And I'm back once again for another daily dose of fluff in a new chapter! Last chapter was damn funny, with Fuutarou and Ichika being forced to stand on top of a toilet together to avoid getting seen by other girls! It all ended with our boy accidentally groping her which now makes things very awkward between them, hahahaha! That's not even counting the fact that they are now bonded as soulmates! It ain't called the Ichika VIP Show for nothing, guys! Well, what's gonna happen next after that? I guess we'll find out here then! As always, if you guys like this story and want to see more fluff, don't hesitate to add this fic to your list of faves/follows and wait everyday for the usual time. With that being said, let's dive into this chapter!

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

There's no doubt about it.

He's in deep, deep trouble for sure.

Fuutarou's eyes were wide open out of panic while his face turned so red to the point that he also started to emit steam just like Ichika. Just a while ago, they were hiding their presence from several girls who all happened to be his classmates, and they were looking for him. Now that they were gone, it didn't matter whether they made any noise or not because nobody was there to hear them, anyway.

What mattered was their position while they were hiding from those girls, because of how it restricted their movements and how it made them stand so close to each other that it seemed like their lips were going to connect, which only made it more embarrassing. However, they couldn't have done anything against their dilemma, lest they risk something worse possibly happening.

And it was the reason why his face looked like a steamed tomato right now, and looked as if it could catch fire at any moment.

"DAMN IT! WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING?!"

His mind finally being able to kick into gear once again, he quickly removed his hand from her chest and moved away from Ichika out of panic. Fuutarou was so focused on backing away that he didn't even notice he was at the very edge of the toilet seat, causing him to fall over and hit his head against the door, before landing on his butt.

"Ow, ow… that hurt bad…" he groaned loudly in pain, rubbing the part of his head that collided against the hard surface of the door. He nursed his own being for a few moments, before looking up at Ichika to check up on her.

Considering the fact that the girl was hit like a tidal wave from what just happened, it's not a stretch to say that she could fall over as well. The way her eyes had slowly turned into spirals and her arms covering her chest only added to it, meaning that she might be unaware of what could possibly happen to her if she wasn't careful.

Forgetting about his own well-being for a moment, Fuutarou clapped his hands together and bowed his head in apology. It was his fault, right? He wasn't careful on what he was touching, and ended up embarrassing both himself and Ichika at the same time. Urgh, how could he have been too careless?! If only he held off on the ranting until they got out of the stall, damn it!

"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do that! I-It was an accident, I swear!"

Despite the embarrassment she felt at the moment, Ichika was able to respond to his apology, only that her head was down and her voice was too soft that he wouldn't have been able to hear it if it weren't for them being the only two people there.

"I-I-It's okay…"

Deciding to help the girl before something worse happens to her, Fuutarou held out his hand for her to take. Ichika seemed to notice his action but was confused with what he wanted to happen, causing him to give her a little explanation.

"Come on, I'll help you get down. You might fall over like I did and we don't want that to happen. There's also the chance that you might slip because of how you look so out of it right now. Take my hand."

Despite the embarrassment that she was feeling, Ichika slowly took his hand and he immediately grabbed it without hesitation. Ichika blushed deeper from holding his hand, especially when the young man squeezed hers, but not too much. Because of this, she almost forgot that she needed to get off the toilet seat but thankfully, Ichika managed to pull it off.

As soon as she was off the seat, Fuutarou opened the door behind him and let the girl leave first, before he followed suit. He took a quick look around them, trying to see if there was anyone else present, and he was immensely relieved to see that they were still the only ones there. He turned his attention towards Ichika once more, and he saw her in the same state as she was earlier but this time, her right hand was tightly closed in a fist.

The same hand he held just moments ago.

"Once again, I apologize for what I did. I have no excuse and it was my mistake, uhm… yeah," he repeated, bowing his head before turning his attention to the door. Before leaving, however, he made sure to remind the girl that she was still in a precarious situation until she chooses to leave. "I… should be heading to the cafeteria now. You should get going too, before someone else sees you here. I'll… see you around, Ichika."

With that, the young man quickly walked out of the restroom, somehow oblivious to the fact that he'll be seeing Ichika again later on when it's time for him to tutor Yotsuba and Itsuki. Can anyone blame him? He was only trying to remove the earlier scene from his mind! No offense to Ichika, but as long as he thinks about her, it'll keep on coming back to him!

"Uesugi Fuutarou-kun…" she thought, placing her free hand on her chest where she felt her heart pounding madly like it was about to burst. Ichika took several deep breaths as a result, trying to calm herself but was only partially successful because she couldn't stop herself from thinking back to how he held her hand like it was the most fragile thing in the world.

Did you really think she would be having thoughts about how he was groping her?

...

Haha, nice joke.

Ichika raised her right hand and looked at it for a few moments, before forming it into a fist and bringing it close to her chest. The way Fuutarou held her hand was comforting as if he meant to say 'I won't let go', and it made her heart flutter. Not only that, his own hand also felt warm and the overall feeling of it was already marking its territory in her innermost thoughts.

