Chapter 1
"No way… you're the one… the one from the photo.", said a young woman with long red hair and butterfly ribbons at the sight of a young man with a black long jacket and blond hair while she was on the ground after being fallen inside the forest.
Said young man was confused with what he's just heard, until the point he connected the dots. 'Wait, the one from the photo? Oh shit, it's because of this wig! She thinks I'm that fake relative I mentioned!', he thought, touching his hair in frustration. The boy in question was Uesugi Fuutarou, that after having followed the two Nakano sisters, Itsuki and Nino, because he had scared them with his clown costume, was now in front of Nino that failed to recognize him.
'Damn it, why did I tell her that stupid lie? Guess that I should play along for the moment. I don't want to deal with her anger.'
"Y-yo Nino, I found you finally. Are you ok?", told her Fuutarou while extending his hand to help her.
"Eh?! Y-yes , t-thank you. But h-how do you know my name?", she replied, grabbing his hand to get up.
"W-well, m-my cousin Fuutarou told me about you and your sisters, so I recognized you haha.", he awkwardly answered.
"O-oh, I s-see. Well, nice to meet you…"
'Shoot, I have to come up with a fake name too. In what mess did I get myself into?!', thought Fuutarou in frustration to himself.
"Ah, y-you can call me Kintarou. It's a pleasure to meet you, Nino."
The young woman blushed when he said her first name so nonchalantly. "N-nice to m-meet you too, K-kintarou-kun.", she timidly replied. But her embarrassment got bigger when she noticed that she was still holding his hand. So she quickly retracted her hand, surprising the blond guy and apologizing.
"S-sorry! I-I didn't notice that I w-was still holding your hand."
Kintarou blushed a little and scratched the back of his head. "Ah, it d-didn't bother me honestly. Don't worry. Changing topics, are you ok? I saw you on the ground when I found you."
Nino continued to blush when he said that he wasn't bothered, but she answered to his question. "Y-yeah, I w-was searching for my sister after we got separated because a frightening clown scared us. But then my phone's battery died and I couldn't use it as flashlight anymore, and I fell on the ground after I stumbled on something."
Hearing what she's just said made Kintarou a little guilty. 'Maybe I overdid it when I scared them. I should help her to find Itsuki at least.'
"I see. In that case, can I help you to find her? In two it will be easier.", proposed the blond guy.
"Really? Thank you so much, Kintarou-kun! I'll gladly accept your help.", replied Nino with a bright smile, that made Kintarou blush and look away.
"Y-you're welcome. W-well, let's go to search for her.", he said, starting to walk on the main pathway and telling Nino to follow him. She quickly joined him and started to walk alongside him.
While walking, Nino tried to talk with him, looking to the ground as she was embarrassed to look at him in the face. She asked him which school he went to and if he was on a school trip like her. Kintarou replied to her questions a little awkwardly, as he had to come up with some lies to not reveal his true identity. While they were talking, Nino looked at him for a second and noticed something.
"Wait, let me give you a look.", she told him, making him stop his footsteps.
"What is it?"
She didn't answer and got closer to him, looking directly at his face. Kintarou worried that she may have recognized him.
But to his surprise she said, pointing her finger at his forehead , "Here! You have a scratch on the forehead."
Kintarou mentally sighed in relief and said, "Oh, don't worry about it haha. It will heal by itself."
"No, I can't have that. Let me take care of it.", she told him, pulling out a coloured plaster from a pocket of her long skirt and putting it upon his scratch.
"Here! Now it's better hehe.", she said with a nice smile, satisfied with her work.
'She's really throwing me off with this side of hers. But I cannot say that I don't like it.', thought the young man, a little embarrassed from her gesture.
Then he tried to thank her before an eerie sound coming from somewhere in the woods interrupted him. He and Nino got shivers all around their bodies at that sound that didn't stop.
"W-what w-was that noise? C-could be a g-ghost?", asked a frightened Nino, trembling constantly.
