"No...I can't do this." A voice says from inside a room. "You'll be fine, you look great." Another voice says. "I'm ugly, do I really have to?" The first voice replies. "We all have the same face though. And yes, you do." A third voice replies as they all leave for a nearby shrine.
They walk and walk through the cold winter air towards the shrine, spotting a group already there. Upon getting closer, they realize that the other group is quite familiar. "Why do we always run into you!" Nino shouts out as the Uesugis come into view. "Uesugi-san! Raiha-chan! Would you two like to come over to our place?" Yotsuba runs up and plays around with Raiha. "No, unfortunately...wait." Fuutarou starts pointing his finger at everyone. "Where's the sixth?"
"What do you mean Fuutarou-kun, Mutsumi's right..." Ichika turns around and finds an empty space where her sister stood. "What? How? I was standing right next to her." Itsuki says as her hair stands up. "She vanished without a trace!" Miku exclaims as everyone starts looking around.
"You really need to pay more attention." He sighs as he follows a trail of footprints left in the snow to the back of the shrine. "Hey Mutsumi." He says with a smirk, finding her hiding against the wall. Her hair tied into a ponytail and her hands hiding her face. "Y-Yo Fuutarou-san. Fancy seeing you here..." Mutsumi greets him, flustered.
"Ah there you are!" Nino comes with the other girls in tow. "Well, what's up with her? She's not usually like this." He asks with the obvious shift in her behavior. "She didn't want to wear a furisode." Miku says. "Ah, fashion. Well, I'm not one to talk. I'm going home." He begins walking away.
"What? I thought we were going to go to their house?" Raiha pouts in Fuutarou's way. "So this is his little sister that he was talking to when I snuck in." Mutsumi thinks. "Uhm...hi Raiha-chan. I'm Mutsumi Nakano." She greets the girl, embarrassed and still hiding her face. Raiha looks at her with the pout still on her face. "She...she's adorable." Mutsumi felt her heart beating louder. "Hey Mutsumi, how do you know about Raiha-chan? We haven't brought her up at all." Mutsumi's eyes go wide at Yotsuba's words.
"Ahh! Freedom!" Mutsumi walks out of the room and sits by the kotatsu, wearing an oversized black tee and some casual shorts. "Mutsumi, answer the question." Fuutarou says and Mutsumi can feel the ground rumble with his tone. "Ah...I don't know what you're talking about. What question? Hahaha..." She takes a few steps back as her sisters enter the room. "Help me..." She asks as Raiha looks about the place.
"Um...looks like I had the wrong idea." Mutsumi raises an eyebrow at the kid. "'cuz I heard your family was wealthy." She finishes. "Does greed run through their genes?" She thinks as her sisters make Raiha smile. "W-well, she's still a kid...she..." Her cheeks get rosy as she sees Raiha's face.
"In any case, just relax and make yourself at home." Ichika says. "Are you guys really okay?" Fuutarou says as he sits down on a chair. "Hey, why are you sitting there? It's cold, right? Come sit in the kotatsu." Nino raises a bit up. "Nino?!" Mutsumi thinks. "Go on Raiha." Fuutarou gently nudges his sister. "Come on, don't hold back." Ichika says as she walks up behind him.
"I know, I'll give you a massage. You're tired right?" Everyone's eyes go wide as one by one they start massaging a part of Fuutarou. Raiha jokingly says that her brother got popular, causing him to go cynical with his words for a good few conversations. After that, they start eating, but Fuutarou's face is in disbelief; it's clear why though.
"A new version of Fukuwarai?" Raiha asks as Yotsuba brings it out. "This is impossible!" Fuutarou comments. "Fuutarou...there's something we'd like to give you..." Miku says. "Already? It's a bit early don't you think?" Mutsumi asks. "Let's go to the other room, excuse us." Ichika smiles as she ushers her sisters away.
"What should we do?" Nino asks her sisters. "It doesn't seem like he minds though..." Itsuki comments. "I'd feel bad leaving things like this. We're asking him to continue being our tutor, even though he lost his job and isn't getting paid for it." Yotsuba asks as the sextuplets all brainstorm. Mutsumi looks at her sisters' faces, except Yotsuba who looks like she's thinking of something else entirely, they're all blushing.
"Predictable, You're all thinking the same thing." She says. They go around, asking Miku to do the deed for Fuutarou. Her face goes red in shock as she begins fantasizing about it, Yotsuba is still clueless. They think of something else, the topic of food comes up since Nino's here. "Desserts...No...I had already forgotten." Nino mutters to herself. "She's still thinking about it, huh..." Mutsumi thinks as she overhears her.
