Choo choo! The Nino Train is coming through with no brakes whatsoever! First the bento, declaring he is hers, then asking to eat with him, and then calling him 'Fuu-kun'? The only thing left at this point is a damn confession! Once she does confess, she'll officially be caught up with Meatbun Monster Rampage, which is Itsuki. Come on, Nino! Confess already! What's gonna happen next with the damn train? All we gotta do is follow it, so let's not waste any more time and hop straight into the story!

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

"Oooiii, Fuu-kun! Thanks for waiting for me!" Nino called out happily as she approached the table that she and Fuutarou shared, while holding her own lunch tray in her hands. Sending a small smile at the redhead, the young man had already unpacked the bento that Nino made for him, and he was barely able to hold himself back when he saw what the girl cooked for him.

A deep-fried fish resting on top of steamed rice, mixed vegetables with salad dressing, and chopped up portions of tonkatsu lathered on with curry.

In simple words, Fuutarou was already considering this to be the best lunch he would ever get to eat in his entire lifetime… or at least, until his family gets out of poverty.

"I can already tell… Nino is an amazing cook, and she made all this for me? Oh, there's no way I'm letting this go to waste!" Fuutarou thought to himself, barely able to stop himself from having a silly smile on his face. Mentally, however, he was already beginning to drool at the food before him and he couldn't wait to get started! "I definitely regret talking shit about having a soulmate now, but I still hate that old man nonetheless."

His expression didn't go unnoticed by Nino, who placed her tray on the table and sat down with him. She could tell that he was already eager to start eating, and it filled her with pride to see him fawning over the food that she prepared. "Heh. I see you're practically drooling over what I made," she smirked.

Fuutarou widened his eyes for a moment, caught red-handed in the act before he quickly cleared his throat and put on a neutral expression. "W-Well, if you must know, this is only the second time that I have received a bento. The first one was something that my younger sister made for me and I enjoyed it, but what she made is entirely different from this. This is a new experience for me, that's all."

She ignored his response, because Nino knew that it was just a poor attempt to save himself from embarrassment. "Haha, you suck at lying. Just admit it that you were drooling over what I made!" she exclaimed, pointing her chopsticks at him while Fuutarou only shook his head.

"That would be exaggerating. Once again, my family's financial status is not doing well or in other words, I am just poor. This is the first time that I'll be having lunch with food befitting those who are of high status, so it would be understandable if my reaction is exactly like what you said."

Nino sighed, realizing by now that this was an argument that will just keep on going until one of them gives in. With how stubborn she could be coupled with the young man's calm logic, they won't be able to spend the rest of their lunch in peace. "Oh, fine…" she relented willingly, before giving him another smirk. "…but I still want to hear what you think about it! I spent the whole morning making that and I have to know if it paid off well!"

His neutral look then morphed into a smile, once again being reminded of the fact that this girl spent some of her time to prepare food for him. Not only that, but she also went as far as to give it to him in front of many students. There's no way he can't admire her efforts for doing such a thing. "I'm sure I will enjoy this because you made it, Nino. Once again, thank you."

Nino blushed at his words, before she crossed her arms and looked away with a huff. "D-Don't mention it! I just had the urge to do something yesterday and I thought about how boring your lunch was when I saw it..." She knew that she was just making up excuses at this point, causing her to sigh and turn back her attention to their lunch. "A-Anyway, let's just eat, alright? I'm really hungry from all that walking!"

Fuutarou only nodded, as him and Nino joined their hands together for the traditional Japanese phrase of thanks before eating. Normally, he wouldn't really bother doing this and proceed to eating straight away, but that would be disrespecting the effort that Nino put into making this. Besides, it's not like his family doesn't do this sort of thing at home.

"Itadakimasu!" The two of them said at the same time, and dove straight into their respective lunches.

The young man didn't waste any time and leaned into the bento that he had, taking in its aroma one more time before he starts eating. By the gods, even after being stored in a small box, the scent was still there and he was already treasuring this moment in his mind! He didn't care about anything else right now, as though he wanted nothing to distract him from this. Fuutarou went for the fried fish before anything else, picking it up and then taking a small bite. Almost immediately, his reaction to the initial taste was his eyes going wide and placing his chopsticks back down, looking temporarily dazed.

