And here I am, back again with another daily update! Wow, the Nino Train surprised all of you last chapter, huh? Nino gave Fuutarou a bento which he didn't hesitate to accept, before their little moment was ruined by two other girls who tried to ask our boy to eat lunch with them. Ohoho, but Nino didn't let that happen, did she? Oh my god, how will things unfold after Nino said that Fuutarou was hers?! What the hell is gonna happen?! Things will start to get more interesting from now on, so be sure to stick with me all the way!

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

Fuutarou could only stare at Nino after she said those words, his eyes widening to massive proportions. Okay, he was convinced that he wasn't really dreaming and he was still very much in reality, but still! She was just kidding, right? There's no way she could have implied that he was hers! This was just a way for her to get rid of Tomatsu-san and Hara-san and stop them from bothering hi— them! Definitely them!

In fact, it wasn't just him and the two girls that arrived. Everyone in the entire room turned their eyes towards Nino after hearing what she just said and they were either shocked, weirded out, confused, or a mix of all three. How could they not be? They were seeing Itsuki Nakano right before them making a declaration that Fuutarou Uesugi was hers! The same girl who hugged him on her first day in this school! The whispers and murmurs have already begun with this new revelation, and it wouldn't take a genius to figure out what would happen eventually…

Hara looked taken aback from Nino's declaration that Fuutarou was hers and even blushed up a storm from the implications of that statement, but was able to fight off her blush and put on her stern expression. "D-Don't make decisions for Uesugi-kun, Nakano-san. He's his own person, and he doesn't belong to you."

"Y-Yeah, and besides…!" Tomatsu spoke up, although she was visibly shaken from hearing Nino say such a thing. There was no possible way for them to fight against a fearless declaration like hers, but they can't give up yet. They still have a chance to get what they wanted if they play their cards right! "Uesugi-kun still hasn't given us an answer, anyway! It's up to him to make a decision, not you!"

"Oh, so that's how it's gonna be…" Nino narrowed her eyes at the two girls before cracking her knuckles in a threatening manner, which was actually enough to send goosebumps all throughout Tomatsu and Hara's bodies out of fear. She smiled in an evil manner and looked as if she was surrounded by flames, making her seem like she was the devil in human skin. "Guess I won't feel bad for this at all!"

However, before Nino can do anything, a foreign hand landed on her shoulder which quickly got her attention. She snapped out of her terror look and turned her head to the side, where she saw Fuutarou looking down at her with an expression that was somehow a mix of seriousness and surprise. He already had his bag over his shoulder, showing that he was ready to leave.

"That's enough, Itsuki. You'll only end up giving them a heart attack. I'll take care of this," he spoke, while being careful enough not to call Nino by her real name as it would only cause further complications. The people around here must be thinking that this was still Itsuki, because the rumors about him have only spoken his student in particular, and not any other quintuplet among the siblings.

Nino stared up at Fuutarou for a few moments, looking like she was about to challenge his serious expression with one of her own, but merely shrugged her shoulders and stepped aside to let him take over. Oh well, at least she wouldn't have to waste her time teaching these two girls a lesson. They were seriously pissing her off, but she didn't think they were worth it. She'd just be wasting her energy too, better let Fuutarou deal with this since they won't stop unless he speaks for his himself.

One thing she hated about people, whether it be a boy or a girl, is if they continue to press on a subject matter to try and convince someone else to follow their wish!

Fuutarou turned his attention from Nino to the two girls who approached him earlier. "I apologize, Tomatsu-san, Hara-san, but I'm afraid I will have to decline. I am already eating with Itsuki for lunch, and it will be disrespectful of me to leave her on her own to dine with classmates that I have never interacted with before. Still, thank you for the invitation." He turned back towards Nino and gave her a knowing look. "Let's go, Itsuki."

With that, Fuutarou began to head out of the classroom, while Nino stared at his retreating figure. "That was… pretty cool of him," she admitted in her thoughts and surprisingly, she didn't find herself feeling conflicted about it compared to her initial opinion about him 'acting cool' even though he wasn't. Nino then looked at Tomatsu and Hara, the two girls that Fuutarou rejected, looking like a pair of sad puppies that got abandoned by their owner.

Nino laughed haughtily at them, which got the two girls' attention. "Do me a favor. Stay away from Uesugi-kun from now on, alright?" The red-haired Nakano could only smirk at their loss, before catching up to Fuutarou with a skip in her every step.

As soon as they were out of the classroom, Nino somehow looked happier than before, perhaps because she succeeded in her goal to make the young man with her blush, because he accepted her bento, or because she won against two other girls who were after Fuutarou like he was some kind of rare specimen of a male.

