Diary Of Service Club, Helping The Elf Princess

"Ah, yes! I'm coming right away!"

Gotō froze for a moment. Seeing Hachiman leave decisively without hesitation, her body instinctively reacted. She quickly scrambled up from the ground, not even bothering to dust off the dirt on her behind, grabbed her tennis racket, and followed after him.

[T/N: Sorry for the confusion but her name is Hitori Gotō not Hitori Gotō]

Though she was technically following behind Hachiman, she was actually several steps behind, clutching her racket nervously, her head ducked as she glanced left and right. From her posture, anyone who didn't know better might think she was planning to steal something from him.

Hachiman could only sigh helplessly at this. He knew Gotō's behavior was abysmal, but if he turned around to talk to her, she would avoid his gaze. Trying to have a conversation with her would only result in her retreating even further.

Compared to Sakurase Shino, who carried a deep sense of guilt and didn't want to connect with others, Gotō's social anxiety made her far more difficult to interact with.

Even though he understood her personality—knew that she deeply desired friendship, that she would get cocky and smug when praised, and that she couldn't refuse others' requests—truly understanding her and getting her to open up to him was far from simple.

Gotō's thoughts were excessive and absurd, making her hard to comprehend. Fortunately, Hachiman had been somewhat introverted in the past, so he could still understand her most of the time.

He wasn't sure if his "Absolute Taming" skill could help cure her social anxiety, but was social anxiety even considered a disease? If it were, then his "Absolute Taming" might not be effective.

Initially, he thought that when he approached her to form a team, Gotō would likely want to accept but simultaneously want to run away—typical behavior for an extremely introverted social anxiety sufferer.

He hadn't expected things to go so smoothly. Although she looked dazed, she obediently followed him.

"Ah!"

Trailing behind, Gotō sneaked a glance at Hachiman several times before suddenly letting out a shriek.

"What's wrong?"

Hachiman turned his head to look at Gotō, who appeared on the verge of another panic attack.

"No, no, nothing! I wasn't thinking about anything."

As Hachiman continued to stare at her, Gotō froze, clenched her fists tightly, and shook her head frantically.

Moments ago, she hadn't dared to look directly at him. Now, after sneaking a few glances, she suddenly remembered something—she recognized this boy in front of her.

During tennis class, she had also seen him alone, seemingly a student from Class 1-F of the general course. But as someone who was equally alone, she hadn't dared to approach him to ask if he wanted to pair up and practice together. She could only stay in the shadows, quietly withering away.

She hadn't expected him to approach her first now. Did this mean that, moving forward, she could find a temporary partner for tennis class? No longer would she need to find an isolated corner to hide in.

'Wow! Yes! Finally, someone like me.'

"Gotō-san."

Hachiman suddenly stopped in his tracks and looked back at Gotō, who was following closely behind him.

"Ah…"

Still caught up in her mental frenzy, Gotō hadn't noticed him stop abruptly and walked straight into his back. She instinctively covered her now-aching nose.

When Hachiman turned to look at her again, she quickly lowered her head, holding her nose and shrinking away, too timid to speak.

Reality often differs from expectation. Though she felt he was someone like her, deep down, she still harbored concerns.

She didn't even have any close female friends or classmates she got along with. How could she possibly handle interacting with a male classmate? Just not running away today was already her best effort, an extraordinary achievement.

If it were any other day, she would have fled without a second thought. There was no way she could be as cooperative as she was now, subconsciously following his lead.

"It suddenly occurred to me that I forgot to introduce myself. Before we start tennis practice, I should at least let you know who I am, right?"

Hachiman glanced around to ensure no one was nearby, then smiled and introduced himself to her.

"Hachiman, Year 1, Class F. My club is the Service Club."

"If you ever need help, you can submit a request to the Service Club in the special building. As long as your request is accepted, we'll do our best to help you, and the service is free."

Compared to Sakurase Shino, the reclusive girl who didn't want to interact with anyone, he felt that helping Gotō would be a more manageable task.

However, perhaps the necessary trigger conditions hadn't been met, as his system didn't prompt him with a mission to guide Gotō.

"Ah… I-I'm Hitori Gotō, from the music course… part of the Go-Home Club…"

Gotō kept her head down and quickly snuck a few glances at Hachiman. Noticing his calm and composed smile, her excitement suddenly plummeted, and she replied in a weak voice.

Moments ago, she had thought she had found someone like her. But now, seeing the calm smile on his face, she realized that Hachiman was nothing like her.

Of course—how could someone socially anxious like her actively approach and talk to others?

