After hanging up the phone, Hakuto stared at the contact list, looking at Nino's name.
If he had known things would turn out this way, he would have just revealed his identity right from the start instead of going through all this trouble.
Even though the plan had changed, his mission as a tutor still had to continue.
There was no other choice—Hakuto braced himself and invited Nino out.
He was immensely grateful that she was still willing to talk to him.
"Ah, my looks! You are too great! I love you!"
Hakuto almost wanted to kiss himself. He had never expected his face alone to be this powerful!
Meanwhile, Nino clenched her phone tightly as she looked at Hakuto's invitation message.
"A tutor, huh!"
She had genuinely thought Hakuto was reaching out because he felt guilty about what had happened before, which was why he asked for her contact information.
But now it seemed like he had other motives!
"Nino, what are you thinking about?"
"Nothing..."
Instead of rejecting Hakuto's invitation, Nino gladly accepted it. In fact, she was eager to go!
"I have something to do later, so you guys go home first. No need to wait for me."
Miku& Itsuki& Ichika& Yotsuba: ??!
After being sisters for over ten years, they knew each other well. The moment Nino said she had something to do, the others immediately started speculating.
"Are you going shopping?"
"Yeah... that's right... a friend invited me out to shop."
"Shopping, huh... okay, go ahead, we'll head home first."
With that, the four of them started walking home, leaving Nino alone.
Seeing that her sisters didn't suspect anything, Nino let out a sigh of relief. But just then, another message from Hakuto arrived.
"If possible, you can call the other four over too."
"Too bad, they already left."
"Huh?"
Seeing Hakuto's disappointed response, Nino smirked, then put away her phone and started heading toward their meeting place.
What she didn't know was that her sisters were currently hiding behind a large tree like a stack of dominoes, peeking out to watch her every move.
"Did you guys see that? The way Nino smiled just now."
"Who is she texting? She looks so happy."
"Huh? Isn't Nino just going shopping? Why are we following her?"
"Idiot, Yotsuba."
"Let's go, let's go."
And so, the four of them silently followed Nino, each one eager to see what she was really up to.
After some time, Nino finally arrived at the agreed meeting spot, but she didn't see Hakuto anywhere. She took out her phone.
Nino: "I'm here. Where are you?"
Hakuto: "Turn around."
Seeing the message, Nino obediently did as told. However, after looking around, she still couldn't see Hakuto.
Nino: "I don't see you."
Hakuto: "Turn around again."
Nino frowned but still followed the instructions. However, she still couldn't spot him.
Nino: "Huh? Are you invisible or something?"
Hakuto: "Actually, I'm not even there yet. I just wanted to mess with you."
Nino: "??!"
Seeing the message from Hakuto, Nino nearly threw her phone in frustration!
"I must be insane for agreeing to this meeting."
She grumbled angrily, then turned around, ready to head home. After being toyed with like this, she couldn't care less about their so-called appointment anymore.
But just as she turned, she suddenly realized that Hakuto was already standing behind her, looking at her with a gentle smile.
"Good afternoon, Nino."
Nino glared at Hakuto in frustration. If she weren't fully aware of the power difference between them, she would have punched him on the spot.
"Weren't you not here yet?"
"I've been here for a while. I just wanted to play a little joke on you."
Hakuto's warm smile seemed sincere, as if he really wasn't lying.
Looking at his face, Nino found that, for some reason, she couldn't even stay mad.
"So? Why did you call me out instead of focusing on your job as a substitute prince?"
"You should already know, right? Your father asked me to be your tutor."
Nino froze for a moment. She hadn't expected Hakuto to bring this up on his own.
"T-Tutor..."
Hakuto's sudden honesty caught Nino off guard, completely disrupting the scolding she had been preparing.
"What about the others?"
"They don't know. Ms. Hiratsuka only told me."
Since Nino was in Hiratsuka's class, it made sense that she was the only one to receive the news.
Hakuto waved his hand. "What a shame. I was hoping to meet my future students today."
"W-Wait a second! Aren't you going to explain yourself?"
Hakuto feigned innocence. "Explain what?"
"About You adding my contact info out of nowhere!"
"I already told you, didn't I? I wanted to apologize."
Hakuto said it with a straight face, without the slightest hesitation.
"Huh? Wasn't it just because you were going to be our tutor?"
"Hmm? Ms. Hiratsuka only called me about that last night, right before I went to bed..."
Hakuto wasn't lying. He really had gotten the call at night before going to sleep—just not necessarily last night...
Luckily, Nino didn't notice the loophole in his words and automatically assumed he meant the previous night.
"Really?"
"I swear." Hakuto held up four fingers.
He usually didn't make oaths lightly, but since Nino was already dancing to his tune, he saw no reason to stop.
Nino looked slightly confused.
She had no way of knowing if Hakuto was telling the truth or not.
"Could it really just be a coincidence?"
"Didn't your father mention anything about hiring a tutor recently?"
"Well..."
Honestly, Nino didn't need her father to tell her.
Tutors were nothing new for the quintuplets—they'd had them constantly, given how terrible their grades were.
"Then, as the top student in the school, is it really so strange that I was chosen to be your tutor?"
Nino was starting to believe him.
The sincerity in his voice, paired with that warm, gentle smile, made it really hard to doubt him.
"Wait, does this mean you asked for my contact just because of the tutoring job?"
"As... As if! Why would I ever think that?!"
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Read 20 Advanced Chapters on p@ tr eon (.) com/HalflingFics
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Check out the other translations too: [Mash-Up: I'm Not A Substitute]
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