It was an awkward wait outside, none of them knew what to say. They noticed that Yotsuba's eyes were slightly red, as if she was crying, and how her Bunny-ear shaped ribbon was slumped downwards instead of it pointing up, but none of them said anything about it.
Ebata had arrived and they headed to the Pentagon. During the car ride, they noticed Yotsuba looked even worse than she was before they got in. She looked like at any given point, she was going to break down.
They had finally arrived at their destination, and told Ebata goodbye, besides Yotsuba. Since she silently walked ahead of them.
Once they entered their apartment, they were greeted by their mother
"Oh, you guys are here early. How did your first day go?" Rena asked her daughters, with a smile. She saw how none of them said anything. Yotsuba had silently gone towards her room. That was a clear indication something bad happened.
"What happened?" She said in a serious voice Ichika took a deep breath. "I went too far."
"I'm sorry? What do you mean?" She asked as she tilted her head. "I was teasing Fuutarou-kun, by asking him some questions about him liking one of us. I ended up going too far with the questions and I, well…invaded his personal space…" She told her mother with a guilty face.
Rena couldn't believe what she was hearing! She was mad at them, but more mad at herself. She never had told them about Fuutarou's phobia. She felt like an idiot
"I-It's not all Ichika's fault!" Nino spoke. "I had made him uncomfortable by asking him something too.." Nino said in a shaky voice. She was scared of how her mother would respond
She didn't know what to say, she never would've expected that her own Daughter's would be like this towards someone. Had she not taught them about boundaries people have?
"...What about you two? Do you guys do anything?" She asked Itsuki and Miku. She hoped they didn't do anything like her two eldest daughters.
"N-No, I was checking a test Uesugi-kun had taken, with the help of Takeda-kun." Itsuki replied. "I-I was talking with Yotsuba about History," Miku said.
She let out a sigh or relief, not all of them caused harm to Fuutarou. "I see…what happened to Yotsuba?" Their mother had asked.
"W-We don't know…She went and tried to talk with Fuutarou-kun when he went to his room. Once she left him alone, we saw her with red eyes.." Ichika said.
Rena had let out another sigh. She felt frustrated. She told Isanari how she'll try and get her daughters to help Fuutarou overcome his phobia, yet she hadn't told them about it.
Their first day had gone horrible, and all of them knew it. Fuutarou probably didn't want to see any of them at this point. But she knew they had to resolve what happened and try to make amends, and the first step was to tell them about his Gynophobia. But first, she had to find out what happened with Yotsuba.
She went to Yotsuba's room and knocked on the door. "Yotsuba?" She asked. A faint snuffle was heard "Y-Yeah?" She responded.
"Yotsuba come down, we need to talk." She told her. "I-I can't! I'm busy at the moment doing something!" Yotsuba responded
"Busy doing what?" She asked, she knew Yotsuba was lying. "R-Reviewing homework! Haha..I have to keep my grades up y'know!" She said, trying to sound convincing.
"Yotsuba…don't lie. Something has happened between you and Fuutarou-kun, we need to talk about it."
She had opened the door to her room. Rena noticed that her eyes looked redder than before and were puffed up. They walked down the stairs and went with the others, so Rena could finally know what happened.
"I wanted to say I'm sorry for what had happened today, it would've been prevented if only I told you guys beforehand that Fuutarou-kun ha-" she was cut off by Itsuki. "That he has Gynophobia, right?"
"Y-Yes...wait how did you know?" She asked Itsuki. Rena was surprised she knew. Had they all known this time yet they still acted the way they did? Yotsuba was confused, Gynophobia? What was that?
"Well…"
"It was one of these two" Maeda said as he pointed at Ichika and Nino, "They had been with me, alongside Fuutarou."
"I see. That means you didn't listen to what I told you guys' earlier then?" Raiha said as she glared at Ichika and Nino. "I didn't think this would happen.." Ichika responded
"What did you think would've happened? I had said for you five not to make him feel uncomfortable, and to give him space. It's simple rules! How could you two not follow them!" Raiha yelled. "I-I don't know.."
"And you?" She said as she pointed at Nino What exactly did you do to Fuutarou?"
