Well, well, look what we have here? Another daily update from me! Last chapter, we get some Ribbonmania goodness followed by the Nino Train making yet another big move in its journey! First, handholding and now a bento? Looks like Nino didn't take a momentary break for nothing! While Yotsuba was making her early moves, Nino was planning to make a bento behind our backs! What's gonna happen between them? Will Fuutarou accept? Why did Nino make a bento in the first place? Let's not waste any time and hop straight into the chapter with the Nino Train!

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Disclaimer: I don't own the Quintessential Quintuplets, or any of its characters...

Things between Fuutarou and Nino remained silent for the next few moments, with the two of them having different reactions from the other. The young man stared at the bento right before him, before shifting his gaze to Nino then back to the boxed lunch. He did this several times as though he couldn't believe what was happening right before his eyes.

Meanwhile, the girl herself still couldn't bring herself to look at him out of embarrassment, at least until he takes the bento from her! Her cheeks were tinted red and she had a small pout on her face, unclear if it was to further hide her shyness or it's because she was slowly getting frustrated from Fuutarou not accepting the bento yet. What the hell was so hard about this?! He only had to take it from her hands and accept it, right?!

This caused the two to be completely unaware of their surroundings, making this extremely similar to the time when they first met, when Nino ended up running away after staring into Fuutarou's eyes for some time. Like before, there were various students who were staring at the two but their subsequent whispering were unnoticed because both Fuutarou and Nino were too distracted at the moment.

"For me…?" he asked slowly with a tone of disbelief, unable to comprehend the fact that Nino was giving him something. Not just that, but it was something that came from the bottom of her heart.

He knew what this was, way before he met Itsuki; Raiha made him a bento for his very first day around here, which was the first and only time that he had a decent lunch instead of the usual meal of rice, vegetables, and soup that he buys everyday. When his sister gave him his lunch before leaving, she said that it was 'made with love and it came from the bottom of her heart'. Truth be told, Fuutarou only understood the first part and that was already enough for him. Like what he always feels towards his sister's cooking, he savored his lunch that day and treated it as the last time that he will ever get a bento from someone important.

Until now, that is.

"That's right! Just take it!" Nino snapped at him for a brief moment, before looking away shyly the moment she met his gaze. She couldn't bring herself to look at him, not until he accepts the bento! What was taking him so long, geez! Is it really hard to accept a damn box?!

"Uh… thanks…" Fuutarou muttered with a blush of his own, before reaching out to take the box out of her hands. "Is this a bento?"

That was a stupid question. Of course he knew it was a bento! Raiha made one for him in the past, and he enjoyed it! He'll never forget that for the rest of his life, but this was Nino, the same girl who would snap at him for many reasons! Sure, she may be his soulmate, but she couldn't have changed her perception of him all of a sudden! There has to be a catch to this!

Now that the bento was out of her hands, Nino could now look at him directly without feeling nervous whatsoever. She still had a blush on her face despite the smug look that she put on, before pointing to herself in a proud manner.

"Of course it is! I-I made it myself, got it? I'm not like other people who order takeout when they could just make their own!"

Okay, there was no catch to this.

She didn't even buy it from somewhere. Nino really made a bento for him, no strings attached. She willingly spent some of her time to make this for him, and she looked proud of it. He didn't know if the soulmate bond had something to do with this but honestly, that didn't matter at the moment.

This girl… made a bento for him.

Fuutarou did his best to hide the red tint that appeared on his cheeks, but failed horribly. This was something that he didn't expect at all, and it caught him off guard like how Ken Kaneki found out that his date was a ghoul all along. "I… don't know what to say," he murmured, his expression of disbelief matching his words.

Nino's smirk grew even wider upon seeing him blush, internally cheering at the success of her plan. Success! She was able to make him blush, and it was worth it! One point to the second one among the Nakano quintuplets, ladies and gentlemen. "Hah! You can just start by saying 'thank you', you know?" she spoke, crossing her arms below her chest before flicking her hair against the wind.

The young man shrugged and thought it would do no harm to thank her, until his curiosity took over. Why did Nino choose to make him a bento? Was it because she wanted to, or because of some other thing? Heck, maybe her sisters set her up to do this! But no, he was thinking it was most likely because of the soulmate bond winning over her personality, though there was no proof that it was indeed that. Maybe he can just ask her head-on, while keeping subtle so that she doesn't get suspicious or anything…

"Wait, why did you even make me a bento? I thought my presence pissed you off?" he asked, remembering her words yesterday when Itsuki asked if she still hated him. Perhaps he can used that to find out her exact intentions...

