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On March 15th, my high school held its graduation ceremony. At my school, students don't wear uniforms, so the graduating students dressed as they wished in things like cocktail dresses, kimono and hakama, and suits.
（Amongst the graduating students was someone in a Gothic Lolita style dress, and another student even wore a gym uniform!)

I wore a hakama and a kimono with a red feather and arrow pattern.
Several months before the graduation ceremony, I spent hours choosing which to rent.

On the day of the ceremony, I...
Woke up at 4 a.m. to do my own makeup
(It was my first time, so it was an ordeal...)
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Headed to the beauty salon to have my hair done
(I had it curled like "Miss High-Collar," a Meiji-period manga heroine, who wore kimono and hakama to school as was common at the time.)
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Had my kimono and hakama put on
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Had the photographer take my picture
(It was difficult to pose the way he asked (・.・;))

I had tons of things to do in the morning alone.

The graduation ceremony was one where everyone accepts their diploma one by one, so I enjoyed taking my time looking over how my classmates were all dressed up. I considered things like:
"Oh, that girl is in the Fashion Design Club, so I bet she made her own dress."
"Now that I think of it, that girl was always wearing gym clothes in class and on her way to and from school and now here, too."
"Even though it's not her normal style, that girl looks good with her hair up too."
"There's another kimono with a lovely pattern!"

After the ceremony, the graduates gathered for a celebration in the cafeteria.
Eating snacks while playing Bingo, and taking photos of one another, it really felt like we were making our last memories together.

After that, I attended a farewell party held by my club's underclassmen and headed home, but there were some daring people who said they would be partying with their classmates late into the night!

Completely exhausted from wearing unfamiliar traditional Japanese clothing, I ended up sleeping for twelve whole hours! (haha)