Chapter 5

It was already evening when they finished their karaoke session. It was a fun and enjoyable karaoke session, mixed with some seriousness between it. Leaving the karaoke place, Fuutaro suggested that they should go to the park where he usually went, to chill and relaxing after this long day. Ichika agreed to go with him and as they walked to the park, she teased Fuutaro about his terrible singing performance back in the karaoke.

"Ahaha…! What's with your singing, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika laughed, remembering Fuutaro's terrible singing. "Pfft… Even the speaker can't withstand your voice and it made a buzzing and those strange noises!" she covered her mouth with her hand to hold the laugh.

"Oi, oi… What's with that insult coming from you?" Fuutaro sighed, with a slight annoyance was visible on his face. "Just like I said, I never sing before, so this should be normal, right?"

"Hehe… I can't be the judge of that. But that speaker definitely told that you're a terrible singer." she continued to tease Fuutaro as she still laughed, remembering his terrible singing.

"*sigh* Whatever you said, Ichika," he sighed and shook his head from her constant teasing.

They both kept walking, making their way to the park with Ichika still laughing and joking about Fuutaro's singing. For Fuutaro, he was still annoyed from her teasing but he was fine with it and then joked back with her. It took some amounts of minutes to walk to the park, but it didn't feel that long for them because of the talking and joking. Arriving at the park, Fuutaro took a seat on the swing while Ichika went to the nearby vending machine to buy them a drink. After a while, Ichika joined him by taking a seat on the other swing next to him and gave Fuutaro a water bottle.

"Ahh… Thanks." Fuutaro took the water bottle as he opened the bottle and drank the water. "I can't believe it's already this late, it feels like just an hour ago when you asked me to skip school."

"Well… When you're having fun, time feels to flow faster without you noticing it," Ichika said with a grin. "It's still much faster than when you tutoring us, because it can be boring sometimes." she then started to swinging.

"Oi… Remember what I always said. As long as you're still a student, studying is important," Fuutaro said. "Also don't forget that I will guide all of you through this final year until you all graduate with satisfying score." he also started to swinging too.

"Yes, yes… Then, I'm counting on you to keep tutoring us!" Ichika responded with a smile.

Both of them keep swinging for some amounts of times in silent. Ichika can only saw Fuutaro swinging in silence because she didn't even know what to talk anymore. So she enjoyed this moment of silence, closing her eyes, and enjoying the breeze of the wind created from the swinging. It was the same for Fuutaro, because he ran out of topic to talk to Ichika and he was not good at starting conversation other than studying related-topic. Just like her, he closed his eyes and enjoying the breeze with a smile.

He felt nostalgic from the swinging because he always went to this place to relax himself when he was a kid and as well to remember his childhood memory. As for Ichika, this also brought back an old memory, when she and the other four also liked to play in the park when they were a kid. She especially loved to play on the swing because of the swinging sensation and the gentle breeze created from the swinging. The other sister who always accompany her in swinging was Yotsuba, who also happened to love swinging too. Unbeknown to them, they had the same thought when they keep on swinging as nostalgic thoughts filled their heart and mind.

"This feeling…"

"It's surely nostalgic…"

"That time when everything was simple and I didn't have anything to worried about…"

"It's truly an enjoyable time…"

After some moments of swinging, there was a thought popping in Ichika's mind and suddenly she thought about the future. Still swinging, Ichika then asked to Fuutaro about his thought on the future.

"Hey… Fuutaro-kun, do you have any plan about your future?"

"Hmm… What makes you said that?" Fuutaro wondered about Ichika's question.

"I don't know. It suddenly popped up in mind," Ichika said. "Do you have any plan after we graduates from high school?"

"Well… I have a plan to apply a scholarship to Tokyo University," Fuutaro said, telling his plan to Ichika after graduating. "But I still don't know which faculty I'm going to choose since I haven't thinking that far ahead."

"Hehh…? Tokyo University, huh?" Ichika slightly surprised about Fuutaro's university choice. "I always heard Tokyo University is very difficult to apply. If I'm not wrong, their acceptance rate is very low and it's one of the hardest universities in the country to apply."

"Yeah… I know about that. That's why I won't stop studying until I graduated from the university." he said about his seriousness of studying and education. "Also, this national mock exam is a good opportunity for me to measure my capability if I'm good enough for Tokyo University."

