on Karin’s face, “but seeing as your human form is the one you live in normally, it’s not necessary to use it in your case. Just tap your gem three times and you’ll be normal again.”

“Oh, okay…” Karin still didn’t quite understand, but she kept it in mind for later.

Quickly, she flew back over the constraints of the school. She ducked underneath the window of the classroom and tapped her gem three times.

Suddenly, she was human again.

🌸🌸🌸

Karin peaked carefully over the edge of the window to see if mister Johnson had returned. To her surprise, he still wasn’t back. How much time had even passed by now…?

She quickly crawled back through the window and sat back down in her chair.

Karin sighed. Time to finish these math problems once and for all…

Since she already felt like she had spent too much time doing anything but studying, she was determined to at the very least finish this detention assignment. At this point she didn’t even care how incorrect her answers were — as long as she tried. At least, Karin hoped that trying would be enough.

She stared at the math problems on her paper. After thinking for a while, she was quite sure she knew the answer to the second one, so she filled it in. She decided to try her absolute best on the other problems as well — and so she did.

Right when Karin wrote down her final answer, she heard the door open.

Mister Johnson was back.

“Ugh,” he exclaimed with an aggravated voice, “the coffee machine is unrepairable. Something seemed to have gotten inside, but nobody knows what it could be. We called a technician, but even he couldn’t fix it. He should be fired, what a worthless guy.” The teacher sat down at his desk, visibly exhausted. “So instead, I got some tea, despite it clearly being the inferior fuel. But, I need my caffeine from somewhere, right?”

Karin quietly disagreed with the teacher’s statement in her mind. While she found coffee okay, she was really more of a tea person. Instead, she decided to bring up something more important.

“Guess what I finished!” Karin said with a cheerful tone. She walked towards the teacher’s desk and returned the stencil. “There. All done.”

“Well at least you’re good for something, I guess,” mister Johnson responded, still slightly aggravated. “I’ll look over it tomorrow and then I’ll see if I can turn that F of yours into something else.”

Karin let out a deep sigh of relief. This was at least a good sign. She hoped she would be able to get her grade back up despite her utter dislike for Math.

“You’re dismissed, for the record,” mister Johnson added. “Due to the coffee machine antics, two hours have passed instead of one. Even I am tired.” He took a sip of his tea and made a disgusted face. He clearly was not a fan.

Two hours?! Oh no… Karin’s mom was probably very worried. Time to get home really quickly.

For a short moment, Karin pondered whether or not she should transform and fly herself home. However, she decided against it due to the fact that she was sure the people of this town had already seen enough supernatural creatures for now. Besides, she’d forget her bicycle otherwise…

Karin walked towards the school’s bike storage, grabbed her bike and cycled her way back home, through the same street that she had fought the dragon in.

🌸🌸🌸

Karin cycled over the road with reasonable speed. Flying was certainly a lot faster, but unfortunately it was not a proper replacement for a bicycle. After all, it would certainly raise suspicion in this mundane world…

She decided to enjoy the ride as much as possible, especially since her mother was probably going on a tirade against her as soon as she got home. Thankfully the wind was rather relaxing, as well as the sun as it shone gently through the clouds.

🌸🌸🌸

Before Karin realized, she was back home.

“I’m home, sorry I’m so late,” Karin huffed while walking into the living room via the garage door.

Her mother Ann, who was making dinner, turned around to face her daughter.

“Why are you so late, Karin?” she asked with a mildly stern tone.

“Er, I uh, I had detention,” Karin answered hesitatingly.

“And why may that be?” Ann asked, her voice having become even more stern.

“I… I fell asleep in class,” Karin stuttered. “I don’t know what happened… I wasn’t sleepy when I left home this morning.”

“Excuses! That’s what you get for staying up so late!” Ann replied strictly. “Yesterday I could still hear you giggling on your phone in the middle of the night, when you were supposed to be asleep hours earlier! You know that very well, Karin!”

Karin sighed. She knew this would be coming.

“Yes mom, I’m sorry mom… I promise it won’t happen again.”

“Alright,” Ann continued, this time with a much calmer voice, “seeing as you’ve already gotten your punishment I won’t give you any more. I do certainly hope you’ve learned your lesson, however.”

“What did I hear? Karin got detention? Wahaha, that’s hilarious!”

