A/N
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"Aaaaaah ~ we're done, we're done, we're dooooooonnnnneeee...bleeeeegh."
After kicking off her shoes in the shoe lobby in near-total exhaustion, the eldest of the Nakano quintuplets, Nakano Ichika, stumbles her way into the living room and flops face-down across the length of the wide couch, and the youngest quintuplet, Nakano Itsuki, follows in tow, just as drained as her sibling as she, too, collapses into the short couch perpendicular to the other.
"Good work this week, Ichika," Itsuki says over to her older sister, still considerate enough to be thinking of her sisters through her own exhaustion.
"Same to you and everyone else. I didn't even know we were all capable of studying so much, much less myself, sheesh!"
Rolling over to her back so that she can lie down facing up to make herself better heard, Ichika yawns heavily, rubbing her tired eyes slowly.
"So where are the others?" she asks curiously.
"Yotsuba is out training with the track team again; now that our finals are done and summer vacation has started, there should be nothing from stopping her assist them as she'd promised," Itsuki informs with her head resting against the back of her couch and her own eyes closed. "Nino and Miku...they took a detour to head into the shopping district to buy a gift for Uesugi-kun."
"Wait, they did? Why's this the first time I'm hearing about it? We could've all gone together."
"Er...well, they told me about it, but they asked me not to tell you since the two of us looked quite tired after studying for the past two days for finals."
"But I can't be singled out for that, can I? Everyone was looking like they were at the ends of their ropes by the time we went in to take our finals today."
"But...you were the one who kept falling asleep while we were studying with Uesugi-kun, so...they must have decided not to tell you so that you could go home and get some sleep like you normally do."
Chuckling to herself in amusement after hearing this explanation, Ichika pulls her hand off her forehead to stare up at the ceiling of their penthouse for a few moments.
"That's only because I'm not used to studying that hard. Since I haven't been going into work lately, I wouldn't have fallen asleep normally..."
"So your part-time job was the cause of all those naps you would normally take during the day?"
"It's quite physically demanding, yeah. But I didn't think that studying could get to the point where I'd start falling asleep from mental exhaustion." Ichika pauses for a moment. "...actually, let me take that back a little. What I meant to say is, I didn't think that studying with Fuutarou-kun in particular could get to the point where I'd feel that way."
"You never really studied too much before Uesugi-kun became our private tutor, right, Ichika?" Itsuki asks out of curiosity.
"Yeah, not really. Truth be told, I never really found school to be interesting at all...I guess that must be true to varying extents for anyone our age, but I just could never be bothered. Like, ever since we entered middle school at Kurobara, I just couldn't give any more of a crap about what we were learning. I don't know why I lost interest all of a sudden like that, but that's just how it was, and I've been like that ever since. So it always amazes me that everyone else's been willing to put in the time and effort into studying and going to school and paying attention in class, especially considering we weren't ever producing the results to reflect that. I guess that kinda added to my overall apathy towards school, because if none of you girls were getting good grades even with studying, what were the chances that I'd be any different, you know?"
Giving an awkward smile over at her older sister, Itsuki scratches her cheek softly in apology. "I, uh...apologize for not, um, producing results. I know that I must have been one of the main contributors to why you must have felt that way..."
"Ah, no, uh, th-that's not what I was trying to get at," Ichika says quickly, immediately sensing that she's accidentally put Itsuki in a tough spot and pushing herself up quickly to sit up on the couch. Shifting over on the couch as well to draw closer to her sister, the eldest quint shakes both her head and hands at Itsuki in an effort to calm her down. "I wasn't trying to blame anyone in particular. It just sort of...I just developed that kind of mentality when in hindsight I shouldn't have, since that isn't exactly a healthy mentality to have anyway."
"I see. Then...if I may ask, what about Uesugi-kun's tutoring convinced you to study hard with him as opposed to...what you were like before?"
"Well..." Ichika plants her left elbow on the couch arm next to her and supports her face with her left cheek in her hand as she ponders how to answer Itsuki's question. "...do you remember - actually, I don't know if you would, because in the beginning it was just me, Miku, and Yotsuba; back then, you and Nino didn't want to study with Fuutarou-kun, so you two just did your own thing while the three of us studied with him as he was meant to."
Itsuki nods with a heavy sigh of regret. "I can only imagine how much better I would have fared on our exams had I simply agreed to let him tutor me as well..."
"Yeah, makes you wonder, huh. Anyway, initially I didn't really care for a tutor, or the fact that we were getting one to help us study. I still remember on the night we came back from our orientation trip at our current school telling the others that they could handle our new tutor and tell them that we didn't need one. I thought it would just be a crusty thirty or forty-something year old with some fancy degree at a university somewhere, given what Dad would probably come up with for a tutor, so imagine my surprise when it turns out to be one of our classmates, and the one that keeps sleeping in class."
"Yes, that should sound very familiar now, does it not?"
"Oof, I didn't think I'd learn what it feels like to get roasted by Itsuki of all my sisters today, what the heck!" Ichika pouts at her younger sister who's busy giggling at her rare but successful attempt at cracking a joke.
"That was payback for laughing at me the other day when Uesugi-kun made that joke about how washing dishes is a real chore, mainly because of me," Itsuki smiles gleefully.
"Fine, fine. I've been doing my best to not sleep in class though, I just want you to know!"
"Excuses, excuses ~ "
Still pouting, Ichika reaches over and pinches Itsuki's antenna hair a little.
"Ouch! I-Ichika, not the ahoge, please..."
"That's what you get for disrespecting your elders."
"B-But you're only barely older than me...!"
"Ugh, just c'mere and be a good little sister, will you..."
Pulling Itsuki's arm a little to get her to come join her on the long couch, Ichika has the former lie down with her head in her lap so that Ichika can play with her younger sister's long hair a little.
"I-I am not a little girl anymore," Itsuki does a pout of her own back up at her older sister, though she complies with her sister's wishes nonetheless.
"Oh, c'mon, just for old time's sake. I did this a lot for you back in the day, remember?"
"I do, but..."
"I mean, no one else's here and it doesn't seem like anyone'll be back for a while, in case that's what you're worried about."
"Not necessarily, but..."
Lying on the couch on her side as Ichika gently rubs her scalp at the base of her antenna hair, Itsuki, allowing the nostalgic comfort of doing this years ago, calmly gazes off into the rest of the living room.
"...so about what we were talking about earlier..." she starts up, "...what, um...what made you decide to study with Uesugi-kun? If you said you started out not wanting to?"
"Aha...well...you remember the incident at the warehouse, right? Sorry for bringing it up, but..."
"I-It is okay. And yes, I do remember, how could I forget..."
"Well, that incident happened before our first actual tutoring session with him. And that night was the night when we found out that he wasn't any ordinary guy. I'll admit that learning about his identity as a mage piqued my interest in him, so the idea of having a guy like that as our tutor suddenly wasn't so bad, when it was already surprising enough that Dad hired someone like him, one of our own classmates from school, to be our tutor. So I just, y'know, decided to give him a chance, and...it turned out to be a good one, I'd say."
Ichika gazes down at her younger sister.
"So, let me ask you now: have you been thinking about Fuutarou-kun lately too?"
Itsuki jolts a little, causing Ichika to giggle a little.
"Was I right on the money with that one? Hopefully that didn't distract you too much while we were studying for finals the past two days."
"I-It did not, thankfully..." Itsuki takes a deep breath. "I was so focused on studying that I was not able to really dwell on my feelings for him. In fact, I had completely forgotten about all of it until just now, when you brought it up..."
"Sorry about that. I just figured that maybe it would've crossed your mind a few times at least, but I guess you're too diligent of a student for that."
"You make it sound like there is something wrong with me."
"I mean, it's fair to say that a lot of girls our age like to think about things like that, right? It just means that you're an exception, and there's nothing inherently wrong with that. I'm just glad that you've actually found someone you could have genuine feelings for, that's all."
