Years
0. When Sumire was born, her mother died, her father cried and her brother only found out about all this family drama two weeks later.
1. On her first birthday, she accidentally threw up all over her father who was attempting to sing her a happy birthday. She hadn't been feeling very well for the whole day, and for someone as young as she was, she didn't realise why a birthday should be such a special day.
2. For her second birthday she had a nanny to look after her as well as her father. She didn't throw up this time or scream at the sight of a cake or anything, and as far as she knew, it was a rather uneventful birthday.
3. When Sumire was three her Alice developed somewhat and gave her whiskers as well as enhanced olfactory sensations. That was when people such as her father, as well as other less friendly Alice Academy spies started to notice that she indeed had an Alice. On her birthday however, such worries hadn't come up yet, and she had a fun party at her house with all her friends from playschool.
4. Her fourth birthday party was a rather quieter affair, but this time there was a special surprise – her brother managed to be sent home for a week so that he could celebrate it with her. They had moved house quite a few times that year (Sumire didn't really know why) and so she had had to leave behind all her friends from her old playschool. Her father had told her not to tell her brother (a tall sort of scary but not really boy who she did not really know) about how she could smell things and feel them with whiskers, but when her brother told her all about the Alice Academy and its utter awesomeness, she couldn't resist. She wanted to go to such a place, filled with children like her that she could talk to about her powers without feeling like it wasn't allowed or like it was stupid. She was bored of being at home all day, not even allowed to run outside like a dog and smell things. So she told her brother about her suspected Alice, and he told his friends about his cute little sister "who's got an Alice as well so she's going to be here soon", and word got around – Sumire was located and brought to the Academy as soon as possible.
5. Sumire's fifth birthday was her first at Alice Academy, which was indeed every bit as amazing as she had thought and then some. She was one of the youngest children there, so she often got comments and privileges for being "so cute!" and "aww, look at her Alice!".
6. Not much happened on her sixth birthday.
7. When Sumire turned seven her brother took her to Central Town where he bought her a box of Howalon for her present. By this time she was practically the queen bee of Elementary Class A and had cut her hair into what was to be the distinctive Sumire bob.
8. A new boy came to Alice Academy when Sumire was eight. This boy deserves mention in that she was chosen to be his partner (poor boy). It was unfortunate that the rest of the class refused to go near him on account of his Alice – who wanted their secrets to be read? This meant Sumire had choose between being a good girl and watching over the new boy (and hopefully be promoted to double star) or staying with her friends and so leave him to make his own way in the class. Sumire didn't particularly care about anyone reading her mind (she said most of her thoughts anyway) and he was so little ... she chose option three. That was, shout at the new boy until he becomes what the class want to make friends with. Soon, the mind reader (Kokoroyomi as they said in Japanese, obviously) realised that being a smiley idiot was the way to make friends. He gave Sumire a hug and a cute flowerpot for her next birthday.
9. When Sumire was nine a boy called Luca came to the Academy with a pet bunny. She took an immediate liking to the rather scared looking boy (she wasn't quite sure about the bunny – sometimes she wanted to eat it or something and other times she loved its cuteness) and stuck to him, showing him all around the school. She loved the fact that he was in her Somatics class, that he had a vaguely European look, that he was so quiet and nice to everyone and much more. In fact, there was so much more that she made a "List Of Luca's Greatness In 24 Points" and formed a fanclub. Later on in life she had the realisation that she was probably attracted to him at least partly because of his Alice (Sumire did have a dog's sense of smell, after all).
Sometime in the same year another boy called Natsume arrived at Alice Academy. Strangely enough, it seemed that he already knew Luca from before … in any case, Sumire quickly added him into the "List Of People Who We Are Fans Of (Total: Two)" for the Fanclub. After a few weeks of observing and commenting on Natsume's tasteful brooding silence and general coldness, it was a close call between whether Sumire liked Natsume or Luca better. She'd have to say Luca though – he had 24 Points Of Greatness while Natsume only had 21.
Sumire didn't really think about putting Koko (as he was now often called, his real name possibly long forgotten) into the List Of People at all. He wasn't the kind of boy that a girl could "eeee!" about, to be honest – more like an annoying best friend that you couldn't help loving (in a purely friendly way of course).
Also that year, her father sent her the traditional family violin to learn on. She didn't think of her father really, these days – five years at the Academy had worn away their bonds.
10. Sumire burnt down her first oven on her tenth birthday. This marked the beginning of a lifetime of terrible cooking.
11. Hotaru Imai and Mikan Sakura came to Alice Academy when Sumire was 11. Normally, she wouldn't have cared about two more new people, but when Mikan started to pick fights with her beloved Natsume … that was IT. No way was she going to get away from the wrath of the Fanclub after not calling Natsume a molester and a pervert, but also insulting the whole of the Alice population.
Fortunately for both of them, they soon got over this hate at first sight and became at least reasonable friends.
12. A lot of things have happened in this year, most of them to do with Mikan and Natsume. Alice Academy has changed quite a bit since she came and Sumire knows that Mikan and her mother are somehow involved in this as well as Narumi-sensei. It's all a bit weird and confusing, really. Still, at least Natsume and Luca have cheered up a lot.
13. To mark her entry into the world of teenagehood, Sumire's best friends banded together, went out with her into Central Town and bought the most amazing cake.
14. Sumire remembers Mikan and Natsume starting up their relationship just before her fourteenth birthday. A few other people also started experimenting with going out this year; the ones affecting people close to her being Koko and Anna, one of those geeky Technicals (at least they're the same age, huh), and Luca and herself. Luca finally managed to get over his childhood (not that 14 isn't still childhood, but there's not really any other way to say it) love for Mikan.
Sumire discovered that her Alice had developed again sometime that year when she grew cat ears as well as cat whiskers. Oh well. At least it gave her improved hearing abilities.
15. Sumire's relationship with Luca didn't last that long. She decided she preferred him as either a friend or someone to make a Fanclub for. Not long after her fifteenth birthday, Sumire gave Luca their last kiss and declared that she was done with boyfriends.
16. Koko surprised her making her fall in some sort of love or crush with him when she was sixteen. Privately she wondered how he did it. Still, he was two years younger than her, even if he was her best friend and had broken up with Anna and gone out and broken up with Nonoko …
17. Koko confessed his own feelings for her on Sumire's seventeenth birthday. It was probably the best birthday present of all her seventeen years, now that she thinks about it. Later that day, he told her that he did it because he read her heart when she was opening his present, and Sumire promptly screamed her head off at him. He quickly assures her that he did mean it, though.
In the evening, when she tried to sniff out where her nail varnish bottles are, she realised that she gets a tail and sort-of-claws now when she uses her Alice. It's kind of weird, but cool at the same time, but it means that it's now all too embarrassing for anyone else to know about her Alice.
Koko found out anyway, like he normally does.
18. The gang managed to sneak in some alcohol for Sumire's eighteenth birthday party. She woke up the next morning with a raging headache, a sore throat and a feeling that she's been eating cat food. (Actually, that wouldn't have been too unlikely. She's done it before.) The first thing she saw was Koko grinning and then Mikan asking why she didn't tell them before about how cool her cat-dog Alice had become. Sumire groaned and covered her ears.
So passes Sumire's childhood.