The place was barren when they first started at sundown, only a handful of people sitting down and chatting with each other. There were the employees, of course, bu,t aside from their group, maybe one or two people populated the place. "Well, let's find a place to sit," Maeda suggested, walking in before Mutsumi looked over at one of the staff, who simply gave a thumbs up in their direction.
"I asked them if we could have a game room, it's fairly large, way too big for just the six of us, but we can stay there before other customers arrive." She said, pointing to a door to the side of the bar. Tsubaki led the way, opening the door with enough force for it to slam into the wall. A pool table and darts greeted them from the left while a TV and a few consoles lit up their right, six arcade cabinet games stared back at them from the opposite wall. Mutsumi walked in, turning around to sit at the bar in the room, pressing down a button and waiting for a few moments.
With the way the building is, the bar is actually a large rectangle, with the wall separating the game room from the main room cutting it in half, a single door served as a passageway for the bartenders on duty, having to manage both rooms; more would come to assist should one person not be enough for all of the customers. Aside from the game room and the main bar, there were also various rooms spread out in the basement area. One was called the mirror room, filled with warped mirrors like those in circuses; this was meant to capitalize on the rise of social media's obsession with pictures. Another was a more specific gaming room, provided with more soundproofing compared to the one Mutsumi's group was in, it was filled with a variety of rhythm games. Next was a karaoke room, which was comparatively boring but still provided a sense of familiarity to newcomers. And the last room was nearly empty, a large space in the center free of anything that a person could bump into while wearing one of the VR headsets set in the corner. The kitchen was located on the ground floor, across from the game room and directly above the end of the hallway of the basement. A dumbwaiter was located inside the room for ease of delivery for any orders heading downstairs.
"I'm gonna get something, anything you guys want?" Mutsumi asked her companions, placing an order for a mocktail with coffee and mint for herself as well as some shishito peppers, edamame, some pickled peppers, and mozzarella sticks.
"Nakano-san!" A girl yelled, running down the basketball court while dribbling a ball. On the other side of the city, working up a sweat to pass the time instead of staying at home, Yotsuba got herself ready to receive a pass, catching it before going for a shot just outside of the three-point line. "You've still got it, huh?"
"Of... course." Yotsuba caught her breath as the timer hit the end of the second quarter of their game, giving them a short break to recoup their energy. "How's university life, Hongou-senpai?"
"Well, it's hard. I'm fighting much stronger teams now, so I can't get as many opportunities to shoot as I used to." The former captain of the school's basketball team sat down, wiping off her forehead with a towel and taking a swig of water. "How's the old team?"
"Eh? Let's see... I think they're doing well. I haven't really had the chance to talk to any of the members recently, but I don't think they're fighting with each other." Yotsuba smiled, noticing that her senior started to chuckle quietly to herself.
"Still not a part of any clubs, are you? I heard about the trouble with the track team last year, what was that about?" Hongou asked, brushing her hair aside to look at Yotsuba with both eyes.
"Ah, well. It was just a problem with my schedule. We had a competition around the same time as the exams, so my tutor: Fuuta... Uesugi-san was a bit worried about me. Luckily, we managed to pass the exam, and I still had the chance to run with the team."
"That person you talked about before, when you turned down my offer to join the club, is it that boy?" She asked, resting her upper body by setting her elbows on her thighs. "Uesugi-kun, he's the person that supported you at the time, wasn't he?"
"Yeah, he was. Even with someone like me without any talent, without any... no, I shouldn't talk like that!" Yotsuba said, jumping to her feet. "It's because of his support that I made it this far, so I can't talk down to myself."
"You've changed, Nakano-san." Hongou threw her towel onto her bag, walking back onto the court. "He must be a really good influence." She said, getting ready for the next quarter while giving her underclassman a wink filled with implications. Yotsuba soon followed her, checking her phone quickly before she returned it to her bag.
"Then add milk slowly, whisking to avoid lumps." Miku read, flipping the pages of her new book. Standing in the kitchen of their apartment, her headphones over her ears to fill the silence of the lonely night. She was the only one home at the moment, so she decided to test one of the recipes in the cookbook to entertain herself. She reached out for the measuring cup full of milk she had set aside, dribbling it carefully down into the pot to turn her roux into a bechamel. Now that she had created it and let it thicken up, it was essentially a blank canvas.
