Chapter 4
2019. It passed exactly 5 years since Fuutarou had gone to Jamir with Mu to become a Saint. Years that had been very interesting, funny and hard for the boy.
A boy that grew up pretty well during this arc of time, becoming a young man with unkempt and slightly spiky black hair, sharp golden eyes and a well trained body with nice abs and strong muscles.
Still, what that grew wasn't only his body, but his intelligence too; thanks to Mu's teaching him, Fuutarou managed to increase his knowledges even without going to school, attaining the same level of a second year high school student. And since he was now 17 because his birthday was 4 months ago, he could be considered one rightfully.
Speaking of birthdays, he had received plenty of "Happy birthday!" texts from his family and the Nakanos during these 5 years. The ones from the quints were the most particular and cute, since they were always full of emoticons and hearts, which made him both smile and blush.
They had recently also asked him when he would be back, since it passed more than 5 years by now, but the young man decided to tell them that he would make a surprise for them. So he didn't tell them when he would back.
Said surprise was pretty simple; as it seemed, Kurobara High School, which was the private school only for girls that the quints were currently attending, opened a co-ed project to integrate male students.
But first it wanted to test how a boy would integrate inside the school, so Kurobara's principal had decided to choose only a single boy for the experiment.
And who he decided? Fuutarou obviously , because the young man got informed about the project by Mu and Isanari, who also proposed him as a good candidate for the co-ed experiment.
At first, Fuutarou was stunned when he heard from his father through a text that he and Mu had decided to ask the school's principal to make the boy go to Kurobara, but knowing that he would be able to go to the same school as the quints made him happy. It was wanted to do when he'd get back to Tokai.
Of course the quints and all the students didn't know that he was going to attend Kurobara as well; Isanari thought of making it a nice surprise for them. That was one of the 2 reasons why Fuutarou didn't tell the quints when he'd be back.
And what was the other one? Simple: the young man was currently trying his hardest to use the Cosmo that he had developed in the years of training to create an attack to destroy one of the targets, with Mu observing him.
They were in fact inside the training room for Fuutarou's final test that once passes, he'd finally obtain the title as Saint and the Apus Cloth, whose Pandora Box was inside the room as well, shaking in reaction to the boy's Cosmo.
Said boy was wearing a leather armor like one that Aiolia usually wore, and he was panting as the last attempt to launch an attack by using his Cosmo failed.
"Damn it! W-why I can't launch an attack by using my Light Cosmo?! I don't understand!", complained Fuutarou whirl kneeling with a knee.
"Because you have to imagine your attacks first, Fuutarou. You're throwing your fist while expecting that something happens because you burn your Cosmo. But it doesn't work like that; a Saint's technique must be visualized in the mind first, so then you can have a clear idea of what your attack will be. Try to concentrate and imagine what your attack would look like.", told him Mu calmly.
'Imagining and concentrating, huh? Like during all the times I trained to learn telekinesis. Alright, let's do it.', thought Fuutarou, nodding to his teacher and closing his eyes as well.
He started so to imagine what he wanted his attack to look like, remembering in this way the times that he saw Mu's Stardust Revolution and the powerful Lightning Plasma of Aiolia. His mind focused on the movements and the effects of those techniques to get some inspiration.
It took some minutes for Fuutarou's mind to finally visualize a personal attack, so he opened his eyes instantly and clenched his right fist while a light blue Cosmo surrounded his body, with Mu widening his eyes at the sight.
"Now! Holy Sword!!", shouted the golden eyes boy while throwing his fist forward, shooting a light blue sword like beam that went directly towards the target and pierced it deeply.
Upon seeing what he just did, Fuutarou was left stunned with an open mouth while Mu was surprised too but smiled.
The lavender haired man got up and went towards his apprentice to put a hand on his shoulder, "You did it, Fuutarou. You managed to use your Cosmo to create a personal technique. Congratulations."
Fuutarou turned to look at his teacher, "T-that means t-that I finally became a Saint?"
"Yes, exactly. You officially became the Silver Saint of the Apus constellation. Congr-"
But before he could finish his sentence, Mu perceived just like Fuutarou a sudden source of energy and various sounds of something shaking. They then looked at the Apus' Pandora Box, noticing how it slightly glowed while shaking continuously.
Mu chuckled, "Haha, it seems that even the Apus Cloth recognizes you as its legitimate owner. That means that you can open the box, Fuutarou. Go."
