Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [159]

Ever since that night when Sakiko left, it felt like so much had happened.

No one had mentioned it in a long time, but it must have been the third day after Sakiko’s departure when the remaining members of CRYCHIC arranged a practice session in their group chat.

What Soyo’s words meant to each of them, no one knew.

Not even Taki.

All she knew was that Tomori never showed up that day. And in that moment, a band without a vocalist… lost all meaning.

If she had chosen to wait for Tomori outside her school that day, would the band have stayed together?

Probably not.

Because back then, none of them truly understood anything.

None of them realized what it really meant for a band to be a shared destiny.

After that, Taki left as well—partly because she knew the band was over, but also because, without Tomori’s voice, she had no reason to keep going.

But for Tomori… maybe, by that point, CRYCHIC had already lost the power to give her the courage to sing.

And what about Mutsumi, the only one who had stayed in the group chat, and Soyo, who continued to send messages like "Let’s practice tomorrow afternoon" until the very end?

Back then, Taki had found it ridiculous.

Everyone knew.

Everyone knew that no one from CRYCHIC was ever going back to that studio.

So why did Soyo stubbornly keep sending those one-sided messages?

Until even Mutsumi stopped replying.

And the rest of them… simply watched from behind their screens, their cold eyes set on Soyo’s lonely persistence.

One day. Two days. A week.

On the tenth day, the final message was sent:

"Does anyone have time tomorrow afternoon?"

After that, the CRYCHIC group chat fell silent forever.

No one ever spoke in it again.

A few months later, during their middle school graduation ceremony, Taki sat quietly in the auditorium, watching the smiling faces of her classmates.

At that moment, she had thought—I’ll probably never see those four again.

But she was wrong.

Because ever since Soyo spotted her working at RiNG one day, she had started dropping by every now and then, ordering a cup of tea while throwing out casual, seemingly meaningless questions—questions whose real purpose was obvious the moment they were spoken.

Soyo… had held on for so long.

It was just a silly middle school band formed by five clueless girls playing around, and yet she had taken it so seriously.

But now, Taki couldn’t bring herself to say anything cold or mocking.

Because maybe, from the very start, Soyo hadn’t cared about the band itself.

Maybe she had only cared about the precious friendships that once existed within it.

And a person who values their friends… should never be ridiculed for it.

"Mutsumi, what did you mean just now?"

Wakaba Mutsumi had suddenly appeared, blurted out a vague, ominous sentence, and then immediately turned to leave.

Taki didn’t even care that she was on the clock—she pushed open the bar counter’s small door and rushed out, blocking Mutsumi’s path.

After CRYCHIC broke up, Taki had assumed that the three girls from wealthy families would continue their education at Tsukinomori.

But seeing how Soyo had always been chasing after Sakiko, it was likely that after entering high school, the person she was closest to at school… was the girl standing in front of her.

Of course, she and Mutsumi had never been particularly close.

Or rather… back in CRYCHIC, the only ones Taki had really been close to were Tomori and Sakiko.

And her friendship with Sakiko had been purely out of admiration for her talent.

But now, Taki had no other options.

She needed to know more about what was happening with Soyo.

"…"

"You know something, don’t you?"

Taki watched as Mutsumi hesitated, struggling to find the right words.

"And you came looking for me—because you want my help, don’t you?"

“…Why didn’t you invite Soyo to join your band?"

"I—"

Oh, right.

She had promised Sakuyo to keep that a secret.

Sakuyo didn’t want Sakiko to know that she had formed a band with Taki.

And Taki understood why.

If she were Sakuyo, and she had seen her original self being crushed under Sakiko’s cruelty, she wouldn’t want her to know about it either.

Telling Mutsumi would be the same as telling Sakiko.

Which meant… she couldn’t tell Mutsumi anything either.

That was close…

Taki let out a slow breath.

She had almost blurted out the truth—just because of her old habit of speaking without thinking.

Good thing she caught herself in time.

"Soyo has her own thoughts. If she wanted to join, of course I’d welcome her."

A vague, meaningless answer.

Then, she shifted the conversation back:

"Did Soyo say something to you? What did you mean just now—when you said she doesn’t know what to do anymore?"

"If you don’t tell me what’s going on, how am I supposed to help?"

“…Would you really help Soyo?"

"…Yeah."

Mutsumi fell silent again.

And that silence—so heavy, so suffocating—felt like it was saying something without saying anything at all.

A silence that made Taki’s chest tighten.

"Soyo… is being taken away by her mother at the end of this semester."

"…What?"

"She’s going to study abroad. That’s what her mom decided. Apparently, it has something to do with her father."

"Wait, what do you mean? I don’t get it at all."

"…That’s all I know."

Shaking her head, Mutsumi turned and left.

As if she had just used up all the words she had planned to say for the entire day.

And Taki… was left frozen in place, her mind reeling.

"…"

"…So that’s what this is about?"

Everything made sense now.

The final missing puzzle piece had just fallen into place.

The massive, intricate puzzle that revolved around Soyo—at last, she could see the full picture.

Why did she break down?

—Because someone who deeply values their relationships was being forced to leave the people she cared about. And during a time when those relationships were already falling apart.

Why did she decide to leave the band?

—Because she knew if she stayed, she would only sink deeper. So she had to end it as soon as possible.

Why did she join Benishouga and start a career online?

—Because working as a content creator had no location or time restrictions.

Why did she suddenly start singing?

—Because there were things in her heart she needed to express.

Just like how Sakuyo had poured all of her raw emotions into those lyrics.

Now, there were no more questions left.

But at the same time…

Taki realized she had no idea how to fix any of this.

She drifted back to her workstation in a daze, mindlessly going through the motions of work.

She had no idea how much time had passed—an hour, maybe more.

And then, when she finally looked up—

There she was.

Nagasaki Soyo.

The tea-haired girl stood there, arms crossed, her face pale as if she was terrified of something.

The moment she saw Taki, panic flickered in her eyes, and she instinctively took a small step back.

"Taki… You… you know everything now, don’t you?"

"…"

"Tell me. Just put me out of my misery."

"Everything that hasn’t even happened yet—the band, my selfishness and lies, my irresponsibility toward Anon and Raana, my betrayal of Tomori, my use of you… all of it."

"Even… even the fact that one day, I might pretend not to know Tomori on the train—leave her behind like a stranger, walk away without looking back—you saw everything, didn’t you?!"

"I… I guess, yeah. But—"

—But isn’t she exaggerating a little?

Soyo… was apologizing for things that hadn’t even happened yet.

How ridiculously kind could she be?

"I’m sorry…"

Soyo lowered her head, her voice trembling with tears.

"Taki, just yell at me. I really don’t deserve to treat you all like this."

"Soyo…"

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T/N: SOOYOOOOOO U FOOOL

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!