Thinking Logically

"Please wake up, your bride is ready!"

I had a dream.

The first day I met you in High School.

I had a dream… about that wonderful day.

Your typical high school cafeteria is divided, like many other places, into cliques. Regardless of the polite culture and society the Japanese school system taught and implanted into student's minds, they still fall into the typical cliches during their own private time, during their lunch hour.

In this arena, all manners of high school students feel the social pressures brought on by their peers to act certain ways, to band together, to make friends. Being by yourself is a suicide mission, a status of being distanced from the rest of the societal hierarchy, inevitably placing yourself at the very bottom.

Most students would find it to be a fate worse than death.

Most students.

As such an outcast approached the lunch counter, absentmindedly flipping through a collection of notecards, an observant eye might notice the well-kept but obviously worn school uniform, the slightly tattered shoes, the messy hair, the notes made by hand at home. This same observant eye would also notice the confidence with which the outcast opened his mouth, saying an order that seemed rehearsed by him, several times over.

"I would like a barbecue with a rice portion, but without the barbecue please," the outcast says, as robotically as humanly possible.

The lunch lady shoots him a sorrowful glance, before acknowledging, giving him a lunch plate with an order of rice, a bowl of miso soup and a few pickles. Few would notice the extra pieces of tofu placed in the bowl, nor the slightly larger cuts of pickles, given out of some sense of pity. Certainly not the outcast student, already walking away with a triumphant smirk on his face, ignoring the students still in line, whispering to each other.

"People may think the least expensive portion is just white rice, for 200 Yen, and they'd be partially right. Maybe a B+ at best. Truthfully, the best order is an order of barbecue with the rice portion, removing the barbecue. 200 Yen for rice, miso soup and pickles, a much better deal," the same outcast thinks to himself, beginning to walk through the loud cafeteria.

As he walks, he starts to think through the exam he just took. It was actually much easier than he had anticipated, though that was likely due to the extensive studying he'd done for the past week. With these thoughts in mind, he manages to ignore the occasional whispers of other students as he walks by their tables, and is able to blind himself to the gestures they do. From a different persons perspective though, it's clear that this outcast isn't wanted at the other tables, with other students, both girl and boy alike, moving their backpacks, calling over their friends, and doing all sorts of actions to make empty seats unavailable, on the off chance the outcast attempts to join them.

Finally, after a long trek through the cafeteria, the outcast finds his table. It's not his in so much as he claims it, but more so it's the table that the other students refuse to be near. There's a slight stench in the air as he sits, but it isn't so unpleasant that it makes him think about joining another table. Sure, its proximity to the trash might be close, but he'd prefer the discomfort of scent over the discomfort of human interaction during his lunches, anyways.

As he approaches the table with his lunch platter in hand, still musing over his test results, something unexpected happens. He places his lunch platter down… just in time to see another lunch platter placed directly next to it.

Baffled, the outcast student, Uesugi Fuutarou, looks up. In front of him is a beautiful girl, with medium length reddish-orange hair. She's wearing a green skirt and red blouse with a blazer over it, and star-shaped hairpins over both of her ears, an unfashionable choice to say the least. Her eyes, a brilliant bright blue, glare at Fuutarou, cheeks slightly red.

"Hey… come on," she speaks, her pink, lipstick covered lips briefly distracting Fuutarou.

"I'm here first. That seat over there is empty, so you can move over there," the girl says, extending an arm and pointing at a seat at another table. Fuutarou takes note of her well-kept, manicured fingernails, and follows her finger before blanching.

The seat she's pointing to is at the gossip table.

Filled with girls that had much more on their minds than studying, the gossip table was an infamous one in the cafeteria, student's reputations being built and destroyed on a singular wooden table.

He might as well try to commit seppuku before doing such a thing.

With this in mind, Fuutarou turned back to the girl, matching her triumphant gaze, the gaze of someone convinced that they are correct and that others will follow as they say.

"How about no? This is the seat I use every day. I'm sure you can find another seat somewhere else, and besides, this table is next to the trash. Do you not mind the smell?" Fuutarou sits down as he speaks, waving a lofty hand to the nearby trash can, smirking to himself. This girl is clearly from some sort of money, and sitting by a smell such as the one nearby would surely be torturous for her. He didn't recognize her outfit, meaning she was likely new to their school in some capacity, and perhaps hadn't noticed the trash. While he could respect another student that wanted to sit alone, he was the outcast here. Not her. This was his domain, all that he really had: his own table.