The young man's eyes widened at hearing that, nonetheless he nodded and walked towards the shaking box. Once he was in front of it, he saw how its glow got brighter, which made him a little unsure for a moment before finally reaching a hand towards the box.
He took a handle of the metal box and pulled it, revealing a chain connected to the box that opened. It was in that moment that a big aura shaped like a bird appeared, shining with a brilliant light that made Fuutarou cover his eyes for some seconds.
After that, he opened his eyes, which widened at the sight before them: right in front of Fuutarou there was his Cloth, its totem shaped like a silver bird with 3 tails while spreading its wings.
Before such sight, Fuutarou was absolutely amazed. 'T-this is the Apus Silver Cloth…I-I can feel that it's calling to me to wear it.', he thought while stretching his arm forward to touch the Cloth.
Once his finger touched it, the armor glowed and broke into several parts that start to attach to Fuutarou's body. In some seconds, the young man was wearing the Apus Cloth, which covered his chest, his shoulders, his arms, his legs and his waist line. He also had a diadem with a pair of little wings that covered part of his head and the ears. Another important feature were the 3 tails falling down from his back.
"W-wow…So this i-is what wearing a Cloth looks like. I-I feel stronger. I feel more powerful.", said Fuutarou, admiring the armor on his body and feeling a surge in his Cosmo's power.
"That's normal, Fuutarou. When a Saint wears his Cloth, his Cosmo can burn more intensely while he can show his true power. The armor doesn't serve only to protect yourself, because you need it also to fight at the peak of your skills. Never forget it.", told him Mu, proud of his apprentice.
"I got it, Mu-sensei. I will never forget it . Also, thank you for making me a Saint.", replied the now Apus Saint, shaking the hand of his teacher.
"You're welcome, Fuutarou. I'm really proud of you. Now that you're a Saint, you are ready to return to Tokai. To your family and your friends."
"Haha, I know. Aiolia-San can finally take a break I guess after protecting my city and its inhabitants for 5 years.", said Fuutarou with a chuckle.
"About that, I suggest you to keep your face hidden with a mask while you fight demons; it's better to not reveal your identity as Saint to the quints and other people in order to avoid that your enemies attack them. Alright?"
The boy frowned at imagining a vile demon hurting the quints, their parents or his family, but he nodded quickly; he understood that letting other people know that he was a Saint was too risky. So it was better that only Isanari knew about it.
"You're right, Mu-sensei. I will do exactly as you say.", replied the young Saint.
"Glad to know it. Now that you completed your training and you're officially a Saint, you can pack your things so I can bring you back to Japan."
"We leave today? That's fast. But anyways, I'm glad that I can finally meet Dad, Raihha and the Nakanos again. I wonder how they changed in these years.", said Fuutarou with a smile.
"They surely changed quite a lot just like you. I will now go to check the other rooms while you prepare your luggage."
"Got it, Mu-sensei.", was the boy's answer. And after that, Mu left the training room while Fuutarou tried to remove his Cloth by his body while crossing his arms and opening them, making each part of the armor detach from his body to reform the Apus totem.
He then touched the armor and its Pandora Box and closed his eyes; Mu told him once that a Cloth could take the form of a Clothstone by following his will. In this case, it took just for both Cloth and box to start glowing brightly and taking the form of a necklace with 2 silver wings attached to it.
'So this is the Apus Clothstone. Good, I don't have to worry about hiding a huge metal box at home like this haha.', thought the boy, chuckling while he put the necklace around his neck and leaving the training room to go to take a shower.
He reached his room and took off his leather armor and clothes to then enter in the shower. Once he opened the tap, he let the water wash his body. If a girl happened to see him, she would instantly blush at the sight of his hot abs and strong arms. Especially if she saw what he had between his legs. That would make her drool.
Following the shower, the young warrior dried his body and wore a white t-shirt under an unbuttoned green shirt and a pair of jeans. He also put on a pair of blue sneakers that Mu had given him for his last birthday.
He then packed some other clothes and books in his luggage and left the room, ready to go.
It took him very little to reach the ground floor and find his teacher waiting for him with his signature calm.
"Ready to go home, Fuutarou?"
The boy smiled, "Yeah, I want to see my family, the quints and their parents. Let's go, Mu-sensei."
