A/N: Hello, everyone. Yes, this is my official third story, and as you can read in the summary, I will focus specifically on the development of Fuutarou's relationships with Nino and Itsuki. I just tell you in advance that, compared to canon, Fuutarou didn't lie to Nino about his photo of when he was blond, which changed what happened during the school camp. Without further ado, let's go!
In a big hospital of Tokai, a girl with long red hair and butterfly ribbons was currently walking through the corridors in search of a room. A room where a person in particular was recovering after gettick sick because of a flu.
'Geez, why didn't I ask Papa the number of the room? I'm getting annoyed of searching for it', thought Nino, frowning after seeing that the last room she checked wasn't the right one either.
It had passed some days from when she, her sisters and their tutor Uesugi Fuutarou returned from the school camp, and because of a terrible flu that showed up while he was skiing, the boy had to be recovered soon in a hospital. And the father of the quints, being a rich doctor on top of being his boss, didn't hesitate to make him recover in one of his hospitals.
Isanari and Raiha were deeply grateful to him for this while his daughters were relieved that Fuutarou would get cured. Especially two of them: Nino and Itsuki.
In fact, during the test of courage of the school camp, the two girls that disliked Fuutarou had a sudden change as he saved them from falling from a cliff and helped them to get out of the woods after he scared them with his clown costume.
But this change in their attitude may have started even earlier; for example, Nino had come to know about Fuutarou's past as blond bad boy after seeing his old photo, which made her look at him differently. In Itsuki's case, the ahoge girl developed some affection for him after he helped her to study before the midterm exams by faking to mistake her for Miku.
Their sisters, who were the first to bond with Fuutarou as friends, noticed how the two girls were very worried for the boy after he got sick, with Itsuki going to check on him often to bring him some meat buns. "Uesugi-kun needs to eat well to recover faster!", was what she said as reason why she did that.
That made Ichika and Miku jealous because they thought that Itsuki was getting too close to Fuutarou, but their jealousy wasn't like Nino's. The social butterfly didn't like at all that her youngest sister was, in her words, doing those moves on Fuutarou. Which was the reason she was now searching for his room to visit him as she didn't before because she felt guilty.
'I didn't notice that he had a fever when I invited him to go skiing with us, so I was ashamed to come to visit him because I thought that it was my fault that his flu got worse. But I can't stand that Itsuki and my sisters are getting too close to him.', she thought, feeling jealous of her sisters.
Finally, she found a door with the name "Uesugi Fuutarou" written on its plate, which made her smile and open the door instantly. And there was the young black haired man, who was sleeping peacefully on his bed. A sight that made Nino blush while she was approaching him.
And once she was right beside him, she sat down on a chair and looked at him, admiring how handsome he looked. But it was on his lips that she gazing the most, with her cheeks getting redder.
'Y-you know, I don't think that I thanked you properly for saving me and Itsuki during the test of courage. It was you that scared us at first, but then you came to rescue us immediately as if you were a k-knight. If earlier I wanted you to stop being our tutor, now I don't want you to go away.', thought the girl, starting to get closer with her face to his lips to kiss them.
"Come on, girls! Uesugi-San will be happy to see us!", suddenly exclaimed a very familiar voice that made Nino stop and get alarmed. She hid immediately behind a curtain in the room to avoid being seen for a specific reason, watching how Yotsuba entered in the room while being followed by Miku and Ichika. The social butterfly pouted as they ruined what she was about to do.
"Ara ara, Fuutarou-kun is still sleeping.", said the oldest quint, smiling at how cute the boy looked in his sleep.
"And with how loud you and Yotsuba are, I cannot sleep anymore.", said Fuutarou instead, waking up unwillingly to see three of his students around him.
"G-good morning, Fuutarou. How do you feel today?", asked him Miku with a little blush.
The young tutor smiled, "I'm fine. It looks that I can-Yotsuba, what are you doing?", he started to say before noticing how Yotsuba smelled him.
"Uesugi-San, why do you smell like Nino?", she asked him with a curious look.
"Huh? What are you talking about? I don't use parfums, even if I-I like the one Nino uses.", he replied a little embarrassed, not knowing that he made a certain hidden girl smile with what he said.
Miku pouted at that reply. 'I don't like how Nino has got so close to him recently. I saw her having a photo of him as wallpaper on her phone too.', thought the headphones girl in jealousy.
"Ara, so you like the parfum that Nino uses? That's nice to know, Fuutarou-kun. It seems that you started to think about other things not related to studying."
"Don't think that you can neglect your studies anyways, girls. My will to make you five graduate stays strong.", he replied seriously, making Ichika sweatdrop.
"By the way, how did they treat you here at the hospital, Uesugi-San?", suddenly asked him the bunny ribbon girl.
