A new day has arrived for Fuutarou! Thank you to everyone who has been enjoying this fun experiment, I've been having a blast writing it.

I do want to note that I included the "Mystery" tag for a reason. I've never personally written a mystery before, so this is my chance to see how well I can do so, thus feel free to theorize about what is happening, why it is happening, how did it start, and what will happen in the future. I have an answer to those questions, but I'd be curious to know if I make too many things obvious, or if I'm doing well keeping the intrigue without giving too much away. With that said, this chapter doesn't really have any foreshadowing, just something to keep in mind in the future.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy and please leave a review and ask questions if you're interested in the behind-the-scenes process of how I write this story. Also make sure to follow the story as my publishing schedule isn't a set amount of time. It's ready when it is ready.

Disclaimer: I do not own The Quintessential Quintuplets, they are owned by Negi Haruba, please support the official manga and the anime

Chapter 4:

Most people wouldn't find a Thursday all that exciting. Sure it was one day closer to the weekend, but the day itself was sometimes torture, as students were close to having a break without the relief of knowing they could relax once school was out for the day.

Thursday would also usually be just another day for Fuutarou as well, but not this time. Thursday was a celebration. It meant that his cycle of reliving the same day over and over again was finally over.

That is, until he started to think more into it. Was the continuation of time a guarantee that Itsuki would pass? Or maybe, it fast-forwarded before because it was a foregone conclusion she would fail. After all, as long as there was free will, she could still technically fail the test on purpose. The young man didn't think she would ever do that but the anxiety ate away at him as he walked to school with time steadily creeping closer to the fated test.

Then another thought came up: what if he failed or got a less than perfect score?

"Nah I'm just getting paranoid at this point, no way that's happening," he reassured himself.

Not even a second after he sat at his desk, the bell signaled the start of homeroom. He must have lost track of time while worrying about everything and nearly made himself late for school. He looked over to his right to see Itsuki already seated with all of her school supplies ready. She gave him a cute smile and started writing something down before passing it over to him.

Never one to be on the receiving end of notes, he had no idea if there was some proper protocol to when he should look at it, or when/how he should respond. He decided to just open it immediately and an amused grin crept onto his face as he read.

[I'm feeling super confident! Want to make a wager? I bet I can get an equal or better score than you.]

He turned to look at the girl, which seemed to catch her by surprise since the point of notes was to be discreet. This caused her confident demeanor to fade as rosy red cheeks took over her face at the sight of the Fuutarou gazing at her with a smile on his own face. Usually she'd find the idea of some boy, who she met just one day ago, grinning at her to be really creepy, but so much happened in that one day that it felt like they had been friends for awhile, it was a smile from someone she trusted.

Itsuki motioned to the paper and mimicked a writing motion that quickly signaled to Fuutarou how he should respond. He wrote his response and passed it back to her.

[Sure, I have no reason to decline that since it's impossible you'll beat me and the only way you'll tie me is if you get a perfect score. But by all means, try and prove me wrong.]

She looked over it again and again until she found the right words to respond with. She flipped the note over and wrote her message before handing it back to Fuutarou.

[If you're so confident, then how about if I win, you have to let me tutor you for the rest of high school?]

The young man nearly lost his composure as he stifled his chuckle, causing the homeroom teacher to look his way for a few seconds before continuing on with their morning announcement. Once it was clear he was no longer being eyed by the teacher, the boy wrote his response.

[Fair, but what do I get if I win?]

Itsuki's cheeks again reddened after reading his response but she quickly controlled her emotions and passed the note back to him with her answer.

[Then I'll have to be tutored by you for the rest of high school.]

With each pass back and forth they had gotten less secretive and at this point every student in the immediate surrounding area was aware the two were having a written conversation. Most students assumed the new girl was boldy asking the school's top student out on a date based on how they interacted with each other yesterday. This seemed to be confirmed when Fuutarou didn't respond in writing to Itsuki's proposed reward but simply gave a thumbs up and a soft smile to the girl. And thus a rumor based on circumstantial evidence was born and ready to spread through the student body.

The social studies test was comically easy for Fuutarou, most likely because he literally had to absorb the information and dumb it down as best as he could, causing it to be ingrained into his consciousness. That and the fact he'd seen the first page of the test a half dozen times already through these repeated loops. He waited until he was done and had handed it in to the teacher before he paid any attention to Itsuki, so as not to look like he was cheating, even though the idea of needing to cheat was hilarious to both him and any teacher who ever taught him.

His pride soared as his first glance at the girl showed that not only was she close to done, but the questions he could see were all correct except for two. Granted he didn't see the first two pages but based solely on what he could see, she'd have to miss basically all of the remaining questions not to reach a 30.

However her exact final score didn't particularly matter too much, as he knew the two things he wanted to learn: that she was going to pass, and that she didn't somehow get a perfect score, thus winning their wager. Though admittedly he would have been extremely impressed if she did get a 100, but he knew that was absolutely unrealistic. Maybe one day she might if she keeps applying herself.

