"Yakiniku set without the yakiniku, please."
Uesugi Fuutarou watches calmly as the cafeteria lady sets his tray with a small bowl of rice, miso soup, and pickled vegetables.
"Here you go."
"Thank you, ma'am."
The students waiting in line to Fuutarou's right simply stare after him as he walks away swiftly.
"...what the hell did he just order? That's not even on the menu..." Fuutarou can hear one of them murmur, but he simply ignores them.
A valuable skill that Fuutarou has learned to develop in his life is the ability to discern and take advantage of loopholes. This school's cafeteria's cheapest item is the bowl of rice that sits on his tray, priced at 200 yen, but after two days' worth of lunches, he's been able to determine that if he orders the yakiniku meal set and ask to take out the meat, which is ordinarily another 200 yen on top of that, the cafeteria staff will still give him the bowl of rice, but with the miso soup and veggies as if he's ordering the full yakiniku set. Essentially, this means that he can take advantage of the cafeteria system and receive miso soup and veggies along with his rice while only having to pay for the rice itself.
Even better, this means that he can eat at least a somewhat decent meal for twice as long with the same amount of money in the school cafeteria. Along with the unlimited, fresh water available to all students via multiple water dispensaries around the cafeteria, it's a deal too sweet to pass up - he's able to feed himself at a discount so huge it would make supermarket sales-crazed housewives turn green with envy.
After retrieving a cup of water for himself, Fuutarou takes his usual place at a two-seater table near the inner wall of the cafeteria. This is a big high school, as it should be, for it is located in a very densely populated area of the city, and the city itself has been experiencing a rapid growth in business and infrastructure, so naturally there will be a lot of students attending the conveniently located school. And so due to the high student population, the cafeteria, while very big in its own right, frequently sees its capacity filled to the brim with hungry students arriving to buy food during lunch period; the fact that the cafeteria food is also quite well-prepared keeps those students coming back for more with each day that passes.
All this to say, seating is quite difficult to find with so many students frequenting the cafeteria. The first day of high school, in fact, Fuutarou had to eat his lunch standing up because he simply couldn't find a seat for himself, but luckily on his second day, during his rounds about the cafeteria in search of a seat, he found this particular seat in the far corner of the cafeteria that, for some reason, no one seemed to be interested in sitting in. Strange, Fuutarou thought to himself at the time, since there'd be people sitting in the other two-seater tables down the wall, but the reason is trivial; what's important is that he has somewhere to freaking sit to eat and not look like a homeless person standing in the middle of the cafeteria eating lunch that way.
Not that he hasn't done that before, though.
Without bothering to utter the traditional Japanese phrase of thanks before eating, Fuutarou digs into his meager meal right away. Savoring the taste of the freshly cooked, fluffy white rice in conjunction with the deep, hearty taste of miso soup, he takes his time with the food, chewing intently as if to help make the food last as long as possible.
"Yikes, is that Uesugi? He's still sitting there?"
"Looks like he still hasn't got anyone to eat with. What a fucking loner, huh?"
"I know, right, that's so lame ~"
The crunch of the pickled vegetables drowns out those words of social disdain uttered by passersby that Uesugi doesn't see and frankly doesn't care to look at.
"Um, excuse me...?"
Fuutarou's left ear perks up slightly. It sounds like someone is talking to him, and not in the usual condescending manner simply because he's elected to eat alone. Although he knows not to get his hopes up, perhaps this person is worth the effort paying attention to, who knows. So he turns in his chair after swallowing some more rice and miso soup to see who it is.
A girl sporting a noticeably different uniform with a black top in sharp contrast to the lighter tones of their high school's and with long peachy-red hair decorated with star-shaped hair clips is standing behind him. Fuutarou and the girl are at the perfect heights where the first thing his dull black eyes land on when he turns is the perhaps unusually generous size of her chest shrouded elegantly only by her black uniform and not by her food-loaded tray that she holds - a brief moment of comfort for his sore eyes, indeed, but Fuutarou allows such a distraction for a heartbeat before shifting his eyes up to where they ought to be: the girl's vivid, luminescent blue eyes.
"...yes? May I help you with something?" Fuutarou asks curtly.
"Ummm...is it, uh, is it alright if I s-sit with you here...?" the girl stammers nervously, already quite red in her cheeks. Her hands are shaking visibly, causing the water in its cup on her tray to tremble and jump.
