Chapter 13

The time currently showed at 7 PM and there was only 1 hour left until the dinner with Fuutaro. Ichika currently in the bedroom, laying down in her futon with a headphone on her ears, listening to a music. The current song that was playing in her phone was "Kizuiteyo – One Love", which was her favorite song. Ever since going to karaoke with Fuutaro on last month, every time she heard this song, Ichika always got reminded of their school skipping experience and she enjoyed every moment of it.

Ichika then looked at the hippo plush beside her pillow and a smile appeared as she kept looking at it. She then pulled something from under her pillow and it turned out to be the photos of her and Fuutaro that they took together last month in the arcade. The reason why Ichika put the photos under her pillow was to hide it from her sisters because there was no other safe place in the rented apartment to hide the photos, considering that they all had to share every same space together. Ichika stared at the photos with a genuine smile as she kept listening to the music.

Kimi to hanasu tatta sore dake na no ni,

Haato knock knock knock sawagashii,

Komatta kao mo douyou mo,

Mite mita kute (show me!),

Itazura try try try (la... try try),

Ichika then put the photos back under her pillow and closed her eyes, imagining about how will the dinner with Fuutaro goes at the restaurant. Will it go smoothly, where they can enjoy their moments together without any awkwardness? Or will it go awkward, because he will get suspicious of her motive for dinner knowing that they already celebrated the mock exam success at the café few hours ago? Those scenarios kept popping up in her mind as she prepared herself on how to face those situations, especially the bad scenario, where she might need to lie to him so her plan can go smoothly.

Motto kocchi mite one love (kizuite yo please find),

Fuan ga uso o tsukaseru (crash crash my lies minuite),

Mawari michi sezu ni hontou no omoi wo,

Uchi aketai no i na,

Ichika been planning ever since she arrived back at the rented apartment. While she was taking a bath, one hour ago, she had been drawing up a plan to confess to Fuutaro tonight. The first stage, was to get Fuutaro to come with her, alone, by himself. Ichika thought a dinner at the restaurant where they ate together last month will be perfect because she saw him enjoyed the food in that restaurant and she will be paying for his food so Fuutaro won't be complaining on how expensive the food was. The first stage was a success after Fuutaro replied to her message that he accepted the invite and they will meet at the restaurant at 8 PM tonight.

The second stage, was she needs to come up with a topic to talk when they were having a dinner in the restaurant, to avoid the awkwardness and suspicion from Fuutaro asking the "true" motive of her inviting him for a dinner. Right now, Ichika still had no idea on what topic she needed to bring up on dinner and she thought that idea will come up later as the time goes on.

The final stage, after dinner, she will ask Fuutaro to go with her to somewhere quiet and when the time was right, she will finally confess her love to him. Ichika still thinking about the perfect place to confess and she needed that place to be quiet and comfortable, where they won't be interrupted by other people. She had some places in mind but will decide it at the last moment after the dinner.

Right now, Ichika just wanted to relax, not overthinking about her plan so she can be calm when she about to leave for the dinner with Fuutaro. She closed her eyes and unknown to her, she fell asleep as the music still playing on her headphone.

Uwate na tsumori itsumo doori,

Shikakeru yo (approach!),

Ichizu ni try try try (la... try try),

Mawari no minna egao ni shite mo (feiku),

Kokoro wa nanka fumanzoku de,

Furimukasetai yuiitsu no,

Hito wa (hitori dake),

Thirty minutes had passed and Ichika was still sleeping. There was a nudging sensation on her shoulder that woke her up as she slowly opened her eyes and yawned from the interruption of her sleep. She then looked at the person who woke her and that person turned out to be Itsuki, who was kneeling next to her futon. There was a slight annoyed expression on Itsuki's face and Ichika then sat up on her futon.

"Mmmm… Itsuki-chan, huh...?" Ichika mumbled as she rubbed her sleepy eyes and took off her headphone. "What's wrong...? Did you call me or something?"