"I-I w-well…" she tried to stand her ground, but felt like she couldn't mutter anything. Since she knew it was indeed wrong what she did. She made Fuutarou uncomfortable which resulted in him leaving.
"The moment she saw Fuutarou, she had asked him if he had a girlfriend. If anything, she tried to get at him" Takeda said. He had walked away from Itsuki, and went towards Raiha and Maeda.
Raiha's left eye twitched. "...How could you be so damn INSENSITIVE!" Raiha yelled at Nino, this had caught the girls off guard. "Had they not told you about Fuutarou's phobia?!"
"U-Uesugi-kun has a phobia?" Itsuki asked. "Did you not know? He has Gynophobia" Maeda responded.
"Gynophobia?"
"Gynophobia, the fear of women* Takeda said. They were shocked to hear this. "A fear of women?" Ichika said
"It makes sense now…" Miku had spoken up. "All those times he would try to avoid eye contact with us was because of his fear. It's bad that we've only found out now.." she said
Ichika and Nino had felt guilty of what they did towards Fuutarou.
"If he's scared of women, why did we even get hired in the first place?" Itsuki asked. "I don't know, but Dad just said you five will be hired." Raiha had said.
"But how did he even get his Gynophobia in the first place?" Miku asked. "I don't know if we should even tell you guys'. Hell, I doubt you guys will even stay as his tutors." Maeda said.
They knew he was correct, judging by what happened, they might get fired.
"Where is the other one at?"
Itsuki had finished telling her mother what had happened
"We then called for Yotsuba, Raiha had told us to leave and we stood outside waiting for Ebata-san"
"I see…I don't know if Isanari-san would want to keep you 5 as Fuutarou-kun's tutors. I'll check with him later to find out." Rena told them.
"H-Hold on! Do you know why Fuutarou-san has his Gynophobia? I-I'm still lost.." Yotsuba asked. She wasn't really lost, she just didn't want to believe what she was hearing. What has happened to Fuutarou over the years?
Rena didn't know what to do, should she tell them why? If they do end up keeping their tutoring job, this could help them understand him more. She just decided to tell them. What her daughters do with the information she's going to tell them is their choice.
"7 years ago, Fuutarou-kun was in a relationship with a girl. Fuutarou-kun's father said the relationship was a horrible one, the girl had control over everything he'd do." She told her daughters.
They couldn't believe what they had heard, a controlling relationship? Yotsuba had just looked at the ground
"There has to be another reason, it doesn't make sense," Nino said. "There is, but none of us know what else happened during the relationship." her mother replied.
"Huh? How come?" Miku asked. "Fuutarou-kun hasn't told anyone what happened during the relationship at all. He has been through therapy but from what Isanari-san said, it seems as if he's only kept things minimal about what happened."
"My best guess is that she might've abused him in some sort of way." She added. "I really do hope it's not that."
"It makes sense now…" Yotsuba said. They had looked over to her. Yotsuba's current down and gloomy atmosphere she had with her was now gone. It had been replaced with a dark and frightening one. Her ribbon had turned a pitch black color.
None of them had ever seen her like this, it was as if she was an entirely different person.
"Yotsuba, what do you mean?" Her mother asked. "I had asked Fuutarou-san something when I went to his door. I asked if he'd remember me after almost 6 years."
"6 years?" They said
"When we used to live in Kyoto, I had told you guys about a boy I met. Ichika, I'm surprised you didn't remember him. You've met him before"
Ichika was confused about what she was saying, but she had started to put everything together. His hair color, how he looked, hell, even the earring he wore. She was right, he was the boy she met.
"Y-You're lying.."
"It's true, Fuutarou-san is the boy we met in Kyoto." She said, The guilt Ichika was already feeling felt even worse, she had made one of her childhood friends have a possible anxiety attack, alongside the fact he had a fear of women!
"Me and Fuutarou-san had made a promise to become model students and achieve good grades. I thought he had just forgotten about me, but the promise too? It didn't add up. Since he was the one who pushed for it."
"...Till now," she clenched her fists. "That relationship he was in, it was prior to our meeting. Meaning for him to completely forget about it, she had to have done something more…something worse"
None of them knew what to say.
