Chapter 9
It had been several days since Ichika awaked from her four days of unconsciousness. The medical staffs and her father had been monitoring her condition and her health showed a good progress. They said she can be discharged from the hospitals in two or three days. This made her glad because Ichika was bored of being in the hospital and she quickly wanted to go back to her regular life. She can also feel that her condition starting to recover back to normal, where her body no longer feels exhausted, her face was much fresher than before, and she no longer feels anymore symptoms of fever and heavy breathing.
For the past few days since she awaked, some of her school friends had been visiting her and they mostly talked about her recent appearance on the TV, asking about her upcoming movie. Her manager finally had a time to visit her and he told her that he had been worried about her condition and hoped that she can recover soon because since her absent, there were lot of acting works that she needed to catch up. This made her realize that since her appearance on TV, she started to become more famous among her schoolmate and had bigger chance of getting a bigger role in a movie or TV drama, some times in the future. She knew that it will become more troublesome, but she was fine with it because her hard work finally come to fruition even if it means she will be known by everyone around and outside of the school and her work schedule will be getting more busier than before.
Today was Sunday and the time was currently afternoon. Ichika was currently sitting on the bed, checking her phone about the news of her upcoming movie. Lots of news articles saying that the movie was highly anticipated by lots of people and the premise of the movie intrigued some of the movie critics. This news made her glad because she will finally have her first big debut in the screen. In all of her previous movie, she only played a small role and had a very short screentime. But this time, in her latest movie, she had a bigger role and more screentime, which can made her become more famous and known.
As she still focused on her phone, the room door was opened by the four sisters. They were visiting her for their daily visit and they brought plastic bags with them which contained visiting gifts for Ichika.
"Ichika! We come again!" Yotsuba said cheerfully as she entered the ward.
"You all… Really, there's no need to visit me for everyday…" Ichika showed a faint smile after seeing them visiting her again as she put away her phone.
"Don't say it like that! We all worried about you, you know?" Yotsuba said, quickly taking a seat on the chair next to Ichika's bed. "Anyway, we bring you some fruit and milk this time!"
"Here… Here are some fruit and milk for you," Nino said, putting the grocery bag on the table. "You must be bored with hospital food, right? So me and Miku also brought you a cake and croissant from our workplace." she then put another plastic bag of a cake and croissant in front of Ichika.
"I hope you like it, Ichika," Miku said with a smile. "It was actually Itsuki's idea when we ate a cake at Nino's workplace and she thought some sweet cakes and croissants could cheer you up a little."
"Well… The cake was very delicious so I just blurted out that a cake would be a good visiting gift for you and everyone agreed with that," Itsuki said and followed with a weak laugh.
"Ahh… Thank you! I've been kinda bored with hospital food, so a cake and a croissant would be a nice change of taste," Ichika thanked them, taking a croissant from the plastic bag. "Also, did I miss anything important from school while I'm still unconscious?" she asked to them as she ate the croissant.
"There's nothing much happening recently, except there are some homework that you need to catch up. But knowing your condition, I'm sure the teacher will give you an extra time to do the homework," Itsuki said, explaining about the school situation. "Also, there's still some suspense among the third-year students about the national mock exam result. I heard some rumors that the results will be posted on next Wednesday. But I'm not sure if it's true since it's just a rumor that I heard among them."
"Is that so?" Ichika wondered about the school situation, still eating the croissant. "I wonder about my results… Will it come out good… or bad…? I can only hope I can score at least 150 points…"
As she wondered about her exam results, she suddenly remembered about the apartment rent that the four had paid. She had been feeling uneasy about it because they all used their savings to pay for the rent and even Nino and Miku were borrowing money from their workplace in case their savings were not enough. Ichika been thinking to pay their money back because she was not comfortable with them paying the rent by themselves and she had been bothered by the fact Nino and Miku willing to borrow money from their workplace because it was commonly very unethical for an employee to ask for a loan from their workplace.
Thinking this was the right time to talk about the apartment rent, Ichika then talked about this matter to the four.
"Hey… I've been wondering, since it's already a new month, isn't it already time for us to pay for the monthly apartment rent?"
The four sisters got surprised from hearing Ichika asking about the apartment rent. While Ichika was still unconscious, they agreed on not telling this matter to their big sister because they didn't want to make her worried about it when she awake. But since they already discussed about it in the quintuplets group chat and Ichika already read about it after she awaked, they can just hope she forgot or didn't care enough to talk about this matter. Hearing that Ichika brought up this topic, they had no choice to pretend to be clueless and didn't know on what she talking about.