The Aries Saint smiled as well while Fuutarou put a hand on his shoulder. Mu closed his eyes to concentrate while his golden Cosmo appeared, and they quickly teleported away from the Jamir.
In a poor neighborhood of Tokai, Mu and Fuutarou appeared instantly in front of the Uesugi Bakery, and when the boy looked at it, he felt nostalgia.
The entrance was as it was 5 years ago, with only the sign with Uesugi Bakery written on it a little dirty.
"Dad really did his best to take care of the bakery. As he always told me.", said Fuutarou with a sad smile.
"He wanted to make sure that the place that your mother and he created together didn't disappear. Your father loves this place just like he loves his family."
"Y-yeah, I know. And I'm happy to be his son. Just like I'm glad to have been your apprentice.", replied the boy while hugging Mu, who retuned the gesture.
"You're now strong enough to protect everyone that lives in this city. You learned very well all what I taught you in these years. So I'm sure that you'll learn way more things in the future and become even stronger. Take care, Fuutarou. Greet everyone for me.", said the Aries Saint to his apprentice.
The golden eyes boy grinned and thanked him for what he had done for him, telling him also that he would certainly greet everyone for him. After that, Mu smiled and waved his hand to Fuutarou while teleporting back to his tower in Jamir.
Now alone, the young Saint turned around and took a little breath before walking towards the bakery. The door was not closed, so he simply opened it and stepped inside while the bell to indicate a customer's arrival rang.
"Welcome to the Uesugi Bakery! How can I help-", started to say a voice of a young girl with long black hair tied in a tail on top of her head before cutting herself off upon seeing Fuutarou.
The young man took a glance at her and recognized her immediately as his little sister Raiha. He walked towards her and said, "Long time no see, Raiha. You grew up a lot in these 5 years haha."
The girl's eyes widened when she saw that he knew her, but especially because of his voice. It was big but very familiar. And it could belong to only a person.
"O-O-Onii-chan?", she asked meekly, tears forming in her brown eyes.
He smiled and walked closer while kneeling and opening his arms, "Yes, Raiha, it's me. I'm your dear brother Fuutarou."
Having now the confirm, the girl's tears started to fall while she ran towards him to hug him, with him reciprocating the gesture.
"O-Onii-chan! Y-you're finally back waah! I missed y-you so much!", she said, sobbing while crying on his chest.
"I missed you a lot me too, Raiha. I'm glad that I kept my promise and came back for you and-"
"F-Fuutarou?", said a new voice, cutting off the boy.
The young warrior looked forward to see a middle aged blond man with slightly spiky hair and a muscular body that had a stunned expression with watery eyes like Raiha's.
"I'm back, Dad. How have you been?", said Fuutarou with a smile. Isanari started to cry and joined the family hug as well.
"I-I knew you'd come back, son. I-I'm really happy that you are now with us again. And look at you, you became a handsome young man like me haha.", said Isanari, grinning.
"T-that's right! O-Onii-chan looks even stronger than Dad!", said instead Raiha, letting other tears fall down while smiling.
"Haha, let's say that uncle Mu helped me to train pretty well while I was studying abroad. Also, he greets both of you he said."
"I guess that he went back to his homeland already. Too bad. He could have tasted some of our bread if he stayed. Oh well, the important is that you're back with us, Fuutarou.", said Isanari, with his son smiling at him.
"O-Onii-chan, I-I'm so glad! I-I want to know what you did while studying abroad, please!", exclaimed a still crying Raiha, looking at her brother with puppy eyes.
The young man smiled and nodded, so he went to put down his luggage in his room, noticing how clean it was kept, before going downstairs to join his family in eating all the bread on the table to celebrate his return.
He then started to tell his father and Raiha about his experience while studying abroad, telling them about how many he had learned and nice landscapes he had seen by showing them some photos taken with his phone.
Of course he didn't mention anything related to him having become a human with superhuman abilities, Cosmo, demons etc. Mu had recommended him to let only Isanari know the truth in order to not involve Raiha, the quints and their parents. And Fuutarou was of the same idea.
And while he was telling them about his experience, Isanari and Raiha told him about what they and the Nakano family did in these 5 years, like for example how they managed to make the bakery have still success, how the quints always thought about Fuutarou (which made him blush) and other things.