"N-no way, ghosts can't exist. M-maybe it's just a pe-", tried to say Kintarou before the scary sound similar to an eerie scream interrupted him again, seeming to be closer than some minutes ago.
"Noooo! I don't want to deal with monsters again!", screamed Nino, starting to run away from their position and out of the pathway.
"Ah, wait Nino! That's the wrong path!", said Kintarou while starting to run too to follow her. Even if his stamina was not that big, the blond young man managed to reach the butterfly ribbons girl and took her hand to stop her.
"Huff, you didn't have to run like that Nino. Now we're out of the main path.", told her Kintarou, catching some breath after running for some minutes.
Nino, after calming down a little, blushed because of his gesture and meekly replied, "I-I'm sorry, K-kintarou-kun. I-it's all my fault."
The young man sighed, but he pulled out a little smile. "It's ok, I'm not angry. Just don't run away like that again.", he told her, trying to relax her.
That worked a little as Nino nodded in agreement, then she lifted her gaze to see where they were now. The point of the forest in which they were seemed the same as before, but Nino noticed something different: a far passage that looked like the exit of the forest.
Nino smiled in relief and said, "Kintarou-kun! I found the exit from the forest! Let's get out of here!" And she started to run again towards the said exit.
Kintarou looked towards the point she indicated, but after a glance he recognized the passage with horror in his mind. 'Wait, that's not an exit… That's… Shit!'
"Wait dummy! Don't run towards there!", he shouted, starting to run to follow her.
But his warning was all for nothing when Nino turned around to him to say "Huh?", failing to notice that she reached a cliff. She turned around again but it was too late; her right foot had left the ground, and she was on the verge of falling. Horror and fear quickly affected her.
"Nino!!", shouted the blond young man while finally reaching her and grabbing her hand to pull her up. But to his misfortune the part of the ground under his feet broke and he lost his standing, making both him and her fall from the cliff.
But before they could fall further, the young man acted quickly and grabbed a branch from the cliff to stop their fall. Still, such gesture gave to his left arm a little pain, making him grit his teeth. What passed unobserved by him, was that the blond wig he had was lost, revealing his black bowl haircut.
Nino, still horrified from the position, glanced at him and noticed that he lost his blond hair. She looked well to his hairstyle and recognized him. "Wait, Uesugi?! It was you all along?!", she shouted in disbelief.
The now black haired boy, still suffering from the pain that his arm was dealing with, felt that he lost his wig from his head and replied, "I-I can explain later Nino. But now you have to listen to me; the branch is not gonna resist for too long, so hold tight on me and I'll let go."
"What?! That's crazy! If you let go, we're gonna-"
"There's no other solution! Trust me for this time! I'm not gonna let you die here! I promise you!", he interrupted her with a shout, gritting his teeth as his arm was reaching its limits in resisting to the pain.
What he said made Nino quiet and blush a little, despite the fear she was feeling. She decided to agree to his plan and wrapped his body with her arms. This was enough to give to Fuutarou the signal to let go the branch, and so he did. Then he turned and wrapped his arms around Nino to keep her close to his chest and protect her . Their bodies then started to roll down from the cliff, with him continuing to keep her tightly close while she did the same, keeping her eyes closed.
Now two people were laying down on the ground in front of a high rock wall after rolling down for some seconds. These two people were a girl and a boy that keeping their arms wrapped around each other and with their eyes closed.
The first to slowly open her eyes was Nino, finding herself against something like a ground. She fully opened her eyes and sat down, confused of what happened. Then she glanced at the big rock wall in front of her, lifting he gaze up to see the cliff from which she and Fuutarou fell. She noticed that it wasn't so high, and that explained why she was still alive and on the ground of a lower part of the forest.
'So that cliff wasn't so deadly as I thought. Guess that we're lucky to be still alive.', thought Nino in relief.
