Siesta was a resort city that lived off its volcano, its obsidian, and a rock festival once said to be the continent's finest. But when that volcano showed real signs of waking up, the entire city packed up and moved 100 kilometers away as a nomadic city.

Adel, daughter of the late volcanologist couple, comes to Siesta to sort through her parents' research materials at the newly built volcano museum. As it happens, that very volcano is on the verge of a real eruption.

But on her very first night there, a talking flock of sheep appears and makes her a proposal. "Just find the three things I lost here." A north wind, a seed, and some fur — that's all it takes, apparently.

1. Is it normal for sheep to talk like this — first time I've seen one talk back

Siesta was originally a beach town at the foot of a volcano. Famous for its hot springs, obsidian, and the Obsidian Music Festival, the entire city packed up and relocated 100 kilometers away as the nomadic city 'New Siesta' when the volcano stirred again.

Four years ago, volcanologist couple Katia and Magna Naumann died in an accident while observing Mount Una. Their daughter Adel is a rookie researcher carrying on her parents' final work despite suffering from Oripathy. Her hearing has worsened to the point she struggles to converse without a hearing aid, but her eyes light up the moment volcanoes come up.

Keller, an old colleague of her parents, called Adel over — asking her to organize the Naumanns' materials at the new volcano museum. With the Siesta volcano also due to erupt soon, she says, it's a perfect opportunity for observation.

A display case in the museum holds an old volcano exploration suit — one all too familiar to Adel, her mother Magna's own gear. She reaches out across the glass, but can't quite touch it.

Strange things start happening from the very first night. A cloud-fluffy creature perches on a mailbox and speaks to her. "Hello there, lovely night."

This creature introduces itself as Dolly. It claims to have known Adel's parents long ago, but is vague about what it actually is. All over Siesta, there are fluffy sheep invisible to human eyes — and apparently, they're all Dolly's 'avatars.'

Simply put, I want you to find a few things I lost around Siesta. Think of it as a sort of treasure hunt.

— Dolly

Dolly is after exactly three things: a north wind, a seed, and fur. In return, it promises to give Adel "the thing she's been searching for." Asked what that might be, it never gives an answer.

Meanwhile, several suspicious people had already arrived in town. One of them is Swire, Commissioner of the Lungmen Guard Department and heir to one of the biggest merchant houses, insisting this time it's "just a vacation." Naturally, nobody believed her.

2. A boy juggling four part-time jobs, hiding only his own body

Ennis is a Siesta boy juggling several part-time jobs at once — freight driver, ticket seller, swim coach. Feeding his two adopted siblings Root and Liv, plus his mother Hailey who runs the bar 'Pure White Volcano,' is his job.

That same Ennis collides head-on with Adel while running down the street. Guilt-ridden, he even covers her treatment costs — but says nothing at all about his own condition.

In truth, Ennis is an Oripathy patient too. Three months ago, he scraped himself on Originium while secretly mining obsidian. He tried to hide it from his family to the end, but it shows plainly on his face.

In exchange for a research sample of obsidian, Adel earnestly warns Ennis never to go near the volcano again. That promise, of all things, is one Ennis can't keep.

Later, when his mother Hailey learns the truth, what she says cuts straight to the heart. "You're my son whether you do anything or not — this isn't a relationship that needs a transaction."

Family is family, blood or not.

3. A student suspects his mentor — but the more he suspects, the more suspicious his own heart looks

A letter arrives for Adel, its envelope half torn open, containing a photo of her father taken at Mount Una — as if sent by the father who'd been out of contact for years.

That's not the only strange thing. Among the museum's materials, several pages that should have been in her father Katia's research notebook are missing entirely. In their place sits an unfamiliar notebook that only Keller ever had.

Kahn was a student of the Naumann couple, and he's long harbored suspicions about his mentor Keller. A year before the accident, he says, the Leithanien military kept coming and going from the couple's lab.

By Kahn's account, only one person could freely view the couple's research back then — Keller, and Keller alone. What's more, she suddenly left the expedition the day before the climb.

That's why I absolutely cannot accept their sacrifice being buried under some unknown shadow.

— Kahn

Adel still doesn't know whether Kahn's suspicions are right, or whether Keller has some other circumstance she can't voice. Keller only ever repeats, "I'll tell you everything once the observation is done."

4. Two rich kids in a mudslinging fight who somehow end up business partners

Bison is heir to Mountain Dash Logistics. Trying to step out of his father Euril's shadow, he throws himself alone into the bid for Siesta's new district development rights — against, of all people, Swire.

The two clash the moment they meet at a bar, locked in a tense standoff — Swire pushing for a water park, Bison for a logistics center. Yet somehow, each secretly rather likes the other.

Swire recruits shop owner Ennis as an informant, strikes a deal with hot spring hotel owner Felipe using his obsidian collection as bait, and secretly throws together a water park practically overnight. In the process, Dolly's Chokomi Sheep flood the waterway in a disaster involving surfboards flying through the sky.

In the end, Swire's plan wins the public poll. But Swire had been calculating something other than victory all along — offering to drop out of the bid in exchange for shares in Bison's company.

"A smart merchant always finds a way for both sides to win." The two go from rivals to partners. Swire uses this to strengthen her standing within the Lungmen clan, while Bison declares his independence from his father's company. Quite a scale for a couple of rich kids' summer vacation.

5. A café shut for over a year gets a customer — turns out to be the owner's old friend

Costa is a city hall clerk going around collecting residents' relocation forms. In truth, he's the son of 'Café Mockingbird,' shuttered for a year now, and once played in a rock band in his younger days.

One night, Costa reopens the empty café and brews some coffee. Then he hears a knock at the door. "Are you still open, by any chance?"

