OH MY GOD! THIS STORY REALLY BEAT FIVE EQUAL ANGELS?! I MUST BE DREAMING RIGHT NOW, GUYS... no, I'm actually crying. It's been only a month since this fanfic has been published and it's already the third most favorited/followed story in this archive. I have to say thank you for the continued support I've been getting up to this point, because I wouldn't have gotten this far without any of you! Please keep on supporting me and I will do my best to provide all of you with daily fluff! The next story to surpass is Affection Meter, written by my good friend, RedGlitchFox. It's gonna be a challenge to surpass him, but I will push forward with all of you by my side! I VOW TO TAKE THIS FIC TO THE VERY TOP BECAUSE GOTOUBUN FLUFF WILL RULE!

Last chapter, Nino's little secret about saying Fuutarou was hers didn't last long, and she was forced to reveal it. At least it wasn't the part about making him a bento, though. Thanks to that talk they had, Miku now knows what's going on but Ichika then appears. What's gonna happen? Let's find out!

Wanna vote for who should be Fuutarou's first kiss? Here's the Discord link to join and vote: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

Nino, Miku, and Itsuki all looked at their eldest sister who sent all of them an apologetic look before taking her seat among them. After uttering the usual phrase of thanks, Ichika began to eat and the girl immediately felt relieved now that she was here. It looked as if she went through something big and it's only now that she felt like she can release a deep breath again.

Of course, after talking about this matter not too long ago, the other girls already had an idea regarding what Ichika meant with her words.

"By that, you mean talking with Uesugi-kun? Did you have fun talking with that guy?" Nino asked with a knowing smile, perfectly hiding the fact that she was feeling pissed with her sister for making them wait for her arrival. Unlike Yotsuba's reason, Ichika just wanted to talk to Fuutarou when she could have done that on the way home!

Ichika shrugged, sipping up some noodles from the hot ramen she ordered. She easily noticed the hidden contempt behind Nino's voice, but remained calm regardless. "Well, I did mention last night that I wanted to meet him, so I planned to get it over with today before I have lunch. I don't see anything wrong with that."

Seeing that Ichika already noticed her hidden demeanor, Nino didn't bother hiding her scowl anymore. "You couldn't have done that later then? He's walking home with us anyway, you could have talked with him when we get home or even on the way!"

"Ara, but that would be getting in between his time with Yotsuba and Itsuki, don't you think? He's going to our house to tutor two of our sisters, not so we can get to know him better," Ichika argued calmly, sending a smile at the second quint.

"You, of all people, know that's just bullcrap. I'm guessing you just couldn't wait to finally meet him because you're interested in him and you somehow thought it's better than eating lunch with us until you realized what the hell you were doing," Nino continued to scowl at her sister, before it slowly shifted into a smirk, causing Ichika to blush at the assumption that was 'interested' in Fuutarou.

Yeah… interested…

"Everyone, let's all calm down and avoid instigating arguments while we're at the table," Itsuki spoke with a deep sigh, feeling tired of unnecessary arguments while they were still eating at the table. Nino just huffed and turned away without another word, which gave Itsuki the opportunity to ask their eldest sister an important question. "So, Ichika. How did your meeting with Uesugi-kun go?"

Ichika blushed even harder, the little… incident between her and Fuutarou being the first thing that came to her mind. Not good, not good! Think about other things! Think about what she found out about Fuutarou instead of that! Just avoid talking or thinking about that incident, and everything will be fine!

Fortunately, she was able to calm herself before her sisters could even notice her flustered state. That was a close one, but now she knew what to do in order to keep it out of her mind, at least for now. Taking a deep breath, she faced her sisters with her usual smile and began to speak.

"It was… eye-opening, to say the least. I can see why Itsuki-chan talks about Fuutarou-kun so much, even with his demeanor alone. I can tell just from the way he acts that he's as every bit as you've described him, Itsuki-chan~" she said, teasing her youngest sister by the end of her words.

Her three sisters were caught off guard with her last statement, especially with the way she said his name like it was nothing? Never mind that she's teasing Itsuki like always, because that habit didn't matter at the moment.

Ichika just called him by his first name so openly… as if they were already close friends or something…

Nino raised an eyebrow at first, before it slowly turned into a smirk, doing a complete 180 of her earlier demeanor. Looks like she was wrong… something interesting must have really happened between her sister and Fuutarou, and this might be worth listening to. Of course, she knew to herself was actually the first one to do what Ichika did and even gave him a nickname, but she kept that little bit hidden from her sisters.

That doesn't change how Ichika called him 'Fuutarou-kun' just now, though.

"Calling him by his first name already? Now I get what you mean when you said 'eye-opening', but why don't you tell us more? I'm sure Itsuki won't mind," Nino spoke, leaning forward against the table to show that she had her full attention directed towards this conversation.

"I don't see what's the big deal with calling him by his name. He called me 'Nakano-san' at first, which I told him not to use because of obvious reasons. I told him he can just call me 'Ichika' and in return, I started calling him by his first name. Sounds fair, right?" Ichika shrugged her shoulders once again, before looking towards all of her sisters with a smile.

