Prologue: The Wish-Granting Shop
Hinata Hyūga slowly opened her eyes to find herself in a bed with bandages wrapped all over her body.
She furrowed her eyebrows slightly as she tried to figure out where she was.
From what she could tell…she was in a room but it was unfamiliar to her.
She slowly sat up, wincing at the pain she was feeling before her eyes widened at what she saw.
For some reason…her hands were smaller.
They were the size of a child's.
How? What was going on?
"Don't move!" Suddenly, a young blue-haired girl was by her left side, trying to get her to lie down. "You're badly hurt!"
She has long, curly blue hair in pigtails and blue eyes. She was wearing a dark red, sleeveless blouse and dark red shorts. Her attire had a devilish look to it.
"You'll open up all your wounds!" Another girl was on her right side, doing the same as the other girl.
She has short, straight pink hair that has two curls on either side of her head and pink eyes. She was wearing is a short, white dress. Her attire had an angelic look to it.
Hinata could only stare at the two girls, confused.
She was more confused now than she was a minute ago.
"It's all right, Maru, Moro." Someone said, making the three girls look over to see a woman.
She's a tall, thin woman with pale skin, black hair down to the back of her knees, and dark red eyes. Her hair is cut in many layers having front bangs up to her eyebrows, then another layer, reaching up to her jaw, and a layer at her hips, and a final one at her knees. She was wearing a beautiful black and purple kimono with some red designs on it and a butterfly design at the back.
"She's just confused." She assured the two as she came over before she sat down. "How are you feeling?"
"…Confused." Hinata murmured. "Who are you?"
The woman gives her a soft smile. "I'm Yûko Ichihara. And what would your name be?"
"…Hinata Hyūga." Then she turned her gazes to the two girls by her side.
They weren't forcing her to lay down, but they were still close to her.
"They're just worried." Yûko assured her. "They have been looking after you since I found you outside my shop. You were badly injured. Almost as if you came out of a war."
Hinata looked at her for a moment before she looked down.
She shouldn't be here… She shouldn't even be alive at all.
"Why am I…alive?" Hinata murmured. "By all rights…I should be dead."
She remembered dying. On the battlefield. And yet…
How was she here? And why was she…
Yûko softly signed. "I would like to give you a clear answer, but even I don't know. You were brought to my shop in the form you see yourself. Almost like someone wanted to give you a second chance at life."
Hinata looked at her. "…So what happens now?"
"That is up to you." Yûko looked at her quietly. "Right now, you're struggling. You were fully prepared to die to protect someone else. But now that you're alive, you don't know what to do. Am I wrong?"
Hinata was quiet before she signed. "No…"
She wasn't wrong. She doesn't know what she should do.
"That reminds me. I never did tell you where you are." Yûko smiles. "Right now, you're inside my shop."
"…Shop?" What kind of shop?
"I run an interesting business. Only people who have a wish can come here."
So it was a wish-granting shop. Wait…
"Doesn't that mean… If you can grant wishes, isn't there a heavy price to grant those wishes?"
"Exactly."
"…But I don't have a wish." Hinata murmured.
Yûko looked at her quietly. "I know. But someday, there will come a time when you will have a wish. And when you do have a wish, you will have to pay a heavy price."
Hinata was quiet before she nodded in understanding.
I've decided to change the prologue. I was rereading through the whole story and I didn't like how I wrote it compared to writing it years ago. I hope you guys will be okay with that and continue reading. I will likely change some things in the other chapters as well, but the general story will mostly be the same.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.