ALMOST THERE! JUST A FEW MORE FAVORITES BEFORE HITTING THE 400 MARK! HAHAHAHA! PLEASE KEEP SUPPORTING ME, EVERYONE! I'M GETTING ONE STEP CLOSER TO MY DREAM TO TAKE FLUFF TO THE VERY TOP! With my moment of craziness now over, welcome back to another daily dose of fluff! Last chapter was quite a ride, with three of the quints each getting a moment with Fuutarou while Nino is getting jealous and Miku is still confused! The latter was highlighted at the end of the chapter, when she ALMOST caught Fuutarou within her sight only for him to barely save himself. What's gonna happen here? Will his luck continue? Or will Miku triumph and make Fuutarou look at her? Let's not waste time and continue on with the chapter!

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

Without another word, Miku turned around and walked towards the staircase, unaware of Fuutarou letting out a sigh of relief that he managed to get out of that tight situation before it ended badly for him. Not that Miku cared, since he was acting weirdly just now and she just wanted to take a rest from everything. Between figuring out why her sisters were all somewhat interested in Fuutarou and the embarrassment she's been enduring ever since lunch period at school, Miku just wanted a little break from all of it.

As soon as Miku was out of sight, she was followed by Yotsuba and Itsuki. Of course, they turned their attention to their tutor first with bright smiles on their faces. At this point, Fuutarou was simply trying to calm himself from almost slipping up earlier with Miku, and seeing his two soulmates looking happy managed to calm him down a bit. Yeah, that was a very close one and he wouldn't have been able to prevent the shock from happening if he didn't choose to look up instead of removing his shoes.

But, in all seriousness? Bless these girls.

"We'll be right back, Uesugi-san! Just wait for us!" Yotsuba exclaimed, with Itsuki nodding eagerly as he gave them a nod of approval. With that, they went upstairs and disappeared into their rooms, leaving Fuutarou with the second quint as the ones who were still by the door.

Nino turned to face the young man with her arms crossed below her chest, causing him to look at her in return. "Leave your shoes near the door, alright? Yotsuba and Itsuki are just going to set down their things, so you can sit by the couch for now," she told him.

"You're also staying in your room?" he asked while raising an eyebrow. Ichika told all of them just a while ago that she would be taking a nap, while he and Miku agreed that they wouldn't bother the other and she'd simply stay in her room the whole time. Regarding Nino, he had no idea what she was going to do while he would be tutoring her sisters…

The girl shook her head and turned to look at the kitchen, with Fuutarou following her gaze closely. "Nope, I need to do something in the kitchen. I'm just going to put this away then change into some more comfortable clothes. Until then, make yourself at home, Fuu-kun."

He flashed her a little smile and nodded to show his gratitude. After all, Nino's the reason why he was here. It's because of her suggestion to allow him to walk with them all the way to their home that he now knew where his soulmates lived.

Praise Kami-sama.

"Thank you, Nino."

She gave him a cute smile and went up the staircase, while being deep in her thoughts about what she should do. "I wonder what kind of cookies he likes," she asked herself, thinking carefully about this so she won't screw up somewhere. "Hm, I guess he'll probably eat anything since his family can't afford it… I got it! I'll whip up the classic that everyone likes! I remember we still have some leftover chocolate chips in the fridge…"

As Fuutarou watched Nino disappear into the second floor, he immediately walked over towards the couch and started bringing out the materials he would need for tutoring Itsuki and Yotsuba.

"I wonder what'll happen from here," he thought. "Regarding Miku… so far, so good. She's noticed that I haven't looked at her even once, but it doesn't seem like she'll bother with it. Plus, she did say she won't bother me as long as I don't bother her. It's just for this day, so let's hope I can keep this up."

Little did he know that his situation wasn't exactly going the way he wanted, because instead of not having to bother with him, Miku currently had the young man in her mind as of now.

Inside the third quintuplet's room, the girl fell back on her bed after releasing a deep breath, feeling a lot better now that she was able to rest her body after that long walk from school. Fuutarou walking home with them only added to it, because while she would normally remain quiet and keep things to herself when it's time to go home, that guy had affected her in a way that she couldn't remain silent at all.

Oh, yeah… Fuutarou.

The guy who hasn't looked at her even oce.

At first, she thought it was just a coincidence that he hasn't looked at her ever since they met earlier but after he didn't even bat an eye at her when she was being nice enough to bid a temporary farewell, it got her thinking about his actions towards her so far.

Sure, they've had two enlightening discussions so far and Miku ended up learning more about what he's like. However, not once has he ever looked at her because he would direct his attention elsewhere for some reason. It didn't even matter where he was looking at, as long as he didn't have his eyes on her.

What the hell was his problem? She didn't do anything that can be considered bad to him, right?

