The Ace posts a new chapter just in time for the Quints' bday?! Hell yeah. In Japan, it should be midnight for them, meaning that it is the 5th of May for them and every fan of QQ knows that it's the birthday of everyone's favorite quintuplets! You guys can consider this the birthday special, hehe. In the previous one, he has met briefly with Nino and Yotsuba, before ending with his future wife trying to ask him if she can eat wit him. I wonder what's going to happen? Let's not waste any more time and get into the chapter!

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

Fuutarou continued to raise an eyebrow at this girl before him, having internal thoughts about how this had already happened several times before. There's no doubt that this was the same one he met twice earlier today, which makes this the third time he encountered her. Not only that, but he also came to a realization after figuring out that she was the exact same girl he met before…

This girl was definitely playing games with him.

First, he sees her when he arrives at the school pointing to him for some reason and then he sees her again at the track outside the gym. There, she had a complete change of clothes, somehow got a haircut out of nowhere and wore a green ribbon on her head just for the fun of it! And now, she grows her hair out again to the point that she has an ahoge, went back to wearing that black uniform she was wearing earlier when he first met her, and she wanted to eat lunch with him?!

There's no way he can ignore this issue any longer!

Even someone like him had a breaking point, as patient as he can be. There's only so much he can take from a person before getting ticked off, especially if it was someone he never met before and it was a threat to his peaceful world.

"Are you following me?" he deadpanned.

The girl blinked a few times in surprise, losing the blush on her face in the process. That was a response that she didn't expect, and one that made her confused. She even wondered if she heard him right, or her ears were playing tricks on her for a moment.

"E-Excuse me…?" she asked, raising her head so that she can look at him.

"I saw you when I got to this school, then I saw you again at the track, and now I see you here. Are you trying to play games with me? Because I can definitely play that game if you want me to," he warned with a serious look that spread across his features.

Much to his extreme displeasure, however, the girl only raised an eyebrow and seemed confused at the question he asked.

"I don't know what you are trying to imply, but I am sure that this is the first time that we have met."

Welp.

"Are you for real?" he groaned in his thoughts while sending the girl a deep frown.

Tch, this girl was really asking for it!

What the hell was she trying to accomplish with this? Annoy him? Oh yeah, he was definitely annoyed now, because this girl doesn't know when to quit it! Shouldn't she know who he is by now? Didn't she learn from Uehara?! She wants to get under his nerves to make him lose his mind and eventually drop out of this school? Hell no, it would take a lot more than this to nuke him out of Asahiyama. Get his attention for some sick and twisted reason? He had his attention on her now!

Regardless, this was shaping up to be a really bad day for him that he was tempted to just skip his last period and go somewhere else to clear his mind again. However, he had morals about such a thing and he certainly doesn't want to get in trouble with his parents, especially his mother.

But seriously, how the hell did this girl change her appearance so quickly when he got to the storage shed? That was the big question here, because it only took him at least five minutes to get there from meeting her the first time, so it should've been impossible for this girl to get an instant haircut, changed her clothes, and then play dodgeball all before he could get there!

How could she have done it?

Hmm, maybe she has short hair all this time and she's just been using a wig? That's possible, but it doesn't explain her current demeanor. She was insisting that this is the first time they met despite his allegations… could it be true, though?

Honestly, it felt like she was being sincere.

There's no way he would brag about it, but Fuutarou had a hidden talent for reading people and be able to tell if someone was being sincere. It's how he was able to stay out of trouble all this time, because you wouldn't believe the amount of people who have tried getting him into trouble for the past year…

And that is the reason why he normally ignores everyone he comes across with now, except for this girl, it seems.

He had two choices at the moment: continue to argue with this girl until she admits that she's messing with him, or willingly concede this impending argument for the sake of his lunch and not having to waste more of his time.

It was already obvious what he was going to choose.

"Never mind," he sighed, letting his frown disappear before he began to speak. "What do you want this time?"

