Chapter 3

The day of Kyoto school trip was finally arrived. It will be a four days and three nights of school event for the third-year student of Asahiyama High School. Most of the third-year students were excited, looking forward for this trip because it will be a good change of pace from the stressful pressure of the final school year, especially after the national mock exam they had been through couple of months ago.

The time was currently morning. The very first schedule was to gather at the train station, where the students will board a shinkansen from Tokai to Kyoto, in which the trip will take around an hour. Some of the passenger cars were reserved for the students and the school staffs, with some group of students have to share a car with the other regular passengers.

The atmosphere in every passenger car filled with the students were very loud and lively, where majority of the students were talking and joking around with their friends, eating their meal or snack, or playing a game with each other.

For Fuutaro, he was sitting at his seat, quietly reading his itinerary book and looking at the schedule of the four days school trip. The section that he focused the most was today's schedule, where every student with their group will be heading to a destination that they will decide after they arrived in Kyoto.

For his group, they were planning to visit Fushimi Inari-taisha shrine. It was a famous shrine known for the Senbon Torii; a landmark consisted of thousands of enormous traditional red gates lined up from the base of the mountain up to the peak. The reason his group chose this landmark was because of its rich history dating back to thousand years ago, which will be good for their trip report. The shrine itself was also a famous tourist attraction, which can be a good place for him to sightseeing and enjoy himself.

While still looking at the itinerary book, Takeda, who was sitting next to Fuutaro, glanced at the boy who seems to be drowning in thoughts and decided to chat with him to fill the silence. "You've been looking at the itinerary book for the last fifteen minutes, Uesugi-kun," he said with a teasing expression. "You can't really wait for the school trip, huh?"

"Yeah… you can say it like that," Fuutaro answered as he closed the itinerary book thanks to Takeda's apparent interruption. "I've been wanting to visit Kyoto again and this school trip is just perfect."

"Fushimi Shrine, huh? Why the hell do we have to go to that place?" the third group member who sat in front of Fuutaro, Maeda, irritatingly complained to him because of the place of choice that they decided. "There are others interesting place for us to explore and you two chose this boring place?" he put both of his hand behind his head and leaned back against his seat.

"Maeda-kun, me and Uesugi-kun chose this place because of the rich historical story behind the place, which can be good for our trip report," Takeda explained the reason, looking at the irritated Maeda in front. "Besides, the shrine is also a good tourist spot because of its torii gates and it's also a popular spot in Kyoto, Right, Uesugi-kun?" He rested his arms on his knees and glanced back at the silent boy.

"Yeah… I've also been wanting to go to this place since I wasn't able to visit the last time I was in Kyoto," Fuutaro said as he rested his cheek on his left hand, diverting his attention from his groupmates to the scenery outside through the window beside him.

"Still, I don't really like going to a spiritual place," Maeda said with a frown. "From what I heard, there are a lot of shrines in that place and we have to do some climbing to see all of those shrines. *sigh* What a pain… I really hate climbing."

"Maeda-kun, you should be grateful that we have an opportunity to visit the Fushimi shrine. I read on the net that there is also a shrine to the God of academic in the complex," Takeda said, moving in front to sit on an empty seat next to Maeda. He then talked to him in a quiet voice and the teasing expression earlier returned again. "I noticed that your grades are awful to look at recently. So this should be a good opportunity for you to potentially raise your academic aspect."

"Well… Yeah, my grades are at the lowest so far…" Maeda muttered, seemingly agreed with Takeda's statement and thought about the shrine. "I guess it can't be helped, I'll go along to this shrine to prove if it's really worked."

"Heh! Glad you finally had a change of mind," Takeda smirked, feeling satisfied to be able to persuade the seemingly delinquent groupmate. "Still, don't depend too much on the shrine and went ignorant after. God might punish you for dawdling around and not committed enough."

"Yeah… Whatever…"

While the two groupmates of him chatting without a sign of stopping, Fuutaro, who still staring at the window, thinking about the seemingly weird behavior for the quintuplets. He can sense the restlessness for the past week between each of them, especially Nino, Miku, and Itsuki, who were acting… kind of weird and not like usual.

Nino, seemingly acting brasher and more forceful than usual. The behavior started when she tried to force him to form a group with just two of them, few weeks before, until he told her that he already formed his own group, much to her distaste.

"Fuu-kun and I will form a group together…"

"And you don't get to refuse…!"

"Be grateful that you get to go on a date with me, okay?!"