With these words spoken, Fuutarou took out his homemade notecards, beginning to read through them. The science portion had been a closer call than he wished to admit, and he wanted to review his noble gasses a bit. Yes, he had gotten the questions correct, but the education system moved fast. He'd have to stay ahead if he wanted to continue succeeding.

As he reviewed the notecards, he sensed the student nearby move, and sighed internally. Quiet at last! He could almost ignore the stench of the trash completely now, and focus on eating his—

His thoughts were interrupted by the placing of food in front of him. Spoon in hand, mid bite, he was treated to a feast of the eyes.

Salty, savory Udon noodles, with two grilled shrimp inside of them. A grilled squid, grilled oak, baked potato. A pudding dessert on the side.

"250… 550… 850… 1030 Yen!?" Fuutaro's eyes widened as he examined the girl's meal. Blowing over a thousand yen on a lunch was ridiculous, insane! He felt for a moment that he was sitting across from a celebrity of some sort, one that he might see on television. He looked up in disbelief, matching her blushing face.

"Staring is rude you know. So is eating with your mouth open," the girl pointed out, making Fuutaro quickly eat the bite of rice. After a moment of deliberation, he shrugs, before continuing to eat with one hand, taking out a folded piece of paper and placing it on the table, examining both it, and his notecards as he eats. This piques the girl's interest, making her hold her tongue about criticizing his table manners again.

"I'm doing some revisions for the exam, so just ignore me," noticing her interest, Fuutaro speaks up first, hoping to avoid further interactions. Unfortunately, this just catches her interest more.

"Studying and eating at the same time? You really don't plan ahead, do you?" To this, Fuutaro simply shrugs, not answering the obvious bait.

"Ah, good, I got the questions on Oxidation Numbers correct. I was actually super worried about that, thank goodness Sensei made questions about that section multiple choice… I would've been screwed otherwise…" Fuutaro thinks to himself, feeling a sense of internal relief. This relief is turned to shock when the paper he's examining is pulled from him by manicured fingers.

"How many points you got there?" The girl examined her prize, lifting it up to the light to get a better look, squinting a bit. She spots his name at the top right of the paper and her lips curl into a smile, before she looks to the bottom for his score. "Uesugi Fuutaro huh? Let's see… 100 points!?" She slams the paper down on the table, looking across to a smirking Fuutaro, clearly feigning embarrassment with one hand over the side of his face.

"Oh no… how embarrassing! How shameful!" The girl glares at him, puffing her cheeks.

"…Did you just deliberately try to show off?" To this, Fuutaro grins, going back to eating his food and reviewing his notecards.

"What are you talking about? You took the paper after all." To this, the girl flinches, before slowly sliding the paper back across the table. She takes a moment to muster some courage, before looking at Fuutaro straight in the eyes.

"Alright then. You're kind of annoying, but since I'm bad at studying, and I really admire your grades, I have a question for you." Fuutaro matches her gaze, curious. Its been a while since he's interacted with a girl, or even another student for that matter, but he's curious as to what she has to say. As he watches, she even brings her hands together, clapping them together in a prayer sign.

"Please… please teach me a bit!" Her cheeks are now positively glowing, but a light of hope shines from behind her already brilliant blue eyes. This time… this time would be different.

"Gochisou~!" Fuutaro says, matching her look down to the prayer hands, before standing up and walking away.

"H-Huh!? How are you already done with your lunch? You ate so little… do you want me to share some of mine with you?" Before she knew it, the girl offered to share food, something she'd never normally do.

"I'm full now, thanks," Fuutaro begins, turning to her. He doesn't want to do it… but maybe this'll get her to stop bugging him. "On the contrary, you ordered too many things." True, she still had the shrimp, the pudding, most of the Udon. "You may end up fat."

Ouch.

"F-F-F-F-F-FAT!?" The girl cried out, attracting the attention of several nearby students, who turned to see the perpetual outcast with a crying beauty in front of him.

