Event #3: Shooting Star Wishes

[beautifuldreamermods]

YUMEMIGAOKA

As it is every year, Yumemigaoka's annual Tanabata festival is held at the street just outside of the Hikawa Shrine. The street and the shrine itself have been closed off during the day beforehand, save for the volunteers running back and forth in the miserable weather to set things up and decorate every inch of the festival space. And all their efforts do pay off - by the time the festival starts at seven in the evening, the street has been transformed into a lovely spectacle; hanging lanterns twinkle with raindrops and cast a warm glow over the street, paper stars are fluttering gently down from strings strung between lampposts and stalls line the full length of the street with food offerings, festival games and just about everything in between. Unfortunately, the month's poor weather hasn't let up yet so the festivities are a little dampened by persistent drizzle, though it seems like everyone's absolutely determined not to let that ruin the festival atmosphere!

For folks looking for games, they can enjoy:


⧖ The most popular stalls, the shooting games! Using a gun loaded with paper bullets (so, you know, mostly harmless) the aim of the game is to get a clean hit on one of the prizes along the back of the booth and knock it down! The prizes are mostly candy, snacks or kids' toys but they're deceptively hard to get a good shot at...
⧖ Goldfish scooping, a summertime classic! Using a scooper with a thin sheet of paper for the net, try your best to catch as many goldfish swimming around the water below. Do well enough and you'll win a prize and you might even be able to take your goldfish home - make sure to take good care of it!
⧖ Senbonbiki is basically pure luck - bundles of prizes, usually candies and small toys, are strung up along the top of the stall and you just have to give the corresponding other end of the string a tug. Whichever bundle of snacks comes down is yours! Of course, if you're particularly unlucky then you might get a dud or penalty prize... but surely nobody's luck is THAT bad, right?
⧖ Ring toss! Throw rings onto targets marked "1" through "10", each worth different amounts depending on where they land. Beat the high score and you'll win a prize! Though do you really want to walk around the whole festival with a giant plushie under your arm all night...?

There's also a ton of options for Japanese street food; some traditional, others more modern takes. There's fried stuff, grilled skewers, rice balls, all manner of delicious noodle dishes and mountains of sweets too; taiyaki, chocolate covered bananas, shaved ice, cotton candy, and just about everything and anything else you'd want to spend an evening stuffing your belly with. And naturally there are plenty of drinks available including freshly squeezed fruit juice and tea and some booze for those who feel like playing with fire.

Aside from the rest of the festivities, the main event is really the hanging of wishes - it is Tanabata, after all. A few tables at the top of bottom of the street have been set up to carefully shelter them from the rain and have a whole rainbow of tanzaku for people to write and hang their wishes on the bamboo trees both in the street and in the shrine down below. You can hang as many wishes as you like, if you're feeling particularly greedy, but...

The festival doesn't really reach its peak until darkness falls and, undeterred by the continued drizzle, the Hikawa Shrine lights up the sky with its famous annual fireworks show - it's always pretty spectacular but perhaps out of spite for the nasty weather, it looks even more fantastic than usual this year.

With the fireworks done, the festival begins wrapping up and it's time to head home. But as you settle into bed for the night and drift off, it becomes apparent that the night's festivities have only just begun...

THE DREAM SPHERE

It's happened almost every night for a week now - when you drift away to sleep, your regular dreams are slowly, gently interrupted by a strangely vivid image, an enormous bamboo tree with a wide canopy of leaves under a dazzling night sky. It's maybe not a surprise, given the upcoming festival, but as the nights go by it just gets more and more intense... until the night of the Tanabata festival itself and suddenly everything changes. As you settle down to sleep for the night, whether you went to the festival or not, the moment you close your eyes and drift off... you find yourself distinctly Somewhere Else.

The dream – and surely, it must be a dream – unfolds as an expansive open field, drenched in the silvery light of a magnificently star-spangled sky above and cut through with a river of flowing water that reflects the sky so clearly, it looks to be filled with stars of its own. A fine, steady rain falls and fills the field with a soft mist and the fragrance of the hundreds of tiny, bell-shaped flowers swaying lazily in the grass. And at the center of the field is a familiar sight – that bamboo tree from your dreams, somehow huger and with branches even more widely spread than before. This time they hang low enough for you to reach out and touch and you'll realize as you draw close that the tree is weighed down with tanzaku strips, all glowing softly as if illuminated from within by the wishes upon them.