"Oi! Listen to me…"

"I already formed a group with some guys from the class…"

For Miku, she seemed to be quieter than usual, just like when he first met her, and when he wanted to talk to her, she seemed to be easily flustered and sometimes, avoiding him. She also skipped some tutoring sessions for the past few weeks, which was very unusual, even skipping some sessions with History subject in it.

"Hey Miku, is there something wrong…?"

"Ehh…? N-No, it's nothing…"

"So today's tutoring session will be about History and Math. There will be a lot to cover and…"

"Sorry Fuutaro, I can't join today's tutoring session…"

"Huh…?"

"I have more important things to do… So I will make it up on the next tutoring session…"

While Itsuki, Fuutaro can saw that she seemed to be bolder and also forceful than before, where it reminded him the time when she was distrustful to him last year, minus the hostility.

"You know that school trip is nearing, right…?"

"How about our group and yours goes to Kiyomizu-dera…?"

"Huh…?"

"You heard about it. For the second day, let's go to that place together…!"

"Uhh… Yeah... You have a point… I will think about it…"

Lastly, for Ichika and Yotsuba, he did not notice much difference in change of behavior from them. Although, he was not sure about it since a change or disturbance in just one quintuplet can affect all five of them.

"I don't know if it's just me…"

"I'm pretty sure those three were acting weird…"

"What's the reason behind it…?"

"Was it because I didn't form a group with them…?"

"Although Ichika and Yotsuba seems normal…"

"Whatever it is, I hope it's just my imagination…"

Somewhere in the other passenger cars, the quintuplets of Nakano were sitting together, playing a card game of five card rummy. Even though it was just a usual card game to play for having fun and killing time, the atmosphere between them was… too competitive and more intense than normal.

A fiery and serious look were pretty much visible on Nino and Itsuki's face, where they focused at each of their own cards while also observing the other with a sharp look. For Miku, she was not moving an inch, seemingly looking at her card for the last few minutes without letting out a single word. As for the rest of the two quintuplets, they seemed to be enjoying the game with a smile and occasional giggle. Because of the seemingly over-competitiveness of the game, the two tried to reduce the tense atmosphere by telling some jokes and brought up the school trip topic. Sadly, their attempts were futile and it made the situation even more awkward.

Some moments later, the round was finally at its end and each of them showed their own cards to see who was the winner.

"Hehe… A full house from me." Ichika showed her cards with a calm expression and with her final card combination, she came out as the winner.

"*sigh* I lost again…" Yotsuba let out a big sigh and complained about her losing streak. "Four rounds and still no win for me…"

"Ughh…" Nino let out a small frustrated grunt, comparing her poor card combination to the first sister. Adding the fact that she was now losing two rounds in a row, making the frustration inside of her slowly building up.

"…" Miku, still being quiet, not even moving for the past few minutes.

"Let's do one more round!" Itsuki roared to them in an annoyed voice and took the cards from each of her sisters' hand. She then roughly shuffled the cards in a quick pace with a frowny face. "I swear I will win the next round!"

Yotsuba then looked at Miku, who was sitting next to her and noticed there was something off with her. When the fourth sister took a closer look at the third sister, she seemed to be asleep. "Hey Miku, the game is already over."

"H-Huh…?" Miku slowly opened her eyes and drools were falling from her mouth.

"You seem sleepy… I noticed that you woke up very early this morning and went somewhere, didn't you?" Yotsuba whispered to her so the other sisters won't hear and know about it.

Miku weakly nodded, "Y-Yeah…" she quietly said, rubbing her sleepy eyes. "I went to my workplace and asked my boss to use the kitchen for that bread…" She then took the cards Itsuki placed on her lap.

"So you finally made the bread, huh?" Yotsuba said in a supportive tone, still whispering to her. "You've been working very hard for the past week, so I'll be sure to cheering you until the very end! Let me know if you need any help!"

"Thank you, Yotsuba…"

New round of card game started and the mood between them was still not changing, more or less like before. As the round still going, Itsuki suddenly had something in mind that can make the game more fun and interesting. An unusual smirk appeared on her lips and she thought that this idea can be an advantage for her when they finally arrived in Kyoto. "Hey, I have an idea. How about for the next round, whoever the winner is, gets to give any order they like and it has to be followed?"

"Huh? What's with that idea?" Nino looked at her with a dodgy glare. Few seconds later, her expression suddenly changed into a big smirk, almost similar to the one Itsuki had earlier. "Any order, you say? Interesting…"

Ichika let out a chuckle, seemingly agreed with the condition. "Well… If it can make the game lively, I accept."