Sure, some people might call it cliché, but cut the girl some slack. She was someone who always thought that the idea of falling in love was a pleasurable feeling, leading to her becoming a bit of a teaser whenever her sisters go through these kinds of situations, with Itsuki being the most recent one because of her 'interest' in her own tutor, Fuutarou Uesugi.

The same boy who held her hand just a few minutes ago.

Her lips trembled for a brief moment but against all odds, Ichika was finally able to recompose herself, releasing the deep breath that she had been holding in ever since Fuutarou left. Reminding herself that she was still in the men's restroom, she slowly walked out while keeping her head down, with one thought occupying her mind as she continued towards the cafeteria on her own.

"You're more interesting than I thought if you can make my heart beat like this…"

~~XoXo~~

Fuutarou kept his head down as he walked through the hallways, not caring about anything else that was around him. He didn't care anymore, even if his female classmates see him and try to ask him to eat with them yet again. He'll just ignore them anyway, because he was trying his best not to think about what happened between him and Ichika.

Particularly, how he accidentally… touched her chest.

Yeah, even the cold and antisocial teenager had hormones, ladies and gentlemen.

"What did I just do? I can't believe that just happened…" he said in his thoughts, before clenching his fists tightly then shaking his head to try and rid himself of the thought entirely. "Alright, alright! Just don't think about it, and it'll go away! That's it! That's all I need to do! Don't think about what happened between us! It'll only make things worse in my case, and I'm gonna get in trouble if it reaches her sisters' ears!"

"Uesugi-san? What are you doing here?"

He froze at hearing that particular voice, which was successful in making him temporarily forget about what happened with Ichika, but left him feeling somehow nervous. What if this girl witnessed their little discussion then saw them hiding in the stall?!

No!

No, there was no one around the restroom when him and Ichika were speaking with each other! None except for his four classmates who were willing to search for him even in a place where they weren't allowed to be in!

He was sure of it!

"Uh, I was about to head to the cafeteria, but I needed to take a little trip to the restroom, that's all. What about you, Yotsuba? Shouldn't you be with your sisters right now?"

Before he could run out of possible responses, he reversed the flow of the conversation as he turned around to face the ribbon-wearing quint, who was staring at him in confusion at first, before she flashed an embarrassed smile.

"Ehehe, our last class kinda lasted longer than usual, so I'm only heading to the cafeteria just now… I'm sure everyone else is starting to wonder where I am already…"

"Everyone except Ichika…" he said to himself, before his eyes upon realizing what he just did. Fuutarou quickly shook his head, before sending a glance at Yotsuba to see if she noticed him. Thankfully, she didn't and that made him sigh in relief. "No, what are you doing?! You'll only end up reminding yourself about what happened! Stop thinking about Ichika, damn it!"

He had no idea if that soulmate bond had something to do with him being reminded of what went down between him and Ichika, but for Fuutarou's own sanity, let's just assume that it does.

Yotsuba snapped her eyes open with a gasp, suddenly getting hit with a bright idea. She then looked up at her tutor, a big smile forming on her face. "Hey, you want to walk together to the cafeteria, Uesugi-san?"

Fuutarou blinked for a few moments, going over the idea in his mind before shrugging. "Sure, I guess that's okay."

"Well then, let's go, Uesugi-san!" Yotsuba cheered, and the two began to walk side-by-side towards their shared destination.

"Hopefully, this'll help me clear my mind…" he thought, sweat-dropping to himself. "Knowing Yotsuba, I think she's capable of doing that. If she manages to help me forget about Ichika, even for just a few hours, I think I'll do something nice for her…"

"Oh, Itsuki told us she texted you earlier about what we talked about last night. Did you see what she sent?" she asked, looking up at him curiously.

He nodded, all while doing his best to keep the earlier incident out of his mind. There's gotta be something that can steer his attention away!

Yotsuba pumped her arm up and down, looking eager for some reason. "Yosh, I'm feeling excited today! We'll be studying in our apartment now, and we won't have to walk really far! But, I'll miss Raiha-chan, though… even if we only met yesterday! I'm sure Itsuki feels the same way as me, because she almost cried when she realized she won't be seeing Raiha-chan again last night!"

The moment his younger sister got involved in the conversation, Fuutarou instantly forgot about the earlier incident with Ichika and cleared his throat so he could speak. "Raiha feels the same way as you two, and besides… it's not like you're never going to our home again. In fact, Raiha expects the both of you to come visit her sometime, which I'm sure you two are capable of doing."

"But… wouldn't that be disrespectful towards you, Uesugi-san? We're not going to study at your home anymore, so that means we have nothing to do while we're there…" asked Yotsuba, tilting her head in slight confusion.

He shook his head, letting an amused smile appear on his face. "Nonsense, because as far as I'm concerned, I'm the one who chose to bring the two of you over when I became your tutor. That essentially means you and Itsuki are welcome anytime, because you have my permission. And like what I told you earlier, Raiha wants you two to come and visit when you can, that's more than enough permission you can get from my family. And if that's not enough for you, I'm sure my old man wouldn't mind if you two come over for a visit…" His smile fell and gave way to a tired look. "...as eccentric as he is…"

Yotsuba started to giggle after he spoke, before smiling cutely at the young man. "Well, if Uesugi-san says it's okay… then we'll definitely come visit Raiha-chan soon! I'll tell Itsuki about this later! She'll be really happy to hear this!"

