Chapter 12
Ichika couldn't help but smile at my expense. "You heard me right, Fuutarou-kun. You're going to be my partner! You're the one who pushed me to audition for this role, so you better take responsibility for it!"
Out of all the people present, Miku seemed to be the most confused out of us all. Her gaze kept shifting from me to Ichika, to Oda-san, and then back to me. "Fuutarou… can you care to explain what kind of mess you dragged my sister into?"
After finding a place to let Miku rest, we sat down and explained everything to her. How Ichika's job was really that of an actress who played very minor roles, how I convinced her to audition for 'The Quintessential Wife', and how Ichika told me to meet with her by the parking lot."
"…And that's all of it. I swear I was going to tell all of you about this eventually. It's just that I couldn't find the right time!" Ichika said as she sighed, clearly relieved she finally got to tell someone aside from me about the secret she had been keeping.
Miku gestured for Ichika to come closer to her. Once Ichika came close, Miku karate chopped her head. "So you've been keeping this a secret for such a reason? We already see you as someone we can depend on! Don't go around thinking you need to prove yourself more!" Miku's signature pout was on display as she scolded her older sister.
I sat down next to Miku and Ichika "You should have let them know sooner, all of you girls have talent when it comes to acting. I mean, you guys impersonate each other way too much, it would have helped Ichika to practice her roles a bit more if she had someone other than her cast-mates as practice partners."
The two sisters looked at me in surprise. Come to think of it, they still hadn't impersonated each other in front of me during this timeline. I coughed and looked away from them. "I mean, you all look alike, so I assumed you impersonated each other a lot. If this was common between twins, then what more would it be for quintuplets, right?"
Ichika sighed and laughed. "I guess you aren't our tutor for nothing, Fuutarou-kun. And yes, we have impersonated each other multiple times, and to be honest, that's what got me into acting…" She then looked at Miku, 'I guess I really should have told you guys sooner… I'll stop keeping secrets from now on. I promise!"
Miku smiled and held out her arms, gesturing for Ichika to hug her. They hugged it out for a good minute or so before Oda-san interrupted. "I hate to be a party pooper, but Ichika's going to be late for the audition at this rate. So I'll head on to the car and pick you guys up at the entrance, alright? This is Ichika's most important audition to date, we can't let her miss out on this!"
I looked at Ichika, who was already pleading with me with puppy dog eyes. I scratched my head in frustration and sighed. "Fine, I'll join the audition, but don't expect much from me, got it? And before we even leave, I'll have to bring Miku back to Nino and the others. That's my priority right now."
Miku blushed and Oda-san nodded. "Alright, now that I look at her, she does seem to be injured. Just make it quick, alright? Meet us at the entrance in five minutes, and no later than five minutes, you hear me?"
I nodded, "Yes, sir." I picked up Miku and made our way to Nino and the others. Luckily, we were able to get there quickly. By the time we arrived, everyone but Ichika was present. Yotsuba and Raiha were chatting with Itsuki while Nino still seemed to be contacting someone. Raiha was the first one to notice me, and she greeted us with a big smile.
"Onii-chan! Itsuki told me that you were out looking for Miku and Ichika! Guessing by the blue yukata, the one you're carrying is Miku, right?"
Miku smiled and patted Raiha's head. "You got that right, Raiha! I got a little hurt when we all got separated, so your brother helped me out. What about you, Raiha? How did you find your way back here?"
Yotsuba suddenly appeared before us and smiled. "I held on to her while we were being separated! I remembered the time I got separated from you guys during that one trip, and boy, was it scary! I didn't want Raiha to feel scared, so I did the same thing that boy who helped me back then too and joined her while we searched for you guys! Luckily, we saw her up here while we were searching!"
I smiled as I recognized what story she was talking about, "Who knows? Maybe instead of the boy helping you, you actually helped him instead. But anyway, I'm glad the both of you are safe"
Yotsuba looked at me, wide-eyed, as I walked past her and set Miku down on the couch close to the railing. "You probably shouldn't move much, for now. Ask someone to give you some ice and place it on your foot. You should be able to walk later once the swelling's reduced." I leaned in closer and whispered. "Let's not tell them about Ichika yet, she deserves to be the one to tell the others."