"Well? How does it taste?" Nino quickly noticed his reaction as she ate a spoonful of curry from her tray, flashing a smirk of confidence that she was able to make his taste buds melt from her cooking. Hahaha, she wasn't the one who cooks meals for her sisters for nothing!

A divine light then shone down on Nino as everything around her went dark, causing her to look confused for a moment. Sparkles surrounded her body as if she was some kind of deity, and she raised her eyebrows at this.

"What the…?" she muttered, continuing to look confused until she saw Fuutarou kneeling in front of her with his hand on his chest.

"I kneel to you, Kami-sama," Fuutarou spoke without hesitation, having no such problem with praising Nino for the gift she has bestowed upon him.

Praise that girl for her effort in making this!

"Y-You don't have to do something like that…!" Nino closed her eyes and clenched her fists out of embarrassment, caught off guard with this kind of reaction from him. She was expecting one or two compliments from him, but to see him kneeling to her like she was a goddess was too much!

So much for wanting to know his reaction to the food she made.

Nino was ready to show off an aura of superiority as well as a smug look once she heard his words of praise, until she saw him kneel down to her. Well, that didn't really go her way, even if it resulted in the same way. It didn't matter much though, because the message was still sent with his actions. It was clear that Fuutarou loved the taste of her cooking.

Things went back to normal after that, and the two went back to eating their respective meals. Nino was having trouble toning down her blush after Fuutarou's… overwhelming way of showing praise, and simply tried to focus on her food instead. However, it was becoming hard to do so when his last words were now buried into her mind and instead of being filled with pride, she felt embarrassed instead. Did he really like her food that much? Anyone could do what she did, she just decided to do it for him, it's nothing special!

What a tsundere.

Meanwhile, Fuutarou continued on with devouring his fried fish, savoring its taste along with the steamed rice. He had a smile of satisfaction on his face the whole time, feeling that he was in peace even if it was only for this time. He chose to eat his food slowly, but not enough to make him seem like a sloth. Halfway through his rice, Fuutarou turned his attention to the vegetable portion of his lunch. While it didn't look that much different from the one that he eats everyday, the taste was insanely different thanks to the salad dressing that Nino used as well as the added variety of the vegetables!

Nino really went all out on this, huh?

By the time he was going to try out the tonkatsu portion of his lunch, Fuutarou noticed how Nino was eating slowly just like him, though it wasn't because she was savoring the taste or because she was bored. The reason was likely due to the red hue on her cheeks, which made her unable to focus much on her food. Okay, the only thing he did was praise her cooking just like how she wanted… he didn't do anything wrong…

Wait, was she really that embarrassed? Didn't she want him to compliment her cooking in the first place?

"You okay?" he asked, savoring the taste of the tonkatsu and curry. He felt like he could eat the whole tonkatsu cut if it was this delicious. While he would choose Raiha's curry as the best that he has tasted which he was totally not being biased about, Nino's was a very close second. It was perfect for the tasty chicken cuts and he almost wanted to ask if there was more of it so he can use it on the fish as well. No, he should just be thankful for what he received and be content with it!

Nino is Kami-sama, indeed.

"I-I'm fine, don't worry about me…!" she quickly denied, trying her best to cover up her embarrassment by eating a lot quicker than before, but it didn't do much since the young man has already caught her red-handed.

Fuutarou paused in eating to rub the back of his head, unsure of what would be the wise move to make right now. It's better if he doesn't say anything wrong that could result in her snapping at him, especially now that they were in a cafeteria where they could easily get the attention of other students. They were very lucky that nobody was paying attention to them at the moment, because every other student was busy talking with their friends or eating lunch.

"I'm sorry, did I say something wrong when I said that you were Kami-sama?" he asked.

The girl shook her head furiously, her face never losing its red color in the process. "No, it's not that…! I was just… I was just caught off guard when you said that, that's all!"

"You're not insulted by it?"

"W-Why the hell would I be insulted?!" Nino snapped, feeling pissed at Fuutarou for making an assumption like that. Her eyes quickly widened when she saw him with a finger to his mouth, all while looking around if there was someone who heard her. Luckily, she didn't attract any attention and when the young man turned back towards her, Nino was also doing the same as him. Looks like she got his message. As soon as their gazes met, she started to speak in a softer tone than before, "Why would you even think I feel insulted?"

"It was the first thing I could think of when I noticed that you were looking out of it," Fuutarou shrugged as he ate another spoonful of tonkatsu. "I apologize if I made the wrong assumption."