"I agree. There's no problem with calling Uesugi-kun by his name. If I had to honest, I would do the same as you…" Itsuki nodded, understanding Ichika's reasoning before smiling in embarrassment from imagining herself calling Fuutarou by his given name. "…if only it wasn't so embarrassing…"

"Ahh, thank you, Itsuki-chan! You're so understanding that I just want to wrap you in a biiiig hug right now! I feel honored to be your Onee-san! Come on, you should just start calling him by his name! It feels better that way~" the eldest of the quints cooed, reaching over to pinch Itsuki's cheek lightly.

The girl wearing star clips on her hair quickly swatted her sister's hand off her face, before flashing a tired look. "Ichika, please! Not while we're in school!" she complained.

Miku then decided to speak up, looking bored since it didn't look like there was anything worth mentioning that happened between Ichika and the guy who's tutoring two of her sisters. At best, it was all just about Ichika having fun and teasing Fuutarou about anything because that's how Miku saw that meeting going down.

"So, is that it? You just introduced yourself to him?"

Ichika turned towards the girl wearing headphones around her neck, giving her a teasing grin from hearing her question. "Ara, Miku… were you hoping for me to tell you more about Fuutarou-kun~?"

Nino and Itsuki looked at Miku afterwards, who quickly sported a blush from hearing Ichika's teasing words. Thankfully, her reddening cheeks were covered by her headphones and she was able to snap herself out of it immediately, before giving their eldest sister a big pout.

"I wasn't. Don't tease me like that, Ichika," she grumbled.

"That's too bad… I was planning to tell you his good points too, because he might be your type…" Miku continued to pout at her sister because of this, before Ichika let out a sigh and decided to get more serious. "But, to answer your question, there is more to what we talked about. Before I got all of your attention a while ago, I couldn't help but overhear the three of you discussing how Fuutarou-kun is being chased by girls now and I thought to myself, 'perfect timing'… because this is something you all need to hear."

Her last statement got her other sisters to widen their eyes and look towards each other as if they were confirming what they just heard. Okay, just to recap, Ichika overheard them talking about the issue with Fuutarou and Itsuki that Nino brought up earlier, and now she apparently knows more about it? Since she was with Fuutarou earlier, they must have talked about it then, or she saw a girl trying to ask him out to lunch.

They turned back towards the first quint, expecting a deeper explanation to what she said. Miku seemingly looked bored but was actually listening closely, Nino had a deep frown that radiated seriousness, while Itsuki simply pursed her lips together and took a deep breath, before finally uttering a vocal response.

"What do you mean, Ichika?"

"While I was talking with Fuutarou-kun in an empty classroom, we heard a group of girls from outside and we were forced to hide because of that. I then found out from Fuutarou-kun that he was running away from them before I approached him," Ichika explained, hiding the obvious truth that she met Fuutarou in the men's restroom.

Of course, there's no way she would tell her sisters about that and by extension, what truly happened between them.

Nino turned towards Itsuki, the frown on her face remaining intact. "They must have been the same girls who were angry with you, then."

Itsuki nodded in agreement, as the two shifted their attention back to their older sister who continued to explain.

"Those girls sat in the classroom for a while, so we had no choice but to stay put. They talked about how 'Nakano-san declared that Fuutarou-kun was hers', which left me thinking who could have said such a thing, when Itsuki isn't the type of girl to do something like that."

"It must have been the same girls that I confronted yesterday. Heh, looks like they haven't learned their lesson at all…" Nino folded her arms and put on a smug look, remembering well how she put those bimbos right where they belong.

Ichika's lips curved into an amused smile, taking another bite of her ramen noodles. "So, it was Nino who said it. I can't say I saw that coming, but it's definitely something she would do. Taking what those girls were saying about 'Itsuki' into consideration, Nino must have done it to help out Fuutarou-kun since those girls tried to ask him out to lunch yesterday."

"Yes, that's exactly what we were discussing earlier. Is that all you wanted to share with us?" asked Itsuki, raising an eyebrow in confusion since this looked like it was heading into the same direction as their earlier talk before Ichika arrived.

The short-haired quint only shook her head, reverting back to her serious expression. "Not even the half of it. One of them couldn't believe that Fuutarou-kun 'scored a girlfriend', but another one denied it since he never agreed with 'Itsuki' saying that he was 'hers'. From there, they talked about what they find interesting in Fuutarou-kun. How he's so smart, his eyes, even his smile! I actually can't believe that they would talk about those things without hesitating!"

Hearing all this stuff about Fuutarou from other girls' mouths caused Miku to blush and look away, unable to maintain her serious demeanor through and through. Perhaps it was too overwhelming for her? Or perhaps hearing all these things about Itsuki and Yotsuba's tutor was adding to her perception of what he was like? After all, she was the only one among them who hasn't met Fuutarou yet…

"This is getting too uncomfortable for me…" she mumbled, which quickly got the attention of the rest of her sisters.

"Why, that's because you haven't met him yet, Miku! Come on, he's coming over to our house later! Why don't you introduce yourself to him already? That makes all five of us who finally met him!" Ichika exclaimed, giggling at the sight of Miku looking flustered from hearing everything that Fuutarou's classmates have said about him.

