Like a zombie, Hitori Gotou staggered forward, unable to stop recalling all her most shameful past memories.
For someone with extreme social anxiety, the number of cringe-inducing memories she had far outnumbered the average person's.
One after another, the kind of memories that would make her curl up with her blanket in the dead of night, wishing she could dig a hole and disappear—they all came flooding back. Hitori Gotou had gone full dark mode.
"Terrifying..."Even Tsukikawa Shuu hadn't expected her skill to be this powerful.
The three massive spiders had initially lunged at her—but the moment they touched the black mist swirling around her, they collapsed limply to the ground.
They twitched a little, but all eight legs had lost strength, and they lay there like discarded rags.
Clearly, they couldn't withstand Hitori Gotou's overwhelming curse power. Their will to fight had been completely shattered.
"Hey... do you know what my past eighteen years have been like?"Hitori Gotou stared at the spiders, her bloodshot eyes and empty pupils brimming with despair.
"Eighteen years! A full eighteen years! Do you even understand what I've gone through all that time?!"
She grabbed one of the spider's heads, locking eyes with its eight beady red orbs, and started shaking it violently.
"I'm a failure... a useless, unwanted waste..."
"It hurts! It hurts so much!"
"But! It's not my fault—the world is to blame!!"
Hitori Gotou's voice turned manic. She gasped for breath, her hands squeezing the spider's giant head tighter and tighter.
With a splat, the spider's head burst open!
Green goo splattered everywhere—covering the floor, and Hitori's face too.
"Hehehehe... Die! All of you, just die!"
"Burn it all down! This cruel world!"
Then she lunged forward again, both hands shooting out to grip the remaining two spiders by their heads.
Even these monstrous spiders now showed visible fear in their eyes.
With two sickening squelch sounds—like water balloons popping—little Bocchi unleashed a power no one would have thought she possessed and crushed the other two spiders as well.
"HAHAHAHA!!"
Hitori Gotou burst into crazed laughter.
As for Tsukikawa Shuu—he'd backed far, far away and watched her entire performance from a safe distance, not daring to come any closer.
Damn... with Bocchi in black-out berserk mode like that, who knew what she'd do if he got too close?
Eventually, the black mist around Hitori began to dissipate. The light returned to her eyes, and her expression cleared.
She looked down at the dried green goo on her palms, in disbelief.
"I... I took out all three of them?" Hitori couldn't believe it.
But her memories confirmed it—yes, it had been her.
Still... no matter how she thought about it, she couldn't believe she had actually done that.
"I'm seriously messed up..."She covered her eyes in shame.
And just like that, she'd added another moment to her growing collection of black history.
But then—someone gently took her hand.
"Nice job," Tsukikawa Shuu said with a smile.
"Actually, I'm not always that dark... At least... not in public..." Hitori muttered nervously.
"At most, I just sit in my room at night, silently crying to myself while replaying my past screw-ups..."Her voice grew softer and softer, her confidence visibly crumbling.
Her signature ahoge drooped, and her fingers poked at each other awkwardly as she tried to soothe her anxiety.
"You don't need to hide who you are."
At that moment, Hitori felt herself pulled into a soft hug from behind.
"But I only bring negativity… people will hate me..." she murmured, flustered.
"I like the real you—no matter what that means," Shuu said with a gentle smile. "You're someone I can truly understand. And I hope I can be someone you can understand, too."
"That's all I want."
Hitori pouted, as if wanting to say something—but then she suddenly felt a warm, wet sensation on her cheek, and her face immediately turned crimson.
Shuu had pecked her softly on the cheek—and Hitori Gotou was instantly defeated.
"Don't be so sudden..."
She reflexively tried to push him away, but then thought twice.
He was her boyfriend... no, her husband in this world. Wasn't this kind of thing totally normal?
"At least... at least give me a little warning next time..." she mumbled shyly.
Shuu looked at her flustered expression, then a mischievous thought crossed his mind.
"Alright, then how about I kiss you again—but this time with a heads-up?" he said.
"..."
Before she could even process it, Shuu was already leaning in again.
"W-Wait—!"
Too late.
This time, it wasn't just a peck. He lingered for a few seconds.
As the moment stretched on, Hitori's face turned as red as a heated iron plate. It was practically steaming.
She went completely limp in his arms, like she'd lost all her bones.
"If you ever feel something, you don't need to bottle it up. You can always tell me," Shuu whispered."After all, I am your boyfriend."
Technically, they hadn't quite gotten used to the whole married couple thing yet, so taking it slow and treating each other like lovers felt just right for now.
"Mhm..." Hitori nodded, face still blushing furiously.
From that point on, outside of actual combat, the two of them walked everywhere hand-in-hand.
Hitori slowly got used to having someone holding her small hand, and didn't resist it as much anymore.
In just two days, they'd reached the "holding hands, kissing, hugging" stage. Not a bad pace at all, Shuu thought to himself.
With the help of the system map and guidance, their monster-hunting efficiency had skyrocketed.
And as they leveled up, the alternate world didn't seem quite as terrifying anymore.
As long as they avoided the high-level monster nests, everything else was just XP fodder.
Hitori specialized in crowd control—unleashing her curse to lock down the battlefield—while Tsukikawa would casually stroll in and crack the monsters' skulls open with his Holy Sword.
Of course, if Hitori went full berserk mode again, she'd personally walk in and crush their heads barehanded, just like before.
After forming their fate-bound contract, their leveling speed increased dramatically.
By the end of the day, Tsukikawa Shuu had reached level 15, and Hitori Gotou was at level 13.