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The Wishing Tree (1): A Destiny City Star Festival Tradition to be held every year; In Town Square, there is a beautiful tree with spreading branches. It is tall, but the lowest branches are easily reached. The city has decorated the tree with small, starlike ornaments and glistening lights. Thick leaves and beautiful purple flowers dangle from the branches, along with a myriad of different colored papers with handwritten wishes. Next to the tree is a stack of blank paper with twine attached, and a handwritten sign that explains:

Write your wish on a sheet of paper and tie it to the tree. Take one wish off the tree and do your best to grant it. When you have granted the wish, bury the paper in the park.

The papers are biodegradable and filled with seeds. There are no rules for wishing, but you are encouraged to wish for something vague enough that it can be interpreted in many ways so that it can be granted; you do not write your name on it, but it is encouraged to write something that doesn’t wish for self gain, but rather something that can make the world a better place. Some wishes dangling from the tree already include things like “I wish there wasn’t so much litter in the park,” “I wish someone would clean the graffiti off the old historic buildings,” and “I wish there were more volunteers at the shelter.”

If you choose to use the Wishing Tree, what do you wish for? If your wish is private, you may write it on the paper and choose a spot in the park and bury it yourself instead of hanging it on the tree.


Sachio had wandered through the festival, looking at all of the decorations and the people running through it happily, he couldn't help but smile a little. At least seeing other people happy was good enough for him. For him though, the festival didn't hold too many fond memories. And the unpleasant feeling only grew at the sight of the tree in the town square.

There was nothing wrong with the tree, and he thought it quite amazing that the city would create their own version of the Tanabata festival in his home country. That wasn't what made it a sad memory for him though, it was remembering his father and how he reacted to the entire scene.

Every year his family would be dragged by his father to attend the festival, and while it wouldn't be a bad thing if they could have done what they wanted, it was an excuse for him to berate them more. And of course they weren't allowed to do anything but what their father wanted and often that was done without meeting his standards, meaning more verbal abuse spewing out of his mouth.

He couldn't help but sigh as he looked at the tree, silently debating as to whether or not he should write another wish. The last time he had done so his father had snatched it from him and proclaimed it... well he didn't want to remember, but it hadn't been pleasant. When his sister and he could get away from their father, they found the festival to be quite fun. Even when they got older and finally had some money, it was much better to go to it themselves than with their parents.

This year his sister had her boyfriend to go to the festival with her and he was only available at certain times, which meant that they would be going separately. He missed it if he was honest with himself.

But, he was on his own now. He didn't have to listen to his father screaming about his wish. He could write what he wanted this time. He couldn't help but shake a bit as he took the paper and pen needed to write the wish and then hang it on the tree. It was a bit out of the way, he still hadn't been able to get over his "inadequacy" when it came to wishing, but he hoped that this one would be okay to grant if someone did happen to find it.

After he was done he made sure to take another wish from the tree, something that he was pretty sure he could do, it had only asked to do a charitable act, and walked away, hoping to check out the rest of the festival himself.

After buying a treat for himself and wandering around the festival a bit more, he knew that there was more that he was probably missing, but unless his studies allowed it, he only had tonight to try to experience it all. It... wouldn't be enough, but at least he free compared to when he had gone through before and that was enough. He didn't have anyone yelling at him to do this or that and while he couldn't stay for long this year, it just meant that he would have to try harder next year to find the time. And he would. Even if he had to fight the Negaverse, he would come next year and truly experience what it had to offer.