Ignoring the girl's stuttering, as well as the piercing glares he felt on his back, Fuutaro took out his phone, noticing a vibration signaling a new text message. He only had the phone number of two people, so he wasn't surprised to see a message from his little sister.

At this, he walked away from the sputtering girl, cutting her rant short as he walked away, confident he'd never see or talk to her again.

"Nii-san! Did you hear what dad just said!?" Immediately, his phone blew up from the ecstatic voice of his younger sister. Fuutaro groaned for a second, using his pinky finger to clean out the ear she just exploded. He leaned against the wall more, shooting glares at nearby students that seemed tempted to slow their walking down.

"What is it Raiha? Is everything okay?" He responded, mind starting to spike with anxiety of what might've occurred. She sounded excited, otherwise he'd already be on his way home.

"A-Ah, so you haven't heard yet? Dad said our family debt can be paid off!"

"H-Huh?"

"Dad just found a really good job for you. One of his old friends moved back into town recently, and apparently he's super rich! He's looking for a tutor for his daughter, and according to dad, he'd be able to pay you five times as much as normal rates!" Fuutaro was speechless for a moment. His… his old man had actually come through? That man was about as reliable as Fuutaro was popular at school, but this could change everything. He quickly thought to the life that they lived. The crowded home, Raiha's studying, the food they ate. Who knows, he might even be able to afford actual lunches! And yet…

"This is kind of shady. Five times the amount? I didn't even know dad had friends, this is super suspicious…"

"You know, I've heard people can lose a kidney and they still live fine~"

"H-Hey! Did you just tell me to sell my kidney!?"

"I'm just kidding Nii-san~! Haha! On a more serious note, listen to me. Dad's friend really isn't pleased with his daughter's poor grades. If it's you then I believe you can do it!"

"W-Wait a minute! I haven't said yet that I'll-"

"Guess we can finally eat enough now, huh Nii-san?" Raiha's innocent voice broke his train of thought. She was always too smart for her own good. Almost as if to rub salt in the wound, Fuutaro felt his belly grumble, not happy with the small offering it had received earlier. He grimaced, before weighing the options in his mind. Truthfully… it wasn't even an argument. For his family… no, for Raiha, he'd do anything.

"I… I'll do it. Do you know anything about the girl?" He had to hold his ear away from the phone again, as he heard a high-pitched squeal.

"Yaaay! I knew you'd do it, Nii-san! So… apparently it's a high school student. Looks like she's transferring into the same school as you." Uh oh… "Let's see, I think I know her name?"

"Oh shit please no…"

"Oh yeah! It's Nakano! I don't remember her first name, but her surname is Nakano!"

Fuutaro would never call himself a religious man. His childhood was rough, and he'd done many things as a kid. But praying, having faith in a higher power, was never something that he'd even really given thought to.

Now however, he was praying to whoever was hearing.

…

Of course, of course he'd have the luck of calling the daughter of a friend of his father fat. The person that had offered to help raise his family out of poverty, out of some strange favor to his own father. Of course, he'd insult her to her face, and act as cold and callous as possible. And of course, his father wouldn't let him know the news until he'd already accidentally done all of that!

"Hi everyone! My name is Nakano Itsuki, please treat me well!" Stars and hearts could be seen bouncing off the beautiful girl as she did a short bow, introducing herself to Fuutaro's class. Naturally he sat in the back, as far away from people as possible. So far in fact, that there was even an empty seat next to him. Wait…

"Oh no… please don't sit next to me, please don't sit next to me, please-"

"Uesugi-san? Uesugi-san? Would you mind if Nakano-san sat next to you?" He was snapped out of his thoughts by the teacher's voice, and unfortunately, years of training and discipline allowed him only one response.

"Of course sensei, I'll do the best that I can!" He piped up, immediately regretting it. The girl finally saw him at this point, and grimaced at the prospect of sitting next to him. As fortune would have it however, there… weren't any other seats in the room, she discovered as she did a quick scan. Of course, the least sociable, least respectful student would have an open space next to him. Internally sighing, Itsuki began walking over.

"Thank you sensei!" She said, before going and taking a seat.

Meanwhile, Fuutaro was clutching his head, thinking out possible scenarios to redeem himself after the lunch they'd had. There had to be some way to get into her good favors, to get her to still want him as a tutor…!