She thought about it for a moment, looking at her phone for any sort of direction she could take the recipe. It wasn't a lot of sauce, and she wasn't particularly hungry either, so she thought of turning it into a dip of some sort or maybe turning it into a pasta sauce. She consulted the book again, settling on a recipe that she liked and was easy to do in her current situation. Over the next few minutes, she kept stirring until it became homogenous. She set some pasta on the boil, cursing herself for not doing it earlier; now she had to wait. Ten minutes later, she drained it and dumped the noodles into the sauce, stirring it before placing the contents of the pot inside a container which she placed under the broiler.
"Woah..." After some time, she took it out, staring at it in awe. "I made that..." She smiled, moving it to the kotatsu before preparing her phone to watch a documentary on the life of Hatori Hanzo for the seventeenth time. "What's this?" Noticing a new app that wasn't there before, she came to a simple conclusion: Mutsumi.
"Alright, next." A man said, bowing to the person in front of him as she walked away.
"Good work as always." A mustachioed man met with the girl, inviting her to sit with him as he slowly jostled somebody sleeping beside him. "Kiku, wake up, we're about to go."
"Mmmhh? Papa? Where are we?" The young child sat up, rubbing her eyes as she awoke from her nap. "Ichika-san?"
"Were you watching?" Ichika asked, bending down with a smile. Kiku looked away, slightly embarrassed. "Aw, you weren't? Onee-chan is sad now." Unlike during her audition, she intentionally made it extremely obvious that she was faking her reaction; crocodile tears, sobbing a few decibels louder than she needed, spastic movements that accompanied her fake crying. Kiku panicked, thoroughly convinced by the horrible acting.
"I'm sorry!" She haphazardly reached out before she managed to hug Ichika tightly.
"It's getting late. I'll take you home, Nakano-san." Oda said, walking toward the door to get the car ready for the girls. With him driving and Ichika riding shotgun, Kiku had the back of the car all to herself to resume her sleep. "I have to thank you, Nakano-san. You and your sisters." Oda smiled, arriving at a red light. He sighed, smiling while taking a few seconds to look at his daughter.
"What do you mean?"
"Ever since that day I asked you to watch her for me, Kiku's been different. She made some friends in school, you know." The light turned green and he pressed his foot against the gas. "She's a lot brighter than she was before, and I'm sure that it was something that you and your sisters did that made her that way. She's my treasure, so I have to thank you for making her happier."
Ichika paused, looking in the back at the kid that was currently sucking on her thumb with a smile as her dream brought her pleasant thoughts. "It was our pleasure," Ichika said, reclining in her seat once more as she looked at her phone.
"I have something I'd like to suggest. Feel free to take your time thinking about it. But..." Oda spoke as the car slowly approached the apartment.
"Onii-chan! Onii-chan!" Raiha yelled, shaking her brother wildly to attempt to get his attention. "Hey! You've been glued to that thing for days! Dinner's ready!"
"Oh, sorry. I'll be right there." Fuutarou said, but his attention was still directed toward the object in his hand. "Now, how do I do this?" He tapped his new phone, currently looking at a complicated math equation online while he pulled his notebook closer.
"Onii-chan!" Raiha had enough, smacking the back of Fuutarou's head with the handle of her ladle. "Hurry up or you won't get any tamagoyaki! Where did you even get that?"
"Mutsumi gave it to me. I don't know why, but it had my name on the box." He said, moving on to the next problem. "Oh, this one is easy." Fuutarou copied it down, making sure to add a simplified explanation to teach the sisters after their vacation ends.
"Fine! We'll eat without you..." Raiha stomped away, knocking over a paper bag, the title of the book inside barely visible to her.
"It's been a while, you've been busy, Nino." A girl with long black hair sat down at Revival, minutes away from closing time but the manager made an exception for this night. "How are things with that guy you met during the trip last year? You met him again, right?"