It's then that you also realize that you're not alone here. And that you're here at all – in the Dream Sphere. Slipping over to the other side isn't uncommon for Dreamers, but... hold on a second! Aren't some of the people here just regular people too? Whatever this strange dream is doesn't seem to have discriminated between Dreamers and the regular folks – maybe it's thanks to the magic of those two starcrossed lovers but somehow, the lowercase-d dreamers of Yumemigaoka have also crossed into the Dream Sphere tonight! The effect will only last until morning, at which point the dream will unravel, so you might as well enjoy it while you're here. Many of the mundane dreamers will find they're able to move differently in the Dream Sphere, running faster and jumping impossibly high and long distances with nary a scratch to show for it; no magic of their own yet, but at least enough to have a little fun while they're here.

There's a little bit of natural magic at play here in the environment, too. If you approach the tree with a wish in mind, there's no need to write it down; it'll appear in pretty, sparkly ink on an appropriately colored tanzaku strip, already tied to the tree. Or if you go to peer at your reflection in the river, you might see it take on a shape that reflects the wish you're carrying in your heart.

... Except...

What sort of things are you really wishing for? The things you won't admit out loud to anyone, or even to yourself? The deepest wishes right in the darkest part of your heart that you want more than anything? Unfortunately for you, this tree seems to be of a mind to grant wishes and once it's gathered enough of everybody's tanzaku, there's a bright flash of light...

And suddenly everyone's secret wishes have been made manifest... though only in the Dream Sphere, of course. These can be anything from silly wishes to something more serious - the important part is that these secret dreams and wishes have been pulled out of your head and put on display for everyone here to see! How on earth are you going to deal with this gracefully?!

Regardless of what you choose to do, the apparitions only last for an hour or so before fading away and the sky lights up with a beautiful meteor shower that seems to go on forever. You're free to stay and watch the meteor shower and enjoy your last moments in the Dream Sphere for as long as you like but eventually, as you're watching the stars streak down from the sky, the dream around you begins to gradually fade away until you find yourself stirring in your own bed. Though it was an exceptionally busy dream, you find you're well rested and... okay, maybe a little embarrassed after all that.

Nobody will be able to return to that strange field or find the dream to stabilize it but... maybe that's fine. Aren't some things all the more special for only happening once a year?

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Hibiki Tachibana

[determinationtofist]

[1] Tanabata

Hnnnnn...

[ Festivals are always fun! Hibiki wishes that she had a certain someone here to spend it with her, but oh well... she can't have everything, after all! Best to just, not think about it too much.

Fortunately for Hibiki, not thinking about things is practically her specialty at this point! Whether that's a good thing or not is another thing entirely, but it's fine! Super fine.

What isn't fine is apparently Hibiki's total lack of accuracy when it comes to these festival games. ]

Aaaaahh!! I missed again...!!

[ There's a super cute, super big and round duck plushie that Hibiki wants... and unfortunately for her, getting it to fall over with just a toy gun. ]

[2] Why was it that, within this wide world

EHHHHH!?

[ Okay, maybe Hibiki—er, Dreamer Gungnir—is overreacting a bit... but still! She's never seen this many non-dreamers in one place in the dreamsphere before! Or at the very least, not nearly this solid! She can imagine how surprised and in-awe some of these people must be, but while it's all good and fun to leap around in the dreamsphere... ]

H-Hey! Don't run off too far!

[ ...it's also evidently resulted in some considerable recklessness, especially when non-dreamers are suddenly given the ability to leap impossible distances in a single bound and all. So therefore, it's up to the actual Dreamers to make sure nothing bad happens to everyone, right? Right. ]

[3] This is the place where fate guided me to?

[ Eventually, though, curiosity gets the better of Hibiki... and so off she goes to the big massive tree that everyone is crowding around... which is, of course, when everything suddenly goes white... ]

Hibiki...!

[ Hibiki's eyes go wide as suddenly, she finds herself... out on a field? It's a beautiful field, with the same shimmering energy as is typical in the dreamsphere, but at the same time... it feels more like the waking world than the dreamsphere. There are a bunch of white plastic chairs all lined up in front of a large arch of white flowers.

But none of that is important right now, because she knows that voice!! ]

M-Miku...! E-EHHH!??

