In a quiet village nestled between the misty mountains of Kyoto, a young girl named Aiko lived with her grandmother. Aiko had always been curious—about the stars, the legends whispered by the elders, and the world beyond the rice fields.
One autumn night during Tsukimi—the Moon Viewing Festival—Aiko wandered away from the crowd, drawn by a strange glowing light in the bamboo forest.
There, hanging from a low branch, was a lantern unlike any she had seen. It pulsed gently with a blue-white light. Etched on its paper were characters she couldn’t read, and when she touched it, she suddenly heard a whisper:
“Find the lost wish, and the moon will smile upon you.”
Startled but intrigued, Aiko followed the light deeper into the woods, where she uncovered an old, forgotten shrine to Tsukuyomi—the moon god. Inside, she found an offering box and a single, aged paper crane.
Her grandmother had once told her, “The gods only hear true wishes whispered with the heart.”
Aiko closed her eyes and wished—not for herself, but for her grandmother’s health, which had been fading with the seasons.
The lantern burst into silver light, then vanished.
The next morning, her grandmother stood strong, humming and smiling like she had in the old days.
Aiko never saw the lantern again, but every Tsukimi, a silver-blue light flickered at the forest’s edge—just for her.