The girl made a confused sound at first, wondering if there was something wrong with him. Earlier, he was asking weird questions by assuming they already met before then he just tells her to forget about all of it?

It sounds fishy, but that's not what's more important right now.

"Uhm… I'm supposed to eat lunch with my sisters, but I can't find them anywhere. W-Would it be alright if I… s-sit here with you?" she asked, feeling flustered at her own action because she was literally asking a boy if she could eat with him. What made this worse was that he was someone she didn't know!

"Definitely not my day," Fuutarou mentally rolled his eyes and simply focused on his lunch, unwrapping his bento before opening it.

Great. Just great. Now he was going to be a babysitter, which makes this worse if she already knows who he was! If this was the game she's playing, then she was good. He can't just take back his word and get her to admit that she's playing with him, so he'll have to resort to another method.

"It's a bad idea to eat with me. Take your lunch and go somewhere else," he said in a bored tone, not even bothering to utter the phrase of thanks before eating.

She tilted her head slightly. "Why is it a bad idea? Is there a problem?"

Fuutarou was greatly attempted to facepalm in irritation upon hearing those words, but stayed his hand. That would be giving up and letting this girl win in her little game, and he won't let that happen.

"Are you kidding me? I thought you'd know who you're trying to follow by now," he said in a blank tone, perfectly masking his growing annoyance as he asked the question that will give him the answer he needed.

"I-I apologize, but I don't really know what you are trying to imply. I am new around here, as you can see from the uniform I am wearing."

"You gotta be kidding me…" he deadpanned.

Okay, that almost made him lose his appetite, but he was able to regain his bearings before it was too late. He would have thought that Uehara told her already about him back when he saw them, damn it! She said it herself that this girl didn't know anything!

Oh, he'll have to talk with Uehara about this the next time he sees her… there were times where that girl can let sports completely get the better of her and cause her to remove everything else from her thoughts in order to focus on her competitive mind.

This was clearly one of those times.

"Either way, it's a bad idea to eat with me. Go bother someone else and leave me alone," he sighed and waved his hand in an effort to make the girl go away.

Yep, this changes things.

If she didn't really know who he was, then there's no need for him to figure out her intentions because this girl didn't have any. Still, it doesn't change the fact that it'll be bad for the girl and annoying for him if they get seen sharing a table. Nothing personal against her, but anyone with a brain in this school knows better than to eat lunch, let alone sit in the same area, as him.

Hang on, why didn't she even recognize him? Didn't they already come across each other twice by now, making this the third time?

Eh, not important at the moment.

"But I don't really see the problem of eating my lunch with you. Can you please elaborate what you are trying to say while we are eating? I-I don't think I can keep on carrying my tray for any longer…" the girl explained as she began to sweat in nervousness.

You got to be kidding…

He just said that it wouldn't be good for her to eat her lunch with him and she asks him to explain while they are eating together?

"Is she an idiot or something?"

On the other hand, he quickly noticed that her hands were beginning to shake from holding her lunch tray, which held a bowl of udon, two small plates of tempura and katsu slices, a small salad, and a box of orange juice.

If this was any other time, he'd choose to laugh at the absurd amount of food on her tray, but he won't end up being amused anyway.

"Fine, knock yourself out," he rolled his eyes and sighed in defeat, while his thoughts portrayed his true feelings on the matter. "It'll be your fault once you realize that you just made a big mistake, anyway."

"Oh, thank you very much! My hands were getting tired from carrying my lunch and finding a table at the same time," she smiled before taking her seat, looking immensely relieved that she won't have to stay standing any longer.

He snorted. "Well, of course you'd get tired. With that big of a lunch, I'd be surprised if you even find another lunch table without losing your grip."

Seriously, with everything that she ordered for lunch, he'd be surprised if she can even find another table before tripping herself and making a mess. It's either that or her hands will end up losing strength and cause her to drop her lunch tray.

