Sakura Airi? No, Little Bocchi!

Once she recognized the person calling out to her as her classmate, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Her suddenly racing heart gradually returned to normal, too.

"Oh, it's Tanaka. Is there something you need?"

"You seemed a little out of sorts just now. If you don't mind, you can tell me about it."

Sakura Airi lowered her head slightly, hiding the complicated emotions in her eyes so he wouldn't see them.

"Why do you want to help me, Tanaka?"

Sakura Airi was pleased by Tanaka Yukishin's kindness, yet she also felt a little wary.

Although they were classmates, she and he hadn't spoken much before.

Since the start of the school year, they hadn't exchanged more than twenty sentences.

There was no such thing as love without a reason.

Why did Tanaka Yukishin want to help her?

They weren't close, and there was no question of friendship.

As for anything he might gain, she didn't have any points to offer.

The only things worth mentioning were her looks and figure.

Was he interested in her?

But could anyone really like her in her current state?

She was afraid of talking to people, especially of meeting their eyes while she spoke.

So she rarely spoke to others, and had no friends.

To hide herself, she even wore glasses and tied up her long hair, never bothering to dress up.

She always kept her eyes lowered and her back hunched.

Like a socially anxious cat curled up in a corner.

Thinking of Sakura Airi's physical reaction and emotional shift when he'd called out to her just now,

Tanaka Yukishin felt that saying he'd helped her out of curiosity would make him sound like too much of a jerk.

Then what reason should he give?

As he searched for an answer, Tanaka Yukishin marveled inwardly at how Sakura Airi's words were as precise as a scalpel, killing the conversation with a single sentence.

His mind raced as he tried to come up with a suitable explanation.

After waiting a while without hearing an answer, Sakura Airi lifted her head.

The atmosphere seemed to be turning strange.

Tanaka Yukishin studied Sakura Airi carefully, and suddenly an idea struck him.

Sakura Airi? No, Little Bocchi!

The afternoon sunlight spilled lazily over the school path. Leaves swayed gently in the breeze, and the sunlight filtering through them cast dappled shadows on the ground.

"Sorry, the reason's a little unusual. I'm not sure how to explain it."

Tanaka Yukishin rubbed the tip of his nose with his right hand, his little finger and ring finger unconsciously brushing his lips.

His golden eyes looked especially sincere in the shifting light.

Yet there was also a hint of barely perceptible fluster.

Sakura Airi raised an eyebrow, her right hand unconsciously tightening around her bag strap.

She gave a short, flat sound, her voice colder than she'd expected.

"?"

"Maybe it's because you give me a strong sense of déjà vu, Tanaka. You feel familiar and easy to be around. So when I saw you were having trouble, I couldn't just stand by and do nothing."

Tanaka Yukishin spoke softly, as if afraid of disturbing something.

The corner of Sakura Airi's mouth twitched slightly.

There it was—the classic pickup line.

She'd heard classmates complain about this routine countless times in the girls' locker room:

"You look familiar," and "Haven't we met somewhere before?"

Next would come some tired excuse about wanting to be friends, and therefore offering to help, right?

At the thought, her heart began to race—not from embarrassment, but from the anger of feeling insulted.

She twisted her fingers together in front of her, her knuckles whitening with the force.

"Tanaka."

"If there's nothing else, I'm going to the library."

Sakura Airi deliberately emphasized the formality of her words, as if using the way she addressed him to build a wall between them.

After speaking, she bit her lower lip with a strange expression. After all, this was the first time in her life she'd encountered a so-called "player."

She could even imagine how the conversation would go next, just like a plot from some clichéd romance manga.

Tanaka Yukishin seemed to sense how strongly she was resisting him, and sighed softly.

His shoulders slumped a little, but he quickly straightened up again.

"I knew you wouldn't believe me, Tanaka."

"But I have proof."

"Compare yourself to her, and maybe you'll believe me."

Let's see what you have to say.

Sakura Airi nodded.

The toe of her right shoe unconsciously traced little circles on the concrete, its sole making a faint scraping sound.

"I have a childhood friend."

Tanaka Yukishin's voice suddenly grew warm, and his expression softened, as though he were gazing through the air before him at a distant memory.

"Her name is Goto Hitori. She's a cute girl. Pink hair, and a great figure."

