Chapter 8

Today is the day of the National mock exam results comes out. At the mid-day break, all of the 3rd year students are piling up at the main hall, eagerly wanted to see their results. For Ichika, today is a very important day for her because today will decide whether she will be able to fulfill her promise and bet to Fuutaro. She's been waiting for this moment since morning and she can't wait to see her result. Reaching the main hall, where the mock exam result is posted, she saw a crowd of 3rd year students piling up to see their results on the announcement boards. Ichika decided to wait for the crowd to disperse so she won't get squeezed and pushed in the middle of the crowd. After some minutes of waiting, the crowd starting to get smaller. She walked up to the announcement board to see her result. When she saw her result, her eyes widened and she gasped in shock from seeing her score. The shock happened because she scored very low on every subject and not even one subject she managed to score 50 points.

Name: Nakano Ichika

-Mathematics: 47/200

-English: 39/200

-Social Studies: 28/200

-Japanese: 32/200

-Science: 42/200

"Those score…"

"I failed my bet and I can't keep my promise to Fuutaro-kun…"

"I guess this is it then…"

"He will be disappointed in me…"

Ichika then walked away from the announcement board with a lowered head, feeling sad and disappointed by her result. She thought to herself that even after all of the studying that she went through, she's still not capable enough to get 150 points. She's frustrated by herself because of her incapableness, but the shocked and disappointment overwhelm those frustration. She still thinking that Fuutaro going to be disappointed in her when he saw her result and she can't bear to face him after her bad result. Walking back to the class and just when she about to enter the classroom, Ichika is confronted by the four sisters. She can saw that something is wrong with them because they way they looked at her, with a disappointed and cold expression in their face.

"You all… What's wrong?"

"We all saw your result, Ichika." Itsuki said, crossing her arms with disappointed expression. "Your result was very disappointing."

"That's true, we all except you managed to score over 50 points on each subject." Nino irritatingly said to her, with a mocking tone in her voice. "Are you stupid or something?"

"Even after all of your studying, you still can't get a good score? Pathetic." Miku blandly said, staring coldly to the Ichika.

"I guess your extra studying on last month can't even get you a good score… You're really a failure among all of us." Yotsuba menacingly said, mocking Ichika exam result.

Ichika became very shocked hearing them mocking her exam result. Why did they suddenly become this cold and rude to her? Was it because she got the worst results among them? Hearing the statements from the four sisters made her angry, but at the same time, she felt even more depressed because of their insults. She was really frustrated from their insults, which made her gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. It's true that she scored the lowest among them, but there's no need to be rude and throwing insults at her.

"No… I…" Ichika stuttered on her words from their statement. "Anyway, what's wrong with all of you?! What's with the sudden rude words towards me?!" She said with some infuriation, swinging her hands in front of them.

"Isn't that obvious, Ichika? You're failure." Nino mockingly said, pointing her finger at Ichika. "You spent almost everyday on last month, staying up until very late to study, just to brag to us that you're going to beat all of us in mock exam? And here's the result, a total blunder!"

"I-I… I just wanted to get a good score on the exam… I have no intention of showing off…."

"No need to babble to us anymore, we knew that you're a selfish person. Always wanted to get ahead of us, but now you got what you deserved." Itsuki said with a cold tone to her.

"I-I…"

"Uesugi-san already knew about your result and by the look of his face after seeing your scores, he's not very happy about it." Yotsuba coldly said to Ichika with an emotionless face.

"Fuutaro is surely disappointed by you. I pity him because he put his trust in the wrong person." Miku mockingly said to Ichika.

"That's not it… I-I… I'm very sorry…" Ichika said, her voice starting to stutter again because of the further intimidation from her sisters.

"Save your sorry to yourself, Ichika." Nino responded, turning away from Ichika. "Anyway, let's go. Let's leave this failure to herself."

The four sisters then leave Ichika alone, standing at the front of the classroom by herself. A tears starting to formed in both of her eyes because of the sudden vile statement from her sisters and their words really stung her heart and messed up her mind. She didn't expect a sudden 180 degrees change in their attitude. In her entire life, she never thought that they can be this rude and said something so harsh to her. Ichika kind of understand their sudden change of attitude because what they said was true. She scored the lowest among them and her last month of extra study didn't even worth it in the end. As she wiped her tears, her phone is ringing and when she looked it up, a message came from her manager.

