7 WEEKS OF UPDATING?! ONLY HERE IN LANCESENNIN'S STORY! I AM CARRYING THIS WHOLE ARCHIVE ON MY BACK! Last chapter, Nino showed her dominance over the other girls of the school once again and ended up holding hands with Fuutarou in the end? Ain't that sweet? All these girls are just making her look even more unstoppable than before, hahahahaha! I got nothing else to say, so if you liked this story and want to see more, please do not hesitate to add this to your faves/follows and tune in everyday for your daily dose of fluff. With that over with, let's get to this chapter!

The poll for Fuutarou's first kiss is officially over with one quint winning by a landslide amount. Want to find out who? Here's the Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

"Heeeyyyy! Nino! Uesugi-san!"

Yotsuba waved her arms in the air as if she was trying to call for help from a search-and-rescue team, with the sole intention of making her sister and tutor notice them. Itsuki and Ichika smiled upon seeing them approaching, while Miku's expression remained blank as always.

Yeah, she was the only one among the remaining quintuplets who was doing this, mostly because it was pointless when they were the only group of students gathered outside of the school. It would take an idiot for them not to be seen so easily.

It was embarrassing for the others, but they made no move to stop Yotsuba since this was something that one would normally expect from her…

On the brighter side, Fuutarou responded to Yotsuba by raising his arm, which was enough for the ribbon-wearing girl to cheer happily since her actions led to success. However, there was something different about the approaching pair that seemed strange from how they were earlier…

They weren't holding hands.

Much to Nino's hidden displeasure, Fuutarou had to quickly separate from her before her sisters could see them in that position. Oh well, even if it didn't last for a minute, Nino experienced a moment of bliss that only happened once in the past, which took place during the second time they talked to each other.

It was the day right after their first meeting, when she wanted him to stay away from Itsuki.

As soon as they were finally out of the school, Fuutarou didn't hesitate to bow his head at the rest of the quintuplets out of gratitude.

"Thank you for waiting for us to arrive," he spoke, before raising his head to face them. Of course, he made sure to avoid looking at the girl wearing headphones around her neck because that would be troubling, especially if they make eye contact. That must be Miku, because he already recognized the other four girls. "I apologize if we took too long than what you expected, but… we experienced obstacles on our way here that hindered us for a while but fortunately, Nino was able to come up with something to make my female classmates stop whatever they were planning to do."

"Heh, those girls were nothing but fodder to me!" Nino crossed her arms and exclaimed with a smug grin, looking really proud of herself for how she handled their earlier situation.

Itsuki released a sigh of relief, placing a hand on her forehead to wipe her sweat before she began to speak as well.

"Well, are you two okay? We indeed saw the two of you being approached by our classmates near that tree earlier and we started to panic! Yotsuba was even planning to run over and help you because of it! Luckily, Ichika told her and the rest of us to calm down before we did something worse…" she explained, while exaggerating her actions to make it seem like what happened was a true dilemma.

"We're fine, there is no need to worry about us," Fuutarou waved off her words of concern, before turning towards the ribbon-wearing quint and rested his hand on top of her head with a tiny smile on his face. This action surprised all of the other girls except for Itsuki, and caused Yotsuba herself to blush in embarrassment. "It's a good thing that you chose to stay put, Yotsuba. If you had charged into the scene, it would've been harder to explain why exactly there are two Itsuki's with us."

Did he just give Yotsuba a head pat… right in front of her sisters?

...

...

...

Apparently, he did.

Where the hell did this come from? Was he feeling happy or something? Perhaps he just wanted to give her a head pat because he wanted to?

Oh, right. The attachment he felt for these girls was only getting stronger and the fact that they were the same quints whom he met and made a promise with only added to that.

Plus, it's not like anyone's gonna complain about him giving Yotsuba a head pat.

"Yeah… thanks to Ichika, hehe…" she replied in a nervous tone, before smiling brightly in satisfaction at being showered by affection after getting over her initial embarrassment. She even linked her hands behind her and leaned forward, enjoying this little moment for what it was. "I almost ran towards the both of you if she didn't stop me…"

Ichika snapped out of her little trance and spoke up the moment her sister mentioned her, waving her arm at the young man. "That's right! Hey there, Fuutarou-kun~"

"Hey…" he said in return, removing his hand from Yotsuba's head as he turned his attention to the eldest of the quintuplets.

Yotsuba immediately pouted at the loss of contact and simply looked down on the ground, which caused Itsuki to sweat-drop at her reaction. Hm, Yotsuba must have been spoiled from all the hugs that Fuutarou tolerated and that also included the head pats as well as the hug that he gave them last night!

