Chapter 29: A Perfect Reunion-Said No One Ever
"How can money be enough? A sincere apology requires considering other people's needs and providing appropriate compensation."
The curly-haired boy raised his chin and looked down at Bocchi, whose gaze kept darting around, before finally curving his lips into a cryptic smile.
"At the very least, you have to do whatever I say for it to be considered adequate compensation, right?"
Of course, Bocchi didn't owe him anything, nor did she need to apologize. But how could he possibly let go of such a perfect opportunity to boss someone around?
"Let me see your sincerity, you voyeuristic pink caterpillar who hides in corners and observes others."
"Ugh, how did you get so greedy? What a terrible person."
Ijichi Nijika, standing at the side, looked at the trembling Bocchi with genuine concern. She didn't understand the relationship between the two and seemed conflicted—should she step in and smooth things over or stay quiet and avoid making things worse?
"As long as you don't make me do anything illegal, then it's no problem..."
Hey, that agreement was way too fast! Bocchi-chan, are you having a self-destructive masochist episode?!
"W-Why does this feel like it's about to turn into a criminal case, senpai…!"
Even the always-cheerful Kita Ikuyo could tell this was blatant bullying. She turned pleading eyes toward Yamada Ryo, who was calmly eating and accepting all of Kita's food without the slightest concern for the drama unfolding next to her.
"Oh? No, no, no."
Unlike Kita, who was panicking, Yamada simply waved dismissively, not even pausing her chewing.
"That's probably just a way of trying to get closer to someone. Like when you're a kid and you're curious about girls, so you use bullying to hide your desire to be friends."
"How could you call that a reasonable method?!"
"Oh, sorry. We weirdos always express goodwill in unconventional ways."
Ryo spoke with the kind of expression that seemed to say, We are superior beings, please excuse our quirks. There wasn't even a shred of remorse—if anything, she looked proud of her nonsense.
What an eccentric senior… and yet, annoyingly charming.
Kita Ikuyo blushed while sneaking glances at Ryo, then shifted her gaze to Narumi, who was looking quite pleased with himself. For a moment, she wondered if the two of them were secretly the same species.
Meanwhile, the Ijichi sisters exhaled wearily. Being the only reliable adults in the room was exhausting, especially when surrounded by problem children.
Then the curly-haired boy unexpectedly stood up, cutting through the tense atmosphere like a knife.
"Thank you for the hospitality, boss. I'm very satisfied with my meal today."
He gave Ms. Ijichi a perfunctory bow, then turned toward Bocchi, who sat stiff and nervous, waiting for him to speak.
"Pink caterpillar, arrive at the venue three hours early tomorrow."
His tone was absolute—there was no room for negotiation.
"If you're late, I'll never forgive you."
The keyword "I will never forgive you" struck her like a lightning bolt.
Bocchi stiffened, then nodded rapidly like a panic-stricken robot.
"Y-Yes, yes…!"
"I guess I really need to do something about this!"
The worry on Kita's face could no longer be hidden. She looked like a guardian angel desperately trying to save Bocchi from her own demise.
---
Written Request for Leave
Gotoh Hitori, who had inexplicably entered this "future simulation," wondered why she had to be the only unlucky soul to stumble into something like this.
Yet, once inside the simulation, she discovered fragments of memories she never knew she had—memories that made her think, "So I really experienced something like that? It's not… that bad."
Because there was that boy.
The boy next door who first breached her walls, who dragged her out from the shadows she had lived in for more than ten years. The boy who showed her that the world outside her room wasn't as terrifying as she had believed.
In reality, Bocchi had never met someone who, despite being unreasonable, genuinely wanted to play with her and include her in their world.
Which was why that boy—who occupied a dusty corner of her memory—felt so incredibly special.
He had been cheerful and lively, never mocking her for trembling hands or stuttering speech. He never looked down on her for being clumsy, introverted, or terrified of stepping outside.
He didn't resemble the same person as the curly-haired boy before her now, whose face twisted with mocking smiles and sharp words.
"You think you can play the guitar that quietly? I can't hear anything."
"S-sorry…"
"Speak louder. I. Can't. Hear. You."