Reading the message, it seems her manager is very disappointed by her recent acting performance. Her manager wrote that her recent acting is the worst he's ever seen in his managerial works and her bad acting made the director of the film very angry and disappointed. Because of it, her manager told her that she's been taken out from her role in the movie. Also in the end of the message, her manager told her that he already found a new replacement actress for his agency in her place, so her service is no longer required.

Ichika-chan,

I just got a word from the director that he's very angry and disappointed by your recent acting performance. He said to me that your acting is the worst he's ever seen in his line of work. Because of it, you've been taken out from your role in the movie. As your manager, I noticed that your recent acting performance is going downhill and it's not very good.

Also, your current performance is impacting my agency in the bad ways. Yesterday, I found a new potential actress candidate and I agreed that she will take your current position as the face of our agency. In other words, your service is no longer required.

It's been good working with you, Ichika-chan. But in the end, we had to make this tough decision to maintain the reputation of the agency. Don't take it too hard because it's merely a business.

Ichika finished reading the message, she put her phone back in her pocket as she lowered her head and started to cried. Stream of tears fell from both of her eyes to the floor and sobbing came out from her mouth because of this sudden whole situation. She can't take the pressure anymore because it's too much to handle in a short time, getting a very low score in the mock exam, her sisters suddenly hated her, and she got dismissed from her acting agency because of her poor performance. Ichika then leaned to the wall and fall down to her feet continues to cry and buried her face in her hands.

"Why…"

"Why is this keep happening to me…"

"What did I ever do to deserve this…"

"This is too much for me…"

As she still crying, she felt a presence in front of her. She wiped some of the tears and looked up to that person and that person turns out to be Fuutaro, who just looking down on her. Ichika felt something is wrong with him because Fuutaro hasn't say a single word to her. His face appeared to be emotionless and his eyes just looking at her with an icy and disgust stare. She then thought that this is what Miku and Yotsuba meant earlier, Fuutaro seemingly disappointed by her exam results.

"*sob* Fuutaro-kun…"

"Why are you crying?" Fuutaro flatly asked to the still crying Ichika.

"Ehh… I-I… *sob*" She started to stood up and got startled from his response.

"Well… It's not like that's my problem…"

"Fuutaro-kun… W-what do y-"

"Don't talk to me, Ichika. I'm very disappointed in you…" Fuutaro coldly said to her with a disgust stare.

"Ehh…?" Ichika gasped hearing the unpleasant words from Fuutaro.

"You made a bet and promise to me, that you're going to score 150 points on each subject. But looking at your results, it's such a big disappointment and even your other sisters managed to score over 50 points."

"No… P-please… *sob* I-I can explain it…" Ichika starting to sob again. She's begging to him by holding Fuutaro arm in desperation.

"I even agreed to skip school with you, but this is how you repay me? I'm having a high expectation that you gonna score 150 points. But I'm such a fool for having that expectation in you."

"…"

"You don't need to explain to me anymore. I can't trust a promise-breaker like you." Fuutaro said, throwing an icy stare at her. "From now on, don't ever talk to me. I don't even know you anymore." He pushed away her hand from his arm and walked away from Ichika.

"F-Fuutaro-kun… Wait!" Ichika said in plea as she extending her arm to reach for Fuutaro.

"…" Fuutaro didn't answer back as he keeps on walking, ignoring Ichika plead.

"P-please don't leave me…! FUUTARO-KUN…!"

"Fuutaro-kun…!"

Ichika then awakened from the nightmare that she's having. Because of how intense her nightmare is, there's some amount of sweat in her face and she can feels that she's slightly shaking from the shock and immediately awaked into a sitting position. She felt a tears in both of her eyes as it flows down to her cheeks and all the way to her chin. Ichika then took some time to contemplate all of this and she conclude that all of this was a dream. She wiped her tears as she tried to recover from the nightmare by taking a deep breath and goes back laying down on the bed.

