Hey guys! Thanks for the positive feedback on the first chapter! I can't wait to continue this series, and I hope everyone who reads this does enjoy it. I would like to announce a few changes though.
I'm changing the status of Maruo's relationship with Fuutarou and Raiha from adoptive father to Godfather/Legal Guardian. This is for the sake of the plot. I have also gone ahead and edited chapter 1 in an attempt to fix any previous errors that I had made while writing that chapter up. Please don't hesitate to go brutal on me in the reviews section. All types of feedback is welcome.
Once again, I will say that I do not own any of these characters (except for any OCs introduced throughout the story, and even those OCs are loosely based on anime characters from other shows).
Regardless, I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 2: A new start
The time was 7:00. The sky was painted in a hue of baby blue and sky blue. All of the siblings, with the exception of Raiha, were asleep in their respective rooms. Raiha was downstairs, preparing breakfast for everyone. Having been previously taught by the grandmaster chef herself, Nino, she decided to put her skills to good use. She thought that everyone deserved to rest to prepare themselves for the day ahead of them. As Raiha looked up at the rooms of each of each quint and her own brother, Fuutarou, she glanced at her brother's room. Hidden beneath that perky smile of hers was the face of someone who was fatigued and just about done with life. Raiha couldn't sleep the night before as she heard sobbing noises coming from the room next to hers. The only weird thing was that the room next to hers belonged to her hubristic brother, but she heard a girl's voice alongside her own brother's. Naturally, her mind gravitated to the thought that it was probably Itsuki. Although it may not seem like it, Itsuki was prone to having anxiety attacks. Everyone from the quints to the Uesugis to even her own father knew about her breakdowns, and they've tried to support her in every way possible. The only thing that made her unsure though was the fact that Itsuki hadn't had an anxiety attack in a month.
The time was 7:23. Raiha had finished preparing breakfast, the classic scrambled eggs on toast. This was a breakfast that she has seen Nino make many times, and as an inquisitive fledgling chef herself, it was natural that she would ask Nino to teach her how to make it. Nino, while a bit hesitant about letting a 12-year-old handle the cooking, agreed once she came into contact with Raiha's puppy eyes. Naturally, she was bewitched by them, and out of guilt and not wanting to make her 12-year-old foster sister cry, she taught her how to make it. After a few failed attempts, Raiha managed to nail the recipe on its head. Raiha had always been quite precocious when it came to cooking, and her skills showed. She had prepared a perfect and neatly presented plate of food for her whole family. Raiha started to make her way upstairs as the time had hit 7:30.
Itsuki's POV:
The time was 7:15. In a bedroom that didn't look like your typical boys' bedroom, there laid a redhead and a towhead. Back to the room though, it was a room filled with books organised neatly into different cabinets and shelves. The room was generally tidy. In contrast to the other quints' rooms, namely the slovenly quint Ichika's room, nothing was on the floor, or seemed out of place. It was essentially the perfect den for a study freak like Fuutarou. Slowly, and with a yawn, Itsuki raised her head in a daze, only to see her foster brother laying there next to her, just wearing pyjamas and no duvet. Itsuki was known to be a hogger when it came to things like blankets, but Fuutarou had let her. She was crying the previous night afterall.
She stared at her foster brother…
"Onii-chan looks so peaceful when he sleeps", she thinks while a smile suddenly implants itself on her face.
That smile quickly turns into a shocked look as she just realised what she had called the person adjacent to her in her thoughts.
"D-Did I just call Fuutarou, O-Onii-chan?" she thinks to herself in a confused daze.