"Ehh-uhh… The apartment rent…? What rent are you talking about, Ichika?" Yotsuba said with a nervous chuckle, pretending to be clueless about what Ichika just said.
"Hey Itsuki, it's all your fault," Nino whispered quietly to Itsuki. "Why did you talk about the apartment rent in the group chat? Did you forget that Ichika can see it when she awaked?"
"Ughh… It can't be helped! It has been in my mind for the whole day," Itsuki quietly said to Nino back, with an annoyed expression on her face. "If we didn't pay for the monthly rent, the landlord will keep knocking at our door and demanding us to pay the rent for everyday…"
"But still, can you at least wait until after school to talk about that matter?" Nino slightly raised her voice out of annoyance, which made the other sisters slightly heard about what she said. "Right now, we have no choice but to pretend to be stupid so she won't keep asking about it."
"Don't worry about it, Ichika. The apartment rent already been taken care off." Miku casually said to Ichika without any pressure and it made the other sisters surprised.
"Oi Miku! Didn't we agree to not tell Ichika about the rent?" Nino shouted to Miku, feeling irritated because she told Ichika the truth.
"Well… There's no point for us to pretend being clueless because Ichika already knew about it, right?" Miku replied.
"Ahaha… Yeah, I already knew about your discussion ever since I awaked few days ago." Ichika laughed weakly from seeing the four sisters' reaction. "Talking about it, how much money did each of you spent to pay for the rent? I will pay it back to all of you after I got discharged from the hospital."
"No… No need to discuss about it even further, Ichika. We did it all to help lighten your burden and responsibility," Itsuki said with a serious tone in her voice as she poured a water from the bottle to a drinking glass.
"That's right! We feel uncomfortable on always depending on you. So that's why we wanted to help you!" Yotsuba told Ichika their reason to pay the apartment rent.
"But… I felt the same like you all. I've been feeling uncomfortable of it, especially knowing that Nino and Miku borrowed extra money from their workplace…" Ichika said with a concerned voice, still feeling uneasy about it, especially about Nino and Miku.
"It's fine, Ichika. It's true that our savings were not enough to pay for the apartment rent. Our boss made an agreement with us that they will loan us some money, but in exchange, they will cut our wages and we have to work extra shifts for this month. But it's not a big problem to me and Miku," Nino explained her and Miku's situation with a smile on her face.
"That's right… I'm not troubled by it. I'm just glad that my boss willing to lent me some money and extra shifts of working is not a big problem to me," Miku also said with a smile. "You've already done enough, Ichika. It's also our responsibility too to pay for the apartment rent and we don't want you to pay back our money."
"What everyone said is true. Just rest for now and don't think too much about other things. You still recovering, so you need to relax and keep your mind calm so you can recover faster, okay?" Itsuki said, reminding Ichika of her condition and gave her a glass of water.
"Really… You all, Thank you! I'm glad you all did this just for me…" Ichika said with a faint smile, thanking them for their effort to help her.
"Don't mention it, Ichika! We just glad that we can help lighten your responsibility," Yotsuba happily said with a grin in her face.
The quintuplets then chatted with each other about the usual stuffs like school and their daily things. As they talked with each other, Ichika also wondered about what happened to Fuutaro. He did not visit her for the past two days since their argument and it made her a little sad because she kept hoping for him to keep visiting her even after their argument. Did she indirectly hurt Fuutaro's feelings when she told him to leave her alone? She had been thinking about it after their argument and it made her heart uneasy.
To find out the answer about that matter, Ichika then asked about Fuutaro to the four sisters, hoping she can get some explanation about him.
"Hey… I was wondering, did something happen to Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika asked about Fuutaro to them. "He didn't visit me for the last two days since I was awaked… Did he get in a trouble or something?"
"About that… Uesugi-san turned into a very different person since the day after you fell unconscious…" Yotsuba said, her face expression along with the other sisters change into a worried expression after Ichika's question.
"Ehh…? What do you mean? Did something happen to him?" Ichika asked them with a surprised tone in her voice.
"Fuutaro… He's been avoiding us since that day, both in school and outside the school. Everytime we tried to talk to him, he always avoiding us, saying that he doesn't have time to talk and immediately walked away from us…" Miku explained Fuutaro sudden change in his behavior. "His behavior was… colder and he became more emotionless than before… We knew there was something wrong with him, but he didn't want to talk to us about it."