"You still make it sound like there is something wrong with me!"
"Huh? W-Wait, what did I say?"
"You made it sound as though you thought that I am incapable of developing feelings for anybody!"
"Oh - Oh, yeah, s-sorry about that, really." Having burst out into laughter at Itsuki's expense, Ichika apologizes by rubbing Itsuki's cheeks comfortingly. "I guess I really am pooped out; I should be better at talking to people than this. But anyways, like I said two days ago when we all got back together, I was surprised that you like him because out of everyone in our family, I just feel like you're the least likely to develop feelings for anybody. I mean, you are on record for saying that you don't believe in any kind of romantic relationship while we're still in high school, and yet here you are."
"I know I am. And it makes me feel that much worse about it," Itsuki mumbles miserably. "Now nobody will take what I have to say seriously anymore..."
"Well, let's not go that far just yet - people do change over time, after all, just like how all of us have since our days as truly identical quintuplets, so what's to say that you couldn't eventually shed that whole thing about not dating until after high school. In fact, let's not focus on what the others think for now, as that's an entirely separate topic. For now, let's talk about you, Itsuki. What about him made you start liking him? Remember, I'm asking this with the impression that you were the least likely out of the five of us to find a boy you'd like, so I don't know what your tastes in guys would be like."
Itsuki shakes her head slowly, trying to come up with something to say. "I don't...I do not know, I really do not. Like...I am trying my best to think of what it is that I like about Uesugi-kun that would contribute to me eventually developing feelings for him, but I cannot pinpoint an answer of any kind. It is...it is difficult to explain..."
"It's not like time's an issue for us at the moment, so take as much time as you need. I've already committed to listening to whatever you want to say, since I'm the one asking you about this, right?"
"U-Understood. Then to continue the thought I have right now...if I were to simply think about Uesugi-kun like I am now to come up with a reason why I like him, since you told me to, I...I cannot."
"Hm, then maybe it's one of those situations where you only really know if he's physically here with you?"
"Perhaps...? But even if we are together, I do not feel, um, bashful or...embarrassed by his presence. I at least know that...some girls respond to being in the presence of their crushes by becoming embarrassed or the like, but I do not feel that way."
"Huh...interesting..." Ichika ponders her sister's recollections.
"Um, how so...?"
"Well, usually the girls I've hung out with act a certain way when we talk about boys we like or other such gossip, and it's usually pretty cookie-cutter and obvious. But I suppose I can't quite apply that same school of thought towards someone like you who just doesn't have the same social experience that me or other girls at school do..."
"Yes, I would not think so either."
"Totally unrelated, by the way, but what do you think about singing a duet with Fuutarou-kun? Y'know, maybe a cover of 'Turing Love' with him? I think it'd totally fit."
"A d-duet..."
"Yeah, it'd be great! I mean, Fuutarou-kun knows how to sing, amazingly enough, and even more amazing, he actually sings really well! You used to sing too, right? It could totally work!"
But the youngest quintuplet merely frowns slowly and lets her gaze drop to the floor, letting only awkward silence be her answer to her oldest sister.
"...I do not know if I want to sing anymore," she mumbles weakly. "Even if I wanted to, I am...so out of practice that...I would just get angry at myself for even trying, much less a duet with Uesugi-kun."
Ichika flinches a little, realizing the gravity of her carelessness. "Oh, I'm...yeah, maybe I shouldn't have brought that up, that's my bad..."
"It is alright. I just...have no real desire to sing anymore, that is all. Maybe you could get Nino to sing with him? Nino sometimes sings along to those pop songs she listens to in her room, as we all know."
"Aha, yeah, she can get pretty loud sometimes...but yeah, let's just move on from that; like I said, it was totally unrelated and I just felt like asking you that. For something a bit more relevant, then, let's start with the most basic of basics: you know for a fact, without a doubt, that you like him more than just as a tutor, right? And more than just a classmate or friend?"
"I...I think so, yes. But...but I feel as though I must tell you that this thing...I only very recently began to feel this way about Uesugi-kun."
"Oh? How recent are we talking? It seems recent, given the way the others were talking about it last time."
"Er..." Itsuki takes a deep breath. "...I believe...starting with the first night when NIno and I, um, left home because of our fight..."
Ichika can't help but balk at this. "...eh? This week kind of recent? Seriously?"
"I-is that a bad thing...?"
"Not really, no, but...I thought you might've felt this way about Uesugi-kun for a while by now. At least like a month, let's say. Like, ever since you changed your mind about him and started studying with us after midterms, I figured that change of heart may have been the start of your feelings for him, but this week? I didn't expect that at all..."
Itsuki starts fidgeting again, her head still cuddled warmly in her sister's lap. "...so this is quite strange, isn't it..."
"No, no, not at all! Even study-holic girls like you who've never lived true lives as schoolgirls can find love somehow too, trust! Well, then again, that's not saying much given how desperate guys can get in trying to get girlfriends, so..."
"That is not exactly comforting to hear, Ichika...!"
"Haha, sorry, sorry, bad habit of mine comin' up again." Ichika pulls Itsuki's head out of her lap and helps her sit up so that they can talk seriously now. "Then if you want to, tell me more about exactly when you first realized that you like Uesugi-kun, since I don't think I know the details yet."
After a moderate pause to prepare herself mentally, Itsuki clasps her hands together on her lap.
"...as I said, it was starting with the night of my fight with Nino. After I stormed out of here, I was halfway to a hotel downtown that I had in mind when I realized that I forgot my purse in my anger, and since it would be too awkward and embarrassing for me to return home just to get it, I thought of anywhere else I could stay, and naturally the first thing that came to mind was Uesugi-kun's house, since I know where it is."
"Wait, don't tell you walked all the way there...?" Ichika realizes breathlessly.
"I did not have a choice, did I? I had no money on me."
"But, like...all the way from downtown? Fuutarou-kun's place is all the way in the abandoned sector of the city, isn't it? That's gotta be at least an hour's walk, if not more!"
Itsuki shrugs. "It is nothing we have not done before, right? Back when we ourselves were still living with Mother in those kinds of conditions."
"Well, I mean, I get that, but...it's not as though you exercise regularly like me or Yotsuba or even Nino do."
"Y-You underestimate me. Even I can do things like this if I put my mind to it," Itsuki pouts back.
"Apparently so. I guess I should have more faith in my sisters, huh?" Ichika pats her younger sister's head affectionately as an apology. "But go on."
"Yes...so once I arrived at Uesugi-kun's house, I explained to Raiha-chan that I needed to stay for a little while or until further notice due to personal reasons. I was going to explain to them the whole situation if she had asked for it, but she did not, and when her father returned home, he was fine with it too. Then a little while later, Uesugi-kun himself came to make sure that I was okay, I would imagine."
"Uh-huh. And what did he do then? I would assume that this was the moment you realized...?"
Itsuki nods, her cheeks warming up from Ichika pointing this moment out to her like this.
"...after we ate dinner, he took me outside so that we could talk privately. He asked me what happened between me and Nino, about my Mystic Eye - "
Itsuki's blood runs cold the moment she realizes she's mentioned something in front of Ichika that she probably wasn't supposed to.
"...f-forget I said that one thing..." the youngest quint whispers, her trembling eyes looking away from her older sister as they don't know what else to do in a situation like this.
"What, the Mystic Eyes thing? It's okay, Onee-chan has one too."
"...huh?"
Reflexively, Itsuki lifts her gaze up to look over at her sister, and she finds herself greeted by a subtly glowing yellow iris in Ichika's right eye. Ichika smiles shortly back at her.
"We can talk about this later, but I think it's time for us, at least the ones with these kinds of eyes, to come to terms about this, but again, this is for another time. For now, what else did Fuutarou-kun do?"
