Kita: [—Hitori-chan! Wait up!]
Kita called out to the pink-haired guitarist, darting up the steps to catch up to her before she left the live house.
Hitori: [Ah– K–Kita-san...]
Upon reaching Hitori’s side, Kita stopped for a moment to catch her breath.
Hitori: [Did you w–want anything…?]
Kita stood upright, parting her hands from her knees—
Kita: [Ah no– it’s just,]
—and proceeded to look Hitori in the eyes.
Kita: [Hitori-chan, do you want to walk home together?]
━━━━━━━━━━♫(✦)♫━━━━━━━━━━
The setting sun could be spotted sinking on the horizon just beyond the farthest reach of asphalt, enveloping Shimokitazawa in an orange hue as the pair of guitarists made their way home. The usually bustling streets of the district greeted them with an uncharacteristic silence, and the usual city folk wandering the streets were nowhere to be found, leaving the duo alone with their thoughts...
“AND THAT’S EXACTLY THE PROBLEM !!!!”
Hitori was having a meltdown. There is nothing worse than being stuck in awkward silence and not knowing what to say. Especially for Hitori, who was the very definition of “socially inept”.
“Why isn’t Kita-san saying anything?? She’s supposed to be the extrovert here!”
And suddenly, the world shifted. All the buildings’ windows shut close, and pressed themselves into the walls, turning the structure into a flat surface. Trees had their life squeezed out of them and were flattened. In fact, everything was flattened. Hitori was now living in a 2-dimensional world.
“Why did I even agree to this in the first place?!”
The answer is simple!
Hitori Gotoh is a total pushover. Combine that with the immense power of the Kit-aura, the feeble sub-water flea wouldn’t be able to think of putting up even a fraction of resistance.
And as for Kita, she was also having an internal influx of emotions.
Normally, she could easily handle a conversation, even if it were with some she liked.
However, this was a special circumstance! The time? Sunset. The setting? An empty street. The atmosphere? All of it points to one thing, romantic! Furthermore, as they walked in close proximity, their arms would brush against each other with every step they took—
—Ikuyo Kita was too flustered to think rationally.
Understandable.
Crystal clear indeed.
What was going on here is what you would call a [ M U T U A L M E L T D O W N ].
“If only I had my mango box right now…”
Suddenly, Kita also had the urge to jump into an open trash bin.
Both of them continued to walk silently, but deep inside them was an unstoppable tornado ripping away at any sense of tranquility and leaving behind nothing but awkwardness and shame.
—And in the very next moment, Hitori would fall into Kita's arms.
“Eh?”
Thankfully, Kita's reflexes were fast enough to catch the falling girl, however, her comprehension of the situation would come much later. After all, nothing which was happening made sense.
Hitori Gotoh had fallen into Kita's arms, but there was no proof of that.
—Hitori Gotoh was weightless.
—Hitori Gotoh had no bones in her body.
—Hitori Gotoh started deflating.
—Hitori Gotoh is now a puddle of liquid, some of which was absorbed by the cloth of Kita's uniform.
—Hitori Gotoh had died.
“What.”
Kita looked up into the sky as if to question why such a tragedy had to happen, knees on the ground while mourning the loss of a loved one. Normally, if this were an anime, there'd be blood splattered on Kita's clothes as she held the body of Hitori Gotou while the viewer watched from above with a dramatic camera angle. However, instead of blood, it was Bocchi Liquid™ that was covering her.
As Kita stared into the heavens in contempt of whichever god had decided to take her Hitori away from her, she noticed a small pink blob slowly drifting upwards.
“—Wait.”
Realization had struck Ikuyo Kita.
“That's Hitori-chan's soul.”
Kita: [Wait! Hitori-chan!! Come back!!]
Kita quickly stood up and reached for the guitarist's escaping soul, taking hold of it—
Nevermind. She was too short. The soul was already a few inches too high.
But she wouldn't give up here, Kita scooped up a handful of Bocchi Liquid™ that was on the ground, and with great momentum—she swung and aimed for the ascending soul.
