[Simulation start]
Inside the café, Bocchi focused her attention.
This time might be her most perfect start ever. She couldn't afford to waste it.
[Please select your simulation target!]
[1. Kita Ikuyo, current affection level: Friendly]
[2. Ijichi Nijika, current affection level: Friendly]
[3. Yamada Ryo, current affection level: Friendly]
[4. Kitahara Toru, current affection level: Fondness]
Eh? Why are the band members still in the options?
Without hesitation, Hitori chose the fourth one.
After four failed attempts, Toru's affection level had already been raised to "fondness."
With cheats enabled and mutual feelings confirmed, she asked herself, how could I possibly lose?
Alright, it's time for Hitori's Youthful Love Story, Season Five!
[Entering simulation.]
[It's the start of junior high, and you step into a new environment alongside many peers.]
[Since kindergarten, your timid and overly cautious nature has made you poor at conversation, leaving you isolated. Because you were the firstborn in your family, you were named "Hitori," but little did anyone know that this lonely name might follow you for life.]
[During elementary school, you didn't make a single friend. Now, as you enter junior high, you make a firm decision...]
[You must make at least one good friend, even if it's only one.]
[Yokohama City Nishi Mio Junior High School. Perhaps this will be the new beginning of your life.]
[But unfortunately, you, a guinea pig, showed your fear on the first day of school]
A guinea pig?
So this time she wasn't compared to a mouse, but a little hamster…
The foolish Bocchi didn't even know that guinea pigs were also called cavies.
[While you hesitated over whether to start a conversation, small groups had already formed according to interests from those who liked sports, video games, or books. After thinking for a while, you realized that you had no interests at all.]
[In elementary school, you did have one special skill, dodgeball. In that game where the goal was to knock out your opponents, no one had ever managed to hit you.]
"Bocchi-chan, what's wrong?"
"Ah…"
Hitori snapped out of it and stammered, "Wh-what? I'm reading."
She almost forgot.
Everyone was still studying.
"It's nothing. I just noticed you staring at one problem for a long time. Finals are coming soon, so do your best, okay?"
Nijika gave her a word of encouragement.
Because of the cheating in her love simulator, Angel Nijika hadn't yet entered the simulation.
That meant Hitori had more than three whole years to steal "legal wife" status.
Phew, thank goodness my bangs are long. Hitori was deeply grateful she had never gone to a salon. Her bangs could hide her eyes.
If she were still in her short-haired middle school days, that would be bad.
People would definitely notice something was off.
Alright, keep going.
[Without any interests, you couldn't find anyone like yourself, and so the first week of school passed. Knowledge +3.]
Wow, that's miserable.
Wait, why hasn't Kitahara-kun shown up yet?
Where's my husbando?
[Soon, it was time for club recruitment. Soccer, basketball, astronomy… You looked around but didn't dare approach anyone, and finally returned home in silence. So much for that grand ambition...
You didn't even join a single club.]
Memories began to surface.
Watching her lonely self in the simulation, Hitori felt cold even in the summer heat.
Ahh, the dead memories are attacking me.
[Well, having no friends isn't so bad, right? You've always been this way anyway. Sitting in the corner of the classroom, you think this to yourself. Life rarely goes as one wishes.]
[As they say, a wandering, solitary soul needs no place of belonging. You comforted yourself with this thought, again and again…]
[A month later.]
Hey, isn't that too long?
Come on, Hitori. Move!
Are you really going to spend all of junior high alone? That's three whole years! There won't be another Nijika-chan to save you this time!
[One day, you happen to see a TV interview with a popular band. You hear a guitarist say, "I was a really lonely person back in school," and "Even loners can shine in a band."]
[Could I join a band too? You find yourself thinking.]
[Regaining confidence, you pick up your father's old guitar and begin to practice.]
No, stop there.
Hitori knew this was the abyss. Three years of guitar practice in middle school, completely useless.
She was still alone.
Ugh… if this keeps up, Kitahara-kun will be taken again.
Bocchi-chan's heart grew restless and anxious.
Seriously? Even now, I can still lose?
[During Golden Week in May, a new neighbor moved into the house next door. It had been half a year since the last family moved out. You happened to hear about the new neighbor from your father, and decided: ]
[1. A neighbor? Not interested, I'll just keep practicing guitar.]
[2. Sneak into the neighbor's house at night and steal something, preferably a personal item.]
[3. Bring a gift and pay a polite visit. You should make a good first impression.]
[4. Simulate personally.]
Choose…
Hitori quickly made up her mind.
Since she didn't have to act herself, she picked 2... No! 3.
Bocchi-chan wasn't stupid. It wasn't hard to guess that this new neighbor might be Toru.
Simulator, good job. You've done well.
[At the end of Golden Week, you visit the new neighbor's house with your mother. After waiting at the door for a while, a boy with short black hair and casual home clothes appears. He introduces himself as Kitahara Toru, saying that for certain reasons, he has moved into the neighborhood.]
Something happened in the simulation that had never happened in real life.
The more Hitori thought about it, the happier she became. If she and Toru were neighbors for three or even ten years...
Wouldn't that make her the classic childhood friend character with the highest win rate in love stories?
Heh.
Ryo-san, Kita-san, Nijika-chan…
This time, can you really beat the power of childhood friendship?
Sorry, but your romances are already flickering like candles in the wind.
"Bocchi, why are you smiling?"
"Ah…"
Hitori casually replied to Yamada Ryo, "I just thought of something funny."
Then she continued watching the simulation.
[You hide behind your mother, peeking out shyly at Toru as you introduce yourself.]
[Toru studies you carefully for a moment, his eyes showing a trace of confusion before quickly concealing it.]
[After some conversation...]
[You learn that Toru will be attending the same school as you.]
[Perhaps your lonely junior high life will finally come to an end because of this handsome boy.]
[Your adolescent heart beats faster.]
———