"I'm going to help him." She told them. They looked at her and she had a determined look on her face. "I don't know how I'll do it, whether it's from the sidelines or something else. I'm…I'm going to help him, no matter what."
"I-I'm going to try and make amends with him.." Ichika said, "Me too…If I knew beforehand I wouldn't have done anything.." Nino said.
Rena had a soft smile on her face. "What about you two?" She had asked Itsuki and Miku.
Itsuki had started to think about it, could she help him? She didn't know what to do, or where to even start.
Miku on the other hand, didn't know if she would do anything. She had the least interaction with him, she had basically been on the sidelines watching everything happen. Either way, she had 3 of her sisters possibly trying to help him.
"I don't know." They both responded.
"I see. It's your decision, so it's up to you. You five should probably put your things away, I'll go finish dinner" Rena told them. They compiled and went to their respective rooms. "Luckily their father wasn't here, I can't imagine how he would've reacted." She thought.
Each of them knew today had been a bad start with Fuutarou, but, if they do indeed keep their jobs. The following wouldn't be the same.
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The door had closed, the Nakano's had just exited the Uesugi household. Raiha had gone to Fuutarou's room to try and get him out. Takeda and Maeda were peeking out of the blinds to see if the Nakano's were leaving. They had watched for a tad bit and decided it was a waste of time and they should go with Raiha. Fuutarou's phone had buzzed.
Maeda went and checked it and it was a message from his father. "How's the tutoring session going?" another message appeared "You better have not missed it, these girls are going to try and help you."
"Ha! Supposed to help him my ass" Maeda said out loud. Takeda turned his head to see what he was talking about. "Read this, it's a message from his father." He read the message and shook his head.
"If he needed a tutor, why didn't he tell me first? It would've been better for Fuutarou."He said with a frown. He handed the phone back to Maeda
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Raiha was trying her hardest to get Fuutarou to open the door. With each knock on the door she asked "Fuutarou! Just open the door, please!" and each time he told her "It's all my fault! Go away!"
"Fuutarou, if you don't open the door I'm going to get the k-" A loud thud could be heard from the living. She rushed to see what happened. "What happened??"
She looked at Takeda and Maeda and saw what they were looking at. It was Fuutarou's phone on the ground, with his screen protector being broken. She was going to tell them something but Takeda cut her off "Before you yell at us, this was a complete accident."
"Y-Yeah! You see, I was trying to save it from falling but I uh…hit it towards the wall" Maeda responded. He was ready to hear Raiha chew him out but she didn't say anything. She just let out a sigh and picked up the phone, you could tell she just didn't want to deal with what they did just now.
She turned around and told them. "Well, what are you guys standing there for? See if you guys' could convince Fuutarou to open the door. If not, I'll just use the key."
She started to look through the drawers to find another screen protector. Takeda and Maeda walked to Fuutarou's room.
It didn't take long till she found another screen protector, she popped open the case. The photo of Fuutarou and a girl had fallen out of the case.
"Huh?" She said as she picked up the photo. "This must be from a couple of years ago if anything."
She noticed the girl besides Fuutarou. "Who's this? She kinda looks like Takebayashi-san." Feeling uncertain, she decided to ask Takeda and Maeda.
She saw how Takeda and Maeda were talking about what to say to Fuutarou.
"Hey, this isn't Takebayashi-san, right?" She said as she showed them the picture. "Huh?"
She noticed how their eyes widened at the sight of the photo. "Raiha…where the hell did you get this photo." Takeda asked in a serious voice.
"It was in Fuutarou's phone case, why?" She said,
Takeda and Maeda looked at each other. "What the fuck?" They both said, in a low voice. in a low voice. "Raiha, are you sure this was in his phone case?" Maeda asked.
"Why would I lie about some random photo?" She replied, confused.
Takeda put his hand on his head. "Why the hell does he have this photo?" He thought.
Maeda on the other hand was trying to find a reason as to why he had the photo. "He must've forgotten about it, right? No, but it's a new phone model…"
"Why are you guys avoiding the question, who is this person in the photo?" She asked again. She was getting ticked off at them not answering.
