It's the 7th of July, the day of the Tanabata festival in Japan. Haruhi decides the S.O.S. Brigade should celebrate by observing its rituals. She 'steals' a bamboo tree and brings tanzaku (rectangular pieces of colored paper) to the clubroom. A person writes their wishes down on tanzaku and hangs them on a bamboo tree. Two wishes, each one to be granted by the Gods, Orihime and Hikoboshi, represented by the stars Vega and Altair respectively. Haruhi points out though that the stars are a very long distance from Earth and it will take decades for any wishes they make to come true.