"You're kidding right mom?" Fuuka asks on her phone. "Five tutors? Isn't that going a bit overboard?" Fuuka turns around, seeing the boys already making themselves at home. Raito is nowhere to be found. "But mom...alright, I understand." She hangs up, pocketing the phone and walking inside stone-faced.
"Well, you've already met each of us. But let us properly introduce ourselves." Goro stands up, dusting himself off. "My name is Nakano Goro, I will be your tutor." He bows, his hair falls in front of his eyes and he has to brush it away. Fuuka grits her teeth, it all started with him after all.
"Boooooriiing! She'll never learn anything if you put her to sleep with lectures." Shin slaps his brother on the back, causing him to fall back to his seat. "I'm Shin, I'll teach you better than he could ever dream of." He beams a smile so bright. She could feel herself getting sick.
Sanzo doesn't stand like his brothers. "Sanzo. I'll teach you." Quick and to the point, his head hidden by his hoodie.
"Is he always this quiet?" Fuuka asks, sitting down. She shifts her weight to sit up with her legs crossed. Five guys in front of her, in her own home; not even mentioning their bad relationship due to the events earlier today.
"Don't mind this downer, he'll get to you once he gets his will too live back." Futaji gloats, causing Sanzo to dig a finger into the back of his neck. "Fine! Fine! In any case, I'm Futaji, the best tutor." He extends a hand. She swats it away, glaring angrily at him.
"That's awfully bold. Don't forget which one of us is the leader." Hitonari stretches, unbuttoning his shirt slightly before yawning. "Hitonari onii-san will...teach you...so..." He rubs his eyes as he leans back in his chair and falls asleep.
"Why you!?" She stands up in shock, clenching her fists. He has the gall to sleep in her home uninvited. She was about to yell when Goro started talking.
"He brought this on himself. We'll wake him up later." Goro says, walking up to her. "For now, please answer this." He holds out a test paper to Fuuka. She walks off, looking in the pantry and the fridge.
"Hmm, looks like I have everything. Raito, you want cookies?" She yells to the bedrooms. A few seconds pass in silence before a young kid's voice responds.
"No! Be quiet, I'm studying!"
"This one's going to be difficult." Futaji mutters. Watching her get a bowl and start measuring the ingredients.
"For you, maybe. This is nothing compared to that one boss in Terminal Blade." Senzo takes out an earbud. "This won't be significant, challenge wise." He wanders around the apartment, keeping a close eye on everything.
"Alright, you've set your timer. Let's start studying." Hitonari says enthusiastically as Fuuka walks away from them.
"She's left us." Shin laughs. "I'll get her out!." The five of them talk amongst themselves about what to do next as Fuuka shuts the door to her room..
"I'll go get her." Goro interjects, putting his hand in front of Shin. "Uesugi-chan." He knocks on the door, seeing a light shining from inside and hearing noise from beyond it. She was watching tv.
"No means no! Why did it have to be you of all people!" She yells before there was a thud on the door. By the sound of it, it was probably a bag of some sort that was thrown at the door.
"This is why you never call a girl fat, Goro." Sanzo knocks on her door, a small smirk on his face. "Fuuka? It's Sanzo. I have something I'd like to ask." He presses his ear against the key hole to hear better.
"Take out your earbuds! I don't want to have to repeat myself!" She yells near the door, causing him to wince and grab his ear.
"I guess I'll give it a try." Hitonari yells from downstairs.
"Hitonari, I'm going to stop you right there." She pokes her head out. "I will never let the five of you teach me!" The sound of the slamming door rang through the apartment.
"So..." Futaji sits down with his brothers. "That girl doesn't even want to see our face. First one to actually teach her something wins?" He stretches his hand, arcing his back.
"Well, since we're here to study, might as well get started without her. You especially. You can't teach if you don't know anything after all." Shin suggests, pulling out a notebook and pencil.