Itsuki swallows her resulting uneasiness about the matter as best she can to continue, though she can't completely erase her nervousness, given what she'd agreed to with the other two.
"...um...he...Uesugi-kun...when I told him that I could not return home just yet because this was something I felt strongly about, about how Nino should be the one to return home first since it was technically her fault for causing this whole dilemma, he did not try to convince me otherwise. And when I asked him why he would not, he told me that despite being our tutor, he understood that...while there are few things that are more important than our academics, one of those things was family, and that...he would not force us to come back home despite being able to do so."
Ichika's eyes widen gradually while listening to Itsuki's testimony, her golden Mystic Eye having faded back into obscurity.
"I think...yes, it was at that point when he said that that...I began to see Uesugi-kun differently," Itsuki nods slowly to herself. "And the reason why is...I only viewed him as our tutor. Perhaps as a close friend as well, and certainly as our bodyguard, since he personally protected me and escorted me back home that one night at the cost of his own health. But since he always stressed that we ought to focus on our studies, I did just that. So focused was I on studying with him that...that I was unable to see him as anything else. Even during the past two days or so when we were cramming for our finals, I saw him strictly as a tutor who was there to help us do as best we could on our exams with what little time we had left."
The fifth quintuple takes a deep breath.
"But that moment that night earlier this week, when he told me that he cared more about our family and making sure that we stayed together despite whatever falling outs we may have, that...showed me that Uesugi-kun was not just the strict, money-grabbing workaholic that he made himself out to be. Of course, it - it was not just that, but rather, a culmination of everything he had done for me and everyone else: all the times he had kept us safe, all the hours he has put into teaching us to the best of his ability despite his own workload, and even all the moments we have had with him outside of our tutoring, hanging out together just as friends...when Uesugi-kun told me that he respected my decision to stay at his house, it all sort of...hit me, what kind of person he was. He is the only other person in this world other than Father and Grandfather who could even remotely understand how I felt about that matter, and what sets him apart even then is the fact that he is, as Nino would refer to him as, an 'outsider', someone who should not have anything to do with our family."
"But because of all the time he's spent with us, like you said, he can, huh?" Ichika nods understandingly.
"Precisely. And...I think...that is what makes him so special." Blinking to herself, Itsuki shyly puts a hand on her face, slowly growing embarrassed at herself. "...I honestly don't know what to do, Ichika. I was able to keep it steady while we were studying for finals because we were all so focused on studying, but now that we have summer vacation coming up...it's like...what do I do? Now that I've talked about him in this way, I feel like I won't be able to see Uesugi-kun as just my tutor anymore. I still think that having romantic relationships like this during high school is inappropriate and it'll get in the way of our studies, and for that reason I want to keep seeing him as our tutor, but I get the feeling that things just won't stay that way. And at the same time, if things don't stay that way and maybe our relationship turns into something bigger, I don't know how to approach that at all."
Giving a soft sigh, Itsuki lowers her hand from her face.
"...whenever you or Nino would talk about things like this, you always made it out to be something exciting and fun. This is probably because I'm just not as experienced in these kinds of things as you two are, but...I didn't know that falling in love would be so...daunting."
The eldest quintuplet chuckles a little and pulls Itsuki in for a warm hug.
"I can see why you feel like Nino and I gave you the wrong impression about dating and falling in love and stuff like that, so sorry about that. But people don't always fall in love the same way, right? Even if we're quintuplets and all."
Soaking in her older sister's warmth, Itsuki blinks slowly, feeling her own mental exhaustion from all the studying she's done this week and everything else that has happened slowly catch up to her.
"Then what should I do?" she asks quietly.
"Personally, I would tell you to go get 'im," Ichika giggles softly. "High school only comes once a lifetime, unless we get held back repeatedly...which I guess could actually have happened to us if Dad never hired Fuutarou-kun to be our tutor, haha. But it's what I've been saying all this time, right? The memories that you make during high school are one of a kind - they should be memories that you look back on five or ten years down the line from now and make you feel all warm inside. I guess you could say that about memories you make at any point in life, now that I think about it, but hey, we're in high school right now, so high school is what matters. And I don't know about you, but I get the feeling that if all the high school memories you ever had were of you just sitting in your room all day studying, then those memories probably won't make you feel that way."
Itsuki makes a little "hmph!" so Ichika nuzzles the top of Itsuki's head comfortingly.
"But I'm not wrong, am I?" she asks.
"I wouldn't have minded before."
"But now?"
"Now...obviously I'm not so sure."
"Right. So now that you're in this position, I would tell you to step outside your comfort zone and try to take a more proactive approach towards Fuutarou-kun. Because if you don't and you stay the way you are, you can't expect to make any progress on your relationship with him. And if you do decide to stay the way you are and things don't end up working out for you, your relationship with him'll just stay stagnant and not go anywhere, and we haven't even talked about the fact that Miku likes him too, so you've got some competition there, but that's for another discussion. The point I'm trying to make here is that in my honest opinion, you should try growing your relationship with Fuutarou-kun, because something truly beautiful might blossom from it; you never know. And if it doesn't work out, you come out of it with actual experience of what you're looking for in a relationship and a future boyfriend, and more importantly, you hopefully came out of it with memories you can look back on fondly...though that's just speaking optimistically."
Itsuki is silent for a while.
"Then my question is...how do I even start...? I don't know anything about...about dating. I don't know anything about Uesugi-kun to begin with. All I know about him, all we know about him is from all the times we've spent studying with him and him tutoring us. Apart from a few rare occasions, he never really talks about himself. And not to mention, what does he think about all this...? Would Uesugi-kun himself even want a relationship...?"
"Oh c'mon, of course he does, he's a guy our age. What high school guy doesn't want to hook up with a cute girl like you?"
"I-I'm not cute, Ichika!"
"Aw, why not? Why wouldn't you be when we're all literally identical quints here? Every one of my sisters is cute!"
"Because I don't really do things like makeup or whatnot. I've never really cared for my appearance, you know!"
"Well, at least you're not Miku levels of 'I don't care about my appearance', but that's besides the point. You don't need to have makeup on to be cute, for your information, though it definitely helps. I'll teach you some pointers about makeup though, if you'd like. It's either me or Nino, and I think you'd prefer having me teach you, right?"
"Well, I have been getting along better with Nino lately, especially following our fight this week. So I don't know..."
"Then that's even better, you can ask Nino for some makeup tips too. She and I do our makeup differently and use different brands, after all."
Itsuki closes her eyes out of exhaustion for a few moments before opening them again, afraid that she'll fall asleep right here in Ichika's warm arms that are almost too comforting.
"...at least something like makeup is a simple matter," she remarks slowly.
"Mm...I suppose it is in the grand scheme of things. Is something else on your mind?" Ichika asks softly, almost purring into Itsuki's hair, and the younger quintuplet nods reservedly.
"Yes. When I asked if Uesugi-kun himself would even want a relationship, I was wondering if he even has the luxury of having a girlfriend in his current position. With all the work he must be doing, between us and his regular workload as a mage, I cannot help but wonder if...if he would be more inclined to view having a girlfriend at this moment in time as more of a liability, as just another responsibility to his already large list of responsibilities that he must take care of."
"You're scared that you might be a burden to him? That he'll see you as a burden?"
"Not scared, but..." After pondering this choice of words, though, Itsuki relents. "...actually, yes, I...I am scared. I may not know very much about relationships, but I think it does not take a dating guru to know that...that being in a relationship in which I am a burden to my significant other is not a healthy one. That is not what I want, especially not when I know that I am already a big part of the reason why he has so many responsibilities right now."
Ichika starts chuckling a little again, which Itsuki finds a little inappropriate.
"...what? What was so funny about that...?" she wonders aloud, frowning up at her older sister.
"No, it's not what you said, it's just that...I remember Miku telling me the same thing back when I talked to her about how she likes Fuutarou-kun. I guess we really are quintuplets, huh? With both of you worried about how Fuutarou-kun might think of the situation."