Now coming to terms with what she just called the sleeping boy, she smiled. It wasn't her smiling at the fact that she called her foster brother 'Onii-chan', but at the fact that her and Fuutarou had known each other for a long time. They were childhood friends after all, and Fuutarou always put Itsuki before himself. It may have been Yotsuba who met him first as a child, but Itsuki felt that she was the closest to Fuutarou, not only in terms of proximity as the boy was sleeping right beside her, but in terms of relationships as well. They were basically best friends. Itsuki trusts Fuutarou as much as she trusts her own sisters, so it's only natural that she acts the way she does around him. And who could forget Raiha? The younger of the two Uesugi siblings was the one thing that could actually complete Itsuki. Itsuki loves Raiha to the point where they were even inseparable for a time. Luckily, Fuutarou was able to physically separate them. Slowly, Fuutarou opened his eyes and arised from his slumber. He turns to his left to see the redhead staring at him with a smile.
"Good Morning Fuutarou! ~" Itsuki gleefully greets her best friend.
"Good Morning!" He says with a smile on his face.
"Are you feeling alright now?" He asks with a cheerful yet concerned tone.
Itsuki rapidly nods her head, signifying to the young man that she was alright.
Fuutarou pats her on the head as she smiles. Once they feel less dazed, they make their way out of the room, just to see Raiha approaching Ichika's door.
They stare at each other for a second. Raiha was able to confirm her suspicions as she saw Itsuki and Fuutarou walk out of his room.
"Good Morning, Onii-chan! Itsuki-chan!" Raiha says gleefully.
"Good Morning Raiha!" They both reply back.
"I've made breakfast for everyone, go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, and then head to the table. I'm going to go and wake the others up." Raiha quickly states as she heads to Ichika's room.
At the mere mention of breakfast, Itsuki started dashing to the bottom of the stairs, heading straight towards the bathroom.
As Itsuki passed Raiha, Raiha heard a blurred "Thank you so much, Raiha-chan!".
Raiha smiled as her brother walked towards her.
"Itsuki, there's no need to rush! The breakfast isn't going anywhere!" He jokingly shouted, only to hear the slamming of the bathroom door in response to his joke exclamation. It was likely that Itsuki didn't hear him. Everyone knew by now that nothing comes in between Itsuki and her food.
Fuutarou then approached Raiha and patted her head.
"How did you sleep last night?" He asked his little sister, to which she nodded.
"I slept well!" She didn't really want to tell her brother that she couldn't sleep, knowing how overprotective and reprimanding he could be. She was also quite worried about Itsuki, but seeing her be her energetic self again, especially at the mention of breakfast, reassured Raiha that she was fine.
Fuutarou offered to call the other quints, to which Raiha accepted. Raiha woke up and greeted Ichika and Nino, whereas Fuutarou woke up Miku and Yotsuba. Everyone groggily made their way downstairs and took turns using the bathroom. Once everyone had made it to the table, they were presented with neat plates of scrambled eggs on toast. Everyone was surprised at how well prepared these plates were.
"Wow! I didn't know you could make such delicious-looking food!" Ichika stated.
"Thanks for the food Raiha-chan!" Itsuki and Yotsuba both exclaimed.
"Thank you for the food." Miku said in a timid voice, returning Raiha's infectious smile with one of her own.
Nino then suddenly spoke up. "I didn't know you had it in you, Raiha. I guess you are a pretty good cook afterall." Nino smiled at the little girl, only to be returned with a smile bigger than the last.
Raiha had practically begged, no, pleaded Nino to let her make breakfast for once, and after a day of begging, Nino couldn't take it anymore and caved in. Honestly, Nino was impressed that a 12-year-old could make food like this, even after teaching her for such a short time. As Raiha returned to her own seat, she noticed that one seat was empty.
"Where's Onii-chan?" She questioned.
Just then, the bathroom door opened, and Fuutarou walked out.
"Onii-chan, hurry up, we were about to start without you!" Raiha began pouting.
"Jeez, I'm coming. Be patient, okay?" He said as he quickly approached the table. Once he arrived, everyone began eating.
" Itadakimasu." Everyone quickly prayed before digging in.
Breakfast was a delight to say the least. Everyone went their separate ways to get ready, and as they went outside, a limousine was waiting for them, parked.
"Good Morning, Ebata-san!" Everyone cheerfully said to the old man who was waiting outside the car.
The man standing before them was Ebata-san, an elderly man who acted as the chauffeur for Maruo, and by extension, the butler of both the quints and the Uesugis.
