Chapter 10
"Hey! I heard from the teachers that today the mock exam results will be posted."
"Is that true?!"
"Yeah, I'm certain of it. The results will be posted at the mid-day break!"
"Then, let's go together to see it! I can't wait to see my results!
The morning atmosphere in the classroom was very loud because today was the day where the national mock exam results will be posted. Some students in the class were thrilled to see their results, some others felt gloomy because they know they bombed the exam and will expect a terrible result, and there were also some who didn't even care about their result and act like usual.
Sitting at her desk, Ichika was looking at the windows beside her desk, resting her right cheek on her right hand as she got absorbed in thoughts, wondering about her exam result. She felt confident but also felt a worry at the same time. Ichika felt confident because she felt that she already did her best on the mock exam by pushing herself to the limit, studying very intensely on last month. She also felt worried because her illness at that time might impact her score negatively and can jeopardize her promise to Fuutaro.
If the result came out good, Ichika can imagine that Fuutaro will be proud of her and also will praise her for her good result. She can also imagine the face of her sisters if she managed to get 150 points on each subject, where they all will be surprised and in awe. These thoughts made Ichika let out a weak chuckle, but that chuckle didn't last long as she immediately thought the worst scenario for her result. The worst scenario that appeared in her mind was similar to her nightmare last week, where the four will act vile and mock her exam result and Fuutaro will be disappointed in her, for not able to keep her promise.
"What will my score gonna be…?"
"The mock exam was definitely one of the hardest exams that I've ever faced…"
"But… Thanks to the extra studying and tutoring from Fuutaro-kun… The exam was not that hard like I would imagine…"
"But… At that time, I can't concentrate well because of the illness…"
"Still… What if I failed to get 150 points…?"
"Will Fuutaro-kun be disappointed in me? And will the other four gonna mock my results?"
"It will be just like that nightmare…"
"I don't want that to happened…"
Still absorbed in her thought, the four sisters approached the daydreaming Ichika. The four looked at each other, feeling kind of concerned seeing her spacing out. Ever since she got discharged from the hospital, they noticed that Ichika seems to be quieter than usual and she always spacing out more often than before whenever they approached her. The four felt kind of weird with her new behavior, but they concluded that she might be nervous about the upcoming mock exam result. Seeing her spacing out again, Nino nodded to the other three and then approached her. She then pinched Ichika on the left cheek to get her out of the daydreaming state.
"What's wrong, Ichika? It's unusual seeing you daydreaming like this."
"T-That hurt… Nino!" Ichika let out a small yell from Nino's pinching and then complained while holding her achy left cheek.
"Are you worried about the mock exam results? Don't worry too much about it! We already did our best on the exam so our result should come out good… I think…?" Yotsuba said eagerly with confidence, but she stuttered in the last sentence.
"Hmm… Your face expression kinda reminded me of Uesugi-kun. He always made that kind of face when he was in trouble or something," Itsuki said with a faint laugh, thinking about Fuutaro's troubled expression with her right hand on her chin.
"Speaking of Fuutaro… I saw him minutes ago and he seems to be lost in his thought. His expression was very serious and he's not moving an inch on his chair," Miku said to the four as she turned around to see Fuutaro again.
The quintuplets then saw Fuutaro from Ichika's desk. Just like Miku said, they can saw that Fuutaro had a serious expression on his face and he was doing his serious pose, where he intertwined his fingers and resting it in front of his face. The five observed Fuutaro for a minute, in which he didn't even move a single inch and keep staying on that pose. The only thing that moving from him was just his eyes, which he closed it for a few seconds and then opened it again. They can only chuckle from seeing Fuutaro in that kind of state.
Wanting to lighten his mood a little bit, Nino wanted to drag Fuutaro to them, hoping they can help him calm down a little.
"Well… I'm going to drag him here. He's been acting too serious and needs some fun to lighten up his mood a bit."
"No… Give him some space, Nino. I'm sure there are lot of things going on in Fuutaro-kun's minds right now," Ichika said to Nino as she stood up and grabbed her sister's shoulder to stop her. "Today is the day where the national mock exam results come out, right? So Fuutaro-kun must've been nervous about his upcoming result because it will decide the outcome of his bet against dad, right?"
"Hmm… You're right," Nino mumbled to herself with her holding her chin as she agreed with Ichika's suggestion a second later. "Well… I guess it's not fun having him getting all serious in here, which can ruin our fun mood."
"Then, how about we ask him to come along with us to check the result at the mid-day break?" Yotsuba shared her suggestion to the other sisters with an eager. "Who knows by the mid-day break, his mood already improved and we can approach him with no trouble," she said with a grin.
"Yeah, that's a good idea. Maybe with us around, accompanying him to see the results, we can ease his nervousness," Miku nodded with a smile, agreeing with Yotsuba's suggestion.
"Well, it's decided then. Let's ask him to join us at the mid-day break!" Itsuki nodded to other sisters, also agreeing with the suggestion.
