Chapter 19
"Sorry, it took me so long. It's just th— Woaghhh!"
Fuutaro just exited the quintuplets' bedroom and unknown to him, he tripped on a mopping bucket, which somehow placed in front of the bedroom door. The loud sound of him falling to the floor immediately shocked the quintuplets in the living room and they immediately turned around at the source of the sound. The five can saw that Fuutaro, was laying down on the ground with his shirt and his pants got all wet from the water inside the bucket. There was a big amount of puddle surrounding him as he kept laying down motionless. The quintuplets immediately stopped their chores and approached him to check their tutor with a worried expression.
"U-Uesugi-kun! Are you okay?" Itsuki kneeled down and helped Fuutaro getting up by holding his right arm.
"Here Fuutaro, let me help you standing up." Miku also helped him getting up by holding his left arm.
"A-Ahh… Thanks…"
"There, there… Is there anything hurt, Fuu-kun?" Nino took a close look on Fuutaro's face and saw a reddish bruise on his jaw. "Let me get an essential oil for you." she then entered the bedroom to get an essential oil.
"Are you okay, Fuutaro-kun? From hearing the sound when you fell, that must really hurt," Ichika asked to him with a concerned face, also inspecting his wet body.
"Of course it hurts! Anyway, who the hell put a mopping bucket in front of a door?! Are you trying to kill me or something?!" Fuutaro yelled in irritation as he wiped his wet face with his hand.
Ichika, Miku, and Itsuki turned around to look at Yotsuba, who stood behind them with a mop on her right hand. There was a worried expression and a weak grin on Yotsuba's face as Fuutaro stared at her with a killing stare. His eyes were twitching repeatedly and angry veins appeared on his forehead as Fuutaro slowly approached her while leaving a trail of water behind him.
"Umm… I'm the one who put the bucket on there…" Yotsuba said with a weak grin, putting her left hand behind her heard and also feeling a bit guilty about her action.
"You little…! Don't you know the proper place to put a mopping bucket?! It's definitely not in front of the door and there's still lot of space you can put that bucket at!" Fuutaro yelled at Yotsuba as he grabbed her ribbon in irritation.
"S-Sorry! P-Please forgive me!" Yotsuba shouted in panic and there was also a visible scared expression on her face from facing Fuutaro's anger "I was not paying attention because there were so many boxes around me! So I ended up putting the bucket in front of the bedroom without me realizing it."
"There, there… Yotsuba already apologized and she did not do it on purpose. Don't you think you should forgive her, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika said with a weak laugh as she held Fuutaro's shoulder and pulled him back from Yotsuba.
"*sigh* Yeah… I forgive you…" Fuutaro sighed as he sat down near the kotatsu table.
"T-Thank you! I promise I will be more careful in the future!" Yotsuba said, still with a panicky voice, bowing to Fuutaro and thanked him for forgiving her."
"Here… Use this to dry yourself, Uesugi-kun." Itsuki gave him a towel and sat down on a chair nearby.
"Ahh… Thanks." Fuutaro thanked her and accepted the towel. He then used the towel to wipe his wet face and his wet shirt. "T-That hurts…!" he felt a stinging pain on his jaw after he wiped it with the towel.
"Don't touch it, Fuu-kun, or it will get more painful," Nino said, coming out from the bedroom with a bottle of essential oil and an adhesive bandage. "Raise up your head and let me put some essential oils on your jaw to reduce the pain."
Nino opened the bottle, putting some oils on her fingers and slowly rubbed it on Fuutaro's jaw. A blush appeared on her cheeks as she kept rubbing her fingers on his jaw. Fuutaro slightly grunting as the pain on his jaw got even more painful because the nature of essential oil had a stinging sensation when applied to a bruise.
"T-That hurts…! Can you be more gentle because it really hurts a lot." Fuutaro flinched and held his bruised jaw because of the stinging pain, which prevented Nino from further applying more oils.
"Stop acting like a baby! Even Yotsuba can stand the pain more than you when she got bruises from playing sports," Nino said with a slight irritation as she applied some more essential oils on her finger. "Move your hand and let me rub it."
"O-Ow, ow…!" Fuutaro yelled in pain as Nino continued to rub the essential oil on his jaw.
"This should be enough… Here's a bandage so it won't feel hurt anymore." Nino opened the adhesive bandage and put it on the bruise.
"Ahh… Thank you, Nino," Fuutaro thanked her with him still holding his bruised jaw. "You sure know how to treat people when they got injured," he said with a smile.
"It's nothing… I always used to treat Yotsuba back in middle school because she always came home with bruises after sports club activity," Nino said, still blushing as she slightly turned her head and looked down, feeling a bit flustered from Fuutaro's compliment.
"Heh! I remembered that you once slapped me in the school last year." Fuutaro said as a smirk started to form on his face. "Why didn't you immediately treat me, huh? Your hand mark was glued to my cheek for like a day, you know? Don't tell me that you don't want to be seen by your friends when treating me?"
