AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 15

## Chapter 15 - Drowning in Freshwater

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"Come on, To-chan! Hurry up and go tell her!"

Suzume urged the fretting girl, and Toshiko let out a groan. "I know, I know! Agh, I can't believe you guys picked me out of all the people to say it...!"

"You word things the best, Toshiko-chan. You can explain it," Michi said, her blueberry eyes almost pleading underneath her glasses.

"And I also handle serious situations the worst out of you guys!" Toshiko retorted. "I'm like, scared how she'd react, you know? Micchan! Why don't you do it? Don't you get along the best with her?"

"T-That's exactly why I don't want to! And--"

"Guys," Haru spoke up, and the three bickering girls went silent. The soft-spoken Haru always had trouble wording her thoughts, much less when everyone was being so loud. "would you rather… her find out by herself later? Or find out now? From us. Um, being up-front."

Toshiko stared at her, as reluctant determination lit up the talkative girl's eyes. "You know what, Haru-chan? You're right." She turned to glance at Aki, a little ways away from the front window corner desk that was Michi's seat.

She was chatting with the weirdly quiet Satou-san. Why did she suddenly up and befriend Aki out of nowhere like that? Everytime Toshiko saw the stranger, she couldn't help but wonder what the brown-haired girl wanted. So wondered the rest of them. Well, they didn't have to wonder anymore. Because they were gonna have to tell Aki now.

Sorry, but these girls were about to break it off.

About time she chose a side.

Recently Chihiro could only feel guilt. Guilt over her previous plan, over herself. How terrible must she have been to even think about manipulating her friends? In fact, how terrible must she be to plan and hurt anyone? It was weird. Was it because her band was the first people to care about her or something? Chihiro still didn't quite understand it when it came to others, yet when she applied it to her friends… How could she have ever planned to hurt them? It wasn't as if it was a matter of reciprocating affection. It was reciprocating respect. And Chihiro couldn't even meet the minimum requirements.

Oh, and of course she was only thinking about herself now. Even though Saturday was supposed to be just a regular day with her "friends", ever since that hangout, Chihiro could only think about guilt and regret and the gross emotions that were tearing her apart from the inside. Looked like she was still as arrogant as ever, just as bad as before.

Chihiro's head swirled as she held it against the school desk, pressing herself down with her hands, her side ponytail limply lying on the desk. She just wanted to silence the thoughts for a second.

"Hiro-tan!"

Great. It was Aki, the first person Chihiro wanted to take advantage of, and the purple-haired girl was somehow absolutely oblivious. Just the one thing the smart kid couldn't get. Chihiro forced a smile. "Hey, Aki-yan. Is Sorae-chan here yet?"

"No, but she takes like three minutes to get here, unless something's happening in her own class. Just thought I'd wait with you!" Aki's smile only made Chihiro regret even more.

A couple minutes passed with complaining about homework until a familiar voice rang. "Aki-chan, Chihiro-chan? I'm here..." Sorae poked her head into the doorway of class 1-C.

Aki spoke, "Well, let's get going--"

"A-Actually, Aki, wait a sec." Somebody cut into her line. Dazed, Chihiro turned in her seat to see a girl with raspberry-red hair approaching.

It was Toshiko Higashiki, one of the four girls Aki was friends with before Chihiro kind of just up and took the keyboardist away for her own band. She previously hadn't bothered to learn anyone's name due to being a major jerk, but now that it was almost the end of June, Chihiro somehow managed to learn the names of everyone in her class.

Higashiki-san stepped closer, while the stranger's friends stood nearby, nervously watching - Suzume Asakawa, Michi Hamura. Even Haru Kuriyama, who was usually bumbling around in her own world, was off to the side with a concerned dullness in her gaze.

"Um, Aki, w-we just gotta talk to you... Me, and also Suzu-chi, Micchan, and Haru-chan." She said, referring to the three other girls.

Higashiki-san shot a glance at Chihiro, one of worry and… what was it, regretful betrayal, almost?  "Oh, h-hey, Satou-san." She shifted her silver eyes. "We're gonna, uh, borrow her for a second. To talk about a thing."

… About what? Or rather, who?

'Whatever, that's fair,' With a slight nod of acknowledgement, Chihiro shifted away from the stranger and thought, 'I stole Aki-yan out of nowhere for… how long now?'

Aki's eyes glinted with worry, but she smiled anyways. "It's fine, Higashi-- I mean, Toshiko-chan. Uh, Hiro-tan, you go with Sora-chin to the usual spot, I'll be there in a second!"

Still fogged with confusion, Chihiro nodded and got up. This whole time she'd secretly wanted to talk to Sorae alone about anime - MagiGal, of course - since Chihiro was normally too ashamed to, but this was not the way she wanted that situation to go...

