The repeated blaring of an alarm clock reverberated in the Uesugi household, though the person it was intended to wake was already putting himself through the gauntlet by studying. "You're going to be late! Hurry up!" The younger Uesugi child pulled her brother away from his table, much to Fuutarou's chagrin. Struggling with all his might, the tutor desperately clawed at his papers, trying, in vain, to find purchase on the table with his fingers.

"Five more minutes! Let me study for a bit longer!" Fuutarou screeched. With bags under his eyes, he glared at his adorable little sister to intimidate her into letting go of his body.

"The exam is today! Hurry up and get out of here!" Raiha forcefully stuffed a slice of bread into his mouth before throwing him out of the house. Trudging along with whatever strength he could muster after a sleepless night, Fuutarou chewed on his bread as well as all of the material he studied. The walk was quiet, the only noise for the next minute was the sound of the occasional passing car; well, one minute of relative silence helped him organize his thoughts in the morning.

"Uesugi-san!" Relative silence. Yotsuba, along with the rest of the Nakano sextuplets, made their presence known to their tutor. "Let's give it our best!" The six of them lumbered to his side. All six of them had similar bags under their eyes, with the sixth sister looking noticeably worse for wear. Yotsuba's optimism was the only thing that made her look normal.

"The day of the exam is upon us." Itsuki's hair drooped, even her ahoge was deprived of strength.

"Those bags under your eyes are really something..." Nino spoke, feigning strength with her words.

"You're one to talk..." Miku chided, slouched over and leaning against Yotsuba for support.

"Do you think you can get the top spot?" Ichika didn't look too different, but having her always be sleep deprived isn't a good thing for anyone. Nonetheless, she was used to sleepless nights, and therefore used to keeping herself well-groomed even with less than an hour of rest.

"It's not a matter of if he can get it. He has to get it...else there's no point in-" Mutsumi muttered as she downed a can of vending machine coffee, her entire body being carried by Yotsuba, broke out into another fit of coughing. Her platinum-blonde hair disheveled and matted with dust.

"She's right. I can't affo-"

"Uesugi-kun!" A voice interrupted their morning rendezvous, originating from the top of a nearby staircase. "The fact that you haven't retreated is admirable! However, you will not defeat me! I will leave you with nothing with regret after I claim my place at the top!"

"Shut up!" An irritated yell accompanied by the sight of a black coffee container flying through the air interrupted his grand declaration. It didn't hit him, it didn't even land halfway up the steps before it clattered against the stone. "I'm getting sick of your shit, Yuusuke-san!" She told Yotsuba to get closer to him, furiously attacking Takeda by trying to pull his arms out of their sockets.

"I wasn't talking to you, Mutsumi-san! My victory will be assured and I will take both of you down! This will be our final battle! The victor will be the-"

"Let's get going, the bell's about to ring." Fuutarou paid no mind to Takeda, walking past him with his hands in his pockets. The sisters followed after him, Yotsuba apologizing for her sister and picking up the can to throw it in a nearby bin. "Sorry Takeda, it's seven on one. I'm not liking your odds."

"Tch! That's what makes you weak, Uesugi-kun." In one last attempt to stir up some trouble, Takeda taunted the tutor with one last jab before they all made their way to school.

"Alright, the first half of the test is about to begin. Is everyone ready?" Mutsumi asked, rubbing her eyes as she shut her notebook after a last-minute study session with everyone. "Are you ready?" Her head turned toward Fuutarou, his eyes still glued to his own notes. All seven of them shifted their desks around so that they could share worksheets.

"Yeah." Fuutarou's reply was short and succinct, eyes filled with determination despite the bags. As if the universe was listening in, the bell sounded, signaling the start of the challenge. Every one of them, even the rest of their class, was silent. The first exams went by without any major hitches, except for the effects of sleep deprivation, so both Mutsumi and Fuutarou breathed a sigh of relief since their studying was paying off.

"Man! We finally finished it!" The bell gave them a bit of reprieve as the intermission time let them recollect their thoughts and regain their energy. The entire class was dispersing, the Nakano siblings and Fuutarou staying together for some more studying. "We're only halfway there! Let's keep going!"

"Mutsumi, hurry up! We're going to start soon!" Itsuki called out to her sister, who was currently trying to catch up on as much sleep as she could. The redheads were waiting out in the hall, but their sister was too exhausted to join them. Mutsumi just rested her head on her desk, halfheartedly turning on her phone and laying the screen in front of her eyes. It was then that it pinged with a notification.

