A few days passed since their foray to the pool, their schedules now wide open for anything that would interest them. Nino and Mutsumi were heading for the hospital, each for their own reasons. Itsuki said that she was going to go for a walk, but Mutsumi's quiet chuckles indicated that there was something more to that. Miku and Yotsuba would stay home, the former testing out more recipes from the book while the latter acted as a judge and offered feedback. This left Ichika to her own devices, confined to her room as she often does when given free time. The others suspected that the eldest was fast asleep, lying in bed stark naked with only her sheets covering her body; they would be wrong. "What should I do?" Ichika muttered to herself, looking at the screen of her phone.
"Ichika-nee, we're about to go, do you want us to get anything on the way back?" Mutsumi asked, knocking on the door and getting the eldest's attention. She got up, opening the door to look at the youngest sister in the eye. "Onee-chan?"
"Mutsumi-chan..." Ichika paused. "I-I think I'm good. Take care." She frantically rushed to the bathroom, locking herself in to take some time to think something through. "Mutsumi-chan... Fuutarou-kun... I'm sorry." She muttered, dialing the number of her manager as she sighed.
"Wacha reading, Fuutarou-san?" Mutsumi asked as she and Nino were walked up to the hospital. "You look great, by the way." She teased, pinching his arm and stretching his tanned skin.
"It's not important. Why are you here?" Fuutarou asked, pocketing the romance book and adjusting his grip on the flowers. Mutsumi just puffed up her cheeks, pouting in his direction before Nino came up to answer his question.
"She said she wanted to talk with papa. Anyway, what are you doing just standing there? Get inside, Uesugi." Her tone made the two of them stare at her as she marched inside.
"Did you do something to her?" Mutsumi asked, watching as her sister glared back at them from inside the hospital.
"Did you?" The tutor asked, walking inside with an inkling to Nino's sudden shift in behavior. He handed one of the bouquets over to Mutsumi before the three of them split up to do what they were going to do.
"Mutsumi, why did you insist on coming in today? You already got the results of your test, no?" Maruo asked, looking at his daughter curiously as she set the flowers on his desk.
"It's coming up soon, you know... I was wondering if you'd like to join us this time." Mutsumi asked, pulling up a chair to sit across from the doctor. "I know you're very busy, but... it's mom's..."
"I will try. As you said, my schedule isn't very flexible. But I will try, you have my word." The doctor stood up, moving some papers over to a cabinet to sort them.
"Is... is there anything I can do to help?" Standing up to walk to his side, the sixth sister tilted her head curiously. "Anything at all?"
"Mutsumi, there is nothing you can do. All of these are confidential, I can't let you see them." The doctor directed her back to her seat. "I do appreciate your concern, but it's not possible." Mutsumi sighed, staring down at the ground before she picked up the flowers again.
"I see... I guess I'll be on my way. Thanks for everything dad." A little disheartened, she gave Maruo a smile before she departed. Left to his own devices, the doctor sat down at his desk, looking at the fairly empty top.
"I suppose that I should take my break."
Meanwhile, in one of the hospital's rooms, Fuutarou and Nino slid open the door to pay a visit to Revival's manager. Nino walked in, her nose turned up and away from Fuutarou. "Hello." The manager waved to them as they entered. "Are you guys doing well? As you can see, I'm just fine."He said, sarcastically gesturing to his elevated and cast leg.
"How's your injury?" Fuutarou asked, getting the manager to gesture toward his leg again. "Right..."
"All that's left to do is some post-surgery examination to see how it'll go." He let out a long sigh, resting his head on his pillow as his two employees took some steps to examine the cast.
"How much longer are you just going to stand there? You even brought some flowers." Nino reprimanded her tutor, staring at him as he awkwardly presented the bouquet of flowers to the manager. After a short and awkward exchange between the men, the manager asked if they were fighting, to which Fuutarou said that they weren't. "Ah- I'm parched. Go buy me a drink, Uesugi." Nino ordered him, and that was only the first. Fuutarou left the room, getting some water from a vending machine and offering it up to the second sister. "What I ask you to get me some water, I meant for you to get me some at room temperature. Honestly, if you can't do something as simple as this, what good are you?" Nino postured as if she was stating the obvious, the implication of her stance getting Fuutarou frustrated to the point where he could feel his blood boiling. "You're so useless."
Fuutarou had enough, reaching his limit with those last three words. "How about you dial it ba-"
"Woah! don't touch me!" Nino shuffled away, storming out of the room. "I'll just go buy it myself." She grumbled, shutting the door behind her.
"Uesugi-kun." The manager called out, having watched the scene silently. "is there really nothing going on between you two? You might not be aware of it, but you must've done something, or it might've been something you didn't do." Fuutarou grunted, playing with his bangs. "Like I thought. I'll put it plainly: that girl is mad at you. Try to listen carefully, you might be able to hear it, the cries coming from that girl's heart." The manager went off on a tangent, talking like a philosopher as Fuutarou left the room to follow Nino.
