Mutsumi awoke the next day before dawn. Dressed in a shirt and a pair of boxers that she slept in, the chill crept up and across her body. She walked over to her dresser, pulling out a pair of cargo pants and a tank top, putting them on and stretching for five minutes to breathe in them. Looking over her collection of jackets, she decided to go with a beige trench coat over her normal hoodie. She hmm'd and haa'd for a few more moments, holding onto the hats she bought pondering whether to wear the cap or the fedora. "They should still be sleeping, so I guess I should go now." She murmured, putting on the fedora and silently heading out without a word.

Winter had arrived, though Mutsumi didn't feel any different; to her every day was cold unless she was working on her gadgets. She opened and closed her hands, getting the blood pumping through her veins. Returning to the workplace of her father. Now more quiet, as there were less visitors at this early hour, but the air of unnerving calm still hang with every step she took.

"Mutsumi-kun." Maruo turned to face her, bags in his eyes as he stood and let her into his office.

"What do you think of him?" The doctor asked her daughter. Mutsumi was currently getting her blood pressure measured, sitting across from the dark haired man.

"Fuutarou-san. He seems reliable enough." Mutsumi thought of her two sisters. "I wouldn't be opposed to him teaching us, if that means anything."

"I'm glad to hear that, however..." Maruo released the air. "I've talked with Takeda-kun, the younger. It appears that he's seen you as a rival."

"And that concerns me...why?"

"The only other one he sees that is Uesugi Fuutarou-kun, the top student." Maruo said, a small smile on his usually cold face that fades as he looks at his daughter. "I'm not a fool. So I ask you, Mutsumi-kun, if you need the tutor."

"Dad...well, I don't need him, per se...but having him catch my few errors is uhm…" She said, quickly thinking of a way for him to not get fired.

"I'm not saying that he will lose his job. After all, even if you are well equipped for academics, your sisters are not. He's shown his proficiency in teaching them, so I'd like to avoid unnecessary hassle." Maruo said as the sun began to rise.

"Alright. Now stand here and...Mutsumi-kun." Maruo sat in his chair, holding onto Mutsumi's leg. "How did you get this bruise?"

"I was...err.." Mutsumi turned red, embarrassment from the memory flooding her cheeks with blood. To say that she wouldn't want to be wearing heels any time soon would be an understatement. "Tripped on a pair of Yotsuba's shoes."

"And I noticed that your heart rate was more...pronounced than last time." Maruo set her leg down. "Have you been exercising?"

"Uhm...I did run with the track team...but I got lightheaded and..."

"I see. Well, take some time to rest. I'll write you up a note so that you may rest during your p.e class."

"Dad...is that really necessary? I..." Mutsumi protested, not wanting to flex her father's power.

"Very well." Maruo talked quietly, his eyes seemed distant as he continued with Mutsumi's exam. Beyond their usual checks, Mutsumi was made to do more extensive activities than usual, Maruo checking for the symptoms of the illness took him the better part of three hours; double and triple checking. "Alright. It's done, so you may go. Also, please take care of your eyes, your vision has deteriorated slightly since the last time." Mutsumi grabbed her things, pulling her coat in tight as she reached for the doorknob.

As her finger touched the metal, an audible ringing escaped from Maruo's pocket. His phone rang, the caller ID read: Itsuki. "Put it on speaker dad."

"It's me. Uesugi Fuutarou." The voice on the phone said, matching it's owner. "We've made it on time, the exams begin in a few minutes. However, I have not seen Mutsumi at all."

"I see. Thank you for the update. As for Mutsumi-kun, please do not concern yourself. I have asked for her to be excused today."

"The six of them have been working hard, her especially."

"Well then, good luck on your exams." Maruo said as Mutsumi took a few steps closer, wanting to speak."

"While we're here, I have a selfish request." Fuutarou said, his voice more serious than before.

Maruo raised a brow, leaning into the phone. "What is it?"

"As of today, I'm stepping down as their tutor." Mutsumi gasped, her thoughts spiraling down familiar avenues. "They worked really hard, they've pretty much spent the whole weekend in front of a desk. But I doubt they'll be able to avoid failing." His breathing was deep, deep enough to be heard through the phone. "I've suggested a certain desperate measure, but I doubt that they'll rely on something like that."

"I don't believe I've set any conditions this time around."

"We've had enough time to avoid failing. But, in spite of that, things turned out this way due to my own incompetence." His voice, though sounding cold and robotic due to the machine, seemed to carry something else. Mutsumi snapped out of her trance, listening to the conversation once more. "Simply teaching them was not sufficient. A tutor who take their feelings into account would be much better. Mutsumi is more than capable of fulfilling this role that I was unable to do."

"Fuu..." Was all she could say. "How could he leave them? I-I thought he would be different..." She muttered as her father continued the conversation. Her eyes darted around the room. "He's just like...them?" Mutsumi pondered, remembering the face he made on the boat. "Is it...because of me?" She put her hands to her face. "What am I doing? What am I going to do?"