Before they could tell her anything, a loud thud was heard. Maeda banged on the door. "Fuutarou! Are you okay?!" He asked to no avail. Nothing was heard, no response at all. Raiha ran to her fathers room to get the key for Fuutarou's room.
She unlocked the door and opened it. She turned on the lights for the room and noticed Fuutarou on the ground.
They rushed towards him. They saw how his eyes were puffy from crying. He was repeating "It's all my fault" over and over again. Raiha noticed how his arms had self-inflicted scratch marks.
"Fuutarou you need to snap out of it!" Takeda yelled. "Ayano-chan said it's all my fault. Ayano-chan is never wrong." He said with a shaky smile.
"Its Its its its its.." They watched how his eyes rolled back and how he passed out. Raiha hated the fact she saw Fuutarou like this, so she leaned in and hugged him.
Maeda saw his scratched arms. "He..He hurt himself…" He said as he looked at Fuutarou's arms. Takeda just had just pushed his hair back with his hand, he wondered "Just what the hell did that women do to Fuutarou?"
Raiha let go of Fuutarou. "Can you guys help me put Fuutarou in his bed?" She asked them. They nodded and picked him up. Once he was in the bed, Raiha covered him with a blanket and they left his room.
"Thank you for that." She told them. 'Im…I'm going to sleep for a bit, I need to refresh my mind. Some sleep would help with that."
"We should head home then." Takeda said, Maeda nodded in agreement. Raiha entered her room.
Takeda and Maeda both got their things and left. Once out the door, they went their separate ways, but that had one thought in mind. "Why did Fuutarou have an image of Ayano in his phone case?"
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Raiha once in her room sent her father a couple of messages.
-Dad, when you get home we need to talk.
-Huh? Did something happen?
-It's something about Fuutarou.
-I'll be home in a few of hours
As the last message was sent, she turned off her phone and headed to bed.
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A couple of hours later.
Isanari had just arrived at his house. Instead of walking inside to see what Raiha wanted to tell him involving Fuutarou, he decided to sit outside and gather his thoughts before he went inside. Well, that's what he wanted to do, if Rena hadn't called him.
-Hello, Isanari-san. You aren't busy at the moment, aren't you?.
He was confused, why did Rena call him? It surely doesn't involve Fuutarou, right? "No, I just made it home. Why?" He asked.
-W-Well…I wanted to talk to you about something involving Fuutarou-kun's tutoring session today. She said tensely.
Isanari started to piece things together, Raiha needed to talk to him about Fuutarou. And now Rena is calling him about something that also involves his son, something clearly went bad today. He just let out a sigh of frustration.
"I see, what happened?"
- My daughters came home earlier than expected today. It turned out that my two oldest daughters had caused something to happen to Fuutarou.
Isanari kept quiet, he didn't want to get angry without hearing everything Rena has to tell him,
- They ended up asking him some questions on whether he liked one of the five, alongside some other remarks. But it wasn't their fault entirely.
"What? What do you mean?" He asked
- You see…I forgot to tell them about his Gynophobia. Had I told them, this entire thing would've been avoided. She said sorrowfully.
Isanari was trying to process what she just said. How could she forget such an important detail? He started rubbing his head to calm down his frustration. "Rena-sensei…how could you forget that?
"I'm sorry, Isanari-san…It just completely slipped my mind. I had told them twice to not make him uncomfortable and to give him space, but I guess it wasn't enough… She said, in a guilty tone.
"...I see, is that all you wanted to tell me, Rena?" He asked, he just wanted to get today over with. So tomorrow he could gather all his thoughts.
- No, There's actually one more thing I need to tell you.
- It turns out my second youngest daughter, Yotsuba. Had actually met Fuutarou-kun before. What Rena had said left Isanari surprised.
- Yostsuba said that she pushed for a promise. A promise of them both becoming Model students and achieving good grades.
"A promise to achieve good grades…?" Isanari started to think back to a couple of years ago.
He had just arrived from excruciating long hours of work. As he entered his small home, he noticed his son sitting at the table. He had a couple of textbooks out and seemed like he was taking notes.