"*sigh* I've been calling you for a lot of times and turns out you've been sleeping with a headphone on…" Itsuki said with a sigh. "Anyway, dinner is ready. The others already starting to eat." she then stood up and headed to the door.

"Ahh… Yeah… I will be there in a minute."

Itsuki then exited the bedroom, leaving Ichika alone again. She then looked at her phone and noticed that it was already 7:30 PM. Her eyes widened from shock, realizing that she unexpectedly fell asleep while relaxing.

"Whoa…! It's already 7:30 PM…!"

"Looks like I overslept…"

"I need to hurry up…"

"Before Fuutaro-kun get mad at me for getting late…"

She quickly stood up from her futon and headed for the wardrobe to get a change of clothing. Ichika opened the wardrobe and noticed that there was not many good clothing for her to wear because she left most of her good and stylish clothing back at the penthouse. Her hands scoured through and picked some of the good clothing that were available, but she felt these good clothing was too bland because she already wore these clothing for so many times, especially on work.

Ichika put those clothing back in the wardrobe, sighing, because there were not many choices left and she needed to decide a clothing for her date with Fuutaro. Her eyes then found a certain clothing at the very bottom of a clothing stack and it caught her attention. Ichika picked up that clothing and it turned out to be a clothing that she bought last month at the department store with Fuutaro, on their school skipping day. It was a cream-colored rib knitted short sleeved sweater and the memory of her and Fuutaro in that department store emerged again in her head as Ichika kept looking at the sweater.

"This sweater…"

"I know it's just a month ago, but it really brings back memories…"

"Hmm… I guess this sweater is good enough…"

"Then, I'm going to wear this…"

"Who knows that Fuutaro-kun might also noticed this sweater…"

Ichika also picked a gray trench coat and a navy-blue pants to combined with her sweater. She then took off her casual clothing and changed into the clothing that she just picked. After changing clothing, Ichika headed to the mirror and she did a quick make-up and fixed her messy hair. She then picked up her bag and while picking up the bag, Ichika noticed her glasses on the table. It was the same glasses that she wore on the day she skipped school with Fuutaro and she thought might as well wore the glasses because she took a liking on wearing glasses. She also thought, with a small chuckle, that she can teased Fuutaro when he saw her wearing the glasses again. Looking at the time, Ichika believed that she had enough time to go to the restaurant without getting late.

Ichika then exited the bedroom and she saw the four sisters were having dinner together in the living room. There was a joyful expression on their face as they ate and there were a lot of variety of food on the dining table. She wondered about it because she never saw that many foods on the dining table when they started to live in the rented apartment and thought that there must be something special event that she didn't know. The four then noticed Ichika with a stylish clothing and they were wondering about it.

"Whoa! Looking good, Ichika!" Yotsuba said, complementing on her good look. "Where are you going? Aren't you going to eat first before going?"

"Ahh… I just received a sudden mail from my manager. He said he wanted me to meet him at a restaurant with a TV show director to discuss about me catching up to the production schedule," Ichika said with a weak laugh, lying to the four about the reason she will be going. "So I'm not going to have a dinner with you all and considering that I missed a lot of times when I got sick, this meeting is gonna be important and I can't miss this."

"Hmm… Is that so? *sigh* Me and Miku already cooked a special dish to celebrate our exam success, especially for you," Nino said with slight disappointment, pointing at the salted salmon on the table. "Well, I guess it can't be helped."

Ichika took a glance at the dining table and from many foods on the table, there was a salted salmon, which was one of her favorite foods. Knowing that Nino and Miku cooked those dishes to celebrate their success on the mock exam, Ichika felt kind of bad about it, knowing that they immediately headed to the kitchen to prepare for dinner after coming home from school. She also felt bad that she can't join them eating dinner together because she already had a plan with Fuutaro. Even though Ichika felt bad, she still thought that her plan with Fuutaro was more important and the four cannot know that she will be having dinner with him.