"Yeah! Kintarou-kun, was it?" Another girl, short brown hair and a single bow sat across from her,
"Oh, him? Well..." Nino paused for a moment, tying her ribbons into her hair as she finished her shift. She walked over to the counter, taking out the last order of the day and placing it on the table where her friends sat. "He's still dreamy." She spoke vaguely, already foreseeing the awkwardness of confessing her love for Fuutarou in front of the two people who saw her berate him. Otori and Yamada, both of them still thought that Nino hated Fuutarou's guts since the second sister was too caught up with everything else to keep them updated.
"So, what's he like?" Otori asked before she turned her head toward Yamada. "I hope you have better tastes than Yamada. I mean, seriously? Yamauchi?" Playfully roasting her friend until she was satisfied.
"He's smart, and kinda cool, though he can be dense at times." Nino started to grumble. "And he still didn't give me an answer, but I'm going to make him mine!"
"How do you do that?" Yamada asked, looking up at Nino with a sincerity that wasn't present in her eyes before. "Because... I want to confess... I want to confess before summer ends!"
"You just have to go on the attack. Waiting for him to confess to you won't get you anywhere." Nino answered, hearing frustrated sipping from Otori: the only one without a love life. Nino absentmindedly opened up her socials, browsing her phone for any updates to any gossip she was following.
"Well, goodbye, for now, Itsuki-chan." Shimoda says, standing at the doorway. To her surprise, the redhead just stood in front of the door.
"Why do you think Mutsumi-chan wants to move?" She asked, turning to face her. "I know that things were tenuous between the six of us for a while after we returned from Kyoto, but I still can't fathom the reason for her sudden decision."
"Itsuki-chan. I think it would do you well to have this conversation with her." Shimoda said, giving a warm smile as she was lit up from behind by the lights in the hall. "Sometimes the direct route is the best one."
"I... doubt that she'll divulge any information for me to digest. It might be a sensitive subject for her." Itsuki lowered her head, her thoughts going to what information she does have. "She might think that everything was her fault, blaming herself for all of our hardships as of late. She was planning on transferring schools, moving out by herself wouldn't be out of the question."
"Well then, you won't know until you try," Shimoda says, bidding the fifth sister farewell.
"I shall think about it." Itsuki sighed, pulling out her phone to call a cab home.
"Player three wins!" The speakers rang out, as an orchestra of groans and cheers filled the room. It didn't take long for the pseudo-bar to get filled up with people. Mutsumi's group enjoyed having the game room to themselves for half an hour before other people started coming in.
"That's five in a row! How?" Maeda asked, frustratedly staring at Sanada as the six other people playing the game slowly stood up. Sanada shrugged setting his controller down and calling it quits for that particular game. The room was packed to the brim with people, their group scattered around. Matsui and Takebayashi were playing darts, chatting amongst themselves before Sanada walked over to join them. Mutsumi was playing pool, currently lining up a shot to sink in the final ball she needed to win the match. Maeda also left the game, walking over to where they kept their food to finish eating some fries and karaage. Finally, Tsubaki was seated at the bar, sipping on a blueberry and mint virgin mojito while chatting up a few strangers.
Mutsumi finally thrust her pool cue, banking the last ball around before sinking it down one of the corner holes. "Yes! Winner!" She pumped her fist into the air, glancing around with a wide grin on her face. She glanced around the room, enjoying the energy in the room.
"Hey, come on. How about we leave this place and get to know each other?"
"Uhm... I don't think that's a good idea... hahaha, I mean, we just met..." Tsubaki leaned back in her stool, setting her drink on the counter as she nervously scratched the back of her neck. The man she was talking to rested his arm on the counter, leaning forward to continue the conversation while pressuring her.
"Can I at least get your number? Maybe not today, but I'd like to get to know you better." He said, standing up and wiping off his hand before he put it in his pocket. Unknown to Tsubaki, he dropped something into her drink.
"Well, I guess..." She let out a forced chuckle, reaching down for her phone as the guy took a few steps closer.
"Hey, Tsu-chan, you having fun?" Mutsumi slung her arm around Tsubaki's shoulder, looking at her while posturing possessively around her. The guy grunted, walking away while trying to hide his disgruntled expression. "Are you okay?"
