The one and only Ace is here once again to deliver another chapter! At this point, you may think that Itsuki and Fuutarou's relationship is on the verge of being forever broken, but I advise all of you to just sit back and read. I have most of the plot already planned out up until the midterms and I'm filling up everything else as I go. Don't worry about me, because it is my responsibility as Ace to carry this archive until I draw my last breath!
Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]
Disclaimer: I don't own the Quintessential Quintuplets, or any of its characters...
"I'm looking for a table, not a seat. Leave me," the young man said in a tone that reflected his mood at the moment, which translated to 'I don't have time to deal with this bullshit'.
And it was true.
Instead of listening to his demand, the young woman only giggled. Great, another headache to deal with that's capable of ruining his day completely, just when everything was going well so far.
"Why? You can't eat while surrounded by beautiful girls?"
Fuutarou's only response was to stare at her with a deadpan look, before shaking his head and then simply continuing on his way.
He won't give this girl the satisfaction of hearing a half-assed answer from him, so the best thing to do would be simply ignoring her until she leaves, assuming she doesn't continue to bother him even while he's eating.
"You don't have a girlfriend?" she continued to speak regardless, looking amused at the reaction she got from him.
"How the fuck is that related to the earlier question?" he groaned out with an unhinged look on his face, shaking his head again in an attempt to get his mind somewhere else that isn't here.
"Well, hold on a moment."
As she said those words, the girl circled around and went in front of him with a delightful expression, her hands linked behind her back, before leaning forward and then staring into his eyes. The way she got too close to him for his standards made Fuutarou throw a scowl in her direction.
"You're aiming for Itsuki-chan, right?"
The scowl on his face devolved into a deadpan look, while internally wondering if she was serious. If she was bringing up Itsuki, then she must know that that girl, who was also her sister, disliked him and he was indifferent around her.
Ah, this girl must be a gossiper or perhaps someone who thrived in the misery of others being flustered.
In other words, she's someone whom he didn't want to waste his time on.
"Leave me alone," he stated firmly, making sure that every word he spoke translated how he had no time for pointless things.
"Eh?! So you're really aiming for her!" she exclaimed with a big smile on her face, paying no heed to his words at all.
Instead of responding, which would be giving in to what this girl was trying, he simply continued on his way but even that didn't stop her from following him closely behind.
"Seems like it, huh…" she smirked, before leaning closer towards him. "So what do you like about her? Her seriousness? She's cute?"
"Why don't you go bother someone else who'd actually give a shit about what you're saying?"
"Naughty, naughty. Trying to hide it won't work," the girl waved her finger as if she didn't even hear him, although it's clear that she was simply trying to get a reaction from him. "I got a better idea. Let's just ask the girl herself!"
He rolled his eyes and continued on his way yet again. "Whatever."
This girl was already annoying him, but it's gonna take a lot more than that to make him lose his complete patience!
Doing a complete 180, she then waved her hand to tell him that he shouldn't give it too much thought. "Oh, don't worry too much. I know what's going on between you two, so I won't push it."
All Fuutarou could do at this point was send her a deadpan expression as he slightly turned towards her. What the hell was she trying to accomplish by trying to annoy him? She's doing this for her sister whom he annoyed yesterday? Possible, but it seemed unlikely from the look on her face alone…
"If you knew, then why can't you shut your mouth already?"
"Because I wanted to tease you," she said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, before covering her mouth to stifle her giggles. "You know, as Itsuki's sister, I was a little bothered when I heard her talking about a tall, scary-looking guy who managed to piss her off on our first day!"
Fuutarou shrugged carelessly.
"I wonder why…"
"But now that I got a good look at you and how you act, you don't seem too bad. Maybe Itsuki was just overreacting again to something small. Want me to put in a good word for you? It wouldn't hurt for you two to be friends," she continued, raising an eyebrow in a suggestive manner.
"I don't care," he spoke through clenched teeth, narrowing his eyes further.