"I'll leave this to you five, I don't know him well enough to be useful." She says as she opens the door. Fuutarou blocks the doorway, slamming his hand to keep her from moving. "Mutsumi, don't move." He says as he leans in closer. "F-Fuutarou-san!" She asks as he gets closer. "W-What're you doing?!" She closes her eyes. "Damn it, it's not Mutsumi!" He yells as he returns to the kotatsu with Raiha. She opens her eyes as her head feels hot and light. She stumbles back into Miku and Itsuki's arms as Yotsuba joins the Uesugis
"You're actually playing it?" She asks as she sits beside Fuutarou. "T-That was a shock..." Mutsumi thinks as she starts to cool off. "Ah, Uesugi-san. There's cream on your face." Yotsuba says before kissing his cheek and eating the cream. Seven pairs of eyes go wide and faces go red. "D-Did she plan this from the start?! Yotsuba!" Mutsumi thinks as she feels herself fall on the floor.
Miku's arms go slack, then they tense as she exudes the same aura that Fuutarou did earlier. "A-Anyway. As you can see, our situation isn't exactly ideal. We are unable to sufficiently compensate you so..." Itsuki tries to change the topic. "You should have told me earlier. You shouldn't worry about me. I'm doing this because I want to, so don't worry about paying me..." He says. "Fuutarou-san." Mutsumi gets back on her feet. "Pay me when you make it big. Until then, keep a tally! 5000 per person per day!" His voice booms that it nearly starts blowing them away. "Tch, always a gold digger." Mutsumi thinks with a smile on her face.
That night, while her sisters sleep, Mutsumi stands in front of the sink in the bathroom with her phone in her hand. "Things are moving by too fast..." She says as she looks photos on her phone. The first is dated five years ago, with six identical kids and their mother. The next is four years ago, one of the kids is alone in a hospital room, an IV bag next to her bed; the kid looks pale. The next is a year after that, the kid's wearing a fancy sundress, accompanied by three people around her age; they're all smiling though only the kid's smile seems real. Two years ago, it's a similar scene, except one of the kids' friends seems to have left; the kid's smile less wide than last time, though her skin has started getting brighter. The one taken just last year, Mutsumi smiles while wearing a pair of jeans and a simple shirt and jacket; her skin clear and her face distraught. "Good riddance..." She says as droplets fall onto the screen.
"Mutsumi?" Ichika walks into the room. "What're you doing here?" She asks as Mutsumi turns around, tears streaming down her face. "J-Just go away, leave me alone." She says instinctively. "I guess maybe she changed too." She remembers her thoughts from that time in Nino's hotel room. "I-I see...Okay then." Ichika turns and starts walking.
Without saying anything, Ichika feels Mutsumi's arms wrap around her and her head burry in her back. "Sorry Ichika..." She says meekly as the two of them return to sleep.
The next time Fuutarou comes over, the apartment is in chaos. "I'm sick of living like this!" Nino exclaims as Fuutarou steps inside. "They've been like that all morning." Mutsumi says as she puts something in her mouth and takes a sip of water. They argue for a while, until Fuutarou goes to wake Ichika. The five sisters' eyes go wide as Ichika turns and greets him in her usual sleepwear.
They start studying a while later, though they didn't get far before the topic changes entirely. "Maybe we should get jobs too." Mutsumi suggests. Itsuki suggests that she'll find a tutoring job, but Fuutarou shoots her down by pointing out her grades. Yotsuba suggests working in a supermarket, Mutsumi theorizes that she'll cause more problems since she'll be too compliant. Miku thinks of working in a maid café, but retracts it when her sisters say that she'll be popular. Fuutarou throws out the idea of Nino being a dominatrix, but she retorts and says she's interested in the food business.
"Well, chasing your dreams or not, if you do get a job you can't do it half-heartedly." Fuutarou offers some advice. "Ichika's been working hard. I want to see it myself." Mutsumi thinks as the session comes to a close for that day.
"We're closed in the afternoon today. I'm letting people use my shop for a movie shoot." His manager says as Fuutarou starts cleaning up. He thinks of leaving when the crew enters, but stop when he sees the star of the show. He watches silently as they both act as if they don't know each other.
Everyone proceeds with their preparations, the manager placing the shops name on as many of the pies as possible. "She's acting odd this time." Ichika's manager steps beside Fuutarou. "It's been a while." He winks at him. They cut as Ichika asks for a break.
"What's wrong Tamako-chan?" Fuutarou asks, slightly teasing, mostly curious. "Fuutarou-kun, it's embarrassing so could you please stop watching." She says as they have a back and forth about the kinds of roles she's been taking. He's surprisingly not against it, actually thankful for her hard work. He does tick her off when she says that there's no need to focus on her acting career. She pulls up an old photo of him, which shuts him up.
