Congrats are in order for our boy Fuutarou, as he has successfully conquered the first looping cycle! I guess you could classify these next few chapters as "filler" but I think the better term is "breather" as we see the ramifications of the successful loop and how things begin to set up for the next cycle (sorry for spoilers, but yeah there will be many more cycles.)

I hope everyone is continuing to enjoy the story! Please leave a review with any questions regarding the writing process behind the story and I'll be happy to answer back! Also make sure to follow for future chapters and share with anyone you think will enjoy this series.

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

Chapter 5:

Nino was in total denial.

When she had heard from Itsuki yesterday that she hung out with someone named Fuutarou, she just assumed it was some girl with an unusual name. Even though it was weird for her sister not to use an honorific for someone she just met, it was the only explanation she could imagine. There was zero chance in hell that Itsuki had not only met and befriended a boy on her first day, but was also completely comfortable addressing him by his first name.

Her reality shattered when she got to school that morning. She immediately went to the new friends she had just made yesterday and asked if they knew anyone named Fuutarou. It wasn't just that she found out this person was a guy; it was how he was described by them.

Annoying. Arrogant. Self-centered. Obnoxious. Know-it-all. Insensitive. Loner. Tactless. These were actual words her friends used to describe Fuutarou Uesugi. It was unfathomable that Itsuki would ever want to associate herself with someone like that, let alone become close friends in less than a day.

So that lunch period, she had to meet this student that sounded more like an urban legend than an actual teenager. Maybe he's just misunderstood? Itsuki was always very caring if you showed her the respect she deserved. Maybe she caught him on a good day.

Nope, no way.

He was exactly as advertised with a few more choice adjectives she could throw in such as shifty, dorky, and calculated. While she couldn't pin on him any specific wrongdoing, she still felt uneasy about him and meant it when she said for him to stay away from her sister. She felt nothing good would come from Itsuki associating with such a person.

Now fate had her reality crumble once again. Nino had just told off the guy that Itsuki claimed was responsible for her astronomical improvement in social studies. She refused to believe it. There had to be some catch, something that proves that he was more harmful than helpful, or else she had just screwed up royally as an older sister if it turned out she had scared the boy away.

Meanwhile, Miku was smitten.

She had no idea who this "Fuutarou" was, what he looked like, or how he acted. Yet she wanted nothing more than for him to tutor her as well.

Miku had always been unsure of what she wanted to do with her life. Her one big strength was history, specifically the Sengoku Period. The idea of going to college to have some kind of career that involved uncovering every last mystery from that era sounded incredibly enticing, but due to her poor grades in her other subjects, she knew getting into a suitable university was nothing but a pipe dream.

However, this man - no he couldn't be merely mortal, he had to be some kind of wizard - could he achieve what numerous hired tutors could never imagine of accomplishing? He had not only made Itsuki competent in the subject, but from the way the youngest sister talked about her study session, he had somehow convinced her the subject was interesting. It was something Miku tried to personally do over a dozen times but was never able to move the needle.

If he could do this for Itsuki, could he help make her fantasy of being a Sengoku Period Researcher become attainable? She had to meet him.

Lastly, Ichika was intrigued.

She was proud of her youngest sister, as it seemed that for the first time her goal of becoming a teacher might actually have a chance of blooming. It wasn't a very well-kept secret by Itsuki, but that didn't change the fact the youngest sister confided her dream with her oldest sister. In return, Ichika confided in Itsuki about her dream to become an actress, making her the only family member who had any clue about the short-haired girl's ambition.

The oldest sister admitted that the idea of having a tutor that could help raise her grades was enticing in the event her dream never came true and she would need a backup plan. However, she was more curious about Itsuki becoming this friendly with a boy this quickly. She needed to meet him and find out all about him. Who was this mysterious boy that warmed Itsuki's cold heart?

It wasn't long until Yotsuba paraded through the front door and announced her entrance.