"Good Morning." He replied with a smile.
As everyone loaded themselves into the car, the first to be dropped off was Raiha. She waved at everyone, to which everyone returned her wave with another ecstatic wave, especially Fuutarou.
When Raiha disappeared into the school building, the limousine started to drive again. Everyone was busy doing their own thing; Ichika was talking with Itsuki, Miku was playing on her phone and Yotsuba was watching her, while Fuutarou was staring out of the window. Just then, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see that it was Nino.
"Oi, you better not mess up on our first day, you hear me?" Nino said with a frown on her face.
Fuutarou looked at Nino and smiled. "I won't."
Nino decided to return his smile with one of her own. "Good." She retorted smugly.
"Just as long as you don't knock out any guys who try to hit on you. If anything happens, come to me." He said with a smug look on his face.
Nino just blushed and looked away. "Hmph. I can handle myself, thank you very much." She retorted quickly.
Fuutarou just laughed. Nino eventually started to laugh too. It wasn't rare to see them both share a moment like this. While they do tend to argue a lot, their relationship is by no means, a bad relationship. In fact, it was quite the opposite. Fuutarou and Nino despised each other as kids, but they eventually came around as they grew older. If you were to describe their relationship now, they are basically your average pair of siblings.
The rest of the quints looked up to see what was so funny, and when one of them asked, Nino had replied mid-laugh with a "Nothing." It was clearly something though as a tear became visible as it travelled down her face. If anyone had to guess, their conversation was too funny? Perhaps there was an inside joke present that no-one else knew about? Who knows?
Once the moment was over, Fuutarou and Nino went back to doing their own things. Fuutarou continued to stare out of the window, and while he was doing that, Nino hastily took out her mirror and began to fiddle around with her makeup. Eventually, the limousine pulled up to the school. It was 7:45am. Everyone had gotten out of the limousine. Before you question whether they were wearing their old uniform or any other form of clothing, the answer is no. Maruo had pulled some strings and had their uniforms delivered early. It was easy to tailor the uniforms due to the quintuplets sharing the same body measurements. Maruo had Ichika come with him to one of his private tailors to have their uniforms tailored to their body type before enrolling them into their previous school. He also did the same with Fuutarou.
The newly transferred students got out of the limousine to find someone waiting there at the front of the school. The quints and Fuutarou looked on in shock as the girl began to approach them.
"Hi, my name is Takebayashi! I'm going to be showing you around campus!" She said with a smile.
Everyone took note of Takebayashi's appearence. She had jet-black hair that came all the way past her back. She also had bangs that was swept to the right side of her head. She also wore black jeans and a white shirt with long sleeves. The only real thing that stood out about her was a hairclip that she wore on her head. The quints looked at her for a second before Yotsuba jumped at the chance to introduce herself. Fuutarou, on the other hand, was in a state of shock. It almost looked like he recognised this person before him. He couldn't put his finger on it, but she looked so familiar...
As Takebayashi met up with the other quints, Fuutarou felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned around to see Itsuki.
"Is something wrong?" Itsuki asked with a worried look plastered across her face.
Fuutarou answered back quite quickly, Itsuki having snapped him out of his daze. "No, no. Everything's alright." He reassured Itsuki.
"Ah, perfect then!" Itsuki said with a smile across her face.
Fuutarou smiled back, but quickly turned around as he heard a voice.
"Blond hair... Golden Irises... No way! Fuutarou-kun, is that you?! The girl asked in an excited state.
"Uuuuh, do I know you?" He questioned the girl. She seemed so familiar, but no-one distinct came to his mind.
Takebayashi then pouts. "Ugh, how do you not remember me?" She asks with an unamused look on her face.
It then dawns on him who this might be. "T-Taka-chan?" He quickly stammers, questioning frantically at who this girl may be.
Her pout suddenly turned into a smile. "There you go!" She hid her arms behind her back and smiled at the boy, who was clearly confused... Actually, no. Saying that he was confused would be an understatement.
