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Gotou Hitori was currently emo-ing on a swing in the park.
As a dark, reclusive introvert, the girl actually longed for recognition from others at school—and, of course, it would be even better if she could make some friends.
Oh, and 'friends' here referred to traditional, undefined friends.
For this, the girl had started learning guitar in elementary school and had continued practicing every day until now.
As a reward for her diligent practice and a bit of natural talent, she had already achieved professional-level guitar skills.
Her YouTube account, nicknamed 'guitarhero,' proved this point, attracting around 30,000 followers despite her not showing her face or engaging in any suggestive content, simply uploading various covers.
But even so, she remained an outsider at school; after so many days since the semester began, she was still all alone, eating her bento in a gloomy corner every day.
Even though she had mustered the courage to bring her guitar today, no one spoke to her.
Perhaps a creature like herself, a water flea, was still a worthless existence even if she could play Guitar…
The girl unconsciously swayed on the swing, lost in melancholy.
Suddenly, she heard someone exclaim briefly: "Ah, guitar—!"
Where was the guitar?
The girl instinctively looked up but didn't see any guitar players around; instead, she saw a boy holding a pile of bottles and cans, staring intently at her.
Oh, he was referring to my guitar…
The girl suddenly understood in her heart.
Then her body stiffened.
Eh, eh, eh? Is it me? Is carrying a guitar here illegal, and is he about to come and enforce justice? Wahh, goodbye, my short and sorrowful life; I hope to be reincarnated as a clam in my next life, just lying at the bottom of the sea every day, doing nothing…
"Antarctic krill are said to have a population of over 150 trillion, so statistically, the possibility of being reincarnated as krill is higher, you know."
The other party said.
"Krill, krill?"
"That's right, the ones eaten by king crabs, eaten by penguins, eaten by starfish, and also eaten by blue whales."
"Wahh… I didn't expect my krill-life in the next life to be so short…"
The girl first showed a cute crying face, then realized something was off. She carefully lifted her small face and saw that the boy who had been holding the bottles and cans had somehow arrived beside her, which made her expression even more rigid: "Um… mind reading?"
"No, you unknowingly said it all out loud yourself."
Asakura pleasantly looked at the interesting and peculiar creature in front of him: "Compared to such meaningless things, I'm more interested in what's behind you."
"…My, my life is indeed a meaningless thing, isn't it?"
The girl, greatly struck, spat out a mochi-like soul, but soon she realized what Asakura meant.
The girl tremblingly took down the guitar bag from her back, then, as if offering a sacrifice, respectfully presented the bag to Asakura: "Um… guitar… please spare… me…"
Asakura's expression was strange: It seemed she had mistaken him for a small-time thug extorting money.
"I say."
So he wanted to explain properly.
"Yes!"
The girl immediately straightened her body, clearly very nervous.
If it were a cat, it would probably be stressed out to the point of fluffing up its fur by now.
"You don't have to be so scared."
Asakura, while wondering in his heart 'Do I look very fierce?', tried to make his voice sound kinder so as not to scare the other party.
After all, a cat stressed too much can really die.
"I'm not hyper!"
The girl stammered nervously, her tongue thick.
"You can play guitar, right? Did you form a band?"
"There's no such thing, I'm truly sorry that I couldn't form a band, I apologize from the bottom of my heart!"
The girl immediately prostrated herself and apologized loudly.
"I was just asking, you don't have to go to such lengths…"
Asakura looked at the girl.
For some reason, even though it was a very troublesome situation, the best choice would have been to apologize for his abruptness and leave immediately. However, her trembling, small-animal-like appearance instead stimulated a sadistic urge in his heart…
Tsk, no wonder I'm Azkaban.
So he didn't let go of the pitiful girl, but continued: "Then what's your guitar skill level like? Oh, by the way, I remember there's a famous… oh, a YouTuber called guitarhero recently. If her level is the standard 10 points, what do you think your score is?"
"10 points (quick answer)."
"Such a quick answer?!"
Asakura was stunned.
She acts so timid and cowardly, but she's surprisingly confident about guitar?
"Very good, then are you interested in performing on stage?"
Asakura said: "With that level, even a guitar solo should be quite worth watching."
"Mmm…"
At this point, an introverted person would surely choose to refuse.
"Mmm?"
"Mmm mmm mmm mmm…"
But unfortunately, Gotou Hitori was so introverted that she couldn't even refuse.
"What…"
"Oyster—!!!"
So she just ran away.
"Huff, huff…"
The girl wasn't confident in her running speed, but she thought that the boy was carrying so many things, he surely couldn't catch up to her.
Ugh, although I'm sorry for being so timid, I really can't do it, being suddenly invited to perform on stage or something…
"I think it would be better if we sat down and talked slowly, you know."
However, she hadn't run far when his leisurely voice came from behind her.
"Wh-why can you catch up?!"
Gotou Hitori was instantly flustered.
"Because you run very slowly…"
"No, before that, why are you chasing me?!"
The girl asked with a crying voice.
"Because you're running away, of course."
The other party answered as a matter of course.
I didn't want that kind of 'because the mountain is there' mountaineer-style answer!
Gotou Hitori screamed in her heart, but the previous two questions had already exhausted the girl's remaining courage. Now she could only show a pitiful, crying face like a flower girl being chased by a bully, desperately running away.
And behind her, that bully Mr. was following at a very leisurely pace; in a sense, it really did have that kind of feel…
Just as Gotou Hitori felt she had over-exercised and was about to gasp her last breath, a bright yellow figure inserted itself between the two.
"Stop it, isn't that girl very scared!"
The girl with the golden side ponytail said righteously.
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