Vol 1 Chapter 1

I - Forced Unison

Figure Skating Women's Singles Athlete Profile--

Sakurano Tazusa

Born September 10, 1989, in Tokyo

First-year student at Saint Touland Girls' School

Age: 16 years

Height: 158 cm

Regular rink: Tokyo Crystal Garden

Began lessons at the above rink in 1994

Hobbies: anime appreciation, collecting comics

Coach: Takas.h.i.+ma Yuuji

Princ.i.p.al Past Achievements

2004MarchJunior World Champions.h.i.+ps 3rd Place DecemberNHK Cup 5th Place2005Januaryj.a.pan National Champions.h.i.+ps 2nd Place MarchWorld Athletics Champions.h.i.+ps 17th Place

And then, heading into the Olympic season.

2005, early November, the first of the Grand Prix Series, Skate America, 10th place.

To get this result in a compet.i.tion that will influence the selection of representatives is definitely painful.

Returning to j.a.pan with a disappointed feeling...

Early morning practice, commuting to school with my bag in one hand, then after school, more practice. These sorts of everyday things began again.

Compared to America, j.a.pan has not yet developed a system that takes athletes' responsibilities into consideration so they can balance it with their schoolwork.

There are provisions for overlooking various things, but though I may be an Olympic candidate, I'm still stuck with having to take the regularly scheduled exams.

I, Sakurano Tazusa-sama, studying for school? Yes, exactly. Don't be stupid.

The sister's solemn organ playing reverberates through the school church. Everyone in school is standing and singing the harmonies of the hymn.

Everyone in the cla.s.s stands and sings the hymn.

Right now, I am staring at the boring first page, with the logo of our Catholic school. In such a situation, falling asleep would be impossible, even for me--

"......"

Huh? What is this? I hear somebody's voice. It's not a singing voice, either.

"Scuse me a sec."

It's a male voice. I stopped singing and shot a glance around the room... as expected, all women. This is an all-girls school, after all. No way you'd hear a man's voice here. It's just my imagination.

"Hey, can I..."

"Who's there?!"

No doubt about it. Someone is unbelievably close right now. Filled with confusion, I looked all around me in a circle, but the ten closes people to me just stared at me with annoyed faces.

"What are you doing before G.o.d?"

Their gazes carry that accusation.

"Tazusa, what's wrong?"

See now! The girl whispering from my right......

The one person you could call my close friend, an ice mate from the same rink, Honjou Mika.

"Haha......nothing really. Just an auditory hallucination..."