After class, Sota stayed in the classroom with a large sheet of paper on his desk.

The student council had asked him to prepare an English poster for the school exchange event. The deadline was tomorrow morning, but his draft still looked empty.

At the top, he had written, "Please come to the event."

It was correct, but it sounded too simple.

Sota sighed and picked up a pink marker. Then Haruka Mizuno came back into the classroom to get her notebook.

"Are you making the event poster?" she asked.

Sota quickly covered part of the paper with his hand. "Trying to. But my English sounds like a machine."

Haruka smiled and sat across from him. "May I take a look?"

He moved his hand away.

Haruka read the draft carefully. She did not laugh. Instead, she pointed to the first sentence.

"The information is clear," she said. "But we can make it warmer. How about, 'Join us for an afternoon of games, conversation, and new friendships'?"

Sota blinked. "That sounds much better."

"It also explains what students can expect," Haruka said. "People are more likely to join when they understand the purpose."

Sota wrote the sentence slowly. His handwriting became neater because Haruka was watching.

Next, they checked the date, the room number, and the time. Haruka suggested adding, "No reservation is required," because some students might worry about signing up in advance.

"That's useful," Sota said. "I would have forgotten that."

"You notice people who are nervous," Haruka said. "So your poster should speak to them too."

For a moment, Sota did not know what to say.

The evening light entered the classroom, turning the desks gold. Haruka drew a small star beside the title, and Sota added a simple map to the bottom of the poster.

When they finished, the poster looked friendly, not perfect.

Sota stepped back and read it again.

"I think people will understand it," he said.

Haruka capped the marker. "And maybe they will feel welcome."

Sota looked at her and smiled. "Thanks. You made the English sound human."

Haruka's cheeks turned a little pink. "You had the message already. I just helped it reach people."

The next morning, the poster was on the bulletin board.

Several students stopped to read it.

Sota saw one of them smile, and he knew the words had done their job.