Chapter 1?
Author's note- Chapter 1! I'm really excited to try and continue this and play with some of the characters(mainly Itsuki!). I don't know how long these chapters will be, but I'll try to make them long enough to enjoy! And regarding the question on if this is either a harem route or an Itsuki route, well, I wouldn't want to spoil things, but do know that the other quintuplets will get spotlight, just right now I'm focusing on Itsuki at the moment!
Futaro's POV:
Sighing, Futaro goes to look at the owner of said tray, not knowing that his life is about to become far more lively due to this encounter.
He is soon met with one of the most beautiful figures the top student has ever laid his eyes upon. Perfectly velvet red hair with noticeable star pins placed upon, deep blue eyes shining like crystals, and a perfect figure a girl might even hope to dream about having one day.
However, Futaro didn't think of any of these things, being the anti-social being he is, and simply found the presence of another being at his table to be someone irritating, and thus gave a less than favorable response to the stranger currently at his table.
"Excuse me," Futaro spoke in a somewhat irritated tone, earning a slight shiver from the red head, one that failed to be noticed by the top student, "this is the seat I use everyday, move aside."
"A-ah! I'm sorry, I've been w-walking all day and this was t-the table closest to me! I-i'll move! S-sorry to disturb you!" was the frantically fast response Futaro earned from the skittish redhead, who quickly began to move to another table, despite the slight throbbing pain she felt in her feet that spawned from the constant walking she had endured throughout the day so far.
'That was a bit strange. I don't even think she had our uniform on. Guess she must be new here' thought the now lonely boy, although he quickly pushed all thoughts of the red head aside, reasoning that he'll probably never speak to her again. He then began to focus on studying/eating for an extremely short while until he received a message from his younger sister asking him to call her.
Having finished his rather small lunch , Futaro then went to a nearby restroom, bound to be empty due to lunch still ongoing, and called his sister only to be met with an ear screeching voice on the other end of the phone.
"HEY BIG BRO, DID DAD TELL YOU YET?" spoke an excited Riaha Uesugi, to which she received a somewhat startled response asking her to calm down and explain what she's talking about.
"We can finally clear our mountain of debt!" which earned a "Huh?" from the understandably confused teenager.
"Oh, this really rich family moved here, and they need a tutor for their daughter! And I heard that they're paying 5 times the normal price!" Futaro thought about this for a mere second before responding "That sounds like an extremely shady deal to take."
"Well I heard that people can live with only one kidney" joked Riaha, who earned an 'erk' on the other end of the line, to which she had to reassure her older sibling "Relax I'm just joking. But I know you'll be able to help her!"
"W-wait, I never said I'd take th-" started Futaro, who was quickly cut off "We'll finally be able to fill our bellies, won't we?" After hearing this question, Futaro's stomach then betrayed him and growled for more nutrients, to which forced the boy to concede as he began to ask details on the student he would be taking in.
"Ok, well what's this girl like?"
"Well I think her surname is Nakano? I didn't really get the most details hehe." After quickly making a mental note, Futarou responded "Ok, thanks. I'll try my best to help her out," which earned an excited "Thanks big bro! I knew you could handle this!" and thus their conversation ended.
'I hope they're a quick learner…' was all the boy could think about his newly found occupation.
Itsuki's POV:
"A-ah! I'm sorry, I've been w-walking all day and this was t-the table closest to me! I-i'll move!" Itsuki's hair may be a brilliant shade of red, but that didn't match the shade of red her face has taken on. 'Ahhh! That was so embarrassing! I didn't know that was his table! I practically encroached onto his place of being!'
Quickly going onto finding a new table, thankfully she didn't have to walk very far, finding a table just outside the doors. 'Well, at least I can rest a little bit and finally dig in!' Yes, despite severely lacking in self confidence and always being conscious of those around her, Itsuki still held the title of an outright glutton, and wasn't ashamed to show it.
"Thank you for the meal!" proclaimed the easily startled girl before digging in, thinking back to her previous encounter and how she may have gone about that differently. 'Gosh, I hope he doesn't hold a negative opinion of me. I should have slowed my response! Now I seem strange…'
"Ugh, I definitely could have handled that far better."
This was as far as her line of thinking followed, as lunch had ended quicker than she had expected it too due to being held up in her own thoughts, thus having to head onto class eating her lunch on the way.