Heh, and where did those two idiots get such a notion? From baseless rumors going around the school?

Pathetic.

Only an idiot would listen to a rumor about a person and assume it was true without any proof!

…

...okay, she made that mistake when she met Fuutarou for the first time but in her defense, her protectiveness over her family had kicked in at that time and she didn't even pay any attention to further details regarding the young man! When Itsuki told her and their other sisters about a boy being the new friend she made, Nino wanted nothing more than to tell Fuutarou to stay away, and that was it. She didn't make assumptions like those two girls in the classroom…

Nino looked at the boy walking beside her, smirking at the unamused look on his face. She could make a few guesses on what he was thinking about, but that wouldn't be fun, would it? Instead, she could try and bring his inner thoughts out of him by making him admit it!

"So you're popular around here now?" she began with a smug tone, causing Fuutarou to glance at her for a moment before keeping his gaze in front.

"It was inevitable. I knew that the rumors about me would blow up one way or another like a virus, I just didn't expect it to happen this soon. I suppose I'll have to get used to this eventually, as there's no use in denying those claims when all it would do is strengthen the fire."

Nino shrugged, before thinking of this situation and how it would affect her family. There's no doubt that the people inside the classroom thought that she was Itsuki despite not introducing herself to them, which already meant that this wasn't good for either one of her siblings. Any of them could be seen as 'Itsuki' because of how they look alike. Granted, they may wear different accessories in order to distinguish one from the other, it hardly mattered when their faces were exactly the same.

"Well, it's not just you. 'Itsuki' is gonna be a household name in this school this time tomorrow and since there are five of us who look exactly like each other, you can say that me and my sisters are now the talk of this place."

Fuutarou let out a deep sigh upon hearing those words from Nino, realizing that she was right. None of the Nakano quintuplets were safe from this, and he couldn't do anything to help them. They were just lucky that right now, there wasn't anyone in the hallways right now, because the students were in the cafeteria for lunch break.

"I apologize for involving you in this, especially Itsuki because it's her name that is connected to mine. To you and the rest of your sisters, even though I haven't met two of them yet, I apologize. I may not be able to stop those rumors from spreading any further, but I can help keep you safe from anything that involves other students bothering you like what happened to me earlier. After all, we're all victims of unnecessary attention from the people around here."

"Jeez, don't apologize for something you didn't do…" Nino groaned, before she crossed her arms and thought more deeply about what he said. "But for an idiot, you do make a good point. Those two girls who went after you earlier are just the beginning…" Her eyes widened upon remembering what she said back in the classroom, and it caused her to blush wildly while pointing towards him in an accusing manner. Man, what was she thinking when she said those words? That was totally embarrassing, but there's no use trying to weasel her way out of this when it already happened. "Oh, and you owe me, mister! You so owe me for saving your ass back there! Those girls wouldn't have left you if I didn't say that you were with me!"

Being reminded of that scenario earlier caused Fuutarou to blush as well, because Nino's words haven't left his mind until now. The way she suddenly blurted out that he belonged to her in front of his classmates was stupid because it will only lead to further distress down the road, but it did do the job and allowed him to decline Tomatsu and Hara's plea to join them for lunch without much difficulty.

He turned his gaze to the side to hide his flustered look, while taking a few secret glances at the girl. "I'm aware of your actions and how it helped my situation, but why exactly did you say something like that? I'm still under the belief that my presence is unbearable for you, so forgive me if I'm asking something personal."

Nino's face flushed as a result, with her blush becoming worse to the point that her entire face was as red as her hair. Why did he have to remember?! It was already embarrassing to say something like that! She quickly shook her head to recompose herself, before reverting back to her tsundere protocols. Yeah, that's a good save! He'll just apologize afterwards and she'll have nothing to worry about!

"Oh, for—!" The girl facepalmed and almost cursed out loud right there, before taking a deep breath to calm herself. Wait, yeah, there was no use in losing her cool over this, when it's not even a serious matter. It would only end up proving his point, which she didn't want to do. "I already said it, didn't I? I-I don't hate you, okay? S-Sure, I can get pissed off with you, but it's nothing serious! If I hated you, I wouldn't have gone through all the trouble to make you a bento!"

"I understand that, but it doesn't really answer my main question. Why did you imply that I was… yours?" Fuutarou asked, also feeling embarrassed at having to say it himself. Seriously, where did she get the bravery to say such an embarrassing thing? In addition to being snappy and having a fiery attitude, Nino was most likely straightforward as well, from how she blurted it out like nothing earlier. Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing was something that he'll have to see for himself...

