"This might seem like an odd wish… Or, well, it doesn't seem like a wish at all, more like a request."

"I'd hardly say I'm picky on the terminology."

"Okay, well… I have this thing."

"An item?"

"Yes. And I'm pretty sure it's cursed."

"Mm. What makes you say that?"

"You might not believe me…"

"You'd be surprised what I believe"

"Okay." The man took a deep breath, as if this was a story he'd told a hundred times.

Apparently he spent two weeks in Europe about a month ago, wandering about. He was a restless soul, Kimihiro could tell. With three days left of the trip, and the man happened upon a festival of sorts, he said. Groups of elaborately costumed dancers wandered the streets with large masks covered in bells and furs. A bazaar had set up shop nearby, selling mulled wine, exotic meats, aromatic breads, and all manner of trinkets.

"Now, I'm not usually one for souvenirs," the man explained. "But this festival was incredible and I wanted some sort of keepsake. I went through all the stalls to find the perfect object but nothing seemed quite right. I wanted something to capture the feeling of this festival. It had been going for thousands of years, I heard. Every winter, a festival that grand with such a history? It had to be just the right object."

He found one, apparently. One of the stands run by an old woman had an assortment of little odds and ends. He chose a bell like the ones worn by the many dancers, and she added to that a gift. A small, clay, painted statuette that looked like an odd little monster, like the dancers' costumes. Its mask was a little disconcerting, but the fact that some old woman had just bestowed it upon him at this festival that felt like pure magic made it special.

"I spent the night in that little village, then left in the morning," the man explained. "I stopped for lunch and spoke with a waiter about the festival, but he said he'd never heard of it, even though he lived maybe an hour away by car. I told him it's been going for thousands of years and he was even more confused. So I started to wonder, did I just dream that?"

Kimihiro frowned. That didn't feel right.

"But I checked my bag and sure enough, I had my keepsakes, so it had happened. I chalked it up to the waiter maybe being new in town, or not very knowledgeable. But everyone I talked to after said the same thing: this festival didn't exist."

The moment he said that, Kimihiro knew this was the spirit world. This man had stumbled into a spirit festival. The explanation was correct, but something didn't sit right. What the man described was a positive experience with spirits. This was a good thing, so why is this man so insistent that it caused misfortune? Had they wished him harm, they would have done it immediately.

"You probably think I sound nuts," the man said suddenly, and Kimihiro shook his head. The man was clearly mistaken somehow, but he wasn't crazy.

"Not at all," Kimihiro assured him, raising a hand. "Please continue."

The man seemed skeptical, but continue he did.

Apparently his trip ended quite normally, "imaginary" festival aside, and he flew home to return to school. The trinket he placed on his desk at home with a few other keepsakes.

"I thought it was kind of neat at first, but I tried to research this festival and still nothing came up. Internet, library, word of mouth, no one had anything on it. I'd look at that little doll every day and wonder where the hell it came from."

Then, bad luck. Little things at first, lost socks and missed alarms, but it escalated. His roommate broke his arm skateboarding, his sister visited and got fired the very next day, his cactus died, and just today, the man had nearly been hit by a car just outside the shop.

"I… I think it's that thing the old woman gave me," the man concluded. "I'm afraid."

"And your wish is to not be afraid?" Kimihiro asked.

"My wish… is to be rid of its curse."

"And you're so sure this item is cursed?"

"That has to be it, it's the only thing that makes sense."

But it didn't make sense. The item was a gift from what was clearly a benevolent spirit; if anything it should bring good fortune. But this man was convinced he'd been given a cursed object.

"Do you have the item with you?"

"No. It's at home."

"Please bring it here tomorrow, and I shall grant your wish."

And with that the man left.

/

Kimihiro spent the afternoon reading about spirit festivals and European folklore, but everything seemed to align with his instinct: there was no possible way this item was cursed.