Ah, that would be too much for him to handle if he gets involved in it, and he was already having a bad day so far…

The girl blinked, tilting her head in confusion. "W-Was that supposed to be an insult towards me?"

"Take it how you want, you're the one who ordered your own lunch. I'm just pointing out what would've happened if I didn't let you eat with me," Fuutarou shrugged and went back to eating.

"Indeed…" she frowned for a moment, thinking that there was more to his words than what he was letting on, before eventually shrugging it off.

Instead, she focused on her lunch before her and let a big smile appear across her face. It almost seemed like stars had replaced her eyes in excitement, as she clapped her hands together happily.

"Itadakimasu!"

And from there, the red-haired girl indulged herself in her food, fully undisturbed in the process. However, this didn't last long because of the presence of the young man before her, who focused completely on his bento without a care for anything else. It made her purse her lips tightly, trying to figure out what she should do about this.

No, she's not angry at his demeanor, but rather the fact that things were too quiet between them. The silence made her uncomfortable, even though this was a boy whom she never met before.

Maybe she should try and talk to him. After all, he let her sit with him at the same table, even though she perfectly understood it if he denied her again. In all honesty, she would just leave him if he insists that he didn't want to eat with her but thankfully, he did.

"Uhm, I don't believe that a lunch table is a place where one should be quiet, so I will introduce myself. It is the least I can do for you after allowing me to eat with you," she spoke up, letting a gentle smile appear on her face. "My name is Itsuki. Itsuki Nakano. It's a pleasure to meet you."

"I didn't ask for your name," Fuutarou shot back coldly, making the girl named Itsuki flinch as he sent an unamused expression at her, which also made her lose her smile almost immediately.

It reached the point where she almost regretted the idea of trying to hold a conversation with him. However, it quickly fell apart when he shrugged his shoulders before releasing a deep sigh.

"But, you do make a good point. Maybe when you find out who I am, you'd finally know that it's only destroying your own image if you're seen with me."

She raised an eyebrow. "Huh?"

At that same moment, the pair heard different voices coming from several parts of the cafeteria. Most of them were nothing more than murmurs and whispers, but there were some that they could hear clearly, and those were the ones that caused Itsuki to be even more confused.

"Uesugi is eating with a girl?"

"Oi, think he's planning to do something with her?"

"Poor girl…"

"Hey, wanna go save her?"

"Are you crazy? Messing with Uesugi is the last thing I'd want to do!"

"We can always call the teachers, don't worry…"

Fuutarou almost chuckled at the exact timing of these people, because this may be what he needs to tell this girl that it's going to be the end of her in this place if she continues to be ignorant regarding him and his stature in this school.

After listening to those voices, Itsuki couldn't help but turn towards Fuutarou for confirmation. Those other students who spoke seemed like they want her to be away from the young man before her, though she didn't know why.

"What is going on exactly? Do you have a bad reputation in this school?" she asked with an innocent tone.

He snorted, leaning back on his chair as he drank his iced tea. "You don't even know the half of it. But, let's go to the more important matter. Name's Uesugi. Fuutarou Uesugi. That's all you need to know."

Despite his obvious lack of care for their conversation since he wasn't even looking at her, Itsuki bowed her head politely.

"It's nice to meet you, Uesugi-kun, but that does not explain why you appear to have a low opinion of yourself. It seems that other students don't think highly of you as well."

Fuutarou sent a frown at the girl, already starting to get irritated with her. He was willing to tolerate her presence because she didn't know who he was and he didn't want her to make a mess in the worst way, but he's not going to put up with her persistence.

She had nothing to do with him, and that's it.

"You don't need to know. Just stay away from me after this if you know what's good for you. It's bad enough that I let you eat at the same table with me. Don't make it worse than it already is."

Itsuki sent him a frown of her own. "Is it bad that I am feeling concerned for the one who allowed me to eat with him? I simply want to help, but I cannot do that without knowing what is wrong."

