AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 2

## Chapter 2 - Eclipse Amidst Thunder

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Wow, that was stupid. Again.

Chihiro sat under a tree on school grounds, feeling silly that she got so excited over talking with Hoshime-san yesterday. After all, she only planned on using her, right? But somehow, Chihiro couldn't shake the feeling of success after that. And that look in Hoshime-san's gaze that she had seen…

She scrolled through the text messages exchanged between her and Hoshime-san the day before, reading and re-reading them to make sure she didn't get anything wrong. And to feel the same excitement she felt upon receiving them the first time.

"Hi, is this Aki Hoshime?" Chihiro initiated at 5:21PM.

It was a nerve-wracking, excruciatingly long 40 minutes until Hoshime-san finally replied at 6:01, "Is this Chihiro Satou-san? Sorry, I was busy with other stuff!" Chihiro was surprised she remembered her full name.

Then, they went into a fast exchange about eating lunch, in which Hoshime-san was painfully vague about the location, and Chihiro was too scared to ask for details in case she came off as fidgety and caring too much. In hindsight, Chihiro regretted that, as she was extremely confused now that she sat under one of the trees in the school courtyard. Right after those messages, Hoshime-san texted a suspicious "Got stuff to do, sorry, gotta go!" and didn't go back online. Chihiro wondered if it was the same "other stuff" Hoshime-san mentioned at the start, or if she just wanted to end the conversation.

As if summoned upon Chihiro's completed reading of their messages, she noticed someone familiar from her peripheral vision.

"Satou-san! Hi."

"Oh, uh, hi." Chihiro greeted, stammering. She didn't know when Hoshime-san would come - the last time Chihiro saw her was at the start of lunch, caught in a conversation with the four girls from before. Now that she was here, she sat down beside Chihiro with a bento box in her hands. "I see you got the memo for our location," Hoshime-san noted, "sorry I wasn't clear about it~."

So she knew?!

Chihiro hid her exasperation, "No, it's fine. I got the message eventually." She hoped she didn't sound passive-aggressive, although a part of her wanted to.

Hoshime-san sheepishly smiled, opening up her bento box. "Hehe… So anyways, what's this about a band?"

'Well, that's a good question,' thought Chihiro, realizing she hadn't actually considered much about this possible band they were about to form. "Um, seeing as so many people like bands… I wanted to see if I could make some friends through forming one. Then I saw that you wanted to join a band, so..." Chihiro decided to leave out the part about becoming popular and taking advantage of Hoshime-san.

"Okayy~." As the purple-haired girl ate something from her lunch, she nodded in acknowledgement, to Chihiro's relief. "Then I guess I'm your friend now, yeah?"

Chihiro was caught off-guard at the sudden statement, "Uh… yeah."

"Then, you can call me Aki!" Hoshime-san smiled. "Oh, but 'Aki-yan' is fine too!"

Was that a nickname or just a really weird honorific?

Chihiro stared at the grinning Aki, bewildered at how friendly she was being. What a weirdo. She could bet that Aki was just acting nice to fool her. Well, Chihiro wasn't stupid.

"Um… Then you can just call me Chihiro." She then lowered her voice into a barely audible mutter, "But I can go by... 'Hiro-tan'..."

"...'Hiro-tan', was it?"

The brown-haired girl snapped her gaze down towards her lap, suddenly aware of herself blushing. It was a nickname Chihiro had always wanted someone to call her by, but now that someone said it out loud, it was quite embarrassing. God, if she herself thought it was bad, Aki definitely did, too.

Aki tried to get a look at Chihiro's downturned face. "I can call you that if you want."

Glancing back up into Aki's eyes, Chihiro wondered how she knew it was a nickname. Was it obvious? Surely that made it a bad nickname?  "... You can?" She quietly asked.

Aki tilted her head to one side, "Sure! It's cute!"

Chihiro immediately looked back down at her legs, wondering if Aki saw that her face burned with shame.

At that point, Chihiro was already nervous out of breath, barely keeping up with Aki. She was glad that girl steered the conversation, as Chihiro was sure she wouldn't be able to do that herself. The brown-haired girl wondered if it was normal that Aki was being so friendly, though. And plus, Chihiro was surely acting so strange just then…

Though, a voice in the back of her mind convinced Chihiro, that the ever-smiling Aki must have been hiding something evil underneath that niceness.

Afterwards, they discussed their plans with the band and music. Chihiro was ashamed to say she didn't know anything, but Aki consoled her by admitting she didn't know much either.

"Do you play any instruments?" asked Chihiro.

Aki closed her eyes in thought, as if that kind of question requires such contemplation. "Well, I've played the flute… the violin... the piano… Oh, I have an electric keyboard sitting at home, but I haven't touched it in a while."

Chihiro felt bitter envy rising in her chest as she listened to Aki make the list. She didn't doubt that someone like Aki would be able to play so many instruments, granted in the past. Although, this would make Chihiro's goal easier to reach, as expected.  "So… what about a band? Like your friends'?"

"Well, I only know a bit. They never told me details."

"What?" Chihiro didn't think that would be the case. "Then… have you seen them perform?"

Aki took a few seconds to recall, "Actually, no. They hardly ever play anyways, and I guess I never asked much. Considering I've known them since the first year of middle school, honestly, I'm surprised I only got curious now!"

