Chapter Text
“K-Kita-san?”
Bocchi turned around, confused as to why Kita had suddenly stopped walking.
“G-Gotou-san…”
Kita gripped the strap of her back, clenching her teeth as she appeared to debate with herself for a few moments. Her lips quivered before she lowered herself in a slight bow, saying:
“I… I knew that you’d thrown out the application for the culture festival!”
Her voice lowered, energy beginning to drain out of it as Kita continued.
“But… I submitted it anyway.”
Her tone began to quicken, picking up as she bowed even lower.
“I’m so, so sorry that I lied!”
Kita’s eyes were squeezed tight in anticipation. She expected any sort of reaction from Bocchi, whether it be anger, disappointment, or a feigned ‘Oh, everything’s fine’.
“Th-thank you for doing it.”
Ok. Maybe she didn’t expect any reaction.
“Huh?”
Kita slowly looked up, her body not quite having returned to a calm state, but as she straightened herself up, her breathing returned to normal as Bocchi’s voice remained calm, soft, and almost… happy?
“I-I was pretty freaked out at first, but… now I’m kind of looking forward to it.”
The pitch and tempo of Bocchi’s voice began to rise as she struggled to find the words to fully express herself, but she pushed forwards anyways as Kita wordlessly listened.
“Th-that wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t turned in the application.”
Bocchi took a deep breath in and out before looking off to the side, her voice returning to the softer tone it was at before. Her cheeks were dotted with pink as she began to speak, looking at Kita’s face.
“So.. I’m really grateful for what you did. Thank you.”
Kita’s eyes began to water and as all sorts of emotions welled up inside her, she couldn’t contain it anymore as she rushed forward, taking Bocchi’s hand, lighting up the whole street as she did.
“Gotou-san, I’m going to work even harder at practice than ever! So let’s make our culture festival a success story!”
Bocchi barely registered Kita’s words as her gaze flitted between her hand that was being clasped by Kita’s and Kita’s face before managing to get out a brief “O-ok.”
Kita let go and though Bocchi could feel her touch lingering, she felt as though she had to say something more as they walked to the station together.
“B-by the way, I’ll push myself too. Though I’m a little low on inspiration lately…”
Kita raised an eyebrow at this dejected look on Bocchi’s face before beginning to smile and walking over to Bocchi, closing the distance between them.
“Is there any way for me to help?”
Bocchi raised an eyebrow.
“Have you written any songs before-”
Before she could finish, however, Bocchi went into a deep bow, slightly startling Kita.
“I wasn’t trying to sound arrogant, I swear! Please don’t-”
“I-it’s fine! Just stand up, ok?”
Bocchi got back up, dusting herself off as Kita continued.
“To answer your question, no, I haven’t. I’ve tried before, but I always end up giving up after a few verses.”
“Oh. Uh, well, in that case…”
Bocchi’s voice trailed off, prompting Kita to fill in the blanks with an understanding smile.
“Hey, if there’s nothing I can do to help, then you can just say so.”
“No, that’s not it.”
Kita watched and waited for Bocchi to collect her thoughts. After a few moments, Bocchi continued.
“I was… I was thinking that we could maybe, uh, try bouncing ideas off of each other when we’re practicing tomorrow? Ah, but I wouldn’t want to take away from our guitar practice.”
Kita shook her head.
“No, that’s fine. In fact, I’d like to see how you songwrite, Gotou-san.”
Bocchi raised an eyebrow.
“Eh? Um, o-ok.”
“Well, that’s that. See you tomorrow!”
“Right.”
And as Kita boarded the train, Bocchi gave her a wave as the doors closed between them.
###
“You want to get writing already?”
Lunch had just started, but rather than pulling out her guitar like always, Bocchi had instead elected to take out a pencil and her notebook. That isn’t to say she was particularly energetic about it, though. The moment that Kita pointed out this fact, Bocchi had, well…
“I am offering you my sincerest apologies. Please, allow this humble water flea to work on the lyrics she has just found within herself to write. I am begging you-”
“No problem. Now get writing already.”
Bocchi looked up to see the benevolent smile of the goddess before her. Kita’s light reaches all and heals all it touches.
“Thanks… If you need any help, I’m right here.”
“Yep! I’ll just practice switching between chords for now.”
Kita watched as Bocchi’s expression shifted from sheepish to focused as she began nibbling on the end of her pencil before scribbling down words in the notebook. Kita smiled to herself, admiring the sight in front of her.
Gotou-san’s surprisingly cool when she gets in the zone, huh?
Her thoughts drifted back to their first live at Starry, causing a pink tinge to appear in her cheeks.
Then again, that shouldn’t be a surprise, should it?
Meanwhile, in Bocchi’s mind:
Why is Kita-san staring at me?
Unbeknownst to Kita, Bocchi had begun to turn pale as she fidgeted under Kita’s gaze.
It’s like her eyes are drilling a hole in me… is she mad because I’m not helping her enough as a guitar teacher? Is she going to find another one? But I can’t just stop writing…
The silence in the room was deafening and Bocchi found herself growing more and more uncomfortable until:
“I would like to offer you my humblest apologies-”
“Not this again!”
###
Eventually, they managed to start up again. Kita had pulled out her guitar and started playing random chords.
Hm… Let’s start with an F chord, then to C, then maybe… A? No, that doesn’t sound quite right. F, then C, then… let’s try D, then B, then-
“Are you improvising?”
