Ryunosuke had just intended to return to his own dormitory. But as luck would have it, he ran straight into Nino, who had apparently been waiting for him for quite some time outside his door.
Nino was crouching in front of the entrance, looking as though she'd been there a while. Ryunosuke's expression immediately shifted into a "mask of suffering" — a bad feeling stirring in his gut.
(Maybe I should just stay at Ayanokouji's place tonight. Lay low until things settle down.)
The moment he turned around and prepared to make his escape, Nino caught him in the act. Seeing that he'd arrived only to try and leave again, she called out to stop him.
"Hey!"
Ryunosuke halted, cursing internally, but turned back anyway and asked, "What is it, Nino-san?"
Since all five sisters shared the same surname — Nakano — everyone called them by their first names to tell them apart. It was simply unavoidable. If you only called out their family name, no one would know who you meant.
Nino jogged over to him. Her face was slightly flushed from the cold weather. Her eyes darted back and forth, as though she were carefully choosing her words. It didn't take long before she finally gave her answer.
Pointing at him, Nino spoke with remarkable boldness. "Come eat at my place!"
At that moment, her face was red — not from the cold, but from the heat burning inside her. She could practically hear the sound of boiling water coming from her own head. It had taken every ounce of courage she had to invite this guy over for a meal.
Her primary reason was to thank him for what he had done for all five of them. They knew the situation — it was Ryunosuke who had spent his own private points to guarantee their place at the school. Even if Nino didn't know the exact amount, all five sisters had taken that act of kindness to heart.
Beyond that, Nino found the young man standing before her to be very much her type. He wasn't exactly handsome in the traditional sense, but his aura was undeniably attractive — the aura of a bad boy.
As it turned out, alongside her taste for good-looking men, Nino was also a fan of the delinquent type. The rougher the edge, the more she liked it. Not a genuinely wicked man, of course — but one with a wild aura and a good heart underneath.
Nino was no naive fool; she wouldn't fall for a real delinquent. Ryunosuke acted harsh on the surface toward them, yet in reality had willingly sacrificed his points to save them. She understood perfectly well that this man was exactly her type.
Nino stood there, cheeks still flushed, waiting for his answer.
Ryunosuke said nothing and tried to walk past her and leave. Nino froze for a moment, not reacting right away. By the time she snapped back to her senses, Ryunosuke had already gotten quite far.
He was truly intent on taking refuge at Ayanokouji's place. But Nino chased after him and grabbed his shoulder from behind, her expression far from pleased.
"I invited you to eat at my place — why are you turning me down like this?"
Nino couldn't wrap her head around it. She was, without question, a beautiful girl. Why didn't this guy know what was good for him when a girl like her extended an invitation? It wasn't like she was going to eat him alive. Well... not before they got to know each other better, at least. She wasn't that kind of girl.
A faint blush crept across Nino's face, and she reflexively ran her tongue over her red lips.
That small gesture left Ryunosuke feeling utterly helpless. The main reason he'd been trying to avoid her was his fear that Nino, like Yotsuba, might share a childhood promise with him.
He was already terrified enough as it was.
His current official relationships with women already numbered five. He was at his limit. If it turned out he had made some foolish childhood promise to marry one of the Nakano sisters, his head might actually explode.
Going by the original story, young Yotsuba had once swapped identities with one of her sisters when interacting with Fuutaro. Now, since he was the one who had made that promise with Yotsuba, it was only natural that he felt a creeping dread. On top of that, Itsuki's reaction the other day had clearly shown they knew each other — it was just that too much time had passed and Itsuki had forgotten. And Ryunosuke had deliberately cut that conversation short so Itsuki wouldn't grow suspicious.
In an attempt to shake Nino off, Ryunosuke deliberately put on a sharp, cold expression and shrugged her hand from his shoulder with a look of clear distaste.
He played the part of a delinquent to perfection. And yet, this only struck Nino's taste even more squarely. Like glue, she stuck to him.
Ryunosuke walked ahead; Nino chased after him from behind. The scene felt oddly familiar, like something out of a distant memory. Back when they were children, she seemed to recall following behind a boy just like this.
"Huh?"
Nino stopped in her tracks. This scene felt strangely familiar...
She had once followed someone like this before, hadn't she...
Nino stared at the back walking ahead of her, and that figure began to overlap with a hazy silhouette from her memory. Almost instinctively, she asked.
"Have we known each other since we were little?"
Ryunosuke startled and nearly tripped, but he kept his composure and answered.
"I don't think... we have?"
He himself wasn't sure, because he genuinely couldn't remember anything beyond fragmented, blurry flashes. And more importantly, what he could recall was making a promise with a blonde-haired girl — not a pink-haired one. Which meant... there was yet another little girl out there who had once made a promise with him.
He pressed a hand to his forehead. What fresh trouble was this? Just how many sins had he committed as a child that were now lining up to collect their dues?
Hearing him say they didn't know each other, Nino didn't press further. She just felt like she'd seen him somewhere before, but couldn't quite place where.
In the end, Ryunosuke was more or less "dragged" by Nino all the way to the Nakano sisters' dormitory.
Along the way, Nino explained that this was simply an expression of gratitude for saving them from being expelled. Just a regular dinner — nothing more, nothing less. Don't get the wrong idea.
Ryunosuke had no choice but to accept their goodwill. The five sisters gathered in Nino's room. Being a student dormitory, the space was already a bit cramped — and with him added to the mix, it felt even more so. Just moving around was a challenge.
The room was roughly 40 square meters, with Nino's private kitchen taking up an additional 10. That kitchen had been a personal request from their father, Maruo, to the school — a small dedicated cooking space for Nino so she could prepare meals. As the finest doctor in all of Japan at the height of his career, a modest request like this was something Tsukishiro was more than willing to grant.
After all — who among the powerful can afford to get sick?
What do the wealthy and influential fear most?
They fear having all the money in the world but not the life left to enjoy it.
In short, they fear death. People in positions of great authority never dare to offend a doctor — especially one at the very top. If anything, they go out of their way to stay on good terms with them.
That was the foundation of Maruo's position.
Nino quickly set about preparing dinner — a large pot filled with an assorted hot dish. Given the number of people, it was the most practical approach. She scooped rice into each person's bowl.
Ryunosuke received his portion too. Nino handed him a bowl and chopsticks. "Don't you dare make fun of it — I made this myself. It's not a step below anything you'd get at a restaurant outside."
He accepted it with both hands and began to eat. It was, without question, delicious.
Seeing him start, the other sisters immediately launched their assault on the pot. Itsuki in particular — her chopsticks moved so fast they seemed to leave afterimages.
"Ugh..."
Witnessing that, the other sisters didn't dare eat at a leisurely pace. If they let their guard down for even a moment, their share would be gone. They, too, threw themselves into the battle for food.
Nino's cooking was quality guaranteed — not on the level of the monsters from the "Tootsuki Ten Elite," perhaps, but still a cut above any ordinary culinary school graduate.
Nino started moving her own chopsticks as well, shooting Ryunosuke a sideways glance that said: eat faster, or you'll be left with nothing.
Ryunosuke looked at Itsuki eating with reckless abandon and decided there was no time to waste. He was hungry, after all. And so he joined the six-person food war.
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