[ She swivels around, hope overflowing from her voice... which quickly turns to complete and utter bafflement, paired with her face turning flush very quickly. Running up to Hibiki in uh... a very beautiful dress... is someone that you are most assuredly familiar with if you're familiar with Hibiki, even if you've never actually met her yet. Hibiki is always on about her, after all.

In any case, "Miku's" choice of outfit clicks together with the decorations of this place that suddenly manifested around Hibiki... and Hibiki understands what's going on. ]

M-M-M-MIKU!! W-What are you doing here!? I-I-I mean, w-what are you wearing!? H-Huh!?

[ Hibiki's face has never been this red before. "Miku" giggles, moving closer and interlocking her arm with Hibiki's. ]

Isn't it obvious, Hibiki? We're going to spend the rest of our lives together...

[ Hibiki.exe has stopped working. Would you like to send a report? If there were ever a time for Hibiki's poor brain to short-circuit, it'd be now... and clearly she is, seeing as how she's completely frozen up, no longer able to comprehend what's going on. Is it because of too much shock? Too much sheer bliss? Both!? Probably both. What a truly incredible wish you've got in the deepest depths of your heart, Hibiki. At least the real Miku isn't actually here? Even for them, this is way too fast, after all! ]

3

[flatcola]

[ Oh, isn't that cute. These sweet little teenagers - at least the one who's here knows she wants to spend her life with her girlfriend. Or is deeply certain of it. Hopefully this Hibiki is right about this Miku.

...something twists a little in Dreamer Mind's tummy. There had never been a point where she and Satsuki seriously considered marriage but maybe by now, or maybe five years from now that could have changed. ]

Make sure you invite lots of other Dreamers.

[ Or don't. Just wait until you're old enough and have enough money to offer the guests lots of food and alcohol before inviting Kozakura. ]

[determinationtofist]

[ There are still!! So many steps that they need to take!! Before marriage!! Hibiki is at least 60% sure about that!! Though that still doesn't stop the sheer amount of glee and giddiness bubbling up within Hibiki as "Miku" affectionately clings to Hibiki's arm. Are there hearts floating up around her? Well, this is still the dreamsphere, so... ]

E-EHH!? I-I mean, of course! W-Wait! I mean...!!

[ Oh god, what does she mean? It's hard to think coherently right now! ]

[flatcola]

[ Well, that gets Mind to smile for a moment, and let out an honest laugh. This is pretty cute. ]

Is she as lovey-dovey as that for real?

[determinationtofist]

K-Kind of, but—

[ Hibiki tries to form a response, but "Miku" proceeds to cut her off. ]

Of course! We sleep together, bathe together, eat together... I love Hibiki THIS much! Hup!!

W-Whoa...!

[ Putting aside the fact that "Miku" just dropped Dreamer Gungnir's real name (it's not like Hibiki cares much about hiding it anyway), "Miku" has promptly thrown her arms around Hibiki's neck and hoisted herself up, prompting Hibiki's arms to instinctively swoop underneath her, catching her in a bridal carry. ]

U-Uhh... a-ahaha... s-she's definitely never been this forward...!

[ She can imagine Miku melting with embarrassment if she were to see this... though "Miku" seems perfectly content—blissful even—to lovingly cuddle up to Hibiki in her arms. ]

[flatcola]

[ Kozakura works in the DU offices, she can give out cards with her name on them and not bat an eye. ]

...cute.

[ It's really funny how much more forward Hibiki apparently wants Miku to be. ]

I guess this is your dream come true, so it doesn't hurt to enjoy it if nothing nasty shows up here.

1

[wracktor]

...That's quite the performance. I'm impressed.

I've never seen someone miss that much.

[ he says it so casually to a total stranger... ]

[determinationtofist]

E-EHH!?

[ First off, who is this incredibly rude stranger?? Though against all odds... ]

Really? You think so!? Maybe there's something wrong with it...?

[ She glances down the barrel of the paper gun, seemingly not processing the idea of being offended by this rude random stranger.]

1

[darcangel]

....might there be a prize you want?

[ Hey it's the landlady's daughter. She's probably been over with gohan and gohan dinner at least once, and knocked on the door just to say hi a few times, too. ]

[determinationtofist]

Ah, Jeannette-chan!

[ Honestly at this point, going by that logic, Jeannette is 100% Hibiki's friend by now. She brought her gohan and gohan food! Without Miku around, Hibiki has to desperately flail around to take care of herself, so anybody who brings her food is immediately a savior for her as well. ]

Yeah... you see that big ducky...?