"WHY DON'T YOU ACT LIKE A FATHER FOR ONCE, YOU DUMBASS!" And with that, the call ended. Mutsumi was shaken and Maruo was trembling with anger.

"I-I'll be going now..." She turned towards the door.

"I'll leave this to you." Fuutarou's words echoed in her skull, his face from the boat flashing with every blink of her eyes. His eyes sullen, desperate but accepting; like a man who can see the train approaching, knowing that he won't make it to safety in time.

"I...I have to prepare a lesson plan." Mutsumi tightened her grip on her coat, the air colder than it was before. She stepped out into the cold street, walking home as quickly and quietly as she could. She closed the door behind her, her clenched fists shaking and trembling from how tight she made them. She looked at the couch. It was just last night that the seven of them were laughing and talking, even him. "Was all that a lie as well?" Her fingers traced the furniture as she made her way up to her room.

Books, notes, blank paper, laptop that she kept with her luggage; she popped her back as she stretched and flexed backwards before she began working. She flipped through the books, taking note of how they were written in order to arrange Ichika and Nino's guides. For Miku, she made a short essay that had intentional errors; she planned to give it to her and have her find the flaws herself so she could see what was wrong. Yotsuba... "I'll...I'll just take things really slow for her." She muttered, deciding to deal with that monumental task last. All that was left was Itsuki, she pondered just handing over a reference book and answering any of her questions as they came up. "How did he do this!?" She groaned, slamming her head against her desk.

"Him! It's his fault that I'm stuck here doing this!" Without moving her head, she slammed her fists repeatedly into her desk, knocking everything over and rattling what was inside her drawers. "Arghh! What the hell is going on!?" She bolted up, fast enough that her chair fell over as her legs straightened. Pacing back and forth, head in her hands and her mind in chaos. She stopped at her mirror, looking at herself. "You. You're stronger than this." She placed her finger on her reflection. "This isn't new, you've been through this dozens of times before." She shook her head before straightening her cranium with her hands. "Why are you crying? This...this is just like the other times, so stop crying." Her lips trembled, her eyes watered, and her chest heaved with her panting as she pulled herself away from the mirror and plunged herself face down on her bed. Feeling overwhelmed, she asked for some rest. Sleep came to her soon after, aided by the moisture around her eyes.

"Sumi. Oh, you're going away again...I see." A voice called out from the darkness.

"I won't be long." Mutsumi smiled, holding something in her tiny hands that looked familiar.

"But we just ordered a pizza." Another voice said.

"I'll be back, don't worry." She said as she waved her hand in the air, closing the door to the room and leaving the building to go inside a car that was waiting on the street outside. What followed was an hour, maybe two, inside of a hospital room. Ingesting medicine given to her, sitting patiently in a chair as doctors talked in the other room. She twiddled her thumbs, kicking her feet that hung just above the floor. After what seemed like an eternity, she was allowed to go back to the other children.

Mutsumi skipped happily, getting dropped off around the corner and having to walk the rest of the way. She rounded the bend, stopping in her tracks at the sight of her peers walking away, talking amongst themselves as they left her standing and staring.

Time passed by, Mutsumi awoke some few hours before school would be let out for her sisters. She put on her goggles, clearing her desk of study materials and pulling out her tinkering supplies. She didn't know what she was making, she just wanted to make something to take her mind off of everything. She pulled some small LEDs and some paper before tracing her hands. She then took some wire, wrapping it around her wrist and fingers, adding designs on the back of her hand before using that as a template to create a small glove-like light strip. a small board rests in the middle of her hand's back, to be covered by a button or some other thing at a later date. She groaned, gritting her teeth as she put her goggles on the table.

The clock told her that she had a few minutes before she had other people at home. She changed out of the tank top, instead wearing a thick shirt along with a black scarf that matched her arm sleeves that passed her wrists and stopped just beyond her thumb. Out of her cargos and into a pair of jeans, the bottoms of which lay over her high top sneakers. She had somewhere in mind that she wanted to be. Walking, step after step, her head getting heated with each passing second as her brows furrowed. She arrived, then waited. Minute after minute, she waited as for the first time in a long while, her body felt something more than weak and cold. "Mutsumi? What are you doi-"

Fuutarou stood, his head facing his shoulder as his cheek began to turn red. Though, his blushing pales in comparison to Mutsumi's own. The girl stood in front of him, her arm outstretched and open as it hang in the air. "I trusted you!" Mutsumi screamed, garnering the attention of the few people that were passing by the street. "How could you!? You just up and left us! They trusted you, are you really going to throw that away?" She grabbed his shirt with her other hand, furiously pulling him closer. "You betrayed them, betrayed us! Betrayed my trust..." Her voice softened as her grip loosened and she began to walk away. "I thought you'd be different."