"Be quiet Shin. If I recall correctly, you're behind on your assignments. Will you even be able to catch up if you take this job?" Goro notes, putting the papers he tried to give her back in his bag.
"You always underestimate me, but who's the one with the least accomplishments." Shin complains, flipping to the next page and writing something.
"Both of you give up. You two have already destroyed your chances with her. I'll have to carry your weight this time as well it seems." Sanzo pulls out an old handheld game console and plugs his earbuds into it.
"There has to be a way to get her to study." Futaji mutters to himself, scratching his head.
"Futaji, another one of your schemes? They never work out for you, do they?" Shin leans in closer. They hear a door swing open and a few footsteps
"You're still here? You're persistent, I'll give you five that." Fuuka walks down and heads towards the oven. She looks mad, still.
"Fuuka-chan. If you want, I can get them to leave. Think about it, just you and me." Hitonari says, winking and smiling.
"Give it up. One or one hundred you and your siblings will never teach me." She says, putting on an oven mitt and pulling a tray of cookies out of the kitchen. Futaji comes up behind her.
"Fine, then we'll play your game. If you won't come willingly, then I'll teach you by force if I have to." Futaji tries to take the tray of cookies away from her...tries. His scream pierces the air as he pulls his hand away, clutching it with his other.
"You idiot! Hold still!" She drops the tray and brings him to the sink. "Alright, here. Keep it under the tap." She moves his wrist to not touch his palms.
"Sorry about this, Fuuka-chan." Hitonari says, resting his head on the table and taking a nap. Nobody moves from their spot, more absorbed by their own ways of study.
"Futaji, you have a brain. Use it for once instead of running on impulse." Sanzo chastises him.
"They didn't even bat an eye when he yelled...what's wrong with these assholes?" Fuuka takes a look at Futaji's hand, it's starting to blister. "This isn't good. This is worse than any blister I've seen before." Fuuka says walking off to get some painkillers.
"Maybe mom can help you if you go home. You should call it a day Futaji." Sanzo says, looking at Futaji like a lion to it's prey.
"Not like you can teach her anything anyway. I wonder what she'll answer if he was left to teach her, would she pass?" Hitonari ponders.
"All five of you go! He's injured and all you think of is-" Fuuka was cut off.
"I'll stay, you three take him home." Goro suggests, the boys all look to each other.
"As if I'd let this be the reason to lose to you." Futaji says, pulling his hand away from the water.
"Do I not have a sa-" Fuuka tries to speak up, but she was ignored.
"You have no choice, even Uesugi-san doesn't want you here" Shin says as the five of them turn to find the girl furious
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!"
"It's a shame, I had to trash the cookies." Fuuka sweeps the floor. "Only five stayed on the tray." She picks up the tray and places the cookies on a plate. "Also, WHY THE HELL ARE YOU ALL STILL HERE!?"
"Would you mind if I took one?" Goro is eagerly eyeing it, a small amount of drool escaping the corner of his mouth.
"You..." She sighs. "I don't care. My mood is ruined already." She stops for a while and clutches her head. She's been mad ever since lunch yesterday, it isn't good for your health.
The sound of the brothers' chewing is the only thing that fills the place, and even then it's only a faint noise. "These..."
"Can it. I don't want to talk right now." Fuuka dumps the scraps into the trashcan. "Leave. I'm going to bed." She says, giving up on her anger and letting apathy take over.
"I'm not going anywhere until they're gone." Sanzo says, playing his game.
"Give it up. I'm teaching her tonight." Futaji says, holding some ice in his palm. The five boys bicker as Fuuka shuts the door to her room and falls asleep.
"Ugh...need to go..." She mutters to herself as she makes her way downstairs towards the bathroom. Ten, maybe twenty minutes pass before she came back out. "Ugh..." Was all she could say when she saw five sleeping boys strewn about the couches and chairs.
"Good for nothing, pretentious, and just plain mean!" She mutters to herself as she checks the time using one of their phones. "2:30? There's no...hmm?" There's a text on screen, and Futaji had left his phone on.
