And welcome back to your daily dose of fluff with me! Last chapter, we saw the continuation of the discussion with Maruo, and it seems to be going well so far... but will it continue to be that way until it's time for Fuutarou to leave? Our boy is lucky so far, because he's in Maruo good graces, and we can only hope that things stay that way. It all ended with Fuutarou giving Itsuki a headpat right in front of Maruo, which... can't be good. Oh, boy. As always, if you liked this fic and want to see more, don't hesitate to add this story to your list of favorites/follows and tune in everyday for a new chapter! With that being said, let's dive into this one!

Gautam Girdhar: I'm happy my fic is getting you through tough times! Whatever you're going through, I'm praying for you, man!

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

Fuutarou continued to pat Itsuki's head until he was absolutely sure that the girl was only smiling and no other expression could be seen on her face. Once he noticed that she was fully enjoying the display of affection from him, the young man took that as a signal that it was finally time for him to stop.

Upon feeling his hand leave her head, Itsuki quickly looked up at him in surprise, while internally wondering why he had to stop. Before she could say anything, however, Fuutarou already beat her to it and even held her hand gently. This caused the girl to widen her eyes as a blush erupted on her face from his intimate action.

Smooth, real smooth. You're gonna end up spoiling her too much, Fuutarou!

"Of course, it depends on what your father thinks about my answer, Itsuki. Since he will be my employer, it is only right that I get permission from him," he explained as Itsuki returned his expression with a shy smile, before finally turning back towards Maruo as if nothing happened. "Will it be a problem if I start tutoring your daughters after the festival, Father?"

Maruo raised an eyebrow at the young tutor for a moment, Was he really unaware of what he just did? This was quite interesting, and it seems to be the same for Itsuki, his own daughter. They really had no idea that they did something… intimate while in his presence, which internally caught Maruo off guard.

First, there was Fuutarou, whose actions somehow mirrored his own father since that fool always made it a note to flirt with a girl at least once a day when they were classmates back then. That alone should irritate him because it reminded him of Isanari and how annoying his old friend was.

However, at the same time, he somehow saw a bit of himself in the young man for some reason.

...

...

...

Nope, what Fuutarou did was not a friendly gesture at all, and the boy wasn't aware that he just exposed himself. Maruo would never admit it to anyone, but in contrast to what most people think of him, even Isanari himself, he does know a bit about these things. Of course, when you've dated the hottest second-year back in high school years ago, you're bound to learn some things about romance…

Even if that person was a loner who would never bat an eye at something unless it involved him… which was Maruo himself.

How else would he be able to end up as Rena's boyfriend? As her husband?

...

By being smart and hardworking? No, he also did his best to learn more about his significant other, took her out on dates, and proposed to her one night to make Rena the happiest woman in the world. If that's not enough, he has five beautiful daughters who are all spitting images of their mother, and he loved all of them.

Of course Maruo would know these things, so don't doubt him when it comes to love! He's not a virgin like his counterpart from canon material!

Anyway, this kind of gesture from Fuutarou Uesugi was completely obvious to someone like Maruo, who fell in love, was a married man and a father to five daughters. If it was meant to be a gesture between friends, then Fuutarou sure seemed close to his daughter. No, it wasn't a headpat done by a friend.

The boy literally forgot his presence as he patted Itsuki's head. Maruo would've considered it an act of friendship IF Fuurarou had turned towards him first and silently asked for permission, and he would've let him anyway. But that didn't happen, because the boy turned his complete attention to his daughter as if he wasn't there.

And to top it all off, Fuutarou held his daughter's hand.

To tell the truth, he was about to cut their interaction short and warn Fuutarou that he was overstepping his boundaries as a tutor, until he noticed Itsuki smiling at him. Perhaps it was a good thing that these two teenagers ignored his presence at that moment, because his eyes widened a tad bit from seeing his daughter not even minding how Fuutarou was getting too close for comfort.

There's no way the young man could do such a thing if he didn't have feelings for Itsuki.

Speaking of which…

His daughter's demeanor was what made him confused most of all. As her father, he knew perfectly well what Itsuki wanted to be when she grew up, and that was to be like her mother. Oh, the happiness him and Rena felt when Itsuki said those words when they were still little…

For that reason, Itsuki directed her complete attention to her studies and actively strived to excel in school. While he may be dismayed with how his daughters shared the same state in their academics, there was no denying that he felt proud of Itsuki for continuing to do her best despite her obvious dilemma when it comes to her grades.