Nino clenched her fists tightly, stopping in her tracks and causing the young man to do the same before facing her. Her mouth was trembling as if she wanted to say something but had no idea how, while her face seemed like it was about to emit steam at any moment. Urgh, the tsundere protocols didn't work this time and he saw through her act! Damn it, this wasn't working! Was there really no other way other than admitting it…?

No, wait! She still had one more answer she could tell him! Ugh, she can only hope that Fuutarou will finally shut up after this! There's only so much embarrassment that she can take, even if she was straightforward and had zero fear in what she wanted to do!

"I-It was the only thing that came to mind! Yeah, I couldn't think of anything else, so I just went with the most obvious way! Itsuki's always with you, right?! I thought your classmates would buy it if I said that you were… you're… m-my boyfriend…"

The girl spoke with a big pout on her face, looking to the side since she can't bring herself to look up and meet his eyes. She also ignored the lingering feeling inside her chest, because it would only ruin what she was trying to do at the moment by making her admit that she wanted to say he was hers because that's what she wanted!

In fact, Nino couldn't help but question herself! Why did she even say something like that in the first place?! It wasn't because she had nothing else to say, because she could have simply said that he was her tutor and they need to be together most of the time, just like how Itsuki would say it! She could even make up another excuse at that moment as well! Why did she have to say that he was hers and imply that they were in a relationship?!

Stupid feelings inside her chest!

Yeah, it's all because she felt something for him, and she couldn't deny it anymore despite her words about him!

She had a crush on Fuutarou.

Nino felt she was about to explode out of nervousness and embarrassment, and the only thing she could do was keep her head down and hide her face from the guy. She was lucky that she had really long hair to prevent him from seeing her crimson cheeks but even so, it was obvious what she was feeling right now.

The only thing that she really did was worsen Itsuki's situation and put herself in this position, being questioned by Fuutarou himself about what she said! What she hated about this was the fact that she could've chosen to say something else, but went with what she wanted deep down! This was stupid of her! What was she even thinking?! Itsuki had a crush on him already, so why would she even try to ruin that? She can't have feelings for him, not when her sister looked so happy every time she was with this guy! And besides, why would he even like someone like her? She tried to tell him to stay away from her family when they met and hated his guts the moment she heard about him… Itsuki deserves him more than she does… in fact, she didn't even know the reason why she made him a bento in the first place!

She wanted to make him blush? No, she can do something like that without doing this sort of thing! She didn't have to make a bento and go all this way just to see his face go red. The simple truth deep down inside her was that she just wanted to make him look her way because of the damn feelings inside her chest that she experiences whenever she's around him.

Nino knew that she was close to shedding tears at any moment out of frustration at Fuutarou's persistence, anger at herself, and sadness at the fact that this was all part of a futile attempt to do something nice for him. Who cares how she feels? Even Fuutarou must be weirded out from her right now, because he couldn't understand how her mind works. On the other hand, Itsuki had his full attention and he even smiles whenever she's around…

The girl was then brought out of her thoughts when a warm hand rested on top of her head, causing her eyes to widen before looking up and met the young man's gaze in the process. He had a genuine smile on his face, one that she could easily see before he began to speak.

"I get it. You don't need to say anything else," he spoke while being unable to hold himself back from chuckling. "Still, thanks for helping me back there, Nino. And, for the bento as well. You really didn't need to do something like this for me, but I'm not going to argue about that any further. The least I can do is thank you like what you said."

Fuutarou could already tell that this girl was still feeling conflicted over what she truly felt because of the soulmate bond and for that, he wasn't gonna push for a definite answer. As a matter of fact, Nino making a bento for him was already something that he didn't expect, and it must have meant that she was slowly letting her true feelings take over. After all, making a bento is an action out of love and it was made from the bottom of the heart!

He'd let Nino take this at her own pace, because just from the simple facts that she took the time to make him a bento, give it to him and proceed to help him out of a tough situation… she was truly someone that he can develop feelings for, despite their relationship not having a good start at first.

This was something that was due to happen no matter what, because after all, Nino was his soulmate.

Poor Tomatsu and Hara... they were unable to stop the Nino Train which has no plans of slowing down at all! However, this doesn't mean the problems are over for Fuutarou and the rest of the quints. Like what Nino said, Itsuki's name will spread across the whole school and since all of her sisters share the same face including her, all of them are now involved in this issue with Fuutarou whether they like it or not. This should be interesting for Mikuism and Ichika's VIP Show when their routes are finally opened. But anyway, we now see in this chapter that Nino really has a crush on Fuutarou, which is the reason why she made a bento for him. However, she doesn't have too much faith in herself because of how Fuutarou and Itsuki act around each other. Poor Nino... if only she knew... How will this revelation affect the next chapter? Tune in tomorrow!

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

-Lance