Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [187]

From appearance alone, Tsuzuki Chihiro did bear a slight resemblance to the woman who had just been there a moment ago.

But the problem was… hadn’t Chihiro told her that both her parents had passed away?

Togawa Sakiko shook her head. She felt like she must have misunderstood something. Chihiro might have had her own reasons for approaching her, but she wasn’t the kind of person who would cross that kind of line.

Lying about one’s parents being dead just to gain sympathy—if her parents were actually alive, that wouldn’t just be a bit excessive. It would be downright repulsive.

No matter how much of Chihiro’s words and expressions had been genuine or deceptive, at the very least, Sakiko trusted that Chihiro wouldn’t lie to her about this.

But then… if that person wasn’t Chihiro’s mother, who was she?

And more importantly, why had Chihiro suddenly come to this school?

"Wow, that girl just now was so pretty… like a life-sized doll."

"Unfair, completely unfair. How can someone be that adorable and have a body like that?"

"You mean 'baby-faced but—'"

"…"

Togawa Sakiko, who had been about to follow after Chihiro to get some answers, suddenly froze at the conversation of a few passing girls.

Strictly speaking… they weren’t wrong.

She hadn’t really paid attention to it before, but now that she thought about it… maybe part of the reason she had instinctively trusted Chihiro was because of her looks.

A girl with long, wine-red hair, like a version of Mutsumi in high heels—someone who, at first glance, just felt like she wouldn’t lie to you. An elegant, delicate doll who seemed safe to confide in.

But now that Chihiro had disappeared from sight, Sakiko lost the motivation to ask around for more information.

This wasn’t the time to be dwelling on the past.

She needed to prove herself to her grandfather—to show him that the dreams and ideals her parents once supported hadn’t turned into some childish fantasy.

She needed to make Ave Mujica work.

---

"Tsuzuki-san, if you’re ready, we can start the written exam now."

"Mm, I’m ready."

Tsuzuki Chihiro nodded and took the comprehensive test handed to her by the academic director.

The test covered three core subjects: Japanese, math, and English. Probably due to space limitations, there were no science or humanities questions.

In the small classroom, it was just her and the director. But the so-called proctoring wasn’t all that strict—the director left the room several times for work, and even when he was present, he wasn’t staring her down the whole time.

Not that she’d need to cheat to pass.

Chihiro would never stoop that low for something like this.

For one, she hated cutting corners in situations like this. And second… Anon had put a lot of effort into preparing her for this test.

Sure, the pink-haired idiot might seem foolish when she laughed, and even more so when she played guitar—so much so that it made Chihiro want to smack her over the head.

But when it came to studying, Anon was undeniably capable.

She had drilled Chihiro relentlessly, teaching her the most effective ways to tackle the exam and how to use her existing junior high knowledge to quickly solve common test problems.

So there was absolutely no reason to worry about today’s exam.

Victory was already assured—so why rush?

"Sensei… I’m finished."

Nearly three hours later, when her brain was nearly fried and she was about ready to collapse onto the desk, Chihiro finally completed the test.

Japanese exams tended to be multiple-choice-heavy, even for basic entrance tests. So the bearded director wasted no time—he fed the answer sheet directly into the grading machine.

Only a few subjective questions remained for him to review manually, but even that didn’t take long.

"…Your score is quite a surprise, Tsuzuki-san."

Hearing that, Chihiro felt like she was about to be put on trial.

But the next sentence put her at ease.

"I expected someone who dropped out of junior high to struggle with academics, but your test results tell a different story. You must have been an excellent student before you left school."

"I assume you had unavoidable circumstances that led you to leave, but Haneoka is different from other schools—we always give students another chance to continue their education, especially students with the right attitude."

"…"

I’m… excellent? I have… the right attitude?

Did this guy get bribed by her grandma or aunt to say nice things about her?

Still, she had to give Anon credit where it was due.

She wouldn’t have passed this easily without her help.

There was no time to stop by Anon’s place tonight, but next time… she’d definitely have to reward her pink-haired tutor properly.

"Well then, welcome to Haneoka, Tsuzuki-san. Your homeroom teacher will handle your uniform and textbooks later. Once that’s done, you’ll start classes tomorrow morning."

"That soon…?"

Chihiro muttered under her breath, sounding somewhat resentful.

She had been hoping for a few more days of freedom, but nope—the moment the test ended, she was thrown straight into high school life.

Talk about unfair to a girl who had been sleeping in every day for years.

"Let’s see… A-Class already has a transfer student, so you’ll be placed in B-Class."

"Got it, Sensei."

Chihiro didn’t particularly care.

No matter which class she ended up in, school was still a pain.

But if A-Class already had a transfer student, that meant she probably wouldn’t be in the same class as Anon.

Now, the real question was… which class was Sakiko in?

Hopefully, when she stood at the front of the classroom tomorrow, she’d spot that little blue octopus among the students.

But as Chihiro left the classroom, humming Haruhikage—which Soyo had banned her from singing—she suddenly spotted a familiar figure crouched on the grass nearby.

"Wait a second… isn’t that Tomori?"

Chihiro’s lips twitched.

She glanced at the time. It was currently lunch break.

Yet this possibly-on-the-spectrum girl was crouching on the ground, completely ignoring everything around her, picking up… rocks?

Something about it just felt off.

What she didn’t realize was that while she was staring at Tomori, a pink blur was charging at her from behind—accompanied by a high-pitched, syrupy-sweet voice:

"Chihiro~!"

With a loud thud, Chihiro instinctively dodged to the side, watching as the pink-haired dog barreled past her—only to crash straight into the bushes.

"…Ow."

"Anon?! Are you okay, Anon?! Are you still alive?!"

---

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!