Nagasaki Soyo didn’t think of herself as that petty.
After all, she wasn’t exactly the most trustworthy person either.
And her mother had to leave again tonight for reasons beyond her control—so why couldn’t the same thing happen to Tsuzuki Chihiro?
The problem was that this woman was just so damn irritating.
She had zero respect for Soyo as her employer.
Even if they were natural-born enemies, even if they could never see eye to eye—at the very least, shouldn’t she show some courtesy out of gratitude for the money Soyo was paying her?
So while Soyo didn’t think Chihiro flaking on dinner was some unforgivable crime, there was absolutely no way she was going to act like nothing happened.
…Wait.
Hadn’t their conversations always been like this?
“You’re staring at me. Just eat already. I had a bunch of meat buns, but some fell on the ground. The ones that are left are all you get.”
“Not that it’s enough for a bottomless pit like you, Miss Pretty Big-Eater.”
“……”
See? This damn woman’s mouth just begs for a beating.
If this were any other employer-employee relationship, Chihiro should’ve been tied up and whipped with a cane by now.
But at the moment, Soyo was starving.
And when emotions ran high, hunger always felt even worse than usual.
So she didn’t dwell on it. She just stuffed her face without a second thought.
After all, she had already figured out the perfect way to put her unruly employee in her place.
“Starting tonight, you’re moving out of that room.”
“…Huh?”
Chihiro blinked, but to Soyo’s surprise, she didn’t argue at all.
Instead, she just nodded. “Alright. Whatever you say.”
“You agreed way too fast.”
“Well, I did stand you up. You can punish me however you want. I won’t resist.”
“Say whatever you want, but don’t cross your arms like that. You’re looking at me like I’m some kind of pervert who’s about to violate you.”
By now, Chihiro had already dropped her disguise, but her naturally pitiful-looking face still annoyed Soyo to no end.
How could someone’s face be so at odds with their personality?
“I should explain myself, so you don’t think I’m just getting back at you.”
Soyo was punishing her, but she needed to make it sound justified.
“I let you stay there at first because you were exhausted that night, and the other rooms weren’t ready.”
“But now that you’ve been here a while, you can’t keep living in my mom’s room. And honestly, your stuff is suspicious as hell. If my mom comes back and sees it, I won’t be able to explain anything.”
“So from now on, you’ll sleep in the guest room. It hasn’t been cleaned in a while, but it’s livable.”
“I also have extra blankets in my room, so you can use those.”
“Oh, and make sure you lock the door when you leave. I’d rather my mom not find out she suddenly has another daughter.”
“Mm… got it.”
Chihiro didn’t complain at all.
She wasn’t one to admit fault out loud, but she had already decided that no matter what Soyo said tonight, she’d just go along with it.
Switching rooms wasn’t that big of a deal.
“One more thing.”
“Now what?”
“Tomorrow, don’t go meet Taki and the others using my identity.”
“Didn’t you say you have a way to contact Sakiko? Go see her instead.”
“You mean…”
“I don’t trust you.”
Soyo’s tone was blunt.
“I mean, you are a scammer.”
“You couldn’t even keep a simple promise to come home and cook—who’s to say you’re actually sticking to our plan?”
“So tomorrow, I’m going to check for myself.”
“I want to see whether you’re actually doing what you claim you’re doing.”
“If I find anything off—just wait.”
“Ah.”
Chihiro hadn’t expected this day to come so soon.
Of course, she knew it would happen eventually.
Soyo wasn’t stupid. She would want to verify things herself at some point.
But Chihiro hadn’t expected that flaking on dinner would speed things up this much.
Still, the band had barely gotten started.
Nothing major had happened yet.
Even if Soyo went, she probably wouldn’t notice anything too strange.
“Alright, we’ll do it your way. But…”
“But what?”
Chihiro looked at the girl who thought she had just won, then suddenly smirked.
“Are you only going for one day?”
“Don’t flatter yourself.”
Soyo, completely unaware of what she had just walked into, folded her arms smugly.
“I definitely don’t trust someone like you.”
“Besides tomorrow, I’ll be checking in every week.”
“So don’t even try to slack off!”
“Of course!”
Chihiro beamed. “Would I ever do that?”
“Don’t give me that look. You think I’d believe you?”
“What I meant was—if we’re switching back and forth, don’t we need to make sure no one notices?”
“What do you mean?”
Soyo narrowed her eyes as Chihiro scooted closer, adjusting her skirt before settling beside her.
“You’re definitely planning something.”
“Oh, Soyo, come on~”
Chihiro’s voice dripped with playful mischief.
“What I mean is—if I show up one day with an injured knee, and the next day you show up completely fine… won’t people notice?”
“You’re gonna have to commit a little, don’t you think?”
She then added with a smirk, “Have you seen The Prestige? The twins in that movie went so far as to cripple themselves to keep their secret.”
“Wh-what?!”
Soyo jumped up in horror.
“Y-you—you’re not seriously saying I should injure myself to match you, right?!”
“Come on, Soyo~ Do it for your ultimate dream! Wear your battle scars with pride!”
Chihiro grinned devilishly as she slowly backed Soyo against the couch.
Just as Soyo tripped and nearly fell backward, Chihiro lunged forward—catching her just in time.
“Hhss…”
Unfortunately, Chihiro miscalculated her speed, and her already-injured knee slammed into the couch.
She groaned in pain.
“Are you okay?”
Soyo stared at her, suddenly alarmed.
Then, seeing Chihiro collapse onto her after groaning, she panicked even more.
“Chihiro? Hey—Chihiro?!”
“Ah, Soyo finally calls me by my name~”
“…So you’re not dead?”
“It’s just a scrape. Not a fatal wound.”
Chihiro blinked innocently, then smirked.
“But I did think of an even better solution.”
“Thick-skinned trickery.”
“…Thick-skinned what?”
Soyo looked at her blankly.
Chihiro chuckled.
“I mean tights.”
“If you wear tights, no one will see the injury. Problem solved, right?”
“……”
Soyo sighed.
“Honestly, it’s a good idea. But get off of me already, you damn scammer!”
“Call me Chihiro. Not ‘scammer.’”
“Damn Chihiro!”
“No ‘damn’ either! You make it sound like I’m already dead!”
—
T/N: SOYO IS A FREAKKKKKKKKK WHIPPING??? also I think CHihiro just likes tights, i dont blame her i like them too
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!
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