Gotou Hitori felt like his skin was still way too thin.
Even middle schoolers probably wouldn't blush just from calling someone by their given name—so red they had to cover their face with both hands just to maintain their dignity.
And yet, that was exactly the state he was in.
Faced with Ijichi Nijika's smile—so angelic it felt like it could be burned deep into the corridors of his memory, something he might recall now and then even decades later, nearly on the same level as Kita-san's—
and paired with that line that sounded light and simple, yet carried an overwhelming force, striking straight into his heart with perfect accuracy…
Gotou Hitori had no way to defend himself. In an instant, he'd turned into the Yamcha who'd been knocked flat on the ground.
Nijika blinked, surprised.
She hadn't expected him to react so strongly, and she wondered if what she'd just said might've been a little too much.
Replaying her own actions in her head, Nijika drifted for a second, then, embarrassed, grabbed her side ponytail and curled her body slightly to hide her subtly burning cheek.
She was feeling shy too.
But…
if she looked at it from another angle—
if Gotou Hitori's emotions had shaken this much…
didn't that mean…?
Maybe I scored really high in his heart just now?
Thinking that way made her feel a little better.
Even though she was still lost, still helpless, still not knowing what to do next or what else she could do—
at least…
she didn't feel as miserable as before.
That was all thanks to Hitori.
If he hadn't appeared before her eyes and returned the ribbon…
she'd probably still be crying nonstop right now—
hating herself for being unable to do anything right,
hating herself for knowing tears solved nothing, yet still throwing a childish tantrum through sobs—
and at the same time, secretly hoping someone would help her.
Hoping someone would find her, talk to her, even if it was just staying by her side quietly, waiting until she finished venting everything out.
Right when she was drowning in those contradictions—thinking about something that couldn't possibly happen—
he appeared.
Maybe he wouldn't believe it.
But the moment she saw him,
she truly felt a sudden sense of safety.
Like a black-and-white film—only two colors—suddenly cutting to a scene filled with other hues.
Vivid, dazzling.
All the suffocating pain piled up in her heart—
vanished without a trace the moment he arrived.
Like a hero.
Someone who made you stop being afraid.
Nijika lowered her gaze to her knee, which still throbbed with a burning sting.
She tried to touch it lightly with her hand—pain shot through her at once, making her squeeze her eyes shut, nearly letting out a sound.
Now she understood.
In her current condition, there was no way she could walk around freely anymore.
And she barely had any money left on her phone. Forget Tokyo's notoriously expensive taxis—she couldn't even pay for a hotel. She couldn't stay out overnight.
The only road left in front of her…
was to obediently call her sister.
And have her sister come pick her up.
To be honest…
if she could help it, she really didn't want to do that.
She wasn't ready to face her sister yet—more precisely, she still didn't dare to face the life she had no idea where to go with.
She wanted to stay a little longer.
Struggle a little more, even if it was pointless.
Run away from the reality that kept pressing closer, just a little longer.
But sadly…
she had no other choice.
Still, maybe she didn't need to be so pessimistic.
Everyone said the first step of adulthood was learning to accept reality, right?
She wasn't any different from anyone else—she wasn't especially outstanding, or amazing, or smart.
So if there was no way around it… then she should accept it.
And besides—
it wasn't like she'd gained nothing.
Nijika slowly turned her eyes toward Gotou Hitori beside her.
At least…
when she couldn't hold on anymore in the future—
she could recall the moment she met him again.
"All right—Hitori, don't you still have work?" Nijika said with a deliberately light smile. "Chasing after me to return it was already exhausting enough. If you keep staying with me, won't your boss scold you?"
"I'm fine now. You should go back, Hitori. Don't worry about me."
"…I don't think she'll scold me," Hitori muttered.
He remembered the older lady boss granting him a half-day off.
"She said I don't have to work tonight… so not going back should… probably… maybe… possibly… perhaps… seemingly… be okay."
"…That's way too uncertain. Are you sure that's fine?" Nijika's eyes suddenly turned into cat eyes.
"I don't know," Hitori admitted, shaking his head.
Rule number one for part-timers: never trust the 'promises' your boss draws for you. Trust them and you'll be stuck forever.
If he really didn't go back all night, then when he showed up tomorrow, the manager would almost certainly drag him into a loving lecture.
"But if I just go back like this, I'm afraid you'll… um… run into danger."
He tried hard to say her name, but in the end he gave up mid-attempt.
"Your knee is hurt, you can't move properly. If something happens… it would be dangerous. So I was thinking, at least let me take you to wherever you're staying tonight. Once I know you're safe, then I'll go back."
