After Boqi moved into my closet, the quiet life is gone forever

As I thought about it, tears came to my eyes.

There are pictures here, which can be viewed after the updated version

"Haha, Pochi-chan, this isn't the time to be depressed. I might be late for tomorrow's performance, and I happen to have a part-time job tomorrow, so of course I might not be able to come."

"Then can I not go?"

Sandwich, who was lying on the side watching the computer, suddenly interrupted and said something while picking his nose.

"If you don't go, the celebration party for the Poqi band tonight will be snake meat hotpot."

"You only know how to target me! Even if I go, it won't work!"

Pochi was already feeling lost.

[Is Chaoyang not coming? I can't help it because of work. After all, he has to support me and the Evil God... It can't be helped. How can someone like me ask for more? It's just, it's just... Why do I feel like all the energy has been drained from me? I don't seem to be that excited about the performance anymore.]

Hearing that Chaoyang might not be able to attend, she felt deeply disappointed. Her eyes revealed a hint of uneasiness, and her fingers unconsciously fiddled with the napkin on the table.

Chaoyang noticed Boqi's disappointment and felt a little moved. He put down his bowl and chopsticks and looked at her seriously.

"I'll do my best to get there when the time comes. Sandwich Sauce will watch the whole thing carefully on my behalf. I'm really sorry this time."

After saying this, Chaoyang clasped his hands together.

"Ah... Well, that's okay! Chaoyang is busy, so just take care of your own things. I'll only cause you trouble, so how can I take up your time?"

Although Pochi said it unintentionally, Chaoyang always felt that she seemed to be unconsciously sarcastic.

[…It’s probably an illusion. Pochi isn’t that kind of kid.]

"Then, that one is asleep."

Pochi returned to the closet in a daze and closed the door.

"Sandwich, your bed will be outside today."

"Huh? I don't want to sleep with you!"

"Can't you just separate the beds, idiot? I want to give her some quiet time so she doesn't disturb Pochi, who has her first performance tomorrow."

"It's really troublesome, I know!"

……

next day

Chaoyang, dressed in a heavy suit, worked part-time at a newly opened shop on a busy street in Shibuya, distributing balloons to attract passersby. Despite the relatively cool spring weather, the costume, a cartoon bear, was heavy and stuffy, and Chaoyang was drenched in sweat. Every step felt like hard labor.

The hood of the doll suit restricted his vision, so that he could only see a small part of the front. Every breath became more and more difficult in the thick suit, and every breath made him want to struggle out of the hood.

While Chaoyang was working hard, in an underground LIVEHOUSE on a street in Maruyama-cho, Shibuya, about 20 minutes away from where he worked, Pochi was nervously praying backstage for a smooth performance.

Futaba Ayaka walked in very easily and said

"Sorry, my friends all said they had appointments and couldn't come. Only three of us could come."

However, his face was full of smiles while he spoke, and he did not look uneasy at all.

"Ah~ Ayaka, you too? Me too~ I'm so sorry that only two of my friends can come today~~"

"I...well...don't know."

Boqi thought about it and felt like she had no idea what was going on with the ticket. She just felt relieved after giving it to Chaoyang.

"Since I've already paid the boss, I won't worry about it anymore. I'll just treat this performance as practice. Good luck everyone~"

Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami raised their hands at the same time to cheer them on. Although Pochi was not very used to it, he still followed the atmosphere and did the same.

10 minutes later

When Futaba Ayaka stuck her head out to check again, she suddenly exclaimed.

"Wow~ I'm surprised there are already more than a dozen people here... From what I hear... it seems like quite a few of them speak Chinese. Could it be that your Chinese boyfriend, Pochi-chan, has asked them to come?"

"Ah... well, big, maybe?"

[Oh, should I mention that this isn't my boyfriend? ...Ten, a dozen people, and my heart is pounding. I can't handle it. I feel so bad, I want to go back! What should I do?]

Pochi mustered up the courage to close his eyes and yelled

"Well...um...can I put on a cardboard box and play guitar?!"

“Huh?” “Huh?”

Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami both expressed confusion.

22. Rejection!

"I'm speechless. Does that guy really think he's Goto Ichiri? Even trying to imitate him hiding in the cardboard box at the beginning?"

Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami, who had just finished using the restroom, were now washing their hands while complaining about Pochi's remarks.

"That's right, I really can't stand it. Doesn't she know that kind of personality is very infuriating in real life? Just stay at home with the giant baby and don't bother others."

Takanuma Ami vented with an unhappy look on her face.

"Forget it, forget it, don't say it anymore. It won't be good if someone hears you. Let's go back quickly. The show is about to start."

After drying her hands with a handkerchief, Futaba Ayaka pushed Takanuma Ami out.

"Just bear with it for now~~, after all, that pink-haired idiot paid the lion's share of the bill this time."

But there's nothing good to say about Pochi either.

Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami walked back to the LIVEHOUSE backstage. The moment they entered, the displeasure and disgust on their faces were instantly replaced by smiles. Their tone also changed from the previous complaints to a relaxed and friendly one, as if the conversation in the bathroom had never happened.

"Pochi-chan, I've been waiting for you..."

"No way, she, is she serious?"

Ami Takanuma looked at the object in front of her in disbelief and asked Ayaka beside her questions.

In front of the two of them was a cardboard box that was originally used to hold a refrigerator. Suddenly, Pochi stretched out a hand from the hole and greeted the two of them.

"……I am ready!"

After entering the dim and narrow environment, Pochi no longer stuttered and spoke with a bit of confidence.

"We thought you were joking... Well, you should take it off. After all, you're an important member of our band, how can you not show your face~"

The two of them were shouting in their hearts, if you go on stage like this, who will still pay attention to the performance depends entirely on you!