"I suppose I should feel better that I am not the only one to think this way, then."
Ichika shifts in her seat on the couch a little to get more comfortable.
"Well, what I will say is that one of the good things that came out of your fight with Nino is the knowledge that without a doubt, Fuutarou-kun cares about us a ton more than we might've given him credit for. Like, him saving us from bad guys and all that can be chalked under his whole keeping us safe part of his contract, but he wouldn't have gone so far as to help you two make up and come back home together if he only cared about us for the money or for the sake of keeping his contract of tutoring us and whatnot. So with that in mind, I honestly don't think Fuutarou-kun should be against having a girlfriend in you or Miku, since he's already spending so much time with us. I mean, he's a pretty efficient guy, right? Always doing things as efficiently as possible and whatever. So shouldn't this be right up his alley?"
"Even if you put it that way, I cannot help but still retain my doubts..."
"Then if that's the case, the only way to know for sure is to ask him. Ask him out, that is."
The suggestion causes Itsuki's cheeks to heat up again.
"I-I do not think I am...strong enough for that yet," she admits quietly. "Even if I wanted to, I do not want things to accelerate too quickly. I want to enjoy my time with him as...as both his student and a friend. Perhaps...ideally, perhaps something more than merely a friend. A close friend, maybe? But not quite a girlfriend."
"Yeah, that's fine too. But while that'd normally be the safe way to handle things, remember, Miku likes Fuutarou-kun too. And while we're all sisters here, like they say, all's fair in love and war, right? There's the two of you, but there's only one Fuutarou-kun. I don't want to sound like I'm putting any pressure on you, but you do need to recognize the fact that Miku is your direct competitor right now. You're lucky in the sense that right now, Miku is just like you in that she's also being passive about her feelings for him and she's letting their relationship develop some more, but you never know when she'll flip the switch and go after Fuutarou-kun seriously. And if she does that before you do, she'll have a huge advantage."
The youngest quintuplet groans softly.
"...but I do not want this to be a competition...!" she whines lightly. "I do not want to have to compete with my own sister over something like this..."
"Well, I'm not sure how okay you or Miku would be with sharing him, right? That's not really a thing, I don't think..."
"P-Perhaps not in the future, but for now, when neither of us are totally sure about our feelings towards Uesugi-kun...?"
"Even if you two are okay with sharing him for now, it won't stay that way forever, I'm just letting you know. Granted, we're still in our first year of high school and you've still got plenty of time to go, but don't stay complacent. That's all I'm saying."
Inhaling deeply and sighing quickly to reset the conversation, the eldest quint gazes back down at Itsuki.
"Then I'll let you think about it on your own. In the meantime, let's talk about those Mystic Eyes of yours, shall we?"
The topic switch fills Itsuki with creeping dread, since she knew that Ichika would make sure to talk about them before they're done chatting.
"I can tell that you're pretty nervous right now, so for the record, just let me say that there's no reason to be so on edge around me," Ichika says reassuringly. "Like I said, I think it's about time for those of us who have these kinds of Eyes to come together and make it clear that we have these things. Especially nowadays when we know that we're being targeted by bad guys who want to kidnap us and stuff, more than likely they're doing it because we have these Mystic Eyes, and keeping ourselves in the dark about them won't do us any favors."
"Then...then why not wait until Nino and Miku come back home...?" Itsuki points out hesitantly, which gets Ichika thinking.
"...hm, actually, now that you mention it, that's probably a better idea, yeah," she nods slowly. "Yotsuba probably won't be back home until late, which means Nino and Miku should come back home before she does..."
Itsuki blinks at her oldest sister. "...wait a minute, does...does that mean...that you know - "
" - that Nino and Miku both have Mystic Eyes? Yeah, I already knew," the eldest quint nods casually. "I could sense their magical energies developing over the years. I get the feeling that they're trying to keep them a secret from me for some reason, though I have an idea of what that reason might be...but anyways, yeah, I knew. It's you whom I'm more interested in, because all this time I couldn't detect any magical energy from you until literally this week, right when Nino ripped one of Fuutarou-kun's worksheets in half right in front of you."
Ichika recounting this exact moment in their fight subconsciously causes Itsuki to tense up as the emotions and feelings of that moment surge back into Itsuki's mind, and Ichika watches keenly as Itsuki's Mystic Eyes flare up out of the latter's control. Realizing that her reddened Mystic Eyes have popped up on their own and that it's too late to try to hide them from sight from her older sister sitting next to her, Itsuki uncomfortably tries to look away and hide her eyes under the veils of her peachy-red bangs.
"May I see them a bit more closely, Itsuki?" Ichika asks calmly and politely, and Itsuki reluctantly obliges, unable to find a reason to tell her no. "Wow...it's my first time seeing one of my sisters' Mystic Eyes up close like this. They're so beautiful, Itsuki."
"B-B-Beautif...ful...?" Despite this coming from her own sister, Itsuki is still taken back by this unexpected complement. "But...h-how...?"
"I don't know, they just are. It's like...it's like I could gaze into them all day," Ichika sighs a little. "Or would you prefer me calling them 'cool' instead?"
As Ichika is gushing a little about the perceived beauty of her Mystic Eyes, Itsuki silently remembers that her Eyes, according to Fuutarou earlier that week following her accidental entry into Miku's nightmare, should have horizontal black slashes across them. She hasn't checked them in a mirror to see for herself yet, but surely Ichika would have commented on that? She stays quiet about it for the time being, though.
"Here - maybe you might feel the same way about mine, or something similar, I don't know. Take a look."
So Itsuki obeys and casts a gaze to her sister, who also activates her own solo Mystic Eye for her younger sister to view.
Itsuki has never seen such a deep, rich hue of golden yellow before. It is not too bright, but it is still mesmerizing to behold, like there is a warm light inside of Ichika's own eye that is giving it this appearance. It's almost as though if sunlight had a color, it would look like this...or perhaps another way to put it is that this is like looking up into the sun in the sky without suffering the consequences of actually doing so without some form of ocular protection.
"So? How do you like it?" Ichika smiles warmly. "Pretty cool, right?"
Ichika's voice finally prompts Itsuki to look away with all sorts of conflicting feelings bouncing around in her mind, but she does nod her head shortly to give her sister an answer at least.
"See? I told you it'd be cool, right? You have these too. Honestly, though, your Eyes fit you so much more...I didn't know how good red eyes would look on you. It's like you're straight out of an anime or something!"
"W-Well, so do you!"
Ichika laughs. "I guess that's true, we both look like we could be protagonists in some kind of anime. Miku and Yotsuba would be stoked for sure, but..." She takes a quick look at the clock on the wall. "Hm, we've been talking for a while now, now that I think about it, and I wanna go take a shower. You wanna hold off on this until the others come back home?"
"Uh...yeah, okay."
"Actually, we should take a bath together, your hair definitely smells a little since you didn't take a shower for the past two days from cramming so hard."
"I-I can bathe by myself, thank you very much!"
"Awww, why not? C'mon, for old times' sake ~ "
Sighing the heaviest she's sighed today, Itsuki resigns herself to her embarrassing fate as she follows her older sister up to the second floor to get ready for their bath.
"Bleeggghh...aaaand at the end of the day, we have no idea what he'd want, huh."
An exhausted pair of quintuplets, the second and third, sink themselves onto a small bench sitting just outside a side entrance into Hankyu Hyakkaten, the biggest department store in their shopping mall and subsequently in the city. Having spent a few hours after school looking for something suitable to buy their tutor as a gift as a sign of their appreciation for all that he has done for them so far, Nakano Nino and Nakano Miku now find themselves both mentally and physically drained as they try to recover the best they can on this bench.
"But it was a lot of fun," Miku smiles warmly over to her older sister. "It's been a while since the two of us went shopping like this."
