"Long time no see." She said, hiding her face beneath the hat. The light cast a shadow that hid her eyes to him. "Uesugi Fuutarou-kun." She looked down at him sitting down on a step. His face met hers, looking at her quizzically. "That look." She put her hands behind her as she bent down to be level with him. "Do you remember me?" She asked.

"You...you're...hmm...I." Fuutarou looked puzzled. "Yeah. Long time no see indeed. I'm sorry, but I have something I have to do. I'll be seeing you around." He stood up, slowly turning to walk away from her.

"So you don't." She stood up straight again. "That's strange...I tried my best to look like just like I did at the time..." She held her hair, twirling it in her hands. Fuutarou turned around to face her again, this time looking at her to analyze her more thoroughly.

"Well, with you hiding your face like that, I wouldn't be able to recognize you even if I did remember." He said, sighing in a somewhat annoyed fashion.

"I have my reasons, Uesugi Fuutarou-kun." Mutsumi replied, adjusting the hat. "Though I am a bit disappointed in you, I can understand why you'd forget me." She turned away. "After all, we only spent one day together...in Kyoto." At the mention of those words, Mutsumi pulled out an old charm from her pocket. Fuutarou gasped, pulling out his handbook and pulling out an old faded photo from within its pages. "Oh, he keeps it in his handbook. That's kinda sweet of him." She thought silently as he compared his photo to her.

"It's you..." He said, muttering the rest under his breath. "The one from 5 years ago." His face went pale as his brain went into overdrive to process the confrontation happening in this moment. "Um. Uh. I'm glad to see you're well." He said awkwardly before bolting away at his top speed. Mutsumi, after coming back from her surprise, tried to run after him.

Fumbling with the heels, she managed a few steps before falling face down to the path. "Ow!" She let out a pained expression as she rubbed her leg, thinking that she'll have a bruise later. She looked up, expecting him to be gaining distance.

"Are you okay?" His voice accompanied the outstretched arm. His handbook tucked loosely in the inside of his sleeve.

"Yeah. Thank you." She said, leaning to one side as she stood up. "Why did you run away?" Still eyeing the handbook, she asked this almost automatically.

"I can't let you meet me yet...actually, nevermind." He said as his brows turned up. "Not like it matters anyway." He sighed.

"Well, my leg still kind of hurts, how about we sit down for a while and catch up." Mutsumi glanced about, her eyes catching a handful of boats tied up nearby. "After you." She gestured with her hands.

"Why do I have to...well, this is my chance I guess." He groaned, but his last statement got Mutsumi curious as the both of them sat inside a boat.

After a few minutes of rowing, Fuutarou stopped their boat in the middle of the lake; his arms had given out. "What's your name?" He asked, catching his breath between pants.

"..." Mutsumi pondered. "I can't tell him it was Yotsuba, that'd be pointless. I guess I have to lie, this time. Him thinking it was one of us would make things even more complicated." She reasoned to herself. "Rena. My name is Rena. It's been five years, hasn't it?"

"Rena? I see..." Fuutarou chuckled. "Even now, you're still..." He started mumbling.

"I've heard about you through the grapevine. Top of your year, and that new look. I'm quite impressed, Uesugi Fuutarou-kun."

"Why are you..."

"I came to meet you for myself. After all, I heard you've become so smart to start teaching."

"I guess it'd be natural for you to know." Fuutarou looked at her, tilting his head to try and catch a glimpse beneath the hat.

"What are your students like?"

"I wonder. Would you find it surprising if I told you that I taught sextuplets?" Fuutarou asked, leaning against his hands as he watched her movements.

"What is he trying to get from me?" Mutsumi smiled as the thought dawned on her. "Sextuplets!? You teach six people? And they're all siblings!" She feigned surprise, trying to hide her smirk.

"It's a one in a million chance, but I'd never imagine that they'd all be causing me trouble." He formed a subdued smile as he reminisced. "They're a bunch of idiots, every single one of them."

"The eldest is a dream-chasing idiot. I keep telling her that she has a snowball's chance in hell, but...well, she has perseverance if nothing else. In any case, she's an idiot."

"The second is a family-loving idiot. Her love for her sisters really is something else. She'll keep snapping at me every time she sees me. At least, that's all I thought she was. Now, I'm unsure. In any case, she's an idiot."

"The third is a low self-esteem idiot. She always had this gloomy, lifeless expression at first. Now she's looking a lot livelier, so that's a relief. In any case, she's an idiot."

"The fourth is a muscle-brained idiot. She was the most motivated when things started off, but she worries me the most. Sometimes, she can be too kind, too willing to help; it's currently giving me a bit of a head ache. And...nevermind. In any case, she's an idiot."

"The fifth is a serious-minded idiot. We have terrible compatibility with each other. But she can really get things done. The way things are however, it's all going to waste. In any case, she's an idiot."

"The youngest is a skeptical-willed idiot. She just recently returned from overseas and we've already started arguing. The most intellectually capable of the sisters, but she seems to like secluding herself especially from the eldest. In any case...she's an idiot." He said, pausing to think something over.