Nino sighed, sipping on some of the orange juice that she bought to calm herself. "I wasn't insulted, geez. I told you, I was just caught off guard, because… well, because I didn't expect you to call me that way…" she admitted, turning her gaze away as her blush became slightly deeper than before.

He raised an eyebrow at her in confusion. "I thought you wanted me to tell you what I think about your cooking?"

"W-Well yeah, but… you literally knelt in front of me and called me 'Kami-sama'… that's just too much flattery, even for someone like me… I was expecting a simple compliment, but..." Nino's eyes were downcast, before she munched weakly on a sandwich that she bought. She wanted to tell Fuutarou that she was expecting a simple compliment to come from him so she can tease him relentlessly about it, but couldn't bring herself to do it since it would only embarrass her a lot more now.

Fuutarou nodded his head, understanding her stance on the matter. "I understand. In that case, I will make it a point not to refer to you in that way ever again, although I still think of you as such. I will admit that this is the best lunch that I have ever had so far, and you willingly spent your time to make this for me. It's something that I can't just overlook."

"Well, it's not that I don't like it…!" Nino snapped once again, her fiery personality returning before it died down as quick as it reappeared. "It's just… the only people I've ever cooked for is my family, and I'm the only one among my sisters who knows her way around the kitchen. You're not only the first guy I've cooked for, but you're also the first person outside of my family to eat what I make. My sisters all say that anything I cook is great, but it's different if it's another person."

He gave her another nod, finishing up his vegetables before focusing on the fish and rice. "And so, you wanted me to tell you what I think of your skills?"

She shrugged, munching on her sandwich again. Honestly, she felt so confident that Fuutarou would love her cooking when she thought of doing this yesterday, which slowly turned into nervousness when it was finally time for her to give the bento to him. "I admit I was a bit nervous because I never did something like this before, but that's not how I roll. I was sure I could impress you with whatever I make, so I just went through with it no matter what happens."

"I can understand why you feel that way, but there's one question that has bothered me ever since earlier. Why me? Surely, there could have been someone else that can taste your cooking, and I'm sure they would tell you their honest opinion like I did."

That was another stupid question. The obvious answer was that there is no other candidate in Nino's mind because he was her soulmate and thus, he was the only person she had in mind. Of course she would choose him, he knew about this already, so why was he still asking? Did he just want to hear the answer directly from her mouth?

"I…I didn't want anyone else…." she mumbled with a deep blush while lowering her head, about to say that she cooked this for him simply because it's what she wanted to do and nothing more.

Her attempted response wasn't totally unheard by Fuutarou, who tilted his head curiously at the possibility that she said something important. "What?"

"I said I didn't want anyone else! Remember that horrible lunch that you buy everyday? I hate seeing it, so I gave you a better one!" Nino shook her head, reverting back to a usual tsundere response before pointing at him in a fierce manner. So much for wanting to tell him that she chose him because she wanted to. "Ha, don't think that I'll be doing this again, though! This is just a one-time thing, so enjoy it while you can, you hear me?"

Fuutarou stared at her for a few moments in slight wonder, before shaking his head in amusement. He might not have gotten the answer he wanted, but it was worth a try. "I already am," he said, looking up at Nino with a smile.

"Good!" Her fierce look slowly turned into a smile, which transitioned into a fit of giggles a few moments later as she finished up her sandwich. From the troubled look that she had earlier, it seemed like the girl was back to normal just because of that fire that was lit inside her.

Well, it looks like he won't be getting a concrete answer from the girl for now. She was still either in denial or confused from her feelings but it was very clear from Nino's actions today that it won't be long before she gives in to what she truly feels.

And Fuutarou wouldn't mind... because having Kami-sama as a girlfriend would be the greatest honor known to man!

Another chapter dedicated to Nino, eh? Don't lie, you love it just like any other reader out there! Praise Kami-sama for making our boy food that rained down from Heaven! From now on, Fuutarou will see her in a new light and he will definitely accept her should she confess! Why wouldn't he? He'd have to be a fool to throw away Kami-sama's love, and he was no fool! Anyway, I wonder where this leads to in the next chapter. More of Nino Train? Ribbonmania? Meatbun Monster Rampage? Can't wait to see, so stay tuned!

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

-Lance