"Hm, that's an interesting proposition," Fuutarou replies matter-of-factly, leaning back in his chair, kicking up a foot to his knee, and holding his chin like a detective about to dive into his next case. "Firstly, do you understand the risk of damage you will be taking to your social standing and reputation in this school if you were to sit and eat lunch at the same table as the Lunch Table Hermit, Uesugi Fuutarou?"
"L-Lunch Table Hermit...so they were referring to you, huh? I, uh, I see..."
Somehow, of all things, that's what gets under Fuutarou's skin ever so slightly.
"Secondly, and perhaps the more relevant inquiry..." Fuutarou points to the row of empty tables down the wall to his left. "...why not just grab a seat at any one of these tables instead? You don't need to bother asking me for a seat specifically here, now, do you?"
"I was - only trying to be polite!" the girl balks immediately, pouting intensely. "I normally have a group I eat with, but it so happens that today, I must eat alone. So I was walking around the entire cafeteria in search of a free table, and I was only just now able to find these tables. And when I did, I found you eating here alone, so - so I decided to try to be polite and join you!"
As if for emphasis, the girl's stomach grumbles quite audibly, putting Fuutarou in a tough spot in the conversation. Sighing, Fuutarou gestures to the seat on the long couch built into the wall across from him.
"Help yourself, then."
Her facial expression lighting up tremendously, the girl from another school nods in thanks and takes a seat across from Fuutarou, setting down her loaded tray and letting out a sigh of sweet relief.
"Thank you so much. It is just that...I was touring the campus here all day yesterday, and I do not think my body has fully recovered yet..." the girl says while pulling her wooden chopsticks apart in half. "I could certainly do with giving my feet a rest for now."
As she is explaining her situation, however, Fuutarou hears more sets of feet and voices approaching closer towards them, and sure enough, one of them goes in a hushed voice,
"Whoa, shit, look, Uesugi's eating with a girl, dude!"
"Damn, you're right. Hope that chick knows what's good for her, man, nothin' good comin' outta eating with Uesugi..."
Once again, Fuutarou ignores them, busying himself instead with what remains of his lunch.
"I wasn't joking about the first thing I said, though," he murmurs before knocking back the last of the miso soup and setting the bowl down.
To his mild surprise, his female companion is reddened even harder, her gaze angled downwards at her own food and her eyebrows terse from embarrassment.
"Don't worry about them. You have friends you usually eat with, right? Just treat this as a one-time thing, and tomorrow it'll be as if this never happened," Fuutarou shrugs as his eyes also descend upon the girl's food.
250 yen udon, two 150 yen shrimp tempura to go, one squid, chicken, and sweet potato tempura pieces each priced at 100 yen, and 180 yen pudding for dessert.
"You're a big eater, huh," the Lunch Table Hermit remarks with a wry smile, mentally tallying up the cost of the girl's own lunch.
"D-Don't mind me, either! And get that smile off your face!" the girl blurts out, the deep blush in her face reaching its boiling point, but the girl quickly clears her throat and corrects her posture to regain her manners. "But...but yes, it is as you can see, I like to eat well. I will have you know that I - I am still a growing girl, so...so that means I must eat a lot! If you have a problem about it, I shall hear it in exchange for you allowing me to sit with you."
The girl crosses her arms defensively and glares back at Fuutarou, still with her same pout, as if daring him to inquire further.
"Well, it's not that, it's just, I'm not used to seeing people order such a big lunch, much less have someone with a lunch like that come by and sit with me," Fuutarou says quickly, raising his hands in his own defense. "And not to mention, my own lunch looks pretty pathetic compared to yours, and it's not exactly something that I can just not notice, you know?"
Realizing the truth to Fuutarou's words, the girl drops her pout and unfolds her arms instantly, the embarrassment in her face swiftly retreating in favor of moderate guilt.
"Oh my goodness, I'm...I am so sorry," she apologizes quickly, unable to tear her eyes off Fuutarou's own sorry-looking bowls and empty vegetable dish at first, only to finally do so and shift her eyes back onto her own hearty meal. "This is very rude of me, I did not mean to - "
"It's fine. You might see it as rude, but to me, the best favor you can do for me for bringing in a lunch like that is to enjoy it," Fuutarou reassures her, draining the rest of the water in his cup. "That, and we don't have much more time left for lunch, so better eat quick."
"R-Right. Then...itadakimasu."
