Chapter 1

2011 Program, 15nth edition

Tsuchihara All-Girls High School

3rd year A

Student List:

Girl #1 Hisame Shikamoto

Girl #2 Kumiko Noma

Girl #3 Chitose Higurashi

Girl #4 Tomoko Kobi

Girl #5 Rin Tosaba

Girl #6 Kageri Shouzaku

Girl #7 Sachiko Kirihara

Girl #8 Aya Tsunaba

Girl #9 Hana Nozaki

Girl #10 Yoriko Shibasaki

Girl #11 Misa Fujiwara

Girl #12 Mari "Mary" Shikamoto

Girl #13 Asuka Yamanaka

Girl #14 Kagura Soga

Girl #15 Hitomi Nara

Girl #16 Miki Nakayoshi

Girl #17 Rena Kuroda

Girl #18 Sato Mizunoe

Girl #19 Natsumi Moriguchi

Girl #20 Kyoko Tachibana

Girl #21 Shizuko Honda

Girl #22 Tsukiko Amano

The fading sun of the noon twilight bathed the windows of the large, green-painted music room with it's faint, beautiful light. It seemed like a scene taken directly from an European movie: a beautiful scenery outside, a finely decorated room, and two beautiful girls playing their instruments at the center of it, one on the violin, the other on the piano.

They played two songs on that day, two of their all-time favorites: they were Promise of the World and Merry-go-Round-Life, from Hayao Myazaki's animated film Howl's Moving Castle. Since Asuka Yamanaka (Girl #13) saw that film in her house, by herself, managing to stay awake by liters of Coke. It was part of her Animation class assignment, and Asuka honestly hated anime. But after seeing that movie she changed her mind. It was such a beautiful film, pure and simply…. And the songs were even better. Asuka would play for hours if she could, but now it was time to leave the school. The bright, pretty girl turned to her tall friend, Kyoko Tachibana (Girl #20), and said:

"Okay, Kyoko, let's stop for today." – Kyoko stopped playing the white, clean piano and answered back, after looking at the clock:

"Time flies when we are having fun."- Asuka giggled. Her friend was always like that, trying to make humor and fun of the worst situations. Maybe, that was the reason why Asuka liked her so much. They had been friends for nothing less than 10 years, since they were six. And their plans for the future were to work together. They would be two concert members, touring and traveling around the world playing her music. Asuka on the violin, and Kyoko on the piano. It was how it would end, they both knew it.

Kyoko's cell phone, inside her sailor suit, suddenly rang and she gently picked it up and answered. It was Nobuo, her boyfriend for, as for that moment, one year. Asuka kept looking at Kyoko's mature, adult-like face as they packed their schoolbags, left the music room and went down the hallway. Deep inside, she felt a little jealously of her best friend, but not exactly in a negative way; more like admiration. Kyoko was beautiful and mature, had a great boyfriend, and good grades. Asuka struggled hard to achieve all of those things, and was actually making progress, but she still had a long way to go.

Kyoko, though, as opposite of other girls in the class like Kageri Shoukazu (Girl #6), never acted proudly or was cold to others because of her success in life. Quite the opposite. Kyoko was cheerful and loved to help others. While Asuka had few friends except for Kyoko, Kyoko had many other friends, both inside the class and outside of it. None of them, though, knew so much about her or were as close as Asuka was. Being the perfect girl best friend was a light of confidence for Asuka. It made her special.

"Ouch!" screamed Kyoko, as a few steps into the hallway, somebody tripped on her legs and almost fell into the floor. Kyoko turned around and quickly identified who it was. That small, chubby body could only belong to Sato Mizunoe (Girl # 18), the most isolated, and nerdy and alienated girl in the class. Both Asuka and Kyoko felt sorry for her, and were some of the few people who were nice to Sato, instead of bullying like the "class bitches" Kumiko Noma (Girl #2), Tomoko Kobi (Girl #4) and Tsukiko Amano (Girl #22) constantly did. However, Sato was already way past their help, and did not open to anyone. Such a pity, because Kyoko felt the potential to be a great girl hidden inside Sato. But if even she didn't want to improve on herself, then no one would. Without saying a single word to the girl she had just tripped on, Sato started running and quickly disappeared at the end of the hall.

