Chapter 7

Love's So Complicated

Maruo returned to check on them later that evening and was immediately informed of the situation. Once Nino had calmed down enough she was helped up to her room, where she had remained ever since with her door tightly shut.

He asked no questions and quickly went upstairs with the others following. He motioned for them to remain outside while he went in, but kept the door cracked opened enough so they could hear. After letting Nino know he was here, she poured out her sorrows to him and they listened to every word. While they were angry at Fuutarou and at themselves for what they'd done, the state of Nino's well being was far more important. After some time Nino finally went to sleep and Maruo emerged. He shut the door and sighed heavily, looking exhausted, before motioning them back downstairs.

"Is she going to be okay?" Yotsuba asked the question.

It was a while before he responded.

"To be honest... I don't know," he kept his voice low, "Physically there's nothing wrong with her. However, it's very clear that she's had a nervous breakdown and has gone into a deep depression. If you know anything about depressions they can have a very negative effect on the individual. Low self-esteem, lack of interest in the things you normally enjoy, and having no energy whatever. Very little sleep, no appetite, and a slow deterioration of health. Worse case scenarios go from drug abuse to insanity. She could end up going either way. Or both."

Everyone was silent as they took in his words.

"We'll have to keep a close eye on her from now on," he continued, "She can't go to school or anywhere else in this state. It would raise too many questions. The rest of you still have to attend school. While you're away I'll have Ebata stay to watch over her. I'll also drop by whenever I can."

"Is there really nothing we can do to help her?" Itsuki cried desperately, "Will she ever recover from this?"

"Shouldn't we be taking her a counselor?" said Ichika.

"Normally I would have done that already. However..." Maruo's lips twisted and he looked irritated, "Something tells me that won't be enough. Given enough time she could recover, but there's no guarantee. All we can do for now is give her our love and support and hope for the best."

Itsuki shook her head rapidly, "There must something we can do! I can't stand seeing her like this!"

Maruo looked up at the Nino's door and sighed reluctantly, "There might be one way."

The quints' faces lit up as he looked back down.

"You heard what she said yourselves ..." he sighed again, "Despite what happened today Nino is still very much in love with Fuutarou-san, and this time I think it's serious. It's not like last time. Much as I hate to say it, he may be the only one who can help her."

All of them gaped at him in disbelief.

"You can't be serious!" Yotsuba was incredulous, "How can you even suggest that after what happened today?"

"I thought you didn't like him," Miku mentioned.

"I don't, and I don't want to approach him, but I may have to," he gathered his coat and gloves, "I'll go over to his place tomorrow and speak with him."

"Wait, Papa," Ichika stepped forward, "That might not be a good idea. He's probably at a total loss right now. If you go to see him he'll just be intimidated by you. Let's wait a few days to see if Nino improves. If not, I'll go see him. He'll be more comfortable talking with me than with you."

Maruo thought it over before he agreed, "Very well."

"One other thing," Ichika interjected, "I know you'll disagree but... it would be best if you let us handle this ourselves. Like you said earlier, we're responsible for this mess. It's our job to make it right."

This time he nodded in approval, "Fair enough. I'll let you girls handle it then."

The room went silent after he left, then Itsuki spoke.

"There's something I need to tell you."

She told them about Nino's plans to move away after they graduated, listing the very reasons why. By the time she finished Yotsuba had turned very green and she was breathing heavily, as if she would vomit at any moment.

"I need to go. I need to be alone."

She went straight out the door before anyone could say a word. Itsuki made to follow her but Ichika stopped her and shook her head.

"Let her be," she said, "She's suffering just as much as Nino is."

"I know, but..." Itsuki sighed, "I'm worried."

"We all are."


Yotsuba couldn't remember how she gotten to her private spot so quickly.

It was in a little kids park in a fairly secluded area. A pair of swings gave an incredible view of the town below while allowing to see the ocean in the distance. Yotsuba had always come whenever she needed some time to herself, to deal with her inner conflicts. However, instead of going to the swings like she usually did she straight over to the guardrail where one could see the view and placed her hands in a tight, deadly grip.