"So, how have the years been treating you?" She asked as they walked. When she wasn't introducing the different areas of the schools to the transfer students, she was busy incessantly buzzing around Fuutarou, bombarding him with all sorts of questions. Naturally, all the quints had different reactions; Ichika was quite amused at the situation, Nino looked angry, almost as if she was ready to burst, Miku, while a bit angry because she is an overprotective sister, acted outwardly apathetic towards the situation, Yotsuba wasn't paying any attention at all as she looked around as if she'd never been to a school before in her life, but Itsuki had the worst reaction of them all.
She pouted at the sight of another girl bothering Fuutarou! Naturally, she was quite jealous. She was also kind of mad at Fuutarou for not doing anything to push her away.
"Moooooouuuuuu..." She thought as she saw the black-haired girl basically cling to Fuutarou. She didn't physically cling to Fuutarou, otherwise Itsuki would have snapped then and there, but she chose to remain calm. She then though to herself "Why am I feeling like this? Surely, it can't be jealousy, right?" She thought to herself as she looked once again at the two. It was evident that Fuutarou was getting annoyed, but being the anti-social human being that he is, didn't know how to ask her to back off without being rude. He didn't want to hurt the poor girl's feelings in any way.
"So, Fuutarou-kun, what happened to you? You just disappeared one day and we were told that you transferred to a different school."
This question shook Fuutarou a bit. The quints also looked worried too. A fun fact about Fuutarou is that he doesn't like talking about his past. The only people that know what he has endured are Raiha (who also went through the same ordeal as Fuutarou), Maruo, Ebata, and the quints themselves.
"Oi, that's enough." Fuutarou and Takebayashi heard a voice coming from behind them. It was Nino.
"That's none of your business, you hear me?" She boldly exclaimed, only to receive a pout from Takebayashi in exchange.
Takebayashi crossed her arms. "And who are you to dictate what Fuutarou-kun can and cannot say?" She says this with a look of anger scrawled across her face.
She turns to face Fuutarou. "So, Fuutarou-kun, do you want to tell me then?"
"Uh...Ugh..." No coherent form of speech was leaving Fuutarou's Mouth. Fuutarou kept stammering on his words.
"Ugh, fine. If you're gonna be like that, I won't ask then." Takebayashi then turned around in a huff.
Fuutarou felt a sigh of relief coming over him. As a genius, he could answer any question you could throw at him. Any question, apart from one. Fuutarou never did like talking about his past for quite obvious reasons.
As this tour came to an end, they returned to the office. The principal wasn't in, so Takebayashi used her spare key to run in and grab the new students' timetables. After everything was said and done, the students were escorted to their new classroom. Everyone was placed in separate classrooms, all except for Fuutarou and Itsuki. They were escorted to classroom 2-A.
The bell then rang and students started appearing one by one. Once class had started, the teacher came into the room and greeted the class. He then told the pair to introduce themselves.
"Hello, my name is Uesugi Fuutarou, nice to meet you all." Fuutarou said this in the most stoic tone he could possibly muster.
"Hello, my name is Nakano Itsuki, nice to meet you all." Itsuki said in a calm and collected manner.
Murmurs can be heard from all around the classroom.
"That girl is kind of cute." Comments can be heard from the boys. "Let's approach her after class."
"The guy looks kind of scary…" Comments can also be heard from the girls. Fuutarou heard these, much to his annoyance.
As the two went around the classroom, trying to find seats, they found seats next to each other. Fuutarou, being the anime protagonist that he is, decided to sit next to the window. Itsuki plopped herself in the seat right next to him.
Classes continued as normal, and much to everyone's surprise, Fuutarou answered every question that the teacher threw at the class successfully. The bell rang and lunchtime came around. Fuutarou and Itsuki both went to the lunch hall, having known the location from when they partook in that tour from earlier. Everyone went ahead and bought their lunch. Fuutarou bought the standard yakiniku set (with the yakiniku), and Itsuki bought a whole variety of items. They then proceeded to find a table, only to find Yotsuba waving them down. Yotsuba was sitting with her other sisters. Fuutarou and Itsuki sat down and they were about to dig in when Ichika decided to speak up.
