I roamed the halls in search of a certain pink haired schoolmate. I broke free from my group of friends in order to spend my lunch break with Gotou-san, this is my way of possibly improving Gotou-san's ability to make friends. But I do genuinely love spending time together regardless.
Everyone in the band cherishes her, despite how weird she can be ( still very funny ) everyone accepts her with open arms. And I still can't thank her enough for encouraging Ryou-senpai and Nijika-chan to forgive me after I'd initially ran away and avoided them. It's been two months since then and we've garnered a good crowd that consisted of 10 - 17 people during our sets.
" She must be at her usual spot." I murmured to myself as I made a quick right turn towards the other staircase. It's popular for being the place that loners venture to, due to the few numbers that pass by here from time to time.
I think Gotou-san claimed that spot as one of her many favorite places....
But that's expected of the ultimate introvert, Gotou Hitori-san! ( Of course, I don't mean any offense to her ).
All right, just gotta go down the stairs–
" Mhm, are you the same as me? Just wanna be by yourself?" a voice I wasn't familiar with came from the place Gotou-san would dwell....
I instinctively stopped my previous movements and hid behind the corner, peeking my head slightly to look down the stairs, curious to see who's down there. It's impossible to think another introvert would end up there, don't they know it's Gotou-san's territory?!
"Haha....ha...ha....you think this was a choice?"
Hm? That self-deprecating tone sounds awfully familiar.....and that laugh filled with depressed sarcasm....Gasp! Could it be–
" I'm only here because I don't have many friends to eat with. I am an incapable , insocial garbage that's living on auto-pilot."
Yep. That's definitely Gotou-san.
I almost let out an audible sigh at her ' true' thoughts but I held it in. This may sound weird, but I want to listen in on this conversation of theirs. This is the first time I've seen Gotou-san communicate with another human being without spontaneously combusting after the first ' hello'. Add to the fact that the person she's communicating to sounds like a BOY? Ohoho~, I am NOT ruining this moment.
".....That wasn't funny."
I agree.
" It wasn't supposed to be." Typical Gotou-san response...
Ahhh! Hearing isn't going to be enough! I need to see what's happening down there. I can try to take a peek without getting spotted, but one wrong move and I'll be found out. And if Gotou-san finds out? She'll die on the spot! Again.
Okay, Kita Ikuyo will go offline.
It's time for Kita " James Bond" " Mission Impossible" Ikuyo to shine!
I clenched my fist in determination, psyching myself up. After a few moments, I began to shuffle to the edge of the corner and then bending down, crawling to the stairs.
~ Sneak ~ Sneak~ Sneak~ Sneak~....
Rendezvous point reached! Proceeding to spy mode.
I took the slightest peek, stilling the rest of my body, until I finally caught a glimpse of Gotou-san and the boy she's with. The boy had brown hair, it looked straight and soft, that's a plus point.
A sigh escapes his lips as he seemingly offers Gotou-san the onigiri. Wow, what is even happening? What is the context here? How did these two even come to be–
Before I could finish that thought, I watched as Gotou-san accepts the Onigiri and began devouring it like a beast. Her eyes lit up and she spoke with her mouth full.
" Pork?" She said,
" Yeah. You don't like it?"
" No, I like it." She says before eating again.
The boy chuckles before leaning against the staircase wall. " Hehe, good. You had me worried for a sec'. " He said.
Gotou-san......
SINCE WHEN DID YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND?!?!?!?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
School just ended and all students were probably packing their things and leaving the class.
Ugh, I can't get it out of my head!
Gotou-san? My introverted bestie, Gotou-san? Has a boyfriend??
Impossible! Her body physically can't stand another human being without prep time. That must've been a hallucination I conjured at the time, yeah, that's it!
I'm making my way to her classroom right now in order to confront the matter and clear any misunderstandings from my end. I bet once I get there, she's seated in her chair being all depressed again that she's failed to make friends ( Don't worry though! Kita-chan always has your back. Take your time, Gotou-san! ).
I mean, to think she would have a boyfriend? Haha, that sounds so dang ridiculous and completely left field. She can barely make friendships without choking on air, what more entering a relationship? Doesn't sound like Gotou Hitori at all!
Very anti-bocchi if you ask me!
Humming to myself, I made my stride towards her classroom as we speak. Ready to greet her with my usual smile and ready to clear any misunderstandings between us in regards to what I hallucinated during lunch break.
Ah, speak of the devil! I see her leaving the classroom right now, carrying her guitar case like normal.
" Hey, Gotou-sa–"
" Guitar? That's amazing, Gotou-san."
" Ah...you think so?"
" Of course! Didn't I say in my introduction that I have a keen interest in sports AND arts?"
" Ah...so you consider music to be under that category...?"
" Hm, I guess so? I mean, if paintings are visual presentations for the eyes, created by the hands of a hardworking artist, they call it art. I don't think music is all that different since I see it as a wonderful audio presentation for our ears, also created by a hardworking artist or musician. "
" Amazing....I never really saw it that way..."
E-Eh...?
Isn't that....Bocchi....walking...with that boy from before?
( Error Error Error! )
IT WASN'T AN HALLUCINATION AT ALL?!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It's strange....