She was all by hyperventilating by now. The fact that she had hurt Nino's feelings so deeply had been bad enough, but to learn that she intended to move away because she couldn't stand to be here anymore was even worse. For what must have been the hundredth time today she broke down and cried. She really had ruined everything, and all for what? Because she couldn't make the decision of wanting to be with Fuutarou or not. Instead, she let him make the choice for her and she accepted it without any regards to her sisters' feelings.

All because she couldn't face the truth about herself. She was just like Fuutarou's old friend had described.

A coward, a liar, and a backstabber.

She had done all three of those things and she had done without even trying. Every time she had a chance to come clean she ran away. She might not have been able to lie with words, but she didn't have to. She did it with her actions. But most of all she had stabbed her sisters in the back by trying to take Fuutarou all for herself. Now she had paid dearly for her selfishness. Nino was completely broken inside and she was the one who caused it to happen.

At some point Yotsuba found herself standing in front of the swing. Whenever she sad or distressed she would place herself on this swing, often standing up so she could see the view. Fuutarou had joined her here one time, almost having an accident himself. Without thinking she reached up and tightly gripped the chains. Before today she always thought this swing was her solitude, but now she knew otherwise.

This swing was her prison, it's chains her shackles.

She should have realized it long ago but she had been too caught up in her own feelings to even notice. She looked down at the seat, the overhead nightlight illuminating its surface. From there she saw her reflection, faint but visible. The image she saw frightened her.

She saw a face that had no eyes or a mouth, just black pits for them both. And the seemed to be laughing at her. Mocking her.

White hot anger suddenly coursed through her veins, and before she knew it she began stomping on the swing. She wanted to smash that very face she saw. She stomped again and again. Even when he leg started to hurt she still kept stomping. Each strike grew stronger, and every time she strike her screams of anger grew louder and louder. Then finally the swing broke from one chain, dangling off the other end.

Finally getting a hold of herself, Yotsuba let go of the chains and stepped back on trembling legs. The swing was damaged and bent out of shape. Obviously it could never used again. She stood there gasping for breath as a cold realization hit her.

She thought that if she could break this swing she could free herself from her pain, but what it really represented was the bond of the Nakano quints. The very bond she had destroyed. She had beaten and battered it to near death thanks to all of her selfish acts. Since her sisters hadn't kicked her out the bond was still there, but it only hanged by a mere thread. Just like this swing did.

She felt something wet run down her fingers and she lifted her hands. The chains had apparently cut into her hands when she was stomping the swing. Some of the cuts were actually bleeding, but it wasn't her blood she saw. It was Nino's. All at once the memory of Nino's breakdown came back to her, from her cry of utter despair to her collapsing as the last of her strength left her.

With a sob Yotsuba fell to her knees, jamming her fists into her eyes. She wanted to cry but there were no tears left to shed.

"I am so sorry, Nino! I am so... sorry..."

She continued to sob, wishing she could go back in time and change things. Start all over. Make things right. Do the things she should have done long ago.

"Yotsuba?"

With a gasp she lifted her head and saw Ichika standing there beside the polls of the swing set. Judging by the look on her face it was clear she had seen everything, but Yotsuba asked anyway.

"How... how long..." she couldn't form the words.

"Long enough," Ichika came over and sat down next to her, placing one arm over her shoulders.

She sat there quietly for a few minutes before shaking her head, "I killed her, Ichika. I killed Nino. She may still be alive and breathing, but she's completely dead inside. All because of me."

"You're not the only one who's suffering, Yotsuba."

"But she is the one who is suffering the most. I created my own suffering for completely foolish reasons. She's suffering because I took away her best chance to find happiness after being hurt so many times."

Silence passed again before Ichika said, "You were driven by fear, Yotsuba. Just as I was. Your were always afraid of how others would see you while I was afraid of losing my sisters to Fuutarou, just like Nino once did. Fear is very powerful force, Yotsuba. It drives us to do things we shouldn't and we make excuses to justify it."