But a loud grunt of pain snapped of her thoughts, making her look down in front of her. What she saw horrified her: there was her tutor with his forehead bleeding and that was keeping his left arm, as if it was giving him the worst pain ever.
She quickly approached him and shouted, "Uesugi! A-are you ok?! You're bleeding!"
Fuutarou slowly opened his eyes to meet two sapphire eyes that were looking at him with tears. His eyes had difficulty to stay open, as if he was losing consciousness. He strived to look better at the person up on him, and when he recognized her, he smiled. "T-thank God you're o-ok. I I w-was able to save y-you Ni…no.", he said weakly, losing consciousness while his forehead continued to bleed.
Seeing him pass out like that made Nino break down, an she grabbed his shoulders to try desperately to wake him up, with more tears starting to fall from her eyes. "H-hey, d-don't m-make jokes h-here i-idiot. P-please, I-it's not funny. P-please… Uesugi. P-please, w-wake up. W-wake up… Wake up… Please, I beg you Uesugi!!", continued to shout Nino in order to wake him up, but with no results. The poor young man was still out of consciousness, making Nino cry even more and keep him close to her in desperation.
"Wait, did you hear that Maeda-kun? That sounded like a girl's scream!", said a sudden female voice coming from the distance.
"Yeah, I heard it! Let's go to check it up!", said instead a louder male voice.
From the woods behind a crying Nino came out a blond girl and a boy with gelled back brown hair that was keeping a flashlight in his hand. He pointed the light to Nino and Fuutarou, and what he saw alarmed him and the girl.
"Uesugi-kun?! Nakano-san?! What are you doing here?!", shouted the blond girl while getting closer to them.
When she heard their names, Nino turned around to see two people approaching her and Fuutarou. She recognized the girl and cried, "Matsui-san! P-please, h-help us! Uesugi lost consciousness!"
"What?!", shouted the other 2 teenagers, who quickly reached her and looked at the boy she was hugging. They saw his forehead bleeding as if he was wounded, which alarmed the brown haired guy.
"Oh shit, he's bleeding! We have to bring him to the nursery right now! Let me help you Nakano-san!", shouted Maeda, offering his hand to carry the unconscious Fuutarou.
Nino, still crying profusely, nodded and stopped hugging him, letting Maeda grab him and carry him with Fuutarou's right arm on his shoulders. Nino told him that Fuutarou's left arm was hurt, so Maeda had to be careful to not touch it.
"Nakano-san, what happened to you two? Why is Uesugi-kun wounded like that?", asked a concerned Matsui to Nino.
"P-please, l-let me explain later. U-uesugi needs help!", replied the butterfly ribbons girl, desperation audible in her voice.
Understanding her state, Matsui avoided to pry further and followed her and Maeda to get out of the forest and bring the wounded Fuutarou to the nursery the fastest possible.
'Please…Be safe Uesugi ', thought Nino, who was praying for the guy who saved her. And after a while, the group finally arrived to the building where their school chose to stay for the school trip.
Inside a room, a young man with bandages around his left arm and on his forehead was laying on a bed, still out of consciousness. A young woman with butterfly ribbons was sitting on a chair to his right, looking at him with reddened eyes after crying a lot. She had changed her clothes, since the ones she had before were all dirty after she and Fuutarou rolled down from the cliff. Fuutarou was wearing other clothes too thanks to Maeda's help.
Nino was looking at Fuutarou with sadness in her eyes, struggling to not cry again. After she explained to Matsui, Maeda and the nurse what happened to her and Fuutarou, the nurse had immediately cured the wound of Fuutarou and bandaged his arm, but failed to awaken him. She said that he might have taken a hard hit on the forehead, so he would wake up later.
Such news made Nino more worried, so she asked if she could stay by his side in the meanwhile. The nurse smiled and accepted, so now Nino was to his right side.
She still didn't tell her sisters what happened, but she knew that they would come to know everything sooner or later. But now her only concern was the boy who took the brunt of the fall in her place.