Either way, Kimihiro would take some precautions. The storerooms had their fair share of cursed objects, what was one more? They all had the appropriate seals and containers and spells to contain them.

So he brought a few containers and the needed supplies to make a few options for seals. He still wasn't sure what the object was or if any of this would be necessary, but he figured it would do to be prepared.

He sat at the table with paper and ink and drew a few practice seals before making anything fancy while the girls sat opposite to him, coloring and giggling.

"How's yours coming?" he asked them, somewhat dissatisfied with his own.

They held up their drawing—the shop, with them on either side.

"Ta da!" they said, rightfully proud of their work.

"Oh that's very pretty," he said and smiled.

"What about Watanuki's?" they asked together, tilting their heads and putting their drawing back down.

"Ah, it's…"

Kimihiro frowned at the page. It would make a good seal, he knew, but whether he would need it or if it would work was beyond him. He had no idea what this object was or what it could do. It was a complete mystery.

Though this mystery was exciting to him, rather than terrifying. He had determined a price that he was fairly sure was equivalent and this wasn't knowledge he was expected to already know as Shopkeeper. This was new territory, interesting.

Frustrating as hell though. And the anticipation for its arrival was maddening.

"It will work for something, if not for this," he decided to say.

Someone entered the barrier to the shop, Doumeki for sure. It wasn't a wish, so surely it had to be Doumeki, right?

No, it could be a wish. Was it…?

The girls jumped up and ran to the entry, proving Kimihiro's instinct right. Huh.

"Welcome home!" they chorused, thrilled to see him. Why they loved him so much was beyond Kimihiro.

"I don't live here."

Ugh, Doumeki.

Kimihiro called out from where he sat, still staring down the seal. "Oi! If you're expecting dinner, I'm afraid you're out of luck—I got caught up with a wish."

"A wish?" Doumeki entered the room, blank-faced. Completely blank. Always just, just blank. Nothing there, there had to be something there, right? No one is that expressionless, Kimihiro just had to keep looking.

"Yes. Don't get worked up or anything, I haven't even granted it yet."

Doumeki leaned over the table to get a better look at Kimihiro's practice wards and seals.

Mokona bounded over from wherever the hell he'd been hiding and landed on Doumeki's shoulder.

"Drinks! Drinks!" it chanted. "Something good!"

The girls cheered and twirled, Doumeki said nothing, and Kimihiro frowned and opened his mouth to say no, but a drink did sound nice. Just a small one to loosen him up, nothing more.

"Fine. One."

"Yes!"

The little bun hopped into the air, high fived Doumeki, and ran off with the girls chasing after him.

"What are you making?" Doumeki asked, oddly chatty.

Ah, what a person it takes to make four words seem chatty.

"Mm, I'm making a seal," Kimihiro told him. "Hopefully. I have an item coming in tomorrow."

"What sort of item?"

"Not sure yet."

Doumeki kept staring down his work, so in a huff Kimihiro quickly started piling all the rejects up to repurpose elsewhere.

"This one looks familiar," Doumeki said then, pointing at the seal Kimihiro had settled on.

"It should. Your grandfather taught it to me."

"Mm." Doumeki stared at it for a good, long, awkward moment before Kimihiro snatched that one up too, to move to the other room. He wanted a clear table for the snacks he'd made earlier that day.

When snacks were set and the alcohol was brought and the pipe was lit, Kimihiro looped Doumeki in further, explaining the man's wish from earlier. If nothing else, Doumeki was a good sounding board.

"I'm not convinced this is a cursed item," Kimihiro said after a deep breath of the tobacco that no longer stung in his lungs like it used to. It was a comfort now, a warmth, a reminder.

"But you're making the seal anyways?"

"The man seemed convinced. I'll inspect it when it arrives and seal it up as needed. It's clear the man is cursed, but I don't believe it's from this object."

"Then from what?"

"That is the question. His experience wasn't malicious. It was just a festival."

