"Hitori! Come out! Jhin is here to pick you up!"
The closed door to her daughter's room gave Michiyo Gotoh a splitting headache.
"I-I-I….I can't come out!" Hitori Gotoh stammered, her voice faltering. She had wrapped herself into a ball with her blanket, trembling in a dark corner of her room.
Mrs. Gotoh felt her blood pressure steadily rising. "Isn't it just a matter of putting on the clothes I bought you and going on a date? Yesterday you were so determined when you asked your boyfriend out, so why are you backing out at the critical moment?"
She felt like getting her daughter a plaque that read "National First-Class Retreat Drummer" to hang in her room.
Seeing that Hitori Gotoh still hadn't come out after so long, Jhin walked up from the living room to the second floor.
"Mrs. Gotoh, what's wrong?"
Michiyo Gotoh pressed a hand to her forehead, completely exasperated. "I'm so sorry, my daughter is hiding in her room again and won't come out."
The curtains were drawn tightly together, blocking any light that might try to sneak into the room.
The gloomy environment and the blanket wrapped around her made Hitori Gotoh feel as though she were trapped under an overturned bowl, a leftover meal quietly waiting to rot, devoid of any remaining value.
Jhin's voice was like a high temperature accelerating the food's decay, causing the negative emotions in Hitori Gotoh's heart to ferment.
Can someone like me, who can't even manage to change clothes and go out with her boyfriend, really call herself Jhin's girlfriend?
If it were any of the others from Kessoku Band, they'd definitely do a better job than me.
I wish I could take a time machine back to yesterday and stop myself from making that call...
Hitori Gotoh felt more and more like an incompetent girlfriend.
"Knock, knock..." Jhin tapped on the door twice.
"Bocchi-chan, I'm coming in."
"Ah..."
With lifeless, fish-like eyes, Hitori Gotoh instinctively glanced toward the bedroom door at the sound of it opening.
Jhin, as he entered the room, was like an angel radiating a holy light, a divine glow that was a fatal poison to a demon like her.
Just let me be annihilated by this holy light.
Seeing his girlfriend about to disintegrate into dust, Jhin quickly turned on the room light for her, dispelling the gloomy atmosphere inside.
"Bocchi-chan, it's so hot today. Why are you wrapped up so tightly?"
Just as Jhin was about to approach Hitori Gotoh and pull her out from under the blanket, she let out a shriek like a frightened little animal.
"Jhin, don't come any closer!!"
Stunned, Jhin froze in place, not daring to move. "W-What's wrong?"
Hitori Gotoh turned her body away, facing the corner of the wall, and said with self-abandonment, "A girlfriend like me, who can't even bring herself to go out with you after changing into new clothes, isn't worth you wasting your time on."
So she's wearing the new clothes. No wonder she's wrapped up so tightly.
Jhin slowly walked toward Hitori Gotoh. His footsteps were like drumsticks, and with each step, they struck Hitori's heart, which had become the surface of a drum, making the tips of her heart tremble.
It wasn't until the footsteps stopped that Hitori Gotoh finally opened her tightly shut eyes, her heart filled with unease.
Jhin... he couldn't have left, could he? Then again, neither of our two dates has gone smoothly. They ended before they even began. He must be so disappointed.
Hitori Gotoh's heart felt as if a piece had been carved out, and tears began to fall in large drops, unstoppable.
Strong arms wrapped around her, blanket and all, pulling her into a comforting embrace. Jhin's gentle words stopped her tears.
"Bocchi-chan, there's no need to force yourself to do things you're not used to."
"Jhin...?"
"It's me."
"Really?"
"Really."
"Really, really?"
"Really, really."
The repeater-like exchange finally made Hitori Gotoh realize she wasn't hallucinating; Jhin really hadn't left.
Overcome with excitement, she shot out from under the blanket and, in a reverse move, pressed Jhin into her embrace, laughing and crying at the same time.
Jhin managed to free his face from the great humiliation and gently patted Hitori Gotoh's back to soothe her. "Bocchi-chan, tell me, do you think I like you, or do you think I like your clothes?"
"M-My clothes?"
Just how little self-confidence do you have to even think that?
Jhin affectionately pinched her soft cheek. "Of course it's you I like."
"B-But... my personality isn't cheerful and lively like Nijika and the others, and I always just wear a tracksuit..."
Hitori Gotoh compared herself to the other band members, feeling more and more that she was a completely different class of being from the rest of them.
I knew it, the plan Ryo suggested back then was the right one. I should have just let someone else go on the date for me.
Seeing his girlfriend about to slip back into depression mode, Jhin kissed her plump pink lips. The stimulus instantly brought Hitori Gotoh's soul back to her body.
"Even if you don't believe in yourself, you can at least believe in my taste as your boyfriend, right?"
"But..."
Chu.
"I..."
Chu.
Jhin simply transformed into a kissing maniac. The moment Hitori Gotoh showed any sign of negativity, he would immediately launch a fierce wave of kisses, almost as if he'd been possessed by a park squirrel.
Hitori Gotoh blocked her mouth with her hand, fending off Jhin's relentless assault, her face as red as a ripe persimmon. "I-I trust you."
Seeing that he had finally convinced her with kisses, Jhin stopped.
"That's more like it. You have to remember, I like you, and I'm not going to start disliking you over something as trivial as what you're wearing."
"Mm-hm."
"If this happens again, don't blame me for using the same method to kiss you, okay?"
The thought of Jhin holding her head in public and kissing her like in a romance drama almost made Hitori Gotoh's heart stop.
Just imagining the stares from all directions was enough to make her evaporate on the spot. Someone might even record it and post the video online.
"Why is such a handsome guy kissing a plain-looking girl?"
"Are they filming some 'Overbearing CEO Falls in Love with Me' drama?"
"This girl isn't even pretty. She's not my type."
"Exactly, and she's wearing a tracksuit? Seriously?"
She could already imagine comments like these appearing below the video.
"Please, I'm begging you, don't do that." Hitori Gotoh immediately prostrated herself before Jhin, begging him to spare her.
"Alright, alright. Go change into your tracksuit and get ready to go. I even have a little surprise for you."
"Ah, okay." Although curious about the surprise Jhin mentioned, Hitori Gotoh first had to change out of her current clothes.
After changing into her incredibly familiar tracksuit, Hitori Gotoh felt as if she had been injected with an unprecedented level of confidence. Now she could boldly hold Jhin's hand and appear in front of her family!
With a whoosh, she threw open the bedroom door and walked out with her head held high and chest puffed out.
Jhin was already waiting for her outside the door, having changed into a dark green tracksuit. On the chest of the tracksuit were two large white characters: "璃月".
Although she couldn't read the two Chinese characters, the fact that her boyfriend had deliberately prepared to wear the same kind of plain tracksuit on a date with her was enough to make Hitori Gotoh feel how much she meant to him.
Her little face blushing, she nervously fiddled with the hem of her clothes. "Can I drop out of school and marry you?"
___
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