"I'm so sorry…!"
On the vast stage, Bocchi lowered her head, shrinking under the weight of his words. Occasionally, she peeked at him through the strands of hair covering her eyes, desperately trying to read his expression.
"This is the song we promised to perform together when we were kids. You're playing it like you've never practiced. Did you forget everything?"
The boy chuckled, the once kind face now carved into something cruel and mocking.
"Who is this arrogant guy anyway?!"
Bocchi couldn't understand why he was being so harsh—not after all those years. But she couldn't refute him either. She didn't know how.
"Aren't reunions supposed to be emotional? Aren't they supposed to cry, hug, and promise never to be apart again? Isn't that how it works in those childhood-friend dramas…?!"
Instead, Narumi Toru simply stared at her from above, lips curling.
"Since you forgot our promise and formed a band without me, I assumed you had overcome your social anxiety. I guess I was wrong."
"What happened to him…? How did that cheerful Narumi become someone like this?"
And though Bocchi was screaming internally, she still couldn't bring herself to speak aloud.
What she didn't know—what she could never know—was that Narumi Toru's true thoughts were nothing like his words.
"It's really hard acting as a tsundere whose thoughts and actions never align. Now I understand why so many characters like this disappear midway through stories…"
Narumi Toru had to admit: his role-playing career was absolutely miserable.
Although the bankrupt novelist version of himself from the first simulation was bizarre, unpredictable, and filled with strange impulses, at least his logic could be understood. If one traced the clues carefully, it was possible to follow his behavior patterns and complete the act.
But this version—this overly emotional, jealous, petty, half-sadist version—was something else entirely.
The down-on-his-luck novelist "Narumi Toru" has a similar unconventional way of thinking and acts without considering the consequences, which is exactly what Narumi feels. So Narumi doesn't find it strange at all.
But this third-rate bassist, Toru Narumi, is not only emotionally rich and sensitive, but also a bit too hypocritical.
Sometimes I really don't understand you guys who are so arrogant and will mock and belittle the people you care about. Is it really that hard to say what you mean?
However, in order to achieve a high synchronization rate with such an awkward and hypocritical guy, Narumi still came up with a corresponding measure.
That means abandoning emotional resonance and just starting the performance.
They're all the kind of people who think "she's so cute" but will blurt out "you ugly woman." Whether they're sarcastic, sensitive, and hypocritical, or genuinely sarcastic and arrogant villains, they can act it all out for you.
"Oh right, I watched your performance yesterday too. Although there were a lot of mistakes, the main problem was with you, Caterpillar."
The boy leaned close to the pink-haired girl whose forehead was covered in fine beads of sweat, and whispered in her ear in a deliberately mocking tone.
"Being afraid to perform in front of an audience so you hid yourself in a cardboard box makes me really doubt whether you can properly 'make it up to' me."
Well, actually, Narumi himself felt that speaking like this was somewhat dangerous and a bit inexplicable—from a relatively objective perspective as a third party, Bocchi really had nothing to compensate him for, and it was reasonable that the childhood promise was fragile and insignificant.
"If Narumi-kun were to say it... I would do my best!"
Even so, the pink caterpillar blushed and readily agreed, though she was somewhat timid and ashamed, she still gritted her teeth and took on the responsibility.
If someone is kind-hearted, they definitely wouldn't be able to bear bullying such an honest and adorable child. Even if the future "Narumi Toru" is somewhat hypocritical, he would still soften his heart towards Bocchi-chan.
Unfortunately, Narumi, who participated in this role-playing game, was not a kind-hearted person.
"Now that you and I each have our own bands, our old promise to form a band together is no longer valid. Let's make a new promise instead."
Narumi picked up the bass that was placed to the side, and then looked at Bocchi-chan, who was holding the guitar tightly with both hands and waiting for her fate.
"When we reach a bigger and better stage, we'll perform together again—that's our new promise."
Gotoh Hitori, who is usually timid and whose first reaction to difficult interpersonal relationships is to run away, was slightly taken aback, and her originally dull eyes regained some luster.
"But the premise is that you must not seal yourself in the mango box again."
