Oh boy, oh boy! After the last chapter, you were left wanting for more, huh? That's how you guys feel every chapter, hahahaha! What happened last chapter again? Oh yeah, RIBBONMANIA JUST SPED UP EVEN MORE THAT SHE IS RIGHT BEHIND THE NINO TRAIN AND THE MEATBUN MONSTER RAMPAGE! Yotsuba gave Fuutarou a kiss on the cheek just after Itsuki did, which no doubt shocked both her sister and her tutor. How will they react to what she did? We'll find out here, I guess.

As always, if you want to see more of the fluff, don't hesitate to add this fic to your favorites/follows list because we are constantly looking forward to taking this story to the very top! We are VERY close to breaking the 300 mark for followers and we only need at least 30 more before the number of faves beats Quintessential Maids! This fanfic has to reign supreme! Fluff will rule over the QQ archive!

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

Disclaimer: I don't own the Quintessential Quintuplets, or any of its characters...

It didn't even last a few seconds, because it was just a simple peck on his cheek, but the damage was already done… to Fuutarou's state of mind, that is.

The young man couldn't do anything but just stand there in his place, his eyes as wide as they can be, which was the exact same reaction he had when Itsuki kissed him on the first day that they met. As if it was by some stroke of fate, this was also the very same place where that took place, and he was experiencing it all over again, this time with Yotsuba.

What was even happening?

Did Yotsuba just kiss him?

Yotsuba? Seriously?

It's not as if he was talking bad about that girl, by the way. After meeting the girl last week in the cafeteria, he had grown to like her company, ignoring the incident at the school grounds where she hugged him in front of many students as though they were in a relationship. This girl was a ball of energy that never let her problems overwhelm her, which he saw as an admirable trait and he liked that part of her. She was also very much a mystery box, as he could never understand her true intentions! Whether she was expressing her feelings or she was just being her usual genki self, he had no idea what she wanted to show!

Until now, it seems.

This can't be her genki side showing, because this was too much for it! Sure, he can still handle a hug and think it's just her being super eager about something, but this wasn't anything like that! This was not a hug at all! This was a goddamn kiss!

A kiss!

Still…

He never could have imagined Yotsuba to do something like this… from the time that they had spent together so far, she looked completely innocent when it came to this topic. Of course, that was a stupid thought when she was literally having a tug-of-war with her sister earlier involving his arm, but the point still stands!

He just didn't expect Yotsuba to do this, that's all!

Fuutarou looked so out of the loop that he didn't even notice Yotsuba stepping back with a huge smile on her face, unaware that she was the cause of him being like that. By the time that he was finally back to his senses, he could only glance at Yotsuba in complete awe and wonder, as the girl began to giggle and linked her hands behind her in a cute pose.

"Hehe, that's for everything you did for me today, Uesugi-san! I'll keep on doing my best to make you proud! Thank you so much!"

The girl spoke with her smile becoming bigger by the second, while Fuutarou's expression never changed and ended up staring at the ribbon-wearing girl the whole time, unable to do anything else.

"Huh…?" was the only thing that came out of his mouth by the end of it.

"Shishishi, see you tomorrow, Uesugi-san!" Chuckling to herself, she waved her arm in farewell before running off, looking a lot happier than before. Was she really not aware of what she did that caused him to be like this?!

Itsuki, who was left speechless the whole time, finally snapped out of the trance she was in and turned immediately towards her sister with a look of disbelief on her face. She was too overwhelmed with shock just now that it shut her up completely. There's no way that just happened, right? No way did Yotsuba just kiss Fuutarou right in front of her!

"Yotsuba, wait! Why did you do that to Uesugi-kun?!" she cried out, running after her sister who was smiling brightly like the sun as she ran. "Yotsuba!"

Of course, Itsuki's attempt to chase Yotsuba was futile, mainly because the fourth quintuplet was too fast and she herself wasn't into that much physical activity. It was a clear fact that Yotsuba was the fastest and most physically fit among them, but Itsuki still needed to know why her sister did something like that!