Pochi, who was hiding in the box, trembled, half of his body appeared from the cardboard box, and looked at Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami hesitantly.

"Guo, it really doesn't work?"

Pochi just wanted to relieve his nervousness in this way, and he didn't deliberately want to replicate the scene of his first stage performance in the original plot.

"No~ Pochi-chan, sometimes you can't be willful~"

Futaba Ayaka gently pulled Pochi's hand, encouraging her to get out of the cardboard box completely.

"Look, we all know how talented you are. Your music and performance are the real draw. You don't need any of this fancy stuff; you're already amazing on your own."

"No! I'm not being funny, I really feel more at ease inside the box... But Ayaka-chan's hands are so soft and smooth, are they the hands of a beautiful girl who takes good care of them every day? And she has such a good personality... No, I can't let her down!"

"Ming, I understand!"

Pochi overcame her inner difficulties. At this moment, asking her to take off the cardboard box was as painful as getting up from bed in winter.

Finally, just before Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami were about to lose their patience, he broke free from the cardboard box.

"Okay, get ready to go on stage~ time is almost up."

……

On the streets near Shibuya Station

"Su-kun, you've worked hard today. I'm so sorry to have you work an extra hour. This is your compensation. I've added a thousand yen to the original ten thousand as overtime pay."

After delivering balloons for seven hours while wearing a cute black bear doll costume, he almost collapsed to the ground due to exhaustion.

After taking off his doll costume, Chaoyang was covered in sweat. If he had a choice, he would like to take a shower and go to bed immediately.

The store manager where he worked walked out of the store with an envelope and handed it to Chaoyang.

He weakly took the envelope from the store manager.

"Today... huh, I'll take care of you."

Chaoyang gasped for breath while still saying polite words, but his heavy breathing made the other party worried.

"Are you okay, Su Jun? Why don't you rest here first before leaving?"

The store manager where I work part-time kindly offered some advice.

"Thank you, but I have something else to do. I need to leave immediately or I will miss it. I am sorry to have troubled you today."

"No way, I'm here to thank you for your help and even let you work overtime for an hour. So...be careful on your way back."

Chaoyang bowed solemnly and ran away.

[Damn, it's already started. I should have known I shouldn't have agreed to work overtime out of pity. I feel like I've been too easy on people lately.]

……

Inside the Livehouse

At this moment, three people were already standing on the stage, and there were more than a dozen people standing sparsely in the small space.

"Hey, the one on the far side... doesn't he look a lot like Pochi-chan?"

"Yeah, they're exactly like him. So cute... I don't know if he's really scared or just pretending."

The audience who had seen Lonely Rock immediately paid attention to Boqi.

"Hello everyone~ We are the Ending Band, just kidding~ I, Futaba Ayaka, formed this band after watching the anime "Lonely Rock!" out of interest, and I was immediately attracted to it. I want to take music seriously and sing the praises of youth like them, so I discussed it with my best friend, our band's bassist, Takanuma Ami-chan, and formed a band. I also want to thank Miss Goto Shion for helping us perform together despite being short of manpower. Since Goto Shion has only been playing guitar for a short time, please forgive me~~Then the first song is "Youth Conplex"... Oh~ By the way, since we have just formed a group and don't have a lead singer yet, please forgive me~~~"

Listening to the introduction, Pochi suddenly felt a sense of strangeness in his heart.

"Why are you using honorifics when calling me by my name? ...And I clearly said I've been playing for a long time. ...I see, I see. You're probably worried I'll get blamed, so you're saying that..."

As the lights on the stage adjusted, the three-person band prepared to begin their performance. Pochi stood nervously on the left, guitar in hand, Futaba Ayaka sat behind the drums, near the center of the stage, and Takanuma Ami stood on the right, bass in hand.

As the music started, Pochi became extremely nervous, her fingers trembling on the guitar as she tried to keep up with the rhythm. However, due to her excessive nervousness and Futaba Ayaka's strange opening MC, she became nervous and began to think wildly.

Pochi made frequent mistakes during her first performance, her eyes filled with anxiety and uneasiness. Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami were able to maintain a steady rhythm, but their eyes kept glancing at Pochi from time to time, their faces revealing dissatisfaction and disappointment.

Although Boqi's performance was a little behind, the audience did not mind. On the contrary, they gave Boqi's performance warm support and encouragement, cheering and applauding frequently. Some people even shouted

"Pochi-chan, you're so cute! Keep it up!"

The reaction of the audience made Futaba Ayaka and Takanuma Ami even more unhappy. They thought that Pochi's mistake would disappoint the audience, but unexpectedly, Pochi won more sympathy and support.

The two people who were playing looked at each other, and saw a hint of jealousy and anger in each other's eyes, but they tried their best to remain calm on the surface.

……

"What band are you here to see?"

The front desk staff took the handkerchief from the person in front of them, which was wrinkled by their hands. It was the first time they saw someone so breathless.

I thought there wouldn't be any treasure bands performing in my store.

"End of band (pseudo) hoo, hoo, hoo."

23. Well, it doesn’t matter~

Hidden contradictions on stage

And somewhere under the stage, someone was arguing with someone.

"Hey, don't take up three seats by yourself! And these are chairs, not beds!"

A passerby who came to see another band was not interested in the performance at the moment and planned to find a seat to play with his mobile phone to kill time, but he searched for a long time and found no empty seat.

He ran to the front of the sandwich sauce that had sneaked in without knowing when.

Sandwich was lying comfortably on his side on a row of seats, with one hand supporting his head and the other holding a drink, watching the performance on the stage while sipping the drink.

He glanced at the passersby with disdain.