Asuka was about to say something about that impoliteness, but Kyoko simply moved her head and said, silencing her.

"It's OK, Asuka. She has already suffered a lot at school. Let's not make it even worse for her." It was easy to see why Sato was the bullied one. She cried a lot, was unstable, and extremely shy. Kyoko sensed that, and that's why she didn't get angry. The real ones to blame were the three class bitches, who, by the way, were passing by as soon as Asuka and Kyoko left the school and walked towards the huge square , surrounded by trees and filled with students.

"Look who's here: the ugly duckling who wants to be a swan."- mocked Tsukiko, pointing at Sato, while the other two laughed. Tsukiko was a real delinquent: she was violent, moody, and aggressive and ate and injected heroin when by herself. Kumiko and Tomoko were also two monsters, but Tsukiko really took the humiliating-Sato cake. She did most of the bullying and made Sato's life a living hell. Asuka couldn't stand those three. They were so mean with everybody except themselves that the entire class hated them in secret. They didn't dare to say a word, of course: the trio ruled the class with iron hands. One day, Mari Shikamoto (Girl #12), a very strange girl and the second at the pecking order, tried to fight Tsukiko back during lunch time, while Tsukiko kept pulling her dyed-blond her and calling her a "stupid wannabe-American". Mari had to go to the infirmary after that episode, and one her blue lenses was lost forever.

While Kumiko tainted Sato and the other two held her arms, Asuka and Kyoko found it better to just walk away. Not because they were insensitive, but because they heard a voice that made them forget everything:

"Hey girls! How did the last practice go?" – asked Yoriko Shibasaki (Girl # 10), the cheerful and strong girl who was the athletic star of the school. Her best and inseparable friend, the long-haired and short heighted Chitose Higurashi (Girl #3), calmly stood there, smiling. Like Asuka and Kyoko, they also knew each other for 10 years, and were always together. No one could imagine a group of friends more opposite: Yoriko was active, athletic, and even had a more masculine face. Chitose, on the other hand, was shyer, reserved, and the only sport she actually enjoyed practicing was ballet. She was also extremely cute, like a small child.

"Really well. We are almost done with the song by now."- answered Kyoko. – "One more rehearsal and we'll learn it completely. Where do you girls want to go after the medical exam, tomorrow?" In the next day, all the girls would see each other in underwear and then be weighed, measured, and receive private talks to the coaches. It was only to determine who would do better in sports and who wouldn't. Something simple and that happened only once a year.

"Hmmm… I'm not sure."- Answered Chitose – we might dine together at Suimikage, that restaurant two blocks away from school. I've talked to my mom and she'll let us all watch a movie by my house. Which one do you girls want?" – A surprisingly excited Chitose pronounced. "I vote for a romantic comedy, but I'm not exactly sure which one."

"Ah, we've had a lot of that, petit."- said Yoriko, in her kind way of referring to her friend by her height. "What about an action film? I can deal with the violence, and besides, there are a lot of handsome actors there." – All the girls smiled.

"Well."- stated Asuka, memories coming back to her. "If it can only be one, then I'll go for Howl's Moving Castle."

As the girls kept talking and gossiping, all the others in their class and in the others were leaving the school. Aya Tsunaba (Girl #8), a devoted Christian girl, though also very restrained and unfriendly, grabbed her bike and quickly went home. Kageri Shouzaku and her best friend, Miki Nakayoshi (Girl #16), the two most talkative girls and the ones in charge of spreading all the gossip at school, got into one of their parents car for a sleepover. Mari and Hisame Shikamoto (Girl # 1), the two cousins who by coincidence had the same age and got into the same class, walked towards the street, talking loudly in the bushes. Hisame wasn't as eccentric or weird as her cousin, but was well-know for being a very impatient girl, who did not tolerate any opinion that went against herself. After losing her blue eye lens to Tsukiko, Mari bought a new, green pair, and now looked strangely bizarre with both Asian and green eyes.

