20

In the end, since a certain completely broke individual had handed over all her money to her hotel and couldn't spare a single yen, Sakiko ended up covering dinner after all.

Not that it cost much.

In fact, it was even cheaper than the coffee she had bought earlier that day.

So Sakiko didn't really mind—if anything, she felt a little bad for Chihiro.

But then she remembered that ridiculous thing Chihiro had said at the end, and any lingering guilt disappeared completely.

"…Still, Chihiro-neesan is really good at reading people. She doesn't sugarcoat things, yet somehow, when she says them, they actually make you feel at ease."

A person's emotional intelligence is often shaped by their life experiences.

At least, that's how Sakiko saw it.

Maybe it was because Chihiro had lost her parents so young, been forced to shoulder everything alone, and learned how to stand on her own—

That's why she had this kind of emotional insight.

If it had been anyone else, they probably would've either just sat there awkwardly while she got lost in her own thoughts—

Or thrown out some half-hearted words of comfort, hoping that would somehow improve her mood.

But both of those approaches would've only made things worse.

Chihiro's method, on the other hand, was unexpected.

With just a couple of sentences, she had given Sakiko an outlet to talk.

And then, in the next moment, she had pulled her out of those heavy thoughts completely.

"…But people like her are rare."

And honestly, their whole dynamic was kind of weird.

They had shared things most people wouldn't say out loud.

And they had also promised to keep those things to themselves.

Sakiko didn't really think that kind of promise meant anything.

But for some reason, she wanted to believe in Chihiro this time.

She unlocked her phone, opened LINE, and scrolled down to a contact labeled "Nagasaki Soyo."

She had already muted the chat, so she couldn't see any new messages Soyo had sent after that.

But just looking at the flood of unread messages before that was enough to make her feel exhausted.

Of course, she knew—Soyo wanted to know why she had left.

And she knew that Soyo had nothing to do with her current situation.

She shouldn't be taking her frustration out on her.

When she heard from Mutsumi that Soyo had stopped trying to bring CRYCHIC back, she had felt relieved.

But the moment she heard that Soyo was planning to leave Japan and never come back…

Something felt off.

Maybe it was a terrible thing to think, but Sakiko had a strong feeling—

Soyo was faking it.

Sigh…

They were the same age.

Almost the same height.

Even their birthdays were only a few days apart.

So why was there such a huge difference between them?

If she had really moved on, she wouldn't be in a rush to leave.

They would be able to see each other without constantly interfering in each other's lives.

But… would that really be okay?

Just moments ago, Sakiko had been criticizing Soyo for not letting go.

And now, she realized—she wasn't any better.

Her mind was starting to get all tangled up again.

But the moment she pushed open her front door and was hit with the overwhelming stench of alcohol in the dimly lit room—

She sobered up instantly.

With the way things are now… I don't have the time to be worrying about this.

Right, you bastard old man?

---

April 29th, Wednesday.

Today was a very important day for Nagasaki Soyo.

Because if her memory was correct, this was the day when everything had started to fall apart in her last loop.

Back then, she had been passing by RiNG when she saw Taki and Anon arguing at the entrance.

And because she was curious, she had walked over and asked about it.

Thinking about it now…

Even though she hadn't seen a third person at the time—

The argument had most likely been about Tomori.

Anon and Tomori were classmates.

And knowing how overly enthusiastic that pink-haired girl was, she had probably dragged Tomori out on just the second day of school.

If Taki had run into them together, it would've made perfect sense for her to misunderstand.

But why had they gotten into an argument over that?

And why hadn't she seen Tomori that day?

That part was easy to figure out.

Even in the last loop, when Soyo had been trying everything to get them to form a band, Tomori had never wanted to do it.

She had seemed afraid of the very idea.

And considering that last Thursday, Anon had been at RiNG trying to recruit bandmates—

The answer was clear.

Taki must have misunderstood the situation, thinking that Anon was forcing Tomori into something she didn't want, and that's why her first impression of Anon had been awful.

"Soyo, are you coming to practice this afternoon?"

After school, just as Soyo was about to pack up and head toward the scene of the incident, a few of her clubmates showed up at her classroom.

"Ah… I'm a little busy these days."

"Huh?" One of the girls in her class blinked in surprise. "Soyo, you're starting to sound like a model student~"

"Haha, no way…"

Soyo laughed awkwardly.

But considering how she had been behaving in class the past few days, it wasn't surprising that they thought that.

She had been paying attention in all her classes, not just English.

Her change in behavior had been obvious, especially to people who were close to her.

Even Mutsumi had been giving her these uncertain, hesitant looks.

But Soyo hadn't addressed it.

She figured letting them misunderstand was probably for the best.

Of course, she hadn't done anything to make Tsuzuki Chihiro suspicious either.

People like her—they were always wary.

Before, when she had no idea who Chihiro really was, it hadn't mattered.

But now that she knew she was a con artist, suddenly approaching her might just tip her off.

Even though Soyo was feeling confident, she knew she had to be more careful this time.

She had been given a chance to do things over.

She couldn't afford to be reckless.

"Midterms are coming up in mid-May, so I just need to prepare ahead of time."

She threw out a random excuse.

It wasn't a very good one, but it was enough to get her clubmates off her back.

Mutsumi had ballet practice today, so she didn't have to explain anything to her either.

With her plan set, Soyo slung her bag over her shoulder and headed toward a place where she could observe RiNG's entrance without being noticed.

But just as she stepped outside, she ran into someone completely unexpected.

"…Iseri-sensei?"

Soyo made sure not to slip up.

She didn't call out Tsuzuki Chihiro.

But even so, the moment she saw her, she felt a strange sense of unease.

Something about the way Chihiro was looking at her…

It was different.

"Soyo-san," Chihiro said with a smile.

"Do you know Togawa Sakiko?"

---

T/N: oops I messed up I think I said it was Raana and Anon that fought in a previous chapter but it was most likely Taki and Anon...