Soyo-chan, Version 2.0—Courtesy of Me! [149]

"You're actually dodging me?!"

Nagasaki Soyu was already a little irritated. After all, just yesterday, Chihiro had caused a massive misunderstanding in front of Sakiko and Mutsumi, and now, she was at it again—playing pranks on her.

Wait, no.

She wasn’t even changing her approach. She was using the exact same trick!

So when the "Chihiro" in front of her took a step back and blocked her attempt to expose the disguise, Soyu's immediate reaction was to call her out.

She had to be careful... Mutsumi was right behind her. And given how off Mutsumi’s state was right now, if things escalated any further… who knew what kind of consequences it might bring?

"…Soyu, are you mad because Mom hasn't been home for so long?"

"Drop the act, Tsuzuki Chihiro!"

"Tsuzuki Chihiro?" Nagasaki Rina frowned. It was the first time she’d heard that name. "Who’s Tsuzuki Chihiro?"

"You’re too good at acting—way too good. If I didn’t know you were just a masterful liar, I might’ve actually believed you."

"Soyu…"

Standing behind Nagasaki Soyu, Wakaba Mutsumi had now stepped forward, watching the girl—who, for some reason, was suddenly lashing out at her own mother—with a deeply concerned gaze.

Was it because Soyu hadn’t expected her mom to show up at the school gates? Was she using this reaction to convince herself that what she had just said… was actually true?

"Mutsumi, don’t let her fool you. She’s not my mom…"

"Soyu!" Nagasaki Rina finally lost her composure. "If you keep acting like this, Mom’s going to be really mad!"

Right now, Rina was seriously considering marching straight to her daughter's homeroom teacher and demanding an explanation:

I’m Nagasaki Soyu’s mother. What on earth is Tsukinomori teaching my daughter?!

Just look at her now! Where’s the sweet, considerate little girl she used to be?!

…Wait a minute.

A sudden possibility crossed Rina’s mind—could it be that Ichinose was involved? Did that woman come back and fill Soyu’s head with nonsense?

"You’re really my mom?"

"…Who else would I be?"

"Then let me touch your face."

"Eh?" Nagasaki Rina was caught off guard. She hadn't expected her daughter to make such an affectionate request in the middle of a public setting. Even at home… it had been a long time since Soyu had acted this clingy.

Still, she didn’t refuse.

Rina believed her daughter was a well-behaved child, and today's strange behavior had to have some kind of reason behind it.

She was also curious about that name Soyu had mentioned—Tsuzuki Chihiro.

"……"

With Rina’s permission, Soyu actually reached out her hand—but rather than a gentle touch, her action was more of a… pull.

"Soyu, what are you doing?"

"…I’m doomed."

Nagasaki Soyu froze.

She now fully realized that she had backed herself into not one, but two inescapable predicaments.

First, she had just been outright rude to her own mother—pointing fingers, calling her names, and even going so far as to physically "discipline" her.

Second… there was no way to explain this away.

One glance at Mutsumi’s expression was enough to tell her—Mutsumi had completely misinterpreted her actions as a desperate attempt to hide something, to keep people from worrying about her.

No, wait—maybe she could still salvage this!

"Mom… it’s like this." Soyu nervously intertwined her fingers, fidgeting restlessly. "Can you help me explain to Mutsumi? That I don’t actually have any plans to study abroad after this semester?"

"…Study abroad?"

Already confused, Rina had initially assumed her ex-husband was the one stirring up trouble. But now, hearing those words, she paused.

Wait, where did this "studying abroad" thing come from?

Did Soyu have a fight with her best friend and say she was leaving Tokyo just to be dramatic?

No, that wasn’t right. Since when had her daughter become so prone to making grand declarations—so much so that she needed her own mother to clean up after her?

Regardless, Rina had never even considered sending Soyu overseas just because Ichinose had returned to Japan. Her job couldn’t be relocated so easily, and finding new work in another country wasn’t exactly a simple matter.

"You’re Mutsumi, right?" Nagasaki Rina smiled at the sweet-looking girl beside her daughter. "Don’t worry, Mutsumi-chan. Auntie’s not taking Soyu away. You two can always be together."

"…Mm."

Wakaba Mutsumi nodded, though the doubts in her heart weren’t so easily dismissed.

But Soyu had no idea.

She only let out a small sigh of relief, hurriedly said goodbye to Mutsumi, then lowered her head in embarrassment as she followed her mother to the car, like a guilty child who had just been caught misbehaving.

It wasn’t until she got into the car that Rina finally asked:

"So… are you going to tell Mom now? Who exactly is this ‘Tsuzuki Chihiro’?"

"Well…"

---

"Finally done!"

With a satisfied push of her keyboard and mouse, Tsuzuki Chihiro slumped into her chair like a deflated balloon.

It had been a long time since she’d been this deeply absorbed in creating something. She had honestly thought… she wasn’t capable of it anymore.

Sure, she’d written plenty of songs in the past—but those were just for fun. Back then, she had never taken composing seriously. With her exceptional guitar skills, she had always carried a certain arrogance, believing that songwriting should just be left to the "grunts" in the band.

But playing in a band… was it really just about shredding the guitar?

Obviously not.

A band—especially an original one like Benishouga—had to perform live in clubs and venues.

Beyond music composition, live performances were an essential part of the game.

And in both of those aspects, Chihiro had completely failed.

But this time… as she took on the dual responsibility of adapting Sakiko’s lyrics and composing a melody suited for Soyu, she finally realized—writing songs was never about showing off one’s own skills.

Holding back on her own performance to highlight someone else… was no different from what Sakiko had done when composing for Haruhikage.

"No wonder Soyu cares so much about CRYCHIC… Sakiko really is an incredible musician."

Glancing at the time, Chihiro saw that it was only around 3 PM. Without a second thought, she hopped onto her bed.

She was completely drained.

At this rate, she wouldn’t even care if the sky fell—she just wanted to sleep.

If the sky really did fall… well, Soyu could deal with it.

But just twenty minutes into her nap—barely drifting into light sleep—her phone started ringing.

Drowsy and sluggish, Chihiro tried to ignore it, hoping it would stop after a few seconds.

But it just kept going.

And going.

"God… my life is suffering."

With a groggy, miserable expression, she dragged herself out of bed, trudged to her desk, and glanced at the caller ID before finally answering.

"What is it, Subaru?"

If she remembered correctly, Awa Subaru were supposed to be filming right now.

Why was Subaru calling a shut-in like her?

Besides, their "deal" from last time hadn’t even gone through.

"Chihiro! I’ll pay you—can you take someone out for me?"

"…Wrong number. I scam people, not assassinate them."

"Aaahhh! I’m going crazy! Nina is so unreasonable—I want to beat her up so bad!!!"

"…You okay?"

"Can you just come over?! I did everything Nina told me—I was all set to come clean to Grandma—but then she stopped me!"

"Sorry… Nina’s my friend. I can’t—"

"I’ll do anything if you help me with this."

"…Huh?"

Why did that sound… strangely familiar?

---

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!