Coming out of Nino's room, Ryuya happened to run into Miku and Yotsuba opening their doors at the same time.
Seeing him, Miku froze slightly.
"Ryuya… why are you in Nino's room?"
"Yeah, yeah! Wasn't she in the bath? When did you arrive? What happened with Nino?" Yotsuba, ever lively, fired off a rapid barrage of questions.
"Nino almost slipped just now, so I escorted her back to her room."
Ryuya spoke calmly, leaving Miku momentarily speechless.
She realized… Ryuya didn't seem to think entering a girl's bedroom was anything particularly private…
Meanwhile, Yotsuba immediately accepted the explanation. Her simple mind didn't overthink things at all.
"Is Nino okay? Did she get hurt?"
"She's fine. She should come out soon."
As he spoke, Ryuya went downstairs to the living room. His gaze swept across the test papers the girls had left on the table, and he picked them up to examine carefully.
A few minutes later, Nino pushed open the door and came down. Seeing Ryuya intently reviewing the tests, her pretty face unexpectedly flushed red.
She hurried to brew a cup of tea and brought it over, placing it in front of him.
"Have some tea."
Ryuya looked up at Nakano Nino and smiled slightly. "Thank you."
"…You're welcome."
Nino's heart began beating uncontrollably faster. Watching him seriously go through their answer sheets, she couldn't help but think how earnest he always was.
Is he really a devil?
The kind rumored to deceive human souls and feed on negative emotions?
He's completely different… Ryuya is so gentle and calm, attentive and meticulous — there isn't even a hint of arrogance or cruelty.
"…Wrong."
Ryuya put down the papers and rubbed his brow lightly.
"U-Um, where is it wrong?" Miku asked cautiously from across the table.
Ryuya glanced over Miku's delicate face and spoke faintly:
"All of it."
"..."
For a moment, the three girls all felt embarrassed.
With answers like this… he wouldn't get angry, right…
Ryuya felt both amused and helpless inside. What kind of situation even was this?
He wasn't going to end up stuck dealing with them forever, was he?
Even though the quintuplets were all beautiful girls, Ryuya genuinely wanted them to immerse themselves in studying and fulfill the contract's conditions.
He was a devil who kept his promises — once he accepted someone's request, he had to see it through…
"…Forget it. I'll spend more time tutoring you from now on."
Ryuya spoke softly, not angry as the girls expected. Then he calmly asked, "Where are Ichika and Itsuki? I don't see them."
"Oh, those two went shopping. They should be back soon."
Seeing he didn't blame them, Yotsuba answered cheerfully.
Sure enough, not long after, Ichika and Itsuki returned carrying big bags and small bags.
They had clearly spent quite a bit.
But their family was very wealthy — this amount meant nothing. Their father absolutely doted on his five adorable daughters.
"Ah, Ryuya, you're here!" Ichika greeted him.
Suddenly, the two of them noticed the test papers spread on the table in front of him. Their expressions stiffened, their eyes instinctively darting away.
"Sit. Why are you staring at me like that?"
Ryuya couldn't help laughing when he saw Itsuki deliberately standing far away from him.
Seeing Ryuya's gentle smile, Itsuki finally relaxed. She winked at Nino and Miku and said with a grin:
"See? I told you Ryuya definitely wouldn't blame us. He's super easy to talk to!"
Miku and Nino silently nodded as well, though they thought to themselves — then why were you standing so far away just now…
Ryuya raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have some misunderstanding about me."
"Eh? Isn't that true?"
"…I just understand that some things can't be forced, so I have a bit of patience, that's all." Ryuya clicked his tongue.
After all, these quintuplets shared one brain split five ways — he repeatedly reminded himself not to hold overly high expectations.
Tsk, tsk. Reality proved he wasn't wrong.
Ryuya said faintly, "As long as I don't expect much, you can't disappoint me. Even the slightest improvement from you counts as a rare little surprise."
"…??"
Just how low are your expectations of us…
"Hehe, that's a bit hurtful…" Ichika couldn't help but laugh awkwardly.
"Don't worry. In fact, I believe all of you will definitely graduate successfully."
Ryuya smiled lightly. "After all, that's the request I promised you, and I believe you can do it."
The girls froze slightly, and Nakano Yotsuba was the first to stand up.
"I see! Then we have to work even harder! That way we can keep exceeding Ryuya's expectations and give him a surprise every day!"
Ryuya rarely showed a cheerful smile and gave Yotsuba a thumbs-up.
"For once, your reading comprehension actually worked."
"Hehe!"
Yotsuba happily flashed a peace sign at him.
Ichika and the others exchanged speechless glances.
Honestly, although they knew Ryuya wasn't mocking them, only someone as simple-minded as Yotsuba could understand his meaning that quickly…
"Ah, right…" Nakano Itsuki suddenly remembered something. "Can we take another day off tomorrow? There's a fireworks festival in East Town after 7 PM."
"Ah! That's right!!"
The girls' eyes lit up as they looked at Ryuya. "Let's all go to the fireworks festival together tomorrow!"
"…I only accepted the request to supervise your studies, didn't I?" Ryuya crossed his legs, sitting like a boss.
Nino puffed her cheeks slightly.
"Request, request — why is your head always full of requests…"
She stared at him and spoke quickly, "Then we'll just commission you again! Mr. Devil?"
Ryuya raised his eyebrow. "That works."
Completing a request meant he could collect a price, and Ryuya suddenly felt a bit more motivated.
"Hehe, then it's settled — tomorrow we'll all go to the fireworks festival together!" Ichika said with a smile.
"Provided you finish your homework first," Ryuya said calmly.
Instantly, the girls' wails and pleas filled the room.
Ryuya remained unmoved, smiling. No matter what, he wasn't letting go of the studying request.
Taking advantage of all five sisters being present, Ryuya gathered study materials and studied together with the five beauties again.
Of course, just like before, he used magic to help them memorize the knowledge points.
Only after a chorus of begging from the girls did he finally stop.
Today, he'd once again poured a lot of "essence" into the five sisters.
---
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