The festival was a flurry of action. There were not only students and faculty visiting today: the school had been opened to the families of the students as well. Noise echoed through the hallways of the school as people moved from room to room.

After wrapping up my shift with my class's festival attraction, I headed to the auditorium to do a few last minute checks on everything. I arrived to see that Ishida was already there, looking over a copy of the script.

"Ready to see your play on the stage, Ishida?"

Ishida looked up at me with a red face. "I-I'm a bit nervous. Do you th-think people will like it…?"

"I'm sure. Don't worry about it." I smiled, hoping that would be enough to reassure her. "How about we make sure everything's ready?"

"U-um…" Ishida stammered and pointed behind me.

I turned around to see a young man that I didn't recognize standing near the entrance of the auditorium, looking around. I walked over to him, wondering what caused him to wander in.

"Are you looking for something?" I asked, trying to sound polite.

The man nodded and smiled at me. "I am. Is the president of the Kisaragi Academy Senior High drama club around?"

"That would be me…" I examined the man more closely, but I didn't recognize him. He didn't look much older than I was, but the way he talked made him seem more mature.

"Ah, so you're Suzumoto!" The man extended his hand. "My name is Jun Arai. I graduated from Byakudan Senior High a few years ago, and a teacher I knew there said you're one to follow in the theatre scene."

I tried to remember which teacher I had during my short time at Byakudan that would have known that I was in the drama club and knew about my club activities. I hesitantly took Arai's hand.

"Is there something I can help you with, Mister Arai?"

"Just Arai is fine with me." After shaking my hand, Arai let go and smiled at me again. "I'm here to observe the production your club is putting on. I've been looking for a partner for an acting troupe that I've been wanting to put together ever since I started at the university."

I wasn't quite sure how to react to that, so I simply nodded. "Alright…"

Arai looked to my side and smiled. "And who is this?"

I turned to see that Ishida had joined us, though she looked hesitant.

"This is one of my clubmates, Kirie Ishida. She wrote the play that we'll be performing."

"Really?" Arai stroked his chin. "Interesting… This should be an exciting performance."

"W-we should get ready…" Ishida whispered to me.

"I'll not take anymore of your time. I'm looking forward to the production!" Arai nodded at each of us before turning to leave.

I wasn't sure what to make of Arai, but he certainly had an interest in the play. I smiled at Ishida and patted her shoulder. "Let's make sure everything's set to go. We don't want to disappoint our special guest."

—-

When the play was about to begin, I hurried to find my seat. After all of the practices and rehearsals, it was time to see how well everything I had worked on came together.

I somehow ended up sitting just in front of Mochida and Nakashima, and in the few minutes before the play was to begin they noticed me.

"Hey, Suzumoto!" Mochida leaned over the seat to talk to me. "Looking forward to seeing it all come together?"

I nodded at him, feeling a bit proud. "Yeah. Everyone's worked so hard so far, so I'm sure it'll all work out."

Nakashima leaned closer to me as well, holding up the play program. "I just read that Seiko is in one of the lead roles… is that right?"

"She is. She's been working really hard to get ready for it."

Nakashima nodded slowly. "So that's why she's been so busy lately. I hope she does well. You didn't let her slack off or anything, did you?"

I waved my hand in a calming gesture. "It's going to be fine. Shinohara is ready for this."

There wasn't time for any more banter after that. The lights dimmed, and the play begun.

—-

Everyone did an amazing job during the production, and despite some of my lingering concerns everything went perfectly. Or, if not perfectly, well enough that everyone still enjoyed the result. I occassionally worried that Shinohara might get stage fright at the last moment, but she carried on her part even when she made little mistakes that would usually demoralize a novice actor.

Of course, the real star of the show was Shig. Shinohara's mistakes were quickly hidden from the audience thanks to his improvisations, and he never flubbed a line or made a mistake. There were some others that did well, such as Kokowa and Harada, but Shig was above them all in acting ability.

After the final curtain, I hurried backstage to congratulate everyone. A number of my clubmates were in the midst of celebrating backstage, some to the point of hugging each other in joy and relief.

"How was it, Ishida?" I patted Ishida on the arm as she watched the celebrations from afar.

"I-it was perfect. I didn't expect it to g-go so well."

"See? I told you it'd do well."

I went around and started congradulating everyone else, eventually noticing that Shig and Shinohara weren't backstage.

I headed out into the auditorium to find them, and immediately spotted them. They were standing with Mochida, Nakashima, Shinozaki, and a few of our other friends and classmates. At something Nakashima said, Shinohara turned and kissed Shig on the cheek. He hesitantly put his arm around her and nodded to the others.

