AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 14

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She was still plagued with worries about her relations with the band by the time Chihiro was back at home, sitting on her bed at 9PM. Even as she tried distracting herself by doing her homework, Chihiro could hear an imaginary creature of doubt clutching onto her back, constantly whispering the same confusing words over and over again.

It wasn't like Chihiro to worry about trivial things like this. Of course she didn't care about them; They didn't care about her either. It was fair of her, right? If everyone in Chihiro's life was so indifferent towards her, she was only resetting the balance by doing this… or something. It was so stupid - It wasn't as if anyone cared this much about her, anyways. Chihiro was supposed to be the protagonist, the good person. So why did she feel so uneasy about it?

Was it fair for her to consider them friends and not just bandmates? Was it fair to consider them more than pawns? Was it even reasonable that Chihiro was thinking about how they would feel, if no one had ever cared about how SHE would feel?

She thought, 'I can't be so unfair to myself. I need other people to go through what I went through.' But...

Chihiro had a foot in each world, stuck on the border, and it seemed some time she would have to pick a side.

And that time was not now. Chihiro forcefully shoved the reverberating thoughts into the back of her mind and focused on the text Izumi just sent to their group chat.

Izumi: "guys can we go somewhere n do something"

Mai, who had been added to the group chat recently: "What do you mean by that? We've been going to HorizoN every Friday."

Izumi: "like do stuff. yknow like friends yknow ?" Chihiro eyed the word "friends" doubtfully.

Aki: "Depends what day!"

Izumi: "uuuuuuuhhhhhhhhhhh can we do saturday tmrw at like 2:00"

Chihiro: "wait we're not doing this afterschool??"

Aki: "Saturday's fine with me!"

Izumi: "we've gone to eclipse's rehearsal that one time on a saturday well be fineee"

Izumi: "and also tmrw theres no rain finally i think"

Izumi: "RAA-KUN I KNOW UR ONLINE say smth"

Sorae: "IDK WHAT TO SAY ó﹏ò; where r we even going"

Chihiro: "can we go to the mall? kindof want ice cream"

Mai: "Fine by me."

Aki: "Sure!"

Izumi: "what, just get snacc nd go?"

Sorae: "idk wat normal ppl do so ok (,,• ω •,,)b"

Izumi: "k hiro-tan meet me by the street corner at like 1:30"

Izumi: "lets take the 1:45 train n meet mai-chan then well meet up w/ raa-kun and akiyan at the mall at 2!!"

Chihiro: "wowww dont boss me around like that"

Placing her phone facedown on the surface of her bed, Chihiro let out a sigh. Even with the snarky response, secretly she was glad that the short girl could somehow act so responsible when it came to this stuff, though she wasn't quite sure if that applied to anything else. Nevertheless, it looked like Chihiro was going to be with her friends... bandmates for tomorrow. Maybe then she would know which side to pick.

"Mai-chan! What's the worms?!"

As Izumi and Chihiro stepped off the train, they spotted the forest-haired girl amidst the crowd. "What?" Simply replied Mai, just barely audible.

The pair managed to get to her. "Didn't know you took the same train as us, we coulda found you." Izumi put her hands on her hips.

"... Of course. I found out that the 1:45 train at your station would have been the 1:40 train at mine, so I acted accordingly." Mai narrowed her eyes at Izumi, but there was no hostility whatsoever. "Be more specific with your instructions."

"Obviously I was specific enough!" The short girl puffed her cheeks in mock anger. "Hmph. Anyways, let's hurry up and go~!"

They walked to the mall, which wasn't far at all, trying their best to take their time so to not get tired. Izumi, however, kept pulling the two first-years along.

"Like, June's literally gonna be over in ten days. After that it's tests, and boom, it's summer." Chihiro said as they stepped down the platform stairs.

"I'm not looking forward to it."

"Seriously?!" Leading the way, Izumi turned so part of her face was visible to the first-years behind her. "Why? Summer's awesome! No school!!"

Mai let out a hopeless sigh. "Exactly. There's nothing to do. I stay up and finish my summer homework in the first couple of days, and the rest of the break I sit at home doing nothing. I'm not being productive, so it's terrible..."

