C9 - Moonlight Legend

All that I worked for, all that I strived for. It was all for you. And it came time for you to leave. Why do I continue living knowing that the path I tread only leads to despair.

One year ago. St. Chronica High School Division.

They say high school is a time to change. For better or for worse we would surge ahead in new directions. But coming from the middle school division, I feel nothing's changed.

I walk through the same gates that had been there even before I was born. I see the same people who had been with me since forever. To me it's just another day at school. Nothing more, nothing less.

That is until today…

"Aniki! What is the meaning of this?"I could not hold back the anger in my voice.

"Hmmm? From today onwards you are part of the student council. Well it seems that no one was capable enough to join us so I thought how about inviting my cute little sister."

Yes. This was my brother, Sato Kenichi, the student council president who had thoughtlessly conscripted his younger sister into something troublesome.

"You of all people should know better than to ask me to join you. I'm careless, uncoordinated and forgetful. I have no right to stand beside the esteemed members of your student council."

"You forgot to mention antisocial Tsuki-chan." Sato contributed easily to my growing list of flaws. "But all those problems aside, I want you to work for me. I mean seriously can you believe all those applicants would quit within a week of joining. Did we really set our standards too high? Ah whatever. If they can't keep up than they have no right to stay."

Brother kept rambling on but the rest was just useless jargon.

For me that was the beginning of a new chapter of my live. For once could I break free from the monotony of my daily life and hopefully, just hopefully change for the better.

I could not be more wrong.

The student council was as I had expected it to be: filled with bishonens of all types. Little wonder then that they received the most number of (female) applicants requesting to join them. However the job was not all it was cracked up to be. Brother and the other members worked them hard and within the first day, those who were only after the reverse harem setting easily dropped out in the dozens.

Brother had always been a genius at dealing with people and to be able to gather so many competent seniors only made it harder for the junior levels to enter this sacred group. Maybe it was due to this that the entire second year population had long since given up on joining them and made do with just squealing whenever they walk by.

What was left was a group of highly efficient third years with no successor for the next school year. I believed that brother was getting desperate when he asked me to join. At that time I was self depressed at my own incompetence when compared to my brother. He had everything. Grades, looks and personality.

I on the other hand had far less. While my grades could be considered on par with him, I lacked the most important attribute to be popular. I was too shy for my own good, never confident in my looks and while I had some acquaintances from middle school, I always too quiet for them to become friends.

It always went:

"Top marks again Tsukiko-san? Wow I wish I could be like that!"

"Haha, no way you could. I mean you don't study at all."

"You caught me… Ah whatever lets go and sing our hearts out. Want to join us Tsukiko-san?"

"There's no way she would want to join commoners like us. She has better things to do right Tsukiko?"

At these times I would usually nod or hide behind an excuse to leave. I had always stood behind brother since young and even now I'm still too weak to stand up for myself.

But standing beside brother and my fellow members I was compelled to work hard. If anything it was to catch up to these shining lights.

While student council work was no walk in the park, the atmosphere that my seniors generated was always a cheerful one. I enjoyed working with them and the days easily passed by.

Looking back again I was disillusioned.

Distracted by what was in front of me, I had neglected to see that I had lost something. The females of my grade stared ignoring me, jealous. To the males, I was an unreachable presence. A goddess protected by the six males of the student council. (It was no reverse harem I can assure you.)

All good times must come to an end – the final day of school, graduation of my seniors.

I returned to the room. Once filled with the sounds of laughter now silent and with a stillness that come with the setting sun. Kira had taken charge of the farewell speech with me standing behind him shivering. My first duty as president and I outsourced it to my fiancé. Some president I am…

"Beautiful isn't it, this room at sunset."

I turned to face my brother. So he had come to enjoy the final moments of his high school life in the room he had so much enjoyed being in.

A moment of silence followed as we stared out at the students leaving down the well worn pathway to the front gate.

"So my time is finally over huh." Brother sighed, staring at some unknown object in the distance. "Now it's up to you to maintain the pride and honor of the student council. To shoulder the burden of the entire student's smiles so, are you ready for it? Even if you're not, well, too bad. Hahaha."

Brother laughed warily. There he goes again, leaving me with more burdens than I could possible handle. I guess I've got nothing to complain about. After all, I've always been dragged along at his pace.

"Oh yeah. I forgot to mention that I called some SKET from that childhood friend of yours. He seems rather busy so don't expect too much from him. If you truly need help, go recruit more members. You've lasted this far. I truly hope you find someone who is as hardworking as you."

Those were the last words of Sato Kenichi, soon to be known as the legendary sugar prince.

With the departure of my brother and the entire student council, the new school year soon rolled in.

What was once work done by many became done by one.

I had no time to think about recruitment while settling the mountains of paperwork that came with the new semester. Those were the first of many nights that I slept over in school. At first it was just occasionally but as the days progressed it became more frequent. It was Sister Maria that had been so kind as to allow me to do this. Without it our fast paced school life would have stalled long ago.

It amazed me at how quickly I disintegrated. My complexion worsened, dark rings formed around my eyes and I had barely enough energy to keep me going through class. The teachers only saw a girl who was studying too much and told me to relax more but with no assistance from the students or them (they always had some excuse) no solution was found. Eventually even they started to glaze over the fact that there was a zombie in their class as long as her grades did not drop.

Applicants to the student council came and went easily (the fastest being less than an hour). By the second week of school, the first years had already settled into their clubs and I had the club budget allocation on my hands. By now I no longer had time to go home as soon as lessons were over so begun my work as president.

With that the student council had become notorious for being insanely stressful and the president a hikikomori. All social presentations were now handled by Kira with me somewhere supporting from the shadows.

I believe it was Ranko-san who had coined the names the Sparkling Prince and the Moonlight Princess describing our relationship in her articles. Kira seemed rather pleased with it and so I just tagged along. After all it meant nothing to me.

And so time stood still again.

That is until I met that girl.

You could say it was not the dreamiest of conditions but I could not get that face out of my mind. Her jet black eyes and hair and standing tall like a prince extending her helping hand towards me.

Our second meeting was that night on the same day I met her. She had stormed through the door of my room and while I embarrassed myself sending paper all over the place, she calmly sorted them out for me. I never felt this way before. My heart was pounding and when she remembered why she came here for; her reaction was just so cute…

Mikazuki Kotori.

Maybe, just maybe she would be the one to help me forge a new path.