Hoshina Kyouko was a really unlucky girl.

Her parents were always fighting since she was seven; her father would gamble and drink. Her mother was the sensible one, she would try and stop him. But then something happened, and he killed her accidentally. All that time Hoshina had been crying silently in a corner, covering her ears with her hands.

Then the police came, and took him away into prison.

She was left with her strict and unfriendly aunt. It was not that bad, actually. Her aunt was just a strict believer in discipline, that's all. Hoshina never harbored any resentment towards the woman, and never tried to rebel against her. Plus, at that time, she had been a little sensitive, and would often lock herself in her room to cry. It had been a little too much for her to handle. She would often have nightmares about what had happened, but they were becoming less and less frequent the longer she had lived with her aunt, until she forgot about it altogether.

However, her unluckiness soon caught up with her, no matter how hard she tried to be careful about things.

However, her bad luck soon caught up with her.

One summer day, when the two of them were in the house resting, suddenly the house caught fire. Hoshina couldn't remember the details clearly, but she could still recall her aunt's death. Actually, they both had survived the fire, but just barely. Their neighbours had helped call the police and the ambulance. However, her aunt insisted that the paramedics help Hoshina first. In the end she died of smoke inhalation.

She had then been adopted by her mother's friends in Mitakihara, and they treated her like a daughter. Regardless of whatever she had done, they treated her fairly and honestly. It was the first time she had met someone so kind and so friendly that she had cried.

And it was also the first time she had smiled.

Several years later, they had moved overseas to work in a major American company, and had left Hoshina with her best friend and adopted brother in an apartment at Mitakihara. It had been a month since then.
_

It had become a regular routine now, living in that city. She would wake her best friend up, then head to the kitchen to make breakfast for the three of them.

Of course, her best friend would grumble about waking up early, but she would still do it in fear of being late for school.

Hoshou Minami was a second year student in Mitakihara Middle School, and her family was the one that had taken in Hoshina when her aunt died.

She was tall, and had long straight green hair paired with bright emerald eyes. Hoshou was smart and funny, but she didn't tolerate any bullying or teasing to Hoshina or weaker students. She was confident and kind, plus she was really good in sports.

Hoshina wasn't clever. Granted, she could work out solutions to most problems easily, and she had a good memory, but she wasn't a genius like Hoshou. She was okay in sports, she could run pretty well without getting tired, but she was nowhere as fast as Hoshou. She wasn't jealous though. She lived her life by using her instincts, and she never really concentrated on her studies. She wasn't popular in her school unlike Hoshou or Hitomi-chan. But people said they liked her since she was really funny and friendly. She didn't really think so, but she was grateful to them. They were always kind to her, even if there were few who wouldn't really communicate with her.

Hoshina always took on part-time jobs to save money. She wanted to repay Mr. and Mrs. Minami with the money she earned every day as thanks. Because of them, her miserable and unimportant life had become fun and full of happiness.

She couldn't really remember anything about her parents. Sometimes she could just see the tiniest traces of her mother's smile, but that was all that she could recall. A doctor had once told her that maybe the shock had affected her memory loss. She was a little sad, but there was nothing she could do. So she lived on, hoping that her insignificant self could help others even if she couldn't help her mother when she was young.

The only thing she had inherited from her parents were their red hair and golden-amber eyes, or maybe just a little bit of her mother's naïve personality. That wasn't exactly something to be happy about though.

Oh. And she could stop thinking about those now. She had to help Ryuuga-nii to prepare breakfast.

Ryuuga Minami was Hoshou's older brother, but they looked nothing like each other at all. His hair was dark green while his eyes were warm brown, like caramel. It must be because Hoshou takes after her mother while he takes after his father. Both siblings had straight hair and were taller than Hoshina.

Ryuuga-nii, which she had started to call him since they were young, was friendly , but had somewhat of an annoying character. He was really protective towards his 'little sisters' and treated everyone fairly just like the rest of his family. Ryuuga-nii studied at Mitakihara High School several blocks away from their apartment. He was also really smart and really good at sports, just like his sister.

Hoshina laughed as she put on her pink apron. The strange thing was he was really bad at cooking, even though he excelled in everything else. Since the older boy couldn't cook, the responsibility often fell to the two girls.

Hoshou's head peeked out from their bedroom door. She had pulled her green hair up into two neat pigtails, and she was currently frowning in Hoshina's direction.

"Hoshina?"

"Hmm?" answered said person. "What is it?"

She stopped walking as soon as she saw Hoshou's facial expression.

"You didn't do your homework again!" the girl scolded.

Hoshina's eyes widened and she hurried back into their room, carefully avoiding the chairs and various stuffed animals on the floor.

The room was decorated with posters on the wall, and two small blue desks on the left. A small light hung over their heads, and a window from the right was opened, letting in a small breeze that clung at Hoshina's hair.

"No way!" she said frantically, brushing the strands that got in her face as she searched her bag for her books. Hoshou on her right fished them out and showed the empty pages to her.

"Oh no…" Hoshina trailed off.

Her best friend sighed. Yes, Hoshina's unluckiness was legendary, but so was her forgetfulness. (*) Her friends always tried to remind her about stuff that she might forget, but she never really tried to remember them. The little notes she made in her books helped, but only just a little. The redhead would only bother to remember things that seemed interesting to her.

In the end she took pity on her best friend.

"I'll go help Ryuuga, you sit here and finish these, alright?" offered Hoshou. Hoshina's eyes widened.

"Thank you, Hoshou! I'll help you with your chores at night, promise!"

The green-haired girl just smiled.

That morning, Ryuuga offered to take them to their school with his bike.

"Never mind," rejected his sister automatically. "There must be some kind of deal attached to it, plus you can only bring one of us. You would ask us to do something for you in return, right?" The smirk on her brother's face was all she needed to know. "I'd rather not," continued Hoshou. "It's a really short distance, anyway. Good for exercise."

Hoshina nodded in agreement but smiled in thanks.

Ryuuga looked surprised. He raised an eyebrow and answered, "Well, I'm glad my sister has become a little smarter."

"Gah! Get back here, you jerk!" screamed Hoshou as she chased her brother down the road. However, he was on a bicycle, and she was relying on her legs alone. After a few minutes, Ryuuga was soon far away from Hoshou's reach. The green-haired girl fumed, grabbing Hoshina's hand and muttering to herself as they headed in the opposite direction.

Hoshina giggled. Her family was weird, but she still loved them.