Miku nodded as I told everyone I would be searching for Ichika now. I went down the stairs and made my way to the entrance. Waiting outside of a gray car was Ichika, who waved towards me and smiled. "You ready for your first-ever audition, Fuutarou-kun?"
I sighed, "With how sudden you made me do this I can say for sure that I'm not. But you don't really care, do you?"
"Of course I do! How could I be the ever-so-reliable onee-chan if I don't care about the younger siblings I have? Besides, you'll do great! With all that teasing you've been doing to me, I'm sure you can do well! Even I can tell that teasing is something you aren't used to doing, but you still managed to do fine whenever you teased me."
"I mean it really isn't hard to tease you, despite your confident outer shell, you get easily flustered. Like holding you by the chin was enough to get you to stutter, what more if I actually leaned in and did something more extreme!"
"Y-y-you caught me off-guard was all! I'm sure I wouldn't get flustered if you did it again!'
"But you just got flustered, and I didn't even touch you"
"Fuutarou-kun!"
As Ichika and I continued to argue, Oda-san couldn't help but hold in his laughter. "Oh, young love! No wonder you wanted him to be your partner, Ichika…" He murmured to himself
A couple of minutes pass before we finally made it to the audition site. It wasn't at the same building that we went to in my past life, it was several times larger than it, in fact! I guess with how famous the production company is, it would make sense for their building to be bigger.
Ichika and I got out of the car while Oda-san went to the parking lot. Ichika showed a permit to the guards, and they let us in. We made our way to the 4th floor, which was where a big studio was set. A woman came out of the studio, tears in her eyes, and I heard Ichika take a big gulp as she saw her.
I got in front of her and held her shoulders "Hey, lighten up. You'll do fine. Just look at me, and only me. Don't let that discourage you, I know how good your acting is, I know you don't believe me, but I know you're going to ace this audition."
Ichika's face turned a bright red as she shoved me away. "Of course, I will, Fuutarou-kun! Who do you think I am?" She then gave me a smile, an actual, genuine smile. "But thanks for the encouragement, Fuutarou-kun. I really appreciate it!"
With that, we made our way into the studio. Ichika took a deep breath and smiled. "Hello! I'm Ichika Nakano, and I'm here to audition for Rin, the heroine of 'The Quintessential Bride'." Just as she said that I immediately felt so many stares were on us, but Ichika didn't seem to mind.
One of the producers nodded and pointed at me, "And who is this? He doesn't seem to be your manager. Are you her boyfriend, perhaps? It's nice of you to join your girlfriend here, but we strictly only allow auditionees and their managers here."
Ichika shook her head, "He isn't my boyfriend, ma'am. But he's here to audition for Shiro, Rin's love interest."
The woman nodded, "I see. I apologize for the misunderstanding, and what would your name be, young man? From what I know we weren't notified of a man auditioning for the lead's love interest."
I sighed and shook my head, "I'm Fuutarou Uesugi, and I—" I looked at Ichika and she had this pleading look on her face. "Was notified about the audition only this afternoon, so I asked Ichika if I could tag along. I hope that this won't inconvenience the staff. And would you mind if I speak with Ichika for a bit before we start? Just need to discuss our game plan."
"Not at all, Uesugi-san, but please do make it quick. You and Nakano-san are already quite late, so time is of the essence here."
With a swift nod, I grabbed Ichika by her arm towards the end of the studio. "When you said I was going to be your partner, I thought you meant I would be here for moral support! Why the hell are you suddenly making me audition for an important role? What if I end up making you fail?"
"I need you in here, you heard what she said. You would have been kicked out! Now stop being such a baby, Fuutarou-kun. I already told you that your acting isn't bad, just read this and let's ace this audition, shall we?"
She handed me the script, luckily, I only had a few lines in this scene, and they were fairly easy to memorize. After reading the scene a couple of times I sighed, "Don't blame me if we bomb this, alright?"