Fuutarou wants to get up and put away his own tray, as he has other plans, but to leave the girl alone just as she's beginning to eat, especially now since it feels like the girl would rather eat in a stranger's presence than by herself, puts him in an awkward position. But he's used to being in awkward positions; what he dislikes more is the feeling of indecisiveness, so Fuutarou deals with it by reaching into his pocket and pulling out a folded piece of paper.
"Hm? What are you doing?" the girl asks, noticing Fuutarou open up his folded piece of paper, just before her first mouthful of delicious pork-broth udon.
"Reviewing answers to a pop quiz that one of my teachers gave our class," Fuutarou replies coolly. "It ended up being a mock test, since the teacher only intended for it to gauge how much the class already knew, but..."
The girl stares at Fuutarou reviewing his answers, slurping up udon in the meantime.
"Um, I do not mean to be more rude to you than I already have been, but is it not bad manners to be studying like that?" she asks.
"How so?" Fuutarou challenges back, lowering his paper but refusing to break his eye contact with it. "I'm done eating my lunch, and now I'm spending the rest of lunchtime going over some answers to a quiz I recently took. I should be doing this while on the way to my next class, but if I were to just get up and leave you here, that would be even worse manners, no? Especially after what you've had to go through to get here in the first place."
"Even if that is true, I-I would appreciate it if you did not speak as if you know what I have had to go through the last few days," the girl stammers again, but she quickly regains composure this time. "Ah, I know! You must be reviewing because your score was not very good, right? So you feel the need to look over your answers during lunch of all times. If - you will - excuse me!"
Leaning forward sneakily, the black-uniformed girl suddenly lurches ahead and successfully snatches the quiz paper out of Fuutarou's hand.
"Hey, careful, you'll spill your water over - " Fuutarou warns, scowling at her. Specifically, he's eyeing the cup of water that the girl's right breast barely missed knocking over by mere centimeters.
"Well then, Uesugi Fuutarou-kun, you received - " the girl smugly scans her lunch companion's quiz.
That smug look of hers lasts about the same amount of time as the shrimp tempura she's demolished just now.
" - a perfect 100," she concludes blankly. Lowering Fuutarou's quiz paper, she instead looks like she's just gotten slapped in the face metaphorically.
"Oh nooooo, how embarrassiiiiiingggg..." Wailing sarcastically, Fuutarou reels a little in his seat and clutches at his face.
"Mmmmmuuuu! ! !" the girl resumes her usual pouting again as her cheeks redden up once more. "You knew I would get curious so that you could show me on purpose, did you not? You are teasing me right now, I know it!"
"I didn't, I swear."
"Liar! You are bad at lying, it is so obvious!"
"No, like, really, I didn't mean to show you. Why would I have any reason to show off my grades to some girl I just met five minutes ago? It's not like you'll be impressed by them or anything, there's no point. And even if you are, it's just a mock quiz, like I said. It would be really lame for me to feel good about bragging about mock quiz scores when they don't even count for anything since we're barely in the second week of school."
Fuutarou's calm demeanor and deduction of his actions also temper the girl's attitude, though there is still a bit of a pout left over that refuses to subside just yet.
"...very well, then. I apologize once more for my rash behavior, Uesugi-kun," the girl bows her head very slightly. "But...now that this topic is on hand, it does remind me of my own grades..."
"Your own grades? How so?"
"Well, the truth is...as frustrating as it is for me to admit to someone else, my grades are not so good."
"Really? That's too bad, you look like you're the studious type."
The offhand comment causes the girl to sit up a bit straighter, and Fuutarou notes that what remained of her pout from before is now gone.
"I-Is that so? I mean, I...I do try my best to study as hard as I can..." the girl says quickly, her cheeks glowing for a third time, but she shakes her head a little to clear her thoughts and clears her throat. "But regardless, the fact of the matter is that despite how much I study, my grades simply do not reflect that. Perhaps it is the way that I study, perhaps I simply cannot for the life of me retain the material that I study...ah!"
The girl suddenly claps her hands together.
"I know! I just thought of a great idea - sharing this table with you has got to be some kind of strange fate in itself," she says brightly. "This might be a bit sudden, but may I ask that you tutor me?"
"Tutor..." Fuutarou murmurs, playing with one of his wooden disposable chopsticks by turning it over and over in between his fingers. "So you ask to eat lunch with a guy whose school name is Lunch Table Hermit, then you ask that same person to tutor you just based off the perfect score he got on a mock quiz that has no impact on his grades whatsoever? You're a lot bolder than I thought."
