Lol, I'm not dead yet! The Ace isn't dead, people. He's just busy with his own original works instead of fanfiction but since today is a special day, I thought of updating this fic for all the patient readers out there. To everyone who already knows, sing a happy birthday to the Nakano quintuplets! It's only fitting that I update on the their birthday because of how much I love this series and its characters. Don't expect me to update when the movie comes out, though. I could care less about it because it'll be the same as the manga ending. A disappointing piece of shit. Now, with that being said, let's head into this chapter!

Discord link: [discord . gg / 4y5QVPj]

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

The pair continued on their way towards the school doors, choosing to ignore the weird looks they were getting from some students along the way. It seemed like the rumor regarding Fuutarou Uesugi hanging out with a beautiful girl was still relevant until now, although the hype and publicity around it was inferior to how it was in the past few days.

Perhaps it's because of Nino's own actions yesterday, when she declared him as her tutor in front of Fuutarou's classmates. That little revelation may have spread quickly the moment it came out, which led to less students paying attention to him!

The fact that he can't be asked out by any girl while he was Itsuki's tutor must have hit his classmates hard, especially those who looked forward to doing their thing after classes were over. Their moment of happiness ended too soon when they found out that he's busy with the same girl even after the school day ends.

Hmm, quite an interesting development and this was actually good for him… although it's best if he didn't get his hopes up about whether or not his classmates will stop bothering him.

"I see your father has informed you about my, shall we say, 'promotion'?" he asked, paying particular attention to Nino's reason why she was waiting for him this time around.

Nino was doing this just because she's his student now. Of course, this was likely just a way to cover up what she really meant by those words. Nino has noticably been a lot more clingy lately for some reason, which means she was waiting for him simply because she wanted to.

Unlike Itsuki and Yotsuba, however, Kami-sama hasn't kissed him on the cheek yet or anything like that. So far, the only things she's done were hugging his arm and making that bento for him a few days ago. There's no telling what might happen from here on out, but now that he was going to be with the rest of the sisters a lot more, he can only hope that he can handle it.

"Yeah, he talked to us about it, right after he nearly gave us a heart attack with his presence. We were honestly caught off guard when he showed up out of nowhere without even giving us a call beforehand!" she explained, before giving in to slight anger from remembering her father's sudden appearance.

To be honest, she had a point. The guy did drop by unexpectedly and dropped a bomb on them without even telling them beforehand.

Fuutarou shrugged, while he could chuckle at himself for feeling as if he saw a ghost yesterday. "Can't blame you. He showed up right in front of us when we were about to head into the elevator, and we didn't know what to do exactly."

Nino raised an eyebrow at him. "What did you talk to him about? Papa said that he had a little talk with you and Itsuki before he came to see us."

His eyes snapped open at that, before quickly thinking of a convenient excuse in his mind. There's no way he's going to tell her about the thing with Itsuki and their relationship, so he'll have to make up something truthful and didn't involve anything regarding her sister at the same time.

He wasn't ready to deal with the issue of jealousy between girls yet!

"Oh, uh, he just asked me if I can handle tutoring all five of you at the same time. I answered yes, though I asked him if it would be possible for me to have until Sunday to think of how to approach this new scenario I am in," he replied in the most sincere tone he could muster but instead of being satisfied, his answer only seemed to anger the girl even further for some reason.

Oh, come on… what did he do now?

"Ugh, it's a good thing you mentioned that! I want to ask why you want to stop teaching for like a week right after saying that you can, because I was actually looking forward to you dropping by our home today!" she groaned, sending him a frown which meant that she was disappointed.

"I'm only human, Nino. Even someone like me has limits and, well, going from two students to five is a big jump, don't you think? In fact, I'm sure that if it was any other student who was tutoring the five of you, he would give up after only one day because of how you're all doing academically at the moment."

She narrowed her eyes. "Is that supposed to be an insult to us?"

He paid no heed to her change in expression and simply shrugged his shoulders. At this point, he was able to tell by himself when this girl was about to snap or not, which was also shown earlier when she hugged his arm. From her demeanor alone, she was playing with him and therefore, he didn't really care but this time, he'll have to tread carefully so that he doesn't touch on anything sensitive…

"You can take it however you want. All I'm saying is that I'm not like those people, because it was my decision to take up this job in the first place and I'm not about to give up on Itsuki and Yotsuba halfway."

Nino continued to narrow her eyes at him, before eventually letting out a deep sigh. "Well, it's not just them anymore. Besides, if I'm not mistaken, they're doing pretty well while you're teaching them, right?"

"I know, and the three of us are aware of that. But it's slightly different now. It will be a challenge to elevate all your grades until they reach the passing mark, but I have faith that I can pull it off because I trust all of you to do your best," he explained, before sending Nino a knowing look. "However, I will need the five of you to trust me as well, because the only way we can make this work is by working together and supporting each other."