She smiled, "Oh I'll blame you alright, but not for bombing the audition, but for beating everyone else here! So let's do this, 'Shiro'…"She grabbed onto my hand and practically dragged me to the audition staff. "We're ready!"
The producer we spoke with earlier smiled and opened her own copy of the script. "Alright then, the scene you'll be doing together is their fight the night before their wedding. We'll be starting off with Uesugi-san, so you can start whenever you're ready…"
I took a deep breath and looked around me, a handful of women were staring at us, Oda-san was by the entrance, and when he saw I was looking at him, he gave me a thumbs up. "Here goes nothing…"
I grabbed Ichika by the wrist and tried to show a tired face, apparently, Shiro was running after Rin, who ran away after she saw her sister kiss him. "Rin! Wait! You've got it all wrong. Please, listen to what I have to say, nothing was going on between me and Sakura!"
Ichika swatted my hand away, fake tears rolling down her face. "And how can you possibly explain my sister kissing you? We were supposed to get married tomorrow! Tomorrow! God, how stupid could I be to believe that you actually even loved me?"
"I do love you; I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you! You're wonderful, amazing, and most of all, kind. There has never been a day when I regretted meeting you. You turned the life of this weak, pathetic, excuse of a man into one that was worth living."
The pain on Ichika's face felt so real, you wouldn't even believe she was just acting. "Yet you still had the audacity to kiss my sister, the one who has been making my life a living hell, the night before our wedding? If you loved me so much, then why did you betray me by doing that? It doesn't make sense!"
"It wasn't like that! She just barged into my room, an empty bottle of whiskey in her hand. She kept pestering me about leaving you and marrying her instead. I decided enough was enough and told her that it was never going to happen! She got angry and threw a fit, and once she got tired, I brought her to my bed to let her rest."
"And then what? She caught you off-guard and kissed you? Are you kidding me? That's one of the most common excuses about cheating!" Ichika ruffled her hair in frustration, "You know what? After all the crap that I've been through… I thought that YOU would have been the one who would never betray me." She turned away and started walking before I went in and hugged her from behind.
"I would never betray you, Rin. I've stayed by your side through everything... when your father died... when Sakura betrayed you... and when you nearly died in that car accident, I've always been there for you. I just need you to trust me. Please."
Ichika sighed, she turned towards me and held me by the cheek. "You're lucky that cute face of yours is something I can't deny… But are you serious about the whole cliché about Sakura kissing you when you were off-guard?"
I smiled, "100%, Rin. Since when have I ever lied to you?"
She put her finger to her mouth as if she were thinking. "Well… never to be honest. I guess I'll take your word for it. I love you, Shiro."
"I love you too, Rin."
I don't know why, but I instinctively leaned in to kiss her, much to Ichika's surprise, but being the quick thinker she is, she went with it. Our lips were just about to touch each other before the producer yelled "End scene! Wonderful job you two. I have to say this has been one of the better auditions we saw today. We'll let you know of the casting results once all auditions are over."
I pulled away from Ichika, only realizing the awkward position we were in. "Sorry about that, was the hug too hard? I wasn't sure if that was what was intended for the scene, maybe I should have gone in a little slower."
Ichika was silent as if she was just processing what transpired over the last few minutes in her head. "OMG OMG OMG, Fuutarou-kun and I almost kissed! And the way he hugged me felt so… passionate? Why am I feeling this way? There's no way I actually like him, right?" were the thoughts racing in her head.
I wave a hand in front of Ichika's face. "Ummm Ichika? You alright?"
As if waking up from a dream, Ichika jumped up at the sound of her name. "Y-y-yeah! I'm perfectly fine, nothing wrong about me! I was just processing everything that just happened. I gotta say, Fuutarou-kun, you really did feel like an entirely different person!"
Oda-san came by, clapping his hands. "I'll have to agree with Ichika here, you do have potential, Uesugi-kun. If ever you're looking for a manager, I'll be right here!"
