Chapter 3?

*The next day*

Futaro's POV:

After having successfully gained the right to tutor 3 of his 5 new students, Futaro had then gone home only to discover that spending time attempting to tutor others while also tutoring himself is extremely difficult, and thus stayed up too late and was running late for school.

'Hah, barely made it. I didn't believe tutoring would be this difficult. I wonder how long I can keep this up' were the thoughts floating through Futaro's mind as he walked up towards the school grounds only to be stopped before entering the building by a familiar face.

"Hey, you're that Uesugi Futaro right!?"

"Yes, and going off of your facial features I assume you're one of Itsuki's sis-"

"That doesn't matter!" spat out the redhead, before walking around him eying all of his features.

"Getting a good look at you, there's no way I'd have ever let you into our house. If you know what's good for you, you better stay away from my sisters!" spoke the increasingly aggressive Itsuki look alike, who Futaro quickly deemed as 'Nino' as she had different accessories to that of the other 4 quintuplets he had come to recognize thus far..

"Huh?" was all that could be muttered out by the bewildered boy before the girl that stood before him quickly turned heel and walked away visibly angry.

'I don't remember doing anything to her or her sisters? Maybe I'll just ask Itsuki about it during lunch hour, she might know what caused her sister to hate me.'

And with that rather rude encounter behind him, the top student began walking to class, if only to account for attendance as he already knew the material that would be taught today.

"Barbeque set without the Barbeque please." ordered the plain student, still paying no mind to any whispers that were directed towards him, whispers not only due to his strange choice of lunch, but also for the red head beauty following the anti-social creature.

"That girl is really eating with Uesugi?"

"She's been with him ever since she came here. You think they're a couple?"

Whispers which led to one of the two students they were directed towards blush heavily.

After having found a table closed away in a corner, Futaro led Itsuki to go sit down, to which they began to eat their meals, one of them being noticeably read due to the privacy such a location in the lunch room had given them and the previous whispers she must've not been able to tune out. Even still, the two were able to carry a conversation well enough until Futaro began to bring up what had happened earlier that day.

"Hey Itsuki,"

"Hey Uesugi-kun,"

"Did I do anything to make one of your sisters mad at me?"

"? Not that I know of? You were rather patient and considerate of us, even with how poorly we had done on your exams. Why do you ask? Oh! Speaking of which, here's Miku's. And don't worry, I'm sure she did far better than I." spoke Itsuki, looking a little saddened as she gave Miku's quiz to Futaro.

"Thank you, I'll grade it later. And it's because I believe Nino came up to me and sort of barked at me to stay away from you and your sisters."

At this, the glutton's eyes widened immediately, face growing a tint of red seemingly embarrassed at her sister's actions.

"A-ah! I'm sorry Uesugi-kun! N-nino is a bit mean towards outsiders! Don't worry though, she won't do anything to you, y-you have my word! I'll ask her about what's wrong."

"Thanks. Anyway, let's finish eating and get to class. Lunch should be ending soon."

"L-lets!" responded an energetic Itsuki, excited at the thought of being able to eat more.

After this, the two quickly finished their classes for the day, Futaro of course acing any question he was asked. The two had then decided to head towards the quintuplet's apartment suite to try another day of studying.

On the way, Itsuki of course had to stop to get a sandwich, delaying their arrival and allowing time for the other 4 quintuplets to get home before them.

During this walk to the household of the Nakano family, Itsuki asked Futaro a question.

"Hey, Uesugi-kun, did you really understand everything in the lesson today?"

"Yeah, I sort of found it to be a lot easier than normal

"Huh, I see. Well that's good to know!"

Itsuki's POV:

'He thought today was easy? How can I not even be able to comprehend an easy day? Sometimes I feel ever so slightly smaller when I'm with him. Ah, what am I thinking, there are more important things than myself to think about. I wonder why Nino said that to Uesugi-kun. I hope he doesn't think poorly of me because of her actions. Nino should really think about her actions sometimes.' were all thoughts that pondered Itsuki as she and Futaro arrived at her household.

"Ugh, walking all this way still hurts my feet. A-anyway, I'll go gather the others while I grab some materials for us to use." Spoke the resolute Itsuki, determined to try and improve herself academically.

"Ok, I'll quickly grade Miku's test while you're at it."

After giving Futaro a nod of confirmation, Itsuki began to walk up the stairs to retrieve her sisters, Yotsuba and Ichika going down willingly, Nino appearing to not be in her room, and Miku going in after asking if she got above 50 points.

"Why 50 points? There isn't a prize if we get above 50." questioned the youngest quintuplet.

"Yotsuba promised me something if I got above 50."

"Ah ok! Well I bet you got above 50 Miku! You're the smartest out of all of us after all!" beamed Itsuki, hoping that Miku would be happy with whatever prize she got from getting a score of 50. The two red heads then proceeded to go downstairs to see the young man seemingly in despair with Yotsuba trying to console him.

"D-don't worry Uesugi-san! I'm sure you can help us improve!" spoke Yotsuba, trying to cheer the depressed boy up, patting him on the back.

"H-how are you all so dumb…" was the response she was given.

"How cruel!" cried Yotsuba, suddenly fainting at the harsh words thrown at her.

"Futaro-kun," he turned his head to see Ichika "I'm sure there's a nicer way to say that. Look, our poor Yotsuba has fainted!"

