Ichika sat in their bathtub, staring at her phone as she let her body soak in the silence of the room. Thinking of what she did to Fuutarou, she sighed. She sent a few texts to her sisters, trying to persuade them away from buying the tutor a gift for his birthday. "Ichika-nee, that's very hypocritical of you, isn't it?" A voice called out to her from the other side of the bathroom door.
"Mutsumi-chan, what do you mean?" The eldest sister jostled a bit in the tub, surprised at the sudden sound that came from the youngest of them.
"Don't play dumb with me, Onee-chan." Raising her voice slightly, Mutsumi jiggled the handle of the door in an attempt to get in. "Right after we talked about how he should focus on his studies, you go and tell him that while disguised as Miku."
"Oh, so you heard that?" Ichika got out of the water, wrapping herself in a towel and drying off her body. "And what exactly are you going to do about it? Tell him and keep him distracted?" She opened the door, meeting Mutsumi's scornful gaze with a smirk.
"I...you..." Mutsumi grit her teeth, acknowledging the fact that her sister presented her. Ichika knew how high Fuutarou's score was on Mutsumi's list of priorities, leveraging that to keep the genius in check. "Stop this." Mutsumi had no choice but to let this one slide. Every avenue that her mind walked down ended with too big of a risk, so she was wrapped around Ichika's finger for the moment; it didn't help that she wasn't in perfect health due to having to study for said exams.
"I've had enough of you girls leaving me behind." The eldest walked past her, heading for her things to get dressed. "I'm not going to let you do what you want while I watch helplessly." Her footfalls echoed with the dripping of whatever water didn't get wiped up by the towel. All Mutsumi did was stand there, staring at Ichika's back with her baggy eyes. The youngest cleared her throat, coughing into her hand before getting her things ready to teach her sisters.
"Mutsumi? Hey...wake up." Yotsuba leaned over the table in their school library, placing her hand on the sixth sister as she gently rocked the smartest sextuplet. The youngest had fallen asleep, some drool leaking from her mouth and soaking her sleeve. Mutsumi's notebook was still in her hand, shut around her thumb that kept it open on a page of the answers of the worksheet the sisters were reviewing.
"I'm getting worried about her." Miku, leaning in slightly to stretch Mutsumi's cheek; even with that, the girl still slumbered. "She's hot..."
"Well, Itsuki's out running an errand. Maybe we could ask her to get some medicine." Ichika gently rubbed up and down the youngest's back, unintentionally causing the poor girl to groan as the continued movement made her uncomfortable. Yotsuba stood up, walking over to give Mutsumi a massage. "Hand me your worksheets. I'll keep them together until Mutsumi-chan wakes up. The three of them stacked their papers, glancing around the room now that they were done with their studying. At least until Mutsumi woke up and gave them something else to work on. As they scanned the library, the elder sisters noticed a familiar black-haired figure walk into a wall since he had his eyes glued to a book.
"Fuutarou..." Miku whispered to herself, standing up and heading for him. "Fuutarou...about..." The third sister called out to him, getting him to stop walking right before he bumped into another wall.
"Oh, Miku. About..."
"The day after tomorrow..."
"Yesterday...huh? What about it?" The two spoke at the same time, Fuutarou shutting the book to give the third sister his undivided attention. His eyes, much like Mutsumi's, were surrounded by bags and were about to go a slight shade of red from how much he's been using them.
"No, you go first." Miku lowered her head slightly as the sound of footsteps faintly approached them.
"Alright. So, I..."
"What are you two chatting about by yourselves?" Ichika smiled, smiling innocently. Fuutarou turned his head, eyes widening slightly as Ichika tilted her head curiously.
"N-Nothing. I'll see you at the next tutoring session." Fuutarou quickly excused himself from the conversation, opening up the book to a page near the end.
"I wonder if he's alright." Miku asked, concerned for his health. "Him and Mutsumi, aren't they pushing themselves a bit too hard?"
"Mutsumi: I'm not sure. But it looks like he's doing fine." Ichika stared at him. "All we can do is lighten their load by studying as hard as we can, right? I really think we can put the birthday stuff on hold." Ichika smiled, trying to force it away from turning into a smirk. Miku nodded slowly in apprehensive agreement as Ichika took a few steps towards the door. Just as she reached the doorknob, one of the sisters that were absent during their study session suddenly made her presence known.
"Ah. I couldn't decide on what to get him so I ended up being late." Nino muttered to herself, smiling wide in a near-euphoric state. Entering the room while clutching a box wrapped up in colored paper and ribbons, the second sister looked at Ichika.
"What's that?" The eldest asked, eyes widening at the realization that her plan didn't work on Nino. Nino looked over at the box, her smile shrinking slightly.