That seemed peculiar, but Chihiro supposed it wasn't her business. "I think… watching a band play would be useful, though."

"Mhm." Aki agreed. Her face went blank for a moment as she considered something, shifting from hesitation to contemplation to apathy, as if having to abandon an important task for the suggestion she was about to make. "Ah, I know! Maybe we can watch a live show sometime!"

Was Aki the one that's abnormal, or Chihiro? How weird that she was already suggesting they do something together. Weren't they strangers? She'd never even done anything with those two randos in middle school, why should this be any different? ...Well, she did do stuff, but Chihiro would much rather count the times they were voluntary.

But still, that was finally a question Chihiro could answer. "Oh, I searched up a place just yesterday." She used her phone search history to show Aki, being reminded of yesterday afternoon when she got impulsive and looked up music venues as if they couldn't just watch some video online.

"T-There's a venue called 'Live House HorizoN', and they apparently have a few bands playing today at 5:30." Chihiro read off the list of bands, "'ECL:PSE', 'shatter-break', and 'Fr!dayN!ght', they're called. It's close to where I live, but I don't know about you..."

Aki peered at her phone. "Mm… Do you plan on going? It's on pretty short notice."

Oh, crap. Dread suddenly weighed Chihiro's stomach like a fist-sized rock, not quite a boulder but heavy enough. She shouldn't have considered going today - now she was the one that progressed too fast! "T-True. They allow admission without buying tickets earlier though, so… I will."

She glanced back up at Aki, only to see a slightly disappointed face. "Huh? Can you not go?" asked Chihiro.

"Yeah, I can't. I shouldn't've suggested it so impulsively." She laughed, apologetic. "Got stuff to take care of today."

"... Like what?"

"The usual stuff, at least for me. It's about my family… O-Oh, but it's nothing you have to worry about!"

Chihiro didn't dare inquire further in case she came off as rude. "Then… I guess I'll go by myself this time."

After the decision was made, they simply ate their lunches while talking about more mundane topics. Soon the bell rang signalling lunch period's end, and the two returned to class 1-C. Chihiro tried to concentrate in class for the rest of the day, but couldn't help but get distracted by the thought of forming her band.

Eventually, the dismissal bell rang and, like yesterday, everyone began leaving the classroom. Today, however, Chihiro actually had something meaningful to do.

Beating her record in the three years of middle school, that was for sure.

It was about 5:20 when Chihiro arrived at Live House HorizoN, after quickly heading home and back to change out of her uniform, then getting sour gummies from the convenience store for the sake of why not.

As she stepped into the live house, Chihiro was met with a lobby area with white walls covered in band posters and some tables and chairs, presumably for people waiting for a show to start. She walked further in, hearing her footsteps clack on the wooden floors, and spotted a ceiling TV in the corner of the lobby. It displayed the stage area, a dark room spotlit with various instruments sitting on the platform. Seeing the instruments, Chihiro felt a surge of excitement and hurried to the counter.

Paying the counter lady, who Chihiro noticed from her nametag had an odd first name and boring surname - weirdo - she headed down the basement stairs which HorizoN apparently had.

Immediately Chihiro was enveloped in darkness, the only thing in sight being the spotlit stage and a crowd that stood up to it, murmuring. On the stage were the instruments Chihiro had seen, including a drum kit, a keyboard, a guitar, a bass, and - the one that caught Chihiro's attention - a mic.

A jolt of eagerness made her perk up as she spotted the microphone, coming to a realization. Even if Chihiro couldn't play any instruments, she could sing! And judging by the position of the mic - in the center among all the instruments - it seemed as though whoever was on vocals had the most attention put onto them. Chihiro imagined herself standing behind the mic and a crowd cheering her on… She would sing as if she were the brightest beacon, her bandmates around her only the tower to the lighthouse that was her own, echoing, silence-piercing voice…

What a foreign idea.

Subconsciously nearing the crowd, Chihiro snapped out of her daydream when she saw the performers come onstage. The crowd cheered as she was shot by surprise like an arrow, seeing the first band called ECL:PSE reveal themselves as a group of four middle-school-looking girls. Chihiro almost felt relief knowing that they were younger than her, as it proved that she herself would definitely be able to do this band thing as well.

"Hello, HorizoN!" A blonde girl at the mic with the bass guitar greeted. "We're ECL:PSE! Are you ready for the show?" In response, the crowd cheered again.

It wasn't any wonder that Chihiro was struck by shock once again when the blonde, seemingly sweet girl at the microphone began singing with the most intense, least characteristic voice Chihiro could have expected. The room burst into a hot oven of loud noises, the guitar chords coursed throughout the room, the bass sent shudders up Chihiro's spine, the drums boomed ballistically, the keyboard screamed dissonant melodies, and the nice blonde girl neared yelling with a strained, angry voice. Chihiro covered her ears in bewilderment in an attempt to silence the sounds, but the chaotic blaring leaked through her fingers anyways. Why didn't she expect that a band would be so wild and intense? Maybe music wasn't meant for her after all.

As she sank to the back of the room with impressed fear, Chihiro spotted a short girl standing in the back corner.

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## Trivia

* Upon reading this story, the song ISOLATION LABYRINTH is unlocked.