Chapter 2

Confrontation

Bocchi is happy. Not only she's got one lover, but three. Who knew it would be possible? No one has ever done this kind of thing before. In fact, every person would think it's impossible to have this many lovers. But to Bocchi, she doesn't care. Not only did she have the courage to make friends, but also confess her love to all three of them at once. Kai didn't tell her to do that. She did it all on her own. And that's fine with her. She didn't want to deal with this stress anymore. She's happy what she already has.

Speaking of Kai, she is thinking of a way to speak to her. To give her a piece of her mind after how she treated her at the karaoke session that day. Did she really need to walk away from her when she was trying to tell her how much progress she made? She didn't even try to help her even once when trying to make friends. She just threw her out there unprepared. Sure she had SOME good intentions, but still, it wasn't really necessary. That's why she needed to talk to her. To straighten things out.

Right now it's the weekend and she's been staring at her cell phone for at least an hour, debating whether or not she should call her. Part of her wants to call her and tell her to meet at some place necessary, but another part of her tells her to forget it. Is it the right thing to do though? What if Kai fights back and she's unable to defend herself? She can't do this alone. She'll prove to her childhood friend the courage she gave in front of her three best friends in the world. She dials her number.

"Hello?" Kai says on the other line.

"Kai-chan? Are you free later today?" Bocchi asks.

"Uhhhh, yeah, sure. What do you have in mind?"

"I want us to meet at the karaoke station at 2:00. Okay? Just please come. I want….I want to tell you something very important." Bocchi bites her lip, swallowing hard.

"Oh…okay. I'll be there."

"Good. Don't be late."

"I won't."

Both hang up. Bocchi has done this part of the plan. Now to gather everyone up to meet at the karaoke session at 2:00 p.m today. After about 5 minutes, Bocchi hangs up and has an hour to think about what she has to say to Kai. It has to be perfect and very clear that Kai will definitely understand.

**Later**

At the karaoke session, Bocchi waits at the very hall of the room they sang in. The place where she and her friends encountered Kai. Pretty soon, Nako is the first to arrive.

"Hey there," the short haired girl says as she walks up to Bocchi to hug her as a greeting. "Did I arrive late?"

"N-no, you came on time," the petite brunette replies.

Shortly after, Aru and Sotoka come running toward their friends. Aru is the first to hug the petite girl tightly and spin her around.

"How's my favorite girl~?" the vice class president cheers.

"Hello there, Master~!" Sotoka says, waving. She picks out a few shuriken she made herself and hands them to Bocchi. "Here you go! Just a little gift~!"

"Oh, th-thank you," Bocchi smiles sweetly and puts them in her bag.

"So…why have we come here?" Nako asks. "Are we going to sing karaoke or something?"

"No…I wanted you all here because…there's something important I have to tell Kai-chan. And I…I want to have all of you here to support me. I can't do this alone…"

"Oh, is that it?" Aru says. "If you wanted to confront her face to face, you should definitely do it alone."

"But I can't!" Bocchi shakes her head roughly with her eyes shut tightly. "I…I have never…stood up to her before. What if I mess up and bad things start to happen?"

Nako walks over to her petite lover and pats her on the head. "You can do it. We'll be right there if things start to get hairy."

"That's right!" Aru says, putting two thumbs up.

"I shall protect my Master~!" Sotoka says, raising her hand up.

Bocchi looks back and forth at her trio of friends with small joyful tears forming in her eyes. "E-everyone…"

"Bocchi, I'm here," Kai's voice says from behind, startling the small girl.

"EEEK!" she squeaks and turns around to face her childhood friend.

She puts her hands to her chest to take deep breaths and takes baby steps forward. She fiddles with her fingers a bit before looking up and stopping about 5 feet away.

"Kai-chan…" she starts.

"Yes…Bocchi?" Kai raises an eyebrow.

The small brunette swallows hard. It's now or never. "There is a reason why I brought you here. Remember this hall? Remember this very place?"

"Yeah? So…" Kai trails off.

"Well, I wanted us to stand in this very spot because it's the same exact place where you mistreated me," Bocchi says. "And I have come to tell you this: We t-truly…can't be friends anymore!" She shuts her eyes tightly as she says this.

"Wh-what!?" Kai is caught off guard by this. "Wait, wait, wait! What are you talking about? I'm a great friend!"

"If you WERE a great friend, you would've been there for me when I needed help!" Bocchi says, gesturing toward herself. "You could've been there when I was stressed out, scared and even confused on knowing how to make a friend!"

"Hey, I was trying to help you overcome your shyness," Kai argues back, taking a step forward. "Don't blame all of this on me! It's your fault you have social anxiety."

"Maybe so, but a real friend shouldn't have done something like this," Bocchi says. "A real friend always, ALWAYS has somebody's back. Willing to help one another, even if that person has a weakness. But you…you never did any of that when we went to different middle schools. No phone calls, texts, nothing. You were never concerned about me at all."

"But Bocchi," Kai starts, but the petite girl cuts her off.

"That's why…I'm telling you that I'm happy with just the friends I have now," she walks over toward the trio, taking Nako's hand and facing her. "And Kai-chan…there is something that I did on my own: I…I am in love with all three of my friends and I outright confessed to them. They accepted my feelings and we all became lovers!"

Kai is shocked to hear this from her dear friend. She really did that all on her own?

"It's true," Nako says. "Someone like you wouldn't have ever told her to do this."

"She did it on her own free will," Aru steps in.

"Master was so brave when she confessed her love!" Sotoka adds.

Bocchi faces her childhood friend again. "So you see, Kai-chan? Telling me to make friends with everyone is very extreme. There is no way I'll be able to do that. Just making a few good friends is enough. If I want to make more friends, I'll do that on my own time. Not rush into this just to make you happy."

Kai has no words. Bocchi has changed since their last meeting.

"I've thought about it…for a long time…" the petite girl says. "And…I have made my final decision. D-d-don't call me…don't talk to me…w-w-we're done…" She is trembling, but she finally said it. She and her friends start to turn and walk away.

"T-this is a joke, right? This is a joke," Kai says, stepping forward. "We've been great friends and I was only trying to help you. And you go and do this to me?"

Bocchi stops and turns to glare at Kai. "Because you treated me unfairly. You were not a good friend after all. After all I had been through to make you happy…i-it was all for nothing. Good-bye…"

Without another word, Bocchi and her friends start to walk past her and exit the karaoke session. Kai turns around and watches her ex-friend leave her life.

When the four girls come outside, they come to a stop to see Bocchi trembling a little. Nako puts a hand on her shoulder while leaning toward her.

"You did it," she says. "It took guts, but you finally got it out of your chest. It's okay now."

Bocchi looks up at the short haired girl, tears forming in her eyes. She's done it, but why does she feel so guilty about it? She just drove her friend out of her life. Shouldn't she be relieved? Then she realized: part of her would miss being with Kai and it's heart breaking, yes. But…in the end, it was all worth it. She buries her head in Nako's shirt and sobs. The short haired girl smiles softly as she gently strokes her long brown locks. Then Aru joins in the embrace and then Sotoka. Bocchi feels their warmth. Everybody's warmth. And it feels so good she can't help but sob some more. She's done with Kai. Right now, she's with her real friends…even better lovers.

A/N: Short chapter, but I was inspired a little by a "Bocchi" story called "Realization". It's sort of similar to that story, but I tried to make it as different as possible. I agree with that author, by the way. What Kai did to Bocchi was not cool.

A-anyways, hope you enjoyed this one.

Have a nice day!