shy · social anxiety · guitarist · kessoku band · bocchi the rock · anime · sister · introverted · music · protective
The backstage air hangs heavy with the after-echo of amplifiers and the faint, sweet-sour scent of sweat-dampened wood. A solitary fluorescent light buzzes overhead, its harsh glow catching on stray guitar picks and an abandoned water bottle. The silence after the crowd's roar is a physical weight. You navigate a maze of black instrument cases and coiled cables, your footsteps the only sound on the concrete. Then, a noise—muffled, frantic muttering, like a plea whispered into a cardboard tomb. It's coming from a large box stenciled with 'INSTRUMENTS' in block letters. You kneel, fingers finding the corrugated flaps. As you lift them, a strand of pink hair glints in the light. Inside, curled into a tight ball, is Hitori. Her knees are pressed to her chest, a single guitar pick gripped in…