"Go without me, I have to go to the restroom." Mutsumi quickly pocketed her phone, rushing out of the room and running down the hallway out of sight of everyone in her class.

"Yuusuke, I took a look over the exam that you just took." The voice of the school's director was serious, speaking to his son with a cold tone.

"You sure work fast."

"And this is the answer key to the mock exam I had especially prepared." He pulled out a small envelope, removing a sheet of paper from within. "You got three questions wrong. 190 points." The statement sent a shock through the young Takeda's system. Three questions were more mistakes than he anticipated, so he became a little worried. "I wonder if a score like that would be enough to meet chief physician Nakano's expectations." He put his head in his hands, spreading his fingers apart to let one of his eyes peek through.

"What does doctor Nakano have to do with..."

"When you were little, you used to say that you wanted to be a physician like your mother." The director sighed, looking at his son dead in the eyes. "The results of this exam could solidify your relationship with chief physician Nakano. To that end, you must produce results." A tenuous silence followed, both Takedas breathing heavily.

"Dad...I..."

"Son, don't make me worry so much." The director slid the answer key across his desk toward Yuusuke. The student silently took it, bowing respectfully to his father before leaving the room.

"So, you were watching again," Yuusuke muttered, noticing a small blip of light at the cuff of his sleeve. He reached for it, pulling out a miniature camera and microphone. "You didn't cheat, did you?"

"Turning it on in the middle of the exam, when your arm is always in your view, would make it too easy to notice." Mutsumi walked up to him. "So, an answer key. How low can you get?" She glared at him, but Takeda simply walked away, in the direction of the closest male restroom. He continued to mess with his clothes as he entered the door.

"Hey, that sure took a while." Takeda's voice came through Mutsumi's phone speakers. He was talking to someone inside one of the stalls, and the feed from the camera revealed it to be Fuutarou; it looked like he was in pain. Mutsumi, having lost any and all tact due to her fatigue-induced delirium, wasn't fazed at the sight of the tutor exiting the toilet.

"I somehow had a feeling you were there," Fuutarou grumbled, washing his hands in the sink. "If you had time to meet me here, why don't you do some studying as well?"

"Fufufu! Studying? That won't be necessary. As long as I have this!" Takeda showed Fuutarou, and Mutsumi through the camera, the answer key that his father handed him. "In my hands are all the answers to the national mock exam."

"Why do you...no, rather. As long as you have that..." Fuutarou quickly turned on his heel, facing his foe head-on with a look of irritation.

"Yes, my victory is assured." Takeda looked down, holding the papers firmly in his hands. "All you can hope to do is tie with me." Fuutarou, instead of being disheartened, just looked at him with annoyance. Despite that, he was sweating bullets. All his hard work, all of the stakes that have been placed on this one competition; the amount of pressure placed on him had just skyrocketed.

Then, making sure that it was visible to the tiny camera he reattached to the inside of his collar, Takeda held the answer key high and tore it to shreds, flushing it down the toilet with a smirk on his face.

"Don't worry, I only just got that envelope, so I didn't use it for the first half." He said, lowering the tension slightly with a sigh. "You know, Uesugi-kun, I...want to become an astronaut." He looked up at the ceiling, walking out into the hallway. Fuutarou, utterly confused and looking for answers, ran after him, finding him and Mutsumi staring each other down outside of the door.

"Astronaut, huh?" Mutsumi crossed her arms, grinning slightly as she broke her gaze and lowered her head. "What happened to that desire of becoming a physician, that dream you had when you were younger?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Allow me to explain." Takeda cleared his throat, preparing for another one of his extravagant monologues. Fuutarou and Mutsumi exchanged glances, both silently agreeing to hear him out this time. "I've always yearned for that space with nothing. Not air, not water, not earth. That is the path I wish to go down with this life of mine. Of course, it is an arduous task; the right to be among the stars is only granted to a select few people, making everyone in the world my rival." He looked at the two with a different look in his eyes. He looked like his fire had started to burn brighter, his goal clear for all to see in the glint in his irises. "That's why, in this tiny country, in this tiny school, I cannot afford to lose. Because I have a dream!" He stomped his foot, clenching his fist. "I'll defeat both of you with my own abilities! Such cheap tricks would bring meaningless results!"