"Not only that, even in our workplace, Fuu-kun didn't talk much like usual and he's been very occupied with the work," Nino said with a bit of annoyance in her tone. "Even when I tried to strike a conversation with him, he immediately walked away from me… I'm this close to him in the workplace, but it feels like there is something that separates us from interacting with each other."
"Dad told us that he dismissed Uesugi-kun from tutoring us until the mock exam results came out," Itsuki explained the situation between their dad and Fuutaro. "He said that Uesugi-kun is a bad influence to us and we can't accept his decision to dismiss him. When we're protesting about his decision, he said that there was nothing that can change his mind and his decision was final. I guess this is what dad and Uesugi-kun been talking about last week and we concluded that this was the reason why he avoided us in school."
"Last week… Did you know what kind of talk did Fuutaro-kun and dad talked about?" Ichika asked more details about it to Itsuki, feeling curious about it.
"I don't know the details. After your emergency procedure, dad asked Uesugi-kun to follow him to his office, to talk something about your condition. Their talk lasted for an hour or so and when we found him after their talk, Uesugi-kun was very shocked and distressed. I never saw him distressed like that and he didn't even want to talk to us for a while and in the end, he wanted to be left alone and asked us to leave him," Itsuki said, remembering the last week event and explained further the whole situation between their dad and Fuutaro. "Ever since that day, Uesugi-kun has been avoiding us and we feel that he's really changed into a different person."
Hearing the explanation from the four sisters, made Ichika finally understood about the whole Fuutaro's situation. She concluded that the reason why Fuutaro lashing out to her was because the pressure from her dad and he probably feeling guilty about her passing out. So this was the reason why he had been avoiding not only her, but to the other sisters as well.
Was it all because of her? There had been nothing but problems ever since she awaked from four days of unconsciousness. They got into an argument with each other, Fuutaro got dismissed from the tutoring, he became colder and distant to her and the other sisters, and her dad seemingly blamed him for her whole situation. From this new realization, Ichika felt guilty for telling Fuutaro to leave her alone few days ago, not knowing about his side of situation as well.
"So that's why…"
"Now I understood about his situation…"
"With that kind of pressure…"
"I don't blame him on how he acts…"
"I might do the same as him…"
"If I ever get into that kind of situation…"
"Is that so? Then, it must be hard for him. Dad really didn't hold back when talking to him, huh?" Ichika said with a faint smile after realizing the Fuutaro's situation.
"I feel worried about him. But Fuutaro doesn't even want to talk to us… What should we do?" Miku said, feeling worried about Fuutaro.
"Well… Let's give Fuutaro-kun some time alone. From what you all told me, he had a lot of things in his mind, especially the pressure from dad which made him even more stressed," Ichika said, suggesting to the four sisters to give him some space. "Sooner or later, I'm sure he will turn back into the Fuutaro-kun that we once knew."
As they were still talking about Fuutaro, Maruo entered the ward for the daily check on Ichika's condition. The quintuplets immediately went silent after seeing their dad walked into the room and the atmosphere in the room somehow turn slightly tense. Maruo then walked slowly to Ichika to check for her blood pressure and body temperature. It took a minute for him to check for the blood pressure and three minutes for the body temperature. The results came out good as he wrote the results on the medical paper.
"Hmm… Your blood pressure is normal and your body temperature is at 36.7 °C. So Ichika, how do you feel today?" Maruo asked for her condition as he wrote the results on the medical paper.
"I feel good, dad. I feel much better compared to few days ago," she responded with a smile.
"Good… I will do another check again tonight and if the result is still the same, you can be discharged in two days."
"Waahh… Did you hear what dad said, Ichika? You can finally come home!" Yotsuba said in eager from hearing the good news.
"Ahaha… Yeah, I hear that, Yotsuba," Ichika chuckled to Yotsuba. "Anyway dad, I heard from them that you dismissed Fuutaro-kun from tutoring us, is that true?" her expression immediately became serious as she turned to her dad.
"Yeah, that's right," Maruo answered with an expressionless face and a flat tone in his voice.
"Why? We're the one who paid for his salary, so you don't have any right to dismiss him from tutoring us," Ichika said seriously, protesting about her dad decision.
