Bocchi-chan, my perfect tool for grinding points.
So, for the past few days, Bai Qiu had stayed up around the clock, day and night...
Until this morning, when he finally finished watching and listening to the more than a thousand videos Bocchi-chan had uploaded over the past three years.
Bocchi-chan, you're so diligent!
I've become just like you...
Heh... heh... hehehe...
Bai Qiu now had two dark circles under his eyes, his face pale and a shadowy aura faintly radiating from behind him.
The classmates who had just entered the classroom instinctively steered clear.
Bai Qiu felt that if someone handed him an electric guitar right now, he could play a few licks himself.
"Hey, Little Qiu, your smile is kind of creepy!"
Yui Hirasawa had just entered the classroom and taken her seat, and clearly didn't have as many reservations as everyone else.
She parted her little lips and spoke with a deliberately frightened look.
"Ah... is it...?"
Bai Qiu looked at Yui Hirasawa in confusion. He obviously hadn't realized that something was off about him.
Yui Hirasawa nodded solemnly, then suddenly grinned and said:
"And your eyes are really cute right now. You've got panda eyes!"
As she spoke, Yui Hirasawa made circles with her thumbs and index fingers and held them around her eyes.
Even Takamatsu Tomo, who had been studying a pebble, was drawn in by the two of them.
Looking at Bai Qiu's half-closed eyes, Takamatsu Tomo thought he might fall asleep at any moment.
"Bai Qiu-kun... has really bad dark circles..."
Yui Hirasawa said, "Right? Right? Tomo thinks so too."
That made Bai Qiu jolt. He vigorously shook his head, trying to wake himself up.
Even Takamatsu-san had noticed, so it had to be true.
He must have been sleep-deprived. No wonder even his thinking had slowed down.
Bai Qiu put on a gentle smile. He didn't want to scare Tomo.
"There were a lot of mosquitoes last night, so I didn't sleep well..." Bai Qiu explained to the two of them.
"Hahaha, Little Qiu, you definitely stayed up all night gaming. And here you were, telling me you'd stop slacking off."
Yui Hirasawa clearly didn't believe him, and looked at Bai Qiu teasingly.
Fortunately, class started before long.
It was time for Bai Qiu to catch up on his sleep.
Seeing Bai Qiu fall asleep even faster than she did, Yui Hirasawa giggled to herself, all the more convinced that she was right.
If taking a picture with her phone didn't make a sound, Yui Hirasawa would have snapped one as evidence.
Then Yui Hirasawa started catching up on her sleep, too.
Takamatsu Tomo stared at the two of them, already slumped over as soon as class began. She was dazed for a moment, then blinked her big, innocent eyes.
Afterward, she went back to observing the little pebble on her desk.
Chapter 6: Please Notice Me, Goto Hitori
"Ring, ring..."
The bell rang, and class was over.
Bai Qiu slowly opened his eyes, feeling much more alert.
Most of the dark circles had faded, too.
Bai Qiu felt almost completely rejuvenated.
"Little Qiu's awake."
Yui Hirasawa turned to him and spoke with a delighted smile.
"You slept even longer than I did. It's lunchtime already."
He'd slept straight through to lunchtime.
Bai Qiu was a little surprised. No wonder there were so few people in the classroom.
At least there hadn't been a Japanese class that morning.
Otherwise, he would definitely have ruined his image in the eyes of their teacher, Hiratsuka Shizuka.
"You're not supposed to sleep during class, Yui. And you too, Bai Qiu-kun."
Manabe Kazu sat down at the desk in front of Yui with her lunch box in hand and admonished the two of them with a helpless look.
Her short, reddish-brown hair and red, rimless glasses gave her the air of a well-behaved girl next door—a model student favored by her teachers.
And in fact, that was exactly what she was.
Unlike Bai Qiu, who had declared himself a model student, Manabe Kazu really was one.
She was now the class representative for Class 3 and had also joined the Student Council.
Yui Hirasawa stuck out her tongue, took out her lunch box, and opened it.
"Oh, it's Hehe! But... I get sleepy as soon as I hear the teacher's voice. My eyes just close all by themselves."
Bai Qiu, meanwhile, said sincerely, "Ahem, this was just a one-time thing. It won't happen again."
Yui Hirasawa nodded repeatedly.
"I hope so..."
Even Manabe Kazu couldn't help rolling her eyes at their responses, then let out a silent sigh.
This wasn't the first time she'd had to lecture them about this.
Bai Qiu-kun was all right, but Yui was a handful...
To keep Manabe Kazu from dwelling on the issue, Yui cleverly changed the subject:
"Little Qiu, want a meatball?"
"Yui's younger sister made them herself."
Yui Hirasawa picked up a meatball with her chopsticks. Its aroma wafted over, tempting Bai Qiu.
Yui's younger sister, Yui's younger sister.
Her bento was delicious. Bai Qiu had tried it before.
If only she were my little sister, Bai Qiu thought.
But this time, Bai Qiu shook his head and declined. "No, you eat it."
Yui Hirasawa looked a little disappointed, so she happily enjoyed it herself.
After that, Bai Qiu stood up and said goodbye to the two of them.
He wasn't the kind of person who brought a lunch box to school.
He usually got lunch at the school cafeteria.
He joined the line and bought some bread. The cafeteria's super-rare, extra-long red bean paste bread had naturally already sold out.
Then he bought a bottle of cola and ate...
Bai Qiu walked back toward the school building, well-rested, full, and refreshed.
As they said, after the storm came the rainbow.
Hard work paid off.
After finishing all of Goto Hitori's videos, he now had more than five thousand Notes.
But Bai Qiu had only exchanged them for one thing: [Basic Music Theory].
Since he was planning to get into music, he needed some real knowledge in his head.
There wasn't anything else he particularly needed for now.
So Bai Qiu planned to save up to six thousand Notes and exchange them for a level-two skill.
Otherwise, what if his level-one skill was too weak and people looked down on him?
Now he was going to do something important.
He was going to find Goto Hitori.
Bai Qiu had noticed that, starting a few days ago,
Goto Hitori had begun bringing her guitar to school.
So right now, Goto Hitori was especially eager for someone to talk to her.
The timing was perfect...
You could find Kita Ikuyo in the sunniest places.
And in the darkest places, you could find Goto Hitori.
Somewhere on the school building's stairway.
It was usually used to store discarded desks and chairs.
It was rather dim there, with only a few stray beams of light reflecting inside.
It had once been a very quiet place.
Now, though, strange sounds and guitar notes occasionally came from that Stairwell.
As it turned out, a pink-haired figure was hiding inside.
Her name was Goto Hitori.
On the first day of school, Goto Hitori had used her ultimate social-anxiety senses
to find this perfect spot.
This really was a safe place!
Goto Hitori felt completely secure here.
Almost nobody passed by during lunch break.
And even if someone did, they wouldn't pay any attention to this inconspicuous Stairwell.
They'd never guess that she, Goto Hitori, was hiding here to eat.
Nobody could find her!
Hehehe... nobody, nobody...
Ah, that's right. Nobody would ever pay attention to a gloomy girl like her.
A dark aura began to emanate from Goto Hitori.
The already dim Stairwell grew even darker and colder.
Sniff... even the food in her mouth didn't taste good anymore.
Goto Hitori began to fall apart.
"Thump, thump, thump..."
For some reason, middle school had ended just like that.
She hadn't performed at the School Festival,
and she hadn't found any bandmates,
Before you continue