The New Year shrine visit was halfway done.
They happened to run into several female friends of Kita.
After some discussion, Toru was forced into an extra activity… a New Year karaoke party.
He had originally planned to go straight home and collapse after the shrine visit. Going out every day during the New Year period was probably something only real-life winners did, right?
Do you think you are a shut-in?
Toru: I think I am.
Even though he spent every day surrounded by beautiful girls and played rock music with them.
…
After the New Year shrine visit ended.
Light snow drifted down from the sky.
Inside a karaoke room.
Watching Kita sing while several girls around her cheered, Toru could not help but hallucinate a scene of a small idol holding a concert.
Come to think of it, if Kita became an idol, she would definitely be suitable. Maybe the kind who reaches Budokan in three years…?
Toru was not too sure.
Hitori hid beside Toru. On her left was the wall, on her right was the person she liked. This reduced some of her fear of interacting with strangers.
All the girls present were friends of Kita…
Hitori had come today prepared to lose a layer of skin even if she survived. Karaoke, an activity for real-life winners, was simply too difficult for someone with social anxiety.
Yet up to now, no one had asked her to go up and sing.
Let time just slip by like this. Although coming to karaoke without singing a single song was a bit strange, Bocchi-chan had never tried covering songs in front of strangers anyway.
Online, she was a major YouTuber with two hundred thousand followers, proficient in singing, playing, and rap.
In reality, she was weak and helpless, could only eat one bowl of rice per meal, trembled when meeting people, stuttered when speaking, did not dare confess to the boy she had a crush on, and could only secretly kiss him while he was asleep.
A total, crushing defeat.
But…
Hitori turned her face slightly and stole a few glances at Toru.
She was not without progress. At the very least, compared to last year, she had gained a bit of… well, the courage to sneak looks.
For a socially anxious person like Bocchi-chan, secretly looking at the god she admired was already her personal limit.
Just as Bocchi-chan was staring blankly at Toru's face,
A girl not far away noticed that Hitori still had not gone on stage to sing and decided to find an excuse to help her.
"Since Gotoh-san is also in a band, your singing must be great, right? Why don't you go up and sing a song?"
A perfect assist.
Unfortunately, Hitori was socially anxious.
"Ah… ah…" Bocchi-chan twisted her head and looked toward the source of the voice.
Wh-wh-wh-what should I do?
I got talked to.
I got talked to by an unfamiliar woman.
I-I need to…
Her brain fell into chaos. Bocchi-chan instinctively wrapped her arms around Toru's waist and hid in his embrace. Overwhelmed by fear beyond her threshold, her shoulders trembled slightly as she was about to lose the ability to think.
Her only thought at that moment was:
Husband, scary, save me.
At this instant, everyone's gaze in the room shifted toward Hitori in the corner.
Including Kita, who had just finished singing and was drinking water to soothe her throat. Her beautiful eyes were filled with shock, as if she had not expected Hitori to hug him so directly.
After all, among the girls present, more than one liked Toru.
At Shuka High School, basically ninety percent of the girls had a good impression of Toru. Although most of it was admiration fans felt toward an idol rather than romantic love, behavior like Hitori's would definitely provoke public outrage.
Kita was just about to step in and explain a few words.
When she saw Hitori suddenly flop over like a goldfish that had suffocated in a fish tank during summer, rolling her eyes blankly as she lay flat in Toru's arms.
Her neck tilted, as if she had stopped breathing.
The girls who had been about to question Hitori all turned panicked.
"Go-Gotoh-san? Y-you, what's wrong?"
"I-I'll call an ambulance right away…" one girl immediately pulled out her phone, hands trembling as she prepared to make the call.
"Kita-chan, come take a look quickly. Gotoh-san is about to die."
Just as everyone was worrying over Hitori,
Toru adjusted her posture, letting her lean against his shoulder, and spoke to reassure them. "Gotoh-san probably did not rest well yesterday, so she got tired and fell asleep."
Is she really just sleeping?
Why does it feel like she is not far from death?
Several girls did not quite believe it.
So they looked toward Kita for confirmation.
Only after seeing Kita-chan nod did they finally relax.
That scared them to death. They had thought it would just be a simple karaoke session, but it almost turned into the opening of a locked-room murder case…
Fortunately, there was no elementary school grim reaper detective among those present. Otherwise, at least one person would have died.
Or even a total party wipe.
————
When Hitori regained consciousness,
It was already three hours later.
She breathed in the familiar, sun-like warmth and snuggled further into Toru's arms.
"Hitori, everyone has already left."
Toru had come to realize that Hitori always managed to take advantage of him through all kinds of strange opportunities.
The forced kiss when she was half-asleep last time.
Today, she had even hidden in his arms in front of a group of girls.
Hitori continued to rub her little head into Toru's chest without saying a word.
She seemed to have done something incredible while unconscious, but it did not matter.
As long as she played dumb, it would be fine.
Anyway, Kitahara kun doted on her and definitely would not get angry.
After spending so much time together, Bocchi-chan had grasped Toru's weak point. For small things, acting cute with him was completely fine. Toru actually enjoyed the feeling of being relied on by girls.
"Kita and the others went shopping. Now there are only the two of us left in the karaoke room." Toru thought Bocchi-chan was still afraid of strangers, completely unaware that she was taking advantage of him.
"…Huu." Bocchi-chan continued pretending to sleep and enjoying it.
"Hitori, are you awake?"
Helpless, Toru lowered his head to her ear and whispered softly, "If you don't wake up, I'm going to kiss you."
Hearing that, Hitori squeezed her eyes shut tightly.
If pretending to sleep meant getting kissed, she never wanted to wake up in this lifetime.
Noticing that she seemed to be faking it,
Toru pressed further. "Last time in the taxi, when you kissed me, was that on purpose?"
"..." Hitori.
S-should I explain?
Probably not. Yeah, no need.
The one who kissed you was Bocchi-chan. What does that have to do with me, Hitori?
"Mm, looks like it wasn't on purpose then. That's great."
Yes, I escaped disaster.
"I was seriously thinking about how I should confess to you if Hitori liked me, but now I don't need to think about it at all."
Wait, Kitahara kun.
I did it on purpose!
For the sake of future happiness, she could not keep sleeping.
Hitori yawned and opened her eyes with extremely poor acting.
Then she saw a mischievous smile on Toru's face as he observed her.
"So you were pretending to sleep after all."
"…Ah."
Bocchi-chan's expression froze instantly.
It's over. It's a trap card.