Nakano Miku’s Winning Route

The melodious bell chimed.

Miku lazily withdrew her hand from under the kotatsu, grabbed phone, and saw that it was Nino calling.

Chewing on an orange slowly and swallowing, she let the phone ring for over ten seconds before answering.

"Too slow! What are you doing? Sitting under the kotatsu and eating oranges?" Nino's high-pitched voice pierced her ears, making Miku uncomfortable, prompting her to pull the phone away.

"Oh, the intuition of the quintuplets is truly annoying..."

"Are you really eating?! Do you even know what day it is today? Is he just asking you to stay home and eat oranges?" Nino yelled with disdain, as if she would fly back to France the next second and beat someone up.

"Is he next to you now?"

With lazy, slitted eyes like a cat napping, Miku calmly replied, "Shinichi is out, I'm home alone."

There was silence on the other end for a moment, then Nino restrained her anger and said, "Haha, well done, Asada Shinichi... How dare you leave my little sister and his girlfriend alone at home on Christmas Eve? Does he really think I, Nakano Nino, am not at home, right?"

She then said something loudly in French in the distance. Miku guessed that she was asking someone to help her book a flight back to Japan.

Miku couldn't hold her tongue. Nino's emotions had gotten worse since she went abroad to study. Although her love for her family hadn't changed, she didn't have a good expression every time she saw Shinichi, and she didn't even have a good expression tended to like to argue when she spoke.

These two were really enemies... Fortunately, she gathered the courage to be the first to confess, or Nino would also fall in love with Shinichi someday. If they both got along like this, they would have the truth of their relationship sooner or later.

Miku sighed and said softly into the phone, "Alright, Nino, Shinichi is out because he has something to do. He didn't mean to leave me alone at home. If you don't have any business, don't come back..."

"What? How dare you hate me when I rarely come back?!" Nino raised her voice, sounding a bit hurt.

Miku felt troubled, and said softly as if teasingly, "It's okay, I like Nino the most... So, what's the sudden call for?"

"Well, I almost forgot my business when you blabbered..."

Miku flattened her face and rested her chin on the stove.

"I'll be back before New Year's. Then we'll go to the shrine together and go to Grandpa's hot spring hotel to bathe... Boyfriends not allowed!"

Miku whispered, "If you don't have one yourself, don't let me take it..."

"What did you say?!"

"Nothing~" Miku said with a long sigh, turning on the speakerphone on her phone, and began peeling the orange with her youthful red fingertips, "Ichika's movie just finished shooting, and Yotsuba is also on hiatus. Itsuki was invited by another teacher to take over the class for a week... Nino, how many days can you come back?"

"About five days. Besides the hot spring, where else can the five of us go?" Nino seemed to recall the appearances of her other sisters, with a little smile and hope.

Miku bit into her orange and smiled too.

"Okay."

No matter where they went, the important thing was that the five of them gathered as usual.

There was no need to explicitly say it, as the silent understanding of family had long been stored in their hearts. Despite being scattered across various cities and countries, the Nakano quintuplets remained the best sisters.

Five different happinesses and one same smile had never changed from past to present.

"Where are you, Miku? Is your manuscript deadline okay?" Nino asked.

"Um, you can see it in the next issue of 'Interesting Tales from the Warring States Period'." Licking her lips, Miku said calmly, "There will be a break on New Year's. So I've been quite free lately, I can play with lonely Nino."

"Who's lonely?" Nino's embarrassed voice was heard, but Miku ignored it altogether.

"I'm just in the middle of pregnancy, so it's very helpful if I can stop doing mental activities~"

"..."

In the strange silence of Nino, Miku had already decided to lower the volume of her phone as minimal as possible, and counted in her heart for three seconds.

Then, there was a scream so loud that it seemed like her phone was vibrating.

"What--!!"

Before she finished her call, Miku said calmly.

"I lied to you."

"Lied..." Nino's voice paused for a moment, but instead of getting angry as Miku expected, she pondered for a moment and asked, "Is it true? It's been six years since you started dating in your second year of high school, and we've been living together for four years now, and there hasn't been any financial pressure until now, if we're not talking about having children, aren't we thinking about getting married or engaged?"

Miku answered while chewing on her orange.

"I said I really like my life now and don't want to change it for the time being. Shinichi will prepare everything himself. As long as I agree, marriage will wait... So don't rush it."

"You..." Nino sighed, "Most people who think like this regret it, you know? If you don't get married and tie him down soon, someday that man will go look for a confidant and cheat. Just wait until you cry!"

"No, I trust Shinichi." With her cheeks blushing, Miku showed a smile, "I belong to him, and he's unwilling to betray me. Because in this world, there will never be anyone better than me to love him."

"Ugh..." Struck by the overflowing affection in her words, Nino clicked her tongue in disgust, "Seeing how blinded you are by love, can't you be like me? A strong woman, can't you live well on your own?"

"Huh..." Miku replied nonchalantly.

"I can't do it alone, I can't do it without him."

Her voice was soft, but there was no room for grace.

She thought so from the bottom of her heart.

Nino finally couldn't take it anymore and yelled in frustration.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Enough! I'll never call you again! Isn't it fun to show affection? Isn't it nice to have a boyfriend?! Wait and see, I'll find a man more perfect than him, I'll show you!"

"Huhu, that's impossible." Miku was confident and proudly said, "My Shinichi is the most perfect man in the world!"

"Goodbye!" Nino gritted her teeth and hung up the phone.

Miku looked at the phone screen showing the end of the call, sighed, and shook her head: "The gap between the winner in life and one person is very clear... I can win even if I'm 20 years old."

As she was about to put phone back into her pocket and continue sealing her entire body in the kotatsu, the sound of keys unlocking the door suddenly came from the entrance.

At that moment, Miku emerged from the warm kotatsu without hesitation, ignoring the cold air outside and its chilling effect on her skin, running towards the entrance in two or three steps, then leaping with all her might.

"Shinichi~"

"Wow, Miku, that's dangerous! I've told you many times, don't jump at me as soon as I get home, and don't rub against my chest, there's still snow on it."

"It's okay, the most important thing is to recharge Shinichi's energy... The snow will melt away soon because of me..."

"What should I do if I catch a cold like this... Forget it, let's see the Christmas present I brought for you."

"Um... What's this? Clothing?"

"It's a Christmas costume, the female version."

Spreading out the red outfit inside the bag, Miku's face suddenly blushed.

"This, this... is provocative."

"Well, besides, I'm the erotic type... Don't you want to wear it?"

Although her cheeks were red, Miku still hugged the outfit to her chest and said without hesitation.

"I'll wear the outfit Shinichi gave me, even if it's lingerie!"

"Who would wear lingerie for their boyfriend..."

"In that case..." Miku blinked her increasingly moist eyes, and she gathered the courage to whisper, "Wait a moment, I'll wear this outfit."

"Um."

After receiving a somewhat slow response, Miku walked towards her room, her heart beating faster than her steps.

Holding the very revealing Christmas costume, she secretly touched her stomach. There was a sense of embarrassment on her face, but more importantly, she still had a happy smile as if soaking in a bowl of sugar.

(Nino... Maybe you should hurry back to attend my wedding...)