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I've been working on a script for a Visual Novel, in it one of the heroine's
Sakura address's the main hero Talavaliau (Tala for short) as Sempai because
she has a crush on him and can't bring herself to actually call him by his
name even with honorifics but also as a sign of respect for his nature

i base this on a number of anime/manga/books/games i have seen where a younger
girl addresses an older crush as sempai and in most cases their just a class
year's difference or have a year gap between their age

i know that sempai is used as a form of respect for younger students to
address older students however in my script, Tala ends up being reassigned
into Sakura's class so they are in the same year in the school, Tala's and
Sakua's age are the same but Tala's birthday falls on the same day as his
foster sister (he no longer remembers his real birth date and uses the day he
was saved/adopted) which is only 1 month before Sakura's

so i am wondering if Sempai can be used to address a student of the same
year/age or if i should use another term which doesn't involve using a
person's name
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learning
Can Sempai be used to address a student of the same year/age
It can refer simply to age, but especially in the context of school it will
refer to someone in a grade above you. It's a similar thing in work or other
organizations: your 先輩 are the ones who came first and outrank you. Outside of
a strict hierarchy (like school or work) I think it just refers to the idea of
someone being older, as in [彼は私の5年先輩です。 (He is five years my
senior.)](http://eow.alc.co.jp/search?q=%E5%85%88%E8%BC%A9&ref=sa) It may also
be worth noting that dictionary entries tend to roll up the idea of simply
being born first into the same definition as seniority in academia or in arts,
so this may be more of a reference to someone who is more wise or
knowledgeable rather than _just_ being older. For example I don't think you
really refer to elderly people as senpai.

_Technically_ your classmate is your 同輩 (douhai), although as istrasci (and
formerly snailboat) reminds us this term is not the most common, and instead
同級生 or other more common terms would be used (emphasis that this describes the
relationship, _not_ the term you would use to talk to them). These people
would be _addressed_ with kun/chan/san/whatever else. When in doubt, just
stick within the established hierarchy. As a (pro?)noun used to address
people, though, you have senpai but not much else.
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In context of some organization, Senpai means came earlier and is not
necessarily based on age.

One can call younger people 'Senpai' in corporation.
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A classmate would never call another sempai. That is reserved for people in
the year(s) above you, or people who began your job before you. (You say "just
one year apart" but that one year makes a big difference and is important.) In
a class at school, everyone is equal, regardless of their actual birth date.
She would call him [name]-kun or [name] with no honorific if they were close.
If they met for the first time outside school, it would still be ridiculous
for her to use sempai because that's only for school/work. If you want her to
use something besides his name to his face, it has to be a teasing nickname,
like Mamoru would call Usagi "Odango-atama" in Sailormoon.
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Yes, " _sempai_ " **_can_ be used** to address a student of the same age, or
even possibly someone of the same year, if he/she entered the group before you
(for example, if he/she joined the club in the spring semester and you joined
in the fall semester).

Adapted from part of my answer to a question on Anime & Manga SE
[here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/25764/8134):

_Sempai_ (「先輩」) are upperclassmen **in some sense** , to whom a Japanese
person will always be _kouhai_ (「後輩」, underclassmen) throughout their lives
after graduation.

_Sempai_ are **_often_ older, but not always**: more important than age is the
person’s **year in school** _OR_ **number of years in the shared 部活／サークル／チーム**
( _bukatsu_ /circle/team = student organization), **アルバイト** ( _arubaito_ =
part-time job), **会社** ( _kaisha_ = company), **ボランティア活動** ( _borantia
katsudou_ = volunteering group), etc. **at the time that the _kouhai_ enters**
said school, club, team, or company.

For example:

  * If you enter university as a freshman and meet a sophomore who is your own age, he/she is automatically your _sempai_ by virtue of being a grade ahead of you.
  * Even if you had graduated from the same class at the same high school and are the same age, if you had 浪人した ( _rouninshita_ = taken a year off after failing a college entrance exam and attending 予備校 [ _yobikou_ = cram school specifically for entering university]) and he/she didn't, now he/she is your _sempai_ from college onwards.
  * I'm a member of the manga student group at my university in Japan, and we all call each other by “-san.” Even though they're all younger than me (since I'm a grad student and they're undergrads), it would be totally inappropriate for me to start calling them in 呼び捨て ( _yobisute_ = without a respectful name suffix) because they either 1) are my _sempai_ in terms of number of years of membership in the club, or 2) they entered the club at the same time as me.
  * Even if you have not seen your _sempai_ in decades and you are now both middle-aged and working at different companies of equal repute, when you meet again he/she is still your superior to whom you must look up to, defer to, and serve; there is no evening-out of level in Japanese _sempai/kouhai_ culture. There is no analogous system to this in Western culture.
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