"T-That's what we're here for!" Chihiro winked, attempting to be friendly. "Uh, we could hang out during break, all five of us." She promised. Mai responded in a small smile.

"God, that sounds awesome~." Izumi commented in bliss, then unexpectedly broke into a run. "Come on guys, we're right there!"

The first-years were forced to hurry after the enthusiastic drummer. Chihiro tripped.

The three had about as much luck trying to find Aki and Sorae as blindfolded toddlers. "I told you we didn't have to hurry," Mai huffed.

"Hiro-tan! Izumin! Mai-san! Over here!" A faint call was heard.

"And I told YOU we did." Smirking smugly, Izumi charged at the oncoming Aki and Sorae like some kind of rabid animal, making Chihiro hope they had something red on hand to distract that abomination of a human-bull hybrid.

Aki seemed perfectly okay with the "greeting". "Izumin~!" She petted the short girl's curly hair as if Izumi was a dog. The messy-haired Sorae was beside them, who held an open packet of strawberry-flavoured Packy - no copyright infringement here - jumped in surprise.

As she watched, Chihiro couldn't help but let out an exasperated giggle. "Uh, can we get inside already? It's hot out here."

"Well, it's basically summer." Heading into the mall, Aki said.

"It's called global warming," Izumi followed suit.

"It's called both." Mai finished. The five girls entered the mall, greeting the heat repellent that was the mall's air-conditioning.

It was a big place, to say the least - that's kind of how a mall was supposed to be. The only reason Chihiro was even familiar with this place was because she kept getting dragged here in middle school by either her two weird-kid-comrades who for whatever reason bothered to hang out with her, or Chihiro's barely-motherly-mother, who was more like an annoying friend than a parent. Once she went into Hanasakigawa, those two weirdos pranced off to a different school entirely. And according to her mom, "it was time for my baby girl to grow up."

One would assume a self-assumed "average high school girl" would go to places more often, but Chihiro was starting to get tired of crapping around when she didn't even feel like it. And what kind of teenager goes to a mall ALONE?

They headed aimlessly into the middle of the mall until Sorae said something. "Uh-- right, can we go to that stationery place? I need to get a new eraser, I lost mine yesterday..."

Izumi seemed joyed by the plans. "Oh, yeahh! I shall write on the sample paper…!"

… Yeah, Chihiro expected as much.

In the stationery store, Sorae clarified specifically to "not follow her, since she felt awkward buying stuff while someone she knows is watching her", end quote. Chihiro definitely expected her to be the type to hide behind someone else, but whatever. She wandered around.

Meanwhile Izumi, like a single-minded robot, marched on over to a display of pens and started writing on one of those sample papers with a teal highlighter. Chihiro peered over the short girl's shoulder with not much effort, to be met with the words "Chickin Nuggy"... Cue flashback. Only now was Chihiro reminded of the matter from yesterday.

"Any ideas for our band name?" All of a sudden, Izumi asked without even turning around.

"How did you--?!" Chihiro jumped back in bewilderment.

The short drummer slyly grinned and turned to face the brown-haired girl. "Heheh, don't you know? The legendary Izumin's got a sixth sense." Her turquoise gaze then hardened in slight seriousness. "But like, any ideas?"

Chihiro shrugged. "Uh, not really. It's hard coming up with something that summarizes, you know, all FIVE of us when we're so different."

"Mind if I join in?" Aki came by, her purple ponytail swaying - She must have overheard their conversation. "If we've stuck together for this long, we gotta have something in common."

Sorae and Mai then approached the three, with the bassist clutching two erasers in her right hand, held to her chest. "Um, what's going on?" Inquired Sorae.

Now at this current point in time, the five girls stood in a ragged circle, next to the pen testing paper with the words "Chickin Nuggy". "...Maybe we should get outta here first." Chihiro suggested, "L-Let's go to that ice cream place upstairs!"

"One chocolate and one caramel, please! Do you guys want 'em medium? … Okay. Yeah. Thanks!"