"Where are you?! All of you still aren't home! I'm so worried. Come home soon, please. I'd look for you myself if I could. Please." From mom; sent 11:49 yesterday.
Fuuka gets her number from Futaji's phone and sends a text. "Hi ma'am, this is their student: Uesugi Fuuka. They've all fallen asleep at my home. Please come pick them up asap. My address is..."
"She's probably asleep. I should go to bed too, huh?" She mutters to herself as she looks at the five boys.
"Ugh...where am I?" Futaji asks himself as he rubs his head. Sleeping while slumped over a table had killed his back, and he stretched to correct that. He looks at his hand, currently wrapped in a cool, wet, cloth.
Sunlight streamed in through the windows, the early morning air warm and comforting. The smell and sound of frying bacon hits his nose as the sight of the blonde in the kitchen catches his eye. There was food set on the counter of the kitchen, plates of eggs, meats, sliced fruit; bowls of rice, soup, oatmeal; a loaf of bread, some butter and jams.
"Raito! Can you help me set the table?" Fuuka calls out, followed shortly by a door being opened by a young boy.
"Uhh...hi?" Futaji groggily says, waving his hand at the kid. Ignoring him, Raito gets a few plates and sets them on the table before Futaji, taking a slice of bread before going back to his room.
"You all fell asleep..." Fuuka says, plating up the bacon and putting it on the table along with the eggs. "How rude. Your mom was so worried."
Futaji hurriedly opened his phone, or at least he tried. "It ran out of battery." He mumbles as Fuuka goes around waking everyone up.
"I got a text from her a bit ago. Someone will come to get you in an hour. Until then, don't disturb me, I lost sleep because of you idiots." Fuuka scolds them, taking a bowl of oatmeal and some fruit with her up to her room.
The five of them look amongst themselves, most with the same competitive look in their eyes as the night before. Their stomachs all growl as Goro proposes something. "Whoever eats the most wins." They all agree to compete, except for Futaji who was busy looking for an outlet to charge his phone.
Fuuka eats her food in solitude, panting because of the exhaustion. "Maybe I went a bit overboard. Knowing them, they're probably fighting over a piece of bacon by now." She sets the empty bowl on the desk, beside a framed picture.
It shows a family. A tall black haired man is seen holding up a dark haired girl, around five or six years old, on his back. A woman is cradling a baby that could be no older than one or two years old. "Will we ever be like that again?" She picks it up, trying to wipe away the smudges on the glass. "I miss you dad, mom...Raito..."
"Who's going to pick us up?" Hitonari asks, finishing his plate.
"I'll let you worry about that. More importantly, who's going to clean this up?" Shin points to the plates and bowls left on the stained table.
"I'm sure Fuuka wi-"
"I'll do it." Futaji volunteers. "I'd hate to be indebted to that spoiled brat."
Gathering the plates and moving them all to the sink, Futaji starts the tap as Fuuka comes down from her room. "Good, you're not a complete asshole like your brothers." She says loudly, setting her bowl in the sink. "Thanks."
"Don't take it the wrong way, I hate owing favors." Futaji retorts, scrubbing the next plate spotless.
"By the way, they're picking you up earlier than they said. Go down to the lobby, someone from your home will be waiting there to take you home." Fuuka says. "Get out of my house as soon as you can." Yawning, the girl goes into her room as the boys all pack their things.
"You're back? Still haven't given up, haven't you?" It was later that same day, around the afternoon. Fuuka had just woken up from a long delayed night's rest, and was not in the mood to deal with their shenanigans so soon.
"Of course we haven't. We haven't even started." Shin says with his usual energy.
"Thank you for the meal earlier. It was delicious, Uesugi." Futaji says as the five of them walk in. He bows slightly.
"You better cooperate this time. I'd hate to miss out on another raid because I was stuck here." Sanzo says starts ranting. He rambles on and on before he sits down.
