Ejiro had heard whispers of the Moonlight Market—a secret bazaar that appeared once a year beneath the full moon, where merchants traded in things that shouldn’t exist.
She never thought she’d find it. Yet here it was, stretching endlessly before her eyes. Stalls shimmered in the dark, selling bottled starlight, stolen dreams, and vials of laughter. The air hummed with magic.
A hunched vendor beckoned her closer, his fingers glinting like polished silver.
“Looking for something special, dear?”
He held up a tiny vial labelled Happiness. The liquid inside pulsed like a heartbeat.
Ejiro’s breath hitched. She wanted it. Needed it. But when she reached for her pocket, she froze.
“I… I don’t have any money.”
The vendor chuckled, eyes gleaming beneath his hood.
“I don’t take money.”
He leaned in, voice like silk.
“I take memories.”
Ejiro’s hands trembled. She glanced at the other vials: Love, Courage, Laughter, even Pain. She wasn’t sure why anyone would want that.
Her eyes returned to Happiness.
“What memory would I give for it?” she whispered.
The vendor smiled wider.
“Your first kiss.”
She froze.
Her first kiss. A moment she’d kept tucked away, soft and sacred. It was hers.
But the vial shimmered with a warmth that reached through her chest like a promise. The want was louder than her fear.
Slowly, she reached out.
The moment her fingers closed around the glass, a whisper of warmth left her body, an exhale she couldn’t take back. A flicker, a heartbeat, then…
Gone.
She blinked, trying to summon the image, the lips, the name, the place, but the memory scattered like dust in sunlight. Only the ache remained.
The vial was warm in her hand.
The happiness flooding her veins was real, sweet, bright, euphoric.
But beneath it bloomed a silence she couldn’t explain.
He grinned, his mouth curling wider than seemed natural.
“Enjoy it while it lasts.”