"Nakano-san." A person called out to the redhead doing stretches on the field. "Nakano-san, the coach is calling you." She said, tapping her on the shoulder as her body jolted upward.
"Alright!" Yotsuba replied, walking across the field toward the coach. "Coach, is there something you need from me?" She pulled the coach's attention away from the rest of the team, telling them to help the goalie while he spoke to Yotsuba.
"The coach of the basketball team reached out to me earlier; one of their players had to go on leave and they won't be able to make it back for the competition in two weeks." He paused, looking at Yotsuba carefully. "I don't want to impose, but you're the best person the university has for a substitute."
"I'll do it," Yotsuba said, smiling as she took a few steps to the side. "Is there anything else, coach?"
"Well, the track captain has been pestering me to let you join the team." He thought as a ball ricocheted off of the goal and flew toward them. Yotsuba managed to stop it, hitting it back to the team with her head. "Still as good as I remember." He chuckled to himself, sending Yotsuba off as she went to the locker room to get ready to go home.
"They're already asking you for help?" Nino asked, preparing dinner for the five of them.
"Don't overdo it, Yotsuba..." Ichika said, lazily raising an arm up from the couch she was about to sleep on. "You still have to keep your grades up." The eldest sister reminded her of her requirements.
"I know, I know. I'll keep it under control." Yotsuba said somewhat smugly, flipping open a textbook and taking notes while Itsuki walked down from her room. "Itsuki, how do you do this one?"
"Let me have a look." The fifth sister said as she took a seat at the table. The sight of Yotsuba studying brought relief to her sisters, knowing what could happen if she continued giving all her time to the teams in her university. The days passed like that for a while, as Yotsuba continued balancing athletics and academics without the supervision of her sisters.
"Eba-san. Did you need me for something?" The fourth sister asked as she was in the middle of eating lunch. The captain of the track team sat down at her table.
"Nakano-san, can't you reconsider?" She asked, hearing a sigh from the ribboned sister. "I remember what you can do, and I know that if you join the team, then we'll-"
"No means no, Eba-san," Yotsuba said sternly. "I'm willing to step in if you're down a member, but I just can't devote any of my time away from my studies." She added, finishing her food quickly as she pulled out some flashcards she made for herself in order to prepare for an upcoming test.
"You know, you're starting to remind me of him, that tutor of yours. What was his name again? Uesami... no, that doesn't sound right." Eba said, resting her elbows on the table.
"Uesugi. Uesugi Fuutarou-kun." Yotsuba corrected her, flipping to her next card. "What makes you say that?"
"I wonder." She mused as another set of footsteps approached the table. "Hongou-san. Are you going to try to recruit her too?"
"I have a feeling that she's going to decline. It's what happened last time." Sitting at the table, the basketball captain placed something next to Yotsuba's food. "Nakano-san. Are you free this weekend? A friend of mine has been trying to get another friend a boyfriend. She invited me out to a mixer, but I feel kind of awkward going without anyone I know."
"Oh, mind if I join?" Eba asked, having given up on getting Yotsuba to join the team. Hongou nodded as they both turned their heads toward Yotsuba. "So?"
"Actually... I have a boyfriend now..." Yotsuba said, turning a light shade of pink as she continued eating her food. "It's Fuutarou-kun..." She quickly finished her food before anyone could ask another question.
"Oh, then feel free to take this." Hongou pulled out a ticket to a movie. "Go use it to go on a date with him." She smiled, placing the ticket next to what she put on the table earlier: another ticket.
"No, I can't..." Yotsuba tried to humbly decline since it would be difficult to go on a date with Fuutarou at the moment.
"If you say so. Eba-san, wanna watch it with me?" Hongou asked, giving Yotsuba the time she needed to leave the conversation. She quietly strolled to the library, opening up a book for the rest of lunch.
"Hello? Fuutarou-kun?" Yotsuba called up her former tutor one day as she walked home from training with the soccer team. "Are you busy?"
"Sadly, yes." Fuutarou's voice seemed panicky, stressed by whatever was happening in Tokyo. "Is there something you'd like to talk about?"
"No..." Yotsuba said, looking around the buildings on her quiet stroll. Inside a small coffee shop was a couple that seemed to be on a date, Revival cake shop was closed and the manager drove his bike out to the front of the building while the manager of the bakery across the street got on to ride behind him. "It's nothing." She smiled to herself. "I'll talk to you again soon." She said, ending the call as she pocketed her phone with a sigh. She looked back at the couple in the coffee shop, a small seed of envy growing in her chest.
"Nakano-san, good job. I must commend you on these scores." A teacher said after a lecture, having Yotsuba stay behind. "But I have to warn you. Your other professors have been concerned about your grades. You've been improving, but the topics coming up will only get more difficult. I would advise that you put some more time into studying."
"I will," Yotsuba said, walking out while looking at a report on her recent grades. She grumbled to herself as she looked at her stagnating grades where she once exponentially improved. "What do I do?" She asked herself as Eba came running at her.
"Nakano-san! Help! We're down a member for the next race!" She grabbed onto Yotsuba's shoulders. Her eyes and tone were desperate, a genuine look of worry plastered on her face. "She sprained her ankle at practice today! The race is next week, and we can't get another runner in time! Be our anchor! We need you!" Yotsuba scanned her expression, looking for any ulterior motives but not finding any.
"Alright." Yotsuba hesitantly accepted, silently rearranging her schedule for the next two weeks in order to accommodate the practice. "How am I going to do this?" She pondered, walking home.