"But it was your fault though..." Fuuka thinks as the six of them sit down around a table. "I'll give you one last chance to give up. You five are biting off more than you can chew." She says, pleadingly. "I'm not another test that you can pass, you can't do this."
"We'll see about that. We worked together to make this mock exam for you. Answer it." Hitonari hands over the paper they tried to give her yesterday.
"You five, working together? That sounds like a stretch from what I've seen." Fuuka comments snidely.
"You'd be surprised." Goro rebuts, his head still buried in the book.
"Okay, fine. But if you laugh at me, then I'm firing you before you have a chance to quit." She says, but there was hollowness in her tone.
"I...I can't believe this..." Hitonari says, clutching the paper.
"No way." Futaji stares wide eyed. He's in so much shock that the pain in his hand subsides slightly
"Impossible..." Sanzo pulls out his buds, recounting the score.
"Is this real..." Shin switches his view from the paper to her and back.
"100...mistakes. She didn't get one thing right." Goro stares at Fuuka, who sighs and gets up.
"Do you see now? It's hopeless. Go home." She says, trying to hide her face.
"Hell no!" Shin exclaims. He runs up to her as she starts climbing the stairs.
"This might be the hardest challenge we've had." Hitonari smirks, adjusting the papers and making a few marks on it.
"A bounty that'll give whoever claims it the best future." Sanzo smiles, looking up at her with a predatory look.
"I thought she'd at least get the multiple choice ones right." Goro sighs. He adjusts his glasses and starts to think of how he's going to tackle this obstacle.
"Well, there's no point in sitting around. After all..." Futaji walks up to Fuuka. His voice calmer, but still pushy.
"I'm your tutor, there's no way I'm letting them win!" They all say in unison, causing Fuuka to swallow a knot in her throat.
The five of them leave shortly after. "We all have to rethink our entire lesson plan. We'll be back tomorrow." Shin says with a smile. Fuuka is left in the room alone, Raito not even coming out for dinner.
"This is going to be hell." She sighs. "What's their deal?"
A/N: Here's a short description of the families and characters (mostly so I can have a consistent base for their personalities in future chapters.)
Uesugis: Uesugi Fuuka and Uesugi Raito were born to Isamari, though they only adopted the Uesugi name when she remarried a movie producer and became an actress five years prior to present day. The man in Fuuka's photo was their biological father, who passed away two years before their mom remarried. Because of her job, she and their step-dad are rarely home.
Fuuka: She is beautiful, popular, and the top of her year (though that last point is undeserved). She puts up a prideful front to push people away. She does the housework at home and cares deeply for her brother Raito.
Raito: He spends most of his time studying in his room. He only comes out when he eats, often bickering with his older sister if they cross paths.
Nakanos: The Nakano family live in the slums of the city. Makan, their biological mother, is a caring and cheery woman. Ebana, a close family friend, works to help keep the family together. Their father, Ren, was a teacher in life. He died due to a disease and their attempts to cure it caused the family to fall to poverty. The quintuplets, determined to help, study as much as possible in order to get high paying jobs.
Hitonari: The "eldest" brother. The self-appointed leader. He specializes in math, but rarely has notes, learning everything by ear. He constantly jokes and teases everyone.
Futaji: The second brother. He's prideful and impulsive, but he just wants the best for people around him. He's the best at English, he watches his teachers closely and learns from it more than anything.
Sanzo: The middle brother. He's quiet and reserved, only ever getting excited when he quarrels with his brothers. He's easily the most perceptive and curious of the quints. He specializes in social studies, learning much of it from old games and supplementing that information with research.
Shin: The fourth brother. He's energetic and rambunctious. The most fit of his siblings. He is great at Japanese, keeping a small notebook, where he writes poems and short stories, in his bag.
Goro: The last brother. He's serious, but he can easily be broken. He's caring, but that won't stop him from following his morals and duties. He studies science, usually having at least one book in his bag for reading.