Keller was standing at the door. The two reminisce together about the summer twenty years ago, when they first met Katia and Magna at this very café — even Costa's secretly brewed 'volcano coffee' from back then.

That summer Keller suddenly left Siesta, Costa had to see her off without ever knowing why. And the two of them walked separate paths all the way to now.

Costa's grandfather quietly passes away that same night. All he left his grandson was an old kalimba, and a nagging reminder to do what he wants rather than settle for stability.

6. A night walk with two little sheep turns out to be a road leading skyward

One night, wearing her mother's old exploration suit, Adel falls into a strange dream. Two Chokomi Sheep — one gentle, one solemn — lead her walking through a shopping street.

These shops don't sell compasses or tents. They sell 'knowledge' and 'courage,' and a very expensive 'luck.' Oddly enough, the currency here is bottle caps.

The two creatures tell Adel an old story. They once planted a stone and lost it, and that stone eventually became magma deep underground. Asked whether it saddens them, the two say they regret it deeply — and yet the one thing they truly cherish is that the stone became magma in the end.

Nothing from the past truly passes away — it just stays by your side in a different form.

— the gentle creature

Adel vaguely senses this story is really about them. But then, a strange heartbeat echoes from the direction of the volcano, and the two creatures' expressions suddenly change.

"We have to reach the volcano before the rain falls." With those words, the two vanish into the night view. The next morning, Adel can't find a single Chokomi Sheep anywhere in Siesta.

7. A Chokomi Sheep suddenly buries its head in someone's chest — the owner of that heartbeat hasn't even been born yet

Ceylon is Mayor Herman's daughter and a doctor with Rhodes Island. She returned to Siesta to help the Infected, but stays distant from her own father.

While investigating illegal obsidian mining laborers, Ceylon hears an unexpected name — Barbara, a pregnant scholar who once frequented the mines. The workers say she looked just like Ceylon.

Among the collection of hot spring hotel owner Felipe was a geode of obsidian the workers once tried, and failed, to give to that scholar — a gift meant to celebrate the birth of her baby.

That evening, one of the Chokomi Sheep Adel had been chasing suddenly leaps into Ceylon's arms. It rests its head against her chest and stays still, as if listening for a heartbeat lost long ago.

In that moment, Ceylon feels an inexplicable longing — thoughts of a mother she's never met surface. She begins to vaguely realize whose will Siesta's generous policy toward the Infected really was, all along.

8. An interrogation right at the volcano's foot — but both interrogator and suspect are trembling

Signal cuts off from Observation Post No. 1. The last data it sent shows an unexplainable spike in heat. Keller tries to brush it off as an equipment glitch, but Adel doesn't back down.

"Turning away now is as good as admitting their sacrifice meant nothing, isn't it?" In the end, the two of them risk it and head to the volcano themselves.

But then Kahn comes rushing up after them, reaching the observation post late and out of breath. In his hand, an old document envelope — letters exchanged between Keller and the Leithanien military, evidence even Adel had never seen.

Even as the volcano trembles, Kahn demands answers from Keller — why she left the expedition right before the accident, and why Katia's research was mixed in with her correspondence with the military.

Mom, Dad...... was your sacrifice really just an accident......?

— Adel

The truth comes out later. Keller had only tried to buy time by meeting with the military, so the couple could finish their expedition undisturbed. That an accident would happen in the meantime was something even Keller never saw coming.

9. The night the volcano erupts, everyone throws a party instead of running away

A broadcast announces the eruption is imminent. Instead of luggage, the shop owners bring out grills and guitars, throwing one last party for the old Siesta. After all, this is a sight they'll never see again.

In the commotion, little sister Liv goes missing. Ennis chases her all the way to the old shore where seawater is already rising. There, for the first time, he feels the Originium crystal inside his body burn hot.

See...... I told you...... I can do magic......

— Ennis

Ennis, who'd always played at magic with clay dolls for his siblings, actually raises earth and stone to hold back the waves. And countless Chokomi Sheep swarm in, forming a living dam with their own bodies against the tide.

In the distance, the volcano finally erupts. People clasp each other's hands tight and hold their breath. Dark red smoke covers half the sky, then astonishingly turns a brilliant white.

The 'pure white volcano,' known only as a legend, finally revealed its true self the moment it erupted. Everyone, each in their own way, bids farewell to the vanishing hometown.

Epilogue. Summer, again

The day after the eruption, Adel writes a letter to her parents — stories of the old friends she met in Siesta, a confession that she's not as strong as she thought, and a vow that she still loves volcanoes.

Keller shows Adel one last remaining box. Inside are documents stamped with a discard order for the 'Shower Project' — evidence that her parents' research had once been caught up in weaponization talks. And bit by bit, Keller begins to let go of the guilt she'd carried, believing the real fault was hers alone.

Ennis finally tells his family he's leaving on a journey. Just as his father once did, he wants to see the world with his own eyes. And instead of being torn down, the bar 'Pure White Volcano' survives as part of the water park.

Ceylon builds an Infected treatment center in New Siesta. What her mother Barbara had tried to do, the daughter now carries on in her own way.

Lastly, Dolly hands Adel her real reward — none other than the Volcano Warning Flower. Secretly planted on a slope beyond the volcano, it was the very flower her parents had spent their whole lives searching for.

"I look forward to seeing a truly happy Adel next time we meet." With that farewell, Dolly hurries off to greet the opening of the volcano amusement park.

At the very start of this story, an unknown voice complained it couldn't bear the boredom without something new and fun. Now we can guess that voice belonged to none other than Dolly. This summer, when the volcano burned pure white, both Dolly and Adel finally found their own interesting story to tell.