AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 6

## Rendezvous

 *With the nervous Sorae Ishizawa, the band now has four members! Hey, isn't it time to rehearse?*

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Another week had passed since the addition of Izumi and Ishizawa. At this point, Chihiro still wasn't sure about the decision of letting the latter join, but after being shown Ishizawa's admittedly cute sketches in that raggedy sketchbook, she felt a little less on-edge - Maybe that girl would have some use after all. Visual elements seemed like a late-stage thing, but it didn't hurt to start early, did it? In terms of her interactions with the new recruit, however, that had yet to improve. So far, Chihiro had only been tolerating her scaredy-cat upperclassman begrudgingly, all thanks to Aki's contrastingly friendly presence.

"Hoshinomiya-san, Satou-san?" As it had been for the past week, Ishizawa peeked her head into class 1-C for lunch break.

"Ishizawa-senpai, hey!" Aki greeted, while Chihiro stayed quiet.

"O-Oh, actually, I wanted to say..." Ishizawa began. At the sound of something important, Chihiro's focus sharpened. Was she leaving? Chihiro kind of hoped she was leaving.

"Um, you guys can call me by my first name."

'Just that? How boring,' thought Chihiro disappointedly, but Aki, on the other hand, seemed overjoyed. "Ah, okay then, Sorae-chan!"

Sorae smiled. "T-Thanks, Hoshinomiya-san."

"Hehe, that's Aki to you!"

Chihiro rolled her eyes, thinking that was the end of that tedious little exchange, when she suddenly felt the menacing presence of social competency creep over her. "Are you gonna let her use your first name too, *Chihiro-chan*~?" She heard Aki's looming, amicable voice, very purposefully not using her nickname.

"H-Huh? Uh, sure... Sorae-san."

Sorae sighed, obviously relieved. 'Did it seriously take that much effort?' Chihiro asked in her head, 'I knew this girl was a shut-in loner, but damn...'

A young bird's call rang out from within the leaves overhead as Aki mumbled under her breath. "What was I gonna say... right!" In anticipation, she glanced back and forth between Chihiro and Sorae. "Guys! Y'know how I've always been busy after school?"

"Yeah?" Chihiro leaned over and measured Sorae's reaction. She had a blank, clueless expression as she took a bite of lunch, triumphantly noted Chihiro.

"Well, guess what! Ah'm free on Friday after school, so let's go dew somethin'~!"

Was... Was that an accent?

Well, it didn't matter - Chihiro perked at the news. Other than going home with Izumi, she still didn't have those youthful after-school days of karaoke and cafés she so wanted... And to think the whole point of her carrying out this whole plan was to become a social butterfly, but the poor girl was stuck in the cocoon! "Geez, about time... I should tell Izumi-chan."

"Right, we haven't met Takimoto-senpai yet!" Aki realized aloud, "I wonder what she's like in person."

"Oh, no words can describe her. She's a first-hand experience type of deal."

"How exciting~... Then it's settled!" Aki declared. "Let's do summin' on Friday!"

Sorae spoke for the first time in a bit. "... What do we do?"

"Um... Do you think we should meet up somewhere you can play your instruments?" Chihiro suggested. "We're here to be a band, but we can't even play anything." Although that was part of the truth, in reality, Chihiro just wanted to see how skilled everyone was in their respective instruments, so she could gauge how quickly her band could get some real progress. It could be worth finding their problems early too, in the case that Chihiro wanted to drop them from the group... 'Thank God I chose to do vocals,' she commented silently, relieved, 'so I'm not part of their mess.'

"That's definitely a good idea, but where would that be? Rehearsal places are a thing, but... Mm, those four don't talk about it much..." Aki murmured, in thought. Then she cracked a smile a little sheepishly. "Did we hit a dead end?"

"... H-Hey, Chihiro-san," Out of the blue, Sorae addressed Chihiro directly, "isn't Takimoto-san's sister in a band? W-Would they... know anything?"

Caught off-guard, Chihiro's mind buffered for a moment. "Eh? I-I could ask her, once I see her after school."

"Nice call!" Aki winked at Sorae.

Only when their conversation returned to the usual boring topics did Chihiro notice a warm excitement in her stomach, though she couldn't put her finger on it. That weird Sorae girl finally talked to her. She supposed she was just glad that the approval of the newcomer had been won. 'Anyway,' Chihiro thought, 'I wonder how Izumi will react to the news.'

"What!! I'm finally gonna meet them!?"

Sensing the startled stares of fellow passengers searing into them, Chihiro hissed. "Shut up a little, will you~? We're on a train!"

