"Hey, this is Mutsumi." Holding it up to her ear, Mutsumi answers the call as the elder half of the Nakano sisters join them. "Dad? Today? Uh huh? Okay." With a sigh, she hangs up and stands up to return to the classroom.

"Uesugi-kun. Aren't you going to eat?" Someone says from the other side of the door. Peeking inside, Mutsumi could see it was their history teacher just from looking at his shiny scalp. "You might make it in time if you go now."

Fuutarou doesn't verbally reply, instead just nodding with a smile before going back to his work. Before him was a textbook, a math book with simplified equations. "Still using that? I've got our bet in the bag." Mutsumi tries taunting him as she enters.

"How about you...nevermind." Fuutarou's anger flares up as he turns to meet her face, his fists opening once he sees her blue eyes. "Don't mind me. I'm trying to work." Dismissive, he sits back down and picks up his pencil. It was at this moment that Mutsumi saw his notebook, not filled with notes and tips but with pages and her sisters' names. As he scans the next page, he pauses for a moment before checking it's number to copy it along with adding a tag for Nino. He was halfway through the notebook at this point, Mutsumi could assume the earlier pages were filled similarly. "Will I make it in time?" He mutters under his breath.

"Why? It's like he doesn't even care about our bet? Does he not want to keep his job?" Mutsumi thinks to herself, taking her seat in the back of the class. Itsuki comes in soon after, accompanied by the ringing of the bell. "Hey, Itsuki. I'll be home late today."

"Again? Why?" Her sister replies, wiping some crumbs from her sweater vest.

"Dad. I have a check up." The youngest rubs her arms, adjusting her honeycomb patterned arm sleeves.

"Are you going to get him fired early?"

"..." Mutsumi sneaks a glance at the tutor, who has pulled out a second note book for the class while keeping the first and the textbook nearby. "If dad asks about my grades, then I'll tell him. Otherwise, I'll stick to my word."

"Top floor. Farthest door on the hallway to your left." A nurse says as Mutsumi leans against the reception desk. "You're the chief's daughter, yes?"

"Yeah. Thanks." Mutsumi just walks away, pressing the button to call the elevator. The smell of medicine and bad food in the air, coming from the carts that were being rolled around. Off in one corner, a young girl with a smile on her face as she holds her mother's hand which was frail but the woman herself seemed healthy. Coming out of the elevator, a man in his early adult hood with his head hung low, muttering something about his father as he wipes his eyes. Mutsumi watches stoically, removing her arm sleeves and stuffing them in her bag. "Almost..." She has a faint smile as she stares at her arms, pale and lanky.

"Mutsumi-kun, you're late." His back facing her as he looks into a filing cabinet, Maruo says as his daughter enters. "Remove your makeup."

Getting a towel, Mutsumi vigorously rubs it against her face. Turning paler as the cloth is stained, Mutsumi takes a seat as the doctor starts her evaluation. "Mutsumi-kun, are you adjusting well?"

"Well enough, I suppose."

"I see. Good." The silence was unnerving. It continued on for minutes. "How are you with the tutor?"

"He..." Mutsumi pauses.

"Fuutarou wouldn't do that!"

"Uesugi-san isn't like that!"

"Why? Why do they want him around so badly?" Mutsumi thinks silently, remembering Miku and Yotsuba's emotional faces and words. "...and I haven't exactly talked much. Though he was a little surprised when I arrived." Mutsumi lied. "Well, he seems to be planning something. So I won't play my hand unless I have to."

"That's quite surprising. I can assure that he is capable as a tutor. He managed to get all of your sisters to pass midterms, Uesugi-kun has done more than I expected him to." Maruo coldly says. "He's applying himself to this situation, and he's doing it well."

"I...see" Mutsumi mutters, putting on her arm sleeves and pulling out a small makeup kit. "How am I?"