The girl finally seemed to understand what he was trying to do, making her raise her hands in defeat and bore an innocent smile before something bad happens.
"Okay, okay, I get it. I won't bother you anymore about Itsuki."
Fuutarou continued to narrow his eyes at her out of doubt, just in case that she was leading him on. Thankfully, she maintained the smile on her face for the next few moments, which was enough to convince the young man that she was serious this time. With that, he turned around and was fully prepared to walk away and focus his mind on something else completely…
"Oh, by the way?"
Ugh, for the love of—!
He stopped in his tracks and started to clench his fists, losing more of his patience the more he hears her damn voice and her endless giggling. A single vein looked like it was going to pop on his head out of annoyance, but before he could say anything, the girl beat him to it.
"If you have problems, just consult me, Ichika-oneesan. You're more interesting than I thought, Uesugi Fuutarou-kun~"
He heard her final words clearly, but Fuutarou didn't bother answering her anymore and simply continued on his way.
Enough was enough. He had spent too much of his time already just from talking to this girl that he didn't even want to look at how much time had already passed. Fuutarou just wanted to eat and remain unbothered by anyone else for as much as he could.
Meanwhile, the girl named Ichika only watched as he leaned against the wall beside the exit doors in the distance. He then brought something out from his bag, presumably some kind of bread, before he began to eat in peace without anyone interrupting him.
Ichika tilted her head curiously, as if she was trying to figure something out before eventually shrugging her shoulders. She made her way back to her table, where the rest of her sisters had their attention towards her and looked like they were expecting answers.
It appears that they were watching her interaction with Fuutarou Uesugi the entire time… even Itsuki, although she had a displeased look on her face, which wasn't surprising to see.
"Well?" a girl wearing blue headphones around her neck asked with a gloomy look on her face.
Ichika took a deep breath, before taking her seat with them and then giving her answer. From the way her lunch was halfway from being eaten, she stood up from their table and spoke with Fuutarou midway through her meal for some reason.
"I can see what Itsuki meant when she said that he's someone who typically doesn't care about anything around him, but at the same time, there's something interesting about him."
"Like what?"
"Well, he was really adamant in telling me to leave him alone, but I understand why. After all, I kind of annoyed him for a bit, hehe…" she chuckled nervously, scratching her cheek before continuing. "Anyway, even with that, he remained calm the entire time when he could have given in to impatience or something… or maybe he was being impatient and he just didn't—"
"You are wasting your time, Ichika."
Itsuki spoke up while biting through her tempura slice, cutting off her sister completely from what she was going to say which gained her the attention of everyone else on the table.
From how Itsuki had a deep frown on her face, it's clear that she wasn't in the mood to talk about Fuutarou, nor will she ever be.
"Itsuki-chan, is there something wrong? You just seem really angry with the guy for some reason."
Before their lunch started, everything was going well and they were all simply talking about how their day was going so far. It was really unfortunate how they all ended up in separate classrooms, but they could at least make up for the time they didn't spend together during lunch.
And then, Fuutarou Uesugi was mentioned.
It was Itsuki herself who brought up the issue of Fuutarou at the table, complaining about his 'immoral' actions in the classroom earlier today since they were in the same class. It caught Ichika's attention and everyone else's, leading to Itsuki discussing those said actions with her sisters.
And then, after hearing her sister's long rant which mostly involved how she considered Fuutarou to be 'unfit for school' and all that good-natured talk, the boy caught Ichika's interest simply due to how he can cause Itsuki to be like this.
It was also at that exact moment where Itsuki scowled at Fuutarou Uesugi immediately upon seeing him in the distance, which led to Ichika getting a good look at him with her own eyes.
One can already tell what happened after that.
"I am simply trying to save you the trouble, Ichika. Uesugi-san is someone to avoid at all costs."
Itsuki spoke in a firm tone, making her points across and that nothing else matters at the moment.
