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Chapter 15: Loneliness Is Actually a Very Romantic Word
🕑 Added 2025-02-03 12:39:24 +0000 UTCFor Minami, these options weren't hard to choose.
The first option was clearly asking for chaos, trying to make him stir things up—almost like making Bocchi retreat further into isolation.
The second option was basically to leave things as they were.
Choosing this would very likely lead to the same tragic path of the second round.
Considering this, Minami decisively chose the third option.
[Facing the rumors, you, who are often at the center of rumors, don't really care, but you're worried that this might affect Bocchi.]
[So, you found the source of the rumors.]
[It was a group of female students from the same school who secretly had feelings for you. Because they deeply resented Hitori Gotoh for being able to spend time with you every day, they came up with this plan.]
[When they saw you approaching, they panicked, assuming you would never personally step in for such a trivial matter.]
[This was the first time you had ever gotten angry for someone other than your family.]
Minami immersed himself in the memories.
In front of him stood a few female students from Shuka High School, their heads lowered in guilt.
Minami sighed softly. He had never imagined that these girls—who were also female students—could harbor such intense malice toward another girl.
"Outcast, gloomy, hunched back, flat-chested, shameless, freak…"
Poisonous words like these had unknowingly flooded the school's online forums, all aimed at a single girl.
He thought of that pink-haired girl who always kept her head down, timidly hiding behind him.
Even if it was only a little, she had been trying—earnestly, step by step—to change herself.
That once self-loathing girl was working hard to step out of the shadows and into the light.
But why was it that some people, some things, always treated her with such cruelty?
"Outcast, gloomy, hunched back… Everything you said is true."
Minami looked up, his cold gaze sweeping over the trembling female students in front of him.
"But even so, she has gathered every ounce of her courage to change. Even if she is still timid and self-doubting, even if she still speaks in a soft, hesitant voice—"
"She is giving it her all, and for that alone, she deserves my respect."
Yes.
Even Minami had to admit it.
At first, he had only approached her with the intent of teasing her. But as he saw her genuinely struggling with her social anxiety, as he watched her detest her own cowardice yet work tirelessly to overcome it…
Without realizing it, he had already been drawn to her.
Just think about it—
If you were someone like Hitori Gotoh, someone inherently fearful of human interaction, self-conscious, weak, and alone…
Would you be able to devise ways to change yourself?
Even if those ways seemed childish or even laughable to others?
All she ever wanted was a friend she could talk to at school.
Just that.
"I'm not asking you to understand her."
"I just don't want to hear any more of these rumors."
Minami slammed his palm onto the podium—
A loud BANG echoed through the room.
[You protected Hitori Gotoh from the storm of rumors.]
[However, you did not tell Hitori Gotoh about the incident, choosing instead to guard her silently. To you, she was already a dear friend, and you didn't want her to feel indebted to you.]
[But what you didn't know was that at school, too afraid to interact with anyone else, she had actually been hiding outside the classroom, secretly witnessing everything.]
[She understood—you had done it all for her.]
[From childhood to now, her world had never seen the sun—it had always been night. Even now, it remained so. But your light, though not as dazzling as the sun, was enough to pull her out of that rotting darkness.]
[At that moment, she suddenly felt that… as long as you existed, even the darkest night could feel like day.]
At school, you continued to chat and laugh with Hitori.
But with your keen sense of observation, you quickly noticed—she was now much closer to you than before.
The number of smiles on her face was increasing.
However, toward everyone else, she was still the same—timid, speaking in a barely audible voice.
She still had her fair share of clumsy mishaps and awkward moments, but in front of you, she didn't seem to mind anymore—aside from the occasional shyness.
[One summer night, as you were walking Hitori Gotoh home, she suddenly called out to you from behind.]
She was trembling all over, struggling to keep her breathing steady from sheer nervousness. You gently patted her back, helping her regain her composure.
Your gentle touch gradually calmed her down. Holding onto your sleeve, she lifted her head to look at you.
For the first time ever—
She gathered the courage to face you directly.
Like dark clouds parting to reveal a hidden crescent moon, her face, bathed in the soft glow of the streetlights, radiated a quiet brilliance.
"Mi-Minami-senpai!"
Her pink hair partially covered her eyes, still filled with hesitation—
But her grip on your sleeve was firm.
She took a deep breath, inhaling so sharply that her pale face gained a hint of color.
Her expression trembled, like a startled hamster—
But the words she spoke were clear.
"Can you… wait for me for a few years?"
"Wait for a few years?"
To someone as emotionally perceptive as Minami, her words weren't difficult to understand.
"Is this… a confession?"
He gently grasped her hand in return, deliberately teasing her.
"Eh…? Eh?!"
Hitori Gotoh panicked, struggling to explain herself. But when she caught sight of the playful smile on Minami's face, she immediately turned her head away, flustered and annoyed.
"You already knew!"
Of course.
Under such a beautiful moonlit sky—how could it not be a confession?
"I just wanted to hear you say it."
Minami slowly released her hand.
For just a brief moment—perhaps it was just his imagination—he thought he saw a fleeting hint of disappointment cross her face.
"M-Minami-senpai is always teasing me!"
Hitori Gotoh stammered.
But in the end, she still spoke in a soft voice, slowly.
"I'm not worthy of you right now, but in the days to come, I will try even harder, as long as you're here. So... Senpai, can you wait for me until I've changed?"
As she spoke, there was still that familiar sense of self-doubt and timid loneliness in her voice.
But she could feel that the person standing in front of her, Minami, didn't show the slightest hint of disdain for her pitiful loneliness.
Under the dim streetlight, he took her hand again and spoke in a distant tone about the meaning of 'loneliness' from a country across the sea.
"In a country across the ocean, a certain gentleman once said that if you break down the word 'loneliness,' you'll find within it a child, fruits, a summer pup, butterflies, and even a scene at the alleyway entrance on a midsummer evening."
A midsummer evening, an alley entrance, a small dog chasing butterflies, and a child reaching for fruit...
Hearing Minami's gentle and drawn-out tone, Hitori Gotoh's delicate heart began to picture a warm and romantic scene.
"I've always thought that 'loneliness' is actually a very romantic and gentle word," he said.
He raised her fair hand and placed it over his heart.
Deep down, she already knew his answer.
But her overwhelming sense of self-doubt had never allowed her to have confidence.
But that was okay.
The confidence she lacked, he would make up for.
Under the streetlight, two hearts grew closer.
[Your bond with Hitori Gotoh has deepened.]
