-Chapter 4-

-Shin-

A day earlier...

I had just come home to my family's run-down apartment after a long day of preparing things for the start of the new school year. Being student council president practically makes me busy even before the semester even started after all. I opened the door to see my father talking with someone on the phone.

"Yeah, I'm telling you, all five of them are very intelligent. Yes, your daughter's grades are safe in their hands so there's no need for you to worry. So do we have a deal? We do? That's fantastic! Can't wait to tell the boys about it! We won't let you down, Maruo." my dad said as he ended the call.

I removed my shoes and sat beside him. "What was that all about, pops? I heard something about someone's grades being in our hands..." I asked, then feigned a look of horror, "Don't tell me you're secretly gonna make us do people's homework from now on?"

A mess of red hair popped out of one of the rooms, revealing my youngest brother, Goro. "Well I wouldn't be surprised, I mean pops did lose a lot of money when he went gambling the other day—"

Goro couldn't even finish his sentence before my older brother, Niko, pushed him out of the way. "YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT POPS WENT OFF TO GAMBLE, AGAIN?" the look of fury he had was so scary, even my dad couldn't help but back away. Niko sighed, "How many times have I told you all that we can't afford to spend any more money? Our budget's already tight as it is, we can't afford to lose money at this point!"

A second later someone's hand was placed on his head. "Now now, Niko. I'm sure pops didn't lose that much money, right, pops?" said my eldest brother, Ikku, with an expectant look. My dad took the hint and nodded. "See? And with the money Fuutarou is earning at that cafe I'm sure that we'll still be within our budget for this month. Now why don't we settle down and let Fuutarou sleep? He's probably pretty tired from all the work and studying he's been doing.

"Too late, Niko's shouting woke me up" said a tired Fuutarou as he walked out of his room.

Niko shook the back of his head guiltily, "Sorry man, didn't mean to wake you up."

Fuutarou shrugged, "What's done is done, anyways what caused all of this anyway?"

We all heard a cough and turned toward our dad. "Well if you guys had given me any time to explain... I was going to tell you all that I got you guys gigs as private tutors. An old buddy of mine just moved here and he said that his daughter needs someone to help her with her grades. Given how smart the five of you are, I jumped at the chance and offered to have you help her."

I raised an eyebrow, "And how much does this job give us? Having to pay 5 separate tutors on a monthly basis must be hard for someone to do after all."

A big smile formed on my dad's face. "That's the good part, my buddy's really rich, and is willing to offer ¥20,000 per tutor, so if my math's correct that's around ¥100,000 a month!"

After hearing that, we could practically see Yen signs bulging from our eyes. Ikku coughed to gather everyone's attention and said "Quint Meeting?"

My three other brothers and I looked at each other and nodded, "Quint Meeting."

We all gathered in my and Goro's room, I saw that everyone was excited to say something, so I decided to start it off. "I think we should take the job; I mean who would pass up on an offer this big? This'll lighten the load for both pops and Fuutarou!"

Niko nodded, "I agree, plus this would increase our budget by a lot, we can't miss out on this! This would mean Fuutarou would have to work less shifts too."

Fuutarou shrugged, "I don't know guys, I get that this is a good deal, but isn't it too good to be true? I mean, what if the daughter is too stupid for us to teach her? Won't that make it all a wasted effort?"

Goro slung an arm around Fuutarou's shoulder, "Why do you have to be so pessimistic all the time, man? I say we go for it, with the five of us combined, nothings impossible!"

Fuutarou sighed, "Fine, I guess it's worth a shot, but if she's too difficult to teach then I'm out, you understand me?"

Ikku then pretended to bang a gavel, and in fluent English said "Well since majority of us want to take the job, then I say we go for it too, Quint Meeting adjourned." Niko, Futaro, and Goro al looked at him with confusion.

I laughed and said "Ikkun, you really need to get rid of that habit of yours, Nikkun, Fuukun, and Gokun aren't that good with English yet!" I then looked to my other brothers and said, "Ikkun says we should take the job as well, so the Quint Meeting's adjourned."

The three of them stared at Ikku and simultaneously said, "Couldn't you have just said that in the first place?" Ikku blushed and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment, while everybody else was laughing.

We met with our dad at the living room and told him of our decision, he looked glad and told us our first day starts tomorrow after class, so we all ate dinner and went to bed.

