Disclaimers: I don't own this and it's easy to tell because if I did, I'd have an editor breathing down my neck. That aside, a lot of things prevented me from making any progress on this chapter or anything else in terms of things, due to my "w" key being broken. With the pandemic and my severe lack of money, I was extremely unmotivated in trying to do anything, because I'd have to copy and paste the damned letter anytime I needed it. So you can understand why this took so long. I just kept typing til I got unmotivated to continue. Either way, let's continue.
Nino glowered in the corner as she watched her sisters flock around that damned tutor.
She gritted her teeth, glaring daggers all the way from the kitchen as she seethed.
They had just gotten home and they were all already gravitating towards him shamelessly.
It was disgusting… They should have some self pride for God's sake!
Here they were: five beautiful and rich quintuplets, who have surely made many boys and girls insecure or jealous no doubt, shamelessly throwing themselves at them!
Nino had never been so ashamed to have the same blood as her sisters… She didn't like any bit of this especially since if he were to even lay an eye on one of her sisters bare bodies… i-it'd be like as if he was looking at hers!
"Nino, how long are you going to just stand there glaring at Fuutarou?" Miku asked with a blank stare.
Nino blinked before she realized she had been standing right in front of the boy, who she didn't like at all, glaring as her sisters had all spread around the room to get comfortable in their own area to study.
Ichika lying on the couch, Miku sitting next to Fuutarou to talk about some game since she had finished her work, Yotsuba pacing around with a book since the girl couldn't stay still for too long and Itsuki in the kitchen snacking on something as she went through her work.
Her inner thoughts began going against her as she realized that besides Miku, she had been the closest in proximity to the tutor the entire time.
Nino crossed her arms and looked away, before answering in a huff tone. "I was just making sure he wasn't doing anything…" She responded with some heat, but ended up sounding rather weak.
Miku rolled her single visible eye at this.
"If you're going to just stay there all day, you can start on your work, you're behind on Social Studies again." The focus of her ire said with not a shred of care.
Nino would've blown up, but she forced herself to calm down as she remembered real well what happened last time she tried to do something.
Nino unconsciously moved her hand back to cover her rear before immediately recovering and turning around swiftly to go study by herself.
Normally she'd stick around to make sure her tutor didn't get up to any funny business with her sisters, but at this point, she'd given up.
They were truly lost with no way for her to save them.
Oh how sad that they lost their hearts to someone so fast and so easily.
And not even somebody worth it either!
"Like come on, I have a magazine full of guys twenty times better than this geek." She muttered to herself as she reentered the haven that is her room.
She laid back in her bed, sighing as she relaxed, closing her eyes to manage the unwanted things taking up real estate in her mind.
Her room was a place that she can stay in without some eggheaded know it all ruining the peaceful sanctuary of her private quarters.
Nino opened up her phone to begin talking to her friends over the chatting app, ready to get right into the juicy gossip or new trends that had been floating around.
"Hey everyone" Her message went in, not bothering to read whatever the current topic was.
She got a bunch of obligatory heys and his before they all resumed the conversation they were having.
"So did you hear about Takeda recently?" One of them asked, to which they all urged her to continue.
"Apparently he's finally taken an interest in girls!" Her friend said to the shock of everyone but Nino.
"Whos takeda?" She messaged, having been relatively new to the school still.
"Oh nino, I forgot you arent in the love game since you have a man already but takeda is like one of the most popular boy in our school!" Her friend answered.
"Yeah hes rich handsome and super smart. The only reason he isnt at the top of the class is because of your boo lol" Another continued, earning the ire of the second Nakano sister.
"I keep telling you guys hes not my boyfriend!" Nino made sure to put a lot of exclamation points in this message to make sure her message comes across.
"Yeah ok nino whatever. Either way takeda has been talking to more girls recently. Nothing too creepy, but like its sooooo obvious that hes been looking for someone to get with." the same girl responded.
Nino growled to herself, knowing her friends still didn't believe her, but relented, knowing at this point they won't until hard facts smacked them in the face.
"Oh, yeah. I keep hearing him mutter to himself about how he can't fall behind his rival or something lol hed be such a weirdo if he wasnt so cute!" Another continued.
