Chapter 8

Today was the day of the national mock exam results come out. At the mid-day break, all of the 3rd year students were piling up in the main hall, eagerly wanted to see for their exam results. For Ichika, today was a very important day for her because today will decide whether she will be able to fulfill her promise and bet to Fuutaro or not. She had been waiting for this moment since morning and she can't wait to saw her result.

Reaching the main hall, where the mock exam result was posted, she saw a crowd of 3rd year students, piling up to see their results in front of the announcement boards. Ichika decided to wait for the crowd to disperse so she won't get squeezed and pushed in the middle of the crowd. After some minutes of waiting, the crowd starting to get smaller and she walked up to the announcement board to see her result. When she saw her result, her eyes widened and she gasped in shock from seeing her score. The shock happened because she scored very low on every subject and not even a subject, she managed to score 50 points.

Name: Nakano Ichika

-Mathematics: 47/200

-English: 39/200

-Social Studies: 28/200

-Japanese: 32/200

-Science: 42/200

"Those score…"

"I failed my bet and I can't keep my promise to Fuutaro-kun…"

"I guess this is it then…"

"He will be disappointed in me…"

Ichika then walked away from the announcement board with a lowered head, feeling all gloomy and disappointed by her result. She thought to herself that even after all of the studying that she went through, she was still not capable enough to get 150 points. She was frustrated by herself because of her incapableness, but the shock and disappointment overwhelmed those frustration. She also thought that Fuutaro going to be disappointed in her when he saw her result and she can't bear to face him after her terrible exam result.

Arriving near the classroom and just when she about to enter, Ichika was confronted by her sisters. She can saw that something was wrong with them because they way they looked at her. There was an unusual expression on their face, which she can saw a disappointed and cold expression and Ichika very rarely saw them with that face.

"You all… What's wrong?"

"We all saw your result, Ichika," Itsuki said, crossing her arms with a disappointed face. "Your result was very disappointing."

"That's true, we all except you managed to score over 50 points on each subject," Nino irritatingly said to her, with a mocking tone in her voice. "Are you stupid or something?"

"Even after all of your studying, you still can't get a good score? Pathetic," Miku blandly said, staring coldly at Ichika.

"I guess your extra studying on last month can't even get you a good score… You're really a failure among all of us," Yotsuba menacingly said, mocking Ichika's exam result.

Ichika became very shocked from hearing them mocking her exam result. Why did they suddenly become this cold and rude to her? Was it because she got the worst results among them? Hearing the statements from the four sisters made her blood boils, but at the same time, she felt even more depressed because of their insults. She was really frustrated from their insults, which made her gritted her teeth and clenched her fist. It was true that she scored the lowest among them, but there was no need to be rude and throwing insults at her.

"No… I…" Ichika stuttered on her words from their statement. "Anyway, what's wrong with all of you?! What's with the sudden rude words towards me?!" she said with some infuriation, swinging her hands in front of them.

"Isn't that obvious, Ichika? You're failure," Nino mockingly said, pointing her finger at Ichika. "You spent almost everyday on last month, staying up until very late to study, just to brag to us that you're going to beat all of us in mock exam? And here's the result, a total blunder!"

"I-I… I just wanted to get a good score on the exam… I have no intention of showing off…."

"No need to babble to us anymore, we knew that you're a selfish person, always wanted to get ahead of us. But now, you got what you deserved," Itsuki said with a cold tone to her.

"I-I…"

"Uesugi-san already knew about your result and by the look on his face after seeing your scores, he's not very happy about it," Yotsuba coldly said to Ichika with an emotionless face.

"Fuutaro is surely disappointed by you. I pity him because he put his trust in the wrong person," Miku mockingly said to Ichika.

"That's not it… I-I… I'm very sorry…" Ichika said as her voice started to stutter again because of the further intimidation from her sisters.

"Save your sorry to yourself, Ichika," Nino responded, turning away from Ichika. "Anyway, let's go. Let's leave this failure to herself."

