"Futari! What did you write!"
Bocchi suddenly leaped up and snatched the notebook from the desk, then hugged it to her chest while lying on the tatami.
Gotou Futari: "I just recorded the facts."
Bocchi: "Anyway.... you can't record this kind of thing, and you definitely can't take it to school and talk nonsense!!"
Gotou Futari looked at her with adoration. "Why not? Big Sister is amazing! When you play guitar alone at home, it sounds really good."
"This has nothing to do with playing the guitar well!"
Uchiha Ryo remained silent, feeling that it did have something to do with it. If it weren't for Bocchi practicing from morning till night every day, she probably wouldn't have reached the level of "Guitar Hero," a famous online guitarist.
But Futari probably didn't know yet that although Bocchi played exceptionally well alone, her level would drop when she was with the band due to social anxiety.
Gotou Futari: "Anyway, I'm looking forward to Big Sister's live performance the day after tomorrow. I'll go watch it live!"
Bocchi didn't know what to say.... What to do! Once Futari goes to the scene, she will discover the fact that her level drops as soon as she joins the band.
Watching her sister chatting and laughing with Ryo, Gotou Hitori suddenly thought of a terrible thing.
"Then, Ryo-oniichan and Big Sister, I'll go down first."
Uchiha Ryo: "Mhm, go to sleep early."
Gotou Futari waved her hand, opened the door, and went downstairs, leaving only a conflicted Bocchi.
Recently, Bocchi always felt that Futari.... she seemed to look down on her big sister.
She used to listen to me so well! She was so cute when she (age 0) couldn't talk yet.
"Wuwu, I feel like as a big sister, I have no dignity in Futari's eyes at all."
Uchiha Ryo: "You... don't really think you have any dignity, do you?"
Bocchi in low spirits—
The so-called dignity of a big sister, like Haruno who always suppresses Yukino, or Ijichi Seika who acts as both sister and mother. As for Gotou Hitori....
If she really had any dignity, Futari probably wouldn't have created something like the "Bocchi-chan Observation Diary".
"Ryo-kun, what should I do! If my live performance the day after tomorrow is very poor, my pyramid ranking in Futari's heart will become even worse!"
(Gotou Futari's Family Pyramid Ranking: Mom > Futari > Jimihen ≈ Bocchi > Dad)
"Ahhh, if I perform poorly tomorrow, then ≈ will completely turn into >! Wouldn't my status be even lower than the dog?!"
Uchiha Ryo: "Compared to this, are you sure you don't care about Uncle Gotou?"
Bocchi sat on the floor. "I can't help it either. After all, in Futari's eyes, Big Sister and the dog have the same status. I can't help Dad who is at the very bottom...."
Uchiha Ryo: "....In short, it's still your social anxiety problem. As long as you solve your social anxiety, you can show your most perfect side to your sister on stage."
Bocchi sat on the floor poking her fingers together. "But I can't do it...."
There was no way around it. There were only two days left until the official live performance. Unless Uchiha Ryo used some special means, such as genjutsu, it was impossible for Bocchi to perform perfectly.
But he couldn't just hypnotize her every time before going on stage. That would only treat the symptoms, not the root cause. Uchiha Ryo's goal was still to completely cure Bocchi's social anxiety.
"Forget it, don't think too much, just perform normally. Besides...."
Uchiha Ryo looked at the empty desk. "Ever since the exams finished, I haven't helped you with your studies. Have you studied during the beginning of the summer vacation?"
Gotou Hitori: "....."
Uchiha Ryo sat at the desk and pulled Bocchi over.
"It's still early anyway, you probably aren't used to sleeping this early either. Come study."
Bocchi: "Um, can I choose another option? For example, playing guitar, or surfing the internet...."
Uchiha Ryo: "You've played long enough today, you need rest. As for surfing the internet.... at your age, how can you surf the internet every day!"
Bocchi was forcibly pulled over to study, and upon seeing the textbooks, she habitually started getting a headache.
"Do your best, Bocchi. Take out your summer homework. How much have you written during this time?"
Bocchi: "One...."
"One subject? Finishing one subject already, that's considered fast."
Bocchi: "Not one bit written...."
Uchiha Ryo sighed, then pulled out a math exercise book.
"Come on, your task tonight is to finish the first two pages."
Pitiful tears welled up in Bocchi's eyes, seeming to say: [I don't want to study!]
"Didn't you want to show your dignity as a big sister? Futari is only in second grade now. When she grows up a bit, if she asks you about school questions and you don't know...."
Bocchi: "This....."
"Think again, if Futari finds out your academic grades are even worse than hers, what will happen?"
Bocchi's eyes went blank as she fell into her fantasy time—
Twenty-year-old Gotou Hitori looked humbly at her sister.
[Futari, do you have any orders?]
Gotou Futari (10 years old): [Trashy sister, go buy me some cake quickly!]
[Okay.... I'll go right now. Please don't spread Big Sister's dark history everywhere, Futari.]
Gotou Futari: [Hmph, Big Sister is truly pathetic. So boring, so weak~ disgraceful! Big Sister is truly hopeless now.]
——
Uchiha Ryo: "Hey—wake up. What are you thinking about? If you don't want your cute sister to look down on you, cheer up and study hard, then overcome your social anxiety problem."
Gotou Hitori nodded heavily. "I will definitely do my best. Starting today, I will study hard!"
Ten minutes later....
Bocchi lay weakly on the desk. She hadn't even solved three math problems on one page.
Uchiha Ryo: "Well.... take it slowly, it will get better."
Bocchi suddenly picked up the speaker placed beside the desk. "Um, Ryo-kun, can I play some music to change the mood? Rather than studying silently in the room, it's better to play music to relax...."
Uchiha Ryo glanced at the speaker Bocchi was hugging. "If you can solve the next problem, I'll allow you to play music."
Bocchi: "Ugh.... okay then."
Uchiha Ryo: "Speaking of which, what music does Bocchi want to play? Rock?"
"How is that possible? Since it's for relaxation, I should listen to some Western music...."
Western music. Uchiha Ryo pondered, then closed the math exercise book and took out the English textbook.
"Since you said yourself that you want to listen to Western music, let's switch to English homework."
Bocchi: "....Devil!"