He narrowed his eyes. "I don't need your concern and I definitely don't want your help, Nakano. Tell that to other people who want it more. I'm sure there are lots of them around here."

"But why? Did you do something wrong that made you like this?"

"It's none of your business and besides, it's not like I'm staying here any longer."

As he said those words, he was already finished with eating his bento but didn't bother wrapping it in a plastic bag anymore. He simply closed it with its lid and returned it in his bag before flinging it over his shoulder. The frown disappeared from his face, since he'll be leaving and he won't have to see this girl again.

Now that she knew who he was, she'll hear of him from other students and make it a point not to go near him again.

"Table's all yours. Have fun, I guess."

"W-Wait a second, I —!" Itsuki tried to say, only to get completely ignored by the young man as he continued on his way, not even bothering to spare her a second glance while walking off.

This caused the girl's expression to turn into a big pout, unable to keep her patience any longer. Itsukj can't be blamed for it, though, because all she did was try to offer her help out of concern as it seemed like other students didn't like Fuutarou Uesugi for some reason.

But seriously, there was no need for him to be that rude. What was he, some kind of edgy teenager going through that phase in his life? His demeanor was just uncalled for, no matter the reason!

"What is wrong with him? I was only trying to help out of concern and he's being rude about it? I would have left him alone if he just said so!" she grumbled, feeling angry that she got shut down when all she's done was offer him her help.

Itsuki tried focusing on her meal in order to clear her mind of that horrible exchange of words between her and Fuutarou Uesugi, which was completely easy for someone like her, more so now that she had the table to herself. For the next few moments, Itsuki shifted her full attention on her lunch until she noticed a piece of parchment on the other side of the table.

What made her raise an eyebrow at it was that she didn't remember bringing along any paper with her, and the only one here earlier was Fuutarou Uesugi. She also noticed that it was slightly crumpled and had red lines along its sides.

Her curiosity taking over, she took the sheet of paper and unfurled it in her hands, before blinking in surprise upon seeing what it was.

It was a test paper and yes, it belonged to the person that she just ate lunch with.

"He has a passing grade, but is barely above average? Interesting…" she breathed out, her eyebrows raising slightly in surprise from noticing the score he got. "Hm, now that I think about it, he doesn't strike me as the type of student who studies hard…"

No, that wasn't an insult to Fuutarou, despite how rude he was to her just earlier. Okay, she wasn't really someone who had the strange ability to read people and their actions but being a diligent student who does her best to study hard, Itsuki had a good idea on how to determine if a person was someone who perseveres by working hard and constantly improving.

Plus, with the way the guy was acting earlier, it didn't give her much difficulty in getting to this conclusion.

"I should return this to him the next time we meet, even if he's rude and insensitive…"

Itsuki simply shook her head, removing the earlier altercation between them from her mind in favor of what she decided. Who knows? Maybe they just got on the wrong side of things which caused that misunderstanding by the end of their conversation.

Instead of crumpling it, she chose to fold it neatly before placing it in her pocket and then focusing on her lunch once again.

Personally, she didn't like this, but it was the right thing to do.

HSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHSHS

"We have a new student joining the class today," the teacher announced to the whole class, with most of them already excited to welcome the newest addition to their cluster. With smiles on their faces, they turned towards the door in anticipation for the newcomer's arrival.

The only one who looked completely disinterested in all this was one Fuutarou Uesugi, who would rather take a nap right now instead of waiting for who was going to show up.

See, it was easy to understand. Whoever goes through that door and joins the class, it's not important. It's just someone who will add to the list of people that he would forget the moment he graduates from this school, just like everyone else in here. He was sure to himself that everyone else thinks that way, as much as they try to be friendly and socialize with everyone around.

"Come on in and join your classmates. This will be your classroom until the end of the year," the teacher turned towards the door and gestured for the newest student to come inside.