The four sisters then left Ichika alone, standing outside of the classroom by herself. Tears starting to formed in both of her eyes because of the sudden vile statement from her sisters and their words really stung her heart and messed up her mind. She didn't expect a sudden 180 degrees change in their attitude. In her entire life, she never thought that they can be this rude and said something so harsh to her. Ichika kind of understand their sudden change of attitude because what they said was true. She scored the lowest among them and last month of extra and intense studying didn't even worth it in the end. As she wiped her tears, her phone was ringing and when she looked it up, a message came from her manager.

Reading the message, it seems her manager was very disappointed by her recent acting performance. Her manager wrote that her recent acting was the worst he was ever seen in his managerial works and her bad acting made the director of the film very angry and disappointed. Because of it, her manager told her that she had been taken out from her role in the movie. Also in the end of the message, her manager told her that he already found a new replacement actress for his agency in her place, so her service is no longer required.

Ichika-chan,

I just got a word from the director that he was very angry and disappointed by your recent acting performance. He said to me that your acting was the worst he ever seen in his line of work. Because of it, you've been taken out from your role in the movie. As your manager, I noticed that your recent acting performance is going downhill and it's not very good.

Also, your current performance is impacting my agency in the bad ways. Yesterday, I found a new potential actress candidate and I agreed that she will take your current position as the face of our agency. In other words, your service is no longer required.

It's been good working with you, Ichika-chan. But in the end, we had to make this tough decision to maintain the reputation of the agency. Don't take it too hard because it's merely a business.

Ichika finished reading the message, she put her phone back in her pocket as she lowered her head and started to cried. Stream of tears fell from both of her eyes to the floor and sobbing came out from her mouth because of this sudden whole situation. She can't take the pressure anymore because it was too much to handle in a short time, getting a very low score on the mock exam, her sisters suddenly hated her, and she got dismissed from her acting agency because of her poor performance. Ichika then leaned to the wall behind her and fell down to her feet, continuing to cry and buried her face in her hands.

"Why…"

"Why is this keep happening to me…"

"What did I ever do to deserve this…"

"This is too much for me…"

As she still crying, she felt a presence in front of her. Ichika wiped some of her tears and looked up to that person. That person turned out to be Fuutaro, who just looking down on her. Ichika felt something was wrong with him because Fuutaro had not say a single word to her. His face appeared to be emotionless and his eyes just looking at her with an icy and disgust stare. She then thought that this was what Miku and Yotsuba meant earlier, Fuutaro seemingly disappointed by her exam results.

"*sob* Fuutaro-kun…"

"Why are you crying?" Fuutaro flatly asked to the still crying Ichika.

"Ehh… I-I… *sob*" she got startled from his response and started to stood up.

"Well… It's not like that's my problem…"

"F-Fuutaro-kun… W-What do y-"

"Don't talk to me, Ichika. I'm very disappointed in you…" Fuutaro coldly said to her with a disgust stare.

"Ehh…?" Ichika gasped from hearing the unpleasant words from Fuutaro.

"You made a bet and promise to me, that you're going to score 150 points on each subject. But looking at your results, it's such a big disappointment and even your other sisters managed to score over 50 points."

"No… P-Please… *sob* I-I can explain it…" Ichika started to sob again and begged to him by holding Fuutaro's arm in desperation.

"I even agreed to skip school with you, but this is how you repay me? I'm having a high expectation that you gonna score 150 points. But I'm such a fool for having that expectation in you."

"…"

"You don't need to explain to me anymore. I can't trust a promise-breaker like you," Fuutaro said, throwing an icy stare at her. "From now on, don't ever talk to me. I don't even know you anymore." he pushed away her hand from his arm and walked away from Ichika.

"F-Fuutaro-kun… Wait!" Ichika said in plea as she extended her arm to reach for him.

"…" Fuutaro didn't answer back as he kept on walking, ignoring Ichika plead.

"P-Please don't leave me…! FUUTARO-KUN…!"

"Fuutaro-kun…!"

Ichika got awakened from the nightmare that she was having. Because of how intense her nightmare was, there were some amounts of sweat on her face and she was slightly shaking from the shock and immediately awaked into a sitting position. She felt a tears on both of her eyes as it flows down to her cheeks and all the way to her chin. Ichika then took some time to contemplate all of this and she concluded that all of this was a dream. She wiped her tears as she tried to recover from the nightmare by taking a deep breath and went back laying down on the bed.

"A dream, huh?" Ichika mumbled with a tremble in her voice, still recovering from the nightmare.