"Ahaha… I'm sorry. Then, can you leave some food for me to eat for tomorrow breakfast? I feel bad for not eating your and Miku's cooking," Ichika said to them with the same weak laugh.

"Yeah… Got it," Miku nodded as she continued to eat.

"Don't come home too late, Ichika. Remember on what happened to you couple of weeks ago… You don't want to get sick again, don't you?" Itsuki reminded, with a slightly serious and concerned expression on her face

"Yes, yes, I understand! Then, I'm going," Ichika grinned at her siblings, saying a goodbye to them.

Ichika said her goodbye to her sisters and before exiting the apartment, she chose a light-brown boots to wear. Finished on wearing the boots, she opened the front door and exited the apartment. As she about to went down the stairs, there was a voice coming from behind, calling for her name.

"Oi… Wait, Ichika!"

"Ehh…?"

Ichika turned around and the person who called out her… was Nino. Nino then slowly walked towards her and it made Ichika wondered about it. Did she forget something and Nino going to give that something to her? Or did she have something to say to her? If it was not important, can't it wait until tomorrow? because she didn't want to be late on her date with Fuutaro. Stopping in front of her, Ichika can saw there was a serious expression on Nino's face and she knew Nino was going to said something serious or important, knowing that she was the most straight forward out of all the quintuplets.

"N-Nino… What's wrong?" Ichika asked to Nino with a puzzled expression.

"Tell me truth, Ichika… Are you going to meet Fuu-kun right now?" Nino said to her with a narrow eyes and serious tone in her voice.

"Ehh…?"

The question from Nino really surprised Ichika and it made her slightly gasped. Ichika immediately thought to herself, how did Nino know that she was going to meet Fuutaro? She never told her or the other sisters that she had a plan with Fuutaro tonight. Hell, she was pretty sure she didn't even give them a single hint about meeting with him. Ichika fell silent from Nino's question and she can saw that the second sister was still staring at her, seriously, wanting an answer from her. She thought to herself that no-one, including her sisters, can know that she was going to meet Fuutaro, to confess her feelings to him in the later night.

Ichika decided to lie to Nino to avoid being found out. Also knowing that Nino had a feeling for Fuutaro, Ichika thought that she probably going to prevent or sabotage her plan to confess to Fuutaro.

"Ehh… How did she know that I'm going to meet him?"

"I didn't even tell anybody about this…"

"Well, it doesn't matter if she knew… Nino can't know about me going to confess to Fuutaro-kun…"

"If I told her, she will somehow prevent me to go… or even sabotage my whole plan…"

"I can't let that happen…!"

"What's wrong? Why are you not answering?"

"Ehh-uhh… What are you talking about, Nino?" Ichika got startled from Nino's voice and then showed a small grin, telling a lie to her sisters so her true motive won't be found out. "Didn't I tell you earlier that I'm going to meet with my manager and TV show director to talk about catching up my work schedules?"

"You can't lie to me, Ichika. I know that you're going to meet him."

"I'm not lying. If you don't believe me, how about we go together to the restaurant to meet with my manager?" Ichika said, her grin turned into a smile, still keeping up the lying act.

"There's no need for me to come with you to the restaurant…" Nino said as she pulled something out of her pants pocket. "Here, look at this. Is this good enough for you to tell me the truth?"

Ichika let out a big gasp and her eyes widened after she saw the thing that Nino showed to her. The thing that Nino had on her hand was the photos of her and Fuutaro together that she hides under her pillow. How did Nino get her hand on those photos? Did she already know about the photos' hiding spot?

There was a flustered expression on Ichika's face as Nino kept looking at her, demanding an answer from her. Now that Nino already found out, there was no point in lying anymore, knowing that Nino had a no-nonsense and straightforward attitude. Ichika also remembered from the spring vacation, where Nino told her, that she will knock out any competition to get Fuutaro's love and attention. Knowing this, Ichika had no choice to confront Nino about it and she will not let her sabotaging her plan to confess to Fuutaro.