Mutsumi took it all in, weighing the impact of his words; his conviction. "I'm sorry." The thought crossed her mind as she forced herself to scowl at him. "Wow. They're all idiots? Then you must not be a good tutor, huh?" She spat at him. "At this rate, wouldn't it have been better if you hadn't come to be their tutor? If the youngest of them is smart enough, she could teach them. Couldn't she?" She said, yet the words came less naturally this time.

"Perhaps you're right. Two of them hate me anyway..." He stared off, his head facing the direction of Nino's hotel. "After all, compared to you, I haven't done anything about our promise..." He said, his arm reaching for her hat and pulling it off. "Mutsumi."

"What? How did he know?" Mutsumi leaned back in shock. "Mutsumi? Is that one of your students' names?" She tried to mislead him. "He really let us get to him..."

"You aren't fooling me. I've thought that it was you for a while. You must be disappointed in me, huh? I'm still as unnecessary as the day we met in Kyoto." He bowed his head. "I'm sorry. Please..."

"What are you?"

"I leave this to you."

"And if I refuse?" Mutsumi looked down on him as a fountain sprayed water into the air and onto the both of them, causing her makeup to run down.

"Then...I'll try again. Over and over until I get those two back."

"You...you're not leaving them?" Mutsumi smiled. "Row us back."

"Mutsumi?" Fuutarou asked as Mutsumi pulled out her charm.

"They were right about you. You're not like the people I've met before." She said. "So don't give up. Don't abandon them just because I'm here now." Turning her head up, she wiped her face with her hand. "I was wrong about you. You are necessary to them."

Fuutarou looked up after collecting his strength again, seeing Mutsumi's face pale in the areas that her makeup ran off. Mutsumi got out first, extending her hand to help him onto shore before getting his handbook. "I'll fix everyt-"

"We. We'll fix everything." Flipping through the pages, she pulled out the photo. "Let this remind you of this deal; this promise." She showed it to him before pocketing it and handing him his handbook and her charm. "You'll get it back once things have settled down."

"Alright." He returned her hat.

"Go see Nino. I'll gave your back. Just let me get something first, I'll meet you." Mutsumi advised him. "See you soon."

Fuutarou walked away as Mutsumi heads for the bushes. "It's done Yotsuba."

"That was sneaky of you, trying to use our memories to make him resign." Yotsuba smiled woefully as she got a look of her sister's bare face. "Are you okay?"

"Are you okay, Yotsuba?" Mutsumi reached for her things. "I'm surprised that he thought that I was the one he met." Her hand wiped a bead of water that pooled under Yotsuba's eye

"I'm fine." Yotsuba dismissed it, noticing the shape of Eba from the track team in the distance. "Here." Yotsuba returned the devices that Mutsumi had given her. "What changed your mind?"

"He...He really cares for you guys. He's not like my tutors."

"You're going to see Nino now, right? Good luck." Yotsuba shook her sadness off, smiling wide as she began walking towards Eba.

"Good luck too, Yotsuba." She pulled her sister closer. "I hope he finds out the truth before this lie hurts you."

"Nino." Mutsumi pulled out her phone. "Fuutarou-san is heading to the hotel. Keep him busy, I'm on my way."

"Again!? Why is he so persistent?"

"This time is...different. I only caught the tail end of it, but it seemed like he was talking to someone." She said before hanging up. She began walking, using shortcuts to catch up to him before they reach the hotel. "Hey, before we go in there, do you have a plan?"

"Why would we need a plan?" Fuutarou turned to face her, regaining some of his energy.

"Nino hates your guts. It's unlikely that she'll listen to you, if you don't get kicked out by security." Changing into a pair of sandals, Mutsumi began to think. "There's also the fact that she thinks that I'm still trying to get you fired."

"Perhaps we use her love for you guys...no. That would just make her mad." Fuutarou proposed. "I honestly don't know how to confront her."

"What if...what if instead of us confronting her, make her think that she's confronting us." The gears in their heads suddenly stopped as they reached a plan. "Make her feel like she's the one in control, like you're vulnerable. In other words, make her sympathetic towards you."

"But how? The topic can't be my job, you or your sisters, or her."

"Make it about..." Mutsumi paused. "Kyoto." Looking at him as he nodded. "Make it seem like 'the girl from your past' was disappointed in you, that you just wanted to live up to her expectations. Look dejected, destroyed. Like your whole reason for living is gone."

"How do I do that?"

"You did it just fine while we were in that boat."

"That...that might work." Fuutarou grinned. "Let's go."

"Ugh. You again!?" A security guard said as Fuutarou stumbled in, looking dispirited and leaning against a pillar of the hotel. Mutsumi watched, hiding under the hat while keeping a hand near her ear. "How many times are you going to come here? You're not a guest, please leave.

"Here comes Nino. Good luck Fuutarou-san." Nino grimaced as she arrives back at the hotel from somewhere. She began stomping towards him, but stopped once he noticed the guards surrounding him. "Alright, she's watching. Now get her curious." She whispered. Fuutarou turned his head to face Nino, his eyes as devoid of life as they were on the boat.

Nino stepped closer, taking a closer look at him before stopping the guards. "The other guests are getting creeped out. You've come here over and over, you look like a stalker." She said, putting a hand on her hip. "Get in my room."

The two of them walked towards the elevator, Fuutarou a few steps behind her. "Nice plan." His voice come through her ear piece.

"It's not over yet." Mutsumi smirked.

A/N: Finally done with this one