"Huh…? So you want me to put another hand mark on the same cheek?" Nino said, now directly looking at Fuutaro as she prepared her hand to repeat the same thing. "I'll be glad to do it again."
"N-No, no! I'm just joking!"
"Here Fuutaro, I made a hot chocolate for you," Miku said as she put down a mug of hot chocolate on the table. "You must be feeling cold from getting all wet, so I thought a hot chocolate would be good to keep you warm."
"Ahh… Thank you, Miku," Fuutaro thanked her as he held the mug and slowly drank the hot chocolate. "Hmm… It tastes pretty good. Did you make it by yourself?"
"Yeah… I made it from the scratch by following the recipe from the net."
"Yup... It tastes pretty good, almost on par with the one they made at the restaurant or café," Fuutaro said as he continued to slowly drank the hot chocolate. "You seemed to be improving on your cooking skills, good job, Miku." he showed an approval smile to her.
"Hehe… Thank you…" Miku said with a happy expression as a blush appeared on her cheeks. "Then, make sure to taste my bread someday. Lately, I've been experimenting on how to make a delicious bread."
"Y-Yeah… I'm looking forward to it…" Fuutaro responded with a weak grin as he put down the mug, still feeling not sure about the bread that she was going to make. "Hmm…? Oi, Itsuki!"
"Huh…? W-What's wrong, Uesugi-kun?" Itsuki asked to him in confusion, with her still holding stacks of boxes on her hand
"You should pay attention to where you walk. You almost tripped onto a small box in front of you," Fuutaro said to her, moving the small boxes in front of her. "Do you want to end up in the same state like me?"
"Well… I can't see what's in front of me because of these boxes," Itsuki said. "Still, thank you for moving the box for me."
"*sigh* Here let me carry it for you. You want to throw out these boxes, right? Leave it to me." Fuutaro stood up and took the boxes from Itsuki's hands. "Go help your other sisters packing and cleaning things."
"Hehe… I owe you one, Uesugi-kun," Itsuki happily said with a blush as she smiled from Fuutaro's kindness to help her. "I guess your delicacy for a woman starting to improve, I see?"
"Yeah, yeah… Whatever…"
Fuutaro then walked to the front door and exited the rented apartment to throw out the boxes.
Ichika can saw a happiness and joy on Nino, Miku, and Itsuki's face after they interacted with Fuutaro and she can also feel the atmosphere in the rented apartment somehow became calmer and relaxed than before. She chuckled and thought it must be because of Fuutaro's kind act that made them happy. Even though he always appeared cold, not caring, and aloof, he was actually a caring and kind person, although he didn't show it that much because of his lack of social skills and he didn't have many friends to begin with.
Ichika then turned around to look at Yotsuba, who still standing in place with a mop on her right hand, with a gloomy face. She thought that Yotsuba was still feeling guilty about earlier incident and her face was showing it all. Ichika then approached her younger sister to calm her down.
"What's wrong, Yotsuba?"
"Umm… I'm still feeling guilty about Uesugi-san…" Yotsuba said with a dispirited voice, staring at the ground. "Because of me, he hurt his jaw and got mad at me. Everyone got into trouble to help him and I'm just standing here, doing nothing to help him… I'm still afraid to go near him, knowing he's still angry at me.
"Don't think about that, Yotsuba. Fuutaro-kun is not that kind of person." Ichika put her right hand on Yotsuba's left shoulder, calming her down from her guilty thinking. "Yes, he's definitely angry at you, but I'm sure he didn't really mean it because it's just a temporary frustration," she said with a calm and soothing voice to her sister.
"Is it really true…? But I'm still feeling guilty about it."
"Don't think about it too much. I'm sure he's not frustrated anymore." Ichika then showed a smile and lightly tapped Yotsuba's shoulder. "If you want to help him, I suggest you go help him carry the boxes, knowing that's a lot of boxes he's carrying. I'm sure Fuutaro-kun will be appreciative if someone helped him carry those heavy boxes."
"Unn… I guess you were right, Ichika." Yotsuba's gloomy face slowly turned into her usual bright face. "Thank you for hearing me out! You're surely the best eldest sister that I ever knew!" she showed a grin and thanked the eldest sister for calming her.
"Hehe… Then go catch him before he goes too far. Here let me mop the floor while you helped him," Ichika said with a smile of her own.
"Got it…!" Yotsuba gave the mop to Ichika and quickly headed out to help Fuutaro. "Hey! Uesugi-san! Wait for me!"
Ichika saw the front door closed as she started to the mop the wet floor. She was really happy on how this evening situation turned out to be, where a warm and happiness atmosphere were filling this place because of him. Ichika thought to herself, that when she saw Fuutaro interacted with the four, she no longer felt anymore jealousy in her heart and instead, she felt a warmth from seeing him interacting with each of them. She thought that this change of mindset happened because of what Fuutaro and Nino said to her, that family was very important and she should support every member of the family no matter what happened to maintain the bond and trust between them.
"I guess I changed huh…?"