"Yeah… I'm going to meet Fuutaro-kun at a restaurant." Ichika flustered expression turned into a serious one as she narrowed her eyes to Nino.

"I knew it," Nino said, still with a serious expression." Then, what are you planning to do with him? Are you going to confess your feelings to him?"

"That's none of your concern, Nino…" Ichika responded with a cold tone to her sister. "No matter what you say to me, I'm still going to meet him and there's nothing you can do to stop me."

"Heh! Is that so? I guess you're bolder than I thought."

"If you have nothing important to say anymore, I will be going." Ichika turned around from Nino, walking down the stairs. "I'm getting late and Fuutaro-kun will not be happy at me for getting late for our dinner."

"Oi, Ichika! Wait a moment!" Nino yelled to Ichika from the upstairs. "I'm still not done talking to you!"

"Then, what is it?!" Ichika raised her voice to Nino as she stopped at the bottom of the stairs and turned around to see her. "Are you going to prevent me from meeting him?! Or even going as far to ruin my dinner with him?! I know that you will do every possible way to get Fuutaro-kun's love. Now that I'm in your way, will you going to knock me off from the competition just like you said back on spring vacation?!"

"…" Nino stared at Ichika in silence for a moment and she walked down the stairs. She then stopped in front of Ichika and raised her right hand.

SLAP

Nino, unexpectedly slapped Ichika on her left cheek after that moment of silent. There was a serious expression on Nino's face when she slapped Ichika and the force of her slap made Ichika's glasses thrown to the ground. For Ichika, she got very shocked from Nino slapping her. Her eyes widened from the shock and she held her left cheek after the slap from her sister.

"…" Ichika then threw a cold stare at Nino as she still held her left cheek.

"Ichika… Is that what you think of me?" Nino said to Ichika with a disappointed tone in her voice. "That's true that I will knock off any competition to get his love, but I'm not that lowly to play dirty and do such underhanded way, especially to my own sisters!" she raised her voice at the last words of her sentence.

"…" Ichika still speechless, now staring down at the ground as she didn't want to look at her sister.

"Hear me out, Ichika. I know that you also had a feeling for Fuu-kun, I've been suspicious of it ever since you skipped school with him on last month."

"…"

"These photos are definitely a prove that you also loved him, right?" Nino showed her the photos once again. "The way you study last month, after the day you skipped school with him… I know that you are a very lazy person to study, but you suddenly became a study maniac and did all kind of crazy stuff to study, even exceeding him… There must be a motivation or something that made you study like that, right? That motivation or that something, must've been come from your love to him… Is that true?"

"…"

"Your reaction when you saw your mock exam result this afternoon and how you got very excited with him… it's very strange coming from you because I never saw you that happy in my entire life, especially on how you showed it with him."

"…"

"The last one was when you stared at him in the café this evening. I saw it all, Ichika. The way you stared at him, it's not a daydreaming kind of stare and I can saw that you were really thinking about Fuu-kun, right?"

"…"

Ichika still speechless from hearing Nino. She didn't expect that Nino was very sharp and managed to find out about all of this, especially on how she found those photos. Did her lies back then weren't convincing enough to fool her? Or was she not good enough to lie to begin with? But from what Nino said, her behavior and face expression were the one who gave it all out. Ichika never really pay attention to her behavior and expression when she was thinking about Fuutaro, where she always gets nervous, flustered and even acting out of her normal behavior.

"Here… You can have your photos with him back." Nino extended her hand, giving the photos to Ichika. "I found its hiding place the other day, slipping from under your pillow when I was cleaning the bedroom.

"…" Ichika accepted the photos in silent and put it on her bag.

