Fuutarou woke up the next day, his phone showing three notifications as it lit up his hand. He hurriedly got ready, adding a long sleeved sweater to his usual attire. "Miku." He said to the girl waiting at the entrance of the building.
"Sorry for calling you out on a Sunday." The headphone wearing sister replied, taking off the device and pausing her music. Her face was filled with worry, much like Fuutarou's own.
"What are the other five doing? What happened afterwards?"
"Things calmed down after you left, but Mutsumi was stuck like how you saw her for a while. Then the two of them left, Nino and Itsuki I mean. Yotsuba and Mutsumi went to look for them, but only Yotsuba came home." Miku said, looking off into the distance. "I hope they're safe."
"Let's talk inside. It's getting hot." Fuutarou spoke, wiping sweat off of his face that he'd gained in his panicked run over. The two of them entered the house, continuing their conversation.
"So there's only three of you here? Where are the other two?" Asking as he took a seat, he looked around the empty home.
"Ichika has work and Yotsuba's in school to help some people out." A voice said from above them, emerging from the sixth room. "More importantly, you better fix this Fuutarou-san. It's your fault that this happened." They all went silent as Mutsumi stepped out of the room, yawning and rubbing the sleep from her eyes as she rolled down her sleeves. "You have a plan right?"
"Mutsumi? When did you get home?" The two asked.
"Answer me. Do either of you have a plan?" Her voice was firm, strict, straight to her point. The two sat in silence as she roamed down to the kitchen. "I'll take that as a sign that you don't. How disappointing." She glared as she drank something from the fridge. "Get out of my house!"
The two of them headed out, Miku following after Fuutarou got kicked out by the sixth sister. "Mutsumi. You're making this harder than it has to be." Fuutarou says as the sixth sister slams the door in their face.
"Just shut up!" Mutsumi yelled from the other side. "Just go away!"
"Okay then. Miku, let's look for them. Let's not waste time." Fuutarou hung his head, walking up to the elevator and turning his back to the door to the apartment.
"Fuutarou. About you and Mutsumi. Are you worried that you might actually lose your job? She hates your guts." Miku was flustered, her voice shaking.
"Let's not talk about that. Right now, we need to worry about Nino and Itsuki." The doors close as footsteps could be heard heading back inside of the apartment.
"Look for them. Do you think they'll come with you?" Mutsumi chuckles, closing the door behind her. "I'd like to see you try." Changing clothes and hiding her face, she catches up with them soon, finding them near the point of collapse. She keeps her distance, blending in to the crowd.
"I can't go on." Miku cried out. "I didn't want to do this."
Mutsumi and Fuutarou looked at her as she asked a crowd if they saw someone with their face. "Right...we could've done that from the start..." They both let the idea pass over their heads. An old lady gave them directions to Nino's hotel.
"Nino. There's no way she'll listen..." She mutters as she starts moving to the hotel, taking shortcuts and coming up to Nino's room a few minutes before the others.
The night before, Mutsumi read a text on her phone and knocked on a door. "What will it take for you to come back?" Mutsumi asked as she sat on the bed, her sister finishing her tea and fixing her clothes.
"Get him fired. Make him quit. I just want him gone. He's...they're all strangers to me now." Nino looks out the window at the night sky, the moonlight lighting up her face yet casting a shadow on her eyes.
"They'll be looking for you two tomorrow. I overheard Miku asking the others before I left. I'll see what I can do. Stay safe, Nino-nee." Mutsumi sat up, leaving the room with a soft wave of her hands. "I...I'll make his disappear."
Nino's face was shocked when the two of them showed up. "How did you get in?" Mutsumi overheard, standing a inside Nino's hotel room out of view of the others.
Miku wearing a disguise as to not tip the security off to their genetic deception. "They opened the door when I told them I forgot my key."
"What crappy security!" She stomped towards them, grabbing the handle of the door to slam it shut, but Fuutarou stuck his hand in the way.
"Give it up Fuutarou-san. She hates you. I wish there was another way, but unless you know something I don't then-" Mutsumi thought.
"Come on Nino. I thought you loved living with everyone more than anything else. And that you loved your sisters more than everyone else." Fuutarou said.
Mutsumi closed her eyes. Memories began flashing in her head.
"Mutsumi! Come on, let's take a picture!" Itsuki said, putting on her stars as they all rode the boat back from their grandfather's place.
"Does it really matter? There's already five of you. Will losing one make any diff-"
"Of course it matters! Nobody gets left behind!" Nino grabbed her hands, pulling her into frame as their mother held a camera towards them. The picture taken, their mom handed it to Nino, who was the most excited for it. "Let's be like this forever!" She yelled as she put her hand out with the pinky and thumb extended.
"He...knows her...at least a part of her, but why? What does he gain from this? What's his plan?" She thinks as she looks at him trying his best to get Nino back, to which he fails.
"It's your fault everything ended up like this! I wish you had never come!" Nino's words were angry, yes, but they were earnest. Mutsumi mulled on them.
"Well, she's not wrong but..." She stops as Nino's eyes focus on something.
"Hey, give that back!" Nino says as she snatches something from Fuutarou's arm, but Mutsumi can't really see what exactly. "It would be much better if Kintarou was our tutor instead of you. Where is he now? Let me see him." Nino says.