What's important is that her sisters are aware of the delinquent that is Fuutarou Uesugi, and that they must stay away from him no matter what!
"Did he really hurt your feelings that bad? I know you said that he was being a jerk when you were just trying to help him, but is it really enough for you to hold a big grudge?"
Ichika asked in an attempt to reason with her sister because, for some reason, Itsuki might be taking things too far with her words.
"Of course! That boy had no remorse when he tore up his own exam paper, the same paper that I personally returned to him! You said it yourself, Ichika! He was telling you to leave him even though you weren't doing anything!" Itsuki argued, confident in herself that she was in the right.
Ichika sweat-dropped after hearing those words. "I did say that I annoyed him for a bit, though…"
"You're angry that he took your kindness for granted?" asked their headphone-wearing sister, who also looked confounded with what Itsuki said.
Was she really throwing a fit over a test paper being torn apart? Or is it because of something else?
Itsuki's look of anger somehow contorted into something worse, just as a tick mark appeared on her head. She'll never forget his actions yesterday and oh, how she wanted to slap him so bad for what he did!
"It is worse than that! He willingly tore his paper right in front of our teacher! He obviously has no respect for his superiors, nor for our school!"
Nobody bothered to speak after she said those words, but not because they were shocked. If anything, they were confused with what Itsuki just said to the point that they thought they misheard her for a moment.
"That's it…?" the quintuplet wearing headphones asked, deadpanning at Itsuki who had to take a sip of her strawberry milkshake to prevent herself from being parched.
"Should there be more reason than that? Uesugi-san has no idea what such a thing means to the school that he's currently attending! That's why all of you must be wary of him!"
Her three other sisters only sent her awkward glances, while internally agreeing in their minds that Itsuki wasn't taking it personally like what they initially thought.
She was more concerned about the school than her own self, which was… kinda weird? Okay, the guy ripped his test paper, but so what? It's not like the school itself had feelings to feel offended about a sheet of paper, but they did get what Itsuki meant. To be frank, it's perfectly in character for her get angry for such a thing.
Plus, it was always Itsuki who took school a lot more seriously than normal…
Itsuki was then cut off from her display of moral compass and integrity by the sound of Nino's giggling, which caught everyone's attention in the process.
The long-haired quint with butterfly ribbons on her head had her mouth covered with one hand to try and hide her obvious amusement, but wasn't quite successful because her sisters could hear her perfectly well.
Strangely, her cheeks were also giving off a pinkish color, which was enough for the rest of her sisters to voice out their confusion, starting with Ichika.
"May we ask what you have in your mind, Nino? You look like you're enjoying yourself there…"
Nino folded her arms and flicked her hair in a smug manner. "Heh, I don't know about you guys, but Fuu-kun is totally my type and he's so hot to boot! I'm going to get him to notice me and then I'll ask him out on a date!"
Her words immediately caused Ichika's eyebrows to shoot up in surprise, her two other sisters blinked several times as though they were trying to process what they just heard, while Itsuki's serious look turned into one that showed horror.
"Ara, Nino? You sound like you've already met the guy and you even have a nickname for him already?" Ichika said, pointing out the interesting things she noticed about what her sister just said.
"I did," Nino confirmed with a nod, before taking some fries from her plate and then popping them into her mouth, looking satisfied with herself. "We actually had a little talk earlier, as a matter of fact."
If her sisters weren't shocked before, then they surely were as of now, from the way their jaws were slowly dropping along with their dumbfounded look.
Were they simply hearing things?
Talking about the guy with romantic intentions was one thing, but having an actual meeting with him before all this? That would mean Nino encountered him way before classes started! It was almost unbelievable to process, especially in Itsuki's case.
Speaking of which…
"Nino, what were you thinking? Uesugi-san is someone you should be avoiding!"
As expected, Itsuki reacted in a gobsmacked manner, almost standing up from her seat before giving her sister an incredulous look. It's as if she couldn't comprehend or at the very least, understand what Nino was telling them.