"I no longer felt anymore jealousy when I saw them interacting with him…"
"So what you and Nino said was definitely true…"
"Family is important…"
"The way you helped them… and the way you interacted with them…"
"No wonder they also fell for you…"
"Because you're very kind and a gentleman… Fuutaro-kun…"
It had been one and a half hour since Fuutaro came to the rented apartment. Thanks to his help, the packing up and the cleaning was almost done. The state of the living room was much cleaner compared to when he came and there were some neatly organized boxes near the front door, which contained their stuffs that they will took back home. There were still some stuffs that need to be packed, but they all agreed to continue the packing tomorrow. Fuutaro also planned to come again tomorrow to finish the rest and also helped them carrying their stuffs to the transport vehicle.
After doing so many chores, Fuutaro let out a big groan and immediately fell to the floor from the tiredness. The five chuckled from seeing him laying down on the floor and immediately took a seat at the kotatsu table. Except for Nino, she headed to the kitchen to prepare a drink for everyone.
"I'm so tired… I swear I can fall asleep right now..." Fuutaro said as he stretched his arm and put his leg inside the kotatsu.
"Don't sleep on the floor, Uesugi-kun, or you might catch a cold, you know?" Itsuki said, scolding him on his attitude.
"Hmm… I once slept on the floor with my leg inside of kotatsu and it's really the best feelings ever," Ichika said with a dreamy face as she imagined the warm feeling of sleeping at kotatsu.
"Don't encourage him, Ichika! If Uesugi-kun fell ill, we might need to take care of him again just like last year." Itsuki turned her head to Ichika, feeling slightly annoyed from her statement.
"Hehe… I guess it's okay once in a while. Fuutaro did helped us on packing our things and cleaning the apartment," Miku said and then she looked at Fuutaro, who still laying down, with a smile of her own.
"Yeah, that's right! If Uesugi-san didn't come to help us, who knows how long it will take to finish all of these things by ourselves," Yotsuba said with a grin as she rested her head on the table, also feeling tired from the chores.
"Did you hear them, Itsuki? I deserved some rest after helping you all out," Fuutaro said and there was a relief expression on his face from laying down. He then put his right hand behind his head and put his left hand to his back to massage it. "My back definitely feels good from laying down after all of those crouching and carrying those boxes…"
"Itsuki is right, Fuu-kun. If you fell ill again, it will be a hassle for us because we've already experienced that when Ichika fell ill…" Nino said to him, with her carrying a tray of glasses. "Here some fresh drink for all of you… an iced coffee for Ichika, a warm green tea for Miku, an orange juice for Yotsuba, a cold milk for Itsuki, and a barley tea for you." she then put each glass of drink on the table and they all immediately took their glass and drank their respective drink."
"What about you, Nino?" Fuutaro asked to her as he still drank his barley tea.
"I already drank mine when I prepared your drink," Nino said as she sat down at the kotatsu. "Anyway, Ichika, isn't it already time for you to go to work?"
"Hmm… What time is it?" Ichika wondered and then take a look at the clock on the wall. "Yeah, I guess you're right, it's almost time." she then quickly finished her iced coffee and stood up from the kotatsu.
"Wait… I will go with you to the studio, Ichika," Fuutaro said as he also stood up. "You remember about what I said earlier, right?"
"Yeah, yeah… don't complain if my work is taking too long, okay?" Ichika said to him with a wink. "I'm going to change first, so wait for me."
Ichika then entered the bedroom to change her clothes. Fuutaro quickly finished his barley tea and then walked to the front door, to wait for her outside the apartment. But before he exited the apartment, the four held him for a moment and wanted to talk to him, relating about their eldest sister.
"Fuutaro, there's something that we need to talk to you. It's about Ichika…" Miku said with a slightly serious expression that she rarely showed.
"Hmm…? About Ichika?" Fuutaro wondered about it.
"You know that Ichika starting to get back to her busy work schedule again, right?" Nino said. "We want you to keep an eye on her. If it's possible, go with her to the shooting stage whenever you can, so she won't push herself too hard, knowing that she missed a lot of times on her work when she got ill."
"That's true. Knowing that Ichika just got discharged from hospital three days ago, I'm pretty sure she's still not one-hundred percent healthy," Itsuki said and there was a concerned expression on her face. "She told us that she will come home very late until next week to catch up her work."
"Yeah… We're really worried about her, you know?" Yotsuba said. "Even though Ichika didn't show it that much, I'm sure that she's feeling all pressured from her acting works. So we all agreed that she needed someone who can support and keep an eye on her at her workplace."
"We really owe a lot to Ichika for what she has done to us. That's why Fuutaro, we want you to keep an eye on her and support her so she won't go overboard with her work," Miku said. "We don't want another incident happened to her like last month because we're really worried about her. We will also do our best to support her, but we also need your help to support her too…"
Fuutaro can saw a serious expression on their face and they really mean it. Even without them telling this to him, he already set to always support Ichika and prevent her from going overboard because just like them, he didn't want to see another bad thing happen to her. He thought to himself that Ichika was lucky to have siblings that cared and concerned about her. Fuutaro then showed a smile and then assured the four sisters.
