It was a sunny day in Tokyo, Japan, where a young girl named Kimura Kana lived with her family in their modern apartment. She was sitting at her kitchen island wearing a short blue kimono robe and sorting through the mail, taking out the few letters that were addressed to her. For the past couple weeks she had been applying to schools all over Japan in hopes of finishing her high school education. Her mother Mika, stood a few feet away at the stovetop, keeping an eye on the meat and vegetable stew that she was about to serve. Kana looked at the door to her father's study and saw lights flickering from the gap underneath.
"He's still not done yet?" she questioned her mother as she pulled her hair back into a loose bun. Mika rolled her eyes playfully and smiled.
"You know your father, he won't stop until he sees absolute perfection," she said lovingly.
Both of Kana's parents were renowned anthropologists that directed and edited films about ancient cultures and societies. Mika was born in Japan, where she had met her Swedish husband, Erik. They had both been located on a documentary shoot where she had worked as a personal assistant and he the director. After a couple dates and a lot of convincing from her father's part, the couple married shortly after and had decided to live in Japan ever since.
With her parent's unique ethnic combination, Kana stood at 5'3, with long brown hair and large, almond shaped eyes. The only attribute that Kana criticized about her body was her significantly sized breasts. She was a size 36D and she loathed it. Every time she went shopping, she always had to be careful of what to buy or her bust would stand out embarrassingly. Men were horrible and would always give her leery looks and it always left her feeling extremely self-conscious. Be that as it may, her mother was always insisting how lucky Kana was that she inherited her father's features.
"You have a petite body with really nice curves, you lucky girl! Too bad for your brother and sister though," she would say after a couple glasses of wine. "They look just like me, sickly thin and pale as a ghost!"
Kana also had two siblings: her older brother Sato and younger sister Sia, who almost looked like exact twins despite their age gap. They both had slender frames, pale skin and jet-black hair. Sato had moved to England a couple years ago to film documentaries on famous European architecture. Kana loved when he sent her colorful postcards of all his exciting adventures; it was what convinced her to take a year off from school and travel to England with the rest of her family.
Kana's younger sister Sia had just turned 14 and was to start high school the following semester. Despite her mother's opinion, Kana always admired Sia's ivory complexion and bright hazel eyes with green rings in the center. Although she couldn't help but feel jealous at times, Kana still loved her sister dearly, wishing her only the best.
"Mom, look! I got a letter from the school of Izumi Koukou!" said Kana elatedly. Mika widened her eyes in surprise.
"Well open it already!" she said kindly. Kana tore open the official looking envelope and quickly read the letter inside. As her mother watched her with hopeful eyes, she couldn't help but lower her own in shame.
"They…they didn't accept me," said Kana tearfully. She threw the note aside on the kitchen counter as her mother quickly grabbed it and read it over. Mika clenched the paper forcefully and ripped it to shreds.
"Ah, who needs them anyways? You applied to other ones, you're bound to get in," said Mika. She gave her daughter an encouraging pat on the back and went back to slicing vegetables.
"Don't worry Mom. There are still the three other schools that I applied for; and they're my safeties, so I'm bound to get into one of them…" trailed off Kana. Mika looked at her daughter and shook her head.
"But you wanted to go to Izumi Koukou that was your dream school! Here, let's try looking at the others, one of them is bound to accept you!" said Mika. Kana gave out an exasperated groan, already feeling like a complete failure. Here she was, already at the age of 18 and she had still not managed to get accepted into any elite schools.
That's what I get for taking a year off, she thought. But it was worth it in the end.
Memories of her traveling across England flooded her mind, filling her with something of sweet sorrow. While abroad, she had met Will, an Englishman with ink black hair and emerald green eyes. He was one of Sato's best friends and their personal guide for their travels. Right when Sato introduced him to her, Kana immediately fell for his attractive foreign look. Besides the occasional flirting, it took almost half a year before Kana and Will finally admitted their feelings for each other. After that, it seemed time flew by way too fast for both of them. Kana's heart began to feel heavy, reminiscing of all the intimate moments they shared.
As Kana took a seat to drown herself in her own self-pity she heard her mother let out a girlish squeal.
"Oh look here Kana! Ryoutei Gakuen has confirmed your acceptance! Wow, look at the campus, it's absolutely gorgeous!" Kana gave her mother a confused look as Mika gave her the acceptance letter.
