Ren Hopes Nino Can Keep It a Secret

"Yes."

Ren went to wash his hands, and as he sat at the dining table, Asumi placed freshly cooked rice in front of him.

'Tempura, teriyaki chicken, french fries.'

Ren recognized the dishes made by Asumi.

"Try to see if it suits your taste."

Sitting across from him, Asumi urged with a smile.

"Aren't you going to eat?"

Ren asked curiously when he realized she only made one serving for him.

"I came home for dinner." Asumi explained casually, "If I finish eating at your house and don't eat at home, my dad will get suspicious."

"Oh. Ittadakimasu."

So Ren stopped saying anything and picked up his chopsticks.

Judging from its appearance, the food cooked by Asumi was quite delicious, but the portion wasn't too big.

Perhaps because he was the only one eating it.

"How does it taste?"

Seeing him bite into each dish, Asumi asked hopefully.

"Not bad." Ren commented very seriously.

"Not bad? I'm still very confident in my cooking skills."

Asumi was not satisfied with his answer.

"Very delicious."

After a moment of thought, Ren changed his wording.

"You should say it's delicious."

Asumi didn't want the praise she received.

"Good."

Ren repeated this comment again.

"..."

After a moment of silence, Asumi said powerless: "I suddenly understand Kirisu-sensei's mood."

Being forcibly told that it tastes good was really uncomfortable.

Moreover, Ren was a good kid who told the truth.

"How's your mood?"

Ren raised his head and asked.

"Nothing."

After saying that, Asumi stood up, took her school bag, and walked towards the door.

Since she would be working in the afternoon, she didn't bring her school bag but left it at home.

"Eat slowly, I'll leave first, see you tomorrow."

Now that Ren had started eating, she had no connection if she stayed here, so it was better for her to go home early.

"Goodbye." He replied.

As the door opened and closed, Ren was the only one left in the room.

After eating, he washed the dishes and chopsticks, placed the lollipop given by Ichika and the unfinished Frappuccino on the table. Ren sat on the bed and began to summarize the day.

He didn't know why, but it seemed like a lot had happened today.

He almost caught up to his two usual days.

Of course, he didn't forget the important thing he had to do, asking Nino what Ichika and the others liked.

But there was no need to rush into this; it wasn't too late to send an email to ask at night.

Besides, he had just returned from their house, and the reason he used was that there was something he had to do.

Sending an email so soon could easily arouse suspicion.

Coincidentally, he could take this opportunity to formulate the specific content of the email.

This afternoon, he was disturbed by Yotsuba, so he still hadn't thought about it.

"Is it better to be wiser or to be honest?"

Because Gabriel wasn't here and there was no one to give him a reference, Ren buried his head in his thoughts.

······

Night, the Nakano residence.

"I'm done eating."

Setting down her bowl and chopsticks, Miku whispered.

"Miku, why did you eat so quickly today?"

Ichika noticed something suspicious about Miku.

"I just didn't have much of an appetite." Miku stood up and prepared to go upstairs, "I'll go back to my room first."

Tonight was her time to play with Ren, and she couldn't waste a single second.

"Miku, come back later. It's your turn to do the dishes today."

Nino stopped Miku who had just left the dining table.

Even though she was responsible for cooking, it didn't mean she was also responsible for doing the dishes.

Their family used a rotation system, one person per day, and today was Miku's turn.

"Can you leave it for now, and I'll do it later?"

She still wanted to go back and play with Ren.

Nino asked back, "What do you think?"

"In that case, you ate quickly."

After saying that, Miku obediently sat on the sofa.

"Don't worry, Itsuki can eat more." Nino said with a smile.

'Nino must be targeting me.'

Miku thought quietly to herself.

*Ding*

Suddenly, Nino's phone rang, but it didn't catch their attention.

"Huh?"

Nino took out phone, looked at the email she just received, and couldn't help but shout.

Yotsuba asked with concern, "What's wrong?"

"Kamikawa-san sent me an email." Nino answered honestly, "And it's also related to you."

As soon as these words came out, it immediately caught the attention of the others.

"What's in it? Can you tell us?" Itsuki was very concerned.

"I should be able to." Nino replied, "After all, it's your question."

[Good evening, Nino. My name is Kamikawa Ren, here's my email address. Because I've never exchanged contact information with you before, I could only find out your email address by asking your father. I sincerely apologize.]

[I suddenly sent you an email today because I wanted to ask you something. If possible, please let me know the type of gift Ichika, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki like, or what they need at the moment.]

[Thank you very much.]

After a pause, she read aloud the contents of the email sent to her by Ren.

"It seems a bit formal." Itsuki commented, "Kamikawa-kun must have spent a lot of time thinking about it."

"Ren-san is asking Nino about the type of gifts we like, is it because he wants to give us gifts?"

Yotsuba didn't forget about this.

"It should be, he asked me this question earlier today." Ichika recounted the information.

"Ren knows what I like."

Miku was quite confident about this.

"He sent another email."

Nino's voice was heard again, attracting their attention once more.

"What did he talk about this time?" Ichika asked.

[Please don't tell them that I asked what they like. I want to surprise them.]

After Nino read aloud this email, the atmosphere suddenly became awkward.

"Can you pretend not to know about this? Kamikawa-san plans to give you a surprise."

Seeing the four people listening more seriously than the others, Nino said with a little embarrassment.