"Your father is definitely kinda scary but very nice with his patients. The nurses were nice as well, even if they f-flirted often with me.", he said, covering his blushing face with a hand when he mentioned the nurses. And hearing that made the hidden girl come out from behind the curtain with an angry and jealous expression.
"W-What?! They flirted with you?!", she loudly asked, surprising both him and her sisters.
"Nino? You were behind the curtain all along?", asked her Miku, still stunned.
The social butterfly made a blank expression after noticing that she was found out, which then turned into an embarassed one. "Damn it! Now I can't escape from that needle anymore!", she exclaimed, starting to tremble in fear.
Fuutarou raised an eyebrow at that, "Needle? Do you girls have to get a vaccination or something?"
Yotsuba got out of her surprised state and replied, "Correct, Uesugi-San! Papa makes us get a vaccination at certain times, but Nino and Itsuki have fear of needles."
"I-I'm not scared of n-needles! I-I just don't like the sight of blood!", said Nino, frowning and blushing at the same time.
'You were also afraid when I tried to pierce your ears, you idiot.', thought the boy, sweatdropping and smiling at her embarassed expression.
"A-anyways, what's with the nurses flirting with you, Uesugi?!", she asked him, looking completely jealous.
Her sisters were again surprised by her behavior, which looked liked a girlfriend's one. A behavior that made Ichika and Miku frown as it looked like that Nino liked Fuutarou too. Both of them continued to frown when they saw their pouting sister sitting right next to boy while he was telling her that the nurses just flirted with him to play.
They got jealous too of the nurses for that, but now their jealousy was more towards Nino, who was too close to Fuutarou. On the other hand, Yotsuba simply smiled and sweatdropped, but her eyes suddenly widened.
"W-wait, if Nino was here before us, that explains why Uesugi-San smells like her!", she exclaimed, making Nino blush as she remembered the kiss she wanted to give him.
"Fufu, Nino is blushing. Did you try to do anything with Fuutarou-kun by any chance?", asked Ichika teasingly, hiding her annoy and jealousy after knowing the full truth. Hearing that question made Fuutarou blush too.
"Ehhh?! I-I just caressed h-his hair, t-that's all.", replied the second oldest quint, lying to avoid getting redder for admitting that she tried to kiss him.
'I would have liked to caress Fuutarou's hair mouu.', thought Miku, pouting. She found Fuutarou very cute while he slept, and she would have liked to give him a lap pillow. Even if the idea would make her blush a storm.
'If you came here later, I could have kissed him, damn it!', were the thoughts of the social butterfly, sighing in relief for finding a quick answer and internally groaning for the lost occasion. She really wanted to kiss him.
After Nino answered to Ichika's question, a nurse came to call the girls to go to get vaccinated, with a scared Nino being dragged by Yotsuba to go there. Seeing her scared so comically made Fuutarou chuckle; he found it pretty cute.
Her fear of needles also made him wonder if Itsuki wasn't with the other sisters to avoid being stung or not. Knowing how she could get scared easily, she had probably chose to stay home with some excuse.
But it seems that it wasn't the case as a certain red haired girl with star hairpins appeared on the door of the room, looking at the young man with a smile.
"Uesugi-kun!", she exclaimed, making him look at her while she ran towards him to envelope him in a hug.
"I-Itsuki?", he asked her, surprised and blushing for how she was hugging him. He could feel her big chest pressing on his.
"T-Thank goodness you seem to have recovered. It looks that the meat buns that I gave you helped you a lot.", she told him, smiling happily at him.
"Yeah, I guess so too. B-but what's with the hug?", he asked her, making Itsuki notice only now how she was clinging on him.
"Ah! I-I'm sorry! I-I was so happy to see that you're fine that I-I let my emotions take over me!", she said, stopping to hug him and blushing deeply.
"I-It's ok. I-I don't mind.", he replied, blushing as well while playing with his bangs.
'H-he don't mind that I hug him? That's so nice to hear hehe.', she thought, giggling internally. Knowing that she could hug him with no problems made her very happy.
"A-anyways, you're trying to avoid the vaccination too, right? Your sisters came to visit me and dragged Nino with them too: it seems that she and you fear needles."
Her blush got bigger at that statement. "I-It's not my fault! T-those sharp stingy things terrorize me.", she replied, looking away embarassed.
Seeing such expression made Fuutarou smile; despite trying to act mature, she still showed some childish traits. Traits that made her look cuter and brought him to unconsciously pat her head.
"You're really a dumb beautiful girl.", he told her with a grin, caressing her head.
"U-Uesugi-kun?", she mumbled, blushing even more with her heart starting to beat faster.
The boy noticed what he was doing, so he retracted his hand and blushed. "S-Sorry! I d-don't what came to me. I found you so cute that I felt like patting your head."
