"We'll take handle the curry while the boys take care of the rice," Nino explains to the rest of the girls standing in front of her. They all nod in agreement and then begin with the preparations. The whole grade had gathered at a large square with a barbeque cottage, one that was helpfully located right next to their hotel. Considering her status as the one most experienced in the field of cooking, Nino was the one issuing instructions to the other students.

"You're doing great, Nino! It's like you're the head chef in a big restaurant!" Yotsuba happily exclaims as she washes the vegetables, before handing them to Itsuki. The fifth quintuplet proceeded to carefully cut them into little pieces. Nino scoffed slightly, folding her arms and pretending not to be pleased at the compliment. "Don't exaggerate, we're just cooking some curry. The only way to mess this up is if the boys somehow ruin the rice."

"I don't think that they will be able to mess up the rice. After all, you told them exactly what they had to do, step by step." Itsuki explains while she continues to chop vegetables, before slipping up and nearly cutting a finger. Naturally, this alarmed her sister. "Itsuki, you're gonna hurt yourself! You gotta be more careful. Let me show you how it's done." Nino takes the kitchen knife and perfectly cuts the vegetables way faster than Itsuki could have. "But believe me, those guys just have to do one step incorrectly and everything will be ruined." Done with her task, the second quintuplet twirls the knife in her hand, extending it to Itsuki handle first. "In any case, be more careful and don't cut yourself, alright?"

Itsuki grins sheepishly before nodding. "Thank you, Nino." Despite her words, Itsuki's head returned to its place in the clouds only seconds later. She was thinking about the dance on the last day of their school trip. Should she ask Fuutarou out to dance with her or would that be too weird? After all, the two of them were only friends, and going to a dance together was more of a couple thing. And what if he doesn't want to dance with her? Would that hurt their relationship? She just couldn't figure out what to do...

"Itsuki, is everything alright? You kinda look depressed." Yotsuba asks her younger sister upon noticing the way she was drooping. Concerned, she stops washing the vegetables in order to move closer to Itsuki. "Is something the matter?"

The youngest sister sighs and nods. "I'm thinking about the dance on the third day of our trip and about...Uesugi-kun...I don't know whether I should ask him to dance with me or not."

An awkward silence ensued as her two sisters stopped what they were doing, turning in unison to look at her. As the stares intensify, Itsuki begins to blush and lowers her head to avoid their gazes.

"Did you just say that you want to ask him to dance with you?!" Nino screams at her sister with a shocked expression on her face. Attracted by the sudden commotion, the other students around her start to turn around to see why she was screaming. Nino flushes with mortification and lowers her voice after they turn back. "Haven't you heard about the legend of the dance?"

"The legend of the dance? What is that supposed to be?"

"A friend of mine told me a rumor that someone working here mentioned to them. Apparently, there is an old legend about a young boy and girl that were in love, living in two different towns nearby. They both had to help their parents all day so they couldn't meet each other. In order to work around that, they decided to get together during the night. They both came to the same location that, in the future, the dance will take place. Every night, they met up and danced until they both had to go their separate ways again. It is said that every boy and girl dancing at night at this location will end up falling in love with each other. This is the legend of the dance."

Itsuki's cheeks turn bright red as she hears the last part of the story while Yotsuba's eyes begin to fill with tears. "What a romantic story! Those two really loved each other!" Yotsuba cries while wiping away a comical number of tears from her eyes.

Itsuki began to wonder...what if she asked Fuutarou to dance with her and he said yes? Would they end up falling in love with each other? No, after all, that is just a crazy rumor, right...?

Right...?

"Nino, tell me...do you believe in this legend? It seems a little bit...unbelievable..." Itsuki asks her sister casually, trying to disguise the panic she was feeling.

Nino turns to the side so her little sister couldn't look her straight in the face. "O-Of course not! Who w-would believe in such a made-up story?" Nino stuttered while nervously shaking her head. It was obvious to everyone that she believed in this legend but didn't want to say it out loud.

Itsuki sighed and returned to cutting the vegetables into small pieces. Even still, the questions remained inside her head. No, the questions had now multiplied. Should she ask Fuutarou out? How would he react to it? Is this legend of the dance true? What if Fuutarou knows about the legend? In what way would he react if he knows about it? And most importantly, would they fall in love with each other?

Suddenly, Yotsuba puts her arm around Itsuki's shoulders and smiles confidently at her younger sister. "Don't worry, Itsuki. I am sure you will find the courage to ask him. You just have to believe in yourself!"

Itsuki giggles and nods. "Yeah, you are probably right. I need to stop overthinking everything and just go with my gut."

"Speaking of the dance, do you have anyone you want to ask out, Yotsuba?" Nino asks while transferring the small vegetable pieces into a bowl.

