Social Anxiety and the Rock of Loneliness

Just as she sent the message, a girl hurried through the corridor with her footsteps muffled, and the phone in her pocket gave a notification chime.

She stopped in a panic and pressed herself against the wall, turning sideways to look around. The passing students only glanced at her curiously when she looked at them. After confirming that no one was watching her the whole time, she moved even more furtively and ran toward her safe haven.

After sending the message, Kita heard the LINE notification sound from outside the classroom and immediately understood. Her gaze settled on the classroom window.

Soon, she saw Bocchi sneaking rapidly down the corridor.

Watching the direction she had gone, Kita recalled the place where she had found Bocchi last time. At the same time, she wondered...

Which way had Ishikawa-kun come from just now?

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Kita stared blankly at the window Bocchi had just passed. The huge sliding window was like a book recording the beginning of someone else's story, while she sat here and watched from afar.

As for where Ishikawa Hayato and Bocchi had gone, she had guessed at one possibility. The thought of it made her heart feel as though it were being scratched by a cat—one possibility that she simply couldn't calm down over.

It was time for her usual lunch with her friends, and they came over carrying their own boxed lunches.

Another day of the same routine was about to begin.

She opened her phone and looked at her recent LINE chat with Bocchi. Then she stood up and said to the friends approaching her with smiles, "Sorry, I need to use the restroom."

Then, instead of walking slowly and waiting as usual, she hurried out.

As though she had cast aside something from her past, she left her seat.

She did not even stop for her friend's call of, "Wait, Kita-chan, I'm going too."

After hearing it, she only turned back with a smile and said, "I'll be right back."

"Bocchi, not knocking before coming in isn't a good habit."

Bocchi had just crawled into the tiny space formed by desks and chairs and poked her head inside when she heard Ishikawa Hayato's voice.

"Ahh..."

It had caught her so suddenly that her mind could not process it. Squatting there, she stared at Ishikawa Hayato, who was smiling at her from inside, and opened her mouth.

Ishikawa Hayato did not tease her any further and calmly said, "Welcome back."

Bocchi leaned back in surprise. A strange blush rose to her cheeks, and then she lowered her head.

"I'm back."

With that, she crawled into the tiny dark corner.

"Hayato, how did you know the name I used to upload the video?"

"Of course I can see right through Bocchi's thoughts."

"Eh..."

"Haha, I'm kidding. I could tell it was fake from when the account was created. And if you search through similar videos, it's easy to find."

"Ah..."

Standing in the corridor, Kita looked toward the corner, where she could not see the two of them at all from her angle.

She was astonished.

Hayato... Gotou-san calls Ishikawa-kun by his name directly too.

And when they were together, even Gotou-san, who was timid and nervous about everything, could speak so naturally.

She felt as though she had been shut out.

It was as if this place did not welcome her. She had become an outsider.

A passing character in a strange love story.

She felt a little unwilling to accept it. On the day of the performance, she had even taken Bocchi's hand and pulled her onto the stage. Couldn't she be the one to start an exciting story?

After waiting for a while, she silently left.

When it was time for her appointment with Bocchi, Kita Ikuyo parted ways with her friends and headed alone to the storage room with her guitar on her back.

Before coming here, she had thought about many things. At the same time, she was nervous about what arrangements Bocchi might have made.

After knocking and receiving Bocchi's response, she opened the door.

What greeted her was Bocchi sitting on a chair with her guitar in her arms. She lowered her head and looked at the guitar as though she did not know what to do, lightly swaying her pick beside the strings.

Come to think of it, Gotou-san was a very unusual person too.

She was good at guitar. Though timid by nature, whenever she held a guitar, she seemed separate from the rest of the world.

Quietly playing her own notes in the corner.

Kita lowered her footsteps as she entered the room and greeted her brightly.

"Good work, Gotou-san."

Bocchi quickly raised her head. Her eyes, hidden behind her bangs, looked toward Kita as she gently shook her head.

"N-No, not at all..."

Kita noticed that there was already a chair placed opposite Bocchi. Though chairs were everywhere in this storage room, that one had been wiped spotless.