As he said this, Tanaka Yukishin glanced pointedly at Sakura Airi.

His gaze quickly swept over her figure before darting away, a nostalgic smile playing on his lips.

Sakura Airi narrowed her eyes.

Could that be true?

Her heart beat a little faster, partly from the discomfort of being judged by a boy, and partly because of the feeling that came naturally into Tanaka Yukishin's voice.

His expression was so sincere. His brow was relaxed, and his lips curved with nostalgia. It didn't seem like a lie he'd just made up.

Let's hear him out.

Sakura told herself, relaxing her clenched fists a little.

Tanaka Yukishin's fingers unconsciously fiddled with the keys in his pocket, making a faint metallic clinking sound.

"She's been shy and timid since she was little. I remember when she was four or five, she often used to say, 'I want to go back inside Mom's tummy.'"

"Eventually, it even developed into extreme social anxiety."

"Are you socially anxious too, Tanaka?"

He looked up at Sakura Airi. In the sunlight, his eyes took on the color of honey.

"No. I just don't like interacting with people. I wouldn't say I'm socially anxious."

Sakura Airi felt a strange pang in her heart.

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.

Her voice was softer than before, but she still kept her distance.

"Mm. I suppose there is a difference."

Tanaka Yukishin nodded, his silver bangs swaying gently with the movement.

He glanced at the birds in the sky, then continued.

"Getting back to Hitori-chan, she's so socially anxious that she might be talking to someone one second, then collapse on the ground and start twitching the next. Then she'll wriggle away like a tsuchinoko."

"You're not that bad, are you, Tanaka?"

He made an exaggerated wriggling motion, then laughed sheepishly.

Sakura Airi almost laughed out loud, but quickly pressed her lips together to hide it.

Your childhood friend really is a severe case of social anxiety.

She teased him silently, but for some reason, her tense shoulders had already relaxed quite a bit.

She realized she was listening to the boy before her with a focus she'd never felt before.

"But she still really wants to change herself. She wants to be popular."

Tanaka Yukishin's voice lowered, tinged with sympathy.

He shook his head, a fond smile nevertheless appearing on his lips.

"The most straightforward way for a girl to change herself is with makeup and clothes."

"Unfortunately, she has terrible fashion sense. She always wears that signature pink tracksuit top and yellow-and-blue hair clip. At school, she puts a skirt over her track pants. Whenever she puts an outfit together herself, everyone criticizes it mercilessly. Even the cute everyday clothes Auntie carefully bought for her, which suit her perfectly, are left hanging in the closet. Nothing can overcome her stubborn preference for that bizarre outfit."

At this, Tanaka Yukishin paused, his eyes flickering.

Then he began speaking faster, as if he were finally eager to share everything he knew.

"She also always looks down and hunches over, so she doesn't look good in photos."

"And on top of that..."

"In middle school, she saw a band interview on TV. One of them said that even someone with social anxiety could shine in a band, and that's when she became obsessed with guitar."

"After that, she became active online. Now she's a little famous."

"But even though she's socially anxious in real life, she makes up ridiculous stories online and pretends to be popular. She doesn't pay attention to the details, though, so I think plenty of people have already figured out the truth."

Sakura Airi's eyes widened slightly, and her lips parted.

She really couldn't hold it in any longer.

What was this?

Was he really performing someone's embarrassing past right to her face, nonstop?

Tanaka and those viewers were way too... amused by other people's misfortune.

How should she put it? It wasn't exactly malicious.

But she still kind of wanted to scold them.

Tanaka Yukishin's voice softened, and he shrugged helplessly.

"She's not good at studying, but it's not because she doesn't put in the effort. It's just that even when she studies hard, she still gets zeroes."

"Ever since she started learning guitar, she's spent most of her free time at home practicing or editing videos. She hardly exercises, so she doesn't have much stamina either."

When he finished, he looked at Sakura Airi and asked the question he'd asked before.

"Airi-chan, how similar do you think you are to Hitori-chan?"

At that moment, Sakura Airi's head felt as if it were spinning. She had to grab the trunk of the nearby cherry tree for support.

...Could they really be that similar?

But the rough feel of the bark reminded her that this wasn't a dream.

If not for a few differences—

For example, she wasn't socially anxious; she was just afraid of talking to people, especially of meeting their eyes while she spoke.

And online, she was a model, not a guitarist.