The options given by the system were very realistic.
Refusing actually gave more?
What a twisted system.
But Ai didn’t choose to be a scumbag for those 3 extra points.
Miko’s psychological defenses were currently very fragile; excessive suppression might backfire.
He reached out and took the paper bag.
The moment their fingertips touched, he could feel Miko’s hand trembling slightly.
“Thanks.”
His tone was still cold, but he naturally placed the paper bag into the side pocket of his school bag.
With just this one action, the light in Yotsuya Miko’s eyes instantly burst forth.
[Ding! Favorability has slightly increased! Current Favorability: 30/100 (Status: Slightly Infatuated Dependent)]
[Affection Value +5]
“Tha… that’s great…”
Miko lowered her head, the corners of her mouth curling up wildly as the heavy stone in her heart finally dropped.
He accepted it!
He doesn’t hate me!
As long as he doesn’t hate me, I can continue to stay by his side…
Lunch break at Sobu High School.
Ai did not stay in the classroom.
It was too noisy in the classroom, and Yotsuya Miko’s burning gaze was giving him a bit of indigestion.
Although he needed to win her over, he also needed a moderate sense of distance; sticking together all the time would diminish the sense of mystery.
Carrying the bread and milk he bought at the canteen, he planned to find a quiet place.
Based on his understanding of this school (and anime tropes), the stairwells or the rooftop of the Special Building were usually auspicious spots.
He walked through the corridor and arrived at the sparsely populated Special Teaching Building.
This area was usually for club activities, and few people came here during lunch break.
However, when he reached the corner of the stairs leading from the second floor to the third, his footsteps suddenly paused.
Because he heard a voice.
“Ugh… what should I do… I just wanted to find a place to eat my bento… why would someone pass by here too…”
“I’m going to die, I’m going to die… I’ll be seen… I’ll be laughed at…”
“I want to go back to my closet…”
A series of fragmented, hurried, and negative mutterings drifted out from the shadows beneath the stairs.
Ai raised an eyebrow.
Could it be?
He lightened his steps and slowly walked down the stairs.
In the triangular area at the bottom of the stairs, a girl with long pink hair wearing a pink tracksuit jacket was clutching a guitar bag, curled into a ball and squatting in the corner facing the wall.
Black lines seemed to materialize around her, and she radiated an aura of “Keep away”…
no, it was more like “Keep away, or I’ll explode on the spot.”
Goto Ichiri.
Nickname: “Bocchi-chan.”
The female protagonist of “bocchi the rock!”, a girl with god-tier guitar skills but extreme social anxiety.
Ai looked at that pink back and summoned the system in his mind.
Sure enough, the panel reacted.
[Ding! Target for conquest discovered!]
[Name: Goto Ichiri (Bocchi)]
[Current Status: Extreme Social Anxiety/Self-Loathing]
[Triggered Mission: Capture Plan for the Pink Guitarist (I)]
[Description: This girl with amazing guitar talent is currently shivering in a dark corner. Please establish initial contact without scaring her to death.]
[Objective: Make her aware of your presence without causing resentment.]
[Reward: Affection Value +10, Cash 10,000 Yen.]
Ai looked at the curled-up pink creature, the corner of his mouth twitching slightly.
Establish contact?
For Bocchi-chan, a stranger’s greeting is equivalent to a nuclear strike, right?
He thought for a moment and didn’t walk directly over to pat her shoulder, as she might melt on the spot.
Instead, he chose to sit down three steps away from her.
His movements were light, but they still made the sound of fabric rubbing together.
“Eeeek!!!”
Goto Ichiri’s body suddenly stiffened, letting out a strange cry, and she instantly turned grey-white as if her soul had left her body.
She buried her head deeply between her knees, screaming frantically in her heart:
‘Someone’s here, someone’s here!
Is it a normie?
Is it one of those sparkling normies?
It’s over, it’s over, I’ve been caught hiding here eating bento.
I’ll definitely be mocked for being a Introvert!
