バースデイ・ガール

"Birthday Girl" (バースデイ・ガール, Bāsudei gāru = Birthday girl)
バースデイ・ガール
The short story by Haruki Murakami.
One may read the same here.

The conversation between two friends, describing - the wish, one asked for, on one's birthday.

“Happy birthday,”

“May you live a rich and fruitful life, and may there be nothing to cast dark shadows on it.”

“Which is why,”

“I feel it is important for me to give you a birthday present. A special birthday calls for a special commemorative gift.”

“No, miss, don’t you give it a second thought. The kind of ‘present’ I have in mind is not something tangible, not something with a price tag. To put it simply”

“what I would like to do for a lovely young fairy such as you is to grant a wish you might have, to make your wish come true. Anything. Anything at all that you wish for—assuming that you do have such a wish.”

“Something you would like to have happen, miss. If you have a wish—one wish, I’ll make it come true. That is the kind of birthday present I can give you. But you had better think about it very carefully, because I can give you only one.” 

“Just one. You can’t change your mind afterward and take it back.”

“Do you have a wish, miss—or not?”

“That is your wish?”

“A bit unusual for a girl your age,” he said. “I was expecting something different.”

“No no,”

“There’s nothing wrong with it, not at all. It’s just a little surprising, miss. Don’t you have something else? Like, say, you want to be prettier, or smarter, or rich? You’re okay with not wishing for something like that—something an ordinary girl would ask for?”

“I see,”

“I see.”

“Of course,”

“Of course. It’s no trouble at all for me.”

“That did it,”

“Your wish has been granted.”

“Yes, it was no trouble at all. Your wish has been granted, lovely miss. Happy birthday. You may go back to work now: Don’t worry, I’ll put the cart in the hall.”

“No matter what they wish for, no matter how far they go, people can never be anything but themselves. That’s all.”

“I can’t think of anything,”

“Not one thing.”

“That’s because you’ve already made your wish.”

PS.
This is what a Birthday Gift means to a Birthday Girl.

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