Five of them agreed to ask Fuutaro to come with them to check the exam results at the mid-day break.
For Fuutaro, today was a very important day for him. Today was the day where the outcome of his bet with the quintuplets' dad will be decided, the day where the national mock exam results will be posted at the mid-day break.
Ever since he arrived at the school, he had been feeling very nervous and tense on wondering about his exam result. What made him nervous was he left five questions unanswered on the last exam subject, in which he thought it can negatively affect his national rank. Other than that, he was also afraid that his results will be affected by his sluggish performance on the mock exam day, where he was very tired and sleepy on that day and he felt that he didn't perform his best.
The fact that he competed against all high school students in Japan, made him even more nervous, knowing that there will be another much smarter and better student than him. Fuutaro had been absorbed in his thoughts for some amounts of minutes and he can't stop thinking about the upcoming results even if he tried to stay calm.
"The results will be posted at the mid-day break…"
"Will I be able to finish in top 10 nationally…?"
"If only I answered that last five questions…"
"Damn… I can't get that out of my mind…"
"*sigh* I need to stay calm… There's no use in thinking it over and over again…"
"I need to face whatever score that I will get…!"
While still thinking about his upcoming result, Fuutaro suddenly thought about Ichika's promise and bet to him, in where she promised that she will achieve at least 150 points on each subject. He then thought of what will Ichika score be… Will it come out just like she promised? Or will she fail to achieve that score because of her illness on the mock exam day? Fuutaro knew that Ichika already did her best and what she can on the mock exam and he believed in her that she will be able achieve 150 points. Even if she didn't manage to achieve that, Fuutaro can understand that because of her condition at that time and he won't even get mad at her.
"What will your score gonna be… Ichika…?"
"Will you be able to get those 150 points…? Or will you going to fail to achieve that…?"
"Whatever your result will be… I will accept it."
"You already did your best and I'm not in position to judge your effort…"
Not long after, the school bell rang, signaling the morning class was about to start. The teacher entered the class and the students went back to their seat as the lesson was about to start. The quintuplets then looked and nodded at each other, signing that they were prepared about their upcoming exam results. For Fuutaro, he was able to get his mind calmer after some self-calming thoughts and then broke his thinking pose as he turned his attention to the teacher who about to start the lesson.
The clock showing that it was almost mid-day. Thanks to his connection to the Asahiyama school board, Maruo was able to personally obtain the national mock exam results faster than the official announcement in the school. Ebata, who was Maruo's personal secretary, had been summoned by Maruo to his office in the hospital, to bring the data of the mock exam results.
As Ebata arrived in the office, he brought the copy of the data in the form of SD card and gave it to Maruo, who have been waiting to see the results, especially for Fuutaro's result. He had been waiting for the result since the morning and with the data was finally here, he can see whether Fuutaro will be able to finish in top 10 nationally, just like he promised or not.
Maruo was not fond of Fuutaro since the beginning because he didn't like his attitude and her daughters didn't show much improvement under his tutelage. But if somehow Fuutaro managed to finish in top 10, he might reconsider his view about him and gave him another chance to tutor his daughters, just like the condition he proposed to him. Maruo then opened his tablet and inserted the SD card to look at the exam results for the quintuplets' and Fuutaro's result.
"Nakano-sama, here's the result of the national mock exam last month ago."
"Very good… So how are the results of the girls?" Maruo asked to Ebata as he still focused on his tablet.
"There are some variations among the young ladies scores. Their grades have drastically improved compared to their previous year," Ebata said, explaining the situation to his boss. "But… Out of all the five young ladies, Ichika-sama have shown the biggest improvement on all of the subjects. Even I can't believe it myself when I first saw her score."
"Is that so? Then, let's see her score first."
Maruo opened the file containing Ichika's mock exam result. The very first second when he set his eyes on her result, Maruo eyes slightly widened from the surprise on seeing her scores. He took some time to saw each score on every subject and her national ranking. A satisfied smile appeared on his lips as he kept looking on Ichika's exam result.
National Mock Examination Results
Name: Nakano Ichika
National Ranking: 45/250,762
Subject Course:
-Mathematics: 175/200
-English: 160/200
-Social Studies: 152/200
-Japanese: 155/200
-Science: 170/200
This was very surprising for Maruo, considering that Ichika never achieved a score this high before. In his mind, he was very proud of her because Ichika's scores were exceeding his expectation. Maruo then looked at the other quintuplets' results and their scores were not very high like Ichika. But just like Ebata said, they did show a big improvement compared to their scores from previous years.
"Judging from their results, their decision to hire Fuutaro-sama as their tutor was a great decision. Other than his effort to tutoring the young ladies, the young ladies' efforts of studying were also very good."
"Yeah… Their grades showed that they're truly improving," Maruo slightly nodded as he looked at the four's results again. "As for Ichika's results, I'm surprised that she was able to score this high, knowing that she never achieved this high in the previous years."
