"Finally, we are back..." Yotsuba mumbles sleepily as the bus slowly rolls up to the hotel. The guide that had shown them around the inside of the temple they were visiting had been talking for such a long time that even the energetic girl had run out of steam. "Yeah, it is about time that we head back to our room and meet up with the other three," Itsuki answers as they get off the bus with Fuutarou tagging along behind them.

"I wonder what they have been doing on their trips. Hopefully, they had a lot of fun." Yotsuba exclaims happily as she had never lost her motivation in the first place. The other two shared a smile as Yotsuba skipped along, amused by her immediate shift from tired to wide awake. The three of them make their way towards the hotel, just in time to see a second bus arriving there. As the bus opens its doors, Miku jumps out of it with a tall, handsome blond student walking right behind her. The duo was casually conversing as they walked towards the hotel, Both looked as though they were having a good time, judging from the smiles on their faces.

Meanwhile, Yotsuba, Itsuki, and Fuutarou look at the pair with confusion. "Hey, who's that guy that is talking to Miku? Does anyone know him?" Fuutarou asks while pointing at them. "I hoped that you knew him. After all, you have been attending this school longer than us." Itsuki answers while shaking her head.

"I think I might know him!" Yotsuba explains while thinking really hard about what his name could be.

"You really know him?"

Yotsuba stays quiet for some time, appearing to be thinking very hard…before snapping her fingers with a ditzy smile. "Now that I think about it, I have never seen him once in my entire life!"

"Then how did you even get the idea that you know him in the first place?!" Fuutarou asks with a slight hint of disappointment in his voice. "In any case, we can get the answer soon enough. After all, we can just ask her."

"That's probably a good idea. Seems like the two of them really got to know each other." Itsuki adds on as they continue watching Miku and the blonde boy walking into the hotel. "But we also should go inside and get ready for dinner. It's getting late and I don't think they serve dinner after midnight." Fuutarou and Yotsuba nod their agreement with Itsuki's suggestion. Together, they proceed to walk into the hotel where the group eventually splits up. Yotsuba and Itsuki walk to their room while Fuutarou walks to his room.

On the way there, Fuutarou sees Ichika slowly walking down the hallway. She doesn't seem like she had any fun with her activity. Feeling a little worried, he approached the eldest quintuplet.

"Ichika, is something the matter?" Fuutarou asks as he softly lays his hand on her shoulder. The girl turns to Fuutarou and immediately puts on a smile. "Oh, it's nothing. I'm just a little bit tired. I can't wait to jump in my bed and grab some sleep."

"Are you sure?" Fuutarou asks, concerned. Something didn't seem right, and the smile on her face was…worryingly fake.

"Speaking of sleeping. Would you like to-" Ichika asks with a smirk on her face but is instantly interrupted by Fuutarou who knew what was coming. "Sorry, but no."

"Oh come on!" Ichika pouts and then turns away from the exasperated teenager. "Maybe another time but not on a class trip…" Fuutarou mumbles.

Ichika giggles quietly and then makes a turn into the corridor to their right. "I see. Well, see ya at dinner." Fuutarou nods and watches her walk down the corridor to her room. Again, she didn't seem like she was very happy. So what she did just now was probably a show of false strength. But what happened in those few hours that would have made her look so depressed? Fuutarou couldn't figure it out. He sighed to himself, then proceeded on his journey.

After going to his room and preparing for dinner, Fuutarou meets Itsuki, Yotsuba, and Nino who had already started eating dinner. Naturally, Itsuki had the biggest portion out of the three sisters. Not exactly surprising, but it was still funny to see that she was basically eating double of what the others were.

"Uesugi-san, there you are! We have been waiting for you!" Yotsuba exclaims while raising her hand into the air. "Come sit with us." She points at one of the free seats next to them and smiles at her tutor.

"Sorry for making you wait. Say, where are Ichika and Miku? Shouldn't they be with you?" Fuutarou asks as he is sitting down, placing down his meal, consisting of a measly bowl of rice and a couple shrimp.

"Ichika did say that she wanted to go catch a nap." 'Hmm, she may have told me that she is tired and wanted to go to bed but I still can't believe that. She was acting very differently from her usual self, so something must have happened earlier."'

"Miku on the other hand…" Nino points at another table at the other end of the dining room. Miku was sitting there with the boy they saw earlier. "Yuusuke Takeda. He is the son of our principal, extremely popular, and apparently, ranked second in our grade. Ranked right behind you, Uesugi."

"Extremely popular and he is ranked second? Never heard of him." Fuutarou sifts through his memories for a moment before shaking his head. "Maybe that's because you don't know any of the students on this school except for the five of us, ever thought about that?" Nino grumbles halfheartedly as she digs into her meal.

"We still don't know what the relationship between Takeda and Miku is. Miku just didn't want to talk about it. But we can clearly see that the two of them like each other. I mean, just look at them! They sit alone at one desk, right next to each other, and act like they have known each other for years!"