Her little brother Tim was playing games on the sofa in the living room, overhearing the conversation between his mother and sister.

Tim was two-and-a-half years younger than Karin and had turned fifteen not too long ago. However, no matter how old he got, he would always remain a little brat.

“You have no room to talk!” Karin yelled back. “You thought that somehow, your birthday would exempt you from doing homework. Now that is irresponsible!”

“Hey, I still got a B despite all that! Certainly better than detention!” Tim laughed mockingly. “Because only losers get detention.”

Bleep bleep. He was probably playing that new shooting game that had recently come out.

Karin sighed. “But it was still irresponsible.”

“Hey you two, stop arguing please.” Ann cut their conversation short. “Tim, you’re not doing anything worthwhile at the moment, so could you please set the table?

Tim groaned for a second, but promptly turned his game off and got off the sofa.

“I’ll clean up after dinner,” Karin exclaimed. “After all, I’m the one who had detention.”

She wasn’t sure if she saw it correctly, but Karin swore she could see a faint smile on her mother’s face as she had said that.

🌸🌸🌸

After she had cleaned up the table as promised, Karin ran upstairs to her room. There was one thing she was still curious about, and now was the perfect time to check it out. Thankfully her brother and parents were distracted with their activities, so they probably wouldn’t bother her for now.

Karin looked around. She hadn’t been paying attention to Papiyon anymore ever since school ended…

“Papiyon? You there?” she muttered. She looked around. Nothing to be seen…

“You called?” There was Papiyon’s familiar voice, who had suddenly appeared in Karin’s room.

“Where were you? I was rather worried…” Karin turned towards the butterfly. “Sorry for not paying attention all this time, I’ve been rather busy.”

“Oh, you don’t have to worry about me,” Papiyon replied. “I’ll always be able to find you wherever you go. I tend to keep a bit of a distance when you’re with others so that nobody suspects anything. I’ve been chilling outside all this time, for example.”

“How did you get in, then…?” Karin asked curiously.

Papiyon sighed and flew towards the bedroom window. Karin looked in the same direction, and - ah, the window had been slightly open all this time…

Karin’s face turned red. “Oops! I hadn’t noticed… Here I thought you were using magic or whatever.”

“I only use magic when I’m absolutely certain nobody is looking,” Papiyon explained. “You’re human, or at least humanoid, so you can easily explain why you’re using magic to begin with, even if the explanation is something as simple as ”I’m saving the world“. However, since I can’t talk to normal humans, I’ll just look like an average butterfly who suddenly pops in and out of a wall. That must look incredibly strange to people, so I’d rather hide my powers if I can.”

“Ah, I see… That’s understandable,” Karin replied while nodding.

Suddenly, she remembered what she wanted to do. Karin walked towards the mirror.

‘Latsiya yamina nalitsa, tekyalas!’

Just like the first time, she got wrapped up into a big cocoon while her body and clothing changed. Before Karin knew it, she had turned into a fairy again.

Papiyon flew towards her, slightly confused. “What did you do that for…? Transformation isn’t a fashion show, y’know!”

“I’m aware of that,” Karin replied, “but I simply wanted to examine myself for a bit and perhaps ask some more questions.”

She turned around in front of the large mirror as she observed herself closely.

You know, pink highlights don’t look too bad on me, Karin pondered. Too bad her mom would never allow her to get them during her day-to-day life.

Her flower-themed outfit was pink - very pink - and she noticed she had a tiara on her head as well.

Karin was fascinated by the look of it all - she almost couldn’t believe it was herself in that mirror.

After having examined herself for a bit, she turned around again.

“Here’s my first question,” she said to Papiyon. “When I transformed for the first time earlier today, I noticed you were staring at me for a second with a somewhat surprised look on your face. What was that all about?”

Papiyon didn’t answer.

“Hey, I’m asking a question!” Karin had started to yell slightly - she didn’t intend to, but her curiosity had gotten the better of her.

Papiyon sighed. “I cannot tell you that quite yet.”

“Why not…?” Karin was incredibly disappointed at Papiyon’s answer. She wanted to know everything.

Papiyon, however, once again stayed quiet.

Karin walked towards her bed and sat down.

“You know,” Karin continued, “I had detention earlier today, right? I don’t think I ever told you why…” She turned around, lifted up her legs and laid them on the bed. “I had a dream. A very strange dream… Maybe you know more about it?”