"Well, not really..." Nino looks away a little shyly, draping a lock of her hair out of her face. "We went out to see if we could find another smartphone cover for my phone when you made me lose mine last time, remember?"
"Oh yeah, we did. But honestly, by this point, it kind of feels like that was forever ago, doesn't it?"
"You can say that again..." Nino exhales largely as she lets the back of her head rest against the tinted department store window behind her. "With all the shit that's happened so far..."
The two sisters fall silent for a few moments to rest; Nino pulls out her phone to check her texts in the meantime.
"...I mean, I still don't get why we have to get him something," the second quintuplet suddenly speaks up again, since she knows that Miku probably won't restart the conversation on her own. "You know damn well that he's not the type to really take gifts, right?"
"But he accepted Yotsuba's, remember? Back during Golden Week, when Yotsuba bought him something," Miku points out.
"Okay, yeah, but that was a whole friggin' smartwatch. Do you wanna buy him something like that?"
Miku nods firmly. "If that is something he would be happy with, then sure."
"Then why the heck didn't you just buy him something like that in the first place, then?"
"Because, well, Yotsuba already bought one for him. That, and..." It's Miku's turn to look away a little with a touch of embarrassment. "...I want to get him something, um...something more...meaningful...? I don't know how to explain this..."
"Something that he'll remember us by and not necessarily something he'll use for its utility or something like that."
"Yeah, exactly."
"Again, I'm not sure how well that's gonna fly with him. He's just not the type of guy to keep stuff like memorabilia around on...him..."
As Nino is saying this aloud, however, her inconvenient memory pulls a fast one on her again by forcing her to recall the time when Fuutarou showed her a picture of himself when he was young. If what Nino is claiming about him is true, then what reason would he have to keep around an old photo of himself like that?
"...Nino? You slowed down there for a second, is something on your mind?" Miku asks, her voice growing somewhat concerned.
Nino turns to Miku quickly, opening her mouth to obey her kneejerk reaction of trying to tell her sister that it was nothing, that there wasn't anything wrong. But stopping herself from doing that, too, Nino pauses for a moment to deliberate on her next course of action before following through.
"...no, I take that back," she says quietly, blinking slowly as she gathers her thoughts. "Fu...Uesugi-kun might be that kind of guy, actually."
Miku tilts her head a little at her older sister. "It's not everyday that you change your mind like that. I'm curious, what makes you think that, Nino?"
"'Cause, like...he's a mage, right? There's still so much we don't know about him, and it's not like he's ever tried keeping that fact a secret, since he's told us before that mages like him always have secrets that they're keeping to themselves or something. So...even if he comes off as one thing, he might not entirely be that thing...if you're able to follow."
Nodding her head, Miku smiles back. "No, I get it. I mean, it's safe to say that all five of us have a different opinion of him now than we did three months ago, if nothing else."
"True. So...yeah, he...he might be that kind of guy, we don't know. That, and I don't want to feel like the past three hours or so that we've spent running around in the department store was all for nothing."
"It wasn't for nothing, we had fun looking at all sorts of stuff too," Miku gives Nino a small version of the Nakano-trademarked pout. "We did find some things that the others might like. Ichika said she wanted to check out some new pens to use for school and studying, for example."
Nino sighs to drown out the last bit of what Miku is saying.
"Yeah, okay, that's great and all, but all that aside, why do you wanna buy Uesugi-kun something this bad? Like, I know I'm repeating myself here, but as much as there is about him that we don't know, we have spent enough time with him to know that he just isn't the type of guy to really care about getting gifts from other people, and he certainly doesn't expect anything from us other than academic performance, since that's kinda related to his job."
The second quintuplet scoots in a little closer to her younger quintuplet sibling, with the latter shrinking slightly away from her to no avail.
"Be honest with me, Miku: are you getting this gift for him as a thank-you for everything that he's done for us, or because you like him?"
The third quintuplet doesn't even have the time to look away again in reaction to her sister's words before her face pops with a significant shade of red. Seeing this reaction come out of her, Nino is tempted to start teasing her mercilessly about her feelings for their tutor - but again, she stops herself in her tracks, this time by the immensely awkward fact that she herself has feelings for the same boy, feelings that she can no longer deny having as she's tried doing for the past several weeks to a month.
The big post-reunion meeting the quintuplets had with their tutor after they'd come back home all together to prep for their finals established that both Miku and Itsuki like Fuutarou - that much is public knowledge among the siblings. But no one seems to have brought up the possibility that Nino might have the hots for him too for whatever reason; Nino is honestly surprised that neither Miku nor Itsuki put the spotlight on her after what she'd shared with them back at the hotel, when she recounted what she had been up to for the days that she was away from home, particularly the part about how she ran away to the amusement park far away from the city.
Well, if this is how things have fallen into place, then Nino certainly isn't mad about it. Itsuki will be the distraction for her as Nino herself figures out what she wants to do with these feelings she's got for Uesugi Fuutarou, whether she wants to commit to them herself or simply treat Fuutarou as a close friend from now on and nothing more. After all, if Nino joins the fray, then it'll be a three-way brawl over their own classmate and tutor, and she can't imagine that being very productive at all towards the quintuplets' ultimate goal of securing their academic future. And not to mention, a large part of what transpired this week more or less boils down to Nino and her constant interruptions to Fuutarou's efforts to teach them, so announcing her third-party role in this battle royale would most assuredly cause nothing but chaos afterwards...so for now, it's probably best for Nino to stay low and gauge how serious her other two sisters are about their own feelings towards their tutor.
But even as she thinks this to herself, Nino feels a small but noticeable pang of pain bolt through her chest when she thinks about Fuutarou in a serious relationship with another girl, a notion that considerably dampens her thoughts and mood. For all the social experience that she has over most of her sisters, Nino has never been in an actual relationship with anyone, though a lot of this can be attributed to the fact that the quintuplets used to attend an all-girls school, so having a boyfriend wasn't exactly the most ideal thing to pursue.
If there's anyone she'd like to be in a relationship with, it's Uesugi Fuutarou. And she would strongly consider committing herself to making a relationship with him work - if her own sisters didn't also have feelings for the same boy too. If it had been anyone else, anyone outside the family, then Nino would have no problems going all-out to secure her position as Fuutarou's potential girlfriend - but is she willing to do that against her own sisters? The very same sisters to whom she had pledged a promise that she'd adhered to for the better part of the past six years? Whose happiness does she value more in this case, her own or that of her siblings whom she loves with all her heart?
While Nino is badgering herself with this internal turmoil of sorts, Miku is also going through something similar. The question Nino has pitched to her has ended up bothering her significantly more than it initially did when she heard it, and Nino's own silence, which Miku interprets as pressure on her to answer definitively, isn't helping.
Like an ear worm, Nino's question wriggles itself deeper and deeper into Miku's mind so that it's impossible for her to not think about it for these few minutes after Nino asks it. By all accounts, Nino is totally right: Fuutarou isn't the kind of guy to really have any uses for gifts. He's tried refusing Yotsuba's smartwatch before but only took it because it was not only something he sort of wanted but also something he could make relevant use of, something he could use in his actual work. So if they get him another gift now, either one of two things could happen: if they don't end up getting him something like Yotsuba's smartwatch where it's something Fuutarou can use as a tool or something of the sort, then Fuutarou would refuse the gift again. And even if he did accept it, he'd only do so to be polite and avoid hurting anyone's feelings.
Well, then again, Nino did also agree just now that Fuutarou might not be such a cold person like that. After all, especially after the events of this week, Miku knows for certain now that their tutor does in fact care about the girls much more than he usually lets off, and the night when he carried her back home from his own place after having a conversation with Itsuki is all she needs to prove that to herself.
