The story starts out with Sheryl's mother Sally giving Sheryl her family heirloom the fold quartz earrings. Sally tells Sheryl that she received the fold earrings as a child and that the earrings are a charm used to convey her wishes. Sheryl asks her mother if its okay for her to get such an important item but Sally tells Sheryl that her wish was already granted (she found the one she loved). On the next page Sheryl's father appears and jokes that they're leaving him out, but turns away as the doorbell rings. Sheryl's father whose name is Abel Coureaux (whose last name is one letter off from meaning either runner or courageous in French, guess that explains why Sheryl's message to Grace was in French) is greeted by three men in black who then tells that that they are found guilty of criminal insurrection for not accepting the new bill which makes it mandatory for all citizens of the galaxy to have implants. Sheryl's father tells Sheryl and Sally to run, and is shot and killed. Sally realizing that they've already found their escape route only has time to let only Sheryl escape. Before she sends Sheryl away in a shaft she tells Sheryl to live as her and Abel did. Sally then cries and apologizes to Sheryl before she is shot and killed.
The story then flashes forward a few months and we see Sheryl walking around in what used to be a white dress scrounging in a trash can, and eating the food she finds there. We then see her get accosted by a bald man who plans to rape her and then prostitute her out for money. This never happens (thank God) as Grace restrains him with one hand, and threaten to take him to the police. The man becoming scared lets go of Sheryl and runs away while cursing at
Grace. Grace then turns to Sheryl and immediately call out the fact that Sheryl has nice eyes (they compliment her eyes a lot in this manga) and asks Sheryl to come with her, but Sheryl is very distrustful of Grace. Grace then brings out her business card and introduces herself as an entertainment manager who is looking for someone who will become the greatest star in the galaxy. Sheryl thinks about Grace's words while remembering her mother's last words decides that there is no future for her living on the streets, and decides to go with Grace.
The manga then flashes forward another three years, where Sheryl is now about to attend vocal school, (the School's actual name is the Elato Music Academy). The scene opens up to Sheryl's clutching Grace's hand in nervousness as she enters her first day of school. Grace reassures Sheryl that she'll be fine and Sheryl then turns to Grace and thanks Grace for teaching her to sing. Sheryl then introduces herself to her classmates, and is told to sit down next to Lylith. After Sheryl sits down the teacher then announces to the class that the government is sponsoring a musical about Minmei, and that everyone in the class will be able to participate. After class Lylith is talking to two of their classmates and we find out that Lylith is already a bit ahead of the class appearing in commercial where she has written her own lyrics for the jingles. Sheryl looks over at Lylith and then recognizes her from the commercials that she saw on TV and compliments Lylith on her beauty (in her head). The two classmates talking to Lylith notices Sheryl looking at Lylith and then insult her, saying aloud that Sheryl doesn't have an implant because she's homeless. However, Lylith immediately puts a stop to the gossip, telling her that most gossip is false and one should not believe all the everything they hear.
The scene flashes forward to Lylith singing "Ai, oboete imasuka?" in music class. After her song Lylith is complimented on her singing by the teacher. Sheryl is asked to sing next and she decides to sing "Aimo". Her teacher tells Sheryl that she of course doesn't know the song, and asks her to pick another one, but Lylith points out that is Aimo is Sheryl's best song then she should sing it acapella, after all with no accompaniment the song alone can give the teacher a better feel on Sheryl's strengths and weaknesses in singing. Sheryl then sings the song and while both the teacher and Lylith are impressed Sheryl's bullies didn't even listen to her song.
The manga then flashes forward (again) to the preliminaries of the musical audition to Sheryl who then decides that she will sing her best for her parents, and Grace (hmm....). During the audition Sheryl is intimidated by the judges who ask about her hobbies and specialty which Sheryl answers is singing. Sheryl then sings "A, oboete imasuka?", and the judges stop her in the middle of her song and Sheryl leaves the preliminaries dejected. We then get to see the judges give their critique on Sheryl, calling her song saying that although she is unpolished and has a sad air about her, she is very honest in her singing is very straightforward.
After that scene the manga flashes forward again, and we find out that Sheryl, Lylith and the bullies Rose and Maria all made it to the final round. Lylith leaves class and goes to the music room where she walks in on Sheryl coughing up blood. Lylith tells Sheryl that she is crushing herself by singing with her head, and that Sheryl should try singing from her stomach. Sheryl thanks her, and commends Lylith for being so observant, and proceeds to put herself down. Lylith then outright tells Sheryl that if she has no confidence then she will never "reach her destiny." Lylith then drags Sheryl to her a Kabuki theater where we see Yasaburo playing the lead role in a play called "Double Suicide at Sonezaki". Sheryl is moved by the performance (I guess this explains her love for Kabuki) and turns to Lylith and notices that she's in love with Yasaburo.
As Lylith and Sheryl leave the theater, they are stopped by a (he may be Lylith's father) who then talks down to Lylith for appearing and singing jingles in commercials, and for falling in love with Yasaburo. Lylith turns to the man and tells him how unsightly it must be for the public to see him speaking like that to the cast-aside daughter of Enjuuro Amagi. Lylith then walks away in anger and Sheryl follows her. On what may be a bridge, Lylith tells Sheryl that when she was born her father was upset because she was not a boy, and couldn't inherit his Kabuki theater so he enrolled her into the Erato Academy when she was very young. Sometime afterward her mother died and her father re-married and had a son with his new wife, who he hopes to surpass the Saotome family. Her father doesn't really care about her and has no hopes for her future. Lylith then points out that much of the girls at Erato are also in circumstances in which they have to succeed.
The two girls who bully Sheryl have their own problems. Rose comes from an aristocratic family, who were in so much debt the sold her off to the school, and since the school is government run they will put a lot of money into making sure she succeeds. In other words she's an investment and she knows it. Maria is also from a well to do family, but she was sent off to school because of her parents' divorce. Lylith tells Sheryl that because everyone there has their own burdens she doesn't know about Sheryl's past and she doesn't care, all she knows is that Sheryl is a good singer who can express herself easily by song, but since Sheryl's songs are filled with sadness and loneliness she cannot become Minmei whose songs were filled with love. Lylith then tells Sheryl since she has implants within her ears she can hear better than the normal human, in other words better than Sherylk, however she wants for Sheryl to be her real rival.