"Eh?", Still crouched by the garbage bin, trembling, Little Bocchi blinked in confusion.
'Why did the surroundings suddenly change?'
Not only thatshe also saw a familiar figure.
'That is Kurumizaka-kun?'
The most popular guy in class suddenly appearing didn't make Gotou Hitori feel dazzled by his beauty.
Instead, she panicked and rushed over, grabbing his hand and trying to run away.
"K-K-K-Kurumizaka-kun! This place is d-dangerous!"
Of course, with Little Bocchi's strength, trying to drag Kaito was pure fantasy.
Seeing she couldn't move him at all, the girl looked like she was about to cry.
"Don't worry," Seeing that she might burst into tears any second, Kaito's voice carried a strange calmness that soothed her heart, "The ghost that was chasing you is already scattered to the wind."
"Eh?", Gotou Hitori looked up slightly, a little dumbfounded.
Anyway
After spending about two minutes explaining the situation briefly, Little Bocchi gradually understood.
"T-Thank you for s-saving me I-I-I can't repay you enough", Once she confirmed she was safe, Gotou Hitori's social anxiety took over again.
Especially since the boy in front of her was the most popular in the grade. He'd become famous throughout the school in just two days since the semester started, even had a fan club with tons of members already signed up.
Little Bocchi gave a deep bow, then pulled out a piggy bank shaped like a small piglet from who-knows-where and respectfully offered it to Kaito, "This is the money my mom saved for my wedding please, you must accept it"
"I-If it's not enough, please tell me a number, Kaito-kun! No matter how much, I'll gather it all!", Her emotions suddenly flared up.
Despite being such a scaredy-cat, her gratitude was surprisingly sincere.
Kaito pondered for a moment, then reached out and accepted it.
Not because he was greedy, but because the girl in front of him seemed to be at her limit. This action had clearly taken all of her courage. If he refused her now
He had a feeling she'd fall to her knees sobbing, then go home and secretly hang herself at his doorstep in the middle of the night.
And he was probably right.
Even though she'd handed over a huge sum of money, Gotou Hitori didn't feel any pain at all. Instead, she looked relieved.
"K-Kurumizaka-kun, c-could I ask you for one more f-f-favor?", The girl cautiously peeked at his expression from the corner of her eye, ready to drop to her knees and apologize at any moment.
"I already said yes."
Little Bocchi stared blankly at him, "B-But I haven't told you what it is yet"
"You've probably encountered other ghosts too, haven't you?", Kaito didn't keep her in suspense.
After destroying that Ki-Kidoko, although most of the ghost aura around Gotou Hitori had dissipated, a portion still remained.
And that remaining aura was clearly stronger than the one from the Ki-Kidoko.
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Chapter 8: So This Is How It's Solved?
There actually weren't that many ghosts and monsters in this world, at least for now.
Counting the Ki-Kidoko that was just taken down, Kaito had only encountered two of them so far.
And yet, Gotou Hitori just kept running into ghosts one after another, even awakening her yin-yang eyes all on her own. Clearly, she didn't have any special constitution. Should one call it luck, or misfortune?
"That's right!", Little Bocchi nodded like a bobblehead and hurriedly recounted everything that happened at home.
Although at the moment, her mom and dad didn't seem to be able to see the ghost face, and things were temporarily still safe... this kind of thing was unpredictable. If something suddenly changed one day, just thinking about the terrifying consequences turned Bocchi's face pale.
'To protect my own warm and happy little family, even someone as useless as me, even more useless than a paramecium, can muster courage!'
So...
"Please, Kaito-senpai, you must exorcise that evil spirit for me. Whether it's money or anything else, as long as it's something I can do, anything is fine!"
Watching the girl prostrate herself in a full kowtow, respectfully knocking her head against the ground, Kaito's expression became a bit strange, "That won't be necessary."
Since he had already agreed to help Gotou with the exorcism, he wasn't going to go back on his word.
As for whether or not he could handle it?
Judging by the ghostly aura still lingering on Gotou-senpai's body, even a beginner disciple from the Courting Death Sect who had trained for just three days could beat that ghost into a spinning top with a copper-buckled belt.
For him to take action now, it's like asking: 'Can the Great Sage Equal to Heaven defeat a backwoods zombie?'