But after hearing the additional conditions, she reverted to her timid, pink caterpillar state.
"Um... I can promise you everything else, but hiding in the cardboard box won't affect the sound or the performance... I promise!"
"Am I not the one demanding compensation? Why is the caterpillar starting to talk to itself? Are you trying to bargain with me?"
"I'm so sorry...!"
Ah, what exactly is this indescribable, strange pleasure that comes from persecuting Bocchi-chan?
Ijichi Nijika, who had been watching the two's every move from below the stage, was quite worried. Yamada Ryo, who had accompanied her to check on Bocchi and Narumi's condition, however, had a carefree expression that said, "It doesn't matter, I'll get started," and leisurely drank her iced Americano.
"Hey, hey, that guy really does seem to have a bad temper...! If Bocchi-chan gets bullied, we should do something, right? Ryo?"
"Hmm—really? I thought it was just to help Bocchi overcome her social anxiety and avoid people. Although the way he expressed it was hard to accept, um, super weird."
"You idiot... why are you always siding with outsiders?"
"Hmm~ what's going on? Although saying that is a bit of an overstatement..."
Yamada Ryo rolled her eyes dismissively, her gaze finally settling on the back of the boy who was persecuting Bocchi on stage.
"But I just know he's not that kind of person."
Ryo Yamada – a high school girl who doesn't like interacting with people, has a quirky mind, and acts in an unpredictable way. Although she seems uninterested in everything, she actually has a rock 'n' roll spirit.
Yamada Ryo is actually somewhat dissatisfied with this evaluation.
"Is this introduction of me a bit too general?"
What she meant was that she couldn't bring out her charm at all.
Okay, let's put it another way—Yamada Ryo is a weirdo.
"Hehe."
If she were told that, she would actually break her composure and, like a cat, squint her eyes and show an expression of enjoyment.
Yes, the word "weirdo" is actually a compliment to her, and it is also a very accurate description of her in the eyes of outsiders.
That's why, when Yamada Ryo suddenly realized one day that she seemed to have entered a "parallel world," her first reaction wasn't panic or unease, but rather—
"Wow, that's really interesting."
The story begins one day when she arrived at the livehouse early as usual, chatting with a curly-haired boy as she finished slacking off and headed home.
She had been walking behind the curly-haired boy, and at one moment it was as if she had suddenly lost touch with the world. Everything went black before her vision refocused—she was in the waiting room below the performance stage in the venue.
Beside her, rehearsing intensively, were her good friend Nijika Ijichi, Kita Ikuyo who had run away before but had now inexplicably returned, and a pink-haired girl with her head down who seemed very shy—she appeared to be a band member that Nijika had called in.
However, Yamada Ryo seemed to have lost a piece of her memory and had no clue about it.
After racking her brains for a while, she remembered a curly-haired friend who spent all her leisure time online, and then it dawned on her.
"Just like those weird and wonderful game settings Xiaohai mentioned, maybe I've been transported to a parallel world...?"
What would cause panic and confusion in anyone else's situation, was something Yamada Ryo experienced—
"How interesting. Will I be caught up in a love triangle with these two sisters in the next second?"
Yamada Ryo was eager to try it out, and even had a hint of anticipation.
Unfortunately, the dramatic storyline she had imagined did not unfold, and even her existing interpersonal relationships underwent some subtle changes.
For example, Narumi Toru, the curly-haired boy with whom she used to chat and tease regularly, never became her friend, and he didn't even appear in this "parallel world" version of herself.
Instead, he appeared as the bassist of a high school band that Gotoh Hitori used to be a childhood friend of, and now performs together at a livehouse.
"Has the gamer, a shut-in addicted to online games, transformed into a rock band member?"
Yamada Ryo, who was watching Narumi's performance from the audience, blinked in confusion. Although she had thought about tricking him into playing bass and "earning" a little tuition fee from him, she was still a bit dazed when she actually saw him playing bass in front of everyone.
It felt like watching that guy who spends his whole life screaming "My waifu!" at his screen suddenly reveal he can play an instrument—everyone instantly starts treating him like a different species.
"Oh dear, but the bass playing isn't that great either."
END OF CHAPTER.