"I don't know why but it felt so real to me…"

"But I'm glad it was a dream…"

"That dream was truly a nightmare."

Ichika then noticed that she was not in her usual bedroom. She looked around the room and noticed this room was a hospital ward. Ichika then wondered why did she ended up in the hospital ward. Was she fell ill? Did she pass out in a shooting stage or school? She can't really remember on what happened to her before because her mind was still kind of dizzy and she can also feel a lightheaded sensation in her head. Ichika then tried to remember on what happened to her before and after some moments of thinking, she finally remembered.

"Why did I end up in hospital…?"

"If I remember correctly, It's after the national mock exam…"

"That's right… I think I passed out on the way home…"

Flashback

It was a very hard exam; it was by far the most difficult exam Ichika had ever faced. She had answered all of the exam question and she was confident that she was doing well for all the exam subject.

For this whole day, Ichika was not feeling well because this whole month she slept very late because of the extra studying and her acting schedule got very busy recently. Also, she started to felt the side effect of drinking coffee excessively, in which a tingling sensation starting to showed up in all parts of her body and a rapid increase in her heartbeat. She increased her consumption of coffee, hoping to stay awake and concentrate better on studying in the late night. Other than coffee consumption, she also started to take a lot of Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen medicine one week nearing national mock exam to reduce the headache and muscle pain from the stress of studying and her busy work schedule which made her whole body very tired until it became aching.

This was the risks that she needed to take, for her to be able to study until late night without getting sleepy and distracted by the pain. For the whole day, she felt very tired and sleepy, and by mid-day, she starting to feel a fever and her breathing starting to become heavy which made her coughing and panting. She took some fever medicine in the restroom to lighten the symptoms and it worked temporarily, until the end of the exam where the fever and other symptoms starting to resurfaced again.

After the exam was over, Ichika and her sisters went straight to home. Before going home, they tried to wake Fuutaro from his unfortunate sleep, but he won't wake up because he was in very deep sleep from an apparent exhaustion, so they all agreed to leave him sleeping. On the way home, the four sisters were eagerly talking to each other, discussing about Fuutaro falling asleep and how they did in the exam. But for Ichika, she didn't feel good enough to join their talks as she walked very slowly behind them because she was feeling very tired and panting from the apparent fever.

"Hey, hey, did you all see Uesugi-san's sleeping face?" Yotsuba said with a grin. "Hehehe… His face looked like a zombie and he's drooling all over the table while sleeping."

"Hehe… Well, I did notice that," Miku giggled, remembering Fuutaro's sleeping face in the class. "I guess Fuutaro really studied hard for the mock exam and I say he deserve some nice sleep after all of it."

"But… Can't he pick a better place to sleep other than in classroom?" Itsuki said, feeling slightly annoyed about Fuutaro sleeping in classroom. "I know that he's very sleepy, but can he at least wake up and go home to get a proper rest?"

"Well… Give him a break, Itsuki. Just let Fuu-kun get some sleep and I agreed with what Miku said, that he did his best to face the mock exam," Nino said, agreeing with Miku's statement. "Anyway, how did you do on the Science exam?"

"I'm very confident on the Science subject. Most of the question were kinda easy but there were some tricky questions which took most of my time. So in the end, I didn't have time to answer the last two question…" Itsuki replied. She sighed in the end because of her unanswered questions.

"Hmm… That's good for you," Nino said. "I had some trouble on Science. But for the English subject, it was very easy for me," she proudly said about her effort in English exam.

"Ehh… Is that so? Then, you should get a good score on English, Nino!" Yotsuba said, praising Nino. "For me, Japanese was the easiest one compared to the other subject! Although, I did forget some Kanji because some of it were very hard to remember. Then, what about you Miku?"

"I think I did pretty good at Social Studies. I also been studying from the net and some other references book," Miku said confidently, feeling satisfied on her performance on Social Studies exam.

"Well… I noticed that you're really good at Social Studies, especially the Sengoku era history," Itsuki said. "Then Ichika, how ab—" she turned around to see Ichika and her words got cut from seeing her state.

