"It seems... I can indeed feel something."
Goto Hitori, worthy of possessing extremely strong Stand aptitude, immediately sensed the existence of her awakened Stand after awakening it.
She looked at her hands, calmed her breathing as Shin instructed, then gently closed her eyes, working hard to call forth that newly born power within her body.
"If that's the case... come out, Guitar Hero!"
That's right—although she hadn't yet seen what her Stand looked like, Goto Hitori had already given her Stand a cool name—precisely her video blogger ID "Guitar Hero."
In Goto Hitori's imagination, even if her Stand wasn't as "rock and roll" as Shin's Stand, it should still be a very stylish Stand, definitely fitting the name she'd chosen.
However, after she called out her Stand, she immediately looked behind herself, only to discover there was absolutely nothing behind her—the magnificent Stand she'd imagined hadn't appeared.
She instantly froze, because she clearly felt she'd already called out the newly born thing within her body, and it should be right beside her.
Because Shin's "Blackbird Requiem" appeared behind Shin, Goto Hitori naturally assumed her Stand would also be behind her, but it seemed that wasn't the case.
Somewhat flustered, Goto Hitori hurriedly looked around, but found no new figure in any of the four directions—front, back, left, or right. Her Stand seemed to have vanished.
"What... what's going on? Shin, did my Stand awakening fail!?"
Goto Hitori's voice was full of unconfident nervousness—she already had extremely low self-evaluation, so naturally discovering she couldn't summon her Stand made her even more anxious.
In her view, becoming a "Stand user" was a rare opportunity she'd finally found to have deeper common ground with Shin. Of course she didn't want to miss this chance.
"Don't worry. If Stand awakening failed, you'd have died directly."
Shin comforted Goto Hitori with a statement about the fate of those who failed Stand awakening—though to Goto Hitori's ears, this didn't sound like comfort at all.
"Since you're still alive, that means your Stand definitely awakened successfully."
"You should have told me about these dangerous consequences earlier!!!"
Goto Hitori couldn't help but loudly complain—this wasn't because her socially anxious personality had changed, but rather a socially anxious-style complaint she couldn't help making under emotional agitation.
However, Goto Hitori only dared behave this way in front of people she was sufficiently familiar with—in a sense, those who could hear Goto Hitori loudly complaining were already quite close friends to her.
Of course, that statement was truly sincere. Goto Hitori hadn't known before that failing Stand awakening meant death.
The reason Shin hadn't mentioned this was because he was certain Goto Hitori could normally awaken her Stand, having enough confidence in Goto Hitori's Stand aptitude.
Of course... if a one-in-ten-thousand accident really occurred and Goto Hitori failed awakening and died, Shin could also project two counterfeit Dragon Balls to revive her.
"Why panic? You're fine, aren't you?"
Shin raised an eyebrow at Goto Hitori, then lowered his head to look at Goto Hitori's feet.
"Besides, it's not that you didn't summon your Stand... your Stand is right at your feet now."
Goto Hitori's observational ability wasn't very good, but Shin had noticed Goto Hitori's Stand at first glance.
"Eh?"
Hearing Shin's words, Goto Hitori froze, then followed Shin's gaze downward to look at her feet—sure enough, there was a small figure at her feet.
But it wasn't a human figure, but rather a somewhat chubby "snake."
As a Japanese person, Goto Hitori immediately recognized what this thing was—it was a Tsuchinoko, an unconfirmed creature from Japanese legend.
This somewhat plump snake-like creature had once been quite famous in Japan and had another name "earth dragon." There was even a little story about catching Tsuchinoko in Doraemon.
And in Bocchi the Rock!, when Goto Hitori fell into self-doubt, she often turned into this kind of chibi Tsuchinoko form—she just didn't expect this image would directly become her Stand this time.
"This... this is my Stand?"
Goto Hitori widened her eyes, bent down, reached out both hands to pick up the pink Tsuchinoko, and looked at it with somewhat nervous eyes.
This pink Tsuchinoko's body structure was very simple, like a simple drawing, and on its snake head hung decorations almost exactly the same as Goto Hitori's, practically a miniature version of Goto Hitori.
And Goto Hitori's Tsuchinoko Stand seemed to have some self-awareness. After being picked up by Goto Hitori, it even struggled twice.
Finally, this Tsuchinoko Stand actually broke free from Goto Hitori's hands, then jumped onto Shin's body and lay on Shin's chest, refusing to leave.
"Looks like your Stand is socially anxious just like you."
Shin looked at the Tsuchinoko Stand lying on his chest and couldn't help laughing.
This was the first time he'd seen someone's Stand actually be socially anxious toward its own user—though it seemed this Tsuchinoko Stand was quite attached to him.
Did this somehow indicate that deep in Goto Hitori's heart, she had some self-denial, but always maintained a close attitude toward Shin?
"But it's clearly my Stand. Why would it be afraid of me?"
Goto Hitori's thoughts were somewhat chaotic. She walked toward Shin, trying to pull the Tsuchinoko Stand off Shin's chest, but the Tsuchinoko Stand circled around and climbed up Shin's body to his back.
It clearly was avoiding Goto Hitori's hands.
"Looks like your primary task is to help your Stand also overcome its social anxiety problem."
Shin couldn't help but reach back to pull the Tsuchinoko Stand down from behind, then held it out to Goto Hitori.
The Tsuchinoko Stand seemed very unwilling to leave Shin, but because it was Shin personally handing it to Goto Hitori, the Tsuchinoko Stand stopped resisting.
"But like this, are you still going to call it 'Guitar Hero'?"
Shin hadn't forgotten that just moments ago, before even seeing what her Stand looked like, Goto Hitori had eagerly named her Stand "Guitar Hero."
But now this Tsuchinoko Stand's appearance... clearly wasn't quite suitable for that name, right?
"Forget it, no more Guitar Hero."
Goto Hitori somewhat dejectedly stared at her Tsuchinoko Stand, both socially anxious gazes somewhat subtle.
To be continued…