"I won't lose…" Miku said in a monotone voice, but her face seemed to be determined from the condition Itsuki proposed.

With the new winner condition, the atmosphere was at its peak, and the fiery competitive spirit was radiating out from four of them. Yotsuba let out a surprise awe and she can sense a very intense aura from her four sisters, which she never felt before, and got overwhelmed by it. The situation between each of her sisters were already very weird and awkward after Fuutaro told them that he already formed his own group for the school trip, and this new intense situation just added more fuel to the awkward and tense situation that had been lingering around for the past few weeks.

"Woahh…"

"Somehow the situation got escalated even further…"

"This can be bad…"

But among them, there was one sister that did not seem to be affected by this situation. She observed each of them for the past week and she concluded that Ichika was the one. The first quintuplet was acting like usual, normal, and there was nothing strange and different in her behavior, unlike the other three.

Yotsuba then thought, to help Miku's effort to be noticed by Fuutaro, she might need a hand for this seemingly escalated situation. She was pretty sure that Nino and Itsuki will set their sight at Fuutaro once they arrived in Kyoto, based on her observation of their recent behavior. And that person who can help her do this, was the eldest sister that she always depends on.

"If my observation was right…"

"Ichika didn't act much different, just like usual…"

"She seems to be enjoying herself and just having fun in this card game…"

"If it was true, then I needed her help…"

"For Miku's sake…"

Luckily for Yotsuba, Ichika was sitting in front of her so she can signal her without alerting the other three sisters. She then tried to gain the eldest sister's attention by nudging her leg with her own foot.

As expected, Ichika immediately felt the nudging and looked at her leg below, in which Yotsuba's foot repeatedly touching her own leg. "Hmm…?" she then immediately lifted her head, looking at the fourth sister in front of her, who seemed to be looking at her, nervously. She also moved her eyes rapidly to the aisle direction, seemingly wanted to talk about something to her. "It seems Yotsuba wanted to talk to me, alone… and by the look of her face, it must be important."

Ichika understood the face expression Yotsuba showed to her and she immediately put down her cards. "Hey Yotsuba, can you accompany me to buy some snacks from the food trolley?" She stood up from her seat and walked to the aisle. "The trolley seems to be in the next car, so let's catch up before it gets too far."

"Y-Yeah...!" Yotsuba immediately stood up from her seat and immediately ran to the next passenger car.

"So, does any of you want some snacks or foods too? Maybe you, Itsuki-chan?"

"Yeah, can you buy me a cup of ramen and a soda? I'm starting to get hungry," Itsuki said to Ichika without looking at her, seemingly too focused on the card game. "Also, a Pocky too. I have been craving for it for a while."

"Huh? You just ate breakfast one hour ago." Nino looked at her with a baffled, unimpressed face. "Just how much capacity did your stomach have?"

"S-Shut up, Nino! Let's just focus on the game." Itsuki showed an annoyed frown to the second sister.

"Okay, got it!" Ichika nodded and went to catch up with Yotsuba to the next passenger car.

Ichika entered the other passenger car that Yotsuba went earlier and she saw the fourth sister was standing near the restroom with still a nervous face from before. She can also saw her letting out a big sigh, seemingly having a trouble about something.

She then made her way to Yotsuba and tapped her sister in the shoulder, as well to calm her down. "There, there… What's wrong, Yotsuba? Did you want to talk to me or something?" she asked to her with a calming smile.

"I-Ichika… Umm… Yeah, there's something I want to talk to you," Yotsuba said and she went silent again for a few seconds. She then took a deep breath and finally talk again. "Did you notice that the mood between us five is… kinda weird recently?"

When Ichika heard it, she immediately closed her eyes and let out a soft chuckle. "About that, huh? Yeah, I noticed it…" She then opened her eyes and continued to talk to her. "So you noticed about it too? It was really awkward for the past week, especially at dinner time, where we were eating almost entirely silent for the whole dinner."

"*sigh* I'm glad I'm not going crazy… It was super awkward to be around in that kind of situation…" Yotsuba let out another sigh, seemingly kind of glad that she was not imagining things about the state of her sisters. "Anyway Ichika, there's something that I want to talk to you and it's about Miku."

"Hmm? About Miku?" Ichika tilted her head, wondering what Yotsuba going to say about Miku.