"Hey, how'd it go?" Mutsumi asked, meeting with Nino near the exit of the hospital. "What was up with you earlier? I haven't seen you talk to him like that since I first got back." She was seated nearby, Fuutarou's flowers resting on her lap as she waited for her companions.
"It's nothing..." Nino answered, walking up to her sister. "Mutsumi, I never did anything to make Fuu-kun hate me, right?" Her mind filled with worry, the second sister stood beside Mutsumi as the sixth rose to her feet.
"Well, I do remember him sulking a lot when you said those things at the hotel, when he, Miku, and I tried to get you to come back home. There was also the time when you drugged him to sleep. And..."
"Alright! I get it!" Nino started moping, slouching her shoulders before she felt Mutsumi's hand on them.
"You know, even though I'm glad that you shot yourself in the foot, I will tell you one thing." Mutsumi leaned in, her face inches away from her sister's. "Even after all those things you did, he still stayed by your side. Don't beat yourself up over them."
"Nino."
The two girls turned around, finding their father standing behind them. "Papa. Why?"
"Why?"
"Why are you suddenly spending time with us?" Nino asked, raising an eyebrow at her father as Mutsumi held back a giggle. "It's unlike you. You're suddenly around the house. And you talk to us. Why now?" She asked out of curiosity, with only a slight hint of cautiousness in her words.
"Is it wrong for a father to spend time with his daughters?" Maruo replied, taking a few steps toward the two of them before Nino stomped her foot against the tile.
"Just... I... argh!" She clenched her fists, unable to put into words the mixture of feelings going through her system. She was happy, confused, and angry all at the same time.
"Thanks, dad... for everything." Mutsumi broke her silence, garnering both of their attention. "I'll be hoping to see you tomorrow." She smiled as the doctor went about his day, going down the hall to finish up his break.
"What did you do?" The second sister turned her head toward Mutsumi.
"I just..." Mutsumi watched as Maruo's figure vanished into the crowd. "I just got a bit selfish." She smiled, pulling her arms together to bury her face in the flowers. "By the way... what's up with these flowers?"
"Oh, Fuu-kun gave one to our manager since he got into an accident. I don't know what that one is..." The two of them paused, taking a few seconds to stare at the flowers in Mutsumi's hands. Their faces slowly turned red; Mutsumi's out of embarrassment, Nino's out of jealousy.
"I win~" The sixth sister teased as a set of footsteps approached the two of them.
"Fuutarou-san... I..." Mutsumi walked up to him, cheeks flushed with embarrassment and pride. "I... lo-"
"Those aren't for you." Fuutarou interrupted her. For a moment, it sounded as if some glass was cracking. Nino regained some confidence, in contrast, Mutsumi had to hold back a pained gasp. "They're for your mother..." He said before he started to walk off. "It's tomorrow, right? I thought about going myself, but this sort of thing is best left with just the family. You'd rather not have me there anyway, right?" He said, looking directly at Nino as he approached the exit of the hospital.
"Wait!" Nino grabbed his wrist, stopping him while Mutsumi watched with a proud smile on her face. "Fuu-kun, don't leave me."
"Huh?"
"Mom's gone, and Mutsumi left us for years..." She paused, thinking carefully about what she was going to say. "Everyone will surely go their separate ways. Even so, will you stay by my side?"
"Nino, you didn't actually come to hate me?"
"Read the mood!" Mutsumi gave him a light jab from the side. "I'll leave you two here to talk." She smiled, patting Nino on the back before she left for home.
"Still, it is a relief to know that you weren't actually mad at me." He sighed, putting his hands in his pockets. "You had me scared there."
"I... scared you?" Nino asked, noticing his cheeks getting slightly redder by the second. A wide smile beamed from her face before she snapped herself back to normal. "Geez, you're such a pushover. She walked out before him, finding her sister on the phone.
"Yeah, I'll get some for tomorrow. By the way, Fuutarou-san gave us some flowers for mom too." She said, speaking to one of the other Nakano siblings. Mutsumi found Nino out of the corner of her eye, hanging up on the call before the two of them called a cab to ride home.
"So he really did come here..." Mutsumi said, looking down after the six of them finished their prayers. She bent down, brushing her hand against the petals of the flowers that the doctor brought.
"Dad is really changing, isn't he?" Yotsuba chuckled, stretching her body and cracking her knuckles. "Maybe one day he'll actually live with us instead of just dropping by for visits."
"Yeah, maybe..." Ichika scratched the back of her head, mulling over something in her mind. "Hey... everyone... I'm not going back to school."
"What? Onee-chan, that's not a funny joke." Mutsumi forced herself to laugh, but the eldest's face caused her to stop. "You are joking, right?"
"No, I'm not. Starting the second semester, I won't be going to school. I'm quitting school." The tension in the air was electrifying, the girls' bodies all numb as they processed what Ichika just told them.
"Onee-chan..."