"So, how has everyone's day been so far?" Ichika asked in a curious tone.
Yotsuba was the first to speak. "It's been great! Everyone is so friendly! Oh, oh, and I've decided to join a couple of sports clubs!" Yotsuba seemed super cheerful as usual.
Miku, wanting to get this over and done with, meekly replied "I-It's been good so far. Nothing major has happened." She says in a sort of timid tone.
Nino then replied "It's been alright. I've managed to socialise with a few people between lessons."
Everyone turned to Itsuki and Fuutarou. Since they shared a class, everyone expected at least one of them to reply.
Itsuki then cleared her chest a bit by coughing. "Everything has been going swimmingly. Classes have been fun and I've talked to a few of the students. Some people offered me seats next to them at lunch, but I politely declined." Her voice was somewhat calm.
"My my, it looks like our little sister has already made some friends. If you're going to sit with them in the future, be sure to inform us beforehand. Who knows, you may find some nice people, maybe even a nice boy," Ichika suddenly teased.
Itsuki, starting to blush, quickly stammered "I-It's not like that! I have no time for romance! Studying is much more important to me! I have no time to be thinking about this!"
Ichika laughed as she said "My my! I never took you for being so studious."
Itsuki could only look down in embarrassment, her face matching the colour of her face.
"Moooooouuuuuu..." She sighed in embarrassment.
"Alright, that's enough Ichika. Cut it out, will ya?" Fuutarou demanded in slight annoyance.
"Haha. Fine, I will, but what about you Fuutarou-kun? You haven't told us about your day yet." Ichika said with a hint of curiosity in her voice.
"Ugh, my day was nothing special. I just sat next to the window and answered the professor's questions. People did look at me funny, but I was kind of expecting that." He replied with a bit of a worn-out tone.
"Fuutarou, are you okay? You seem kind of tired." He heard a voice from next to him as he felt a slight tug on his sleeve. It was Miku.
"Oh, I'm fine Miku. I was just up late last night. No need to worry." He smiled at the girl with the headphones. She smiled back.
"Okay. If anything is worrying though, you can always talk to me." They smiled at each other for a brief second before everyone continued to eat their lunch. Once lunch had finished, everyone went their separate ways. Itsuki and Fuutarou went back to their classroom. Once they returned, they decided to approach their seats. Just then, Itsuki saw a note on her desk. It read "meet me on the roof after school." She paid no mind to it, much to her better judgement.
She then informed Fuutarou "I'm going to be a while after school, mind informing the others?"
"Sure, don't take too long. We'll be waiting at the gate." He replied.
"Thanks!" she smiled back at Fuutarou. He returned her smile with another before the teacher came in and lessons continued as normal.
The bell rang. It was 3:30. People started leaving the classroom, either to go to their respective clubs, or to meet up with friends and leave. Some students remained behind in the classroom as it was their turn to clean. Itsuki got up to leave. She waved at Fuutarou and started making her way to the roof.
Itsuki made it to the roof where she saw a figure standing there, looking at the view.
"A-Are you the one who asked me to come up here?" she asked with a somewhat cautious tone.
"Hm?" The mysterious figure then turns around. "Oh, you made it." He says in somewhat of a gruff, but excited voice.
"W-Who are you?" she stammers, becoming a tiny bit frightened by the man's appearance.
"Oh, I forgot to introduce myself. My bad. The name is Maeda, hehe." He says while employing an admittedly creepy smile.
"U-Uh, okay. Nice to meet you. W-Was there a reason you called me out here?" Itsuki asked, kind of freaked out from this whole situation that was playing out in front of her very eyes.
"Oh, I was thinking that you were pretty cute, and I asked you up here to see if I could get your number." He then started to approach her.
"O-Oh, I'm sorry. I'm not really looking to date anyone right now, especially since I've just moved to the school and all…" Itsuki said with a somewhat forced smile on her face. She wanted to run out of there immediately.