"According to the reports, you were a lot frailer last month compared to today. You should be able to stop taking your medicine after one more bottle." Maruo fixes some papers on his desk, writing something on a note for Mutsumi. "Even then, I will continue to call you here regularly."

Mutsumi leaves the office, going down the elevator. Walking past the strangers in the hospital, she walks down the street. "I need answers. I wonder who I can ask." She walks past the school, hearing people pant by the side of the gate; an unmistakable ribbon popping up from behind a wall.

"You think you'll have time to study? Your helping of the team might make you fail." Mutsumi waits by the girls' locker room, not wanting to go inside and disturb the team. Yotsuba is changing inside, her ribbon being handed over to Mutsumi.

"I know Uesugi-san will teach me. So I should be fine." Yotsuba gasps for air as her head pops out of the collar of her vest.

"And if he can't. He's busy studying for himself. I've seen your grades; I don't think you can do it on your own."

"That's mean. But, I'll be fine." Yotsuba tries to reassure her younger sister, but Mutsumi isn't having it.

"Everyone'll be studying on their own time, even...Ichika. If you keep helping out the team, you'll be left behind." She says with a sterner voice, her hands somewhere near her head.

"..."

"Yotsuba?" Mutsumi leans her head in, adorned with Yotsuba's ribbon. "Did I say something?"

"Oh!" The genki jumps in shock. "No. I just remembered something."

"Riiiight? I'll be waiting by the stairs." Mutsumi returns the ribbon as the track captain Eba enters the lockers with an enthusiastic smile.

"Fuck! I got sidetracked." Scratching her arms angrily, Mutsumi remembers what she wanted to talk with her sister about as she leans against the railing.

"Mutsumi!" Speaking of that sister, she calls out with an arm out. Tired from the day's laps, she slings her bag over her shoulder as she approaches Mutsumi. "Itsuki and Nino were watching a movie, let's meet up with them."

"Actually, Yotsuba. Can you tell me more about him?" They begin walking in the beaming sunlight. There was a light breeze that cooled off the tired runner as they walked towards a movie theatre.

"What? Uesugi-san? Why?"

"Just curious. What kind of guy is he?" Mutsumi asks. "Those pages. Does he actually still plan on teaching them even with our bet?" Flashes of earlier that day come back to her. "Do you think he's just in it for the money?"

"Fuuta...Uesugi-san isn't that kind of person. Sure, he probably was at the start, but I think there's something else there now."

"I see...I hope you're right." Clutching the side of her head, the youngest sister starts to think about the tutor. "It can't be right, can it? There's no way he'd keep this up if he wasn't paid, right?" She thinks before biting her lip. "Stop it! You're second guessing yourself! Pull it together and get him fired! He's just..."

"Are you okay?" Yotsuba takes hold of Mutsumi's hand, which has drifted to the front of her face. "You're pale."

"I'm fine, I think. I'll go home without you guys. Can you girls get me a roll of electrical tape?" She lies, adjusting her arm sleeves and putting on the cap she bought. Yotsuba nods, waving Mutsumi away as the sixth starts walking home. "See you later."

"There's no way a girl your age wouldn't be lonely without a mother." Muffled, Fuutarou's voice could barely be heard from the other side of door.

"Ugh, he's here. I wonder who he's talking to." She silently opens the door, setting her bag aside for a moment.

"Don't try to play the role of a grim adult, it's fine for you to just be selfish like a brat."

"I hope it's not...her. She doesn't stop at selfish." Mutsumi slowly bends down to take off her shoes.

"Fuutarou. Go out with me." Miku's voice comes through. She sounded serious.

"What?"

"Go out with me? What are you saying? That's not right, is it?" Fuutarou replied, his voice intense. "Marry me."

"Alright what the fuuu-ahhh hello little girl." Mutsumi rushes around the corner, catching herself at the sight of the child. "What were you doing?"

"We're playing house. I just got married to Miku." With Fuutarou's words, Mutsumi shifts her eyes to the third sister who was harboring a look of disappointment. Ichika leaned over Miku, the two conversing in whispers while the child plays with Fuutarou.

