"Um, Ryo-kun, where are we going?"
Uchiha Ryo stopped in his tracks. "According to your original plan, what was the schedule for today?"
Bocchi thought for a moment.
"Mhm.... I should normally go to STARRY in the morning to practice with everyone, but since my guitar is damaged, we were probably going to go buy an instrument at noon."
Uchiha Ryo: "Then I'll accompany you to STARRY first. I don't know much about guitars, so I can't really give much advice."
Bocchi clenched her fists and held them to her chest. "How can you say that? Ryo-kun's guitar playing is also very good!"
That's all copied. It's fine for Uchiha Ryo to play a song, but if you ask him about guitar techniques, he's completely clueless.
"By the way, Bocchi, you guys shouldn't have many plans for the summer vacation, right? Do you want to go to the beach together?"
To the beach! Bocchi was a bit conflicted. On one hand, she really couldn't adapt to the lively seaside, but on the other hand, she really hoped to go out with her friends.
"I might not be able to adapt, but I'll work hard!"
Uchiha Ryo smiled. "Don't worry, I won't make you talk to strangers. For this beach trip, I'll rent a private beach, so only people we know will be there."
In that case, Bocchi could accept it!
Gotou Hitori fantasized about the future. How long had it been since she went to the beach to play? Because of her social anxiety, let alone the beach, she didn't even dare to go to the swimming pool.
Uchiha Ryo: "Speaking of which, how much money did your family prepare for you to buy a new guitar? If it's not enough, I can lend you some."
Gotou Hitori: "No, no need to trouble Ryo-kun!"
He noticed the pink-haired girl suddenly showing a visible expression of joy, and then she patted her backpack.
"Dad prepared 300,000 yen for me, and Mom just stuffed another 10,000 in."
300,000 yen. For an ordinary family to give that much all at once to a daughter still in high school to buy a guitar, they were truly generous parents.
And Bocchi said to herself, "Hehe, I didn't expect there to be so much, actually it's because...."
Gotou Hitori rarely didn't shy away from talking due to social anxiety, so she told the whole story of how she got the money yesterday.
It turned out that all 300,000 yen was advertisement revenue from Gotou Hitori being a "Guitar Hero" online. Since Bocchi's account was set as a family share, her father had secretly added many ads to the videos.
"I see, so it's ad revenue. I was wondering why ad endorsements occasionally appeared in Guitar Hero's videos when I browsed them. So it was your father's doing."
Bocchi nodded. After all, how could a person with such social anxiety like her dare to take on ads?
Uchiha Ryo took out his phone. "But the fake persona you created for yourself online is really impressive. Is this also what you hope to be like?"
[This is a song that has been very popular among friends lately] — Guitar Hero
This is a lie: When she posted the song, Bocchi had no friends; she just thought it sounded good herself.
[The song that appeared most at Karaoke today, everyone was singing so excitedly] — Guitar Hero
This is a lie: Bocchi hasn't even been to Karaoke yet. The only one singing excitedly was her, alone in her room.
[This is a song my male best friend likes very much, very rock-and-roll male taste] — Guitar Hero
Hehe, apart from Uchiha Ryo, the only male Bocchi is relatively familiar with is her father....
Bocchi: "Stop... stop reading! Stop reading! Waaaah....."
Watching her dark history being read out by Uchiha Ryo, Bocchi felt her social anxiety, which had just slightly improved, return to its original state. Ah! She wanted to find a dark corner to crawl into.
She was just deceiving everyone on the internet into thinking she was an extrovert, why did he have to expose her and say it to her face, wah.
"Ah, right! I'm considering whether to quit my part-time job at STARRY."
Bocchi awkwardly changed the subject, but Uchiha Ryo didn't say much more about the Guitar Hero persona.
"Hahaha, it's okay, I won't say it anymore. But I suddenly remembered something interesting."
Is it not normal for a person to have a different persona online than in reality?
Some people are timid in reality but can strike hard in games.
Some people are gentle and refined in class but turn into Archimedes' lever on the internet.
Even Enyun-chan has learned how to scam people online, so what's wrong with Bocchi setting up a normie persona?
But it must be said, Uchiha Ryo still remembered the last time he went home and discovered that Enyun-chan was actually chatting with strangers pretending to be a girl.
And what surprised Uchiha Ryo even more was that Enyun-chan actually freaking succeeded!
— Uchiha Ryo's Flashback —
Enyun-chan: [Out of money for this month's monthly pass.]
Wise One #1: [Don't worry, Sister Enyun, Brother will send you money right away! But we've been chatting for so long, can I hear Sister Enyun's voice?]
Want to hear a voice message? That was impossible! Enyun-chan simply didn't reply.
But that person thought Enyun-chan was waiting for the money to arrive, so the "Wise One" without another word topped up Enyun's account with three months of monthly passes.
Wise One #1: [Hahaha, it should be fine now, right?]
The cat sighed. She felt it wasn't good to keep deceiving an idiot. Maybe she should just confess and block him.
So, Enyun-chan sent a voice message.
[Meow—]
Wise One #1: [Holy crap!! Sister, your impression is so realistic, good, good, good! I just like sister's sense of humor!]
After saying that, the other party renewed Enyun's pass for another three months, making it a full half-year pass.
Enyun-chan was dumbfounded, and Uchiha Ryo, who had been watching from the side, was also dumbfounded!
This was meeting a real idiot! Uchiha Ryo marveled at the sight. "Enyun-chan, what do you plan to do? Maybe we should just delete him, don't trick an idiot out of his money."
Enyun-chan: "What do you mean trick? What do you mean trick! This meow is being perfectly honest, if you don't believe me, look at the chat logs!"
"Look, this wise one asked if I was male or female, and I replied 'female' directly."
Uchiha Ryo: "Eh, not precise enough. You should have answered.... 'female' (animal version)."
Enyun-chan: "....."
"He asked if I was male or female. Between the two choices, I could only choose the closest one, 'female'~ If he asked if I was a buck or a doe, I would have said doe."
Uchiha Ryo was speechless. "....True!"
"Look again, he asked me how old I was this year. Is there a problem with me answering 'first year of high school'?"
This was the "School Cat" status personally established for Enyun-chan by the Principal of Shuchiin. She even participated in the students' sports festival! Of course she counts as Uchiha Ryo's classmate in the same grade.
Uchiha Ryo: "....Uh, no problem."
"He also asked where I went to school. I said Shuchiin. No problem there either!"
Enyun-chan raised her head.
"So that's it! I didn't lie to him. He was the one who took the initiative to take me to play games and top up my account. You can't blame me."
Alright, alright, Uchiha Ryo felt that this trashy cat was getting even trashier. Hmph! Who did she learn this from? Truly not learning anything good....
Uchiha Ryo guessed it. It must be that little fox named Maki Senju from the middle school department.
Yes! It must be that guy who sounds like a "bad fox" just from his name who corrupted Enyun-chan while working at the cat cafe.