It was hard to determine if it was a good thing or not.

Well, at least Itsuki wasn't that spoiled yet…

"Are you doing okay?" he asked, planting his hands inside his pockets and sending her a curious look.

"Fufu, I'm quite alright, thank you for asking~" The girl with very short red hair giggled in a teasing manner, before smiling at Fuutarou with a slight red hue on her cheeks. That simple act got him to blush slightly as well, as he couldn't help but be reminded of how his first meeting with this girl went down.

Nino immediately frowned at both her sister and Fuutarou, sensing something off about them. It felt like there was an awkward atmosphere between the two, just from the looks on their faces. They did meet earlier, right? Something might have happened. Of course, Ichika may only be acting like her usual self since she was like this anyway, but still! Something was definitely off around here!

"Is there something going on between you two?" Nino stepped in between Fuutarou and Ichika, while narrowing her eyes at them.

"Oh, nothing, Nino… I'm just greeting Fuutarou-kun. Is there something wrong with that?" Despite the slight nervousness that she felt from Nino being suspicious of her, Ichika remained calm and was even able to flash her teasing look at her sister. "Ara, are you perhaps feeling jealous?"

Nino ignored Ichika's remark about her being jealous, and continued to frown at the two of them. "Bullshit, I can tell there's more to that tone you're using. What the hell happened?" she demanded, making it clear that she had no time for games.

Ichika sighed and raised her arms in defeat, showing that she had nothing to hide. "Trust me, Nino… nothing's going on between us. The only thing that happened is we hid together from a group of girls in a classroom, that's all. And if I'm right, you two met those girls just a while ago."

Before Nino could respond to Ichika's words, Fuutarou placed his hand on her shoulder and began to speak. "Calm down, Nino. Nothing happened between us. It's like what Ichika said, we hid together in a classroom from the girls that we encountered earlier. Our first meeting could have gotten better but at the very least, we weren't caught that time."

He knew that Ichika was making this up since the both of them knew that they didn't meet in a classroom, but he saw it as an opportunity to hide what really happened from the others. They don't need to know about that incident, especially Nino. But still, the fact that Ichika was covering it up by saying they met in a classroom… this also means that she was doing the same!

Initially, Nino frowned and then raised an eyebrow at him in suspicion, before rolling her eyes and let out a huff. Maybe she still wasn't pleased with this or something?

"Fine, I'll believe you," she said firmly, brushing his hand off her shoulder and then crossing her arms over her chest.

Praise Kami-sama for being so merciful! He wasn't worthy of her!

And he would be going to the festival with her this coming Sunday!

"Anyway, how did you two get away from them? I knew you could make an easy getaway from those girls, but I thought they'd at least chase you around before giving up on you," Ichika asked, sending a curious look at Nino and Fuutarou.

"Yes, I'm also curious regarding that," Itsuki nodded in agreement with her older sister's question and rubbed her chin in deep thought. "For some reason, they simply remained in their places while the two of you walked away and left them behind. Did something happen that we should know?"

"I told them he was my tutor, which was already enough to shut them all up. You should've seen the looks on their faces when I told them that! They didn't stand a chance and had nothing to say against me," Nino explained, her frown already disappearing and was immediately replaced with a smug look.

Itsuki blinked a few times, as if she was trying to process everything that Nino said before responding with a curious tone. "What? Why would you tell our classmates that?"

"So they'd stop Uesugi-kun when school's over for the day, of course! Didn't you remember what I said earlier about those girls? From what you saw back there, they didn't give up at all just like what I said. Instead of asking the guy out to lunch, they tried asking him if they could walk home with him!"

"W-What…?" Itsuki muttered, still feeling lost.

Nino groaned, shaking her head before walking closer towards her youngest sister so she could explain this a lot better. "If I didn't tell your classmates that Uesugi-kun was your tutor, they would have kept on bothering him since there's nothing happening between you two when it's time to go home. They always see you and Uesugi-kun together when it's time to leave the school and if they didn't know that he was your tutor, they'd keep on bothering him and who knows what might happen after that? But there's a good chance that he won't be able to tutor you and Yotsuba if that happened!"

The youngest of the quints widened her eyes slowly, because Nino's words were now fully registering inside her mind; her connection to Fuutarou, the mindset of their classmates, how they were glaring at her earlier this morning, and her earlier discussion with the rest of her sisters. But just when she was about to come to a realization, her train of thought was interrupted by Fuutarou himself, who took a step forward and began explaining his stance on the matter.

