And we are back to another daily dose of fluff, ladies and gentlemen! Last chapter was wild, ya know? BECAUSE NOW, THE ICHIKA VIP SHOW IS ON THE ROAD AND SHE'S OFF TO A FRESH START! Yes, fellow fluff-lovers, Ichika is now sealed as Fuutarou's soulmate, so you can expect tons of fluff coming your way involving her not too long from now! There's also Nino inviting Fuutarou to go shopping with her while wanting him to be her date! That's another thing you have to watch out for! What about Mikuism? Will she meet Fuutarou soon? Oh boy, so many things can happen so let's just dive into the story already!

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

The two teenagers stared at each other for the next few moments, with neither of them making any sort of move that disrupted the current atmosphere, especially breaking eye contact. While Ichika was frozen from finally seeing Fuutarou face-to-face as well as the shock that she felt throughout her body, Fuutarou, on the other hand, slowly took in Ichika's entire appearance from top to bottom.

Yep, she looked exactly like her sisters. The red hair, even though it was really short, was the same and her face could be mistaken for any one of the Nakano quintuplets. The distinct things about her seem to be the earring that she wore on one ear, as well as the yellow jacket that was wrapped around on her waist.

Alright, time to list down those two details in his mind and always keep note of them. You never know when he might use this knowledge to distinguish them in the future.

"Where did he go…?"

"One of my friends saw him go to the restroom! Let's take a look!"

"Hopefully, there aren't any boys in there…"

"Everyone's in the cafeteria anyway, I'm sure there's nobody else here!"

Fuutarou widened his eyes upon hearing voices approaching the hallway, which forced him to react quickly in order to avoid getting seen. It must be those girls who were chasing him around earlier! How the hell did they reach the conclusion that he was here?! They couldn't have seen him go inside, right?! He made sure that there was nobody behind him before going here!

No time to think! Gotta hide before they see him, quick!

"Crap!" Without thinking, he grabbed Ichika's hand which snapped her out of her thoughts and pulled her into an empty stall with him. "Come on, get in here!"

He grabbed Ichika by the shoulders and pushed her slowly towards the toilet while listening closely to the voices that he just heard. He didn't even notice that the girl was forced to sit down because he was slowly becoming more nervous the moment he heard footsteps enter the restroom. Meanwhile, Ichika blushed from his actions, her mind painting dozens of scenarios as to how things might go from here, and most of them were… not so innocent thoughts.

"W-What are you doing…?" she murmured, struggling to look up at Fuutarou when a heavy blush took over her cheeks out of embarrassment. Eventually, she wasn't able to take it and was forced to shut her eyes tightly to try and resist against the strange feeling that was beginning to build up inside her chest.

No!

Her heart wasn't ready for this kind of thing! They didn't even go on a date first! Didn't Itsuki like him too?! She can't do this! She had to push him away for her sister's sake!

When Fuutarou finally turned his attention towards the girl, he raised an eyebrow upon seeing her closing her eyes while blushing. He was confused for a few moments until he realized the position that they were in. The young man began to blush himself upon realizing that they were in a… 'bizarre' situation with him seemingly pushing Ichika against the toilet and she was helpless to do anything.

Fuutarou quickly covered up his embarrassment by shaking his head and then speaking in a very low tone, careful not to alarm the newcomers that just arrived. Yeah, they were in a more alarming situation at the moment… better not make it worse than it already was, damn it!

"What are you doing? Stand on the toilet and I'll do the same. There are girls outside, and they can't see two pairs of legs in this stall or they'll notice we're here. If they do, I'm gonna get caught and I'll unintentionally drag you down with me because you look like Itsuki," he said with a serious demeanor, making it look like he had no time for games.

Hearing those words, Ichika snapped her eyes open and looked at Fuutarou for a moment, before she heard the sound of footsteps outside that quickly got her to react so they wouldn't see them. She didn't know what Itsuki had to do with these girls catching them together, but it didn't sound good one bit. Fuutarou moved away from her, letting the girl stand on the toilet seat without any trouble before he joined her, holding one of her arms while planting his free hand against the wall so they can keep their balance together.

Well, this is great. They were back to square one with their current position! Nothing really changed!