"… I hate that dad didn't tell me…" he thought, as he slowly turned to look at the girl's seat. To his surprise, when he looked he saw an empty seat, with a backpack and a few school supplies hastily shoved into the desk. After a moment of looking around, he noticed Nakano-san already surrounded by other students, laughing, chatting, making friends.

"…shit."

The day passed, with Fuutaro unable to get Nakano-san's attention, or forgiveness. She ignored him at every corner, to an almost comedic extent. Pretty quickly, Fuutaro realized that his best hope of getting her to be alright with him was to get her at lunch, but he had to be strategic about this. He couldn't simply go and ask her to sit with him, especially after yesterday. To this extent, he employed his sister's help, and the slightest bit of spare money he had.

As Uesugi Fuutaro walked through the cafeteria, stares were pinned onto his back. Word had surely spread about him bullying a beautiful new transfer student her first day at the school, and people weren't happy about it. Stranger still, he showed up to school with a lunch box, and walked through the cafeteria with a purpose. He walked right past the lunch counter, eliciting a confused look from the usual lunch lady.

Fuutaro stopped for a moment in the cafeteria, scanning the room for a familiar face. There weren't too many girls with hair dyed as ostentatiously as Nakano-san had hers dyed, so it really shouldn't be too difficult to find where she was. As luck would have it, he quickly saw a flash of red from a table, with… other flashes of red and pink?

Regardless, he approached the table, managing to pick out Nakano-san from the group. Granted, she had differently designed hairpins than from yesterday, and she was wearing a different outfit, but it was definitely her.

"Nakano-san! I apologize for yesterday, I didn't intend to be insensitive about your weight! I hope you can accept my apology in the form of curry that my little sister made!" Fuutaro bowed slightly, extending the food out in front of him, ignoring the grumbling of his stomach at the prospect of giving food away. No stomach wouldn't fall to Raiha's curry, and if this meant maintaining good relations and lifting his family out of poverty, he'd gladly do it.

After a moment of silence, he heard a light chuckle, followed by another hearty laugh, and an indignant noise. He looked up, expecting to have accidentally done something wrong, to receive a firm slap across the face. As his face burned from pain, he looked to see Nakano-san, butterfly pins in her hair, wearing a significantly different outfit than the day before, point to his right with her thumb. Dumbfounded, Fuutaro turned to look past the girl with short pink hair and earrings, and across the table from the girl with orange hair and a bow.

Towards the end of the table, with a different lunch than the day before, sat… Nakano-san? Wearing the same outfit as yesterday.

Confused and at a loss for words, Fuutaro looked in front of himself again, at… Nakano-san? Before looking back over at the girl with yellow star hairpins.

"Ah…?"

"What the hell are you looking at? What kind of creep are you, to come up to me like that? I'm not even the one that likes food all that much, and you're trying to give me food? What are you, a creeper? Stalker?" The girl in front of him began to berate him immediately, her words daggers in Fuutaro's pride.

"I-I'm sorry I-"

"Ne, ne Nino-chan. You don't need to be so mean to him, it's not his fault that our Itsuki-chan attracted a cute guy after only being here for one day! You could use a haircut though~" the pink-haired girl sitting directly next to Fuutaro laughed, covering her mouth as she pointed to his messy bowl cut.

"Y-Yeah, Nino-chan that was a bit far wasn't it…" the hairbow girl said from the end of the table, scratching her head and looking to the butterfly hairpin girl, who crossed her arms in response.

At this, Fuutaro shook his head, looking at the four… no, five girls. He hadn't noticed the brunette in the corner, with headphones around her neck. Weren't those banned on campus actually?

"I… I…?" he stuttered, trying to speak but being at a loss for words. At this, Nakano-san finally had enough, and stood up.

"I… Appreciate the offer, Uesugi-san. However as you can see, I'm currently eating with people. I'm sure your quiet little table is still free, where no one will bother you," she said, turning her nose up at the end. Fuutaro noticed that she notably… had less food than usual. In fact, she only had rice and a few cuts of barbecue on top, with pickles and miso soup on the side.

"W-Wait a minute…"

"A-Are you on a diet or something?" He pointed. To this, the butterfly hairpin girl growled at him, while the other three chuckled slightly, the pink-haired girl even leaning a bit closer to him.

