Two Strings, One Song: A Bocchi The Rock Story

The Shuka High Culture Festival!

The day after I first became jealous of Kita, I had to go back to school to help prepare for the Culture Festival. It was a maid and butler Cafe. Luckily for me, I was able to wear a butler outfit

Fujin told me that his class was doing an arcade, and I'd kill to do anything else than work at a maid cafe. Serving people and taking their orders isn't really my thing and I get nervous easily...

But that doesn't matter right now. I've been looking for Gotoh all over the school because she disappeared. Nijika, Ryo and Kita were too late to go with me, so I'm on my own now.

I brought a pencil and a map of the school. I've searched everywhere, and there's no sign of her.

What if she went home? That's not possible. Gotoh-san would never do such a thing. She's a good person.

I sigh and sit down next to a door, holding my map.

"Where could she have gone...?" I ask myself.

I look at the map one more time and look at all the areas I've marked off. I've marked off almost every floor, every class, and every section of the school. It was hopeless. I'll never find her.

I have failed to find her. I'm so useless.

I turn around and open the door behind me, and I walk outside. I sit down on the ground and look up at the sky.

This place looks nice. I feel a bit better, now.

I hear something zooming behind me, and I turn around to see who or what it was.

"Huh?"

I looked around, and there was nobody. But, one thing that caught my eye were two melted hair accessories. One was yellow while the other was blue.

"Aren't these Gotoh-san's?" I say to myself, crouching and putting my finger on the melted accessory.

"If they're here, then Gotoh-san must be close. I should keep looking for her. I won't lose hope!"

I stand up and take a step back, feeling something soft and squishy touching my back. I start to blush, but that just means I finally know where Gotoh has been all this time.

O-Okay, okay. Don't panic, d-don't panic. Just turn around and see if it's her.

I quickly turn around and see that Gotoh was behind me with an expression I've never seen from her.

"Gah!" I shout, falling backwards onto the ground.

"G-G-Gotoh-san?! Is this where you've been this whole time?"

Gotoh covers her torso and looks away from me.

"Don't l-look at me!"

"Hey, hey, you're okay you're okay. If you don't wanna be seen, then here."

I get up from the ground, unbutton my vest and then put it over Gotoh.

"Here. You don't have to be so embarrassed, anymore. Listen, I know you ran away from class out of fear. But you don't have to worry about a thing because I'll be by your side."

Gotoh slowly uncovers her face and looks up at me.

"Now, let's get going. We don't want the others to worry about me too or they might send a search party." I say with a gentle smile while extending my hand out for her to hold.

Gotoh looks down for a moment as if she's thinking of a response.

"Gotoh-san?"

Suddenly, she puts her hands on my shoulders and looks up at me with... Puppy eyes.