"Yeah… Don't worry about it. I already made a promise to myself that I will always remind her to not act reckless and to hold her back from going overboard," Fuutaro said. "You can trust my word about it because I don't want to see her fall ill again," he then nodded, assuring them about his words.
"Heh! Such a cool word coming from a bookworm and anti-social guy like you," Nino smirked from hearing his words.
"I don't know if that's an insult or compliment… Thanks, I guess…"
"Anyway, we leave Ichika on your care, okay? I don't want to hear any bad news happening to her when you accompany her at her workplace," Nino said as she pointed her finger to Fuutaro.
"Yeah… I will," Fuutaro said as he felt an uneasy feeling from Nino's word. "I feel a déjà vu from her words… I guess it's really a connection between a father and daughter." he got reminded of Maruo's words of warning to him earlier, which was pretty similar to Nino's.
Fuutaro then exited the apartment to wait for Ichika. He leaned against the guardrail behind him and pulled out his phone to call for home, telling his family that he will go home late. A few beeping tones were heard and not long after, the call had been answered.
"This is Uesugi household…"
"Ahh… Old man is that you?"
"Ohh, Fuutaro, huh? What's wrong?"
"I'm just telling, that I will come home late because I will go with Ichika to her workplace until nighttime."
"Hah…! So you really date her, huh? And now you're going with her to her workplace? What a passionate boyfriend you are!"
"Oi, old man, how many tim- Look, Anyway, can you leave me some food and fill me some warm bath at later night? I had some accident earlier and I ended up getting all wet."
"Yeah, got it. Be sure to treat her right, okay? If your date ended up until late night, don't forget to escort her back to her house, you hear me?"
"Yeah, yeah… I hear you. That's all I have to say, so see you back at home."
"Yeah… Have fun with your date!"
Fuutaro ended the call with his dad and put his phone back to his pocket. He let out a sigh because of his dad keep teasing him everytime he talked about Ichika. Fuutaro had been thinking about the possibility of dating her and he won't close the possibility about it if the opportunity arises in the future. But right now, he wanted to focus on his study and tutoring the quintuplets because those were the top priority for him.
Not long after, Ichika came out from the apartment with a fresh clothing. Her outfit consisted of cream-colored collared shirt combined with a yellow cardigan blazer and she wore a navy-blue jeans with a brown high heeled boots. Ichika also wore a glasses and a light make up was also visible on her face.
Fuutaro slightly gasped from seeing her fresh looks compared to when she packing up things and cleaning the apartment earlier. He can also smell a fragrant scent of perfume coming from her and it was pleasant to smell. A blush appeared on his cheeks as he got captured by her charm and the feeling for her was rising up again in his chest. Fuutaro thought that she was really beautiful with that clothing and her fresh look.
Ichika noticed the dumbfounded Fuutaro and a cheeky expression appeared on her face as she teased him about it.
"Hmm… Could it be that you got charmed by my look?" Ichika said. "Hehe… I guess even Fuutaro-kun can get enamored by a pretty girl like me, hmm?"
"O-Oi! It's not like that…" Fuutaro showed a flustered face. He quickly turned his head from her and covered his mouth with his left hand in embarrassment. "But I have to admit that you look good with this clothing." he then slightly moved his eyes to look at her again.
"Hehe… I was just kidding, but thank you!" Ichika chuckled and winked at him with her making a playful finger gesture. "Then, shall we go…?"
"Yeah… Let's go."
Fuutaro and Ichika walked down the stairs and left the apartment complex as they headed for her workplace.
The sky was now completely black and there were some stars filling the black surface of the sky. There was also a full moon on it, although the shape was not perfect like two days ago. The light from buildings, cars, and street lights were lighting up the streets and sidewalk, which made it bright from the darkness of the nighttime. A gentle breeze of wind was also breezing through in this clear nighttime which made it perfect for pedestrian to walk around.
It had been a few moments since Fuutaro and Ichika left the rented apartment and heading to her workplace. On the way to the studio, the two walked together in silent, which made the atmosphere between them kind of awkward, just like in the bedroom earlier. There was a neutral expression on Fuutaro's face, although he can feel the awkwardness and slight nervousness inside of him. He moved his eyes to Ichika, who was walking next to him and she seemed to be like usual, where there was nothing unusual or strange about her. Fuutaro thought, to kill the awkwardness, he needed to think about a topic to talk to her.
"*sigh* This is really awkward…"
"What topic should I talk to her…"
"I don't know much about the current trend… So it's out of the question…"
"Hmm… Maybe I should ask her about her current acting project…"
Fuutaro decided to ask Ichika about her current acting project because he can't think any good topic bring up without making the atmosphere even more awkward. He actually wasn't interested and didn't have much knowledge about film and that kind of stuffs. But knowing that this topic will get Ichika's attention, Fuutaro thought this can make the situation less awkward and as well as the start to ask her about "that".
"Hey, Ichika."
"Hmm… What is it, Fuutaro-kun?"
"You said your current acting project is about a TV drama, right? What kind of TV drama are you in?" Fuutaro asked.
