At the apartment, Massimo was making dinner, and Daniela and Lorenzo were putting down plates and forks on the table.

"I hope the kids won't be late this evening," Daniela said with worry

"They'll be fine. They got home safe every evening when they visited their new friend," Grandma Paguro reassured her daughter as she ate a cracker.

Just then, the door opened, and the three children came in.

"Buona notte, Papa," Giulia called.

Massimo turned around when he heard his daughter's voice, which means the boys were there as well, "There you are, regazzi. Do you already have dinner with your friend?"

"Actually, we brought our friend for dinner instead," Luca mentioned.

"Oh, you do?" Lorenzo asked surprisingly.

"Yeah, she's alone for now, so we invited her for dinner," Giulia explained as she and two boys moved aside to make space for their friend to enter from the door, "Everyone, meet Mariposa!"

With that, they expected Mariposa to enter, but she didn't. The adults were still waiting and felt confused.

Not even a second the Filipino girl entered, Alberto grinned, and said, "I'll go get her," he ran outside to retrieve their friend, "Get in there!"

"This is stupid!" Mariposa's soft but denying voice was heard outside.

"You think it's easy?!"

"Then stop dragging me!"

"Go!"

The next thing they knew, Alberto forcefully dragged Mariposa inside with her heels still pinned on the ground. When they got in, Mariposa squeaked when she finally saw her new friends' parents for the first time, and nervously wore her hoodie.

"Hello there, young lady," Lorenzo approached her, and extended his arm for a handshake.

But Mariposa just stared at him shyly with her eyes sparkled like a nervous baby, and her head sunk into her jacket. She was so shy to meet new people, even those who were older than her. She wanted to say something or shake Lorenzo's hand for meeting him, but she was only frozen nervously while whining like a cad puppy. She kept sinking her head into her jacket until only her eyes remained shown.

"Oh, she's a shy one. Just like you, Luca," Grandpa Paguro commented as Lorenzo put his arm down, understanding that the young girl was shy.

"Yeah, just like me," Luca chuckled nervously.

"You're just in time for dinner. Take a seat," Massimo requested.

As Giulia nodded, she and Alberto decided to help their father prepare dinner, while Luca found his seat next to his mother, and Mariposa found a spare chair. She sat on it while trying not to make eye contact. She still has her hoodie on.

A minute later, Giulia served a plate of pasta in front of Mariposa. She, Alberto, and Massimo placed their own plates and for the Paguros on the table before sitting down.

"Trenette al pesto," Massimo announced tonight's dinner, "Mangiamo."

Everyone started eating, but Mariposa was a little hesitant at first. She had never heard or seen this dish before. And more importantly, tasted it. She sniffed on the dish first, then took a fork to get some of it. She only looked at the gathered pasta on the fork before looking at her friends.

Giulia gave her a thumb-up, and Luca nodded at her as they gave her the looks of encouragement that she should try the dish.

Mariposa sighed as she nervously but quickly ate the pasta, and shut her eyes close while making a couple of chews before opening her eyes again.

"Mm, it does taste good! Almost tastes like pancit canton..." Mariposa took another bite, and Massimo was confused by the dish the girl just mentioned. "It's my favorite dish," she stated while eating.

"Mariposa, do you have a family?" Daniela started to ask.

"Yeah, I have my parents, 8 brothers and sisters, and a cousin," Mariposa answered.

"Wow, a big family," Lorenzo complimented, "Do you have talents or anything interesting about you?"

"Well, I... uh..." Mariposa stammered as she tried to answer that question, but this reminded her of not feeling special from other people like her family.

But Alberto decided to answer instead, "She's a singer! She can sing."

"She also knows how to play musical instruments," Luca added.

Massimo chuckled, "Oh, a music lover? Just like me. I love to sing."

Giulia giggled, "My Papa sings opera."

"Oh, that's still singing. I love to sing. My whole family loves music, but I'm the only one who would show it by singing. My cousin did the same, but she was a conductor," Mariposa sighed sadly as she kept eating, "My family have their own things other than singing. My cousin and I love music, but she didn't sing like me."

"Can you sing just one little song for us?" Daniela requested.

Mariposa's eyes widened when she was asked to sing. She was going to sing in front of new faces. She sunk down again as she was too shy to do or say something.

Seeing how nervous Mariposa is, Giulia cleared her throat, having Mariposa's back to help her explain, "Mariposa has been suffering through case of stage fright for years."

Now the adults felt bad for the young girl.

"That's okay. You can save your voice for the singing competition the children told us," Grandma Paguro said.

