Mash-Up: Anything for Money

Hakuto deliberately reminded the four girls to confess only the things that could be confessed, and to hold off on the things that couldn't—for now.

"Huh? What counts as something we can say? And what counts as something we can't say?"

"If you think saying something will make Mr. Maruo angry, Yotsuba, then that's something you can't say..."

Just as Hakuto finished his sentence, not far away, Nakano Maruo slammed the table hard. 

The four sisters immediately straightened their posture, no longer daring to glance behind them at Hakuto.

"What do you mean I don't know him well enough? Even if I did know him better, I still wouldn't agree to let him take away all five of my daughters!"

"Dad, please don't be angry..."

Nakano Maruo was truly furious at this moment. He had initially assumed Hakuto had tricked his daughters somehow.

But to his surprise, starting from his eldest daughter, it was clear they had willingly chosen him.

There wasn't a trace of deceit to be found.

Nakano Maruo took a deep breath and collapsed back into his chair.

"Ichika, you go first. I want to talk to the others one by one..."

Angry or not, Nakano Maruo's objective today was to have individual conversations with all five sisters.

"Nino…"

As Ichika brushed past Nino, they exchanged a glance.

Nino was still a bit uneasy. After all, it was rare to see their father this angry. But Ichika gave Nino a reassuring look.

Nino nodded and stepped up to stand in front of Nakano Maruo.

"Nino..." Nakano Maruo sighed. "You like Hakuto. I've known that for a while."

It was precisely because Nakano Maruo knew Nino liked Hakuto that he found it even harder to understand why she would agree to all this.

He knew Nino was a sucker for good looks, and Hakuto certainly had a good face. 

Add to that his personality and actions—it was no wonder he attracted the affections of teenage girls.

But still... No matter the reason, Nakano Maruo couldn't accept Hakuto taking all five of his daughters.

"Tell me why. Why...?"

"Dad, do you really know Hakuto?"

Nakano Maruo rubbed his forehead, half wanting to curse out his late wife in the afterlife.

Meanwhile, back in the group, Ichika subconsciously looked at Hakuto crouched behind her and said,

"So you really did come back, Hakuto. I thought I just imagined your scent."

Hakuto frowned. "Scent?"

"You didn't know?" Ichika smiled slightly and whispered, "That woody fragrance on you is really distinct."

"I smell?" Hakuto sniffed his clothes instinctively. Besides the usual detergent smell, he couldn't pick up anything unusual.

"Maybe it's the body wash?" he said reflexively.

Miku shook her head. "We don't have body wash with that kind of scent in our house…"

Because of that scarf from a while back—and the fact they slept together last night—Miku remembered his scent very clearly.

Hakuto waved it off. Sure, he did own some cologne, but it had probably gathered dust by now.

Even Nao and Ginko had mentioned he smelled like something before, but back then, he thought it was just because he hadn't showered.

"That's not important..." Itsuki shook her head. "Ichika, what did Dad say to you earlier?"

Hearing Itsuki's question, Ichika turned to face her with a smile. "He just asked whether Hakuto had tricked me, and why I was doing this."

"And what did you say?"

"What else could I say? Of course, I said it was because I liked him!"

Hearing Ichika's answer, the other three girls instinctively gave a small round of applause.

"But I didn't mention anything about Hakuto's abilities..."

As she said this, Ichika instinctively glanced back at Hakuto, seemingly seeking his opinion.

Seeing that, Hakuto nodded. "It's not a big deal anymore. You can tell him."

"I thought you were hiding something major from us, the way you kept it secret all this time."

"That was back then. I really didn't want to drag you all into the mess. But now it's different. Didn't you see me openly use my ability in front of everyone?"

Ever since Otosaka Yuu started his journey of plundering abilities, Hakuto no longer considered his powers a secret.

"But Ichika was right not to bring it up. That kind of thing can easily be used as a reason to oppose us." Hakuto shrugged. 

"If Mr. Maruo's worried about my family background or something, I can easily bring someone in to talk to him."

The four girls all nodded silently. But right then, Yotsuba suddenly asked, "By the way, does Sensei really need money that badly?"

"What do you mean?"

"Because earlier, Sensei said he became our tutor for the money. And Nino also told us that if there's ever a problem with Sensei, we just need to throw money at it..."

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