"A dream, huh?" Ichika said with a tremble in her voice, still recovering from the nightmare.

"I don't know why but it felt so real to me…"

"But I'm glad it was a dream…"

"That dream is truly a nightmare."

Ichika then noticed that she is not in her usual bedroom. She then looked around the room and noticed this room is a hospital ward. Ichika then wondered why did she ended up in the hospital ward. She then tried to remember on what happened to her before.

"Why did I end up in hospital…?"

"If I remember correctly, It's after the national mock exam…"

"That's right… I think I passed out on the way home…"

Flashback

It was a very hard exam, it's by far the most difficult exam she ever faced. She has answered all of the exam question and she's confident that she's doing well for all the exam subject. For this whole day, she's not feeling well because this whole month she sleeps very late because of the extra studying and her acting schedule got very busy recently. Also, she started to feels the side effect of drinking coffee excessively, which a tingling sensation showed up in all parts of her body and a rapid increase in her heartbeat. She increased her consumption of coffee hoping to stay awake and concentrate better on studying in the late night. Other than coffee consumption, she also started to take a lot of Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen medicines one week nearing national mock exam to reduce the headache and muscle pain from the stress of studying and her busy work schedule which made her whole body very tired until it became aching. This was the risks that she needed to take, for her to be able to study until late night without getting sleepy and distracted by the pain. For the whole day, she felt very tired and sleepy, and by mid-day she starting to feel a fever and her breathing starting to become heavy which made her coughing and panting. She took some fever medicine in the toilet to lighten the symptoms and it worked temporarily, until the end of the exam where the fever and other symptoms starting to resurfaced again.

After the exam was over, Ichika and her four sisters went straight to home. Before going home, they tried to wake Fuutaro from his unfortunate sleep, but he won't wake up because he's in very deep sleep from an apparent exhaustion, so they all agreed to leave him sleeping. On the way home, the four sisters are eagerly talking to each other, discussing about Fuutaro falling asleep and how they did in the exam. But for Ichika, she didn't feel good enough to join their talks as she walked very slowly behind them because she's feeling very tired and panting from the apparent fever.

"Hey, hey, did you all see Uesugi-san sleeping face?" Yotsuba said with a grin. "Hehehe… His face looked like a zombie and he's drooling all over the table while sleeping."

"Hehehe… Well, I did notice that." Miku giggled, remembering Fuutaro sleeping face in the class. "I guess Fuutaro really studied hard for the mock exam and I say he earn some nice sleep after all of it."

"But… Can't he pick a better place to sleep other than in classroom?" Itsuki got annoyed about Fuutaro sleeping in classroom. "I know that he's very sleepy, but can he at least wake up and go home to get a proper rest?"

"Well… Give him a break, Itsuki. Just let Fuu-kun get some sleep and I agreed with what Miku said, that he did his best to face the mock exam" Nino said, understood about Fuutaro condition. "Anyway, how did you do on the Science exam?"

"I'm very confident on the Science subject. Most of the question are kinda easy but there were some tricky question which took most of my time. So in the end, I didn't have a time to answer the last two question…" Itsuki replied, she sighed in the end because of her unanswered questions.

"Hmm… That's good for you." Nino said. "I had some trouble on Science. But for the English subject, it's very easy for me." She said proudly about her effort in English exam.

"Ehh… Is that so? Then, you should get a good score on English, Nino!" Yotsuba said, praising Nino. "For me, Japanese was the easiest one compared to the other subject! Although, I did forget some Kanji because some of it are very hard to remember. Then, what about you Miku?"

"I think I did pretty good at Social Studies. I also been studying from the net and some other references book." Miku said, feeling confident on Social Studies exam.

"Well… I noticed that you're really good at Social Studies, especially the Sengoku era history." Itsuki said "Then Ichika, How ab—" She turned around to see Ichika and her words got cut from seeing her.