"Ahh… It's about a detective crime drama," Ichika replied. "It's been on air ever since the start of the year, although they offered me a role in it last month."
"Hmm… Is that so? Will you going to die again in this TV drama? Knowing that you always ended up dying in your previous works," Fuutaro said as he showed a teasing smile on his statement.
"That's cruel, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika showed a frown because of Fuutaro's statement. "Well… I don't know about it. From what I read about my script so far, I will live until the director said otherwise. Besides, I'm playing an important supporting character so it would make sense for my character to live for a long time."
"Heh! That's actually good to hear because you always ended up dying everytime I watch your movies," Fuutaro smirked after hearing her confirmation and then continued to tease her. "First was when I watched that apocalypse zombie film with you in it and you ended up dying, horribly. Second was that horror movie that took place in the café where I worked at and you ended up dying, again, very horribly… I guess you can't catch a break, huh? Tamako-chan…"
"F-Fuutaro-kun! Didn't I tell you to not call me with that name?!" Ichika showed a pout expression to him, getting annoyed by his teasing.
"Ahahaha… Yeah, my bad." Fuutaro let out a laugh after teasing Ichika. "Anyway, it's very surprising you took an offer to play in a detective crime genre, knowing it's an uncommon TV show genre if I'm not wrong."
"Yeah… at first, I'm kind of reluctant to accept the role because most of my previous genre were about school-related TV drama. Knowing that a detective crime drama is all about seriousness theme in it, I'm not familiar with the theme and lacking the required skill to perform in that genre, which makes me hesitated to accept the role," Ichika explained her reason.
"Hmm… If I remember correctly, most of your work was about school life genre or a comedic genre."
"After I give so much thought about it, I realized that I need to expand my acting skills and not only being good at a certain genre," she continued to said. "After discussing this with my manager, he had the same thought as me and push me to take the offer."
"…"
"Although I knew that it will be very hard for me, I accept this as a challenge to push myself to become a great actress." Ichika showed a determined expression on her face as she kept explaining. "After a few times of shooting, I'm starting to get a hang on my character and the theme of the genre, although I'm still making some mistakes because of the unfamiliarity.
"That's good to hear from you, Ichika. If you keep that kind of mindset, I'm pretty sure you can start in all kind of film and TV show genre," Fuutaro praised her with a smile of his own. "Although I say, that mindset of yours needs some improving in the academic aspect. If you can apply it to the studying, you can probably take my place as the smartest student in the school."
"Thank you for the praise! But I'm going to pass on that." Ichika showed a sarcastic happy face and shook her hand, rejecting Fuutaro's statement. "If your specialty is in academic and studying, then my specialty is in acting and its related topic."
"Hmm… You got a fair point about that. I guess as long as you got a passing score, it's already good in my book," he nodded, seemingly agreed with what Ichika said. "Also, it's weird imagining you acting all serious in the detective crime drama, knowing that you have that silly grin and always acting reckless in real life, you know that?"
"Don't underestimate me, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika showed another frown from hearing him insulting her acting skills. "Even though I'm still a new leaf on that genre, I will show you that I can be serious enough both in acting world and real life!"
"Heh! I doubted that." he showed a smirk, again and then challenged Ichika to show her acting skills. "Then, can you show me an example on how you act in that TV drama of yours?"
"I'll be glad to! I will be acting as the main character from the drama because he showed a lot of seriousness in his character." Ichika then stopped walking as she tried to recalled the main character lines that she will show to Fuutaro. "So I'm going to play a certain scene where the main character confront a homicide suspect and you will play as the suspect, is that clear?"
"Yeah, whatever… I just wanted to see how you act."
Ichika then cleared her throat and, in an instant, her once cheerful expression turned into a very serious expression, with her narrowing her eyes, and she crossed her arms as she slowly circled around Fuutaro. Fuutaro immediately surprised from seeing that instant expression change and he never saw Ichika showing this kind of serious expression before. He can feel a sharp and intense stare from her and her current aura kind of reminded him of combination of Nino and Itsuki, when they got all serious and suspicious of him in last year, plus her own unique serious aura that none of the quintuplets have.
After circling around him for few seconds, Ichika then stood in front of Fuutaro and then grabbed his shirt collar. This made him startled as he showed an instant panic face from her action. Her face was few inches from him as Fuutaro can saw a full seriousness and threatening expression on her face.
"Uesugi, all the proofs that we found was clear and it's all pointing at you," Ichika said in a deep voice, which made Fuutaro even more surprised because of how deep her voice was. "Just admit your crime. If you admit your crime, the judge will consider reducing your sentence and you will not face a lifetime sentence."
"Ehh…? Huh…?" Fuutaro can't even said a word because he got stunned by Ichika's serious acting.
"Still acting dumb, huh? It's your choice then," Ichika said to Fuutaro in a mocking tone and then pushed him away by his shirt collar. "Don't say I didn't warn you; you scum. I hope you enjoy a lifetime sentence when the judge said it to you in the court." she then threw an icy stare at him as she slowly turned around and walked away from him.
