Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [179]

Nagasaki Soyo had left.

Of course, Tsuzuki Chihiro expected this. But instead of stopping her immediately, she simply watched as the girl ran out of the café, eyes red with grievance.

"Onee-chan, will Soyo come back?"

"Oh? Raana, you actually care about people now~?"

"…Because she's Onee-chan's friend."

"…Is that so? Raana really understands me, huh."

Seeing Raana’s sincere eyes and the concern she couldn't hide, Tsuzuki Chihiro smiled, truly happy.
As expected of the little sister who had clung to her since childhood—though the kid could be quite the handful, sometimes even more troublesome than Chihiro herself.

She recalled a time when Raana had made another kid cry at school, and it was Chihiro, acting as the "guardian," who had to go to school and clean up the mess.

Most people wouldn't understand why such misunderstandings happened, why her sister acted so differently from others, but Chihiro was the one person who could keep up with her strange way of thinking.

She patted the little troublemaker’s head, then looked at Taki, whose expression was slightly complicated.

"Taki, you still have questions for me, don’t you? You guys too."

"I want to know… is there really no way for Soyo to stay?"

"What are you talking about?"

Tsuzuki Chihiro smiled. Then, under everyone's stunned gazes, she effortlessly overturned everything she had said before, her expression mischievous like a little devil.

"Soyo was never actually planning to study abroad~"

"Eh?"

"That was just a lie she and I came up with. Oh, and this time, I bet even she doesn’t know the truth herself."

"Then why…?"

"Because Soyo is lonely."

Tsuzuki Chihiro interrupted Tomori’s question, her tone carrying a hint of melancholy and sympathy.

"She’s an idiot. The moment she chose to trust me and asked me to help her act out this whole plan to revive CRYCHIC, she was already heading down the wrong path."

"And of course, since I didn’t stop her and even helped her go through with it, that makes me an accomplice too."

"Chihiro-nee, are you saying… Soyo asked you to impersonate her to start a band? But that wouldn’t help with reuniting CRYCHIC at all, would it?"

"Yeah. Her original plan was for me to sabotage everything. I just didn’t listen to her."

"……"

Taki's lips twitched slightly. At this point, she wasn’t sure whether she should commend Chihiro for what she did or be annoyed at how she deceived both sides.

"Then why did you do what you did today…?"

"I wasn’t planning on doing this today. I didn’t expect you to act that way either, Taki. But since the opportunity presented itself, I wanted to see if I could make Soyo give up on that idea of hers."

"I used to be just like her. I used to dwell on my past bands breaking up, and maybe that’s why I agreed to help her in the first place."

"But now I’ve figured it out. A band… if you want to protect it, you should do it while it still exists, while no one has completely lost hope in one another."

"No matter how much you say you miss the past, no matter how much you wish you could bring it back, in the end, that’s just an excuse to deny the fact that, back then, you weren’t able to hold everything together when it mattered most."

"So Soyo… never actually wanted to form a band with us?"

Tomori furrowed her brows, looking a little disheartened. But Chihiro’s next words completely blocked her from continuing.

"Of course, she wants to be in a band with you guys. She’s just lost. She doesn’t even realize that the reason she felt so hurt just now was because she knew the band didn’t need her."

"Or maybe she does realize it, but she’s too attached to Sakiko and the others to admit it."

"But Soyo could’ve just told us directly! If that’s what she wanted—"

Tsuzuki Chihiro shook her head, rejecting Taki’s perspective.

"I don’t know why she thinks that way, but her attitude is clear—she doesn’t believe anyone would support her."

"Soyo once told me something. She said that, in reality, no one ever asked her to do any of this. Maybe this whole plan between the two of us… was just her acting on her own wishful thinking."

But either way, even a wishful thought like that needed to reach a conclusion.

Tsuzuki Chihiro stood up and gave the group a graceful bow. Just as she was about to turn and leave, a pink-haired girl jumped forward and grabbed her hand.

"Chihiro…"

"What is it, Anon?"

"I… I don’t know… I mean… what if Soyo refuses to give up?"

"Refuses to give up?"

Tsuzuki Chihiro smiled slightly.

"Then I’ll just keep finding a way~ What else can I do?"

Find a way?

Find a way to make Soyo change her mind, or find a way to fulfill Soyo’s wish?

Chihaya Anon watched Tsuzuki Chihiro’s retreating figure, feeling lost. But what confused her even more was the sour feeling bubbling in her chest—like something precious that had belonged to her all along had just been snatched away.

Damn it, she was here first!

Nagasaki Soyo, you sneaky little cat!

---

"I'm back."

Nagasaki Soyo wasn’t sure how she made it back home. She just walked the familiar route, moving on autopilot, swiping her keycard absentmindedly to unlock the door.

Then, she collapsed onto the large bed in her room.

This outcome… wasn’t bad, right?

She tried to convince herself. After all, Chihiro deserved to have a place to belong. And she herself had left with dignity.

Maybe this way, she’d even be remembered as a great person. Later, when she showed up again and lied about not having to study abroad, the others might actually welcome her back.

Would they… really welcome her?

Soyo wasn’t sure how Taki and Tomori saw her now. But one thing she did know was that, at this moment, there was nothing left tying her and Chihiro together.

Her phone suddenly buzzed. On instinct, she thought it was a message from Chihiro. But when she opened it, she saw something that made her vision go dark.

[beni: Soyo, Chihiro… um, looks like Benishouga will need you guys to keep it running for a while. Rupa and I just joined a new band.]

[shouga: Sorry, we talked it over with Momoka today and decided to form a band together. But I promise Benishouga won’t disband.]

"Won’t disband?"

Nagasaki Soyo let out a mocking laugh.

"Leaving is the same as disbanding. It’s always the same… always like this."

She tossed her phone aside. Now, even her last "home" was in shambles. Whether as a bassist or a vocalist, she probably had no value left anymore.

She didn’t know how long had passed, but at some point, she drifted off to sleep on that bed.

In her dreams, something tickled her cheek—like a cat paw swiping at her.

"Cut it out… Wagahai."

"……"

"Wait. Wagahai?!"

Nagasaki Soyo’s eyes snapped open—only to be met with a huge cat face staring right at her.

And above that cat, a hand was playfully scratching her face, its owner grinning mischievously.

"Soyo, Soyo. I was wondering where you ran off to, but turns out you just auto-piloted your way back to my bed, huh?"

"Saved me a lot of trouble—I didn’t even have to sneak into your place and risk getting interrogated by your mom."

"…Huh?"

"Alright, it's about time for the much-anticipated confession scene."

Tsuzuki Chihiro set the cat down, cupped Soyo’s face in her hands, and with a gaze as gentle as flowing water, she whispered—

"Soyo, I like you. Be my little maid for life."

"…Huh?!"

---

T/N: WHAT IVE BEEN BROUGHT BACK TO LIFE

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!