Tsubaki breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back down. "Yeah, thanks, Mutsumi-chan. That guy seemed really friendly, but I guess he took my friendliness the wrong way." She laughed it off, reaching for her drink before Mutsumi stopped her by grabbing her wrist.
"He put something in that. I'll get you another one." Mutsumi called the bartender, asking for another of Tsubaki's drink. "Anyway, I took some pictures and have a recording of his voice. I'll report him to the police later." She took a seat beside her, the second drink arriving quickly. Tsubaki took it, taking sips to calm herself down after that encounter.
"I don't want to think about what might've happened if you didn't interrupt him. I never would've noticed what he did to my drink."
"Don't mention it. I mean, that's what friends are for, right?" Mutsumi chuckled, resting her hand on the bar. "That aside..." Mutsumi looked around the room, just taking in the atmosphere of everyone enjoying themselves. "I needed a break like this." She smiled, absentmindedly sipping before she leaned with her back to the counter.
"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked, twirling her side ponytail between her finger while she finished her drink.
"Well..." Mutsumi yawned. "My sisters and I need to move soon. Ichika-nee and I have been looking around, but we haven't had much... luck." She shut her eyes. Looking over at Tsubaki with a weak smile. She set the glass down, noticing that Tsubaki was still holding the glass of the new drink. "Oh... fuck." She chuckled, leaning forward and falling onto Tsubaki's lap. She fiddled with her phone in her pocket, managing to hear it unlock before her eyelids started to feel heavier.
"Mutsumi-chan?" Tsubaki asked, her voice somewhat worried as Mutsumi started to sleep. "Hey, wake up..." She tried to shake her awake, to no avail. Starting to panic, she called the others over.
"What happened? Where'd that punk go?" Maeda cracked his knuckles, asking Tsubaki to point at the guy from earlier, but he already left the room.
"We should probably call for help," Takebayashi suggested as Sanada wordlessly pulled Mutsumi's phone out of her pocket, noticing that it was on. "Let's stay with her until someone comes to get her." She and Matsui moved Mutsumi's sleeping body to their table, Sanada calling the person he thought was the most suitable for the situation. "For a genius, that was a really stupid mistake to make." She joked, pinching Mutsumi's cheeks. "Honestly, she can be such a kid sometimes."
"What do you mean?" Tsubaki asked feeling a bit guilty for not noticing what the sixth sister was drinking out of. "Mutsumi-chan is always so serious in school, I can't picture her acting childish."
"Well, while she was studying overseas, she kept messaging me whenever she wanted to talk. At first, she said things like she was bored or she asked what I was doing at the moment. Whenever she made one of her little gadgets, she'd always send me a video of her playing around with it. And whenever she won an award, she'd always send me a picture. I actually think I might have them on my phone, let me check." Takebayashi opened up a messaging app, looking up Mutsumi's name in the app and looking back at their history.
"It's hard to believe that this is Mutsumi-san," Matsui commented, pointing at a photo of Mutsumi excitedly holding up a gold trophy over her head.
"I wonder what made her start acting all serious," Tsubaki asked, pulling Mutsumi's body so that she could support her head with her shoulder.
"Well, Mutsumi never really had any friends other than me since she had to move around so often." Takebayashi gently stroked Mutsumi's head like a cat, getting the sleeping redhead to smile and curl up in a comfortable position around Tsubaki's arm. "But things are different now. I think you'll see this side of her soon." She smiled as Mutsumi wrapped her arm around everyone she could as continued to sleep.
"I hope so too," Tsubaki said, smiling. "It was nice to meet you, Takebayashi-san."
"Hey, they're here to take her home. Guys, help me get her up." Sanada spoke, the five of them bringing her out of the building. They saw her off, taking in the night air. "Do you think she'll be okay?"
"I hope so," Maeda muttered. They each went their separate ways, heading for their homes for the night. "You okay, Tsubaki-san?"
"Yeah... I'm just really curious now." Tsubaki cheered. "I wonder what we'll find out about Mutsumi-chan next?"