"Ne, ne. Are you the guy she talked to yesterday? She couldn't stop talking about you, you know, are you the one that said she needed to lose weight?" Fuutaro couldn't match her intense gaze and looked away sheepishly, vaguely hearing an offended squeak from Nakano-san.

"Look, please just take the food! My little sister made it, and it would be a waste if you didn't eat it, so please!"

"Eh…? It doesn't look like you have your own food though, are you really offering your entire lunch to Itsuki-chan?" A voice from behind him spoke. Fuutaro jumped a bit, feeling the hairs on his neck stand up, as he took stock of the girls at the table. Only four were there, the hair bow one had left…? After a moment, he regained his composure and turned around, to be unexpectedly eye to eye with the orange haired, hairbow wearing girl. He could nearly smell her breath, they were standing so close, and he suddenly had a strange flashback… of the time he was in Kanto…?

As quickly as the moment came, it left, broken up by the loud, loud rumbling of his stomach. He looked down at his stomach, before looking at the girls, embarrassed.

"Ah… this is um…" He now saw that the girls, who had previously held a range of judging faces to openly angry faces, now mostly shifted to pity. The butterfly hairpin girl still looked a little hesitant, but gestured with her chin to Nakano-san.

"Ne, Itsuki-chan. Deal with this guy so we can have our lunch in peace already." Nakano-san looked hesitant as well, having heard Fuutaro's stomach and having her own experiences with hunger. After a moment, she sighed and stood up, bringing her lunch tray with her. She walked around the table until she was directly in front of Fuutaro, and took the small bag from him, before placing her lunch plate in his hands.

As he looked on, shocked, she spoke.

"This is just because I feel bad for you, alright? Don't make any weird thoughts about this, I'm just accepting this apology because it's the right thing to do! Now I've accepted it, you can go and eat and study like you did yesterday!" Nakano-san spoke, trying to have a firm voice. From any observers perspective though, her cheeks were blushing, revealing her actual feelings.

Lightheaded, Fuutaro nodded.

"T-Thank you very much, Nakano-san. I hope to work well together in the future," he said, at a bit of a loss for words. Nakano-san looked confused for a moment, as did most of the girls at the table, but eventually nodded.

"I hope to work well as classmates with you as well. I'm glad to see you have a more civil side to you. Please enjoy your lunch," she said, before gesturing to the empty table near the trash again, and taking her seat comfortably.

Fuutaro began to walk away, before he was called to.

"Leaving already? I didn't even get your name, Student-san." He turned to see the pink-haired girl speaking to him again, and took in her appearance more. She had very short pink hair, with a single long strand on her right side. On one of her ears was a single earring, and she had bright blue eyes as well. She's wearing the school uniform, except for a thin jacket tied around her waist. Notably, her buttoned shirt is unbuttoned at the top three buttons, exposing the tiniest bit of clevage.

After taking in her appearance fully, Fuutaro coughs into his hand, trying to gather himself.

"Uesgui Fuutaro. A pleasure to meet you, I'll be Nakano-san's tutor from now on," he said, trying to keep his voice level. The response from the girl is… unexpected, to say the very least.

"E-Eh…?" she says, seemingly at a loss for words. He looks around and notices the other girls all are also staring at him with looks of shock, echoing the pink-haired girl. After a moment, the girl with butterfly pins shakes her head and stands up assertively, slamming her hands onto the table.

"What? Is this some kind of sick joke? How could a dull-faced dumbass like you be our tutor? You're lying, lying!" she yelled. Fuutaro tilted his head in confusion.

"I- What? I said I'm Nakano-san's tutor. I got told by my old man yesterday that I was going to be tutoring Nakano-san, to help her in her grades. What's that to you, anyways?" He felt a little defensive. It was between him and Nakano-san as to why he was tutoring her, and he was definitely smart enough to be tutoring someone in their year anyways! Who did this girl think she was, he hadn't forgotten how she'd slapped him out of nowhere!

Surprisingly enough, this just seemed to get her more upset.

"Bullshit! You don't look like you could tell up from down, red from yellow! There's no way you're our tutor!"