"Isn't that dangerous?"

"Had it been dangerous, the man wouldn't be here with a wish. It's all very absolute in the eyes of spirits. I fear the man may be doing this to himself."

"How?"

"He decided he was cursed and now he's cursed? Tied his own strings, spoke his own curse?" Kimihiro sighed and laid back on the floor, staring at the patterns on the ceiling hoping to find some sort of answer.

He did not get one.

"I suppose I'll find out when he returns tomorrow."

Kimihiro paused before adding, "You can stop by if you're so interested."

Just in case he was wrong. About the price or the object or… whatever else.

"Now if you don't mind, you've overstayed your welcome."

/

Kimihiro had a few options for containers, his seal, and the man's price all set and ready when the man returned.

"Welcome back."

"I have it. Do I just leave it here?"

Right to the point then.

The man pulled a small item from his coat pocket and Kimihiro immediately knew that yes, that was in fact a cursed item.

Smoke spewed out of it, the smell was noxious, and it took everything in Kimihiro to keep a passive face.

"Ah, is that the item?" he asked, full well knowing the answer.

"Yes." The man put the object on the table between them and Kimihiro got his first good look at the figure.

It was exactly as described: small, clay, painted with an odd face, and cursed. Very, very cursed.

This made no sense. How did this man end up with a cursed object from a spirit festival that caused him no harm?

"I'll take it," Kimihiro assured the man.

"So it is cursed."

"Yes."

But how?

"When did you say your bad luck began?"

"About a week after I got back."

"But you received the item almost a week previous?"

The man hesitated. "I… I suppose."

Ah. This made sense now.

"I don't believe the object was cursed."

"But you just said…"

"I believe you did this."

"I didn't-"

"You didn't mean to, surely, but it is a shame. This would have been such a gift."

The man was understandably confused, but his wish wasn't information.

"As I said, I will take it."

"Oh thank god."

"Though I must take payment."

"Is… this not payment?"

Kimihiro raised an eyebrow. "You believe giving me a cursed object is payment? Would you buy your groceries with this?"

"Then you want… money?"

Kimihiro smiled and he could tell it was a good one. Mysterious.

"This isn't that sort of shop. I take payment equivalent to the wish. Were I a grocer, money would do nicely. However, you may have noticed that this is not a grocery store. This is a shop for granting wishes."

"Then what sort of payment do you want?"

"I'll trade you," Kimihiro explained. "I have an object of my own. No curse attached or anything, so please don't give it one, but your price is to have this with you at all times, or the curse will find its way home."

He put a ring on the table and slid it toward the man. "Wear it."

The man agreed, putting it on immediately, and was quickly dismissed while Kimihiro tried to make sense of the bizarre little curse he had on his hands.

"This seal isn't going to work," he mused as he walked around the table, hoping maybe a different angle might help.

A different angle did not help. It did nothing but make him nauseous; the smell really was terrible.

He made a face and stepped further back.

"I suppose I could make a stronger seal."

Doumeki entered the shop's barrier (yes, definitely Doumeki) and Kimihiro decided to wait for him to enter to try anything too bold.

"Please don't come too close," he directed as he heard Doumeki enter.

His footsteps stopped at the edge of the room.

"What is it?"

"Your ears are pointless, as I thought," Kimihiro huffed, but didn't take his eyes off the figurine. "I told you about it yesterday. The cursed item."

He came closer to it, hesitantly. "It's not really cursed. Well, it is cursed, but it wasn't originally. The item is more like a vessel."

"So, what is it?"

Useless.

"It was a gift from a spirit. One would generally use it to hold good intentions and well-wishes, then gift it to a loved one. It's a very powerful object…" He sighed. "Unfortunately he didn't quite understand. Instead of housing the joy and wonder of his experience, it became a house for his fear and paranoia. His own personal curse."

He turned back to Doumeki. "Unintentional, but harmful all the same."

