Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [122]

"The number of customers seems lower today."

Inside a Yoshinoya beef bowl restaurant, a petite part-timer casually remarked to her taller coworker standing beside her.

Judging by the current state of the restaurant, she wasn’t wrong—there weren’t many customers around.

As a regular part-timer rather than the actual owner, the girl should have been happy about this. After all, no matter how lively and bustling Tokyo nights could be, none of it had anything to do with Ebizuka Tomo, who was stuck working in the kitchen of a Yoshinoya.

"You’re saying all this, but really, you’re just wondering why those people who performed last night haven’t shown up again, right?"

"What?" The masked girl reacted as if someone had just stepped on her tail. "Why would I be curious about them?"

"…Are you sure you don’t want to at least give it a shot?"

"What?"

"Their band still seems to be missing a member, doesn’t it? There’s four of them—exactly one keyboardist short."

As an adult and, in some ways, Tomo’s unofficial guardian, Rupa had a pretty good read on her.

Tomo might claim she wasn’t interested in watching live performances. She might insist she had no intention of joining another band. But deep down, she wanted that opportunity.

Rupa had seen it firsthand—Tomo secretly trying to add piano parts to their songs in her room. It was obvious she wanted to play alongside them.

"There’s no need for that," Ebizuka Tomo shook her head as if recalling something from the past. "Besides… they probably already have a bassist."

"Huh? Is little Tomo worried about my position?" Rupa teased with a playful smile. "But if you keep hesitating like this, they’ll probably find the right keyboardist before you make up your mind."

"And what does that have to do with me?"

"Miss this opportunity, and it’ll be hard to find another one. If you’re always too afraid of failure to take a step forward, then maybe you should take down that picture on your wall—the one with your dream written on it. Wouldn’t that be kind of ridiculous?"

"……"

The problem was, didn’t they already have a potential keyboardist?

Tomo thought of someone—Togawa Sakiko.

She and Sakiko weren’t exactly acquaintances, but they had crossed paths before. Back when she used to participate in piano competitions, she had seen Sakiko a few times.

Running into her beneath the LIVE stage last night… was that really just a coincidence?

For some reason, Tomo had a gut feeling—that keyboard part in their song had probably been played by Sakiko.

After all, in Tomo’s memory, the only pianist capable of delivering such flawless technique was Togawa Sakiko.

"Welcome! What can I get for you~?"

Hearing Rupa greet a customer snapped Tomo out of her thoughts. She straightened up and glanced toward the entrance—only to see two very familiar faces.

"Tomo, you haven’t forgotten them, have you?"

"……"

The two people scanning the menu for their dinner choices were, of course, Tsuzuki Chihiro and Nagasaki Soyo.

Since the restaurant was close by—and they had eaten here before and found it tasty—Soyo had led Chihiro here for a meal after picking up some daily necessities from the supermarket.

But what puzzled Soyo was how the two employees at this Yoshinoya kept casting them weird looks.

…Wait.

Could it be—had Chihiro done something to these poor part-time girls behind her back?

Soyo rolled her eyes. Then, with an icy expression, she elbowed Chihiro—who was currently struggling with menu paralysis. "Chihiro, those two…"

"What did you just call me?"

"…We’re in public."

Soyo clenched her left fist, really tempted to sock this girl right in the head.

And just to be clear, when she said "We’re in public," it definitely wasn’t because she obediently called Chihiro "Master" at home. No, no, it was absolutely just because she didn’t want this shameless troublemaker embarrassing herself in front of strangers.

Chihiro really had started treating her like a maid.

At the supermarket, Chihiro had dumped all the heavy bags on her to carry—including several packs of sanitary pads, for some reason.

When she’d asked why, Chihiro had actually responded with, "Oh, these are for when I disguise myself as an adult. They make great shoe insoles!" And she’d even gone on a whole tangent about which brands were the most comfortable to walk on.

And when Soyo had pressed further—Just what kind of adult are you planning to impersonate this time?—this little gremlin had only given a cryptic smile and said,

"You’ll find out soon enough."

That alone was bad enough. But just as they stepped out of the store, Chihiro had leaned in close and whispered,

"Actually, Soyo-brand insoles are the most comfortable of all."

Soyo was convinced that Chihiro was only tormenting her as payback for kicking her out of the house.

This woman… was unbelievably petty!

"Um… excuse me?"

Just as Soyo was about to pinch Chihiro’s waist in warning, one of the two employees—the one who had been staring at them strangely—stepped forward.

Well.

Now Soyo didn’t even need to suggest leaving. It looked like the "victim" was coming straight for them.

And considering they had already run into Nina, Chihiro’s first victim, earlier today…

"Do you need something?"

Chihiro glanced at the girl in front of them, looking mildly puzzled. "Are you closing for the night? Or did you run out of ingredients?"

"Neither of those," Rupa ignored the side-eye she was getting from Tomo and smiled at Chihiro. "If I’m not mistaken, you were the bassist who performed at RiNG last night, weren’t you?"

"…Is there a problem?"

Chihiro turned to Soyo, only to be met with a blank stare that practically screamed, Why are you looking at me?

And in the span of that one glance, by the time Chihiro turned back, a small figure—barely 150cm tall—had already rushed up to her, shoving a business card into her hands.

"Uh… ‘Benishouga’? Is that the translation…?"

"Nice to meet you."

"……"

---

Ten minutes later.

The four of them had relocated from Yoshinoya to a nearby café called "Marufuku."

Chihiro and Soyo sat on one side of the table, while across from them sat Ebizuka Tomo—who had handed over the business card earlier—and Rupa.

"So… you guys are in the music business too?"

Chihiro felt like she had just walked into a hornet’s nest.

How did simply grabbing a meal turn into networking with industry people?

She had planned to take advantage of Rikushi’s vacation to spend more quality time with the little widow beside her…

But apparently, fate really didn’t want to let her have that.

"Let’s properly introduce ourselves," Rupa said. "I’m Rupa, and this is Ebizuka Tomo. We manage the music composition account Benishouga."

"We reached out to you because we’d like to collaborate on something."

"Ahh…"

Chihiro’s gaze drifted to Tomo—the girl with the white bow in her hair.

Just moments ago, she had practically thrown that business card at them, looking all tough and intimidating. But now, she was silently chewing on a straw, staring them down with a cold expression.

Chihiro couldn’t help but blurt out, "What a cute kid."

…And immediately got viciously pinched on the thigh.

She kicked Soyo under the table in protest, but just as she was about to find a polite way to decline, Soyo spoke up first, her voice crisp and cutting:

"So, if I understand correctly… you’re trying to poach our band?"

"……"

Chihiro had a feeling.

Tonight, Soyo…

Was not in a friendly mood.

---

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!