Chapter Text
They say that humanity is defined by their social nature. It surpasses that of any other creature, and allowed them to advance far in the world to reach great heights. Yet there are always oddities in the gene pool, or perhaps they were never human to begin with. A water flea, that was what she liked to call herself. What else could she really be? She wasn’t like literally anyone she knew, no one was. Not even after having befriended her friends for so long, after being given the opportunity to reach her dream of fame through music, had she come more closer to being able to just speak normally.
She, Hitori Gotou, was jealous.
Of Nijika, her cheery demeanor, adorable looks, and a type of charisma that can make anyone simply fall head over heels to her -practically befriending anyone she chooses to. All that was coupled by vigor, fuel that kept on burning no matter how many trials life decides to give. Resulting in a figure that could lead, not too soft nor too stern.
Of Ryo, constantly collected, calm, and carrying a cool mysterious aura. Seemingly always being the most reliable and never dependent on anyone else. Aloof to all that was around her, yet thrived in the solitude regardless and had many whom simply admire her.
Of Kita, who always emitted a bright aura of sunshine. Who can weave herself oh so easily among the strings of conversation from the sea of people -even strangers, and create a large web of deep connections. Who turned to her with amber eyes aflame with passion and determination. Her blue ones shuddered in response, a premonition told their owner something bad was going to happen.
Wait a second-
“Say something, Hitori-chan!”
She felt it. Eyes, many of them. Far too many.
With sudden clarity, she realized she was on stage. Her mind had wandered again, this time in vain attempt to find anything to appease the crowd before her. Perhaps it was one of moments when your life flashes before your eyes, all your memories processed within a brief moment. Or in her case, a few short laments of what she saw in everyone but herself. Yet, it didn’t really matter anymore.
She’d like to restate her previous statement of jealousy, please.
“Go Something, you were great too!”
“You kept going even after your strings snapped, it was awesome!”
“Yeah-”
Her mind had stopped registering her surroundings a moment ago. She felt as if someone had poured concrete in her muscles and lead to her joints. Her throat couldn’t even draw even the smallest of whispers, let alone speak. She tried to rack her pitiful mind for anything at all, yet she drew blank. It was able to draw a brief description of what her friends had that she lacked in a fraction of a second yet not a few simple parting words?
She didn’t really remember anything much after. One moment, she was frozen. The next, an image flashed in her mind. Of swimming within the people before her. Her legs moved on her own accord.
Then her life truly flashed before her, as the sight of the floor rapidly closed in.
Bocchi… ‘Lonely’, a fitting nickname after all.
For she had fell, and she would hit the ground. Alone.
She closed her eyes, bracing for impact. Nobody was going to catch her-
‘Urk!-’
She felt the air forced out of her lungs.
Yet it felt like a rough brake rather than a direct slam to the ground. Momentum continued to carry her to another impact, this one softer than the last.
…
“Oof-”
Unfortunately, the same was not said to the person under her. A person that had rushed to catch her. Even as her eyes were closed, she couldn’t help the small giddy smile forming under her long concealing pink bangs. She really was a rockstar, small as her beginnings may be.
She barely noticed the concerns of her bandmates, whom had rushed to her aid the moment they had finished processing what had occurred. Well, except Ryo.
“You really are a rockstar, Bocchi!”
Followed along by a fit of laughter from Hiroi, before she was unceremoniously grappled by a familiar manager.
“Show some concern you-”
“Okay okay aah-”
She should probably placate them before they got really worried, especially her family. Although a small hidden side of her craved at the possibiltity of more attention, she forced it down and got up. At least, she tried to. Only to find out she didn’t need the effort, as a grunt paired with a forceful shove sent her off the ground and into her butt. Wait, that wasn’t the ground.
It was the fan, a big one probably. She mentally prepared the bestest autograph she could give as they both stood up. She looked down to her shirt and dusted it off, more out of trying to look less awkward as she waited for the other girl to compliment her rather than trying to clear off any grime.
The compliment never came. Instead, turning her gaze, she was greeted with a sharp glare of piercing violet. Long billowing raven-colored hair that rivaled her pink, with a significant height that made an imposing figure. Her expression carried none of the cheer or wonder she’d expect from a fan that went out of their way to catch her…
Or maybe she just didn’t got out of the way in time like the others did.
The giddy smile she adorned once had turned her rigid. Her feet weak and the nausea she held in slowly resurfacing.
“Ehrm, erm, ugh-”
“Bocchi, Bocchi!”
“Gotou-san!”
“Hitori-”
She felt her eyes start to water as she gazed into those pits opposite to her. She had hit someone and they were mad now.
She could see it, her stupid self that is. Dragged into court as the jury raged on for her execution. The judge, an anthropomorphic cartoonish guitar with an also cartoon-like wig of rolls and rolls of grayish-white hair judges are often depicted wearing.
“Silence, silence, the decision has been made!”