"So the making out won't stop even with the play over, huh?"

I spun around at the sudden voice and saw Harada staring in Shig and Shinohara's direction. I huffed and crossed my arms.

"That's not the way to talk about your seniors!"

Harada shrugged and turned away. "Just sayin'."

I sighed and was about to turn to go backstage when I saw the teacher Mister Yamazaki leading someone over to me.

"Suzumoto, I believe you met this man earlier…" Mister Yamazaki indicated Arai next to him, who was stroking his chin. "He'd like to speak to you and Ishida when you two have a chance."

I nodded and motioned for Arai to follow me. "Alright. Ishida should still be backstage."

Arai smiled. "Good. I really think you two have some talent. I'd like you two to contact me once you graduate so that we can discuss a potential future in theatre. But I'm getting ahead of myself; let's see what your playwright has to say."

He seemed a bit too ethusiastic over a single production, but I couldn't sense anything wrong with his passion. I nodded and led Arai backstage to talk to Ishida.

—-

Once Arai had left, I decided to go see some of the other attractions that the classes and clubs had set up for Tanabata. I eventually found myself walking toward a group that included Shig, Shinohara, and a lot of my friends.

Shinozaki turned to me and frowned. "Suzumoto, did you know about this?" She motioned with her head cryptically.

"Know about what?"

"Them." Shinozaki motioned her head again, and I noticed that she was indicating Shig and Shinohara, who were holding hands.

"Um, a little…" I shrugged.

"I never expected those two would ever go out with each other. It's almost as surprising as it would be for Kishinuma to confess to me!"

I really, really wanted to let Shinozaki in on the "secret" that apparently only she didn't know about Kishinuma, but I decided that now wasn't the time. Instead I shrugged again, probably looking really sheepish.

"Ah, Suzumoto!" Shinohara turned and saw me, and within seconds her arms were around me. "How did I do? Would I make it as an actress?"

After my surprise wore off, I measured my words carefully. "Well… maybe with a bit of practice and hard work you could make it…"

Shig nodded and adjusted his glasses. "You seem to have the potential, but you'll still need to work at it."

Shinohara let go of me and nodded at Shig, smiling. Nakashima patted Shinohara on the shoulder.

"I think you did a great job, Seiko. I'm glad this is working out for you."

We all talked for a bit about the performance. Somewhere in the discussion, Shinohara whispered to me that she had asked Shig if he liked her right after the play was over, and that he had agreed to keep going out with her.

While a part of me was sad that my special relationship with Shig was over, I couldn't help feeling happy for him and Shinohara. While he wasn't the type to smile openly, I could sense that Shig was just as happy as Shinohara was.

Our conversation was interrupted by a pair of junior high students running up to us. I recognized one of them as Mochida's little sister, and she tugged on her brother's sleeve once she reached us.

"Big brother, they set up some wish trees in the school courtyard! Let's go write our wishes!"

Mochida smiled at her and nodded. "Alright, Yuka." He looked at the rest of us. "Anyone else want to come with?"

Everyone agreed to come along, though we knew it was going to be crowded or there wouldn't be multiple wish trees set up.

I held onto my paper for a while, trying to think of the perfect wish. I looked around at everyone, wondering if I should make my wish for one of them.

I saw most, if not all, of my close friends around me. Harada and Mister Yamazaki were talking about something on a bench. Kokowa was chatting with her friends. Shinozaki was arguing with Kishinuma about something while he rubbed the back of his neck. Mochida, his sister, Nakashima, and the other junior high student were playing some sort of game together. I even saw Arai lurking around the courtyard, though he seemed awkward and out of place.

I couldn't find Shig or Shinohara until I turned to look at a corner of the courtyard that most people seemed to almost be avoiding. There was a lone bench in that corner under the shade of trees, and they were sitting close against one another.

"H-having a hard time thinking of a w-wish?"

I jumped a bit, having not seen Ishida walk up to me. "Oh! Um… yeah. Just need a minute or two to think."

Ishida nodded and smiled at me. "I'm s-sure it'll work out, whatever you w-wish for. You've already g-granted a lot of us our wishes."

That seemed like a bit of an exaggeration, but it sort of made sense when I thought about everything that had happened. "I guess so…"

I looked down at the blank slip of paper in my hands and nodded. I didn't need anything special for myself. I just want all of my friends to be happy.

I wrote down my wish and hung it on the tree. I hope that we continue to be as happy as we are now. That is my wish.