Sam didn't wake up easily.
She slept like someone who had fought a war — not a brawl. Not a scuffle. A war.Her breathing was ragged, uneven, like every inhale was an argument with her own lungs.Bruises painted her arms in painful colors.Her knuckles were torn and raw.Her ribs rose awkwardly as if something was cracked.
Ami hovered near her like a silent guardian, eyes clouded with uncertainty.Yergba leaned against the wall, arms crossed, trying to pretend she wasn't worried.
And me?
I sat beside Sam on the futon I'd dragged from my closet, knees tucked to my chest, staring at her sleeping face like it held the answers to every terrifying question.
Hours passed.
The sun crept through the torn curtains, stabbing light across the floor.
Finally — Sam's lashes twitched.
Her hand clenched.Her breath hitched.Her eyes cracked open.
Brown.Sharp.Painfully human.
She blinked twice, groaning.
"…Ow. That was a stupid fight."
Yergba scoffed."You STARTED it."
Sam tilted her head toward her voice.
"You attacked first."
"You broke our DOOR first," Yergba shot back.
Sam shrugged. "Door was weak."
Ami stepped forward, voice low and tense."You pushed Aki. You could have harmed him. Explain yourself."
Sam sat up slower than a grandma with back pain, grimacing as her ribs protested.
Then she focused on me — and something softened in her expression.
"Ah. You're alive. That's good."She cracked her neck."You're my priority target, so losing you would've been awkward."
"A-Awkward?!" I squeaked.
Ami's blade manifested instantly.
Yergba summoned a glowing fist.
Sam raised both hands, looking extremely done with life.
"Holy crap — RELAX. I'm not attacking him."
Ami didn't lower her sword.
"You said 'priority target.'"
"Yeah," Sam said flatly. "Meaning: protect. Not eliminate."
Yergba's energy fizzled out.
Ami's sword wavered.
I blinked."Protect… me? Why? You tried to kill them!"
Sam pointed lazily at Ami and Yergba.
"They're summons. That's my job."
She pointed at me.
"You're a Keeper. That's my job too."
Yergba blinked."That makes no sense."
"Yeah," Sam muttered bitterly. "Welcome to my life."
✦ Act I: Sam Explains the Curse
Sam pulled her knees up, hugging them loosely as she stared at the floor.
Her voice was calm — too calm, like she was used to explaining trauma like a weather report.
"Hunters are born when a Keeper dies."
Ami froze.Yergba's eyes widened.I forgot how to breathe.
Sam continued.
"When a Keeper is killed by a rampaging summon… their leftover power and will fuse with a human nearby."She tapped her own chest."And we become this. Strong. Fast. Durable. Built to fight things that shouldn't exist."
Her knuckles tightened.
"Built to stop the cycle from repeating."
My stomach curdled."So… you're a Hunter because someone like me… died?"
Sam didn't look at me.
"Yeah."
Silence swallowed the room.
Ami's sword disappeared slowly as her eyes shimmered with something like guilt.
"I… am sorry," Ami whispered. "I did not know…"
"You wouldn't," Sam said. "Summons don't care about human casualties. You only care about your Keeper."
Yergba bristled. "That's not true. I care about—"
Sam cut her off with a glare."You were about to kill each other in his living room."
Yergba's mouth shut instantly.
Ami looked away, shame coloring her cheeks.
Sam sighed.
"Look. I don't blame you. It's in your nature. Summons aren't… evil. You just obey the system that created you."
She rubbed the scar on her jaw.
"But Hunters exist to break that system."
✦ Act II: Aki's Heart Shakes
I sat down slowly, heart pounding with too many emotions to sort out.
Fear.Guilt.Confusion.Something else I didn't want to name.
"Ami… Yergba…" I whispered. "Is what she's saying true? Could a summon really kill a Keeper?"
Ami trembled.
Her voice cracked.
"…yes."
Yergba looked away.
"Look, it's rare, okay? It's not like we WANT to. It's usually bad summons. Corrupted ones. Unstable ones."
Ami nodded, eyes glistening.