"Dear Kimura Kana: It is our pleasure to inform you that we have accepted you as a new student for the fall term…but, I don't remember applying for this school," said Kana. Mika gave her daughter a mischievous smile as she handed her the campus brochure.
"That's because you didn't! You know Father Komori from church? He mentioned what a fine school Ryoutei Gakuen is and I couldn't help but hint at what a smart and lovely girl you are. He promised that as long as you sent in your transcripts, he would put in a good word with the higher-ups. Looks like he came through!" squealed Mika as she jumped up and down in excitement. Kana gave her mother a bewildered look.
"But I didn't send in those transcripts…you didn't have to do that for me," said Kana. Mika looked at her daughter lovingly as she caressed her hair.
"I know, but I wanted to," said Mika. "I never got the opportunity to go to college, with your father and me traveling the world and whatnot. Besides, you've been away too long from people your age, it is time you made some friends," encouraged Mika as Kana gave her a look. "You are already culturally educated; it's time for you to learn how to be, you know, book smart. Besides, so many successful people have come from that school, its well worth it!"
"I guess I always assumed that I would be going back to England to live with Sato…" trailed off Kana. Her heart yearned to be with Will again. Mika gave out an exasperated sigh.
"Listen Kana, I know you miss Will, but England is really expensive right now, even for us," said Mika seriously, as she added more spices to her stew. "You moving there means you would have to get a job and you can't get one of those without a resume, and you can't have a resume without putting down your education. Do you see my point here?"
"Okay Mom I get it," said Kana as she gave her mother a reassuring smile. "It does look really amazing…maybe it won't be so bad after all."
"That's the spirit" smiled Mika. "Though I do want you to thank Father Komori in person, he's the reason why you got into that school. Maybe we can send him a goody basket…do you think he drinks sake?" Kana gave her mother a stunned look before bursting out into hysterical laughter.
"He's a priest, I don't think he's even allowed to drink alcohol," giggled Kana. Mika gave her daughter a little pout as her husband walked into the room.
"Then what's with the red wine at communion? I bet he has a secret stash of Merlot hidden in the confessional!" claimed Mika. Erik raised an eyebrow at his wife's random statement a he grabbed a couple wine glasses from the glass cabinet.
"Mika are you gossiping about Father Komori again?" he asked. Mika looked at her husband innocently as she pulled a freshly made salad from the fridge and sat it on the table.
"Of course not, I'm just saying that a little alcohol isn't the worst thing he's gotten as a gift. Hell with his job, he might even appreciate it, hearing people's problems all day." Erik shook his head and poured two glasses of red wine for him and Mika.
"So is there a reason why we're giving alcohol to our priest?" asked Erik. Kana handed her father the school's vivid catalog package.
"Mom used her magic to convince him to accept me at Ryoutei Gakuen. It looks nice right? They also have cinematography programs that include screen writing," said Kana. Growing up with a pair of film junkies as parents, Kana was constantly immersed into the movie world. Instead of taking after her father and being a director, she instead became interested in writing scripts and plays. It was her dream to write an award-winning film ever since she could remember. When she was younger, she would write plays and have Sato and Sia act them out in front of their parents. Her parent's, especially her father's, approval meant the world to her.
"I've heard of this school, couple buddies I know graduated from there," he said as he flipped through the magazine. "The prices aren't that bad either, considering the grandeur. It's almost three hours away you're okay with living in a dorm?"
Mika grabbed three bowls and plates from the cabinets and began to serve dinner. "Of course she's okay with living in a dorm. It'll be just like living with Isabel except there'll be girls her own age."
"Speaking of Sia, where is she, still at the mall?" asked Erik. The family took their seats at the dinner table as Kana took out a loaf of fresh French bread from the cupboard that she had bought at the market earlier.
"Yeah, she's with Hina and told me to tell you that she's staying the night at her house after she's done shopping" explained Kana as she cut the bread into thick slices.
"That girl, she never tells us anything. Stop being her messenger Kana, she needs to take responsibility for herself and tells us where she's going. That was the whole point of buying her a cell phone," grumbled her father.
"We took away her cell phone because she was going over her minutes, don't you remember?" asked Mika. As her parents talked about her younger sibling, Kana ate her food in silence, thinking of Ryoutei Gakuen. She had never really lived on her own, let alone a super fancy boarding school.
So many famous producers and writers have come from there, she convinced herself. At this point, I'm glad anyone has accepted me this late in the summer. Who knows, I might make some new friends…