[ The big, round, fat chonker of a bird plushie? ]

[darcangel]

[ Jeannette DOES see the big ducky! He is hard to miss. Why, that fine fowl is practically spherical. This is a noble cause indeed. ]

I have some experience with artillery. [ JEANNETTE?! ] If this is not the sort of thing you wish to achieve unaided, please, let me tutor you.

[ Let her put her long, long hours of adoringly watching Angel-sama shoot things to use! She does not know quite WHY she made such a rapt study of it, so employing it to help others would be wonderful.... ]

[determinationtofist]

Eh? You do!?

[ How the heck?? Does Jeannette have experience with artillery?? Even Hibiki has to be surprised after hearing tha— ]

That's amazing! I leave myself in your hands, Jeannette-chan!

[ ...

...yeah, okay. ]

[darcangel]

I will pay for the next few rounds, for if you miss the mark it shall be my fault.

[ And she does put down some money. ]

Please show me how you are firing now.

[ Can't give the right orders if she doesn't know what the right orders are! This, too, is training to be a fine leader of the Dreamer army. ]

2

[illrested]

Y-Yeah, what Gungnir said!

[ Peach gulps and cclasps their hands together in front of their chest, watching the lucid dreamers with more than a little trepidation. ]

The first time I was messing around in the Dream Sphere I almost landed on Chaosbringer because I wasn't really in control of my jumps yet...

[ Admitted sheepishly. ]

I hope no one gets hurt.

[determinationtofist]

[ Gungnir manages to redirect the leaping civilian back towards the general area around the Tanabata tree, leaping back down to return to Peach. As a novice dreamer, Peach is someone who Gungnir is determined to take care of! It's only right, after all! At least in Gungnir's humble opinion.

That said... she'd be a very bad liar if she tried to say that Dreamer Peach's identity in the waking world wasn't a massive surprise. Honestly, Dreamer forms starkly contrasting to a person's real world appearance is pretty common, but she'd never seen something like this before. ]

Hup...! So long as they all stay around here it should be fine! Seems pretty safe here, after all. Making sure they don't go somewhere dangerous is our job then, right?

[ Of course, she can't help but notice Peach's trepidation... and while she can't exactly blame them, she can't ignore it either, right? ]

Are you okay, Peach-chan?

[ Still, even if Gungnir tends to be a bit... er, simple, she at least has enough tact to not address it directly. ]

[illrested]

[ Peach is looking towards the corralled lucid dreamers still, brows furrowed in thought. The worry that someone might get hurt is still nagging at them when Gungnir speaks up and they seem to startle a little. Peach-chan, Gungnir says and it cuts right through their mild haze of concern. It's like an electric jolt that shoots up their spine.

Ah. ]

Peach-chan?

[ They blush a little. Shouldn't it be Peach-kun? They can't bring themself to protest, though. One hand is raised and waved as if to chase away the words. ]

I-I'm fine! Sorry! Yes, it's absolutely our job, you're right! I don't want any of them to get hurt. Heh.

[ Normal. They're normal. ]

[determinationtofist]

Hm?

[ Alas, despite Hibiki's best intentions, the implications involving her use of honorifics flies over her head. She tries her best, but ultimately, while she's fairly dilligent in her use of honorifics (except with Miku), she practically always just blurts out whichever honorific "feels suitable" without thinking or realizing it. ]

Oh, sorry! Other Dreamers don't really use "-chan" and stuff with their Dreamer name, huh? Still, it's just a habit of mine! I hope you don't mind!

[ Alas, Hibiki's brain is not good about consistently being spot-on at times. ]

Still, come on! Following me around is a good way of learning things, sure, but actually leaping up to help someone is something good to practice too! The more you practice at jumping the right distance, the better!

[ It's a subtle nudge for Peach to loosen up a little, since that could also help with them getting a little more comfortable with their Dreamer body. Hibiki doesn't consider herself qualified enough to guess at the implications of their Dreamer form, especially since her own is ultimately similar to her actual appearance, but still. Getting comfortable with it would be for the best, right? ]

3

[reluctants]

[ .. oh.

Oh.