This was it, she thought. She was going to be executed. Dragged to the firing range, the gas chamber, then the lethal injections.
“She’ll be sentenced to… Social Services!”
“GYAHHHHHHHH” her scream was drowned out by the crowd’s cheer for the blood fated upon her. A fate worse than death.
Her throat felt acidic as her mind continued conjuring horrible things. Her future, bleak and stuck living off her parents’ pension money as nobody would dare hire a useless girl like her, let alone one with a criminal record!
She heaved at the thought
Right into the unfortunate girl in front of her.
“A-a- uhm aahm- ahahah-”
Her vision grew cloudy as it started to spin. Her body fell unceremoniously for the second time, albeit less painful than the first. With swirls in her closing eyes, she had one final thought.
‘I really messed up, didn’t I?’
XXXXXXX
Like an unfortunate stumble upon a hornet’s nest, a low-but-rising hum began to fill the air. Of murmurs occasionally paired with a few shouts and some grappling.
“Someone call a teacher!”
“Woah my gosh, she actually jumped!”
“She really is a rocker chick!”
“How could’ve we not known about her?”
“Really? She’s that hippie girl. How do you not know her?”
The ensuing chaos was tuned out in pursuit of more pressing matters. Like getting a certain drunk to actually care more about the situation, and was the source and reason of the aforementioned grappling.
“Yeesh, okay senpai! No need to tear my joints out. Besides, y’know she’s gonna be fiiiine. A drop like that won’t kill ya.” the drunk woman in her grip slurred. Drunk and eyes barely open as she rested weakly within her grip.
“Its Bocchi we’re talking about here. Look she’s foaming in the mouth!” said senpai pointed out.
“Woah, really?!”
Her attention shifted from the beautiful angel of death with beautiful long glowing hair of gold and sharp piercing red eyes that seemed to stab deep to her soul-
Wait what was she thinking?
That must’ve been the alcohol talking. Her face flushing a further red was its doing too.
‘Stupid sake, I need to see Bocchi first!’ saying that to no one in particular, she turned to the pink corpse laying a few feet away. She ignored the growing crowd as her half-lidded eyes practically bulged open, sobering herself as she did.
‘Holy shit she’s actually foaming.’
“Someone help me carry her!” a man that she couldn’t get a clear look at, as his bangs hid a decent chunk of his face, reached to Bocchi’s- Hey where does he think he’s touching!
“Right, Mr. Gotou. I’ll grab her legs.” a smaller Senpai did as she said. Ah, so he was her dad- Hey where was Nijika touching!
…
Yeah she really needed to lay off the sake if she’s starting to think like this.
“3, 2, 1- hup!” and the girl was lifted off with ease. Off to the side, the crowd control crew went to work.
“Please, make way for the greatest rockstar in history.” the blue chick said, monotonous and flat yet somehow managed to get the point across as the crowd parted before her.
“Um everyone calm down. We’re very sorry for the inconvenience, please forgive us!” reddie tried, she really did.
“Everyone, you heard her. Move, move, move!”
“Get on with it, go!”
A few boys and girls suddenly took over as they herded the crowd away. Damn, whatever Reddie did, it worked somehow… Damn popular kids and their stupid rep.
She could also see two Bocchi-lookalikes doing their fair share of work.
“Don’t mind my big sis, she always gets possessed like this.”
“Don’t say such things about your sister!”
Okay… there was also goth chick. People went away and she didn’t even need to say anything. Kinda amazing, though they did look kinda disgusted for some reason. Probably because of the goth aura she seemed to admit. Yeah you go girl, woo!
“Um, Mr. Gotou. The infirmary’s that way-” the mini-Seika questioned.
“We need to go backstage. Its too crowded here.” the father simply said in a way that left no room for arguments
“Uhm, okay?” she felt the confusion in the girl grow, but accepted it anyways.
Her senpai decided to follow the brewing storm, bringing her in tow.
“Um, you can put me down now.” swirly pink eyes met sharp red. And then like a sack of potatoes, she was dropped unceremoniously to the ground.
“Oof-”
“Come on, you lug.” she actually started kicking her. She wasn’t a mule!
“Right, right. Geez.” she immediately decided that getting up seemed like a great idea.
And so they both followed Bocchi and co.
Despite reaching the backstage just a few minutes later than the rest, totally not because she was hammered so hard that she could barely walk in a straight line, nor did her senpai do a little bit of roughhousing and some nagging to her before deciding to piggyback her- they were beholden to a sight they would have forever burned in their memories.
“She needs medical treatment, not a spiritual one!” the younger of the Ichiji family concluded what everyone in the room thought not needed to be said. At least the sane ones, anyway.
“We tried everything we could afford.” the Gotou’s Matriarch calmly told her as she finished drawing laying down talismans.
“That’s really disturbing to know!”