"W-Wait, Nino-chan don't get so mad at him! Maybe he's smart?" The orange-haired girl piped up hesitantly, her hairbow bouncing with her words. To this, Nino simply looked more upset, getting ready to chew out Fuutaro again, before the brown-haired girl at the end held up a hand. Fuutaro noticed that Nakano-san seemed hesitant to enter this conversation, being more invested in trying out the food that had been brought to her.

"…test scores. Yesterday," the girl at the end said, refusing to meet Fuutaro's eyes. Nino nodded, extending her hand to Fuutaro.

"You heard Miku, hand them over!" Fuutaro hesitated, before pulling out five papers, exam results from two days prior. Nakano-san was the only one that didn't look up at this, already knowing the result, but Nino began to read through them, her voice raising with each test.

"Science… 100… History… 100… English… 100… Japanese… 100… Math… 100!? What kind of genius are you!? Did you cheat? These had to be cheats, right!?" she exclaimed in disbelief. The other girls perked up at this, and Nino began to pass around the exam results, eliciting similar responses from other students.

Fuutaro puffed his chest up high, finally being in a comfortable topic for himself. He began to act as he did yesterday, but immediately noticed Nakano-san's eye twitch, and decided to think better of it.

"Y-Yeah. I mean no, I didn't cheat. I just study a lot for my tests and stuff, that's why Nakano-san's father hired me to be her tutor," he explained. "Look, I don't know why you guys are so invested in Nakano-san's personal studies and stuff, but I couldn't really care less. I'm just here to tutor Nakano-san, to help her pass her classes, and that's it. You've seen my test results, and this is between the two of us, anyways," he added, nodding to Nakano-san. Nakano-san immediately turned red, before slowly nodding as well. He noticed that her mouth was filled with Raiha's special curry, and internally pumped his fist.

Surprisingly, the rest of the table seemed to calm down at that, and he took that as a sign to leave.

"I apologize for interrupting your lunch," he said, before walking away.

As he walked away, walking past the girl with orange hair and the hairbow, he became lost in his thoughts again. That… was weird. The five girls all looked super similar, even with how they had different colored hair and were dressed differently. If he didn't know better, he'd think they were all the same person. And Nakano-san…

He looked down at his plate. When he hadn't been looking, someone had snuck on a piece of fried shrimp into his rice. He stared at it for a long moment, before smiling to himself. Maybe this tutoring gig wouldn't be too bad?

As he walked towards his table, past the crowds of students, he felt a pull at his shirt. He turned to see the pink-haired girl again, tucking her long strand of hair behind her ear. She had a mischievous grin on her face, and was… getting a bit close to his personal space.

"Ne, ne, Uesugi-kun. Are you aiming at Itsuki?"

"E-Eh? I'm not really aiming at her or anything…?"

"Hm… you're no fun," the girl pouted, before moving a little bit closer. Fuutaro felt a bit suffocated in his shirt, sweat starting to form on his neck. With this angle… he could easily see some cleavage…!

After what seemed like hours, she stopped moving closer, and grinned, before moving away again, putting a finger on her lips.

"So Uesugi-kun, would you happen to have a girlfriend?" She said, smiling deviously. Fuutaro's brain partially shut down as she asked this, before he had a moment of clarity and realized something.

"She… She's trying to tease me and mess with me, huh?" He thought to himself. Yes… that much was obvious, even to an outcast like himself. That being said though…

"I'm in school currently, so no. Also, while it is nice that you gave me that piece of shrimp, I've spent a lot of my lunch already speaking with you and your friends, and I need to spend some time studying. Excuse me," he said, beginning to turn.

"A-Ah ha, so you noticed huh? Alright fine, I'll leave you alone for now Uesugi-kun, but we'll talk again soon~!" she said, walking away as well. Fuutaro walked to his table, thanking the gods above it hadn't been taken, before a revelation hit him.

"What do you mean we'll talk later? I don't even know your name…" He thought, shaking his head. He began to munch into his meal, savoring the deliciousness, knowing that for once, his stomach would be properly satiated.

"Have I seen her around before? No… surely I would remember someone like that, right? Maybe she was that girl…" Fuutaro thought to himself, absentmindedly eating his lunch. His exams and notecards sat in his bag, unopened.

