Chapter Text
Hitori sat comfortably in the warmth of her closet with her guitar in her lap. The closet was tightly shut, not letting any light from the outside in, only her laptop illuminating the darkness. Her fingers gripped the neck of her guitar, her pick in hand. Ahh, what a great way to spend her morning. It was freezing outside, too, so it was nice to relax, basking in comfort in this familiar, cramped space.
She strummed a simple chord. The clear and crisp sound of her guitar played through her headphones. It felt like the world disappeared whenever she played.
Hitori continued to play her guitar, finding any chords her hands could form to create a melody. It was almost like she could hear the band playing alongside her. She then began to incorporate more complicated leads and rhythms in her playing; at this point, she was soloing.
She closed her eyes, letting her hands navigate the fretboard. She switched back to a simpler playing style and changed keys. It was a great opportunity to find a fresh start in music. Switching things up was always fun to do.
Bopping her head to the rhythm, she was getting lost in the music, letting her hands freely travel across her guitar, happy to finally play what she wanted. She looked at her laptop screen as the recent videos on her channel stared back at her. Shuddering, she remembered the horrors of the past week. Song after song, request after request, her audience kept asking her for these ‘seishun’ songs that she despised — Christmas songs, cheerful songs, and, god forbid, love songs — they were haunting her even in her sleep.
But there was no need to worry now! It was just her, her guitar, and her favorite music, and nothing could–
Huh, that was weird. Her room got way brighter, did someone–
“Honey?”
“AH!” Hitori jumped, which was a terrible idea since she hit her head against the ceiling trying to stand up after such a startle. Her headphones fell off her head and toppled over on her keyboard. She winced at the sight; that was expensive gear!
“Um, Hitori?” Hitori heard her mother's concerned voice from above as she frantically checked the vital signs of her headphones and laptop. “Are you okay, dear?”
“M-Mom, please at least knock next time,” Hitori said, still startled.
“I did, Hitori,” her mom replied, her eyes filled with slight concern.
“O-Oh,” Hitori said. “Sorry.”
Her mom accepted her apology with a wave of her hand, and her face quickly formed a shiny smile that could rival Kita’s. Hitori wondered what made her so happy.
“Anyway, I have some good news!” she continued before Hitori could question it, “my sister just called me, and she said they will be coming to our house today to celebrate New Year’s together!”
`...What?`
“She has a lot of children, so it’ll be fun for you and Futari as well!”
Hitori didn’t know that during the time she was in the closet, the definition of the word ‘fun’ was changed to ‘Hell on Earth’.
“Anyway, they’ll be coming later today, so get ready!” With a cheer, her Mom turned around and left Hitori alone, oblivious to her despair.
As her bedroom door closed, Hitori let out a tiny whimper. Her life was over. This was it, she was not going to survive through this — the infamous “family gathering”, the #1 stressful family event for introverts (according to “Japan’s Gloomy People Association” research), which had claimed many souls like hers. And she could do nothing to stop the impending doom, so she simply accepted her fate.
Slowly fading away, she opened the group chat of the Kessoku Band — she wanted to let them know that they needed to find a new guitarist, as well as thank them for all the time they spent together.
Her fingers started moving, typing out her will blindly. But when she stopped and looked at her phone, instead of the expected will, she saw something else:
“Greetings, my dearest friends.
I apologize for the sudden notice and lack of serenity in this message, but I found myself in quite a predicament, and would ask you sincerely for help.
As my beloved Mother, may her glory be eternal, previously informed me, my most respected extended family will attend a New Year’s Eve celebration at our humble abode.
But, I’m afraid that my poor soul may not withstand an exposure to such a high-class celebration. Therefore, you will have my boundless gratitude if you, my dearest friends, would accept my offer to celebrate the coming of the New Year together, as a second family, which is our inseparable “Kessoku Band”.
I hope this message finds you in good health.
Sincerely,
Gotou Hitori.”
Her eyes ran up and down through the typed text, and her disbelief grew with each time she finished reading — did she really just initiate a band hangout? A dung beetle like her? Does she even have the right to ask such an arrogant thing?
But, as her finger moved to erase this hopelessly naive message, she felt the inescapable fear envelop her again, stopping her before she pressed down. Hitori imagined her relatives asking her all of the dreadful questions — did she get a boyfriend, how many friends did she make, how was her school life... No way being called gross for asking such a favor from her bandmates was worse than any of that, so without doubting it for any longer, she hit “Send.”
Within a few seconds, the message was read, and Hitori braced for immediate rejection and disgust. She started rocking back and forth, anxiously staring at the dreadful “Nijika Ijichi is typing…” waiting for the worst.
Nijika: “Okay, that sounds fun! We can celebrate at my place if you all are up to it!”
The sigh of relief escaped Hitori as she looked at her savior’s message pop up after a couple of painfully long seconds of anticipation.
`God bless Nijika-chan,` she thought as she quickly changed her clothes, packed everything she needed in her bag, and flew out of her room at record-breaking speed. She didn’t even bother to wait and see what the other two had to say about the topic — she just wanted to escape her house as quickly as possible.
“Igottagodosomethingfornewyearsokbye,” Hitori incoherently threw at her mother as she ran by the kitchen and quickly put on her shoes. Before her Mom could even react, she already left the house behind.
Ignoring the muffled question of her mother that was cut short by the closed door, she quickly set off. Swiftly walking down the streets without paying much attention to blurred surroundings, she giggled, tiny clouds puffing from her breath. She was able to initiate a hangout! Not to mention that it was probably going to be a sleepover! Was this personal growth? Weirdly excited, Hitori felt like she could almost be considered an actual human being now.