Yotsuba nodded and then explained with a restless expression, "Unnn… You see, Miku told me that this morning, she went to her workplace and baked a bread. And the bread that she baked is for Uesugi-san."

"Huh? For Fuutaro-kun?" She let out a slight surprised expression.

"Miku… she really worked very hard for the past couple of weeks, practicing to make a perfect bread for him," Yotsuba told her about Miku's situation. "So this morning, she was finally able to make an acceptable bread and wanted to give that bread to Uesugi-san once they have some alone time together in the school trip."

"I see…"

"The thing is Ichika, knowing the situation between us five can escalate into something I can't imagine at any moment, I'm afraid it can discourage Miku and she can't have her chance to give him the bread," she said. "I promise to help her about it. And knowing that you seemed to be "normal" and not like the others, I thought that I can ask for your support to help Miku because of the current situation."

Ichika then put her right hand on her chin, doing a thinking pose with a slightly serious face. So it looked like that Miku wanted to spend some alone time with Fuutaro, just like Nino and Itsuki. Ichika always knew that Miku harbored a feeling to him ever since last year and it looks like she was starting to show more courage and gain more confidence to gain his attention. By baking a bread and giving it to him, she hoped that their tutor will notice her and improve the relationship between them beyond friend. The proof of it was the statement from Yotsuba.

"Hmm… It looks like my guess was right…"

"Even Miku is looking for a chance to spend some alone time with him…"

"This whole situation is interesting…"

"But at the same time is troublesome…"

Ichika then did another thought of this awkward situation. Just like Yotsuba said, it can prevent Miku from giving her bread to Fuutaro and it can lead to another chain of situation of another awkwardness and uneasiness. Adding Nino and Itsuki's recent brash and bold behavior will add another fuel to the situation and can further discourage Miku from doing it.

"I guess I'm going to help her…"

"She's been trying her hard after all…"

"So Ichika, can you give me a hand to help Miku?"

Ichika then put her hand down and showed her trademark calming expression. "Yeah… Got it. I will do what I can so she can give the bread to Fuutaro-kun without any problem."

"Wahh…! Thank you so much!" She showed a glittering, bright face to the eldest sister, feeling exhilarated from hearing her response. "I'm glad that I asked you this. I was afraid that you will refuse, knowing how tense the situation is."

"Hehe… Don't worry about it. I can't ignore any of my sisters if they're in a pinch."

"So do you have any plan, Ichika? I'm pretty sure once we arrived in Kyoto, Nino and Itsuki will seek for every chance to be with Uesugi-san."

"Hmm… About that…" Ichika crossed her arms and closed her eyes once more. "We should see where Fuutaro-kun's group is going. Once we know where they're going, let's look for an opportunity to distract Nino and Itsuki-chan, and as well separate his groupmate from him." she then opened her eyes and raised her index finger. "If those two conditions can be met, it's up to Miku herself to use that opportunity. But I'm sure she will be able to do it, knowing that she already worked hard and determined enough to bake that bread just for him."

"That's a great plan! As expected from our eldest sister, I guess in the end I have to depend on you." Yotsuba let out a big grin from hearing Ichika's plan and as well to praise her cleverness.

"Good. It's decided then," Ichika nodded. "Anyway, let's look for the food trolley. I wanted to buy some snacks and as well to not make Itsuki-chan's mood grumpier than before."

"Ahh yeah, that's right. If I'm not wrong, the trolley already went to the next car."

"Then, let's go." Ichika then made her way to the next car, followed with Yotsuba.

Around 15 minutes had passed, Ichika and Yotsuba finally returned to their seat with a plastic bag on their hand. The first sister gave the ramen cup to Itsuki, while the fourth sister took out a soda can and a pocky from the plastic bag and put them on the fifth sister's lap.

"Here Itsuki-chan, a tonkotsu ramen flavor for you."

"Ahh, thank you." Itsuki took the ramen cup and gently blowing the hot ramen broth.

"What took you two so long? We have to stop the card game, you know?" Nino drank from her water bottle and put it back into her bag afterwards. "I've been wanting to get a win and now we have to wait again for Itsuki to finish her food."

Ichika let out a chuckle. "Ahaha… Sorry. It's just that before we go back, we passed our homeroom teacher and asked to him further about the school trip detail," she said the reason as she sat down back on her seat.

