Ryuichi's sudden appearance left the Nakano household's quintuplets completely stunned.
After the initial wave of shock finally passed, they began to calm down and adapt to the situation.
The main reason was Ryuichi's demeanor — utterly composed, not the slightest bit menacing. Once their fear faded, the girls found themselves strangely drawn to this extraordinary young man.
After all, to girls who had lived perfectly ordinary lives, the existence of someone with supernatural powers felt like peeking into an entirely new world.
"So there really is another side to this world that normal humans know nothing about…" said Nakano Itsuki in quiet amazement.
Ryuichi gave a small nod.
"Well, it's not something you girls need to worry about. Most of the time, angels, fallen angels, and devils don't interfere in the human world.
As for me—please keep my true identity a secret. Just treat me as a normal person in daily life."
Nowadays, the three factions — angels, fallen angels, and devils — had long since ended their wars. Only minor disputes still happened on occasion.
With their populations so small, the world had long been dominated by humanity — a reality none of the three sides could deny.
Ryuichi's gaze drifted toward the cheerful, green-ribboned girl.
"So then, Miss Nakano Yotsuba — would you like to form a contract with me?
I can let you experience a bit of my power first."
His tone was calm, almost indifferent. Now that he had revealed himself as a devil, there was no need to pretend to be completely ordinary anymore — though the cool, collected attitude he gave off only added to his mysterious charm in the girls' eyes.
"Ooh, sure! Let's do it! Make me into a magical girl who saves the world!" Yotsuba exclaimed with a burst of excitement.
"You won't be saving the world," Ryuichi replied matter-of-factly, "but you already qualify as a beautiful girl."
Then, without any further ceremony, he picked up her schoolbag and pulled out one of her textbooks.
"I'll go over the material in this book with you once. After that, you'll be able to remember everything perfectly."
Everyone stared at him in silence, unsure what to make of it.
"Um… do we have to actually study it? Can't you just use magic to put the knowledge directly into our heads?" asked Nino, narrowing her eyes skeptically.
Ryuichi gave a wry smile.
"Sorry, but even devils don't have magic like that."
He sighed inwardly. I'm literally offering to help her learn, and she still wants to cut corners?
Yotsuba, however, seemed eager to cooperate. She sat down beside him, looking determined — the picture of a model student.
"You're all second-year high school students, right? Perfect — I've already taken these same classes. I can teach you directly."
He pointed to a passage in the textbook — a topic their teacher had covered earlier that day. Ryuichi had mastered it completely, so teaching Yotsuba, who wasn't exactly a top student, would be child's play.
"Wait, Mr. Ryuichi… you're a high school student too?" asked Miku, blinking in surprise.
"Yeah. I'm also in my second year. Why, is that strange?"
"Uh… kinda?" Ichika chuckled awkwardly. "That's not exactly what I imagined a devil would be like."
The others nodded in agreement.
Devils, in their minds, were supposed to be terrifying, evil beings who killed and destroyed without mercy.
So how had it come to this — a devil who went around handing out flyers and tutoring high-school girls?
Calmly twirling his mechanical pencil between his fingers, Ryuichi answered evenly:
"Before you learn the truth about how the world really works, who can say what's accurate?"
He gave a small, self-mocking smile. Once, he too had believed devils were purely evil — until he became one himself. And well… it turned out to be surprisingly nice, actually.
"Alright then, let's begin. I'll explain the topic first — Miss Nakano Yotsuba, please pay close attention."
"No problem! Oh, and you can just call me Yotsuba!" she replied brightly, flashing a smile full of energy.
"Alright then, Yotsuba. Let's do our best."
With that, Ryuichi began his lesson — and, at the same time, quietly invoked his power to modify cognition, gently guiding her memory so that she would retain everything he explained.
Before long, he finished his explanation.
"So? Do you remember everything I said?"
He looked at Yotsuba, though his gaze swept over the other sisters as well.
Ichika and the rest were all completely dazed. Everything he'd just gone over sounded like gibberish to them.
Yotsuba, on the other hand, jumped up in delight.
"I remember it all! Every bit of it!"
Ryuichi gave a satisfied nod.
But the very next second, he froze as Yotsuba blinked up at him and said—
"But… I still don't understand these problems at all."
"What? Why not?" Ryuichi frowned. "I just went over the key concepts with you."
"Huh? Wait — that was the key concept!?" Yotsuba cried in panic.
Ryuichi: "…"
For a moment, Ryuichi felt an overwhelming wave of exasperation wash over him.
He finally understood.
Yes, he had used his magic to make Yotsuba memorize the information — but…
For someone like her, memorization meant nothing without comprehension.
He had underestimated the problem.
Even perfect memory couldn't help if the student didn't understand what the knowledge meant.
Ryuichi's expression went blank with quiet disbelief. There was no denying it — the girl before him was an adorably hopeless airhead.
Maybe I really did think this was going to be too easy…
Ichika and the others were equally speechless.
"No way… even magic can't save you, Yotsuba?" Ichika muttered, half laughing.
"Hopeless," Miku sighed.
"You were too busy thinking about becoming a magical girl, weren't you?" Nino teased with a grin.
"Maybe something just went wrong," Itsuki said kindly. "We can try again."
Ryuichi sat back, resting his chin on his hand, quietly studying the five identical sisters before him.
"If I may be blunt," he said at last, "I'm guessing the five of you have… roughly the same grades?"
The four who'd been teasing Yotsuba froze. In an instant, they all wilted like frostbitten eggplants.
Watching them, Ryuichi couldn't help but smirk.
This was actually… interesting.
He realized he might have stumbled upon a rare opportunity.
Until now, he'd always worked with one contractor at a time. But here he had five potential partners, all at once.
Why not go big this time — and form contracts with all five?
Leaning casually against the sofa armrest, Ryuichi rested his chin on his hand and studied the five identical beauties before him. The thought really didn't seem half bad.
He already knew their strengths and weaknesses. Subjects that required rote memorization, like history or geography, wouldn't be a problem for them.
Their real struggles were with math and Japanese — subjects that demanded actual understanding. Those, he could handle with some proper tutoring.
"So," he said with a faint smile, "how about it, girls? Would you all like to form contracts with me?"
Their eyes widened in surprise.
"In exchange," Ryuichi continued, his tone calm but confident,
"I'll become your tutor — and guarantee that you'll all graduate without a problem."