…Take me to where I'm staying tonight?
Nijika repeated the words in her mind, confused.
Normally, wouldn't someone say, "I'll take you home"?
Saying it like that…
made it sound like he knew she'd run away from home.
"…Hitori. Do you know something?"
When Hitori saw that the girl who'd been unbearably cute just moments ago had narrowed her eyes—and even the little "horns" on her head, as if they had a will of their own, stood up in wary alert—
he realized he'd definitely let something slip.
He quietly looked away, but her gaze only grew stronger.
Even though they were sitting on opposite ends of the bench with a decent distance between them, it still felt like she was staring right beside his cheek.
Under that silent, horned stare, Hitori hesitated for a moment—then decided to tell the truth.
"Um… actually… it's like this."
He gave Nijika a rough explanation.
He told her about deciding to become a guitar teacher, meeting Kita, coming to STARRY with Kita to practice, and then being asked by Hiroi Kikuri to help find her.
Nijika's expression went from blank—
to blank—
to blank.
The same expression the entire time.
Hitori thought she was angry. After all, she'd been thanking him for returning the ribbon.
And now he was telling her he hadn't done it purely out of kindness—he'd been carrying someone else's request, with a purpose.
It would be normal for her to feel disappointed.
So he quietly adjusted his posture, preparing to kneel and apologize.
But to his surprise, Nijika didn't blame him at all.
Instead, she shifted closer—placing both hands on the bench, leaning forward, lifting her face and looking straight into his eyes as she asked:
"…Did you really start playing guitar again?"
"…I did," Hitori answered instinctively, leaning back slightly. "Um… what's wrong?"
"Ah… no, no. Nothing's wrong."
Nijika belatedly pulled her hands back and returned to her previous position.
"I'm just… surprised."
Surprised?
Now it was Hitori's turn to look at her in confusion.
Nijika lowered her head, gripping her skirt tightly. One sentence echoed again and again in her mind:
The Guitar Hero picked up the guitar again.
For Nijika—who had always regretted missing Gotou Hitori back then—this was a shock that hit far too hard.
Because she'd been fighting with her sister lately, her emotions constantly low. On top of school, she hadn't even been keeping up with the Guitar Hero's posts.
But now, hearing Hitori say it with his own mouth—
her first thought was:
If the Guitar Hero has started playing again…
does that mean I can invite him to form a band now…?
And she immediately denied the thought.
As someone in the band scene, she knew exactly what Hitori had been through with his previous band.
She understood that for him to pick up the guitar again, he must've already summoned enormous courage.
She couldn't ignore that and invite him to form a band without caring about how he felt.
But she truly, desperately wanted Hitori to be in a band with her.
Over the past few years, she'd watched the recordings her sister kept—Hitori's performances—countless times. She'd studied every show carefully.
Every chord change, every hit that landed with the rhythm, even his most habitual BPM—she'd thought through it all as if placing herself in it.
If she were the drummer—
if Hitori were her guitarist—
how should she enter with the drums, how should she match him, how could she ensure her sticks landed on the most perfect points, building the most reliable backbone, giving wings to that guitar sound that had been restricted by teammates—
letting it soar high.
But it was only a fantasy.
No matter how perfect her imagined plan was, it was still just her wishful thinking.
Her bandmates weren't the Guitar Hero.
And Hitori's bandmates weren't her.
They were like two parallel lines that missed each other.
Able to see each other from afar—
but unable to stand together.
"Nijika… are you okay?"
Seeing her sink into gloom again, Hitori asked anxiously.
That pulled Nijika gently back from her thoughts.
She looked up at his eyes, filled with worry, and the drooping corners of her mouth lifted into the faintest curve again.
"…You said my name really smoothly just now."
"If you can call me like that a few more times… I might actually be able to pull myself together again."
Hitori immediately froze.
Nijika was about to say she was joking, that he didn't have to take it seriously—
but then she saw Hitori, as if making an enormous decision, say to her:
"…I'll do my best to try!"
Those words caught Nijika completely off guard. The little "horns" on her head instantly started wobbling.
"W-wait—! I… I didn't mean it like that! Forget you heard that! Let's pretend we didn't hear what I just said, okay?!"
"…Ah. Okay."
Hitori didn't understand, but he nodded anyway.
Only then did Nijika quietly breathe out, her pale, smooth cheeks heating into a shy red.
She coughed a few times, stealing glances at Hitori. Whenever his eyes turned toward her, she'd immediately look away like a mouse spotting a cat.