However, it did cause Fuutarou to be left standing there at the station, all alone. His hand slowly went up to touch his cheek, particularly the region that Yotsuba's lips had touched. His cheeks slowly turned red, only having a total grasp of what happened just now. It's not his fault though, nobody expected that Yotsuba would kiss him out of nowhere just after Itsuki did…

Not even the readers who are reading this story right now.

"I guess… it was due to happen either way…" he thought to himself, taking several deep breaths in order to calm himself down. "But… did she really have to do that right after her sister kissed me…? Was she waiting for Itsuki to do it… or did she just seize her chance when she saw it? Argh, that girl is still confusing even when she's expressing her feelings…"

He sighed and shook his head, before turning his head towards the two sisters, who were running towards the black car that was waiting for them. Yotsuba still had that big smile on her face, while Itsuki looked like she was desperate for answers as she chased after the ribbon-wearing quintuplet. All in all, it was an amusing sight for Fuutarou because Itsuki was right there with them when Yotsuba kissed him on the cheek.

Since Itsuki had feelings for him, the poor girl must have felt so confused when her own sister did such a thing right in front of her… hopefully, it's not jealousy, by the way. That would be a hard thing to deal with in the future but if it comes to that, then he'll have to deal with it himself.

And then all of a sudden, while he was watching the two run off, a frown had appeared on his face when his mind subconsciously conjured an image of two very young girls with long red hair wearing white dresses in Yotsuba and Itsuki's places. His eyes slowly widened at this, before he shook his head furiously to be rid of that thought. Where the hell did that come from? What did he think of just now...?

He must be seeing things, that's it. Yotsuba's sudden kiss out of nowhere made him dizzy and caused him to start seeing images conjured by his own imagination, that's it.

Or maybe not.

It only went away for a few seconds, however. Almost immediately after seeing the real Yotsuba and Itsuki, his mind subconsciously flashed an image of the same red-haired girls in their places and he quickly shook his head to try and remove it from his thoughts once again. But this time, it wasn't successful and he was subjected to the whims of his own subconscious thoughts for what seemed like an eternity.

"Wait a minute…" he whispered to himself now that he had a good enough grasp of what he was seeing with those two red-haired girls in his students' places. Fuutarou's eyes then widened upon realizing something.

This wasn't a product of his imagination.

It was a memory.

Instead of fighting against his own subconscious thoughts, Fuutarou let it run its course to see what his mind was telling him and what it was all about. There's gotta be a reason for this!

The moment the two young girls reached the car by the road, three more girls with the same face, hair and dress as them appeared, and they were all smiling with one another. Fuutarou blinked once, causing the three other girls to disappear as he was back to reality.

There they were… Yotsuba and Itsuki were getting inside the car and about to leave, but the moment he blinked again, they were replaced by the same five girls his mind envisioned earlier.

"Impossible..." he breathed out in shock, before he found himself not standing at the station anymore, but rather somewhere else.

He looked around, realizing that the scenery had changed drastically. Instead of being at the station, he was standing in a green field where the wind blew freely, and the place was surrounded by many trees. He knew this place. He could remember it like it was just a recent memory. This was a place that he had been to many years ago, when he was still a kid.

Wait a minute… kid?

Fuutarou looked down at his arms and lower body, where he quickly realized that he must be in his younger self right now, considering how short his arms were and the way he was dressed. Upon raising his head, he was then met with the same girls he had been subconsciously thinking about just a while ago. They were all standing in a line before him, and the boy looked taken aback at what he was seeing.

Long red hair, the simple white dresses, the same face, the different expressions…

That was the last straw for Fuutarou himself, who remembered an important event in his childhood at that very moment, one that ended up changing his life forever.

~~XoXo~~

"Why do you want to know my name?"

"So we can be friends, silly! Don't you have any friends?"

"No."

"Oh… that's… that's sad…"

"Whatever."

"We'll be your friends, then! You won't have to be alone!"

"Hey, I don't want to be friends with him! He's bad!"

"Calm down, it's not the end of the world."

"I don't want to! Blegh!"

"Well? Care to tell us?"

"Uesugi Fuutarou."

"That wasn't hard, was it? My name's Rena!"