"Hm," said Doumeki, eloquently.

Doumeki leaned forward a bit to focus better on the little statue. He seemed to see something in it, then blinked oddly.

Kimihiro would really need to figure out how to fix that whole eye thing.

"So, will you lock it up?" Doumeki asked, "Like the box?"

Ah, the box from the temple. That one was sealed away properly in the storeroom. Yes, Kimihiro could do the same with this little relic, but this one wasn't meant for such a curse, unlike the other.

"I suppose I could, though that seal isn't right. It's a shame, really."

He tapped a finger to his chin in thought. Yes, he could seal it away, but this was such a lovely trinket.

Ah, perhaps this was why the price was higher than Kimihiro had expected. He wasn't meant to lock it away.

"I'd rather cleanse it. Destroy the curse, keep the object. It deserves that much."

"Mm."

What was that supposed to be? Statement? Question? Is he just hungry? Whatever.

"You're no help."

Alright, cleansing a curse. Not a problem, right? He just had to… clean… it. Kimihiro cleaned things all the time! But it's not like bleach works on a curse.

Kimihiro slowly approached the object again, fighting back another wave of nausea, and got to work.

Magic is about intention, he'd been told. And he intended to clean. He wanted this little statue clean again.

So, closing his eyes, he focused his attention to the curse fully. He could feel it in there, existing incorrectly. A miasma of ill-intent, captured in such a pure vessel. The man had desecrated it, really.

He got to work eradicating the curse, feeling the resonating vibrations of magic within him as he worked. If he worked the intention in just the right paths, could twist it just the right way and channel it correctly, the curse would be nullified, surely. It took a long moment, but eventually the last of the knotted curse was untangled.

"Got it," he said, rather certain he had, in fact, had it. The moment he reached out to pick up the object however, the black smoke shot out of it, its form far larger than Kimihiro could have expected. "Or not."

Alright, now there was a curse flying around in the sitting room. A giant, disgusting, curse made of smoke and fear, billowing about the space, attempting to find a resting place. Not ideal. Stupid, in fact. That was a stupid move. He should have done this outside. Idiot mistake. Getting that price right was too good to be true.

By now, Kimihiro was sick of trial and error, but that seemed to just be a theme in his life.

He tried to pin it down with magic and finish the job, but then he saw exactly where that curse intended to go: Yuuko's pipe. It was a powerful object in its own right, and Kimihiro would absolutely not allow it to be tarnished by some second-hand curse.

That was Yuuko's. That was hers and what, Kimihiro was just going to let it get tarnished by a stupid, stupid, so stupid, idiotic mistake he'd made? No, he couldn't let that happen, not to anything here, but especially not to that.

The smoke gathered above the pipe and made a move to destroy it, for its presence alone would tarnish the power, the memory, rendering it a cursed object to be stored away forever.

Unacceptable.

So, without further thought, he reached out, changed the spell, pulled it away from the pipe and redirected it elsewhere, but without a proper target, he only managed to pull it into himself.

By the time he realized what he'd done, he was out cold.

The moment he hit the ground he found himself in a dream. It was night in the center of a city Kimihiro had never seen. People of all sorts crowded around stalls and spirits draped in bells spun through the open streets.

Suddenly, the dream began to unravel bit by bit, replaced by a view of the same street engulfed in flames.

Kimihiro had barely a moment to process though before someone had a hand on his shoulder. Alarmed, he turned around to face Haruka.

"What are you doing? Wake up!"

He awoke on the floor and immediately wished he hadn't. He could feel the curse in him already, feeding off… something. Growing.

It was painful and tiring, like having the life sucked out of him. Taking a breath hurt and it took him a couple tries to do it properly.

"Stupid."

That was stupid. He didn't think to take the damn thing outside and now he had a curse feeding on him.

Slowly, slowly, slowly he attempted to sit up, but instead laid right back down on the cushion that must have been put down by Doumeki, who… hadn't left. Kimihiro must not have been out long (or at least he hoped he hadn't).