"Fuutarou? What are you doing up so late?" He asked his son. He glanced up from the textbook to look at his father, then started to take some more notes.
"I'm studying." He responded. "It's good to see you picking up your grades son." Isanari said with a smile.
"Yeah, some girl I met on the trip to Kyoto made this promise with me. So I want to keep it, it's like you told me before. An Uesugi never goes back on his word." Fuutarou replied with a smile.
Isanari ruffled his hair. "That's my boy! Just don't stay up too late studying okay?" Fuutarou was slightly embarrassed. "I know Dad."
"Also, are you sure that's the only reason?" His dad asked with a smug smile. "Huh? What do you mean?"
"Your girlfriend, Ayano. Doesn't she also have pretty good grades? Are you trying to become the smartest couple in your school?"
"N-No. But she is one of the reasons, "he said with a smile. "I want to prove myself to her. That I could stand on equal footing with her"
He was snapped out of his thoughts by Rena who was yelling his name. - Isanari-san! "H-Huh? Yes?"
- I was getting worried since you didn't respond after what I told you. Are you alright? She asked, concerned for him.
"Y-Yes, I'm fine." He replied. "Did Yotsuba meet Fuutarou on a trip to Kyoto? Or some other place?"
- She said it was a trip to Kyoto
"Your daughter did meet Fuutarou then. But she didn't do anything to him, right?" He asked
-No, but she did reveal herself to him about the promise but…
"Huh?"
-Fuutarou said he never met her before, and that they never made any promise. This had completely broken her, which would explain her red eyes when I saw her entering the apartment.
Isanari didn't know how to respond to what Rena told him so he just stood quiet.
-After I finished finding out what happened. Ichika and Nino told me that they want to make amends with Fuutarou-kun. And Yotsuba said that no matter what, she wants to help Fuutarou.
"Ichika and Nino want to make amends? I don't know what to say about that. But Yotsuba?" Isanari had a small smile. "Tell her I'm thankful that she wants to help my son."
-I will. As she said that, Mauro could be heard in the background. "Rena? Who are you talking to?"
-Ah! I'm just talking to Isanari-san about the tutoring session today. She said, trying to reassure her husband. Rena muted herself, a minute or two had passed by and she finally unmuted.
-Sorry for the wait. But I have to ask you a question before I hang up. Do you think you'll let the girls keep their tutoring job?
"I…I don't know. The thing is, Raiha wanted to talk about something involving Fuutarou. I'll give you an answer tomorrow morning, alright?" He told her. They said their goodbyes and hung up.
Isanari had taken a deep breath, the start of the call was bad. But it got slightly better towards the end, he was really thankful that Yotsuba wanted to help Fuutarou. He put in the key to the door and unlocked it.
"I'm home!" He yelled as he took off his shoes and hung his coat. "Huh no response.."
As he walked more into the house, he saw his daughter in the kitchen. It seemed like she was getting things to make something to eat.
"So, whatcha gonna make Raiha?" He asked. She peeked her head out of the refrigerator. "Oh you're finally home." She said as she looked through the refrigerator again. Realizing that her father was home, she instantly closed the door to the fridge.
"Wait just a second, let me bring out the thing I wanted to talk about!" She said as she ran into her room. Isanari sat down in a chair as he waited for his daughter to come back.
Raiha had come out of her room, she thought about showing her father the photo first. But she decided to tell him about the tutoring session, then the photo.
She sat on the opposite side of the table. "So, what happened with Fuutarou that you wanted to tell me?" Isanari asked his daughter.
"Is it about the tutoring session?" He said before she could reply, Raiha nodded her head. "Do you already know?"
"Yeah, just before I came inside. I ended up talking to the mother of the girls. And we'll, she explained everything to me." He told Raiha.
"Well, you aren't going to let them tutor Fuutarou, right?" She asked. "Out of the five, I don't trust the girl with the butterfly ribbons and the other one with an earring."
"I'm not sure. I still need to think this through. Also, the two you just mentioned said they want to make amends with Fuutarou. If I do let them keep the job, try to give them another chance alright?" He asked his daughter. She just rolled her eyes.