Then there were Rena Kuroda (Girl # 17), Natsumi Moriguchi (Girl # 19) and Shizuko Honda (Girl # 21), walking together in silence. Those were hard times for the trio. Shizuko couldn't hide the fact that she was pregnant anymore. She got a child from her previous boyfriend, who after knowing she was pregnant, vanished from the face of the Earth and never saw her again. It was the last month already, and , although her baby was already formed, she had no ideia of which name she would give to her. Rena and Natsumi promised to help her taking care of the baby, along with their families. Shizuko thought about abortion several times, but now she knew that it was too late to do it. Besides, she actually wanted to have the baby, who would be a girl. It was unfair to kill someone before he/she could live. The moral guilt of carrying a child was consuming her. Before the pregnancy, she was an outgoing, happy girl. Now, Shizuko was closed, anti-social (except with her two friends) and filled with remorse.

"Bye girls! See you tomorrow!" – The biggest group of girls in the class waved to the four friends talking about movies. It was composed by Rin Tosaba (Girl #5), the leader, a tall girl with shoulder-length hair, Sachiko Kirihara (Girl #7) the wise girl with glasses, though actually quite pretty, Hana Nozaki (Girl #9), an innocent, bright girl with long braided hair, Hitomi Nara (Girl #15), he ponytailed friend with a similar personality, and last but not least , Kagura Soga (Girl #4), the most introverted, and less pretty and popular member. It was a miracle such a shy girl managed to belong in a group of friends with totally different personalities than her. Out of all of them, she was the most interesting in Asuka's eyes. Maybe there was more that met the eye about her.

Misa Fujiwara (Girl #11) caught up with Asuka and her friends and immediately asked:

"Hello! I'm new here in Tokyo and I just want to know the city better. I know all of you live close to me, so could somebody just go on a tour with me this weekend, just to show the city around?"- another girl who just arrived at that school would not feel intimate enough to ask such a question from classmates she wasn't friends with yet, but not Misa. She was always like that: direct, imposing, wanting to fit in as much as possible. Misa had just come from Osaka, and didn't know the city yet (it was her first week at Tsuchihara All Girls High School). All she wanted was to fit in and make friends as quickly as possible, because she knew that if she didn't do that right from the start, she would never do in the entire school year. She was very beautiful too. She had a tall and thin complexion, with long black hair and beautiful hazel eyes. If there was a beauty contest in the class, Misa and Kumiko would take the first spots, and ugly Sato and Kagura, the last ones. Misa wasn't proud of being beautiful, though. For her, she was born that way and that was it.

"Sure."- Quickly answered Kyoko, not thinking before the answer. – But we are with a busy schedule for this weekend, and we might not have time. But if I get an opening, I'll send you a text message." "OK", Misa responded with a yellow smile. She would never accept being left out of something. Misa would convince those four to be her friends, sooner or later. She calmly walked away with the darkness of sundown.

"Will you really go out with her, Kyoko?" – asked a confused Yoriko. "I don't know, Yori. We don't know her well enough for that. She seems to be nice, but still….. Maybe in a few weeks, but not now. I'm actually not sure."- For the first time on that day, Kyoko expressed some doubt.

That subject soon died out and then was replaced by another, then another, until the girls got tired and decided to come home. Kyoko was correct about something: she would never show Tokyo to Misa. Not exactly by the reasons she thought she would. Kyoko would never see her boyfriend again or at least for a few days. Because, unbeknownst to her or any of her classmates, her class was selected for The Program, and it would start the next day.