Itsuki noticed Ichika was walking very strange and slowly behind them, which really surprised her. The other three also turned their attention to their eldest sister and got surprised as well from seeing her condition. The four sisters then quickly approached her to check for her condition. Itsuki then noticed that something was wrong with Ichika and when she looked closely at her face, she saw Ichika's face was very pale, she was sweating and panting heavily, and her face was also very red from an apparent fever.

The four already knew that Ichika was kind of tired and had a pale face today, because they knew she had been staying up until very late to study and sometimes even went home late from her acting work. The four sisters didn't expect that she would get this sick. Itsuki then asked Ichika about her condition.

"I-Ichika, are you okay?" Itsuki asked to her with a worried tone about her condition. "From the look of your face, you seem to have a high fever."

"*pant* I'm okay… Itsuki-chan *pant*," Ichika responded with a difficulty because of her heavy breathing as she assured her condition to her worried sister. "I'm just *pant* feeling a bit tired from lack of sleep *pant*."

"Wait…! You're clearly not okay. Here let me check your temperature." Nino approached her and put her hand on Ichika's forehead. "Woah… This is bad! Your forehead is very hot. You're definitely not okay!"

"Then, we should get home quick so Ichika could rest," Yotsuba said with a worry to the other sisters.

"Unn… I agree. Here Ichika, let me help you," Miku said, holding Ichika's arm to helped her walking more steadily.

"*pant* I'm okay… Don't worry about…" Ichika said with a weak smile as she started to lose her balance and fell to the ground.

Ichika then collapsed to the ground from the exhaustion and fever. Her body was at its limit and can't take it anymore. The whole month of lack of sleep, overworking, excessive caffeine, and medicine over-consumption finally took its toll. Before she completely passed out, she can hear her sisters panicking over her sudden collapse.

"I-Ichika…! Oi…!" Nino panickily shouting at her.

"Ichika… Hang in there…" Yotsuba also started to panic and kneeling to check on Ichika.

"Miku, quick call an ambulance!" Itsuki said to Miku with panic.

"Unn… I'm on it…" Miku pulled out her phone in worries as she called for ambulance.

Flashback end

Ichika finally remembered on what happened to her on that day. So she did passed out from her illness and she can't remember anything what happened after that. Ichika tried to move her body, but she can't move so much because she still feel exhausted, but not as tired like on the exam day. She also felt that her body was still warm from the fever and she further checked it by touching her forehead and her neck. As expected, her forehead and neck temperature were warmer than the normal temperature and she concluded that she still has a fever, although not that bad like before.

Ichika then looked at the table beside her and noticed that her phone was on there. She reached out for her phone and looked at it. Much to her surprise, there were a lot of unread messages and unanswered calls from her school friends. She took a quick look at some of the messages and most of it wishing her well and quick recovery from her school friends. When she scrolled down further, there was also a message from her manager, wishing her a quick recovery.

Ichika-chan

I heard from your sisters that you're hospitalized because of illness and exhaustion. It made me worried when I received the news, because you're the star of the agency and our agency can't do nothing much if their star is unavailable.

I've been planning to visit you, but my schedule is really busy and there are a lot of important meeting with some movie directors. So, I'm really sorry that I can't visit you right now. But I'm going to make sure to visit you when my schedule gets less busy.

Anyway, I've been talking to the director about your current condition and he agrees to delay the TV show production until you can act again. Don't worry about it, take your time to recover and make sure you're fully healthy until you can act again.

Ichika smiled after reading the message from her manager. She was glad that her manager understood about her current condition and felt relieved because the movie director also agreed to delay the TV show production for a while until she was fully recovered. As she keeps on scrolling the message, her eyes noticed the date on the upper right of her phone screen and it looks like she had been unconscious for 4 days straight. This realization made her surprised, was her sickness and exhaustion really that bad? She did feels very sick and exhausted at the mock exam day, but she thought it can be done with some medicine and good sleep.

"Hmm… I've been unconscious for four days straight, huh?"

"I think I kinda over-push myself…"

"Well… I hope it was worth it because I can't afford to fail that promise and bet…"

"It's all just for him…"

Ichika continued to looked at her phone and she noticed the group chat of the quintuplets were full of message notifications. She opened it and read it from the top and the conversation kind of surprised her.