"I-I'm Rena…"

"You can call me Rena."

"I'm Rena too! Nice to meet you!"

"Hmph. I don't have to tell this boy my name."

"Aw, come on! He's never had friends before so let's be his first friends!"

"I don't want to! Leave me alone!"

"What's wrong with introducing yourself to him?"

"Because he was teasing me!"

"I don't see anything wrong with what he said…"

"Ehehe, don't mind her. She's just trying to get used to you! Anyway, her name's Rena too!"

"Five Renas? It sounds like you're pulling my leg."

"Oh? Why would you say that?"

"You may look the same in every way possible, but you're not the same person. I know I'm not dreaming either, because I just woke up earlier from fainting."

"But isn't that your fault? You just saw us and then all of a sudden, you were knocked out."

"Alright, since this talk is going nowhere, I'll just be on my way. Pretend we never met."

"I'll be happy to! Hmph! What a weird boy…"

"That's mean of you."

"W-Well, he was teasing me! I can't forgive him for that!"

"It was pretty harmless to me, ehehe…"

"Well, there he goes. We were trying to be nice and you blew it."

"W-Why are you blaming this on me…?!"

"W-Wait, please! Don't go just yet…!"

"What do you want? There's nothing we can talk about and one of you doesn't even want me around, so just go back to your parents and pretend we never met."

"I… Can I walk with you…?"

"…huh?"

"Let's walk together…! M-Maybe we can go near the temple together?"

"Aren't you supposed to be with your family? You don't even know me to ask something like that. By the way, your sister already asked me the same thing and I said no."

"Hey, stop it! She was asking you nicely, at least answer in the same way!"

"Why do you care? I thought you didn't like me."

"Y-You… why are you being so mean to me?!"

"I'm not even trying to act that way. I just want to be alone."

"Now, now, let's not get at each other's throats. Come on, what's wrong with getting along?"

"It's his fault! He's just so mean to us! How can you even think of being friends with him?"

"Calm down, okay? Maybe that's just how he usually is and you're not used to it. Let's give him a chance, okay?"

"I don't see any benefit in spending time getting to know all of you, when sooner or later, we're all leaving this place and we'll forget about each other either way. Do yourselves a favor and just go back to your parents."

"Exactly. It's just for today, and we're likely never seeing each other again after this. What's wrong with making friends just for one day? Besides, it looks like one of my sisters has a little crush on you~"

"N-No, I don't…! I… it's not… like that…"

"So? What do you say? We won't be leaving for two more hours at least."

"…fine."

~~XoXo~~

Fuutarou's eyes snapped wide open as he let out a small gasp out of shock, before he quickly looked around him to check his surroundings. Much to his relief, he was still at the station and not anywhere else. Good, that means he was just daydreaming a little while ago.

He quickly turned his head towards the black car by the road where his students are supposed to be, only to see that it was already gone. There was no sign of Yotsuba and Itsuki either, which meant that they had already left and he was the only one there.

"Those girls I met back then…" he murmured, looking down and focusing his thoughts on the memory that popped into his mind. There's no mistake about it. His soulmates were the five girls that he met years ago, all of whom introduced themselves as 'Rena' when he told them his name.

What else could it be? Those five girls had the same face and hair, even their dresses, meaning that they were quintuplets! Right now, he had met three girls who were also quintuplets and their mother's name was Rena!

It all fits!

This must be the reason why he couldn't stop thinking of that name after Isanari told all of them over dinner that Rena, the quintuplets' mother, had already passed away. His subconscious mind must have thought that the five 'Rena's' from back were the ones who died, and he couldn't stop thinking about that name as a result. He didn't know why that happened when he was well aware that Isanari was talking about the girls' mother but regardless, it led to him remembering an important moment from his childhood.

Now that he had nothing else to do here, Fuutarou began to walk back home, while still deep into his thoughts. With this newfound discovery, a lot of new things began to click in his mind, most especially the fact that he had an interaction with his apparent soulmates years before the old man appeared in his dream and told him about them.