"And that's exactly what I did," Yotsuba shook her head, "Why did I have to be such a coward? Why couldn't have I just accepted the past and moved on? How I can ever forgive myself for doing something so cruel to Nino? How can she ever forgive me for destroying her life? How can any of you forgive me for what I've done?"

Ichika gave a little smile, "Because we're sisters."

She shook her head again, "That's not good enough. Not anymore. I've destroyed our bond and we broke our promise to our mother. Maybe I should do what Nino had planned. Maybe I should move away, get away from it all, leave you guys alone so you won't have to deal with me anymore."

"If you do that then you'll just be running away again, just as you've always have."

It was true. If she actually moved away she would be running again. And she so tired of running.

"Then what-"

"Like I said, you're not the only one who's suffering. Like Papa said, we are all responsible for this mess and it's up to us to make things right again. Which is why we need to stick together, just as I told you before," Ichika placed her head against Yotsuba's, "We're going to get through this, Yotsuba. Nino is still with us even if she herself isn't there. Together we will bring her back."

She rubbed her hand over Yotsuba's head.

"Everything is going to be all right, Yotsuba. Just trust me. It's going to be all right."


Three days passed and Nino had improved very little. By the end of school on the third day, Ichika announced she was going to pay Fuutarou a visit.

The quints themselves were going through an internal crises of their own. They still had to attend school even though they had not wish to leave Nino behind, regardless if she was under Ebata's care, but Maruo told them that if they didn't it would only make things worse.

The walk to school they had shared for so long was difficult. Nino would always strike up a lively conversation during their trip there and back. Now it felt so lifeless and pointless.

When they first arrived at their classroom they saw that Fuutarou wasn't there and they were told by their teacher that he had taken a leave of absence and was being home schooled for the time being.

This left them very torn.

On one hand they wanted to see Fuutarou, let him know how serious Nino's condition was, but at the same time they didn't want to see him weren't sure what his response would be or what he would do if he knew. Their classmates quickly noticed that only four of them had arrived instead of five, and when they asked about Nino their only response wasn't that she was feeling very well and left it at that. The last they needed was for everyone to know the full story.

When they returned home later they found it was difficult to stay. They were torn between wanting to stay for Nino's sake while at the same time they wanted to get away from there for Fuutarou's memory haunted them no matter where they looked. The many fun moments they had shared with him in this apartment were now too painful to endure. They resorted to taking turns on staying and leaving. One pair would stay behind while the other pair would go out to do whatever they wished.

This was such the case for Miku. After school was over for today she told the others she wanted to spend some time alone, and so Yotsuba and Itsuki went back home while she and Ichika went off to see Fuutarou. Miku herself had asked her manager of the bakery for some time off based on concern for her sister's health. In truth though she just didn't want to risk running into Fuutarou during work.

She now leaned against the guardrail watching the ocean, a near empty matcha soda can dangling from her fingers as she gazed out to the sea. For what must have been the thousandth time she sighed heavily and once again pondered over the recent turn of events.

Everything had turned into a disaster. What should have been a happy ending to this story had instead gone the other way around. Nino was completely shattered as a result while they were left with at a loss of what they should do. Miku herself had no idea where to go from here.

"Hey."

She turned at the sound of the voice and saw a familiar face.

"Oh. Hi, Takeda," she gave a little smile as the blonde boy joined her on the rail, "How have you been?"

"Fine for the most part," he pointed to her neck, "I see you're wearing the headphones I sent you."

Her cheeks warmed as she touched the red headphones bearing the Takeda crest.

"Oh, yes. Thank you for the kind gift. It was really nice of you."

"You're welcome," he gave her a small grin.

"How are you getting along with your dad? Is he still trying to find you a new bride?"

"Yeah, but he's not succeeding," he paused, "What about you? I noticed that Uesugi was no longer at school and that you sister was ill. Did something happen?"

She bit her lips, "It's a lot worse than that actually."

He paused again, "Do you want to talk about it?"

She glanced at him, wondering if it was okay to tell him about it, then she decided there was no harm in it since he had come all this way to see her.

"Wow, what a moron," he shook his head after she finished, "I told him that he was treating you guys unfairly. I even warned him to be careful so things didn't blow up in his face and yet he went and did it anyway. I can't believe it."

