Then, as Bocchi was getting slippers for Ishikawa Hayato.
Knock, knock, knock.
Bocchi's parents rushed out together in their slippers, looking flustered.
They stopped at the entryway and froze when they saw Bocchi getting slippers for someone.
Their faces showed an expression that was hard to tell whether it was joy or emotion.
Then, they turned their gazes toward Ishikawa Hayato, who was about to enter.
"Good afternoon, sir, ma'am."
With a polite smile, Ishikawa Hayato lifted the fruit he was carrying and handed it over.
"A little gift."
Bocchi's mother, Gotou Michiyo, accepted the gift blankly and gave Ishikawa Hayato a once-over.
Handsome, sunny, polite, and brimming with confidence.
Then she looked at her own daughter: a painfully unfashionable tracksuit, bangs covering her eyes, and a slight hunch.
Finally, she met the eyes of Bocchi's father, Gotou Naoki.
The two began communicating telepathically.
Gotou Naoki: Hitori had finally gone down this road.
Gotou Michiyo: She'd actually sunk to the point of deceiving her family...
She communicated with her husband in her heart, but in reality, she was already quietly wiping away tears.
Bocchi's father found it a little hard to watch.
Though he also felt something was off. Given his daughter's personality, there was no way she would so naturally fetch slippers for someone she did not know well—especially a man.
But based on everything he knew about his daughter over the years, this! Was definitely a rented boyfriend!
Scratching the back of his head, he struggled to think of words that would not hurt his daughter.
"Um... Hitori, you really don't need to deceive your family like this."
Bocchi's mother chimed in as well.
"That's right. It makes Mommy sad."
Seeing her foolish parents expose her on the spot, Bocchi could not help crying out.
"Mom, Dad, what are you talking about?!"
At that moment, Ishikawa Hayato put on the slippers and walked over to Bocchi's father. Crossing his arms, he calmly joined her parents' side and lectured Bocchi.
"Yeah, Hitori. You really shouldn't keep this up."
Hearing him say that, Bocchi blinked twice before falling into self-doubt.
Even Hayato was saying that?
Hayato... wasn't really someone she had hired herself, was he?
Had those memories somehow been planted by herself just to deceive herself?
Yeah, thinking about how strange it was for her to bring a man home...
Even she felt like something was wrong.
Seeing Bocchi question her entire existence, Ishikawa Hayato patted Bocchi's father on the shoulder and sighed. Looking like an old drinking buddy of many years, he said to him,
"Drink. Just go have a drink."
Hearing those familiar words carved into every office worker's bones, Bocchi's father nodded gloomily.
"Yeah... let's drink."
The two of them walked into the living room with their arms around each other's shoulders.
Bocchi's mother also had things she wanted to say to Bocchi, but there was a guest in the house now, so she needed to entertain him too.
She merely looked sadly at Bocchi and said,
"We'll talk later."
Watching her mother head into the living room after saying that, Bocchi's head filled with question marks.
But she still remembered what she needed to do, so she immediately headed up to her room on the second floor to get her guitar.
But after she came back down with her guitar.
"What?! He really is Hitori's friend?"
Her father's startled cry exploded through the house like a bolt from the blue.
Family
Hearing that shout, Bocchi hurried down the stairs and headed for the living room.
The moment she reached the living room entrance, the first thing she saw was Ishikawa Hayato's calm expression. He was sitting politely on the small sofa.
On the long sofa beside him were her father, leaning forward in shock, and her mother, who was holding her father back.
Just as she frantically wondered how to stop them from fighting.
"Ah, that really startled me. Is he really Hitori's friend?"
Her father sat back down on the sofa and asked again with a smile, as though he did not care at all.
Ishikawa Hayato wore a smile as refreshing as a spring breeze as he spoke to the now-relaxed pair.
"Yes. Sir and ma'am, your reactions were just too funny, so I couldn't resist teasing you. Sorry."
Her mother seemed delighted, though there was some apology in her voice.
"No, we're the ones at fault. We just assumed you were Hitori's rented boyfriend."
After the awkwardness eased, Gotou Naoki sat up straight and casually asked Ishikawa Hayato,
"How did Ishikawa-kun meet Hitori?"
Ishikawa Hayato did not fool around any further and answered frankly.
"Hitori and I are in the same grade, and we're also friends in the same band."
"A band?"
The Gotou couple exchanged surprised looks.
At that moment, Bocchi hurried into the room. Flustered and scrambling, she tried to stop her parents.
"Mom, Dad, stop interrogating Hayato!"
"Hayato!"
The Gotou couple cried out in surprise again.
Then.
"I see, I see."
Gotou Naoki nodded happily with a smile.
Feeling like she had been teased, Bocchi let out an embarrassed, furious cry.
"Dad!"
Ishikawa Hayato and Bocchi did not stay at Bocchi's house for long before leaving.
Although there was still plenty of time before the band was due to meet, Bocchi seemed a little bothered by the contact between her family and Ishikawa Hayato.
Watching them chat so happily, occasionally digging up some of her embarrassing history, she felt both jealous and uneasy.
But she did not dare say anything to Ishikawa Hayato, so she could only keep glancing toward her parents.
Yet her parents rarely got to see their daughter bring a friend home—especially a male friend—so they completely ignored her increasingly pitiful looks and became more engrossed in talking with Ishikawa Hayato.
In the end, Ishikawa Hayato was the one who could not bear to watch any longer. He stood up, said it was time for the band to meet, and bid her parents farewell.
As they reached the entrance, put on their shoes, and prepared to head out.
"Come over anytime."
The Gotou couple said goodbye to Ishikawa Hayato at the door.
"Yeah, I definitely will."
Ishikawa Hayato smiled and nodded.
On the way to the station, Bocchi came to understand what a socially fulfilled person was.
He could get along with someone else's parents so quickly, even chatting with them enthusiastically.
According to the social skills ranking chart.
The lowest level was being able to chat with toddlers, followed by timid younger people, then ordinary younger people, ordinary peers, arrogant younger people...
Step by step, one climbed higher. But being able to happily chat with a friend's elders was someone at the tenth tier!
That was a level approaching godhood.
Incidentally, she was someone who could barely reach the lowest level if she stretched out her hand.
The gap in their combat power was as vast as heaven and earth!
Bocchi looked at the boy beside her, casually humming a song, with immense reverence.
After getting on the train, the two headed straight for STARRY.
Walking down the sunken staircase in front of STARRY, Ishikawa Hayato saw the half-open door and said to Bocchi beside him,
"Looks like everyone's already here."
For some reason, Bocchi had become reserved, and she answered a beat late.
"Ah... yeah."
Ishikawa Hayato did not pay much attention to it. He pulled open the door and walked inside while thinking about how to make an explosively dramatic entrance.
Bocchi followed behind him.
But the moment the two entered, they happened to hear Kita's voice.
"Ryo-senpai, I'm really sorry. I lied that day about the kind of music I liked."
Hearing that voice, Ishikawa Hayato smiled with satisfaction. He rounded the corner, vaulted over the railing, and jumped down.
After landing steadily, he spread his arms with a proud expression, as if celebrating Kita.
"Good! Kita, you've grown!"
"Whose fault do you think that is?!"
Hearing the voice of the culprit, Kita immediately turned around and complained to him.
Ishikawa Hayato put on a thoughtful expression and pinched his chin.
"That's a good question."
"It's you, Ishikawa-kun!" Kita cried out, on the verge of tears.
Ishikawa Hayato smiled after being exposed, then greeted the others in the room.
"Good afternoon, everyone~"
Before you continue