Late September.
Shuka High was about to hold its culture festival.
To be precise,
Day one was October 1, mainly class activities.
Day two, October 2, opened to outsiders, and the auditorium performances were scheduled.
—
September 28.
After school, Hitori held the sign-up sheet in her hands.
She paced back and forth outside the student council room, unable to make up her mind.
Just thinking about performing in front of the whole school made Hitori feel like she could not breathe.
But playing at the culture festival had always been her dream.
"I can't give up."
She was afraid of the festival stage, hesitant to take a single small step.
How would she later perform at music festivals, Budokan, Tokyo Dome?
A thousand-mile journey begins with a single step.
You can do it!
Hitori!
————
An hour later.
Shimokitazawa.
Inside the live house STARRY.
Under Ijichi Seika's watchful gaze,
Hitori hid inside a box from Perfectly Ripe Mango.
"Phew, as expected, this box really is my forever home."
In the dim space, Hitori exhaled deeply.
What culture festival performance?
That had nothing to do with someone with social anxiety like her.
If she just hid in a damp little corner, everything would be over.
"Hey, why don't you do some work for me." Seika muttered.
This kid was hopeless.
She played guitar so well, so why was her personality such a mess?
And this box has been here for half a year, and nobody threw it away?
"Ah... okay, okay."
Hitori timidly left the cardboard, clinging to it like a hermit crab leaving its shell.
She looked on the verge of collapse.
"Bocchi-chan, did something bother you today?" Seika asked with concern.
"Th-the culture festival performance..."
After a few minutes, Hitori explained the whole thing.
Her inner struggle, her longing for the stage, and finally, her fear of the maid outfit...
In today's class program vote, the maid café won decisively with 13 votes, beating the haunted house, the play, and the snack stall.
They had not taken Bocchi-chan's opinion into account at all.
Goodness, do you know how much damage a maid outfit can do to a teenage girl?
"If you think that way, then go for it boldly, youth only comes once, and stages like this don't come around often."
Seika continued, "Although, I didn't really attend high school properly, I skipped three days a week, so take my advice however you want."
After she said that, the PA-san at the side smiled faintly, "I dropped out of high school, you know."
"..."
Wrong person to ask.
Hitori realized these two adults in front of her were not very reliable.
Just then, her savior arrived—
"Oh my, Bocchi-chan is actually chatting with sis and PA-san, how rare."
Nijika came back from school.
Ryo followed beside her.
"Nijika, Bocchi-chan wants to perform at the culture festival stage." Seika explained.
"Bocchi-chan, just sign up with Kessoku Band, we won't object."
"Go for it, Bocchi." Ryo gave a thumbs up.
Hitori's confidence shot up at once.
Right.
I'm not who I was six months ago. In these six months, relying on the simulator, I gained...
Wait, it seems I didn't gain anything.
Except my cooking got better and my guitar improved, I'm good for nothing.
Ahaha...
I'm a failure.
Realizing that, Hitori crawled back into the Perfectly Ripe Mango box and hugged her knees.
She muttered to herself—
"I'm trash, I'm a slug, I'm non-burnable garbage..."
—
Ryo put her backpack aside.
"Bocchi has entered her lonely space again."
"Today's lonely time is much longer than before." Nijika said.
They were used to Bocchi-chan's personality.
A little manic every two days, a big one every three.
If she didn't have an episode, it wouldn't be Hitori.
Ten minutes passed.
"Kita-chan still hasn't shown up today."
Nijika sounded a bit worried.
"She got lost."
"Kita-chan doesn't have that kind of trait, right?" Nijika reflexively objected.
"She could."
"No, she couldn't!"
"Nice roast."
"Ryo, we're not a comedy duo."
"We could be."
"Hey, you two stop clowning around and get to work."
Seika urged them to go to the front to sell tickets.
The next second, that admonition accidentally affected someone with social anxiety—
"Waaah... Manager, I'm coming right away."
Hitori snapped out of it immediately, left solitude mode, crawled out of the box crying, and ran to work.
Seeing this,
Seika covered her forehead.
"I didn't call you..."
Are all socially anxious people like this?
She was not even called, yet she instinctively assumed it was for her.
The speed she self-identified was absurd.
————
At the same time.
Shuka High.
Under the tangerine sky, Kita Ikuyo gazed at the crimson clouds at the horizon, slightly dazed.
Another day without any romance progress.
This was getting a bit troublesome.
Kita fell into confusion.
[Please confirm, start simulation?]
Simulation...
Does it matter?
After all, her love story had no ending.
After so many simulations, Kita was the only girl who had not won Toru's love.
Everyone's perfect endings had nothing to do with her.
[Please confirm, use overlevel operation privileges?]
Simulation and reality were unrelated.
No matter how many wins, what would it change?
It was all fake, wasn't it?
[Friendly reminder, affinity in the simulation can affect reality.]
Lies.
Who would believe that? If simulation could interfere with reality, then Kitahara would...
Wait.
Interfere with reality?
Explain further.
[Requesting permission from the host to disclose some player information.]
[Host did not object.]
[Information transmission successful.]
[Current revealable intelligence as follows: ]
[1. Affinity in simulation will be converted to reality at a certain proportion. For example, if Toru's affinity in the simulation +50, in reality his affinity may increase by 1 to 30 points. Note: decreases work similarly.]
[2. Simulation is not... (violates fair competition clause, deleted)]
[3. Simulation can... (violates game safety clause, deleted)]
[Detected heavy interference from external machines, transmission forcibly interrupted.]
She skimmed it over.
The simulator had given three pieces of information in total.
Only the first item was displayed in full.
The next two showed only their opening words.
Kita read the first item over several times.
"Affinity transfers proportionally to reality?"
Kita understood.
So that's why Toru had been cold to her lately.
It turned out the simulation from two rounds ago caused it!
She remembered.
During that simulation, Kitahara's affinity plummeted to an "extremely cold" level because of her yandere behavior.
If that converted proportionally to reality...
...
Hee hee~
I'm doomed!
...
A few minutes later, after sorting the information she had obtained,
Kita felt an indescribable frustration.
Such important news.
Couldn't the simulator have explained it clearly from the start?
I already lost three times before telling me!