“I finished the circle!” the younger of the Gotou spawn happily proclaimed as she wept the sweat on her brow, proud at the simple circle of salt in which her sister laid unconscious. The matriarch nodded in response, before doing some really weird stuff that looked like it came out of ‘The Exorcist’ movie.
She decided to look around as she did her thing. Bocchi’s dad was talking to the others- probably the other participants and some backstage stuff, about what the hell they were doing with her daughter and some esoteric stuff he’d learnt about said daughter and that she was spiritually gifted to always be in touch with the spirits and their dimension, and they seem to actually be nodding in agreement to this. Not in the ‘I’m only nodding to this to not look rude’ kind of agreement. Looking elsewhere, in favor of her sanity, she found black ominously staring in the background in a new t-shirt, hidden within the shadows and only noticed by chance. Blue was just staring with a gleam of mischief she usually noticed from the girls back at Shinjuku whenever they wanted to screw around with her precious kouhai. Reddie was…
“Please, send me away. I’m a murderer.” having lost all the composure and charm she had back then with all the people, she offered both her arms together similar to how she would when she was gonna get cuffed by the fuzz, for a multitude of reasons she’d rather not disclose, even within the confines of her own mind. Too embarrassing!
“Okay.” Bluey simply used a zip tie instead she produced out of nowhere.
“Behold, the new Kessoku Band merch. It can serve many purposes such as restraining criminals like this one. For only 500 yen-”
“Wahhh, Ryo-senpai!!”
“Futari, the holy water.” she decided she’d look back at the shizz the Gotou family was doing.
“Aye!”
The little girl handed a bottle of water. Bocchi’s mom calmly chanted some stuff she didn’t bother processing, and then unceremoniously splashed its contents to the unconcsious girl.
Who awoke instantaneously with a gasp.
“It worked, amazing!” Bluey observed.
“It worked for realistically different reasons than the ones you’re thinking!” the mini-dorito cut in.
“I won’t get prosecuted” Red cried tears of joy.
“Hiroi…” her attention was snapped to her senpai- oh God she actually forgot about that, still carrying her with ease as she was settled upon her strong frame. Even without turning her head to her, definitely not because she was being piggybacked, she knew exactly what words she’d say.
“Can I have some of your-”
Her hand already reached out, a bottle in tow.
“Thanks.” the strong once-guitarist popped the cap open, and went straight to wasting herself. A small mumble of ‘I’m too sober for this’ barely audible.
“No problem, senpai~” she laughed as she followed along, popping her own as she too, before guzzling down on her booze.
She idly wondered, as last bits of soberness left her body. She started drinking because she was too shy to do a performance. If her life was as hectic as her cute pink-haired Kouhai’s…
She’d have booze after getting out of bed!
XXXXXXX
Life had thrown many hardships to her. And it decided to throw another one, it seemed. A figure in pink, only familiar in color alone. Yet her mind, for a single moment, saw her as someone else. Someone she loved more than anything in the world. Someone she’d trade for anything in the world, just to speak to her one last time.
When the girl rushed forwards, in that very moment, her instincts screamt at her. Her body fueled by regret and longing, met her onwards. It seemed she hadn’t been able to let go, even after so much time had passed.
A short, brief impact, and her body fell unceremoniously to the ground, cushioning the would be victim. The cold floor greeted her harshly, and the girl on top decided to give that greeting twice. She winced as she felt her body shook and the air from her lungs taken away. Yet she held firm as she turned to the results of her rescue.
“You didn’t need to do that, Homura-chan!” a face, kind and loving. Adorable too, with short pink hair tied to two ends with cute red ribbons, met her sight with a soft smile. A sight she knew was not real.
She grunted, sending a hard push to the illusion before her.
‘She’s no longer here, snap out of it!’
She took a breath, deep. Closing her eyes as she let her mind calm itself, hands balling into knuckles.
‘Stand up, you look pathetic.’
Another breath, and she kicked her legs out and down. A rough ascent, requiring a certain level of force she expended. It stopped the slowly bubbling rage that started to grip at her heart. She closed her eyes, dusting off the bits of grime she had gotten from the collision before turning her sights to the fallen guitarist, letting the commentary from the people around her wash over her. It may not be her, but it wouldn’t hurt to show a level of concern to another human being. She wasn’t a bad person. That, and she wouldn’t like that. That if she simply left the girl, even though she had already stood up, dusted herself, and was nervously twiddling her fingers in anticipation.
Having felt something was off, the girl turned to look at her- with a face she knew that was not hers. She gave the facade a small glare. It shattered easily, revealing…
A good look at a girl with sky blue eyes and long pink flowing hair, and a very strange face. Wait, she was starting to foam. Raven hair trailed behind her as she reached forwards to catch the fallen guitarist, who was about to fall a second time judging by the quaking of her legs-
And then she threw up on her.
…
At least she’s always prepared with a spare set of clothes. And soap, that too.
…
She should probably get changed now and not follow the pink girl and her merry crew...