It was currently lunchtime, with one more PE class in the afternoon.
Because she was worried about her family's safety, Gotou Hitori made a terrifying decision.
She was going... to skip class.
For a little social recluse who couldn't even make eye contact when talking to people, any behavior that violated school rules was like a Damocles' sword hanging high above, enough to pierce right through her.
'Ugh... If the teacher finds out, they'll definitely kill me, right? I'll definitely be killed, right? The charge will be something like "arrogantly attempting to escape the holy infusion of knowledge"...'
'But! For the safety of Dad, Mom, Futari, and Jimi Hendrix!'
Little Bocchi's blue eyes seemed to ignite with blazing flames.
Even someone like her, gloomy, withdrawn, useless like a paramecium, had something she wanted to protect.
"Let's go. I've already asked Teacher Hiratsuka for leave," A sudden voice interrupted the girl's tragic resolve.
Bocchi blinked blankly, "A-asked for leave?"
'So... this kind of solution exists too?'
In the end, they boarded the train home.
Gotou's home was very far from Shuka Academy. The one-way trip alone took two hours.
In other words, just the time spent commuting by train every day was at least four hours.
There weren't many passengers on the train at this hour. After randomly finding an empty seat, Kaito noticed Gotou still looked very nervous. To help her relax, he casually started a conversation.
"By the way, Gotou-senpai, why did you choose Shuka Academy, which is so far away, instead of a school closer to home?"
"Just commuting every day must be such a hassle, right?"
"Be-because", Hugging her guitar case a bit shyly, Little Bocchi mumbled, "I wanted to find a new school where no one knows the old me"
She just wanted to change her environment, start fresh, and ideally become a normie.
For that reason, during junior high she practiced guitar for six hours every day, thinking girls who could play music were popular...
But even though the school year had already been in session for two whole days, she still hadn't made a single friend. Not even one
"I see."
Kaito murmured thoughtfully, "So Gotou-senpai is the type who enjoys solitude, like me."
'That's not it at all'
Little Bocchi sneakily used the corner of her eye to observe the radiant, divine-looking boy beside her.
Both were isolated.
But being ostracized by the class and choosing to isolate oneself from the class were clearly two completely different things.
Though from what she had observed, Kaito didn't seem to have any friends either, that was only because he liked being alone.
'If Kaito wants to, with just a wave of his hand, there will be countless boys and girls scrambling to be his friend, right?'
'Even the most normie of the class, Miura, couldn't help but try to exchange contact info with him, only to be turned down.'
'If the class is a pyramid, Kaito will undoubtedly be the Pharaoh at the top.'
'Never thought that someone as useless and invisible as me will one day get to associate with such a big shot'
'Hehehe'
Watching Gotou showing that familiar dumb smile on her face, clearly lost in a wonderful fantasy, Kaito didn't say anything more, deciding to wait until the train reached their destination to wake her up.
.
.
.
Two hours flew by.
Waking up Little Bocchi, who clearly had some kind of sweet dream and even drooled a little at the corner of her mouth, the two walked another five minutes before finally arriving at an unremarkable detached house.
"Th-this is my house", Little Bocchi rang the doorbell. Not long after, a gentle-looking lady with the same pink hair tied in a bun, who bore a 90% resemblance to Gotou Hitori, opened the door.
"Excuse me Hitori? Why are you home so early today?"
"Uh, that I invited a friend over", Little Bocchi glanced nervously at the handsome classmate beside her, afraid he might suddenly contradict her and say something cruel like "I'm not your friend."
Fortunately, Kaito didn't ruin the act.
He waved politely and greeted with courtesy, "Hello, Auntie. I'm Gotou-san's friend, Kaito."
"Oh", Gotou Michiyo finally saw the boy's face clearly and couldn't help but let out a "Oh ho!" of surprise.
"You're Kaito-kun, right? Thank you for looking after Hitori at school."
Gotou's mother took her daughter to the kitchen to cut watermelon.
Gotou's father was in charge of entertaining the guest in the living room. At the moment, he was wiping tears from the corners of his eyes with a little handkerchief, a deeply moved expression on his face, "Never thought the day would come where Hitori actually made a friend Pardon me for asking, Kaito-kun, but you're not one of those rented friends Hitori paid money for, right?"