"Maybe I should let you sleep on my thighs some time in the future Fuutarou-san." A staff from the shoot says as she walks up to him after Ichika left. She removes her shades and pulls down a mask. "You, how are you?!" Fuutarou couldn't even finish his sentences. "I got curious about Ichika's job, so I've been following her. I managed to disguise myself as part of the crew and just helped by carrying the equipment around." Mutsumi smiles as she leans against the wall next to Fuutarou. "Is that legal? I can call the police." He says with a knowing sigh. "Killjoy, c'mon let's watch. They're about to do another take."
"We're going to use this pie for the next take, is this one okay?" An actual staff member asks Fuutarou. He notices that there's no name on it, which means. "Oh no." He says under his breath. "What happened?" Mutsumi asks. "I made that pie that's in this take." He says. "And?" "I'm as bad as Miku." He says which causes her to look on in horror as they film.
"Mmm It's shoo goood." She says. "N-No way...She pulled it off." Mutsumi says to Fuutarou with pride in her voice. "What a troublesome student. I'm going home." He says as he leaves to get his things. "Is that her script?" He thinks to himself as he picks it up. "She's so careless." He mumbles as he reaches her room, finding her scribbling answers into a notebook.
"You got question 5 wrong." He says. They go back and forth for a minute while prying eyes peek in from the gap in the door. "Even here, she's still working hard." Mutsumi taps on her phone. She listens in, smiling as the conversation continues. "Maybe it could work out like this." She thinks, as she sees Ichika's head fall. "She's faking it...wait, don't tell me...She's fallen."
Mutsumi returns to the apartment with Fuutarou, though they don't stay long. Nino, Yotsuba, and him go to get groceries. Itsuki gets a text and says she has to go somewhere. Miku whispers something into Nino's ear before they go. "What do I do now? I can stay with Miku and chat, or I can go with someone. I wonder where Itsuki's going by herself." She thinks.
"Are you not going to drink it?" Their father says to Itsuki as they sit at a coffee shop. "She's meeting with dad?" Mutsumi thinks as she sits at the table behind her father, a shot of espresso before her. "He wants us to go back, but there's gotta be something else." She thinks as she notices Nino and Fuutarou enter.
"And to be clear...I hate him." He says. "So blunt." She thinks. She listens in further, thinking that Nino and Fuutarou are doing the same. Their father has a lot of points, it seems he came prepared. "He's offering a peace agreement. Though, it is kinda degrading for Fuutarou-san." She thinks as he says something that freezes everyone listening.
"Do you actually think Yotsuba-kun can avoid failing?" He says. "They did say that Yotsuba was the one that failed, she does have the worst grades too...but..." Her thoughts are interrupted by a voice nobody expected.
"We can do it. If we're together with Uesugi-san and Mutsumi teaching us, we can do it. We want to achieve this with the seven of us. So please, believe in us. We won't make the same mistakes over and over again." Yotsuba's conviction presented, but Maruo still has an ace up his sleeve. "Mutsumi-kun. Do you really think she's gotten better? True, she doesn't need to stay in the hospital anymore, but that doesn't mean that her body is healthy." He says.
"I'm stronger than I was before Papa." She breaks her silence, removing the hat she was wearing to keep hidden. "I'll be fine on my own, so we'll be staying there and we will pass!" She doesn't know why she wants this. Just a few months ago, she'd jumped at any chance she could to get rid of an outsider like Fuutarou.
"Very well, it appears my job as a father includes listening to my childrens' selfish requests. And scolding them for those same wants. Should any of you fail, all of you will transfer to a school an associate of mine runs in Tokyo. There will be no possibility of failure there." He says, walking outside. "We won't need it. We'll pass our tests right here." Itsuki speaks up.
"You seriously surprised me Mutsumi." Yotsuba says to her. "Her? What about me? You two just appeared out of nowhere." Itsuki pouts. "Nino, Fuutarou-san, you can come out now." Mutsumi calls them out, pointing to them. "What next, is Miku going to fall out of the sky? Is Ichika going to take off some make up and be one of the staff?" Yotsuba jokes.
"I am grateful to papa, he's given us a lot, but..." Nino says. "He only sees what he deems to be correct." Fuutarou clenches his fist. "None of it matters anyway. The threat of transfer, your old school, your family problems. None of it matters." He causes the ground to pulse like a heart, or at least it feels like it. "I'll just do what I want to do. I'll have you all advance to the next grade. And by my hands, I'll have you all graduate with smiles on your faces." He practically yells. "Hey, keep quiet!" Mutsumi flicks him in the forehead.
Over the next few months, they've worked harder and harder. (This is gonna be hell to write if I do all of them so I'll just do Mutsumi's POV.)
