Kurata Sana is a sixth grade actress. She lives with her mother, their housekeeper and her driver/manager/boyfriend/pimp, Sagami Rei. (If you're alarmed already, Sana doesn't even know what a pimp is, and Rei isn't one. ^_^;) Sana works on the popular TV show, Zenjirou's 'Kodomo no Omocha', which imitates school life.

However, her real school life is nothing like her on-camera school life. In reality, Sana's class is absolute chaos. The teacher, Mitsuya-sensei, is in constant fear of her students (the male half, anyway) and they are absolutely aggressive. They fight and play ball games in the classroom, they distract the teacher and throw things at her. In short, no study is actually carried out.

Mitsuya-sensei cowers -- Kodomo no Omocha on the air

When things get out of hand, a male teacher, Tanaka-sensei, comes into the room to help Mitsuya-sensei to maintain order. But he is just as unsuccessful. Whenever he begins to really take control, he is stopped by a subtle threat from the leader of the boys (or "boss monkey", as Sana calls him) - Hayama Akito.

Unlike all the boys who follow his lead, Hayama does not wreak havoc. He just calmly sits, listening to his Walkman. Sana finally becomes fed up with the chaotic classroom, wishing she could have a normal school life. So she confronts Hayama, and the two clash a few times before things change more significantly.

Sana vs Hayama!

Sana learns how Hayama is controlling the teachers. Mitsuya and Tanaka are an item, but it is taboo for teachers to date each other, especially on school grounds. But Hayama managed to take some photos of the two making out, and uses them as blackmail - if they dare stop the boys from doing what they want, the photos will be spread around the school and they will lose their jobs.

Sana retaliates, enlisting the aid of Tsuyoshi (a boy who has a crush on her, and thinks Hayama has gone too far). Suffice to say, Sana manages to get a photo of Hayama underclothed, and Hayama has a lot of pride - he doesn't want the photo to get out. So the tables have turned - instead of the teachers being under his control, he is under Sana's control.

She makes him apologise to the girls, stop the boys from playing up, and a few other things. In the meantime, she goes by his house and happens to see/hear some of what goes on there. His older sister, Natsumi, shouts at him, calling him a 'devil child' (Sana's former name for him too) and throwing him out the house. Hayama's father just ignores him. He works a lot, and doesn't care much about his family.

Hayama's sister and father

Sana is shocked. She realises how bad Hayama's home life is, and begins to understand why he acts the way he does. Hayama's mother died giving birth to him, and Natsumi never forgave him for that. The family don't communicate with each other, and Hayama is not welcome in his own home.

There is a made-for-TV movie that Sana was to act in with the famous actress Kurumi Asako, and she realised how much the story of it paralleled Hayama's situation. Wanting to help him, she tried really hard and did the best in the drama that she could. She told (ordered) "Hayama's weird family" to watch the drama, preferably as a family.

When Sana went to check that they were all watching it together, she found that Hayama had been kicked out of the house again, and had to eat alone. She found Hayama and acted a role from the drama - the mother. She spoke to Hayama as if she were his mother, saying that she gave birth to him with all of the effort she did because she loved him.

Hayama listens to all this quietly, and she realises he's actually sick. She takes Hayama home, where Natsumi and her father had watched the drama. Hayama's father seemed to suddenly realise that he had a son, and takes him home to look after him while he is sick.

Their situation doesn't reverse instantly, but from then on, things change in the Hayama household, for the better. Hayama eats with the family, his sister rarely screams at him any more, and his father actually talks to him a little. They learn to live as a family.

Resulting from this, Sana and Hayama begin to get along a little better. It's gradual at first, but soon they become very close friends.

Sana has been seeing Kurumi Asako, the beautiful young actress, on several occasions recently. Strangely, whenever Sana is around Asako, her manager Rei disappears. Rei and Asako had a past together.

Asako and Rei

Things are becoming a little complicated in terms of romance. Sana likes Rei, who likes Asako, who likes him back, but Rei is obligated to stay with Sana, who is also liked by Tsuyoshi and now Hayama. On a field trip, Hayama actually kisses Sana, which shocks and angers her, making her feel as though she had been unfaithful to Rei. But Rei doesn't really care.

Rei used to date Asako, but after she left him temporarily to pursue an acting career, he flunked out of college, and then both his parents died. After a while, his money was gone and he became a homeless person. Sana, a young child, found him on the street and took him home with her, much to the shock of her mother. ^_^.

Asako and Rei in high school -- Sana meets/finds Rei

Because of Sana, Rei had a home, a job and a decent life again. When Sana was little and had just learned about boyfriends, she said she wanted one and asked Rei if he would be hers. Feeling indebted to her, he agreed, not taking her seriously of course. But Sana grew up believing their relationship was real.

To Rei, Sana is the most important thing. He still likes Asako, and she tries to get into contact with him, but he says he owes everything to Sana and must stay with her.

Around this time, Sana meets Tsuyoshi's little sister, Aono, who carried an egg from the supermarket in a little bag, believing it would one day hatch. Sana thought this idea was cute, and secretly replaced the egg with a baby chick to please her. Hayama told her she shouldn't have done it, because Aono will grow up believing that any egg will hatch into a chicken, and some day will humiliate herself because of that false belief.

Rei is really torn up, wanting to date Asako but feeling tied to Sana. Sana's mother finally helps him out by telling Sana that her relationship with Rei is not real, and that she thought Sana would be mature enough to realise that on her own, but apparently she was too dumb.