Itsuki then noticed Ichika is walking very strange and slowly behind them. The four sisters then stopped and approached her. Itsuki then noticed that something is wrong with Ichika and when she looked closely at her face, she saw Ichika face is very pale, she's sweating and panting heavily, and her face is very red from a fever. The four already knew that Ichika was kind of tired and had a pale face today, because they knew she's been staying up until very late to study and sometimes even went home late from her acting work. The four sisters didn't expect that she would get this sick. Itsuki then asked Ichika about her condition.

"I-Ichika, are you okay?" Itsuki said, worrying about Ichika condition. "You seem to have a high fever."

"*pant* I'm okay… Itsuki-chan *pant*." Ichika said, assuring her condition despite her heavy breathing which makes her difficult to talk. "I'm just *pant* feeling a bit tired from lack of sleep *pant*."

"Wait…! You're clearly not okay. Here let me check your temperature." Nino approached her and put her hand in Ichika forehead. "Woah… This is bad! Your forehead is very hot. You're definitely not okay!"

"Then, we should get home quick so Ichika could rest." Yotsuba said with a worry to the other sisters.

"Unn… I agree. Here let me help you, Ichika." Miku said, holding Ichika arm to help her walking more steadily.

"*pant* I'm okay… Don't worry about…" Ichika said with a weak smile as she starting to lose her balance and fall to the ground.

Ichika then collapsed to the ground from the exhaustion and fever. Her body is at its limit and can't take it anymore. The whole month of lack of sleep, overworking, excessive caffeine, and medicine over-consumption finally took its toll. Before she completely passed out, she can hear her sisters panicking over her collapsing.

"I-Ichika…! Oi…!" Nino panickily shouting at her.

"Ichika… Hang in there…" Yotsuba also starting to panic and kneeling to check on Ichika,

"Miku, quick call an ambulance!" Itsuki said to Miku with panic.

"Unn… I'm on it…" Miku pulled out her phone in worries as she called for ambulance.

Flashback end

Ichika finally remembered on what happened to her on that day. So she did passed out from her sickness and she can't remember anything what happened after that. Ichika tried to move her body, but she can't move so much because she still feel tired but not as tired like on the exam day. She also felt that her body is still warm from the fever and she further checked it by touching her forehead and her neck. As expected, her forehead and neck temperature are warmer than the normal temperature and she concluded that she still has a fever although not that bad like before.

Ichika then looked at the table beside her and noticed that her phone is on there. She reached out for her phone and looked at it. Much to her surprise, there are a lot of unread message and unanswered calls from her school friends. She took a quick look at some of the message and most of it wishing her well and quick recovery from her school friends. When she scrolled down further, there's also a message from her manager, wishing her a quick recovery.

Ichika-chan

I heard from your sisters that you're hospitalized because of illness and exhaustion. It made me worried when I received the news, because you're the star of the agency and our agency can't do nothing much if their star is unavailable.

I've been planning to visit you, but my schedule is really busy and there are a lot of important meeting with some movie directors. So, I'm really sorry that I can't visit you right now. But I'm gonna make sure to visit you when my schedule gets less busy.

Anyway, I've been talking to the director about your current condition and he agreed to delay the movie production until you can act again. Don't worry about it, take your time to recover and make sure you're fully healthy until you can act again.

Ichika smiled after reading the message from her manager. She's glad that her manager understood about her current condition and feeling relieved because the movie director also agreed to delay the movie production for a while until she's fully recovered. As she keeps on scrolling the message, her eyes noticed the date in the upper right of her phone screen and it looks like she's been unconscious for 4 days straight. This realization made her surprised, was her sickness and exhaustion that bad? She did feels very sick and exhausted at the mock exam day, but she thought it can be done with some medicine and good sleep.

"Hmm… I've been unconscious for four days straight huh?"

"I think I kinda over-push myself…"

"Well… I hope it was worth it because I can't afford to fail that promise and bet…"

"It's all just for him…"

Ichika continued to looked at her phone and she noticed the group chat of the quintuplets are full of message notifications. She opened it and read it from the top and the content kinda surprised her.

Three days ago chat:

Yotsuba: Hey, I'm still worried about Ichika condition…

Itsuki: Hey Yotsuba, we're still in the middle of the class. Can it wait until the mid-day break to discuss this?