Mutsumi goes around, helping her sisters with their studies. She catches Miku one night trying to make Valentine's day chocolate. Nino eventually helps her as she and Ichika spy on them. She's watches with a grin as Miku checks the fridge on Valentines to find that he's already eaten it. That smile on Miku's face, Mutsumi wishes she could see it more. When Ichika was coming home, Miku waited outside for her. "So Miku knows too, I hope she knows what she's saying." Mutsumi spies in on them with her ear pressed against the window. "The best out of all of us? I don't know if I can hold back for you Miku, plus." She thinks as her brows furrow. "I have to beat Fuutarou at his own game. He's been lording it over me since that last big exam. I'll knock that smug look off his face." She grins lightheartedly.
Rewinding for a while, one study session wasn't going well. Everyone was burnt out, even Fuutarou was though he won't admit it. "An amusement park? Really?" Mutsumi beams. "I can almost see it, the thrill of the rides!" Nino gets fired up. "The tasty food stalls!" Itsuki's smiles grow. "The hall of mirrors!" Ichika gets giddy. "And the privacy and view of a Ferris wheel!" Miku blushes as she steals a glance at Fuutarou. That day off, she was too distracted having fun with everyone that Mutsumi didn't even notice that Fuutarou and Yotsuba vanished. After that, something changed when they studied. They started helping each other, instead of just relying on Fuutarou and Mutsumi to lead them, they took turns teaching the subjects they were good at. Yotsuba changed too after that day, she stopped faking smiles.
Rewinding a second time. Mutsumi and Fuutarou head to where Itsuki is, her mom's grave. They don't find her there, but it was clear that someone was there as there were flowers nearby. "You go back Fuutarou-san. I think I'll stay a while longer." He leaves her at the grave. "Mom...you're watching over us right?" She murmurs. "You must know who he is, that's why you brought him to us right?" She kneels and lights a stick of incense. "I won't leave them again Mom. I promise." She wipes her eyes and heads back, meeting up with Itsuki when she passes by the cake shop.
Rewinding a third time. Mutsumi and Ichika are watching as Nino and Miku make chocolates, getting surprised when Fuutarou shows up. Ichika leaves with Fuutarou to buy books, leaving Mutsumi to spy on her sisters. Sometimes Mutsumi finds Ichika awake at night, slaving over her scripts and notes. "Hey, take a break." She says as she leaves a glass of water for her. "You're not holding back huh." Mutsumi takes a seat next to her. "You aren't either." Ichika replies. "I have someone I want to beat." Mutsumi says through her drowsiness. "Someone you want to beat..." Ichika mutters. "She can't pull her punches this time. Miku, be ready...None of us can hold back. Sorry." She thinks as she falls asleep.
Rewinding for the last time. Mutsumi wakes up ahead of everyone, heading to the kitchen. "Just a few more weeks, then I can stop." She thinks as she takes a pill from a bottle and swallows it down. She moves around the house, checking her sisters' notes in her hands and reads them. "They're getting better..." She feels a tear form in her eye. "Though, I still don't know who they are." She thinks as Fuutarou knocks on the door.
"You're early today." Mutsumi lets him in. "I finished their notes early. What're you doing up?" He asks as he sets his things down. "I always wake up ahead of them." She says as she slyly pockets her pills. "Well, should we wake them up?" Fuutarou asks, but Mutsumi declines. "Hey Fuutarou-san. Tell me how you met them." She says to him as they sit down. "I only really know the versions of them from five years ago. I want to know more about them." She says. This happens every so often, and with every story he tells her, she smiles wider and wider, until. "So, when are you going to tell me about your pills?" Fuutarou asks, just minutes before they take their exams.
Everyone gathers at the cake shop, Ichika had just arrived. "Miku..." Mutsumi thinks silently as she walks closer and places her hand on her shoulder. "Where's Nino?" Fuutarou asks as his manager walks over and whispers something in his ear. The manager then tosses something to him and he leaves. "Where are you going?" She asks. "Getting Nino. Just wait for us." Fuutarou heads out.
"Hey Mutsumi, what did you get?" Yotsuba runs up and takes her results slip. "What?! 460 total?" Itsuki's jaw drops. "Sorry Miku..." She whispers into her ear. "I'm sure you'll get your chance, one day."
They all wait for Fuutarou and Nino to arrive, eating cake that the manager brings over to them. "So, we're done for a while, right?" Ichika asks. "Yeah. We finally get a break." Mutsumi replies. "What do you guys want to do?" Yotsuba asks. "I...hmm..." Mutsumi ponders as Nino arrives with Fuutarou. "I don't really want to do anything in particular, so I'll leave it to you." Itsuki says, setting aside her seventh serving. "Maybe we should just rest, we all worked hard." Miku suggests. Nino arrives, her face all flushed. "What's in your hand?" Mutsumi asks as she takes it. "459..." She smiles as she looks to Fuutarou. She smirks in his direction, he smirks back. "I win." She says to him. "Ready for round two?"