It has always been easy for Mizuki to have her wish granted, if the place is perfect and the time is right, like on a sunset with a four-leaf clover, under a full moon at 11:11, or on a fountain one deep night with nobody else around. It was amazing how she speaks her wishes to life. She believed it was sort of her quirk.
And as she sat there realizing how badly she wanted this something, why was it so hard for her to wish for it? It's not like she didn't wish for something selfish before, too - she once wished for a teacher to like her so she wouldn't fail Math - so what was stopping her for wishing for that?
Mizuki closed her eyes and inhaled.
Perhaps this time, she wants to see how the ever so mysterious fate would unfold itself, and a part of her hopes that she wants it to happen without having to make a wish.
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Sumigaw si Mizuki sa hangin.
Hinga.
At saka siya sumigaw ulit.
Napakapit siya sa railing ng lighthouse. It was a fifty-year old lighthouse that's already been abandoned for a couple of years. She didn't know the reason why, but she was at least happy that she had a place she could come to whenever things frustrated her.
That day, Mizuki had seen a lightning, a four-leaf clover, a wishing well, and each time she tried to wish, she couldn't - it's like her tongue was stopping itself and her heart was giving her a red warning sign to not do it. Totoong gusto niya na hindi hilingin ang bagay na ito kasi gusto niyang kusang mangyari, pero kapag abot mo na halos ang isang bagay at kikilos ka na lang, nakakapagod pa lang maghintay.
How do people even go through their lives without wishing? She thought of that as she slammed her head against the railing. Mizuki had manipulated her life through wishing, and by the time that she decided to stop it for this one thing, she was feeling frustrated. Do non-wishing people feel like this all the time?
Napauntog na lang ulit ng ulo si Mizuki sa railing. It felt cold. Lubog na rin ang araw. Binangon niya ang ulo niya saka tumingin sa madilim na langit. She saw an airplane from the distance, and she thought that it looked pretty as it flew across the purple hue of the sky.
Mizuki felt lucky that she was born near the seaside, where there's a nice view of the sea and the skies and where there's a lighthouse everybody could enter and where there's a Moonbeam Festival that happens every first week of July.
The festival . . .
"The festival!" biglang sambit ni Mizuki. "Paano ko 'to nakalimutan?!" she exclaimed and touched her opened lips.
Sa lugar nila, may ginaganap na Moonbeam Festival para i-celebrate ang zodiac Cancer season. The Cancer is ruled by the moon, and the elders of their town believed that the moon had always taken care of them by giving them wealth, safety, and beauty, so every first Sunday of July, everybody cooks something crab-related dishes as an offering, as the Cancer is symbolized by the crab. People would also light up candles, wish on them, and blow it right before the sun rises.
Thing is, none of Mizuki's wishes came true every festival night. Naisip niya na lang na masyado kasing marami ang humihiling kada gabi ng festival kaya hindi naririnig ng buwan ang hiling niya. Habang nakatayo sa lighthouse noong oras na 'yon, naisip niya na kung hindi siya makakapaghintay na mangyari ang gusto niyang mangyari, kailangan niya nang humiling agad.
Pero bakit hindi niya kaya?
Napasinghap si Mizuki nang makarinig ng mga yapak mula sa likod. Her eyes widening, she gripped onto the railing, her back against it, waiting for whoever's footsteps those may be to appear.
When she saw the person's face, her heart raced. Totoo ba 'to? sabi niya sa isip. She hadn't even wished yet! Nanlamig ang kamay niya habang nakarinig ng panibagong eroplanong dumaan sa langit. Huminga siya nang malalim pero maski iyon ay nahirapan siyang gawin - parang nalagutan siya ng hininga sa nakita niya.
"Hi," sabi ng babaeng kapapasok lang.
Mizuki couldn't speak.
Because standing in front of her was the girl whose dusky skin was splashed with the dim moonlight, whose hair looked so soft it most probably feels like a clump of feather when touched, whose smile was so pretty Mizuki could just melt . . .
The girl who just came in was her wish, and her name was Amaris.
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