"That's true, I'm aware of that. But you all are my daughters and I still have a responsibility to take care of you all. From what I see, Uesugi-kun is a bad influence to all of you and so I dismissed him before any more bad circumstances happened."
The answer from her dad made Ichika frustrated and it made her clenched her fist. She can't accept that Fuutaro was the one who were blamed for all this situation. Ichika finally understood what Fuutaro felt from what her sisters just explained to her. She can feel the unfairness being the one that blamed for this situation and she can also feel the frustration being branded as a bad influence. As she about to defend Fuutaro, her father then asked the other four to leave the room because he needed to talk to Ichika in private.
"You four… Can you all leave the room?" Maruo said, turning to the four sisters. "There's something that I need to talk to Ichika, privately."
"Ehh… Why? If it's about Uesugi-kun, we also wanted to hear about it," Itsuki questioned her dad, wanting to stay.
"Yeah, I agree with Itsuki. Dad, Fuu-kun is not a bad influence to us. You should meet and talk to him more often and you will see that he's not as bad as you think," Nino said, defending for Fuutaro.
"This is an important thing that I need to talk to Ichika and it doesn't concern all of you," Maruo said. "So please leave the room right away."
"But…!" Nino shouted to her father in frustration.
"Nino, let's just leave dad and Ichika alone and don't make this into an unnecessary problem. Then dad, we will leave the room," Miku said, calming Nino as she slowly pulled her into the door.
"Then, we will wait in the hospital cafetaria. Just call us if you need anything, Ichika," Yotsuba said to Ichika as she left the room too.
The four sisters then left the ward, leaving their dad and Ichika alone. Maruo then took a seat on the chair and he put the medical paper on the table near him. Ichika wondered on what her dad will talk about and it seemed to be very important that he made the other four leaves. Was it something related about her work? Or was it something about Fuutaro and will he keep saying more bad things about him to convince her about it? She didn't have enough courage to talk first because she saw a serious expression on his face and she knew when her dad was being serious, he was truly serious about it. Maruo then talked to Ichika about her recent appearance on the TV and asked her about her acting work.
"I saw your appearance on the TV, Ichika," Maruo said. "It looks like you finally able to get a big role in the movie. That's a very good progress coming from you."
"Ehh-uhh… Thanks, dad," Ichika awkwardly thanked her dad compliment.
"So how's your acting job going? Knowing that you finally got a big role, I expect that you will get more job offer and bigger role in the future."
"Yeah… The acting schedule got pretty busy ever since my appearance on the TV last month. My manager told me that I will get more acting offer in the future if I keep improving my acting performance and the upcoming movie received a good reception."
"Is that so? Then, keep up the good work because you will be the one who experienced the success after all of your hard work," Maruo said as he closed his eyes after finishing his sentence. "There's another thing that I want to ask to you, Ichika. What is your current relationship with Uesugi-kun?"
"Ehh…?"
The question from her dad surprised Ichika and she wondered, why did he suddenly talk about this? She knew that her dad will talk about Fuutaro, expecting him to continue to say more bad things about him and probably told her to stay away from him, but this topic was the least she expected coming from him. Ichika did have a hidden feelings for Fuutaro, but knowing that her dad didn't like him that much, she decided to answer with a lie and choose to not tell the truth.
"Uhh…W-what do you mean, dad? Fuutaro-kun is our tutor, so our relationship is just a student-tutor. Since I knew him for some times, I also considered him as my friend," Ichika said with an embarrassment and a blush was visible in her cheeks.
"Don't lie to me, Ichika. Uesugi-kun has told me everything including your bet and promise to him. From what I understand, this kind of thing is beyond student-tutor relationship and more than just a friend."
Ichika got surprised even more after hearing that her dad finally knew the truth about her promise and bet with Fuutaro. So Fuutaro did told him everything and she can't blame him for it because of the constant pressures from her dad. She thought to herself that even if her dad already knew about the bet and promise, she still can't tell her feelings about Fuutaro to her dad because she was not ready to talk about her feelings about Fuutaro to anyone.
"So Ichika, are you currently dating Uesugi-kun or something like that?"
"N-no… W-wait… You're getting it wrong! There's nothing special between us! Just like I said before, we're just a student-tutor and he's just a friend… Ughhh…" Ichika said, with her stuttering her words as she started to become more flustered and her face was all red from her dad's question.
"Is that so? You don't need to talk anymore to me. I already knew the answer from just observing you and Uesugi-kun's behavior."
