"How did I end up like this?"
Fuutarou was all alone, following Nino and Miku, the two girls who hated him the most out of the five sisters. Actually, the only two girls out of the five sisters that hated him. Itsuki and Ichika had left the group to grab something to eat and Yotsuba left to go search for them. All three of them didn't know where the store was located and therefore could not meet up with the group he was currently a part of.
Miku's lethargic pace from earlier had sped up to match that of her fiery sister, and now they were walking as a duo through the sea of obstacles. Fuutarou was conveniently ignored and left behind.
Finally, when the sun had nearly disappeared behind the horizon, Nino says the relieving words marking the end of their journey. "There we are! I rented the rooftop of this store for our usage." Fuutarou was happy that they finally arrived, but on the other hand, he was still worried about Itsuki, Ichika, and Yotsuba. How would they get here without knowing the way?
"Finally. Walking here was so exhausting. I still can't believe we didn't drive all the way to this spot instead!"
Fuutarou remained quiet as he follows the two girls inside, sidestepping the not-so-subtle insult with his usual indifference. He had better things to be concerned about. Nino quickly speaks to the store owner, an old man with a kindly face. He opens the doors for them so they could get up to the rooftop which the three immediately do.
"Here we are. We will be watching the fireworks from here. I hope that the other three find this place quickly because watching it without them wouldn't be the same." Nino says as she quickly walks to the railing of the rooftop, leaning over to gaze at the people milling around amongst the brightly lit paths.
"How will they find the store if the three currently missing don't know where it is located? They are just gonna run around, not knowing where to go until it is too late." Fuutarou stays near the stairs that lead to the roof. He still is worried if the other three girls were alright. After all, he would not like to spend his remaining time with Nino and Miku. Especially since they would be very, very unhappy if their sisters were still missing when the fireworks began. He was not looking forward to becoming a living punching bag.
"Maybe we can find them from up here. They have to be somewhere." Miku follows Nino to the railing and looks down at the crowd of people on the streets. She searches for someone who looks like her and wears a kimono...not an easy task to do from up here, especially with this many people down there.
To Fuutarou, that didn't seem like an efficient idea. He rubs his chin and thinks about how else they could find the other three of the five sisters, gears turning in his head as he brings out the first suggestion. "How about one of you call them? We could find them if we had a way to talk to them, or just give them directions here."
"Mine has no battery left." Nino takes out her phone and shows that it won't start no matter how many buttons she was pressing.
"And I have left mine at home."
"In that case, we can't just sit here and wait for them to come. We have to look for them." Fuutarou turns around and goes downstairs so he could search for them himself.
"Wait, how do you think you will find them?" Nino frantically follows Fuutarou and suddenly trips over her own feet, falling to the ground. She quickly tries to stand up again, but staggers and sits back down on the ground with a grunt. Not only did she have a rip in her expensive kimono, but she had also scraped her knee. She carefully touches the wound, wincing immediately at the sting.
"Ouch, that hurts..."
"Dear Visitors, the fireworks show will start exactly one hour from now."
"Nino, are you alright?" Miku quickly runs towards her sister and starts comforting her by patting her back.
"Of course not, I am bleeding and my beautiful kimono is destroyed forever!" Nino snaps, tears welling up in her eyes as she tries to endure the pain of her wound.
Fuutarou quickly turns around at her cries and runs up the stairs. He kneels before Nino and hisses at the bleeding wound tracing her knee. While it looked superficial, she was losing an alarming amount of blood considering the wound's nature. "Oh god, that really looks bad. We better get something to patch you up. Maybe something like a plaster."
"Where should we get a plaster in a situation like this? There is no pharmacy anywhere near the festival!" As hostile as she had been earlier, the pain she was feeling seemed to be severe enough that she had dropped her anger in favor of trying not to burst into tears. His heart softened at the sight. Even though Fuutarou knew she hated him and he didn't really like her either, he had to do something.
"Now, don't think a pharmacy is the only place we could get one. If we are lucky, the shop owner has some or maybe there is a mother with her kid who has one with her in the case of an accident. We just simply have to ask someone." Fuutarou scrambles to his feet, ready to run down the stairs a second time.
"Then you better be fast!" Nino growls halfheartedly as she watches Fuutarou disappearing down the stairs to the store down below.
