""Eh?"

"This Sunday, there is going to be a big fireworks festival in Higashicho. The five of us plan on going there so I thought you might wanna join us?" Itsuki asks while the blush on her face slowly disappears.

"This Sunday you say?" Fuutarou says as he tries to remember if he had anything planned for that day. "Well originally, I planned on studying for the majority of the day. Sunday's pretty much the only time I'll be free this week."

"Oh, I see..." Itsuki mumbles as she once again lowers her gaze. "In that case, you won't be able to join us..."

Fuutarou instantly speaks up after hearing and watching Itsuki's disappointed reaction. "Seems like you didn't properly listen to me." Itsuki looks up to meet his gaze once more, this time with a confused look on her face. "I said I originally planned on focusing on my studies. However, I can't exactly ignore such a gracious invitation."

Itsuki starts to smile again after hearing those words. "So your answer is yes?"

"Yes, I will go to the fireworks festival with you and your sisters," Fuutarou answers calmly. He didn't think that it was that big of a deal, but on the other hand, Itsuki was suddenly beaming at him, happiness evident in her eyes. "That's wonderful! I'm already looking forward to it!"

"Actually, now that I'm thinking about it, do you think Miku and Nino will be fine if I hang out with all of you?" Based on his previous encounters with the duo, they definitely wouldn't like him tagging along. Nino was very clear that she straight up hated every fiber of his being and was currently doing everything she could to intimidate him while Miku believed that he was a creepy stalker who was just waiting for a prime opportunity to kidnap her sisters. Spending time with both of them at once already spelled trouble. Doing so at an event meant for the five sisters to enjoy on their own was a disaster waiting to happen.

"I don't think that there will be a problem in this case," Itsuki explains as they began to hear noises coming from the general vicinity of the stairs. Just happening to come down exactly after Fuutarou accepted the invitation, Ichika and Yotsuba entered his field of vision. "Nino and Miku wouldn't want to fight during the festival."

"Why is that?" Fuutarou questions for the umpteenth time, but before Itsuki could answer, Ichika sits down next to her with a smug expression plastered on her face. "Now that we are back, shall we begin with today's session?"

The teenager sighed, accepting the fact that Ichika wasn't going to let him get a satisfactory response. "I guess that would be for the best. After all, we wanted to start a few minutes ago so let's not waste any more time!" Fuutarou starts with his lesson, picking up where they left off the last time. Together, they work through each of the sisters' homework while he answers any questions that came up to the best of his ability. And to no one's surprise, Fuutarou's question was left unanswered.

After some time, Fuutarou sat down next to Yotsuba to help her with her studies. Since he was distracted, Ichika uses this opportunity and slowly inches closer to her red-haired sister. "Now tell me, why did you ask him to go to the festival with all of us instead of just with you alone?" Ichika whispers so Fuutarou couldn't hear her.

"You-You heard that?" Itsuki mumbles nervously as her cheeks flared up, turning a nice shade of crimson. "Of course I did."

"It was embarrassing enough to ask him to go with us, what makes you think I could ask him out on a date with me?! Besides, I've only known him for a day. Going on a date with him now is so sudden!"

"I know, I know...I just thought you two might look cute together."

"Stop joking around, he is just a friend. I have no romantic feelings towards him whatsoever! Got it?"

Out of nowhere, Fuutarou shifts his position, sitting down next to the two girls and looking at their notebooks. "Is there something I can help you two with? Any questions you need hints for?"

"No, it's alright. We don't need any assistance right now." Ichika answers so Fuutarou would once more shift his focus to Yotsuba so she could tease her sister some more.

"I see. Well, if you need anything, just ask. After all, that's why I am here in the first place."

"I can see that. You take your duty as our tutor very seriously." Itsuki says whilst turning to face Fuutarou.

"Well, this is the first time that I'm tutoring someone. I have no experience whatsoever and I don't really know how I should teach you." Fuutarou explains calmly while looking over everything the two had written to this point, eyes tracing each line and using a pen to circle things in need of correction. "That's why I'm sitting here, waiting for you to ask me for advice."

