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The night wind, which had felt pleasant until just a few days ago, was now beginning to carry a slight chill. The soil of the wasteland was losing its summer moisture, and clouds of dust kicked up mercilessly. Even the scent of the grass felt somewhat dry.
Gohan looked up at the sky and stifled a yawn. The stars were clearly visible from his home in Mount Paozu, but the starry sky viewed from here was even brighter.
"Ah, a shooting star!"
While feeding branches into the bonfire, Piccolo raised his eyes to the night sky as if drawn by Gohan’s exclamation. Right then, another star streaked across the dark. Excited, Gohan turned to Piccolo with a bright smile.
"Did you see it? A shooting star!"
"Yeah."
Gohan had become completely accustomed to Piccolo's blunt responses over the past few months. It didn't mean he was angry or in a bad mood.
Gohan stood up and began gathering small stones. As he picked up a round pebble from beneath Piccolo's knees, a quiet voice drifted down to him.
"What are you doing?"
"My grandpa told me about this charm..."
Without seeming to mind the intense gaze fixed upon him, Gohan arranged the gathered stones into a small circle. It was a tiny ring, so small that even one of Piccolo’s feet couldn't step inside it. Sitting back down by the bonfire, Gohan looked back at the ring of pebbles.
"He said if you make a marker like this, a shooting star will fall right into it. And it’ll grant your wish."
"...Do you actually have something to wish for?"
"I wished that even when I become an adult, I'll still get to spend my time with you, Piccolo! Do you have a wish, Piccolo?"
"As if stars would listen to wishes."
Piccolo answered dismissively, yet the ring of pebbles constructed right beside Gohan loomed oddly large within his field of vision. The flickering shadows of the bonfire cast the shapes of the small stones onto the parched earth.
About twenty years must have passed since then. Led out by Gohan, Piccolo was walking through the wasteland at night. Tonight, a meteor shower was supposed to be visible. It was a comfortable night, just like back then, with autumn right on the horizon.
"Do you remember, Piccolo? The charm with the shooting stars."
"You did say something about it... stacking stones, wasn't it?"
Shaking his head with an innocent smile, Gohan looked not a single bit different from when he was a child.
"Stacking them is what you do at the Sanzu River! You're supposed to arrange the pebbles in a circle. Come on, let's do it."
Without waiting for Piccolo's reply, Gohan crouched down and began gathering small stones from beneath his feet. Casting a sidelong glance, Piccolo stood silently, surveying the wasteland. Just like in the old days, he likely had no intention of making wishes upon a shooting star. Laughing soundlessly to himself, Gohan gathered a handful of pebbles that could fit in one hand.
"Let's go up on that plateau. I feel like our wishes will reach the sky better if we're closer to the stars."
"The plateau? ...It's all the same, no matter where we are. There's no need to go out of your way to climb up. Why don't you just arrange them right there?"
"Come on, since we're already here... Please?"
Pulling the reluctant Piccolo by the hand, Gohan leapt off the ground. Out of the several plateaus existing in this wasteland, the one they used to rest on the most was further east, near the watering hole. In a wasteland with almost no animals, that nostalgic plateau might still hold the ring of pebbles he had arranged as a child.
"Ah, look, a shooting star! We have to arrange them quickly."
"Forget the stones... Just look at the sky."
"No way, this is an important wish."
Standing atop the plateau, Gohan hurriedly scanned the ground. A spot that was flat, not overgrown with weeds, where he could neatly arrange the pebbles into a circle—and suddenly, he noticed it. A circle of small stones had already been laid out there.
"Huh... Was this the plateau where we used to rest so often?"
"..."
"I wonder if these are the stones I arranged back then... Though I could have sworn that plateau was closer to the watering hole."
"...I placed those. On the day you told me about it."
Startled, Gohan looked up, only to find Piccolo awkwardly averting his gaze.
"What... But you said stars don't grant wishes."
"I wanted to wish for your safety so badly that I was willing to cling to something like that."
Gohan was struck speechless, staring intently at Piccolo. Piccolo’s brow was furrowed in an annoyed scowl, but Gohan knew by now that this was the face he made when he was deeply embarrassed.
Back then, when they were preparing for the approaching Saiyans... even though his words had been blunt, he had cared enough to perform an unfitting "charm" just to pray for Gohan's survival. And that wish had been surely and truly granted by Piccolo himself. Not only that, but Gohan's own wish—to spend his life with Piccolo even as an adult—was being fulfilled at this very moment.
"...So you were the star that granted my wish, Piccolo."
"What nonsense are you talking about... Come on, if you're going to arrange them, do it quickly."
"Let's arrange them together. And let's make a wish together."
After a momentary hesitation, Piccolo accepted the handful of pebbles that Gohan offered.
The autumn air was beautifully crisp, and the stars shone in numbers so vast it felt as though one could reach out and scoop them up. A shooting star would surely fall into the circle of pebbles they arranged together. To grant their wish of being together from now on, once again.