This made Mariposa get back from getting sunk into her jacket again, "Oh yeah, I've been participating in the singing competition every year, but I was very shy, and I never got to sing on top of the stage. I didn't win any competition."

"And that's why we want to help her," Giulia spoke while looking up to her father, "Do you know what that feels like?"

Massimo looked down at his daughter, and smiled, remembering how Giulia felt so different from other children in Portorosso before she won the race, "Si, I do."

"Maybe this year, we can win for sure if we work together. I always did solos, but I can give a team a try," The Filipino girl confessed.

"Trust me, Mariposa. I joined the game alone every year, and I didn't win, but if it weren't for these two, I wouldn't win the race either," the red-haired girl said while elbowing Luca's arm.

"And maybe this year, you will win. We just want to help you," Luca clarified.

"I hope we win. So that everyone will think I'm special like my family," Mariposa finished the last strands of her pasta.

"What do you mean? I think you're special, even if you're just being yourself," Daniela assured her.

"Who knows? Maybe when you left, someone said that you're special," Alberto winked.

"Really? Maybe I should—" Before Mariposa could think that over, there was a group of three friends stood just outside the apartment.

"Have you heard of the Paruparo siblings?" One teenage girl asked.

"Oh, those nine siblings were magaling! So talented!" Another teenage girl squealed.

Mariposa gasped as she thought she was also mentioned as one of the nine siblings.

"And who was that other kid with a butterfly hairclip?" A teenage boy asked.

"I don't know. I never heard of her. Probably nothing special," Teenage girl #1 scoffed as the three walked off while laughing.

Mariposa's hopes went down when she thought she was one of the nine talented Paruparo siblings, but according to those three teenagers, she was unknown to them, and weren't referring to her at all. Her eyes then formed small tears while partially sunk into her hood again.

"Ignore them, Mariposa! You're stronger than that, aren't you, Mariposa?" Alberto tried to keep Mariposa feeling confident from those criticisms, but she bawled loudly as tears dropped from her eyes, and some rolled down her cheeks, "See? Tears of confidence!" The taller teenage boy smiled sheepishly, but he received unsupportive glare from her two friends, claiming she wasn't helping at all.

"Kids, why don't you show your friend about Portorosso?" Grandma Paguro suggested.

"Mom, what are you doing?!" Daniela protested, thinking her mother might want Mariposa to know their secret.

"I think she needs to know more about our home. Cheer up, get her mind off of things," the older woman explained.

Alberto agreed with that suggestion, "Yeah, Mariposa, you've been showing more about your home, we can show more about our home."

"Well, I do wanna know where you guys come from, and what you do in Italy," Mariposa sounded so hesitant at first, but she wanted to learn about her new friends, and wanted to think less about feeling not so special like her family.

"Come on!" Giulia grabbed Mariposa's hand, and dragged her upstairs with Luca and Alberto went up first, and all four of them giggled excitedly.

As the children went upstairs, Daniela was still worried about this idea, "Are you sure this is a good idea? What if she finds out?"

"Mariposa is a good kid. I can see it. If she finds out, I think she's one of the good ones," Grandma Paguro told her daughter as she drank a glass of water.

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The four Underdogs went to Marcovaldo's bedroom where Giulia and Mariposa sat on the bottom bunk bed while Luca and Alberto sat on the floor.

"Alright, Mariposa, I wanna show you this," Giulia took out a small magazine from her luggage, and showed the cover page to Mariposa, "This is where we live. Portorosso."

Mariposa took the magazine to look at it, "Portorosso, huh? I've never heard of this place before."

"It's a wonderful town where children can play, be themselves, go out for a swim, and eat gelato," Alberto explained while flipping the magazine open where he pointed a small picture of a gelato

"Ice cream?" The Filipino girl inquired.

"No, gelato," Giulia corrected her.

"What's the difference?"

"That's what I thought when I ate that halo-halo," Luca admitted as the four kids laughed.

Just then, Mariposa's laughter died down when she noticed a fountain statue of a human slaying an unfamiliar creature, "Hey, what's that?"

She pointed to the picture as this caught Luca, Alberto, and Giulia's attention, and tried to look at what Mariposa was pointing at.

"Oh, uh, Portorosso was known to believe in sea monsters," Giulia answered.

"Sea monsters?" Mariposa arched an eyebrow.

"Yeah, uh, those scary creatures live in the sea. Have you heard of it?" Alberto asked sheepishly, carefully trying not to reveal his real identity.

"No. I've never heard of it," Mariposa admitted.

Luca gasped, "You've never heard of sea monsters?"

"No," The Filipino girl shook her head, "Other than Siyokoy, I've never heard of this kind of monster before," She then looked down at the magazine, and observed the statue, "Do you think it's cruel when humans torture sea monsters like this?"