Fuutaro can only gasped and there was still dumbfounded expression lingering on his face after seeing Ichika showcasing her serious acting to him. He didn't expect that Ichika can showed such serious and intense expression to him and he can only shudders if she ever going to confront him with that kind of act. Hell, she was scarier than Nino and Itsuki combined when they got mad at him and even almost on par with her father because it gave him a chill and nervous feelings when Fuutaro thought about her serious expression again.
"Wow… That was truly an amazing acting skill…"
"I never thought that she can be this serious…"
"I need to remember to never mess with her…"
Ichika then turned around and this time, her serious face was gone and it returned to her usual cheerful and cool expression as she slowly walked towards Fuutaro. Fuutaro can saw that now Ichika had that wide grin on her face and he shook his head with a faint smile, admitting that Ichika was truly a talented actress.
"How about that, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika cheerfully asked to him still with a wide grin. "Did I make you scared with my acting? Did your heart got all pounding because of how serious the scene was?"
"Heh! Yeah, you got me on that one," Fuutaro answered with a smirk and then it turned into a smile as he praised her acting. "I have to admit that your acting was superb and it feels like the real thing."
"Thank you!" Ichika said. "I hope I can improve my acting skills and I'll make sure you will be even more stunned from seeing my improved acting in the future!"
"Yeah…" Fuutaro just nodded with a smile.
The two then continued their way to the studio after their little acting scene.
After some amounts of minutes, they finally arrived at the front of the studio. Fuutaro can saw the studio building was not that big like in the TV and it was just a two-floored small building that was not really different like the usual building.
"This is the place, Fuutaro-kun. Let's go inside, shall we?"
"Yeah…"
Knowing that the situation between them was no longer awkward and back to usual, Fuutaro thought this was the right time to ask Ichika about her strange behavior to him on yesterday and today's school time. Fuutaro then grabbed her arm, which preventing her to go into the studio.
"Ichika… There's something that I want to ask to you," Fuutaro said to her and there was a slight serious expression on his face.
"Ehh…? W-What is it, Fuutaro-kun?" Ichika felt surprised because of Fuutaro suddenly grabbing her arm and by seeing his serious face.
"I don't know if it's just me… But I noticed that you've been acting kind of strange to me yesterday and today's school time," Fuutaro said as he let go of his hand from Ichika's arm. "Whenever I wanted to talk to you, you immediately cut my words or went away from me. You also didn't tease me or joking with me until this evening when I came to your apartment… which was very weird because I know you love to tease me whenever there was a chance."
Ichika can only let out a small gasp and her face expression slowly changed into an uncomfortable one. She knew that Fuutaro will ask about this sooner or later because it was true that she acted strange to him because of a certain reason. Not to mention that she was also conscious and did it on purpose when she was acting strange to him. Not wanting for another unwanted problem between them, Ichika tried to act clueless by saying she didn't know what he talked about.
"What do you mean? I'm just acting normal like usual yesterday and today. Are you sure it's not just you?" Ichika said, pretending to be confused and there was a trace of a panic in her voice.
"No… I'm pretty sure I'm not wrong. I can feel you're acting all strange only to me," Fuutaro sternly stated to her. "I observed you that you were acting like usual to your sisters and your friends, but not to me."
"I-Is that so?" Ichika showed a panic expression as her clueless acting started to fail.
"Yeah… I'm pretty sure about it," he nodded. Fuutaro then closed his eyes and then took a deep breath. He then opened his eyes and looked at Ichika directly at her eyes. "Ichika… Could it be that you're acting strange to me because you're still disappointed by my answer two days ago?"
"…" Ichika widened her eyes and she fell speechless as Fuutaro kept staring at her, demanding an answer from her.
So he knew… Fuutaro knew that she still had some disappointment left in her heart after her confession to him didn't turn out as she expected. Ichika then lowered her head and she placed her hand to her chest. She can still feel this disappointment feeling lingering in her chest and she recalled that the past two days, she always awoken in the middle of the night with tears, because of this feeling. This disappointment feeling hurt, still hurt, even after Fuutaro comforted her by telling her that he will give his "true" answer to her someday. Ichika then thought that might as well to admit it to Fuutaro because he already guessed correctly.
"Ahh… That's true, Fuutaro-kun…" Ichika answered with a quiet voice as she slowly raised her head. "I admit that I still have some disappointment lingering in my heart ever since I confessed to you. I thought to get those disappointment out of my heart, I distanced myself from you, hoping for it to fades away as the time goes on."
"…" Fuutaro only watched her in silent as she kept explaining the reason for her strange behavior.
"But instead, distancing myself from you just makes me wanted to be by your side even more because my feelings for you are very strong. I found out that by spending time with you, the opposite happened, I can feel this disappointment slowly fading away from my heart."
"…"
"With you talking with me in the bedroom, spending time together with you and the four, packing things up and cleaning the apartment, doing some little acting with you, and now you're here with me, accompanying me working… I can feel the disappointment in my heart slowly fading away…" Ichika said and she showed a soft smile as tears started to form in her eyes. "It's because I'm next to the person that I loved, which is you… Fuutaro-kun."