"Oh, this? These are scented candles that help soothe exhaustion. It's his birthday, after all." Her arms tightened around her gift. "Ah. That was supposed to be a secret."
"Did you see my message from yesterday?" Ichika asked, a small bead of sweat forming on her forehead due to the stress Nino caused her.
"Oh, that? I really wanted to give him a gift, so I couldn't help it..." Nino muttered as she thought about the message. "Wait...does that mean that I'm going to be the only one to give him a present? Fufufu...it'll be remarkably effective then." Her intentions clear, Nino began smirking. "But...well, you got him something too, didn't you?" Ichika grumbled, reluctantly pulling out a small envelope that was clearly meant for Fuutarou's birthday.
"I knew it. Ever since We talked in the sauna at grandpa's place, you've been getting in my way more and more. Care to tell me why?" Nino sneered at her sole elder sister, already having an inkling on her stance in all this.
"We all have our own preferences, even though we're sextuplets, right?" Ichika asked, crossing her arms.
"Yeah. It's what makes cooking for you girls such a pain." Nino smiled, jokingly remembering how her daily routine starts in the kitchen.
"Nino, do you like Fuutarou-kun?"
"I love him."
"So do I," Ichika said before she sighed. "Why does this have to be the one time we like the same thing? Sorry, Nino, but I don't have any intention of letting anyone else have him."
"Looking down on me just because you happened to be a few seconds older." The air felt electrified, adrenaline buzzing through both of their bodies as an impromptu staring contest began.
"Scented candles? You do know that he's a boy, right?"
"Like your little gift card is any better."
"It's perfectly fine. He gets anything he chooses." The two continued their taunting as they made their way to the table where the others were. Yotsuba had managed to wake Mutsumi up, but the sixth sister was still hunched over and nodding off.
"Mutsumi...you really should take a break." The fourth sister said, holding Mutsumi up as the platinum-haired girl coughed while scratching her throat. "Come on, let's go home..."
"No...we have to keep going." Mutsumi placed her head in her palm, her eyelids half-open as she struggled to stay awake. "Also...what's that? Were you goofing off again?" She drew all of their attention to a small paper crane that Yotsuba had resting on top of her notebook.
"Ah, I was going to make two thousand paper cranes...to wish you and Uesugi-san good luck."
"It makes sense for Mutsumi...but Fuutarou-kun isn't sick, is he?" Ichika chuckled, laughing at the absurdity of her younger sister.
"Well, some people say that it's for good luck too." Nino said bluntly, looking at Yotsuba as if she was watching someone bang their head against a wall.
"Both of you have looked so tired ever since we started, so it goes without saying that you've been taking on extra burdens because of us." Yotsuba smiled, pulling out another sheet of paper from her bag to get started on another one. "I want you two to stay healthy." She pressed the paper down, turning it around to make the next fold.
"What about holding off the gifts until after the mock exams?" Ichika asked, making the fourth sister drop the paper back onto the table.
"Ah...I'm sorry! It wasn't on purpose!" The fourth sister wailed, small tears forming in her eyes. The elder two sisters began to panic as they tried to silence the girl; they were in a library, after all. "I can't forgive myself. It looks like I was trying to pull a fast one over everyone!" Yotsuba continued to cry loudly. Mutsumi plugged her ears but made a note to glare at Ichika, who she knew was actually trying to pull a fast one. "People who break promises are the worst of the worst!"
"Uhh..." Ichika could feel the stare from her sister, and Nino was about to waver due to her guilt, but both of them were saved the embarrassment since Miku spoke up next.
"I'm sorry. These...are two gym vouchers. I was thinking of doing something together...so I asked to get paid early at work to buy them. I'm sorry for trying to get the jump on everyone." Bowing her head, the third sister was genuinely sorry for her actions; Nino and Ichika only felt worse.
"My god...all of you shut up. You're giving me a headache." Mutsumi growled. "Nobody...and I mean nobody is going to give him anything until the exams are over! End of conversation!" She slammed her hand against the table, banging it repeatedly to cement her stance on everything. "Pack up. We're going home..." She stood up, coughing up a storm and walking dizzily towards the door.
"Hold it! Don't go making decisions for all of us! You're just saying that to trick u-" Nino stomped after her, breaking into a sprint as the thud of Mutsumi's body falling onto the floor caused a wave of panic to wash over everyone. "Ichika, Miku, Yotsuba!" She knelt down as the others arrived, along with a few other students that saw what happened.
"Ugh, where am I?" Mutsumi shook her head, placing a palm on her forehead as she looked around the familiar room she was in. "When did I get home?"
