Yotsuba and Mutsumi both received a text from Miku after school. Both were currently at home, the former sweeping the floors while the latter was typing up some code on a small laptop. "You going to go?" Mutsumi asked, finishing up a line before she shut off her computer. Yotsuba nodded, setting aside her broom while tossing Mutsumi her hoodie. "Let's go."
The two chatted on their way to the bakery, idly talking about anything that seemed interesting. "So, what do you want to do for the school trip?" Yotsuba walked slightly ahead of her sister, who was busy messing something on her phone. Mutsumi was on autopilot, eyes unmoving as her legs moved robotically. "Ah! turn right!" Yotsuba turned around just in time to see Mutsumi swerve out of the way of a pole.
"Thanks..." Mutsumi replied, showing her screen to Yotsuba for the first time since they left the house. "I plan to do this..." It was the Kiyomizu-dera, a scenic shot that was reminiscent of a certain picture that both of them knew very well. "Why are you asking? Are you planning on sabotaging me?"
"What? No, no, no. I want to fight fairly!" Yotsuba shook her hands, dismissing Mutsumi's statement as the bakery, where Miku worked, came into view. "That's why I'll trust everyone once we get there. I want everyone to have fun, even if we're all competing against each other."
"Sorry..." Mutsumi muttered under her breath as the two of them entered the store, greeting Miku as they took a few seats for themselves.
"Try these." The third sister set out a platter of freshly baked bread. It smelled amazing, the greatness of the aroma only rivaled by its appearance of a nice and nutty brown color. Yotsuba excitedly took a bite while Mutsumi ate hers much more cautiously.
"You're getting better at this, but isn't it a bit simple? Not saying that's bad, but..." Mutsumi mumbled while simultaneously chewing her food. "Maybe some nuts, or dried herbs."
"No. I think this is perfect." Although she appreciated the suggestions, Miku crossed her arms as her two sisters continued to savor the bread. "I want to show him what I can do without having to rely on anything else." She said that, but her lips pursed in slight annoyance, it seemed like she was kicking herself for saying that.
"Then why did you call us here?" Yotsuba asked, reaching for another piece. Miku slapped her hand away, pulling the platter away.
"I want to give it to him on our lunch break on the first day," Miku said, making her intentions clear as she looked over at Yotsuba. "So..."
"You want to be alone with him? I'll try to do it. You have my support!" Yotsuba cheered, all eyes moving to the silent Mutsumi.
"Good luck." Was all the sixth sister said before she stood up and got some more bread to eat on her way home. She arrived home alone, putting herself back to the grindstone of creating her next device. She worked until sundown, and well past it. Even when her sisters slept peacefully in the room adjacent, Mutsumi was wide awake, fueled by her drive to complete her preparations as soon as possible.
"Now that the national mock exams are behind us, it's time for us to sort out the school trip. The schedule was included with the pamphlet provided previously. Everyone, please decide on your group and inform either us class reps or the teachers by tomorrow." Fuutarou enforced his authority, standing beside Yotsuba as he announced the details of the trip. "Groups will be comprised of five people at maximum."
The classroom was buzzing with talks of the trip as people scrambled to get their friends together in a group before they were taken by someone else. While the group maximum was that of five at most, but that wasn't a hard rule; people were free to form smaller groups. A certain group of people, however, already had their group planned out and were eyeing their target. "Everyone should stay together with their group for the whole trip. That should be about it, right?" Yotsuba finished the announcement as both she and Fuutarou returned to their seats for class. The lectures went by without much issue, even the teachers could only think of the trip, and their afterschool study session was only a few minutes away.
"Uesugi-kun, there's something I'd like to discuss with you." Fuutarou was called away by Takeda as the bell rang, the rest of the class dispersing and making it hard to follow him. The Nakano siblings headed for the library in order to prepare, all except for Yotsuba who was cleaning off the chalkboard after class. There was another reason why she stayed back, however. She entered the hallway in search of someone.
"Uesugi-sa..."
"Yotsuba," Ichika called out to her sweetly, beckoning the ribboned sister with her hand. "Come, come." She led the fourth Nakano into an empty classroom to have some privacy.
"Ichika? Is there something you need from me?" Yotsuba asked, shutting the door behind her and staring at the eldest sibling curiously. She had an inkling as to what it was about since Miku had just asked for the same thing the other day.
"I sure am looking forward to this school trip. Kyoto, huh? How long has it been since we've been there? Five, no six years?" Ichika wondered, leaning against the wall as she placed a finger to her lips. "Try not to get lost this time, Yotsuba. I don't want to have to call dad again." She teased, walking forward to walk her fingers on Yotsuba's skin.
"It was an accident!" Yotsuba pouted, crossing her arms.
"Sorry, sorry. I just can't help it sometimes. I want to tease Fuutarou-kun a lot during the trip. Hey, Yotsuba, can you..."
"Make a group with you, me, and Uesugi-san? I'll see what I can do." Yotsuba sighed, finishing her sister's sentence for her.
"Thanks, Yotsuba!" Ichika walked out into the hall, a wry smile on her face. "Onee-chan will remember this."
"Haa...they're so predictable." Yotsuba stayed in the room for a few more seconds, looking down at her pamphlet. "Kyoto..." Still thinking it through, she made her way to the library for their study session; Fuutarou would surely be there to teach them after all.
"Oh, Miku's here, that's rare." Ichika said, arriving after Yotsuba after she went to the restroom to freshen up.
"I can't stay for long, I still have work to do after this," Miku replied, eyes glued to Yotsuba while gesturing slightly to remind her of her request.
"It's been a while since we've all been together, hasn't it?" Mutsumi muttered, pulling out her notebooks and doublechecking Fuutarou's worksheets for any corrections.