"…"
"Really… Even after all my acting training and experience… I guess it's not good enough to fool you…" Ichika said with a stuttered voice as she wiped her tears with her finger. "I don't know if it was my terrible acting or it's just that you are very good at reading people…"
Fuutaro closed his eyes after hearing Ichika's explanation and he thought that his hunch was true afterall. From what she said, she wanted to rid of her disappointment by distancing herself from him and acting cold to him, but those method didn't work because her feelings towards him was very strong.
Fuutaro can't blame Ichika for doing that because he understood her intention. He did the same to her after they had an argument back in the hospital, in where he didn't visit her for two days and acting cold to the four, which she found it distasteful. Now that he finally heard it from Ichika herself, his heart and mind were finally at ease and he was glad that his frustration didn't take over his emotion. One factor that made Fuutaro stayed calm and didn't get frustrated was his feeling towards her, which he really liked her and cared about her.
Fuutaro then opened his eyes and a gentle smile formed on his lips as he looked at Ichika again.
"I'm glad you're being honest with me and told me what was in your heart for the past few days, Ichika," Fuutaro said. "I'm sorry if my response at that time disappointed you because just like I said, I'm still focused on school and tutoring all of you. Just like I promised, I will give my "true" answer to you someday when the time is right." he then nodded to assure her.
"Mhmm… It's fine, Fuutaro-kun." Ichika lightly shook her head, accompanied with a weak smile. "With you by my side, I'm already feeling happy enough. By waiting for your answer, it makes my feelings for you even stronger."
"Is that so? I'm glad to hear it from you," Fuutaro said as he put his right hand on Ichika's left shoulder to calm her down.
"Also… I'm really sorry for acting all cold and rude to you yesterday and today… I'm such a jerk for doing that and making you irritated…" she wiped her tears again and then placed her right hand on Fuutaro's right hand, which was still on her shoulder.
"Yeah… It's okay… It's not a big problem to me," he stated and there was a faint smile on his lips after hearing Ichika apologized.
Fuutaro was now glad that the problem between them were solved in a good term. He then thought to prevent the situation to became awkward again, he needed to lighten up the situation and he thought of a joke from what she said earlier. "You said that I can see through your act, right? Well maybe it's true that I can read people and I think the big factors that can make me read you are because of your beginner and slightly terrible acting skills…" he said as a grin started to form on his lips and also started to tease her, hoping to lighten up the atmosphere,
"Huh…?! That's really rude to say, Fuutaro-kun!" Ichika's sad expression immediately turned into a pout, along with an annoyed blush because of another Fuutaro's teasing. "Even after all that acting that I just showed to you, you saying that was terrible? Hmphh! You really don't have any delicacy for a woman, you know that?" she then turned her head from him and let go of her right hand from Fuutaro's hand, feeling annoyed by him.
"Hehe… You're starting to sound like Itsuki, you know? But considering you're all quintuplets, I'm not surprised if I'm talking with the real Itsuki right now, right, Itsuki?" Fuutaro continued his teasing and there was a cheeky expression on his face as he let go of his right hand from Ichika's shoulder.
"Huh…? What do you mean?!" Ichika then looked at Fuutaro, still with her annoyed expression.
"I'm just joking… I'm pretty sure that I'm talking with the real Ichika, knowing that she is reckless, easily embarrassed, and not acting all confident if she walking and talking with the person that she liked."
"Ughhh… You're embarrassing me, Fuutaro-kun…" Ichika's face was now all red from embarrassment and flustered because of Fuutaro's constant teasing.
"Hehe… It's a payback after all the teasing you did to me, Tamako-chan…" Fuutaro chuckled and showed a grin as he said that name, again.
"Ughhh… Not that name again…! Here, take this for keep teasing me!" Ichika yelled at him and pinched Fuutaro's cheek while her face was still all red from the embarrassment.
"O-Ow, ow… That hurts…!"
"Hmph… Don't ever call me with that name again, okay?" Ichika turned her head around from him with a pout, again, still feeling annoyed from Fuutaro's teasing.
"Yeah, yeah…" Fuutaro let out a chuckle as he held his stinging cheek from her pinching. "Anyway Ichika, I know that you're still waiting for my answer, but don't hesitate to ask for my help, whether it's about studying or about your acting work or anything that you need help. I will always support you with all I can."
"Yes… I will definitely need some help from you, Fuutaro-kun. So don't ever get tired of me keep asking for your help, okay?" Ichika said as her expression slowly turned into her usual cheerful and cool expression.
"Heh! I will never get tired of helping you because it's already part of my job that I will support you in academic and your acting career," Fuutaro answered with a smirk.
"Then… I'm counting on you, Fuutaro-sensei!" Ichika said to him with a wide grin as she opened the studio front door and entered the place.
The words from Ichika made Fuutaro chuckled. It was now the third time she called him with that nickname. Instead of feeling weird and annoyed by that calling, like he used to be, Fuutaro can felt a good feeling and a praise being called with that nickname, especially coming from the girl that he liked.
