Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [194]

"Why are you three so slow today…? Wait, why did you all come together?"

Inside the recording studio, Shiina Taki frowned slightly as she saw the door swing open, revealing Tomori, Chihiro, and Anon. She wasn't thrilled with how late they were.

But what really caught her attention was… Chihiro's outfit.

That looked like the Haneoka Girls' Academy uniform?

It was just… something about that uniform on this soft-looking girl felt oddly provocative. Maybe it was the way her figure didn’t quite match her innocent face, or perhaps it was the black stockings hugging her legs.

Either way, Taki still couldn’t quite figure out what kind of person Chihiro really was. But if she was anything like the "Souyo" from back then, Taki had a feeling they might have actually been good friends.

"I'm a Haneoka student now~"

"Wait… since when?" Taki blinked. She had just assumed Chihiro was pulling some kind of cosplay stunt again.

She instinctively glanced at Soyo, expecting her to have the most insight into Chihiro. But when she did…

"Soyo, what’s with that expression?"

"N-Nothing."

Nagasaki Soyo cast a somewhat resentful glance between Chihiro and Anon. But as soon as Taki called her out, she quickly put on a smile.

"So you knew about this all along?"

"Yeah, that's right. But Chihiro wasn’t entirely sure she’d pass, so I didn’t tell anyone beforehand."

"Of course she'd pass! I helped her study!"

"…Heh."

Taki rubbed her temples. It felt like things had only gotten more complicated since their band expanded from five members to six. And honestly… she had no idea what was going on anymore.

Still, since everyone was here today, she figured it was a good time to discuss their future plans.

Even though they were just a high school band—without the same level of obligations or pressures as professionals—Taki didn’t think they could keep treating MyGO!!!!! the same way they had before.

Back in the CRYCHIC days, and even before Chihiro and Soyo’s secrets were exposed, everyone had been lost and uncertain about the future.

But now, things were different.

Taki was sure that, apart from Raana—whose feelings were still unclear—everyone else genuinely wanted to see this band through to the end.

A lifetime… Maybe it was too soon to say that. But this time, Taki wanted to make it happen.

"First, I need to confirm two things."

She cleared her throat. "One—was ‘Hitoshizuku’ written by you, Chihiro?"

"Of course—"

"Of course it was her!"

Before Chihiro could even answer, Soyo cut in. "I can’t write songs, but Chihiro's pretty good at it. She even wrote another really nice one recently…"

Tsuzuki Chihiro shot Soyo a puzzled look, but when she saw her little maid gazing at her with pleading eyes, she simply shrugged and took all the credit for her girlfriend’s work without hesitation.

"That song… must be ‘Cutoff Line’, right?"

"Huh?"

Soyo was stunned. She had only vaguely hinted at the song, yet Taki immediately knew which one she was talking about.

"My second question… what’s your plan for Benishouga?" Taki’s gaze flicked to Chihiro. "If I’m not mistaken, Chihiro, you’re the one behind ‘I Have Three Cats,’ aren’t you?"

"Ack! Don’t bring that name up here!"

"What? I didn’t say your name. Why are you freaking out, Soyo?"

Taki glanced at the now visibly flustered Nagasaki Soyo, her face full of confusion. It felt like the mysteries surrounding MyGO!!!!! were only multiplying.

"From now on, Benishouga will probably just be me and Soyo."

"What?"

"The other two members started a band together—they decided to chase their original dreams," Chihiro explained. But rather than looking disappointed, she wore a gentle smile. "So they don’t really have time to manage the channel anymore.

It wouldn’t be fair to their fans, and they even asked if we should just announce an indefinite hiatus.

But Soyo and I decided to keep running it.

Because… no matter what anyone else thinks, at the very least, we can’t just give up on or abandon the things we’ve built."

"I see."

Taki glanced at Raana, who had run up to Chihiro and was clinging to her arm, repeatedly saying she wanted to join. Then, she turned to look at the now-silent Nagasaki Soyo.

It was in that moment that she realized—she could forgive Chihiro and Soyo for all their past deception.

But she would never be able to forgive Sakiko.

Because at their core, Chihiro and Soyo were nothing like Sakiko.

They genuinely cared about their band.

Chihiro had even told her before—the reason she wanted to help Soyo was because she admired the idea of chasing a place that once felt like home, even when no one else supported it.

Maybe the plan itself was flawed—because CRYCHIC had already changed. The CRYCHIC of the past no longer existed.

But treasuring those memories wasn’t wrong.

The only one at fault was Togawa Sakiko—who refused to tell the truth, convinced herself she was acting "for everyone’s sake," and ultimately treated the band as nothing more than her personal possession.

"That aside… isn’t the band kinda overloaded with guitarists now?

And having two bassists… seems unnecessary."

Setting aside the Benishouga issue, Taki moved on to something far more pressing for MyGO!!!!!

Too many members wasn’t always a good thing.

Sure, three-guitar bands existed, but the problem was that Raana was already an incredibly skilled guitarist. And according to Raana herself, Chihiro’s guitar skills were even better—to the point of being almost godlike.

That comparison… made Anon seem redundant.

And while Taki liked teasing her pink-haired punching bag, forcing Anon to play under that kind of pressure wasn’t going to be good for the band’s unity.

"I never said I was going to play guitar."

"Huh?"

"I'm going to play keyboard instead. That’s the missing piece in our band, right? This works out perfectly."

"Wait… don’t tell me, Chihiro—you can play piano?" Taki’s eyes lit up, looking hopeful. "How good are you? Are you—"

But before she could finish, Tsuzuki Chihiro's eyes curved into crescent moons, and with a bright smile, she stretched both hands into the air.

Then, in an almost adorably smug tone, she declared:

"I can’t play at all~!"

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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!