Chapter 8

Okay, I may have lied about that guy's punches not hurting me. I mean, I had to intimidate him somehow, right? Anyways, I ended up seeing a white ceiling as soon as I woke up. It seemed that I was in a hospital bed, and a really high end one too judging by how spacious the room seemed to be. I tried to sit up, but I was too banged up to even move, causing me to groan due to the pain.

"I'd advise you not to move around too much, Uesugi-kun. You came in with quite a few injuries, it was wise of Nino-kun to bring you over here instead of bringing you to your schools below average infirmary."

I moved my head towards the voice, and just as I expected, Doctor Maruo Nakano himself was by my side. Checking some sort of chart. He didn't look particularly interested in me, but then again, he never really did, even in my past life.

"Hey doc... how bad is it?"

"Well, you're covered in bruises. I'm honestly surprised that you were able to fight back with the extent of your injuries, any other person would have passed out faster than you did."

I chuckled, "I was a delinquent a few years ago. I knew my way around a fight and learned a few tricks to being sturdy enough to tank a few hits."

At that comment Maruo couldn't help but sigh. "As expected of Isanari's son... now I'm wondering if I really put my daughters in the right hands..."

"Ah, so you really are the quintuplets' father. That explains how I got such a nice hospital room."

He raised an eyebrow at me, "You don't seem the least bit surprised. Honestly I thought you would have been anxious meeting your employer."

"I'm not really the type to be anxious for that reason, I've been taking part-time jobs ever since I started middle school, meeting an employer doesn't faze me anymore. And compared to the guys I fought back in my delinquent days; you don't seem too scary."

"I see..." He then wrote something on the chart and placed it on the side table. "Fortunately, nothing internal has been damaged too much. Nino-kun had contacted your family earlier as she brought you to the hospital, your sister should be on her way with Ebata as we speak."

I nodded, "Thank you, sir. I appreciate what you're doing for me, and I assume all the expenses will be taken from my paycheck?"

He shook his head, "No. Nino told me what happened, as my daughter had caused this, your medical expenses will be taken care of by me. Your paycheck won't be reduced." He then headed to the door, "Now if you'll excuse, I have to make my rounds... and thank you for protecting my daughter."

"Any time sir, I'm glad I was there to help."

And with that, he exited the room. Thanks to this little incident I wasn't able to make it to the quint's tutoring session today, and going to school tomorrow was out of the question with the state I was in. I noticed that my bag was on the other side of the room, and that a pair of crutches were laying on the side of my bed. Seeing as I had nothing better to do, I might as well make some more review materials for the quints, so I reached for the crutches but felt a throbbing pain in my torso, making me clutch my stomach.

"You should stay still, dumbass. You're injured from head to toe, and you still thought it was a good idea to try and move around? And here I thought you were the smart one."

I turned my head towards the voice, only to see Nino, who had just entered the room. A look of annoyance on her face, which was pretty much her everyday look the last few days.

I smirked, "Hey Nino, you had a good chance to finally be rid of me, yet you still decided to help me? Guess you aren't so bad after all."

"Shut it. I only helped you out because I owed you one. That creep would have done something terrible if you hadn't stepped in. Now that Papa knows the situation, that prick shouldn't be a problem anymore. His group's expulsion is set in stone since the principal owes Papa a few favors."

"And I'm sure you left out the part where you were the one who actually got them to do it in the first place?"

With that comment Nino, as usual, scowled at me. "Obviously I did, that would have gotten me expelled too. But I will admit that I was wrong this time, I never should have done this... I'm sorry about what happened."

"Apology accepted, now will you join the tutoring sessions?"

"No chance."

"It was worth a shot, at least."

Nino sighed before heading towards me. She placed my student handbook on my bedside table. "Forgot to place this back in your pocket, had to use it to contact your family after all. Your sister should be arriving pretty soon since Ebata's driving her here."

She then opened the handbook and pointed out the photo of me and Yotsuba five years ago, albeit only the half with only me in it was being shown. "And you never told me you had a brother! He looks so cool in this picture; he'd totally be my type of guy!"

Not wanting the whole Kintarou situation to happen all over again, I sighed and came out with the truth. "I don't have a brother, the kid in the picture is me. Although it does seem hard to believe, I used to be a delinquent."

"You're kidding."

"I'm not. I really was a delinquent when I was younger, I dyed my hair blond and pierced my left ear as a sign of rebellion all those years ago. I was a real troublemaker back then, duking it out with whoever pissed me off and I was disrespectful to teachers. it even came to the point that I caused my teachers a lot of stress when I willingly separated from my group on our last school trip. I was gone for the entire day, and they spent hours searching for me."

Nino stared at the photo, then to me, then back to the photo. "I guess that explains how you wiped the floor with those guys earlier... but how did you turn from a delinquent to a loser? It seems pretty unusual for you to become an entirely different person after all."

A smile formed on my face, "Well, remember that school trip I mentioned? There was this girl—"

Out of nowhere, the door to the room slammed open, revealing a very worried Raiha. She scanned the room till she saw me, "Onii-chan! What in the world happened to you? The last time I saw you like this; it was when you tried protecting me from those bullies when we were kids. You promised me you'd never get into a fight ever again..."

I comforted her by rubbing the top of her head. "I didn't fight anyone, Raiha. You see, I wasn't looking where I was going! A teacher asked me to deliver all these books to the library since I was on my way there. Since I was already going there, I agreed and accepted the task. And I guess I was just unlucky that I missed a step right when I was on the stairs, I ended up having a really nasty fall. Luckily Nino found me and brought me here"

I looked at Nino expectantly, hoping that she would follow my lead. She understood immediately and placed her hand on Raiha's shoulder. "Yeah, I was about to head back home when I heard a loud crashing sound. I decided to check it out and saw your brother passed out, so I panicked and brought him here."

