Time never waits, It delivers all equally to the same end….

To you who wish to safeguard the future, however limited you may be….

Go forth without falter, with your heart as your guide….

To you I grant, one year…

Prologue

If Yukari Takeba was anything, she was a sensible girl. As sensible as a seventeen year old teenager shipped off to boarding school could be. Sure she wasn't a genius student, but she did receive fairly decent grades most of the time, and her involvement in extracurricular activities was solid since her freshman year. Plus, as an added perk she was considered by most in her class as popular, likeable and friendly, though she didn't believe most of it. If there was anything a sensible girl like Yukari could want, it was a fresh start with a new semester. This, unfortunately was not going to be possible.

Yukari slammed the door to her new dorm room in frustration as she threw her shoulder bag on her unkempt bed. She shielded her eyes from the blazing sunset through her window as she gazed around the room. This place was foreign to her, it was not the place she was supposed to be. Just one week ago she had arrived from her suburban home to center city Iwatodi for her sophomore year of school at the prestigious Gekkoukan High, a place reserved for those who had intelligence, talent, and those who had large pockets to pay the hefty tuition. Yukari had never really had any large sum of money, however due to her late father's work with a company associated with the school; Yukari had received an invitation to attend Gekkoukan on full scholarship.

This was to be her second year at the prestigious boarding school, and she was planning on an academic year filled with top grades, archery club, and hanging out with her friends from her freshman class. Unfortunately, due to a strange turn of events and a bad string of luck Yukari was not permitted to move back into her old dorm room and was forced to take residence in a secluded dorm hall with two other students, both upper classmen. Filled with resentment, Yukari still hadn't unpacked any of her things.

Her eyes scanned the room slowly taking in the barren walls and piles of boxes jammed in the corners. She slowly made her rounds around the room, silently cursing to herself for her luck and found herself gazing at a silver briefcase sitting at the foot of her bed. She should have been excited that classes were going to start tomorrow, where she would be able to catch up with her classmates and attend the archery club meeting, however she couldn't take her mind off that briefcase.

"This is completely insane" she whispered to herself as she ran her fingers over the smooth metal of the case. "Do they take me as a fool…there is no way that I could…" but she trailed off, her mind working to make sense of the past few days.

With a sudden look of determination she made her way over to the sink in the corner of her dorm and turned the water on full blast. Glancing over her shoulder she looked to see if anyone was watching and made her way back over to the metal briefcase. With a swift move she opened it to reveal a single gun glinting in the sunset. With trembling fingers she took it out of its velvet encasings and tested its weight in her hand. It was surprisingly light…for a gun. She held it up in her hand to get a better look at it but her knees were trembling so hard she sunk to the floor. Her breaths coming in short ragged gasps.

"Okay, Yukari, you just put it to your head…and pull the trigger" she whispered "no chickening out. You are not a chicken!"

She slowly raised it to her temple, her hands were quaking with fear and cold sweat had broken across her forehead. The room seemed so quiet despite the fact that she still had the faucet turned on to full blast letting water gush into the sink. "The sound of the rushing water will cover the sound of me…pulling….shooting…." She thought to herself. Her heartbeat was roaring in her ears and her breaths continued to be low and shallow. She closed her eyes and before she could think of anything else she tossed the gun aside. It clattered loudly on the floor.

"It's no use…I can't" she cried as she wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "They are completely insane."

She crawled to her knees and pulled herself to the sink and immediately began to splash cold water on her face. She was unable to fathom why anyone could think she was capable of doing such an act. Memories of the past few days flooded her mind. With a sigh she walked over to her bed stepping over the gun sitting on the floor and groaned. She had a nagging feeling that this year was not going to be what she had anticipated; in fact it was most likely going to be anything but what she anticipated.

"Well, If this year is not going to be normal by default, then the best thing I can do is make it normal in every way possible" her eyes trialed over to the pile of boxes in the corner. "I guess that means by starting to unpack this." She forced the idea of the gun out of her mind and began to set to the dull task of transforming the barren room into her home for the next year.