To everyone's surprise, Miku didn't get mad with her sister at all, or even sent a pout in her direction. She only kept her gaze to the side, her headphones doing little to hide her reddening cheeks.

"I… don't know…"

"Ichika!" Itsuki spoke up, saving Miku from the attention before it could get any worse. It was successful in getting Ichika's attention, and the youngest of the girls wasted no time in speaking. "Can we please get back to the topic? This isn't the time to be teasing our sister!"

"Oh, fine…" Ichika huffed in a playful manner, before taking a sip of her lemonade. "Well, by the end of it, those girls talked about how they're planning to try and ask Fuutarou-kun out again, most likely whenever 'Itsuki' isn't with him because they obviously see her as a rival of sorts for his attention. It's not just them, by the way. They mentioned some other girls as well who all want to know more about him, and that's not even counting the people who would believe the rumor in the future. There's no telling whether more girls will catch wind of what's going on and go straight for Fuutarou-kun without any question. But, whatever happens, we're all involved in this by now."

Thankfully, Miku recovered enough from her earlier embarrassment that she could speak clearly once again. "How can one rumor about our sister turn into something this big?" she asked quietly.

Nino turned towards her with a dirty look, and her arms were folded across her chest. "That's just how people are these days, Miku. Believing anything they'll see or hear without even thinking clearly about it. I can bet you that most of the girls who are chasing after Uesugi-kun are just desperate to get a hot boyfriend. Now that he's 'popular', that's enough for them and they won't even care that they thought he was a weirdo back then."

Itsuki raised an eyebrow, feeling confused about something that Ichika brought up. "How exactly are the rest of you involved? I'm the subject of those rumors and as much as I do my best to ignore them, I do know that none of your names are involved in it."

Nino decided Itsuki's question, leaning forward to show how serious she was. She already told Fuutarou about this, so telling her sister about it was no problem at all. "Basically, all of us have to be careful from now on. Because we all look like each other, any one of us can be mistaken as 'Itsuki' and to an extent, Uesugi-kun's 'girlfriend'. That includes you, Miku."

Her gaze darted towards Miku, who widened her eyes as the attention was once again directed towards her. All she could do was stare at Nino, while wondering how she suddenly became the focus of this entire discussion.

"M-Me…?" was all she could mutter out in response.

Ichika nodded in agreement, releasing a deep breath as she sipped on some of her ramen's broth. "Nino's right, Miku. I think you should just introduce yourself to him already, and he'll do the same for you. I'm not saying this so I could tease you, but it's honestly for the best. You never know when other students could mistake you for Itsuki because of the rumor with Uesugi-kun, and you have no idea what to do when that happens because you don't know what to do."

Itsuki nodded as well, sending a serious look at the third quintuplet. "Yes, I believe it would be for the best, Miku. You're the only one among us who has not met him yet. It would feel reassuring that all of us know who he is, because it doesn't matter which one of us is seen with or without Uesugi-kun. Like what Nino said, due to the fact that we are quintuplets, any of you can be mistaken as myself and that would be bad if you're not acquainted with Uesugi-kun, at the very least."

With three of her sisters agreeing on the same thing, Miku found herself in a corner with nowhere to go. They wanted her to introduce herself to Fuutarou?

Fine. If that's the best thing to do in this situation, then so be it. No, it's not like she had some sort of disdain towards him, but it's just pointless to introduce herself to a person whom she won't really interact with. He's Itsuki and Yotsuba's tutor, and she had nothing to do with him.

Until now, it seems.

"All right, I get it…" Miku frowned at all of her sisters, caught off guard with how they all agreed on one course of action for her, before sighing in defeat. "I'll talk to him later… happy?"

Her sisters all had different reactions to her answer; Nino nodded strongly as if to say she was proud of her sister, Itsuki had a big smile on her face for the same reason, while Ichika flashed her usual smirk.

Oh, jeez.

"Oh, yeah… very happy. You're finally coming out of your shell, Miku! Maybe once you get to know Uesugi-kun better, you'll start making more friends on your own~" she teased.

"Shut up, Ichika…" Miku sighed, already feeling plain tired of the teasing that she couldn't even pull off a simple pout anymore.

At least Ichika wasn't teasing her about liking Fuutarou… right?

You might think this is a chapter again, but it's actually important! Wanna know why? BECAUSE MIKU WILL FINALLY MEET FUUTAROU! MIKUISM ROUTE IS ABOUT TO HAPPEN, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! ALL THE ROUTES ARE FINALLY GONNA BE UNLOCKED! In case you guys missed it, Ichika explained everything she found out about Tomatsu, Hara, Hidaka, and Sawashiro to her sisters and now they are all aware that none of them are truly safe from those rumors, including Miku. Because they are all quintuplets, anyone can be 'Itsuki', which can't be good when the girls of the school have no intention of giving up! Now, Miku has to introduce herself to Fuutarou so they'll be aware of each other at the very least! OH BOY, THIS IS HEATING UP AND WE HAVEN'T EVEN GONE TO THE QUINTS' HOME, YET! See ya in 24 hours, guys!

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

-Lance