At this thought, Gotō wilted.

He wasn't like her. If he was only approaching her because no one else was around and just needed someone to pair up with, he'd definitely find her a bother…

"Gotō-san."

"Yes! I'm ready!"

Despite feeling that they weren't alike, Gotō still didn't dare refuse his request to pair up. She hurriedly set down her tennis racket, turned her back to Hachiman, and raised her hands in a prepared posture.

This was the starting position for back-to-back stretching exercises. The tennis instructor usually paired students together to stretch and warm up before practice, helping to maintain flexibility and increase joint mobility.

In tennis, the whole body is engaged. Proper stretching reduces the likelihood of muscle cramps during practice.

However, Hachiman had no intention of doing back-to-back stretches with Gotō.

"I'm a guy, and you're a girl. That kind of exercise is inappropriate. Let's just do something simpler, like helping each other stretch legs."

Hachiman gestured for her to sit down.

He knew that Gotō's curvaceous figure was well-hidden under her loose sportswear. If they did the back-to-back stretch, her body would inevitably be accentuated.

But doing so wouldn't benefit him in any way. There was no need to provoke the strict school discipline committee.

"Ah, right… you're right. I'm sorry, I overstepped…"

Gotō's extreme inferiority complex made her immediately feel that Hachiman was only teaming up with her because he had no other choice. She lowered her head and apologized before sitting quietly on the ground.

In her mind, she was just a bug unworthy of attention. Even back-to-back contact would surely disgust others.

Seeing her mood plummet again, her dead-fish eyes resurfacing as she slumped in despair, Hachiman could only sigh in exasperation.

'Clearly, this girl isn't lacking in any particular aspect, yet for various reasons, she is deeply self-conscious.'

Because she always hunches over and slouches, she doesn't look good in photos and even ends up with a double chin, but in reality, she's actually very good-looking.

As long as she dresses up properly and straightens her face, she would undoubtedly be recognized as a super beautiful girl by everyone—and this girl also happens to be secretly well-endowed.

'It feels like, if I want to encourage Bocchi-chan, I should first help her adjust her posture and bearing to build up her confidence.'

'Wait, hold on a second—why does this sound a bit like that "gyaru transformation boyfriend" scenario I came across before?'

'Dark personality.'

'No friends.'

'Doesn't want to go out and work to earn money.'

Even has an ahoge sticking out of her head and often wears a lifeless, dead-fish expression.

Hachiman seemed to see his former self in the person of Gotō standing before him.

Though even during his most extreme, edgy, and antisocial phase, he hadn't been as severe as Gotō.

Gotō's extreme social anxiety disorder made it difficult for her to interact with people normally.

But judging from her outward conditions, with a little training—helping her to stop hunching over and slouching, then tidying up her appearance a bit—this currently gloomy and seemingly unapproachable Gotō could transform into an astonishingly beautiful girl with an incredible figure.

Even if Gotō couldn't, like him, rely on a system to quickly showcase her attractive side in a short period, the truth is that Gotō didn't need much training to begin with.

A beautiful girl is called a beautiful girl precisely because, as long as she fixes her appearance a bit, she can become very pretty.

As for her tendency to break out into creepy expressions, making people reluctant to approach her—those possible symptoms of cyberpsychosis[1]—that was indeed a problem that couldn't be fixed just by talking to her.

Her symptoms primarily stemmed from social anxiety disorder, likely caused by environmental influences rather than any physical or mental defect of her own.

In other words, once she builds confidence, those symptoms of potential internal madness should gradually fade away.

Should he give Bocchi-chan a personalized training regimen like Yuina and the others suggested?

Every time Bocchi-chan cooperates in guided training, he could reward her.

Hachiman thought about it but regretfully gave up on the seemingly tempting personalized regimen.

Although he believed in gender equality and had received help from others in the past, so he wouldn't mind spending his own energy to help Bocchi-chan and give her a new lease on life, it was obvious that a socially anxious and introverted girl like Bocchi-chan would never actively accept such a proposal from him.

Unless he forced it upon her—Bocchi-chan might not dare refuse if he was firm about it.

But then it would turn into school bullying, and there was no need for that.

It was better to start by becoming her friend. Being Bocchi-chan's friend would probably already make her happy for a while; there was no need to suddenly turn Bocchi-chan into a super beautiful girl who attracts everyone's attention.

If that really happened, Bocchi-chan, who needs to muster all her courage just to speak a few words to someone, would definitely be overwhelmed, making her social anxiety worse.