As if fate itself was on her side, just as she got to the station in record-breaking speed, the train heading to Shimo-Kitazawa immediately arrived. Happy that she didn't have to risk having someone come up to her and make small talk (she shuddered at the thought), she boarded the train.
“Eh?” Bocchi let out a tiny sound as she stopped undressing and stood still at the entrance of Nijika’s house. Her coat slowly slipped off her shoulders, stopping at her half-bent arms. Both her body and mind ceased to function after hearing what Nijika said, so she silently stared at her in confusion.
“Yeah, they said they can't make it,” Nijika repeated, looking a bit amused by the expression Bocchi was wearing, “Didn't you see? They sent their messages a few minutes after me.”
After taking a few seconds to process what she just heard, Bocchi finally unfroze. Reaching into her pocket and taking out her phone, she opened the group chat, dreadful messages staring back at her. And her eyes, somehow, grew even wider from the sight.
Kita: “I'm sorry, I promised my friend I would go to their party, and then I'm going to celebrate with my family too 🙏🙏😔😔”
Ryo: “nah”
She blinked a few times, digesting the information. Kita did a typical Kita-thing and was hanging out with her friends. Meanwhile, Ryo just refused, which was weird given the free food she could get here. But Bocchi was too busy panicking that her idea was so quickly rejected to think about it. Not to mention that all of this meant…
`It's going to be just me and Nijika-chan, huh.`
The initial shock of her idea of band hangout falling flat had passed, and was immediately replaced by a much stronger, shocking realization.
`OH CRAP IT’S JUST ME AND NIJIKA-CHAN!`
Kita, who usually kept conversations alive and made sure there was no awkwardness between them, was not here. Ryo, who was her kin and helped her to feel “at home” when extroverts surrounded her, was not here.
And as if it wasn’t already bad enough, all of the strange, unusual feelings Bocchi had towards Nijika reminded of themselves immediately. Feelings that were growing over the last few months, even though she didn’t fully understand them yet. And as a result…
“Um, Bocchi-chan?” Nijika looked as Bocchi’s face slowly matched her hair in color. “Are you okay?”
“Ah, y-yes,” Bocchi responded, far from being okay.
“Good!” Nijika exclaimed, back to her normal mood, oblivious to the ongoing chaos in Bocchi’s mind. “Well, it’s kind of sad that they can’t make it, but we still can celebrate New Year’s together! It’s going to be just us and Onee-chan, though, but I don't think you'll mind.”
There was a moment of silence after Nijika said that. Following that, Bocchi let out a sigh of relief. All of her strange thoughts that were spiraling in her head a moment ago came to a stop. If the manager was here, there would be no need to worry then!
Finally taking off her coat, she followed Nijika inside with a little relaxed smile on her face. That relaxation, however, didn’t last long, as another realization struck her as she stepped into the house.
`OH CRAP, THE MANAGER IS HERE! AND SHE'S DEFINITELY MAYBE PROBABLY FOR SURE WILL BE MAD AT ME FOR NOT GETTING HER A CHRISTMAS PRESENT!`
The fiasco after their Christmas live was still fresh in her memory, and she was sure that Seika remembered it too. Her eyes panickingly looked around the place, remarkably neat and cozy looking, just like she imagined Nijika’s house would be, until her gaze landed on a person who she was convinced was going to murder her and serve her for New Year’s dinner.
Meanwhile, the said person was lazily lying down on the couch in her pajamas, watching TV with a rather tired look on her face. As if she felt Bocchi’s terrified gaze on her, she turned her head towards her.
“Oh, hello, Bocchi-chan,” Seika said as usual, taking her attention away from what she was looking at to greet her.
“Ah, greetings, Manager! I hope you are in good health!” Bocchi exclaimed, bowing deeply, trying to show the utmost respect to avoid being prosecuted for her sins. Seika acknowledged her greeting with a lazy nod and turned back towards the TV.
“Oh come on, Onee-chan!” Nijika rolled her eyes, looking at her sister with judgment, “Could you at least put on some actual clothes? We have a guest here!”
“Why should I? It’s too early to get up anyway,” Seika said in the most disinterested manner.
“It’s 11 AM already!” Nijika yelled angrily, losing her usual composure.
“If it’s in AM, it’s too early,” Seika said, emphasizing her point with a wide yawn and gluing her attention back to the TV. Bocchi never imagined that the usually strict and scary Manager had this side to her, but seeing this scene play out in front of her, weirdly enough, helped her to finally relax as she watched the Ijichi sisters banter with a smile.
Nijika, though, was less relaxed and not at all amused by Seika’s behavior. Grumbling at her sister (mentioning something along the lines of “good for nothing adult” as far as Bocchi heard), she turned back to Bocchi.
“Sorry about this, Bocchi-chan. Onee-chan is not really a morning person. Not like she is not lazy at any other time of day, though,” Nijika said, and Bocchi saw Seika shudder after every word that Nijika said pierced her, and couldn’t help but sympathize with her. She, too, knew what it felt like to hear your little sister talk about you this way.
“Anyway,” Nijika continued like nothing happened, “Since you came here early, we have some free time! Let’s go to my room, I’ll show you around!”
She didn’t know why, but the weird feelings that had been repressed by the fear of encountering Seika resurfaced again. The idea of going into Nijika’s room set off her heart, and the weird excitement filled her. Figuring that it was just her anxiety playing tricks on her, she shook it off. She didn’t have time for that — Nijika was waiting for her.
“Ah, yes,” Bocchi said and followed Nijika. But with every step she took, with every increasingly fast and loud beat of her heart, she slowly started to think that maybe it was not just anxiety.