Mash-Up: Anything for Money

"You bastard! Go die! Why don't you just drop dead!"

As expected...

Hakuto looked at Ginko stomping on him. He had already foreseen this scene.

"Die! Die!" Ginko swung her folding fan repeatedly, each hit landing harshly on his head.

Luckily, Ginko still gave him some face. She had Miku wait in the living room as a "reward" and didn't bring her in.

"Now you even brought her to me yourself. What's next? Bringing a child over?"

"We're not at child-bearing age yet..."

"Shut up! Is that what I meant?!"

Hakuto felt a little wronged. They were all his girlfriends, so why the difference in attitude...

In the Nakano household, Hakuto was like a god — whatever he said went!

In front of Nao, he also held the absolute lead — very much like the head of the household.

But in front of Ginko... for some reason, Hakuto could only obediently take the hits.

Is this what childhood friends are like? 

Is this the power of the osananajimi? Simply terrifying...

Hakuto almost wanted to cry, but he couldn't ask for too much. 

After all, the fact that Ginko was even willing to accept the harem was already a big concession. A few beatings were no big deal...

Ginko looked at Hakuto and sighed.

"That girl outside, I've seen her before, haven't I?"

"Miku, the third sister among the quintuplets, the emotionless type..."

"I didn't ask for that! I mean — is it just her?"

Hakuto of course knew what Ginko meant. He wanted to play dumb, but it didn't work. In the end, he could only shake his head helplessly.

Ginko, knowing the answer, didn't show much expression. She just took a deep breath.

"Who else?"

"Um... maybe… Probably? All of them?"

(゜ロ゜)?

"Die! Die!"

To be honest, with Hakuto's current physical condition, even if Ginko broke her folding fan while swinging it, she still wouldn't be able to cause him any harm.

Hakuto couldn't be bothered to care. Once Ginko tired herself out, she'd probably calm down on her own.

Sure enough, not long after, Ginko was sitting on a chair, crossing her legs and rubbing her sore arm.

Hakuto said nothing, silently stepping forward to gently massage Ginko's shoulders.

"Ginko, you've hit me already. Can you listen to me now?"

Ginko nodded slightly. "Go on, I'm listening."

She was curious to see what kind of excuse Hakuto would come up with.

What really infuriated Ginko wasn't that Hakuto got a new girlfriend, but that he went and got five! 

And during all that time, she hadn't heard a single word about it!

She could hardly imagine how many things Hakuto had been hiding from her!

"Ginko, look, I even brought Miku here to see you. Doesn't that show I wasn't trying to hide it from you? Come on, calm down~"

"That's your reason for getting five girlfriends at once?"

"Who said five? It's clearly only four!"

Yotsuba: Wait! Wait! That strange feeling is coming back again!

"Four is still a lot, isn't it?!" Ginko's chest rose and fell slightly, as if a burst of anger was trapped inside her with no way out.

Hakuto cleared his throat and spoke righteously, "Ginko, I just wanted to give them a home... okay okay okay! Stop! Don't hit me!"

Meanwhile, outside the room, Miku was quietly sitting on a chair, a pure white scarf wrapped around her neck.

Whether it was because of the indoor heating or something else, her whole face, including her ears, was flushed red.

Just thinking about how she and Hakuto had officially started dating made her happy. Even though the relationship didn't belong to her alone, it was enough.

A long while later, Hakuto came out of the room, still smiling like nothing had happened in there.

"Hakuto..."

"Miku, Ginko is really just sharp-tongued but soft-hearted. She's the tsundere type..." 

Hakuto said softly, "No matter what happens next, just don't take it to heart, pretend you didn't hear anything."

Miku tilted her head, looking confused at Hakuto, not quite understanding why he would say something like that.

"Alright, my opponent is still waiting for me. I'll come find you after the match."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hakuto rushed off, as if fleeing from something.

The next second, Miku found out exactly what Hakuto was running from.

Ginko stepped out of the room in her signature sailor uniform, a blue and white fleece shawl draped over her shoulders, folding fan in hand, and a menacing expression on her face.

Miku wasn't surprised at all—after all, that was exactly how Ginko had looked the last time they met.

Unlike Nino, Miku didn't enjoy competing with Ginko.

Miku never fought or vied for attention, but she was even more afraid of losing everything...

"That scarf around your neck..."

"It's Hakuto's."

"I know. I'm the one who picked that scarf out for Hakuto."

If it had been Nino or Ichika, they probably would've started throwing barbed remarks already.

But Miku was different. After hearing that, she just quietly nodded and wrapped the scarf tighter around half of her face without saying a word.

Hakuto's scent... it smells so nice...

Honestly, Ginko couldn't tell the five sisters apart. The only exceptions were Nino and Yotsuba—those two she remembered clearly.

One was a sneaky cat, and the other a ditzy girl who didn't understand the difference between men and women!

Even though she couldn't actually tell Nino and Yotsuba apart when they stood in front of her, it didn't stop her from keeping a close eye on them!

But what puzzled Ginko was that just a few months ago, she thought only two or three of the sisters had feelings for Hakuto. 

How did it become all five now?!

Didn't Hakuto disappear for a few months? How did their feelings only grow stronger?

Seeing Miku's calm demeanor, Ginko dropped her angry act from earlier.

"Want to go watch Hakuto's match?"

"I saw it a long time ago..."

"If you mean the games he played with you five sisters, that wasn't a match. That was just playing house..."

After learning that Hakuto had supernatural powers, Ginko realized he'd never been playing seriously from the start.

So she didn't have much interest in watching him shine in the shogi world either.

After all, this kind of one-sided game wasn't just boring for Hakuto—even Ginko found it dull.

But since they were already here, they might as well claim the Eternal Seven Crowns before leaving.

Ginko didn't think there was anything wrong with Hakuto using his powers. 

First of all, who knew if he'd even meet a worthy opponent? And second, so what if he used them?

If you're not allowed to use your abilities, then isn't using your brain during a test also cheating?

But just then, Miku suddenly spoke up.

"Ginko-san, I want to ask you something..."

"Hmm?" Ginko raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."

"Um... are you Hakuto's first girlfriend?"

Hearing Miku's question, Ginko's expression froze for a moment, then she began to ponder it.

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