"…"
Ichika can't say anything more because of the embarrassment and nervousness. Did her dad already know that she had a feeling for Fuutaro? If so, will it make the situation become worse since his dad didn't like Fuutaro that much? Knowing her dad, he might stop Fuutaro from tutoring her and keep him away from her. She didn't want that to happened because she wanted to keep seeing Fuutaro, the boy that made her heart fell for him and she didn't want to be separated from the boy that she fell in love with.
"Well… I can only say that Uesugi-kun is a decent boy, but he has a lot of flaws in his personality," Maruo said about his opinion on Fuutaro. "He still needs to prove to me that he's the right man for the job to tutor all of you and we will see about that when the national mock exam results came out."
"Fuutaro-kun is… Fuutaro-kun is the only person who is capable of tutoring us. Even if you give us the smartest person in Japan to tutor us, we will not accept it under any circumstances," Ichika said seriously as she looked directly at her father. "Because of him, we all managed to become a better person both in academic and life aspect. Fuutaro-kun is a study-maniac kind of person and sometimes he can come across as someone who are cold and doesn't care about anything. But deep down he is a good and kind person."
"Ichika, you seem to really put a lot of trust in him. You really trusted him so much that you even willing to sacrifice your acting career, knowing that it went well for you, just for a trivial promise and bet?"
"Yeah… I really trust Fuutaro-kun so much that I even willing to make a promise and bet that going to put my acting career in stake. I took that promise and bet very seriously because I'm a person of my words and I want to prove to him that I'm capable to perform well in academic aspect," Ichika said further, proving that she really trusted Fuutaro. "So dad, I want you to keep your promise to him, if he managed to finish in top ten nationally on mock exam, he will still be our tutor until the graduation day."
"Don't worry, I'm a person of my words and I will honor my bet with Uesugi-kun if he managed to do it. But remember Ichika, if he failed to finish in top ten nationally, he will stop tutoring all of you and it's my condition between me and him," Maruo said and also reminding her about the failure scenario.
"Yeah… I understood. But, I'm not worried about it, because I believed in Fuutaro-kun, that he will finish in top 10 nationally. As for him, he believed in me that I will score at least 150 points on each subject and I'm confident that I won't disappoint him because I already did my best on the mock exam."
Maruo closed his eyes after hearing the statement from Ichika. He smiled a little and thought that this action of her might be another influence from Fuutaro. The words and the action from Ichika showed that she really trusted Fuutaro so much. Maruo thoughts to himself that she had really grown and became more mature than the last time he talked with her.
He further thought that maybe Fuutaro wasn't really a bad influence to her daughter and probably a better person than he assumed, but he still won't admit it fully until he can really know him personally. Maruo then stood up from the chair and he will leave the room because he already got the answer that he needed to know from Ichika.
"If that's what you believed in, then I understood," Maruo said. "But let me remind you Ichika, since your exam results hasn't come out yet, don't get your hope too high since anything can happen. If you managed to get 150 points, then Uesugi-kun was right to put a lot of trust and faith in you. If you failed, don't ever again make another promise that you're not capable to fulfill because it will disappoint a person that you promised with."
"I won't fail my bet to him because I believed in myself. Also, Fuutaro-kun been helping me with my study last month and this further proved that I'm confident in my ability to keep my promise to him."
"Well… You're definitely has grown and become more mature compared to the last time when I have this kind of talk with you," Maruo said as he walked to the door. "Also, this might be sounding weird coming from me, but your expression and the determination in your eyes reminded me of your late mother."
"Ehh…?"
"Keep up the good work, Ichika…"
Maruo then left the room and not long after, the four sisters then entered the room again. They were wondering about what Ichika been talking with their dad, so they quickly approached her to ask about it. As for Ichika, she didn't want to tell all of the talking, especially about her dad asking about her relationship with Fuutaro. So she decided to tell them some part of their talks that she thought was good enough to tell.
"Hey Ichika, what did dad talks about? Was it about Fuu-kun? It must be about him, right?" Nino eagerly asked to Ichika about their talk.
"Ahh… It's nothing. Dad only asked about my recent acting works," Ichika said as she shook her head and gave them a weak laugh.
"Don't lie Ichika, there's no way that dad told us to leave if he only wants to talk about your acting job. It must be about Fuu-kun, right?" Nino doubted her answer as she kept demanding about the truth.