Kita raised an eyebrow before a look of realization flashed on her face.
“Oh! Yeah, I guess that’s what I’m doing.”
“Have you done any music theory before?”
Kita shook her head.
“Nope.”
“Huh. Well, it sounded nice. You really are a natural.”
It was as if Bocchi had placed a warm blanket over Kita. With a single word, Bocchi had single-handedly forced a smile onto Kita’s face. It was one thing to get compliments about her appearance, but having a guitarist as skilled as Bocchi complimenting her playing just filled her with warm fuzzies!
Anyways, back to practice!
Kita continued experimenting with guitar chords, but after a little while, she was once again distracted by Bocchi.
I wonder when she started writing. Maybe I can understand her lyrics better if I find out?
“Hey, Gotou-san?”
…
She didn’t hear me?
After Kita was done internally dying of cuteness from Bocchi’s focus, she quickly tapped Bocchi on the shoulder.
“Gotou-san? You there?”
Kita had learned to expect the unexpected with Bocchi. From melting into goo when praised, to turning into ash when her forehead was exposed, to turning into a glitched banshee when social media was mentioned in front of her, Kita had assumed that she had become quite the Bocchi expert over the past little while. She had thought that she’d seen it all when it came to Bocchi.
This assumption was corrected when Bocchi turned into a rocket and shot through the roof of the school in surprise.
###
Eventually, the roof was fixed and Bocchi had come back down to earth.
“S-so, what were you going to ask me, Kita-san?”
Kita decided not to address the spectacle that had just occurred, instead pushing forward with her question.
“That? I was just curious about why you started writing music.”
Kita raised an eyebrow at the look of utter dread on Bocchi’s face.
I can’t tell her that it’s just because I want to talk about how depressing my life is!
“I’m not sure… I just want people to interpret the lyrics in any way that has significant meaning to them…”
“But how do you interpret them?”
Bocchi shrank back, from the sudden uptick in Kit-aura, attempting to shield herself with her hands.
Gak! Too much energy! But I can’t just expose how depressing I am! I have to resist no matter what!
###
“...So, I guess that in short, it’s just kind of my way of venting to the world in a way that they’ll accept me.”
Eventually, Bocchi was unable to resist the Kit-aura.
“Hm. Yeah, that makes sense. Though I have to ask: how do you stay motivated?”
When will the questions end?
“W-well, I mostly just right about my life and what I’m dissatisfied with, but sometimes inspiration just hits me, you know? A-and when it does, I just make myself keep going until I finish because I know that I’ll feel accomplished when I finish, or something like that… B-but yeah. Sometimes, something’ll just hit me. Y’know?”
Kita appeared to think to herself for a few moments, remaining silent until Bocchi began bowing down to her again.
“I-I’m sorry if that was a lame response…”
“Ah, that’s not a problem! Please don’t apologize, Gotou-san.”
And as Bocchi picked herself back up, the lunch bell rang.
“Looks like it’s time to clean up.”
Bocchi gave a nod as she began to pack up their guitars.
“Mm. See you at practice tomorrow, Kita-san.”
“Yep! See you tomorrow!”
###
As was always the case on days that she didn’t have practice, Kita had made plans with some of her friends after school. However, even after going bowling, Kita found her mind being occupied on the way home.
Hm… So Gotou-san writes about the things that happen in her life…
She stared at the sky which was quickly turning dark as she walked.
Do I have anything interesting to write about? Well, there’s one thing, but I don’t exactly know how to write about that. If I wanted to do anything relating to that, then I’d need some kind of allegory, or metaphor, or something poetic to frame it with… But I guess that that poetic framing just comes naturally to Gotou-san, doesn’t it? Then again, being cool also does come naturally to her too.
A smile sprung to Kita’s lips as her thoughts wandered back to the first time they’d played Guitar, Loneliness, and the Blue Planet, then to their first live. Realizing that she’d stopped walking, Kita quickly quickened her pace before glancing at her watch.
It’s 5:53 already? I should really stop dragging my feet. Still…
Kita slowed down again, looking off into the distance.
Was handing in that form really the best decision? Gotou-san seemed to be ok with it, but wasn’t it just another case of me being impulsive? What if…
Kita’s gaze lowered to the ground as she wondered:
What if we bomb? Ryo-senpai was joking about it earlier, but what if no one likes our songs because they don’t recognize them? I mean, I could probably laugh it off and forget about it, but Gotou-san… If that happened, she’d probably never live it down. She might even stop playing altogether! That’s a little extreme, but still. Then again…
However, Kita’s uncertainty evaporated when she realized:
Would Gotou-san mess up at a time like that?
Slowly but surely, Kita’s smile began to return as reassurance replaced her paranoia, her spring returned to her step as she thought:
No. She wouldn’t. Even if it seems like she’s lightyears away sometimes, I know that she’ll always be there to make sure that Kessoku Band shines brightly. Almost like…
As Kita looked into the sky, she noticed a single source of light in the sky. The sun had just set, but that didn’t matter. What Kita saw was:
A star…
And as her eyes went wide, this is the moment that Kita truly understood the words that Bocchi had uttered to her earlier that very day.
“Sometimes, though, something’ll just… hit me, you know?”
Kita rushed home, an almost manic smile rapidly forming on her face as she ran as fast as her legs could carry her with one goal in mind:
She was going to write a song.