"Do you think you can copy Yotsuba?" Itsuki asked as their group trailed behind. Mutsumi steeled herself, taking a deep breath to stabilize herself. The youngest sister lagged behind the other two slightly.
"Yeah, I'll be fine. Got the bait for Yotsuba yet?" She asked, leaning against a wall and pretending to look cool; her eyes finding difficulty focusing. The track team stopped for a moment, the captain seeming to look for something.
"Yeah, get ready. Itsuki, scream as loud as you can." Fuutarou took a deep breath, waiting for Itsuki to belt out...anything. Itsuki looked towards him, confused. Mutsumi, growing impatient, reached out her hand and pinched her sister's sides; Itsuki yelped and recoiled as she flailed. "MOLEEESTEEERR! THERE'S A MOLESTER ON THE LOOSE!" He yelled, taking off running away from the two sisters.
"That idiot." Mutsumi smirked as Yotsuba chased after the molester and ran out of sight. This was it, now or never. She closed her eyes, trying to visualize her sister; how she talks, walks, and breathes. She needed to mimic it perfectly for this to work. "Wait." Mutsumi saw the image of her sister, her eyes sinking as she focused. Subconsciously, she adjusted her hair, trying to mimic Yotsuba's style. "That was close."
"Good luck." Itsuki said as Mutsumi walked energetically to the track team.
As she stepped closer, Mutsumi zoned out and blocked out everything else, Yotsuba being the only thoughts running through her mind. "Mutsumi! Are you not going to join?" Maybe it was because of Yotsuba, or perhaps because she was in a track suit. Either way, the black abyss of her concentrated mind gave way to a sunny sky on a windy day. Her body felt stronger, more durable and flexible.
"No. I think I'll sit this one out. Coach said he only needed five, after all." Mutsumi plucked a handful of flowers nearby, weaving them slowly. "Hand me the wallet, you might lose it Yotsuba." Holding out her hand, she felt the money in her hands. "Good luck." She watched from the sidelines, her sisters weaving around the other team too easily for this to be a challenge. Ichika managed to steal the ball from the other team, Yotsuba scored the goal. "That's right." Mutsumi's older mind thought as her younger body moved to join her sisters after the game. "I've always been watching, supporting from the background." Her younger self returned the wallet, suggesting flowers for their shopping list. "But, this time, I'm going to do something!" Mutsumi watched as her younger self pulled out a flower crown.
Getting out of her own mind, her gaze met with the track captain. "I couldn't catch him." She said, slightly morose but still with Yotsuba's energy.
"Well, the police will find him. You surprised me when you ran off like that, but you gave me an idea." Eba smiled, her eyes trained on Mutsumi. "Let's start training now by jogging to the station." The air suddenly felt heavy for Mutsumi.
"Come on, you can do this." She psyched herself up, pumping her fist. "Just tell her on the way." They began, their pace already giving Mutsumi a hard time. "Eba-san..." Her breaths were shallow. "I, hey wait." Her head started to spin. She sped up for a while, catching up to Eba just as a surge of pain coursed through her bruised leg. "I...I think I shouldn't go to the training camp." She capitalized on the unfortunate turn of events just as her head leaned against the captain.
"Of course you shouldn't. Look at you." Mutsumi smirked, hiding her enjoyment by panting for air. "After all, you aren't our Nakano-san." Those words from Eba made the redhead's eyes go wide.
"What're you talking about? I'm Yotsuba Nakano. Look at my hair and ribbon." Mutsumi tried to get out of this trap.
"You do look similar, but Nakano-san has more stamina than this." Eba let go as Mutsumi pushed herself back on to her feet, leaning to one side due to the pain. "And she isn't this pale."
"What?" She touched her face, her makeup coming off and sticking to her fingers. "Shit."
"I heard Nakano-san is a quintuplet. No, wait it's sextuplet now, right?" Eba walked back to the team. "She would never say something like that, so you must be one of her sisters."
"Crap, what am I going to do now? Yotsuba'll go to that camp at this rate, even if she doesn't want to." She bit her lip, still woozy and weak to the point of numbness in her limbs. "Think, think." She pushed her brain like she pushed her body, trying to find an out; any way to get to their goal; it was too far. Lacking oxygen and overwhelmed, Mutsumi teetered and fell, bracing herself to hit the ground.
"Woah! Mutsumi. Pull yourself together."
"Yotsuba?" Her vision hazy, she felt her body being supported before being sat down. She watched as her sister approached Eba. "No...Yotsuba. Don't go to the camp." She reached out her hand, leaning forward a bit too far and causing her to fall face down on the ground.
"Mutsumi." Her sister turned around, the clicking of her heels against the floor causing her ears to ring in pain. "I won't. It's true that I want to quit." Yotsuba's words gave everyone a shock. She walked up to Eba's face, her tone changing as she spoke.
"Y-Yotsuba?" Mutsumi pushed herself back up, getting supported by her sister after her talk. "I never knew that you had this side of you."
"I'm glad you got Miku out there in time." Fuutarou's voice got her attention. "Thanks Ichika."
"Oh, right...even I got fooled. Miku can be scary." Mutsumi thought as she smiled.
"But, I didn't do anything." Miku said, walking out from behind Ichika.