"Kintarou? Great, another one." She groans as Miku looks as confused as she is.
"I...can't do that." Fuutarou says. That was the last thing that caught her attention before she hears Nino calling up security. Defeated, the two of them walk out. Mutsumi follows behind them after waving goodbye to Nino, overhearing their discussion about Itsuki. "She left without her wallet?" He asks as he calls it quits for today, his face showing deep thought. "Where could she be?" He murmurs as he walks home with his head in his hands.
"Fuutarou? Are you feeling okay?" Miku asks, opening a green can.
"I'm just worried. It is Itsuki we're talking about..." His face was melancholic as they reached a crossroads. "She must be starving."
"Fuutarou-san..." Mutsumi watched on as he crossed the street, heading for his house. "Stop with the act. There's no way." Mutsumi says, taking some candy from her bag. "Fuutarou-san...you don't really care about her. This, this is just a farce." She thinks silently as Miku walks past her, not noticing that she just passed her sister. She follows behind Fuutarou, changing into yet another disguise, mostly black and dark blue to help her blend into the night. Much like before, she sneaks into his house after people turn their back towards the door.
"That's the smell of curry, right? Can you put some in a Tupperware?" He asks his sister.
"Huh, why?" The child replies. Mutsumi hid in a nearby room, the intoxicating smell of food seeping through the gaps.
"There's just something worrying me." He says as they walk further into the home.
"He's really worried about her. He's actually worried." She thinks as she overhears him gasp. "Maybe he's...no, but what Nino said..."
"Never mind Raiha. I'm not worried anymore." He says, causing her to become curious. She takes out a mirror from a makeup kit and uses it to spy on him, spotting a familiar ahoge popping out of his silhouette.
"She's here?!" Mutsumi thinks silently as she sneaks around the house. She stays for a few more hours, silently texting Miku that she'll be out late searching. Using unoccupied rooms to hide, she carefully listens in on their conversations. "Though he says it in a rude way, he does seem to care." She says as she makes a note on her phone. She thinks as she hears their voices and footsteps head out of the house.
She trailed them silently, aided by the cloud cover. Overhearing their conversation, she could understand Itsuki's view better, though only slightly. Though he was someone she didn't know, knowing that Itsuki trusted him this much made her view on him lighten slightly, his words trying to convince Itsuki to return aiding that further.
"She's telling him?" Mutsumi added more notes on her phone. "Wait...that's what happened while I was gone...Itsuki..." She thought silently, tapping her phone.
"I'll substitute for your father." He says bluntly. At first there was confusion from both her and Itsuki, but then came Fuutarou's resolve and inspiration. "On the day when I met that girl in Kyoto, I decided to one day become a person who wo9uld be necessary to someone." He looks over to the water. "It is for that reason...that I study. Now, I have a chance to show her how far I've come.
"So, that's why he tries so hard. But what is his end goal? Wait, does he know who it was?" She thinks as she moves in for a closer look, bumping into something and causing the plants to rustle and scare the two off.
"Yotsuba, you were spying too? I'm not surprised though, it was you he was talking about. It also sounds like she's found you out." Mutsumi says as the fourth sextuplet looks at her with a determined look.
"There's no way he could know. Uesugi-san...he should forget about me, I'm tying him down." Those words caused a myriad of ideas to run through Mutsumi.
"She's doing it to set him free, right? But this means so much to him, and she's not even asking if he wants it. If it goes badly, how will it affect him? Yotsuba's betraying his trust, to set him free? Is it a good thing?" She thinks as Fuutarou walks, leaving Itsuki.
The latter half of the sextuplets talk. "I want to make him forget about me. From what I heard from both of you, I just can't live up to his expectations for that girl. If he found out...he'd be crushed. And I can't let myself be the only special one, after all this separates me from everyone else." Yotsuba says as she lays her plan out. "I can't lie, as I've recently found out. So Itsuki-" Mutsumi stands up.
"I'll do it, after all I've been sneaking around all day. He'll have a hard time recognizing me anyway, since he pretty much has all of you memorized." She says. "And, I might be able to convince him to quit. That'll make Nino come back, right?" A frightening grin forms on her face.
That night, Mutsumi tossed and turned in her bed. "Nino said he was worse than this. I haven't seen anything bad from him though. Well, better safe than sorry." She muttered, taking her pills and looking at herself in the mirror. "My skin's getting better." She touched her face, rubbing the sleep from her eye. "Maybe, one day I'll can stop hiding." Stretching her back and downing her medicine, Mutsumi plopped down on her bed.
"Little sis? Mutsumi? Are you awake?" There was a knock on her door, Ichika's voice being heard on the other side. "Can we talk?"
"Ichika-nee? What is it? It's really late." Mutsumi talked loudly, still laying on her bed.
"It's about...us. Why are we fighting like this?" Ichika asks, opening the door a peek.
"It's because of that day in Kyoto. You remember it don't you?" The sixth sister sits up. "I won't let you hurt anyone again."
"But..."
"But right now, I have bigger problems. As much as I hate to ask for your help, this is something we need to work together to get Nino and Itsuki back." Mutsumi walks over to the door, staring her sister in the eye. "So, let's call a truce until they come home."