Ichika blushed furiously from how close their faces were to each other and Fuutarou was the same, causing him to just shift his gaze away so that things between them won't become more awkward than it already was. Not just that, but they were only mere inches away from their bodies joining together and likely causing the both of them to erupt in embarrassment if it did happen.

They were in an alarming situation, indeed…

Outside of the stall, there were four girls who looked slightly tired from running, but still had a lot of gas left in the tank. "Looks like he's not here. Are you really sure that's what Nakano-san said to you guys?" said Miyuki Sawashiro, one of Fuutarou's classmates as she adjusted her glasses before looking at her friends.

Haruka Tomatsu, one of the two girls who tried asking Fuutarou out to lunch yesterday, only flashed an incredulous look from remembering yesterday's events. "No, I'm serious! She told us to leave Uesugi-kun alone because he's already hers! She even stopped us when we were just trying to ask him to spend lunch with us! Go on, tell them Yumi!"

The attention was turned towards Yumi Hara, who was Tomatsu's companion yesterday, as she gave a small nod in agreement with what was implied.

"It's true. She even went as far as to try and scare us off, as if she didn't want Uesugi-kun to be taken from her. I never thought she can be possessive, though… she's always polite and respectful when classes start!"

"Love can make you stupid things, Yumi. You should know that from all the romcom and drama shows that you watch!" Haruka gave her friend a slap on the back, causing Hara's eyes to widen upon remembering something that happened recently.

"Oh yeah, now that you mention it, there was one show that I watched the other day about five sisters who all had a crush on the same guy! One of the girls tried to sabotage all of her siblings because she's so desperate for love. I pity her, you know?"

Inside the stall, Ichika felt something inside her chest that caused her to stop blushing for a moment, because that particular feeling was upsetting for some reason.

"Why do I feel like someone's talking bad about me?" she thought.

...

...

...

Don't worry, Ichika. The author of this story will make sure you never end up like that.

...

Miyuki shook her head in disbelief, before leaning over towards the sink as though she was trying to process all of this for a bit. "You've got to be joking… Uesugi-kun, the 'Lunch Table Hermit' who's always alone really has a girlfriend? How the hell did we not notice this before?! And we're his classmates too!"

"Maybe it's because they already knew each other even before going to school, Miyuki-chan. Remember when Nakano-san joined our class? She hugged him in front of everyone after introducing herself without even noticing it until he pointed it out! I think they've been in a relationship ever since this term started and they're just trying their best to hide it!"

"No, I don't think so. Maybe they're just so comfortable with each other that they're fine with hugging and all that. I mean, did you see Uesugi-kun saying that they were in a relationship?" Haruka denied, folding her arms over her chest and shook her head. "No, he just said that it's disrespectful if he eats with us instead of Nakano-san when they're already eating together."

"How do you know, Haruka-chan? He may just be too embarrassed to say it in front of us. You know that guy keeps things to himself and he only talks when someone talks to him first. That's how he acted when we tried to talk to him, right?"

"Because he didn't say no to us, remember? Nakano-san did all the talking for him, and he just rolled with it after she talked us down! I don't know about you, but maybe he was really considering eating lunch with us until Nakano-san took his attention away."

From inside the stall, Fuutarou quietly clicked his tongue in annoyance, realizing that it's likely for these girls to continue bothering him until they're satisfied. Just what will it take for them to stop?! He didn't even understand why they're persistent in the first place! He wasn't even remotely close to being attractive, and he was sure as hell he didn't fit in any of a girl's criteria in finding a boyfriend, not that he knew in the first place.

"They're willing to follow me even here? This is getting out of hand… they won't even take 'no' for an answer!" he whispered to no one in particular, but was obviously heard by his only companion.

"Wow, Itsuki-chan is such a lucky girl, eh? You're pretty popular around here, Fuutarou-kun~" Ichika whispered back, immediately taking advantage of her opportunity to tease the young man, although she couldn't really be taken seriously due to the blush on her face as she spoke.

He gave her a deadpan look that showed he had no time for pointless teasing. "It's not my fault that a stupid rumor about me and Itsuki blew up around here. Thanks to that, not only me but you and the rest of your sisters are the people that the whole school has been talking about for a week now. It doesn't help that you all have the same face, and any one of you can be mistaken for Itsuki."