"Sensei, huh? It's definitely had a nice ring to it…"
"I could get used to her calling me that…"
Fuutaro then caught up to her inside the studio and they walked side by side together, once again. Glancing at Ichika, Fuutaro recalled the day that made this all possible, starting from the day where he agreed to skip school with her. The day where he started to develop a feeling for her during their school skipping experience together, the day where he worried about her to death when she fell ill because she went overboard on studying and working, until all the way to the day where she confessed her feelings to him and he finally accepted that he also definitely had a feeling for her.
Fuutaro was glad that he experienced all of that day and even though there were some unwelcomed moments on some of that day, he was able to overcome it without much trouble and triumph in the end.
Fuutaro silently smiled and he never thought that school skipping can helped him changed into a much better person and found him a love.
"There's no need to make it more difficult… You know…"
"Still… I'm glad you're being honest to me…"
"I'm also glad that my feeling to you was not wrong after all…"
"You're really an amazing woman…"
"Thank you…"
"For all this experience we've been through so far…"
"I will always treasure it…"
"Ichika…"
For Ichika, she never thought that Fuutaro was able to saw through her act. Still, she was glad that he was not mad at her, knowing that sometimes he can lash out from frustration. He was also glad that Fuutaro still trusted her even after the harsh and cold act that she showed to him yesterday and today.
Closing her eyes, Ichika then recalled the day that made this all possible, starting from the day where she asked him to skip school. The day where she made a promise and bet to him, the day where she was having a time of her life with a boy that she liked, the day where she pushed herself over the limit and went overboard on studying so she can keep the promise to him, the day where she able to kept her promise and bet to him by scoring 150 points on national mock exam, and finally the day where she confessed her feelings to him.
Ichika didn't feel a single regret on what happened on each of that day, especially the day where Fuutaro "rejected" her confession. She was glad all of that event happened and from now on, no matter what happened, Ichika will wait for his "true" answer. But for now, she didn't want to think about all of that because she just wanted to enjoy this feeling in her heart, the feeling of loving the boy that always be by her side, which was the boy that walked next to her, the boy that said to her that he will always ready to support and help her in life.
"Really… Even after I troubled you so much…"
"You still cared so much for me…"
"You're really a gentleman… You know that…?"
"That's why I fell in love with you…"
"Thank you…"
"For always be by my side…"
"Fuutaro-kun…"
FIN
A/N:
With this chapter finished, this story is officially complete!
Damn! What a journey this was. I really didn't expect this story to be this long. When I created the concept, it went through some drafts, where the story ended in chapter 5 or chapter 10. But as I kept on writing, the concept just kept expanding as more idea kept popping up in my mind and here's the result, 19 chapters and over 110K words. Tbh, I really proud of this work because this is my first serious fanfic writing and it's completed. Adding that Gotoubun is one of my favorite titles of all time, I just can't let this story left unfinished and hanging, so I feel I must finish this story no matter what happened.
Now for the future of this story, there will be a sequel/continuation for this story and it will take place in Kyoto school trip arc. But, I'm going to take a break from writing because I'm burnt out from writing this story from start to end and I need some recharge time to get that fire back.
The sequel concept is still in work-in-progress state. The storyline for the Kyoto school trip will be different from the main series, although I will incorporate some scenes and settings from the main series so it will still have the original feelings. Beyond this, I still have more concept and storyline in my minds although I'm still not sure it will work out because of real life things and my job got more busier than ever after the recent work trip, which can prevent me to keep writing. I just hope that I can expand the story beyond the Kyoto school trip arc because writing is fun for me as long as I'm in roll and not falling into a slump and bad mood.
Also, I finally fixed grammar mistakes, weird dialogue and narration, and many other mistakes that I found in every chapter, just like I said in chapter 12 A/N. I hope this can make you all have more easier time when you want to re-read the story again from the start, knowing that my early writing was very bad and I even cringed when I re-read those writing. Hopefully it's really fixed and there are no noticeable mistakes left.
Reaching the end of the A/N, I want to give my big thank you to all of you who read this story. Also, my special thank you to people who followed, favorited, and/or left a review for this story and it's a big honor to me knowing that there were people out there who are interested in my story. I'm really grateful for all of your support and everytime I received a notification in my E-mail, telling me that there was a new follower of this story, people favorited this story, and someone left a review, it really made me happy and really energized me to keep on writing and deliver the best outcome.
As for the closing words, I just hope that I can repeat the same feat again with improvement for the sequel/continuation and also, I hope I can see you all again next time!
As for the final review response:
-Rosalina:
I'm really, really glad that you stick around until the final chapter. Not only that, but you also left a review for every chapter from the start to end. I'm really grateful to have a reader like you who is loyal and always looking forward for the new chapter. My big gratitude to you and I hope I can see your kind words again in the sequel/continuation.
-Powder Sauce:
Yeah, I feel you. But don't get sad since I'm planning for the sequel/continuation and I hope to see you again in the sequel. Also, my big thanks to you for following this story from the start until the end and I really appreciate every of your reviews!
If you like the story feel free to review, follow, and favorite it!