Chapter 8?
"W-wait, why are you pulling me!" cried the quintuplet, being dragged through the crowd by a man she's never known in her life.
"What are you even doing here? We're wasting time!" the figure before her barked back, before continuing, "We have to go back to the shooting right now!"
'Shooting? Audition? Why?'
Suddenly, before the Quintuplet thought to be Ichika could be pulled along any further, the man was then stopped by someone with a face eerily similar to the girl being pulled along at the time.
"Wait, where are you taking her? Did you already throw me to the curb?" asked Ichika in a teasing nature with a fake hurt expression, moving to release the man's grasp from Nino's wrist.
"H-huh? Wait, how can you both-"
"We're sisters, did you even take notice of the length of our hair?" spoke Ichika, using an imaginary ruler to compare her short hair towards Nino's large mass of hair.
"Now please, go into the car, I'll be there in a short while, ok? I just need to have a quick talk with my little sister."
'Wait, just where are you going?'
The casting agent stood there for a moment, pondering Ichika's request, before eventually letting out a sigh to relent to her wishes.
"Ok, but be quick, we're running for a short time."
"Ok, thank you." She then turned around to face her sister, "Now, what's going on Nino?"
"You're supposed to tell ME what's going on! First, a random middle-aged man grabbed me, and now it's because he was supposed to grab you?" she furiously got into her sister's face, pointing a finger towards her.
"You know, I thought I was getting kidnapped for a moment, so why don't you tell me what's happening." she concluded, crossing her arms and glaring at her sister for making her worry so much in such a little span of time.
Ichika moved to scratch the back of her head, letting out some embarrassed laughter at her sister's insistent questioning.
"I guess I do sort of owe you an apology. I've been trying to keep it a secret until now. You know, in case nothing happens."
This perplexed Nino, still not having a clue what she could be talking about.
"Keeping a secret from me? From everyone? Is it so important that you just had to not tell us?"
"Well, no… It's actually kind of silly when I think about it."
"So then what is it?"
Ichika sighed, before continuing, "I've been trying to get into the acting scene for a little while now, and the role I'm auditioning for tonight could really shoot me into the scene, so we were headed there right now." she explained.
Nino was silent for a moment, taking in what Ichika had just explained, but more so focusing on one specific aspect of her explanation, the part where Ichika said she had to leave now for the audition.
"Well, that's nice and all, but we have the fireworks to watch together, and you can't go missing that. Not on my watch at least."
Ichika's smile that she had been wearing since shooing away the casting agent faltered slightly, before straightening itself again.
"There's always next year isn't there? Besides, Itsuki isn't coming, what difference does it make if I miss out?"
Nino suddenly felt like she had been shot when she heard this line come from her sister. Shot through the heart, if one were to be specific.
'She really wants to leave us behind? But why?'
"B-But you can't just leave on your own!" Nino cried, almost pleading towards her sister to not miss out on the fireworks that mean so much to them.
Ichika then went and enveloped Nino in a hug, surprising the 2nd of the quintuplets, before whispering into her ear that 'It's ok, I'll make it up to you guys' before turning around to begin walking towards her destination.
But before Ichika could Finally head onto her audition and possibly get a jump into the acting scene, her sleeve was grabbed by Nino.
"Ne, Nino-chan, I uh, need to be going soon."
"I know," she said, looking downwards, Ichika unable to meet her eyes, "and I don't want you to."
She smiled at her sister's love.
"Nino please, this is truly big for me."
"And I thought the fireworks were big for all of us! Are you just going to leave them, us, behind?"
Ichika shook for a moment, before regaining her posture.
"You know that's not it! I just…. I can't afford to miss this. Please don't try and ruin it for me, ok?"
Nino couldn't stand up to her sister any longer, having been thoroughly denied no matter how hard she tried.
"Ok fine. Just…. Just one more thing."
'What could she possibly tell me at this moment that can't wait?'
"I think you need to fix your smile." said Nino, giving a smile of her own along with her advice.
"Huh?"
"It's just that we've known each other literally our entire lives, and I couldn't help but notice that your smile has looked a little off tonight…" she said sheepishly, looking towards the ground in an attempt to avoid eye contact from her sister.
Ichika then smiled a true smile at her sister, her eyes glimmering, and gave a quick nod as confirmation to Nino's advice before running off towards the car that would take her to the audition.
After watching her sister leave, Nino began walking towards the rooftop where she would watch the fireworks with Yotsuba, Riaha, and hopefully Futaro and Miku as well, assuming he retrieved her.
'It won't feel the same with only 3 of us this year.' were the words that floated through her mind as she walked through the crowd, disheartened not only because Itsuki was unable to come earlier due to her state of wellness, but also because Ichika had chosen something over her sisters.
...
"Itsuki?" asked the visibly concerned Futaro, being cautious to not set anything off as he could clearly see Itsuki had been crying from the red color of her eyes and the runny nose she was sporting.
Meanwhile, Itsuki herself quickly took stock of the situation, and began to quickly turn and begin to wipe her face before turning around again to face her tutor.
"O-oh, hi U-Uesugi-kun! I-I t-thought you would *Sniff* w-you'd b-be at t-the festival w-with my sisters!" she said, stumbling over her own worlds constantly, trying to put on a clearly fake facade in the face of the boy standing in her doorway.
'Is she ok?"
"Itsuki…" was all he said to her, shooting her an extremely worried expression, although that was not the expression Itsuki felt that she received. She felt as if she was receiving one of pity, one of distaste and disgust even, and she quickly turned away from the boy so as to not face his gaze for a moment longer.
