A/N
TOBI KAMARO: Oof, I apologize for the rant in the previous chapter, then. Yes, you could have worded things a little better, but at the same time I shouldn't be so trigger-happy like I have been these past few Author's Notes whenever I see a review that even remotely sounds negative. Thanks for coming back to read this story and for clearing things up.
The fifth quintuplet can't help but stare at the massive meal that the bald man who's asked to borrow the other seat at her table has ended up ordering: two thick-cut steaks done medium well, two large orders of curly fries draped with melted mozzarella, fish and chips, and the tavern's specialty oven-fired triple meat pizza - a whole one, complete with eight slices. To round it all out, he also has with him two whole mugs filled to the brim with Kirin beer, poured to perfection with a little bit of beer foam glistening down the sides of the glasses. The mugs individually hold more liquid than Itsuki herself normally consumes in a day - and she thought she ate a lot.
Right before digging into his food, starting with his steaks, the old man notices Itsuki unable to help but stare at the enormous portions of food that he's ordered for himself, so he quickly frowns back at the high schooler.
"Hey, weren't you taught that it's bad manners to stare at someone when they're about to eat?" he snaps swiftly, causing Itsuki to almost jump in her seat and look away nervously, caught red-handed in her inappropriate behavior.
"I-I'm - I apologize, I-I did not mean to - "
The old man doesn't even wait for her to finish her apology and just laughs, having her down.
"It's fine, it's fine, I'm just pulling your leg. I should be the one to apologize for taking a seat at your own table. There just wasn't another one opening up, and I've got a schedule later today, so unfortunately I haven't got a choice for the sake of time but to share a table with a fine young lady such as yourself who deserves better than a crusty old man like me," he asserts strongly, driving his first big piece of steak into his mouth to begin eating. "Mmmm, that's some good steak right here. This is one of my favorite places to eat, you know - I really shouldn't be eating here since all this food's going to cut five years off the rest of my lifespan, but I'll be damned if it ain't good!"
Itsuki continues to watch her guest eat ravenously across their small table; forget the food itself, she's amazed that the table they're sitting at, which was meant for her and her sister, can even fit all this food at once on it.
"I should introduce myself, shouldn't I. Gosh, speaking of manners, where are mine..." the old man mutters to himself in self-disdain, wiping his mouth of residual steak oil and grease that's adhered to his lips, mustache, and beard. "They call me Mudou, so I'd like you to do the same. I used to be a teacher, but I've since retired."
"A-A teacher..." Itsuki finally blurts out, finding something she can talk about at last with this strange old man. "Oh, and...my name is Itsuki. Nakano...Itsuki."
"Itsuki, huh, nice to meet you. But yes, I was a teacher. I don't mean to assume, but I take it that you are still in school yourself? I believe right now should be summer break time, so you're not in uniform for me to tell easily..."
The youngest quintuplet nods. "That is correct, Mudou-san, I am currently a first year at Asahiyama High."
At this, Mudou raises an eyebrow in surprise. "Asahiyama High? Now that's a name I haven't heard in quite a few years..."
"Are you...um, not familiar with it, sir?"
Mudou suddenly bursts out laughing. "Not familiar with it? Far from it, Itsuki-chan! That was my school!"
"E-Eh? You - taught there?!"
"For thirty years, in fact! Give or take, anyway." Mudou helps himself to some of his curly fries.
While he munches on the fries, Itsuki slowly raises a hand up to scratch the side of her head; it's odd that she doesn't know who Mudou is, if he's really taught at her high school for that long; she knows that one of the teachers on campus has been teaching for almost twenty years and she is one of, if not the most respected faculty members in the entire school, and other ex-faculty members with similar tenures are similarly exalted - so why is it that she has never heard of a teacher named Mudou? The fact that he hasn't given a family name is also perplexing, but it's not her place to pry into something like that.
"Um...I do not mean to be rude, but...I have never heard of you at our school. Perhaps it is because I have only been attending for less than half a year, as I am just a first year and I began attending earlier this year, but..." Itsuki asks timidly, but Mudou shakes his head nonchalantly.
"Oh, that's about what I expected. When I say 'retired', I was actually fired."
"F-Fired...?"
"Mmmmmhm. I'd rather not get into the details of it now...still a bit of a sore spot for me even to this day. All you need to know is that I got something of a dishonorable discharge from teaching, so naturally Asahiyama got rid of anything that suggested that I taught there. So it's no wonder you haven't ever heard of me...not that I would have cared either way. If you're still concerned about whether or not I'm telling the truth, I can refer you to some of the students I taught back in the day and they can vouch for me."