As soon as those words were spoken, a young woman with red hair and an ahoge walked inside with a smile with a smile on her face. She had deep blue eyes and a large cleavage for someone at her age. She also wore a black uniform that was completely different to the one that everyone else was wearing, causing her classmates to widen their eyes in surprise.

However, the most distinct thing among her features were the star clips on her head, one that a certain someone had already seen earlier.

It was none other than Itsuki.

The teacher smiled softly at the newcomer, before gesturing for her to take over for now. "Good afternoon, young lady. May we know your name?"

She nodded politely and turned to face all of her new classmates, unaware that Fuutarou had rolled his eyes and groaned to himself upon seeing her in front.

"My name is Itsuki Nakano. It's a pleasure to meet all of you."

As soon as Itsuki's little introduction was over, she got a lot of responses from her newfound classmates, particularly from the males who were all amazed at how beautiful she was. In the case of the girls, they were already cooking up plans to add Itsuki into their social circle like what they've always done for every new female that joins the class.

"She's so cute!"

"I want to marry her!"

"I know that uniform… is she from Kurobara? That all-girls' school?"

"If that's the case, her family must be stinkin' rich!"

"Let's ask her if she wants to hang out later on."

"Yeah, she looks fun to be with!"

The only one among everyone who didn't have the same or a similar reaction was Fuutarou Uesugi himself. Instead, he was laughing sarcastically in his mind, taking all this as some sort of sick twist of fate all because this was not his day. It almost felt like he was a pawn in someone else's game too and the intention was to mess with him.

Of course, it's a bad day and he's had his fair share of those!

"And this day just continues to surprise me… hahahaha… who would have thought she'd end up in the same classroom as me…"

After being directed to her designated seat, Itsuki followed like an obedient student and began walking through the middle of the class to get there. However, as "fate" would have it, she took notice of the familiar person sitting by the center of the room, even though he had his gaze redirected elsewhere.

"Uesugi-kun? You're in the classroom as I am?"

"I should've known this was coming."

Fuutarou only released a deep sigh, not bothering to even give the girl a verbal response.

As expected, their fellow classmates were already sending them weird looks just from seeing them interact, and the blonde teen could only sigh in his mind yet again. He knew this was going to happen eventually, especially now when they were in the middle of everyone else!

This girl just didn't know when to quit it.

He already told her several times to leave him alone but she didn't listen!

It's not going to be his fault if this becomes the reason why she'll turn into an outcast like him. Nope, he's not going to extend a hand to her and tell her that things will be alright just because she suffers the same fate as him.

He already warned her many times about staying away from him, so he's not going to take responsibility for her own shortcomings.

She did this to herself.

As expected, Itsuki didn't even care that she had everyone's attention directed towards her and just when he's about to wave her off, she pulled out a folded piece of paper from her pocket. The strength in his arm left quickly when she unfurled the paper and showed it to him.

"Uesugi-kun, you forgot this at the table. I wanted to return it the next time we meet but fortunately, it seems that we are going to be classmates," she said, offering him a gentle smile for whatever reason.

Fuutarou wanted to facepalm so hard right now, frustrated at this girl for her stupidity at doing a foolish thing at this very moment!

She just doomed herself by doing this!

"You should've just kept it to yourself then. It was free," he said coolly, perfectly masking his real feelings as his mind had the opposite thought right now. "Or you could've waited until the damn class was over, idiot…"

Her smile fell, but still maintained a respectful look on her face and brought it closer to the boy so he can take it.

"It is your exam paper. It's only right that I return it to its rightful owner."

The young man threw a displeased look at her, before his attention shifted to the people staring at the two of them. Other students were already starting to whisper various things to each other and even though he couldn't hear them, Fuutarou was completely sure that it had something to do with both him and Itsuki.

Okay, that's it.

This has gone far enough!

