It's almost time, she thought as she left the photography club's clubroom whereupon she ran into Hasekura Rei-sama and Yamaguchi Mami-san in the clubhouse hallway.

"Hey."

Tsutako first called out to Mami-san in a low voice, but then she saw Rei-sama, bowed her head and said 'Gokigenyou.' The difference in greeting was due to the fact that Mami-san was her friend and classmate, whereas Rei-sama was in the year above her.

"What an unusual combination."

As was her habit, Tsutako instinctively reached for her camera upon finding a good subject. Just what was it that brought these two together anyway?

Mami-san was a member of the newspaper club, who used the room next door as their clubroom, so she was a common sight in the clubhouse while Rei-sama, as a member of the Kendo club, was quite obviously outside her territory.

"Hehehe."

The two of them responded by giving the peace sign, so Tsutako didn't refrain from clicking the shutter.

"Are you doing something after this?"

Tsutako changed the angle and took another shot.

"We are."

Rei-sama and Mami-san looked at each and smiled mischievously.

"Ahh, but you have to keep this a secret from Minako-san."

Rei-sama placed her index finger over her lips.

What 'this' was, was Rei-sama going into the newspaper club's clubroom. Minako-sama was Mami-san's onee-sama.

In summary, it looked like Rei-sama and Mami-san were joining together to play a prank on Minako-sama. No, it probably wasn't limited to just those two people. Rei-sama's petit soeur, Yoshino-san, and others were probably involved too.

"Yeah, I get it."

Once Rei-sama was inside, Mami-san stood out in the hallway giving her orders.

"I know it's a bit dark, but don't turn on the lights, because you can see inside through that window."

"Okay."

It looked like Mami-san's role was to setup a situation wherein Rei-sama is hidden inside the supposedly empty clubroom.

Now that Tsutako had seen this much, she was interested in seeing how it played out. Part of her wanted to go back into her clubroom, press her ear against the wall and strain to hear what was said next door but, unfortunately, she had arranged to do something now. The hairs on the back of her neck were tingling, but there was nothing she could do about it.

"If it goes well, I want to hear about it later."

Tsutako whispered to Mami-san, then left the club house.

"Well, I wonder what's coming next."

Tsutako headed off to take the 'Graduation Group Photograph' for her seniors in the photography club.

The traditional group shot of graduating students from the photography club.

To be nominated to take that photograph meant that your talent had been recognized by the third years, so was a singular honor to students in the photography club.

- Or, at least, that was the outward appearance. In reality, it was an ordeal where you had to listen to the graduating senior's final selfish demands.

Those were the rules.

The person taking the photograph had to take it in accordance with the orders given by those having their photo taken. No matter how unreasonable the demand, it was always justified by saying 'You should be able to do that, right?' It was meant as a backhanded compliment. But despite being such a bloodthirsty affair, every year without fail they produced a good photograph, that was highly valued by the newspaper club.

But that just increased the pressure.

(Especially because the seniors don't really like me.)

So part of her wished they had chosen some other club member to be their photographer. No matter how skilled they were, you wouldn't want someone you didn't like taking your photo, right?

But, she was the one who had been selected. So she couldn't run away and had to face the music.

(Anyway.)

What would they ask her to do? Tsutako had no idea, so she wasn't able to come up with any counter-measures.

Incidentally, the requirement last year was that the photograph had to be taken at an instant when they were all genuinely laughing. The photographer started telling a number of jokes and got a few laughs here and there, but not one hundred percent. This kept going for 30 to 45 minutes. But still the seniors wouldn't laugh. Eventually the poor girl broke down in tears. At that point, all the seniors simultaneously started laughing. - Or so she'd heard.

A rumor. It was just a rumor. The people having their photo taken had all graduated, and the one who took the photo didn't want to talk about it.

The only thing she was sure of was that the person who took the photograph last year was on the other side of the lens this year. It seemed unlikely they would use the same gimmick as last year, but maybe she should take some eye-drops just in case.

The courtyard was the agreed upon location.

Other club members weren't permitted to be present. So she had kept the time and location secret from everyone else, especially Shouko-chan, who the seniors had dubbed 'Takeshima Tsutako's henchman.' If she had been told about it, she definitely would have shown up.

The third years had already arrived.

Seven people in total.

Oooh, there was someone she hadn't seen for about six months.

"Right on time."

One of them remarked, grinning, upon recognizing Tsutako's figure.

"Hah. Arriving late would have been out of the question, but if you wanted me to come earlier you should have said so."

"So it would seem."

Tsutako wasn't interested in being rebuked about things unrelated to the photograph. So she had been constantly looking at her watch on the way over. She had been adjusting the pace at which she walked so that she would arrive at exactly the arranged upon time of two o'clock. That was how it was. Cleared up with a single phrase, 'So it would seem.'

But at least they weren't accusing her of having forgotten the time. If she had deviated even a tiny bit, they probably would have said things like 'Why didn't you come at the time we arranged?' What a pain.