"Me? Well, there is..." Yotsuba stops mid-sentence and shakes her head, turning to the side and whistling innocently. "No, I can't think of anyone."

"Hm... I see. I'll bring the vegetables to the other girls so they can start cooking the curry. See you in a minute!" Choosing to trust her, Nino picks up the bowl and walks straight to her class. They had the task to cook the curry over the fire. She had just finished handing them the vegetables when she suddenly hears Miku.

"Say, is there anyone you wanna do the test of courage with?"

She turns around immediately and sees Miku standing next to Takeda, who was currently helping to wash the rice. Nino carefully steps closer and begins to eavesdrop on what the two of them were chatting about.

"The test of courage? Do you mean the event planned for this evening? I wasn't planning on participating. I am not the kind of person who likes wandering around in the darkness. Plus, I don't think it will be that scary." Takeda explains calmly. He was speaking in a distinguished and polite tone. One could immediately notice that he was clearly different from the rest of the students. "Anyway, what about you?"

"Well, my younger sister is helping with the preparations, which means she will probably disguise herself as a monster and try to scare us. The rest of my sisters and I are most likely gonna try the test out."

"She's helping to prepare the whole event? That's really nice of her. It's always good to see when students are willing to participate in school activities like these." Takeda nervously looks at Miku but then puts on a polite smile before clearing his throat. "Say...well how do I put this...I may have said that I'm not interested in wandering around but is it okay if I join you and your sisters? After all, I can't just sit around while the other students are having fun, right?"

Miku blushes after hearing his words. Was he asking her out? Normally, a guy wouldn't ask a girl if he can join her at the test of courage, so he must have some sort of interest in being alone with her, right? But after all, why not? Takeda was very friendly towards her, interested in the same hobbies and the two of them had already spent quite some time together.

Miku looks down nervously and nods slightly. "Yes, you can join us. I hope it will be fun."

Nino turns around again after witnessing the conversation between Miku and Takeda. If someone had caught a glimpse of her face, one could clearly see that she was not amused. In fact, one might have made sure to stay far, far away from her at that point of time. "No, no, no. This guy clearly likes Miku and is trying to get closer to her while using the test of courage as an excuse. But what's even worse is that...is that...Miku seems to like him too!" Nino mumbles to herself whilst shaking her head. Not only did she have to deal with Fuutarou who was currently in the midst of invading their home whilst flirting around with Ichika, but now there was a new issue in the form of Takeda.

Much to her annoyance, Nino was coming to the realization that things would soon start to get a lot more complicated...

On the other side of the cottage, Fuutarou sat at a decent distance away from the other boys, washing all of the rice on his own. It really wasn't a difficult task for him, as he had gained a lot of experience since his mother's death. Even though Raiha had done most of the cooking, he still helps prepare the meals whenever he has the time to. Plus, he couldn't exactly let his little sister do all the work. He had his pride as a big brother!

Just when he had finished his work, his glance falls on Ichika who was slowly walking away from the cottage on her own. Fuutarou keeps his eye on her, wondering where she could be headed. Then, he sees Maeda, the guy who randomly sat down next to him during the bus ride, approaching her.

He silently observes them exchange words for a few minutes before Ichika turns around and walks back to the group again. Her face clearly demonstrated that she was somehow worried about something. With what had just happened, Fuutarou could safely conclude that her strange behavior yesterday must have something to do with Maeda.

Dusting his hands off, Fuutarou stands up and makes his way towards her but as soon as Ichika notices him approaching, she puts on her fake smile once again. It was clear that she wanted to hide it from him. Internally, he frowned.

"Look who's there, it's Fuutarou-kun!" Ichika giggles happily, stepping toward Fuutarou with open arms to hug him.

"Ichika, what's going on between you and Maeda?" Fuutarou asks bluntly, ignoring her attempt at distracting him.

Realizing that he probably had seen them talking to each other, Ichika startles and steps back, smile freezing on her face. "W-What do you mean? We just talked about school and stuff, nothing too important, why?"

He sighed, before cutting straight to the point. "Ever since yesterday, you've looked so sad and unmotivated. And every time I approached you, you tried to hide it. Let me guess…it has something to do with Maeda. Yeah?"

"What? No, you're imagining things. He's just a classmate of mine, there is nothing you should worry about." Despite her confident words, the fake smile on her face had flickered slightly, replaced by a more insecure expression for the briefest of moments.

"You may be saying that but the expression on your face tells me otherwise. I know something is worrying you and you don't have to hide it. If something bothers you, tell me about it and I will help you." He crossed his arms over his chest, looking at her earnestly.