For some reason I can't explain, I haven't been choking on my words like usual. Nor am I succumbing to my urges of running away when talking to new people for the first time.
Akihiko Asahi-kun......could it be that your extrovert energy is trapping me? Leaving me to fall prey to your charms?
Or rather, do I just feel comfortable talking to you willingly? When did I allow myself to let myself grow close to you in such a short amount of time? In very few exchanges of words, how is it that I can already call you ' friend ' ?
No wait, you're starting to sound a bit presumptuous there, Hitori.
Even if I call him my friend, would he consider me the same?
Maybe he only wants to talk to me for today before moving on to another person tomorrow?
" Oh, forgot to ask. But are you in a band or anything?" He asks me as we exited the school and slowly made our way to the gate. I don't know why I accepted his offer of walking together.
" Ah....um....I guess you can say that." I answered, meekly.
" Mind telling me the name?"
" It's Kessoku band."
" ' Kessoku', huh......the ' ziptie' band." He says.
Oh no, did he find our band name weird? Or cringy?!
" With a name like that, you and your bandmates sound close." He says.
" W-We are!" I announced, feeling proud of myself as I puffed my chest forwards.
Whenever the thought of my friends crossed my mind, I couldn't stop that sudden burst of dopamine from leaking out through my words. I noticed his stare turn sorta warm at that, his smile only widens as he laughs.
" It's good to see that there's no doubt in you, Gotou-san." he says.
I smile a bit from his words. His sincerity reminds me of Kita-chan. If he had the same red hair and golden eyes as her, then they would totally pass off as siblings in my book.
" Ah, here we are." He suddenly says. I halted my movements as I curiously watched him walk towards the bike stalls.
He unlocks the lock for his bike and releases it from the chain. He seemingly checks if there's anything amiss with his bike but after a few seconds he seems to be satisfied enough as he began moving his bike.
He looks at me.
" Want a ride?" He asks.
" You ride a bicycle to school?" I blurted out. " I thought...since you're rich and all that you'd–"
" Rich? Who said such a thing?" He raises a brow. " Is it because I came from Oreha high?"
Oh you really had to open your mouth didn't you, Hitori?!
You got way too comfortable with him. Now he looks mad. I'm so so so sorry!
" H-Hey what are you doing?!" He yells out as I kneeled down and began bowing.
" Please forgive me for my tardy mouth." I said before bowing up and down to the floor. " I will show my repentance by slicing off my tongue."
" Oh my goodness..." I hear him say before I see his shoes right in front of my vision. He bends down and gently grabs me by the arms.
" C'mon, you didn't have to do that. People will look at you weird." he says.
He began helping me up to my feet but I still wore that frown, I refused to meet his gaze.
" But...I made an assumption that might've offended you....I really didn't mean to...."
" Relax, will ya? I get those types of assumptions a lot. Please don't worry your pretty little head over my throwaway comments." He says.
Pretty...?
" Anyways, back to your question: No, I'm not rich and I'm not in the financial position to own a personal driver. If I did, then that would be great but I still think I'd prefer going to places on my own and with my bicycle." He pats his bike handle with such care.
" Having a bicycle has a lot more personal benefits to me. Burns a decent amount of calories thus proving it's a valuable exercise. I also like the wind breezing by when I ride my bike to places I want to be." He explained.
" Ah..." I slowly nodded, those indeed sounded like benefits you can't simply throw away.
" How about we go back to the question I asked earlier?" he says, getting on his bicycle. He turns to me, patting the passenger space at the back with an inviting smile. " Want a ride home?"
" O-Oh!" I began subconsciously gripping the edge of my sleeves as I thought about my answer...
" Sorry..." I shake my head apologetically, " I work part-time today...and I'm waiting for my friend so we can go together..."
" Oh. That's fine. So you work part-time too?" Interest laced in his tone.
Wait...
" ' too' ? Do you have a job as well, Akihiko-kun?" I ask.
" Yup. I work as an employee at the music store in the mall. They told me to start today." He said before winking. " So come by sometime if you're in need of a musical fix. I'd love to see how I can help."
" I don't think you know much about guitars....ah....didn't you say that you failed to understand basic knowledge of it earlier?" I seemingly recalled during our short conversations.
He puts a hand to where his heart should be as he feigns a pained expression. " Ouch, that hurts. Quite evil of you to say, Gotou-san."
" Good luck..." I waved goodbye.
He smiles before nodding and returning my wave. " See ya tomorrow." he says before biking away.
Such a strange guy...
I don't feel as strained with him as I am with others ( with the exception of my bandmates/friends of course.)
It definitely has to do with his secret extrovert magic.....that's gotta be it!
Suddenly, I felt incredible chills running down my spine as I registered a presence behind me.
" Gotou-san..." A girl's voice called behind me. I immediately turned around, shocked to see a distraught looking Kita.
" K-Kita-chan?!" I shrieked.
" Haha......you've got A LOT of explaining to do..." She grins creepily.
I gulped down my dry saliva. My entire brian system is calling CODE: RED! after seeing the redhead's prying golden eyes and creepy smile.
Someone save me....
~~~ End ~~~
Besties! ( Art not mine! )