Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [127]

What kind of karma had Nagasaki Soyo brought upon herself…

She had fought so hard to bring this thing back into her life, only to realize it was the most insufferable brat she could have possibly chosen.

"So? Got anything else you wanna say? Weren’t you all high and mighty just a second ago?"

"……You just wait. The moment I get something on you, you’re done."

Soyo smiled sweetly—so sweetly it could almost be mistaken for kindness.

But the way she gripped the spatula in her hand made it look less like a cooking utensil and more like a weapon she was about to drive into someone’s ribs.

Still, after a few deep breaths, the tea-haired girl forced herself to snap out of the nightmare-level blackmail she had just been subjected to.

Without another word, she turned and walked into the kitchen, preparing dinner for the two of them.

"This is the life~"

Tsuzuki Chihiro leaned back into the couch, stretching comfortably.

Once again, she mentally praised herself for deciding to move out.

School? Yeah, right. No chance in hell she was going back to that.

Sure, school was full of cute JKs, but… well, her house had a JK now too.

Besides, going to school meant dealing with all kinds of pointless social nonsense.

It wasn’t as bad as working an actual job, but it wasn’t great either.

Not that Chihiro was the type to let herself get bullied or anything—she just had zero interest in engaging with the idiots there.

And honestly, even if she didn’t go to school, living on her own was way better than staying at home.

Sure, Raana-chan was adorable, but she wasn’t around every day.

And with her parents back in Japan, Raana would probably be spending less time at Chihiro’s grandmother’s place.

Not to mention…

Her grandma was, well, old.

As much as Chihiro loved her, living together meant dealing with some old-school thinking.

Take waking up late, for example—

Here at Soyo’s place, she could sleep in until noon if she wanted.

At worst, she’d get a couple of snide remarks from Soyo, but that dumbass wasn’t even good at winning arguments, so it wasn’t like Chihiro would ever lose to her.

But at home?

If she so much as tried to sleep in, her grandma would definitely drag her into a full-blown lecture.

And as much as Chihiro loved pranking people…

Pranking her own grandma?

Yeah, no. She wasn’t that bold.

As she was basking in her newfound freedom, Chihiro’s phone rang.

The music broke through the silence, forcing her out of her blissful laziness.

From the kitchen, Soyo didn’t seem to notice—between the hum of the exhaust fan and the clatter of utensils, the ringtone wasn’t loud enough to catch her attention.

Even if she had noticed, she wouldn’t have had the eyesight to see what was on Chihiro’s screen from that distance.

The name flashing on the screen—"Sakiko".

"Sakiko… she should be getting off work right about now."

The instrument shop Sakiko worked at was family-owned.

Chihiro knew that much.

She wasn’t entirely sure why Sakiko had chosen to work there—

Her grandma had been tight-lipped about it.

But Chihiro was about 80% sure that her grandma had something to do with it.

After all, by Sakiko’s own admission, the job treated her way too well.

Even she was suspicious about it.

She just couldn’t afford to turn it down.

Chihiro had never mentioned that the store had ties to her family.

She was worried that if Sakiko found out, she’d think Chihiro had pulled some strings to help her—

And knowing Sakiko, she’d quit immediately out of sheer pride.

Glancing toward the kitchen, Chihiro saw that Soyo was still busy.

She stood up, phone in hand, and stepped out onto the balcony.

The space was wide and open, and with summer approaching, the night air was pleasantly warm.

Her light, loose-fitting clothes felt perfectly suited for the season.

"Hey, Sakiko? You off work?"

"Mm…"

The voice on the other end was soft and warm—

She sounded content.

"Chi-chan, have you eaten yet? If you’re free, I’d like to have dinner with you."

"My manager gave me my paycheck early, so I’d like to treat you to make up for that… not-so-great meal we had last time."

Hearing that, Chihiro chuckled, recalling the rather sad dinner she had shared with Sakiko before.

Unfortunately, tonight was not an option.

If she dared to step out for dinner with another girl, a certain angry widow was definitely going to come after her with a frying pan.

"Mm, tonight’s a no-go. Actually… Soyo’s making dinner."

"Soyo? You’re at her place?"

Chihiro smirked.

She had intentionally phrased it like that for this exact reaction.

"Yep. I moved out of my grandma’s place. Now I live across from Soyo."

A wording trick.

"Across from Soyo" could mean the room across the hall—or it could mean the apartment across the street.

"……"

The moment she mentioned Soyo’s name, Sakiko went completely silent.

Chihiro sighed internally.

Of all the people she wanted to help Soyo reconcile with…

Sakiko was going to be the hardest one to deal with.

Mutsumi was tough too, sure—

But Taki and Tomori?

Those two were already in the bag. No worries there.

At this point, she could draw two solid conclusions:

• Both Mutsumi and Sakiko knew exactly why Sakiko had quit.
  And it most likely had something to do with money.
  The state of Sakiko’s life right now was proof enough of that.

• Mutsumi’s family either disapproved of her being in a band, or they didn’t even know about it.

But the bigger issue right now wasn’t Mutsumi—

It was her own connection with Sakiko.

At this rate, their relationship was fading away.

Even though Sakiko worked at her family’s store, Chihiro rarely had a reason to visit.

They barely had any topics in common.

Aside from music—

Which Sakiko clearly didn’t want to talk about.

So.

Chihiro needed a way to pull her back in.

And lucky for her…

Benishouga just happened to be missing a lyricist.

Did Sakiko know how to write lyrics?

Chihiro had no idea.

But who cared?

In a band full of dropouts and a little widow, Sakiko was definitely the most academically competent one.

Plus, she had connections—the Togawa family had an artistic background.

Sure, she and her family might be on bad terms now, but still.

Honestly, when it came to songwriting, people who had hit rock bottom tended to write the best lyrics.

Wait.

Hold on.

What if…

What if Togawa Sakiko had orchestrated all of this?

What if she had purposely thrown Hibana out—

All so she could live in poverty and "experience struggle" for the sake of her art?!

Holy shit.

Was this her plan all along?!

Had she intentionally left the band just to create a dramatic breakup arc—because she believed a "real" band needed that kind of story?!

"If that’s the truth… well, that actually makes things easier for me."

"Huh?"

Hearing Chihiro’s completely out-of-nowhere muttering, Sakiko sounded confused.

"Ah, it’s nothing."

Chihiro stretched out on the balcony chair, looking up at the night sky.

"Sakiko, about that band from yesterday—"

"I already quit."

"You quit? Wait… did Soyo—"

"No, no, Sakiko, can you not be so biased against Soyo?"

Chihiro sighed.

"You know, I really feel like you see her as some kind of Roppongi Femme Fatale or something…"

"Anyway, I just don’t want to be in a band right now."

"At least, I don’t like playing bass on stage."

"I still love guitar, though."

"But loving it isn’t enough—"

"I need to make a living too."

"Through music."

"By the way, Sakiko—"

"Do you know Benishouga?"

"Benishouga…? Oh, that does sound familiar."

"Why do you ask?"

"Well, I joined them."

"But I still need someone to help me out."

"Sakiko—"

"How about it? Want to write some lyrics?"

"I…"

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This is a fan translation of 素世同学，恭喜你被我优化了 by 杰克喵. All rights to the original work belong to the creator. Please support them by exploring their original work or sharing it with others if you can. Thank you for reading and supporting my efforts to bring this story to a wider audience!