But all this still doesn't answer Nino's question - for which reason is she getting this gift for Uesugi Fuutarou? Miku told everyone that the expressed reason for this gift is so that everyone can collectively say thank you to Fuutarou through it when they give it to him the next time they see him, for all the hard work he's put in for their sakes and regardless of how well they do on their finals. Therefore, this gift must embody all five quintuplets' sentiments, not just one of them in particular. But as Nino pointed out earlier when they were still shopping around, Miku was many times more upbeat and cheerful while looking around for something Fuutarou might like, as Miku usually isn't one to be very thrilled about shopping trips and would rather be home playing games or watching anime if she's got free time to kill. So clearly Miku cannot deny to herself that her own personal feelings have a large stake on this shopping trip as well.
But then again, couldn't Miku just say that it's both? That this gift, whatever it'll end up being, is a token of both the quintuplets' appreciation for their tutor and proof of her affection towards him? Why does it necessarily have to be one or the other? But even as Miku is trying to bargain with herself on this matter, she answers her own question by realizing that this wouldn't be fair towards everyone else, and especially not towards Itsuki. Both of them have feelings for their tutor, that much is for certain. Itsuki has headed home first with Ichika today after school, now that their finals are concluded. So if any part of the reason for getting Fuutarou a thank-you gift can be attributed to her own personal feelings for him, then technically Miku is getting a head start over Itsuki, and this doesn't sit well with the former quintuplet at all.
Ideally, all five quintuplets would have gone shopping for this gift they'd intend to give to their tutor, and it's been quite the while since all five of them headed out somewhere together, barring their efforts to persuade Yotsuba to detach herself from the track team earlier that week. But that's not exactly a possibility right now, is it.
Miku remains in her own state of stumped silence that Nino is able to gather herself first to realize that the two of them have rather awkwardly been sitting on this bench together, not really saying much for the past few minutes or so, so she clears her throat a little to try to kickstart their conversation again.
"...ahem, well...don't, uh...you don't need to think so hard about it," the second quintuplet says rather hastily but quietly. "I mean, hell, why am I even prodding you so hard about this? You should just get it for whatever reason you have."
Blinking in muted surprise at her older sister, Miku hesitates. "...I was just thinking to myself that...well..."
She has to take a deep breath before continuing.
"...Nino, your suspicions about me are right. I do want to get him this gift as a way to show my feelings to him. I'm still not sure if I wanted to use the excuse of getting a gift for him that would be from all five of us as a cover-up, but I can't deny that giving him something that I've bought for him would make me happy, and more so than in a regular student-teacher relationship. And I was just thinking to myself that if this is the case, then...then I'm not being fair to Itsuki. I'm getting a head start over her in getting Fuutarou to like me. And...and I don't want to do that. Especially not to Itsuki."
"Well, for what it's worth, the two of you are probably the least likely to know how to approach him right now with how little you two know of relationships, so how much of a head start are you getting, exactly..."
"Uuu...t-true..."
"And, not to mention, but you started liking Uesugi-kun starting a while back, right? So technically speaking, along those lines, you have a huge head start over Itsuki who only just realized her own feelings for him this week or something."
Miku's heart sinks even further. "...that's...also true..."
"I would say to not beat yourself up over something like that; it's too early in your relationships with him for something like this to have a huge impact. Uesugi-kun himself is aware of you two liking him, sure, but it's pretty clear that he's not going to act on that since he's focused mainly on tutoring our stupid butts for the time being. So something like this shouldn't be a big deal in that respect, right? Besides, if you think this isn't being fair to Itsuki, then that just means Itsuki'll have to learn how to be more proactive about her own approach towards him. You're doing the same right now, aren't you? Going out to shop for something to get him like this. You'd never do this before, but now look at you."
"...well...I...I do also have you with me, so..." Miku mumbles shyly. "...I feel a bit more confident walking around in the department store than...than I otherwise would..."
Nino can't help but smile at her sister. "I guess you haven't changed that much, huh."
"Of course not. This is me we're talking about...I'm one of the worst out of the five of us when it comes to stepping outside our comfort zones, you know this..."
"Well, I'd say you're doing a damn good job of getting better at it. Keep it up and you just might make some magic happen with Uesugi-kun."
Blushing a little, Miku looks back at Nino.
"...but what about you, Nino?"
"Hm? What about me?"
Miku manages to eek out a small smile of her own to give to Nino.
"Normally you'd be teasing me about how I'm just trying to get this gift for Fuutarou because I like him, but you're not doing that. In fact, you just told me to get it for him for whatever reason I want after asking me what that reason was."
"...uh, and? What're you trying to get at?"
"Um...nothing much. I just...couldn't help but notice that...you've changed quite a bit, too."
Nino snorts softly. "What, you couldn't tell from the time the three of us talked in my hotel room? You, me, and Itsuki?"
"Well, no, I...I remember that, it's just..."
"Because for what it's worth, I'm gonna try to stop being such a bitch," Nino bluntly answers. "It's gonna be hard, since I'll be changing a big part of how I behave and talk, and of course I'll relapse a few times here and there. But after what happened this week, I've come to realize that if I just act however I want without thinking about what comes after, then things might happen that I never intended to have happen...especially given the circumstances we're in right now. And I can't treat only Uesugi-kun better."
Nino glances over to Miku, and upon seeing her attentive gaze fixed on her, she looks away quickly again before muttering out of the left corner of her mouth,
"...I have to be a better sister, too. To everyone."
Blinking hard at her sibling, the third quint first pinches the top of the bridge of her nose, in between her eyes, for a moment before lowering her hand to make a thinking man's pose.
"Nino, remind me to buy some cold medicine on our way back home, it sounds like you're gonna need some of it," Miku says aloud.
"You want me to take back what I just said?!"
Unable to keep it in any longer, Miku bursts out giggling at her older sister's expense while Nino grinds her teeth back at her, though only half-angrily.
"No, but seriously, it feels weird to hear you saying something like that," Miku grins back once she's gotten her fill of giggles. "Especially considering all the fights we used to have before."
"Hey, if you don't like it, I don't have any problems turning back the clock and go back to how things used to be between us!"
"Bring it on, then. I'm not the same as I used to be before, either," Miku challenges.
"Yeah? Then prove it by deciding on what you wanna get Uesugi-kun."
"We're getting what for me now?"
"Oh, just a little thank-you gift for - " Nino starts to say as she and Miku both look up at the source of the familiar voice, only to realize that Uesugi Fuutarou, the intended recipient of their planned gift, is standing next to them near the bench in the flesh. His sudden, unexpected presence is enough to cause both quintuplets to jump a good few inches in their seats on the bench in front of the department store.
"F-F-Fuu - tarou - ?!" Miku trips tremendously over her own words, and Fuutarou notes that this is probably the hardest she's stumbled verbally to his knowledge. He must have caught them at a bad time.
"Yo. What're you two up to?" the high school tutor asks calmly. "Shopping for a gift to give to me? You know you don't need to bother, right?"
"Y-You could've at least not crept up like that like a - like a damn creep, Uesugi-kun!" Nino hollers indignantly.
"...but I didn't, though? I noticed you two were in the area and decided to stop by to say hi. It ain't my fault you two were so busy talking that neither of you noticed me walking up."
"Also, Miku, I told you that he wouldn't give a damn," Nino hastily ignores Fuutarou as soon as he's arrived to turn back to her sister. "Why bother getting a gift for a dense idiot like him?"
"First of all, why even are you getting me something?" the quintuplets' classmate asks suspiciously. "Like, what's the occasion to warrant that in the first place?"
"Well, because...because we wanted to thank you for everything that you've done for us so far," Miku says quickly, trying to compose herself as best she can from her shock at Fuutarou's sudden appearance.
Fuutarou glances down at Miku to give her an incredulous look. "...you couldn't at least wait until after you get back your finals scores to see how well you all did before you get me something? Why get me something now when we don't know how well you all did, or in other words how well I've been able to teach you all?"