"No, no, I - I was not trying to doubt you, sir. I was just curious..."
"Speaking of curiosity..." Mudou observes the study material that Itsuki is still holding onto, having had to clear some of it off the table to make room for his huge meal. "I see that you're studying even out here. I'll say, it's rare in this day and age to see young kids like you actually take the time to study outside. Most kids I see just walk around the city with their phones out arguing about who the hottest model is that they're seeing on TV, or what they're going to be doing for the weekend or for whatever vacation is coming up, or...or what they think of that new Squid Game show or whatever the heck it's called...whatever it is that kids these days are talking about."
"It's...nothing special, sir, really. I have always been a poor student with poor test results to boot, but recently I have been able to get my act together and study better, and my exam results have finally been improving. I do not wish to see those results go to waste by stopping my studies just because it is summer break now, so..."
Mudou lets out another hoot of amusement. "So not only are you a diligent student, but you're also a smart one! Hah! What I would've done to have a student like you back when I taught!" He shakes his head as he grabs a slice of triple meat pizza to gorge on that too. "Some things never change, I suppose...I'm not sure if I'm supposed to be happy or sad about that. Speaking of studying, I think I've interrupted your own right now so I do apologize for that."
"Oh, no, that...please do not worry about it. You must be far busier than me, so..."
"That I am, but that shouldn't distract you from the fact that I'm being a burden on your own time. I'll finish up here soon, so I'll only ask you to deal with me for a little while longer."
True to his words, Itsuki realizes that Mudou is already almost done eating, and she swears it hasn't even been ten or fifteen minutes.
"Um, Mudou-san, may I ask you a question?" the quintuplet asks bravely, and the old man nods in a friendly manner.
"Sure, whatever you like. What's on your mind?"
"Um...how...how was it like, being a teacher? Do you mind telling me about your experience?"
At first, Mudou doesn't answer, opting to grab a handful of what remaining curly fries are left and shoving them into his mouth all at once to expedite his meal like he said he would.
"I will answer that question, but I'd like to ask you back one of my own, if that's alright with you."
"Oh, yes, um, of course! Please, go ahead."
Mudou licks his fingers of the crumbs from his fries. "Why would you like to know what it's like being a teacher? Is there a particular reason?"
Tensing up subconsciously, Itsuki finds herself freezing in her seat, only now realizing that she hasn't exactly thought this conversation through. Still, she perseveres and pushes on.
"Because, um...well, the truth is...over the past several months of my studies, I have come to learn that teaching others is also a great way of studying too, since it helps reinforce the things I have already studied and exposes the things that I need to study more. I have siblings of my own who also do not have the best test scores, so we have been studying together quite often, so that is how I came to that conclusion. Hearing you mention that you were once a teacher just got me thinking...that with all this studying that I have done, perhaps it would not be a bad idea to consider a teaching occupation in the future after school..."
Itsuki looks back up to see what the old man's reaction is.
"Mm. Yeah, that's a perfectly logical conclusion to come to. Just remember to not take your future career lightly, whatever it may be - I don't mean to act the old man that I am, but as an old man, I exercise my responsibility to remind you that you are still young and thus have time to think about what your future will be, what kind of future you want to set for yourself. That being said, teaching is a good, honest occupation - you help build the foundation of society's future by administering education to it. But that's just flowery talk; you should know that it's not all ideals and sunshine, because you will rarely get the ideal student who actually wants to be in your classroom and learn the material you have to teach them. Very few of those exist - aside from yourself, apparently."
Quickly draining half of his second mug of Japanese beer in one go, Mudou wipes the froth from his lips and mustache.
"You will constantly deal with kids who don't give a damn about what you're trying to do for them for a variety of reasons. Maybe they have some issues with their lives that are bothering them, like family troubles, personal problems, etc. Maybe they're from rich families who spoiled them so they think that getting a proper education is below them. Maybe they just straight up don't care and can't be bothered to be taught anything, again for one reason or another. Now, most kids aren't that extreme; most of them I'd still say are reasonable, even in this day and age, but especially with how this city's become, you run into more and more of these problem kids as time goes on, at least from what I've seen. The point I'm trying to make here is that teaching, like any respectable occupation, comes with its fair share of difficulties, often ones that don't really have anything to do with teaching itself, unfortunately, just because of the fact that you need to deal with a whole bunch of kids who all have their own set of circumstances that might affect their willingness to learn and their capacities to be good students."
