Tamako Gakuen no Kaiki Gensho

The Incident

*beep, beep, beep*

A white phone in a plain pink case buzzed next to Sakura Hinata's bed, reading 'ALARM... 6:30 am...Wake Up'. The pink-haired girl tapped the screen of her phone, turned the alarm off, and sat up in bed, revealing the top of her pink and white lacy nightgown. She grabbed the school uniform hanging up in her bedroom - a beige and white coloured sailor uniform consisting of a white short-sleeved blouse with a beige plaid skirt and sailor collar with a beige ribbon tied under it, and with the sunflower logo of the private school she attends - Tamako Academy - embroidered on the shirt.

She changed into it and made her way to her bathroom to get ready for school. She brushed her hair and put it into odango buns - leaving some hair hanging down to also create pigtails - brushed her teeth, performed her skincare routine, and used her finger to apply pink tinted lipgloss that smelled of cherries. Once she was finished, Sakura headed downstairs for breakfast where she was greeted by the rest of her family: her younger sister - 11-year-old Liliana - and their parents. "Good morning sweetie, how did you sleep?", Misses Hinata asked her daughter. "Just fine Mum", Sakura said with a smile at her mother. The girl sat at the table as her mother served her a bowl of miso soup, along with a side dish of steamed rice and grilled fish. She picked up a pair of chopsticks and broke up the fish, scooping it into her mouth with some rice. "Did you get all of your homework done?", her father asked. "I finished it all the day I got it, so I didn't have any homework left to do yesterday. Instead, I did some extra credit assignments!", Sakura proudly stated, taking a sip of her miso soup. "That's my girl", Mister Hinata said, putting down his newspaper. Mss Hinata walked over with two bowls full of miso soup and set one down in front of her husband before sitting down to eat herself. "Thank you darling", Mr Hinata said. "You're welcome, Dear", she replied warmly.

Somewhere else in the suburbs of Tokyo, a girl with blonde hair was lying on a futon on the floor of a dark and messy room. A clock on the wall read 8:07, and the girl was still groggily lying on her futon, half asleep, and with frizzy bed hair that got worse every time she tossed and turned. The girl's mother came into the room declaring "Ema, wake up! School starts in 40 minutes!". The girl responded with a sleepy moan and turned the other way, pulling the blanket over her. "I made kimchi pancakes", Ema's mother said as she opened the curtains, letting light stream into the previously dark room. The sound of food got Ema's attention. She leapt out of bed and quickly got dressed into a variation of the uniform Sakura put on, except with a long-sleeved version of the blouse that was oversized and left hanging over her skirt, and the addition of black stockings. Without brushing her hair, she ran down the stairs to find a plate of kimchi pancakes lying on the table. "Thanks for the food!", she said, before taking a bite, only to realize they were cold. She made a disgusted face at the food and whined "Muuum, this is cold!", "You should have gotten up sooner to eat them when they were warm". The girl pouted and mumbled "I'll just get breakfast on the way to school", she said, standing up, "see ya", and with that, she put on her scuffed brown shoes and sprinted out the door to school.

In an apartment within the city district of Tokyo, a rather tall brown-haired boy was sitting in his bedroom eating a bowl of kimchi rice for dinner. Once the boy had finished, he walked past a small photo frame of Sakura that was sitting on his wooden desk on his way to the kitchen and put his dishes in the dishwasher. Then he proceeded to the front door, putting on white crew socks and a pair of polished black school shoes. Grabbing his school bag, he walked out the door and shut it behind him.

There was another boy, one with scruffy orange hair, who was sitting on his unmade bed getting ready for school. He was wearing a casual version of the Tamako Academy school uniform, consisting of brown shorts with a white t-shirt shirt and mid-calf black socks. The boy gave his hair a quick brush before his mother called him down for breakfast. "Ichigo, get down here already! Breakfast is ready.", the voice called. "Coming!", Ichigo called back as he walked out of his room.