"If you ask me, I think you are doing a great job, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba exclaims happily. "I already learned so much in this short time you've spent as our tutor!"

Itsuki nods in approval, smiling softly. "Yeah, Yotsuba is right. With a tutor like you, I am sure we will pass the upcoming exams!"

"I don't think it will be that easy. You still lack basic knowledge that cannot be acquired in the course of two days. If you want to pass the Midterms, you still have to work hard over the next few weeks." Fuutarou explains calmly. He was quite sure that the chances of them passing the Midterms was pretty low, even with him helping them, but he would keep that little tidbit to himself and continue having faith. "Also, I am pretty worried about Nino and Miku. After all, I agreed on tutoring the five of you. All five of you. If they fail their exams, your father would have my hide. Plus…I'd feel really guilty about not putting in the effort to teach them as well."

"Don't worry too much. I think they'll be fine." Ichika responds to his admission in an encouraging tone even though she knew her sisters would most likely fail if they continued down the same path they were walking. Nino was not the kind of person to study much, if even at all, and she would rather go out and meet with her friends whenever she had free time. Miku would stay inside her room all day without even looking at her notebook. She sighed softly at the thought, careful to make sure Fuutarou didn't hear her.

"Well, if you say so. I trust your judgment." Fuutarou mumbles while pointing at Itsuki's notebook, tapping it at certain points to punctuate his words. "You made a small mistake there. If you're trying to calculate x+4 squared, you can't just square each number individually and add them together. Instead, use…" And so, Fuutarou continues with his lesson for the day, worries briefly forgotten in favor of ensuring his students ended the session understanding everything he explained to them.

Two days later, it's Sunday afternoon and Fuutarou is getting ready to meet the sisters at the festival.

"Onii-chan, don't you wanna wear your yukata?" Raiha asks while taking out his old yukata from the closet. He glances at it with a nostalgic glint in his eyes but ends up shaking his head.

"Raiha, I can't fit into that old thing anymore. You know I grew in the last three years since dad first gave it to me."

"But it still looks pretty good."

"That may be the case, and I agree with you, but it still would be too small. I will just wear something more casual. Don't want to accidentally rip it." Out of the small closet containing every single piece of clothing he, Raiha, and Isanari possessed, he takes out a white shirt and grey trousers. In the end, he mused with a slight smirk, this was essentially his regular outfit.

"Well, it's time for me to head out or I will be late. You can have dinner without me, I will probably grab something to eat at the festival." Fuutarou walks to the entrance door of his house but then is suddenly stopped by his sister. "Have lots of fun today, Onii-chan. And tell Itsuki-chan that she can always come here for dinner if she has the time to."

A smile forms on Fuutarou's face as he looks down at his sister. He pats her head and chuckles. "Yes, I will tell her that she is always invited to eat with us."

Fuutarou walks out and heads toward the marketplace the festival is located at. On his way, he sees a familiar-looking black car that seems to be slowing down as it drives towards him. It slows to a stop before it can overtake him, the passenger door opening to reveal familiar faces.

"Uesugi-san! What a coincidence meeting you here!"

"Yotsuba?" Fuutarou tries to get a view of the inside of the car to see if her sisters were also there. But before he could get a proper view, the other doors open up as well, and all five Nakano sisters get out of the car. They are all wearing beautiful-looking kimonos, each of them with their own style.

Yotsuba wears a light green kimono with a flower pattern on it. The obi that ties together her kimono is ruby red.

Miku wears a navy blue kimono with thin white lines tracing complex patterns, complemented by an obi the same shade as Yotsuba's outfit.

Nino wears a dark purple kimono on which white rabbits are depicted in various positions. Her obi is dark blue with some white ornaments on the upper edge.

Ichika wears a Kimono made up of countless triangles of blue, yellow, or orange color. All of the different sized triangles are separated by small white lines and the Obi that ties it all together in the same color as Itsuki's outfit.