And yet, her current demeanor completely goes against that with just one simple thing, and that was the fact that Itsuki didn't mind at all that Fuutarou patted her head and even held her hand! There was something wrong with his daughter, because he knew that Itsuki was mature enough to handle herself regarding situations like this, but it doesn't seem to be that way…

Maruo already had an idea of what's happening, because all of these details got the man's attention and being the smart and tactical man that he was, he had figured it out. However, he decided not to call these kids out on what they did for now, preferring to observe them and their actions first, especially Itsuki.

"I understand, and I agree that it would be asking too much of you to teach all five of my daughters after previously tutoring only two," he played along for now, while also understanding the boy's sentiment on the matter.

"Thank you for understanding, Father. I swear that I will not fail what you expect of me," he bowed in gratitude, truly unaware of his actions while in the presence of the quints' answer.

Hey, give him a break, alright? A while ago, he was just so focused on calming Itsuki down before something worse could happen, like her breaking down into tears…

Nope! Fuutarou won't have any of that! This girl was someone important to him by now, and he'll do what he can to keep her happy. Not only was she his student, Itsuki was also his friend, the first girl to confess her feelings to him, and his soulmate all at the same time.

Maruo gave a stiff nod. "Very well, you can start tutoring them the day after the festival. Of course, I will make sure you are properly compensated for your time, because I know tutoring five girls can take a toll on you. Is twenty-five thousand yen every day you teach them sufficient enough for you? I have no exact idea about what you and Itsuki have agreed upon regarding your payment."

Fuutarou's eyes immediately widened upon hearing those words, while his jaw hung open in clear shock. Twenty-five thousand yen every time he was going to tutor these girls? He was lucky that four out of all the quintuplets already experienced the shock and he was getting along with everyone well except for Miku. But even so, eye contact is all it's going to take just to turn things around…

His luck just keeps on skyrocketing at every turn for some reason.

The only problem he would likely have and be worried about is the learning capacities of these girls, especially now when he will have to tutor all five of them who have ridiculously low grades in academics. However, that's exactly why he asked the quints' father to give him until next week to sort things out and think of how he can approach this situation.

For now, he can at least be in awe of how much money Maruo Nakano was willing to pay him in exchange for tutoring his daughters.

"No way… this has to be some kind of joke! I knew these girls were rich, but I never thought their family was that well-off!" Fuutarou thought, his mind seemingly about to go haywire at any moment from what he just heard. "If I can tutor all of them consistently, my family won't be struggling with finances anymore. I can't let this go to waste!"

Couldn't have said it better.

"Yes, Father. It is more than enough actually, and I feel a bit overwhelmed. In fact, I am thinking that the payment may be too much for me, although I am not going to complain. I think it's just a massive change for me," he nodded his head, while also doing his best not to sound like he was nervous or anything like that.

That would be an embarrassing thing to do in front of the quints' father…

Itsuki giggled, turning towards him with a gentle smile on her face. "Now, you'll be able to give Raiha-chan the best birthday she can have just like what you said you would, Uesugi-kun."

Fuutarou looked towards Itsuki with an almost-dumbfounded expression, clearly surprised that Itsuki remembered that from last night before he smiled at the girl. She's right… right now, he had the perfect opportunity to make that ambition of his come true, and he could only hope that something doesn't go wrong along the way.

"Yeah…"

"It is nothing too big, Uesugi-kun. As long as you help my daughters and help them be able to walk up the stage by the end of your third year, we can see eye-to-eye," Maruo flashed another small smile as a sign of good faith.

Fuutarou returned the expression with a smile of his own, before bowing his head once again. "If that's what you think of me, Father, then I will be sure not to let you down."

"I have one more thing to clarify," Maruo's expression quickly shifted into one that showed genuine interest. "If I am correct in my assumption, this 'Raiha' whom you speak of, is she your sister? Isanari told me about you in the past, but he never mentioned anything about a daughter. Did Hayami give birth to another child recently?"

The young man blinked in surprise, not expecting Maruo to know the name of his mother. However, after thinking about it for a few moments, it shouldn't really be much of a shocking revelation. After all, his old man and the quintuplets' father were friends, as hard as it is to believe. Isanari also knew Rena, so it's probably fitting if Maruo was acquainted with his mother as well?

"Yes, Father. She is my younger sister and we are about five years apart," he confirmed.

