Spoiler :

To anyone who has tried this story:

Sorry about leaving you with technically only one chapter that makes no sense, if you want to find out the reasons as to why this happened you can read the spoiler section of  RF and  WMAW.

I have a good feeling about this story, mainly because I think the genre will suit my writing style a bit better then my other two stories do, as it is actually intended to be slice of life from the very beginning. The main character is also from what I have seen, very different from most other MC's I have seen so far.

Something interesting to keep in mind is that Sakura (specifically her appearance) will not change much throughout the story. What I mean is that she won't go through a sudden transformation that turns her into a perfect beauty (at least not in the traditional sense and not in the beginning or even the middle).

Also because of the complaints I have received, after I get around to describing her appearance in a bit more detail... and you have really good imagination and want to get rid of my current cover art, if you send me a replacement I will consider using it.

Several things to keep in mind:

*It must be astoundingly good and in my tastes

*I can't compensate you, at least financially

*I probably won't use it, but even if I don't I shall post it on one of the chapters anyway so others can see it, unless you don't want me too.

Also if you dislike the art of my other story's, either RF or WMAW you can always submit a cover for them as well, but keep in mind that  I am even more unlikely to use it.

A Mostly Happy Family

(Samantha now called Sakura)

Before I died my name was Samantha Swanson.

My father’s name was Howard, my mother’s name was Kara, they were basically the usual breadwinner and housewife pair, and I had two older Sisters Lucinda, a queen b***h and Ramona. I also had one older brother Howard younger then my sisters, a passive sports freak and basically Lucinda’s slave. Then there was me and last was the baby, his name was James.

For most of that life I was under the delusion that our family was a completely ordinary, healthy and happy family. And on the surface at least that was mostly true. Our parents were far from getting a divorce and when they weren’t squabbling or bickering over minor things they seemed like they were in love with each other.

My siblings Lucy and Howie were both doing quite well in school, Lucy with her cheer-leading and academics and Howie with his sports and student council activities. I myself was into track and would often join any sports club who asked me to join.

Even with baby James, even though it was too early to really tell, it seemed that he was if not above average in his development certainly not below. For the longest time even back then, the only one who I felt didn’t fit in, and didn’t seem happy was Ramona.

Almost our whole family was athletic, my father was a retired football player, and my mother had been a dancer that had even made it on the stage. We all loved to go on vacations that involved the great outdoors, hiking, swimming or other extreme tests of endurance and survival were activities that we preferred.  Yes our whole family liked to do those sorts of things, our whole family except Ramona.

She would always stay in the house, or the tent or the hotel and would sit there and read a book or do mysterious things on her computer. Whenever one of us asked her to play with us or participate in some fun activity if she didn’t refuse she would whine and complain and incompetently join in while sighing depressingly.

She was also unlike the rest of us physically, we who were all toned and fit from our participation in sports and or gym workouts, in comparison to her who was somewhat overweight and would get out of breath easily.

My parents would constantly nag on her to eat less or to get up and move. But she didn’t seem to listen or to care, and would just sit there stoically. My other siblings would also nag the rare times my parents didn’t beat them do it, but they were slightly more insulting.

Instead of using euphemisms like overweight or chubby, like my parents did. They would often yell at her things such as fatty or obese. I myself was also guilty of this sometimes but in my defense it was usually only when I didn’t get my way with her, was angry, or sometimes when I was jealous to see her eating as much as she wanted while I couldn’t knowing from personal experience that I would feel sick when I tried run on an overstuffed stomach.

Her level of fitness wasn’t the only way she seemed to differ either.

My father is in a leadership position in his job and is always saying such phrases as

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“You can do anything you put your mind too all it takes is will power and the desire to succeed”

He was also quite strict with us.

My mother used to be a Miss Vineland pageant contestant and had even once won a state level contest, she knew everything about fashion and style, and she has managed to continue hundreds of friendships most of them from her school years, despite her extremely busy schedule with her volunteer work and ‘housewife’ duties.

Lucinda and my mother could be twins, and my sister seems to be following in her footsteps, being a cheerleader and head of her social group. If you hear about a huge party being planned at our school my sister was probably involved in the planning at some level.

Although Howard didn’t really have much ambitions he still possessed a sort of charisma that made him extremely popular without him even really trying, and most everybody he met became his friend or at least got along with him.

Although I myself wasn’t traditionally popular, because I liked to be extremely busy I would volunteer to help anyone who asked me too. Teachers especially found me dependable, and if someone was starting a program at school the one they would go to for advice in getting things organized was usually me.

Although unlike my brother I never ran for student government I was fairly sure that if I did I probably could have easily won, as most everyone seemed to know who I was and were on if not friendly then neutral terms with me.

Ramona on the other hand was an introvert, near to being a shut in. Except for occasional participation in drama club or after school creative writing, and frequent trips to the library, she almost never chose to go outside. She also didn’t seem to have any friends at all.

Unlike my mother and Sister who made daily make up checks and myself who would put it on when the occasion required. Ramona almost never wore make up or dressed up, the few times she did a year my mother would have to force her, or Lucy would use her as an unwilling manikin.

Her clothes were always sloppy, as my parents said she looked like a slob. My brother often insisted that she had horrid hygiene and that she stank. Although to me she smelled perfectly fine if not nice, I might have deceived myself into agreeing with him anyway, had I not known for a fact that she bathed almost every day as we both preferred to take showers at night and thus often fought over who would go first.

Sometimes it seemed to me that my family hated her, to my father she was a disappointment, to my mother she was embarrassment, and to my other two elder siblings often times they seemed to use her as a stress relief essentially she became their verbal punching bag they used to feel better about themselves.

I myself would like to think that I wasn’t as bad, but as mentioned this doesn’t mean that I got along with her. Actually at that time I feel that I was rather apathetic and neutral when it came to her. She was just sort of there in my life, almost as if she were part of the furniture, or was a pet that had long lost the excitement of newness and was now only another chore.

Did the dishes, check, took out the trash, check, fed the lazy older sister, check.

Actually even though I say I didn’t spend much time with her with my neat freak and generally nice and submissive personality as I usually ended up doing most of the chores in my free time, and the fact that we shared several habits and a sleep schedule of fellow night owls, I probably spent more time with her then the rest of my family combined.

Obviously my elder sister was the favorite of my mom, Howard was the favorite of my dad and I and the baby came in as a close third almost tied with James, the baby having a slight lead. Ramona on the other hand seemed like she always came in last.

We would go to her drama productions, but  as she never had any important roles and we would usually just give her lip service on how well she did as tree number 8 or whatever minor part she had, and then stop talking about her play and instead move on to other topics on the ride home.

During that brief stint in time that she was a part of the school marching band we would go to her recitals and concerts, but as with the plays, nothing much was said and the compliments were routine and soon pushed aside for more important conversation like my brother’s football games.

As I have already mentioned I didn’t really think much of anything for her. In fact other than an occasional wince in sympathy, and regular moments of joy at the fact that I wasn’t doing anything to receive the same treatment she did, I didn’t really think of her at all.

Then that incident happened to me and things changed when I got to know her. It was to the point that the way I looked at the world was nearly turned upside down.  

I am especially glad now that this happened because if it hadn’t happened I would have never have gotten into liking light novels. And I would never have gotten the information of just how my new life was similar to those literature genres, and one story in particular.

It all started when I was hospitalized.