"The girls that I met back then… are also my soulmates…" he thought, keeping his head down with his hands inside his pockets, before a serious look took over his features. His pace quickened and began to walk a lot faster, wanting to get home as quick as possible. "I think I know who to ask about this…"

There's only one guy who can explain this weird connection between the past and the present.

Because now that he thought about it, when he asked that guy about the reason why his soulmates were sisters, quintuplets for that matter, but the old man didn't want to give him an answer!

Not this time, though.

He'll talk to that guy later on, and he won't be denied! That old man will give him answers for this or so help him, he'll insult the living hell out of Cowboy Bebop!

~~XoXo~~

The air between the two sisters who were both sitting on the passenger's seat of the car was completely quiet, with nobody bothering to speak up. Ebata, who was their driver, glanced at the mirror several times out of worry that something might have happened to them. Normally, they weren't this quiet unless they were sleeping, but maybe they were just tired from their day…

Itsuki, who was looking out the window the whole time, slowly turned her head towards her sister. Yotsuba kept her head down, so there was no telling what she was currently feeling at the moment, but it was obvious that they had the same thing in mind.

The kiss that Yotsuba gave Fuutarou on the cheek.

Itsuki had the suspicion that Yotsuba liked their tutor in some way, starting earlier when her sister was hugging Fuutarou's arm like how she does it. Yotsuba did this several times today, which only caused her suspicions to grow higher. However, after learning about Fuutarou's mother being dead and that hug they all shared, Itsuki removed the thought from her mind because it was also the moment when she accidentally confessed her own feelings for the young man.

He had convinced her to talk with Yotsuba about her sudden confession in order to keep it as a secret between the two of them, leading to her giving Fuutarou another kiss on the cheek, and then it happened.

Yotsuba came running at them that they weren't able to notice her presence right away, before she planted a kiss of her own on his cheek.

That sudden action left Itsuki speechless that she tried asking her sister for answers as they ran to their car, but didn't get any. However, it did confirm her suspicions that Yotsuba had feelings for Fuutarou. There's no other way to explain why she kissed their tutor out of nowhere. Whether those feelings were romantic or not, they were there and she needed answers now.

Taking a deep breath, Itsuki turned her full attention towards Yotsuba and began to speak.

"Yotsuba, I'm going to ask you something," she said.

The ribbon-wearing girl slowly looked at Itsuki, a blank expression being shown on her face. However, if looked upon more closely, her lips were trembling slightly out of nervousness. It only meant one thing, and it was the fact that Yotsuba had the same thought that Itsuki had in mind.

"Do you like Uesugi-kun? Please tell me the truth."

Yotsuba could only shift her gaze downwards after Itsuki's question, unsure of how she should answer her sister. She should've seen this coming when she kissed Fuutarou on the cheek earlier, but she felt too happy about expressing her feelings to even worry about it… until they boarded the car, that is. Now she had nowhere to go, and she was backed into a corner by Itsuki.

Despite that, Yotsuba knew that she had to give her sister an answer and it can't be a pointless excuse or a lie. Itsuki was her precious family and there's no way she can lie to her after kissing the person she liked, even though she was fully aware of her sister's feelings for Fuutarou.

There's also the words that the young man told her during their time in the clinic together, about doing what she really wanted to do instead of hiding it. She couldn't betray that, not when Fuutarou himself was the very reason behind her actions.

"I…" she muttered.

Well, that happened. Fuutarou only stared at Yotsuba the whole time, who seemed happier from kissing him for some reason. Well, you can expect that from Yotsuba, lol. Itsuki was just as shocked as Fuutarou, and she quickly chased after Yotsuba to get answers. Not a very good idea when your sister is the fastest among the quintuplets. Anyway, that brings us to the bulk of this chapter, which is Fuutarou recognizing them as the five girls he met in Kyoto years ago. We see a little flashback that shows a bit of their interactions, before it cuts back to reality and now, our boy wants answers as well. Looks like he's gonna have another talk with the old man regarding this... by the end of this chapter, Itsuki confronts Yotsuba about her supposed feelings for Fuutarou, but it ends with the biggest cliffhanger this story has so far. You must hate me after that, huh? Just stay tuned and wait 24 hours...

Goodbye... and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*

-Lance