Unfortunately for her, Nino didn't really think much about Itsuki's plea, mostly because her stance regarding this matter was already obvious.
It didn't matter whether Itsuki hates Fuutarou or not, because that's not her problem to deal with.
"Oh, little sis, would you stop being such a baby? While I was talking with him, Fuu-kun didn't seem like a jerk at all. From what I found out, most people here don't have a high opinion of him," Nino explained, unphased with Itsuki's attempt to get her to change her mind.
"If you knew who he is, then it should have been obvious that he is to be avoided at all costs!" Itsuki replied, showing that she didn't listen to her sister's explanation and simply went with what she knew and what she thought about the young man.
Oh boy, this could very well be the reason why Itsuki might never be able to snag a boyfriend for herself when the time comes…
"Nope~" she stuck her tongue out and winked in a playful manner. "I told you that he's my type, so why would I avoid him? If anything, I'm going to talk to him later and if I'm lucky, I'll score a date with him!".
The long-haired quintuplet was already ahead of Itsuki, since she was able to talk with Fuutarou herself, and she saw how he is with her own eyes. She knew how he acted around her, and he wasn't really anything like what Itsuki described him to be.
Tearing up a test paper in front of the class? Sounds like a typical delinquent scenario and Nino was all about that!
"Sounds like the only thing that's been on your mind ever since we transferred here is finding a guy and all that. Are you desperate?" the quintuplet wearing blue headphones suddenly cut in, now bearing an unamused look on her face after getting over her initial shock.
Nino only sneered at her direction before flashing a smirk. "Oh, shut up, Miku. You don't know what it's like to see all of your preferences at once and be lucky enough that the guy you like is so hot!"
Having a sudden thought in mind, Ichika then began to wave her hands before her, which quickly brought all of her sisters' attention towards her.
"Wait, wait, hold on. Does Uesugi-kun even know who you are?"
Nino blinked for a few times as she took in that question from Ichika, before bursting into a fit of giggles upon being reminded of the hilarious misunderstanding between her and Fuutarou this morning.
Man, oh man, that was a good one! It was the best laugh that she had in a good while!
"Oh, that's actually a funny story, because you know what? When I was going to tell him name, he started talking to me as if he already knew who I was!" she explained in an eager tone, wanting to tell her sisters about this moment as soon as possible.
Ichika raised an eyebrow out of genuine interest. Now this was something she didn't expect, but that didn't mean she was any less than intrigued, and her other sisters were also going through the same situation.
"Did he?"
Nino shook her head as her laugh became louder than before. "Nah, it was even funnier than that! He actually thought I was Itsuki at first!"
Everyone's eyes widened as the attention between them shifted towards the quint with an ahoge on her head, who suddenly sported a blush the moment she heard that Fuutarou mistook her for Nino. She looked torn on whether she should feel embarrassed or surprised, which was surprising considering her earlier demeanor at the mere mention of his name.
"W-What…?"
Before anyone else could speak up, Nino continued to speak as it seemed more and more evident that she was enjoying all of this.
"I suppose it makes sense, since Itsuki is his classmate and, well, he knows who she is. It doesn't help that we look like each other, which gave him the impression that it was Itsuki who's going to greet him instead of me."
"I would never! N-Not after what he did!"
Itsuki tried to deny Nino's words with a hot face, feeling more embarrassed than anything else. Yep, even though she was trying her best to show it, her anger towards the young man was completely overshadowed by her own flustered state, which was to be expected from someone like her.
However, her attempts to deny Nino's words were ignored just as Ichika spoke up in a more interested tone. Even her other two sisters looked like they wanted to know more about this.
"How did he react?"
"He was telling me to quit 'playing games with him' because 'I' apparently said that 'he was the most insensitive person I ever met'," Nino recalled, while being unable to stop herself from giggling so much.
