The following contains spoilers for Bocchi the Rock! Episode 2, "See You Tomorrow", now streaming on Crunchyroll.
Hitori Gotou struggles with social anxiety and low self-esteem to the point where she's been lonely most of her school life. However, as shown through Bocchi the Rock!'s latest episode, she's greatly improving her social skills and personal development to the point where she can say what she wants to say, and doesn't seem to mind expressing herself.
It's remarkable how far she's come in just two episodes. In the first episode of the series, she struggled immensely with maintaining eye contact. By the end of this episode, it seems she no longer has this issue. What exactly has she been doing in terms of self-improvement? Simply put, exposure therapy.
Hitori's Strength and Weaknesses
In just two episodes, audiences have had a glimpse of Hitori Gotou's good qualities, which seem to be overshadowed by her social anxiety and depression. But it's because of her strong positive qualities such as her willingness to try different things and her ability to be adamant and not run away from tough situations that she's been able to improve herself rapidly. This allows her to expose herself to situations and environments outside of her comfort zone and spend time there in order to adapt.
Let's see how exactly Hitori went through the process of exposure therapy without her knowing. First, she makes the effort to show up at the club consistently, as Ryo and Nijika need her. Showing up at the location is the first step, and easily the one that makes the most difference in terms of self-improvement and getting anywhere in life. She then actively participates in the group social activity, speaking her mind. The reason this works is that both Nijika and Ryo are interacting on the same wavelength as her -- they're both accepting and open-minded individuals, and have their own quirks, similar to Hitori.
Later on, Hitori meets the manager of the club, who scares her because of her personality. At first, she freaks out because of how intimidating the manager is, but then she calms down, after rationalizing that she can't be that bad. Nijika then gives her a tour of how to run the bar at Starry, the name of the club. This turns out to be extremely overwhelming at first, and she breaks out the guitar and tries to self-soothe herself by playing and remembering the names of the drinks.
Not yet realizing that she's about to be exposed and forced into a customer service job. Naturally, she struggles on her first time at customer service and ends up hiding behind the counter, but that doesn't stop her. After being exposed to how a brilliant band connects themselves to the crowd, Hitori tries the customer service role again and puts in the effort to do her best. She recites the instructions, focusing on interacting with the customer, and she ends up doing an excellent job. Before the night ends, Hitori says her farewell to her bandmates giving off a nearly confident and well-spoken, "See you tomorrow!"
Hitori Still Has a Long Way To Go
Her success in developing self-esteem and confidence can be attributed to how much she exposed herself to situations outside her comfort zone. For Hitori, outside her comfort zone is in any situation that involves interacting with others. She had a group activity session with her new friends, she was exposed to someone that made her uncomfortable, she had to handle customers as a job, and she was exposed to a beautiful time in an underground concert with a popular band playing and being around so many people having a blast.
At the end of the episode, we see her heading home with a genuine smile on her face, portraying that she's had a good time. It's a heartwarming moment and a huge victory for Hitori in building her confidence, social skills, and self-esteem, and this was only made possible through exposure therapy.