Itsuki is starting to feel a little discouraged by Mudou's words, and he can easily read such an expression on her face.
"Well, that's not to say that I'm trying to dissuade you from pursuing that career if that's what you really want to do; this is just thirty years' worth of tenure that I've got under my belt talking. I'm a bit of a realist, some might say, others might call me a pessimist but I suppose by this point there's no real difference. Like I said, you have plenty of time to think about this sort of thing - in fact, they don't even give you that one questionnaire thing at school where they survey you on what you're thinking of becoming or doing as a career or job until your third year, right? So you don't need to worry about all the...the extra stuff right now. That's my bad, I shouldn't have let myself be so negative on you for no reason..."
"Um, no, it - I do not mind, Mudou-san. I think that was an important lesson that you taught me just now," Itsuki says quickly. "I will say that because I spend much of my time studying, that is time that I have not been able to spend developing my social skills or making connections with other people at school and such. I am well aware of this, and so it was good that you brought up something like that to me now rather than later."
Nodding, old man Mudou wipes his fingers and mouth as best he can and tidies up his emptied plates and utensils to make it easy for the waiters and waitresses to come by and grab them, and he then reaches in his breast pocket to pull out a card.
"As my formal apology for crashing in on you today, I'd like you to take this. Not too long ago, I actually opened up a cram school here in the city; since I see you like to study a lot and you intend to continue doing so, I'd like to invite you to mine. Not only that, but I'd like to offer you two weeks of free tutelage there, just so that you can see if it's right for you or not."
Taken back by this unexpected and rather magnanimous display of goodwill, Itsuki silently takes the card, which reads "Noshiro Cram School".
"As the cherry on top, one of our recent staff additions is an alumni of Asahiyama High. I can arrange to have her meet you on a day you'd like to come and in start your free two week trial if you'd like; I feel that might be preferable just to get you started," Mudou offers.
"Oh! Um...if - if that is alright with you, actually...that sounds good," Itsuki nods, suddenly feeling enthusiastic at the mention of this alumni.
"Excellent! The alumni's name is Shimoda, by the way. When would you like to come in as your first day? I'll need to know just so that I can work things out with her."
"Uh - give me one second please, I need to check my schedule..."
Hastily rummaging through her bag to grab one of her notebooks that has her written schedule in it, Itsuki hurriedly checks the entire month to quickly contemplate her options.
"Let me see...we have roughly five weeks of summer break left, so...may I come in next Monday? That way, the two weeks will not interfere with the summer festival at the end of summer break," Itsuki explains.
"That's right, we have the summer festival soon...won't want to take up that time if you can help it, huh," Mudou reels a little in his chair, having forgotten about the festival. "I ought to make some time for that too...been a while since I last had festival food..."
Finally getting up and pushing his seat in, Mudou nods one last time at Itsuki.
"Well then, good to make your acquaintance, Itsuki-chan, and I do look forward to seeing you at our cram school next Monday. Our lessons usually last for an hour for starters, but you can adjust your hours depending on how much you like studying there; just let me or Shimoda know, alright?"
Bidding farewell to the high schooler, Mudou retreats back into the tavern to pay for his tab, passing by another girl with peachy red hair sitting at a small table alone next to the door leading back into the establishment, though he seems not to notice.
Itsuki, in the meantime, stares down at the Noshiro Cram School business card that has been given to her by Mudou. It was a spur of the moment thing, but she would've felt bad if she denied it; besides, with everything she told him, it wouldn't make sense for her to refuse it anyway. But now that she's accepted this free trial period of sorts, Itsuki feels awkward just from thinking about bringing this up to Fuutarou; what would he think if he finds out that she's going to a cram school despite the fact that he's the one who's supposed to be tutoring them? Would he think that Itsuki decided to go to a cram school because he wasn't around these days to tutor them and get frustrated at himself? She doesn't want that; she doesn't want to force him to think about this, too. Besides, it's only for two weeks, she can let him know afterwards once he's back to tutoring her and her sisters again...
For now, Itsuki puts the card in her bag for safekeeping and starts to collect her things to take her own leave.