"And what was with the rest of those girls? They all looked so similar to each other, and that girl that slapped me almost looked like a damn copy of Nakano-san. There's something going on here that I'm not figuring out…"

"-gi?"

"One thing is for sure, I can't allow this tutoring job to distract me from my studies. I need to stay focused! Focused!"

"-sugi?"

"And even if this job sucks, I need to power through it. For Raiha. Even a little bit for my dad. For my future-"

"Uesugi!?" He snapped up, coming out of his thoughts. When he looked, he realized he was looking directly into the face of a bow haired girl with orange hair, maybe just a pencil distance apart from their mouths. She was looking into his eyes, and he saw that she had brilliant bright blue eyes. After a moment, those eyes crinkled into a smile, and she leaned away from him, taking the seat across from him.

"A-Ah!?" he squeaked indignantly, quickly moving back. The girl grinned, putting her chin in her hands, elbows pressed against the table.

"Ahaha, finally noticed me eh?" She smiled to the boy, before reaching for something in her pocket. After a moment, she slammed down a piece of paper in front of his food, looking confidently at him.

"W…What's this?" he asked, looking up at her, confused.

"These… are Yotsuba's test scores! Ehehehe!" she exclaimed, moving them closer. "Here, take a look! Take a look!" Fuutaro sighed, before acknowledging her. Maybe if he looked at them she'd… wait…?

It was his score. Without two of the digits.

"H-How'd you score a 0 on the test!?" he exclaimed, pointing at the number. To this, the girl put a fist to her head and closed her eyes, sticking out her tongue.

"Ehehehe… Yotsuba is kinda dumb. But it's fine right? Uesugi is smart, so Yotsuba is going to pass her classes now! Yotsuba is super excited for this, excited to work with you!" Fuutaro looked at her, confused.

"I… Uh… Okay?"

"Great! Now Uesugi has accepted, wahoo!" she cheered, taking her test and running off.

"…what?"

The rest of the school day went by like a blur, and before Fuutaro knew it, it was already the end of the day. As he walked through the hallways of the school, ignoring glares and stares alike, he thought back to the craziness he had encountered throughout the day. This… wasn't how he expected the day to go, but at the very least, he had managed to get Nakano-santo accept his apology. It was now time for him to go and tutor her, though admittedly, he'd forgotten to ask where exactly she lived.

Thankfully he had gotten a text from Raiha. Apparently, from what she heard from their father, he was supposed to meet her by the gates of the school after school, and she'd walk the two of them over after that. That was why he was now leaning against the wall next to the school gate, looking onwards at the other students leaving for the day, in their groups of friends. Some even spoke about possibly going to sing karaoke, or hang out this weekend.

What a waste.

His musing was interrupted by the sound of someone clearing their throat. He turned to see Nakano-san, bag and all, standing there. She had a slight blush on her face, but turned to face him.

"T-Thank you for waiting for me. Are you ready to go, Uesugi-san?"

"Yeah. Thank you for having me, I look forward to tutoring you. Maybe as we walk over, we can talk about what subjects you struggle with, and what subjects you're good at?" he asked, pushing himself off the wall and joining her. The two began to walk side by side, though he noticed she was putting a bit more distance between the two of them than necessary. He didn't press though.

"Ah, right. I'm… admittedly not the greatest at my studies, but I'm not bad at science. I'd go as far as to say that I'm good at it, in fact." Oh, great!

"Wonderful! In which case, we can focus on the other subjects then. Or would you prefer to review some science first? Get a head start on that, since it should be easier than the rest?" Nakano-san seemed a bit hesitant, before nodding, as the duo continued to walk.

"That would be great! I'm sure I'll make you shocked with my knowledge!" She exclaimed, holding up a fist and beaming. Fuutaro chuckled to himself, as he began to test her knowledge, wanting to see just how intelligent she was with science.

As it turns out, she wasn't.

Not at all.

Not even the slightest bit.

She definitely had… passion? For it? But simply put, Nakano-san wasn't good at science, which as she had said, was supposed to be her good subject!? Fuutaro rubbed his eyes as the two continued to walk. She'd gotten around a fifth of the questions correct, which was abysmal. While he was just asking casual material, this was a bit excessively bad. He looked over to his new student.

