Dealer’s Choice - Quintuplets WG - 02 (Patreon)

“I don’t understand.”

“What’s not to understand? It’s very simple.”

Tea cup shuddered on the table top as Nino Nakano slammed an open palm onto its wooden surface. The ultra sweet mix she enjoyed while she studied splashed out of the tiny saucer and onto the paper she was working on as though it were representing her disdain.

“I’m not talking about math questions, I’m talking about why you keep coming over to my rooms when I’ve told you to butt out of my business!”

The second eldest quintuplet liked her privacy. Storming off after a fight with any of her sisters usually meant a stay in a private hotel, but this was not one of those times. Futaro was the one she had been doggedly trying to avoid and yet he found her every single time. Changing hotels so often was getting expensive and she was mindful of the accumulating cost.

“And like I said,” Futaro repeated patiently. “It’s very simple. You do your homework and I won’t have to chase you all over the city. You rich girls seriously have no concept of money.”

Nino angrily grabbed her cup and drained its sugary contents into her stomach. Dealing with this man on top of her studies took some serious brain power and always made her thirsty.

“I wouldn’t have to have had to zip around the city if you had just given up on us in the first place. I’ve been stress eating like no tomorrow to cope with that last exams results and it’s really made a terrible impact on my figure! You just showing up out of the blue with all these cream puff treats and ordering room service for us certainly isn’t helping either!”

While Futaro had to admit that Nino looked quite a good deal rounder than when he had last seen her, he would not accept that all of her poor eating choices were entirely his fault. She always had been the one to provide the girls with their balanced food intake and with her out of the house, it was certainly impacting their total study time.

Rather than get angry and fight her on her own terms, he decided to take Ichika’s advice and listen to her rant before setting the record straight. Nino sighed heavily as she poured herself another cup of sugar laden tea,

“We’ve failed before and we’re just going to fail again anyway. There’s no point in continuing.”

Much to her dismay, Futaro gripped her chunky wrist and forcefully wrenched the teapot from her grasp. She gasped as his face zeroed in on hers and gazed into the very depths of her soul.

“W-what-what are you-”

“Cooking,” Futaro said flatly.

“What?”

“If you blame me bringing over all this bad food and stopping you from focusing on your studies because you’re getting fat, then we shall turn our tutoring sessions into cooking sessions.”

“HUH?!”

Nino scoffed loudly as she flicked her long pink locks over her shoulder and rose to her full height. Her belly, quite visibly round and protruding from her overly tight uniform, jostled as she took a challenging step forward.

“You want to teach ME?! I’m the best cook out of the five of us and you couldn’t even discern the taste of my gourmet meals with Miku’s terrible burnt omelette! What could you possibly show me that I don’t already know?”

“I am far from a master chef and my pallet is not nearly as refined as yours,” Futaro said slowly as he met her challenge with a forward step of his own. His aggressive passion had caught the second eldest sister off guard as she hastily took a step back. “But you’ll be teaching me how to cook like you so that all of you can still eat healthy and focus on your exams!”

“F-fine!” Nino quavered, her eyes looking wildly in either direction to avoid meeting his gaze directly. “But if I win, then you have to take double remedial lessons with me alone!”

“The same rules apply to you! If I make you something yummy, then you’ll study twice as hard!”

Nino gulped loudly. She hadn’t expected Futaro of all people to challenge her at her best subject. There was no way on Earth that she would allow their tutor to get the better of her. Besides, if she won, that would mean that he would spend more time with her…exclusively…

She twirled her hair thoughtfully as she considered the idea.

“We should probably start with something low in calories,” Futaro continued. “You’re getting pretty fat these days.”

Nino felt her rage return.

“Well, EXCUSE ME for being so refined that I appreciate the finer things in life! My body is a figure of beauty and I’ll not have the likes of you trying to point out how fat my thighs look in my stockings or how my skirt is being held together with safety pins!”

“I didn’t actually mention tha-”

“Just for that, your first cooking lesson is going to be the ultimate, heavy cream, ultra decadent chocolate eclair and you’re just going to stay with me until we get it right!”

She waddled over to the little makeshift kitchen and began to pull out the small cups and tea spoons which hotels had for guests, barely stocked to microwave food and boil water at the best of times.

“But we don’t even have-”

Nino waved her finger knowingly and opened one of her many suitcases she had taken with her before leaving. Much to Futaro’s surprise, all sorts of cooking paraphernalia tumbled out with a metallic clang onto the floor.

“I’m always prepared when it comes to food. I want you to pass the recipe onto Raiha too so if you can’t teach it to her, then you certainly aren’t qualified to teach anything to me!”

“But you still have questions to do,” Futaro asserted as he gestured back towards the tea-stained sheet she had left on the table.

“We’ll do them after dinner, you have my word on that,” Nino shot back as she gestured to her cooking implements. “If you don’t want me wasting more time ordering junk food and getting fatter, then you’d better get down to the grocery store and pick me up some ingredients! Seeing if you can choose quality ingredients will be your first lesson!”

Futaro considered Ichika’s words again and sighed. At least she was meeting his challenge head on. It would be faster to just cook and feed her so they could get back to the real work required.

“Alright, but you’d better have finished that paper by the time I get back!”

“Consider it done,” Nino smirked as she tapped the side of her plump cheek with a wooden mixing spoon. “I always keep my promises.”

Futaro begrudgingly walked to the door and prepared to slip his shoes on to go outside as Nino continued to stare at him from her kitchen space.

“You know,” he sighed. “If they say that you are what you eat, I think you’re really like that tea you enjoy so much.”

“Y-You mean s-super sweet when I want to be?” Nino replied shyly, trying hard not to let him see her smile grow larger. It was rare that he would give a genuine compliment.

“No, I meant overbearing and fattening underneath that refined taste.”

A pained scream echoed through the hallways of the hotel as the sound of a small wooden missile found its mark as it sailed through the air and cracked loudly across the back of his head.