"Oh, and who was it that told me to 'be myself'..."

"TPO, Izumi-chan..." And not to mention Chihiro was beginning to regret it with how annoyingly she acted. Maybe Izumi would end up the first puppet gone from Chihiro's little play...

Izumi grinned eagerly and began bouncing in place just a bit, holding onto the train handle. "Kehehe, I can't wait to meet them~...! But," her energy then fizzed away momentarily, "where are we going, anyways?"

"That's what I was gonna ask. They wanted to go somewhere they could play their instruments, but we don't know a place like that."

Staring at Chihiro, Izumi casually cocked her head to one side. "What, you didn't know Live House HorizoN had rehearsal studios?"

"... What?"

Leading the way, Chihiro couldn't help but be contaminated by Izumi's excitement - The girl talked about Friday as if it were the last day of school. But of course, Sorae was more paranoid than the others. "What if we get there before her? What if she misses the train? What if--"

"Haneoka is closer to the station than Hanasakigawa, so she's always there before me. And judging from how excited she was? I seriously doubt she'd let anything make her late." Chihiro reassured dully and matter-of-factly. Seeing how constantly anxious Sorae was, Chihiro imagined her stomach must have been chewed into rags by all the butterflies.

The three stepped onto the station platform, and Chihiro immediately found Izumi standing where she usually did, watching the stairs to the platform intently. Upon spotting Chihiro and the two newcomers behind her, Izumi beamed and jumped up in front of them like a little dog, the blue skirt of her Haneoka uniform swishing after her.

"Chihiro-chan! Oh my god, is that them!?"

"Calm down, Izumi-chan, you're scaring them off... Anyone, intro?"

As expected, Aki stepped up first. "My name's Aki Hoshinomiya. Nice meeting you!" She held up an affable peace sign before stepped aside. "Your turn, Sorae-chan."

Sorae, cowering behind Aki, jumped. "U-Um! I'm Sorae Ishizawa! It's nice to meet you, Takimoto-senpai! Er, I mean, Takimoto-san! I-I, um--"

"What's with that, Sorae-chan? Just call me Izumi!"

"C-Chan...?" But mismatching Izumi's lackadaisical attitude, Sorae's face started to flush with pink.

On the contrary, Aki was unfazed by Izumi's energy. "Hehe~, got it, Izumi-chan!"

"Er, cut the banter for a second, Aki-yan. Train's here."

As the train screeched to a stop, Izumi stared at Chihiro, then at Aki. "Hey... did Chihiro-chan call you 'Aki-yan' just now?"

"Oh, yeah, it's a nickname. And I call her Hiro-tan!"

A humorously betrayed expression crossed Izumi's face, and she pouted. "Huh?! No fair, Hiro-tan, Aki-yan! I want a nickname~!"

"Actually, m-me too..." Sorae admitted as well.

As the four boarded the train, Izumi turned to her curiously. "Oh, you first! What do you go by again?"

"Wha--? Um, I mean, when I was little I was c-called Raa-kun, but did you mean--"

"Okay, Raa-kun!"

"W-Wait, no, I... N-Nevermind..."

Completely ignoring the flustered Sorae, Izumi then demanded. "Raa-kun agrees with me! Now I want a nickname too!"

Aki stared at them with a contemplative look. "Hm... I'll call you Izumin! And maybe I'll call Sorae-chan... Sora-chin?"

"Hmm~, very subtle, very sophisticated. I am now legally Izumin!"

"S-S-S-Sora-chin??" Once again, Sorae turned red-faced, meekly covering her face with a clammy hand.

Watching the ordeal go down, Chihiro started to feel the conversational gap between herself and the others widen once more. A little bitterly, as well as feeling the train begin to move, Chihiro thought to change the subject. "Uh, hey, this is fun and all, but maybe we should talk about that rehearsal studio and stuff?"

"Oh, right. So Hiro-tan'll probably need a mic, Izumin's on drums, and Sora-chin's on bass. How do we get the instruments?" Aki inquired, looking at Izumi, but the short girl simply winked cryptically and smiled.

"Kehe~. Leave it to Izumin!"

The brief train ride to their station was filled mostly with excitement from Izumi and confusion about band activities from everyone else. When there was downtime in the conversation, Izumi repeatedly whispered in a sing-songy voice, "I'm in a band. Band. A band! Band stuff. Music... Band!" Such a nuisance, and an unfunny one, at that. But Chihiro had to admit: What was once a mundane train ride became much less boring, being in the presence of the three.