"Oh c'mon, that's such a load of shit," Nino groans with a roll of her eyes. "What the hell do you mean, 'how well I've been able to teach you all'? Have you forgotten that we made you waste basically half a week's worth of potential studying and tutoring that you could've used to help us out with our finals more?"
"I haven't, but I'm not about to use that as an excuse when you get your scores back and it turns out you failed. Because in that case, that's still my responsibility, no matter how you paint the picture. Have you forgotten that tutoring isn't my sole responsibility when it comes to the five of you?"
"We haven't. That's why we wanted to buy you something as a gift, Fuutarou," Miku says firmly, now fully recovered from her shock and sitting up straight to face her tutor with confidence. "To show our appreciation for you and all that you've done for us this past week, regardless of how well we end up scoring on our finals."
Fuutarou inhales and exhales deeply, shifting his weight onto his right leg some more while putting his hands on his hips. "Yotsuba already got me this smartwatch when we were vacationing in Hawaii during Golden Week," he reminds the quints, showing them the Apple smartwatch that he wears on his left wrist. "You really don't need to get me something else; I didn't even want to take this watch off her at first, but I eventually did since you all insisted so much."
Nino frowns deeply back up at her tutor. "What are you, scared of gifts or something? Is there a term for that? Some kind of phobia or what?"
"Last I checked, I am not currently afflicted with a condition like that, but that's besides the point - "
"It is not besides the point, Uesugi-kun," Nino stops him short, jumping up to her feet quickly to face him at as much of an even height level as she can get, though she's still a good seven inches shorter than him. "You're such a dense motherfucker that I literally have to point this out to you."
"Point what out?"
"The fact that you're profoundly misunderstanding why we're getting you a gift at all! This isn't something we're doing because we're feeling obligated to! Like, if we felt that way, then I wouldn't be here with Miku helping her pick something out for you! I have better things to do right now, but yet I'm still here, aren't I?"
"That so? Then if that's the case, why is it only the two of you here picking something out for me? Where're the others? Actually, don't answer that, I already know where everyone else is..."
"W-Well..." Fuutarou's swift counterargument leaves Nino no time to think about a response with which to answer him in a timely fashion, so she has to grope around mentally to think of what to say next, which she thankfully finds when she glances down at Miku. "Actually, the reason why it's just the two of us is because - because this gift that we're getting you, it's more than just a token of appreciation on our part, you know! Miku's been trying really hard to get you something that you might like! So...so yeah, if you keep telling her not to get you something, you'll end up hurting her feelings! Don't you get that?"
To Nino's surprise, Fuutarou doesn't respond immediately like he usually does, and such is her surprise that Nino hesitates herself, unsure of how to approach a Fuutarou who finds himself in a difficult spot conversationally. On second thought, now that Nino deliberates on their exchange a bit more, now that she's brought up Miku's feelings for him, Fuutarou can't exactly ignore them, can he? Nino figured he might since she and her sisters are all so used to calling him dense, but clearly that isn't the case here.
"...Nino, you didn't have to go that far," Miku murmurs down at her lap. "It...doesn't have to be so complicated. If Fuutarou really doesn't want anything, then...then that should be the end of that. None of us ever asked him for his opinion on this, right? So - "
"But now that we've already spent a good few hours looking around for something to get him, I don't wanna leave knowing that I just wasted those hours to end up doing nothing," Nino firmly states. "Then tell me this, Uesugi-kun: why don't you want anything? Most guys your age would fucking kill to get a present from cute girls like us. So what's your deal with not wanting to get gifts and stuff? Don't tell me it's because you actually like acting like an edgy piece of shit."
"It's not, I can assure you," Fuutarou sighs quickly. "The main reason is because...honestly, the best gift you can get me is good scores on your finals. My focus when it comes to any job that I take is always on whatever it is that I need to get done. I'm not, uh...used to getting anything before then."
Both quintuplets can feel the air among the three of them grow significantly heavier following their tutor's words.
"...so it's because of your job as a mage from before you worked with us," Miku deduces quietly.
"Yeah. Most of the jobs and contracts I take are...not for the faint of heart, to put it lightly. You've seen a few times the bad stuff I can do, so I don't need to describe it to you in further detail than that. Usually those kinds of jobs are brutal and oftentimes bloody - there isn't much in the way of good feelings in any of them. Everyone and everything involved in them have no reason to be nice to each other, not just between me and whoever gets in my way but also my own clients who care only about whether or not I've done whatever they've asked me to so that they can wire me a paycheck and completely disappear from my life. So while this isn't my first time doing a bodyguard contract, this is the longest contract I've ever taken, and that's before we get to the part where I have to tutor the five of you on top of that, which is certainly something I've never done before as actual work."
Running a hand up through his hair as he often does, Fuutarou holds out a nonchalant hand to gesticulate a little.
"In other words, I've adjusted myself to never expecting anything more than what's promised to me according to the contracts that I make. As you should be able to tell, it's gotten to the point where I find it incredibly odd that anyone would want to give me anything extra on top of whatever I get on my end of an active contract, in part because I think it's some kind of trap or something, and the other part, well..." The young mage lets his thought simply trail off here before continuing with, "I should know by this point that you girls are much different clients than the usual ones I get, but like they say, old habits die hard."
Having folded her arms across her chest listening to their classmate, Nino has realized that she was starting to lapse back to her own old habits, and Fuutarou mentioning his own is the reminder that forces her to see as such. Their tutor has stated before that he'd rather not talk about his work as a mage if he doesn't need to, so he must have felt forced to share this bit to explain himself to the girls to make sure they wouldn't get the wrong idea about him.
"Um...if you don't mind talking about it further...what was the other part that you were going to say?" Miku asks slowly, unsure if she ought to ask this. "Part of the reason was because you're just not used to people giving you gifts, and the other part was...?"
"That I don't deserve it," Fuutarou answers promptly, this time without a shred of hesitation, though his facial expression would indicate that he wasn't too willing to share that bit with them either. "I wasn't going to mention that part because I think I know how you'd react, but since you insisted..."
"But, like, what do you mean by that? You don't deserve it? Uesugi-kun, are you even aware of how much work you must've put into tutoring us up until this point?" Nino points out with an incredulous voice of her own.
Fuutarou shrugs helplessly and throws in a sheepish grin to go with it. "Yeah, see, like I thought."
"But you still need someone to tell you this, whether you predicted it or not! You do deserve something in return for everything you've done for us," Nino insists still. "Like, how the heck do you expect girls like us, especially ones like Miku or Yotsuba, to not try to do something for you or get you something in return? C'mon, Uesugi-kun, you're a smart guy, right? You might be pretty lacking in the social awareness department, but you should be smart enough to figure out something like this, right? It's not like it takes a relationship guru to figure this one out."
Fuutarou clicks his tongue softly. "See, that's the thing...I don't really like the whole argument of 'deserving' something, but that's another story - "
"No, you should explain yourself," the second quintuplet shakes her head at her tutor. "Our finals are done, we're now officially on summer break, and there's literally nothing else we need to do. If there's anything you want to tell us so that we can understand your position better, you should tell us. If nothing else, at least Miku would like to hear more about what you have to say."
"W-Wait, Nino, don't put pressure on him like that. That's not fair to him; that's almost like you're guilt-tripping him into talking about stuff that he doesn't want to," Miku protests lightly, also getting up to her feet to join the others, but the young mage raises his hand up at Miku.
"Personally, I don't like feeling like I 'deserve' something because to me, it sounds like I'm entitled to that thing, like it's an unwritten law somewhere that that something belongs to me. I'm of the belief that no one truly deserves anything because so many things can happen in life, a lot of which may be out of your control, and if things end up not going your way, then you'll likely end up feeling really resentful and bitter because you didn't get what you thought you were entitled to, what you thought should have been yours. Those kinds of emotions are really dangerous if they aren't handled properly, and many people don't know how to handle them well when they get to that point, and a lot of the time I have to deal with those kinds of people. And for me personally, I don't want to feel that way because that'll distract me from all the other crap that I ought to be doing."