Having arrived at the class, and composing herself right before entering at her teacher's announcement, Itsuki introduced herself to the class with no Hiccups "M-my name It Nakano Itsuki! It is a pleasure to meet all of you, and I h-hope we can work well in the future!" with rather frantic bowing to go along with the rather quickly spoken introduction.
Well, no hiccups as far as Itsuki was concerned.
Her arrival to the classroom was met with many whispers, some about her beauty, some about whether she came from money, and one particular individual with a bowl cut, who was sweating bullets, offering a weak "H-hey…" to the glutton, but Itsuki wouldn't have noticed any of these remarks, as all her attention was focused on how well she did introducing herself.
'Ahhh! I did so well! Good job me!' unknowingly ignoring some of the students trying to strike up a conversation with her, yet even still the rest of the girl's day went swimmingly along, or at least the closest thing to it, and she was even able to make a few friends! Concluding her day, she was now headed home, ecstatic to hear from her sisters about how their days went.
"I'm home!" exclaimed the joyful domestic meatbun monster, who had just arrived home a little late due to some complications that involved deciding which sandwich to choose from at a local vendor.
Immediately, Itsuki noticed that no one was in the main room of their luxurious apartment aside from her older sister Miku, who appeared to be playing on some sort of hand held game device with her distinguishing blue headphones covering her ear.
'Ah, I guess she didn't hear me. Oh! Maybe I can give her a little surprise! That'll create a fun atmosphere for Miku!' Thinking of a devilishly innocent joke on her sister.
Itsuki however, was unfortunately pulled out of her thoughts, as Miku had noticed her simply standing in the doorway staring at her, and it had started to become slightly uncomfortable, thus she waved awkwardly to get her sister's attention.
'Well I guess there goes that idea' thought the slightly bummed out Itsuki, however those thoughts were quickly suppressed as she went to go hug her beloved sister.
"Miku! How was your day at our new school!" asked Itsuki as she walked around Miku and hugged her from behind, which was met with a warm smile from the recipient.
"It was fine. It was really irritating to walk around all morning, but other than that I kept to myself for most of the day" attempting to follow the energy laid out by the smiling glutton(yet something about said smile seemed a little off to the Sengoku era lover)
"That's great Miku! I'm truly glad you found yourself suitable in the new environment," replied the adorable glutton showing nothing but a smile as wide as can be, truthfully happy that her sister is content with herself and had no issues to speak of.
Miku's POV:
'Ah, I guess I was imagining things. That's a real smile if I've ever seen one.'
Back to Itsuki's POV
"What about your day? Surely yours was more interesting than mine," asked Miku, trying not to let the conversation die out so quickly, only to be met with the nervous laughter she had become accustomed to hearing from her younger sister.
"Heh, I think I might've made a poor impression at lunch. I was a bit rude to a fellow student," she replied, scratching the back of her head while saying so.
Miku raised an eyebrow at this. "Really? I fail to see how you would fail to make a good impression, considering how kind you are with everyone and how proper you present yourself to be." to which Itsuki shrugged and replied,
"Oh I don't know. Maybe I'm just overthinking this but that's just what's going through my head right now," not hiding her sense of social anxiety as well as she thinks she does.
"I'm sure it's nothing, you're just overthinking things," responded Miku, who showed a reassuring smile to help put her sister at ease.
"Maybe…" trailed off Itsuki before she left for her room to study until dinner, leaving a somewhat concerned Miku on the couch alone with her games.
However, although Itsuki had planned to get studying in before it was time to satisfy her hunger, her mind was constantly filled with thoughts of how she could have acted better during lunch earlier that day, fearful that her "rude" actions during lunch hour may lead to others judging her, which wouldn't be very joyful for the glutton.
The rest of the night inside the quintuplet household went without issue, with Itsuki asking her other 3 sisters(2 of which were out shopping, with the 3rd being at track practice) about their days, and asking them if they understood any of the lessons that she (regrettably) was unable to understand. Thankfully, Miku was able to help with history, earning a 'Thank you!' from the younger sister.
However, all this help led to further issues regarding Itsuki's confidence that he held within herself.
'I guess I really can't do anything on my own' was all Itsuki could think to herself as she drifted to sleep, most likely to be dreaming of eating in a high class restaurant.
[the next day]
Futaro's POV:
'If that transfer student rejects me, that's it for this tutoring gig. I HAVE to get on her good side as soon as possible, but how?' were the thoughts that floated around in the top student's head, worried that he had made a horrendous first impression of what he viewed as the source of alleviating his family's debt.