"It certainly has." Itsuki stared at her younger sister, scrutinizing everything she did in order to clear up her suspicions from a few days ago.
"Itsuki, what's with that intense gaze?" Nino asked, resting her chin on her palm as she waited for everyone to get ready. Her comment got everyone to turn their attention towards the fifth sister, who desperately tried to divert it by returning the topic to their studies. Now that the national mock exams were over and the field trip was fast approaching, the amount they had to read up on had been significantly reduced. Gone too were all the sleepless nights, much to the relief of the two doing the teaching in their group. They all took their seats, Mutsumi sitting beside Fuutarou while passing him a small note. Yotsuba stood to Fuutarou's other side, still having to do some class rep work before the end of the day.
"Since there's not a lot of material to cover, why don't we talk about the school trip?" Mutsumi suggested, looking down at her notebook as she pulled out a pen from her bag. "You already have a group with Yuusuke-san and Maeda-san, right?" She added, placing her phone down on the table while pressing the big red play button on the screen.
"Uesugi! Ya punk! Wanna join us for the school trip?" Maeda's voice rang out from the speaker first.
"Why are you inviting me?" Fuutarou asked, the sound of his surprised footsteps clear and crisp in the recording. "Don't you have other friends?"
"He wanted to ask Matsui-san to form a group with him, but she was already with Tsubaki's group, yeah? By the time he got to his friends, they were already in a group of five." Takeda's voice was rather jovial, though the not so subtle grumbling from Maeda indicated that he wasn't having any of it.
"That's...kind of sad," Fuutarou muttered, his movement causing the mic to rub against his clothes to create some static. "I guess I'll join you guys. It's a nice change of pace."
"That's wonderful news. But, can you hold still for a moment?" Takeda clapped his hands before the sound of his footsteps closed in. "Mutsumi-san. There you have it. Have a good day." He whispered into the mic, but his proximity to it made his voice boom. The recording ended there and Mutsumi retrieved her phone, leaving her sisters and Fuutarou shocked.
"I hope none of you were planning on getting into a group with Fuutarou-san. Because the boys beat you to the punch." She smiled, flipping through her notes "Now, what are we going to do? I'm fine with being by myself for this and leaving you five together." She added, not lifting her gaze in the slightest.
"Well...if Uesugi-san is already in a group...then it would make sense for all of us to stay together." Yotsuba was the quickest to recover. "But there's a limit of five per group, so what are we going to do?"
"Split ourselves in half..." Miku suggested, shaking her head while trying not to look at Fuutarou. "There's no rule saying we can't go in groups of three. Let's just form two groups and stick together."
"That's not a bad idea. But now the question is: who's with who?" Itsuki spoke up, leading to everyone exchanging glances. Ichika met Mutsumi's stare, instantly understanding her plan by the placement of her sister's hand.
"How about you go with Mutsumi-chan and Yotsuba? That way we get split up by age!" She clapped her hands together, trying to gain an advantage by speaking first.
"Shouldn't our onee-san watch over the younger ones?" Mutsumi countered. "After all, that's what elder siblings do." The two stared daggers at one another, raising the tension around the whole table. It was palpable enough that Nino started to tremble and Miku fiddled with her fingers in an attempt to distract herself.
"Let's have Me, Miku and Itsuki in one group. Is that okay with everyone?" Yotsuba asked, moving the conversation along.
"But..."
"That sounds good to me. Let's start studying, you already spent five minutes of our time talking." Fuutarou interrupted Ichika, shooting her an analytical stare of his own before he handed out worksheets to everyone. Before long, the seven of them moved past that little dispute and got to their work, finishing up the tutoring a few minutes earlier than normal. They bid each other farewell as they parted ways for their afterschool jobs, except for Mutsumi. No, she had other plans for the day, heading into a salon as soon as humanly possible. Though the sixth sister liked her dyed hair, it would only get in the way of what she had planned, so she asked for it to be dyed into the same shade of red as her sisters.
"Couldn't you have just waited for it to grow out?" A familiar voice reached her ears as she relaxed in her seat.
"Itsuki? Why were you following me?" The sixth sister asked, unable to move her head.
"Is this what you talked with father about? You and Ichika?"
"Is that what this looked like? It has nothing to do with dad, I assure you. If you'd like, we can talk this over, just the two of us, while we get ready for the trip. I need new clothes anyway." The sixth sister suggested.
"I suppose. Now, you still didn't answer my first question. Why are you dying it back?"
"I wanted to take some group photos, but it'll be weird if I was the only one that didn't have red hair." Mutsumi shut her eyes. "Is that all?"
"...Promise me that you'll explain everything when we go shopping."
"I promise. I'll see you at home." Mutsumi waved goodbye to her sister, not catching a single glimpse of her face for the whole conversation. She let sleep take her as she waited for her hair treatment to finish, paying and leaving to get some more parts for her project, which she worked on until midnight of that night.
"They found a way to stay together, huh?" Matsui asked around her group, all of them were staring at the redhead brigade.
"I guess you have to expect the unexpected with the Nakano sisters. Oh, wait! Isn't it the first time we've seen them all together with red hair? I want to take a picture." Tsubaki quickly pulled out her phone, her feet pittering against the tile floor as she asked the six sisters to sit still and pose for her.
"It's always like this, isn't it?" Miku muttered under her breath, forcing out a smile for the camera as the flash blinded them.
"I'm glad Uesugi-san made some friends. And this way, we get two rooms!" Yotsuba tried to cheer everyone up, but even she wasn't immune to the residual tension and awkwardness from everything that happened previously. Sitting on opposite sides of each other, the eldest and youngest sisters were having a furious staring contest.