Tanto sighed, staring at the sunset. It'd been hours since his family had gone into the dungeon. And of course, he was left on guard duty. Again. If he was at the Bundorry base, he'd be sleeping by now. He struggled to keep himself awake, the only thing keeping him going being the sugar from his trademark lollipop.
He loved his family. He really did. But he wished that he wasn't so young and so clumsy. He was strong, sure, but after he set off literally every booby trap in the last dungeon, he'd only been on missions when they needed some brawn, as Papa Gowin was usually "busy" and couldn't lend a paw. Despite his absence, Tanto loved and looked up to his father, as well as his older siblings, granny, and mom. But they all looked down on him. He was the baby. The klutz. The idiot. The glutton. He sometimes wondered if his affection was reciprocated by the rest of the family, or if they only saw him as an accomplice and nothing more.
These thoughts left him feeling a little crummy, in addition to the peckish feeling he had to endure until his family took him back to the base. At least the sunset made him feel a little better. And the island was very beautiful. He looked up at the trees, which looked slightly golden from the sun. Looking closer, a small caterpillar was gnawing at a leaf. He loved caterpillars. They kinda reminded him of himself. Plus, he thought butterflies were also very beautiful. He secretly hoped that one day, like a butterfly, he'd go through a "metamorphosis" (he learned that word from Mom) and that he'd become something better. He carefully pet the smooth, green worm, careful not to stab it with his claw. It stopped eating, and whipped around to "attack" Tanto's finger. He squealed and pulled away, thankfully leaving the caterpillar unharmed. After a few seconds, it continued to eat, as if nothing ever happened. Tanto giggled. It was so cute...
Soon, it grew darker, and Tanto was still patrolling the area. A few chunks were taken out of his lollipop now, as his hunger was growing stronger. Occasionally, he took short breaks to check on his new caterpillar friend. He called it "Kemu". His job was not only to protect the dungeon, but now to protect his friend. Sometimes, Kemu would fall off of the leaf it was on, and Tanto would have to carefully pick it up and place it on a new one. At first, Kemu was aggressive, wiggling around in his hand in fear. But eventually, Kemu got used to it, and even started getting on Tanto's hand without having him pick it up. Sometimes, he'd hand feed it leaves when he felt like it, and Kemu ate every last bit. Kemu trusted Tanto, and the two seemed inseparable.
It was at times like this where Tanto enjoyed patrolling. He felt bad for his family, because they were so busy that they couldn't see stuff like this. After a few cycles of patrolling and playing, he ended up laid down on the ground, noisily and childishly slurping away at his sucker. He looked over to Kemu's tree. It had been a while since he last checked. He walked over, and noticed Kemu wasn't any where to be seen. He started to panic. Had he fallen again? No, he's not on the ground. He hadn't been stepped on either. Had a bird taken him? He didn't hear any birds. He rummaged through the ground, and ended up feeling something...crispy? He held it up, to see that it was Kemu. At least, what was left of him. He was nothing but a flappy piece of skin, all of his color gone, the only solid part left being his head.
Tanto started to cry. He'd messed up again. He had set a goal to keep Kemu safe, and he failed. He slacked off for one second, and now he was gone. His small cries turned into wails, and at that moment his family came out of the dungeon empty handed. They were obviously confused and concerned, wondering what the fuss was about. He made something up, that someone had come by, and they got in a fight. He had gotten hurt, and the pain was why he was crying. Some of them bought it, others were skeptical, but regardless they left, Tanto sneaking Kemu's remains in his empty knapsack.
While the others slept, Tanto decided to sneak outside for a little while, all the way back to the dungeon entrance where he met his friend. He dug a hole next to Kemu's tree, and placed Kemu's body inside. He plucked a single leaf from the tree, and placed it inside the grave so he could have a snack to take with him in heaven. With that, he filled the hole, and snuck back to the Bundorry Base undetected.
Weeks passed, and multiple heists ensued. All of which Tanto was on guard duty. And every time, he couldn't bear to stare at the trees for too long. But soon, the memories of his friend became happy ones, and even though he missed it greatly, he believed it was happy. It was sunset again. Tanto nibbled on his lolly, sitting outside the dungeon as he kept watch once again. He was much happier this time, not just because he had brought much more candy with him to keep him fueled up, but because he was happy to have met Kemu, even if their time was short. He looked around, and noticed movement on a tree near him. Curious, he inspected it, to find, on a leaf, was a butterfly staring right at him. It was mostly an iridescent green. It carefully crawled onto its face, ending up right in between his eyes. His default smile only grew wider, knowing the signature tameness anywhere. He touched the butterfly's abdomen, and unlike a caterpillar's body, it was fuzzy. He began to spin in delight, and even cry a bit, before realizing he might hurt his now all-grown-up friend and putting it back on the tree. As he went back to his post, the butterfly followed. For the rest of his guard time, the butterfly sat idly by Tanto, flashing its wings occasionally. Tanto smiled, and as the sun began to set some more, and the rest of the Bundorry family returned, Tanto waved goodbye as the butterfly flew away for good.