"Perfect timing Yotsuba," Ichika greeted the sweat-covered girl. She definitely looked the part of someone who just tried out for the track team. "You have to hear about what happened to Itsuki today!"

"Oh, you guys heard about it too?" Yotsuba exclaimed before finishing off what remained in her water bottle. "Who would have ever thought Itsuki would be the first of us sisters to get a boyfriend, right?!"

It was the equivalent of Pandora's Box being haphazardly torn open. The following silence was deafening, only to be replaced by an even more deafening collection of sounds that came from the other four sisters' lips as everyone immediately turned to Itsuki, who was doing an amazing impression of a deer caught in headlights, and bombarded her with questions.

"How did such a proud and happy night turn out like this?" Itsuki thought to herself. The poor girl could do nothing but endure this barrage from her sisters and then get the facts straight when they had tired themselves out.

Fuutarou awoke from a crazy dream and felt relief. Not because it was some scary nightmare, but because it was an honest-to-goodness nonsensical dream one would usually have, so he knew there was no way that it was the start of a new loop. Well at least he hoped so. He might question his sanity if he somehow saw a 15 meter tall Oda Nobunaga save his school from an erupting volcano sometime today.

Getting up, his mind quickly wandered to how Itsuki did on her social studies test. Granted, he knew she had to have passed or else he would be reliving Wednesday again. However, that was only his assumption. After all, he had no idea exactly how this worked, everything was just a constantly evolving theory.

As the young man went to sit down for breakfast, he noticed a blonde man already seated. It was a man Fuutarou felt like he hadn't seen in over a week when really it had only been two days. The poor boy's perception of time was still out of whack from the whole Social Studies test ordeal.

"Good morning Fuutarou," said the man as he looked up from the newspaper he was reading. This caused the boy to sigh.

"Dad you know that you can get all of the same news by just looking online nowadays right?" Fuutarou reprimanded his father, which caused the older man to laugh.

"True, but how am I getting on the internet son? We don't own a computer and I'm pretty sure my boss wouldn't like me reading the news instead of doing my job." His father, who's name was Isanari, then let out a chuckle as he put the newspaper away since Raiha was almost done making breakfast.

"Wait, you work for a construction company, how do you have internet access readily available at work?" questioned Fuutarou as he just stared curiously at his dad. Granted his dad also did some freelance photography work that could require internet access but he got those assignments way too inconsistently to be considered a legitimate job.

"What's so weird about it? We're in the digital age son!"

"And yet you're still reading a newspaper," the boy retorted, which got a hearty laugh from his father. Fuutarou had always been overly critical of his dad, thinking that his father should be a lot smarter and much more successful than he actually was, yet did acknowledge that life had dealt his dad a bad hand. Despite the circumstances and never ending cycle of debt, Isanari still maintained to afford an apartment for his kids to come home to and was always supporting and encouraging them to do what they wanted, leading to both Fuutarou and Raiha being much more mature for their ages.

Still, Fuutarou did wish he could help alleviate his family's debt, and had taken a few seasonal jobs here and there. Unfortunately it always ended the same way: the pay they offered wasn't worth the risk of his grades possibly slipping due to a lack of studying time. A profitable job where we could still maintain his study habits would be his dream scenario, but unless some rich person hired him to be a tutor for their kids, that idea would remain a dream. After all, if they were that well off financially, they would absolutely choose a professional tutor with tons of experience over some smart high school kid.

Fuutarou's thoughts shifted towards Itsuki and he immediately felt dirty for even thinking about charging her for his services. Maybe he'd feel differently if he had started out as a hired hand for her, but to befriend someone and then ask them to pay for your continued help was something even Fuutarou felt was in bad taste.

Raiha served the three of them breakfast, and as soon as she took her seat, she asked a question that quickly shifted the mood in their apartment.

"Hey Onii-chan, when are you bringing Itsuki-san over to the house again?"