"I agree, Nakano-sama. From my personal opinion, Ichika-sama is the most hard-worker out of them. She knew about her responsibility and I'm pretty sure her high scores coming from a certain motivation. Maybe she made a bet or promise to someone, to achieve a very high score, just like Fuutaro-sama made a bet to you."
"A promise huh?"
Maruo then remembered about what Fuutaro told him last week, where he told him about the reason why Ichika passed out from her illness. Fuutaro told him that Ichika made a bet and promise to him that she will achieve at least 150 points on each subject and if she failed to achieve that, she will quit her acting job. Ichika also confirmed about it and she told him that she took the bet and promise very seriously. So the motivation that Ebata just mentioned, Ichika managed to get these high scores was because of her promise and bet to Fuutaro. Maruo then remembered about his talks with Fuutaro and Ichika in last week.
"Ichika... wanted me to skip school with her on that day. I refused her request because of my focus in studying. But she kept begging to me until she cried and then she made a bet and promise to me. She said that if she failed to score 150 points on each subject, she will quit her acting job and in exchange, I have to agree to skip school with her. So in the end, I accepted her request because I can't saw her crying like that and I believe that she is capable to score 150 points," Fuutaro explained the whole story about him and Ichika.
"From what I thought, she took that bet very seriously. The four just told me that Ichika stayed up very late to study, drank a lot of coffee to stay awake at the late night, consumed a lot amount of headache and pain relief medicine, and she still working her acting job despite all of that, everyday until the national mock exam day. I also noticed that she was not feeling well today from this morning and I tried to persuade her to go to school infirmary, but she refused. When the exam was finally over and I'm on my way home, Miku told me that Ichika collapsed and passed out on the middle of sideways and it made me very worried about her…"
"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.
"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."
Maruo then slightly smiled after remembering their talks. He was proud of Ichika's effort and she has truly grown and becoming more mature, capable of handling such responsibility knowing the consequences of it. Although, he still didn't like on how Ichika over-pushed herself until she became ill because it reminded him of Rena, where she also pushed herself to the limit knowing she already had a serious illness.
"I'm proud of you, Ichika…"
"You're surely grown and becoming more mature…"
"You really knew about your responsibility…"
"You really reminded me of your late mother…"
"Such a hard-worker and responsible woman…"
After finished on looking the quintuplets' results, Maruo then opened Takeda's exam results. As expected from him, Takeda managed to finish at eighth place in national rank with a very high score. Maruo felt satisfied about Takeda's results because he knew that it was not easy to finish at that spot against all the high school students in Japan and knowing that he was the son of the school board, he had a high expectation of him.
Name: Takeda Yuusuke
National Ranking: 8/250,762
Subject Course:
-Mathematics: 192/200
-English: 189/200
-Social Studies: 185/200
-Japanese: 190/200
-Science: 188/200
"Takeda-sama has achieved a spectacular performance on the mock exam, placing at eighth place in national rank."
"As expected from him. Knowing that he's the son of the school board, I expect a very high score coming from him," Maruo said with his usual expressionless face. But in his mind, he was kind of satisfied with Takeda's result.
"I agree. Takeda-sama is a very intelligent student and a charismatic person. He's definitely a perfect criteria of a capable tutor for the young ladies," Ebata nodded, agreeing with Maruo's statement. "As for the Fuutaro-sama's exam results, his result is in the next file."
Maruo then opened the last file, which contained Fuutaro's exam results. When he saw Fuutaro's results, much to his surprise, Fuutaro managed to score a perfect 200 score on the first four subjects and for the last subject, he didn't manage to get a perfect score, but it was still a very high score. When Maruo looked at the upper right table, Fuutaro managed to finish at the third place in the national rank.
Name: Uesugi Fuutaro
National Ranking: 3/250,762
Subject Course:
-Mathematics: 200/200
-English: 200/200
-Social Studies: 200/200
-Japanese: 200/200
-Science: 195/200
Seeing Fuutaro's result made Maruo surprised, but he still managed to keep a straight face. He thought to himself that he didn't expect Fuutaro to score this high, even managed to outrank Takeda on every subject and in national rank. He knew and been told from Isanari, his old school friend, that Fuutaro was a bookworm and a very smart student. But he partly dismissed his claim because Isanari liked to talk big and one of the reasons he hired Fuutaro to became his daughters tutor, was to help his old friend. Did his view of Fuutaro so far was wrong? The mock exam result proved to him that Fuutaro was more than capable in academic aspect.
"I'm sure this is a regrettable report to you, Nakano-sama. But the result did not lie about his scores and national rank," Ebata said. "It surprised me too when I saw his results and I didn't expect him to beat Takeda-sama on both score and in national rank."
"Hmm… Such a performance from Uesugi-kun…" Maruo mumbled to himself from looking at Fuutaro's result. "He scored perfectly in the first four subjects. There's a note in here saying that he didn't answer the last five question on the final subject."
