Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [172]

"Who’s bullying my little crybaby now? Tell your big sis, and I’ll take care of them for you!"

"Pfft."

Hearing that familiar, comforting voice over the phone, Chihaya Anon’s entire face lit up with a satisfied smile.

If she were to put it in Tsuzuki Chihiro’s words, Anon was probably the easiest fool in the world to please. But of course, Anon herself was blissfully unaware of this assessment.

Even if she knew, she wouldn’t have had any objections.

"Chihiro… It’s been a while. I… Mom misses you."

She had originally wanted to just say that she missed Chihiro, but at the last second, she hesitated, thinking it might make her sound too needy. So she changed her wording and put it in her mother's name instead.

And honestly, it wasn’t a lie—her mom had been bringing up Chihiro a lot lately, even more than Anon herself, constantly hoping Chihiro would stay over more often.

"Is that so? Then I suppose I should bring some gifts when I come to visit."

"Gifts? That’s not necessary at all!"

"Of course it is. If I were just visiting you, maybe not—but you do have a mom, you know."

"…Chihiro-neesan, why does that sound so weird?"

Why did it feel like she was somehow less important? Like visiting her alone wasn’t worth bringing gifts for? But after a moment’s thought, she realized that close friends didn’t really need such formalities, and a bright smile returned to her face.

What a shame…

If only she could have formed a band with Chihiro after returning to Japan. Anon had always felt that as long as Chihiro was around, any problem would stop being a problem.

"Hey, Chihiro… Can you stay over at my place for a few days?"

"Hm?"

"I want to… learn more about guitar from you."

Walking home, Anon’s face felt a little hot. She admitted—her reasoning wasn’t entirely truthful.

But even putting aside all the complicated feelings she couldn’t quite put into words, she really did want to learn from Chihiro again.

That live performance last weekend… her performance had been a mess. That was an undeniable fact.

And maybe, just maybe, Tomori hadn’t been able to sing properly because she had set the wrong tone from the start—turning the atmosphere into something awkward and heavy.

She had seen it herself: audience members leaving because of her mistakes. Seeing that must have shaken Tomori too, making her afraid of failure.

And because she was afraid of failure—she had failed. Anon understood that all too well.

Maybe… if she could reach a level where her guitar playing could amaze everyone, then the others wouldn’t hesitate so much anymore.

That was the thought driving her forward—the plan she had decided to put into action.

"You better actually be planning to practice and not just using this as an excuse to fall asleep in my arms again."

"Ah—! You don’t have to bring that up!"

"Alright, alright. Since my little Anon is asking so nicely, of course I’ll say yes. I’ll just explain things to Soyo later—since, you know, we’re living together now, and we usually have dinner together too."

"Eh? W-Wait, really?"

Chihiro and Soyo were living together? Since when?!

But what made Anon happy was that Chihiro hadn’t hidden it from her at all—just casually mentioned it over the phone.

It felt like… there wouldn’t be any more lies or secrets between them, like before.

---

"What did you just say?!"

At Tsukinomori Girls’ Academy, outside the wind ensemble club’s activity room—

Nagasaki Soyo practically shouted into her phone. "You’re disappearing again?!"

"Soyo, why are you so worked up?"

"You… Where are you going this time?" Soyo asked, her voice dripping with jealousy.

"Anon’s place~"

"Anon? That pink-haired girl?"

"…Why are you being so rude about Anon? Weren’t you always telling me she’s a good person?"

That was before. This was now.

Seriously… just how many little sisters do you have, Tsuzuki Chihiro?!

She could tolerate the wildcat that was actually related to her by blood. She could even turn a blind eye to that string-of-random-letters OB girl who had randomly shown up and then disappeared just as suddenly.

But now, even this pink-haired runaway from England was taking her Chihiro away?!

"Forget it. Go wherever you want. It’s not like I can stop you anyway."

"Don’t be like that, Soyo. You’ve still got your mom waiting for you at home, don’t you? And sure, it’s a little disappointing that I won’t be able to talk to Rina-neesan about all your embarrassing childhood stories, but honestly, this is probably a good thing for you."

"…Can you please stop calling my mom ‘neesan’?"

"That’s not important."

It’s very important!

"When will you be back?"

Chihiro hesitated on the other end. After a brief pause, she sighed, "Soyo… I’m sorry."

"…Why are you apologizing?"

Soyo’s heart skipped a beat. She had a bad feeling about this.

"The promise between us… It’s looking pretty difficult to keep."

Chihiro sounded hesitant—almost like she was trying to talk Soyo into giving up.

Bringing everyone back together to rebuild the CRYCHIC… was it truly impossible?

Not necessarily. If she really set her mind to it, invested enough time and effort, Chihiro believed she could make it happen.

But the result probably wouldn’t be the perfect ending she had hoped for. Misunderstandings could be cleared up, or even replaced with new misunderstandings that worked in their favor… but the real problem was that people didn’t change so easily.

She didn’t think the little Sakiko that Soyo had been chasing all this time was the same as the idealized Togawa Sakiko in her memory.

Even if a “happy reunion” happened in the end, it might not be the one Soyo truly wanted.

"This isn’t your fault…" Chihiro continued. "I just—"

"No."

Soyo’s voice came through, sharp and desperate.

Chihiro’s words… her sudden talk of giving up… and the fact that she was heading to Anon’s house right now—

Was she trying to abandon her?!

"Tsuzuki Chihiro, you can’t just go back on your word! You promised me!"

"…"

"You’re not leaving me behind."

"…Alright." Chihiro let out a quiet sigh. She could hear the sheer determination in Soyo’s voice. "Since you insist, I’ll try a little harder."

"…Good."

Soyo hung up. But even after the call ended, she still looked deeply troubled.

To be honest, she felt absolutely shameless.

She knew it was hopeless. So why was she still selfishly dragging Chihiro into this pointless struggle?

She had always been like this—always using excuses that sounded like they were for everyone’s benefit, when in reality, they were just ways to justify her own selfish desires.

She had tried to use the excuse of "forming a new band" to bring Sakiko back.

And now, she was using the excuse of "bringing Sakiko back" to keep the girl she liked by her side.

Tsuzuki Chihiro, a liar? No. The real liar… was her.

"...Next time."

Soyo murmured to herself, "Next time, if Chihiro says that again… I’ll let her go."

---

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!