Why did he do that for her? Why did he risk his life to save her? She always treated him badly, refusing to show him kindness and to let him help her with her studies. So why? Why did he hurt himself for her? But then she remembered the words he told her before losing consciousness.
I'm not gonna let you die here, I promise… Thank God, I was able to save you Ni..no.
'Not letting me die… Saving me… His only goal was to protect me and save me from that fall. And just for that reason he acted like a hero. Just to save me…', were the thoughts of Nino that finally came to a conclusion.
So she took his right hand with both her hands, holding it tightly. "Uesugi, p-please wake up. I-I'm s-sorry I w-was so mean to you. I'm s-sorry that I drugged you that time. But please, wake up!", she cried, with tears falling down again from her eyes.
As if her words had been heard by someone, Nino heard some noises of someone that started to awaken from his long sleep. She looked at his face and saw him opening his eyes slowly.
"W-where am I? W-what happened?", asked to nobody the young man after he fully awakened and was now looking at a white cellar. He lifted himself a little, feeling his right hand being holded by something. So he shifted his gaze to his righ, finding his hand being kept by two hands of one redhaired girl with tearing eyes.
He looked closely at her face, and after recognizing her, he said, "N-Nino, is that you?"
The young woman let more tears fall down and immediately hugged him. "Idiot! W-why didn't you wake up earlier?! Y-you made me worry so much!", she cried to him, with her body shaking all over.
"N-Nino, you're alive. I'm glad that you're not hurt in the end", replied the young man with a weak smile, despite being a little stunned from her hug.
Nino sniffled, "W-why do you c-care more about me than yourself? I treated you so poorly… You were bleeding! Your arm got injured! Y-you lost consciousness too… So why?!"
Fuutarou noticed the bandages on his left arm that impeded him to move it and the ones on his forehead. He glanced again at her while she was still hugging him, with her face on his chest. He blushed a little and put a hand on her head.
"Because I would never have forgiven myself if something had happened to you when I had the chance to save you. It's true that me and you never got along, but in that moment I didn't care. The only thing that mattered to me was saving you."
Nino froze; she heard him correctly? Only saving her mattered to him in that moment? He wouldn't have forgiven himself if something had happened to her, despite she always despised him?
Then she felt his hand giving her a headpat. She looked up to meet his blue eyes with her own ones. His eyes had an apologetic look. "I'm sorry that I made you worry, Nino. That wasn't my intention."
Nino's tears continued to flow and she tightened the hug she was giving him. Her face was still against his chest, wetting his t-shirt with her tears.
Suddenly, a familiar voice spoke up, "F-fuutarou?"
Nino lifted her head and turned around to see just like Fuutarou 4 girls identical to her standing near the door of the room. All of them had tears and worried expressions.
"G-girls?", asked the young man.
In a blitz, the other girls went towards Nino and Fuutarou, with a bunny ribbon girl and a blue headphones girl immediately hugging the guy, pushing Nino a little aside and making her frown.
"F-fuutarou! U-uesugi-san!", cried Miku and Yotsuba, happy that their tutor was still alive.
"U-u-uesugi-kun! Why you made me so worried?!", asked Itsuki, tears coming down from her eyes.
"F-fuutarou-kun, I-it's not nice to worry Onee-chan like this.", told him Ichika, with a sad smile out of worry for him and tears too.
The black haired boy blushed because of how much worried every sister was for him, and scratched his back head. "I-I'm sorry, everyone. I made you worry too much. I'm really sorry.", he told them to apologize.
"Mnm, d-don't apologize Fuutarou. I-I'm just glad that y-you're alive. Thank you for saving Nino.", replied Miku, looking at him with a kind smile, despite her tears.
"Miku is right. Y-you don't have to apologize, Uesugi-san. The important is that you and Nino are fine.", told him Yotsuba, who was still hugging him.