"That's true. According to the report that I received, Fuutaro-sama suddenly fell asleep as if he had passed out. It might be because he over-pushed himself in studying and finally fell asleep from exhaustion," Ebata told his finding to Maruo as he adjusted his glasses. "Perhaps, if he managed to answer every single question… He will be able to finish at first place in national rank."
"What you said could probably true… But perhaps…There's a little point in speculating on that matter because what's done is done."
"I understood… Pardon my rudeness, Nakano-sama, I still need to finish that matter for your client that you told me to do in this morning."
"Very well, you can leave now. Keep up the good work, Ebata."
"Then, excuse me."
Ebata then left Maruo's office to finish his given task. Maruo then closed the exam results and put his tablet back on his desk. He closed his eyes and thought about Fuutaro's result. So Fuutaro managed to win the bet against him and showed that he was more than capable of becoming the quintuplets' tutor. Perhaps he was being too harsh on Fuutaro this far, viewing him as a bad influence to his daughters and always doubting him on every aspect.
Just as he promised to Fuutaro, he will let him to keep tutoring the quintuplets and will reinstate the boy back as their official tutor. With Fuutaro managed to win the bet against him, Maruo started to grow some respect to him, but still not fully trusted him because he still needed to see more aspect of him, especially his personality and how responsible he was.
"Uesugi Fuutaro… He has been an obstacle at every step of my way…"
"Everytime I get involved with him, my plans always go off course…"
"Which is quite bothersome to me…"
"However… That determination of him…"
"Is very impressive…"
Maruo then thought about the quintuplets' view of Fuutaro. From what he observed, the five were very trusting of Fuutaro and they even willing to leave the penthouse and rented a small apartment just to keep him as their tutor. Especially for Ichika, she trusted and believed in Fuutaro very much and also willing to sacrifice her job and her well beingness because she valued her bet and promise to him. Maruo then remembered about how his daughters, especially Ichika, defended Fuutaro and how they really trusted him and stood up for him whenever he talked bad about the boy.
"You four… Can you all leave the room for a while?" 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.
"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."
"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 then smiled after remembering their daughters' words about Fuutaro. From their words and expression that they showed, they really trusted him. As for Ichika, Maruo thought there was definitely more than a trust in her heart because making a bet and promise to Fuutaro with that kind of condition, indicating that their relationship was more than just a student-tutor and friend. From Ichika's expression and response when he talked to her about Fuutaro's situation, he knew that there was a spark between her and Fuutaro. As for this situation, Maruo still not approving of a further relationship between Ichika and Fuutaro, because he still didn't know him enough and needed to see more about his personality to decide is Fuutaro appropriate and suitable for a further relationship with Ichika.
"All of my daughters are seemingly really trusting you…"
"Especially Ichika… There's definitely something more between you two…"
"I still can't trust you yet…"
"You've proven that you're capable in the academic aspect…"
"But for your personality… I need to see further what kind of man you are…"
"Prove it to me, Uesugi Fuutaro. Are you worthy enough to be in further relationship with Ichika?"
The mid-day break was finally here. The school bell rang, indicating that mid-day break had started and lots of third year students rushing out from their class to saw the national mock exam results at the main hall. Fuutaro didn't immediately exit the classroom to saw his results and instead, he decided to wait for a while because he knew that the main hall will be crowded and it will be difficult for him to see his result.
He took a water bottle from his bag to refresh his thirst because he was feeling thirsty from all the nervousness that still lingering in his mind from thinking about his mock exam result throughout the morning class. The quintuplets then approached Fuutaro at his desk and asked him to come with them to see the exam results.
"Uesugi-san! Would you like to join us to see the exam result?" Yotsuba approached him with a wide grin.
"No… I will see the results by myself later. The main hall is too crowded right now and I don't want to be pushed around when I see my result," Fuutaro said as he put the water bottle back in his bag.
"Hey! Come with us, Fuu-kun. We saw you from this morning that you've been acting too serious." Nino put both of her hands on her hips and leaned forward to him. "Lighten up a bit, will you? We're also nervous from wondering about our results."
"Well… What Fuutaro said was true. The main hall will be crowded right now and it will also be difficult for us to see our result," Miku casually said to Nino, agreeing with Fuutaro's reasoning.
"Yeah, let's wait for a few minutes before we go to the main hall to see the result," Itsuki said with her crossing her arms. "Anyway Uesugi-kun, are you confident that you will win the bet against our dad?"
"Hmm… Who knows… I'm definitely confident that I will finish in top 10 nationally. But knowing that I fell asleep on the Science subject and left five questions unanswered, it really makes me thinking about it again…" Fuutaro replied to her with hesitation as he closed his eyes and crossed his arms from thinking about that unfortunate incident.
"Don't worry about it, Fuutaro-kun. Five unanswered questions aren't going to impact your score that much," Ichika said with a grin, putting her hand on Fuutaro's shoulder. "As long as you believed in yourself and felt confident enough of your effort, I believe that you will finish in top 10… or even better."
