Social Anxiety and the Rock of Loneliness

But paper could never cover fire. On the very first day of school, it was exposed just like that.

What should she do... what should she do...

Was she supposed to say there was actually no relationship between them at all?

And then let all these classmates leave disappointed...

Her path to becoming a popular girl would die. If she failed to respond to others' expectations and went against her friends...

For a popular girl, everything she had would disappear!

She still didn't have the courage to make such a huge change.

At times like this, she could only go along with the mood...

Go along with the mood...

With a stiff smile, Kita played along with her classmates and said, "Um... we only just started dating..."

What was she even saying?!

"Wow!" Hearing Kita confirm it herself, the classroom erupted in delighted cheers.

It was over...

Cold sweat ran down Kita's face.

Gotou-san, I'm sorry! Once this blows over a little, she would clear up the misunderstanding.

I'm sorry, but popular girls had all kinds of difficulties too!

Three Groups

After making up a whole pile of stories that even impressed herself, Kita finally struggled free from the swamp of her classmates' questions and trudged toward the storage room in utter exhaustion.

She knocked weakly on the door. After hearing Bocchi respond, she pushed it open and went inside.

The moment she entered, she saw Bocchi, who had clearly been waiting for quite a while under the orange-red sunlight.

Guilt immediately welled up inside her, and she lowered her head.

"Gotou-san, I'm sorry..."

Bocchi blinked in confusion. Just as she was about to speak, Kita raised a hand to stop her.

"Sorry, please don't ask me anything. I think I've developed a bit of PTSD from questions."

"Ah... okay."

Bocchi temporarily set aside her doubts, then said, "Then let's begin... pick up from lunchtime..."

Gotou-san!

Hearing Bocchi's soft voice, Kita was crying her heart out inside. She had considered competing fairly, but she didn't want to use such a terrible method.

It was all Ishikawa-kun's fault!

If he hadn't suddenly spoken as though he were inviting her out in front of the class, things wouldn't have turned out like this.

But then Kita reconsidered and suddenly froze.

If Ishikawa-kun had been there, he probably could have denied it directly. He might be awful, but he wouldn't make such a boring joke.

Why had she driven him away...

So who was really at fault in the end?!

Kita thought for a moment, then said mercilessly in her heart with lifeless eyes.

It was Ishikawa Hayato.

While Kita was drowning in despair and regret, another happy pervert who had mooched a meal struck Spider-Man's signature pose and danced awkwardly toward STARRY.

That pervert had shamelessly strutted all the way from school to STARRY, flirting with countless girls along the way.

But how could a man like the wind stop for girls? With stylish movements and handsome poses, he swiftly shook off the girls trying to hit on him and weaved through the crowds of Shimokitazawa with effortless flair.

Upon reaching STARRY, he finished with a 360-degree spinning backflip. Supporting himself on one hand, he looked at the shop entrance hidden in shadow and said, "I'm here."

More than ten minutes later, at Shimokitazawa High School.

Nijika let out a breath and quickly left the classroom with Ryo, heading for the shoe lockers.

Shimokitazawa High School was fairly strict. Their daily class meetings and morning assemblies took up a lot of time, making their school days much longer than those of students at other schools.

"I'm a little worried about them..."

Nijika anxiously took her loafers from her shoe locker and placed them on the floor. Her little feet in white socks pressed against the edges of her indoor shoes, slipping out of them and into the loafers.

Ryo tilted her head to look at her, seemingly not understanding.

The way Nijika looked at her gradually turned disdainful. Finally, with a helpless expression, she squatted down and picked up both her and Ryo's indoor shoes.

She put her shoes into the shoe cabinet and said, "Didn't Hayato-kun make my sister angry yesterday? Kita-chan and Bocchi-chan don't know about it. If the two of them start fighting again..."

Ryo closed the shoe cabinet and thought about it blankly.

Inside STARRY, Hayato and Seika continued yesterday's battle, while Kita tried to stop them with a tearful face, and Bocchi hid in a corner with a trash can over her head.

It was practically a scene from hell.

"How interesting."

Ryo covered her mouth and laughed.

"Not at all!"

Nijika angrily denied it, then felt even more worried and couldn't help taking out her phone to call Kita.

The call was answered quickly.

Nijika: "Kita-chan, good afternoon. Have you arrived at STARRY?"

Kita: "Ijichi-senpai, we're only getting ready to go now. Sorry, we practiced guitar too late."

