Shishishi! Last chapter ended with a big cliffhanger, so I suppose we'll be seeing the continuation of it in this one! We witnessed Ribbonmania continuing to move forward but might have gotten a bit overexcited, which led to Yotsuba actually hugging Fuutarou for real instead of doing it from behind. Well, it has surely created shocked reactions from all the students in the area, so let's see what's going to happen next!

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Disclaimer: I don't own the Quintessential Quintuplets, or any of its characters...

Fuutarou couldn't stop himself from blushing as a result of Yotsuba's sudden action, and his arms couldn't do anything to put a stop to it either because it's like his whole body was frozen at the moment. He was too late in his reaction when he heard her voice and was left defenseless to the way that the girl almost tackled him to the ground, but managed to stay his ground at the last second and remain standing. Well, it could also be that Yotsuba was too fast for him because, remembering Itsuki's words from yesterday, she was good in physical activities but not her academics.

Either way, Yotsuba was right here before him, hugging him like he was a stuffed toy and it didn't even seem like she knew what she was doing!

"Crap, this is bad!" Recovering from his initial embarrassment, he quickly looked up and just as he predicted, many of the students on the grounds were staring at him and Yotsuba in awe and wonder. Considering most of them were already aware about who he was, they weren't surprised with this anymore, but it didn't stop them from being amazed that a social outcast like Fuutarou Uesugi was in cahoots with a beautiful girl!

"Yotsuba, let go already! You'll just get yourself in trouble!" he scolded, quickly trying to remove her arms from around him, but the girl wouldn't let up and simply tightened her grip. Okay, she was too strong for him and admittedly, he was not someone who can be deemed 'physically fit'. However, she did look up to face him, and it was clear that she had no idea that she would be seeing his eyes instead of nape or something…

"Get myself in trouble? What do you mean by that, Uesu– f-fueeeee?!" Yotsuba asked innocently, before her eyes widened when she came face-to-face with the young man. It also caused her to stop abruptly in her words as she felt her body freeze up in shock. Fuutarou was sending her a serious look, though his cheeks were blushing from the fact that she was hugging him. Almost immediately, her face exploded in crimson out of embarrassment and Yotsuba was left in disbelief upon realizing what she did.

She just hugged Fuutarou and buried her face into his chest, instead of doing it against his back.

Oh dear, oh dear, what has she done?! This wasn't how she wanted to surprise him! All she wanted to do was hug him from behind like yesterday! This wasn't a hug from behind! Never mind the fact that there were other students watching them, because her mind was slowly going haywire with her… little mistake.

"Oi, are you okay…?" he tried to ask the girl, but she looked unresponsive at the moment. This didn't look good for her but fortunately for him, it appears that Yotsuba was embarrassed enough for her arms to shake uncontrollably, leading to her letting go of him. Once he was free of his grip, he quickly grabbed her shoulders and shook her a bit to get her attention. "Oi, Yotsuba… are you okay?" he asked again.

"U-Uesugi-san…" she muttered, her red face never losing its color while her lip trembled in nervousness. Despite that, Yotsuba was able to gather enough courage to bow her head and clap her hands together in apology. She also shut her eyes tightly in an attempt to alleviate herself from her embarrassment, but it was all in vain because it was already engraved into her mind. "I'm sorry! I really am! I didn't mean to hug you like that! I only wanted to surprise you like I did yesterday!"

"Never mind that, you idiot! Can you run?!" Fuutarou shook his head and gritted his teeth, noticing that some of the male students have begun to walk towards him and Yotsuba, and he didn't want to know the reason why. They were the center of attention in this place and it was time to make a getaway!

Yotsuba looked up, an innocent expression on her face that showed she didn't know what was going on around her. She was too focused on him to notice the boys that were heading towards them. "Eh? Run? What for?" she asked curiously.

Fuutarou clicked his tongue in annoyance, having no time to entertain her curiosity, not when they had to get away from here! There was an appropriate time for asking questions, and it wasn't right now when they are not having a tutoring session! Taking one more glance at the approaching males, he tightened his grip on her shoulders before speaking once more. This was a crazy idea and he had no idea if he could pull this off, but it was a lot better than when he dragged Nino along with him because it wouldn't risk Yotsuba tripping over something.

"Damn it! Just hang on to me!"

"E-Ehhh…? Uesugi-san, what are you–?!"

The girl couldn't speak any further, unable to do so when Fuutarou wrapped an arm around her back and the other one around the bend in her knees. She yelped cutely and had to close her eyes when the young man scooped her up into his arms, initially struggling against the pressure of carrying a girl but was able to quickly get the hang of it.

When Yotsuba had opened her eyes, she was quickly met by the sight of Fuutarou looking behind him. The girl blinked in confusion before she realized what was happening; she turned her head frantically in all directions as her cheeks burned up once more. In fact, it could be considered worse than her earlier state, because now she even had steam coming out of her ears.