"Ahh… Thanks for the encouraging words. I believed in my ability and pretty confident about it, so let's just see the score and hope for the best," Fuutaro said as he opened his eyes and give them a faint smile.
Fuutaro and the five then talked to each other to pass the time, to wait for the crowd to disperse in the main hall. After 15 minutes since the start of the mid-day break, lots of the third-year students already came back to their class or went to the cafetaria for lunch. Yotsuba checked the hallway and it was true that lots of third-year students came back to their class and thought that this was the best time for them to go to check the exam result. She then shouted from the classroom door to tell Fuutaro and her sisters to go now.
"Look! Lots of third-year students already went back to the classroom or went for lunch in the cafetaria," Yotsuba shouted to Fuutaro and her sisters to gain their attention. "Then, let's go to the main hall!"
"Yeah… You all go on ahead. I need to go to the restroom first, been holding it since the last 30 minutes." Fuutaro stood up from his chair and heading to the restroom.
"Then, we'll go on ahead. Don't forget to catch up with us, Uesugi-kun," Itsuki said.
The quintuplets and Fuutaro exited the classroom. Fuutaro made a stop to the restroom, while the quintuplets went on to the main hall. Entering the restroom and to his surprise, he happened to meet Takeda inside, washing his hands at the sink. Fuutaro immediately sighed, knowing that Takeda will definitely brag about his exam result. But when he started to take a leak, he wondered why Takeda didn't say a single word to him and continued to stare at the mirror with a seemingly unenergetic face. When Fuutaro went to wash his hand, Takeda was still at the sink. With a deep sigh, Takeda finally let out a word from his mouth and even his talking was as unenergetic as his face.
"*sigh* I guess I lost again…" Takeda said with a weak smile, still staring at the mirror.
"Hmm… What do you mean?" Fuutaro wondered about what Takeda just said and turned his head to see him.
"You did very well, Uesugi-kun," Takeda replied, lowering his head from the apparent defeat. "You haven't saw your result, right? I won't spoil it to you. You better see it for yourself."
"Ahh… I definitely will."
"Then, I will take my leave," Takeda said as he walked past right Fuutaro. "Give my regards to the Nakano siblings."
Takeda then left the restroom and his word made Fuutaro puzzled. He said that he lost again… Did his result was lower than him? Or he didn't manage to finish in top 10 nationally? Takeda words made Fuutaro even more curious about his results and he didn't take anymore time to wash his hands and immediately exit the restroom. Exiting the restroom, he saw Ichika in front of the restroom, seemingly waiting for him to come out.
"Ichika…?"
"Yahoo… What took you so long, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika playfully said to him as she leaned against the wall behind her. "You sure are taking your time inside of the restroom, huh?" she teased Fuutaro for his long time in the restroom
"No, that's not it… I happened to meet Takeda inside the restroom and we had a little chat inside," Fuutaro said, explaining the reason why he took a long time in the restroom. "He told me that he lost against me on the mock exam… I don't really know what that means, but I definitely need to see about mine and his results."
"Is that so? Let's go to the main hall. The others must've been waiting for us."
Fuutaro and Ichika then walked together to the main hall. On the way to the main hall, she had something to say to him about his bet against her dad.
"Hey Fuutaro-kun… I guess this is it huh?"
"Hmm… What do you mean?"
"This exam result will decide the outcome of your bet against dad," Ichika said as she turned her head to look at Fuutaro. "Well, I hope that you will be able to finish in top 10 because you are the only person who can tutor the five of us."
"I know… I'm confident that I will win that bet against your dad. But, just like I said before, I fell asleep and left five questions unanswered, so anything can happen because of that," Fuutaro said as he looked at the ceiling, thinking about that incident again.
"Don't say it like that, Fuutaro-kun. I believe in you that you will finish in top 10 nationally. So don't say that gloomy statement, okay?"
"Ahh… Thanks. Don't forget about your bet and promise with me, Ichika. I'm sure that you already did your best despite your illness at that time. I believe in you that you will get those 150 points just like you promised to me."
"Hehe… Thank you! We need to believe in ourselves and don't let the doubt getting ahead. Remember about our promise? To not doubt at ourselves and to the each other."
"Yeah… I didn't forget about our promise," Fuutaro said with a smile on his face. "Whatever the result is, I'm already prepared about it and I won't regret about it!" he raised his right hand and clutched it.
"Hehh…! Such a wisely words coming from you. I really like this version of you compared to the usual gloomy and cold version of Fuutaro-kun." Ichika got amazed and grinned at the same time from hearing his words and also teasing him again by poking him repeatedly on his shoulder.
"Oi, oi… Even in this kind of time, you still have time to tease me?" Fuutaro said with a faint smile, feeling unusually amused from her teasing.
"Hehe… It's always fun to tease you, you know?" she said with a chuckle.
"Hehe… Whatever you say…" he said with the same chuckle just like her.
