The crowd swelled as everyone got up to head back toward the other festivities that were going on.

"Don't forget to write a tanzaku before you leave!" the narrator called out. "There are booths stationed all over the festival!"

Making a mental note to remember to stop by a tanzaku booth, Shouko followed Kahoko out toward the food booths. The crowd swelled a couple of times around her, causing her to momentarily lose sight of her friend, but Kahoko's flaming red hair was easy to spot, so she usually found her again within seconds. When they finally reached the edge of the crowd, Shouko sighed in relief. Then, remembering the instructions after the play, she turned to ask Kahoko if she wanted to look for one of the booths, and came face to face with a complete stranger with flaming red hair and a purple yukata.

Oh no! Who is this? Where are Kaho-senpai and the others? How am I going to find them?

She stood there, panicking as the noise of the festival grew louder and louder. The noise seemed to press in on her, whirling around and around, making her feel ill. Just as she was about to cry, she heard a familiar voice come from right behind her.

"Fuyuumi-san…where are…the others…?"

"Shimizu-kun!" she cried in relief. Despite herself she began to cry, she was so glad to not be alone anymore.

"Fuyuumi-san…why are you crying…?" Keiichi asked concerned.

She gasped for breath, trying to stop her uncontrollable torrent of tears, but she couldn't. So she just shook her head and cried. When she finally began to regain some control over herself, she felt something soft touch her cheek lightly. She looked up, startled and met his eyes. He solemnly offered her the handkerchief that he had just used.

"Th-Thank you Shimizu-kun," she whispered gratefully, dabbing her eyes and face with the cloth. When she was done, she offered it to him, but he didn't seem to notice her at first. She blushed and stood there awkwardly for a few seconds before piping up embarrassedly, "Uh, umm, Shi-Shimizu-kun…your handkerchief…"

"Oh…thank you…" he nodded and accepted his handkerchief before his eyes focused elsewhere.

There was another pregnant, uncomfortable pause before Shouko turned to look for the others.

I wonder where they could be…They couldn't have gone too far, right? They wouldn't leave us, would they? No! Kaho-senpai would never abandon us like that! There's got to be a way to find them.

"Fuyuumi-san…?"

"Hmm…?" she looked up from her thoughts and was struck by the strange, ethereal look he was giving her.

"Would you…like to light…some fireworks…?"

Ooh! I wonder what will happen now? One chapter left, and I promise that it's full of Fuyuumi x Shimizu. (^_^)

Oh, I should probably explain what tanzaku are since they'll figure prominently in the story later. Tanzaku are little slips of paper that people write wishes on and tie to bamboo branches for Tanabata. Originally, these slips were used to wish for the night to be clear. Legend had it that if it was cloudy on Tanabata, then the magpies wouldn't be able to help Orihime and Hikoboshi, so that they'd need to wait another year. But now, people just make wishes on them. A lot of times they're things like good grades or better handwriting. I personally think that might be because they're displayed for the whole world to see and it would be embarrassing to write something personal.

Please review!