AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 8

## Chapter 8 - Fogged Up Mirror

← previous // next →

"Now that I think about it, I can't believe it's already June," Aki commented idly, as the three headed through the hallways to the courtyard for lunch.

"Closer to summer break…" Sorae smiled, adding quietly. As per usual, Sorae stuck near Aki and only really responded to whatever Aki said. Chihiro, walking alongside them, felt a bit afraid to ask Sorae the questions she wanted to ask. Nervously, Chihiro kept silent, waiting for the perfect moment to start talking.

The trio, reaching their usual lunch spot, sat down under the tree. Instead of having Aki between them, however, this time Chihiro purposefully settled herself next to Sorae. The strawberry-pink-haired girl tensed up as she glanced at Chihiro, her eyes wide in slight panic.

"Sorae…san?" Chihiro began.

"Y-Yeah??"

Seeing Sorae's frantic eyes, Chihiro forced herself to calm down and act more friendly. Aki, taking notice, leaned over to watch with a curious look on her face.

"Uh, you know that anime you were going on about last Friday? Like, the one Izumin mentioned?" Doubtfully asked Chihiro.

"Do you mean… M-Majika MagiGal…?"

Chihiro nodded, "I-I found and watched the first episode, and I was… wondering where to find more--"

Immediately, Sorae's amber eyes lit up in enthusiasm as all of her fear disappeared, staring right at Chihiro. "You did?! Oh my god, Hiro-tan, did you like it?!"

Caught off guard by the previously apprehensive Sorae's sudden first usage of her nickname, Chihiro choked on her words, "W-Wha--"

"Hmm~, most people use RiceBall to watch anime, but unless you pay for premium, you have to sit through at least five ads just to watch one episode, and it's really not worth it if you only plan on watching one show. Since it's already done broadcasting now, you might have to go for illegal streaming sites like AntennAnime or BerryTV, and I promise it's not as bad as it sounds, since the only big downside to using illegal sites is not being able to support the creators of the show, and for a beginner it isn't really that big of a deal since if you want to, you can always support the creators through buying merch when you really get into the series!" With a gulp of breath, Sorae finished the one-minute paragraph with a bright smile. "Did you get that, Hiro-tan?"

Bewildered, Chihiro stiffly shook her head. "No?"

Sorae returned the panicked look and curled herself into a ball, before whispering with an already muffled voice, "N-Nevermind, Chihiro-san…"

Witnessing Sorae's becoming dejected, Aki chimed in. "She said something about using illegal streaming sites, but apparently they aren't, like, bad."

'Because of course you'd be able to catch all that,' Chihiro thought, but forced herself to ignore that petty bit of envy and instead turned to Sorae. "So hey, Sorae-san… Or, can I call you Sorae-chan?"

Sorae looked up, her face flushed with pink.

"Uhh… Mind showing me one of those sites? So I can look them up later?"

The corners of her mouth lifting slightly, Sorae relaxed and got her phone. "S-Sure...!"

The next few minutes were spent with Sorae teaching Chihiro about how to use an anime site, with Aki peering at the phone screen and watching along, unsure of what was happening. Regardless, Chihiro thought Aki seemed glad about something, but whatever she was happy about was the least of Chihiro's concerns.

The two were following along with Sorae's rambling when a sudden text notification popped up on screen.

"What the--?" Chihiro instinctively grabbed her own phone and looked at the notification that was also sent to her.

"... Izumi-chan sent something to the group chat," Sorae quietly noted, looking at the message:

"omg guys some1 asked me if she could join the band"

Chihiro's gaze brightened. It only felt like a few days ago when both Izumi and Sorae was recruited, and already a fifth member was joining? She didn't know whether to be happy about it or confused.

Aki was also on her own phone, reading the text. "Who is it?" She texted back whilst saying it aloud.

Evidently Izumi was still online as well, as she replied in no time. "this girl called Mai Moriuchi" Then, in a separate message, "she said she saw me on the train w/ u guys last friday, and her younger sister is in eclipse w/ mine"

"Huh. Talk about connections." Chihiro commented out loud. As if Izumi could hear Chihiro talking, the short girl texted again.

"hirotan if u see a girl w/ me at the train station, thats her !"

Turning to Chihiro, Aki beamed. "So you'll get ta see 'er, Hiro-tan!"