Three days ago chat:

Yotsuba: Hey, I'm still worried about Ichika's condition…

Itsuki: Hey Yotsuba, we're still in the middle of the class. Can it wait until mid-day break to discuss this?

Yotsuba: But… I can't focus on the lesson. It's been on my mind since yesterday. What if Ichika's condition got worse?

Miku: Don't say that, Yotsuba. Ichika is strong, she will recover from the sickness in no time. How about we visit her everyday until she's fully healthy?

Nino: That's a good idea, Miku. I will also ask Fuu-kun to come along with us. Who knows with him coming along, Ichika can recover faster.

Yotsuba: Yup, I agree with you, Miku. Let's visit Ichika after school is over!

Itsuki: Yeah, I agree with that too. But, the teacher been watching us for some time. Quick put your phone away before we get caught.

Two days ago chat:

Itsuki: Hey, I've been wondering, isn't tomorrow the day to pay for our monthly rent?

Miku: You're right. But, Ichika is usually the one who pay for the rent.

Yotsuba: Yeah, she's the one who is in charge of the money to pay for the rent and our daily needs.

Nino: Then, what should we do? We can't afford to ask dad to pay for our rent. We all made the promise to not ask dad for financial support. But… I have something in mind…

Itsuki: What is it, Nino?

Nino: I've been thinking, how about we used all of our savings to pay for the monthly rent? We can't wait for Ichika to pay it for us and I don't want to trouble her even more because of her condition right now.

Itsuki: But… Are our savings good enough to pay for the monthly rent? I don't think I have much money left in my savings…

Nino: Well, it's because you always spent it on food and drink, you food devouring monster! Anyway, if our savings are not enough, I'm going to borrow some money from the café I'm working at. I'm not sure if my boss going to allow it, but I'm going to try to talk to him anyway.

Miku: Yeah, me too. I'm going to try to borrow some money from my workplace. I don't want to become a burden and I won't let Ichika being the one who shoulder all of the expenses.

Yotsuba: It's settled then. After school, let's count how much savings we have left!

After that conversation, it was mostly the usual chatting stuff between each sister. Ichika wondered why the four discussed this in the group chat, but when she looked at the time log, the chat took place at around school time, three and two days ago. So they must be really concerned for her, chatting with each other in class knowing the risk of it.

She was surprised of her sisters' action and she never knew they were so concerned for her condition. Maybe it was because she was too focused on her work that she never thought they can be this caring. But the part that surprised Ichika the most was they willing to use all of their savings, and even Nino and Miku were willing to borrow some money from their workplace to lighten her responsibility to pay the apartment monthly rent. Their action made Ichika suddenly remembered about Fuutaro's words on last month when they skipped school and it was about the family talks.

"Trust me, family is very important, they will always support you no matter what happened, so don't ever break their trust."

Fuutaro's words were ringing in Ichika's mind as she remembered about it. So what he said was true, family will always support each other no matter what the situation is, whether in good or bad times. She never deeply thought about it because she never or rarely asked for any help from her sisters and her father and she always worked and figured out her own problem by herself. She didn't want to ask for their help because it might bother them and she was not comfortable with it. She then thought about her sisters' action and Fuutaro's words.

"So what Fuutaro-kun said was kinda true…"

"Everyone been concerned about me…"

"They even willing to use their savings to pay the rent…"

"Even Nino and Miku are going to borrow some money from their workplace…"

"It's all just because they wanted to lighten my burden…"

"Was my view about them were wrong all this time…?"

As she was wondering about it, Ichika looked at the window not far from her. It was already night time and she confirmed it by looking at the clock on her phone. She then wondered, did the other four really visited her for this past four days? If it was true then she was kind of glad about it because she was glad having siblings that truly cared for her even in this unfortunate situation.

Ichika also wondered about Fuutaro. Did he worried about her passing out? And did he ever visit her while she was still unconscious? She hoped that she can see Fuutaro as soon as possible because she just wanted his presence in here, just to accompany her.

Speaking of the devil, few seconds later, the room door was opened and when Ichika saw who was the one who opened it, it was Fuutaro, the boy that she just thought. She can saw Fuutaro in his school attire, consisted of white collared shirt and black pants. Knowing now it was already nighttime, Ichika wondered, did Fuutaro been in hospital ever since the school was over? If it was true, then he had been in the hospital for hours. She can saw a surprise on Fuutaro's face when he opened the door and he froze in the place for a few seconds from the surprise.