Fuutarou goes to the store owner from which Nino rented the rooftop and asked him if he had any sort of band-aids but unfortunately, he had none. Fuutarou then hurries out of the store to find someone who could help him. The crowds of people didn't make it easy for him but after asking several people if they had something with them, he finally found one.
After receiving what he had searched for, he dashes back into the store and up the stairs. Catching his breath, he gets back to the duo who had been waiting for him.
"Finally! What took you so long?" Nino grumbles at him while still trying to hold herself from crying. Once again, he ignores the hostility, more concerned about treating the injury.
"Well, it was hard finding someone who had a band-aid on themself. I got lucky. And now, hold still." He carefully puts the band-aid onto her knee and therefore seals up the wound. "Does it still hurt when you move?"
"No! Obviously I am fine!" Nino was clearly lying, and even a dense person like Fuutarou knew that. Nino wouldn't admit to her pain in front of someone she didn't like, especially since it would make her look weak and pathetic.
"Well, if that's the case, I will now go." Fuutarou accepts the lie, takes a few deep breaths to calm himself down, and then races back down the steps as fast as possible.
"Where are you going, Fuutarou?" Miku asks while still comforting her big sister.
"I will be searching for your sisters. Take care of Nino!"
55 Minutes remain before the fireworks start.
"Where could they be? They can't be that far away. Yotsuba must be running around here somewhere. Itsuki will most likely stay near the food stands and Ichika..."
Suddenly a camera flash dazzles Fuutarou's view leading to him stopping and blinking the spots out of his eyes as he turns towards the source of his temporary blindness.
It was at the very edge of the festival, where not as many were people were walking by. A creepy-looking guy with a big brown mustache and short brown hair who looked to be in his 40's or 50's is handling a camera in his hands from which the light originated. It's currently pointed straight at...Ichika?
"That one looks really good, Ichika-chan. Just look how cute you look in that kimono of yours." The man shows her the picture he just took and then smiles at her.
"Thank you! I'm flattered." Fuutarou could tell that something was not right. Who is this man and why is he with Ichika? Where is Itsuki? Weren't the two of them together when they grabbed some food? Also, Ichika didn't seem like everything was alright. The expression on her face was different from before, she looked...nervous. Uncomfortable.
"How about we buy some of those Botchan Dango? Those could..." The old man and Ichika proceed to walk in the direction of the food stands where Ichika and Itsuki left the group. The voice of the old man got quieter with every step they took, away from Fuutarou, who was currently very confused.
"What is going on here?" Fuutarou follows the two of them from a safe distance. The man is very actively talking to Ichika while she followed him, only answering a few of his questions with clipped responses. This somehow felt off to Fuutarou. In what kind of relationship were they? He didn't want to think about it, yet he had a bad premonition that this man was up to no good.
When they eventually arrived at the food stands, Ichika and the man go to a stand that serves Botchan Dango. They queue up, joining the line while Fuutarou waits and watches from somewhere they couldn't see him.
"I can't just sit around and do nothing. I have to know what is going on here!"
Fuutarou starts walking towards the two of them at a quick pace but then, out of nowhere, a red-haired girl steps into his path.
"Uesugi-kun! I finally found you-" It was too late for him to stop, they had already crashed into each other. The sudden impact caused both individuals to fall to the ground, winded.
"Ouch…who the hell...?" Fuutarou mumbles as he glares at who had walked into him. Surprisingly, it was the familiar face of his friend. "Itsuki?! Are you ok?"
"I...I am alright..." The two of them are still lying on top of each other like in one of those mangas where the protagonist just happens to fall onto the hot exchange student. Itsuki's cheeks are turning bright pink as she realizes what kind of situation she had found herself in. "Would you...be so kind...?"
"Oh yeah, I am sorry." Fuutarou stands up and then extends his hand to her. Itsuki hesitates but then grabs his hand and accepts his help.
Fuutarou looks over to the food stand where Ichika and the mysterious man were standing but now, it seemed like they were already gone.
"Hey, have you seen Ichika or Yotsuba somewhere? Those two are still missing, and now that I've found you my work is 33% done."
"What do you mean, they are missing?"