"I may have made a slight mistake," he admitted, because clearly there was no hiding this, he'd just passed out (again). Maybe eventually he'd manage to stay conscious for a full day, but it seemed that wasn't happening. He couldn't remember the last time that happened. It would be better if he wasn't, wouldn't it? He probably deserved this for being such a moron. Thi-

Ah, an emotional curse as well. Fantastic. This would require some work.

He groaned as he again attempted to sit up, this time succeeding.

Doumeki was at his side quickly, attempting to support his upper back.

Which hurt worse, so lessons learned all around. Lessons learned, never fixed, knowledge gained but never applied.

"What happened?"

Kimihiro took in as deep a breath as his body would currently allow, and let it out, attempting to gain control over something he very clearly had no control over.

"I wasn't thorough," he explained. "It got out and tried to hide somewhere else, but I… didn't want it to hide there."

He couldn't let it hide there. It wasn't even an option, not even worth considering. But now it was in him, pulling at his very essence as if reversing his own spell against him. If he waited too long, would he be unraveled?

Wouldn't that be nice. To untie all these knots inside him. To let it all go.

But no, he was a tangled mess and always would be. Would never figure out what to do to untangle that twisted web that made up his life, his self, and everything he ever touched that tangled along with him.

No, these thoughts were from the curse he'd pulled in, like a complete dumbass. Yuuko wouldn't make this mistake. She would have taken care of it the first time. Or sealed the object away without attempting this in the first place, had it simply been impossible.

What was he supposed to do though? The curse was attached to him and was absolutely not leaving without Kimihiro sacrificing properly powerful bait. He could offer it the pipe or the vessel and he would prefer neither get sullied by it. Could he have Doumeki exorcise it, or would one of his spirit arrows hurt Kimihiro as well? Probably so, at least while this thing was attached to him.

"And hiding it in you is better?"

"Not necessarily."

"You can't put it back?"

"I could certainly try." He could feel the curse gaining strength from the power in him and he had to think quick, but… "I'd rather not. It was a beautiful gift from a spirit, thoughtlessly stained. It feels important."

"Then put it somewhere else."

Always so obvious with this guy. Really, how much better than Kimihiro did he think he was? He was always lording himself over Kimihiro with his idiot's attempt at logic. If this moron could-

That was the curse talking. He really needed this out of him.

"The closest object it wants is the pipe-"

"Then give it the pipe."

"No!" The tension from his protest echoed in his head, already aching enough as it was. "No, it- I'll find another way."

"Why."

Kimihiro closed his eyes and took a breath, attempting to isolate the curse in him, or at least drag it away from his power.

"That object is far too important to let a curse take over."

"It's just a pipe."

"It's not just a pipe. It was her's." Kimihiro wasn't sure how to get the point through Doumeki's thick skull: nothing in this Shop was available to this cure. "There are too many important objects inside the Shop," he realized. "Powerful ones too. I'd rather keep the curse outside."

It took a lot of effort to stand (both on his part and Doumeki's) and even more effort to keep his wits as the curse ate at his own emotions.

They got as far as the porch when Kimihiro all but collapsed, curled into himself. Doumeki was holding him up, however, and he just barely missed falling into a couple old sake bottles left from a few nights ago.

He should have cleaned those up days ago, what the hell was his problem? This whole Shop was a mess. That's what happened whe-

No.

Kimihiro wasn't much succeeding at isolating the little curse, and it began taking form. "Doumeki, you didn't happen to bring your bow, did you?"

"No. I didn't think I would need it."

Dammit, Kimihiro should have seen this coming. Should have told Doumeki to bring his bow, that's what Yuuko would have done, she al-

No.

Kimihiro let out a shaky breath and attempted to unknot the curse inside him, but found it knew just how to tangle itself so Kimihiro couldn't get to it. Seemed it was getting smarter.