"I know that you are pissed at me for taking those photos without your permission and I slapped you out of a sudden," Nino said, crossing her arms. "Hear me on this, if you want to go with Fuu-kun tonight, then go, Ichika. I don't have any problem with you going with him. In fact, I'm fine with it…"

"Ehh…?" Ichika let out a slight gasp after being silent for a few minutes.

"You see… You know that I love him, right? So you must be thinking that I'm going to stop you from meeting Fuu-kun, right?" Nino continued to said. "No… I'm not going to stop you from seeing him."

"Nino…"

"I know that you have a feeling for him too… Remember, we're siblings and I know almost everything about you… I will not play dirty just because one of my sisters starting to become a threat to get his love. It's because the bond between five of us is really important…" Nino explained, looking at Ichika directly on her face. "Even if someday Fuu-kun fell for you, I will not be mad about it and I will give my approval to both of you. There's no single thought in my mind that I will sabotage your relationship with him."

"…"

"Remember Ichika, family is important. I rather let my feeling for him go than hurting my sisters in a competition to win his heart."

The words from Nino surprised Ichika once more. The words that she just said, it was the same one when Fuutaro said to her last month. Out of all the quintuplets, Nino was the one who really cared about their family, even if she always got into a bickering with the other sisters and their father.

Family is important… It was true because she already experienced it last week, where her sisters visited her for everyday in the hospital until she got discharged. They also used all of their savings to pay for the apartment monthly-rent and even Nino and Miku borrowed some money from their workplace because their savings were not enough, they all did this just to lighten her burden and responsibility. The four sisters also being happy for her when she achieved a very high result on the mock exam and even Nino and Miku cooked her a special food for her, to celebrate her success in the mock exam.

Then… Why did Ichika thought that Nino was going to sabotage or prevent her meeting with Fuutaro? Was she always think this negative, even to her own sisters? The words from Nino really put a big realization in her way of thinking. Ichika realized that her views of her sisters were really wrong and she thought that they were a threats and obstacles from reaching her goals. The way of her thinking came from her principle, that she needed to do everything that she can to achieve her goals and dreams, even if she needs to sacrifice anything that close to her, including her own sisters.

"Those words from Nino…"

"I didn't expect it coming from her…"

"What she said was true… Family is important…"

"Was my thinking about her and the others are really this twisted…?"

"If so, then I'm truly a terrible person…"

After some deep reflection about her way of thinking, she finally accepted what Nino said to her. That she was a terrible person after all, being selfish on her action, without thinking the consequences after. She had been nothing but a trouble to them, making them worried to death because of her selfishness and recklessness which lead to her got ill and passing out. Even after all what they had done to her, Ichika still saw them as a threat and obstacle on her way to get Fuutaro's love. With all the realization and acceptance, her face expression turned into a sorrowful one and there were tears forming in her eyes.

"I'm sorry…"

"Huh…? What are you talking about?"

"I'm really sorry, Nino… For accusing and saying those horrible things to you earlier…" Ichika said to Nino, slowly raising her head to looked at her and there was a guilty and sorrowful expression on her face. "Your words really make me realized that my way of thinking about all of you is really wrong… I really thought that everyone around me, even my own sisters are a threat and obstacle on my journey to get his love… I even made you all worried when I fell sick because of my selfishness and recklessness… I guess I'm a terrible person, huh?" she then wiped some of her tears with her right hand.

"Yeah… With that way of thinking, you're a really terrible person," Nino said as her serious expression started to turn into a more relaxed expression. "But Ichika, everyone makes a mistake but there's only few of them who admitted their mistake and changed into a better person. I'm glad you realized your mistake before it was too late and I hope that you can be a better person moving forward."

"Unn… I swear to myself and to all of you that I'm going to be a better person," Ichika said with a bold tone as her guilt and sorrowful expression turned into a determined expression. "I'm going to be a better big sister who will understand better about my sisters feelings and I will not become a trouble to my family because they really cared about me!" she then looked at Nino with a determined eye. The look from Ichika made Nino kind of surprised because she never saw Ichika this serious and determined before.

