Chapter 1
Hana Katsumi zigzagged passed people, her black hair flying behind her. She couldn't believe she had overslept! "You're so stupid!" she scolded herself. She ran across a bridge and saw her school not too far away. She rushed through the school and found her classroom. She smiled when she realized that she wasn't late. She went over to her seat, sat down, and started taking school books out.
"Hi Hana!" She looked up and saw her friend Daisuke Niwa. She smiled at him.
"Hi Daisuke, how are you doing today?"
"Fine, it's my birthday today." He said with a smile.
"Happy birthday!" said Hana happily. She always felt happy when Daisuke was with her. "You're going to be fourteen, right?"
"Yup!" he said proudly.
"Got any special plans?"
"No, I'm just going to hang out with my family."
"Daisuke!" Hana and Daisuke looked near the classroom door and saw Risa standing there. Risa ran up to Daisuke. "I was wondering, would it be okay if I copied your history notes?" Daisuke nodded.
"R-risa…" Suddenly, Daisuke was acting nervous. Hana noticed he was pulling something out of his bag. It looked like a letter. "I want to give you something… maybe we should talk outside of the classroom." Risa nodded and they left. Hana was curious what Daisuke meant to give Risa. She certainly hoped it wasn't a love letter or something… She had had a crush on Daisuke since she had started middle school. She had always hoped that Daisuke felt the same way. A few minutes later Daisuke came back in, however, he wasn't his cheerful self. In fact, he was the exact opposite. He looked depressed and when he reached his chair he slumped down in it. Hana wondered what was wrong. However, she stopped thinking about it when the teacher came in and started the lesson.
After school, Hana started for home. It would take her about a half an hour to get home. It would have been longer, but she always took the train. When she got on and sat down she saw Daisuke just one row ahead of her.
"I can't believe she rejected me…" Hana didn't think Daisuke was the time to speak to himself, but what really got her was the 'she rejected me' part. Maybe what Daisuke had been holding really had been a love letter!
When Hana reached home, which was a small apartment; she walked inside and sat down on the floor. The truth was Hana didn't have any parents. They had died in a shooting a year before. However, after the shooting Hana had found a wallet in her parent's room. Inside the wallet there had been enough money for her to live in a small apartment building. She had easily fooled the apartment manager into thinking she had parents, and now she lived there. The only things she had were a bed and a small tv. She had food, but what food she had she was forced to eat in small amounts, for the money she had found in the wallet was running out. Hana sighed as she pulled out half a sandwich. This was the life she felt she was doomed to live forever.