Lastly, Itsuki wears a crimson red kimono with light-red stripes running diagonally along the outfit. The cuffs of each sleeve were the exact same color as her obi. Additionally, her hair is tied together to a bun at the back of her head, leaving only two strands hanging down at both sides of her face. It was a far cry from her usual hairdo, and Fuutarou had some problems recognizing her. After all, the sisters all looked the same, the only way he could distinguish them being their hairstyles and personal items.

"Thank you, Ebata-san. We will walk the rest of the way." Itsuki says before closing the door and letting the black car drive away.

"What are you all doing here?" Fuutarou asks while looking at them in confusion.

"What do you think we are doing? We are going to the festival, of course!" Nino snaps while taking out her phone, and proceeding to ignore his existence.

"Itsuki saw you while we were moving by and immediately told our driver to stop so we could accompany you the rest of the way to the festival," Ichika explains as she walks towards him. Reaching up, her lips nearly brush his ear as she whispers. "What do you think of her hair? She sat in front of the mirror for fifteen minutes to style it that way…Just. For. You. "If Fuutarou had been more socially aware, he would have noticed the smirk gracing her face. Sadly…he wasn't.

The teenager abruptly turns to Itsuki, staring silently while he tries to figure out how to respond to the new information he had been given. Itsuki blushes once she realizes it and slowly turns away, lowering her gaze to the pavement. "Don't look at me like that."

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…" Fuutarou looks away nervously, Ichika's words at the forefront of his mind. "Your hair looks pretty good. It suits you."

The slight tint of red coloring Itsuki's cheeks suddenly intensifies, showing how flustered she was. "Thank you...very much." She mumbles whilst gently stroking her own hair.

"Why couldn't we just pick him up and drive to the festival instead? Now we have to walk..." Miku mumbles as she starts to stagger along the sidewalk, looking like she was a few steps away from passing out. Yotsuba quickly follows her, smiling excitedly. "Now, now, walking is not that bad. And after all, the festival is only a stone's throw away."

The other three girls, plus Fuutarou, follow Yotsuba and Miku as they walk towards the marketplace. With every step, the noises coming from the festival begin to get louder and louder. When they finally arrive after a few minutes of quiet trekking, there were already crowds of people milling around.

Nino sighs, annoyance clear as she voices her complaints. "How are we gonna find the way to our place when there are this many people around?"

"What do you mean by 'your place'?" Fuutarou asks in confusion.

"Nino paid a store owner so we can use his rooftop to watch the fireworks. This way we can enjoy them to their fullest without being interrupted!" Yotsuba explains happily. "Don't worry, there may be many people around but I am sure we will find the way with ease!"

Suddenly Itsuki runs towards the food stands with a big smile on her face, practically bouncing with glee. "Look there! Yakisoba, takoyaki, mochi, botchan dangos, and lots of other delicious food!"

"Yeah, it all looks super yummy but I think we won't have the time to try everything. How about we just grab some mochi first?" Ichika grabs her sister by her hand and quickly disappears with her amongst the crowd.

"Where are those two going? I thought we wanted to go to our place…" Nino grumbles while looking around where the missing sisters could be, but to no avail.

"I think they will be just fine. Ichika and Itsuki know where the store is so they will get there as soon as they finish buying something to eat." Yotsuba reassures her distressed sister with a happy smile on their face even though she didn't actually know whether that was the case.

Nino looks at the people walking around for a little while longer, before shrugging. "In that case, let's go." Fuutarou follows behind them, walking through the never-ending sea of people. For the two less physically fit individuals, it was difficult to push through the other festival-goers, and they were struggling to keep up with Nino and Yotsuba.

"Here you go you two, enjoy your mochi." Ichika and Itsuki stand in front of a food stand serving different Japanese sweets and naturally, they got themselves some mochi.

"Thank you very much!"

"Say, young girl, are you a model? You sure look like one!" The stand owner asks while pointing at Ichika.