Yotsuba: But… I can't focus on the lesson. It's been on my mind since yesterday. What if Ichika condition got worse?

Miku: Don't say that, Yotsuba. Ichika is strong, she will recover from the sickness in no time. How about we visit her everyday until she's fully healthy?

Nino: That's a good idea, Miku. I will also ask Fuu-kun to come along with us. Who knows with him coming along, Ichika can recover faster.

Yotsuba: Yup, I agree with you, Miku. Let's visit Ichika after school is over!

Itsuki: Yeah, I agree with that too. But, the teacher been watching us for some time. Quick put your phone away before we get caught.

Two days ago chat:

Itsuki: Hey, I've been wondering, isn't tomorrow the day to pay for our monthly rent?

Miku: You right. But, Ichika is usually the one who pay for the rent.

Yotsuba: Yeah, she's the one who is in charge of the money to pay for the rent and our daily needs.

Nino: Then, what should we do? We can't afford to ask dad to pay for our rent. We all made the promise to not ask dad for financial support. But… I have something in mind…

Itsuki: What is it, Nino?

Nino: I've been thinking, how about we used all of our savings to pay for the monthly rent? We can't wait for Ichika to pay it for us and I don't want to trouble her even more because of her condition right now.

Itsuki: But… Are our savings good enough to pay for the monthly rent? I don't have much savings left…

Nino: Well, it's because you always spent it on food and drink, you food devouring monster! Anyway, if our savings are not enough, I'm going to borrow some money from the café I'm working at. I'm not sure if my boss going to allow it, but I'm going to try to talk to him anyway.

Miku: Yeah, me too. I'm going to try to borrow some money from my workplace. I don't want to become a burden and I won't let Ichika being the one who shoulder all of the expenses.

Yotsuba: It's settled then. After school, let's count how much savings we have left!

After that chat, it's mostly the usual chatting stuff between each sisters. Ichika wondered why the four discuss this in the group chat, but when she looked at the time log, the chat took place at around school time, three and two days ago. So they must be really concerned for her, chatting with each other in class knowing the risk. She was surprised of her sisters action and she never knew they're so concerned for her condition. Maybe it's because she's too focused on her work that she never thought they can be this caring. But the part that surprised Ichika the most are they willing to use all of their savings and even Nino and Miku are willing to borrow some money from their workplace to lighten her responsibility to pay the monthly rent. Their action made Ichika suddenly remembered about Fuutaro words last month when they skipped school and it's about the family talks.

"Trust me, family is very important, they will always support you no matter what happened, so don't ever break their trust."

Fuutaro words are ringing in Ichika mind as she remembered about it. So what he said was true, family will always support each other no matter what the situation is, whether in good or bad times. She never deeply thought about it because she never or rarely asked for any help from her sisters and her father and she always works and figured out her own problem by herself. She didn't want to ask for their help because it might bother them and she is not comfortable with it. She then thought about her sisters action and Fuutaro words.

"So what Fuutaro-kun said was kinda true…"

"Everyone been concerned about me…"

"They even willing to use their savings to pay the rent…"

"Even Nino and Miku are going to borrow some money from their workplace…"

"It's all just because they wanted to lighten my burden…"

"Was my view about them are wrong all this time…?"

As she's wondering about it, Ichika then looked at the window not far from her. It's already night time and she confirmed it by looking at the clock in her phone. She then wondered, did the other four really visited her for this past four days? If it's true then she's kind of happy about it because she's glad having a siblings that truly cared for her even in this unfortunate situation. Ichika also wondered about Fuutaro, did he worried about her passing out and did he ever visit her while she's still unconscious? She hoped that she can see Fuutaro as soon as possible because she just wanted his presence in here, just to accompany her. Speaking of the devil, few seconds later, her room door opened and when he saw who is the one who opened it, it was Fuutaro. Ichika saw Fuutaro in his usual attire consisted of white collared shirt and black pants. She can saw a surprise in Fuutaro face when he opened the door and he froze in the place for a few seconds from the surprise.

"I-Ichika… You're already awake?"