Sana feels humiliated and wants to run away, but Hayama finds her and talks her into staying. She sees the parallel between her situation and Aono's egg. She decides to let Rei and Asako get back together, and helps them. She is sad about losing Rei, but he's still like a big brother and Sana is too cheerful to be depressed for a long time.

Rei, having failed as a boyfriend, decides to pour himself into his role as manager, to get Sana as famous and as much money as possible. Sana has a lot of energy and does many commercials, being so busy she doesn't have time for her friends. Everyone, including Sana, is rather relieved when the time of strenuous work is finally over.

Around this time, Aya, one of Sana's classmates, admits she has a crush on a boy in their class. It turns out to be Tsuyoshi, who is going through a bit of a rough patch with his parents divorcing. Sana and Hayama help him out and sort of comfort him when he's upset, and Aya later sticks up for him against the boys in their class.

Tsuyoshi and Aya

Sana finds out why Tsuyoshi had a crush on her for so long - he got a Valentine from her last year. In reality, it was a 'discard' Valentine that she shoved into the arms of a random person. Tsuyoshi is embarassed to hear this, but it doesn't matter since Aya does like him. After she gives him a birthday present, he changes his affections pretty quickly and starts going out with her instead.

And now Sana has a new problem. Since all her commercials went to air, she has become more popular than ever. Her mother reminds her of a promise she and Sana made when Sana was five. Sana's mother would try to become a famous author, while Sana should aim at being a "little more well-known than most children".

Now, Sana and her mother have both accomplished this goal, so her mother says it is time to put their promise into effect. While Sana goes on a field trip/camp with her school, Mama write an essay/book about the two of them. Its contents are secret, but will be known by everyone at the end of summer, when it is published.

In the mean time, Sana enjoys a summer vacation. She meets Naozumi when she co-stars with him in a commercial. He is a popular boy actor who is a big fan of her (or something more...). He says he knows her secret - the secret in the essay - and that he is like her. Sana is a bit confused, but has no time to think of it, because an exciting new event is coming up.

Naozumi -- Sana/Hayama's principal

Sana loves the theatre, and now the drama group Komawari is putting on a production with her as the star. All her friends go to see it, and Sana is brilliant. Naozumi comments to Hayama (who he is jealous of) that unless he was good at something and worked hard at it like Sana did, he didn't deserve her.

Hayama thought about this, and at his school principal's recommendation, decides to take up karate. This is against his rather lazy nature, but Hayama is the type who can be very good at something if he tries - and if he starts, he will try.

And now, the essay is released. When Sana was 5, her mother told her that she was not her real mother. Through becoming popular, they would find a way to communicate to many members of the public that Sana's real mother was missing - and hopefully, try to find her.

Sana was worried about the essay being published, because she thought her mother might want to give her over to her real mother. Meanwhile, Sana's mother is worried that Sana might want to go back to her real mother. ^_^;

When Misako (Sana's mother) was younger, she found that she had a very slim chance of mothering children. She developed an inferiority complex, then thought that if she couldn't be like an ordinary woman, she would be an *extraordinary* woman, and that is when she began to act eccentrically. At the same time, she happened to find Sana - a newborn baby - lying abandoned on a park bench. She adopted her soon after and brought her up, but never tried to hide the truth from her.

They are bombarded by the media, and Sana takes refuge at Hayama's house. The media goes to Sana's school (Sana stays home), her home, and goes on TV. Naozumi goes on TV, talking about how he had a similar past, being abadoned by his real parents. He does this to distract the media from harassing Sana.

When Sana returns home, it is because her real mother has been found. Her name is Sakai Keiko. Misako talks to her harshly, angry that she was so irresponsible not to look after her baby. But Keiko was only 14 when she had Sana!

Keiko and Mariko

Now, she is married with a young girl of her own, Mariko. Sana is thrilled with her little sister, and is not angry at Keiko for abandoning her, because she loves her life. She is grateful to Keiko for having her in the first place, but she does not consider her to be her mother, and will not live with anyone but Misako.

Naozumi was abandoned outside an orphanage, Kamura Institute, and was raised there. Sana spent a month there herself when she was young. She revisits the old place and gets to know Naozumi a little better.

Now that the fuss from Misako's essay has died down, and it fulfilled its purpose, Sana realises she is not obligated to become "a little more well-known than most children", and is very happy to relax. She starts partying and hanging out with her friends, taking up all the hobbies and fun things she had to drop for work. Rei is worried that he might lose his job.

Hayama has begun karate, and the dojo master realises he is serious. He says that for Japan's karate, the women are competetive but the men are rather weak. Hayama decides to give it a try, big goal though it is. Sana, realising that he began karate to become good at something he liked - like her! - remembers that she loves acting and decides not to quit after all.

Sana's school situation has been improving a lot lately, and they actually learn things now. They have caught up to the other classes in terms of where they are in the syllabus, but their exam scores are lower, having wasted so much time at the beginning of term with the guys wreaking havoc.

Andou-sensei, a rather... dedicated... teacher, does not like class 3 (Sana's class) and says there will be a proficiency exam. Sana realises that her maths is so bad that she will probably fail that aspect of it, so she won't be able to go to middle school with her friends. She panics, but Hayama helps her out, and Andou breaks down as all Sana's classmates plead that the exam be postponed so that Sana can learn what she needs to in time.

And so, life goes on, with work and school and who knows what else...?