The Heroines Want to Confess.

Chapter 145: Nino: I willingly become a doglicker

When Sakurai Saki walked out of the cooking class with Nakano Miku, it was already noon.

But since the two of them had eaten nearly the entire matcha cake they made during the class, they weren't very hungry.

"You've learned how to make matcha cake now?" Sakurai Saki looked down the hallway; quite a few young girls were preparing for the next class.

This place didn't feel like a cooking class at all, more like a host club.

Earlier when the class ended, the handsome teacher even asked if he had ever considered working part-time here.

Sakurai Saki used the excuse ["I'm not good at teaching others"] to decline, but the guy said it didn't matter, as long as you're good-looking, they could train the rest later...

Since Sakurai Saki was already working as a rental boyfriend, he had no interest in switching to a similar job with even lower pay.

"It's pretty decent now." Miku held a notebook in her hands. Her handwriting was very neat, not overly free-flowing—just like the impression she gave off.

"That's good then." Sakurai Saki thought it was worth the effort.

Just earlier, he practically carried the whole class for that handsome teacher.

That made Sakurai Saki wonder why this girl didn't just invite him to her house for tutoring, instead of paying extra to bring him here.

Want to learn how to bake? Just wire me the money—100 yen is enough to buy you a lesson, Baka Miku!

At the end of the hallway, the two of them were about to head downstairs to leave.

On the staircase, a girl with a black bow walked up—she was the tsundere among the Nakano quintuplets.

Nakano Nino saw him, along with Nakano Miku beside him.

"You two… why are you together?" Nino didn't know what kind of expression to make.

No wonder Miku asked her yesterday if she knew any cooking class spots.

Turns out it was so she could come here with Sakurai.

"Nino? You came here too?" Nakano Miku asked unconsciously.

"Probably just came to ogle the hot guys, right?" Sakurai Saki said in a definite tone.

If there was anything about this place that might attract Nino, it was probably those gentle, handsome teachers.

The teachers here all had decent professional ethics—they wouldn't do hands-on teaching with the students directly.

Compared to a host club, maybe it's more like an idol group?

"…Sakurai-san, don't talk like you know me that well!" Nino was a little angry.

Nino: (｡•̀ ⤙ •́ ｡ꐦ) !!!

She wasn't the type to judge by looks alone.

'If I understood you, then I wouldn't have ended up being liked by you.' Sakurai Saki thought to himself.

This kind of ticking time bomb personality—there really aren't many guys who'd like that.

Beautiful on the outside, but lacking warmth on the inside.

Anyway, Sakurai Saki had no intention of messing with this bomb, but unfortunately, the bomb had grown legs and walked up to him.

"I don't want to understand you. Let's keep communication to a minimum. To be precise, just the teacher-student level." Sakurai Saki smiled: "Even if your main reason for coming here wasn't the hot guys, you still thought about it a little, right?"

"...Just a tiny little bit!"

(,,¬﹏¬,,)

Nino retorted, "All else being equal, who wouldn't pick someone attractive?"

Sakurai Saki nodded, "True."

Whatever she said was right—but what the hell did that have to do with him?

Even if she went bar-hopping for a one-night stand tonight...

Sorry, that was a bit much—as a teacher, he shouldn't be hoping his student goes to those kinds of places.

"But I think personality matters too. What do you think?" Sakurai Saki asked back.

"Are you saying my personality isn't good?"

Nino: ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)

"Being self-aware is a good thing, Nino-san. That's one of your few merits, try to keep it up."

Sakurai: ദ്ദി(ᵔᗜᵔ)

It wasn't class time now, and they weren't even in a classroom—Sakurai Saki had no intention of sugarcoating anything for her.

At first, Sakurai Saki thought she would fire back a few words after hearing that.

Unexpectedly——

"I… I'll change." Nakano Nino said in a low voice: "Whatever you don't like, I'll fix it!"

That reminded Sakurai Saki of the first few days he had "picked her up," the image of that trembling girl curled up in the living room flashed through his mind.

"Whatever you like about me, I can change that too." Sakurai Saki sighed.

Nino turned her head slightly, muttering: "Mainly the crude words and actions… A slightly ugly face is actually okay..."

Sakurai: ∘ ∘ ∘ (｡· v ·｡) ?

A few seconds of silence——

"…You're something else." Sakurai Saki was speechless.

At this point, he honestly wished Nino would argue with him. At least then he could provoke her with words.

But instead, Nino turned Sakurai Saki's verbal attacks into treatment. He had to admit, he was kind of impressed!

Most of all, this trembling M-like personality—he was the one who shaped it. Thinking about that made Sakurai Saki just want to smash his head into a wall and die!

"You still have class, right? Then we'll head back first."

With no other option, Sakurai Saki had to change the subject.

He turned to Miku, "Let's go. I'll take you to the station."

The subway station wasn't far from there.

With that, the two of them planned to leave Nino behind.

"I'll go back with you too." Nino came over to Sakurai Saki's side and tried to join them.

"Nino, what are you doing here? Didn't you just get here?" Miku, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up.

"…Fine." Nino looked a bit disappointed and turned to head upstairs.

Her figure from behind looked exactly like a little puppy abandoned by its owner.

Nino: ૮(˶╥︿╥)ა

————

On the way, the two walked toward the nearby subway station.

"Saki-kun, I think Nino likes you." Miku suddenly said, though her tone wasn't too certain.

She didn't really know what it felt like to like someone, but she had never seen Nino like this before.

Maybe this was love?

"Yeah." Sakurai Saki gave a knowing look.

"I just hope she wakes up to reality soon."

If she could just confess already, that would be best—then he could flat-out reject her, as harshly as possible.

And watch her cry right in front of him.

Umu, sounds fun.

It had been a month since Nino last cried, and to be honest, Sakurai Saki kind of missed it.

Maybe Nakano Nino was the only one who could be bullied to tears by Sakurai Saki without him feeling the slightest bit guilty. In a way, she was very special to him.

Sakurai Saki didn't even realize that in this twisted relationship, he himself wasn't uninvolved. His S-type personality and Nino's M-type personality matched perfectly like two puzzle pieces.

"Besides, even if I had to choose, why wouldn't I pick someone else?" Sakurai Saki thought aloud. "Let's take an extreme example: the other four of you girls—same looks as her, but better personality. So tell me, what advantage does Nino-san have?"

"Not liking her is only natural, right?"

"…Can I tell her that?" Miku didn't want her sister to keep chasing a hopeless love.

"Sure." Sakurai Saki didn't care at all.

After dropping her off at the subway, Sakurai Saki left.

...

On the train, Miku took out her phone and messaged Nino.

The content was mostly what Sakurai Saki had just said.

A few seconds later, it showed that she'd read it.

Then a few more minutes passed.

Nino: I know, but I still like him. Even if he hates me, it's fine. Even if I have to become more pathetic, it's still fine…

After reading her long message, Miku summed it up in just four words: willing to endure everything.

This kind of hopeless, one-sided love made Miku think of a single word—

Doglicker, and the kind that had fallen too deep to ever climb out.

Just what the hell did Saki-kun do to Nino to make her this loyal?