"I wonder whats his type. He seems like hed be into tomboys" They began to ponder.
"Isnt one of your sisters one nino?" One asked.
"Yeah, but shes too into my idiot tutor to care about anyone else. If he tried im sure hed be totally friendzoned lol" She messaged back.
She was enjoying herself, swinging her legs back and forth as they dangle off the bed.
She stayed like that for a while before one of her friends said something that caught her interest moreso.
"Sorry girls I gotta go back to work." One said after a while.
"Aw, good luck at work tsubaki! Must suck to have to work as a student" Her friends began saying their goodbyes to her.
"It isnt that bad lol. All i need to do is be a waitress though we are having troubles lately." Tsubaki responded.
"Oh no. what's wrong?" They all asked in variations.
"We need a good chef. Its a lot harder since we cant just pick anyone off the street. We arent a five star restaurant or anything but we need someone who at least has good experience in cooking." She explained to which Nino began fully entering the conversation again.
"Where do you work at, Tsubaki?" Nino asked, her interest piqued.
"A local restaurant nearby. The managers are pretty silly, but theyre nice. Ill tell you about it later. Really gotta go, soz. Bye!" She answered before leaving.
Well that seems interesting.
Nino was always interested in cooking and while she definitely didn't need a job right now, she'd love to try and work to have more experience for a better and stable future.
She paused for a moment, before replaying what she had just said in her mind.
More stable future?
Since when did she care about that?
Her plan for the future was to find either a prince or a bad boy that'd take care of her and they can get lovey dovey every day.
Urgh…
But the more she thought about it, it'd be a good idea for her to have more to her than just looks and a rich dad…
Especially since she couldn't find him being the type to support them all their lives if he was forcing this tutor onto them.
She'll just have to ask Tsubaki later about it. Maybe she can get an after school job and she'd be able to work with a friend.
"Hey, Nino! Pizza's here and Fuutarou-kun wants to check on what you've been doing!" Yotsuba's voice could be heard from outside her door.
Shoot.
She completely forgot about that.
"I'll be right out! Give me a bit and don't eat all the cinnamon twists!" She called back, before immediately getting out her work and furiously messaging her friends for answers to whatever she could get.
She hated to admit it, but she did not want any potential punishments that pervert would give to her if she could avoid it.
The Next Day
Fuutarou sighed deeply as he rubbed his eyes, wondering how on earth that despite not needing sleep, he somehow felt so tired with these girls.
Yesterday was a hassle enough for him after Nino had tried to give her work that was obviously rushed and gotten from someone else.
It was blatantly obvious with the work as she couldn't even repeat any of the answers she had given to him on the paper yet stood her ground stating that she just couldn't remember right now because she was hungry.
Knowing that this was a losing battle unless he got physical, and he really did not want to have to do that again, he had let it slide and decided he would just have to focus his attention on her tomorrow.
Overall, the group had managed to catch up quickly to at least pass their classes if they focus hard enough with the only issue being that they could never seem to focus.
Many times he'd catch them looking away from their notes focused on something else but when he turned to fully see what, they had already quickly glanced back down to feign studying or working
He'd be more concerned if they hadn't managed to scrape on by with their current rate of growth.
With all that's said and done there were still many issues to fix among all five and while he was no psychiatrist, he could already tell what each sister's flaw is and the most glaring one to deal with is…
Well, right now he had to worry about Nino who despite making great headway, was bordering on still being a failure.
Whether she liked it or not, she was picking up things unconsciously and even if she hated him, she still had some sense of pride to do her best for whatever assignment he gave her.
That is… If he could get her started on one in the first place.
"Good morning, Fuutarou-kun!" The same voice that greeted him each morning when he made his way to school called out, getting the same annoyed response she had grown to expect and accept.
"Morning. Not trying to wait at my door again?" He asked, but didn't really care.
"Mm~ I had to stop to get a drink on the way here and they were rather busy today~" The eldest Nakano answered before drinking what looked like a Milk Tea drink in front of him to show her prize.
