@halovn113
I do not think that is coincidence at all.
Rather, it is clear that when a chapter focuses on the relationship between Nino and Fuutarou, Maruo is always present-coincidence? I don't think so. Hell, there are several signs in this chapter that indicates that Fuutarou is attracted to Nino. Whether that means he is romantically interested to her I am not sure-Negi keeps it vague.
6 signs in this chapter that show Fuutarou is certainly attracted to Nino if not have feelings for her.
1. Reading the romance guide book just before meeting with Nino.
2. Being clearly bothered by Nino's sudden change of personality when he is expecting her to be head over heals for him.
3. Actively using the 'lessons' in the romance guide book during his interactions with Nino.
4. Thought Nino is "adorable", then be taken aback by her "don't touch me" response.
5. Giving flowers to Nino, and then saying that the flowers are for their mother.
[ul]A bit less strait forward to notice. Fuutarou knows Nino treasures her family the most, even more than him so it is an effective way to please Nino-saying that the flowers are for their mother. See how Nino reacts when being given the flowers? She isn’t buying that he's giving her the flowers, rather what made her drop her act is what he tells her afterwards, and that is it's for their mother, someone whom she treasures more than him. It works in the end.[/ul]
6. "Didn't you actually come to hate me", "You had me scared there"
[ul]Nino practically proposes to Fuutarou 😱, and he didn't reject her. One thing I think most us will agree is that Fuutarou is blunt and insensitive(when it comes to romance). He could have rejected her here if he wanted to but he didn’t.
Nino's intentions are very clear and Fuutarou's response is "didn't you actually come to hate me", "you had me scared there" indicates that he prefers Nino liking him while blushing in the process. Fuutarou has blushed with the other quints before but never during only a conversation to someone whose already confessed(multiple times in this case) to him and no skinship is involved.[/ul]
Nino and Fuutarou are practically doing the dating game in this chapter.
I'd say smug Nino is justified.