"Of course not," Kaito subtly glanced toward Little Bocchi, who was still in the kitchen slicing watermelon.
'Gotou-san, is your image in your family's mind really that tragic?'
'Even your friends are suspected of being paid hires?'
"Big brother, hug!", A little girl named "Gotou Futari" had just turned five this year, but her personality was the complete opposite of her shy sister.
Her adorable little face was beaming with a bright smile, and she didn't hesitate at all to make the hug request that her sister Hitori wouldn't even dare dream of.
The Gotou family's pet dog, a Shiba Inu named 'Jimihen', also barked once, enthusiastically lying at Kaito's feet, tail wagging non-stop.
Though he hated bratty kids, well-behaved little girls clearly didn't fall into that category.
Even Kaito didn't act cold; he easily lifted the little girl and let her sit on his thigh, then gave the Shiba Inu a few pats before continuing to chat with Mr. Gotou.
Although the reason he came today was to exorcise a spirit, and the Gotou household definitely did have an evil spirit.
That ghostly face that scared Little Bocchi half to death was currently floating all around the house, unwilling to give up, constantly asking, "Can you see me?"
But for handling a minor ghost like that, there was really no need to make a big deal out of it.
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Chapter 9: Grabbed in One Hand, Refined Instantly!
Kaito stretched out a hand without leaving a trace, gently probing forward.
The ghost face that had already floated into the kitchen and was frantically repeating in front of the two girls, was like being sucked into a level ten tornado, easily caught into the palm of his hand.
'Saved!'
Little Bocchi, who was nearly scared out of her soul but still had to pretend not to see anything, had tears in her eyes.
'Uwuuwuw, did Kaito-kun notice the commotion here and come to help? He's so gentle, I'm going to cry to death!'
The ghost face clearly hadn't realized what had just happened.
Evil spirits like this had such low intelligence, with nothing but harmful thoughts in their heads. Keeping them around for even one more minute was a waste of air.
'Though, evil spirits doesn't seem to need to breathe?'
But that didn't matter. What mattered to him was a world without evil spirits.
Kaito gently clenched his fist, and the ghost face in his palm disappeared like a bubble, silently.
"Was there something lacking in our hospitality?", Mr. Gotou noticed his strange action and became a little nervous.
He'd finally made a friend, and it was such a flawless pretty boy. If he scared him off, he'd really have to commit seppuku in apology.
"No."
"Just... squashed a bug, that's all."
After taking care of the ghost face, a strand of golden light invisible to ordinary people suddenly burst out.
Then, it drilled into Kaito's body.
The ghost face was clearly stronger than the Ki-Kidoko, and it provided a bit more merit too.
Kind of like the difference between a sesame seed and a mung bean.
The purification was already complete, and Kaito was planning to find some excuse to leave.
But the Gotou family was far too enthusiastic. The two kids also clung to his legs, blinking their big sky-blue eyes and softly pleading for "big brother" to stay for dinner, or even spend the night, that was fine too.
Kaito thought about it. Other than training when he got home, he didn't have much to do, so he nodded and agreed.
Mrs. Gotou was clearly very happy.
Specifically, during dinner, she enthusiastically picked dishes for Kaito and opened up a stream of chatter.
"Where is Kaito-kun from?"
"Do you have any hobbies?"
"What do you think of girls with pink long hair, blue eyes, a shy personality, and who can play guitar? Are you thinking about dating?"
"It's okay if not yet. Feelings can be cultivated over time~"
Social anxiety, timid, and never daring to reject others' requests
Her daughter Hitori's personality meant it would be hard for her to form a normal romantic relationship in this lifetime.
As long as she didn't get scammed out of her money and body by some frivolous playboy, that was already success.
'But no worries, Mama Gotou will step in!'
Having been through it herself, Mama Gotou knew: good men are like good jobs. You have to actively fight for them.
Especially in Japan, where matrilocal sons-in-law were common, and ordinary people didn't have much prejudice against it either.
Boys from ordinary backgrounds but with outstanding looks or abilities were already targeted during school. Once they graduated, they'd be snatched up, with zero availability on the market.