Ichika and Itsuki nodded and took his right hand to show him their relief for seeing him fine. Fuutarou smiled to see them so relieved for him and thanked them dearly. All of them smiled as well. But then Fuutarou was reminded of something that regarded just him and Nino.
"Girls, I hope you don't mind, but I have something to talk about with Nino, privately.", said Fuutarou to the quints.
Miku looked up at him and pouted, "Privately? And what is it about?"
"I-I just have something to discuss about with her. Nothing of special.", he replied. His answer was enough to convince the third sister and the others to leave the room to let him and Nino talk about the private subject he mentioned. Before leaving, Ichika teased the two about a possible love confession, as she had seen Nino hugging him tightly, which made her sisters blush. Nino and Miku frowned at her, but Ichika said that it was just a joke.
After Nino's sisters left the room, she and Fuutarou were now alone. Taking up the occasion, Fuutarou broke the ice, "I think I have some explanations to give you, right?"
Nino understood what he meant and sat next to him, crossing her arms. "Yes, you have. Tell me everything."
"Right. Ok, for starters, the blond boy in that photo was not a relative: it was me when I was 12."
Nino's expression was of surprise. "What? You're telling me that that hot boy in that photo was you?"
Fuutarou blushed, "Y-yeah, I was a delinquent in my younger days in comparison to now. I hated studying and didn't give a damn about rules. I also picked up fights with bullies."
"And why did you lie to me?"
"W-well, to be honest, I'm a little ashamed of my past self, and as you couldn't stand me, I thought you'd have hated me more knowing that I was that type of person or used it to sabotage my tutoring job. Still, h-hearing you that you liked that old look of mine made me happy.", he replied with a little blush.
Nino blushed as well. "I-I said the truth when I said t-that the blond boy was hot. But knowing now that it was you, it's kinda embarrassing. And what about the wig thing during the test of courage?"
Fuutarou laughed awkwardly, "Haha, l-let's say that some idiots in my class g-gave me the role to scare people and I used that clown costume with the blond wig. But after I scared you and Itsuki, I saw you run away out of the path and I got worried. So I searched for you two."
Nino frowned, "And why didn't you tell me the truth when you found me instead of coming up with that Kintarou's bullshit? Did you want to make fun of me?!"
"A-absolutely not! I saw that you treated me kindly without my tutor role, so I couldn't bring myself to tell you the truth and disappoint you. Because I was happy to finally get along with you."
After he said that, Nino got red like her hair. He was happy that she and he could finally get along? He didn't want to disappoint her? So that's why he lied to her.
She said sheepishly, "W-well, n-now that you told me that y-you were happy to get along with m-me, I could even f-forgive you for lying to me. But at one condition."
"A condition?"
She pointed her finger at his chest and looked at him with a serious expression. "Yes.There won't be anymore lies or secrets between you and me. Just the truth and nothing else, ok?"
Fuutarou smiled, "If it means becoming your friend too, I accept then."
The butterfly ribbons girl smiled and hugged him again, taking him by surprise. "A-and what's this for?", he asked.
"This is my way of thanking you for saving my life, Fuu-kun.", she replied with a happier voice.
"Oh, I see. Wait, Fuu-kun?"
She looked at him with a smirk. "It's a nickname for you, silly. Calling you Uesugi was always impolite by me, and using Fuutarou is too long for me. So from now on I'll call you Fuu-kun. Don't you like it?"
He blushed. "A-actually no. I like it in truth. It's a nice nickname coming from a dumb girl."
Nino pouted, "You're really rude, Fuu-kun!"
"Haha, remember that I used to be a delinquent. I've never been a good guy."
"An heroic delinquent I would add. You're the one who saved me after all.", she replied with a smile that made him look away embarassed. Since when was she capable of teasing him like this?
"T-thank you for the compliment.", he sheepishly said.
A sudden voice coming from behind them spoke up, "Ara, a sweet moment between two lovers. How cute."