"Hehe… Do your best to achieve that, Fuutaro-kun," Ichika chuckled, giving an encouragement to him. "Then, I guess you still don't know about your future career, huh?"

"Yeah… Even after the career counseling last year, I still don't know about what career I'm going to take."

"Well… I'm sure you will find your career as time goes by and I will also help you to discover it!"

"Heh… Thank you, Ichika," Fuutaro replied with a satisfied smirk.

They continued to swing for a long time as they talked about the next school trip and how they were looking forward to it. The two talked about it for a long amount of time and an hour had gone by because they got absorbed in talking how fun it will be for the school trip. Fuutaro then stopped his swinging and followed by Ichika, because they noticed that the time was already late. School time was already over for some times and it can be shown by the color of the sky, which already turned into dark orange, with a shade of black color also visible on some parts of the sky. Fuutaro then grabbed his school bag and put it on his shoulder.

"Well… I have to admit that today was pretty fun," Fuutaro said with a smile, feeling pleased about today school skipping experience. "I didn't expect that skipping school can be this fun and enjoyable…"

"Hehe… How about we do this more often since you enjoyed it?" Ichika giggled as she picked up her school bag from the ground too.

"Oi… How many times I told you that school is important…" Fuutaro said as he got annoyed from Ichika's another teasing.

"Yes, yes… I understand about it. I'm just messing with you." Ichika continued to chuckled and that chuckle turned into a grin afterward. "Besides, I never knew you can be such a fun guy, Fuutaro-kun. I always thought you're a boring and cold type of guy. But I guess that type of guy did have some fun in them."

"Heh… I'm certainly that type of guy that you just mentioned. But thanks to you, I guess I did have some fun today," Fuutaro smirked after hearing Ichika's statement about him.

"Thank you! I guess Fuutaro-kun will always be Fuutaro-kun."

"Oiii… You two, where the heck you've been this all day!"

A familiar voice was heard not far away and it startled both of them. With a cold sweat, Fuutaro and Ichika turned around and they saw Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki coming towards them. The two looked at each other with a sarcastic-laugh, knowing that they had been caught by the other four. The four sisters finally came up to them and scolded them for not coming to school today.

"Hmm… I can't believe someone like Uesugi-kun dare to skip school, knowing he's the kind of person who is a study-maniac," Itsuki said, crossing her arm with a frown, seemingly disappointed in Fuutaro.

"Anyway, Where the hell have you been Fuu-kun!? Did you have a date with Ichika or something?" Nino said irritatingly, moving forward to Fuutaro, pointing her finger at his chest.

"Is that true, Fuutaro?" Miku said with a pout. "Since Ichika is here with you, this can be a proof that you two skipped school." she then looked at Ichika, who were standing next to Fuutaro.

"Uesugi-san, I'm kinda worried on why you did not come to school today. Did you really skipped school with Ichika just like what Nino said?" Yotsuba said with a frown, feeling annoyed by his action.

Fuutaro was nervous being bombarded with questions by the four. He thought to himself that they must not know that he skipped school because of Ichika's request and it can create a potential problem if he told the truth. So, he decided that he needed to lie to avoid any unwanted situation between them.

"O-Oi… It's not like that!" Fuutaro panickily said to the four sisters, which were standing in front of him. "I just felt I didn't want to come to school in this morning because of the pressure your dad gave to me yesterday. So, I took a day off to cool my mind from that pressure and coincidentally, I met Ichika an hour ago while I'm relaxing in this park," he said with a slight panic tone, glancing at Ichika, hoping she played along with him.

"Hmm… Is that so?" Nino said with a narrow eye, doubting Fuutaro's explanation as she turned her attention to the eldest sister for her explanation "Then, why didn't you come to school too? Do you have anything to say, Ichika?"

"Eh-uh…! It's because of a sudden call from my manager when I'm on my way to school this morning. He told me to come to the shooting stage near this park because one of their actresses fell ill. My manager said it was an emergency and last-minute shooting situation, so I have no choice but to skip school and go to the shooting stage," Ichika said with the same panic expression as Fuutaro, explaining to Nino the "reason" why she didn't come to school today. "After the shooting, I took a walk in this park and I don't know how, I met Fuutaro-kun sitting on the swingset, so I came to say hello to him." she continued to explain with a weak laugh to the other sisters.