"I wonder…" Miku thought to herself, a frown appearing on her face as she recalled how he responded the first time she noticed that he wasn't looking at her. "He said that he needed to answer something, but it feels more like an excuse… then earlier, he was looking at this place instead… but he looked nervous when I noticed he wasn't looking at me…"

It was so easy to figure out.

Fuutarou just didn't want to look at her for some reason.

"Hmm… I suppose it's time to go Mori Motonari on this," she said to herself, before she rose up in a sitting position similar to how a Japanese warlord would do when he's thinking of battle strategies. "Now, how do I get him to talk without distracting him from teaching Yotsuba and Itsuki? I did promise him that I won't be a bother as long as he does the same…"

Watch out, Fuutarou Uesugi.

Your cunning attempts to play mind games may work for now, but when Mori Motonari's powerful intelligence comes into play, the battle is all but over! After all, he was the one who overthrew two clans at the same time to put the Chugoku region under his control!

Yeah, this didn't look good for him at all…

~~XoXo~~

"Alright, I suppose that's enough for the day," Fuutarou told his two students, closing the book he had in his hands before placing it down on the coffee table below. "We've covered quite enough for our first tutoring session here and I don't really want to take too long. I still have to do something before I go home."

Itsuki looked up at Fuutarou with a smile, as she began piling the notebooks and sheets of paper that she used. Well, she could still study for a little bit before going to sleep later on, but for now, it would be nice to take a break.

"It's fine, Uesugi-kun. That was a very engaging session we had, nonetheless. I look forward to what we do tomorrow!" she told her tutor happily.

"I'm still feeling tired like what happened yesterday…" Yotsuba smiled, letting her head rest on the table for a moment as a sign of her slight exhaustion. Her expression quickly turned into a grin as she lifted her head and gave Fuutarou a thumbs-up. "…but I think I can get used to this!"

He gave her a nod of acknowledgement and began to help his students with arranging their belongings. "Keep it up and you'll be able to catch up to Itsuki in no time. From what you told me about your grades in the past, I'm already seeing this as an improvement."

Yotsuba looked surprised at his words for a few moments, before she chuckled nervously. "Ehehe, you think so…? I only just started with this tutoring thing, and… Itsuki's wayyy ahead of me," she spoke, rubbing the back of her head with a blush on her cheeks.

Fuutarou flicked her forehead lightly, catching her off guard and making her cover it with both hands. Yotsuba shut her eyes tightly for a few moments, before looking up at the young man with a confused look.

He gave her a serious look that left no room for further arguments. "I mean what I said, so stop doubting yourself already. You and Itsuki can accomplish many things as long as you keep your head high and work hard to get there."

Yotsuba blinked. "T-That means a lot coming from you, Uesugi-san, but… did you really have to flick me like that?" she asked while chuckling nervously, rubbing the part of her forehead that he just flicked.

"I'm getting sick of you comparing yourself to your sister," he sighed, all while keeping the serious demeanor he had. "I don't want to hear that again, alright? No matter how much of an idiot you think you are, I don't care. I will help you get through your exams all the way to graduation, and you will walk up the stage looking proud of what you've done."

"Uesugi-san… that's just too much, don't you think? I can't even pass one exam… being able to graduate is only a dream for someone like me," she struggled to say, a clear sign of her self-doubt when it comes to improving herself.

Fuutarou scoffed.

"You think I care? The moment I took up this job, I've been serious about it from the very beginning. I wouldn't have accepted you as my student if I wasn't. When I say that I'll help you graduate, I will make it happen. You too, Itsuki. You're my student as well, so that makes you involved in this," he turned towards the youngest quint, who immediately faced him as soon as she heard her name being called. With the two of them now looking at him, Fuutarou flashed the most serious look that he could muster at the moment, which shook the two sisters for a bit. "This is a promise I'll make to the two of you. I don't care how crazy this sounds, but trust me. You two are going to graduate, and you'll be proud of yourselves when you walk up the stage and look back at how you worked hard to get to that point. Do you understand?"

The two girls remained silent afterwards, as if they were too intimidated to say anything. However, his words eventually registered into their thoughts after focusing on what he said instead of what he seemed to tell them through his expression. Fuutarou won't act like this for no reason, and what he wanted was simple.

Itsuki was the first to finally speak, which got Fuutarou's attention as soon as he heard her voice. "Ever since the first time that we've held a tutoring session, I've always believed in you, Uesugi-kun. It will be wrong of me if I lost faith in you now."

Fuutarou retained his serious look for a few moments, as though he was doubting her words until he let out a deep breath and lowered his head. The two girls looked at him in concern, until he finally looked up with a small, yet genuine smile on his face.