Nijika: "No, no, we only just left school too. You three don't need to rush."

She said this with a sigh of relief, but the next moment, she heard a sentence that sent her heartbeat soaring straight to 150.

Kita: "Mm, but Ishikawa-kun already went ahead. He should have been there for quite a while by now."

The phone slipped from Nijika's stiff hand, only to be caught by the prepared Ryo. She naturally brought it to her ear and said, "Then hurry over."

Then, amid Kita's delighted cry of "Senpai!" from the other end, she hung up and reached out to tug Nijika along.

"Let's get going."

"You just want to watch the show!"

Even in an emergency, Nijika had not forgotten her role as the straight man. After firing off that retort, she quickly finished putting on her shoes and hurried outside.

Ishikawa Hayato entered through the shop door, rounded the corner, vaulted over the railing, and landed below in one smooth motion.

At the same time, he performed a forward flip to avoid several mousetraps on the floor, raising his hands high in victory like a gymnast who had just completed his routine.

"Pervert wins!"

"Tch."

After landing, he heard someone click their tongue.

He looked toward the sound. Seika, sitting beside the bar counter, withdrew her gaze, her expression calm as though the mousetraps had nothing to do with her.

Ishikawa Hayato approached with a somewhat ingratiating smile.

"Manager-san, your employee has come to report for duty today."

Seika had long since lost the urge to attack the man before her. She had tried yesterday—no matter how close she got or how concealed her angle of attack was, this man seemed to have eyes all over his body, always dodging with some stylish move.

She had been exhausted by the end of it, yet he had not even broken a drop of sweat.

Seeing him approach again today, she remained unmoved.

Except...

A part-time job?

Seika turned to look at the quiet venue today, then looked back at the man wearing that ingratiating expression.

She stood up with a vicious grin.

The former rock band musician clenched her fists, her knuckles cracking loudly.

She rolled her shoulders back, then lightly twisted her waist.

"How about becoming my punching bag? I'll pay you ten times the wages here."

The moment she finished speaking, Ishikawa Hayato took out his phone and tapped it twice.

Seika's voice came from it, repeating the exact words she had just said.

After it finished playing, Ishikawa Hayato said pitifully, "Manager-san, please let me work here! I'm already out of money. You don't want Nijika to know you said something so cruel to her friend, do you? Please."

The pervert started crying the moment he spoke, grabbing Seika's arm and shaking it repeatedly.

He shook Seika speechless. This guy really had absolutely no shame.

"I get it, I get it."

Already wondering if she had been too harsh and finding herself unable to back down, Seika went along with it and agreed. Then she pointed viciously at Ishikawa Hayato.

"Delete that thing for me!"

Ishikawa Hayato's expression changed, and he put his phone away.

"No! This is my safety guarantee."

Seika narrowed her eyes and stared at him for a while. In the end, she gave up nonchalantly, clearly unafraid of such a thing.

But she couldn't bring herself to simply accept it obediently.

"Then prove your abilities. Clean the dust off the ceiling, corners, and walls—and don't you dare leave this place all dusty and grimy."

"Understood!"

After snapping off a salute, Ishikawa Hayato immediately asked Seika where the cleaning supplies were, then got straight to work.

Watching how decisively he moved, Seika sat back down in her chair, crossed her legs, and eagerly awaited this overly confident guy coming back in tears to beg for mercy again.

Thoroughly cleaning all those hard-to-reach spots was an exhausting job, especially with the added requirement that he not spread dust everywhere.

Just imagining him carefully climbing up and down a ladder with a rag made her feel relieved. Now, she would see just how long this man could hold out.

As if to conceal the delight in her heart, she picked up the Good Kid 100% Apple Juice she had just bought and took a drink.

Kita and Bocchi left school together and headed toward STARRY.

The two girls walked some distance apart, while Bocchi kept staring straight ahead without looking aside.

Seeing that Bocchi had remained silent the entire time, Kita's blue-yellow eyes shifted. Then, tilting her head, she muttered to herself in confusion.

"Why did Ryo-senpai suddenly answer the phone earlier...?"

After saying that, she noticed Bocchi looking at her. With a natural smile, she struck up a conversation.

"Gotou-san, we'll all be working together today. I can't help feeling really excited."

Looking at the fashionable, highly individualistic men and women on the street, Bocchi already felt uncomfortable. Then those words hit her like a blow to the gut.

Her expression grew even more gloomy, and her gaze wandered.