The quiet little Tonttu girl, Toori, had a mission: to stop the mischievous little bear fairy, Nuutti, from causing trouble.

Whether it was sneaking bites of snacks or playing pranks on their human friend, a boy named Aki, she was determined to stop every single one of them.

One Friday night…

Nuutti had set his sights on the very last snack that he and Toori had been sharing.

It was a cookie made by Aki, the favorite treat of both of them.

Neither of them was willing to give it up.

That was why Toori proposed settling it with rock-paper-scissors.

Whoever won would earn the right to eat the last cookie.

Nuutti had accepted the proposal—or at least, he was supposed to have.

“I’d never make a promise like that, nuu!”

Ignoring Toori, who was already holding out her hand for rock-paper-scissors, Nuutti dashed toward the cookie at full speed.

Toori stepped in front of the snack and braced herself to intercept him.

Without slowing down in the slightest, Nuutti lunged straight at her.

A fearless smile spread across Toori’s face.

Using all of Nuutti’s momentum against him, she grabbed him and effortlessly hurled him away.

She immediately pulled a spool of thread from her pocket and tied him up.

At that exact moment, Aki entered the room.

Certain that she had successfully completed her mission, Toori turned toward Aki with the brightest smile imaginable.

It was a smile that practically said, “Did you see that? I stopped Nuutti’s prank! Praise me!”

Aki looked at Nuutti lying face-down on the desk.

Then he shifted his gaze to Toori.

After letting out a deep sigh, he declared,

“You two are both banned from snacks tomorrow!”

Toori’s entire body froze.

The happiness vanished from her face in an instant.

‘…Why?’

The words Aki had spoken echoed over and over inside Toori’s head.

Two days later, on Sunday morning…

Nuutti stared intently at Aki’s smartphone resting on the desk.

Sitting on the bed, Toori watched him carefully.

She had a bad feeling about this.

The night before, the three of them had watched a video together on Aki’s phone.

It had been an advertisement.

The slogan proudly claimed, “This smartphone won’t break even if you sit on it.”

In the video, an elephant had placed one foot on top of the phone.

Just as Toori remembered that…

Nuutti suddenly leaped into the air and landed butt-first on Aki’s smartphone.

Crack!

A loud sound like shattering glass echoed through the room.

When Nuutti climbed off, countless cracks spread across the screen.

‘Time to move out!’

Thinking that to herself, Toori immediately cast a spell toward Nuutti, who was desperately trying to hide the evidence.

“Satakaa nuolet salamoiden! Descend, my lightning arrows!”

Countless tiny arrows of light rained down upon Nuutti, who was frantically searching for somewhere to hide, along with Aki’s already shattered smartphone.

Nuutti grabbed the phone and held it over his head like an umbrella to block the barrage.

Naturally, that only finished destroying it.

The bedroom door opened.

Aki walked inside.

The moment he saw what had happened on the desk, he froze.

“…Huh?”

That was the only thing he managed to say.

Not long afterward, Aki handed down a merciless sentence to both Toori and Nuutti.

“No snacks for an entire week.”

Even though she had stopped Nuutti’s prank, hearing those words from the Aki she loved so much caused tears to stream down Toori’s cheeks.

Meanwhile, Nuutti loudly protested the punishment.

As Toori listened to Nuutti’s selfish and completely unreasonable complaints, anger gradually welled up inside her.

‘Nuutti was the one who did it!’

‘I punished Nuutti for his prank!’

Toori glared fiercely at the Nuutti sitting beside her before quietly standing up.

Turning her back on him, she put a little distance between them while Nuutti continued grumbling angrily.

After walking a short distance away, Toori came to a stop.

She spun around.

Then she sprinted straight toward Nuutti.

Closing the distance in an instant, she leaped into the air.

Nuutti tried to run away from her.

Too late.

Toori’s spinning kick struck him squarely.

The flying Nuutti crashed directly into Aki’s face.

“Fugh?!”

Aki let out a completely unintelligible cry.

At that very same moment, Toori lost consciousness.

“Oww… What was that?”

Aki’s voice brought Toori back to her senses.

Still half-asleep, she slowly looked around in confusion.

The first thing she saw was Aki with Nuutti stuck to his face.

Toori’s eyes flew open.

She was instantly wide awake.

“Aki!”

The usually silent Toori called out Aki’s name.

Using one hand, Aki peeled the still-sleeping Nuutti off his face before looking toward Toori, who was standing beside his pillow.

“Ah, good morning, Toori.”

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes one at a time with his index fingers, Aki greeted her.

“Aki! You’re not mad?! I don’t need snacks, so please don’t hate me!”

Tears overflowing, Toori rushed toward him as she spoke.

Surprised, Aki gently patted her head.

“I’m not mad.”

“Thanks for waking me up, Toori.”

A gentle smile appeared on his face.

Even so, Toori still looked anxious.

“Really?”

“You’re really not angry?”

Looking up at Aki, whose body was much larger than hers, she searched his eyes for reassurance.

“Really.”

“What happened, Toori?”

Aki asked with a puzzled expression.

Toori shook her head.

“It’s nothing.”

“I’m okay.”

She answered with a smile.

Aki gently patted her head once more.

“Well, I’d better get ready.”

“I’ll be late for school otherwise.”

Toori sat on the bed, quietly watching as Aki climbed out of bed and got himself ready.

Soft morning sunlight filtered through the pale blue curtains.

Toori lay back on the bed and glanced at Nuutti, who was somehow still asleep.

“Well then, I’m off.”

“Wake Nuutti up after a little while.”

After asking Toori that favor, Aki opened the bedroom door and left.

Just as Toori stood up…

The door opened slightly again.

Aki poked his head back into the room.

“Just don’t wake him up by using brute force, okay, Toori?”

After saying that, he gently closed the door again.

Toori puffed out her cheeks a little.

Still, Nuutti was her friend.

She believed she had never woken him up all that roughly before.

Or at least, that’s what Toori thought.

‘Now then… how should I wake him up?’

Rolling up her sleeves, the little Tonttu walked over to the sleeping Nuutti, who was lying face-down.

What happened afterward hardly needs to be said.

Before long, Nuutti’s scream echoed throughout Aki’s room.