"She's clearly faking, and I can't sugarcoat how bad these results are." sighed Futaro.

'Did Miku not pass her mark? If he's disappointed in her, what does he even think of me? He must've been outright ashamed to even be near me after seeing my score…'

"Ah, Miku. I graded your test and gathered what you needed help on!"

"Did I not score 50 points?"

"Ah, well no. You got a 28 sc- wait hold on!"

The moment Miku had learned that she did not achieve the score to escape tutoring, she made a B-line for her room, quickly being followed by Futaro.

"Ahaha, Miku's really going to make things difficult for Uesugi-san isn't she?" spoke Yotsuba, laughing at what had conspired.

"D-don't worry! I'm sure Miku will come through and join us all to study! Uesugi-kun doesn't seem to have any malicious intent!" quickly spoke Itsuki, believing their tutor will be able to convince her sister to join their sessions.

"You seem to have a lot of faith in him. Ne, Itsuki-chan, do you by chance like our dear tutor?"

"! N-no! I-it's just that h-he's willing to h-help and M-miku has n-no reason to t-turn him d-down!" Spoke Itsuki, fumbling her words whilst being as red as a tomato.

"I know, I was just teasing you. You're just so cute!"

"Mouuuu I wish you'd stop that!" pouted the red head, only to receive a laugh from the two sisters present. A laugh that drowned out the distant yelling of the names of Sengoku warlords coming from upstairs.

'Even if that were the case, I'm sure Uesugi-kun wouldn't want anything to do with me in the slightest.'

Suddenly however, a trail of scent began to float into the living room, and Itsuki quickly began to follow the trail to its source with her mouth watering, finding Nino baking some fresh cookies.

"Oh, hey Itsuki. I was about to finish making some cookies if you wanted some. Y'know, to celebrate our new tutor."

The mention of their tutor quickly snapped Itsuki out of her hunger trance "O-oh! Speaking of Uesugi-kun, he said that you didn't want him to tutor us? He was wondering if he did anything rude to you."

"Oh that? I think he just misunderstood what I was trying to say. Of course I'm not mad at him, otherwise I wouldn't be making all these cookies" answered Nino, reassuring her sister that she had no ill intent towards their tutor.

Itsuki smiled at this, glad that it was all a misunderstanding, and elated that Nino was in a great mood at the moment, and thus hugged her beloved older sister.

"Thanks Nino! I was worried that you didn't like him, but I see that's not the case!"

"Yes yes, me and him are buddy buddy. Now why don't you go wait at the table while I finish the cookies." responded Nino as she patted the top of Itsuki's head.

"Ok!" was all Nino got in the form of a response before Itsuki dashed out towards the table, eagerly awaiting an afternoon snack prepared by her sister, who after a little while was met with the sight of Miku and Futaro walking down the stairs together.

"Oh Miku! You're going to join Uesugi-san's tutoring session?!" asked the excited Yotsuba, which earned a slight nod from her older sister.

"He… got me thinking, even if only a little, that maybe I can improve a little too, so..." Miku quickly turned around to face Futaro "You'd better take responsibility." with a visible smile on her face. A smile she'd normally reserve for her sisters.

'Wow, Uesugi-kun seems to have made Miku just a bit more lively! And he's already on good terms with Nino! I'm glad he's helping everyone out. Maybe he could help me too?' were the thoughts that floated through Itsuki's head before being interrupted by a shout that the cookies have completed cooking.

"The cookies are ready!" boldly declared Nino as she placed them in front of Itsuki, who couldn't wait to dig in.

'Ah, Nino always makes the best food!' she happily thought before digging into the food, unaware that Nino had put a powder down a glass drink nearby.

Itsuki continued eating happily as her sister walked over to Futaro who was now sitting down attempting to hand out test papers to the students who weren't preoccupied with stuffing their faces and offered him some cookies.

"Not a fan of cookies?" Nino questioned the tutor in her household.

"Sorry, I'm just not in the mood right now. Thank you though."

And that was all Itsuki heard, happy that her sister was getting along with their tutor, and someone who she hopes to be able to consider a good friend one day.

'Nah, he probably views me as a problem student more than anything.' was what concluded her train of thought, before she went to grab yet another cookie, unbothered by the fact that she was practically eating an entire tray by herself, however she was quickly interrupted when she heard something hit the floor in the living room.

"Bye bye." waved a smug Nino to a seemingly unconscious Futaro, leaving Itsuki extremely confused at the situation at hand.

"N-nino, why is Uesugi-kun suddenly asleep?" asked a hesitant Itsuki, fearful of the answer.

However, the youngest quintuplet's fears were quickly realized, as her older sister stood up smirking, proudly saying "Oh, I put something in his drink to knock him out. Would you mind taking him back to his house so I never have to see him again," before cursing Futaro under her breath and walking towards the Kitchen to make dinner for the other quintuplets in the apartment.

At this, Itsuki couldn't do anything, time almost freezing around her, before someone stood up to stop Nino dead in her tracks.

"Nino, what did you do to him?"

Author's note: Yeah, so Nino still sort of drugs Futaro here! Sorry for having the Miku stuff happen off screen, I didn't feel good about doing it(she's my favorite quint!) but I thought that it'd be better than sort of running through what happened in the mainline story, as that'd be boring! Anyway reviews are dope, and peace!