"Alright, everyone! I just got some news from the Student Council, so listen up, okay?"

I tried my hardest to sound authoritative. I'm not sure if it worked, but everyone in the club room did turn to face me. I cleared my throat and checked the notes the Student Council Secretary had given me.

"The Drama Club is being asked to perform a play for the Tanabata festival this year! We've got a budget for the set and costumes and so on already, so let's start planning!"

I set down the notes on a table and some of the other club members took a look at it. Kokowa, a first year, looked up at me with a curious face. "Do we get to pick what play we perform?"

I nodded at her. "We've been encouraged to select a play based on the theme of 'star-crossed lovers,' but the final selection has been left up to the club."

Harada, a second year from class 2-9 and one of Mr. Yamazaki and Ms. Yui's students, beamed at me. "Maybe we could do Romeo and Juliet!"

Kokowa glared at him. "Do we have to put on a play about some kids that commit suicide just because you're in love with your English teachers?"

Seeing a potential conflict, Shig stepped forward and raised a hand to calm them down. "Don't fight. We'll write it down as a possibility and put it to a vote once we have all the suggestions."

Kokowa and Harada nodded and calmed down. Shig adjusted his glasses and nodded at me. "I'll start a list of the suggestions." He picked up a pen and some paper and started writing down the ideas everyone had.

Once everyone had submitted their ideas for what to perform for the festival, Shig handed me the list. I crossed out a few absurd suggestions that I hoped were jokes and wrote each of the remaining ideas on the board at the front of the room. With that finished, I turned to face the club.

"These are the plays everyone suggested… minus a few stange ones. Let's go down the list and see where everyone stands."

A hand shot up. I noticed it was Harada. I nodded for him to speak, wondering what was wrong.

"What is that last one? 'Tanabata Wish?'"

I looked at the list of suggestions again. Most of the ones I didn't reject outright I had heard of or seen before, but I realized I didn't know what "Tanabata Wish" was.

"Who suggested it? Would you like to fill us in on what the play is about?"

There was a silence throughout the room for about a minute. Then Shinohara nudged someone forward a bit. I recognized her as the second-year Ishida. She didn't like to perform due to shyness, but she'd help with just about everything else in preparing for a production.

"I… I suggested it…"

I smiled at Ishida to try to put her at ease. "Could you tell us what it's about?"

Ishida could clearly feel the weight of all the eyes in the room focused on her. She seemed barely able to prevent herself from shivering. "I-it's about a boy and a girl who live in d-different countries, so they c-can only meet once a year…"

"I've never heard of it." Harada said without thinking. I held in a sigh.

"Th-that's because… I w-wrote it…"

Shinohara patted Ishida on the shoulder. "Be proud! You put all that hard work into it, so you might as well share it!"

I started to suspect that Shinohara put Ishida up to this, but I suppose if Ishida was alright with the possibility of her play being performed I'd let it slide. "Alright, so our choices are on the board. I'll go down the list in order, and everyone who wants to do a play should raise their hands when I get to it."

I went down the list as I had explained, starting with Romeo and Juliet. To no surprise, Harada voted for his suggestion. No one else did, though. Ouch.

In the end, each suggestion only got one or two votes except for "Tanabata Wish," which got almost half of the club's votes. I guess everyone was curious what Ishida came up with.

"And it looks like we're going to be performing 'Tanabata Wish!'" I circled its entry on the board. "Ishida, would you mind bringing me a copy of the script to our next meeting? I'd like to get an idea of what we need to do to prepare."

Ishida nodded nervously. "Y-yeah! I'll bring it tomorrow!"

I nodded at everyone else. "We don't have any other business today, and we can't move forward until I get the script, so you can go home early today. Have a good afternoon, everyone!"

Everyone started to pack up their things and head out. I stuck around with Shig to clean up the club room a bit and erase the board.

While I was putting away some notes I heard Shig sigh deeply and turned to see what was wrong. He held a second schoolbag in his hand, clearly one that had been left behind by someone in a hurry to leave.

"Whose is that?"

Shig turned to look at me and adjusted his glasses. "It appears to belong to Shinohara. I can't imagine who else would have a photo of Shinohara and Nakashima tucked into a side pocket."

"Maybe if you hurry you can get it to her before she leaves?"

Frowning, Shig sighed again. "Mayu, I'm a member of the Drama Club, not the Track Club. Shinohara could easily be halfway home before I get to the shoelockers."

"Are you saying that she's super fast or that you move as slow as a turtle?"

Shig made a face at that comment and I giggled. "Come on, Shig. A little exercise won't hurt you."

"Fine… I'll go return this to Shinohara." Shig looked like he was about to huff in exasperation as he marched out of the room. I could barely hold back another giggle.

I finished cleaning up the club room and locked it up behind me. I texted my mom about what happened today, telling her about the plans for the festival play. I reassured her that my apartment was in a safe neighborhood and that everything was going fine. With that taken care of, I headed home, pleased with how the day turned out.