Itsuki finished her test and got up from her desk to notice Fuutarou spying on her. Unlike this morning, she didn't get embarrassed but instead gave a confident smile and a small thumbs up of her own as she walked to the teacher to hand in the test. As the paper transferred hands, Fuutarou braced himself out of habit but nothing happened as time kept moving normally. He let out a huge sigh of relief as he closed his eyes, wondering about what the now uncertain future held for him.

When Itsuki had told Fuutarou that she was feeling adventurous, he was a little taken aback at what she could possibly mean. Thankfully for his heart, she was referring to the fact that she was going to try having lunch with people she barely knew for a second straight day. Apparently, Itsuki had met some girls during Japanese class that offered to have her join them at lunch. He waved her off, claiming it was no big deal, but that wasn't actually how he felt. To his own surprise, he found himself feeling disappointed that he wouldn't be able to eat with her today. That feeling vanished quickly as he reminded himself he still had his science test. Though Itsuki did quiz him last night on the material that would be covered, he was always one to go above and beyond to guarantee perfection. His usual routine would require him to go over his notes at least three times from start to finish and he'd only done that once last night so he had plenty to do during this break.

After getting his usual meal he went to sit down at his usual table but had trouble concentrating. The source of this problem was the rumors currently spreading like wildfire, rumors that didn't seem to care that he was currently eating by himself and not with Itsuki. Maybe they figured that this was a ploy by the brainiac to cover his trail and trusted in what they saw before. Perhaps there was even a spy who relayed the fact they talked right when lunch began and overhead their amicable discussion of sitting separately. Whatever the case was, he couldn't study here.

He'd usually go to the library at times like these but since the library forbade food or drink of any kind and he wasn't about to waste the meal he had just spent precious money on, he decided to eat outside in the courtyard. Luckily it was an overcast and windy day, meaning that there wouldn't be many students willing to risk the possibility of rain and thus it would be easy to find a secluded bench under a tree.

His peace and quiet lasted all of five minutes before a girl walked up to him and stood there, waiting for him to acknowledge her. Annoyed that someone was still disturbing him even after he removed himself from the cafeteria, he decided it would be best to confront the individual and get this over with instead of trying to ignore them and result in less-focused studying.

His eyes bulged out of his head when he looked up and saw Itsuki. Well...wait a minute, was this Itsuki? It looked exactly like her, yet instead of the star hair clips she wore yesterday and earlier today, she had exchanged them for two butterfly-shaped ribbons, one on each side of her head. She also had a scowl that he'd never seen come from Itsuki during any of the previous loops, even the fifth one where he had creeped her out. Considering the possibility that she might have heard the rumors and was now angry at him, he decided to play things slowly and carefully so as not to jump to conclusions.

"Hello, anything I can help you with?"

"Yeah, there is something you can help me with. Stay away from my sister!" she accosted him, index finger pointing straight ahead just a few centimeters from his face.

The word sister finally made things much clearer to him. This must be the sister Itsuki was talking about last night. He recalled she said her sister's name was Miku, but with how angry she was right now it wouldn't be a good idea to reveal he knew her name as it would probably only fuel her objective of wanting him to stay away from Itsuki even more.

"Can I at least ask why you want me to stay away from Itsuki?" he questioned as he at least wanted to know the exact reason why "Miku" had come directly to him with her angry request.

"That! That right there!" she exclaimed, her pointer now mere millimeters from his face before she finally retracted it all the way back to her side. "You're already on a first-name basis with Itsuki and you've known her for only a day. She's never been this forward with someone this quickly and as her older sister I'm worried about your intentions towards her."

Well, that at least cleared up the question from last night. "Miku" was an older sister, that made perfect sense. However that was inconsequential to what else she said. Quite frankly, he didn't appreciate what she was insinuating.

"Look, you have nothing to worry about alright. All I did was help her study for that bullshit social studies test she was forced to take. That's all."

"Miku" leaned back and narrowed her eyes as she gave a judgemental look at the boy before replying.

"If that's all you did, then why didn't she come back home until 10pm?"

"Okay that's fair," he admitted to himself but didn't dare to say out loud as it would have been as good as an admission of guilt. Instead he tried to quickly concoct a more proper response. After coming up blank for a few seconds, he decided to sidestep the question to give himself more time for a proper excuse.

"Why do you assume she was with me the whole time?"

"Because, like I just said, she isn't one to make friends quickly and no one in our family knew where she was or heard from her until she finally picked up her phone at 9:30pm," shouted "Miku" who was taking full advantage that they were the only two in the courtyard at the moment to rip into him. "All she told us, was that she lost track of time hanging out with this guy named Fuutarou."

The young man mentally facepalmed at Itsuki's wording. Sure by the end they did "hang out", but if she had just told them they lost track of time studying, it feels like this current animosity toward him would be exponentially toned down. Feeling cornered, he went ahead and told the older sister what he hoped would be a sufficient apology.