Fuutaro gasped and surprised seeing Ichika is already conscious and he quickly approached her and took a seat on the chair next by her bed. Ichika is happy her hope has been answered and she immediately smiled seeing Fuutaro sitting next to her. For Fuutaro, he's kinda relieved seeing Ichika finally awakes. He's been visiting her for this past four days and hoping she can be conscious soon. Today is lucky day for him because he can finally see her awake. Fuutaro then asked Ichika about her current condition.

"Hey… How are you feeling right now?"

"I feel better… But I still can't move much, my body is somehow still tired and I still have some fever left." Ichika answered with a weak laugh.

"Well… Don't push yourself too much. You still haven't fully recovered yet." Fuutaro said reminding Ichika about her current condition.

"Yeah. I understand." Ichika said. "By the way, Fuutaro-kun, did you know what happened to me after I passed out? I can't remember much after that."

"Yeah… After you passed out, your sisters got very worried and they called an ambulance to get you to the hospital." Fuutaro explained the situation to her. "You've been admitted to the emergency room when arrived and your condition was pretty bad, so they put you in the ICU room for a day to stabilize your condition. They've been visiting you for the past four days and they're very concerned about your condition."

"Ahh… Is that so? Was my condition really that bad…?" She mumbled and wondered about it. "So it's true then… They did visit me for the past four days. They're truly worried about my condition…"

"It kinda surprised me that they're very concerned about me. There's no need to visit me every day, I mean the hospital can just contact them when I'm conscious, right?" Ichika said with a faint smile knowing her sisters truly cared for her.

"Oi, oi… They're part of your family. It's natural for them to be concerned about your condition." Fuutaro sighing about Ichika statement about her family.

"Unn… I understand, but I'm kinda not used to it." She said her reason. "In my whole life, I never had someone so worried about me."

"Well… I guess your assumption was wrong because we're all worried about you."

After the talk between them, there's a moment of silent between them. Ichika can see that Fuutaro still have something to say and the look on his face is showing it all. He's been avoiding eye contact with her, he's blinking faster than usual, and he kind of gritted his teeth, which is a sign of uncomfortable from him. Fuutaro closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he talks again. He then opened his eyes again and this time his face turns into more serious expression.

"Ichika… Why did you over-push yourself?"

"Ehh… What do you mean, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika confused from Fuutaro question.

"Why didn't you listen to what I said?" Fuutaro said with a serious tone. "I've been reminding you for a lot of times to not over-push yourself in studying and working. The four had told me of your recent habit, that kind of habit is definitely unacceptable knowing how heavy your responsibility is."

"*sigh* I told them to keep this a secret from you because I knew that you will say this to me somehow." Ichika sighed and her face starting to turn into serious expression too. "You are worrying too much about me, Fuutaro-kun. Did you forget? I did all of this just to keep my promise and bet to you. I took that bet and promise very seriously and what I did the whole month was a part of the risk that will happen to me at some point after and I already accepted that risk if it's ever going to happen. Did you forget about your bet with dad? You did everything you can so you can finish in top 10 nationally, right? So you're in no position to lecture me because we're basically in the same situation."

"Ahh… I knew about it, but my case is different than yours. In your case, you passed out and made everyone around you worried to death!" Fuutaro starting to get frustrated and raised his voice at Ichika. "This selfish and reckless action of yours made your sisters very worried. You should look at their face when you're in emergency room! and they're not like their usual self when in school. As for me, I got into a trouble with your dad and he said that I'm a bad influence to all of you!" He started to get more angrier as he keeps talking.

"If I knew this is the outcome, I would never agreed to skip school and accept the bet from you!" Fuutaro shouted at her as the frustration and anger are filling his mind and heart.

The harsh words and anger from Fuutaro shocked Ichika so much. Her eyes widened and she gasped from the shock. A tears formed in her eyes and flow through her cheek and fall down to the bed after the outburst from him. Ichika never saw Fuutaro this angry before and she never thought he is capable to say this kind of things to her. For Fuutaro, he's also surprised seeing Ichika get shocked from his venting and he immediately feels uncomfortable seeing Ichika crying after his sudden outburst. He didn't mean to lashed out like this and hurt her in the process. He just wanted to scold Ichika for her action but he didn't realized the choice of words that he chose because he's so absorbed in his frustration. Knowing that his words and action unintentionally hurts her, he immediately apologized to Ichika.

