Ichisaki

Ichisaki is the femslash ship between Ichika Hoshino and Saki Tenma from the Project SEKAI fandom.

Canon
Saki and Ichika are first-year high school students as well as members of the band Leo/need, with Saki being their keyboardist and Ichika serving as their guitarist and vocalist. Saki and Ichika were once childhood friends who played music together. They were close but grew apart after Saki got hospitalized for an unknown disease, and their relationship got strained after that certain incident. When Saki returned to school after recovering she wanted to reconcile, but sadly Ichika, Honami and Shiho had drifted apart and chose to run away from that hope, which made Saki sad. When Saki returned, she and Ichika reform the group with the help of the VIRTUAL SINGERs.

In Leo/need's Main Story, Ichika was listless, without much of a passion and was unable to gain the courage to bring her childhood friends back together, often wondering if things would continue this way, of which changed after Saki recovering and returning to school, being introduced as a new classmate. During class and breaks, Saki talked about her wish to reunite with her friends and recreate the precious memories from their childhood to Ichika, who shared the same wish. She and Saki attempted to talk to Shiho and Honami, just for them to reluctantly avoid the conversation and run away from them. During a breaktime in school, Saki discovered and played "Untitled" on Ichika's phone, which triggered them into the Sekai where Miku Hatsune and Luka Megurine appears, with Honami and Shiho soon quickly being teleported into the sekai following, and Miku and Luka asking them to play with them. However, shortly after that Honami and Shiho refused and left the Sekai. After that event and upon meeting the sekai, Ichika gradually becomes more courageous and determined to reunite her friends with Saki. They even promised a band together despite Honami and Shiho not returning (thus the Kizuna Rank title). In one of their practices, they gazed the stars together.

They are childhood friends, classmates and bandmates. Ichika enjoys Saki's happy demeanor and persistent smile, while Saki is glad Ichika is always there for her. Ichika was the one to visit Saki most in the hospital outside her immediate family, which Saki appreciates. Ichika sometimes worries that Saki is overworking herself while trying to experience everything she missed as a preteen. They care deeply and often show concerns for one another. Saki and Ichika would often go on "dates" according to the official 4-frame comics to catch up on what she missed out during her time hospitalized. Ichika also doesn't enjoy places with a lot of noise, for example, she doesn't enjoy visiting Phoenix Wonderland unless Saki goes with her.

Quotes
"The Star Festival, huh? I always wished for Saki to get better every year, but what should I ask for now?"

- Ichika's Tanabata Menu Line

Fanon
Ichisaki is one of the more popular pairings on both sides, for their canonical interactions in the main storyline, their contrasting personalities, and how close they are to each other as the "childhood friends" trope. However, Ichisaki is rivaled by other Leo/need ships for they have very the approximately the same closeness to one another. Many fans also tend to ship Ichika, Saki with Honami and Shiho in a poly relationship (Polyneed), otherwise Ichisaki would be shipped along with Shihonami. In the Japanese fandom, they are arguably the most popular ship in both sides, receiving a great amount of fanarts on Twitter and Pixiv.

Ichisaki fans would sometimes consider the ship as potential for angst and slow burn due to Saki's previous illness. Aside from that, they also would commonly joke about Ichika being distracted from Saki by her idolization for Hatsune Miku.

Fandom
FAN FICTION

ART

TWITTER
 * (Korean "Ichisaki" tag)
 * (Korean "Ichisaki" tag)
 * (Korean "Ichisaki" tag)
 * (Korean "Ichisaki" tag)

Trivia

 * Their ship name is referred to with the "🎸🎹" and "💙💛" emojis.
 * They have a 2 cm height difference, with Ichika being 161 cm and Saki being 159 cm.
 * They are 93 days apart in age.
 * They have covered two songs together (Time Machine and Ikanaide). They also solo versions for Teo.
 * Their Kizuna Rank titles include "The Beginning of Leo/need", "Smile Friend" and "Words and Melody".

Variations

 * Polyneed refers to the ship between the two, Honami Mochizuki and Shiho Hinomori