Bocchi  the Cook!!!!!

RAAAAHHHHHH---

Dismissal time has come, finally, this strange day can finally end. Although, I still have to go to Starry's apparently, since Nijika-chan decided to call us over for something important. As I was packing up my things, Akihiko's face pops into view and I squeaked in suprise.

" Didn't mean to scare you." He says.

" No...it's okay..." I calmed myself immediately.

[ An awkward silence passes between them, each not knowing what to say to the other. ]

This is killing me--!

Again...this painful silence between us. The type of silence that makes me wanna crawl in a hole, stay there, and die!

I began shaking uncomfortably because of this. It's not like I haven't went through this with him before, this silence full of unknown dread-- but just because it's happened once....doesn't make it any easier to go through the next time. Did I maybe do something wrong? But what could that be? He hasn't talked to me the entire day....so that couldn't be it...

Wait....

I mentally gasped upon reaching a conclusion.

I-IS IT BECAUSE I SENT HIM THE WRONG HOMEWORK LAST WEEKEND?! IS THAT WHY?! IS HE PISSED AT ME BECAUSE OF THAT--

"Gotou-san, shall we go?" He interrupted me mid-breakdown. 

" H-Huh? Oh..." My feet shuffled nervously as I nodded. " Sure..." Was that it?

"....Right." He releases a small huff before letting out a small smile. " Cool." He says before picking up his bag and leaving the classroom. I hurriedly followed after him.

He's acting so strange.

What was with that silence a moment ago? If that's all he wanted to ask, then it's hard to believe he would hesitate doing so......and pressuring me into emotional constipation.

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" Sorry about earlier." he finally mentions as we leave the school. He releases a sigh. " if that creeped you out, then I'd like to apologize--"

" No, it's no problem!" I cut in, there was no need for him to apologize.

" ....Alright." He nodded.

Our walking pace matched, as if we were in the same rhythm. But there was no beat, no song, no atmosphere that usually accompanied our pace. Everything feels off, from the lack of conversation to the forced pleasantries we shared along the way.....it didn't feel right. 

" Um..." 

" Hm?"

I didn't notice I let out a noise, but he did. I quickly shook my head and told him that it was nothing, he didn't question me about it. We just went along as is-- just dead silence, the only sound being the passing cars and our footsteps going along the pavement. It was suffocating, honestly. This type of silence.....why does it happen? Why don't I ever know why? If only I did, then maybe I could try and rectify it, especially if it's mostly on my end. But I just don't know, and I hate that I don't know.

I hate this silence...

" Gotou-san, are you alright?"

I immediately turned to him.

" A-Are you?!" My mouth spoke before I could think, but it's too late to take it back now.

He looked taken aback by my response. But any semblance of suprise quickly went away when he prepared his answer.

" Well, I'm the same as ever." He smiles like usual.

But you're lying....

" No....you're not--"

" We should split off from here." He interrupts, looking around and fixing his bag on his shoulder. 

" I'm on duty today at the music store. I'll be taking the subway to the mall district from here." He turns to me and gives me an apologetic look. " I'm sorry, but I won't be able to accompany you like always."

Normally, I would've been fine with this...

" It's okay..."

But this bothers me a lot. It's almost as if....he's purposely looking for an excuse to part from me as soon as possible...

And the thought of that hurts.

" Will you be going home?" he asked.

" No, I have to meet with my friends at Starry's."

He nods before waving goodbye. " Take care, and stay safe." he says. And alas, he turns around and walks off towards where the station would be.

For a moment, I wanted to continue the question I was about to ask before he interrupted me. So I opened my mouth to speak...

"..." 

But no words came out, and it was too late, for he's already entered the station.

Maybe...I really did do something wrong...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

" Bocchi-chan! You're finally here." Nijika waves me over, a soda can in hand.

" Huh...? Where is everyone else?" I looked around, but all I could see was Nijika-chan in this vacant lobby. Not even Manager and PA-san seem to be around.

" Ryou-san will be here sometime later. Big sister is with Pa-san, shopping in the mall to pass the time." She explained before tilting her head in question. " And what about Kita-chan?"

" I think she sent a message in the group chat... saying she'll be here sometime later as well." I answered, checking my phone again.

" Ahh, I see." She nods. " I must've missed that, since I wasn't paying attention to my phone." She laughs.

" Nijika-chan....did you come here straight after school?" I asked curiously.

" Mhm." She answered me with a hum of affirmation.

" Mind sitting with me?" She offered the spot beside her.

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" It's been a while since the last time we were alone like this, huh." Nijika muses. I nodded in agreement.

Often times, whenever we were alone, it usually occurs after a major achieving a huge milestone of our band. It's those times when she speaks her true feelings about Kessoku Band, her dreams, and many other things that often gets me thinking. Nijika-chan was the person who pushed me first into the band, and into improving myself for the band, and to be one step closer into achieving my ambitions. A wise senpai, she truly is.