"I'm sorry for any trouble I caused your family and understand why you're worried. However, I am telling you the truth, we did nothing but study history from the time school ended until she returned home."

"Yeah, yeah, bullshit!" she retorted as she rolled her eyes. "There's no way Itsuki would be able to study that long and not need to eat something for dinner. So where did you eat?"

Fuutarou realized right away he couldn't tell her the truth. Telling "Miku" that Itsuki ate at his house would be the equivalent of detonating an atomic bomb in this courtyard. There's no way he could possibly spin that to sound as innocent as it actually turned out.

"A cafe that's a few blocks from here and is fairly close to the main street," he made up on the fly. He knew for a fact there were a few cafes in the location he was referring to but he couldn't name them. If Itsuki's sister probed him for a name he'd be done for. Thankfully, it seemed that his answer was acceptable for the time being.

"Whatever, I need to get back to my lunch before it goes cold. I'm keeping my eyes on you so don't you ever do anything like this again, you hear me?"

Despite ending her threat with a question, she didn't stick around for him to confirm he heard her loud and clear as she stomped off in a fast walk. Fuutarou was relieved to have survived this encounter with Itsuki's sister and would need to tell her about his lies so they can keep their stories straight. As he noted those points down, he went back to studying science but was only able to get in one full review before the bell sounded.

Turns out two look-throughs was still more than enough as Fuutarou confidently completed his science test. It seems Itsuki's help was actually beneficial after all.

As the final bell rang, Fuutarou immediately turned to Itsuki to inform her that her sister came and threatened him at lunch. He probably could have taken the time to fully and properly explain the exact circumstances but Itsuki's sister had put the "fear of god" into him and he didn't want to be caught conversing with Itsuki, at least for today. He mentioned where he had to lie and she quickly understood his reason for doing so and promised to keep her story consistent with his. He also let her know that the social studies teacher is notorious for grading everything extremely quickly, so if she wanted to know her score now instead of waiting until tomorrow she should go visit him in the faculty office. With that, the two parted and wouldn't see each other until the next day.

Itsuki headed to the faculty office and got in line to meet her teacher as it seems she wasn't the only one dying to know their results right away. When it was her turn, the teacher recognized who it was and gave a hearty smile.

"Nakano-san, you really impressed me with your results," he started as those words froze her in place, honestly shocked she did well enough to be complimented by her teacher. "I'll be honest, I was starting to feel a little guilty for making you and your sisters take this test, especially after I graded some of their tests. But it looks like I was right to do so after all because you and Miku were able to score well with no problem."

Itsuki would have been content with just knowing that she scored anywhere close to Miku on the test, but he proceeded to give her a sheet of paper with the grades all five of them scored on their tests. Itsuki took one look and nearly fainted. After she quickly recovered, she thanked him and went straight on her way home. She had to tell her sisters as soon as possible.

As she rode the elevator to the top floor of the large apartment complex, she thought about texting Fuutarou her score but then realized she didn't have his number or his email. That would need to be corrected tomorrow for sure.

She proudly walked through the front door and saw that three of her sisters were already there at different places on the first floor of their apartment. Ichika was in the living room on the couch and watching TV. Nino was in the kitchen, already working on dinner. Lastly, Miku was at the kitchen table, reading a book she must have gotten from the library as Itsuki had never seen her reading it before. She remembered from last night that her last sister, Yotsuba, was trying out for the track team today after school so she wouldn't be home for a couple hours. Not wanting to wait, she raised her voice and got all of their attention.

"Hey girls, I actually stopped by the faculty office and got our social studies test results!"

After a brief pause, Ichika and Nino went back to what they were doing, not interested in knowing how badly they failed. On the other hand, Miku got up from the table and approached her younger sister.

"Let me see please?" Miku eagerly asked. She wasn't anywhere near as serious about school as Itsuki, but she took pride in her social studies grade, mostly because it represented irrefutable proof of her passion for the topic despite being average to below average in every other subject.

A little disappointed that she wasn't able to draw enough attention for her to announce the grades out loud, Itsuki sighed and handed the paper to Miku. As she looked it over, she had a prideful smile on her face until she read the final graded test. At that moment she gasped and dropped the piece of paper on the floor.

This got the full attention of Ichika and Nino as they rushed over to their shell-shocked sister. Ichika went to comfort Miku while Nino picked up the paper, reading what it said out loud.

"Ichika scored a 26. I scored a 23. Miku scored a 67. Yotsuba scored a 14. Itsuki scored…...a 78?!"

The two oldest sisters stared at their youngest sister in amazement while Miku, still trying to come to grips that Itsuki had scored higher than her in social studies, stopped herself from trembling and approached Itsuki, grabbing both of her shoulders. Her face filled Itsuki's vision, and the youngest sister took notice that it wasn't the look of someone angry or upset. It was the look of someone with unbridled, genuine curiosity.

"Itsuki, how did you do so well?"