"Well, you went off to grab some food with Ichika remember? I mentioned after a while that neither of you knew how to get to the store, so Yotsuba ran off to look for you two…despite not knowing the way herself. And since you three don't know the way to the place where you wanna watch the fireworks, I went searching for you too." Fuutarou explains calmly, still looking around the different food stands trying to find Ichika. "Now that I have found you, only Yotsuba and Ichika are left."
"I see. I haven't seen Yotsuba yet and Ichika..."
"What about Ichika? She was with you, right? She can't be that far away from here!"
"Yeah...uh...she went...I have...we got separated when some random people bumped into us." Any other person in the universe would have realized that Itsuki was lying but Fuutarou was dumb enough to believe her.
"In that case, we should probably not waste any more time and go look for them!" Fuutarou decided not to tell her about the man he saw with Ichika. He was worried about Ichika but maybe it was just someone she knew that he didn't, like a neighbor or an uncle of theirs. And if he were to tell Itsuki, she would probably freak out and he didn't want to make the mood even worse than it already is.
"Yeah, you are right." Itsuki nods and then proceeds to walk with Fuutarou, slowly navigating through all the other people around them. Fuutarou was actively looking for the other two sisters while Itsuki was lost in her thoughts, nervously looking at her tutor.
50 minutes left before the fireworks start.
The two teenagers were walking through the festival for a while now, without any sign of where Yotsuba or Ichika could be. At this point, Fuutarou was starting to worry. Maybe that guy he had seen next to Ichika wasn't somebody she knew personally, maybe it was really just a pervert trying to get his hands onto her.
"Itsuki, there is something I have to tell you."
Itsuki starts to blush in an instant, remembering the little talk she had with Ichika earlier this evening...
"What do you think should I do?"
"I think you should try to take the initiative here. But don't rush it! You should focus on the small things first. Tell him little compliments, invite him to eat with you and once the time has come, you can slowly move closer to him and gently grab his hand..."
"I can't possibly grab his hand! That would be way too embarrassing!"
"Alright, I will help you: You two go to and grab something to eat, let's say Crêpes. When he buys a chocolate Crêpe, you buy one with strawberries."
"And how is that gonna help me come closer to him?"
"Fuutarou~ Your chocolate Crêpe looks so delicious, can I have a bite, please? Really? Thank you very much! Here, you can try mine too! And then you feed him some of your Crêpe! That would be an indirect kiss, how romantic!"
Itsuki nervously looks up at Fuutarou. Was he perhaps trying to make a move here? No, No, that was not possible! After all, they were just friends!
"What is it, Uesugi-kun?"
"Earlier, only a few moments before I bumped into you, I saw Ichika. She was talking to an old man who I have never seen before. I am worried about her, cause maybe this man wants to harm Ichika in some way. Have you seen her with an older man before? Do you maybe know who this man is?" Fuutarou looks down slightly to meet gazes with Itsuki in search of answers. Instead of responding with confusion or the answers he wants, she averts her eyes.
"I don't think you have to worry about that. Ichika is mature enough to know if she should trust someone or not. Especially when it's an old man who, as you said, could mean danger to her." Fuutarou scrutinizes her carefully, now realizing that Itsuki was hiding something from him. His suspicions were further confirmed when she started to look nervous. She knew what was going on between Ichika and this man but it didn't seem like she wanted to tell him. Nevertheless, he pretended to believe her. He'd only bring it up when he got desperate.
"If you say so, then that's good. But what about Yotsuba? Any idea where she could be?"
"Well, Yotsuba is pretty athletic so she may have run across the whole festival by now. No chance we catch up with her. We just have to hope that we bump into her at some point."
"So whether we find her or not depends on pure luck?"
Itsuki nods in agreement which leaves Fuutarou sighing. "It will be pretty tough finding them in time. Once we find them, we have to get back to the store immediately or else we will be late for the fireworks. Also..."
Itsuki's interest was slowly drawn to one of the food stands, causing her to not even notice what Fuutarou was talking about. The little stand she was looking at served different kinds of parfaits. Additionally, her sister's words once again came into her head...
"You two go and grab something to eat..."
"Fuutarou~ Your chocolate Crêpe looks so delicious, can I have a bite, please?"
"That would be an indirect kiss, how romantic!"
