Every time Riku looked up at the night sky, he thought of his little sister, Saki.
She had been weak since birth. Even while spending her days confined to a hospital bed, Saki always gazed at the sky. “When I see a shooting star, I’ll make a wish,” she would say with a smile.
But shooting stars are rare, and wishes do not come true so easily.
One day, their grandfather told a story.
“There’s a hidden waterfall deep in these mountains. They call it the Waterfall of Shooting Stars. It’s said that if you pray there, just one wish will be granted.”
“Really…?”
“It’s an old legend. But they also say no one has ever reached it.”
Something sparked in Riku’s chest.
A few days later, leaving only the words “I’m staying over at a friend’s house” for his parents, Riku packed a small backpack and headed toward the mountains. A path not found on any map. Guided only by his grandfather’s story and an old local book, he kept walking.
Rain fell. He slipped. He lost his way more than once.
But Riku kept going.
“I want Saki’s wish to come true.”
That was all he cared about.
On the night of the third day, after crossing a deep valley, he finally saw it.
In the darkness, a waterfall glowed softly—its stream was not water, but something like falling stars, cascading in glittering silence. It made no sound, only sending sparkles drifting through the air like windblown light.
“This is… the Waterfall of Shooting Stars…?”
When he approached, he noticed a shape beside the basin.
A figure wrapped in transparent light, neither man nor woman, neither young nor old.
It was the Spirit of the Stars.
“Well done. Only those with a pure wish can reach this place.”
The voice echoed directly in his heart.
“I have a wish,” Riku said without hesitation. “Please make my sister Saki healthy.”
He clasped his hands and bowed deeply.
The spirit was silent for a moment, gazing toward the waterfall.
“This waterfall is a bridge between the human world and the realm of stars. In exchange for granting one wish, something equal must be offered.”
“Something equal…?”
“Your future. A portion of the time you possess. It must be shared.”
Riku’s eyes widened. To give up part of his own future for Saki.
Yet he felt no hesitation.
“That’s fine. As long as she lives—and can look up at the sky.”
The spirit nodded softly and raised its hand. The waterfall’s light swirled into a brilliant vortex.
“Your wish is received. From this moment, one memory of the stars will be rewritten.”
Riku’s body floated gently, wrapped in radiant light.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in the hospital hallway. He was muddy and soaked, but his body felt strangely light.
He ran to Saki’s room—and there she was, smiling with joy.
“Big brother, look! Today, I stood up all by myself for the first time!”
The doctor called it a miracle.
But Riku already knew the reason.
That night, when he looked up at the sky through the hospital window, a single shooting star streaked across the darkness.
“Thank you… Spirit of the Waterfall.”
He whispered in his heart. At that moment, he noticed a small mark on his arm—shaped like a star.
It must have been the sign of the future he had shared.
But he felt no regret.
Saki’s smile was the only answer he ever needed.