As long as he became Bocchi-chan's only friend, she would probably cherish him, and her social anxiety would gradually improve.

"Ah, um... Wh-what is it?"

Gotō, who had noticed that Hachiman—who was originally helping her press down on her legs to stretch her muscles—had suddenly stopped and was staring at her, swallowed nervously and shrank her head timidly as she spoke.

'Could he be angry about what just happened?'

'I did apologize just now, right?'

'Uh… should I apologize properly now?'

'But what if Hachiman isn't thinking that? Wouldn't it be really awkward if I suddenly apologized?'

Getting along with people is really so hard… Maybe she should just go back to hiding in the corner and live out her pitiful life...

"I was just thinking, Bocchi-chan, you're so cute—how come you don't have any friends?"

Seeing Gotō looking at him timidly and nervously again, Hachiman suddenly smiled and asked.

'Come to think of it, wasn't Hayase Saki like this before?'

Introverted, timid, and self-conscious. But now Hayase Saki had become much bolder, not even feeling too afraid when alone with Yukinoshita Yukino.

That being said, he seemed to already have experience guiding people with social anxiety.

It was just that Hayase Saki's social anxiety wasn't as severe as Gotō's, which fell within the category of general introverted social anxiety, while Gotō's was severe enough to verge on communicative disorders akin to mental illness.

"B-Bocchi-chan? Is… is that supposed to mean me?"

Hearing the nickname from Hachiman's mouth once again, Gotō's eyes widened, and she looked at him with some disbelief.

To be precise, Gotō was looking at Hachiman's face.

While doing leg stretches at such close proximity, she didn't dare to look directly at Hachiman and could only glance down at his chest, with her line of sight at most reaching the lower half of his face.

"Yeah, your name sounds a lot like 'all alone.' How about I give you the nickname 'Little Loner'? If you don't like it, then forget it."

Hachiman looked at Gotō and casually explained.

"Bocchi-chan" was a phonetic rendering; strictly speaking, it should be translated as "Little Loner," though sometimes he called her "Little Bocchi."

This nickname should have originally been given by her bandmate Yamada Ryou, but since Gotō hadn't joined Nijika Ijichi's band yet, he decided to take the liberty of naming her himself; otherwise, he might subconsciously keep calling her Bocchi-chan.

Even though his relationship with Gotō at this point wasn't close enough to justify giving her a nickname—considering that they had just met, giving someone a nickname could be considered rude—when it came to socially anxious individuals, a unique nickname might actually help bridge the gap between them.

People with social anxiety merely had communication barriers that made normal interactions difficult; their thoughts and feelings were still present.

For instance, Gotō—Bocchi-chan—had a very active inner world.

Even though she lacked self-confidence and was very self-conscious, being complimented would make her happy, and she even deeply enjoyed being praised.

"Ah, no, I really like this nickname. Bocchi-chan… hehe… it's so cute… hehe..."

After confirming that the "Bocchi-chan" Hachiman referred to really was her, Gotō, who was initially still stretching her legs, completely lost her strength. She allowed Hachiman to continue pressing down on her legs while she lay back flat on the ground, staring at the blue sky with an idiotic smile.

The nickname "Bocchi-chan" sounded a bit odd and was derived from the pun on "all alone," but she didn't care much about whether the nickname sounded good or not.

Because no one had ever given her a nickname before.

This was her first time being given a nickname, so no matter what it was, wasn't it exciting enough?

And the nickname was based on a pun from her own name—wasn't that even better?

'Hehehe… Just now, Hikigaya-kun said I am cute…'

Gotō knew that she wasn't good-looking, like some country bumpkin from the sticks, and Hachiman's compliment was probably just social courtesy, but still, she was so, so happy.

Even though Hachiman and she weren't the same kind of person, he seemed really easy to get along with.

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[1] Cyberpsychosis: Cyberpsychosis refers to a condition in science fiction, particularly in the Cyberpunk genre, where individuals who heavily augment their bodies with cybernetic implants or technology experience psychological breakdowns or lose their humanity. It is often depicted as a loss of self-control, leading to violent, erratic, or inhumane behavior.

The term is commonly associated with the Cyberpunk 2020 tabletop RPG and Cyberpunk 2077 video game, where it represents the dangers of excessive reliance on technology. In these narratives, cyberpsychosis arises when a person's body modifications exceed their psychological capacity to handle them, blurring the line between human and machine and resulting in a detachment from reality.

Symptoms might include paranoia, aggression, lack of empathy, and loss of identity, reflecting the overarching theme of humanity versus technology.

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