"I...see. So who are you playing?"

"He's playing my papa."

"Your papa? But he just got married. Where's your mama?"

"Mama left with the man she had an affair with." There was a silence after the young girl's statement.

"I-Is that still pretend?" Mutsumi asks her sisters, who don't reply. "Okay then. What's your name?"

"Kiku."

"Well, Kiku-chan." Mutsumi pulls a chair to her and sits down on it. "How do you feel about your mama?"

"I hate her."

"Why?" Mutsumi asks, a small smile on her face.

"Because she left, and then papa had a rough time."

"Well, Kiku-chan. Not everyone in this world is a nice person." Mutsumi glares at Fuutarou. "Some people will just take and take, taking until you have nothing else to give them. You know what they do after that? When you become unnecessary to them."

Kiku's fist clenches and shakes. She looks up at Mutsumi, eyes filled with anger and tears. "They leave. Like mama."

"Right. That's why yo-"

"But, that doesn't mean you have to act all serious." Fuutarou bends down to be level with Kiku. "Because you can always start again. You can be necessary to someone else, someone that will thank you. So you shouldn't be cold to others." Fuutarou looks to Mutsumi with a small smile. "So you should stop acting like you don't need other people. Sure, being with family is fine, but wouldn't you also like having some friends?"

"How ironic, coming from the person who ate lunch all alone." Itsuki says as the other sextuplets get home. Yotsuba tosses a small black cylinder towards Mutsumi.

"Thanks." Mutsumi says before going up the stairs. "Kiku-chan, remember..." She opens her door. "They take and they take and they take, 'til they take everything from you."

With a click, her door locks and leaves her isolated from everyone else. "Kiku-chan. Don't listen to her. She's just...overly suspicious." Ichika huffs, something finally snapping in her head. "She's just...rude."

"Uesugi-kun. We're going to be reviewing tomorrow, right?" Itsuki asks, making Fuutarou remember something.

"Right. I'll be going now. I still have to make the reviewers." He says his farewell and picks up his things on his way out.

Meanwhile, Mutsumi quickly turns on a small set of speakers and plays a song she got into in her time overseas. Mumbling the lyrics that she's come to know by heart, she pulls out a box of supplies and gets set up on her desk.

"...Don't know where it goes, but it's home to me and I...hmmm hmmm hmm..." She pulls out a small cord and sets her phone down to get solder and her iron. She looks at the tape they bought for her, finding wire that was as similar in hue to it. "Tracker number 2, coming up." She thinks as she reaches into a drawer for a pair of goggles. It takes her twenty minutes to complete wiring it all to a small chip, and an additional ten to copy the code over and set it to have a unique tracer on her phone app.

"You like locking yourself away, don't you?" Ichika asks as Mutsumi finally leaves her room. "Do you really hate me that much?" Her voice sinister and cold, much like the one Mutsumi uses when talking to her.

"If I do? There's nothing you can really do about it, isn't there?" Staring her down, Mutsumi walks to behind her seat. "Where are the others?"

"My manager rang up to get Kiku back home. They didn't want to leave her side." Ichika leans her head back to finally look at Mutsumi, her lips curled in anger. "We're just sick of people leaving us too soon, you know."

"Then you should worry about Fuutarou-kun, 'cause I'm not leaving."

"How can I be sure? After all, that plane came as a shock to us but you seemed eager to get us out of your sight."

"No. Just you." Mutsumi took steps towards Ichika as the door opened. "Watch your back, snake."

"Deserter." Ichika replies as they both put on smiles as their sisters reenter the room.

A/N: Alright, 7 goodbyes is coming up. Gonna split that up based on story points I think would make good end points per chapter. Also, looks like the current arc ends with 98; expect an update to the first version soon after 99. I want to wait for confirmation of the arc's end before doing anything.

Sorry for not updating in a while, school finally started eating my time up.