“You just want to avoid playing guitar, don’t you?”
Finally, those words left Taki’s mouth—just like before.
And the moment she said it, Anon, who had been full of fighting spirit just seconds ago, completely froze, stumbling over her words.
Sigh… Pink-haired ones always have such weak combat power.
But Nagasaki Soyo truly hadn’t expected this.
This time around, Taki was actually voicing her thoughts—the ones she never managed to say to Tomori before.
The thoughts she once considered too selfish to express—
She was now saying them outright, in front of everyone.
The hesitation, the late-night conversation in the stairwell—
All of it was gone.
And if she recalled correctly, back then, when Taki failed to speak her mind, how had she responded?
Why is it that the most important things… always go unsaid?
CRYCHIC missed each other because of that. But we don’t want to make the same mistake, right?
Soyo had told many lies in her life.
But she remembered—on that night, when she said those words, she had meant them from the bottom of her heart.
Yet now, everything seemed to be changing.
She had to admit it—
This Taki… was really different.
If, back then, when Sakiko decided to leave, they had all spoken honestly like this…
Would things have turned out differently?
Could they have stayed together, singing and playing as a band?
Even if they ran into difficulties, wouldn’t they have been able to overcome them?
“Anon, deep down, you’re just pretending to be on Tomori’s side, aren’t you? The one who really doesn’t want to do this live performance… is you.”
Soyo snapped back to reality at Taki’s words.
Watching Taki lose her temper at Anon—just like last time—Soyo suddenly smiled.
So Taki had changed, but only when it came to the former members of CRYCHIC.
When dealing with a slacker like Anon, her temper was just as fiery as ever.
“Tomori is afraid that if we go through with this live show, the band will fall apart.”
“I…”
“But what about you? I think you’re just running from the guitar, from practicing.”
“I mean, come on, you don’t even know how to read sheet music properly. Do you even know what you’re doing?”
Anon’s eyes widened, feeling completely exposed.
“I-I do know! I was in performances back in middle school!”
“I don’t want to hear your excuses.”
“Honestly? I never wanted you in this band to begin with.”
“Uh… Taki, maybe you should calm down a bit?”
Soyo spoke up, though she wasn’t really trying to de-escalate things.
She enjoyed watching the chaos unfold, but she also didn’t want Anon to storm off completely.
It might sound contradictory, but Soyo only had one goal—
The band couldn’t fall apart yet.
They had to stay together—
Even in this messy, dysfunctional state—
At least until the live performance was over.
After that, everyone would realize just how unreliable this band was.
And once they compared it to the memories of their real band, CRYCHIC—
It would be obvious that nothing else could ever replace it.
This wouldn’t be enough to immediately bring CRYCHIC back together,
But at the very least, no one would ever think starting a new band was a viable option again.
The original is irreplaceable.
The original lineup is the only one that works.
“…Soyo.”
Hearing Soyo’s words, Taki’s body trembled slightly.
The aggressive expression on her face faded, and a hint of regret flickered in her eyes.
What am I doing…?
Taki, Taki… you really haven’t changed at all, huh?
Acting like this will only make things worse.
Seeing how Soyo had stopped her, yet showed no sign of anxiety—
Instead, she seemed content, even satisfied—
Taki understood.
Soyo is just trying to maintain this fragile, artificial harmony.
Taki took a deep breath.
This time, when she spoke, her voice was much softer.
“Anon… You always run away.”
“I don’t know what else you’ve run from in the past,”
“But are you really okay with that?”
“…Huh?”
Anon was stunned.
Soyo was stunned.
Even Tomori, who had been calmly watching, showed a flicker of surprise in her eyes.
“Uh… Taki, what do you mean by that?”
Anon had already been preparing to literally run away.
She had been eyeing the studio door for a while now—
Carefully planning her escape route so she wouldn’t accidentally crash into a wall.
But now, with Taki suddenly changing the direction of the conversation, she was caught completely off guard.
“I’ll admit it.”
“At first, I really didn’t want someone like you in the band.”
“You had no real reason to join, you wasted time on pointless things—”
“But… you still chose to stay.”
“Every single time, you stuck around like a stubborn bandage that just won’t come off.”
“Hey! What’s that supposed to mean?! I’m not a bandage!”
“…Pink bandage?”
“You…! That’s it! I’ve had enough of you!!!”
Watching Anon fuming, hands on her hips, looking completely indignant—
Taki smirked slightly, her expression softening.
She had definitely taken out some of her own stress on Anon just now—no point in denying it.
But she knew—
If it were Soyo, she wouldn’t want to see anyone else leave the band.
And if it were Soyo, she would be doing everything in her power to keep this band together,
At least until their first live performance.
Besides—
Anon did have some good points.
For one, she was ridiculously thick-skinned.
If someone insulted Taki that badly, she sure as hell wouldn’t be coming back the next day to talk about forming a band again.
But Anon did.
And another thing—
That day, when Soyo had been ready to give up, Anon had stayed.
She had even put in actual effort to practice.
…Sure, that motivation disappeared pretty quickly,
And sure, she probably would’ve given up before Soyo even had the chance to fully resolve her problems,
But still—
Could anyone really say that Anon was the biggest problem here?
Taki, herself, was impulsive and emotionally volatile.
Tomori was sensitive and rarely spoke up, meaning she couldn’t help smooth over conflicts in the band.
Ren… had already vanished off the face of the earth.
And as for Nagasaki Soyo—
Come on, the girl’s lost her mind. Tell me that’s not a serious issue.
All things considered…
The only actual normal person in this band…
Was Chihaya Anon.
“So are you really okay with just wasting time here?”
“Do you really want to keep going like this, just hanging around the studio with no real direction?”
“You joined this band because you wanted to be in the spotlight, right?”
“And now, before you’ve even achieved that, you’re just giving up?”
“……”
Seeing Anon start to hesitate, Taki softened her tone.
“Sorry… I know I can be impulsive.”
“Maybe some of what I said just now… was a bit harsh.”
“…I get it.”
“I-I’ll… practice harder.”
Anon still sounded uncertain, but she nodded.
Meanwhile, Soyo, standing off to the side, was completely speechless.
She stared at the black-haired girl in front of her.
Was this really the same Shiina Taki—
The girl who only knew how to push people away?
This girl…
She must’ve been replaced, right?!
No, seriously, she must’ve been swapped out for someone else!
She couldn’t handle this anymore.
Chihiro, please, come save your sugar mommy already!
She’s losing control of the situation!
—
T/N: O///O
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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