"Heh… That's good hearing from you," Nino smirked hearing Ichika and then slightly crouched to take Ichika's glasses from the ground. "Then, get going, Ichika. I'm sure Fuu-kun is waiting for you. Don't make him waiting or I will call him and say to him that you're still asleep." she then gave the glasses to Ichika, who then accepted and wore it immediately.

"Ahaha… You're right…" Ichika let out a weak laugh as her expression slowly turned into more joyful one.

"Just so you know, Ichika, although you already made your move to get his attention, I will not be losing to you! I will work even harder than you to gain his love and it's a competition between two of us, okay?" Nino said with a confident expression and a cheeky smile appeared on her lips

"Then, I'm not going to lose to you too, Nino!" Ichika said with the same confident expression and the same cheeky smile. "Knowing that you already got the advantage of confessing to him first and worked at the same place as him, that will not get me discouraged and it just makes me want to work even harder to get his love!"

"Hah! That's what I like to hear from you. Then, let's do our best!"

"Ahh… Let's do our best!"

Ichika and Nino then shared a handshake, indicating that they will do their best to gain Fuutaro's love and attention. A face full of confidence and a smile were visible on their lips, indicating that it was going to be a friendly competition moving forward from now on. Their handshake lasted for a few seconds and they let go of each other hand. Nino then wished Ichika a good luck on her date with Fuutaro.

"Then… Good luck to you, Ichika. Send my regards to him, okay?"

"Ahh… Thank you, Nino. Then, I'm off!"

Ichika then made her way to the restaurant, with a face full of confidence and joy. She can feel that her mind and heart were much lighter, ever since she admitted her flaws to Nino and promised to herself that she will become a better person moving forward. This whole event really made her smile because she can finally leave all the jealousy and negative thinking behind and moving forward to become a better person.

"My mind and heart felt much better after I admitted my flaws…"

"I promised to myself that I will become a better person moving forward…"

"I will become more caring to them and support all of them with my might…"

"Because family is important… They will support you no matter what happened…"

A/N:

Chapter 13 is finished! Here it is.

Ichika finally realized her negative thinking of her sisters thanks to Nino. So yeah, this chapter was basically mirroring the Kyoto school trip chapter where Nino confronted Ichika after she made Miku cry and where Ichika apologized to Miku after helping her confessing to Fuutaro.

For me, this chapter is really important and needed, for her to realize that her thinking of her sisters is wrong and she will change into a better person in the future chapter. It's also for her to avoid making the same mistakes like in the main series and to have a better chance to get Fuutaro's love. This chapter will play a big part on her character development in the future of this story and I assure you all that moving forward, she will NOT going to do the kind of act like she did in the National mock exam arc and Kyoto school trip arc from the main series.

I hope I didn't make Ichika acting too OOC on this chapter, especially on the part when she lashed out at Nino because it's very rare or probably never for Ichika to get that angry or lashing out in the main series.

Next chapter will be about their dinner together and Ichika executing her second stage of her plan! I'm going to make sure that it will be an enjoyable chapter to read for you all.

As for the review response:

-Rosalina:

Glad that you loved the interaction between Uesugi family member. Originally, that chapter was going to be much shorter. But after some thought, I'm not satisfied with it and decided to extend that chapter plus adding more screen time to the family members.

Anyway, thanks for the kind words. I really appreciate it as always!

-Powder Sauce:

Good to know that you loved the chapter, especially the part about Fuutaro's mom. Yeah, about the part where Isanari smokes… it just a personal headcanon of mine that he smokes. If I remember correctly, in anime and manga, there were no mention of him that he really smokes or not. In the manga, he said that he was a rebel or delinquent type of student while in his school year. So yeah because of that, it just become a headcanon of me that he smokes although not a heavy smoker.

My apology for making you confused about it.

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