She noticed a green-haired girl in the uniform of Haneoka, staring at Izumi. She chose to not point it out.

"So... what now?"

The girls aimlessly stood around in one of the studio rooms of Live House HorizoN, wondering what to do.

It was a relatively small room with walls of sunset-orange and pale, glossy wooden floors. There were some music equipment already available - a drum kit, a mic, and some amplifiers, sitting against the back wall. Other than a bench near the door, there wasn't much else present.

"Don't worry your little heads off! I got this." Izumi assured, walking up to a telephone attached to the wall. "Take your bags off, for we shall commence... the Waiting Game."

The three did as she instructed.

Confidently, Izumi blabbed something about music equipment into the phone, then with a 'k-chk', she placed the phone back where it was. "Now we wait!"

"How'd you know what to say?" Chihiro stared.

"I used to tag along with my sister to ECL:PSE's band practices and I watched what they did."

"So... did you actually understand what they said?"

"Nope." Izumi replied, a proud look on her face. "Don't look at me like that, it's fine~!"

Izumi went to place her bag on the bench where everyone else had piled on theirs, when something seemingly caught her eye.

"Raa-kun?" She called.

"E-Eh?"

"... Is that a keychain of Akari Ryutsuki from Majika MagiGal?"

It was a miracle. Chihiro and Aki watched as, at the speed of light, the previously soft-spoken Sorae whipped around to run up to and directly face Izumi with the most aggressive interest in her radiant amber eyes, so wide they were almost glowing. Chihiro thought she could feel wind fill the space Sorae had left in such a fleet-footed hurry.

"You watch MagiGal?! Since when? Which part? Which episode? Did you read the manga? Do you play the game?! Add me on the game!!"

"Oh, I only watched one episode."

"Aw." Disappointed, Sorae backed off...

Before getting fired up again. "I-Izumicchi!! What other anime do you watch?!"

"Wildrider KoKo and Seven-C!"

"Holy crap, you watch KoKo too? Which part?! I'm on part nine!"

'Who would've imagined the shut-in was an anime fan,' sarcastically thought Chihiro, but Aki seemed delighted. She clapped her hands together. "Looks like we found Sora-chin's talkative side, hm?"

"Oh, so no one thinks it's weird she started screaming. You people, I swear..."

They watched the two second-years talk about anime for what felt like a lifetime. Sorae's voice seemed to have turned up a volume as she rambled about her favourite shows. "The manga was so good, right?! But the anime adaptation was absolutely on point! Especially in part five when the--"

"Excuse us..." The door cracked open and two employees peeked through; one of them wore a gig bag on her back and held another by the handle, while the other had a folded-up keyboard. Sorae froze and slowly turned to the women, whilst Izumi looked over, unfazed.

Realizing they interrupted *something*, the employees smiled and leaned all of that equipment against the wall with the speed of a diving hawk. "Thank you for using our service. We'll leave you to it!"

The room was silent post-door-closing for only a moment before Sorae began to emit a strange whine, which could only be described by Chihiro as a bad microwave impression. She dropped to the ground, curled into a ball, whispering, "Ah... never again..."

"Stuff's here~!" Izumi skipped jovially around the dejected Sorae-ball and hastily checked out the delivery. Chihiro and Aki came near.

Among the instruments were a keyboard, a black bass guitar, and an electric blue guitar. Sorae - still reeling from embarrassment, Chihiro had to presume - hesitantly got back up and heaved away the bass, while Aki lifted the keyboard with ease and began to set it up. Chihiro and Izumi stared at the guitar, left behind like an ugly child at the orphanage.

"Why's there a guitar?"

"...Ohh~. Oops." Izumi took the guitar and set it on the bench. "I guess I included that part when I called in."

"... Why?"

"'Cause that's what ECL:PSE always said, before they got their own instruments. I came along sometimes and heard them enough to copy what they said!" Izumi smiled proudly. "But now that I think about it, *do* we want a guitarist...?"

Chihiro stared at the guitar. She knew nothing of the role a guitar played in the music, nor did she particularly care, but she *was* tempted to pick the guitar up and strike a cute pose. She shoved down the urge. "Huh. So... Can we try playing something now?"

"Sure. Well, actually, lemme figure this bad boy out first!" Izumi ran to the drums enthusiastically and, plopping herself on the seat, murmured. "Okay~, so which foot goes on the big drum pedal again...? Eenie meenie minie mo..."

"Hey, they have gunshot sounds on the keyboard! Hehe, the audio quality isn't good..."

"It's so quiet... Ah--! T-The amp, I forgot!"