"A-anyway, I-I'm f-feeling rather ill r-right now a-and I wouldn't w-want y-you to get sick, so you can close the door behind you n-now," spoke Itsuki, trying to get the boy out of her room so as to not see her in such a pitiful state as she was in right now.
'What am I doing?' was what Itsuki was thinking as she sat at her desk, staring at the wall to avoid eye contact.
Futaro didn't truly know how to react to the scene before him. He had never walked in on someone crying their eyes out, and was now feeling extremely awkward. He couldn't just fail to show up without Itsuki, he always went through with what he set his mind to.
'Just what do I even do here?'
He quickly came to a decision to simply ignore Itsuki's request for him to simply leave her and pulled out a medical mask for her to use so as to not get the others sick whilst watching the fireworks.
"That's fine, I have a medical mask for you so you can come without fear of getting us sick," the boy said with a somewhat strained smile, still not very comfortable in the situation he had found himself in.
"So come on, I'm pretty sure we don't have that much time left."
However, instead of Itsuki standing up, understanding Futaro's reasoning, and heading to the fireworks, she instead just slumped down onto her desk, her ahoge slumping down as if to match with her current mood.
"I-Itsuki?"
Suddenly, Futaro heard the girl before him whisper something so incredibly quiet that for a moment, he wasn't sure that he had actually heard it.
"I don't wanna go this year…."
This took Futaro back for a moment, his eyes widening at what he believes to have just heard.
'W-what? Isn't this an important occasion for the five of them? Maybe I misheard her.'
"I'm sorry Itsuki, I think I might be hearing things, but did you just say you didn't want to go this year?"
Futaro was unsure if he really heard Itsuki say what she said, and held out hope that he did in fact misheard the slumped over redhead.
'It'd be a lot simpler if I just misheard her. But if she doesn't even want to go…'
Suddenly he was pulled out of his thoughts when he heard another faint whisper come from the girl before him, except this time, there was no mistake in what she had said.
"Yeah."
"Huh?"
He then began walking towards Itsuki, determined to look her in the face as to get a better feel of what she's feeling, and why she's saying the things she is.
"Ichika said it was fine for me to not go this year, so what's the issue?" Itsuki quietly spoke to the figure behind her, stopping him dead in his tracks.
"Ichika?"
The boy stood there behind the girl thinking back to how Ichika did in fact stand up to Nino to allow her to allow Itsuki to miss out on the fireworks this year, making him question if Itsuki was even sick at the moment, and that was just a cover made for her by Ichika.
"T-that doesn't matter if Ichika said it's alright, you and I both know that the others would still want you there, so stop slouching over and let's go."
He then moved to grab Itsuki's hand, yet when he began to pull her out of her chair, she quickly pulled her hand away from her tutor, holding it defensively, still facing away from the boy.
"Itsuki, come on, everyone is waiting for us."
"S-stop it! I believe I already made myself clear on the matter, so you can see yourself out!" she quickly retorted, still not facing her tutor.
"At this point, Futaro was getting more frustrated than anything, as Itsuki had not only failed to give a reason for not wishing to go, but was actively resisting his help, and this led him to say something that he would quickly regret.
"Then tell me why you don't want to go with them? Don't you care that you'll hurt them without your being there? Do the feelings of your sisters mean so little to you?!"'
'Wait.'
He quickly realized that what he had said was far too sharp, loud, and vicious to be of any help in this situation, and quickly tried to take back his harsh words.
"W-wait, I'm sorry, that came out wrong-"
However, before he could continue his apology to her, Itsuki cut him off quietly, still staring away from Futaro.
"How could you..." she whispered, her voice noticeably shaking with each word she spoke.
He stood behind her for a moment, simply unaware of what he could even say to try and fix that atmosphere he himself had demolished so terribly. However, it wasn't long before Itsuki herself thought of something to say
"Leave."
"Huh?"
"I said, please leave my room."
Itsuki had given extremely blunt instructions, yet while the instructions themselves may be blunt, the voice that delivered them was nothing of the such.
'I need to fix this… She still hasn't looked at me ever since I walked in. I can't get a feel for what she's thinking without looking at her. '
"If you really want me to go so badly, why don't you look me in the eyes and say it to my face?"
Hearing this, Itsuki shuddered for a moment, silently steeling herself to turn towards the boy, to which she did in a swift motion, attempting to look him in the eyes.
The sight Futaro then saw was one he should have expected, but he still found himself caught off guard. As Itsuki had turned to face him, he could see tears streaming down her face, barely being able to hold back the urge to just fall towards the floor and cry to her heart's content.
"Please Uesugi-Kun…. Please leave…" she said, sniffling through the small message she had given, ready to fall apart on the spot.
Futaro, at a loss for words, could no longer find it within himself to turn down her request, and simply nodded and began walking out of her room, yet stopped at the door to offer a few words before he parted.
"Hey, Itsuki?"
She didn't respond, fearful that if she were to say anymore, she'd lose the battle to keep the tears that were already streaming down her face from overwhelming her.
"I…. I'm sorry."
And with that, he walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him so as to not disturb her any further. Shortly after, he began walking down the stairs of the luxurious apartment, hearing a large mass hit the floor above him as he began walking out the door of the apartment.
'Dumbass' was all he could think, ridiculing himself in the elevator towards the lobby.
Author's note- Yeah so, sort of a downer! I'll have the next chapter sort of being from Itsuki's POV and after Futaro left! But man, things just didn't go right for Nino or Futaro! Sorry that this chapter is shorter than 7! Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, reviews are dope and peace!