After a few moments of walking, they finally arrived at the main hall. The crowd of students had dispersed, but there were some students still looking at the announcement boards where the mock exam results had been posted at.
As the two approached the announcement board, they saw the four sisters were looking at the result papers, pinned on the board. Fuutaro and Ichika can hear them awing and they also saw the four sisters' face were amazed from seeing the results. Both Fuutaro and Ichika then approached the four sisters, wondering about their amazement. But before the two can say a word, the four noticed them and immediately congratulate both of them.
"Wow! Uesugi-san and Ichika, both of your scores are really amazing!" Yotsuba approached them with an eager after seeing the two results.
"Ehh…? What do you mean?" Ichika got surprised from hearing what Yotsuba said about her and Fuutaro's result.
"You two better see your scores by yourself. I'm sure you two gonna be very proud of it when you see it, especially you, Fuu-kun," Nino said with a smile and she stepped aside to make way for them to see the result. "For you Ichika, I don't have any words to say about your result."
"Then, where's my name…" Fuutaro and Ichika stepped forward to the announcement board and moved their finger to look for their name.
After some moments of searching, the two finally found their name along with their exam results. Both of them immediately showed a surprised face from seeing their scores and apparently, their scores were very high compared to the other student in the school. Ichika covered her gasping mouth with both of her hands and Fuutaro's jaw was dropping and his eyes were wide as ever. The two then looked at each other in disbelief and then there was a laugh coming from their mouth and it gets progressively louder at each second passing.
National Mock Examination Results
Name: Nakano Ichika
National Ranking: 45/250,762
Subject Course:
-Mathematics: 175/200
-English: 160/200
-Social Studies: 152/200
-Japanese: 155/200
-Science: 170/200
Name: Uesugi Fuutaro
National Ranking: 3/250,762
Subject Course:
-Mathematics: 200/200
-English: 200/200
-Social Studies: 200/200
-Japanese: 200/200
-Science: 195/200
"Ahahaha…!" Ichika laughed as she looked at Fuutaro.
"Ahahaha…!" Fuutaro also laughed as he looked at Ichika.
"WE DID IT!"
The two looked at each other in joy and screamed in unison after seeing their results. A delighted expression was visible on their face as the two were laughing at each other in joy. The four sisters can only saw them with a proud smile, being happy for them, for achieving a very high score in such difficult exam. Feelings of happiness were bursting out from their hearts and it got reflected on their face as they kept on laughing and grinning.
Fuutaro and Ichika then did a double check on their scores again, to see if their scores were legit and not fake. No matter how many times they looked at it, their score didn't change and it just made them even happier.
"Did you saw my results, Fuutaro-kun? I managed to score at least 150 points on each subject!" Ichika energetically said with a wide smile to Fuutaro.
"Yeah, I saw it! You even managed to finish in top 50 nationally, which is an amazing feat considering how stupid you are!" Fuutaro said with the same expression as her and adding an apparent "insult" in the last sentence.
"Ughhh… That's rude, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika pouted after hearing Fuutaro complimenting and "insulting" her at the same time. "Anyway, not only you managed to finish in top 10, but you successfully finished at third place which is very great! But I guess those two persons at the first and second place are smarter and more intelligent than our beloved tutor. I guess we should ask them to become our tutor instead, right, Fuutaro-kun?" she said with an evil smile, getting back at him for his "insult" to her.
"Oi, oi… That really hurt my pride you know," Fuutaro sighed and then chuckled on hearing the "insult" from Ichika.
"I'm happy for both of you. You two really did your best on the mock exam," Miku said with a soft smile, praising their performance on the mock exam.
"You two are really amazing! Even our score didn't come close to both of you," Itsuki said with an awe.
"Ehh…? How about all of your scores? It must be good right?" Ichika wondered, turning around to Itsuki, asking for their result.
"Uhh… Yeah… Our scores kinda improved compared to the previous year. Every of us managed to score over 50 points, which I said a definite improvement… I guess?" Itsuki replied with a weak laugh, feeling proud of her and the other result, even though it was not that high like Ichika's and Fuutaro's result.
"Well… It's a big improvement in my book compared how low you all scored in the mid and final test last year," Fuutaro said with a satisfied smile to the four about their scores. "Anyway, great job to all of you!" he then gave a thumbs up to the four sisters.
"Hehe… Thank you, Fuutaro," Miku said with a soft chuckle and a blush appeared on her cheeks because of Fuutaro's compliment.
Fuutaro then felt that he forgot about something. He then thought very hard about it and after some seconds of thinking, he finally remembered that he also wanted to see Takeda's results. He then turned around from the quintuplets, looked at the board again and using his finger to find Takeda's result. After few seconds of searching, he then found his competitor's result and looked at it.