"Uh," All three sea monsters couldn't find a specific answer about that as they were shocked that Mariposa thought that way

"Some people think sea monsters are the bad ones," Alberto said.

"I don't know. The way I look at it here, sea monsters are just helpless creatures that don't want to get hurt, and humans just attack them for no reason. I feel bad," Mariposa frowned.

Luca, Alberto, and Giulia were surprised that a human like Mariposa would feel pity for sea monsters, despite being a human and she never had them yet. Maybe Mariposa wasn't that kind of human who was afraid of monsters as they thought she would be.

Just then, when Mariposa noticed a map at the last page of the magazine, she noticed something... so alone, "Hey, what's that?"

She pointed the island on the map.

"Oh that... That's the Isola del Mare," Giulia felt nervous when she explained to Mariposa about the island she pointed. She remembered it's the island where Alberto used to live, "Uh, everyone in Portorosso believed there are sea monsters around that island."

Mariposa just chuckled, "And I bet no one ever came closer to the island because they were afraid."

"Uh... yeah," Alberto pretended that he didn't know much about the island as he sweated nervously a little while answering, "Yeah, no one lived there."

"Um, let's go to here, instead," Giulia wanted to change the topic before they could spill the beans as she flipped a few more pages, "This is the race I joined every year. The Portorosso Cup."

"Ooh," Mariposa's eyes widened as she was already fascinated by this new race she just heard of.

"It's an epic, grueling, traditional Italian triathlon: Swimming, cycling, and eating pasta. So, this race needs three participants in every team," the red-haired girl explained.

While she was listening, Mariposa was also reading what the race was all about, "I think you're right though. Swimming is one thing, but when you finish eating pasta, you'll get sick when you ride your bicycle."

"Oh, she did. Last year, she threw up during the cycling part, and got disqualified," Alberto chuckled, remembering what Ercole said about Giulia from last year's race.

Giulia growled at her adoptive brother, reminding her what happened last year, "Hey, you weren't there when that happened!" She was calm as she explained to Mariposa, "Everyone kept spreading word about that. That's why I'm just some kid who doesn't belong."

"Well, at least you didn't do that again," the Filipino girl smiled.

"Actually, I did, but I didn't throw up this time," the Italian girl said.

"I kinda saw her she did," Alberto teased, but Giulia grabbed his hair, and pulled it before letting it go, "Ow!"

"Wait, if you did the race alone again, and you guys won, what happened to these two?" Mariposa asked curiously while pointing at the two boys.

"Uh..." Giulia can't tell Mariposa about her knowing Luca and Alberto's identities as sea monsters.

"I raced alone, too," Luca interrupted, racing his hand.

"What about you, Alberto?" The Filipino looked at Alberto.

"Uh..., it's a long story," The tall boy couldn't tell her about his jealousy breakdown.

"Then, how did you guys win?"

"Too many questions, Mariposa! Save it for next time!" Giulia laughed loudly before Mariposa could ask too many questions.

Though Mariposa was still curious about everything, especially what happened to her three friends back in Portorosso, she shrugged, and decided to ask questions later. Luca then helped Mariposa turn the page to discuss more about the town.

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An hour later, while the adults were ready to bed, the four children laughed together while walking down the stairs with Mariposa holding the magazine.

"I still don't get the difference between gelato and ice cream though," Mariposa admitted.

"Maybe someday, you can try it. We already tried halo-halo, so why not try an Italian dessert?" Alberto recommended.

"Man, Portrosso sure sounds so fun! No wonder lots of kids come to visit there every summer! The gelato, the ball kicking, the swimming, ooh! Portorosso really is a fun place! I'm so glad you guys told me about this place. I never knew about Portorosso until now!" Mariposa said as she kept reading the magazine.

"Hey, you showed us about your home, it's our turn to do the same," Luca said as he opened the door for her.

The Filipino girl sighed as she kept looking at the pictures of the town in the magazine, "I really wish I could be there in-person."

"You know, if there's a chance you can come and visit us in Portorosso any time! Or better in Summer?" Giulia suggested since all three of them won't be together in the same place, and understood that Mariposa still had school after winter break.

"Really? Do you think I can eat lasagna there?" Mariposa asked excitedly, "I dreamt of eating one someday."

"Pretty good chance," The Italian girl winked.

"Ooh, I would love to! I just need time to think about it. I'm so excited, I'm going to explode!" The Filipino girl jumped excitedly, "Sorry. Was that too much?"

"NEVER!" Luca, Alberto, and Giulia shouted in unison happily as all four of them laughed.