She was being carried by Fuutarou as if she was a princess.

"U-Uesugi-san…? What are you doing?" she asked meekly, feeling her heart pounding inside her chest at how it seemed like she was being pampered with affection by this young man. Yotsuba wasn't able to notice this, because she was too distracted from the sight of Fuutarou looking down at her with a serious look.

"Shut up and hang on," he spoke firmly, before taking off.

~~XoXo~~

Fuutarou ignored the pain in his arms that was bothering him while running, keeping his focus on the path straight ahead. Two minutes after running away from the grounds where the students there witnessed Yotsuba hugging him, he knew that they were already safe from their prying eyes. Furthermore, the route he had taken around the school had no students around, which only guaranteed their safety even further.

However, he didn't want to stop yet, wanting to make sure that they were completely out of sight. Never mind the fact that he was feeling tired on top of carrying a teenage girl who was only slightly shorter than him! Fuutarou needed to be sure that no one else could see them!

Yotsuba slowly lost her embarrassment from earlier, which was long replaced by worry for her soon-to-be tutor. She could already feel his arms shaking from having to carry her all this way, leading to her telling him that it was okay to put her down after thirty seconds of running. He didn't listen to her and simply told Yotsuba to stay quiet, pushing forward despite the obvious pain in his limbs.

It didn't stop the girl from worrying about his well-being, especially after two minutes of running.

"Uesugi-san, can't we stop already?! Your arms are really shaking! You need to rest! I can take it from here!" she cried out for the umpteenth time, but was ignored yet again. Her worry only grew and she was even tempted to bang her fists against his chest to make him stop but thought nothing of it, because it would only make him more tired as a result. "Why can't you just stop, Uesugi-san…? We're already far away from everyone else…"

Finally, after almost three minutes of continuous running, Fuutarou set his eyes on the storage shed that was located near the track-and-field area and headed there. His limbs were about to give in but he managed to hold it in until he finally reached the shed, collapsing to his knees to let Yotsuba get off his arms.

After the girl quickly left his hold, Fuutarou simply let his arms lay by his side as though he couldn't move them. He didn't move from his position either, his legs too tired to even support himself in standing position. He took deep breaths in order to regulate his breathing, but he was having a hard time doing so from having to run for two minutes straight.

He knew this was coming the moment he thought of the idea, though.

While he had his gaze directed to the ground, Yotsuba knelt down to his level and gently placed her hands on his shoulders. This prompted Fuutarou to slowly look up and he was then met by Yotsuba's concerned expression, so much that she seemed like she was about to burst into tears.

"Uesugi-san, why would you do something like this? You didn't have to carry me all the way here! You could have let me run with you! Why?" she cried, not knowing the reason why he would push himself this far for her when there was no need to.

Fuutarou only shook his head slowly, keeping a serious look on his face despite being tired. "If I had let you run with me, you'd easily outrun me and we might have ended up taking different paths. I know you're really fast, that's how I wasn't able to warn you not to do anything that might give others the perception of us being a couple. Those rumors are spreading like wildfire all over this place, and I couldn't risk making it even bigger than before. Furthermore, there's no telling if you'd see more students along the way, and I believe you've received enough attention today."

Yotsuba shook her head, unable to accept an answer like that. He still pushed himself beyond his limit and now he was suffering because of what he did, all because he didn't want her to draw attention from other students. "You still didn't have to do all this by yourself! Why didn't you just tell me about that? I would have listened if you told me to! Why would you push yourself this far?"

The young man responded by slowly lifting up his arm, before letting his warm hand rest on the top of her head, making her eyes widen at his action. "You're my student, aren't you? Your sisters gave you their permission like what I asked."

"H-How did you know…?" Yotsuba asked in awe. She never told him anything yet! Did her sisters inform him beforehand? That's not possible, when Nino was the only one who had met him and she likely wouldn't care enough to tell Fuutarou. Was it Itsuki then? No, she's not someone who breaks her word and she made her younger sister promise that she wouldn't tell Fuutarou anything...

"It's the only reason I can think of that can lead you to hugging me out of nowhere," he said, patting her head a bit which caused her to blush. "I can only guess that you wanted to surprise me, that's why you planned to do the same thing you did to me yesterday during lunch, only that it didn't go well. We got seen by those students in the grounds and some guys even tried to approach us, so I had no choice but to take extreme measures."

While he was talking, however, Yotsuba stopped listening after hearing that her actions earlier was the very reason why things had led to this. The ribbon on Yotsuba's head was suddenly devoid of life, as the girl bowed her head in defeat while removing her hands from his shoulders. So… she's the reason why he had to do this? It's because of her that he had to carry her all the way here? It's her fault? Yotsuba couldn't even bring herself to look at him, not when she's the reason why Fuutarou's like this.