"Speaking of school trip, I can't wait until we arrive in Kyoto," Nino said with a big, eager smirk. "I will ask him to go somewhere fancy, maybe like a souvenir shop or shopping district..." A dreamy expression was also visible on her face, imagining

Itsuki, while still eating the ramen, glared sharply at Nino with an annoyed, jealous look, seemingly irritated by her statement of wanting to get their tutor attention all just for herself. "You know, this is a school trip, not a holiday vacation. So we should be going to some places with a good historical value or an interesting place for our school report," she said in a not-so-pleasant tone. "Besides, if we want to meet with Uesugi-kun, the best place is at the hotel since all of the students will be at that place after the exploring time."

"Well, it will be boring if it's just in the hotel since there are not much we can do inside." Nino crossed her arms, not impressed by Itsuki's statement. She then countered back the fifth sister with her own statement. "Might as well to follow wherever his group is going. Don't you agree with this?" she told a daring solution to Itsuki's argument.

Itsuki stopped eating her ramen, where her hand was freezing in the mid-air where she about to slurp the noodle. "Umm… Y-Yeah, you have a good point," she hesitantly replied, seemingly agreed with what Nino's statement much to her displeasure and then continued to eat the noodle.

"It's decided then. We will follow wherever Fuu-kun's group is going," Nino boldly stated. "If any of you don't want to, I will be going by myself and you can go wherever you like." she then opened her phone, to kill some time to wait Itsuki finish her ramen.

Ichika and Yotsuba looked at each other, letting out a weak laugh seeing two of their sisters were talking all out about wanting to get some alone time with Fuutaro.

Ichika then took out a coffee can from her plastic bag and opened it as she glanced at Miku, who was sitting next to Yotsuba. She can saw a nervous and seemingly bothered expression on the third sister's face and also, she seemed to be clutching her left hand tightly from hearing the back-and-forth talks between Nino and Itsuki.

"Poor Miku…"

"If this keeps on going, she won't have a chance to give that bread to Fuutaro-kun…"

"But… I can't ignore Nino and Itsuki-chan too since they are also looking forward to have some time with him…"

"This situation will be guaranteed bad for everyone, if it keeps going like this…"

As she drank her coffee, Ichika thought that this whole escalating situation was very bad for everyone, not just Miku, and it can create a potential conflict between each of them. A long-awaited school trip that everyone supposed to have fun, but filled with a tense and unpleasant situation that can ruin everyone's mood, this kind of situation was the last thing she wanted. She already experienced a similar situation when Nino and Itsuki fought with each other last year and it was not a pleasant experience to go through.

Ichika then thought that she might need to intervene to prevent this, especially the worst outcome, where they will fight with each other and create a rift between them.

"I guess it's not just Miku…"

"I might also need to help those two to get their alone time with him…"

"As an eldest sister's duty…"

"As well as my promise to be a better person…"

"I'm going to help each of my sisters in need…"

A/N:

So here it is, chapter 3, after a month long of wait, and Happy New Year to all of you!

So yeah, just like in the main series, the awkward and tense atmosphere between the quintuplets is still here, but it's not the same like the original and it will be different with a twist and change. And based on Ichika's thought at the end of the chapter, this story will not only focus on Fuutaro and Ichika, but for the other quintuplets as well, where they will have their own moment with Fuutaro. But don't worry for you Ichika fan, this story will still be a Fuutaro and Ichika story and you will definitely have their moment together at a certain part of the story.

If you already read "Our Promise and Bet", you will understand why Ichika decided to help her sisters instead of joining the fiery competition, like in the main series. Considering her supportive eldest sibling personality and on what happened in the prequel of this fic, this action of her is pretty much the most make sense thing to do for her. And once again, I recommend to read the prequel if you haven't read it so you can understand and enjoy this story to the fullest

Also, I noticed that Takeda and Maeda did not have a big role and appearance in the main series outside of the Summer Vacation and School Festival Arc (If I remember correctly, hell even Takeda didn't make an appearance in the wedding chapter. And I didn't watch the movie, so forgive me if he appeared in the wedding scene). So they will have a bigger appearance in this story, interacting with Fuutaro and the quintuplets. It was a shame that they didn't appear much after the Kyoto School Trip Arc because they have so much potential for bigger role and interaction with Fuutaro outside of the quintuplets.

Next chapter will be released on the last week of January as long as there are no issues that keeps me from writing this story. Still, keep an eye on that week because I will try to release it as scheduled.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter and one of my new year resolutions is to be able to finish this story until it really finished. See you on the next chapter!

If you enjoy the story, feel free to review, follow, and favorite it!