Finally finding a free moment, Ryuichi teleported to the Nakano family's apartment building.
Judging by the time, the quintuplets should be getting home from school soon. It would be most efficient to wait for them here.
He didn't have to wait long. Barely five minutes later, a sleek black limousine pulled up to the curb. The door swung open and out stepped five identical sisters one after another.
"Eh? That's Ryuichi!"
Nakano Yotsuba spotted him first, her eyes lighting up in surprise as she pointed him out.
At her call, the other sisters turned toward him immediately—Ichika, Nino, and Miku's faces brightening in recognition, while Itsuki's expression softened with relief.
"Where have you been these past few days? You completely vanished this week!" Itsuki asked curiously as she walked over.
"Got tied up with a bit of trouble. It delayed me," Ryuichi replied matter-of-factly.
"Really now, and you didn't even return our calls," Itsuki said with a faint pout. "We were worried, you know."
Ryuichi raised an eyebrow. "Worried about me?"
"...O-of course," she said quickly, realizing how that sounded. Her cheeks flushed pink. "D-don't get the wrong idea! It's just normal concern between friends, that's all!"
"I see. Well then, thanks for caring," Ryuichi said with a polite nod.
His reaction was calm—too calm—but the sisters were used to his cool temperament by now, so they didn't dwell on it.
"Come on up, we can talk inside," Ichika said with a friendly smile.
They took the elevator upstairs, and once they reached the penthouse, Ichika turned to him with playful eyes.
"You've been pretty busy lately, huh? Don't tell me you've been off flirting somewhere?"
She grinned mischievously and nudged him lightly with her shoulder.
"Not quite," Ryuichi said with a small laugh. "Just had to deal with a crazy Fallen Angel who wanted to destroy the city and spark a war between Angels and Devils. Went and had a fight about it, that's all."
Silence.
The five sisters all froze, mouths hanging open.
"Eeeeh!? That exciting!?" Yotsuba exclaimed, clutching her head in disbelief.
"D-destroy the city?" Ichika stammered.
They'd expected some minor trouble—maybe Devil business or something—but not that. This was way beyond what anyone would consider a normal distraction.
Ryuichi spread his hands in an almost helpless shrug. That one sword of his had wiped out several mountains outside the city; the blast had been loud enough to shake the whole area. But the aftermath had been handled quickly—forces from all three factions collaborated to erase the event from human memory through large-scale common-sense alteration.
Now, among the supernatural world, Ryuichi's name had become famous. After all, he was the one who single-handedly defeated a Ten-Wing Fallen Angel.
But to ordinary humans like the Nakano sisters, all traces of it had been erased. They couldn't even remember the mountain range that had disappeared overnight. To them, it was as if those peaks had never existed.
Realizing the truth now left them all pale with cold sweat.
"So the world's really that terrifying…?"
"Does that mean we unknowingly brushed past the gates of hell?" Miku murmured in disbelief.
Ryuichi's tone stayed calm and reassuring. "It's fine. You're safe. If anything serious ever happens again, I'll be there instantly to take you away from danger."
"Ugh… that doesn't exactly make it less scary!" Nino groaned. "You really shouldn't tell us things like that! Knowing just makes it worse—what are we supposed to do now, panic calmly?"
"...Didn't you ask?" Ryuichi replied with perfect sincerity.
The girls all stared at him in silence.
"Do you have to be that straightforward?" Ichika muttered weakly.
Seeing how rattled they looked, Ryuichi gave a polite cough. "All right, all right—my fault. But really, there shouldn't be anything like that happening again. It was a special case."
He managed to calm them down after a few more reassuring words. The tension finally eased, though some anxiety still lingered.
Then Ryuichi switched topics entirely.
"It's been nearly a week since I saw you all. How's your studying going?"
"With your memory magic helping us, it's literally impossible to forget what you already taught," Itsuki said with a cheerful smile.
Ryuichi's face stayed expressionless. "Meaning that everything new you learned this week…"
"..."
Complete silence.
He sighed, expression calm as ever. "I seem to recall that midterm exams are coming up soon. Should be… Monday, right?"
Ichika gave a sheepish laugh. "Yeah. Monday."
Ryuichi nodded. Since today was Friday night, that left exactly one day—and a little sleep time—for review.
"No time to waste. We'll start tonight. Five days' worth of lessons to make up."
His composed tone drew a collective groan from the quintuplets.
This weekend… was going to be hell.
They gathered around the living room table, and Ryuichi started reviewing the week's lessons as clearly as possible. Despite his best effort, within fifteen minutes their heads were spinning.
Fortunately, his common-sense alteration spells took care of that by linking the study material directly to their memories. They still needed practice to handle complex subjects like math, but everything else was almost effortlessly absorbed.
Honestly, without that convenient feature, even Ryuichi himself would've had no idea how to cram that much information so quickly.
"Okay," he said finally, "if there's anything you don't understand, go ahead and ask."
Miku timidly raised her hand.
"Yes, Miku?" Ryuichi gestured toward her. "What's your question?"
"What kind of girl do you like?"
Ryuichi blinked.
"…"
The rest of the sisters blinked too.
"How's that related to studying?" Nino deadpanned, rolling her eyes.
"It's related to concentration," Miku said seriously. "If curiosity is satisfied, focus improves."
Ryuichi sighed faintly. "You've got a surprisingly logical excuse there."
"Haha, yeah, we're curious too!" Ichika and Yotsuba chimed in immediately, both raising their hands with identical teasing smiles.
Ryuichi leaned back, considering for a moment. Faces flashed through his mind—Rias, Asia, Akeno, Koneko, Mai…
Each of them had their own unforgettable charms.
"Let's see," he said after a pause. "Gentle, beautiful, understanding, cute but composed… and good at cooking."
The list went on for a while, leaving all five sisters slightly dizzy.
"Does that kind of girl even exist?" Nino muttered.
"She does," he said with absolute confidence.
And they're all mine, he thought quietly. Miracles do happen.
Unaware of his inner monologue, Miku sat there deep in thought.
Gentle, beautiful, understanding, cute, composed… She could fit those, probably.
But good at cooking…
That one she definitely lacked.
Her face tightened into silent determination.
…
.
Want to unlock up to 40+ early-access chapters and exclusive novels? Join my Patreon today and dive deeper into the adventure!
https://patreon.com/zangetsu84