The Pet Girl of Sakura Hall

Episode 1

When I grow old someday...

And I look back on my time at Sakurasou, I wonder what I would think...

Would I be shocked at how ridiculous it all was?

Or perhaps, would I reflect on those days packed with fun and excitement with a sense of nostalgia?

If it was a bit of both, I couldn't ask for more.

Because when all's said and done, those were the best days of my life.

***

When he woke up, the first thing he saw was a full pair of white, lush buttocks.

"... Hikari, you again?"

When he called her name, he heard her give off a coaxing little purr.

Not paying her any heed, Kanda Sorata pushed the butt that Hikari had thrust in his face aside, and pulled himself up from the grey rug he was laying on. Hikari gave off a sulky pout when she was forced off, but Sorata brushed that aside too with a single sigh.

"This is just cruel..."

Sorata squinted as he looked through the window to the bright landscape beyond. The sky in the East burned an intense red as if foretelling the end of the world.

"To wake up right to a cat's butt in my face... my teenage life is just way too cruel."

As the feelings of despair closed in on him, Sorata covered his face with his hands.

"Nah, maybe it's more terrible for me to just be running my mouth like this about 'teenage life'..."

Seeming to agree, the white cat Hikari on Sorata's lap gave off a yawn. (1) And then, the other six cats living in this six-tatami (2) room began a chorus of meows, asking to be fed.

White, black, spotted, brown tabby, Siamese-ish, and what looked like an American short-hair... all seven of these diversely varied cats had been abandoned and then picked up by Sorata. He also gave them proper names, and they were called Hikari, Nozomi, Kodama, Tsubasa, Komachi, Aoba, and Asahi.

Faced with these cats pining for food, Sorata responded with the growling of his own stomach. The message was clear. Your master is hungry too, you know.

It was the last day of spring break, April 5th. It was five in the evening.

This raggedy, wooden, two-story apartment building was a dormitory belonging to the senior high school affiliated with the Suimei College of the Arts.

Perhaps taking a cue from the large sakura tree in the courtyard, the building's name was Sakurasou.

The kitchen, dining room, and bathrooms were all shared.

It took ten minutes to walk to school. The nearest station was also a ten minute walk.

And room 101 was the home base of Kanda Sorata, who had just become a second-year student that spring.

As his first piece of calligraphy for the year, Sorata had written a huge message on the wall: "GOAL: Get out of Sakurasou!!"

Sorata's current problem wasn't finding a girlfriend, or making it to Koushien. (3) Of course, he had no aspirations of going to the National Stadium or making it to Soutai (4). All he wanted to do was to get out of this dorm.

Because Sakurasou was a bit different from normal dormitories.

It was a place for rehabbing students who had been kicked out of other dorms; to be blunt, it was a nest for problem children. Unlike normal dorms, there wasn't a den mother, and as there was no cafeteria, the students themselves had to cook, do laundry, and clean. It was annoying. The school claimed that this was all for the sake of encouraging self-reliance, but Sorata felt that it was just because they couldn't find someone to work there.