"Okay, let's stop messing around."

That phrase must have been a signal, because all the third years quickly moved into position for their group photo. The three in the front row were crouching down, while the four in the back row were standing in the gaps between them.

It looked like they had rehearsed this. This is going to be tough, Tsutako thought.

"How do you want me to take the photograph?"

At any rate, Tsutako had no choice but to find out what they wanted done.

"It's simple."

The senior in the back row, on the far right from Tsutako's point of view answered.

"Stand over there and hold up your camera, then when we all say so click the shutter once."

She was the former head of the photography club.

"I stand here, hold up my camera and then when you all say so I click the shutter once."

Tsutako repeated what she had heard in order to confirm it.

"Right."

Right, she said.

Well, part of that was simple.

Of course Tsutako would have no problem with standing there with her camera ready, or clicking the shutter. The problem was with the 'when we all say' and 'once' parts of it.

Because they had intentionally added the 'once' in there, it meant she would be limited to only taking one picture. So in that case, she couldn't make a mistake. She had already taken a pile of photos where she only had one chance to make the shot. But how would she go when she had to take instructions on when to shoot.

Physically, it was so simple even an elementary school student could do it. But would she have the self-confidence to take a decent shot when ordered to.

"Once, right?"

She asked again, just to make sure, to which all seven of them loudly agreed.

"Right. We're busy, you know."

Liar.

The other day in the clubroom, weren't you saying that everyone had time to kill because they had already settled upon what they were going to do after graduation? And today, you probably got here half an hour before I did just to practice precisely what you were going to do.

But Tsutako swallowed all the words she wanted to let out. Nothing good would come of saying them.

"There's no way you'll fail. You're the photography club's ace."

The girl in the middle of the front row giggled. She certainly didn't feel like an ace.

"I'm looking forward to it. We're counting on you."

It would be better with a tripod and a timer or remote shutter control.

(Ahh, is that it?)

Was that it? Were they saying that this prestigious job was just something that could be done by a gadget?

"Why are you dawdling, Tsutako-chan. We're going to start the countdown whether you're ready or not."

Having been told this, Tsutako reluctantly brought the camera to her face. No matter how unappealing the circumstances, the photography club's group graduation photograph absolutely had to be taken. It was tradition.

After the seven of them had finished straightening their collars or skirt hems, they smiled for the camera lens. They didn't seem to be striking any particular pose, but they all had their hands held down. Well, it's better than flashing the peace sign.

"Well then, take it on the count of zero."

The countdown started five seconds out.

"Four Three..."

Well, here it comes. Tsutako took a deep breath.

- But.

On the count of two, all of the seniors made a slight movement.

"Huh."

Tsutako flinched, but until her mission of pressing the shutter on the count of zero was completed, she wasn't going to let go of her camera.

"One..."

Just then, the seven club members that were lined up to be in her picture each took out a camera and pointed them at her.

"Zero."

Tsutako pressed the shutter.

At that moment, the sound that echoed around her was:

Click, click, click, click, click, click, click, click. - Eight in total.

" You got me."

Lowering the camera, Tsutako got down on her knees.

"Please just tell me why it happened like this."

If they wanted a group photograph with them holding their cameras, it was an elaborate way to go about it. Keeping it a secret from the photographer by hiding the cameras behind their backs or in their pockets.

"If we told you about it beforehand, the photo wouldn't have the same sense of tension in it."

Breaking ranks, the former head of the club approached her.

"Well, that's true."

Clearly, if it was tension they wanted then Tsutako had plenty of that, so she didn't have a comeback.

"Do you think you took a good photo?"

" Yeah."

Even without getting it developed, Tsutako had a sense of whether or not a photo was a good one. This year's installment of the photography club's graduation photo was a good one. It could hold its own when compared to last year's.

"Then you'll display the line of eight of them at the school festival, right?"

"Eight?"

Tsutako shook her head. As per their orders, Tsutako had only pressed the shutter button a single time.

"- huh. Oh."

Indeed, the shutter had only been pressed once. But all up, there were eight cameras. And the sound of eight shutters clicking.

"You can't mean..."

Starting with the former head of the photography club, they all broke out into huge grins.

"Ehhh."

This was the worst. They knew Tsutako hated having her picture taken, but they were still planning on exposing her to public ridicule.

"If you could display a photo taken by Shouko-chan, there's no way you wouldn't show one taken by us, right?"

"Right -?"

The seniors laughed as they talked back and forth. In the end, they were all now part of the graduation group photograph commemorative association. As for their solitary second year partner, they had left her with something quite elaborate.

"A collaboration between the graduating students and Takeshima Tsutako. What do you think?"

The former head of the photography club slapped Tsutako on the shoulder as she was hanging her head in shame.

"What do I think, you ask?"

If she said she hated it, it was obvious it would make her seniors even happier. On the other hand, she didn't feel like lying and saying something like 'I'm so happy.'

At any rate, there was only one way she could sum up her current feelings:

"I'm speechless."

- That's all.