"W-Well, it's true! That boy has no respect for our teachers nor his own classmates! Whenever someone approaches him, he turns to them with a glare as if the person did something wrong! He simply has no regard for others no matter the situation!"
It was already obvious where that complaint came from.
"And what did you do?" Miku, the gloomy-looking girl wearing headphones, asked while raising an eyebrow out of genuine interest.
"I was just confused with why he was accusing me when it's only the second time we met," she explained and upon seeing the looks of surprise from her sisters, Nino knew what she had to say next. "Yeah, yeah, I met him yesterday when he got here. How else could I have seen him?"
"I suppose that makes sense. Please continue," Itsuki, of all people, said with a serious look on her face.
It seems like despite her embarrassment, she wanted to know more about how this came to be.
"Okay, so I honestly got creeped out when he knew our family name, but… the moment he called me 'Itsuki', I couldn't stop laughing."
Nino gave in to her laughter once again, while her other sisters only stared at her in continued interest. All of them could only imagine how that happened since they weren't there to see it, but from how Nino was incapable of preventing herself from laughing, it must have been a pretty comical scenario to have happened.
"Aw, now I wish I was there so I could have seen it happen…" Ichika pouted in a playful manner, wondering how that scene would have played out if she had seen it with her own eyes.
Finally, after managing to calm herself after a long moment of continuous laughing, Nino shrugged her shoulders. "Eh, I can't blame him for thinking I was Itsuki. Fuu-kun saw three of us yesterday after I talked with him, and he thought that we were all the same person."
"Three of us? Hm, Nino and Itsuki make up two of those… I don't recall ever seeing him yesterday, which means that it must be one of you two!"
Ichika pointed towards Miku and the last one among them, who had shorter hair compared to them (except for Ichika herself) and wore a green ribbon on her head. Considering Nino and Itsuki met him separately and she only encountered Fuutarou today, the mystery quint must be either of them.
Itsuki turned towards her two other sisters with a little frown which was out of confusion more than frustration or anger.
"You met Uesugi-san yesterday? Miku? Yotsuba?"
Miku only shook her head while the one wearing a green ribbon, Yotsuba, shifted uncomfortably in her seat before she slowly looked down in embarrassment. This was enough of an answer for the rest of them, as they all turned towards Yotsuba, feeling intrigued with what she knew about the boy whom they were discussing.
"You met him too, Yotsuba?" asked Ichika, taken aback at this newfound knowledge.
Yotsuba began to chuckle nervously while scratching the back of her head. "Uhm… yeah, hehe… I saw him walking away when our dodgeball got thrown so far and it reached him. I asked him to throw it back and he actually kicked it towards me! I was really impressed with him and I tried to invite him to play with us because of it, but it didn't seem like he was planning to."
As she spoke, Yotsuba's nervous look then seamlessly turned into amazement upon remembering what happened when she met Fuutarou yesterday.
Kicking a ball off the ground while keeping his hands in his pockets? Yotsuba could count the number of times she saw something as cool as that!
"Good in sports too, and that adds more to my growing list of things to like about Fuu-kun~" Nino smirked as she mimicked a person writing down important notes with her hands.
Yotsuba hummed as she adopted a thinking expression, thinking of anything else that happened yesterday before shrugging. After he returned their dodgeball to her, nothing else happened after that and he continued on his way like nothing.
"And… that's it, I guess. Crazy, huh?"
Itsuki folded her arms, looking a bit disappointed that she only found out about this now. "Why didn't you say anything about it?"
"I didn't really think it was important, and… Eba-san told me that it's for the best if I don't take about Uesugi-san. But I guess that doesn't matter now?" Yotsuba tried to explain her actions, not wanting to make it look like she willingly hid this from the rest of them.
"You mean that girl athlete you were playing dodgeball with yesterday?" Ichika asked. "What does she know about Uesugi-kun?"
"Well, right after I tried to ask Uesugi-san to play with us, Eba-san came to stop me and she pulled me away… but that's when she told me that I should just leave Uesugi-san alone."