"What Nino did is right, Itsuki. It's a good thing that she revealed our relationship as tutor and student not only so they would stop pestering me earlier, but now they will also have to think twice before they try to pointlessly ask me out because of you, especially if they do so after classes are over. Should they continue with those attempts, well… it's a problem we'll have to address when we encounter it."

Itsuki was about to say something after Fuutarou was finished in his added explanation, but was once again interrupted by someone else. This time, it was Yotsuba, who stepped forward as well and stood beside Nino with a nervous smile plastered on her eyes.

"Yeah, Itsuki. It could've been worse, hehe… at least Uesugi-san won't leave us when it's time to study! I wouldn't have minded even if my name was mentioned if it means Uesugi-san will stay!"

Fuutarou chuckled dryly, finding that scenario both funny and haunting due to what might happen. "But that would've been worse, Yotsuba. Mentioning the two of you would only make the problem bigger for all of us, even your sisters."

"Oh… I guess I forgot about that, hehe…" she chuckled while rubbing the back of her head.

"All right, you don't have to repeat it for me over and over, please…" Itsuki quickly spoke after they were finally done, before releasing a deep sigh and then turning her attention towards the second quint. "I wasn't even mad, just so you know. I was simply confused on why you would reveal such a thing to my classmates, when I didn't think it would have served a purpose other than a convenient excuse. However, after hearing your reasons, I can understand the deeper meaning behind your actions, Nino."

Nino smirked for a few moments, before shrugging her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. "Hey, can never be too sure. We all know you're the one who goes too far with her reactions even on the little things. In fact, I could clearly remember how you cried like a little kid when your ice cream melted before you could eat it, and that was only a few years ago!"

Hearing her last statement caused Itsuki to pale, before her face grew hot in an instant. Oh no… that was one of her most embarrassing moments and it's been so long since the last time that was mentioned! As much as she wanted to forget about it, she couldn't! Why did her sister bring it up, anyway?! No wait, Nino was likely doing this just to mess with her…

Still, it didn't stop Itsuki's mouth from slowly dropping out of shock at what Nino just revealed, before remembering that her tutor was here with them and he heard all of it!

NO!

Fuutarou stared at Nino for a few moments, seemingly curious about the topic and whether it really happened or not. But the moment he turned his gaze towards her, it was too much for the poor girl who could only cover her crimson face with her hands due to feeling so embarrassed.

"P-Please don't embarrass me like that in front of Uesugi-kun, Nino…!" Itsuki cried out, quickly turning around in order to hide her flustered state from Fuutarou's eyes.

"She's embarrassed about messing up ice cream so much that she can't look at another person because of it?" Fuutarou thought, sweat-dropping to himself when she immediately turned away from him just as he looked at her.

This reaction was just too over-the-top.

"Hey, you three are stealing the spotlight too much, don't you think? Aren't we supposed to be helping our sister introduce herself to Fuutarou-kun? After all, she's the only one who hasn't officially met him yet!"

Ichika's voice rang through four pairs of ears, and all of them turned their attention towards the eldest quint as soon as she was done speaking, especially her three other sisters.

Fuutarou also shifted his gaze towards Ichika, and his eyes immediately widened upon seeing the girl beside her. Fortunately, that girl wasn't looking at him at that moment and allowed him to quickly turn away before it's too late. That was a close one! If she had her attention on him, it would've been terrible for him! Not in a way that the girl would be at fault, but rather because of his own actions. He quickly took note of her blue jacket, her bangs that slightly covered the side of her face, and those distinct headphones around her neck.

Yep. There's no doubt that this was her…

"You don't have to be so dramatic over it," Miku Nakano told her sister with a little pout on her face. "I'm just going to tell him my name, that's it."

…his last soulmate.

OH BOY, HERE WE GOOOO! MIKU IS FINALLY HERE, BUT THEY HAVEN'T MADE EYE CONTACT YET! MIKUISM CANNOT BE FULLY UNLOCKED IF THE SHOCK DOESN'T HAPPEN, GUYS! THEY HAVE TO LOOK AT EACH OTHER FOR IT TO ACTIVATE! Okay, that's enough with the overreaction.To recap, this chapter looked pretty short but I am still sticking to my original goal of providing fluff, right? That's what's most important! Anyway, yes, Miku is indeed here, but Fuutarou doesn't want to look at her until the day ends. How would this affect their long-awaited meeting? Find out in the next one!

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

-Lance