Huh?

" Nijika-chan.....where did you get that bracelet?" I asked as I pointed to the dark steel chain bracelet worn on her wrist. 

" Oh? This?" She shows it off with a smile. " It's a gift from a friend. Looks cool, right?" She asked, excitedly.

" Super!" I vehemently nodded. I was completely in awe of it, now that I take a closer look at it-- it looked pretty antique and expensive. But most importantly...

" It totally makes you look like a rocker chick..." I added in amazement. She smiles and giggles.

" I know right?" She looked at her bracelet fondly for a moment before releasing a sigh. " Though, he seriously didn't have to buy it for me..." I hear her mumble.

' He ' ? Who is she talking about--

Bang! The door kicks open

" W-What the--?!" Nijika screams while I sat frozen in fear.

" Heeeereee's Kenji!!!!"

A tall beast with jet black hair that reached above his shoulders, with intimidating crimson red eyes, burst open the door and entered the room with a psychotic grin on his face.

" Hello, ladies." He bows, as if he didn't just burst into the room like a chaotic tornado sent by god to destroy humanity--

" My sister will kill you once she comes back." Nijika blankly states, looking towards the broken door lock.

Why is she acting as if this were a mundane thing?!

This is not mundane!

A BEAST JUST CRASHED THROUGH THE DOOR AND NEARLY SENT ME TO HEAVEN--

" Eh, I'm rich. I'll just pay for it again." He shrugs.

' AGAIN'?!

This isn't the first time he's broken our door????

"  S...Sakurai-kun...why are you--"

" Oh! Long time no see, by the way, Gotou-chan." He grins. Dropping a few bags on the table.

" Sakurai-kun....why are you here? Do you have business?" I asked meekly, keeping my distance in case he jumps at me. Even if we're friends, he's still the most unpredictable walking typhoon of a person that even Akihiko-kun is wary of.

" I suppose, you could say that..." He hums.

Nijika turns to me. " Actually, Sakurai-kun has been stopping by the club for the past week." She says before presenting her bracelet again. " He's also the one who....bought me this bracelet."

Eh?

Sakurai-kun....stopping by.....

Sakurai-kun....buying Nijika-chan a bracelet...

Sakurai-kun walking alongside Nijika-chan during the mall that day...

No....is Kita-chan actually right--?!

" What's with the bags?" Nijika asked, turning to them with a curious expression. I did the same and looked over to them too.

"  Why don't you check it out yourself, Ijichi." He says before shooting me a glance as well. " You too, Gotou-chan." 

Nijika and I looked to each other before approaching the bags together. We both grabbed our own bags to open, and with a mental countdown from 3 to 1-- we opened it.

" Huh?" My eyes widened, " T-This is--"

" Sakurai-kun..." Nijika takes out the piles of t-shirts from the bag that was designed....with Kessoku Band as the logo.

I turned to him in absolute shock. " D-D-Did you really just make us merchandise?!" I asked him.

He only huffs, widening his smug grin.

He's unbelievable....

I scanned the T-shirt, feeling its soft texture......hold on, this feels like it's pure cotton?! Isn't that expensive??? No, wait, why would he spend this much for merchandise when he hasn't even seen us play!

What god led him here......

" Sakurai-kun, isn't this expensive?! How am I supposed to pay you back for....THIS?!" I hear Nijika exclaim, I turn my attention away from the T-shirt and towards the panicked Nijika-chan.

" Relax--" he tries to tell her but I watched Nijika interrupt him by hastily shoving the bag to his chest, he looks at her with a flabbergasted expression.

" No, no, no! I can't accept this! Return it! Get a refund for it!" She cries out, " I don't want to be put in debt because of this--"

" Nobody is putting you in debt--"

" Yes you are! "

" No, I'm not--"

" Yes!"

" No!"

" Yes!"

I watched as they bickered back and forth. Each of them taking turns at shoving the bag to the other with each powerful refusal, it was a comedic sight to see since neither wanted to back down-- and it's especially funny with the difference in height between the tall beast-like Sakurai-kun and the smaller angel Nijika-chan....

[ Nijika yeets the bag to Sakurai's face. ]

" No! And that's final!" She crosses her arms.

" Argh-- what the hell--!"  Sakurai holds the bag and frowns. " Why won't you just accept it?"

" It's unnecessary! You're spending your money on things you don't even need!" She scolds. " Buying me this bracelet is one thing, but you said that was your way of apologizing so I accepted it. But buying us expensive Kessoku merchandise out of nowhere is just--"

" What's happening here?" Ryou-san pops up beside me.

" What are they arguing about? And wait, is that Sakurai-kun?!" Kita-chan also pops into existence on my other side.