"Because he's a jerk?" Miku commented while glancing towards Itsuki.
Surprisingly, Yotsuba then began to wave her hands before her out of panic, as if she was alarmed at what Miku said. This caught the attention of everyone else as they listened to the next words that came out of her mouth.
"Ah, not that way, not that way! Eba-san told me that Uesugi-san just wants to be alone all the time, and he doesn't like it when other people bother him."
Ichika gave a quick nod after hearing those words from Yotsuba, understanding the situation almost immediately just from hearing that Fuutarou liked being alone.
He must be one of those people who didn't like attention but would unintentionally draw it to himself through his actions. With that, she turned towards Itsuki while looking amused with what she realized.
"That could be why he didn't want to eat lunch with you at first. You said he didn't want to let you eat with him, right?"
"I already regret asking to let me share a table with him," Itsuki grumbled with a pout on her face, much to Ichika's amusement.
Meanwhile, Yotsuba decided to continue explaining what she knew about Fuutarou to her sisters. "He usually ignores everyone else but when someone tries to go near him, Uesugi-san scares him off. Because of that, no one goes near him because they're afraid, but I think that's exactly what he wants to happen."
After that last statement, the ribbon-wearing quint went back to eating her lunch, leaving her sisters wondering if there was something else that she hasn't told them yet. That can't be all of it, right?
"Is that all?" asked Miku.
Hearing those words, Yotsuba stopped eating for a good moment, as she thought back to yesterday's events to see if she forgot to mention something. Since Fuutarou didn't really stick around to play dodgeball with them or anything, there was nothing else she could say about the guy, although there was something about Eba Uehara that caught her attention.
"Hmm… oh, come to think of it, Eba-san didn't really look scared of Uesugi-san that she can smile when he's around and she even calls him by his name…"
She finished her explanation with a thoughtful look on her face, becoming curious of her own words and wanting answers. When she turned her attention back towards her sisters, Yotsuba noticed that all of them, including Nino, were staring at her in wonder and she quickly realized the reason why.
Yotsuba quickly straightened her posture, before she began chuckling at herself in embarrassment. "I mean, I'm not really sure if all of that is true, hehe… I'm just telling you what I noticed from Eba-san earlier…"
Being the first to snap out of her little trance, Ichika took a sip from her glass of lemonade to recompose herself before slowly registering Yotsuba's words into her mind. Things have truly taken an interesting turn…
"Sounds like your new friend knows some things about Uesugi-kun that we don't know. Is she close with him or something? She wouldn't call him by his name if they weren't friends at least, right?"
"I don't really know. I guess I'll ask Eba-san the next time I see her," Yotsuba shrugged.
"Fufufu~"
The sound of someone giggling in a mischievous manner caused everyone else to turn their attention towards Nino, who had snapped out of her own little trance and leaned back on her chair with an amused look on her face.
"I see there's more to Fuu-kun than what I originally thought. This is getting more interesting, to say the least. Oh, if only I can walk up to him right now for a little talk~"
Ichika blinked in surprise, although it's not a stretch to say that she kind of saw this coming. "Wow, you're really serious about asking him out on a date, Nino?"
"Of course I am! I'm asking him out on a date and I'm doing it after school!" she exclaimed with a light blush dusting her cheeks, making her point loud and clear for everyone else.
She wasn't going to back down from her words, and she's going to succeed no matter what!
But, as expected, Itsuki wasn't going to have any of it as she sent a scolding look towards Nino, unwilling to let her sister go through with this plan all because of one thing.
It involved Fuutarou Uesugi, of all people.
"Nino, would you give it a rest? You heard it from Yotsuba herself! He doesn't want to be around anyone and quite frankly, I'll be glad to do just that! Besides, what do you even see in him? I may not be as interested in this subject as much as you, but I would have thought that you'd have better taste in boys."