Isanari immediately spit out the water he was drinking at the mention of his son bringing someone to their home. What's more, the way Fuutarou was blushing at Raiha's question confirmed to Isanari that this "Itsuki-san" was most likely a girl.

"When did you start making friends, Fuutarou?" the young man's father asked with a teasing grin on his face. Fuutarou looked at the clock and saw there was still plenty of time before he had to go to school. The boy was cornered and would have to answer his father's questions regardless of how embarrassing they were. He would have gotten mad at Raiha for bringing Itsuki up if it wasn't for the fact it was literally impossible for Fuutarou to be angry towards his sister. She was without a doubt his biggest weakness.

"They're just a classmate that transferred to our high school recently. I was helping them study for a test they were forced to take even though they weren't taught the material," Fuutarou responded carefully so as to use gender neutral pronouns to hide the fact he had brought a girl home. Isanari just gave a bored expression, disappointed his son wasn't letting him hook onto anything he could use to tease the boy. Luckily, Raiha came to her father's rescue.

"You should have seen her Dad, she was so beautiful, I never would have thought a girl like that would ever talk to Onii-chan, let alone be friends with him!"

Even though he was only half done with his breakfast, Fuutarou closed his eyes, got up from the table and attempted to grab his backpack before making a mad dash for the front door. Sadly, he couldn't even get to his backpack before this dad had tackled him to the floor.

"And where do you think you're going, I want to hear more about this beautiful girl you brought to our house," Isanari proclaimed. Pride was radiating from his face at the fact his son took after his old man in terms of being able to attract beautiful women. Fuutarou knew there was no painless way out of this situation, so he went for the least painful route.

"Sorry dad, I really have to go to school early today. If you must know more about Itsuki, ask Raiha since she spent quite a bit of time with her too. Now please get off of me!"

Isanari acknowledged his son's plea and let him go. Not taking any chances, Fuutarou grabbed his bag and immediately sprinted out of the house as soon as he was free. His father could only laugh at his serious son acting so flustered over the mention of some girl. He needed the full scoop. Turning his attention towards Raiha, he got up off the floor and returned to the table.

"You still have plenty of time until school right? Tell me all about this girl your brother brought home."

While he didn't need to be at school this early, it wasn't like he didn't have things he could do. He had a math test on Monday he could start studying for right now, plus it would allow himself to be prepared if he was also going to help Itsuki study for it as well. Just the thought of her being as bad at math as she initially was at social studies sent a shiver down his spine, but he had already given his word he would help her whenever she needed, and considering the formulas they covered were even a tad tricky for himself meant she was likely in big trouble without his help.

Right after arriving at school he suddenly bumped into someone, having not noticed them. He quickly saw it was a short-haired girl and immediately offered his hand to help her get up. The girl took the hand and picked herself up before dusting herself off. As soon as Fuutarou got a good look at her, he quickly recognized it was Itsuki.

"Oh fancy meeting you here this early Itsuki, so what did you score on your social studies test? Also, I see you got a haircut, it l-looks n-nice."

The girl immediately started giggling before putting her hands behind her back and leaning towards the young man.

"My my, it looks like I found who I was looking for," said "Itsuki" with a playful grin on her face. Fuutarou could tell right away from the voice he had messed up. This girl's voice was much more playful than Itsuki's, while simultaneously sounding more mature as well. Whoever she was, it seems that they were looking for him. Was it a third sister? It couldn't have been "Miku" as the voices and demeanors were drastically different.

"Oh sorry, you're not Itsuki, my bad," he apologized quickly in an attempt to run from this situation, but the girl wouldn't let him as she leaned in even closer. Soon she was now circling the boy, inspecting him from every angle. Finally, she stood up straight and gave a gentle smile.

"Yep, I can totally see what Itsuki sees in you," she uttered cryptically before skipping away, leaving the boy in a confused daze as he had no idea what just happened and who he just talked to. He could already tell today was going to be a very long day.