"Your grandfather?" Fuutarou muttered, grumbling as he crossed his arms in deep thought. There was a knock on the door, which Mutsumi answered; some morning tea brought by some staff member. "How is he able to tell you apart."

"Lo-"

"We get it! Repeating it without explaining it won't help." Mutsumi lamented, setting down the tea and pouring a cup for everyone. "This is so stupid! Why even bother with disguises anyway!?"

"Right. You didn't see it." Itsuki spoke, stopping the two's incoherent complaining with their own curiosity. "The last time we came here with you was before mom died, do you remember it?" She asked, getting a nod from her sister. "That was when Yotsuba decided to start wearing her ribbon."

"Oh yeah. And you put a pair of starfi-"

"Yes. After that, you left and we started changing little by little. By the time grandpa saw us next, we were quite similar to how we are now; no longer completely identical." She said grimly. "He looked at us, and collapsed, thinking that we were on bad terms. Luckily, father was with us to give first aid. But ever since then, we decided to keep up the image of being the same for his sake; we decided to dress as myself for as long as we are here."

"He collapsed, just from that?" Fuutarou muttered. "But it was nice of you to do that for that scary old ma- Hey!" His hand quickly gravitated to his shoulder, rubbing it up and down as Mutsumi shook her hand.

"Don't say that about grandpa." She glared at him. "He's a nice guy, you just have to get to know him." Her hand returned to her cup, sipping the hot beverage slowly as another knock came to the door. Mutsumi got up to greet her visitor. "Speak of the devil. Good morning gramps." The elderly man glanced inside the room, looking puzzled as his gaze passed over Fuutarou. He mumbled something to Mutsumi before continuing down the hall. "It's around breakfast time, isn't it." Mutsumi said, hearing the fifth sister scramble to her feet and run up to her.

"Let us go." Itsuki demanded, the two sisters following their grandfather.

"If he can identify them..." Fuutarou muttered, walking out of the room and joining his own family before they met up at the main hall.

"How's it going Fuutarou?" Isanari asked, looking at his son who had a distant look on his face. It wasn't unusual for Fuutarou to look like that, especially when tackling a problem, but he kept sending looks to a particular table off in the corner of the room. "Not great, I assume." The father followed his sightlines, finding himself gazing at Maruo, Ebata, and the sextuplets' grandfather.

"Some things came up." Fuutarou spoke as one of the five redheads entered the room, followed by a blonde haired girl; the latter joined their table. "How's it going?" Turning to Mutsumi, finding her face in the same discomfort as his own.

"It's a hunch. I keep getting feelings that it might be one of them, but they're not giving any concrete evidence to cement their identity." Mutsumi scratched her head, hearing footsteps approaching the door.

"Uesugi. Good morning." Maruo gave them all a greeting, turning his attention to his daughter. Joined by the two others, who took the empty space next to Raiha. The doctor took post at the end of the table as the old man took the conversation.

"Mutsumi. What is going on?" Her grandfather asked, leaning forward over his food and looking at his daughter with as worried an expression as his wrinkled face could make. "Is there anything I can do to help?"

"..." Mutsumi stared in silence, thinking while glancing at the table where her sisters sat. "I..."

"Master, teach me." Fuutarou's forehead met with the wooden table, his hands clasped together as he voiced his request. "I...I want to learn how to do it. To tell them apart."

The old man looked down on him, Mutsumi stared in shock, Maruo stared in slight disgust as Ebata gained a small smile. He was still, his body unmoving as seconds passed in silence. "All you need to tell them apart is love." He said in a hoarse and strained tone, gesturing to Itsuki who was practicing her Itsuki impression. "Who do you think she is?" He asked. Fuutarou and Mutsumi paused, staring at the girl who noticed and waved at them by flailing her arm in a wide arc over her head.

"Ichika?" Fuutarou answered scratching the back of his head in uneasiness.

"Yotsuba?" Mutsumi was slightly more confident in her answer, yet her fingers still weaved themselves together while she second-guessed herself. "Or maybe it's Miku..."

"That's Yotsuba-san right?" Raiha piped up, making the old one smile as he nodded to the child, moving a plate of fish closer to her side of the table as a small reward.

"Correct. I will help you, boy..." Grandpa smiled, as another Itsuki entered the room, going to get a mountain of food. "After we eat." He added, starting on his own small pile of food.

"So this is where Itsuki gets her appetite..." Fuutarou thought, eating some rice as the rest of the redhead brigade filed in one after another. Breakfast ended, everyone going about their own business. Fuutarou met up with gramps soon after getting changed into something more comfortable.

"Shall we go fishing?" The old man asked, going into a room and pulling out a few fishing rods.

"What's the secret?" Fuutarou asked, breaking the calm crashing sounds of the waves with his voice. The two sat on the docks, their lines in the water waiting for a bite. Beside them was a small cooler filled halfway with fish and ice. "How can you tell them apart to easily?" He asked, but gramps' attention was taken by a tug on his fishing rod. Fuutarou came to his side, seeing the ripples in the water get bigger and bigger; the fish was feisty and putting up a fight.