"Yeah… yeah… Other than my job, dad did ask a thing or two questions about Fuutaro-kun." Ichika said with a sigh after so much pressure from Nino.
"Then, what did you and dad talked about? Did dad say a bad thing about Uesugi-san?" Yotsuba wondered about it.
"I can't tell much to you… But what I can tell you all is… I trust Fuutaro-kun…" Ichika answered with a soft and genuine smile.
"Huh…?" the four sisters were confused about Ichika's answer.
"I trust Fuutaro-kun… Other than that, you all can ask the rest to dad by yourselves."
"Huh… What's with that answer Ichika? Can you tell us more about it?" Itsuki got annoyed with Ichika, demanding for more answer from her big sister.
"Sorry… But it's a secret between me and dad."
"*sigh* This big sister of ours… playing a little secret on us…" Nino said with annoyance as she pinched Ichika's cheek out of irritation.
"I-It it hurts…! Nino!" Ichika yelled in pain as Nino kept pinching her cheek.
It was already night time and the lights from the ceiling lights were filling the room. Ichika dimmed the lights because she didn't like the bright light of hospital ward. It had been a few hours since the four sisters went home after visiting for half a day and she was truly glad that they always visiting her for everyday because it showed that they were truly cared and concerned about her.
Right now, Ichika was enjoying the outside view through the windows, admiring the views of the city light and also looking at the clear night sky. She always loved looking at the city landscape and at the nighttime sky because it somehow calms her heart and mind. She also wondered about Fuutaro and still hoping for him to visit her before she gets discharged in two days. Ichika then looked at her phone and opened the photo gallery to look at the photos they took together in the photo booth at the arcade last month.
The photos of them together always calmed and warmed her heart whenever she saw it. She always looked at these photos when she needed a motivation to study and at a time when she suddenly thinking about him. From all the photos, her favorite was the last photo, where Fuutaro was smiling gently with her and it always made her smiled and blushed whenever she saw it.
"That gentle smile of him…"
"Whenever I see it…"
"It always warms my heart…"
"Where are you now, Fuutaro-kun…"
"I wanted to see you…"
Ichika then put her phone away, laying back on to the bed, and closed her eyes as she still wondered about him. Not long after, there was someone who opened the room door and she quickly opened her eyes to see who that person was. Her hope had been answered and it was Fuutaro, who opened the door. A gentle smile was forming on Ichika's lips and a warm feeling also appeared in her chest from seeing him finally visiting her.
Fuutaro slowly walked towards her. He took a seat on a chair next to her bed and then put a plastic bag on the table next to him. Fuutaro then said his reason to Ichika for not visiting her for the past few days.
"Ichika… I'm sorry… that I can't visit you for the last few days. It's just that the part-time job in the café got very busy and there's been a lot of things happening in my mind recently…" Fuutaro said his apology to Ichika, lowering his head because he didn't have a courage to look at her. "Also, I'm sorry that I'm visiting you this late because there's been a lot of customers in the café today. But Nino said that she will handle it and the others been pushing me to visit you…"
"It's okay, Fuutaro-kun… I'm just glad that you finally have a time to visit me," Ichika said, still smiling from hearing Fuutaro's explanation. "Those four… I should thank them for persuading Fuutaro-kun to visit me."
"Then, how are you feeling right now? Are you feeling better?" he slowly raised his head to look at Ichika, asking about her current condition. "I bought a vitamin supplement and a milk for you. Hope it can make you recover faster from your illness."
"Thank you… Yeah, I've been feeling much better than before. Dad told me that my health made a good progress and I can be discharged from hospital in two or three days." she told Fuutaro about her condition and the good news.
"Is that so? Then I'm glad for you." Fuutaro said with a weak smile.
There was a moment of silent after that talks and the atmosphere became awkward because of the quietness. Fuutaro then averted his eyes to the floor, still feeling awkward and uneasy because of the argument they had few days ago. Ichika can sense the awkwardness and uneasiness in him and she chuckled from seeing his awkward behavior. In her mind, Fuutaro was always kind of cute when he was being nervous. To lighten the situation, Ichika then talked to Fuutaro, trying to calm him.
"It's fine… Fuutaro-kun…" Ichika said with a soft voice as a gentle smile formed on her lips.
"Hmm… What do you mean?" Fuutaro slowly raised his head again as he still felt uncomfortable.
