Sorae Ishizawa

## Signature

> ***"D-Don't people say happiness is the most important thing? If only I could just... live the way I want to..."***
>
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**Sorae Ishizawa** is a second-year student at Hanasakigawa Girls' High School and the bassist of AMBiTiON. She also creates the band's artistic assets, such as logos and costume design.

## Background

Sorae lives with her parents and two brothers. Her older brother attends university, while her younger brother is in middle school. Her older brother gave Sorae her current bass guitar.

As a person paranoid of unpredictable circumstances, Sorae has withdrawn into spending most of her time alone in her room, becoming a shut-in over time.

## Appearance

Sorae has amber eyes and unkempt, pinkish-red hair below shoulder length. Her bangs cover her forehead messily, with parts long and framing her face on the sides, and she has two iconic cowlicks on the top of her head. She has bags under her eyes, and acne most noticeable around her jawline and forehead.

Her voice is squeaky and tense. She stutters and speaks with inconsistent speed, often tripping over her own words when trying to speak quickly. When excited, she loses most of her stutter.

Her casual outfit involves a light pink, long-sleeved shirt with a simple graphic of a round, orange character and the word "NEMUI" *(lit. Sleepy)* underneath in multicolored text. She has a brown hoodie tied around her waist, cuffed jeans, and flat black sneakers. She wears a tan-colored backpack with a plush keychain of an axolotl.

## Personality

Sorae is a shy and anxious girl who doesn't like putting effort into anything. She wishes to live a simple, carefree life, but not only is responsibility and commitment unavoidable, Sorae also has an instinct of stressing about everything, so it is practically impossible for her.

She is someone who fears conflict and turbulent situations. Even if there is a problem, if the means to solve it requires stepping out of her comfort zone, there is a likelihood that Sorae won't try to solve it at all. She tries to be content with the status quo, just as she tries to avoid any type of conflict. Because of this, when Sorae encounters a troubling circumstance, she feels the impulse to run away from it.

Sorae comes off as softspoken, but once talk about anime comes up, she becomes extremely sociable and can talk about it for possibly hours.  Her passions are incredibly important to her, especially when she is afraid to do anything new.

## Relationships

Chihiro Satou: Fellow band member and schoolmate. Sorae is a little awkward around Chihiro, but neither of them dislike each other. Sorae consults Chihiro about fashion and cosmetics.

Aki Hoshinomiya: Fellow band member and schoolmate. They are friendly, and Sorae is grateful for Aki's gentle support when it comes to Sorae leaving her comfort zone.

Izumi Takimoto: Fellow band member. Though Sorae gets flustered by Izumi's boisterous personality, she has fun talking with her about anime, games, and such.

Mai Moriuchi: Fellow band member. Having very different ideas about aspirations, they weren't close at first - with Sorae being intimidated by Mai - but they soon learned to understand each other. Sorae admires Mai's earnest attitude. She also thinks Mai's analytical skills are "cool".

## Etymology

* **Sorae** (空絵): **Sora** (空) means "sky" and **E** (絵) means drawing. **E** (へ) is also a particle meaning towards/to, making Sorae's name pronounced like the phrase "towards the sky".
* **Ishizawa** (石沢): **Ishi** (石) means "rock, stone" and **Sawa** (沢) means "swamp".

## Trivia

* In the early stages of Summery/AMBiTiON's conception, Sorae was an excitable but strange girl who loved to draw. She was hesitant to join AMBiTiON because, despite her wish to make friends, she was afraid to lose her love for drawing. In her past experiences, Sorae's passions were short-lived, and she had to learn to make a balance between drawing and music.
* In the Beta version of the Summery Project, Sorae's surname was Ishida (石田).
	+ This makes Sorae and Aki the only characters to have had a name change in development.
* When excited, Sorae refers to her friends with the affectionate name suffix "-cchi".
* Sorae is a big fan of the in-universe anime series *Majika?! MagiGal!*.
	+ It is a show about a kindhearted gyaru schoolgirl who gains magical powers after helping a timid schoolmate. The two use magic to defeat monstrous creatures, which are manifestations of peoples' inner troubles.
		- MagiGal has a manga and game adaptation.
* She was inspired to join AMBiTiON because of an anime called Mainichi Hokago Music Club!, also known as Myukura.
* She was partly based on a friend of 3LeafKlover.

## References

1. ↑ Chapter 5, as said by Sorae: "T-Two [brothers], actually. My older brother's in university... and my y-younger brother's in middle school."
2. ↑ Chapter 5, as said by Sorae: "My older brother... He said he has a, um, bass guitar I can keep...?"
3. ↑ Chapter 18, as said by Mai: "She thought she overcame her tendency to not act in the face of challenge [...]"
4. ↑ AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 6
5. ↑ AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 8
6. ↑ AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 7
7. ↑ Chapter 6, as said by Sorae: "You watch MagiGal?! Since when? Which part? Which episode? Did you read the manga? Do you play the game?! Add me on the game!!"