Nino almost wanted to laugh at that and tell her sister that she wasn't in any place to tell her about finding the right guy in a relationship, mainly due to how Itsuki never shows any interest in this particular topic at all. She only talked about it just because Nino announced her plan to everyone else, including her, and she wasn't a fan of it because it's obvious she didn't like Fuutarou.
But, fine.
Itsuki wanted to play this game? She'll humor her sister and give her an answer that she can't fight against!
"Hmph, is that it? Too easy," Nino snorted before flicking her hair smugly. "Well, aside from the fact that he's absolutely all of my preferences combined in one hot body, I can already tell that there's more to him than just being a broody guy."
If Fuutarou was just like any other broody teenager out there, then they wouldn't even have a normal conversation like what happened earlier, as quick as it may be.
Even if it was just a moment, they were able to talk on civil terms when he asked her about her sisters, because he was genuinely curious about them.
Sure, it's because he was confused with what was happening, but the point still stands. Fuutarou wasn't just an average broody teen who pushes away everyone else just for the fun of it. That, in her opinion, would be a turn off in her case but the young man whom she met was far from that.
"He wants to be left alone? Puh-lease, even someone like me can see through that. There's obviously something wrong with him that made him this way, and I'm going to find out the reason why!"
Nino sent all of them a serious look, showing her resolve which caught Itsuki off guard as well. She noticed this and decided to turn the tables on her sister just because.
"Of course, you can't do the same as me because you're always focused on studying, and studying, and studying, and studying! Why don't you take a tip from Fuu-kun and try to give yourself a break sometime?"
Itsuki's eyebrow twitched in irritation, feeling tempted to fire back at Nino for that jab towards her habits but managed to hold herself back. It's obvious what Nino was trying to do, and Itsuki wasn't going to fall for it.
She already had something better in mind. Instead of starting a battle of teasing and insults with Nino, she can use her sister's own remark against her!
"It doesn't matter. I am nothing like that boy because I am better than him. He only has average grades, which won't be enough for him if he wants to graduate. I can already tell that he doesn't even study, unlike me!" Itsuki responded with a smug look of her own, further encapsulating her point by crossing her arms below her chest.
"Uhm, but wouldn't that still make him better than you, Itsuki-chan? If the guy can get average grades without studying 24/7, then it's still higher than anything you've gotten in the past years, which are all below the passing remarks," Ichika remarked with an all-too innocent tone.
Itsuki's smug look immediately fell.
Welp.
This doesn't look good.
Almost immediately, the girl with star hair clips lost her smug expression and began to wail in despair, while Nino fell victim to her own laughter yet again.
Meanwhile, Yotsuba and Miku sweat-dropped at the scene before them, mainly due to how quickly Itsuki's mood changed from confident to crybaby in a matter of seconds.
"Ichikaaaaa! You're supposed to be on my side!" Itsuki whined as anime tears flowed down her face while Ichika only chuckled, clearly enjoying the situation.
"I'm just pointing out the obvious, Itsuki-chan," she smiled while patting her sister's shoulder. "There, there… I'm sure you can work hard enough in order to pass your exams."
Miku and Yotsuba only watched the interactions between the eldest and youngest among them, unsure of how to further react to what was happening until Nino got all of their attention once again just by clearing her throat.
"You girls can go home ahead of me later, so don't bother waiting."
"Why?" Yotsuba asked, tilting her head slightly.
"Like I said, I'm going to ask Fuu-kun out, but I can't do that while we're in school. I understand he doesn't want anyone bothering him, so I'll talk to him somewhere other students won't see us!"
Well, that happened. Ichika and Fuutarou's first encounter didn't really hit off well, because... well, because he didn't care. Can't blame him, he just wanted lunch and Ichika kept on bothering him, lol. And now, we have Nino making her intentions clear. She wants to ask Fuutarou out, but will she succeed just because they had a civil conversation? We'll see in the next one!
MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*
-Lance