"Heh, that's exactly what Papa told us yesterday, you know?" she smirked, punching Fuutarou's arm in a playful manner. This caused him to show a very small smirk, realizing to himself that their father was one step ahead of him. "Well, I trust you and I'm sure that Yotsuba and Itsuki feel the same. I'm not sure about Ichika and Miku, but since they had no problems about you being our tutor, it's all good."

That last statement from Nino caused Fuutarou to double over and nearly trip on his feet, but was able to regain his bearing as he stared at the girl in wonder. She was smiling at him in a sweet manner; her eyes closed and hands linked behind her back that it made her look cuter despite already looking attractive. It was almost about to make him blush, but instead he turned his attention to the words she just spoke.

For Nino to just admit that she trusts him… did he really have that big of an impact on her already?

"Uhm… thanks…" he muttered, unable to stop his cheeks from reddening out of embarrassment. However, he only rubbed the back of his head slowly as a response. "That… means a lot, honestly…"

"Is that a blush I see on your face, Fuu-kun? Aww, was that the first time you've heard something like that from a girl? Don't worry, I can understand what you feel~"

Nino teased with a big grin, as Fuutarou seemed like he was about to panic from being caught in the act. Thankfully, he was able to keep his blushing cheeks in check and simply turned away to avoid having to look at Nino, who was surely enjoying this particular moment just for his misery.

"I'm just going to stay quiet," he spoke in a defeated tone.

"Oh, come on, lighten up! I was just teasing ya around, what's wrong with that? You really need to learn how to lighten up, Fuu-kun," she continued to tease him, even nudging his sides with her elbow in an attempt to get a reaction from him, but Fuutarou kept his look impassive.

"I'm not really in the mood for any of it today."

"Hoh? You're telling me you can mess around with Itsuki and Yotsuba, but you can't do the same with me? Are you playing favorites now, Fuu-kun? I don't think you should be doing that to your students~"

"Again, it's not like that…"

Fuutarou could only sigh as Nino continued to try pushing his buttons, which he would continue to endure for the next few moments at least. Because unbeknownst to the two of them, there was another girl who had the same hair color as Nino, standing at a distance not far from them. She initially had a familiar smirk on her face upon seeing Fuutarou, until she saw who was walking by his side.

"Ara? Nino? You're walking with Fuutarou-kun?"

That voice was so recognizable for Nino that she immediately stopped bothering the young man beside her so that she could see the person who just called out to her. Despite knowing exactly who it was, Nino just couldn't stop herself from being surprised that Ichika was right there with them.

"Ichika? What are you doing here?" Nino asked, her surprised look turning into confusion as she raised an eyebrow at her sister.

"Me? Oh, I was going to walk with Fuutarou-kun until I get to my class," Ichika explained her actions, before smirking at how Nino was very close to the young man at the moment. "You know, just to catch up with him a bit since he's going to be our tutor from now on, right? But it seems that you had me beaten there."

Nino seemed oblivious to Ichika's attempt in teasing her, which was shown by having a thoughtful expression on her face instead of looking embarrassed of the sort. Perhaps she was more focused on Fuutarou or something to notice…

"Well, why don't you just walk with us then? We both get to be with him that way and we can get to our own classes too," Nino suggested in an almost-nonchalant manner, as if there was nothing wrong about what she just said.

Obviously, both Ichika and Fuutarou acted in the opposite manner.

Fuutarou's eyes snapped wide open almost immediately, before his gaze flew around as quick as a hungry rabbit, trying to see if there was anyone around that was watching them. It's only now that he realized he would likely be in trouble if he gets seen with both Ichika and Nino right now, especially if it was one of his classmates!

What he wanted to prevent in the first place… will simply come to pass.

On the other hand, Ichika looked genuinely confused that Nino would suggest something like that. In truth, she was just teasing her sister about being close to Fuutarou, so she didn't expect Nino to tell her that they can walk altogether. Anyway, her attention was then directed towards what Nino asked her, because she was surely expecting an answer in the next few seconds.

Ichika rubbed her chin slowly, putting on a thinking pose while humming in deep thought. "Hmm, I have no problems with that, but we better ask Mr. Tutor here what he thinks. I wouldn't want to do something that makes him uncomfortable, after all~"

Nino nodded, understanding what Ichika wanted to do as she turned towards the young man beside her. However, she was quick to raise an eyebrow when she noticed Fuutarou having his attention elsewhere by turning his head to multiple directions.

It's as if he wasn't listening to them all along.

"What's the matter? What are you looking at?" she asked, causing Fuutarou to snap out of his temporary trance and making him solely turn his attention towards the two girls who were giving him weird looks.

