Ryuya spent the entire morning tutoring the five sisters, and even he couldn't avoid getting a dry throat from talking so much.
As for the quintuplets, their spirits were steadily sinking lower and lower.
The magic of Common Sense Alteration also drained a bit of their mental energy. Once Ryuya decided they had reached their limit, he finally stopped.
"That's all for now. Let's go eat."
"Good idea. It's already late today—let's just order takeout. Ryuya, join us?" Ichika pulled out her phone.
"Sure. Sorry to intrude."
Ryuya didn't have anywhere else he needed to be, so he accepted the invitation.
The takeout arrived quickly, but the sisters were sprawled across the couch like fallen soldiers, none of them wanting to get up. In the end, Ryuya had to retrieve the food himself.
They gathered around the table, and Ryuya couldn't help noticing how expensive the items they ordered were.
Then again, the Nakano family was well-off. He'd heard they ran a hospital, so of course they were loaded.
Judging from the location of the house and the cars in the garage, the signs were clear enough.
Lunch passed pleasantly. But suddenly, a phone rang. Ichika, who had been dozing lazily, immediately grabbed it and hurried upstairs.
Everyone glanced her way but didn't say anything.
About ten minutes later, Ichika came back down—now dressed in a stylish outfit, makeup fixed, handbag in hand, looking like a sophisticated woman.
"Sorry, but today's tutoring ends here. Something urgent came up."
She apologized to Ryuya with a polite smile.
"No problem. Safe travels."
Ryuya didn't intend to force anything anyway. He'd already covered most of what he planned to teach. Whether they absorbed the rest or not wouldn't change much.
With Ichika gone, the session naturally couldn't continue. After watching her get into a taxi and leave, Nino and Itsuki immediately started excitedly planning their afternoon outing.
Weren't they just complaining they were dying of exhaustion…?
The moment it came to having fun, they revived faster than a phoenix.
Classic struggling students—drop dead in class, full HP the moment school ends.
Not long after Ichika left, Nino and Itsuki headed out shopping, while Yotsuba went to meet a friend for basketball practice…
That girl was a living ball of energy—practically radioactive with enthusiasm.
Which left only Miku in the entire house.
She didn't stay in the living room either. Hugging her study materials, she tap-tap-tapped upstairs in her round-toed shoes without even glancing back at Ryuya—the technical stranger still in their home.
Ryuya couldn't help questioning himself.
Do I really look that harmless?
Come on… I'm a devil.
Why do they all act like I'm no threat at all…?
As he packed away the teaching materials, he noticed a book left on the sofa.
Someone had forgotten it—no surprise, since all five sisters were scatterbrained.
He picked it up and realized it wasn't a textbook at all, but a volume titled Chronicles of Great Warriors.
Huh?
He was still wondering who it belonged to when he heard hurried footsteps from upstairs.
Miku—who had just gone up—rushed back down.
"T-That… it's mine."
Seeing Ryuya holding her Warrior Chronicle, Miku grew unusually flustered and immediately spoke up.
Ryuya handed the book back without fuss.
"So you like reading Warrior Chronicle, Miku?"
The casual question made Miku panic a little, as if her deepest secret had been exposed.
"Y-Yes…" she answered in a tiny voice.
"No wonder you got so fired up when we talked about duels."
Ryuya returned to organizing his teaching materials.
Miku's face reddened, and she murmured quickly, "P-Please don't tell anyone I like this…"
"…Is this something embarrassing?"
"Of course it is! The girls in our grade are all into magical-girl stuff… but I like middle-aged bearded generals… Isn't that weird?"
"Uh… liking magical girls is the weird one…"
Ryuya blurted out without thinking.
But he quickly corrected himself—he should respect other people's hobbies.
"Anyway, as long as you like it, that's what matters. You don't need to care about what others think."
Hearing that, a faint smile bloomed on Miku's face.
It was the first time Ryuya had ever seen her smile.
Usually she just sat silently, withdrawn, barely speaking except for a few short sentences.
Then something occurred to him.
"Miku, does Warrior Chronicle include the Three Kingdoms period?"
"Yes. The whole setting is based on historical records from Huaguo. It's a real period of history—but the story focuses on our side of events."
Miku nodded softly. Talking about her favorite warriors seemed to loosen her tongue; she spoke noticeably more.
Ryuya, however, fell silent for a moment.
Ever since arriving in this world, he'd noticed too many things overlapping with his original world.
The existence of angels and devils, the structure of nations—almost identical.
He didn't know what the relationship between this world and his old one was, but it definitely wasn't coincidence. Otherwise he wouldn't have crossed over in the first place.
Miku didn't notice his thoughts. Having finally found someone willing to listen, she asked expectantly:
"H-Have you read it before?"
"Only a little. I definitely don't know as much as you do." Ryuya smiled lightly. "Seems you're really passionate about military generals."
"Mm… probably too passionate… That's why I'm so far behind everyone else…"
She looked a little regretful. "Among the five of us, I'm the slowest."
"That's not true. Didn't Yotsuba score a zero on that one test?"
"But Yotsuba is amazing at sports," Miku countered. "That's a huge advantage."
"That's not how you should see it."
Ryuya shook his head.
"Everyone has their strengths. You have yours too. Don't compare your weaknesses to someone else's strengths. That'll only make life exhausting."
"Is… that so?"
"It is. Personally, I think mastering one skill is already enough. Just focus on honing that one thing to the peak."
Miku let out a tiny laugh.
"But a lot of people aim to excel in every subject—morals, academics, sports, arts… everything."
"That's exactly why they feel so much pressure."
Ryuya sighed, expression unreadable.
"Excel in everything… watch your hair vanish."
"..."
---
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