Both Fuutarou and Nino turned to see a middle-aged woman with brown long hair and a white coat that was looking at them with an amused smile. They registered what she said and Nino quickly stopped hugging him, blushing just like him.
"W-we're not l-l-lovers! W-we're just friends, t-that's all!", said Fuutarou, embarassed because of the misunderstanding. Nino nodded swiftly, despite she felt something bothering her when he said just friends.
The brown haired woman, that they recognized as the nurse, giggled at their reaction. "Hehe, if you say so. By the way, I came to check if you regained consciousness Uesugi-kun. The hit that you took to the forehead had wounded you and knocked you out for a while. But it seems that you're better now. Good for you.", she said, making Nino and Fuutarou smile.
"Unfortunately, your left arm is broken because of physical overeffort and damage due to a hard fall. It will take some weeks to fully recover, so it's better that you avoid physical activities like skiing tomorrow.", she said with an apologetic look.
After hearing that, Nino looked down. She felt like it was her fault that now he was in those conditions, all because of her stupid impulsivity. She felt so guilty that she risked to cry again if it wasn't for a hand resting on her head. She looked up and saw Fuutarou smiling to her.
"Don't feel like it was your fault, idiot. I told you, didn't I? Saving you was important for me. Avoiding physical activities won't be a bother for me.", he told her to cheer her up.
Nino's sad expression changed into a smile when he said that, and she enjoyed the headpat. The nurse smiled at their interaction.
"What I said doesn't mean that you have to remain stuck on a bed, Uesugi-kun. You and your girlfriend could visit some temples or do other activities if you want to fufu."
"Sensei!!", shouted the two teenagers with deep blushes on their faces.
"Haha, ok I stop it. By the way, it's very late. I suggest you to go to sleep Nakano-san.", said the nurse to Nino.
Nino checked the time on her phone and nodded in agreement. But before she left the room, she asked if she could speak with Fuutarou alone. The nurse smiled and agreed, leaving the room.
Nino turned then to Fuutarou and asked him, "F-fuu-kun, w-would you like to go to the aquarium with me and my sisters? Instead of skiing, we can go there."
Fuutarou, for his part, grinned and replied, "Yeah, I would like to. Thank you, Nino."
The second Nakano sister smiled and said, "You're welcome. I will go to sleep now then. Good night, Fuu-kun."
"Sleep well Nino."
She got up from her chair and started to leave the room. But before leaving, she turned around and smiled at him. "Oh, I forgot to tell you something. Y-you l-looked v-very good with b-blond hair.", she shyly told him, leaving immediately the room with a flushed Fuutarou.
Nino was covering her cheeks while walking towards her and her sisters' bedroom. 'Awww, why I said that?! It's true that he looked hot like that, but now that I told him, I'm so embarassed!', was what she was thinking, with a blush that rivalled the color of her hair.
A flushed Fuutarou instead, after she left the room, was having different thoughts while touching his hair. 'M-maybe I should go back to blond. I changed my hair color after that famous Kyoto trip, but I miss my old hairstyle. And this haircut is kinda plain. I'll ask Dad to help me when I come back. Time to sleep now.'
And so the young man closed his eyes and started to sleep, wanting to take a rest after all that happened. If someone were there in the room, he could notice a happy smile on his sleeping face.
A/N
What do we have here? Another story? Oh yeah my friends, this one is my official third story. As a few of you can guess, this story will focus more on romance and drama with less harem moments. The single pairing will be explicit too, so sorry harembros haha.
This idea comes from the QQ directory where other writers and I have inserted various ideas for stories about the QQ universe. This one in fact is from my buddy LanceSennin, and I thank him for coming up with this interesting idea. Don't worry about the other 2 stories: as I told you various times, I won't abandon anything, so rest assured. Just like the other 2, this one will get an once a week update. Well, I hope that you like this starting chapter.
See ya!