The digital clock switches to midnight on Nakano Miku's phone, which is playing a short four or five minute-long clip of a funny moment out of a Vtuber's stream that Yotsuba recommended her the other night...something about a white fox girl ranting about how good glasses would look on everyone. Ever since she got a text from her tutor asking her to stay up tonight because he had some urgent business to talk to her about, Miku has been killing time waiting for him to show up by lying in bed with her lights out and watching Youtube videos on her phone. She assumes that this urgent business Fuutarou needs to talk to her about is regarding her Mystic Eyes, considering the events that've been unfolding, so naturally she doesn't mind spending another late night with him. Of course, even without tonight's context, she wouldn't mind, but that's besides the point.
Almost as expected, as soon as Miku sees her phone hit midnight and sits up in her bed to anticipate his arrival, a soft knock taps from the other side of her front door, the softest knock she's heard in a long time. Answering the door, she opens it silently and gingerly to find Uesugi Fuutarou behind it, nodding her good evening as he swiftly lets himself in, closing the door behind him for its original occupant.
"Not too sleepy?" the young tutor asks his student, who shakes her head as she sits on the edge of her bed again while her tutor swiftly applies magical soundproofing runes on each of the walls of the room to maintain utmost privacy.
"No, I'm fine. I'm used to being up at this hour, remember? Because of all the times I've had to go to the bathroom to clean up after my nightmares and such."
"Right..." Fuutarou pulls up Miku's chair to sit in front of her. "So about what I wanted to talk about tonight - "
"My Mystic Eyes, right?"
The young mage nods. "I had the chance to talk to a friend of mine overseas who's knowledgeable in these Mystic Eyes, and he claimed that he personally knows the type of eyes that you happen to have."
Gulping a little bit in nervousness, Miku purses her lips worriedly, not totally sure if this is supposed to reassure her or frighten her. "It...you make it sound like there are multiple kinds of these Mystic Eye things."
"Correct. In case I haven't already mentioned this before to you, there all sorts of Mystic Eyes that exist and have a wide variety of powers; we just use 'Mystic Eye' as a sort of blanket term to describe eyes that can demonstrate magical powers. In reality it's more complicated than that, since just because you have a magical eye doesn't necessarily mean it's a Mystic Eye, but the vast majority of the time they end up being Mystic Eyes anyway, or at least that's what I'm told. But anyways, back to you..."
Leaning forward a bit in his seat, Fuutarou furrows his brows as he mutters carefully to his student,
"Apparently, you have one of the rarest Mystic Eye types, if not the rarest, in the world - and it's called the 'Mystic Eyes of Death Perception'."
Miku merely continues to blink at her tutor as her mind processes the name. "Mystic Eyes of Death Perception" sounds like the perfect anime move or ability you'd find in the edgy protagonist of whatever terrible isekai light novel series that's trending these days, or at least that's what it would sound like to her if she didn't have them herself. In her personal context in that she herself possesses these eyes, though, it manages to sound downright terrifying.
"...Mystic Eyes of...Death...Perception...?" she repeats slowly as the implications that follow also slowly permeate every pore of her mind.
Fuutarou nods shortly but grimly. "From what I'm told, these eyes have the ability to literally see death. The lines and dots you told me you've seen, both in your nightmare and on that cup the other day - those are apparently supposed to be your mind's interpretation of death, as seen through your Mystic Eyes."
This description silently terrifies Miku even more, to the point where the delicate hairs on her arms are all standing straight up - and Miku normally prides herself on being able to handle intense stuff like scary movies and horror games. It would appear that real life is truly a whole different beast altogether - who would've thought?
"The other theory on what you've been seeing, to get a little more into the technical stuff behind your Mystic Eyes, is that rather than death, you're actually seeing the 'end' of things, whatever your brain has the capacity of determining, which would explain why you were able to cut that cup you talked about. Either way, the Mystic Eyes you have are extremely powerful, some of the strongest among Mystic Eyes in general," Fuutarou explains.
"But how? How did I - how did I get them?" Miku blurts out, trying her best to grasp the frightening things that she's hearing from her tutor.
"Well, the most logical answer would be that time you had to go to the hospital after some of your classmates knocked you out back in middle school, right?"
"Er, no, I - I know that, obviously, but, but...what I mean is..." Miku's mind races to find the proper words to accurately convey what she's trying to say. "...what I mean is, um, how...how did I end up with, specifically, these Mystic Eyes? These...Death Perception Eyes? What determined that I would end up getting these eyes?"