Such sentence made Itsuki's heart beat faster, with her blue eyes widening. 'H-He found me so cute that he wanted to pat me? You will make me fall for you more like this!', she thought, suddenly feeling the urge to hug him again but restraining herself. She had heard some giggles coming from some passersby nurses, and she didn't want to be more embarrassed.
"T-thank you, Uesugi-kun. I-It makes me happy that you think that I'm cute, but I came here alone to visit you for a specific reason: I want to know what pushes you to study so much to achieve perfect grades.", she told him, looking at him seriously.
The golden eyes tutor was amazed by the new subject that she introduced, and since he didn't mind telling her about his motivation to study too much, he sighed and proceeded to tell her everything.
He started by saying that he hadn't always been the smartass that he actually was; in his elementary days, he dyed his blond like his father and acted more like a bad boy that didn't like studying and preferred playing around with his friends.
But one day, during a school trip to Kyoto of five years ago, he had met a young cute girl with long red hair that saved him from being accused of being voyeur by a, in his words, a stupid old hag in cosplay. An expression that made Itsuki chuckle as she found it funny.
Anyways, after the girl helped him, she stuck up with him the entire day because she seemed to be lost and didn't want to leave Fuutarou alone. So the two of them visited some temples together and also took a photo together, until it was late evening.
"Then we had seen a bell of wishes that we used to pray that the promise we made could come true: I would have become a top student to help my family by obtaining a great job in the future while she would have the same to help her mother. It was also the moment where a man, who looked to be her father, found us and brought us to the hotel that they stayed at and where I played Sevens with her…", he told Itsuki, whose eyes widened after hearing of such promise while still listening carefully to his story.
"The hotel was also the one where my classmates and my teachers stayed, so I got reprimanded a lot when they found me there after I got separated by my group by faking a stomachache haha. You want to know why I did that? Well, let's say that I was jealous of a classmate of mine that always had the attention of a girl I liked, Takebayashi. I tried to make her notice me various times, but nothing to do. And I understood that I could do nothing about it when she told me that she liked him when I confessed to her.", he said to conclude his story, making a sad expression appear on Itsuki's face.
"I-I'm really s-sorry, Uesugi-kun. And what about that K-Kyoto girl? You liked her?"
"S-She was very cute, but as I liked Takebayashi since long time, I saw that girl as a great new friend that I'd like to meet again. After the rejection, I dedicated myself just to my studies, which brought me to become what I am now. Kinda lame, huh?", he replied, smiling awkwardly.
Itsuki shaked her head and took his hands. "N-no, it's not lame at all. It's true that when we met you called me a glutton and rejected to help me with m-my studies, but your efforts to help me and my sisters despite the fact we didn't want to study made me see t-the great person you are. And after you t-told me what brings you to do your best everyday, I can be only happy to have you as my tutor.", she told him, smiling blissfully and holding his hands tighter.
Her words and that smile of hers made the boy blush. "Itsuki...", he mumbled, not retracting his hands from hers.
"Hehe, how cute they are. Maybe they're couple.", said the voice of a nurse that giggled with her colleague, making the ahoge girl notice how she was holding Fuutarou's hands and le them go immediately.
"S-sorry! I let my emotions get me again!", she quickly said, embarrassed.
"I-It's ok.", was what he said instead, looking away to hide his blush.
'I'm really sorry that your childhood friend didn't love you like you did with her, but don't worry, Uesugi-kun. You made me find out about love for the first time after, and even if some sisters feel the same for you, I will do my best to be the only one in your heart.', thought the girl, feeling a stronger determination in her. Just like she would do her best in her studies to make him proud, she would do the same to make him love her.
Some minutes later, the other quints had come back to the tutor's room and saw Itsuki chatting with him, so they quickly grabbed her to drag her to get vaccinated. The ahoge girl cried comically during that, and Fuutarou could only sweatdrop while thanking Miku to bring him the school assignments that he missed during his sick days.
Unexpectedly, he received a little pink box from Nino, who blushed and left quickly with her sisters. And opening such box made his eyes widen; there were some chocolate cookies that seemed to be homemade and a little piece of paper inside of it.
"Don't you dare make me so worried again, you idiot! You told me that you liked them when you tasted them, so I'm sure you'll love them this time too. Love, Nino.", was what was written on the piece of paper, which made Fuutarou smile and blush.
To think that the girl that drugged him on his first day of tutoring made some cookies only for him was something of incredible, but as he remembered what Nino said in response to Ichika's question, his blush got brighter.
He didn't feel any hand touching his hair during his sleep, which meant that Nino didn't answer honestly to that question. So there was only one thing that she may have tried to do: kissing him.
Why did he think about that as first thing? Simple: since she found out about his younger self being a rebellious boy, she started to join him and her sisters to study together and to make some new snacks to him to taste.
But after he saved her and Itsuki during the school camp and he fell ill the next day while skiing, he remembered how she gave him a little kiss on the forehead before he fell asleep because of the flu.