The two tugged, sending the creature flying through the air and onto the ground; flopping like a fish out of water, fittingly. "Nice catch. It's huge." Mutsumi said, walking up behind them and picking it up by the fishing line. "How's training going?" She asked, Fuutarou rubbing his arms from the sudden surge of work put on them.

"He hasn't told me anything yet. It's just been the same thing over and over again. What is love anyway, it's too vague." He sighed, casting his line once more. At his words, gramps sighed.

"Time." He said, getting both teens' attention. "Devoting time to know their little quirks, their voices, their habits; would you not call that devotion love?" He said, pointing over to the nearby beach. A few of the sisters gathered there, playing in the water. "Here is another test. Two are missing, who are they?" The two teens observed the three sextuplets present.

"The one on the left seems to be looking our way a lot." Mutsumi said. "Her posture is slumped over and defensive. My guess would be Miku."

"Now that you mention it, she was always the one with the least confidence. By that logic, the one with the goofy smile would be Yotsuba, right?" Fuutarou pointed at the one to the right.

"And the last one...her hair just began moving on its own. There's no way a wig's cowlick could do that, so it has to be the real Itsuki, right?" She smiled, the three sisters noticing them and walking up the beach to a set of stairs to meet them. Her grandfather nodded as Ichika and Nino walked towards them from the other side.

"Hello, Mizuna-san." Itsuki spoke as they met up. Yotsuba glanced at the cooler, finding fish of all sorts covered in ice cubes. Miku glanced at Mutsumi, who just waved back with a smile.

"Fuu-kun. I think your student is a bit jealous." She teased, gripping onto Fuutarou's arm as Miku and Nino both glared at her. "Now now, Miku-san. I'm just kidding." She laughed as Ichika and Nino finally caught up. Nino glanced around, gazing at Fuutarou before her face contorted in thought. Ichika looked at her, worried yet relieved at the same time. The girls talked, topics bouncing around the place as the group slowly walked back to the inside of the bus they rode to the beach and left the old man and Fuutarou to pack up the fishing equipment.

"Rena...you're watching over them even know. Perhaps, then, it was you that made this encounter happen, to bring them all together at last." He muttered, staring off at the sky. A gentle breeze blew through his clothes. And with that, the two boys entered the bus, driving back to the inn and parting once more, arriving near sunset.

"Uesugi-kun. It's Itsuki. Can we talk for a moment?" She said, knocking on his door.

"Demiglace." He spoke, just peeking his eye through a tiny gap he made in the doorway.

"We're still doing this? Hamburg steak." Itsuki sighed, the door sliding open as the words entered Uesugi's ear. "Mutsumi seemed well earlier. At least, from what I can see."

"I would have to agree. She seemed worried while we ate breakfast, but she was back to her usual self." He muttered. "But I wish I could say the same for me. Your impostor, the fake from last night."

"I see. Then perhaps we should search for her." Itsuki suggested, clapping her hands together. "There are still a few hours of sunlight left today. Let us go by process of elimination. Is there anything that would identify her?"

"Well, she...she has a bruise on her leg now." He muttered, walking out into the hallway, meeting with two other Itsukis approaching his room. The one on the left seemed conflicted at the sight of him, something weighing on her shoulders. She quickly straightened up, now standing with more confidence as if her worries were just an act. The second had posture similar to Miku, yet her eyes became laser focused on Fuutarou the moment he caught her eye, a small proud smile came to her face along with a little blush. "Hi Ichika, Miku." He said, looking down at the floor, at their legs; finding them walking normally and without impairment.

"Fuutarou-kun. Well done." Ichika teased as the four continued down the hallway. "You finally did it."

"I knew you'd be able to do it!" Miku smiled, whispering to herself.

"Where's Yotsuba, by the way?" Fuutarou asked, the group passing the sextuplets' room and finding Nino preparing something in her bag.

"Mutsumi's talking with her in her room." Miku said. "Did you really have to disguise her?"

"Hypocrite." Fuutarou wanted to say, but he was interrupted by a blur of blonde and white followed by red.

"Mutsumi! Come back!" Yotsuba yelled as she dashed after her disguised sister. Fuutarou and company broke into a sprint, chasing after the fourth sister and catching up as a fork in the hallway.

"What happened? Where is she?" Nino turned to Yotsuba, who began sniffing the air, picking up the scent of perfume from down one hall.

"There!" Yotsuba pointed as the group walked on, finding a dead end and a broken glass vial.

"That's playing dirty." Miku muttered, turning around and finding her sister running down the hallway they just came from. "Over here!" She ran ahead, keeping the lead in the chase for two seconds before Yotsuba quickly overtook her. Amidst the stomping and surprised gasps from everyone in the hallway, was a loud thud.

"Mutsumi!" Yotsuba slid down on her knees, stopping next to her sister's bloody body that lied down on the floor at the base of a set of stairs.

"What happened?" Fuutarou asked as the fourth sister looked around as more people began gathering.