Social Anxiety and the Rock of Loneliness

He began gradually accelerating.

At the same time, the roar of the motorcycle behind them drew closer.

"Hold on tight!"

Ishikawa Hayato warned Bocchi behind him, then threw back his head and shouted proudly.

"If you want to catch a pervert, wait another hundred thousand years! Ooooooh!"

In an instant, the pedals beneath his feet spun into afterimages. The bicycle surged forward as if it had been filled with motorcycle fuel, leaping ahead in a flash and bursting forward as a streak of shadow.

Only Bocchi's startled cry remained in the air.

"Ahhh—"

Bofeng Jihuo had not seen a child so openly giving someone a ride on a bicycle in many years.

In the past, he had occasionally lamented that young people nowadays could not appreciate the romance of their era, but when he saw this today...

He still could not simply turn a blind eye.

He had originally planned to stop them and give them a stern lecture.

But they actually ran!

And what had that boy called him? A pervert?

That girl was in danger! He twisted the throttle all the way down.

His desire to protect the citizens was ignited.

Justice was in action!

The motorcycle let out a thunderous roar as well, fiercely chasing after the little bicycle ahead as if it were about to swallow the tiny thing whole!

60 km/h... 66 km/h... 70 km/h... 80 km/h... 90 km/h

A bicycle and a motorcycle began an intense chase down the road, while cars beside them stared dumbfoundedly at the two shadows speeding past.

"Bastard, stop right now!"

Amid the howling wind, Bofeng Jihuo shouted at the bicycle ahead, which was gradually drawing closer.

His voice was blurred by the extreme speed, but he still forced out the shout with all his might.

Hearing the sound draw closer again, Ishikawa Hayato glanced back. The black-and-white motorcycle was especially glaring beneath the sunlight.

"Bocchi, hold on tight!"

He reminded Bocchi behind him.

Once he felt Bocchi's grip tighten around him, he closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and snapped them open.

It was as though a beam of light had erupted in his eyes.

"Fastest Black Shadow, Ishikawa Hayato! Going all out now!"

He roared with overwhelming momentum. In an instant, his legs tensed into rock-like muscles as he stomped down hard.

The pedals let out a miserable groan, and the chain shrieked as though it were sawing through iron.

Hearing that shout from ahead, Bofeng Jihuo sensed something was wrong and twisted the throttle tighter.

But...

"What?"

Bofeng Jihuo was stunned. His throttle was already at its limit, yet the boy ahead was still accelerating!

And at a speed visible to the naked eye, he was leaving behind Bofeng Jihuo's police motorcycle at full throttle while riding a step-through bicycle.

He was already going 98 km/h!

He watched the drifting pink shadow with a sigh. The motorcycle's limit was like an impenetrable wall, blocking his path forward.

"Ooooora!"

With the boy's shout, the gap between them widened at an incredible rate.

From afar, the bicycle looked like a rocket shedding its useless fuel tank, leaving the motorcycle behind as it sped onward.

That figure broke through everything and shot toward the sky.

On this day, Ishikawa Hayato once again entered the peak realm of perversion.

"Phew, it's been a long time since I went all out. That felt great."

By the roadside in a small town, Ishikawa Hayato supported his bicycle and selected a bottle of mineral water from a vending machine, then selected a bottle of cola as well.

"Bocchi, here."

He tucked the mineral water under his arm, then turned and handed Bocchi the cola that had just dropped from the machine.

But Bocchi stared straight at him, looking as though she had gone stupid.

Ishikawa Hayato waved a hand in front of her eyes.

There was still no reaction.

But the next moment, he saw a soul-like figure seemingly crying as it chased after them from not far away, returning to Bocchi's body.

Ishikawa Hayato: ...

"Sorry."

Ishikawa Hayato naturally patted Bocchi on the head. Bocchi, still shaken as she drank her beverage, let him do it.

After taking two sips of cola, Bocchi recovered somewhat. She looked at the drink in her hand, then paused as she looked at the one in Ishikawa Hayato's hand.

Then she spoke.