"Wouldn't you prefer walking with your sisters? You're all basically one and the same. Not to mention you'd have more to talk about with each other." The tutor asked again, despite having been given an answer the last time he asked.
"Yes, but whatever conversation we may have tends to happen after school or before dinner. We don't wake up and just have something to day, that's why we tend to hang out with our friends during school sometimes too~" She explained with the patience of a saint.
He'd never understand what made her so happy to spend time with him, but he wasn't going to complain too much as it at least gave him some easy access in terms of knowing how far in her studying she had managed.
That being said…
"Hey there, Fuutarou. You two seem as energetic together as usual!" One of the locals that lived on the path that Fuutarou took to get to school greeted them from his front porch, giving a grin he really didn't like.
In response, Ichika had taken his arm to hold against her, trapping his limb to herself.
"Good morning, sir! Yes, we're just walking together as usual!" She waved back with her other arm with a big smile.
"Oh, you two remind me of when I was young. Don't hold yourself up for me though, get to school unless you weren't planning on going there together." The older man gave what looked like a knowing smile, but as to what he knew, Fuutarou didn't know nor did he want to know for in his experiece, it was best to not know.
Yknow?
Ichika to her credit didn't seem fazed as she pulled him along, waving back goodbye.
"Don't worry. We're heading off to class as Fuutarou-kun here is a hardworker who's trying to make sure he can provide for a family in the future!" Ichika gave a bright smile as she dragged him to his detriment.
"Wait, family in the future? I'm trying to provide for my family right now." The tutor corrected the statement, but the girl ignored it.
He figured it was nothing too important, deciding to stay quiet and just match her pace.
The two were greeted by many others along the pathway who had grown accustomed to seeing the two together and by the time they made it to school, there was little time for them to make it to class.
"Thanks for letting me come with you again, Fuutarou-kun~ I'll see you at lunch!" Ichika waved goodbye, flashing him a bright smile as she dashed off to her homeroom.
"Yeah yeah yeah…" He could only mutter in response as he stopped at the entrance to his classroom.
Itsuki was waiting at the door, staring at him as if she was waiting for something.
When his eyes met hers she immediately looked away as if she didn't notice him before looking back in his direction and waving hello.
"O-oh! Hi, Fuutarou! Looks like we both just barely made it on time!" The youngest sister spoke like she was rehearsing for a play for the first time.
"... yeah?" He wasn't sure how to respond nor where this was going, but he felt kind of bad about how bad things were the last time she tried… whatever it was she tried.
"Well, we should go in, before the bell rings! N-not like at the same time, but if it so happens that we go in at the same time, it can't be helped after all. It's not like I want to go in at the same time together." The red haired quintuplet began speaking faster and Fuutarou could only look at the clock, wondering how the bell hadn't actually rung yet.
He could have sworn that the clock wasn't even moving at all.
Oh. Right. He forgot about that.
A. Would you like me to hold your hand too as we go in together?
B. Ladies first.
C. What sort of scheme are you making right now?
D. We can always skip class and go teach things to each other.
Yeah.
Without considering it too much, he chose his option and opened the door up for his fellow student, to which he heard someone from inside ask "Hey, Nakano-san, are you finished with whatever you needed to leave the class room for?"
To her credit, Itsuki went straight to her desk, red faced, but nonetheless she still held some semblance of dignity.
Man, you won't believe how much worse things got between me typing that disclaimer up there to now. I won't tell you, but believe me when I say that I did not expect this to take this much longer.
I will also say that i've recognized how schizophrenic the tone of my story is and I can only say I have completely forgotten what me from a few months ago was going for to the me now. Whatever ideas i have are not concrete and that's why whatever is here tends to be a bit inconsistent.
Do I honestly care? Sort of, but nothing I can fully fix without a time machine or yknow.
Having an actual schedule for this with a professional way of doing things like a draft and having a proofreader.
Which I don't care to have due to my absolute laziness and apathy admittedly.
Either way, hope you enjoy this. No guarantee when the next'll come, but i'm sure it will.
Edit:Woops, half of my fic got lost to the aether due to the aforementioned issues.
Lets just pretend we didnt see that.