Upon coming into contact with a few droplets of Bocchi Liquid™, the soul absorbed it like it were a sponge. And due to this, the soul gained a significant amount of weight and started falling back to the ground.
And then, out of nowhere, all the road's sidelights turned on. Shining brightly as if to highlight Hitori's soul slowly descending back into Kita's open hands.
—is how Hitori would describe what happened.
In reality, she had just tripped on a rock.
A rock.
A pebble, even.
A single stub on the road.
The only stub on the road.
And she managed to trip on it.
Fortunately for her, Kita managed to catch her before she would have inevitably nose-dived into the cold hard concrete. But due to certain factors (and probably with the favor of some god out there), they ended up in a position where Kita’s right hand was holding Hitori’s left, while her other arm was on Hitori’s waist. And their faces were inches away from each other. If you saw how they looked at that very moment, you’d think they were performing a waltz.
“Curse whichever god made this happen !!”
—And those were Hitori’s last thoughts, her last escape from reality, before going through another meltdown.
Hitori: [Ã̷̜͌̃A̵̜͇͇̚͝Â̶̲̦̌A̸̢̯͝A̵̫͓̲͛A̴̭̋ͅÁ̷̯̹̿͌Á̶̭̼̅A̵͕̫̓̂A̷̪͆̃ ]
A̵̫͓̲͛A̴̭̋ͅÁ̷̯̹̿͌Á̶̭̼̅A̵͕̫̓̂A̷̪͆̃
Å̵͇̖Ă̴͉A̶͚͝
A̵̖̼̎Ä̶̜̻́͑H̴̲̾
H̸̨̳͒H̷͎̎͋
H̵̭̮̤̐̄͘!!
!!!!!
!!!
Kita: [Hitori-chan! Pull yourself together!! Your text is getting out of the dialogue box!!]
—Hitori Gotou fainted in Kita’s arms.
━━━━━━━━━━♫(✦)♫━━━━━━━━━━
Hitori's eyes flitted open and she was met with a strange sight, it seemed like the earth had rotated 90 degrees... No. That's not right. She could feel the gravitational pull of the Earth going not downwards but to her side. Not to mention, the soft sensation on her left cheek, a soft pillow surely, prepared especially to rest her head.
Aha.
Gotcha.
Then that must mean, Hitori was the one who has rotated 90 degrees sideward. That’s right, Hitori was not in an upright position, she was lying down!
“Heh. Hehe. Ehehhuehuehehehuehehehe.”
Proud of herself for figuring this out, Hitori was momentarily stuck in her own delusions of praise. She could hear people clapping despite the fact that she was looking at the same empty road she was on earlier. She could even feel someone patting and brushing their hand through her hair! Truly, this was bliss.
—Wait.
—Hold on.
Hitori got out of her daydreams.
She could still feel the patting on her head.
“Eh…?”
Hitori shifted and looked upwards. She was greeted by Kita’s face, lit by the moonlight, smiling as she looked at Hitori.
Kita: [Ah! Hitori-chan, you’re awake.]
“Oh.”
“Then.”
“—Then.”
“——Then.”
The angle at which she was looking at Kita, the fact that she woke up lying down, and the soft pillow she thought her head was resting on.
“Then.”
“——Then, that must mean….!”
Hitori: [K–Kita-san… am I… on your l–lap…?]
Kita: [Hm..? Ah, yeah… You passed out and I didn’t know what to do so…]
Kita's cheeks appeared a little flushed while saying this.
Hitori started melting once again.
Or at least she attempted to, but the night’s cold wouldn’t allow that. The temperature had set Hitori into a perpetual state of liquifying and solidifying. From an outside view, she looked like she was having multiple seizures all at once.
Kita: [H–Hitori-chan?! Please don’t faint again!!]
Much to Kita’s surprise, Hitori managed to pull herself together and stop spasming. She shifted and faced the road in front of the bench they were sitting on, averting the redhead’s gaze.
Hitori: [U–Um… Kita-san.]
Kita: [Hm?]