Isanari also told him that since he was now back, he could already start to go to Kurobara by wearing the uniform that the school had prepared for him. Of course the blond man didn't lose the chance to tease him about how tons of girls would get interested in him once he went there, managing to make Fuutarou blush.
On the other hand, Raiha was really happy to know that her dear brother would go to the same school as the Nakanos sisters; it would be a great surprise for them to see the boy that they were so affectionate to attending their school.
Obviously, there was no problem if Fuutarou wanted to start going to Kurobara the next day; his enrollment had been already completed by Isanari with the help of Mu that sent him all Fuutarou's great results on the tests that the boy took while he was in Jamir. And such results made him the perfect candidate for the experimental co-ed project.
At a certain point, all the 3 Uesugi's bellwis grumbled, which meant that it was time for dinner. Raiha then went to the kitchen to prepare a nice curry udon that her brother would surely love while he and Isanari dressed the table.
During this, the blond man could notice how his son changed so much not only in appearance, but also in regards of the aura he emanated. It was like he was more confident and lacked of the feeling of revenge that he had after Shizuku's murder.
'You grew up so much in these 5 years thanks to Mu-San. I don't like the fact that you became like him and that you have to fight some dangerous creatures, but I'm sure you will do your best to protect us and all the people who live here in Tokai, Fuutarou.', thought Isanari, smiling and letting some tiny tears fall from his eyes because of how much proud he was of his son.
And after Raiha finished to cook the udoma and prepared also some onigiri, the family sat together to the table to have a nice dinner all the 3 together after so much time. Fuutarou praised how good the food tasted, which made Raiha giggle happily and prompted her to hug him.
They continued to eat for about an hour and half, after which Fuutarou helped to wash the dishes and clean the table like he always did while being in Jamir. And some hours later, all 3 Uesugi went to sleep, with Raiha clinging on her brother in their room, as sigh of how she missed him.
On the other hand, her brother was still awake and took a glance at the uniform that Kurobara prepared for him: it consisted in a black gakuran style uniform with golden buttons, totally fitting the school in question.
And speaking of Kurobara, he also thought about how the quints would look like after not seeing them for 5 years; would they look identical like before? Or did they change their hairstyles maybe? Only tomorrow would give to Fuutarou some answers, so he just closed his eyes to sleep in the room he didn't step in for a lot of time.
The next morning, after waking up early, taking a quick shower and wearing his uniform, but letting the black shirt unbuttoned to reveal a blue t-shirt underneath, Fuutarou had a nice breakfast with his family before getting accompanied by Isanari with a car.
"When did you buy a car, Dad?", asked the black haired Saint with curiosity.
"Let's say that I saved a lot of money to buy this old but still working car. I bought it 2 years ago from some repair shop that wanted to get rid of it haha."
"Oh, I see. I thought that you were more the motorbike type to be honest."
"I like bikes too, but with a car I never had no problems to accompany Raiha and some of the quints when they wanted to go somewhere together. And speaking of quints, be careful that they could kiss you. I heard one of them sometimes saying something like "When Fuu-kun comes back, I will fill him of kisses!" haha.", told him his Isanari, making him blush.
'That's Nino. She's the only one that uses that nickname. T-to say that she will fill me of kisses…S-She's very affectionate to me.', he thought, his blush increasing at the memory of Nino kissing him on the cheek that time that he saved her and her sisters when they met. And also the other quints would probably fill him of kisses, just like they did as kids.
Finally, the young Saint could see the big school building of Kurobara, noticing also various female students that wore a black and white school uniform passing through the gates. The same gates near which Isanari stopped to let Fuutarou get down from the car.
"Have a nice first day of high school, son. And watch out to not seduce too many girls haha.", said Isanari while greeting and leaving with the car, causing Fuutarou to blush and sigh. His father really liked teasing him about girls.
The young man then decided to not think about the teasing and started to walk through the gates of Kurobara, attracting immediately various glances from the girls that noticed him.
"H-He's the guy for the co-ed project? H-he's so handsome!", whispered one of them with a big blush.
"I-I also heard that he's very smart. He studied abroad for 5 years and scored a lot of points in all his tests hehe.", whispered another.
"I wonder if h-he has a girlfriend. H-he's so hot that I-I'd like to be in a room a-alone with him fufu.", muttered another one, sounding a little perverted.
'I think that I have to watch out for girls trying to get in my pants.', thought the blushing Saint, feeling embarrassed by how some girls could already look at him with interest and lust in the eyes.