"You act like that is a problem. I think it's good that Miku has found herself a new friend. It was always hard for her to find friends when we were in middle school so shouldn't we instead be happy that she's making progress?" Itsuki says while looking at Nino with a smile. "I know that you worry about her, but I think that in the end, everything will be fine."

Nino blushes and turns her head to glance at Miku once more. "You are probably right…"

For a while, the group just sat there and ate their food quietly until Yotsuba spoke up. "Say, does anybody know what is planned for tomorrow?"

"Well, the teachers did mention that there will be a big gathering of all the classes where we will cook curry together. Then, when the sun has set, the test of courage will start. Also, do I have to remind you that the two of us are responsible for the preparations? I hope you didn't forget about that." Fuutarou explains as he finishes his bowl of rice.

Yotsuba blushes and turns to the side nervously. "No, don't worry! I didn't forget about that…haha…" Fuutarou sighs, resisting the urge to smash his face into the table. Of course, she forgot about that.

"Uesugi-kun, do you want a couple of my shrimps? You don't look like you took enough to eat." Itsuki asks, already picking up one of her shrimp tempuras with her chopsticks. The teenage boy blinked slowly, before shrugging. "Well I-I…uh…why not…?"

Itsuki extends her arm towards him just like she did the first time they met at the cafeteria. Fuutarou eats the shrimp right off her chopsticks whereupon Itsuki begins to giggle happily. "Do you like it?"

"Of course!" Fuutarou answers with a smile on his face. Nino on the other hand, who was watching this scene from start to finish, could only sigh. After all, she didn't like Fuutarou but she told her sister that she wouldn't bother her anymore. It still irritated her how lovey-dovey they were acting though.

A few minutes later, Fuutarou grabs his tray and stands up. "Well, I think I will go to my room and read my book before I go to bed." He explains before Yotsuba and Itsuki said goodbye to him. Nino obviously stayed quiet and continued to eat her meal.

"I really hate those guys..." Fuutarou grumbles after hurriedly leaving his room. His roommates, who had made him arrive late to the bus this morning, were way too loud considering how late it was. He decided it was a better idea to go and hang out with Itsuki and the other Nakanos instead.

What Fuutarou didn't notice was that his student notebook slipped out of his pocket and fell right onto the floor as he walked through the hallway. He continues walking down the hallway and turns right into the next corridor, only to bump into Nino who is already wearing her pajamas. She looks up at him with an angry face. Internally, he began to panic even as he tried his best to keep a neutral expression.

"Can't you watch where you are going? Where are you even going?" Nino asks in a loud and quite aggressive way.

"I am sorry, I didn't see you there," Fuutarou begins to explain calmly. "My roommates are really loud and wouldn't let me read my book so I thought I could go to your room instead and talk to Itsuki or something like that."

"Well, Itsuki is already preparing to go to bed so you can turn around and go back to your room." Nino declares with a vicious smirk on her face. Fuutarou didn't want to go back to his room, his roommates probably wouldn't let him get any sleep and instead force him to stay up all night. Not that he wasn't used to staying up late studying, but that was at least productive.

"What are you even doing here? I can see that you are already wearing your pajamas." Fuutarou asks, trying to change the subject.

"I wanted to go to bed too but Yotsuba is still missing. She went to go see a friend of hers but she still hasn't come back. I don't wanna wait any longer, so I went outside to search for her." Nino explains while crossing her arms and looking around in the hallway.

"If that's the case, then I will not waste your time anymore. If you would excuse me..." Fuutarou mumbles and walks past Nino only to be stopped by her in an instant.

"Didn't I tell you that we all want to finally go to sleep? Stay away from our room!" Fuutarou sighed, turning to Nino with an annoyed look on his face. "Who are you to decide that? Why do I need your permission to go and visit Itsuki?"

At the same time, Yotsuba was finally leaving the room of her good friend with a big smile on her face when she realizes that someone's student notebook sitting on the floor. She bends over and picks it up.

"It seems that someone lost his notebook here. I wonder whose it is..." Yotsuba mumbles and opens the first page of it.

Name: Uesugi Fuutarou

Date of Birth: 5th of April

Class: 2-1

"It's Uesugi-san's notebook! I should bring it to him...but it's really late and my sisters may already be worried about me...I will just give it to him tomorrow!" Yotsuba mumbles to herself but before walking to her room, she decides to flip through the pages of the notebook to see if he hid something in it...

"I told you, we want to go to bed and you would only be in our way!" Nino almost shouts loud enough for her voice to echo through the hallways while she angrily stomps her feet on the ground.

"Calm down, you're gonna get us in trouble!" Fuutarou scolds as he looks around to check for whether any of the teachers were nearby. If anyone saw them arguing here, they would definitely get punished for staying up late and being loud in the hallway.

"If you don't wanna get in trouble, go back to your room and stay there. I don't wanna see you anywhere near our room. Understood?" Nino hisses like a snake while pushing him away from the corridor he was heading towards.

"Fine, fine, I'll go," Fuutarou mumbles as he turns around. He could probably spend the next hour here and Nino would still not let him through, no matter what he does. In that case, the only thing left for him to do was hope that his roommates would let him get some sleep.

