Only the moonlight dyes the surface of the canal silver. In a back alley where neither streetlights nor torches reach, a black shadow walked slowly.

Jet-black hair flows down to his waist, swaying with a lustrous sheen. His golden eyes look as if they have trapped the stardust scattered across the night sky. Every time his long eyelashes blink, the stars seem to twinkle.

Nebula Mystric. He stopped and sat down on the edge of the canal. He looked down at his own face reflected in the water. It was so handsome it felt somewhat doll-like. His lips naturally curved into an arc, but it was less of a smile and more of a simple habit.

"...I can hear... a wish."

A small voice. The words were faltering, awkward as if it were the first language he had ever spoken. In that moment, a brilliant, dazzling light overflowed, and the water's surface rippled. Someone's wish had drifted ashore as stardust.

── "I wish that guy would just disappear."

Malice.

It was a dark, muddy piece of stardust, different from ordinary wishes. But to Nebula, it had a rather pleasant ring to it. Feeling as if he had been called, he stood up. His black long coat fluttered in the night breeze, revealing glimpses of the deep blue lining. The stardust resting on his fingertip had already transformed into the shape of a small blade.

"I shall grant it."

Nebula began to walk. The owner of the wish was at the foot of a bridge three canals away. A drunken man. He was screaming about being betrayed by a woman and swinging a knife. It would be simple: just slide the stardust blade into his throat.

Just as the sharp knife was pointed at Nebula—

"── Look out!"

The voice belonged to Guest. The Assistant Captain of the Guard in this city. It seemed they were on night patrol. Nebula blinked repeatedly. It was the first time he had been touched by someone since falling to Earth.

"You... got in my way."

Nebula smiled slowly. It was a fleeting, somewhat cruel smile, like the twinkling of a star. The fog thickened, and the shadows of the two melted into the surface of the canal.

──A fallen star that grants wishes, and the human who stops him.

The canal looked down upon Guest as if peering into a strange fate.