"Did you tell them?" Standing in front of a soda dispenser, the fourth sister contemplated what to put in her drink; the soda was fairly tempting. Her gaze shifted over to her sibling, the other fourth sister.
"Yeah!" The other Yotsuba exclaimed, her voice caught betwixt her true emotions and the liveliness she tried to convey to further deepen her disguise. The other patrons of the karaoke bar walked by them, confused and amazed at the sight of twins; if they only knew the truth, then they would think it was a dream. The impostor's matching ribbon only added to their awe. "Mutsumi said that the others were already asleep when I called."
"Mutsumi...I. Uh, nevermind. Miku, what do you want?" The original extended one of the empty glasses towards her sister, a distant look in her eyes. Yotsuba had a lot on her mind, especially with the way everyone was acting.
"I'll have whatever you're having." Miku replied coldly. Yotsuba just looked at her for a while, her face growing more morose with every passing second. Eventually, they filled their glasses and entered the room they were spending the night in. The third sister sat down, her eyes dark and cold; it's been a while since they've looked like that.
"This is the first time we've been to karaoke with...oh nevermind." The fourth sister sighed, taking a long sip from her drink before staring the third in the eyes. "Miku. Please stop. It's impossible for you to transform into me." She said resolutely, though she did have to hold back a cough. "I want to get through this before it gets out of hand; before Kurobara repeats itself."
"Then you know how I feel now." Miku undid her ribbon, stuffing it into her pocket. "Yotsuba, I'm mad. I really am furious right now." The third sister complied, agreeing while pushing away her drink. She wouldn't admit this, especially to Yotsuba, but she deplored her earlier actions. It was desperate, something so low that Miku, master of disguise and generally cold, felt that it was chilling to the point where she couldn't keep it on any longer. Emotions, primarily rage, and contempt, took hold of her body in ways her mind wouldn't allow.
"If it helps, we haven't started dating yet." Yotsuba said, her hands moving over to the song selection tablet to keep her body occupied. Her mind raced around, knowing that chances were slim that this would pass cleanly. Oh, how she wanted to be wrong. She can't just reject Fuutarou for their sake, she would never be able to live with herself if she did that; that's not even considering how that would ridicule him and his choice.
"You're just troubling him now. Yotsuba, before everything else, we're sisters. I'll get over this soon enough, so you should just go and date him already." Miku said, her eyes glancing over to the list of tracks she could sing. Yotsuba just looked at her in disbelief. This was too convenient, she was too sure of her own strength.
"Miku, that's a lie...right?" Yotsuba wanted it to be true, though. She really wanted it to be true, that naivete and optimism giving her some semblance of hope.
"When did you get so sharp?" Miku gave a half-hearted quip towards her sister, smiling weakly as she silently organized her feelings. It was rude; it wasn't Yotsubas fault that she was chosen, but Miku hopped that she could ease her pain by sending some verbal attacks her way.
"I'm happy he chose me that night, but..." Yotsuba muttered, selecting her song after some not so careful deliberation. "Everyone else's feelings..."
"Yotsuba, you did nothing wrong. And I can say that you're doing better than when we were in Kurobara." Miku locked in her own song, turning her head to speak with Yotsuba face to face. "But even with all of that, these feelings hurt more than anything else I've ever felt. That's how serious I was about this, so I'm thankful that you're taking us into consideration as well."
Yotsuba paused, carefully taking in Miku's statement. Taking everyone into consideration, putting others before herself, was a skill she'd practiced over and over since the day they transferred out of their previous school. Her selflessness knew no bounds, however, Yotsuba wasn't the most proficient with moderation; this time she had to be a bit selfish, or else she'd ridicule everyone else's hard work that they've done over the past year. Aside from her sisters, her biggest fear was that she'd revert to the way she was before their expulsion.
"I'm still not able to understand Nino or Mutsumi's feelings quite yet...It's a given that Nino'd be mad." Yotsuba, taking a breath to vent her frustrations in a morose fashion, sat back down.
"Well, Nino throwing a fit is par for the course." Miku chided at the second sister's expense, grateful for her absence while also longing to see her reaction to the statement had she heard it.
"Putting it that way is kinda harsh..."
"It is." Miku replied candidly. "But it's nothing compared to what everyone is going through. So, I'm putting up one last fight." Miku glanced over at the queue for the songs, chuckling at the fact that they selected the same song. "Good luck. You're on your own for this one."
"It's something I have to figure out on my own anyway..." Yotsuba shut her eyes, extending a closed fist towards Miku. "Rock. Paper. Scissors. I'm going to get a perfect score!"