Hitori: [Sorry for making you stay out this late. If it w–weren’t for me, you wouldn’t have to be held up like this…]
Kita didn’t respond for a second, which felt like an eternity to Hitori. But relief engulfed her body when Kita once again started stroking her hair, and finally responded—
Kita: [You don’t have to apologize, Hitori-chan. I did this because I wanted to. You really need to stop thinking you’re a burden to everyone, you know?]
Hitori didn’t respond. For minutes they stayed like that—Kita caressing the pink strands of hair in her hands. The occasional flickering of a lone lamppost beside them being the only noise to break the peaceful silence.
Hitori: [Kita-san...]
Hitori: [Why are you doing this for me…?]
Kita: [—]
Kita: [Didn’t I already tell you? I’m doing this because I want to.]
Hitori: [I–I know that… but, why…? You could’ve just forcefully woken me up earlier instead of waiting for me to do so on my own.]
[———]
Kita: [Is wanting to spend more time with you not enough of a reason…?]
Hitori: [Huh…? But… why me?]
Good point. Why was it her?
Was it because she looked up to Hitori? Was it because she thought she was so amazing? Was it because Hitori was a major inspiration to her? Was it because of how funny it was to see her struggle to interact with people? Was it because despite that, she still tries her best to grow and become more sociable? Was it because she found it cute whenever she miserably fails at interaction? Was it because she found it cute how she reacts to praise? Was it because of her beautiful hair? Was it because of her beautiful face? Was it because of how cool she looked when she’s on stage? Was it because of how passionate she was during every guitar session they have at school? Was it because she would immediately start missing her whenever they part ways? Was it because every time a simple thing such as their arms coming into contact makes her heart skip a beat? Was it because she enjoyed every time she learned more things about her? Was it because every minute they spent together, even a fraction of a second, she treasures with all her heart?
She could list a thousand possible reasons as to why, but it all boiled down to one thing.
Kita: [—Well. I like you, Hitori-chan.]
Hitori was dumbfounded.
Hitori: [I mean.. I–I like you too Kita-san. But that doesn’t answer my question!]
Kita: [No, that’s not what I meant! I like—like you, Hitori-chan.]
[—]
[———]
[—————]
Hitori curled up into a ball, hugging her knees while it covered her face. She stayed silent for a while before responding in a soft muffled voice—
Hitori: [—I’m sorry Kita-san.]
[———]
Hitori: [But I don’t think I can respond to your feelings.]
“Ah.”
And once again, Ikuyo Kita would feel a familiar stinging sensation inside her chest.
Hitori: [—yet.]
A brief moment of relief washed over Kita, but that still didn’t rid the pain she felt inside her.
Hitori: [I’m sorry. I–I’m just… I’m not really used to this kind of thing and… I’m not sure if how I really feel is what I think it is…]
Hitori: [B–But!]
Hitori once again looked up to face Kita, blue eyes filled with determination.
Hitori: [I–I want to understand it…! I really like spending time with Kita-san so… I want to know what this feeling really means for me!]
Hitori: [So please, if you don’t mind… W–Will you stay by my side until I’m able to return your feelings…?]
The aching in Kita’s heart has now fully vanished and was replaced with hope and admiration, it overwhelmed her to the point that water had started forming in the corners of her eyes. Kita started playing with Hitori’s hair once again.
Kita: [Seriously… Hitori-chan. Don’t play with my heart like that.]
Hitori: [H–Huh…? But I wasn’t…]
Kita put a finger over Hitori’s lips, cutting off her words.
Kita: [Don’t worry Hitori-chan! I promise I’ll stay by your side, and I won’t ever let go until I make you fall in love with me.]
Hitori: [L–Love?!?! Th–That wasn’t what we agreed on!]
Kita: [Too late. I already made a promise, and I’m not going back on it!]
A noise could be heard coming closer, and once it passed they both knew what it was. The rumbling of train tracks could be heard even from meters away, and as it came and went, they knew what this meant.
Hitori: [Did I just miss the train…?]
Kita giggled at Hitori’s distress, still continuously stroking her hair.
Kita: [How unfortunate for you, Hitori-chan. Looks like we’ll have to stay like this for a little longer.]