AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 5

## Sketches of Skies

 *Meanwhile, Aki finds a lost notebook on school grounds, and a strange new girl comes running in...*

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"Ah! I should probably go to volleyball practice now. Don't go nagging Takimoto-senpai again, ya hear~?"

With a lingering smile, Aki walked away from Chihiro's desk and, bag in hand, prepared to go to the gym. As much as Aki wanted a new member in their band as well, she'd feel bad if Chihiro was disturbing that stoic Takimoto-senpai she'd been talking about. Regardless, Aki would support Chihiro as much as she could. Shaking her head, she decided to put her mind off of the matter and headed for volleyball practice.

She walked past Toshiko-chan and the others in the hallway. Feeling a pang of guilt, Aki silently apologized for leaving them behind.

It was some minutes after 4:30PM when Aki left the gymnasium and got ready to head to the store. Volleyball practice lasted longer than that, but due to Aki's circumstances, she always had permission to leave early.

She was heading for the school gates when, out of the corner of her eye, she spotted something blue sitting on one of the benches. Curious, she approached it and picked it up.

"A notebook...?" Its surface was a little bumpy, with unevenly folded pages inside and messy pencil scrawlings on the cover. Figuring that the notebook belonged to someone in the school, Aki examined the front and back cover for a name to identify the owner, but a name was nowhere to be found.

Innocently, she opened the notebook in hopes of a name to return it to. But instead of an identification, Aki's eyes were met with dozens upon dozens of hasty illustrations, depicting cute characters and what seemed to be costume design. Her eyes widened.

'Costumes... We could have costumes for our band!' Aki came to a sparkling realization. 'Maybe it's too complicated... but coordinated outfits... It's so cool~! Hiro-tan would be happy to know that I could get my parents to--' ... No. She didn't want to bother them any more than she did already.

But feeling a rush of inspiration, she guiltily flipped through a couple more pages before she was suddenly interrupted by a panicked yelling in the distance:

"Uwaaahh--!!!! Don't open that, it's mine!!"

She glanced up sharply from the notebook to see a girl charging at her with wild fear in her eyes. She skidded to a halt right in front of Aki and panted several, quick breaths, before glancing desperately at the stranger she just ran up to.

"D-Did... Did you... see what was... in there?" The skittish girl asked, her sentence cut up by exhausted breaths.

Unable to lie, Aki admitted in surprised hesitation, "Y-Yes…?"

"NOOO--!!" The peculiar girl cried dramatically. "U-Uh, sorry, I'll be taking this now, bye--!" She snatched the blue notebook out of Aki's hands and made a run for it, but Aki stopped her.

"Wait! Actually..." She began. "You know, I was kind of flipping through it, and..."

The stranger turned slowly as her expression morphed from anxiousness to horror. "W-W-Why...?"

"Well, I saw those costume drawings, and... I really liked them!" Aki confessed, not wanting to keep the truth from the stranger, "Actually, I'm starting a band with a friend, and when I saw those designs, I just got a little inspired, you could say."

"O-Oh, good, you didn't, see the, other drawings... I-I mean, a band...?"

"Mhm. We don't have much right now, since we just started, but I'm sure we'll do grea--"

"Can-- Can I join?!" All of a sudden, the fidgety girl perked up. Her yellow eyes lit up with excitement, anticipating Aki's response, and her grip on the notebook tightened.

"Huh? Ah... sure! But do you play any instruments? Or..."

The girl blinked in momentary confusion, before drooping back down. "N-No."

Just as confused as the stranger, Aki smiled and sat down on the bench. "Tell you what, I might be able to ask my friend about this." She patted the spot beside her in invitation. "I'm Aki Hoshinomiya. What's your name?"

"Oh, um, my name is Sorae Ishizawa." The strange girl murmured. "Aki Hoshinomiya-san... That sounds familiar." But from what? Aki wasn't that big of a deal... W-Was she?

Looking closely at Ishizawa-san once she'd calmed down, Aki analyzed her ruffled-up strawberry-pink-hair and amber eyes like the sun. She thought she seemed rather interesting. Aki nodded in acknowledgement. "What class are you in? I'm in 1-C. So is my friend."

"2-E."

"Oh, you're a second-year!" Aki grinned. "Nice to meet you, Ishizawa-senpai."

"'S-Senpai'..."

"Hm? You don't want to be called that?"

She stared at her hands, held into nervous fists on her lap. "Eh? N-No... I'm just not used to hearing it. Since, uh, I don't really talk to people..."

"Mm." Aki continued to gaze over the anxious girl. "That's okay. I think you're interesting!"

Ishizawa-senpai did not respond to the compliment, only smiling under her downturned face. "Uh, I think it's time for me to go now." She stood up and eyed her notebook intently like a hawk spying its prey as she picked it up, making sure to not forget it again. "T-Thank you, Hoshinomiya-san."

Aki wasn't sure what she was being thanked for, but she accepted it anyways. "Do you happen to be busy at lunch tomorrow?"

"Not really. W-Wait! Er, can I... c-come see you tomorrow lunch break?"

Smiling, Aki nodded. "You can meet my friend too, while we're at it."