"Give me that," he quickly snatched the paper from her hands with a scowl on his face, clearly showing his rising irritation for this stubborn girl.

"-!" Itsuki took a step back from how quickly he took the paper from her hands, but she was then forced to watch as Fuutarou quickly crumpled it up into a ball like how she found it earlier.

Before she could say anything, however, Fuutarou had already thrown it across the room towards the door, where it hit the knob and caused it to fall to the trash can that was directly beside it. Since he was sitting in the middle of the room, the distance wasn't that far but it was an impressive feat, nonetheless.

It was reflected in the amazed looks of his classmates, as well as the chants of "ooohhss" and "woahs" that were heard across the room. Even the teacher himself ended up giving that throw a nod of approval, but didn't say anything.

Hey, despite his reputation inside this school as a delinquent, it doesn't stop students from being amazed at what he can do.

How else would the girls of this school, no matter how few they were, have a huge crush on him then?

Meanwhile, Itsuki had a look of horror on her face as she was left speechless from what she just saw. He really just crumpled up his own test paper into a ball and threw it into the trash can from afar like it was nothing. She slowly turned back towards Fuutarou, staring at him as if he just committed a terrible crime.

"What did you do? That was a test paper, and you just throw it away like that? You cannot do such a thing, especially inside the classroom, in front of our teacher, no less!" she shouted, losing her composure at the same time and completely forgetting about her intention of making peace with him.

Why would she?

He practically spat on what she tried to do for him.

Fuutarou was unaffected by her outburst, while internally smirking when he noticed that the whispering from his classmates had stopped. Good, this is going well and if this continues, she'll stay away from him for good!

Who knew just throwing his own test paper into the trash would get her angry? To make it even funnier, it was just a simple mock test and nothing major! It's not like he threw away his midterm exam, but this girl was acting like he did.

He simply sent her a bored look. "I just did, and so what? Why do you care? It's mine, right? I can do whatever I want with it, Nakano."

The expression he gave her only seemed to piss her off even more, causing the girl to give him another pout, one that was way bigger than the one earlier as she clenched her fists tightly.

"In all my life, I have never met someone as insensitive as you! I was only doing the right thing!"

Fuutarou rolled his eyes, before adopting a tone that was filled with sarcasm. He noticed that everyone was still staring at them both, but it was mainly out of anticipation for what would happen next rather than sticking their noses into something that didn't involve them.

It may be confusing, but the key difference is that there's no sign of anyone making up baseless assumptions in the background, and the only thing Fuutarou could hear was Itsuki's voice.

It also helped that the teacher for their last period was too much of a wimp to take charge and separate them, even though he was a really kind guy who just had boring classes.

"Congratulations, you're a good person, then. Want a medal? You're not getting it from me, because I don't have any."

And that was the final nail in the coffin that led to Itsuki gritting her teeth in anger and frustration at his demeanor and overall answer.

He was just pissing her off to no end!

However, instead of snapping at that moment, she simply stomped her way to her chair and took her seat to end things between them, willingly conceding the argument for the sake of the class that was supposed to be taking place.

Fuutarou let a little smirk remain on his face as he caught a glimpse of Itsuki taking her seat while she was glaring coldly at him the whole time, just as their teacher finally snapped out of his petrified state and decided to start their last period.

Heh.

Seems like something good came out from this day, after all.

And that concludes his first meeting with Itsuki, hehe. What? She's going to be the bride in the future, of course she will get a chapter dedicated to her! Though, it seems that they're not really off on a good start unlike my other fanfic, which is completely fine. After all, I do plan them to develop and become better people. Poor Fuutarou, though. He doesn't know that he met three different girls today, but that's what happens when you're encountering quintuplets. As of now, he thinks that Nino and Yotsuba are both Itsuki, because the latter is the only one who revealed her identity to him so far. This should make the next chapter more interesting, then... see ya guys in the next one, and happy birthday to the quints!

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

-Lance