"Oh, thank you for the compliment, but no, I am just a student."

"Now that doesn't matter. Here, take another one. On the house." He takes another piece of mochi, placing it on a napkin and handing it to Ichika with a boisterous grin on his face.

"Thank you very much, sir!" As they slowly walked off, Itsuki couldn't help but start nibbling at her chewy candy.

Abruptly, Ichika grabs her hand and pulls her into a side alley between multiple food stands. She yelps in surprise, nearly dropping her treat. "Ichika, what are you doing?"

"Don't worry, I just wanna chat with you for a little bit before I eventually have to go." Ichika smiles at her sister, also grabbing her other hand softly. Itsuki blinked, confusion now replaced by dejection.

"Is it really time for you to go? Can't you stay a little bit longer?" The expression on her face suddenly changes to one full of frustration and sadness. Her lower lip trembles slightly before Ichika steps forward to give her a hug.

"No can do, unfortunately. But enough of that, let's talk about you and Fuutarou-kun." Ichika releases here, stepping backwards while squeezing the hands of her sister, internally hoping she would start to smile again. This was supposed to be a celebration after all.

"Me and Uesugi-kun? What do you mean?"

"Now is your time to shine, Itsuki. This festival is gonna be your perfect opportunity to get closer to him." Ichika inches closer to her sister, a small smirk on her face as red tints Itsuki's. Rather than becoming flustered like before, the youngest quintuplet pouts, sighing.

"But Ichika, I wanna spend time with you, Nino, Miku, and Yotsuba! I wanna watch the fireworks with all of you!" The knowledge that Ichika wouldn't be around to see the fireworks with the rest of them like they usually did just made her budding frustrations grow.

"I'm sorry...because of my new job, I will not be able to join you. I know it won't be the same but I still want you to enjoy it. That's why I thought you could spend time with Fuutarou-kun. At least this way, you'll still be able to get something meaningful out of this. Even without me. "

Itsuki stays quiet for a few seconds as she slowly lowers her head to the ground, a troubled grimace on her face.

"What do you think should I do?"

In the meantime, the other four try to reach the store's roof that Nino had rented but due to the large number of people running around, their progress was rather slow. Miku looked like her soul was beginning to escape her body from the sudden amount of exercise she was being subjected to.

"Do you really think that Ichika and Itsuki will be able to find the way here by themselves?" Fuutarou asks while trying to keep up with Yotsuba and Nino, who still seemed to have no trouble walking around in this huge crowd despite the fact that he himself was beginning to flag.

"Yeah, they know where the store is at so they will find it eventually." Nino answers while looking down at her phone. She frowned when it refused to light up, even after she mashed the power button several times. "Heh? The battery is dead? I should have charged it before leaving…"

"Say, who told them where the store is located? I don't remember that you told anyone where we can find it." Miku mumbles absentmindedly, stepping out of the way of a middle-aged man before he could barrel into her.

Abruptly, Nino comes to a sudden stop. "Yotsuba, didn't you say that they know where the store is at?" Her face clearly showed that she was concerned about the well-being of her two sisters.

"Well…I thought they did." Yotsuba suddenly turns around and starts running through the big crowd of people towards the food stands where they lost Ichika and Itsuki. "I will look for them! Be back in just a minute! Don't wait up, I'll just take them directly to the stall!"

"Wait, Yotsuba! But you don't know the way either!"

Fuutarou could only watch as Yotsuba ran away leaving him with the two Nakano sisters that hated him the most: Miku and Nino. He sighed, then winced when he immediately felt two pairs of eyes on him.

This…was bad.

Authors Note:

Hey guys,

as always, I hope you enjoyed this chapter.

I wanna thank my new beta reader Teras98 who helped me improve my writing.

Also, if you want, you can join this discord where I and some other QQ-Writers often talk with each other: discord . gg / 2wNakxvfbw

What is Fuutarou going to do about his situation? What is Ichika planning for Itsuki? Find out in the next Chapter!

See ya!