"You collapsed in the library. We had to get Ebata-san in order to take you home." Itsuki spoke, seated beside her futon with a small bowl of water and a towel. "You've been pushing yourself a lot. Please rest."
"We don't have time to re-" Mutsumi tried to sit back up, but the fifth sister placed her hands on Mutsumi's shoulders and pushed her back down. "Itsuki, we have to study Let me g-" She tried arguing, but her voice wouldn't cooperate. She broke out into fits of coughing and grunting as her body tried to clear her throat.
"Please don't try to move. Miku is already teaching the others using your notes, we're taking turns studying so you can sleep early tonight." Itsuki wiped Mutsumi's sweat away with the towel as the door to the room opened.
"Mutsumi! You're awake!" Yotsuba rushed in, placing her palm on Mutsumi's forehead. "You have a fever! You really have to sleep."
"Ugh...fine..." Mutsumi grumbled, coming to her senses now that she had some sleep. "I have a copy of Fuutarou-san's notes in the back of my notebook. Use them if you have to." She grabbed the edge of her blanket, pulling it up to her neck to warm herself up.
"Why do you have a copy of Uesugi-san's notes?" Yotsuba asked, leaving another bowl of water for Itsuki.
"Hey...I want to be number one too!" The youngest whined, shutting her eyes as she tried to force herself some sleep. "It's not like he's the only one that has a reputation to keep."
"So, you've been pushing yourself even more than we thought." Itsuki smiled, fixing Mutsumi's hair as the sickly sibling pulled the blanket over her face. "You and he are very similar, at least when it comes to that."
"Speaking of Fuutarou-san...his sixth wish: to worry less...I think I have an idea..." Mutsumi covered her entire body, the only parts left out of the blanket were her arms which pointed in Yotsuba's general direction. "There's a set of papers in a black folder in my bag...make those six into some cranes for him, and hand me a blank sheet and a pen." Her voice, though tired, seemed to have something planned.
"Uesugi-kun. Good evening." Itsuki walked up to the drowsy tutor on his birthday, though you wouldn't think it if you saw him. Furiously scribbling on a scrap of paper in order to document some formulas he thought would help him. The fifth sister walked behind him, placing a bottle of an energy drink by his hand. "You haven't gone home yet. Your determination is admirable. Here, a reward for your hard work." She watched as he slowly opened up the cap and downed the drink in one go.
"What are you talking about? This isn't hard at all. Don't underestimate me." Fuutarou tried to act tough, but the bags under his eyes weren't helping his case.
"...I went to see someone called Shimoda-san the other day. She works at a cram school." Itsuki said, standing up straight with her hands holding each other. "I'm not sure if this counts as part-time work, but I plan on assisting her while improving my own academic capability."
"Are Mutsumi and I not enough." Fuutarou groaned, his voice so tired that it made it hard to tell if he was joking or not.
"Don't sulk like that. It's for the sake of my dream. A dream after the mock exam, and after graduation. I would like to see what it is like in a place of learning, from the other perspective." Itsuki looked up, imagining herself in the same shoes as her mother.
"You guys are really unpredictable." Fuutarou slouched down again, resting his head on the paper.
"Ever since we entered the new school year...Ichika, Nino, Miku, even Yotsuba, and Mutsumi...did something hap-" Itsuki turned to look at the tutor, who had fallen asleep the moment his head hit the desk. "...I'll tell you eventually. Sleep well, Uesugi-kun." She rummaged around in her bag, leaving the room after setting something down for him when he wakes.
The sensation of his phone vibrating in his pocket eventually woke the slumbering boy, his notifications utterly filled with messages from his younger sister. "My birthday? It was today?" He asked himself, too engrossed with his current goal to notice the passage of time. "I guess I'll go home...hmm? Cranes? And a note?" His eyes didn't betray him. Laid out on the table before him; six cranes as well as a neatly folded letter that was addressed to him.
"Hey, Fuutarou-san! You better be busting your ass to get that number one spot! But I'm not just going to let you have it without putting up a fight of my own! I'm losing my mind trying to teach them, so you better make this worth all the trouble! I know you're still thinking about us and our grades, but rest assured. We're fine, so just worry about yourself! We're all working hard, we won't let you down. -Mutsumi."
"I guess I'm not doing this alone..." He picked up the six cranes, unfolding them to see what was written on the paper. "I can't let them beat me." He muttered, stuffing everything into his bag before he went home to study again.
A/N: Sorry for no Valentine's themed update for this. I did make a themed update on a story I wrote on webnovel, but that took the energy out of me for some time. Also, I didn't really have a way to put it in here since it's still following the timeline. Also, dunno if this is scummy or whatever...but if anyone wants to follow my twitter, it's Xiuzou on there too