Chisana Chansu

Chapter 1

I'm what people describe as being 'mousey'.

I am incredibly short and skinny for my age. My dad used to say that when I was a baby, he could have fit me comfortably in a shoebox. Nobody really knows why I'm so small; my parents used to take me to a doctor on a regular basis, wondering if I was developing properly, but I'm a completely healthy kid – just a miniature-sized one.

I used to be ridiculously small until my final year of middle school, in which I went through something of a growth spurt. Rather than being four feet tall, I razed through the inches until I was a proud four-foot-eleven, a mere inch from being a whole five feet tall.

As I mentioned, I'm also incredibly skinny. I weighed myself as soon as my school nurse was sure my growth spurt was over, and I still weighed only forty-four kilograms. I suppose that most girls would feel elated to have such small numbers on their scales, but for me, it's just depressing. No matter how much junk food I eat, I can never put on weight. Not that I eat much junk-food, anyway. It tastes weird.

To add to my 'mousey' appearance, I have to wear glasses. I've tried contacts a few times, but all they do is itch and make my eyes water. The glasses make my eyes look ridiculously large, making them seem disproportionate to the rest of my face. They say this gives my nose a mouse-like appearance, a sentiment I don't take well.

My hair is dark and thick, which I love. I don't like to wear it long, however – I don't know if I'm unconsciously trying to make myself look like a nerd or not, but I always wear it at shoulder-length, and tied into two bundles on either side of my neck. My fringe is usually messy and covers my glasses.

Anyway, last year was my final year of being a middle school student. Now that I'm fifteen, it's on to high school! Allow me to say that I am not looking forward to it. You see, my family isn't exactly what you'd call rich. In fact, we're so poor that I had to save up for two years before I could buy a uniform for middle school. That's right, I saved up for it. My family… well, they're not exactly the type to help me out with monetary matters anymore. They send me to school, and that's the end of it.

This is why during the final exams, I did my best and nearly burned myself out with studying and preparations, and my efforts paid off – I received a scholarship to a really prestigious high school; Ouran Academy. The name sounds pretty pretentious, but that's nothing to the students that attend it.

I found out only after I'd enrolled that the school was reserved for those of grand mental capabilities (like me, and other scholarship winners), and those with a grand inheritance.

Almost every student was the son or daughter of the richest people in Japan. I'd even heard of some of their names; most of the students were celebrities in their own rights.

Still, I've never been one to stand down from a challenge, despite my stature.

I had every intention to start at the beginning of the school year along with everyone else – but then my brother got sent to prison.

But that's a story for another day. Suffice it to say, I was prevented from attending high school at all for six months; the winter break had come and gone, and I fully expected the Academy to revoke my scholarship. They were surprisingly understanding, and allowed me to enter one brisk Monday in February. I think their kindness was founded by their 'poor little commoner' mentality more than real understanding, though.

So, here I am now; standing at the front of a classroom, in the incorrect uniform (I kept my middle school sailor uniform to try to keep in the spirit of things) and looking overly scraggly in comparison to the preened rich kids.

"Everyone, this is the delayed student who won a scholarship last year, Kobayashi Satomi-san; please be kind to her, and answer any questions she has."

"Um… nice to meet you," I stammered, and bowed low in front of the class.

The students seemed to have a mild interest in me; they were probably just wondering why a middle school girl was being entered into their class. Or maybe they just thought I was funny because of background. Or my height.

"Kobayashi-san, you can sit over there in that free seat."

"Thank you, Sensei."

You might be wondering why someone like me would want to come to a school like this. I'm certainly not one for small talk, fancy food and overly expensive uniforms. The truth is, I chose to aim for this school because they had an amazingly high percentage of successful students in business and sales careers. I understand now that the students simply worked for or inherited their companies from their parents, but I still hoped that I'd be able to pick up some techniques here.

Yes – that's my ultimate dream. To open my own café, somewhere in Tokyo, or maybe Kyoto. I love to cook, and even better, I love to help people in any way I can. If I could put both my passions into my career, my life would be made whole.

One of the first things I noticed about the school was how noisy it was. I supposed that people who were going to be given a one-way ticket to success by their parents wouldn't really need to worry about studying, but for someone who needed to keep their grades up-to-scratch in order to keep her scholarship, study was essential.

Upon finding that the Academy study rooms were full to the brim with socialising teenagers, I took to wandering the back corridors and looking in almost every classroom, looking for one that might be abandoned.

I quickly lost track of where I was going; I had to rely solely on the signs above the classroom doors to be able to find my way out of this maze of an Academy.

Eventually I turned a corner, and saw a lone door. Looking at the sign, it said that it led to the Third Music Room.

Thinking nothing of it, I walked over to the door, tugged on the latch, and pulled it smoothly open.

And then my life changed forever.