Just then, Elizabeth poked her head from the door, "Hey, Mariposa, I've been looking everywhere for you," She took a chance to glare at the three Italian kids before noticing the adults inside, "Oh, magandang gabi po!"

Daniela, Lorenzo, and Massimo stared confusingly before glancing at each other as they didn't understand that phrase.

"They don't speak Tagalog, pinsan," Mariposa whispered to her cousin.

"Oh, all right then. Anyway, Tito and Tita were worried about you. Let's go home," Elizabeth said before walking off, hoping her cousin followed her.

Before she could go, Mariposa turned to her friends while still holding the magazine, "Could I maybe borrow this? Just for tonight."

But instead of a "yes or no" answer, Giulia grabbed a pen, turned to the last page where there were writing that said, "Resident(s): Giulia, Luca, Alberto", and wrote Mariposa's name under Alberto's, "You can have it," she said.

Mariposa gasped while looking at the page. She was surprised Giulia wrote her name under the category of "residents" of Portorosso.

"Congratulations, Filipino girl, you're part of Portorosso now!" Alberto exclaimed.

Mariposa made a happy, exciting, and appreciative smile, "Yay! Salamat!"

"Mariposa!" Elizabeth went back, and shouted at her, reminding her to go home.

"Oh, right, sorry," Mariposa got out of the door, and walked off.

Elizabeth got a watchful eye on her cousin before turning to Luca, Alberto, and Giulia, giving them a deadly glare. The three stared at her confusingly, and frightened by her glare. The cousin pointed two fingers on her eyes before pointing at the three, gesturing that she will keep an eye on them before moving out to follow Mariposa.

As soon as Elizabeth's gone, Alberto murmured, "She's scary,"

"She reminded me of you," Giulia said as Alberto glared at his adoptive sister, and Luca held on his laughter, "What?"

Alberto rolled his eyes, not wanting to remind his jealousy last Summer.

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When Mariposa and Elizabeth were walking down the street all the way home, Elizabeth kept on berating her.

"What were you thinking? Tito Andres and Tita Isabel were worried about you. We all are. You can't just wander off without telling us."

"Sorry, pinsan. But Luca, Alberto, and Giulia kept me company and safe," Mariposa reassured her "Hey, did you know that they live in a town called Portorosso?"

Elizabeth scoffed, "Never heard of it."

"I know, but it's a nice place."

"What's nice about that place when your home is right here in Manila? In the Philippines?"

"I know, Manila is always my home. But it won't hurt if we go to Portorosso."

"Why would you wanna do that?" Elizabeth turned to her cousin as they stopped walking.

"It kinda sounds interesting. Besides, we do need a vacation from other places," Mariposa said, hopefully her cousin agrees.

"We don't need to go out of the country for a vacation, Mariposa. We could have a vacation anywhere in the Philippines. There were Boracay, Bulkang Mayon, and the Underground River. Those were beautiful places to visit for a vacation. Not that Portorosso place," the cousin explained.

Mariposa knew Elizabeth wasn't so interested in visiting other countries, no one in her family, other than Elizabeth's parents, ever went out of the country before, "Couldn't we just try it? Just for one summer?"

But Elizabeth still disagreed with the idea, "Mariposa, we can't go out of the country, especially with your condition. What do you think is gonna happen when your new 'friends' find out who you are?"

Mariposa didn't say a word. She began to wonder, would her friends or the town where they lived accept her and her condition? Would they still want to be friends with her? Maybe not. They might not like someone who was so different from them. She didn't want anyone to think she's a weird-o or a freak because of her condition.

Judging by her cousin's silence, Elizabeth believed she understood as the two continued to walk back home... silently.

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Mariposa met Massimo, Daniela, Lorenzo, and Grandma Paguro for the first time, and she ate Trenette al pesto for the first time as well. When Mariposa mentioned the pasta tasted like Pancit Canton, it is a Filipino adaptation of lo mein and chow mein. Either in instant or stir-fried versions. It is named after the type of noodle used.

As it wasn't mentioned in the previous chapter, Siyokoy is a Filipino mythical sea monster, but unlike Luca and Alberto's species, Siyokoy has no tails, and they live in freshwater. They also don't transform into humans when on land, they rather live and hide underwater to drown their victims.

Translation(s):

Italian:
Buona notte – Good Evening/Good night
Papa – Dad/Father
Regazzi - kids
Mangiamo – Let's eat
Si - Yes

Filipino:
Magaling - Excellent
Magandang gabi po – Good evening
Pinsan - Cousin
Tito - Uncle
Tita - Aunt
Salamat – Thanks/Thank you
Bulkang Mayon – Mayon Volcano