But he didn’t let go immediately.
Instead, his gaze shifted slightly downward, landing on Goto Hitori’s left hand.
The girl’s fingers were slender, but there were obvious, thick calluses on her fingertips.
They were the marks left by years of practicing the guitar.
“The calluses are thick.”
Ai suddenly spoke, saying something seemingly out of nowhere.
Then, he held out his left hand, showing the thin layer of calluses that had just started to grow on his fingertips.
“It seems I need to work hard too.”
These words were spoken very softly, audible only to the two of them.
Goto Hitori was stunned.
She stared blankly at Ai’s fingers.
It was…
proof of being the same kind.
Although his calluses were still thin, indicating he had only just started practicing, were his words just now…
a form of recognition?
Was he saying, “We should work hard together”?
An unprecedented warm current of being recognized surged into her heart, instantly dispelling the suffocating feeling brought by her social anxiety.
“U-Um!”
Goto Hitori didn’t know where she found the courage, but even though her body was still shaking, she stammered out:
“The… effects pedal! It’s… it’s very useful! Thank… thank you!”
After saying this, she snatched the chopsticks and, as if she had completed some epic quest, turned and bolted, her speed so great she even left a pink afterimage behind her.
Ai watched the direction she vanished in, withdrew his hand, and picked up his own chopsticks to resume eating.
The corner of his mouth hooked up imperceptibly.
[Ding! Goto Hitori Affection Value +50.]
[Current Favorability: 25/100 (Status: A guitar junior who wants to get closer but is afraid).]
[System Evaluation: Well done. By showing the “calluses,” a secret code unique to guitarists, you successfully closed the distance.]
All of this was witnessed by Yotsuya Miko sitting in the front row.
She held the bread in her hand but forgot to take a bite.
In those eyes that were originally clear, a deep storm was currently brewing.
Who was that pink-haired girl?
Why did Ai take the initiative to talk to her?
That kind of gaze…
that gaze that was cold yet carried a hint of “only we understand” tacit understanding…
*Crackle.* (Bag)
The bread in Miko’s hand was crushed flat.
She turned her head and looked at Ai, who was eating quietly, a smile on her face that was extremely gentle yet sent chills down one’s spine.
“Fujiwara-san… was that girl just now a friend?”
Ai’s movement of chewing the Tamagoyaki paused for a moment.
Malice Perception (though Miko had no malice, she had resentment) stung slightly.
This was the first time he had felt such an aggressive emotion from Miko.
“No.”
Ai swallowed his food and answered flatly.
“I’ve only met her once. She’s someone who plays the guitar quite well.”
“Guitar?”
Miko keenly caught the keyword.
So Fujiwara-san likes the guitar?
Was that pink-haired girl noticed by Fujiwara-san because she can play the guitar?
Miko lowered her head, looking at her own hands, which were fair and slender but possessed no talent.
A sense of crisis arose spontaneously.
This won’t do.
I can’t lose.
If I don’t do something, Fujiwara-san will be stolen away.
“Um… Fujiwara-san.”
Miko suddenly raised her head, her eyes filled with a terrifying determination.
“I also… I want to learn the guitar!”
“Fujiwara-san… can you teach me?”
Ai: “…?”
He looked at the girl before him, who probably didn’t even recognize a full musical staff, yet had an expression like she was going to war.
Teach you?
I’m just a half-baked player myself (even with the system’s skills).
Wouldn’t that be like inviting a wolf into the house?
“Refused.”
Ai gave his answer without hesitation.
“It’s tiring, your hands will hurt, you’ll get calluses, and it’s not suitable for you.”
Hearing “your hands will hurt, you’ll get calluses,” Miko was stunned for a moment.
She remembered the fingers Ai had shown to that pink-haired girl earlier.
So it was because he felt sorry for me and didn’t want me to suffer?
Miko’s brain circuitry automatically completed the logical loop.
The previous gloom vanished for the most part, replaced by a surge of sweetness.
“Mm! Then I won’t learn!”
She nodded vigorously, smiling like a blooming flower.
“I’ll do other things to support Fujiwara-san! Like… making bentos!”
Ai looked at the girl who had instantly changed her face and sighed in his heart.
A woman’s mind is harder to understand than advanced mathematics.
However…
the goal was clear.
He had established an initial “guitar friend” connection with Bocchi; next, he just needed to wait for an opportunity, like…
going to a Live House?
As for Miko, although she was a bit clingy, at least she was very obedient.
This day of school life passed in this seemingly peaceful yet secretly turbulent atmosphere.
Except when school was over, Ai found another pink letter in his shoe locker.
This time, there was no heart drawn on the envelope.
Instead, there was a drawing of an eye.
An eye…
that was bleeding.
Ai picked up the envelope expressionlessly.
Spiritual Vision activated.
A faint trace of black resentment was attached to the envelope.
“It seems that besides human rivals in love, there are also non-human ones.”
He casually tucked the envelope into his pocket, not letting Miko see it.
It was better to handle this kind of filth himself.
After all, he was her protective umbrella.