Maybe she thought that if she acted too bothered by it, the atmosphere would only get more awkward.
After a while, having steadied herself, Nijika let out a soft breath and said:
"Actually… I have something I need to tell you too."
"Earlier, didn't you say you heard about me and my sister from that bassist who's always coming to my house to use our bathroom, and every other day shows up late at night because she has no money for food to freeload a meal—seriously, the most unreliable person ever?"
Big sis…
You… you've actually done things like that…?
Thinking of Hiroi Kikuri's perpetually sloppy face, Hitori couldn't help covering his own face again.
He knew Kikuri was… unconventional.
But he never imagined it was so bad that she'd reached "parasite living in someone else's home" levels.
He even started suspecting that the reason Kikuri cared so much about Nijika's situation was because if the sisters fell out, she wouldn't be able to freeload food and drink anymore—so she'd only rarely decided to act serious for once.
No…
Her image in my heart was already barely holding together…
and now it's completely rubble.
"What's wrong, Hitori? Why are you covering your face again?"
"Ah… I'm fine. Please keep going."
"Okay, then I'll continue."
Nijika leaned back against the bench, eyes fixed on the faraway night sky.
In her original plan, Hitori would've stood up and left by now.
And she would take out her phone, call her sister, and quietly wait for her to come pick her up—returning to the ending already decided.
But unexpectedly—
Hitori not only didn't leave, he told her he'd picked up the guitar again.
From that moment on,
a powerful thought took root in her heart.
"I… I've been here before."
Nijika said softly.
"About three years ago, I saw you here, Hitori."
"Back then you had a guitar case on your back, sitting alone on the swing over there. You looked so lonely…"
"I was going to run up to you and invite you to form a band—"
"but someone else got to you first."
"Later, I found out the guitarist I missed back then… was the Guitar Hero everyone talked about."
"And that was you, Hitori."
Nijika turned her eyes toward him, meeting his gaze openly. Her thoughts slowly connected back to what she'd been feeling earlier.
Maybe you can be my new beginning.
Maybe I can invite you to form a band, and try one last time to fight for my dream.
But that kind of thought was far too selfish toward him.
She didn't want to force him.
Didn't want to become someone who felt like a burden.
So…
she wanted to try a different way.
She wouldn't ask him to do anything.
But she hoped—
he could keep sitting beside her, quietly listening until she finished saying what she needed to say.
She wanted to use this miracle-like reunion to tell him the regret she'd buried deep inside:
That once, there was someone who truly wanted to stand by his side.
That person was her.
And even now—
she still wanted to stand with him.
-------
Promotion Valentine's Month Sale: 20% off for 7 days. Apply now!
My : pat*eon*com/RuneA
I, Herta's Fiancé, the Universe's Number One Male Fist (114 Chapter (Simulpub-Full) )
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Succubus in Sixth Street (400 Chapter)
Reborn in Type-Moon, My Sister is Aoko Aozaki (254 Chapter)
MyGO!! A Story Voiced by Me (140 Chapter)
BLEACH: Blade of Purification (158 Chapter)
Konoha: Starting the Game as Yoriichi (400 Chapter)
My Real Job is Spying on Konoha, but I'm Also its Hokage (140 Chapter)
The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp (172 Chapter)
Watching Yu-Gi-Oh! short videos is making the veteran players lose...(80 Chapter)
Uma Musume : The Trainer Who Just Wants to Live (200 Chapter)
Zenless Zone Zero The Random Kamen Rider (200 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: It All Began With Me Being Stepped On by Arlecchino (120 Chapter)
Naruto: I Can Synthesize Summoning Beasts (96 Chapter)
Demon Slayer: The Great Swordsman's System, Disciple of Yoriichi (140 Chapter)
My Wife is a General, but I'm an Emanator of Abundance! (160 Chapter)
Type-Moon: My Nine-Fold Path (140 Chapter)
Uma Musume: They're Peeking at My Diary, and All of Tracen is Panickin (Ending)
The Wild History of Type-Moon world (70 Chapter)
Reborn in Conan, But I Refuse to Be the Bad Guy (80 Chapter)
Ruan Mei is begging me to go back? But there's no going back anymore (140 Chapter)
Just a Slacker at Tracen Academy (165 Chapter)
Survival in Blue Archive (70 Chapter)
Kimetsu no Yaiba: Doma Wasn't Hated Today, Either (100 Chapter)
The Vibe of This Chat Group is a Little Off (100 Chapter)
Heartbreak Simulator: I Broke Them and Made Them Cry (80 Chapter)
The Talentless Trainer Doesn't Want to Restart (80 Chapter)
A Journey Starting as a Quincy (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: The Master of Romance Obstruction (80 Chapter)
Uma Musume: You Can't Be a Hero Without a Little Chemical Enhancement (40 Chapter)
Honkai Impact 3rd Your Boyfriend is Really Amazing (40 Chapter)
Warhammer 40K: My Fiancée, Fulgrim (180 Chapter)
Classroom of the Elite: Trying to Capture Me! (120 Chapter)
Genshin Impact My Named Senji Muramas (150 Chapter)
A Chef, the Vice-Captain of the Rocks Pirates? (160 Chapter)
Naruto : My Uchiha Girlfriend is Too Tsundere (130 Chapter)
Type-Moon: Reincarnated in a Lostbelt, I Became the Alien God (90 Chapter)
The Way These Horse Girls Look at Me Is Terrifying! (160 Chapter)
Naruto: Tsunade's Deskmate (130 Chapter)
I Just Want to Live a Normal (50 Chapter).