"I-Ichika… You're already awake?"

Fuutaro gasped and surprised from seeing Ichika was already conscious and he quickly approached her and took a seat on the chair next by her bed. Ichika was happy her hope had been answered and a smile appeared on her lips as she kept looking at Fuutaro. For Fuutaro, he was kind of relieved seeing Ichika finally awakes. He had been visiting her for this past four days and hoped she can be conscious soon. Today was a lucky day for him because he can finally saw her awake.

"Hey… How are you feeling right now?"

"I feel better… But I still can't move much, my body is somehow still tired and I still have some fever left," Ichika answered with a weak laugh.

"Well… Don't push yourself too much. You still haven't fully recovered yet," Fuutaro said, reminding Ichika about her current condition.

"Yeah. I understand," Ichika nodded. "By the way, Fuutaro-kun, did you know what happened to me after I passed out? I can't remember much after that."

"Yeah… After you passed out, your sisters got very worried and they called an ambulance to get you to the hospital," Fuutaro explained the situation to her. "You've been admitted to the emergency room when arrived and your condition was pretty bad, so they put you in the ICU room for a day to stabilize your condition. The four been visiting you for the past four days and they were very concerned about your condition."

"Ahh… Is that so? Was my condition really that bad…?" she mumbled and wondered about it. "So it's true then… They did visit me for the past four days. They were truly worried about my condition…"

"It kinda surprised me that they were very concerned about me. There's no need for them to visit me every day, I mean the hospital can just contact them when I'm conscious, right?" Ichika said with a faint smile after knowing her sisters truly cared for her.

"Oi, oi… They're your family. It's natural for them to be concerned about your condition," Fuutaro sighed from hearing Ichika's statement.

"Unn… I understand, but I'm kinda not used to it," she said her reason. "In my whole life, I never had someone so worried about me."

"Well… I guess your assumption was wrong because we're all worried about you."

After the talk between them, there was a moment of silent between the two. Ichika can saw that Fuutaro still had something to say and the look on his face was showing it all. He had been avoiding eye contact with her, he was blinking faster than usual, and kind of gritted his teeth, which was a visible sign of uncomfortableness from him. Fuutaro closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he talked again. He then opened his eyes and this time his face turned into more serious expression.

"Ichika… Why did you over-push yourself?"

"Ehh… What do you mean, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika got confused from Fuutaro's question.

"Why didn't you listen to what I said?" Fuutaro said with a serious tone. "I've been reminding you for a lot of times to not over-push yourself in studying and working. The four had told me of your recent habit, that kind of habit is definitely unacceptable knowing how heavy your responsibility is."

"*sigh* I told them to keep this a secret from you because I knew that you will say this to me somehow," Ichika sighed and her face starting to turn into serious expression too. "You are worrying too much about me, Fuutaro-kun. Did you forget? I did all of this just to keep my promise and bet to you. I took that bet and promise very seriously and what I did the whole month was a part of the risk that will happen to me at some point after and I already accepted that risk if it's ever going to happen. Did you forget about your bet with dad? You did everything you can so you can finish in top 10 nationally, right? So you're in no position to lecture me because we're basically in the same situation."

"Ahh… I knew about it, but my case is different than yours. In your case, you passed out and made everyone around you worried to death!" Fuutaro started to get frustrated and raised his voice at Ichika. "This selfish and reckless action of yours made your sisters very worried. You should look at their face when you're in emergency room! and they're not like their usual self when in school. As for me, I got into a trouble with your dad and he said that I'm a bad influence to all of you!" he started to get more angrier as he kept talking.

"If I knew this was the outcome, I would never agree to skip school and accept this bet from you!" Fuutaro shouted at her as the frustration and anger were filling his mind and heart.

The harsh words and anger from Fuutaro shocked Ichika so much. Her eyes widened and she gasped from the shock. Tears starting to formed again in her eyes, flowing through her cheek and fell down to the bed after the outburst from him. Ichika never saw Fuutaro this angry before and she never thought he was capable to say this kind of things to her.

