AMBiTiON/Story/Ch. 9

## Chapter 9 - The Forecast Said Rain

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"What if we get there before them? What if they miss the train? What if--"

"Wait, didn't we do this already?" Chihiro, like last Friday, led Aki and Sorae to the train station where they would meet the new recruit. Today though, the new girl wasn't Izumi, but instead Moriuchi-san. It would have been a deja vu moment for Chihiro if not for that crucial detail. "Like I said, Haneoka's closer to the station than Hanasakigawa, and Izumin won't make herself late."

For the past four days, Chihiro's usual after school train ride with Izumi was accompanied by the serious Moriuchi-san, who didn't make much of a difference being there since she hardly said anything at all. When Chihiro and Izumi got off the train at their station, since Moriuchi-san's station was further away, she remained on the train as if she didn't even know the pair..

"S-Still… I'm kinda scared to meet Moriuchi-san…" Sorae cowered for good reason. The forest-haired girl seemed rather menacing to any person, and for the anxious Sorae it must have been even worse.

"Sora-chin, it'll be fine!" Aki consoled, "Just introduce yourself like you did last time. Moriuchi-san doesn't sound that scary... A-At least, to me!"

'Because anyone you meet automatically likes you,' silently added Chihiro.

They walked up the stairs to the station platform where Izumi made eye contact with Chihiro. "Ohmygod, hurry up~. It's almost hedgehog o' clock!" She urged.

The three walked over to Izumi and Moriuchi-san. Again, Sorae cowered behind Chihiro and Aki, but the bass guitar case she brought along this time and was wearing on her back made Sorae jut out.

"Let's play the intro game again~," Izumi told them all.

Aki and Sorae did their introductions, the latter being extra stuttery, only for Moriuchi-san to give the same reply she had given to Chihiro - name, year, a simple nod. She quietly moved on without another word, the only thing moving her along with their conversation being Izumi's input.

When they got onto the train, the air was uneasy. Chihiro noticed even the agreeable Aki was acting a bit more hesitant than she usually did. She started to doubt if Moriuchi-san was meant to be there after all.

"So, Moriuchi, try it out!"

Moriuchi-san's long hair flowed behind her as she pulled the light blue guitar away from the wall and, watching how Sorae carried her bass, gracefully put the guitar strap over her shoulder. Her face was emotionless, peering down at the guitar strings. Chihiro, Aki, and Sorae watched from afar as they set up their own instruments.

Izumi pointed at Moriuchi-san's right hand. "And then just strum the strings!"

With her thumb, the aloof girl strummed the six guitar strings. Although it was not connected to an amplifier, a wonderful chord of the six notes sounded. Moriuchi-san's eyes widened slightly, the first sign of any kind of feeling from the stone-faced girl.

"Glad she's already got the hang of it." Aki, finished with her prepping, went towards Chihiro and Sorae. "But if I have to be honest, I'm kinda worried for her." The violet-haired girl's voice dropped to a near whisper.

Chihiro blinked at Aki. "Why's that?"

"Moriuchi-san's hardly said anything to any of us, so I'm worried she might not be fitting in all that well. Like, I know she's a good person, she just can't show it…?"

Aki's gaze shifted, troubled. She continued, "And also she might not be in as good of a position as us in terms of our instruments. I mean, you can sing anywhere, I have a keyboard at home, Izumin just uses her sister's drums, and Sora-chin, you have your brother's bass." She gazed over at Moriuchi-san, standing beside the bench with a hesitant grip on her guitar. "But what about Moriuchi-san? Does she have her own guitar? Does her sister? I just feel kinda bad for her."

"Well, she said she'd play the guitar, so would it be our fault that she can't…?" Chihiro said indifferently.

Sorae gripped her bass a bit tighter. "M-Maybe if we somehow got help from ECL:PSE…"

"Wait! That's it!" Aki's voice grew louder, her indigo eyes lighting up. She approached Izumi and Moriuchi-san, standing by the box near the studio door.

"Hey, guys!" Aki caught the attention of the two. She turned to the new girl, "Moriuchi-san, I just wanted to ask a quick question." Aki gave a friendly smile.

The green-haired girl, almost olive in the rehearsal studio light, stared at Aki with chestnut-colored eyes. "... What is it?"

"So your sister is in ECL:PSE, right? Like Izumin's?"

"Yes. Her name is Fuyuna Moriuchi."

"Mm~, so if Izumin's sister plays the drums, what does Fuyuna-san play?"

As the Hanasakigawa girls had expected, she didn't play guitar like her older sister was about to. "She plays the keyboard."

Aki chuckled. "Oh, like me! So that means you don't have a guitar for yourself, right?"

Moriuchi-san did not respond, only staring down at her studio guitar with a distant expression.

"So anyways, we were thinking - Oh, this is for you too, Izumin - what if we got some help from ECL:PSE? We need permission, yeah, but if they agree, what do you think about letting them help us?"

"Wait, that's genius!" Izumi smiled slyly like a cartoon villain with a plan. "If we get ECL:PSE to help us, I'll force Kiyomi to teach me drums...!"