Genshin Impact: A Hundred Confessions? It's Just a System Task (70 Chapter)
OnePiece : Starting as a Veteran of the Roger Pirates (60 Chapter)
Uma Musume : I Have Special Horse Taming Techniques (190 Chapter)
Uma Musume : My other self is a Horse Girl (130 Chapter)
Jujutsu Kaisen : All Affection Stats Maxed Out (200 Chapter)
Satou Kazuma's Decision to Live by Swindling, Starting from Re:Zero (60 Chapter)
Bleach : Ichigo! Take Over the Soul Society (89 Chapter)
Crossover Anime: The Master of Plagiarism with a 'Love Obstacle (140 Chapter)
Arknights Succubus Nurturing System, But I'm a Quiet Office Worker (90 Chapter)
Genshin Impact: Using My Personas to Break the Hearts of Players (50 Chapter)
One Punch Man : i am King? (150 Chapter)
Genshin: My Stats Are Irresistible (70 Chapter)
Naruto: Master of Dream Fulfillment! (70 Chapter)
Why Are All My Chat Group Friends Spin-Off Characters? (123 Chapter)
Arknights : Batman System (30 Chapter)
Chat Group: Swapping Bodies with the Bad-Ending Herta from the Start (72 Chapter)
DanMachi: Why Did My Dungeon Turn Into a Soulslike Game? (92 Chapter)
Losing Money on Uma Musume...What Do You Mean You Actually Won? (93 Chapter)
I'm Gotou Hitori—Who Are You? (40 Chapter)
Were You Ever Even a Uma Musume? Stop Making Things Up! (75 Chapter)
Moon Project: A Full-Time Love Adventure for the Lobotomy Corporation (75 Chapter)
The Leisurely Days of the Hyuga Main House (65 Chapter)
Arknights : A Draco Surviving in a Matriarchal Terra (115 Chapter)
Arknights: What if My Luck Is Too Good? (105 Chapter)
Honkai: The Romance System Only Shows Up After I Marry Mei (55 Chapter)
Arknights: Who Are You Calling Repressed, X?! (105 Chapter)
The Chat Group Only Arrived After I'd Cleared the Game (42 Chapter)
Gojo Satoru Flat-Out Refuses to Admit He's a Supporting Character (40 Chapter)
Chat Group Isn't Supposed to Be Like This! (30 Chapter)
If You're Moriarty…then Who Am I? (50 Chapter)
Uma Musume: Since I "Can't See," They Take Turns Stealing My Underwear (50 Chapter)
Arknights: Why Are All My "Brothers" Girls? (54 Chapter)
Danmachi: Start Training Haki (47 Chapter)
Emiya Shirou's Rebirth (30 Chapter)
I Can Get Stronger Just by AFK'ing—So I Joined a Chat Group (50 Chapter)
Endfield: I Can Always Pull Out One Yuan (40 Chapter)
Limbus Company : I Started a Company in Project Moon (50 Chapter)
Lobotomy: Do Cooks of Alley 23 Dream of Bloodfiend Knights? (50 Chapter)
DanMachi: Freya Familia's "One-Blade Shura" (40 Chapter)
DanMachi: Emiya, the Great Hero Becomes the Protagonist (46 Chapter)
TYPE-MOON: One Special Instance Every Week (40 Chapter)
From Danmachi: The Abundance Apothecary (43 Chapter)
If there's a particular novel you're enjoying on Patron, please give it a 'like' so I know to focus on it