"It's fine… You can tell me about what's currently in your mind. I've been watching you for some times and I knew you still have something to say. But you can't say it because you're still nervous right? So go ahead, tell me about what's in your mind."
"*sigh* The truth is Ichika… I'm still feeling uneasy when I lashed out at you at that time," Fuutaro sighed as he started to tell her about what had been in his mind for the last few days. "It's been on my mind for the last few days and I felt guilty about it. I'm such a fool for scolding you at the wrong time and didn't pay attention your condition at that time."
"It's okay… Fuutaro-kun. I finally understood about your situation, because if I'm in your position, I might do the same thing too."
"My situation… Ichika, did you know about it?"
"Unnn… Dad and the other four had told me about it. The four told me that you've been avoiding them in school, acting cold and distant whenever they wanted to talk to you. Other than feeling guilty, you also didn't visit me after for the last few days was because the pressure from dad, right?" Ichika said with a faint smile. "I can understand it because the pressure from dad is not easy to handle. So no need to feel guilty about it, Fuutaro-kun, because what you did are just spontaneous and I'm sure you really didn't mean it."
Fuutaro immediately fell quiet after hearing Ichika reassuring him. He felt so stupid for the past week because he can't keep his mind calm and straight and it made his behavior turned 180 degrees because of it. He then put his hand on his forehead and sighed as the uneasiness and guilt still swarming his heart and mind. Fuutaro then admitted to Ichika about his wrong behavior and apologized to her once more for their argument few days ago.
"*sigh* Yeah… I've been avoiding the other four because your dad told me to keep my distance from them because he said I can potentially be a bad influence to them from seeing what happened to you. As for why I didn't visit you, I've been feeling guilty for lashing out and shouting at you and I don't have a courage to visit you after that day. So Ichika, I'm truly sorry from the bottom of my heart."
"Apology accepted… Also, don't forget to apologize to them, okay?"
"Yeah…"
"Besides, it's not all your fault, Fuutaro-kun. This is all happened because of me, I'm being too reckless and selfish of my action and I didn't even think of the impact of what's going to happen around me if something bad happened to me," Ichika said, also admitting her fault. "I also wanted to apologize to you too… Because of me you're the one who being blamed by dad for this situation."
"Yeah… It's fine, Ichika. You've been doing what you can to score 150 points, so it's natural for you to do what you can and to push your limit."
"Hehe… Not only me, but you did your best too on the mock exam, right?" she grinned at Fuutaro. "I believed in you, Fuutaro-kun… That you will finish in top 10 nationally and you will win your bet against dad."
"Me too, Ichika. I also believe in you that you will score at least 150 points on every subject and you will keep your promise to me." Fuutaro said, showing a faint smile to her as the uneasiness in his heart and mind started to fades away.
"Hehe… Thank you for believing in me!"
Ichika then extended her right pinky finger to Fuutaro. Fuutaro, seeing this became confused, but he knew what she meant because when someone extending their pinky finger, they wanted to make a promise to the other person. Fuutaro then wondered about her reason for this because it felt a bit strange for him.
"Hmm…? What's with the pinky finger?"
"Fuutaro-kun… Let's make a promise between the two of us. That from now on, we will trust each other, we will not lie to each other, and we will not doubt each other," Ichika said with a faint smile, wanting to make a promise with him so there won't be anymore misunderstood happening in the future.
"Oi, oi… Isn't pinky promise too childish for us? Can't we just do it like the normal way?" Fuutaro asked to her with the same faint smile, feeling some hesitation because of the method.
"No way! Besides, me and the other four always did the pinky promise whenever we make a promise to each other and about to do something very important together. Anyway, let's do it! there's no harm for us on doing it, right?"
"Yeah, yeah… Here it goes," Fuutaro chuckled as he extended his pinky too to make a promise with her.
Both of their pinky was crossing with each other and it stayed that way for some moments. Ichika was smiling and blushing the moment her pinky was crossing with Fuutaro's pinky. Her heart was beating faster and faster, as the time went on and she wanted this feeling to last forever with the boy that she loves. The warm feelings were rising up in her heart and as she looked at their crossing pinky, she thought about her feelings to Fuutaro.
"This feeling…"
"I wanted this to last forever…"
"I wanted to keep crossing my pinky to him…"
"So promise to me… Fuutaro-kun…"
As for Fuutaro, when his pinky met Ichika's pinky, he unconsciously blushed, smiled, and also feeling a bit nervous. At the same time, his heart also starting to beat faster and the same unknown feelings resurfaced again for so many times since the day he skipped school with her. After experiencing it for so many times, Fuutaro starting to get a hint of this unknown feelings and he thought about it whether it was true or not.