Chihiro couldn't even think of something witty to react to the obvious statement - nor that funny accent - as she was overwhelmed by the sudden anxiousness of meeting the new girl. It wasn't like when she first met Sorae, since Aki's description of her didn't make her sound like anything to be scared of, but this 'Mai Moriuchi' was a complete stranger! She expected to meet the new girl sometime, but this was all going too fast - by her standards, anyways.

"Um, since we're gonna meet up every Friday now… What if we let that new person come with us this week?" Sorae suggested.

"Ah, nice!" Aki grinned at the pink-haired girl. "You should tell Izumin that!"

As Sorae messaged Izumi about the plan, Chihiro sat awkwardly beside her, silently being swamped by the nervous pressure of meeting a new person they were presumably going to be with for a long time... without any mental preparation. This was about to be a trip.

"Izumin?"

Like always, Chihiro stepped onto the train platform and spotted Izumi. However, this time she was accompanied by a stranger.

"Hiro-tan!" Izumi jumped up to meet Chihiro, but the oddly quiet stranger stayed put. "Get hollerin' tootin' on over, meet Moriuchi!" She beckoned, leading Chihiro over.

The energy from that girl… was a bit menacing to say the least. Contrasting from Izumi, the stoic-seeming Moriuchi-san was much less tolerant, quite evident to Chihiro by the way she carried herself.

"Okay, Moriuchi, introduce yourself." Izumi placed her hands on her hips and looked at the serious new girl. The girl stepped up calmly.

"My name is Mai Moriuchi. I am a first year student at Haneoka." She spoke, cutting right to the point.

Staring at Moriuchi-san, Chihiro felt even more pressure weighing down on her. The girl, almost as tall as Aki with long, moss-green hair and a simple hair bun, seemed like the type of person that didn't tolerate anything, and was as cold as a block of ice. If not colder.

"I-I'm Chihiro Satou. And a first-year like you."

Probably sensing the tenseness, Izumi cut in and spoke to Chihiro. "So you know how I accidentally rented that guitar last Friday? Yeah, that got me thinking if we needed someone to play the guitar or something." She grinned. "Anyways, Moriuchi here says she'll be our very own guitarist!"

"So she knows how to play guitar?" Chihiro asked.

"Nope, but she says she'll learn it." Izumi glanced over at the green-haired girl. "Right, Moriuchi?"

Chihiro felt a wave of disappointment hit her. Not only did the girl seem as easy to get along with as a rock, she also didn't play the instrument she was meant to be playing for who knows how long. Letting out a small sigh, Chihiro backed a small step away from the new girl. This was going to be harder than expected.

Entering her bedroom, Chihiro placed her bag on the floor. Light was streaming through her balcony window, highlighting specks of dust in the air. 'I guess it's been a while,' thought Chihiro.

It was two or three weeks ago when Chihiro first stepped out onto her balcony and made the first vow as "a new Chihiro Satou". She nearly cringed thinking back to it - what was so new about her now? Maybe the change hadn't happened yet. But the other few vows she made certainly did. Finding friends, forming a band… Realizing that was only about three weeks ago, Chihiro smiled to herself and considered it a success. But to be a real band, she had to go farther than this.

Initially she planned on only taking advantage of her bandmates, and in order to truly progress as a real band, Chihiro still wanted to go ahead with using them. In the end, shouldn't her bandmates have expected it when they first signed up? It was their fault for trusting that much. Yet Chihiro was starting to wonder if she could maybe go about it more kindly than she had originally wanted. Why? Chihiro couldn't answer that question herself. She didn't know why she cared enough to try when she had never cared enough before. When no one had ever cared enough before. All Chihiro knew was that her bandmates had better thank her for it.

She slid open the balcony door and walked outside, the sky mottled with clouds like it always had been.

With the addition of Moriuchi-san, although the new girl didn't seem easy to work with, Chihiro actually felt confident about her plan. Five people - Herself as the vocalist, Aki the keyboardist, Izumi on drums, Sorae on bass, and Moriuchi-san now as the guitarist… It sounded about enough. After so long of nothing but failure, surely Chihiro deserved success for herself? And now her success is here - A success that people can consider one. Maybe it was because she talked to the sky, and as stupid as it was, maybe she could say something to it again.

Looking up at the pale blue canvas, Chihiro tried her hardest to feel sincere. "I hope to become someone that people'll like. I hope that I can deal with whatever comes with my bandmates." She murmured, then blinked in satisfaction. That should've covered it.

With how everything she had "asked the sky for" becoming true, she hoped that her hopes would too.

← previous // next →