He gave her a nod of acknowledgement. "Glad to see we are in agreement, and Raiha will also be happy when she sees you two again."

"By the way, what are we gonna do later when we study?" she asked eagerly, before suddenly remembering an important detail about Fuutarou, making her eyes widen in panic. "Oh, wait! Uesugi-san doesn't know where we live yet! This is bad! How will we get to study together now if our tutor doesn't know where we live?!"

Fuutarou folded his arms before shaking his head, which easily caught the girl's attention. "There's no need to worry about that, Yotsuba. Nino already spoke with me regarding that and provided a solution. I will simply walk with you and your sisters later on when it's time for the students to go home. We'll all head to your home later on and at the same time, I'll be able to know the route I have to take when I go there on my own."

"Y-You talked with Nino…? When?"

He snapped his eyes open, thinking that he made a mistake by mentioning Nino before realizing that it was nothing serious. "E-Earlier, when I reached the school grounds. She was under a tree near the edge of the school and called out to me by waving her arm. Fortunately, she's aware enough of our situation that she didn't hug me out of nowhere unlike someone who thought it would be a good idea to 'surprise' me in such a way."

"Ehehe… I'm sorry about that…" she laughed nervously, rubbing the back of her head as she turned her gaze elsewhere.

Yeah, that was a lesson that she learned never to do again…

"Moving on, it's a good thing that I did notice her actions and we talked for a bit after I approached her. She asked me the same question as you did earlier, whether or not I received Itsuki's message. After that, she told me that I can walk with all of you once it's time for us to leave. Like I said, you don't have to worry about me not knowing where you and your sisters live."

"I hope we can have fun then, Uesugi-san! Oh, and come to think of it, you haven't met Ichika and Miku yet, right? You can finally see them later!"

"Yeah… hopefully, that goes well…" he chuckled nervously, focusing his thoughts solely on Miku before he could think about Ichika again. There's just no way he could risk it!

"I've already met Ichika, but not Miku… and after what happened earlier, I don't think it's the right time for me to see the last of them. I'll have to try and avoid making eye contact if I can help it! The only way for us to feel the shock is if we look directly into each other's eyes but if I keep myself collected, I won't have to look at her at all and I can get past this day without worrying about anything else other than Ichika."

"Oh, Uesugi-san! Do you know about the festival that's happening this Sunday? We're all going to watch the fireworks together! Are you going to be there too?!"

Fuutarou stared at her for a few moments to recompose himself after his most recent thoughts, while also curious about why Yotsuba was asking this. He then shrugged afterwards, concluding that it's just her being her usual self and she wanted to invite him in the case that he was not going. Oh well, since he already told Nino about this, there's no harm in telling her sister too.

"I suppose so, because Raiha wants to watch the fireworks as well."

"Raiha-chan will be there? This is great! We can go see her on Sunday! Shishishi, maybe Uesugi-san can also be—" she flashed a teasing smile, looking up at her tutor with her hands behind her back, before her eyes widened and stopped in her words all of a sudden.

Fuutarou, who had his attention on her the whole time, raised an eyebrow at Yotsuba suddenly becoming quiet out of nowhere. What exactly was she going to say before cutting herself off? Why did her expression change as well?

"What were you trying to say?" he asked in confusion.

Yotsuba looked nervous for a little while, unsure of what she should say as a response. She looked lost in her own words and took a deep gulp because of this, before eventually covering her expression up with that usual smile of hers. However, if one would look at her at a closer angle, it could easily be determined that her current expression was only a sham.

"I-I said that maybe Uesugi-san can also join us so we can all watch the fireworks together…! It's more fun when you're with friends, you know?" she exclaimed.

"Whatever you say," he said in a more quiet tone, closely observing Yotsuba's expression as she turned her gaze somewhere else. He had already figured it out the moment she gave him that fake smile. Up until now, Fuutarou considered himself to be proficient in noticing certain details about anything, which included a person's expressions and what they portrayed. He didn't need a long explanation about why, but Yotsuba clearly bore a fake smile…

There must be something bothering her.

At the same time, the ribbon-wearing quint could only keep her eyes to the side, remembering a certain discussion that she had with Itsuki during the previous night.

"I can't be selfish… not now when Itsuki isn't even looking for a relationship yet. That's unfair of me after what we talked about last night..." she thought to herself, feeling conflicted with what her mind was telling her to do and what her heart wanted to do.

Well, that could have gotten a lot worse for Ichika and Fuutarou. At the very least, they ended their little meeting with no hard feelings but on the bright side, Fuutarou sure left a big impression on her. How will this affect Ichika's advances on him because there's no doubt she'll now start to make moves on Fuutarou? We'll find out soon enough as we roll along, and we even got some Ribbonmania this chapter! Ahh, it always warms my heart to see these two interacting, but what exactly is that ending? What was she about to say to our boy before cutting herself off? Guess we'll find out next chapter? See ya tomorrow, guys!

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

-Lance