| backstory |

Cèdre Sterling (born as Day Bierce) is the eldest progeniture of Ambrose Bierce and Mary Ellen Bierce. Their early years were spent being homeschooled while moving all over the United States due to their father’s military background granting him a prominent government position. Home life was tense, however; Cèdre’s father was a pacifist and despised his job as a result, meanwhile Cèdre’s mother was caught having an affair. Many of their early memories are of confrontations between their parents, as they tried to shield their younger brothers from the fighting as best they could.Cèdre was ten when their parents’ divorce was finalized, and their father took away their brothers; however, Cèdre stayed with their father. Cèdre wrote many letters to their brothers, but after they all went unanswered, they came to accept that it was likely Mary Ellen had cut off Lee and Castor entirely. Home life was rocky due Ambrose's declining mental health; he suffered episodes of irritability caused by brain trauma he'd sustained in the war he'd served in. Cèdre quickly learned to be seen and not heard. While Ambrose was not an abusive father, he was one that poorly coped with his grief and frustration and there was no one else to vent his frustrations to.Cèdre's high school years were rough and filled with episodes of self-harm from them coming to blame themself for their parents' divorce due to the constant negativity that they were exposed to at home; the poor state of their mental health also went unnoticed by their father and by the school as externally Cèdre was perceived as a quiet student of high intelligence with their perfect grades. They also participated in chess club, debate club, and they were part of the school newspaper staff.At the age of sixteen, Cèdre ran away from home for the first time of what would be dozens of times. They were volatile and constantly in the school counselor's office, if they were at school in the first place. Tried to join the military twice, rejected both times due to failing the psychological assessment. In spite of their poor attendance, they managed to graduate high school with passing grades and got into the University of Minnesota after being rejected by their top choices.Cèdre was a better college student than high school student; however, they were still troubled mentally. Self-harm was replaced by smoking and drinking, though they managed to hold down their part-time job at the university library despite their erratic behavior. They settled for idly drifting through life for a couple of years, until a clerical error sent them an approval email to attend a university trip to Japan. Disillusioned by their current surroundings, they did not say a word about the error and went along with it.Their twenties is when their poor treatment of their body made a dormant auto-immune illness active, and they began to fall extremely ill. It was also during this time in Japan that they met a certain doctor who took an interest in the self-destructive outcast, primarily because they were a difficult patient and so they were a puzzle to solve. While the condition wasn't curable, it was possible to stabilize and manage.Nearly a decade later, Cèdre found themself with the opportunity to relocate to Japan due to the country offering an incentive to skilled worker immigrants. Having become a school counselor in the hopes of preventing some students from falling down the dark paths they had in their youth, Cèdre accepted a position at Ōma Academy.

| gakuen dynamics |