"Uesugi-kun?" Itsuki stops and grabs him by his sleeve. She points at the parfait stand as her cheeks slowly regain the pink tint they held earlier. "All this...walking made me so hungry. How about we grab something to eat?"
"Didn't you eat something like twenty minutes ago? Also, I don't have any money on me-."
"Oh, that will be no problem at all. I will pay for the two of us."
"We really don't have the time to grab something to eat, we should search for-" Fuutarou was quickly interrupted by Itsuki who had taken some money out of her purse while a big smile forms on her face. "Oh come on, it looks so delicious!"
Fuutarou sighs and lowers his head in defeat, unable to say no to that smile. "Alright, ok. Let's get some of those parfaits. But after that, we will go right back to searching your sisters."
The two of them go to the parfait stand and when the stand owner notices them, the adult laughs.
"What do I see here? A young boy who wants to buy his cute girlfriend some sweets?" The pink color on Itsuki's face intensifies as she hears the man's words. Her gaze slowly rises to Fuutarou who just stood there annoyed.
"I am sorry but you get the wrong idea, we are just friends."
"Oh, I am sorry. What can I do for you two?" Despite his cold words, the man still seemed to be in a good mood, apologizing with a smile and gesturing to his stall.
Fuutarou looks down at Itsuki. "You can choose first." Itsuki nods as she remembers what Ichika told her. Make sure to get a different kind of Parfait than him.
"One Strawberry parfait, please!"
"And for the young man?"
"Let's see...I will take a Strawberry parfait too." Itsuki looks at him, devastated that she would not be able to pull off what Ichika told her since he got the same kind of parfait. What should she do now?
"Here you go, enjoy your sweet parfaits. That would be 3000 Yen." Fuutarou receives the two Parfaits in plastic tumblers with colorful plastic spoons while Itsuki pays the man.
As the two teenagers walk off with their sweets, Itsuki still wonders how she would be able to come closer to him as her original plan wouldn't work out now.
She takes her spoon and tries out her parfait. It was so incredibly delicious that she couldn't help but eat more and more of it. And much sooner than she had expected, she had emptied her tumbler while Fuutarou hadn't even started with his.
"Don't you wanna try it? It's really good!" Fuutarou looks down to Itsuki and his eyes very nearly pop out of their sockets as he takes in the girl polishing off the last of the parfait. "How the hell were you able to eat it that fast?"
"Because it's delicious! Come on, try it!" Itsuki grabs his spoon and fills it up with a good portion of his parfait. "Here." Just like the first time they met, Itsuki wasn't really thinking about what she just did. She started to feed him like it was the most normal thing to do.
"I guess I can't help but try it." Fuutarou eats off the spoon Itsuki held at his face and is overwhelmed by the taste of this masterpiece. "It's so good." Fuutarou gently takes the spoon out of Itsuki's hand and proceeds to dig into his snack.
When Fuutarou takes the spoon out of her hand, the red-haired Nakano realizes what had happened right now. She really fed him...
Itsuki presses her hand into her chest, over her heart, and feels her pulse remain steady...
"Even though I didn't do exactly what Ichika had told me to, I was still able to come closer to him...a little bit...
But still...I feel nothing. My heart is beating just normal...
After all, Uesugi-kun is just my friend and it should stay this way...I shouldn't try to get closer to him when I have no romantic feelings towards him...
...Maybe Ichika was wrong..."
"Is everything alright?" Fuutarou asks as he finishes his parfait as well. Itsuki nervously looks up to him and nods. "Yeah, everything is fine."
"Good, then let's go searching your sisters." The two of them continue to wade through the seas of people, looking for Yotsuba and Ichika.
"I am sorry, Ichika...
...Uesugi-kun is my friend and it should stay this way...
...I didn't want to disappoint you...
...but in the end, it's exactly what I said. I wanna be happy with all of you instead of focusing on him..."
40 Minutes remain before the fireworks start.
Author's Note:
Hey Guys,
I hope you liked this chapter as well.
As always, you can join the discord I and some other QQ-Writers are active on: discord . gg / 2wNakxvfbw
But most importantly: Will the two find Yotsuba? Who is the man Ichika is with? And when will Itsuki finally stop feeding Fuutarou?