"I'll think about it, but it isn't a good chance. Also, I don't think Takeda nor Maeda would try to give them another chance." She said, "Eh? Were they here today as well?"
"Well yeah, they probably heard that Fuutarou was going to get tutored by some girls so they came with him." She responded. "Well, is that all you needed?"
"No, here I had another thing to ask you." She got the photo from her pocket and placed it on the table. "Fuutarou had this photo in his phone case, the thing is, I don't know who's the person in the photo. I tried asking Takeda and Maeda, but they didn't give me an answer, so their next option was asking you."
He picked up the photo to get a closer look at it. The moment he laid eyes on it, he was horrified. Raiha noticed how her father tightened his grip on the photo. "Raiha, i'm going to need you to tell me the absolute truth, where did you get this photo?" Isanari said in a serious tone.
"What? You're saying the same thing Takeda and Maeda said." She said, She was confused. Why did all three of them tell her the same thing? "Raiha, just answer me"
"It was in Fuutarou's phone case, Dad. Since his screen protector broke, I had to take off the entire case. And that's where I found the photo." She answered. Isanari had put his hand on his head as he looked down at the table.
Raiha was worried about her father, she never saw him act like this. Just who is this person? She tried to turn the gears in her brain to just have a guess of who it was.
And so they started to turn. It can't be her mother, if it was, her father wouldn't act like this. It can't be Takebayashi, she looked older than her.
But it hit her, all of them are acting the same way when she first wanted to find out about Fuutarou's fear a couple of years ago. She, not wanting this to be the answer, asked. "That isn't her right?"
Her father didn't say a word. As she opened her mouth to repeat what she said again, her father spoke. "It is. That's a photo of her. Ayano Hikari."
"...Why would Fuutarou have a photo of her?" She said out loud. She said as she looked at her father. Was everything they told her about the girl a lie? If Ayano really caused Fuutarou to become like this, why did he have a photo of her?.
"I don't know." He said rubbing his temple "But Dad! You said she made Fuutarou the way he is!" She yelled.
"Raiha! This doesn't make sense to me either!" He responded, as he got up from the chair. He sat back down and looked up at the ceiling. "Answer me this dad…was everything you told me true?"
He looked directly at his daughter. "Raiha…why would I lie about such a thing?" He replied.
He was right, why would her father lie about that? This entire day was a headache. She let out a sigh. "At least she can't do anything to Fuutarou."
"...I…I don't know." He responded, as he looked down at the table. Raiha just stared at him, she blinked once, then again. "What? She did go to jail or something, right?"
"No.."
"W-Well, you must've filed a restraining order or something..?"
Isanari stood silent.
"S-She must've gotten in trouble one way or another!"
Isanari stayed silent and shook his head. She yelled. "ARE YOU SAYING SHE GOT OFF SCOTT FREE?!" The sound of a door getting unlocked could be heard. Fuutarou, sleepily, walked into the kitchen.
"What's with all the yelling?" He asked, as he let out a yawn. Isanari, noticing Fuutarou. Snapped out of his silence.
"Me and Raiha were just looking at an article about some person who didn't go to prison, that's all" Isanari said, trying to convince his son.
"Y-Yeah!" She added. "Oh okay." The sound of a stomach grumbling could be heard.
"Are you hungry Fuutarou?" Raiha asked. "Y-Yeah haha…"
"Here, let me make something." Raiha said, as got up from her seat. "Raiha, how about we all make something to eat?" Her father said.
"That's sound like fun, we should do that instead of one doing it." Fuutarou said. The Uesugi's had started making something to eat. After they were done eating, Fuutarou and Raiha went to their respective rooms, while Isanari stood doing office work.
As the lights went off in the Uesugi household, that marked the first day of Fuutarou's tutoring session. For tomorrow, the two eldest Nakano's will try to make amends with Fuutarou.
-End-
That marks the end of this chapter.
Also, this story is going to have 4 endings (If I finish it) the endings are going to be: Good ending, Neutral ending, Bad ending and a secret ending (I'm undecided whether this one would replace the "Good" Ending or not)
For each ending you could think of it as the "Canon" ending