"Maybe this is what Itsuki meant when she wanted me to talk with Fuutarou-kun alone…" Ichika thought, remembering her youngest sister's words during the previous night before somehow connecting it to Nino's words when she 'spied' on Fuutarou and Itsuki after class last seek. "When you said 'rumor', does it have anything to do with what Nino told me?"

"What are you talking about?" he asked in confusion.

Ichika flashed a more serious look, surprising the young man for a bit. "The rumor about you and Itsuki are dating. She said that was the reason why she figured out who you were back when she was still trying to make you stay away from Itsuki…"

"That's exactly it," he confirmed with a small nod.

Her eyes widened in clear shock, not expecting that particular rumor to be actually true, including what Nino said about their sister embracing Fuutarou in a tight hug. Sure, she was amused by the idea of Itsuki hugging her crush in front of other students, but she never really gave it much thought because it was just a rumor. However, now that she was hearing this from Fuutarou himself, she never thought that everything Nino said turned out to be true.

"Wow… I suppose it's also true that Itsuki-chan hugged you on her first day here, then~" she teased, her shocked expression transitioning into a smug grin.

Fuutarou sighed, before rolling his eyes and then deciding to just give Ichika the straight answer. "Yes, she did. Now would you please be quiet? Let's not risk getting caught by my persistent classmates."

Miyuki shook her head, before letting out a loud groan, which got everyone's attention because she sounded frustrated. It also seemed like she was disappointed in herself for some reason.

"I just can't believe it, you guys. Who would have expected Uesugi-kun to be attractive enough to get Nakano-san's attention? He's so quiet and even scary sometimes! That's why I always avoided him at every turn! The only thing I can respect about him is how he studies hard and always gets the perfect scores..."

Haruka folded her arms and shrugged, acknowledging ignoring Fuutarou was their mistake. "Well, that's because we didn't bother learning more about him at first. We thought he was just another weirdo, but it looks like there's more to him than just that, other than his appearance and demeanor. He's got to be absolutely amazing, because he can make Nakano-san so happy even though he's not a people person! Who would ever see that coming? We thought she made a mistake when she approached Uesugi-kun out of all people, but look at them now! Nakano-san just doesn't want to let us near him because she wants him to herself!"

Yumi smiled at them in a smug manner. "I did. I totally called it, by the way. I just knew he had to be hiding something under that cold facade from the moment I saw him, and I only needed someone to confirm it who's not me. Yuri-chan and Nao-chan from the neighboring class thought the same as me too! That's why they're planning to ask him to lunch next week when they're done with club activities."

"What's he like so far? There's gotta be more than what you think he is, Yumi-san," said Rina Hidaka, the fourth one among them speaking up for the first time since they stepped foot inside the restroom.

"Oh, definitely! You're not gonna believe this, but I saw him smile while he's with Nakano-san!" Yumi declared with a wide grin on her face.

"No way! He did?!" Miyuki said incredulously, with Haruka and Rina sharing the same look of disbelief on their faces. Never during their time in school have they seen Fuutarou smile, because he had a serious expression all the time that it seemed like a miracle if he were to be happy!

"Yep! And it was last week, when classes were already over! Nakano-san was hugging his arm while they were heading out of the classroom, and I saw it! Uesugi-kun was really smiling, even if it's so small and you have to be really close to see it!" Yumi explained before sighing, a healthy blush covering her cheeks. "He's got a really cute smile, if I had to be honest. Not just that, but he should smile a lot more because he looks hotter that way!"

Haruka spoke up next, her look of shock being replaced by a big smile. "Oh yeah, he's got cool eyes too! I could stare at them all day and I won't feel bored at all. Not to mention, he's really smart and he gets the highest grades out of all of us every time! I don't know about you guys, but I'll keep on trying to ask him out for lunch, even if Nakano-san is around. I mean, she told us to stay away from him but he didn't say anything, right? He just said it's disrespectful to let Nakano-san eat by herself when we never talked to him before."

"Well, I'm definitely talking to him a lot more from now on."