"I'm still a bit shocked myself," Miku admitted, "We all foolishly believed that he was a good guy. We didn't know what he was truly like until it was too late."

Yusuke shook his head again, "I'm sorry about your sister. I hope she recovers."

"So do we," Miku rubbed her head, "We never thought things would turn out like this."

"Want me to go over and beat him up a bit?" he offered, "Knock some sense into that over sized brain of his?"

She looked at him startled, but when she saw he was being sincere she burst out laughing.

"Thank you, but no," she grinned, "Yotsuba already did that for us."

"What did she do?"

"Punched him in the face."

"That's it?" Yusuke snorted, "After what he did he should have had a few bones broken."

"Yeah, well... despite what he said he wan't entirely wrong about us. Me especially."

He looked back at her, "What did he say?"

"That I trying too hard to be someone I simply wasn't. You see, I was very shy and timid before I met him. He helped me break out of my shell and that's how I became infatuated with him. I guess you can say that I was like one of those students who didn't want to separate from their master. We one time asked him who his type was and one of his responses was being a good cook. That made me want to go to culinary school after graduation so I could make delicious meals for him whenever he came home from work."

"Your cooking is... not so great?"

She couldn't help but giggled on how polite he was trying to be.

"It's not awful, but it's average at best. Nino is the real cook of the family. She really makes some of the best meals," she sighed, "Me going to culinary school showed that I trying too hard to be Fuutarou ideal wife instead of just being myself. In the end I didn't see him as a person. I just saw him as a goal."

"Ah, I see. Well, lesson learned."

"Yeah," she agreed, "We all learned a hard lesson. I guess for part of it was me out of desperation. Guys find girls like me boring."

"Most guys would," he paused before he looked at her with a serious expression, "but I don't."

Her heart skipped a beat, "Thank you, but you don't need to be so polite."

"No, I'm being serious," he reached over and squeezed her forearm, "I don't find you boring at all. I think that reserved shyness of yours is what makes you attractive. At least in my eyes you do."

Her breath caught. No one had ever said anything like that to her before, not even Fuutarou. To hear something like that brought her a great sense of joy. She suddenly felt much better than she did five minutes ago. She looked down at his hand on her arm, feeling it's warmth, assuring her that he was here. It was deeply touching that there someone out there who really cared about her well being aside from her sisters.

"You're far too kind, Yusuke," she whispered

He gave a lopsided grin and released his hand, "With you, it's hard not to be."

Before she could respond to that he asked, "So how have you and your sisters been coping with this?"

Remembering what had brought him here she shrugged, "We've been keeping an eye on Nino while at the same trying to keep ourselves from thinking of the past. It's been difficult to stay in our apartment lately when we have so many different memories."

"I know what you mean," he said, reminding her of how Yusuke went to great lengths to avoid his father. She saw him take a glance behind them, "Hey, I got an idea. Wanna spend some time over at the arcade? Get you mind off things for a while?"

Surprised by his offer she turned around and saw an arcade center across the street.

"I'm not very good with those games," she pointed out.

"Neither am I, but that's not the point. The point of any place of entertainment is to have fun. So why don't we just forget about everything for right now and do just that?" he held his hand to her, "Come on. My treat."

Miku stared, amazed at how bold he'd become since they had met at the bookstore. Then she realized that in two weeks Takeda had shown more respect for her in the past two weeks than Fuutarou had in the past two years. She wasn't trying to think bad about Fuutarou, it was just an undeniable fact. Then she remembered what Fuutarou's father had said about them ignoring all the other boys. Takeda had proven himself to be the kind of guy he had described. If she walked away now she would be doing exactly what Fuutarou's father had said. That was what had gotten them into trouble in the first place.

She looked at Yusuke's hand and, taking a deep breath, placed hers in it.

Giving her a warm smile, he closed his fingers around hers and led the way.


Fuutarou spent most of his work hours cleaning the restaurant. He had been allowed to keep his job but his Dad wouldn't allow him to return to school until the day the final exam took place. He was also not allowed to see the quints until he acknowledged his mistakes and apologized to them properly.