Name: Takeda Yuusuke
National Ranking: 8/250,762
Subject Course:
-Mathematics: 192/200
-English: 189/200
-Social Studies: 185/200
-Japanese: 190/200
-Science: 188/200
After seeing Takeda's result, Fuutaro finally understood what he meant back in the restroom. Not only that Fuutaro managed to finish in top 10 nationally, he managed to outscore Takeda on every subject and outrank him in the national rank. This outcome made him feel even better, not only he won the bet against quintuplets' dad, he also able to perform better than Takeda in every academic aspect, which further solidify that he was the suitable tutor for the quintuplets. Fuutaro then smiled and closed his eyes, feeling proud of his result and thinking to himself that he managed to beat Takeda too.
"So this was what he meant back then…"
"Looks like I managed to beat Takeda huh?"
"Well, this is a very good news to me…"
"This can further prove to their dad, that I'm more capable than him…"
"Hmm… What's wrong, Fuu-kun?" Nino asked to Fuutaro, wondering about his sudden smile.
"Uhh… Yeah, I'm just looking at Takeda's result. It looks like he finished at eighth place nationally, but I managed to outrank and outscore him on every subject."
"Hah! I couldn't care less about him," Nino said with a big smirk on her face, feeling great hearing Fuutaro managed to defeat Takeda on the exam, "It's good that you managed to beat him. I can't imagine that guy becoming our tutor. I rather fail a year than having him tutor us."
"Well… Isn't that kind of rude? I mean, Takeda-kun also did try his best in the exam," Ichika said with a weak laugh to Nino.
"I agree with Nino. I won't accept any other person to tutor us. Only Fuutaro is the one who are perfect for us," Miku said with a slightly serious expression on her face.
"Hehe… Looks like we all have the same thought," Yotsuba said with a grin, feeling glad that the other had the same thought. "Still, I'm happy that Uesugi-san managed to beat him, which mean that he will still be our tutor!"
"By the way, you all… Can we continue the talks in the cafetaria? There's only 20 minutes left for mid-day break and I'm already hungry…" Itsuki said with a weak grin as she checked the time in her phone.
"As expected from the curry eating monster… Is food the only things that you always have in mind?" Fuutaro smiled and grinned hearing Itsuki's complain.
"Ughh… I-It can't be helped, okay?! After all this time, you really don't have a delicacy to me!" Itsuki frowned from hearing Fuutaro teasing her.
"Hmm… That's right, I've been feeling kinda hungry too. Then, let's go eat before the mid-day break is over," Ichika said with a cheerful expression as she led the way to the cafetaria.
Fuutaro and the quintuplets left the main hall and headed to the cafetaria for lunch. On their way to the cafetaria, they still can't stop talking about how high Ichika and Fuutaro score was and the two also compliment them back for their improved scores. Arriving at the cafetaria, Fuutaro and the five picked their lunch and they took a seat together like usual. The cafetaria atmosphere was louder than usual and most of the topic they heard were the third year discussing about their mock exam results.
"Hmm… Is it just me or the cafetaria seems to be more lively than usual?" Fuutaro wondered as he looked around the cafetaria.
"It can't be helped, right? Today is very important for the third-year students and I'm not surprised if they still talking about mock exam for the next few days," Ichika said as she opened the water bottle and drank the water.
Fuutaro and the quintuplets started to eat their lunch. The talks about their exam results were still going as they ate and talked at the same time. While they were still eating and talking, some of their classmates were approaching their table. Apparently, the reason they approached them because they were amazed by Ichika sudden jump in her grades and Fuutaro's mock exam result.
"Ahh… Ichika-san, I saw your score and it was really amazing!" one of their classmates said in awe, complimenting about Ichika's result.
"Yeah, that's true! It looks like you scored the third highest in our class!" the other classmate said with an eager in his voice. "The first is our class-rep, Uesugi-san and the second is Takeda-san." he further said for the mock exam ranks in their class.
"Ahaha… Thank you! Did you hear that, Fuutaro-kun? You scored the highest in the class, which is pretty good, right?" Ichika thanked them and turned her head to look at Fuutaro.
"Not only that, I heard that the class-rep scored the highest out of all the third-year students." the third classmate said, looking at Fuutaro. "You even finished at the third place in national rank, which is very amazing! I heard that you're a smart student, but I didn't expect you're this good, Uesugi-san."
"Ahh… Thanks… I can't believe it myself either…" Fuutaro said with some hesitation because he was not used to get complimented by other person.
"Then, we're going back to classroom. See you back in class, Ichika-san and Uesugi-san."
Those students then left their table and headed back to the classroom. Fuutaro then sighed after the seeming compliments from his classmates and Ichika giggled seeing Fuutaro's expression. The four sisters also grinned and chuckled on seeing his expression, but at the same time they were also happy for him because he finally got his recognition after all of his hard work.
"Well, well… Look at our class-rep. Looks like he finally received the attention that he deserved after all. Isn't that great, Uesugi-kun?" Itsuki said with a cheeky smile.
"*sigh* I don't know why, but somehow I feel uncomfortable receiving a praise from the other students," Fuutaro sighed and then continued to eat his food.