"I-Ichika… I'm sorry…"

"Why…?"

"Ehh…?"

"Why Fuutaro-kun… I'm *sob* disappointed in you…*sob*" Ichika sobbed, disappointed in Fuutaro because he didn't appreciate her effort to keep the promise and bet. "I did everything *sob* I can to keep my promise to you… and *sob* this is what you said to me…?"

"I-I…"

"Please leave… *sob* I want to be alone *sob* right now…" Ichika buried her eyes into her arm to cover her crying.

"Ichika…"

"Please… *sob*"

Fuutaro then took a deep sigh seeing Ichika cries, as he rubs his forehead from the guilt. He didn't expect this situation to happened again because when he lashed out and became frustrated to someone, it didn't end well. The example was when he lashed out and get frustrated at Itsuki last year. It ended with him hurting her feelings and she took his word personally and she became cold and distant to him for a few days until he truly apologized to her. In Fuutaro mind, he realized that this was a mistake and he shouldn't have scold her in the first place knowing that Ichika still not fully feeling well from her sickness and he should've picked a better timing to scold her but instead his frustration took over his emotion and finally burst out. Knowing the damage has been done, filled with a guilt, and he can't see her crying again, Fuutaro stood up from the chair and walked to the door. Before he reached for the door, he froze before the door and he talks to Ichika before he leaves.

"I-I'm worried about you, you know…"

"*sob* Ehh…?"

"I didn't mean to lashed out to you like this…" Fuutaro said and there's a sing guilt in his voice. "It's because I'm really worried about you."

"…"

"I'm going to leave you alone, just like you asked. All I can say to you now is… get well soon and I hope you can recover fast, Ichika." Fuutaro said with a gentle and soft tone as he opens the door to leave.

Fuutaro then closed the door and after he left, Ichika then cried and sobbed even harder. She's still hurt from what Fuutaro just said to her, but at the same time she doesn't want him to leave and wanted him to stay by her side for a little more time to accompany her. She doesn't know how to process this feeling because she just awaked from being unconscious for four days which her mind is still not in the right state. The conflict of two opposite things in heart made it even worse, so at the moment she can only cry to let her emotion out. In her mind, she hopes for Fuutaro to come back to visit her again whether it's a minute later or an hour later or tomorrow.

"Don't leave me…"

"I still wanted you to be by my side…"

"I still wanted to see you…"

"Even if it just a minute… I want to see you…"

"Please come back…"

"Fuutaro-kun…"

A/N:

Chapter 8 is finished! It's currently the chapter with most words and I'm kinda proud of it because I never wrote this long even in my other fic.

Did I get you on the first half of the story? It's very unexpected right? Hmm... But I think I can see some torch and pitchfork coming from some of you because of that first half. Haha anyway, I really had an up and down on writing this chapter. The down part was when writing the first half of the chapter because well... It was really painful and very uncomfortable seeing Ichika breaking down like that. It's really a rollercoaster of feelings in this chapter and tbh I really enjoyed writing this chapter more than the previous chapters, but don't get a wrong idea on how I enjoyed this chapter okay.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter because next chapter will be more lighter and happier tone compared to chapter 7 and this chapter and also it's not good to dwell in sadness, right?

As for the reviews response:

-Rosalina:

Yeah chapter 7 is really sad. Haha I can relate about Maruo because sometimes I find him a bit annoying when I read the manga. Still I can understand the motive behind his decision because he really cared about his adoptive daughters and don't want anything further bad happened to them. Also thank you for the compliment! It's always great receiving a review from you!

-Kraft:

Thanks mate! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

-Powder Sauce:

Yes! I agree with you. Justice for FuutaroxIchika!

-Tsubaki Lover:

Although this chapter just add another problem and guilt for him, he will definitely be okay and don't worry about him. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and it made your day better!

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