"B-B-Bolder - !?"
Reddening up the hardest Fuutarou has ever seen a girl blush, the pouting girl lives up to her moniker with the most glorious pout he has ever had the pleasure of beholding.
"Relax, relax. Also, scrunching up your face like that's gonna make you start looking like me, angry all the time," Fuutarou warns her. "That being said, I don't mind tutoring you; however, while I might not look like it, I'm actually a pretty busy person outside of school. So I apologize if this sounds rude on my part, but I'd like to ask to be compensated for my time."
"Ah, a salary, right? Please do not worry, that can be arranged," the girl nods strongly, but her enthusiasm wanes slightly as a look of concern clouds her face. "But...I just remembered something..."
"What?"
"We, uh, I actually already have a tutor who has been arranged to meet with me at my house later today after school," the girl confides. "But in case I do not like that tutor, I will ask you for your services instead. Are you fine with that?"
"Yeah, sure. It's a bit weird to be asking for a tutor this early into the school year anyway, we've barely started the curriculum material as is."
The girl gasps shortly, then leans forward emphatically. "I know, right?! I could not believe it either when I found out! It was just so sudden, and...and I would at least like to try being able to improve myself at studying on my own, too!"
"Then why ask me to be your tutor?"
"Urk - "
Realizing that she's run herself into a brick wall, the girl freezes and tenses up at Fuutarou's logic bomb.
"Um...well...it's just..." the girl bites her lower lip, her stressed blue eyes looking down at the couch seat on which she herself is sitting. "N-Never mind, that is none of your business! All you need to know is that should the need arise, I would like to have you tutor me!"
Fuutarou shrugs sympathetically. "Alright, then. Just don't blame me for being at least a little bit curious, though I will admit I'm probably being nosy."
His smartphone in his pocket hums softly, having been set on vibrate, and so Fuutarou pulls it out to check what the notification is. Upon doing so, he notices the current time.
"Lunch's gonna end in ten minutes, so you better hurry up," Fuutarou advises his new potential student, who nods and quickly resumes her lunch. Meanwhile, he himself unlocks his phone and checks his texts, and upon finding a new one, he scans through it rapidly. "Hey, sorry for this, but I have to leave to make a call. Is it alright if I leave you here?"
The girl practically inhales a big portion of udon noodles when Fuutarou talks to her. "Of course, please, do not worry about me. I have taken much of your time as well - though, I suppose you really were not joking about being a busy person."
"Yeah, despite what the other kids here might say about me, I've got a lot on my plate, you could say."
"That's...that is not supposed to be some sort of jab at me, is it?"
"No, it's not, that was just an unfortunate coincidence." Fuutarou lowers his phone and reaches out his right hand to the girl. "And before I forget, you already saw it, but my name's Uesugi Fuutarou. Nice talking with you."
The girl shakes Fuutarou's hand. "Likewise. My name is Nakano Itsuki; I just transferred here yesterday, but I spent yesterday touring the campus, as I mentioned before, so today will be my first day of attendance. I hope to see you again."
The two bid each other goodbye for now, and Fuutarou puts away his tray before heading out of the cafeteria and into the sunny atrium situated immediately outside the cafeteria building. Tapping the "Call back" option on the text he's just received, Fuutarou walks slowly across the atrium towards the steps that lead down to the rest of the school grounds as his phone dials a number.
"Nakano speaking."
"Nakano-san, it's me. I just saw your text."
"Good. Did you have a chance to meet any of them yet?"
"I met Itsuki just now; chance had it that she decided to sit with me during lunch, so we were able to make acquaintances naturally."
"I see."
"But I have to ask, was it really necessary to have put all five of them in the same class as me?"
"I arranged for it to make your job easier. If it is not to your liking, I can arrange otherwise."
"Well, now that you've already gone ahead and done it, no need to backtrack. And, like you said, it works in my favor."
"Very well. I would like to remind you again that their academic standings are...worrying, to say the least. Since you met Itsuki already, you should have noticed that she is still wearing her old school uniform."
"Yeah, the one from Kurobara High, the prestigious all-girls' private academy."
"Correct. In an effort to salvage their academic records, I have elected to move them to a public school like yours in hopes that they can at least raise their grades there. As much as I would like them to have remained at Black Rose, I have neither the time nor the patience to see to it that they do so, so this is the next best option I went with."
