(Author's Note: Hello~! I got to stay home again, since I'm still feeling under the weather. I'm actually typing this from my phone, for once~ )
"Ah~ Gomenasai~" Ai slowly got up from the ground, rubbing her forehead with her left hand. She used her other hand to help the blonde wearing a fitted tank top and much less colorful, dark navy shorts. Her wristbands and sneakers helped give her a bright, sporty look.
"It's fine, it's fine~!" The blonde took Ai's offered hand and hopped straight up. She looked behind Ai and saw Manami, Nana, Mai, and Noriko. "Oh~!" She started to stare, "You made new friends!"
"Mm-hm~" Ai cooed and smiled, and clasped her hands together once more. "We were just going to shop a bit before it's too late. Care to come along?" Nana, Mai, and Manami watched Ai converse with the blonde.
"Totally!" The blonde fist-pumped the air with both of her arms, and bent her knees when she jumped. Ai jumped with her, and the two smiled at each other. "Especially with some fellow future understudies~!" The blonde winked at the group Noriko and Manami were in. "I swear, they really have too much confidence sometimes," Noriko thought with a mental sigh.
"A new rival every minute.." Mai groaned and held her head in her hands. Manami laughed and gently pat her friend's shoulder.
"They're on the move!" Noriko threw her skateboard, jumped on it, and led Manami, Nana, and Mai. The girls ran after her as they chased the frolicking girls ahead.
"Who even..-pant-..is that girl?" Manami asked Noriko, when she caught up to her.
"Shiori Ishii. She used to be my neighbor, moved to Yorkstar, then moved back to Austar. She's 15, just like Ai." Noriko kept riding her skateboard, watching Ai and Shiori's turns. "C'mon- I think they went this way." The girls turned left in the polished wooden-floor hallways. They saw the hallway floors up ahead were light-rose marble.
Meanwhile, Ai and Shiori kept skipping and jogging.
"Where were we going, aga~in?" Shiori giggled. Ai gave one more hop, then pulled Shiori back, so that the pair stood in place.
"…Eh?" Ai gave a blank smile towards Shiori. "I think..we were..going to go shopping?" Ai faintly touched her bottom lip, and tilted her head to the right. She dropped Shiori's hand, and instead Ai wrapped an arm around her own waist, like a self-hug. Shiori simply stood with her hands at her side.
"Aren't the shops…the other way, though?" Shiori used her thumb to point over her houlder, to the hallway they just turned from. The two were laughing as they walked in the direction they started from. Ai giggled so hard that she had to wipe a tear from the corner of her right eye.
"They're turning around?!" Nana raised an eyebrow as Ai and Shiori were seen walking back.
"They're laughing, too." Mai squinted her eyes in anger.
"Wait…" Noriko, Mai, and Nana stopped to look at Manami. "Do you guys hear that too?" She looked shocked, confused, and worried.
"…Huh?" Ai did a smooth little pivot on a heel, to find the source of those rapid, sharp, clicking noises. The noises came in four different patterns, and the sources were four more girls running down the hall.
"Come on, we gotta get out of here!" A girl with pin-straight, thigh-length aquamarine hair gingerly touched Ai's shoulder with one hand, and lightly reached for and took hold of Ai's right hand with her other hand. The girl was only and inch or two taller than Ai.
"Haru…-chan?" Ai looked right into the eyes of the taller bluenette, who wore a schoolgirl uniform and brown glass. Suddenly, Ai's face glowed a bright, rosy pink. Noriko not only noticed this, but also how close the two were. Their bodies were touching, their faces closer than before, especially in her eyes. Noriko drew her board back once she was just five or six feet away from them. Her eyebrows got closer to each other, she kicked her board into her hand, and held it horizontally under her arm. Her hand became a white-knuckled fist, and it was only mere seconds before she dragged her nails on her own skateboard.
Mai and Nana let out high-pitched yips from the surprise, and Manami just stared, wide-eyed. Shiori tilted her head down, and began giggling quietly. Everyone but Ai and "Haru-chan" shifted their gaze to the awkwardly giggling girl.
"GIDDYYYY YAAAAPPP!" A white-haired, fuchsia-eyed girl in strange bright shorts and a jean-jacket hopped onto Ai's back. The force was sending Ai to the ground, although Haru and Shiori took hold of her arms to keep her up, in a panic.
(Author's note: What a great introduction for a character xD Also, three new characters in one chapter! That hasn't happened since the first chapter, hasn't it? :3 New record~! Unfortunately, I only have a few lines ahead until you're all caught up with my handwritten drafts. ;~; So I'm not sure if I'll be able to write enough tonight to upload a new chapter tomorrow…I've been thinking about posting character bios between chapters, though. Would that be interesting?)