The thing was that he already what his mistakes were. It was just that he was too scared to face his former pupils. He still no idea what he would say beyond the words "I'm sorry" again.

Chihori had been right. Ever since his mother had died he had been living under he shadow. He believed that him taking his studies seriously would make her proud and would make him a better person, only for him to turn into an absolute recluse who couldn't understand people. Because of his ignorance he hurt everyone around him, from his own family to the quints.

The hurt on their faces had kept him up at night, but it was Nino's cry of despair that made him afraid to go to sleep.

The manager had been told about Nino's illness without given any further detail. This left him rather shorthanded, for Nino was his prized cook and baker. Fortunately he had a couple friends who volunteered to help. Since he couldn't cook worth a damn Fuutarou was regulated to both waiter and cleaner.

It was quite lonely and awfully quiet without Nino around. Even the manager looked depressed. Fuutarou often found himself glancing at the kitchen entrance and remembering the night when she followed him there and confessed her love to him. For the second time, as he recalled. The first time she said it was when they were on their way back on the manager's bike when he had gone out to retrieve her. Because of the noise he hadn't heard, which led her to doing it again after they got back.

He remembered it like it was yesterday. She had followed him right into the kitchen and said those three fateful words. At first he had thought she was just playing a game with him, but when he saw that she was being dead serious he honestly couldn't believe it. He had just told the quints earlier that no girl would ever confess to someone like him, and yet Nino, the last person he ever expected, came and did just that. While she undoubtedly been embarrassed she hadn't back down. She had said it and meant it. He truly had to admire her bravery and determination. However...

Just like always, whenever he looked at the kitchen he would look away again. He thought back to what Chihori had told him about how Nino's confession had scared him and realized it was true. It had scared him to death. The last time a girl had confessed to him he'd been left traumatized by the event and he was determined to never approach the subject of love ever again. Nino's confession made him consider it again, and this time he wanted to avoid making the same mistake. A lot of good it did. He ended doing the exact same thing as before only this time he did it a whole lot worse.

Everyone had every right to be angry with him. He fully deserved it. The one who didn't know was Raiha. He couldn't imagine how heartbroken she would have been to see how mean her brother had become.

He often found wondering for the past few days why Nino had pursued him the most compared to Miku and even Ichika. In the beginning he had just assumed she the most infatuated with him and just wanted to beat her sisters into winning him for herself. Now though, after the breakdown she had, there seemed to be much more to it than he knew. He never thought she take it this badly. The more he thought about it the more he convinced he was that Nino had to have had a more personal reason for doing what she she did.

It was approaching closing time now since it was a short day. As he finished cleaning the floor he heard the front entrance door open behind him.

"I'm sorry, miss," he heard the manager say, "but we'll be closing early today."

"That's all right, sir. I'm not here to eat."

H is head snapped around to see Ichika standing there. She was in her school uniform and he remembered that school had ended over an hour ago. Even though he was at the other side of the restaurant he could see her face clearly. She seemed rather reluctant to be here.

"I need to speak with Uesugi-san," Ichika pointed to him, "It's an urgent matter and it can't wait."

Fuutarou saw his manager nod before glancing over in his direction, "Uesugi? You about finished?"

"Yes, sir," he called back, "I just got this corner to do."

"Hurry up then and put your stuff away while I lock up."

"Yes, sir!"

While Fuutarou finished with the cleaning the manager, Wakamura Toshiyuki, leaned over and whispered to Ichika, "Is it about Nino? If so I like to listen in. She is my employer after all and I'm equally concerned about her."

Ichika looked at him for a moment before she nodded in agreement. She accepted his offer of a free coffee and sat down on a bar stool while he went to the back to inform his other employers to go ahead and leave before he started locking up the restaurant. After putting the cleaning tools away Fuutarou joined her.

"How are you doing?" she asked.

He paused for a moment and shrugged.

"Okay, I guess," he took the stool beside her, "It's been really quiet without you guys around. I don't know if I should be happy or sad."