"Say that once it's done." Miku returned the gesture, both of them shaking their hands up and down; Miku got the first song. "I'm winning this one." Back and forth, the two kept selecting the same song over and over again. It was a fairly popular love song that Nino got stuck in their heads. Frankly speaking, neither of them liked it enough to listen to it themselves, but perhaps it could raise their spirits and ease the tension.
The two sisters had played that one song over a hundred times combined, their voices impaired by the end of the session; neither managed to get a perfect grade, especially after their voices degraded. "Ahh, the trains are probably back now." Her voice like an old lady, Miku blocked the sunlight from blinding her as the two left the building in the morning.
"Yeah..." The fourth sister's voice didn't fare any better, sounding like a metal singer after a concert. "The weather's so nice." She rubbed her neck, trying in vain to cough her voice back to health.
"Singing all night really did a number on our voices..." Miku could barely speak without her throat getting itchy.
"I know...everyone's going to make fun of us when we get back." Yotsuba yawned, stretching out some tiredness from the all-nighter that the two of them just pulled due to their contest. They were about to walk out when something caught their attention
"Yo! Miku-san, Yotsuba-san!" A female voice called out from behind them. Standing in the reception of the karaoke place was Tsubaki, currently tying her hair in her signature side-ponytail. "You were here too?" Accompanied by other students from their school, Tsubaki called them over for a short conversation. She smiled, moving some sort of hard candy around in her mouth as Matsui walked up with a few small bags with her.
"Tsubaki-san!" Yotsuba tried to yell, the intense pain halting her breath after "ba".
"Seems like you two enjoyed yourselves." Matsui, who was rubbing her own throat, commented. Their voices were also quite ragged, though not to the extent of the Nakano siblings.
"Good morning..." An even more familiar voice groaned, seemingly freshly awoken and still groggy. "Where to next, Tsuba-chan..." Mutsumi rubbed the sleep from her eyes, chewing on something in her mouth as she drowsily stumbled forward with multiple bags in her hands.
"Mutsumi?" Yotsuba asked, startled at the sight of another sibling. "When did you get here?"
"Hmm? A few hours after Miku called. We went out for some shopping and wound up here..." The sixth sister rummaged in one of her pockets, pulling out a small pack of some lozenges. "Here...you sound like you're about to die."
"Thanks..." Miku muttered, taking one for herself. "We're going home, are you going with us?" Mutsumi looked at the others, checking her bags and exchanging it with Tsubaki's; they had swapped on accident. She nodded, yawning while making her way out the doors.
"Hey, Yotsuba..." Mutsumi started some small talk on their way back to the apartment. "Is there something you want to talk about?"
"Mutsumi. How are you feeling?" Yotsuba looked towards the youngest sister, taking careful glances at her eyes. "You locked yourself in your room, and I..."
"I'm fine...how's Mi-" Mutsumi turned back as Miku chucked her ribbon out to sea. "I take it that something happened between the two of you..."
"You could say that." Yotsuba chuckled. The sixth sister shrugged, grinning while standing still to wait for Miku to catch up. "I hope...Miku and I will be back to normal soon."
"That's a relief. Anything you need to do?" The sixth sister asked, a gentle smile on her face. "Have you talked to Nino yet?" Mutsumi addressed the elephant in the room, and Nino was undoubtedly going to be the most difficult among them for Yotsuba to deal with. The sixth hadn't spoken to Nino since that day, now that she'd thought about it.
"I tried to...but..." Yotsuba scratched her head, her face losing the smile as the image of the second sister entered the fourth's mind. "She said something...that she probably didn't mean to say. At least that's what I hope."
"It's going to be tough, isn't it?" Mutsumi rested her arms on her sisters' shoulders as Miku caught up. The sixth sister pulled the other two closer to her chest. "Well, I'll help you out, so just tell me what you need." Shutting her eyes and grinning with joy, Mutsumi started walking forward and dragging the other two as she accidentally strangled them.
"What about you?" Miku asked, looking curiously at the youngest sextuplet.
"I'm fine." Mutsumi smiled, letting go and skipping ahead while adjusting the turtleneck she loaned from Itsuki. "I'm fine..." She muttered, her voice inaudible. Pulling off her beanie to let her hair fly in the wind, the tinkerer of the sextuplets hid her face from her sisters. "Anyone else kinda hungry? Let's get some food on the way home." She turned on her heel, playfully beckoning her sisters to quicken their pace by rubbing her stomach.
A/N: To be completely honest, writing this chapter was difficult since most of the characterization for Miku in this had been similar to canon except for the fact that it occurred sooner in this fanfic. Essentially, the only difference between the actual chapter and this is Yotsuba's slight increase in confidence; and Mutsumi of course. The fourth's sister's interactions with Nino and Itsuki will probably be similar unless the sixth does something drastic to change things.