Neither the time nor the patience, Fuutarou thinks to himself. What a fabulous parent...Dad of the Year material right here.
"I'll see what I can do then, Nakano-san."
"I pray that you will. But, more importantly..."
Fuutarou stops at the top of the stairs, putting his free hand in his pocket as he surveys the beautiful school landscape of spring.
"I've looked into Ebata's murder, but I haven't been able to find the killer's trail yet. I need more time."
"Have you been able to determine decisively whether or not his murderer is after the girls as well?"
"Still inconclusive, there's just too little evidence. Maybe the killer only went after Ebata - after all, he was a very distinguished and famous butler, so it's not out of the realm of possibility that he may have had enemies somewhere that we aren't aware of."
"Then you're saying there is no point to have hired you?"
"Calm down, Nakano-san, I never said anything of the sort. I still agree with you that more than likely, the murderer is still after the girls for one reason or another. I spent the majority of last night making preparations, after all."
"Hmph. What about the killer himself? Did you at least find out anything about him?"
"I took the liberty of performing an autopsy on Ebata yesterday. On the surface, it appears to be a simple stab wound through the back of the head; by all accounts, it was a clean, quiet kill. The problem is, with the account you gave me that the police officer who found Ebata's body made, Ebata most likely was still sitting in his car after he dropped off the girls that night, yet he received a stab wound that went into the back of his head, and the driver seat head had no signs of perforation or cuts. The car itself did not appear to be broken in, though the doors were unlocked when the police officer found it."
"...then it is as we suspected."
"Right, we're dealing with a mage here. Probably a telekinetic with an affinity for knives..."
"Then if the killer has the apparent power to kill Ebata in such a fashion, why did they not attempt to go after the girls that night?"
"Just a hypothesis, but the murderer probably wants to take the girls hostage."
"If hostages is what they want, they could have simply taken everyone in that car hostage that night."
"Possibly, yes, but remember that mages are sworn to secrecy and covertness is their top priority. They probably couldn't risk hijacking the car like that because the girls would have started to panic, and even if they were driving back from school last night, Ebata's route took them on decently trafficked roads for the most part. If the murderer could get inside the vehicle somehow and tried to hijack it, Ebata would fight for control of the car, and more than likely they would have crashed and made a scene. If the murderer killed Ebata immediately in the same scenario like he did for real, car goes boom anyway. Mages cannot afford to risk such exposure."
"And why not? These are mages we are talking about, yes? Certainly they could do something to cover up consequences or evidence of their actions?"
"The really good ones can, but most aren't that good. More importantly, no matter how good of a mage you are, if you slip up even once and expose yourself and the fact that you are a mage somehow, other mages will come in and remove you for risking exposure of magic to society. Because if magic is revealed as a reality in today's world, it will undermine the power of all the current mages in the world as everyone will want to learn about magic."
"Mages sound like very selfish people, huh."
Fuutarou could say the same about his client. But for both of their sakes, he refrains from saying this.
"In essence, yes."
The bell signaling the end of lunch rings out in its usual chimes, and Fuutarou turns around to head back into the school building.
"That's the bell. You know how to reach me, Nakano-san."
"Indeed. I expect updates soon, Uesugi-kun."
"Roger that."
"I'm surprised, this new school isn't too bad. I thought people were gonna be super antagonistic towards us for being from Black Rose, but that wasn't the case at all."
The mid-afternoon sun is dancing its way down through the cheery blue and partially cloudy sky, shining its rays over the street on which Itsuki and her siblings are walking after school's end back home. They could have elected to simply taxi their way back home, but at Yotsuba's insistence, the girls have decided to walk to and from school back home at least once so that they know the route.
"I know, right...it's a relief, to say the least," Ichika remarks with a sigh, resting her head against Nino's left shoulder. "That's one weight off our shoulders, I guess..."
"Hey, hey, Ichika, no falling asleep while we're walking."
"Aww...not even for a little bit?"
"That'd be sleepwalking by that point!"
"It's okay. I have confidence in my sleep-walking skills." Ichika flashes her younger sister a thumbs-up as she beams as brightly as she can.
"You really shouldn't be proud of having skills like that. Also, you should see a doctor about that."