"Hmm," Ichika a small grin.

Wakamura join them and leaned on the counter. Ichika quickly explained to Fuutarou why he was here before her face turned serious.

"I'll get straight to the point. Nino is in really bad shape right now."

He expected as much, but her tone made it clear it that really was serious.

"Is she okay?" he asked nervously.

"You heard her scream the moment you left, right?"

"How could I not? I can still hear it even now. She really took it that badly, huh?"

"It's a lot worse than that, Fuutarou. She's had a nervous breakdown."

His head snapped to her, eyes wide with shock, "A what? Please tell me you're joking."

"I really wish I was, but it's true. She's gone into a really deep depression with no sign of recovering anytime soon," her head fell into her hands, "It's been awful, seeing her like this. She barely says a word, hardly interacts with us, doesn't finish her meals, and she spends most of her time locked in her room. Because of her condition Papa has made her stay home."

"My God..." Fuutarou couldn't believe it.

"How did it happen?" Wakamura asked.

"I went on a date with her sister last Friday... and I completely screwed up."

He explained it all to Manager.

"Uesugi..." Wakamura shook his head at him, "You are an absolute idiot."

"I know," he didn't argue, "How could something like this happen? How could I have screwed up so badly?"

"We all screwed up on this, Fuutarou," said Ichika, "Just as you saw us as nuisances, we only saw you as some trophy each of us wanted to win for ourselves. Wignored your own feelings and got selfish. We didn't do any of this right, but it's not too late to make up for it. Which is why I've come here," she turned and looked directly at him, "We need your help, Fuutarou. Nino needs your help."

He stared at her and almost laughed.

"You can't be serious. After what I've done? You girls would better off without me. Nino would be better off without me."

"You would be right, but it seems that Nino can't let you go. Even after all you said and done, she still loves you."

"How? How can she still love me? Especially after what I said about her? She doesn't need me. She deserves better than me."

"You know, Yotsuba felt the same way. She believed you deserved better than her."

"Yeah, she said the same thing to me too. How is Yotsuba doing by the way?"

"She's hurting just as much, but she's coping with it a lot better than Nino. This is nothing new to her."

He shook his head, "I know that I hurt both her and Nino the most, but I can't help them. Yotsuba is wiser and more mature now thanks to me. As for Nino, I know her well enough that she'll pull through in time. She'll find someone else."

"That's what I said to her too after you made your choice."

"And what did she say?"

"That she didn't believe she would ever find another guy like you no matter where she looked. Having thought it over myself, I believe her. I don't think she'll ever find someone like you ever again even in a hundred years."

Fuutarou rubbed his head in frustration, "That doesn't make any sense. Just what is it about me that makes her unwilling to let me go?"

"Nino's been liked by many guys over the years and she's liked a few of them back, but this is different," Ichika started swirling her drink, "To her, Fuutarou, you were it. You were her prince, the one she's been trying to find for so long. Out of all of us, she was the only who truly loved you. It wasn't built on some kind of infatuation like the rest of us. It was genuine. She's come a long way since she first met you, Fuutarou. She went from resenting you, tolerating you, accepting you, and then finally falling in love with you. I've never seen her pursue anyone as much as she did with you. She deserved something for her efforts, but in the end she got nothing. All she wanted was a chance to be your girlfriend, and she couldn't even have that."

He remembering that Chihori saying something similar to him. Then he remembered something else.

"Ichika, before my dad took me away, Nino said that she thought I wouldn't be like the others. What did she mean by that? Did she have any previous boyfriends?"

The eldest quint stopped swirling her drink.

"Not boyfriends," she said, "More like... failed attempts at romance."

She finished the last of her coffee and pushed it away before leaning back on her chair.

"You know that Nino has always been very popular and the most romantic of us all? Well, the truth is, when it comes to finding a boyfriend Nino has had the worst luck by far."

At this revelation he was stunned. With someone like Nino he'd always believed she could easily get a boyfriend, but then he remembered that she never mentioned ever having one before. She only told him who her type was, someone like his former self. To learn that she had such poor luck in finding a boyfriend was shocking.

