Bocchi-chan is the transliteration of the Japanese phrase for 'little loner', which is the girl's nickname.
Her real name is Hitori Gotoh. She's 156 cm tall, weighs 50 kg, and is a guitarist who goes by the online alias "guitarhero". Gao Hai couldn't remember her follower count from the original work clearly, but the number of followers he'd looked up in this world had already surpassed six hundred thousand, an astonishing figure for a faceless music-only content creator.
However, in the source material, Hitori Gotoh has severe social anxiety. She never managed to make any friends growing up and even has trouble speaking to people properly, constantly lost in her own internal monologues to the point that Gao Hai wondered if the girl had some kind of congenital brain condition.
But, this is a crossover-anime world, isn't it?
He had asked Kaguya Shinomiya about it before. In this world, she wasn't serving as the student council vice president but was just living as a normal student. She was still in the archery club and even continued to participate in the annual competitions, unlike in her original series where she decided to skip a tournament because it conflicted with Christmas. This meant that the Shirogane family, the male protagonist from Kaguya's original series, didn't exist in this world, which also explained why Kaguya, already a second-year high school student, still maintained her Ice Kaguya persona.
Does that mean there's no Kei Shirogane? That seems like a bit of a shame.
In any case, with the precedent set by Kaguya Shinomiya, Gao Hai knew it was best not to judge the anime characters he met based on his impressions from their original series. They could very well be modified parallel-world versions, so cautious interaction was essential.
"Hello."
Thus, after a brief moment of thought, Gao Hai stepped in front of Maki and cautiously greeted the girl not far ahead.
Imperceptibly, the fingers of the girl standing across the street twitched.
She didn't respond to Gao Hai immediately.
Her blue pupils constricted slightly, as if startled by Gao Hai's voice, then darted around rapidly, locking onto Gao Hai for a split second before flicking away just as quickly to stare at the ground.
She took one step back, then a second.
The girl widened the already considerable distance between them.
"He... llo..."
Without making any eye contact, the girl bowed slightly and returned the greeting in a voice so quiet it was barely audible.
Looks like she still has that social anxiety.
He just wished he had some kind of mind-reading ability to know if her internal monologues were running wild right now.
"Are you a player too? We came here after seeing the message on TV. Are you also going to that market?"
Gao Hai stood his ground, not daring to approach, and simply asked again.
He didn't sense any malice from her.
The power of his blessing shouldn't be easily deceived, so after a moment's thought, Gao Hai decided to adopt a more candid approach.
"Um... I am..."
Her reply was even quieter this time.
Even though they were still talking, Gao Hai had the strange feeling that the pink-haired girl's entire body was being pulled by some powerful suction force and was about to vanish from before his eyes, only barely managing to anchor herself to the ground with her legs.
"That's probably an Obsession Item."
Maki stood on her tiptoes just then and whispered in Gao Hai's ear.
She was referring to the guitar on the pink-haired girl's back.
Only now did Gao Hai notice that there was something unusual about the guitar on the pink-haired girl's back.
There were distinct red marks on the guitar, and the instrument itself looked somewhat old and damaged. He could even see what looked like characters carved with a small knife. But they were too far away to make them out.
The moment he noticed, he seemed to feel a faint sense of eeriness, an uncomfortable feeling of being watched.
Gao Hai recognized that it was indeed an Obsession Item, and... it didn't seem to be an ordinary one?
She has an Obsession Item. Is she a veteran player?
"Are you a veteran player? A senior? I'd like to ask, is there anything we should be aware of at the player market? My girlfriend and I are new to this, and to be honest, there's still a lot we don't understand."
Although the title 'Veteran Bocchi' felt strangely dissonant, Gao Hai immediately adopted a more humble posture and asked again politely.
"..."
This time, she didn't answer right away.
Gao Hai just saw the pink-haired girl take another step back.
Then, her lips moved slightly.
No sound.
Then she took a deep breath, her lips parting a little more.
Still no sound.
Finally, she lowered her head, took two or three deep breaths in a row, and managed to lift her head again. Though her eyes were still fixed on the road, at least this time some sound came out.
"Booklets... summarized by players... you can buy them directly..."
"Um... don't attack other people in the market, and don't just kill people. The market doesn't really welcome players who kill indiscriminately..."
"That's about it, I think..."
With every sentence she spoke, the girl visibly took a step back.