"But it still doesn't change the fact that you're still the most popular with everyone out of all of us, Nino," Yotsuba says, as bright as the afternoon sun over their heads. "Still always the social butterfly. Some things don't change, ehehe ~ "
"Because I'm the only one here who actually bothers talking to people, you know!" Nino retorts. "We're quints, so whatever one of us can do, we should all be able to do."
"Talking to people...is an unnecessary skill," Miku broods to herself.
"Hey, hey, I heard that. And that's not gonna do you any favors, you know."
"Oh, oh! Speaking of people, there were so many clubs and sports teams I checked out! Everyone's just so nice here ~ " Yotsuba coos, giddy with excitement at the mere thought of being able to join one of such clubs soon.
"Speaking of things that never change, there she goes again..." Ichika chuckles while still having her head rest on Nino's shoulder. "Still, it's reassuring that we're still able to stay like this, even after a few school switches..."
"Yeah..." Nino agrees quietly, her gaze naturally falling down to the ground at her feet, but she quickly snaps out of it and glances over to Itsuki, who's the only one who hasn't talked yet. And the second quint finds out why: Itsuki is busy helping herself to a meat bun that she bought from the convenience store that she just visited a few moments ago.
Getting an idea, Nino eases Ichika off her shoulder, sneaks up behind her youngest sister, and swoops on her, squeezing Itsuki's love handles teasingly.
"It's a meat bun monster, gyaaaaa ~ " Nino giggles, pinching Itsuki's sides naughtily. As expected, Itsuki, almost dropping her meat bun out of surprise, lets out a small little panicked yelp before pouting and fuming at the culprit.
"S-Stop, stop, please!" Itsuki begs, trying her best to look angry, but as Nino is playing with her sides where she is somewhat ticklish, Itsuki can't help but reflexively laugh even if she doesn't mean to.
"But the boys won't be interested in you if you're always eating, you know ~ " Nino says snarkily. "Just look at these love handles, my God! What boy's gonna like the sight of these?"
"I do not need to know what the boys think! That's always been something that interested you more, no? Anyways, knock it off, please!"
"Psh. Can't even take a joke..." Grumbling to herself, Nino does comply and ceases her harassment.
"It's like Nino's always dreamed of moving into a public co-ed school like this," Miku adds. "That way, she can flirt with all the boys as much as she wants."
"Hey, I won't lie, I don't know about the rest of you, but I like our new school so far. None of that stiff fucking air back at Black Rose where everything was supposed to be prim and proper...and besides, the moment they had the chance to, all the girls there would still be just like any regular schoolgirl if the teachers weren't looking," Nino shrugs nonchalantly. "This is the best school switch yet, hands down."
"Then if that's the case, Nino, why not accept this tutor we'll be having later today? That way, we can work to keep attending this new school."
"Geh." Nino frowns deeply back at Miku. "So that's what this's all about? Why are you so gung-ho about that anyway, all of a sudden? Sheesh, this's why you won't ever be popular in school, Miku."
"Never had an interest in being popular, safe to say."
"Tch, can't ever get to you, huh. Fine, I guess I'll just have to hog all the boys to myself. Maybe Ichika can have one or two, who knows."
"Aha, we'll see about that, I suppose," Ichika comments from afar.
"S-Speaking of boys, I, um, I d-did eat with one today, at, uh, at lunch!" Itsuki blurts out, immediately following this up with a big bite of her meat bun. "Yes, yes, during lunch today!"
Gasping in surprised delight, Nino almost rams into Itsuki at the mere mention of the latter eating with a boy at lunch.
"Seriously!? You're not bullshitting me right now, are you, Itsuki?!" Nino is all over her sister, who hides her face behind what's left of her meat bun for figurative safety.
"I-I would not lie about something like this, would I? It's true!" Itsuki cries, wondering if it were a mistake on her part to even mention this at all in front of her sisters, especially Nino.
"Oh dear me, my sisters grow up so fast ~ " Nino puts a hand up to her forehead in dramatic fashion. "Especially Itsuki, out of everyone who could've done something like that...!"
"Just for the record, he is not my b-boyfriend or anything! That kind of stuff should not happen in high school! I am still staunchly against it!" Itsuki irritably bites in to her meat bun again.
"Well, you say that, but none of the rest of us have eaten with a boy before yet, have we?" Yotsuba points out, causing Itsuki to burst into a fierce blush once more at the implications of Yotsuba's statement.