... What's a kangaroo court but a band? A badger band. No, wait - Chihiro shook herself - she had to get a hold on these rag-tag 'band'-mates of hers before any more witty remarks! "Y-You guys..." Her voice came out as an exasperated growl, catching their attention unceremoniously. "Can we get a move on or do you not know what you're doing~?"

"Ah! Ehe, sorry, Hiro-tan~..." Aki apologized with a wink. "You guys good?"

The bass amp made the shortest buzz as Sorae plugged it in. "I-I think I got it."

"Right foot it is! ... What are we talking about?"

Chihiro groaned. "Song. Play. Yes or no?"

"Eeh, Hiro-tan's scary when she's mad~. Fine, what song?"

Sorae spoke. "U-Um, I learned this from the internet." Although Chihiro couldn't recognize it at first, after a couple of notes, she realized it was Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Sorae plucked at the bass strings hesitantly. Hearing the melody, Aki joined in with her keyboard, improvising by scattering intricate details among the notes. And nearing the song's ending, Izumi tapped her foot on the drum pedal to the beat - 1, 2, 3, 4. 'Just Twinkle Twinkle Little Star?' Chihiro couldn't help but think. 'That's pretty basic.'

As they finished, Izumi glared accusingly at Chihiro. "Hey, Hiro-tan~! Why didn't you join in?!"

"What? W-Was I supposed to?" Only then was she made aware of her awkward placement in the room, and she moved herself. "At least let me turn on the mic first..."

Sorae looked at Chihiro, who had clicked the microphone on. "Should we try that again...?"

"I can start the song!" With a raised hand, Izumi volunteered. "On three, we start."

Wait... H-Huh--?! The sudden weight of anxiety fell atop Chihiro, and her eyes darted around the room. S-She didn't think she was going to be put on the spot so quickly! Her heart began pounding with every thought of singing in front of her bandmates - This was happening so soon! Oh, she could only imagine the consequences of messing up...

"Ya ready? One, two..."

"Uh... T-Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are. Up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky..."

Chihiro's voice was shaky with anxiety, and she barely held on - It was much too embarrassing, hearing her own voice echo so loudly. While Aki's piano notes laced it like sweet intricacies, Sorae's bass guitar supported beneath, alongside Izumi's slightly laid-back drum beats, accompanying warmly. Chihiro became aware of every squeak or whisper she'd sprinkled on by accident, only wishing the brief nursery rhyme would end quicker than it already did.

"... Twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder what you are."

Chihiro let out a heaving sigh, as if a battle had just been won. Her face turned hot from shame.

"Hiro-tan! That was good~!"

"E-Eh?" Chihiro whipped around to look at Izumi. "It's true!" Aki chimed in, her eyes glittering as she praised. "You're a natural~! Hehe, your voice was so nice..."

Wordlessly, Sorae gave a tiny applause - a total of six flimsy claps. The other two joined in, while Chihiro grew more and more flustered. She couldn't decide whether to feel shy or feel proud. Whichever the case was, Chihiro's heart lifted - This was the kind of approval she had always wished for. 'That's right~,' she thought smugly, 'isn't this the kind of treatment I deserve?'

And so... why did it feel so wrong?

"H-Huh, well of course I am! You didn't think I'd be as bad as you guys, did you?" Trying to counteract the redness of her cheeks, she smirked with sass and hands on her hips, though she couldn't stop herself from going bashfully pigeon-toed.

"Okay~, we still have 25 minutes on the clock, what next? Since I rented 40."

"Um, let's-- W-W-Wait, rent?!" Sorae jerked around to face Izumi with a terrified look on her face, and Chihiro instinctively followed.

"Well... yeah? Nothing in life is free, young one."

"N-Not that~!" Aki frowned. "We could've split the cost!"

"Oh yeah, sure. Anyway, you should bring your own bass next time, Raa-kun~!"

Sorae pulled at her disorganized hair, stressed. Meanwhile Aki was already pulling out her money and forcing it into Izumi's hands like a grandma at a family reunion, only much less discreetly. Watching on, Chihiro felt a reluctant smile spread across her face.

So what if she was going to leave them behind someday? In the moment, they were certainly entertaining.

The girl opened the door to her home, her long green hair flowing behind her.

"Sis!" A younger, although similar looking girl greeted, sitting at the dinner table.

"Fuyuna." The older girl acknowledged, her gaze stoic as always. "Say, that friend of yours... Kiyomi Takimoto-san, was it? Does she not have an older sister?"

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## Trivia

* Sorae's initial 3\* card is displayed in this story.