To her sharp dismay, Fuutarou simply raises his shoulders in a slow but wide shrug. "I don't know. I asked my friend that same question since I figured you'd ask me that too, now that we're talking about this, but he told me that you don't really know; it sounds like something that's determined at birth or something that's just completely random. However, that being said, my friend said that he's aware of a few other people who also have these same Mystic Eyes, and both of them apparently suffered life-threatening accidents that put them both in the hospital too. Presumably they got their Mystic Eyes from those accidents, and they were able to manifest during their stays at the hospital or something."
"...I see...but my accident...well, it's...not really an accident, per se, but..." Miku subconsciously raises a hand to the back of her own head. "...my incident wasn't necessarily life-threatening, I just got knocked out from being hit in the back of the head, or so I was told, anyway..."
"Right. The closest explanation I've got is that the occipital lobe in located in the back of your brain," Fuutarou explains. "Remember that when we were going over the human anatomy section of our biology studies?"
"Oh, yeah, I do. The occipital lobe is the one that controls vision, right?"
"That's correct, I'm glad you remember. So I'm guessing that because you got hit in the back of the head specifically, maybe the blow that knocked you out happened to screw with that part of your brain to the point where your Mystic Eyes were able to manifest. But..." Fuutarou sighs sharply, clearly sounding frustrated at his own explanation. "It just doesn't sound right, though."
"W-What doesn't?"
"The part where I think you got your Mystic Eyes specifically because you got hit in the back of the head. In the magic world, getting magical powers all because you got hit in the head isn't really a thing."
The way Fuutarou puts it manages to break a bit of the chilling ice that's beginning to coat Miku's psyche, and she even breaks out a small, amused grin at his analogy.
"Kind of like a bad isekai novel or something like that?"
"Maybe; I don't read manga or watch anime enough to draw a parallel here, but it is a crude way of putting it. Basically, there usually needs to be some kind of magical interference or reaction that your body has in order for it to develop a magical power or tendency or affinity or whatever; getting it because of some kind of physical interaction just doesn't happen, and in fact, if that's really all that happened with you for you to get your Mystic Eyes, you'd be the first case of someone winding up with a magical power just from a physical incident, not a magical one. I can just pass this off as a sort of freak accident that you were able to get the strongest Mystic Eyes known to man all because you got punched in the back of the head, but it just doesn't sit right with me, again because that's not really a thing."
The unintentionally funny analogy from Fuutarou has helped Miku immensely in coping with this daunting truth that she has been in possession of what might be the world's most powerful Mystic Eyes, and she is able to continue along the conversation's logical path because of it.
"...so...can you tell me more about my Mystic Eyes? Was your friend able to tell you anything more about them?"
"I mean, we actually covered that already, which is that your eyes let you see the death or the end in things that you see; I'm not sure if there's anything else that I can add that doesn't end up in me going off the deep end about magic theory and the like." Fuutarou pauses, tapping his fingers on his upper lip in thought. "Hm, actually, now that I remember, your Mystic Eyes being able to see death is probably the reason why you get such a bad headache while you're inside your nightmare, and consequently why you had such a bad reaction to seeing those lines on that cup you broke in the kitchen sink."
"The headaches that I get...they're because of my Mystic Eyes?"
"They should be. We think they're caused because your brain can't handle the stress of seeing death directly like you are when you have your Mystic Eyes active, which is normal since human beings like us should have no business looking straight at raw concepts like death with either no prior experience or inadequate preparation."
Miku nods slowly, but as she digests Fuutarou's words, she gasps lightly.
"Th-Then that means...that means that..." Fuutarou sits up slightly in his seat, waiting patiently for Miku to find her words again. "...that means...whenever I had my nightmares...since I was seeing all those creepy lines and dots on that corpse that keeps floating up to the surface...does that mean that all this time...my eyes...I had my Mystic Eyes active during my nightmares...?"
"I guess so, but I can't even begin to say if having active Mystic Eyes inside of a dream or nightmare is normal or not. It sounds to me like your Mystic Eyes were developing slowly but steadily every time you've ever had a nightmare, which would make sense since you've said before that you only started getting those nightmares after you got out of the hospital."
With wide, trembling eyes, the distraught third quintuplet slowly looks back up at her tutor. "So...my Mystic Eyes really have been getting stronger and stronger, right? To the point where now, they're able to show up here in the real world, when I'm awake?"
Fuutarou sighs quietly, twisting his lips to the side. "It seems that way, unfortunately."