Nakano-san looked embarrassed, cheeks tinted red again, as the two of them continued walking. She had clearly held her intellect in high standard, but… she was dumb. There was no other way to say it, she was bad at science. And if this was her with science, what about history? Math? Japanese? This was going to be difficult.

Part of Fuutaro wanted to mention that she wasn't good at science, but he stopped himself.

"Remember… she's your employer basically. Raiha's future depends on you making a good impression, right? Then do good, don't be a dick… even if she is as dumb as a brick." Fuutaro cleared his throat, as the two continued walking.

"I… definitely see some room for improvement. But you're really enthusiastic about it, and that's what counts!" he quickly added, as he saw her shoulders droop. Nakano-san looked at him tearfully, with the slightest glimmer of hope in her eyes, causing Fuutaro's heart to skip a beat.

"R-Really? You think so?"

"Y-Yeah, of course! Anyways, answering questions out of the blue isn't easy for anyone, I think we'll have a much easier time once we get to your home to study. Are we almost there?" he asked. They were going through an area he didn't especially recognize, but the buildings were nicer and much more posh than his part of town. At this, Nakano-san went to a electronic terminal at the next building and nodded, sliding a card.

"Yes, actually we just got here! I'm really excited to start studying, you wouldn't believe how difficult it can be to properly study at home…" she muttered, as the door slid open for the two of them. They stepped into a nice reception area, before going into an elevator. Fuutaro marveled at everything around them, never having been in such a nice area before, but tried to keep his mind on the conversation.

"Ah, I get it. It's really hard to study at home for me as well, I find that studying is really all about the environment you study in. Sometimes music helps, sometimes it doesn't, its all about finding your right setting," he offered, as the elevator dinged to a stop. The doors slid open, revealing a large hallway.

"…Environment. Right, yeah of course that's the issue," Nakano-san muttered again. Fuutaro looked to her, confused, but she walked ahead, pulling out a key. He looked above her to see a sign saying "Nakano" above the door.

"This… is excessively rich now. This place looks massive, even from the outside! I guess I'll be meeting her father now, huh?" he grimaced, preparing himself.

As he walked inside, he was met with a very strange view. Several couches in a sort of living room area, next to a kitchen and stairs leading to an upstairs area. What was surprising however, was that, sitting on the couches were four other, familiar girls. He pointed out them in shock, turning to Nakano-san.

"I-I didn't realize we were doing a group study session today? My apologies for asking those questions earlier, I didn't realize you were all… so close…?" he petered off as the girls all stood, approaching him.

With faces ranging once more from glaring to smiling, the girls took steps in unison, making Fuutaro slowly back away.

"Erm… you're all… getting a little bit too… close…!?" he said, as he began backing himself towards the door. As they did this, Nakano-san simply watched, before finally laughing, causing the other girls to stop.

"Hhahaha, all, alright everyone you can stop! I, I think he got the point haha," she laughed, walking past them and throwing her bag onto the couch.

"Are you sure? A large part of me still wants to call the cops on this creep, showing up at a place five girls live at together… Don't forget that slap I gave you earlier today, pervert! There's more where that came from!" Nino exclaimed, pointing a finger at Fuutaro's face.

"Ehehehe, Niiiinnooo, he just got here! At least let him stay for a bit, it's a long walk you know," Yotsuba said, beaming from ear to ear, bow twitching.

"…I'm going to be in my room then, don't mind me," Miku murmured, beginning to walk away, before being intercepted by the pink haired girl. "I-Ichika, move…" The now named Ichika simply smiled, turning Miku around to face Fuutaro once more.

"Oh no you don't, Miku-chan. We could at least meet our tutor, even if we aren't gonna try to learn from him. By the way, hello Uesugi-kun~~~" Ichika teased, going on her tiptoes to look over Miku's shoulder.

"…I'm confused. Do… do you all live together or something? As roommates?" Fuutaro asked, his mind incapable of figuring out the strange scene unfolding in front of him. The girls all had the same reaction finally, each popping a small smirk, before Ichika moved past Miku, snaking her way behind Fuutaro and leaning into his ear.

"Quintuplets, actually. We're all sisters, Uesugi-kun. Please take care of us then~!"

…

…

….

Somewhere, there must be a god that had cursed him.