"No, it's fine..." Halfway through, she thought it over again, as if recalling the thrill from earlier.

She looked up at Ishikawa Hayato and gave him a faint, restrained smile.

"It was kind of fun."

Ishikawa Hayato was briefly stunned as he looked at Bocchi, who had suddenly found some courage. Though her face still carried a gloomy air, that smile was a happy one.

Under the warm late-spring sun near noon, a layer of light fell over her overly pale face.

He smiled in turn.

"Looks like Bocchi has the potential to become a pervert too."

His words made Bocchi freeze.

Afterward, the two, now much more familiar with each other, pushed the bike along the road toward the bicycle rental shop.

Pushing the bike one-handed, Ishikawa Hayato took out his phone and checked the time before speaking to Bocchi.

"It's getting late. What about you, Bocchi?"

Bocchi looked at her cloth bag. She had only brought her bag when she left and hadn't brought her guitar...

She would have to go back and get it before heading to STARRY to practice that afternoon.

As she was thinking, Ishikawa Hayato, who had waited for quite a while, asked again.

"Where does Bocchi live?"

Bocchi looked at him in confusion, then answered without much hesitation.

"In Kanazawa, Yokohama..."

Amid the soft clicking of the bicycle axle turning, Ishikawa Hayato thought about the route.

"Then how about we return the bike, grab lunch, and go to Bocchi's house to pick up your guitar?"

Feeling as though he had seen right through her, Bocchi was so startled that her ahoge stood straight up. She asked in a panic.

"Ishikawa... can you read minds...?"

Ishikawa Hayato looked at her with a teasing smile.

"Bocchi, you weren't hiding what you were thinking at all."

Bocchi panicked for a moment, then shyly covered her face with both hands, paying no attention to the fact that they were out on the street.

Ishikawa Hayato went along with her, merely reaching out to hold her sleeve so she would not wander off course.

But he still teased her.

"Does Bocchi look like this because she's thinking something naughty? Let me see."

"N-No... you can't!"

Bocchi still covered her face. When she cried out, her whole body trembled from the force of it.

Even the tips of her ears had turned bright red.

So even if she had not been thinking about anything just now, she definitely was now.

Ishikawa Hayato found her extremely amusing, but he did not dare tease her any further. Bocchi broke easily.

He returned to the subject at hand.

"What does Bocchi want to eat?"

Even though they had returned to the topic, Bocchi still covered her face, seemingly planning to wait until the blush faded before lowering her hands.

Seeing how long she was taking to think, Ishikawa Hayato immediately guessed what she was thinking.

With a crooked smile, he said frivolously.

"I know. Let's get fast food."

"Eek!"

This time, Bocchi was so startled that her whole body jolted upright. She clutched her head with both hands and shook it repeatedly.

Ishikawa Hayato stopped walking as well, grinning mischievously.

"And now Bocchi is thinking, 'You said you couldn't read minds.'"

Bocchi shouted, on the verge of tears.

"D-Don't read my mind!"

Ishikawa Hayato still left her a little dignity. Otherwise, he could have guessed those words too—he could even have said them before she did.

As they spoke, the two of them started fooling around without the slightest concern for the fact that they were in the middle of the street, drawing bewildered looks from passersby.

Well, Bocchi was the one being toyed with.

When they arrived at the bicycle rental shop, the owner still had a cigarette dangling from his mouth, his absent-minded gaze fixed on a wall speckled with bike grease.

"Boss, I'm here to return the bike."

"Oh."

Hearing that a customer had returned, he responded offhandedly, then got to his feet and looked toward the entrance.

The two people who had rented his special bicycle that morning had returned.

Only, the boy was all smiles, while the girl wore a somewhat dejected expression.

He felt as though their expressions had not changed much from the morning, yet somehow, they were completely different.

The boy pushed the bike inside and said admiringly, "Boss, this really is an amazing bike."

The owner nodded, a heartfelt look of pride appearing on his face.

"Of course. This is the Love Love Special, the bike that has witnessed dozens of couples get together."

But at that moment, the boy's expression froze, and he looked toward the bike in panic.