Miku lets out a soft whimper at this, looking terribly crestfallen at this alleged revelation. "I don't know if I've told you this before, Fuutarou, but...before we got to know you, before any of us knew about any magical stuff, well, maybe except Ichika...back when I first started having my nightmares, I wanted to make sure that my sisters never knew what I was going through, because if they ever found out, I know for a fact that they'd want to get involved and try to help me out and such. While I would obviously appreciate that, I just...I would much prefer not having them involved at all on the occasion that one day, my nightmares got so bad to the point where I would lose my mind or something over them, or...or do something really bad because I couldn't handle them anymore. I guess...I guess if I look at the situation that I'm in now, it's not as bad as I was afraid things would get, since my sisters know about my nightmares now but they make sure not to bring it up unless they have to and because I have you now to help me get through them if things get really bad, but...on the other hand, the worst case scenario is already happening in a way, since now my Mystic Eyes can show up here."
Having slowly leaned forward on her seat on the edge of her bed, clasping her hands against her cheeks in an effort to cope with the stress of her thoughts, Miku grimaces even harder.
"The part that makes me feel the worst about it all is that I can pull up my own Mystic Eyes at will now, along with Nino; you've seen us do that already, even. So that means that I've been using my Mystic Eyes of Death Perception without even knowing what it was!"
"But you didn't see any lines or dots before like you do in your nightmares, right? Then you shouldn't feel too bad about those times since clearly your Mystic Eyes weren't matured enough just yet. Obviously now it's a different story, but still."
"I suppose so. Still doesn't make me feel any better about it..." Miku shudders horribly. "I-I think I'll make myself feel sick if...if I even start to imagine what I would've seen if my Mystic Eyes did mature back then...like, if I started to see those lines and dots on my own sisters or...or you, even..."
"Yeah...best if you don't dwell on that," Fuutarou agrees grimly, and he gives Miku a couple of minutes to herself so that she can gather her wits again.
"So...what now? Now that I know what they are, thanks to you and your friend, what do I do from here? Is there anything I can do?" the middle quintuplet asks.
"Hm..." Fuutarou contemplates his next few words for a moment before looking back up at Miku. "Do you know about Nino's contact lenses? Has she told you about what they really are?"
Miku shakes her head slowly. "She's always been really sensitive about her contacts, as in whenever people talk about them, especially if we, as in her sisters, start talking about them too. Before all this Mystic Eye stuff started happening, we rarely saw her without her contacts, and for a time back in middle school she used to be the last one to go to bed because she'd end up being the last one using the bathroom, probably to take out her contacts, though I think nowadays she does that in her room."
"But you know what her eyes look like without them now, right?"
"Yes, because, well...she's shown them to me directly before. They're a really deep purple color." Miku finds herself slowly looking off to the side as the memory of seeing her older sister's majestic royal purple Mystic Eyes comes back in mind. "...they looked really cool, I'm not going to lie."
"Were they, now. Well, the reason why I bring them up is because I've taken a look at her contact lenses before, and they're no ordinary contacts."
"Right, because they change her eye colors, right? So that her eyes can match the rest of ours, which is blue."
"Yeah, but there's more to it than just that. Those contacts are what are known as 'Mystic Eye Killers', which suppress the powers of those eyes in people who have them. I hear that they can also come in the form of regular glasses too, but Nino's case is unusual because somehow, hers can function as contacts."
Miku feels her lower jaw go slightly slack as she realizes something else to that statement. "Wait...I know that Nino had to get glasses right around the time when we started middle school, I think...and then she switched to contacts soon after because she said she hated how glasses looked on her. Then that also means that she's also had Mystic Eyes all this time, too! In fact, she's had them for even longer than I have, because my incident happened in the middle of middle school! Then - then - that means Nino might've known for all this time that she had Mystic Eyes, and she never told us until recently either! So that means that - all five of us, all of us have been having this happen to us all this time...?!"
Her hands that were on her cheeks now elevate to her scalp as Miku holds her head, unable to handle her mental spiraling as she finds herself digging deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of her family's magical history that has been there in plain sight for all this time, unable to stop herself from slipping down even further, but thankfully for her, her tutor steps in.
"Maybe so, but I don't think Nino knew what she was dealing with either, just like you; same with Itsuki, since I get the feeling she's only recently discovered that she has Mystic Eyes too."
The mention of Itsuki's Mystic Eyes firmly cements Miku from slipping down any further. "That's right...Itsuki told me and Nino that we all saw the time when she first awakened her eyes, when she got into that fight with Nino."