But the girls couldn't help be attracted to his sharp golden eyes, his nice face and that six pack he had under his t-shirt. Some of them were already flushed at the idea of seeing him shirtless, risking to have a nosebleed.
Anyways, the young Saint continued to walk until he reached the building and entered while greeting any girl he met with a smile, causing her to blush and meekly or happily greet him back.
He then went towards the principal's office, where he got welcomed by a misle aged bald man that explained to him the co-ed project in detail and told him which class he was assigned to.
"You have to promise that you will respect the rules in this school and be nice with all the students and teachers. Alright, Uesugi-kun?", asked him the principal.
"I will, Mr. Principal. I promise."
The man smiled, "Glad to hear it. Have a nice first day and study well, Uesugi-kun."
"Thank you very much, sir.", replied Fuutarou with a smile before leaving the office to go to search for his classroom.
But since he didn't know the school, he needed to ask someone for indications, so he asked a passersby girl that gladly told him how to reach his class while also sending him a wink that he reciprocated with a smile.
Inside the classroom 2-A, there were at 15 girls that kinda looked excited because the candidate boy for the co-ed project was about to be in their class. So they were waiting happily for his arrival.
Between them, there was a particular girl with ocean blue eyes, long red hair and star hairpins that was instead flustered at the idea of having a boy in their school. Not that he didn't trust guys of course, since she had a boy that she was very affectionate to. And she was waiting to reunite with him since 5 years passed from when he left to go abroad.
"Alright, girls. I can see that each one of you is very excited at the idea of having a boy in our school. That means that you can enter, Uesugi-kun.", said suddenly the teacher, causing Itsuki to gasp in shock.
'N-No way…I-It can't be-'
Her thoughts were interrupted by the sliding door of the class opening, revealing a young black haired man with golden eyes that entered inside the room and attracted a series of flushed looks and smiles to him.
Then he got near the teacher and looked at all the girls to say, with a smile, "Nice to meet you, everyone. My name is Uesugi Fuutarou and I'm the candidate for the co-ed project that this school organized. I don't know if someone is uncomfortable with the idea of having a guy as classmate, but I promise that I won't treat any of you poorly. So please, take care of me."
And at the end of his presentation, each girl started to yell things like "Awww, he's so cute!" or "Happy to have you here, Fuutarou-kun!", getting reprimanded by the teacher like this.
On the other hand, once she heard his name, the redhaired girl's eyes start to have tears while her heart was beating faster than usual. A fast beating that only a specific person could provoke. And it was the handsome young man with golden eyes.
Unable to control her emotions, the girls got up from her seat and walked towards Fuutarou, who got confused at first and then blushed when she hugged him tightly, shocking both him and everyone else.
"Ehhh?! What are you doing?", he asked her, embarassed.
The girl then looked up, so Fuutarou could see her beautiful blue eyes that were watery. He got worried when he saw them, but he also noticed how familiar they were, making him stunned as he remembered who had such eyes.
"Y-you're I-Itsuki."
Hearing and seeing that he remembered her made her smile blissfully while she hugged Fuutarou tighter. "Y-Yes, it's me. I-I'm so happy y-you're back, F-Fuutarou-kun.", she said, leaning her head on his chest while he reciprocated her hug instinctively. There was no mistake; the girl in his arms was one of the Nakano quints, the girls that Fuutarou wanted to reunite with after becoming a Saint.
A/N
Chapter 4 is here! Yeah, I made a time skip to arrive directly to the point that Fuutarou was about to achieve the Apus Cloth, which he managed to do after developing one of his first techniques: the Holy Sword.
And now that he's back to Tokai and reunited with his family, just like he wished, he got the possibility to attend the same school as the quints. But it seems that the school in question is Kurobara, a private only girls school that just organized a co-ed experiment for which Isanari proposed Fuutarou as the right candidate.
So now the guy has to deal with several/multiple girls fixing their eyes on him because of his attractiveness and smartness. Still, he managed to reunite with our favorite ahoge girl, who is extremely happy to finally meet again her beloved childhood friend. How will it go with the other quints instead? Would they do the same as their sister? Stay tuned to find out.
See ya! (Also, I dearly thank xxAlter (fellow friend and writer) for the nice cover image that he did for this story. Thanks again, buddy!)