"I see," Maruo nodded slowly and looked down for a moment, as though he was thinking about something important, before turning his attention back to the two teenagers. "Well, now that I have discussed everything with you, shall I have Ebata-san drive you home? You must be feeling tired after tutoring my daughters."

Fuutarou shook his head in a respectful manner, before stating his answer afterwards. "Thank you for the offer, Father, but I must decline. I still need to drop by somewhere to buy dinner for my family before I go home."

"Very well. I will not waste any more of your time, but before that," Maruo directed his gaze towards the teens' intimate action at the moment like a moth to a flame, as he finally frowned at the both of them. "May I ask why the two of you are holding each other's hands?"

Both Fuutarou and Itsuki snapped their eyes wide open as they looked down at their hands, where they noticed that they were still linked together until now, even when they were in the presence of Maruo. Fuutarou turned white as he felt like something died inside him, while Itsuki blushed furiously and didn't hesitate to quickly separate from him.

"A-Ahh, it's nothing, Father…! I was just going to help Uesugi-kun reach the entrance!" she insisted with a reassuring smile, which can definitely be seen as a fake one. It didn't help that her face was already turning as red as her hair as well…

Maruo didn't believe anything that came out of his daughter's mouth and simply turned his attention towards Fuutarou, who shrunk in fear when he was being given the death stare once again. Yes, he regretted talking down on it, but how could he possibly know that it would be so effective?! He was just a kid back then! Plus, he saw it from one of Maruo's daughters, not the guy himself!

Welp.

There's no way out of this one.

"Uesugi-kun, are you in a relationship with my daughter, by any chance?" Maruo asked with a serious look that made him look like he was daring the young man to attempt making a lie.

Fuutarou gulped to himself, while being extremely careful about what he was going to say next. Okay, calm down! Calm down! Hope wasn't gone yet! He can still make up for his little mistake and clear his name! He just needs to keep a calm mind and hide his own nervousness, and then it'll all be okay!

"N-No, we're not. We are simply tutor and student, that's all."

"Is that so? Do you mind explaining to me why you were holding Itsuki's hand, then?" Maruo argued calmly, showing how easy it was to see through Fuutarou's excuse, if it could be even considered as one.

That's not good enough! Come on, Fuutarou! You're supposed to be the top student! Surely you can come up with a better excuse than that, right?!

"I-I was just leading her out of their home," he quickly followed up before he could screw this up completely. "Her sisters were teasing her about accompanying me and in order to save her from embarrassment, I grabbed her hand and led her out of there."

Maruo's expression remained the same, which was almost akin to a doomsday countdown the moment it changes. "Instead of her hand, you do know that you could have held her arm, or even her shoulder, correct? Or better yet, you shouldn't have laid your hands on my daughter at all. Simply telling her that it's time to leave would have been enough. What you did can send the wrong signal for other people, like me."

Fuutarou pursed his lips tightly, looking like he was becoming serious but he was actually panicking on the inside. Her father was more perceptive than he thought, and he was getting backed into a corner with every passing second in which that man was giving him a death stare.

"Speaking of which, you were also being quite intimate with Itsuki earlier when you were patting her head for some reason. Why did you do that? I assume it had something to do with comforting her, yes? Still, that doesn't mean you can do such a thing with my daughter without consulting me, especially when I am just here with you."

The young man was panicking so much in his mind that he could pass out at any moment. Well, considering that the one interrogating him for answers was his own employer who would pay a ludicrous amount for him to teach five quintuplets, it's obvious he would lose his mind.

"Shit! I'm dead! What have I done?! I basically doomed myself! I can't believe I just let that happen! What the hell got into me?! And I did all of those while her father was watching!"

Oh, now you noticed what you just did? Way to go, Fuutarou, you blew your good chance at gaining this guy's favor!

Well, these two are dead. You blew it, Fuutarou! You just had to act like the hero, didn't ya?! Now look at what you've done! Way to ruin your favor with the guy too! Just earlier, he's perfectly fine with ya and he even let you call him 'Father'! Now that you acted like an idiot for some reason, you might never gain his favor again! You better think of a solution, fast! There's a high chance that Maruo's gonna tell you to get lost just for holding Itsuki's hand while standing in front of him. Urgh, things went downhill so quick... it's unnerving to think of what will happen next. What's gonna happen from here? Guess we'll find out in the next one!

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

-Lance