'I got it! I can get on her romantic side! Maybe if I offer her a seat at my table, that'll ease things between us! Ah there she is!' Now with his brilliant(self proclaimed) plan, Futaro began to set it in motion, and caught up with the red head just before she was able to sit down at her table of presumably new friends she had made the day prior.
Putting a hand on the shoulder of the girl, Futaro was unexpectedly met with a slight "eep!" and a jump from the recipient, who then slowly turned around, this time her slight trembling being noticeable for the top student.
"A-ah! H-hello! I'm sorry for yesterday i-if I caused you a-any displeasure! P-please forgive my transgressions!" sputtered out the red head while frantically bowing
'She's not upset with me? Perfect! We can probably start off on the right foot! I'll ask her now.' thought the soon to be tutor. "No worries, I was just wondering if you'd like t-" but before the boy could finish his sentence, he was quickly cut off by a girl with two butterfly ribbons, wearing an annoyed expression, and with a face rather similar to that of Itsuki's?
"Hey, you're clearly scaring her, so back off!" barked the girl who looked eerily similar to Itsuki.
"Ne Nino-chan, I don't think he means any harm. It's not our fault Itsuki attracted such a cute boy on her first day. Who knows, maybe he's asking her for a date?" interjected another girl, seemingly also having a face similar to that of his student, yet with shorter hair.
"Itsuki has an admirer? Itsuki you're growing up so fast! Please don't stop being my adorable little sister! I can't take that!" jokingly chirped a girl with a bunny ribbon protruding out of her hair while also looking genuinely shocked at what the girl with short hair implied, who once again wore the same face as his student.
The 4th girl just stared at the boy who was being berated by the butterfly ribbon wearing girl, seemingly uninterested in what was conspiring, and thus went unnoticed.
"I-I'm sure that's not i-it! Please give us a moment!" quickly retorted Itsuki, her face now matching the color of her hair due to her sister's teasing, and quickly led Futaro away from the table after having put her food down for later consumption.
After having walked over a short distance, Itsuki, now nervous due to being alone with someone who she believes has been wronged by her, ask "S-so, what is it you w-wanted to ask?" clearly flustered.
'Does she have a cold of some sort?'
"Oh, I was wondering if we could become friends! I feel bad about my actions yesterday, and wanted to invite you to eat with me and see if we could smooth things over!" spoke the top student, now flashing a smile to put the girl at ease.
"T-that'd be nice! Could we perhaps have this lunch together tomorrow however? I wish to eat lunch at the table we were just at, as my food is already there."
'Makes sense. I'd probably rather eat with my friends than some stranger' thought Futaro, seemingly forgetting the fact that he didn't have friends himself to make this comparison.
"Yeah, that'd be fine! See you in class! I'm Futaro Uesugi by the way, pleased to make your acquaintance!" and held out a hand to the girl before him, to which she responded in form and completed the handshake. "Likewise Uesugi-kun!" beamed the now comfortable girl, to which she then waved as she walked back to her table, and thus Futaro began to walk away, waving back towards the young girl, believing he had achieved the good relationship he wished for.
Itsuki's POV:
'Uesugi Futaro huh? Well, I'm glad Miku was right and I was overthinking it. I hope we can be good friends' were the thoughts that floated around in Itsuki's head as she went back to her table, prepared to tell her sisters of her potential friend she may have made, only to be met with more teasing, much to her dismay.
Later, right before Itsuki was preparing to leave the school grounds to go home, she was stopped by her new friend, and was thus slightly startled "O-oh, Uesugi-kun! What brings you to me? I thought you'd be on your way to your household."
"Oh, I forgot to mention early during the day, but I believe I was hired by your father to tutor you through your courses!" spoke the smiling boy, who was once again met with a startled Itsuki, "Oh, i-is that so?! I s-see… W-well, let's get g-going!" spoke Itsuki, who's mood suddenly took a hit.
'I guess not even dad believes in me… I guess that's not surprising…' was all Itsuki could think as she and her new tutor began to walk home, the fact of Itsuki belonging to a set of quintuplets still unknown to the boy she was walking beside.
Surely this lack of communication wouldn't be a point of conflict soon. Surely not!
Author's note - Another chapter! As it can probably be seen, I am really messing around with Itsuki's character. Don't worry about the other quintuplets and Futaro, I'll try to keep them more so in character, as I don't think there's a reason for them to act differently from cannon! Anyway, Criticism is dope, and peace!