"Right. I'm not too sure about Yotsuba and Ichika, but that's for another day. For now, the reason why I brought up the whole Mystic Eye Killer thing is because I've talked with your dad already about this matter, and he said that he'll work on getting you a pair of Mystic Eye Killers too; in fact, you can choose whether you want them as glasses or contacts, just like Nino."
"R-Really...? Then, um...I-I guess...glasses...? I don't know, it's a little sudden, admittedly, I would've...liked to have a bit more time to think about what exactly I want them to be..."
"Then you can take your time, I can't imagine these things can just be ordered like they're on Amazon or something. Actually, hold on, now that I mention it..." Fuutarou furrows his eyebrows again, his expression changing to that of a somewhat perturbed one as he mulls over something in his mind that he's just thought of.
Miku, quickly sharing his concern despite not knowing what he's thinking about, leans forward on her seat. "...what is it?" she asks quietly.
The young mage raises his right hand slowly, formulating his thoughts carefully before speaking. "As I said, Mystic Eye Killers are meant to suppress the powers of Mystic Eyes. But in Nino's case, her eyes weren't fully awakened yet when she started wearing her contacts, and they still were able to hide her true eye colors. The implications I'm getting from that are bothering me..."
"How so?"
"As in, my biggest question is how Nino's Mystic Eye Killers were able to suppress her eyes when they weren't even fully awakened. For example, my friend told me about one of the other two Death Perception holders that I mentioned before and how his Mystic Eyes awakened practically instantly, so when he got his Mystic Eye Killers, they were able to do their job properly and he was able to live life normally thanks to them, so long as he didn't take off his glasses. That makes sense - but what about in Nino's case? If her eyes weren't even able to display their powers, whatever they might be, how were her contacts able to suppress powers that didn't even exist yet?"
Listening helplessly to Fuutarou's concerns since there's obviously not much she can say, Miku sighs slowly. "...maybe...maybe 'Mystic Eye Killers' is a misnomer? If they're only meant to suppress our eyes' powers, then they're not really...killing them, per se, right?"
"I guess not. I'm going to assume there's more to these Mystic Eye things that I just don't know right now, and..." The high school mage trails off briefly. "...I'll have to talk to my contact again and see if he can answer some more of my questions. I'm not sure if they'll really be of much help to you and your sisters specifically, but...it can't hurt knowing as much as I can about these fucking things."
Miku can feel the tiny hairs on her arms and back stand back up on edge from hearing the sudden venom in Fuutarou's last few words, and she subconsciously hunches a little, as if beginning to cower. "...I'm...I'm sorry that you have to help us through this too..."
"No need to be, it's part of the job. And the silver lining here is that since you're the first among your sisters who now has a fully fledged pair of Mystic Eyes by the looks of it who'll actually let me examine them since I'm not entirely sure what Ichika's up to, I'm hoping that whatever I can learn from your case can help me deal with everyone else's, the others whose Mystic Eyes haven't fully matured yet like yours seem to have..." Heaving another big sigh of his own, Fuutarou runs his hand up and over his head through his hair after removing his cap briefly. "It is what it is. And truth be told, you don't exactly have it easy yourself either. You might already be aware of this yourself, but now that you have these things, it's going to be extremely difficult for you to go back to having a normal life."
Fuutarou watches Miku slowly nod back in kind.
"After I had my first few nightmares, I started getting the sense that...things might eventually turn out this way, actually," Miku acknowledges. "And that wasn't just me trying to be...edgy, or...or being all down on myself. While I don't want to say that I expected things to turn out this way specifically, I can say that I'm...not completely shocked to find that this is how things are now."
The third quintuplet, contrary to her melancholic words, tries her best to offer a smile to her tutor.
"At least we have you with us, though. Without you, I don't know where we'd even be now. Probably dead, or...or worse. Whatever 'worse' is."
Fuutarou doesn't answer that one and instead slowly averts his gaze to the foot of Miku's bed, not that he intended to look at that part of the bed in particular.
"...the credit shouldn't be all mine, though," he eventually says. "While I don't want to get your hopes too high or gas you up more than necessary, I do think it's worth mentioning that you've shown incredible resilience to everything that's happened so far - all the magical stuff, I mean. It's really easy for normal people to start freaking out or stick their heads too far up their own asses over the fact that they've got these magical powers that they didn't know they had before - not that that happens often, but when they do, that's what tends to happen from what I've seen."