I looked to both of them in suprise and they just greeted me with a wave ( from Ryou-san ) and an apologetic smile ( from Kita-chan ).

" Y-You two are finally here..." I sighed.

" Sorry, I was being held up by my friends for a while..." Kita explains.

" I just took my sweet time, honestly." Ryou says with brutal honesty that she took all the time in the world to get here. She had a juice box in hand, to which she began sipping.

" So Sakurai-kun has come over again, huh." She muses.

" You knew? " Both Kita-chan and I turned to her. She looks at us and nods.

" Mhm. I got well-acquainted with him." She sips her juice box. " The two of them are usually on better terms....so what exactly happened?"

" Sakurai-kun bought us expensive merchandise with our brand--"

" He did what? " Ryou looks at me with wide eyes.

" Seriously?!" Kita-chan gasped in suprise too. I nodded.

" Amazing..." Kita says with stars in her eyes.

" If I marry him...I'll be able to buy anything I want..." I hear Ryou-san mumble to herself with closed eyes.

Ryou-san....you really are a menace when you want to be...

" Ijichi, quit it already and accept it." Sakurai glares at her with his most thug-like aura at full blast.

" No." Nijika glares back, not backing down from the challenge. 

Crimson eyes engaging against Vermillion ones. The longer they argued, the more things are heating up...if nobody does something....then I fear what may be the outcome of this battle.

Hahaha....god help us all, for the apocalypse is set to begin...

" We should stop them!" Kita says, worringly.

" Nah, let the couple resolve it by themselves." Ryou says, stopping her.

" But--"

" You really don't wanna get into that, Ikuyo." Ryou boredly states. But there was a seriousness in her eyes too, that made Kita-chan back down.

Maybe it's best to stay back like Ryou-san says...

Sakurai visibly sighs.

" Seriously....you're the first girl I've ever encountered to outright refuse a gift from someone like me." He says.

" That's because I can't pay you back." Nijika pouts. " This is expensive...this is money that we don't have--"

" Do you seriously want to repay me that badly?" he asked her.

She nods, determined.

" Fine." He says.

I watched as he leans closer to her ear....

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

" Accept my gift....with a smile."

He leans away from her. Nijika looks up to him with a confused look, but a rare hue of red dusted her cheeks. Bocchi and the others were left confused and wondering just what in the world did Sakurai whisper to Nijika.

" Is...that all?" She asked, just to be sure.

" I'm willing to bet that your smile is worth more than any currency, Ijichi." Sakurai grins.

"..." She turns away. " That's dumb." She mutters.

Sakurai chuckles, amused. " What? I thought you wanted to repay me? Don't tell me you're getting cold feet now."

She doesn't respond.

Sakurai sighs, his smile dialed down a bit, simulating a more softer and sincere version. " It's all that I want from you." He spoke in a volume only the two of them could hear.

He slowly presses the bag back to her, causing her to look at him. He stares back.

" I did this because I was curious about your smile." He confesses. " Maybe a dangerous bet on my part, but that's why I'm hoping your smile is actually worth it."

" ....Such a dumb reason." She states but accepts the bag into her arms completely.

She looks up to him.

" But thank you..." And gives him her smile.

"...."

[ It was even better than what Sakurai imagined... ]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~'

Huh? What just happened?

What did Nijika-chan just say? Why is Sakurai-kun covering his face like that...

" See? Perfectly resolved." Ryou says.

" Awesome! You were right, Ryou-senpai!" Kita praises.

" Ahem!" Nijika coughs, turning to us. "  Everyone, it seems that Sakurai-kun was gracious enough to create merchandise for our Kessoku Band. Before I we go on to what I called you here for, let's unpack the bags he's gifted us first!"

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( After the bags were unpacked, Nijika finally told the big news. Apparently, next summer, there is going to be a special music festival held in the park. She sees it as a great chance to build up Kessoku Band's reputation and showing the bigger audience what they've got to offer, the event's details are still being fully organized by the community but Nijika managed to enlist them a spot in the event early on with Seika's help.

Ryou and Kita were fairly hyped about this....

While Bocchi died-- )

~~~ End ~~~

I actually felt lifeless when I wrote Bocchi and Akihiko's short conversation. There was no flow into it like usual, and it probably clearly shows when u compare this conversation to their previous ones.

Completely strained....

Just like I intended! :D

And yes, a Nijika chapter again! Because I simp!

But since the main couple is unable to show their wholesomeness and fluff, it's up to the side couple to do just that in this chapter at least.

And yes, I do indeed believe in my headcanon that Nijika would be the type to act a bit tsundere-ish if she had a love interest. Just a bit. Compared to her fully tsundere older sister.

I hope you enjoyed their interaction! The next chapter is supposed to be part of THIS chapter but once again, I decided to put the contents in the next chapter instead.

It's going to be a lot of fun for me to write for sure.

Hope you look forward to more!

See ya~