"Wait. Itsu, Yo, Ichi, Mi, Mut…" Counting on his fingers, the tutor looked confused. "Then that means."
"N-Nino?" Mutsumi turned, seeing her sister take off her ribbon only to tie two into her hair.
"Are you okay?" Nino asked, a concerned look on her face.
"Yeah. You can let go now." Mutsumi leaned against a railing.
"Looks like we have a lot to talk about." Ichika looked around. Yotsuba left, wanting to talk to the captain for real. Ichika helped Mutsumi get back upright as they, along with Fuutarou and Miku, left Itsuki and Nino to their own devices. What those two talked about will remain with them.
"Do you have a plan for the exams, now that everything is over." Mutsumi asked, buying a bottle of water to help her recuperate. The four of them sat down, being joined by Yotsuba then Itsuki and Nino.
"I have an ace up my sleeve." Fuutarou sounded confident, puffing his chest slightly as they made their way to the apartment building.
"Well, I'm glad that everything is fixed now." Mutsumi, regaining her strength, stretched and held the door as Nino and Itsuki walked into their home. "So, before we start studying, I'm sure you want an explainatio-" She said as her phone rang. She looked at the caller ID, having no choice but to answer the call.
"Mutsumi-kun, come to my office tomorrow. We have a lot to discuss." Maruo's voice sounded off as Mutsumi walked off into the hallway.
"Tomorrow? Isn't my checkup the day after?" Mutsumi said, realizing something to do with the calendar. "Ah, it's the same day as the exams."
"Precisely. I spoke with the school's director, you'll take the exams in my office. I need to do a more thorough analysis of you, so you will not be able to go to school on the day of the exams." Maruo said, his position and power actually sending a chill up his daughter's spine.
"Shit, dad. Is this really necessary?" Mutsumi thought, slightly embarrassed. "Alright, I understand. Is there anything else?"
"Nothing. I expect that you six are studying." Maruo said ominously before hanging up.
"Well, there's no point in telling him, now that it's over." Mutsumi thought, swinging the door open just enough for her head to fit through. "Ichika, Fuutarou-san! Can you two come out here for a minute?" She yelled, reaching her arm out into their view.
"Is something wrong?" Fuutarou asked. "Did dad put another quota?"
"Don't call him dad, it's gross." Mutsumi jested, pulling something out of her pockets. "I wanted to give these to you two, but things got messy outside." She held out three boxes, each the size of her palm. "I asked Miku for some help with these, I hope you like them." She pressed down on two with her thumbs, creating small holograms of a hippo and a gorilla.
"What's the occasion?"
"I want to apologize, okay. Get off my back." She said, crossing her arms. "I've been horrible to the both of you since I got back. I'm not heartless enough to not feel guilty about it." Walking back to her sisters, she turned to the two. "Let's study."
"Let's see where everyone stands." Fuutarou stacked all of their worksheets on the table. He and Mutsumi quickly read through their work as Nino fixes up some rice balls.
"Is this enough to pass the exams though?" Miku asked, taking a bite of food.
"Maybe we leveled up enough." Ichika joked, sipping some water.
"Probably not. We're going to have to double down on studying this week." Mutsumi grit her teeth. "If we're using the video game analogy, then you'd be around a third of the way to your max levels by now."
"You said you had an ace up your sleeve, right Fuutarou?" Miku turned, all eyes aimed at their tutor.
"What I have is an item that makes even under-leveled characters last against end game bosses." He grinned, nervously holding out a roll of paper. "A cheat sheet."
"I didn't think you'd resort to such a thing." Itsuki said, shocked to the point of dropping her rice ball onto a plate.
"There's no point in getting good grades if we have to rely on something like that!" Yotsuba argued.
"We'll use that as a failsafe. Now, we study like our lived depend on it." Mutsumi took charge, leading the group back to the problem sets. "Nino, care to join us?"
Their eyes turned to the second sister, who looked around at everyone. "Yeah. I'm in." They began studying, wracking their brains as Mutsumi guided their thoughts down the right paths. Fuutarou took a few steps back, slightly stunned and with a look of contemplation.
"What's on his mind?" Mutsumi thought, glancing at the boy before going back to the notes.
"Isn't this great, Fuutarou?" Miku made their tutor smile. They went back to work until sundown, Itsuki and Nino going out to get their things back. Mutsumi stayed up with the others.
"Alright, so. The disease makes me physically weak, pale, and drains my stamina like hell." She said, sipping a glass of water. "But I'll be fine."
"Well, is it getting any better?" Yotsuba asked, cleaning up the floor.
"Yeah. I still have to take medication for it though."
"Well, if it's not dangerous anymore." Miku chimed in, sipping some tea. "Then there's nothing to worry about. We should think about how we're going to study tomorrow."
"About that...I have something to do." Mutsumi said, walking up to her room. "Good luck, make sure you guys listen to Fuutarou-san." She gave them one last smile before retiring into her room. "Well, I've got to focus." She thought, closing her eyes and letting sleep take her.
A/N: Seemed a bit off pace, since 46- the first half of 48 featured a lot of 1 on 1 scenes that Mutsumi wasn't a part of. Tried my best to make it cohesive. Any comments?