"Um... should I come find you and your friend? In class... "

"1-C. And sure! Sounds like a plan."

"O-Okay." Ishizawa-senpai clutched her navy blue notebook to her chest. "Thanks again, Hoshinomiya-san. S-See you tomorrow!" And with the final farewell, Ishizawa-senpai did an awkward little half-walk-half-run away. Aki, watching her go, sighed in a joyful contentment.

"Hiro-tan, I think I recruited someone!!" Her phone keyboard clicked to the beat of her taps. Then, in a moment of tranquil silence, Aki wistfully stared up at the cloud-dotted sky for a few moments - The sun had a while before dying the sky orange. She wondered what time her parents would come home today.

'Well, I'll work hard for everyone!' Aki figured. 'For my parents, for Hiro-tan, for our new band!' She grabbed her bag and headed for the school gate, as her ponytail drifted a step behind her. 'And for Toshiko-chan and the others too...'

"So about that girl you mentioned yesterday..." Chihiro asked boredly. "Where is she, exactly?"

"She's coming," replied Aki, "don't worry."

A bit doubtful, Chihiro waited, slumping in her seat a moment after the lunch bell chimed. Aki stood at her desk, as per the new usual. It took a couple minutes for the new girl to arrive, out of breath with nervousness in her wide, afraid eyes.

"H-Hoshinomiya-san?"

"Ishizawa-senpai! Here!" Aki greeted, calling the stranger over to Chihiro's desk.

"S-Sorry it took so long... I walked into the wrong classroom, a-and..."

"No, it's fine!" Aki insisted, as much as Chihiro was thinking this weirdo should learn how to read the signs outside the classrooms. "Anyways, here's my friend. Introduce yourself, Hiro-tan!"

At Aki's request, Chihiro unenthusiastically complied. "Uh-- Oh, yeah, hi. I'm Chihiro Satou."

The girl named Ishizawa frantically looked Chihiro in the eye and said, "I-I'm Sorae Ishizawa! Nice to meet you, Satou-san!"

Chihiro scanned the strange new girl named Ishizawa. She was a bit shorter than Aki, and had messy, disheveled pink hair. Her panicked yellow eyes like that of a prey animal's stared back at Chihiro anxiously, as if she were a deer in the headlights, and not to mention the acne that traced her jawline, or the bags under her eyes... Had this girl heard of a hairbrush before? If a good impression was money, Ishizawa would be in debt.

"... Nice to meet you too, Ishizawa-senpai." But Chihiro spoke courteously. She certainly was not one to break social conventions - Especially if she was trying to get people to like her.

"Alright, to the courtyard then, shall we?" Aki began to leave and, being the pack leader she was, had Chihiro and Ishizawa following at her heel.

As the three walked down the hallway, populated by students both familiar and unfamiliar, Chihiro neared Aki and doubtfully asked, "So you said that Ishizawa-senpai doesn't play any instruments?"

Surprisingly, the pink haired girl was keen-eared enough to pick up the comment. "I-- Actually! My older brother... He said he has a, um, bass guitar I can keep...?"

"Oh, that's great!" Aki exclaimed. "We don't have a bass player yet."

"Bass guitar, hm?" Chihiro leaned forward to peer at Ishizawa. "Izumi-chan said something about that being important." She didn't know how to feel about someone as unreliable as Ishizawa playing what was apparently such an important role.

Aki looked confused for a moment. "'Izumi-chan'? Oh, right, Takimoto-senpai! She gave you the first name pass."

"Who?"

"Hiro-tan recruited another person just yesterday, called Izumi Takimoto. I haven't met her yet, but she seems pretty nice! Oh, and she's a second-year like you."

What a grating voice, that Ishizawa girl had. Chihiro narrowed her eyes at the clueless stranger and cursed silently. 'Who do you think you are, butting in like that? Shut up... Stop being so annoying.' But as much as Chihiro didn't want to trust the agreeable Aki, her word about this Ishizawa person was Chihiro's best bet. Reluctantly, she continued to put up with the two.

"So you have a brother, Ishizawa-senpai?"

"T-Two, actually. My older brother's in university... and my y-younger brother's in junior high."

"Eh~, I'm kinda jealous. I'm an only child, so it gets a little lonely, y'know~?"

For the remaining duration of lunch period, Aki and Ishizawa talked to no end. Did Ishizawa think she was being cute with that squeaky rubber-ducky voice? Stupid attention seeker. Unsure of how to place herself into the conversation, and too embarrassed to admit she had no idea what she was doing, Chihiro thought the space between herself and the world felt a little colder again. If only the droning sound of winter was as easy to block out as covering one's ears. 'But...' She looked up at the cloudy May sky, 'it's going to get better, isn't it? I've gotten this far.'

"H-Having brothers isn't easy, Hoshinomiya-san! Erm, they can be kind of annoying..."

"Beats being alone at home all day! Or at least, that's what I think. The grass is greener on the other side, I guess~. Hmhm."

"..." Chihiro rolled her eyes at their vapid exchange. Four members on board - The challenge had still yet to begin. As Aki and Ishizawa talked on, Chihiro couldn't help but smile in secret. Even if it wasn't going as she wanted exactly, her plan was coming together, piece by piece...

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