With a sorry laugh for Izumi's sister Kiyomi, Aki tilted her head. "You can thank Sora-chin for the idea."

Izumi waved at Sorae, "Thanks Raa-kun!"

Sorae, standing beside Chihiro, tensed up at the sudden attention. The vocalist rolled her eyes at Sorae's panicky personality, then wondered what it would be like to meet the girls of ECL:PSE. Chihiro had only seen them during their performance, where she first met Izumi. Watching them perform so wildly onstage, Chihiro couldn't imagine what the real people were going to be like.

Izumi was already enthusiastically texting Kiyomi about their plans, though from how she refused to teach Izumi anything about drumming, Chihiro expected a negative answer.

"I guess they're done with that." Chihiro turned away from the situation. "Can we try playing something now? We only have 30 minutes this time too, don't we?"

"Just Twinkle Twinkle again?" Sorae asked.

"Might as well try again, it's the only thing we all know."

Izumi put her phone down and glanced over at the two. "Hey, are we playing now?" She ran over to the drums and sat down, with Aki walking back to the keyboard. Moriuchi-san was left, standing before all of them with her sky-blue guitar in unexpressed confusion.

"May I ask, what should I do?" Moriuchi-san asked with a blank face, addressing all four of them.

Aki was the first to answer, "Oh! Sora-chin, how about you help Moriuchi-san use the amp? She might not be able to play but you can show her that," Aki suggested, to the terror of Sorae. It was obvious to Chihiro and Izumi that Aki just wanted to encourage the timid girl to talk.

"W-Wha? Um-- I mean-- M-Moriuchi-san, u-uh, yes, I can help…" Sorae's words were spilling out as she frantically stumbled to another amp, not even calling the dark-green-haired girl over.

Moriuchi-san, simply going around the nervous pink-haired girl, stood still as a statue next to the amp. "Tell me the procedure." She strictly and directly stated it as a command.

"Uh, um--" Sorae bent to take and unfurl the cord sitting on top of the amp. "S-So you... take this c-cord…"

Her extremely shaky hands fumbled around the coiled up amp cord, panicking more and more. Chihiro had a feeling it wouldn't end well.

"I-I got it, got it-- And then you, you put it, connect it here, the cord in this hole…" She stuck one end of the cord into a hole on the amp. "P-Put it there, and then the amp, you turn on the amp, and then the button-- the button to turn it on-- w-where is it…??"

Sorae was blindly using her hand to search for an on/off switch that was on the back of the amp. With unimpressed eyes, Moriuchi-san watched on.

"O-Okay, I pressed it-- Then the other end of t-the cord, the other end you stick it-- U-Uh, you stick this end in the g-guitar, right here--"

As the fearful Sorae was about to plug the cord into her guitar, Moriuchi-san finally spoke. However, it wasn't anything pleasant. Her grave voice shook the hearts of everyone onlooking.

"Sorae Ishizawa-senpai, was that your name?" Moriuchi-san's head lifted in scorn, she muttered. "I'm inclined to believe that you're doing this incorrectly. Teach me properly or don't try at all."

Although her observation was fair, Moriuchi-san's remorseless gaze pierced right into Sorae's as the messy-haired girl started to shake even more.

"U-Um, sorry-- And you stick the cord here, a-and then-- Aki-chan!!!"

Nearly tripping on her own amp cord, Sorae fled back to hide behind Aki with immense terror. Aki, surprised at everything that just occurred, faced Sorae. "Sorry, sorry, I didn't think that would happen, Sora-chin…!"

Aki turned back at Moriuchi-san, who stood there with no reaction. Chihiro thought she might finally see some sort of hatred in the girl's purple eyes, but she showed no trace of upset, only pity. What Aki was pitying, Chihiro didn't know.

Meanwhile, the usually confident Izumi broke from her cheerful front. "Moriuchi! What was that?" Izumi's teal eyes were a mix of temper and confusion.

"I told her to calm down." Moriuchi-san didn't show any sort of pity, unlike Aki.

"I see that! But couldn't you tell how nervous Raa-kun was? Don't scare her like that~!" Izumi pouted.

Chihiro could only stand, frozen in place, unsure of what to do. She didn't want to stand in the middle anymore.

An uncharacteristic sound popped up, interrupting the tense atmosphere. "Oh. Heh, that's my phone." Izumi stiffly walked over to the pile of bags on the bench and grabbed her phone.

She lifted her face and swept her gaze across all four other girls, wearing a passive-aggressive smile. "Kiyomi said we're allowed to go to ECL:PSE's next rehearsal! They do them on Saturdays, so that's… Tomorrow. Back here, at Live House HorizoN, at 2PM."

It would have been a good thing had whatever that was not occurred.

Trying her best to take control of the situation, Aki forced herself to let everyone keep going. They, excluding Moriuchi-san, played Twinkle Twinkle Little Stars again.

HorizoN, huh?

Chihiro could see trouble over there.

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