Nino's red face became deeper than it already was, her eyes widening now that she realized she had no answer to that. There's no way she can admit that she wanted to make him flustered like her! She turned her gaze away once again, before speaking in a meek voice that showed her unnerved self. Wow, from a look of triumph, her expression quickly turned into an embarrassed one... so much for the one point that was given to her side.

"W-Well, that… t-that's because I—!"

Nope, she can't do this! Nino had nothing to say other than 'I wanted to see you blush' and she can't say such a thing! She refused to give the win to Fuutarou yet again for making her feel like this! But how could she possibly answer his question without looking like a girl in love?!

Nino clenched her fists and shut her eyes tightly, keeping her head down because she didn't want to see her flushed cheeks. She had nothing convincing to say to him as an excuse, so there's no other way around this but to activate the tsundere protocols! They never fail her!

"N-Never mind! Just eat that instead of the boring lunch that you order everyday! I'll never forgive you if you let it go to waste, got it?!"

"Sure thing…" he sweat-dropped at the way she denied answering his question, before deciding to drop it.

Whatever her reason was, he'll find out about it and whether their bond as soulmates had anything to do with it. Still, it didn't stop him from giving her a nod of acknowledgement. Food was food, so he should just be thankful for what Nino gave him instead of asking questions that might cause her to lash at him either way. He didn't want to upset the girl who made him lunch. Hey, he now had a delicious lunch later on and saved the money that he had for the day! He'll be sure to treasure this moment for as long as he lives!

"Thanks, by the way. You didn't really have to do something like this, but it's your life and decisions, so I'm not gonna question it."

After giving her a small smile out of gratefulness, Fuutarou stood up and packed the bento he received into his bag. Well, now that he had a very nice meal for lunch that one of his soulmates cooked for him, there's no time to waste! He had to get to the cafeteria and enjoy his once-in-a-lifetime lunch! Never mind the initial suspicion he had about Nino's actions! Who cares about that? Fuutarou will forever be grateful to her for this even if she hates his guts!

Even though Nino already made it clear that she doesn't hate him…

Meanwhile, the girl could only revert back to her smug look, while also grinning triumphantly for succeeding in her goal. She FINALLY made him blush, got a look at his flustered expression, and it was worth it! Granted, it took her making a homemade bento for him, but who cares? She made him feel flustered and it felt good! Also, why the hell did it feel like her heart was about to burst in happiness?

"Well, you're welcome, I guess…" she snickered, before deciding to play around a bit. "I'm not really bragging, but out of all my sisters, I'm the only one who can cook and I'm sure I can make your taste buds melt. You'd be begging me to make you more by the time you're done eating!"

Surprisingly, Fuutarou gave a chuckle of his own as he turned to look at Nino with an amused expression on his face. "I'm sure I—" his words were cut off as two girls slid in between them, their backs pointing at Nino and removed Fuutarou from her line of sight.

The red-haired Nakano was forced to take a step back out of surprise, as her attention went towards the two girls in front of her. They didn't seem like they were people whom she knew, and it didn't take long before anger started to fill her entire being.

Did these girls just decide to interrupt her conversation with Uesugi out of nowhere?!

How dare they?!

Can't they wait until after she was done talking to him?!

"Good afternoon, Uesugi-kun!" The two of them chirped at the same time, their hands behind their backs and pushing their chests out, giving him cute looks that one would expect from a girl crushing on someone.

Fuutarou was surprised at their sudden interruption of his and Nino's little talk, even more so at the fact that they even talked to him! He never thought that he would ever live to see the day where people in his classroom would talk to him outside of class! Yes, these were two of his classmates, and he knew them as Tomatsu-san and Hara-san. Of course, he didn't know their first names since there was no need to bother with it. As far as he was concerned, everyone stayed away from him and he did the same, so this was the first time that they have ever interacted. Still, why the hell would these girls choose to willingly talk to him? Don't they know of his reputation around here?