"So you are just an edgy prick, after all," Nino scoffs.
"...how is that being edgy? You're the one who told me to say what's on my mind, so that's what I did. I'm able to say all that because of the experiences I have as a mage for the past however many years. I'm not just pulling it out of my ass."
"Okay, maybe you aren't, but, like...are you just telling us to not feel like we deserve anything? What, so if something happens where we can't get what we want, you're telling us that we're just supposed to roll over and accept it?"
"No, you're twisting my words now, I never said anything like that. All of what I said is just my own opinion; I'm not going to try to stop anyone else from thinking that they deserve something, especially if they show that they're willing to put in the work to get what they want. It's just that the feeling that you deserve whatever it is that you want or that you're working to get can be pretty toxic if you end up not getting what you want, and that's what I don't like about it."
Sighing exasperatedly, Nino throws her hands briefly up into the air. "Then all we need to do is say that Miku deserves to get you something nice because she's worked hard to get to this point of being able to buy you something out of appreciation for all that you've done for us! See how this works?"
"I do. And that's why I'm letting this one go," the tired mage capitulates. "I don't think I can convince you otherwise - that, and we're still here in the shopping mall and you said you don't wanna leave just yet since you don't want to feel like you've wasted your time here, so I'll stick with you two until you can find something."
"No, Fuutarou, if you really don't want anything, then...then we can call it off," Miku says quickly. "This is partly my fault too, since I really should have asked you if it was okay for me to get you something..."
The tutor gives Miku an odd look. "But why would you have to ask someone permission to buy them a present? And here I was thinking I was the one saying weird shit..."
"Just what I was gonna say, surprisingly enough," Nino gruffly agrees; she was ready to pounce on Miku verbally if Fuutarou hadn't done so.
"W-Well, it's...it's because we've known you for long enough and spent so much time with you that we should've known that part about you. And, this kind of thing happened before when Yotsuba bought you that smartwatch, so we had no excuse of not knowing. I was - I just got too excited after school today and forgot about that." Miku lowers her head. "And I ended up putting you in an uncomfortable position like this and made Nino yell at you again."
"Hey, I didn't yell at him," Nino quickly corrects her sister. "...at least, not as much as I would have before."
"Yeah, thanks for that. I was afraid I was gonna have to prep myself to track you down across the country this time if you decided to run away again."
"W-Where's that coming from exactly, huh?!"
"Oh, I wonder..." Fuutarou turns to Miku. "But seriously, don't worry about me. I also think it wasn't fair of me to expect you to understand how I think about things, since mages like me just think about stuff in different ways than everyone else, and not always in a good way. I don't want to force anyone into my own shoes here."
"Are you sure...?"
"Yeah. Just get me something small, nothing expensive - if you buy me another smartwatch or something like that, I actually will pawn it off."
"You being a piece of shit pawning off a gift aside, can you at least give us pointers as you want you'd like? We've spent the last few hours looking for something you might like but nothing's coming to mind," Nino says.
"...really? You never thought about getting me something I can eat? Like a...like a snack, or a cake, or...or something like that? Weren't you supposed to be the cook in the family?"
"Oh for fuck's sake, Uesugi-kun, when I think of a 'gift', the first thing that comes to mind is definitely not food! I'm a rich girl, am I gonna get a friend some pizza or some shit?"
"What, is that a rich person joke that I'm too poor to understand?"
"Yes, yes it is, actually!"
"Well, at least you admit it."
"If you just want something to eat, then we can just take you to a restaurant somewhere," Miku says. "Are you sure you don't want anything a bit fancier than that?"
"Well, fast food wasn't exactly I had in mind...here, how about this, think of something that both Raiha and I would be able to enjoy together. And maybe my dad, I guess."
"That didn't exactly slim down choices for us; we don't even know your tastes or what you like or anything," Nino reminds him.
"...so is this going to be a present for me or not if I'm the one choosing...?" Fuutarou mumbles to himself, but he briefly wonders what he'd like anyway. It doesn't take long for him to think of something, though. "...actually, I think I know a place. Nino, you should know it."
"Huh? Uh, do I?"
"Yeah. Revival, the place where I got you the cake for your birthdays when we came back from Hawaii."
"Oh yeah, that place! I've, uh, kinda forgotten about it, haha. The cake was good, though."
"Revival...it's a bakery, right? I think I've heard our classmates talk about it a few times..." Miku notes.
"Yep; I actually work there part-time. Did Nino tell you about that or no?"
At this, Miku balks. "Y-You have a part-time job on top of everything else that you're doing...?!" she hoarsely cries, like she's unable to believe what she's hearing.
"Calm down, I just drop by to help out the owner whenever I can since he's something of a friend of mine, but I am technically a part-time employee there. Anyway, I've been suggesting to him to expand a bit beyond just making cakes - cakes are his specialty, but I've been advising him to add other bakeries too so that the bakery as a whole can be more flexible to fads and trends that come and go, so he's been trying his hand at baking sweet bread. He's come out with this cinnamon bread that I'd like to try, but he hasn't let me taste-test it because he thinks I might be too harsh on the critique."
"...you're literally buying bread at a place you work at just so that you can roast your own boss...?" the second quintuplet says flatly.
"Damn right. I've had to deal with him sucking his own dick in the kitchen over how great his new breads are gonna be when I'm the one who told him to do it when he was against it at first, so I'm gonna smash his puny fuckin' ego out of this solar system like his name's Voyager I if his bread turns out to be shit."
"Uh, I think I can see why you went off on your whole tangent about deserving stuff now..."
"Naaaah, I don't know what you're talking about...anyways, let's get going, since it's actually a bit far from here."
"Ugh, more walking..." Nino complains as she picks up her school bag off the bench on which she was sitting before Fuutarou showed up.
"I can teleport us over if you'd like."
But Nino shakes her head. "Nah, we can walk. It's been a while since Miku and I last went on a shopping trip like this, so no need to rush it now."
"Um, would you like to hang out with us for a little bit at our house? We can buy some bread or a cake to eat together, unless you're too busy..." Miku offers reservedly, uncertain about how this gesture of goodwill will go when they just spent the last half an hour or so debating whether or not Fuutarou even wants a surprise present from her and Nino at all, but she's pleasantly surprised when Fuutarou answers with a curt nod.
"Actually, the real reason why I met up with you two here is because I want to talk to everyone together," the young mage admits. "I know Ichika and Itsuki are home right now, and I don't think Ichika has to go out for her own part-time today, so now's the perfect time, considering I might not have the time to do this later."
"This sounds serious, is something up?" Nino asks. By this point, the three high schoolers have set off towards Revival and are walking out of the shopping mall.
"It is, but I'll explain when we get back to your place."
"What about Yotsuba? She's still out training with the track team..." Miku points out.
"Well shit, that's awfully convenient," Fuutarou remarks with a slightly amused curl of his lips.
"Convenient?" Nino narrows her eyes. "Wait, is this about our Mystic Eyes?"
"A bit more than that, actually, but...you can think of it that way. But we'll deal with that later tonight - what do you plan on getting? Other than the cinnamon bread."
"Well, it's normally a cake shop, right? If your boss just started making other stuff, then what else is there but cake for now?"
"Okay, as in, what kind of cake."
"Um, the last cake that you got for us for our birthday was really nice," Miku nods happily.
"You like matcha, right? Or things that aren't so sweet."
"Mhm."
"Then we should have a lot of cakes that you might like. Green Tea Cloudcake, Deep Matcha Toffee Cake - "
"What the hell did you just say? 'Deep Matcha Toffee Cake'?" Nino spits bitterly, as though merely saying the name of that cake is a direct insult to her own baking skills. "Who the shit puts match and toffee together?"
"My boss, apparently. You can tell him off when we get there if it ends up being shit."