"Exactly, Yotsuba. Which is why this's so important!" Nino leers back at Itsuki again. "So? Who was it? Another first-year? Or maybe an upperclassman? At least gimme his last name or something!"
"Nino, back off Itsuki, will you," Miku says, eyeing Itsuki's difficult expression amidst her luminescent blush that's as bright as her hair. "Even if Itsuki does have a boyfriend now, forcing her to tell us who he is can't be good."
"Oh ho? And look who's talking to be giving me relationship advice like that," Nino sneers back. Complying with Miku, the second quint withdraws from Itsuki's personal space and instead invades the third quint's, tilting her head at Miku bossily. "I wasn't aware you knew enough about dating to be saying that, Miku. Care to explain where and how you learned that?"
"You need to be in a relationship in order to gain common sense? I wasn't aware of that," Miku fires back.
"Oh, and look who's talking! I wasn't aware that people who like matcha soda had any common sense to begin with."
"That's got nothing to do with common sense, that's just personal taste."
"Hey, hey, now, let's not fight," Ichika finally intervenes, now that Miku and Nino are beginning to bicker once more. The girls are now walking past the entrance sign of their luxury high-rise apartment and approaching the lobby. "Especially not when we're supposed to have our tutor come in pretty soon. It's almost four right now, isn't it?"
"That tutor thing again? Tch, fuck if I care," Nino groans. "You guys can take care of that, I've gotta redo my nails once we get back..."
"Oh, now that you mention it, I think I'll have to do my nails again soon," Ichika says as she glances down at her own fingernails. "Wanna do them together, Nino?"
"Together? Sure, it's been a while, I don't mind..."
The quintuplets wait for other occupants of the apartment exit the elevator in the lobby so that they themselves can enter to go up to their floor.
"Oh boy...now that we're about to have our tutor come in soon, I'm a lot more nervous than I thought," Yotsuba chuckles awkwardly.
"Are you? You're usually the one who just bounces around all over the place," Nino asks.
"Well, yeah, fair enough, but, like, my grades..." Yotsuba tries to give Nino a cheery smile as she usually does, but instead she just ends up cringing a bit. "Our tutor's probably gonna think I'm a total idiot."
"Oh, come now, that's not the Yotsuba we know and love," Ichika pouts a bit too. She walks up behind Yotsuba in the elevator and pushes the corners of Yotsuba's lips up. "Ribbon up! Smile wide! What time is it?"
"IT'S YOTSUBA TIIIIIIIIIIIME!" the namesake quint cheers and punches the air above her, as if on demand, just as Miku's phone clock strikes four.
"There we go, much better. Now have at it, tiger!"
"Got it, chief! Gaaaooooooo - "
"But that's a lion, though..." Miku murmurs.
The elevator doors open to let the girls out to their apartment floor, and Yotsuba's the first one out, flying out in a blur towards their suite.
"Home sweet home," Miku smiles as Yotsuba spins around in the elevator lobby briefly before following the rest of her sisters to the door to their home.
Flashing a passcard in front of the electronic door handle, Ichika unlocks the door and opens it, holding it open for the rest of her sisters as they file in and take off their shoes. As she's removing her own shoes, though, Nino, glancing down at the floor, notices something.
"Wait, huh? Whose - whose shoes are those? I've never seen them here..."
The other quints also peek over to see what Nino's talking about. A pair of ordinary black brandless sneakers sits neatly on the corner of the shoe floor.
"They aren't mine, those don't even look my size!" Yotsuba clamors, staring intently down at the black sneakers. "Yep, yep, way too big for my own feet!"
"You could probably put your hands in them and go full tiger mode," Miku comments innocently.
"Please do not go putting weird ideas in Yotsuba's head, she will actually do that," Itsuki whispers sharply. "But really, whose shoes are those, anyway?"
"Those would be mine."
A sixth voice, foreign to the Nakano household, joins the quintuplets at the entrance of their home. Looking up from the shoes, Ichika, Nino, Miku, Yotsuba, and Itsuki find a boy about their age, dressed in the uniform of their new high school and holding a manila file, pocketing his phone and looking up back at them from their living room.
Shock of varying degrees etches itself into each of the quintuplets' faces, and none more so than the one who has met this exact same boy earlier today. But before any of them can utter a word, the boy gives them a quick bow before finishing,
"My name's Uesugi Fuutarou. I'm a first-year like the rest of you, and I'll be your tutor for this year going forward. I'll be in your care, as I'll do the same for you all."