"Uesugi-san! Nino!" A familiar-sounding voice called for them. They both look at the girl that was running towards them. It was Yotsuba who was currently holding Fuutarou's student notebook in her hands. As soon as Fuutarou saw the item in her hand, he checks his pockets if any of his belongings were missing.

"Yotsuba, is there any chance that this is my notebook?" Fuutarou asks with a surprised but relieved voice. She nods and hands him his student notebook. "I found it on the way here. It seems that you somehow dropped it right in front of my friend's room."

Fuutarou grabs the little book and opens it instantly. He flips through the pages until he finally finds what he was looking for.

Nino moves closer to him and tries to get a look at what he hid in that notebook.

What they look at is a picture of a young boy who is about twelve or thirteen years old. He has blonde hair and wears an earring on his left ear. The boy didn't seem like he wanted this picture taken as his eyes are not directed to the camera but instead to the side.

The color on Nino's face promptly changes. Her cheeks turn red and her eyes begin to sparkle. "Who...is that boy right there? He looks spectacular! Just look at his hair! I wonder if that's his real hair color or if he dyed it! And this earring suits him perfectly! That's such a cool boy."

Nino turns to Fuutarou with a bright smile on her face like he had never seen before. How fascinated can one be by a person after looking at a simple picture?

"How old is that picture?" He hummed, counting on his fingers before responding.

"About five years old, I guess?"

"That means that this boy is as old as we are! I wonder what he looks like now..."

Nino commences daydreaming about a handsome, athletic boy walking up to her on the last evening of the trip. She sits isolated from all the other students, on the ground near the place where all the others are dancing together. The boy reaches out for her and grins.

"May I interest you in a dance?"

"Dance? I would love to dance."

She takes his strong hand and stands up. He pulls her close to himself and begins to dance with her. And in a very romantic moment, they both lean in for a kiss...

"Tell me who he is? He looks kinda similar to you. Is he like a cousin of yours? You gotta give me his number!" At this point, her eyes are sparkling in a manner that made her look more like Yotsuba.

Fuutarou hesitates and looks at the picture. He knew who the boy was. It was himself. That picture was taken five years ago when he was visiting Kyoto in middle school. Yes, he dyed his hair blonde and got himself an earring. But should he tell Nino and Yotsuba about that? How would they react to his old self? He considers the pros and cons, before deciding that it was probably worth whatever reaction Nino was going to show him. Besides, there wasn't a reason to lie.

Fuutarou slowly turns to Nino again and grins maliciously at her.

"This boy you see right there isn't a cousin of mine, he's me." He told her the truth. Maybe she would laugh, maybe she would not believe him but he knew that telling her the truth was the right decision. After all, there was only one Nakano whose trust he had not gained yet and that was Nino. Maybe telling her the truth would make her trust him a little bit more...

After a few, quite long and silent moments, Nino screams out laughing, not trying to pull herself together at all. "You? That boy? Not in a hundred years will you look as cool as this boy!"

Fuutarou droops disappointedly and closes his notebook. Why would he have ever thought that she would believe him?

After a few seconds, Nino had calmed down and grins at Fuutarou again. "Now tell me who this is. And this time, you gotta be honest."

"You don't understand. This is me. The boy in that picture is me!" He tries to make her believe that what he was said is true but in the end, she didn't even consider that his words could be true. This handsome boy could never be him. Never! She glares at him for a couple of moments before Fuutarou finally relents and tells her what she wants to hear.

"Alright, you are right. It's my cousin. His name is...his name is...Kin-ta-rou?"

"Kintarou?" Yotsuba mumbles in disbelief.

"Yes, Kintarou Uesugi! My uncle's son!" Fuutarou explains with a fake smile on his lips. Everybody could see that he was lying…except Nino, apparently.

"Alright, Uesugi, you gotta introduce me to your cousin sometime in the future, ok?" Nino asks with a sweet voice and a cute smile. This was the first time Fuutarou had seen her like this. Previously, Nino had always been angry at him and never smiled a single time. But this Nino was clearly different from the one he was used to.

"Yeah, I'll call when he's in town..." Fuutarou mumbles, disappointed that he ended up having to tell her a lie. "Anyway, I'm gonna go hit the hay now. See you two tomorrow."

He walks into the next corridor, leading to this room. He opens his notebook once again and looks at the picture once more, before sighing and shutting it with a snap.

"It's good that she didn't get to see the whole image..."

"Did you see that boy? He was so adorable, cool, sweet, handsome...just my type!"

"Yeah, I know. I know...I saw the picture when I picked up his notebook...hehe..."

Author's Note:

Hey guys, I took a quite long break, and yet I still don't have good news for you. I am not as motivated as before and my finals are coming up in a few months so I don't think I have the time to write much.

If you want, you can join the discord some other QQ Writers (and myself in the past) usually hang out on: discord . gg / V54pcwA

Also, you can message me directly on discord: LucXelf#0906

Thank you all for waiting, see you next time.