Had Ishikawa-kun done that for her?

She walked over, unzipped her guitar case, carefully took out her guitar, then stood beside the chair and asked Bocchi.

"Can I sit here?"

"Ah... please."

Kita sat down without further ceremony, then smiled at Bocchi.

"Then, Gotou-sensei, please teach me."

"G-Gotou-sensei?"

Bocchi was startled. Then her whole face seemed to melt as she grinned foolishly, carried away with herself.

"Yes, Gotou-sensei. Please teach me strictly."

Kita repeated herself.

Even if one path that brought her closer to her goal had disappeared, she would not stop moving forward.

She still wanted to escape her boring life. She wanted to become interesting, to become extraordinary, to work hard with her friends and do something wonderful.

And besides...

She looked at Bocchi. Bocchi had already recovered from her self-satisfied daze and was nervously holding up her phone as she instructed her.

"Kita-chan, then let's start practicing from this part..."

"Yes."

Kita answered with a smile.

Wasn't their story... only just beginning?

After school.

Ishikawa Hayato finished packing up, stood, and naturally walked over to Kita, who was putting away her schoolbag.

He gave her shoulder a familiar pat and said, "Kita, let's go. We're heading to STARRY together."

Kita, who had been in a good mood, froze. She secretly glanced to the side and hurriedly whispered, "You go ahead first, Ishikawa-kun. Gotou-san and I will practice for a while before we go."

"Hm? Why?"

Ishikawa Hayato did not understand. Today was a workday. Why not just go practice at the shop and wait for Nijika and the others to arrive?

Kita looked conflicted. Her gaze flicked sideways, and she seemed distracted.

"Since Ijichi-senpai isn't there, it wouldn't be right to use the rehearsal room at the shop whenever we want."

"It's fine. Just treat it like your own home."

At Ishikawa Hayato's words, Kita blinked blankly. She drew her gaze back and looked at him instead. Seeing the certainty on his face, she was instantly left speechless.

"That's not Ishikawa-kun's home!"

After raising her voice in an outburst, she quickly checked the expressions of the surrounding classmates and hurriedly lowered her voice again.

"And didn't I say not to act so close at school?"

Ishikawa Hayato thought about it. It seemed Kita had mentioned something like that on LINE, but he had not paid much attention to it. He could not even remember when she had said it.

He looked around and saw that quite a few classmates who had been preparing to leave had apparently found something else to do and sat back down in their seats, pricking up their ears to eavesdrop.

Combining that with what Kita had just said, his face immediately broke into a wide smile. He raised his voice and said, "Kita-san, today we—"

Before he could finish his loud declaration, the panicked Kita clapped a hand over his mouth.

"What are you trying to do?!"

Kita covered his mouth and cried out in a hurried whisper.

"You owe me a meal."

Ishikawa Hayato took advantage of the situation.

"Gulp... I get it. Ishikawa-kun, please hurry up and leave!"

Kita didn't hesitate and quickly agreed. Then, to prevent her classmates from misunderstanding, she swiftly let go of his hand. At the same time, she watched the expressions of the other students in the class, as well as her friends, urging Ishikawa Hayato to leave.

Having swindled a meal out of the girl, this pervert finally shut his mouth in satisfaction and coolly swung his bag onto his back.

With a bright smile, he snapped his fingers, sauntered to the classroom door, then spun around flamboyantly and left the classroom.

"Bye~"

Watching him leave, Kita thought he looked cool, yet this guy also made her blood pressure rise.

Was this guy really someone she could like!?

But the next moment, with the pervert no longer there to suppress them, the classroom instantly erupted.

A beige tide surged toward her, as though nearly everyone in the class had pounced on Kita.

"Kita, how far have you and Ishikawa gotten? A, B, or C!?"

"When did you start dating!?"

"How did you two get together!?"

"Who confessed first?"

Faced with the chaotic scene of what looked like a pack of reporters desperately shoving their way toward her, Kita froze.

This was bad...

She had anticipated this possibility and tried her best to avoid it.