"So long as Nakano-san doesn't kill you for trying, Yumi…" Haruka chuckled dryly, remembering how 'Itsuki' gave them a verbal smackdown yesterday just for trying to 'take Fuutarou away' from her.

Miyuki nodded eagerly. "I'm totally asking him when I get the chance. I'm convinced that he's a great guy and he can be a great boyfriend as well!"

"Me too! It's so bizarre knowing that Uesugi-kun is boyfriend material when he's so quiet and cold all the time, but maybe he's just like that!" Rina clasped her hands together as her eyes bore sparkles out of amazement at what she learned about Fuutarou.

Yumi nudged Haruka using her shoulder, an amused look forming on her face. "Dibs on Friday."

Rina raised her arm shyly, wanting to ask a question to her friends, but was clearly feeling nervous as she did so. "Does anyone know if he's busy after school? I… want to see if he'd like to walk home together…"

"No one knows. He's always with Nakano-san after classes and he just disappears out of sight outside of the school premises," Yumi shrugged.

"Ugh, she's even taking his free time… why can't she let him make decisions on his own? She's not even his girlfriend…" Haruka groaned, feeling tempted to walk up to Fuutarou's self- proclaimed 'girlfriend' and confront her head-on.

"Who knows? Maybe she's just pretending since she follows what Uesugi-kun says most of the time. If you don't know, she even asks him for permission if she can eat with other people instead of him!"

"Okay, I have to know more about him now! He's not here, which means he must be at the cafeteria already!" Miyuki exclaimed, unable to contain herself any longer and rushed out of the restroom with the intention of finding one Fuutarou Uesugi deep in her mind.

Rina quickly panicked, running after Miyuki with a blush on her face. "Hey, wait for me! I want to talk to him too!"

Haruka and Yumi stared at their two friends leaving before turning towards each other, as they started giggling in amusement at Rina and Miyuki's eagerness to talk with Fuutarou. Those two were similar to them in many ways.

Eventually, however, they walked out of the restroom as well, since their plan never left their minds at all. They still wanted to find Fuutarou Uesugi and since he wasn't here, he must be somewhere else!

However, little did they know that the young man himself was inside one of the stalls, looking frustrated already from this added problem to his already-long list of problems. How could he not feel frustrated? Aside from having to keep his attention divided between four of his soulmates now, girls from his classroom turned their attention towards him when they never did before, and it's all because of A STUPID RUMOR!

It's not a stretch to say at this point that he might get the attention of girls from other classrooms as time passes by…

"Damn it, these girls have nothing else to do with their lives! I can't figure out how to make them leave me alone! Can't they just bother any other guy instead of me?!" he ranted as he punched the wall behind Ichika lightly, while his other hand removed itself from her arm and formed a fist, before placing it on her shoulder… or at least that's what he thought he did.

Ichika's face exploded in embarrassment, with her ears immediately beginning to emit steam while keeping her head down. She couldn't even look him in the eye for her next words, and there's no way to blame her for what she's doing.

"Uhm... F-Fuutarou-kun…" she said meekly, in which her voice was very quiet compared to earlier, and for good reason!

"What is—" he turned his attention towards Ichika where he quickly noticed where exactly his hand was resting, and caused his face to erupt into the same red hue as the girl's face. Wait a minute, where the hell was his hand placed anyway?!

...

Oh.

...

That explains it.

...

His hand... was on her right breast.

...

"W-W-W-What the hell is this…"

...

Fuutarou blanched, while Ichika's lips trembled in extreme embarrassment.

He's in deep trouble, isn't he?

Ichika and Fuutarou are in a sticky situation right now, wouldn't you agree? Lol. Other than those two embarrassing themselves by being so close to the other inside a restroom stall, the two girls who tried asking Fuutarou out to lunch many chapters ago have returned, and they have no intentions of giving up on our boy! They have plans on asking him out again, and Ichika now knows about it. This is not gonna end well for the Nakano quints, so how will they handle it? We'll find out as we roll along, AND DAMN! THAT ENDING, BRUUUUHHHH! HAHAHAHAHA! Don't worry, I'm not turning this story M-rated, it will remain fluffy with no lemons or anything explicit. Anyway, it looks like you'll have to wait until next chapter to see what happens. See ya in 24 hours!

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

-Lance