Oh shit, they must have noticed him! Uh… gotta think of a reason, fast! Not to worry, not to worry, he actually heard what they were talking about. It just didn't seem like he was listening due to how he had his attention somewhere else.

"I'm sorry. I'll have to decline the offer," he spoke while bowing his head in apology. "You have to remember that there's a rumor about Itsuki and I, Nino. You know that, right? I'm completely fine if it was just you and me but if Ichika is with us, or rather the fact that two of you are with me, it'd spark questions. In fact, I consider it a damn miracle that no one's looking at us yet."

He explained the situation carefully, while being mindful of his own words in the slightest chance that he says something wrong. He didn't want to sound offensive in any way, especially towards Ichika who was looking forward to walking with him.

Although, this does raise the question of what exactly made her decide on doing this, but let's talk about that later.

As soon as he was done explaining his perspective on the situation at hand, Fuutarou quickly noticed that both girls were just staring at him as if they were in shock, especially Ichika. This immediately translated into his mind that he said something wrong, leading to him bowing his head to apologize properly.

"Ichika, I apologize for disappointing you but there's —"

Before he could finish his words, he felt a hand gently resting on his shoulder which caused him to look up. Standing right in front of him was Ichika, and she had a gentle smile on her face.

"No, you don't need to apologize, Fuutarou-kun. Nino told us about those rumors between you and Itsuki yesterday, so I understand what you're trying to say. In fact, why don't you get a move on and get to your classroom already? I'm sure Itsuki-chan is already waiting for you there."

She told him in a tone that didn't reflect any sign of disappointment or sadness, which was further shown by the comforting smile on her face. For some reason, he felt that it was still not enough and that he was in the wrong here, considering the circumstances revolving around this which he was aware of by now.

This was wrong.

He was supposed to make all of them happy!

What kind of person would he be if he can't even return the favor to the people who changed his life? Ichika was also a part of them as well as Nino, and he couldn't leave anyone out.

Fuutarou raised his hand, wanting to tell her that he'll make it up to her somehow for this slip-up before he stopped himself midway, realizing it wouldn't do any good, both for himself and Ichika. He made an undeniable point about the possible chance that other students would see him with two girls instead of one, and he'll have to deal with it. Fuutarou didn't want to tell Nino to leave him and Ichika alone either, it wasn't any different since it was just the other way around!

If that's how it's going to be, he'll make it up to her next time. He'll make it up to her or his name is not Fuutarou Uesugi, the soulmate of five sisters and the luckiest guy in the world!

For now, instead of giving a verbal response, he only gave a simple nod and continued on his way into the school, leaving the two sisters in their place as he kept his head lowered for some reason. This confused both girls, but they couldn't get anything out of their mouths.

Ichika and Nino simply stood there, watching Fuutarou as he disappeared before the latter turned to her older sister. "Have you been waiting around here for a while now? I thought you said you wanted to get to your classroom quickly so you can still take a little nap."

The eldest of the Nakano quintuplets looked at Nino for a brief moment, before smiling in amusement. "Well, I might have said that, but then I thought about Fuutarou-kun and how he's going to be our tutor from now on. I said to myself, 'It wouldn't hurt to wait for him and walk to class together, since we'll be spending a lot of time each other from now on', so I just stood here waiting for him."

Nino deadpanned. "He's not gonna show up at our house until next week, though."

"And? Does that have something to do with wanting to walk with him? In case you aren't aware, you were doing the same exact thing a while ago," Ichika responded in a calm tone, pointing out her sister's own actions just earlier.

"-!"

The second quint pursed her lips together in a straight line, seemingly affected with what Ichika said and she remained that way until she shook her head a few seconds later. Releasing a sigh to herself, Nino folded her arms and turned her attention towards the main doors instead.

"Never mind. Let's just head inside."

"Fufu, alright then~"

With that, the two continued on their way on their own, while being fortunate enough that nobody else was paying attention to them. Perhaps Fuutarou was right in his decision to go on ahead, because he was more acquainted with the people around here, despite being known as a loner up until those rumors started spreading around.

Yep, the luckiest guy in the world, indeed.

Just a little bit of Nino and Ichika fluffiness for this one in response to Fuutarou now being their tutor as well, but I promise that it will be Miku's time to shine in the coming chapters. She's the only one who hasn't experienced the shock yet, and I have a plan cooked up on how to execute her scene. Nino has also become a lot clingier now, which could only spell trouble given how she doesn't hold back at all when it comes to showing affection. A kiss from her might not be far from happening, but we'll see what happens. In Ichika's case, she's starting to make her move, I can tell... hehe, I wonder how she will handle her newfound feelings for him? But anyway, that's all I have for you guys in this chapter, so I'll see you in the next update!

MINASAN, YONDE KURETE ARIGATŌ! AISHITEMAAAAASUUUUU! *starts playing air guitar*

-Lance