Just then, Maeda had fully approached her, and he placed a hand on her shoulder. "Oh, I wasn't asking." Maeda's smile then turned into a somewhat devilish grin. Itsuki began to tear up a bit, becoming more afraid of the situation with each passing second.
"Oi, I was wondering where you were." She then heard a familiar voice coming from the stairway.
She turned her head around to see Fuutarou leaning against one of the doors, folding his arms.
Maeda looked up at the other male standing there and asked "Who are you? Can't you see that we're having a private meeting here? Get lost, ya punk!" He said with a gritty tone.
"Oh, so placing a hand on my friend here and forcing her to give you her phone number is what you would call a private meeting? A bit creepy if you ask me." He retorted.
Before Maeda could say something else, Fuutarou cut him off as he started walking towards the two. "Don't you think it's a bit weird to meet a girl on the roof just to force her into giving you her number? Then again, looking at you, it seems like something a person like you would do."
"WHY YOU!" Maeda screamed in an exasperated tone while sending a fist in Fuutarou's direction.
To his surprise, Fuutarou caught the punch, then proceeded to punch Maeda in the gut. Maeda immediately went down, cradling his now hurting stomach.
"Never, ever, approach any of my friends like that, ever again." Fuutarou said with a voice that could probably even strike fear into someone like Nino.
Fuutarou then turned to approach the teary-eyed girl. "Itsuki, are you alright?!" He frantically checked the girl to see if Maeda had hurt her anywhere. She then hugged Fuutarou.
He then heard a muffled 'Thank you…' as he felt his shoulder becoming wetter by the second.
"It's alright. As long as you're safe, Meat bun." He whispered into her ear as he tried to calm her down, returning her hug.
Once Itsuki had calmed down, they turned to look at Maeda. Fuutarou may have hit him a bit too hard. Maeda just laid there, sitting in a foetal position, cradling his still-hurting stomach.
"We should take him to the infirmary." He said with a hand over his mouth.
"F-Fuutarou, you shouldn't have hit him that hard! You big d-dummy!" Itsuki said as she hit his back in a way that didn't hurt him.
Fuutarou then carried Maeda to the infirmary and left him there to recover. As they approached the gate, they saw Yotsuba wave at them.
"There they are!" Yotsuba exclaimed.
"Oi, what took you both so long? We were about to leave you both, you know!" Nino also exclaimed.
"S-Sorry! There was a little incident on the roof. We'll tell you about it at home." Fuutarou smiled while scratching the back of his neck. Just then, the other quints saw Itsuki hugging Fuutarou's arm.
"Ara ara, did something happen between the two of you?" Ichika teased once again.
Fuutarou sighed in annoyance. "I told you, we'll tell you all when we get home." Everyone started to walk home, with Itsuki attached to Fuutarou's arm this entire time. A slight blush could be seen on Fuutarou's face the whole journey home.
OMAKE:
"Itsuki, it's been 4 hours. Are you going to let go any time soon?" Fuutarou was studying with Itsuki still attached to his arm.
"No, I don't want to." She said as she tightened her grip on his arm.
"Come on Itsuki, I need to study, and you're distracting me." Fuutarou said with a somewhat monotone voice.
"Moooooooouuuuuuu…" Itsuki just sighed while still clutching onto Fuutarou's arm.
Just then, a voice can be heard in the distance. "I've made cookies for everyone! Come and get some!"
Itsuki heard Nino call out to everyone to come and eat some cookies. She immediately let go of Fuutarou's arm and ran towards Nino, hoping to get the first batch.
Nino then looked at Fuutarou and winked before walking away.
"Nino, thank yoooouuu…." Fuutarou said with a sigh of relief.
AUTHOR'S NOTE
Thank you everyone for reading the second chapter of my story. I hope you enjoyed it. There will be a slight delay with the third chapter as I have exams coming up, so the third chapter may release at least a week from now. I hope you understand. Once again, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy your day.