The following day I woke up earlier than the rest. I yawned and looked at my phone, "Guess I better leave a little earlier than usual, Rin's probably gonna need help prepping for the morning assembly, I think I'll let Niko sleep in for today..." I groggily went to the bathroom and took a quick shower, put on my uniform, and grabbed a piece of bread on my way out.

My high school was a fair distance away from home, luckily the trains weren't too crowded by the time I boarded them. I had just gotten off my last train when I bumped into this girl.

She apologized about bumping into me, it turned out she was going to Asashiyama High as well, so she and I walked towards the campus together. We talked more about ourselves as we walked, and she said something that piqued my interest.

"My papa hired five tutors for me already, so I think I'm good at that front. I appreciate the offer though!" was what she said.

A small smirk formed on my face. "So she's the one we'll be tutoring... she doesn't seem like a bad girl, so that's good..." I thought to myself

We continued walking towards the campus, by the time we arrived at the gate, I had to part ways with her. Luckily due to the tutoring gig I'll get to see her again. I saw that my brother's were already walking into the main building so I caught up with them.

"Woah, I thought you went ahead of us, how the hell did we arrive before you did?" asked a sleepy Fuutarou

I grinned and said "Oh I just bumped into this girl and I—"

"Couldn't help but talk and fall in love with her first?" said Goro as he interrupted me. "I get that you're popular and all, but couldn't you at least do it while you walked? Seriously, you flirty types are the worst."

I blushed a bit before explaining "I—you know what, forget it. No matter what I say you won't stop teasing me will you, Gokun?" I smiled.

"You know me so well, big brother!" said Goro as he playfully punched my arm.

"Well moving on to another topic, what's the plan for later? Should we all meet up at the gate and go together as a group?" asked Niko

"I think so, knowing how bad my sense of direction is, I sure as hell don't want to go alone!" laughed Ikku as he practically dragged a half-awake Fuutarou to the washroom, "I'll see you guys later then!"

After that we all went our separate ways, classes were as boring as ever, especially since I knew all the material by now. By the time the final bell rung I was already out of my seat and met up with my brothers.

"You all ready to go?" I asked.

All my brother's nodded in agreement and we were on our way to our soon-to-be student's home. We already knew our client was rich but seeing their house up close and personal still made it seem so unreal. It was the penthouse of the newly opened residential complex in downtown Tokyo. We rang the doorbell, only to reveal a middle school student, probably in his third year judging from his height and build, the boy had a scowl on his face which made us feel rather uncomfortable.

"Are you onee-chan's tutors?" asked the boy

I moved forward and extended my hand, "Yes, we're the Uesugi quintuplets. My name's Shin Uesugi, and these are my brothers, Ikkun, Nikkun, Fuukun, and Gokun. It's nice to meet you."

The boy frowned, "I wish I could say the same." he held my hand tightly before pulling me in. "Listen here, I don't give a crap about your attack of the clones schtick, but if you do anything to hurt my sister, a broken arm will be the least of your worries, you understand?" The kid's intent to kill was so strong that I could hear my brothers slowly backing away and taking every bit of willpower to not run away from the miniature devil in front of us.

I gulped and nodded my head, then the boy let go of my hand. He let us inside the house and just as it was on the outside, the inside of the house looked amazing. State of the art appliances were practically everywhere, and the kitchen would make any housewife faint at how amazing it looked.

"I had forgotten to give you guys my name, it's Hiro by the way, Hiro Nakano." said the boy.

"Nakano, you say? Oh! So you're siblings with the girl who annoyed me today! I nearly made her cry earlier, so I apologize for that." said Fuutarou

As if on cue, everyone stared daggers at Fuutarou, and the next thing we knew, we were kneeling on the ground with stone tablets on our thighs, and the stare of the devil look right at us.

Niko sighed in exasperation and glared at Fuutarou. "You just had to make our client cry on the first day, didn't you? What if she cancels our tutoring gig?"

Futaro glared back, "I said I was sorry! And I didn't even know she was our client at the time!"

"Still doesn't mean that you have to act that way, Fuutarou. Remember what I told you about being nice to people?" said Ikku

Futaro was about to retort but we heard the sound of a door opening. "I'm home!" said a familiar voice. We all turned toward the voice and saw Nino entering, the look of surprise on her face was expected, but we didn't expect her to see us in this awkward situation.

I laughed nervously and said "Ummm hey Nino, it's nice to see you again, could you help me and my brothers out? Your younger brother's trying to assert his dominance… and I think it's working!"

-Chapter 4 End-