Did Kuriyama-san just look at her?

Even after a day, Chihiro's puzzlement about Aki's "conversation" with those four still hadn't disappeared, especially when Aki was acting a lot more down-in-the-dumps than usual. What happened? What did they tell her? Was any of it Chihiro's fault? Maybe randomly dragging Aki off to Nobody Club was starting to see its consequences.

She was getting increasingly worried. After all, that was the least she could do for Aki, right?

"Um, hey, Hiro-tan," As the dismissal bell rang, Aki visited Chihiro at her desk, "wanna come to volleyball club with me today? 'Cause I have practice every Wednesday."

"What? Volleyball? Oh, yeah, I guess you still do that… uh, s-sure?" Caught by surprise, the brown-haired girl blindly accepted the offer. She wasn't sure what she would do once they got there, yet Chihiro could tell that Aki had something planned. If accompanying her would make her happy…

The two walked through the Hanasakigawa hallways to the gymnasium. Chihiro was on her phone, texting Izumi and Mai to inform them she wouldn't be taking the same train as them for today.

Girls with guitar cases hurried by, but Chihiro felt no bitterness, only more regret.

"Oh, Hoshime! Who's this?" They arrived at the gym, with the teacher coming to greet them.

Chihiro panicked. "U-Uh, I'm Chihiro Satou."

"Is it okay if she stays here with me? Until I leave at 4PM." Aki asked for permission. Nodding her head yes, the teacher then returned to setting up equipment.

Chihiro sat down on one of the gym benches, setting down her bag. Eventually more girls came, changed into sports uniforms, and the practice began.

She wasn't quite sure what was happening since she never paid attention whenever their P.E. class had to play volleyball. The brown-haired girl watched as Aki, also in her sports uniform, skillfully served the volleyball across the net. That was the kind of talent Chihiro intended to use. The talent that should have been Aki's own, yet no matter how smart and gifted the girl was, somehow she was still oblivious to how she was manipulated this whole time. Chihiro sighed.

Games of volleyball flashed across Chihiro's zoned out eyes. Some time must have passed because suddenly, Aki left the court and went over to Chihiro.

Hiro-tan, wanna give it a shot?" Aki bent down slightly, meeting Chihiro's gaze as she sat on the bench.

"W-What? No way, I can't~. I barely know how to play, I don't have my sports uniform… Am I even allowed?" She stammered. Looking back, Aki glanced at the teacher, standing off to the side… A thumbs up from the woman.

Before she was even aware of what was happening, Chihiro replaced the space where Aki was. "Just try it out!" Aki shouted encouragingly while leaning against the gym wall.

A girl on the other side of the net intentionally served the ball towards Chihiro, so that she would have something to do. Clumsily she tried to bump the volleyball back, but it bounced into the net. "Don't  count the score!" Somebody called. Well, obviously. Who's counting the point from some stupid looking rando who made a fool of herself in record time?

"C-C-Can I go now...?" Anxiously turning around, Chihiro yelled to Aki. The purple-haired girl stood back up and dashed back over, making to high five her. Chihiro returned the action rather awkwardly.

The game continued. Chihiro could only wonder how Aki made it look so easy - She supposed that was within the extent of her skill set. 'Oh well,' thought Chihiro, picking up her phone, 'sports aren't for me, I guess.'

She was surprised to learn that it was already 3:50PM - only 10 minutes until Aki was going to leave. Before long, 4PM finally arrived and Aki left to change back into her regular Hanasakigawa uniform. Chihiro wondered why she was the only one leaving, not the other club members.

Ready to go?" The violet-haired keyboardist grabbed her bag and approached the door, facing Chihiro.

She nodded, stiffly standing up from the bench clutching her bag, when Aki suddenly dashed off and led the way.

"Wha-- Where are we going?" Chihiro stammered as Aki hurried through the hallways, and she desperately tried to keep up with the athletic girl.

Her purple ponytail swung behind her as she came to a brief stop and spun around. "Oh, I just… y'know, need to show you something quickly! Sorry…!" Chihiro saw Aki's face and, unable to fully comprehend that directionless expression, a pang of dread struck Chihiro's chest. But she couldn't say anything, nothing at all, and watched the girl she thought she knew speed-walk away. And she couldn't feel anything, nothing at all, but pure, unfiltered trepidation.

You know I'm the one that's supposed to be saying sorry, right? "Aki-yan"?

You're smart.

… Were they heading to the gate now?

"What'd you… need me for?" Aki treaded as carefully as she could with the question, curious but worried. Four familiar girls stood awkwardly in front of her.

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## Trivia

* Upon reading this story, the song My only ETHEREALiTY is unlocked.

* A special artwork of the members of Sugar✧Rush is displayed in this story.