"Like I mentioned before," Ichika carried on, "There have been a lot of guys in Nino's life but only a few of them have left a major impact. There were two others... no, there were actually three. The last two didn't go well while the first... never got the chance to even get started."

She took a moment to make herself more comfortable.

"The first one was during our last months of Junior High. Nino was close friends with the most popular guy at school. He was cocky, arrogant, but a total badass and a leader. He was also the star athlete. Every girl in school wanted to go out with him, including me. One day, before he left for a track meet, he took everyone by surprise by asking Nino to go on a date with him after he got back. She happily agreed," she shook her head sadly, "They would never get to have that date. On the way back the bus he and his team was on got caught in a really bad storm while they were going over a mountain. No one knew how it happened but on the way down the bus suddenly lost control and drove right off a cliff. No one survived, not even him."

"Damn..." Wakamura muttered, and Fuutarou silently agreed.

"The whole school was devastated and Nino couldn't stop crying for days. Fast forward a few months later and we were in our first semester of High School. Nino was older but she had become very cautious. There was a lot of guys who asked her out. She did accept some but they never lasted any more than a week while the rest she turned down as politely as she could. It was nothing personal against them, she was just reluctant to become close to another guy after losing her first crush so tragically. Then came the second guy, an asshole and a real smooth talker. We knew right away he was trouble, but he was very cunning. I think at that time Nino was looking for a way to escape the pain of her loss and he took advantage of that. He nearly turned her against us, and he probably would have if Papa hadn't stepped in."

Fuutarou's raised his eyebrows, "What did he do?"

Ichika grinned devilishly, "He invited the pair to his office one day and while Nino went to the bathroom he asked the guy what his intentions really were. Being very full of himself he revealed that his family was having financial difficulty and that he needed money to secure his future and to stay in circle of the elite. Since Papa was very rich he could ask for Nino's hand in marriage and secure the funds needed to keep his status. What he didn't know was that Papa had set him up. He had Nino stand out in the hall out of sight so she could hear the entire conversation. When she finally heard enough, she stormed in, pinned her boyfriend with a glare, slapped him hard enough to knock him out of his chair, gave him a piece of her mind, and stormed right out, but not before she delivered a good kick between his legs."

Fuutarou cringed, as did Manager, and he was secretly glad that it was Yotsuba who hit him instead of Nino.

"Papa was actually quite proud of her," Ichika's grin faded away, "And so another few months passed. By now Nino had grown a reputation of being an unbreakable ice queen, unlikely to fall for any guy. Her last experience had made her very cold and not very trusting, which is how she acted when she first met you. Remember?"

"Yeah, I do," he recalled.

It was a lot clearer now that he knew why Nino disliked him so much in the beginning. It wasn't just because she feared that her sisters would be taken away by him, as she told him before, but because of the deep distrust she'd developed towards guys.

"Then came the third guy, and until you came along this one was the worst," Ichika grimaced, "On the surface he seemed like decent person, but there was something about him that made us very suspicious. It turned out that he was already dating another girl, but he wasn't cheating on her. The truth was that his girlfriend hated Nino, was jealous of her popularity, and she wanted to bring her down. So they came up with a plan. While his girlfriend was away with her family he become friendlier with Nino by talking to her, helping with her schoolwork, stuff like that. Her defenses gradually melted away and she started to openly flirt with him. Then his girlfriend came back and, just like they had planned, she accused her of trying to steal her boyfriend. What followed was the nasty gossip. Nino had no way of defending herself and the rumors quickly spread. They even went as far as vandalizing her desk."

"You got be to kidding me," Fuutarou was suddenly overwhelmed with anger. "How could anyone treat her like that?"

"It was horrible," she agreed, "She was literally going through hell. We knew it was all BS, and Nino had plenty of supporters, but she wouldn't let us get involved. She felt she should handle the whole thing herself. You've seen how stubborn she can be. To her credit she made one hell of an effort, but eventually it just became too much for her to handle. It got to the point where she wanted to transfer to another school, any school, just so she could get away from there. The incident with Yotsuba came up at the perfect time. She came up with the idea of us cheating on the exams and we, wanting to keep our mother's promise of staying together, instantly went along with it. The rest you know."

