Chapter 6

-Nino-

That night a pleasant dream came around, or at least, that was what I thought. I was reliving the time when my family was still complete when we lived in Kyoto. Papa was always at home, always smiling and playing with me and Hiro. Mama was cooking in the kitchen, humming to a song that was playing on the radio. Just an ordinary day for an ordinary family. This was the last memory I had of us being happy before everything fell apart.

Suddenly the whole room flooded with water, it was as if a tsunami had hit us. Before I knew it, we were all submerged underwater. I searched around me, hoping to find someone who can help me, only to see my life fall apart right in front of me. I saw my mother, dead and falling deeper into the dark waters. I tried to reach out for her, screaming even though no one could hear me. "MAMA! MAMA! PLEASE DON'T GO!" I desperately swam to the bottom, hoping to save my mother, but no matter how much I struggled, she drifted further and further away.

I then felt someone grab my arm, and there he was. The boy who saved my life nearly 7 years ago. I still couldn't make out his face but I could tell what he was saying. "I WON'T LET ANYONE ELSE GO!" and before I knew it, I was dragged out of the water.

"Wait, No! My mom! She—" I realized that I had woken up, my arm reached out and tears rolling down my face as I remembered the day I lost my mother, which was also the day I realized that the water was a scary place. I looked at my phone, it was 7:00 in the morning, an hour and a half before classes started, so I got out of bed and readied myself for school.

As I got off the last station, I spotted Rin speaking with Niko. I ran up to them and smiled, "Rin! Niko! Good morning!"

Rin looked surprised as I called for Niko "Oh! Nino-chan! You know Niko-chan?"

I nodded, "Yeah! Turns out he's one of the tutors my father hired to help me with my grades. Which reminds me..." I pouted, "Why didn't you tell me Shin had identical brothers? I looked like a fool thinking they were all the same person!"

Rin laughed at me, saying "Well I WAS going to tell you, but I couldn't find the chance to. And besides, you found out about them eventually, so I don't see any harm done!"

I sighed and pouted even more "Well you're right, but it still would have helped if you told me sooner!" I then turned to Niko and asked, "Where are the rest of your brothers? Given how you're quintuplets I expected that you would all go to school together."

Niko was calculating something on his phone, but he paused for a bit to answer. "Oh normally we do, but then Shin had some stuff to work on for the student council, so he left a little earlier than the rest of us. Meanwhile this little brat kept pestering me to go get coffee with her before classes! Now I gotta recalculate this month's budget due to that!"

Rin groaned, "It's just one coffee! I get that you guys might not be in the financial safe zone at the moment, but a small indulgence every now and then wouldn't hurt."

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah Niko, giving yourself a reward for your hard work isn't too bad!".

We had just reached the main gate when Niko sighed. "I guess the both of you are right, but still, money's pretty tight now with all the debt my family has, so I really can't be too lenient with this. Anyways, my class is this way, so I'll be going now. See you later at your place, Nakano-chan?"

A smirk developed on Rin's face at that last comment. "Ara-ara, seems like the transfer student has been making moves already! Having a boy casually say they'll meet you at your place isn't something you do with a guy you literally just met the other night… so how far have the two of you gone, huh?"

Both my and Niko's faces turned bright red. Niko was too flustered to reply so I said "Y-Y-You got the wrong idea! We hold the tutoring sessions at my house! We aren't dating or anything! Strictly a teacher-student relationship! Nothing more, nothing less!" I said as I waved my hands around as Rin kept on laughing

As soon as Rin finished laughing, the three of us parted ways. Rin and I walked towards our classroom when I saw Fuutarou coming out of the restroom. "Good morning, Fuutarou!"

Fuutarou looked towards us and waved, "Good morning, Nakano-san, Takebayashi-san. If you'll excuse me, I have some more studying to do." and soon entered the classroom.

Rin looked surprised. "Did he just... greet us properly? No snark or attitude?"

I looked at her with confusion, "Does he not normally treat people properly?"

She shook her head, "Nope, he's as antisocial as they come! Which is why it's so surprising!"

"Huh, well I guess he turned over a new leaf then?" I said as I walked into the classroom

Classes went by similarly compared to yesterday. I struggled in keeping up with the lectures and by the end of the period I was practically a puddle. Fuutarou looked back and saw my sorry excuse of a state. "Nakano-san, I'm honestly surprised you had a hard time with a lecture as easy as this. I guess I've got my work cut out for me after all."

I groaned at his comment "Aaaand there's the attitude! And here I thought we would start it off with a blank slate..."

Fuutarou's eyes went wide at what I said. "Wait! I didn't mean for it to sound like that! Agh! It's just that I have no filter when I say things..." He genuinely looked upset at what he'd done. "What I wanted to say was that I can help you learn about things like this, I have to admit that our teacher's way of explaining things was a little confusing, but that won't be the case with me, I swear."

I smiled, "Thanks Fuutarou. I really appreciate it, maybe I can teach you to speak in a nicer way too, as another way to repay you for tutoring me."

Fuutarou blushed, "Well... I wouldn't mind that to be honest..." he then stood up. "Anyways, I gotta go change, PE's our next class after all. I heard we're doing swimming for this semester. Not exactly a good swimmer though, so please don't laugh at me."

As soon as he said that the world around me had shattered into pieces. The one fear I never wanted to face had now showed itself at the front door. "Did you say... swimming?"

-Chapter 6 End-