The four sisters looked at each other and they sighed from hearing their explanation. They gave them a pass for skipping school today and then reminding the two of how serious Fuutaro's bet with their father was. The two, still with cold sweat, nodded and apologized to them. The four sisters then told Ichika to come home with them because the time was already late, but Ichika told them to go home first because she still had something to say to Fuutaro.

"You all go home first. I still have some things to say to Fuutaro-kun."

"Don't take too long, Ichika. We'll wait you for the dinner together," Miku said to Ichika, reminding her to not take too long and then waved goodbye to Fuutaro with a smile. "See you tomorrow, Fuutaro."

"I'll keep my eye on you, Fuu-kun! So don't ever think of skipping school again, okay?" Nino said, pointing her finger at Fuutaro again from distance.

"Then, see you tomorrow in school, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba said, waving her hand to Fuutaro.

"Don't forget about the school and remember about your responsibility, Uesugi-kun," Itsuki said, reminding the responsibility to Fuutaro.

"Yeah, don't worry about me. I'll see you all at school tomorrow," Fuutaro responded with a smile and gave the four a small waving.

The four sisters went home first, leaving the two alone again. Ichika then said her gratitude to Fuutaro, thanking him for joining her to skip school today.

"Thank you for today, Fuutaro-kun," Ichika thanked him and there was a cheerful expression on her face. "Today was really fun and enjoyable for me. I haven't felt this fun in a long time."

"Yeah, me too, Ichika," Fuutaro responded back with a smile of his own. "Thank you for today. It was a new experience for me, so today was a very enjoyable day."

"Hehe… Then, see you tomorrow, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika said with a grin as she walked away, waving goodbye to him.

"Ahh… I'll see you tomorrow, Ichika," Fuutaro nodded back with a smile of his own.

As Ichika walked home, she reflected today school skipping experience and it made her smiled and blushed because she successfully spent her time with Fuutaro without any interference from the other sisters. With a mix of fun, happiness, seriousness, and some sadness, this was truly the best moment she ever spent with Fuutaro and Ichika hoped she can repeat this moment again in the future. Also, she was hoping her relationship with Fuutaro can move forward from being a friend and student-tutor relationship to something even more "special".

"Today was surely a fun experience with you…"

"I won't forget this day…"

"I hope we can have this moment again in the future…"

"Now I just need to fulfill my bet and keeping my promise to you…"

"I'll never give up… It's just for you… my love…"

After seeing Ichika walked away, Fuutaro just smiled as he made his way back to his home. He also reflected about today experience of skipping school and it was definitely a fun and enjoyable experience. With a mix of fun, happiness, seriousness, and some sadness, today was definitely a new experience for him because he never had this kind of experience before. He also thought about this mysterious feeling that he felt today and he still didn't know about it. Fuutaro made sure to figure out about this unexplainable feeling later because it kept bothering him. As he kept walking, he thought about Ichika, her bet, and her promise that she made to him.

"Thank you…"

"You gave me another perspective on how enjoying life…"

"I won't forget about today…"

"I will also figure out this unexplainable feeling about you…"

"As for your bet and promise…"

"Do your best and don't give up… Ichika."

"I'm counting on you!"

A/N:

So here's chapter 5, hope you enjoyed it!

I know it's a short chapter. Originally I planned to combine this chapter with chapter 4, but I feel this chapter has some specialness to it, so I decided to split it into two different chapters.

As for the next chapter, I will give a hint about it and it will take place at national mock exam day. I can only describe that because more of it will be too much spoiler, so you all have to wait for it :)

As for the usual review response:

-Rosalina:

Haha I'm glad that you're always the first to leave a review because it means much to me knowing you always look forward for the next chapter. Well, I made Fuutaro terrible at singing for the comedic purpose. But I agree his voice actor is very good at voicing him.

-Faf1:

Thank you! I really appreciate it.

-Guest:

Another thank you and appreciation from me!

-Powder Sauce:

Thanks mate! I'm glad you're enjoying the interaction between those two.

-Tsubaki Lover:

I'm glad you're enjoying the chapter! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well.

-Kraft:

So here it is! The other four reaction of Fuutaro and Ichika skipping the school, is finally here. I hope it can meet your expectation! and also thanks for the compliment!

If you like the story feel free to review, follow, and favorite it