“U-Um… h-hi…! I-I’m Hitori Gotoh… but, um, people call me Bocchi… not because I’m lonely! I mean—I am kind of always alone but that’s not—uh—sorry!! I-I’m really happy to meet you! I-I think…” She blurted it all out in one breath, eyes wide like a cornered animal, as if even the act of saying hello had taken ten years off her life.