Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [198]

The next morning, Togawa Sakiko arrived at school and immediately sensed that something was off.

Usually, she was practically invisible in class.

Even though her grades were excellent, no one ever came to her for notes, nor did they go out of their way to befriend her just because she was smart.

But today, the moment she stepped into the classroom, she was met with a barrage of strange looks from her classmates.

Several girls even approached her, and every single one of them mentioned the same name—

Tsuzuki Chihiro.

Damn it.

She hadn’t outright denied it yesterday.

And now, the ridiculous claim that she was Chihiro’s little sister had somehow evolved into an unquestioned fact.

At this point, if she tried to refute it, she’d probably just get labeled as the stubborn little sister who liked to be difficult.

Damn you, Tsuzuki Chihiro. This means war.

With that thought burning in her mind, Sakiko set down her bag and made her way to her seat—

But before even sitting down, she shot a murderous glare at the shameless culprit behind this mess.

"You playing Haneoka’s No.1 assassin now? Let’s see if you can actually hold my gaze."

"…"

Stay calm. Stay calm…

Getting angry over this will only make things worse.

"Saki-chan, where’d you run off to after school yesterday? I went back to the teacher’s office, and by the time I came back, you were already gone~"

"None of your business," Togawa Sakiko scoffed, rolling her eyes. She slumped into her seat, fully prepared to ignore this annoying waste of oxygen.

But just like yesterday, she underestimated Chihiro’s sheer, absolute shamelessness.

Some people—some terrible people—would scribble on your back with a pen.

And some of those terrible people would even target your bra strap.

Have some damn decency! That innocent-looking face is wasted on you!

"Saki-chan, I found a piano teacher."

"…Oh."

"You’re not even curious who it is?"

"…"

"You might even know them."

"…!"

Sakiko instinctively turned her head.

A trap.

A blatant trap.

She knew Chihiro transferred into this class just to torment her.

"It’s Ebizuka Tomo."

"Ebizuka… Tomo?"

Sakiko frowned, momentarily confused.

But then the name clicked.

And she immediately recalled the girl who had constantly been her rival in piano competitions throughout elementary and middle school.

Still… what did that have to do with her?

Sure, she and Tomo were rivals, but they’d never really spoken much outside of competitions.

But there was one thing that piqued Sakiko’s curiosity—

How had Chihiro even found Tomo?

And why was she bringing it up to her?

…There was only one possibility.

Her grandfather must have told Chihiro about her connection to Tomo.

And now, he was using Chihiro to send a message—

To remind her that if she wanted to pursue piano seriously, she needed to listen to her family.

Unbelievable.

Even now, he wouldn’t leave her alone.

Even now, he had to send Chihiro after her to try and "correct" her behavior.

Just the thought of it made her scowl.

The irritation bubbling up inside her spilled out in the form of an unreasonable retort:

"Heh. You’d be better off teaching yourself than learning from her."

"…Saki-chan."

"What?"

"Sometimes, I really feel like I’m your big sister."

"You’re just so easy to read."

"…Shut up!"

Slamming her notebook down on her desk, Sakiko firmly ignored Chihiro for the rest of the morning.

Surprisingly, though—Chihiro actually left her alone.

Through all the morning classes, through lunch, there was no harassment.

The only thing that seemed off was that when Chihiro returned from wherever she had gone during lunch, her expression was oddly unreadable.

Still, she hadn’t come back to bother her.

And for someone like Sakiko—whose mind was entirely focused on mujica’s upcoming Sunday performance—

It only took her a few minutes to forget all about it.

She jotted down class notes while simultaneously strategizing.

Her band was still too new—she knew Uika and Mutsumi well enough, but the other two were still practically strangers.

But mujica wasn’t some casual, childish band.

They couldn’t wait until everything was perfectly aligned before stepping onto the stage.

For one, the contracts her grandfather’s company had issued to the other members were one-year contracts.

And more importantly—she had only been given half a year.

She didn’t need to make ave mujica flawless.

She didn’t need to make them unstoppable.

But within six months, she had to make the band successful enough to generate real revenue.

If they failed—if they had to disband, if there was no demand for them—

Everything would be over.

And she…

She would be forced to return home.

She would be forced to become Togawa Teiji’s daughter.

At first, she hadn’t fully understood what that meant.

But after speaking with the company’s legal department yesterday, everything had become painfully clear.

Her grandfather was doing this to bypass her father entirely—so that she would become the direct heir of the Togawa Group.

That way, not only would the company stay out of her father’s hands, but it would also skip an entire round of inheritance tax—keeping as much of the family assets intact as possible before handing them all to her.

Sakiko wasn’t an idiot.

She understood his reasoning.

She knew this was his way of showing that he acknowledged her capabilities.

But that didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t accept what he was doing.

If she agreed to this…

Wouldn’t that be the same as betraying her father?

Wouldn’t that mean abandoning him completely?

She refused to let that happen.

...

As the bell rang for the final class of the day, Sakiko immediately stood up, ready to head straight to the office.

But before she could leave, she was once again intercepted by the bane of her existence.

"What now?"

Sakiko had already tolerated far too much from Chihiro today.

At least she hadn’t been constantly pestered.

Aside from that one weird moment when Chihiro came back from lunch, she had mostly left her alone.

But now…

"Nothing much~"

That irritating smile.

"I just thought I’d let my dear little sister know—"

"I’m about to go meet my grandfather."

"Wanna come?"

"What does your grandfather have to do with me?! Are you insane?!"

"You really don’t want to?"

"I really don’t!"

"Alright, alright, no need to get so worked up."

"I was just wondering—"

"Since my grandfather is also, you know… your grandfather."

---

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!