Fuutarou was looking straight at his calendar. He was fully dressed, he had his speech with him and nothing was stopping him, but he stayed still.

Isanari:"Nervous?"

Fuutarou:"Just taking it all in."

Isanari:"Your last day of school...Raiha and I will be there on time. You should use all the time you have to say goodbye."

Fuutarou:"I'll still see the girls for a little bit longer. Hell, we're having a farewell party next week."

Isanari:"It's so nice to see you talking about hanging out with friends without disgust."

Fuutarou:"Yeah, yeah."

Isanari:"What about your other friends?"

Fuutarou looked down.

Fuutarou:"...Yeah, I suppose they do deserve their goodbyes."

Raiha:"Don't forget your camera, big brother."

Fuutarou:"Already with me. We've also laid out our route to the roof."

Isanari:"What for?"

Fuutarou:"You'll see."

Fuutarou took a very deep breath and left for school for the last time.

Raiha:"I'm excited to see big brother's speech and Miku-chan's performance."

Isanari:"She was a quick learner. Having to keep it all from Fuutarou was pretty hard."

Raiha:"But I'm sure he'll love it."

…

Walking towards Asahi High School, he noticed the occasional student meeting up with others with tears in their eyes. They were already getting emotional.

Fuutarou:[We're not even in school...I wonder if it was like this back during middle school. Oh, well, that's not important.]

Lost in his thoughts, he would eventually make it to the front gate. Before going in, he looked to the street, recalling when he peeked inside the limousine that turned out to be the quintuplets'.

Fuutarou:[I was so impressed. To think that I would actually ride in one.]

Fuutarou then walked in. He looked around the fields around the main building.

Fuutarou:[There really wasn't enough space for all those stalls. I practically know this place inside out from all the running I did.]

He later took a trip to the cafeteria.

Fuutarou:[I used to sit over there all alone.]

Squinting his eyes, the figures of the five girls showed up, waving at him to come over. He smiled.

Fuutarou:[But I wasn't alone after I met them.]

Leaving the cafeteria, he took a look towards the track.

Fuutarou:[I had to run like never before against my will...I felt so frustrated when I couldn't even get third. I really was trying to look cool in front of them…]

{"Don't give up!"}

Fuutarou:[When I couldn't run, I heard her voice. She was the spark that kept me on my feet. Haha...Even when she had a sore throat.]

Fuutarou thought back to that moment. He couldn't see her, but her voice couldn't have been anyone else's.

{Miku:"Don't give up!"}

…

In the main building, he was walking through the second floor. The memories here weren't the greatest. Where he learned about what happened with the girls' mother.

Fuutarou:[It's good that that was taken care of, but it's a shame it happened in the first place. Those girls, they're all extremely strong.]

He then came across the stairs leading up to the roof. Taking a glance, he blushed a bit.

Fuutarou:[This is where we made our promises. Hehe, I still blush thinking about it from time to time.]

He put his hand on his bangs.

Fuutarou:[I'm already blushing thinking about how many times she'll say she likes me.]

Takeda:"Taking a tour?"

Fuutarou turned to see Takeda and Maeda.

Fuutarou:"Yeah, I might as well."

Maeda:"We're gonna go meet our girlfriends, what about you?"

Fuutarou:"I'm going to my class, our teacher's gonna give us a celebration."

Takeda:"You have your speech ready?"

Fuutarou:"More than ready."

Maeda:"Well, we shouldn't keep you. See ya, Uesugi."

Takeda and Maeda turned their backs to Fuutarou and started to walk away. But before they got too far, Fuutarou spoke up.

Fuutarou:"Thank you for everything. I know I'm an annoying bastard, but you stuck with me for far longer than I deserve."

Maeda simply looked back and waved with a smile. Takeda's sparkles showed up and he danced away. Once they were gone, Fuutarou continued his walk. Finally, he was in front of his class. Class 3-1.

Fuutarou:[My third year sure was filled with a lot of crap. The Nationals, the trip to Kyoto, the Sports Festival, the trip to Umihotaru, the trip to Minami Katsumi, the Sunrise Festival, final exams, the trip to Otsu, and multiple dates...My life actually turned into something I can be proud of.]

Fuutarou opened the door. The moment he did, he saw them. He smiled as they turned.

Fuutarou:"Hey."

Ichika:"The man of the hour is here."

Nino:"You being here really means everything will end soon."

Miku:"It's the end of one chapter, but the start of another."

Yotsuba:"I can't believe we're actually going to graduate together."

Itsuki:"And we have you to thank, Uesugi-kun."

Fuutarou:"You all picked yourselves up and took on the challenge. There were some...a lot of bumps...spikes along the way, but we got through it."

The six hung out for a bit before the rest of the class came back, leading to a speech of congratulations from their teacher. They all said their goodbyes to the teacher. Soon after, they all went to the auditorium. On the way there, Fuutarou was told to go backstage.

Fuutarou:"That's my cue to leave. Make sure you get good seats."

Miku:"We'll be right in front."

Fuutarou:"Not that good, your gaze is gonna make me nervous."

Ichika:"That's an even better reason to be in front."

Yotsuba:"We could make faces."

Itsuki:"...That sounds fun!"

Nino:"Stop corrupting Itsuki, Yotsuba."

Fuutarou:"Please don't do that, Miku's alone was enough to make me laugh."

Nino:"You made faces at him?"

Miku blushed.

Miku:"Oh, yeah, the emoticon debacle."

Itsuki:"Miku making faces sounds really weird. I want to see it!"

Miku:"If we didn't get rid of our wigs, I'd tell you to use it and look in a mirror."

Fuutarou:"You got rid of them?"

Nino:"Well, we sent them to our personal storage."

Fuutarou:"P-Personal storage?"

Yotsuba:"The only ones that aren't there are the Itsuki wigs at grandpa's place."

Itsuki:"Yeah…But that's another thing entirely."

Fuutarou wasn't quite sure what that meant, but he had to leave. Miku watched him go.

Miku:[...It's almost time for that as well…]

He went backstage and got ready along with the other planners. He took a glance at the seats. He immediately saw the quintuplets in front, like they promised.

Fuutarou:"Well, damn."

He scanned around the room. He saw his dad and Raiha sitting down waving at him, having found him easily. As he waved back, he noticed Maruo next to them.

Fuutarou:"Good. He would've gotten some choice words had he not come."

Scanning once again, he saw Takeda, Tsubaki, Maeda and Matsui.

Fuutarou:"I see Takeda, Maeda, Ichika's friend and...uh...Maeda's girlfriend."

At that moment, Maeda looked around.

Matsui:"What's wrong?"

Maeda:"I just thought I sensed someone talking shit."

Takeda:"So paranoid."

Tsubaki:"You could stand to be a little less carefree, Takeda-san."

Fuutarou then saw Irigaku at the back with his wife.

Fuutarou:"He's actually here. Wonder how the case is going."

The final group he noticed was both the most expected and least expected. Yae, Sanada, Takebayashi, Rito and Shimoda.

Fuutarou:"I guess their graduation wasn't today."

"Uesugi-san? You're almost up."

Fuutarou:"Oh, right." [I just realized how many people will look at me on this stage…]

As soon as he thought that, his name was called up to do his speech. He came forward and looked straight at Miku in an attempt to calm down.

Fuutarou:[Sorry, Miku, but I might look at you a lot today.]

When he finally made it to the podium, he looked at the entire crowd. He wondered what kind of face he was making, but it didn't really matter. He took out his speech and took one of the deepest breaths in his life.

Fuutarou:[Here goes nothing…]

It was time.

End of Chapter 165