Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [197]

"Would you like to… Oh. It’s you two."

As soon as they stepped into the Yoshinoya beef bowl restaurant, Tomo’s cool voice greeted them—along with a sigh from Rupa, who was clearly already resigned to the situation.

Tsuzuki Chihiro and Soyo took a seat without ordering anything.

"Nina’s not here?"

"No practice today."

Ebizuka Tomo glanced at Chihiro, who had turned to look at her, and hesitated for a moment before adding, somewhat awkwardly, "About Benishouga… we’re really sorry."

Tomo hadn’t wanted to bring this up.

They had made it clear from the start—they would keep looking for a band that fit, they would keep chasing their dream of standing on the stage at Budokan.

So, at some point, Benishouga was bound to take a backseat.

If it had just been her and Rupa, dissolving Benishouga wouldn’t have been much of a loss—aside from feeling a little bad for the small number of fans they had.

The whole point of the channel had been to prepare for the day they formed a real band.

But then they had dragged Chihiro and Soyo into it.

Of course, there was another reason she felt the need to apologize—because it was Chihiro she was dealing with.

"What’s there to apologize for~" Chihiro smiled, clearly unbothered. "If anything, I should be thanking you for handing over a whole channel to us."

"…"

Tomo’s grip on her spoon tightened.

She suddenly had the urge to smack Chihiro with it.

That smirk. That tone.

Ugh. Why does she have to be so annoying?

And yet…

Tomo begrudgingly admitted to herself that Chihiro was kind of cute.

She was annoying, sure, but at least she wasn’t as complicated as a certain other blue-haired octopus she knew.

"…So, you’re really okay with teaching me piano? And for free?"

At the mention of "free," nobody else reacted, but Soyo immediately frowned, looking between the two girls with suspicion.

"Of course there’s a condition! I—"

Tomo had started to explain but stopped midway.

She glanced around—remembering that she was still at work, that the restaurant was full of customers.

So instead, she crossed her arms and huffed.

"But I have a shift right now. Can you wait a few hours until I’m off?"

"What? No, come on—"

"I already got in trouble for leaving early once…"

"Sigh. Poor, overworked part-timer…"

"You two rich kids can shut the hell up!"

Tsuzuki Chihiro hated it when people dangled something interesting in front of her only to make her wait.

And she was actually looking forward to learning piano.

Even if it was impossible to surpass Sakiko in just a short time…

She could at least learn enough to annoy that blue-haired octopus by stealing her piano seat whenever she felt like it.

If she had to suffer through school, but couldn’t bully Sakiko as entertainment… then what was the point of going in the first place?

"Hey, wait."

Chihiro suddenly had an idea.

She turned her head slowly, eyes locking onto Soyo—who had been spacing out.

"Soyo, do me a favor?"

"You’re not seriously thinking—"

"I am seriously thinking."

Nagasaki Soyo felt that sometimes, being able to read Chihiro’s mind wasn’t a good thing.

Because before Chihiro even spoke the words, she already knew what this scheming little gremlin was about to suggest.

This monster…

She wanted Soyo to take over Tomo’s shift—

So that she could take Tomo home and talk about piano.

Unbelievable.

Absolutely unbelievable.

"Soyo," Chihiro whispered, her breath tickling Soyo’s ear, "as my cute little maid, shouldn’t you listen to your master?"

"If you do this for me… I might grant you a wish during our private birthday celebration~"

"…Fine. Just this once."

"Thanks, Soyo~"

Chihiro clapped her hands together, tilting her head in an adorably smug pose.

But Soyo knew—this wasn’t her being cute.

This was her using her girlfriend privileges.

Reluctantly, Soyo stood up, dragging herself toward the back kitchen.

Tomo’s expression turned into one of utter disbelief as Soyo explained the situation.

A few moments later, she emerged—still looking at Chihiro like she was an alien.

With a sigh, Tomo pulled off her apron and changed out of her uniform.

Then, awkwardly silent, she followed Chihiro out of the restaurant.

Since Chihiro’s house didn’t have a keyboard yet, they had to head to the apartment Tomo and Rupa shared.

The whole way there, Tomo barely spoke.

It wasn’t that she was against teaching Chihiro.

She just… didn’t know how to talk to her.

She admired Chihiro’s skills but had never figured out how to interact with her one-on-one.

And now, she was regretting her decision.

"Why did you ask me to teach Nina guitar?"

"…Huh?"

Chihiro suddenly stopped in her tracks, turning to face Tomo.

At 148cm, Tomo had to look up at Chihiro, who stood at 162cm—something that only fueled her irritation.

She still didn’t quite understand Chihiro’s personality, so she hadn’t expected this question.

"She’s your friend, isn’t she? Isn’t it normal to help her learn?"

"But you haven’t known her that long, right?" Chihiro raised an eyebrow. "You don’t seem like the type to go out of your way for a new bandmate."

"…"

"Whatever. Let’s go."

Chihiro turned away, already dismissing the conversation.

But—just to spite her—Tomo suddenly blocked her path.

"Actually, I want her to quit."

"…Quit? Quit what?"

"Playing guitar."

Tomo crossed her arms.

"She doesn’t understand how hard it actually is. That kind of blind confidence—"

"It pisses me off."

Because it reminded her of the people she used to play in bands with.

The ones who thought they could succeed with just bare-minimum practice.

The ones who cared more about looking like musicians than actually making good music.

She had torn those bandmates apart with brutal honesty—so much so that they had turned on her, saying she only acted that way because she was some kind of prodigy.

But—

If you weren’t serious about music, how could you ever expect to make it?

Did they think they could just coast into Budokan on vibes and marketing alone?

"So you want me to crush her dreams for you?" Chihiro chuckled. "And what makes you think I can do that?"

"Because…"

Because you make people feel inferior just by existing.

Tomo didn’t say that out loud.

But she knew—among all the guitarists she had met, there was no one who radiated pure dedication quite like Tsuzuki Chihiro.

Not even Momoka.

The first time Tomo had seen her play, she had immediately recognized it—

That this girl… was the real deal.

Someone who would never compromise when it came to music.

It was just a shame they weren’t bandmates.

"Fine. Since it’s cute little Tomo asking, I’ll do it." Chihiro grinned.

"But you might be underestimating Nina."

"She’s not as weak as you think~"

"…We’ll see."

"By the way," Chihiro added mischievously, "who’s better—you or Sakiko?"

"I actually asked her to teach me first, but she refused."

"And when I told her you agreed, you know what she said?"

Tomo leaned in, curious despite herself.

"What did Togawa Sakiko say?"

"She said, ‘Might as well teach myself at that point.’"

"That bitch! Togawa Sakiko is nothing compared to me! I’ll make sure you learn piano perfectly—so she sees just how much better I am!"

"Glad to hear it~"

Sucker.

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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!