"Fuutarou-kun, that's so sweet of you~" Ichika attempted to keep up her façade for a few more seconds, stalling for time so that she could think about what to do. In the end, her expression suddenly changed into the more genuine, cheerless look from before.

"Yesterday when we did those activities, most of my class went to the aquarium and so did Maeda. I was just enjoying my time alone when suddenly he came towards me, saying that he wanted to talk to me. He then...he then confessed his love to me."

It was at this moment that Fuutarou remembers the conversation between him and Maeda during the bus ride. Why didn't he think of this earlier?

"I wanted to talk to you about something, ya know."

"What is it?"

"Ya know, dude, there is this one girl that I'm interested in and I figured that you are the only one I could ask for advice, ya know?"

Fuutarou shakes his head in disbelief when he heard these words. "I'm the only one you could ask for advice? I don't think that I could be of any help in a situation like this. In fact, when it comes to love or relationship advice I'm probably the last person you should ask." He tries to convince Maeda that he is the wrong person for this job, hoping that Maeda would at least leave him alone for the time being.

"Well, you might not be good with this relationship stuff but you are the only one who is friends with the girl I'm interested in."

As soon as he heard those words, he knew what was going on. The girl Maeda was interested in had to be one of the quintuplets. But since Nino and Yotsuba both were very popular amongst the girls, they couldn't be the ones he was interested in.

"Alright, I know that you are talking about one of the Nakano sisters but I still don't think that I could help you-"

Suddenly, Fuutarou was interrupted by Maeda sighing loudly. "I'm in love with Ichika, alright? I fell in love with her when she first entered our classroom. She had this bright, lovely smile on her face that melted my heart. I've talked to her a few times and every time, she was teasing me in some way, ya know. And now, I wanted to ask you for advice."

Maeda turns his head to Fuutarou who obviously tried to hide the bright grin on his face very, very poorly. "Everything alright, dude?" Maeda asks a bit annoyed. "Yeah, yeah, don't worry about me. I just didn't expect you to be this...passionate about this."

Maeda sighs once again and shakes his head. "Anyway, dude, I thought that maybe you could tell me something about her."

Fuutarou, not knowing how to handle this situation and not knowing what to tell her, calmly asks "What do you wanna know about her?"

"Ya know, what does she like? What are her hobbies and maybe you even know if she has a lover yet?"

Fuutarou stays quiet for a few seconds, thinking about what he could tell Maeda about Ichika. He thinks back to the Fireworks Festival, how important her sisters were to her, and her first photoshoot.

"Well, I don't know much about girls but I would say Ichika is an average girl when it comes to relationships. If you treat her nicely, she'll get to like you too. Also, she doesn't have a lover yet."

"See dude, that wasn't so hard, wasn't it?" A grin forms on Maeda's face while he is softly punching Fuutarou's shoulder. "I just have to treat her nicely, you say?"

"What do you even wanna do with this sort of information?" Fuutarou asks, confused about what Maeda's plan was.

"I don't know yet. I'll figure it out, ya know."

"I see..."

"He confessed his love to me and he did not only want to go to the dance with me but he also wants me to go out with him. I told him that I would need some time but he said he couldn't wait any longer. He told me that today was the day I had to give him an answer." Ichika's voice slowly decreases in volume as the expression on her face worsens

Fuutarou didn't know what to say to her to cheer her up. After all, this was the first time he was confronted with a problem like this. Even still, he tried to do his best. "And, what did you do? Did you dump him?"

"Well, I really thought about doing so but in the end, I just couldn't do it. I didn't want to hurt him, he seemed like such a nice boy."

"This means that...you'll go out with him?"

Ichika inches closer to Fuutarou and suddenly shoves her face into his chest whilst grabbing his shirt and pulling on it. He startles slightly, resisting the instinctive urge to step away from the obviously shaken girl.

"I just don't know what to do anymore...He really seems like a good person. Yet, I can't see myself being in a relationship with him...but I also don't wanna hurt his feelings..." She explains as she starts to sob quietly.

"Help me, Fuutarou-kun..."

The two of them remain silent for quite a while before Fuutarou gently puts his hand on Ichika's head, stroking her hair softly.

"I will help you, I promise. We'll find a solution where everyone ends up happy." "Even though I don't know how that will work out."

Ichika quickly ceases to cry and looks up to Fuutarou with a more optimistic expression. "R-Really..?"

He gives her his best attempt at a smile.

"Yes, really."

Author's Note:

Hey everyone, did you miss me?

I was gone for about seven months now without saying a word.

My finals are now over, I graduated and I thought about trying to write another chapter again.

It isn't as long as some other chapters and I don't really know if I'm going to release new chapters regularly but I really hope you enjoyed it.

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.