"I see," Fuutarou recalled what Yotsuba had said to him, "So it wasn't Yotsuba's fault after all. She believed that she made you sacrifice your school lives for her."

"Yeah," Ichika sighed heavily, "We should have told her about it right away but so many things happened after that we just never got around to it and forgot. Had we known what she was going through we would have told her, for it would have cleared up many misunderstandings and it might have even prevented this disaster. Getting back to Nino, after three unsuccessful attempts she seemed to have turned her back on romance forever. One had ended in tragedy, the next was only interested in money, and the the third had tricked her."

"And then she lost me, because Yotsuba got to me first before the rest of you even knew me," he sighed, "That's was what she meant when she said she never had a chance. She felt that Yotsuba had cheated by keeping everything a secret. That must have hurt her a lot more than me rejecting her."

"It did," Ichika nodded, "It really did. She really resented her for that, and Yotsuba knows it too. And then when she saw for herself that you weren't the person she believed you to be..."

"Yeah..." Fuutarou shook his head, "It's no wonder she completely broke down."

"After what happened at our previous school I was convinced Nino would never try again. But then..." she pointed to the kitchen, "she took me by surprise one night when she confessed to you. Right over there."

His jaw dropped, "You overheard us?"

"I was going to do the same thing that night," she made a proud smile, "In the beginning I was shocked, and it was part of the reason of why I pulled that stunt in Kyoto, but when I look at now I was actually very proud of her. I was overjoyed that she was giving love another chance and deep down I was secretly rooting for her."

"And then I rejected her without even giving her a chance to prove herself," he lowered his head, feeling even more guilty than before.

"She also told you that she thought she had found someone she could truly love. Looking back on everything she's gone through, I can understand why she's so torn up about this. It's because she saw herself in you."

"In me? What do you mean?"

"Think about it, Fuutarou. The two of you have a lot more in common than you realize. You were both bad kids at one time, you were afraid of being alone while she was afraid of being left behind, and you both had lost your mothers under similar circumstances. She's more or less gone through what you have in trying to live a happy life and you both failed. So you see, Fuutarou, Nino really believed that she had finally found someone who truly understood her and could love her for who she is and not as someone else. Her pursuit to win you was that important. It was everything to her."

He slowly digested her words and began to realize how blind he had been.

"I see," he was right, there had been a more personal reason, "I get it now. She understood me better than anyone else. She saw the deeper part of me was while I was only looking at the surface. She believed in me, and I completely let her down," he face fell into his hands, "I am such an idiot. I completely screwed this up."

"Yeah, you did," said Wakamura, "So what do you intend to do about it?"

Fuutarou threw up his hands, "What can I do? When it comes to school I can solve any problem, but when it comes to personal relationships I always find a way to make things worse. How can I possibly help her when I so hopelessly clueless on these things?"

"I don't know, kid. That's for you to figure out," he gestured to Ichika, "And from what she's told us, you need to figure out something soon before it's too late."

"Too late?"

His manager leaned closer and said, "What if something bad were to happen to Nino right now? What if she never recovers from this? What if she becomes someone you no longer recognize? How will you feel then?"

A cold wave crashed over Fuutarou as he felt the impact of his words.

I told Yotsuba that story in the hopes of preventing another tragedy like that.

He finally understood what Chihori had been trying to do, and at the precise moment Ichika's cell phone rang.

"Hey, Itsuki. What's up?" her eyes suddenly went wide, "What?! When?!"

His heart stopped and for the second time he tasted death. It was more bitter and metallic than before.

"Is Papa..." Ichika listened to what Itsuki was saying before she slowly bobbed her head, "Alright, I'll be right there."

She hung up and sat there as her face grew pale and her breathing turned ragged.

"Ichika..." he swallowed heavily, "What is it? Is Nino-"

"No," she answered immediately, "It's not Nino. She's fine. It's..."

She sniffed several times before she looked at him with tears coming down her cheeks, "It's grandpa. He's dying."