Wait, this must be the result of those stupid rumors going around! It has to be! There's no way that someone who is not Itsuki, Nino, or Yotsuba would willingly talk to him without an outside reason. The rumors about him and Itsuki must have blown up to the point that other students will start talking to him! This didn't look good for Fuutarou in the near future, even right now when he was with Nino!

"Uh, good afternoon to you two as well, Tomatsu-san, Hara-san." Fuutarou gave the two girls a nod, deciding to be respectful and not be rude in any way. He couldn't hold them at fault for this if they had just heard the rumors about him and became curious. "Can I help you two with anything?"

"We know that we've never really talked before, but we've heard some things about you recently that we couldn't help but be curious!" said the energetic Tomatsu who could barely hold in her eagerness.

Hara was the next to speak up, even going as far as to wink at him in a suggestive manner. "That's why we'd love it if you'd join us and our friends for lunch, Uesugi-kun! We want to hear more about you and know what it's like being the top student who gets perfect scores all the time!"

"Uh, I don't know about that…" Fuutarou muttered, while feeling overwhelmed with this sudden attention he was getting. So, his hunch was correct about the rumors being more relevant that it reached the point where other students will start to approach him. No wonder those male students from earlier this morning tried to walk towards him and Yotsuba!

Also, what was wrong with him? If it was any other time, he'd know what to say and that would be to decline their plea with a cold tone, so why couldn't he do such a thing right now? Was it because he felt like he was in a new environment now that he was essentially popular in the school due to those rumors? It wouldn't be a stretch to say that not only his name will be known around here, but his face as well! In fact, more people will start going after him starting tomorrow if today was any indication!

"Hey!"

Fortunately for him, Nino was still behind the girls and she just raised her voice to the point that she couldn't be unnoticed. Both Tomatsu and Hara turned around and gave Fuutarou a clear view of his soulmate, who had her hands on her hips and scowled at the two girls who just spoke to him.

"The hell are you two idiots trying to do? Can't you see I was still talking to this guy? The nerve of people nowadays," Nino growled, before shaking her head in disappointment. "Just get out of my way, it's obvious he doesn't want to join any of you. Uesugi's not used to having many people around him, so just leave him alone, will ya?"

She remembered how Itsuki made it clear that Fuutarou wasn't used to interacting with many people due to many years of being a loner, and decided to use that against these girls. Interrupting a perfectly good conversation between him and Fuutarou, eh? It would be satisfying to crush their hopes of having lunch with him! No one will take him away while she's still around! She won't let him eat what she made while he's in the company of other girls who listen to baseless rumors!

While Fuutarou was left surprised at how Nino was declining these girls' offer for him, both Hara and Tomatsu took a step back from the weight of the redhead's glare, but rallied themselves against it.

"W-We were asking Uesugi-kun, not you, Nakano-san," Tomatsu shot back with a cold smile.

Hara, however, was a lot more stingy that she rivaled Nino's glare with one of her own. "We know you hang out with Uesugi-kun all the time, but you have to let him make choices on his own. It's not like you're his girlfriend, or something."

"Hey, you better watch your mouth! This guy is not—" Nino argued back before realizing what she was about to say. She would only be proving these girls' words, and that wasn't what she wanted! And so, with blushing cheeks, Nino held back her snappy attitude and bravely put on a smirk. "S-So what if we're not? You still can't eat with him because he's mine, and I'm not giving him to you!"

While the two girls were left speechless at Nino's declaration, none were more shocked than Fuutarou himself, who was beginning to think that he was just dreaming and that he'll wake up at any second.

Wow... the quickest way to a man's heart is through his stomach, indeed. Fuutarou didn't hesitate to accept the bento and now, he's starting to see Nino in a different light. He was pretty neutral with her at first because even though she's pretty mean to him, he knows that she is still his soulmate. However, with this chapter, I'm sure that he'll start to warm up to Nino voluntarily. Still, the reason behind Nino's actions are still yet to be uncovered. No idea if it's because of the soulmate bond or not. Guess we'll find out next time. Oh, and would you look at this?! The rumors about Fuutarou and Itsuki have finally begun to bear fruit, and now our boy is getting his first taste in being popular! That's not a good sign at all, but look where it led to! NINO JUST DECLARED THAT FUUTAROU IS HERS! OH MY GOD, HOW WILL THIS UNFOLD IN THE NEXT CHAPTER?! Tune in next time!

Goodbye... and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*

-Lance