"Doumeki, go inside."

"No."

Seriously? No? Who was Doumeki to think he had any place to stay out here whe-

Stop.

"Fine, but at least step back."

Doumeki nodded and took a step back. Kimihiro barely kept standing as his support left him, but he managed. It was only a moment more before the curse jumped back out of him, this time as a fully-formed spirit after feeding off Kimihiro's power.

Before he could stagger forward, fall backward, pass out, whatever the hell else would prevent him from actually doing anything, he reached out and pulled the spirit back at him, but this time directed it into one of the empty sake bottles he had left there.

Perhaps there was a reason he'd forgotten to take them in, other than idiocy, because it worked. The spirit was trapped in the bottle and not in Kimihiro or the pipe or the vessel it had worked.

Between the magic he had done that afternoon and the amount of power the spirit ate at, he was all but drained and he very well nearly passed out yet again.

But he was sick of it. Sick of passing out.

So he pushed himself, falling to his knees but refusing to fall any further because this… this was good. He could feel the weight of the curse lifted off him and it hit him just how good he felt. The spirit in him, it brought him back to the start, to that void of misery, but now that it was out he felt light. He felt capable.

He smiled and turned to Doumeki, almost expecting a smile on his face as well, before remembering it was Doumeki not Haruka, he would never get a real smile from Doumeki. No, from Doumeki he got blank stares and vague frowns. Right now, it was the latter.

"I'll seal it, but I'll need you to exorcise it," Kimihiro told him, standing back up on shaky legs. "A seal will keep it overnight at most."

"What was that?" Doumeki asked—demanded almost.

"The curse took in enough power to become a spirit," Kimihiro explained.

"Your power?"

"Yes."

Doumeki said nothing, but his frown deepened.

"I'm perfectly fine," he told Doumeki who seemed oddly concerned, maybe? "It was better that-"

"No."

Kimihiro was taken aback at the forceful interruption and could only stare for a moment, hoping maybe Doumeki had some clarifying words.

Which he didn't.

"Why not?" Kimihiro asked.

"There are more important things in this Shop than you think," Doumeki said, then turned to leave. "I'll be back."

With that, Doumeki left Kimihiro standing there on the porch, confused.

The girls were at his side quick though, hugging him on either side, and Mokona bounded over and into his arms.

"Watanuki, are you okay?" it asked.

"Yeah, of course," Kimihiro assured the three of them. "I'm… I'm fine."

"You almost weren't."

Kimihiro cringed and looked over at the now-possessed sake bottle, then led the way inside to retrieve a proper seal for it while they waited for Doumeki to return.

"I didn't want it to get in anything else," he explained to Mokona. "There are too many precious items here."

"Items aren't the only precious things, Watanuki."

Kimihiro frowned. "That's what Doumeki said, I don't know what you're getting at."

"You are important too."

Kimihiro froze in his tracks.

"If Watanuki is the only thing in danger, that's still danger, and there are lots of people who care about Watanuki."

How could he be so stupid, he'd learned this. Not to just put himself in harm's way. To treat himself as important too. Dammit dammit was he just going to relearn every damn lesson or would he ever get his own head out of h-

No.

No more of that.

He was sick of constantly berating himself. He wasn't stupid, he was learning. He wasn't an idiot, he was young. The learning curve of a wishing shop was steep, and it was unclear whether he would ever truly master any of it, but would try.

Yes, Kimihiro had a long way to go, but if he wanted to progress he had to allow himself to do so.

"I'll do better," he told Mokona and the girls with a smile. "I promise."

A/N:

Kudos to arisprite for getting me past a Doumeki block in the middle there.

And kudos to those of you still reading, even after all this time! I have three more chapters planned and then that'll be it. They aren't written yet so I can't promise a timeline (especially with final exams coming up), but they are all outlined.

Feel free to drop a line and let me know what you think!