Raiha looked at me, then at Nino, then sighed with relief. "I'm just glad that nothing really bad happened to you. I couldn't bear to lose another family member..." a tense silence enveloped the room, until we heard a gurgling sound. Raiha turned red as she clutched her stomach. "Oops, guess I got kind of hungry. Wasn't able to eat much at all today, we didn't have much food left after all."

With a look of pity on her face, Nino took out her wallet and got out two ¥1000 bills. "Here, Raiha, right? There's a cafeteria on the second floor, get as much food as you want with that, and I don't expect any change, alright?"

Raiha's eyes lit up at the thought of food and accepted the money. She gave Nino a hug and smiled, "Thank you so much, Nino! You aren't such a bad person after all!" She then left the room in a hurry, leaving Nino to wonder what that last part meant.

She glared at me once she figured out what Raiha meant. "Have you been badmouthing me to your sister? That was uncalled for!"

I raised my hands in defense, "Hey in my defense I just told her what happened during the tutoring session, all I said was that you tried to drug me, which was true by the way! And I even told her you weren't a bad person; I understand why you did all of that."

"As if some stranger would know why!"

"It's because you don't want the bond with your sisters to be broken." The look on her face said it all. "I was just some outsider who tried to enter your lives, and as I continued to interact with your sisters, you thought that they'd separate from you. So naturally you'd think of ways to get rid of me, the outsider."

Nino appeared to be angry at first, but that eventually became that of sadness. "I... just love my sisters so much, I can't have you, or anyone else for that matter, take them away from me! We've already lost someone important to us, and I don't want to lose anyone else..."

"And you won't be losing anyone else. I'm only here to act as a friend and tutor, nothing more, nothing less. I'll be around to help you guys whether it be academically or personally, but I'd never dare to do anything to ruin your family! I know what you're going through, I've felt that intense desire to keep your family safe and I still do until now."

"How dare you say you understand what I'm going through? You can't possibly know what it's like to lose your mother—"

I had no idea why, but something in me just snapped as I banged my fist against my bed. "I also lost my mother!" The pain in my voice wasn't coming from me banging the bed, but from the emotional damage my mother's death had caused me. "And I was too powerless to save her..."

Nino was stunned at my sudden outburst. "Uesugi, I..."

"My mother was diagnosed with some unknown disease; we went to multiple specialists and not even they could figure out what was wrong with her! We spent all our money trying to find something, anything that could cure her, but it all ended up wasted in the end. She died young because we... couldn't find a cure in time."

I had never felt so vulnerable in my life, normally I'd never show this side of myself to anyone, but I guess with the spur of the moment I just let my emotions get the better of me.

"I was there the moment she died... we were talking about where we could take Raiha out for her birthday, but before she could decide where, I felt the warmth draining from her hands." At this point tears were already flowing down my face. "Could you imagine how terrifying it felt for seven year old me to tell my little sister that our mom wouldn't be able to say happy birthday to her anymore? That we wouldn't be able to play with her at the park anymore? Or that we'll never get to see her anymore?"

Nino remained silent this time, so I continued ranting. "My dad went into a depression and nearly drank his way out of this world! I had to take care of him and Raiha for a decade while we remained dirt poor! I had to work multiple jobs just to keep us alive, and you think I don't understand the need to protect my own family? I literally fought anyone who dared to hurt them!"

I gripped my bedsheets in frustration and suddenly, all the anger I felt just... dissipated. I then looked up at Nino who was already tearing up. I sighed, "I made sure to work hard for my family, you of all people should see that... You guys are just lucky that you're able to afford such luxuries, we weren't."

Nino wiped her tears, "I... I didn't know... Seeing Raiha, then hearing about your mom... I guess I really misunderstood you. You've had it worse than us, Uesugi, that much I can tell. I guess... I'll hang around when you guys have your sessions... but don't expect me to be all excited for it."

I shrugged my shoulders, "I never would, but hey, getting you to join us is already a big achievement in itself, given how hostile you've been."

"Do you want me to take back what I said? I can easily skip your sessions if that's what you want."

"I wonder what Raiha would think if she knew you don't keep your promises."

Nino tensed up at my provocation. "You really know how to play your cards right, Uesugi. If it weren't for Raiha, I probably would have taken back what I said by now. Anyways, Miku and the others found out you got hospitalized, they're eager to find out what happened to you, luckily all the homework you gave us is keeping them in check, for now. They'll probably visit you tomorrow though, I guess I'll go check up on Raiha, so you do whatever you tutors do... and try not to hurt yourself."

Nino exited the room and left me, since I had nothing else to do but my sudden burst of energy earlier left me completely spent. I laid back in my bed, wondering why I even let out that much, even in my past life I was never the type of guy who had his emotions get the better of him, but I suppose the stress and fatigue I experienced at the time were also a factor. All that fatigue finally caught up to me, I realized that I was slowly losing consciousness, till everything faded to black.

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Author's Note:

Since the manga never really explored much on Fuutarou's mother's death, I thought this would be the perfect time to add some more background to it. Also, this could pave the way to how Nino could get closer and nicer to Fuutarou since I've basically removed Kintarou from Nino's character arc. Ngl I was even considering letting the angel of death appear in front of her and give her the memories from Fuutarou's last life, but that seemed like an easy way out lol.