"This feeling…"
"I'm starting to understand about this feeling…"
"Do I have a feeling for Ichika…?"
"Is it really true…?"
"Whether it's true or not… I'm still not sure about it…"
Some amounts of moments have passed and they finally let go of each other pinky, signaling that they already made a promise between them. Ichika then giggled and Fuutaro can only smiled after they have their pinky back to them. The atmosphere became lighter and happier than before and Ichika reminded him again of the promise.
"Don't forget about our promise, okay?" Ichika cheerfully said to him with her showing her pinky. "We will trust each other, we will not lie to each other, and we will not doubt each other."
"Yeah! Other than studying, I will also keep reminding you about our promise. So don't ever get tired of me keep saying it, okay?" Fuutaro also said to her with an eager and energetic expression.
"Yes, yes…! I'm counting on you, Fuutaro-sensei!" Ichika eagerly said with the same expression as him.
"Heh! What's with that "sensei" thing? No matter how many times you call me that, I will never get used to it." Fuutaro smirked from hearing her saying that nickname. "Hmm… It's been this late huh? The visiting time is already over." he murmured to himself after seeing the time on the wall clock.
"Ehh…? Is it already that late? It feels like you just came in here just a minute ago."
"Well… I guess it's just like you said, when you're having fun, time will flow faster than usual," Fuutaro said with a smile and closed his eyes at the same time. "Then, I will take my leave. I'll wait for you at school when the time comes, Ichika." he then stood up from the chair and headed for the door.
"Then, I guess, see you in school, Fuutaro-kun!"
"Yeah… See you in school, Ichika."
Fuutaro then left the room. Ichika then laid down on the bed once more and thought to herself that today was a very great day for her. She was very glad that her sisters were very caring for her and what Fuutaro said about family was definitely true. She also finally able to stood up to her dad and defended Fuutaro from his bias view of him.
In the end, she finally able to mend back her relationship with Fuutaro by understanding each other situation, apologizing to each other, and finally made a new promise between them. Ichika then thought about her feelings to Fuutaro and she promised to herself that she won't deny her feelings to him and will tell him about it someday when the time was right.
"I've made up my mind…"
"I won't deny this feeling again…"
"Someday, I will tell this feeling to you…"
"My true feelings for you…"
"That I really love you… Fuutaro-kun…"
A/N:
Chapter 9 finally finished, it's even longer than the previous chapter and I really can't believe myself that I can write this long.
So yeah, they finally apologized to each other (Hooray!) and Fuutaro starting to realize about his feelings for Ichika although he's still not sure about it because well... Just like in the main series, he's kinda clueless in romance kind of things and he didn't have any experience/knowledge about love, so it will take him more time to understand his feelings for Ichika and possibly embrace it.
A hint for the next chapter, the next chapter will take place on the day where the national mock exam results finally came out. I will not spoil it further for you so you can enjoy the upcoming chapter to the fullest. Talking about next chapter, I'm not sure when it will be released because I'm still enjoying my Christmas and New Year day-off, so it can be next week like usual or even longer.
Also, I know it's already too late to say, but still, Merry Christmas to all the readers and I hope you enjoy your holiday season!
As for the review response:
-Rosalina:
Yeah that chapter was really sad and even when I re-read it, I feel really bad for both Ichika and Fuutaro. Also, as always, thank you for the kind words! You're the best!
-Tsubaki Lover:
I agree with you. Just like in the main series, Ichika always putting the mask of cheerfulness and keep on smiling to her sisters to assume the role of eldest sister. But inside, she's kind of confused about her relationship with her sisters because she always too focused on herself and her goals without knowing that the four really cared for her. Because of the pressure of getting those 150 points, deep down in her heart she's scared of failing the promise and worried that her sisters will beat her in exam score and become a threat to gain Fuutaro's love.
-Powder Sauce:
So here it is! The chapter that you waiting for. Although, I made Fuutaro still not sure about his feelings for Ichika considering that he's kinda clueless in romance and considered that love is an obstacle in his studying goals in the main series, which made him even more hopeless in love related things (Well not really, but still, he's definitely clueless). So we will see about that in the future chapter, for him to understand more of this feelings and possibly embrace it.
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