There was no doubt in this case: the second oldest quint didn't dislike him anymore, and now she liked him, with her pride or something similar making it difficult for her to confess her love to him.
'I'm not dense. I clearly noticed how Nino's attitude towards me changed, and I-I'm sure she tried to kiss me in my sleep. And also Miku and Itsuki seem to hold some great affection for me while Ichika and Yotsuba act like usual. Even if I got worried when I told Ichika that I couldn't dance with her at the bonfire because the flu was already attacking me.', he thought, blushing and worrying again about how the oldest quint showed some tears when he told her that.
Another reason why he couldn't dance with her was the fact that it was Miku disguised as Ichika that invited him. So he felt that it would have been unfair to the headphones girl if he had danced with her sister. But luckily, both girls seemed not upset about it.
And while he was thinking about this, a familiar voice suddenly said, "Hey, son, how are you? Ready to go home?"
Fuutarou turned to see his father Isanari on the door, smirking and holding some clothes.
"Hey, Dad. I guess that Maruo-San told you that I can go home today, right?"
"Haha, you got it right. That stoic smartass sent me a text to tell me that you recovered completely after all. So, ready to eat Raiha's curry udon?"
The golden eyes boy smiled in return and nodded, getting up from his bed to take the clothes that Isanari brought to him, which consisted in a black shirt, a blue t-shirt and a pair of dark green jeans.
"If you want to know where these clothes come from, let's say that Raiha and I thought of using some of the money that you earned as tutor to buy some new clothes. You deserve it for doing so much for us!", told him Isanari, grinning.
Hearing that made the young man stunned, but none then he smiled and thanked his father, wearing the clothes that he just received.
He also went to look at himself in the mirror, liking how the outfit looked on him and taking a glance at his hair. A change in his haircut wasn't a bad idea, so he would surely do something about it at home.
And after this, he and Isanari left the room, with the boy taking a bag with his school assignments and the cookies box received by Nino, which tasted great after he munched on a few ones. Once again, the butterfly ribbons quint showed to be a great cook.
Once at home, Fuutarou got immediately tackled by Raiha that hugged him tightly, happy to see that her dear brother was fine. She apologized to him anyways, feeling that it was because of the fact she got sick before he left that he got the flu too.
"Don't worry, Raiha. The school camp has been pretty nice anyways in the end. I can tell you what I and those dummies did during it if you want.", he told her, patting her head.
"Sure, Onii-chan! Let's eat so you can tell me everything hehe.", she said, giggling and smiling after she saw that he wasn't upset with her. Of course he would never be; she and his father were his family after all.
The little girl also liked how her brother's new clothes looked very good on him, telling him that he'd amaze his students once he saw them again. And the mention of the quints was enough to cause a blush to appear on his face, making Raiha and Isanari smile with malice.
"Oho, someone seems conscious of those girls. Wanna tell us about it, son?", teased him Isanari.
"I'm curious too, Onii-chan! Did you and Itsuki-San got closer?!", asked him Raiha instead, with starts in the eyes.
In response, the boy scratched the back of his head and said, "W-well, you could say something like that."
"R-really?! Tell me everything, please!"
She took his hand to take place at the table together and to eat, starting to ask him how he and Itsuki got closer to each other and if the same happened with her sisters.
Isanari didn't miss the chance to tease his son about the fact that he would get a girlfriend soon if the things went so well with Maruo's daughters, making Fuutarou blush and frown in annoyance. Whenever his father talked about that subject, it was quite embarrassing for the young man.
"Oh yeah, I decided to change my hairstyle. I'd like to try something different from my current haircut."
Raiha smiled. "Leave it to me, Onii-chan! I will do my best to make him look even cooler! So much that Itsuki-San won't be able to stop looking at you!", she exclaimed with a joyful voice.
Fuutarou sighed, "You really see her as a big sister, don't you?"
"Yes, and after hearing what you told me, I know that she got very affectionate to you!"
"Also, the other four seem to be very interested you. You became popular just like me, son. Hahaha!", chuckled his father, eating his curry udon and drinking a beer can.
' I just hope to not have other girls going after me at school or something. Dealing with those quints is already enough for me. Plus, I'm sure that a certain butterfly ribbons girl would get jealous as hell if she saw another girl flirting with me.', thought the boy, remembering Nino's reaction when he had said that the nurses flirted with him.
Such reaction annoyed him a little, but he could admit that he found it nice. Knowing that someone that used to despise him o much for him now made him smile. Just like the care of his other students did.
And since his main goal was to make all five of them graduate with smiles, he'd make sure to to avoid what happened at the midterm exams. So he would do his best to help those sisters to pass all the subjects for real the next time. And probably, some of them would do their best to make him fall for them. Or to better say, two of them.