“And what might that dream be, then?” Papiyon asked, who had gotten visibly curious.

“Well…” Karin had lied down on her bed, still wearing her transformation uniform. “I saw a woman in my dream, she looked rather fae-like… A fairy, I guess, kinda like what I look like right now. She mentioned a name… she was searching for someone… what could it have been…?”

Papiyon had visibly gotten uneasy, but once more didn’t answer the question directly.

“One day you will know,” Papiyon answered. “However, right now it is still too soon. The reason I’m not telling you anything is because I have no idea how you’d process it.”

Karin’s curiosity had piqued even more, but at the same time she began to understand that it was information she might not want to hear, at least not right now.

It must be a very big secret for Papiyon to be so tight-lipped…

“For now though, I will tell you one thing,” Papiyon continued, “and that is that you possess great power. There will be a tough road ahead of you - way tougher than you may realize at this moment. However,” - Papiyon flew towards Karin’s shoulder and sat down - “I will always be there for you, watching from a distance. Just remember that.”

The slight anger and disappointment Karin had felt towards Papiyon suddenly evaporated in thin air. It got replaced by a soothing feeling that Karin couldn’t quite comprehend - somehow, she knew she could count on Papiyon no matter what.

“T-thank you…”, Karin stammered. “I don’t know why you’re helping me, and why you seem to know so much, or even where you’re from or what you are - but truly, thank you. Oh, and one more thing,” Karin quickly added, “I don’t even know if you’re male, female, or whatever… So, what are you, if I may ask?”

“According to human standards, I am female. Let’s just keep it at that,” Papiyon answered.

Somehow, Karin had already expected something like that, but it was usually rather hard to see with butterflies, let alone magical ones.

“There is another thing I want to tell you.” Papiyon had gotten up from Karin’s shoulder again and flew around, still within her vicinity. “You won’t be the only one fighting on this journey. There are four other girls you have to recruit - some are perhaps easier to find than others. One of them,” Papiyon continued, “is someone very important. I can’t tell you right now why exactly, but you will know somewhere in the near future.”

Karin was surprised at Papiyon’s statement. Four other girls…?

“I see… That actually relieves me a lot, I won’t lie,” Karin responded while wiping sweat off her forehead. “Are they all fairies, just like me?”

“One of them is,” Papiyon answered, “but the other four are not. They are, however, magical creatures just like you and me. I hope you’ll meet them very soon.”

Karin had become very excited at the thought of possibly making new friends along the way. She wondered what kind of girls they would be, and if she’d get along with them.

Suddenly, she realized she was still in her transformation outfit.

“Oh, oops, time to change back to normal I guess.” Karin tapped on her gem three times and changed back into her usual self. “I really only wanted to examine myself for a bit, but I guess I’m already done with that.”

“Make sure to never abuse your transformation like that ever again,” Papiyon told Karin sternly. “Especially when you’re here at home. What if your family ever finds you? Your transformation is supposed to be a very strict secret. Especially since-” Papiyon stopped herself in her tracks. “Never mind. For now, let’s focus on finding the other girls.”

“Understood. I’ll do my best,” Karin responded with a determined voice.

She grabbed her phone off her desk and looked at the time.

“Oh wow, I didn’t realize how late it had gotten already! I think it’s about time I go to bed.” Karin put her phone back while yawning. “I think my mom would appreciate it if I didn’t go to bed too late, especially after falling asleep in class.”

Papiyon smiled. “Very responsible of you. That’s an important skill to have when fighting evil after all.” Papiyon got up and flew around. “I guess it’s time for me to leave you be for the night, then. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Papiyon flew through the open window and laid herself to rest on the flat roof in front of Karin’s room.

“Good night, Papiyon! I’ll see you tomorrow!” Karin yelled while closing the curtains.

Shortly after, she put on her pajamas, brushed her teeth and went to bed.

She lied down, thinking about everything that went down that day. Certainly, a lot had happened…

Karin was still trying to process it all. She basically slayed a dragon! Or, at least, purified it and sent it home. Close enough though, right?

Maybe it was all a dream that she’d wake up from the next day… If that were indeed the case, though, she’d certainly hope the detention part wasn’t real either.

Karin was, above all else, glad to not have any homework for tomorrow. Overall, it had been a great day despite having to stay after school.

A smile appeared on her face as she fell asleep.