The young tutor shifts his gaze back to his student.
"So hang in there, just as you have been," Fuutarou nods curtly.
Nodding back, Miku straightens up on the side of her bed. "So now that I know more about my Mystic Eyes, what now? Is there something I can do, something I should be doing in regards to them, or...?"
"Your biggest priority is to not let them activate on their own again if you can help it. I mean, that just goes without saying, since I assume you don't like having your Mystic Eyes active in the first place, but it's now imperative that you try to keep them suppressed now that we know what your eyes really are. And while my intention here isn't to put even more of a mental burden on you by mentioning this, but keep in mind that you and your sisters are still being hunted by that Shirazumi guy whom I'm still trying to track down; if he figures out what kind of Mystic Eyes you've got, there's no telling what he's going to do, but I can only assume that it'll be for the worse. I'm basically telling you to carry on as usual, but I want us to be crystal clear on all this just to make sure."
"Okay, and yeah, I wasn't planning on trying to mess around with them in the first place, not after all those nightmares I've had because of them." Miku takes a brief pause of her own. "...actually, now that I think about it, were my nightmares caused by my Mystic Eyes, as like a sign that they were maturing over the past couple years, or...or were my nightmares something separate from my Mystic Eyes?"
Finding himself stumped at Miku's question, Fuutarou shrugs widely again. "I...don't know either. I'll try to figure that one out too, though." He then gestures about the room, motioning to the rooms beyond the walls of Miku's. "The same should also apply to your sisters. Now that this's been happening to you recently, I'm guessing that your sisters are also likely to have their own little episodes where their Mystic Eyes fully awaken and give them whatever crazy powers like yours; in the event that they happen and I'm not around, I'm relying on you to help calm them down if they need to be and take control of the situation until I get there. Can you do that for me?"
The third quintuplet slowly grasps the pressure that come with her tutor's words that infuse her with a quiet but daunting responsibility that she's not so sure she's ready to tackle just yet.
"I-I can...I can try...but...but I was never really much of a leader figure..." Miku mumbles nervously. "That's...stuff like that's more up...Nino's or...or Ichika's alley..."
"I know, and if I could I would tell them this same thing too so that I wouldn't have to make you uncomfortable telling you to do something you're not confident in. But at the moment we don't have a choice; I can't have this same kind of conversation that I'm having with you right now with the others just yet."
"Then...can I at least talk to the others about what we've discussed tonight? Nino and Itsuki, at least?"
"Yeah, sure, I don't mind. Actually, yeah, do that, it's better that they know how to handle themselves too so that it relieves some of your share of the responsibility. Make sure to emphasize the part where they need to be careful with their Mystic Eyes since they could do anything if the ones you've got can literally see fucking death of all things."
Fuutarou turns in Miku's chair that he's borrowing for the time being to glance at her desk, where he takes note of the study materials, notebooks, and mechanical pencils neatly strewn across the desktop.
"...studying hard as always, I see," he nods slowly but approvingly, turning back to a warmly beaming Miku. "How've the others been doing in terms of self-study? The usual, or...?"
"Surprisingly, everyone's been managing to get in at least a couple hours of studying every night or almost every night," Miku reports. "We've even been studying together on nights when we'd usually slack off because we're tired or because we just don't feel like it, since like you said, studying with each other is a lot of fun, so it helps us get over the mental hurdle of not wanting to study."
Nodding again, the young mage takes a deep breath as he gets up. "That's good. I should apologize too, seeing that I haven't been doing my main job of being your tutor properly these past few weeks ever since summer break started. I'm hoping we can go back to our usual study sessions soon, but as of now I don't know when I'll be able to."
"Don't worry about us, Fuutarou. Like we keep telling you, it's the least we can do."
"I know, but...I just hope you won't all bomb the next set of practice tests I give you when I come back."
"Hey!" Miku immediately starts pouting back at her tutor. "W-With all this studying we've done already, we won't fail any practice test! We even managed to pass our first trimester finals, how can you say that!"
Giving his student a rare cheeky grin, Fuutarou reaches over and picks up one of Miku's study notebooks at random and flips it open; its contents suggest that this is her Japanese history study notebook, judging by all the historical Japanese names, events, and locales written inside.
"Then how about you show me? Ready for a pop quiz?" he asks, tapping Miku's own notebook softly against his head. Miku, who of course recognizes her own Japanese history notebook, returns fire with a confident smile of her own.
"You bet. I've never been more ready."