"How mean."
Tanaka Masao put on a very sad expression.
"Everyone is too cold to me. You should care more about me. Look how pitiful I am."
Ijichi Nijika retorted.
"I don't feel like you're pitiful at all, Tanaka-kun. The person in the song probably has nothing to do with you."
"How can you say that?"
Tanaka Masao expressed his indignation.
"Because you don't look like a depressed, gloomy person at all, Tanaka-kun. In fact, you're a bit too lively."
"Actually, my smile is just a mask. My heart is already riddled with holes."
"Riddled with holes?"
Yukinoshita Yukino blinked and asked curiously when she heard this.
"Tanaka-kin means that you are very cunning."
Tanaka Masao: ...
"Yukino, why is your perspective so peculiar? That doesn't seem to be what I meant at all."
"Because this is the most accurate analysis I've made based on Tanaka-kin's way of doing things."
Tanaka Masao felt a deep sadness and loss in his heart at this moment.
"Why has everyone become so smart? They're not easy to fool at all. It's so boring. But thankfully, I still have Bocchi-chan."
He looked at Goto Hitori and said,
"If it's Bocchi-chan, she'll definitely understand me.
Please, Bocchi-chan, please comfort my wounded heart!"
"Eh~"
Goto Hitori was a bit flustered.
"Co... comfort, what should I do?"
Ijichi Nijika tapped Goto Hitori's little head.
"Don't agree to everything, Bocchi-chan. You'll easily be bullied by bad guys like that."
"Exactly, Tanaka, don't bully Bocchi-chan."
Yamada Ryo also stopped Tanaka Masao's bad behavior.
"Only I can bully Bocchi-chan."
Goto Hitori: Ryo, you're so mean.
Kita Ikuyo: Senior Ryo, you're so domineering and cool. Don't bully Bocchi-chan, just come and bully me.
After Tanaka Masao's antics, the atmosphere in the practice room became completely harmonious.
Everyone relaxed, but there was still one question that puzzled them all.
Kita Ikuyo asked,
"Tanaka-kun, this song isn't about Bocchi-chan or yourself, so how did you write it?"
"That's right, a song with such rich emotions can't be written without real experience."
Seeing everyone so curious, Tanaka Masao could only make up a short story to satisfy them a little.
His eyes darted around, and a simple little story appeared in his mind.
"This story goes back to a night a week ago."
Seeing that Tanaka Masao was finally going to introduce the story behind the song, everyone pricked up their ears and listened intently.
This song is great, and the story behind it should be just as good.
"That day, I had some insomnia, so I went to the nearby Sea for a walk.
The moon was beautiful that night, and the moonlight sprinkled on the seawater was especially pretty, illuminating the situation on the Sea.
I saw a girl in a white dress, barefoot, standing by the Sea, staring blankly at the ocean, with the cool night breeze blowing her long black hair."
As Tanaka Masao described, the scene had already appeared in everyone's minds.
It was somewhat beautiful, yet also somewhat desolate.
They knew that the girl in the night was the heroine of the song.
Only Yukinoshita Yukino frowned, feeling like something wasn't quite right.
Tanaka Masao continued to tell the story.
"I approached her curiously, wanting to ask what she was doing out so late at night instead of sleeping."
"Tanaka-kun, weren't you also out late at night instead of sleeping? Why would you ask her that?"
Tanaka Masao looked at Ijichi Nijika, who was complaining, with a speechless expression, and thought to himself,
"If I didn't go out late at night, how would I make up stories for you all? You really have no sense."
Tanaka Masao cleared his throat and paused, a timely look of unhappiness appearing on his face, as if displeased at being interrupted while telling a story.
Sure enough, as soon as he did that, someone voluntarily came out to support him.
"Oh, Nijika, don't worry about such things. Don't you know Tanaka's personality? Isn't it normal for him to say such * * trash talk?
Alright, Tanaka, hurry up and continue."
"Oh, so that's how it is."
Ijichi Nijika scratched her head a little awkwardly, saying apologetically,
"Sorry, Tanaka-kun, it's my fault. You continue, you continue."
Listening to the conversation between Yamada Ryo and Ijichi Nijika, Tanaka Masao was a bit confused. This should be helping him, right? But why did the apology feel so off?
It was as if two normal people were humoring a fool. Never mind, just continue, continue.
"The girl didn't look at me, but just gazed at the boundless ocean and softly said, 'What do you think is the meaning of life?'
After much deliberation, I replied, 'To be with family, to eat delicious food, to play fun games, to do all interesting and happy things.'
After hearing my words, the girl showed a bleak smile, shook her head helplessly, and said to me,
'Sir, your life is truly fortunate. I'm so envious. If you don't mind, could you listen to my story?'"
Next, Tanaka Masao racked his brains, describing the girl's tragic life.
A gambling father, a sick mother, younger siblings in school, and a broken her.
Working hard outside, physically and mentally exhausted, facing harassment from her boss and colleagues, she could only grit her teeth and endure.
At home, she still had to deal with a mess, and because she didn't give money to her gambling father, she was beaten by him.
The only motivation that kept her bruised and battered alive was her sensible younger siblings and her gentle mother.
Everything she sacrificed for them was worth it.
But misfortune would not simply pass by because of her efforts.
Her mother's condition worsened and she eventually passed away.
Her sister was targeted by delinquents at school and cornered in the classroom.
Her brother, trying to save her sister, was beaten by a group of delinquents and lay seriously injured and unconscious.
When the two were found, her brother was covered in blood and already cold.
Her sister, who had jumped to her death, was even more mangled, clearly having suffered inhuman abuse.
And her own father had taken a sum of money from the other party and suppressed the matter.
And the girl herself was sold to a middle-aged uncle...
An incredibly tragic story was slowly told through Tanaka Masao's mouth.
It made the girls present feel incredibly depressed. All of them had grown up in relatively happy environments and had never imagined that there could be such tragic people in the world.
Yukinoshita Yukino, who was originally sad because of her poor relationship with her family, felt that her problems were insignificant when compared to the heroine in the story.
Thinking this, her family was actually quite good to her. Perhaps she could go home and visit.