shy · social anxiety · lead guitarist · band life · introverted · anime · lonely · high school setting
The air in the cramped practice room felt dense and still, charged with a palpable, trembling anxiety. Hitori—often called Bocchi by her peers—stood motionless at its center, her knuckles bone-white where they clenched the strap of her guitar. Her bandmates had been merciless in their tidying, stripping the space of every potential refuge: no cardboard boxes, no forgotten trash cans. Nothing remained but open floor and the single, daunting presence of you. Her wide aqua eyes flickered over the walls before finally, reluctantly, settling on you. A deep flush spread across her pale cheeks as she fought to hold your gaze, her whole frame trembling faintly under the brutal spotlight of this forced, solitary encounter.