After bidding Kirisu Mafuyu farewell, Shirase Haruto returned home and headed straight into the kitchen. He needed to bake cookies for Nakano Itsuki.
Since he'd promised earlier, he naturally intended to deliver.
Besides, if he maxed out Itsuki's favorability now, whenever he visited the Nakano household in the future looking for Nino, he'd at least have someone there willing to put in a good word for him.
Ah, and there was Ichika too.
Shirase recalled covering for Nakano Ichika yesterday.
After Nino had sent him that thigh photo last night, Ichika had also sent him a short message: just a simple, "Thank you for today."
By his own estimation, Ichika was probably now wondering whether he knew about her secret acting job or not.
Perhaps, someday soon, she'd pick a suitable moment to test him.
Then, should I prepare ahead of time and use that opportunity to take control?
Shirase quickly churned through these thoughts while making cookies in [Fixed Hosting] mode.
If he managed to handle Itsuki and Ichika first, Yotsuba would pose no threat. The only one he really needed to watch out for was Miku, with whom he'd had the least interaction.
Shirase had long decided that he'd either marry into the Nakano family, or bring Nino back home with him. Before that, though, he had to carefully manage his relationship with the other four sisters.
Right now, Ichika and Itsuki's favorability ratings were steadily rising. Yotsuba wasn't difficult. The hardest nut to crack was Miku.
"Should I start from the Oda Nobunaga topic?"
Shirase sifted through his knowledge about Sengoku warlords. He'd already familiarized himself with related games, and with the Hosting System handling memorization, he wasn't unfamiliar with this material.
...
After finishing the cookies, Shirase headed directly to the Nakano residence.
With his current system-enhanced culinary skills, cookies were trivially easy, but it wasn't practical to bake them every day. Once in a while was good enough for Itsuki.
Besides, Shirase knew perfectly well these things were calorie-dense. If he really baked them every day, he'd turn Nakano Itsuki into Nakano Mutsuki (Six-month pregnant Itsuki) sooner or later…
When he rang the Nakano family's doorbell, to his surprise, the one who opened the door was actually Nakano Nino.
Their eyes met. The previously composed girl's cheeks instantly turned scarlet, her heart thrown into chaos.
Remembering she'd impulsively sent Shirase a photo of her legs last night, Nino stood frozen, face stiffened.
"You didn't go out today?" Shirase remained as composed as always.
"Mm." Nino avoided eye contact, answering briefly, then fell into an awkward silence.
Truthfully, after receiving Shirase's reply last night, beneath her embarrassment and irritation, she'd secretly felt delighted and proud.
After all, Shirase's response hadn't hidden his satisfaction at all.
She'd even rolled around in bed restlessly for a long time, only falling asleep well after midnight.
Noticing Shirase's eyes subtly examining her now, her already flustered heart pounded even harder.
Damn it, he definitely thinks my outfit today is awful. Because I was lazy, I just put on Miku's tracksuit.
Normally, she wouldn't dare step outside wearing this tacky, red tracksuit—it was strictly home-only attire.
"These clothes of yours…" Shirase started.
Nino's heart sank. Her guess was right: he really disliked the unfashionable tracksuit.
No, no, wait—why am I thinking about this?
I should say something, but… what exactly should I say?
The girl was stuck again. It wasn't appropriate to say "welcome," but simply turning around without a word seemed too cold-hearted.
Just as Nino was agonizing over this, Shirase laughed lightly. "This tracksuit belongs to Miku, doesn't it? I think I saw her wearing it once."
"Y-yeah, it's Miku's. Anyway, since she doesn't like wearing tracksuits at home, I just borrowed it." Relieved he'd spoken first, Nino quickly seized the opportunity, secretly easing her nerves.
Finally calming down, cheeks still flushed, she cautiously glanced upward. "You… think this outfit doesn't look good, right?"
"It's fine. Aren't tracksuits all pretty much the same?" Shirase replied casually.
Eh?
He thought like that?
Nino paused, half-believing, half-suspicious. Just as she was about to press further, Shirase smiled and asked, "So, are you not planning to let me in?"
"I—I didn't say that!" Nino's face burned as she hastily moved aside. Only now did she notice the bag in Shirase's hand. "What's that?"
"Cookies," Shirase replied, bending down to change shoes.
Nino snorted lightly. "They're for Itsuki, aren't they? You're so nice to her. No wonder she's always putting in good words for you recently. If you ask me, your relationship is developing pretty fast. Maybe someday soon she'll—"
Before she could finish, Shirase interjected cheerfully, "She'll become my wingman."
Nino's expression froze instantly.
Shirase continued pressing his advantage, "With Itsuki's help, even if you refuse to date me in the future, she'll be whispering good things into your ear. That would boost my chances far more effectively than working alone."
"You—just come inside already, and stop talking nonsense at the door…!"
Unable to hold her ground, Nino fled the scene, her scarlet cheeks burning brighter as she dashed away like a defeated deer, crying out a defeated whine as she went.
Upon entering the living room, Shirase unexpectedly discovered that today, everyone was present.
Even Nakano Miku, who preferred holing up in her room, was now properly seated on the sofa.
"You seem surprised that all five of us are home?" Nakano Ichika saw through Shirase immediately, smiling playfully as she stretched—making her chest's curves stand out noticeably.
"We were waiting for you!" Nakano Yotsuba raised her hand energetically.
Miku said quietly, "Itsuki started mumbling first thing this morning about you bringing cookies today. So, we ended up waiting for you."
"I-I didn't keep mumbling! I was just happy… and excited." Itsuki's face was red as she stammered, clearly lacking conviction.
Only Nino stayed quiet, the faint blush of embarrassment still lingering on her cheeks.
Shirase casually set the cookies on the table. "They're just cookies. Was it really necessary for all of you to wait here?"
Ichika playfully winked at him. "Because they're tasty."
"Yeah, really tasty!" Yotsuba nodded vigorously. "Last time, if I hadn't taken a few extra, Miku and Itsuki would have finished them all."
"Miku had some too?" Shirase was startled.
Miku quietly looked away, saying nothing.
"Because your cookies taste unforgettable…" Ichika deliberately dragged out her voice. "If we hadn't known you'd personally baked them, we might've thought you paid a high-end pastry chef to make them."
"They're that good?" Shirase was genuinely surprised. He didn't normally snack, so even when he'd tried the cookies made after the damned system's enhancement, he'd only thought they were delicious—that was all.
Seeing the quintuplets' reactions now, Shirase suddenly realized he might not need to rely on Sengoku warlords to get closer to Miku after all.
If he continued improving his cooking, and if the damned system could push his culinary skills toward the "addictive dishes" level of certain fictional chefs, wouldn't the difficulty drop straight to novice level?