"Hehe… You should get used to it, Fuutaro-kun. Now that the whole school knew that you scored the highest in the mock exam, the spotlight will be all over you for the next few days. Knowing that you're the class-rep, you should be more confident and more charismatic in front of everyone," Ichika said with a playful tone to him.
"What a pain… I prefer more of a quiet and peaceful atmosphere, where I can mind my own business without any distraction."
"Be happy about it, okay? You definitely need more recognition once in a while, to show that you're a capable and amazing person, you know?" Nino said with irritated tone, feeling kind of annoyed from Fuutaro's indifferent personality.
"Whatever you say, Nino. But I still prefer being alone and not attracting any kind of attention."
"I can relate to Fuutaro. I also prefer some quiet and peaceful atmosphere. I don't like too much attention on me…" Miku nodded, agreeing with him because she can relate how he feels.
"Sheesh… You're such a loner. No wonder you can't get any girlfriend, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba said with a grin.
The words from Yotsuba catch Ichika, Nino, and Miku's attention and they immediately blushed and went quiet from it. Fuutaro, Yotsuba, and Itsuki then noticed the immediate silent and they were wondering from it. An awkward and flustered expression were visible on the three girls' face as they stopped eating and only stared at their food. Feeling clueless of this situation, Yotsuba then broke the silence by asking the three what was wrong with them.
"Uhh… Did I say something wrong? What's wrong, you three?"
"Ehh-uhh… No… It's nothing!" The three said in unison, snapping out from the silence, still blushing as they continued to eat again.
"*sigh* I swear I still can't get of what you all quintuplets think." Fuutaro saw the quintuplets with narrow eyes and sighed from the apparent awkwardness.
"Really… You really don't have any delicacy for a woman, aren't you, Uesugi-kun?" Itsuki said with a sigh as she looked at him with a disappointment.
"Huh… What's that supposed to mean?" Fuutaro asked to her, feeling a bit irritated from Itsuki's seemingly insult.
"Even if I tell you, you won't understand the meaning of it. So you better find it out by yourself." Itsuki turned her head from Fuutaro as she continued to eat her food.
"Well… It's not like I cared about it either," Fuutaro responded with indifference and continued to eat his food too.
"Well, well… Let's not continue this anymore, okay?" Yotsuba said with a weak laugh. "By the way, we should celebrate for our success on the mock exam! How about we celebrate it in the usual parfait café after school?"
"Good idea, Yotsuba! I've been craving for some parfait recently," Nino responded with a big smile on her face. "The celebration will be on Fuu-kun's treat because he's the one who scored the highest out of all of us."
"Oi, oi… What's with that logic? That really doesn't make any sense at all!" Fuutaro complained to Nino and there was a visible annoyed expression on his face.
"Don't worry about it, Fuu-kun. We will repay it back to you one day, on a very special day that you won't expect the slightest."
"Huh? What do you mean by that?!" he raised his eyebrows in confusion.
"Don't ask too much, you will pay for our parfait. I will not hear any objection coming from you, period!" Nino shut the argument between them and continued eating by ignoring Fuutaro.
"*sigh* There goes my savings…" Fuutaro complained with a big sigh as he put his left hand on his forehead. "What did I ever do to deserve this…" he shook his head and mumbled to himself as he continued to eat, unenergetically.
"There, there… It just this once. So it should be okay, right, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika said with a weak laugh as she patted the back of Fuutaro's shoulder.
"*sigh* Whatever… I guess…" Fuutaro let out another big sigh as he imagined the sight of his wallet getting blown out.
A/N:
Chapter 10 is finally finished, so here it is!
So Ichika managed to keep her promise and fulfill her bet to Fuutaro (yay!). Some of you might wondering how did she still able to get that high of score while she got ill on the exam day. First, she study very hard for the whole month so it makes sense that she will get a high score. Second, her illness didn't fully come out until the end of mock exam and she took a medicine by the mid-day break to relieve the illness symptoms so she can focus on the exam. Third, don't forget about her determination, her determination is very great and it is already proven in the main series.
As for Fuutaro, I guess he impressed Maruo a little from his mock exam result and even he starting to respect Fuutaro a little more. Even still, Fuutaro still has a long way to go to impress him more, especially about getting in further relationship with Ichika.
Anyway, it's already late to say, but still, Happy New Year to all the readers!
As for the review response:
-Rosalina:
Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed the chapter. Haha, I definitely agree with you. I'm glad you liked their interaction and yeah, her gentle and soft side is really cute. Definitely one of my favorite moment in the main series when she let that side out.
-Kraft:
Thank you for the kind words! When I wrote that part, I really enjoyed writing it and I had a big smile on my face, everytime I re-read it.
-Powder Sauce:
Glad that you enjoyed the chapter! About that… You need to wait for it in the future chapter. But I assure you that you will not be disappointed because I'm planning for that kind of scenario in the future chapter.
If you like the story feel free to review, follow, and favorite it.