AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 5

## Chapter 5 - Sketches of Skies

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

With a smile, Aki walked away from Chihiro's desk and got her bag from her own desk, preparing to go to the gym. As much as Aki wanted a new member in their band as well, she would feel bad if Chihiro was disturbing that stoic Takimoto-senpai she'd been talking about. Regardless, Aki would be supporting 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 Higashiki-san and the others through the hallway. Feeling a pang of guilt, Aki silently apologized for leaving.

It was around 4PM when Aki left the gymnasium and got ready to head to the store. Volleyball practice usually lasted longer than 4PM, but due to Aki's family circumstances, the teacher had always let her leave early.

Heading for the school gates, Aki suddenly spotted an abandoned notebook sitting on one of the school benches. Like a curious child, she approached it and picked it up.

The notebook was a navy blue colour, with unevenly folded pages and messy pencil markings on the cover. Figuring that the notebook belonged to someone in Hanasakigawa, Aki searched for a name to identify the owner, however a name was nowhere to be found.

Innocently, the violet-haired girl opened the notebook in hopes of a name to return it to. But instead of someone's identification, Aki's purple gaze was met with dozens of hasty illustrations, depicting cute characters and what seemed to be costume design. Aki's eyes widened.

'I've never even thought about costumes for our band,' Aki realized. 'How could I have not considered that? Hiro-tan would be glad to know it might be possible if I somehow get my family's help...' Though, she wondered if she even wanted anything to do with them.

Aki, feeling a rush of inspiration, 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!!"

Aki glanced up from the notebook to see a strawberry-pink-haired girl charging at her with fear in her eyes. She skidded to a halt right in front of Aki and panted several, quick breaths, then glanced desperately at the stranger she just ran up to.

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

Unable to lie to anyone, 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…" The ponytailed girl began. "You know, I saw more than a page…"

The pink-haired girl turned around, her expression morphing from anxiousness to horror. "W-W-Why?"

"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 kind of got inspired, you could say."

She was still out of breath. "Oh, that's good, you didn't, see the, other drawings… I-I mean, a band...?"

"Yeah. 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 lighting up with excitement, anticipating Aki's response. Her grip on the notebook tightened.

Aki blinked in astonishment. "Huh? Sure! But… do you play any instruments?"

The girl blinked back in momentary confusion, before drooping back down, "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. I'm Aki Hoshime, who're you?" She patted the spot beside her, inviting the girl to sit.

"Um, my name is Sorae Ishizawa." She responded before murmuring, "So you're Aki Hoshime-san...?" The girl said it as if to imply Aki was some kind of celebrity, which was weird. She wasn't that big of a deal. She hoped she wasn't.

Looking closely at Ishizawa-san once she had calmed down, she had ruffled strawberry-pink-hair and dull amber eyes like the sun. Aki thought she was rather interesting. She 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…?"

"Huh?" Aki looked at Ishizawa-senpai curiously. "You don't want me to call you that?"

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

"Hm." Aki continued to look at the anxious girl, "That's hard to imagine. I think you're interesting!"

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

Aki wasn't sure what Ishizawa-senpai was thanking her for, but she accepted it anyways. "Do you happen to be busy at lunch tomorrow?" Aki asked.

"Not really." The slightly-more-relaxed girl said, then her eyes brightened up enthusiastically. "Wait! C-Can I eat lunch with you tomorrow?"

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…" She trailed off.

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

"O-Okay." Ishizawa-senpai looked Aki in the eyes, clutching her navy blue notebook to her chest. "Thanks again, Hoshime-san. S-See you tomorrow!" And with the final bye, Ishizawa-senpai did a half-walk-half-run away. Aki, watching her go, sighed in relief.

Excitedly, she took out her phone to text Chihiro about the ordeal. "Hiro-tan, I think I recruited someone!" She decided to send. Then, calming down, Aki wistfully stared up at the cloud-dotted sky for a few moments. The sun had hours before dying the sky orange. She wondered what time her parents would come home today.

'Well,' Aki figured, 'I'll work hard for everyone! For my parents! For Hiro-tan! For Ishizawa-senpai!' Looking back down, she grabbed her bag and dashed for the school gate. 'And for Higashiki-san and the others too...'

Chihiro slumped in her seat as the lunch bell chimed. Aki stood at Chihiro's desk as usual.

"Aki-yan, you said yesterday that girl'd be coming." Chihiro asked boredly. "And when is that?"

"Soon," replied Aki, "she'll be here in a bit."

A bit doubtful, Chihiro waited. It took about eight minutes for the new girl to arrive, out of breath and nervousness in her wide, afraid eyes.

"H-Hoshime-san?" The weird girl spoke.

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

"Sorry it took so long…" She apologized. "I-I kept walking into the wrong classroom." Staring at the disorganized girl, Chihiro couldn't help but think, 'Just look at the signs outside the class doors, stupid.'

"No, it's fine!" Aki insisted, as much as Chihiro disagreed with her internally. "Anyways, here's my friend! Introduce yourself, Hiro-tan."

At Aki's request, Chihiro unenthusiastically complied, "Uh-- Oh, yeah. I'm Chihiro Satou." Ew, her name always sounded bad.

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

Scanning the strange new girl, Ishizawa was a bit shorter than Aki, and had messy, disheveled pink hair. Her panicked yellow eyes like a prey animal stared back at Chihiro anxiously. To the brown-haired girl, the socially inept stranger looked like she'd never heard of a hair brush before. Ishizawa wasn't making a very good impression on Chihiro.

"N-Nice to meet you too, Ishizawa-senpai."

"Alright, let's go to the courtyard, shall we?" Aki started to exit the classroom, with Chihiro and Ishizawa after her.

As the three walked down the hallway, Chihiro neared Aki and doubtfully asked, "So you said before that Ishizawa-senpai doesn't play any instruments…?"

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

"That's great!" Aki exclaimed. "We don't have a bassist yet."

"Bass guitar, hm~?" Chihiro leaned over to look at Ishizawa. "Izumi-chan told me a bassist is pretty important for a band." She didn't know how to feel about someone as unreliable-seeming as Ishizawa-san playing what was supposed to be such an important role.

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

"Who?" Ishizawa chimed in. Aki explained, "Hiro-tan recruited another bandmate 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."

Chihiro was a bit irritated at how Ishizawa randomly butted in, and how Aki simply tolerated it. But as much as Chihiro still planned on never trusting the agreeable Aki, her word about this Ishizawa person was Chihiro's best bet. Reluctantly, the brown-haired girl continued to put up with her.

For the whole duration of lunch period, the three - at least, Aki and Ishizawa - talked to no end. Unsure of how to place herself into the conversation, and too embarrassed to admit she had no idea what she was doing, Chihiro stayed silent for much longer than usual. Heaving a sigh, Chihiro ate her lunch feeling overlooked as normal. But now with four people in her band, she hoped things would get better. Delusional optimism? Probably. Did she care? Actually, yes, but.

She looked up at the cloudy May sky and smiled. Even if it wasn't as she wanted exactly, her plan was coming together.

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