"Yergba is correct. Most of us would never harm our Keeper. But… if a summon reaches a certain state of power, or breaks their bond—"
Her hands clenched at her chest."They can… override their core directive."
I swallowed hard."Meaning…?"
Ami whispered, barely audible:
"They can kill their Keeper."
The room spun.I felt sick.
Sam watched me with unreadable eyes.
"That's why I came," she said quietly. "Another summon is coming. One not like them."
Ami stiffened.Yergba's aura flickered in panic.
Sam's fingers dug into her pants.
"A killer summon," she said. "A Devourer-class."
Ami gasped.
Yergba went pale.
I grabbed Sam's sleeve, voice trembling.
"What is that?! What does that mean?!"
Sam looked at me with brutal honesty.
"It means the next girl isn't here to join you."Her voice dropped to a whisper."She's here to erase you."
Ami's hand flew to her mouth.
Yergba swore under her breath.
I felt cold all over.
✦ Act III: Ami and Yergba Break Down
Ami sank to her knees.
"No… no… this cannot be… A Devourer-class cannot enter the human realm without— without—"
Yergba finished the sentence quietly.
"Without killing the Keeper."
Ami looked at me, pure fear in her eyes.
"Aki… I will not let this happen. I swear it."
Yergba stepped closer, placing a hand on my shoulder — firm, steady, protective.
"Bro. We're not letting anyone touch you. Not even some world-ending monster girl."
But Sam shook her head.
"You two aren't strong enough."
Ami flinched.Yergba clenched her jaw.
"Even together," Sam said softly. "You won't win."
Her voice wasn't mocking.It wasn't cruel.
It was honest.
The truth I didn't want.
"A Devourer-class summon is designed to kill.Designed to dismantle Keepers.Designed to absorb other summons."
Ami whispered, "Absorb…?"
Yergba's eyes widened.
Sam nodded.
"If she reaches you… Ami and Yergba will die first."
My blood turned to ice.
Ami moved instantly, grabbing both my hands in hers.
"Aki… Aki, listen to me— I will fight until I cease to exist. I will protect you with everything I am."
Yergba nodded fiercely.
"Same. I'm not going down easy. I'm cosmic hot girl material — we don't lose."
Sam exhaled through her nose.
"You'll still lose."
Ami trembled.Yergba growled.
And I—
I broke.
Not loudly.Not dramatically.
Just… broke.
My voice cracked like cheap glass.
"I… don't want any of you to die."
Ami flinched like the words stabbed her.
Yergba's eyes softened with something painfully warm.
Sam looked away, jaw tight.
And for a moment, all three girls forgot their roles.Their powers.Their rivalries.
They were just girls.Scared.Trying.Broken in different ways.
And I was stuck in the center of a storm that only grew larger each day.
✦ Act IV: Sam's Promise
Sam stood on shaky feet, wobbling slightly.
Her eyes locked onto mine.
"Aki."
Something about the way she said my name made me straighten instinctively.
Sam continued.
"You're my mission now. Not to kill. Not to capture."
She pointed at my chest.
"To protect."
Ami stepped between us instantly."You expect him to believe that?"
"Yes," Sam said simply. "Because I'm still here."
Yergba snorted. "That's a low bar, tomboy."
Sam ignored her.
"Keeper," she said, staring straight into my soul, "if you die, I die. Hunter link. Your survival is my survival. That's how it works."
Ami froze.
Yergba blinked in shock.
Sam smirked wryly.
"Yeah. I'm stuck with you, idiot."
My mouth opened.No words came out.
Ami whispered, horrified,
"A Hunter… bonded to her target? That has never happened."
Yergba rubbed her face.
"This situation gets dumber every day."
Sam finally sat back down, exhaustion pounding through her again.
"Get some sleep," she muttered. "All of you. We'll need it."
Ami looked at me with fear.Yergba with confusion.Sam with exhaustion.
And I?
I stared at the floor, trembling.
Because Sam, the Hunter who had every reason to hate summons —every reason to leave me behind —
looked at me like someone who had already made her decision.
She wasn't leaving.
Not now.Not ever.
And somewhere deep inside me…
I realized:
This was only the beginning of the storm.