Illya isn't entirely sure what she just accidentally walked in on at first.. and even though it suddenly becomes rapidly clear, considering the clothes the girl that isn't Hibiki is wearing, and the things she's saying, it suddenly instead feels very inappropriate to be here. Like Illya walked in on something very private by accident.

Sorry if a sudden gasp from someone who definitely isn't Miku may distract you, Hibiki. Illya is standing there - the pink outfit she's wearing definitely marking her as a Dreamer, but she isn't thinking about that at all right now. She's way too startled by what she suddenly witnessed. ]

H-- Hibiki onee-san!

[ Look, Hibiki did call herself that last time, it only feels appropriate to refer to the other the way she might want to be refered to.. ]

You're getting married?

[ Maybe someone here is taking all this a little too literally. ]

[determinationtofist]

I-Illya-chan!?

[ Well, it might be better to refer to her as Gungnir onee-san while in the dreamsphere, but Hibiki is the last person to mind when it comes to that kind of thing. ]

N-No!? I-I mean, I guess? M-Maybe!? W-Wait, huh!?

[ Too many things are happening right now! Hibiki cannot compute! Meanwhile, "Miku" pouts at her spouse Hibiki. ]

Hibiki! Are you saying you don't want to marry me...?

[ Oh god... ][ She is not helping to clear things up at all. ]

[reluctants]

[ Sorry, Hibiki. Maybe Illya will learn to stick to Dreamer names with a little more experience, but right now she's way too new to really think about that..

.. especially in the face of this. A 'this' that seems to continue on despite Hibiki's own surprise and fluster, and despite Illya staring at all of this like she just has no clue what's going on. Surely Hibiki wouldn't be this surprised if she was actually getting married, right? That's not how it works, is it? ]

W-Well, if you're getting married, then.. I'm happy for you..!

[ Even if it's a little odd.

And isn't Hibiki still a little too young for this too, even if she's older than Illya herself?

Maybe it's why the girl mostly still sounds confused, rather than just glad. ]

I didn't know people got married in the Dream Sphere..

[determinationtofist]

E-EHHHH!? I-Illya-chan, I'm super happy you've said that, but you've got the wrong idea!

[ "Miku" continues to pout up at her. ]

So you really don't want to...?

[ AGH... SHE CAN'T SAY NO TO THE FACE OF HER SUNSHINE!! SHE LOVES HER TOO MUCH!! ]

O-Of course I do! I-I mean, would! B-But this is way too fast and you're giving Illya-chan the wrong idea and...!! A-Aaaah...

[ It'd be great if Hibiki actually knew what was going on in the first place, that this is the dreamsphere "granting" wishes... ]

3

[howlmyrage]

[ Dreamer Draco appears somewhere high up, simply because it is the coolest place a person can make an entrance, and she has a fairly unimpressed expression on her face. This whole wish granting thing simply isn't her scene. It's too twee. Too sweet.

A bit too much like prayer.

On the other hand, sometimes it is very funny, like when she happens upon this other Dreamer being accosted by what appears to be another woman. ]

I see what's going on here. You're clearly way too horny. Please keep it in your pants.

[determinationtofist]

H-HUH!?? H-HORNY!??

[ Hibiki's cheeks were already red, except now her entire face may as well be. Even her ears are turning red. Contrary to this, Miku—who has leapt into Hibiki's arms for a bridal carry—giggles and looks away with her hands cupping her red cheeks. ]

Kyah, Hibiki! You have to behave yourself! At least until our honeymoon~

[ Hibiki can't even process that "Miku" handled that statement with way too much stride. She's too busy going through a fatal error while still standing up. She has entirely frozen on the spot. Congratulations, Draco, you've killed Gungnir. She's dead. ]

[howlmyrage]

Like, I know Tanabata is the festival for estranged lovers. Orihime and Hikoboshi only being allowed to meet once a year and all that, but that doesn't mean you should be getting all handsy in public!

[ She drops down to the ground level, arms crossed dramatically over her chest and shaking her head in mock disappointment. ]

Think about what the rest of us have to deal with while you're pawing each other up like this.

[determinationtofist]

H-Huh!? B-But...!!

[ Gungnir can only stammer, completely lost as to what to say in response to that. It would occur to her to argue of carrying someone counts as getting handsy, but... ]

Aw, but it's been so long since we've seen each other! Isn't it alright to get a little handsy~?

[ "Miku" says, wrapping her arms around Gungnir's neck and bringing herself close. ]