“I’m back.”
It had taken her less than twenty minutes in total. That was the fastest speed Tsuzuki Chihiro could manage to get from the restaurant back to Soyo’s house.
However, when she swiped her keycard and stepped inside, she frowned slightly.
This girl… didn’t turn on the lights again?
“Tsuzuki, come here for a moment. There’s something I want to talk to you about.”
“Tsuzuki?” Chihiro was momentarily stunned. “Why are you calling me by my last name all of a sudden?”
“……”
“Never mind.” Tsuzuki Chihiro chuckled. “You can call me whatever you like, Soyo.”
Still, keeping the lights off when it was already dark felt a little inappropriate. Before walking over to the sofa, Chihiro casually switched on the living room lights.
That was when she saw Nagasaki Soyo sitting on the couch, head down, her expression dark—almost as if she had completely succumbed to despair.
Chihiro didn’t sit beside her but instead chose the adjacent sofa. She gracefully lifted her skirt as she sat down, then simply observed Soyo, who remained silent, without rushing to speak first.
“Taki has figured it out.”
“Figured it out?”
“She knows you exist. She also knows when it’s you and when it’s me.”
“…Huh?”
That girl, Taki… she’s that sharp?
Chihiro hadn’t expected this.
“But that’s not the only reason you called me back, is it?”
“Of course not.”
At that, Nagasaki Soyo finally lifted her head. Her reddened eyes locked onto Chihiro as she demanded, “I don’t understand. Just how many of your words are actually true?”
“Lies. It’s always lies with you. Have you ever once faced anyone sincerely?!”
“I—”
“Don’t speak.” Nagasaki Soyo cut her off. “I know you’ll argue. I can’t win against you. You always manage to come up with some excuse to brush me off.”
“……”
“Yesterday and today, your plan was to go to Anon’s place, wasn’t it? You never actually intended to go home. I was just misled by you.”
“Oh?”
Tsuzuki Chihiro narrowed her eyes, the corner of her lips curling into a teasing smirk. “Alright then, tell me—what exactly do you think I was planning?”
“I don’t know. I just know that from the start, you never intended to kick Anon and Raana out of the band.”
“You probably had everything figured out from the very beginning. After all, your relationship with Anon seems much closer than what we had.”
“And Raana is your sister. There’s no way you’d do anything to hurt her. I should’ve realized this sooner.”
“In the end, you never actually intended to bring CRYCHIC back. You went out for a meal today with Mutsumii, Nina, and Subaru, didn’t you?”
I’m guessing your next move is to form a new band with them, isn’t it?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Tsuzuki Chihiro let out a small laugh of disbelief. Though there was some truth in Soyo’s words—
For instance, Chihiro had indeed never intended to follow Soyo’s plan to the letter. There was no way she’d revive that band at the cost of hurting Anon and her own sister.
But the rest? Pure nonsense from Nagasaki Soyo’s imagination.
“So you just… blindly believe whatever fantasy you’ve come up with? You found out one truth and suddenly decided to deny my entire existence?”
“Nagasaki Soyo, Nagasaki Soyo… You know, I’ve realized something interesting about you. Want to hear it?”
Looking at Chihiro—who wasn’t the least bit angry, but instead sat there, legs crossed, smirking as she taunted her—Nagasaki Soyo frowned slightly but said nothing, which Chihiro took as silent permission to continue.
“You know, after spending time with the four members of that CRYCHIC band you keep talking about, I came to a realization.”
“……”
“Your assessment of them… isn’t exactly wrong. But it’s also painfully superficial.”
“In fact, I bet Anon understands Taki and Tomori a whole lot better than you ever did.”
“You—!”
“And as for Sakiko and Mutsumi… never mind. Let me put it simply—”
“You may look like you’re close to everyone in the band, but there’s always been this invisible distance between you and them.”
“You keep seeing them as idealized versions of themselves, like if everyone just came back together, everything would magically reset. As if none of the changes that happened would matter anymore.”
“……”
“But even if that were possible—if everyone really could rewind time—do you honestly believe they’d be willing to throw away all the changes they’ve gone through?”
“Not all change is bad, you know. Some of it is called growth…”
“Oh, and by the way—let’s not forget about you, Soyo.”
“What about me?!”
“You keep clinging to the past, but you haven’t even realized it yourself—you’ve changed a lot, too.”
“So forget them for a second. Even you wouldn’t be able to go back to the old CRYCHIC.”
“And even if our plan somehow worked… Could you still smile at them, completely guilt-free, knowing the truth?”
“Or would you not care at all?”
“Enough.” Nagasaki Soyo cut her off coldly. “You think you understand me? Are you going to say that I’m selfish? That I’m just a pathetic failure who craves validation?”
“I never said that.”
“You don’t have to. I already know.”
Nagasaki Soyo stared at the girl in front of her, her expression utterly detached. She suddenly recalled that look in Sakiko’s eyes in the previous timeline—
That fleeting glance of what seemed like pity.
“You’re right about one thing. I don’t have any real friends. Say whatever you want—call me fake, say I’m desperate for love. I won’t argue anymore.”
“You could never understand me, anyway. Even if you break a contract, your grandma will just pay the penalty for you, and you can go right back home.”
“You have a family. Not just a mother and a father, but a grandmother and a little sister, too.”
“……”
At those words, something flickered in Tsuzuki Chihiro’s expression.
“So that’s how you see me?”
“It doesn’t matter anymore.”
Nagasaki Soyo didn’t notice the subtle shift in Chihiro’s face. She turned her gaze toward the window, hesitating for a few long seconds before finally speaking again.
“The contract is canceled.”
“…What?”
“There’s no point in pretending it still matters. Let’s just say it never existed. And forget the penalty fee—I don’t care anymore. Even if you were the one who broke the agreement first, I’m the one calling it off.”
“So from now on, go back to your own home, Tsuzuki Chihiro.”
“Ha…”
Tsuzuki Chihiro let out a small, disbelieving laugh.
“Soyo, are you… kicking me out?”
“……Yeah. You’re free now.”
—
T/N: NOOO THE GIRLS ARE FIGHTING AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA I LOVE IT
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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