"I'm sorry, Uesugi-san… it's because of me that you're like this. I did something stupid and you ended up like this because of that... I shouldn't have thought of it in the first place, but I'm such an idiot… I didn't think this would happen…" she apologized in a sad tone.

Her downtrodden state was only temporary, because Fuutarou had lifted up her chin with one finger and made her keep her attention solely on him. This action caused Yotsuba to blush deeper than before, but that mattered little at the moment.

Fuutarou frowned slightly at her. "What the hell are you apologizing for? Did I say that you did something wrong? I only said that your actions didn't end well, I didn't say anything about regretting what you did."

"But… you're like this because of me…" she denied weakly.

"Do you think I care? I'm your tutor now and as such, I have a responsibility over your safety and image in this school. While I personally don't care if rumors about me spread around this place, it's different if we're talking about you, Itsuki, or even any of your sisters despite not being tutored by me. I don't care what I have to do if it means keeping your image in this school clean and isn't anywhere close near mine. There's no need to apologize, alright?"

Yotsuba stared at him dumbfoundedly for a few moments, taking in his words and letting them register in her mind. So, this is what Itsuki meant when she said that Fuutarou was really thoughtful of her and would lend a hand whenever he could.

No wonder Itsuki has clear feelings for him.

She couldn't help but feel confused, though. Why was Fuutarou looked down on by most of the students here? Did they not know of his true self? Did they only see him for being a broody, antisocial nerd who always eats alone? If that was the case, then Itsuki wouldn't have a crush on him, but she does. Not only Yotsuba, but all of her other sisters could notice how she had no problem showing him affection, despite it being embarrassing. In turn, Fuutarou would let her do what she wanted and even welcomed her actions like he was used to it! It couldn't be just because they were student and tutor, right? Their relationship must be somewhere along the lines of close friends, or something…

Regardless, Yotsuba could only nod slowly in response, now understanding why he did this just for her. If she would be seen by other students being around Fuutarou, it would not only be bad for her, but also add more fuel to the already-spreading rumor about him and Itsuki from their first day in this new school.

He didn't want her to get involved in it and at the same time, he didn't want Itsuki to receive more attention than what she already gets because they were quintuplets.

Fuutarou gave her a nod of acknowledgement in return, before leaning back as if he was making room for her. "Good. Now you should get going. No one's going to suspect you were with me if you go on inside without me by your side. Don't worry about me, I'll just rest here for a bit then I'll head inside the building. I just feel a bit tired, that's all."

Seeing no reason to disagree, Yotsuba nodded again and stood up, just about to leave until she realized something. She couldn't do something like that, especially not to Fuutarou! It's just not like her to do something like that. There's no way she can leave him here, not when he was feeling the fatigue from having to run while carrying her all the way here.

Shaking her head, Yotsuba turned back and knelt down to grab the young man's arm, before she wrapped it around her neck. This made Fuutarou's eyes widen and just when he was about to ask what she was doing, Yotsuba looked at him with a genuine smile on her face, having recovered from her earlier state.

"Sorry about this, Uesugi-san, but there's just no way I'm leaving you here! I'll take you to the clinic, you can rest there."

With those words, Yotsuba stood up and pulled him along with her, letting Fuutarou lean on her as support before straightening his posture so he would be able to walk properly. Unsurprisingly, He sent her a little frown while the girl never lost her smile, before sighing in defeat. Fuutarou didn't seem pleased with this, yet he made no move to get away from Yotsuba.

"You, Itsuki, and Nino are just giving me headaches at this point… you do know that we're just going to be seen by other students when we get inside, right? The very thing I wanted to prevent from happening? The rumors about Itsuki and I will surely spread even faster now," he spoke as they took off together.

"Yeah, but it doesn't really matter right now, Uesugi-san! You're like this because of me, so now it's my turn to help you!" she exclaimed, looking up at Fuutarou happily while the young man himself only sighed in response, before shaking his head in amusement.

"These girls are interesting, and I haven't even met all of them yet. But, I suppose this is what my life will be from now on…" he thought to himself in wonder.

Don't you just love Ribbonmania cuteness? Yotsuba might not have been the girl I wanted to win in canon material but I love her nonetheless, and I was happy with her being chosen. Literally, I would have been fine with anyone, including Ichika. Anyway, looks like Fuutarou proved to everyone in this chapter that he's not really a weak nerd and that he can do something if he puts his mind and effort into it, shown from how he carried Yotsuba and ran away with her to escape from the students. Jeez, those rumors are getting out of hand, eh? Guess we'll find out more about this in the next chapter!

Goodbye... and good night! BANG! *too sweet gesture*

-Lance