After finishing the third sentence, Gao Hai realized she had retreated to the end of the street. She turned and vanished in an instant.
Seems her personality is as eccentric as in the original work. But can someone with a personality like that become a veteran, a senior player? Could it be that she was lucky enough to meet a reliable veteran player to lead her, and that's how she managed to survive?
Gao Hai pondered this for a moment, then prepared to move on.
Then he felt a light stomp on his foot from the girl beside him.
"You! What do you mean, 'my girlfriend'? How can you so casually decide our relationship status in front of someone else?"
He turned his head to see Maki's blushing, annoyed face, and the very prominent fang in her slightly open mouth.
"So we're not boyfriend and girlfriend yet?!"
Gao Hai feigned a shocked expression.
"O-of course not! I-I never accepted your confession... um, anyway, we're... we're still a little bit off..."
Maki puffed out her cheeks, seemingly trying to act more haughty, but as she spoke, her own face grew redder and redder, and she couldn't maintain her proud tone.
The deep kiss from three days ago, which had nearly crossed the line, was still deeply seared into Maki's mind.
Especially when she thought about how she wasn't actually disgusted by it, and how the thought 'if it's Hai, it's okay' had subconsciously surfaced, Maki couldn't act tough anymore. She was unable to maintain her usual proud demeanor.
"A-anyway, let's just focus on the task at hand. Our relationship is... now is not the time to be discussing such things..."
In the end, after managing to steer the conversation away, the girl hurried forward.
Gao Hai didn't say anything more. He just kept pace with Maki and took her hand again.
This time, Maki didn't struggle at all. Like an obedient kitten, she let Gao Hai lead her forward.
This feels... pretty nice, actually.
Gao Hai couldn't help but steal a couple of glances at the girl's rosy cheeks beside him, sighing inwardly.
If they hadn't met in this death game, if they didn't have to worry about the monthly rules-based horror story instances, perhaps... no, if that were the case, he probably wouldn't have had the chance to meet a girl like her, and it would have been almost impossible to develop this kind of relationship.
What a contradiction...
He had no idea how far they would ultimately be able to go.
With a slightly heavy heart, the two soon arrived at the entrance to the underground shopping mall. They stepped inside, descending the stairs into the dim space, and continued forward, approaching the depths of the darkness.
After walking some distance, the light suddenly flared up—faint, ghostly blue flames, hovering all around.
An eerie atmosphere was gradually spreading.
Gao Hai saw stalls, all of them simple, temporary structures that looked like they had been thrown together carelessly. And moving about were various figures, no more than thirty or forty people at most.
There was a salaryman in a suit, a woman with heavy makeup, a person with graying hair who looked a bit old, and some who were very young, looking like they were still middle school students. All sorts of people came and went in this dim, abandoned underground mall lit only by ghostly blue flames, and everyone looked preoccupied.
"Unfamiliar faces. New players?"
Just then, Gao Hai heard a voice behind him.
He turned around and saw a thin, wizened old man who looked like a desiccated corpse standing behind him and Maki, grinning at them with a mouth full of yellow-black rotten teeth.
Before the old man spoke, neither Gao Hai nor Maki had noticed his presence at all.
"For new players, the newbie handbook is free. Also, if you sell me the Twilight-level entry ticket you got after clearing your instance, I can introduce you to a lot of good stuff, heh heh heh."
Rubbing his hands together lightly, the old man let out a low, hoarse laugh at Gao Hai and Maki.
For some reason, hearing the man's laugh, Gao Hai's first reaction was a flashback to Resident Evil 4. It was as if he could see a certain mysterious merchant standing before him, opening with a "Oh, what're ya buyin'?" or something similar.
And then, Maki, beside Gao Hai, frowned slightly and repeated in a low voice:
"Entry ticket?"
She had a bad feeling about the item the old man mentioned.
"That's right, that's right. Every player who clears an instance gets one, an entry ticket from the instance they cleared. A newbie's Twilight-level entry ticket is a hot commodity. After all, who wouldn't want to go to a low-difficulty instance, pass with ease, and live peacefully for another month? You see, what an honest man I am, telling you such important information right off the bat."
The old man's smile widened as he spoke to them with great pride.
Gao Hai and Maki glanced at each other, their expressions equally bewildered.
Entry ticket? What's that? Why don't we have one?
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