For whatever reason, Aki was the one ordering, even though she didn't want any. Actually, there was a reason - The five were just walking over when Aki randomly seemed wary and pointed to that ice cream place on the same floor, saying, "Uh-- there's the place! I can get your ice creams if you want," and frantically frolicked off. Despite this, Izumi still managed to take the lead.

Just so the violet-haired first-year didn't have to babysit them anymore, Chihiro and Izumi went up to get their cups of ice cream.

"So, continue what you were saying." Straight to the point as usual, Mai said as they returned.

Izumi leaned against the railing overlooking the mall, talking as she ate her caramel ice cream. "We were tryna come up with a band name, but we got nothing. Aki-yan was saying that we must have something in common, but I dunno."

One arm over the glass railing, Sorae played with an eraser and nearly dropped it as her contemplative face morphed into confusion. "I-I don't have anything, sorry…"

"I think I do." With a finger playing with her green hair, Mai spoke up. Everyone's attention was instantly captured.

"So, do you remember around last week, at HorizoN, when you all were talking about your goals for the future? Before I… interrupted Sorae-senpai." Mai briefly flashed a look of regret to the pink-haired girl, with Sorae giving a forgiving expression in response. "That's where I wondered if that could be our common point."

"Think about it - Sorae-senpai mentioned that her goals were to live a simple life without responsibilities, while Izumi-senpai and Chihiro-san both agreed with something alike. Although I'm not quite sure how, I allegedly fall into the other extreme, and I'm not sure if I remember what Aki-san said." Mai's gaze fell on the purple-haired keyboardist. "But Aki-san, would you say you agree with that?"

Aki's sky blue gaze was oddly melancholic. "Hm… I guess, in a way."

Mai blinked confidently, "There."

A silence padded the end of her sentence, followed by the next words, this time from Izumi… "Uh, don't get it."

The girl with forest-green hair patiently sighed, "I'll be glad to elaborate.

Ambition. Or rather, the lack of it."

The moment was definitely meant to feel suspenseful, but Izumi casually broke in once again, "Dude. That's deep. I was hoping for something less cliche-sounding, but that's pretty frickin' cool~."

"I-Izumin!" Chihiro tried to scold her tactless upperclassman, but Mai was amazingly fine with the nonchalant reply. "Well, some stylization of the name wouldn't be bad. If I recall correctly, ECL:PSE's name is stylized too, no?"

Aki was the one to answer. "Yup. It's all capitalized, and the 'I' is a colon. Cool, right!" Her blue eyes sparkled. "Ain't this excitin'~? What'd they call that feelin' - 'poyo-yan'?"

Chihiro narrowed her eyes, "Poyo-what?"

"Wait--!" Spoke Sorae out of the blue. "When we decide on how to write our band name, do we need a logo too?"

"I suppose we do." Mai acknowledged. "What, will you make it--"

"I-I'll make it! I'll make the best logo ever for you guys! Um well maybe not, but--!" Sorae was now unusually fired up, her hands still playing a game of tennis with one of her erasers. Everyone chuckled, even Mai just a bit, all the while accompanied with a "thanks" to the fidgety but enthusiastic Sorae.

Suddenly, the poor eraser tumbled out of her clumsy hands and over the glass railing, where it presumably plummeted onto the mall's ground floor. Sorae, alarmed, desperately flailed her wrist and scratched at the air, but to no avail. That day, an innocent life was lost to the great, gaping gap of the fabled fourth dimension.

"Sorae-senpai, please be more careful…" Mai murmured, a tiny smile still lingering on her face.

"This isn't poyo-yan…"

"Poyo-stop, Aki."

Chihiro's comment went completely ignored by the keyboardist. "Well don't worry, Sora-chin, we can get it once we go back downstairs!"

"Unless it gets stolen~." Muttered Izumi with a lackadaisical smirk.

"You're. Not. Helping, Izumin~~!" Chihiro accusingly raised her voice, backed by humour. So silly. Of course these people were her friends. How could she have ever thought of hurting them?

How could she have ever thought of hurting them?

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