The three of them stood in that hall for a few more seconds, wordlessly exchanging looks as the embarrassment slowly crept up on Takeda. Mutsumi took the initiative, walking over to Yuusuke to retrieve her surveillance gear. "A dream, huh?" The girl muttered, pocketing her things as she yawned. She made her way to a vending machine, getting three cans of coffee. "I'm not going to let you beat me just because of that. I won't lose." She handed two of the cans over, opening hers once they accepted her offer.

"Idiots..." Fuutarou muttered, downing his drink while rubbing his eyes. "You won't make it. Because I'll be at the top to bring both of you down." The three shared each other's thoughts, and the three-way rivalry evolved as the bell called them back to the classroom for round two.

"Alright! Let's go..." Mutsumi's renewed vigor, and her caffeine rush, didn't last long. She had barely gotten through the first page before her head started throbbing in pain, that pain kept pestering her as she made her way through to the last few pages. "Ugh, how's everyone else doing?" She looked around while filling in her answers. Takeda was as calm as ever, though his pen wasn't moving much. Her sisters all seemed to be doing fine, though they were working through the questions slower than her which was to be expected. And finally, Fuutarou was slaving away. She saw his head bob, his eyes close to shutting; he was at his limit. "Stay awake, damn it!" She removed one of her hair clips, aiming it at Fuutarou's face to flick it his way. It hit him right on his nose, giving him a wake-up call that he desperately needed.

"Thank you." He mouthed silently, finishing up the test at a record pace.

"Good. Now...let's..." The words danced on the paper as Mutsumi looked back at her own exam. Her head swayed from side to side, her vision doubling as the room spun around her. "Ugh...I..." She desperately tried to stay awake, managing to complete the national mock exam before her vision turned dark.

"Good morning." Takeda's voice was the first thing she heard as she roused from her sleep. Her eyes instantly widened, looking down at her now empty desk and her newly organized bag. "Itsuki-san came over to fix your things. They thought to give you some more time to rest."

"Where are they? What time is it? The exam..." She scanned the room, finding it as empty as her desk. It was quiet, only the soft sound of breathing reaching her ears.

"The exams finished ten minutes ago, and most of the class had left for their afterschool activities; your sisters included." He pulled aside a chair, resting his legs by sitting down beside her. "I wanted to wake you, but I noticed that you had finished your test and decided to not disturb you."

"Why are you still here then? Come to taunt me for snoozing on the job?" Mutsumi huffed, checking her things and sipping from her secret stash of coffee. She coughed roughly, rubbing her throat as her face contorted in pain. "Ah...shit."

"No. It's just a gesture of good faith." Takeda reached over, dropping the hair clip on top of her desk. "And here, this might help." He pulled out some lozenges, leaving the entire pack for her. He then dusted his clothes off, standing up and fixing the chair. "Well then, I'll be off. Take care of yourself, my rival."

"Yuusuke-san. You can bet on it!" Mutsumi smiled at him, standing up herself and extending her arm out for a handshake. "He's not too bad." She thought silently as Takeda shook her hand and left. Now it was just her and the everpresent breathing sound that echoed in the room. "Fuutarou-san...for fuck's sake." She groaned, putting her clip back as she walked over to wake him up.

"Master, the results of the national mock exams last month have arrived." A conversation inside a familiar black car that drove through the city started with the voice of an elderly man. "There are some slight variations, but all the young misses' scores have an upward trajectory; clear improvements compared to the previous year. Judging from the results, the decision of hiring a tutor was a great one, not to detract from the effort the young misses themselves put in."

"I see."

"Takeda-sama has accomplished a great feat of attaining eighth place nationally. Miss Mutsumi is above him with two mistakes overall, sixth place. And finally, though...unfortunate...Uesugi-sama lived up to his declaration and perfected the entire exam, leaving him in the top spot of every student that took this exam. It is as he said."

"He was able to answer everything perfectly." Maruo looked at the copy of Fuutarou's answers on his tablet.

"Reports from Takeda-sama and other students say that both he and miss Mutsumi fell asleep the moment they completed the exam. Perhaps those two exerted themselves too much, but it was fortunate that the repercussions took place after the task was finished."

"Perhaps, and it is worrying how much they would sacrifice their health for this," Maruo muttered; his instinct as a doctor momentarily taking precedent his emotions. "Uesugi Fuutarou, he's quite bothersome. Every time I get involved with him, my plans get derailed. However, these results, and this drive of his, they're certainly impressive."

A/N: Even with the manga finished, I'm still going to finish this revision. Though I have been away since I was working on another project (it's an original story called "Life and Death Decision" on webnovel), I'll be working on this every day now and won't work on anything else until I finish this. You have my word.