For Fuutaro, he was also surprised from seeing Ichika got shocked from his venting and he immediately felt uncomfortable seeing Ichika crying after his sudden outburst. He didn't mean to lashed out like this and hurt her in the process. He just wanted to scold Ichika for her reckless action but he didn't realize the choice of words that he chose and his angry shout made her upset because he was so absorbed in his frustration. Knowing that his words and action unintentionally hurts her, he immediately apologized to Ichika.

"I-Ichika… I'm sorry…"

"Why…?"

"Ehh…?"

"Why Fuutaro-kun… I'm *sob* disappointed in you…*sob*" Ichika sobbed, disappointed in Fuutaro because he didn't appreciate her effort to keep the promise and bet. "I did everything *sob* I can to keep my promise to you… and *sob* this is what you said to me…?"

"I-I…"

"Please leave… *sob* I want to be alone *sob* right now…" Ichika buried her eyes into her hands, covering her crying face.

"Ichika…"

"Please… *sob*"

Fuutaro then took a deep sigh after Ichika told him to leave as he rubbed his forehead from the guilt. He didn't expect this situation to happen again because when he lashed out and became frustrated to someone, it always didn't end well. The example was when he lashed out and get frustrated at Itsuki last year. It ended with him hurting her feelings and she took his word personally and she became cold and distant to him for a few days until he truly apologized to her.

In Fuutaro's mind, he realized that this was a mistake and he shouldn't have scold her in the first place, knowing that Ichika still not fully feeling well from her illness and he should had picked a better timing to scold her. But instead, his frustration took over his common sense and finally burst out.

Knowing the damage had been done, filled with a guilt, and he can't saw her crying again, Fuutaro stood up from the chair and walked to the door. Before he reached for the door, he froze and talked to Ichika before he left.

"I-I'm worried about you, you know…"

"*sob*…"

"I didn't mean to lash out to you like this…" Fuutaro said and there was a sign of guilt in his voice. "It's because I'm really worried about you."

"…"

"I'm going to leave you alone, just like you asked. All I can say to you now is… get well soon and I hope you can recover fast, Ichika," Fuutaro said with a gentle and soft tone as he opened the door to leave.

Fuutaro then closed the door and after he left, Ichika then cried and sobbed even harder. She was still hurt from what Fuutaro just said to her, but at the same time she didn't want him to leave and wanted him to stay by her side for a little more time to accompany her. She didn't know how to process this feeling because she just awaked from being unconscious for four days straight, in which her mind was still not in the right state. The conflict of two opposite things in heart made it even worse, so at the moment she can only cry to let her emotion out. In her mind, she hoped for Fuutaro to come back to visit her again, whether it was a minute later or an hour later or tomorrow.

"Don't leave me…"

"I still wanted you to be by my side…"

"I still wanted to see you…"

"Even if it just a minute… I want to see you…"

"Please come back…"

"Fuutaro-kun…"

A/N:

Chapter 8 is finished! It's currently the chapter with most words and I'm kinda proud of it because I never wrote this long even in my other fic.

Did I get you on the first half of the story? It's very unexpected right? Hmm... But I think I can see some torch and pitchfork coming from some of you because of that first half. Haha anyway, I really had an up and down on writing this chapter. The down part was when writing the first half of the chapter because well... It was really painful and very uncomfortable seeing Ichika breaking down like that. It's really a rollercoaster of feelings in this chapter and tbh I really enjoyed writing this chapter more than the previous chapters, but don't get a wrong idea on how I enjoyed this chapter okay.

Hope you enjoyed this chapter because next chapter will be more lighter and happier tone compared to chapter 7 and this chapter and also it's not good to dwell in sadness, right?

As for the reviews response:

-Rosalina:

Yeah chapter 7 is really sad. Haha I can relate about Maruo because sometimes I find him a bit annoying when I read the manga. Still I can understand the motive behind his decision because he really cared about his adoptive daughters and don't want anything further bad happened to them. Also thank you for the compliment! It's always great receiving a review from you!

-Kraft:

Thanks mate! Hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!

-Powder Sauce:

Yes! I agree with you. Justice for FuutaroxIchika!

-Tsubaki Lover:

Although this chapter just add another problem and guilt for him, he will definitely be okay and don't worry about him. I'm glad you enjoyed the last chapter and it made your day better!

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