Natsuki hates mornings. Mornings mean having to face all the problems of the day. Day meant school. Day meant bullying. Day meant Dad. She relished the brief sanctuary she had in her room during he night hours. She was able to read her manga, one of the few things that she was able to appreciate. She didn't just appreciate manga, it was all forms of art and literature. Natsuki always wanted to be living in a fictional, carefree world. No worries about her father or the pang of loneliness during break and lunch periods, seeing all the other students separate into their own cliques, leaving her to watch from an isolated wall with envy as the other students ate their lunches.

Never being able to have a lunch always bother Natsuki. It was not so much the food she could never get enough of, despite being obviously malnourished. It was always being unable to eat with anyone. When sitting with a group, it felt ostracizing to be unable to dine with them, and as such, she alienated herself.

She held mixed feelings for her classes. She never had anyone to talk to, and during physical education, she found herself envying the much more developed of her classmates and even underclassmen. She was spared no scrutiny by the popular girls and almost anyone. Being malnourished prevented her from having even adequate marks, which angered her father and made home even worse.

Whenever the last bell would ring, Natsuki felt nothing but dread. Having no friends to hang out with, she would walk home as slowly as possible, anything to delay seeing her father early.

Every time she crossed the threshold of her home she tried to make herself hidden. If she was lucky, he would already be sitting in front of the television with a whiskey bottle in hand. On other days, or if he came home late, she was always the target of the anger, set off by inconveniences as small as a drawer being unable to open with a spatula acting as a barricade. He'd pick up the nearest thing and throw it at her (or swing, if she made the mistake of being close enough). Natsuki knew not to dodge them. Dodging would only make him angrier and even more violent. She was able to cover her facial scars and bruises with makeup, one of her only luxuries.

She didn't want the makeup, ever. The house she lived in was falling into dilapidation, and there was never consistent food on the table. With her father working a low paying, dead end warehouse job, spending most of his money on drugs, alcohol, and whatever pleased his desires. The reason makeup was always on her nightstand was that no one could raise suspicion to Natsuki's home life. Natsuki did want to go to the police, but doing so would leave her homeless without a family. And if they didn't incriminate her father, he would make sure she felt his wrath everywhere.

The night always brought her relief. Her bastard father would slip into an alcohol-induced stupor and she could finally feel relaxed. With the little money she did manage to turn up, she would buy herself manga and read and reread it to her hearts content. She couldn't afford physical manga consistently however, and to get her fix of image-based storytelling she would read on her phone. Her phone was her best kept secret. It was a small flip phone, with prepaid minutes. Buying the phone was no easy feat. She was able to steal about half of the money she needed from her father, but any more would raise his suspicion. The rest was money that she casually lifted off of her classmates. During fights or passing periods, all it would take is some light fingerwork and she would have her small reward. Saving up for a phone was its own challenge, as her rumbling stomach often called her attention to cheap food. Once she was able to buy her phone though, she was blown away with the possibility and freedom it offered. Keeping it secret from her father was another priority, so it never left her person. Should it be discovered, she should at least expect belt lashes across the face, not nearly as painful as losing her phone.

But Natsuki decided that today was going to be a different day, because today, she was going to try and join a club.