"It's happening again." Miku muttered, reading a cookbook as she sipped on a can of soda. "Yotsuba, why didn't you refuse?"
"I don't know!" Yotsuba flailed her arms and legs as she shrieked into a pillow. "I just want to support people!" She sighed.
"What are you going to do?" The third sister asked, finishing her drink and getting another can for herself and some juice for her sister.
"I have an idea, but..." Yotsuba laughed nervously, rising to her feet as she pulled her phone out. "No, I'm going to do it." She said, pulling out her phone and calling Fuutarou to ask him for help. It wasn't like their sessions in high school, but it was what she needed at the time. She smiled, working through her scholarship with Fuutarou's guidance.
"Fuutarou-kun. I've been thinking about this for a while." Yotsuba muttered, looking over at her sisters as Ichika started to fall asleep again at their party. "But, do you want to go on a date? We haven't been able to be together much since we started dating. When do you have to go back to Tokyo?"
"I can stay for a few days." Fuutarou smiled, watching the others flip through his photo album. "Do you have something in mind?" He asked, seeing Yotsuba light up with glee.
"Tomorrow. I'll come to get you tomorrow!" She whispered into his ear as to not alert the others. Fuutarou continued to pry, trying to find out what she had planned, but Yotsuba wasn't talking. She eventually walked around to wake Ichika up as the six sisters returned to their apartment to talk amongst themselves. Yotsuba returned to her room after a hard-fought and fluffy battle against Mutsumi, looking at her wardrobe for a few minutes before she chose clothes for the next day and went to bed.
"So, this is what you had planned?" Fuutarou asked, getting onto the swings as he pulled on the chain. "I hope it doesn't break this time." He joked, swinging as Yotsuba got on the one beside his.
"How is Tokyo? It looks like you and Takeda-san got really close." Yotsuba asked, feeling the wind in her hair.
"It's nice, but it is stressful. Especially since Takeda and I can only hang out during our free days since we're both stuck in our rooms studying." He ranted, smiling as he gazed at Yotsuba's figure going back and forth on the apparatus.
"Do you get lonely, Fuutarou-kun?" She asked suddenly, turning her head to look at him as her ribbon flowed back and forth.
"A little bit, but it's fine." He shrugged, brushing off his worries as he watched Yotsuba soar through the air again. "Is something wrong? Usually, we'd stay here longer."
"No, it's just that there are other things I want to do today." She turned around, a wide smile on her face as Fuutarou landed behind her. She took him by the arm, taking him to a mall to get some clothes. Afterward, they went to a coffee shop, then they watched a movie. All in all, it was an enjoyable date, and the first one they had in a long while. As she waved him goodbye, Yotsuba swallowed her fear as she called for a cab to take her somewhere. "if you don't mind, there's something I want you to think about..." She leaned forward, whispering into his ear.
"Yotsuba. What brings you here? The party was only a few days ago. Is there something you'd like to talk about?" Maruo asked, swiveling in his chair as Yotsuba stood in the doorway of his office. Unlike normal, he had a pleasant look on his face as he talked to his daughter.
"Dad, I'd like to move out of the apartment," Yotsuba said, her voice stern, serious, and determined. "I'd like to start living with Fuutarou-kun." That pleasant look on the doctor's face quickly vanished as he put his elbows on his desk and intertwined his fingers.
"Are you sure?" He asked, his voice dark and brooding as the room suddenly got colder. But Yotsuba didn't flinch, her mind was made up and she wasn't going to back down on this. Maruo looked at her, taking note of her posture and face, sighing as the fourth sister needn't say another word. "As you wish. Allow me to make a few phone calls." He said, asking Yotsuba to leave the room so that he could have some privacy. The moment she shut the door behind her, she breathed a sigh of relief.
"Fuutarou-kun, I got him to agree to it."
"Really? That's great."
"I know. I'll talk to you ab-"
"Oh, I'm sorry, I'm getting another call..." He said before he gulped down something in his throat. "Hi, dad."
"I do not recall giving you permission to call me that, Uesugi-kun." Maruo's voice came from the other side of the door.
"So, it's just the three of us now." Nino muttered, looking at Yotsuba as she rolled her suitcase out. "We're going to miss you."
"Oh, don't be like that. I can always bike back for a visit." Yotsuba laughed, extending her arms to pull her sisters into a hug.
"From Tokyo? Well, if it's you then it might be possible." Miku muttered as she walked over and into Yotsuba's embrace.
"The human body is built for endurance, that's how our ancestors hunted. If she practices enough, eventually her body will become accustomed to it." Itsuki said, pushing up her glasses as she and Nino joined in for the hug. "If you want to come back, you're always welcome."
"Thanks." Yotsuba wiped a tear from her eye, walking out to where Ebata was waiting in the car. "Bye!" She waved at them one last time, getting into the car after packing her bag into the trunk. It was a fairly long drive, long enough that Yotsuba had fallen asleep on the way to Tokyo, but it would be worth it when Fuutarou walked out of his apartment to greet her.
"Yotsuba. Yotsuba, wake up." He said, knocking against the window as Ebata walked out and opened the trunk.
"Mmmhh what?" Groggily rubbing her eyes, Yotsuba looked up and found the smiling face of her boyfriend. "Fuutarou-kun." She smiled, sitting up properly.
"Welcome." He said, opening the door for her as they took her bags inside. It wasn't much, just the bare necessities, but it didn't matter. After they saw Ebata off, Yotsuba turned to Fuutarou and trapped him in a warm embrace. It didn't matter, as long as she was with him.