Ugh, I want to go home…’
Ai didn’t speak.
He just quietly tore open the bread packaging and inserted the straw into the milk carton.
*Slurp—*
The sound of drinking milk was exceptionally clear in the silent stairwell.
Goto Ichiri trembled even more violently.
Every second of silence was an ordeal for her.
‘Why isn’t he saying anything?
Is he observing me?
Is he mocking me in his heart?’
Just as Bocchi-chan’s imagination was about to break through the stratosphere, imagining herself as a criminal wanted by the whole world—
Ai finally spoke.
“Gibson Les Paul.”
He looked at the guitar bag in the girl’s arms, his voice calm, as if he were just talking to himself.
Although the zipper was closed, from the shape of the guitar bag and the faintly visible logo, as a transmigrator, he recognized this classic guitar model at a glance.
Goto Ichiri’s trembling suddenly stopped.
She froze for a moment.
‘Eh?’
‘He…
he recognizes my guitar?’
‘He’s not mocking me for being gloomy?
He’s looking at the guitar?’
For a musician, their instrument is their life.
Having one’s instrument recognized is like having a part of one’s soul recognized.
She carefully and bit by bit lifted her head from her knees, revealing one eye to peek at the boy sitting on the steps.
Against the light, the youth’s profile was sharp and refined, his black hair covering his eyes.
Holding ordinary milk, he gave off an air of elegance as if he were tasting fine wine.
Most importantly, he didn’t have that suffocating normie aura that made social anxiety sufferers choke.
faint, detached air, as if he were out of place in this world.
That was the effect of his 72 points in Charm.
To an ordinary person, it was “somewhat handsome,” but to a fellow “Introvert” like Bocchi, this cold and non-conformist temperament was practically a signal of a kindred spirit!
Ai sensed the gaze from behind.
He didn’t turn around, simply adding a faint remark:
“That’s a very heavy guitar. It must be hard carrying it around.”
The Gibson Les Paul is famously heavy; for a girl, carrying it to and from school is definitely a physical chore.
“Ah… that… um…”
Goto Ichiri made a sound like a broken radio, stammering as she tried to respond, yet not knowing what to say.
But a strange sense of being moved welled up in her heart.
‘He…
he understands!’
‘He knows this guitar is heavy!’
‘He’s a good person…
probably?’
Ai didn’t speak again, nor did he look back at her.
He just quietly finished his bread, stood up, and patted the dust off his pants.
He knew that for a creature like Bocchi, too much was as bad as too little.
It was enough today to leave her with the impression of a “cool, handsome guy who understands guitars.”
He took a long stride, passed her, and walked upstairs.
Not until Ai’s footsteps completely disappeared…
…did Goto Ichiri seem to come back to life, slumping onto the ground and panting heavily.
Her face was as red as a ripe apple, and her heart was still thumping wildly.
‘He…
he talked to me…’
‘And…
he didn’t mock me…’
‘That back…
so handsome…
no, so cool…’
Clutching her guitar bag, a glimmer of something called “curiosity” appeared for the first time in her eyes that were previously full of self-loathing.
[Ding! Mission accomplished]
[Goto Ichiri Affection Value +3 (Source: A small touch of being understood)]
[Favorability increased! Current Favorability: 3/100]
Walking down the third-floor corridor, Ai looked at the system prompt, the corner of his mouth curling up slightly.
3 favorability points.
It was little, but this was Bocchi-chan, who didn’t even dare to look people in the eye.
This was already a huge breakthrough.
Just then, the system’s notification sounded again, and this time, it came with a piercing alarm.
[Warning! Warning!]
[Detected that Yotsuya Miko is encountering a high-level supernatural entity!]
[Location: class 2-f classroom.]
[Description: A passing “Hundred-Eyed Ghost” is taking an interest in your target. Please head there immediately to provide support!]
Ai’s gaze instantly turned cold.
All his nonchalance vanished in that instant.
He turned around and sprinted toward the classroom.