"No thanks, sir. I don't think being a big-time actor is the right job for me. As enticing as the pay is, I can't really say for certain I can do a good enough job to maintain it. I appreciate the offer though."
Oda-san nodded, "I understand, now why don't we head back to the festival? Ichika's sisters may be dying to hear how the audition went!"
After a few goodbyes to the staff and other auditionees, we got back into the car and Oda-san drove us back to the festival. The fireworks have long ended, but before leaving for the festival, I picked up a few things to let the quints really enjoy the festival's end.
We met everyone else at the park close to the festival venue. Nino had her arms crossed and was looking annoyed. She saw me and stomped her way towards us. "Uesugi! Where the hell have you been?"
Ichika came to my rescue and explained everything to her sisters, with Miku being the only one who wasn't surprised.
Itsuki walked up to me and punched me, "So that's why you were gone for so long? I was really hoping to enjoy the fireworks with you, Uesugi-kun!"
I jokingly rubbed my arm, "Well, it's not like we can't enjoy them now, right?" I reached into my bag and brought out some sparklers, "It may not be as good as the fireworks from earlier, but I'm sure this'll be just as fun with all of you together now."
Itsuki's eyes sparkled as she saw the sparklers. "Sparklers! Oh my, it's been way too long since we got to use those. It really does bring back some good memories… thank you, Uesugi-kun!"
"I have to admit this really does up the nostalgia factor." Said Nino as she plucked a sparkler from out of the bag. "Nice job, Uesugi. Guess this fireworks thing wasn't a big disaster thanks to you."
Miku slowly walked up to us; her foot was still injured but it was good that she was able to move around now. I gave her a sparkler from the bag. "Good to see that you're able to walk around now, how's your injury?"
"Nothing a few painkillers and bed rest won't fix. What happened between you and Ichika during the audition? I tried asking her about it, but she wouldn't tell me all the details, just that you auditioned for a part too."
"Eh, nothing much, really. Ichika made me audition so that I could stay inside the studio. She gave an amazing audition though, that's for sure. As for my performance, I don't really know what to say about it, I think I did decently, but I don't know what everyone else thought."
"I guess I'll be your first fan once you get famous…" she joked as she lit up the sparkler.
I walked up to Yotsuba and Raiha, giving each of them a handful of sparklers. "Knowing how energetic the two of you are… I think I'll give you a couple of sparklers, feel free to share any extras with the others." Yotsuba and Raiha gladly accepted them, lighting a few up and running around the playground.
After watching the two of them run around for a bit, I saw Ichika sitting on the bench. I walked up to her and dangled a sparkler in front of her. "Good job tonight, 'Rin'"
She looked up at me and smiled, "I could say the same to you, 'Shiro'. Wanna sit down for a bit? We've been through quite a lot tonight, you're probably even more tired than I am, given how you just got discharged from the hospital today."
I plopped down next to her, "You bet I am! I mean, could you imagine I had to run around a festival several times and audition for a TV series all in one night? You girls really are pushing me past my limits!"
Ichika gave out a nervous laugh. "Well, I guess that's the occupational hazard of having to tutor five girls. On the bright side, you seemed like you were enjoying yourself earlier, shouldn't that make all that effort worth it?"
"You have a point, it may have been a hassle, but it wasn't so bad either. I mean, Raiha had some good food, and she seemed to enjoy hanging out with you guys. And that's really what matters. I'm sure you feel the same about your—" Just as I was talking, I felt a thud on my shoulder. I looked to my right and saw that Ichika had fallen asleep, snoring like a baby.
I smiled and brought her closer to me, just so that she wouldn't feel uncomfortable. "Good job today, Ichika. I'm sure your sisters are as proud of you as I am. You worked really hard today, enjoy your rest."
And with that, ended our first ever fireworks festival… and the start of an onslaught of tutoring sessions, much to the quint's dismay.
Author's Note:
Hey there! I apologize for the cheesy scene that I made Fuutarou and Ichika play out, but I honestly couldn't think of anything else they could do. XD
Anyways, I hope you guys like the latest chapter!