"That's all I can ask of you, Itsuki," he nodded, causing the girl to return his smile with one of her own as Fuutarou turned towards the ribbon-wearing girl next. "What about you, Yotsuba?"

Yotsuba saw this coming the moment Itsuki gave her answer and from there, she knew that she must do the same. While she was excited at the thought of finally elevating her grades after years of flunking her subjects, there was always the reality that she's the poorest out of all of them when it comes to their academic standings. She was the reason why they had to transfer to Asahiyama High School, dragging her sisters along with her. There was no hope for her since the only things she were good at were sports and extracurricular activities.

Until he returned to their lives.

She was shocked to find out that he was Itsuki's tutor when she introduced herself to him. Just from looking into his eyes, Yotsuba was able to recognize who he really was and it left her saddened. The boy whom they made that promise with years ago worked hard to reach this point, while she had nothing. Even her sisters accomplished more than what she did, despite the gap not being far from one another.

Yotsuba thought that if she did the same as Itsuki and let herself be tutored by Fuutarou, she would finally be able to catch up to him like what she always wanted. From the past week alone, Itsuki showed some changes in her personality brought by Fuutarou being her tutor. No longer did she think of studying as a completely serious task in which she must give her full focus on, but it was now something that she enjoyed doing thanks to her tutor. She also became more open with her feelings while being around the same guy, to the point that Yotsuba heard her straight-up confessing last night.

Still, even though only one day had passed and she was doing well so far, reality could come knocking on her door at any moment. The reality that she was still the weakest among her sisters in terms of their ability in the academic subjects, and that it's been that way for many years. There's no way that that can change in a matter of weeks, even if Fuutarou was the best student in school.

But… despite that… Fuutarou gave them his word just now that he would help them with their exams and make sure that they would walk up that stage during the graduation ceremony. It almost sounded ridiculous, given her track record in number of failed subjects, but he promised her and Itsuki.

He promised her.

How could she not trust him? Even though he didn't have to accept her as his student when she asked him, he still did and now he was asking her to trust him in return. There's no way she can give him less than her full trust, because he was still the same boy who was always serious, kept his best interests in check, never cared if it wasn't his problem, and never spoke to anyone unless it concerned him.

...

The same boy they met in Kyoto, whom they all ended up meeting and befriending despite their obvious differences, which could be considered as some kind of miracle.

...

The same boy who made that promise with all of them five years ago.

...

"Well… I don't really know if I can do this…" Yotsuba looked down for a moment, as if she was continuing to doubt herself and his words before facing him once again with a bright smile on her face. "But I'll trust you, Uesugi-san!"

Fuutarou looked at her for a few seconds with a small frown, looking like he had a problem with what Yotsuba said until he eventually gave the girl a firm nod. "That's what I want to hear. Give it a few days, preferably a week, and we'll see how much you've improved. After all, you did start only yesterday. It's too soon to make any assumptions of your performance in the future and if you will be able to further improve yourself."

"Yeah… I guess," she chuckled, while also letting out a huge sigh in relief to herself. Jeez, Fuutarou's expression made her think for a second that she was in deep trouble…

"Good. As of now, you can do what you want since our session has officially ended. I'll be here reviewing your homework and see if you answered well. Then, I'll be leaving once I'm done, since I still have to go somewhere after this," he explained, holding up two sheets of paper that belonged to his students.

"To where, Uesugi-kun?" Itsuki asked curiously, tilting her head slightly to the side.

"I'm just going to buy something for Raiha and my old man," he stated like it was no big deal, only for the two girls to react like it was, at least for a little bit.

"Aww, that's sweet of you, Uesugi-san! Raiha-chan will be happy when she sees what you bought for her!" Yotsuba grinned at their tutor, before giving him a good pat on his shoulder while Itsuki stood nearby and had a gentle smile on her face.

"Yeah, yeah, just stop bothering me already… I'm trying to focus here," he waved his arm at them nonchalantly, before shaking his head so that he'd be able to solely focus on the girls' homework. The sooner he can be done with this, the sooner he can leave and he won't have to worry about making eye contact with Miku until tomorrow!

That is, if Miku would ignore him and his actions… hopefully.

Uh oh... Miku is not playing around, anymore! She has put the pieces together and now she knows that Fuutarou is avoiding having to look at her on purpose. This is not looking good for him, because his luck has to run out, right? Other than that, we are treated to some Ribbonmania and Meatbun Monster Rampage, both of which are always a sight to see! The promise they made still remains a mystery, but I'm sure we'll get there along the way. What's going to happen next? How will Miku plan out her strategy? What will she do? What about Nino and her plan to cook something for Fuutarou? Find out tomorrow in Love is War— I mean, the 5 sisters who really, really, really, really, really love you!

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

-Lance